Category: The Sporting News

The Twins in June of 1964

Today we check out some June 1964 articles about the death of Griffith Stadium by Jimmy McCannon and Max Nichols writes about Minnesota native Dick Stigman, Tony Oliva, Jim Roland and I know you won’t believe it, but back then the manager Sam Mele was complaining about relievers “failing to deliver”. Baseball was different back then but teams had similar problems and these articles give you a look back at Twins players from a time when some of you were not yet born and a perspective on what the MLB was like back then. I hope you enjoy them.

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The Twins in May of 1962

Checking out some May 1962 articles about the Minnesota Twins written by Arno Goethel and Tom Briere about Rick Rollins, Don Mincher, Zoilo Versalles, Earl Battey and others. Baseball was different back then and these articles give you a look back at Twins players from a time when some of you were not yet born and a perspective on what the MLB was like back then.

Back then there was no internet and the best way to get major league baseball news was in your local newspaper (which I read in the Taylors Falls school library during study hall cause we couldn’t afford a daily subscription and my folks could not read English back then) or by signing up to get the Sporting News once a week in the mail. It wasn’t as timely as the internet but it sure was fun waiting and finally getting that weeks Sporting News in the mail. A one-year subscription to The Sporting News in 1962 cost $12.00, as a standard weekly issue was priced at $0.15 per copy on the newsstand.

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The Twins in March of 1963

Today you get to look back to some March of 1963 Sporting News articles by Arno Goethel and Max Nichols. One of the articles is about Hall of Fame outfielder Pedro, or is it Tony Oliva? The other is about Rich Rollins whose first full season in the big leagues was 1962 when he made both American League All-Star teams as a starter and finished eighth in AL MVP voting. Yes, MLB played two All-Star Games per season for four years, from 1959 through 1962. Designed to increase player pension funds, these eight total games were played in different stadiums each year, ending after the 1962 season when owners agreed to a larger share of income from a single game.

Plus I will throw in a Lucky Strike ad for you as a bonus but you need to scroll down from the ad to see the Oliva article.

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MLB Spring Training Sites in 1961

Back in 1960 there were 16 MLB teams split evenly between the American and National League. MLB expansion started in 1961 when the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators came into existence while the previous Washington team left to move to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins giving the American League ten teams withe the National league staying at eight. So let’s take a look back at 1961 and see where MLB teams had their Spring Training sites. When this took place 13 of the MLB teams trained in Florida, four of the teams trained in Arizona and the Angels trained in California.

Since 2010, major league teams have been equally divided between Arizona and Florida during spring training, with 15 teams in Florida and 15 teams in Arizona. All but six of the major league teams have gone to spring training in Florida at one time or another (Anaheim Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks).

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Twins new manager to stress defense in 1976

It has been awhile since I posted some old articles from what was known back then as the “Baseball Bible”, or as most of us knew it, The Sporting News. So now and then I will dig through the archives and we can relive some baseball history.

Back when I was growing up The Sporting News was really the only way to keep up with baseball during the off-season. The Minneapolis and St. Paul papers did a good job keeping us abreast of Minnesota Twins news but nothing really about the rest of the teams. With no internet, podcasts, or MLB TV it was a long off season between the World Series ending and Spring Training beginning. I would be interested in your comments if these kinds of things interest you or not. I appreciate it.

After Frank Quilici was relieved of his managing duties when the 1975 Minnesota Twins season ended with a 76-83 record, owner Calvin Griffith offered him a broadcasting position which Quilici accepted. Griffith then gave Gene Mauch a three-year deal to manage the Twins starting in 1976.

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