Tag: Tony Oliva

Looking back at the Minnesota Twins in the 60’s

The Minnesota Twins started play in 1961 after moving from Washington D.C. where they were known as the Washington Senators. In their final year as the Senators in 1960 the team had a 73-81 record. Between 1946 and 1960 they had one, just one, winning season and that was in 1952 when they barely made it over the .500 mark with a 78-76 record.

Nevertheless the baseball fans of Minnesota were excited about getting a major league team (some might disagree with that description) to move to their state. Team owner Calvin Griffith felt he had some good young players that were just starting to make their mark.

The 1961 team was managed by Cookie Lavagetto until he was fired by Griffith after a 23-36 start and replaced by coach Sam Mele. The team went on to finish seventh in the ten team American League with a 70-90 mark and 38 games out of first place. The team won 91 games in both 1962 and 1963 but in 1964 they fell back to a 79-83 record and fans were calling for manager Mele to hit the road. However; Griffith stuck with his man and in 1965 Mele’s Twins won 102 games and found themselves in the World Series playing the Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale led Los Angeles Dodgers. The Twins came out on the short end of that Series losing four games to three but baseball was exciting in Minnesota. 

The 1966 Twins were not able to defend their 1965 pennant and finished with a 89 win season but they were nine games behind the Baltimore Orioles. The 1967 season saw the American League with a pennant race like none before it with the Red Sox, Twins, Tigers, White Sox and Angels battling down to the very end of the season. The Twins started the season at just 25-25 and that was not what the Twins owner was expecting so he fired Mele and brought Cal Ermer to lead his team. The team responded to Ermer and had a one game lead with two games to play with the Red Sox at Fenway Park and they lost both games allowing the Red Sox to win the 1967 AL pennant by one game over Minnesota and Detroit, three games over the White Sox and 7.5 games over the Angels.

The Twins started the 1968 season with six straight wins, five of them on the road but that was their high-water mark for the season and when the season ended so did the managing career of Cal Ermer. Less than two weeks later Calvin Griffith hired Billy Martin as his new manager.

1969 saw the AL break in two divisions with the Twins being part of the six team AL West along with the Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, California Angels, Seattle Pilots, and the Kansas City Royals. 1969 was also the first season that had a best of five ALCS. In this case the West Division winning Twins played the East Division winning Baltimore Orioles and the Twins lost all three games. They lost the first game in Baltimore in 12 innings 4 to 3, the lost game two again in Baltimore in 11 innings 1 to 0 and their third and final game was a blowout 11-2 loss at the Met when Billy Martin went on a hunch and started Bob Miller, a part-time starter/reliever and he lasted just 1.2 innings. Martin’s decision to start Miller turned out to be one of the key reasons he would be fired by Griffith after just one season.

The Twins played winning baseball (.542) in the 60’s and had a record of 789-666. So who were the key Twins hitters and pitchers in the Twins first decade of baseball in the Minnesota? It is difficult to determine the value that a player brings to the team without being arbitrary so the best way that I know of to measure a players worth is WAR. I know of lot of you either don’t like it and don’t know how it is calculated exactly (either do I), but if we apply the same measurement to everyone it will serve our purpose here. The position player with the highest WAR for the period of 1961-1969 probably is no surprise to anyone, it is Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and the pitcher for that same time period is Jim Kaat.

Continue reading Looking back at the Minnesota Twins in the 60’s

Know your Twins numbers

0 – The lowest number worn by a Twins player or field staff is 0 (zero), worn by catcher Junior Ortiz back in 1990 and 1991.

3 – Worn only by Hall of Fame Twins player Harmon Killebrew and retired on May 4, 1975.

4 – Hall of Famer Paul Molitor wore the number 4 as a Twins player in 1996-1998 and as a coach in 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2014 and as a manager from 2015-2018. 

6 – Worn by four former Twins players, Billy Consolo, Ted Lepcio, Jim Snyder, and Vic Wertz before Tony Oliva. Tony-O had his number 6 retired on July 14, 1991.

10 – Nine different Twins players wore the number 10 before manager Tom Kelly strapped it on his back from 1987-2001 as the Twins skipper. The Twins retired TK’s number 10 on September 8, 2012.

13 – Ten different Twins players and field staff have worn unlucky number 13, the first player being Bill Tuttle back in 1961 and the last player being Jason Kubel in 2014.

14 – Worn by four players and a manager before Kent Hrbek took the number 14 to glory. Twins retired the number on August 13, 1995.

25 – Hall of Fame and one time Twins player Jim Thome wore the number 25 on his back in 2010-2011.

28 – Worn by 14 different players including Bert Blyleven. The first player to wear the number 28 was Pedro Ramos and the last was Jesse Crain 2004-2010. Bert’s number 28 was retired on July 16, 2011.

29 – The seventh and final player to wear the number 29 was Rod Carew. The Twins retired this number 29 on July 19, 1987.

32 – MLB Hall of Famer and one time Twins player Dave Winfield wore the number 32 in 1993-1994.

34 – Nine players wore the number 34 before Kirby Puckett put it on in 1984 and no one has worn the number since Kirby took it off for the last time in 1995. The number was retired on May 25, 1997.

38 – MLB Hall of Famer and one time Twins pitcher Steve Carlton wore the number 38 in 1987-1988.

42 – Only three Twins players (Gerry Arrigo, Jim Manning and Buzz Stephen) wore the number 42 before the number was retired across MLB in 1997.

47 – Hall of Fame pitcher and one time Twins pitcher Jack Morris wore the number 47 in 1991.

73 – The lowest number that has never been worn by a Twins player or field staff.

83 – In the Minnesota Twins 58 year history Twins players and field staff have worn 83 different numbers.

99 – The highest number worn by a Twins player was 99 and it was worn by Logan Morrison.

Three players were on the active roster for the Twins but never played in a game for the team: Chuck Schilling, who wore number 18, in 1966; Maurice Ogier, who wore number 17, in 1968; and Dave May, who wore number 20, in 1977. Ogier and May never played in the majors.

Information is courtesy of historian and Minnesota Twins official scorer Stew Thornley’s website

If you are a baseball fan you will love La VIDA Baseball

Not that long ago I ran across a site called La VIDA Baseball. La VIDA Baseball is produced in association with the National Baseball Hall of Fame, celebrates the past, present and future of Latino baseball through our own lens and voice.

If you are interested in Latin Baseball and legends of the past, current stars or future up and coming Latino stars than this site is for you. They publish new articles on a regular basis and the writers are very, very good. If you are a fan of baseball than you should check this site out and bookmark it. 

The Twins have had many Latino stars over the years and a lot of them have great stories written about them on this site. Here are just a few examples and there are many, many more.

ESCOBAR HUNTING FOR AN ARIZONA OCTOBER

TWINS’ ROSARIO WAS ALWAYS AN EARLY OVERACHIEVER

La Vida Voices: Tony Oliva’s Journey

Twins Mr. Everything Passes Away

Francis Ralph Quilici was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 11, 1938 and passed away on May 14, 2018 in Burnsville, Minnesota from kidney disease complications. The out-going Frank Quilici always had a smile on his face and was always willing to talk baseball.

After high school Quilici went to Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, but his stay there was short, just one semester due to financial difficulties. He returned to Chicago and got a job and continued playing ball. Frank caught a break when a scout told him he could help him walk-on to the baseball team at Western Michigan.

Quilici took advantage of the offer and his freshman roommate turned out to be none other than Jim Bouton. Quilici hit .400 his Junior year and was named second-team All-American. The New York Yankees offered Quilici a $28,000 signing bonus but Frank passed it up keeping his promise to his father that he would finish school. In his Senior year Quilici was named first team All-American with a .369 average. Western Michigan had some good baseball teams and finished fifth in the 1959 and 1961 seasons.

The Yankees lost interest in Quilici but Minnesota Twins scout Dick Wiencek who also signed Bert Blyleven, Graig Nettles, Dick Woodson and others quickly signed Quilici to  a $15,000 bonus after graduation and the Twins sent him off to the Class D- Appalachian League Wytheville Twins to start his pro career in 1961, There, Quilici played with future Twins like Tony Oliva, Jim Manning, Ted Uhlaender, and Bill Whitby. Quilici worked his way up through the Twins system with stops in places like Erie, Wilson, Charlotte, and Denver. Quilici, known more for his glove work than his bat,  spent the entire 1964 season with the AA Charlotte Hornets playing in 140 games and hitting a respectable .261 average with 25 doubles and 60 RBI. That season earned him his first spring training invite in 1965 with the parent club Minnesota Twins. 

Guido, as Frank was known, started the 1965 season with the AAA Denver Bears under manager Cal Ermer. Quilici was playing well in Denver in 1965 hitting .277 in July when the Twins came calling. The Twins had Jerry Kindall playing second base but he was hitting under .200 and then suffered a leg injury so Quilici was on his way to Minnesota to start his big league career. The Twins were losing to the California Angels 5-1 at Met Stadium in the first game of a double-header when Manager Sam Mele had Quilici enter the game as the second baseman in the top of the eighth inning. In his first big league at bat in the ninth inning off Bob Lee, Frank fouled out to the first baseman.

In the second game of the DH Quilici started at second base hitting lead-off and hit a double to left off Angels starter Ken McBride for his first big league knock and ended up scoring later in the inning on a bases loaded double by Bob Allison. 

Quilici’s first taste of the big leagues was one for the ages as the Minnesota Twins won the American League pennant and went on to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1965 World Series and Frank went on to start at second base in all seven games. In game one, Quilici tied an MLB record when he had two hits (double and a single) off future Hall of Fame Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale in the third inning when the Minnesota lads scored six times and went on to an 8-2 win.

Quilici spent all of 1966 with the AAA Denver Bears where he played for manager Cal Ermer. Ermer said that Quilici was a “winner” and when Ermer replaced the fired Sam Mele as Twins skipper early in 1967 it didn’t take Ermer long to bring Frank up to the big leagues again but now as more in a utility player role. Quilici played for Minnesota through the 1970 season and appeared briefly in the 1970 ALCS series against the Baltimore Orioles.

On the eve of the 1971 season the Minnesota Twins released the soon-to-be 32-year-old Frank Quilici but his tenure with the Twins organization did not end as Twins owner Calvin Griffith offered him a job as a Twins coach under manager Bill Rigney. On July 6, 1972 Twins owner Calvin Griffith sent Bill Rigney packing after a 36-34 start to the 1972 season and moved the 33-year-old Quilici into the managers seat where he would be the youngest manager in baseball. Frank Quilici managed the Twins to a 280-287 record from 1972-1975 before he too was let go by Griffith. But Frank didn’t go far as he was hired as a broadcaster to team up with the great Herb Carneal to do Twins games on the radio from 1976-1977 and again from 1980-1982. After that Quilici took a position at Western Diversified Insurance where he would go on to become a VP. Baseball and the Twins called him back in 1987 to team up with Dick Bremer to do some Twins TV broadcasting.

Frank Quilici remained a Minnesota Twins ambassador and a baseball fan his entire life and devoted a lot of his time to the community and charitable causes. Frank had a kidney transplant in 2012 and was honored with the Kirby Puckett Award for Alumni Community Service in 2013 for his passion in promoting organ donorship. He was also a former member of the board of directors for the Twins Community Fund, the Killebrew Foundation and a number of other boards.

Frank Quilici is survived by his wife Lila and children, Kelly, Kolleen, Tony and Nick and numerous grand-children.

I had a few opportunities to work with and talk with Frank for some interviews I did with him back in 2009 when I first met him and he was a wonderful person who loved baseball and most of all loved life and enjoyed his time with family and friends to the very end. We will all miss you Frank Quilici!

Frank Quilici Obituary

Frank Quilici Obituary

Minnesota Twins Press Release

SABR Bio

Frank Quilici article by Pat Reusse

 

 

The Twins Trivia Best Minnesota Twins of the 60’s

The Washington Senators franchise moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. From 1961 through 1969 the Twins had a record of 789-666 and played .542 baseball.

During that time period the Minnesota Twins worst season was their first when the team went 70-90. In 1962 the team improved dramatically and won 91 games but finished second, five games behind the New York Yankees. In 1963 the team won 91 games again but this time finished in third behind the Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. In 1964 dropped off dramatically and finished in 6th place with a 79-83 record and as usual the Yankees won the AL Pennant. In 1965 the Twins roared back with 102 wins, a franchise high that stands to this day and they played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series but lost in seven games. 1966 found Minnesota winning 89 games while losing 73 but that was only good enough for second place, nine games behind the Baltimore Orioles. 1967 is remembered as one of the greatest pennant races in baseball history and the Twins came up short when the lost their final two games of the season to the Boston Red Sox and finished one game out with a record of 91-71 and tied the Detroit Tigers for second place behind the pennant winning Red Sox. The following season, 1968, saw the Twins fall back to a 79-83 record and seventh place as the Tigers hoisted the AL pennant in Detroit. 1969 saw expansion and the first time that the AL was split into two Divisions. The Twins won the West Division with a 97-65 mark and played the East Division winning Baltimore Orioles who were 109-53 and the Twins came up short in the ALCS losing 3 games to zip. So in nine seasons of play in the 60’s, the Twins had just three losing seasons. During this era pitchers were also hitters, the DH did not come into play until 1973.

So who were the best Twins position players in that era? Let’s look back and see who they were by position.

Harmon Killebrew

C – Earl Battey with a WAR of 14.3

1B – Harmon Killebrew with a WAR of 42.7

2B – Rod Carew with a WAR of 10.1

3B – Rich Rollins with a WAR of 11.9

SS – Zoilo Versalles with a WAR of 15.2

LF – Bob Allison with a WAR of 30.3

CF – Cesar Tovar with a WAR of 15.1 (why is this guy not in the Twins Hall of Fame?)

RF – Tony Oliva with a WAR of 31.9

P – Jim Kaat with a hitting/fielding WAR of 4.3 

Hitting Stats

 

Let’s take a look at Twins pitching in the 60’s. The biggest surprise on this list is Jim Merritt who I always liked but his numbers are better than I remember.

Jim Kaat

SP – Jim Kaat with a WAR of 23.7

SP – Jim Perry with a WAR of 20.5

SP – Camilo Pascual with a WAR of 18.4

SP – Dean Chance with a WAR of 13.0

SP – Dave Boswell with a WAR of 12.8

SP – Jim Merritt with a WAR of 11.2

Al Worthington

RP – Al Worthington with a WAR of 10.0

 

Pitching Stats

For more information about Minnesota Twins from the 1960’s, please go to Twins Heroes

Twins walk-off wins – 1961-2017

Twins walk-off King
Harmon Killebrew

In the past 57 seasons the Minnesota Twins have walked off their opponents 403 times. Kirby Puckett leads the Minnesota Twins in career walk-off’s wins by delivering the winning run in some manner 11 times, it might have been on a hit, walk, HBP, error or a sacrifice. Second on the list is Harmon Killebrew. I guess that is why these guys are Hall of Fame players.

The Twins have walked off their opponent with a single a total of 196 times. Rod Carew  did it seven times and is the leader in this category and it has been done five times by Alexi Casilla, Harmon Killebrew, Brian Harper, Larry Hisle, Kent Hrbek and Jacque Jones.

The Twins have hit 108 walk-off home runs and Justin Morneau leads the pack here with five and is followed Gary Gaetti, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek with four each. One was an inside the park job by Tim Teufel.

The Twins have walked off their opponents with doubles 35 times and Kirby Puckett did it 3 times, the following players each did it twice, Cristian Guzman, Rich Reese, Tony Oliva, Eduardo Escobar, Shannon Stewart, Glenn Borgmann  and Tom Brunansky.

The Sacrifice Fly has led to 25 Twins walk-off wins with only Zoilo Versalles and Cristian Guzman doing it more than once.

The Twins have walked-off opponents 12 times on an opposing team error.

The Twins have walked-off their opponent 11 times when they drew a bases-loaded walk. 

The Twins have had six walk-off triples and no one has more than one.

The Twins have celebrated a walk-off win six times after a simple ground out.

The Twins have two walk-off wins via getting hit by a pitch (Paul Molitor and Max Kepler).

The first player to deliver a walk-off win was Zoilo Versalles and the most recent to do it is Byron Buxton.

 

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 39 – Kline, Boswell, Uhlaender and Oliva

A nice story about Twins reliever Ron Kline who was in his 14th season of big league action and had yet to savor the pleasure of pitching in the post season. Harmon Killebrew steals his first base in five years. Killebrew would go on to steal 8 bases in 1969…

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When I was a youngster I used to subscribe to the Sporting News and I can’t tell you how much I looked forward to getting that weekly baseball paper. Since we had no daily paper this was my only way to see the baseball box scores except when school was in session and I could stop in the school library and read the local paper. When I received the Sporting News the first article I always looked for was the Joe Falls column, he was my favorite baseball writer back then and his writing was always informative and fun. Here is one of his columns that you can enjoy about Twins outfielder Ted Uhlaender and Tigers outfielder Mickey Stanley.

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Pat Kelly in a Denver Bears uniform. Credit: Getty Images.

Dave Boswell was an interesting person and there is a nice story about him in this section of the Sporting News. There is also a story about manager Cal Ermer‘s wife Gloria that I think you will enjoy. A small blurb also mentions Fan Appreciation Day put on by Calvin Griffith and how the Minnesota Twins showed their appreciation back then and how todays Minnesota Twins show their appreciation to the fans that support them. Today’s Twins should be ashamed of themselves.

Sporting News 09231967 P11

Did you know that Twins outfielder Pat Kelly was a brother to Cleveland Browns running back LeRoy Kelly? Everybody wants to read more about a younger Tony Oliva. The Red Sox fans among you may enjoy a nice story by Larry Caflin about how “Beantown” is enjoying their Red Sox team of 1967.

 

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Previous 1967 AL Pennant Race blogs can be found here. 

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Beresford, Heintz, Bowyer, Becker, Hocking, Stahoviak, Jorgensen, Johnson, Adams, Morris, & Dotter

Lots of players that made their big league debut as a Minnesota Twin on September 10.

James Beresford

James Beresford (1B/3B/2B) – September 10, 2016 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on August 13, 2005. Made his major league debut at Target Field as the starting third baseman hitting eighth. James was 1 for 4 with a sacrifice in 5 PA’s and helped celebrate a Twins 2-1 victory over the Indians.

Chris Heintz (C) – September 10, 2005 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on November 21, 2003. Heintz debuted as a replacement for Mike Redmond as the catcher with the Twins down 7-2 at Jacobs Field. The Twins ended up losing 7-5 and Heintz was in the on deck circle awaiting his first plate appearance when the game ended.

Travis Bowyer (P) – September 10, 2005 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 20th round of the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft. Bowyer debuted in the same game as Chris Heintz but Bowyer entered the game in relief with no outs and the bases full of Indians. Bowyer got the first batter on a sac fly and then threw a wild pitch moving the runners-up before allowing a single to score another run and his night was over at Jacobs Field in the 7-5 loss to Cleveland after 7 pitches.

Rich Becker (OF) – September 10, 1993 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1990 amateur draft. Becker,  Hocking, and Stahoviak all debuted in the same game. Becker debuted in the lead-off spot while playing center field and went 2 for 5, both hits were doubles and he scored a run and struck out 3 times. Twins lost 3-2 in Arlington Stadium.

Continue reading Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Beresford, Heintz, Bowyer, Becker, Hocking, Stahoviak, Jorgensen, Johnson, Adams, Morris, & Dotter

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Sampson, Koskie, Pierzynski, Casian & Oliva

Three of the five players listed below debuted in the bigs as Twins in one game on September 9th. What are the odds of finding them all on one card?

Benj Sampson (Credit: Getty images)

Benj Sampson (P) – September 9, 1998 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round of the 1993 amateur draft. pitched one inning of scoreless relief at Edison Field throwing 15 pitches and allowing no hits but the Twins lost to the Anaheim Angels 10-8.

Corey Koskie

Corey Koskie (3B) – September 9, 1998 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 26th round of the 1994 amateur draft. Entered the game at Edison Field to play 3B with the Twins already down 10-3 and he struck out twice in two PA’s as the Twins lost to Anaheim 10-8.

AJ Pierzynski – 1998 Spring Training – Credit Getty images

A.J. Pierzynski (C) – September 9, 1998 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1994 amateur draft. The Twins were down 10-2 when A.J. entered the game to catch. He had two PA’s in the game and grounded out in his first at bat and then was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a bases clearing triple but the Twins still came out on the short end of a 10-8 loss at Edison Field the Anaheim Angels.

Larry Casian (P) – September 9, 1990 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round of the 1987 amateur draft. Debuted at the Dome in a 12-9 loss to the Indians. Casian pitched the final 1.1 innings of the game allowing one run on two hits.

Tony Oliva (OF) – September 9, 1962 – Signed as an amateur free agent in 1961. Fifteenth player to make his big league debut in a Twins uniform. The Twins lost to the Tigers 10-9 at Tigers Field the day that Oliva debuted in the big leagues. The Twins scored 3 in the top of the ninth on a Bernie Allen home run to close the gap to just a run but then Zoilo Versalles grounded out for the first out, Tony Oliva then struck out against Bob Humphreys four the second out and then Lenny Green grounded out to end the game.

 

You can check out other Major League Debuts as Twins that I have done by going here.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 38 – Chance pitches no-hitter in 2-1 win over Indians

The Twins swept a twin-bill from the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium in what turned out to be a very interesting day. The first game was tied at 4-4 after 9 innings and in the top of the tenth Tony Oliva singled and scored when Harmon Killebrew followed with his annual triple. Sandy Valdespino followed Harmon with a sac fly to score Killebrew and the Twins were up by 6-4. Ron Kline gave up a home run to Joe Azcue but kept Cleveland from scoring any more runs and the Twins won the game 6-5 in 10 innings.

The first game extra-innings victory was quickly put on the back burner when Twins starter Dean Chance pitched a no-hitter in the second game even though he allowed the Indians to score first in a no-hitter rarity. Chance threw 95 pitches and struck out 8 Indians but walked five and Cesar Tovar committed an error so it not like the Indians didn’t have their chances in the Twins 2-1 win. The Twins scored both of their runs without the benefit of a RBI, the first run scored on an error and the second scored on a balk. 

 

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Previous 1967 AL Pennant Race blogs can be found here.