Remembering 1965 – Part 35 – Versalles landslide winner in AL MVP voting

versalles, Zoilo 6The Minnesota Twins 25 year-old two-time All-Star shortstop became the first Twins player in their short five-year history to win the American League MVP award when he garnered 275 points, just five short of a perfect score. Second place finisher Tony Oliva received the only other first place vote. The Twins had four players in the top ten with pitcher Mudcat Grant finishing sixth and catcher Earl Battey finishing tenth.

Latino’s make up a large percentage of MLB team rosters today but back in the 60’s that was not the case. When Zoilo Versalles won the 1965 AM MVP award he became the first Latino to ever win a MVP award in the major leagues. Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, and Rod Carew are all Hall of Fame players and considered to be great Latino players but many other Latino players like Zoilo Versalles and Tony Oliva should not be forgotten for all the great contributions they made in establishing Latino’s as major league ball players. I am not saying that Versalles is a Hall of Fame player by any means but the man was a very good player and his play, particularly in 1965 should not be forgotten.

Sporting News Nov 27, 1965 P6

Sporting News Dec 6, 1965 P15