Tag: MIckey Mantle

Blast from the Past

The Minnesota Twins have had some power hitters over the years and Harmon Killebrew was the greatest of them all. The Twins called Met Stadium home when Harmon played and he hit 262 home runs as a Twin at the Met and added two more when he was a Kansas City Royal.

But I want to test your memory here, I want to see if you can complete the list of the top 10 visiting player home run hitters at Met Stadium. You don’t have to tell me how many home runs the player hit at Met Stadium, all you need to do is give me his name and I will add the player to the correct spot on the list and fill in how many home runs he hit at the Met and how many games he played there. I will tell you this to get you started, the most home runs hit by a visiting player is 20. I will also start you out by telling you that Sal Bando is number 10 on the list. There are no prizes, this is just a memory exercise. Send me your guesses at jjswol@twinstrivia.com. Have fun!

Reggie Jackson
Reggie Jackson
Player Home Runs Games
Reggie Jackson  20  81
 Carl Yastrzemski  18 131
 Norm Cash  17 87
 Al Kaline  16 85
Boog Powell  15  88
 Frank Howard  15 54
 Elston Howard  14  53
 Mickey Mantle  14  49
Willie Horton  13  91
Sal Bando 13 99

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Great job everyone, thank you!

This Day in Twins History – July 26, 1967

Jim Merritt
Jim Merritt

Twins pitcher Jim Merritt, a 23-year-old lefty sets a team record when he pitches the first 13 innings of an 18 inning 3-2 win over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in game two of a doubleheader. It sure would be nice to know how many pitches Jim threw that game as he faced 46 batters, allowing 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7. Ron Kline, Al Worthington and Jim Roland pitched 5 scoreless innings of relief with Worthington getting the win and Roland earned the save. Merritt was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in November of 1968 for shortstop Leo Cardenas.

It should be noted too that Yankee starter Fred Talbot pitched 7 innings allowing 1 earned run before being relieved by Bill Monbouquette who then three 9 scoreless innings of relief allowing just 3 hits before giving way to Joe Verbanic and Thad Tillotson who took the loss when he allowed an unearned run in the top of te 18th inning.

Not a game for the memory books for Yankee Roy White or Twin Cesar Tovar as both went 0 for 8, then again Mickey Mantle and Elston Howard were 0 for 6 so they had nothing to brag about either. But then who wants to play 18 innings in the second game of a doubleheader The Twins lost the first game of the DH 6-1.

The first game of the Twins versus Yankees series was also an odd game as it ended in a 1-1 tie after 9 innings. Jim Kaat had the Bronx Bombers  shut out 1-0 with two outs in the 9th inning and then Mickey Mantle hit a home run to make it 1 to 1. I am not sure what caused the game to be stopped at that point. It was one of two tie games the Twins played in 1967.

Don’t forget to check out our Today in Twins History page every day.

Twins switch-hitters

In baseball, a switch-hitter is a batter that bats either from the right side or the left side depending on if the pitcher is right or left-handed. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher making such pitches often harder to hit than those from the other side. History tells us that most right-handed batters hit better against lefty pitchers and left-handed batters hit better against right-handers. This so-called platoon benefit is why managers use pinch hitters and LOOGY’s and why some players want to become switch-hitters.

Switch-hitting at its best

Switch-hitters have been around for ever it seems and yet according to sources that I have researched, only about 6% of baseball batters have been switch-hitters. You have to wonder if switch-hitting is such an advantage, why haven’t more of baseball best hitters been switch-hitters? The best career batting average for a switch-hitter is .316 by Frankie Frisch and he currently ranks 71st all-time. Some of the best switch-hitters in our era have been  Chipper Jones at .306 and Pete Rose at .303. Detroit Tigers DH Victor Martinez has a career average of .302 making him the highest currently active switch-hitter. Switch-hitters have been around for a long time and there have been some pretty good ones over the years, in addition to the players I just mentioned, you have to add players like Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, Roberto Alomar, Bernie Williams, George Davis, Lance Berkman, Tim Raines and Chili Davis to the list of switch-hitting greats.

Switch-hitting and the rules

A question often asked is can a batter switch for right to left or left to right during an at bat. The only rule that I can find that seemingly applies is 6.06(b) which states that “A batter is out for illegal action when he steps from one batter’s box to the other while the pitcher is in position ready to pitch.” Based on that, it appears you can switch from one batters box to the other as often as you want as long as you do it before the pitcher gets in his pitching position.

Twins switch-hitting history

The Twins currently have four switch-hitters on their 25 man playing roster, C Ryan Doumit, SS Pedro Florimon, OF Aaron Hicks, and utility man Eduardo Escobar.

Roy Smalley III
Roy Smalley III

In the Twins 53 years of existence the team has had 62 players that were switch-hitters but not all of them actually batted and we will touch more on that later. The Twins very first switch-hitter was actually a pitcher, Pedro Ramos. Ramos pitched and batted (1 for 4 with 2 RBI) in the Twins very first game when Ramos and the Twins shut out the New York Yankees 6-0 on April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. The first Twins switch-hitting position player to appear in a game was SS Marty Martinez when he had an at bat against the Yankees at Met Stadium on May 30, 1962 in game 2 of a doubleheader. Martinez actually appeared in 3 earlier games as a Twins but was used strictly as a pinch-runner by manager Sam Mele. It wasn’t until 1976 however; that the Twins actually had a regular position player switch-hitting and that year they had two, rookie catcher Butch Wynegar and SS Roy Smalley. The Twins are playing their 53rd season and there has only been one year, 1973 that they have not had a switch-hitter step into the batters box wearing a Twins uniform. On the other hand, they had nine switch-hitters (Cristian Guzman was the only starter) at one time or another on their 1999 team that finished 63-97.

Twins switch-hitting pitchers

Looking at the Twins 62 switch-hitters, eleven of them were pitchers and claimed to be switch-hitters but only Pedro Ramos, Jim Perry, Dan Serafini, JC Romero, and Joe Mays actually set foot in the batters box. The other six, Stan Perzanowski, Darrell Jackson, Pete Filson, Jason Ryan, Pat Neshek, and Eric Hacker were switch-hitters only on the back of their baseball cards because they never batted in a Twins game. Jim Perry actually hit five home runs as a Twin.

Home runs from each side of the plate club

The Twins switch-hitter with the most home runs is Roy Smalley and he hit 163 career home runs and 110 of them were when he was a Minnesota Twin. The “home runs from each side of the plate” club is relatively exclusive but three of the members were Twins. Roy Smalley accomplished that rare feat twice, once against the Boston Red Sox at the Metrodome on  May 30, 1986 and once earlier in his career as a New York Yankee in 1982. Chili Davis became the second Twin to join the club when he did it against the Royals on October 2, 1992.  Ryan Doumit became the third Twin to do so when too joined the exclusive fraternity against the Royals on July 22, 2012. Chili Davis hit a home run from each side of the plate 11 times in his illustrious 19 year career. Just for comparisons sake, Mickey Mantle did it on 10 occasions.

One oddity that seems to stand out to me is how few of the switch-hitters employed by the Twins over the years actually threw left-handed. If you exclude the 11 switch-hitting pitchers from the list you are left with 51 switch-hitters and only one of the 51 threw left-handed, the other fifty were right-handed. Kind of strange. The lone left-handed position player was John Moses. But keep in mind that John Moses an outfielder by trade, actually pitched in 3 games for the Twins and it gets even stranger.

Twins best switch-hitters

So let’s take a look at the Twins top switch-hitters, there is no good way to rank them so I will list here all the Twins switch-hitters that have 1,000 or more plate appearances in a Twins uniform. The chart also shows positions played, games played, home runs and batting average. All the numbers on this chart are their Twins career numbers. Many of these players played for other teams but those numbers are not included here, I am only interested in their numbers as Minnesota Twins for this story.

Name Positions PA Games HR AVG
1 Roy Smalley 6,5,3 4676 1148 110 .262
2 Cristian Guzman 6 3538 841 39 .266
3 Butch Wynegar 2,5 3188 794 37 .254
4 Nick Punto 5,4,6,8,3 2707 747 12 .248
5 Gene Larkin 3.9.5.4 2670 758 32 .266
6 Denny Hocking 4,6,8,5,3 2455 876 25 .252
7 Al Newman 6,4,5,8 1876 618 0 .231
8 Alexi Casilla 4,6,5,8 1764 515 11 .250
9 Chili Davis DH,9,3 1163 291 41 .282
10 Luis Castillo 4 1036 227 3 .299
11 Matt Walbeck 2 1008 275 8 .230

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Some interesting numbers and players on this chart, about half the players were starters and half were utility players. No surprise that Smalley is the leader in home runs or that Chili Davis is second on that list but finding that Cristian Guzman is number 3 in the Twins switch-hitter home run list really surprised me.

A bonus question for you, this Twins switch-hitter had a career .425 batting average albeit in just 43 plate appearances, do you know who he is?

The Twins and tie games

Who says that there no tie games in baseball? In major league baseball, games end with tie scores only in rare cases when conditions make it impossible to continue play. A tie game does not count as a game in the standings – a 2008 rule change made all tie games suspended unless and until not needed for the sake of determining playoff teams, and no longer replayed; however, though undecided, and not factored in the championship standings and the playoff reckoning, a tie game goes on the record and player and team statistics from the game are counted. Inclement weather may also shorten games, but at least five innings must be played for the game to be considered official; four-and-a-half innings are enough if the home team is ahead. Previously, curfews and the absence of adequate lighting caused more ties and shortened games – now, games interrupted from ending in such circumstances are, at least initially, suspended. Also, with more modern playing surfaces better able to handle light rains, the process for calling or shortening a game due to weather has changed; it is more common than in the past to delay a game as much as two hours before a cancellation; also, a delay usually does not occur anymore until the rain is moderate-heavy and/or there is standing water on some part of the playing field.

Since the Minnesota Twins came into existence in 1961 they have played 8 games that have ended in a tie but none since their last tie game in 1999.

10/3/1999 – The Twins ended their miserable 1999 season (63-97) against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park II with a 1-1 tie game. The game was called due to rain, wind and cold in the middle of the seventh inning after the Twins scored in the top of the seventh after two were out when Doug Mientkiewicz singled and Torii Hunter doubled him home. Previous to the Twins scoring in the top of the seventh, the game had been scoreless since the bottom of the first when the White Sox scored their lone run. The game went on the books as a tie game. Box Score

4/29/1981 – On a 61 degree day albeit cloudy, windy with intermittent rain, 2,171 fans are in the stands to watch the Twins take on the Seattle Mariners at Met Stadium. Going into the bottom of the eighth inning with Mariner reliever Dick Drago on the mound the Twins find themselves trailing 7-4. Outfielder Gary Ward leads off with a single, 2B Pete Mackanin also singles and the Twins have runners on first and second. “Papa” Jackson who is playing 1B grounds out for the first out of the inning but at least moves the runners along. Twins manager Johnny Goryl decided to have Danny Goodwin pinch-hit for catcher Sal Butera and Goodwin delivers with a double to left scoring both runners. Dave Engle is the next batter and he hits a ball off the LF fence scoring Goodwin and tries to stretch it in to an inside-the park home run but is thrown out at the plate and after 8 innings the game is tied up at 7-7. At this point with one out in the inning the umpires delay the game due to rain but the game is never resumed and goes into the books as a tie game. Box Score.

4/11/1974 – Just four games into the 1974 season the winless Chicago White Sox are at Met Stadium to take on the Twins in the final game of a three game series but the game is called after 6 innings and ends in a 4-4 tie. Jim Kaat is again involved in a tie game but this time he is the White Sox starter and the Twins beat him up pretty good. After 6 innings the umpires call for a halt in play due to rain and 38 minutes later the game is called due to unplayable conditions. Box Score

7/25/1967 – The Twins and New York Yankees play to a 1-1 tie at Yankee Stadium I when the game is called after 9 innings due to rain. The only runs of the game are scored via the long ball when Harmon Killebrew gets ahold of one off Yankee starter Al Downing in the top of the first inning with two outs and Mickey Mantle hits one off of Jim Kaat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Kaat pitches a complete game giving up 9 hits but gets nothing for his effort. The Twins were on a 6 game losing streak going into this game and note the unusual batting order that Twins skipper Cal Ermer employed for this game. He had Bob Allison leading off, Tony Oliva hitting second, Harmon Killebrew hitting third, Rich Rollins hit fourth, Cesar Tovar hit in the five hole, Zoilo Versalles hit sixth, Rod Carew hit seventh, Earl Battey hit in the eight spot and Jim Kaat hit in the nine hole. The Twins played the Yankees in a double-header the next day and lost the first game 6-1 to stretch their losing streak to seven before beating the Bronx Bombers 3-2 in 18 innings in game two with Twins starter Jim Merritt going the first 13 innings giving up the two runs. Merritt faced 46 batters allowing 7 hits and striking out 7 so I wonder how many pitches he threw that day. By the way, the winning run in the top of the 18th inning was unearned. The game ended 4 hours and 24 minutes after it started. Box Score for the tie game. Box Score for the 3-2 18 inning affair.

6/21/1967 – The Twins were playing the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium and jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead off Tiger pitcher Earl Wilson but the Tigers came back and by the end of the 7th inning the game was knotted at 5-5. Neither team scored in the 8th. In the top of the 9th inning 2B Rod Carew led off with a single and 1B Harmon Killebrew stepped to the plate having gone 2 for 3 with a walk and two home runs. Unfortunately, Carew tried to steal 2B and was thrown out by Tiger catcher Bill Freehan and at that point the game was halted for rain and never restarted. Box Score

6/22/1964 – The Twins have a 8-2 lead over the Cleveland Indians at Met Stadium after 4 innings but Camilo Pascual, Mudcat Grant, and Gerry Arrigo can’t hold the lead and the Indians tie the game at 8 apiece after 8 innings are in the books. The teams continue play and after 10 innings the game remains tied but then the rains come and force the game to be called. Box Score

8/22/1962 – The Twins and Washington Senators played to an 8-8 at Met Stadium when the game was suspended due to a local curfew regulation. The game was tied 5-5 after 8 innings but then both teams scored 2 in the 9th inning and again the score was tied. In the 10th inning both teams scored again but the game remained tied and after 3 hours and 51 minutes the umps had no choice but to suspend the game due to curfew. Box Score

9/5/1961 – The first tie game in Minnesota Twins history occurred at Met Stadium when the game against the Chicago White Sox was called after 9 innings with the score knotted at 3. Twins hurler Jack Kralick and White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce had dueled for 7 innings and each team had scored a run. The Mighty Whities scored one in the top of the 8th and the Twins came back with two of their own in the home half of the 8th on a single with two runners on base by Bill Tuttle. The White Sox led off the 9th inning with a long home run to left by Al Smith and the score was tied at 3-3. The Twins then retired the White Sox without any additional runs scoring but could not score in the bottom of the 9th. At that point, according to local Twins historian and official scorer Stew Thornley, the game was called due to a heavy fog. Box Score

This Day in Twins History – October 15, 1968

The 1968 Major League Expansion Draft was held to stock the newly formed Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots and the Minnesota Twins lose outfielders Bob Oliver and Pat Kelly, shortstop Jack Hernandez, and minor league pitcher Jerry Cram to the Kansas City Royals, and pitcher Buzz Stephen and 3B Rich Rollins to the Seattle Pilots.

The first two picks in the draft were pitcher Roger Nelson from the Baltimore Orioles chosen by the Kansas City Royals and 1B Don Mincher from the California Angels by the Seattle Pilots. By the way, did you know that the “Kansas City Royals” were named after the American Royal Livestock Show that has been held annually in Kansas City since 1899?

Buzz Stephen started two games for the Twins in 1968 pitching 11.1 innings and had a 1-1 record with a 4.76 ERA. Stephen was the first player chosen from the Minnesota Twins and was the ninth pick over all and the Pilots fifth pick but he never pitched for the Pilots or any big league team again.

Bob Oliver was the Royals 10th pick. Oliver had appeared in just 3 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 1965 and then was traded to Minnesota in December of 1967 and spent all of 1968 with the Twins AAA Denver team before being taken by the Royals. Oliver ended up playing in the big leagues for all or part of eight seasons.

The 26th pick over-all belonged to the Seattle Pilots and they chose 8-year Twins veteran 3B Rich Rollins. “Red” had played in 888 games for the Twins between 1961-1968. Rollins played for the Pilots in 1969 and then finished his big league career with the Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Indians in 1970.

The 34th pick belonged to the Kansas City Royals and they chose Twins outfielder Pat Kelly. Kelly had played just 20 games for the Twins in 1967-1968. Kelly went on to have a nice 15 year big league career.

The Royals took Twins shortstop Jackie Hernandez with the 43rd over-all pick. The slick fielding no-hit shortstop had been a part-time player for the Twins in 1967-1968 and spent a total of 9 nine years in the bigs with four different teams.

The Twins lost their fifth and last player in this draft, minor league pitcher Jerry Cram when Kansas City took him with their 54th pick. Cram pitched in the big leagues briefly for between 1969, 1974-1976 appearing in only 23 games for the Royals and the New York Mets.

Although I  have not been able to verify it to be a fact, I have read several blogs that have stated that New York Yankee Hall of Fame outfielder Mickey Mantle was ‘unprotected” by New York Yankees in this draft but went unpicked. Mantle was at the end of his career by then and played his final season in 1968.

Did you know?

  • In addition to heavily scouting Australia, the Minnesota Twins also have the biggest presence of any team in Europe, so it was no surprise when they landed Max Kepler-Rozycki for $800,000, the largest bonus ever given to a European.
  • That Max Kepler-Rozycki is the son of two members of the German Ballet?
  • Joe Benson was committed to play running back for Purdue before he signed with the Twins?
  • Fort Myers has had more World Series-winning franchises train in it than any other city either in Florida or Arizona, Five franchises have won it all after training in Fort Myers in the spring: Athletics, Pirates, Royals, Twins, and Red Sox.
  • Target Field’s footprint is only 8.5 acres large, the smallest in major league baseball but it covers a total of 10.5 acres when looked at from above because portions of it extend over surrounding roadways.
  • That the Twins charge $10 for parking for a spring training game at Hammond Stadium? The Twins are tied with the Yankees, Phillies, and Rays for the highest parking rates while all the other teams in Florida range from free to $9.
  • The pen Joe Mauer used to sign his eight-year, $184 million contract belongs to Joel Lepel, the minor league field coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. Lepel was born and raised in Plato, Minn., and has worked for the Twins for 23 years, mostly as a scout. All of the amateur players he has signed, including Mauer, have used the same pen.
  • That one time Twins player Andy Kosco replaced Mickey Mantle at 1B in Mick’s final game on September 28, 1968.
  • Former Twins catcher Earl Battey who was not known for his speed was a star basketball player in high school and was offered a contract to play for the Harlem Globetrotters but he decided to play pro baseball instead.
  • Former Twins infielder and now the Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington replaced Cal Ripken as the Orioles shortstop in the eighth inning of a Sept 14, 1987 game ending Cal Ripken’s record consecutive-innings streak of 8,243, spanning 904 games.

Albert Pujols becomes an Angel, but not in my eyes

It is all but official the way I see it, 1B Albert Pujols, soon be 32, has left the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals to sign a 10 year deal worth in excess of $250 million with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. As a long time fan of baseball I find this signing disgusting, I hate what baseball and baseball players have become, money hungry mercenaries. I know, I know that this is baseball in 2011 but that does not mean that I have to like it and as a baseball fan I have a right to express my feelings.

Pujols has been a Cardinal icon for 11 years and to see him forget his roots and take the Angels deal for a few million dollars more than the Cardinals were supposedly offering makes me sick. The man has banked over $104 million dollars in career earnings with the Cards and now he drops his allegiance like a hot potato. We have all heard it before, but how much money does a person really need? I have seen where Albert Pujols has done a lot of community work but actions speak louder than words and his decision to leave St. Louis, a great baseball city for a few dollars more shows me nothing but greed, straight out-and-out greed. How else can you explain it to me?

When you think of the Cardinals of the current era you think of Pujols, same as you think of Jeter or Mantle  with the Yankees, Puckett with the Twins, Banks as a Cub, or Ripken with the Orioles, that is the way it should be. It killed me to see Harmon Killebrew as a Royal, Carew as an Angel, Wade Boggs as a Devil Ray or Steve Carlton as a Twin, that is just plain wrong and to me Pujols should have stayed a Cardinal. This is not a new problem, it has been going on for a long time but it seems to be getting worse.

Baseball should come up with something like a “franchise icon” label that will allow teams to keep a true icon player as a member of their organization during their entire playing career. I am not saying they should not be fairly compensated, I am sure something could be worked out that would be fair for everyone but come up with a plan that will allow teams to keep their icons where they belong. There are a lot of smart baseball people out there, come up with a plan that will allow fans to once again be allowed to grow old with their baseball heroes.

21 Years ago Today

Blly Martin
Blly Martin

December 25, 2010 – It has been 21 years since former Minnesota Twins player, coach and manager Billy Martin died in an automobile accident on Christmas Day 1989 near Binghamton, New York. Martin, the fiery, feisty and frequently combative player and baseball manager was 61 years old when he died.

According to the sheriff’s office in Broome County, Billy Martin was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by William Reedy, 53, a longtime friend of Martin from Detroit. The accident occurred at 5:45 P.M. near Martin’s home. The Associated Press quoted witnesses as having said the pickup truck skidded off the icy Potter Hill Road in Fenton, continued 300 feet down an embankment and stopped at the foot of Martin’s driveway. Martin was taken to Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City, N.Y., where efforts to revive him failed, said Michael Doll, a hospital spokesman. Doll said that Alfred Manual “Billy” Martin, Jr., born on May 16, 1928, was pronounced dead at 6:56 P.M. of severe internal injuries and possible head injuries. The authorities said neither Martin nor Reedy was wearing a seat belt. William Reedy passed away from pancreatic cancer in July of 2009 at the age of 72.

Billy Martin played for the New York Yankees from 1950-1957 (where he made his only all-star appearance in 1956), the Kansas City A’s in 1957, The Detroit Tigers in 1958, the Cleveland Indians in 1959, The Cincinnati Reds in 1960 and the Milwaukee Braves early in 1961 before being traded to the Minnesota Twins on June 1, 1961 where he finished out the 1961 season appearing in 108 games. His playing career ended when the Twins released him prior to the 1962 season. Billy played 2B, SS, or 3B and participated in a total of 1.021 games major league games while hitting for a .257 average in 3,419 at bats. Although Billy liked his teams to run when he was managing, he himself only stole 34 bases while getting thrown out 29 times. Martin did hit 64 home runs while knocking in 333 during his 11 big league seasons.

Martin spent eight years (962-1969) in the Minnesota organization after his retirement as an active player. Billy served as a scout from 1962-1964 before becoming the Twins third-base coach from 1965 through mid-June 1968, before taking over as manager of their AAA affiliate, the Denver Bears for the last half of the 1968 campaign. He succeeded Cal Ermer as the Twins skipper following the ’68 season. In 1969, Martin’s only season as manager of the Twins, he won a division championship but lost the ALCS to the Orioles in 3 a three game sweep. He was fired after the season by owner Calvin Griffith and his firing caused a fire-storm of protest from Twins fans all over Twins territory for a number of years.

Billy Martin went on to manage the Detroit Tigers from 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers from 1973–1975, the New York Yankees from 1975-1978, and 1979, the Oakland A’s from 1980-1982, and then the New York Yankees again from 1983, 1985, and 1988. In his 16 years as a manager, Billy Martin finished with a 1,253-1,013 (.553) won-loss mark and led his teams to 2 pennants and 1 World Series championship.

Services for Billy Martin were held at St Patrick’s Cathedral before he was laid to rest at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. His grave is located about 150 feet from the grave of Babe Ruth.

Here a couple of short youTube video’s that you might enjoy watching:

A short news coverage video clip of Martin’s funeral.

You can see the graves of Babe Ruth and Billy Martin in this short video.

A video on the reaction to the death of Billy Martin by a variety of players and friends.

Mickey Mantle telling a Billy Martin story about breaking curfew.

Mickey Mantle telling a GREAT Billy Martin story.

Mickey Mantle’s version of the Copacabana fight.

Mickey Mantle story about Billy Martin getting traded.

Billy Martin video on winning.

Thome ties major league record

August 18, 2010 – Jim Thome hit a walk-off home run for the Twins against the White Sox last night. It was the 12th walk-off home run of Thome’s career, tying the major league record shared by Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson and Babe Ruth. The last former White Sox to hit a walk-off homer against the Minnesota Twins was Harold Baines on May 4, 1999.

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