TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
April is a wet month in Minnesota but the sun is out this morning and I think it is the first time in almost a week. The Twins have been home and have not had any games rained out but the fans and the players have had to endure some rain and cool weather for most of the current home stand.
However; the weather here in 2016 is mild when you compare it to the Minnesota Twins troubles 50 years ago back in 1966.
April 16 – Lost to the Angels 3-2 at home
April 17 – Postponed against Angels at home
April 18 – Scheduled day off
April 19 – Lost to Kansas City A’s 3-2 on the road
April 20 – Postponed due to cold weather
April 21 – Scheduled day off
April 22 – Lost to the Angels 2-1 on the road
April 23 – Lost to the Angels 4-3
April 24 – Beat the Angels on the road 5-3
April 25 – Lost to the Tigers 3-0 on the road
April 26 – Postponed in Detroit
April 27 – Postponed in Baltimore
April 28 – Postponed in Baltimore
April 29 – Postponed in Washington DC
April 30 – Postponed in Washington DC
May 1 – Split a doubleheader with the Washington Senators on the road.
You can read more about this Twins streak of bad weather as well as several other interesting Twins articles dating back to 1966 in the Sporting News PDF below.
April 28, 1961 – The Twins and the Los Angeles Angels are tied 4-4 after 9 innings at Wrigley Field. The Twins score an unearned run in the top of the 12th and take the lead 5-4. Twins skipper Cookie Lavagetto pulls starter Pedro Ramos who has pitched the first 11 innings and brings in reliever Bill “Shorty” Pleis to close out the victory. Pleis gets the first out but then gives up a game tieing home run to Ken Hamlin. The next two hitters get singles but Pleis retires Leon Wagner for the second out. The Twins decide to intentionally walk Ted Kluszewski to load the bases. So what happens next? Shorty Pleis hits Ken Hunt and the Angels have a walk-off hit-by-pitcher win. Yikes!! It was the thirteen game the new formed Minnesota Twins had ever played and it turns out to be their first ever walkoff loss. Boxscore
Miguel Sano hit a walkoff RBI single as the Twins downed the Indians, 6-5. It was the second straight game in which Minnesota won in walkoff fashion, with Oswaldo Arcia ending Monday’s game with a solo homer. It’s been over 10 years since the Twins last won consecutive games, with each coming of the walkoff variety. On July 19, 2005, Jacque Jones hit a walkoff single to defeat the Orioles and a day later, Jones did it again, ending the game with a home run.
Did you know: That in their history since 1961, the Twins have been walkoff winners 403 times and walkoff losers 407 times?
The expansion Los Angeles Angels play their first home game bowing to the Minnesota Twins at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, 4-2. The 74-year old baseball legend Ty Cobb, in his last-ever visit to a ballpark, throws out the first ceremonial pitch. This was the first American League game to ever be played in Los Angeles.
Wrigley Field – Opened in 1925, closed in 1965 and demolished in 1966. Wrigley Field’s brief major league status ended after the 1961 season. Most people remember Wrigley Field as the backdrop for the old TV series home run derby. It was also the site for several baseball themed movies including pride of the Yankees, and the old Munsters TV show
I found out just recently that former Minnesota Twins pitcher Bill Whitby had passed away on March 12, 2016 in Huntersville, North Carolina at the age of 72 from heart disease.
William Edward Whitby was born in Crewe, Virginia on July 29, 1943. Bill was a star athlete at Victoria High School (Virginia) and after his high school graduation signed as a 17-year-old amateur free agent with the Minnesota Twins for $10,000, a substantial bonus back then.
Bill started his professional pitching career as a 17 year old in class D ball with the Wytheville Twins and played there with future Twins to be Jim Manning, Tony Oliva, Frank Quilici, and Ted Uhlaender. Whitby climbed the Twins minor league ladder quickly and found himself pitching for the AA Charlotte Hornets late in 1963. In 1964 Bill started the season in Charlotte again but got the call that all players wait for, the call to the big leagues. Bill Whitby made his big league debut at the age of 20 on June 17, 1964 at Cleveland Stadium in game 2 of a doubleheader in the 8th inning with two runners on and two out with the Twins trailing 4-0. He retired Indians second baseman Larry Brown for the final out but in the ninth inning he got the first batter out before giving up a home run (Pedro Ramos) and a single before retiring the final two batters. Whitby made three more relief appearances in a Twins uniform before being returned to Charlotte.
Sadly for Bill, it turned out that those four appearances for the Twins would be his only pitching opportunities in the big leagues. Bill started the 1965 season in Charlotte but after posting a 10-8 record with a 2.61 ERA (including pitching a no-hitter) he was promoted to AAA Denver where it turns out he spent the next four years. The Twins traded RHP Bill Whitby to the St. Louis Cardinals on July 1, 1969 and in return received 1B Bill Davis and RHP Mel Nelson. Bill pitched briefly in 1970 for AAA Denver which was then a Washington Senators affiliate before encountering some shoulder issues that prompted him to hang up his baseball spikes for good at the age of 26.
Bill and his wife Donelle were married for over 50 years and actually met when Donelle was selected as “Miss Hornet” in 1964 and Bill who was playing for Charlotte at the time served as her escort. As part of being selected “Miss Hornet”, Donelle Ranson was also given a trip to spring training in Melbourne, Florida where she and Bill started dating and on February 12, 1966 they were married and went on to have two children, son’s Brian and Kevin.
After baseball was in his rear view mirror Bill and Donelle returned to their farming roots and bought a farm near Huntersville, North Carolina where they raised beef cattle and some crops. When I talked with Donelle she was very grateful to the Minnesota Twins because they provided the opportunity for her and Bill to meet and share a wonderful life together.
The Nationals defeated the Twins in 16 innings on yesterday after trailing in the ninth and 15th innings. Dusty Baker has won 1,685 games as a major-league manager, but this was his first in which his team trailed in the ninth inning and again in extra innings.
The last time that a major-league team tied a game with a bottom-of-the-ninth home run and won it in the 15th-inning or later with another homer came on May 25, 2008 when the Padres defeated the Reds, 12-9, in 18 innings. Scott Hairston hit a game-tying ninth-inning home run and Adrian Gonzalez had a walk-off home run off of Edinson Volquez.
Twins batters wore themselves out yesterday swinging and missing Tanner Roark pitches at Nationals Park when they whiffed 18 times and were shutout by the Washington Nationals 2-0 in 2 hours and 39 minutes. This is the second time in Twins history that they have struck out 18 times in a nine inning game. Their high water mark of striking out 19 times has been achieved three times in extra inning games.
The Minnesota Twins have struck out 15 or more times in a game on 46 occasions and their record in those games now stands at 10-36.
UPDATE: So what happens the day I post this blog? Later that afternoon the Twins play the Washington Nationals and lose 6-5 in the 16th inning and they strike out 20 times, just a day after striking out 18 times. I watched the entire 5 hour and 56 minutes of the game on TV. Boxscore
Ft. Myers (High A) left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. Gonsalves made the start Tuesday night vs. Jupiter, allowing two runs (1 earned) on five hits in 7.0 innings pitched, with one walk and eight strikeouts, earning the win. Gonsalves has made three starts for the Miracle this season, going 1-1, 1.89 ERA (19.0 IP, 4 ER) with four walks and 18 strikeouts.
The 6’5″ Gonsalves was drafted (a real steal) by the Twins in the fourth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego. Gonsalves entered the season as the Twins ninth best prospect by Baseball America.
Personally I think that Gonsalves can turn out to be as good a pitching prospect if not better than Jose Berrios. The 21-year-old Gonsalves is in his 4th year of pro ball and his record so far stands at 20-8, with a 2.55 ERA along with a WHIP of 1.08. In 247.1 innings he has struck out 258 batters and allowed only 177 hits. I really don’t understand why Gonsalves is even in High A, he should be in AA as he has proven in 2015 that he can handle High A.
The Twins entered Friday’s game with an all-time record (since 1961) of 4,362-4,425 and an all-time franchise record (Senators and Twins) of 8,585-9,289. For sixty years, the Senators played baseball in our nation’s capital, winning one World Championship and three AL pennants. In 1961, owner, Calvin Griffith, moved the Senators from Washington, DC to Bloomington, Minnesota. The Senators played from 1901-1960, compiling a record of 4,223-4,864. Some notable Hall of Famers from the Senators teams include: Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, Joe Cronin, Bucky Harris, Heinie Manush and Walter Johnson. The Senators beat the New York Giants in the 1924 World Series in seven games, marking the only World Series victory for the franchise during their first sixty-year tenure in Washington. Source: Twins GameNotes
Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano each hit solo home runs as the Twins picked up their first road victory of the season, an 8-1 triumph over the Brewers. Minnesota started the season 0-7 away from home; that was their longest road losing streak to start a season, surpassing the previous mark of six in 1904, when the team was known as the Washington Senators. Over the last five years (since 2012), one other team started a season 0-7 on the road, the 2014 Marlins (lost first seven).
The Twins have hit two home runs in each of their last four games, their longest streak of games with multiple homers since September 2013 (also a four-game streak).
April is a wet month in Minnesota but the sun is out this morning and I think it is the first time in almost a week. The Twins have been home and have not had any games rained out but the fans and the players have had to endure some rain and cool weather for most of the current home stand.
