1974: A Royal Beating

April 6, 1974

After defeating the Royals a day earlier in the season opener, the Twins took one on the chin in game two of the 1974 season.

Bill Hands started the game on the mound for the Twins, but his day was over after just 2/3 of an inning. In that time he allowed seven runs on seven hits, including six singles and a double. Additionally, Hands hit first baseman Paul Schaal with a pitch, and allowed a stolen base to Freddie Patek. The only two outs Hands recorded both came on strikeouts.

Patek had a particularly good first inning. He singled twice, both off of Hands, knocked in two runs, and stole two bases (the second came with Ray Corbin on the mound). Corbin temporarily stopped the bleeding when he got Jim Wohlford to ground out for the third out of the inning.

After the Twins went down in order in the second inning, Corbin ran into some trouble of his own. The Royals added three more on Hal McRae’s home run. Though Corbin made it through the second, he would not return for the third with is team down 10-0.

Larry Hisle singled home a run in the top of the third. Danny Fife came in relief and finally held the Royals scoreless in the bottom of the third inning. A Steve Braun three run home run in the top of the fourth cut into the Kansas City lead, which was cut even further when Bobby Darwin hit a two run home run in the fifth. The score was 10-6 and the Twins looked as though they might make a game of it.

That all changed, however, when Danny Fife ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. Kansas City added six more runs to take a 16-6 lead. The Royals went on to score three more in the sixth, one in the seventh, and three again in the eighth. The final tally was a 23-6 Royals’ victory.

The 23 runs allowed was a record for the Twins that still stands today. There has been only one other occasion on which the Twins have allowed more than 20.

Eddie Bane Pitches a Perfect Game

ed. – This was originally posted in 2007. Bane is currently a scout for the Detroit Tigers.

March 2, 1973

Eddie Bane, then pitching for Arizona State, pitched a perfect game against Cal State Northridge, the only perfect game in ASU history. He went on to lead his team to the College World Series, where the Sun Devils were runners-up to champion USC for the second straight year. As a result of his dominant season, Bane was voted the Sporting News Player of the Year in 1973.

Bane finished his college career with a 41-4 record and a then NCAA record 505 strikeouts. On June 7, 1973, the Minnesota Twins made Eddie Bane their number 11 pick in the amateur draft. Three days later Bane would shut out the Dave Winfield and the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a College World Series game.

Due in part to fledgling attendance, Twins’ owner Calvin Griffith put Bane on the fast track to the big club, skipping the minor leagues all together and taking the same direct route to the majors as three other players in the draft: #1 overall pick David Clyde of Texas, Dave Winfield with San Diego, and Robin Yount with Milwaukee. In total, 18 players have made the jump directly from the draft to the majors.

Bane, $50,000 richer due to his signing bonus, made his debut on July 4, 1973 in front of a record Met crowd of 45,890 paid. Bane pitched seven innings, allowing one run on three hits, though he ultimately earned a no-decision in a game the Twins lost to the Kansas City Royals. Bane would bounce between the majors and the minors for a couple of years before ending his major league career after the 1976 season with a career 0.9 WARP3.

Eddie Bane is currently the Director of Scouting for the LA Angels (here is an interesting roundtable discussion involving Bane on the subject of Moneyball).

Other References:

“Padres expected to draft shortstop”. New York Times June 5, 1973.

Reusse, Patrick. “Bane’s debut magic; a record crowd came to the Met to see a college phenom’s start on July 4, 1973″. Star Tribune July 5, 2003.

Walsh, Jim, “Bane fondly remembers standing ovation in debut for Twins”. Star Tribune April 19, 1987

Friday May 31, 1974

“The Yankees lose so seldom you have to celebrate every single time” – WP Kinsella

It is satisfying when the random date generator generates a Twins win over the Yankees. On May 31, 1974. The Twins were 19-23 heading into a three-game weekend series with the New York Yankees, who stood at 23-26.

The Yankees had not been to the World Series in a decade, and had yet to win a division title (divisional play began in 1969). They had started slow again in 1974, and were no longer the draw that they once had been – only 7,241 fans showed at Metropolitan Stadium for the Friday night series opener, just slightly up from the average for the season so far.

Frank Quilici’s Twins jumped ahead of the Yankees early, stringing five hits together to score three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Steve Brye’s two RBI double capped an inning for the Twins in which the opposing pitcher, Dick Tidrow, only retired one batter. Rod Carew was caught stealing for the first out, and Brye was retired attempting to stretch his double into a triple. The damage was done, but it could have been an even bigger inning for the home team. By game’s end, the Twins might have thought they could have scored more than the five runs they scored on 15 hits.

In the end, however, the Yankees squandered enough scoring opportunities of their own. While they managed six hits off of Twins pitching (all at the expense of starter Joe Decker, who lasted 7 2/3 innings), they drew 7 walks. At game’s end, the Yankees had left nine men on base, and hit into three double plays.

Twins Commercials from 1978 and 1979

For your viewing pleasure, some Twins promos from the past. I wonder if anybody still has one of those jackets?

I should h/t davidwatts from the comment section at WGOM.

Wooden Shoes in the Hall

It has been written about at length, but at long last Bert Blyleven got the call from Cooperstown.

Over the past five years, there have been few questions in baseball circles that produce as much debate as Blyleven’s HOF case. It represents, in a way, the line between the traditional baseball press and the new breed of baseball bloggers (who may or may not be writing from mother’s basement). In the end, the “you had to be there” and “he never felt like a HOFer” arguments (which, I believe, were more about his reputation as uncooperative with the media – the gate keepers off the Hall can be a fickle bunch) lost out to the overwhelming statistical evidence.

While Bert’s inclusion feels like a victory for sanity, it may well be a short-lived one. The Hall of Fame voting this year signaled an entirely new wave of voter insanity – the PED witch hunt.

Well, I guess it will continue to give my favorite writers a reason to continue writing.

 

1974: Nolan Ryan No Hitter

September 28, 1974

Heading into play on Saturday, September 28, 1974, Nolan Ryan was a 27 year old pitcher with two no-hitters already under his belt. That day, in front of just 10,872 at Anaheim Stadium, Ryan victimized the Twins to earn his third career no-hitter.

Ryan didn’t go about getting his third career no-no the easy way. Though he struck out 15 Twins (including three times each for Hisle, Borque, and Darwin), he also walked eight (including twice each for the number one and two hitters, Brye and Carew).

At the time, only Sandy Koufax had more career no-hitters with four. Ryan joined Bob Feller, Larry Corcoran, and Jim Maloney as the only pitchers to throw three career no-hitters.

1973: Eddie Bane’s Debut

Ed- Here’s an old favorite for a holiday Monday.

Wednesday July 4, 1973

On June 27, the Twins faced the Texas Rangers in a near-meaningless game between a team struggling to stay above .500 and a team that was on its way to losing 105 games in a season. Still, 35,698 turned out to see the game in Texas (where crowds below 5,000 were common) thanks to the debut of the Rangers’ top draft choice; pitcher David Clyde. The Twins lost that game 4-3, but Twins’ management, including Calvin Griffith, noticed the crowd. The announcement was made that Eddie Bane would make his debut for the Twins on July 4 at Met Stadium.

From an earlier post on Bane:

Bane finished his college career with a 41-4 record and a then NCAA record 505 strikeouts. On June 7, 1973, the Minnesota Twins made Eddie Bane their number 11 pick in the amateur draft. Three days later Bane would shut out the Dave Winfield and the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a College World Series game.

Due in part to fledgling attendance, Twins’ owner Calvin Griffith put Bane on the fast track to the big club, skipping the minor leagues all together and taking the same direct route to the majors as three other players in the draft: #1 overall pick David Clyde of Texas, Dave Winfield with San Diego, and Robin Yount with Milwaukee. In total, 18 players have made the jump directly from the draft to the majors.

To sweeten the deal for Minnesota fans who hadn’t been turning out over the past few years, the team threw in an Eddie Bane autographed picture giveaway and promised fireworks after the game. The promotion worked as a then-Met Stadium record crowd of 45,890 turned out for the game against the Royals. The game was delayed 15 minutes to allow the crowd, many of whom had waited in lines to get into the parking lot and to get tickets, time to settle in.

   Kansas City Royals            Minnesota Twins                      
1. F Patek              SS    1. R Carew              2B
2. C Rojas              2B    2. J Terrell            SS
3. A Otis               CF    3. T Oliva              DH
4. L Piniella           LF    4. B Darwin             RF
5. K Bevacqua           1B    5. S Braun              3B
6. P Schaal             3B    6. L Hisle              CF
7. H McRae              RF    7. J Lis                1B
8. J Wohlford           DH    8. G Mitterwald         C
9. F Healy              C     9. J Holt               LF 

   D Drago              P        E Bane               P

Bane looked good early, and did not allow a hit until the third inning. Hal McRae singled to start the third, and eventually scored when Fran Healy doubled off of Bane to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Bane settled down again, however, and allowed just one more Kansas City hit over the next four innings.

Dick Drago, the Royals’ starter somewhat lost in the Bane hype, looked like he was struggling most of the game, but somehow held the Twins scoreless. After seven innings, Drago had allowed eight Twins hits, but had yet to allow a run.

Bane left the game after he pitched his half of the seventh to a standing ovation and made his first, and perhaps last, major league curtain call (a move the Sporting News pointed to as demonstrating “class you don’t see from most 22-year-olds”). The rookie phenom was out of the game, and the Twins were trailing 1-0.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Twins used four consecutive hits to score three runs and take the rookie off the hook. The big blow was a Larry Hisle two-run home run off of Drago. The lead was short lived, however, and the Royals took it back in the top of the ninth off of Ray Corbin. Corbin, who was having a good year, walked four Royals and allowed four runs in the inning.

The Twins tried to mount a comeback, and got two hits off of Drago to start the ninth. By the time Drago left the game, he had allowed 14 Twins hits and was charged with four runs. Gene Garber came on to finish the game, however, and the Royals managed to win in front of the huge crowd, 5-4, despite 15 Twins hits (11 LOB).

As it turned out, Bane’s first start may have been his best. He didn’t win a game in 1973, finishing 0-5 for the season. Bane was sent the minors for the bulk of the next two seasons, and started in just 168 innings in the majors. After a rough spring in 1977 he was optioned to Tacoma and never saw the majors again.

Box

1976: The Bert Blyleven Trade

I quoted from Larry Batson’s Strib article dated June 2, 1976 in The Franchise 1976:

Our drama began as an old-fashioned salary hassle, depressingly familiar to followers of the Twins. But, hoo boy, did it escalate.

Blyleven, a pitcher of solid performance and enourmous potential, came to regard his employer as niggardly, to say the least. And that was the very least that Blyleven, an outspoken person, said about Griffith.

Three seasons ago, as Griffith tells it, Blyleven made a specific salary demand. Griffith immediately agreed. “I think that stuck in Bert’s craw,” Griffith said recently. “I believe he thought he could have got more money if he’d asked for it – and maybe he would have.”

The next year Blyleven took his case to arbitration and lost. He fumed.

This year Blyleven refused to sign, Griffith fumed.

Griffith is a merchant. He sells baseball and, quite often, baseball players. By playing a season without a contract, Blyleven could become a free agent. He could then sell himself.

Griffith had a potential competitor on his own payroll. Every fourth day, Blyleven would take the mound for the Twins and throw beanballs at Griffith’s corporate assets. It was galling – and Calvin had to pay Bert meal money on road trips to boot.

As Blyleven put it yesterday, he was merely setting up a little ma and pa store, taking a chance on the free-enterprise system of which he has heard so much from baseball owners.

“I had to think of my future, my career expectancy, and of security for my family,” he said. “Mr. Griffith should be able to understand that. He has a huge family.”

Observers will long debate and probably never agree on the motivation for Griffith’s next move. He told Blyleven that he could negotiate with any club interested in signing him. Was this frustration or genius? Was Griffith surrendering or baiting a trap?

If it was bait, Texas seized it. The Rangers talked to Blyleven in terms he could appreciate. He likes numbers with lots of zeroes, and who doesn’t? By Monday morning, Blyleven had decided that he was going to Texas.

As a parting gesture, Bert hoped to win his 100th game for the Twins that evening. He lost it, but improvised another gesture for jeering spectators which will probably be remembered longer.

“Fans pay good money and they’re entitle to boo,” Blyleven said yesterday. “But when they go too far, I think a player has the right to respond in kind.”

The trade the two teams worked out was this:

Twins get: P Bill Singer, SS Roy Smalley, 3B Mike Cubbage, and $250,000.

Rangers get: P Bert Blyleven and SS Danny Thompson

Overall, the Twins missed out on 31.4 WAR without Blyleven from 1976-1985. Danny Thompson, of course, tragically died in December of 1976.

Smalley had some great years for the Twins, and for a brief time was the best shortstop in the American League. Overall he was worth 15.7 WAR in his first stint with the Twins. In 1982, the Twins traded Smalley for Ron Davis, Greg Gagne, and Paul Boris – a total of 15.5 WAR over the next decade (0.4 from Davis, 15.1 from Gagne). Mike Cubbage was worth 6.1 WAR to the Twins between 1976 and 1980.

All in all, the Twins lost 31.4 WAR, but gained 37.3 WAR. Taken in a vacuum, this was a good trade for the Twins at the time. They had to give up Jay Bell to get Blyleven back, in a trade that didn’t come out well in terms of WAR, but did aid in bringing the Twins a World Series Championship in 1987.

1972: Extra Innings

Friday May 12, 1972

Over a two-day span in 1972 the Twins and Brewers used 37 innings to complete two games.

On Friday the teams opened up a three game series at Metropolitan Stadium. The 14-4 Twins sent Dick Woodson to the mound to face Bill Parsons and the 5-12 Milwaukee Brewers. The game began innocently enough with the home team holding a 3-1 lead. Two Rod Carew hits and a walk with the bases loaded accounted for the Twins’ runs. A Tommie Reynolds single in the top of the seventh inning tied the game, however, and the two teams entered stalemate mode.

The first serious scoring threat came in the bottom of the 14th. With one out Cesar Tovar singled, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. After a Danny Thompson groundout to the pitcher, the Brewers intentionally walked both Carew and Killebrew to load the bases with two out. Frank Linzy then struck Bobby Darwin out to end the inning and extend the game.

The Brewers started the top of the 18th with a couple of consecutive singles, but those players were stranded by a couple of infield pop outs and a ground ball. The Twins’ Bob Gebhard also pitched around a lead of triple in the 19th inning.

When Bobby Darwin grounded into a double play in the bottom of the 21st, the game was called due to the 1:00 AM curfew. The teams would complete it the next day when the Brewers scored immediately off of Bert Blyleven in the top of the 22nd when Mike Ferraro singled to score the runner from second base. The Twins managed a threat in the bottom of the inning when the first two batters reached, but Jim Lonborg secured the win with a groudout off the bat of Danny Thompson.

The same two teams followed the 22-inning game with a 15-inning affair, this time won by the Twins 5-4 on an Eric Soderholm home run.

1975: Baseball’s 1,000,000th Run

May 4, 1975

In the second inning of the Twins game against the Kansas City Royals, Rod Carew stood on third base with a very good chance to make history.

Major League Baseball had been hyping its one millionth run scored for quite some time. The first run had been scored on April 22, 1876 by Wes Fisler of the Philadelphia Nationals. Some 99 years, 12 days later, Claudell Washington scored run number 999,999 and every game in progress was interrupted with the announcement that the next run would be the millionth. Fans and players alike eagerly anticipated the moment, and just minutes after the announcement Rod Carew had the first good chance to score the anticipated run.

With nobody out Carew doubled scoring Dan Ford from first base (presumably run number 999,998). Sergio Ferrer singled, sending Carew to third base, just 90 feet from home with nobody out.

The next batter, Steve Brye, hit a fly ball to right field. Carew tagged up, and attempted to score. Right fielder Al Cowens had other ideas, and gunned Carew out at home on a 9-2 scoring play. It was reported that not only was Carew thrown out, but he hurt his leg in the process. The injury was not serious, however, and Carew stayed in the game.

The staff at a computer center in Manhattan looked on as the events of the next few minutes unfolded. At approximately 3:32 EDT, Cincinnati short stop Dave Concepcion hit a home run, and began sprinting around the bases to try and score the historic run. At about the same time in San Francisco, Milt May of the Houston Astros hit a three-run homer, the lead run represented by Bob Watson who was on second base.

It was determined by the computer center that Watson touched home at 3:32 and 30 seconds, just as Concepcion was racing around third base. In honor of the occasion, Watson was presented with a watch.