September 25, 1966: Jim Kaat outduels Earl Wilson for 25th win

On September 27, 1966, Jim Kaat was honored in front of 300 businessmen at the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce by receiving the Chamber’s highest award for achievement. This distinguished group was hoping it would be a prelude to a bigger accolade, baseball’s Cy Young Award. Two days earlier, Kaat’s 25th win had tied Sandy Koufax for the major-league lead. If assigned two more starts as he requested, Kaat could end the season with 27.

Since 1925, only nine pitchers had achieved 27 or more wins in a season,1 and Kaat aspired to join their ranks and position himself for this prestigious award. “I threw only 94 pitches in this game,” said Kaat. “I think I would have more of a chance of getting hurt with too much rest.”2 His manager, Sam Mele, wasn’t so sure. “I don’t want to take a chance of Kaat hurting his arm,” said Mele. “Kaat has had a great season. I don’t want anything to happen to him because of getting too anxious.”3

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in Bloomington, Minnesota, when Kaat took the mound for the Twins in Metropolitan Stadium, facing Earl Wilson and the Tigers. With one week left in the regular season, the Baltimore Orioles had already clinched the American League pennant, and the Twins and Tigers were fighting for second place. With a win, the Twins would pull within one game of the Tigers.

For the first three innings, both pitchers were in command. Kaat had not given up a hit and the Twins only had two, a double by Earl Battey in the second and a single by Zoilo Versalles in the third. Both runners were left stranded. In the fourth, the Tigers got their first hit, a single by Don Wert, to lead off the inning. Wert was quickly erased as the next batter, Jake Wood, grounded into a shortstop-to-second-to-first double play. In the fifth, the Tigers failed again to get a runner past second base. After Willie Horton hit a one-out single, Mickey Stanley hit into the second 6-4-3 double play of the game. After the Tigers were retired in the sixth, Kaat had pitched through the order twice, facing the minimum 18 batters. Both hits were erased on double plays, and Dick McAuliffe was caught stealing after his one-out walk in the third.

Meanwhile, the Twins had their best scoring opportunity in the fifth. Ted Uhlaender led off the inning with a double and stole third as Versalles struck out. With one out Kaat bunted back to the pitcher, but Uhlaender was unable to score. Cesar Tovar ended the threat by flying out to center field, stranding Uhlaender at third. In the sixth inning, the Twins went quietly as the first two batters grounded out to first and Harmon Killebrew struck out.

Minnesota’s best-hit balls of the day were all flagged down by Stanley in center. He made three Gold Glove-worthy catches in the game. The first was on a fly ball hit by Tony Oliva to lead off the fourth, and the other two were on long fly balls in the seventh. Don Mincher led off that inning with a fly ball to deep right-center that sent Stanley on the run. He caught up to the ball and snagged it right before crashing through the swinging bullpen gate, saving a sure double or triple. After a one-out single by Battey, Stanley continued his outstanding glove work with another great catch on Uhlaender’s fly to center. Versalles popped up to shortstop and the inning ended with no runs crossing the plate.

Kaat faced his toughest trouble in the eighth inning, when Horton stroked his second single of the game. Stanley pushed a bunt to first baseman Mincher, and Tovar, the second baseman, took the throw for the out, with Horton going to second. The next batter, Bill Freehan, hit a grounder into the shortstop hole that Versalles fielded. Knowing he could not throw Freehan out at first, Versalles threw to Killebrew at third, hoping to catch Horton trying for third. Killebrew caught the ball and in “a slow man’s race”4 chased Horton back to second. As the two lumbering men raced back to second, Killebrew caught Horton and tagged him just before he reached the bag. Kaat then struck out McAuliffe, his eighth strikeout of the day, to end the inning.

After two more scoreless half-innings, the stage was set for the bottom of the ninth. Oliva was due to lead off. “I told Sandy Valdespino to take the bats from the rack to the clubhouse,” said Oliva with a big smile on his face.5 In his three previous at bats, Wilson had retired Oliva on fastballs. After running the count to 2-and-2, Oliva belted a poorly placed fastball 390 feet over the right-field fence, giving the Twins the victory. “I wanted the ball high and tight and I threw it down the pipe,” said Wilson, feeling the pain of his 11th defeat.6 The home run was Oliva’s 25th of the season, and it sealed Kaat’s 25th win. The Twins played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981, and this game was the only 1-0 game won on a walk-off home run.

Mele had a change of heart and assigned Kaat two more starts, one at home against the Cleveland Indians and the other against the pennant-winning Orioles in Baltimore on the final day of the season. The other starters were shuffled around his schedule in order to give the team the best chance to finish in second. Kaat lost both games, ending his season with a 25-13 record. The starters who worked around Kaat’s schedule, Mudcat Grant, Jim Perry, and Jim Merritt, won their games to propel the team to second place, one game in front of the Tigers.

The Cy Young Award was instituted in 1956 by Commissioner Ford Frick to honor the best pitcher in the major leagues. When Frick retired in 1967, the rules changed and each league presented an award. Kaat fell short of receiving the award in the final year of the single best pitcher; Koufax was the unanimous choice. With Kaat’s stellar record, one could speculate that a year later the outcome might have been different. Despite his disappointing finish, Kaat still led the American League in victories and complete games. Although he had a long and successful career, one could argue that the 1966 season was his most successful and rewarding.

Sources

baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN196609250.shtml

retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B09250MIN1966.htm

Notes

1 The pitchers who had won at least 27 games since 1925 to this point were Lefty Grove (who did it twice), Dizzy Dean (twice), Hal Newhouser, Robin Roberts, Don Newcombe, Dizzy Trout, Bob Feller, Bucky Walters, and George Uhle.  Koufax joined this group on the final day of the 1966 season.

2 Max Nichols, “Mele Says ‘No’ on Two More Starts for Kaat,” Minneapolis Star, September 26, 1966: 9B.

3 Nichols.

4 Tom Briere, “Kaat Wins No. 25 on Oliva Belt,” Minneapolis Tribune, September 26, 1966: 31.

5 Briere.

6 Briere.