Dwight Leroy Siebler was born in Columbus, Nebraska on August 5, 1937, as the third of four children of William and Viola Siebler. Dwight Siebler passed away on June 16, 2021 in Omaha, Nebraska at the age of 83.
Tag: Ruben Gomez
These Twins pitchers were born in the 1920’s
My previous post was about Twins position players that were born in the 1920’s and played for the home town team, today’s post will cover the pitchers.
| Rk | Player | G | From | To | GS | W | L | SV | IP | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al Worthington | 327 | 1964 | 1969 | 0 | 37 | 31 | .544 | 88 | 473.1 | 399 | 2.62 |
| 2 | Ray Moore | 126 | 1961 | 1963 | 1 | 13 | 10 | .565 | 25 | 159.2 | 141 | 4.90 |
| 3 | Johnny Klippstein | 115 | 1964 | 1966 | 0 | 10 | 8 | .556 | 10 | 161.2 | 124 | 2.45 |
| 4 | Chuck Stobbs | 24 | 1961 | 1961 | 3 | 2 | 3 | .400 | 2 | 44.2 | 17 | 7.46 |
| 5 | Jackie Collum | 8 | 1962 | 1962 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 0 | 15.1 | 5 | 11.15 |
| 6 | Ruben Gomez | 6 | 1962 | 1962 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 19.1 | 8 | 4.66 |
Al Worthington, nicknamed “Red”, was a right-hander who is credited with being baseball’s first born-again Christian. Worthington started his big league career by pitching complete game shutouts in his first two games in 1953 for the New York Giants. However; it turned out that starting was not his forte and he eventually migrated to the bullpen where he earned 111 career saves. Worthington pitched for the Twins between 1964-1969 notching 37 wins and 88 saves with a 2.62 ERA before hanging up his spikes for good. Al Worthington SABR Bio.
Ray Moore was a right hander who started his major league career in 1952 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. “Farmer” or “Old Blue” as he was called had an 11 year big league career that started as a starter and ended as a reliever. Credited with the Twins first ever save. Ray Moore SABR Bio.
Johnny Klippstein pitched in Minnesota from 1964-1966. Klippstein had an 18 year big league career in which he was used as a starter for the first eight years and as a reliever for the last 10 years and he earned 101 wins and 65 saves. Hung up his player cleats after five games for the Tigers in 1967. Johnny Klippstein SABR Bio.
Chuck Stobbs was a lefty that received a $50,000 bonus to sign from the Boston Red Sox prior to the 1947 season Stobbs won over 100 big league games and is probably best noted for giving up “that 565 foot home run to Mickey Mantle that left Griffith Stadium” in 1953. Stobbs played in Minnesota in 1961, his 15th and final season as a player. Chuck Stobbs SABR Bio.
Jackie Collum was height challenged standing only 5’7″ but yet he pitched in the big leagues for nine season between 1951-1962. The Iowa lefty pitched briefly for the Twins in 8 games going 0-2 and posting a 11.15 ERA before the Twins traded him to the Indians along with a PTBNL for pitcher Ruben Gomez.
Rubén Gómez pitched for the Twins very briefly in 1962 getting two starts and pitching one complete game in his only win for Minnesota. Gomez pitched in the big leagues on and off for 10 years but he pitched an amazing 29 seasons in the Puerto Rican Winter League from 1947 to 1977 and by the time he hung it up he had over 400 wins. Gomez got his nickname of “El Divino Loco” from friends and Santurce teammates for two reasons: his highway speeding habits and crazy driving off the field; and, he could not be intimidated on the mound. Ruben Gomez SABR Bio.
No RBI? No problem, you can still win the game
Win a baseball game without your team getting an RBI? It happens, but it doesn’t happen all that often, in the case of our Minnesota Twins it has happened on 12 occasions in the Twins 56 years of play in Minnesota with the last occurrence taking place on May 1, 2015 at Target Field when the Twins shut out the might whities from Chicago 1-0. The Twins had seven hits that day, the most they have ever had in a game of this type. The Twins have beaten the Cleveland Indians three times and the Yankees twice without getting a RBI.
The first time it happened was June 22, 1962 at Met Stadium in the first game of a double-header against the Los Angeles Angels. The Twins had only three hits that day and a walk but they managed to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the game 3-2. Starter Don Lee for the Angels pitched a complete game in a losing effort, he had pitched for the Twins in 1961 and part of 1962 before being traded to the Angels just a month earlier for pitcher Jim Donohue who also appeared in this game.
The Twins starter that day was Canadian Georges Maranda from Quebec. The right-handed throwing Maranda had an interesting history having been signed by the Boston Braves in 1951. Although Maranda started his career in the Braves system as a 19 year-old he did not make a big league appearance until he debuted as a Rule 5 selection for the San Francisco Giants at the age of 28 on April 26, 1960. He spent the entire season with the Giants in 1960 and was used sparingly, appearing in only 17 games and pitching a total of 50.2 innings and posting a 1-4 record. In 1961 the Giants sent him to AAA Tacoma where he posted a 10-4 record with a 3.56 ERA which was good enough to catch the attention of the Minnesota Twins who made him their Rule 5 pick on November 27, 1961. In Minnesota he again spent the entire season in the big leagues pitching primarily in relief he appeared in 32 games starting just four and the game above was one of those four games. Maranda was credited with the win which turned out to be the only victory he would get wearing a Minnesota uniform and one of the only two games he would win in the majors. The October of 1962 the Twins traded Maranda to the Cleveland Indians as the PTBNL in a deal for pitcher Ruben Gomez.
Georges Henri Maranda was the first Canadian to wear a Minnesota Twins uniform. Maranda played 13 seasons in professional baseball, but only played for two seasons in the majors. In his final season of pro ball in 1963 he pitched for the Jacksonville Suns in the American Association in 1963. In 1973, the town of Lévis named its baseball park the “Stade Georges Maranda” (Georges Maranda Stadium). He was inducted into the Quebec Baseball Hall of Fame on June 26, 2000. Georges Maranda passed away on July 14, 2000 at the age of 68 after a battle with cancer.
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | AB | R | H | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2015-05-01 | MIN | CHW | W 1-0 | 28 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 2 | 2010-04-27 | MIN | DET | W 2-0 | 33 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 3 | 2001-09-28 | MIN | CLE | W 1-0 | 30 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 4 | 1985-08-24 | MIN | BOS | W 1-0 | 30 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | 1978-07-07 (2) | MIN | OAK | W 1-0 | 30 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | 1970-04-29 | MIN | CLE | W 1-0 | 30 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | 1968-08-19 | MIN | NYY | W 1-0 | 28 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | 1968-07-23 (2) | MIN | CAL | W 3-1 | 30 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| 9 | 1967-08-25 (2) | MIN | CLE | W 2-1 | 33 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| 10 | 1966-09-16 | MIN | NYY | W 2-1 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | 1966-07-21 | MIN | WSA | W 1-0 | 32 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 12 | 1962-06-22 (1) | MIN | LAA | W 3-2 | 29 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph – Nov 28, 1961 – Maranda drafted by Twins (interesting writing style)