Tony, the Killer, and Carew

A couple of all-time Twins who were members of World Series teams highlight the list of birthdays around New Years Day:

December 31, 1961
Rick Aguilera - Aggie came to the Twins in the 1989 Frank Viola trade and was initially used as a starter. He was inserted in the closer’s role at the start of 1990 and became one of baseball’s best late in games. He was a key part of the 1991 team that won the World Series, saving 42 games that year and even earning some MVP votes. He remained a dominant closer through the early 1990’s. In July of 1995, looking to rebuild, the Twins sent Aguilera to Boston in exchange for Frank Rodriguez. Rodriguez didn’t really pan out, but it was of little consequence for the Twins who signed Aguilera as a free agent that December. The Twins asked Rick to be a starting pitcher in 1996, and though not hugely successful that year, Aguilera showed his versatility by serving as a solid starter for a pretty bad team. He was inserted back in the closer role in 1997, where he remained until the Twins traded him to the Cubs in the deal that brought Kyle Lohse to Minnesota in 1999.

January 5, 1935
Earl Battey - LaVelle E. Neal eulogized Battey in the Star Tribune on November 18, 2003:

Earl Battey, regarded as the best catcher in Twins history, died Saturday in Florida after a long bout with cancer. He was 68.

 

Battey played 13 major-league seasons, including 1961-67 with the Twins. He had a career batting average of .270 but enjoyed his best offensive years as a Twin. He batted .302 in 1961 and hit .285 with 26 homers and 84 RBI in 1963. He played in four All-Star Games, won three Gold Glove awards and was named to the Twins’ All-Time team in 2000. He caught at least 131 games for six consecutive seasons, including 148 in 1962 and 147 in 1963.

 

“He was the best catcher I ever played with,” said Harmon Killebrew, a Battey teammate from 1960-67. “Few realize how great of a player he was. He was a leader on and off the field. He was a first-class guy.”

 

Tony Oliva, after learning that Battey had taken a turn for the worse, called him last week to chat for a few minutes. He said Battey was responsive, but couldn’t say much.

 

“To me, he was special,” said Oliva, Battey’s teammate from 1962-67. “When I came into the league as a rookie, I spoke little English. But he spoke Spanish and he helped me out. He always kept calling me rookie. He took me under his wing.”

 

December 30, 1976
AJ Pierzynski - Among the people influenced by Earl Battey before he died was another Twins catcher. During the 2002 season, Battey had made several calls to AJ Pierzynski, then a young Twins’ catcher. Always controversial, AJ played with the Twins from 1998-2003, when he was traded to San Francisco in the famous deal that brought Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano to Minnesota. After having a poor season with the Giants, AJ got another start in Chicago, where he and the White Sox managed to win the 2005 World Series. He is still the starting catcher for the Sox, and continues to be a lightning rod in that role.

Others born this week…

Greg Swindell - 1/2/1965
Michael Restovich - 1/3/1979
Jim Dwyer - 1/3/1950
Mark Redman - 1/5/1974

While doing some research on Jerry Terrell, I found the following note in The Sporting News from December 15, 1973 in regards to tickets at Met Stadium:

Ticket prices have been raised 50 cents to $4.50 for box seats and $2.00 for general admission. Reserved grandstand prices remain at $3.50.

 

Huge increase aside, that’s about a sixth of what I pay for upper deck seats today.

Not many Twins were born between December 23 and December 29, but there were a few notables:

December 25, 1956
Charlie Lea - Lea was born on Christmas day in Orleans, France. He ended up living in Memphis, TN and played ball there for Kingsbury High School. Though drafted out of high school, and two other time during his college years, Lea attended community college and later went on to play for Memphis State before he finally joined the fourth team that drafted him: the Montreal Expos in 1978. Lea’s notable career achievement was throwing a no-hitter for the Expos in 1980. He also started the All Star Game for the National League in 1984. After a promising start to his career, shoulder and arm problems caused Lea to miss two full seasons of baseball. After spending 1987 rehabbing in the minors, Lea signed as a free agent with the World Champion Twins in February of 1988. He pitched one season in Minnesota before retiring, but posted a respectable 7-7 record with a 4.85 ERA after almost three full years out of the majors.

December 28, 1960
Carl Willis- There have been two players in franchise history who carried the nickname “Big Train” - the first was Hall of Famer Walter Johnson, the second was Carl Willis. By the time Willis came to the Twins in 1991, he was already a journeyman. At the age of 30, Willis had played in four major league seasons with three different teams. His last stint in the majors had been three years earlier when he played for the White Sox in 1988. During his time off, Willis struggled in the minors and went back to college to finish his degree. It appeared that his baseball career was winding down. When Willis was released by the Indians’ organization in 1991, the Twins took a chance and invited him to spring training based on the recommendation of Jim Rantz. The idea was that Willis would be an insurance policy at best, and fill in as a middle reliever in AAA Portland. Willis did start the season in Portland, but was quickly promoted due to injury, and became a key part of the Twins’ bullpen in 1991. He remained with the Twins until he retired in 1995, and currently is the pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians.

Being a team collector who lives overseas, I don’t have the convenience of going to local card and memorabilia shows. To feed my “Twins” habit, I often scour the pages of eBay looking for a good bargain. I’ve managed to find my share of good bargains and admittedly probably have overpaid for a few things I just have to had. I thought it might be fun to visit some items I’ve recently found for bid.

Let’s start with a couple of items that are just out of my price range…

1987 Minnesota Twins Championship Ring

Buy It Now price: $10,000 (or make an offer).

Item description (from eBay): Well This is a REAL twin 1987 Championship ring. My father is selling it. He did do alot of looking into this ring and it is REAL. Only one company makes this ring. I am Going to upload pictures and Give you all more to look and think about. I am excited to say this is an offer of a life time. If anyone has any questions please email my husband at jonhhy_z0@hotmail.com Thank you and happy Bidding.

Somehow, I have a hard time thinking this is for real, but hey…this is a REAL twin ring! By the time I publish this post, the auction will have ended but maybe we’ll get lucky and no one will put in a bid and the item will soon get re-listed. Get those checks ready!

Keeping with the 1987 theme, I give you the 1987 World Championship Trophy…with free shipping!

Starting Bid: $6,400

Item description (from eBay): 100% original & authentic……Spectacular item!……This is the actual World Championship Trophy that was distributed to Twins players and front office personnel back in 1987…..Trophy measures 12″ in height and weighs 5.7 lbs………Twins & Cardinals Press Pins adorn the front, while gold flags of all American & National League Teams surround the crown…..Overall Condition: NM…….Manufactured by Balfour…..Simply breathtaking……Seldom seen…….A unique opportunity to purchase a treasured item…..Shipping & Insurance included……View our other auctions

I have no idea what to think about this. Do players and front office personnel get real trophies? I would never give this a second thought had it not been for the free shipping. Now I’m seriously considering cashing in some of my mutual funds that might someday send my kids through college. I’m sure they’d understand

Are those items just a tad over your Christmas budget? How about 12 Nick Punto autographed baseballs?

Current Bid: $49.00

Item Description (from eBay): Here’s A Clean Clear lot of Autographed NICK PUNTO BASEBALLS. THEMINNESOTA TWINS 3RD BASEMAN ROOKIE HAS HAD A DECENT START TO HIS CAREER AND IS CURRENTLY THE STARTING 3RD BASEMAN . WITH YOUTH ON HIS SIDE IT’S POSSIBLE HE HAS BETTER YEARS TO COME.. WE BOUGHT A DEAL OF AUTOGRAPHED BASEBALLS FROM A MAJOR MANUFACTUER AND EACH BASEBALL HAS A CRISP CLEAR SIGNATURE .
WE have 3 or 4 of these lots so you may not get this exact lot, but, the lots are all equal in clarity of signature .

WOW…autographed Nick Punto balls? Somebody stop me before I make a big mistake. I was one of the millions who bought in on Don Mattingly’s rookie card…but they’re not suckering me in again!

Okay…for the real cheapo’s out there, here’s a bargain that will be hard to pass up. A 1961 Rookie Card of Zoilo Versalles. According to many, Zoilo gained the nickname “Zorro” based on this error card.

Buy It Now price: $3.00

Item Description (from eBay): BID ON 1961 TOPPS ZORRO VERSALLES “ROOKIE CARD” #21. FORMER MINNESOTA TWINS (MVP) SHORSTOP. EXCELLENT CONDITIONCHECK SCAN AND HAPPY BIDDING.

I could fill these pages with hundreds of outrageous items and hundreds more that would be great bargains, but this will give you a little taste of what eBay has to offer. Have fun trying to find your next bargain.

A lot of good stuff around the web in a busy week for baseball.

Among the Twins named in the Mitchell report, Dan Naulty might be the most sympathetic, in part because he owned up to his mistakes before he was named in the report. LaVelle E. Neal penned an interesting piece on Naulty in Saturday’s Star Tribune.

The other Twins named in the report: Chad Allen, Denny Neagle, Chuck Knoblauch, and Rondell White. Based on the names named, it seems that there are two distinct groups of players. The first is the very good player that wants to become elite (Bonds, Giambi, etc). The second group, the much larger of the two, seems to be made up of borderline players who saw PED’s as their only ticket to the majors.

I’m not sure exactly what the Mitchell report accomplished (except for the inevitable waste of time and taxpayer money that will be the second round of Congressional hearings). I imagine a lot of players are in the same boat as Andy Pettite, who apparently used HGH to recover from an injury before it was banned from baseball.

To me, what the report does prove is that there were enough PED users in baseball that it will be impossible to separate those who used from those who didn’t. For better or worse, the numbers and records put up in baseball during the late 80’s and early 90’s were influenced by player PED use, just as the numbers from 1901-1919 were influenced by the dead ball. My hope that this report will end the silly asterisk debate is probably a dream at this point, but hopefully, as more information comes out, the media feeding frenzy will die down a bit.

The other big news of the past several weeks for Twins fans has been the ongoing trade rumors surrounding Johan Santana. Will Young has been writing a series on a similar situation in recent Twins’ history where a lot of the facts were the same, but the name was Viola instead of Santana. Also, if you haven’t checked out Will’s series on the managerial search of 1986, it is also worth a read.

I’m linking Will a lot here, but he also recently added a retrospective on one of the favorite Twins from my youth who is often forgotten. Not only was he a favorite, but he is a key member of the Twins’ mid-summer run to catch the mighty Oakland A’s in 1988.

Finally, there are still a few question marks to remove in Blake’s attempt to name all of the players in the Roger Patrick painting. If you haven’t given your input make sure to do so here.

December 16, 1976
Matt Kinney - The Bangor, Maine native pitched parts of the 2000 and the 2002 seasons with the Twins. Kinney may be best known nationally as the pitcher who allowed Barry Bonds’ 660th home run when he was with the Brewers in early 2004.

December 17, 1938
Leo Cardenas - Leonardo Lazaro Alfonso Cardenas (”Chico”) was a native of Cuba who began playing with the Cincinnati Reds in 1960. He immediately became known for his glove at short stop, and earned the nickname “Mr. Automatic” for his gaudy fielding percentage (he led the NL in 1963 and 1966). After the 1968 season, Cardenas was traded to the Twins in exchange for pitcher Jim Merritt. At the age of 30 and 31, Cardenas was the starting short stop on a division-winning team. Though not known for his bat, Cardenas had two of his better offensive seasons in his three years with the Twins. After the 1971 season, the Twins traded Cardenas to California in exchange for David LaRoche.

December 19, 1939
Zoilo Versalles - Before Leo Cardenas came to the Twins, the short stop position had belonged to another Cuban. Zoilo came up with the Washington Senators at the age of 19 in 1959. Nicknamed “Zorro” because of an error on a baseball card, Versalles was among the best short stops in the American League through the 1960’s. In 1965, Versalles led the franchise to its first World Series in decades, and was voted the American League MVP. There has been a bit of an argument about that season recently, with some suggesting that Versalles’ numbers didn’t add up to an MVP award. Earlier this year, Aaron Gleeman entered into the debate and made a good defense of Zorro’s MVP season when he profiled him for his “Top 40 Twins” series.

December 20, 1974
Augie Ojeda - A utility man for the Twins in 2004, Augie was most recently seen as a starting second baseman for Arizona in the 2007 NLCS.

December 21, 1972
LaTroy Hawkins - Hawkins was drafted by the Twins in the 1991 amateur draft and came to the majors in 1995 as a starting pitcher. By 2000, Hawkins was moved to the bullpen and figured on becoming the Twins’ closer. In 2001 he had 28 saves despite carrying a 5.96 ERA and 1.91 WHIP. Hawkins moved to a setup role after that and found success, and in 2002 and 2003 was one of the league’s premier performers in that role. Hawkins had a very passionate fan club in Minnesota, but left as a free agent after the 2002 season. He has bounced around since then, and recently signed a deal with the New York Yankees.

December 22, 1964
Mike Jackson - One of the last players to wear the number 42 after it was retired by Major League Baseball, Jackson pitched out of the bullpen for the 2002 Twins.

December 22, 1944
Steve Carlton - A hall of fame lefty whose time with the Twins was forgettable. Carlton came in a trade in the middle of 1987. After posting a 6.70 ERA in ‘87, he went on to retire at the age of 43 after earning a 16.76 ERA in less than 10 innings pitched for 1988.

Several months ago, I wrote a short bio on Bombo Rivera. One of Rivera’s friends and his former bat boy from Puerto Rico named Roberto Mercado emailed TwinsCards owner Blake with, among other thing, the lyrics to the “Ballad of Bombo Rivera.” Roberto also provided some information that filled in some of the gaps from my original post, which was heavy on his major league experience and light on just about everything else. I decided to revist Bombo’s career with this new information.

“A chart of numbers that would put an actuary to sleep can be made to dance if you put it on one side of a card and Bombo Rivera’s picture on the other.” Bill James, 1982 Baseball Abstract

“We drive on to Minneapolis. We are all relaxed at the game, cheering the Twins to an easy win, chanting “Bombo! Bombo! Bombo!” each time the Twins’ right fielder Bombo Rivera is announced. He is a good young player, but not great. It is his name that intoxicates the crowd.” - from Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella

Bombo, Bombo
Bombo Rivera
What other guys get one of
Bombo, he gets a pair-a
It takes two to tango and two to mambo
But you can do it all with just one Bombo
Bombo Rivera will carry us to victory.

Rivera spent the bulk of the 1970’s working his way through the Expos’ farm system. He never had great batting numbers. His breakout season in the Expos’ organization came at AA Quebec City in 1974, where he hit .290 with 7 HR and 42 RBI. He finally got the call to Montreal the following season, where he batted just .111 (1 for 9) in five mid-April games before he was moved to AAA Memphis where he spent the rest of the season.

With all the outfielders in Montreal, Rivera was certainly expendable, and was purchased by the Minnesota Twins following the 1977 season. He immediately began to play, and was functionally the fourth outfielder for the team, batting .271/.362/.355 for 1978. His best game was a 4 for 4 effort in Kansas City on May 19th, a game in which he hit one of his three home runs of the season, and one of only 10 career home runs in the majors.

From the Twins Cards stats page. Not an all together surprising list, but I did break down the top ten into shut outs per start (which seems to make Dean Chance the most prolific shut-down man in Twins’ history, followed by Camillo Pascual who did it in about twice the number of starts).

1. Bert Blyleven 29 SHO 345 GS (.0840 SHO per start)

2. Jim Kaat 23 SHO 422 GS (.0545)

3. Camillo Pascual 18 SHO 179 GS (.1005)

4. Jim Perry 17 SHO 249 GS (.0682)

t5. Dean Chance 11 SHO 93 GS (.1182)

t5. Dave Goltz 11 SHO 215 GS (.0511)

t7. Mudcat Grant 10 SHO 111 GS (.0900)

t7. Frank Viola 10 SHO 259 GS (.0386)

t7. Brad Radke 10 SHO 377 GS (.0265)

t10. Geoff Zahn 7 SHO 127 GS (.0551)

t10. Scott Erickson 7 SHO 153 GS (.0457)

Quick, without looking, who is the top active player on the list?

December 9, 1973
Tony Batista- The source of one of my favorite quotes of all time: “Everybody doesn’t like the way I hit. But everybody likes the results.” Batista came to the Twins in the off season before 2006. He spent 2005 playing in Japan with the Softbank Hawks. After a season with his typical results (low OBP that basically neutralized otherwise decent power numbers), Batista was fired by the Hawks. You would think that might be the end of a player’s career, but the Twins decided to take a chance on Batista, and anointed him the every day third baseman in 2006. As it turned out, not everybody liked the results, and the release of Batista just happened to coincide with one of the best runs in Twins history.

December 9, 1943
Jim Merritt- The California native was originally signed by the Dodgers, but ultimately made his major league debut with the Twins. I was surprised to see his name pop up so often in my research of the top pitching games in Twins history. Merritt was known for having very good control, and went through his career averaging less than two walks per nine innings pitched. Merritt was traded to the Reds prior to the 1969 season, a deal that brought Leo Cardenas to Minnesota.

December 10, 1975
Joe Mays- Baseball-reference.com tells me that Joe is a cousin of Carl Mays, a very good pitcher from 1915-1929. Mays was one of the young pitchers that anchored the rotation for the Twins during the get-to-know-’em days, and looked like he was headed for a very good career. In 2001, at the age of 25, Mays went 17-13 with a 3.16 ERA (145 ERA+) and made his first All Star team. Injury problems set in pretty quickly after that, and Mays missed all of 2004 after having Tommy John surgery. He never really seemed to recover.

December 11, 1972
Frank Rodriguez- Originally drafted by the Red Sox as a short stop, Rodriguez made the switch to pitcher before he reached the majors. He came to the Twins in the deal that sent Rick Aguilera to the Sox early in the 1995 season. In his four seasons with the Twins, Rodriguez had a 25-32 record, which isn’t all that bad considering the Twins were horrible those years.

December 13, 1975
Matt LeCroy- I spent many a Twins game at the dome trying to figure out if LeCroy could throw himself out trying to steal. I’m still not sure. In seven seasons with the Twins, LeCroy’s value was that he could hit left-handed pitching, and hit for power. When used properly in that context, LeCroy was very valuable to the Twins, who lacked right-handed power. Unfortunately, LeCroy is probably better known as the guy who allowed seven stolen bases in a single game, forcing his manager Frank Robinson to cry after the game. LeCroy is also the inspiration for a T-Shirt that should be in the Twins’ memorabilia Hall of Fame (displayed here by Twins blogger/T-Shirt model Will Young).

On January 8, this year’s Hall of Fame class will be announced (at least in terms of players). The names on the ballot can be found here. Included on this year’s ballot are former Twins Bert Blyleven, Chuck Knoblauch, and Jack Morris. Knoblauch is on for the first time, while Morris and Blyleven are holdovers from previous years.

Who would you put in?

The only two slam dunk Hall of Famers on this list for me are Bert Blyleven and Mark McGwire. Blyleven’s case as a Hall of Famer has been written about at length, so I’ll just link to a couple of articles by Rich Lederer that capture my feelings quite well (and a site that has more links if you are interested).

As for McGwire, I understand why people leave him off the ballot, but I don’t agree. His numbers say that he should be in the Hall of Fame. He was one of the best sluggers in baseball during his career, and even judged in context of an era that was off-the-charts in terms of offense due to may factors (of which PED’s is only one), he still stood out.