Category Archives: Keeping Track

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 7

Kitty Bransfield (1875)
Al Todd (1902)
Johnny McCarthy (1910)
Johnny Mize (1913)
Alvin Dark (1922)
Dick Schofield (1935)
Jim Hannan (1940)
Jim Lefebvre (1942)
Tony Conigliaro (1945)
Joe Keough (1946)
Ross Grimsley (1950)
Bob Gorinski (1952)
Jeff Montgomery (1962)
Craig Shipley (1963)
Allan Anderson (1964)
Rob Radlosky (1974)
Alfonso Soriano (1976)
Eric Gagne (1976)
Brayan Pena (1982)
Francisco Rodriguez (1982)
Edwin Encarnacion (1983)
Jon Lester (1984)

Outfielder Joseph William Keough did not play for the Twins, but he went to spring training with them in 1974. Born and raised in Pomona, California, he attended Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California and was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the fourth round in 1965. His best minor league year was 1967, when he hit .294 with 18 homers with Class A Leesburg. He never showed that kind of power again, but his average stayed high the rest of his minor league career. He reached the majors for the first time in 1968, when he was with Oakland for the last two months of the season as a part-time player and hit a home run off Lindy McDaniel in his first major league at-bat. He was left unprotected in the expansion draft and was chosen by the Kansas City Royals. He was there most of the season, with his highlight coming on opening day, when he delivered a pinch-hit, game-winning single. His best major league year, and in fact his only good major league year, came in 1970, when he hit .322 with an OPS of .839 in 183 at-bats until a broken leg ended his season on June 28. He was the starting right fielder in 1971, but hit .248 and gradually lost the playing time. He was mostly a pinch-hitter in 1972 and was traded to the White Sox after the season. He spent nearly the entire 1973 season in the minors, coming up for about two weeks in July and playing in five games, four as a pinch-runner and one as a pinch-hitter. He was sold to Minnesota after the season, but did not make the team in 1974 and his playing career came to an end.  He is a member of the Mt. San Antonio College Hall of Fame.  He is the brother of big-league outfielder Marty Keough and the uncle of big-league pitcher Matt Keough.  There are more people in the world named Joe Keough than one might think. No information about Joe Keough’s current life is readily available.

Outfielder Robert John Gorinski played for Minnesota in 1977. His uncle, Walt Gorinski, played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bob was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, went to high school in Calumet, Pennsylvania (where he played shortstop), and was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 1970. He was primarily a power hitter in the minors, hitting 30 homers in Class A Wisconsin Rapids in 1971 and 23 homers in Class A Lynchburg in 1972. Presumably, he was held in Class A that long despite the homers due to a low batting average and a high strikeout total. His best year in the minors came in 1976, when he hit .285 with 28 homers and 110 RBIs for AAA Tacoma (he also struck out 130 times). Surprisingly, he did not get a September call-up that year, but he was with the Twins for all of 1977, his only year in the majors. He was used sporadically as a pinch-hitter and reserve outfielder, which is not the best way for a strikeout-prone slugger to find his stroke. The results showed that--he hit .195/.226/.322 with three home runs in 118 at-bats. He went back to AAA Toledo in 1978, had a poor year, and was released. Gorinski spent 1979 with the AAA teams of the Mets and the Cubs, did not hit well, and his playing career was over. He returned to his home state of Pennsyvania, settling in Mount Pleasant, and coached little league there for many years.  At last report, he was still living in the Mount Pleasant area.

All of left-handed pitcher Allan Lee Anderson's major league career, 1986-1991, was with Minnesota. He was born in Lancaster, Ohio and attended high school there. Anderson was drafted by Minnesota in the second round in 1982. He had an outstanding year in 1984 for Class A Visalia, going 12-7 with a 2.86 ERA in 188 innings. He was jumped to AAA the next year and struggled for a while there, but despite what appears to have been a poor start at Toledo in 1986, he was called up to the Twins in mid-June. He did not pitch well that year, nor did he do well the next year in a season mostly spent in AAA. In 1988, however, Anderson had his career year. Called up to the Twins in late April, he went 16-9, leading the league in ERA (2.45) and ERA+ (166). He did not pitch the last day of the season to preserve his ERA title, which caused some controversy, but he did pitch over 200 innings that season. Anderson did not repeat that year in 1989, but he still had a good year, going 17-10, 3.80. His luck ran out after that, however, and after a couple of sub-par seasons in 1990 and 1991 he became a free agent. Anderson signed with the Yankees, but was injured for almost the entire season, making one rehab appearance in Ft. Lauderdale. He split 1993 between the AAA teams of Texas and Cleveland, but could never come back, and his career was at an end. Allan Anderson was 49-54, 4.11 for his career. He pitched in 148 games, 128 of them starts, working 818.2 innings. One source states that Allan Anderson is living in Columbus, Ohio, and is employed as a firefighter, but this appears to be a different Allan Anderson.  At last report, our Allan Anderson had returned to his home town of Lancaster where he was a realtor and auctioneer.  He also owned AASports, an indoor baseball training facility.

Right-handed reliever Robert Vincent Radlosky was with Minnesota for about a month in 1999. He was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, but attended high school in West Haven, Connecticut. He was drafted by the Twins in the 22nd round in 1993. A starter in the minors, his numbers are up-and-down for his minor league career. His best year was 1997, when he posted a 2.59 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP in 128 innings at Fort Myers, his second year there. Radlosky pitched in AA in 1998 and AAA in 1999, not pitching badly but not really looking particularly impressive, either. As has been observed before, the late-90s Twins were desperate for pitching, so even a pitcher who was mediocre in AAA had a good chance of being called up. In late May of 1999, when Eddie Guardado went on the disabled list, Radlosky was called up. He made seven relief appearances for Minnesota, pitching 8.2 innings and giving up 12 runs (seven home runs), for an ERA of 12.46. Back in the minors in 2000, the Twins released him part-way through the season. He signed with Boston, finished out the season there, and then his career was over. At last report, Rob Radlosky was employed by Diamond Mind, Inc., maker of baseball simulations games, in Beaverton, Oregon.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Ninety-two

MINNESOTA 11, BOSTON 8 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, July 21 (Game 2 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 3-for-3 with a home run (his eighteenth) and a walk, scoring three times and driving in three.  Bob Allison was 2-for-5 with a triple, scoring twice and driving in three.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a walk, scoring three times and driving in one.

Pitching star:  Al Worthington struck out two in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Rico Petrocelli was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Tony Conigliaro was 2-for-5 with a home run (his seventeenth) and two runs.  Eddie Bressoud was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his sixth) and a walk.

The game:  The Twins scored two in the first, but Petrocelli's three-run homer capped a four-run second that put the Red Sox up 4-2.  The Twins got the four runs back in the third on only two hits, both singles, as they were aided by a walk, a hit batsman, a wild pitch, and a balk.  Conigliaro homered in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 6-5, but Killebrew hit a two-run homer in the fifth to increase the margin to 8-5.  The lead held until the sixth, when Bressoud hit a three-run homer to tie it 8-8.  With two on in the ninth, Allison circled the bases on a triple-plus-error to give the Twins an 11-8 advantage.  This time it held up, as the Red Sox managed only a single in the bottom of the ninth.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Rich Rollins was 3-for-5 with two runs.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-4 with an RBI.  Starter Dick Stigman pitched only 2.2 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and no walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The doubleheader sweep improved the Twins to 58-34, still in first place.  Baltimore, who swept a doubleheader from Kansas City, moved into sole possession of second place, 3.5 games back.

Notes:  Hall saw his average drop to .312...Earl Battey sat out the second game of the doubleheader, with Jerry Zimmerman catching...Stigman would make only one more start this season, again as part of a doubleheader.  He was much more effective as a reliever than as a starter...Petrocelli was in his rookie year.  I don't really remember him as a power hitter, but he had a few years when he was, hitting forty in 1969, twenty-nine in 1970, and twenty-eight in 1971.  He attributed his power surge in those years to a diet and exercise program begun after the 1968 season.  Doubtless lowering the mound and shrinking the strike zone helped, too, as well as the fact that these were his age 26-28 seasons.  He would hit thirteen homers in 1965.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 6

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George Shoch (1859)
Phil Masi (1916)
Jiro Noguchi (1920)
Early Wynn (1920)
Ralph Branca (1926)
Lee Walls (1933)
Lenny Green (1933)
Ruben Amaro (1936)
Don Gullett (1951)
Norm Charlton (1963)
Dan Naulty (1970)
Marlon Anderson (1974)
Brian Bass (1982)
Anthony Slama (1984)

Jiro Noguchi was one of the greatest pitchers in the early days of Japanese professional baseball, winning 237 games with an ERA of 1.96.

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Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Ninety-one

MINNESOTA 8, BOSTON 6 IN BOSTON

Date:  Wednesday, July 21 (Game 1 of doubleheader)

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 5-for-6 with a double, scoring twice and driving in one.  Harmon Killebrew was 3-for-4 with a walk, scoring three times and driving in two.  Bob Allison was 1-for-3 with a double and two walks, driving in one.

Pitching star:  Johnny Klippstein pitched 3.1 innings of relief, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits and no walks with no strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Tony Conigliaro was 3-for-4 with a double and a run.  Bob Tillman was 2-for-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Pitcher Earl Wilson was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer, his third.

The game:  Jim Kaat singled in a run in the second and the Twins added two in the third to take a 3-0 lead.  Wilson's two-run homer in the the bottom of the third cut the lead to 3-2, but RBI singles by Killebrew and Earl Battey made it 5-2 in the fifth and Oliva doubled home a run in the sixth to increase the lead to 6-2.  The Red Sox wouldn't go away, as Tillman knocked in two on a single-plus-error in the sixth to narrow the margin to 6-4.  Run-scoring singles by Killebrew and Jimmie Hall made it 8-4 in the eighth, but the Red Sox again tried to come back, scoring two in the ninth and bringing the tying run up to bat with one out.  Carl Yastrzemski grounded out and Tony Horton fanned to end the game.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-5 with a walk and a run.  Rich Rollins was 2-for-6 with a double and a run.  Hall was 1-for-4 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Battey was 1-for-2 with two walks and two RBIs.  Kaat pitched five innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Record:  The win made the Twins 57-34 and kept them in first place.  Their closest pursuers, Cleveland and Baltimore, each also played a doubleheader.  The Orioles beat Kansas City 1-0 and the Indians lost to Detroit 2-1, so Baltimore took over second place, 3.5 games behind the Twins.

Notes:  Versalles moved back up to the leadoff spot, with Frank Quilici dropping to eighth.  Neither contributed much to the offense in this game...Kaat was going through a bit of a rough stretch, as this was the fifth time in six starts he failed to go as many as six innings.  On the other hand, due to doubleheaders, it was the second time in a row he pitched on only two days' rest...Earl Wilson slugged thirty-five home runs in his career.  His season high was seven, which he hit in 1966 and again in 1968.  He wasn't a bad pitcher either, winning eighteen games in 1966 and twenty-two in 1967, most of them for Detroit.  He finished in the top fifteen in MVP voting in both of those seasons.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 5

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Ban Johnson (1864)
Bob Carruthers (1864)
Bill Dahlen (1870)
Jack Norworth (1879)
Art Fletcher (1885)
Rube Foster (1888)
Riggs Stephenson (1898)
Luke Sewell (1901)
Jack Kramer (1918)
Earl Battey (1935)
Bud Bloomfield (1936)
Charlie Hough (1948)
Jim Gantner (1953)
Bob Dernier (1957)
Ron Kittle (1958)
Milt Thompson (1959)
John Russell (1961)
Henry Cotto (1961)
Danny Jackson (1962)
Jeff Fassero (1963)
Brian Runge (1970)
Fred Rath (1973)
Mark Redman (1974)
Eduardo Escobar (1989)

Ban Johnson was one of the founders of and the first president of the American League.

Jack Norworth wrote the lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

Rube Foster was a player, manager, and owner in the Negro Leagues, eventually becoming president of the Negro National League.

Brian Runge was a major league umpire from 1999-2012.  He is the son of major league umpire Paul Runge and the grandson of major league umpire Ed Runge.

Oddly, there are three players born on this day who go by their initials:  J. P. Arencibia, C. J. Cron, and A. J. Cole.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to freealonzo.

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Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Ninety

CALIFORNIA 9, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 20.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a walk.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with an RBI.  Frank Quilici was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run.

Pitching stars:  Mel Nelson pitched 2.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk with one strikeout.  Bill Pleis pitched two shutout innings, giving up one walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Marcelino Lopez pitched a complete game, allowing one run on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts.  Bobby Knoop was 4-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.  Willie Smith was 3-for-5 with a home run (his eleventh) and three runs.

The game:  An RBI groundout by Oliva gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the first, but Knoop's run-scoring single tied it in the second.  The Angles took control of the game with four runs in the third.  A single, a lineout, and five consecutive singles gave them a 5-1 lead.  The Twins never threatened to get back into the game--they never had more than one runner on base at a time after the first and did not even get one on after Oliva's single leading off the sixth.

Of note:  Rich Rollins was 1-for-4.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-4.  Camilo Pascual pitched 2.1 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and no walks with no strikeouts.

Record:  The loss dropped the Twins to 56-34, still in first place by 3.5 games, but Baltimore defeated Cleveland to tie the Indians for second place.

Notes:  This was Pascual's first start since July 4.  He was obviously still hurting.  He would struggle through two more starts, then miss the entire month of August...Hall's average dropped to .316...Earl Battey did not start but was used as a pinch-hitter.  He went 0-for-1 and dropped his average to .304.  Jerry Zimmerman started in his place...Marcelino Lopez had a fine year, going 14-13, 2.93 and finishing second in the rookie of the year voting at age 21.  It was the only good year he had as a starter.  His ERA was a full run higher, 3.93, in 1966, which doesn't sound so bad now but was not very good in 1966.  He was traded to Baltimore in June of 1967 and struggled through a couple of injury-plagued years before resurfacing as a reliever.  He had a solid season for the Orioles in 1970, but it was the last good year he would have.  He made four appearances for Cleveland in 1972, his last major league appearances.  He had started having elbow problems as early as 1962, when he was eighteen, and one assumes that throwing 215.1 innings in 1965 at age twenty-one was probably not the best thing for him.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 4

Tommy Corcoran (1869)
Ernest Lanigan (1873)
Al Bridwell (1884)
Ossie Vitt (1890)
George Selkirk (1908)
Gabe Paul (1910)
Herman Franks (1914)
Don McMahon (1930)
Tito Fuentes (1944)
Charlie Manuel (1944)
Ken Reynolds (1947)
Paul Gibson (1960)
Daryl Boston (1963)
Trey Hillman (1963)
Ted Lilly (1976)
Willie Martinez (1978)

Ernest Lanigan was the nephew of the Spink brothers who founded The Sporting News and worked for the publication from the time he was 15.  Among other things, he compiled baseball's first encyclopedia, published in 1922, and served as curator, historian, and director of the Hall of Fame from 1946 until his death in 1962.

Gabe Paul was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians (twice), and the New York Yankees.

Trey Hillman was the manager of the Kansas City Royals from 2008-2010.

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Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Eighty-nine

MINNESOTA 5, CALIFORNIA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, July 19, 2015

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventeenth) and a walk.  Frank Quilici was 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, scoring once.  Bob Allison was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Jim Fregosi was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.  Joe Adcock was 1-for-4 with a home run, his ninth.  Dean Chance pitched a complete game, allowing five runs (three earned) on nine hits and six walks with five strikeouts.

The game:  Killebrew hit a two-run homer in the first to put the Twins up 2-0.  Adcock got one of the runs back with a home run to start the second and Fregosi led off the fourth with a home run to tie it 2-2.  A doubleplay put the Twins in the lead 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth and Jimmie Hall brought two home in the seventh on a single-plus-error.  The Angels did not get a hit after the fourth and their last baserunner came on a two-out walk in the fifth.

Of note:  Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run.  Hall was 1-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.

Record:  The win made the Twins 56-33 and kept them in first place, 3.5 games ahead of Cleveland.  Baltimore and Chicago dropped into a tie for third, 4.5 games back.

Notes:  Quilici batted leadoff for the second consecutive game and played shortstop, giving Zoilo Versalles a rest.  Earl Battey was also rested, with Jerry Zimmerman catching...Hall's average dropped to .321.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 3

Barney Gilligan (1856)
Gus Suhr (1906)
Frenchy Bordagaray (1910)
Sid Hudson (1915)
Eddie Einhorn (1936)
Bob Gebhard (1943)
Dick Colpaert (1944)
Larry Barnett (1945)
Gary Lavelle (1949)
Darren Daulton (1962)
Luis Rivera (1964)
Luis Sojo (1965)
A. J. Burnett (1977)
Michael Restovich (1979)
Alex Meyer (1990)

Eddie Einhorn is a part-owner of the Chicago White Sox.  He was the founder of the TVS networks, which syndicated sports regionally and nationally in the days before twenty-four hour cable sports stations.

Larry Barnett was a major league umpire from 1969-1999.

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Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Eighty-eight

MINNESOTA 5, CALIFORNIA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 18 (Game 2 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base (his ninth), scoring once.  Don Mincher was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eleventh) and a hit-by-pitch.

Pitching stars:  Mudcat Grant pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on twelve hits and a walk with five strikeouts.  Al Worthington pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Tom Satriano was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer.  Willie Smith was 4-for-5 with a stolen base, his sixth.  Merritt Ranew was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The game:  Three consecutive singles, the last an RBI base hit by Ranew, put the Angels up 1-0 in the top of the first.  Allison hit a two-run double in the bottom of the first to put the Twins ahead 2-1.  The Angels put two on in the second, third, fifth, and seventh, but could not score.  Two walks and a two-out RBI single by Jimmie Hall gave the Twins a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh.  In the eighth, however, Satriano hit a two-run homer to tie it.  Later in the inning, a walk, a bunt, a wild pitch, and a ground out brought home the go-ahead run for California.  Mincher led off the bottom of the eighth with a home run to tie it 4-4.  Allison followed with a single-plus-error, taking second.  He was bunted to third and Sandy Valdespino was intentionally walked.  He tried to steal second on a two-strike pitch to pinch-hitter Joe Nossek.  Nossek fanned and Valdespino was caught in a rundown, but before he was tagged out Allison crossed the plate with the go-ahead run.  The Angels went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

Of note:  Frank Quilici was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring once.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with an RBI.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-3 with a walk.  Earl Battey was 1-for-2 with a walk.  Mudcat Grant was 2-for-3.

Record:  The win snapped a four-game losing streak and raised the Twins' record to 55-33.  Baltimore, Chicago, and Cleveland were all in a tie for second, 3.5 games back.

Notes:  This was the first major league start for Quilici, who had made his major league debut as a reserve in game one of the doubleheader.  He played second base...Satriano's home run was his first of the season.  He would hit twenty-one in a ten year career, with a high of eight in 1968.  He was a rare combination, a catcher/utility infielder.  He played 321 career games at catcher, 168 at third base, 83 at first base, 58 at second base, and 3 at shortstop.  He played second base in today's game...Hall's average fell to .321...Battey dropped to .306.