MONDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 1967
The two National League pennant contenders were both in action on a light Monday schedule. Each was playing at home but neither could manage a victory as both the Dodgers and Giants fell by 4-1 scores. That keeps Los Angeles 1 game ahead of San Francisco with 6 games remaining for each club.
In Los Angeles the Pirates prevailed thanks to complete game 4-hitter from Pittsburgh ace Luis Tiant(17-9, 2.42). The 26 year old righthander had Dodger hitters off-balance all day as he fanned 12 while allowing just one extra base hit : a 4th inning double from Willie Davis (.290,4,47) that would lead to the only Los Angeles run on the day. Los Angeles starter Don Sutton (18-8, 2.07) only allowed 3 hits of his own through 8 innings but one of those was a 3-run homer in the third inning by Pirates young outfielder Bobby Tolan (.263,9,35). Pittsburgh final run also came via the longball as Bob Bailey (.293,17,57) hit a solo shot in the ninth off of Dodgers reliever Thomas McCaig.
Further north up the west coast the Giants were also running into a hot pitcher as Jerry Koosman (9-14, 3.07), one of the Mets large collection of young talented arms, allowed just 1 run on 7 hits to help the last place New York club deliver a small blow to the pennant hopes of Gotham's previous National League inhabitant. Ron Swoboda (.248,19,62) and Bob Harrelson (.218,0,20) each had two hits with the former driving in two runs and the latter scoring a pair as New York scratched out 4 runs on 10 hits against Giants starter Larry Jackson (11-11, 2.87).
The only other National League contest saw Alex Johnson (.354,4,32) get 5 hits to pace the Philadelphia Phillies to an 8-6 win over Houston in 10 innings.
The American League also only had 3 games on it's slate for the day. Second place Cleveland was off but the Indians slim playoff hopes remained alive thanks to California's 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Jim Fregosi (.264,14,70) homered while Clyde Wright (7-9, 3.19) and reliver Al Worthington held the Twins bats in check to deny Jim Kaat (19-4, 2.39) in his bid for the second twenty-win season of his career. With the loss the Twins (106-52) lead on the Indians drops to 4 games but there is no margin of error for Cleveland as each club has just 4 games remaining in their season.
In other American League action Dean Chance (12-12, 2.39) tossed a complete game shutout while Boog Powell (.274,27,87) homered to pace Baltimore to a 4-0 win over Washington. 36 year old Willie Mays (.252,14,51) had a 2 hit game for the Orioles and now has 3034 career hits. Mays remains 4 homers shy of the 500 mark. In New York, Al Kaline (.294,31,93) and Willie Horton (.304,35,92) each went yard for the visiting Tigers while George Burnett (13-16, 3.40) allowed just 3 hits over 8 innings in a 5-1 Detroit win over the Yankees.
MINOR LEAGUE NOTES
Tommy Teem of the Arkansas Travelers was named pitcher of the year in the Texas League. The 23 year old Cardinals prospect was 16-8 with a 2.76 era to help lead the Travelers to the Texas League championship series, where they fell in 5 games to the Albuquerque Dodgers. It was Albuquerque's 4th straight appearance in the title series (they won 2). It was Teem's 4th year in the Cardinals system and, while not considered one of their top 20 prospects he has steadily improved each year. Cracking the big league roster in St Louis will be tough with veterans Bob Gibson and Ray Washburn joined by youngsters Denny McLain(23), Steve Carlton(22) and Nelson Briles (24) already on the big league roster plus prospects such as Clay Kirby, Jerry Reuss, Jack Billingham, Mike Torrez, Pedro Borbon and Tom Hilgendorf ahead of him.
I can't find out much about the real life Teem, other than baseball reference which shows he spent two seasons with the Class A Rock Hill Cardinals, going 13-12 with a 3.62 career era before disappearing.