Tag: Dave Boswell

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Restovich, Mientkiewicz, Garces, Veselic, Nieson, & Boswell

Major league debuts as Minnesota Twins on September 18th.

Michael Restovich (OF) – September 18, 2002 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 1997 MLB June Amateur Draft. Started as the Twins right fielder hitting seventh in his debut at Comerica Park but ended up going 0 for 4 in the Twins 2-0 shutout of the Tigers.

 

Doug Mientkiewicz

Doug Mientkiewicz (1B) – September 18, 1998 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 1995 amateur draft. O for 3 with a walk in his debut at Tiger Stadium while playing first base and hitting in the eight hole. The Twins lost this game to the Tigers by a 5-4 score in 11 innings.

Rich Garces (P) – September 18, 1990 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on December 29, 1987. Pitched a scoreless final inning allowing a hit and a walk at the Dome as the Twins pounded the KC Royals 10-4.

 

Bob Veselic

Bob Veselic (P) – September 18, 1980 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (9th pick) of the 1976 amateur draft (January). Debuted at County Stadium with 4 innings of relief allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 2 batters but his team was shutout by the Brewers 5-0 in game 2 of a DH for a sweep.

Chuck Nieson (P) – September 18, 1964 – Signed as an amateur free agent in 1962. Big league debut was at Fenway Park as a reliever in a Twins 7-6 loss to the Red Sox. Nieson pitched one scoreless inning striking out two and walking one. Chuck only pitched in one other big league game which was the next day against the Red Sox again and he gave up his only big league hit, a home run to Frank Malzone. Nieson debuted in the same game as Dave Boswell did.

 

Dave Boswell

Dave Boswell (P) – September 18, 1964 – Signed as an amateur free agent in 1963. Debuted as the starting pitcher in the same game that Chuck Nieson did at Fenway Park and his pitching line was 3 innings pitched, 3 runs on 4 hits and 5 walks with 5 strikeouts but at least he avoided getting the “L”. Boswell’s big league career lasted a lot longer than did Mr. Nieson’s.

 

You can check out other Major League Debuts as Twins that I have done by going here.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 39 – Kline, Boswell, Uhlaender and Oliva

A nice story about Twins reliever Ron Kline who was in his 14th season of big league action and had yet to savor the pleasure of pitching in the post season. Harmon Killebrew steals his first base in five years. Killebrew would go on to steal 8 bases in 1969…

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When I was a youngster I used to subscribe to the Sporting News and I can’t tell you how much I looked forward to getting that weekly baseball paper. Since we had no daily paper this was my only way to see the baseball box scores except when school was in session and I could stop in the school library and read the local paper. When I received the Sporting News the first article I always looked for was the Joe Falls column, he was my favorite baseball writer back then and his writing was always informative and fun. Here is one of his columns that you can enjoy about Twins outfielder Ted Uhlaender and Tigers outfielder Mickey Stanley.

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Pat Kelly in a Denver Bears uniform. Credit: Getty Images.

Dave Boswell was an interesting person and there is a nice story about him in this section of the Sporting News. There is also a story about manager Cal Ermer‘s wife Gloria that I think you will enjoy. A small blurb also mentions Fan Appreciation Day put on by Calvin Griffith and how the Minnesota Twins showed their appreciation back then and how todays Minnesota Twins show their appreciation to the fans that support them. Today’s Twins should be ashamed of themselves.

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Did you know that Twins outfielder Pat Kelly was a brother to Cleveland Browns running back LeRoy Kelly? Everybody wants to read more about a younger Tony Oliva. The Red Sox fans among you may enjoy a nice story by Larry Caflin about how “Beantown” is enjoying their Red Sox team of 1967.

 

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Previous 1967 AL Pennant Race blogs can be found here. 

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 33 – Elston Howard traded to Boston Red Sox

I remember Yankee catcher Elston Howard well, he always seemed to find a way to beat our Minnesota Twins. Howard could do it all, he could hit, behind the plate he called a great game and he was a leader.

Do you remember how as a young child you used to “hate” certain ball players because they found ways to beat your favorite team? For me Ellie Howard was one of those players, it had nothing to do with the color of his skin, just the fact that he kept beating the Twins. As you grew up you realized that your ‘hate” for certain ball players was really respect in disguise.

To me Ellie Howard was always and always be a New York Yankee and I didn’t realize until a number of years ago that he was traded by the Yankees to the Boston Red Sox in August of 1967 and also played there in 1968. My time in the service from 1965-1968 limited my ability to follow baseball. 

Ironically to me, it turns out that Elston Howard’s first game in a Boston Red Sox uniform took place at Met Stadium on August 5, 1967 against the Minnesota Twins. Howard went 0-3 that day and the Twins beat the Red Sox 2-1 on a complete game 3-hitter by Dave Boswell and the only Red Sox run scored on a Rico Petrocelli home run. Tony Oliva was 3 for 4 with an RBI and Zoilo Versalles was 2 for 4 with a home run that was actually the winning run.

There is a recent story by Dave Kaplan at thenationalpastimemuseum.com about Elston Howard called “Elston Howard made the difference for the ’67 Boston Red Sox” that you may enjoy reading. To learn more about Elston Howard you can check out his SABR Bio.

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

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.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 19 – Twins beat Red Sox as Boswell strikes out 13, four Twins named to AS team

Dave Boswell

The Twins scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh inning on George Scott‘s second error of the game and went on to win 3-2 at the Met. Twins starter Dave Boswell struck out a personal best 13 batters and evened his record at 5-5 in pitching a complete game even though he gave up home runs to Jerry Adair and Reggie Smith in the fifth that tied the game at the time. The Twins took the well pitched series two games to one as no team scored more than 3 runs in any of the three games. The 36-34 Twins who are still seven games out of first now await the arrival of the 32-41 Washington Senators.

MLB announced the Minnesota Twins players Dean Chance, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and rookie Rod Carew had been selected for the 1967 All-Star game scheduled for July 11 in Anaheim.

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

The 1967 AL pennant race – Part 18 – Twins fall back to .500

Twins starter Dave Boswell has everything under control as he faces the White Sox and allows but 2 hits through six innings and the home town Twins lead 1-0 on a Bob Allison home run off Gary Peters. The top of the seventh is another story as the WSox put together a rally and knock Boswell from the game with 5 runs. The Twins score a run in the eighth but come up on the short end of a 5-2 game and fall back to the .500 mark (33-33) for the last time in 1967. Gary Peters is credited with his 10th win (3 losses) of the season.

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

The 1967 AL pennant race – Part 16 – Twins and Tigers play nine and end up in a tie

The Twins had a 5-2 lead after five innings of play at Tiger Stadium but the Tigers scored one in sixth and two in the seventh to tie the game at 5 apiece. The game was finally called a draw in the top of the ninth with Harmon Killebrew at the plate with two strikes and one out after Rod Carew led off the top of the ninth with a single but was caught stealing. The game had four rain delays and was called around midnight CDT. Box Score.

The Star Tribune pages below will tell  you more about the Twins/Tigers game, a brawl in New York between the Yanks and Red Sox and more about the disagreement on the Twins bus between Tony Oliva and Ted Uhlaender that was supposedly instigated by Dave Boswell. At the end of the day the Twins were 32-31 and 6.5 games behind the high-flying Chicago White Sox.

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A nice picture of Tiger Stadium

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

 

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 14 – Tigers score 10 in the sixth, Carew and Boswell

AL Standings after play on June 15, 1967

Between June 1 and June 15 the Twins fired (Sam Mele) and hired a manager (Cal Ermer) and went 10-6 playing all but one of the games at the friendly confines of Met Stadium. The team managed to pick-up 2.5 games in the standings but they still find themselves trailing the Chicago White Sox by four games.

June 13 wasn’t a great day in spite of the fact that the Twins scored in double-figures for the third day in a row and found themselves on the losing end of a 15-10 game. The Twins and Dean Chance were up 5-1 going into the sixth inning against the Detroit Tigers at the Met when the “S%#@” hit the fan, Chance gave up four singles and walked two before skipper Cal Ermer had seen enough and brought in reliever Jim Ollom who promptly gave up a single and a walk and he too found himself headed for the shower as Mudcat Grant came in to stop the bleeding. Three singles later Grant was gone and Jim Roland took the mound and promptly threw a wild pitch to allow another run, a passed ball followed which led to a sac fly, another Twins error kept the nightmare inning alive before Roland finally got the third out of the inning. When the smoke cleared the Tigers had put a 10 spot on the Twins and led the game 11 to 5. That would be 10 runs on 8 singles, three walks, two Twins errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball and a partridge in a pear tree. OMG! What we had here was the first time in Twins history that an opponent had scored 10 or more runs against the Twins in a single inning. The Twins bounced back with 5 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to make it an 11-10 game but the Tigers scored 3 in the seventh and another in the eighth inning and the final score was 15-10 for the Tigers.

Here a couple of clippings out of the June 14, 1967 Minneapolis Tribune Sports section describing the action.

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The June 10, 1967 Sporting News has a nice piece about Rod Carew and his base running problems and this time pitching coach Early Wynn puts Dave Boswell through his “wringer” method of fixing a pitchers problems.

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

The 1967 Twins are off to a slow start – Part 6

The Minnesota Twins finished their 1967 Grapefruit League season with a 12-17 record and only the Kansas City Athletics had a worse record. The Twins started the season on the road in Baltimore where they lost two games before coming home to face the Detroit Tigers for their home opener at Met Stadium. 

With 21, 347 fans in the stands Twins starter Dave Boswell faced off against Tiger starter Earl Wilson. Boswell kept the Tigers off the board in the first inning and when the Twins came to bat in the bottom of the first they were ready, Cesar Tovar singled to left and advanced on a passed ball and Rich Rollins then doubled to left scoring Tovar. Wilson walked Tony Oliva but Wilson induced Harmon Killebrew to hit into a double play with Oliva reaching second. Wilson wild pitched Oliva to third and up stepped rookie Rod Carew who quickly singled and had his first big league RBI when Oliva scored. Bob Allison stepped up to the plate but the rookie Carew got picked off first by Wilson and the Twins had their first lead of the season.

Jim Merritt

The Tigers scored three runs off Dave Boswell in the third inning and kept their 3-2 lead until the bottom of the sixth inning when Bob Allison hit his first home run of the season to tie the game at three. The Twins took the lead for good when Zoilo Versalles scored on a Jerry Lumpe error on a Tovar ground ball to second off reliever Larry Sherry. Versalles led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a home run off Johnny Podres to end the scoring. Jim Merritt who pitched the final four inning of scoreless relief was credited with the win and Tiger starter Earl Wilson took the loss. Box score

The Twins then lost their next two games by identical 4-3 scores to the Tigers and the Indians and on April 18 their record stood at 1-4. Their 1-4 start matched their 1963 start which was the worst start they have had since they started play in Minnesota.

April 18, 1967 AL Standings

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A very interesting SABR article about Earl Wilson

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My previous 1967 pennant race articles can be found here.