Rule 5s & Circle Changes: Johan Santana Joins Twins Hall

The well-ballanced, Tom Seaver-styled "drop and drive" delivery-

whom Santana should have tied for career Cy Young Awards

were if not for some ridiculous voter preferences for Bartolo 

Colon and Mariano Rivera in 2005 Santana was plainly superior (see link)

Photo Credit: Steve Ellis

Johan Santana joined the elite list of all-time Twins Hall of Famers tonight, earning the exclusive blazer and a free, all expenses paid discount for a Murray's Silver Butterknife steak meal. It was a great night of Twins luminaries coming back to mesmerize Target Field, and a great acceptance speech by Santana. I completely remember my one and only Twins spring training visit in his 2000 rookie season. There wasn't much else to grab you with that team. The only other really notable development with the Twins roster heading into that year was the acquisition of Butch Huskey. Moving on...

We had gathered to watch him with the other spring squad members file into the main, Hammond complex on a sidewalk (located behind his catcher in the above frame) leading in from a side workout field. I remember turning to my brother-in-law, Mark, and gushing "There's the new rule five guy!," mindful of the mushrooming hype about him in the local, Minneapolis press dating back to the previous winter.

Baby Johan dispatches Jose Canseco, 

It would have been cool had he spent his entire career with the Twins. I was actually kind of done with him when he pushed for a trade to one of the New York clubs in late 2007. But, now in hindsight, New York...I get it. I'm only sorry they rode him into the ground with all the extra innings, higher pitch counts. 

As it was, he was a brilliant meteor, with his career years and Cy Young Awards bunched together, like the Ks on the scoreboard displays around the American League. He was the best for about four, five years running. Like Koufax. Or, Koufax-lite, at a minimum.

Comparisons aside, he'll likely never make the Hall Of Fame, but in his era, he certainly was in the discussion when the best pitchers in baseball were debated. A factoid: his career didn't take off until minor league pitching coach Bobby Cuellar taught him the circle change - echoing an earlier  circumstance in Twins history. 

In the 1983 season, then-Twins pitching coach Johnny Podres taught a struggling Frank Viola the same pitch to complement his arsenal. The result? Two Twins Cy Young Award winners, and two with the same back story. The difference being that while Viola had been a second round Twins draft pick, Santana had been acquired by the Marlins on Dec. 13, 1999 as a Rule Five pick from the Astros, and then sending him packing the same day in a trade with the Twins for Jared Camp. Camp, of course, never pitched in the Majors.

Here is some backup for me regarding Santana being robbed in 2005 Cy Young Award voting:

Stark: Picking Santana

Nov 8, 2005 Jayson StarkESPN Senior Writer Close Senior writer for ESPN.com 21 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer Author of three baseball books One of these millennia, the Los Angeles-Anaheim-California Angels were bound to have somebody win a Cy Young Award. Wouldn't you think?

"So Long, Everybody!" - Herb Carneal

Video, 1965 World Series, Game 7: Met Stadium, Bloomington, Minn.

[ORIGINALLY POSTED- JULY 11, 2011 - additional video added, Sept. 13, 2013]

See link for unbelievably detailed scorecard, Game 7! Sandy Koufax (born "Sanford Braun") at the Met, Oct. 14, 1965 at Sports Junkie Score Card

The first video below was mined from a Korean site. It dishes a batter-by-batter capsule review of The Great Koufax' memorable 1-0 shutout win to clinch the series for L.A. The creator evidently wished to highlight every out recorded as a result of Koufax' strikeouts or fielders' putouts. The second, which is a fairly recent inclusion on MLB's You Tube Channel, is the full deal - with pregame, play-by-play, and post game interviews. Wild, wild stuff that's on the big time video site these days!

 [NOTE: video can be a slow download].

 Scroll to two minute mark, see behind home plate view of Koufax-Earl Battey confrontation. Being both obsessive AND compulsive, I hit the stop/pause buttons countless times to get a visual of standing in against Koufax. The impression? Lefty was a dominating, fast worker, great control, who would  keep you off balance with a mere two pitches.  He'd just embarrass batters by dispatching them quickly. Classic pitching.

Other Notable Things To Watch For:

* Koufax adjusting his hat after seemingly every pitch - must be a Jewish thing

* Watch how he wasn't accurately controlling his curve ball in the early going - abandons it in favor of fastball almost exclusively later (after 1-1:30 video mark)
* None of that "working the count," jazz in 1960's baseball, waiting for mistake pitches, getting walks - batters were up there to swing. Of course, pitchers like Steve Carlton, Pedro Martinez, Koufax hand you your ass if you try that (my apologies to Sister Catherine, my Grade 3 teacher at St. Wenceslaus School. I know it is very crass grammar, in addition to lazy verb-noun association. Expecting to be stuck on chalkboard eraser cleanup, post-haste)
* Putouts at first, first basemen turns to sling the ball to the catcher, backing up first - doesn't happen today - believe that all started with Joe Mauer's bilateral leg weakness
* Tony Oliva's bat throwing - he does it at least two times during the game
* On closeups of Koufax using the behind the plate camera, you can see how he hides the ball, and how difficult it could be to pick up his motion. Advantageous, especially the way he attacked hitters

No, you don't see the possible game-turning Zoilo Versalles smash that 3B Jim Gilliam converted into a force out of Frank Quilici in the 5th. Nor do you see Harmon Killebrew's  ground single bashed to left in the 9th. So, it's not perfectly complete. But you do get an idea of the quick pace and economy with which "The Left Arm of God" (see SI 1999 story) worked on that Thursday afternoon, October 14, 1965 (box score), even with the film edits. BONUS: you also get to hear broadcast greats Vin Scully (Dodgers) and Ray Scott (Twins) give the play-by-play for NBC (more You Tube audio of the two broadcasting greats from that day).

As our very own Herb Carneal would say "...and the count rides along." - TT