Cool of the Evening: The 1965 Minnesota Twins

The lineup card was an unfinished crossword puzzle each day for Minnesota Twins' manager Sam Mele during the chilly, damp, storm-ravaged Minnesota summer of 1965.

Mele and rookie third base coach Billy Martin overcame injuries to star players such as Harmon Killebrew to transform the most powerful batting lineup in the American League into a daring base-running team.

There was a different hero daily, and as the Twins dethroned the American League champion New York Yankees, they shared a special camaraderie that lasted a lifetime.

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"Longtime sports reporter Thielman brings skill, enthusiasm and a bat bag of luscious detail to his account of the 1965 season."
—Dave Wood, past vice president of The National Book Critics Circle and former Star Tribune book review editor

Jim Thielman covered the Minnesota Twins from 1977 to 1993.