Monthly Archives: January 2022

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 27

Andy Lotshaw (1880)
Milt Gaston (1896)
Bibb Falk (1899)
Fred Heimach (1901)
John Lowenstein (1947)
Tom Trebelhorn (1948)
Eric Wedge (1968)
Phil Plantier (1969)
Angel Berroa (1980)
Gavin Floyd (1983)
Julio Teheran (1991)

Andy Lotshaw had a thirteen-year minor league career as an outfielder/first baseman, leading his league in triples four times and in home runs five times.  He also played professional basketball.  He then became the trainer for the Chicago Cubs from 1922-1952.

Tom Trebelhorn managed the Milwaukee Brewers from 1986-1991 and the Chicago Cubs in 1994.

There do not appear to be any players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Eleven

WASHINGTON 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN WASHINGTON (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Tuesday, August 11.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his thirty-sixth) and a walk.  Brant Alyea was 1-for-1.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on four hits and four walks and striking out seven.  Tom Hall struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two walks.

Opposition stars:  Aurelio Rodriguez was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer (his sixteenth) and a double.  Casey Cox pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on two hits and one walk and striking out two.  Horacio Pina pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Darold Knowles pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

The game:  Danny Thompson had a one-out bunt single in the first and with two-out, Killebrew hit a two-run homer to make it 2-0 Twins.

For a while, it looked like that would hold up.  The Senators had two on in the first with an error and a walk, had two on in the third with a single and a walk, and had two on in the fourth with a double and an intentional walk.  Still, it was 2-0 through seven.  In the eighth, however, Frank Howard hit a one-out single and Rodriguez hit a two-out two-run homer to tie it 2-2.

It remained 2-2 until the eleventh.  With one out, Ed Brinkman singled and scored from first on a double by Paul Casanova, ending the game.

WP:  Darold Knowles (2-11).

LP:  Bert Blyleven (6-5).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jim Holt was again in center field, with Cesar Tovar in left and Alyea on the bench.  Thompson remained at second in place of Rod Carew.  Tom Tischinski was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.

Jim Kaat pinch-ran for Killebrew in the tenth.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the tenth.  Frank Quilici went to second base, with Thompson moving to third.  Renick went to left, with Tovar moving to center.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .318.  Hall had an ERA of 2.44.

Tischinski was 0-for-4 and was batting .194.

Blyleven was used in relief to start the eleventh.  Obviously, it did not go well.  The Twins had used four relievers the previous day, and had used three the day before that, so perhaps the decision was understandable (although Hall had pitched five innings of relief two days earlier and was still used for two innings in this game).  This was one of two times Blyleven was used in relief in 1970 (we'll discuss the other when it comes up).  He would appear in relief seven times in his career.  While it's a small sample size, he did not do well as a reliever.  He pitched 12.1 innings and went 1-2, 4.97, 1.90 WHIP.

Despite his poor won-lost record, Knowles actually had a good year in 1970.  He had an ERA of 2.04 with 27 saves.  He appeared in 71 games and pitched 119.1 innings, both career highs.

The Twins had now dropped four games in a row.  In those four games, the Twins scored eight runs.  In their last seven games, the Twins had scored just fifteen runs.

Record:  The Twins were 69-42, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 26

Francis Richter (1854)
Kaiser Wilhelm (1877)
Tubby Spencer (1884)
George Blaeholder (1904)
Charlie Gelbert (1906)
Bob Nieman (1927)
Ray Knoblauch (1928)
Bob Uecker (1934) 
Mike Pazik (1950)
Rick Schu (1962)
Jeff Branson (1967)
Esteban German (1978)
Andres Torres (1978) 
Ryan Rowland-Smith (1983)

Francis Richter was the editor of two  influential early baseball publications, the Sporting Life and the Reach Guide.

The father of Chuck Knoblauch, Ray Knoblauch pitched in the minors from 1948-1957, going 54-51.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Daneeka's Ghost.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 26 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Ten

OAKLAND 7, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, August 10.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his thirty-fifth) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Pete Hamm pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits.

Opposition stars:  Rick Monday was 4-for-5 with a home run (his eighth), two doubles, two runs, and two RBIs.  Tony LaRussa was 3-for-4 with a double.  Tommy Davis was 3-for-5.  Don Mincher was 3-for-5.  Diego Segui was 2-for-3.  Segui also pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and six walks and striking out three.  Mudcat Grant pitched three innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks and striking out two.

The game:  It was close most of the way.  In the second, Sal Bando doubled and scored on Frank Fernandez' single to get the Athletics on the board.  The Twins got two on in the bottom of the second but did not score.  Monday homered with one out in the third to make it 2-0 Oakland.

The Twins eventually tied it, but missed on some good chances to get ahead.  In the bottom of the third Bill Zepp led off with a single-plus-error and Cesar Tovar had a bunt single to put men on first and third.  A double play scored a run.  A single and a walk followed that, but a ground out ended the inning.  In the fourth a single by Cardenas and walks to Tom Tischinski and Charlie Manuel loaded the bases with one out, but all the Twins could manage was a sacrifice fly, tying the score 2-2.

The Athletics put two on with two out in the sixth but did not score.  In the seventh, however, Monday doubled, went to third on a Davis single, and scored on Mincher's single to put Oakland up 3-2.  They put it out of reach in the eighth.  LaRussa led off with a double and Grant followed with a bunt single.  Bert Campaneris had an RBI single, Monday drove in a run with a double, and Davis and Mincher hit RBI singles to make the score 7-2.

Killebrew led off the eighth with a homer, but that was the last run the Twins scored.  They got a pair of two-out singles in the eighth, but a popup ended the inning and thpie Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Segui (7-8).

LP:  Ron Perranoski (7-4).

S:  Grant (20).

Notes:  The switch to Holt in center and Tovar in left appears to be permanent, as the Twins did it again in this game.  Danny Thompson was again at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tischinski was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.

Manuel pinch-hit for Zepp in the fourth.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Perranoski in the seventh and stayed in the game in left field, with Tovar moving to second base and Thompson leaving the game.  Brant Alyea pinch-hit for Tischinski in the eighth, with Paul Ratliff going behind the plate.  Jim Kaat pinch-hit for Dick Woodson in the ninth.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .321.  Zepp allowed two runs in four innings and had an ERA of 2.87.  Perranoski gave up an unearned run in one inning and had an ERA of 2.16.  Stan Williams had a rare bad game, allowing three runs in a third of an inning, and had an ERA of 2.09.

I don't understand using Kaat as a pinch-hitter when Mitterwald and Frank Quilici were still on the bench, unless for some reason they were unavailable that day.  I know Kaat was always considered a good hitter, but he was "a good hitter for a pitcher" rather than an actual good hitter.  At this point in the season, he was batting .177 with an OPS of .401.  His career numbers are a batting average of .185 and an OPS of .494.  Not that Mitterwald and Quilici were great batters, but they were clearly better than that.

Once again, ex-Twins came back to haunt the Twins.

The loss was the Twins' third in a row and meant that they ended their homestand 5-5.  They next had a seven-game road trip, three in Washington and four in Boston.

Record:  The Twins were 69-41, in first place in the American League West, 6.5 games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 25

Danny Richardson (1863)
Les Nunamaker (1889)
Kenichi Zenimura (1900)
Ernie Harwell (1918)
Bill Lucas (1936)
Jake O’Donnell (1939)
Wally Bunker (1945)
Vern Ruhle (1951)
Kerry Taylor (1971)
Dan Serafini (1974)

Kenichi Zenimura was a long-time player and manager in Japan as well as an ambassador of the game of baseball.  He helped organize Babe Ruth's tour of Japan in 1934 and is known as the Father of Japanese Baseball.

Ernie Harwell was a major league baseball broadcaster from 1948-1991 and 1993-2002, mostly for the Detroit Tigers.

Bill Lucas was the first African-American general manager, holding the position for the Atlanta Braves from 1976-1979.

Better known as an NBA referee, Jake O’Donnell was an American League umpire from 1969-1972.  He is the only person to have officiated both an NBA all-star game and a major league baseball all-star game.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 25 →