Some thoughts from the "Big Shooter"

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From big-league fastball to 'Big Shooter'


My nickname, "Big Shooter," was given to me by Bob Allison, a big, strapping guy I always perceived as a man's man. Bob was my favorite Twin, not only because he was a stud player, but because he was always full-speed ahead and had an incredible zest for life. He played exceptionally hard, had as big a heart as any athlete I've known and always took time for the little guy. And I was the little guy.

Allison began calling me "Big Shooter" because of my success with a fastball during spring training. Allison loved to laugh, and after one game when I blew away some hitters with some big-league heat (I think it was against Cincinnati), Bob approached me at my locker and loudly proclaimed, pointing a finger, "You truly are the 'Big Shooter!' "

Arno Goethel, who covered the Twins so beautifully for the St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press in those days, was nearby, and, from that moment on, began referring to me in his prose as the "Big Shooter." Billy Martin loved the nickname, too.

It stuck. Over the years, the "Big Shooter" moniker became simply "Shooter."



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The 1969 Twins: Hall of famers … and me


I have observed the Twins since their inception in Minnesota and will argue that the 1969 club was the most talented in their 44-year history, including the 1987 and 1991 World Series champions.

Besides me, they had two future members of the Hall of Fame — Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew — and a third who should be in the Hall of Fame, Tony Oliva. Killebrew was the American League MVP that season.

That club also had two Cy Young Award winners, Dean Chance and Jim Perry, and a 20-game winner, Dave Boswell. Another pitcher, Jim Kaat, is a borderline hall of famer. Outfielder Bob Allison had been the American League's rookie of the year 10 years earlier.

Cesar Tovar, Ted Uhlaender, Rich Reese, Graig Nettles, Leo Cardenas, Frank Quilici, Charlie Manuel, John Roseboro, Ron Perranoski, George Mitterwald, Rick Renick, Dick Woodson, Tom Hall, Ron Clark and Bob Miller were bona fide major leaguers.

We didn't win the American League pennant, although we did win the AL West. That was worth a playoff check of $6,400 per player, of which I received a $1,600 share for my 40 days and 40 nights in the majors, during which it pretty much rained every day. And there was no ark to save me.

Meal money in 1969 was $15 per day and the major league minimum salary was $10,000. That was plenty.

My jersey number was 27. It hasn't been retired.



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ROD CAREW, former Twins teammate and hall of famer

"Big Shooter could throw a fastball. He was all heat. He had a good arm. We were buddies and good friends. He was a good guy and he was really happy when he got the opportunity to come up here and pitch. He couldn't get his breaking ball over well enough, but his fastball was good enough to get him by. But at the big-league level, you have to have more than one pitch. I turned around and saw that he became a writer. I told him, 'Now you've become a poison pen. I can't talk to you anymore. I can't confide in you anymore.' "

TOM MEE, former Twins media relations director

"It wasn't a (Joe) Mauer situation. Charley had gone to our tryout camp. … Not much was said about him when he was signed out of the tryout camp because it was just another signing. When he came to spring training with the big club, he was the talk of spring training. He really opened everyone's eyes with the way he could pop that fastball. There was a lot of talk when the season started about local boy makes good. That was written up about him. There was a lot of enthusiasm. He was a middle relief pitcher at that time. They didn't have closers then. He was a guy who came in early if you needed him."

FRANK QUILICI, former Twins teammate

"Any time you get a kid coming up from the area, the odds of somebody being from there has to be unbelievable. It seems like the Twins have made a habit of it. It's really a tribute to the state when you start to talk about a northern town where kids in a high school or college season are only playing about 30 games a year. To have that kind of caliber to come out of this area is amazing. Charley had big-league stuff, but it came down to experience."

BOB CASEY, longtime Twins public address announcer

"It was very colorful when he was with the Twins. He had a shot and you have to remember there weren't as many teams in the league like there are now. He would've been a major league pitcher no matter what happened to him. I don't know what happened to him. When you saw him come in and pitch, you say, 'Well, anybody has a chance in this game.' But really he's a good guy. We're proud of him. There were a lot of scouts looking at him when he was in high school. Every scout came to see Shooter pitch because he had a chance. He had a good fastball, and if they had radar guns then it would probably be about 93 mph."




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The "Big Shooter'' is Charley Walters, a lonetime columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.


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[Durango53]

Great story I was racking my brain trying to figure out who it was...