Thunderstruck by Funderburk (minors only)

At least he went out with a bang!

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1986 Donruss Mark Funderburk (#630) - Card of the Day

If Mark Funderburk had been able to carry over his early minor-league thump into the majors, do you think AC/DC might have crafted a special walkup song for him?

After all, the Twins’ 16th-round pick in the 1976 draft cranked out seasons of 25, 31, 26, 23, and 34 home runs. Dude definitely had some thunder in his bat.

With that name and that power, he could have been a sensation. Angus, Malcom, Bon, and the rest could have had a real baseball burner with a Funderburk cover of Thunderstruck.

Alas, all of those big homer totals came in Single-A and Double-A. To be fair, Funderburk did club 18 home runs for the 1981 Toledo Mud Hens (Triple-A), but that came at the expense of a .223 batting average and 71 strikeouts in 394 at-bats.

Even so, the power got him a September callup in that strike-torn season — he hit .200 with no dingers and two RBI in eight games.

It was back to Double-A in 1982 for Funderburk…then an October release…then signing with Royals as a minor league free agent.

Kansas City released the 26-year-old in May after just 17 games with Triple-A Omaha, and he headed to the Mexican League for the rest of the summer.

Out of baseball in 1984, Funderburk signed with the Twins again that November. His bat was as potent as ever at Double-A Orlando in 1985, where he put up a .283/34/116 batting line.

That landed Funderburk in the majors that September, four years and thousands of miles after his last cup of coffee. This time, he made a decent showing, hitting .314 with two homers, seven doubles, a triple, and 13 RBI in 23 games for Minnesota.

At 28, Funderburk was hardly a prospect, but Fleer thought otherwise and included him on a rookie card with Billy Jo Robidoux in their 1986 set. More significantly, Donruss gave him his very own solo card, complete with both lines of his major league accomplishments.

As it turned out, that card was also a career-capper.

After two more seasons on the Twins' farm, Funderburk was done with pro ball at age 30. Today, he turns 67 years old.

Big Hitter Scratches Out a Run

Funderburk’s last major league plate appearance came in the bottom of the third inning in the Twins’ second-to-last game of the 1985 season, on October 5 at home in the Metrodome against the Indians.

It was a wild affair, literally.

Funderburk came to bat with two outs and Kent Hrbek on second base. First, Cleveland starter Jamie Easterly uncorked a wild pitch, with Hrbek sailing safely into third base.

Next, another pitch got away from Indians catcher Jerry Willard, allowing Hrbek to score. Willard was charged with a passed ball on that one.

Finally, Easterly struck out Funderburk to end the inning, but the Twins scored a total of four runs en route to an 8-2 victory.

Twins manager Tom Kelly lifted designated hitter Funderburk in favor of Mark Salas when the slot came up against Rich Thompson in the sixth, and Funderburk was done.

As for Hrbek, he was already a big hitter heading into 1985, and that year, he became a Big Hitter, courtesy of the Drake’s set of the same name. Check out my ramblings about that card right here.

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Man, any mention of those 1980s Twins brings back memories of the 1987 and 1991 World Series, and of other great postseasons of the era.

For me, the first really thrilling October run was the 1985 World Series, when the Royals came back from a 3-1 deficit to down the Cardinals — with maybe a little umipirial help.

How about you? What was the first great postseason series you ever watched?

I’d love to hear about your favorites.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam