June 9, 1966, 60 years ago today: The Minnesota Twins tie a major league record when Rich Rollins, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don Mincher, and Payette’s Harmon Killebrew all homer in the seventh inning of a 9-4 victory over the Kansas City A’s in Minneapolis. Oliva, Mincher and Killebrew connected consecutively, all with two outs. A’s pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter, a future Hall of Famer in his second season, allowed three of the homers before being lifted and took the loss.
The Twins were just the fourth team in big league history to hit five homers in an inning—there have been four since. The Houston Astros were the most recent to accomplish the feat in 2022, when Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Pena, Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel all connected in the top of the second inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. That was the earliest in a game it has ever happened, and all five dingers came off the same pitcher, Boston’s Nathan Eovaldi (what fun for him).
Killebrew homered twice for the Twins in that 1966 game and was in the midst of another stellar season—on his way to 39 homers and 110 runs batted in. He was fourth in the American League in home runs that year but was the leader in walks with 103. Pitchers didn’t want anything to do with him. During the 1966 campaign he collected his 1,000th career hit and his 300th homer. The Twins were formidable as a team. They had made it to the World Series in 1965 (where they lost in seven games to the L.A. Dodgers) and would finish second in the AL in 1966.
Idaho sports aficionados are certainly familiar with Killebrew’s history. He was signed by the Washington Senators out of Payette in 1954 and made his major league debut that year before turning 18. Killebrew emerged as a star when the Senators moved to Minneapolis and became the Twins. He was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1969 and went on to hit 573 career home runs, the most by a right-handed hitter in AL history until Alex Rodriguez eclipsed that number in 2009. Killebrew was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1984. It’s been 15 years since he passed away at the age of 74.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
