Remembering 1965 – Part 15 – Killebrew injured and Pascual has surgery

Both of these events occurred on August 2, 1965.

Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Killebrew

Harmon Killebrew suffers a dislocated left elbow in a collision with Baltimore’s Russ Snyder in the 6th inning while playing first base at Met Stadium. The Twins slugger ends up missng 48 games. Killebrew was leading the AL in homers with 22 and RBI with 70.

Camilo Pascual
Camilo Pascual

Twins pitching Ace Camilo Pascual had surgery on his pitching arm in Washington D.C. and the surgery was deemed a success but how long he would be out was unknown. It turned out that Pascual missed 39 games and returned to the mound for the Twins on September 6. Pascual’s ailment was originally diagnosed as a possible tumor or Lipoma, a fatty growth but it turned out to be a torn muscle.

The Spokesman-Review August 3, 1965

The Killebrew and Pascual articles are on page 18 and the recap of the Twins versus Orioles game can be found on page 19. Actually it is kind of fun to read the entire paper and read about the news back then and see some of the old ads.

According to Elias and a little extra

Kyle Gibson
Kyle Gibson

The biggest pitch Kyle Gibson threw in his seven scoreless innings on Friday night was the one that induced a Miguel Cabrera double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the fifth inning. Cabrera entered the game with a career .417 batting average with the bases loaded which was the second-highest such average for any player who debuted in the expansion era (since 1961) and has at least 100 at-bats with the bases full, behind Tony Gwynn (.444). Twins beat the Tigers 2-0 at Comerica Park. Miguel Cabrera enters today’s game with impressive career numbers vs. Minnesota. Cabrera is batting .314 (139×443) with 31 doubles, 28 home runs and 108 RBI in 118 career games against the Minnesota Twins. He ranks third among all active players with 28 home runs and 108 RBI, fourth with 78 runs scored, sixth with 31 doubles and eighth with 139 hits against the club. Cabrera has hit safely in each of his last six games and 11 of his last 14 contests vs. Minnesota.

Rich Rollins - Twins 3B from 1961 - 1968
Rich Rollins – Twins 3B from 1961 – 1968

When I modified the number of at bats need to qualify from 1oo to 50 then I get an interesting cast of characters that knew how to hit in the clutch but maybe did not have careers as long as Gwynn and Cabrera. Note that former Twins 3B Rich Rollins is very high on the list and that outfielder Jason Kubel was a qualifier too. Phil Nevin was a Twins player too but since he only had 8 hits in a Twins uniform we didn’t see his clutch hitting skills. This list is from 1961-current.

Rk Player G Gtot BA BAtot PA AB R H HR RBI BB SO OBP SLG OPS
1 Pat Tabler 105 1202 .489 .282 109 88 80 43 2 108 11 9 .505 .693 1.198
2 Russ Snyder 70 1365 .483 .271 67 60 77 29 2 68 5 5 .507 .717 1.224
3 Felix Jose 53 747 .481 .280 56 52 39 25 2 60 1 9 .464 .788 1.253
4 Jeff Keppinger 67 818 .456 .282 69 57 55 26 0 65 4 4 .435 .614 1.049
5 Tony Gwynn 153 2440 .444 .338 158 133 211 59 3 143 9 8 .433 .594 1.027
6 Rich Rollins 75 1002 .443 .269 75 70 66 31 4 80 4 4 .467 .714 1.181
7 Ian Desmond 60 682 .434 .270 60 53 41 23 2 51 0 7 .383 .585 .968
8 Rennie Stennett 81 1237 .423 .274 80 71 65 30 1 71 4 3 .425 .521 .946
9 Mike Blowers 89 761 .420 .257 92 81 48 34 7 92 5 20 .424 .827 1.251
10 Rusty Greer 97 1027 .418 .305 98 79 98 33 6 97 10 14 .449 .684 1.133
11 Miguel Cabrera 164 1723 .414 .321 165 140 170 58 4 150 10 28 .418 .614 1.032
12 Joe Orsulak 93 1494 .410 .273 96 78 90 32 2 82 9 7 .448 .564 1.012
13 Mark Grace 163 2245 .402 .303 168 127 173 51 3 156 21 8 .429 .575 1.003
14 Carlos Guillen 148 1305 .402 .285 154 127 122 51 3 140 11 16 .403 .622 1.025
15 Mike Hargrove 109 1666 .402 .290 111 82 136 33 1 101 20 14 .486 .549 1.035
16 Jim Gentile 83 936 .400 .260 86 70 73 28 6 92 11 23 .453 .729 1.182
17 Eddie Murray 298 3026 .399 .287 302 238 285 95 19 299 22 34 .387 .739 1.127
18 Kevin Seitzer 118 1439 .398 .295 116 93 118 37 4 110 17 8 .466 .624 1.089
19 Phil Nevin 125 1217 .397 .270 135 116 106 46 7 120 9 28 .422 .621 1.043
20 Ross Gload 58 795 .396 .281 62 53 29 21 1 50 4 8 .403 .547 .950
21 Mike LaValliere 71 879 .393 .268 72 61 34 24 1 62 5 6 .403 .557 .960
22 Troy Tulowitzki 97 934 .393 .299 102 89 82 35 2 81 4 17 .392 .562 .954
23 Jason Kubel 105 1036 .392 .262 115 97 71 38 8 110 7 22 .391 .732 1.123
24 Richie Zisk 109 1453 .392 .287 110 97 97 38 3 99 6 22 .400 .598 .998
25 Bill Madlock 128 1806 .390 .305 128 105 154 41 3 116 7 7 .383 .600 .983
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/14/2014.

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