Andy MacPhail, Michael Cuddyer to join Twins Hall of Fame

Thirty years ago, Andy MacPhail built Minnesota's first World Series champion. Twenty years ago, Michael Cuddyer joined the Twins organization as a first-round draft pick.

They'll have a great occasion for marking their anniversaries this summer.

MacPhail and Cuddyer have been elected to the Twins Hall of Fame, team president Dave St. Peter announced on Friday, and will be inducted at Target Field in August. They are the 30th and 31st persons honored by the franchise (21 players and 10 non-players) since the Hall was established in 2000.

MacPhail, currently president of the Philadelphia Phillies, served as the Twins' general manager for a decade from 1985-1994, and assembled the franchise's only championship teams in 1987 and 1991. He is the son of former American League president Lee MacPhail and grandson of longtime Major League Baseball general manager Larry MacPhail, both of whom are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

MacPhail, 63, is the first general manager to be chosen for the Twins' Hall of Fame, though former owner Calvin Griffith, inducted with the original class in 2000, handled many GM duties until selling the team in 1984.

"I look back and I still wonder why the Pohlad family took a chance on me," MacPhail said Friday, but it was a hire that paid off quickly.

MacPhail hired Kelly to manage the team, traded for important players like Jeff Reardon and Dan Gladden, and led the team to its first championship just two years later.

Cuddyer, chosen ninth overall in the 1997 draft, played parts of 11 seasons in Minnesota, reached the major leagues for good in 2004 and has appeared in more postseason Twins games than any player. Now 37, Cuddyer played every position on the diamond except catcher and shortstop during his career with the Twins, and even pitched an inning in 2011, his final season with the Twins.

"It's awesome. … I'm not speechless very often, but I was speechless" when he got the news, Cuddyer said. "To realize you made an impact on an organization, on and off the field and in the community, and especially an organization that made such an impact on my life, it's truly humbling."

Cuddyer was hired in November as a special assistant to the Twins' front office

Primarily a right fielder from 2006-2011, Cuddyer batted .272 in 1,139 career games with Minnesota, represented the Twins in the 2011 All-Star Game, and ranks among the franchise's top 10 career leaders in doubles, triples and home runs. On May 22, 2009, Cuddyer became one of 10 Twins to hit for the cycle, something no Minnesota player has accomplished since.

Cuddyer signed with the Rockies as a free agent after the 2011 season and won the NL batting title in 2013. He retired after appearing in the 2015 World Series with the Mets.

Cuddyer was elected by a two-thirds vote of a 67-member electorate that also included media members covering the Twins. Dan Gladden finished second and Cesar Tovar third in the balloting.

Induction ceremonies are planned for Aug. 18-20 at Target Field, before Twins games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, hired by MacPhail as a Twins coach in 1991 and Cuddyer's manager for all but eight games of his Twins career, now serves as Arizona's bench coach.