Black History Month - Jim “Mudcat” Grant (1965 Trade Bloc Game)
Friday, February 6th, 2009
In honor of February being Black History month, I’d like to do a few posts on black players for the Twins and their contributions to the team and MLB. The first player I’d like to take a look at is Jim “Mudcat” Grant.
Grant’s career spanned from 1958-1971 while making a stop in Minnesota from 1964-1966. Besides pithing for the Twins, Grant saw time with the Cleveland Indians (1958-1964), LA Dodgers (1968), Montreal Expos (1969), St. Louis Cardinals (1969), Oakland A’s (1970-1971) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1971).
Grant found sporadic success during his career, but managed to become the first black to win 20 games in the American League during his 21-7 campaign with the 1965 Twins. Grant’s success helped the Twins win the 1965 American League pennant.
Grant pitched a complete game in Game 1, out dueling Dodger Don Drysdale in a 8-2 Twins victory. In Game 4, Drysdale turned the same trick on Grant by tossing a complete game and beating Mudcat 7-2. Grant came back on short rest to pitch Game 6 of the series and again turned in a complete game gem by beating back the N.L champs 5-1. This gave Mudcat a 2-1 record in the series with 2 complete game gems. Had the Twins pulled out Game 7, a good case could have been made for Mudcat winning the series MVP. Giving even more fuel to his case was what happened in Game 6 by Grant at the plate. With the Twins up 2-0 in the 6th inning, Grant came up and blasted only the second HR by a pitcher in Worrld Series history. With 2 outs and Bob Allison and Frank Quilici on base, Grant went deep off of Howie Reed to give the Twins a 5-1 lead.
Grant’s baseball cards don’t offer anything special, but I’d like to focus on his card in the 1965 Trade Bloc set. According to the 2006 Standard Catalog of Baseball cards, “These cards were produced as part of a baseball game which was marketed at Metropolitan Stadium for $1. The blank-backed cards measure 2-1/4″ x 3-1/2″ and are brinted in either blue or sepia tones. Besides Twins players and staff, the set includes cards of various team souvenir items as well as old Met Stadium. Besides the player photo, cards include a facsimile autograph, stats, and personal data.”
The set is a very sought after treasure for Twins fans. While the cards themselves don’t really light the collecting world on fire, it simply a matter of supply and demand. I’m sure many of these sets exist in the basements and attics of the Twin Cities area, I’ve only run across a few people that have had the cards and the game. Until today, I hadn’t seen anything but the cards, but a luckily timed search on eBay has turned up a complete set…still in the box!
While completely out of my price range, the auction shares some awesome shots of the game and I’d like to share those with you here. I am especially psyched about the back side of the box and game instructions. They’re a little difficult to read, but if this blind bat can manage to make most of out, maybe you can too. It certainly isn’t Strat-O-Matic or APBA but I’m sure young Twins fans enjoyed it just the same.
If anyone had this game or remembers playing it, I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts and memories about the game and the cards.
