June 15, 1959: Minneapolis Millers win exhibition against Giants despite Willie Mays’ home run

The 1959 season marked 57 years since the Minneapolis Millers became charter members of the American Association in 1902. The Millers had independent ownership until Mike Kelley sold the franchise to the New York Giants in 1946.1 They were a Triple-A farm team for the Giants from 1946 through 1957, then became a Boston Red Sox affiliate when the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958.2

The Millers began 1959 as the defending Junior World Series champions. Guided by player-manager Gene Mauch, the 1958 Millers finished third during the regular season and got hot during the playoffs, winning 11 in a row to dispatch Wichita and Denver in the American Association playoffs, and sweeping the Montreal Royals of the International League in the Junior World Series.3

In 1959 the American Association expanded from 8 to 10 teams, dropping Wichita, adding Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, and increasing the schedule from 154 games to 162. The Millers raced off to a quick start and led the league’s East Division for most of the season. Mauch employed a similar strategy to 1958, using young pitchers like Earl Wilson, Tom Borland, Ted Bowsfield, and Ted Wills as starters, and veterans Tom Hurd and Eldred “Bud” Byerly out of the bullpen.

The Giants agreed to an in-season exhibition game at the Millers’ home field, Metropolitan Stadium, on Monday June 15.4 They arrived in town early in the morning after getting swept in a doubleheader by the Phillies in Philadelphia.5 The Millers stood at 42-23, and the Giants were 34-27 and in second place in the tight National League race.6 Game coverage in the Minneapolis Tribune pictured 11 Giants who were former Millers players,7 including Manager Bill Rigney, the player-manager when the Millers won the 1955 pennant and Junior World Series over the Rochester Red Wings in the last game played at cozy Nicollet Park in Minneapolis, and superstar center fielder Willie Mays.8

Several Giants, including André Rodgers, Leon Wagner, Willie Kirkland, and Orlando Cepeda, had also played for the Giants’ Class C Northern League farm team, the St. Cloud (Minnesota) Rox, under future Giants manager Charlie Fox. The Giants brought every player on their roster except pitchers Johnny Antonelli and Mike McCormick, who were slated to start the next two Giants games.9 A crowd of 16,712 attended the exhibition.10

Rigney started journeyman right-hander Dominic Zanni; Mauch started righty Willard Nixon, currently on the Millers’ disabled list. Mauch also used catcher Don Gile, another Miller on the disabled list.11

Nixon was a star pitcher for Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) before signing with the Red Sox in 1948.12 After a 36-14 minor league record, Nixon joined Boston in midseason in 1950 and compiled a 69-72 record and 4.39 ERA for mostly mediocre Red Sox teams through 1958. He was generally tough on the New York Yankees teams that won the American League pennant every year of his major-league career except 1954. In that season, Nixon was 4-0, 0.79 against a Yankees team that won 103 games but finished second to the Cleveland Indians.

The game was scoreless until the Millers scored three in the fourth. Art Schult’s single scored Pumpsie Green and Lou Clinton’s double drove in Chuck Tanner and Schult. Nixon, on Boston’s disabled list with shoulder problems from July 14, 1958, until his release to Minneapolis on April 10, 1959, took his assignment seriously, including lifting weights in the dugout between innings to keep his arm and shoulder loose.13 He held the Giants scoreless for eight innings on four hits and two walks, with only one baserunner reaching second.14

A former Miller not pictured in the newspaper photo, Al Worthington, relieved the Giants’ Zanni in the fifth and mowed down 12 Minneapolis batters, striking out six. Worthington was 50-31 as a Miller in 1953-55 and 1960 and recorded the last out at Nicollet Park.15 He later pitched six years as a reliever for the Minnesota Twins, unofficially leading the AL in saves in 196816 and coming out of retirement in 1969 to help the Billy Martin-led Twins win the inaugural AL West Division title.

Late in the game, Miller fans began chanting, “We want Willie!”17 Mays played for the Millers briefly in 1951, batting an astounding .477, with 71 hits in 35 games, before being called up to the Giants. His recall to New York set off a firestorm of protest in Minneapolis, prompting Giants owner Horace Stoneham to take out a newspaper ad explaining the move to Minneapolis fans. “On the record of performance since the American Association season started, Mays is entitled to his promotion, and the chance he to prove he can play major league baseball,” the ad had asserted. 18

Rigney admitted having a “soft spot for this area”19 and said he was looking for the right spot to insert Mays, nursing a leg injury, into the game.20

That time came leading off the ninth inning, when Rigney sent Mays out to pinch-hit for Felipe Alou. He hit a home run over the 316-foot sign in right field and the crowd erupted in a loud ovation.21

Dusty Rhodes followed with a single before Nixon settled down and finished his complete game, winning 3-1. The Giants said Nixon was not overpowering but had a good slider.22

The Giants flew home after the game to face the Cincinnati Reds. Zanni was sent to Triple-A Phoenix after the game. He resurfaced with the Giants in 1961 and later pitched for the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, going 9-6, 3.79 in 111 major-league games.

San Francisco engaged in a fierce NL pennant struggle with the Milwaukee Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers the rest of the season. The Giants took over first place on July 9 and, except for one day, held or were tied for the top spot through September 19. Seven losses in their final eight games doomed them to third place at 83-71, three games behind the Braves and Dodgers, who tied for first at 86-68.23 Both Mays and Cepeda knocked in over 100 runs and Mays led the NL with 27 stolen bases. Mays was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1979; Cepeda was elected in 1999. Rigney was fired in June 1960, but later managed the Los Angeles Angels and Twins, including leading the latter team to the AL West title in 1970. He finished his managerial career when he returned to the Giants for one year in 1976.

The Millers’ 56-28 record as of July 4, 1959, was the league’s best and they hosted the American Association All-Star game on July 13. The Millers beat the All Stars, 2-0, with Nixon, off the disabled list on June 20, pitching two scoreless innings in relief of Chet Nichols.24 The Millers then became the victims of what The Sporting News called “player raids.”25 Pumpsie Green was recalled by the Red Sox, becoming their first Black player. The Red Sox also recalled pitchers Earl Wilson, Nelson Chittum, and Al Schroll. Bud Byerly was traded to the Giants, Art Schult was sold to the Cubs, Chuck Tanner to Cleveland, Tom Hurd to Rochester, and catcher Jerry Zimmerman was released to Vancouver.26 The Millers slumped to 39-39 after July 4, ending second in the West at 95-67, two games behind the Louisville Colonels.27

The Millers ousted Omaha 4-2 (including a replay of a protested game involving Carl Yastrzemski),28 and the Fort Worth Cats 4-3. The Junior World Series featured the Millers vs. the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League. While Mauch and Cuban Premier Fidel Castro genially posed for a photograph shaking hands before the series,29 the Official Baseball Guide for 1960 described a series that had “more submachine guns than bats.” Castro’s commandos roamed the stands and were stationed in the dugouts during the five games played in Havana, as the Sugar Kings won the series four games to three, with four of the seven games being decided by one run.30 Ted Bowsfield remarked that the Millers were glad to get out of Havana alive.31

Mauch drew praise, including from Nixon, for adjusting well to many personnel changes during the season.32 He took over the Phillies in 1960 and had a long managerial career in the majors.

Nixon went 6-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 1959 but was ineffective against Fort Worth in the playoffs and was taken off the active roster before being released on October 13.33 After his release, Nixon retired as a player.

The 1960 season was the last year of the Millers and their Twin Cities rivals, the St. Paul Saints.  Owner Calvin Griffith of the Washington Senators announced on October 26, 1960, that he was moving his franchise to Minnesota.34 The Millers were the only team to never finish last while in the American Association.35 The Saints were reincarnated as an independent league team in 1993, playing in the independent Northern League and then the American Association until 2020. In 2021 they joined Organized Baseball as a Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.36

Author’s Note

The author attended the 1959 game with his grandfather and a friend. He remembers getting an autograph from the Giants’ Daryl Spencer.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information.

Photo credit: Willie Mays, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Halsey Hall, “Giants Buy Millers, Kelley to Remain as President,” The Sporting News, April 18, 1946: 7. (The Twin Cities chapter of SABR is named for Halsey Hall.)

2 Charles Johnson, “Lowdown on Sports,” Minneapolis Star, October 15, 1957: 31. The Dodgers and Giants moving to the West Coast forced three PCL teams to relocate: Los Angeles, Hollywood, and San Francisco. The Red Sox also transferred their PCL territorial rights to the Giants. The Giants’ Triple-A affiliate in 1958 was in Phoenix, Arizona.

3 J.G. Taylor Spink, Paul A. Rickart, Ernest J. Lanigan, and Clifford Kachline, eds., Official Baseball Guide for 1959 (St. Louis: Charles C. Spink & Son), 190. (The author attended the last game of the series as an 8-year-old with his grandfather.)

4 The Giants played exhibitions at Nicollet Park in Minneapolis on August 11, 1954, losing to the Millers 6-5, and June 23, 1955, losing 9-5. The Millers began playing at Metropolitan Stadium in 1956 and hosted major-league teams in every season through 1960. On June 7, 1956, the Giants beat the Millers 6-4, powered by Willie Mays’ two home runs. On August 13 of the same year, the Millers topped the Cleveland Indians 5-4. On April 13, 1957, the Milwaukee Braves defeated the Millers 4-3. On June 17, 1957, the Giants bested the Millers 5-4. On June 16, 1958, the Millers won a slugfest over the parent Red Sox, 14-10, despite a home run by former Miller Ted Williams. The Red Sox topped the Millers 9-2 on August 17, 1959, and lost 1-0 to the Millers on May 23, 1960, the last major-league season for Williams and the Millers’ final season of existence. (The author witnessed the last exhibition game.)

5 Charles Johnson, “Lowdown on Sports,” Minneapolis Star, June 16, 1959: 29.               

6 Baseball Standings, American Association, Minneapolis Star, June 16, 1959: 29.

7 “Former Millers Back as San Francisco Giants,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 16, 1959: 17.

8 Stew Thornley, On to Nicollet: The Glory and Fame of the Minneapolis Millers (Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 1988), 60-63.

9 Sid Hartman, “Hartman’s Roundup,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 16, 1959: 15.

10 Minneapolis Star, June 16, 1959: 31.

11 Tom Briere, “Millers Stop Giants 3-1 Despite Mays’ Homer,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 16, 1959: 14.

12 Wynn Montgomery, “Willard Nixon,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/willard-nixon/. Accessed July 10, 2024.

13 Bob Beebe, “Nixon, Millers Impressive as 16,712 Fans ‘Get Willie,’” Minneapolis Star, June 16, 1959: 29.

14 Briere. “Millers Stop Giants 3-1 Despite Mays’ Homer.”

15 Thornley, On to Nicollet, 63.

16 Saves were not officially adopted by the major leagues until 1969.

17 “Millers Stop Giants 3-1 Despite Mays’ Homer.”

18 “The Baseball Fans of Minneapolis!”, Minneapolis Tribune, May 27, 1951: 34.

19 Johnson, “Lowdown on Sports,” Minneapolis Star, June 16, 1959: 29.

20 Bill Hengen, “Roaming Around,” Minneapolis Star, June 16, 1959: 30.

21 “Rigney Gave Mays His Chance to Hit,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 16, 1959: 17. (The author’s grandfather chuckled and remarked after the home run, referring to Nixon, “He grooved one.”)

22 “Rigney Gave Mays His Chance to Hit.”

23 The Dodgers swept a best-of-three playoff with Milwaukee to advance to the World Series against the Chicago White Sox, whom they defeated in six games.

24 Tom Briere, “11,316 See Millers Blank All-Stars 2-0,” Minneapolis Tribune, July 14, 1959: 14.

25 “American Association,” The Sporting News, August 19, 1959: 34.

26 “Player Transactions,” The Sporting News, July 22, 1959, through September 3, 1959, editions.

27 Johnny Carrico, “Colonels Dashed Out of Basement Clear Up to Roof,” The Sporting News, September 16, 1959: 27.

28 Tom Briere, “Millers Win 4-3 in 10th, Omaha Files Protest,” Minneapolis Tribune September 16, 1959: 16. Bob Beebe, “Winning Millers Await Yastrzemski Edict,” Minneapolis Star, September 16, 1959: 65. Lee Howell, a late-season call-up to the depleted Miller roster from Double-A Memphis, was ordered to report for military duty and left the team on September 15. The Millers thought they had approval from Omaha and the league to use Yastrzemski, up from Class B Raleigh, on September 15. After the Millers won Game Five, Omaha filed a protest with the league, which was upheld. The Millers swept the replayed game and the regularly scheduled game on September 16, to advance in the playoffs.

29 “Fidel and Gene,” Minneapolis Star, October 5, 1959: 1.

30 J.G. Taylor Spink, Paul A. Rickart, Ernest J. Lanigan, and Clifford Kachline, eds., Official Baseball Guide for 1960 (St. Louis: Charles C. Spink & Son), 193.

31 Thornley, On to Nicollet, 65.

32 Halsey Hall, “Miller Fans Cheer Star Juggler Mauch,” The Sporting News: 29.

33 “Vito Returns, Nixon Dropped,” The Sporting News, September 30, 1959: 44.

34 Charles Johnson, “Cities Hit Homer! Here’s How We Got the Senators,” Minneapolis Star, October 27, 1960: 1.

35 Thornley, On to Nicollet, 67.

36 In 2021, under the minor-league contraction imposed by the major leagues, the International League was part of a conglomerate called Triple-A East.