If Paul Molitor were to ask Sam Mele for advice on how to manage the Minnesota Twins, Mele said he would tell him to "manage the game the way you played it. He was a great ballplayer."
It was 50 years ago that Mele, now 93, managed the Twins to a still-franchise-record 102 victories en route to their first American League championship. That was in 1965, when the Twins lost the World Series in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Twins plan to bring more than 20 players from the 1965 team to Target Field in August to celebrate their 50th anniversary season.