Tag: Harmon Killebrew

What just happened?

Here is what the May 29 Twins GameNotes say about yesterdays game:

The Twins lost to the Rays yesterday by a score of 8-6 in 15 innings, losing the three-game series two games to one. At six hours and 26 minutes, the game marked the longest game in Target Field history and the second-longest game in the history of the Twins (longest: six hours and 36 minutes on May 7, 1995 at Cleveland). The loss to Tampa was Minnesota’s longest game by innings since April 24, 2016 at Washington (16 innings). The Twins/Rays game was the longest game in the major leagues this season (previously: 6:05 by New York-AL at Chicago-NL on May 7).

It marked the Twins first loss in which Minnesota led in the ninth inning (previously 25-0).

Twins pitchers struck out a season-high 17 batters, their most since recording 19
strikeouts August 19, 2007 vs. Texas.

Mauer

Joe Mauer drew three walks to pass Kent Hrbek for second on the Twins all-time list
(840), trailing Harmon Killebrew (1,321). Mauer hit his 133rd career home run, moving him past Jacque Jones for 11th place on the Twins all-time list. He recorded a season-high
four hits and reached base a career-high seven times, becoming the second Twin ever
to reach base seven-plus times in a game, joining Rod Carew (8 times on May 12, 1972
vs. Milwaukee).

Some other facts about the loss to Tampa yesterday:

The announced crowd for the game was 28,951, Twins manager Paul Molitor guessed about 1,500 stayed to watch what turned out to be a bitter ending for Minnesota.

Twins used nine pitchers tying a franchise record equaled on five other occasions.

The total pitch count for the Rays and Twins was 553 pitches (289 by Minnesota).

With a burnt out bullpen the Twins made two moves this morning, putting Justin Haley on the 10-day DL and sending Kennys Vargas to AAA Rochester. The Twins called up pitchers Drew Rucinski and Jason Wheeler who has yet to make his big league debut.

Box score for Twins vs Rays game on May 28, 2017

Sam Mele – First Twins manager to take team to a World Series gone at the age of 95

Twins manager Sam Mele

Sabath Anthony “Sam” Mele was born in Astoria, New York on January 21, 1922 and passed away in his home in Quincy, Massachusetts this past Monday at the age of 95. 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. Sam Mele was a natural all-around athlete and a Queens Park baseball legend and went on to attend New York University where he excelled as a basketball and baseball player before serving his country in the Marines during World War II. But Mele 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 Eastern 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
Continue reading Sam Mele – First Twins manager to take team to a World Series gone at the age of 95

This Day in Twins History – April 27

1961 – The expansion Los Angeles Angels play their first home game bowing to the Twins at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, 4-2. The 74-year old baseball legend Ty Cobb, in his last-ever visit to a ballpark, throws out the first ceremonial pitch. This was the first American League game to ever be played in Los Angeles. Box Score

Camilo Pascual

1965 – Camilo Pascual hits a grand slam home run off pitcher Stan Williams in a 11-1 Twins win over the Indians in Cleveland Stadium. Camilo pitches a complete game two hitter and strikes out five in the process. Pascual is the first and only Twins pitcher to hit a grand slam home run. Pascual had also hit a grand slam home run as a Washington Senator at Yankee Stadium I on August 14, 1960 in a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees. Box Score

1969 – Harmon Killebrew hits his 400th HR and the Twins take over first place in the AL West by beating Chicago 4-3. Box Score

1980 – The Twins score 10 runs in the first inning on their way to a 20-11 thrashing of the Oakland A’s. Minnesota starter Geoff Zahn can’t hold the 10-0 lead, allowing 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings, and Doug Corbett picks up the win in relief. Box Score

1994 – Scott Erickson, who allowed the most hits in the majors the previous season, pitched Minnesota’s first no-hitter in 27 years and the Twins third no-hitter as the Twins beat Milwaukee 6-0 at the Metrodome. Box Score

2010 – In a very unusual game at Comerica Park, the Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 as Francisco Liriano beats Justin Verlander. What’s unusual about that you ask? It was one of those rare baseball games when neither team scores an earned run. The Twins used two pitchers and the Tigers had four hurlers take the mound. Since 2001 this has occurred to the Twins just three times and two of the three occurrences were against the Detroit Tigers. Box Score

2011 – The Tampa Rays beat the Twins 8-2 in Target Field on a cold blustery night in a game that we attended. The temperature at the start of the game was 40 degrees with a stiff 17 MPH northerly wind blowing in from left field. Shortly after the game began, the snow started falling and flurries lasted the entire game making Target Field look like a giant snow globe. The Twins played Christmas carols as the game went along and a fan that came to the game dressed as jolly old St. Nick danced in the stands. It was a weird day at the old ballpark to be sure. I even over-heard some fans saying that the Metrodome wasn’t all that bad……… Box Score . Kind of like today I guess.

Don’t forget to check back on the today in Twins history page every day, there is a lot of cool info out there.

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

Sporting News May 6, 1967 P11

Sporting News May 6, 1967 P 12

My previous 1967 pennant race articles can be found here.

 

The 2017 Minnesota Twins have arrived

The season opener for your favorite team is always a special day and that day has arrived for my favorite team the Minnesota Twins. I won’t be at the game in person as I am still in Florida but you can bet your bippies that I will be watching the Twin take on the Royals.

I have high hopes for this team, no, not playoff type hopes but I want to see this team breakout and take a giants step forward and show all those baseball experts that they are a team that will need to be reckoned with in the near future. The team is due to hit on some players that they didn’t expect to be stars, it happens all the time but it hasn’t happened in Minnesota since Brian Dozier came on the scene.

The Twins have suffered some bad luck since they moved into Target Field and some folks still say it was those 13 trees that were removed from Target Field after the inaugural 2010 season that started the down hit slide. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t, but this spring like every spring brings new hope, even for us old-timers that got to go to Met Stadium and the HHH Metrodome to see the Killer, Carew, Puckett, Hrbek, and Santana take the Twins to heights that today’s fans can old dream about.

But our team this season is the 2017 version of the Minnesota Twins, how much do you know about these guys? I have put together a little quiz for you to test your knowledge about this years team and staff. Have fun and good luck.

Know your 2017 Twins

Here is a 25 question quiz to see how well you know your 2017 Minnesota Twins players and staff. The information is based on the Opening Day roster and includes players that start the season on the DL. Give it a shot, it is multiple choice so if nothing else you can always guess. Most of all have fun!

 

Looking ahead to the 1967 baseball season

Fifty years ago the Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant in 1967 in what many think is one of the most if not thee most exciting AL pennant races ever. The Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins finished one game back and the Chicago White Sox finished 3 games behind the Red Sox. My plan is to do some postings as the year goes along about the 1967 AL pennant race. I found an article in the April 17, 1967 Sports Illustrated called “RISING DYNASTY FOR THE BIRDS?” that does a recap on each AL team and predicts their chances for the 1967 season. Kind of a fun read. The Boston Red Sox of course played the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series and lost 4 games to 3.

Carl Yastrzemski won the triple crown in 1967 although he and Twins 1B Harmon Killebrew each had 44 home runs that year. Even though you know how the story ends, it will still be fun reliving it.

These players were born in the 1920’s and yet played for the Twins

Elmer Valo
Elmer Valo

The Minnesota Twins started play in 1961 after leaving Washington D.C. where they were known as the Washington Senators. Even though Calvin Griffith’s team started playing in Met Stadium in 1961 the team had a player on the roster that made his major league debut in game one of a doubleheader on September 22, 1940 in Shibe Park as the starting left fielder for the Philadelphia Athletics in a 5-4 loss to the Washington Senators. Valo went on to play for the Kansas City A’s, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and the Washington Senators in 1960 before playing for the Twins. When Valo appeared in his first game in a Twins uniform on April 21, 1961 at Met Stadium against who else but the Washington Senators he was playing in his 1,724th game. Elmer Valo appeared in just 33 games for Minnesota and only had 36 plate appearances. Valo was used strictly as a pinch-hitter except for one blow out game in which he pinch-hit and then stayed in the game as a left fielder and had four PA’s. The Twins released Valo on June 17, 1961 and he signed on with the Phillies again where he played out the 1961 season and then retired from baseball. An oddity about Elmer Valo is that he played for Philly when the Athletics moved to Kansas City, he was a Brooklyn Dodger when they moved to Los Angeles and he was with the Washington Senators when they moved to Minnesota to become our Twins. Elmer Valo SABR Bio.

"Harmon Killebrew joins the 200 Home Run club on Sept. 15, 1963. He is joined by teammates Wally Post, left and Vic Wertz. (Pioneer Press file)"
“Harmon Killebrew joins the 200 Home Run club on Sept. 15, 1963. He is joined by teammates Wally Post, left and Vic Wertz. (Pioneer Press file)”

Vic Wertz who debuted for the Detroit Tigers on April 15, 1947 against the St. Louis Browns played 35 games for the Twins in 1963 before retiring from the game. Vic Wertz SABR Bio.

Wally Post also played briefly for Minnesota in 1963 appearing in just 21 games after being purchased by the Twins from the Cincinnati Reds. The Twins released Post after the 1963 season and Post went on to play one more year, this time in Cleveland. Wally Post SABR Bio.

Rk Player Year From ? From To Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BA Pos
1 Elmer Valo 1961 1940 1961 1961 40-40 33 36 32 0 5 2 0 0 4 .156 /*H7
2 Vic Wertz 1963 1947 1963 1963 38-38 35 50 44 3 6 0 0 3 7 .136 /*H3
3 Wally Post 1963 1949 1963 1963 33-33 21 49 47 6 9 0 1 2 6 .191 /9H7
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/23/2016.

All three of these players were born in the 1920’s which is just around the corner. It is hard to believe that in the next few years we will have future Twins players born 100 or more years after the “old time” Twins were born. Elmer Valo, Vic Wertz and Wally Post are all deceased and though they were not All-Stars in Minnesota they each had long baseball careers and played a part in the history of the Minnesota Twins and deserve to be remembered for their contributions to Twins lore.

According to ELIAS

Dozier is still hot

Dozier
Dozier

Brian Dozier had a two-run single in the Twins’ four-run second inning yesterday extending his hitting streak to 19 games. Dozier has 30 hits, 11 home runs and 22 runs batted in during this streak. The only other players in Twins franchise history with at least 30 hits, 10 home runs and 20 runs batted in over a 19-game span were Harmon Killebrew in 1961 (32 hits, 10 HR, 26 RBI) and Kirby Puckett in 1986.

When you are compared to two Hall of Famers you are in pretty good company. Dozier deserves more credit this year then he has received.

According to ELIAS – 3 home run games

Dozier dazzles in defeat

Brian DozierBrian Dozier slammed three homers, his 36th, 37th and 38th of the season in a Labor Day afternoon game at Target Field, though the Royals came away the 11-5 victors in Minneapolis. Dozier has now hit 21 homers in his last 35 games, and he became the first major-leaguer to connect for that many homers over a 35-game span since Shawn Green connected for 22 round-trippers over a 35-game span (including four in one game) for the Dodgers in 2002. Dozier has hit 24 homers in 50 games since the All-Star break, with 22 of them coming while in the game as a second baseman (the other two came in a game in which he was the designated hitter). Dozier broke the American League record for homers by a second baseman after the break; the old mark had belonged to Hall-of-Famer Joe Gordon since 1940, when he hit 21 post-break homers with the Yankees.

Dozier’s season total of 38 home runs has been reached by only one other player since the Twins moved from Washington to Minnesota in 1961. The Hall-of-Famer Harmon Killebrew reached that level in eight different seasons in Minnesota (he had also done it once while the team still played in the nation’s capital), knocking out a team-record of 49 homers in 1964 and 1969.

Minnesota Twins 3 home run games

Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H HR RBI BOP Pos Summary
1 Brian Dozier 2016-09-05 MIN KCR L 5-11 5 5 3 3 3 4 1 2B
2 Max Kepler 2016-08-01 MIN CLE W 12-5 6 6 3 4 3 6 3 RF
3 Justin Morneau 2007-07-06 (2) MIN CHW W 12-0 5 5 3 3 3 6 5 1B
4 Tony Oliva 1973-07-03 MIN KCR L 6-7 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 DH
5 Harmon Killebrew 1963-09-21 (1) MIN BOS W 13-4 5 5 3 3 3 5 4 LF
6 Bob Allison 1963-05-17 MIN CLE W 11-4 5 5 3 3 3 6 4 RF
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/6/2016.

Opponents 3 home run games

Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H HR RBI BOP Pos Summary
1 Josh Donaldson 2016-08-28 TOR MIN W 9-6 5 4 3 3 3 4 2 3B
2 Alex Rodriguez 2015-07-25 NYY MIN W 8-5 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 DH
3 Curtis Granderson 2012-04-19 NYY MIN W 7-6 5 5 3 5 3 4 2 CF
4 Jose Bautista 2011-05-15 TOR MIN W 11-3 5 5 3 3 3 4 3 RF
5 Evan Longoria 2008-09-18 TBR MIN L 8-11 5 5 3 3 3 4 4 3B
6 Nick Markakis 2006-08-22 BAL MIN W 6-3 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 RF
7 Hee-Seop Choi 2005-06-12 LAD MIN W 4-3 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 1B
8 Ellis Burks 2001-06-19 CLE MIN L 9-10 7 7 3 5 3 3 2 DH
9 Edgar Martinez 1999-05-18 SEA MIN W 10-1 5 5 3 3 3 4 4 DH
10 Ivan Rodriguez 1997-09-11 TEX MIN W 7-0 4 4 3 3 3 5 2 C
11 Geronimo Berroa 1996-08-12 OAK MIN W 11-1 5 5 3 4 3 5 5 RF LF
12 Ernie Young 1996-05-10 OAK MIN W 15-5 6 5 4 4 3 6 1 CF
13 Darnell Coles 1994-07-05 TOR MIN W 14-3 5 5 3 3 3 4 7 3B
14 Juan Gonzalez 1992-06-07 TEX MIN W 5-4 4 4 3 3 3 4 6 CF
15 Dave Henderson 1991-08-03 OAK MIN L 6-8 5 5 3 3 3 3 2 CF
16 Dave Winfield 1991-04-13 CAL MIN W 15-9 6 6 4 5 3 6 4 RF
17 Joe Carter 1989-07-19 CLE MIN W 10-1 5 3 3 3 3 6 4 LF
18 Cory Snyder 1987-05-21 CLE MIN W 6-3 4 4 3 3 3 3 7 RF
19 Harold Baines 1984-09-17 CHW MIN W 7-3 5 4 3 3 3 4 3 RF
20 Doug DeCinces 1982-08-03 CAL MIN L 4-5 5 5 3 3 3 4 2 3B
21 Jeff Burroughs 1981-08-14 (2) SEA MIN W 13-3 5 4 3 3 3 6 6 RF
22 Eddie Murray 1979-08-29 (2) BAL MIN W 7-4 5 5 3 3 3 7 4 1B
23 Al Oliver 1979-05-23 TEX MIN W 7-2 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 CF
24 Bobby Grich 1974-06-18 BAL MIN W 10-1 5 5 3 3 3 6 3 2B
25 Joe Lahoud 1969-06-11 BOS MIN W 13-5 5 5 3 3 3 4 6 RF
26 Tommy McCraw 1967-05-24 CHW MIN W 14-1 6 6 3 3 3 8 4 1B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/6/2016.

According to ELIAS

Dozier ties franchise record for extra-base hits in a month

Dozier
Dozier

Brian Dozier‘s first-inning home run on last night was his 23rd extra-base hit this month, tying a Twins franchise record for extra-base hits in a calendar month. Joe Cronin had 23 extra-base hits in a calendar month twice, when the team was known as the Senators, in July 1932 and June 1933. Cronin hit .368 (46-for-125) in July 1932, but then topped that off by sporting a remarkable .458 batting average (54-for-118) in June 1933.

Dozier has 12 home runs this month, the most for any player in a calendar month this season. Only two other players in franchise history had 12 or more homers in a calendar month: Harmon Killebrew eight times (his high for a month was 15 in May 1959) and Jimmie Hall in August 1963 (13 homers).