Monthly Archives: March 2019

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 2

Horace Fogel (1861)
Moe Berg (1902)
Woody English (1906)
Jack Knott (1907)
Mel Ott (1909)
Mort Cooper (1913)
Jim Konstanty (1917)
Jim Nettles (1947)
Pete Broberg (1950)
Larry Wolfe (1953)
Terry Steinbach (1962)
Ron Gant (1965)
Jay Gibbons (1977)
Glen Perkins (1983)
Bud Norris (1985)

Horace Fogel was a sportswriter who became manager of the New York Giants in 1902.  His time as Giants manager is best remembered for his attempt to move Christy Mathewson to first base.  He was fired 41 games into the season and replaced by Heinie Smith, who put an end to such nonsense.  Instead, he tried to move Mathewson to shortstop.

We assume everyone reading this knows Ron Gant's connection to the Minnesota Twins.

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Friday Music Day

FMD 3-1-2019. Bless the internet.

20 Comments

Bless the internet for giving people a chance to either stay in their lane and listen to 3 artists over and over and over again, or fill up their brains with thousands of artists and dozens of genres of music. Im not as adventurous with my music playing these days (I dont even buy a handful of records anymore) but knowing that if I have to scratch an itch I can do it with a couple of clicks of my mouse.

Drop your 10 or just casually chat about music.
I'll be watching this Police concert for about the 20th time

Keeping Track

1969 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-five

KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, September 14.

Batting stars:  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-third.

Pitching star:  Bob Miller struck out five in 4.2 innings, giving up one run on no hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Dick Drago pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out five.  Luis Alcaraz was 1-for-4 with a home run.

The game:  Alcaraz hit a home run with one out in the first to put the Royals up 1-0.  Each team then missed some chances--the Twins got a pair of two-out singles in the second, Kansas City loaded the bases with two out in the third, and the Twins got another pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the third.  The Royals increased their lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Chuck Harrison doubled and ex-Twin Jackie Hernandez singled.

The Twins tied it in the sixth.  Harmon Killebrew and Rich Reese singled with one-out in the first.  A ground out moved the runners up and Johnny Roseboro was given an intentional walk.  Cardenas foiled the strategy with a two-run double to make the score 2-2.  The Twins took the lead in the eighth when Oliva led off with a home run.

Lou Piniella led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk. Ron Perranoski came in and allowed a run-scoring double to Hawk Taylor, making the score 3-3.  A bunt moved Taylor to third and Jerry Adair singled to put Kansas City up 4-3.  The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

WP:  Drago (10-11).  LP:  Perranoski (9-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins used their regular lineup.  Rod Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .337.  Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .323.  Oliva was batting .313.  Perranoski raised his ERA to 2.22.

Tom Hall pitched 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks and striking out one.  It seems like a pretty quick hook for Hall.  Maybe Billy Martin thought that if you can't get Jackie Hernandez out when you need to, you shouldn't be in the game.

This was one of four major league home runs hit by Luis Alcaraz.  An infielder, he had gotten a September call-up with the Dodgers in 1967 and spent about half of 1968 with them.  He batted just .151 in 1968, however, and even in a pitchers' era that was considered unacceptable.  He was sold to Kansas City after the season and got a couple of months with them in both 1969 and 1970.  For his career, he batted .192/.235/.260 with four home runs in 391 plate appearances.  He then played in the Mexican League for several years, finally ending his playing career in 1981 at age forty.  He is a distant cousin of Orlando Cepeda and was a player-manager in the last few years of his career.

Record:  The Twins were 87-58, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 1

*Dickey Pearce (1839)
Paul Hines (1855)
Farmer Vaughn (1864)
*Pepper Martin (1904)
Harry Caray (1914)
Bing Devine (1916)
Othello Renfroe (1923)
*Al Rosen (1924)
Larry Brown (1940)
Vern Fuller (1944)
*Steve Mingori (1944)
Jeff Holly (1953)
Dick Bremer (1956)
Johnny Ray (1957)
Mark Gardner (1962)
Rich Rodriguez (1963)
Tony Castillo (1963)
Omar Daal (1972)
Ramon Castro (1976)
*Terrence Long (1976)
Ken Harvey (1978)
Trevor Cahill (1998)

*Born February 29.

Bing Devine worked in baseball front offices from 1939-1978, spending most of that time in the Cardinals organization.  He was the St. Louis general manager from 1957-1964 and 1968-1978, serving as the general manager of the Mets from 1965-1967.

Othello Renfroe played in the Negro Leagues for several years.  He eventually became a broadcaster, sportswriter, scout, and public address announcer.  He was also the first African-American official scorer in major league baseball.

A lifelong Minnesotan, Dick Bremer has been a Twins broadcaster from 1983 to the present with the exception of 1986.

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