Tag Archives: Tom Edens

Happy Birthday–June 9

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year, which was a reprint from the year before, which was a reprint from the year before that, which has not been updated.  That means we have not yet done a biography for John Andreoli or Tony Wolters.  Sorry about that, guys.  Maybe next year.

Dude Esterbrook (1857)
Irish Meusel (1893)
Mike Ryba (1903)
Frank McCormick (1911)
Jimmy Newberry (1922)
Roy Smalley (1926)
Bill Virdon (1931)
Howie Gershberg (1936)
Jake Jacobs (1937)
Julio Gotay (1939)
Bruce Look (1943)
Tom Egan (1946)
Dave Parker (1951)
Tom Edens (1961)
Randy Winn (1974)
Joe Kelly (1988)
John Andreoli (1990)
Tony Wolters (1992)

Jimmy Newberry was the first black player in Japanese baseball.

Howie Gershberg was a long-time college and minor league pitching coach.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to SBG’s brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 9

Happy Birthday–June 9

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year, which was a reprint from the year before, which has not been updated.

Dude Esterbrook (1857)
Irish Meusel (1893)
Mike Ryba (1903)
Frank McCormick (1911)
Jimmy Newberry (1922)
Roy Smalley (1926)
Bill Virdon (1931)
Howie Gershberg (1936)
Jake Jacobs (1937)
Julio Gotay (1939)
Bruce Look (1943)
Tom Egan (1946)
Dave Parker (1951)
Tom Edens (1961)
Randy Winn (1974)
Joe Kelly (1988)

Jimmy Newberry was the first black player in Japanese baseball.

Howie Gershberg was a long-time college and minor league pitching coach.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to SBG’s brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 9

Happy Birthday–June 9

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.

Dude Esterbrook (1857)
Irish Meusel (1893)
Mike Ryba (1903)
Frank McCormick (1911)
Jimmy Newberry (1922)
Roy Smalley (1926)
Bill Virdon (1931)
Howie Gershberg (1936)
Jake Jacobs (1937)
Julio Gotay (1939)
Bruce Look (1943)
Tom Egan (1946)
Dave Parker (1951)
Tom Edens (1961)
Randy Winn (1974)
Joe Kelly (1988)

Jimmy Newberry was the first black player in Japanese baseball.

Howie Gershberg was a long-time college and minor league pitching coach.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to SBG’s brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 9

Happy Birthday–June 9

Dude Esterbrook (1857)
Irish Meusel (1893)
Mike Ryba (1903)
Frank McCormick (1911)
Jimmy Newberry (1922)
Roy Smalley (1926)
Bill Virdon (1931)
Howie Gershberg (1936)
Jake Jacobs (1937)
Julio Gotay (1939)
Bruce Look (1943)
Tom Egan (1946)
Dave Parker (1951)
Tom Edens (1961)
Randy Winn (1974)
Joe Kelly (1988)

Jimmy Newberry was the first black player in Japanese baseball.

Howie Gershberg was a long-time college and minor league pitching coach.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to SBG’s brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 9

Happy Birthday–June 9

Dude Esterbrook (1857)
Irish Meusel (1893)
Mike Ryba (1903)
Frank McCormick (1911)
Jimmy Newberry (1922)
Roy Smalley (1926)
Bill Virdon (1931)
Howie Gershberg (1936)
Jake Jacobs (1937)
Julio Gotay (1939)
Bruce Look (1943)
Tom Egan (1946)
Dave Parker (1951)
Tom Edens (1961)
Randy Winn (1974)

Jimmy Newberry was the first black player in Japanese baseball.

Howie Gershberg was a long-time college and minor league pitching coach.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to SBG’s uncle and to his brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 9

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty

BALTIMORE 11, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 30.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 3-for-4.  Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his eighth.  Shane Mack was 2-for-4.  Chili Davis was 2-for-5 with a double.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifteenth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Joe Orsulak was 5-for-5 with a double, a walk, three runs, and three RBIs.  Chris Hoiles was 4-for-5 with three runs.  Mike Devereaux was 3-for-5 with a double, a hit-by-pitch, and two runs.  Leo Gomez was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twelfth) and two runs.  Cal Ripken was 2-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs.  Bob Milacki pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on eleven hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  Orsulak hit a one-out single in the first and scored from first on Ripken's double.  The Twins put men on first and second in the first but did not score.  In the second, Gomez and Hoiles led off with singles.  With one out, Devereaux hit an RBI double.  Orsulak walked to load the bases, Ripken hit a two-run double, and a sacrifice fly made it 5-0 Orioles.

The Twins got two singles and a double in the second but did not score, as Harper was thrown out trying to stretch the single into a double.  Baltimore added to their lead in the fourth.  Devereaux singled, was balked to second, and scored on Orsulak's double.  Randy Milligan had an RBI single later in the inning to make it 7-0.  They added three more in the fifth.  Gomez homered leading off the inning.  Hoiles singled, Bill Ripken walked, and Devereaux was hit by a pitch to load the bases, still with none out.  Orsulak singled home a run and a sacrifice fly brought home another making it 10-0.

The major leagues don't have a ten-run rule, so the game continued.  The Twins got on the board in the sixth when Davis doubled and Harper followed with a two-run homer.  In the seventh Kirby Puckett hit a two-out double and Hrbek followed with a two-run homer to cut the margin to 10-4.  In the eighth Pagliarulo hit a one-out single, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Randy Bush single to make the score 10-5.

That's as good as it got, though.  Singles by Hoiles, Devereaux, and Orsulak produced another run for the Orioles to bring the final score to 11-5.  Todd Frohwirth, who had come on in the seventh, struck out the side in the ninth to end the game.

WP:  Milacki (8-7).  LP:  Tom Edens (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Al Newman played second in place of Chuck Knoblauch, and despite his .271 OBP and .502 OPS he batted second.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the eighth.  He stayed in the game and for some reason was put at third base, with Pagliarulo moving to second and Newman moving to short.  With two out in the ninth, Larkin and Pagliarulo switched, with Larkin moving to second and Pagliarulo moving back to third.  Randy Bush pinch-hit for Gladden in the eighth and stayed in left field.

Puckett went 1-for-5 and was batting .325.  Harper raised his average to .317.  Pagliarulo was on a 7-for-13 streak and raised his average to .303.  Mack raised his average to .302.

Edens had pitched well in his first start August 24, but he couldn't not do it again here.  He lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks and striking out one.  His ERA went to 7.56.  Carl Willis gave up two runs on 2.1 innings to raise his ERA to 2.08.

This was the only time in his career that Larkin played second base.  It was the first time in his career he had played third base--he would do so two more times, both in 1993.  I have no idea why, with Scott Leius and Chuck Knoblauch on the bench, Tom Kelly would put Larkin at those positions.  Maybe they were just trying to have a little fun in a blowout game or something.  It should be noted, though, that if Larkin had gotten injured while playing those positions the episode would not have seemed so funny.

Oakland defeated Texas 6-3 in ten innings, so they edged a bit closer in the standings.  The Twins still had a solid lead, though.

Record:  The Twins were 77-53, in first place in the American League West, seven games ahead of Oakland.

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-five

MINNESOTA 5, BALTIMORE 2 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Saturday, August 24.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth) and two RBIs.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a triple and three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Tom Edens pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks and striking out two.  Steve Bedrosian pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Rick Aguilera struck out two in a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Bob Milacki pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out three.  Randy Milligan was 2-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  In the first Mike Devereaux walked, went to third on a one-out single by Cal Ripken, and scored on a ground out to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.  Devereaux led off the second with a home run to make it 2-0.  Meanwhile, the first eleven Twins batters were retired.  They got a pair of one-out singles in the fourth, but nothing came of it.  The Twins had only one more hit until the seventh, when Mack homered to cut the lead to 2-1.

It stayed 2-1 until the ninth.  Gregg Olson was the Baltimore closer, but he had pitched in three games in a row and four of the last five, so Mike Flanagan came in to try to close it out.  He was greeted by a single by Hrbek, a walk to Chili Davis, and an RBI single by Mack to tie the score.  Mike Pagliarulo hit into a force out, putting men on first and third.  At that point, Olson came into the game anyway.  He walked Randy Bush and struck out Brian Harper.  Gladden then hit a three-run triple to give the Twins a 5-2 lead.  The Orioles went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

WP:  Steve Bedrosian (5-3).  LP:  Flanagan (2-5).  S:  Aguilera (33).

Notes:  Junior Ortiz was again behind the plate in place of Harper.  Al Newman pinch-ran for Hrbek in the ninth and stayed in the game at shortstop.  Bush pinch-hit for Ortiz in the ninth.  Harper pinch-hit for Greg Gagne, who was back in the lineup, in the ninth and stayed in the game behind the plate.  Gene Larkin went to first base in Bush's spot in the ninth.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .331.  Harper was 0-for-1 and was batting .311.  Mack raised his average to .309.  Aguilera's ERA went down to 2.33.

Edens was making his first major league appearance in 1991.  He had made thirty-five appearances for them in 1990.  He would make six starts in 1991 (plus two relief games) and pitch pretty well in four of them.  These would be the last major league starts he would make.  He would pitch in relief for Minnesota (1992), Houston (1993-1994), Philadelphia (1994), and the Cubs (1995).

The Twins handled Cal Ripken fairly well in this series (3-for-11, all singles), but not on the season.  In 1991, Ripken batted .354/.373/.563 in 51 plate appearances.  Maybe they should've walked him more.  For his career, he batted .307/.371/.478 against the Twins.  His overall career numbers were .276/.340/.447.

Flanagan was nearing the end of his career, but he had a fine year out of the Orioles bullpen.  He was 2-7, but his ERA was 2.38 and he had a WHIP of 1.11.  He also had three saves.  This was the last good year he would have, though.  In 1992 he was 8.05 ERA and 2.11 WHIP in 34.2 innings, and then he was done.

Hrbek had a fine August, batting .316/.391/.500 with four home runs in 110 plate appearances.

The White Sox lost to Cleveland 2-1 and Oakland lost to Milwaukee 7-0, so the Twins gained another game on both teams.

Record:  The Twins were 75-50, in first place in the American League West, seven games ahead of Chicago and Oakland.