Tag Archives: Joe Niekro

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

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

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety

MINNESOTA 2, DETROIT 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 23.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 3-for-3 with a home run, his eighth.  Rich Reese was 3-for-4.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and three walks and striking out eight.

Opposition stars:  Jim Northrup was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighteenth.  Joe Niekro pitched six innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks and striking out one.

The game:  In the second the Tigers got a pair of one-out walks and a two-out single, loading the bases, but did not score.  The Twins got a pair of one-out singles in the fifth but did not score.  So, it was 0-0 until the sixth, when Northrup homered with one out.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the sixth.  With one out Reese reached third on a single-plus-error and scored on a grounder to first.

Detroit again loaded the bases in the seventh but did not score.  Mitterwald led off the bottom of the eighth in a home run to put the Twins up 2-1.  The Tigers did not get a baserunner in the eighth or ninth, and the Twins' lead held up.

WP:  Blyleven (4-3).

LP:  Niekro (10-8).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Frank Quilici was at second in place of Rod Carew.  Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Quilici in the seventh, with Danny Thompson going to second base.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .319.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting .315.  Cesar Tovar was 0-for-4 and was batting .314.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.44.

Quilici was 0-for-1 and was batting .195.

The Twins once again did not score much for Blyleven, but he managed to make two runs be enough.  The Tigers stranded eight men, six of them in two innings when they left the bases full.

Niekro had not yet become a knuckleball pitcher in 1970, relying mostly on fastballs and sliders at this point in his career.

The Twins had scored exactly two runs in each of their last three games, winning two of them 2-1.  They were now 3-2 on their nine-game homestand, with four against Baltimore coming up.

Record:  The Twins were 59-31, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

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)
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.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 7

1970 Rewind: Game Twenty-four

MINNESOTA 9, DETROIT 6 IN DETROIT

Date:  Thursday, May 7.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, his eighth.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fifth), a walk, a stolen base, and three runs.  Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, a stolen base (his second), and two runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Willie Horton was 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.  Dick McAuliffe was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Bill Freehan was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.

The game:  Cesar Tovar led off the game with a single and Oliva hit a two-run homer to give the Twins the early lead.  In the second, singles by Jim Holt and Paul Ratliff were followed by an RBI ground out to make it 3-0.  In the fourth Oliva reached on a fielder's choice, went to second on a Killebrew single, and scored on Reese's single to make it 4-0.  In the seventh, walks to Carew and Oliva were followed by Killebrew's three-run homer to increase the lead to 7-0.

Meanwhile, Twins starter Jim Perry had allowed just one hit over six innings.  Why then, you ask, is he not listed as a "pitching star"?  Well, in the seventh, McAuliffe led of with a walk and Dalton Jones singled.  With one out, Norm Cash got the Tigers on the board with an RBI double.  Horton then followed with a two-run triple, cutting the lead to 7-3.  Ron Perranoski then came into the game, but Horton scored on an error, dropping the lead to 7-4.

The Twins bounced back with a two-out rally in the eighth.  Tovar walked and scored on a Carew double.  Oliva singled, moving Carew to third, and the two of them then pulled off a double steal of second and home to make the score 9-4.

Detroit did not quit.  In the bottom of the eighth McAuliffe singled and Al Kaline reached on an error, putting men on first and second with two out.  Mickey Stanley delivered an RBI single to make it 9-5.  Horton singled to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate, but Jim Northrup grounded out to end the threat.  Freehan hit a home run in the ninth to round out the scoring, but the Tigers did not get the tying run to bat again.

WP:  Perry (5-1).

LP:  Joe Niekro (3-2).

S:  Perranoski (8).

Notes:  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald Mitterwald pinch-hit for Ratliff in the fifth and went behind the plate.  Frank Quilici replaced Killebrew at third base in the seventh.

Carew was batting .362.  Oliva was batting .354.  Killebrew was batting .337.  Tovar was 1-for-3 and was batting .303.  Perry allowed four runs (three earned) in 6.1 innings and had an ERA of 2.50.  Perranoski allowed two runs (one earned) in 2.2 innings and had an ERA of 1.74.

Holt was 1-for-5 and was batting .190.  Mitterwald was 0-for-3 and was batting .194.

Future Twin Niekro lasted just 2.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and no walks and striking out four.  He was not the knuckleballing Joe Niekro at this stage of his career, but was more a conventional pitcher.

Perranoski had now pitched nine innings in the last seven games, appearing in five of them.

Carew was back, having missed two weeks and thirteen games.  His batting picked up right where it left off.

I don't know if McAuliffe quite qualifies as a "Twins killer", but in 1970 he batted .295/.415/.455 against them.  That's pretty good, especially when for the season he batted .234/.358/.345.  The only team against who he did better in 1970 was Milwaukee--.297/.422/.486.  For his career he batted ,267/.348/.453 against the Twins with 23 home runs.  I remember McAuliffe as primarily a singles hitter, but my memory is faulty.  He hit double figure home runs in ten consecutive seasons and hit over twenty three times, with a high of twenty-four in 1964.  He finished with 197 home runs.

The Twins had now taken two of three from Baltimore and two of three from Detroit on their eastern trip.  They next travel to Cleveland for the last leg of their journey.

Record:  The Twins were 16-8, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.

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)
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.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 7

1987 ALCS Champs’ Domecoming

I found this gem shortly after JeffA started his 1987 Rewind. This evening seemed like the appropriate time to share it. I didn't want to detract from Jeff's content, and in any case figured there were enough goodies that this would be worth its own post. Hope you don't mind, Chaps.