Monthly Archives: June 2020

WGOM Games

Initial Time We Play A Game With Two Letters For Seven Consecutive Weeks

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Just in case the guy on KFAN has got his intellectual property ducks in a row with his Kickstarter thing, I will not refer to this game by the same name he has given his version. Instead, this will be the initial time I "host" a game for the second on this platform with the following rules:

1. I will give you two letters (for example, "K.P"). All the items that week will be a two-word answer in which each word begins with letter in the appropriate spot. The answer can be a person, place, thing, or other two-word phrase. For example, if "K.P." are the letters, then one answer might be Kirby Puckett. Another answer might be "Krakow, Poland." And so on.

2. I will provide six clues for each answer. The clues will be provided one-at-a-time.

3. If you believe you know the answer, make a Spoilered guess in the thread. The point will go to whomever correctly identifies the answer first. If you submit an incorrect response, then you can no longer submit for that particular answer.

4. The participant with the most correct answers at the end of the week wins. (If there is a tie, then I will have tiebreakers for only the participants in the tie.)

5. You're going to be on the honor system, but you should not be using the internet or other resources.

The letters will be revealed, and clues for the first phrase will commence at 9:00am.

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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1967, Game One Hundred

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MINNESOTA 10, BOSTON 3 IN BOSTON (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Saturday, July 29.

Batting stars:  Rich Rollins was 4-for-5 with two runs.  Bob Allison was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his fifteenth and sixteenth) and three RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirty-first), a double, a walk, and two runs.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer (his fourth) and a stolen base (his third).  Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 with a home run, his eleventh.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out five.

Opposition star:  George Scott was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirteenth.

The game:  Allison led off the second with a home run for the game's first run.  Cesar Tovar was then hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on Rollins' single.  Uhlaender singled and Earl Battey walked, loading the bases with still none out.  A double play followed, but a run scored to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.  The Red Sox bounced back with two in the bottom of the second.  Tony Conigliaro led off with a bunt single and Scott followed with an inside-the-park home run to cut the Twins' margin to 3-2.

A big two-out rally in the fifth put the Twins in control to stay.  Killebrew doubled and Allison homered.  The home run did not kill the rally, as Tovar laid down a bunt single, Rollins singled, and Uhlaender hit a three-run homer to put the Twins in front 8-2.  The Twins scored a couple more two-out runs in the sixth on back-to-back homers by Oliva and Killebrew.

Boston got their final run in the ninth.  George Thomas singled, Jose Tartabull walked, and with two out Reggie Smith singled.  Bob Tillman then hit into a forceout to end the game.

WP:  Perry (3-5).  LP:  Gary Waslewski (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  This was Battey's last year, and he was able to catch just 41 games, including this one.  Jerry Zimmerman was the primary catcher, catching 104 games.  Zimmerman was a career backup, and this year we found out why, as he batted just .167 with an OPS of .432.  The next year would be his last--I suspect the Twins did not miss him as much as they would later miss Henry Blanco.

Tovar was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  It appears Carew was simply given the game off.  Tovar, of course, could play pretty much anywhere on the field.

With a big lead, the Twins made some substitutions.  Frank Quilici went to second base in the fifth inning in place of Tovar.  Rich Reese pinch-ran for Killebrew in the eighth and stayed in the game at first base.  Sandy Valdespino went to left field in the eighth in place of Allison.

The Twins did not have a .300 hitter in 1967 unless you count guys with fewer than 40 at-bats.  Carew led the team at .292.  The Twins batted .240, which was fourth-best in the league.  Boston led at .255.

Killebrew led the team in home runs with 44.  Allison hit 24 and Oliva 17.  The Twins hit 141 homers, which was tied for fourth in the league.  Boston led there, too, with 158.

Dean Chance led with 39 starts and went 20-14, 2.73, 1.10 WHIP.  Jim Kaat made 38 starts and went 16-13, 3.04, 1.18.  Dave Boswell was 14-12, 3.27, 1.21 and Jim Merritt was 13-7, 2.53, 0.99.  Mudcat Grant was in the rotation at the start of the season but struggled, going 5-6, 4.72, 1.45.  Perry became the fifth starter when needed and made 11 starts.  For the season he was 9-7, 3.03, 1.32.  The Twins were second in ERA at 3.14--the White Sox lapped the field at 2.45 (they were next to last in runs scored, however).  The Twins were third in WHIP at 1.19--the White Sox led there, too, at 1.12.

He didn't play in this game, but I can't let the 1967 season go by without mentioning reserve catcher Hank Izquierdo.  He was the third catcher for the last two months of the season.  A career minor league, he had spent five years in AAA for Cincinnati from 1957-1961, never getting a chance at the majors.  He came to the Twins organization in 1963 and spent the year at Class A.  He was in AA from 1964 through the first half of 1966, went to AAA in the second half of that year and also in 1967, and finally in August of 1967, at age thirty-six, made his major league debut.  The reason he spent all those years in the minors is that he couldn't hit--he batted .220/.276/.280 in AAA.  In a small sample size, he actually did fairly well in the bigs--.269/.296/.346 in 28 plate appearances.  He was in AAA for Houston for the next two seasons, then played in Mexico for five years until finally hanging it up at age forty-three.  I assume he was considered an excellent defensive catcher.  I'm not saying he deserved more of a chance or anything.  I just think it's neat that he got rewarded for all of his years of minor league service.  Baseball could use more stories like that.

George Scott hit 271 major league home runs.  I don't know if any of the others were inside-the-park, but I doubt it.

Record:  The Twins were 52-46, in fourth place in the American League, 4.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 91-71, tied for second with Detroit, one game behind Boston.

The Twins played two ties in 1967.  They tied Detroit 5-5 on June 21 and tied New York 1-1 on July 25.  Thus, while this was game one hundred, they only had 98 decisions.  The Twins would actually play 164 games in 1967.  Tovar played in all 164 and Killebrew played in 162.  I wonder if any other team had two players who played in more than 162 games in the same season.

The Red Sox were 55-43, in second place in the American League, 1.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 92-70, in first place, one game ahead of Detroit and Minnesota.

Random record:  The Twins are 42-41 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 23

George Weiss (1894)
Jack Smith (1895)
Karl Spooner (1931)
Dave Bristol (1933)
Tom Haller (1937)
Dave Goltz (1949)
Marty Barrett (1958)
Jim Deshaies (1960)
Hensley Meulens (1967)
Josh Byrnes (1970)
Mark Hendrickson (1974)

George Weiss was the general manager of the New York Yankees from 1948-1960.

Karl Spooner set the record, later tied by J. R. Richard, for strikeouts in a major league debut with fifteen.

Dave Bristol managed four different teams from 1966-1980.

Josh Byrnes has been the general manager of Arizona and San Diego and is currently the senior vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 23 →

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1968, Game Ninety

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OAKLAND 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 19.

Batting star:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-2 with two hit-by-pitches.

Pitching star:  Ron Perranoski struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Blue Moon Odom pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks and striking out two.  Bert Campaneris was 4-for-4 with a stolen base, his twenty-seventh.  Sal Bando was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Reggie Jackson was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his sixteenth.

The game:  With two out and none on in the first, Rick Monday and Bando singled and Jackson hit a three-run homer.  In the bottom of the first, Tovar was hit by a pitch, Rich Reese singled, and Oliva walked, loading the bases with one out.  A wild pitch brought a run home and led to an intentional walk to Ted Uhlaender.  Frank Quilici hit a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 3-2.

And that was pretty much it.  Neither team got a man past first again until the sixth.  Campaneris singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Bando's single to make the lead 4-2.  The Twins never were able to get a man past first again, and 4-2 was the final score.

WP:  Odom (8-6).  LP:  Jim Merritt (5-11).  S:  Diego Segui (1).

Notes:  Reese was at first base.  This was the year Harmon Killebrew was injured in the all-star game and missed two months of the season.  He'd been having a poor season before that, batting just .204 when he was injured.

Rick Renick was at shortstop.  The Twins used four players at short in 1968, with Jackie Hernandez getting the most games there with 79.  Ron Clark had 44, Renick 40, and Tovar 35.  The only one of the who hit much was Tovar, but he was needed elsewhere and was probably stretched defensively at shortstop anyway.

Frank Quilici was at third.  The Twins used four players at third base, too, not counting Killebrew, who played 11 games there.  Tovar played the most, at 77.  Rich Rollins was there for 56, Ron Clark 53, and Quilici 40.  Again, Tovar was the only one who hit much.  The Twins played Tovar all over the diamond, but unfortunately they could only play him in one position at a time.

In this game Tovar was in left field in place of Bob Allison.  Allison may have been dealing with some minor injury, as he played sparingly or not at all for about a week.

Rollins pinch-hit for pitcher Merritt in the seventh.  Bruce Look pinch-hit for Renick in the ninth.  Hernandez pinch-ran for Johnny Roseboro in the ninth.  Allison pinch-hit for pitcher Perranoski in the ninth.

The only Twin over .300 at this time was Quilici, who was batting .315.  He would bat .212 in the second half of the season and finish at .245.  The leading batter for the Twins would be Oliva at .289, which was good for second in the league.  The Twins would bat .237, which was also good for second in the league.  Oakland led at .240.

With Killebrew missing so much time, Allison led the team with 22 home runs and Oliva was second with 18.  Killebrew hit 17.  The Twins hit 105 home runs, sixth in the league.  Detroit led with 185, which was 52 more than the second place team (Baltimore).

Merritt pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks and struck out three.  He pitched very well after the first inning, but unfortunately the rules don't allow mulligans.  Think how good Brad Radke would've been if they did.  On paper the Twins' rotation looks really good, although this was the Year of the Pitcher.  Dean Chance led in starts with 39 and went 16-16, 2.53.  Merritt was 12-16, 3.25.  Jim Kaat was 14-12, 2.94 and Dave Boswell was 10-13, 3.32.  When a fifth starter was needed, it was Jim Perry, who was 8-6, 2.27.

The bullpen was essentially four pitchers, five if you count Perry.  Perranoski was 8-7, 3.10 with 6 saves.  Al Worthington was 4-5, 2.71 with 18 saves.  Bob Miller was 0-3, 2.74 with two saves and Jim Roland was 4-1, 3.50.

The Twins were sixth in the league in ERA at 2.89.  Cleveland led at 2.66.  The Twins were fourth in WHIP at 1.14.  Cleveland led there, too at 1.11.

Record:  The Twins were 43-47, in sixth place in the American League, 15 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 79-83, in seventh place, 24 games behind Detroit.

The Athletics were 44-47, in fifth place in the American League, 14.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 82-80, in sixth place, 21 games behind Detroit.

Random record:  The Twins are 41-41 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 22

Carl Hubbell (1903)
Walt Masterson (1920)
Han Urbanus (1927)
Faye Throneberry (1931)
Russ Snyder (1934)
Ron Hodges (1949)
Dave Tomlin (1949)
Greg Booker (1960)
Brant Brown (1971)
Esteban Yan (1975)
Willie Harris (1978)
Luis Maza (1980)
Ian Kinsler (1982)
Engelb Vielma (1994)

Han Urbanus is in the Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame.  He pitched over 150 consecutive complete games over a period of eight years.

The brother of Marv Throneberry, outfielder Faye Throneberry spent much of his career with the Twins franchise while it was still in Washington (1957-1960).  In December of 1960, he was chosen by the Los Angeles Angels in the expansion draft.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 22 →

WGOM Videos

Archie Schepp – Attica Blues

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https://youtu.be/pbkSFk94M0c

I got the feeling that's something ain’t going right
and I'm worried 'bout the human soul...

Originally recorded as the title track of Attica Blues (1972).

3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)
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