1987 World Series: The Twins Cop A Break And Miss Jack Clark

Did the Minnesota Twins luck out in the 1987 World Series, not having to fact the Cards best player? Well...

"Sucks having to watch"

The re-emergenece of Allen Craig in the lineup for the St. Louis Cardinals the Red Sox in this year's World Series has some interesting parallels with that of Jack Clark in 1987. The fortunes of the Cards in this year's Fall Classic hinge heavily upon middle of the order slugger Craig's recuperation from his ankle sprain, just as Clark 's injury impacted St. Louis in '87.

 "The Ripper" was hurt on a play at first (see benign mention, Sept. 9, 1987 news pdf), like Craig (Sept. 4, ankle sprain) this year. Indications are that Craig has sufficiently recovered (that from seeing his first at bat against Jon Lester in tonight's Game One) enough to be a factor; there was no such prospect for Clark, who had ligament damage (PDF newspaper report at link). Clark, in fact re-injured himself in a pre-Series workout, all but ending speculation over his availability for St. Louis

Top 1987 NL MVP Candidates	Games	HRs	RBI	OBP	SLG %	OBP+	Walks	Total Bases	MVP Vote
Jack Clark	131	35	106	0.459	0.597	1.056	136	250	3rd
Andre Dawson	153	49	137	0.328	0.568	0.896	32	353	1st

Andre Dawson won the MVP that year, despite playing for the last-place Chicago Cubs. But, given "The Hawk's" defensive abilities, his "good guy-who-plays-the-game-right" reputation, his truck load of RBIs and homers in (hitter-friendly) Wrigley Field for the sad-ass Cubbies, it was all too intoxicating for the voters. Dawson was playing in a time when modern metrics weren't given shrift, or were not even in the lexicon. For instance, his wRC (weighted runs created, 100 being average) was 124 (excellent), while Clark had 176. Read that as "Jack Clark created 76% more runs than the league average in '87." So, who was the better run creator? Who was more valuable? Um, let's see now...

But as Jack the Ripper (now known better as "The Man Least Likely To Be Asked Out For A Beer By Albert Pujols") was known as a prickly interview, and a  less-than-interested defensive player, the voters gave Dawson the nod. He did not play nice with everyone at all times, an old-school type player who debuted at age 19 in the '75 season with the Gigantes. I present the above stats as another way to look at the voting. And, mainly, to illustrate what an offensive force the Twins avoided.

I feel even the most alcohol-influenced, rabid, bar room '87 Twins fans would agree with me (I think) - I'm basically saying what Cardinals fans have been saying for so many years. The Twins got lucky. No matter that Clark batted .247, with only 13 of his 35 homers versus left handers (see "Frank Viola"), he still had an excellent .966 OBP against them. It was even better against righties (see "Bert Blyleven"), it was perverse: a 1.117 OBP, with 22 homers.

Beware Bert, man of 46 homers allowed, 1986

A healthy Clark would have gotten on base somehow, Twins fans, as his bushel basket of walks proves; and getting on base so often begets runs, and forces pitching and defensive mistakes, and on-the-fly managerial adaptations. Manager Tom Kelly would have had his hands full, decisions, decisions.

There is an excellent "Stars And Stripes" series preview at the link - it offers a look at how the "experts" saw it - another larger view of this at Google docs. I recall a lot of patronizing talk in the media of the Twins lousy road record, comparing young, inexperienced Twins Manager Tom Kelly to Cards Skipper Whitey Herzog. Always looks worse on paper, of course. This report seemed fair, however.

Clark in the 1985 NLCS; note - he was no Dodger lover.

There is this to be said: to blame losing the World Series due to the absence of one player is a facile argument. The 1972 Oakland Athletics loss of Reggie Jackson in the deciding game of the ALCS opened the door for Gene Tenace to step up, and provide a power threat where one wasn't known to exist. You can say that was a lucky circumstance, but it still puts the onus on teammates to pick up the slack.

As our old friend at the mic, Herb used to say:

"So long, everybody!"

The Gipper, TK, & Lefty in The Rosegarden: Sept. 29, 1987

The Twins had made it to the pinnacle. The 1987 World Series champs had basked in the warm glow of Twin Cities victory parades, and the interviews on national and local television. The hurricane now concluded with their congratulatory meeting with President Ronald Reagan in the White House Rose Garden (the transcript of the entire proceedings can be found at this link). You can view some video of the scenes edited for rebroadcast here: TC Media Coverage of Rosegarden Ceremony. It is a super document of how the event looked, complete with player reactions to the Ceremony - my thanks to TC Media for posting it! 

From L-R: Carl Pohlad, Roy Smalley Jr., Tom Kelly, Frank Viola, Howard Fox,
Steve Carlton, (in back) Kent Hrbek, Sal Butera, & The Leader Of The Free World.
Ronnie couldn't resist a trip down his own memory lane, back to his days as an announcer.

Kent Hrbek ( here, tucked in the back row, behind Reagan and Sal Butera), in particular, had been a modern-day Ulysses in the aftermath. His odyssey had him shuttling between Minneapolis-St. Paul, to New York to film his appearance on the David Letterman show, and now to stand near the Commander In Chief for the crowning finale in D.C.

Little wonder he went from the return jet to Minneapolis straight to a waiting camper to escape the hurricane, and relax with friends on a hunting trip. This episode also marked the final hurrah for "Lefty" Steve Carlton. The Hall of Fame pitcher made himself oddly conspicuous in his choice of eye wear, peeking over longtime Twins employee and then-president Howard Fox to catch the festivities. Though a marginal member of the staff that season (see gamelogs), he merited a spot on the plane ride to the capitol if only to salute his veteran, star status.

Patrick Reusse chronicled the event for "The Sporting News."

Fox (holding jersey), was the only visible holdover from the old Twins regime of Cal Griffith. It had to be a sweet payback after all the years of no success on the field (1971-86), and being Billy Martin's punching bag (1966 incident). That it was Pohlad, and not Griffith holding court along with the core group of players he drafted as Twins owner, made for an ironic twist. It was Carl's third full year as Twins owner.

Again, the transcript of the entire proceedings can be found at this Google docs link. You might find it interesting!

As our old friend and broadcaster Herb Carneal so quaintly put it:

"So long everybody!" - Herb Carneal

Chuck Knoblauch & The Dollar Dog Rebellion: May 2, 2001

The Odd Couple: Kelly and Knoblauch  face down rowdies

[UPDATED, August 31, 2013]




I was there at the H.H.H. Metrodome to see the whole, mustard-slathered spectacle. 


Wednesday night, May 2, 2001, was the defining evening for prodigal son Chuck Knoblauch, when he found out he was no longer the fair-haired boy of Twins glories past. In contrast, the original Biblical son received nothing like the rude, verbal ass-kicking and shennanigans that Knobby received  in that series-ending game at the Metrodome. It was the venue's most surreal, darkest ballgame ever. It's the only time my team won when I wanted to wear a bag over my head in embarassment.

Above, right: behold the culprit of the evening!

It had all started so wonderfully for Chuck in Minnesota.

Bowman 1991 Rookie

After he was drafted #25 in the first round of the 1989 draft, he apprenticed for just parts of two years (A: 139 games, AA ball: 118 games) in the minors. Then there was the 1991 Twins World Championship and Rookie Of The Year award; there were the four All-Star selections, three top-20 MVP finishes, two Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards. He did all this with a single-minded pursuit that bordered on mania. I remember a televised, steamy game from Cleveland in '95 or so - he did everything, hitting for extra bases, stealing, fielding - he was a rocket-propelled runt. Sadly, when you coupled the off-season workouts with the mail order food supplements (some apparently of the legal variety) that transformed him from a slightly pudgy little fellow into an intense greyhound, you had a guy that became viewed as a diva. His relations with Twins Manager Tom Kelly became strained. 

 

All the Twins could get
for Scott Erickson was...
Scott Klingenbeck.

 The lean years for the Twins extended from 1993 through the end of the Millennium. Knoblauch learned, as current Twins catcher Joe Mauer discovered in the summer of 2011, that (A) the fruits of losing made for an unpleasant aftertaste and (B) stars get the lion's share of criticism for the losing. The Twins traded away the Greg Gagnes, the Kevin Tapanis, the Scott Ericksons in a series of money-saving maneuvers until all at once, it seemed as if Knobby, Kirby and (later) Paul Molitor were the only sure things for the Twins. 



Once Puckett irretrievably lost his eyesight, Kelly was left with mediocrities like Rich Becker, Scott Stahoviak, Pat Meares, and Frankie Rodriguez to pencil into the lineup after Knoblauch at leadoff. His wife at the time found him uncommunicative after frustrating ballgames, despite his personal successes. He signed a contract in late-season 1996, but the losses still mounted - and by the end ‘97, he’d had enough, and made known he wanted out. He got his wish, forcing the Twins hand.  Enter Cristian Guzman, Eric Milton, Brian Buchanan, and Danny Mota in February, whom the Twins wrangled away from the Yankees for his services.



Commence the white-hot hatred of Twins fans spurned. As history would demonstrate later, vengeful Minnesota fans make Glenn Close (“Fatal Instinct”) look like the school librarian by comparison.

Fan to Knoblauch:
"You will NOT ignore me !"

When A.J. Pierzynski returned to the American League in 2005, he elicited similar antipathy. Like Knobby, he brought a bundle in trade booty: Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser. What is it about the state's sporting public that they can't look good fortune in the face and see it for what it is? It's a paradox that's hard to fathom...

The Game - Wednesday, May 2, 2001

Ordinarily, a game that’s scoreless into the middle innings would be noteworthy on its own merit, with stellar pitching by starters Joe Mays and Orlando Hernandez. That helped create a taught, tense affair. It should have been a fascinating game. But there was something else at hand. As I watched that game in left field, I felt an increasing discomfort with what was going on around me; a crazed anarchy was in the air, very unsettling. Boorish kids of college age were giving it to the Yankees and Knoblauch; it wasn't just the loudness - it was the meanness, bitterness, bile, and beach balls pinging back and forth that made this freak show. One frustrated gentleman, obviously a middle-aged, Twins fanatic, was seen catching one of those bouncers, puncturing it, and telling the miscreants to "WATCH THE GAME;" his reward was debris and bear bottles thrown his way as well (oh, did that HURT my feelings!). This took place while the Twins were mounting a rally in the 6^th inning. 


A number of factors contributed to this evening's weirdness:

No, drunk guys. It does NOT say
"start the throwin'"

• It was dollar dog night with little to no limit on how many hot dogs you could buy (or throw as handy projectiles on this night)
• 
  The Twins were just returning to respectability in ‘01, and thus general admission left field seats went for a paltry $10. That screamed one thing: “Come one, come all ye drunken frat boys!” (It’s a fact: cheap prices appeal to the rude, boorish set, as well as thrifty families)
• Knoblauch’s 2^nd base days were over. He’d been replaced there by  a young Alphonso Soriano. That meant he had the privilege of playing with his back to those same lower left field seats. Bullseye! 
• A popular FM morning radio station show in the Twin Cities was stirring the pot against Knoblauch constantly, especially fixating on the incident when he pushed a kid in Seattle
  
  
  
  At 9:11 p.m., Doug Mientkiewicz singled in Matt Lawton and David Ortiz to put the Twins up by 3 runs off Mike Stanton and the Yanks in that 6th. This created an excuse for an erruption of bottles and dogs and objects to be tossed to the turf, at Knoblauch - and it became so intense that 3B Umpire Angel Hernandez felt he had no other choice except to signal Manager Joe Torre to order his Yankees from the field. Tom Kelly, in an ironic twist, emerged from the Twins dugout to be Knoblauch's savior, in an attempt to calm the knuckleheads.

The letters on the backs of the imbeciles' shirts spell out

"Watch Your Back Chuck" when properly arranged. Nice!

At the same time, PA announcer Bob Casey was intoning with a perturbed urgency:

 "Ladies and gentlemen, this is an important, championship ballgame. If the trouble in leftfield does not end, the game will be forfeited and the Yankees will win. NOW QUIT THIS!"

Everybody's welcome..unless your name is "Chuck"

After 12 minutes, following the ejection of a posse of unrulies from General Admission, play finally resumed.  The Twins A.J. Pierzynski took a strike three called, and the Twins bullpen came on to stuff New York the rest of the way. That would have been the end of it, except that yet another flurry of Chuck-shucking happened in the 8th inning...resulting in another 5 minute delay. That stoppage promoted the umpiring crew to more seriously consider a forfeit ruling. But the threat passed when fans witnessed more ejections, and they yielded to sanity, finally. Shockingly, the game took only 3:01 to play. As a footnote, the Twins won, 4-2.

For his part Kelly was livid not only with the fans, but he also felt the stadium's sound system was playing so loudly that he couldn't convey his message to the offending patrons. ''It was a terrific game, and in my mind it was ruined,'' Kelly said. ''Hopefully, they can clean it up around here.''

"What in the name of the Wide

World of Sports is going on here?"

 

To his credit, Knoblauch understood that just a small minority was responsible, and resisted downgrading Minnesota fans and Minneapolis: ''They need to turn the page. It's been four years. I don't know what's going on here... Even after all this, I won't say anything bad about the city,'' Knoblauch said. ''It's probably a bunch of 16-year-olds who don't have a clue who Chuck Knoblauch is."

Chuck would later confide to the Star Tribune's Amelia Rayno in 2013 how the episode affected him: "It hurt...I mean, I'm human. I can't even give you any details. It was like an out-of-body experience ... that's the part of my life that's like, 'Really?' It really meant that much? You're trying to hurt me, knowingly throwing a quarter or a marble or something at me? It's twisted. It made me bitter about Minnesota, definitely."

As a longtime Twins fan, it should be obvious to the reader that I'm embarrased this ever happened. Yet, I think it fair to add this bit of clarification: had Chuck had a sense of humor about himself during his career, and not taken himself so seriously, he might have endeared himself as one of the more beloved Twins before he left. It may have mitigated the ugliness of May 2, 2001. So, in that sense he had it wrong: Twins fans felt they DID know him, and some felt he deserved this treatment. If you can imagine.

I don't foresee similar flareups with the returns of Joe Nathan, or Michael Cuddyer or Jason Kubel in the future. 

Chuck in The Big Apple: A classic case of
"Be careful what you wish for."

In the final analysis, there should be some credit given to Twins management; they had doubled the security contingent in left after situations on a relatively minor scale disrupted the Monday game. But with the opportunity for the Twins to win the 3-game series at hand, a 16,000 fan walkup besieged the Ticket offices Wednesday.  It caught the Twins off guard with their surprising success of that early 2001 season, according to Dave St. Peter. It was their biggest, mid-week attendance in 13 years in April or May.

 In retrospect, I don't think it can be disputed that Chuck Knoblauch was by far the best second baseman in MLB over 1995-1996. Furthermore, if you focus on peak performance, he had the best all-round years for any Twins second baseman in their history. That would include Rod Carew (with the exception of his ridiculous 1977 MVP season - but of course, he was a first baseman by then!). 

High Heats Stats also takes this to a greater, detailed level in it's analysis of Knoblauch's superior seasons, "Five Fascinating Facts About Chuck Knoblauch." Truly illuminating, that he was besting a Hall of Famer in Roberto Alomar.


It can be stated that trading Chuck for players like Guzman and Eric Milton undoubtedly bettered the product on the field, helped keep the Twins in Minnesota, and staved off contraction in 2001. Just another reason that residual bitterness towards Chuck Knoblauch is misguided and stupid.

 As our announcing friend Herb Carneal put it:
So long, everybody!" - TT

Information from a May 4, 2001 Online Athens article was also extremely helpful in this recap.

Here's a You Tube video from '97 that foreshadows Knoblauch's eventual departure from Minnesota.

Then there's this story on what Chuck Knoblauch is up to these days, from a summer, 2011 StarTribune feature

Bleeding Yankee Blue posted this interview with Chuck in Aug., 2011.

1987 Twins Clinch Vs Detroit Video

There is so much that is remarkable about this piece of video...it posts very well after the previous Gaetti Error Game in '84 piece on how the Twins were knocked out of the pennant chase. Yes, redemption is very, very good thing!

That's Bob Costas and Tony Kubek doing the broadcast for NBC

*As much as I liked Darryl Evans, I enjoy that he looks ready to throw up after making the first out.  Jeff Reardon looks so amped up, it's hard to believe anyone could hit him...


*You can read the astonishment on the Twins players faces (or can imagine), & how great it was to get the monkey off their back, after so many losses, like those 102 back in '82 (team page, BBRef) when they were all rookies. That includes all the pastings they took at the hands of these very SAME Tigers in the early years. Payback time. How sweet it is...


*It's so cool that 1965 heroes Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva  were in the dugout, or near it, when the final out was recorded to send this new edition of Twins into the 1987 Series. I don't remember Harmon hugging Tom Kelly after the game (above are links to Vimeo vids, their stories)...

Brawny. Bad. Sometimes bellicose.
That was Don Baylor.

*Lastly - this proves once again - big, bad Don Baylor really WAS a Twin, once upon a time...

Avoiding 100 losses is a worthwhile goal after all else has failed. Nevertheless, I have to admit to some embarassment over the celebrating. It's very hard to see any of these guys having the same pedigree as the 1987 or 1991 Twins. You never know...



That's how ( and when) you're supposed to do it, guys.


As our old friend at the mic, Herb Carneal, used to say: "...And the count rides along." - TT

My Dinner With Johan: Visiting Spring Training At Fort Meyers In 2000



It was the Spring of 2000 when I first saw

Johan Santana, that kid with the wide back

and big legs.  It wasn't even 3 months after

the Y2K scare, and 8 months before the

contentious Bush-Gore Presidential election.

 OK.  There was no dinner.  Or a cup of coffee. Or even much eye contact.  That would have seemed a bit weird, for him and me. But I did score 21-year old Johan Santana's autograph ten years ago, (thanks to Mark, my brother-in-law doing the hard work with the program below) in what was the lefty's first spring training with the Twins. He had been a rule 5 pickup by the Astros from Florida before being traded for Jared Camp the previous December.

Yes. He has a lovely Palmer script. Large portion at end of post.

I was content just scouting the "new guy" from a set of bleachers with a bag of peanuts while young Santana traveled with the other new recruits on the 2000 Twins roster from one workout field to another at the Hammond Stadium field. His first big league manager, Tom Kelly, kept his charges pretty busy, with various drills, batting, and fielding practices going on simultaneously at several fields in that morning's workout.

Memory serving me correctly, I saw Johan and

some other rookies enter the field near Section 115

(past third base)at Hammond Stadium on that March day in 2000.

Click on image for larger view.

What, exactly, is a rule 5 draftee? For a summary of it's whys and whereofs, I'll let this excerpt (from Fanhouse site, Dec. 8, 2010) link tell the story, if you're so inclined.

On a lark, we (Mark, my sister-in-law Nancy and I) had taken a 4-day jaunt down to Fort Meyers for a few days of warmth and baseball in March, 2000.  That's a golden memory of details worth repeating for print another time...

In any event, it's fun to think I was a witness to the beginning of the career of one of the greatest Twins pitchers to date. Johan went on to have three years of up-and-down  success (with an11-9 won-loss record) before becoming a sensation as a starter in mid-2003.  Credit pitching coach Bobby Cuellar for some minor league refining on that cool, circle change in 2002 at Edmonton AAA before sending Santana back as a polished lefty! 

The skinny on the "new kid."

I attended his first major league game on April 3rd, of 2000, in which Brad Radke gave up a homerun on the first pitch of the game and of the season to Gerald Williams of Tampa; yet, I don't remember seeing him pitch that day.

No, this Johan didn't invent a printing press.  But he could pretty

much print his own money after signing a 6-year contract in Feb., 2008

with those city slickers from the Big Apple. [sigh].

#36 Butch Huskey (right half) was the "big" off-season signing for the Twins.  Ay caramba!

May Your Taters Fly Far!
TT

Requiem For A Second Baseman (Or, How Steve Lombardozzi Rammed His Head Into Dan Gladden's Fist!)

[Updated Thursday, May 9, 2013]

Very likely, the most ill-advised decision in the annals of Twins pugilism ocurred on July 21, 1988. That was the morning that "Lombo," aka Steve Lombardozzi, decided to "discuss" matters with teammate Dan "Wrench" Gladden, in the aftermath of the previous night's 9-7 loss (BBRef box) to the Red Sox in Boston.

The simple disparity between nicknames on the Toughguy Meter should have been somewhat of a tipoff to young Stephen, don't you think?

Lombo had been lifted for pinch hitter Kelvin Torve in the 6th inning of the Wednesday night game at Fenway. This was particularly frustrating to Lombo, as he was playing before family and friends in his homestate, and taken out in a close game (5-3 at the time) against Roger Clemens.

Also bearing on the situation, Lombardozzi was unhappy regarding his limited playing time after the Twins acquired Tommy "Get Me The Hell Out Of Minnesota" Herr in an early season trade.

What a go-getter that young fellow was! Truly, one of the team's worst trades on record, especially when considering that they parted with popular outfielder Tom Brunansky.  Without Bruno, the Twins may not have gone on to play and win the '87 World Series! The reluctant Twin Herr may have set the team whirlpool usage record, if not the "most muscles pulled" record, needing stints on the bench for recovery.

Nice airbrushed helmet, Tommy

In any event, Lombo was viewed by a number of Twins as being selfish, and not a "team guy" when he sulked over his misfortune. He and Gladden, a vocal fellow, had words following his exit from the game in the clubhouse, or on the team charter back to Minnesota that night.

Later, the next morning, imprudent wisdom or the spirit of Jersey Joe Walcott  inspired Stevo to make a call on Gladden's suburban estate. I'm not saying the two had a cerebral, dignified discussion...but judging from the scratches and bruises and cracked ring finger on Gladden, in addition to the whopping steak Lombo had over his eye upon reporting to the home clubhouse that afternoon, it's fair to say they found a way to sort through their problems as only real men do. Twins manager Tom Kelly, who saw the storm building for about a week, said "It's probably better that it happened." TK was most likely correct: boys will be boys.  Case closed.

Perhaps matters in Vietnam would have consumated much more favorably from the U.S. perspective had  they not insisted on mollycoddling the Communist regime at the Paris Peace Talks in 1973. Would a similar testosterone-laden approach, a well-timed haymaker by "Hammerin' Hank" Kissinger, resulted in better diplomacy?

We'll never know, but it cleared matters enough that no residual bitterness was evident when the two Twins met again at the 20 year anniversary gala of the 1987 World Series championship!

Lombardozzi was traded to the Houston Astros the next spring, and decided to call it a career after spending most of the 1990 season in the minors at age 30. "I just felt like I had lost a step," he said. "I was a below-average Major League hitter but I was an above-average defensive player, and ... It's hard to believe, but when you turn 30, 31, you just start to slow down a little bit. I could feel that I had lost a step, and just really, I wasn't cutting it."

I know how it feels Steve, I know.

Twinkler Out!

Helpful material for Steve Lombardozzi was found at this Washington Times site.
Also, great info From Steve Ashburner's marvelous book: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Minnesota Twins : Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Minnesota Twins History
AND...for yet more good, not-so-clean fun, visit Coffeyville Whirlwind's post regarding the 1969 Billy Martin brawl with Dave Boswell.