Documenting the Greatest Pennant Race of All Time
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When people think of the Tiger teams of the late 1960s, the two pitchers who come to mind are Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich. They combined to throw six of the seven games in the 1968 World Series while both of them made a name for themselves that season (McLain with 31 wins and Lolich with his three World Series wins). The other Tiger to get a start in that 1968 World series was Earl Wilson. Better known as the Duke of Earl, Wilson led the way for the Tigers in a big way in 1967 and he was the one pitcher who brought the Tigers closer to a pennant then any other pitcher that season.
Wilson was traded to the Tigers by the Boston Red Sox in 1966 for Dom Demeter (never played beyond 1967) and Julio Navarro (never touched the field for the Red Sox). For the four months that the Tigers had Wilson in 1966, Wilson went 13-6 with a 2.59 ERA and 1.004 WHIP. Let’s just say the Tigers made out big time in this trade and had the Red Sox kept Wilson, they might have won the 1967 pennant by a lot more then one game.
In 1967, Earl Wilson led the American League with 22 wins. He was third in innings pitched (264) and tenth in strikeouts (184). He led the Tigers, with rotation mainstays like McLain, Lolich and Joe Sparma throwing for Detroit, in all of those categories.
His most unusual (and best) start of the season came on April 30, 1967 against the Baltimore Orioles. In that game, he gave up only two hits the entire game but he walked the bases loaded in the eighth inning of that game and a run scored on a sac. fly. While not odd in and of itself, the amazing thing about the game was that the Tigers (and Wilson) won despite not getting a single hit the entire game. You’ll see this one once the diary is up, but it’s definitely one of the more bizarre play by plays I’ve ever seen.
Earl Wilson also helped out his own cause a lot and he was one of the best pitchers at hitting. In 108 at bats in 1967, Wilson hit four homeruns and drove in 15. In two other seasons, Wilson hit seven homeruns in each and he hit 35 homeruns and drove in 111 runs in 740 career at bats.
For his efforts, Wilson finished twelth in the American League in the MVP voting. He was third on the team on the ballot behind Bill Freehan (third) and Al Kaline (fifth).
Here are Wilson’s numbers in 1967.
Games 39
Games Started 38
Complete Games 12
Innings Pitched 264
Hits 216
Runs 103
Earned Runs 96
Walks 92
Strikeouts 184
ERA 3.27
Runs Saved Above Average -2
Shutouts 0
H/9 7.36
BR/9 10.60
SO/9 6.27
BB/9 3.14
SO/BB 2.00
Neutral Wins 16
Neutral Losses 17
Up until 1967, Carl Yastrzemski was a good player. He finished in the top 10 in the AL MVP voting twice but his season high in homeruns was 20 (1965). He did have one batting title (.321 in 1963) and he had two gold gloves. Then Yaz broke out in a big way.
His .326 batting average in 1967 wasn’t a career high (he’d hit .329 in 1970) but it was good enough to lead the American League. Only three players hit over .300 in the American League and Yaz outhit Frank Robinson, who came in second in hitting with .311, by a full fifteen percentage points. On top of that, Yaz led the league in just about everything else. He led with 44 homeruns and 121 RBIs to win the triple crown, the last player to do that. He also led the league in runs (112), OBP (.418), SLG (.622), and OPS (1.040). He was only third in doubles (31) and fourth in walks (91) and he even stole ten bases. And for all that, he won the MVP by a land slide. He garnered 19 out of 20 first place votes and the one he missed out on seemed a little bogus. Cesar Tovar finished tied for seventh and someone (probably local in MN) picked him as their top guy, possibly for his versatility (he played all three outfield spots, short, second and third).
Most importantly, Yaz got it done in September (and one game in October) when the team needed him. He hit .417 during that stretch and he homered nine times and drove in 26 runs in 27 games.
Yaz also got it done in the post season. He was 10 for 25 in the seven game series with the Cardinals and he homered three times. There was little doubt that Yaz was the MVP in 1967. Let’s take a look at his numbers
Games 161
AB 579
Runs 112
Hits 189
Doubles 31
Triples 4
Homeruns 44
RBIs 121
Walks 91
Strikeouts 69
Stolen Bases 10
Caught Stealing 8
BA .326
OBA .418
SLG% .622
OPS 1.040
RC 154
RCAA 85
RCAP 68
RC/G 10.17
ISO .295
The 1967 AL Pennant Race is only the greatest pennant race of all time. For those people who think we need the Wild Card to make things interesting in September, 1967 is a year worth revisiting. Only two years prior to going to the first “playoff” system, four teams battled it out through the final days of the season to determine who would win the 1967 American League pennant. In mid-September, only a half game seperated four teams and heading into the final week of the season, all four teams still had a shot at playing the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1967 World Series.
This site will document that pennant race, day by day. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 1984 Tigers Diary I worked on a couple of years back, it’ll be in that format but it’ll be the first collaborative diary I’m aware of. Throughout the off season, the contributors will be doing player profiles so you’re all familiar with the main characters, and then once the season starts, you’ll be able to follow things day by day as they happened forty years previous.
And of course if you want to know when the site is updated, the feed will be hooked up to my main site at Baseball Historians. You can also follow the 1967 Cardinals at Gas House Gang. He’ll be doing a diary documenting that team’s race to the World Series. I think this will be a lot of fun and I hope you stop by and check things out as they progress.
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