1965 Rewind: Game Thirty-eight

MINNESOTA 4, WASHINGTON 1 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Friday, May 28.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a home run (his ninth) and three RBIs.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Dave Boswell was 2-for-2 with a triple and a run.

Pitching stars:  Boswell struck out five in 5.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and three walks.  Bill Pleis pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Phil Ortega pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.  Ken McMullen was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring once.  Frank Howard was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The game:  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the third when Boswell led off with a triple and scored on Oliva's two-out single.  The Senators did not really threaten through five, and in fact Boswell had retired nine in a row when he issued a two-out walk in the sixth and was replaced by Johnny Klippstein.  Allison homered in the seventh and Oliva hit a two-run blast in the eighth to make it 4-0.  The lone Washington run came in the eighth when McMullen hit a leadoff double and scored on Howard's one-out single.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-4.  Rich Rollins was 1-for-4 with a run.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-4.  Earl Battey was 0-for-2 with two walks.

Record:  The win made the Twins 24-14 and kept them in second place, a half game behind Chicago.

Notes:  There was no apparent reason Boswell was removed, but he had not pitched since May 19 and would not pitch again until June 6, so he may have had a minor injury.  I did not remember that Gil Hodges was the manager of Washington at this time.

Happy Birthday–November 12

Jack Ryan (1868)
Moonlight Graham (1877)
Carl Mays (1891)
Joe Hoerner (1936)
Bruce Bochte (1950)
Jody Davis (1956)
Donnie Hill (1960)
Greg Gagne (1961)
Jeff Reed (1962)
Randy Knorr (1968)
Sammy Sosa (1968)
Aaron Heilman (1978)

Aaron Heilman was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 2000, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. FT"HM"LT.

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Happy Birthday–November 13

Johnny Kling (1875)
Jackie Price (1912)
Ted Wilks (1915)
Jim Delsing (1925)
Steve Bilko (1928)
Wes Parker (1939)
Mel Stottlemyre (1941)
Gene Garber (1947)
John Sutton (1952)
Dan Petry (1958)
Pat Hentgen (1968)
Jason Simontacchi (1973)
Gerald Laird (1979)

Jackie Price played one season in the major leagues, but was better known as a baseball entertainer.  He is sometimes called a "baseball clown", but that's not really accurate, because he really performed tricks more than actually clowning.

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1965 Rewind: Game Thirty-seven

BOSTON 2, MINNESOTA 0 IN BOSTON

Date:  Thursday, May 27.

Batting stars:  Frank Kostro was 1-for-2 with two walks.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his second.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched seven innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  Johnny Klippstein pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Dave Morehead pitched eight shutout innings, allowing three hits and six walks with five strikeouts.  Felix Mantilla was 2-for-3 with a run.  Carl Yastrzemski was 1-for-2 with a walk.

The game:  It was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh, when singles by Yastrzemski, Mantilla, and Tony Conigliaro loaded the bases with none out.  The next batter hit into a force out, but then an error and a sacrifice fly brought home a pair of runs.  The Twins biggest threats came in the first and last innings.  In the first, with two out, a single, an error, and a walk loaded the bases but Bob Allison popped up.  Three one-out walks filled the bases in the ninth, but Dick Radatz came on to strike out pinch-hitters Don Mincher and Sandy Valdespino to end the game.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-4.  Jerry Kindall was 0-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-4.

Record:  The loss dropped the Twins to 23-14 and dropped them to second place, a half game behind Chicago.

Notes:  Kostro was playing in place of Rich Rollins, who was apparently rested.  Kindall was moved back to the second spot in the batting order.  Earl Battey was apparently rested as well.

Happy Birthday–November 11

Joe Battin (1853)
Freddy Parent (1875)
Rabbit Maranville (1891)
Al Schacht (1892)
Pie Traynor (1898)
Hal Trosky (1912)
George Case (1915)
Ike Delock (1929)
Ron Musselman (1954)
John Hobbs (1955)
Cory Snyder (1962)
Roberto Hernandez (1964)
Damion Easley (1969)
Jason Grilli (1976)

Al Schacht played in the majors for three years, but was better known as "The Clown Prince of Baseball".

George Case was the first base coach for the Twins in 1968.

On this Veterans' Day, we would like to thank all current and former members of the military for their service, especially those who are part of the wgom.

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1965 Rewind: Game Thirty-six

MINNESOTA 9, BOSTON 7 IN BOSTON

Date:  Wednesday, May 26.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his sixth) and two walks, scoring three times.  Bob Allison was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his sixth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Earl Battey was 2-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched 3.2 innings of relief, giving up an unearned run on three hits and no walks with one strikeout.  Bill Pleis pitched 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up two hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Carl Yastrzemski was 1-for-5 with a double, scoring once and driving in three.  Felix Mantilla was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI.  Dick Radatz struck out four in two shutout innings, allowing a hit and a walk.

The game:  It was a game of big innings.  Allison hit a three-run homer in a four-run top of the first.  The Red Sox got one back in the bottom of the first and scored five in the second, highlighted by Yastrezemski's three-run double, to go up 6-4.  Killebrew homered in the third to cut the lead to 6-5.  In the fifth, Tony Oliva homered and Battey had a two-run double in a four-run inning that gave the Twins a 9-6 lead.  Boston got one in the sixth to make it 9-7 but did not score again.  They did load the bases with two out in the ninth, but Al Worthington came in to retire Tony Conigliaro on a ground out to end the game.

Of note:  Rich Rollins was 0-for-3.  Oliva was 1-for-5 with a home run, his eighth.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-5 with a run.  Camilo Pascual started but lasted only 1.2 innings, giving up six runs (five earned) on five hits and two walks with no strikeouts.

Record:  The win made the Twins 23-13 and put them in a tie for first place with Chicago (the Twins led based on winning percentage).

Notes:  The Twins were really struggling to find a second-place hitter.  They started the season with Jerry Kindall in that spot, but by this time he had been dropped to eighth and was hitting .204.  He was replaced with Rollins, who was little better--the 0-for-3 in this game dropped him to .227.