Tag: Rod Carew

1970 Twins infielder Minnie Mendoza passes away at 89

Cristobal Mendoza was born in Ceiba del Agua, Cuba on December 3, 1934 and passed away at the age of 89 on September 9, 2024 in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Mendoza was better known to Minnesota Twins fans as Minnie Mendoza who played for the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins organization for 16 seasons between 1958 and 1972.

Mendoza was originally signed as a amateur free agent by the Cincinnati Reds but was released after two seasons and was signed by the Washington Senators as a free agent in 1958 at the age of 23. The Washington Senators had a long history of signing Latin American ballplayers, thanks largely to scout “Papa Joe” Cambria. Cambria convinced Mendoza to join the organization’s Missoula Timberjacks in the Class-C Pioneer League.

But it would be a long time before Mendoza would make his debut in the big leagues. Matter of fact it took 12 years and over 1,800 minor league games before a Rod Carew injury in 1970 resulted in Mendoza got his opportunity to put on a big league uniform. It was was not even the Senators team that he signed with since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins.

Mendoza made his major league debut at White Sox Park on April 9, 1970 when he entered the game as a defensive replacement for third baseman Harmon Killebrew in the ninth inning of a game that the Twins were leading 6-4 against the Chicago White Sox and won by the same score. He went hitless in his first eight games going 0 for 9 before getting his first big league hit and run scored in his ninth game when he singled as a PH against the Baltimore Orioles Mike Cueller at Memorial Stadium. Mendoza played in his 16th and final big league game on June 7 at Washington before being sent to the minors never to play in the big leagues again. His big league career was short, just 16 games, 16 PA’s, 3 hits, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. That said, he reached the big leagues, and that is something to be proud of.

In 1974-75, Mendoza embarked on his career as a minor league manager beginning in Mexico. He returned to organized baseball as a coach and scout for several teams, primarily the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians organizations. He served on the Orioles’ major league coaching staff as their first-base coach in 1988. Among his accomplishments with Cleveland, Mendoza is credited with scouting and signing a young Bartolo Colon, who went on to win 247 games and the 2005 American League Cy Young award.

Ripbaseball.com does a great job with baseball obituaries and as usual they did a great job on Minnie Mendoza’s obituary at https://ripbaseball.com/2024/09/29/obituary-minnie-mendoza-1934-2024/ and I urge you to stop by check it out, you won’t be sorry and you will learn how he impacted the careers of two MLB Hall of Fame players.

Top 10 offensive seasons by a Twins position player

Rod Carew’s .388 batting average in 1977 was the highest in baseball since Ted Williams in 1957. (National Baseball Hall of Fame)

It is always interesting to look back over the years and try to determine who has had the best offensive season for your favorite team. In the case of the Minnesota Twins I think that is a pretty easy answer, Rod Carew in 1977 and his run at hitting .400. I was lucky that I was able to witness that season as I was able to get out to Met Stadium and see a number of his games in person. Here is a short 3 minute video (don’t forget to turn on the sound) for you to watch about Rod. An interesting point is that none have taken place at Target Field.

But the Twins have had many great offensive seasons by their players and today we going to provide a list of the top 10 (actually 11) for you. All the players on this list have a WAR of 7.0 or above. As you go down the list you can picture the player in your mind or if you weren’t around or didn’t follow the Twins back then this website will hopefully learn more about that player and his contribution to Minnesota Twins history. As always we are going to use Baseball-Reference.com and their nifty tool “Stathead” to help us identify the players for this list by rating them using WAR.

Twins top 10 offensive seasons by a Twins player

Over the years, there have been 141 players with a WAR of 9.0 or more in a season, here is the list. Any surprises? Feel free to leave your comments.

Babe Ruth

List of 141 MLB players with WAR of 9.0 or higher

Some of the best Twins we saw at Metropolitan Stadium

Minnesota Twins home from 1961-1981

Baseball was fun to watch at Metropolitan Stadium from 1961-1981 and a lot of MLB and Minnesota Twins “greats” played there. Here is a short list of some of the Twins leaders in some hitting and pitching categories. Keep in mind these are stats accumulated only while playing at Met Stadium.

Games played – Harmon Killebrew-963, Tony Oliva-842, Rod Carew-817

Hits – Rod Carew-1,046, Tony Oliva-935, Harmon Killebrew-844

Continue reading Some of the best Twins we saw at Metropolitan Stadium

Twins leaders in multiple hit games

Stathead on Baseball-Reference is always a fun toy to play with to look up a variety of stats. I have used it and its predecessor for years. In this case I was curious who the Twins leaders in multi-hit games were between 1961 through 2020.

Kirby Puckett is Twins multi-hit leader

The American League multiple hit games leaders during this time frame can be found here.

The National League multiple hit games leaders during this time frame can be found here.

Did you know?

Bill Veeck, the former owner of the Browns, White Sox, and Indians, was well-known for his promotions and ideas, which included a pinch-hitting midget, an exploding scoreboard, and putting players’ names on the back of their uniforms, the innovative Hall of Famer is also responsible for breaking the color barrier in the American League, signing Larry Doby in 1947 to play for Cleveland.

  • Mike Pelfrey (2006-17) has the most career starts (256) without throwing a shutout.
  • A.J. Pierzynski is one of only 10 players to catch 2,000 games in the majors.
  • Three players have won the Batting Championship without hitting a home run, Ginger Beaumont (1902 Pirates), Zack Wheat (1918 Robins), and Rod Carew (1972 Twins).
  • Four pitchers have won 25+ games in a season, yet they didn’t win the Cy Young Award: Juan Marichal (1963, 1966, 1968), Jim Kaat (1966), Mickey Lolich (1971), and Fergie Jenkins (1974). Now days wins don’t seem to matter in Cy Young voting.
  • The durable reliever LaTroy Hawkins pitched 21 seasons for 11 clubs, and his 1,042 appearances rank 10th all-time.
  • Back in 1928 in an effort to speed up the game and add more offense, National League president John Heydler proposes the concept of a designated batter for the pitcher. The American League opposes the idea and the NL withdraws the proposal before Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis is asked to break the deadlock.

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Former Twins shortstop Jackie Hernandez losses his battle with cancer

Jackie Hernandez

Jackie Hernandez (Jacinto Hernández Zulueta) was born on September 11, 1940 in Central Tinguaro, Cuba and passed away on October 12, 2019 in Miami, Florida after a short battle with lung cancer. His given name (Hyacinth in English) was difficult for many people in the U.S. to pronounce, leading to his Anglicized nickname; he was also called simply “Jack or Jackie.” 

Hernandez played pro ball from 1961 through 1974 and then spent some time playing ball in Mexico from 1975-1976 before retiring as an active player.

Continue reading Former Twins shortstop Jackie Hernandez losses his battle with cancer

Jim Holt gone at the age of 74

Jim Holt

James William Holt was born on May 27, 1944 in Graham, NC and passed away at the age of 74 on March 29, 2019 in Burlington, NC. The youngest of six children, Jim Holt learned to play baseball in high school and after graduation had tryouts with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians. When these tryouts didn’t attract any pro ball offers and opportunities in Graham pretty much limited to working in a flour or timber mill, Holt decided to join the Army in 1963 and intended to make it a career.

Continue reading Jim Holt gone at the age of 74

He managed the Minnesota Twins to their first World Series in 1965

 Sabath Anthony “Sam” Mele 

Sam Mele managed the Twins for 1961-1967.

Sabath Anthony “Sam” Mele was born in Astoria, New York on January 21, 1922. Although they met in America, Sam Mele‘s parents were born in Avellino, Italy. Mele’s mother was sister to big league brothers Al Cuccinello and Tony Cuccinello. Mele, a natural all-around athlete and a Queens Park baseball legend attended New York University, where he excelled as a basketball 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 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

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 in early June and during this period Mele filled in as manager. When Cookie Lavagetto was fired on June 23, 1961, Sam Mele 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 when the 1961 season ended.

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 Zoilo 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.

Sam Mele passed away on May 1, 2017 at the age of 95. 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.

Sam Mele New York Times Obituary

Sam Mele interview

The Sam Mele SABR Baseball Biography is available here.

 

The Minnesota Twins All-Time Team – picked in 1969

Back in 1969 the Minnesota Twins were playing their ninth season of baseball in Minnesota after moving from Washington after the 1960 season where they were known as the Washington Senators. That 1969 team was a very good team and it was managed by Billy Martin who was getting his first shot as a big league manager. The team eventually won the AL West division title with a 97-65 record and went on to lose the ALCS  to the 109-53 Baltimore Orioles three games to none. Billy Martin ended up getting fired shortly there after and the rest is history. 

During that 1969 season at the request of baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Major League Baseball Promotions, Inc ran a contest to determine each MLB teams “Greatest Team” and “Greatest Player”. This would eventually lead to the naming of the “Greatest Player Ever” and the “Greatest Living Player” at the 100 year anniversary celebration of professional baseball at the All-Star game at Washington on July 22.

As a part of baseball’s 100 year anniversary festivities a special logo was designed to be worn on all uniform sleeves and that patriotic looking logo remains the MLB logo today – the batter who looks a lot like Harmon Killebrew, but isn’t. (That, according to the designer, Jerry Dior).

On June 3rd the Minnesota Twins announced their All-Time Twins team and to no ones surprise, Harmon Killebrew was voted as the Greatest Twins Player ever. Since there was no internet back then, the vote counts were much smaller.

Harmon Killebrew

 

The All-Time Twins Team

The Twins All-Time team.pdf

Baseball author and historian Marty Appel wrote a nice story about this called “National Pastime Museum: Baseball’s Centennial “Greatest Players Ever” Poll” that you might want to check out. I am pretty sure you will enjoy it.

Twins hitters best seasons by position

Although WAR is not always the best answer on how good a player is/was, I find it useful in doing player comparisons. The B-R tool regards a WAR of 2+ as a starter, 5+ an All-Star and 8+ as MVP worthy. Remember too what I am doing here covers position players only, we will leave the pitchers for another day.

Rod Carew

First Base – Having watched the Minnesota Twins for many a year I was pretty sure what Twins player had the best season in team history and when I put Play Index to work, sure enough it verified for me that Hall of Famer Rod Carew and his 1977 season in which he made a run at hitting .400 at the age of 31 stood at the top. If you missed seeing Carew play ball in Minnesota I feel bad for you because you missed out on seeing one of the best baseball players ever. There have been eleven seasons by Twins players when someone had a WAR of 7.0 or greater, Carew had four of them. 

Continue reading Twins hitters best seasons by position