All posts by Jeff A

1965 Rewind: Game Eighty-three

MINNESOTA 11, KANSAS CITY 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 15 (Game 1 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his thirteenth and fourteenth) and a walk, scoring three times.  Sandy Valdespino was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.  Earl Battey was 2-for-2 with two walks, scoring twice and driving in one.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched six innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and a walk with one strikeout.  Johnny Klippstein struck out six in three shutout innings, giving up one hit and three walks.

Opposition stars:  Ken Harrelson was 2-for-4 with a home run, his ninth.  Dick Green was 2-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Rene Lachemann was 1-for-3 with a home run (his sixth) and a walk.

The game:  Oliva homered in the first to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  In the second, two singles and a hit batsman filled the bases with one out, a wild pitch scored one run, and Kaat delivered a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-0.  The Twins then scored seven in the fourth to put the game out of reach.  Two singles and a walk filled the bases with none out.  Kaat hit his second sacrifice fly of the game to bring home one run.  Zoilo Versalles struck out, but with two out and two on the next five batters walked, forcing in four runs.  Three different pitchers issued the five walks, which must have been extremely frustrating to Athletics manager Heywood Sullivan.  Valdespino then delivered a two-run single to put the Twins up 10-0.  Kaat gave up three solo homers in the next two innings but was never really in trouble.

Of note:  Versalles was 0-for-5.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-4 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with two walks, scoring once and driving in one.

Record:  The win made the Twins 54-29 and kept them in first place by four and a half games over Cleveland.

Notes:  One of Bud Selig's many "contributions" to the game is the four-day all-star break.  In 1965, when Men were Men, you not only got by with three days, you played a doubleheader when you got back.  In fact, not every team even got three days.  There were three major league games played on Wednesday, the day after the all-star game...Kaat, as stated above, had two sacrifice flies in the game.  Only twelve players have hit three sacrifice flies in a game, with the most recent being Jose Lopez in 2008, and none of them were pitchers, so it appears that Kaat tied a record...I could not quickly find out what the record is for most consecutive walks, but I did see that Bill "Dolly" Gray walked seven consecutive batters in 1909.

1965 Rewind: All-star Game

NATIONAL LEAGUE 6, AMERICAN LEAGUE 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 13.

National League stars:  Willie Stargell was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and scored twice.  Willie Mays was 1-for-3 with a home run and two walks, scoring twice.  Juan Marichal started and pitched three innings, allowing only one hit.

American League stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer and two walks.  Dick McAuliffe was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and two runs.  Pete Richert struck out two in two innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  Mays led off the game with a home run and Joe Torre hit a two-run homer later in the first inning, both off Milt Pappas, to give the NL a 3-0 lead.  In the second, Stargell hit a two-run homer off Mudcat Grant to make it 5-0.  The Americans got on the board in the fourth on Rocky Colavito's RBI single.  In the fifth, McAuliffe and Killebrew each hit a two-run homer off Jim Maloney to tie it 5-5.  In the sixth, Ron Santo delivered an RBI single to put the Nationals up 6-5.  The AL got a man to third with two out in the eighth and Tony Oliva led off the ninth with a double, but they could not tie the score.

Twins:  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-2 with a walk and a run.  Oliva was 1-for-2 with a double.  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-1 with a walk.  Grant struck out three in two innings but gave up two runs on two hits and a walk.

1965 Rewind: Game Eighty-two

MINNESOTA 6, NEW YORK 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 11.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his sixteenth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-4 with a home run (his tenth) and two walks, scoring twice.  Rich Rollins was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching stars:  Bill Pleis pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two walks with one strikeout.  Johnny Klippstein struck out both batters he faced.

Opposition stars:  Elston Howard was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two.  Mickey Mantle was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Hector Lopez was 2-for-4 with a walk.

The game:  It was close all the way.  The Yankees got an RBI single from Lopez in the first to go up 1-0, but Versalles homered in the third to tie it 1-1.  In the fourth, two singles, a sacrifice fly, and an Earl Battey run-scoring single put the Twins up 3-1, but the Yankees got the two runs right back in the fifth when Howard came through with a two-run double.  Rollins doubled in a run in the bottom of the fifth to put the Twins ahead again at 4-3, but a walk, a single, a walk, and a wild pitch tied it for the Yankees in the seventh.  In the ninth, a single and two errors gave the Yankees a 5-4 advantage but with two out in the bottom of the ninth, Killebrew delivered a walk-off two-run homer to give the Twins the victory.

Of note:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a run.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-3 with an RBI.  Battey was 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Jim Kaat pitched 4.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and three walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The win made the Twins 53-29 and gave them a five-game lead heading into the all-star break.  Baltimore and Cleveland were now tied for second.

Notes:  Hall now had an average of .325...Battey raised his average to .313...I don't remember Joe Nossek as having a reputation as a great defender, but he was in center field in this game, with Hall moving to left in place of Allison, who remained out of the lineup.  Don Mincher pitch-hit for Nossek in the seventh and stayed in to play first, with Killebrew moving to left and Hall to center.  It was one of only two games in which Killebrew would play in the outfield that season.  He had been the Twins' regular left fielder from 1962-64, with Vic Power manning first base from 1962-63 and Allison as the primary starter there in 1964...Mantle was obviously back in the starting lineup but played left field.  I hadn't realized this, but probably as a concession to age and/or injury, Mantle was no longer in center in 1965 but was the regular in left.

Happy Birthday–December 26

Morgan Bulkeley (1837)
Dad A (1922)
Stu Miller (1927)
Al Jackson (1935)
Wayne Causey (1936)
Ray Sadecki (1940)
Carlton Fisk (1947)
Chris Chambliss (1948)
Dave Rader (1948)
Ozzie Smith (1954)
Mike Sodders (1958)
Storm Davis (1961)
Jeff King (1964)
Esteban Beltre (1967)
Omar Infante (1981)
Yohan Pino (1983)

Morgan Bulkeley was the first president of the National League.

Mike Sodders was a first-round draft choice for the Twins in 1981. A star third baseman at Arizona State, he never could adjust to wooden bats, never hit, and never made the major leagues.

Dad A has been a Twins fan ever since the team started, and was a baseball fan before that. He coached, he ran the public address system, and he was on the board of the local baseball association. One of the many gifts he has given me is a love of baseball. Dad, I know you'll never read this, because you don't have a computer and can't think of a reason why you'd want one, but thank you and happy birthday. May you have many more.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 26

1965 Rewind: Game Eighty-one

NEW YORK 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 10 (Game 2 of doubleheader)

Batting stars:  Don Mincher was 2-for-5 with a triple, scoring once and driving in three.  Tony Oliva was 4-for-5 with a stolen base (his eighth) and a run.  Sandy Valdespino was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Mel Nelson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Roger Repoz was 4-for-5 with a home run (his fifth) and a triple, scoring three times.  Hector Lopez was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fifth) and two walks, scoring twice.  Clete Boyer was 1-for-4 with a grand slam, his ninth homer.

The game:  Jimmie Hall's RBI double got the Twins on the board in the first, but Repoz and Lopez led off the second with back-to-back homers to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.  Ray Barker doubled in a run in the fourth to make it 3-1.  The Twins came back in the fifth, getting a three-run double by Mincher and a run-scoring single by Valdespino to go ahead 5-3.  Phil Linz singled in a run in the sixth to make it 5-4.  In the seventh, a single, a walk, and a bunt single, all off Dick Stigman, loaded the bases with none out.  Johnny Klippstein then came in to face Boyer, who hit a grand slam to give the Yankees an 8-5 edge.  The Twins got three singles in the ninth, cutting the lead to 8-6 and putting the tying run on base with two out, but Steve Hamilton struck out Bernie Allen to end the game.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Hall was 1-for-5 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-5 with a run.  Mudcat Grant struck out six in 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and no walks.

Record:  The loss snapped the Twins' nine-game winning streak and made their record 52-29.  They remained in first place, four games ahead of Cleveland, which lost to California 1-0.

Notes:  Hall's average dropped to .325...Bob Allison and Earl Battey did not play, with Valdespino and Jerry Zimmerman taking their spots in the lineup...Mickey Mantle was out again as well, with Repoz playing center...Tom Tresh was also out of the lineup, with Joe Pepitone taking his spot in the outfield and Ray Barker coming into the lineup to play first base...It seems somehow fitting that we've reached the half-way point of the season on Christmas Day.

Happy Birthday–December 25

Pud Galvin (1856)
Joe Quinn (1864)
Barry McCormick (1874)
Walter Holke (1892)
Lloyd Brown (1904)
Ben Chapman (1908)
Jo-Jo Moore (1908)
Ned Garver (1925)
Nellie Fox (1927)
Gene Lamont (1946)
Manny Trillo (1950)
Luis Quintana (1951)
Jeff Little (1954)
Charlie Lea (1956)
Wallace Johnson (1956)
Rickey Henderson (1958)
Marty Pevey (1962)

There have been 24 major league players with the first name “Jesus”, including ex-Twins Jesus Vega and Jesus “Bombo” Rivera and one whose birthday is today, Manny Trillo.  There have been no major league players with the last name “Christ", although there have been two minor leaguers with that last name:  John Christ, who was in the Cleveland organization from 1999-2001, and Mike Christ, who was in the Seattle organization from 1984-1988.  There have been eighteen players whose first name was “Christian” (honorable mention to Cristian Guzman), sixteen players whose middle name was “Christian” (including ex-Twins Marcus Jensen, David Lamb, and Kevin Maas), and three players whose last name was “Christian”.  We would be remiss if we did not also mention 1980s journeyman catcher Steve Christmas, as well as Matt Holliday.

The staff of Happy Birthday would like to wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 25

1965 Rewind: Game Eighty

MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 10 (Game 1 of doubleheader)

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his ninth) and two runs.  Jimmie Hall was 3-for-4 with a run.  Joe Nossek was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched eight innings, giving up an unearned run on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts.  Al Worthington pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Whitey Ford pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts.  Tom Tresh was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  It was scoreless through four.  In the fifth Hall singled and Nossek doubled, putting men on second and third with none out.  Perry brought home one with a squeeze bunt and Versalles followed with a two-run homer.  The Yankees got one back in the sixth on Tresh's RBI double, but they never got the tying run on base.  The Twins added a run in the ninth on a run-scoring single by pinch-hitter Sandy Valdespino.

Of note:  Rich Rollins, back in the lineup at third base for the first time in a few weeks, was 0-for-3.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-3 with a walk.  Earl Battey was 0-for-3.

Record:  The win was the ninth in a row for the Twins and raised their record to 52-28.  They were in first by four and a half games over Cleveland and Baltimore.

Notes:  Nossek replaced Bob Allison in the lineup but played center field, with Hall moving to left...Hall raised his average to .327...Battey saw his average drop to .309...Mickey Mantle was again not in the starting lineup but was used as a pinch-hitter.

Happy Birthday–December 24

Henry Mathewson (1886)
Chico Garcia (1924)
Frank Taveras (1949)
John D'Acquisto (1951)
Tim Drummond (1964)
Mo Sanford (1966)
Kevin Millwood (1974)
Jamey Wright (1974)

Henry Mathewson is the younger brother of Christy Mathewson.  He appeared in two games for the Giants in 1906 and one in 1907.

Chico Garcia played professional baseball from 1944-1970, mostly in Mexico.  He played thirty-nine games in the majors in 1954 with Baltimore.  He also was a manager in Mexico for fifteen seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 24