Former Minnesota Twins pitcher Lee Stange gone at 81

Lee Stange – (courtesy of Minnesota Twins)

Albert Lee (Stinger) Stange, born on October 27, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois, passed away at the age of 81 in Melbourne, Florida after losing his battle with cancer. Stange was a great athlete in high school playing baseball, basketball, and football (with Ray Nitschke) and winning all-state honors in the latter two sports. After graduating from high school Stange went to Drake University on a football scholarship but a knee injury his freshman season ended his football career, but it did not end his dream of being a professional athlete.

“Two years later, I called a scout (Washington Senators scout Ossie Bluege) who saw me play baseball in high school, and I said I wanted to play ball. He sent me a contract for $200 a month (to play) in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.”

Lee Stange

Lee signed as a free agent with the Washington Senators in 1957. Stange spent 1957 and 1958 in class “D” ball at Fort Walton Beach before moving up to class “B” in 1959. In 1960 while still in class “B”, Stange won 20 games while losing 13 when he threw for 251 innings and finished the season with a 3.59 ERA. The following spring, 1961, in the Minnesota Twins initial spring training, Lee made the big league club, pitching in a couple of games before getting sent down and spending most of the season in AAA Syracuse before he was recalled to Minnesota in September. Stange spent the entire 1962 season with the Twins, starting 6 games but pitching primarily in relief. In 1963 Stange again started the season with Minnesota but in early May was again sent down to AAA where he ripped off a string of victories that forced the Twins hand and he was once again in the majors. After being recalled, Stange pitched primarily as a starter and won 12 games including two shutouts  while losing just 5 and putting up an exceptional 2.62 ERA in 164+ innings. During his Twins career between 1961-1964 Stange appeared in 97 games, starting 37 times and posting a 20-14 record with a 3.61 ERA. Stange was more of a throw to contact pitcher then a power pitcher but his pitching skills served him well. Stange had 10 complete games, two shutouts and 3 saves on his resume at Minnesota. Stange was an excellent bowler, so good in fact that the Brunswick bowling company signed Stange to tour Minnesota, Iowa, and the Dakotas during the winter on exhibition tours. One year, Stange said, he was offered a sponsorship to go on the pro tour, but he declined.

In June of 1964 Lee Stange and George Banks were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Jim Grant. That September the Stinger struck out four Washington Senator batters in one inning. After pitching for the Indians for a couple of seasons Stange was once again traded, this time to the Red Sox in 1966.

Stange pitched very well for the 1967 Red Sox and was involved in one of the greatest pennant races the American league history. Even though he finished with an 8-10 record, he led the Red Sox pitching staff with an ERA of just 2.77. The race was so tight that it was thought that a playoff game might be necessary to determine a pennant winner and Red Sox manager Dick Williams saved Stange to pitch that game. It turned out that an extra game was not needed and the Red Sox won the pennant and got the right to play the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. Losing to Bob Gibson three times, the Red Sox went on to lose the World Series to the Cardinals 4 games to 3. Stange pitched for the Red Sox until June of 1970 when he was sold to the White Sox. After the 1970 season Stange’s body told him that enough was enough and Lee retired as an active player and went on to coaching and managing in the minors as well as serving as a pitching coach in the major leagues for the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland A’s, and the Boston Red Sox on two separate occasions.

Stange was twice the pitching coach of the Red Sox, from 1972-74 and again from 1981-84. He then became a minor league pitching instructor for the Sox from 1985-94. Stange also had coaching stints with the Twins (1975) and Athletics (1977-79). In all he spent 40 years in professional baseball, 23 of them with the Boston Red Sox. Stange spent nine years as the pitching coach for Division 2 Florida Tech before retiring from baseball at age 78. Lee Stange participated in Minnesota Twins and Boston  Red Sox fantasy baseball camps for many years and was always a fan favorite.

Survivors include his wife, Barbara and three children, Tim, Jim and Jana. Stange also had two stepchildren, former Sox infielder Jody Reed and Paul Reed.

RIP Lee Stange and thank you for all the wonderful memories. Stange is the 25th member of the 1961 Minnesota Twins team to pass away. There were 42 players that played for the Minnesota Twins in 1961.

 

Boston Globe Bio

The SABR Baseball Biography Project write-up on Lee can be found here.

Back in November 2009 I did an interview with Lee Stange that is 58 minutes in length.

 Lee Stange interview

This Day in Franchise History – March 15, 1945

As a Minnesota Twins fan and a fan of baseball history I can’t help but enjoy a site over at www.dcbaseballhistory where the early years of the Minnesota Twins are covered in detail. Back then, the team was called the Washington Senators and they played in Washington D.C. from 1901-1960. Today they ran a piece called “This Day in D.C. Baseball History – Wounded Veteran gets a Try Out” (March 5, 1945) that they have allowed me to repost here. Bert Shepard was a real World War II hero, a POW, and a winner of the  Distinguished Flying Cross. He may have only played in one big league game but think about the will, courage and pain that he must have had to achieve his goal. You also have to be impressed by Clark Griffith who gave Shepard an opportunity to be in baseball. Cool story, it kind of makes you feel good to read about these kinds of things happening in a game that can at times be tough and cold. Shepard died in Highland, California on June 16, 2008

shepard, Bert 2Bert Shepard, a one-legged veteran of World War II, tries out as a pitcher for the Washington Senators. The Senators owner Clark Griffith was so impressed with Shepard that he hired him as the team’s pitching coach. During the 1945 spring training Shepard with his artificial leg pitched in three games. For the rest training camp his main job was to pitch batting practice.

Bert Shepard was a World War II fighter pilot who lost his right leg on May 21, 1944 when his plane was shot down while he was flying a mission over Germany. This heroic man survived his plane crash and a gunshot wound to his chin. Afterward Shepard was taken to a German hospital where they amputated most of his right leg. During the next few months he was in POW camp in Germany. After returning home from the war in February, 1945 Shepard was sent to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C. where he was fitted for an artificial leg. As amazing as it is one month later this heroic American was trying out for a major league baseball team.

Shepard, Bert 3What is more amazing was that on August 4,  1945 the Senators’ manager Ossie Bluege called on Bert Shepard to come in and pitch a few innings of a game that the Senators were trailing by  quite a few runs. The left hander ended up pitching five and a third innings and only gave up one run and three base hits. That one game will be the first and last game for the war hero as the Senators released him on September 30, 1945.

Good Eye, Good Eye!

May 15, 2010 – The Twins preach to their pitchers that the batter should earn his way on base via a hit, just throw the ball over the plate and take your chances that the batter will hit it to one of your fielders. In recent years, the Twins pitching staff has always been one of the league leaders in fewest bases on balls allowed.

But the shoe is on the other foot when it comes to the Twins hitters where the coaching staff tries to teach patience at the plate, after all, a walk is just as good as a hit. Plus, the more pitches you see, the better the odds are of the batter getting a hit and the quicker the pitcher reaches their so called pitch limits. This year the Twins hitters have taken that advice to heart and after 32 games they have walked 147 times and are on pace for about 700 walks which would be the most not only in Twins history but in franchise history. The 1956 Senators walked 690 times and the most walks by a Twins team was the 1962 Twins when they walked to first base 649 times. Let’s take a look at the top 10 career Twins and Senators batters that believed that a walk was indeed as good as a hit.

Minnesota Twins

HOF Harmon Killebrew played for the Senators/Twins from 1954-1974
HOF Harmon Killebrew played for the Senators/Twins from 1954-1974
Rank Player Bases on Balls Plate Appearances Base on Ball %
1 Harmon Killebrew 1,321 8,018 16.48%
2 Kent Hrbek 838 7,137 11.74%
3 Bob Allison 641 4,641 13.81%
4 Rod Carew 613 6,980 8.78%
5 Roy Smalley 549 4,675 11.74%
6 Chuck Knoblauch 513 4,571 11.22%
7 Kirby Puckett 450 7,831 5.75%
8 Tony Oliva 448 6,879 6.61%
9 Matt Lawton 408 3,150 12.95%
10 Tom Brunansky 394 3,760 10.48%

 Washington Senators

Eddie Yost
Eddie Yost
Rank Player Bases on Balls Plate Appearances Base on Ball %
1 Eddie Yost 1,274 7,461 17.08%
2 Joe Judge 943 8,906 10.59%
3 Buddy Myer 864 7,028 12.29%
4 Mickey Vernon 735 7,769 9.46%
5 Ossie Bluege 723 7,452 9.70%
6 Clyde Milan 685 8,312 8.24%
7 Sam Rice 680 9.879 6.89%
8 Buddy Lewis 573 5,937 9.65%
9 Joe Kuhel 530 5,234 10.13%
10 Goose Goslin 488 5,810 8.40%