Tag: County Stadium

This Day in Twins History – July 2

1969 – In a very unusual 3 game series against the Chicago White Sox, the Twins play the first and last game against the White Sox in White Sox Park but play the middle game in County Stadium in Milwaukee. This is the second year in a row that the Twins have played a game against the mighty whitey’s in Milwaukee and the Twins win the game again, this time by a 4-2 score. The game started at 10:02 PM due to a 1 hour 39 minute rain delay and the game was called in the middle of the ninth inning due to rain. In 1969, Bud Selig again arranged with White Sox ownership for them to play some home games in Milwaukee County Stadium. The league had expanded from 10 teams to 12 that season and the White Sox schedule in Milwaukee was likewise expanded to include 11 home games (again, one against every opponent) as part of an attempt to attract an expansion franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

LHP Jim Kaat pitched for the Senators/Twins from 1959-1973

1972 – The Twins split a twin-bill at White Sox Park winning the first game 6-4 and losing the second game 2-1. The big story here was in game one. Jim Kaat (9-2) and the AL leader in ERA was facing knuckleballer Wilbur Wood (12-7). The Twins were leading 5-2 after 5 innings. In the top of the 6th inning Kaat reached based on a fielder’s choice and was forced at 2B on Tovar’s ground ball to the shortstop. Sliding into 2B Kaat jammed his left wrist but stayed in the game and pitched into the 8th inning before his swollen hand prevented him from going any further. After the game it was determined that Jim had broken a bone in his pitching wrist and he was out for the rest of the season. Wow, pitchers were tough in those days. When I asked Jim about it, his response was “Adrenalin is an amazing hormone”!

1982 – The Twins trade 2B Larry Milbourne to the Indians and in turn the Indians send outfielder Larry Littleton to the Twins.

2007 – With skipper Joe Torre watching from his Yankee Stadium dugout, Roger Clemens, throws eight innings of two-hit ball in a 5-1 win over the Twins and becomes the eighth pitcher to record 350 career victories. The New York manager was the catcher for Warren Spahn’s 350th win making him a participant of the only two occasions that a pitcher has reached the milestone since 1928.

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This Day in Twins History – June 24

June 24th has been an interesting day in Minnesota Twins history over the years, here are some of the events that occurred on this day.

1955– Harmon Killebrew hit his first major league homer, off lefty Billy Hoeft at Griffith Stadium, but the Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators 18-7. Killebrew would later say that, of all the home runs he hit at Griffith Stadium, the home run off Hoeft was the longest he ever hit in Griffith. Twenty years later, on September 18, 1975 Harmon, wearing a KC Royals uniform hit his last career home run, a blast to left field off Twins hurler Eddie Bane in a Royals 4-3 victory at Met Stadium over the home town Minnesota Twins. In his career, Killebrew smashed 246 home runs at Met Stadium.

1968 – In a one game series, the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in County Stadium in Milwaukee in a game called after 5 innings due to rain. The reason the game was played in Milwaukee was that in 1968, Bud Selig, a former minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves who had been unable to stop the relocation of his team three years earlier, contracted with the Allyn brothers who owned the White Sox to host nine home games (one against each of the other American League clubs) at Milwaukee County Stadium as part of an attempt to attract an expansion franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1977 – Ralph Garr of the White Sox homered off Minnesota’s Paul Thormodsgard in Minneapolis. It came in the third inning with two men on and no one out. Jim Essian, the runner on first, thought the ball might be caught by the Twins’ right fielder, Dan Ford, so he retreated towards first base. Garr was watching the flight of the ball and passed Essian after rounding the bag. He was credited with a single and two runs batted in.

1984 – 2B Tim Teufel gives the Twins a 3-2 win over the White Sox with a three-run inside-the-park walk off home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth at the Metrodome.

1989 – Twins outfielder John Moses is asked to pitch at Fenway Park in an 11-2 loss to the Red Sox. John threw one scoreless inning giving up a walk but only faced 3 batters with the team turned a double play behind him. John is the fourth Twins position player to pitch and this is the fifth occurrence of a Twins position player pitching for the Twins.

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