Monthly Archives: July 2020

Friday Music Day

FMD: July 3, 2020 – Hope and Pride and Maybe A Bit of Patriotism

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Look, things are complicated in this country. We all know that. We're reckoning with a lot of horrible facts about both our present and our past. But, at bottom, I think we can acknowledge that some flawed, complicated people came together and set up a novel framework that genuinely enabled things to get better. And this weekend is a time to reflect on that. A chance to think about what we might do to make things better too - because, at bottom, we're all flawed, complicated people too.

Anyway, let's identify some songs of hope and pride, and maybe a bit of patriotism - real patriotism, not that "everything we do must be the best because it is us" stuff.

And to kick it off, here's Ray Charles singing America The Beautiful at the 2001 World Series.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1961, Game One Hundred Forty-three

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MINNESOTA 7, KANSAS CITY 0 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Sunday, September 10.

Batting stars:  Earl Battey was 2-for-4 with a home run (his seventeenth) and two runs.  Joe Altobelli was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with a three-run homer (his forty-third), three walks, and two runs.

Pitching star:  Pedro Ramos pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and four walks and striking out five.

Opposition stars:  Lew Krausse pitched two perfect innings.  Ed Rakow pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  Each team put two men on in the first, but neither scored.  In the third Lenny Green singled with one out, Billy Martin walked, and Killebrew hit a three-run homer.  Battey homered later in the inning to make the score 4-0 Twins.

The Athletics drew a pair of one-out walks in the fourth, but a line drive double play took them out of the inning.  It was still 4-0 until the eighth.  Altobelli led off the inning with a single.  Battey reached on an error, and Bob Allison bunted the runners to second and third.  A wild pitch scored a run, Bill Tuttle walked, and Zoilo Versalles got a bunt single to make the score 6-0.

The Twins added one more in the ninth when Killebrew walked, Battey singled, and Allison had an RBI single.  Kansas City put two men on in the ninth but could not break the shutout.

WP:  Ramos (11-17).  LP:  Bill Kunkel (3-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Altobelli was in left field in place of Jim Lemon.  He had come up from the minors in early August.  This was his last season in the majors, but he would continue to play in the minors for several more years.  In 1966-1967 and in 1970 he was a player-manager in the minors, although he did not play very often.

Battey was batting .303.  He would finish at .302, the only regular player on the team to bat .300.  The Twins batted .250, which was seventh on the team.  Cleveland and Detroit led the league at .266.

Killebrew led the team in home runs with 46.  Allison was second with 29, followed by Battey with 17 and Lemon with 14.  The Twins hit 167 home runs, fourth in the league.  New York led at 240.

We went through the Twins' rotation in another 1961 game recently, so we won't repeat the discussion.  Ramos had three shutouts and nine complete games on the season.  Camilo Pascual led the team in both categories, throwing eight shutouts and fifteen complete games.  Jack Kralick had two shutouts and eleven complete games.  Jim Kaat had one shutout and eight complete games.  Don Lee, who only made ten starts, had four complete games and Al Schroll, who made eight starts, had two complete games.

The Bill Kunkel who started and lost for Kansas City is the same Bill Kunkel who was a major league umpire from 1968-1984.  He is the last person to have been both a major league player and a major league umpire.  He was a Rule 5 pick for the Yankees in 1963 and had a good year for them, pitching in 22 games and going 3-2, 2.72, 1.19 WHIP.  It looks like he mostly pitched mopup relief, but still, that's pretty good.  For some reason, though, he never got another chance in the majors.  Instead, he was in AAA for Milwaukee in 1964 and in AAA for Baltimore and Detroit in 1965.  He obviously had a much longer career as an umpire.  He retired in August of 1984 when his son, Jeff, reached the major leagues.  Sadly, he did not get much time to enjoy his retirement.  The cancer he had been fighting for years came back even stronger, and he passed away on May 4, 1985.

The Athletics used Joe Nuxhall as a pinch-hitter in the seventh.  Yes, that's the Joe Nuxhall who pitched for many years for Cincinnati and other teams.  As you probably know, he's the youngest player ever to appear in a major league game, pitching an inning in 1944 at age fifteen.  He would not reappear in the majors for eight years, but he went on to have a fine career.  He was, as they say, a good hitter for a pitcher, batting .198/.240/.292 in 861 plate appearances.  He was a good hitter, period, in 1961.  Small sample size, obviously, but he batted .292/.352/.446 with 2 home runs in 76 plate appearances.  Still, it's hard to understand using him as a pinch-hitter.  Kansas City had only used two substitutes, so they surely had position players remaining, especially in a September game.  Apparently, though, this was not unusual--it appears that he was used as a pinch-hitter 26 times in 1961, batting .250/.423/.300 in those appearances.

Record:  The Twins were 61-81, in eighth place in the American League, 37 games behind New York.  They would finish 70-90, in seventh place, 38 games behind New York.

The Athletics were 53-90, in ninth place in the American League, 45.5 games behind New York.  They would finish 61-100, tied for ninth with Washington, 47.5 games behind New York.

Random Record:  The Twins are 47-46 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 3

Nig Cuppy (1869)
Curt Walker (1896)
Buddy Rosar (1914)
Art Fowler (1922)
Ed Roebuck (1931)
Cesar Tovar (1940)
John Verhoeven (1952)
Frank Tanana (1953)
Matt Keough (1955)
Danny Heep (1957)
Warren Newson (1964)
Greg Vaughn (1965)
Moises Alou (1966)
Brian Cashman (1967)
Juan Rivera (1978)
Edinson Volquez (1983)
Tommy Hunter (1986)
Yangervis Solarte (1987)

Brian Cashman has been the general manager of the New York Yankees since 1998.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 3 →

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1989, Game Forty-seven

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TEXAS 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, May 28.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-5 with a stolen base (his fourth) and two RBIs.  John Moses was 2-for-2 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base (his seventh).  Al Newman was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a stolen base (his seventh), two runs, and two RBIs.  Randy Bush was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fifth), a walk, and two runs.

Pitching star:  Shane Rawley pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and four walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Rafael Palmeiro was 4-for-5 with two RBIs.  Jeff Kunkel was 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs.  Julio Franco was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and two RBIs.

The game:  The Twins let this one get away.  The Rangers scored first, as Kunkel led off the game with a double and scored on Palmeiro's single.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the first, as Newman led off with a double and scored on Jim Dwyer's single.  The Twins took the lead in the second.  Bush singled, Moses walked, and Newman singled, putting the Twins up 2-1.

It went to 4-1 in the fourth.  Moses hit a one-out double and stole third.  Newman walked and stole second.  With two out, Puckett delivered a two-run single.  The Twins added another run in the sixth.  Tim Laudner walked, was bunted to second, went to third on a passed ball, and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1 Twins.

The Rangers got one back in the seventh, and it came exactly as had their run in the first--Kunkel doubled and Palmeiro singled.  But Bush homered in the eighth to make it 6-2 Twins going to the ninth inning.  Things looked good for the Twins.

It wasn't to be.  Steve Shields (be honest--do you remember that the Twins had Steve Shields?), who had come in to start the eighth, remained in the game to start the ninth.  He retired the first batter, then game up a single to Cecil Espy.  Espy stole second, but Jeff Stone struck out.  The Twins just needed one more out to win the game.  Scott Fletcher hit an RBI single, making the score 6-3, but Jeff Reardon came in, needing to record just one out with the tying run still in the on-deck circle.  He wouldn't get it.  Palmeiro singled, Ruben Sierra had an RBI double, Julio Franco had a two-run double to tie it, and Rick Leach had an RBI single to put Texas ahead.  Tom Kelly finally brought in Lee Tunnell (be honest--do you remember that the Twins had Lee Tunnell?), who gave up an RBI single to Pete Incaviglia before finally getting the third out of the inning.

The Twins did try to rally in the ninth.  Dan Gladden and Puckett singled, putting the tying run on base with none out, but again, it wasn't to be.  A fly out, a strikeout and a foul out ended the game.

WP:  Cecilio Guante (2-3).  LP:  Reardon (0-2).  S:  Jeff Russell (10).

Notes:  Laudner was at catcher, of course.  Brian Harper had become the regular by 1979, but Laudner still got plenty of playing time, catching 68 games.  Gene Larkin was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek, who was out with an injury.  Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.  Moses was in left in place of Dan Gladden.

Gagne came in for defense in the ninth.  Newman moved to second and Wally Backman came out of the game.  Gladden came in for defense in the ninth as well.  Moses moved to right and Bush came out of the game.  Carmelo Castillo pinch-hit for Gagne in the ninth.

Puckett was leading the team in batting at .333.  He would finish at .339.  Moses was batting .325.  He would finish at .281.  Harper, who didn't play in this game, batted .325.  Dwyer was batting .295.  He would finish at .316.  On the other end of the scale, Laudner was batting .196.  He would finish at .222.  The Twins were second in batting at .276, just behind Boston at .277.

Home runs, again, were another story.  Hrbek led the team with 25.  Gary Gaetti hit 19 and Bush 14.  The Twins were tenth in home runs with 117,  California led with 145.

This was the last season of Rawley's career, and as often happens it was not a very good one.  He did well in this game, and actually did okay for the first half of the season, but he ended up 5-12, 5.21, 1.57 WHIP.  Allan Anderson led the team in starts, and while he didn't match his 1988 season he was fine at 17-10, 3.80, 1.36 WHIP.  Roy Smith was 10-6, 3.92, 1.34.  Frank Viola was traded at the July deadline--he was 8-12, 3.79, 1.24 at the time.  Rick Aguilera came over in that trade and did well, going 3-5, 3.21, 1.16 in eleven starts.  The other pitcher to make double digit starts was Mike Dyer, who went 4-7, 4.82, 1.56.  The stalwarts of the bullpen were Reardon (5-4, 4.07, 1.10, 31 saves), Juan Berenguer (9-3, 3.48, 1.35, 3 saves), and Gary Wayne (3-4, 3.30, 1.28, 1 save).  The Twins pitched to a 4.28 ERA, which was twelfth in the league.  Oakland led at 3.09.  The Twins were eleventh in WHIP at 1.40.  Oakland led there, too, at 1.24.

Dwyer was always one of my favorite players, in that odd way that a fan will take a liking to a player for no particular reason.  I was very pleased when he came to the Twins at the end of his career, and he did pretty well for them in a limited role.  I was also pleased when he became a long-time minor league coach and manager in the Twins organization.

It's probably just as well that we weren't doing game logs back in 1979.  An epic meltdown like this--well, it wouldn't have been pretty.

This was the third of a four-game losing streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 21-26, in sixth place in the American League West, 11 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 80-82, in fifth place, 19 games behind Oakland.

The Rangers were 27-19, in fourth place in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 83-79, in fourth place, 16 games behind Oakland.

Random record:  The Twins are 46-46 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 2

Grover Hartley (1888)
Hal Wagner (1915)
Dick Greco (1925)
Red Rush (1927)
Chuck Stobbs (1929)
Mike Reilly (1949)
Tony Armas (1953)
Jose Canseco (1964)
Joe Magrane (1964)
Sean Casey (1974)
Greg Dobbs (1978)
Angel Pagan (1982)
Samuel Deduno (1983)
Brett Cecil (1986)
Rene Tosoni (1986)

Grover Hartley is one of nine players named "Grover" to play in the major leagues. There has been only one since the 1930s:  Grover Powell, who appeared in twenty games for the Mets in 1963.  I guess nobody names their kid "Grover" anymore.

Dick Greco played twelve seasons in the minors, hitting 328 home runs, but never got a chance in the majors.

Red Rush was a radio broadcaster for the White Sox, the Athletics, and the Cardinals.

Mike Reilly was a major league umpire from 1977-2010.

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