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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 7

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Chris Von der Ahe (1851)
Ed "The Only" Nolan (1857)
Bill Brubaker (1910)
Dick Stuart (1932)
Jake Gibbs (1938)
Jim Kaat (1938)
Joe Niekro (1944)
Buck Martinez (1948)
Willie Norwood (1950)
Guy Sularz (1955)
Orlando Mercado (1961)
Russ Springer (1968)
Todd Ritchie (1971)
Glendon Rusch (1974)
Esmerling Vasquez (1983)
Sonny Gray (1989)
Danny Santana (1990)

Promoter/entrepreneur Chris von der Ahe, referred to as "Bill Veeck with a handlebar mustache", owned the St. Louis franchise from 1882-1899.

November 7 ties for the most Twins birthdays, with nine.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 7 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 7

Chris Von der Ahe (1851)
Ed "The Only" Nolan (1857)
Bill Brubaker (1910)
Dick Stuart (1932)
Jake Gibbs (1938)
Jim Kaat (1938)
Joe Niekro (1944)
Buck Martinez (1948)
Willie Norwood (1950)
Guy Sularz (1955)
Orlando Mercado (1961)
Russ Springer (1968)
Todd Ritchie (1971)
Glendon Rusch (1974)
Esmerling Vasquez (1983)
Sonny Gray (1989)
Danny Santana (1990)

Promoter/entrepreneur Chris von der Ahe, referred to as "Bill Veeck with a handlebar mustache", owned the St. Louis franchise from 1882-1899.

With the addition of Sonny Gray, November 7 ties November 1 for the most Twins birthdays, with nine.  Apparently, if you want your son to play for the Twins, it helps to have him born in November.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 7 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 7

Chris Von der Ahe (1851)
Ed "The Only" Nolan (1857)
Bill Brubaker (1910)
Dick Stuart (1932)
Jake Gibbs (1938)
Jim Kaat (1938)
Joe Niekro (1944)
Buck Martinez (1948)
Willie Norwood (1950)
Guy Sularz (1955)
Orlando Mercado (1961)
Russ Springer (1968)
Todd Ritchie (1971)
Glendon Rusch (1974)
Esmerling Vasquez (1983)
Sonny Gray (1989)
Danny Santana (1990)

Promoter/entrepreneur Chris von der Ahe, referred to as "Bill Veeck with a handlebar mustache", owned the St. Louis franchise from 1882-1899.

With the addition of Sonny Gray, November 7 ties November 1 for the most Twins birthdays, with nine.  Apparently, if you want your son to play for the Twins, it helps to have him born in November.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 7 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixty-two

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MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, October 1.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-3 with a triple and a double.  Jim Kaat was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer.

Pitching stars:  Kaat struck out seven in seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk.  Stan Williams retired all five men he faced.

Opposition star:  Bob Johnson struck out ten in an eight-inning complete game, giving up four runs on nine hits and no walks.

The game:  The Twins got on the board in the first inning when Cesar Tovar led off with a single and scored from first on an Oliva double.  With two out in the second Danny Thompson doubled and Kaat followed with a two-run homer, making it 3-0 Twins.  They added one more run in the sixth when Oliva tripled and Cotton Nash followed with an RBI single.

The Royals had only three hits in the game, all singles.  The closest they came to scoring was the seventh.  With one out, Lou Piniella and Bob Oliver hit consecutive singles.  Jim Campanis then grounded into a double play to end the inning.

WP:  Kaat (14-10).

LP:  Johnson (8-13).

S:  Ron Perranoski (34).

Notes:  Oliva ended the season batting .325.  Tovar was 1-for-2 and ended at .300.  Williams ended the season with an ERA of 1.99.  Perranoski ended the season with an ERA of 2.43.

Herman Hill was 0-for-1 and ended batting .091.  Charlie Manuel was 0-for-3 and ended batting .188.

This was the last game of Nash's major league career.

This was Kaat's only home run of the season.  He hit sixteen for his career, with a high of three in 1964.

Perranoski came in to record the last out and get the save.  There was no apparent reason to remove Williams and bring him in.  Perhaps the Twins wanted him to get into a game before the playoffs.  He would have been the league saves leader regardless.  Not a big deal, obviously, just a curiosity some fifty-two years later.

In the east, the Baltimore Orioles won the division by fifteen games over the second-place Yankees.  Thus, for the second consecutive season, the Twins would play the Orioles in the American League Championship Series.

Record:  The Twins were 98-64, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred One

MINNESOTA 2, MILWAUKEE 1 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 1 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Monday, August 3.

Batting stars:  Danny Thompson was 3-for-4 with a double.  Rich Reese was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out six.  Tom Hall struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Jerry McNertney was 2-for-3.  Marty Pattin pitched an eight inning complete game, giving up two runs on seven hits and four walks and striking out five.

The game:  There was no score until the fifth, when Roberto Pena singled, stole second, and scored on McNertney's single.  The Twins tied it in the sixth when Thompson hit a one-out single, Harmon Killebrew drew a two-out walk, and Reese followed with an RBI double.

The Twins wasted George Mitterwald's leadoff double in the seventh.  In the eighth, however, Thompson led off with a double and scored on a Reese two-out RBI single to give the Twins their first lead of the game.  Hall came in to retire the Brewers in the ninth and preserve the victory.

WP:  Perry (16-9).

LP:  Pattin (7-9).

S:  Hall (3).

Notes:  Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Jim Kaat pinch-ran for Mitterwald in the seventh, with Tom Tischinski going in to catch in the eighth.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .326.  Perry was 0-for-2 and was batting .306.  Killebrew was 0-for-2 and was batting .304.  Cesar Tovar was 0-for-4 and was batting .301.  Hall had an ERA of 2.71.

Without going back through the box scores, I couldn't find out how many times Kaat was used as a pinch-runner.  It was more than a few times, however.

It's interesting that Bill Rigney went with Hall to close out a 2-1 game.  First, it's surprising to me that Perry didn't finish the game--he had given up just a single in the seventh and had retired the side in order in the eighth.  Having decided to go to the pen, the choice of Hall was probably influenced by the fact that Ron Perranoski and Stan Williams had each pitched in three consecutive games.  It certainly worked out.

Pattin threw eleven complete games in 1970.  That was only good for tenth in the league.  Mike Cuellar led the league with twenty-one.

Thompson had six multi-hit games in his last seven starts.  He went 14-for-27 in those starts and raised his average from .200 to .282.

Record:  The Twins were 65-36, in first place in the American League West, 7.5 games ahead of California, which had regained second place from Oakland.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety-one

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MINNESOTA 8, BALTIMORE 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 24.

Batting stars:  Frank Quilici was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Rick Renick was 2-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his thirtieth), a walk, and two runs.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourteenth) and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game shutout, giving up seven hits and a walk and striking out five.

Opposition star:  Andy Etchebarren was 2-for-4.

The game:  Tovar led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored on a Reese single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Renick led off the second with a homer to make it 2-0.

Neither team threatened again until the fifth, when Quilici singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Tovar single.  Killebrew walked and Oliva followed with a three-run homer to make the score 6-0 Twins.  The Twins added two more in the seventh.  Killebrew led off with a home run.  Oliva reached on an error, Renick singled, and George Mitterwald singled to bring the score to 8-0.

Despite getting seven hits and a walk, the Orioles only once had a man in scoring position.  That was in the eighth, when Don Buford hit a one-out single and Paul Blair followed with a walk.  But the next two batters went out and it remained 8-0.

WP:  Kaat (9-7).

LP:  Mike Cuellar (13-6).

S:  None.

Notes:  Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Renick in the seventh and stayed in the game in left field.  Danny Thompson replaced Killebrew at third base in the eighth.

Oliva was batting .319.  Tovar was batting .316.  Killebrew was batting .315.

The Twins continued to have success against Cuellar.  He had pitched a complete game victory against them eight days earlier.  Other than that game, though, he had posted game scores of fifty-one and forty-five, and in this game his score was twenty-seven.  For the season against the Twins he was 2-2, 4.88, 1.41 WHIP.  Against the entire league, Cuellar was 24-8, 3.48, 1.15 WHIP.

This was the only shutout for Kaat in 1970.

The Twins scored more runs in this game than they had in their previous three.

Record:  The Twins were 60-31, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.  That's the biggest lead the Twins have had so far--they were also six games up on July 11.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-four

MINNESOTA 6, BALTIMORE 5 IN BALTIMORE (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, July 17.

Batting stars:  Tom Tischinski was 2-for-2 with three walks and two runs.  Jim Holt was 2-for-3.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer, his seventh.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-eighth) and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.  Ron Perranoski pitched three shutout innings, walking one and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Belanger was 3-for-5.  Elrod Hendricks was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.  Paul Blair was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Dave Johnson was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventh), two walks, two runs, and two RBIs.  Mike Cuellar pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks and striking out three.

The game:  The Orioles opened the first with a Don Buford single and a Blair double, putting men on second and third with none out, but only scored once on a ground out.  Each team threatened in the second but did not score.  The Twins loaded the bases in the fourth, the second time they had done so, but again did not score.  Baltimore loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth on a walk to Johnson and singles by Hendricks and Belanger, but again only scored once on a ground out, leaving them up 2-0.  It went to 3-0 in the sixth when Hendricks homered.

The Twins came back in the seventh.  Tischinski and Tovar singled and Reese hit a two-out three-run homer to tie it 3-3.  The Orioles grabbed the lead right back in the bottom of the seventh when Frank Robinson was hit by a pitch and Johnson hit a two-run homer, making it 5-3.

Killebrew homered in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-4.  In the ninth, Tischinski walked, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on a Tovar single, tying the score 5-5.

Killebrew led off the tenth with a single.  With one out, Perranoski bunted and was safe on a fielder's choice, putting men on first and second.  With two out Tischinski delivered an RBI single to give the Twins their first lead of the game.  It was the only lead they needed, as Baltimore went down in order in the bottom of the tenth.

WP:  Perranoski (6-2).

LP:  Ed Watt (2-6).

S:  None.

Notes:  Charlie Manuel was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Jim Holt was in center, with Tovar moving to second base.  Tischinski was at catcher in place of George Mitterwald.

Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Kaat in the seventh.  Danny Thompson pinch-hit for Manuel in the eighth and stayed in the game at second base, with Tovar moving to center field.  Alyea pinch-hit for Holt in the eighth.  Bob Allison went to left.  Frank Quilici went to second base in the tenth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew coming out of the game.

Tischinski was batting .375.  Killebrew was batting .326.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-5 and was batting .319.  Tovar was batting .314.  Bill Zepp gave up three runs in five innings and had an ERA of 2.80.  Stan Williams allowed two runs in an inning and had an ERA of 1.64.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.55.

Manuel was 0-for-2 and was batting .150.  Allison was 0-for-2 and was batting .174.

Kaat was once again used in relief.  Someone in the starting rotation being used in relief on consecutive days is certainly not something you see very often.  He would go back to starting three days later and would not appear in relief again until September.

This was Tischinski's only multi-hit game of the season.  He raised his average from .167 to .375.

Oddly, Bill Rigney did not pinch-run for either Tischinski in the ninth, when he represented the tying run, or for Killebrew in the tenth, when he represented the go-ahead run.  Not pinch-running for Killebrew is understandable--it was a tie game, and you might need Harmon's bat if the game continued.  But not running for Tischinski in the ninth, when you needed to pull out all the stops to tie the game, seems strange.  Quilici was still on the bench, available for use, but he was not used.  Rigney got away with it, but it's hard to think it was the right thing to do.

Record:  The Twins were 55-29, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

 

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-three

BALTIMORE 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Thursday, July 15.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-seventh.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mike Cuellar pitched a complete game, giving up one run on nine hits and three walks and striking out four.  Boog Powell was 1-for-2 with a home run (his twenty-fourth), a walk, and two RBIs.

The game:  The Twins had men on second and third with one out in the first, but Cesar Tovar was thrown out at the plate on a grounder to third to end the inning.  The Orioles then scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first when Don Buford singled, went to second on Paul Blair's bunt single, took third on a ground out, and scored on a passed ball.

The Twins had two on with none out in the second, but a double play took them out of the inning.  Baltimore took it to 2-0 in the third when Blair singled, went to third on Frank Robinson's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Twins got on the board in the sixth when Killebrew homered, but the Orioles came back with three in the bottom of the sixth.  Powell led off the inning with a home run.  Brooks Robinson walked, Dave Johnson reached on an error, and Andy Etchebarren hit a two-run double, making it 5-1 Baltimore.

The Twins did not get a man past first base after that.

WP:  Cuellar (12-5).

LP:  Tom Hall (5-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Bob Allison was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Alyea and Rick Renick pinch-hit for pitchers.  Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Alyea.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Renick.

Killebrew was batting .325.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .324.  Tovar was 1-for-5 and was batting .313.  Hall gave up four runs (three earned) in five innings and had an ERA of 2.30.  Dick Woodson gave up an unearned run in a third of an inning and had an ERA of 2.63.  Williams had an ERA of 1.39.

Jim Kaat was again used in relief, giving up no runs in two-thirds of an inning.  It's hard to understand why, with a rested bullpen, it was necessary to use Kaat, but there it is.  In fact, I really don't understand why Hall started the first game off the all-star game ahead of Kaat, although I will admit he had a much better ERA.

The Twins stranded nine and were 0-for-5 with men in scoring position.

Record:  The Twins were 54-29, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy

MINNESOTA 8, KANSAS CITY 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 30.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and two runs.  Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.  Rick Renick was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit grand slam, his fifth homer.

Pitching stars:  Bill Zepp pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Dick Woodson pitched a perfect inning.  Stan Williams pitched three shutout innings, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Bob Oliver was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and three RBIs.  Paul Schaal was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second.  Amos Otis was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his sixteenth) and three runs.

The game:  In the first Schaal singled and Oliver hit a two-run homer, giving the Royals an early 2-0 lead.  The Twins got one back in the second when Rich Reese reached on a two-base error and scored on a Leo Cardenas single.  The lead went back to two in the third when Otis reached on a single-plus-error and scored on Oliver's double.  The score went to 5-1 in the fifth when Schaal led off with a homer, Otis and Lou Piniella singled, and a double play brought home a run.

The Twins came back in the sixth.  Killebrew led off the inning with a home run, cutting the lead to 5-2.  With one out Holt singled and Cardenas and George Mitterwald walked, loading the bases.  Bob Johnson came in to face pinch-hitter Renick, who hit a grand slam and put the Twins up 6-5.  They added two more in the seventh when Killebrew and Reese singled and both scored on a Holt triple.

Kansas City did not get a hit after the fifth inning.

WP:  Woodson (1-1).

LP:  Johnson (1-5).

S:  Williams (5).

Notes:  Herman Hill was again in center, with Tovar moving to second base in place of Rod Carew.  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Danny Thompson went to third in the eighth inning in place of Killebrew.  Paul Ratliff and Renick were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .327.  Killebrew was batting .313.  Tovar was batting .303.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.74.  Williams had an ERA of 1.70.

Hill was 0-for-5 and was batting .143.

This was the second time Jim Kaat had pitched in relief and then started two days later as if nothing had happened.  Neither time did it go well.  In this game, he pitched four innings and allowed five runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out one.  In the two starts combined, he had an ERA of 7.20 and a WHIP of 2.20.  I'm sure Kaat was more than willing to take the ball both times, but the fact that someone is willing to do something does not necessarily mean it's a good idea to let them do it.

The Royals' starter was Don O'Riley.  He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks and struck out none.  This was his first major league start.  He would start again on July 4, which would be his last major league start.  For his career he pitched in 27 games, 18 in 1969 and 9 in 1970.  He pitched 46.2 innings, pitching 23.1 in each of his two seasons.  He was 1-1, 6.17, 1.76 WHIP.  I suspect that makes him not unusual for a pitcher on an expansion team.

Record:  The Twins were 45-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Fifty-three

BOSTON 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, June 13.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a double.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5 with a triple.

Pitching star: Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  George Thomas was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a hit-by-pitch, and three runs.  Reggie Smith was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Ray Culp pitched eight innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on nine hits and three walks and striking out three.

The game:  Thomas doubled with one out in the first, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a wild pitch to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.  The Twins tied it in the bottom of the first when Tovar led off with a single-plus-error, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a wild pitch.

The Twins took the lead in the second.  Paul Ratliff led off the inning with a walk.  With one out Tovar, Carew, and Oliva all singled, scoring two runs and putting them up 3-1.

It stayed 3-1 until the sixth.  Thomas led off with a double and scored on a Carl Yastrzemski single to cut the lead to 3-2.  Smith then doubled, putting men on second and third with none out.  The next two batters were retired, but Billy Conigliaro hit a two-run single to put Boston ahead 4-3.  Singles by Jerry Moses and Culp resulted in another run, making it 5-3 Red Sox.  In the seventh, George Thomas singled, Carl Yastrzemski walked, and an error scored Thomas to make it 6-3.

The Twins rallied in the ninth.  Leo Cardenas reached on an error, Ratliff singled, and Rick Renick walked, loading the bases with none out and bringing up the top of the Twins order.  Tovar hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-4, but Carew struck out and Oliva grounded to second, ending the game.

WP:  Culp (5-6).

LP:  Jim Kaat (5-4).

S:  Sparky Lyle (9).

Notes:  We once again had Jim Holt in left and Ratliff behind the plate, replacing Brant Alyea and George Mitterwald, respectively.  Charlie Manuel and Renick were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.

Carew was batting .372.  Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .330.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 and was batting .315.  Williams had an ERA of 2.09.

Kaat had pitched in three of the last five Twins games, starting two of them.  He again wasn't awful, but wasn't very good, either:  five innings, four runs, seven hits, no walks, no strikeouts.  I'm sure Kaat was more than willing to pitch that often, and I'm sure he said he felt fine, but it wasn't really working very well.

We tend to remember Sparky Lyle as a Yankee, but he was a fine reliever in Boston for five years before coming to New York.  As a Red Sock, he was 22-17, 2.85, 69 saves, 1.29 WHIP in 331.1 innings (160 games, all in relief).

Record:  The Twins were 35-18, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of California.