Tag Archives: 1965 rewind

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixty-one

CALIFORNIA 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, October 2.

Batting stars:  Andy Kosco was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-fourth) and a walk.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-third.

Pitching stars:  Camilo Pascual pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts.  Jim Merritt pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Jim Fregosi was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in two.  Ed Kirkpatrick was 2-for-5 with a home run (his third) and a double.  Albie Pearson was 1-for-1 with a stolen base (his twelfth) and three walks, scoring twice.

The game:  Fregosi singled in a run in the top of the third, but Kosco delivered a two-run double in the bottom of the third to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.  A wild pitch tied the score in the fifth and Kirkpatrick homered in the top of the sixth to put the Angles up 3-2.  Allison tied it in the seventh with a home run, but California scored twice in the eighth, getting an RBI double from Fregosi and a run-scoring single by Joe Adcock to take a t-3 advantage.  Killebrew homered in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-4.  Rich Reese led off the ninth with a single and was bunted to second but could get no farther.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-3 with a run.  Joe Nossek was 0-for-4.

Record:  The Twins went to 101-60.  Chicago defeated Kansas City and Baltimore lost to Cleveland, so the White Sox moved into second place, seven games back.

Notes:  Tony Oliva once again did not play, with Kosco playing right field.  Other deviations from the normal lineup were Joe Nossek in center instead of Jimmie Hall and John Sevcik behind the plate in place of Earl Battey...This was one of only three games Sevcik started in his career and one of only two in which he caught the entire game...Two players with Twins connections were used as reserves in this game.  Jackie Hernandez pinch-ran for Adcock in the seventh and Vic Power came in to replace Adcock at first base.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixty

MINNESOTA 7, BALTIMORE 6 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Thursday, September 30.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-3 with a grand slam (his ninteenth homer) and a double.  Sandy Valdespino was 2-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Jim Kaat was 1-for-3 with a home run.

Pitching stars:  Kaat struck out eight in 6.1 innings, giving up five runs (one earned) on eight hits and one walk.  Al Worthington struck out two in 2.2 innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Curt Blefary was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk, scoring twice.  Boog Powell was 3-for-5 with three RBIs.  Paul Blair was 2-for-4 with a double and a run,.

The game:  Versalles broke a 1-1 tie with a grand slam in the fifth, putting the Twins ahead 5-1.  Jimmie Hall delivered a two-run single in the seventh to make it 7-1.  The Orioles came back in the seventh, as an error was followed by a double and three singles to cut the lead to 7-5.  An error led to another run in the eighth and put the tying run on second with two out, but Blair popped up and Baltimore did not get a man into scoring position again.

Of note:  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-5.  Hall was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

Record:  The win made the Twins 101-59.  Baltimore remained second, eight games back.

Notes:  Most of the regulars played in this game, with only Tony Oliva sitting in favor of Valdespino...Curt Blefary was the Rookie of the Year in 1965 at age twenty-one, beating out California's Marcelino Lopez.  He hit .260/.381/.470 with twenty-two homers.  He pretty much matched those numbers in 1966, but never did so again.  His OPS for those first two seasons was .846; he never topped .750 after that (with the exception of 1972, when he had eleven big league at-bats).  Biographies indicate that alcohol and anger-management issues may have contributed to his decline.  His last year as a regular was 1969 with Houston.  His last year in the majors was 1972 with Oakland, and he was out of baseball after spending 1973 in AAA with Atlanta.  Life after baseball did not go easily for him.  He wanted to get back into baseball somehow, but could not find a team that would hire him.  His health gradually declined and he passed away in 2001 at the young age of fifty-seven.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-nine

MINNESOTA 3, BALTIMORE 2 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Wednesday, September 29.

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his twenty-second) and a triple, scoring twice.  Andy Kosco was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.

Pitching star:  Mudcat Grant pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Steve Barber pitched a complete game, allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.  Boog Powell was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run.  Curt Blefary was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run.

The game:  Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the first as Powell scored from first on a double by Brooks Robinson.  The Twins tied it in the fourth when an Allison triple was followed by Kosco's RBI single.  Paul Blair singled home a run in the seventh to give the Orioles a 2-1 advantage, but Allison struck again in the eighth, hitting a two-run homer to give the Twins their first lead of the game at 3-2.  Baltimore opened the ninth with a walk, a single, and an error, loading the bases with none out.  Jim Merritt came into that situation and got pinch-hitter Bob Johnson to hit a fly to right.  Joe Nossek caught the fly and threw out Curt Blefary at the plate.  Johnny Klippstein then came in to retire Norm Siebern on a fly ball to end the game.

Of note:  Nossek was 0-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4.

Record:  The victory gave the Twins one hundred wins on the season, improving their record to 100-59.  Baltimore remained second, seven games back.

Notes:  It was a B lineup for this game.  Tovar started a game for only the fourth time in his career, playing center in place of Jimmie Hall.  Nossek was in right rather than Tony Oliva.  Kosco played first instead of Don Mincher.  Frank Quilici started at shortstop in place of Zoilo Versalles, only the fourth time in his major league career that he had played short.  Jerry Zimmerman was the catcher, rather than Earl Battey...The win was Grant's twenty-first on the season.  There was only one Cy Young Award given for both leagues in 1965, and the unanimous winner was Sandy Koufax.  Grant did, however, finish sixth in MVP voting that year and was the highest-ranked pitcher on the list.  One has to think that if there had been a separate American League Cy Young Award, he would've been the favorite to win it.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-eight

BALTIMORE 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Tuesday, September 28.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-third.  John Sevcik was 1-for-4 with a double.  Rich Rollins was 1-for-1 with a run.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell struck out four in three perfect innings of relief.

Opposition stars:  Wally Bunker pitched 7.2 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts.  Brooks Robinson was 1-for-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in two.  Luis Aparicio was 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base (his twenty-sixth), scoring twice.

The game:  RBI singles by Robinson and Jerry Adair put the Orioles up 2-0 in the first inning.  Baltimore scored two more in the fifth without a hit, as Al Worthington came on to issue a walk, hit a batter, and then give up three more walks before settling down to retire the next three batters.  In fact, the last twelve Orioles were retired, but it made no difference because the Twins were too far down.  They had threatened in the third, as Sevcik was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a single, but did not score until the eighth, when Killebrew hit a two-run homer.  Jimmie Hall followed with a two-out single, but the last four Twins were retired.

Of note:  Frank Quilici was 0-for-2 with a walk.  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-4.  Hall was 1-for-4.

Record:  The Twins record went to 99-59.  Baltimore won its ninth straight game and remained in second, six games back.

Notes:  With the pennant clinched, a few regulars were rested.  Valdespino replaced Tony Oliva in right field.  Andy Kosco played first base in place of Don Mincher.  Jerry Kindall was at shortstop instead of Zoilo Versalles...The Versalles MVP award has been the subject of controversy, but manager Sam Mele clearly thought he was extremely valuable.  This was only the second day off Versalles was given all season...The double by Sevcik was his one and only hit in the major leagues.  He appeared in twelve games, all in 1965, and went 1-for-16.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-seven

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MINNESOTA 2, WASHINGTON 1 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Sunday, September 26.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-3 with a triple, scoring once and driving in one.  Frank Quilici was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat struck out ten in a complete game, giving up an unearned run on eight hits and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Pete Richert pitched a complete game, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks with eight strikeouts.  Frank Howard was 3-for-4.  Ken McMullen was 1-for-4 with a run.

The game:  The Senators scored in the third on two singles and an error.  It stayed 1-0 until the sixth, when Versalles led off with a triple and scored on a passed ball.  The Twins took the lead in the eighth when Quilici led off with a double, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Versalles.  Washington did not advance a man past first base after the third inning.

Of note:  Joe Nossek was 0-for-3 with a walk.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-3 with a walk.

Record:  The Twins win the pennant!  The Twins win the pennant!  The Twins win the pennant!  The win made the Twins 99-58.  Baltimore defeated California 2-1, but was 7.5 games back with a record of 90-64.

Notes:  Oliva's average remained .321...Nossek replaced Jimmie Hall in center field...Killebrew was 3-for-18 with a double since coming back.  He drew five walks in that span...I think of Frank Howard as a low-average slugger, but it's not true.  His lifetime average was .273, which is better than it sounds when you remember most of his career came in the 1960s.  He never hit .300, but he hit over .280 five times and over .290 three times.  His high was .296, which he hit in 1961, 1962, and 196.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-six

MINNESOTA 5, WASHINGTON 3 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Saturday, September 25 (Game 2 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Don Mincher was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-second) and a walk.  Sandy Valdespino was 2-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Frank Quilici was 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Camilo Pascual pitched six innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts.  Jim Merritt struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Jim Duckworth struck out thirteen in 7.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks.  Ed Brinkman was 1-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Mike Brumley was 1-for-2 with a walk and a run.

The game:  In the second, Brinkman hit a two-run double and Brumley followed with a squeeze bunt that gave the Senators a 3-0 lead.  The Twins got on the board in the fourth with a sacrifice fly and scored again in the seventh on Mincher's home run, but still trailed 3-2 going to the eighth.  With two on and two out in the eighth, however, Joe Nossek tied the score with a run-scoring double and Quilici put the Twins ahead with a two-run single, giving the Twins a 5-3 advantage.  The last eight Senators were retired.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-2.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a run.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.

Record:  The win made the Twins 98-58.  Chicago was eliminated despite sweeping a doubleheader from the Yankees.  Baltimore swept a doubleheader from California to remain in second place.  They were 7.5 games out of first, but as they still had nine games to play they had a theoretical chance to tie for the championship.

Notes:  Oliva raised his average to .322...Sandy Valdespino again played left in place of Bob Allison.  Jerry Zimmerman gave Earl Battey a rest behind the plate...So who was this amazing strikeout pitcher Jim Duckworth?  Well, he actually did strike out a lot of guys, but he also walked a lot of guys and really was not particularly good.  He was used mostly as a reliever but did start a fair number of games.  He did the most pitching in his rookie year of 1963, starting fifteen games, relieving in twenty-two, and pitching 120.2 innings.  Unfortunately, he went 4-12, 6.04, 1.64 WHIP.  In fairness to him, he had pitched in Class B in 1962 and probably should not have been in the majors in the first place.  He got better, and 1965 was his best year.  He started eight games, relieved in nine, and pitched 64 innings, going 2-2, 3.94, 1.27 WHIP and averaging 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings.  He was traded to Kansas City in June of 1966 for Ken Harrelson, but in July the Athletics sent him back to Washington for Diego Segui.  He spent 1967 in AAA and didn't pitch badly, but by then he was twenty-eight and the Senators apparently decided they'd seen enough and his playing career ended.  He appears to have lived a full life after baseball:  He was a California Highway Patrolman for twenty-five years, taught elementary and middle school for seven years, worked at a kayak store for two years, and has more recently become a full-time nature photographer.  I like it when I find out people have lived successful lives after baseball.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-five

MINNESOTA 5, WASHINGTON 0 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Saturday, September 25 (Game 1 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 4-for-5 with a two-run homer (his eighteenth) and a triple, scoring twice.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-3 with two walks and a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Earl Battey was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching star:  Mudcat Grant pitched a complete game one-hitter, giving up two walks with seven strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Don Blasingame was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Buster Narum pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing one hit with one strikeout.  Marshall Bridges pitched a scoreless inning, allowing one hit.

The game:  There was no score until the fifth.  The Senators got their only threat in the third, as Jim French reached on an error to start the inning and Blasingame hit a two-out double, but Ken McMullen grounded out to end the threat.  The Senators would get only one more baserunner, a one-out walk by French in the fifth.  Versalles hit a two-run homer in the fifth to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  In the seventh, Oliva hit a run-scoring double and Sandy Valdespino delivered a two-out two-run single to make it 5-0.   The last fourteen Senators were retired.

Of note:  Joe Nossek was 0-for-3.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-3 with two walks.

Record:  The win made the Twins 97-58.  This eliminated Chicago despite the fact that the White Sox beat the Yankees 2-0 in the first game of their doubleheader.  Baltimore, which had moved into second place during a couple of days when the Twins did not play, stayed alive by defeating California 2-1 in the first game of their doubleheader.  The Orioles were 7.5 games behind the Twins.

Notes:  Oliva kept his average at .321...Joe Nossek played center field in place of Jimmie Hall...Buster Narum is a great name for a ballplayer, especially considering that his given name was Leslie Ferdinand Narum.  While he had a great nickname, he was not a great pitcher.  He basically had two seasons in the majors, 1964-65, although he also appeared in seven games for Baltimore in 1963 and appeared in five more for Washington from 1966-67.  He was mostly used as a starter in 1964-65, starting fifty-six games and relieving in twenty-eight.  He was much more effective as a reliever--as a starter he was 12-26, 4.68, 1.46 WHIP, as a reliever he was 1-1, 2.37, 1.28 WHIP.  Even granting that it was only 49.1 relief innings, you'd think somebody might have noticed that and decided to see what he could do as a full-time reliever, especially on a team like the Senators, but apparently no one did.  He continued to play in AAA through 1969, then his career ended.  He became a freight salesman in the trucking industry and passed away in 2004 at the young age of sixty-three.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-four

BALTIMORE 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, September 22.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.  Joe Nossek was 2-for-4 with a run.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, driving in one.

Pitching stars:  Dwight Siebler struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up no hits and two walks.  Pete Cimino made his major league debut with a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Dave McNally pitched a complete game, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts.  Jerry Adair was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth) and a double, driving in four.  Paul Blair was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once.

The game:  Adair hit a two-run homer in the second to put the Orioles up 2-0.  RBI singles by Bob Allison in the second and Oliva in the third tied it 2-2.  In the fifth, however, Brooks Robinson had a run-scoring single and Adair delivered a two-out two-run double to give the Orioles a 5-2 advantage.  The Twins put two on with two out in the fifth, but did not threaten after that and at one point had ten men in a row retired.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-4.  Earl Battey was 0-for-2.  Jim Kaat pitched 4.1 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins fell to 96-58.  The win brought Baltimore to within eight games and kept their slim hopes alive.  Chicago beat Detroit 2-1 and also moved to within eight games, keeping their slim hopes of a tie alive.

Notes:  Oliva raised his average to .321.  Battey fell back below .300 at .298...Nossek played center field in place of Jimmie Hall... Cimino made his major league debut in this game at age twenty-two.  It would be his only appearance for the Twins in 1965.  He spent most of 1966 with the Twins, appearing in thirty-five games and going 2-5, 2.92, 1.28 WHIP in 64.2 innings.  After the 1966 season he was traded to California along with Hall and Don Mincher for Dean Chance.  He pitched very well for the Angels in 1967.  One assumes he was injured in 1968, as he made only thirteen appearances that year and never pitched again after that.  He once scored 114 points in a high school basketball game, including all 69 of his team's second-half points.  His team won, 134-86.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-three

BALTIMORE 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Tuesday, September 21.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once.  Earl Battey was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-6 with a double and an RBI.

Pitching star:  Johnny Klippstein struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Boog Powell was 2-for-4 with a double and two walks, driving in three.  Paul Blair was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.  Jerry Adair was 3-for-5 with two stolen bases (his fifth and sixth) and a run.

The game:  Powell singled in a run in the first and Blair hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead.  A single, an error, and two walks put the Twins on the board in the bottom of the fourth, but Baltimore got the run back in the fifth on Powell's RBI double, leaving the score 4-1.  Don Mincher drove in a run with a double in the seventh and the Twins scored twice in the eighth to tie it up, with Versalles driving in the tying run with a double.  Each team had a chance to score in the ninth, but the game went to an extra inning.  In the tenth, Luis Aparicio drove in the go-ahead run with a single and an insurance run was walked home.  The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the tenth.

Of note:  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-5.  Don Mincher was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-4 with a walk.  Camilo Pascual pitched four innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits and no walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The loss made the Twins 96-57.  Chicago also lost, keeping them nine games back and meaning the best they could do is tie the Twins.  Baltimore, however, improved to nine games back as well.  As the Orioles had played fewer games, they still had a slim chance to catch the Twins.

Notes:  Oliva raised his batting average to .320.  Battey was hitting an even .300...Killebrew returned to the lineup for the first time since August 2.  He played third base, with Mincher remaining at first...Bob Allison was again out of the lineup, with Ted Uhlaender in left.  Allison was used as a pinch-hitter...The Twins used twenty-two players.  They used six pitchers, four pinch-hitters, and two pinch-runners.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-two

KANSAS CITY 8, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, September 20.

Batting stars:  Don Mincher was 2-for-3 with two home runs, his twentieth and twenty-first.  Frank Quilici was 2-for-3 with a double.

Pitching star:  Mudcat Grant pitched eight innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Larry Stahl was 3-for-3 with a home run (his fourth) and two runs.  Catfish Hunter pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk with three strikeouts.  Jose Tartabull was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.

The game:  RBI singles by Tartabull and Dick Green led to a three-run third that put the Athletics up 3-0.  Stahl homered in the fifth to make it 4-0.  Mincher put the Twins on the board with a homer in the bottom of the fifth and hit another one in the seventh to cut the lead to 4-2.  In the ninth, however, three singles, three walks, and an error led to four Kansas City runs and put the game out of reach.  The Twins had only two hits other than the Mincher homers, both coming from the bat of Quilici.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-4.  Ted Uhlaender was 0-for-4.  Sandy Valdespino was 0-for-4.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-4.

Record:  The Twins went to 96-56.  Chicago did not play, so they moved to nine games back.

Notes:  A win would have clinched a tie for first place...Earl Battey took an 0-for-4, dropping back below .300 at .298...Bob Allison and Tony Oliva sat this one out, with Uhlaender and Valdespino, respectively, taking their places...John Wyatt pitched two perfect innings for Kansas City to get the save.  He was a fine relief pitcher in the 1960s, before there was much glory in the position.  He had double-digit saves from 1962-67, with a high of twenty-one in 1963.  His best year, however, was probably 1964, when he went 9-8, 3.59, 1.27 WHIP with twenty saves.  He led the league in appearances that year with eighty-one and pitched 128 innings, all in relief.  He made his only all-star appearance that season.  After a poor start in 1966, the Athletics traded him to Boston, where he was a key part of the Impossible Dream season in 1967.  He went 10-7 with twenty saves that year, posting a 2.74 ERA.  He again got off to a slow start in 1968 and was sold to the Yankees.  They sold him to Detroit a month later and Wyatt went to the World Series again, going 1-0, 2.37, 1.22 WHIP with two saves in 30.1 innings (22 appearances).  He went to Oakland for 1969 but was released in late May, ending his career.  He then went into real estate development, building apartments for the underprivileged.  He passed away in April of 1998, shortly before his sixty-third birthday.