Monthly Archives: January 2022

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 11

George Pinkney (1859)
Silver King (1868)
Elmer Flick (1876)
Max Carey (1890)
George Trautman (1890)
General Crowder (1899)
Schoolboy Rowe (1910)
Don Mossi (1929)
Gene Cook (1932)
Jim McAndrew (1944)
Jack Zduriencik (1951)
Rocket Wheeler (1955)
Lloyd McClendon (1959)
Donn Pall (1962)
Warren Morris (1974)

George Trautman was the president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs from 1947 until his death in 1963.

Gene Cook was the general manager of the Toledo Mud Hens from 1978-1998.  He is credited with convincing Jamie Farr to wear a Mud Hens cap on M*A*S*H.

Jack Zduriencik was the general manager of the Seattle Mariners from 2008-2015.

Rocket Wheeler has been a manager in the low minors for about thirty years.  He was the manager of the Amarillo Sod Squad, a summer collegiate league team, in 2021.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 11 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety-four

MINNESOTA 5, BALTIMORE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, July 27.

Batting stars:  Frank Quilici was 3-for-4.  Jim Holt was 2-for-3 with a home run, his second.  George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a home run, his ninth.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched three shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Dave Johnson was 2-for-4 with a double.  Don Buford was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Moe Drabowsky struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  Holt started the scoring with a home run in the second inning.  In the third Quilici singled and Blyleven reached on an error.  With one out Reese hit a two-run triple and Tony Oliva followed with an RBI double, giving the Twins a 4-0 lead.

The Orioles got on the board in the sixth when Buford homered.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the sixth when Mitterwald homered.  The Twins left the bases full in that inning, and Baltimore got a run closer in the seventh when Brooks Robinson singled, was balked to second, and scored on Johnson's double.

But that was it.  The Orioles got only one hit after that, a single by Andy Etchebarren in the ninth.

WP:  Blyleven (5-3).

LP:  Jim Palmer (14-7).

S:  Perranoski (25).

Notes:  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Quilici was again at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Danny Thompson replaced Harmon Killebrew at third base in the eighth.

Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .322.  Killebrew was 0-for-3 and was batting .312.  Cesar Tovar was 0-for-5 and was batting .305.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.49.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.35.

Blyleven was given what, for that era, were quick hooks, usually pulled after about six innings.  While one would like to think that the Twins were interested in protecting a young arm, what I suspect is that Bill Rigney was simply reluctant to trust the young rookie and so would pull him at the first sign of trouble.

Palmer lasted just five innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks and striking out one.  It was a rare bad game for Palmer, who would win twenty games and finish fifth in Cy Young voting.  His game score of thirty-three was tied for his worst of the season.  He had trouble with the Twins in 1970, going 0-2, 4.66 in three starts.  For his career, he was much better:  21-12, 2.78 in 45 games (39 starts).

Quilici was 7-for-14 in his last four games, raising his average from .195 to .242.  That was the highest his average had been since the end of April, and would be the highest it would be the rest of the season.

The Twins ended their homestand 5-4.  They would not go on a six-game road trip to Cleveland and Detroit.

Record:  The Twins were 61-33, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.

WGOM Videos

Rare Americans – Knives, Guns & Bed

Video

I struggled a little to figure out what I was listening to that was new last year. But I found and like these guys. This song was on my "liked" Spotify list before I went searching for my "best of," so I'm going with it.

I like this one, too. I think it officially came out in 2020, but some serious 2021 vibing in there.

And Happy Birthday to my little bro!

3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)
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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 10

Harry Wright (1835)
Chick Stahl (1873)
Del Pratt (1888)
Ziggy Sears (1892)
Max Patkin (1920)
George Strickland (1926)
Jim O'Toole (1937)
Willie McCovey (1938)
Chuck Dobson (1944)
Wilfredo Sanchez (1948)
Richard Dotson (1959)
Kelvin Torve (1960)
Wally Bell (1965)
Kevin Baez (1967)
Gary Rath (1973)
Adam Kennedy (1976)

 Outfielder Ziggy Sears played in the minors for sixteen years, mostly in the Texas League.  He once drove in eleven runs in a game.  He was a National League umpire from 1934-1945.

Max Patkin was a well-known baseball clown from 1944-1995.

Wilfredo Sanchez was a star in Cuba from 1968-1986, winning five batting titles.

Wally Bell was a major league umpire from 1992-2013, when he passed away from a heart attack.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 10 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety-three

BALTIMORE 11, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 26.

Batting star:  Jim Perry was 1-for-1 with a home run and a walk.

Pitching star:  Perry pitched six innings, giving up three runs on twelve hits and no walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Merv Rettenmund was 3-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base, his fifth.  Dave Johnson was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Brooks Robinson was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and two runs.  Boog Powell was 2-for-5 with a grand slam (his twenty-fifth homer) and six RBIs.  Mark Belanger was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Elrod Hendricks was 2-for-5.  Dave McNally pitched a complete game, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out five.

The game:  It was close for a while.  In fact, there was no score through four innings.  In the fifth, singles by McNally, Don Buford, and Rettenmund loaded the bases and Powell delivered a two-run single to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead.  Perry homered in the bottom of the fifth to make it 2-1.  Baltimore got the run back in the sixth on singles by Hendricks, Johnson, and Belanger, increasing the lead to 3-1.

The Orioles put it away in the eighth.  Singles by Robinson and Johnson and a walk to McNally loaded the bases with two out.  Buford walked to force in a run.  Dick Woodson then came in to replace Tom Hall.  He walked Rettenmund, forcing in another run, and the Powell hit a grand slam, giving Baltimore a 9-1 lead.

The Orioles tacked on two more in the ninth when Robinson was hit by a pitch, Johnson walked, Belanger had an RBI single, and Buford hit a sacrifice fly.

WP:  McNally (13-7).

LP:  Perry (15-8).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rick Renick was again in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Frank Quilici was again at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Bob Allison was used as a pinch-hitter for the pitcher.  Danny Thompson replaced Harmon Killebrew at third base in the ninth.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .322.  Killebrew was 0-for-3 and was batting .314.  Cesar Tovar was 0-for-3 and was batting .309.  Hall had an ERA of 2.96.

Allison was 0-for-1 and was batting .167.  Dave Boswell retired the only man he faced and had an ERA of 5.97.

In his last three games (one of them a start), Hall had pitched 9.1 innings and allowed ten runs (nine earned) on nine hits and nine walks while striking out ten.  His ERA went from 2.03 to 2.96.

In his last five games, Steve Barber had pitched 6.2 innings and allowed seven runs on eleven hits and five walks while striking out four.  His ERA went from 2.70 to 4.63.  After this game, he would not pitch for the Twins again until late September.

I don't remember ever doing a game recap before where the same player was the only batting star and the only pitching star.

Record:  The Twins were 60-33, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 9

Bill Thomas (1905)
Johnny Washington (1916)
John Kibler (1928)
Julio Navarro (1936)
Ralph Terry (1936)
Masaaki Mori (1937)
Al Clark (1948)
Joe Wallis (1952)
Ivan DeJesus (1953)
Otis Nixon (1959)
Stan Javier (1964)
Jay Powell (1972)
Gabriel Moya (1995)

Bill Thomas pitched in the minors from 1924-1952. He set records for games pitched (1,016), wins (383), losses (347), innings (5,995), hits allowed (6,721), and runs allowed (3,098).

Outfielder/first baseman Johnny Washington played in the Negro Leagues for nearly twenty years.

John Kibler was a National League umpire from 1963-1989.

Masaaki Mori was involved with twenty-seven pennant winners in Japan, sixteen as a player, three as a coach, and eight as a manager.

Al Clark was a long-time American League umpire.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 9 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety-two

BALTIMORE 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 25.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth) and two runs.  Frank Quilici was 2-for-3.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching star:  Ron Perranoski pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Dave Johnson was 3-for-5 with a double.  Brooks Robinson was 3-for-5.  Boog Powell was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Don Buford was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twelfth), a walk, and two runs.  Dick Hall pitched four innings, giving up one run on four hits and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins got off to a poor start.  In the top of the first Buford was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an error.  The error put Paul Blair on third base, and he scored on Powell's double to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead out of the gate.

The Twins did not get a baserunner until two out in the third, when starting pitcher Bill Zepp singled.  Baltimore loaded the bases in the fourth but did not score.  In the bottom of the fourth, the Twins scored four runs to take the lead.  Rich Reese and Oliva singled and Killebrew followed with an RBI double.  With one out, George Mitterwald was intentionally walked to load the bases.  Leo Cardenas followed with a two-run single and Quilici had an RBi single, giving the Twins a 4-2 lead.

It lasted until the sixth.  Frank Robinson singled, Brooks Robinson reached on an error, and Elrod Hendricks singled to load the bases with none out.  Johnson singled in a run to make it 4-3, and with one out Terry Crowley delivered a pinch-hit single to tie it 4-4.  Baltimore took the lead in the eighth when Dick Hall singled and Buford hit a two-run homer.

The Twins got one back in the bottom of the eighth when Oliva led off with a home run.  Killebrew followed with a single, but did not get past first base (and oddly, was not pinch-run for).  Jim Holt singled in the ninth but was erased on a double play to end the game.

WP:  Dick Hall (8-3).

LP:  Tom Hall (5-4).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rick Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Holt went to left in the ninth as part of a double switch, with Renick coming out of the game.  Alyea pinch-hit for Quilici in the ninth.

Oliva was batting .323.  Killebrew was batting .317.  Cesar Tovar was 0-for-5 and was batting .311.  Dick Woodson did not give up a run in a third of an inning and had an ERA of 2.25.  Tom Hall gave up two runs in 2.2 innings and had an ERA of 2.48.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.41.

Bill Zepp started for the Twins and pitched five innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks and striking out two.  Jim Hardin started for the Orioles and pitched 3.1 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk and striking out three.

The pitcher's spot came up for the Orioles with one out in the top of the eighth in a tie game.  The pitcher, Dick Hall, had already pitched two innings.  He was allowed to hit, and he got a single, eventually scoring the go-ahead run.

It's probably not that uncommon that the winning and losing pitcher had the same last name.  I wonder if it's ever happened before that the name was "Hall".  Not that Hall is that uncommon, but it's not Smith, either.

Record:  The Twins were 60-32, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.