TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
For the second straight week, the Twins have named Low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Gilberto Celestino Twins Player of the Week. In his last six games for the Kernels, Celestino hit .458 (11-for-24) with one double, one home run, three RBI, two walks and a 1.144 OPS. Celestino was acquired by the Twins along with right-handed pitcher Jorge Alcala near the 2018 trade deadline in exchange for right-handed pitcher Ryan Pressly. Celestino was originally signed as international free agent by Astros, July 2, 2015 for a $2.25 million signing bonus and $275,000 for college.
Bailey Ober
High -A Ft. Myers right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober has been named Twins minor
league Pitcher of the Week. The 6’9″ Ober made the start last Saturday, allowing one unearned run on six hits in 6.1 innings pitched, earning the win over Lakeland. In 8 starts for the Miracle this season Ober is 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA in 45.2 innings. His WHIP matches his ERA at 0.99 and he has struck out 53 batters while allowing on 39 hits. Nice numbers!
The 24-year-old was drafted by the Twins in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of College of Charleston and signed for a reported $125,000 signing bonus. Ober had been drafted by the Dodgers as a 23rd rounder in 2016 but chose not to sign.
Bellinger hits a homer unlike any in MLB this season
Taylor Rogers
Cody Bellinger reached Taylor Rogers for a three-run homer on an 0-2 pitch in the eighth inning, turning a 4-3 deficit into a 6-4 lead, the same score by which the Dodgers went on to dispatch the Twins. It was the major leagues’ first lefty-on-lefty, 0-2-pitch, go-ahead homer in the sixth inning or later this season. The blow was Bellinger’s 28th home run of the season, and of his big-league career, and it came in his 80th game. He tied Jose Abreu for the second-highest homer total over a player’s first 80 big-league games (Abreu did it three years ago); Rudy York set the record with 30 homers over his first 80 games with the Tigers back in the 1930s.
The Dodgers and Astros reside in the top spots of their respective leagues entering play today. Los Angeles owns the best record in the majors at 61–29, while Houston, at 60–29, holds a 16.5-game lead in the AL West, the largest divisional lead of any team currently in first place. No team in the wild-card era has failed to qualify for the postseason after winning at least 60 of their first 90 decisions of a season. The last team to fall short of the postseason after such a start was the 1993 Giants, who started the season 60–30 and finished 103–59, one game behind the Braves in the NL West.
The Dodgers and Astros are two of five teams that did not suffer a losing streak of four or more games before the All-Star break, along with the Diamondbacks, Indians, and Red Sox. It has been 60 years since the last time multiple teams finished a season with no four-game losing streaks. In 1957, the Milwaukee Braves and the New York Yankees, who opposed each other in that year’s World Series, both finished the regular season with no losing streaks of four or more games.
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.
The rumors of the Minnesota Twins trading their 29 year-old power hitting second baseman have been flying this entire off-season but here it is mid-January and Brian Dozier is still part of the Twins organization. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining that he has not been traded, right now Dozier is the heart and soul of the Minnesota Twins and I would hate to see him go unless the Twins can get major league ready players in return. I am getting real tired of all the talk about the future, I want to see some players that can play today. Prospects are nice but why trade an All-Star power hitting second baseman for more prospects. There is no guarantee with prospects, with Dozier you have a known commodity.
The problem I see here now is that the Twins have gone so far down the road with all this trade talk is the possible repercussions that may occur in not trading Dozier. No one likes to hear their name bandied about in trade talks and all this chatter about being traded may have negative impacts on Dozier’s play this season even if he tries to make it a non-issue. Dozier is no different from the rest of us, the more comfortable and happy you are in your work environment the better work you will perform.
Miguel Sano
I blame the Twins for Miguel Sano‘s poor season in 2016 by sending him to the outfield with little or no experience. Sano with just 80 games of big league experience all at third base or DH was forced to try to learn how to play the outfield while learning how to play in the big leagues. Sano did his best but the pressure of learning the outfield and playing in the big leagues was just too much for the then 22 year-old.
I know that Dozier is more experienced but I can see a similar scenario playing out with Dozier. Starting the season with Minnesota but waiting for the hammer to drop in a trade deadline deal might just cause him to struggle and the more he struggles the worse it would get and then his value plummets. Will Brian Dozier hit 42 home runs again? No one knows the answer to that but he is at peak value now, either trade him or just say he will not be traded and move on. End this thing with the Dodgers once and for all, either they give us what we want or we move on, this limbo business helps no one. Personally I am not a fan of Jose De Leon so a deal for De Leon and another prospect doesn’t spin my wheels so moving on from the Dodgers would be a blessing in my eyes. Whats wrong with keeping Dozier and building around him?
The time has come for Derek Falvey and Thad Levine to make a decision, so let’s move on boys, spring training is just around the corner.
It has been awhile since I did a crossword puzzle and there has been no Twins news lately so I have put together this puzzle for you Twins old-timers that remember fondly the Minnesota Twins from the 1960’s.
The Twins had some wonderful players back then and one World Series appearance in 1965 when they came up on the short end of a seven game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 1969 Twins under manager Billy Martin played the Baltimore Orioles in the first ever ALCS but there too they came up short getting swept in three games.
The puzzle is not easy but I hope you enjoy it and that it brings back some wonderful memories and gets you to thinking about baseball on this wet and dreary Minnesota November day.
Because of the size of this puzzle, you might want to consider using legal size paper if you have it. Once you have brought the puzzle up and are ready to print the puzzle, do a right-click with your mouse and you might want to do a print preview first to get the puzzle the right size to fit on a single page. The clues for the puzzle will print on page 2. If you have done your best and still come up short, then you can print out the answers.
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)”
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.
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.
Game 7 matched Sandy Koufax and Jim Kaat, who traded scoreboard zeroes until the top of the fourth, when Dodger left fielder Lou Johnson lined a homer off the left-field foul pole. Ron Fairly followed with a double, and he scored on Wes Parker‘s single just a moment later. Kaat was lifted by manager Sam Mele and he brought in his closer Al Worthington, who quickly put a stop to the Dodgers scoring spree, but the Dodgers had two big runs on the board and Koufax on the mound. Would a manager bring in his closer in the fourth inning today, I think not. Worthington was followed by Johnny Klippstein, Jim Merritt, and Jim Perry and they each held the Dodgers off the scoreboard. Jim Gilliam made a great play in the fifth to squelch a Twin rally, and Koufax cruised from there, retiring 13 of the next 14 hitters to finish with a World Series-clinching, three-hit shutout.
Sandy Koufax – World Series MVP
What more can you say? Some times teams don’t lose the game, the other team wins, I think that was the case here. You have to give credit where credit is due.
The Twins come back to tie the Series at 3 games apiece when Mudcat Grant hits and pitches the Twins to a 5-1 win on just two days rest in front of 49,578 delirious fans at the Met. The Mudcat and Bob Allison each hit home runs to power the team to a game 7. Dodger outfielder Ron Fairly hit a home run for the Dodgers only run.
World Series Press Pin
Grant pitched a complete game allowing just six hits and one earned run while striking out five Dodger batters. Claude Osteen known to his teammates as “Gomer,” was the losing pitcher in game 6 after shutting out the Twins in game 3 at Dodger Stadium.
The Minnesota Twins lose game 5 of the World Series to Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers, 7-0 and now find themselves down 3 games to 2. The Dodgers steal four bases including three by Willie Davis who sets a single game World Series record. Koufax who won 26 games during the regular season strikes out 10 Twins batters and faces just 29 hitters, aided by four double plays behind him
Twins starter and 18 game winner Jim Kaat lasted just 2.1 innings giving up four runs and took the loss. Twins hitters didn’t fare much better getting just four hits to go with the five hits they had in each of the two previous games at Dodger Stadium. The Twins return to Minnesota needing to win the next two games to hoist the World Champions banner at Met Stadium. Box score.
