Tag: 1965 Minnesota Twins

The Twins at the World Series

The franchise has a 3-3 record in World Series history

The start of a new baseball season is always a glorious time. Fans across the country all have high hopes and dreams that they will be celebrating a Fall Classic win later in the year. Obviously, most of those dreams will be dashed over the next few months but, just for a little while, all 30 teams are still in with a chance.

Five clubs have never tasted victory, of course, with the Seattle Mariners never even making it to the World Series. There may be a few Twins fans that can’t remember a victory of our own but we have come out on top on no less than three occasions – with another three agonizing finals defeats in franchise history.

After winning the AL Central last season, there will be some of the best MLB betting sites looking at the Twins as a long shot for a championship this year. But, while we settle into the new campaign, let’s take a look back at all the times the franchise made it to the World Series.

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A look at the Twins postseason success

Maybe the title of this post should be “A look at the Twins postseason success or lack there of” versus what I have chosen to use. The Minnesota Twins have played in 76 postseason games since 1961 and their record in those games is 28-48 for a .368 winning percentage. They have advanced to the World Series on three occasions and have won two of them, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in 1987 and the Atlanta Braves in 1991 and coming out on the short end of the stick against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965.

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Sandy Valdespino a member of 1965 Twins team dies at age 84

Sandy Valdespino

Hilario “Sandy” Valdespino was born on January 24, 1939 at San Jose de las Lajas, Mayabeque (Cuba) and died on February 26, 2023 in Moultrie, Georgia at the age of 84. A Cuban native, Sandy Valdespino signed with the Washington Senators in 1957 and played in the Senators — and then Twins — farm system until 1965. He won the International League batting title in 1964 with the Atlanta Crackers, earning a promotion to the big leagues the following season.

Valdespino, a short but stocky 5’8″ and 170 pounder played for the Minnesota Twins for three seasons from 1965-1968 primarily in left field and as a pinch-hitter but never could earn a full-time role. During his time in Minnesota he appeared in 259 games but had only 450 AB’s hitting .220 with 4 home runs.

Valdespino is best remembered for a great catch he made on June 18, 1967 against the Cleveland Indians. You can read more about Valdespino’s great catch and his relationship with other Twins players here in SABR’s Bio on Valdespino.

Valdespino also played for Atlanta, Houston, Milwaukee, Kansas City and the Seattle Pilots in his 382-game major-league career. He played 1,446 minor league games before finishing his career in the Mexican League in 1974.

Survivors include his wife, Esperanza Valdespino; his daughter, Esperanza Valdespino; and grandchildren, Hillary Williams, Norman Williams Jr., Ashley Valdespino, Terrance Valdespino and Bianka Valdespino. He was preceded in death by a son, Hilario Valdespino Jr. We here at Twinstrivia.com pass on our condolences to the Valdespino family, friend and all his fans. Thank you for the great memories.

Star Tribune Obituary

Mudcat Grant didn’t put up with racial bigotry

Jim “Mudcat” Grant

Jim Grant was generally considered an easy going likable person, but as the 1960 season drew to a close, his refusal to tolerate bigotry, more than a decade after Jackie Robinson had reintegrated the major leagues, had costly consequences as written about in the September, 28 1960 issue of The Sporting News by Hal Lebovitz who covered the Cleveland Indians for the baseball’s bible at the time.

Mudcat Grant SN 092860.pdf


The Indians held their minor-league camp in Daytona Beach and offered Grant a tryout. It was here that Mudcat became his name. “A guy named Leroy Bartow Irby saw me, decided I was from Mississippi and called me ‘Mudcat,’” recalled Grant. The nickname stuck and Grant came to embrace the name. Jim Grant signed with the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent prior to the 1954 season and started his career in C ball with the Fargo-Moorhead Twins (an omen?) at the age of 18. In his first four minor league seasons from 1954-1957 he started 95 games, pitched 828 innings, had 63 complete games and posted a record of 70-28 earning him a trip to Cleveland in 1958. Grant pitched for the Indians into the 1964 season, then spent 3-1/2 years with the Twins including posting two of Minnesota’s three wins over the Dodgers in losing the 1965 World Series. In the last four years of his major league career he pitched for the Dodgers, Expos, Cardinals, Pirates and A’s, leaving the big leagues after the 1971 season.

After his playing days, Mudcat was a television broadcaster for the Indians, Dodgers and A’s. Grant also wrote a book called The Black Aces: Baseball’s Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners. He has given back to baseball by serving on the board of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, on the Baseball Assistance Team and on the Major League Baseball Alumni Association. Jim Grant passed away on June 11, 2021 in Los Angeles at the age of 85.

Former Twins pitcher Dwight Siebler gone at the age of 83

Dwight Siebler

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.

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Twins 1965 World Series star Mudcat Grant passes away at 85

Mudcat Grant

Jim “Mudcat” Grant was born on August 13, 1935 in Lacoochee, Florida, a small town of about 500 people in central Florida. According to the Cleveland Indians, Mudcat Grant died peacefully in Los Angeles, California on June 11, 2021. Jim Grant was 85 years old.

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