Baseball in the 1960's

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Expansion Padres Pray for Hits

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Rich Klein of Plano, TX, who correctly identified Mike Paul as the pitcher who struck out Ron Hansen for the fourth time in the game where he had an unassisted triple play. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: By answering the TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY you are automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a Starbucks Gift Card. YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN. Don't forget to put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Which relief pitcher got the first officially registered SAVE in San Diego Padres MLB history?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Mike Paul struck out Ron Hansen for the fourth time in the game where he had an unassisted triple play

Expansion teams aren't supposed to be contenders right away. Most won't offer a polished pitching staff but most will hit, at least to some degree. Then there were the players of the expansion San Diego Padres.

The year was 1969 and the new San Diego team was far from it's days of Tony Gwynn and Dave Winfield. Gwynn would toy with .400 at one point and offer a lifetime BA of .338. Winfield, before leaving for Free Agency, would hit 154 home runs and lead the NL in RBI with 118 in 1979.

But that was later and 1969 was now. By the time the 1969 season had come to a close 10 Padres came to the plate and closed the season with a BA of under .200. Included was the team's starting shortstop, Tommy Dean, at .176 in 101 games (308 plate appearances). Few were far better. Starting catcher Chris Cannizzaro stuck it out at .220 while starting second sacker, Jose Arcia batted .215.

On the positive side, powerful Nate Colbert led the team in homers with 24, batting .255 while striking out 123 times (no big deal today but back then over 100 K's was a setback). Downtown Ollie Brown led the hitters at .254, adding 20 dingers, and Ed Spiezio and former Dodger Al Ferrara had double figure home run totals with 27 between them. The basic starting lineup rounded out with Cito Gaston's .230 mark.

The Padres finished last (12th place) in nearly every hitting category in 1969 including runs, hits, doubles, walks, strikeouts, BA (.225) and every important other percentage statistic including on-base and slugging figures. They were dismal. They finished 52-110, 41 games out of first place. Only eight times did they beat an opponent by five runs or more, but lost by five runs or more 30 times!

Perhaps their season can be summed up this way. Twice they lost to opposing teams 19-0 and twice more 10-0. There were other double digit scoring losses but those embarrassments were the top of the heap for the 1969 Friars.

The pitching wasn't much better overall but the starters were not bad. Despite losing 20 of 27 decisions 21-year old Clay Kirby finished with a 3.80 ERA. In fact, the four main starters were all under 4.00 in the ERA department. Only one pitcher who pitched any kind of innings however finished with a winning record. Reliever Jack Baldschun was 7-2.

Of all the players on that inaugural team for San Diego, probably the only offensive player who went on to a strong big league career was Colbert. He hit 173 home runs during his MLB life. On the mound it was Joe Niekro who won 221 games in his career while losing 204. His brother Phil won 318 giving them a combined record of 540-478, which in itself is pretty amazing.

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Need to get out of a baseball hitting slump, or a golf swing slump? Order my new book "Beating the Slump; An athlete's guide to a better career." See it on Amazon for only $5.99. That is for the Paperback, you can also order Kindle on that link. You can also order paperback copies directly from me via the email below for my other books.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Ron Hanson's Triple Play & Then Some

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Augusto Medina of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, who correctly stated Howie Reed gave up the home run to Mudcat Grant in the 1965 World Series. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Three of Hansen's K's came off Sam McDowell. The fourth time Hansen struck out in the game below, he was the victim of a relief pitcher. Who was the pitcher who struck out Hansen in the 9th inning of that 10-1 Cleveland win.

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Howie Reed gave up the homer to Mudcat Grant in the 1965 World Series.

It was a strange week for Washington Senators shortstop and former Rookie of the Year Ron Hansen which really began on July 30, 1968. All 5937 fans in attendance in Cleveland for the night game got a rare treat and it happened right away. In what turned out to be a 10-1 blowout by the Indians, they could have left at the end of the first inning and never have forgotten that night.

(Ron Hansen discussed the triple play about 1:27 into the video.)

In the bottom of the first inning Bruce Howard gave up a single to Dave Nelson and a walk to Russ Snyder. Joe Azcue stepped to the plate and promptly smacked a line drive headed for a base hit to center field. But WAIT! The slick fielding Hansen snared the line drive for the first out, his momentum carrying him to touch second base vacated by Nelson for the second out and then with "blinding speed" (Hansen's words jokingly) he chased down Snyder and tagged him out.

It was the first unassisted Triple Play in the majors in more than 40 years and put Hansen into the record books. It would have been nice if the Sens had won the game but they didn't, dropping a 10-1 decision. Hansen would have liked to have contributed in other ways but he didn't. The shortstop struck out four times on the day (three of them coming off the hand of Sam McDowell) and he committed his 17th error on the season.

(The actual baseball used in the Triple Play sits in the Hall of Fame.)

Hitting .185 at the time, he was one of three Senators with a BA under .200 in the game. It wasn't over for Hansen by any means. Just three days later Washington traded Hansen to the White Sox for utility infielder Tim Cullen. The odd ball thing about that is less than six months earlier Hansen was traded by the Chicago White Sox with Dennis Higgins and Steve Jones to the Senators for Tim Cullen, Buster Narum and Bob Priddy.

Hansen would finish his career with a fairly respectable .234 lifetime average and 106 home runs. He would forever be in the record books though for one defensive play in 1968. Interestingly enough, Azcue, a power hitting catcher would finish his 11 year career with just 50 homers and a .252 BA. Cullen, Azcue and Hansen would all end their careers with the 1972 season.

TRIVIA CONTEST; After reading this column you can enter the weekly trivia contest for a chance to win a Starbucks Gift Card. Enter via the following email. Send 1) your answer to the trivia question at the top of the column, 2) your name, address and email so where we know where to send the card if you win 3) any comment you have on the column. One winner will be selected at random each week based on correct answers with the odds being based on the number of correct entries. Please cut and paste or enter the following email into your email system.
SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com
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Need to get out of a baseball hitting slump, or a golf swing slump? Order my new book "Beating the Slump; An athlete's guide to a better career." See it on Amazon for only $5.99. That is for the Paperback, you can also order Kindle on that link. You can also order paperback copies directly from me via the email below for my other books.

You can get a signed paper back copy of the above book "Tales of My Baseball Youth - a child of the sixties" for $15 Shipping Included

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment.

Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column.

Monday, June 14, 2021

MUDCAT GRANT AND NUMBER 20

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Steve Wade of McKinney TX, who correctly stated Whammy Douglas had two Topps cards which is one more than seasons played in the big leagues. And several of you commented on his glass eye. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Which Dodger pitcher gave up the home run to Mudcat Grant in the 1965 World Series? (HINT: You can see it in the video below)

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Whammy Douglas had two Topps cards which is one more than MLB seasons played.

On September 25, 1965 a mere 9373 people witnessed history in the nation's capitol. And what they saw was the best a man could give in a momentous moment. Up until that day, no Black pitcher had ever won 20 games in the American League. That is until the man they called Mudcat. Jim Grant had toiled in the big leagues seven previous seasons and while winning in double figures five times he never came close to winning 20. He would never come close again.

Grant was in the perfect place at the perfect time. The Twins were laden with sluggers Harmon Killebrew, Jimmie Hall, Don Mincher and Bobby Allison. Shortstop Zoilo Versalles was having an AL MVP season matched by few at his position at the time. The Twins were dominating while the Yankees had fallen on hard times and the Red Sox were yet to be a force to reckon with in 1965.

Sitting on 19 Wins, Grant only had one nemesis in this particular game; Don Blasingame, the light hitting second-sacker for Washington who would hit .223 on the season. He led off with a walk. In the fifth inning catcher Jim French also drew a walk. In the third, usually sure handed Frank Quilici booted a ground ball at second base allowing the runner to get on board. Two ground ball outs later Blasingame blasted a double for the only hit of the game for the Senators. Grant would force batters to hit 15 ground balls. All but one were recorded for outs including a double play.

It can be surmised that if Quilici fields the ball cleanly, Blasingame never comes to the plate in that situation. No runners scored and Grant got Ken McMullen to ground out to end the inning. Meanwhile Versalles and the Twins were rocking. The shortstop banged a homer, a triple and a pair of singles for a four hit, 2 RBI day. Sandy Valdespino drove in a pair with a pinch hit and Tony Oliva plated another. Grant had singled before the shortstop came to the plate and scored on the home run.

When the dust had cleared Mudcat had faced 30 batters, three over the minimum, allowed only the one hit, walked two and struck out seven to run his record to 20-6 with a one-hit shut out of the Senators 5-0. When Willie Kirkland hit a ground ball to Quilici with two outs in the ninth and Don Mincher recorded the out at First, James "Mudcat" Grant's name was written into the record books 18 years after Jackie Robinson broke into big league baseball. Larry Doby broke the AL color barrier three months after Robinson on July 5, 1947 for Cleveland.

Grant died this past week at the age of 85. He would retire 145-119 with 54 Saves as he became a dynamite reliever. Grant was 2-1 in four World Series games (3 with Minnesota, one with the A's), and he even blasted a 3-run homer in the 1965 Series, leading the Twins in a 5-1 decision. A Series they eventually lost to the Dodgers.

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