The Minnesota Twins started fast in 1965, fueling a cat-and-mouse chase with the Chicago White Sox that carried through April and May. Neither Camilo Pascual nor Mudcat Grant lost through the first two months of the season, and after the Twins split a doubleheader with the Orioles in Baltimore on the final day of May, they were a half-game ahead of the second-place White Sox.
By then, however, the clubhouse began to resemble a M.A.S.H. unit. Catcher Earl Battey was fighting a nasty virus. Zoilo Versalles, who hadn’t missed a game all season, was playing with a pulled groin muscle. Tony Oliva stayed in the lineup despite a bruised right knee and a chronic knuckle problem in his right middle finger, suffered on a swing-and-miss against Boston closer Dick Radatz a year earlier.
The injury bug bit even harder as the summer went on. Pascual tore a muscle in his back in late July and was out until September. Harmon Killebrew went down in August with a dislocated and fractured elbow and missed 48 games. Also missing substantial time were Bob Allison, who fractured a small bone in his wrist, rookie hurler Dave Boswell, out for a month with mononucleosis, and Battey, sidelined 13 times by assorted injuries.
Those more serious injuries were far off in the distance when the calendar turned, but a June swoon was on the horizon. Perhaps the weather on May’s final day was an omen. After a harsh spring featuring the worst flooding in Minnesota’s history and a cluster of deadly and devastating tornados in early May, the skies opened and nearly eight inches of rain pelted the Twin Cities over a two-day stretch.
Soon after, the Twins’ run production dried up. They managed just two hits on June 7, when Grant took his first “L,” losing a 2-1 pitchers’ duel to Cleveland’s Luis Tiant. The Tribe had won five in a row, and a 10-game winning streak later in June pushed them into the thick of the American League pennant chase.
After an 8-0 start, Pascual absorbed his first loss on June 16, when the Twins managed just a single run in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the White Sox. From that day on, the Twins went 8-8 over the second half of June.
First place was on the line repeatedly in June, and remarkably, the Twins repeatedly managed to win when they were at risk to fall out of the top spot.
That was the case on June 15, when the Twins held a half-game edge over Chicago and Grant blanked the White Sox, 4-0, for his second shutout of the Sox that spring. It happened again two days later, when Jim Kaat worked a four-hitter in a 3-1 win over Chicago to keep the Twins in front.
With first place on the line again on June 20, the Twins swept a twinbill from the Yankees, with Killebrew stroking two doubles and two homers to fuel the sweep. Then, on June 23, with both Cleveland and Chicago a half-game back, the Twins claimed a 6-3 win to end the Tribe’s 10-game winning streak.
Despite those key-game heroics, Minnesota’s June struggles allowed Cleveland, Baltimore and Detroit to work their way into the pennant race. And when the Twins were blanked on two hits by Angels righthander Fred Newman on June 30, they were a second-place club, a half-game behind Cleveland, with the White Sox (1.5 back), Orioles (3.5) and Tigers (4) not far behind.
To honor the Minnesota Twins’ run to the American League pennant 50 years ago, I am documenting that magical season on Twitter. Follow the storyline @ThomHenninger
By then, however, the clubhouse began to resemble a M.A.S.H. unit. Catcher Earl Battey was fighting a nasty virus. Zoilo Versalles, who hadn’t missed a game all season, was playing with a pulled groin muscle. Tony Oliva stayed in the lineup despite a bruised right knee and a chronic knuckle problem in his right middle finger, suffered on a swing-and-miss against Boston closer Dick Radatz a year earlier.
The injury bug bit even harder as the summer went on. Pascual tore a muscle in his back in late July and was out until September. Harmon Killebrew went down in August with a dislocated and fractured elbow and missed 48 games. Also missing substantial time were Bob Allison, who fractured a small bone in his wrist, rookie hurler Dave Boswell, out for a month with mononucleosis, and Battey, sidelined 13 times by assorted injuries.
Those more serious injuries were far off in the distance when the calendar turned, but a June swoon was on the horizon. Perhaps the weather on May’s final day was an omen. After a harsh spring featuring the worst flooding in Minnesota’s history and a cluster of deadly and devastating tornados in early May, the skies opened and nearly eight inches of rain pelted the Twin Cities over a two-day stretch.
Soon after, the Twins’ run production dried up. They managed just two hits on June 7, when Grant took his first “L,” losing a 2-1 pitchers’ duel to Cleveland’s Luis Tiant. The Tribe had won five in a row, and a 10-game winning streak later in June pushed them into the thick of the American League pennant chase.
After an 8-0 start, Pascual absorbed his first loss on June 16, when the Twins managed just a single run in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the White Sox. From that day on, the Twins went 8-8 over the second half of June.
First place was on the line repeatedly in June, and remarkably, the Twins repeatedly managed to win when they were at risk to fall out of the top spot.
That was the case on June 15, when the Twins held a half-game edge over Chicago and Grant blanked the White Sox, 4-0, for his second shutout of the Sox that spring. It happened again two days later, when Jim Kaat worked a four-hitter in a 3-1 win over Chicago to keep the Twins in front.
With first place on the line again on June 20, the Twins swept a twinbill from the Yankees, with Killebrew stroking two doubles and two homers to fuel the sweep. Then, on June 23, with both Cleveland and Chicago a half-game back, the Twins claimed a 6-3 win to end the Tribe’s 10-game winning streak.
Despite those key-game heroics, Minnesota’s June struggles allowed Cleveland, Baltimore and Detroit to work their way into the pennant race. And when the Twins were blanked on two hits by Angels righthander Fred Newman on June 30, they were a second-place club, a half-game behind Cleveland, with the White Sox (1.5 back), Orioles (3.5) and Tigers (4) not far behind.
To honor the Minnesota Twins’ run to the American League pennant 50 years ago, I am documenting that magical season on Twitter. Follow the storyline @ThomHenninger