Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 6

Frank LaPorte (1880)
Babe Ruth (1895)
Jake Levy (1900)
Glenn Wright (1901)
Dale Long (1926)
Smoky Burgess (1927)
Augie Garrido (1939)
Richie Zisk (1949)
Larry Young (1954)
Bob Wickman (1969)
Chad Allen (1975)

Pitcher Jake Levy had a minor league career that started in 1921 and lasted until 1945.  He played under a variety of names, making it difficult to determine his true record, but he won at least two hundred games.  He was also a good hitter, and early in his career played in the field when he was not pitching.

Augie Garrido is the baseball coach at the University of Texas and has the most coaching wins of anyone in Division I.

Larry Young was a major league umpire from 1983-2007.

You may have heard of that "Babe Ruth" fellow.

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Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-two

CALIFORNIA 3, MINNESOTA 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Friday, August 20 (Game 1 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base (his thirteenth), scoring once.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in one.  Jerry Kindall was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched six innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and no walks with one strikeout.  Al Worthington pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Albie Pearson was 4-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.  Joe Adcock was 2-for-3 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Jack Sanford pitched six innings, allowing one run on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

The game:  Each team threatened in the first, but there was no scoring until the fourth, when Adcock hit a two-run homer to put the Angels up 2-0.  The Twins got one back in the sixth when Oliva scored from first on a Hall double, but that was as close as the Twins would come.  Hall reached third with one out but was stranded, and in the seventh Pearson singled home an insurance run to make it 3-1.  The Twins threatened in the ninth, getting two out singles from Andy Kosco and Zoilo Versalles, but Sandy Valdespino flied out to end the game.

Of note:  Versalles was 2-for-5.  Valdespino was 0-for-5.  Earl Battey was 0-for-4.

Record:  The loss made the Twins 77-45.  The White Sox defeated Kansas City 3-1, so they continued to trail the Twins by 7.5 games.

Notes:  Oliva took over the team batting lead at .312.  Battey fell to .308.  Hall came back to an even .300...This was the second consecutive doubleheader the Twins had...Valdespino played left in place of Bob Allison...If people remember Albie Pearson at all, it's usually for his size (5'5", 140 lbs.).  He had a solid career, though.  He was the Rookie of the Year for the Senators in 1958.  He was traded to Baltimore in May of 1959 for original Twin Lenny Green, then was selected by the Angels in the expansion draft after the 1960 season.  He had three really good years for them, batting .288 in 1961, leading the league in runs scored in 1962, and batting .304 in 1963.  He made his only all-star appearance that year and received minor consideration for Most Valuable Player.  Unfortunately, back problems, which had bothered him in 1959-60, came back after that.  1965 would be his last good season.  After baseball, he became an ordained minister, established churches and orphanages in Ecuador and Zambia, and also has founded a home for abused, neglected, and abandoned boys in California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 5

Bill Rariden (1888)
Max Flack (1890)
Roger Peckinpaugh (1891)
Joan Payson (1903)
Jack Murphy (1923)
Don Hoak (1928)
Al Worthington (1929)
Hank Aaron (1934)
Norm Miller (1946)
Mike Heath (1955)
Roberto Alomar (1968)
Eric O'Flaherty (1985)
Mark Hamburger (1987)

Joan Payson was the original owner of the New York Mets.

Jack Murphy was a longtime sportswriter in San Diego who helped bring the Padres to the city.  The baseball stadium was named in his honor for many years until the naming rights were sold.

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Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-one

MINNESOTA 2, DETROIT 1 IN DETROIT

Date:  Thursday, August 19 (Game 2 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 3-for-4 with a triple and a double, scoring twice.  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-1 with an RBI.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game, giving up one run on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Mickey Lolich struck out thirteen in seven innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks.  Norm Cash was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.  Jerry Lumpe was 2-for-4.

The game:  With one out in the third, Versalles tripled and scored on Jerry Kindall's squeeze bunt to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The lead held until the seventh, when Cash doubled and scored on a two-out single by Jake Wood.  In the eighth, Versalles doubled and scored on a pinch-hit single by Valdespino to put the Twins back in front 2-1.  The Tigers got the tying run to second with one out in the eighth, but that was as close as they would come.

Of note:  Kindall was 0-for-2 with an RBI.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4.  Andy Kosco was 0-for-3.

Record:  The doubleheader sweep gave the Twins a record of 77-44.  The Tigers dropped to third, with Chicago moving up into second, 8.5 games back.

Of note:  Kosco played right, with Oliva moving to center.  Jimmie Hall was rested, although he was used as a pinch-hitter...Earl Battey was also rested, with Jerry Zimmerman catching...Oliva's average dropped to .310...I wonder when the last time is a team got complete games in both ends of a doubleheader.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty

MINNESOTA 8, DETROIT 3 IN DETROIT

Date:  Thursday, August 19 (Game 1 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Don Mincher was 1-for-3 with a home run (his seventeenth) and a walk, driving in four.  Sandy Valdespino was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice.  Earl Battey was 1-for-3 with a double and two walks, scoring once and driving in one.

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

Opposition stars:  Julio Navarro struck out four in 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, allowing one hit and one walk.  Don Demeter was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifteenth.  Norm Cash was 1-for-3 with a home run, his seventeenth.

The game:  An RBI single by Tony Oliva and a run-scoring double by Battey put the Twins ahead 2-0 in the first.  In the third the Twins had back-to-back homers, a three-run shot by Mincher followed by a round-tripper by Rich Rollins to go up 6-0.  The Tigers never got closer than five runs after that.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-5.  Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.

Record:  The win made the Twins 76-44 and increased their lead over second-place Detroit to eight games.

Notes:  Valdespino played left in place of Bob Allison...Demeter replaced Al Kaline, who was removed in the first inning, apparently injured chasing down Battey's run-scoring double.  He would miss the rest of the month...Oliva tied Battey for the team batting lead, both at .313.  Hall fell below .300 at .299.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Nineteen

DETROIT 7, MINNESOTA 4 IN DETROIT

Date:  Tuesday, August 17.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs.  Earl Battey was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch, scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching stars:  Mel Nelson struck out two in two perfect innings.  Johnny Klippstein pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and one walk.

Opposition stars:  Willie Horton was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth) and four RBIs.  Hank Aguirre struck out seven in 7.2 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits and a walk.  Al Kaline was 2-for-2 with a home run (his eighteenth) and a walk.

The game:  Don Wert and Kaline each hit a solo homer in the third to put the Tigers up 2-0.  Horton homered in the fourth to make it 3-0.  In the fifth, Kaline had an RBI single and Horton hit a three-run homer to put the Tigers up 7-0.  The Twins made somewhat of a late comeback, scoring three in the eighth and one in the ninth, but did not get the tying run up to bat.

Of note:  Joe Nossek was 0-for-3.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.

Record:  The Twins dropped to 75-44.  Detroit moved into sole possession of second place, seven games back.

Notes:  Battey raised his average to .312.  Oliva went to .310.  Hall was 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter and had his average at an even .300...Andy Kosco played right field, with Oliva moving to center.  Nossek was at third base.  Oliva played forty-two games of center field in his career, ten of them in 1965.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 2

Orval Overall (1881)
George Halas (1895)
Willie Kamm (1900)
Wes Ferrell (1908)
Red Schoendienst (1923)
George Toma (1929)
Don Buford (1937)
Max Alvis (1938)
Dale Murray (1950)
John Tudor (1954)
Pat Tabler (1958)
Buddy Biancalana (1960)
Scott Erickson (1968)
Melvin Mora (1972)
Adam Everett (1977)
Ronny Cedeno (1983)

Logan Darnell (1989)

Better known as a football coach, George Halas was an outfielder and played in 12 games for the Yankees in 1919.

Groundskeeper George Toma is a charter member of the Groundskeepers' Hall of Fame.  It is to be hoped that he will eventually be a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as well.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to meat and to Mama SoCal.

 Right-hander Scott Gavin Erickson pitched for the Twins from 1990-1995.  Born in Long Beach, California, he attended high school in Cupertino, California and then went to the University of Arizona.  He was drafted by the Twins in the fourth round in 1989.  Erickson pitched very well in the minors, but did not stay there long, making his major league debut in June of 1990.  He was apparently ready, as he went 8-4, 2.87 in seventeen starts at age 22.  The next year was the best of his career:  he was 20-7, 3.18, made the all-star team, finished second in Cy Young voting, and was seventeenth in MVP balloting.  He also began to experience some arm trouble, a problem that would plague him the rest of his career.  He had another solid year in 1992, but then his effectiveness as a Twin was pretty much over.  Erickson had back-to-back seasons with an ERA over five, leading the league in losses in 1993.  His ERA was again over five in July of 1995 when he was traded to Baltimore for Scott Klingenbeck and a player to be named later (Kimera Bartee).  He struggled at first as an Oriole but then got things back together, going 16-7, 3.69 in 1997.  In 1998, Erickson led the league in starts, complete games, and innings pitched.  He was still decent in 1999, but after that seven years of pitching over 200 innings (plus another when he pitched 196) finally took their toll.  He struggled through an injury-plagued 2000 campaign, going 5-8 in the three months that he was healthy enough to pitch.  Erickson missed all of 2001 due to injury, tried to comeback in 2002 and didn't pitch well, and missed all of 2003 due to injury.  He then struggled through three more years, pitching for the Mets and Rangers in 2004, the Dodgers in 2005, and the Yankees in 2006.  He also was in the minors for part of each of those seasons before finally calling it a career.  He attempted a comeback in 2008, but after pitching in Mexico decided he could not pitch well enough to continue.  As a Twin, Scott Erickson was 61-60, 4.22 in 153 starts and nearly a thousand innings.  He had his ups and downs, but at his best he was a very good pitcher.  He is a member of the University of Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.  Scott Erickson is currently the owner of a movie production company called HomeTeam Productions.  He was the pitching coach of the Carolina Mudcats (Cleveland, A) in 2012 and was the pitching coach of the AZL Indians in 2013.  He has gotten involved with real estate development with the Diamante Golf Club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  Further, he is the president of MLM, short for majorleaguemechanics.com, which offers professional pitching instruction.  We don't know how successful any of these ventures have been, but he certainly shouldn't lack for things to do.

Shortstop Jeffrey Adam Everett played for Minnesota in 2008.  He was born in Austell, Georgia, and attended high school in Kenesaw, Georgia.  He attended both North Carolina State and South Carolina, and was drafted by Boston with the 12th pick of the 1998 draft.  He was in the Red Sox' chain for two years and did fairly well, but was traded to Houston after the 1999 season as part of a package for Carl Everett.  He spent parts of the next four years at AAA New Orleans, where he established a reputation as an excellent fielder.  He got brief trials with the Astros in 2001 and 2002, but was called up in May of 2003 and quickly become Houston's regular shortstop from that point on.  His best year at bat was 2004, when he hit .273, but his strength was always as a fielder, not as a batter.  Everett was injured in mid-June of 2007 and missed almost all the rest of the season.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota.  He suffered through an injury-plagued season, playing only 48 games and batting just .213/.278/.323.  A free agent again after the 2008 campaign, he signed with Detroit for 2009.  He was their mostly-regular shortstop and played about the way he has played for most of his career, batting .228 but providing good defense.  It wasn’t good enough, however, as the Tigers released him in mid-June of 2010.  Out of baseball the rest of the season, he has signed with Cleveland for 2011.  He again made it through June and was released, bringing his playing career to an end.  After his retirement, Adam Everett worked for the Cleveland Indians, first as a special assistant for baseball operations and later as minor league infield coordinator.  In 2014, he moved to the Houston Astros.  He was a roving minor league infield instructor that year and became their bench coach for 2015.

Left-hander Logan Reece Darnell appeared in seven games for the Twins in 2014.  He was born in Nashville, went to high school in Madison, Tennessee, attended the University of Kentucky, and was drafted by Minnesota in the sixth round in 2010.  He was promoted to AA in 2011 despite not having been all that impressive at lower levels.  Not surprisingly, it took him a while to have success there.  He did well there in 2013, though, and was promoted to Rochester by mid-season.  He had a solid 2014 in Rochester and made seven appearances in the big leagues, getting a couple of brief callups during the season and another in September.  He pitched well in three relief appearances but not well at all in four starts.  Perhaps coincidentally, he moved to the bullpen in Rochester in 2015 and had another solid season, but was not called up to the Twins.  Recently, he was taken off the forty-man roster, but cleared waivers and was outrighted to Rochester.  He turns twenty-seven today.  Stardom does not appear to be in his future, but you never know with relievers, especially left-handed ones.  There's still a chance that Logan Darnell may play an important role in a big-league bullpen at some point.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Eighteen

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CLEVELAND 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN CLEVELAND (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, August 15 (Game 2 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Rich Rollins was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.  Jerry Kindall was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.

Pitching star:  Dick Stigman pitched seven innings, giving up one run an five hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Rocky Colavito was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-third) and a double.  Larry Brown was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice.  Leon Wagner was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer, his twenty-second.

The game:  Had the pennant race been closer, this one would've really hurt.  Don Mincher singled in a run in the first and the Twins scored again in the second to go up 2-0.  Colavito homered in the bottom of the second to make it 2-1, which is where the score stayed through six.  Oliva singled in a run in the seventh to make it 3-1, which was the score going to the bottom of the ninth.  With two out in the ninth, Brown singled and Max Alvis hit a pinch-hit two-run homer to tie it at three and send the game to extra innings.  Kindall homered in the eleventh to make it 4-3 and it looked like all's well that ends well.  In the bottom of the eleventh, however, Chico Salmon singled and Brown doubled to put men on second and third with none out.  A balk was called on Bill Pleis to tie the score, and Wagner hit a pinch-hit two-run homer to win the game for Cleveland.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-5 with a double.  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-5 with a double and a run.  Don Mincher was 1-for-5 with an RBI.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4.

Record:  The loss made the Twins 75-43.  Detroit won the second game of its doubleheader, so the Tigers and Indians were now tied for second, eight games back.

Notes:  Oliva took over the team batting lead at .310.  Earl Battey was used as a pinch-hitter and dropped to .309.  Hall fell to an even .300...In addition to Jerry Zimmerman playing in place of Battey, Valdespino started in left in place of Bob Allison.  Allison was also used as a pinch-hitter...The Indians used two former Twins as relief pitchers, Lee Stange and Jack Kralick...It has to be pretty unusual for a team to hit a two-run homer to tie the game in the ninth and then hit another two-run homer to win the game in extra innings.  It has to be even more unusual for both home run hitters to be pinch-hitters.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Seventeen

MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 3 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Sunday, August 15 (Game 1 of doubleheader).

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

Pitching star:  Mudcat Grant pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Luis Tiant pitched eight innings, allowing one run on three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.  Leon Wagner was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twenty-first) and a walk.  Vic Davalillo was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run.

The game:  With one out in the second, Hall doubled and scored on an Earl Battey single to put the Twins ahead 1-0.  That was it for the scoring until the ninth inning.  In fact, from the third through the eighth, each team managed only one hit, each a single.  In the ninth, however, Zoilo Versalles and Valdespino greeted reliever Bobby Tiefenauer with singles, and with one out Mincher delivered a two-run double.  Hall had an RBI single off Don McMahon to make it 4-0.  The Twins would need every one of those runs, because the Indians opened the ninth with a walk and a Wagner's two-run homer.  That brought in Al Worthington, who promptly gave up a double to Rocky Colavito.  He retired the next two batters, but Chuck Hinton's pinch-hit RBI single made it 4-3.  Pedro Gonzalez came up representing the winning run, but he popped up to short to end the game.

Of note:  Versalles was 1-for-4 with a run.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4.  Battey was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Record:  The win made the Twins 75-42 and increased their lead over Cleveland to nine games.  The Indians were now in a tie for second with Detroit, which won the first game of a doubleheader with California and was also nine games back.

Notes:  Battey raised his average to .311.  Oliva dropped to .306.  Hall pushed his average back over the .300 mark at .301...Another forgotten star from the 1960s is Leon Wagner.  He started his career with the Giants in 1958 but did not become a regular until he went to the Angels in 1961.  He was an all-star for the Angels in 1962 and 1963 and finished fourth in MVP voting in 1962, when he hit 37 home runs.  He also received MVP consideration in 1963, 1964, and 1966.  The year in-between, 1965, was arguably his best year, as he set career highs in batting average (.294) and on-base percentage (.369) and also hit 28 homers.  The Angels traded him after the 1963 season for Barry Latman and a fading Joe Adcock--either he got crosswise with management somehow or the Angels just made a really dumb trade.  He appeared in a couple of movies in the 1970s and later owned a clothing store, but eventually fell on hard times.  He was living in an abandoned electrical shed next to a dumpster in Los Angeles when he passed away in 2004.

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixteen

CLEVELAND 3, MINNESOTA 1 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Saturday, August 14.

Batting stars:  Andy Kosco was 1-for-4 with a home run.  Bob Allison was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts.  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Sam McDowell pitched a complete game, allowing one run on three hits and two walks with eleven strikeouts.  Chuck Hinton was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth) and a double.  Larry Brown was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.

The game:  Kosco homered leading off the second to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Allison followed with a double, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple.  The Twins would get only one hit the rest of the game, a two-out single by Joe Nossek in the sixth.  The lead held until the fifth, when Brown hit a two-run homer and Hinton had a solo homer later in the inning.  That was it for scoring.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.  Rich Rollins was 0-for-4.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-1.  Earl Battey was 0-for-3.

Record:  The loss dropped the Twins to 74-42.  Baltimore lost to Washington 8-5 in eleven innings, so Cleveland moved into second place, eight games behind Minnesota.

Notes:  Oliva batted in the first inning, grounded out, and was immediately replaced by Nossek.  One wonders if that caused some panic among Twins fans, as the lineup was already missing Harmon Killebrew.  Oliva would be back in the lineup the next day...This was the first major league start for Kosco, who had made his major league debut the previous day.  He was immediately put in the fourth spot in the lineup and, as shown above, homered.  It was his only home run of the season in fifty-five at-bats.  He would hit seventy-three in his career, with a high of nineteen for the Dodgers in 1969...Battey had his average drop to .310.  Oliva was now at .309...Another largely forgotten player, Chuck Hinton was pretty good.  He made the all-star team in 1964 and was mentioned on a couple of MVP ballots in 1962.  Primarily an outfielder, he played from 1961-71, although his last year as a regular was 1967.  He hit .264 for his career, which for a career played mostly in the 1960s is not bad at all.  He hit 113 home runs, with a high of eighteen in 1965...For some reason, when great pitchers of the 1960s are mentioned, Sudden Sam McDowell is at best an "Oh, yeah, him, too."  The fact that he spent most of his career with Cleveland and never appeared in the post-season probably has something to do with that.  Like Bert Blyleven, he had high strikeout totals and low ERAs but not high win totals.  He won twenty games only once, in 1970.  Not coincidentally, that was the only time he received significant Cy Young consideration, although it was not his best season.  He was a six-time all-star and led the league in strikeouts six times (topping 300 twice).  He also led in ERA once (1965) and in innings once (305 in 1970).  He had an ERA under three six times, with his best coming in 1968 (1.81).  He also led the league in walks five times, leading one to believe he must have thrown a huge number of pitches.