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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 12

Sam Field (1846)
Pop Smith (1856)
Malachi Kittridge (1869)
Pete Hill (1882)
Dixie Davis (1890)
Rick Ferrell (1905)
Joe Cronin (1906)
Al Smith (1907)
Bob Sheppard (1910)
Tony Kubek (1935)
Glenn Beckert (1940)
Herman Hill (1945)
Garth Iorg (1954)
Jim Lewis (1955)
Sid Fernandez (1962)
Jose Valentin (1969)
Derrick White (1969)
Tanyon Sturtze (1970)
Tony Fiore (1971)
Nick Tepesch (1988)

B-r.com says "Sam Field played only 12 games in the majors, but managed to do so with three teams in two leagues. He played mostly catcher.  His career may have been doomed by his .712 fielding percentage."  It may also have been doomed by his .146 batting average.

Pete Hill is considered one of the greatest outfielders of the Negro Leagues.  Incomplete statistics list his average as .303.

Hall of Famer Joe Cronin, of course, played for the Washington franchise from 1928-1934, managing the team in the latter two years. He married Clark Griffith’s niece, which did not keep Griffith from trading him to Boston after the 1934 season.

If there was a Hall of Fame for public address announcers, Bob Sheppard would be the first one in.

Jose Valentin is the brother of ex-Twin Javier Valentin.

First baseman/outfielder Derrick White was drafted by Minnesota in the 23rd round in 1989, but did not sign. He played in the major leagues for Montreal, Detroit, the Cubs, and Colorado, playing in three seasons and totaling 116 at-bats.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Dr. Chop.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 12 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 12

Sam Field (1846)
Pop Smith (1856)
Malachi Kittridge (1869)
Pete Hill (1882)
Dixie Davis (1890)
Rick Ferrell (1905)
Joe Cronin (1906)
Al Smith (1907)
Bob Sheppard (1910)
Tony Kubek (1935)
Glenn Beckert (1940)
Herman Hill (1945)
Garth Iorg (1954)
Jim Lewis (1955)
Sid Fernandez (1962)
Jose Valentin (1969)
Derrick White (1969)
Tanyon Sturtze (1970)
Tony Fiore (1971)
Nick Tepesch (1988)

B-r.com says "Sam Field played only 12 games in the majors, but managed to do so with three teams in two leagues. He played mostly catcher.  His career may have been doomed by his .712 fielding percentage."  It may also have been doomed by his .146 batting average.

Pete Hill is considered one of the greatest outfielders of the Negro Leagues.  Incomplete statistics list his average as .303.

Hall of Famer Joe Cronin, of course, played for the Washington franchise from 1928-1934, managing the team in the latter two years. He married Clark Griffith’s niece, which did not keep Griffith from trading him to Boston after the 1934 season.

If there was a Hall of Fame for public address announcers, Bob Sheppard would be the first one in.

Jose Valentin is the brother of ex-Twin Javier Valentin.

First baseman/outfielder Derrick White was drafted by Minnesota in the 23rd round in 1989, but did not sign. He played in the major leagues for Montreal, Detroit, the Cubs, and Colorado, playing in three seasons and totaling 116 at-bats.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Dr. Chop.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 12 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-nine

MILWAUKEE 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a double.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched 8.1 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and four walks and striking out eight.

Opposition stars:  Phil Roof was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his eleventh.  Bob Burda was 2-for-4.  Marty Pattin pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out seven.

The game:  The Brewers had men on first and third with two out, but Dave May was thrown out on the back end of a double steal of second and home to end the inning.  They had men on first and third in the second, but Roberto Pena was picked off third to take them out of the inning.  They had men on first and third with none out in the fourth and did score, but got only one run on a double play.  Milwaukee again had men on first and second with out in the sixth and failed to score.

Meanwhile, the Twins had only one hit through the first five innings.  That changed in the sixth, when Rich Reese singled, went to third on an Oliva double, and scored on a ground out, tying it 1-1.  Oliva homered with two out in the eighth, putting the Twins up 2-1.

The lead didn't last long.  Mike Hegan singled with one out in the ninth, leading Bill Rigney to bring in Ron Perranoski.  A logical move, but it didn't work.  Bernie Smith struck out, but Roof hit a two-run homer to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.  The Twins got a one-out single by George Mitterwald, but he did not get past first and the game was over.

WP:  Pattin (12-11).

LP:  Perranoski (7-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt went to center field in the seventh, with Cesar Tovar moving to left and Brant Alyea coming out of the game.  Jim Nettles pinch-hit for Thompson in the eighth, with Frank Quilici coming in to play second base.  Herman Hill pinch-ran for Mitterwald in the ninth.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Quilici in the ninth.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Perranoski in the ninth.

Oliva raised his average to .318.  Perranoski gave up one run in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 2.13.

This was the first appearance by Hill since July 12.

Nettles had made his major league debut the day before, but this was where he got his first major league at-bat.  He struck out.

This was the tenth blown save for Perranoski.

Pattin had eleven complete games in 1970.  His career high was thirteen in 1972.  He had sixty-four complete games in his career, fourteen of them shutouts.  This was the first of four consecutive seasons in which he would pitch over two hundred innings.  He pitched 970.1 innings in those four years.

The loss broke the Twins' five-game winning streak.  They would next host second-place Oakland for three games.

Record:  The Twins were 83-56, in first place in the American League West, 5.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-two

CALIFORNIA 6, MINNESOTA 2 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Sunday, July 12.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a walk.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twenty-sixth) and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched 1.2 perfect innings and struck out one.  Stan Williams retired all five men he faced and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Alex Johnson was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs, and two RBIs.  Tom Bradley pitched four shutout innings, giving up five hits and two walks and striking out two.

The game:  It started well.  With two out in the top of the first, Oliva walked and Killebrew hit a home run, putting the Twins up 2-0.  Unfortunately, as you can tell by the final score above, those are the only runs the Twins would get.

It held up for a while.  In the fourth, however, Roger Repoz led off with a triple and scored on Fregosi's single.  Johnson walked and Jim Spencer's RBI single tied the score.  Ken McMullen then hit a two-run double, giving the Angels a 4-2 lead.  They scored two more in the fifth when Sandy Alomar walked, Fregosi hit an RBI triple, and Johnson followed with a run-scoring single, making it 6-2 California.

The Twins got two on with two out in the third, but did not get two men on again until there were two out in the eighth.  They had two men on with none out in the ninth, but two of the next three batters fanned and the third lined to short, and the game was over.

WP:  Dave LaRoche (2-0).

LP:  Jim Perry (13-7).

S:   Andy Messersmith (2).

Notes:  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Tom Tischinski was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Tischinski in the seventh.  Herman Hill and Rick Renick pinch-hit for pitchers.  Tom Hall pinch-ran for Renick.

Oliva was batting .327.  Killebrew was batting .322.  Tovar was batting .314.  Perry was 0-for-2 and was batting .308.  Williams had an ERA of 1.44.

Tischinski was 0-for-1 and was batting .167.  Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .105.  Dave Boswell pitched a third of an inning without giving up a run and had an ERA of 6.19.

Twins starter Perry pitched just three innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.  Angels starter Tom Murphy pitched just 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks and striking out none.

This was the last game before the all-star break, which apparently led Bill Rigney to decide he could use a couple of starters in relief.  Why he didn't instead decide he could use more of his relief pitchers in relief, I don't know.  I especially wonder why he thought it was a good idea to use Boswell in relief, when he'd been dealing with an injury all season.  This was the first time he had pitched since July 4 and he would not pitch again until July 21.  He would make only three more appearances before being shut down for the season.

Hill would be sent back to AAA after this game and would not return until September.

I've said this before, but I still think, in these days of short benches, it would be good to train a couple of pitchers to be pinch-runners.

Messersmith had pitched a complete game two days earlier, on July 10, and then was used as the closer in this game.  He was having a good season as a starter, but he would be sent to the bullpen in mid-August anyway, and continue to pitch well.

The Twins split the series with the Angels.  They missed a chance to really put California away, but there's nothing wrong with a split on the road, and the Twins still went into the all-star break with a solid lead.

Record:  The Twins were 54-28, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-two

MINNESOTA 5, KANSAS CITY 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 2.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-2 with a home run (his twenty-second) and a walk.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixth), a double, and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

Pitching star:  Tom Hall pitched seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Eliseo Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs.  Aurelio Monteagudo pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

The game:  Killebrew got the first hit of the game, a home run leading off the bottom of the second.  Rich Reese followed with a single, and with one out Cardenas hit a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-0.

Neither team had another hit until the fifth, when Cardenas doubled and went to third on a wild pitch.  George Mitterwald walked and Hall hit into a double play, scoring Cardenas.  Tovar followed with a home run to make it 5-0 Twins.

Rodriguez got the first Royals hit in the sixth, a leadoff triple, and scored on Jackie Hernandez' sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.  Cookie Rojas got a leadoff double in the seventh and got as far as third base with two out, but he got no farther.  In the eighth Rodriguez and Ed Kirkpatrick led off with singles, putting men on first and third with none out.  Pat Kelly drew a one-out walk to load the bases and Rojas hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2, but that was all Kansas City could get.  The Royals went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Hall (4-2).

LP:  Al Fitzmorris (4-3).

S:  Stan Williams (6).

Notes:  Danny Thompson was at second in place of Rod Carew.  Rick Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Herman Hill came in to play center in the eighth as part of a double switch, with Tovar moving to left and Renick coming out of the game.  Frank Quilici came in to play second base in the ninth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew leaving the game.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .323.  Killebrew was batting .313.  Tovar was batting .305.  Hall had an ERA of 2.05.  Stan Williams gave up a run in two innings and had an ERA of 1.81.

Thompson was 0-for-4 and was batting .174.  Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .125.

Hall had given up two runs in 13.2 innings in two starts.  He would make one more start, then return to the bullpen.  Bill Rigney apparently thought he was more valuable there, despite his success as a starter.

Hill was very fast, stealing 58 bases in the minors in 1967, and was considered an excellent defender.  Unfortunately, as we've observed before, none of the other "five tools" mean much if you can't hit, and he couldn't.  He did hit .300 in Denver in 1969, but a) it was Denver, and b) he still only had an OPS of .744.  He admittedly didn't get much of a chance in the majors, but he batted just .083 in 24 major league at-bats.

Aurelio Monteagudo had all the vowels in his first name, and all but one of the vowels in his last name.  Maybe he's who Hrbek could've bought a vowel from.

Record:  The Twins were 47-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Sixty-nine

MINNESOTA 5, KANSAS CITY 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, June 29.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 4-for-5 with a triple.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Herman Hill was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched 8.2 innings, giving up four runs on ten hits and two walks and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Lou Piniella was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Ex-Twin Pat Kelly was 2-for-5 with a double.  Future Twin Tom Burgmeier pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and two walks.

The game:  Most of the action came early.  With one out in the top of the first, Cookie Rojas and Amos Otis singled, followed by doubles by Ed Kirkpatrick and Piniella to make it 3-0.  With two out Tommy Matchick added an RBI single to make it 4-0 after a half inning.

The Twins responded in the bottom of the first.  They started the inning with consecutive singles by Tovar, Hill, Oliva, and Killebrew, plating two runs.  A sacrifice fly later in the inning cut the lead to 4-3 after one.

The Royals put two on in the second and third but could not score.  Hill and Oliva started the bottom of the third with singles.  The next two batters went out, but Jim Holt delivered an RBI single to tie it 4-4.  With two out in the fifth, Perry doubled and Tovar followed with an RBI triple to give the Twins their first lead at 5-4.

And that's where it stayed.  Kansas City had only two hits after the third inning and did not put a man past first base, leaving the Twins with a 5-4 victory.

WP:  Perry (11-6).

LP:  Dick Drago (6-5).

S:  Ron Perranoski (18).

Notes:  Hill was in center field, with Tovar moving to second base in place of Rod Carew.  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Interestingly, Frank Quilici was not used as a defensive replacement for Killebrew.

Perry was 1-for-4 and was batting .357.  Oliva was batting .330.  Killebrew was batting .309.  Tovar was batting .301.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.74.

These were the first two hits of Herman Hill's career.  In fact, they were the only two hits of Herman Hill's career.  He had been 0-for-2 in 1969 and was 2-for-22 in 1970.  His career batting line was ,083/.083/.083.  He had batted .300 in AAA Denver in 1969, but batted just .248 in AAA Evansville in 1970.

The two Twins pitchers shared the first four letters of their last names--Perry and Perranoski.  What's the significance of that?  Well, nothing, as far as I know.  I just found it interesting.

Drago pitched 5.2 innings, allowing five runs on twelve hits and a walk and striking out two.  He's largely forgotten now, but Dick Drago was a pretty fair pitcher for quite a while.  He was with Kansas City from 1969-1973, posting double digit wins in four of the five seasons and nine in the other.  He was with Boston from 1974-1975 and 1978-1980, with stops in California and Baltimore in between.  He closed out his career in Seattle in 1981.  He posted sub-four ERAs in nine of his thirteen seasons.  His career numbers are 108-117, 3.62, 1.31 WHIP.  He pitched 1875 innings and appeared in 519 games, 189 of them starts.  He never made an all-star team, never led the league in anything, and only once got Cy Young consideration (fifth in 1971), but for over ten years he was a pitcher you'd be happy to have on your team.

Record:  The Twins were 44-25, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Sixty-three

MINNESOTA 3, MILWAUKEE 2 IN MILWAUKEE

Date:  Wednesday, June 24.

Batting star:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell struck out eight in eight innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks.  Stan Williams pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Bob Burda was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Marty Pattin struck out ten in a complete game, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk.

The game:  In the first, Russ Snyder drew a one-out walk, Mike Hegan walked with two out, and Dave May singled, loading the bases.  Burda singled home a run, but a baserunning blunder ended the inning with the Brewers leading by only 1-0.

Milwaukee had men on first and second with one out in the second but did not score.  In the fourth, Cesar Tovar led off the inning by reaching second on a single-plus-error.  He was bunted to third and scored on a wild pitch to tie it 1-1.  Tony Oliva then doubled and scored on a Harmon Killebrew single to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.  It didn't last long, though, as Burda led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, was bunted to third, and scored on a sacrifice fly to tie it 2-2.

Each team had two on with two out in the seventh and did not score.  In the eighth Tovar was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on an Oliva single to put the Twins ahead 3-2.  The Brewers threatened in the ninth.  Burda led off with a walk and Phil Roof had a two-out single to put the tying run into scoring position.  But Ted Savage struck out to end the game.

WP:  Boswell (3-6).

LP:  Pattin (4-6).

S:  Williams (4).

Notes:  Herman Hill made his season debut in center field, with Tovar moving to second base in place of the injured Rod Carew.  Jim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.

Oliva was batting .321.  Killebrew was 1-for-3 and was batting .302.  Williams had an ERA of 1.81.

Hill was 0-for-3 and was batting zero.  Boswell easily had his best game of the season to date--his score of 68 was twenty points higher than his second-best game score so far--but still had an ERA of 6.24.

Oddly, Frank Quilici was not used as a defensive replacement for Harmon Killebrew, even though the Twins took the lead in the eighth and Killebrew was unlikely to come to bat again.

Bob Burda had only been a member of the Brewers for a couple of weeks, having been sold by the Giants on June 9.  He was a first baseman/corner outfielder, mostly playing right field for Milwaukee.  He got the most playing time of his career in 1970--245 at-bats--and did not take advantage of it, batting .249/.315/.335 with just four home runs, not the kind of production you want from someone who plays those positions.  He had shown some power in the minors, hitting 27 homers in AAA in 1963 and 18 more in AAA in 1964, but he had only 13 homers in 634 major league at-bats.  He played for St. Louis in 1971 and for Boston in 1972 before ending his playing career.  He was successful in business after leaving baseball and is currently living in retirement in Mesa, Arizona.

Record:  The Twins were 41-22, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 12

Sam Field (1846)
Pop Smith (1856)
Malachi Kittridge (1869)
Pete Hill (1882)
Dixie Davis (1890)
Rick Ferrell (1905)
Joe Cronin (1906)
Al Smith (1907)
Bob Sheppard (1910)
Tony Kubek (1935)
Glenn Beckert (1940)
Herman Hill (1945)
Garth Iorg (1954)
Jim Lewis (1955)
Sid Fernandez (1962)
Jose Valentin (1969)
Derrick White (1969)
Tanyon Sturtze (1970)
Tony Fiore (1971)
Nick Tepesch (1988)

B-r.com says "Sam Field played only 12 games in the majors, but managed to do so with three teams in two leagues. He played mostly catcher.  His career may have been doomed by his .712 fielding percentage."  It may also have been doomed by his .146 batting average.

Pete Hill is considered one of the greatest outfielders of the Negro Leagues.  Incomplete statistics list his average as .326.

Hall of Famer Joe Cronin, of course, played for the Washington franchise from 1928-1934, managing the team in the latter two years. He married Clark Griffith’s niece, which did not keep Griffith from trading him to Boston after the 1934 season.

If there was a Hall of Fame for public address announcers, Bob Sheppard would be the first one in.

Jose Valentin is the brother of ex-Twin Javier Valentin.

First baseman/outfielder Derrick White was drafted by Minnesota in the 23rd round in 1989, but did not sign. He played in the major leagues for Montreal, Detroit, the Cubs, and Colorado, playing in three seasons and totaling 116 at-bats.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Dr. Chop.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 12 →