Tag: Don Mincher

Former Twins shortstop Jackie Hernandez losses his battle with cancer

Jackie Hernandez

Jackie Hernandez (Jacinto Hernández Zulueta) was born on September 11, 1940 in Central Tinguaro, Cuba and passed away on October 12, 2019 in Miami, Florida after a short battle with lung cancer. His given name (Hyacinth in English) was difficult for many people in the U.S. to pronounce, leading to his Anglicized nickname; he was also called simply “Jack or Jackie.” 

Hernandez played pro ball from 1961 through 1974 and then spent some time playing ball in Mexico from 1975-1976 before retiring as an active player.

Continue reading Former Twins shortstop Jackie Hernandez losses his battle with cancer

Twins leaders with two or more home runs in a game

No surprise here that it is Harmon Killebrew, right?
Results
Rk Player #Matching
1 Harmon Killebrew 35
2 Justin Morneau 20
3 Tony Oliva 18
4 Kent Hrbek 16
5 Bob Allison 15
6 Kirby Puckett 13
7 Gary Gaetti 13
8 Tom Brunansky 11
9 Don Mincher 9
10 Torii Hunter 9
11 Eddie Rosario 8
12 Corey Koskie 8
13 Jacque Jones 8
14 Jimmie Hall 8
15 Brian Dozier 8
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/1/2019.

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Eddie Rosario is climbing this list pretty quickly.

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

Minnesota Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Between 1961-2017 there have been 58 players that have played at least 10 games at first base for our Minnesota Twins. However, to qualify for this list which ranks them in Baseball-Reference WAR order the player must have played first base in at least 51% of their games while wearing a Twins uniform. This eliminates players like Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison and of course Joe Mauer who started playing first base later in their careers. Kent Hrbek is the Twins all-time leaders in games at first base with 1,609.

Kent Hrbek – Hrbek’s work in the field was as good as his work with a bat.
Results
Rk Player WAR/pos From To G AB R H HR RBI SB BA OPS
1 Kent Hrbek 38.6 1981 1994 1747 6192 903 1749 293 1086 37 .282 .848
2 Justin Morneau 23.3 2003 2013 1278 4749 669 1318 221 860 5 .278 .832
3 Don Mincher 8.7 1961 1966 590 1511 220 369 90 265 4 .244 .824
4 Doug Mientkiewicz 6.4 1998 2004 643 2147 273 590 43 266 11 .275 .776
5 Rich Reese 3.2 1964 1973 807 1918 238 498 50 241 16 .260 .711
6 Ron Jackson 2.8 1979 1981 344 1154 150 309 23 138 6 .268 .734
7 John Briggs 1.8 1975 1975 87 264 44 61 7 39 6 .231 .731
8 Vic Power 1.7 1962 1964 301 1197 151 333 26 116 10 .278 .703
9 Scott Stahoviak 1.0 1993 1998 344 1019 135 261 27 119 13 .256 .745
10 Pat Bourque 0.1 1974 1974 23 64 5 14 1 8 0 .219 .593
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/21/2018.

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Twins Top 10 Catchers

Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Twins Top 10 Third Baseman

Twins Top 10 Shortstops

Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

Twins Top 10 Center Fielders

Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

Top Twins DH

Major league Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Delaney, Burtt, Funderburk, Uhlaender, & Reese

Still more big league debuts as Minnesota Twins on September 4.

Rob Delaney – courtesy of Getty images

Rob Delaney (P) – September 4, 2010 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on June 16, 2006. The Twins were beating the Rangers at Target Field when Delaney made his first big league appearance. Delaney closed out the game for starter Carl Pavano by pitching 1 inning but he gave up a home run to the first batter, walked the second and allowed the next batter to get a single before settling down and retiring the side with just the one run allowed.

Dennis Burtt

Dennis Burtt (P) – September 4, 1985 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on December 31, 1984. Burtt’s first big league appearance resulted in a “L” being pinned next to his name. Playing at the Dome against the Brewers, Burtt actually pitched a scoreless inning of relief but his second inning did not go so well and he ended up giving 3 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks.

Mark Funderburk (OF) – September 4, 1981 – Drafted  by the Minnesota Twins in the 16th round of the 1976 amateur draft. The Twins were getting beat up b y the Brewers at The Met when Funderburk was brought into the game as a replacement for LF Mickey Hatcher. Funderburk got one plate appearance that day and hit a Sac fly to knock in a run but the Twins still lost 16-5.

Ted Uhlaender

Ted Uhlaender (OF) – September 4, 1965 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in 1961. Uhlaender debuted at the Met against the White Sox as a pinch-hitter and struck out as the Twins were charging towards their first pennant.

Rich Reese (1B/OF) – September 4, 1964 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins from the Detroit Tigers in the 1962 first-year draft. Reese’s first taste of big league action came as a pinch-runner for Don Mincher in a 14-3 beating of the Boston Red Sox at the Met.

 

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

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 4 – pitching & defense and a rodeo bronc rider

The 1966 Minnesota Twins finished the season in second place with a 89-73 record, a full nine games behind the AL pennant winning Baltimore Orioles and they were looking to regain the pennant they felt should have been theirs for the second year in a row in 1966.

The 1966 Orioles were no slouches themselves having won 97 games on the back of Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson and their top four starters Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Wally Bunker and Steve Barber who won 48 games between them.

Twins owner Calvin Griffith was eager to get back to the World Series and made some moves in December of 1966 that he felt would ensure him the AL pennant in 1967. He traded pitcher Pete Cimino, 1B Don Mincher and OF Jimmie Hall to the California Angels to acquire pitcher Dean Chance and shortstop Jackie Hernandez and the very next day he traded 2B Bernie Allen and P Camilo Pascual to the Washington Senators for reliever Ron Kline.

Manager Same Mele wasn’t entirely pleased with how the Twins did in spring training, finishing with a 11-17 mark in Grapefruit League play. It didn’t make him feel any better when Starter Jim Grant was hit in the forearm by a line drive that took him out of action for several weeks just before the 1967 season was about to start.

The April 15, 1967 Sporting News lays out the Twins plan to win it all with pitching and defense and gives you a look at the roster of the 1967 Twins as they prepare to open the season in Baltimore on April 11. It also has a short piece on Twins rodeo bronc riding third baseman Ron Clark.

Sporting News 04151967 P39

 

All of my previous blogs on the 1967 pennant race can be found here.

 

 

Steve Korcheck passes away at 84

KorchekSteve Korcheck passed away at the age of 84 from heart failure on August 26 in Bradenton, Florida. Stephen Joseph Korcheck was born August 11, 1932 in McClellandtown, Pennsylvania and was a celebrated high school athlete before going on to George Washington University where he played baseball and football and earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees.

Steve Korcheck never played for the Minnesota Twins so why you ask does he show up on a Twinstrivia.com web site? The Minnesota Twins didn’t exist yet and I never saw Steve Korcheck play baseball for the Senators but as a kid growing up in Taylors Falls, Minnesota I followed baseball and collected baseball cards. Back then Topps were the only baseball cards available and the local dime store sold the packs for a nickel each or six for a quarter. I didn’t have much money so I collected and returned empty pop bottles to finance my purchases.

Korcheck, SteveOne of the cards that I had was a 1959 Steve Korcheck card which I thought was a very cool looking card and that card caused me to follow Korcheck more closely. Korcheck wasn’t a very good hitter and the Washington Senators were a bad baseball team and my friends made fun of my like of Steve Korcheck. My baseball playing friends started yelling “you hit like Steve Korcheck” whenever a player made an out.

Five years later I was a senior in high school and in shop class I decided to make a baseball bat from scratch on a wood lathe. It took me some time since we only had 45 minutes or so in shop class daily but the bat turned out great. It was a beauty if I say so myself, a nice thin handle like I preferred and of course I had to have a name on the bat to make it look like the real thing so I stamped Steve Korcheck’s name on the barrel of the bat. A friend who played on the Taylors Falls High School baseball team asked me if he could use the bat and I was hesitant to loan it to him but he talked me into it. You can of course guess what happened, in his first at bat he hit a long foul fly ball and cracked the bat and my Steve Korcheck model bat was history. I did get an “A” on that shop project from the shop teacher who incidentally was also the baseball coach. I have never forgotten that experience or Steve Korcheck and later in life I started collecting some players autographs on their baseball cards and one of the autographs I have gotten was from Steve Korcheck who was kind enough to sign my card, write a short note, and enclose his business card as president of the State College of Florida. When I got the material back from Steve Korcheck I was amazed that this player and man that we had made so much fun of as kids had attained this status in life, President of a college and that he had earned a doctorate degree. This really made me think about what I had expected Steve Korcheck to be in real life versus the non-hitting catcher I saw as a child. Now days, in my late 60’s I play fantasy baseball and have for many years. One of my teams every year is called “Korcheck’s Bunch”, a reminder to myself that life is not all about baseball and that you might not be the best player in baseball but you can be great man in many other ways. Steve Korcheck was a teacher his entire life and he was All-Star but you won’t see it on his Baseball-Reference.com page.

After graduating from George Washington University in 1954 Korcheck signed as a free agent with the Washington Senators passing up an opportunity to play pro football with the San Francisco 49’ers who had selected the 6’1″ 205 pound Korcheck in the third round of the NFL draft as a center.

Korcheck made his big league debut on September 6, 1954 as the starting catcher in the second game of a double-header against the Philadelphia Athletics at Griffith Stadium. Korcheck who went by the nickname of “Hoss” ended up 0 for 3 and the Senators lost the game 3-2. Korcheck  played in the major leagues briefly for the Washington Senators in 1954 and 1955 before serving his country in the Army in 1956-1957. After his military service was behind him, Korcheck resumed his baseball career appearing briefly in a Senators uniform in 1958 and 1959 but his hitting skills or lack there of kept him from earning a roster spot with Washington. Korcheck spent the entire 1960 season with the Washington Senators AAA farm team Charleston under manager Del Wilber and played with future Minnesota Twins like Bert Cueto, Jimmie Hall, Jim Kaat, Don Mincher, Ted Sadowski, Garland Shifflett, Sandy Valdespino and Zoilo Versalles before calling it a career and moving on with the rest of his life.

Why Did Senators Catcher Steve Korcheck Choose Baseball Over San Francisco 49’ers?

Stephen J. Korcheck, former MCC president and baseball player, dies

Final inning over in a life well lived

Thank you for the memories Steve Korcheck and may you rest in peace. Twinstrivia.com would like to pass on our condolences to the Korcheck family and friends. Steve Korcheck may be gone but he will never to be forgotten.

Dean Chance passes away at the age of 74

Dean Chance It has been reported that Dean Chance died of a heart attack at the age of 74 yesterday in his hometown of Wooster, Ohio. Chance was born in Wooster on June 1, 1941 and went on to attend Northwestern High School in Wayne, Ohio where he became a sports legend. Chance was considered by many to be the best high school pitcher in Ohio history, throwing 17 no-hitters (eight in one season) and posting a 52-1 record in high school, including 32 consecutive victories. The Baltimore Orioles signed Chance out of high school for $30,000. After two season in the Orioles organization the team exposed him to the 196o expansion draft and he was taken by the Washington Senators in the 48th round but his stay as a Senator was short-lived as they traded him to the Los Angeles Angels that same day for Joe Hicks in one of several forced trades by AL President Joe Cronin.

Dean Chance who would go on to become a two-time All-Star and Cy Young winner made his big league debut against the Minnesota Twins on September 14, 1961 at Met Stadium and lost 5-2 to Jim Kaat. Chance pitched well going 7.1 innings allowing 10 hits and 3 earned runs and two strike outs. Dean Chance blossomed the following year for the Angels and was 14-10 with a 2.96 ERA 206 plus innings.

Dean Chance met Bo Belinsky for the first time in spring training in Clearwater, Florida, in 1959. When the Angels selected Belinsky from the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft on November 27, 1961, and the two subsequently made the Angels in 1962, they became teammates and then roomed together during the 1963 and 1964 seasons. Belinsky and the already married Chance made the rounds in Hollywood, and probably became more famous for their off-the-field exploits than they did on a pitching mound.

After the season 1964 season in which Chance led the American League in wins with 20, ERA with 1.65, 15 complete games, 11 shutouts, and 278.1 innings pitched, Chance was rewarded with the Cy Young Award, at the time given out to only one pitcher in baseball. Chance also finished fifth in MVP voting behind Brooks Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard and Tony Oliva. Chance pitched for the Angels from 1961-1966 before the Angels traded him along with shortstop Jackie Hernandez to the Minnesota Twins for 1B Don Mincher, outfielder Jimmie Hall and RHP Pete Cimino in December 1966.

Chance, Dean 3The Twins just missed winning the pennant in 1967 but Dean Chance could not blamed for that as he went 20-14 and had a 2.73 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP in a league leading 283.2 innings with a league leading 18 complete games in 39 starts, again league leading. He had two no-hitters that season: a 5-inning perfect game (that’s no longer an official no-hitter) and then a 2-1 no-hitter over Cleveland on August 25th. In 1968 Chance was 14-14 but had a stellar ERA 2.53 and a 0.98 WHIP in 292 innings. The 1969 Twins under Billy Martin won the AL Western Division with 97 wins but Dean Chance was only 5-4 in 15 starts due to a back injury and he missed all of June and July and this was the beginning of the end of Chance’s baseball career. Chance’s only playoff experience took place in game 3 of the 1969 ALCS in a mop-up role when he pitched 2 innings in a 11-2 Orioles win.

In December of 1969 the Twins traded Chance,RHP Bob Miller, 3B Graig Nettles, and OF Ted Uhlaender  to the Cleveland Indians for RHP’s Luis Tiant and Stan Williams. Chance was 9-8 for the Indians in 1970 before being sold to the New York Mets in September where he finished the season. The Mets then traded Chance to the Tigers in March of 1971 where he pitched in 31 games going 4-6 with a 3.51 ERA. The Tigers released Chance in October 1971 and the baseball career of Dean Chance was in the books.

Chance was known for getting his sign from the catcher and then turning his back to the batter until he threw the ball, that motion Chance said, shortened his career according to him, he felt he was lucky to last in the majors the 11 years that he did. As good a pitcher as Chance was, hitting was not his forte, he was a terrible hitter, batting a mere .066 in 662 at-bats for his career, striking out 420 times for one of the highest strikeout rates in history. Chance still holds the Minnesota Twins record for most consecutive at bats without a hit, in 1967 between April 19 and July 23 Chance was 0 for 52 with 35 strikeouts.

Dean Chance was tough on the New York Yankees and Mickey Mantle in particular although Mantle did hit .242 off Chance with three home runs. “Every time I see his name on a lineup card, I feel like throwing up” – Mickey Mantle. Mantle once uttered this memorable quote during Chance’s remarkable 1964 season. As sportswriter Phil Pepe wrote that year, “It’s Chance, not CBS, who owns the New York Yankees. Lock, stock and barrel.” Chance pitched 50 innings against the Yankees that year, allowing only 14 hits and one run, a homer by Mantle. In five starts he threw four complete games and three shutouts, going 4-0 with a 0.18 ERA.

After his baseball ended at the age of 30 Dean Chance did not move to a rocking chair, he went into the carnival business where he owned numerous games “where you can win an item off the top shelf” and traveled all over the country. He was a boxing promoter for a while and he started and was still president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) when he died. Chance also invested in real estate, played Gin Rummy on a professional level and attended many sports memorabilia shows. It is ironic to me that he attended so many memorabilia shows because I mailed him numerous baseball cards over the  years asking for his autograph but I never got a single card back, with or without an autograph. The man was one of baseball’s great characters.

Rest in Peace Dean Chance and thank you for all the great memories.

Dean Chance SABR BioProject

Dean Chance Obit – Star Tribune

Los Angeles Times Obit

Dean Chance: baseball, carnies, boxing. He was worthy of a book.

Bo and Dean: A Lifetime of Fun and Friendship

Chance of a lifetime: Area legend was one of a kind

Mis-Management 101: The American League Expansion for 1961

Remembering 1965 – Part 27 – Twins whip Dodgers 8-2 at the Met

Mudcat Grant
Mudcat Grant

October 6, 1965 – The Twins play their first World Series game at Metropolitan Stadium with 47,797 fans in the stands against the Los Angeles Dodgers and win the game 8-2 behind the complete game pitching of Mudcat Grant. Grant becomes the first African-American to win a World Series game. In the third inning the Twins scored six times and rookie second baseman Frank Quilici had a double and a single in the same inning in his first World Series game. Don Drysdale took the defeat. Don Mincher and Zoilo Versalles hit round trippers. Sandy Koufax (26-8) refuses to pitch the first game of the World Series against the Twins because game is scheduled on Yom Kippur, the most sacred of the Jewish holidays. Tony Oliva tied a World Series record for most putouts in a nine-inning game in right field (7). Box score

1965-world-series-openingHubert Humphrey, Vice-President of the United States, and a former mayor of Minneapolis threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

1965 Twins World Series game 1

Remebering 1965 – Part 22 – Versalles, World Series tickets, Mele

September 2 – Left Fielder Bob Allison strikes out five times in a 5-4 loss to the Tigers at Met Stadium. Allison is the only Twins batter to strike out five time in a nine inning game. Sandy Valdespino (1967), Bobby Darwin (1972), and Roy Smalley (1976) all struck out five times in extra inning games. Box score

September 14 – The Twins beat the Kansas City Athletics managed by Haywood Sullivan 4-3 at Met Stadium. Three KC pitchers walk eight Twins batters including five intentional walks, Tony Oliva (2), Don Mincher, Earl Battey and Jerry Kindall. Box score

As of September 15 the first place Twins are 94-54 after 148 games and 10 games up on the second place Baltimore Orioles and riding an eight game winning streak. Even though the Twins are just days away from clinching the AL pennant, their last two home games at the Met against the Kansas City Athletics have drawn a total of 19,105 fans.

Sporting News Sep 4, 1965 P12

Sporting News Sep 11, 1965 P9

 1965 twins 50th anniversary banner