Monthly Archives: October 2016

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 24

Ned Williamson (1857)
Bill Kuehne (1858)
Lou Sockalexis (1871)
Ossie Bluege (1900)
Jack Russell (1905)
Jim Brosnan (1929)
Rawly Eastwick (1950)
Omar Moreno (1952)
Gary Serum (1956)
Ron Gardenhire (1957)
Junior Ortiz (1959)
Danny Clay (1961)
Rafael Belliard (1961)
Gene Larkin (1962)
Arthur Rhodes (1969)
Rafael Furcal (1977)
Chris Colabello (1983)

Third baseman Ossie Bluege played for the franchise in Washington for eighteen years and remained in the organization for many years after that. He is credited as being the first third baseman to guard the lines in the late innings. He is also credited as the scout who discovered Harmon Killebrew.

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Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Twenty

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TORONTO 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN TORONTO

Date:  Tuesday, April 28.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-3 with a home run (his second) and a walk.  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Les Straker struck out three in two perfect innings of relief.  Jeff Reardon pitched a perfect inning of relief.

Opposition stars:  Jim Clancy pitched a complete game, giving up one run on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts.  George Bell was 1-for-2 with a home run (his fifth), a walk, and a hit batsman, scoring twice and driving in three.  Jesse Barfield was 1-for-2 with a double and two walks, scoring once.

The game:  Cecil Fielder's two-run single in the second put the Blue Jays up 2-0.  It was 3-0 after three, Hrbek's homer made it 3-1 in the fourth, and Bell hit a two-run homer in the fifth.  The Twins did not get a man past first base after the fourth inning.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 and is batting .346...Frank Viola pitched five innings, allowing five runs on five hits and five walks with four strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 12-8, in first place by a half game over California.

Notes:  Randy Bush was the leadoff batter in right field.  Brunansky was again in left with Dan Gladden on the bench...This was one of five relief appearances Straker made in 1987.  It appears that sometimes, when there was an off day, his spot in the rotation would be skipped and he would be used in relief... When people talk about the top pitchers of the 80s, Jim Clancy is seldom mentioned, but he was pretty good for most of the decade.  He joined the Blue Jays rotation in 1978 and was pretty mediocre.  He was injured for much of 1979 and was ineffective when he did pitch.  He led the league in walks in 1980 but still had some good numbers:  3.30 ERA, 1.38 WHIP.  He had a down year in 1981 but came back in 1982 to make his only all-star appearance and lead the league in starts with forty.  He remained in the Toronto rotation through 1988.  He became a free agent and signed with Houston for 1989.  Things did not go well for him there.  He moved to the bullpen in 1990, was traded to Atlanta in 1991, and ended his career after that season.  He never had great won-lost records, but he pitched over 200 innings six times and was over 190 two more time.  I'm not saying he was a superstar, but he was a valuable man to have around for quite a few seasons.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 23

William Hulbert (1832)
Mike Sullivan (1866)
Lena Blackburne (1886)
Rube Bressler (1894)
Billy Sullivan (1910)
Vern Stephens (1920)
Ewell Blackwell (1922)
Jim Bunning (1931)
Greg Thayer (1949)
John Castino (1954)
Dwight Lowry (1957)
Al Leiter (1965)
Todd Sears (1975)
David Riske (1976)
John Lackey (1978)
Bud Smith (1979)
Kyle Gibson (1987)

William Hulbert was one of the founders of the National League and was its president from 1877 until his death in 1882.

Infielder Lena Blackburne discovered and marketed the mud from the driver beds near the Delaware River in New Jersey that has been rubbed on every major league baseball used since the 1950s.

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Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Nineteen

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MINNESOTA 10, CALIFORNIA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, April 26.

Batting stars:  Roy Smalley was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk, scoring once and driving in three.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with a home run (his sixth) scoring twice.

Pitching star:  George Frazier pitched three innings, giving up one run on no hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Wally Joyner was 2-for-3 with two homers (his fourth and fifth) and three RBIs.  Brian Downing was 2-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.  Jack Howell was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  In the first, Kent Hrbek delivered an RBI single and later scored on Gaetti's two-run homer to put the Twins up 3-0.

Of Note:  Dan Gladden was 1-for-5 with a double and a run, making his average .300...Puckett raised his average to .351...Tim Laudner made only his third start of the season, going 0-for-4...Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-3 with two walks and a home run...Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.  He apparently left two pitches up to Joyner and one to Downing.

Record:  The Twins were 12-7, in first place by a game over California.

Notes:  This was the first time all season the Twins used what I think of as their "regular" 1987 lineup:  Gladden, Lombardozzi, Puckett, Hrbek, Gaetti, Smalley, Brunansky, Laudner, and Gagne...The Angels starter was Urbano Lugo, a native of Venezuela.  He was signed in 1982.  He pretty much topped out at AA--he was pretty mediocre in AAA, but got some chances in the big leagues anyway.  It should be pointed out that his AAA seasons were in Edmonton in the Pacific Coast League, a hitters' league.  He was with California for much of 1985, spending too months in the rotation, where he wasn't great but wasn't awful, either.  He made only six major league appearances in 1986.  He began 1987 in the Angels' rotation, and this time he was awful, going 0-2, 9.32.  He made one more appearance for California in 1988, then moved on.  He was in the majors briefly with Montreal in 1989 and Detroit in 1990, never getting much accomplished.  For his career he was 6-7, 5.31, 1.55 WHIP in 162.2 innings.