Tag: St. Louis Cardinals

Twins call up Walters, lose Benson and break 10 game losing streak

PJ Walters
PJ Walters

The Minnesota Twins announced prior to todays game with the Tigers in Detroit that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher P.J. Walters from AAA Rochester. Walters started 12 games for the Twins in 2012 going 2-5 with a 5.69 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. Walters started strong and finished strong in 2012 but in between he had 5 games where he gave up 25 earned runs. The 28 year-old Walters has also seen big league action with the Cardinals (2009-2011) and with the Blue Jays in 2011. The Twins had signed Walters to a free agent contract in December 2011 and then in October 2012 Walters became a free agent again only to resign with Minnesota a couple of days later. This season Walters made nine starts for the Rochester Red Wings, going 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA (54.1 IP, 20 ER), 46 strikeouts, 16 walks and one complete game.

Benson, Joe 2013Additionally, the Twins reported that AAA Rochester outfielder Joe Benson was claimed off outright waivers by the Texas Rangers, making room for Walters on the Twins 40-man roster. Benson was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft. Benson had appeared in 21 games for the Twins in 2011 and in 74 at bats hit .239 with 6 doubles, 1 triple and no home runs and struck out 21 times. Benson has had injuries issues the last couple of seasons and the Twins brain trust has seemed to lose faith in a player they once though would be their five-tool center fielder of the future. I hate to see Benson leave the Twins but I wish him the very best.

The Twins beat the Tigers 3-2 this afternoon and broke their 10-game losing streak. The Twins scored 3 in the first and then hung on behind Walters 6 solid innings (2 earned runs) and a number of relievers before Perkins finally closed the door on the Twins losing streak. Gardenhire did not get to take part in the Twins post game celebration as umpire Joe West had excused Gardy earlier in the game. Who knows, with the Twins on a 10 game slide maybe West thought he was doing Gardy a favor?

Max Kepler
Max Kepler

Twins prospect Max Kepler continues to have some arm issues that he has been rehabbing since earlier this spring. Now,, after appearing in a couple of games, pain has returned and now Kepler has been diagnosed with tendinitis tendinosis so he will be shut down for about the next two weeks. Hopefully this Twins prospect can get healthy again soon and join the Cedar Rapids Kernels which is where he was expected to open the season.

I also wanted to let everyone know that I just added my 1,000th item to my Today in Twins History page and I will continue to add new items frequently as we move forward to continue to add Twins history to the Twins Trivia site. Make sure you check in frequently to keep up with what has transpired each day in Twins history.

Meet the first ever Rolaids Relief Man of the Year award winner – Bill “Soup” Campbell

Bill Campbell (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)

William Richard Campbell (Soup) was born in Highland Park, Michigan on August 9, 1948 but grew up in the Panoma, California area. Campbell attended junior college after graduating from high school but left school in order to earn some money for a 4 year program. But sometimes the best laid plans change, Uncle Sam called and before he knew it Campbell was in the Army (1968-1970)and on his way to Viet Nam. As far as I can determine, Campbell is the only player in Minnesota Twins history to have actual combat experience when he served as a radio operator in Viet Nam in 1968-1969. After leaving the service, Bill was signed as an amateur free agent pitcher by the Twins in September of 1970 and started his professional career in “A” ball in 1971 with Wisconsin Rapids. In 1972 the 6’3″ right-hander was moved up to “AA” Charlotte and in 1973 he started the season in AAA Tacoma going 10-5 before being called up by the Minnesota Twins in July. In his three minor league seasons Campbell was used strictly as starter (with just one exception in 1971) but the Twins had different plans for Campbell. Bill made his major league debut in relief of Jim Kaat at Met Stadium on July 14, 1973 throwing one scoreless inning allowing one hit and striking out two Cleveland Indian batters. Once Campbell reached the big leagues with the Twins he never pitched in the minor leagues again. “Soup” pitched in 28 games for the Twins in 1973 posting a 3-3 mark and a nice 3.18 ERA. Campbell started two games that season but neither start was much to write home about. In 1974 Campbell pitched in relief in all 63 games that he appeared in and had a slick 2.62 ERA in 120.1 innings while winning 8, losing 7, and saving 19 games. In 1975 Campbell got off to a slow start after tweaking his arm in spring training and the Twins shuffled Bill between the bullpen and the starting rotation. Campbell started 7 games that season pitching two complete games and one of those was an 8-0 shutout of Billy Martin’s Texas Rangers in game 1 of a doubleheader at Met Stadium on the 4th of July. In 1976 Gene Mauch took over as the Twins skipper and told Campbell that he would be his closer. What a phenomenal year Campbell had, he led the league in pitching appearances with 78 and winning percentage (.773) while pitching 167.2 innings as he notched 20 saves and had a 17-5 won/lost record. When the season ended and the awards were handed out, Campbell finished 7th in the Cy Young voting and 8th in MVP voting. On November 1, 1976 Campbell became a free agent and a few days later (November 6) became the first free agent to sign with a new team under the new 1976 collective bargaining agreement which for the first time gave players the right to become free agents. Campbell signed what was then a huge four-year contract with the Boston Red Sox for $1 million.

In his first year with the Red Sox in 1977 Campbell went 13-9 with a 2.96 ERA and led the league in saves with 31 and made the All-Star team. Campbell pitched for the Red Sox from 1977-1981 before he again became a free agent and this time he signed with the Chicago Cubs where he pitched in 1982-1983 before the Cubs traded him to the Phillies in March of 1984. The following spring Campbell was again traded, this time to the St. Louis Cardinals where Campbell in his 13th big league season finally got a chance to pitch in the playoffs and the 1985 World Series. Campbell pitched for Detroit Tigers in 1986 and briefly for the Montreal Expos in 1987 before calling it a career. Bill also pitched in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989 and 1990 before the league folded.

In his 15 big league seasons and 700 games Bill Campbell had a 3.54 ERA with 126 Saves and a won/lost record of 83-68. Campbell threw a fastball and a curve but his screwball was his out pitch. You could make a case that Campbell was a bit on the wild side as he had a 3.6 BB/9 ratio but he also had a 6.3 SO/9 ratio and he only gave up 1,139 hits in 1229.1 innings. Campbell was a real work horse out of the bullpen, out of his 700 games he started just 9 times and yet he pitched 100 or more innings in 6 of his 15 big league seasons. Bill Campbell is 9th on the Twins all-time save’s list with 51. Campbell was the first winner of the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year award in the American League that was started in 1976 and he also won the award in 1977. Campbell also won the Sporting News Reliever of the Year award in 1976 and 1977. Campbell is the only pitcher in MLB history to record at least 17 wins and 17 saves in the same season when he won 17 and saved 20 in 1976 wearing a Twins uniform. Only Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Roy Face had a season with more wins without a start when he had 18-1 record in 1959. Campbell also served on the Milwaukee Brewers coaching staff in 1999.

Today Bill Campbell is retired and enjoying life with his family in the Chicago, Illinois area.

Bill Campbell interview

If you enjoyed this interview, check out the 36 other interviews that I did with former Twins players on our Interview Archives page.

This Day in Twins History – November 6, 1976

After having a season for the ages (still holds AL record for most wins and saves in the same season) with the Minnesota Twins going 17-5 with 20 saves and a 3.01 ERA in 167.2 innings, reliever Bill Campbell (Soup) becomes the first player in MLB to cash in on the new free-agent system. The reliever signs with the Red Sox for big money, a four-year deal for  one-million dollars after being paid $23,000 by the Twins for the 1976 season. How did free agency come into play anyway?

The Reserve Clause, it doesn’t sound that bad, right? But what it really did was to tie a player to the ballclub that originally signed him for as long as the team wished to pay him for his services. It was a paragraph in each player’s contract that allowed a baseball team to keep him indefinitely until he was sold, traded or released. It was part of baseball’s antitrust exemption and allowed the team to renew his contract the following year even if the player refused to sign. The players insisted the renewal was good for one year; owners said it could be invoked indefinitely.

 

Curt Flood

After the 1969 season, 14-year outfielder Curt Flood was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies. Flood appealed in vain to commissioner Bowie Kuhn to be declared a free agent, then sued for it, writing that he was not property to be bought and sold regardless of his wishes and that “any system that produces that result violates my basic right as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States.” On June 19, 1972, the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 against him.

After the 1974 season Oakland A’s pitcher Catfish Hunter claimed that the Oakland A’s owner Charles O. Finley had violated a portion  of his contract and an arbitrator agreed allowing Hunter to sign with any team of his choice and on December 31, 1974 signed a five-year $3.75 million contract with the New York Yankees. Those damn Yankees spent big money even back then.

Unhappy with their contracts, pitchers Andy Messersmith, 30, of the Dodgers and Dave McNally, 33, of the Expos played the 1975 without signing contracts and when the season ended they declared themselves free to sign with whom they pleased. A three-man panel made up of an owners representative, a players representative and an independent arbitrator, Peter Seitz heard the case. You can guess how the owners rep and players rep voted and then Seitz cast his vote in favor of the players making them free agents. The baseball owners quickly fired Peter Seitz and appealed their case in Federal Court but in February of 1976 they lost their appeal. In the spring of 1976 after instituting a spring training player lock-out the owners and players finally agreed on a free agency system. McNally never benefited from the system retiring from baseball before the 1976 season began but Messersmith signed a 3-year, $1.75 million contract that contained “renewal clauses after each season” and Braves owner Ted Turner  stated that “Messersmith will never be traded, he will be a Brave as long as I am”. However; after two seasons in Atlanta where Messersmith put up a 16-15 record the Braves sold him to the New York Yankees who kept him for one year before releasing him, Messersmith with his tail between his legs returned to the Dodgers in 1979 but in August the Dodgers said they had seen enough and Messersmith’s big league career was history. I guess you can make a case that paying big bucks for multi-years to free agent pitchers didn’t work back then and seldom works now. Keep this in mind when you get after the Twins brain-trust to pay big money for a free agent pitcher.

Sports Illustrated did a rather lengthy piece about the 1976 MLB free agent class back in their April 16, 1990 issue called “the first to be free“.

Check out the other Twins events that occurred on November 6th in our Today in Twins History page.

Twins Trivia post season award winners

The 2012 baseball season was not a great season for the Minnesota Twins or their fans but there are teams, players and managers that had a great year and one that they will remember for a long time. Now that the regular season is complete, members of the Baseball Bloggers Association are voting for their post season award winners by picking who they feel deserved to bring home the hardware for their efforts. Here is how I see it.

American League

The Connie Mack (Top Manager) award goes to Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics for leading the A’s to a division championship (94-68) after the team finished with a 74-88 mark in 2011. On June 30th the A’s were 13 games out of first and had a 37-52 record after three consecutive losses to the Texas Rangers. From that point on the A’s went 57-26 and won the division title on the last day of the season. My runner-up award goes to the Baltimore Orioles Buck Showalter who took his team to a wild-card playoff spot and a second place finish in a tough division. My third place finisher was a true rookie manager, Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox who had never managed before and piloted his team to a second place finish when I had the White Sox picked to finish dead last in the AL Central.

The Willie Mays (Rookie of the Year) award is the easiest pick of all, the award goes to outfielder Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Trout started the season in AAA and was called up at the end of April. Even with the late start Trout led the league in runs scored (129) and stolen bases (49) while finishing second in batting average hitting .320. Trout lead all AL rookies in every hitting category and even had the two longest rookie hitting streaks this past season. What an amazing season! My runner-up was the Oakland A’s outfielder Yoenis Cespedes who finished second to Trout in every AL hitting category except stolen bases (finishing fourth) and in any other season would have easily won the award. I have three pitchers rounding out the top 5 with the Oakland A’s Tommy Milone and  Yu Darvish finishing in a tie for third and the Minnesota Twins Scott Diamond rounding out the top five.

The Goose Gossage (Top Reliver) award goes to closer Fernando Rodney of the Tampa Bay Rays. The 35 year-old Rodney had a career year in his 10th season in the big leagues with 48 saves in 50 opportunities with 76 strikeouts in 74.2 innings and posting a 0.60 ERA with a 0.78 WHIP. Talk about lights out and to think he never had an ERA of under 2.68 any other season. The Rays signed Rodney as a free agent on January 4, 2012 for $1.75 million, what a bargain. The runner -up is the Baltimore Orioles Jim Johnson who led the league in saves with 51 in 54 chances. I have Rafael Soriano of the New York Yankees finishing third, Joe Nathan from the Texas Rangers in fourth and my fifth place vote goes to Tommy Wilhelmsen of the Seattle Mariners.

The Walter Johnson (Top Pitcher) award goes again this season to the Detroit Tigers Justin Verlander who pitched 238.1 innings in 33 starts and went 17-8 with an ERA of 2.64 and a 1.06 WHIP and a .217 batting average against to go with his 239 strikeouts. Tampa Bay Rays David Price was my runner-up by an eye lash, Price had a great season going 20-5 with a 2.56 ERA but I gave the nod to Verlander for innings pitched and strikeouts. My third place vote goes to the Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez, fourth goes to Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox and fifth goes to Jeff Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The Stan Musial (Top Player) award goes to the American League’s first triple crown winner since 1967, the Detroit Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera. This was a very tough choice over my runner-up, outfielder Mike Trout of the Angels but in the end I think Cabrera earned it because of his triple crown and because he volunteered to move to 3B to make room for the recently acquired Prince Fielder. Both players had amazing seasons but I had to go with Cabrera this year. My third place vote goes to the Texas Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre, Twins catcher Joe Mauer gets my fourth place vote and my fifth place vote went to the shortstop from the New York Yankees because he played in 159 games and led the league in hits, and at bats at the age of 38.

National League

The Connie Mack (Top Manager) award goes to the Washington Nationals skipper Davey Johnson who took over the manager reigns late in 2011 and took the Nats to their first division championship and 98 wins this past season. Previous to taking over the Nationals manager role in 2011, Johnson last manged the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2000. My runner-up for NL skipper of the year goes to rookie manager Mike Matheny of the St. Louis Cardinals. In his first job as a manager the former catcher Matheny took his team to a wild card playoff spot and 88 victories after losing his best player (Albert Pujols) to free agency and losing one of his best pitchers (Chris Carpenter) for all but 3 games in 2012. The third place vote goes to the Cincinnati Reds skipper Dusty Baker for leading that team to a 97 win division winning season in his fifth year on the job.

The Willie Mays (Rookie of the Year) award goes to the Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper. The Nationals rookie also started his big league career in late April after starting the season in AAA and hit .270 with 22 home runs, 59 RBI’s, scored 98 runs and stole 18 bases. My runner-up may surprise some people but I think catcher Wilin Rosario of the Colorado Rockies had a fantastic rookie season hitting .270 with 28 home runs, 67 runs scored and 71 RBI’s while playing in just 117 games with just 396 at bats. My third place vote goes to lefty Wade Miley of the Arizona Diamondbacks who was 16-11 in 29 starts and 194.2 innings with a 3.33 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP for a team that went 81-81. Fourth place goes to 1B Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs and my fifth place vote goes to 27 year-old rookie pitcher Lucas Harrell who won 11 games for the worst team in baseball, the Houston Astros who won a total of 55 games this year.

The Goose Gossage (Top Reliever) award easily goes to the 24 year-old Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel who had 42 saves in 45 opportunities and posted a 3-1 record with a 1.06 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP. In 62.2 innings Kimbrel struck out 116 batters allowing only 27 hits and 14 walks and allowed opposing hitters a .126 batting average. The man is a machine. My runner-up is Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds who also had 42 saves and struck out 122 batters in 71.2 innings while posting a 1.51 ERA and a 0.81 WHIP. Hitters hit .141 against Chapman. Third place goes to Jason Motte of the St., Louis Cardinals, fourth goes to Jonathan Papelbon of the Philadelphia Phillies and my fifth place vote goes to Joel Hanrahan of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Walter Johnson (Top Pitcher) award is a tough call but I am going with the New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey as my choice. Dickey pitched a league leading 233.2 innings and struck out a league leading 230 batters. The 37-year-old Dickey was 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP for a team that won a total of 74 games. My runner-up is Gio Gonzalez of the division winning Washington Nationals who was 21-8 with a 2.89 ERA and an amazing 0.4/9 home runs allowed. My third place vote goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, fourth place goes to the Atlanta Braves Craig Kimbrel and my fifth place vote is for Cincinnati Reds Johnny Cueto.

The Stan Musial (Top Player) award goes to Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun again this year. Yes, I know all about last years fiasco with Braun but what can I say, the man puts up the numbers and without him the Brewers are nothing. Look at the numbers, a league leading 41 home runs to go with a league leading 108 runs scored, second in RBI’s (112) and a .319 batting average. Top that off with 356 total bases and you have the best player in the NL this season. The runner-up this year is Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen who had a wonderful season. My third place vote goes to San Francisco catcher and part-time first baseman Buster Posey. Posey almost single handedly led the Giants to the NL Western Division title and if he had played as well the entire year as he did in the second half of the season he might have been my choice to win this award. Posey hit .385 and knocked in 60 runs during the last half of 2012 coming off a horrific injury in 2011. I will go with New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey fourth in the voting here because without Dickey the Mets would have been not worth watching. Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel gets my fifth place vote.

So there you have it, the players that I think deserve to bring home the hardware after another great season of baseball in 2012. You may agree or disagree with my choices but that is what makes baseball such a great game and so much fun for us as fans to enjoy. When the BBA announces their winners in the near future I will share them with you.

Who am I?

 

I was born in Cuba and signed by super scout Joe Cambria and the Washington Senators as a amateur free agent prior to the 1960 season but I never played for the Washington Senators big league ballclub.  I finally made the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins but I appeared in only 37 games in a Twins uniform. I then went on to play for the Atlanta Braves, the Houston Astros, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Oakland A’s, and the Texas Rangers. I was in the majors for parts of seven seasons and I played in 436 games. I had 1,038 plate appearances in the big leagues but I was not what you called a power hitter as I never hit a big league home run. I did however, play all nine positions in the big leagues. After my playing career ended, I spent many years in the Seattle Mariners organization performing numerous duties. One of my duties for the Mariners was in scouting and I am credited with signing Edgar Martinez and Omar Vizquel. Who am I?

UPDATE: The answer is shortstop Marty Martinez.

Former Twins infielder Bud Bloomfield passes away

Clyde Stalcup "Bud" Bloomfield in 1964

I found out recently that former Twins and Cardinals infielder Clyde Stalcup “Bud” Bloomfield, 75, passed away on December 21, 2011 at the Countryside Retirement Center in Huntsville, Arkansas after a short illness.

Bloomfield was born on January 5, 1936 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and attended the University of Tulsa and the University of Arkansas where he played baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals signed Bloomfield as an amateur free agent prior to the 1957 season. Bloomfield, an Army veteran, worked his way up through the Cardinals minor league ladder and finally made his major league debut on September 25, 1963 at Wrigley Field as a defensive replacement for 3B Ken Boyer and was waiting in the on-deck circle when the game ended. It turns out that was Bud’s only Cardinal big league appearance.

In December of 1963 the Minnesota Twins acquired Bloomfield from the Cardinals in the minor league draft. Bloomfield spent most of the 1964 season playing for the Twins AAA affiliate Atlanta Crackers but he did appear in seven games for the Twins playing at 2B, SS, and 3B. Bud had one hit as a Minnesota Twin, his only major league hit in his 7 plate appearances. When the 1964 baseball season ended, so did Bud Bloomfield’s professional baseball career.

We at Twins Trivia would like to pass on our condolences to Bud Bloomfield’s family and friends during this difficult time.

Bloomfield’s obit can be found here.