Goodbye, Lemmy (and the Philthy Animal while we're at it).
1980
(1 votes, average: 6.00 out of 10)
Loading... Happy New Year, you guys. Hope it's a good'un.
2013
(2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... We'll do best-of 2015 lists next week. This week, let's talk about what you're looking forward to, musically, in 2016. That is, if anyone is around. These holiday FMD's generally seem like a bust, right?
Date: Sunday, July 18 (Game 1 of doubleheader).
Batting stars: Don Mincher was 2-for-3 with a home run (his tenth) and two RBIs. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Jimmie Hall was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run.
Pitching stars: Jim Kaat pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits and one walk with two strikeouts. Mel Nelson struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.
Opposition stars: Jose Cardenal was 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and two stolen bases (his twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth), scoring once and driving in one. Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4 with a home run, his seventh. Bobby Knoop was 3-for-4 with a run.
The game: Fregosi homered leading off the top of the fourth, but Mincher homered in the bottom of the fourth to tie it 1-1. In the fifth, three singles and a sacrifice fly produced two Angels runs and gave them a 3-1 lead. In the seventh, two walks and a two-run double by Joe Adcock made it 5-1. Killebrew's RBI single in the eighth made it 5-2 and put men on first and third, bringing the tying run to the plate with none out. Mincher hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3, but the next five batters went out with no further runs.
Of note: Rich Rollins was 1-for-4. Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a run. Earl Battey was 0-for-4.
Record: The Twins dropped their fourth straight and saw their record fall to 54-33. Their lead dropped to 2.5 games over Chicago, who moved back into second place with a win over Kansas City.
Notes: Oddly, the Twins ended their series with Kansas City on a Saturday and started a new series with California on a Sunday...The starting pitcher for California was Fred Newman, who we discussed the last time he pitched against the Twins, in game seventy-one. He went 0-for-2 in this game to drop his batting average to .024, although for his career he hit .153...Hall raised his average to .322...Battey dropped his average to .309.
Tim Keefe (1857)
Hugh Nicol (1858)
Webster McDonald (1900)
Ethan Allen (1904)
Hank Greenberg (1911)
Joe Reichler (1915)
Sherry Robertson (1919)
Earl Torgeson (1924)
Carl Scheib (1927)
Roy Majtyka (1939)
Bill Bethea (1942)
Rick Albert (1951)
Bob Owchinko (1955)
La Marr Hoyt (1955)
Fernando Tatis (1975)
Submarine-style pitcher Webster McDonald pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1920-1940.
Joe Reichler was a long-time sportswriter and later worked in the commissioner's office. He was the editor of several editions of The Baseball Encyclopedia.
Roy Majtyka was a long-time minor-league manager, winning 1,832 games.
Rick Albert has been a minor-league coach or manager in the Braves' organization since 1978.
We would like to wish a very happy birthday to mrs. bhiggum.
...or some such
King Kelly (1857)
Tom Connolly (1870)
Bobby Byrne (1884)
Syl Johnson (1900)
Tommy Byrne (1919)
Guy LaValliere (1931)
Alfredo Meli (1944)
Joe Simpson (1951)
Jim Tracy (1955)
Rick Aguilera (1961)
Esteban Loaiza (1971)
Brian Moehler (1971)
Julio DePaula (1982)
Tom Connolly was a major league umpire for many years. He umpired the first World Series game in 1903. He once went ten years without ejecting a player.
It does not appear that Bobby Byrne and Tommy Byrne are related.
Minor league catcher Guy LaValliere is the father of major league catcher Mike LaValliere.
Alfredo Meli is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the first man to win Italian championships as a player, a manager, and a general manager. He also founded the Italian Baseball Federation for the Blind.
Nobody ever makes a fuss about the last baby of the old year.
Date: Saturday, July 17.
Batting stars: Rich Rollins was 3-for-5 with a double and a run. Earl Battey was 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs. Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-1 with three walks and two runs.
Pitching star: Dick Stigman pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
Opposition stars: Dick Green was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth) and three RBIs. Ken Harrelson was 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run, his eleventh. Bert Campaneris was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.
The game: The Twins opened the second with two walks and a Battey single to take a 1-0 lead. In the fifth, consecutive RBI singles by Bob Allison, Battey, and Jimmie Hall put them up 4-0 and the game seemed to be well in hand. Green and Harrelson led off the seventh with back-to-back homers to cut the lead to 4-2. With two out in the eighth, Green hit a two-run homer to tie it 4-4. Al Worthington came in to pitch the ninth and gave up a single and two one-out walks to load the bases. Bill Pleis then came in but gave up a sacrifice fly to Ed Charles to bring in the go-ahead run. The Twins, who had not threatened since the fifth, did not threaten in the bottom of the ninth either, going down in order.
Of note: Joe Nossek was 0-for-4. Tony Oliva was 0-for-5. Jimmie Hall was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Record: The loss dropped the Twins to 54-32. They were still in first place, but only by three games, as Cleveland again defeated Boston.
Notes: One assumes there was some consternation at the Twins dropping three in a row at home to the last-place Athletics...Sam Mele shuffled his lineup for this game, with Zoilo Versalles dropping to eighth and Rollins leading off. Rollins played second base, with Nossek batting second and playing third...Allison returned to the lineup, this time to stay...Green was not exactly a power hitter, but 1965 would be his best home run season, with fifteen. He would reach double digits four times in his career and hit a total of eighty homers in twelve seasons...Hall raised his average to .322...Battey raised his average to .316.
You probably saw that coming.
First off, many thanks to all the contributors to our Best in 2015 showcase. It was an awesome slew of videos, you guys.
Anyway, as always, have a fun a safe one, dudes. Oobrr your way out of danger if necessary.
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)Loading... 
