Shortstop, Minnesota Twins
Age: 25
6th season
with Senators/Twins
Bats – Right,
Throws – Right
Height: 5’10” Weight: 146
Prior to 1965:
A native of Cuba, Versalles broke into organized baseball with the Fortuna Sports Club team in the Cuban Amateur Athletic Union as a 16-year-old in 1956. He went on to play for two clubs in the Cuban Winter League and was signed by the Washington Senators in 1958. Dealing with the language barrier and homesickness, the 18-year-old shortstop batted .292 for the Elmira Pioneers of the Class D New York-Pennsylvania League in ’58 with 18 doubles, 7 triples, 5 home runs, and 50 RBIs. Advancing to the Fox City Foxes of the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa (or Three I) League in 1959, Versalles hit .278 with 19 doubles, 9 home runs, and 47 RBIs, although he committed 34 errors in the field. He received an August call-up to the Senators, where he hit .153 with one extra base hit in 29 games. With the Charleston Senators of the Class AAA American Association in 1960, he committed 42 errors while batting a solid .278 with 33 doubles, 12 triples, 8 home runs, and 50 RBIs along with 24 stolen bases. Receiving another late-season trial with the Senators, Versalles hit only .133 in 45 at bats. The Senators moved to the Twin Cities in 1961 and were rechristened the Minnesota Twins. Versalles, nicknamed “Zorro” (a play on his first name. The pronunciation of his last name also came to be Americanized), showed steady improvement in the field during his rookie season and hit .280 with 25 doubles, 5 triples, 7 home runs, and 53 RBIs. With a reputation for brashness and moodiness (covering his ongoing frustration with learning a new language), he continued to improve in 1962, hitting for greater power, with 17 home runs, while his average dipped to .241 with 67 RBIs and a .287 on-base-percentage. Versalles was an All-Star for the first time in 1963 as he batted .261 with 31 doubles, a league-leading 13 triples, 10 home runs, and 54 RBIs. He received a Gold Glove for his flashy, if inconsistent, fielding (30 errors). In 1964 his home runs totaled 20 while he again led the AL in triples with 10 and hit .259.
1965 Season Summary
Appeared in 160
games
SS – 160
[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]
Batting
Plate
Appearances – 728 [1]
At Bats – 666
[1]
Runs – 126 [1]
Hits – 182 [2]
Doubles – 45
[1, tied with Carl Yastrzemski]
Triples – 12
[1, tied with Bert Campaneris]
Home Runs – 19 [18,
tied with Mickey Mantle]
RBI – 77 [14]
Bases on Balls
– 41
Int. BB – 3
Strikeouts – 122
[1]
Stolen Bases – 27
[3]
Caught Stealing
– 5 [18, tied with five others]
Average - .273
[14, tied with Willie Horton]
OBP - .319
Slugging Pct. -
.462 [13]
Total Bases – 308
[1]
GDP – 7
Hit by Pitches
– 7 [4, tied with Bill Freehan]
Sac Hits – 6
Sac Flies – 8 [2, tied with Jim Fregosi, Ron Hansen & Bob Rodgers]
League-leading plate
appearances were +15 ahead of runner-up Bobby Richardson
League-leading at
bats were +2 ahead of runner-up Bobby Richardson
League-leading runs
scored were +19 ahead of runner-up Tony Oliva
League-leading batter
strikeouts were +1 ahead of runner-up Max Alvis
League-leading total bases were +21 ahead of runner-up Tom Tresh
Midseason snapshot: 2B – 21, 3B – 6, HR - 10, RBI - 44, AVG - .246, OBP - .291, SLG - .428
---
Most hits, game
– 4 (in 5 AB) vs. Baltimore 5/5, (in 5 AB) at Washington 9/25
Longest hitting
streak – 12 games
HR at home – 11
HR on road – 8
Most home runs,
game – 1 on nineteen occasions
Multi-HR games
– 0
Most RBIs, game
– 4 vs. Baltimore 5/5, at Baltimore 9/30
Pinch-hitting – No appearances
Fielding
Chances - 774
Put Outs – 248
Assists – 487
Errors – 39
DP – 105
Pct. - .950
PA – 30, AB – 28,
R – 3, H – 8, 2B – 1,3B – 1, HR – 1, RBI – 4, BB – 2, IBB – 0, SO – 7, SB – 1, CS
– 1, AVG - .286, OBP - .333, SLG -.500, TB – 14, GDP – 0, HBP – 0, SH – 0, SF –
0
Awards & Honors:
AL MVP: BBWAA
Gold Glove
All-Star
Top 5 in AL MVP
Voting:
Zoilo Versalles,
Min.: 275 pts. - 19 of 20 first place votes, 98% share
Tony Oliva, Min.:
174 pts. – 1 first place vote, 62% share
Brooks
Robinson, Balt.: 150 pts. – 54% share
Eddie Fisher,
ChiWS.: 122 pts. – 44% share
Rocky Colavito,
Clev.: 89 pts. – 32% share
---
Twins went
102-60 to win the AL pennant by 7 games over the Chicago White Sox while
leading the league in runs scored (774), hits (1396), doubles (257), RBIs (711)
and batting (.254). Versalles quarreled with manager Sam Mele in the spring,
insisting that he only took direction from coach Billy Martin, and was fined
$300. From that unpromising beginning, Versalles and the Twins excelled. Their
impressive hitting and improved pitching had them in first place by early July
and they cruised to the pennant. Lost World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers,
4 games to 3. After beating Dodger aces Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax in the
first two games, LA LHP Claude Osteen shut Minnesota out in Game 3 and, except
for a Game 6 win by RHP Jim “Mudcat” Grant, Koufax and Drysdale shut the Twins
down the rest of the way.
Aftermath of ‘65:
Versalles was rewarded for his MVP season with a raise in salary to $42,000. In 1966, a severe case of the flu and nagging injuries led to a far lesser performance. He batted .249 with just 7 home runs, 73 runs scored, and 36 RBIs. Hindered by chronic back pain in 1967, his average dropped to .200 with 29 extra base hits. Limited mobility caused his defense to suffer as well. In the offseason Versalles was traded to the Dodgers along with RHP Jim “Mudcat” Grant as part of a major deal for catcher John Roseboro and relief pitchers Bob Miller and Ron Perranoski. His performance nosedived further in 1968 as he hit .196 and committed 28 errors at shortstop. Exposed in the expansion draft in the offseason, he was selected by the San Diego Padres, who dealt him to the Cleveland Indians. Used more at second and third base than at shortstop, Versalles was batting .226 when he was sold to the Washington Senators in July. Finishing out the year as a backup infielder, he hit .267 for the Senators. Released prior to the 1970 season, Versalles played in the Mexican League in 1970, hitting .326 for Union Laguna. He joined the Atlanta Braves in 1971, appearing in 66 games and batting .191 with 22 RBIs. It proved to be the end of his major league career. He did play in the Mexican League and Japan in 1972 and ’73, reaching the end of the line with Poza Rica in the Mexican League in 1974. For his major league career, Versalles batted .242 with 1246 hits that included 230 doubles, 63 triples, and 95 home runs. He scored 650 runs and compiled 471 RBIs. With the Twins he batted .250 with 570 runs scored and 1061 hits, 190 doubles, 58 triples, 87 home runs, 406 RBIs, and a .296 OBP. His appearance in the 1965 World Series marked his only postseason action. A two-time All-Star, Versalles was awarded two Gold Gloves and was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2006, 11 years after his death at age 55.
---
MVP Profiles feature players in the National or
American leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award
(1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present)
as Most Valuable Player.
No comments:
Post a Comment