Monthly Archives: March 2022

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 6

Ring Lardner (1885)
Lefty Grove (1900)
Pete Gray (1915)
Bob Swift (1915)
Ted Abernathy (1933)
Cookie Rojas (1939)
Willie Stargell (1940)
Karl Best (1959)
Scott Stahoviak (1970)
Terry Adams (1973)
Marcus Thames (1977)
Clint Barmes (1979)
Jake Arrieta (1986)
Francisco Cervelli (1986)
Ross Detwiler (1986)

Author Ring Lardner wrote about a variety of subjects, but is probably most famous for writing about baseball.  If you haven't read any of his stuff, you really should.

As you probably know, Pete Gray played in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1945 despite having only one arm.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 6 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-eight

CALIFORNIA 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, September 16.

Batting star:  George Mitterwald was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven struck out ten in 6.2 innings, giving up five runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks.  Jim Kaat pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Tony Gonzalez was 2-for-4.  Alex Johnson was 1-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth), a walk, a stolen base (his thirteenth), and two runs.  Clyde Wright pitched a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and five walks and striking out three.

The game:  Neither team got a man past first until the fourth inning, when Johnson hit a home run to put the Angels up 1-0.  California had men on second and third with one out in the fifth but did not score.

In the sixth, however, the Angels broke through for three more runs.  Gonzalez led off with a single.  With one out, Johnson reached on an error and Ken McMullen delivered an RBI single.  A double steal put men on second and third and Jay Johnstone was intentionally walked.  A popup made it two out, but Bill Voss reached on an error, bringing home two runs and making the score 4-0.

The Twins looked like they might get back into the game in the bottom of the sixth.  Cesar Tovar led off with a single and Leo Cardenas and Harmon Killebrew walked, loading the bases with none out.  But Tony Oliva popped up, Rick Renick hit into a run-scoring force out, and Bob Allison grounded out, leaving the Twins trailing 4-1.

California added a run in the seventh on singles by Gonzalez, Jim Fregosi, and Chico Ruiz.  The Twins had only one hit after the sixth.

WP:  Wright (20-11).

LP:  Blyleven (9-8).

S:  None.

Notes:  Renick was at third base, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Allison was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Steve Brye went to left field in place of Allison as part of a double switch in the seventh.  Rick Dempsey pinch-hit for Quilici in the eighth, with Danny Thompson going to second base.  Cotton Nash pinch-hit for Kaat in the ninth.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .317.  Brye was 0-for-1 and was batting .167.  Nash was 0-for-1 and was batting zero.  Dempsey was 0-for-1 and was batting zero.

This was Dempsey's first appearance in 1970.  He had appeared in five games in 1969.

Bill Rigney apparently had very little confidence in any of his relievers other than Perranoski and Williams.  He had used both of them in both games of the doubleheader yesterday, and now went to Kaat in this game.

Oakland defeated Milwaukee 4-1, so the Twins magic number remained the same.

Record:  The Twins were 88-60, in first place in the American League West, seven games ahead of Oakland.  Their magic number was seven.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 5

Sam Thompson (1860)
Jeff Tesreau (1888)
Lu Blue (1897)
Elmer Valo (1921)
Del Crandall (1930)
Phil Roof (1941)
Katsuo Osugi (1945)
Kent Tekulve (1947)
Doug Bird (1950)
Mike Veeck (1951)
Mike Squires (1952)
Steve Ontiveros (1961)
Brian Hunter (1971)
Jeffrey Hammonds (1971)
Ryan Franklin (1973)
Paul Konerko (1976)
Mike MacDougal (1977)
Erik Bedard (1979)
Joe Benson (1988)

Katsuo Osugi was the first player to have a thousand hits in the Japanese Central League and the Japanese Pacific League.

The son of Bill Veeck, Mike Veeck is president of the Goldklang Baseball Group, which owns a variety of minor league teams, including the St. Paul Saints.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to brianS’ daughter.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to spookymilk’s father.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 5 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 4

Red Murray (1884)
Jeff Pfeffer (1888)
Dazzy Vance (1891)
Lefty O'Doul (1897)
Buck Canel (1906)
Clyde McCullough (1917)
Mel Queen (1918)
Leo Righetti (1925)
Cass Michaels (1926)
Bob Johnson (1936)
Jack Fischer (1939)
Danny Frisella (1946)
Tom Grieve (1948)
Harry Saferight (1949)
Sam Perlozzo (1951)
Mark Wagner (1954)
Jeff Dedmon (1960)
Tom Lampkin (1964)
Giovanni Carrera (1968)
Dave Stevens (1970)
Mark Wegner (1972)
Sergio Romo (1983)

Born in Argentina, Buck Canel broadcast major league baseball to Latin America for over four decades, calling forty-two World Series.

The father of Dave Righetti, Leo Righetti played in the minors for twelve years, eight of them in AAA.

Harry Saferight made it to the majors with Pittsburgh in 1979, but did not appear in a game.  He got to the on-deck circle three times, but each time the last out was made before he had a chance to bat.

St. Paul native Mark Wegner has been a major league umpire since 1998.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 4 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-seven

CALIFORNIA 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Tuesday, September 15.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a home run (his tenth), a triple, and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Tom Hall struck out twelve in eight innings, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Tony Gonzalez was 1-for-1 with a double and two RBIs.  Dave LaRoche struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  Reese started the scoring in the second with a home run that gave the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The two teams combined for a total of two baserunners in innings three through five, neither of which got past first base.  In the sixth Tovar walked, was bunted to second, went to third on a fly ball, and scored when Harmon Killebrew reached on an error.  Reese followed with an RBI triple to make the score 3-0 Twins.

Hall had been in total control for eight innings.  In the ninth, however, Jarvis Tatum led off with a single and Sandy Alomar walked.  Ron Perranoski then came in and gave up an RBI single to Doug Griffin.  The next two batters hit into force outs, scoring a run to make the score 3-2 and leaving the tying run on first base.  But then came a single by Billy Cowan and an RBI single by Ken McMullen, tying the score.  Stan Williams then came in and gave up a two-run double to pinch-hitter Gonzalez, putting the Angels up 5-3.  The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

WP:  LaRoche (4-1).

LP:  Perranoski (7-8).

S:  Ken Tatum (17).

Notes:  Jim Holt was in center field, with Tovar moving to left.  Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Frank Quilici went to second base in the ninth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew coming out of the game.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for George Mitterwald in the ninth.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .319.  Hall had an ERA of 2.51.  Perranoski allowed three runs in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 2.27.  Williams gave up no runs in a third of an inning and had an ERA of 2.06.

I know times were different back then, but using both Perranoski and Williams in this game was just dumb.  Each had pitched three innings in the first game of the doubleheader.  Not only were they likely to be ineffective in the second game (and they were), there was also the risk of injury.  In addition, it's not like this was a must-win game for the Twins.  They had a big lead in the division (as seen below) and were essentially marking time until the playoffs.  Using the two best relievers on the team in this game simply made no sense whatsoever.

Eddie Fisher (probably not the '50s singer) started an pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks and striking out none.

In the history of major league baseball, there have been six players with the last name "Tatum".  Two of them played for the Angels in 1970, and both appeared in this game.

Oakland split a doubleheader with Milwaukee, so the Twins lead remained the same on the day while their magic number went down.

Record:  The Twins were 88-59, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of Oakland.  Their magic number was seven.