1965 Minnesota Twins
American League Champions
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersSam Mele
TelevisionWTCN-TV
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Ray Scott, Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall)
← 1964 Seasons 1966 →

The 1965 Minnesota Twins won the 1965 American League pennant with a 102–60 record. It was the team's first pennant since moving to Minnesota, and the 102 wins is a team record.

Regular season

On April 27, in addition to being the game's winning pitcher, Camilo Pascual hit a grand slam in the first inning – the second of his career. The Detroit Tigers' Dizzy Trout is the only pitcher to have done that before.

The Twins spent much of the summer in a race for first with the Baltimore Orioles. On July 1, however, the Twins took first place and kept it, ultimately winning the pennant by seven games.

Six Twins made the All-Star Game (which was played in the Twins' home park, Metropolitan Stadium). First baseman Harmon Killebrew, shortstop Zoilo Versalles, outfielders Tony Oliva and Jimmie Hall, catcher Earl Battey, and pitcher Mudcat Grant all appeared in the game.

On September 26 at D.C. Stadium in Washington, D.C. – the city the Twins franchise called home until 1961 — the Twins beat the Washington Senators 2–1 to clinch the pennant. Jim Kaat was the winning pitcher.

Overall, 1,463,258 fans attended Twins games, the highest total in the American League. During the season, the Twins played in front of their largest crowd ever (71,245 at Yankee Stadium on June 20) and their smallest crowd ever (537 at home, September 20).[1]

Offense

Versalles was named AL Most Valuable Player. He also led the team with 126 runs scored, and won a Gold Glove Award for his play at shortstop. Oliva led the AL with a .321 batting average. Killebrew was limited to 113 games by injuries, but still hit 25 HR and 75 RBI.

Pitching

Grant led the league with 21 wins, becoming the first black pitcher in the history of the American League to win 20 games in a season.[2] Kaat won the Gold Glove for pitchers.

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Minnesota Twins 102 60 0.630 — 51–30 51–30
Chicago White Sox 95 67 0.586 7 48–33 47–34
Baltimore Orioles 94 68 0.580 8 46–33 48–35
Detroit Tigers 89 73 0.549 13 47–34 42–39
Cleveland Indians 87 75 0.537 15 52–30 35–45
New York Yankees 77 85 0.475 25 40–43 37–42
Los Angeles/California Angels 75 87 0.463 27 46–34 29–53
Washington Senators 70 92 0.432 32 36–45 34–47
Boston Red Sox 62 100 0.383 40 34–47 28–53
Kansas City Athletics 59 103 0.364 43 33–48 26–55

Record vs. opponents

1965 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KCA LAA/
CAL 		MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore — 11–7 9–9 10–8 11–7 11–7 13–5 8–10 13–5 8–10
Boston 7–11 — 4–14 8–10 6–12 11–7 5–13 1–17 9–9 11–7
Chicago 9–9 14–4 — 10–8 9–9 13–5 12–6 7–11 8–10 13–5
Cleveland 8–10 10–8 8–10 — 9–9 9–9 9–9 11–7 12–6 11–7
Detroit 7–11 12–6 9–9 9–9 — 13–5 10–8 8–10 10–8 11–7
Kansas City 7–11 7–11 5–13 9–9 5–13 — 5–13 8–10 7–11 6–12
Los Angeles/California 5–13 13–5 6–12 9–9 8–10 13–5 — 9–9 6–12 6–12
Minnesota 10–8 17–1 11–7 7–11 10–8 10–8 9–9 — 13–5 15–3
New York 5–13 9–9 10–8 6–12 8–10 11–7 12–6 5–13 — 11–7
Washington 10–8 7–11 5–13 7–11 7–11 12–6 12–6 3–15 7–11 —

NOTE: The Los Angeles Angels changed their name to California Angels on September 2, 1965, with the season in progress.


Notable transactions

Roster

1965 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Earl Battey 131 394 117 .297 6 60
1B Don Mincher 128 346 87 .251 22 65
2B Jerry Kindall 125 342 67 .196 6 36
3B Rich Rollins 140 469 117 .249 5 32
SS Zoilo Versalles 148 522 149 .285 20 86
LF Bob Allison 135 438 102 .233 23 78
CF Jimmie Hall 160 666 182 .273 19 77
RF Tony Oliva 149 576 185 .321 16 98

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Harmon Killebrew 113 401 108 .269 25 75
Sandy Valdespino 108 245 64 .261 1 22
Joe Nossek 87 170 37 .218 2 16
Jerry Zimmerman 83 154 33 .214 1 11
Frank Quilici 56 149 31 .208 0 7
Andy Kosco 23 55 13 .236 1 6
Bernie Allen 19 39 9 .231 0 6
Frank Kostro 20 31 5 .161 0 1
César Tovar 18 25 5 .200 0 2
Ted Uhlaender 13 22 4 .182 0 1
John Sevcik 12 16 1 .063 0 0
Rich Reese 14 7 2 .286 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mudcat Grant 41 270.1 21 7 3.30 142
Jim Kaat 45 264.1 18 11 2.83 154
Jim Perry 36 167.2 12 7 2.63 88
Camilo Pascual 27 156.0 9 3 3.35 96

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dave Boswell 27 106.0 6 5 3.40 85
Jim Merritt 16 76.2 5 4 3.17 61
Dick Stigman 33 70.0 4 2 4.37 70
Dwight Siebler 7 15.0 0 0 4.20 15

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Al Worthington 62 10 7 21 2.13 59
Johnny Klippstein 56 9 3 5 2.24 59
Bill Pleis 41 4 4 4 2.98 33
Jerry Fosnow 29 3 3 2 4.44 35
Mel Nelson 28 0 4 3 4.12 31
Garry Roggenburk 12 1 0 2 3.43 6
Pete Cimino 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

1965 World Series

Main article: 1965 World Series

Awards and honors

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Denver Bears Pacific Coast League Cal Ermer
AA Charlotte Hornets Southern League Al Evans
A Wilson Tobs Carolina League Vern Morgan
A Orlando Twins Florida State League Harry Warner
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Ray Bellino and Pete Appleton
A Thomasville Hi-Toms Western Carolinas League Ralph Rowe
A-Short Season St. Cloud Rox Northern League Jim Rantz
Rookie FRL Twins Florida Rookie League Fred Waters

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: St. Cloud

Notes

  1. ^ "Minnesota Twins". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 198, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  3. ^ Del Unser at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Graig Nettles at Baseball Reference

References

External links

American League champions
1965 MLB season by team
Minnesota Twins
Categories