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
With no baseball being played and “classic” games being broadcast on the radio and television I thought I would do something a bit different, at least for awhile, since no baseball is being played. I thought I would give up a brief recap of Minnesota Twins games from 1961.
I have been working on a very long term project whereas I do a brief recap of Twins games on my “In This Day in Twins History Pages.” So my plan is to give you a brief recap of the Twins first season as it plays out on a weekly basis. For more info on a particular game you can also click on the date and go to the appropriate “In This Day in Twins History Page” as there you will often get to see some player pictures and supporting documentation. We will see how long I can keep up with it, no promises. So let’s see what we have for week one.
Yankee manager Ralph Houk inspects the jacket of Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto prior to the Twins first ever game, played April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. Twins win 6-0.
The Minnesota Twins open their 2015 exhibition season by playing the Minnesota Gophers on March 4 and they will play their final spring training game on Saturday April 4th at Hammond Stadium against the Boston Red Sox. When early April rolls around we will all have a pretty good idea who will make this years opening day roster. Having said that, I don’t think that Twins fans should get too attached to the players on the opening day roster because I have a feeling that the “roster will be a-changing” and I can’t wait to see some of that new blood when it heads north to Minnesota and Target field.
The Minnesota Twins played their first ever exhibition game on March 11, 1961 at Tinker Field in Orlando. Cookie Lavagetto and his boys took on the Detroit Tigers and their first game turned out to be a 4-1 loss. Paul Giel started the game for Minnesota and took the loss and Bob Bruce who started for the Tigers was credited with the victory. You will notice in the box score that although this was the first game of spring training and players were not in the shape that they are in today that a number of the pitchers that pitched in this game logged three innings not the one inning that you will probably see tomorrow.
Paul Giel (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)
The box score below was provided courtesy of Stew Thornley, Thanks Stew, we appreciate it!
With the World Series now in the books all the teams in major league baseball are reviewing what went wrong and what they can do to make their teams better for 2013 and beyond. Two quick ways to solve some problems are by signing free agents or by making some trades. Free agency is relatively new to baseball and came into play as part of baseball’s 1976 collective bargaining agreement and changed the landscape of baseball forever. Thanks to players like Curt Flood, Catfish Hunter, Andy Messersmith, and Dave McNally players were no longer tied forever to the team that signed them to their first contract.
Baseball trades however; have taken place since baseball began. Today, outside of players that were drafted this past season and players that have no-trade clauses in their contracts, any player currently under contract can be sent packing in hopes of improving the team’s record. Trades sound simple, all you have to do is to agree on what you are willing to give up to get what you want. But that is easier said then done. In the past, trades were much easier to make than they are today, the money involved was much smaller and very few players had multi-year contracts. In the past, most trades were made strictly to improve the product on the field but in today’s world baseball trades may be made for a variety of reasons including player performance on and off the field, salaries, length of contracts, arbitration, trade demands by the player, medical issues, legal concerns, up-coming free agency deadlines and even the teams fan base needs to be considered because trading a popular player can raise all kinds of havoc with ticket sales.
The Twins made their first trade back on June 1, 1961 when owner and GM Calvin Griffith agreed to send 3B Reno Bertoia and pitcher Paul Giel to the Kansas City A’s in return for outfielder Bill Tuttle and since that time the Twins have made 276 trades, some have turned out great and others have been nothing to brag about. We all think we can make better trades than our current teams GM can but then again it is always easy to be an arm-chair quarterback and to be able to spend other people’s money.
So what about the Minnesota Twins trading history? Over the years the Twins have traded the most frequently with the Cleveland Indians (20 times) and only traded once with the Tampa Bay Rays and there are more than just a few fans that will tell you that they wish that the Twins had never traded with Tampa, but that is a whole different story. The Twins have not been able to make a deal with the Kansas City Royals since 1978, that is 34 years ago, what is up with that? I have put together a chart showing how many trades the Twins have made with each of the other teams and in which decade the deals were made.
Francis Joseph (Shag) Shaughnessy was born on April 8, 1883 in Amboy, Illinois and died on May 15, 1969 in Montreal, Quebec. Shaughnessy played football, baseball and ran track at the University of Notre Dame from 1901 to 1904, and served as football captain for the Fighting Irish in his senior year. Shaughnessy had a brief major league baseball career playing for the Washington Senators in 1905, all-be-it for only one game and for the Philadelphia A’s in 1908. He managed in the minor leagues from 1909 – 1936 and had a 1,148 – 1,012 record and he often served in a player/manager role. In 1928, he was also a coach for the Detroit Tigers. Shaughnessy was General Manager for the Montreal Royals from 1932 to 1934. As the Royals GM in 1933, Shaughnessy introduced night baseball to the city and a revised playoff system that saw the league’s top four teams advance to the post-season. This format became known as the “Shaughnessy Plan” and was quickly adopted by other minor leagues.
A respected and experienced baseball man, Shaughnessy was named president of the International League in 1936, a position he held until 1960. It was under his reign that baseball’s color barrier would finally be broken when the Montreal Royals signed Jackie Robinson in 1946. Shag was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1983. In addition to Shaughnessy, other inductees in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame with ties to the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise include Reno Bertoia (1988), Frank O’Rourke (1996), Dave McKay (2001), Sherry Robertson (2007), and Calvin Griffith (2010).
Shaughnessy was also a widely respected in football and his many innovations in that sport both in the United States and in Canada made him a Canadian Football Hall of Fame charter inductee in 1963.
The Twins opening day 3B and hitting star of the game was 1 for 2 with a two-run home run and 2 runs scored.
April 18, 2011 – The Twins opening day third-baseman in the Minnesota Twins first ever game back on April 11, 1961 against the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium I, Reno Peter Bertoia, passed away on April 15th after a brief battle with lymphoma cancer. Reno Bertoia is the fifth member of that opening day line-up to pass on.
Bertoia was born in St. Vito Udine, Italy on January 8, 1935 but his family moved to Windsor, Canada when he was just an infant. He grew up next door to another famous Windsor athlete, Hank Biasatti who made it to the majors and Reno is reported to be the last Italian-born player to reach the major leagues.
Bertoia graduated from Assumption College high school and in August of 1953, Reno was voted Most Outstanding Prospect in the City of Detroit, and sent to play in the Hearst All-Star game in New York City. He’d also been given a baseball scholarship to the University of Michigan. After New York, John McHale, general manager for the Tigers pursued him, and offered Reno his first major-league contract. Without playing a minor league game, Reno Bertoia was in the majors. Bertoia’s first major league at bat came at the tender age of 18 at the Tigers Briggs Stadium against the St. Louis Browns on September 22, 1953. His first at bat is a well known bit of local Windsor lore because it came against Hall of Famer Satchel Paige. “He told us he swung once, he swung twice, he swung three times and he sat down” recalled Beth Daly, his stepdaughter. That one appearance was Bertoia’s only big league plate appearance that first big league season because shortly after his first at bat, Bertoia was spiked while playing 2B and he was forced to leave the game. That was some welcome to the “big leagues”. Bertoia played for the Tigers through the 1958 season before being traded to the Washington Senators where he had his most productive season in 1960. When the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961, Bertoia became a Minnesota Twin and was the starting third-baseman, but on June 1, 1961 the Twins traded Bertoia and pitcher Paul Giel to the Kansas City Athletics for Bill Tuttle. In his brief 35 game career as a Minnesota Twin, Reno had 104 at bats, 1 home run, 8 RBI’s and finished with a .212 batting average. Bertoia’s stay in Kansas City was also short-lived and he was again traded back to the Detroit Tigers where he finished his big league career in 1962. Bertoia played in the minors in 1963 and then went to Japan in 1964 where he played for one season with the Hanshin Tigers.
Reno Bertoia
Bertoia was a Canadian baseball pioneer and blazed the way for Canadian players of today like Justin Morneau and Joey Votto. Reno Bertoia was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. Retired Windsor Star columnist Marty Gervais wrote a book about Bertoia’s baseball career, simply called “Reno”.
Reno then went on to his second career of teaching and he taught for 30 years for the Windsor Catholic school board. “He was in many ways prouder of his teaching career,” Daly said because he felt he impacted a lot of people’s lives. Bertoia also spent some time scouting for the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays after his retirement from baseball.
Bertoia is survived by his wife Joan Daly, three children and three step-children. The funeral mass will be held on Tuesday, April 19 in Windsor.
March 31, 2011 – I thought that it would be fun to look over the Twins 50 year history of Opening Days and see who has started the most games at each position. Through their first fifty years, the Twins record on Opening Day is 24-26 and they are currently on a two game losing streak.
The Minnesota Twins first Opening Day was at Yankee Stadium on April 11, 1961 in front of only 14,607 fans and the Twins played and won their first ever game by a score of 6-0. Their Opening Day line-up that day had Earl Battey catching, Harmon Killebrew at first, Billy Gardner at second, Zoilo Versalles was at short, Reno Bertoia played third, Jim Lemon was in left, Lenny Green was in center, Bob Allison was in right, and Pedro Ramos was the starting pitcher. Little did anyone know at the time that the Twins second baseman that day, Billy Gardner, would become the Twins manager twenty years later. The Twins have only fielded the same opening day line-up from one year to the next on one occasion in 50 years and that was in 1970 (won 12-0) and 1971 (lost 7-2) when the Twins had George Mitterwald catching, Rich Reese at first, Rod Carew at second, Leo Cardenas was at short, Harmon Killebrew was at third, Brant Alyea was in left, Cesar Tovar was the centerfielder, Tony Oliva was in right and Jim Perry was the starting pitcher. This goes to show how much things change from year to year.
I told you earlier that I was going to find out what Twins have started the most Opening Day games by position and here is what I have found.
Total # of players that have played this position on opening day
Started most opening days at this position
Catcher
20
Earl Battey, Butch Wynegar, Joe Mauer – 6
1B
19
Kent Hrbek – 12
2B
20
Rod Carew – 9
SS
16
Zoilo Versalles, Roy Smalley, Greg Gagne – 7
3B
23
Gary Gaetti – 9
LF
25
Mickey Hatcher, Dan Gladden, Marty Cordova, Jacques Jones – 4
April 11, 2009 – The Twins played their first game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on April 11, 1961 in front of 14,607 fans on a nice 50 degree day. The Yankees were coming off another World Series season but had lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series in 7 games due to the famous Bill Mazeroski home run. The Twins on the other hand had just moved to Minnesota from Washington where they had finished 5th in the 8 team American league.
Cookie Lavagetto’s Twins had Pedro Ramos on the mound against the Yankee ace Whitey Ford. Zoilo Versalles the Twins shortstop led off the game with a ground ball to shortstop Tony Kubek who threw to Bill “Moose” Skowron for the Twins first out. Centerfielder Lenny Green also was out on a ground out and Harmon Killebrew was walked to become the Twins first base runner. Left Fielder Jim Lemon was the clean-up hitter but he ground out to Bobby Richardson at 2B and the Twins first inning was history. In the bottom of the first, Ramos retired Richardson and Hector Lopez before Yogi Berra batting in the 3 hole, got the first hit off a Twins pitcher, a single to right field. Ramos induced Mickey Mantle to ground out to 2B and future Twins manager Billy Gardner and after one inning it was 0-0. In the second inning Lemon committed the Twins first error but the Yankees could not take advantage of it and after two innings the game remained scoreless. Both the Twins and the Yankees went 1-2-3 in the 3rd and after 3 innings the game remained scoreless. The Killer led off the 4th inning with the Twins first hit, a single to center but Ford retired the next three batters again keeping the Twins from getting on the board. In the bottom of the 4th Ramos struck out Mantle and Maris back to back before allowing a single to Skowron but Kubek flied out to Green in center to end any possibility of a Yankee score. Billy Gardner singled off Ford in the 5th but Ford retired Ramos and Versalles to end that threat. In the bottom of the 5th Whitey Ford singled off Ramos with one out but Ramos got Richardson to hit into a 5-4-3 double play from Reno Bertoia to Gardner to Killebrew and after 5 the game was still 0-0. The 6th inning was uneventful as both sides went 1-2-3 and the Twins and Yankees were locked in a pitcher’s duel in the Twins first ever game. Ford must have started to tire in the 7th because Bob Allison led off with a long homerun to left, and in the process scored the Twins first run. Earl Battey followed with a double and Bertoia walked. Lavagetto then had Gardner sacrifice bunt the runners along and Ramos, a good hitting pitcher, singled to center scoring Battey and Bertoia and the Twins had a 3-0 lead. That turned out to be the final batter that Ford faced and Ralph Terry came on for the Yankees and Versalles greeted him with a single to center before Terry got Green on a fly out. Killebrew followed with another walk but Lemon ground out for the third out. But after 6 ½, the Twins were leading the hated Yankees 3-0. Ramos retired the Yankees 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning and after 7 the Twins were winning 3-0. Allison led off the 8th with a single of Terry, Battey hit a ground ball forcing Allison at 2B but Bertoia followed with his first homer and after 7 ½ the Twins were up 5 to nothing. Ramos again retired the Yanks 1-2-3 and after 8 the score was Minnesota 5 and New York 0. In the top of the 9th, Jim Coates came on to pitch for the Yankees and Versalles singled to left. Green popped out to Richardson. With Killebrew in the batter’s box, Versalles stole 2B and then stole 3B. Killebrew then hit a sac fly to left scoring Zoilo for the 6th and final run of the game. Dan Dobbek, who had replaced Lemon in left, was hit but a Coates pitch and proceeded to steal 2B while Allison was at bat but Bob ground out to shortstop to end the inning. In the bottom of the 9th Ramos retired Hector Lopez, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle flew out to Allison in right and the Minnesota Twins had won their first game after 2 hours and 27 minutes of play in a 6-0 shutout over the Yankees.
Pedro Ramos would go on to pitch two other shutouts in 1961 but finished the season with an 11-20 record. The Twins would finish their first season with a 70-90 record and a seventh place finish, ahead of only the Angels, A’s, and Senators. But on this magical day after 1 day of play in 1961 the Minnesota Twins were 1-0 and tied for 1st place in the American league. Click on my “Twins Box Scores” page and you can see the actual box score for this game.
