It's a big weekend for the Minnesota Twins, both on the field where they play the first place Cleveland Guardians in four crucial games, but also off the field as they host the Twins Hall of Fame Weekend.
Former Minnesota Twins General Manager Terry Ryan and late bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek enter Hall of Fame on Saturday.
“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 says.
Ryan took over the GM reigns in 1994 and helped land some big time prospects, including Joe Mauer who just went into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer.
"We had some good years and we had some not so good years and I just, I was always comfortable with this organization," Ryan says. "You know, we had great people working here. We had a lot of great players and I don't know, there's just something about going into the Twins Hall of Fame, who would ever anticipated something like that."
Stelmaszek was a coach in the Twins organization for 32 consecutive years. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2017 at the age of 69.
"Stelly was along for the good ride and my locker next to Stelly in the clubhouse for all the 14 years I played here with the Twins," says another Twins Hall of Fame member Kent Hrbek. "I knew Stelly well and we were great friends, not only with Stelly, but his family. It's great to see Stelly, he taught me a lot about the game and was a tough guy but had a soft heart."
Speaking to the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar, Hrbek said that Stelmaszek was his first ever manager when he started A-ball in Wisconsin in 1980.
Ryan says he always tried treating people with respect even in the most daunting moments of his MLB career.
"I always tried to be accountable whether it's going good or bad," Ryan explained. "Sometimes I should have probably ducked it, but I never, I never felt right ducking it. So I guess I was fairly consistent throughout my whole life. This is the way it is and we got to make sure that we're responsible for what happened."
Ryan is the architect of the Twins’ division-winning teams of the 2000s. He was the club’s general manager from 1994-2007 and again from 2011-16. His 18-season tenure is the second longest in team history. He originally began his professional career with the Twins in 1972 after being drafted in the 35th round, pitching in the club’s minor league system for four seasons. Following his playing career, Ryan was hired by the New York Mets as a scout in 1980 and joined the Twins six years later, serving as scouting director from 1986-91.
Stelmaszek spent 32 seasons as a Twins coach from 1981-2012, remains the longest-tenured coach in team history and had the third-longest run with a single club in baseball history. A native of Chicago, Illinois, Stelmaszek was drafted out of high school by the Washington Senators in 1967. He played for several major league and minor league teams before landing in the Twins minor league system in 1978, where he remained part of the organization for decades.
They will become the 39th and 40th members of the Twins Hall of Fame.