Billy Martin was a below average but serviceable infielder for the Yankees while they won four world series in the 50's. He was traded during his age 29 season and bounced around to several teams, never staying anywhere longer than a year. His final year at age 33 was with the brand new Minnesota Twins. In 108 games he played poorly and retired after the season. Still young, he got hired as a scout for the Twins, then was promoted to coach. In 1968 he got his first chance at being manager, leading the Twins affiliate Denver Bears at the end of their season. In 1969, he replaced Cal Ermer as the manager for the big club. It didn't take long for Billy to get a reputation as a manager with a cunning mind, even if he didn't always make the best decisions. One of the first things he did as manager was tell Rod Carew to steal whenever and wherever he damned well please.
Carew obeyed. On May 18th, the Twins were in 2nd place and had lost three consecutive games and facing a pretty good Tigers team. Mickey Lolich was starting for the Tigers, Dave Boswell for the Twins. Entering the bottom of the 3rd, the Twins were down 2-0. Cesar Tovar singled, then moved to second on a balk. Tovar promptly stole third before Rod Carew drew a walk. Now, Harmon Killebrew was up with nobody out. The double steal was pulled off, though I was unable to tell if it was a straight steal of home or if the throw went down to second first. Either way, a double steal happened with Killebrew at the plate at nobody out.
Now, Carew is on second base. Restless, he stole third base. Now, Carew is on third base with Harmon Killebrew at the plate. And there is still NOBODY OUT. What's the logical thing to do? Steal home! Carew did so and the Twins tied the game. Killebrew would strike out, and the Twins wouldn't score the rest of the game. No word if Lolich whined about Carew not playing the game the right way.
Carew stole home seven times during the 69 season, twice with Killebrew at the plate. The other time was with two outs, but Killebrew said that neither time did he know Carew was coming home. This prompted a staff person with the Twins to write Carew's epitaph:
Here lies Rod Carew, lined to left by Killebrew.
The Twins would go on to win the division, losing to an amazing Orioles team in the brand new ALCS. Billy Martin would punch out Dave Boswell in the parking lot and lose his job with the Twins at the end of the year. And Rod Carew stopped stealing home so much.
Carew and Tovar stealing home in the same inning has always been one of my favorite sequences of plays.
From my notes (from my project a few years ago when I hoped to write a book on the '69 Twins, or at the very least, make a SABR presentation):
Looks like Tovar's steal was a straight steal of home. Carew stole home to a "standing ovation."
Mickey Stanley's double to short rightfield in the sixth inning occurred when rightfielder Tony Oliva, centerfielder Ted Uhlaender, and second baseman Rod Carew all collided. Oliva was replaced after the place by Charlie Manuel to nurse a minor injury. Referring to the play, the STrib beat reporter sarcastically explained that pitcher Dave Boswell "pointed a petulant finger at the official scorer for turning his brief eleven-hitter into a twelve-hitter." Now that's some quality snark.
Also, the loss was the first sign that Billy Martin wasn't going to last long. He exploded after the game and went on a twenty-minute tirade directed at the team's farm department. Martin was especially incensed because George Brophy, the head of the minor leagues, had sent two pitchers below AAA Denver despite Martin wanting them pitching for Denver. Bill Zepp, the final Spring Training cut was instead sent all the way back to Class-A Red Springs, North Carolina while Charley Walters (yes, Shooter), had recently been demoted to AA Charlotte from the major league squad.
Martin moaned that AAA Denver was the team's only minor league squad with a pitching coach, Red Ruffing. In Charlotte, Martin complained, the closest thing to a pitching coach was "the GM (Phil Howser, earlier described by Martin as Calvin's frat brother) [who might] have become one without me knowing it."
Martin claimed both of the pitching coaches on his big-league staff, Art Fowler and Early Wynn, were both in favor of having Walters sent to Denver. "Here are two guys who have spent a total of thirty-five years pitching in the major leagues," Martin protested, "and one of them is a 300-game winner, yet their opinions don't mean a thing." He continued, "[George] Brophy never played a game of pro baseball in his life, but he knows more than my pitching coaches. It's not right!"
Martin and Calvin Griffith had a forty-minute meeting the following day to patch things up.
Making sure not to direct his anger solely at the farm team (and perhaps foreshadowing the infamous August fight), Martin also complained after the game that Dave Boswell didn't not run hard attempting to leg out an inning-ending double-play in the second inning. "Bos should have been running at top speed," Martin said, "and I told him so. This is typical of what has happened lately. We're making too many physical and mental mistakes. If it doesn't stop were going to keep losing." Martin paused, and then concluded, "But it'll stop . . . it'll stop."
Shooter did make it to Denver in 1970, albeit with the wrong Senators then.
Awesome stuff Dread Pirate. Seemed pretty angry for a guy whose team was in 1st place from July 5th on (and in his first big league gig).
I hate the argument that because someone pitched in the majors means they're a better coach than someone who didn't. It's probably ideal, but...
I was hoping that you had just shelved that 1969 project for a while - that was an interesting team.
I might have to feature that epitaph in an art of baseball post.
So, I found a way to get Scot out of the woodwork.
Get my e-mail from the other day?
I did. Thanks.
Out of the woodwork...sounds sinister.