George Shoch (1859)
Phil Masi (1916)
Jiro Noguchi (1920)
Early Wynn (1920)
Ralph Branca (1926)
Lenny Green (1933)
Lee Walls (1933)
Ruben Amaro (1936)
Don Gullett (1951)
Norm Charlton (1963)
Dan Naulty (1970)
Marlon Anderson (1974)
Brian Bass (1982)
Anthony Slama (1984)
Jiro Noguchi was one of the greatest pitchers in the early days of Japanese professional baseball, winning 237 games with an ERA of 1.96.
Dogs, man.
This is Tinsley. She was in a car accident with her humans last night. She escaped the wreckage, got the attention of police, and led them all the way back to the site of the crash. Her humans are being treated and expected to survive. Tinsley is awarded our very rare… 15/10 pic.twitter.com/E3HRQf0sF3
— WeRateDogs® (@dog_rates) January 5, 2022
MINNESOTA 2, DETROIT 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Wednesday, July 20.
Batting stars: Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4. Frank Quilici was 1-for-2 with a walk.
Pitching stars: Jim Perry pitched 7.2 innings, giving up one run on two hits and no walks and striking out three. Ron Perranoski retired all four men he faced, striking out one.
Opposition stars: Don Wert was 2-for-3 with a double. Mickey Lolich pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out two.
The game: The Twins put two on with none out in the first, but a double play took them out of the inning. Neither team threatened again until the fifth, when Quilici walked, singles by Perry and Tovar loaded the bases, and Harmon Killebrew delivered a two-out two-run single, putting the Twins up 2-0.
The Tigers did not get a hit, or even a baserunner, until the sixth, when Wert led off with a single. They did not get another hit until the eighth. At that time Bill Freehan was hit by a pitch with one out, Wert doubled, and Elliot Maddox hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1. The tying run was on third with two out, but Perranoski came in to retire Jim Price on a ground out to end the inning. Detroit went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Perry (15-7).
LP: Lolich (9-11).
S: Perranoski (24).
Notes: Rick Renick was again in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Jim Holt replaced Renick in left in the seventh. Danny Thompson replaced Killebrew at third base in the ninth.
Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .320. Killebrew was 1-for-4 and was batting .319. Tovar was batting .318. Perry was 1-for-2 and was batting .316. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.43.
Quilici was 1-for-2 and was batting .197.
Lolich was having an off year, although he wasn't that bad. He was 9-11 at this point, but with an ERA of .356. He would finish the season 14-19, with a 3.80 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. He still pitched 272.2 innings and had 13 complete games, he clearly didn't have a lot of short starts. He would come back in 1971 to win 25 games and lead the league in complete games, innings pitched, and strikeouts. He would finish second in Cy Young voting to Vida Blue.
Record: The Twins were 58-31, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.
Ban Johnson (1864)
Bob Carruthers (1864)
Bill Dahlen (1870)
Jack Norworth (1879)
Art Fletcher (1885)
Rube Foster (1888)
Riggs Stephenson (1898)
Luke Sewell (1901)
Jack Kramer (1918)
Earl Battey (1935)
Bud Bloomfield (1936)
Charlie Hough (1948)
Jim Gantner (1953)
Bob Dernier (1957)
Ron Kittle (1958)
Milt Thompson (1959)
Henry Cotto (1961)
John Russell (1961)
Danny Jackson (1962)
Jeff Fassero (1963)
Brian Runge (1970)
Fred Rath (1973)
Mark Redman (1974)
Eduardo Escobar (1989)
C. J. Cron (1990)
Jose Iglesias (1990)
Danny Ortiz (1990)
Ban Johnson was one of the founders of and the first president of the American League.
Jack Norworth wrote the lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
Rube Foster was a player, manager, and owner in the Negro Leagues, eventually becoming president of the Negro National League.
Brian Runge was a major league umpire from 1999-2012. He is the son of major league umpire Paul Runge and the grandson of major league umpire Ed Runge.
Oddly, there are three players born on this day who go by their initials: J. P. Arencibia, C. J. Cron, and A. J. Cole.
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to freealonzo.
Caroline Shaw is great. This is the most calming thing I have from my "most played of 2021" list, so this gets the nod.
(3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... DETROIT 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Tuesday, July 21.
Batting stars: George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his seventh) and a double. Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his twenty-first.
Pitching stars: Dick Woodson struck out three in two perfect innings. Dave Boswell pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Dick McAuliffe was 4-for-5 with a stolen base, his fifth. Willie Horton was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventeenth) and a walk. Norm Cash was 2-for-3 with a walk. Denny McLain pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out three.
The game: The Twins had two on in the first and the Tigers had two on in the second, but there was no score until the third. McLain and McAuliffe led off with singles, and an error scored the game's first run. Detroit would take control of the game in the fifth. Singles by Cesar Guiterrez, McAuliffe, and Mickey Stanley plated one run. A wild pitch put men on second and third, a sacrifice fly scored a run, and Horton hit a two-run homer, giving the Tigers a 5-0 lead.
The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, as Rich Reese singled and Mitterwald hit a two-run homer. But that was it for the scoring, as 5-2 is where it stayed. Mitterwald hit a two-out double in the seventh, and the Twins opened the eighth with singles, but the score remained 5-2.
WP: McLain (1-2).
LP: Bill Zepp (5-1).
S: Tom Timmerman (16).
Notes: Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .321. Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting .320. Tovar was batting .316. Woodson had an ERA of 2.30.
Boswell had an ERA of 6.00. This was his second relief appearance of the season.
Jim Holt was in center field, with Tovar moving to second base in place of Rod Carew. Rick Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Danny Thompson and Paul Ratliff were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.
Zepp pitched 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out three. This was his second consecutive poor start, after having made two very good starts.
McLain had been suspended for the first three months of the season, so this was only his sixth start. After winning the Cy Young award in 1968 and 1969, he would never have a good season again. His ERA after this game was 4.78. Despite getting a hit in this game, he was not a good batter: his career numbers are .133/.166/.153.
The Twins had started their homestand 1-2.
Record: The Twins were 57-31, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of California.
How many days until I title a post with "2021"?
Tommy Corcoran (1869)
Ernest Lanigan (1873)
Al Bridwell (1884)
Ossie Vitt (1890)
George Selkirk (1908)
Gabe Paul (1910)
Herman Franks (1914)
Don McMahon (1930)
Tito Fuentes (1944)
Charlie Manuel (1944)
Ken Reynolds (1947)
Paul Gibson (1960)
Daryl Boston (1963)
Trey Hillman (1963)
Ted Lilly (1976)
Willie Martinez (1978)
Blake Cederlind (1996)
Ernest Lanigan was the nephew of the Spink brothers who founded The Sporting News. He worked for the publication from the time he was 15. Among other things, he compiled baseball's first encyclopedia, published in 1922, and served as curator, historian, and director of the Hall of Fame from 1946 until his death in 1962.
Gabe Paul was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians (twice), and the New York Yankees.
Trey Hillman was the manager of the Kansas City Royals from 2008-2010.
Blake Cederlind was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 2015, but he did not sign.
I'd thank the Packers for mercifully putting an end to the Vikings season last night, but it was mostly the Vikings doing it to themselves.
MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Monday, July 20.
Batting stars: Cesar Tovar was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs. Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Pitching stars: Jim Kaat struck out seven in seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks. Ron Perranoski pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Ray Fosse was 2-for-3. Graig Nettles was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs. Tony Horton was 2-for-4.
The game: Each team scored one in the first. For the Indians Nettles doubled and scored on Fosse's single. In the bottom of the first Tovar and Killebrew doubled. The Twins threatened in the third, putting men on first and third with two out, but it stayed 1-1 until the fourth.
In the fourth Rick Renick doubled, George Mitterwald walked, and Leo Cardenas was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with none out. A sacrifice fly was all the Twins could get out of it, but it gave them a 2-1 lead. It went to 3-1 in the fifth when Tovar doubled, was bunted to third, and scored on an error. The Twins went on to load the bases with one out, but a double play ended the inning. They got one more run in the sixth on singles by Frank Quilici, Kaat, and Rich Reese.
Meanwhile, Cleveland did not get a man past first base in innings two through six. They opened the seventh with consecutive singles but left the runners on first and third. In the eighth, however, Nettles walked and Fosse and Horton singled, cutting the lead to 4-2 and putting men on first and second with one out. Buddy Bradford struck out, but Eddie Leon walked to load the bases. Ex-Twin Rich Rollins grounded out, however, and the score stayed 4-2. Nettles got a two-out single in the ninth, but the Indians could do no more.
WP: Kaat (8-7).
LP: Rick Austin (1-4).
S: Perranoski (23).
Notes: Renick was in left in place of Brant Alyea. Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Jim Holt pinch-hit for Mitterwald in the fifth, with Tom Tischinski them going behind the plate. Danny Thompson went to third base in place of Killebrew in the ninth.
Killebrew was batting .324. Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .321. Tovar was batting .314. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.46.
Quilici was 1-for-3 and was batting .189.
Perranoski batted in the ninth and singled. It was his only hit of the season, as he went 1-for-24. It was also the last hit of his major league career. He would bat only six more times in the next three seasons. For his career, he batted .096/.147/.114, with one double, one triple, three RBIs, and six runs.
The two relief appearances coming out of the all-star break did not appear to affect Kaat in this game.
In addition to Nettles and Rollins, Cleveland used ex-Twins Fred Lasher and Dean Chance. Each pitched a scoreless inning.
The starter for the Indians was Rick Austin. This was his sixth major league start. He pitched a shutout in his second start, but other than that had not had a game score over 43. He would not have one in this game, either, although he came close--he allowed three runs on six hits and two walks in 4.1 innings for a game score of 51. He would make only two more major league starts, then go to the bullpen. He pitched for Cleveland from 1970-1971 and for Milwaukee from 1975-1976. For his career he was 4-8, 4.63, 1.61 WHIP, six saves in 89 games (136 innings).
Record: The Twins were 57-30, in first place in the American League West, 4.5 games ahead of California.
