1964 AL End Of July Report

July is over, the sparklers are dust, and the Yankees have been torrid--bad news for the rest of the American League! However, the mighty man of the month is a surprise--Sam Bowens, a corner outfielder for the Orioles, went off and knocked in a whopping 35 runs in the month! Whoa Sam! Dint know your own strenth!

Here's the standings:

NYY  70-32  ---  (best July record 23-7)
CHI  61-42  9.5
BAL  62-43  9.5
DET  52-54  20  (worst July record 10-22, best x-inn record 10-4)
WAS  52-56  21  (best 1-run record 22-11)
CLE  51-55  21
LAA  51-57  22
BOS  44-60  27
MIN  44-60  27
KCA  39-67  33  (worst 1-run record 11-21, worst x-inn 2-7)

PITCHING (league 3.67)
LAA  2.70  (most CG 31)
NYY  2.83  (least RA 310, most SHO 17)
CHI  2.99  
BAL  3.31  (most saves 31, least HR vs. 80)
DET  3.47
WAS  3.87  (least K's 529)
CLE  4.19  (tie least SHO 6)
BOS  4.38  (least CG 13, most RA 547)
MIN  4.44  (most K's 737, least saves 14, tie least SHO 6)
KCA  4.57  (most HR vs. 113, tie least SHO 6)

BATTING (league .232)
BAL  .246  (least triples 16, most SB 59)
BOS  .242  (least SB 11, most doubles 161)
NYY  .242  (tie most triples 33)
CHI  .239  (tie least HR 70, least doubles 118, most CS 28)
DET  .236  (tie most triples 33)
MIN  .233  (most HR 140, least CS 13, most runs 477)
CLE  .232  (least GIDP 55)
LAA .225  (tie least HR 70, least runs 372)
KCA  .214  (most GIDP 103)
WAS  .212  

FIELDING
least errors--NYY 42
most errors--CLE 128
most DP's--BOS 106
least DP's--LAA 57

LEADERS

"Behold my works, ye mighty, and despair!"

WINS: Chance-la 15-6, Ford-ny 15-7, Peters-chi 14-5, Wickersham-det 12-9

ERA (min. 102 IP): Chance-la 1.70, Peters-chi 1.85, Ford-ny 1.89, Bunker-bal 2.35, Pizarro-chi 2.41, Belinsky-la 2.54, Aguirre-det 2.69, Downing-ny 2.81, Horlen-chi 2.84, Buzhardt-chi 2.86

Jack is tireless, devoted, hard-working. Cleveland sucks anyway.

IP: Chance-la 196, Peters-chi 180.1, Kaat-min 177, Kralick-cle 175

CG: Chance-la 14, Kaat-min 13, Peters-chi 13

K's: Chance-la 156, Wilson-bos 142, Pena-kc 135, Kralick-cle 121, Wickersham-det 121, Lolich-det 120

SHO: Ford-ny 5, Downing-ny 4, Peters-chi 4

"Here I come to save the day!"

SAVES: Kline-was 23, Wilhelm-chi 23, Hall-bal 22, Radatz-bos 22, McMahon-cle 18

LOSSES: Narum-was 5-13, 3 tied with 12.

"Watch me leg out a nubber!"

BA (min 275 ab): Howard-ny .318, Fl.Robinson-chi .314, B.Robinson-bal .307, Aparicio-bal .305, Fregosi-la .297, Piersall-la .296, Stuart-bos .291, Yaz-bos .288, Hall-min .287, Kaline-det .277

He is humbled to appear on the same leader board with Don Lock.

HR: Powell-bal 32, Killebrew-min 30, Lock-was 24, Wagner-cle 24, Mantle-ny 23, Gentile-kc 22, Mantilla-bos 22

RBI: B.Robinson-bal 80, Bowens-bal 74, Killebrew-min 72, Hansen-chi 69, Pepitone-ny 69, Powell-bal 69

RUNS: Aparicio-bal 75, Mantle-ny 75, Hall-min 70, Versalles-min 70, B.Robinson-bal 69

He should not have eaten that third hot dog. Vic is the AL's leading annoying little bastard.

2B: Davalillo-cle 27, Howard-ny 26, Tresh-ny 26

3B: Oliva-min 9, Rollins-min 8

If Davalillo can just steal a quick 30 bases, it'll be a race! But he would still be annoying.

STEALS: Aparicio-bal 49, Davalillo-cle 16, Hinton-was 15, Weis-chi 12

GIDP: Green-kc 18, Battey-min 17, B.Robinson-bal 17

Mac is the Jose Pagan of the AL.

ERR: McAuliffe-det 28, Howser-cle 26, Bressoud-bos 25, Brinkman-was 22

TEAM REPORTS (with July record)

All the Yankees sent away for this pamphlet.

YANKEE DOODLES (23-7) The Bronx Bombers have gone 44-16 over the past two months to turn a close race into a rout. Ellie Howard has overcome a slow first half take over the AL batting lead! Yankee fans love watching this right hand hitting beer truck beat another one out! But it is pitching that has the Bombers riding high. The worst ERA in any number of innings on the entire staff is Jim Bouton's 3.59. Let that sink in!

He hits better than you, too!

WHITE SOX LAUNDRY (20-11) The Chisox played bang-up ball in July and still lost 3 and a half games in the standings. Gary Peters emerged as the ace of a very impressive staff, even tossing a no-hitter at the Tigers during the month! But the rest aren't bad either, as 3 other Sox hurlers made the top ten in ERA. Hoyt Wilhelm stopped blowing ballgames and now finds himself tied for the league lead in saves. Don Mossi (1.27) and Eddie Fisher (2.06) help out in relief as well. 

Hi, Bob!

BIRD DOO (18-12)  Play it again, Sam! Sam Bowens (16,74,.263) enjoyed opponents' habit of pitching around Boog Powell (32,69,.268) and made them pay with an incredible 35 ribbies in the month. The whole Oriole aviary was flapping its wings and banging out hits. Only Willie "Captain" Kirkland (1,2,.111 in 81 ab) was a dismal failure and is rumored to be on the block. A more successful reserve is Bob Johnson (1,16,.310 in 100 ab) who spells Looie Aparicio when his legs fall off from running the bases. Starting pitching has been a bugaboo for the Birds, with only kid righty Wally Bunker (6-3, 2.35) getting it done when he can manage to stay healthy. Sidearm specialist Dick Hall also is out, and the O's miss him. 

Detroit's drooling dipwad.

TIGER TALES (10-22) Dear me, what an awful month the Tigers just suffered through. They fell from 6 out to 20 out as they just could not find the winning method. Terry Fox (3-6, 4.91) made every disaster worse by showing up with his gas can, while Tiger flyhawks dropped like, well, flies, necessitating starts from Mickey Stanley (.125) and Jim Northrup (.037). They may be fine young men and they may mature into stars eventually, but right now they aren't ready. Backstop Bill Freehan (7,33,.254) hasn't hit as expected, and Don "The Drooling Dipwad" Wert (2,27,.215) only gets hits if everyone promises not to look. Even previous powerhouse Dick McAuliffe (20,59,.226) only hit two dingers in July and saw his average drop 20 points while looking lost at shortstop.

Jim needs no refrigeration.

WASHING-TOON (11-19) What happens when you deal Bill Skowron (12,49,.270 with Washington) for Joe Cunningham (.167) and lefty Frank Kreutzer (0-1,12.73 with Chicago) and then sign ancient relic Roy Sievers (1,4,.059) to replace the fallen Mr. Cunningham? Even Richie knows that's a bum deal. Opposing skippers routinely walk Don Lock (24,55,.251) any time the score is close because there's only retread Don Zimmer (8,39,.240) and Jim "Sky" King (13,41,.178) hitting behind him. And so Don was limited to 6 HR in July, most if not all coming when the game wasn't close. The pitching went all to hell, with ace Claude Osteen (8-8, 2.90) seeing his ERA put on half a run in flab, and previous bullpen phenom "Mrs." Duckworth pouring out his sub-2 ERA and replacing it with 5.40. "I sleep on a bed of pancakes," he confided to reporters before being threatened with demotion to class B Bus Stop City in the Circulatory Ailment League. 

He just wants to be done and go home.

TRIBE WAMPUM (14-17) The Tribe looks good on paper. But Siebert (9-9, 3.91), Tiant (5-8, 4.25) and Sam McDowell (3-9, 4.75) have not lived up to their billing, nor has kid infielder Larry Brown (7,19,.152.) And so, too much has been required of veterans like Jack Kralick (10-8, 3.09) and "Daddy Wags" Wagner (24,64,.260). They do what they can, and bullpen ace Don McMahon has fashioned a nifty 1.14 ERA when not handing out sweepstakes prizes. If the game is on the line, call on super pinch hitter Tito Francona (8,25,.212) who has 3, count 'em, 3 walk-off hits this year.

Bo consults with a local nun about his catechism classes.

ANGEL HALOS (18-12)  The Angels rode incredible pitching to their best month by far. Both Dean Chance and Fred Newman went 5-1 in July, and Bo Belinsky was excellent, too. Even spare part Aubrey Gatewood boasts a 1.66 ERA in 11 starts! The hitting wasn't so great, though, with previously red hot Jim Fregosi (17, 60, .297) slumping to less than .150 for the month. Jimmy Piersall (.296) got on quite a bit at the lead-off spot, but nobody really answered the bell offensively. Goll darn it, Clarence, can't ya whip up a slugger or two? 

Stop that, Neil! You've got songs to write.

BOSTON BEANS (14-16)  When your top two starters are only okay, and your other three have ERAs like 6.84, 5.47 and 5.77, you aren't going far. Dave Morehead (0-5) has reached August without a single win in 14 tries. At least there is lefty specialist Arnold Earley with his 0.88 ERA, and Dick Radatz, with 100 K's in 95 innings to place him second on the staff in punchouts even though he is a reliever. Frank Malzone (4,36,.246) and Eddie Bressoud (9,30,.257) slumped badly during July, but Tony Conigliaro (16,56,.256) and Felix Mantilla (22,66,.235) enjoyed their most productive months. Dick Stuart (14,61,.291) continues to hit everything except the home runs he gets paid to slug. Neil Diamond has not yet recorded "Sweet Caroline", and so the scattering of Fenway fans just sit there during the 7th inning stretch, glumly wondering why life is so hard.

Hitting big league deliveries is so easy, Joe can do it with his eyes closed!

TWINS TALK (13-16) This was the month the Twins would finally make a move, I thought. Boy am I one dizzy broad. Oh, they hit homers like they should, and Killebrew mashed 11 to make it to 30 already,  but Tony Oliva (17,57,.253) just refuses to stop going 1-for-4, and the pitching is still just terrible, though more blame lies with the starters and less with the bullpen, now that Al Worthington (2-1-5, 5.30) and Johnny Klippstein (1.98) have arrived. Worthington's inflated ERA is mostly due to one disastrous outing--he's been good most of the time since being shipped over in a crate from Cincinnati. Emblematic of the Twins pitching woes is veteran Camilo Pascual, who is 4-9 with a 4.77 ERA in 20 starts and he has finished what he started just 3 times. "I'm an opener," he opined. One bright spot was rookie flyhawk Joe Nossek, summoned to the big club from Infection City in the Religious Conversion League. Joe got to bat twice and delivered two safeties for a gaudy 1.000 average! 

The A's team bus arrives at the ballpark.

MULE DROPPINGS (9-18)  Rocky Colavito (20,64,.227), scourge of the AL back in May, hit just one HR and knocked in only 9 in July, his second straight awful month. The Rock's average has fallen some 70 points. With Gentile (22,52,.264) out, the A's need Rocky to regroup! Injuries to several players necessitated the call up of a busload of bushers to impersonate big league ballplayers for a while in KC. The pitching staff avoided these die-offs, but sucks anyway, and leads the loop in homers given up. Skipper Mel McGaha, or whoever it is with the audacity to pilot this train wreck of a team, has no solutions for the shoddy defense and inconsistent offense which has combined with laughable pitching to land the Athletics in the American league caboose. Put on your thinking cap, Mel. Sad statistic for the day: the A's are 17 of 44 in steal attempts. It's enough to make you weep.

"Another great report. Ha!"

My fans, they love me!