GOTW: Vic Power, First Twin To Steal Home, July 19, 1962

It happened 54 years ago this week, July 19, 1962 (Baseball Ref Box) that Vic Power became the first Twins player to steal home. With Harmon Killebrew batting, Power streaked down the third base line to score in the 5th inning during the Twins 8-0 rout of the Cleveland Indians at Met Stadium.

Here you see Tribe catcher Johnny Romano's futile effort to apply the tag, while home plate ump Nestor Chylak is all set for action. I guess I could be upset that my Dad didn't take me to this one-yes, I was an infant at the time, granted - - but it's the principle of the thing.

Hurt feelings aside, here’s your play-by-play context, courtesy of Baseball Reference:

Jim Kaat had grounded out, first baseman Tito Francona to pitcher Bill Dailey covering. Bill Tuttle followed with a single to left. Then, Power stroked an opposite field double to rightfield, Tuttle reaching third; Rich Rollins moved both baserunners ahead with a sac fly to center, making the score 5-0 for the Twins; and, then, with Killebrew at the plate, the thief Power broke for home. He clearly touched home plate ahead of catcher Romano’s tag, as the above photo demonstrates. Sweet revenge upon his old team! Vic had had a stormy, "on-again/off-again" relationship with the Indians management dating back several years, receiving fines and reprimands that were often a result of his passionate, instinctive nature. Not your 1950s "company man" that team owners expected, especially from a Latino black man.

Vic Power batting in a June, 1963 game. Again, Harmon Killebrew is on-deck (right, by inscription).Six summers would pass before another Twins player - Rod Carew in 1969 - Would create similar excitement on the bases at Metropolitan Stadium. And then, again, with Harmon Killebrew still batting in the three hole(photo), for a nice piece of ironic, synchronized history.

Vic Power actually had quite a history of doing this (see BBRef table below), perhaps THE most exciting play in baseball. He stole home TWICE for the Cleveland Indians, for example, on August 14, 1958 (Google News Archive links) in a regular season game (BBRef Box), and then again in a spring training game on March 22, 1960*, again as an Indian. It would also be the last steal of home for Power in his career. In twelve years, he stole 45 bases - and 8 of them were steals of home...a full 17%!! By comparison, the all-time leader of steals of home, Ty Cobb did this 54 times, 6% of his lifetime 897.

* - scroll above headline to see Power photo

CAREER STEALS OF HOME FOR VIC POWER!
                           

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB
3	1959-04-18	CLE	KCA	W 13-4	5	4	3	3	1	1	1
12	1962-07-19	MIN	CLE	W 8-0	4	3	2	1	0	0	1
20	1961-05-19	CLE	NYY	W 9-7	5	4	2	3	0	1	1
Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB
33	1959-05-03 (1)	CLE	WSH	W 5-0	4	3	1	1	0	1	1
34	1959-04-25	CLE	CHW	L 6-8	5	5	2	3	0	1	2
36	1958-08-14	CLE	DET	W 10-9	6	6	3	3	0	1	2
39	1957-07-28 (1)	KCA	WSH	W 6-2	4	4	1	1	0	1	1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: 

Generated 7/22/2016.
Only 1 of his steals in 1959-04-25 game was a steal of home.

Regarding his baserunning instincts, his manager from his Cleveland days, Joe Gordon offered: “Vic isn’t particularly fast, but he’s got baseball instinct. He bluffed the pitchers beautifully – rushing up the line, pausing long enough to make them relax and then, poof – streaking all the way in (Cleveland Press, August 5, 1958).” This was an interesting dimension (I would call it a "Negro League style") that the charismatic Puerto Rican brought to the young, conventional Twins.

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SEE This Classic Minnesota Twins! Vic Power Post From 2013!

TRADING FOR VIC POWER - APRIL 6, 2015 - Originally published 4/2/13 In-season trades are rare occurrences for the Minnesota Twins. And even rarer are those that actually impacted the fortunes positively for the home nine.

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As I think about it, Vic Power has been the focal point of at least 3 of my blog posts, an inordinately large number for a player who was a Twin for parts of only three seasons. I submit two reasons for that level of fascination with him:

*He was unique for his time (nearly became the first dark-skinned player on the Yankees!),* in that he was a multi-dimensional player in an era when first basemen were sloth-like creatures who were expected to hit the ball out of the park and field with little range. In contrast, Power, besides being a consistent offensive contributor, ran the bases well, and played his position quite unconventionally, like Adrian Beltre plays third today. That and the fact that he was a charismatic extrovert (see his obit!) in a time when players were rather drone-like.

*That honor would go to the relatively taciturn Elston Howard

*He also intrigues me for having visited my hometown sometime during that 1962-64 period, and greeting kids and other Twins fans at our local movie theatre. This affair was attended by my oldest brother (again, cue my personal envy, bitterness), who recalls it being an occasion to encourage clean living, participation in sports, besides being an autograph-signing session. As a dark-skinned man, I am certain he stood out in what was then an all-white community, perhaps prompting surprise or disappointment for some who may have come out to see if the basestealer would hock some movie candy from the lobby on his way out.

As far as that visit by Power and his teammates to the theatre...do I sense a future blog post sequel coming....?

"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal

Reno Bertoia: The Twins Original Third Baseman Passes Away

It happens so often. That person or circumstance in life that you thought you had figured out - and then, new facts are revealed that remind one once again: I'm a rube about a million things, will forget that fact, and will eventually receive the memo that puts me back on the straight and narrow.

I had gained a fairly cynical view from a book I read years ago (which I'll reference shortly) that Reno Bertoia was just some hapless character taking up space in the country of baseball.

Then, another memo was given to me yesterday from long distance friends about the man who became the Twins' original third baseman: Reno Bertoia had passed away.  He came out of Windsor, Ontario, and played the bulk of his career with the Detroit Tigers. He died of lymphoma cancer yesterday morning after a short battle with the disease, surrounded by family. He was lauded nicely by Al Kaline, his old friend, teammate, and Baseball Hall of Famer. He was 76 years old.

Reno was one of the few MLB players ever to be born in Italy. He moved to Windsor with his family when he was 22 months old. Perhaps his greatest claim to baseball fame was displacing Ted Williams at the top of the batting race until late May of the 1957 season. 

It is now a footnote in Twins history that Reno Bertoia hit the second homer ever for the club, in its Inaugural Game on April 11, 1961 (box score) in the 8th inning off Ralph Terry of the Yankees.  Bob Allison went deep an inning previous. But it was no footnote for Bertoia - his stepdaughter, Beth Daly, reveals this was his #1 choice as the favorite opener in his career.

That homer would be his one and only in a Twins career spanning 35 games (see 1961 Twins game logs), all at third, including 4 games he entered as a pinch hitter.  He was traded on June 1, 1961 with Bill Tuttle to the Kansas City Athletics for Paul Giel.

A treat: view Reno in this clip from the Mister Baseball website. Do it! You'll see him visiting in his native Italy. You may agree, he's the picture of a man brimming with humility, dignity, and an awareness of what is truly meaningful in life. This view of him is also totally contradicted by today's internet news piece of the great Hugh Hefner and the 85-year old's latest excursion into marriage (his 29th?), with a woman looking old enough to be a junior in high school.  No doubt, it is destined to be a "very special" union, as Hugh commented...

That book blurb I mentioned? Here's the excerpt I recalled from the sublime book "The Great American Baseball Card," (Amazon.com link).  It is an irreverent treasure trove about 1950's and 60's baseball players and their Topps Cards. To wit:

"Quick, name a major league baseball player who was born in San Remo, Italy, lived in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and couldn't hit. That's right--Reno Bertoia.
OK. Name another one. 

The back of Reno's card is interesting. It says that his average last year was .162 and that, although he did not get to play in too many ballgames, he gained valuable information about American League hurlers that would help him in the future. I suspect that the information he gathered was that every pitcher in the American League could get him out, and that perhaps he should try another line of work."

THAT'S the version I ingested as a young man of Reno Bertoia. 

Nevertheless...his being one of the few players that have been lucky and talented enough to find their way into that line of work is remarkable enough.  This is not to take the whacking stick to the authors Boyd and Harris - they were contemporary observers of Reno's career, and it's not against the law to have an opinion. Nor do I care to pillory Hugh Hefner for that matter (very much). More clearly, a man who became a history teacher, and did it well according to all accounts, deserves to be lauded. “He was in many ways prouder of his teaching career [at Assumption school in Windsor]” added Daly. “Because he felt he impacted a lot of people’s lives.” In my mind, his aura of modesty and integrity links him to another Twin profiled at this blog, Lenny Green (see post), who also appeared in the Twins 1961 Opening Day lineup.

I will attest to that impact thing.  With my own elementary teaching career now over ten years past at this date, I still feel that it was the most significant thing I've done in my life.  And how my preoccupation with the Twins and the game of baseball is just mere filler and diversion in the cosmic scheme of things.

As Herb Carneal used to say: "And the count rides along..."
TT

Reno Bertoia, 1961 Kodak snapshot

April 16, 2011 - from Reno's Legacy.com page


Mr. Bertoia was my favorite teacher and taught me History, my favorite class at Assumption. I was very saddened when I heard of his passing announced on the radio. My father and mother also knew him as my Dad attended Assumption with him. Mr. Bertoia will be remembered to me as one of the nicest Teachers that I had in my lifetime.


~ Judy Glendenning (George) Class of '78, Windsor, Ontario