1987 Rewind: Game Sixty-one

CHICAGO 6, MINNESOTA 2 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Saturday, June 13.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourteenth.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with a home run (his thirteenth) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Les Straker pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Richard Dotson pitched seven shutout innings, giving up six hits and two walks while striking out three.  Ivan Calderon was 3-for-4 with a triple and a double, scoring twice and driving in two.  Carlton Fisk was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.

The game:  The White Sox scored single runs in the second and fifth to go up 2-0.  The Twins got on the board in the eighth, with a Kent Hrbek homer, but Chicago blew it open in the bottom of the eighth, getting two-run doubles from Calderon and Ken Williams to go ahead 6-1.  Brunansky homered in the ninth but the Twins did not do any more damage.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4, dropping his average to .311...Roy Smalley was 1-for-4 to make his average .321.

Record:  The Twins were 34-27, in first place by a game over Oakland.

Notes:  Steve Lombardozzi again batted second...Sal Butera was the starting catcher again.  While Tim Laudner was the primary catcher for the Twins in 1987, he only started 76 games, and he and Butera largely shared catching duties once Butera joined the team.

Player profile:  This was the first full season for Ivan Calderon, and it was his best one.  He was signed as a free agent by Seattle in 1979, saw some time in the majors with the Mariners from 1984-86, but was traded to the White Sox as the player to be named later in a deal for Scott Bradley.  He didn't play a lot that season, but in 1987 he had the starting right fielder job and made the most of it, batting .293/.362/.526 with 28 homers.  He struggled through an injury-plagues 1988, but bounced back in 1989 to bat .278, although his OPS dropped to .770.  He had similar number in 1990 and after the season was traded to Montreal in a deal that included Tim Raines. He had a good 1991 for the Expos, making his only all-star team and batting .300/.368/.471, the only time he batted .300.  He was hurt much of 1992, although he did okay when healthy.  That was as good as it got, though.  He was traded to Boston after the 1992 season, was released in August, finished up the season back with the White Sox, and then his playing career was over.  I seem to remember him as a better player than he was, but he had about five pretty solid major league seasons.  His career numbers are .272/.333/.442 with 104 home runs and 97 stolen bases.  Ivan Calderon was killed in a bar in December of 2003.  It appears to have been a deliberate murder, but the reasons for such murder were not apparent from a quick internet search.