Houston Jimenez, a Hall of Famer? Yes!

The year the Minnesota Twins became a part of my life was 1984. I was only 10 years old and the Twins were in an actual race to win their division. Now they are in contention every year it seems, but even my 10 year old brain knew having the Twins contend in 1984 was something unusual. The Twins didn't win the division, but two forces came together on that team that defy logic. Kirby Puckett, future Hall of Famer, Game 6 hero and player that would turn around the Twins franchise joined someone I remember as the worst baseball player I had ever seen: 135 pound shortstop Houston Jimenez. There was and still isn't any need to pour over statistics trying to find his redeeming value as a ball player. There are none, he was simply overmatched. Twins manager Billy Gardner kept playing him and my 10 year old mind kept asking why? How could I be so cynical in my young age? Let's review the career of Houston Jimenez:

• In 438 plate appearances Jimenez batted .185, with an OBP of .221 and SLG of .234. He never hit a home run. In 1984 he was rewarded with 317 plate appearances (why?) by the Twins. In 1984 alone he hit .201/.238/.245. He even commited 18 errors as well for good measure.
• He was involved in the infamous Dave Kingman popup that never came down in the Metrodome. Pictured below on that play he is half looking up and half ready to protect himself from a falling projectile that would never come.
• In short, he was a disaster in 1984 and Billy Gardner contributed greatly to the Twins losing the division championship by continually playing him. Recently, I was reading Baseball Prospectus' book "It Ain't Over Till It's Over" and came across a chapter detailing that close race in 1984 for the American League Western Division. The chapter spoke of Jimenez being a -12.0 VORP for the season and Gardner needing his defense in the game as long as he hits .250. Well that didn't happen and Houston Jimenez quickly faded from the game of baseball on the Major League level.

With some searching on Google it became surprisingly apparent that Houston Jimenez has managed quite well since that horrific 1984 season with the Twins. He went back into the Mexican League and played until 2001, making his career one of the longest in the history of the Mexican League. His Wikipedia page details his best year, "1995 was Jiménez's 4th .300 season in Mexico, with a career-high .337, .503 slugging and 40 doubles. He posted a .431 OBP and drove in 59 runs and drew 64 walks, career highs. After two decades as a generally poor offensive contributor, Jiménez even led the league in a category, posting the most doubles in the Mexican League." In 2007 Houston Jimenez, the career .185 hitter in the big leagues, was inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame with a nod more towards his longevity and what he has contributed to the Mexican game of baseball than any superior skill. He even coached the Mexican World Baseball Classic team in 2009. Good for him!

I guess the 1984 Twins had two Hall of Famers on it's roster. Who can I blame that season on now? Of course, how could I forget...Ron Davis was our closer. He's not even in his High School Hall of Fame...is he?