Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-five

MINNESOTA 5, DETROIT 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, September 1.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in one.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base (his seventh), scoring twice.  Don Mincher was 0-for-1 with three walks and a run.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on ten hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  Al Worthington pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Ray Oyler was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.  Don Wert was 3-for-5 with a double.  Norm Cash was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.

The game:  Oliva made a successful return to the starting lineup, delivering an RBI double in a three-run first inning.  Earl Battey also singled in a run in that inning.  Oyler's two-run homer in the second made it 3-2, but a run-scoring double play gave the Twins an insurance run in the third.  The Tigers threatened in the third and fourth, putting two men on in both innings, but Perry settled down after that, allowing only three hits in innings five through eight.  The Twins made it 5-2 with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.  Mickey Stanley doubled to lead off the ninth, but Worthington came in to retire the next three batters.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Bob Allison was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run.

Record:  The Twins went to 85-50.  Chicago did not play, so the Twins lead went to eight games.

Notes:  Oliva hit like he had never left the lineup, raising his average to .314...In a low-hitting era, Ray Oyler was the ultimate good field-no hit shortstop.  In six major league seasons, he hit over .200 only once (.207 in 1967).  His career high in OPS was .559 in 1965, which he achieved by hitting five home runs in 194 at-bats.  In 1968 he hit just .135, prompting the Tigers to move Mickey Stanley from the outfield to shortstop for the World Series.  1967 was the only year in which he was truly a regular, but he appeared in over half of his team's games in four of his six seasons and in 71 games in a fifth season.  He was with the Tigers from 1965-68, went to Seattle in the expansion draft in 1969, and finished his major league career with California in 1970, although he played in AAA for two more seasons.  His career numbers are ,175/.258/.251 in 1,265 at-bats.  His .175 average is the lowest of any player with over 1000 at-bats since the dead ball era.  He was, however, considered an excellent defender.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-four

DETROIT 7, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 31.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 3-for-4 with three doubles and a walk, scoring twice.  Bob Allison was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and three RBIs.  Don Mincher was 2-for-4 with a triple and a walk, driving in two.

Pitching star:  Johnny Klippstein pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Bill Freehan was 4-for-5 with a home run (his ninth) and a stolen base (his second), driving in three.  Norm Cash was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer (his twentieth) and two runs.  Jerry Lumpe was 4-for-5 with a run and an RBI.

The game:  The Twins again let one get away at the end.  Allison had an RBI single in a two-run first that put the Twins ahead 2-0.  It was 2-1 after four, but Cash hit a three-run homer in the fifth to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead.  The Twins responded in the bottom of the fifth, as Mincher hit a two-run triple in a three-run inning that gave the Twins a 5-4 advantage.  It was tied 5-5 when Allison hit a home run in the seventh that put the Twins up 6-5.  In the ninth, however, an error and Freehan's two-run homer off Mel Nelson put the Tigers in the lead for good at 7-6.  The Twins got a one-out single in the ninth from Earl Battey but could do nothing with it.

Of note:  Joe Nossek was 0-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Rich Rollins was 2-for-5 with a run.  Battey was 1-for-5 with an RBI.  Mudcat Grant started and pitched well for four innings, but his line was 4.1 innings and four runs on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins dropped to 84-50.  The White Sox dropped a doubleheader to Baltimore, so the Twins lead moved to 7.5 games.

Notes:  Nossek played center field in place of Jimmie Hall...The Twins used six pitchers in the game, a high number for this era.  Grant, Dave Boswell, Dick Stigman, Klippstein, Bill Pleis, and Nelson all pitched...Klippstein had a tremendous year for the Twins, going 9-3, 2.24, 1.18 WHIP in 76.1 innings (56 appearances).  He was near the end of a long career, one which started with the Cubs in 1950.  He never pitched well as a starter, despite which he was allowed to make 161 career starts.  In that role, he was 42-77, 4.85, 1.55 WHIP.  As a reliever he was 59-41, 65 saves, 3.69, 1.40 WHIP, which isn't awesome but is significantly better.  He turned a corner when he went to Philadelphia in 1963 at age 35:  from 1963-66, he was 17-15, 2.37, 1.28.  One thing that helped was that he improved his control:  his walks per nine innings had consistently been in fours and fives, but dropped to the threes after that.

 

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-Three

MINNESOTA 3, DETROIT 2 IN MINNESOTA (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Monday, August 30.

Batting stars:  Don Mincher was 2-for-4 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-1 with a walk.  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-2 with an RBI.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat struck out six in six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk.  Al Worthington struck out six in three shutout innings, giving up three hits.  Johnny Klippstein pitched two perfect innings with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Hank Aguirre pitched 6.1 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) one two hits and five walks with four strikeouts.  Willie Horton was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Bill Freehan was 3-for-4.

The game:  Horton singled in a run in the first to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.  The Twins tied in on Mincher's RBI single in the sixth.  Each team scored once in the seventh to leave the score tied 2-2.  The Tigers got a pair of two-out singles in the ninth and the Twins left two on in the tenth, but there was no more scoring until the eleventh.  Mincher led off with a single and was pinch-run for by Mudcat Grant, who was bunted to second.  Jerry Kindall grounded out, but Valdespino delivered a two-out single to right to end the game.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-5 with an RBI.  Joe Nossek was 0-for-3 with a run.  Rich Rollins was 0-for-5.  Earl Battey was 0-for-4 with a walk.

Record:  The Twins went to 84-49.  Chicago was idle, so the Twins' lead over the White Sox increased to seven games.

Notes:  Nossek started in place of Hall.  Andy Kosco started in right...The first five batters in the Twins' starting lineup went a combined 1-for-21 with two walks...Battey threw out three attempted base stealers--Horton (twice) and Bill Freehan.  Horton had his personal best in base stealing in 1965 with five, but was caught nine times.  He was 20-for-58 in stealing bases for his career.  Freehan stole four bases in 1965, one shy of his career best.  For his career, he was 24-for-45 in stolen bases.  The Tigers did have one successful stolen base in this game.  It was by Jim Northrup, his only steal of the season.  His career high was seven, and his career totals are 39-for-77.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 16

Alex Ferguson (1897)
Parnell Woods (1912)
Creepy Crespi (1918)
Atsushi Aramaki (1926)
Bobby Darwin (1943)
Terry Crowley (1947)
Bob Didier (1949)
Glenn Abbott (1951)
Jerry Hairston (1952)
Barry Foote (1952)
Bill Pecota (1960)
Eric Bullock (1960)
Dwayne Henry (1962)
Jerome Bettis (1972)
Eric Byrnes (1976)
Tommy Milone (1987)

Parnell Woods was an infielder in the Negro Leagues for fourteen years.  He later became the business manager for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Atsushi Aramaki was a dominant pitcher in Japan in the 1950s and is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Better known as an NFL running back, Jerome Bettis is a part-owner of the Altoona Curve and the State College Spikes.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 16 →

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-one

CLEVELAND 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 28.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double.  Bob Allison was 1-for-2 with two walks, scoring once and driving in one.  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched seven innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts.  He actually pitched well for seven innings, but ran into trouble starting the eighth (see below).

Opposition stars:  Rocky Colavito was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-fifth) and a triple, scoring twice and driving in three.  Fred Whitfield was 2-for-3 with a home run (his nineteenth), a double, and a walk.  Chuck Hinton was 1-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch, scoring once and driving in one.

The game:  This is another one that would've really hurt had the race been closer.  Each team scored two in the first, with a triple figuring prominently in each rally. It stayed 2-2 until the fourth, when RBI singles by Allison and Jerry Kindall gave the Twins a 4-2 lead.  Jimmie Hall singled in a run in the fifth to make it 5-2.  As we went to the eighth, the Indians had not scored since the first and had only one threat in that time, when they put men on first and third with two out in the sixth.  In the eighth, however, Perry hit Hinton with a pitch and then gave up back-to-back homers to Colavito and Whitfield, tying the score at five.  In the ninth, with Al Worthington pitching, a walk, a hit batsman, a bunt, and a sacrifice fly put the Indians ahead.  The Twins drew three walks in the bottom of the ninth, giving them the bases loaded with two out, but Earl Battey popped up to end the game.

Of note:  Hall was 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.  Battey was 1-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.

Record:  The loss put the Twins at 83-47.  Chicago defeated Boston 5-3, reducing the Twins' lead to eight games.

Notes:  Battey's average was now .304...Fred Whitfield was having easily the best year of his career.  He hit .293/.316/.513 with twenty-six homers and finished 21st in MVP voting.  He hit twenty-seven homers the next year, but his average fell to .241 and his OBP to .283.  As you can see, he didn't walk much; his career high in walks was also twenty-seven in 1966.  He fell even further in 1967, batting only .218 and losing the first base job to Tony Horton.  He was traded to Cincinnati and ended his career in 1970 in Montreal.  Still, for a guy who was released twice before he even reached the majors, he didn't do too badly.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty

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MINNESOTA 7, CLEVELAND 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 27.

Batting stars:  Mudcat Grant was 2-for-4 with a run and four RBIs.  Earl Battey was 1-for-3 with a double and two walks, driving in one.  Rich Rollins was 2-for-5 with a stolen base (his third), scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching star:  Mudcat Grant pitched a complete game shutout, giving up two hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Leon Wagner was 0-for-2 with two walks.  Fred Whitfield was 1-for-3.  Sam McDowell struck out eight in 6.1 innings but allowed four runs on four hits and five walks.

The game:  Grant delivered a two-out two-run single in the fourth to put the Twins ahead 2-0.  in the seventh, Battey had an RBI single and Bob Allison contributed a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.  Grant delivered another two-run single in the ninth and Rollins also singled in a run to close out the scoring.  The only threat the Indians had was in the fourth, when a single and a walk put men on first and second with none out and Rocky Colavito up.  Colavito hit into a double play and Whitfield flied out to end the inning.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and a run.  Allison was 0-for-4 with an RBI.

Record:  The win made the Twins 83-47.  Chicago split a doubleheader with Boston, so the Twins' lead increased to nine games.

Notes:  The Twins continued to have no trouble scoring runs without Harmon Killebrew or Tony Oliva in the lineup...Jimmie Hall did not start, either, with Joe Nossek playing center field.  Hall was used as a pinch-hitter...Battey raised his average to .305...If you're wondering, the record for most RBIs by a pitcher in a game is nine, set by Henry Staley of the Boston Braves in 1893 and tied by Tony Cloninger of the Atlanta Braves in 1966.  The American League record is seven by Vic Raschi of the Yankees in 1953.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-nine

MINNESOTA 9, NEW YORK 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, August 26.

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer (his twentieth) and two doubles, scoring three times.  Jimmie Hall was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-4 with a walk, scoring twice and driving in one.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on ten hits and no walks with two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Clete Boyer was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth.  Tom Tresh was 3-for-4.  Bobby Richardson was 2-for-4.

The game:  Jerry Kindall singled in a run in the second to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Boyer homered leading off the third to tie it 1-1, but the Twins scored single runs in the third, fourth, and fifth to go ahead 4-1.  Allison hit a two-run homer in the seventh and the Twins scored three in the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Of note:  Sandy Valdespino was 0-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and a run.  Earl Battey was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Record:  The Twins clinched a winning record, going to 82-47.  Chicago lost to Baltimore, so the Twins' lead went up to 8.5 games.

Notes:  No Killebrew, no Oliva, no problem.  Valdespino took Tony O's place in right, Hall batted third, Battey fourth, and Don Mincher fifth...Battey's average went to .304...In addition to pitching a complete game, Kaat went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .240...The Yankees' starting pitcher was Jack Cullen, whom I'd never heard of.  He had made two appearances for them as a September call-up in 1962, but did not get back to the majors until late July of 1965, when he was placed in the Yankees' rotation.  This was the sixth of nine starts he would make.  Four of the first five were very good.  In fact, in the start before this one he threw a three-hit shutout in Baltimore.  This day, though, he would give up three runs on eight hits and two walks in just 3.1 innings.  He bounced back with a complete game 2-1 win over California on August 30, but that would be his last good major league start.  He made two poor starts in September and finished the season in the bullpen.  He started in 1966 in the Yankee bullpen and didn't do badly, but was shipped out in early May, never to return to the big leagues.  He pitched in AAA for the Dodgers and Braves before ending his playing career after the 1970 season.  He went to the same high school as umpire Phil Cuzzi.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-eight

MINNESOTA 5, NEW YORK 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 25.

Batting stars:  Rich Rollins was 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk, scoring once and driving in two.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a home run, his nineteenth.  Joe Nossek was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

Pitching star:  Jim Merritt pitched 8.1 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Elston Howard was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Tom Tresh was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and two runs.  Bill Stafford struck out one in a perfect inning.

The game:  Allison homered in the fourth and Nossek delivered a two-out RBI double in the fifth to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  In the seventh, Tresh homered and Hector Lopez later hit a sacrifice fly to tie it 2-2.  In the bottom of the seventh, Rollins had a two-run triple and Earl Battey a run-scoring double to give the Twins a 5-2 lead.  They needed all those runs, as Howard hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth to cut the margin to 5-4.  Merritt left and Al Worthington came in.  He gave up a two-out double to Clete Boyer but struck out Ray Barker to end the game.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-2 with two walks and a run.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-1.  Battey was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

Record:  The win made the Twins 81-47.  Chicago lost to Baltimore 2-1, once again giving the Twins a 7.5 game lead.

Notes:  Jimmie Hall did not start, with Andy Kosco playing right and Oliva moving to center.  Oliva left the game after the first inning, which he ended with a ground out.  Nossek then came in to play center.  Oliva would miss the next five games, a tough thing for a team already missing Harmon Killebrew...Oliva continued to lead the team in batting at .311.  Battey was at .304...Elston Howard had his worst year as a Yankee in 1965.  He made the all-star team for the ninth consecutive time, but he hit only .233 and had only nine homers with an OPS of .623.  He bounced back some in 1966 but had a terrible year in 1967, getting traded to Boston during the season.  He would play only one more season after that.  He had a pretty good career, though, winning the MVP in 1963 and reaching the top twenty in balloting four other times.  He also won two Gold Gloves.  He was primarily a catcher, but played 265 games in the outfield and 85 at first base.  He passed away in 1980 at the young age of fifty-one.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-seven

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NEW YORK 2, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 24.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his fourteenth) and an RBI.  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-3 with a triple and a run.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks with six strikeouts.  Dick Stigman retired all four batters he faced, striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Mel Stottlemyre pitched a complete game, allowing one run on five hits and one walk with two strikeouts.  Elston Howard was 3-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Tom Tresh was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twentieth.

The game:  The Twins got a man to third base in the first and fourth and the Yankees put a man on third in the third, but there was no score until the sixth.  Valdespino led off the sixth with a triple and scored on an Oliva single to put the Twins on the board with a 1-0 lead.  It looked like the lead might hold up, but in the eighth Mickey Mantle got a two-out single and Tresh followed with a two-run homer.  The Twins put their first two men on in the ninth, but Don Mincher hit into a double play and Rich Rollins popped up to end the game.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-4.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-3 with a walk.  Earl Battey was 0-for-3.

Record:  The Twins dropped to 80-47.  The White Sox beat Baltimore 6-5, so the lead fell to 6.5 games.

Notes:  Oliva raised his average to .312.  Battey fell to .305...Bob Allison was again out of the lineup, with Valdespino taking his place...I don't remember Tom Tresh as a very good hitter, but he was for about five years.  He was Rookie of the Year in 1962 at age twenty-three, was on the all-star team that year and again in 1963, and received all-star votes in both those years and again from 1965-66.  He also won a Gold Glove in 1965.  From 1962-66 he hit .264/.341/.442 with 114 home runs, numbers which are even better when you put them in the context of the 1960s.  In spring training of 1967, however, he suffered a knee injury.  The Yankees told him to play through it, an order that basically destroyed his career.  He fell off rapidly, hitting just .219 in 1967 and .195 in 1968  He was traded to Detroit in 1969 and was out of baseball after that season.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-six

MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 3 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Monday, August 23.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 3-for-5 with a home run (his sixteenth) and two runs.  Earl Battey was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.

Pitching stars:  Mudcat Grant pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts.  Dick Stigman pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk with one strikeout.  Al Worthington struck out two in a scoreless inning despite giving up one hit and two walks.

Opposition stars:  Whitey Ford pitched 8.1 innings, allowing three runs on ten hits and one walk with six strikeouts.  Clete Boyer was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fourteenth), a stolen base (his third), and a walk.  Roger Repoz was 2-for-4 with a run.

The game:  It was close all the way.  Versalles homered in the third to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Each team scored in the sixth, leaving the Twins up 2-1.  Boyer hit a two-out two-run homer in the seventh to give the Yankees their first lead of the game at 3-2.  The Twins had two out in the bottom of the ninth when Tony Oliva delivered an RBI double to tie it 3-3.  The Yankees loaded the bases in the tenth, but did not score.  In the bottom of the tenth, Allison and Don Mincher each walked to put men on first and second with none out.  A strikeout followed, but then Jerry Kindall came through with an RBI single to end the game.

Of note:  Rich Rollins was 1-for-3 with a walk.  Oliva was 1-for-5 with an RBI.

Record:  The win made the Twins 80-46.  The White Sox lost to Baltimore in twelve innings, so Minnesota's lead increased to  7.5 games.

Notes:  Oliva's average went to .310, while Battey went to .308...Roger Repoz was supposed to be "the next Mickey Mantle".  That would be too much for anyone, and it was too much for Repoz.  He spent all or part of nine seasons in the majors,  His career numbers were .224/.314/.390 with 82 home runs.  His career high in homers was eighteen in 1970.  Still, he played in 831 major league games and had 2,145 at-bats, and that's a lot more than a lot of people can say.