Have a day, Mudcat!
Today, most of us will be enjoying the Independence Day long weekend. In that celebratory vein, let’s return to the 1965 World Series to examine one of the single most exciting contests in Minnesota Twins history.
As we’ve seen, home fields had proven the deciding factor so far: the Twins took games 1 & 2 at the Old Met, while the Los Angeles Dodgers clamped down in 3-4-5 at Chavez Ravine. So, playing back in Twins Territory was a decided boost in this must-win contest.
Game 6 (10/13/65)
On the future Mall of America site, the Twins took 49,578 out to the ballgame hoping the season would not come to an end. MN put Jim “Mudcat” Grant on the bump for a third time, while LA countered with Claude Osteen—the lefty who turned their fates around in Game 3.
For the first three innings, both hurlers hung zeros. In the bottom of the 4th, Earl Battey reached first on a seemingly innocuous error from Dodger second baseman Dick Tracewski.
But nothing is small potatoes in the Fall Classic—especially when followed by a Bob Allison blast to put the Twins up 2-0!
After two more perfectly manicured Mudcat frames, Allison coaxed a walk off LA reliever Howie Reed in B6. With Bob on second and two outs, Dodger manager Walter Alston elected to intentionally walk Frank Quilici to get the pitcher’s spot into the batter’s box.
Though some Minnesota moundsmen—like Jim Kaat or Camilo Pascual—had performed well at the plate in ’65, Mudcat Grant could not be counted amongst that group: 109 PA, 0 HR, .155 BA, .438 OPS.
But on this biggest of stages, Mudcat got an offering to his liking and sent it deep into the LF bleachers…
For just the seventh time in MLB history, a pitcher had homered in a World Series contest! It has only happened 8 times in the 60 years following it.
Now staked to a commanding 5-0 advantage—largely thanks to his own contributions—Grant cruised (only a Ron Fairly solo HR blemish) the rest of the way: 9 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 111 pitches, 84 strikes, 13 ground outs, 15 fly outs. All told, Grant’s gem with glove & club stands as one of the greatest individual World Series performances of all time!
Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
At the two hour and sixteen minute mark of play, Wes Parker’s grounder to 2B was picked up by Quilici & slung over to Don Mincher…
There would be another baseball game played in the 1965 baseball season—a winner-take-all Game 7 at Metropolitan Stadium!
What a wonderful world, indeed.