Twins Almanac: Killebrew's Passing, Allison's Power and the David Wells Perfect Game

[Matt Johnson]

Harmon Killebrew passed away on this date in 2011. Share your favorite stories, stats, or fun facts about number 3 in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 

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1998: Wells Pitches Perfect Game
50,000 fans, including Billy Crystal, came out to Yankee Stadium for Beanie Baby Day, and what turned out to be the fifteenth perfect game in major league history. David Wells threw 120 pitches, striking out 11 Twins. The last perfect game at Yankee Stadium was pitched by Don Larsen in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. Larsen and Wells attended the same high school, Point Loma in San Diego. How’s that for a coincidence? But wait, there’s more! Don Larsen actually threw out the first pitch before baseball’s next perfect game, pitched by David Cone on Yogi Berra Day at Yankee Stadium in 1999. Berra had caught Larsen’s perfect game in the ’56 Series. Cone threw just 88 pitches in his perfect game.

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1963: Allison Has First 3-HR Game in Twins History
Bob Allison had the first three-home run game in Twins history on this date in 1963, going 3-for-5 with six RBI in an 11-4 win in Cleveland. The performance raised his season average to .330. Allison had a career year in 1963, making his second of three All-Star teams and leading the league with a .911 OPS and 99 runs scored, finishing third in the league with 35 home runs, and fourth with 91 RBI. If you believe in WAR, Allison led the league with 7.4, as retroactively calculated by Baseball Reference. 

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1975: Aaron Brings Hammer to Bloomington
Milwaukee Brewers designated hitter Hank Aaron hit the 738th of his 755 career home runs off Ray Corbin in the fifth inning of a Saturday afternoon game in Bloomington on this date in 1975. The two-run homer extended the Brewers lead to 6-2. Aaron had hit an RBI double in the third inning, knocking starter Vic Albury out of the game. The Twins trailed 7-6 in the eighth when Rod Carew hit a two-out, two-run double to take a 8-7 lead. Tom Kelly entered as a defensive replacement at first in the top of the ninth as the Twins nailed down the win.

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1979: Smalley Starts Smoking Hot
Shortstop Roy Smalley went 2-for-3 with two walks, a double, and run scored in a 7-6 Twins win in Kansas City on this date in 1979, raising his average to .416.

His average finally dropped below .400 for good on May 21. He was hitting over .350 as late as July 12 that season.

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1980: DH Ties Double Play Record
José Morales tied Minnesota native Terry Terrell's Twins record by grounding into three double plays on this date in 1980. Some of you may find this hard to believe, but Joe Mauer never did that! But did you know that Gary Gaetti and Kirby Puckett led the majors in double plays grounded into in 1987 and 1991, respectively?  

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1992: Old Friend Paul Sorrento
Cleveland first baseman Paul Sorrento homered in back-to-back at-bats against former teammate Kevin Tapani on this date in 1992. 

Kirby Puckett and Pedro Muñoz homered for Minnesota, while Chuck Knoblauch went 4-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored in a 9-5 Twins win in Cleveland.

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Closing Thought
Finally, with the Twins playing in Milwuakee this weekend, enjoy this clip of Kirby's epic weekend in 1987:

 

 

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[Patrick Slator]

Play-by-play guy for David Wells perfect game was Jim "Kitty" Kaat?

[Matt Johnson]

5 hours ago, Patrick Slator said:

Play-by-play guy for David Wells perfect game was Jim "Kitty" Kaat?

Indeed