Monthly Archives: January 2016

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Eight

MINNESOTA 8, WASHINGTON 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, August 5.

Batting stars:  Joe Nossek was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer, his second.  Bob Allison was 2-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring twice and driving in one.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-3 with two walks and a run.

Pitching star:  Johnny Klippstein struck out two in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up only a walk.

Opposition stars:  Ken Hamlin was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and two runs.  Woodie Held was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer, his twelfth.  Joe Cunningham was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.

The game:  Aided by an error, a wild pitch, and a passed ball, the Twins scored three runs in the second to take a 3-0 lead.  They added three more in the third on Nossek's three-run homer to make it 6-0.  Each team scored once in the fourth and Held hit a three-run homer in the sixth to cut the Twins' lead to 7-4.  The Senators would never get closer than three runs and did not get the tying run up to bat.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-5 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Rich Rollins was 2-for-5 with a double.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with two runs.  Jim Kaat struck out seven in 6.2 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and no walks.

Record:  The win made the Twins 69-39.  Baltimore did not play, so the Twins' lead over the Orioles increased to 5.5 games.

Notes:  Oliva and Hall were both now batting .304...Joe Nossek hit the second of his three career home runs in this game.  His next and last homer would come in 1966...The top three batters in the Washington lineup went 6-for-12 with two home runs and a double.  The rest of the lineup went 2-for-23...You don't often see a first baseman batting leadoff, but Joe Cunningham did it for the Senators in this game.  He was a starter for the Cardinals from 1958-61 and for the White Sox in 1962, but missed a couple of months in 1963 due to a broken collarbone and was a part-time player after that.  He was pretty good, making the all-star team in 1959 (when he hit .345 and led the league in OBP at .453) and twice finishing in the top twenty in MVP voting.  His career numbers were .291/.403/.417. His career ended in 1966, after which he was hired by the Cardinals and was at various times a minor league manager and coach and also worked in the front office.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 22

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Ira Thomas (1881)
Amos Strunk (1889)
Art Ehlers (1897)
Prince Oana (1910)
Chris Pelekoudas (1918)
Dave Leonhard (1941)
Senichi Hoshino (1947)
Mike Caldwell (1949)
Leon Roberts (1951)
Jeff Treadway (1963)
Jimmy Anderson (1976)
Chone Figgins (1978)
Carlos Ruiz (1979)
Ubaldo Jimenez (1984)

Art Ehlers did not play in the majors, but he spent his life in baseball.  He owned several minor league teams at various times and was the general manager of the Philadelphia Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles.  He also was a longtime scout for the Orioles.

Prince Oana played in the minors for twenty-three years, batting .304.  He also had a pitching record of 80-54.

Chris Pelekoudas was a National League umpire from 1960-1975.  He is best remembered for his run-ins with Gaylord Perry over the latter's use of illegal substances on the baseball.

Senichi Hoshino is a long-time player, manager, and executive in Japanese baseball.

We also want to wish a happy birthday to Rhubarb_Runner’s daughter.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 22 →

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Seven

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MINNESOTA 4, WASHINGTON 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 4.

Batting stars:  Jimmie Hall was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventeenth).  Jerry Kindall was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit home run, his fifth.

Pitching stars:  Dick Stigman struck out five in the shutout innings, giving up only a walk.  Garry Roggenburk pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Jim King was 2-for-3 with a triple, a double, and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Mike Brumley was 2-for-4 with a run.  Don Lock was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  It was scoreless until the fourth, when King tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly to put the Senators up 1-0.  Don Mincher hit an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to tie it 1-1.  The Senators got the lead again in the fifth, scoring one on a sacrifice fly and another on King's double to make it 3-1.  Allison homered leading off the sixth to make it 3-2.  The Twins still trailed going into the bottom of the ninth, when Kindall opened the inning with a pinch-hit home run off Howie Koplitz.  Koplitz walked Zoilo Versalles and was replaced by Marshall Bridges.  Tony Oliva greeted Bridges with a single and was followed by Hall's RBI single to win the game.

Of note:  Oliva was 2-for-5.  Earl Battey was 0-for-3.  Starter Jim Perry pitched 4.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts.

Record:  The win made the Twins 68-39.  Baltimore swept a doubleheader from California, cutting the Twins' lead to five games.

Notes:  Oliva was hitting .303.  Hall was at .305.  Battey fell to .294...Jerry Kindall hit only forty-four career home runs, with a high of thirteen in 1962.  He would hit only six in 1965, his last season...Washington's starter was Leslie Ferdinand "Buster" Narum.  He was a rotation starter (mostly) for the Senators for two seasons, 1964-65.  In those two seasons, he went 13-27, 4.37, 1.44 WHIP.  He hit a home run in his first major league at-bat, one of three he hit in his career (one each in 1963, 1964, and 1965).  I could not find out why he was called "Buster".  Maybe it's not a very interesting story, or maybe he wasn't good enough for anyone to care.  Which is kind of a sad thought, really.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 21

Mike Tiernan (1867)
Lew Fonseca (1899)
Sam Mele (1922)
Danny O'Connell (1927)
Johnny Oates (1946)
Bill Stein (1947)
Mike Krukow (1952)
Dave Smith (1955)
Mike Smithson (1955)
Jose Uribe (1959)
Andy Hawkins (1960)
Darryl Motley (1960)
Chris Hammond (1966)
Tom Urbani (1968)
Rusty Greer (1969)
Jason Ryan (1976)

Tom Urbani was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-ninth round in 1989, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 21 →