Tag Archives: Tony Oliva

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 20

Heinie Manush (1901)
Anthony Cooper (1904)
Bob Short (1917)
Mike Ilitch (1929)
Dick Stello (1934)
Tony Oliva (1938)
Mickey Stanley (1942)
Mike Witt (1960)
Charles Johnson (1971)
Bengie Molina (1974)
Jason Miller (1982)
Alexi Casilla (1984)
Stephen Strasburg (1988)

Bob Short owned the second Washington Senators franchise and moved them to Texas.  He also owned the Minneapolis Lakers and moved them to Los Angeles.

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 and owned them until his death in 2017.

Dick Stello was a National League umpire from 1968-1987, when he died in a car accident.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 20 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 20

Heinie Manush (1901)
Anthony Cooper (1904)
Bob Short (1917)
Mike Ilitch (1929)
Dick Stello (1934)
Tony Oliva (1938)
Mickey Stanley (1942)
Mike Witt (1960)
Charles Johnson (1971)
Bengie Molina (1974)
Jason Miller (1982)
Alexi Casilla (1984)
Stephen Strasburg (1988)

Bob Short owned the second Washington Senators franchise and moved them to Texas.  He also owned the Minneapolis Lakers and moved them to Los Angeles.

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 and owned them until his death in 2017.

Dick Stello was a National League umpire from 1968-1987, when he died in a car accident.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 20 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 20

Heinie Manush (1901)
Bob Short (1917)
Mike Ilitch (1929)
Dick Stello (1934)
Tony Oliva (1938)
Mickey Stanley (1942)
Mike Witt (1960)
Charles Johnson (1971)
Bengie Molina (1974)
Jason Miller (1982)
Alexi Casilla (1984)
Stephen Strasburg (1988)

Bob Short owned the second Washington Senators franchise and moved them to Texas.  He also owned the Minneapolis Lakers and moved them to Los Angeles.

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 and owned them until his death in 2017.

Dick Stello was a National League umpire from 1968-1987, when he died in a car accident.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 20 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-four

MINNESOTA 4, CALIFORNIA 0 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Friday, September 4.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 4-for-4.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, his twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth.  Brant Alyea was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer, his thirteenth.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk.  Alex Johnson was 2-for-4.  Eddie Fisher pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

The game:  In a matchup of the first and second place teams, the Twins jumped out early.  With two out and none on in the first, Harmon Killebrew walked, Oliva singled, and Alyea hit a three-run homer, putting Minnesota ahead 3-0.

The Twins put two men on in the third and the fourth but did not score.  The Angels, who did not have a baserunner in the first three innings, got a pair of two-out singles in the fourth but did not score.

With one out in the sixth, Tony Gonzalez singled, Fregosi walked, and Johnson got an infield single, loading the bases.  Bill Rigney brought in Perranoski, who struck out Billy Cowan and retired Tommie Reynolds on a grounder to end the inning.

California got only one hit after that, a two-out triple by Fregosi in the eighth.  The Twins added a run in the eighth.  A walk to Killebrew and a single by Oliva put men on first and third with none out, and a sacrifice fly brought the final score to 4-0.

WP:  Blyleven (9-6).

LP:  Rudy May (6-12).

S:  Perranoski (26).

Notes:  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt replaced Alyea in the sixth and went to center, with Tovar moving to left.  Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the eighth and stayed in the game at second base, with Thompson going to third.

Oliva raised his average to .316.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 2.18.

May pitched five innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out five.

Oliva broke out of his slump in a big way.  The four hits were as many as he'd had in the previous eight games.

With just a three-game difference going in, this three-game series was obviously an important one for both teams.  The two teams would play again, in a four-game series, in mid-September, so it's not like the Angels had to sweep.  I'm sure, though, that they felt they at least needed to win two of the three.  Taking the first one was a big advantage for the Twins.

Showing the importance of this game is pulling Blyleven in the sixth with a shutout going and bringing in the closer, Perranoski.  You can't always tell from a written play-by-play, but it does not appear that Blyleven was being hit hard.  Still, it was an important game.  Bringing your closer in that early was unusual back then, although certainly not unheard of.  But, as we've chronicled in this series, Perranoski was sometimes asked to pitch three or more innings, and he generally got the job done when he did.

Record:  The Twins were 79-55, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-three

MILWAUKEE 8, MINNESOTA 3 IN MILWAUKEE

Date:  Thursday, September 3.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-4 with a triple.  Brant Alyea was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer, his twelfth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Roberto Pena was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer (his third), a double, and two runs.  Mike Hegan was 2-for-2 with a double, a stolen base (his eighth), two walks, and three runs.  Dave May was 2-for-4.  Phil Roof was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his tenth) and two walks.

The game:  The Brewers started the scoring in the second.  With one out, Hegan singled, Pena doubled, and Roof walked, loading the bases.  All they could get out of it was one run, on a Ted Kubiak single, but it gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead.

The Brewers took control of the game in the fifth.  Tommy Harper led off with a walk and was bunted to second.  May singled him home and took second on the throw to the plate.  Following a ground out Hegan was intentionally walked, Pena hit an RBI single, and Roof hit a three-run homer, putting Milwaukee up 6-0.

The Twins did try to come back.  In the sixth Tovar tripled and scored on a ground out to get them on the board.  In the seventh, Rich Reese hit a one-out single and, with two out, Alyea hit a pinch-hit two-run homer to cut the lead to 6-3.

But that was as good as it got.  In the bottom of the seventh Hegan hit a two-out double and Pena followed with a two-run homer, making it 8-3.  The Twins got a pair of one-out singles in the eighth, but that was it.

WP:  Marty Pattin (11-11).

LP:  Bill Zepp (7-4).

S:  Ken Sanders (7).

Notes:  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Steve Brye was in left field in place of Alyea.  Jim Holt went to center in fifth as part of a double switch, with Tovar moving to left and Brye coming out of the game.  Alyea pinch-hit for Stan Williams in the seventh.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Jim Kaat in the ninth.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .311.  Williams gave up one run in 1.1 innings and had an ERA of 2.16.

It was the major league debut for Brye.  He'd batted .308 with an OPS of .849 in AA Charlotte.  He was, of course, a September call-up.  He was often mixed up with Steve Braun, who was with the Twins for most of the time Brye was.

Oliva was in a 2-for-26 slump over his last seven games.  His average fell from .323 to .311.

Zepp started for the Twins and pitched 4.2 innings, giving up five runs on five hits and five walks and striking out two.

Following three sub-par starts, the last of which was August 28, Kaat was sent to the bullpen.  He would both start and relieve the rest of the season.  Here, he pitched two innings, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk and striking out two.

Marty Pattin was one of the stars of "Ball Four", pitching in the Seattle Pilots rotation for most of the 1969 season.  He wasn't very good then, but he a solid rotation starter from 1970-1973 for Milwaukee and Boston.  He both started and relieved the rest of his career, a career that lasted until 1980.  He was 114-109 for his career, with a 3.62 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP.  He made one all-star team, with the Brewers in 1971.  He appeared in 475 games, starting 224 of them, and pitched 2038.2 innings.  He clearly isn't worth of the Hall of Fame or anything, but for most of his thirteen year career he was a guy you were happy to have on your team.

Record:  The Twins were 78-55, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of California.

 

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-eight

MINNESOTA 8, OAKLAND 6 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Wednesday, July 8.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 4-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth) and two runs.  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.  Danny Thompson was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Rich Reese was 1-for-5 with a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Sal Bando was 4-for-4 with a double and three runs.  Don Mincher was 2-for-4.  Reggie Jackson was 2-for-4.  Dave Duncan was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his eighth.

The game:  The Twins took the lead in the first when Tovar singled and Oliva hit a two-run homer.  The Athletics got on the board in the second when Bando singled, went to third on Jackson's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  They tied it in the fourth when Bando doubled and scored on Mincher's single.

The Twins got the lead back in the sixth.  Thompson reached third on a single-plus-error, scored on a sacrifice fly, and then Reese homered to make it 4-2.  They added two more in the seventh.  Cardenas led off with an infield single.  He had only gotten to second with two out, but then Jim Perry walked and Thompson and Oliva had run-scoring singles, making it 6-2.  The Twins got one more in the eighth when Cardenas doubled and scored on a Perry single, and one more in the ninth when Oliva singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Frank Quilici double.

So it was 8-2 going to the bottom of the ninth, and Perry had given up just one hit since the fourth.  But with one out Bando, Jackson, and Mincher all singled, making it 8-3, and Duncan hit a three-run homer, making the Twins' lead just 8-6.  Ron Perranoski came in and walked Felipe Alou.  Frank Fernandez fanned, but Bert Campaneris singled, bringing the winning run to the plate in Joe Rudi.  But he grounded out and the Twins held on for the victory.

WP:  Perry (13-6).

LP:  Catfish Hunter (13-6).

S:  Perranoski (20).

Notes:  Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Rick Renick was at third base in place of Harmon Killebrew, who got his first day off of the season.  Jim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Quilici replaced Renick in the eighth, with Quilici going to second and Thompson moving to third.

Oliva was batting .331.  Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .314.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.65.

Quilici was 1-for-1 and was batting .188.

Perry pitched very well for eight innings, but his like was 8.1 innings, six runs, eleven hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.

Hunter pitched 6.2 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out two.

I don't suppose it's all that rare, but it does seem somewhat unusual to have both starters give up six runs.

This was the third four-hit game for Oliva in 1970.

The Twins had won four in a row, nine of ten, and eleven of thirteen.

Record:  The Twins were 52-26, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 20

Heinie Manush (1901)
Bob Short (1917)
Mike Ilitch (1929)
Dick Stello (1934)
Tony Oliva (1938)
Mickey Stanley (1942)
Mike Witt (1960)
Charles Johnson (1971)
Bengie Molina (1974)
Jason Miller (1982)
Alexi Casilla (1984)
Stephen Strasburg (1988)

Bob Short owned the second Washington Senators franchise and moved them to Texas.  He also owned the Minneapolis Lakers and moved them to Los Angeles.

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 and owned them until his death in 2017.

Dick Stello was a National League umpire from 1968-1987, when he died in a car accident.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 20 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 20

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

Heinie Manush (1901)
Bob Short (1917)
Mike Ilitch (1929)
Dick Stello (1934)
Tony Oliva (1938)
Mickey Stanley (1942)
Mike Witt (1960)
Charles Johnson (1971)
Bengie Molina (1974)
Jason Miller (1982)
Alexi Casilla (1984)
Stephen Strasburg (1988)

Bob Short owned the second Washington Senators franchise and moved them to Texas.  He also owned the Minneapolis Lakers and moved them to Los Angeles.

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 and owned them until his death in 2017.

Dick Stello was a National League umpire from 1968-1987, when he died in a car accident.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 20 →

History

1987 ALCS Champs’ Domecoming

Video 7 Comments

I found this gem shortly after JeffA started his 1987 Rewind. This evening seemed like the appropriate time to share it. I didn't want to detract from Jeff's content, and in any case figured there were enough goodies that this would be worth its own post. Hope you don't mind, Chaps.