Tag: Zoilo Versalles

Going to work or play every day

I seldom missed a day of school back in Taylors Falls and I continued that practice at work during my working career. The Navy of course reinforced the idea that going to work every day was the only way. I am old school and retired now but back in the day when I worked I took a lot of pride in the fact that I showed up for work day in and day out rain or shine.  I figured I was being paid to work so I showed up day after day. It used to drive me crazy when I knew that certain co-workers stayed home because they were hung-over or just plain didn’t feel like working. There were probably times when it would have been safer to stay home due to the snow or ice but not me, I was off to work.

Working every day carries over to my enjoyment of baseball, I like players that come to play ball each day and don’t take time off because they are tired or have a hang-nail. These players are being paid big bucks to play, not to sit on the bench and rest, they can rest on their own time like the rest of us.

"<strongSo where am I going with this? Today we are going to take a look at the Minnesota Twins players that came to play. Today’s players are playing fewer games then their compatriots did 50 or so years ago for a variety of reasons. The change however; is not as great as I expected to find. When was the last time that a Twins player played in every game that season? That would be Justin Morneau in 2008 when he appeared in all 163 regular season games. Since 1961 and 55 baseball seasons only six Twins players have played in every game and Harmon Killebrew is the only one to do it more than once.

 

Rk Player Year G Age PA AB H HR RBI SB BA OPS Pos
1 Justin Morneau 2008 163 27 712 623 187 23 129 0 .300 .873 *3/D
2 Gary Gaetti 1984 162 25 644 588 154 5 65 11 .262 .665 *5/76
3 Roy Smalley 1979 162 26 729 621 168 24 95 2 .271 .794 *6/3
4 Harmon Killebrew 1969 162 33 709 555 153 49 140 8 .276 1.011 *5*3
6 Cesar Tovar 1967 164 26 726 649 173 6 47 19 .267 .691 5847/69H
7 Harmon Killebrew 1966 162 30 677 569 160 39 110 0 .281 .929 *537/H
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/5/2016.

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Working or playing every day can be tough and everyone gets sick or hurt now and then

Continue reading Going to work or play every day

Remembering 1965 – Part 27 – Twins whip Dodgers 8-2 at the Met

Mudcat Grant
Mudcat Grant

October 6, 1965 – The Twins play their first World Series game at Metropolitan Stadium with 47,797 fans in the stands against the Los Angeles Dodgers and win the game 8-2 behind the complete game pitching of Mudcat Grant. Grant becomes the first African-American to win a World Series game. In the third inning the Twins scored six times and rookie second baseman Frank Quilici had a double and a single in the same inning in his first World Series game. Don Drysdale took the defeat. Don Mincher and Zoilo Versalles hit round trippers. Sandy Koufax (26-8) refuses to pitch the first game of the World Series against the Twins because game is scheduled on Yom Kippur, the most sacred of the Jewish holidays. Tony Oliva tied a World Series record for most putouts in a nine-inning game in right field (7). Box score

1965-world-series-openingHubert Humphrey, Vice-President of the United States, and a former mayor of Minneapolis threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

1965 Twins World Series game 1

Remebering 1965 – Part 22 – Versalles, World Series tickets, Mele

September 2 – Left Fielder Bob Allison strikes out five times in a 5-4 loss to the Tigers at Met Stadium. Allison is the only Twins batter to strike out five time in a nine inning game. Sandy Valdespino (1967), Bobby Darwin (1972), and Roy Smalley (1976) all struck out five times in extra inning games. Box score

September 14 – The Twins beat the Kansas City Athletics managed by Haywood Sullivan 4-3 at Met Stadium. Three KC pitchers walk eight Twins batters including five intentional walks, Tony Oliva (2), Don Mincher, Earl Battey and Jerry Kindall. Box score

As of September 15 the first place Twins are 94-54 after 148 games and 10 games up on the second place Baltimore Orioles and riding an eight game winning streak. Even though the Twins are just days away from clinching the AL pennant, their last two home games at the Met against the Kansas City Athletics have drawn a total of 19,105 fans.

Sporting News Sep 4, 1965 P12

Sporting News Sep 11, 1965 P9

 1965 twins 50th anniversary banner

Remembering 1965 – Part 21 – Meet the Manager, Coaches & Players from 1965

The 1965 Minnesota Twins had 35 different players suit up and play ball wearing a Twins logo across their chest against the nine other members of the American league. Their manager, Sam Mele had four coaches at his disposal to help guide the team. Here are the images of the players and coaching staff that made up the 1965 American League champions. Team owner Calvin Griffith also served as the teams General Manager.

Just click on any player image to see a larger image

1965 Twins team picture

1965 Twins team picture

Remembering 1965 – Part 19 – 50th anniversary celebration pictures and video

1965 twins 50th anniversary bannerThe Minnesota Twins hosted a 59th anniversary celebration on July 31 and August 1 for the 1965 American League champions. On July 31st the organization put on a “Championship Breakfast” that was attended by about 250 Twins fans and 11 players from the 1965 championship team that won a Twins record 102 games. Twins TV broadcaster Dick Bremer served as the master of ceremonies.

I was able to attend the breakfast which was held in the Metropolitan Club at Target Field and had a great time meeting other Twins fans and chatting briefly with some of the players. The cost of the breakfast was $75 for season ticket holders and $100 if you were not a Twins season ticket holder with the proceeds going to the Twins Community Fund.

There were 35 players that appeared in a Minnesota Twins uniform in 1965 and 20 of them were in town for the 50 year anniversary celebration. Bernie Allen, Jerry Fosnow, Jim “Mudcat” Grant, Jim Kaat, Jerry Kindall, Andy Kosco, Frank Kostro, Jim Merritt, Mel Nelson, Joe Nossek, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Jim Perry, Frank Quilici, Rich Reese, Garry Roggenburk, Rich Rollins, Dick Stigman, Sandy Valdespino, and Al Worthington. Coach Hal Naragon was also in attendance.

The ten player’s have passed on are Bob Allison, Earl Battey, Dave Boswell, Harmon Killebrew, Johnny Klippstein, Don Mincher, Cesar Tovar, Ted Uhlaender, Zoilo Versalles, and Jerry Zimmerman. RIP gentlemen and thank you for all the wonderful memories.

John Sevcik and Bill Pleis were unable to attend due to family health issues. Jimmie Hall also was invited but was not in attendance. Why he was not here is unclear, I saw some where that he was not able to change his schedule in time to attend and the other reason that has floated around for a long time is that Hall likes to stay close to home and that he is not a huge fan of the Twins organization due to some conflicts that have arisen in the past over medical claims. I have no idea why Dwight Siebler or Pete Cimino were not in attendance other than Siebler only appeared in seven games and Cimino only appeared in one game.As nored earlier, coach Hal Naragon was in attendance.

Manager Sam Mele who is 93 was not able to attend due to health concerns but he did make a short video that was played for the crowd. Coaches Billy Martin, Johnny Sain, and Jim Lemon have also passed on. Coach Hal Naragon as mentioned earlier was in attendance.

I took a few pictures at the championship breakfast that I will share with you here. Just click on the first thumbnail image to get started.

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1965 TWINS A.L. CHAMPIONSHIP REUNIONMinnesota Twins; Target Field; Minneapolis Minnesota
1965 TWINS A.L. CHAMPIONSHIP REUNIONMinnesota Twins; Target Field; Minneapolis Minnesota

The Twins were kind enough to provide me with a group picture from the Saturday celebration. Clicking on the picture will enlarge it slightly.

BACK ROW L - R: Jim Merritt, Jerry Kindall, Dick Stigman, Rich Reese, Mel Nelson, Andy Kosco, Frank Kostro, Garry Roggenburk, Jerry Fosnow, Bernie Allen, Hal Naragon FRONT ROW L - R: Joe Nossek, Sandy Valdespino, Rich Rollins, Jim Perry, Camilo Pascual, Al Worthington, Frank Quilici, Jim Kaat, Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Tony Oliva
BACK ROW L – R: Jim Merritt, Jerry Kindall, Dick Stigman, Rich Reese, Mel Nelson, Andy Kosco, Frank Kostro, Garry Roggenburk, Jerry Fosnow, Bernie Allen, Hal Naragon
FRONT ROW L – R: Joe Nossek, Sandy Valdespino, Rich Rollins, Jim Perry, Camilo Pascual, Al Worthington, Frank Quilici, Jim Kaat, Jim “Mudcat” Grant, Tony Oliva

 

Charley Walters: Memories of 1965 still fresh for Twins great Jim Kaat

Fox Sports: 1965 Minnesota Twins reunion video (19 minutes)

Twins celebrate 1965 American League Champions video (several combined video’s about 30 minutes total)

KSTP Breaking News! Minnesota Twins clinch the 1965 AL pennant! 9/26/1965 radio aircheck

Another short 1965 reunion video

 

Remembering 1965 – Part 17 – Quilici, Perry, Worthington, Grant and Versalles

Between August 1 and August 19 the Twins were 12-7 and and in first place with a 8.5 game lead over the Chicago White Sox. Their record for the year was 77-34 (.636). The Twins played in three doubleheaders during this period winning one and splitting the other two.

 

Frank Quilici
Frank Quilici

There is a nice piece in the August 7 issue of the Sporting News about the Twins new second baseman Frank Quilici. “Quilici never shuts up,” said manager Sam Mele. WOW! that is a real shocker to those people that know Frank at all. On that same page you can read about the Pirates planning to leave their spring training facility in Ft. Myers in their rear view mirror.

Sporting News Aug 7, 1965 P19

Jim Perry 3The August 14 has a lengthy piece on Jim Perry who came out of the bullpen to become a starter when Twins starters starting rotation suffered through a rash of injuries and illness. Al Worthington the Twins 36 year old closer who had never tasted post season play and the rest of the relief staff had to work over-time with some many injuries to the starting staff. “Housemaid knees” might not be politically correct today but according to Jim Grant that is what was troubling him even though he had a league leading 12-3 won/lost record.

Sporting News Aug 14, 1965 P5

Sporting News Aug 14, 1965 P8

Versalles, Zoilo 1I ran across this short article about Zoilo Versalles on the D.C. Baseball History web site that was written by an individual that had a personal encounter with Versalles back in 1959 when he was first called up by the Washington Senators.

The D.C. Baseball History web site is a great site if you are interested in learning more about the 1901-1960 Washington Senators who become our Minnesota Twins in 1961. The site also obviously covers the Washington Nationals.

The Reluctant Shortstop

1965 twins 50th anniversary banner

Remembering 1965 – Part 12 – First draft, Pascual, Perry, Zoilo and 6 DH in 23 days

The Twins were shutout 2-0 on only one hit by the Kansas City Royals last night and found themselves dropping out of a first place tie with the Royals in the AL Central. The Twins record is now 33-25 and they are one game out of first place.

Bell, GaryBack in 1965 on this date the Twins had lost two games in a row to the Cleveland Indians and reliever ‘Ding Dong” Bell (whose real name was Gary Bell) and their record was 32-18 and the team has a 1.5 game lead in the AL standings. Although the team was 16-8 at Met Stadium the team was not drawing well at the gate where in 24 games the attendance stood at 266,365 for an average of 11,099 fans per game. The Twins biggest crowd of the season showed up on Sunday, June 6 to see the Twins beat the Washington Senators 11-2 at the Met, I am not sure if there was a give-away that day or not but it sure appears to be a “Bat Day” crowd.

Camilo Pascual
Camilo Pascual

On June 8th Camilo Pascual beat the Indians 6-2 at the Met and ran his record to 8-0. Bothered by a bad back which caused him to miss all of August, Pascual would only win one more game in 1965 and finished the season with a 9-3 record.

Sporting News June 5, 1965 P9

The very first June free agent draft started on June 8 and the Twins selected Eddie Leon in round one and ninth overall and outfielder Del Unser in round two and 29th overall but both players passed on Minnesota offers and did not sign. The best player the Twins drafted in 1965 was 3B Graig Nettles but the Twins traded him to the Indians after Nettles played sparingly for the Twins from 1967-1969. The Twins expect to spend up to a total of $300,000 in bonuses to their 50 draftees…….

Sporting News June 19, 1965 P7

Sporting News June 19, 1965 P8

Sporting News June 19, 1965 P9

Sporting News June 19, 1965 P10

Sporting News June 19, 1965 P16

Sporting News June 19, 1965 P38

Sporting News June 19, 1965 P44

Zoilo Versalles
Zoilo Versalles

Zoilo Versalles is in the midst of a MVP season and the Twins have a tough month coming up in July with six double-headers coming up in 23 days.

Sporting News June 12, 1965 P10

Back in 1965 just like in 2015 the Twins took a long reliever out of the bullpen and turned him into a starter. Find out who it was and how he did.

Sporting News June 19, 1965 P11

Remembering 1965 – Part 9 – Not all peaches and cream for Versalles or Mele

Zoilo Versalles
Zoilo Versalles

Zoilo Versalles the Minnesota Twins enigmatic shortstop of the early 60’s would go on to win the 1965 American League Most Valuable Player Award at the age of 25 and become the first player in franchise history (Senators or Twins) to win that award. Versalles however; was not the easiest player to manage and was a high maintenance player as this incident in the April 17, 1965 Sporting News describes. Manager Sam Mele and coach Billy Martin worked hard to keep Zoilo on the straight and narrow and it paid off in 1965.

I was fortunate enough to get to see Versalles play and he was a skilled shortstop but his focus was not always there and that weakness led to numerous errors on routine plays. If you want to know more about the man who Twins fans called “Zorro” you might want to check out his SABR Bio.

The Sporting News also covers Don Mincher‘s request to be traded and all the rookies that were fighting to make the Twins roster that season.

Sporting News April 17, 1965

By this date in 1965 the Twins had played five games, four of them at Met Stadium and had a 4-1 record putting them in a tie for first place. According to the “TWINS JOURNAL” (by John Snyder):

“A week before the Twins opener, Metropolitan Stadium was covered by five inches of snow. Rain and melting snow caused rivers to rise, turning the entire state into a disaster area. Twelve people died in Minnesota because of the floods. Due to a pair of postponements, the Twins opened the season by playing their first three games against three different teams, the Yankees, Tigers, and Indians”.

The temperature on opening day (April 12) at game-time was 44 degrees along with an 18 MPH wind. Flood waters forced Twins players Jim Kaat, Rich Rollins, Bill Bethea, and Dick Stigman to be brought to the stadium by helicopter due to rising flood waters of the Mississippi River. The Twins won their opener 5-4 in 11 innings in front of 15,388 shivering fans. The next three games at the Met due to the bad weather brought in “crowds” of 2,382, 4,492, and 3,273 fans. The Twins were happy to leave Minnesota behind and they went to New York where they beat the Yankees 7-2 on April 21. Due to the inclement weather the Twins played only five games during the first 10 days of the 1965 season.

Twins first exhibition game on deck

The Minnesota Twins open their 2015 exhibition season by playing the Minnesota Gophers on March 4 and they will play their final spring training game on Saturday April 4th at Hammond Stadium against the Boston Red Sox. When early April rolls around we will all have a pretty good idea who will make this years opening day roster. Having said that, I don’t think that Twins fans should get too attached to the players on the opening day roster because I have a feeling that the “roster will be a-changing” and I can’t wait to see some of that new blood when  it heads north to Minnesota and Target field.

Tinker Field 6The Minnesota Twins played their first ever exhibition game on March 11, 1961 at Tinker Field in Orlando. Cookie Lavagetto and his boys took on the Detroit Tigers and their first game turned out to be a 4-1 loss. Paul Giel started the game for Minnesota and took the loss and Bob Bruce who started for the Tigers was credited with the victory. You will notice in the box score that although this was the first game of spring training and players were not in the shape that they are in today that a number of the pitchers that pitched in this game logged three innings not the one inning that you will probably see tomorrow.

Paul Giel (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)
Paul Giel (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)

The box score below was provided courtesy of Stew Thornley, Thanks Stew, we appreciate it!

Twins first ST game boxscore 3-11-1961

Remembering 1965 – Part 4

Sid Hartman
Sid Hartman

The below material came from a column that Sid Hartman wrote in the Star Tribune on August 19, 1990.

The payroll for the Twins, the American League West’s last-place team, is about $16 million, an average of more than $400,000 a player. In 1965, when the Twins won the pennant in a 10-team league with no playoffs, the payroll for 25 players was about $1.5 million, less than half what Kirby Puckett is paid per season. There wasn’t any free agency then and the reserve clause was in effect. There wasn’t any arbitration, either, and it was either take it or leave it.

How things have changed in favor of the player. Harmon Killebrew, a big star on the team, didn’t make $100,000 until 1967. And Bob Allison, another big star, earned about $35,000. The team drew 1,463,288 fans and sold only 3,318 season tickets. Owner Calvin Griffith made a lot of money.

And when members of the 1965 Twins World Series team, here to play in an old-timers game Saturday night, reminisced about winning the pennant and losing the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games, they had to recall that it wasn’t all peaches and cream in the clubhouse. Pitching coach Johnny Sain didn’t get along with third-base coach Billy Martin, and manager Sam Mele sided with Martin. Many times Martin and Sain almost came to blows.

The pitchers were on the side of Sain, who believed a pitcher never threw a bad pitch or lost a game. But they never would have won without Martin’s inspiration. Still, they won the pennant and might have won the World Series had Jim Gilliam not made a sensational fielding play on a hard ground ball hit to third in the fifth inning of Game 7. Gilliam handled shortstop Zoilo Versalles‘ shot toward third with Rich Rollins on first and Frank Quilici on second. The score was 2-0 at the time and that is how it ended, with Sandy Koufax winning for the Dodgers.

Yes, baseball has sure changed in the last 25 years.