Tony, the Killer, and Carew

It’s Friday and time to share a vintage Twins card. Today’s card is a 1965 Topps card depicting the 1964 Home Run leaders (Killebrew, Powell and Mantle). 1964 was a great year for the long-ball in Minnesota as six Twins hit more than 2o HRs…(Killebrew, 49; Allison, 32; Oliva, 32; Hall, 25; Mincher, 23; Versalles, 20). In fact, 1964 marked the most 20+ HR seasons in Twin’s history.

Anytime you can share a card with Boog and the Mick…it’s a plus. When you headline the card above a guy like Mantle, you know you’ve made it the big time. I think Killebrew is one of the most under-rated power hitters of all-time. Look where he ranks on the list of most home runs hit during the 1960’s. That’s right baby…numero uno! The Killer’s 393 round-trippers out-paced Aaron’s 375, Mays’ 350, and Robinson’s 316. For comparisons sake, Mantle ranked 9th with 256 HRs and Powell ranked 18th with 202.

Living overseas and being a Twins fan and a baseball card collector presents a very unique challenge. I’ve been to maybe 5 or 6 games in 16 years and since I’ve got back into collecting I’ve been to exactly zero card shows! I have met a few fans and fewer collectors over the years and I relish the moments when I get to interact with either. Every once in a while, life teases us with coincidences that sometimes make you just shake you head in bewilderment. I’d like to share a story that, on one hand, has nothing to do with being a Twins fan or being a baseball card collector but on the other hand, has everything to do with both.

A few days ago, I went to pick up my kids from their after-school daycare. As I walked in, wearing my all-red, Twins hooded sweatshirt, one of the staff asked if I liked the Twins? I don’t think I need to tell you what my response was, but as I was just about to walk out the door and mark the comment down to polite chit-chat, I just happen to hear her say that her son was once drafted by the Minnesota Twins. Whoa…wait a minute here…”your son was drafted by the Twins? The Minnesota Twins? The Minnesota Twins that play major league baseball?” I guess I shouldn’t be that shocked. After all, the Twins have probably drafted a thousand guys. But what are the chances of me running into the mother of one while living at a small Air Force base in the UK? I know…I know…no big deal. But for me, it was nice to have at least a minor “Twins Moment” in my life away from Twins territory. That could have been the end of it, but here is where the story takes a nice turn and the reason I wanted to share it with you all.

The son who was drafted by the Twins was Jake Jacobs, a 21st round choice (607th overall) in 1996 out of Pine Forest High School in Penacola, Florida. Jake played four minor league seasons before an injury led to his premature exit from baseball. Jake had a promising career with the Twins and was named Gulf Coast League All-Star in 1997 after posing a 0.29 ERA, 10 saves and 55 strikeouts in 23 games (31.1 innings).

None of this information, aside from Jake getting injured, was given to me by his mom. In fact, when I told her I’d look for some information about her son on the internet, she said she would be surprised if there was anything out there…after all, he never made it to the majors. I knew I’d be able to find a few links, but was very surprised (I shouldn’t have been) to find two of Jake’s cards right here on TwinsCards…and according to Beckett, these are the only two cards that exist of Jake! After finding a few more links, I sat down and sent here an email with everything I had found and attached the two images of Jake’s cards.

The reaction I received from Jake’s mom is the reason I’m writing about this encounter. She was ecstatic! She had asked her son for a card once, but before my email had never seen her son on a baseball card. She told me that Jake had taken his injury and subsequent retirement from the game pretty hard and that he never really talked about it much; therefore she didn’t ask about it much. As we spoke, you could tell how excited she was to talk about his brief stint in the minors and it was obvious to anyone within earshot that she was a very proud mother. She was amazed at the amount of information out there and informed me she was going to send it off to her son. I certainly hope that Jake has found the site and hope he enjoys seeing the images from his past. If my site statistics are telling the truth, there have been 15 visits in the past week coming from search engines looking for “Jake Jacobs”. So if you have stopped by looking for more information on Jake Jacobs, we’re glad you found us and see the bottom of this post for more links to Jake Jacobs on the web.

Needless to say, it’s stories like this that make the hours upon hours that are spent on this site entirely worth it. I can’t take credit for putting the two Jake Jacobs cards on the site, but had it not been for the dedication of everyone associated with this site, we would have never been able to treat a very proud mother to a memory that she will cherish forever. Guys like Jake Jacobs are as important to this site as Kirby Puckett, Harmon Killebrew or the 1975 Topps Twins set and we’re glad that we could play our part in helping keep a small memory alive…and a smile on a mom’s face!

UPDATE: Through the kindness of Mr. Twinkie himself, two unautographed, Jake Jacobs cards are heading towards the UK as you read this. When they arrive, I will have the distinct pleasure of handing Jake’s mom the only two cards that picture her son as a professional baseball player…cards that, until just a few days ago, she never even knew existed. I’ll update this post after I deliver the cards and let you know her reaction.

More Jake Jacobs links:

Jake’s Baseball Cube Page

Jake’s Baseball-Reference.com Minor League Page

SABR Minor League Database Page

I asked this question just after the trade was announced, but wanted to add this to the mix. Here is how Santana compares to some Twins pitchers at a similar point in their careers.

Through Age 28 Season:
Santana (2007): 1308.7 IP 93-44 1068 H (7.34/9 IP) 364 BB (2.50/9 IP) 1381 K (9.50/9 IP) 3.22 ERA 6 CG 4 ShO
Kaat (1967) 1778.1 IP 114-96 1719 H (8.70/9 IP) 450 BB (2.28/9 IP) 1168 K (5.91/9 IP) 3.31 ERA 83 CG 14 ShO
Blyleven (1979) 2624.2 IP 148-128 2335 H (8.01/9 IP) 711 BB (2.44/9 IP) 2082 K (7.12/9 IP) 2.88 ERA 145 CG 39 ShO
Viola (1988) 1597 IP 104-81 1604 H (9.04/9 IP) 474 BB (2.67/9 IP) 1076 K (6.06/9 IP) 3.87 ERA 47 CG 9 ShO
Radke (2001) 1537.2 IP 93-95 1637 H (9.58/9 IP) 316 BB (1.85/9 IP) 942 K (5.52/9 IP) 4.27 ERA 28 CG 6 ShO

Santana’s rates put him at or above each of the other “Twins greats” in just about every category. The others, of course, spent a few more years in a Twins uniform after the age of 28.

Through 1300 career innings:
Santana (2007): 1308.7 IP 93-44 1068 H 364 BB 1381 K 3.22 ERA 6 CG 4 ShO
Kaat (1966) 1304.1 IP 80-74 1270 H 370 BB 813 K 3.45 ERA 56 CG 9 ShO
Blyleven (1974) 1304 IP 77-74 1178 H 307 BB 1065 K 2.77 ERA 74 CG 20 ShO
Viola (1987) 1306.2 IP 77-72 1338 H 409 BB 850 K 4.15 ERA 39 CG 7 ShO
Radke (2000) 1300.2 IP 78-83 1383 H 290 BB 799 K 4.29 ERA 22 CG 4 ShO

Using innings as a marker instead of age brings Blyleven back to the pack a bit, but overall it looks about the same, with Santana looking as good or better in just about every category.

Finally, here are the same five through career start # 175:
Santana (2007): 1308.7 IP 93-44 1068 H 364 BB 1381 K 3.22 ERA 6 CG 4 ShO
Kaat (1965) 1193.0 IP 71-70 1161 H 351 BB 730 K 3.55 ERA 50 CG 9 ShO
Blyleven (1974) 1313 IP 78-74 1184 H 311 BB 1070 K 2.76 ERA 75 CG 20 ShO
Viola (1987) 1163.2 IP 66-69 1205 H 379 BB 740 K 4.35 ERA 35 CG 6 ShO
Radke (2000) 1171.1 IP 69-74 1226 H 256 BB 714 K 4.27 ERA 20 CG 3 ShO

I think it’s safe to say that Santana was well on his way to becoming the best pitcher in Twins history.

February 27, 1969
Willie Banks - I love wikipedia. One of the fifth graders I work with was using our favorite online encyclopedia to research a project she was assigned. I told her that might not be the best spot, but apparently her teacher had listed it as a good resource. Go figure. Anyways, back to Willie Banks. Here’s an excerpt from his wikipedia page:

He helped the Twins win the 1991 World Series, the Dodgers win the 1995 National League Western Division and the Yankees win the 1998 World Series.

 

So he has two rings, including one as a member of one of the greatest teams of my lifetime, and helped another team win a division. Let’s look at his numbers from those teams”

1991 Minnesota Twins 5 G 3 GS 17.3 IP 5.71 ERA
1995 Los Angeles Dodgers 6 G 6 GS 29 IP 4.03 ERA
1998 New York Yankees 9 G 0 GS 14.3 IP 10.05 ERA

I’d like to have that particular author help me with my resume. In any event, Banks’ best season came with the Twins in 1993 when he went 11-12 with a 4.03 ERA (though he didn’t help anyone win a World Series that year). At the end of the 1993 season, the Twins traded Banks to the Cubs for Dave Stevens and Matt Walbeck. Likely not the return the Twins were expecting when they spent the number three overall pick on Banks in the 1987 draft.

February 27, 1977
Craig Monroe - One of the new Twins. Monroe, as I recall, has always seems to have had a decent amount of success against the Twins, and the splits bear that out. For his career, Monroe is .322/.356/.544 with 13 HR in 298 PAs. The only team he has had more success against on a consistent basis is the Royals. Hopefully he will find a new team to kick around now that he is with the Twins.

February 28, 1948
Mark Wiley - Wiley was with the Twins in 1975. He appeared in 15 games and posted a 6.05 ERA in 38.7 innings pitched. The Twins released him after he spent a couple of seasons in their minor league system, and he resurfaced for six games in 1978 between the Padres and the Blue Jays. Since his playing days he has served as a pitching coach for several teams, and was recently named the new pitching coach for the Florida Marlins.

February 28, 1968
Mike Milchin - Milchin’s biggest claim to fame might be the fact that he was the backup first baseman and relief pitcher for the 1988 US Olympic team. He pitched well in the Olympics, going 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA. Milchin appeared in 26 games as a relief pitcher for the Twins in 1996 before he was placed on waivers in August of that year.

February 29, 1932
Paul Giel - Giel appeared in 12 games for the Twins as a relief pitcher in 1961. He died in 2002. Though he was 70 years old at the time, he had only celebrated 17 birthdays.

March 1, 1953
Jeff Holly - Holly was a pitcher for the Twins from 1976-1979. He ended his career with a 3-4 record and a 6.89 ERA. After his career ended due to injury, he started his own baseball training school, and is currently on staff with the MVP Baseball National Training Center.

February 24, 1954
Dave Edwards - Edwards was a reserve outfielder for the Twins from 1978-1980. By the time he reached the majors, he had already played seven full seasons in the minor leagues. His 1980 Topps card (shown on the left) incorrectly states that his first major league home run came on June 13, 1979 against the Yankees. That was his second. His first came on September 23, 1978 when his solo home run was the only run the Twins managed against Paul Splittorff. Edwards finished his career with two seasons in San Diego after he was traded for Chuck Baker.

February 24, 1981
Rob Bowen - The catcher was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 1999 draft, and came up in the Twins’ system. After appearing in 24 games for the Twins between 2003 and 2004, he was waived by the team in the spring of 2006. Bowen was traded twice in the 2007 season, both times for other catchers. In June he was dealt to the Cubs for Michael Barrett, and in July the Cubs sent him to Oakland for Jason Kendall.

February 24, 1982
JD Durbin - From and AP story dated February 28, 2005:

J.D. Durbin is a human energy drink, a fast-talking, bold, brash right-handed pitcher for the Minnesota Twins who will never be accused of being passive.

 

Last season, though, he lost a little bit of his swagger.

 

“I’m not real comfortable with being that quiet, mellow guy. I’ve got to be myself and have that attitude about me,” said Durbin, one of the game’s top prospects who was named Minnesota’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2002 and debuted with the Twins last September.

 

Durbin, 23, acquired the nickname “Real Deal” just minutes after his professional baseball career began. Proudly returning to the dugout after a successful first inning in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League, Durbin turned to a teammate and said, “See, I told you I was the real deal.”

 

That was the summer of 2000, shortly after Minnesota drafted him in the second round out of Coronado High School in Arizona. Since, Durbin has risen through the organization and is ready to establish himself as a big-league starter.

 

The “Real Deal” went 6-5 with a 5.15 ERA for Philadelphia last season. He was sent to Philly from Arizona, where he allowed seven runs in less than an inning pitched for the D-Backs.

February 25, 1974
Shannon Stewart - I found out that the Twins traded Bobby Kielty for Shannon Stewart when I saw Kielty take the field for Toronto at a game at Fenway Park. Though he played less than half the season in 2003, many considered him the team’s MVP. I don’t think that was so much because of his numbers, but more due to the fact that the Twins made a run after the deal and ended up winning the division despite a pretty good-sized deficit when the deal was made. Whether it was based on his performance or the team’s, Stewart was given a lot of credit and turned it into a pretty fat contract (at least in Twins terms). Though his play was solid for a while, injuries started to catch up with Stewart. When he was finished with his big contract, it looked like a mistake from a Twins perspective, and might have been the reason why the team was reluctant to pay Torii Hunter, another outfielder in his 30’s, big money this year.

February 26, 1934
Don Lee - Lee was one of the Senators in 1960 who moved west with the team in 1961. He was a pretty reliable relief pitcher, and made some spot starts throughout his Twins’ career. He was traded to the Los Angeles Angels in May of 1962, ending his 2 1/2 seasons with the franchise.

Topps has named an all-rookie team each year since 1959. Each year, eight position players are chosen (four infielders, three outfielders, one catcher) and 2 pitchers (one left-hander, one right-hander). The Baseball-Reference Bullpen has this to say about how the cards are identified,

The first team featured a special card design that included a trophy symbol of a batter on a top hat and the phrase, “Selected by the youth of America.” For the second set (1961) the cards had a trophy symbol that included the phrase “Topps 1961 All-Star Rookie” on cards that followed the same design as the rest of the regular issue. This practice continued until 1973, when the symbol was changed to a gold cup bearing the words “Topps All-Star Rookie.” Topps left the symbol off the 1974 cards but the gold cups reappeared in 1975 and stayed through 1978. From 1979 to 1986 the symbol was once again left off the cards. In 1987, the gold cup symbol was brought back and it has remained to today.

This will be the very first in a series of posts chronicling the inclusion of Twins’ players in this select group. Twenty-two Twins have been selected to the Topps All-Rookie team, beginning with Bernie Allen being selected in 1962 through Francisco Liriano in 2006. Each post will cover one player and his corresponding Topps All-Star rookie card.

1962: Bernie Allen, 2B - Bernie was probably pretty well-known to Minnesota fans before he was drafted as an amateur free agent in 1961. In 1960, Allen quarterbacked the Purdue Boilmakers past the 1960 National Champion, Minnesota Golden Gophers, in what turned out to be the only regular-season blemish on the Gophers 8-1 record. Allen made a big splash when he debuted for the Twins in 1962, but unfortunately it turned out to be his best season in the majors hitting .269/.338/.403 with 12 Hrs in 159 games. Bernie finished 3rd in the AL ROY voting in 1962 behind Tom Tresh and Buck Rodgers, but his playing steadily decreased the following two years. Early in 1964, a collision with Washington Senator, Don Zimmer, left Allen with torn ligaments and eventually led to the end of his playing time with the Twins. After playing in 74 games in 1964, Allen spent the majority of the 1965 season at AAA Denver and was traded prior to the 1966 season with Camilo Pascual to the Senators in exchange for pitcher Ron Kline.

The card itself is a great example from the 1963 Topps set. I especially like how large the All-Star Rookie trophy is displayed. It extends past one-fourth the length of the card. In later years, the trophy would get much smaller and less prominent on the cards. Like many of the 1960’s era cards, it looks like Bernie is “posing” for the photo instead of capturing him in an actual swing. I really like this card for another reason too. Although not a full frontal view of the 1962 uniform, it does give us a nice view from the waist up and a nice, if not blurry, view of the teams first sleeve patch…the classic handshake across the Mississippi logo.

As much fun as it is to look at the card fronts, I find it much more interesting to investigate the backs of player cards. The 1963 Topps Bernie Allen is a nice example of how the backs of cards should look. There’s not anything distracting about it, it provides year-by-year stats (both major and minor leagues) plus some personal information about Allen. It also includes a great cartoon-type drawing of Bernie as a college quarterback. In fact, I used this very card in last month’s trivia contest.

Although some may think this is Allen’s true rookie card, he did have a few others that were produced prior to the 1963 season. His first card was the 1961 Cloverleaf Dairy…a very rare set that displayed players on the sides of Cloverleaf and Apple Fresh milk cartons. Allen’s true Topps rookie card was the 1962 Topps #596, Rookie Parade where he was featured with fellow Twins infielder Rich Rollins and Yankees Phil Linz and Joe Pepitone.

For a very well written Bernie Allen retrospective, please give Will Young’s article a good read…you won’t be disappointed!

Here is the complete list of Twins that have been named to the Topps All-Rookie team, with links back to each post:

• 1962 - Bernie Allen, 2B
• 1963 - Jimmie Hall, OF
• 1964 - Tony Oliva, OF
• 1967 - Rod Carew, 2B
• 1971 - Steve Braun, 3B
• 1973 - Jerry Terrell, SS
• 1975 - Dan Ford, OF
• 1976 - Butch Wynegar, C
• 1978 - Hosken Powell, OF
• 1979 - John Castino, 3B
• 1980 - Doug Corbett, RHP
• 1982 - Tin Laudner, C
• 1982 - Kent Hrbek, 1B
• 1982 - Tom Brunansky - OF
• 1984 - Kirby Puckett, OF
• 1985 - Mark Salas, OF
• 1991 - Chuck Knoblauch, 2B
• 1995 - Marty Cordova, OF
• 1999 - Corey Koskie, 3B
• 2000 - Mark Redman - LHP
• 2004 - Joe Mauer, C
• 2006 - Francisco Liriano, LHP

With the annual position battles about to take shape in training camp, I take this moment to think about the infinite possibilities that could become reality by the time the Twins break camp. One thing that I hold out hope for is that someday the Twins may have a credible running game. With the battles for CF and 2B anything but clear-cut, the optimist in me holds out for a day where Alexi Casilla and Carlos Gomez run rampant through the junior circuit.

Only five times in Twins history has the team had multiple players with 25 or more stolen bases in one season:

2001: Luis Rivas (31), Corey Koskie (27), Cristian Guzman (25)

1994: Chuck Knoblauch (35), Alex Cole (29)

1992: Shane Mack (26), Chuck Knoblauch (34)

1978: Rod Carew (27), Willie Norwood (25)

1976: Rod Carew (49), Larry Hisle (31)

Looking at the short minor league careers of Casilla and Gomez shows that they obviously have a lot of speed. Whether or not that translates into MLB type speed and stolen bases is yet to be seen, but not since Chuck Knoblauch have the Twins had the possibility of game changing speed on the roster.

Alexi Cassila’s Minor League Career: 149 SB / 363 G = .41 SB/G

Carlos Gomez’s Minor League Career: 141 SB / 338 G = .41 SB/G

Ladies and gentlemen…those kind of numbers are in the Rickey Henderson neighborhood! By no means am I saying that either of these guys will ever approach those types of numbers, but like I said earlier…it’s the optimist in me that looks at the possibilities that might be.

Time for some great moments in Twins history…courtesy of YouTube. Good call or bad call…you make the call. Here’s a video of the controversial tag by Hrbek on Ron Gant. To set the table here…it’s the top of the 3rd inning with the Twins leading 2-1. Kevin Tapani is pitching and Lonnie Smith is on first.

If the video isn’t visible, please visit this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C0zBtxn8Io

February 20, 1975
Livan Hernandez - The newest Twin turns 33 this week. He is billed as an “innings eater,” and rightly so. He led the National League in innings pitched for three consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2005, and has been known to throw as many as 150 pitches in his starts. He is also considered a very good fielding and hitting pitcher. While the latter won’t help him much in the American League (he won a Silver Slugger award in 2004), the former will be very welcome on the mound. While overall I think there are better ways to spend the money, he has a good chance to be a factor for the Twins in 2008, unlike many of the other recent veteran pitcher signings.

February 21, 1947
Charlie Walters - He pitched a few games for the Twins in 1969, but is better known as “Shooter” Charley Walters, sports columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. His career major league line: 6 G 6.7 IP 6 H 4 R 4 ER 1 HR 5.40 ERA.

February 21, 1953
Rick Lysander -Lysander’s baseballlibrary.com bio says the following:

 

In 1983 he pitched in 61 games with a 3.38 ERA but his performance later suffered because of overwork.

 

Lysander appeared in 61 games in 1983 and had a total of 125 innings pitched. The next season, he pitched in 36 games for a total of 56.7 innings pitched. I don’t have Lysander’s minor league numbers, but based this information it is hard to jump to the conclusion that he was overworked. In 1985, Lysander struggled along with the rest of the Twins’ bullpen, and was booed just about as hard as Ron Davis had been, and didn’t last the season.

February 23, 1958
Juan Agosto - Agosto was purchased by the Twins early in the 1986 season in an attempt to bring some stability to the bullpen. The Twins let Pete Filson go in order to make room for the lefty. Agosto did not help the pen much, and was shipped to the minors a few times in a season in which he posted an 8.64 ERA for the major league club. To me, Agosto is one of the guys I know well because I got one of his cards in just about every pack I bought.

February 23, 1972
Rondell White - Another of the Twins connected to PED’s through the Mitchell Report, Rondell White’s time with the Twins so far can best be characterized as a disappointment. For a brief time towards the end of the 2006 season, it looked as though the Twins might get some production from White, but overall he has struggled. Going back, White’s most productive season came in 2001 as a member of the Cubs, when he batted .307/.371/.529 with 17 home runs in just under 100 games played.