I miss the complete games

The last time the Minnesota Twins team had ten or more complete games by their pitching staff in a season was in 2001 when they had 12. The last time they had more than 8 complete games in a season was in 2010. The Falvey/Levine regime has had a grand total of ten complete games since they came into power after the 2016 season. Once they installed Rocco Baldelli as their manager the Twins have had one complete game in 2021, zero in 2020 and one in 2019. The only Twins pitcher to throw a complete game since 2017 was Jose Berrios so they rewarded him by trading him. Do you know who the last Twins pitcher to throw a complete game before Berrios was? That would be Bartolo Colon on August 4, 2017. Back in 1963 and 1967 the Minnesota Twins team had a franchise high of 58 complete games.

Former Twins pitcher Dwight Siebler gone at the age of 83

Dwight Leroy Siebler was born in Columbus, Nebraska on August 5, 1937, as the third of four children of William and Viola Siebler. Dwight Siebler passed away on June 16, 2021 in Omaha, Nebraska at the age of 83.

Chuck Schilling dead at 83

Chuck Schilling was born on October 25, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York and passed away on March 30, 2021 in West Chester, Pa. After graduating from high school Schilling attended Manhattan College, majoring in electrical engineering but then switched over to mechanical engineering. While still in college in 1958 Schilling signed a $25,000 bonus contract with the Boston Red Sox, eschewing the New York Yankees, a team he disliked even though they had actually started scouting him first.

Schilling played second base and started his pro career in 1959 playing in Class D ball and after 95 games was bumped up to class B and after just 15 game there was called up by the AAA Minneapolis Millers (managed by Gene Mauch and who also played in 8 games) to see if he could help them in the playoffs. He didn’t make that playoff roster but the next season he played for the Eddie Popowski managed 1960 Minneapolis Millers. Both of these Millers teams are full of names that played in the big leagues at one time or another.

Former Twins infielder Ted Lepcio passes away at the age of 90

Ted Lepcio

Thaddeus Stanley Lepcio was born in Utica, New York on July 28, 1929 and passed away on December 5, 2019 at his home in Dedham, Massachusetts. The right-handed hitting Ted Lepcio was not a baseball superstar but he loved baseball and always wanted to be a big league player. He achieved that goal and played in the major leagues for 10 years playing second base, third base and shortstop for five different big league teams.

Former Twins catcher & coach Hal Naragon passes away at age 90

Hal Naragon with Cleveland

Harold (Hal) Richard Naragon was born on October 1, 1928 in Zanesville, Ohio but grew up and spent most of his life in Barberton, Ohio where he passed away on August 31, 2019. Hal was a star high school baseball player and in 2000 the Barberton High School baseball field was named “Naragon Field” in his honor. Naragon, a catcher, was 6’ and weighed about 160 pounds and batted left handed. After signing as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians in 1947 after graduating from high school, Hal started working his way up the minor league chain and made his major league debut on September 23, 1951. Hal missed the 1952 and 1953 season while serving our country in the Marine Corps. Hal was a part of the 111-43 Cleveland Indians team in 1954 that went on to the World Series only to get swept by the New York Giants. When Naragon played in Cleveland he caught future Hall of Fame pitchers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Early Wynn until he was traded to the Washington Senators in 1959.

Hal Naragon

After the 1960 season the Senators relocated to Minnesota and Naragon played with the Twins in 1961 and 1962. After being released by Minnesota after the 1962 season he was offered a coaching position under manager Sam Mele and he coached with the Twins from 1963 through 1966. After the 1966 season Naragon moved on to coach for the Detroit Tigers between 1967 and 1969 before he hung up his spikes once and for all. Hal caught in the big leagues for all or parts of 10 seasons with the Indians, Senators and the Twins compiling a career batting average of .266 in 424 games but he was never able to achieve full-time playing status. Never the less, Naragon was a valuable asset behind the plate and swung a good left handed stick and in 985 at bats had 262 hits, 6 home runs and 87 RBI. 

Hal leaves behind his wife of seventy-one years, Joanne; his daughter, Pamela (Jeff) Yeck of Canton; grandsons, Chad (Noel) Bradley of Massillon and Evan (Amber) Bradley of Massillon; great-grandchildren, Whitney and Maverick Bradley; his brother, Thomas (Barbara) Naragon; as well as many nieces, nephews and many many friends. He is preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Barbara Cole and brother, Jim Naragon. RIP Hal Naragon and thank you for all the memories. About ten years ago I did an interview with Hal that you can listen to here.

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

Hal Nargaon Obituary

He managed the Minnesota Twins to their first World Series in 1965

 Sabath Anthony “Sam” Mele 

Sam Mele managed the Twins for 1961-1967.

Sabath Anthony “Sam” Mele was born in Astoria, New York on January 21, 1922. Although they met in America, Sam Mele‘s parents were born in Avellino, Italy. Mele’s mother was sister to big league brothers Al Cuccinello and Tony Cuccinello. Mele, a natural all-around athlete and a Queens Park baseball legend attended New York University, where he excelled as a basketball player before serving his country in the Marines during World War II. But Mele wanted to play pro baseball and was signed as a free agent by the Boston Red Sox in 1946. In his first year of organized ball, Mele played 119 games for Scranton (A ball in the Easter League) hitting .342 with 18 home runs before being moved up to Louisville in the AAA American Association where he played all of 15 games. Mele made his major league debut with the Red Sox the following year against the Washington Senators on April 15, 1947. His rookie season may have been one of the best of his career as Sam hit 12 home runs and knocked in 73 runs in 123 games while hitting .302. Mele would never hit over .300 again in his 10 year major league career. During his playing career spanning 1947 to 1956, Mele, who batted and threw right-handed, saw duty with six major league clubs: the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians, batting .267 with 80 home runs in 1,046 games. Sam Mele played his final major league game as a Cleveland Indian on September 16, 1956. Mele played AAA ball with for the White Sox and Athletics in 1957 and 1958 but never returned to the majors as a player.

Sam Mele in his playing days

Mele turned to coaching and served under manager Cookie Lavagetto in 1959 and 1960 for the Washington Senators before the team moved to Minnesota in 1961 and became known as the Twins. With the ‘61 Twins struggling, Calvin Griffith asked Lavagetto to take a week off in early June and during this period Mele filled in as manager. When Cookie Lavagetto was fired on June 23, 1961, Sam Mele stepped in as manager full-time and became the Minnesota Twins second manager. The Twins moved up two places in the standings under Mele, finishing seventh when the 1961 season ended.

But the Twins, building with young home-grown players like future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, Jim Kaat, Zoilo Versalles and Bob Allison, challenged the powerful New York Yankees in 1962 before finishing second. After finishing third in 1963, the team suffered through a poor season in 1964, leading to speculation that Mele would be replaced by his new third base coach, Billy Martin.

Finally, in 1965 the Twins broke the Yankees’ string of five World Series appearances by winning their first ever American League pennant and sent the Bronx Bombers on a tailspin where the New York Yankees would not appear in another World Series for 12 years. Led by Zoilo Versalles, who was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player, batting champion Tony Oliva, and pitcher Mudcat Grant, who won 21 games, Minnesota won 102 games and coasted to the league title. The Yankees finished sixth, 25 games out. No Twins team has ever won 102 games since and Mele was named as the 1965 Sporting News Manager of the Year and back then there was only one manager of the year named for both the AL and NL. Minnesota took a two-game lead in the 1965 World Series, but the superior pitching of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Claude Osteen took its toll, and Los Angeles won in seven games. During the 1965 season Mele was involved in a an incident with home plate umpire Bill Valentine. The usually mild-mannered Mele’s hand apparently hit Valentine’s jaw and he was fined $500 and suspended five days.

The 1966 Twins won 13 fewer games, and ended up as runners-up to the Baltimore Orioles. Mele had clashed publicly with two of his coaches, Hal Naragon and pitching tutor Johnny Sain and both were fired after the 1966 season much to the dismay of star pitcher Jim Kaat who wrote an “open letter” to Twins fans voicing his displeasure on the Sain firing. The “letter” made national news and caused a ruckus during the 1966 World Series when major league baseball wanted the World Series front and center. The club swung a major trade for pitcher Dean Chance during the offseason and unveiled star rookie Rod Carew in 1967. Hopes and expectations were high in Minnesota, but when the Twins were only .500 after 50 games, Mele was fired. His successor was not Martin, as had been anticipated, but long time minor league manager Cal Ermer. Mele’s record as a manager was 524-436 (.546). He never managed again, but returned to the Red Sox as a scout for 25 years.

Sam Mele passed away on May 1, 2017 at the age of 95. I was lucky enough to interview Sam Mele back in May of 2009 and the interview is about a 1/2 hour-long so grab the beverage of your choice, sit back, relax and listen to Sam tell you a little about himself and what it was like to manage the Minnesota Twins.

Sam Mele New York Times Obituary

Sam Mele interview

The Sam Mele SABR Baseball Biography is available here.

 

Minnesota Twins open first spring training camp in Orlando

Manager Cookie Lavagetto explains how it will be done in 1961. (Credit Star Tribune) Click on image to make it larger

The Twins opened their first spring training on this day back in 1961 at Tinker Field in Orlando with manager Cookie Lavagetto at the helm. Back then the team had just three coaches, Eddie Lopat, Clyde McCullough and Sam Mele. The team brought in Floyd Baker and Tony “Angelo” Giuliani as spring training coaches to help out.

The number of players in camp was different back then too, in their first camp the Twins had 33 big leaguers and 14 farmhands as they called their minor league invites back then. The PDF below will show you who was invited to the Twins first spring training at Tinker Field.

1961 Twins Spring Training Roster

The Twins of course had a medical staff made up of Dr. William E. Proffitt Jr. and Trainer “Doc” George Lentz. Some of their techniques might be questioned today. The main tool trainers used back then was ethyl chloride, which had long been used by physicians as a local skin anesthetic to reduce pain when lancing boils and making small incisions. The numbness is produced by freezing the skin, however; the use of too much ethyl chloride results in frostbite.

Click on image to make it larger

The Twins have 28 spring training games scheduled with the first game to be played at Tinker Field on March 11.

Eddie Lopat (credit Getty Images)

Clyde McCullough

Sam Mele

 

 

 

 

 

Floyd Baker

Angelo Giuliani (credit newspaper archives)

 

The very first Minnesota Twins manager

Harry Arthur “Cookie” Lavagetto

Cookie Lavagetto was the Washington Senators manager when they became the Minnesota Twins but he lasted just 66 games and finished with a 25-41 record in 1961.

 

Harry Arthur “Cookie” Lavagetto was born December 1, 1912 in Oakland, California and died in his sleep on August 10, 1990 in Orinda, California at the age of 77. He acquired his nickname from his Oakland Oaks teammates, who called him “Cookie’s boy,” because he had been hired by Oaks’ president Victor “Cookie” Devincenzi. Lavagetto played third base and second base in the major leagues for 10 seasons and played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1934-1936 and was a four-time All-Star while with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1937 -1947. Cookie did not play ball in the majors from 1942-1945 due to serving his country in the military during World War II. Cookie enlisted in the US Navy in February 1942 even though he was classified 3-A and was sworn in as Aviation Machinist Mate 1st class. He is most widely known as the pinch hitter whose double with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning ruined Bill Bevens‘ bid for the first World Series no-hitter in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series and gave his Brooklyn Dodgers a breathtaking victory over the New York Yankees, a game known as “The Cookie Game”. You can listen to a broadcast clip of that play here and see a video clip here. The Dodgers went on to lose the 1947 World Series to the New York Yankees 4 games to 3.

Looking back at the Minnesota Twins in the 60’s

The Minnesota Twins started play in 1961 after moving from Washington D.C. where they were known as the Washington Senators. In their final year as the Senators in 1960 the team had a 73-81 record. Between 1946 and 1960 they had one, just one, winning season and that was in 1952 when they barely made it over the .500 mark with a 78-76 record.

Nevertheless the baseball fans of Minnesota were excited about getting a major league team (some might disagree with that description) to move to their state. Team owner Calvin Griffith felt he had some good young players that were just starting to make their mark.

The 1961 team was managed by Cookie Lavagetto until he was fired by Griffith after a 23-36 start and replaced by coach Sam Mele. The team went on to finish seventh in the ten team American League with a 70-90 mark and 38 games out of first place. The team won 91 games in both 1962 and 1963 but in 1964 they fell back to a 79-83 record and fans were calling for manager Mele to hit the road. However; Griffith stuck with his man and in 1965 Mele’s Twins won 102 games and found themselves in the World Series playing the Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale led Los Angeles Dodgers. The Twins came out on the short end of that Series losing four games to three but baseball was exciting in Minnesota. 

The 1966 Twins were not able to defend their 1965 pennant and finished with a 89 win season but they were nine games behind the Baltimore Orioles. The 1967 season saw the American League with a pennant race like none before it with the Red Sox, Twins, Tigers, White Sox and Angels battling down to the very end of the season. The Twins started the season at just 25-25 and that was not what the Twins owner was expecting so he fired Mele and brought Cal Ermer to lead his team. The team responded to Ermer and had a one game lead with two games to play with the Red Sox at Fenway Park and they lost both games allowing the Red Sox to win the 1967 AL pennant by one game over Minnesota and Detroit, three games over the White Sox and 7.5 games over the Angels.

The Twins started the 1968 season with six straight wins, five of them on the road but that was their high-water mark for the season and when the season ended so did the managing career of Cal Ermer. Less than two weeks later Calvin Griffith hired Billy Martin as his new manager.

1969 saw the AL break in two divisions with the Twins being part of the six team AL West along with the Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, California Angels, Seattle Pilots, and the Kansas City Royals. 1969 was also the first season that had a best of five ALCS. In this case the West Division winning Twins played the East Division winning Baltimore Orioles and the Twins lost all three games. They lost the first game in Baltimore in 12 innings 4 to 3, the lost game two again in Baltimore in 11 innings 1 to 0 and their third and final game was a blowout 11-2 loss at the Met when Billy Martin went on a hunch and started Bob Miller, a part-time starter/reliever and he lasted just 1.2 innings. Martin’s decision to start Miller turned out to be one of the key reasons he would be fired by Griffith after just one season.

The Twins played winning baseball (.542) in the 60’s and had a record of 789-666. So who were the key Twins hitters and pitchers in the Twins first decade of baseball in the Minnesota? It is difficult to determine the value that a player brings to the team without being arbitrary so the best way that I know of to measure a players worth is WAR. I know of lot of you either don’t like it and don’t know how it is calculated exactly (either do I), but if we apply the same measurement to everyone it will serve our purpose here. The position player with the highest WAR for the period of 1961-1969 probably is no surprise to anyone, it is Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and the pitcher for that same time period is Jim Kaat.

Baseball lifer and former Twins pitcher Bill Fischer passes away at the age of 88

Bill Fischer – Royals senior pitching adviser with credit to John Sleezer

Bill Fischer was born in Wausau, Wisconsin on October 11, 1930 and passed away at his home in Council Bluffs, Iowa on October 30, 2018 at the age of 88. A baseball and basketball player at Marathon High School, Fischer was taken by his high school principal and baseball coach to a Chicago White Sox tryout camp and quickly signed the right-handed pitcher to a $150 a month contract to pitch in Class D Wisconsin Rapids in 1948. The 17-year-old Fischer won his first 10 starts, the first three being a two-hitter, a three-hit shutout, and a two-hit shutout. He had a streak of 26 scoreless innings and finished 14-3 with a 2.63 ERA. 

According to his SABR Bio written by Bob LeMoine –

Fischer was drafted into the US Marine Corps in 1951, at the height of the Korean War, and served as a drill sergeant. “I hated it, but I had a job to do,” he said. “I was in charge of a platoon of 75 men. When I wanted my boots shined, I hollered for my personal shoeshine boy to do it, on the double. Everything was on the double. … I had those platoons sick of looking at me, I guess.” Wryly, he recalled that “The only two-year contract I ever had in my life was when I was drafted into the Marines.” His baseball talents kept him in stateside while the war was waging. His San Diego team won the Marine Corps championship and played in Wichita, Kansas, at the National Baseball Congress Tournament.

According to Fischer, he never saw a big league ball game until he pitched in one during spring training. In 1956 Fischer was invited to spring training by the White Sox and pitched well enough to make the team.  In his major league debut against the Kansas City A’s on April 21, 1956 Fischer had the misfortune of being called in to relieve White Sox starter Sandy Consuegra in the second inning and promptly gave up a single, triple, single, single before being pulled himself before retiring a single Athletic in what turned out to be a 13 run inning for the home-town Kansas City ballclub. Fischer’s White Sox lost the game 15 to 1 when A’s starter Art Ditmar pitched a complete game with Earl Battey getting the only hit for the Mighty Whitey’s. 

Bill Fischer in 1958 with Washington Senators

In 1958 the White Sox traded Fischer to the Detroit Tigers where he struggled and was picked up on waivers by the Washington Senators late in the season. Fischer credited Senators pitching coach Walter “Boom-Boom” Beck and manager Cookie Lavagetto with helping him find rhythm and relax. “I learned more about pitching in three weeks with Washington than I had learned in all my other years in baseball,” In 1960 Fischer struggled and the Senators traded him to the Tigers who moved him to the KC A’s the following season (1961). 

In 1962 Bill Fischer set a record that stands to this day of pitching a record-breaking 84 1/3 consecutive innings without allowing a walk shattering Christy Mathewson’s record of 68 innings. His streak began on August 3rd when he walked Cleveland third baseman Bubba Phillips and ended on the last day of the season on September 30th when Fischer walked Detroit center fielder Bubba Morton, so the streak began and ended with two guys named Bubba.

Bill Fischer

In December of 1963 the #MNTwins selected Fischer who already had spent parts or all of 8 seasons in the major leagues in the Rule 5 Draft which operated differently than the Rule 5 Draft operates today. The move by Minnesota move reunited Fischer with manager Sam Mele, who was on the Washington coaching staff when Fischer was with the Washington Senators a few years earlier. Fischer struggled in nine appearances out of the Twins bullpen in 1964 and his final major league pitch was hit for a walk-off home run by Oriole catcher John Orsino in a 6-5 win over the Twins giving Fischer the loss in his only decision as a Minnesota Twin. Shortly there-after he was returned to Kansas City and then placed on the retirement list.

Fischer then hooked up with his original team, The Chicago White and pitched for their AAA teams through 1968 before retiring as an active player. He retired from playing in 1968 and moved into coaching with stops in Cincinnati, Boston, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Kansas City, where he spent the past eight seasons as a senior adviser.

Fischer is survived by his wife, Val, and children, Mike and Melissa. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Thank you for the memories Bill Fischer.

Bill Fischer SABR Bio

Bill Fischer, Royals’ senior pitching adviser and former KC A’s pitcher, dies at 88

Former MLB player and Royals coach Bill Fischer of Council Bluffs dies at 88