Decline and Retirement
Following his continuing struggles at the plate, which only accented his poor glove (leading the American League in errors 1965–1967), the Twins finally parted ways on November 27, 1967 when he was traded to the Dodgers along with starting pitcher Mudcat Grant for relievers Bob Miller and Ron Perranoski and veteran catcher Johnny Roseboro. After one season with the Dodgers, in which he finished fourth in league in errors and hit only .196, he was exposed to the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft and was the 10th selection of the San Diego Padres. He never suited up for the expansion Padres as he was sent to the Cleveland Indians on December 2 to complete an October 29 trade that sent first baseman Bill Davis to San Diego.
Improving slightly over his previous year at the plate, Versalles was hitting .226 in 72 games when on July 26, 1969, he was purchased by the new Washington Senators. With this trade, Versalles became one of only nine players to don the uniforms of both the original and expansion Senators teams, with the others being Don Mincher, Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, Johnny Schaive, Roy Sievers, Hal Woodeshick, Rudy Hernandez, and Hector Maestri. Although he hit .267 in limited action with the Senators and was invited back for spring training in 1970, he was released on April 6. Following a year playing in the Mexican League for Gómez Palacio, he was purchased by the Atlanta Braves on May 31, 1972 and he finished his major league career hitting .191 in 66 games. After being released by the Braves in December, he played in Japan in 1972 for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.
For his career, Versalles had a batting average of .242 (.252 during his six years with the Twins) with 1,046 hits, 564 runs, 86 homers, 401 RBI, and 84 stolen bases in 1,065 games. During his five-year peak (1961–1965), Versalles led all AL shortstops with 73 homeruns.
Baseball statistician/historian Bill James points out that Versalles' MVP season makes him the player with the fewest career win shares (134) to win an MVP award. While it may be true that Versalles could be considered a one-year MVP flash in the pan, he led the league in multiple offensive categories and was a near-unanimous selection. He also led the league in VORP (52.4), a stat that more accurately measures a player's overall production, and WAR (7.6), which includes a player's defensive value with his offensive production. At the time, most of the talk was not about whether or not he was deserving of the MVP, but whether teammate Tony Oliva should actually have been the winner. Oliva's .321 batting average and 98 RBI were much higher, his strikeouts were less than half, and his home run and stolen base totals nearly equaled Versalles). Versalles went down in history as the first Latin American player to be named most valuable player and he is one of only five Twins to win the MVP (along with teammate Killebrew, Rod Carew, and current Twins Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau) and one of only three Twins to top the league in WAR (along with Carew and Mauer).
Read more about this topic: Zoilo Versalles
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—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
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