Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 24

Dave Brain (1879)
Pinch Thomas (1888)
Cliff Heathcote (1898)
Flint Rhem (1901)
Jean Yawkey (1909)
Johnny Dickshot (1910)
Ray Kelly (1914)
Jack Brickhouse (1916)
Walter Haas (1916)
Dick Stigman (1936)
Sandy Valdespino (1939)
Jumbo Ozaki (1947)
Tim Stoddard (1953)
Atlee Hammaker (1958)
Neil Allen (1958)
Rob Dibble (1964)
Scott Kazmir (1984)
Tyler Flowers (1986)
Franklin Morales (1986)
Jose Quintana (1989)

Jean Yawkey was the wife of Tom Yawkey and was owner of the Boston Red Sox from 1978 until her death in 1992.

Ray Kelly was a baseball writer in Philadelphia for fifty years.

Jack Brickhouse was a broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs from 1948-1981.

Walter Haas was the owner of the Oakland Athletics from 1980 until his death in 1995.

Better known as a professional golfer, Jumbo Ozaki played professional baseball in Japan for three seasons, pitching for two seasons and playing outfield for one.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 24 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Seven

Note:  I thought I had published this, but apparently I didn't.  Sorry about that.

MINNESOTA 3, OAKLAND 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 8.

Batting stars:  Danny Thompson was 2-for-4.  Rich Reese was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his ninth.

Pitching stars:  Luis Tiant pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on five hits and four walks and striking out four.  Stan Williams pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Bert Campaneris was 2-for-4.  Sal Bando was 1-for-4 with a home run, his nineteenth.  Bob Locker pitched three perfect innings.  Mudcat Grant struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  Bando hit a one-out homer in the second inning to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead.  A pair of walks followed, but Oakland did nothing further.  The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the second when Killebrew led off with a walk and Reese followed with a two-run homer.  The Twins added a run in the third when Tiant led off with a double, went to third on a Cesar Tovar single, and scored on a Thompson single.

And that was it.  The Athletics got two on in the fourth with an error and a walk.  They had two on with two out in the seventh on a single and a walk.  But those were the only times they got a man past first base, and the Twins took a 3-1 win.

WP:  Tiant (7-1).

LP:  Rollie Fingers (5-9).

S:  Williams (9).

Notes:  Thompson was again at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tom Tischinski was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Frank Quilici came in to play second base in the ninth inning, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew going to the bench.

Tiant was 1-for-2 and was batting .423.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .329.  Tiant had an ERA of 2.86.  Williams had an ERA of 1.67.

Rollie Fingers started for Oakland and pitched just two innings, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk and striking out three.  Fingers had been in the starting rotation since late May, but would start only two more games in 1970 and only twelve more in his career.

Record:  The Twins were 69-38, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of California.  This was the Twins largest lead of the season to this point.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Eight

OAKLAND 3, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 1)

Date:  Sunday, August 9.

Batting star:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall struck out seven in five shutout innings of relief, giving up only a walk.  Ron Perranoski struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Chuck Dobson pitched a complete game shutout, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out six.  Don Mincher was 3-for-4 with a double, a stolen base (his fourth) and two RBIs.

The game:  With two out in the first Tommy Davis singled and scored on Mincher's double.  Sal Bando followed with a single to give the Athletics a 2-0 lead.  The Twins drew a pair of walks in the bottom of the first but did not score.  In the third, Bert Campaneris doubled and scored on Mincher's single to make it 3-0.

And that was it for the scoring.  The Twins did not get a hit until the fifth.  The first inning was the only time they had more than one man on base.  The only other time they got a man past first was in the ninth.  Killebrew led off with a single, and pinch-runner Frank Quilici got to third on a pair of ground outs.  But a third ground out ended the game.

WP:  Dobson (14-10).

LP:  Bert Blyleven (3-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jim Holt was back in center, with Cesar Tovar moving to left.  Danny Thompson remained at second in place of Rod Carew.  Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Blyleven in the third.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Hall in the eighth.  Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the ninth.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .326.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.99.  Hall had an ERA of 2.49.  Perranoski had an ERA of 2.19.

In their last four games, the Twins had scored seven runs and given up six.

Blyleven pitched just three innings, giving up three runs on five hits and no walks and striking out three.  It seems like a really quick hook.  The Twins did have a rested bullpen, though.

The Twins had only four hits, all singles.

Record:  The Twins were 69-40, in first place in the American League West, 7.5 games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 23

Ben Shibe (1838)
Red Donahue (1873)
Bobby Burke (1907)
Randy Gumpert (1918)
Chico Carrasquel (1926)
Frank Sullivan (1930)
Joe Amalfitano (1934)
Don Nottebart (1936)
Paul Ratliff (1944)
Kurt Bevacqua (1947)
Charlie Spikes (1951)
Alan Embree (1970)
Mark Wohlers (1970)
Erubiel Durazo (1974)
Brandon Duckworth (1976)
Juan Rincon (1979)
Jeff Samardzija (1985)

Ben Shibe was the owner of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 until his death in 1922.  Shibe Park was named in his honor.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 23 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Six

MINNESOTA 2, OAKLAND 1 IN MINNESOTA (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, August 7.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Jim Holt was 2-for-5 with a home run, his third.  Rich Reese was 1-for-1 with a home run (his eighth) and three walks.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched an eleven-inning complete game, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Reggie Jackson was 1-for-2 with a double and two walks.  Bert Campaneris was 1-for-5 with a home run, his sixteenth.  Catfish Hunter pitched seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and two walks and striking out one.  Mudcat Grant pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  Campaneris led off the game with a home run, giving the Athletics a 1-0 lead.  Reese led off the second inning with a home run, tying the score 1-1.

And there was no more scoring until the eleventh.  The Twins got a one-out double from Oliva in the fourth, a leadoff double from George Mitterwald in the fifth, and started the sixth with a single and a walk.  Jackson hit a two-out double in the seventh.  The Athletics got a man to second in the eighth and in the ninth.  The Twins loaded the bases with none out in the tenth when Cesar Tovar walked, Danny Thompson reached on a sacrifice bunt/error, and Oliva was intentionally walked, but Harmon Killebrew hit into a 5-2-3 double play and Rick Renick grounded out.

Came the eleventh.  Oakland went down in order.  Holt led off the bottom of the inning with a home run and the Twins were victorious.

WP:  Perry (17-9).

LP:  Marcel Lachemann (2-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was again in center, with Tovar in left and Brant Alyea on the bench.  Thompson was at shortstop, with Frank Quilici at second and Leo Cardenas on the bench.  Killebrew pinch-hit for Reese in the tenth and stayed in the game at first base.

Oliva was .329.  Perry was 1-for-4 and was batting .303.

I don't know when the last time is that someone pitched eleven innings in a game, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't happened in the last few years.

The Twins had played twenty-five innings in the last two games and used four pitchers.  There were a total of six runs scored in those innings, four by the Twins and two by the opposition.  Each game was decided by a walkoff home run.

It's not every game you have Catfish start and he gets replaced by Mudcat.

Record:  The Twins were 68-38, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of California.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.