The Franchise 1968

1968 Minnesota Twins

Manager: Cal Ermer 2nd Season (2nd with Minnesota 145-129-2)
79 W 83 L 562 RS 546 RA 7th AL 24 GB (Detroit 103-59-2)
3.47 RPG (AL = 3.41) 2.89 ERA (AL = 2.98 )
.714 DER (8th AL)

All Stars (3) Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva

Franchise (1901-1968 ) 4906-5465-109; 11-15 WS
Washington (1901-1960) 4214-4864-104; 8-11 WS
Minnesota (1961-1968 ) 692-601-5; 3-4 WS

After narrowly missing the AL Pennant in 1967, expectations were high for the 1968 version of the Minnesota Twins. The team did not live up to its expectations and it became clear by mid-season that Cal Ermer was going to take the fall. With Billy Martin waiting in the wings to take over as manager, it was not a matter of if Griffith was going to let go of Ermer, but when. Public disagreements with star players, including Rod Carew, Jim Kaat, and Dave Boswell, did not help Ermer’s standing.

Ermer lasted the season, but received his walking papers immediately after the final game of the Twins’ seventh-pkace campaign. Shortly after the World Series, Billy Martin was named his successor. Griffith, when asked about the move, said that “Ermer didn’t take charge. Players can make or break you. Unfortunately, the players broke Ermer this year.”

Roster/Stats
Bold = Player new to WAS/MIN in 1968

C John Roseboro .216/.300/.311 8 HR 0.2 BFW 10 WS 23 FRAR 2.9 WARP3
Roseboro, a long time Dodger, came to the Twins at the age of 35 as part of the deal that sent Versalles and Grant to the Dodgers. His Twins’ career didn’t start off very well. Roseboro had just three hits in his first 57 plate appearances in a Minnesota uniform. He finally broke out of that slump with a 5-for-5 day on April 29. Roseboro was streaky like that for the bulk of the season - long stretches with very few hits with a few “hot” games strung together sprinkled throughout the year.

1B Harmon Killebrew .210/.361/.420 17 HR 1.6 BFW 12 WS 4 FRAR 3.7 WARP3
1B Rich Reese .259/.301/.352 4 HR -0.9 BFW 7 WS 5 FRAR 1.5 WARP3
Although Killebrew slumped during the first few months of the season, he made his way to the All Star Game in Houston based on his reputation. It would have been better had Killer stayed home. He tore his hamstring when stretching in an attempt to make a play at first base. He returned in September to finish a forgettable season. Whil Killebrew was out, Rich Reese got an opportunity to play at first base.

2B Rod Carew .273/.312/.347 1 HR 0.5 BFW 13 WS 17 FRAR 3.6 WARP3
2B Frank Quilici .245/.305/.341 1 HR 1.4 BFW 7 WS 17 FRAR 2.6 WARP3
Carew confided to TSN in the middle of the season that he had made his league’s All Star Game in every baseball season he had ever played. He wasn’t so sure about 1968 though. After running away with the AL Rookie of the Year Award the previous year, Carew’s early season was rough, partially due to an injury he suffered in June while away from the team with the Marine Reserves. Carew turned an ankle on a hike, and returned to the team with a swollen left ankle. Since Frank Quilici was streaking as a replacement for Carew, Ermer decided to stick with him for a while. Carew eventually found his way back into the lineup, and onto the American League All Star Team. Overall, Carew’s performance was a step back from his rookie season, but good things were still to come.

SS Jackie Hernandez .176/.218/.221 2 HR -0.8 BFW 1 WS 9 FRAR -0.5 WARP3
SS Ron Clark .185/.245/.229 1 HR -1.9 BFW 2 WS 6 FRAR -0.7 WARP3
The shortstop situation for the 1968 Twins was miserable. Jackie Hernandez, who got most of the playing time, had an OPS+ of just 30. His back up, Ron Clark, wasn’t much better with a 41 OPS+. It wasn’t too difficult to figure out what position the Twins might want to make a trade to strenghten in the offseason. Neither player remained with the Twins much longer past the 1968 season. Clark played seven season in the majors with a career line of .189/.249/.258. He remained in the league largely based on his defensive reputation. When he wasn’t playing baseball, Clark was a Golden Gloves boxer and a rodeo rider.

3B Cesar Tovar .272/.326/.372 6 HR 1.6 BFW 22 WS 20 FRAR 6.3 WARP3
3B Rich Rollins .241/.287/.355 6 HR -0.4 BFW 4 WS 5 FRAR 1.0 WARP3
Tovar’s most famous game came on September 22 when he appeared at all nine positions against Oakland. While Tovar earned a misguided MVP vote in 1967, 1968 is probably the year he was most valuable to his team. With the regular Twins stars either injured or slumping, Tovar played in 158 games and had a very good season. Rollins served as a backup for Tovar and covered third when it was necessary for Tovar to play another position due to injury. This was Rollins’ last season with the Twins. He was drafted by the Seattle Pilots in the 1969 expansion draft. Rollins played for the Twins from their first year in Minnesota, and posted the following line: .272/.333/.394 71 HR 101 OPS+ 18.7 WARP3.

LF Bob Allison .247/.324/.456 22 HR 0.5 BFW 16 WS -1 FRAR 4.2 WARP3
The usually mild-mannered Allison had a run in with Cleveland pitcher Sam McDowell on July 1. After a high and tight pitch forced the former college fullback to the dirt, he approached the mound with a few choice words for McDowell. Allison would not repeat his threat to reporters, but teammates said it went something like this: “If you try that again I’ll get you with my bat. And I don’t mean I’ll throw it; I’ll have it in my hands.” 1968 turned out to be Allison’s final good season. He retired as an active player at the age of 35 following the 1970 season.

CF Ted Uhlaender .283/.324/.389 7 HR -0.5 BFW 18 WS 3 FRAR 3.4 WARP3
1968 was, by far, the best season in Ted Uhlaender’s career. He set career marks in most offensive categories and was still considered a very good center fielder by Twins’ management. Uhlaender opened the season with an 11-game hitting streak and was legitimately in the race for the AL batting title until he faded in mid-August.

RF Tony Oliva .289/.357/.477 18 HR 2.0 BFW 21 WS 15 FRAR 7.0 WARP3
Oliva’s numbers in 1968 appear to be down a bit from his career norm, but a closer look through the lens of a pitcher’s year indicates that this may have been one of his better seasons. His .834 OPS was sixth best in the American League, and it translated to a 144 OPS+, the best in Oliva’s career since his rookie season.

SP Dean Chance 16-16 2.53 ERA 0.98 WHIP 1.6 PW 21 WS 8.2 WARP3
Though he had both a lower ERA and a lower WHIP rate in 1968 than he had in 1967, Chance managed to win only 16 games in 1968, down from the magical 20 mark the previous year. Chance had some motivation in 1968. After he won his opening start by shutting out the Washington Senators, Chance angrily told reporters that he should have thrown like that in his last start, referring of course to the final game of the 1967 season that sent the Twins home for the winter. His season may have been typified by his outing on June 1 against the Chicago White Sox. Chance carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the ninth inning thanks to his team’s inability to score runs. With one out, Bill Voss broke up the no-no with a single. Two hits later and the Sox had a 1-0 win.

SP Jim Merritt 12-16 3.25 ERA 1.09 WHIP -0.5 PW 11 WS 4.7 WARP3
Billy Martin predicted that Merritt would win 20 games easily in 1968. By the middle of the season, it looked more like the 24-year-old pitcher was on pace to lose 20 games. He turned it around enough to have a decent record considering, and really didn’t pitch all that poorly most of the year. Though the Twins (and Billy Martin) were still high on Merritt after the season, it became necessary to trade him to the Reds to acquire Leo Cardenas to play shortstop. Merritt eventually lived up to Martin’s prediction when he won 20 games with the Reds in 1970, though arm trouble pretty much meant his career was effectively over after that World Series season.

SP Jim Kaat 14-12 2.94 ERA 1.12 WHIP 0.6 PW 13 WS 5.3 WARP3
Kaat was still on the disabled list when the season started, a result of a torn muscle in his left arm suffered at the end of the previous season. When he returned to the rotation, Kaat pitched fairly well. Late in the season, some old wounds were opened with regards to Kaat and the Twins organization. When a communication breakdown between Kaat and Ermer caused Kaat to be removed from the lineup late in the season, Kaat vented in the papers about the coaching situation. By that time Ermer was already considered a lame duck manager, but Kaat’s criticism certainly nailed the door shut on any possibility that Ermer would be the Twins’ manager in 1969.

SP Dave Boswell 10-13 3.32 ERA 1.24 WHIP 0.0 PW 10 WS 4.6 WARP3
Kaat was not the only pitcher to publicly call out Ermer. Dave Boswell was equally unhappy with the skipper. Boswell had his worst season since he broke into the majors in 1964, and he did not hold back when the time came to assign blame. By his own count, Boswell said he should have won at least 16 games. He cited games in which he was pulled with men on base and the bullpen allowed them to score. Boswell told TSN: “You have starters to win games and relievers to save ‘em. I’ll admit it, I don’t like to be taken out of a game when it’s close and low-scoring…I’d like to be around to face the hitters I have been working on for two hours.” In 28 games started Boswell had only seven complete games, his lowest total since 1965, when he started only 12 games. Whether or not Boswell’s crticism of Ermer was entirely fair, he did show what he could do with another manager when he had a breakout season in 1969.

SP/RP Jim Perry 8-6 2.27 ERA 1.00 WHIP 1.8 PW 13 WS 5.5 WARP3
Perry started the first two month in the regular rotation and pitched pretty well, racking up a 5-4 record with a 2.42 ERA through 67 innings pitched. Still, once the regulars were all healthy, Perry was sent back to the bullpen for most of the balance of the season.

RP Al Worthington 4-5 2.71 ERA 1.30 WHIP 0.6 PW 10 WS 3.6 WARP3
At the age of 39, Worthington was able to turn in another very good season.

RP Ron Perranoski 8-7 3.10 ERA 1.43 WHIP -0.1 PW 6 WS 3.0 WARP3
The Twins acquired the left-handed reliever from the Dodgers in the Versalles/Grant trade. Though he pitched pretty well as a left-handed specialist in 1968, his stock was ready to rise when he took over the role of closer under Billy Martin.

RP Bob Miller 0-3 2.74 ERA 1.23 WHIP 0.2 PW 4 WS 1.8 WARP3
Miller was the “throw-in” part of the big trade between the Twins and the Dodgers, but he very quietly had a pretty good season, earning himself more work for the following season.

RP Jim Roland 4-1 3.50 ERA 1.28 WHIP -0.4 PW 2 WS 0.6 WARP3
Roland, who had been with the Twins since 1962, was purchased by Oakland after the season.

1995: Twins trade away Aguilera and Erickson

Before I start, it’s worth remembering Patrick Reusse’s thoughts (which seemed to be indicitave of most Twins fans’ thoughts) on the Frank Viola trade.

July 6, 1995

Here’s excerpts of Reusse’s column from July 8:

Frank Viola was traded to the New York Mets on July 31, 1989, for what turned out to be five pitchers: Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, David West, Tim Drummond and Jack Savage.

General manager Andy MacPhail said a simple look at the standings - the Twins were 51-53 and 12 1/2 games removed from first place - was evidence that there was a need to rebuild the pitching staff. Several members of the media disagreed, suggesting this was a give-up deal intended to save money for a tight-fisted owner, Smilin’ Carl Pohlad.

MacPhail’s theory turned out to be correct. With Tapani and Aguilera in vital roles, the Twins won a second World Series championship in 1991.

Thursday, Terry Ryan - MacPhail’s successor as general manager - took action. Even if the primary motive was to save money, there can be no arguing that this shakeup was done in the best interest of Minnesota’s big-league franchise.

The Twins entered the Boston series at 20-44 and 24 1/2 games out of first place. The payroll was sitting at $26 million, about what the Twins had paid earlier in this decade when they were winning and Pohlad was receiving $14 million per year in national TV revenue.

That $14 million was set to decline substantially in 1994 and has been all but wiped out as baseball goes through its post-strike miseries in 1995.

Even those folks who have referred to Pohlad as Mr. Cheap in the past could not expect the Twins to operate with a horrible ballclub, minimal TV revenue, lousy attendance and an unchanged payroll.

So, Aguilera 33, and one of baseball’s premier closers for five seasons, and his $3.8 million salary were traded to Boston for a pitching prospect, Frankie Rodriguez, and a player to be determined.

Reusse reported that one star player wasn’t very happy with the deal.

Rodriguez found out about the trade in the seventh inning, when Kirby Puckett ran past the Boston bullpen on the way to right field and said: “Hey, Frankie. Tomorrow night. This uniform.”

Later, Puckett lashed out against the trade, saying: “This is garbage. They don’t want to win around here.”

Have you looked at the standings lately, Puck? They are not winning around here. The Twins - and that includes you - have been losing at an astounding pace.

Rodriguez was considered Boston’s top pitching prospect at the start of the season, but his stock had fallen due to a few shaky outings in his first major league appearances that made him carry to Minnesota a 10.57 ERA. Rodriguez also brought a past with him, having been charged and convicted of statutory rape in 1992. Still, Reusse was favorable towards the trade:

A closer such as Aguilera is a necessity on a contending team. A closer such a Aguilera, in the last hours before he could veto any trade, is a wasted accessory on a last-place team.

Rodriguez might not make it, but there is hope he could become a star, just as there was hope for Viola in 1982 and 1983, when he went a combined 11-25 for the Twins.

Aguilera’s response to the trade was reported as “classy as usual.” Not so for his former teammate who was traded the next day.

July 7, 1995

It was announced a day later that the rumored Scott Erickson deal to Baltimore was official. Erickson would move east in exchange for Scott Klingenbeck and another PTBNL.

Erickson had some parting shots for the organization, as reported by Jim Souhan:

Erickson packed his belongings, left the Metrodome and criticized the Twins for dealing him and closer Rick Aguilera.

“I feel bad for the guys,” Erickson said of his former teammates. “It looks like they’re going to change the whole team. There aren’t many players left from the World Series, and that was just four years ago. It makes a fool out of everybody who’s a Minnesota Twins fan. There’s nothing to cheer for. It’s a joke for anybody who likes baseball.

“They should turn the team over to someone who wants a winning team, somebody who likes baseball.”

That barb was aimed at Twins owner Carl Pohlad.

“If the team was playing well, I wouldn’t have made these moves,” general manager Terry Ryan said.

That same day, Jim Klobuchar went after a couple of the star players that remained:

Puckett and Knoblauch now are picturing themselves as victims of the Twins’ financially benighted management.

You are reading this correctly. Neatly sequestered from the plodding, grubbing world of reality by contracts in the millions of dollars, Puckett and Knoblauch actually believe they are being abused, their professional goals being trampled.

They believe this because the Twins had to trade another of their millionaire stars, Rick Aguilera, to avoid the poor farm. Almost everybody understands why except Kirby Puckett and Chuck Knoblauch:

Two reasons why they had to trade Aguilera, and pitcher Scott Erickson a few hours later, are Kirby Puckett and Chuck Knoblauch.

He goes on…

Puckett and Knoblauch say the Twins trading Aguilera means the Twins don’t want to win.

This is a baseball management that is paying Puckett and Knoblauch a combined $8 million to lead a team that has perpetrated some of the worst baseball ever aired publicly in Minnesota.

Franz Kafka could have written the scene. First, the negotiations: Ballplayers hypnotized by gold threaten to embarrass the management. They threaten to leave town, find somebody else or go to court unless they get the last ounce available.

They get it. The team has to keep some of its stars. It’s part of the creed of credibility, the contract with the fans. Nobody said there hadn’t been gluttony on the part of baseball ownership in the past. We’re talking about where it is today.

So now, the team loses. It loses some more. It loses and loses. The fans, disgusted by the competing greeds of last summer and this spring, start watching movies and looking for tornadoes instead of going to ballgames. Facing millions of dollars in losses and oceans of empty seats because of the team’s ineptness, the team slips into a crisis. Aguilera gets more than $3 million, but he almost never plays. He’s paid to finish games that are about to be won. The Twins almost never found themselves in that condition from April through the 4th of July.

What Knoblauch and Puckett seem to be saying is this:

Pay us what we want or we’re out of here.

Guarantee us a winning team so we can feel good about making a combined $8 million.

Keep everybody who wants to make every dime he can get.

If you don’t, you’re cheap. If you don’t have the money, get it. If you don’t get the money and we don’t win, you’re to blame, not us, and we may have to ask for more money to take counseling because this is bound to affect our self-esteem.

How did the trades work out for the Twins in the long run?

Aguilera became a free agent after finishing the 1995 season with Boston and immediately signed with the Twins. He had mixed results as as starting pitcher in 1996, but still had enough left to be a decent closer for the Twins in 1997 and 1998. Aguilera was traded to the Cubs in May of 1999 in a deal that brought young prospect Kyle Lohse to Minnesota.

Frank Rodriguez went 13-14 with a 5.05 ERA in his first full season in 1996. It would be his best season. After a particularly bad showing in 1998, the Twins let Seattle take him off of waivers.

The PTBNL in the Aguilera deal was J.J. Johnson, who never saw any major league time.

Scott Erickson pitched for Baltimore from the trade in 1995 to 2002. He had several very effective seasons, particularly in 1997 and 1998. He signed a very large contract with the Orioles after the 1998 season, but his performance fell off pretty drastically after that and he played out the rest of his career with a variety of injury problems.

Scott Klingenbeck appeared in a total of 28 games for the Twins between 1995 and 1996. The Twins sent him to the Reds in the spring of 1997 as part of a conditional deal, and ended up getting nothing in return.

Kimera Bartee was the PTBNL who was sent to the Twins at the end of the 1995 season. The Orioles reclaimed the outfield prospect two months later in the rule V draft, but let him go on waivers before the 1996 season started. Bartee played four years with Detroit.

The All-Washington Team: Center Field

The team so far:

C Muddy Ruel

1B Joe Judge

2B Buddy Myer

SS Joe Cronin

3B Buddy Lewis

LF Goose Goslin

And, in center field:

CF Clyde Milan (1907-1922)

1908:
CF Clyde Milan .239/.304/.315 1 HR 0.4 BFW 15 WS
The easy-going Milan became a regular in center for the first time in 1908. The 21-year-old would patrol the field better than just about anybody in the game for 15 years to come.

1909:
CF Clyde Milan .200/.268/.257 1 HR -1.7 BFW 3 WS
Things weren’t looking so good for Milan in 1909. The Nats stuck with him, however, and would be rewarded in a few years. Despite the poor offensive contribution, Milan was already cementing his status as a very good fielder in center.

1910:
CF Clyde Milan .279/.379/.333 0 HR 2.6 BFW 23 WS
Milan equaled or surpassed career highs in nearly every offensive category in his third season as a full time player. He finished fifth in the AL in OBP due partially to his ability to draw walks. He was second in the AL in that category with 72 bases on balls.

1911:
CF Clyde Milan .315/.395/.394 3 HR 1.8 BFW 27 WS 16 FRAR 6.3 WARP3
This is the season that Milan established himself as one of the top center fielders in baseball. He played in every game and had his best offensive season to date. Milan also broke out as a baserunner, finishing second in AL stolen bases with 58. He continued to show outstanding range in center, and totaled 33 assists by the end of the season. Milan also gained some respect around the league, finishing 9th in MVP voting. The best news for the Nats: at 24 years of age he had a long career ahead of him.

1912:
CF Clyde Milan .306/.377/.379 1 HR 1.0 BFW 33 WS 18 FRAR 5.7 WARP3
Though his number slipped a bit from the previous year, Milan finished fourth in AL MVP voting (one spot behind teammate and friend Walter Johnson), no doubt a function of his team’s success. Milan ran away with the AL stolen base crown, swiping 88 bases. Though Eddie Collins stole six bases on two occasions, he still finished a distant second with 63. On June 14th, Milan stole five bases, including home.

1913:
CF Clyde Milan .301/.367/.378 3 HR -1.2 BFW 28 WS 5 FRAR 4.7 WARP3
For the second straight season Milan led the AL in stolen bases. He swiped 75 in 1913, beating out teammate Danny Moeller by 13. Now a veteran of 6 seasons, Milan played 154 games in center field for the third straight season. From 1910-1913, Milan compiled 23.1 WARP3, the best stretch of his career.

1914:

CF Clyde Milan .295/.346/.396 1 HR -0.5 BFW 19 WS 2 FRAR 3.2 WARP3
Milan, considered by Clark Griffith to be the best center fielder in franchise history, continued to drop according to FRAR:

1911 16
1912 18
1913 5
1914 2

Some of the drop off may be due to the collision with Moeller, but his FRAR will hover in the single digits for the rest of his career.

A 1911 Clyde Milan tobacco card

After leading the league for two straight years in stolen bases, Milan only swiped 38 in a shortened 1914, 5th in the league. Still, the 27 year old was the top offensive producer for Washington, and had several good seasons ahead of him.

1915:
CF Clyde Milan .288/.353/.346 2 HR -1.0 BFW 22 WS 4 FRAR 3.6 WARP3
Once again Milan was among the AL leaders in stolen bases with 40, good for fifth in the league; though he was caught stealing 19 times. Virtually all of his value from 1913 to the end of his career came from his hitting, as he was slightly better than a replacement level fielder.

1916:
CF Clyde Milan .273/.343/.313 1 HR 0.3 BFW 18 WS 10 FRAR 3.4 WARP3
This is the first year that Milan’s OPS+ fell below 100 since 1909. He will be back above league average again next season.

1917:
CF Clyde Milan .294/.364/.333 0 HR -0.6 BFW 22 WS -5 FRAR 3.4 WARP3
Milan’s offense returned after a slightly disappointing 1916. He led the AL in singles with 151. At the age of 30, he still has a few good seasons left in him, though his fielding seems to have taken a sharp dive.

1918:
CF Clyde Milan .290/.344/.346 0 HR -0.9 BFW 18 WS 5 FRAR 3.2 WARP3
This is pretty much what was expected from Milan at this point in his career. He was still an above average hitter at the age of 31.

1919:
CF Clyde Milan .287/.371/.361 0 HR -0.2 BFW 9 WS 0 FRAR 2.2 WARP3
The 32-year-old played in only 88 games, the lowest total of his career if you take away his first and last seasons. Buzz Murphy filled in at center field when Milan was out, but was very unimpressive at the plate and wasn’t really an improvement in the field.

1920:
LF Clyde Milan .322/.364/.403 3 HR 0.0 BFW 14 WS 11 FRAR 3.9 WARP3
At the age of 33, Milan was well into his career downswing by 1920. He moved from center to left field, where he had some success, and was able to play 122 games total.

1921:
RF Clyde Milan .288/.351/.397 1 HR -0.9 BFW 10 WS 2 FRAR 1.3 WARP3
This was his last season as a regular, though he would continue to play as manager in 1922. The easy-going outfielder had a long, slow decline and it would be easy to forget what he had meant to the Nationals in his prime. He was considered one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball in the early part of the 1910’s, and it was hard to find a better hitter in the league not named Cobb during that same time span. Milan’s playing career lasted 16 seasons, and he compiled a .285/.353/.353 line with 55.5 WARP3.

Walter Johnson 1913: Game 18

June 14, 1913

The headline in the NYT read “Senators Busy with Bats,” a reference to the fact that the home town Nats scored more runs (eight) than they had in any other game so far in the season. Walter Johnson helped the scoring with a 2-for-3 afternoon, including a triple and a run scored.

On the pitching end of things, Johnson wasn’t great, but he pitched well enough to earn the victory. He allowed three runs on nine hits in the game. Two of the runs came on solo home runs by the opposition. Johnson didn’t walk anybody and struck out seven. Not a horrible line for just about any other pitcher, but given Johnson’s numbers to this point it is difficult to describe this outing in any way but slightly disappointing.

Through 6/14
18 G  14 GS  14-3  130 IP  17 R  15 ER  94 H  13 BB  96 K  1.04 ERA  1.18 RA  0.82 WHIP

1973: Eddie Bane’s Debut

Originally Posted Last Year.

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

Walter Johnson 1913: Game 17

June 10, 1913

Washington’s offense only tallied a single hit, but still managed to defeat Detroit 3-0 behind another shut out from Walter Johnson.

The runs all came in the third inning when, with two men aboard due to free passes, Chick Gandil tripled. Gandil scored on an error later in the inning.

Johnson allowed only three Detroit baserunners; two hits and a walk. He struck out seven in the 1-hour and 21-minute game.

Through June 10:
17 G  13 GS  13-3  121 IP  14 R  12 ER  85 H  13 BB  89 K  0.89 ERA  1.04 RA  0.81 WHIP

The All-Washington Team: Left Field

The Rest of the Team So Far

C Muddy Ruel

1B Joe Judge

2B Buddy Myer

SS Joe Cronin

3B Buddy Lewis

And, today’s addition:

LF Goose Goslin (1921-1930; 1932; 1937)

1922
LF Goose Goslin .324/.373/.442 3 HR -0.2 BFW 12 WS -2 FRAR 2.3 WARP3
Goslin was the 1920’s equivalent of the September call up in 1921. Leon Allen Goslin made his debut on September 16, 1921 and played in 14 games for the Nats. 1922 was his first full season, and the 21-year-old made the most of it; his 116 OPS+ led the team. It is a good thing that Goslin could hit, because his fielding left something to be desired. It is reported that when Clark Griffith was scouting Goslin, he witnessed a game in which Goslin got hit on the head with a fly ball. Apparently, Goslin hit three home runs in that same game, prompting Griffith to sign him anyways.

1923
LF Goose Goslin .300/.347/.453 9 HR 0.1 BFW 21 WS 5 FRAR 4.5 WARP3
Goslin’s second full year as a regular looked a lot like his first. His bat would explode in 1924, when he started putting up the numbers that would one day earn him a place in the Hall of Fame.

1924
LF Goose Goslin .344/.421/.516 12 HR 2.8 BFW 29 WS 17 FRAR 8.2 WARP3
This was Goslin’s breakout season. On August 28 against the Yankees, Goslin became the second player in franchise history to hit for the cycle. He did it in an 11-6 victory over the defending AL champs, part of a late-season series in which the Nats took three out of four from New York to gain first place for what turned out to be the rest of the season. Goslin’s 12 home runs in 1924 represent the most in a single season in franchise history. The 23-year-old will play at a very high level for years to come.

1925

LF Goose Goslin .334/.394/.547 18 HR 3.5 BFW 31 WS 25 FRAR 8.9 WARP3
While Peckinpaugh received the MVP award, Goslin was the team’s true MVP in 1925. Not only did he shatter team records in the slugging department (18 HR), Goslin had a great World Series for the second straight year.

Goose Goslin World Series Numbers
1924 .344/.344/.656 3 HR 7 RBI
1925 .308/.379/.692 3 HR 6 RBI

Goslin would play in three more World Series later in his career, but didn’t approach the numbers he put up in the first two.

1926
LF Goose Goslin .354/.425/.542 17 HR 4.6 BFW 33 WS 18 FRAR 9.6 WARP3
If 1925 was a breakout year for Goose, 1926 was the year that he established himself as the star of the Washington Nationals. In an interesting note, all 17 of his home runs came on the road, the most ever for a player who didn’t hit any at home.

1927
LF Goose Goslin .334/.392/.516 13 HR 1.6 BFW 28 WS 9 FRAR 6.7 WARP3
It was a good thing for the Nats that Goslin could supply some power. He had 13 of the team’s 29 total home runs in 1927; no other player on the team had more than two. The star left fielder had clearly taken over as the team’s best player in 1927.

1928
LF Goose Goslin .379/.442/.614 17 HR 4.9 BFW 26 WS 16 FRAR 9.1 WARP3
Goslin won the AL batting title with his .379 average, the first and only batting title of his career. He once again had almost half of his team’s home run total.

1929
LF Goose Goslin .288/.366/.461 18 HR -0.7 BFW 19 WS -2 FRAR 3.3 WARP3
Even though he was once again the only real power threat on the team, 1929 was a down year for Goslin by just about every other measurement. His arm was still not back to normal after he injured it in the spring of 1928, and he had a well documented feud with new manager Walter Johnson; an argument that reportedly started with a golf game a few years prior. All in all, the seeds for the trade that would send Goslin out of Washington during the 1930 season were planted.

1930
LF Goose Goslin .271/.344/.495 7 HR -0.5 BFW 5 WS -1 FRAR 0.8 WARP3
In 1930 the slow chain of events finally led to the trade that sent future Hall of Famer Goose Goslin to St. Louis (read more about the circumstances surrounding the trade here). As part of the deal, Griffith got Heinie Manush, a former teammate of Ty Cobb, to replace Goslin in left. Although Goslin’s power finally exploded in St. Louis, Manush filled in for the star admirably, and had several solid seasons with Washington.

1933
RF Goose Goslin .297/.348/.452 10 HR 0.4 BFW 20 WS 18 FRAR 5.0 WARP3
It is interesting to speculate what Goslin’s career numbers may have looked like had he spent less time hitting at Griffith Stadium. Goslin had 127 home runs in 12 seasons with Washington, or about a home run every 44 plate appearances. During his time in St. Louis, he had a home run in about every 25 plate appearances. Goslin’s performance in 1933 was a bit disappointing to Griffith, and it was clear that Goose did not like the managing style of Joe Cronin, so his second stint with the Senators lasted only one season. Goslin was traded to Detroit following the World Series.

Walter Johnson 1913: Game 16

June 6, 1913

After a few “struggles” in his previous few games, Johnson seemed back to form in a 1-0 Senators’ win over the St. Louis Browns. Johnson allowed just five hits and a walk in nine innings pitched. He struck out eight Browns in the process.

The only run of the game came in the seventh inning, when Howie Shanks scored on a returning Eddie Ainsmith’s single. Ainsmith had been out for several games due to a suspension for throwing dirt at the umpire in a previous game.

Through June 6*
16 G  12 GS  12-3  112 IP  14 R  12 ER  83 H  12 BB  82 K  0.96 ERA  1.13 RA  0.85 WHIP

* it has become clear that the old boxscores don’t always report earned versus unearned runs, so ERA and ER are approximate.

Back to Normal (Hopefully)

An attempt to sum up the events of the last few months of my life would be futile, but “complicated” would be the best word to describe it. I don’t want to bore anybody with all of the details, but it is safe to say that during that time, my wife and I have seen and felt just about every range of emotion, probably shared by my almost 18-month-old son. To pile on I am in the midst of the busiest couple of weeks I can remember (thanks to Beau for keeping content fresh on the site for the last couple of weeks - glad to see the Twins pulled out the win in his ‘88 ALCS replay).

With the light at the end of the tunnel very close now, I did have a chance to get out to the ballpark this weekend in hopes of escaping. Unfortunately, my ticket was for Saturday night, and I didn’t really see anything worth escaping to. Go figure - the Twins have lost a single game over the past two weeks and I was there for just about the entire sad affair.

There was some redemption to be had on Sunday afternoon when I had the rare opportunity to watch an entire game from the comfort of my basement. A nice pitching performance by Kevin Slowey and a home run off Delmon’s bat made for an entertaining afternoon - and almost made up for the Saturday night debacle.

The Twins have still won 11 out of their last 12 games. The realist inside me says this won’t last, that this team is not that good. Based on their Pythagorean projection the Twins should be just hovering around the .500 mark with Detroit and Cleveland (the tribe is severely under performing their expectations), five or six games out of first place. Instead they are right on the heels of an imperfect White Sox team with some distance between themselves and the third through fifth place teams in the AL Central.

Hopefully this team will be worth following through the second half of the season, but if they aren’t there is plenty of franchise history to cover. Posting should be back on a regular schedule this week, and I should have the 1968 season written up and ready to go for the early part of next week.

Unfortunately there won’t be a SABR write up this year due to my crazy schedule over the past month. I’ll add links here if I find any good reviews of the weekend conference in Cleveland - mainly to make myself feel better. Don’t worry, however. It would take some kind of epic disaster to make me miss SABR 39 in Washington DC next summer.

ALCS Game 6: Twins @ Red Sox

Twins 11, Red Sox 10 (11 innings)

In a comeback of epic proportions, the Minnesota Twins have taken the American League pennant.  And Kent Hrbek is your ALCS MVP.

Building a two-run lead early wasn’t enough for Les Straker.  Known for tiring early in games, he ran out of gas in the 5th inning.  After getting two outs, the Twins starter allowed five runs before being pulled for Roy Smith, who promptly gave up two more runs on Ellis Burks’s second homer of the series.  The Red Sox weren’t done either, as they added two more off a struggling Berenguer.  Down 9-2 entering the 8th, the Twins began their miracle push towards the World Series.

Bob Stanley, in relief of Boddicker, had the first bad postseason game of his career thanks to an error by Marty Barrett.  With two outs, Greg Gagne belted a three-run shot that put the Twins within three.  But not ones to lay down, Rich Gedman led off the 8th with a homer off Berenguer, extending the lead back to four.

After John Moses singled off Stanley to begin the 9th, McNamara went to his closer, Lee Smith.  But the Twins batters paid him no mind.  After a walk to Bush, a fly out by Puckett, and a single by Gaetti, the Twins were within three runs with just one out.  And then Hrbek came to the plate.  After working the count to 3-2, Hrbek turned on a fastball, depositing it around Pesky’s Pole.  Smith escaped the inning, but the game that was all but over was now headed for extras.

The 10th went by without much fanfare, but the Twins got to Sox southpaw Bolton in the 11th.  Tim Laudner pinch-hit for Bush and somehow beat out an infield hit to second.  Puckett, second only to Boggs in batting average this season, laid down a perfect sacrifice.  And for the second time in the game, Gaetti came through, singling Laudner home.  Reardon would try to get through his second inning but would make things interesting.  Spike Owen walked before being pinch-ran for by Kevin Romine.  But Romine, after watching Boggs pop out to short, was caught dead to rights by Brian Harper trying to swipe second.  Barrett extended the game with a single and apparently Tom Kelly had seen enough.  Instead of trusting his closer with the game, he went to German Gonzalez, who got Darrell Evans to an 0-2 count when Barrett stole second base.  But Barrett remained in scoring position for just one pitch, as Gonzalez got Evans to swing and miss to end the series.

Kent Hrbek, who batted .400 in the series with two homers, including the game-tying blast in tonight’s game, is the easy choice for MVP.

In the 100 series simulated, the Twins won 60 times.  Below is the breakdown:

Twins in 4: 10                Red Sox in 4: 4
Twins in 5: 11                Red Sox in 5: 9
Twins in 6: 21               Red Sox in 6: 15
Twins in 7: 18              Red Sox in 7: 12

Stay tuned, as at some point in the future you may see the results of the hypothetical 1988 World Series between the Twins and the Dodgers.

Boxscore and play-by-play below the fold