1965 APBA Replay World Series

Over the years, I’ve purchased each of the Minnesota Twins’ World Series APBA card seasons in hopes of replicating the real feat and guiding my favorite team to the championship.

The first one I rolled was 1987. It was an emotional season for me. My father passed away in March 1987 about the time the Twins opened their spring training. I watched as the season progressed and when the Twins beat St. Louis in seven games to win the Series, I had hoped my father was somehow watching.

I wanted to replicate that feeling with the APBA game. Instead, in my replay, Kansas City ran away with the American League West division.

Later, I replayed the 1991 season, again hoping for a Twins win. I started that season in August 2015, about a month before I met Holly –who would become my wife. She lived near Chicago, so I spent a lot of weekends making the 547-mile trip to see her. The 1991 season became secondary and, as a result, took nearly four years to complete.

This time, the Twins made it to the Series, but lost to Pittsburgh in seven games.

So, when I began 1965, I realized it was my last chance to see if the Twins could repeat the real season.

The Twins began the season slowly, but then took off and won the American League pennant by six games over Detroit. They were going to my 1965 replay World Series against Cincinnati, who beat Pittsburgh in a three-game playoff for the National League flag.

Here are the results of that World Series.

Game 1 Minnesota 13 Cincinnati 6

Zolio Versalles hit two home runs for the Twins and Jim Kaat went eight innings before giving up a three-run homer to Deron Johnson, forcing a nervous manager Sam Mele to summon Bill Pleis to get the final three outs. Bob Allison and Jimmy Hall also hit dingers for the Twins.

Game 2 Minnesota 10 Cincinnati 7

The bats came out again at the Met in Bloomington, Minn. But they didn’t arrive until Cincinnati took a 7-1 lead in the fifth inning. Versalles hit his third home run of the Series and the Twins scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth.

 Despite leading the National League with 21 saves, Reds’ reliever Billy McCool couldn’t pick up the save and Cincinnati left Minnesota with a two-game deficit.

Game 3 Cincinnati 8 Minnesota 2

Tommy Harper drove in five runs with a home run and a double and Pete Rose added two RBIs and the Reds’ starter Jim Maloney, fresh from a no-hitter in the National League playoffs, struck out 14 Twins.

Game 4 Cincinnati 8 Minnesota 7

In a seesaw battle, the Reds led after the first, 3-0, but then the Twin scored four in the second and two more in the third when Rich Rollins hit a home run. But Camilo Pascual gave up four runs in Cincinnati’s sixth inning.

The Reds scored a needed insurance run in the eighth when Harper hit a double, stole third and then scored on a groundout.  Catcher Earl Battey hit a double in the top of the ninth and Mele sent in Joe Nossek as a pinch runner for the catcher. He scored when pinch hitter Andy Kosco blooped a single, but then Versalles, who had already gone hitless in four previous at-bats, popped to end the game.

The two were tied, two games apiece.

Game 5 Minnesota 8 Cincinnati 0

Versalles hit two more home runs, his fourth and fifth in the Series and Harmon Killebrew and Allison added their own clouts in the rout. Reds ace Sammy Ellis lasted 4.3 innings before Dick Sisler swallowed a handful of Rolaids and motioned to the bullpen. Jim Kaat gave up only three hits in the complete game win.

In a first for me, Versalles hit into a triple play in the eighth inning. I’ve now done 13 season replays. I guess Lucky 13 meant it was time for the TP. Twins now lead three games to two and are heading back to Minnesota.

Game 6 Minnesota 7 Cincinnati 5

The teams were tied 2-2 after two before Allison hit a two-run single, giving the Twins a 5-2 lead after three innings.  Cincinnati added a run on a Vada Pinson home run in the fifth, but Minnesota scored twice more in the seventh when Battey drove in Tony Oliva with a single and Maloney balked in Killebrew on third. The Twins led 7-3 in the top of the ninth.

Harper led the ninth off with a home run off Twins’ reliever Johnny Klippstein and Rose walked. Pinson popped up, but Frank Robinson hit a single and Tony Perez gained a walk, loading the bases. Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to cut the Twins’ lead to 7-5.  Then, with two outs, catcher Johnny Edwards grounded to Versalles who threw it to Killebrew on first and the Twins won, four games to two.

Allison won the Series MVP, batting an astonishing .571 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. Versalles had five homers and 10 RBIs as well, batting .310. As a team, the Twins batted .303.

Robinson continued his woeful ways for the Reds batting only .120 for the Series.

After three tries, I was able to see a Twins’ World Series victory.

There’s always that odd feeling after completing a season replay. I put the 1965 season cards in a box and stuck them in an old record cabinet of my dad’s that I use for my APBA card collection. There’s that sense of sense of sadness, in a way. You spend a year and a half with the cards, rolling at night and on weekend and thinking of the games while at work sometimes. Then it’s done.

But, then I took out the APBA box of the 1972 season, wrote down schedules and team pages and set up pitching lineups for the next season’s replay.