My Vintage Minneapolis Millers & St. Paul Saints Collection

[Tay1038]

1956 Minneapolis Millers vs. New York Giants Program & Ticket, and 1959 Minneapolis Millers v. AA All-Stars Program & Ticket (Fifth and final hosted All-Star game by Millers, and first at Met Stadium)

On June 7, 1956 the Millers played the New York Giants in an Exhibition Game held at the NEW Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn. Former Miller alumni, Willie Mays of the Giants hits 2 home runs, 1 estimated at 450 feet, before 21,832 fans.

[Tay1038]

1921 Bill McKechnie Game Used Bat (Ty Lober Professional Model) – Hall of Fame

This bat ranks right up there with my Monte Irvin and Gavvy Cravath as one of the scarcest game-used bats in my collection today. For your viewing is a game-used bat from Hall of Fame manager Bill McKechnie. Originally issued to Ty Lober, who spent his 1921 season with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association, the bat was used by McKechnie in 1921, his only season with the Minneapolis Millers. The bat has been side written, "39 ½ Wm. McKechnie 8-15-21 Minneapolis BBC” indicting that Hall of Fame Pirates & Reds manager Bill McKechnie came into possession of the bat at some point during the 1921 season (also in the American Association) and sent back to Hillerich & Bradsby, likely to have bats made for himself in the same style.

In 1921, Bill MeKechnie finished his playing career at third base for Minneapolis. He had only a .234 lifetime average in the major leagues but hit .321 for the Millers with 8 HRs and 65 RBI’s. Following his playing days, McKechnie compiled a long and successful record as a manager, winning pennants with three different National League (St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati) earning himself a spot in the Hall of Fame in 1961. McKechnie had also played for St. Paul in 1912 and is the only Hall of Famer to have played for both the Millers and Saints.

Special thank you to fellow N54 member for selling this one to me! I can't imagine there is another McKechnie gamer out there.

[Tay1038]

1955 Minneapolis Millers vs AA All-Star Game Program and Ticket Stub - Signed by Don Larsen!

Here is a fun one! There was an All-Star Game in Minneapolis when Larsen beat Branca!

As author Stew Thornley pointed out, the pitchers getting decisions in the 1955 game were notable. Larsen pitched a perfect game for the Yankees in the World Series in 1956. And Branca gave up “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World’’ for the Dodgers to the Giants’ Bobby Thomson in the third game of the 1951 National League playoff.

The American Association All-Star game started in 1934, but there was a gap in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. When played, the team with the best record on a certain date in the schedule would host the game, and play a collection of stars from the remaining seven teams. According to Thornley’s research, the Millers had the best record and hosted five All-Star Games: four at Nicollet Park and one in 1959 at Met Stadium.

On Thursday, July 21, 1955 the Minneapolis Millers hosted their fourth AA All-Star game, and final at Nicollet Park. The Millers were defeated by the AA All-Stars 16-6. LP-Ralph Branca. Trailing 5-2 after the 6th, the All-Stars scored 11 runs in the the 7th. Don Larsen of Denver is the WP (Larsen was 8-1, with his only loss coming against the Millers on July 10). Larsen also hit a 2-run homer in the 9th.

For your amusement is a beautifully scored program and ticket stub from the 1955 AA All-Star game. I recently acquired this program a couple weeks ago, and thought it would be fun to write to Don Larsen to see if I could ask him to autograph it. Today I received it back and it turned out awesome! Thanks Mr. Larsen!

[Tay1038]

1959 Minneapolis Millers vs. Havana Sugar Kings Junior World Series Program

This is one program I absolutely adore and likely one of the rarest in my collection today. Not only is this one of the earliest Millers programs to feature Carl Yastrzemski in the lineup, but from one of the most exciting Junior World Series – if not the most bizarre! Not only were two contests, including the decisive seventh game, decided in the last of the ninth inning and another two in extra innings, but it was the only Junior Series in which the submachine guns outnumbered the bats.

The 1959 Junior World Series was the 43rd meeting between the champions of the American Association and International League. The Minneapolis Millers had won the American Association playoffs for the second straight year, while the Havana Sugar Kings won the International League's Governors' Cup for the first time. The Millers, a Boston Red Sox farm team managed by Gene Mauch, were the defending Junior World Series champions, and were making their third appearance in the minor-league classic in the last five years.

Minneapolis was bolstered by the recent addition of a young second baseman named Carl Yastrzemski, who had joined the team during the Association playoffs. Havana, on the other hand, had finished the previous season at the bottom of the International League standings. In 1959, though, they rose to third during the regular season and then upset Columbus and Richmond in the playoffs for a berth in the Junior Series. Managed by Preston Gomez, the Sugar Kings roster was comprised of a mixture of Latin and American players, several of whom would go on to respectable careers in the major leagues, including pitchers Mike Cuellar and Luis Arroyo and infielders Leo Cardenas, Elio Chacon, and Cookie Rojas.

The series opened at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. The first three games were to be played in the Millers’ home park, but a premature blast of wintry weather brought an early close to their end of the series. Due to the cold temperatures, only 2,486 fans showed up for Game 1. As the weather grew colder the next day, the attendance dwindled to 1,062 for Game 2. It was on this day that a local newspaper correspondent snapped a photo showing a trio of Sugar Kings huddled around a fire they had built in a wastebasket in the dugout. By Game 3 the thermometer reading plummeted even further and not only was that evening’s game called off, but the decision was made by the minor-league commission to shift the balance of the series to Havana.

In Havana, nearly 3,000 soldiers were at the stadium during the game, many lining the field and others stationing themselves in the dugouts, their rifles and bayonets clearly evident. “Young people not more than 14 or 15 years old were in the dugout with us, waving their guns around like toys,” recalled Millers pitcher Ted Bowsfield. “Every once in a while, we could hear shots being fired outside the stadium, and we never knew what was going on.”

[Duluth Eskimo]

Nice find Taylor

[Tay1038]

Game-Used Bats from George “Showboat” Fisher, Buzz Arlett and Roy Patterson

Buzz Arlett. The man they called “Babe Ruth of the minor leagues”, spent most of his baseball years in his hometown of Oakland in the Pacific Coast League (13 Years). In the part of his career, Arlett was one of the leagues top pitchers, winning 29 games in 1920. He then became one of the circuit’s best hitters. Arlett spent one year in the majors, hitting .313 with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1931. Playing only 116 games with the Millers, Arlett had 132 runs batted in and led the American Association with 41 home runs. He played two more years with the Millers. Arlett ended his 19-year minor league career with an amazing .341 career batting average, 432 home runs and 2,726 hits.

Roy Patterson is best remembered for throwing the first pitch (and recording the first win) in American League History. The spitballing righthander was a 20-game winner for the Millers in 1908, 1910, 1911, and 1912. He returned to Minneapolis to help a thinned-out mound staff during World War I and pitched three more years. His 10-year record with the Millers was 135-73. Patterson also pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1901-07. He won 20 games for the Sox in 1901 and also delivered the first pitch for the American League when it became a major league. Patterson, a World Series winner in 1906 with the Chicago White Sox also started his professional baseball career in 1899 with crosstown rival St. Paul Saints.

George Aloys "Showboat" Fisher played four seasons in Minneapolis. He played in the 1930 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals and was the last surviving member of the 1924 Washington Senators, the only Washington, D.C.-based baseball team to win a World Series.

[ooo-ribay]

I don't know how you do it, Taylor!! Great stuff!!

[David Skoglund]

Impressive.

Stopped by CHS Field today, the home of the current St. Paul Saints. They're in the process of building a museum on site.

[Tay1038]

1930s Ollie Bejma Hillerich & Bradsby Side-Written Game Used Bat

Bejma played three seasons with the St. Paul Saints (1938, 1940-41) and was the American Association co/MVP in 1938 batting .326 with 25 HR’s helping the Saints to the American Association Pennant that year. He was the second of only three Saints players to win league MVP honors in team history.

Special thank you to Ken for helping me out with this one!

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by David Skoglund

Impressive.

Stopped by CHS Field today, the home of the current St. Paul Saints. They're in the process of building a museum on site.

Tay already has THE museum.

[Tay1038]

I thought I would share a bit more about the museum coming to St. Paul. I have been working with the St. Paul Saints over the past couple years now on their new City of Baseball Museum that will open next Thursday, May 16 at CHS Field. It has been a tremendous privilege to be able to partner with the St. Paul Saints to make this vision of ours come to life!

A large portion of the artifacts on display will be on loan from my collection. Graig Kreindler has an amazing piece in the museum as well! I hope if you live in the area or are just visiting the Twin Cities that you take the opportunity to stop by and take a jog down memory lane. We have a great story to tell about baseball in Minnesota. The museum is free to the public during stadium hours, and to fans who attend games.


Enjoy!


https://www.kare11.com/article/sport...6-c9fc500a8385

https://www.twincities.com/2019/05/0...-lore-to-life/