Tag: Chicago White Sox

Twins Trivia post season award winners

The 2012 baseball season was not a great season for the Minnesota Twins or their fans but there are teams, players and managers that had a great year and one that they will remember for a long time. Now that the regular season is complete, members of the Baseball Bloggers Association are voting for their post season award winners by picking who they feel deserved to bring home the hardware for their efforts. Here is how I see it.

American League

The Connie Mack (Top Manager) award goes to Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics for leading the A’s to a division championship (94-68) after the team finished with a 74-88 mark in 2011. On June 30th the A’s were 13 games out of first and had a 37-52 record after three consecutive losses to the Texas Rangers. From that point on the A’s went 57-26 and won the division title on the last day of the season. My runner-up award goes to the Baltimore Orioles Buck Showalter who took his team to a wild-card playoff spot and a second place finish in a tough division. My third place finisher was a true rookie manager, Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox who had never managed before and piloted his team to a second place finish when I had the White Sox picked to finish dead last in the AL Central.

The Willie Mays (Rookie of the Year) award is the easiest pick of all, the award goes to outfielder Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Trout started the season in AAA and was called up at the end of April. Even with the late start Trout led the league in runs scored (129) and stolen bases (49) while finishing second in batting average hitting .320. Trout lead all AL rookies in every hitting category and even had the two longest rookie hitting streaks this past season. What an amazing season! My runner-up was the Oakland A’s outfielder Yoenis Cespedes who finished second to Trout in every AL hitting category except stolen bases (finishing fourth) and in any other season would have easily won the award. I have three pitchers rounding out the top 5 with the Oakland A’s Tommy Milone and  Yu Darvish finishing in a tie for third and the Minnesota Twins Scott Diamond rounding out the top five.

The Goose Gossage (Top Reliver) award goes to closer Fernando Rodney of the Tampa Bay Rays. The 35 year-old Rodney had a career year in his 10th season in the big leagues with 48 saves in 50 opportunities with 76 strikeouts in 74.2 innings and posting a 0.60 ERA with a 0.78 WHIP. Talk about lights out and to think he never had an ERA of under 2.68 any other season. The Rays signed Rodney as a free agent on January 4, 2012 for $1.75 million, what a bargain. The runner -up is the Baltimore Orioles Jim Johnson who led the league in saves with 51 in 54 chances. I have Rafael Soriano of the New York Yankees finishing third, Joe Nathan from the Texas Rangers in fourth and my fifth place vote goes to Tommy Wilhelmsen of the Seattle Mariners.

The Walter Johnson (Top Pitcher) award goes again this season to the Detroit Tigers Justin Verlander who pitched 238.1 innings in 33 starts and went 17-8 with an ERA of 2.64 and a 1.06 WHIP and a .217 batting average against to go with his 239 strikeouts. Tampa Bay Rays David Price was my runner-up by an eye lash, Price had a great season going 20-5 with a 2.56 ERA but I gave the nod to Verlander for innings pitched and strikeouts. My third place vote goes to the Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez, fourth goes to Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox and fifth goes to Jeff Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The Stan Musial (Top Player) award goes to the American League’s first triple crown winner since 1967, the Detroit Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera. This was a very tough choice over my runner-up, outfielder Mike Trout of the Angels but in the end I think Cabrera earned it because of his triple crown and because he volunteered to move to 3B to make room for the recently acquired Prince Fielder. Both players had amazing seasons but I had to go with Cabrera this year. My third place vote goes to the Texas Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre, Twins catcher Joe Mauer gets my fourth place vote and my fifth place vote went to the shortstop from the New York Yankees because he played in 159 games and led the league in hits, and at bats at the age of 38.

National League

The Connie Mack (Top Manager) award goes to the Washington Nationals skipper Davey Johnson who took over the manager reigns late in 2011 and took the Nats to their first division championship and 98 wins this past season. Previous to taking over the Nationals manager role in 2011, Johnson last manged the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2000. My runner-up for NL skipper of the year goes to rookie manager Mike Matheny of the St. Louis Cardinals. In his first job as a manager the former catcher Matheny took his team to a wild card playoff spot and 88 victories after losing his best player (Albert Pujols) to free agency and losing one of his best pitchers (Chris Carpenter) for all but 3 games in 2012. The third place vote goes to the Cincinnati Reds skipper Dusty Baker for leading that team to a 97 win division winning season in his fifth year on the job.

The Willie Mays (Rookie of the Year) award goes to the Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper. The Nationals rookie also started his big league career in late April after starting the season in AAA and hit .270 with 22 home runs, 59 RBI’s, scored 98 runs and stole 18 bases. My runner-up may surprise some people but I think catcher Wilin Rosario of the Colorado Rockies had a fantastic rookie season hitting .270 with 28 home runs, 67 runs scored and 71 RBI’s while playing in just 117 games with just 396 at bats. My third place vote goes to lefty Wade Miley of the Arizona Diamondbacks who was 16-11 in 29 starts and 194.2 innings with a 3.33 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP for a team that went 81-81. Fourth place goes to 1B Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs and my fifth place vote goes to 27 year-old rookie pitcher Lucas Harrell who won 11 games for the worst team in baseball, the Houston Astros who won a total of 55 games this year.

The Goose Gossage (Top Reliever) award easily goes to the 24 year-old Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel who had 42 saves in 45 opportunities and posted a 3-1 record with a 1.06 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP. In 62.2 innings Kimbrel struck out 116 batters allowing only 27 hits and 14 walks and allowed opposing hitters a .126 batting average. The man is a machine. My runner-up is Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds who also had 42 saves and struck out 122 batters in 71.2 innings while posting a 1.51 ERA and a 0.81 WHIP. Hitters hit .141 against Chapman. Third place goes to Jason Motte of the St., Louis Cardinals, fourth goes to Jonathan Papelbon of the Philadelphia Phillies and my fifth place vote goes to Joel Hanrahan of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Walter Johnson (Top Pitcher) award is a tough call but I am going with the New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey as my choice. Dickey pitched a league leading 233.2 innings and struck out a league leading 230 batters. The 37-year-old Dickey was 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP for a team that won a total of 74 games. My runner-up is Gio Gonzalez of the division winning Washington Nationals who was 21-8 with a 2.89 ERA and an amazing 0.4/9 home runs allowed. My third place vote goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, fourth place goes to the Atlanta Braves Craig Kimbrel and my fifth place vote is for Cincinnati Reds Johnny Cueto.

The Stan Musial (Top Player) award goes to Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun again this year. Yes, I know all about last years fiasco with Braun but what can I say, the man puts up the numbers and without him the Brewers are nothing. Look at the numbers, a league leading 41 home runs to go with a league leading 108 runs scored, second in RBI’s (112) and a .319 batting average. Top that off with 356 total bases and you have the best player in the NL this season. The runner-up this year is Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen who had a wonderful season. My third place vote goes to San Francisco catcher and part-time first baseman Buster Posey. Posey almost single handedly led the Giants to the NL Western Division title and if he had played as well the entire year as he did in the second half of the season he might have been my choice to win this award. Posey hit .385 and knocked in 60 runs during the last half of 2012 coming off a horrific injury in 2011. I will go with New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey fourth in the voting here because without Dickey the Mets would have been not worth watching. Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel gets my fifth place vote.

So there you have it, the players that I think deserve to bring home the hardware after another great season of baseball in 2012. You may agree or disagree with my choices but that is what makes baseball such a great game and so much fun for us as fans to enjoy. When the BBA announces their winners in the near future I will share them with you.

One of the original Minnesota Twins, Jack Kralick passes away at 77

Jack Kralick

One of the original Minnesota Twins, pitcher John Francis (Jack) Kralick who was born on June 1, 1935 in Youngstown, Ohio passed away at his home in San Blas, Mexico on September 18 at the age of 77. The Chicago White Sox signed Jack Kralick prior to the 1955 season after Kralick had played baseball for one season at Michigan State but released him in June of 1958. The Washington Senators signed Kralick in September of 1958 and he made his major league debut with the Senators on April 15, 1959 at Fenway Park throwing one inning of relief in a 7-3 loss to the Red Sox after having never pitched above single A ball in the minor leagues. Kralick ended up spending most of his 1959 season in double AA Chattanooga before making the Senators starting staff in 1960 and then became a Minnesota Twin when the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season.

The left-handed Kralick is best known for throwing the Twins first no-hitter on Sunday, August 26, 1962. There were five no-hitters thrown in 1962, others that threw a “no-no” that season were Bo Belinsky of the Angels, the Red Sox Earl Wilson became the first African-American to throw an American league no-hitter, the Dodgers Sandy Koufax threw the first of his four no-hitters, and the Red Sox Bill Momboquette also threw a no-hitter.  Kralick had a perfect game going with one out in the 9th inning at Met Stadium before walking pinch-hitter George Alusik  on a 3-2 count. Kralick then retired pinch-hitter Billy Consolo and lead off hitter Bobby Del Greco on foul pop-ups to 1B Vic Power to complete the no-hitter and notch a 1-0 win in 1 hour and 57 minutes. “It doesn’t make any difference to me – a no-hitter or a perfect game.” With that statement the Twins southpaw shook off any disappointment of losing a perfect game. “I suppose its a little nicer to be a perfect game”, Kralick added, “but it really makes no difference to me”. According to Kralick, his curveball was not working so he relied mainly on fastballs and sliders with a couple of change-ups thrown in. Kralick was not a pitcher that you would think would throw a no-hitter but he also threw two seven inning no-hitters in the minor leagues. It was the first no-hitter caught by catcher Earl Battey and he said that “my hands were really shaking in that ninth inning.” Kralick’s time in a Twins uniform was cut short when the Twins traded Kralick to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jim Perry on May 2, 1963. Kralick finished his Twins career with a 26-26 record and 3.74 ERA in 75 starts while throwing 510+ innings. Kralick had a little pop in his bat too as he hit 3 home runs in 200 plate appearances in a Twins uniform. As a matter of fact, on August 20, 1961, he was part of a rare feat as he and teammate Al Schroll both homered; it is one of only six times that two pitchers have hit a home run in one game for the same team, and the last time the feat has been performed. Kralick was nicknamed “Jittery Jack” for his constant fidgeting on the mound. He would play with practically everything, between his uniform, cap and the rosin bag. By several accounts, he seemed to like spending time by himself and wasn’t easy to get along with. A chain smoker, teammates and sportswriters described him as “a loner,” “reclusive,” and at times, “abrasive.” Rich Rollins said, however, “While he was kind of a loner, I thought most of the guys got along with him when we were teammates in Minnesota.”

Kralick went on to pitch for the Indians from 1963-1967 putting up a 33-33 mark and making the 1964 All-Star team. It has been reported that Kralick was difficult to get along with at times and in August 1965 he and Indians pitcher and roommate Gary Bell got into a short one punch each fight in Washington D.C. hotel room and Kralick ended up on the short end of the stick with a broken tooth and required 9 stitches. The Indians sold Kralick to the New York Mets on May 1, 1967 but he never pitched for his new team as he was involved in a car accident shortly after the transaction which left him with a cracked rib and double vision. His vision only cleared up at the end of the year, at which point Kralick had lost the desire to pitch again. At the age of 33 Jack Kralick walked away from baseball and never looked back. According to a 1971 article, he had moved to Watertown, South Dakota, enjoying a life of fishing and hunting, while working for a school supply company. Kralick enjoyed the outdoors and ended up living in Alaska and San Blas, Mexico.

I, like many others had tried to get in contact with Kralick over the years to see if he was doing an interview for Twins Trivia but like everyone else we never received a reply. According to his son, Lee Kralick, “He didn’t want the fame, didn’t want the notoriety,” Lee said. “That’s just who he was.”

Rest in peace Jack Kralick, and thank you for the memories. We at Twins Trivia would like to pass on our condolences to the family and friends of Jack Kralick. Only 9 of the 23 original players that played for the Washington Senators in 1960 and moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season remain alive today.

This Day in Twins History – September 19, 2002

Twins rookie outfielder Mike Ryan gets 2 hits in the first inning of what should have been his major league debut in Comerica Park against the Detroit Tigers. In what was a nine-run first inning for Minnesota, Ryan singled in his first two big league at-bats, and drove in two runs. But the glow of the feat was short-lived when his hits and Minnesota’s 9-0 lead were wiped from the record books when rain forced the game to be called before the top of the third inning. Ryan’s official major league debut occurs the next day at Comiskey Park in a Twins 10-2 loss and Mike Ryan goes 0 for 4.

Don’t forget to check out our Today in Twins History page to see what other exciting Twins events occurred on this day in Minnesota Twins history..

 

According to Elias

 

Jamey Carroll

Jamey Carroll homered for the Twins in their 4-2 loss at Chicago. Carroll, who has only 13 home runs in 3,388 career at-bats in the majors, snapped his streak of 1,348 consecutive at-bats without a home run (since August 9, 2009). Carroll entered the night with the longest current homer-less streak in the majors; that distinction is now owned by Kansas City’s Chris Getz (currently on the disabled list with 918 at-bats since his last four-bagger). No player had ended a homer-less streak as long as Carroll’s since Rafael Belliard went 1,869 at-bats between round-trippers from May 5, 1987 to September 26, 1997. Source: Elias

As far as the Twins homer-less streaks are concerned, Al Newman is first with 1,647 homer-less at bats and Ben Revere is next with 884 home-less at bats through yesterday’s game and his streak is still active. Carroll is now third on the Twins longest homer-less streak with 412 at bats.

History of the MLB Trading Deadline

According to MLB, “The non-waiver Major League trading deadline has been July 31st since the 1986 season. Prior to that season, the non-waiver deadline for trades within each League was June 15th and there were also distinctions between when intraleague and interleague trades could be made. Waivers were necessary at all times for interleague trades, with the exception of two non-waiver interleague trading periods: February 15 – April 1 and 5 days after conclusion of World Series – the day before the last scheduled day of the Winter Meetings.

The first appearance of a trade deadline in the Major Leagues came when the National League established a deadline of August 20th in 1917. After that date, a player had to clear NL waivers before being traded. The American League followed suit in 1920, but with a deadline of July 1st. The following year, both the AL and NL agreed on a deadline of August 1st. On December 14, 1922, the deadline was changed to June 15th after gaining approval at the Joint Major League meetings held at the Hotel Commodore in New York. It would stay June 15th until after the 1985 season. In 1953, the interleague trading rules were amended as to require waivers between June 15th and the conclusion of the championship season. The first non-waiver interleague trading period was created for the 1959 off-season and it was from November 21–December 15. In 1970, the start of the period was moved to begin 5 days after the World Series instead of November 21. Seven years later, a second non-waiver interleague trading period was created, February 15–March 15. In 1981, that period was extended through April 1 and was in effect until all distinctions between interleague and intraleague trading were abolished prior to the 1986 season.”

Players may be traded between Major League Clubs until 4:00 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, July 31st without Major League waivers in effect.

In July between 2000 and July 25 of 2012, the San Diego Padres have made the most trades, a total of 38 and on the other end of the spectrum, the Angels have made the fewest deals, just 11. The Minnesota Twins have made the second fewest number of trades in that time frame, just 13 but the Francisco Liriano trade the other day would add one to the total. Looking at the rest of the AL Central, the Tigers have made 15 deals, the White Sox have made 25 not counting the recent Liriano deal, the Royals have swung 26 deals and the Indians lead the division with 27 trades. It appears that the addition of two wild card spots this season has deceased the amount of deals but we still have time to bring that number up.

The following table tracks the number of trades that have occurred between June 1-July 31. Three-way trades are counted as one trade.

YEAR Trades between June 1 and July 31
2012 36
2011 33
2010 40
2009 36
2008 25
2007 33
2006 42
2005 30
2004 41
2003 34
2002 32
2001 41
2000 42
1999 28
1998 40
1997 23

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

This Day in Twins History – July 2

1969 – In a very unusual 3 game series against the Chicago White Sox, the Twins play the first and last game against the White Sox in White Sox Park but play the middle game in County Stadium in Milwaukee. This is the second year in a row that the Twins have played a game against the mighty whitey’s in Milwaukee and the Twins win the game again, this time by a 4-2 score. The game started at 10:02 PM due to a 1 hour 39 minute rain delay and the game was called in the middle of the ninth inning due to rain. In 1969, Bud Selig again arranged with White Sox ownership for them to play some home games in Milwaukee County Stadium. The league had expanded from 10 teams to 12 that season and the White Sox schedule in Milwaukee was likewise expanded to include 11 home games (again, one against every opponent) as part of an attempt to attract an expansion franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

LHP Jim Kaat pitched for the Senators/Twins from 1959-1973

1972 – The Twins split a twin-bill at White Sox Park winning the first game 6-4 and losing the second game 2-1. The big story here was in game one. Jim Kaat (9-2) and the AL leader in ERA was facing knuckleballer Wilbur Wood (12-7). The Twins were leading 5-2 after 5 innings. In the top of the 6th inning Kaat reached based on a fielder’s choice and was forced at 2B on Tovar’s ground ball to the shortstop. Sliding into 2B Kaat jammed his left wrist but stayed in the game and pitched into the 8th inning before his swollen hand prevented him from going any further. After the game it was determined that Jim had broken a bone in his pitching wrist and he was out for the rest of the season. Wow, pitchers were tough in those days. When I asked Jim about it, his response was “Adrenalin is an amazing hormone”!

1982 – The Twins trade 2B Larry Milbourne to the Indians and in turn the Indians send outfielder Larry Littleton to the Twins.

2007 – With skipper Joe Torre watching from his Yankee Stadium dugout, Roger Clemens, throws eight innings of two-hit ball in a 5-1 win over the Twins and becomes the eighth pitcher to record 350 career victories. The New York manager was the catcher for Warren Spahn’s 350th win making him a participant of the only two occasions that a pitcher has reached the milestone since 1928.

Don’t forget to check the Today in Twins History page every day.

This Day in Twins History – January 6, 1967

Joseph Haynes, who had been an all-star American League pitcher, brother-in-law of Twins owner Calvin Griffith and Twins vice-president passed away of a heart attack after shoveling snow at his Hopkins, Minnesota home at the age of 49.

Haynes had a 14 year big league career as a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators (1939-1940, 1949-1952) and the Chicago White Sox (1941-1948) posting a 76-82 won/lost record with 21 saves to go with a 4.01 ERA in 379 games, 147 of them in a starting role and 53 complete games. Haynes, primarily a curveball and fastball pitcher, was not a strike out pitcher nor was pin-point control one of Joe’s strength’s as he walked 620 and struck out 475 batters in 1,581 innings.

After his playing career ended after the 1952 season, Haynes became a coach for the Washington Senators for three seasons after which he became the team’s vice-president and general manager in 1955, following the death of his father-in-law, Clark Griffith. His widow, Thelma Griffith Haynes, continued to serve as an executive vice president, assistant treasurer, and part owner of the Twins until they were sold to Carl Pohlad in 1985. Her brothers, Sherry, Jimmy, and Billy, were also part of the organization. The Twins pitcher of the year award is named after Haynes and the Joseph W. Haynes Twins Pitcher of the Year award is given annually to the Twins top pitcher.

A more detailed biography of Joe Haynes completed as part of the SABR Biography project can be found here.