Sam Mele News Today

"deadline" right now. ♪♪ hi there, everyone. its 4:00 in new york. the gop is entrenched in another civil war today, this one intrastate, not intrachamber, but gop versus gop all the same. in one corner the talented mr. ripley of kevin mccarthys house republican conference, and in the other his hometown republican detractors who say he should resign for telling, quote, lie after lie. the second political thrilla in manila political-style duel isnt at all how the republicans plann...

Jimmie Hall was a left-handed hitting outfielder who burst on the scene in 1963 and helped the Twins reach the World Series in 1965, but faded quickly and was traded for a future ace starting pitcher.

Overview The early '60s Twins were shockingly talented for a team that had freshly arrived in a new city. The 1961 team—the first one officially known as “the Twins”—featured two future MVPs in the lineup (Harmon Killebrew and Zoilo Versalles), and an eventual Hall-of-Famer in the rotation (Jim K...

Overview Let’s get this out of the way now. There’s one man synonymous with this season: a certain Alfred Manuel Martin Jr., commonly known as “Billy.” Martin first earned his bread as the feisty second baseman on the Mickey Mantle Yankees of the 1950s. He didn’t hit particularly well, but his sp...

One of the most underrated players for the Twins may have been Cesar Tovar. His professional career became reality largely because of his close friend Gus Gil. On New Year’s morning in 1959 Cincinnati Reds General Manager Gabe Paul would sign Gil and at the urging of Gil, Cesar Tovar. Gil receive...

A season of moral victories

The 1961 American League season was unique because for the first time since the turn of the century the league was not made up of 8 teams. Not only did the Senators move from Washington to Minnesota, but the league added 2 expansion teams, the Los Angeles Angels and the “new” Washington Senators....

Starting today and going until the weekend before pitchers and catchers report, you’ll find a weekly post highlighting a team we considered among the best in Twins history, Senators not included. (Sorry, Walter Johnson .) The methodology was simple: I asked our writers to rank the ten greatest te...

Introduction of the series here Part 2: 1961-1962 Offseason MLB expansion here Part 3: 1964 World Series Champs! here Hello friends! Putting a slight pause on the series to ask a question in the comments below. In the meantime, enjoy another WS title winning run in 1967! Below are my notes since ...

Sitting with my grandkids on a muggy summer day, I recall going to my first game, in 1953, a minor-league affair in the old one-level Municipal Stadium on 33rd Street. At that age, I certainly wasn’ t aware that Baltimore had been a minor-league powerhouse in the 19th century, both in the American Association and later the National League, which won championships in...