With the Twins opening a weekend series against the first-place Chicago White Sox on August 11, 1967, pennant fever swept through the Twin Cities. The Twins had looked like anything but a contender the first two months, but after an early-August surge, first place was on the line with the White Sox at the Met.
That might have been surprising news for Chicago fans as well. The White Sox had taken over first place on June 11, and despite having the Twins, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox hanging around, had held the top spot for two months.
After stumbling along near .500 through much of the season, the Twins, trailing Chicago by 2.5 games, had staff ace Dean Chance on the mound for the Friday night opener. Nearly 34,000 fans turned out to see Chance go the distance for his 15th win, a 3-2 victory secured by Tony Oliva’s two-out RBI single off Chicago knuckleballer Wilbur Wood in the seventh.
With the Twins now 1.5 games back, the crowd swelled to almost 48,000 for the Saturday matinee, when Jim Kaat and Gary Peters squared off in a battle of southpaws. The White Sox scratched for two runs over the first four frames while Peters worked a shutout into the sixth. The Twins tied the game in the sixth and tallied four more runs in the seventh when Bob Allison drilled a three-run shot off knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm. Kaat worked a complete game in the 6-2 win, which moved Minnesota within a half-game of Chicago.
With first place on the line in the Sunday finale, more than 42,000 fans saw Rich Rollins drive in all three runs and Jim Merritt go the distance in a 3-2 victory that completed the sweep and bounced the White Sox from the top spot.
Ted Uhlaender, a terrific defender who shared center field with César Tovar that summer, protected the one-run lead in the ninth with a strong throw. When White Sox center fielder Tommie Agee, leading off the inning, tried to stretch his drive into the left-center-field gap into a triple, Uhlaender fielded the ball off the wall and rifled a strike over the head of the cutoff man that retired Agee at third. Merritt retired the next two batters to nail it down.
Not only had the Twins taken over first place, they had improved to a season-high 12 games over .500 at 62-50. But this race was just heating up.
I will post about the 1967 Twins and the wild AL pennant race all summer long, culled 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.
That might have been surprising news for Chicago fans as well. The White Sox had taken over first place on June 11, and despite having the Twins, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox hanging around, had held the top spot for two months.
After stumbling along near .500 through much of the season, the Twins, trailing Chicago by 2.5 games, had staff ace Dean Chance on the mound for the Friday night opener. Nearly 34,000 fans turned out to see Chance go the distance for his 15th win, a 3-2 victory secured by Tony Oliva’s two-out RBI single off Chicago knuckleballer Wilbur Wood in the seventh.
With the Twins now 1.5 games back, the crowd swelled to almost 48,000 for the Saturday matinee, when Jim Kaat and Gary Peters squared off in a battle of southpaws. The White Sox scratched for two runs over the first four frames while Peters worked a shutout into the sixth. The Twins tied the game in the sixth and tallied four more runs in the seventh when Bob Allison drilled a three-run shot off knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm. Kaat worked a complete game in the 6-2 win, which moved Minnesota within a half-game of Chicago.
With first place on the line in the Sunday finale, more than 42,000 fans saw Rich Rollins drive in all three runs and Jim Merritt go the distance in a 3-2 victory that completed the sweep and bounced the White Sox from the top spot.
Ted Uhlaender, a terrific defender who shared center field with César Tovar that summer, protected the one-run lead in the ninth with a strong throw. When White Sox center fielder Tommie Agee, leading off the inning, tried to stretch his drive into the left-center-field gap into a triple, Uhlaender fielded the ball off the wall and rifled a strike over the head of the cutoff man that retired Agee at third. Merritt retired the next two batters to nail it down.
Not only had the Twins taken over first place, they had improved to a season-high 12 games over .500 at 62-50. But this race was just heating up.
I will post about the 1967 Twins and the wild AL pennant race all summer long, culled 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.