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• Sports
• 07 / 04 / 2010

Memories of a walk-off grand slam 50 seasons ago by the pinch hitter still echo loud and clear.

Julio Becquer was signed from Cuba by the Washington Senators in 1952. Five years later, he began a four-season stay with the Senators. He was the backup to Roy Sievers at first base for three years, then a young slugger named Harmon Killebrew split his time between first base and third in 1960.

At the end of October, the American League announced the Senators were moving to Minnesota and expansion teams would be located in Los Angeles and Washington. The new clubs were stocked with an expansion draft and Becquer was taken by the Angels.

"I thought, 'This finally will be my chance to play [regularly],'" Becquer said. "The Angels had taken Steve Bilko, a big, strong man, but I said, 'I move much better and I'm a better fielder than him. I will play.'

"And then I found out the Angels had taken another first baseman -- the biggest, strongest man I had ever seen in baseball.

That was [Ted] Kluszewski. I said, 'Oh, this is not good.' "

Becquer had a total of eight at-bats in the first 3 1/2 weeks for the Angels. On May 10, he was sold to Philadelphia and was sent to Class AAA Buffalo. Three weeks later, he was purchased by the Twins in a return to the Griffith organization.

The ballpark on the Bloomington prairie -- Metropolitan Stadium -- was not new to Becquer.

"We opened the stadium in the [American] Association with Louisville in '56," Becquer said. "Eddie Stanky was the [Minneapolis] Millers manager, and he screamed at me the whole game.

"I played some third base that season for Louisville. Seeing a lefthanded third baseman ... Stanky thought we were doing it as a joke or something. He was red in the face, screaming. I thought he was going to have a heart attack."

The Twins were 31-46 entering a July 4 doubleheader against the White Sox. The expansion of the grandstand down the right field line was incomplete.

By PATRICK REUSSE, Star Tribune

Source: Star  Tribune