Tag Archives: Paul Ratliff

Happy Birthday–January 23

January 23, 2024 Jeff A

Ben Shibe (1838)
Red Donahue (1873)
Bobby Burke (1907)
Sam Jethroe (1917)
Randy Gumpert (1918)
Chico Carrasquel (1926)
Frank Sullivan (1930)
Joe Amalfitano (1934)
Don Nottebart (1936)
Paul Ratliff (1944)
Kurt Bevacqua (1947)
Charlie Spikes (1951)
Alan Embree (1970)
Mark Wohlers (1970)
Erubiel Durazo (1974)
Brandon Duckworth (1976)
Juan Rincon (1979)
Jeff Samardzija (1985)

Ben Shibe was the owner of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 until his death in 1922. Shibe Park was named in his honor.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 23 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 23

January 23, 2023 Jeff A

Ben Shibe (1838)
Red Donahue (1873)
Bobby Burke (1907)
Randy Gumpert (1918)
Chico Carrasquel (1926)
Frank Sullivan (1930)
Joe Amalfitano (1934)
Don Nottebart (1936)
Paul Ratliff (1944)
Kurt Bevacqua (1947)
Charlie Spikes (1951)
Alan Embree (1970)
Mark Wohlers (1970)
Erubiel Durazo (1974)
Brandon Duckworth (1976)
Juan Rincon (1979)
Jeff Samardzija (1985)

Ben Shibe was the owner of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 until his death in 1922. Shibe Park was named in his honor.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 23 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-nine

February 13, 2022 Jeff A 1 Comment

MINNESOTA 3, NEW YORK 1 IN NEW YORK

Date: Saturday, August 29.

Batting star: Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two RBIs.

Pitching stars: Bill Zepp pitched six shutout innings, giving up nine hits and a walk and striking out one. Tom Hall struck out three in 2.1 innings, giving up one run on two hits and no walks.

Opposition stars: Frank Baker was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch. Jim Lyttle was 2-for-4. Thurman Munson was 2-for-5. Roy White was 2-for-5. Mel Stottlemyre pitched a complete game, giving up three runs (one earned) on seven hits and no walks and striking out seven.

The game: Cesar Tovar started the game with a single and went to third when Tony Oliva reached on an error with one out. A sacrifice fly brought home a run and singles by Jim Holt and Ratliff brought home another, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead.

The Yankees got three hits in the bottom of the first, but a double play kept them from taking advantage of them. They loaded the bases in the second on a single, a hit batsman, and a walk, but a line drive double play took them out of that inning. Each team had two on with one out in the fourth and did not score. New York got a pair of singles with two out in the sixth and did not score. So, it remained 2-0 going to the ninth.

Ratliff homered with two out in the top of the ninth to make it 3-0. But the Yankees did not just go away quietly. With one out Ron Woods tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. Munson then singled to bring the tying run to bat with two out. White hit a ball to deep right, but it was just a fly out and the game was over.

WP: Zepp (7-3).

LP: Stottlemyre (12-11).

S: Hall (4).

Notes: Holt was in center, with Tovar in left and Brant Alyea on the bench. Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Bob Allison pinch-hit for Zepp in the seventh. Danny Thompson went to third base in the ninth, replacing Harmon Killebrew.

Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .317. Zepp had an ERA of 2.79. Stan Williams did not give up a run in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 2.04. Hall had an ERA of 2.92.

Allison was 0-for-1 and was batting .197.

The was the first time Ratliff had started since August 10 and the first time he had played an entire game since July 10.

The Twins had only two at-bats with men in scoring position, going 1-for-2. The Yankees had eight at-bats with men in scoring position, but went 0-for-8. They stranded eleven.

Record: The Twins were 76-53, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 23

January 23, 2022 Jeff A

Ben Shibe was the owner of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 until his death in 1922. Shibe Park was named in his honor.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 23 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighteen

October 23, 2021 Jeff A

MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date: Thursday, April 30.

Batting stars: Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4 with a home run (his second) and a double. Brant Alyea was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth. Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourth. Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars: Luis Tiant pitched 5.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk and striking out three. Stan Williams pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk. Ron Perranoski pitched two perfect innings.

Opposition stars: Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-4 with a double. Graig Nettles was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk. Bob Miller pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

The game: The Twins got two singles in the first but did not score. The Indians got on the board in the fourth on Nettles' homer, taking a 1-0 lead. The Twins countered in the bottom of the fourth. Killebrew homered to tie it, Rich Reese singled, and Alyea hit a two-run homer to make it 3-1 Twins. Cardenas homered in the fifth to make it 4-1.

Cleveland threatened in the sixth. Uhlaender led off with a double. He was still on second with two out, but then Tony Horton walked and Roy Foster singled, loading the bases. But Ray Fosse grounded out to end the inning. The Indians again threatened in the eighth when Uhlaender led off with a single and Nettles walked, but they never moved off of first and second. Well, they did once the inning was over, but you know what I mean. Cleveland went out in order in the ninth.

WP: Tiant (4-0).

LP: Steve Hargan (1-2).

S: Perranoski (4).

Notes: Paul Ratliff was again behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Frank Quilici was at second in the continuing absence of Rod Carew. Jim Holt pinch-ran for Alyea in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field. Minnie Mendoza replaced Killebrew in the ninth.

Alyea was batting .415. Ratliff was batting .357. Killebrew was batting .317. Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .316. Tiant had an ERA of 2.79. Williams still had an ERA of zero. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.98.

All three of the Indians designated as "stars" are ex-Twins.

If you were asked "Who led the Twins in homers in the first month of 1970", your default answer would probably be Killebrew. If you were told that was wrong, you'd probably say "Oliva". You might even say "Rich Reese". But unless you're really familiar with the 1970 club, you probably wouldn't say "Brant Alyea". But that's who it was, with five home runs. Those five home runs represent thirteen percent of his career total.

Ratliff was batting nearly two hundred points higher than the Twins' "regular" catcher, Mitterwald. He obviously wouldn't sustain that, but I would assume there were some who thought Ratliff should be the regular catcher. If so, Bill Rigney didn't listen to them, because Ratliff would get just 149 at-bats. This was the only good offensive season Ratliff had, as he batted .268 with an OPS of .806. In fact, not only was it his only good offensive season, it was the only season in which he batted over .200 or had an OPS over .700.

This game closed out a ten-game homestand. The Twins would now go on a nine-game road trip, traveling to Baltimore, Detroit, and Cleveland.

Record: The Twins were 12-6, in first place in the American League West by winning percentage, but tied with California in games.