Outfielder Hosken Powell, who played four seasons with the Twins in the late 1970s and as a rookie cracked home runs against two future Hall of Fame pitchers, died this past June in Pensacola, Florida. He was 70.
Powell was drafted out of Chipola College by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of the 1975 draft, but didn’t sign with them, then was later drafted by the Twins the same year as the third overall pick. Three years later he made the club.
Like so many rookies, he struggled during the early part of the ’78 season, but finally had a breakout game on May 16 when he homered off Baltimore Orioles’ star Jim Palmer and drove in five runs.
The Minneapolis Tribune was there:
“He said he felt no undue pressure hitting against Palmer, who was seeking his 198th major league victory. His high fly dropped several feet behind the left-center-field fence.
“That’s where most of my power is,” Powell said, “to the opposite field — the little I do have. “I don’t really think about the fact that I’m not hitting for a high average.
“My manager, Fred Waters, told me in 1975: ‘Don’t think about it. If you think about it you’ll make more mistakes. If you go out and try your best you’ll be OK.’
“That’s what I’ve done and it’s worked so far.”
Powell later had three hits, including two doubles, and scored four runs in a 10-0 beatdown of the Chicago White Sox on July 1.
“I’ve been around the league once now and I know what to expect from the pitchers,” Powell explained to the Tribune. “Confidence? I was always confident. You got to be to play here. This is as high as you can go.”
Powell’s next big moment came in a loss, although he managed to hit a first-inning home run off Texas Rangers pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, the only run the Twins would score in the 4-1 defeat on Aug. 24.
“I have a reputation for giving up early runs, so it was nothing new,” Ferguson said to the Tribune. “I just told myself to keep the ball down.”
Jenkins certainly did that, allowing just one run on four hits across 10 innings with seven strikeouts.
Powell never developed into a slugger, but he did slash.261/.322/.349 across four seasons with the Twins. However, his time with the Twins didn’t exactly end well because he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in December 1981.
“He wasn’t in my plans,” (Twins Manager Billy) Gardner said to the Tribune. “Hosk had trouble in the outfield and running the bases and we figured we had to make a move. Maybe he was going backwards a little.”
Extra innings…
–Speaking of plans, are Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez and Byron Buxton in the Twins’ plan for 2026? There has been a lot of back and forth reporting about whether these stars stay or go, but I was encouraged by a Ken Rosenthal report that says the Twins plan to keep them. Let’s hope that’s the case.
Source: Newspapers.com