Tag: Calvin Griffith

Twins HOF voting by fans not what it is cracked up to be

On January 24th the Minnesota Twins announced that former Twins first baseman Justin Morneau has been elected to the club’s Hall of Fame. Morneau will become the 34th member of the Twins Hall of Fame when he is inducted during an on-field pre-game ceremony at Target Field before the Twins host the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, May 23. This is all well and good because Justin Morneau is certainly deserving of the honor.

However; one player that stands out in my mind that played for the Minnesota Twins from 1965-1972 that has been left out of the Twins HOF once again is Cesar Tovar. Tovar passed away in 1994 at the age of 54. Cesar Tovar entered the Venezuelan Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its first class in 2003. He is still remembered as one of the greatest players in the history of his nation’s winter league. As Tony Oliva said of their days with the Twins, “If we’d had nine players like him, we wouldn’t have needed any others.” Yet as we enter 2020 Tovar is still not in the Minnesota Twins HOF, what an injustice!

Continue reading Twins HOF voting by fans not what it is cracked up to be

The very first Minnesota Twins manager

Harry Arthur “Cookie” Lavagetto

Cookie Lavagetto was the Washington Senators manager when they became the Minnesota Twins but he lasted just 66 games and finished with a 25-41 record in 1961.

 

Harry Arthur “Cookie” Lavagetto was born December 1, 1912 in Oakland, California and died in his sleep on August 10, 1990 in Orinda, California at the age of 77. He acquired his nickname from his Oakland Oaks teammates, who called him “Cookie’s boy,” because he had been hired by Oaks’ president Victor “Cookie” Devincenzi. Lavagetto played third base and second base in the major leagues for 10 seasons and played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1934-1936 and was a four-time All-Star while with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1937 -1947. Cookie did not play ball in the majors from 1942-1945 due to serving his country in the military during World War II. Cookie enlisted in the US Navy in February 1942 even though he was classified 3-A and was sworn in as Aviation Machinist Mate 1st class. He is most widely known as the pinch hitter whose double with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning ruined Bill Bevens‘ bid for the first World Series no-hitter in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series and gave his Brooklyn Dodgers a breathtaking victory over the New York Yankees, a game known as “The Cookie Game”. You can listen to a broadcast clip of that play here and see a video clip here. The Dodgers went on to lose the 1947 World Series to the New York Yankees 4 games to 3.

Continue reading The very first Minnesota Twins manager

Looking back at the Minnesota Twins in the 60’s

The Minnesota Twins started play in 1961 after moving from Washington D.C. where they were known as the Washington Senators. In their final year as the Senators in 1960 the team had a 73-81 record. Between 1946 and 1960 they had one, just one, winning season and that was in 1952 when they barely made it over the .500 mark with a 78-76 record.

Nevertheless the baseball fans of Minnesota were excited about getting a major league team (some might disagree with that description) to move to their state. Team owner Calvin Griffith felt he had some good young players that were just starting to make their mark.

The 1961 team was managed by Cookie Lavagetto until he was fired by Griffith after a 23-36 start and replaced by coach Sam Mele. The team went on to finish seventh in the ten team American League with a 70-90 mark and 38 games out of first place. The team won 91 games in both 1962 and 1963 but in 1964 they fell back to a 79-83 record and fans were calling for manager Mele to hit the road. However; Griffith stuck with his man and in 1965 Mele’s Twins won 102 games and found themselves in the World Series playing the Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale led Los Angeles Dodgers. The Twins came out on the short end of that Series losing four games to three but baseball was exciting in Minnesota. 

The 1966 Twins were not able to defend their 1965 pennant and finished with a 89 win season but they were nine games behind the Baltimore Orioles. The 1967 season saw the American League with a pennant race like none before it with the Red Sox, Twins, Tigers, White Sox and Angels battling down to the very end of the season. The Twins started the season at just 25-25 and that was not what the Twins owner was expecting so he fired Mele and brought Cal Ermer to lead his team. The team responded to Ermer and had a one game lead with two games to play with the Red Sox at Fenway Park and they lost both games allowing the Red Sox to win the 1967 AL pennant by one game over Minnesota and Detroit, three games over the White Sox and 7.5 games over the Angels.

The Twins started the 1968 season with six straight wins, five of them on the road but that was their high-water mark for the season and when the season ended so did the managing career of Cal Ermer. Less than two weeks later Calvin Griffith hired Billy Martin as his new manager.

1969 saw the AL break in two divisions with the Twins being part of the six team AL West along with the Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, California Angels, Seattle Pilots, and the Kansas City Royals. 1969 was also the first season that had a best of five ALCS. In this case the West Division winning Twins played the East Division winning Baltimore Orioles and the Twins lost all three games. They lost the first game in Baltimore in 12 innings 4 to 3, the lost game two again in Baltimore in 11 innings 1 to 0 and their third and final game was a blowout 11-2 loss at the Met when Billy Martin went on a hunch and started Bob Miller, a part-time starter/reliever and he lasted just 1.2 innings. Martin’s decision to start Miller turned out to be one of the key reasons he would be fired by Griffith after just one season.

The Twins played winning baseball (.542) in the 60’s and had a record of 789-666. So who were the key Twins hitters and pitchers in the Twins first decade of baseball in the Minnesota? It is difficult to determine the value that a player brings to the team without being arbitrary so the best way that I know of to measure a players worth is WAR. I know of lot of you either don’t like it and don’t know how it is calculated exactly (either do I), but if we apply the same measurement to everyone it will serve our purpose here. The position player with the highest WAR for the period of 1961-1969 probably is no surprise to anyone, it is Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and the pitcher for that same time period is Jim Kaat.

Continue reading Looking back at the Minnesota Twins in the 60’s

Twins Mr. Everything Passes Away

Francis Ralph Quilici was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 11, 1938 and passed away on May 14, 2018 in Burnsville, Minnesota from kidney disease complications. The out-going Frank Quilici always had a smile on his face and was always willing to talk baseball.

After high school Quilici went to Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, but his stay there was short, just one semester due to financial difficulties. He returned to Chicago and got a job and continued playing ball. Frank caught a break when a scout told him he could help him walk-on to the baseball team at Western Michigan.

Quilici took advantage of the offer and his freshman roommate turned out to be none other than Jim Bouton. Quilici hit .400 his Junior year and was named second-team All-American. The New York Yankees offered Quilici a $28,000 signing bonus but Frank passed it up keeping his promise to his father that he would finish school. In his Senior year Quilici was named first team All-American with a .369 average. Western Michigan had some good baseball teams and finished fifth in the 1959 and 1961 seasons.

The Yankees lost interest in Quilici but Minnesota Twins scout Dick Wiencek who also signed Bert Blyleven, Graig Nettles, Dick Woodson and others quickly signed Quilici to  a $15,000 bonus after graduation and the Twins sent him off to the Class D- Appalachian League Wytheville Twins to start his pro career in 1961, There, Quilici played with future Twins like Tony Oliva, Jim Manning, Ted Uhlaender, and Bill Whitby. Quilici worked his way up through the Twins system with stops in places like Erie, Wilson, Charlotte, and Denver. Quilici, known more for his glove work than his bat,  spent the entire 1964 season with the AA Charlotte Hornets playing in 140 games and hitting a respectable .261 average with 25 doubles and 60 RBI. That season earned him his first spring training invite in 1965 with the parent club Minnesota Twins. 

Guido, as Frank was known, started the 1965 season with the AAA Denver Bears under manager Cal Ermer. Quilici was playing well in Denver in 1965 hitting .277 in July when the Twins came calling. The Twins had Jerry Kindall playing second base but he was hitting under .200 and then suffered a leg injury so Quilici was on his way to Minnesota to start his big league career. The Twins were losing to the California Angels 5-1 at Met Stadium in the first game of a double-header when Manager Sam Mele had Quilici enter the game as the second baseman in the top of the eighth inning. In his first big league at bat in the ninth inning off Bob Lee, Frank fouled out to the first baseman.

In the second game of the DH Quilici started at second base hitting lead-off and hit a double to left off Angels starter Ken McBride for his first big league knock and ended up scoring later in the inning on a bases loaded double by Bob Allison. 

Quilici’s first taste of the big leagues was one for the ages as the Minnesota Twins won the American League pennant and went on to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1965 World Series and Frank went on to start at second base in all seven games. In game one, Quilici tied an MLB record when he had two hits (double and a single) off future Hall of Fame Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale in the third inning when the Minnesota lads scored six times and went on to an 8-2 win.

Quilici spent all of 1966 with the AAA Denver Bears where he played for manager Cal Ermer. Ermer said that Quilici was a “winner” and when Ermer replaced the fired Sam Mele as Twins skipper early in 1967 it didn’t take Ermer long to bring Frank up to the big leagues again but now as more in a utility player role. Quilici played for Minnesota through the 1970 season and appeared briefly in the 1970 ALCS series against the Baltimore Orioles.

On the eve of the 1971 season the Minnesota Twins released the soon-to-be 32-year-old Frank Quilici but his tenure with the Twins organization did not end as Twins owner Calvin Griffith offered him a job as a Twins coach under manager Bill Rigney. On July 6, 1972 Twins owner Calvin Griffith sent Bill Rigney packing after a 36-34 start to the 1972 season and moved the 33-year-old Quilici into the managers seat where he would be the youngest manager in baseball. Frank Quilici managed the Twins to a 280-287 record from 1972-1975 before he too was let go by Griffith. But Frank didn’t go far as he was hired as a broadcaster to team up with the great Herb Carneal to do Twins games on the radio from 1976-1977 and again from 1980-1982. After that Quilici took a position at Western Diversified Insurance where he would go on to become a VP. Baseball and the Twins called him back in 1987 to team up with Dick Bremer to do some Twins TV broadcasting.

Frank Quilici remained a Minnesota Twins ambassador and a baseball fan his entire life and devoted a lot of his time to the community and charitable causes. Frank had a kidney transplant in 2012 and was honored with the Kirby Puckett Award for Alumni Community Service in 2013 for his passion in promoting organ donorship. He was also a former member of the board of directors for the Twins Community Fund, the Killebrew Foundation and a number of other boards.

Frank Quilici is survived by his wife Lila and children, Kelly, Kolleen, Tony and Nick and numerous grand-children.

I had a few opportunities to work with and talk with Frank for some interviews I did with him back in 2009 when I first met him and he was a wonderful person who loved baseball and most of all loved life and enjoyed his time with family and friends to the very end. We will all miss you Frank Quilici!

Frank Quilici Obituary

Frank Quilici Obituary

Minnesota Twins Press Release

SABR Bio

Frank Quilici article by Pat Reusse

 

 

Chilly Ball in 2018 and Frozen Balls in 1965

The Minnesota Twins opened the 2018 season on the road in Baltimore where first pitch temperatures were 65, 55 and 61, nothing to really complain about in late March. The Twins then moved on to Pittsburgh to play the Pirates and the weather there was a bit cooler with first pitch temps were 40 and 37 and it snowed almost the entire game when the Pirates had their home opener on April 2 At times the snow was coming down so hard it was difficult to see the ball.

The Twins then went home to host their own opening day against the Seattle Mariners on April 5th, the weather predictions were dire, temps for the first pitch could be in the low 30’s. After all, the Twins Cities had seen a freakish snowstorm on April 2-3 that dumped about 9 inches of snow on the Twins Cities and Target Field. Fans and players alike were grumbling about the opener being so cold. Logan Morrison a new Twins player in 2018 said that games shouldn’t be played when it is that cold and Minnesota’s stadium should have had a roof. Twins President Dave St.Peter said something to the effect that we live in the “Bold North” meaning that everyone should just suck it up and watch some baseball. Then again it is easy for him to say that because he is the team president and that is what we expect him to say, besides, he sits behind glass when he watches the games anyway. We need Mr. St. Peter and owner Jim Pohlad to lead by example and sit down with the fans and watch the game like Calvin Griffith used to do. Turns out the Twins Target Field Opening Day temperature at first pitch was 38 degrees, the home team won and everyone went home happy.

But enough about that, we are here to tell you about a time back in August, yes I said August, of 1965 when the Detroit Tigers complained about ice-cold frozen baseballs that the Chicago White Sox were supposedly providing when these two teams met in a double-header on August 1 at White Sox Park. Who knows, maybe it was pay back for a week earlier when The White Sox complained that the balls used in Detroit were all dried out and hitting them was like hitting a lively golf ball. American League President Joe Cronin ordered an investigation but I have no clue as to how things turned out. The article below seems to state that back then there were no rules for storing baseballs other than they had to be delivered one hour prior to the game. I’m sure that has changed since then….

Here I though that only the NFL had issues with it balls.

Back when baseball was just a game

Calvin Griffith

Baseball and baseball owners have changed over the years. When Calvin Griffith was the owner of the Minnesota Twins he truly ran his own team. Griffith was the owner, President, and General Manager. Today we have an owner, we have a President, a Head of Baseball Operation and a General Manager and too many other executives to count. The business of baseball in current times is truly a business with layer upon layer of management.

This off-season the free agent players got their butts kicked by the owners who have refused to pay longer term contracts and the big money deals of years gone by. The owners in essence have instituted a salary cap with their luxury tax and the players union stood by and said “what just happened”.

Continue reading Back when baseball was just a game

This Day in Twins History – 1969 – Manager Billy Martin Fired!

The Minnesota had just completed a 97-65 season winning the AL West Division but lost three games to zip in the 1969 ALCS to the Baltimore Orioles. On the morning of October 13th Twins owner Calvin Griffith called his manager and told him that he would not be returning to manage the club in 1970.

Twins fans loved Billy Martin and were very unhappy when Griffith fired Martin and I was one of those fans who didn’t attend any games for two season after Martin was sent packing.

The 1969 Minnesota Twins were the first major league team that Billy Martin managed but they would not be his last. Martin went on to manage the Detroit Tigers from 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers from 1973-1975, The New York Yankees in 1975 through 1978, again in 1979, before moving to Oakland from 1980-1982 and returned to manage the Yankees in 1983, 1985 and again in 1988.

When he hung up his spikes for the final time he had managed for 16 seasons winning 1,253 games and losing 1,013 and winning one World Series (1977) and winning two )1976 and 1977) pennants.

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The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 24 – Twins take two from White Sox

After the White Sox took the first two games from the Minnesota Twins, 31, 141 fans packed White Sox Park to see the home town nine take two more from the visiting Twins. But, it was not to be, after spotting the Whitey’s a one run lead the Twins tied it in the fourth inning and then scored 2 in the 5th, 6th, and 8th innings and held on for a 7-4 win in game one. Jim Kaat hit his first home run of the season.  Zoilo Versalles had 3 hits and Rich Rollins, Bob Allison and Jim Kaat each had 2 hits. Jim Kaat took home the win and Ron Kline registered the save. Box Score

In game two the Twins were out hit 8 to 6 but managed to out score the White Sox 5 to 1 and a double-header sweep was in the books. Dave Boswell was credited with the victory to even his record at 8-8 and Al Worthington notched his 12th save of the season. When the day was done the Twins still found themselves in third place but now only 2.5 games behind the league leading WSox but only a half game behind the Tigers at the All-Star break. Box Score

Pitcher Dean Chance along with Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Rod Carew (who missed the week-end series due to military obligations) left for the All-Star game in Anaheim after the DH was complete and were accompanied by manager Cal Ermer and owner Calvin Griffith.

 

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.