Dave Boswell, a right-handed pitcher who won 20 games for the Twins in 1969 before retiring two years later at the age of 26, has died, team president Dave St. Peter announced this morning on Twitter. Boswell was 67.
"Sad day for the Twins with news of the passing of former pitcher Dave Boswell," St. Peter tweeted (@TwinsPrez). "Sympathies to Dave's bride Lou and the entire Boswell family."
Born in Baltimore in 1945, Boswell signed with the Twins in 1963 and reached the majors one year later as a 19-year-old phenom. He went 6-5 for the Twins in 1965, when they reached their first World Series.
In 1967, Boswell notched 200 strikeouts, and he went 20-12 with a 3.23 ERA in 1969. That fall, he locked horns with Orioles lefthander Dave McNally in a scoreless pitchers' duel that stretched into extra innings at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Boswell pitched 10 2/3 innings, finally giving up a run in the 11th, and the Orioles won 1-0.
Boswell's on-field success was overshadowed by a string of off-field incidents, including an infamous fight with then-manager Billy Martin in August 1969, outside a bar in Detroit. Boswell got into another fight when the Twins were celebrating their 1970 divisional title, and was holding a glass at the time, requiring 23 stitches.
The Twins released him in 1971. He pitched briefly with the Twins and Orioles before retiring.
