The Dodgers-Twins game in Minneapolis today was
called for weather with a mixture of rain and snow falling and temperatures in
the 30s.
The game was rescheduled
for Thursday as part of a split day-night doubleheader, however, the weather report for Wednesday and Thursday isn't any
better, with at least a 70 percent chance of rain both days and no change in
temperatures.
Thinking about the Twins brought back
memories of collecting baseball cards as a kid and a table game we played using
baseball cards and a hat filled with hand-made scoring tickets we would pull
out to see what would happen on the next play. We even made a little ball out
of aluminum foil and supplied our own sound effects.
We would put our cards on out the “field”
on defense and dip into the hat to make the next play. We moved the base
runners along the bases on these makeshift ball fields of our minds.
Playing with baseball cards usually
meant you had time to read the backs of the cards and could study batting averages,
home runs, RBIs and wins, losses and ERA for the pitchers.
I remember the Twins cards of Rod Carew,
Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Eddie Matthews, Zoilo Versalles (who later played
for the Dodgers) and Frank Viola.
In 1965 the Twins played the Dodgers in
the World Series. I was nine years old.
Minnesota took Game One 8-2 with Mudcat
Grant getting the win over Don Drysdale. Versalles went two-for-five with four
RBI, including a homer off Drysdale.
The Twins took Game Two 5-1 as Jim Kaat
defeated Sandy Koufax. Koufax gave up two runs, one of them earned, on six hits
in six innings. Killebrew led the Twins with two hits in three trips and Kaat
helped himself with two RBI.
The Dodgers returned to Chavez Ravine
down 0-2 but bounced back with a 4-0 win in Game Three as Claude Osteen got the
win over Camilio Pascual. Osteen pitched a complete game five-hitter and RBIs
from John Roseboro, Maury Wills and Lou Johnson paced the Dodgers.
Drysdale returned to the mound in Game
Four and got the decision over Mudcat Grant in a 7-2 win. Like Osteen, Drysdale
went nine innings and held the Twins to five hits. Wes Parker and Lou Johnson
went yard in the rout.
Game Five in Los Angeles was critical
and the Dodgers sent Koufax to the mound in a 7-0 win. Koufax went nine
innings, struck out 10 and held the Twins to four hits. Wills had four hits,
Ron Fairly added three and the Dodgers chased Kaat after 2.1 innings.
Minnesota evened the series at 3-3 in
Game Six when Grant took the decision over Osteen in a 5-1 Twins victory. Grant
went nine innings for the win, holding the Dodgers to six hits and striking out
five. Fairly homered for the lone Dodger run.
Game Seven was played on October 14,
1965 at Minnesota’s Metropolitan Stadium. Koufax faced off against Kaat in a
battle of southpaws. Kaat pitched three innings before turning the game over to
the Twins pitching staff of Al Worthington, Johnny Klippstein, Jim Merritt and
Jim Perry.
Koufax pitched a gem, going the full
nine innings and allowed only three hits while fanning 10.
The Dodgers scored twice in the fourth
inning for the 2-0 final margin when Johnson homered to left off Kaat and
Fairly doubled down the right field line. Parker then cashed him in with a
ground single to right and Koufax had all the offense he would need.
Koufax pitched three of the seven games
in the series, going 2-1 and tossing 24 innings with a 0.38 ERA and 29
strikeouts.
Fairly (.379 2 HR), Wills (.367 3 SB)
and Johnson (.296 2 HR) were the offensive leaders for the Dodgers.
It’s a shame I don’t still have those
baseball cards.
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