The 2017 MLB All-Star Game gets underway with the surprising Minnesota Twins trailing American League Central leader Cleveland by just 2.5 games at the break. Fifty years ago, the margin was the same for the 1967 Twins, who were expected to be contenders but looked like pretenders most of the spring.
The 1967 club used a 10-game winning streak at the start of July to ditch the .500 mark and kindle hope of a second-half pennant push. They had won 12 of 15 after closing the first half with a doubleheader sweep of the first-place Chicago White Sox on Sunday, July 9. In the opener, Jim Kaat, who started 1-7 but had turned his season around, hit a home run and pitched into the eighth inning of a 7-4 win to even his record at 8-8. In the nightcap, Dave Boswell pitched into the ninth of a 5-1 victory, inching the third-place Twins to just 2.5 game back.
The 1967 All-Star Game at Anaheim Stadium, decided by a 15th-inning home run from Cincinnati Reds star Tony Perez, was an appropriate way to set up a second-half dogfight between four American League clubs—one that went down to the final minutes of the season.
The White Sox led the Detroit Tigers by two games when the season resumed. As was their habit throughout the 1960s, the Sox were a light-hitting bunch that contended with strong pitching and defensive prowess behind it. Joe Horlen, a 19-game winner and the league ERA champion in 1967, led a strong rotation that included lefties Gary Peters, Tommy John and Jim O’Toole. Struggling reliever Wilbur Wood had joined the White Sox in an offseason trade, an addition to a deep bullpen anchored by Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm. The 44-year-old Wilhelm, who convinced Wood to throw the knuckler exclusively, posted a stunning 1.73 ERA over 89 innings in 1967.
The Tigers had won 89 and 88 games the two seasons prior to 1967—good for distant fourth- and third-place finishes—but winning 91 games in ’67 kept them in the pennant race to the final out. Starter Earl Wilson, acquired in a trade with Boston in June 1966, was a key contributor. In his first full season with the Tigers, the 32-year-old righthander won a career-high 22 games under the tutelage of pitching coach Johnny Sain, who jumped to the Tigers in 1967 after the Twins fired him. Wilson teamed with Denny McLain, Mickey Lolich and Joe Sparma in the rotation.
Unlike the White Sox, the 1967 Tigers had plenty of pop. Four Tigers connected on at least 20 homers during that memorable season—future Hall of Famer Al Kaline, first baseman Norm Cash, second baseman Dick McAuliffe and catcher Bill Freehan—and homegrown slugger Willie Horton drilled 19. That summer, at age 32, Kaline had his last great season, popping 25 homers and posting a .952 OPS.
At the break, the Twins and California Angels followed the Tigers in the standings, but the Angels didn’t stick around for long and the fifth-place Boston Red Sox emerged as the fourth challenger.
Boston was the dark horse. After losing 90-plus games three years in a row and finishing ninth in 1966, the rejuvenated Red Sox were six games off the pace at the break. Key to the turnaround was the club’s new skipper, Dick Williams, a no-nonsense, drill-sergeant type who was just 37 and had never managed in the majors.
At his introductory press conference, Williams announced the Red Sox would “win more games than we lose.” In the minds of most reporters present, that was setting the bar exceedingly high, bordering on nonsense. The Red Sox were a .500 club deep into June, an impressive improvement, yet not a reason to anticipate a second-half surge into one of the wildest finishes in American League history.
The fifth-place Red Sox opened the second half by splitting a twinbill with the Baltimore Orioles, then ran off 10 straight wins. The bats of Tony Conigliaro, Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Foy fueled the surge, and when the winning streak reached 10 via a July 23 doubleheader sweep of Cleveland, the Red Sox were 12 games over .500 and within a half-game of first-place Chicago.
Boston’s pitching seemed especially suspect, but 25-year-old Jim Lonborg, a Stanford grad who had foregone medical school to work atop a pile of dirt, broke through with a career year in which led the American League with 22 wins and 246 strikeouts. Gary Bell, who arrived from Cleveland in an early-June trade, won 12 games as Boston surged into contention.
Rookies Reggie Smith and Mike Andrews were productive for the young Red Sox, and second-year infielders George Scott and Foy improved on solid 1966 debuts. Conigliaro, local boy and fan favorite, was having a big year before he was struck on the left cheekbone by a pitch from Angels righthander Jack Hamilton in August.
The beaning ended Conigilaro’s season, but down the stretch, Yastrzemski repeatedly delivered in key situations. The man who had replaced Ted Williams in left field six years earlier was at his best, winning the Triple Crown by batting .326 with 44 homers and 121 RBIs. Over the final month, Yaz hit .417 with nine homers and 26 RBIs in 27 games. The Red Sox couldn’t have emerged as a top contender without him.
I will post about the 1967 Twins and the wild AL pennant race all summer long, using material from my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Glory Years of the Minnesota Twins: Rock ‘n’ Roll, War and Peace, the Civil Rights Movement and Baseball in the 1960s. I also post on my author page on Facebook.
The 1967 club used a 10-game winning streak at the start of July to ditch the .500 mark and kindle hope of a second-half pennant push. They had won 12 of 15 after closing the first half with a doubleheader sweep of the first-place Chicago White Sox on Sunday, July 9. In the opener, Jim Kaat, who started 1-7 but had turned his season around, hit a home run and pitched into the eighth inning of a 7-4 win to even his record at 8-8. In the nightcap, Dave Boswell pitched into the ninth of a 5-1 victory, inching the third-place Twins to just 2.5 game back.
The 1967 All-Star Game at Anaheim Stadium, decided by a 15th-inning home run from Cincinnati Reds star Tony Perez, was an appropriate way to set up a second-half dogfight between four American League clubs—one that went down to the final minutes of the season.
The White Sox led the Detroit Tigers by two games when the season resumed. As was their habit throughout the 1960s, the Sox were a light-hitting bunch that contended with strong pitching and defensive prowess behind it. Joe Horlen, a 19-game winner and the league ERA champion in 1967, led a strong rotation that included lefties Gary Peters, Tommy John and Jim O’Toole. Struggling reliever Wilbur Wood had joined the White Sox in an offseason trade, an addition to a deep bullpen anchored by Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm. The 44-year-old Wilhelm, who convinced Wood to throw the knuckler exclusively, posted a stunning 1.73 ERA over 89 innings in 1967.
The Tigers had won 89 and 88 games the two seasons prior to 1967—good for distant fourth- and third-place finishes—but winning 91 games in ’67 kept them in the pennant race to the final out. Starter Earl Wilson, acquired in a trade with Boston in June 1966, was a key contributor. In his first full season with the Tigers, the 32-year-old righthander won a career-high 22 games under the tutelage of pitching coach Johnny Sain, who jumped to the Tigers in 1967 after the Twins fired him. Wilson teamed with Denny McLain, Mickey Lolich and Joe Sparma in the rotation.
Unlike the White Sox, the 1967 Tigers had plenty of pop. Four Tigers connected on at least 20 homers during that memorable season—future Hall of Famer Al Kaline, first baseman Norm Cash, second baseman Dick McAuliffe and catcher Bill Freehan—and homegrown slugger Willie Horton drilled 19. That summer, at age 32, Kaline had his last great season, popping 25 homers and posting a .952 OPS.
At the break, the Twins and California Angels followed the Tigers in the standings, but the Angels didn’t stick around for long and the fifth-place Boston Red Sox emerged as the fourth challenger.
Boston was the dark horse. After losing 90-plus games three years in a row and finishing ninth in 1966, the rejuvenated Red Sox were six games off the pace at the break. Key to the turnaround was the club’s new skipper, Dick Williams, a no-nonsense, drill-sergeant type who was just 37 and had never managed in the majors.
At his introductory press conference, Williams announced the Red Sox would “win more games than we lose.” In the minds of most reporters present, that was setting the bar exceedingly high, bordering on nonsense. The Red Sox were a .500 club deep into June, an impressive improvement, yet not a reason to anticipate a second-half surge into one of the wildest finishes in American League history.
The fifth-place Red Sox opened the second half by splitting a twinbill with the Baltimore Orioles, then ran off 10 straight wins. The bats of Tony Conigliaro, Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Foy fueled the surge, and when the winning streak reached 10 via a July 23 doubleheader sweep of Cleveland, the Red Sox were 12 games over .500 and within a half-game of first-place Chicago.
Boston’s pitching seemed especially suspect, but 25-year-old Jim Lonborg, a Stanford grad who had foregone medical school to work atop a pile of dirt, broke through with a career year in which led the American League with 22 wins and 246 strikeouts. Gary Bell, who arrived from Cleveland in an early-June trade, won 12 games as Boston surged into contention.
Rookies Reggie Smith and Mike Andrews were productive for the young Red Sox, and second-year infielders George Scott and Foy improved on solid 1966 debuts. Conigliaro, local boy and fan favorite, was having a big year before he was struck on the left cheekbone by a pitch from Angels righthander Jack Hamilton in August.
The beaning ended Conigilaro’s season, but down the stretch, Yastrzemski repeatedly delivered in key situations. The man who had replaced Ted Williams in left field six years earlier was at his best, winning the Triple Crown by batting .326 with 44 homers and 121 RBIs. Over the final month, Yaz hit .417 with nine homers and 26 RBIs in 27 games. The Red Sox couldn’t have emerged as a top contender without him.
I will post about the 1967 Twins and the wild AL pennant race all summer long, using material from my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Glory Years of the Minnesota Twins: Rock ‘n’ Roll, War and Peace, the Civil Rights Movement and Baseball in the 1960s. I also post on my author page on Facebook.