Former Twins pitcher Fred Lasher passes away at 80

Fred Lasher was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on August 19, 1941 and passed away in Altoona, Wisconsin at the age of 80 on February 27, 2022. Lasher grew up playing basketball and baseball for Poughkeepsie High School and the local Poughkeepsie YMCA. As a high school senior, Lasher had a 7-0 record and threw a no-hitter.

Lasher was invited to participate in a local All-Star game against some New York Yankee rookies that was attended by major league scouts. Joe Gall a scout for the Washington Senators liked what he saw and signed Lasher to his first pro contract in January of 1960 and Lasher was assigned to Wytheville Senators of the Appalachian League. He was known for a sidearm/submarine pitching delivery that earned him the nickname “The Whip,” and he picked up that delivery as a child by throwing rocks at his parents’ house.

Fred Lasher

Lasher attended his first big league spring training in 1963 as a talented but very raw pitcher, with a sidearm fastball but no curveball, and occasional control problems. The coaches taught him a three-quarters overhand delivery for his curve. After putting up good numbers in the spring, Lasher became a surprise addition to the Twins’ pitching staff.

Julio Becquer a member of 1961 Minnesota Twins team passes away

Julio (Villegas) Becquer was born in Havana, Cuba on December 20, 1931. The 88 year-old Becquer passed away in Hopkins, Minnesota on November 1, 2020.

Becquer batted and threw left handed and was 5’11” and about 178 lbs. Julio attended the University of Havana and was signed to play for the Washington Senators as a free agent prior to the 1952 season by super scout Joe Cambria who was famous for signing numerous Cuban players. After spending 1952-1954 in the minors, Julio got his first call to the big leagues in late 1955 but in 1956 he was back in the minors.

Former Twins shortstop Jackie Hernandez losses his battle with cancer

Jackie Hernandez

Jackie Hernandez (Jacinto Hernández Zulueta) was born on September 11, 1940 in Central Tinguaro, Cuba and passed away on October 12, 2019 in Miami, Florida after a short battle with lung cancer. His given name (Hyacinth in English) was difficult for many people in the U.S. to pronounce, leading to his Anglicized nickname; he was also called simply “Jack or Jackie.” 

Hernandez played pro ball from 1961 through 1974 and then spent some time playing ball in Mexico from 1975-1976 before retiring as an active player.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 27 – Jose Cardenal and the Angels steal a 2-1 win

The Twins lose to the California Angels on the road again and it is the same old story, they lose 2-1 for the third day in a row and they have lost all five game on this current road trip and six in a row. Ermer’s boys find themselves in fifth place 3 1/2 games behind the leaders and 4-7 since the All-Star break.

The Twins could only muster three hits off Angels spitballer Jack Hamilton who is 5-1 since being acquired from the Mets and Minnie Rojas who earned the save with 3 innings of scoreless relief while allowing just 1 hit. Dean Chance pitched well enough to win for Minnesota but allowed 2 unearned runs in the third. Bobby Knoop reached on a Rod Carew error, Hamilton sacrificed Knoop to second. Jose Cardenal singled scoring Knoop from second. Cardenal then stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Chance then struck out Roger Repoz for the second out and that brought Woodie Held to the plate who was batting when Cardenal stole home and Chance then struck out Held but it was too late, the run would turn out to be the winner.

With their tails between their legs the Twins now have to fly from California to New York to play the New York Yankees but first they need to make a detour to Milwaukee to play the Chicago White Sox in a meaningless exhibition game before continuing their road trip and pennant race. No way the players union would allow something like that now days but that is the way it was back then.

Twins__amp__White_Sox_to_play_an_exhibition_game_in_Milwaukee_on_7_24_1967

 

 

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – May 19 – Buchanan & Strickland

Brian Buchanan

Brian Buchanan (OF) – May 19, 2000 – Traded by the New York Yankees with Cristian GuzmanEric MiltonDanny Mota and cash to the Minnesota Twins for Chuck Knoblauch on February 6, 1998.

 

Jim Strickland (P) – May 19, 1971 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1970 minor league draft. Starter Jim Perry didn’t have it in his start against the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium so manager Mele called on Jim Strickland to show what he could do to stop the bleeding with the Twins down 5-4 and Angels runners at first and second with two out in the bottom of the third. Strickland retired Sandy Alomar on a grounder to third and he was out of the inning. In the fourth inning he struck out the side (Alex Johnson, Tony Conigliaro, and John Stephenson) and in the top of the fifth the Twins scored three runs and went ahead 7-6. Strickland stayed in the game and retired the Angels on one hit and no runs. Mele brought in Tom Hall and he earned the save by pitching four perfect innings with six strikeouts and the Twins won the game 12-6 and Jim Strickland notched his first big league win in his major league debut.

To see other Major League Debut’s as Minnesota Twins

Major League debuts as Minnesota Twins – Puckett and Hart

Both of today’s major league debuts as Minnesota Twins took place in the same game at Anaheim Stadium in a 5-0 win over the California Angels.

Kirby Puckett (OF) – May 8, 1984 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (3rd pick) of the 1982 amateur draft (January). An impressive major league debut indeed!

 

Mike Hart

Mike Hart (OF) – May 8, 1984 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on January 31, 1983.

Complete game streaks a rarity nowadays

The franchise leader in complete games pitched for the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins is Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson who had 38 complete games in 1910 in 42 starts for the Washington Senators. Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven, also in the Hall of Fame is the Twins leader in complete games in a single season with 25 complete games in 40 starts back in 1973. The last Twins pitcher to lead the AL in complete games was Carl Pavano with seven in 2010.

But who holds the Minnesota Twins record for the most complete games in a row? That record of course belongs to Twins curve-ball ace Camilo Pascual who had 8 complete games in a row between May 10, 1964 and June 17, 1964. Bert Blyleven is second on the Twins list below but he pitched 10 complete games in a row in 1985 for the Cleveland Indians.

 

Camilo Pascual

Rk Name Strk Start End Games W L GS CG SHO IP H ER BB SO HR ERA
1 Camilo Pascual 1964-05-10 1964-06-17 8 7 1 8 8 1 71.2 58 19 28 58 4 2.39
2 Bert Blyleven 1986-07-22 1986-08-11 5 3 2 5 5 1 43.0 19 10 10 37 6 2.09
3 Roger Erickson 1978-08-05 1978-08-23 5 3 2 5 5 0 46.0 40 13 12 18 2 2.54
4 Dave Goltz 1976-05-14 1976-05-30 5 5 0 5 5 0 47.0 32 11 12 33 1 2.11
5 Bert Blyleven 1975-08-02 1975-08-19 5 4 1 5 5 1 44.0 26 10 11 30 3 2.05
6 Jim Hughes 1975-05-09 1975-05-28 5 5 0 5 5 2 45.0 25 5 17 26 2 1.00
7 Bert Blyleven 1973-09-14 1973-09-30 5 3 2 5 5 1 43.0 27 10 6 37 2 2.09
8 Dick Woodson 1972-08-01 1972-08-18 5 4 1 5 5 2 45.0 25 4 11 26 1 0.80
9 Jim Merritt 1968-04-11 1968-05-01 5 3 2 5 5 0 45.0 31 9 7 27 3 1.80
10 Jim Kaat 1966-08-23 1966-09-09 5 5 0 5 5 2 45.0 29 5 9 35 4 1.00
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/18/2017.

Back in 1980 Oakland A’s starter Rick Langford as a 28 year-old pitched an amazing 22 complete games in a row between May 23 and September 12 and that included a 14 inning win against the Cleveland Indians. The A’s starting staff had an work-man like 94 complete games in 1980. The starting five made up of Rick Langford, Mike Norris, Matt Keough, Steve McCatty and Brian Kingman started all but three A’s games that season. The team finished with a 83-79 record under skipper Billy Martin and pitching coach Art Fowler.

Nolan Ryan who was pitching for the California Angels at the time had a streak of 10 complete games in a row against the Minnesota Twins from September 30, 1972 through September 28, 1974 but the Twins did manage to win 3 of those 10 games. About the time Ryan’s streak was ending, teammate Frank Tanana started a streak of his own pitching 7 complete games in a row against the Twins from September 27, 1974 through June 15 1977.

This Day in Twins History – April 23 – Complete game with zero KO’s?

Kralick, Jack 24/23/1961 – The Twins play their first 1-0 game in history and come up winners at Met Stadium when Jack Kralick pitches a complete game 4 hit shutout of the Washington Senators. Kralick also knocks in the Twins lone run of the game with a fifth inning single. Box score

4/23/1980 – Angels pitcher Bruce Kison settles for a one-hitter when Minnesota’s Ken Landreaux rips a double with one out in the 9th inning of California’s 17-0 romp. For Landreaux, the hit marks the beginning of a 31-game hitting streak. Box scoreKen Landreaux

4/23/1982 – The Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 12-4 at the Kingdome. Twins pitcher Roger Erickson recovers after a rough first inning where he gives up 3 runs on 5 hits and proceeds to pitch a complete game. Erickson strikes out no one and gives up 13 hits and walks two more in this unusual game. It marks the only time that Erickson pitched a complete game with no strikeouts. Twins hitters were no slouches themselves as they had 18 hits and drew 6 walks. Ron Washington had 4 hits and Bobby Mitchell and Gary Ward had 3 hits apiece.

Roger Erickson
Roger Erickson

Box score . See the table below showing all Twins pitchers that have pitched a complete game with zero strikeouts.

4/23/2011 – The Twins beat the visiting Cleveland Indians 10-3 at Target Field and in the process score more than 5 runs in a game for the first time in 2011. The Twins have not scored more than five runs in any game this season (19 games), according to the Elias Sports Bureau, it is the longest such streak to start a season in Twins history, and the longest streak in franchise history (the 1909 Washington Senators failed to score more than five runs in their first 18 games).The Twins were the only team in Major League Baseball that hasn’t scored six-or-more runs in a game in 2011. Box score

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Twins pitchers that have pitched a complete game with zero KO’s

Rk Player Date ? Opp Rslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit BF
1 Brad Radke 2002-05-08 KCR W 3-1 CG 9, W 9.0 5 1 1 3 0 0 106 32
2 Allan Anderson 1991-04-20 CAL L 1-2 CG 8, L 8.0 4 2 2 1 0 0 100 29
3 Allan Anderson 1988-08-04 TOR W 2-1 CG 9, W 9.0 4 1 1 0 0 1 102 29
4 Les Straker 1987-06-29 KCR L 2-3 CG 5, L 4.1 4 3 3 1 0 1 17
5 Ken Schrom 1985-04-12 SEA L 1-2 CG 8, L 8.0 3 2 2 3 0 1 31
6 Roger Erickson 1982-04-23 SEA W 12-4 CG 9, W 9.0 13 4 4 2 0 0 39
7 Paul Hartzell 1979-04-30 TOR W 6-3 CG 9, W 9.0 7 3 3 2 0 1 36
8 Dave Goltz 1978-06-23 CHW W 2-1 CG 9, W 9.0 5 1 1 1 0 0 32
9 Steve Luebber 1976-09-08 TEX W 3-1 CG 7, W 7.0 7 1 1 1 0 1 26
10 Danny Fife 1973-09-28 CAL W 7-1 CG 9, W 9.0 7 1 1 6 0 0 39
11 Jim Kaat 1965-04-17 CLE W 3-0 SHO9, W 9.0 7 0 0 1 0 0 32
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/23/2015.
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On this Day in Twins History – June 2, 1986

2B Rod Carew played for the Twins from 1967-1978
2B Rod Carew played for the Twins from 1967-1978

Officially ending his Hall of Fame career about six months after MLB owners did it for him, Rod Carew announced his retirement. A victim of collusion after the 1985 season, Carew failed to get any suitable offers for what would have been his age-40 campaign. Nine years later, he’d be awarded $782,000 in damages for his lost wages. Carew finished his career with the Angels in 1985 hitting .280 in 127 games. It was the only one of his 19 seasons in which he wasn’t named to the AL All-Star team.

Carew who signed with Minnesota on June 24, 1964 as an amateur free agent ended his career with 3,053 hits. Carew hit .328 with 92 homers and 1,015 RBI in 12 seasons with the Twins and seven with the Angels. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1967 and its MVP in 1977, when he hit .388 and drove in 100 runs for the only time in his career. He ended up winning seven batting titles and finishing first in the AL in the OBP four times. Both the Twins and the Angels retired his number 29.

Carew was born to a Panamanian mother on a train in the town of Gatún, which, at that time, was in the Panama Canal Zone. The train was racially segregated; white passengers were given the better forward cars, while non-whites, like Carew’s mother, were forced to ride in the rearward cars. When she went into labor, a physician traveling on the train, Dr. Rodney Cline, delivered the baby. In appreciation for this, Mrs. Carew named the boy Rodney Cline Carew.

During the 1960s, Carew served a six-year commitment in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a combat engineer. Carew later said that his military experience helped him in his baseball career, explaining that “When I joined the Marine Corps, it was a life-changing event for me because I learned about discipline. When I first came up to the big leagues in 1967, I was a little bit of a hot-head. But after two weeks of war games every summer, I realized that baseball was not do-or-die. That kind of discipline made me the player I became.”

Frustrated by the Twins’ inability to keep young talent, some racist comments by owner Calvin Griffith, and the Twins’ overall penny-pinching negotiating style, Carew announced his intention to leave the Twins. On February 3, 1979 the Twins traded Carew to the California Angels for outfielder Ken Landreaux, catcher/1B Dave Engle, RHP Paul Hartzell, and LHP Brad Havens. Rumors circulated that the Twins completed this trade with the Angels only after a potentially better deal with the New York Yankees in January in which Carew would have moved to the Yankees in exchange for Chris Chambliss, Juan Beniquez, Damaso Garcia, and Dave Righetti fell through at the last-minute. I wonder how baseball history in Minnesota and New York might have changed had that deal gone down?

Get to know President Ken Schrom

Ken SchromKenneth Marvin Schrom was born in Grangeville, Indiana on November 23, 1954 and attended Grangeville High School where he earned 11 athletic letters and all-state honors in baseball, basketball and all-american honors in football. The Minnesota Twins drafted Schrom in 1973 in the 10th round but Ken passed on the offer and instead accepted a scholarship from the University of Idaho to play football and baseball. Schrom was a two-year letter winner in both football and baseball for the Idaho Vandals from 1973-76. Schrom had dreams of playing QB in the NFL one day but a couple of injuries on the football field caused him to pass on football and focus on his baseball career.

Ken SchromThe California Angels drafted Schrom in 1976 in the 17th round and after signing his first pro contract Ken began his climb to the major leagues. Schrom worked his way through the minors quickly and by 1979 was already pitching in AAA Salt Lake City. Schrom was again in Salt Lake City when the 1980 season opened and he was hoping for a call from the Angels but when that call came on June 10, 1980 he found out that the Angels had dealt him to the Toronto Blue Jays as the PTBNL from an earlier Angels-Blue Jays deal.

It wasn’t long before the Blue Jays called Schrom up to the big leagues and on August 8th, 1980 Ken appeared in his first big league game against the Kansas City Royals at Exhibition Stadium in the second game of a double-header as a reliever pitching the final 2/3 of an inning in a 7-4 losing cause to the Royals. Schrom spent the rest of 1980 with Toronto pitching in relief but the following season he found himself in AAA Syracuse. Schrom started 1982 in Syracuse again but in August the Blue Jays recalled Schrom and he appeared in 6 games before Toronto released him. Schrom signed with the Minnesota Twins as a free agent in December 1982.

In 1983 the Twins turned Schrom into a starter and after a quick 3-1 start in Toledo the Twins called Schrom to the majors. Schrom who threw the fastball, curve, slider and change-up seemed better suited to be a starter than a reliever and the Twins put Schrom in the starting rotation on May 20th and he rewarded them with a 15-8 record earning the Twins Pitcher of the Year award on a team that won only 70 games. Schrom posted a 5-11 record the following season primarily because he pitched most of the season with a strained rotator cuff. Schrom struggled again in 1985 going 9-12 and in January of 1986 the Twins traded pitchers Ken Schrom and Bryan Oelkers to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Roy Smith and Ramon Romero.

Cleveland turned out to be a great fit for Schrom and in his first season there in 1986 he got off to a 10-2 start and was named to the 1986 American League All-Star team. Ken finished the season with a 14-7 record and a 4.54 ERA. The injury bugaboo struck Schrom again in 1987 when he went 6-13 with a 6.50 ERA but it was determined that he was pitching with a tear in his labrum that ended up needing surgery. Schrom sat out 1988 recovering from the surgery. Schrom appeared briefly for El Paso as part of the Milwaukee organization but after just a handful of games ended up getting released and at the age of 34 his playing career was over. You will have to listen to the interview to have Ken tell you himself why his release from El Paso was unique to say the least.

Though his active playing career was over, Ken Schrom was certainly not done with baseball. Schrom spent the next 16 seasons working in a variety of roles in the front office of the El Paso Diablos. The El Paso Diablos under the ownership of Jim Paul were named the Minor League Franchise of the Decade in the 1980’s by Baseball America.

Ken SchromIn 2003 Schrom left El Paso and joined the Corpus Christi Hooks, a “AA” team for the Houston Astros that was owned by Nolan Ryan at the time but was sold this past Fall to the Houston Astros as the club’s GM. In 2005 Ken Schrom was named the 2005 Texas League Executive of the Year. In May of 2009 Schrom was named President of the Hooks  and in 2014 Ken enters his sixth season as club president and 11th full year with the franchise. In September of 2007, the University of Idaho Vandals honored Ken with induction into their Athletics Hall of Fame. Others in his inaugural induction class included Jerry Kramer, a guard for the Green Bay Packers during their 1960s glory years, and Gus Johnson, a five-time All-Star during his 11-year NBA career. To this day Ken Schrom is a loyal Green Bay Packers fan.

With the Astros now being part of the AL Central, I think Ken will be making his way to Minnesota this summer and will get his first peek at Target Field and maybe get in a little fishing with long-time friend Kent Hrbek along the way. In his down time, Schrom loves a good game of golf and can be found playing chasing that little white ball around the course several times a week and when he is not golfing you might find a rod and reel in his hand. Ken and his wife Cindy, an interior designer, now live in Portland, Texas. They have two adult children, Kayla and Jared.