A member of the 1924 World Series Championship Team, Tom Zachary would have four seasons for the Washington Senators where he hit the 15 Win mark.  The lefthander would go 2-0 in the ’24 World Series and he finished in second place in ERA during the regular season.  He would later win a second World Series Ring with the 1929 New York Yankees.

Zachary's Senators record was 96 and 104 with a 3.78 ERA.

Roy Smalley arrived to Minnesota in 1976 in a blockbuster trade (it sent Bert Blyleven to Texas) and would stay the starting Shortstop for the Twins until his departure in 1982.  Smalley’s best season was 1979 where he was named an All-Star and had career highs in Hits (168) and Home Runs (24).  

Leading the American League in Stolen Bases five years in a row (1939-43) George Case was one of the fastest players in his time.  Case would be chosen for three All-Star Games (albeit two during the War when there were limited stars in MLB) Case would finish as high as ninth in MVP voting (1945) and had two other years where he received MVP votes.  The outfielder would have three .300 seasons and four campaigns where he accrued over 100 Runs Scored.

Case collected 1,306 Hits, 321 Stolen Base with a .288 Batting Average

Playing all of his nine of his Major League seasons with the Washington Senators, Jim Shaw may have had a losing record over his career (84-98), Jim Shaw was still a good pitcher who would finish in the top ten in Strikeouts four times and would lead the AL in Innings Pitched in 1919.  He was nicknamed “Grunting” Jim Shaw, as like many tennis players when they hit the ball, he would grunt with every pitch.

A former Rookie of the Year for the St. Louis Browns in 1949, Roy Sievers became an offensive star for the Washington Senators in the 1950’s.  Sievers would be named to three All-Star Games as a Senator and would finish in the top five in Home Runs three times.  In 1957, he would win the Home Run and RBI Title while finishing third in American League MVP voting.

Sievers had 180 Home Runs with 823 Hits as a Senator.

A member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, Corey Koskie provided a solid bat for the Twins for a few years.  He would accumulate 130 Hits or more four seasons in a row and would also have a pair of 25 Home Run seasons.   His overall run as a Twin would show a respectable 101 Homers with a .280/.474/.463 Slash Line

Patrolling the Shortstop position for over a decade for the Washington Senators, George McBride was one of the best defensive infielders of his day.  McBride had seven seasons where he had a Defensive bWAR over 2.0 and two where he went over 3.0.  Career wise, McBride would lead the AL in Defensive bWAR four times (though granted in a time where this wasn’t a statistic) and as of this writing he is 25th overall career wise in that metric.

Brian Dozier spent his first six years and change with the Minnesota Twins.  An All-Star in 2015, Dozier has brought significant power from the infield position, most notably with a 42 Home Run campaign in 2015.  From 2015 to 2017, Dozier received MVP votes, and he would also win the Gold Glove in 2017 as well as the Wilson Defensive Player accolade in 2013.  Five times, he would finish in the top ten in Power-Speed #, and he was in the top five in Runs Socred three times.

WIth Minnesota, Dozier had 928 Hits, 167 of which were Home Runs.

From Cuba, Zolio Versalles (or “Zorro” as he was commonly known as) would first suit up for the Washington Senators as a 19-year-old and win the starting job at Shortstop the first year the franchise moved to Minnesota.  Versalles is a very interesting baseball player to talk about here, and perhaps at first glance, his position here might seem very low especially for a former MVP.

When Rick Aguilera was traded midway through the 1989 season he was hoping to remain a starter, which he was until the end of the year.  That changed in 1990 when he was named the team closer, a move that benefited both Aguilera and the Twins.

One of the most patient hitters in baseball history, Eddie Yost would lead the American League four times in Walks as a member of the Washington Senators.  While Yost would not win an On Base Percentage Title in Washington (he did in both of his seasons in Detroit) he did exceed the .400 mark six times.  Yost would also tabulate 1,521 Hits in Washington.

A dynamo with a glove and a hitter with pop in his bat, Torii Hunter is best known for his time with the Minnesota Twins.

Spending his entire professional baseball career with the Washington Senators, Buddy Lewis looked liked he was primed for greatness.  A hitting machine, Lewis had six straight 160 plus Hit seasons by the age of 24, and was only behind only Ty Cobb in the statistic of Hits by a similar age.

A Minnesota Twin for seven seasons, Joe Nathan was named an All-Star for four of them.  Nathan was not a bona fide closer until he became a Twin and he would promptly rattle off six consecutive seasons where he Saved 35 Games.  Nathan was so impressive that he had two campaigns where he finished in the top five in Cy Young voting.  As of this writing, Nathan is still in the top ten all-time in Saves, 260 of which he accumulated in Minnesota.  More notably to us, he had a very impressive WHIP of 0.956 as a Twin.

Nathan was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2019.

Playing for the Washington Senators for all of his eighteen MLB seasons, Ossie Bluege was not known as a great hitter, though he was consistent enough to put together 1,751 Hits over his tenure.  Bluege was best known for his defensive skills at the hot corner and would likely have been a multi-time Gold Glove winner had that award existed at the time.

A 20 Game winner in 1977, Dave Goltz would win another 76 Games over his career as a Minnesota Twin.  Goltz would have two seasons where he finished in the top five in bWAR for Pitchers and had a sixth-place finish in Cy Young voting in ‘77.  

Goltz had a Twins record of 96-79 with an ERA of 3.48.

A Washington Senator for five seasons, Stan Spence played well enough to be named an All-Star for four of them.  While Spence was in the military during the ’45 season, he was there from ‘42 to ‘44 and back from ‘46 to ‘47.  The Centerfielder would finish eighth in MVP voting twice, both of which were .300 seasons, and accumulated 852 Hits with a .296 Batting Average with Washington.

One of the most popular Twins of all time, Gary Gaetti was not just a two-time All-Star in the eyes of Minnesota fans.  Finishing 10th overall in MVP voting twice, Gaetti secured himself in Twins folklore by hitting home runs in his first two at bats en route to winning the 1987 American League Championship Series MVP, the same season where he helped Minnesota win their first World Series since the relocation.

An exceptionally versatile player (he was the second player in MLB to play all nine positions in a game) Cesar Tovar had five straight seasons where he collected more than 150 Hits and received votes for the MVP.  The Venezuelan would lead the AL in Hits in 1971 and while he was considered to be good, he surprisingly never made an All-Star Team.  

WIth Minnesota, Tovar batted .281 with 1,164 Hits and 186 Stolen Bases, and the Twins inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2022.

Heinie Manush was one of the most successful hitters in baseball in terms of Batting Average, as he retired with a .330 BA.  Manush was with the Senators for six years, and while we did not win a Batting Title as a Sen, he did finish in the top five three times while playing in the Capital.  Manush would however lead the AL in Hits and Triples in 1933, the season he would help take Washington to the American League Pennant.  He would finish third in MVP voting that year and also do so the season before.