My 1967 AL replay

team     w-l         gb      1-run     x-inn     sept
DET   101-61     ---       24-23     12-6      16-13
BOS     97-65       4       33-21       5-7      16-11
MIN     94-68       7       27-20     11-8      19-11
CHI      85-77     16       24-30     13-14    17-13
BAL     83-78     17.5    18-27      8-12     12-19
NY       81-81      20       25-23     13-8      12-16
CAL    78-83      22.5    29-24     11-10     16-14
CLE    73-89      28       19-24      6-13     16-12
KC       63-98     37.5     17-21     8-11      11-19
WAS    53-108   47.5     22-25      6-4       10-17

Team ERA: Chi 2.60, Det 2.68, NY 2.97, Bal 3.08, Min 3.12, Cle 3.13, Bos 3.17, Was 3.31, Cal 3.38, KC 3.95

League: 3.14  (Actual: 3.23)

Team batting: Bos .243, Det .232, Min .225, Bal .221, Cal .220, Cle .219, KC .215, Chi .210, NY .203, Was .183

League: .217 (Actual: .236)

Batting champion George "Boomer" Scott

AVG.: Scott-bos .304, Yaz-bos .300, Conigliaro-bos .298, Morton-cal .298, Blair-bal .296, Kaline-det .287, Fregosi-cal .283, F.Robinson-bal .283, Oliva-min .281, Freehan-det .278

HR: Yaz-bos 46, Cash-det 40, Killebrew-min 40, Howard-was 37, Mantle-ny 37, Ward-chi 30, Blefary-bal 28

RBI: Cash-det 125, Yaz-bos 115, Killebrew-min 109, Mincher-cal 109, Scott,bos 102, B.Robinson-bal 98, Oliva-min 91

Runs: Yaz-bos 116, Scott-bos 103, Oliva-min 91, Freehan-det 90, D.Johnson-bal 90

Doubles: D.Johnson-bal 45, Fregosi-cal 41, Agee-chi 39, Tovar-min 38

Triples: Azcue-cle 12, Uhlaender-min 12, Tovar-min 11

Steals: Campaneris-kc 75, McCraw-chi 44, Buford-chi 32, Agee-chi 31

Errors: Campaneris-kc 39, Clarke-ny 36

Mickey Lolich

Wins: Lolich-det 21-6, Wilson-det 21-10, Hardin-bal 21-11, Stange-bos 20-6, Chance-min 20-9, Lonborg-bos 20-11, McLain-det 19-7, Hunter-kc 19-8

ERA: Lolich-det 1.83, McLain-det 1.98, Stange-bos 2.00, Hardin-bal 2.01, Peters-chi 2.04, Hunter-kc 2.06, Wilson-det 2.11

IP: Peters-chi 291, Siebert-cle 290.2, Tiant-cle 287.2, Hardin-bal 282.1, Wilson-det 281.2

K's: Tiant-cle 295, Lonborg-bos 259, Peters-chi 255, Lolich-det 230, Downing-ny 222, Siebert-cle 220.

CG: Tiant-cle 22, Hunter-kc 18, Chance-min 17, Horlen-chi 17, Peters-chi 17, Siebert-cle 17

Saves: Rojas-cal 34, Gladding-det 31, Womack-ny 27, Baldwin-was 25, Worthington-min 24

Shutouts: Hardin-bal 12, Lolich-det 10, Monbouquette-ny 6, Phoebus-bal 6, Stange-bos 6

Losses: Ortega-was 9-20, Dobson-kc 4-19, Pascual-was 6-19, Tiant-cle 14-19

TEAM REPORTS

Tiger Tales: Four players overachieving made the Tigers a runaway winner, and three of them were pitchers: starters Mickey Lolich and Denny McLain and reliever Fred Gladding (1.14 era). The position player was Norm Cash, who had the lucky dice going all season, as he always seems to do for me. The Tigers led the league in fielding, and could put a fielding one player at every position except left field. They made a league-low 100 errors, while scoring only five fewer runs (707) than leader Boston. Star performance: On June 20th, Norm Cash hit 3 Hrs and drove in 7 in a 12-2 win vs. the Senators at Tiger Stadium.

Boston Beans: I wonder when is the last time that three players from the same team placed 1-2-3 in the batting race as Yaz, Conig and Boomer Scott did? Yaz lost his bid for the triple crown, but give him credit. He was hitting just .268 at the all-star break, and .283 at the end of August, but he hit nearly .400 the rest of the way, and at one point got within 6 rbi of Cash, so he really tried, both to take the Triple Crown and to lift Boston to the pennant, but they just couldn't overtake Detroit. Starter Lee Stange came out of nowhere to lead the staff, and Jim Lonborg was money all season long, but after that it got dicey. Boston finished 7th in team ERA (3.17). However, they hit like crazy, leading the league in runs (712) and HR (173). Star Performance: On September 18th, in a crucial game at Detroit, Joe Foy hit a HR and drove in 5 as the Red Sox won 7-3 to keep their hopes alive at that point. it was a huge clutch performance by Foy.

Does this look like a grand slam hero to you?

Twin Killings: The starting nine were great, except for two things: they couldn't all stay healthy most of the time, and the bench was non-existent. Dean Chance, Jim Merritt and Dave Boswell all won 15 games or more, and hard-luck Jim Kaat led the starters in ERA (2.64). But the bullpen was thin and the bench laughable. Nonetheless, with their line-up intact for most of September, the Twins made a real run at a miracle comeback, but injuries returned and the Twins fell back to third. Star Performance: In an August 22nd doubleheader at Detroit, the Twins got a grand slam in each game--Killebrew in the opener and substitute Sandy Valdespino in the nightcap--as the Twins swept the Tigers 6-2 in 15 innings and 8-4 in nine. 

White Sox Laundry: The pitching was awesome, but only Tommy John (14-6) racked up wins consistently because the offense was so spotty, despite Pete Ward's unexpected 30 HR outburst. Agee was next on the Sox' homer parade with just 13 and they hit a league-low 99 for the season. However, they led the league in team ERA with 2.60. Star Performance: On April 19th at Comiskey Park, Joel Horlen won his first game of the season on a no-hitter, 1-0 over New York. 

Bird Doo: The Orioles were 75-60 and had drawn to within two games of the third place Twins. Not only that, but they were hitting the cover off the ball. The bad news is that after that, they went completely in the tank, losing 18 of their final 26 and not hitting or pitching at all except for ace Jim Hardin, who was all-world all year. Frank Robinson was good but not as good as expected, with 25, 81 and .283. Brooks Robby made a bid for 100 rbi, and seemed like a lock to make it, but then he went into vapor lock like the rest of the O's, and stalled out at 98. Boog Powell hit a miserable .184 with just 12 HR. Star performance: On September 16th at Fenway Park, Jim Hardin won his 19th game, 3-0, on a no-hitter. Honorable mention: on August 3rd, the slick-fielding Oriole infield turned 6 double plays in a 4-1 win at home against Detroit.

The best .181 hitter the Yankees had.

Yankee Go Home: I've seen a couple of other replays people have done, and the '67 Yankees stunk for them, but for me their pitching (2.97, good for third) and just enough power led to a .500 record. They couldn't hit at all a lot of the time, as evidenced by their having been blanked 23 times, but Mickey Mantle (37,86, .242), Joe Pepitone (16,82, .201) and Tom Tresh (25,82, .181) went yard often enough that they did win on a fairly consistent basis when they bothered to score at all. Star Performance: On April 26th, Mel Stottlemyre went all ten innings and struck out 12 in defeating the White Sox 4-3 at Yankee Stadium.

Angels Halos: I have read a little about '67, and apparently, the Orioles should have done a lot better than they actually did, and the Angels should have been worse. Mine were. They sort of had half a line-up: Morton (.298), Repoz (20 doubles after being acquired), Fregosi (.283, 41 doubles, 85 runs) and Don Mincher (26, 109, .267) but after that it was Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Rick Reichardt hung out all summer with a starlet on his arm and a hole in his bat, until he heated up like crazy in the latter part of August, enabling him to finish with 24, 78 and .224, but the Halos just didn't have enough punch. They hit just 100 homers and left a league-high 1168 runners stranded. Minnie Rojas led the league in saves, though, just as he actually did. Star Performance: On July 8th, Reichardt hit a walk-off grand slam with 2 out in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat KC 6-2.

Tribe Wampum:  This team was so fricking dull to play. They had good starting pitching, but no bullpen, and the offense was sleepy all year. Joe Azcue, who shared time with Duke Sims behind the plate, led the team with just 14 HR. His line was odd, with 9 doubles, a league-leading 12 triples, and the 14 blasts. The Indians scored just 540 runs, ahead of only Washington. Star Performance: On September 10th, Sam McDowell, suffering through an awful season, suddenly awoke and shut out the A's with 15 strikeouts, for the 4-0 win at the Mistake By The Lake.

Ken Suarez, "Mister Lucky"

Mule Droppings: In their final season in Kansas City, the A's hit better than expected, with Rick Monday (21) and Ramon Webster (25) leading the way for the A's to hit 100 homers--not many, but a lot more than they actually hit. The fluke of the entire replay was backstop Ken Suarez, who, when he could keep from getting run over by trucks and missing large chunks of time, hit 29 doubles in just 187 ab's! He hit 12 in September alone. (He had three zeroes, in the usual spots at 11, 33 and 66. I don't know why he rolled them so often except pure dumb luck!) On the other hand, there was kid third sacker Sal Bando who went 5 for 86 (.058) and clearly has no future in the big leagues. The A's were a distant last in the league in pitching (3.95), made 172 errors, and had no depth at all. Fireman Tony Pierce gathered 15 saves with a 1.69 ERA when the team could actually find a spot to use him. Star Performance: On July 23rd, with the White Sox in town for a doubleheader, the first game--think about that--went a mind-numbing, spirit-crushing 24 innings before Ken Suarez (!) hit a walk-off homer to give the A's a 4-3 win. It was one of just 4 homers he hit all year, but I was so very grateful for him hitting it.

Washing-toon: Oh dear Goddess. Remember I mentioned having seen a couple of other '67 replays around? Well, the Nats were bad for them, and couldn't score much, but they weren't THIS bad. My Nats scored a piddling 407 runs (last by 133), and hit an astonishing .183 as a team (20 points behind New York.) They were shut out 29 times, and if it hadn't been for a scattering of solo homers by Frank Howard (37, 66, .194) it would have been a bunch more. They were last in fielding, with 175 errors. They were last in doubles and triples. The pitching placed 8th at 3.31 and the team actually had a very good and deep bullpen; the problem is that they were almost never competitive enough to make good use of it. The top batting average on the team, in any number of at bats, was Hank Allen's .225. Fred Valentine chipped in with 18 homers, but geez louise am I glad I never have to manage this Nats team again. Star Performance: On April 22nd, lefty Pete Richert won his first game, 3-0 on a 1-hitter at RFK Stadium against the White Sox. And so, naturally, he was dealt away.