KENT HRBEK

Position: First Baseman
Number: 14
Height: 6-4
Weight: 260
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
Born: May 21, 1960 in Minneapolis, MN
Resides: Bloomington, MN
How Obtained: Twins' 17th-round draft choice in 1978
Career Stats »

Kent Hrbek grew up in the shadows of old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington and was destined to become a Minnesota Twin. The big kid who played the game as hard as anyone and had more fun than most treated Twins fans to much excitement from the day he donned a Twins uniform and homered in the 12th inning at Yankee Stadium to give the Twins a win on August 24, 1981, until the last game of his career, August 10, 1994, when he came up with the bases loaded three times against Boston as the fans were on their feet every at-bat.

Hrbek, who was the runner-up to Cal Ripken for American League Rookie of the Year in 1982, made his only All-Star appearance that season. He was most appreciated by his teammates and Twins' fans for his upper-deck power and agility for being one of the best to ever play first base in the majors. He is among club leaders in nearly every offensive category, but may be best-remembered for his Game Six grand slam in the 1987 World Series or for his tag of Ron Gant in Game Two of the 1991 World Series. Hrbek had his number 14 formally retired on August 13, 1995. Hrbek was also inducted into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. He was also one of few players then (which is even rarer today) who played out his entire career with only one team.

Kent Hrbek hosted an outdoor sports program on FOX 9 called Kent Hrbek Outdoors for six years ending in 2009. Hrbek is a perennial pitchman for Twin Cities-area HVAC company Carrier Heating and Air Conditioning. 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 (ALS, or Lou Gehrig'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 that raises money to fight the deadly disease.

PERSONAL: Kent Alan Hrbek (HER-bek) nickname: 'Herbie' . . . wife Jeanie (Burns), daughter Heidi (3/19/92) . . . 1978 graduate of Bloomington (MN) Kennedy High School.

2000: Inducted into Twins' Hall of Fame, August 12.

1996: Inducted into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame.

1995: Had Twins' jersey number 14 officially retired, August 13.

1994: Season-high 3 hits, April 15 at Oakland . . . disabled with strained right hamstring, May1-27 . . . final game of career, came to bat with bases loaded three times, driving in 3 runs, August 10 vs. Boston . . . upped career totals to 156 HR in Metrodome and 166 indoor homers (10 in Kingdome), which is most in major league history . . . had more walks than strikeouts for eighth consecutive season . . . was 5-8 (.625) as pinch-hitter.

1993: Batted .333 (21-63) with 3 HR and 11 RBI in 18 spring training games . . . hit 32nd career upper-deck homer in Metrodome, off Mark Gardner, and had second triple in 6 years, April 16 vs. Kansas City . . . hit eighth career grand slam, off Graeme Lloyd, April 21 vs. Milwaukee . . . ejected for third time in career, by umpire Dale Scott for arguing call at first base, July 27 at Seattle . . . became second Twin (Killebrew) to reach 1,000 RBI, August 4 vs. Boston . . . had 15th career 2-homer game and tied career-high with 5 RBI, August 13 at Oakland . . . hit 20th home run of year for 10th time in 12 seasons, connecting off Todd Van Poppel, September 15 vs. Oakland . . . second 2-homer game of season and 16th of career, including a 467-foot blast off Tim Leary to centerfield, the longest ever to center in Metrodome, October 3 vs. Seattle . . . led club in home runs for fourth time . . . had home run every 15.68 at-bats and RBI every 4.72 AB . . . had .995 fielding percentage, fourth-best among league first basemen (5 E, 1025 TC) . . . upped career totals to 152 HR in Metrodome and 162 indoor homers (10 in Kingdome), which is most in major league history . . . batted .206 (26-126) with runners in scoring position . . . had more walks than strikeouts for seventh consecutive season . . . established career-lows in average and doubles.

1992: Dislocated left shoulder diving into third base at St. Petersburg, March 28 vs. St. Louis and was disabled, March 29-April 23 . . . doubled, off Jack Armstrong, for 1,500th major league hit, May 10 vs. Cleveland . . . had 15-game hit-streak, going 22-53 (.415) with 5 homers, 13 runs and 17 RBI, May 24-June 10 . . . hit 250th career home run, off Rusty Meacham, June 9 at Kansas City, making him 13th active player to reach that milestone . . . homered in 4 consecutive games, third time in career, June 7-10 . . . had 66-game errorless streak, second longest of career, May 2-July 22 . . . moved past Tony Oliva into second place on Twins' all-time RBI list (948), August 24 vs. Detroit . . . walked 4 times, August 28 vs. New York . . . injured right shoulder in collision at plate with Matt Nokes, August 28 vs. New York . . . placed on disabled list, September 7 . . . underwent successful arthroscopic surgery, performed by team physicians John Steubs and Dan Buss, September 18 . . . had career-lows in runs, home runs and RBI . . . broke string of 8 consecutive seasons with 20-plus homers.

1991: Suffered second career ejection when thrown out by Jim McKean, May 28 at Texas . . . had 13-game hit-streak, batting .408 (20-49), May 29-June 11 . . . tied career-high with 5 RBI, including seventh career grand slam, off Scott Sanderson, July 31 at New York . . . had 17-game hit-streak, second longest of career, batting .419 (26-62), August 11-30 . . . hit 20-plus homers for eighth consecutive season and ninth time in career (only Harmon Killebrew had more consecutive 20-plus homer seasons among Twins with nine, (1959-67) . . . had 0-15 hitless streak in ALCS . . . had 2-out, 2-run single giving Twins 3-run lead in 8th inning of Game Five of League Championship Series at Toronto . . . homered in 6th inning of Game One of World Series, off Atlanta's Charlie Leibrandt, at Metrodome . . . was 1-22 in last six games of Series . . . started and finished 3-2-3 doublep lay in 8th inning of Game Seven of Series, keeping game scoreless . . . rated second-best defensive first baseman in league in mid-season poll by Baseball America.

1990: Batted .400 in spring training . . . American League Player of the Week, batting .563 (9-16) with 3 homers and 4 RBI, July 9-15 . . . hit .356 with 6 homers and only 3 strikeouts in 90 at-bats in July . . . tied for league's third-longest hitting streak, 17 games, batting .343 (23-67) with 3 homers and 15 RBI, August 21-September 7 . . . fractured left ankle in clubhouse incident, September 22 . . . led league's first basemen with club-record .9973 fielding-percentage . . . tenth in league with .474 slugging percentage . . . led Twins in home runs and walks and tied for lead in sacrifice flies (8) and hit-by-pitch (7).

1989: Had 2-homer game, April 18 vs. Detroit . . . dislocated left shoulder diving for ball, May 15, and was disabled until June 26 . . . had 11-game hit-streak, July 22-August 2 . . . had 2-homer game, July 26 vs. Baltimore . . . American League Player of the Week, batting .478 with 3 homers and 13 RBI, July 24-30 . . . connected for sixth career grand slam, off Duane Ward, September 12 vs. Toronto . . . became fourth Twin (Killebrew, Oliva and Allison) and 151st player to hit 200 home runs, connecting off Bert Blyleven, September 18 vs. California . . . had 4-hit game, September 29 at Seattle . . . homered in back-to-back games 5 times during season . . . led club in home runs.

1988: American League Player of the Week, April 24-May 1 . . . singled, off Jeff Russell, for 1,000th big league hit, May 30 vs. Texas . . . had 4-hit game, July 18 at Boston . . . hit 98th indoor home run (6 in Seattle), off Rod Nichols, to move ahead of Jim Wynn as baseball's most prolific indoor home run hitter, August 10 vs. Cleveland . . . American League Player of the Month for August . . . had 4-hit game, September 10 at Chicago . . . posted career-high batting average (sixth in league), eighth in A.L. in slugging (.520) and ninth in on-base-percentage (.387) . . . led majors' first basemen with then-club-record .997 fielding-percentage.

1987: Had 6 home runs in 8 games, August 6-15 . . . had 4-hit game, September 11 at Cleveland . . . established Metrodome record of 20 homers in season . . . 34 home runs were career-high and set Twins' record for lefthanded batter . . . led club in slugging (.545) and on-base percentages (.389) . . . homered, off Jack Morris, in 5th inning of Game Two of American League Championship Series . . . hit 6th inning grand slam, off Ken Dayley, to clinch Game Six of World Series.

1986: Had two 2-homer games: May 26 vs. Toronto and June 18 vs. Chicago . . . first 5-hit game, June 7 at Kansas City . . . 4-hit game vs. Texas 3 days later concluded a 13-17, .765 stretch . . . hit 100th career homer, off Bret Saberhagen, June 8 at Kansas City . . . co-American League Player of the Week, with Don Sutton, June 16-22 . . . American League Player of the Month for June after batting .400 (38-95) with 8 homers and 27 RBI . . . led league first basemen by participating in 137 double plays . . . led club in walks.

1985: Had 11-game hit-streak, April 20-May 1 . . . had three 4-hit games . . . tied club record of 3 grand slams in season as he connected, off Brian Fisher, July 18 vs. New York, off Storm Davis, July 22 vs. Baltimore, and off Bob Long, August 15 vs. Seattle . . . led club in doubles and RBI . . . established career-high in games played.

1984: Hit second career grand slam, off John Curtis, April 16 vs. California . . . had 4-hit game, May 2 at Seattle . . . second 4-hit game of season, June 20 vs. Cleveland . . . American League Player of the Month for July after batting .368 with 10 homers and 31 RBI in 27 games . . . had pair of 2-homer games, July 29 vs. California and August 22 at Milwaukee . . . hit second career inside-the-park home run, off Charlie Leibrandt, September 11 vs. Kansas City . . . fifth in league in batting and slugging (.522) and seventh in on-base-percentage (.383) and RBI . . . became first Twin since Carew and Hisle in 1977 to drive in 100-plus runs in season . . . runner-up to Detroit's Willie Hernandez as league's Most Valuable Player . . . winner of Calvin R. Griffith Award as Twins' Most Valuable Player and Dick Siebert Award as Upper Midwest Player of the Year.

1983: First 2-homer game, May 15 at California . . . hit 10 of 16 homers after All-Star break . . . his 41 doubles were most by Twin since Zoilo Versalles (45) in 1965 . . . established career-high in triples . . . led club in batting, doubles, triples and slugging (.489).

1982: Hit 9 spring training home runs, tying Harmon Killebrew's 1967 club record . . . hit unofficial first home run in Metrodome in exhibition game, April 3 vs. Philadelphia . . . hit 8 home runs with 22 RBI in 22 games in April . . . had career-high 23-game hit-streak, and 40 of 41, April 17-June 13 . . . first big league grand slam, off Mike Armstrong, June 10 vs. Kansas City . . . first career inside-the-park home run, off Luis Leal, September 30 at Toronto . . . only rookie named to American League All-Star team . . . led team in batting and RBI . . . unanimous choice as first baseman on Major League All-Rookie team . . . Twins' Rookie of the Year and second in league voting to Baltimore's Cal Ripken . . . voted by managers as league's Best Hitting Prospect.

1981: Player of the Month for June in California League . . . led league with highest batting average in full-season professional leagues, and second-highest full-season figure in minors during the 1980s . . . led league batters with .630 slugging-percentage, .453 on-base percentage and 9 sacrifice flies and led first basemen with .990 fielding-percentage and 120 games played . . . All-Star selection and league's Most Valuable Player . . . first baseman on Topps' All-Class A All-Star team . . . won Sherry Robertson Award as Twins' Minor League Player of the Year . . . became 15th Minnesotan to play for Twins, singling in 5th inning off Tommy John and homering in 12th inning off George Frazier to win game, 3-2, August 24 at New York . . . first 4-hit game in final game of season, October 4 at Chicago.

1980: Named to Midwest League All-Star team.