Tag Archives: Jerry Zimmerman

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 21

Tom Brown (1860)
Elmer Smith (1892)
Eldon Auker (1910)
Max Butcher (1910)
Joe Haynes (1917)
John McHale (1921)
Jerry Zimmerman (1934)
Jerry Fosnow (1940)
Sudden Sam McDowell (1942)
Aurelio Lopez (1948)
Danny Cox (1959)
Cecil Fielder (1963)
D. J. Dozier (1965)
Jason Christianson (1969)
Scott Spiezio (1972)
Doug Davis (1975)
Jeremy Jeffress (1987)

Joe Haynes played for the Twins franchise while it was in Washington for four years, then coached for three, then was with the team as executive vice-president through 1967, when he passed away from a heart attack.

John McHale was the general manager of the Tigers, the Braves, and the Expos.

 Better known for his football career, William Henry “D. J.” Dozier played in 25 games for the New York Mets in 1992.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–September 21 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 21

Tom Brown (1860)
Elmer Smith (1892)
Eldon Auker (1910)
Max Butcher (1910)
Joe Haynes (1917)
John McHale (1921)
Jerry Zimmerman (1934)
Jerry Fosnow (1940)
Sudden Sam McDowell (1942)
Aurelio Lopez (1948)
Danny Cox (1959)
Cecil Fielder (1963)
D. J. Dozier (1965)
Jason Christianson (1969)
Scott Spiezio (1972)
Doug Davis (1975)
Jeremy Jeffress (1987)

Joe Haynes played for the Twins franchise while it was in Washington for four years, then coached for three, then was with the team as executive vice-president through 1967, when he passed away from a heart attack.

John McHale was the general manager of the Tigers, the Braves, and the Expos.

 Better known for his football career, William Henry “D. J.” Dozier played in 25 games for the New York Mets in 1992.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–September 21 →

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1967, Game One Hundred Sixty-one

MINNESOTA 7, CALIFORNIA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 26.

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 3-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-fourth), a triple, a walk, and three runs.  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a stolen base, his fifth.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his forty-second and forty-third) and three RBIs.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat struck out thirteen in a complete game.  He gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks.

Opposition stars:  Bobby Knoop was 1-for-3 with a walk.  Aurelio Rodriguez was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.

The game:  Allison hit a one-out triple in the second and scored on Carew's single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  It didn't last long, as the Angels scored all three of their runs in the third.  Knoop singled, Bob Rodgers walked, and an error loaded the bases with none out.  Rodriguez then singled in two runs to put California ahead.  After a ground out Rick Reichardt walked to reload the bases and Bubba Morton singled home the third run.  Kaat then struck out Don Mincher and Woodie Held to limit the damage.

Allison homered in the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2.  Then came the sixth.  Cesar Tovar singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins in front.  With one out Allison walked and Carew singled.  Ted Uhlaender hit into a force out, but an error allowed Allison to score and make it 5-3.  Jerry Zimmerman was intentionally walked and Kaat reached on an error, increasing the lead to 6-3.

That was pretty much it.  The Angels managed only a single single in the last three innings.  Killebrew homered in the seventh to make the final score 7-3.

WP:  Kaat (16-13).  LP:  Jim McGlothlin (11-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at third, which was one of his two primary positions (the other was center field).  He played 72 games at third and 64 in center--I wonder if anyone else has ever played more than sixty games at each of those two positions in the same season.  If so, I suspect it's a pretty short list.  Rich Rollins played the most games at third with 97 and Uhlaender played the most in cetner at 118.  As I mentioned before, Tovar played in every Twins game this year (which was 164 thanks to two ties) without having a regular position.

I've been through the stats of the 1967 team fairly recently, so I won't do it again.

I suppose walking Zimmerman to face Kaat was the thing to do, but there really wasn't much to choose between the two at bat.  Zimmerman batted .167/.243/.192.  Kaat batted .172/.226/.253.  Zimmerman was intentionally walked twelve times in his career, a direct result of always batting ahead of the pitcher.  In fact, he had a lower OPS than three of the Twins pitchers in 1967, Kaat, Jim Perry, and Dave Boswell.

Kaat, of course, would be injured later that week in the season's penultimate game, an injury which would contribute to the Twins not winning the pennant.

Record:  The Twins were 91-68, in first place in the American League, one game ahead of Chicago and Boston.  They would finish 91-71, tied for second with Detroit, one game behind Boston.

The Angels were 81-75, in fifth place in the American League, 8.5 games behind Minnesota.  They would finish 84-77, in fifth place, 7.5 games behind Boston.

Random record:  The Twins are 53-49 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1967, Game Sixty-six

MINNESOTA 1, CHICAGO 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 23.

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 2-for-3.  Jerry Zimmerman was 2-for-3.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run, his twenty-second.

Pitching star:  Dean Chance pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and one walk and striking out four.

Opposition star:  Joel Horlen pitched seven innings, giving up one run on six hits no walks and striking out two.  He was also 1-for-2 at the plate.

The game:  It was a pitchers' duel.  No one got past first base until the third, when Horlen singled with two out and went to second when Tommie Agee reached on an error.  Don Buford struck out to end the inning.  No one got past first after that until the sixth, when Agee hit a one-out double.  He was stranded on second.

With one out in the seventh Killebrew hit a home run to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  And that was pretty much it.  Chance retired the last eight men he faced and the Twins won 1-0.

WP:  Chance (10-5).  LP:  Horlen (8-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Cesar Tovar was at third base in place of Rich Rollins.  Rollins played 97 games at third compared to Tovar's 72, so this was not an unusual arrangement.  Tovar also played 64 games in center and 35 at second base, as well as a handful of games at short and each of the corner outfield positions.  He's mostly forgotten now, other than by old Twins fans, but you can make the argument that Tovar is among the greatest multi-position players ever.

Sandy Valdespino came in for defense in the ninth, replacing Allison in left field.

Carew was batting .319.  He would finish at .292, which still led the team.  On the other end, Zimmerman was batting .157.  He would finish at .167 with an OPS of .436.  He was the regular catcher this year due to injuries to Earl Battey.  He was reputed to be a superior defensive catcher, and I certainly hope he was, because he contributed nothing on offense.  The Twins batted .240, which was tied for third in the league.  Boston led at .255, well above second-place Detroit, which batted .243.

Killebrew naturally led the team with 44 home runs.  Allison hit 24 and Tony Oliva 17.  The Twins hit 131 home runs, tied for fourth in the league.  Boston led there, too, with 158.

We went through the 1967 pitching staff a couple of weeks ago, so we won't repeat that.  The Twins had 58 complete games in 1967.  Chance led with 18.  Jim Kaat had 13, and Jim Merritt and Dave Boswell each had 11.  Jim Perry, who made 11 starts and relieved 26 times, had three complete games.  Mudcat Grant, who battled injuries all season, still had two complete games.  Al Worthington was the relief ace, going 8-9, 2.84 with 16 saves.  Ron Kline went 7-1, 3.77 with 5 saves and Jim Roland posted a 3.03 ERA with 2 saves.  The Twins were second in ERA at 3.14, although that was well behind league-leading Chicago at 2.45.  The Twins were third in WHIP at 1.19.  Chicago led there, too, at 1.12.

In the sixth, with the game still scoreless, Zimmerman led off with a single and then was caught stealing second.  Zimmerman had one career stolen base, in his rookie year of 1961.  He had two stolen base attempts that season.  He had only one more stolen base attempt in his career, this one.  My guess is that the batter, Chance, was supposed to bunt and missed.  I have no real evidence for that, but I can't think of any other reason you'd have Zimmerman try to steal.  You'd have the element of surprise on your side, I guess, but that's about it.

I wonder if, in 1968, manager Cal Ermer made a statement to the effect that who they really missed was Jerry Zimmerman.

This was Horlen's best year.  He went 19-7 and led the league in ERA at 2.06.  He also led in shutouts with 6 and WHIP at 0.95.  It was the second time he'd led the league in WHIP (1964, 0.94).  He made the all-star team for the only time in his career.  He was second to Jim Lonborg in Cy Young voting.  You can make the argument that he should have won the award, but Lonborg won 22 games and played for the "Impossible Dream" Red Sox.  He finished fourth in MVP voting, ahead of Lonborg but behind Carl Yastrzemski, Killebrew, and Bill Freehan.

Record:  The Twins were 33-32, in fourth place in the American League, six games behind Chicago.  They would finish 91-71, tied for second with Detroit, one game behind Boston.

The White Sox were 38-25, in first place in the American League, three games ahead of Detroit.  They would finish 89-73, in fourth place, three games behind Boston.

People who read carefully may have noticed that this is the Twins 66th game, but their record was 33-32, which only adds up to 65.  Why, you ask?  Two days earlier they had played a tie game with Detroit, 5-5.  They would play another tie game on July 25 with New York, 1-1, so they actually played 164 games in 1967.  Tovar played in all 164 games despite not having a regular position.  The record is 165, by Maury Wills in 1962.  That total includes a best-of-three playoff.

Random record:  The Twins are 50-48 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1967, Game One Hundred

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MINNESOTA 10, BOSTON 3 IN BOSTON (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Saturday, July 29.

Batting stars:  Rich Rollins was 4-for-5 with two runs.  Bob Allison was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his fifteenth and sixteenth) and three RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirty-first), a double, a walk, and two runs.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer (his fourth) and a stolen base (his third).  Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 with a home run, his eleventh.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out five.

Opposition star:  George Scott was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirteenth.

The game:  Allison led off the second with a home run for the game's first run.  Cesar Tovar was then hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on Rollins' single.  Uhlaender singled and Earl Battey walked, loading the bases with still none out.  A double play followed, but a run scored to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.  The Red Sox bounced back with two in the bottom of the second.  Tony Conigliaro led off with a bunt single and Scott followed with an inside-the-park home run to cut the Twins' margin to 3-2.

A big two-out rally in the fifth put the Twins in control to stay.  Killebrew doubled and Allison homered.  The home run did not kill the rally, as Tovar laid down a bunt single, Rollins singled, and Uhlaender hit a three-run homer to put the Twins in front 8-2.  The Twins scored a couple more two-out runs in the sixth on back-to-back homers by Oliva and Killebrew.

Boston got their final run in the ninth.  George Thomas singled, Jose Tartabull walked, and with two out Reggie Smith singled.  Bob Tillman then hit into a forceout to end the game.

WP:  Perry (3-5).  LP:  Gary Waslewski (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  This was Battey's last year, and he was able to catch just 41 games, including this one.  Jerry Zimmerman was the primary catcher, catching 104 games.  Zimmerman was a career backup, and this year we found out why, as he batted just .167 with an OPS of .432.  The next year would be his last--I suspect the Twins did not miss him as much as they would later miss Henry Blanco.

Tovar was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  It appears Carew was simply given the game off.  Tovar, of course, could play pretty much anywhere on the field.

With a big lead, the Twins made some substitutions.  Frank Quilici went to second base in the fifth inning in place of Tovar.  Rich Reese pinch-ran for Killebrew in the eighth and stayed in the game at first base.  Sandy Valdespino went to left field in the eighth in place of Allison.

The Twins did not have a .300 hitter in 1967 unless you count guys with fewer than 40 at-bats.  Carew led the team at .292.  The Twins batted .240, which was fourth-best in the league.  Boston led at .255.

Killebrew led the team in home runs with 44.  Allison hit 24 and Oliva 17.  The Twins hit 141 homers, which was tied for fourth in the league.  Boston led there, too, with 158.

Dean Chance led with 39 starts and went 20-14, 2.73, 1.10 WHIP.  Jim Kaat made 38 starts and went 16-13, 3.04, 1.18.  Dave Boswell was 14-12, 3.27, 1.21 and Jim Merritt was 13-7, 2.53, 0.99.  Mudcat Grant was in the rotation at the start of the season but struggled, going 5-6, 4.72, 1.45.  Perry became the fifth starter when needed and made 11 starts.  For the season he was 9-7, 3.03, 1.32.  The Twins were second in ERA at 3.14--the White Sox lapped the field at 2.45 (they were next to last in runs scored, however).  The Twins were third in WHIP at 1.19--the White Sox led there, too, at 1.12.

He didn't play in this game, but I can't let the 1967 season go by without mentioning reserve catcher Hank Izquierdo.  He was the third catcher for the last two months of the season.  A career minor league, he had spent five years in AAA for Cincinnati from 1957-1961, never getting a chance at the majors.  He came to the Twins organization in 1963 and spent the year at Class A.  He was in AA from 1964 through the first half of 1966, went to AAA in the second half of that year and also in 1967, and finally in August of 1967, at age thirty-six, made his major league debut.  The reason he spent all those years in the minors is that he couldn't hit--he batted .220/.276/.280 in AAA.  In a small sample size, he actually did fairly well in the bigs--.269/.296/.346 in 28 plate appearances.  He was in AAA for Houston for the next two seasons, then played in Mexico for five years until finally hanging it up at age forty-three.  I assume he was considered an excellent defensive catcher.  I'm not saying he deserved more of a chance or anything.  I just think it's neat that he got rewarded for all of his years of minor league service.  Baseball could use more stories like that.

George Scott hit 271 major league home runs.  I don't know if any of the others were inside-the-park, but I doubt it.

Record:  The Twins were 52-46, in fourth place in the American League, 4.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 91-71, tied for second with Detroit, one game behind Boston.

The Twins played two ties in 1967.  They tied Detroit 5-5 on June 21 and tied New York 1-1 on July 25.  Thus, while this was game one hundred, they only had 98 decisions.  The Twins would actually play 164 games in 1967.  Tovar played in all 164 and Killebrew played in 162.  I wonder if any other team had two players who played in more than 162 games in the same season.

The Red Sox were 55-43, in second place in the American League, 1.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 92-70, in first place, one game ahead of Detroit and Minnesota.

Random record:  The Twins are 42-41 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1967, Game Sixteen

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MINNESOTA 13, NEW YORK 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 2.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs, and two RBIs.  Ron Clark was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jerry Zimmerman was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with a triple, a double, and two runs.

Pitching star:  Dean Chance pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks and striking out four.

Opposition star:  Tom Tresh was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his third) and two walks.

The game:  The Yankees put men on second and third with two out in the first but did not score.  That was the last time the Yankees were in the game.  The Twins scored six times in the first inning.  Tovar and Uhlaender started the inning with back-to-back doubles.  Versalles singled and Harmon Killebrew hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.  Bob Allison had an RBI single.  With two out Clark had a run-scoring double.  Zimmerman was intentionally walked, Chance was accidentally walked to load the bases, and Tovar got his second hit of the inning, a two-run single, to make it 6-0 Twins.

It stayed 6-0 until the fifth, when New York got on the board.  John Kennedy led off with a walk and Tresh hit a two-out two-run homer to cut the margin to 6-2.  The Twins came back with three in the sixth.  Zimmerman singled and Chance reached on an error.  Tovar bunted the runners up, and with two out Versalles hit a two-run triple, followed by Killebrew's RBI double, giving the Twins a 9-2 lead.

The Twins added a run in the seventh when Andy Kosco reached on a three-base error and scored on a sacrifice fly.  In the eighth Uhlaender tripled, Frank Quilici walked, Killebrew hit a sacrifice fly, Allison walked, and Kosco and Clark had RBI singles, making the score 13-2.  The Yankees added two in the ninth.  Bill Robinson reached on an error and Dick Howser singled.  A force out put men on first and third, a wild pitch scored one, and Ray Barker's single made the final 13-4.

WP:  Chance (3-1).  LP:  Fritz Peterson (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at second base in place of rookie Rod Carew, who missed a couple of days with a minor injury.  Kosco was in right field in place of Tony Oliva, who missed a couple of weeks.  Clark was at third base in place of Rich Rollins, who missed about three weeks.  As we mentioned yesterday, Earl Battey missed much of the season due to injury, so Zimmerman was the regular catcher.

Quilici entered the game in the seventh and went to second base, with Tovar moving to short and Versalles leaving the game.  Rich Reese replaced Killebrew at first base in the ninth.

There were a couple of interesting managerial decisions.  In the first, with two out, a man on second, and the score 4-0, Zimmerman was intentionally walked to bring up Chance.  Chance was a notoriously bad batter--he only had one year in which he batted over .100, and his lifetime average was .066.  But Zimmerman was a pretty bad batter, too--his lifetime average was .204, and he was batting .133 at this time.  So yes, you were bringing up a worse batter, but it seems like if you don't have confidence that your pitcher can get a batter like Zimmerman out, you probably shouldn't be using that pitcher in the first place.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Twins led 6-2.  Zimmerman led off with a single and Chance was allowed to bat.  Maybe he was supposed to bunt--the play-by-play doesn't say that, it simply says that he reached on an error.  But Chance came out of the game to start the seventh, with Al Worthington coming in to pitch.  Maybe if the score had stayed 6-2, Chance was going to pitch the seventh, but when it went to 9-2 Sam Mele decided to give him a break and use Worthington instead.

Peterson did not get out of the first inning.  The walk to Chance was the last straw, and he was removed in favor of Jim Bouton.  Bouton then pitched the next 5.1 innings of relief.

This is the first time random.org gave us back-to-back games from the same year.  It has also given us the same opponent three times in a row.

Record:  The Twins were 6-10, in tenth (last) place in the American League, four games behind Detroit.  They would finish 91-71, tied for second, one game behind Boston.

The Yankees were 9-7, tied for second place in the American League, one game behind Detroit.  They would finish 72-90, in ninth place, twenty games behind Boston.