TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
LF Bob Allison played for the Senators/Twins from 1958-1970
June 4 – Bob Allison drove in Ted Uhlaender from third base with a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the 10th inning in an 8-7 win over the Angels after blowing a 7-3 lead in the seventh inning. Jim Perry got his first win of the season and Minnie Rojas took the defeat. Box Score
June 5 – Bob Allison is again the star as the Twins have their second walk-off win in two days, this time the victim is the Cleveland Indians. With the score tied at 4-4 since the sixth inning the Twins face Indians reliever Steve Bailey in the bottom of the ninth. Bailey gets pinch-hitter Ted Uhlaender to ground out but then walks Cesar Tovar, Rod Carew singles with Tovar advancing to second bring up Rich Rollins to advances both runners by getting thrown out C-1B. With two runners on and two out Tribe manager Joe Adcock decides to give Harmon Killebrew a free pass to first bringing up Bob Allison. Bailey throws a wild pitch past catcher Duke Sims and the Twins win game number 24 putting them one game over the .500 mark. Al Worthington gets the win in relief. At the end of the day the Twins find themselves in 5th place and five games behind the league leading Detroit Tigers. Box Score
The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.
A save (abbreviated SV or S) is a statistic awarded to a relief pitcher, often called a closer, who enters the game under certain conditions and maintains his team’s lead until the end of the game. The save rule was first adopted for the 1969 season and amended for the 1974 and 1975 seasons. Baseball researchers have worked through the official statistics retroactively to calculate saves for all major league seasons prior to 1969.
The first save credited to a Minnesota Twins pitcher occurred on April 16, 1961 long before the save rule was actually in existence in 1969.
My previous post was about Twins position players that were born in the 1920’s and played for the home town team, today’s post will cover the pitchers.
Al Worthington, nicknamed “Red”, was a right-hander who is credited with being baseball’s first born-again Christian. Worthington started his big league career by pitching complete game shutouts in his first two games in 1953 for the New York Giants. However; it turned out that starting was not his forte and he eventually migrated to the bullpen where he earned 111 career saves. Worthington pitched for the Twins between 1964-1969 notching 37 wins and 88 saves with a 2.62 ERA before hanging up his spikes for good. Al Worthington SABR Bio.
Ray Moore
Ray Moore was a right hander who started his major league career in 1952 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. “Farmer” or “Old Blue” as he was called had an 11 year big league career that started as a starter and ended as a reliever. Credited with the Twins first ever save. Ray Moore SABR Bio.
Johnny Klippstein pitched in Minnesota from 1964-1966. Klippstein had an 18 year big league career in which he was used as a starter for the first eight years and as a reliever for the last 10 years and he earned 101 wins and 65 saves. Hung up his player cleats after five games for the Tigers in 1967. Johnny Klippstein SABR Bio.
Chuck Stobbs was a lefty that received a $50,000 bonus to sign from the Boston Red Sox prior to the 1947 season Stobbs won over 100 big league games and is probably best noted for giving up “that 565 foot home run to Mickey Mantle that left Griffith Stadium” in 1953. Stobbs played in Minnesota in 1961, his 15th and final season as a player. Chuck Stobbs SABR Bio.
Jackie Collum was height challenged standing only 5’7″ but yet he pitched in the big leagues for nine season between 1951-1962. The Iowa lefty pitched briefly for the Twins in 8 games going 0-2 and posting a 11.15 ERA before the Twins traded him to the Indians along with a PTBNL for pitcher Ruben Gomez.
Rubén Gómez pitched for the Twins very briefly in 1962 getting two starts and pitching one complete game in his only win for Minnesota. Gomez pitched in the big leagues on and off for 10 years but he pitched an amazing 29 seasons in the Puerto Rican Winter League from 1947 to 1977 and by the time he hung it up he had over 400 wins. Gomez got his nickname of “El Divino Loco” from friends and Santurce teammates for two reasons: his highway speeding habits and crazy driving off the field; and, he could not be intimidated on the mound. Ruben Gomez SABR Bio.
With all the discussion since the season ended about what to do with free agent outfielder Torii Hunter I thought it might be interesting to see who some of the “old farts” were that put on a Minnesota Twins uniforms over the years.
Hunter is on the list below because he turned 40 on July 18, 2015 and this kind of search only takes into account your age as of June 30th and Torii turned 40 on July 18, 2015. I heard that the Twins are interested in bring Hunter back but not as a full-time player and Torii has not made up his made as yet what he wants to do. Having said that, Hunter’s 2015 season looks pretty good stat wise on the list below.
Only two players on this list were actually signed by Minnesota to begin their professional careers, and they are Hunter and Jesse Orosco. The others were traded for, purchased, acquired on waivers or signed as free agents. Oddly enough Orosco was a second round selection in the 1978 draft and was traded by the Twins to the Mets as the PTBNL in the Jerry Koosman deal before he made his major league debut and did not pitch for Minnesota until his 24th and final season. Hunter as you all know was the Twins number one draft pick (20th overall) in 1993 and left as a free agent after the 2007 season only to return again in 2015 after stints with the Angels and Tigers.
Game 7 matched Sandy Koufax and Jim Kaat, who traded scoreboard zeroes until the top of the fourth, when Dodger left fielder Lou Johnson lined a homer off the left-field foul pole. Ron Fairly followed with a double, and he scored on Wes Parker‘s single just a moment later. Kaat was lifted by manager Sam Mele and he brought in his closer Al Worthington, who quickly put a stop to the Dodgers scoring spree, but the Dodgers had two big runs on the board and Koufax on the mound. Would a manager bring in his closer in the fourth inning today, I think not. Worthington was followed by Johnny Klippstein, Jim Merritt, and Jim Perry and they each held the Dodgers off the scoreboard. Jim Gilliam made a great play in the fifth to squelch a Twin rally, and Koufax cruised from there, retiring 13 of the next 14 hitters to finish with a World Series-clinching, three-hit shutout.
Sandy Koufax – World Series MVP
What more can you say? Some times teams don’t lose the game, the other team wins, I think that was the case here. You have to give credit where credit is due.
The 1965 Minnesota Twins had 35 different players suit up and play ball wearing a Twins logo across their chest against the nine other members of the American league. Their manager, Sam Mele had four coaches at his disposal to help guide the team. Here are the images of the players and coaching staff that made up the 1965 American League champions. Team owner Calvin Griffith also served as the teams General Manager.
Just click on any player image to see a larger image
Earl Battey - Catcher
Don Mincher - 1B
Jerry Kindall - 2B
Zoilo Versalles - SS
Rich Rollins - 3B
Bob Allison - OF
Jimmie Hall - OF
Tony Oliva - OF
Harmon Killebrew - 1B/3B/OF
Sandy Valdespino - OF
Joe Nossek - OF/3B
Jerry Zimmerman - Catcher
Frank Quilici - 2B/SS
Andy Kosco - OF/1B
Bernie Allen - 2B/3B
Frank Kostro - 2B/3B/OF
Cesar Tovar - 2B/SS/3B/OF
Ted Uhlaender - OF
John Sevcik - Catcher
Rich Reese - 1B/OF
Jim "Mudcat" Grant - Pitcher
Jim Kaat - Pitcher
Camilo Pascual - Pitcher
Jim Perry - Pitcher
Dave Boswell - Pitcher
Jim Merritt - Pitcher
Dick Stigman - Pitcher
Al Worthington - Pitcher
Mel Nelson - Pitcher
Johnny Klippstein - Pitcher
Bill Pleis - Pitcher
Garry Roggenburk - Pitcher
Jerry Fosnow - Pitcher
Dwight Siebler - Pitcher
Pete Cimino - Pitcher
Sam Mele - Manager
Billy Martin - Coach
L-R: Johnny Sain - Pitching Coach with Manager Sam Mele
The Minnesota Twins hosted a 59th anniversary celebration on July 31 and August 1 for the 1965 American League champions. On July 31st the organization put on a “Championship Breakfast” that was attended by about 250 Twins fans and 11 players from the 1965 championship team that won a Twins record 102 games. Twins TV broadcaster Dick Bremer served as the master of ceremonies.
I was able to attend the breakfast which was held in the Metropolitan Club at Target Field and had a great time meeting other Twins fans and chatting briefly with some of the players. The cost of the breakfast was $75 for season ticket holders and $100 if you were not a Twins season ticket holder with the proceeds going to the Twins Community Fund.
John Sevcik and Bill Pleis were unable to attend due to family health issues. Jimmie Hall also was invited but was not in attendance. Why he was not here is unclear, I saw some where that he was not able to change his schedule in time to attend and the other reason that has floated around for a long time is that Hall likes to stay close to home and that he is not a huge fan of the Twins organization due to some conflicts that have arisen in the past over medical claims. I have no idea why Dwight Siebler or Pete Cimino were not in attendance other than Siebler only appeared in seven games and Cimino only appeared in one game.As nored earlier, coach Hal Naragon was in attendance.
Manager Sam Mele who is 93 was not able to attend due to health concerns but he did make a short video that was played for the crowd. Coaches Billy Martin, Johnny Sain, and Jim Lemon have also passed on. Coach Hal Naragon as mentioned earlier was in attendance.
I took a few pictures at the championship breakfast that I will share with you here. Just click on the first thumbnail image to get started.
The Twins were kind enough to provide me with a group picture from the Saturday celebration. Clicking on the picture will enlarge it slightly.
BACK ROW L – R: Jim Merritt, Jerry Kindall, Dick Stigman, Rich Reese, Mel Nelson, Andy Kosco, Frank Kostro, Garry Roggenburk, Jerry Fosnow, Bernie Allen, Hal Naragon FRONT ROW L – R: Joe Nossek, Sandy Valdespino, Rich Rollins, Jim Perry, Camilo Pascual, Al Worthington, Frank Quilici, Jim Kaat, Jim “Mudcat” Grant, Tony Oliva
Between August 1 and August 19 the Twins were 12-7 and and in first place with a 8.5 game lead over the Chicago White Sox. Their record for the year was 77-34 (.636). The Twins played in three doubleheaders during this period winning one and splitting the other two.
Frank Quilici
There is a nice piece in the August 7 issue of the Sporting News about the Twins new second baseman Frank Quilici. “Quilici never shuts up,” said manager Sam Mele. WOW! that is a real shocker to those people that know Frank at all. On that same page you can read about the Pirates planning to leave their spring training facility in Ft. Myers in their rear view mirror.
The August 14 has a lengthy piece on Jim Perry who came out of the bullpen to become a starter when Twins starters starting rotation suffered through a rash of injuries and illness. Al Worthington the Twins 36 year old closer who had never tasted post season play and the rest of the relief staff had to work over-time with some many injuries to the starting staff. “Housemaid knees” might not be politically correct today but according to Jim Grant that is what was troubling him even though he had a league leading 12-3 won/lost record.
I ran across this short article about Zoilo Versalles on the D.C. Baseball History web site that was written by an individual that had a personal encounter with Versalles back in 1959 when he was first called up by the Washington Senators.
The D.C. Baseball History web site is a great site if you are interested in learning more about the 1901-1960 Washington Senators who become our Minnesota Twins in 1961. The site also obviously covers the Washington Nationals.
As 2014 is coming to an end it is a good time to look back on another Twins season, their fourth in a row without post season play. But you have to be a winner to make post season play and the Twins have been anything but a winner the last few years. It has been a toss-up when you try to determine who has been more inept, the Twins players on the field or the ownership and Twins executives that sit behind their desks and make the decisions that determine the experience that Twins fans will have to live with during the up-coming season.
The Twins have had many losing seasons over the years and the real core Twins fans complained but they accepted the team they had and they looked forward to the next season with renewed hope for more wins “next year”. But it is seems different now, I am not sure why, maybe the fans are more passionate, maybe it is social media that allows Twins fans to better express their frustrations but today’s Twins fans are just plain mad and disgusted with the caliber of play their home team has displayed since the 2010 ended. Hopefully the Minnesota Twins organization feels some of the passion that Twins fans have and will start to look at the product from the fans perspective and see what they can do to make the fans experience a little more fun and and not so tough on the wallet.
Since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins the team has played 8,617 regular season games, winning 4,274, losing 4,335 and playing to a tie on eight occasions in 54 seasons of play. Boy, how time flies by, I still remember that 1961 season.
Looking back at Twins history they have two World Series winners and a third World Series appearance in which they lost game seven to Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition to the 8,617 regular season games the team has played a total of 64 post season games winning 25 and losing 39. Their last post season appearance was in 2010 and that brief playoff run lasted just three games when they were swept by the New York Yankees 3 games to zip. The teams last post season win was back in 2004 (if I am not mistaken that is about 10 years ago, YIKES!) when they beat the Yankees in game 1 of the ALDS series before losing the next three games.
So let’s take a look at the hitting and pitching statistics of the Minnesota Twins in post season play. Let’s see who stood out under the bright lights of post season play and who couldn’t or didn’t deliver when the pressure was on. The names you will see below will bring back many memories, some good, some bad, some sad and in some cases you will say “who in the hell is so and so, I don’t remember him”. But it is fun looking back.
Since the Twins started play in 1961 through the 2014 season a total of 751 players have put on a Minnesota Twins uniform and appeared in a game either as a hitter or a pitcher. Only 162 of them or 21.57% have appeared in a Twins post season game over the 54 seasons the Twins have called Minnesota home.
In 14 years in the majors I pitched in 602 games but started just 69 of them. That in itself is kind of strange because when I started my big league career with the Giants my first two games in the big leagues were complete game shutouts. In the next three starts I gave up a total of four earned runs but lost all three games.
I pitched for the Minnesota Twins for six seasons. In those six seasons I pitched in 327 games and never started a single game. In those 327 games I pitched more innings and won more games than any pitcher in Twins history that had zero starts on his resume. Who am I?
Now that our mystery pitcher has been identified, you can learn more about him in aJanuary 2010 interviewI did with him.
