MINNESOTA TWINS 10, KANSAS CITY ATHLETICS 6 IN KANSAS CITY (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Monday, April 24, 1961.

Batting stars:  Reno Bertoia was 3-for-4 with two walks and three runs.  Earl Battey was 3-for-6 with a double, three runs, and three RBIs.  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-6.  Bob Allison was 2-for-6.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched five innings, giving up two runs on two hits and five walks and striking out one.  Ray Moore struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Marv Throneberry hit a three-run homer, his second.  Don Larsen pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on seven hits and six walks and striking out five.

The game:  The Twins had two men on in four of the first five innings, getting four hits, three walks, and a hit batsman, but the game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Kansas City broke through for two runs.  With two out, Marv Throneberry and Joe Pignatano walked, and RBI singles by Don Larsen and Dick Howser made it 2-0.

The Twins took the lead in the sixth, getting three runs on just two hits.  With one out, Earl Battey and Reno Bertoia singled and Billy Gardner walked.  Elmer Valo then reached on an error, scoring a run.  With two out, Lenny Green and Don Mincher drew bases-loaded walks, putting the Twins up 3-2.

The Athletics came back in the eighth.  Jerry Lumpe reached on an error and was bunted to second.  Norm Siebern reached on an error, putting men on first and third, and a ground out tied the score.  Andy Carey singled, and Marv Throneberry hit a three-run homer, giving Kansas City a 6-3 lead.

But the Twins staged their own comeback in the ninth.  With one out, Earl Battey and Reno Bertoia singled and Billy Gardner walked, just like in the sixth inning.  A ground out scored a run, Zoilo Versalles delivered an RBI single, and an error brough home the tying run.  The Athletics had two on with two out in the ninth, but did not score, and the game went to an extra inning.

In the tenth, Don Mincher reached on an error, Bob Allison singled, and Dan Dobbek reached on an error, loading the bases.  Earl Battey then delivered a bases-clearing double and Reno Bertoia followed with an RBI double, putting the Twins up 10-6.  Kansas City went down in order in the bottom of the tenth and the victory went to the visitors.

WP:  Ray Moore (1-1).

LP:  Bud Daley (1-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Don Mincher was at first base in place of Harmon Killebrew.  Billy Gardner was at second base in place of Billy Martin.  Reno Bertoia was at third.  Bill Tuttle played the most games there with 85.  Killebrew was second with 45, followed by Ted Lepcio with 35.

Earl Battey was batting .333.  He would finish at .302.  Zoilo Versalles was batting .319.  He would finish at .280.  Paul Giel was batting 1.000 (1-for-1).  He would finish at .500 (1-for-2).

Jim Kaat had an ERA of 2.19.  He would finish at 3.90.  Paul Giel had an ERA of 3.00.  He would finish at 9.78.

Bill Tuttle would be traded to the Twins, along with a player to be named later, on June 1 and would play for them through 1963.  Paul Giel and Reno Bertoia were sent to Kansas City in that trade.  The player to be named later would be Giel, who was sent back to the Twins on June 10.

Paul Giel is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 1953, losing out to Johnny Lattner.  He would go on to be the athletic director for the University of Minnesota.

The Don Larsen who played in this game is the Don Larsen who threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series.  He had been traded to Kansas City after the 1959 season and would be traded to the White Sox on June 10 of 1961.

Marv Throneberry would be traded to Baltimore on June 8.  Baltimore would trade him to the Mets on May 9, 1962.  He would go on to fame as “Marvelous Marv”, emblematic of the futility of the 1962 Mets team.  He really wasn’t a terrible player–in parts of seven seasons he batted .237/.311/.416.  Not great numbers, but there are certainly plenty of people who’ve done worse.

As you know, both Billy Martin and Billy Gardner would go on to manage the Twins.  Jim Lemon, who played left for the Twins, would manage Washington in 1968.  Dick Howser, who played short for Kansas City, managed the Yankees in 1980 and the Kansas City Royals from 1981-1986.  Billy Gardner would succeed him as manager.  Haywood Sullivan, who came in to catch later in the game for Kansas City, managed the Athletics in 1965.  Joe Pignatano, who started at catcher for Kansas City, was a long-time coach for several teams.  

The two teams combined for seventeen walks and seven errors in this game.  Neither team was very good in 1961, but one suspects weather may have been a factor as well.

Record:  Kansas City was 2-5, in ninth place in the American League, five games behind Detroit.  They would finish 61-100, tied for ninth with Washington, 47.5 games behind New York.

The Twins were 8-2, in second place in the American League, a half game behind Detroit.  They would finish 70-90, in seventh place, thirty-eight games behind New York.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 36-40 (.474).