Monthly Archives: January 2022

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 3

Barney Gilligan (1856)
Warren Brown (1894)
Gus Suhr (1906)
Frenchy Bordagaray (1910)
Sid Hudson (1915)
Eddie Einhorn (1936)
Bob Gebhard (1943)
Dick Colpaert (1944)
Larry Barnett (1945)
Gary Lavelle (1949)
Darren Daulton (1962)
Luis Rivera (1964)
Luis Sojo (1965)
A. J. Burnett (1977)
Michael Restovich (1979)
Alex Meyer (1990)

Warren Brown was a long-time sportswriter, mostly in Chicago.  He coined Babe Ruth's famous nickname, "The Sultan of Swat".

Eddie Einhorn was a part-owner of the Chicago White Sox.  He was the founder of the TVS networks, which syndicated sports regionally and nationally in the days before twenty-four hour cable sports stations.

Larry Barnett was a major league umpire from 1969-1999.

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Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-six

CLEVELAND 3, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 19.

Batting stars:  None.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out two.  Steve Barber pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Sam McDowell struck out fourteen in a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.  Roy Foster was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Vada Pinson was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch.  Graig Nettles was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his fourteenth.

The game:  The Twins got on the board in the first inning, as Cesar Tovar doubled and scored on a two-out single by Tony Oliva.  That was the first Twins run of the game, but it was also the last, and it was not enough.

The Indians took the lead in the third when Jack Heidemann walked and Nettles hit a two-out two-run homer.  In the fourth Ray Fosse led off with a single, went to third on Eddie Leon's single, and scored on a balk to make it 3-1 Cleveland.

The Twins never threatened after the first inning.  In fact, they had only one more hit after the first inning, and that came with two out in the ninth when Rich Reese singled.  It brought the tying run to the plate in Harmon Killebrew, but he struck out to end the game.

WP:  McDowell (14-4).

LP:  Blyleven (3-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rick Renick was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tom Tischinski caught in place of George Mitterwald.  Alyea and Bob Allison were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.

Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .325.  Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting ,.321.  Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .309.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.67.  Stan Williams retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 1.63.

Quilici was 0-for-3 and was batting .183.

In Blyleven's three losses, the Twins scored a grand total of three runs.

Oddly, the Twins started a new series on a Sunday, having played in Baltimore the day before.  I assume this was a consequence of the all-star break, although the more common thing was to play a four-game series Thursday through Sunday after the break.  This would be the start of a nine-game homestand:  two with Cleveland, three with Detroit, and four with Baltimore.

Record:  The Twins were 56-30, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 2

Red Kress (1905)
Pinky Whitney (1905)
Ted Strong (1914)
Jim Essian (1951)
David Cone (1963)
Edgar Martinez (1963)

Greg Swindell (1965)
Royce Clayton (1970)
Rick Greene (1971)
Jeff Suppan (1975)
Aaron Barrett (1988)
Felix Jorge (1994)
Fernando Tatis (1999)

Ted Strong was a star in the Negro Leagues, making the all-star team seven times.
Aaron Barrett was drafted by Minnesota in the 20th round in 2008 but did not sign.

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Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-five

MINNESOTA 6, BALTIMORE 3 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Saturday, July 18.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and three runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-ninth.  Frank Quilici was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched 2.1 innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Frank Robinson was 4-for-5.  Don Buford was 3-for-5 with a home run (his eleventh), a double, and two runs.  Paul Blair was 2-for-5.

The game:  Oliva led off the second with a single and went to third on a Brant Alyea double.  He was then picked off third base, but a throwing error allowed him to score and give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Orioles got the run back in the bottom of the second when Brooks Robinson singled, went to second on Dave Johnson's walk, and scored on a Mark Belanger single.  Baltimore took a 2-1 lead in the third on Buford's leadoff home run.

It stayed 2-1 until the sixth.  Reese led of the inning with a single and Killebrew hit a two-run homer to put the Twins up 3-2.  Oliva followed with a single.  The next two batters went out, but Quilici hit a two-run homer to give the Twins a 5-2 lead.

The Orioles scored in the seventh when Buford doubled and scored on Frank Robinson's single.  Oliva got the run back for the Twins in the eighth when he led off the inning with a home run, making it 6-3.

Baltimore did not quit.  Buford led off with a bunt single, but was erased on a double play.  Still, Boog Powell and Frank Robinson singled, bringing Brooks Robinson up to bat as the tying run.  He flied out to right field, however, and the game went to the Twins.

WP:  Perry (14-7).

LP:  Dave McNally (12-7).

S:  Perranoski (22).

Notes:  Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tom Tischinski was at catcher in place of George Mitterwald.  Brant Alyea was back in the lineup, his first start since July 4.  Jim Holt replaced Alyea in left in the sixth inning.  Danny Thompson replaced Killebrew at third in the seventh.

Tischinski was 1-for-4 and was batting .333.  Killebrew was batting .325.  Oliva was batting .324.  Cesar Tovar was 0-for-5 and was batting .309.  Perry was 1-for-3 and was batting .309.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.50.

Quilici was batting .191.  This game featured the fourth of his five career home runs.  His season high was two.

Killebrew had hit a home run in five consecutive games.

Perranoski had pitched three innings in the previous game and pitched 2.1 innings in this game.  When men were men.

Record:  The Twins were 56-29, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.  They still had the best record in the American League, but were still well behind the Big Red Machine (64-27).

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 1

Tim Keefe (1857)
Hugh Nicol (1858)
Webster McDonald (1900)
Ethan Allen (1904)
Hank Greenberg (1911)
Joe Reichler (1915)
Sherry Robertson (1919)
Earl Torgeson (1924)
Carl Scheib (1927)
Bill Bethea (1942)
Rick Albert (1951)
LaMarr Hoyt (1955)
Bob Owchinko (1955)
Fernando Tatis (1975)
Dallas Keuchel (1988)
LaMonte Wade (1994)

Submarine-style pitcher Webster McDonald pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1920-1940.

Joe Reichler was a long-time sportswriter and later worked in the commissioner's office.  He was the editor of several editions of The Baseball Encyclopedia.

Roy Majtyka was a long-time minor-league manager, winning 1,832 games.

Rick Albert has been a minor-league coach or manager in the Braves' organization since 1978.

We would like to wish a very happy birthday to mrs. bhiggum and to Mrs. Beau.

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