Kent Alan Hrbek (; born May 21, 1960), nicknamed "Herbie", is a former American
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
. He played his entire 14-year baseball career with the
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
(1981–1994). Hrbek batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He hit the first home run in the
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League ...
on April 3, 1982, in an exhibition game against the Phillies. Fans knew Hrbek as an outstanding defensive player, perennial slugger, and charismatic hometown favorite. Former Twins pitcher
Jim Kaat
James Lee Kaat (; born November 7, 1938) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins (–), ...
considered Hrbek to be the best defensive first baseman he had ever seen. Hrbek attended
Kennedy High School in
Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...
.
Career
Kent Hrbek was drafted by his hometown
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
in the 17th round of the
1978 Major League Baseball draft
In 1978, four American baseball players were promoted from amateur baseball to the major leagues, including Arizona State University third baseman Bob Horner, who was selected number one overall by the Atlanta Braves. Oakland High School pitche ...
and spent the next three seasons working his way up the Twins' organizational ladder where he would hit 47
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s and rack up 111
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...
while hitting .318 in 253 minor league games. In 1979, Hrbek played 24 games for the rookie league Elizabethton Twins in the
Appalachian Rookie League before spending the next two seasons playing A ball—first for the Wisconsin Rapids Twins in the
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...
and then the
Visalia Oaks
Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...
in the
California League
The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...
. Hrbek made his major league debut on August 24, 1981, at Yankee Stadium, hitting a game-winning home run in the 12th inning off New York reliever and future Twins player
George Frazier
George Francis Frazier Jr. (June 10, 1911 – June 13, 1974) was an American journalist. Frazier was raised in South Boston, attended the Boston Latin School, and was graduated from Harvard College (where he won the Boylston Prize for Rhetoric) in ...
.
After his "
cup of coffee
A "cup of coffee" is a North American sports idiom for a short time spent by a minor league player at the major league level. The idea behind the term is that the player was only in the big leagues long enough to have a cup of coffee before bei ...
" at the end of the 1981 season, Hrbek would make the team out of spring training and come into his own in 1982, playing well for Twins
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
Billy Gardner
William Frederick Gardner (born July 19, 1927) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. During his ten-season active career in the major leagues, Gardner was a scrappy, light-hitting second baseman for the New Yo ...
. Finishing his rookie season hitting .301 with 23 home runs and 92 RBI, Hrbek would finish second in the
Rookie of the Year voting (to future
Hall of Famer
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...
Cal Ripken Jr.
Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. (born August 24, 1960), nicknamed " The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001). One of his posit ...
) and be selected to his only All-Star game. Although the Twins would finish 60–102, Hrbek and fellow rookies
Tim Laudner
Timothy Jon Laudner (born June 7, 1958) is an American former professional baseball catcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins from to .
Playing career
After playing baseball for Park Center Senior High School ...
,
Gary Gaetti
Gary Joseph Gaetti (, ; born August 19, 1958), is an American former third baseman in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins (1981–1990), California Angels (1991–1993), Kansas City Royals (1993–1995), St. Louis Cardinals (1996–1998) ...
,
Tom Brunansky
Thomas Andrew Brunansky (born August 20, 1960), nicknamed "Bruno", is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1981 to 1994 for the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and Milwaukee Brewe ...
,
Randy Bush
Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...
, and
Frank Viola
Frank John Viola Jr. (born April 19, 1960) is an American former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins (1982–1989), New York Mets (1989–1991), Boston Red Sox (1992–1994), Cincinnati Reds (1995), and ...
would make up the nucleus of the
1987 World Series
The 1987 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1987 season. The 84th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Minnesota Twins and the Nation ...
team. Falling off slightly in his sophomore year (.297, 16 HR, 84 RBI), Hrbek would come up big in 1984, finishing the season hitting .311 (his second-highest career batting average) with 27 HR (his 3rd highest total), 107 RBI (his highest career total), 174 hits (his highest total), and 80 runs (his third highest total). During, arguably, his career year, Hrbek would power the Twins all season and the team would surprise the rest of the
American League West
The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams curr ...
by battling for the division crown. Although the team was as close as 0.5 games out of first place at 81–75, the Twins faded fast, lost their last 6 games, and finished in a tie with the
California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
, three games behind the
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
. After the season, Hrbek was recognized for his performance and the team's surprise September run, by his finishing second in the
American League Most Valuable Player The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' ...
balloting to
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
' closer
Willie Hernández
Guillermo Hernández Villanueva (born November 14, 1954) is a Puerto Rican former baseball relief pitcher. He won both the American League Cy Young Award and the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1984 after leading the Detroit Tig ...
.
World Series Play
Some of his most memorable moments were during the
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
season. He hit a career-best 34 home runs to help the Twins win the AL West.
Hrbek was instrumental in capturing the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
Championship, although he hit only .208, as he slugged a
grand slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
in Game 6 off Cardinals reliever
Ken Dayley
Kenneth Grant Dayley (born February 25, 1959) is a former professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, Dayley played all or part of eleven seasons in Major League Baseball between 1982 and 1993.
Career
Braves
After pitching at the Un ...
, which essentially sealed the win for his Twins.
In
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
, he again helped the Twins win the World Series after having a typical Hrbek season (.284, 20 home runs, and 89 RBI). The Twins had finished the previous season in last place, as had their Series opponent the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...
, which prompted the media to coin the phrase "Worst to First World Series." Hrbek's offense turned stale after his home run in Game 1 and he hit only .115 for the series with the one home run and 2 RBI. However, in Game 7, with the score still tied 0–0 in the 8th inning, Hrbek executed a very uncommon 3–2–3 bases-loaded double play with catcher
Brian Harper
Brian David Harper (born October 16, 1959) is an American former catcher in Major League Baseball who played for teams in both the American and National Leagues during his 16-year career (-). He most recently served as the hitting coach of the D ...
which saved the Twins against the Braves' biggest threat of the game. The Twins eventually won the game 1–0, with
Gene Larkin
Eugene Thomas Larkin (born October 24, 1962) is an American former switch-hitting first baseman, designated hitter, and right fielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire seven-season career with the Minnesota Twins. During his playing ...
hitting a bases-loaded single to center field that scored
Dan Gladden
Clinton Daniel Gladden III (born July 7, 1957) is an American former Major League Baseball player and current radio broadcaster. He was the starting left fielder with the Minnesota Twins' two World Series Championship teams in 1987 and 1991.
Base ...
in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Hrbek was involved in a controversial play with
Ron Gant
Ronald Edwin Gant (born March 2, 1965) is an American television news anchor and former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves (1987–1993), Cincinnati Reds (1995), St. Louis Cardinals ...
in Game 2 of the 1991 Series. While Gant was coming back to first base after widely rounding the base on a single, Gant's momentum caused his foot to lift off the bag. Since Hrbek had correctly continued applying the tag, Gant was called out upon losing contact with first base. The umpire, Drew Coble, called Gant out, ruling that his own forward progress caused Gant to step off the bag. Gant angrily disputed the call and had to be restrained when Coble refused to change it. The move was later nicknamed the "T-Rex Tag," because of Hrbek's long-standing, but joking nickname, in which he jokingly speculated about a post-baseball career in professional wrestling using the name ''
Tyrannosaurus Rex
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
''. When the Series moved to Atlanta, Braves fans jeered him, and Hrbek received much hate mail, including a death threat.
Although he was a key part of both World Series teams, Hrbek was largely ineffective at the plate, hitting just .154 in 24 post-season games with only 3 home runs and 12 RBI. Hrbek was one of seven Twins to be part of both the
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
and
1991 World Series
The 1991 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) held after the 1991 season. The 88th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Minnesota Twins ...
teams. The other six were
Randy Bush
Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...
,
Greg Gagne,
Kirby Puckett
Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all- ...
,
Al Newman
Albert Dwayne Newman (born June 30, 1960) is a former infielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Montreal Expos (1985–1986), Minnesota Twins (1987–1991) and Texas Rangers (1992). Newman was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. ...
,
Gene Larkin
Eugene Thomas Larkin (born October 24, 1962) is an American former switch-hitting first baseman, designated hitter, and right fielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire seven-season career with the Minnesota Twins. During his playing ...
(who made the winning hit in Game 7 of the 1991 series), and
Dan Gladden
Clinton Daniel Gladden III (born July 7, 1957) is an American former Major League Baseball player and current radio broadcaster. He was the starting left fielder with the Minnesota Twins' two World Series Championship teams in 1987 and 1991.
Base ...
(who was the runner Larkin scored with that hit).
Media
Hrbek served as an unofficial consultant for the baseball movie ''Little Big League'' (1994). The character of Lou Collins was loosely based on him and actor
Timothy Busfield
Timothy Busfield (born June 12, 1957) is an American actor and director. He has played Elliot Weston on the television series ''thirtysomething''; Mark, the brother-in-law of Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) in ''Field of Dreams''; and Danny Concann ...
(himself a former minor league player) became friends during filming.
Retirement
Frequently injured (though seldom seriously), Hrbek retired after the
players strike in 1994, citing his nagging injury problems and desire to spend more time with his wife and daughter at their home in Bloomington, Minnesota. Hrbek, who was notorious for losing his stirrups, was the most outspoken member of the MLBPA to revise the uniform code to remove mandatory stirrups and helped to ensure it was written into the new labor agreement following the 1994 player strike. "I'm thankful that future generations of players will not have to rummage through their lockers 20 minutes before the first pitch to find those darn stirrups. If that's my lone contribution to the game, I've done enough." Despite operating in the same lineup as Kirby Puckett for all but two years of his career—and his long and close association with Puckett—Hrbek's numbers never approached those of the center fielder. In 2000, his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, Hrbek garnered only 5 votes, which was nowhere near the 5% minimum threshold for continued eligibility. Thus, he is ineligible for the Hall of Fame unless voted in by the
Veterans Committee
The Veterans Committee is the popular name of various committees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum that elect participants other than recently retired players.
Originally, it referenced the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee ...
. His first year of Veterans' Committee eligibility was 2015.
![Kent_Hrbek_14_banner_-_HHH_Metrodome](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Kent_Hrbek_14_banner_-_HHH_Metrodome.png)
Kent Hrbek's number 14 was retired by the Twins in 1995, which at the time, made him just the fourth Twins player in franchise history to have his number retired. (The other three were
Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Clayton Killebrew Jr. (; June 29, 1936May 17, 2011), nicknamed "The Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. He was a prolific power hitter who spent most of hi ...
,
Rod Carew
Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman, second baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins ...
, and
Tony Oliva
Tony Pedro Oliva (born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandes Javique; July 20, 1938) is a Cuban former professional baseball player and coach. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a right fielder and designated hitter for the Minneso ...
.) Hrbek was also inducted into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. He was also one of few players at the time—and even rarer by today's standards—to have played out his entire career with only one team. He never expressed any desire to play for any other team and took less money than he could have made elsewhere to remain with the Twins for his final contract which covered the 1990–1994 seasons.
In 2000, the Twins established their own "Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame," and Hrbek was one of six former Twins inducted into the initial class. The 2000 class also included MLB Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, and
Kirby Puckett
Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all- ...
, player and Twins coach Tony Oliva, along with former owner
Calvin Griffith
Calvin Robertson Griffith (December 1, 1911 – October 20, 1999), born Calvin Griffith Robertson, was a Canadian-born American Major League Baseball team owner. As president, majority owner and ''de facto'' general manager (baseball), general m ...
.
Other affiliations
Hrbek is an avid
hunter
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
and
fisherman
A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.
Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...
, particularly in his home state of Minnesota. He hosted an outdoor sports program on
KMSP-TV
KMSP-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetwo ...
called ''Kent Hrbek Outdoors'' from 2004 to 2010. Hrbek is a perennial
pitchman for Twin Cities-area HVAC companies offering Carrier Heating and Air Conditioning equipment. He has a series of baseball fields named after him in his hometown of Bloomington.
Since Kent Hrbek's father died of
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...
(ALS, or "
Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...
's disease") in 1982, he has worked to increase awareness of the disease. Hrbek hosts an annual charity golf tournament in Minnesota to raise money for ALS research and makes many public appearances on behalf of the cause. He also participates in an annual fundraising event called the "Black Woods Blizzard Tour," a snowmobile excursion around northern Minnesota which raises money to fight the deadly disease. As of 2019, Hrbek and his then-wife, Jeanie Hrbek, were honorary co-chairs of the
ALS Association
The ALS Association is an American nonprofit organization that funds global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research, provides care services and programs to people affected by ALS through its nationwide network of chapters, and works with ALS ...
's MN/ND/SD Chapter.
He was awarded the
Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award is given annually to a Major League Baseball (MLB) player who best exhibits the character and integrity of Lou Gehrig, both on the field and off it. The award was created by the Phi Delta Theta fraternity in honor o ...
in 1991 for his efforts.
Career statistics
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
This is a list of the 300 Major League Baseball players who have hit the most home runs.
In the sport of baseball, a home run is a hit in which the batter scores by circling all the bases and reaching home plate in one play, without the benefit ...
*
List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
This is a list of Major League Baseball players who have compiled 1,000 runs batted in (RBIs). RBIs are usually accumulated when a batter in baseball enables a runner on base (including himself, in the case of a home run) to score as a result of ma ...
*
Further reading
*''Kent Hrbek'' by Deegan, Paul J.; Carpenter, Jerry; DiMeglio, Steve
*''Minnesota Twins 2008 Yearbook''
References
External links
Kent Hrbek's MN Twins pageThe poem "Hrbek at the Bat"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hrbek, Kent
American League All-Stars
Minnesota Twins players
Major League Baseball first basemen
1960 births
Living people
American people of Czech descent
People from Bloomington, Minnesota
Baseball players from Minnesota
Major League Baseball players with retired numbers
Visalia Oaks players
Wisconsin Rapids Twins players
Elizabethton Twins players
Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area