Tag Archives: Rich Reese

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 29

Dave Orr (1859)
Gus Weyhing (1866)
Harry Steinfeldt (1877)
Paul Giel (1932)
Mike McCormick (1938)
Rich Reese (1941)
Steve Busby (1949)
John McLaren (1951)
Warren Cromartie (1953)
Byron McLaughlin (1955)
Tim Flannery (1957)
Craig Lefferts (1957)
Rob Deer (1960)
Derek Parks (1968)
Jake Westbrook (1977)
Heath Bell (1977)
Joe Thurston (1979)
Jake Reed (1992)
Tyler Mahle (1994)

Dave Orr is considered the greatest nineteenth century slugger of all.  His career was cut short when he suffered a stroke in 1890 at the age of 31.

Outfielder Warren Cromartie was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the January Secondary draft in 1972, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a very happy anniversary to freealonzo's parents.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–September 29 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 29

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Dave Orr (1859)
Gus Weyhing (1866)
Harry Steinfeldt (1877)
Paul Giel (1932)
Mike McCormick (1938)
Rich Reese (1941)
Steve Busby (1949)
John McLaren (1951)
Warren Cromartie (1953)
Byron McLaughlin (1955)
Tim Flannery (1957)
Craig Lefferts (1957)
Rob Deer (1960)
Derek Parks (1968)
Jake Westbrook (1977)
Heath Bell (1977)
Joe Thurston (1979)
Jake Reed (1992)
Tyler Mahle (1994)

Dave Orr is considered the greatest nineteenth century slugger of all.  His career was cut short when he suffered a stroke in 1890 at the age of 31.

Outfielder Warren Cromartie was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the January Secondary draft in 1972, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a very happy anniversary to freealonzo's parents.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–September 29 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Forty-three

MINNESOTA 10, NEW YORK 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 30.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 4-for-5 with a home run (his third), a triple, three runs, and three RBIs.  Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a double.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5 with a double.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-5 with a home run, his sixth.

Pitching star:  Ron Perranoski pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and no walks and striking out none.

Opposition stars:  Danny Cater was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Thurman Munson was 2-for-5 with a double.  Gary Waslewski pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  The Twins took the lead early.  With one out in the first, Carew doubled and scored on an Oliva single.  Oliva was out trying to go to second on the throw home, but Harmon Killebrew walked and Reese hit a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-0.  The Yankees loaded the bases in the second but did not score.  With two out in the third, Killebrew singled and scored on a Reese triple.  Jim Holt followed with a single to make it 5-0 Twins.

But of course, against the Yankees, it couldn't be that easy.  In the fourth, Cater doubled, went to third on Munson's single, and scored on a ground out to make it 5-1.  In the fifth, Bobby Murcer singled, went to third on Roy White's double, and scored on a ground out to cut the lead to 5-2.  In the seventh, Gene Michael singled, Jim Lyttle walked, and two-out walks to Jerry Kenney and Murcer made it 5-3.  In the seventh Cater singled, Munson doubled, Ron Woods delivered a two-run single to tie it 5-5.  With two out, John Ellis singled and Woods scored from first to give New York the lead at 6-5.

But the Twins came back in the bottom of the seventh.  Tovar led off with a home run to tie the score.  With one out Oliva doubled, Killebrew was intentionally walked, and Rich Reese reached on an error, loading the bases.  Then came consecutive singles by Rick Renick, Leo Cardenas, and Ratliff, scoring four runs and giving the Twins a 10-6 advantage.  New York did not get a baserunner after that.

WP:  Perranoski (4-2).

LP:  Steve Hamilton (3-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.

Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the seventh and stayed in the game in left field.  Frank Quilici replaced Killebrew at third base in the ninth.

Carew was batting .394.  Oliva was batting .333.  Renick was 1-for-2 and was batting .333.  Killebrew was 1-for-2 and was batting .324.  Ratliff was batting .300.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.89.

Dick Woodson allowed two runs in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 10.80.

Bill Zepp started and pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out two.  He would go back to the bullpen after this start, rejoining the rotation on July 6.

Stan Bahnsen started for the Yankees.  He pitched three innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk and struck out none.

Bill Rigney replaced Killebrew with Quilici a lot, which of course is a perfectly understandable move.  It's interesting, though, that I don't think he has yet replaced him until Killebrew was unlikely to get another at-bat, no matter how big the Twins' lead was.  In this game, for example, the Twins took a 10-6 lead in the seventh.  But with Killebrew likely to bat in the eighth, Rigney left him at third, and did not make the defensive move until the ninth.

Reese was 7-for-12 in the last three games he started.  He raised his average from .225 to .258.

Record:  The Twins were 30-13, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Thirty

MINNESOTA 5, KANSAS CITY 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, May 14.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3.  Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4 with a double.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Luis Tiant pitched four innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks and striking out three.  Tom Hall struck out seven in five shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Joe Keough was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Pat Kelly was 2-for-4.  Jim Rooker pitched five shutout innings of relief, giving up five hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the first.  Cesar Tovar singled, stole second, and scored on a Tony Oliva single.  Harmon Killebrew walked, moving Oliva to second, and Reese had an RBI single to make it 2-0 Twins.

The Royals had two on with one out in the second, and the Twins had two on with one out in the third, but it stayed 2-0 until the fourth.  Bob Oliver singled and scored on Keough's triple.  Paul Schaal followed with a sacrifice fly, and that quickly the game was tied 2-2.  But the Twins came right back in the bottom of the fourth.  Jim Holt and Cardenas led off with singles and Ratliff hit an RBI double to give Minnesota the lead.  The next two batters went out, but Carew came through with a two-run single to put the Twins in front 5-2.

And that's where it stayed.  The Twins put two on with one out in the fifth and again in the eighth, but could not add to their lead.  The Royals only had two baserunners after the fourth and only got one to second base.

WP:  Hall (1-1).

LP:  Dave Morehead (1-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Alyea and Mitterwald may have had minor injuries or illnesses, as they each missed a few consecutive games.

Charlie Manuel was going to pinch-hit for Tiant, but when Kansas City changed pitchers Rick Renick replaced him.

Carew was batting .389.  Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .331.  Killebrew was 0-for-2 and was batting .327.  Tiant had an ERA of 2.96.

Holt was 1-for-4 and was batting .152.

Morehead started for the Royals and pitched three innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out three.

Hall, who had pitched only twice between April 25 and May 9, had now pitched in three of four games, pitching a total of nine innings.  He had pitched 2.2 innings just two days earlier.

I wonder when the last time is each team had a relief pitcher pitch five shutout innings.  For that matter, I wonder when the last time is each team had a relief pitcher pitch five innings.

Carew was now 9-for-14 over the last three games.  Reese was 6-for-15 over the last four games.  Since April 22 he had raised his average from .148 to .239.

This was a makeup game from April 13, which had been snowed out.  The attendance was 2121.

Record:  The Twins were 20-10, in second place in the American League West, a half game behind California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Twenty-nine

MINNESOTA 5, BALTIMORE 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, May 13.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 4-for-5 with two runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and a walk.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Bill Zepp pitched three perfect innings.  Ron Perranoski pitched three shutout innings, giving up three hits and walking four.

Opposition stars:  Dou Buford was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.  Boog Powell was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Paul Blair was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Brooks Robinson was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Frank Robinson was 2-for-5.

The game:  Each team scored two in the first.  For the Orioles, Mark Belanger walked, Frank Robinson singled, and Paul Blair hit a two-out two-run double.  For the Twins, Carew singled and Killebrew hit a two-out two-run homer.

Baltimore had a man on second in the third and again in the fourth but did not score.  They broke through in the fifth, though.  Buford and Belanger opened the inning with singles.  Frank Robinson followed with a single-plus-error, bringing home one run, and Powell had an RBI single to make it 4-2 Orioles.  The Twins came back in the sixth.  Singles by Carew and Killebrew and a walk to Rich Reese loaded the bases with one out.  A force out scored one run and Leo Cardenas had an RBI single to tie it.  The Twins missed a chance to take the lead when Jim Holt was thrown out trying to go from first to third on the hit.

Baltimore opened the eighth with two singles, but a line drive double play ended the threat.  They had a pair of two-out walks in the ninth and did not score.  In the tenth Powell walked, Brooks Robinson hit a one-out double, and Dave Johnson was intentionally walked, loading the bases.  Andy Etchebarren hit into a double play to end the inning.

The Twins had not gotten a man past first base since the sixth.  In the tenth, however, Cesar Tovar walked, Tony Oliva hit a one-out double, and Killebrew was intentionally walked, loading the bases.  Up to then, the Twins' tenth went exactly like the Orioles tenth.  The difference was that instead of hitting into a double play, Reese hit a double, bringing in the deciding run.

WP:  Perranoski (2-1).

LP:  Ed Watt (1-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Paul Ratliff caught in place of George Mitterwald.

Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Zepp in the seventh, with Dave Boswell pinch-running for Manuel.

Carew was batting .368.  Killebrew was batting .333.  Oliva was batting .331.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.08.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.75.

Holt was 0-for-4 and was batting .138.

Jim Kaat started and pitched four innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out two.  Baltimore starter Jim Palmer pitched 5.1 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and two walks and striking out four.

Each team turned three double plays.  For each team, one of them was a line drive double play.

Carew was 6-for-10.  Spoiler alert:  he would go on a tear for the next week or so.  We'll keep track of it.

Reese was 7-for-18, raising his average from .182 to .226.

I mentioned this once before, but Zepp was a key pitcher for the 1970 Twins.  He's pretty much forgotten now, because the Twins traded him after the season and because this was the only good year he had, but this was one of several games in which he was instrumental in the victory.

This was Perranoski's thirteenth appearance.  He pitched more than one inning in ten of them; exactly two innings in six of them; and more than two innings in three of them.

Record:  The Twins were 19-10, in second place in the American League West, one game behind California.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 29

Dave Orr (1859)
Gus Weyhing (1866)
Harry Steinfeldt (1877)
Paul Giel (1932)
Mike McCormick (1938)
Rich Reese (1941)
Steve Busby (1949)
John McLaren (1951)
Warren Cromartie (1953)
Byron McLaughlin (1955)
Tim Flannery (1957)
Craig Lefferts (1957)
Rob Deer (1960)
Derek Parks (1968)
Jake Westbrook (1977)
Heath Bell (1977)
Joe Thurston (1979)
Jake Reed (1992)

Dave Orr is considered the greatest nineteenth century slugger of all.  His career was cut short when he suffered a stroke in 1890 at the age of 31.

Outfielder Warren Cromartie was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the January Secondary draft in 1972, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–September 29 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 29

Dave Orr (1859)
Gus Weyhing (1866)
Harry Steinfeldt (1877)
Paul Giel (1932)
Mike McCormick (1938)
Rich Reese (1941)
Steve Busby (1949)
John McLaren (1951)
Warren Cromartie (1953)
Byron McLaughlin (1955)
Tim Flannery (1957)
Craig Lefferts (1957)
Rob Deer (1960)
Derek Parks (1968)
Jake Westbrook (1977)
Heath Bell (1977)
Joe Thurston (1979)

Dave Orr is considered the greatest nineteenth century slugger of all.  His career was cut short when he suffered a stroke in 1890 at the age of 31.

Outfielder Warren Cromartie was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the January Secondary draft in 1972, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–September 29 →

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1971, Game Sixty-five

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MINNESOTA 4, CHICAGO 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 18.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base, his fourth.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched two perfect innings.

Opposition stars:  Carlos May was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Lee Richard was 2-for-4.  Lee Maye was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.  Terry Forster struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Bart Johnson pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  Perry gave a foreshadowing of Brad Radke, giving up two runs in the first inning when Richard reached on an error and Maye homered.  The Twins put men on second and third with none out in the first inning but did not score.  Cardenas got them on the board in the second, leading off the inning with a home run to make the score 2-1 Chicago.

It stayed 2-1 until the fourth.  Cardenas reached on an error and Jim Holt singled, putting men on first and third with none down.  With one out, Perry laid down a squeeze bunt to tie the score.  Cesar Tovar then put the Twins ahead with an RBI double and Carew provided an insurance run with a run-scoring single, making the score 4-2 Minnesota.

The White Sox came back in the sixth.  With two out May tripled and scored on Jay Johnstone's double.  The tying run was in scoring position, and a Tom Egan walk put the go-ahead run on base, but Mike Andrews fouled to the catcher to end the threat.  Chicago got only one hit after that and did not advance a man past first base.

WP:  Perry (10-5).  LP:  Tom Bradley (6-6).  S:  Perranoski (4).

Notes:  Harmon Killebrew was at third base in this game, with Rich Reese at first.  That happened quite often, but Killebrew was more often at first base, with Steve Braun generally manning third.

Oliva was leading the team in batting at .381.  He would finish at .337.  This was the year Oliva suffered the knee injury that would curtail his career.  He was only thirty-two--one can only imagine what he might have done otherwise.

Tovar was also above .300, at .308.  He would finish at .311.

Carew was batting just .239 at this point in the season.  It would be interesting to know what was written about that at the time.  He would get straightened out, and would finish at .307.

Reese was batting just .173 at this point, which may be why Killebrew was spending more time at first base.  Reese would finish at just .219 with a .623 OPS.  He'd had an outstanding year in 1969, a decent year in 1970, but then was pretty much done.

Perry had a down year, although he was not awful by any means:  17-17, 4.23, 1.35 WHIP.  The Twins had two fine starters in Bert Blyleven (16-15, 2.81) and Jim Kaat (13-14, 3.32), but struggled to find a fourth.  Steve Luebber was awful and Ray Corbin was not very good.  Tom Hall was the best of the bunch, but the Twins thought he was more valuable in the bullpen.

They may have been right, because Perranoski, who had been excellent for the Twins from 1968-1970, struggled mightily in 1971.  He was 1-4, 6.75, 2.06 WHIP before being waived in July.  He never had a good season again.  He was thirty-five at this point, and apparently all those seasons of over 100 relief innings finally took their toll.

Tom Bradley started for the White Sox.  He pitched 3.2 innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.  He wasn't a great pitcher, but he had two excellent years (1971-1972) with the Sox and one good year (1973) for the Giants.  He threw 764.2 innings in those three years, which may be why he was done at age twenty-seven.

At least I kind of remembered that there had been a pitcher named Tom Bradley.  I have no memory whatsoever of Lee Richard.  It's understandable, because this is the only season he got a decent amount of playing time.  An infielder, he had 260 at-bats and batted .231 with an OPS of .590.  Presumably he was a good fielder.  And to be fair, he was only twenty-two, so Chicago probably assumed he would improve.  He didn't.  He played in parts of four more seasons, but was never more than a futility infielder.  For his career he batted .209/.259/.270 in 535 plate appearances.  I've quoted this line before, but as some old scout said about the five tools, none of the others mean much if you can't hit.

This was the fifth game of a six-game winning streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 33-32, in third place in the American League West, 10 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 74-86, in fifth place, 26.5 games behind Oakland.

The White Sox were 22-37, in sixth (last) place in the American League West, 18 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 79-83, in third place, 22.5 games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Twins are 30-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1968, Game One Hundred Four

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DETROIT 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 2.

Batting stars:  Ron Clark was 3-for-4 with a home run.  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a double.  Ted Uhlaender was 3-for-5 with two doubles.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer (his third) and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Al Worthington pitched 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up only a walk and striking out two.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Don McMahon pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up four hits and striking out three.  Bill Freehan was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Dick McAuliffe was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Tigers jumped on Twins starter Jim Merritt early.  McAuliffe led off with a single and Mickey Stanley walked.  With one out, Willie Horton walked to load the bases.  Freehan then doubled in two runs, Jim Northrup hit a sacrifice fly, and Don Wert delivered an RBI single.  It was 4-0 Detroit before the Twins even came up to bat.

The Twins tried to battle back.  They threatened in the first, when uhlaender hit a two-out double, and in the second, when Carew hit a one-out double and Frank Quilici walked.  Clark then singled, but apparently Carew rounded third too far and was thrown out, taking them out of the inning.

The Twins finally broke through in the third.  Reese hit a one-out single, Uhlaender doubled, and Bob Allison walked, loading the bases.  John Roseboro hit a sacrifice fly and Carew had an RBI single, cutting the margin to 4-2.  They took the lead in the fourth.  Clark led off with a home run.  With one out, Tovar singled and Reese hit a two-run homer to put the Twins up 5-4.

It wouldn't last.  The first two Tigers went out in the fifth.  Then came consecutive singles by Stanley, Al Kaline, Horton, and Freehan, resulting in two runs and a 6-5 advantage for the Tigers.

The Twins had consecutive singles to open the fifth, but nothing came of it.  They did not get a man past first base after that, and the score remained 6-5.

WP:  McMahon (3-1).  LP:  Bob Miller (0-2).  S:  Daryl Patterson (5).

Notes:  Tovar was in right field in place of Tony Oliva, who was out for about ten days, presumably with an injury.  Reese was at first base in place of Harmon Killebrew, who you may remember was injured in the all-star game.  Frank Quilici was at third base.  Clark was at shortstop.

Merritt was the starter for the Twins, but he lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks.  He struck out one.  The Detroit starter was Joe Sparma.  He lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out one.  Mickey Lolich was used in relief, one of seven times he relived for the Tigers in 1968.  The Tigers really didn't have a closer that year--I guess with a rotation of Denny McLain, Earl Wilson, Lolich, and Sparma, they really didn't need one.  Patterson was tied with Pat Dobson for the team lead with seven.

Clark's home run was the only one he would hit in 1968.  He would hit five in his career.

Reese did not have much power early in his career.  He would hit four home runs in 1968, the same amount he had hit in 1967 in about a third as many at-bats.  He would set his career high, 16, the following year of 1969.

Of the players in the starting lineup this day, Uhlaender led the team in batting (at this point of the season) at .299.  Carew was second at .296.

Record:  At this point of the season, the Twins were 49-55, in seventh place in the American League, sixteen games behind first-place Detroit.  The Tigers would go on to win the American League pennant.  The Twins would finish 79-83 and in seventh place.