June 3-4, 1967: Harmon Killebrew blasts two tape-measure home runs on consecutive days

The California Angels were trying to get out of the cellar. The team arrived in the Twin Cities and broke a four-game losing streak with a win on Friday, June 2, in the series opener. The Twins were trying to stay relevant in the American League pennant race. After Friday night’s loss, they were 21-23.

Dave Boswell started for the Twins in the second game of the series. He had lost his last two starts and was trying to turn things around. Boswell walked two batters in the first but managed to get out of trouble. He retired the side in order in the second.

The Angels broke through off Boswell in the third. Paul Schaal doubled with two outs and came home on Jim Fregosi’s single, giving California a 1-0 lead.

George Brunet was on the mound for the Angels. After winning his first start, on April 11, Brunet failed to win again in his next 10 starts. He entered the game with a 1-8 won-lost record. Brunet kept the Twins from scoring through the first two innings although they had runners in scoring position in both frames.

That changed in the third. After Rod Carew led off with a walk, Rich Rollins doubled. Both runners came home on Bob Allison’s double to put the Twins up 2-1.

Brunet struggled again in the fourth, walking the leadoff batter. Two consecutive singles plated another Twins run and finished Brunet, who would end up with his ninth loss. “Nothing is working out,” he grumbled.1  “At home my wife lost the keys to the car and our cat had six kittens. We haven’t even been able to give them away.”2

Lew Burdette relieved Brunet and hit Rollins, the first batter he faced. Harmon Killebrew stepped up to the plate and “sent a three-run rocket into outer space.”3 Killebrew’s home run landed in the second deck.

When the homer was listed at 430 feet, the Twins brass protested. Officials insisted that the ball had gone over 500 feet. Tom Briere of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote: “Considering the second deck is at least 70 feet above ground level, Killebrew’s three-run blast was a 500-footer plus.”4 The spot was marked in orange to show where the homer was hit.

It was the first time a ball was hit there since the upper deck had been added to Metropolitan Stadium in 1965. Before this home run, the longest homer on record at the ballpark was Killebrew’s 475-foot smash high into the batter’s background in center field in 1961.

Killebrew said, “I think that it was a fastball that I hit. This one felt good but then the one that I hit in Detroit carried over the roof in center field.” Burdette, when asked about the hit, said, “Heck, I’ve thrown longer ones than that.”5 Killebrew’s home run put the Twins ahead 6-1.

The Twins’ Boswell found trouble again in the sixth inning when his control left him. Don Mincher led off with a double to left field. Jimmie Hall walked. Rick Reichardt lifted one into the left-field bleachers for his fifth home run of the season. The Twins’ lead had been cut to two runs.

Twins manager Sam Mele replaced Boswell with left-hander Jim Ollom. The first batter he faced, left-hander Tom Satriano, sliced a home run into the left-field seats, narrowing the Twins lead to one run, 6-5.

After Ollom gave up a single to Bobby Knoop, Mele called in Jim Perry, who gave up singles to Bubba Morton and Schaal. Knoop tried to score from second on Schaal’s single but was nailed at home by right fielder Sandy Valdespino. Fregosi walked. With the bases loaded, Mincher popped out to end the inning.

Bill Kelso pitched two scoreless innings for the Angels before being replaced by Minnie Rojas in the eighth. The Twins added two runs off Rojas, who walked Cesar Tovar and gave up a single to Carew to start the frame. Rollins’ sacrifice moved the runners up.

Rojas intentionally walked Killebrew to load the bases. Then he walked Allison, bringing home the seventh Twins run. Pete Cimino was called in to stop the bleeding. After striking out Valdespino, he hit Zoilo Versalles to send Carew across the plate, giving the Twins a three-run lead at 8-5.

The Twins brought in Ron Kline to clean things up in the ninth. Before he could retire the side, the Angels made it 8-6 on doubles by Satriano and Mincher. When Kline got pinch-hitter Orlando McFarlane to ground out, he earned his first save of the season.

The win pushed the Twins closer to .500 and Killebrew’s home run had the team fired up. “We’re going to start rolling now. I can feel it. You’re going to see us pitching some shutouts,” hurler Dean Chance said after the game.6

The next day, a Sunday, 35,033 fans showed up at Metropolitan Stadium to celebrate Bat Day. Many of them were still talking about Killebrew’s blast the day before; the place had been clearly marked in orange by the club. “It was the longest one that I’ve ever seen hit,” Mele said.7

Jim Merritt started for the Twins. Merritt was coming off two shutouts and looking to earn his fourth win of the season. He retired the side in order in the first but California ended his 21-inning scoreless streak in the second.

Mincher led off with a double. Reichardt followed with his sixth homer of the year, a blast into the left-field pavilion, for a 2-0 lead.

Tony Oliva made an over-the-shoulder catch when the next batter, Bubba Morton, hit a shot into deep right field. His catch likely prevented another run from scoring. Oliva had just returned to the lineup after having stitches removed. “My finger is still sore, but I’m swinging good,” he said. “I’m feeling better and moving better in the outfield.”8

The Angels sent right-hander Jack Sanford to the mound. The 12-year veteran entered the game with a 3-2 record and a 3.26 earned-run average. Sanford retired the side in the first with the help of a pickoff of Carew at first.

As Killebrew led off the Twins half of the second, “it was announced that belated computations and estimations placed the length of Saturday’s swat at 520 feet,” the estimated distance it would have traveled unimpeded. The public-address announcer told the crowd that the seat where his ball hit would be removed to mark the spot.9

After hearing that bit of news, Killebrew stepped to the plate and hit Sanford’s first pitch off the front of the second deck in left field. The home run was measured at 434 feet.

Killebrew said later that he hit a curveball. Asked to compare the home run to Saturday’s, he said the same thing he said the previous day: “It’s hard to compare home runs. I know I’m making pretty good contact. Same stance, same swing, same bat – 33 ounces, 35 inches.”10

The home run raised his total to 12 for the year. It also brought Killebrew’s RBI total for the year to 36. It was the most he had at this point in a season since 1959, when he had 40 RBIs on June 4. “I guess that maybe it’s the hot weather. The heat helps you get loose,” he said when asked about the fact that he ended up with five hits in the series against the Angels.11

The Angels took the run back in the third. Jose Cardenal and Fregosi singled. Cardenal scored from third when Killebrew couldn’t handle a line drive by Mincher.

The Twins grabbed the lead when they scored four runs off Sanford in the fourth. Singles by Carew, Killebrew, and Oliva brought in a run. Versalles followed with his second home run of the season, putting the Twins ahead 5-3.

Versalles had been struggling at the plate, going 7-for-36 since May 26. “I changed my stance and spread out a little. When I spread out, I hit the long ball, and that’s what I’m going to do from now on.”12

The Twins added to their lead in the fifth. After Merritt led off with a double, Bill Kelso replaced Sanford. Tovar hit a sharp groundball that bounced off first baseman Mincher’s glove. Tovar ended up at first and Merritt reached third. Carew’s fly ball scored Merritt.

A single by Rollins and an intentional walk to Killebrew loaded the bases. Oliva’s sacrifice fly brought Tovar home and the Twins were ahead 7-3.

The Angels tied the game in the seventh. Buck Rodgers, leading off, hit his first home run of the season. With one out, Johnny Werhas batted for Kelso and hit another one over the fence. It was also his first home run of the season.

Mele went to his bullpen for right-hander Al Worthington, who proceeded to give up a double to Cardenal and singles to Schaal and Fregosi. Fregosi’s single plated two more Angels runs before Worthington was replaced by Jim Roland, who retired the side.

The game remained tied through regulation although the Angels had a chance to take the lead on a pair of walks in the top of the ninth. But Roland got Mincher to fly out and Reichardt to ground out on a comebacker.

After Perry retired the Angels in order in the 10th, Rollins opened the Twins half of the frame with a single to left field. It was his seventh hit of the series. Rollins said he was feeling better at the plate because he stopped swinging for the long ball. “I feel better now than I have for some time. I’m relaxed and feel strong.”13

Ted Uhlaender ran for Rollins. Rojas walked Killebrew to put the winning run on second. Oliva then hit a grounder to second. Knoop hesitated as he looked to see if he could get Uhlaender out at third. By the time that he tossed the ball to second base, he had lost his opportunity for a double play.

Angels manager Bill Rigney met with Rojas and after a brief meeting, it was decided to pitch to Allison, who had been hitless all afternoon.

Third-base coach Billy Martin immediately gave Allison the bunt sign since he was the Twins best bunter. “I was not surprised at all to see the squeeze sign,” Allison said later.14 On Rojas’s first pitch, Allison bunted just to the right of the mound. First baseman Mincher barehanded the ball and threw home. But his throw was wild and the fleet Uhlaender scored with a head-first slide. Allison was credited with single and his game-winning run batted in was his 31st RBI of the season. “Allison has always bunted real well, and he did the job for us again as he has so many times this season to win games,” said Mele.15

The loss sent the Angels home with a second consecutive 1-6 road trip. “I’m afraid to answer the phone, Rigney said after the game. “It might be the ultimatum call.”16

Bat Day was clearly a success as the team gave out 13,200 Little League bats to fans. The Twins and Angels knocked out 24 hits all over Metropolitan Stadium. “But the shortest hit of them all,” wrote Tom Briere, “Allison’s 30-foot bunt, enabled the Twins to take the series and level at .500 in the standings.”17

Mele was pleased with his team. “We’re up to a .500 record. That’s the best position we’ve been in this year,” he said. “If we can get over .500, I think we’ll go. We’ve been playing our best baseball of the year the last two weeks.”18

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, I used the Baseball-Reference.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for box-score, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting game logs, and other pertinent material.

baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN196706030.shtml

retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1967/B06030MIN1967.htm

baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN196706040.shtml

retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1967/B06040MIN1967.htm

Notes

1 John Hall, “Brunet Takes Loss, 9th in Row,” Los Angeles Times, June 4, 1967: 44.

2 John Hall, “Angels Lose but Fans Don’t Lose Faith, Greet Team,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1967: 41.

3 Hall, “Angels Lose.”

4 Tom Briere, “Killebrew Blast Aids Twins, 8-6,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 4, 1967: 53.

5 Briere, “Killebrew Blast.”

6 Max Nichols, “Twins, Met Enter New Homer Era,” Minneapolis Star. June 5, 1967: 36.

7 Hall, “Angels Lose.”

8 Bill Hengen, “Twins Provide Example of Team Victory,” Minneapolis Star, June 5, 1967: 37.

9 Tom Briere, “Announcer Tells of Harmon’s Feat, Then … Kerpow,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 5, 1967: 29.

10 Briere, “Announcer Tells.”

11 Sid Hartman, “Hartman’s Roundup,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 5, 1967: 28.

12 Hartman.

13 Hartman.

14 Tom Briere, “Twins Squeeze by Angels, 8-7,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 5, 1967: 27.

15 Hartman.

16 Hall, “Angels Lose.”

17 Briere, “Twins Squeeze by Angels.”

18 Nichols.