Tag: Tom Mee

Error (E)

The Official WasWatching.com Scorecard of the Longest 9 Inning Game In Major League History.

The Major League Baseball definition of an error is: A fielder is given an error if, in the judgment of the official scorer, he fails to convert an out on a play that an average fielder should have made. Fielders can also be given errors if they make a poor play that allows one or more runners to advance on the bases. A batter does not necessarily need to reach base for a fielder to be given an error. If he drops a foul ball that extends an at-bat, that fielder can also be assessed an error.

Defensive errors are a vital tool in many statistical equations. For instance, batters do not receive RBIs for any runs that would not have scored without the help of an error and pitchers are not assessed any earned runs for runs that would not have scored without the error.

According to several sources the official scoring for MLB games was primarily done by home town newspaper writers that covered the games prior to 1979 when most major newspapers banned their writers from doing official scoring. 

Since there are no official records kept of who official scorers have been for Minnesota Twins home games in the past I have put together a list as best I can by using the Sporting News and Star and Tribune archives. The best information I garnered though was by talking with Laurel Prieb from MLB and Stew Thornley and Howard Sinker who either have been official scorers or currently are performing that function.

  • Prior to 1979 – BBWAA home town newspaper writers
  • 1979 thru 1987 – Bob Beebe
  • 1988 – Bob Beebe and Howard Sinker (Glenn Gostick did a game in 1988)
  • 1989 – June 1991 – Howard Sinker and Tom Briere
  • June 1991 to May 2007 – Tom Mee with Barry Fritz filling in when Mee was unavailable.
  • Remainder of 2007 – Barry Fritz, Stew Thornley, Gregg Wong and Howard Sinker
  • 2008 – Stew Thornley and Gregg Wong
  • 2009 thru 2012 – Gregg Wong, Stew Thornley and Kevin Hennessy did a few games each year
  • 2013 – Stew Thornley and Gregg Wong
  • 2014 thru 2018 – Stew Thornley, Gregg Wong and Dr. Kyle Traynor

According to MLB the official scorer is permitted to change a judgment call for up to 24 hours after a game concludes or is suspended. A player or team can request that the executive vice president of baseball operations review a call in which said player or team participated. This request must come within 72 hours after the conclusion or suspension of that game, or 72 hours after the official scorer’s call in the event a post game change is made.

 A Glimpse Into The Life Of An Official Scorer

Hit or Error? : A Question of Judgment : Fans and Players Don’t Really Notice Official Scorers — Until Controversy Arises Over One of Their Decisions

 

It is time for us to take a look back in Minnesota Twins history with the help of Baseball-Reference.com and see how the Twins have fared in this important baseball statistic. Or are errors just another thing that happen during a game playing a minor role in terms of wins and losses? How often have you heard “that you have to be strong up the middle” to be a good team? Probably more often than you have heard that “liars figure and figures lie”. Take the 1965 Minnesota Twins for example, we all know that they played in the World Series that year and lost in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers but did you know that they led the American League with 172 errors that season? 

Twins play-off teams and where they ranked in errors

  • 1965 – ranked 10th out of 10 teams with 172 errors
  • 1969 – ranked 9th out of 12 teams with 150 errors
  • 1970 – ranked 3rd out of 12 teams with 123 errors
  • 1987 – ranked 1st out of 14 teams with 98 errors
  • 1991 – ranked 2nd out of 14 teams with 95 errors
  • 2002 – ranked 1st out of 14 teams with 74 errors
  • 2003 – ranked 2nd out of 14 teams with 87 errors
  • 2004 – ranked 6th out of 14 teams with 101 errors
  • 2006 – ranked 2nd out of 14 teams with 84 errors
  • 2009 – ranked 1st out of 14 teams with 76 errors
  • 2010 – ranked 2nd out of 14 teams with 78 errors
  • 2017 – ranked 2nd out of 15 teams with 78 errors

So it appears that it helps to have a strong defense to be a play-off team but it there are no guarantees as five Twins teams over the years had the fewest or second fewest errors (82, 84, 88, 94 and 99 and still spent October at home. The most errors the Twins team committed was in their first season (1961) when they had 174 errors.

Zoilo Versalles

So what Minnesota Twins players had the most errors in a single season? That would be shortstop Zoilo Versalles with 39 errors in 1965, the year he won the American League Most Valuable Player award. Last Twins player to have 30 or more errors in a season? That would be Roy Smalley in 1977 with 33 boots. The Twin have committed 6,699 errors since they started play in 1961, that averages out to 114 per season. The first Twins error was made by outfielder Jim Lemon in the Twins first ever game.

 

Twins errors thru 2018.PDF

 

 

Minnesota Twins go high tech….. back in 1967

Their computer might have looked like this. Is that Derek Falvey?

According to the February 25, 1967 issue of the Sporting News the Minnesota Twins went high-tech by installing their first computer in their accounting department and Twins PR man Tom Mee thought that in the future they might even use it for Twins statistics. 1967 was the year that IBM created the first floppy disk, the first CES (Consumer Electronic Show) was held and GPS first became available for commercial use. About the same time the Minnesota Twins also announced that they would begin accepting credit cards for ticket purchases albeit only from “our good” customers said Twins ticket manager Charlie Lavender. The article also has a nice story about Cesar Tovar, one of the forgotten Twins.

Sporting News Feb 25, 1967 P 23

Guardado and Mee to join Twins Hall of Fame

Eddie "Every Day" Guardado
Eddie “Everyday Eddie” Guardado (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)

 

 

The Twins announced that pitcher Eddie Guardado and former executive Tom Mee have been selected to be inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame at Target Field on June 16 prior to the Twins vs Detroit Tigers game. Guardado and Mee will become
the 25th and 26th members of the Twins Hall of Fame.

The January 25th Minnesota Twins press release stated that “Guardado was elected by a 56-member committee consisting of local and national media, club officials, fans and past elected members, using rules similar to those necessary for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The 56-member committee annually considers “player” personnel for induction into the Twins Hall of Fame. Guardado was the top vote getter, followed by Chuck Knoblauch, Cesar Tovar and Dan Gladden. Mee was elected through the Veterans Committee ballot, which consists of 18 voters; voting participants include all living Twins Hall of Famers, current Twins President and General Manger and two Minnesota Baseball historians. The 18-member committee votes every other year on “non-player” personnel for induction into the Twins Hall of Fame”.

The 42-year old Guardado was born in Stockton, California and was the Twins 21st round selection in the 1990 June amateur draft but he did not sign with the team until May 23, 1991. Guardado started his pro career with Elizabethton and pitched in Kenosha (A), Visalia (A+), and Nashville (AA) before the Twins called and said they needed his help in the big leagues.

On June 13, 1993 Eddie made his major league debut at the Metrodome as the Twins starter against the Oakland A’s but it was not a propitious beginning as Eddie gave up a home run to Terry Steinbach who was batting second in the A’s batting order in the top of the first inning. The Twins came back with four of their own in the bottom of the inning and led 4-1 after one inning. Guardado left with a 4-3 lead after pitching 3.1 innings and giving up 5 hits, 3 walks while striking out 3 but the Twins relievers could not hold the lead and the Twins lost 7-6. Guardado pitched in 19 games starting 16 of them in 1993 but as time went along it became apparent that Eddie’s true calling would be in the bullpen. “Everyday Eddie” soon became a bullpen fixture and pitched for the Twins from 1993-2003 and returned for 9 games in 2008. Guardado became the Twins closer in 2001 and saved a league leading 45 games in 2002 and had 41 saves in 2003 and was selected to the All-Star team both years. Guardado became a free agent after the 2003 season and signed with the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners traded Guardado to the Cincinnati Reds in June of 2006 and “Every Day” Eddie pitched there for two season before playing for the Texas Rangers and the Twins again in 2008 and then finishing his active big league career as a Ranger once again in 2009. During his stay in Minnesota Guardado had a 37-48 record with 116 saves and is the Twins all-time pitching leader in games appeared with 648 throughout his career, recording at least 60 appearances in eight different seasons. Additionally, he is the Twins all-time leader in innings pitched (579.0) as a reliever and stands third on the Twins all-time saves list with 116.

Tom Mee (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)
Tom Mee (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)

St. Paul native Tom Mee is widely regarded as the Minnesota Twins first employee and he served in a variety of roles in the Twins organization including radio/TV broadcaster, public address announcer but was best known for serving as Director of Media Relations for 30 years. After retiring in 1991, Mee went on to be the teams official scorer and he performed those duties until he left that post in 2007.

Mee received the Robert O. Fischel award for Public Relations excellence in 1988 and in 2007 he became the second ever recipient of the Herb Carneal Lifetime Achievement Award. The Tom Mee Library, which is located in the Baseball Communications office at Target Field, is named in his honor

A number of fans seemed surprised and disappointed at Eddie Guardado’s selection to the Twins Hall of Fame stating that the bar has been lowered but if they took the time to look at what he accomplished in a Twins uniform they would see that he is fully deserving of the honor that the Twins will bestow on him this summer. Although Guardado was not blessed with the greatest physical abilities he proved over the years that he was one of the Twins best.

  • Third on the franchise all-time saves list behind Joe Nathan and Rick Aguilera with 116.
  • Third on the franchise strikeouts per 9 innings ranking behind only Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano.
  • Second in franchise history in games appeared by a pitcher behind only Hall of Famer Walter Johnson.
  • Only “Iron Mike” Marshall appeared in more games in a season than Guardado did.
  • Only Nathan and Aguilera finished more games than Eddie did in franchise history.