Monthly Archives: February 2016

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-seven

MINNESOTA 6, CHICAGO 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 3.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base (his sixteenth), driving in four.  Don Mincher was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his nineteenth) and a walk.  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base (his ninteenth), scoring twice.

Pitching stars:  Johnny Klippstein pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits with one strikeout.  Al Worthington pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  John Romano was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixteenth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Ron Hansen was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Ken Berry was 1-for-3 with a home run, his ninth.

The game:  The first three Twins reached base, with Oliva delivering a two-run single to give them a 2-0 lead.  Romano homered in the second to make it 2-1, but Mincher hit a two-out two-run homer in the third to make it 4-1.  Berry homered in the fifth to make it 4-2, but Oliva delivered another two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-2.  Klippstein came in with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth and promptly gave up a two-run double to Hansen, but then settled down to retire the next five batters he faced.  The White Sox put two on with two out in the ninth off Worthington, but Danny Cater grounded out to end the game.

Of note:  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.  Jim Kaat struck out six in 5.1 innings, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks.

Record:  The Twins went to 86-51 and stretched their lead over Chicago to 7.5 games.

Notes:  This was a big series, at least from the White Sox' point of view.  They entered the series 6.5 games back; had they swept it, they'd have been only 3.5 games out with still over twenty games to play.  It was the last chance they were likely to have to get back into the pennant race...Oliva raised his average to .320.  He was now 8-for-11 in his first three games back after missing five games...Valdespino played left in place of Bob Allison.  It is surprising, given that the Twins had an outfield of Oliva, Jimmie Hall, and Allison, how much Valdespino played.  Yes, sometimes it was due to injuries, but quite often it was not.  He played in 108 games for the Twins, often as a pinch-hitter but often not.  It was by far the most playing time he would get in a season and by far his best season, other than the sixty-three at-bats he got for Kansas City in 1971.  He batted .261/.319/.322 in 245 at-bats.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 20

Sam Rice (1890)
John Wesley Donaldson (1892)
Muddy Ruel (1896)
Pete Monahan (1902)
Tommy Henrich (1913)
Frankie Gustine (1920)
Jim Wilson (1922)
Roy Face (1928)
Shigeo Nagashima (1936)
Clyde Wright (1941)
Bill Gullickson (1959)
Shane Spencer (1972)
Livan Hernandez (1975)
Ryan Langerhans (1980)
Justin Verlander (1983)
Jose Morales (1983)
Brian McCann (1984)

John Wesley Donaldson pitched in the Negro Leagues and averaged nearly twenty strikeouts per game for the All Nations team in the 1910s.  He pitched three consecutive no-hitters in 1913.

Pete Monahan played in the minors from 1921-1940, batting .301 and collecting 2,462 hits, but never played in the major leagues.

Third baseman Shigeo Nagashima played for the Yomiuri Giants from 1958-1974 and is considered by some to be the greatest player in the history of Japanese baseball.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 20 →

WGOM Videos

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals – Ground on Down

Video

Eh, I used to like these guys a whole lot in high school, but I think I kind of made myself sick of them in the end. Fans were always kind of annoying too. Able musicians, the lot of them though.


2015

2 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)
You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.Loading...
Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-six

DETROIT 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, September 2.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a triple and a stolen base (his fifteenth), scoring once and driving in one.  Don Mincher was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eighteenth) and two walks.  Joe Nossek was 1-for-5 with a walk and two runs.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up three walks.

Opposition stars:  Don Wert was 2-for-4 with a home run (his ninth) and two walks, driving in four.  George Thomas was 4-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his second), scoring three times.  Joe Sparma struck out nine in seven innings, allowing three unearned runs on six hits and eight walks.

The game:  It was a game of missed opportunities for the Twins as they stranded sixteen runners and went an incredible 1-for-17 with men in scoring position.  They took the lead 1-0 in the first, scoring on an error, but Wert's two-run single in the third put the Tigers on top 2-1.  Oliva singled in a run in the bottom of the third to tie it 2-2, but Wert struck again in the fifth, hitting a two-run homer to give Detroit a 4-2 advantage.  The Twins got one back in the fifth on a walk, an error, and two more walks, but left the bases loaded.  The Tigers got an insurance run in the top of the ninth and needed it, as Mincher homered in the bottom of the ninth to cut the lead to 5-4.  Fittingly, the Twins stranded two runners in that inning.  They had six innings in which they stranded two baserunners in addition to leaving the bases loaded in the fifth.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his eighteenth.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his eighth.  Jim Merritt pitched five innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and no walks with three strikeouts.

Record:  The loss dropped the Twins to 85-51.  Chicago swept a doubleheader from Baltimore, making the Twins' lead 6.5 games.

Notes:  Oliva raised his average to .316...The Twins drew ten walks in the game...Jerry Zimmerman caught in place of Earl Battey.  Nossek played third base in place of Rich Rollins...George Thomas played for the Twins for part of 1971 and was the head coach of the University of Minnesota from 1979-81.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 19

John Morrill (1855)
Dick Siebert (1912)
Hub Kittle (1917)
Russ Nixon (1935)
Dave Niehaus (1935)
Jackie Moore (1939)
Walt Jocketty (1951)
Dave Stewart (1957)
Keith Atherton (1959)
Alvaro Espinoza (1962)
Miguel Batista (1971)
Juan Diaz (1974)

Hub Kittle’s baseball career spanned 68 years.  In 1980, he became the oldest player to appear in organized baseball, pitching a perfect inning for AAA Springfield on August 27 at age 63½.

Jackie Moore is a long-time major league coach and minor league manager.  He also was the manager of the Oakland Athletics from 1984-86,

Walt Jocketty was the general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1995-2007 and was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds from 2008-2015, when he became president of baseball operations.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 19 →