September 20, 1969: Jim Perry’s 20th victory pushes Twins nearer pennant

Jim Perry set down the final 17 batters he faced to notch his 20th win of the 1969 season, a 3-2 decision over the Seattle Pilots before a Saturday afternoon crowd of 12,797 at Metropolitan Stadium. Perry surrendered just six hits and two walks and struck out eight on the way to his 12th complete-game victory of the season. 

Right fielder Tony Oliva stroked a run-scoring double to the gap in left field to drive in second baseman Rod Carew with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning and secure the win for Perry, who improved to 20-6 with the win for the American League West-leading Twins.

It took the 6-foot-4 right-hander a few innings to settle in. Perry surrendered singles to second baseman John Donaldson and right fielder Steve Whitaker leading off the first inning but struck out the next three hitters to end the threat. Perry fanned left fielder Danny Walton to record the 1,000th strikeout of his career,1 caught center fielder Steve Hovley looking, and set first baseman Greg Goossen down swinging.

In the second inning, Perry walked Pilots catcher Jerry McNertney to start the frame and surrendered a two-run home run to third baseman John Kennedy. Trailing 2-0 with no one out, Perry walked shortstop Ron Clark, and Twins manager Billy Martin trotted out to the mound. “He told me that I wasn’t throwing the way I was when I won the first 19,” Perry told Minneapolis Tribune sportswriter Dave Mona. “But he told me to settle down because he knew I was going to win 20.”2

Mona wrote, “Martin has said all year that one of Perry’s greatest assets is that he listens to advice,”3 and, after Martin’s mound visit, Perry escaped further damage when he induced a force out and converted a comebacker into an inning-ending double play.4

He allowed only three more hits – a single by Whitaker in the third and singles by McNertney and Kennedy in the fourth. After that, he retired 17 straight batters.

While Perry was rounding into form in the early innings, Pilots right-hander Gene Brabender, at 6-feet-5½ a bit taller than Perry,5 kept the Twins off the scoreboard for six innings.

Brabender retired the side in order in the first, stranded two runners after two-out singles by center fielder Cesar Tovar and catcher John Roseboro in the second, and marooned two more in the third after a bunt single by left fielder Ted Uhlaender and Carew’s single to center.

Brabender managed to escape another jam in the fifth. With the Twins trailing 2-0, Uhlaender stroked a one-out single to left and Carew walked, but Seattle first baseman Greg Goosen snared Oliva’s liner and doubled Carew off first to end the inning. Brabender walked third baseman Harmon Killebrew, who became the 1969 AL Most Valuable Player, to open the sixth inning, and one out later Tovar singled to left. But Brabender escaped again and still led 2-0 after stranding eight baserunners through six innings.

The Twins finally cashed in in the seventh. After Perry grounded out, Uhlaender scorched a triple into the right-field corner, his third hit of the day, and Carew drove him home with a single to right field. Oliva followed with a single to right, and with runners on first and third and one out, Pilots manager Joe Schultz summoned righty Diego Segui to the mound. Segui struck out Killebrew, but first baseman Rich Reese, “performing with the same calm that has characterized his performance all year, slapped a Segui pitch to left center to tie the game and moved Oliva to third,” Mona recounted in the next day’s Minneapolis Tribune.6

In Mona’s words, Tovar then “laid down a perfect bunt toward third as Oliva raced for the plate,” but Kennedy “fielded the ball on the dead run and underhanded a perfect throw to catcher Gerry McNertney an instant before Oliva reached the plate.”7

Mona reported that “Tovar’s bunt was ruled to have been so well placed that he was credited for the third hit of a perfect afternoon.”8 However, the scoring decision was later reversed; the hit was changed to a fielder’s choice, and Tovar was credited with two hits instead of three, and the Twins for 12 instead of 13.9

After Perry set down the Pilots in order in the top of the eighth, Roseboro drew a walk when he was awarded an automatic ball four by second-base umpire Jake O’Donnell, who ruled that Segui had taken more than 20 seconds between pitches. Schultz objected when O’Donnell invoked the infrequently called rule, and was ejected by home-plate umpire Jerry Neudecker for arguing. The controversial call came to nothing however, when Herman Hill, running for Roseboro, was gunned down by McNertney when he tried to steal second.

At the time, Perry was at bat. Martin had let his starting pitcher hit for himself for the fourth time. “Martin, in a show of confidence, kept his bullpen inactive most of the game and let Perry hit for himself in the third, fifth, and seventh innings despite the deficit,” Mona wrote.10 After he struck out to end the eighth inning, Perry returned to the mound for the ninth, and was perfect for the fifth straight frame. He induced Hovley to ground out, struck out Goossen, and retired McNertney on a fly to left.

The Twins made sure that Perry would not be needed for another inning. With one out, Carew singled to left field. It was his third hit in the day, ending a 4-for-31 slump over his previous nine games.

“Carew, who studied video tapes of his batting style the last several days, apparently found the answer to his problems,” Mona wrote. “He said he found that he had been hitting out of too much of a crouch and taking his eyes off the ball just before the swing.”11

“The flaws were eliminated yesterday as he had three hits to raise his batting average four points to .334 and virtually cinch the American League batting title. He needs only 32 appearances in the final 11 games to qualify.”12

“After [Carew] singled to left with one out in the ninth, Perry, sitting next to John Roseboro on the Twins bench, pointed at a hole in left-center and predicted that the game would end if Oliva could hit a ball in that direction,” Mona wrote.13

Perry was prophetic. Oliva followed with his league-leading 38th two-bagger of the year, a liner over Clark’s head at shortstop that darted through the gap between Walton in left and Hovley in center, and Carew scampered around the bases with the winning run.14

“I saw the ball go over the shortstop’s head and I just knew it was through,” Perry said. “I was pushing Rod around the bases.”15

Mona wrote that “Carew, running at top speed, nearly ran into Perry who raised his arms as he led the Twins’ cheering section from the dugout.”16

With the win, Perry improved to 20-6, his final ledger for the season. He made three more starts without a decision. Segui was tagged with the loss to fall to 11-6. The setback was the 93rd for the Pilots in 152 games. The expansion franchise finished the season 64-98, in last place in the six-team American League West, and was moved to Milwaukee before the 1970 campaign.17

The Twins improved to 91-60 under Martin and moved closer to the first-ever AL West Division title.18 After they lost the series finale to the Pilots the next day, the Twins clinched the division title with a win Monday in Kansas City.19 They finished the season with a 97-65 record under the fiery Martin but were swept in three games in the first American League Championship Series by the Baltimore Orioles, despite fine pitching performances from Perry and Dave Boswell, who had secured his 20th win eight days after Perry.

In spite of the postseason loss, the 1969 season represented a remarkable turnaround for the Twins, who had finished seventh in the 10-team American League in 1968 with a 79-83 record under manager Cal Ermer.

Martin inserted Perry into the rotation and left him there for the entire season.20 He called on Perry as a starter 36 times in 1969 (he also relieved 10 times), and the veteran right-hander rewarded his new manager’s confidence when he posted a 20-6 record with a 2.82 earned-run average. He became the sixth pitcher to win 20 games for the Twins since the team moved to Minnesota in 1961.21

Perry, who spent four years with Cleveland and was Martin’s teammate there as a rookie in 1959, was traded to Minnesota during the 1963 season.22 He never started more than 25 games for Sam Mele (Minnesota’s manager from 1961 to 1967) or for Ermer (who took over the Twins during the 1967 season). Perry started just 18 times in 1968, posting an 8-6 record and a 2.27 ERA in 139 innings.

“Perry just fell on evil ways with the Twins,” former Cleveland general manager Frank “Trader” Lane told Minneapolis Star sportswriter Mike Lamey before Perry’s start against Baltimore in the 1969 ALCS. “Sam Mele apparently wasn’t high on him. He wasn’t used for a while and lost his sharpness. But look at him now.”23

Perry said he had prepared for his role in the rotation. “Two weeks before the season started this year, I went over to the Decathlon Club at 7 A.M. and worked out. I think that helped me to report in good shape.” Mona suggested that reporting in good shape was “something that immediately distinguished him from his pitching teammates.”24

Despite his preparation for the season, Perry had earned just two more wins than losses by the Fourth of July, when Minnesota started the day in second place in the AL West with a 43-34 record. The Twins earned an Independence Day victory to pull into a tie with division-leading Oakland behind Ray Miller, and moved into first place when Perry defeated the Athletics 13-1 on July 5. Minnesota cruised to the AL West flag by winning 54 of its final 85 games. Perry won 12 of his final 14 decisions, a key reason for Minnesota’s midseason turnaround.25

“Perry laughed when he was asked what he would have thought if someone had predicted he would win 20 games back on July 4 when he was 6-4. “I guess I would have said that man was a fool.”26

After his 20th win, Perry told Mona that he would “like to think” that he would be considered a full-time member of the starting rotation when the Twins reported to Orlando, Florida, for spring training in February 1970.27

He was in the rotation, but it wasn’t for Martin. A week after the season ended, Twins owner Calvin Griffith fired the fiery manager. While winning the AL West in his first season as a major-league manager, Martin battled with the Twins front office, publicly criticized the franchise’s farm system, brawled with Boswell outside a bar in Detroit, and panned several of his players in conversations with the press.28

Twins fans were outraged and some staged protests,29 but Griffith stuck by his decision, one that disappointed Carew and Perry. “He gave me a chance to pitch,” Perry said. “I know some players didn’t like the ways things were handled, but you can’t satisfy 25 players.”30

Having proved himself under Martin in 1969, Perry performed spectacularly in 1970 for new manager Bill Rigney. He led the league with 24 wins, earned the AL Cy Young Award, and pitched in the All-Star Game. He won 30 more games over the next two seasons before moving on to Detroit (where he was briefly reunited with Martin), Cleveland, and Oakland to close out his career. Perry finished with a lifetime record of 215-174 and a 3.45 ERA. He and his brother Gaylord Perry, a 1991 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, combined to post 529 career victories, second most by any brother combination in major league history.31

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Almanac.com, Baseball-Reference.com, SABR.org, FanGraphs.com, and The Sporting News archive via Paper of Record, as well as the following articles on the SABR BioProject website for background information:

Bjarkman, Peter C. “Tony Oliva,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/tony-oliva/

Keenan, Jimmy, and Frank Russo. “Billy Martin,” SABR BioProject, sabr.org/bioproj/person/billy-martin/

Wancho, Joseph. “Jim Perry,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jim-perry/

Wancho, Joseph. “Rod Carew,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/rod-carew/

Notes

1 Dave Mona, “Perry Takes 20th; Twins Nip Seattle 3-2,” Minneapolis Tribune, September 21, 1969: 1S; “Major Flashes, American League, Milestone for Perry,” The Sporting News, October 4, 1969: 22.

2 Mona: 1S.

3 Mona: 1S.

4 According to baseball-reference.com, the Twins finished 1969 with 177 double plays, one short of league-leading Boston.

5 According to baseball-reference.com, Perry was 6-feet-4.

6 Mona: 5S.

7 Mona: 5S.

8 Mona: 5S.

9 “A change in the scoring of Sunday’s [sic] game has taken a base hit away from Tovar. The play called a fielder’s choice instead on a play in which a man was thrown out at the plate …” “Twins,” Minneapolis Tribune, September 23, 1969: 40.

10 Mona: 1, 5S.

11 Mona: 5S.

12 Mona: 5S. Carew finished the season with a .332 average and won the first of his seven AL batting titles.

13 Mona: 5S.

14 Oliva finished the season with 101 runs batted in and an AL-leading 39 doubles.

15 Mona: 5S.

16 Mona: 5S.

17 Pitcher Jim Bouton Manager Joe Schultz was a frequent target of Bouton’s humorous diary entries, and several of the players in the September 20 game, including Brabender and Hovley, were portrayed. However, Bouton had been traded to the Houston Astros on August 24, and his late-season diary entries took aim at the Astros organization. Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter, ed.,Ball Four, My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues, (New York: World Publishing Company, 1970).

18 The American and National Leagues had both added two teams and split into six-team East and West Divisions for the 1969 season. The Seattle Pilots and Kansas City Royals were the franchises added to the AL.

19 Mike Lamey, “‘Bubbly’ Iced, but untasted,” Minneapolis Star, September 22, 1969: 1A. According to Lamey, Twins equipment manager Ray Crump hauled four cases of champagne that had been set aside but never used for a pennant-clinching ceremony in 1967, from storage, and brought the bubbly to Kansas City for the 1969 celebration.

20 Dave Mona, “July 4: When Flag-Waving Twins Ignited the Fireworks,” Minneapolis Tribune, September 23, 1969: 39.

21 “Perry Becomes Sixth 20-Gamer for Twins,” Minneapolis Tribune, September 21, 1969: 5S.

22 Mike Lamey, “Perry Investment Pays Off,” Minneapolis Star, October 3, 1969: 9B. The Twins acquired Perry for pitcher Jack Kralick and an estimated $100,000 cash on May 2, 1963. Lane was Cleveland’s general manager from 1958 to 1960 when Perry joined the club; Gabe Paul was the general manager who traded Perry to Minnesota.

23 Lamey, “Perry Investment Pays Off,” Minneapolis Star, October 3, 1969: 9B.

24 Mona, “Perry Takes 20th; Twins Nip Seattle 3-2”: 5S.

25 Mona, “July 4: When Flag-Waving Twins Ignited the Fireworks.”

26 Mona, “Perry Takes 20th”: 5S.

27 Mona, “Perry Takes 20th”: 5S.

28 Mike Lamey, “Billy Martin Fired,” Minneapolis Star, October 13, 1969: 1.

29 Max Nichols, “‘Bring Martin Back,’ Chant Furious Twins’ Fans,” The Sporting News, November 1, 1969: 15.

30 “Carew Hits Dismissal,” The Sporting News, November 1, 1969: 15.

31 Joe and Phil Niekro won 539, 10 more than the Perry brothers. Greg and Mike Maddux are a distant third at 394.