Monthly Archives: March 2016

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: World Series Game Two

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MINNESOTA 5, LOS ANGELES 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, October 7.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-5 with a triple and two runs.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Sandy Koufax struck out nine in six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk.  Ron Fairly was 2-for-4 with a run.  Jim Lefebvre was 2-for-4.

The game:  No one got a hit until the fourth and there was no scoring until the sixth.  There nearly was in the fifth, though, as with none out and a man on first Bob Allison made an amazing sliding catch of a line drive down the left field line which is still talked about in Twins history.  The Twins broke through in the sixth when Oliva delivered an RBI double and Killebrew followed with a run-scoring single.  The Dodgers got on the board in the seventh when future Twin John Roseboro came through with an RBI single.  The Dodgers had men on second and third with one out, but Kaat struck out Don Drysdale (who was used as a pinch-hitter for Koufax) and retired Maury Wills on a short fly to center.  Versalles tripled and scored in the seventh and the Twins put it away in the eighth on a two-out two-run single by Kaat.

Of note:  Joe Nossek was 1-for-3.

Record:  The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the Series.

Notes:  Nossek replaced Jimmie Hall in center field.  One assumes the goal was again to gain a platoon advantage...Three future Twins played in this game:  Roseboro, Ron Perranoski, and Bob Miller...1965 was by far Drysdale's best year at the plate.  He hit .300/.331/.508 in 130 at-bats.  He only had one other season in which he hit over .200.  His seven home runs tied his career high, set in 1958...I'm sure pitchers have been used as pinch-hitters in the World Series on occasion, but I would think most of those times were when he was brought up to bunt or when the bench was exhausted.  When Drysdale pinch-hit in this game, he was the first substitute the Dodgers had used.  I wonder how many other times, if any, that's happened in the World Series--that a team used a pitcher to pinch-hit when they had their full bench available.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 18

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Nixey Callahan (1874)
Johnny Cooney (1901)
Al Benton (1911)
Hi Bithorn (1916)
Elbie Fletcher (1916)
Eddie Lake (1916)
Bob Broeg (1918)
Hal White (1919)
George Plimpton (1927)
Charley Pride (1938)
Pat Jarvis (1941)
Dwayne Murphy (1955)
Geronimo Berroa (1965)
Corky Miller (1976)
Tomo Ohka (1976)
Scott Podsednik (1976)
Fernando Rodney (1977)

Hi Bithorn was the first Puerto Rican to play in the major leagues, making his first appearance for the Cubs in 1942.

Sportswriter Bob Broeg covered the St. Louis Cardinals for forty years and was on the Hall of Fame Board of Directors for twenty-eight years.

Author George Plimpton introduced the world to Sidd Finch in 1985.

Country singer Charley Pride pitched in the minor leagues for parts of three seasons from 1953-1960.  He also played in the Negro Leagues for a couple of seasons as those leagues were nearing the end of their existence.

We would also like to wish a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. Rhubarb_Runner.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 18 →

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: World Series Game One

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MINNESOTA 8, LOS ANGELES 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, October 6.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a home run and a stolen base, driving in four.  Don Mincher was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk, scoring twice.  Frank Quilici was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching stars:  Mudcat Grant pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on ten hits and one walk with five strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Ron Fairly was 1-for-4 with a home run.  Maury Wills was 2-for-5 with an RBI.  Howie Reed retired all four batters he faced, striking out one.

The game:  Fairly homered in the top of the second to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, but Mincher answered with a homer in the bottom of the second to make it 1-1.  The Twins broke loose in the third, scoring six runs and driving Los Angeles starter Don Drysdale from the game.  Versalles had a three-run homer,  Earl Battey drove in two with a single, and Quilici had an RBI single.  The Dodgers put two on in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, but did not score again until the ninth on Wills' two-out bunt single.

Of note:  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run.

Record:  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Notes:  Valdespino played left field in place of Bob Allison, presumably to gain a platoon advantage.  That seems like a rather daring move for Sam Mele to have made...Drysdale lasted only 2.2 innings and gave up seven runs, although only three were earned.  He had gone 23-12, 2.77, 1.09 WHIP during the season...Despite all the awesome pitchers the Dodgers had, their best in this game was Howie Reed.  Pretty much forgotten now, Reed was a fine reliever for the Dodgers from 1964-66 and continued to pitch well through 1967, when he was traded first to California and then to Houston.  In those years, he posted a 3.12 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in 231 innings.  For some reason, the Astros tried to convert him to a starter in 1967, and while he pitched well in AAA in that role he did not do well in the majors.  Traded to Montreal early in 1969, he had one more good relief year in 1970, but his career came to end in 1971.  After baseball, he operated a farm in Mathis, Texas and passed away in December of 1984 at the young age of forty-seven.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 17

Fred Pfeffer (1860)
Oscar Stanage (1883)
Joe Fitzgerald (1897)
Charlie Root (1899)
Sammy Baugh (1914)
Hank Sauer (1917)
Pete Reiser (1919)
Vic Voltaggio (1941)
Cito Gaston (1944)
Kurt Russell (1951)
Tim Lollar (1956)
Frank Wren (1958)
Danny Ainge (1959)
John Smiley (1965)
Dan Masteller (1968)
Bill Mueller (1971)
Raul Chavez (1973)
Scott Downs (1976)
Robb Quinlan (1977)

Joe Fitzgerald had a long association with the Minnesota/Washington franchise, serving as bullpen catcher from 1945-1947, coach from 1948-1956, and scout from 1957 until he passed away in 1967.

Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh was an infielder in the minors for St. Louis in 1938, batting .200 in the American Association and the International League.

Vic Voltaggio was an American League umpire from 1997-1996.

Actor Kurt Russell spent three years in the low minors (1971-1973), batting .292 in 356 at-bats.

Frank Wren has been the general manager of the Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves.

NBA star Danny Ainge was a third baseman for Toronto from 1979-1981.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to AMR's sister.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 17 →

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixty-two

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MINNESOTA 3, CALIFORNIA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, October 3.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-fifth.  Don Mincher was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with a stolen base (his fourteenth) and a run.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Jim Perry struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Johnny Klippstein pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Ed Kirkpatrick was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Rick Reichardt was 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his fourth.  Bobby Knoop was 2-for-5 with a run.

The game:  Killebrew hit a two-run homer in the first to give the Twins an early 2-0 lead.  Vic Power cut the lead to 2-1 with an RBI single in the top of the third, but Mincher answered with an RBI single of his own in the bottom half to make it 3-1.  Kirkpatrick doubled in a run in the fifth, but that was it for the scoring.  The Angels had the tying run on second in the fifth and seventh and put men on first and third with two out in the eighth, but the Twins held on to win.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-3 with a walk.  Sandy Valdespino was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with a run.

Record:  The Twins ended the regular season 102-60.  Chicago defeated Kansas City to hold onto second place, seven games back.  The rest of the standings went:  Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland, New York, California, Washington, Boston, Kansas City.

Notes:  The Twins basically used this as a tune-up game.  Kaat, Dave Boswell, Al Worthington, and Perry each pitched two innings and Klippstein pitched one...The regular lineup played except that Valdespino was once again in right rather than Tony Oliva.  Oliva did not play in any of the last five Twins regular season games...Oliva was the only twin to hit .300, leading the league in batting at .321 and in hits with 185.  Zoilo Versalles led the league in runs (126) and total bases (308), was tied for the league lead in doubles (45) and triples (12), and was second in hits with 182.  Mudcat Grant led the league in wins (21), winning percentage (.750), and shutouts (6).  Jim Kaat led the league in starts with 42.  I wonder when the last time is that a pitcher started that many games in a season.  The only one who comes immediately to mind is knuckleballer Wilbur Wood, who started at least that many games each year from 1971-75.