Tag: Hal Naragon

Remembering 1965 – the manager – Part 3

 Sabath Anthony “Sam” Mele 

 Sam Mele

Sabath Anthony “Sam” Mele was born in Astoria, New York on January 21, 1922. Sam Mele‘s parents were born in Avellino, Italy although they met in America. Mele’s mother was sister to big league brothers Al and Tony Cuccinello. Mele, a natural all-around athlete and a Queens Park baseball legend attended New York University where he lettered in both baseball and basketball but he excelled in basketball. After his time at NYU Mele   served his country by joining the Marines during World War II. Mele however; wanted to play pro baseball and was signed as a free agent by the Boston Red Sox in 1946. In his first year of organized ball, Mele played 119 games for Scranton (A ball in the Easter League) hitting .342 with 18 home runs before being moved up to Louisville in the AAA American Association where he played all of 15 games. Mele made his major league debut with the Red Sox the following year against the Washington Senators on April 15, 1947. His rookie season may have been one of the best of his career as Sam hit 12 home runs and knocked in 73 runs in 123 games while hitting .302. Mele would never hit over .300 again in his 10 year major league career. During his playing career spanning 1947 to 1956, Mele, who batted and threw right-handed, saw duty with six major league clubs: the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians, batting .267 with 80 home runs in 1,046 games. Sam Mele played his final major league game as a Cleveland Indian on September 16, 1956. Mele played AAA ball with for the White Sox and Athletics in 1957 and 1958 but never returned to the majors as a player.

Sam Mele in his playing days
Sam Mele in his playing days

Mele turned to coaching and served under manager Cookie Lavagetto in 1959 and 1960 for the Washington Senators before the team moved to Minnesota in 1961 and became known as the Twins. With the ‘61 Twins struggling, Calvin Griffith asked Lavagetto to take a week off to go fishing and clear his head in early June and during this period Mele filled in as manager. When Cookie Lavagetto was fired on June 23, 1961, Sam Mele who was 39 with no managerial experience stepped in as manager full-time and became the Minnesota Twins second manager. The Twins moved up two places in the standings under Mele, finishing seventh.

But the Twins, building with young home-grown players like future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, Jim Kaat, Zoilo Versalles and Bob Allison, challenged the powerful New York Yankees in 1962 before finishing second. After finishing third in 1963, the team suffered through a poor season in 1964, leading to speculation that Mele would be replaced by his new third base coach, Billy Martin.

Finally, in 1965 the Twins broke the Yankees’ string of five World Series appearances by winning their first ever American League pennant and sent the Bronx Bombers on a tailspin where the New York Yankees would not appear in another World Series for 12 years. Led by Versalles, who was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player, batting champion Tony Oliva, and pitcher Mudcat Grant, who won 21 games, Minnesota won 102 games and coasted to the league title. The Yankees finished sixth, 25 games out. No Twins team has ever won 102 games since and Mele was named as the 1965 Sporting News Manager of the Year and back then there was only one manager of the year named for both the AL and NL. Minnesota took a two-game lead in the 1965 World Series, but the superior pitching of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Claude Osteen took its toll, and Los Angeles won in seven games. During the 1965 season Mele was involved in a an incident with home plate umpire Bill Valentine. The usually mild-mannered Mele’s hand apparently hit Valentine’s jaw and he was fined $500 and suspended five days.

The 1966 Twins won 13 fewer games, and ended up as runners-up to the Baltimore Orioles. Mele had clashed publicly with two of his coaches, Hal Naragon and pitching tutor Johnny Sain and both were fired after the 1966 season much to the dismay of star pitcher Jim Kaat who wrote an “open letter” to Twins fans voicing his displeasure on the Sain firing. The “letter” made national news and caused a ruckus during the 1966 World Series when major league baseball wanted the World Series front and center. The club swung a major trade for pitcher Dean Chance during the offseason and unveiled star rookie Rod Carew in 1967. Hopes and expectations were high in Minnesota, but when the Twins were only .500 after 50 games, Mele was fired. His successor was not Martin, as had been anticipated, but long time minor league manager Cal Ermer. Mele’s record as a manager was 524-436 (.546). He never managed again, but returned to the Red Sox as a scout for 25 years.

Now days Sam Mele is retired and is living in Quincy, Massachusetts. I was lucky enough to interview Sam Mele back in May of 2009 and the interview is about a 1/2 hour-long so grab the beverage of your choice, sit back, relax and listen to Sam tell you a little about himself and what it was like to manage the Minnesota Twins.

The interview with Sam Mele was done in May 2009 and is about 35 minutes long.

The Sam Mele SABR Baseball Biography is available here.

Piece by centerfieldmaz on Sam Mele

Hal Naragon 1965 AL Championship ring sold

Hal NaragonA couple of weeks ago while doing some research for this site I ran across an auction web site that was selling a 1965 American League championship ring so I had to stop and investigate.

Here is how Legendary Auctions described the ring they had up for bids:

“Hal Naragon used his skills behind the plate to craft a ten-year career in the major leagues, ending his playing days in 1962 as a member of the Minnesota Twins. Immediately after that he took a job as a Twins coach and was on-hand for the teams unforgettable run to the 1965 American League championship. Offered here is Hal’s actual AL Championship Ring awarded to him for his efforts in that season that came only inches away from producing a World Series championship when Sandy Koufax downed the Twins 2-0 in a Game 7 duel with Jim Kaat. Dazzling diamond is centered on the face of this Jostens 14K ring is a brilliant round stone set upon a deep-blue background. Encircling the stone is “American League Champions.” On one shank, “MINNESOTA” is engraved above a raised “TC” logo. The bottom of the shank bears a baseball and two crossed bats with “1965” engraved within the ball. The other shank is topped with the name “NARAGON.” An image of the state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities logo is above another baseball and two crossed bats. It would seem that Hal has always appreciated how special this ring is and what it represents as he has clearly taken exceptional care of it over the past five decades. In comparing this to the one other 1965 Twins ring that we’ve seen, there is no question that this is a far superior example and it grades NM with spectacular visual qualities.

When the bidding closed, there were 14 bids and the final bid was $3,585. I am not sure why Hal Naragon who is now 86, chose to sell his 1965 AL Championship ring but to me it is always sad to see something personal like this get sold to anyone other than the person that earned it. I did an interview with Hal Naragon, who is one of the original Minnesota Twins back in September 2010 that you can listen to here.

(click on the images to make them larger)

They Said It

July 4, 2009 – Here are some fun and interesting quotes pertaining to the Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators that I found in The Sports Illustrated archives.

Frank Kostro, Minnesota Twins utility man: “So far I’ve played right, left and first base and I’m Polish. Does that make me a utility pole?” – 4/29/1968

Mickey Mantle, injured Yankee, after batting practice at the Minnesota Twins’ Metropolitan Stadium: “This is the greatest home-run stadium I’ve ever seen. If this were my home park I’d hit 90 homers some year.” – 7/29/1963

Dick Erickson, head groundkeeper at Met Stadium in Bloomington, MN. asked what his job would be if the Twins and Vikings move into a domed stadium in 1981: “I guess I’ll just scrape the bubble gum off the field.” – 12/18/1978

Dave St. Peter, Twins president, on having real grass in the ballpark that Minnesota plans to open in 2010: “It will be a great joy to see somebody riding a mower instead of a vacuum cleaner.” – 9/24/2007

Sam Mele, to his family after he was fired by the Minnesota Twins: “What are you crying for? All these years you’ve been saying you’d like to have me home for the summer. Well, that’s where I’ll be now.” – 6/19/1967

Ellis Clary, Minnesota Twins scout, whose team is in the thick of its divisional race despite one of baseball’s lowest payrolls: “We’ve got the only players who’ll make more in their World Series shares than in salary.” – 8/6/1984

Calvin Griffith, 285-pound former owner of the Minnesota Twins upon running into equally hefty Craig Kusick, a onetime Twins first baseman who now teaches high school phys ed: “You and I should attend some of your classes.”

Ron Davis, former Minnesota Twin reliever who had a knack for giving up late-game homers, on the boos he still hears at appearances in the Twin Cities: “When it’s 10 years later and they still hate you, that’s what you call charisma.” – 2/20/1995

Mrs. Laura Quilici, hearing that her son Frank had been named manager of the Minnesota Twins: “Oh, the poor kid. He’s going to get an ulcer now.” – 7/17/1972

Jim DeShaies, Minnesota Twin pitcher on ignoring baseball tradition and changing his seat in the dugout during teammate Scott Erickson’s recent no-hitter: “I think everybody gets caught up in superstitions. But I don’t put much stock in them—knock on wood.” – 5/16/1994

Tony Perez, Cincinnati Reds coach, on wire-service reports that pitcher John Smiley was unhappy about his trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Minnesota Twins: ” John Smiley is going to change his name to John Frowny.” 4/6/1992

Don Baylor, Minnesota Twins DH, on why he would say no if George Steinbrenner offered him the Yankees’ managing job: “I came into this game sane, and I want to leave it sane.” – 10/19/1987

Cookie Lavagetto, manager of the likely last place Washington Senators, after reprimand by Commissioner Ford Frick for saying the Yankees would win pennant by 15 games: “I wanted to get them overconfident so we could beat them.” – 4/14/1958

Billy Gardner, Minnesota Twins manager, on outfielder Darrell (Downtown) Brown, who has hit one home run in 591 career at bats: “That must be an awful small town.”

Tom Kelly, Minnesota Twins manager, explaining why he made pitcher Pat Mahomes walk off the field with him after pulling him during a 17-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers: “Then we would have to take only half the boos each.” – 5/10/1993

Junior Oriz, Minnesota Twins catcher, after teammate Scott Erickson threw a two-hitter for his 12th straight win: “He’s unbelievable. He’s like that guy in Texas who’s 41, or 42, or 43.”

Sam Mele, ousted Minnesota Twins manager, asked what he had noticed most about the club this summer: “They got going right after I left.” – 9/25/1967

Gene Mauch, Minnesota Twins manager, on having a blood relative, Roy Smalley on his team: “Sometimes I look on Roy as my nephew, but sometimes only as my sister’s son.” – 5/26/1980

Hal Naragon, Minnesota Twins catcher, on whether Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski will turn out to be the Red Sox new Ted Williams: “He’s like Ted from the shoelaces down.” – 9/18/1961

Gene Mauch, of the Minnesota Twins, who is in his first year as an American League manager: “I’ve seen more inferior umpiring so far this season than I saw in 16 years as a manager in the National League.” – 7/19/1976

Calvin Griffith, president of the Washington Senators, who once promised to keep the club in Washington “as long as I live,” in an amendment: “As long as we make a living.” – 7/14/1958