The AL race of '67

CHICAGO, DETROIT, BOSTON, MINNEAPOLIS - Splitting the National and American leagues into divisions in 1969 brought more teams into the post season, but it pre-empted some great pennant races, one of which was the American League race of 1967.

The "Pennant" winner, do they even use that term anymore, used to be decided by regular season games. There were no division champions or wild cards teams. The only postseason was the World Series and only two teams made it, so every regular season game was crucial.

On this date in '67 4 teams were tied for 1st place - not to get to the American League Divisional Series (ALDS) or American League Championship Series (ALCS) - to get to the World Series. This is what the American League standings looked like at the end of the day - September 6, 1967:

American League
-------------------W.---L.-----Pct.--G.B.
Minnesota........78  61    .561   -
Chicago...........78  61    .561   -
Boston.............79  62    .560   -
Detroit.............79  62    .560   -
California.........72  67   .518   6
Washington......66  74   .471  12
Cleveland.........65  76   .461  14
Baltimore.........62  75   .453  15
New York..........62  78   .443  16
Kansas City......57  82   .410  21

The Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers all went down to the last weekend of the season to decide the pennant. From August 19th on none of the four teams was ever more than 3 games out. Minnesota and Boston were still tied for the lead on the last day of the season and were playing each other. The Red Sox won 5-3. They went on to play St. Louis in the World Series.

If the original divisional alignment had been in play that year there would have been two 2-team races in the Eastern Division (Boston and Detroit) and the Western Division (Minnesota and Chicago). Four teams is a little more dramatic.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
1967 AL pennant race
Red Sox-Twins final game of the season

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Ripken Ties Lou Gehrig

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND • Drama followed Cal Ripken in the summer of 1995. On this date that year he tied Lou Gehrig's 2,130 consecutive games played streak. He received a 5 minute standing ovation from his hometown Camden Yards crowd when the game became official in the bottom of the 5th inning. If that wasn't dramatic enough, Ripken homered the following inning.

The 35-year old shortstop, who been playing every single game on the Baltimore Orioles schedule for 14 years, would go on to play almost three more full seasons before ending the streak September 20, 1998 having played in 2,632 consecutive games. The only active player (as of this writing) among the top 15 in consecutive games played is Miguel Tejada, another former Oriole. Tejada was not quite half-way there when his streak ended at 1,152 games in a row. He only had about seven more years to go without missing a game.

Think Ripken's streak will ever be broken?

Contributing sources:
Most consecutive games leaders
September 5, 1995 box score/play-by-play
New York Times, Cal Ripken

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One up on “Moonlight” Graham

DETROIT, MICHIGAN • Twenty-one year old Merritt Lovett came to bat for the Chicago White Sox on this date in 1933. He did not reach base. It would be “Mem” Lovett’s only major league at bat.

Lovett was at least one up on Archibald “Moonlight” Graham. Graham was the character Burt Lancaster played in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams. Graham played one inning for the New York Giants on the last day of the 1904 season, but never came to bat. Rather than be sent down to the minors again, Graham quit professional baseball and went to medical school. He spent the rest of his life delivering babies and generally attending to the medical needs of the residents of Chisholm, Minnesota. In Field of Dreams, the youthful Graham, played by Frank Whaley was granted one at bat against major leaguers who appeared on a baseball diamond an Iowa farmer carved out of his corn field.

Most of Field of Dreams was fiction, based on the book Shoeless Joe by Ray Kinsella, but Moonlight Graham was a real life person. So was Merritt Lovett. He followed a similar path as Graham. He decided to do something to help others. Lovett, a native of Oak Park, Illinois and a University of Chicago graduate quit professional baseball not long after his only major league at-bat, and turned his attention to youngsters in his hometown. He spent a number of years running the Oak Park recreation department.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Merritt Lovett stats
Wednesday Journal, Oak Park, IL, October 27, 2004
Chicago Tribune, June 10, 2006, Mike Downey

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Dodgers lose battle, Brooklyn loses war

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY - The Brooklyn Dodgers lost in extra innings to the Philadelphia Phillies on this date in baseball history, but Brooklyn stood to lose more than just a game. Don Drysdale pitched all 12 innings for the Dodgers, but lost to three Phillie pitchers 3-2.

The contest was played in Jersey City, New Jersey, the last of fourteen games Dodger owner Walter O'Malley scheduled at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City the last two years. Despite a crowd of only 10,190 on this day the Dodgers averaged more than 21,000 across the Hudson River. They averaged only 15,000 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. This gave Dodger owner Walter O'Malley encouragement that he could draw crowds west of Brooklyn. After the 1957 season he announced the Dodgers were moving, but a lot farther west - Los Angeles.

Walter O'Malley is a villain to many for moving the beloved Dodgers out of Brooklyn, but there is also the view that O'Malley tried for years to buy land in Brooklyn to build a park to replace Ebbets Field but ran into political roadblocks.

Contributing sources:
September 3, 1957 box score & play-by-play

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An amazing string of dominance

CLEVELAND, OHIO • Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dave Stieb finally got the monkey off his back - if you call pitching three one-hitters in four starts a burden - and threw a no-hitter on this date in 1990. He beat the Cleveland Indians 3-0. Stieb made
it interesting in the 9th. He got the first two batters out before
walking the third. The last out came on a line drive out to right
field. Stieb's day was no runs, no hits, four walks and nine strike
outs.

But the stretch David Andrew Stieb went through two years earlier was a remarkable string of dominance where he came very close to tying, and even breaking, a record many thought was unreachable. On September 24, 1988 (box scores/play-by-play below), also in Cleveland, Stieb had not allowed a hit for 8 and 2/3 innings when Indians 2nd baseman Julio Franco came to bat. With a 2-2 count, Franco got a base hit to centerfield. Stieb retired the next batter for a 1-0, 1-hit shutout.

On September 30, Steib's very next start at home in Toronto, he had not allowed the Baltimore Orioles a hit going into the 9th. He induced two groundouts, bringing pinch hitter Jim Traber to the plate. Again, on a 2-2 count, Traber got a base hit. The next batter grounded out and Dave Stieb had his second consecutive 1-hitter after not allowing a hit for 8 and 2/3rds. He came amazingly close to tying Johnny Vander Meer's streak of two consecutive no-hitters, but still had none.

The following spring, April 10, 1989, in New York, Dave Stieb threw his third 1-hitter in two seasons. It wasn't quite as dramatic this time as Stieb gave up the 1 hit in the 5th inning when Yankee catcher Jamie Quirk singled.

Considering Steib's September 24th and 30th starts of 1988 were the last two of the season and April 10, 1989 was his second start of the next season, three of four starts in a row were one-hitters. Has there ever been a more dominating stretch by a pitcher in major league history?

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
September 24, 1988 box score & play-by-play
September 30, 1988 box score & play-by-play
April 5, 1989 box score & play-by-play
April 10, 1989 box score & play-by-play

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