Happy Birthday–October 27

Joe Mulvey (1858)
Patsy Dougherty (1867)
Shad Berry (1878)
Ralph Kiner (1922)
Del Rice (1922)
Pumpsie Green (1933)
Lee Stange (1936)
Mike Lum (1945)
Pete Vuckovich (1952)
U. L. Washington (1953)
Barry Bonnell (1953)
Tom Nieto (1960)
Bill Swift (1961)
Bip Roberts (1963)
Brad Radke (1972)
Jason Johnson (1973)
Martin Prado (1983)
Kyle Waldrop (1985)
Jason Wheeler (1990)

Bill Swift was drafted by Minnesota in the second round in 1983, but he did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 27

FMD 10/26/18: A New Start

No, not the Arrested Development reference.

Spoiler SelectShow

We recently moved into a new house. It's smallish, but fits us well, and there's room to grow. The basement is completely unfinished and there are already footing poured for an addition if we ever wanted to grow outward too. This all has me thinking about opportunities, including the opportunity to set up a home for ideal music listening purposes.

I've not really followed all the various systems and whatnot, and I suppose I'll probably never actually get to do some cool system but... if you had a new start on a home, what kind of listening devices/locations/functions would you like to have?

As for right now... I'd be happy with finding a working CD player and eventually unpacking my old collection. It's been far too long. Maybe I'll get lucky and come across the right box this weekend.

Drop a list too, if'n you're inclined.

1969 Rewind: Game Twenty-five

MINNESOTA 10, CLEVELAND 3 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Wednesday, May 7.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his sixth and seventh) and a walk, driving in three.  Jim Kaat was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Kaat pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out three.

Opposition star:  Jose Cardenal was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his third.

The game:  The Twins went down in order in the first, but Killebrew led off the second with a home run.  Charlie Manuel walked, but the next two batters went out and when Johnny Roseboro hit a ground ball to second it looked like the inning would be over.  Vern Fuller booted it, putting men on first and second.  No worries, it just brought up the pitcher's spot.  The pitcher, however, was Kaat, and he delivered a two-run double to left, with Roseboro scoring from first to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Indians got on the board.  Richie Scheinblum led off with a single, but a forceout put Ray Fosse on first instead.  A single and another forceout put men on first and third, and a wild pitch brought Fosse home to make it 3-1.

The Twins got the run back with interest in the fifth.  Kaat again was involved, leading off the inning with a single.  A forceout made Ted Uhlaender the baserunner.  He stole second and scored on a Tony Oliva single.  Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins up 6-1.

Cleveland didn't give up, as Cap Peterson hit a one-out single and scored on Cardenal's two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the margin to 6-3.  In the sixth, however, Rich Reese led off with a double and two walks filled the bases.  The Twins then got consecutive singles from UhlaenderCarew, and Oliva to go ahead 10-3 and put the game out of reach.

WPKaat (2-0).  LP:  Luis Tiant (0-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Carew was batting .395.  Manuel was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .391.  Roseboro was 0-for-4 with a walk and was batting .320.  Oliva was batting .314.  Killebrew was batting .313.  Cardenas was 0-for-4 and was batting .305.  Uhlaender was 1-for-5 and was batting .304.

Manuel obviously did not stay at .391.  He was mostly used as a pinch-hitter in 1969, playing in 83 games but starting just 31 and getting only 164 at-bats.  Pinch-hitting is a tough way to make your living, especially for a young player (he was twenty-five and in his rookie season), and Manuel wasn't up to it, batting just 0.83 with six walks and no extra base hits.  That didn't stop Billy Martin from using him in that role forty-three times in 1969.  In games that he started, Manuel hit a fairly respectable .250/.369/.352.  He hit .320/.411/.597 in AAA--one wonders what he might have done if he'd been with a team that would put him in the lineup and let him play.

Kaat has a reputation of having been a good hitter.  It would be more accurate to say that he was a good hitter for a pitcher.  His lifetime batting numbers are .185/.227/.267.  He had two good years at the plate:  1981, when he went 3-for-8, and 1972, when he batting .289/.304/.489 in 45 at-bats.  There were only two other seasons when he had an OPS of over. 600.  In 1969, he went .207/.247/.368 in 87 at-bats.  Again, good for a pitcher, but not actually good.

Jose Cardenal had more power than I remember.  He wasn't a power hitter, but he hit double digit home runs in eight seasons.  His high was seventeen, with the Cubs in 1972.  He would hit eleven in 1969.  He was a good batter, batting .275/.333/.395 in 18 major league seasons.  He never put up eye-popping numbers--he hit over .300 only twice--but he was a consistently good ballplayer for a long time.

Zoilo Versalles was used as a pinch-hitter by Cleveland, getting a single to center.  He was near the end of his major league career, although he would continue to play in Mexico through 1974.

Record:  The Twins were 17-8, in first place, leading Oakland by 1.5 games.

Happy Birthday–October 26

Frank Selee (1859)
Kid Gleason (1866)
Lee Tannehill (1880)
Dick Hoblitzel (1888)
Tommy Griffith (1889)
Judy Johnson (1900)
Snuffy Stirnweiss (1918)
Bud Byerly (1920)
Toby Harrah (1948)
Mike Hargrove (1949)
Steve Rogers (1949)
Dave Coleman (1950)
Harry Chappas (1957)
Gil Heredia (1965)
Mark Sweeney (1969)
Francisco Liriano (1983)

Frank Selee was the manager of the Boston Beaneaters from 1890-1901, winning the National League pennant five times.  He also managed the Cubs from 1902-1905 until his health forced him to retire.

William Julius "Judy" Johnson was a star third baseman in the Negro Leagues.

We would like to wish a very happy birthday to AuntieWalt.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 26

Rocco’s Modern Baseball

The news finally emerged early this morning: Rocco Baldelli will be the 14th manager since the Twins franchise moved to Minnesota. For the first time since Ray Miller in 1985, the Twins have hired a manager from outside the organization.  Baldelli will be just the 4th manager employed by the Twins in the last three decades.

By bringing in Baldelli, the Twins have finally jumped into the modern era. With Derek Falvey (35), Thad Levine (45), & Baldelli (37), management of the club is the youngest it’s been since Andy MacPhail (then 33) & Tom Kelly (then 36) started running the team together in 1986. Twins fans don’t need to be reminded of the accomplishments of that tandem of baseball minds.

At the same time, youth alone is not a guarantee of success. Youth can serve as a proxy for fresh thinking, which the Twins certainly needed when Falvey & Levine were brought in to run the organization’s baseball operations. The early results have been uneven. In some ways, the team is still recovering from Bill Smith’s disastrous tenure as GM, which was compounded by Terry Ryan’s return to the helm and refusal to consider other possibilities.

Falvey & Levine inherited Paul Molitor, an incumbent manager with strong ties to the club going back to his playing days, and by every indication, Molitor embraced a new approach to the game he knows in his marrow. To some, Molitor might seem fated to have been a transitional manager. His coaching career did not include lengthy service in the minor leagues or coaching apprenticeships under managers with a track record of developing future managers. He served under one of the last old-school GMs, and one of the youngest new-school Chief Baseball Officers. Molitor was something of the insider’s outsider, a Hall of Fame player & hometown guy without a long track record for the gig he held. He was open to new ideas, but they weren’t ideas that were organic to his understanding of the game.

Baldelli will be notable for his youth — he is now the youngest manager in the major leagues. What is more important, however, is what Baldelli brings with him. Baldelli was the sixth overall pick in the draft class immediately preceding Joe Mauer’s, the one in which the Twins drafted Adam Johnson second overall. He was a dynamic young outfielder whose career was derailed by injuries, ultimately forced into retirement by mitochondrial channelopathy. Along the way, Baldelli received the Tony Conigliaro Award and played for two organizations — the Rays and Red Sox — known for fresh thinking. His ability to translate his experience into effective support struggling players  will be vital to the futures of Byron Buxton and Miguel Sanó. Baldelli’s coaching work in Tampa Bay, particularly his last two years as field coordinator, will give data-driven baseball decisions an organic voice in the clubhouse. Should Derek Shelton remain on Baldelli’s coaching staff, the Twins will double-down on Rays coaching alumni, while Shelton can help his former colleague get familiar with the terrain of the clubhouse.

After years of ossified thinking, which produced mediocre results that were excruciating to watch, the Twins are completing a turn into the future. Welcome, Rocco’s Modern Baseball.