1964 Replay AL End Of June Report

Lil Looie Aparicio ran wild during June, hitting .361 with 19 steals, 10 doubles and a whopping 30 runs scored for the Orioles. He had the heebie jeebies for sure, but the Yankees were still able to put some daylight between themselves and Baltimore. 

NYY  47-25  --- (best June record 21-9)
BAL  44-31  4.5
CHI  41-31  6
DET  42-32  6
WAS  41-37  9 (best 1-run record 17-5)
CLE  37-38   11.5
LAA  33-45  17  (worst June record 11-19)
MIN  31-44  17.5
BOS  30-44  18
KCA  30-49  20.5

PITCHING (league 3.68)
NYY  2.93  (most shutouts 11, least RA 230)
LAA  3.01  (most CG 22, least saves 8)
CHI  3.04  
DET  3.26
BAL  3.32  (least HR against 53, most saves 25)
WAS  3.44  (least K's 370)
CLE  4.00 
MIN  4.49  (most K's 541)
KCA  4.61  (most RA 409, most HR against 80)
BOS  4.68

BATTING (league .231)
DET  .247  (tie most triples 25)
BOS  .243  (most doubles 127, least SB 9, tie least CS 10)
BAL  .242  (least triples 9, most SB 47)
NYY  .239  (tie most triples 25)
MIN  .233  (most runs 353, most HR 96, tie least CS 10)
CHI  .228  (least doubles 78, least HR 47)
LAA  .227  (least runs 274)
CLE  .225  (least GIDP 34)
KCA  .220  (most CS 25, most GIDP 78)
WAS  .204  

FIELDING
least errors-- NYY 34
most errors-- CLE 95
most DP's-- BOS  76
least DP's-- LAA 41

Interesting to note that in actual play, BOS made the fewest DP's and the Angels turned the most! In APBA, however, the Angels can't hope to duplicate their league leading total. With a fielding 3 at third base, and fielding 2 at SS and 2B, not to mention their excellent pitching which keeps runners off the base paths, it isn't going to happen. As for the Bosox, my only explanation is LOTS of traffic on the bases and Frank Malzone's 3B-5.  

WINS: Peters-chi 10-3, Chance-la 10-5, Ford-ny 10-6, Wickersham-det 10-6, Monbouquette-bos 9-4 

ERA (72 IP): Chance-la 2.01, Ford-ny 2.14, Peters-chi 2.18, Pizarro-chi 2.42, Osteen-was 2.44, Bunker-bal 2.53, Aguirre-det 2.69, Horlen-chi 2.72, Monbouquette-bos 2.86, Belinsky-la 2.90

K's: Chance-la 112, Wilson-bos 103, Pena-kc 99, Arrigo-min 92, Kralick-cle 91

CG: Chance-la 10, Kaat-min 10, Ford-ny 8, Peters-chi 8

IP:  Chance-la 143, Kaat-min 133, Kralick-cle 132.2, Ford-ny 130.2, Horlen-chi 129, Peters-chi 128

SHO: Ford-ny 3, 12 tied with 2

LOSSES: Newman-la 3-10, Wilhelm-chi 2-9, Arrigo-min 5-9

SAVES: Hall-bal 18, Kline-was 18, Wilhelm-chi 17, Radatz-bos 16, McMahon-cle 15 

BA (194 ab): Fregosi-la .346, Aparicio-bal .322, B.Robinson-bal .316, Fl. Robinson-chi .310, Yastrzemski-bos .307, Howard-ny .292, Stuart-bos .290, Piersall-la .285, Skowron-was .279, Kaline-det .276

HR: Powell-bal 26, Colavito-kc 19, Killebrew-min 19, Lock-was 18, McAuliffe-det 18, Wagner-cle 18

RBI: B.Robinson-bal 59, Powell-bal 57, Colavito-kc 55, Maris-ny 55, Pepitone-ny 53, Killebrew-min 51

RUNS: McAuliffe-det 54, Aparicio-bal 53, Mantle-ny 53, Yastrzemski-bos 53, Bressoud-bos 52, Hall-min 52

Beware the gap-hitting cadaver.

Doubles: Bressoud-bos 22, Mathews-kc 22, Kaline-det 20

Triples: Oliva-min 7, Hinton-was 6, Rollins-min 6

Steals: Aparicio-bal 38, Davalillo-cle 15, Hinton-was 9

GIDP: Battey 14, Green-kc 13, B.Robinson-bal 13, Fregosi-la 12

Hey! Howser mudda? Howser fadda?

ERRORS: Howser-cle 21, McAuliffe-det 20, Mantilla-bos 15

TEAM REPORTS (with June record)

Yankee Doodles (21-9) The highlight of June for the Bronx Bombers was unsung Roland Sheldon's no-hitter at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox. It was oddly workman-like, just a series of routine outs. It was the 4th no-hitter in my APBA Yankee history; Mel Stottlemyre had two in 1967 and Ralph Terry tossed the only no-hitter of the entire replay in 1961. That one was also against Boston. The Yanks staff have 11 shutouts--5 more than any other AL squad. In other news, Roger Maris enjoyed a huge month, knocking in 28 runs. Elston Howard finally found the range and upped his average to .292, while The Mick languishes at .251 but has 17 homers.

Bird Droppings (16-14) While May heroes Sam Bowens and Johnny Orsino returned to earth, June found Brooks Robinson (28 rbi), Boog Powell (13 HR) and Luis Aparicio (30 runs) going off, to lift the birds to a higher branch. However, trouble with 4th and 5th starters Dave McNally and Steve "The Maglie" Barber kept the Orioles from gaining any ground. More than once, they failed to last two innings. Meanwhile, Dick Hall has been gold out of the O's bullpen. 

The guy in the suit is the team phrenologist.

White Sox Laundry (15-15) Pete Ward (19 rbi) finally heated up in the first half of June, only to crawl back into the ice box by month's end. The whole team slumped offensively. The pitching was a different story. Gary Peters emerged as the staff ace, while Joel Horlen took a no-hit bid into the 9th inning against the Yankees only to surrender a pinch triple to Hec Lopez and ultimately lose the game. The Sox played a lot of games against NY and BAL and didn't fare very well at all. 

Tiger Tales (19-11) It was truly a team effort as the Bengals put together a great month, but still lost a game in the standings, unfortunately. Mickey Lolich emerged from a season-long funk to get above .500 at 7-6 and shaved a full run off his ERA. Here's a weird fact about the Tigers: they are usually fielding one, yet they sit 8th in the league in fielding at 8.11 (IP divided by errors), trailing such stone-gloved clubs as KC, MIN and CHI. Things that make Your Impartial Goddess go "hmm." The injury bug hit the Tigers' outfield hard at month's end, shelving Billy Bruton, George Thomas, Al Kaline (back to start July) and Don Demeter. This necessitated the call-ups of kid flyhawks Mickey Stanley and Jim Northrup, as well as bench ballast Willie Horton, who was already there. The clubhouse manager has ordered extra diapers.

The W stands for wtf

Washing-toon (16-12) Wow. I'm tempted to just leave it at that. The Nats are a cool 17-5 in 1-run games and 5-1 in extras. They have an unremarkable staff, headed by good but not ace material Claude Osteen and followed by a crew of rag-armed rejects. Their strategy is "squeeze 5 innings out of Stupid Face and then go to the bullpen and hold on." Set-up man (yes yes, I know) Steve Ridzik and closer Ron Kline have been stellar. The Senators wriggle out of more jams than a family-values lawmaker, and have the golden luck of a leprechaun. They have sunk to .500 several times, but have rallied back every time, never sinking below that mark. The team has a -28 run differential, yet they are 4 games over. They are simply charmed.

Mistah Tiant, he dead. A penny for the old guy.

Tribe Wampum (14-17) Speaking of charmed, the Indians have a run differential of -49, yet they are just one game below breaking even! This is partly due to a 15-6 record in 1-run games and 4-1 in extras. Looie Tiant's head snapped off while making his herky-jerky motion, and is lost for a month.  Jim Grant was dealt, and so the likes of Dick Donovan and Pedro Ramos bring their "D"-ness to the Tribe rotation. The one consistent bright spot in Cleveland has been Daddy Wags Wagner who keeps slugging and producing while those about him lose their heads. He popped 9 dingers in June. The most truly bizarre stat for this team is that they have grounded into a league low 34 double plays. I have no explanation. Dick Howser gets a prize for participation after going the entire month without stealing a base. 

Bo Belinsky and Mamie Van Doren audition as department store mannequins.

Angels In The Outfield (11-19)  Oh, woe is Bill Rigney as he tries to find some kind of line-up that can score a little. Jim Fregosi is doing his part, going completely wingbat crazy over the past two months, but he hasn't got much help. Joe Adcock finally looked up from his reduced sodium oatmeal near month's end and, told it was still 1956, slugged a few perfunctory homers. But when your second best hitter over a 30 day period is reserve infielder Joe Koppe, you aren't going anywhere. Starter Fred Newman leads the league in losses but it really isn't his fault. Bo Belinsky was pitching his head off for most of the month before having his eye poked out by a starlet's pointy bra; he'll miss significant time. "I'm going to exercise, eat right, and do a lot of coke," he opined to local scribes.

Take them to the river. Put them in the water.

Twin Killings (12-18) The Twinks finally did something late in the month about their dreadful bullpen by acquiring NL cast-offs Al Worthington and Johnny Klippstein, the latter of whom works for the post office in the off season. Where's my December Redbook, Johnny? On the ground? Over on the next street, in the shrubbery? On your dining room table at home? Geez. Anyway, Worthington notched his first save as the rest of the Twins looked on in amazement at the sight of effective relief. Unfortunately, he took a loss in his next outing, despite not giving up a hit, as the Twins made back-to-back errors. Welcome to Minnesota, Al! The Twins lead the league in homers by 15 over Detroit, but have some issues. Tony Oliva just can't get it going, languishing at .252. Some wonder if the kid will stick. Earl Battey checked into a clinic at team insistence, to battle his addiction to grounding into constant double plays. Minnie and Paul hope for better things in July.

Put me in, Coach!

Boston Beanings (14-16) It wasn't such a bad month for the Carmine Hose as they escaped the basement at last. Their starting staff of Monbo, Earl Wilson, Marcia Brady, the Amazing Lobster Boy, and Dead Skunk In The Middle Of The Road leave something to be desired, and even stud reliever Dick Radatz has an ERA above 4, but these Sox can score, and sometimes score enough to outslug, say, Kansas City of a summer afternoon. I'll say this: they are entertaining, if still not very good. 

Ed Charles moves nicely to his right as Wayne Causey looks on.

Mule Shit (13-20)  Charlie O. Finley's boys saw a drop in attendance due to opponent's home run balls filling up the bleachers and denying patrons a place to sit. The A's can score quite a bit themselves, sitting third in runs scored with 338.  But May powerhouse Rocky Colavito hit less then .200 in June with only 3 homers, and Jim Gentile did not fare much better. The slack was taken up by unheralded Nelson Mathews, who drove in 24 runs--giving him more rbi than errors in the outfield--and Eddie Charles, who also knocked across 24 while doing a nice call-and-response with the Ray Charles Singers. Tell me what'd I say? 

See ya next time for the end of July report!