Category: Remembering the 1965 season

1965 American League Champions crossword puzzle – Part 36

crossword image

The snow is falling and it is a bit chilly outside as you rush around preparing for the up-coming holiday season. Presents to buy, decorating to do and all that baking is still to be done or maybe you are just at the office looking to kill some time before your next meeting so maybe you should sit down for a bit and forget all the pressures of your life and think back 50 years to the summer of 1965 and the great pennant run of Minnesota Twins.

I have been doing a series on the 1965 American League champions all season long in this the 50th anniversary of that great season. This is the 36th and final installment of that series and it is in the form of a crossword puzzle. It will hopefully bring back some wonderful memories of the year when the Minnesota Twins won 102 games and advanced to the 1965 World Series only to lose in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The puzzle contains the names of all the players and coaches (some more than once) that were on the 1965 roster and many other interesting facts about the 1965 Twins team.

Once you have brought the puzzle up and are ready to print the puzzle, do a right-click with your mouse and you might want to do a print preview first to get the puzzle the right size to fit on a single page. The clues for the puzzle will print on page 2.

1965 American League Champions crossword

Answers? You want answers? Probably just to double-check your work because if you are checking out this site you are probably a big Twins fan and will not need any research to complete the puzzle. If you do need help answering some, the answer might be found else where on this site. If you must see the answers, you can find them on the link below but only do so as a last resort. Thanks, I hope you enjoy it.

1965 American League Champions crossword answers

Remembering 1965 – Part 34 – Game 7 recap and Sam Mele

Paul Molitor
Paul Molitor

A couple of days ago the Sporting News named Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor as their AL Manager of the Year in a vote from a panel of 27 MLB managers. The Sporting News award is not the “official” vote for AL Manager of the Year but it carries some weight in my eyes because the votes are cast by your peers. Astros skipper A.J. Hinch was the runner-up.

Sam MeleFifty years ago when the Twins won the pennant and advanced to the 1965 World Series, Twins manager Sam Mele won the same award that Molitor won. I am sure that Molitor earned a few dollars more than Mele did in 1965 as his (Mele’s) pay checks totaled about $30,000. Shortly after the 1965 season ended Mele signed a two-year deal for $48,000 a season. Here is a write-up that the Sporting News did on Mele and his award.

Sporting News Oct 23, 1965 P7

Sporting News Oct 23, 1965 P31 (Game 7 recap)

Remembering 1965 – Part 33 – Koufax just too tough – Twins lose 2-0

1965 Twins World Series game 7 ticketGame 7 matched Sandy Koufax and Jim Kaat, who traded scoreboard zeroes until the top of the fourth, when Dodger left fielder Lou Johnson lined a homer off the left-field foul pole. Ron Fairly followed with a double, and he scored on Wes Parker‘s single just a moment later. Kaat was lifted by manager Sam Mele and he brought in his closer Al Worthington, who quickly put a stop to the Dodgers scoring spree, but the Dodgers had two big runs on the board and Koufax on the mound. Would a manager bring in his closer in the fourth inning today, I think not. Worthington was followed by Johnny Klippstein, Jim Merritt, and Jim Perry and they each held the Dodgers off the scoreboard. Jim Gilliam made a great play in the fifth to squelch a Twin rally, and Koufax cruised from there, retiring 13 of the next 14 hitters to finish with a World Series-clinching, three-hit shutout.

Sandy Koufax - World Series MVP
Sandy Koufax – World Series MVP

What more can you say? Some times teams don’t lose the game, the other team wins, I think that was the case here. You have to give credit where credit is due.

If you want to watch game 7 again you can see it on our Twins Audio and Video clips page.

Box score.

Sandy Koufax and the 1965 World Series on a site called Baseball Analysts.

The Twins have to be satisfied with this AL Championship ring instead of a World Series championship ring.
The Twins have to be satisfied with this AL Championship ring instead of a World Series championship ring.

Remembering 1965 – Part 32 – Twins win 5-1, on to game 7

1965 Twins World Series game 6The Twins come back to tie the Series at 3 games apiece when Mudcat Grant hits and pitches the Twins to a 5-1 win on just two days rest in front of 49,578 delirious fans at the Met. The Mudcat and Bob Allison each hit home runs to power the team to a game 7. Dodger outfielder Ron Fairly hit a home run for the Dodgers only run.

World Series Press Pin
World Series Press Pin

Grant pitched a complete game allowing just six hits and one earned run while striking out five Dodger batters. Claude Osteen known to his teammates as “Gomer,” was the losing pitcher in game 6 after shutting out the Twins in game 3 at Dodger Stadium.

On to game 7 !!!!

I wish I had been.
I wish I had been.

Remembering 1965 – Part 31 – Twins have backs to the wall after third loss in a row

Dodger Stadium 1965 World Series
Dodger Stadium 1965 World Series
Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax

The Minnesota Twins lose game 5 of the World Series to Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers, 7-0 and now find themselves down 3 games to 2. The Dodgers steal four bases including three by Willie Davis who sets a single game World Series record. Koufax who won 26 games during the regular season strikes out 10 Twins batters and faces just 29 hitters, aided by four double plays behind him

Jim KaatTwins starter and 18 game winner Jim Kaat lasted just 2.1 innings giving up four runs and took the loss. Twins hitters didn’t fare much better getting just four hits to go with the five hits they had in each of the two previous games at Dodger Stadium. The Twins return to Minnesota needing to win the next two games to hoist the World Champions banner at Met Stadium. Box score.

1965 World Series game 5

Remembering 1965 – Part 30 – Dodgers beat Twins 7-2, Series knotted at 2 games apiece

1965 World Series Game 4

Don Drysdale
Don Drysdale

There were 55,920 baseball fans at Dodger Stadium to watch the Dodgers tie the World Series at 2 games each when Don Drysdale turns the tables and beats Mudcat Grant 7-2 in game 4. Drysdale allowed just five hits, two walks and struck out 11 Twins batters enroute to his game four win. The Twins trailed from the first inning on and played bad baseball through-out the game, being charged with two errors and making numerous mental mistakes that the Dodgers took advantage of. Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva both hit home runs in a losing effort. Box score.

 

Remembering 1965 – Part 29 – Osteen shuts out Twins and Battey injured

1965 Dodgers World Series ticket vs Twins

Claude Osteen
Claude Osteen

Claude Osteen shuts out Camilo Pascual and the Twins 4-0 in game 3 of the World Series in Los Angeles but the Twins still lead the series 2 games to one. The Dodgers out hit the Twins 10 to 5 and Osteen a 25-year-old left hander acquired from the Washington Senators as part of the Frank Howard trade the previous off-season pitched a complete game for the win. Did you know that every winning pitcher in the 1965 World Series for the Twins and the Dodgers pitched a complete game?

This was also the game when catcher Earl Battey was injured. An injury he sustained in the seventh inning when he hit his throat against a dugout railing in Chavez Ravine while chasing a foul pop hit by Willie Davis. He left the game, but returned to start every game in the Series. Box score.

Dodgers Down-And Up

Claude Osteen Bio

This site is about baseball and the Minnesota Twins but every now and then I run across a story or a picture that I think is worth sharing that has nothing to do with the great game of baseball. Earlier this year The Atlantic did a piece called “50 Years Ago: A Look Back at 1965”. There are 50 wonderful photo’s that you all should see and it will give you a chance to see what life and the world was like in 1965. Those were the good old days?

50 Years Ago: A Look Back at 1965

1965WorldSeries

Remembering 1965 – Part 28 – Twins beat Koufax, up 2-0 in World Series

1965 World Series pennantIt has started raining shortly after game one ended and rained until nearly game time. The Twins ground crew used flame-throwers and two helicopter’s to help dry the field and prepare it for game two.

1965 Twins World Series ticket

Jim Kaat
Jim Kaat

Under dark skies which required the lights to be on for the entire game the Twins win game 2 of the World Series when Jim Kaat beats Sandy Koufax 5-1 in front of 48,700 delirious fans at the Met. In addition to pitching a complete game, Kaat was one for four with the bat knocking in two runs. Bob Allison makes a fantastic catch sliding across the left field line and to this day this is one of the finest fielding plays ever seen in a World Series. Box score

 

 

Remembering 1965 – Part 27 – Twins whip Dodgers 8-2 at the Met

Mudcat Grant
Mudcat Grant

October 6, 1965 – The Twins play their first World Series game at Metropolitan Stadium with 47,797 fans in the stands against the Los Angeles Dodgers and win the game 8-2 behind the complete game pitching of Mudcat Grant. Grant becomes the first African-American to win a World Series game. In the third inning the Twins scored six times and rookie second baseman Frank Quilici had a double and a single in the same inning in his first World Series game. Don Drysdale took the defeat. Don Mincher and Zoilo Versalles hit round trippers. Sandy Koufax (26-8) refuses to pitch the first game of the World Series against the Twins because game is scheduled on Yom Kippur, the most sacred of the Jewish holidays. Tony Oliva tied a World Series record for most putouts in a nine-inning game in right field (7). Box score

1965-world-series-openingHubert Humphrey, Vice-President of the United States, and a former mayor of Minneapolis threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

1965 Twins World Series game 1

Remembering 1965 – Part 26 – Oliva, Killebrew, Hall, Lentz, Kindall

The Minnesota Twins are ready to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1965 World Series. But first here are a couple more Sporting News from back in September 1965.

Sporting News Sep 18, 1965 P7

Sporting News Sep 25, 1965 P13

Sporting News Sep 25, 1965 P22