Charley O'Leary (1882)
Dolly Gray (1897)
Mule Haas (1903)
Mel Harder (1909)
Bill Henry (1927)
Lou Klimchock (1939)
Dick Such (1944)
Jim Palmer (1945)
Mitchell Page (1951)
Carlos Garcia (1967)
Juan Cruz (1978)
Josh Rabe (1978)
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to New Guy.
(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... MINNESOTA TWINS 12, OAKLAND ATHLETICS 10 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, July 19, 2001.
Batting stars: Brian Buchanan was 4-for-5 with a double, a walk, two runs, and four RBIs. Tom Prince was 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs, and two RBIs. Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs. Corey Koskie was 3-for-6 with two doubles and three RBIs. Luis Rivas was 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBIs. Casey Blake was 2-for-3.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Frank Menechino was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eleventh), a walk, two runs, and two RBIs. Terrence Long was 2-for-4. Jason Giambi was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs. Johnny Damon was 2-for-5 with two runs. Jeremy Giambi hit a two-run homer, his fifth.
The game: Damon led off the game with a single and Menechino followed with a two-run homer, giving Oakland a 2-0 lead two batters into the game. The Twins had men on first and second in each of the first two innings and had a man on second in the third, but it was still 2-0 until the fourth, when Long hit a two-out single and Jeremy Giambi followed with a two-run homer, making the score 4-0 Athletics.
The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on one-out singles by Denny Hocking and Blake and a Prince sacrifice fly. They then took the lead in the fifth. With one out, Mientkiewicz was hit by a pitch. Buchanan and Koskie had consecutive RBI doubles to cut the deficit to 4-3. With two out, Hocking walked and Blake and Prince delivered RBI singles, putting the Twins in front 5-4.
The Twins kept adding to the lead. In the sixth, one-out singles by Mientkiewicz and Buchanan were followed by Koskie’s two-run double, making the score 7-4. Prince led off the seventh with a triple. One-out singles by Rivas, Mientkiewicz, and Buchanan followed, putting the Twins up 9-4.
Oakland tried to get back into the game in the eighth. Menechino led off with a walk, Jason Giambi singled, and Ron Gant delivered a two-run double to cut the lead to 9-6. There were still none out, but the next three batters were retired to end the inning. The Twins got the runs back with interest in the bottom of the eighth. A walk and a strikeout/passed ball put men on first and second with two out. Rivas delivered an RBI single, Mientkiewicz walked, and Buchanan drove in two with a single, giving the Twins a seemingly comfortable 12-6 lead going to the ninth.
But the Athletics weren’t done. Giambi walked. Damon singled with one out, and Menechino singled to drive home a run. Menechino then drove in a run with a single, Jason Giambi doubled home another, and Billy McMillon hit a two-run double, cutting the lead to 12-10. The tying run was at the plate, but Miguel Tejada popped up and Eric Chavez grounded out to end them game.
WP: Eric Milton (9-3).
LP: Barry Zito (6-7).
S: LaTroy Hawkins (25).
Notes: Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski. Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman. Buchanan was in left in place of Jacque Jones. Blake was at DH in place of David Ortiz.
Mientkiewicz was batting .319. He would finish at .306. Blake was batting .318. That’s where he would finish as a Twin in 2001, because he was sent to AAA after this game, was waived in September, and finished the season with Baltimore. He would come back to the Twins in 2002, but be released after the season and sign with Cleveland, where he would go on to have some fine seasons. Matt Lawton was batting .307. He would finish at .293.
This was the third of four triples Prince would hit in his career. His last would come the following season.
The Twins used five relief pitchers: Eddie Guardado, Bob Wells, Travis Miller, Jack Cressend, and Hawkins.
Eric Milton was an all-star in 2001, something I had forgotten. I suppose the Twins had to have somebody. He was 8-3, 3.73 in the first half, decent numbers but not numbers that scream “all-star”. He was 7-4, 5.01 in the second half, for a total of 15-7, 4.32.
Record: Oakland was 50-45, in second place in the AL West, 18 games behind Seattle. They would finish 102-60, in second place, 14 games behind Seattle. This, of course, was the year the Mariners won 116 games. It must stink to win 102 games and be nowhere close to the division title.
Minnesota was 58-37, in first place in the AL Central, 3 games ahead of Cleveland. They would finish 85-77, in second place, 6 games behind Cleveland.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 8-6 (.571).
I saw three ships sailin', they were all heading my way
I asked the captain what his name was and how come he didn't drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus, I just said, "Good luck"-Bob Dylan
(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)Loading... Joe Start (1842)
Paul Radford (1861)
Ivy Olson (1885)
Oscar Charleston (1896)
Harry Brecheen (1914)
Ken Heintzelman (1915)
Tom Cheney (1934)
Tommy Harper (1940)
Frank Duffy (1946)
Al Oliver (1946)
Ed Figueroa (1948)
Kiko Garcia (1953)
Willie Aikens (1954)
Jesus Vega (1955)
Joe Girardi (1964)
Midre Cummings (1971)
Ryan Church (1978)
Boof Bonser (1981)
Carlos Marmol (1982)
Kole Calhoun (1987)
Willians Astudillo (1991)
Outfielder Oscar Charleston is considered by some to have been the greatest player in Negro League history.
WooooOOOOOOOooooOOOOOOOOrdle!
KANSAS CITY ROYALS 4, MINNESOTA TWINS 3 IN KANSAS CITY
Date: Sunday, September 27, 1970.
Batting stars: George Mitterwald was 2-for-3 with a double. Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a triple. Brant Alyea was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Luis Tiant pitched four innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Bobby Floyd was 4-for-4 with two doubles. Lou Piniella was 3-for-4. Amos Otis was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs. Jim Rooker pitched 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out seven.
The game: Kansas City jumped out to an early lead. In the first inning Otis led off with a single and Piniella followed with a one-out single. The Twins had Piniella picked off first, but an error, put men on second and third and a wild pitch brought home the game’s first run. Ed Kirkpatrick then singled to make it 2-0 Royals.
There were a few threats before the next run scored. In the second Floyd led off with a double and Tommy Matchick followed with a single, putting men on first and third with one out. A strikeout, a popup, and a fly out ended the inning. In the third, Mitterwald led off with a single and went to second on a two-out walk to Frank Quilici, but Harmon Killebrew struck out to end the threat. In the fourth, Alyea had a one-out single and Bob Allison followed with a walk. A balk put men on second and third, but Rick Renick and Mitterwald were each caught looking to strand the runners. Oliva tripled with one out in the sixth, but a strikeout and a fly ball left him on third.
The Royals broke through in the sixth, as doubles by Bob Oliver and Floyd brought home a run. They added one more in the seventh when Otis doubled and scored on Piniella’s single, making it 4-0.
The Twins got a one-out double in the seventh from Mitterwald, but again could do nothing with it. They finally got on the board in the eighth. Killebrew singled with one out. With two out, Alyea singled and Allison hit a two-run double. Rich Reese followed with an RBI single, making the score 4-3.
But that was as much as the Twins could do. A ground out ended the inning, and the Twins went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Rooker (10-15).
LP: Luis Tiant (7-3).
S: Ted Abernathy (14).
Notes: Quilici was at second, with Danny Thompson moving to short and Leo Cardenas getting the day off. Renick was at third with Killebrew moving to first and Reese on the bench, although he would pinch-hit. Allison was in right, with Oliva moving to center and Cesar Tovar on the bench, although he would also pinch-hit.
The Twins had clinched the division title, and this was in the days of September call-ups and before thirteen-man pitching staffs, so they used a lot of bench players. Nine of them, to be exact. They used six pinch-hitters and two pinch-runners. I kind of miss that.
Tiant had his best year at the plate in 1970, batting .406/.424/.531 in 32 at-bats. Oliva was batting .322. He would finish at .325. Tovar was batting .299. He would finish at .300. Rod Carew was injured much of 1970. He batted .366 in 191 at-bats.
Jim Kaat made 34 starts and pitched well over two hundred innings in 1970, yet he pitched two innings of relief in a meaningless game and was probably quite happy to do so. Put that in your file of “things that would never happen today.”
Bobby Floyd batted .326 in 43 at-bats in 1970. Take away this game and he batted .256.
While Tiant was injured much of 1970, he pitched pretty well when he could pitch, going 7-3, 3.40 in 92.2 innings (17 starts). Makes you wonder why the Twins were so quick to give up on him. In their defense, he had a poor year in 1969 and would have another one in 1971 before his career resurgance.
Record: Kansas City was 64-94, in fourth place in the AL West, 31 games behind Minnesota. They would finish 65-97, tied for fourth with Milwaukee, 33 games behind Minnesota.
The Twins were 95-63, in first place in the AL West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland. They would finish 98-64, in first place, 9 games ahead of Oakland.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 7-6 (.538).
One of the campaigns somehow got a hold of my email address in the past few days and my inbox is getting absolutely stuffed with their emails. I hope the weather's nice in the spam folder.
Charles Somers (1868)
Wild Bill Donovan (1876)
Rube Waddell (1876)
Pickles Dillhoefer (1893)
Frankie Hayes (1914)
Lou Saban (1921)
Charlie Silvera (1924)
Eddie Yost (1926)
Eddie Mathews (1931)
Bob Bailey (1942)
Randy Moffitt (1948)
Dick Pole (1950)
Frank LaCorte (1951)
George Frazier (1954)
Bryan Hickerson (1963)
Chris Gwynn (1964)
Trevor Hoffman (1967)
Damian Miller (1969)
Charles Somers was one of the founders of the American League and was its principal financier.
Better known as a football coach, Lou Saban was the president of the New York Yankees in 1981 and 1982.
