Twins Walk Off Grand Slams!

"Mr. Becquer, meet Misters Allison, Green & Battey"

Yesterday, Francisco Mejia, Padres catcher, took Jeffrey Springs of the Rangers deep with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off grand slam to defeat the Rangers 7-3. You might recall Mejia was the prized trade chip in the Pad's trade of Minnesota (Chaska) native Brad Hand to the Cleveland Indians on July 19 of this season. So sad Cleveland won't have the benefit of his services in the foreseeable future (Twins fans, insert chuckle here)..

It was MLB's seventh walk-off grand slam of the 2018 season. All of which made me wonder "how many game-winning, walk-off grand slams have been hit in Minnesota Twins history* I thought, there must have been about 5, 6, at least.

* Grand slams hit in the home half of the last half inning that put the home club in the lead, and  which automatically end the game

 I wasn't far off! Basically right on...of course! :D

The actual result of my search? A grand total of FIVE times in 59 seasons of Twins baseball.  Or one every 12 years or so.

By the way aLI (average pressure index) is a Baseball Reference creation alluding to the average pressure factors upon the batter in their individual at bats. Which would say Becquer was feeling a HEAP of stress, perhaps thinking his status with the club in that inaugural Twins season might hinge on that very at bat (see Reusse story below!) . It's also interesting to note the 40 year span from Hall's 1966 bomb until Jason Kubel got the Twins back on the map in the 2000's.

Twins All-Time Walk-off Grand Slams, 1961-2018

Rk	Player	Date ▲	Opp	Rslt	HR	RBI	aLI	Pitcher	Batter
1	Julio Becquer	1961-07-04 (1)	CHW	W 6-4	1	4	6.990	Warren Hacker	Julio Becquer
2	Jimmie Hall	1966-08-02	BOS	W 7-3	1	4	2.372	Don McMahon	Jimmie Hall
3	Jason Kubel	2006-06-13	BOS	W 5-2	1	4	2.962	Julian Tavarez	Jason Kubel
4	Joe Crede	2009-05-13	DET	W 14-10	1	4	2.044	Brandon Lyon	Joe Crede
5	Brian Dozier	2018-07-15	TBR	W 11-7	1	4	5.570	Matt Andriesse	Brian Dozier

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/17/2018.

MLB'S 2018 Walk-off Grand Slams

Results

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	Pitcher
1	Francisco Mejia	2018-09-16	SDP	TEX	W 7-3	Jeffrey Springs
2	David Bote	2018-08-12	CHC	WSN	W 4-3	Ryan Madson
3	Daniel Robertson	2018-07-22	TBR	MIA	W 6-4	Kyle Barraclough
4	Xander Bogaerts	2018-07-14	BOS	TOR	W 6-2	Chris Rowley
5	Jose Bautista	2018-07-06	NYM	TBR	W 5-1	Chaz Roe
7	Jason Heyward	2018-06-06	CHC	PHI	W 7-5	Adam Morgan

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 9/17/2018.  - FOR SOME REASON, BBREF WILL NOT LIST DOZIER'S GS
ON JULY 15 IN THE GENERATED REPORT - I HAD TO DO IT MANUALLY
IN THE FIRST CHART.  #CONSPIRACY! #SAD

Yeah, those greedy Cubs have TWO already in 2018!!

See Patrick Reusse's July 3, 2010 Article about Becquer's Grand Slam via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It is corkin' good!

"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal

They Paved Paradise To Put Up A Shopping Mall / Met Stadium Pictorial P. III

via GIPHY - via pkragthorpe / Reddit

Time-lapse photo of Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, as it looked in 1956, and later, the Mall of  America shopping center.  The Twins were the first major pro sports team to play there, beginning on April 21, 1961, before calling it a day on Sept. 30, 1981. Demolition of the ballpark took place in 1985. Ground was broken for the MOA on June 14, 1989, and and it officially opened on August 11, 1992.

While it's tempting for me to take stock video of the old Met's deconstruction, and soundtrack it with Joni Mitchell's  "Big Yellow Taxi," a song about  dubious "progress," the fact remains that Twins Prez Calvin Griffith had let the stadium become tired, aged by the time the park reached 20 years old. More importantly, business interests in Minneapolis wanted the Twins playing in a downtown stadium to open up revenue streams. It's fading away was inevitable.

photo via MNOpedia

Now, for people like me, refugees born in the 1960s, it seems odd that there is a whole generation, or really two, that have no personal memories of Metropolitan Stadium. That just tells me I'm a walking anachronism. But this little morphing scene, reminiscent of a "Back To The Future" scene, adds nice historical context.

"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal

It's Official: Senators Announce Move To Minnesota, Oct. 26, 1960

NOTE: this post is a part of my ongoing "Twins Genesis" series, with "The Naming Of The Twins" being the other published back on November 26, 2011.

In the October 26, 1960 edition of The Sporting News, Washington Senators President Calvin Griffith emphatically denied that a move of his team to Minnesota was in the works:

"Read my (semi-obscured)
lips - there will be no
move to Minneapolis...
today."

"That's a lot of baloney, and sounds like somebody's pipedream. It is news to me that the American League will discuss transferring the Washington club elsewhere."

But on that very same day, as we well know, Griffith and the rest of the AL bigwig suits came out of a smoke-filled backroom during the Fall MLB Owner's meetings to announce the info about the Senators move, besides the blockbuster new expansion teams being created in Washington (the "new" Senators) and Los Angeles (the Angels) to begin play in April, 1961.

Below embed - From the October 26 and November 2, 1960 issues of  "The Sporting News"



The Fall Owners meeting in '60 was preceeded two days earler by a fateful visit to Griffith's New York hotel suite by young Minneapolis businessman Wheelock Witney and Gerald Moore, Executive Director of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, In their last-ditch, final pitch to convince him to commit to a move, they upped the ante by guaranteeing him 1 million in attendance for each of the first three years in Minnesota, plus full concession proceeds and $500,000 in local television and radio rights – almost three times more in broadcast revenue than he was earning in Washington. Now There was no way Griffith would delay. The deal was done - to The Northstar State was he headed. The owners stood by Calvin with a 6-2 vote.

It was the culmination of several years of rumored moves, thinly-veiled threats by Griffith to find greener pastures, and legal action to block said movement. Not that one could blame Calvin for wanting out of perpetual, last place penury, especially in the 1950s, Yankees-dominated era which he had inherited from his Hall of Fame Uncle, Clark Griffith.

 Now, to put a final nail in the upstart Continental League, and to get the jump on the National League, Griffith and his American League backers were moving boldly (if not with great foresight). It was not just a wonderful bonanza in Minnesota, and for its fans to have a professional sports franchise - expansion and relocation signaled the beginning of a new era in American professional sports, happening as it did at the start of the 1960s, with all the innovation and turbulence that change can bring. The NFL, NBA, and the NHL would take their cues, and follow suit in the years to follow.

"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal

Earl Battey 1961 Baseball Digest Feature

Do yourself a favor and check out this link to June 1961 Baseball Digest at my Google Docs with a superb Earl Battey article. Battey was the first Twins player ever to appear on the cover of that magazine, as the Twins first season had just begun in Minnesota just a few weeks earlier.A great piece on the first, great catcher of the Twins, who was named the top catcher on the Twins 40th Anniversary in 2000.

It's from a fantastic, mint edition which I just recently bought off Amazon. I rather fancy it as a historical document, partly because it was published just a month or so into the beginning of the first expansion era in baseball. Besides that, it really is telling as an illustration of sports journalism, circa 1961.

To wit: I truly doubt that any major sports publication today, or any magazine really, would give a damn what I thought about anything, much less pay me for ideas submitted:

[Blurb at left from "Greatest Catches" story - see table of contents in the Google scanned Table Of Contents - I wouldn't mind the money, if the offer from Baseball Digest is still valid..]

You'll notice the date stamp, "MAY 4 - 1961" on the back page, probably denoting when it was received by the store of sale. The story references the Twins first game on April 11, 1961 (BBRef box), which means the interview for the June issue was conducted very shortly after that game before it went to press.

Battey really shows himself to be an incredibly well-spoken young guy (he was 26 in 1961). I mean, this story is really chock full of intelligent, cogent, and insightful responses. The BD staff writer, Charles Dexter, included quite a few long, thoughtful quotes which made it seem at times as if Battey himself wrote the article in the first person.

My favorite sections were his insights into Twins pitchers like Camilo Pascual, Jack Kralick and Pedro Ramos, and how they comported themselves in the lockerroom. I'm only a little surprised not seeing any references to Jim Kaat. Probably indicates where the big lefty was in the staff's pecking order as the season was beginning.

An ironic section on page 15 mentions that Earl had John Roseboro as a neighbor in Compton, California at the time. Of course, all good Twins fans know that Roseboro eventually replaced Earl as the Twins everyday catcher, in 1968, after Earl and Ron Perranoski came in the Versalles/Grant trade. You can read about Earl's post-career at this SABR bio article from 2009.

I included the table of contents in the scan, plus the revised Twins and Yankees rosters as of '61 May, in addition to those for the first two expansion teams in MLB history, the California Angels and the new Washington Senators. I kid you not! If you see any articles you would like pdf scans to read, just let me know. I can try to email you a copy.

There are some nice pluses in the magazine.

See if you can recognize some of the names

of the Twins coaches (or others)

in the chart below! Yeah, just a tad jumbo, but it wasn't 

displaying well at large size!

NOTE: Check out the back side of the magazine at the end of the scan: a full-color advertisement. Rather cool!

You can get a short sample of the older Earl, at this

You Tube video from 1986 I posted a while ago. You get

some idea of the understated, but warm manner

of the man. Fairly engrossing, if I might say so.

I conclude in my best Herb Carneal-ese: "So long everybody!"

Twins Killers: Diamond Jim Gentile's Two Grandslams At The Met, May 9, 1961

"I was just trying to get a hit both times as I hate to leave a man on third base." - Diamond" Jim Gentile 

On today's date, Tuesday, May 9, 1961 (BBRef.), Gentile hit two grand slams versus the Twins in a 13-5 shellacking at Metropolitan Stadium, in Bloomington, Minnesota. This game marked the very first game ever for the Baltimore Orioles in Minnesota after the Washington franchise moved to The North Star State. In the world of pop music, Del Shannon's Runaway was Number 1 in the U.S. Hit Parade. Three days previous, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard had become the first American to travel into space, to an altitude of 116 statute miles, at a landing point 302 statute miles down the Atlantic Missile Range. And perhaps equally fascinating to baseball fans was the legendary home run race between Yankees Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, who would finish first (61) and second (54), respectively, in the first year of expansion in Major League Baseball. A good trivia question: can you name who finished (tied) for third place in that race?

BACKSTORY

Jim Gentile had been buried in the Brooklyn/L.A. Dodger farm system for an unbelievable EIGHT seasons (1952-59), during which time he hit 208 home runs! His minor league totals have to be seen to be believed! The only thing blocking his path to the majors was the presence of long-time, beloved Dodger first baseman slugger and All-Star, Gil Hodges. His late arrival at age 25 (March, 1960) in Baltimore to finally become a regular player is the primary reason his place in Major League Baseball history is not more prominent. His background as a Dodger gets some treatment in this fine article "Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Jim Gentile: The Story of Baseball's 1961 Sensation." It goes into detail about his delayed start that goes beyond the scope of this post. One of the story's revelations is that Roger Maris was mistakenly credited for one extra RBI in a July 5th game - significant because without it, it meant he and Gentile had actually tied for the AL RBI lead at season's end.

As it was he only hit 179 homers in 9 seasons, with a 162 game average of 31. He hit 20 HR, and had 51 BB in 342 plate appearances, while collecting 59 RBI versus the Twins for his career; that was good for a .257/ .365 /.507 /.872 line in 91 games.

 The game marked the appearance of four future baseball Hall of Fame players and managers, and was played before 4,514 fans. With 18 runs, 21 hits, 12 walks, and 6 relief pitchers the game clocked in at 3:10 under sunny, cool, 47 degree skies.

Minnesota fans at this post's publishing date most assuredly can relate to such maddening disconnects and variability of spring weather.

Regardless, I had never heard of this game, (being the young and spry spring chicken I am) until about 8 years ago, when a coworker of mine asked me if I had ever heard of Gentile's feat; the same friend had attended that game while on an outing as a school patroller. It was just a little bit before my time began as a Twins fan, and I had to know more about it. I couldn't locate any records to corroborate his story; I was evidently not aware of the existence of on-line sites such as Baseball Ref. and Retrosheet. What an ignorant, savage world I lived in...

THE GAME
Baltimore right fielder and future Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog had walked to lead off the game; he advanced to third by center fielder Jackie Brandt's double. Then, another future Hall of Famer, third baseman Brooks Robinson, took first on Ramos's second walk of the inning. It was then that Diamond Jim smoked a fastball for bomb number one over the center field fence off right hander Pedro Ramos, 410 feet just to the right of center. To this day, Gentile maintains he didn't hit it very well, implying that the wind helped the ball carry.

[Click schedule above for larger size] Herb Carneal was in the broadcasting booth that day - calling the game for the Orioles.  He'd joined their team in '57, wouldn't arrive in Minnesota until 1962. 

"Taking a healthy, home run cut!" - Racine Journal

May 10, 1961. Very Jim Thome-like in its violence.

Gentile's #4 would later be worn by another,

noteworthy Oriole - Hall of Fame Manager 

Earl Weaver (see photo).

See above Gentile photo with story at Brownsville Herald, May 10, 1961

After Ramos allowed a single to Oriole starter Chuck Estrada with one out in the second, he walked Herzog again, and was removed in favor of reliever and Winona (Minn.) native, Paul Giel. Jackie Brandt topped one, which Giel fielded and threw wildly for an error at second, attempting to force out Herzog, allowing Estrada to score on the play. Giel had to have been completely aware who was coming up, but despite that he still gave Robinson his second free pass in as many innings to bring up the Diamond Man. Same result: on his very next swing, Gentile caught Giel's high change up, and cleared the bases with another cannon shot - this time 410 feet, deep into the right field bleachers (the right field line was 329 feet in 1961; the power alley in right center was 365 - it must have had looked gargantuan to the 4,514 in attendance). And just as they had in the first, the same quartet scored to put the game away! His 8th inning sac-fly scored Brandt - the third time Gentile had driven him home - giving him nine RBI on the day. His slams drew him even with Mantle in the early home run race at nine.

Curiously following Gentile at number 5 in the Baltimore batting order was yet another Hall of Famer and former Dodger. Dick Williams was no all-star as a player; he would make The Hall purely on the strength of his managing acumen. To wit, he did not reach base once in that ballgame. In fact, he was doing his darnedest to stay above the Mendoza Line; he entered play that day batting .203. Meanwhile, Gentile had been lighting it up in the first 22 games of the season, with a .338/.476/.738 line - good for a whopping OPS of 1.215 (see stats link). Oriole Manager Paul Richards (fascinating SABR bio link) didn't even bother to protect Gentile in the lineup with other, better choices like catcher Gus Triandos (perennial MVP candidate), or shortstop Ron Hansen (1960 AL All-Star/Rookie of The Year). Richards was regardly universally as the genius baseball mind in that era, much like Gene Mauch would be a few years later; in this isolated instance, at least, his lineup sequence just didn't add up for me. Now, as if I haven't deadened your mind already with links to stats and news accounts, here's another one: a funny little piece about Gentile and Manager Richards in this Sporting News short, from July 19, 1961. 

Kingsport (TN) Times, May 10, 1961, Would have been nice if

the UPI photographer had actually gotten Brooks Robinson and

Whitey Herzog (run-scorers with Gentile and Brandt) into the frame, instead of Ron Hanson. Coulda-shoulda-woulda, I guess.

Also of interest was yet another Hall of Famer playing in that game - Harmon Killebrew. The Killer, obviously not wanting to be left out of the fun, went deep in his last at bat in the ninth to deep left field. As it was his sixth blast ever wearing a Twins uniform, he was continuing his own blistering pace (BBRef popup stats) since coming back from an injury. He and Gentile would end up in a tie in the 1961 homer race with 46. Twins right fielder Bob Allison also went deep twice - but he only had a paltry 3 RBI's for his 3 for 4 afternoon, in contrast to Mr. Gentile (San Antonio Express news PDF) .

POSTSCRIPT

If you check Diamond Jim's splits in that 1961 season (BBRef popup stats) against the Twins and the other AL teams, you'll note he took the ugly stick to nearly everyone that year. His favorite victim was the L.A. Angels pitching staff; his 1.441 OPS came on the strength of 9 homers, 3 doubles, 15 singles, 25 rbi's, and an amazing .409 BAbip! His line against Minnesota was a still-whopping .327/.426/.691 for a 1.117 OPS, with 6 home runs, and 23 rbi's.  Overall, he had 46 homers, 141 rbi's, 96 walks, batted .302, and only struck out 106 times. So, I don't expect I'll knock you over with a feather with surprise if I say 1961 was his career year.

1961 Topps Gentile card

An online article from summer, 2013, at MASN Sports Network shows Gentile in gracious form, discussing his great 1961 season, in addition to praising current Oriole first baseman Chris Davis for his home run exploits. He sounds thoroughly at peace with his career and place in Oriole history. 

After 1963, he would go on to play for several more American and National League clubs, adding value wherever he went, though never coming close to equaling that magical 1961 season. As if anyone could. But for legions of Twins fans, he is known today as the very first Twins Killer.

To quote the great Twins broadcaster:

"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal

Post Script: One of my fellow members, Jim Huber from The Society For American Baseball Research, has used this post as source material for his very fine article about Jim Gentile's game - linked here:

May 9, 1961: Orioles' Jim Gentile blasts two grand slams on consecutive pitches

On Tuesday, May 9, 1961, before a crowd of 4,514 fans at Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium, the Baltimore Orioles played an afternoon game against the Twins. Baltimore's record was 12-10, while Minnesota's was 11-11. This game was Baltimore's first in Minnesota, as the Twins franchise moved from Washington after the 1960 season.

Game Of The Week: Second-Guessing Harmon Killebrew, Aug. 6,1961

This is the latest in a series honoring the late, great Harmon Killebrew, who died on May 17, 2011.

NOTE: eventually, all killers
end up with their mug shot
on the post office wall, or
in the newspaper sports section .

I recently came upon this 51 year-old clipping, found in the subterranean archives at Classic Twins. Though incomplete, it was found on the back of an AP photo and news story of Warren Spahn, celebrating his 300th win. Its central figure is the dominant icon in Minnesota Twins history, and it's scant detail allows a glimpse at one of the few instances in which he was the receiver of something besides glowing endorsement. That it occured as it did could be attributed to the fact that he had only two full seasons under his belt, and was earning his stripes as a 25 year-old star for the fledgling '61Twins. Of course, it's happening in the media capital of the world helped make it water cooler fodder around the country. That criticism alone made it absorbing for me - a lifelong citizen of Twins Territory.

It was the last time the Twins would play in New York during the 1961 season. In a deflating series, the Twins lost four games that weekend to the eventual World Champs; the last three were by one run. The game in focus was the first of a Sunday doubleheader, which the Twins lost in extra innings on a fielding decision by Harmon Killebrew.

The Game

The Aug. 6, 1961 box at BBRef is a fine stop to catch the sequence of events. In short: right hander Ray “Old Blue” Moore was pitching for the Twins in the bottom of the 15th inning, the game tied at 6 each. The Yankees had loaded the bases for Yogi Berra with one out, following a walk to Mickey Mantle. The eventual Hall of Fame catcher slapped a grounder at fellow future Hall inductee Killebrew at first. The conventional play would have had him throwing home to cut off the winning run (Bobby Richardson).

The game record at BBRef says Killebrew, instead, chose to go for the inning-ending double play. It is likely he factored the old-timer Berra into the split-second decision;  the left fielder that day was playing his 1,927th game since 1946, the majority of which he played as a catcher. But The Baseball Gods made Killebrew pay for that...his throw to shortstop Zoilo Versalles forced out Mickey Mantle, but the gamer Berra wrested every bit of energy he could from his 36 year-old legs to beat the return throw. Richardson scored the winning run. The Bombers basked in their accustomed glow while the upstarts from Minnesota limped down the coast to begin a weekday series in Boston.

Killebrew with The Mick, Jim Lemon and Roger Maris at Yankee Stadium,
in August of 1961. I'm getting a Mount Rushmore effect!

In the process, it unleashed the Monday morning quarterbacks of the press, questioning Killebrew’s “wrong play.” The game and series helped propel New York to its winningest month that season, and dropped Minnesota to 25 games back of the Evil Empire. It was the “TC” boys sixth straight loss. Yes, for Twins fans accustomed to the Yankees seemingly endless domination in the 2000s, nothing much has changed under the sun in 50 years (1987 and 1991 notwithstanding...). The discussion lasted into the next weekend, at least, when the Spahn photo was published in the Minneapolis Star.

In Case You Were Wondering...

Killebrew's 1961 Fielding / Lifetime Statistics As First Baseman

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	Rtot	Rtot/yr	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	Awards
1961	MIN	AL	25	1B	119	115	102	997.1	1053	972	67	14	91	.987	1	1	9.38	8.73	.990	9.45	9.34	AS,MVP-11
	14 Seasons			1B	969	929	626	7810.2	8145	7521	555	69	678	.992	-6	-1	9.31	8.33	.991	9.71	9.57

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 2/18/2012. Rtot: total zone fielding above average; RF/9: range factor per 9 innings RF/G: range factor per game. You are encouraged to match like-colored columns for comparison. Big chart! Try clicking on "original table" if partially obscured.

The "lg" prefixes  denote league averages for the same sets of criterion. These stats seem to suggest the idea that while Killebrew had average to poor range; on the other hand, he also made relatively few errors, was sure handed with the balls he could reach, and probably compensated for his deficits with good positioning the longer he was in the league.

The statistics show what we already knew by the eyeball test: Killebrew’s record as a fielder in 1961 and for his career confirms he was sub par in range (as compared to the league’s other first basemen) and foot speed. BBref and Fangraph's are in accord in assigning him a TZ (total zone) of 1 in 1961, which places him in the "extremely average/low average" in that oh-so-convoluted-yet-encompassing fielding construct. And I while I wasn’t around in ’61 (only being familiar with the Harmon of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s), it’s hard to imagine he’d been Juan Pierre-like in foot speed ten years earlier. Quite the opposite; think of a latter-day  Benjie Molina (whom, it has been said, runs “like he’s got a bear on his back”). I recall seeing Harmon with binoculars, during a game in the early '70s; the image of him sitting on the dugout steps, eating potato chips is etched upon my mind. That and that vicious swing of his.

Suffice it to say, while he was an exceptional athlete with superior throwing arm strength, he was sub par in those other, essential attributes.

Doing what comes naturally: Harmon being harmful on the Senators and catcher Gene Green, 1961 (Sports Illustrated Archive Photo). I can watch video of him regularly from the '60s and still feel awe at how hard he swung. Paul Bunyan indeed.

OK, I'm A Homer, But...

While there was no mistaking Harmon’s role as Minnesota's slugger extraordinaire, there is that other issue which has been part of the Killebrew story – his defensive position in the field. Killebrew played 119 games at first and 65 at third in 1961. Then, he was shuttled, more or less continuously during the 1960’s, between third, first, and left field. The only exception to this was 1967, when he played160 games at first.  After ’61, Harmon didn’t play first at all (save for 4 games in ’62) until 1965, when Manager Sam Mele penciled him in for 72 at first, and 44 at third. The presence of slick fielding Vic Power on those early Twins teams, Don Mincher in mid-decade, and Rich Reese at the end of the 1960’s made it incumbent on Killebrew to move over to help other teammates find a defensive position, a stronger glove, or to add another strong bat to the lineup. 

The point of this filibuster, you ask? The constant jockeying between positions had to affect his fielding instincts for the worse. Whether it’s licking envelopes, yelling at office subordinates, or driving a fork truck, it’s hard to gain the rhythm and instincts to be effective at what you do without the constant reps, the daily security of routine. Little things aren't so automatic, like positioning for certain game situations, or, say, choosing the best percentage play to get a putout.

Athletes are notorious creatures of habit. The Nick Puntos of the world, who can thrive defensively without positional security, are rare animals. Here was Harmon Killebrew, the dominant power hitter of his team and of the entire decade of the 1960’s moving around the diamond for the betterment of his team – It would be unthinkable to ask Albert Pujols to find another slot out of respect for Kendrys Morales and his glovework now in 2012. Not that Pujols has ever been compared to a Dick "Dr. Strangeglove" Stuart as a fielder.

No debate here. Harmon gets a posthumous pardon for his error in judgment.

If it was good enough for Herb Carneal, so it goes for me:
"So long, everybody." - TT