Monthly Archives: March 2017

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: World Series Game Two

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MINNESOTA 8, ST. LOUIS 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  October 18, 1987.

Batting stars:  Tim Laudner was 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk, scoring twice and driving in three.  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk, scoring twice.  Randy Bush was 1-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven struck out eight in seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk.  Jeff Reardon pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Curt Ford was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run.  Dan Driessen was 1-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Tony Pena was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.

The game:  The Twins once again jumped on the Cardinals with a big fourth inning.  They took a 1-0 lead in the second on a home run by Gaetti.  In the fourth, singles by Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek and a walk to Gaetti loaded the bases with one out.  Bush then hit a two-run double to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.  An intentional walk to Tom Brunansky loaded the bases.  Steve Lombardozzi hit a short fly ball for the second out, but Laudner had a two-run single and Dan Gladden followed with an RBI single, making it 6-0 and chasing St. Louis starter Danny Cox from the game.  Greg Gagne greeted reliever Lee Tunnell with a run-scoring double to make it 7-0 and the Twins were in control the rest of the way.  The Cardinals got on the board in the fifth on an RBI ground out, but Laudner got the run back for the Twins with a home run in the sixth.  St. Louis got one in the seventh and two in the eighth to make the final score look better, but the Cardinals never even got the tying run to the on-deck circle.

Notes:  Tim Laudner was another unlikely batting hero for the Twins...Doing this series has made me realize how important Randy Bush was to the 1987 team.  Not that he was the team MVP or anywhere near it, but he was a solid contributor as a part-time player...I don't remember if this was the game where Whitey Herzog started whining about Blyleven not coming to a stop in his stretch, but it probably was.  For a great manager (and he truly was--six time in the LCS, three times in the World Series, one world championship), it seems to me that Herzog whined an awful lot...Dan Driessen was the Cardinals first baseman and fourth place batter in this game.  At the end of a fine career, Driessen had gone unsigned until June, when the Cards signed him and sent him to AAA, bringing him to the majors in September.  He batted .233/.309/.317 for them in sixty at-bats.  Losing Jack Clark was obviously a major blow to the St. Louis championship hopes...Ford was the Cardinals primary right fielder, but he only played in 89 games and had 228 at-bats.  They never really did find a right fielder that year, playing David Green, Lance Johnson (at age 23 and in his first season), Tito Landrum, Jim Lindeman, and John Morris at the position.

Record:  The Twins led the best-of-seven series 2-0.  Now, however, the series would move to Busch Stadium in St. Louis.  Would the Twins be able to win a World Series game on the road?  We shall see.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 21

Jack Herbert (1877)
Mysterious Walker (1894)
Bill McGowan (1896)
Shanty Hogan (1906)
Tommy Davis (1939)
Manny Sanguillen (1944)
Al Fitzmorris (1946)
Bill Plummer (1947)
Fernando Arroyo (1952)
Luis Leal (1957)
Shawon Dunston (1963)
Tim McIntosh (1965)
Cristian Guzman (1978)
Aaron Hill (1982)

Jack Herbert was a minor league manager in the early 1900s.  Among the teams he managed were the Pekin Celestials, the Cedar Rapids Rabbits, and the Cairo Egyptians.

Bill McGowan was an American League umpire from 1925-1954.  He worked the first all-star game and worked eight World Series.

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Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: World Series Game One

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MINNESOTA 10, ST. LOUIS 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, October 17.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a grand slam, a double, and a stolen base, driving in five.  Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and a walk, scoring three times.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-2 with two walks, scoring twice and driving in two.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks with five strikeouts.  Keith Atherton pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jim Lindeman was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.  Willie McGee was 2-for-3.

The game:  The Cardinals got on the board in the second inning, as Lindeman led off with a double, went to third on a fly ball and scored on Tony Pena's ground out.  In the fourth, however, the Twins took control.  Singles by Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky, and Don Baylor loaded the bases with none out and Hrbek hit the fourth consecutive single to drive in two and put the Twins ahead.  Lombardozzi walked to again load the bases, which got St. Louis starter Joe Magrane a trip to the showers.  Bob Forsch came in and immediately gave up an RBI single to Tim Laudner and a grand slam to Gladden.  The slam killed the rally, but no one cared as the Twins had a 7-1 lead.  Lombardozzi hit a two-run homer in the fifth to make it 9-1.  The Twins scored their final run in the seventh when Lombardozzi singled and Gladden doubled him home.

Notes:  Gladden and Lombardozzi were probably the least likely Twins to hit home runs, as each hit only eight during the season...Magrane was in his rookie season in 1987 and was just twenty-two years old.  He had done well for the Cardinals, going 9-7, 3.54, 1.27 WHIP in 26 starts (170.1 innings).  There was controversy about going with a pitcher that young in Game 1, but he had the lowest ERA and the lowest WHIP of any of the St. Louis starters.  Danny Cox and John Tudor were unavailable due to their use in the NLCS, so the only other real choices were Greg Mathews and Forsch, who came on in relief in this game...Lindeman played first base and batted fourth for St. Louis.  I have zero memory of him.  He was a part-time player for the Cardinals from 1986-89 and was in the majors for at least parts of seasons through 1994, playing for Detroit, Philadelphia, Houston, and the Mets.  He played corner outfield as well as first base.  1987 was the year he saw his most major league playing time, appearing in 75 games and getting 207 at-bats.  He batted .208/.253/.386 that season.  For his career, he appeared in 351 games, got 676 at-bats, and batted .244/.289/.391.  His best season was 1991, when he batted .337/.413/.389 in 95 at-bats for Philadelphia.  The Cardinals' regular first baseman in 1987 was Jack Clark, who was unavailable in the World Series due to an ankle injury.

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

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 20

Bill Cammeyer (1821)
Mike Griffin (1865)
Joe McGinnity (1871)
Bob Connery (1880)
Walter Schmidt (1887)
Vern Kennedy (1907)
Clyde Shoun (1912)
Hank Izquierdo (1931)
George Altman (1933)
Pat Corrales (1941)
Rick Langford (1952)
Steve McCatty (1954)
Paul Mirabella (1954)
Si-jin Kim (1958)
Chris Hoiles (1965)
Manny Alexander (1971)

Bill Cammeyer was involved in the early days of professional baseball.  He is credited as a pioneer who put a fence around his ballpark so he could charge admission.  He built a clubhouse, graded the diamond, created a very primitive set of stands for fans, and put a saloon inside the fence.

Bob Connery is the scout credited with discovering Rogers Hornsby and Tony Lazzeri.

Paul Mirabella was drafted by Minnesota in the sixteenth round in 1975, but did not sign.

Si-Jin Kim was a top pitcher in the first decade of Korean professional baseball.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to AMR’s daughter.

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History

1987 ALCS Champs’ Domecoming

Video 7 Comments

I found this gem shortly after JeffA started his 1987 Rewind. This evening seemed like the appropriate time to share it. I didn't want to detract from Jeff's content, and in any case figured there were enough goodies that this would be worth its own post. Hope you don't mind, Chaps.