June 5, 1970: Twins’ Bert Blyleven stymies Senators in major-league debut

One year after his selection in the June 1969 amateur draft, 19-year-old pitcher Bert Blyleven was recalled from the minor leagues to start for the Minnesota Twins. When he took the mound at RFK Stadium in Washington on June 5, 1970, he became the youngest player in the major leagues and the first major leaguer to be born in the Netherlands.

Blyleven’s family emigrated from war-torn Holland when he was three years old and eventually settled in Southern California in 1957. Blyleven began to play baseball when he was nine years old and was directed toward pitching because of his arm strength. He attracted major-league scouts during his successful tenure at Santiago High School in Garden Grove, California, and after his senior season in 1969 was selected 55th in the draft and signed by the Twins.

Blyleven’s successful 1969 minor-league and Florida Instructional League stints caught the attention of the Twins’ decision-makers and he was invited to attend major-league spring training in 1970. Blyleven was assigned to Evansville of the Triple-A American Association, but when Twins pitcher Luis Tiant was placed on the disabled list in late May with a fractured right shoulder, Blyleven was promoted to fill his slot in the rotation.

The Twins held first place in the American League West Division when they arrived in the US capital on June 5 for a three-game weekend series with the Senators. Minnesota was aiming to repeat as division champion after capturing the first AL West title in 1969. The Senators, who were formed in 1961 when the original Senators moved to Minnesota, were tied for third place in the AL East.

Minnesota jumped to an early lead, scoring a first-inning run off Senators pitcher Casey Cox. A veteran of five major-league seasons, the 28-year-old Cox was starting his 10th game of the year. Cox walked Twins leadoff hitter César Tovar, who stole second with left fielder Jim Holt batting. Holt flied out to left but Tony Oliva stroked a single to plate Tovar. Oliva was cut down trying to steal second and cleanup hitter Harmon Killebrew flied out to left. 

Blyleven strode to the mound holding a one-run lead. The Senators’ leadoff hitter, 34-year-old right fielder Lee Maye, worked the count full, then blasted a long home run over the right-field wall. “I wanted to crawl in a hole out there,” said Blyleven. “I thought ‘Oh no, Here we go.’”1

Center fielder Ed Stroud, who entered the game with a .314 batting average, was scheduled next. Stroud struck out, and 6-foot-7, 250-pound left fielder Frank Howard strolled to the plate. Howard led the AL with 44 homers in 1968 and followed with another 48 in 1969. He stepped in against Blyleven sporting a league-leading 16 homers.

Howard smashed a grounder to third baseman Killebrew, who threw him out at first. Mike Epstein followed with a single up the middle but Bernie Allen’s grounder ended the frame with the score tied, 1-1.

Cox and Blyleven traded zeros over the next three innings. In the third, the Senators sent the top of the order to the plate. Maye stroked a one-out single up the middle and advanced to second on Stroud’s tapper to the mound. Howard stepped in and launched a ball to center that Tovar hauled in, retiring the side. “I just said a prayer before I threw to him,” Blyleven said. “I didn’t think he hit the ball very good, but it just seemed to keep going and going.”2

In the top of the fourth after Cox retired Oliva and Killebrew, Rich Reese walked and Leo Cárdenas doubled, but neither runner scored. In the fifth, however, the Twins were able to manufacture another run and Blyleven was in the middle of the action.

Second baseman Frank Quilici, substituting for Rod Carew, who was on weekend military duty,3 reached on an infield single. With Blyleven batting, the Senators drew their infield in, anticipating a bunt. Blyleven pushed a two-hopper toward first. Epstein picked it up and looked toward second, but decided to retire Blyleven at first, as Quilici took second. Tovar followed with a line-drive hit to right. Quilici scored the go-ahead run as Senators right fielder Maye threw out Tovar trying for a double.

The Twins threatened with leadoff singles in the sixth and seventh, but in both frames the next batter grounded into a double play. Cox completed the seventh having surrendered two runs on seven hits and three walks. His day was finished when John Roseboro pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the seventh.

Blyleven faced Howard for the third time leading off the sixth. “When I got two strikes on him right away, I thought about striking him out,” Blyleven said.4 Blyleven threw his curveball and Howard swung and missed. “Did you see that ball,” he asked catcher George Mitterwald. “It must have dropped this much,” he said, holding his hands at least two feet apart.5

After Blyleven retired the Senators in the seventh, manager Bill Rigney decided to change pitchers. “After the job the kid had done,” said Rigney, “I didn’t want him to come out a loser.”6 Veteran fireman Ron Perranoski was summoned to finish the game.

Minnesota failed to augment its lead off Senators closer Darold Knowles in the eighth and ninth. The Twins went quietly both innings, mustering only a ninth-inning single by Killebrew.

Perranoski confronted the top of the Senators’ lineup when he took the mound in the eighth.

He retired pinch-hitter Wayne Comer and Stroud on grounders to shortstop, bringing Howard to the plate. Howard drove a ball to deep left field that Holt caught against the fence.

The ninth inning turned out to be a mirror of the eighth. Epstein and pinch-hitter Rick Reichardt flied out, then Aurelio Rodríguez drove Holt to the wall with a long drive to left. Holt jumped, reached, and pulled it in for the final out, securing the Twins’ win.

“Howard’s ball I knew wasn’t going out,” said Holt. “But that last ball I caught with my arm over the fence.”7 Perranoski’s heart-stopping save, his 13th, secured Blyleven’s first major-league win.

Both managers praised Blyleven’s performance. “I haven’t seen anybody debut like that,” said Rigney. “He gave this team a terrific boost.”8 Senators manager Ted Williams, sporting a .344 career batting average, said, “I was impressed. … Even if the kid lost I would have been impressed with what he showed me.”9

The two teams progressed in opposite directions after the Twins completed the weekend sweep. Washington dropped in the standings to finish last in the AL East with 92 losses. After losing 96 times in 1971, the team moved to Arlington, Texas, for the 1972 season.10

Minnesota went on to capture its second straight AL West title before falling to the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Championship Series. Blyleven remained in the rotation when Tiant returned in August and finished 10-9 in 27 starts.

Twins pitching coach Marv Grissom seemed prophetic when he talked about Blyleven after the game. “He has a great future in baseball,” Grissom raved.11 Indeed, Blyleven accumulated 287 wins, 60 shutouts, and 3,701 strikeouts, and in his 14th year of eligibility was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Mike Huber 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 information, including the box score and play-by-play. In addition, the author consulted Bert Blyleven’s SABR biography by Gregory H. Wolf.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS2/WS2197006050.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1970/B06050WS21970.htm

Photo credit: Bert Blyleven, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 John Roe, “Blyleven ‘Masterful,’” Minneapolis Tribune, June 6, 1970: 15.

2 Roe.

3 Bob Fowler, “Blyleven Wins Debut, 2-1,” St. Paul Daily Press, June 6, 1970: 13.

4 Roe.

5 Roe

6 Roe.

7 Roe.

8 Roe.

9 Don Stoneking, “Blyleven ‘Impresses’ Ted … and Everyone,” Minneapolis Star, June 6, 1970: 12.

10 American League owners voted 10 to 2 to allow owner Bob Short to move the team to Texas.

11 Roe.