Monthly Archives: December 2021

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-one

MINNESOTA 5, CALIFORNIA 2 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Saturday, July 11.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-5 with a home run (his eighth), two doubles, and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his twenty-fifth.

Pitching stars:  Bill Zepp pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out two.  Tom Hall struck out five in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Alex Johnson was 3-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4.  Future Twin Dave LaRoche struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

The game:  Neither team did much until the bottom of the fourth.  Then, Fregosi and Johnson singled and Jim Spencer hit a sacrifice fly, giving the Angels a 1-0 lead.

The Twins came right back in the top of the fifth.  Cardenas tied it with a leadoff home run.  Tom Tischinski walked and was bunted to second, but he was still there with two out.  An error then produced a run and Killebrew hit a two-run homer, giving the Twins a 4-1 lead.

Johnson homered in the sixth to make it 4-2.  The Twins got the run back in the eighth when Cardenas doubled and scored on a Jim Holt single.

California threatened in the ninth.  Johnson led off with a single and Ken McMullen hit a one-out single, bringing the tying run to the plate.  But Ron Perranoski came in to retire Jarvis Tatum and Tom Egan to end the game.

WP:  Zepp (5-0).

LP:  Clyde Wright (12-6).

S:  Perranoski (21).

Notes:  Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Bob Allison was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Tischinski was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Holt came in to play left in the seventh as part of a double switch.  Frank Quilici went in to play second base in the eighth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew leaving the game.

Killebrew was batting .322.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was also batting .322.  Tovar was batting .313.  Cardenas was batting .300.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.58.  Hall had an ERA of 2.03.  Perranoski retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 1.63.

Allison was 0-for-2 and was batting .195.

This would be the only time all season Cardenas would bat .300.  He fell off substantially in the second half, batting just .188 after the all-star break.

Angels catcher Joe Azcue was hit by a pitch in the third inning.  Egan replaced him starting the fourth.

The was LaRoche's first year in the majors.  He was with California for two years, played for the Twins in 1972, spent two years with the Cubs, went to Cleveland in 1975, was traded back to the Angels in mid-1977, and played for the Yankees from 1981-1983.  He made two all-star teams.  For his career, he was 65-58, 3.53, 1.31 WHIP.  He had 156 saves, with a high of twenty-five in 1978.  A pretty solid career.

Wright pitched 4.2 innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks and striking out three.  Both hits he gave up were home runs.

With this game, we have reached the half-way point of the season.

Record:  The Twins were 54-27, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 26

Morgan Bulkeley (1837)
Dad A (1922)
Stu Miller (1927)
Al Jackson (1935)
Wayne Causey (1936)
Ray Sadecki (1940)
Carlton Fisk (1947)
Chris Chambliss (1948)
Dave Rader (1948)
Mario Mendoza (1950)
Ozzie Smith (1954)
Mike Sodders (1958)
Storm Davis (1961)
Jeff King (1964)
Esteban Beltre (1967)
Omar Infante (1981)
Yohan Pino (1983)
Mike Minor (1987)

Morgan Bulkeley was the first president of the National League.

Mike Sodders was a first-round draft choice for the Twins in 1981. A star third baseman at Arizona State, he never could adjust to wooden bats, never hit, and never made the major leagues.

Dad A was a Twins fan since the team started, and was a baseball fan before that. He coached, he ran the public address system, and he was on the board of the local baseball association. One of the many gifts he gave me is a love of baseball. He would have been ninety-nine today.  Rest in peace, Dad.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 26 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty

CALIFORNIA 2, MINNESOTA 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Friday, July 10.

Batting star:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-2 with a double and two walks.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out two.  Stan Williams struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer. his fifteenth.  Jarvis Tatum was 2-for-4.  Andy Messersmith struck out thirteen in a complete game, giving up one run on six hits and three walks.

The game:  All the scoring came in the first inning.  For the Twins, Jim Holt hit a one-out single and scored on Killebrew's two-out double.  For the Angels, Tatum hit a one-out single followed by Fregosi's two-run homer.

And that was it.  California opened the fourth with a pair of singles, but a fly out and a double play ended the inning.  In the fifth Cesar Tovar drew a one-out walk and went to second on a wild pitch, but there he stayed.  The Angels loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but again a double play took them out of the inning.  They got two on in the seventh with one out but did not cash it in.  The Twins got a man on in the eighth and again in the ninth, but did not advance him past first base.

WP:  Messersmith (8-8).

LP:  Kaat (7-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Paul Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Herman HIll and Rick Renick were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.

Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .326.  Killebrew was batting .321.  Tovar was 0-for-3 and was batting .311.  Williams had an ERA of 1.48.

Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .111.

It's not exactly rare, but it is unusual to have a game in which all the runs are scored in the first inning.  I'm sure this is nowhere near the record for most runs scored in a game like that, but I do wonder what the record is.

Neither team got a hit with a man in scoring position.  The Twins were 0-for-3 and California was 0-for-6.

I don't remember Fregosi as a power hitter, but he hit double-digit home runs six times.  His high was 22, set in 1970.  He hit 151 homers in his career.

1970 was the one year Jarvis Tatum got some decent playing time.  He got 181 at-bats in 75 games, batting .238/.302/.276.  An outfielder, he started 44 of those 75 games.  He stole 99 bases in the minors, so he presumably had some speed and was considered a good defender.  He hit for a decent average in AAA and hit some home runs in the Pacific Coast League, but it didn't translate to major league success.  He is one of two major league players with the first name "Jarvis", the other being ex-Twin Jarvis Brown.

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 53-27, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 25

Pud Galvin (1856)
Barry McCormick (1874)
Walter Holke (1892)
Lloyd Brown (1904)
Ben Chapman (1908)
Jo-Jo Moore (1908)
Ned Garver (1925)
Nellie Fox (1927)
Gene Lamont (1946)
Manny Trillo (1950)
Luis Quintana (1951)
Jeff Little (1954)
Wallace Johnson (1956)
Charlie Lea (1956)
Rickey Henderson (1958)
Rich Renteria (1961)
Marty Pevey (1962)

There have been 31 major league players with the first name “Jesus”, including ex-Twins Jesus Vega and Jesus “Bombo” Rivera and one whose birthday is today, Manny Trillo.  There have been no major league players with the last name “Christ", although there have been two minor leaguers with that last name:  John Christ, who was in the Cleveland organization from 1999-2001, and Mike Christ, who was in the Seattle organization from 1984-1988.  There have been 21 players whose first name was “Christian” (honorable mention to Cristian Guzman), 20 players whose middle name was “Christian” (including ex-Twins Marcus Jensen, David Lamb, and Kevin Maas), and two players whose last name was “Christian”.  We would be remiss if we did not also mention 1980s journeyman catcher Steve Christmas, as well as Matt Holliday.  Howmanyofme.com says there are 85 people in the United States named Mary Christmas.

The staff of Happy Birthday would like to wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 25 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-nine

MINNESOTA 4, CALIFORNIA 2 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Thursday, July 9.

Batting stars:  Rick Renick was 1-for-2 with a double and two walks.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventh). and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out five.  Tom Hall struck out five in three perfect innings.

Opposition stars:  Jim Spencer was 2-for-3.  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4.  Rudy May pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out four.

The game:  The Angels scored two in the first inning.  Sandy Alomar singled, stole second, and scored on a one-out single by Fregosi.  Singles by Alex Johnson and Spencer brought home another run, making it 2-0 California.

The Twins got on the board in the second.  Tony Oliva singled and scored from first on Renick's double, cutting the lead to 2-1.  The Angels opened the fourth with a pair of singles but did not score, so it was still 2-1 until the seventh.  Renick led off with a single and went to second on a ground out, leading to an intentional walk to Cardenas.  Rich Reese then delivered a pinch-hit single, tying the score at two.

It stayed 2-2 until the ninth.  With two out Hall singled and Cardenas followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 4-2.  California did not get a hit after the inning-opening singles in the fourth.

WP:  Hall (5-2).

LP:  Eddie Fisher (3-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .330.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 and was batting .316.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .316.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.45.  Hall had an ERA of 2.11.

The Twins started the game with Jim Perry batting third in the lineup and listed as the left fielder, with Bob Allison at first base.  As the Twins were on the road, Perry was scheduled to be the third batter of the game.  He wasn't, of course--Killebrew pinch-hit for him and stayed in the game at first base, with Allison moving to left.  There must be a story behind that, but I have no idea what it is.

Reese pinch-hit for George Mitterwald and Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Blyleven in the seventh.  Both stayed in the game, with Reese going to first (moving Killebrew to third, Renick to left field, and Allison leaving the game) and Ratliff going behind the plate.  Herman Hill came in to play center field in the ninth, with Tovar moving to left and Renick leaving the game.

It's interesting that Hall was allowed to bat in the ninth inning of a tie game.  He had pitched two perfect innings, and there were two out and none on, both of which probably affected the decision.  Also, the Twins didn't have a lot of bench players left at this point.  What's even more remarkable is that it paid off, as Hall got a hit in front of Cardenas' home run.  Hall was not a good batter--.161/.191/.172 in 192 career at-bats.  But he came through here.

It's also interesting that Bill Rigney seems to have stopped pulling Killebrew for defense late in games.  Frank Quilici, his usual defensive replacement, was still on the team, and Danny Thompson had taken over second base, so Quilici was still available.  But Killebrew was being allowed to stay in the games.

This was the first of a four-game series with the Angels going into the all-star break.  A sweep would put a lot of space between the Twins and California.  The Twins had won five in a row, ten of eleven, and twelve of fourteen.

Record:  The Twins were 53-26, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 24

Joe Quinn (1862)
Henry Mathewson (1886)
Chico Garcia (1924)
Frank Taveras (1949)
John D'Acquisto (1951)
Tim Drummond (1964)
Mo Sanford (1966)
Kevin Millwood (1974)
Jamey Wright (1974)
Gregor Blanco (1983)
Andrew Romine (1985)
Fernando Romero (1994)

Henry Mathewson is the younger brother of Christy Mathewson.  He appeared in two games for the Giants in 1906 and one in 1907.

Chico Garcia played professional baseball from 1944-1970, mostly in Mexico.  He played thirty-nine games in the majors in 1954 with Baltimore.  He also was a manager in Mexico for fifteen seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 24 →