The Twins are celebrating in a big way this weekend, with TwinsFest on tap plus the organization is still basking in the glow of Joe Mauer's National Hall of Fame induction earlier in the week.
Now the man who drafted Mauer, former General Manager Terry Ryan, joins Joe and other Twins greats in the team's Hall of Fame. Joining Ryan in the 2024 class will be longtime coach Rick Stelmaszek who passed away in 2017.
"It's hard for me to imagine, I never anticipated anything like this," says Ryan who spoke with WCCO's Mark Freie on Friday. "I know I've been here a long time, and I guess longevity is something they take into consideration. We had some good years and we had some not so good years."
Ryan briefly played for the Twins in the mid-1970s, then went on to a nearly 40 year career as a scout and executive with the Mets and Twins. Ryan succeeded Andy McPhail as the Twins General Manager in 1994.
Those 'not so good years' Ryan refers to certainly took place early in his tenure as GM, when he had to deal with decreasing Twins payrolls, talk of moving the club to Charlotte and contraction, plus some Twins teams that were stuck in the basement of the division.
But by 2001, the Twins started to inch their way back towards the postseason behind a young core of players Ryan and his staff put together, including Cristian Guzman, Torii Hunter, Cory Koskie, Doug Mientkiewicz, and especially pitcher Johan Santana who Ryan picked up as a Rule V draft pick.
The Twins finished in second place behind Cleveland in 2001 but then took off, winning three straight division titles. The Twins built what was widely regarded as baseball's best minor league system under the supervision of Ryan.
In 2007, Ryan decided to step down as general manager for the Twins after 12 seasons. But his replacement, Bill Smith, was fired in 2011 and Ryan came back for five more years before hanging up for good in 2016.
“The Minnesota Twins would not be the organization we are today without the enduring legacies of Terry Ryan and Rick Stelmaszek,” Twins President and CEO Dave St. Peter said. “Terry’s footprint is still felt within our organization and his impact across various aspects of baseball operations, from scouting and beyond, is evident in every club he led. Similarly, ‘Stelly’ helped guide generations of Twins pitchers to greatness over more than three decades coaching in our organization, and his legacy endures in each new wave of Twins players who train on the practice field at Lee Health Sports Complex that bears his name.”
Stelmaszek spent his lifetime involved in baseball. He was drafted by the expansion Washington Senators (now the Texas Rangers) in 1967 and bounced around the minors and majors until 1978. He then became manager for the minor league Wisconsin Rapids where he had briefly played, then a Twins' affiliate.
He then joined the Twins' major league coaching staff beginning in 1981 and worked under managers Johnny Goyl, Billy Gardner, Ray Miller, Tom Kelly, and Ron Gardenhire. "Stelly" as he was known left the organization after the 2012 season.
Stelmaszek was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December of 2016. On April 3, 2017, he was threw out the first pitch at Target Field as the Twins opened their 57th season. He remains the longest-tenured coach in team history and had the third-longest run with a single club in baseball history.
Stelmaszek died on November 6, 2017, aged 69.
Hall of Fame Weekend at Target Field will be August 9 and 10 with more details coming later.