Remembering Those Who Played Life’s Last Inning in 2022 - Part Two

Of the one hundred former Major League or Negro League professional baseball players who played life’s last inning in 2022, six played for the Kansas City Athletics. Three played under team owner Arnold Johnson after he bought the Philadelphia Athletics and moved the franchise to Kansas City in 1954: pitcher Ralph Terry (died March 16, 2022), infielder/outfielder Hector Lopez (died September 29, 2022), and pitcher Ray Herbert (died December 20, 2022). In my last blog post (June 2023), I wrote about them. 

The other three played with the Athletics when Charlie O. Finley became the team’s owner after the 1960 season and before he moved it to Oakland in 1968:  catcher Joe Pignatano (died May 23, 2022), pitcher Dave Wickersham (died June 18, 2022), and outfielder Leo Posada (died June 23, 2022). This blog post will pay tribute to them.

After purchasing the Athletics in December 1960, Finley had the daunting task of improving the team, which had finished in last place. One way of doing it, acquiring players available from other Major League teams. One player purchased in 1961, Joe Pignatano. 

Joe Pignatano

Born August 4, 1929, Pignatano signed up with his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948. Making his Major League debut on April 28, 1957, he missed the “Boys of Summer” successful years of the Dodgers (1947 – 1956, seven National League pennants, 1955 World Series Champions).

After five innings on September 24, 1957, Pignatano entered the game   to replace catcher Roy Campanella in the Dodgers’ line-up. It would be   the Dodgers’ last game at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. The franchise would move to Los Angeles for the 1958 season. Permanently paralyzed after a car accident during the winter of 1958, unfortunately it turned out to be the last game of Hall of Famer Campanella’s career.

Pignatano played second-string catcher behind the Dodgers’ John Roseboro

 for the next three years. His single in the bottom of the 12th inning helped to lead the Dodgers’ scoring the winning run in the 1959 National League pennant playoff game against the Milwaukee Braves. The Dodgers then defeated the Chicago White Sox in the World Series four games to two.

In the winter of 1961, the Kansas City Athletics purchased Pignatano’s contract from the Dodgers. He shared the team’s catching duties in 1961 with Haywood Sullivan, playing in ninety-two games and batting .241.

Retiring after the 1962 season with the New York Mets, Pignatano became a Major League coach (1965 – 1982) including being the bullpen coach for the 1969 World Series champion New York Mets.

Two minor league players signed when Arnold Johnson owned the A’s made their Major League debut in 1960 and played with the team when Finley became the owner: Dave Wickersham and Leo Posada.

Dave Wickersham

Born September 27, 1935, in Erie, Pennsylvania, Wickersham signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955 after pitching at Ohio University.  He spent four successful years in the Pirates’ minor league system, 53 - 26 at levels AA and lower.  The Kansas City Athletics chose him in the 1959 minor league draft.  Wickersham made his Major League debut with the Athletics on September 18, 1960. 

Used as a spot starter and relief pitcher, Wickersham went 11- 4 for the Athletics in 1962. As the team’s main starting pitcher in 1963, Wickersham went 12 – 15 (4.09 ERA, 237.2 IP).

In November after the 1963 season, believing the A’s needed more power in the line-up, Finley traded Wickersham, second basemen Jerry Lumpe, and pitcher Ed Rakow to the Detroit Tigers for All Star right fielder Rocky Colivito.

Wickersham (19 – 14) along with Mickey Lolich (18 – 9) were the mainstays of the pitching staff for the fourth place Tigers in 1964. Slumping to 9 – 14 the next year, Wickersham became a spot starter & relieve pitcher for the team by 1967.

After one year with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1968, he finished his career with the Kansas City Royals in 1969. Wickersham, Moe Drabowsky, and Aurello Monteagudo are the only three to have played with both the Royals and the Kansas City Athletics.

 

Leo Posada

Posada, born April 1, 1934, in Havana, Cuba, signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954.  The Athletics took him in the 1956 minor league draft and he made his Major League debut on September 21, 1960. 

As the team’s main left fielder in 1961 (116 games), Posada hit .253 with seven Home Runs and 53 RBI. However in 1962, the competition for the Athletics’ outfield positions increased with the addition of rookie fellow Cuban Jose Tartabull, Manny Jimenez, and veteran Gino Cimoli.  With Posada hitting .196 in 29 games, the Athletics traded him along with pitcher Bill Kunkel to the Milwaukee Braves in August 1962 for pitcher Orlando Pena; another player from Posada’s homeland of Cuba.

Posada spent the remainder of his pro baseball career playing in both the minor and winter leagues (1963 – 1969).  After retiring, he became a minor league manager and coach for the Houston Astros (1968 – 69, 1972 - 74, 1976 – 78) and the New York Yankees (1975).  Also, beginning in 1979, Posada coached hitting in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization. 

Remembering Those Who Played Life’s Last Inning in 2022 - Part One

 In 2022, one hundred former Major League or Negro League professional baseball players died. This group that played life’s last inning included Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry (December 1, 2022). Perry won a career 314 games (53 shutouts, and 3,534 strikeouts). Also dying in 2022 were former Los Angeles Dodgers teammates Tommy Davis (April 3, 2022) and Maury Wills (September 19, 2022). Davis won consecutive National League Batting Titles with the Dodgers, 1962 and 1963. Wills led the National League in stolen bases for six consecutive years (1960 – 1965), including stealing 104 in 1962.

There were six former Kansas City Athletics who played life’s last inning in 2022. Three played under team owner Arnold Johnson after he bought the Philadelphia Athletics and moved the franchise to Kansas City after the 1954 season: pitcher Ralph Terry (March 16, 2022), infielder/outfielder Hector Lopez (September 29, 2022), and pitcher Ray Herbert (December 20, 2022). The other three played with the Athletics when Charlie O. Finley became the team’s owner after the 1960 season and before he moved it to Oakland in 1968:  catcher Joe Pignatano (May 23, 2022), pitcher Dave Wickersham (June 18, 2022), and outfielder Leo Posada (June 23, 2022).

In his efforts to purchase the Philadelphia Athletics, businessman Arnold Johnson had the support of New York Yankees’ co-owners Del Webb and Dan Topping.  They were partners with Johnson in non-baseball related businesses. Johnson’s relationship with the Yankees raised concern from some American League team owners as possibly a conflict of interest. However, the League approved the sale to Johnson despite those concerns.

During the six years Johnson owned the Kansas City A’s, he died in March 1960, the team made twenty trades or player acquisitions with the Yankees. Most of the trades lopsidedly favored New York. The Yankees gave the A’s players nearing the end of their playing careers, second string players, and journeymen with limited talent. In exchange New York would get talented players that would help the team rebuild and continue its dominance of the American League in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Two players in talent funnel from Kansas City to the Yankees were Ralph Terry and Hector Lopez.

Ralph Terry

 

Terry, born January 9, 1936, in Big Cabin, Oklahoma, signed with the New York Yankees in 1953. The highly touted righthanded pitcher had early success in the minor leagues, but no spot existed for him on the Yankees’ pitching staff in 1957. To give Terry experience pitching at the Major League level, Yankee management traded him to the Kansas City Athletics on June 15, 1957. In 1958, Terry posted an 11- 13 record. Considering the A’s finished next to last in the American League standings that season, Terry’s statistics showed he had the potential to be a successful Major League pitcher.

When the Yankees needed to rebuild their pitching staff in 1959, Terry came back to New York through another trade with the A’s and helped the Yankees to win five pennants (1960 – 1964) and two World Series (1961 and 1962).

From 1959 through 1964 Terry won seventy-six games, including being the ace of the pitching staff in 1962 winning twenty-three. Although he has a place in baseball history as the pitcher that Pittsburgh Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski in 1960 hit the only Game Seven 9^th inning walk off World Series winning home run, Terry got his redemption in 1962. In the World Series that year against the San Francisco Giants, he won two games including a four hit 1- 0 shutout in Game Seven for the Yankee’s Series win.  Terry received the 1962 World Series Most Valuable Player Award. 

 

Hector Lopez

The first Panamanian (born Colon, Panama April 8, 1932) to have an extensive Major League career, Lopez came to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1952 out of the Canadian Provincial League. He had the versatility to play each infield and outfield position, plus hit consistently with sometimes power. From 1955, his rookie season, Lopez averaged fifteen home runs and 61 RBI for consistently bad A’s teams.

Injuries and the advanced ages of formerly key players made the New York Yankees need offensive help early in the 1959 season. Lopez got off to a good start for the A’s hitting .281 with 6 Home Runs and 24 RBI after 35 games. Once again giving the Yankees what they needed, the A’s included Lopez in the June 15th Ralph Terry trade with New York. Lopez finished the season with the Yankees hitting .283 with 16 Home Runs and 69 RBI.

He made contributions to the New York Yankees’ successes in the early 1960s as a utility infield or outfield player. Lopez hit fourteen home runs with 52 RBI in 1963. In the 1961 World Series, he hit .333 and led the team with 7 RBI as the Yankees defeated the Cincinnati Reds four games to one.

 

Ray Herbert

Herbert (born December 15, 1929) signed with his hometown Detroit Tigers in 1948. After two years in the minor leagues and a brief appearance with the Tigers in 1950, the righthanded pitcher went into the military. Returning in 1953, Herbert had little success on the mound for the Tigers.

The Kansas City Athletics purchased his contract in 1955. By 1959, Herbert became a frontline starting pitcher for the A’s finishing 11 – 11 in 1959 and 14 – 15 in 1960.

Under new team owner Charlie O. Finley, the A’s traded Herbert to the Chicago White Sox in June 1961. For the next four years Herbert won forty-eight games for Chicago, including being 20 – 9 in 1962.

The next post will be about Joe Pignatano, Dave Wickersham, and Leo Posada. Stay Tuned!

History of the Kansas City Athletics 1955 - 1967

This month I will teach the following class for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at The University of Kansas:  History of the Kansas City Athletics 1955 - 1967.

The franchise was a product of the post-World War II geographical shift that changed the face of Major League Baseball.  Formerly the Philadelphia Athletics, the franchise's new owner moved it to Kansas City in 1955.  This course will explore the details surrounding the move, the impact of it on Kansas City, the team's 1950s controversial relationship with the New York Yankees, the era of the 1961 new owner Charlie Finley, and the team's acrimonious departure from the city.

The dates for the course are April 13th, April 20th, and May 4th.  The length of the course each day is 2 hours, 2:00 PM - 4 :00 PM.  

Although I will teach the course in-person, you can enroll to attend on-line via Zoom.

Below is the link to get more information about the course, enrollment, and the on-line connection to attend via Zoom.

The History of the Kansas City Athletics, 1955-1967 - Shopping cart (enrole.com)

Revisiting Dr. King, Baseball, & Jackie Robinson

 In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday celebration today, January 16, 2023, I have repeated below my 1/15/17; "Dr. Martin Luther King, Baseball, & Jackie Robinson".

Today is the national celebration for the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., what would have been his 88^th.  Much will be written giving tributes to his life and the impact his legacy continues to have not only on this country, but also the world.  However, I want to mention what appears to have been Dr. King’s favorite sport, baseball. 

When Jackie Robinson crossed the “invisible color line” in 1947 to be the first African American to play Major League baseball in the 20^th Century, he became the idol of an 18 years old teenager in Atlanta, Georgia; Martin King Jr.  Like many other African Americans at that time, whether baseball fans or not, the Brooklyn Dodgers were the young King’s favorite baseball team because of Jackie Robinson.  Many of those African American Dodger fans, including King, remained loyal to the team after Robinson retired and it relocated to Los Angeles in 1958.  In addressing the 1966 Milwaukee Braves’ move to his hometown of Atlanta, Dr. King indicated it would complicate his personal allegiance that had existed since 1947.  “And so I have been a Dodger fan”, he said, “but I’m gonna get with the Braves now”.

But Dr. King had been more than a fan of the Dodgers; he understood the significance for African Americans of what Jackie Robinson had done in 1947.  After becoming a leader in the Civil Rights movement, Dr. King knew where his idol as a teenager’s accomplishments fit overall in reference to that movement.

When Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on that Montgomery, Alabama city bus in December of 1955 triggering the Civil Rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, Jackie Robinson was nearing the end of his baseball career.  He announced his retirement on January 5, 1957; fifteen days after the successful end of the Montgomery bus boycott led by the 26 years old pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


In the 1960s, Robinson became actively involved in the Civil Rights movement with Dr. King.  He spoke at Civil Rights rallies in the South for Dr. King, marched in demonstrations with him, and held fund raisers for Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).  Dr. King and Robinson became co-laborers in the African American struggle for equality.  He considered Jackie Robinson a friend.

At a testimonial dinner for Robinson on July 20, 1962, celebrating his upcoming National Baseball Hall of Fame induction in three days; Dr. King paid tribute to him.  He defended Robinson’s right to speak out about segregation and civil rights.  “He has the right”, King insisted stoutly, “because back in the days when integration was not fashionable, he underwent the trauma and the humiliation and the loneliness which comes from being a pilgrim walking the lonesome byways towards the high road of Freedom.  He was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.  And that is why we honor him tonight.”**

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may have liked other sports.  However; because of Jackie Robinson, baseball appeared to be his favorite.  Since idolizing Robinson while being a teenager in 1947, Dr. King never forgot the significance of the baseball player’s accomplishments in the struggle of African Americans for equality.  

* "At Canaan's Edge:  The King Years 1965 - 1968", Taylor Branch P. 394

** "Jackie Robinson:  A Biography", Arnold Rampersad p. 7  

Remembering Those Who Played Life’s Last Inning in 2021 – Part 2

 In the last National League season of the 1950’s, the 1959 pennant winner had to be determined by a best of two out of three playoff between the Milwaukee Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves had won the pennant the previous two years and were the 1957 World Series champions. The Dodgers, in the franchise’s second season in Los Angeles, had won four National League pennants in the 1950s while in Brooklyn and were the 1955 World Series champions.

In my previous blog post I discussed the players on the 1959 Braves who played life’s last inning in 2021:  right fielder Henry Aaron, catcher Del Crandell, and pitcher Juan Pizzaro. Here are the three players with the Dodgers that season who died in 2021.

Don Demeter – November 29, 2021

Born June 25, 1935, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Demeter had his Major League Baseball debut on September 18, 1956, with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. Following a season and a half in the minors, he played forty-eight games in 1958 after the franchise had moved to Los Angeles. In 1959, Demeter became the team’s starting center fielder hitting .256 with eighteen home runs (third highest on the team) and 70 RBI. Deciding to go with a group of younger outfield prospects (Tommy Davis, Ron Fairly, Frank Howard, and Willie Davis), the Dodgers traded Demeter to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1961. He hit seventy-one home runs in three seasons for the Phillies (1961 – 1963). However, Demeter joined the Detroit Tigers in 1964 as part of the trade that brought Hall of Fame (1996) pitcher Jim Bunning to the Phillies. After three seasons in the American League, Demeter retired and became a church pastor.

Solomon “Solly” Drake – August 18, 2021

Born October 23, 1930, in Little Rock, Arkansas, Drake came to the Dodgers at the beginning of the 1958 season. A severely dislocated ankle in the spring of 1955 hampered the speedy switch-hitting centerfielder’s time with the Chicago Cubs. In his 1956 rookie season, Drake played sixty-five games and hit .256. After hitting .300 for the Dodgers’ top minor league team in 1958, he began the 1959 season with the parent team in Los Angeles. But in June the Philadelphia Phillies purchased Drake’s contract and he played in sixty-seven games the rest of the season, his last in Major League baseball. Drake retired from professional baseball in 1962 and like his 1959 teammate with the Dodgers, Don Demeter, he later became a church pastor.

Stan Williams – February 20, 2021

Born September 14, 1936, in Enfield, New Hampshire, Stan Williams continued his 1958 rookie season role as a spot starting pitcher for the Dodgers in 1959. The 23 years old 6’5”, 230 pounds righthanded hurler finished 5 – 5 in 15 starts. Beginning in 1960, Williams had three consecutive seasons with double digit wins as the Dodgers had one of best starting pitching rotations in the National League which included Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Traded to the New York Yankees after the 1962 season, Williams never had the same success spending the remaining years of his career in the American League before retiring in 1971.

Played at County Stadium in Milwaukee on September 28, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the first game of the 1959 National League 3-2. Don Demeter had one hit in four At Bats for the Dodgers.  Henry Aaron received two walks and Del Crandell had two hits for the Braves in a losing cause. 

The two teams played the next day at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the home field for the Dodgers until the final construction of Dodger Stadium in 1962. After trailing 5 – 2, the Dodgers scored three runs in the ninth inning to tie and then one in the twelfth to win 6 -5. Stan Williams gave up no hits or runs to the Braves the final three innings to be the winning pitcher.

It would be the Dodgers fifth National League pennant of the 1950s and the last as players for former Brooklyn Dodgers Gil Hodges, Duke Snider, Don Zimmer, Clem Labine, Carl Erskine, Roger Craig, Sandy Amoros, and Carl Furillo who drove in the second playoff game’s winning run. It would be the first of twelve pennants the franchise would win after moving to Los Angeles.

By 1959, the love affair between Milwaukee baseball fans and the Braves had begun to crumble. The team had led the National League in attendance since 1953, its first year in Milwaukee. But in 1959 fan attendance dropped below two million for the second straight year. The decline continued in 1960 although the Braves finished in second place behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. From 1961 – 1965, the team never finished higher than fourth place and averaged 750,000 a year in game attendance. After the 1965 season, the franchise moved to Atlanta with Henry Aaron and Ed Matthews the only holdovers from the Braves team that lost to the Dodgers in the 1959 National League playoff.

Remembering Those Who Played Life’s Last Inning in 2021 - Part One

After a lockout of the players that lasted all off season and bitter labor negotiations that cut short Spring Training, the Major League Baseball owners and the Players’ Association approved a new collective bargain agreement this past March.  As a result, Major League baseball 2022 is now in full swing. 

With his first inning single on April 23, Detroit Tigers’ first baseman/designated hitter Miguel Cabrera became the 33^rd player in Major League Baseball history to reach the career 3,000 hit milestone.  With the Houston Astros 4 – 0 win against the Seattle Mariners on May 3, Astros’ manager Dusty Baker became the 12^th MLB manager with 2,000 victories.  Baker has won more games than any other African American Major League manager.  However, before the season gets any further along, take a moment to pay tribute with me to a group of former Negro League and Major League baseball players who died in 2021.

There were 21 former Major League ballplayers who played their life’s last inning in 2021.  Of the group, six were linked to an event that occurred at the end of the 1959 National League season. 

The last National League season of the 1950’s ended in a tie between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Braves.  Both finished with records of 86 – 68.  For most of that decade, beginning in 1953, the Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers were at the top of the league standings.  Before the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1958, the Dodgers won four National League pennants in the 1950s (1952, 1953, 1955. 1956) and were 1955 World Series champions.  The Braves finished second to the Dodgers in 1953, 1955, and 1956 before finally winning the National League pennant in 1957 and 1958.  They were World Series champions in 1957.

To determine the 1959 National League pennant winner, a best 2 out of 3 games playoff had to be held between the two teams.  Milwaukee had established veterans such as right fielder Henry Aaron and catcher Del Crandell, to go along with 23 years old pitcher Juan Pizzaro that season.  All three died in 2021.  Three players with the Dodgers that season died in 2021:  outfielders Don Demeter and Solly Drake, pitcher Stan Williams.

 

Henry Aaron

Born February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama, Aaron came to the then Boston Braves in 1952 after a short stint with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League.  The 21-time All Star outfielder and 1982 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee made his Major League debut April 13, 1954.  In 1959, Aaron won his 2^nd National League Batting Title (his first in 1956) hitting .355 with 39 home runs and 123 RBI.  He also led the National League with 223 hits, his highest number during a career that spanned 25 years.  The 1957 National League Most Valuable Player Award recipient finished third in the award voting for 1959  behind teammate Eddie Mathews and the winner, Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs. Aaron died January 22, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia; fourteen days before his 87^th birthday.

 

Del Crandell

Born March 5, 1930 in Ontario, California, Crandell took over behind home plate for the Braves after returning from military service in 1953 and became the batterymate for Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn the remainder of the decade. The eight-time All-Star won the second of his Gold Glove awards in 1959.  He averaged 18 home runs a year from 1953 – 1959, having a career year of 72 RBI going into the playoffs against the Dodgers.  After retiring as a player, Crandell spent six years as a Major League manager; Milwaukee Brewers 1972 – 1975, Seattle Mariners 1982 – 1984.  The 91 years old Crandall died May 5, 2021 in Mission Viejo, California.

 

Juan Pizzaro

Born February 7, 1937 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Pizzaro had filled the dual role as a spot starter and relief pitcher for the Braves since 1957.  However, showing flashes of a talented future, the twenty-three years old lefthander finished with a 6 – 2 record and a 3.77 ERA  in 1959.  His 126 strikeouts (in 133.3 innings pitched) second only to the Braves’ ace starting pitcher Warren Spahn (143 strikeouts in 292 innings).  The Braves lost patience in Pizzaro’s development after he finished 6 – 7 in 1960 and traded him to the Cincinnati Reds.  After another trade, Pizzaro began the 1961 season with the Chicago White Sox and became one of the best lefthanded pitchers in the American League from 1961 – 1964 (61 – 38, 2.95 ERA, 686 SO).  Pizzaro died February 18, 2021 in Carolina, Puerto Rico 11days after his 84^th birthday.

In my next blog post I will give recognition to the three members of the 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers who died in 2021 (Don Demeter, Solly Drake, and Stan Williams), along with brief mention of a few other former ballplayers who also perished last year.

Also, who won the 1959 National League Playoff and what impact did the results have on the upcoming new decade?  I will answer that and more my next post. 

Stayed Tuned!

2021 Baseball HOF Golden Days Committee Results – Part 2

The names on the Baseball Hall of Fame Golden Age Committee’s ballot considered for the Class of 2022 induction on July 24 brings back memories of the 1964 Major League season. That year, both the American and the National League pennant races went down to the last games of the season before a winner emerged. All ten of the candidates on the Golden Days Committee’s ballot were active in the Major Leagues that season; five in the National League and five in the American League. I discussed the five candidates that played in the National League during that season, Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Billy Pierce, Maury Wills, and Danny Murtaugh, in my previous post.  I will discuss the five candidates in the American League in this one.

Most baseball magazines predicted the New York Yankees to continue their domination of the American League in 1964. Beginning in 1949, the franchise had won 13 American League pennants and nine World Series championships. The 1964 pennant race, however, turned out to be a tight one. The Yankees did not clinch the pennant until the next to last game of the season, October 3, finishing one game ahead of the Chicago White Sox and two ahead of the Baltimore Orioles.

Four-time All Star right fielder Roger Maris hit .281 with 26 home runs and 84 RBI for the Yankees. The two-time American League Most Valuable Player, 1960 and 1961, along with Yankee great Mickey Mantle (35 HRs and 111 RBI in 1964) were a dangerous site for opposing pitchers. In 1961, Maris hit 61 home runs in 161 games, barely missing Babe Ruth’s record of 60 in 151 games. However, he never came close to that 1961 home run level again hitting 33 in 1962 and 23 in 1963.

Roger Maris

In 1964, 38 years-old Saturnino Orestes “Minnie” Minoso’s had come to the close of his career. Two years after helping the New York Cubans win the Negro League World Series in 1947, Minoso began a seven-time All Star, 17 years career in Major League baseball. He became the first dark-skinned Latino Major League star player. The 1964 season would be Minoso’s third stint with the Chicago White Sox (1951 – 1957 and 1960 – 1961). In 30 games he had seven hits, including his last Major League home run. Minoso played briefly in games with the White Sox in 1976 and 1980 to be one of the few who played Major League baseball in five decades.

Minnie Minoso

After finishing second in 1962 and third in 1963, the Minnesota Twins slipped to sixth place in 1964. However, Twins’ left-handed pitcher Jim Kaat had a solid season. After he struggled in 1963 (10 – 10, 4.12 ERA), Kaat rebounded going 17 – 11 with a 3.22 ERA. Kaat would pitch another 19 years with 283 career wins, 190 in his 15 years (1959 – 1973) with Minnesota. A 3-time 20+ games winner, Kaat won 25 games with the Twins in 1966.

Jim Kaat

The biggest surprise for the Twins that disappointing 1964 season came in their rookie right fielder, Tony Oliva. Named the American League 1964 Rookie of the Year, Oliva hit .323 with 217 hits, 32 home runs and 94 RBI.  The native Cuban won the American League Batting Title and then won it again in 1965 (.321, 16 HRs, 98 RBI) helping the Twins capture the American League pennant. Hobbled by knee injuries the last five of his 15 years Major League career, the 8-time All-Star finished with 220 home runs, 947 RBI, and a .304 batting average. 

Tony Oliva

Gil Hodges became the manager of the Washington Senators in the early part of the 1963 season. Earlier in his career (1943 - 1963), Hodges played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers who from 1949 - 1956 won five National League pennants and one World Series championship (1955). The eight-time All-Star also helped the Dodgers win the pennant and World Series in 1959 after the franchise relocated to Los Angeles.  In 1964 the Senators finished in ninth place. Hodges became manager of the New York Mets in 1968 and led the team to a World Series champions in 1969.

Jackie Robinson & Gil Hodges

Minoso, Kaat, Oliva, and Hodges each got the necessary twelve votes (75% of the 16 Golden Age Committee members) for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame. A pioneer in the 1950s racial integration of Major League baseball, Minoso's (195 HRs, 1,093 RBI, .299 BA), recognition by the Hall of Fame had been overdue. Seventy-five percent of the committee members did not overlook Jim Kaat’s lengthy career of excellence and the brilliant, but injury affected career of Tony Oliva. Gil Hodges (370 career HRs and 1,274 career RBI) will finally join his Brooklyn Dodger teammates Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, and Duke Snider in the Hall of Fame.

Roger Maris’ chances of getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame appear to be decreasing. He hit 270 career home runs and his single season record of 61 in 1961 stood until broken by Mark McGwire (70) and Sammy Sosa (66) in 1998. He played with three World Series championship teams, the 1961 and 1962 New York Yankees and the 1967 St. Louis Cardinals. However, Maris did not receive the twelve votes needed for Hall of Fame induction this year. He will not be eligible for reconsideration by the Golden Days Committee until 2027.

All pictures via Google Images

For daily baseball historical Twitter notices go to Kevin L. Mitchell @ LastTraintocoop