Jack Ryan (1868)
Moonlight Graham (1877)
Carl Mays (1891)
Joe Hoerner (1936)
Bruce Bochte (1950)
Jody Davis (1956)
Donnie Hill (1960)
Greg Gagne (1961)
Jeff Reed (1962)
Randy Knorr (1968)
Sammy Sosa (1968)
Aaron Heilman (1978)
Charlie Morton (1983)
Mike Leake (1987)
Aaron Heilman was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 2000, but did not sign.
We would also like to wish a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. FT"HM"LT.
Love this bass line. Hell of a performance from everyone here.
1980
(4 votes, average: 9.25 out of 10)
Loading... MINNESOTA 5, CALIFORNIA 4 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, May 23.
Batting stars: Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4. Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Bill Zepp retired all seven batters he faced. Stan Williams struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit. Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Ken McMullen was 2-for-4 with a triple. Andy Messersmith pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on eight hits and one walk and striking out five.
The game: Each team scored two in the second. For the Angels, Alex Johnson doubled and scored on McMullen's single. Two walks loaded the bases with one out and a ground out made it 2-0. For the Twins, Harmon Killebrew walked. With two out, Cardenas hit a single-plus-error to score a run and Paul Ratliff followed with an RBI double, tying it 2-2.
California went right back into the lead in the third. An error and a Jim Fregosi single put men on first and third with none out. A sacrifice fly put the Angels ahead and McMullen followed with an RBI triple to make it 4-2 California.
The Twins had men on second and third with one out in the third, and the Angels had men on first and third with two out in the fourth, but it remained 4-2 until the fifth. Zepp reached on an error and was bunted to second. A ground out moved him to third and Oliva's infield single brought him home. Killebrew then doubled, with Oliva scoring from first to tie the score 4-4.
The Twins had men on first and third with none out in the sixth but did not score. With two out in the eighth, Holt doubled and Cardenas followed with an RBI single to give the Twins their first lead at 5-4. Jim Spencer led off the California ninth with a single, but he was erased on a double play and a line out ended the game.
WP: Williams (4-0).
LP: Ken Tatum (2-1).
S: Perranoski (11).
Notes: Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea. Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.
Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Zepp in the sixth. Mitterwald went behind the plate in the ninth and Frank Quilici went to third in place of Killebrew.
Rod Carew was 0-for-4 and was batting .402. Oliva was batting .329. Killebrew was 1-for-3 and was batting .315. Tovar was 1-for-2 and was batting .301. Zepp had an ERA of 1.69. Williams had an ERA of 1.50. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.42.
Jim Kaat started and pitched 3.2 innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks and striking out two.
Carew was on an 0-for-8 streak.
The Twins had three relievers with ERAs below two.
Six of the game's nine runs were unearned.
The plate umpire was Jake O'Donnell. That's the same Jake O'Donnell who was an NBA referee from 1967-1995. He umpired in the American League from 1968-1971. He's the only person to officiate a major league baseball all-star game and an NBA all-star game. He also umpired the 1971 ALCS. The seasons didn't overlap as much back then, but it's still pretty remarkable that he was able to do both.
Record: The Twins were 26-11, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of California.
Wishing a warm Veterans Day to those who served today.
(1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)Loading... Joe Battin (1853)
Freddy Parent (1875)
Rabbit Maranville (1891)
Al Schacht (1892)
Pie Traynor (1898)
Hal Trosky (1912)
George Case (1915)
Ike Delock (1929)
Ron Musselman (1954)
John Hobbs (1955)
Cory Snyder (1962)
Roberto Hernandez (1964)
Damion Easley (1969)
Jason Grilli (1976)
Sadly, Joe Battin wasn't much good at battin'. An infielder, he batted .225/.241/.281. His career spanned ten seasons, though, so I assume he was really good at fieldin'.
Al Schacht played in the majors for three years, but was better known as "The Clown Prince of Baseball".
On this Veterans' Day, we would like to thank all current and former members of the military for their service, especially those who are part of the wgom.
I mean sure.
(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)Loading... Oh yeah, I should probably make an eye appointment and use my vision insurance to get some new specs before the year is out before everyone else does.
CALIFORNIA 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, April 22.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 2-for-4. Rick Renick was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second.
Pitching stars: Jim Perry pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out three. Stan Williams struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.
Opposition stars: Ken McMullen was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fourth) and a walk. Jim Spencer was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third. Clyde Wright pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out three.
The game: The Twins missed a chance in the first. Cesar Tovar led off with an infield hit and went to third with none out on a pickoff error. Unfortunately for the Twins, he was then thrown out trying to score on a grounder to second, so the game remained scoreless.
McMullen changed that in the second, hitting a home run to put the Angels up 1-0. The Twins got one-out singles in the fifth from Leo Cardenas and George Mitterwald and Perry bunted to move the runners to second and third, but Tovar grounded out to end the inning. The Twins did tie it in the sixth, however, on consecutive one-out singles by Harmon Killebrew, Oliva, and Brant Alyea. They missed a chance for more, however, as Oliva was thrown out trying to go to third on Alyea's single.
California went ahead to stay in the seventh. Spencer led off with a home run to put them ahead 2-1. With one out, the Angels got consecutive singles from Bill Voss, Joe Azcue, and pitcher Wright to make it 3-1. Renick homered in the ninth to cut the lead to 3-2, but the Twins could not get the tying run on base.
WP: Wright (6-2).
LP: Perry (6-3).
S: Ken Tatum (7).
Notes: Minnie Mendoza pinch-hit for Tom Hall in the seventh. Rich Reese pinch-hit for Mitterwald in the ninth.
Carew was 0-for-3 and was batting .418. Oliva was batting .324. Killebrew was 1-for-3 and was batting .315. Renick was 1-for-4 and was batting .300. Perry had an ERA of 2.70. Williams had an ERA of 1.64.
Mitterwald was 1-for-3 and was batting .185.
It was a battle of the top two teams in the division. There will, of course, be two more games in the series. it's early to talk about a "big series", but I'm sure there was a lot of interest in this one.
Angels closer Tatum had an ERA of 0.86 at this point in the season and had given up just twelve hits in twenty-one innings.
Williams had not pitched since May 16.
Record: The Twins were 25-11, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.
Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)
