Minnesota Twins Quiz: [Since 1961, only; not the original
Washington Senators years.] 1) What year did the Metrodome
open for baseball? 2) Who are the three Twins to win the AL
MVP award? 3) Who are the two Cy Young winners? 4) Who
was AL rookie of the year in 1979? [Hint: Hit only 41 home
runs in his entire career.] 5) Name the five whose uniform #’s
are retired. 6) What pitcher was AL strikeout champion from
1961-63? Answers below.
Ferdinand Magellan
When Steve Fossett completed his historic balloon flight around
the world, he was compared to Magellan, who was the first to
circumnavigate the world back in the 1520s. But did Magellan
really do this? Read on, fellow travelers.
We’ll cut out the early stuff. Suffice it to say, Magellan, who
was born into Portuguese nobility and an explorer of some
repute, eventually moved to Spain, where he convinced
authorities there that he should be given command of an
expedition to find a western route to the Indies.
And so on September 20, 1519, about 250 sailors on five ships
(Victoria, Trinidad, San Antonio, \’\’Davey\’\’ Concepcion, and
\’\’Benito\’\’ Santiago) set off from near Seville for what would be
the most ambitious voyage of the Age of Discovery.
But Magellan had made a big mistake in choosing his crew,
recruiting mostly Spaniards, but with Portuguese officers. So
after passing the Canary Islands, the Spanish crew of the San
Antonio wanted to kill their Portuguese commander. Magellan
defused the situation, arresting the Spanish ringleader.
The expedition reached Brazil in December and then made its
way down the coast to Patagonia, where they set up camp for the
winter (by now its around March things are backwards down
there, remember).
Magellan was to have had provisions for a two-year journey, but
six months out they were already having problems (accounting
irregularities back in Spain), so the crew had to explore the
barren region for food. Spotting Llamas, rumors spread of great
monsters in the forbidden land.
In late April 1520, a second revolt was launched against a
Portuguese officer and Magellan executed the leader of the failed
coup. Then the Benito Santiago wrecked in October and the San
Antonio deserted and sailed back to Spain, leaving just 3 ships.
Magellan crossed through what would later be known as the
Strait of Magellan, with the forbidding land of fire, “Tierra Del
Fuego,” to the south. [Magellan named it such.] But it wasn’t
until November 27, 1520, that he reached the South Sea,
renaming it the Pacific Ocean, as he hoped it would “always be
as calm and benevolent as it is today.”
As the ships cruised the Pacific, however, scurvy and
malnutrition began to take a real toll and on January 20, 1521,
not having seen land for almost two months, Magellan threw his
maps overboard. Finally on March 4, they reached Guam.
[There is a terrific Hilton there, with a nice beach and a great
restaurant to get a good burger and tall drink with an umbrella in
it. Chances are, though, the Hilton didn’t exist back in 1521.]
Moving on, the expedition reached the Philippines on March 16.
Food was plentiful and the men gathered provisions and took a
much needed rest. For his part, Magellan urged the local chiefs
to convert to Christianity. Many of them complied, perhaps in
the hope that they would win European support in their battles
against local enemies, but one big chief refused to obey. So on
April 26, 1521, Magellan launched an expedition against him,
with 1,000 locals.
Well, boys and girls, that was a big mistake; in fact, a fatal one,
for Magellan was killed as he led a retreat back to the boats. A
Spaniard by the name of Sebastian de la El Cano took control of
the Victoria and Trinidad (the Davey Concepcion was scuttled)
and by September 6, 1522, the Victoria had made it back to
Spain. The Trinidad, which had been left behind at the Cape of
Good Hope for repairs, only made it to Portugal, as the
Portuguese commanders imprisoned them. Next time you take a
cruise, keep this in mind.
Nonetheless, despite having made it only about two-thirds of the
way around the world, Magellan, posthumously, was credited
with leading the first circumnavigation in history. And now you
know .the rest of the story.
[Source: “Historical Atlas of Exploration, 1492-1600,” Angus
Konstam]
Memorable Moments
Major league baseball has listed 30 memorable moments as part
of a promotion to pick the top five, which will be announced
during the World Series, if there is one. So in case you didn’t
see them, here they are and I’ll have comment on the other
side. [My personal picks are denoted with an *. You can go to
mlb.com to vote.]
–*1905: Christy Mathewson throws three complete-game
shutouts as the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia A’s, four
games to one, in the World Series.
–1920: The Boston Red Sox sell Babe Ruth to the New York
Yankees.
–1934: Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants strikes out Babe
Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in
succession during the All-Star Game.
–1938: Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds pitches the
only consecutive no-hitters in Major League Baseball history
against the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers.
–1939: Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees retires from Major
League Baseball with his “luckiest man” farewell speech.
–1941: New York Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio sets a record 56
consecutive game hitting streak.
–1941: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hits .406, making
him the last player to end the season with a batting average
above .400.
–1947: Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming
the first African American player in modern Major League
Baseball.
–1951: Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘round The World”
defeats the Brooklyn Dodgers as the New York Giants win the
NL pennant in a one-game playoff.
–1954: Willie Mays makes “The Catch” in deep centerfield
during the World Series as the New York Giants sweep the
Cleveland Indians.
–1956: Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in World
Series history as the New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn
Dodgers.
–1960: Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a bottom-of-
the-ninth home run in Game 7 to win the World Series against
the New York Yankees.
–*1961: Roger Maris of the New York Yankees breaks Babe
Ruth’s single-season home run record by hitting 61.
–1971: Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro Leagues player
inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
–1972: The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Roberto Clemente gets his
3,000th hit in what becomes his final at bat.
–*1974: Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves breaks Babe Ruth’s
all-time home run record of 714.
–1975: Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox hits a bottom-of-the-
twelfth-inning game-winning home run in Game 6 of the World
Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
–1977: Reggie Jackson hits 3 home runs in 3 consecutive at bats
during Game 6 of the World Series as the New York Yankees
defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers.
–1985: The Cincinnati Reds’ Pete Rose breaks the all-time hit
record, surpassing Ty Cobb’s mark of 4,191.
–*1986: The New York Mets come from behind to defeat the
Boston Red Sox in the World Series in 7 games.
–1988: Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the
ninth inning wins Game 1 of the World Series as the Los
Angeles Dodgers go on to defeat the Oakland A’s.
–1991: Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s breaks Lou
Brock’s all-time career stolen base record of 938.
–1991: The Texas Rangers’ Nolan Ryan pitches a record 7th no-
hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays.
–1991: Jack Morris pitches 10 shutout innings against the
Atlanta Braves and leads the Minnesota Twins to a victory in
Game 7 of the World Series.
–1993: Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a World Series-
winning walk-off home run in Game 6 against the Philadelphia
Phillies.
–*1995: Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles breaks Lou
Gehrig’s consecutive games played record of 2,130.
–1998: The St. Louis Cardinal’s Mark McGwire and Chicago
Cubs’ Sammy Sosa race to beat Roger Maris’s single-season
record of 61 home runs.
–2001: Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks Mark
McGwire’s single-season home run record, and finishes the
season with 73.
–2001: After two game-winning home runs in Games 4 and 5 by
the New York Yankees, a single by Luis Gonzalez in the bottom
of the ninth inning of Game 7 leads the Arizona Diamondbacks
to victory in the first November World Series.
–2001: Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners earns 2001
American League MVP and Rookie of the Year honors, as well
as being the leading All-Star vote-getter.
Johnny Mac’s personal picks are Maris, Gehrig’s retirement,
Ruth being sold to the Yankees, Robinson breaking the color
barrier, and Mazeroski’s home run. Personally, I’m now
embarrassed by my selection of the ’86 Mets over Jackie
Robinson. I humbly apologize.
J Mac and I have a little bet on the side to see who gets more
actual selections, so I suggest you open up the ‘window’ at your
place of employment. Of course I take zero responsibility for
any problems this may cause on the home front, you know, the
fact that you lost $3,000 in a Bar Chat pool at work.
Rick Ankiel
Poor guy. You may recall how this then 21-year-old lefthander
burst on the scene with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2000, going
11-7 in his first full season with 194 strikeouts n 175 innings. He
also walked 90, not great, but not awful for a young fireballer.
But then in the playoffs, Ankiel suddenly lost it, walking 11 in 4
innings. He started off 2001 with the big club, but was shipped
to AAA after six starts and 25 walks in 24 innings. At Memphis
his problems worsened once again, as he walked an astounding
14 in just 4 innings.
At this point, the Cards threw in the towel and started over,
reassigning Ankiel to the rookie league, where he found his stuff
again, in a big way, fanning 158 last summer in just 87 innings of
work, with only 18 walks. But this past spring, the control
problems returned and he has been struggling ever since in the
minors. Now he’s on the disabled list for a second time and was
shut down for at least two months. Ankiel turns 23 on Friday, so
one shouldn’t be too concerned, yet, though it would be a great
story if he can make it back sometime next year. He also had a
tough childhood, so we’re pulling for him here at Bar Chat.
Top 3 songs for the week of 7/19/69: #1 “In The Year 2525”
(Zager & Evans simply dreadful) #2 “Spinning Wheel”
(Blood, Sweat & Tears) #3 “Good Morning Starshine” (Oliver)
Minnesota Twins Quiz Answers: 1) Metrodome opened for
baseball in 1982. 2) MVPs: Zoilo Versalles, 1965 (19 HR – 77
RBI, 126 runs scored big year for a shortstop back then, but it
was also the height of his career. He was out of baseball five
years later at 30); Harmon Killebrew, 1969 (49 HR – 140 RBI);
Rod Carew, 1977 (14 HR – 100 RBI, .388 BA. Team finished
fourth, however). 3) Cy Young: Jim Perry, 1970 (24-12); Frank
Viola, 1988 (24-7). 4) John Castino was rookie of the year in
1979 (5 HR – 52 RBI, .285 weak out of baseball 5 years
later). 5) Retired uniform #’s: Killebrew #3, Tony Oliva #6
(loved this guy), Kent Hrbek #14, Rod Carew #29, Kirby Puckett
#34. 6) Camilo Pascual led the A.L. in strikeouts 1961-63 (221,
206, 202 Pascual won 20 and 21 in ’62 / ’63 went 174-170 in
his underrated career, 1954-71).
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
