Tag: Detroit Tigers

SEP 6: The AL race of ’67

SEPTEMBER 6, 1967 | CHICAGO, DETROIT, BOSTON, MINNEAPOLIS – Splitting the National and American Leagues into divisions in 1969 brought more teams into the postseason, but it pre-empted some great pennant races, one of those 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 wildcard teams. The only postseason was the World Series and only two teams made it. 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

March 21-Fidrych here, then gone

MARCH 21, 1977, LAKELAND, FLORIDA – When Detroit Tiger pitcher Mark “The Bird” Fidrych twisted his knee shagging fly balls on this date in 1977 it seemed a minor bump in the road for the 1976 rookie of the year. He was expected to miss his next start. Unfortunately, what initially seemed like a minor injury had major consequences for Fidrych. He had torn cartilage in his knee and would need surgery.

Fidrych was never the same. He was out of baseball three years later.

But 1976 was magical.

Twenty-one year old Mark Fidrych wasn’t even expected to make the team out of spring training. He made his first start in May only because the scheduled starter had the flu. But Fidrych went on to win 19 games while losing 9.

He led the league with a 2.34 ERA and completed 24 games, also the league leader. He won Rookie of the Year honors and was second in voting for the Cy Young award.

Fidrych created a national sensation not only because he pitched well, but also because of his personality and antics. He was “a little out of left field,” but seemed to really have fun playing the game.

Fidrych was called “The Bird” because he resembled Big Bird from the Sesame Street children’s TV show. When he pitched he’d talk to the baseball. He’d stoop down and carefully manicure the mound. He’d throw balls back to the umpire because he said they still had hits in them. Detroit drew huge crowds every time he pitched even though the team was never in the pennant race. Opposing teams tried to get the Tigers to change their pitching rotation so he’d pitch in their park.

Fidrych took it all in stride. The name of his autobiography was “No Big Deal.”

He returned to his native Massachusetts after his baseball career was cut short by what seemed like a minor that had major consequences. Tragically, on April 13, 2009 Fidrych was found dead under the truck he was apparently working on. He was 54.

Contributing sources:
Mark Fidrych Baseball-Reference
The Associated Press, Lakeland, Florida, March 22, 1977
More Mark Fidrych
BaseballRace.com