On Sunday, September 24, 1967, Dean Chance won his 20th game to give the Twins a half-game edge over the Boston Red Sox in the American League pennant race heading into the final week of the ’67 season. Boston, the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox all were just one game back in the loss column, so the race was far from over.
Boston started the final week with an off day on Monday, but still moved back into a first-place tie with the Twins, who were trounced by the California Angels, 9-2, at Metropolitan Stadium. At that point, both Minnesota and Boston had four games remaining and their seasons would end with two games at Fenway Park.
The Twins regained the upper hand on Tuesday, September 26, when Jim Kaat turned in another fine outing, striking out 13 Angels in a 7-3 victory that was his seventh straight September “W.” This one came on the two-year anniversary of his AL pennant-clinching victory over Washington. Harmon Killebrew hit two homers in support of Kaat, tying Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski at 43 in the AL home-run race.
Yaz’ team, playing at home, suffered a 6-3 defeat to the eighth-place Indians and fell a game back with just three games to play.
“We’re running out of tomorrows,” Red Sox skipper Dick Williams said after the loss, his team’s third in its last five games. This was one race, however, when there always was another tomorrow.
Adding fuel to the fire was a rebound by the White Sox, who had won eight of 10 games to pull into a second-place tie with Boston. They had five games remaining—all against last-place Kansas City and Washington—and at that point seemed to many the favorite to cop the AL flag.
The White Sox were forced to play a Wednesday doubleheader in Kansas City after the two teams were rained out on Tuesday. Sweeping a twinbill never was easy, of course, and the light-hitting White Sox, limited to a pair of runs by young A’s righthanders Chuck Dobson and Catfish Hunter, shockingly dropped both games. Hunter pushed the Sox to the brink of elimination with a three-hit shutout in the second matchup.
Chicago needed to sweep the Senators at home over the final weekend just to stay in the race. Having Boston and Minnesota playing each other offered Eddie Stanky’s crew a glimmer of hope, but that was quickly snuffed. The White Sox couldn’t score a run in the first two games against Washington’s Phil Ortega and Frank Bertaina. They had been shut out three straight games, and when the Senators completed the sweep on Sunday, Chicago had closed the 1967 season with five consecutive losses.
The Tigers, on the other hand, stuck around to the end. On Tuesday, when the Twins took over first place behind Kaat and Killebrew, the Tigers ended a two-game skid, thanks to a season-saving outing from Mickey Lolich at Yankee Stadium. The stocky lefthander outdueled New York Yankees ace Mel Stottlemyre in a 1-0 victory that kept the Tigers within a game-and-a-half of the first-place Twins.
The race tightened on Wednesday, when the Twins lost their final meeting with the Angels, 5-1. California rookie Rickey Clark shut down Minnesota’s bats and former Twin Don Mincher sparked a four-run, fourth-inning rally with a homer off Chance, for whom he had been dealt the previous winter.
With Chance facing his former team, the Twins lost an opportunity to head to Boston with a two-game edge with two to play. That inspired a Cardinals scout at the game to quip: “Nobody is good enough to win the pennant in the American League this season, but several clubs are going to lose it.”
Even with the loss, the Twins stayed a game in front of the Red Sox, who fell to Cleveland for a second straight day. In a strange scheduling quirk, Minnesota and Boston had two days off before their season-ending matchups at Fenway Park on Saturday and Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Tigers were to face the Angels in Detroit on Thursday and Friday, but consecutive rainouts forced the two clubs to play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday with the AL pennant on the line. The Tigers began the weekend tied with first-place Minnesota in the loss column, but likely needed to win at least three of four from the Angels to have a chance to play deeper into October.
American League Standings
(through games of Friday, September 29)
W-L GB
Minnesota 91-69 ----
Boston 90-70 1.0
Detroit 89-69 1.0
Chicago 89-71 2.0
I will post about the 1967 Twins and their wild AL pennant race down to the final days of the season, culling stories from the upcoming and 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.
Boston started the final week with an off day on Monday, but still moved back into a first-place tie with the Twins, who were trounced by the California Angels, 9-2, at Metropolitan Stadium. At that point, both Minnesota and Boston had four games remaining and their seasons would end with two games at Fenway Park.
The Twins regained the upper hand on Tuesday, September 26, when Jim Kaat turned in another fine outing, striking out 13 Angels in a 7-3 victory that was his seventh straight September “W.” This one came on the two-year anniversary of his AL pennant-clinching victory over Washington. Harmon Killebrew hit two homers in support of Kaat, tying Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski at 43 in the AL home-run race.
Yaz’ team, playing at home, suffered a 6-3 defeat to the eighth-place Indians and fell a game back with just three games to play.
“We’re running out of tomorrows,” Red Sox skipper Dick Williams said after the loss, his team’s third in its last five games. This was one race, however, when there always was another tomorrow.
Adding fuel to the fire was a rebound by the White Sox, who had won eight of 10 games to pull into a second-place tie with Boston. They had five games remaining—all against last-place Kansas City and Washington—and at that point seemed to many the favorite to cop the AL flag.
The White Sox were forced to play a Wednesday doubleheader in Kansas City after the two teams were rained out on Tuesday. Sweeping a twinbill never was easy, of course, and the light-hitting White Sox, limited to a pair of runs by young A’s righthanders Chuck Dobson and Catfish Hunter, shockingly dropped both games. Hunter pushed the Sox to the brink of elimination with a three-hit shutout in the second matchup.
Chicago needed to sweep the Senators at home over the final weekend just to stay in the race. Having Boston and Minnesota playing each other offered Eddie Stanky’s crew a glimmer of hope, but that was quickly snuffed. The White Sox couldn’t score a run in the first two games against Washington’s Phil Ortega and Frank Bertaina. They had been shut out three straight games, and when the Senators completed the sweep on Sunday, Chicago had closed the 1967 season with five consecutive losses.
The Tigers, on the other hand, stuck around to the end. On Tuesday, when the Twins took over first place behind Kaat and Killebrew, the Tigers ended a two-game skid, thanks to a season-saving outing from Mickey Lolich at Yankee Stadium. The stocky lefthander outdueled New York Yankees ace Mel Stottlemyre in a 1-0 victory that kept the Tigers within a game-and-a-half of the first-place Twins.
The race tightened on Wednesday, when the Twins lost their final meeting with the Angels, 5-1. California rookie Rickey Clark shut down Minnesota’s bats and former Twin Don Mincher sparked a four-run, fourth-inning rally with a homer off Chance, for whom he had been dealt the previous winter.
With Chance facing his former team, the Twins lost an opportunity to head to Boston with a two-game edge with two to play. That inspired a Cardinals scout at the game to quip: “Nobody is good enough to win the pennant in the American League this season, but several clubs are going to lose it.”
Even with the loss, the Twins stayed a game in front of the Red Sox, who fell to Cleveland for a second straight day. In a strange scheduling quirk, Minnesota and Boston had two days off before their season-ending matchups at Fenway Park on Saturday and Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Tigers were to face the Angels in Detroit on Thursday and Friday, but consecutive rainouts forced the two clubs to play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday with the AL pennant on the line. The Tigers began the weekend tied with first-place Minnesota in the loss column, but likely needed to win at least three of four from the Angels to have a chance to play deeper into October.
American League Standings
(through games of Friday, September 29)
W-L GB
Minnesota 91-69 ----
Boston 90-70 1.0
Detroit 89-69 1.0
Chicago 89-71 2.0
I will post about the 1967 Twins and their wild AL pennant race down to the final days of the season, culling stories from the upcoming and 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.