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Goltz Selected One of 50 Greatest Twins

by Gary Wigdahl

Rothsay native Dave Goltz, the first native Minnesota-born player signed by the Minnesota Twins to make it to the Twins' major league roster, has just been selected as one of the 50 Greatest Minnesota Twins in team history.

That's a signal honor for the Pelican Rapids-born and 1967 Rothsay High School graduate and all-around athlete who also put in stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the then California Angels (now known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). Dave even earned a World Series ring to boot with the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series that year.

The selection of the 50 Greatest Twins coincides with the team's 50th year in Minnesota. Prior to the 1961 season the franchise was located in the nation's capital in Washington, D.C.

Players along with some managers were selected by print and broadcast media covering the Twins on a regular basis. Fox Sports North and some members of the Twins staff corroborated on the selection. Short videos on each of the 50 selected will be aired as the season progresses on Fox Sports North.

Listed in alphabetical order as Greatest Twins are: Rick Aguilera, Bob Allison, Earl Battey, Bert Blyleven, Lyman Bostock, Tom Brunansky, Rod Carew, John Castino, Michael Cuddyer, Gary Gaetti, Greg Gagne, Ron Gardenhire, Dan Gladden, Dave Goltz, Jim Grant, Eddie Guardado, Larry Hisle, Kent Hrbek, Torii Hunter, Jim Kaat, Tom Kelly, Harmon Killebrew, Chuck Knoblauch, Jerry Koosman, Corey Koskie, Gene Larkin, Billy Martin, Gene Mauch, Joe Mauer, Sam Mele, Paul Molitor, Justin Morneau, Jack Morris, Joe Nathan, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Jim Perry, Kirby Puckett, Frank Quilici, Brad Radke, Jeff Reardon, Johan Santana, Roy Smalley, Rick Stelmaczek, Kevin Tapani, Cesar Tovar, Zoilo Versalles, Frank Viola, Dave Winfield and Al Worthington.

The story goes that Goltz was signed by Twins scouts who dropped into Rothsay one day. Goltz's tryout was held in his back yard, a back yard that now belongs to Bill and Dar Rose. Bill was one of Dave's high school coaches, having coached Dave in Dave's last year of high school here in Rothsay in 1966-67. Ken Reitan, who preceded Rose as RHS baseball coach, also played a key role in Dave's development.

Reitan, as the story goes, according to writer Lee Temanson, once chased Dave off a skating rink in town "for fear he would get hurt (or maybe hurt someone else)." Goltz remains close to both Reitan and Rose, the latter often stopping by Goltz's insurance office here in Rothsay to pick Dave up to roll out to the Rothsay Truck Stop for coffee and a snack.

Goltz spent some time in the minor leagues and in military service before being called up to the parent organization in the summer of 1972. Dave recalls standing in the bullpen of the famed old Yankee Stadium (a stadium that played host to the Yankees from 1923 to 2008) while waiting to be called into the game.

Since the 2009 season the Yankees play in the new Yankee Stadium, just across the street from the famed old ballpark.

The richness of the Yankee tradition rolled through Dave's mind as he had to pinch himself to realize he was where he was--at the citadel of major league baseball--Yankee Stadium, the so-called "house that Babe Ruth built." Yankee Stadium--the home of Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Lefty Gomez, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Bobby Richardson and Roger Maris. What a galaxy of stars with all those World Series triumphs.

Nevertheless, Dave tossed 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in workmanlike fashion against the vaunted Yankees.

A few short days later, perhaps the better part of the Rothsay area meandered down to what was then Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington (since taken down and today the home of Mall of America, a gigantic shopping mall, once the world's largest) on a sun-kissed day to watch Dave in his first major league start. Dave's mom, Clara Goltz, was among those who came down from Rothsay to watch Dave take the mound.

Dave's win-loss record in that first abbreviated season was 3-3. Longtime Twins Hall of Fame broadcaster Herb Carneal, writing in his memoir, Hi Everybody, along with Stew Thornley, posed an interesting trivia question, that being which Twins starting pitcher in the 1970s never had a losing season with the Twins. The answer, of course, is Goltz.

Overall, Dave's alltime win-loss record in the majors was 113-109. In contrast to today, when starting pitchers don't as a general rule put in nearly the number of innings pitched over the long haul of a season as pitchers did during Dave's time in the majors, Dave "ate" up innings, pitching 303 innings in his sterling 1977 season when he finished with a 20-11 record, tying Hall of Famer Jim Palmer and Dennis Leonard for most pitching wins in the American League that year.

Dave's 1977 performance was good enough to earn him a number of votes for the American League's Cy Young award, finishing in sixth place in the balloting. Quite an impressive performance.

That same year of 1977--on August 23 to be exact, Dave one-hit the power-hitting Boston Red Sox, blanking the Bosox 7-0. Power hitter Jim Rice blooped a single over shortstop for the only hit of the game, depriving Dave from tossing a no-hitter.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that Dave shared Minnesota Twins 1978 yearbook cover honors with teammate Rod Carew, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player.

Goltz's favorite manager during his 12-year stint in the majors was Gene Mauch. Mauch has been quoted as saying "that Dave Goltz was the best starting pitcher he had ever managed." Considering the fact that while with the Philadelphia Phillies Mauch managed hurlers such as Hall of Famer Jim Bunning and Chris Short, and while the skipper of the California Angels, Mauch had Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan as well as Frank Tanana at his disposal, that's saying a mouthful.

Gary Wigdahl bio
Currently a member of the Rothsay, Carlisle, Foxhome area PARTNERS board and a volunteer at the Rothsay Library Link, Gary Wigdahl is a former award-winning newspaper editor with the "Grant County Herald" at Elbow Lake, Minnesota, and the "Cambridge Star" at Cambridge, Minnesota. He is the author of the centennial history of Rothsay, "Twixt Hill and Prairie: A Century of Challenge in the Rothsay, Minnesota, Area" published in 1982.