Tag Archives: Harmon Killebrew

Happy Birthday–June 29

Wilbert Robinson (1863)
Harry Frazee (1880)
Bobby Veach (1888)
Ollie Carnegie (1899)
Ken Blackman (1911)
Dizzy Trout (1915)
Cal Drummond (1917)
Bob Shaw (1933)
Katsuya Nomura (1935)
Harmon Killebrew (1936)
John Boccabella (1941)
Larry Stahl (1941)
Bruce Kimm (1951)
Rick Honeycutt (1954)
Pedro Guerrero (1956)
John Wehner (1967)
Trey Hodges (1978)
Dusty Hughes (1982)
Brooks Raley (1988)
Jose Miranda (1998)

Harry Frazee was the owner of the Red Sox from 1916-1923 and is best remembered for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

Ollie Carnegie is the all-time home run king of the International League with 258.  He started his minor league career at age 32.

Ken Blackman was a minor league player, college coach, minor league executive, and major league scout.

Cal Drummond was an American League umpire from 1960-1969.

Katsuya Nomura hit 657 home runs in Japan during his twenty-five-year career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 29

Happy Birthday–June 29

Wilbert Robinson (1863)
Harry Frazee (1880)
Bobby Veach (1888)
Ollie Carnegie (1899)
Ken Blackman (1911)
Dizzy Trout (1915)
Cal Drummond (1917)
Bob Shaw (1933)
Katsuya Nomura (1935)
Harmon Killebrew (1936)
John Boccabella (1941)
Larry Stahl (1941)
Bruce Kimm (1951)
Rick Honeycutt (1954)
Pedro Guerrero (1956)
John Wehner (1967)
Trey Hodges (1978)
Dusty Hughes (1982)
Brooks Raley (1988)
Jose Miranda (1998)

Harry Frazee was the owner of the Red Sox from 1916-1923 and is best remembered for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

Ollie Carnegie is the all-time home run king of the International League with 258.  He started his minor league career at age 32.

Ken Blackman was a minor league player, college coach, minor league executive, and major league scout.

Cal Drummond was an American League umpire from 1960-1969.

Katsuya Nomura hit 657 home runs in Japan during his twenty-five-year career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 29

Happy Birthday–June 29

Wilbert Robinson (1863)
Harry Frazee (1880)
Bobby Veach (1888)
Ollie Carnegie (1899)
Ken Blackman (1911)
Dizzy Trout (1915)
Cal Drummond (1917)
Bob Shaw (1933)
Katsuya Nomura (1935)
Harmon Killebrew (1936)
John Boccabella (1941)
Larry Stahl (1941)
Bruce Kimm (1951)
Rick Honeycutt (1954)
Pedro Guerrero (1956)
John Wehner (1967)
Trey Hodges (1978)
Dusty Hughes (1982)
Brooks Raley (1988)
Jose Miranda (1998)

Harry Frazee was the owner of the Red Sox from 1916-1923 and is best remembered for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

Ollie Carnegie is the all-time home run king of the International League with 258.  He started his minor league career at age 32.

Ken Blackman was a minor league player, college coach, minor league executive, and major league scout.

Cal Drummond was an American League umpire from 1960-1969.

Katsuya Nomura hit 657 home runs in Japan during his twenty-five-year career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 29

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Five

MINNESOTA 2, CALIFORNIA 1 IN MINNESOTA (14 INNINGS)

Date:  Thursday, August 6.

Batting starsDanny Thompson was 3-for-5 with a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-6.  George Mitterwald was 1-for-6 with a home run, his tenth.

Pitching stars:  Bill Zepp struck out nine in eight innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks.  Tom Hall struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Bill Voss was 2-for-6 with a home run, his second.  Andy Messersmith pitched seven shutout innings, giving up five hits and a walk and striking out four.  Eddie Fisher struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  The Twins had two on with one out in the first but did not score.  That was the only time a team had two men on base until the seventh, when the Angels loaded the bases with one out.  A popup and a strikeout ended the inning.

There was no score until the eighth, when Voss homered to give California a 1-0 lead.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the eighth but missed a chance for more.  Charlie Manuel led off the inning with a pinch-hit walk and Tovar singled.  A bunt moved men to second and third and Tony Oliva was intentionally walked to bring up Harmon Killebrew.  Killebrew was then hit by a pitch to force home a run.  That was it, though, as a pair of strikeouts ended the inning.

The next threat came in the twelfth, when Tommie Reynolds doubled with one out.  Joe Azcue was intentionally walked and Chico Ruiz got an infield single, loading the bases.  But a pair of forceouts ended the inning with no scoring.  Each team missed a chance in the thirteenth.  The Angels had two on with two out and a ground out ended the inning.  The Twins also had two on with two out and a strikeout ended the inning.

The Twins finally put it away in the fourteenth.  Mitterwald led off with a home run and the Twins won 2-1.

WP:  Williams (7-0).

LP:  Paul Doyle (3-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jim Holt was again in center field, with Tovar in left and Brant Alyea on the bench.  Manuel pinch-hit for Zepp and Jim Kaat pinch-ran for Manuel.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Holt and stayed in the game in left field, with Tovar moving to center.

Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .328.  Killebrew was 0-for-4 and feel below .300 at .297.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.80.  Hall had an ERA of 2.65.  Williams had an ERA of 1.73.

This was the first time all season Killebrew had been below .300.  He would not get back above it the rest of the season.

The Twins went through fourteen innings with just three pitchers.  The Angels used five.

The fourteen inning game took just three hours, forty-seven minutes.

This was one of three home runs Bill Voss hit in 1970.  He hit nineteen for his career.  Ten of those home runs came in 1971 with Milwaukee.  He had a career high slugging percentage (.375) and OPS (.687) in 1971 and played only one more year after that.

The Twins were 3-2 on their current ten-game homestand.  The remaining five would all be with Oakland.

Record:  The Twins were 67-38, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of California and Oakland.

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-nine

MINNESOTA 4, CALIFORNIA 2 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Thursday, July 9.

Batting stars:  Rick Renick was 1-for-2 with a double and two walks.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventh). and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out five.  Tom Hall struck out five in three perfect innings.

Opposition stars:  Jim Spencer was 2-for-3.  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4.  Rudy May pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out four.

The game:  The Angels scored two in the first inning.  Sandy Alomar singled, stole second, and scored on a one-out single by Fregosi.  Singles by Alex Johnson and Spencer brought home another run, making it 2-0 California.

The Twins got on the board in the second.  Tony Oliva singled and scored from first on Renick's double, cutting the lead to 2-1.  The Angels opened the fourth with a pair of singles but did not score, so it was still 2-1 until the seventh.  Renick led off with a single and went to second on a ground out, leading to an intentional walk to Cardenas.  Rich Reese then delivered a pinch-hit single, tying the score at two.

It stayed 2-2 until the ninth.  With two out Hall singled and Cardenas followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 4-2.  California did not get a hit after the inning-opening singles in the fourth.

WP:  Hall (5-2).

LP:  Eddie Fisher (3-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .330.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 and was batting .316.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .316.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.45.  Hall had an ERA of 2.11.

The Twins started the game with Jim Perry batting third in the lineup and listed as the left fielder, with Bob Allison at first base.  As the Twins were on the road, Perry was scheduled to be the third batter of the game.  He wasn't, of course--Killebrew pinch-hit for him and stayed in the game at first base, with Allison moving to left.  There must be a story behind that, but I have no idea what it is.

Reese pinch-hit for George Mitterwald and Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Blyleven in the seventh.  Both stayed in the game, with Reese going to first (moving Killebrew to third, Renick to left field, and Allison leaving the game) and Ratliff going behind the plate.  Herman Hill came in to play center field in the ninth, with Tovar moving to left and Renick leaving the game.

It's interesting that Hall was allowed to bat in the ninth inning of a tie game.  He had pitched two perfect innings, and there were two out and none on, both of which probably affected the decision.  Also, the Twins didn't have a lot of bench players left at this point.  What's even more remarkable is that it paid off, as Hall got a hit in front of Cardenas' home run.  Hall was not a good batter--.161/.191/.172 in 192 career at-bats.  But he came through here.

It's also interesting that Bill Rigney seems to have stopped pulling Killebrew for defense late in games.  Frank Quilici, his usual defensive replacement, was still on the team, and Danny Thompson had taken over second base, so Quilici was still available.  But Killebrew was being allowed to stay in the games.

This was the first of a four-game series with the Angels going into the all-star break.  A sweep would put a lot of space between the Twins and California.  The Twins had won five in a row, ten of eleven, and twelve of fourteen.

Record:  The Twins were 53-26, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.

1970 Rewind: Game Forty-eight

MINNESOTA 4, WASHINGTON 2 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Saturday, June 6.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth) and four RBIs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.  Jim Perry was 2-for-4.

Pitching starPerry pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Lee Maye was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and two RBIs.  Ex-Twin Joe Grzenda pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.  Horacio Pina pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk and striking out two.

The game:  With two out in the first, Tony Oliva singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  The Senators had men on second and third with two out in the bottom of the first but did not score.  In the second, singles by Ed Brinkman and Jim French and a hit-by-pitch of Jim Hannan loaded the bases with one out, but all Washington could get out of it was an RBI ground out to cut the lead to 2-1.  In the fourth, however, Maye hit a two-out home run to tie it 2-2.

The Twins responded in the fifth.  Perry singled. Cesar Tovar was hit by pitch, and Rick Renick walked, loading the bases with one out.  Oliva struck out, but Killebrew hit a two-run single to put the Twins back in front 4-2.

Perry took over from there.  The Senators got only one hit after Maye's homer, a one-out single by Mike Epstein in the eighth inning.

WPPerry (7-5).

LP:  Hannan (0-2).

S:  None.

NotesJim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea, who would not return until June 12.  Paul Ratliff remained at catcher in place of George MitterwaldFrank Quilici remained at second in place of Rod CarewRenick pinch-hit for Holt in the fifth and stayed in the game in left field.

Oliva was batting .328.  Killebrew was batting .321.  Renick was 0-for-2 and was batting .308.  Perry had an ERA of 2.90.  He also was batting .300.

Quilici was 0-for-2 and was batting .184.

Killebrew drove in all of the Twins' runs.  It looks like it was important for the Twins to get men on in front of Killebrew, so teams didn't feel as free to just walk him.

Three players with Twins ' connections were used by the Senators:  Bernie Allen (0-for-4), Johnny Roseboro (0-for-2). and Grzenda.

It was Perry's fifth complete game in 13 starts.

Record:  The Twins were 33-15, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of California.  The difference was all in the loss column--each team had won 33 games, but the Angels had 19 losses.  They had played four more games than the Twins, mostly due to Twins' rainouts.  Seems it never rains in Southern California.

1970 Rewind: Game Forty-six

BOSTON 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN BOSTON

Date:  Thursday, June 4.

Batting star:  Rod Carew was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Steve Barber pitched two shutout innings, giving up two walks.

Opposition stars:  Carl Yastrzemski was 3-for-3 with a walk.  Mike Andrews was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fifth), two walks, and two runs.  Reggie Smith was 2-for-4.  Billy Conigliaro was 1-for-5 with a home run (his fourth) and two runs.  Sonny Siebert pitched a complete game, giving up one run on five hits and one walk and striking out four.

The game:  The Twins had two on in the first and the Red Sox had two in both the first and second, but it was scoreless until the third, when singles by Andrews, Yastrzemski, and Rico Petrocelli gave Boston a 1-0 lead.  The Twins tied it 1-1 in the fifth when Paul Ratliff singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Carew single.

But that was as good as it got for the Twins.  The Red Sox got the lead back in the bottom of the fifth when Andrews walked and Yastrzemski and Smith singled.  They took control in the sixth.  Tom Satriano was hit by a pitch, and with one out Andrews and Conigliaro hit back-to-back homers, giving Boston a 5-1 lead.  The Twins did not get a baserunner in the final three innings.

WP:  Siebert (5-2).

LP:  Jim Kaat (5-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rick Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Ratliff was once again behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Alyea pinch-hit for Bill Zepp in the seventh.

Carew was batting .393.  Renick was 1-for-4 and was batting .324.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .321.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-3 and was batting .318.

Kaat pitched 5.1 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and four walks and striking out four.

Presumably a game on Wednesday, June 3 was rained out.

Killebrew drew a walk in his sixth consecutive game.  He had ten walks in those games.  For his career, he led the league in walks four times, drew over a hundred walks seven times, and drew ninety or more walks ten times.

Record:  The Twins were 31-15, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of California.  They had the best winning percentage in the league at .674, bested only by the Big Red Machine in the National League (.712).

Happy Birthday–June 29

Wilbert Robinson (1863)
Harry Frazee (1880)
Bobby Veach (1888)
Ollie Carnegie (1899)
Ken Blackman (1911)
Dizzy Trout (1915)
Cal Drummond (1917)
Bob Shaw (1933)
Katsuya Nomura (1935)
Harmon Killebrew (1936)
John Boccabella (1941)
Larry Stahl (1941)
Bruce Kimm (1951)
Rick Honeycutt (1954)
Pedro Guerrero (1956)
John Wehner (1967)
Trey Hodges (1978)
Dusty Hughes (1982)
Brooks Raley (1988)

Harry Frazee was the owner of the Red Sox from 1916-1923 and is best remembered for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

Ollie Carnegie is the all-time home run king of the International League with 258.  He started his minor league career at age 32.

Ken Blackman was a minor league player, college coach, minor league executive, and major league scout.

Cal Drummond was an American League umpire from 1960-1969.

Katsuya Nomura hit 657 home runs in Japan during his twenty-five-year career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 29

Half-Baked Hall: 1975

So 2014 was a dud of a year.  Jeter's name will be tucked away for a future consolation ballot as he pulled down 62% of the vote . Bobby Abreu, who will probably linger on the real ballot for ten years, gets unceremoniously dumped off ours with just three votes. Congrats to Jason Giambi and Cliff Lee for each nailing down a vote.  Poor Nick Punto was shut out.

Next up is 1975. I have a feeling one of these guys might be to your liking.

Who belongs in the Half-Baked Hall?

  • Bob Gibson (28%, 13 Votes)
  • Harmon Killebrew (28%, 13 Votes)
  • Juan Marichal (28%, 13 Votes)
  • Sam McDowell (9%, 4 Votes)
  • Jim Perry (7%, 3 Votes)
  • Vada Pinson (0%, 0 Votes)
  • None of them! (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 14

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Game 32 Twins at Cleveland

This is a big series. Cleveland and Minnesota are tied for first place,w ith the Twins having two games in hand, a sweep could make some room at the top. The Twins have the perfect pitcher to continue a long win streak with Ervin Santana. Josh Tomlin starts for the C's. He is coming off his best start of the season (7ip 1r)

Fun fact! With his next run scored, Joe Mauer will reach 900 for his career. He is 5th on the all time Twins list, and only 4 behind Kent Hrbek. If Mauer is helathy and plays all of next year he might be able to catch Kirby (1071) and Harmon (1076 in his Twins years)