It’s time again for Baseball Roundtable’s Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. I’m also drawn to baseball “unicorns,” one-of-a-kind MLB accomplishments or statistics. This week, we’re looking at a double unicorn: The only player to win a league MVP Award, while leading the league in both strikeouts and errors, as well as the only player to win a Gold Glove in a season in which he led MLB in errors.
The player was Twins’ shortstop Zoilo Versalles, who helped lead the Twins to the AL pennant, while leading the AL with 122 strikeouts and leading the major leagues in total errors with 39.
Photo: Asco via tradingcarddb.com, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Versalles put up a .273-19-77 line at the plate, with a league-leading 126 runs scored and 27 steals in 32 attempts (in 160 games). He also led the league in doubles with 45, triples with 12 and total bases with 308. In the field, while he may have led MLB with 39 errors, among AL shortstops, he was first in double plays turned, second in assists and fourth in putouts. He is seen as the spark plug that led the Twins to the 1965 American League pennant. That season, he reached his career highs in games (160), at bats (666); hits (182); doubles; runs; RBI; steals; total bases; On-Base Percentage (.319); and Slugging Percentage (.462).
Side note: In Versalles’ 1965 MVP and Gold Glove season, White Sox’ shortstop Ron Hansen … who played one more game than Versalles … finished ahead of Versalles in putouts (287 to 248), assists (527 to 487), trailed Versalles in double plays 97 to 105) and led Versalles in Fielding Percentage (.969 to .950) and Range Factor (5.06 to 4.59).
Versalles, by the way, is one of nine MLB players to win an MVP Award, while leading the league in strikeouts.
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