History of Baseball - OOTP19 version

[Tiger Fan]

1966 ALL-STAR BREAK -AMERICAN LEAGUE RECAP

NEW YORK YANKEES - The Yankees have turned it on over the last month, winning 11 straight and 25 of their past 30 heading into the all-star break. Pitchers Jim Bunning (11-3, 2.74), Whitey Ford (9-3, 2.92), Fritz Peterson (9-4, 2.50) and Al Downing (7-7, 3.12) have been solid with the 37 year old Ford especially impressive considering he has struggled with a nagging back injury much of the season.

Offensively, 34 year old Mickey Mantle (.244,16,49) has seen his average plummet but he is still showing power and his 552 career homeruns are #2 all-time. Tom Tresh (.304,13,61) and Curt Blefary (.326,13,46) have allowed the Yanks to move Mantle out of the 3-4 spots in the order and catcher Oscar Rodriguez (.300,10,38) is also enjoying a strong season. The Yankees rank 3rd in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed.

CLEVELAND INDIANS - The Indians led for much of May and June but have limped into the all-star break by winning just 7 of their last 17 at a time the Yankees got hot and surpassed them. Sam McDowell (11-3, 2.20), Denny Lemaster (11-3, 2.80) and Jim Perry (9-4, 3.52) have pitched well and their bullpen era with Roy Face (5-2, 9sv), Bob Allen (0.88), Steve Hamilton (1.03) and Tom Kelley (1.35) is the lowest in the American League.

27 year old outfielder Mack Jones (.308,26,75) is on pace to outperform his breakout season of a year ago (when he was .303,34,92) and Tommie Agee (.301,18,53) is having an incredible year at the age of 23. Both were named to the all-star team along with Tribe catcher Jim Pagliaroni (.236,8,25). Cleveland is second in the AL in runs scored and 5th in runs against.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES - Give the Orioles credit for hanging in their despite missing Willie Mays and Stu Miller all season. Mays should be back shortly after the break but closer Miller is still well over a month away. The Orioles key is their pitching and defense which rank first and third in the AL. Dean Chance (8-6, 2.55), Milt Pappas (6-6, 3.14), Steve Barber (6-2, 2.39), Dave McNally (7-4, 2.82) and Jack Fisher (9-5, 3.09) have done what was expected while 24 year old Darold Knowles (13sv, 1.75) has filled in very nicely in the closer role.

Without Mays, offense has been a big problem and the Orioles rank 7th in the American League in runs scored. Brooks Robinson (.270,4,33) was having a decent year at the plate and another great year defensively before hurt his back at the end of June. The Orioles hope he will only miss a couple of more weeks.

Missing Mays being in the lineup to protect him has hurt Boog Powell as the 24 year old is .229,9,39 after going .299,44,104 a year ago. Davey Johnson (.290,6,29), Peter Ward (.231,6,28), Jerry Adair (.292,2,32), Curt Flood (.256,2,32) and a disappointing lead-off man in Merv Rettenmund (.197,6,30) round out the offense.

CALIFORNIA ANGELS - After finishing a franchise best 4th a year ago the Angels find themselves in the same spot at the break this year. California ranks number one in the AL in defensive efficiency and have allowed the second fewest runs against. 22 year old Jim McGlothlin (12-3, 2.28) is their ace, with Joe Nuxhall (5-6, 2.92), Vern Geishert (6-6, 3.07) and Earl Walton (6-4, 3.10) also in the rotation.

The Angels are 4th in runs scored led by Bill White (.339,14,51), who leads the American League in batting. Dick Simpson (.313,9,28), Jim Fregosi (.268,8,41), Rick Reichardt (.274,7,40), Ed Kirkpatrick (.221,9,27) and Jack Hiatt (.222,7,30) are the other key contributors offensively.

MINNESOTA TWINS - The Twins are near the middle of the pack in both runs scored and runs against. Offense comes from veterans Harmon Killebrew (.310,21,50), Ernie Banks (.297,10,42) and Zoilo Versalles (.232,7,38) as well as youngsters Rod Carew (.328,4,17), Reggie Smith (.236,3,28) and Joe Foy (.277,7,31).

Mickey Lolich (11-3, 1.25) has been outstanding and 21 year old Dave Boswell (6-6, 3.23) has pitched well but Jim Kaat (3-5, 2.87) has had trouble getting wins and Lee Stange (6-6, 3.23) and Camilo Pascual (5-4, 3.59) have just been ordinary.

BOSTON RED SOX - The biggest disappointment in the American League has been the play of the Red Sox, or more precisely their pitching. Boston leads the AL in runs scored thanks to the likes of Don Buford (.337,10,53), Carl Yastremski (.326,22,63), Orlando Cepeda (.311,10,32), Tony Conigliaro (.315,16,48), Rico Petrocelli (.282,21,75) and Wayne Causey (.278,1,34).

Jim Lonborg (9-5, 2.12) and Al Jackson (10-5, 3.55) have had success but the rest of the staff is 25-35. Their bullpen is awful without injured closer Ted Abernathy but the good news is he will be recovered from a spring training injury next week. Boston has tried 6 pitchers in the other 3 starting rotation spots but with little success. Dennis Bennett at 5-4, 4.94 is the best of the lot.


DETROIT TIGERS - Injuries have hurt Detroit. George Brunet has missed the entire first half of the season and fellow starter Joe Sparma is done for the year with arm woes. In their place are Al Lowe (4-8, 5.25) and Tom Parsons (3-3, 5.37). That is a big reason Detroit ranks 8th in runs against but having the worst defensive efficiency in the league is also a factor. Pitching wise, only Sonny Siebert (9-7, 2.33) can be proud of his season. Bob Bruce (4-9, 4.14) and Raoul Santos (2-10, 4.69) have been bad and relievers Phil Regan (3-4, 4.08) and John Hiller (3-4, 5.63) no better.

There is some offense in the form of Don Wert (.309,5,33), Al Kaline (.276,14,47), Willie Horton (.290,13,41) and Deron Johnson (.261,14,39) but the Tigers rank 6th in runs scored.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX - The Sox started the season on an 11-4 run but since June 1st are 9-26. Their defense is good but they are 8th in runs scored and 7th in runs against.

Joe Horlen (8-9, 2.42) has been the only starter worth mentioning as Larry Jackson (2-11, 4.10), John Lytle (4-7, 3.41), Paul Edmondson (4-6, 3.88) and Al Fitzsimmons (2-7, 4.27) have been abysmal. The offense, such as it is, has come mainly from 31 year old Norm Cash (.262,16,40) with support from Humberto Guerrero (.269,7,38), Tommy McCraw (.244,8,41) and Bobby Knoop (.266,7,36).

KANSAS CITY ATHLETICS - The Athletics suffered a terrible blow when Jim Catfish Hunter blew out his arm and was forced to retire at just 20 years of age. Hunter was 7-17 with a 4.93 era as a rookie last season and was 2-5 with a 2.14 era this season at the time of his injury. It is a huge blow to the A's that will be felt later in the decade when all of their young stars hit their prime.

Speaking of young stars, 20 year old rookie Reggie Jackson (.242,14,38) is off to a decent start with little support. The A's also recently called up 22 year old Sal Bando but he has not played much. 24 year old Bert Campaneris (.254,2,24) is their leadoff man with Clarence Jones (.220,9,28), Clete Boyer (.250,10,35) 22 year old rookie Felix Milan (.256,1,10), also a part of an offense that ranks 9th in the 10 team American League.

24 year old Paul Lindblad, who was 0-10 last year with the A's before being demoted to AAA Vancouver, has missed all season with arm troubles but should return soon. 21 year old Jim Nash (2-7, 4.65) is struggling but John O'Donoghue (7-4, 2.38), Lew Krausse Jr (5-8, 2.97) and Jose RA Santiago (6-4, 2.66) have pitched well. The Athletics are 6th in runs allowed.

WASHINGTON SENATORS - The Senators won a franchise best 83 games in 1962, in their second season. Since then they have steadily gotten worse each season and are on their way to hitting new lows. The 1956 Athletics had the worst winning percentage in major league history at .240. This year's Washington club may give them a run for their money s the Senators sit at .256 (23-67) at the break. It is no surprise they rank dead last in runs scored and runs allowed and are 9th in defensive efficiency.

29 year old lefthander Gary Peters (5-8, 3.26) is the lone bright light on the pitching staff. Bob Shaw (6-9, 5.05), Bob Buhl (1-11, 4.85), Harry Coe (4-8, 4.18) and Frank Pontello (0-11, 5.79) round out the rotation with the bullpen posting even worse era's. Meanwhile, 27 year old Rudolph Stoehr, who was 8-7, 2.07 a year ago before elbow surgery, is still 2 months away from returning and Buck Stinnett, a 24 year old who was named the game's top prospect is 0-1 with a 4.86 era in 10 relief appearances in the NY-Penn League and starting to look like a bust. Stinnett's 18 year old teammate Bill Gogolewski is faring much better at Geneva with a 6-7 record and a 4.08 era. Meanwhile, Joe Coleman - a 19 year old - was recently promoted to AAA Hawaii where he is 2-0 with a 1.02 era so there may be hope for the future.

25 year old Roger Repoz (.221,13,35) is the closest thing the Senators have to an offensive star. The rest of the lineup is comprised of Ronald Smith (.215,6,23), Cal Emery (.215,7,28), veteran Dick Groat (.252,0,21), Eddie Bressoud (.218,2,25), Clay Dalrymple (.242,2,15), Gary Geiger (.224,2,18) and Lorne Johnson (.207,2,22). Not even household names in their own households.


Next a look at the National League teams at the break.

[Tiger Fan]

1966 ALL-STAR BREAK : NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM REVIEWS

CINCINNATI REDS - The Reds pitching has not been quite as good as last year - they rank 5th in the National League in runs allowed - but the defending World Champions have not lost a bit of their offensive prowess.

Frank Robinson (.354,26,80) has a great shot at becoming the first National League hitter to win a triple crown since Hack Wilson in 1928. The 30 year old slugger just hit his 460th career homerun, which places him 11th all-time. Robinson has plenty of support as newcomer Ken McMullan is the only easy out in the lineup.

Here is the Reds batting order and their stats so far:

    NAME      POS   AGE   G   AB  R   H  2B 3B  HR  RBI SB AVG
1  Cesar Tovar SS    26  79  316 47  96  22  1   6  31  16 .302  
2  Vada Pinson LF    27  84  354 61 116  19  5  13  52  14 .328
3  Frank Robinson RF 30  86  316 55 112  22  1  26  80   1 .354
4  Jim Wynn CF       24  84  345 67 102  15  2  22  62   7 .296
5  Pete Rose 2B      25  85  353 48 123  23  4   6  35   3 .348
6  Ken McMullan 3B   24  47  179 13  37   8  1   2  13   0 .207
7  Tony Perez 1B     24  83  328 31  90  14  3  10  43   0 .274
8  Don Pavletich C   27  67  263 31  67  12  1  11  30   0 .255

McMullan struggled early and was sent down to AAA Buffalo but the player called up to replace him, Kenneth McCain, hit just .198 and McMullan was recalled after a month in Buffalo where he batted .276.

Looking at the ages of those players, and with 18 year old Johnny Bench and 21 year old Hal McRae in the system, the Reds could dominate the NL for the rest of the decade. The Reds have scored 427 runs this season, which is 48 more than San Francisco which ranks second in that category among National League teams.

On the mound, Jim Maloney (10-4, 2.23), Claude Osteen (12-4-, 2.10) along with 18 year old rookie Gary Nolan (9-5, 2.84) have been very good as has closer Billy McCool (11sv, 2.89) but Jim O'Toole (6-5, 5.22) and Sammy Ellis (7-5, 4.19) have struggled at the back end of the rotation. The now 29 year old O'Toole has gone 63-22 the past 3 seasons but may be starting on the downside of his career.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS - Only the Reds have scored more runs than the Giants but their problem has been preventing their opponents from scoring. San Francisco is 8th in the NL in runs against and dead last in defensive efficiency.

The rotation hasn't done too bad as Juan Marichal (8-4, 3.52), Gaylord Perry (6-7, 2.82), Ken T Johnson (11-3, 2.76) and Bobby Bolin (10-4, 2.79) have been solid. Frank Linzy has 11 saves but the rest of the bullpen has been suspect at times.

The Giants recently lost outfielder Matty Alou (.300,1,20) for about a month with an injury but there are plenty of others to provide offense including youngster Jose Cardenal (.317,7,32) who is replacing Alou in right field. Matty's brother Felipe Alou (.292,9,38) and Leon Wagner (.258,8,31) are the senior statesmen in a group that has 24 year old Jim Ray Hart (.335,14,56), 22 year old Tito Fuentes (.277,4,21) and 28 year old Willie McCovey (.224,20,55).

LOS ANGELES DODGERS - The Dodgers will go as far as their pitching will carry them. Sandy Koufax (8-6, 2.49), Don Drysdale (9-4, 1.91), Don Sutton (6-7, 2.69), Tommy John (8-4, 2.95) and Pete Richert (7-4, 2.74) anchor the best rotation in the game.

Offense is the concern as the Dodgers rank 7th in runs scored. Roberto Clemente (.275,11,44), Maury Wills (.272, 13 SB), Bob Aspromonte (.293,5,30), Wes Parker (.255,2,26), Jim Lefebvre (.271,8,34) and Frank Howard (.202,9,29) are the leaders. 26 year old outfielder Willie Davis, who hit .279 with 36 stolen bases a year ago has been missed. He fractured his wrist in spring training but is close to returning.

ATLANTA BRAVES - The Braves look much improved from the 9th place team that was based out of Milwaukee last year. Offense is the big reason as the Braves are third in runs scored thanks to Rico Carty (.324,16,60), Joe Torre (.343,11,40), Hank Aaron (.292,11,27), Eddie Mathews (.255,13,47) and Denis Menke (.278,5,33). Speaking of Mathews, he hit his 500th career homerun a couple of weeks ago.

Tony Cloninger (12-4, 2.61) has been the ace of the pitching staff, which ranks 9th in the NL in runs allowed. Wade Blasingame (6-7, 3.95), Joey Jay (6-7, 3.95), Dennis Rabant (4-9, 4.90) and Lloyd Fourroux (3-2, 3.65) round out the rotation. 20 year old rookie George Stone is pitching well at AA and may get a shot to help the rotation soon. Closer Bob Lee has 12 saves.

ST LOUIS CARDINALS - Pitching is not an issue for a Cardinals team that includes Bob Gibson (8-3, 2.29), Ray Sadecki (9-8, 2.76), Ray Washburn (8-5, 2.49), Mel Stottlemyre (7-7, 3.02) and Byron Klapprott (3-6, 4.32) in the rotation with 22 year olds Nelson Briles (10 sv 2.15) and Denny McLain (1-1, 1.93) along with 21 year old Steve Carlton (2-1, 4.68) in the pen. Only the Dodgers have allowed less runs than the Cardinals.

The offense ranks 6th in runs scored. Don Mincher (.259,12,45), Tim McCarver (.254,7,34), Ken Boyer (.273,9,43) and Mike Shannon (.284,9,31) are the leaders. New arrival Leo Cardenas (.208,6,28) has struggled at the plate but is playing outstanding defense at shortstop. The Cardinals are second in the NL in defensive efficiency.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES - No National League team has had less post-season success than the Pirates, winners of just 2 pennants (1933 & 1934) and no World Series titles. That drought will not end soon, as despite some talent the Bucs just do not have the horses to contend for the National League pennant.

The team is 4th in runs against thanks in a big part to a great start from 25 year old Luis Tiant (5-2, 1.77). The rest of the rotation consists of Bob Veale (4-7, 3.33), Bob Friend (6-6, 3.28), Tommie Sisk (7-6, 3.97) and Jack Lamabe (4-2, 2.89) with John Wyatt (12 sv 2.35) and Woodie Fryman (2-3, 4.22) in the pen.

The offense ranks 8th in runs scored. 29 year old 2B Bill Mazerowski (.266,2,24) is the veteran leader but 26 year old Willie Stargell (.303,18,54) is the key to the offense. Joe Pepitone (.270,16,37) and Gene Alley (.289,3,28) are also playing well but there are too many holes. The future is bright with 20 year old outfielder Bobby Tolan and teenagers Richie Hebner and Al Oliver in the system.

HOUSTON ASTROS - After finishing 10th, 10th and 9th in their first 3 years of existence, the Houston Astros won a team high 74 games and finished 6th a year ago. A .500 record is the goal this year and with a fine collection of young talent it may happen.

The starters have the lowest era in the league, even better than the Dodgers, and overall the Astros are ranked third in runs against. 29 year old Mike Cuellar (7-6, 2.13) is the veteran of a rotation that includes 19 year old Larry Dierker (9-5, 1.71), 21 year old Don Wilson (6-7, 2.64), 22 year old Chris Zachary (6-8, 2.17) and 26 year old Dave Giusti (4-9, 3.25). The bullpen is more of a veteran crew including closer Moe Drabowsky (13 sv) and setup men Orlando Pena and Bob Priddy.

28 year old Manny Mota (.305,1,29) and 32 year old Russ Snyder (.247,2,28) are the veterans of a young lineup that includes three 22 year olds in 3B Sonny Jackson (.213,1,17), 2B Joe Morgan (.253,4,37) and OF Rusty Staub (.244,5,36) along with 20 year old catcher Bob Watson (.193,3,10). Offense is hard to come by right now, the Astros rank 9th in the league in runs scored, but there is hope for the future as the young talent matures.

NEW YORK METS - Speaking of young talent, the Mets are loaded with pitchers but most are still in the minors. The exceptions are Tom Seaver (8-7, 2.49) and Tug McGraw (3-3, 3.51). Seaver has had a great rookie season while McGraw is in the rotation but likely more suited to the closer role which is presently held by Claude Raymond (13sv, 3.25). The other starting pitchers on a team that ranks 6th in runs allowed are Gary Bell (3-8, 3.13), Dave Wickersham (6-8, 3.37) and Earl Wilson (8-8, 4.32).

A season ending knee injury suffered in April to 22 year old centerfielder Paul Blair has hurt the offense as Michael Mitchell (.199,5,20), a 19 year old rookie, has not enjoyed much success in the lead-off role. Aside from fellow outfielder Ron Swoboda (.249,7,32), who is 22, and 26 year old catcher Joe Azcue (.257,3,22) the rest of the Mets lineup is comprised of veterans over 30 including Luis Aparicio (.241,3,20), Donn Clendenon (.256, 9,33), Ed Charles (.270,3,25) and Bobby Richardson (.252,3,14). The Mets offense is dead last in runs scored.


PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES - Injuries to young talents Larry Hisle, Bruce Howard and John Briggs have hurt the Phillies. The offense is ranked 5th and has some talent in the middle of the order with Dick Allen (.265,15,44), Tony Oliva (.277,14,49) and catcher John Romano (.286,13,38) but lacks table setters as 1-2 batters Adolpho Phillips (.236,9,27) and Gene Stone (.205,2,9) are not getting on base. Danny Carter (.317,3,28), who currently bats 6th, might be a better choice for lead-off on this team if he wasn't so slow.

The Phillies are 7th in runs against but their group of starters all have decent era's, if not the wins to go with them. They include Ray Culp (7-6, 2.17), Chris Short (8-5, 2.71), Marcelino Lopez (7-4, 2.73), Fergie Jenkins (3-8, 2.83) and Bob Turley (3-6, 2.77). A stuggling bullpen with Rick Wise (2-9, 5.05) sharing the closing duties with Bucky Brandon (3-4, 3.93) after Wise's inability to do much in the rotation has hurt.

CHICAGO CUBS - The Cubs haven't won a pennant since 1937 or a World Series since 1922, finished last a year ago, and have a terrible minor league system. In short, things don't look good in Wrigley. The Cubs are ranked dead last in runs allowed but they do have some offense and are 4th in runs scored.

Lets start with the good. Lou Brock (.315,7,33 plus 30SB) is a very good lead-off man. Billy Williams (.265,12,47) and Ron Santo (.325,15,45) are still, like Brock in their mid to late twenties. The rotation is a mess right now, but the only positive is none of the starters are over 26 so there may be some potential. Those pitchers are Dick Ellsworth (8-6, 2.36), Rich Nye (6-8, 4.14), Ken Holtzman (4-9, 4.70), Pat Jarvis (4-4, 4.18) and Joe Niekro (5-7, 6.20). Nye and Niekro are 21 while Holtzman is just 20 years old.


Next, I will take a look at some milestones and other accomplishments from the first half of the season as well as minor leaguers to watch. Then it will be time to see the all-star game rosters.

[Tiger Fan]

1966 ALL-STAR BREAK
NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE FIRST HALF OF SEASON

Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell had a 30 game hit streak, which is 9 shy of the major league record 39 set by Charlie Hollocher in 1928.

Eddie Mathews of Atlanta became the 6th player to hit 500 career homeruns when he reached that milestone in June. Mathews has added 2 more since then and is tied with Stan Musial for 5th place all-time at 502. Ted Williams leads with 726 career homeruns followed by the Yankees Mickey Mantle at 552 and counting. Jimmie Foxx, with 538, and Mel Ott, at 510, round out the list.

Willie Mays, who is close to returning to the Baltimore lineup from injury, should be the next to reach 500. The 34 year old Mays sits at 472. Joe Adcock, with 471, is also active but Adcock will be hard pressed to get to 500. After hitting 22 round-trippers a year ago, the 38 year old Philadelphia Phillie has just 4 homeruns this season and is playing sparingly.

30 year old Frank Robinson of Cincinnati has hit 26 so far this season to raise his total to 460 for his career. Two others are closing in on 400 homers. Atlanta' Hank Aaron, 32, has 11 homers so far this season to give him 398 for his major league career while 35 year old Ernie Banks of Minnesota is at 395 after belting 10 so far this season. Meanwhile, Harmon Killebrew of Minnesota passed the 300 mark and is now 26th all-time with 311.


NO-HITTERS
1966 has seen two no-hitters so far, equaling the total from last season. Cleveland's Sam McDowall fanned 10 in no-hitting Washington 7-0 on June 10th and on June 30th Minnesota's Mickey Lolich tossed the second no-hitter of his career as the Twins blanked the Indians 7-0 in a rain shortened game that last just 6 innings. Lolich's first no-hitter came two years ago.

Former St Louis Cardinals star Preacher Roe is the only pitcher to hurl 3 no-hitters, tossing 1 each in 1944, 1945 and 1947. A number of players have thrown 2 no-hitters in their career. They are:

Jim Bunning*
Gene Conley
Walter Johnson
Mickey Lolich*
Eddie Plank
Early Wynn

Bunning and Lolich are still active. No one has ever thrown two no-hitters in the same season.


Cleveland's McDowall also had a 15 strikeout game. That came on June 25th against Kansas City. The major league record is 17 strikeouts set by Hal Newhouser of Detroit in 1944 and equaled by current Dodger Sandy Koufax in 1961.

HERE ARE THE ALL-STAR GAME ROSTERS:

AMERICAN LEAGUE
SP Jim Bunning (NYY) - 10-3, 2.64 ERA, 129.2 IP, 1.02 WHIP, 7.0 K/9, 3.6 WAR 
SP Mickey Lolich (MIN) - 11-3, 1.25 ERA, 136.2 IP, 0.83 WHIP, 8.4 K/9, 4.6 WAR 
SP Jim Lonborg (BOS) - 8-5, 2.23 ERA, 137.0 IP, 0.96 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, 3.8 WAR 
SP Sam McDowell (CLE) - 11-3, 2.20 ERA, 139.0 IP, 1.10 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, 4.1 WAR 
SP Jim McGlothlin (CAL) - 12-3, 2.28 ERA, 130.1 IP, 1.05 WHIP, 6.1 K/9, 2.4 WAR 
SP Sonny Siebert (DET) - 8-7, 2.35 ERA, 138.0 IP, 1.01 WHIP, 7.2 K/9, 4.0 WAR 
RP Dick Hall (NYY) - 1-2, 9 SV, 1.79 ERA, 45.1 IP, 0.99 WHIP, 5.2 K/9, 1.4 WAR 
RP Tom Kelley (CLE) - 3-0, 1.35 ERA, 33.1 IP, 0.90 WHIP, 11.1 K/9, 0.7 WAR 
CL Lindy McDaniel (CAL) - 1-7, 9 SV, 2.98 ERA, 54.1 IP, 1.31 WHIP, 6.0 K/9, 0.8 WAR 
C Jim Pagliaroni (CLE) - .239/.320/.374, 243 AB, 8 HR, 109 wRC+, 1.9 WAR 
C Oscar Rodriguez (NYY) - .300/.357/.457, 223 AB, 9 HR, 143 wRC+, 2.6 WAR 
1B Harmon Killebrew (MIN) - .310/.410/.568, 310 AB, 21 HR, 182 wRC+, 4.2 WAR 
1B Bill D White (CAL) - .340/.379/.520, 356 AB, 14 HR, 5 SB, 172 wRC+, 4.4 WAR 
2B Dick Hogan (CAL) - .223/.284/.413, 247 AB, 12 HR, 98 wRC+, 1.8 WAR 
3B Don Buford (BOS) - .343/.407/.475, 364 AB, 10 HR, 24 SB, 163 wRC+, 4.7 WAR 
3B Joe Foy (MIN) - .281/.359/.431, 260 AB, 7 HR, 137 wRC+, 1.9 WAR 
3B Tom Tresh (NYY) - .299/.364/.480, 331 AB, 12 HR, 157 wRC+, 3.2 WAR 
SS Davey Johnson (BAL) - .291/.370/.408, 289 AB, 6 HR, 8 SB, 136 wRC+, 3.0 WAR 
SS Rico Petrocelli (BOS) - .280/.337/.504, 347 AB, 20 HR, 3 SB, 145 wRC+, 4.6 WAR 
LF Mack Jones (CLE) - .305/.376/.572, 318 AB, 25 HR, 9 SB, 183 wRC+, 5.5 WAR 
LF Carl Yastrzemski (BOS) - .324/.409/.567, 349 AB, 22 HR, 11 SB, 189 wRC+, 6.5 WAR 
CF Tommie Agee (CLE) - .303/.353/.503, 346 AB, 17 HR, 29 SB, 158 wRC+, 5.1 WAR 
RF Curt Blefary (NYY) - .330/.421/.508, 303 AB, 13 HR, 3 SB, 184 wRC+, 4.0 WAR 
RF Tony Conigliaro (BOS) - .314/.382/.555, 290 AB, 16 HR, 1 SB, 174 wRC+, 3.1 WAR 


NATIONAL LEAGUE 
SP Larry Dierker (HOU) - 9-5, 1.71 ERA, 131.2 IP, 0.88 WHIP, 6.4 K/9, 4.2 WAR 
SP Don Drysdale (LAD) - 9-4, 1.91 ERA, 141.2 IP, 0.75 WHIP, 5.6 K/9, 4.0 WAR 
SP Fergie Jenkins (PHI) - 3-8, 2.83 ERA, 111.1 IP, 1.02 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 1.5 WAR 
SP Sandy Koufax (LAD) - 8-6, 2.49 ERA, 137.1 IP, 0.87 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, 5.2 WAR 
SP Jim Maloney (CIN) - 10-4, 2.23 ERA, 145.1 IP, 1.07 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 5.1 WAR 
SP Claude Osteen (CIN) - 11-4, 2.10 ERA, 137.0 IP, 1.04 WHIP, 5.3 K/9, 3.9 WAR 
RP Denny McLain (STL) - 1-1, 1.93 ERA, 32.2 IP, 1.04 WHIP, 9.9 K/9, 1.0 WAR 
CL Thomas McCaig (LAD) - 4-4, 1.54 ERA, 35.0 IP, 1.00 WHIP, 4.6 K/9, 0.4 WAR 
CL Billy McCool (CIN) - 3-1, 11 SV, 2.89 ERA, 56.0 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 9.5 K/9, 1.3 WAR 
C Don Pavletich (CIN) - .255/.310/.433, 263 AB, 11 HR, 117 wRC+, 2.4 WAR 
C John Romano (PHI) - .286/.367/.468, 248 AB, 13 HR, 147 wRC+, 3.0 WAR 
C Joe Torre (ATL) - .341/.397/.527, 273 AB, 11 HR, 174 wRC+, 4.4 WAR 
1B Don Mincher (STL) - .260/.323/.413, 327 AB, 12 HR, 119 wRC+, 2.1 WAR 
2B Pete Rose (CIN) - .348/.394/.477, 348 AB, 5 HR, 3 SB, 156 wRC+, 3.8 WAR 
3B Dick Allen (PHI) - .265/.331/.478, 324 AB, 15 HR, 9 SB, 140 wRC+, 3.4 WAR 
3B Ron Santo (CHC) - .326/.390/.505, 331 AB, 15 HR, 167 wRC+, 4.6 WAR 
SS Gene Alley (PIT) - .290/.319/.397, 335 AB, 3 HR, 7 SB, 109 wRC+, 3.0 WAR 
LF Lou Brock (CHC) - .319/.372/.488, 361 AB, 7 HR, 30 SB, 150 wRC+, 3.6 WAR 
LF Rico Carty (ATL) - .325/.354/.514, 348 AB, 16 HR, 1 SB, 159 wRC+, 3.2 WAR 
LF Jim Ray Hart (SF) - .333/.399/.546, 315 AB, 14 HR, 1 SB, 181 wRC+, 4.6 WAR 
LF Vada Pinson (CIN) - .327/.367/.521, 349 AB, 13 HR, 13 SB, 160 wRC+, 3.4 WAR 
LF Willie Stargell (PIT) - .303/.351/.555, 290 AB, 18 HR, 169 wRC+, 2.1 WAR 
CF Jim Wynn (CIN) - .296/.364/.542, 345 AB, 22 HR, 7 SB, 157 wRC+, 4.3 WAR 
RF Frank Robinson (CIN) - .356/.435/.679, 315 AB, 26 HR, 1 SB, 221 wRC+, 6.1 WAR

[Tiger Fan]

Here is the recap and boxscore of the 1966 All-Star Game.

[BadluckinOOTP]

As a weird child who spent most of the mid-90's reading about the early 70's dynasty in Oakland, I'm heartbroken about Catfish Hunter.

[skyballer455]

I'm really enjoying this so far. I know this has nothing to do with baseball, but I thought I'd share this for a little more historical context and to share another interest of mine. Here are the top ten records in the US, along with a couple of other tidbits, as of the 1966 all-star break according to my fictional Music World charts:

[Tiger Fan]

Originally Posted by skyballer455

I'm really enjoying this so far. I know this has nothing to do with baseball, but I thought I'd share this for a little more historical context and to share another interest of mine. Here are the top ten records in the US, along with a couple of other tidbits, as of the 1966 all-star break according to my fictional Music World charts:

Thank you. And I appreciate you adding the extra historical content.

[Tiger Fan]

Originally Posted by BadluckinOOTP

As a weird child who spent most of the mid-90's reading about the early 70's dynasty in Oakland, I'm heartbroken about Catfish Hunter.

I came so close to editing him so it was only a season ending injury but in the end I decided I can't do that. Really disappointing for me as well as I was looking forward to seeing the A's powerhouse develop over the next few seasons but I guess a new storyline to follow will be if the team can still be as dominant without Hunter.

[skyballer455]

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

Thank you. And I appreciate you adding the extra historical content.

That went over better than I thought it would. If you'd like me to provide more of those in the future, I'd be glad to. As I said, it's another interest of mine besides baseball.

While Music World is fictional, the charts are a combination of Billboard and Cashbox's pop charts, which were two of the biggest music industry magazines at that time.

[Tiger Fan]

MINOR LEAGUE NOTES

As we finish up the all-star break and look towards the second half of the season here are some random notes on things I have noticed in the minor leagues.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have some good young talent on the way. 19 year old third baseman Bob Robertson is tearing the cover off the ball with Gastonia of the Western Carolinas League. The third baseman is batting .324 through 84 games with 28 homers and 82 rbi's. His totals in those two categories are more than anyone else at any level of baseball this season. Robertson's Gastonia teammate, 21 year old Freddie Patek, is also making his presence felt. The young middle infield prospect has swiped 52 bases in 83 games - the most at any level. Patek is batting .314 with a .393 obp. Meanwhile 18 year old pitcher Bob Moose is dominating Southern League hitters. The Class AA righthander has 144 strikeouts and just 57 walks in 136 innings for the Asheville Tourists. Included in those totals was a 15 strikeout performance by Moose in a perfect game against Macon.


While on the topic of hard throwing teenagers the New York Mets have to be happy with Nolan Ryan's development. The 19 year old was 3-1 with 57 strikeouts in 49 innings for the Class AA Williamsport Mets before being promoted to AAA Jacksonville. In two starts since the promotion Ryan pitched a pair of complete games, going 1-1 with a 1.50 era and 28 strikeouts. Ryan fanned 13 in a 5-1 win over Buffalo in his AAA debut and followed that up with 15 strikeouts in a 2-0 loss to Toledo. Another young Met hurler is having similar success with Auburn of the NY-Penn League. Fred Reahm is 4-4 with a 2.50 era in 9 starts and has 95 k's in 75 innings of work.

Cincinnati's 18 year old Tom Hall is enjoying a great start to his pro career at AA Charlotte. The lefthander has 171 k's in 146 innings pitched for the Hornets, going 9-5 with a 2.47 era.

18 year old 1B-OF Willie Montanez of the Idaho Falls Angels is a budding star in the Northwest League. The California Angels prospect leads all levels of baseball with 17 triples thru 54 games. Montanez is batting .300 and leads his league in OPS and WAR.

It's not like the Boston Red Sox are in need of any more offense but they do have some real talent in the system. 21 year old 1B Tony Horton is leading the Carolina League with a .373 average for Winston-Salem. Because of system depth, Horton is in his 2nd season at this level. Horton was the NY-Penn League MVP in his first pro season of 1963 and was third in Carolina League MVP voting last year. The winner last season was his teammate George Scott, another natural first baseman that the Red Sox are trying at 2B this season with Class A Waterloo of the Midwest League. Scott has a big bat and is hitting .311 through 76 games split between Winston-Salem and Waterloo.

Like Boston with hitting talent, the Dodgers are stacked in starting pitchers. Among the young stars to watch out for is 19 year old Alan Foster. The righthander struggled at Class A Santa Barbara but was moved up to Albuquerque of the AA Texas League where he found his stride. In 11 starts, Foster is 7-3 with a league leading 1.73 era. The Dodgers also have 24 year old Gene Brabender at AAA Spokane. The righthander was 7-3 out of the pen in Los Angeles a year ago but with no room in the rotation the Dodgers opted to send him to the Pacific Coast League, where Brabender is 11-6 with a 2.27 era.

The best minor league pitching performance so far this season has to belong to 22 year old Baltimore prospect Jim Britton. The righthander is 12-1 with a 1.74 era this season. He began the year with Aberdeen of the Northern League, going 10-1 with 124 strikeouts vs 47 walks in 111 innings of work. Since his recent promotion to AA Elmira, Britton is 2-0 with a 1.00 era after tossing two complete game victories. He was not listed among the game's top 100 prospects at the start of the season.

[Tiger Fan]

Looks like I missed that the Northern League schedule was set for an April start instead of June. As a result that loop's season has come to an end. The first place Aberdeen Pheasants (BALT) beat the second place Duluth-Superior Dukes (Cubs) 4 games to one in the league championship series.

Jim Britton, who I mentioned in the previous post, won the series opener while fanning 14 before his promotion to Elmira. The series MVP was Aberdeen shortstop Don Wallace, who in real life appeared in 23 MLB games with California in 1967 but only got 10 plate appearances and never had a major league hit. In the sim Wallace hit .265 in 69 games with the Pheasants this season before going 8-for-18 in the playoff series. It marked the fourth time in his 5 year minor league career the 25 year old played in a playoff series. He has won 3 titles, 2 with Aberdeen and one with AA Elmira - which is the highest level he has reached.

There are no strong major league players from real life on either playoff team but there are a few who's names I recognized right away. On Aberdeen there is Roger Freed, Joey Amalfitano, Gus Gil along with pitcher Ken Sanders, who in real life had a 31 save season for Milwaukee in 1971. The losing Dukes club had Paul Popovich and John Boccabella on it.

Other notes from the Northern League: The batting crown went to Ron Clark of the Huron Phillies while Reds prospects Hal McRae and Ernest Davis of the Sioux Falls Packers tied for the homerun lead with 9 each. The RBI leader was Walt Williams, a 22 year old for the Bismarck-Mandan Pards, a Houston affiliate. Jim Britton led the league in wins while his chief competition for the top pitcher award will come from teammate Lance Tolbert, who was 6-1 with a 1.13 era before the Orioles promoted him to AA Elmira, and Bismarck-Mandan 22 year old Richard Cook, who had a 1.39 era to go with a 7-7 record while averaging nearly a strikeout an inning.

The MVP and top pitcher awards will be handed out in the next couple of days but the Defensive Awards for the Northern League were announced today and they include catcher Jerry Grote, who is a 23 year old Houston prospect that also won a Gold Glove a couple of years ago in the California League. Grote hit .302 with 6 homers and 29 rbi's for the Pards before getting promoted to AA Amarillo of the Texas League. Grote has already made his major league debut, doing so with Houston two years ago and in 43 career major league games he is batting .280.

Below are the Northern League standings as well as batting leaders (sorted by total hits) and pitching leaders (by wins). I will post the Pitcher of the Year and MVP when they are announced.

[Tiger Fan]

Can things get any worse for the A's future? First Catfish Hunter's career is over and today I see that Rollie Fingers - still a 19 year old minor leaguer at this point - is out for a year with an elbow injury. (He does have a pretty good 'stache for a teenager though)

[Tiger Fan]

MONDAY JULY 18, 1966

The Yankees 11 game winning streak came to an end immediately after the break as New York dropped two straight in Kansas City. The Yankees did manage to salvage one game from the series as Fritz Peterson improved to 10-4 with a 4-hit shutout in New York's 7-0 victory on Saturday. Jim Bunning (12-3) would go the distance Sunday as the Yankees ended the weekend with a 5-1 win over Mickey Lolich (11-4) and the Minnesota Twins in the first of a two-game set.

With New York's stumble in Kansas City, the Cleveland Indians moved to within 3.5 games of first place thanks to a 3-game sweep of Chicago and a split of a twin bill in Detroit. Steve Hargan (7-9) threw a 1-hitter as the Tribe won 2-0 on Thursday. Gail Hopkins broke up the no-hitter with an 8th inning single. The White Sox are struggling, sitting 9th and on a 6-game losing skid.

The American League player of the week was Boston third baseman Don Buford. The 29 year old, who was named All-Star Game MVP on Tuesday, went 12-for-20 this week to improve his American League leading average to .347.

In the National League the Los Angeles Dodgers moved into second place after sweeping the Mets and taking one from Philadelphia yesterday to extend their winning streak to 9 games. As always, pitching is the key to the Dodgers success and their sweep of the Mets included a 13-strikeout shutout from Don Sutton and a 3-hit shutout provided by Pete Richert. Sandy Koufax followed up with a 3-hitter yesterday in a 6-1 win to open a two-game set in Philadelphia.

The Dodgers are now 6 games back of the defending champion Reds, who split 4 games with St Louis before finishing the week with a 10-4 blasting of the Braves in Atlanta. Frank Robinson (.355,29,84) remains hot for Cincinnati as the triple crown candidate went 8-for-22 with 3 homers and 4 rbi's in 5 games since the break.

The Cubs might be struggling but they did win 4 of 5 since the break and a big reason was the play of outfielder Billy Williams. The 28 year old banged out a .450 batting average(9-for-20) with 4 homers, 9 rbi's and 7 runs scored. On the season Williams is hitting .275 with 16 homers and 56 rbi's.

OTHER NOTES FROM AROUND THE BASEBALL WORLD THIS WEEK:

The Northern League named it's Pitcher of the Year and the award went to Richard Cook of the Bismarck-Mandan (HOU) Pards. The 22 year old was 7-7 with a 1.39 era in 15 starts. Cook fanned 128 in 136 innings to nose out Aberdeen (BAL) Pheasants pitchers Jim Britton and Lance Tobert for the award.

Minor League players of the week worth noting include 20 year old Bobby Bonds of the Decatur(SF) Commodores in the Midwest League and 19 year old Tony Solaita of the Gulf Coast League Yankees.

31 year old Fritz Brickell had a 5-hit game for the Dallas-Fort Worth (CHN) Spurs of the Texas League this week. The diminutive shortstop went 5-for-5 with a double and 4 singles in the Spurs 6-4 win over the Austin Braves.

19 year old Lou Quinn of the Batavia (PIT) Trojans also had a 5-hit game this week. Quinn, who is batting a NY-Penn League best .348 is a second baseman in his second season in the Pirates system. A search of his name turned up several brief youtube interviews including this one where he discussed a switch to third base. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUcvHKjY128

In real life Quinn spent 9 seasons in the Pirates system but never advanced past AA.

5-hit games turned out to be very common this week as others to turn the trick included 25 year old Santa Barbara Dodgers infielder Bobby Cox, Winston-Salem Red Sox 1B Tony Horton, 23 year old Reno (PHI) Silver Sox infielder Ron Clark and Decatur (SF) Commodores 3B Bobby Etheridge.

The collection of good young New York Mets pitching prospects may be getting a little bigger. 24 year old Ron Locke (7-7, 2.37) of the AA Eastern League's Williamsport Mets struck out 10 while throwing a 2-hit complete game shutout in a 1-0 victory over the York White Roses. It was Locke's second two-hitter of the season and he also threw a 1-hit shutout over Waterbury in May.

21 year old lefthander James Thomas of the Winston-Salem Red Sox fanned 15 in an 8-1 complete game victory over Tidewater. Thomas, who was 4 strikeouts shy of the Carolina League record set by Jack Gaines in 1963, has won all 4 of his starts since being promoted from the Appalachian League with a 1.13 era and 39 strikeouts in 32 innings of work. He got as high as AAA in real life and is not considered a serious prospect in the Red Sox system in this replay.


Here are the current standings and also the player pages for Lou Quinn, who I mentioned above. It is interesting what you find when you search for a historical minor league player. In Quinn's case the only thing I found -aside from the usual baseball reference page -was the 3 youtube clips of him speaking with a reporter in Salem. No idea why someone would keep and post those clips and also no idea what he did after his minor league career ended. Quinn stuck it out for almost a decade including 4 straight years at AA before disappearing at age 27 in 1973.

It is players like Quinn, James Thomas or Ron Locke listed above that have me considering switching from 3-year recalculate for ratings back to the player development engine. I like to see the occasional guy like one of them have a year or two - or longer - in the majors. With 3 year recalc I feel a bit like I am reading the last page of a mystery novel rather than enjoying picking up on the clues myself.

[Tiger Fan]

MONDAY JULY 25, 1966

The Giants and Dodgers are desperately trying to create a pennant race in the National League. San Francisco closed to within 5 games of the front-running Cincinnati Reds after the Giants extended their winning streak to 8. Los Angeles, after sweeping a doubleheader from the Mets yesterday, has won 7 of 10 and sits 6 games out of first.

The Reds started the week with a 10-3 drubbing of the Atlanta Braves but then dropped two of three to the lowly Cubs at Wrigley. Cincinnati righted the ship at home by winning two of three against the Braves to end the week. Frank Robinson (.372,30,87) continues to lead in all three triple crown categories and extended his lead on teammate Pete Rose in the batting race by going 15-for-25 last week. Hitting at a .600 clip with a homerun, 3 rbi's and 8 runs scored earned Robinson National League player of the week honours. There has not been a National League triple crown winner since Hack Wilson did it 3 straight seasons from 1926-28.

Pete Rose (.356,9,47) is second to Robinson in the batting race and lost ground this week despite hitting for the cycle in a game against Atlanta yesterday. It was his single, which came in walk-off style in the 10th inning, that was the most important hit giving the Reds a 5-4 win over the Braves. Rose is the second player to hit for the cycle this season. The Mets Donn Clendenon did it in April against the Reds.

The Giants won all 6 of their games this week including 4 by just a single run. San Francisco beat Pittsburgh 9-8 Monday on an 11th inning rbi single from Ollie Brown. After a travel day to return home they scored 4 times in the bottom of the 8th inning to beat the Mets 8-5 and followed that up with a 4-3 win, thanks to an rbi double in the 7th from Tom Haller, the next day. The week finished with 3 straight wins over the Phillies starting with a 3-2 10 inning victory as outfielder Ollie Brown again drove in the winning run with a walk-off single. The next day Tom Haller drew a walk-off bases loaded walk in the bottom of the 9th for a 4-3 win before the Giants finished the sweep with a 4-1 win Sunday. Willie McCovey hit his 21st homer of the season in that game.

The Dodgers also had the Phillies, Pirates and Mets but dropped 1 game to each club to go 4-3 for the week. Included in those losses were a pair of defeats for Don Drysdale (9-6, 2.04) who was beaten 3-2 by the Phillies and 4-0 by rookie Tom Seaver (9-8, 2.58) and the Mets.


The New York Yankees started the week with 3 straight losses, including a pair by shutout, but they ended the week with 5 straight wins including a 4 game sweep of the California Angels. Mickey Mantle (.259,18,53) homered in both ends of a Sunday doubleheader ending a homerless drought of 77 at bats stretching back to June 30th. The 34 year old now has 554 career roundtrippers.

The second place Cleveland Indians moved to within 2 games of the Yankees for top spot in the American League on Wednesday, but that changed over the weekend when Detroit visted Cleveland and swept the Tribe while the Yankees were beating up on the Angels. Sonny Siebert (10-7, 2.19) outduelled Sam McDowell (11-4, 2.14) in a 3-0 Detroit win Friday. Bad news for the Indians is McDowell tweaked his arm in the game and will likely miss his next 2 or 3 starts. On Saturday, Willie Horton had 3 hits as Detroit clobbered the Indians 9-2 and Sunday it was back to Tiger pitching leading the way as Bob Bruce and reliever Phil Regan combined on a 4-hitter while Tiger outfielder Deron Johnson had 3 hits including an rbi triple in the top of the ninth to provide the difference in a 2-1 Detroit victory.

In addition to the McDowell injury, the Indians lost another starting pitcher this week. Jim Perry (9-4, 3.58) will need surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow and is done for the year. 21 year old Tommy Gromley, a rookie pro who was 7-6 with a 3.43 era in 17 starts with AAA Portland, has been called up and will go in the rotation until McDowell returns.

Good news for the Baltimore Orioles. Willie Mays is nearing the end of his rehab stint at AAA Rochester and may make his first MLB appearance of the year this week. In 9 games with the Red Wings, Mays is batting .278 with 7 rbi's. He had been sidelined since tearing up his knee on July 24th last year. The Orioles reeled off 8 straight wins before getting blanked 2-0 by the White Sox yesterday. Baltimore is within 6 games of the first place Yankees.

It has been a terrible season for the Boston Red Sox as their pitching has been among the worst in the league. The top offense in the American League continues to roll as Rico Petrocelli (.288,25,83) was named AL Player of the Week after going 10-for-22 with 3 homers and 6 rbi's last week as Boston went 3-3 vs California and Minnesota. The Red Sox did lose outfielder Tony Conigliaro (.309,17,51) for a couple of weeks after the 21 year old suffered a groin injury last week.

SENATORS WATCH - Since the all-star break the hapless Washington Senators are 2-10 and appear to be picking up steam towards finishing with the worst winning percentage in major league history. The Senators are 25-77 .245 right now and closing in on the 1956 Kansas City Athletics who finished with a .240 winning percentage.


MINOR LEAGUE NOTES:
A couple of days after being named top pitcher in the Northern League this season, Bismarck-Manden Pards ace Richard Cook was named the league's Most Valuable Player. He was just 7-7 on the season but that was due to a lack of run support as Cook had an impressive 1.35 era and batters hit just .175 against him. Ron Clark of the Huron Phillies was second in voting while Aberdeen Pheasants pitcher Jim Britton came in third.

Phillies 20 year old prospect Steve Arlin is climbing up the ranks nicely. The rookie pro tossed a complete game 3-hit shutout in his AAA debut to lead the San Diego Padres past Denver 3-0 in Pacific Coast League action. Arlin, who was ranked the 58th best prospect, began the season in Class A before moving to AA Macon where he was 7-5 with a 2.65 era in 15 starts. He is considered the Phillies second best prospect behind 19 year old outfielder Larry Hisle, who is batting .265 with the big league club.

Clint Stark is on a tear with the Miami (BAL) Marlins of the Florida State League. The 24 year old lefthander threw his third straight 4-hit shutout as his club blanked Tampa 3-0 in a game this week. Stark has 6 shutouts this season and is 8-5 with a 1.76 era on the year. Orginally signed by the Cardinals organization, Stark was signed by the Orioles after being released in 1961. He was pitcher of the year in the California League in 1964 but has yet to pitch above Class A. In real life Stark pitched in the minors for over a decade, reaching as high as AAA but never played in the majors. He was a training partner of Stan Musial from his days in the Cardinals minor league system. I found this article about Stark's life as it detailed his induction into the Anaheim High School hall of fame.


Minor League Award winners this week included 21 year old first baseman Ed Kranepool as the Jacksonville (NYM) Suns first baseman went 11-22 to raise his batting average to .350. Kranepool started the season with AA Williamsport where he hit .353 - which still puts him as the Eastern League batting leader even though he has been in AAA the past 3 weeks.

19 year old Al Oliver of the Batavia (PIT) Trojans was named the NY Penn League player of the week. Oliver is batting .292 with 4 homers and 22 rbi's in 161 at bats this season with the Trojans. Tony Horton was named the Carolina League's top player for the second straight week. The 21 year old Boston Red Sox prospect is batting .385 with 16 homers and 48 rbi's for Winston-Salem. In the Southern League, top honours go to 21 year old Graig Nettles of the Charlotte (MIN) Hornets. Nettles went 12-for-27 with 3 homers to raise his batting average to .246.

[Tiger Fan]

MONDAY AUGUST 1, 1966

The San Francisco Giants picked up a game on the National League leading Cincinnati Reds this week and now trail by 4 games. The Giants went 4-3 while the Reds had their first losing week since mid-May, going 3-4 against the Cubs and Astros. The third place Dodgers also struggled this week, losing 2 of 3 to both Philadelphia and St Louis.

The Giants are bidding for their first pennant since 1938. You know it's been a while since you have tasted post-season action when your last championship team was led by a 23 year old Joe DiMaggio and 29 year olds Zeke Bonura and Mel Ott. The Giants, who also won in 1909, have never been crowned World Champion and have spent most of the past 28 years below .500. That trend changed in 1964 when they won 93 games but still finished third behind the Reds and Dodgers. Last year they were 86-76, good for fourth place.

They had DiMaggio and Ott throughout the 1940s but lacked the pitching to compete and had neither pitching nor offense through most of the 1950s. In this universe Willie Mays signed with the Browns so he was never a Giant. Talent started to trickle in late in the 1950s and early 60s with Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry along with Willie McCovey, Jim Ray Hart and Felipe Alou but the problem now is the Dodgers and Reds are both just stacked.

This year is the closest the Giants have been to contending since going 89-65 and finishing 3 games out in 1948, which was a season they improved by 19 wins over the previous year. It was a one year anomaly however, as in 1949 they dropped back to 7th place.

It is the San Francisco offense that makes the team go. Boston and Cincinnati are the only major league teams to score more runs than the Giants so far this season and San Francisco has done it with consistent production throughout the lineup:

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS LINE-UP
      NAME       POS   G  AB  R  H  2B 3B HR RBI SB  AVG
1- Jose Cardenal  LF  89 359 55 115 16  3  8  37 22 .320
2- Tito Fuentes   SS 102 382 40 112 20  2  6  30 18 .293
3- Jim Ray Hart   3B 103 384 50 124 23  4 15  65  3 .323
4- Felipe Alou	  CF  97 363 42 107 13  2 10  44  1 .295
5- Willie McCovey 1B  97 357 48  77  8  2 22  61  1 .216
6- Leon Wagner	  RF  75 232 32  60  7  0 12  43  5 .259
7- Tom Haller	  C   78 281 34  71 11  1 14  44  0 .253
8- Luis Zayas	  2B 101 373 51  94 20  8  4  39 16 .252

The Giants have had to make due without the injured Matty Alou for much of the season. Matty is close to returning and was hitting .300 in 74 games prior to being sidelined. A third Alou brother, Jesus, along with fellow outfielder and the Giants top prospect Bobby Bonds were just called up from AA.

Bonds, who went 9-for-27 with 3 homers in a September promotion a year ago, spent most of his season in Class A where he batted .312 with 13 homers and 46 rbi's. The 20 year old was ranked the #6 prospect in baseball in April.

The Giants got last week started off with a 10-2 drubbing of Pittsburgh at Candlestick Park on Monday. Tom Haller, with a homerun and 4 rbi's led the way and Marichal went the distance allowing 6 hits to improve his record to 9-5 on the season. Tuesday the Pirates prevailed 5-4 over Gaylord Perry (7-9) as Joe Pepitone was the star of the game for Pittsburgh. The first baseman had 3 hits including a homer and a double to make a winner of Luis Tiant (7-2). San Francisco concluded the series and their homestand (that saw them win 8 of 9 games) with a 5-4 comeback win on Wednesday. Luis Zayas hit a 2-run double in the 7th inning and the Giants added two more in the 8th to pull out the victory.

On Friday night the Giants played in Atlanta to start a 15 game, 4 city road trip. The Braves took the opener 5-4 as Hank Aaron hit his 400th career homerun- a 7th inning grand slam off of Giants starter and loser Bobby Bolin (11-5). San Francisco swept a Saturday doubleheader as Willie McCovey's 8th inning 2-run homer was the difference in a 5-4 win in the opener while Bill Hands (4-4) pitched 8 solid innings in a 5-3 victory in the nightcap. Yesterday, the Braves salvaged a split of the series with a 4-0 shutout victory as Eddie Mathews (.253,16,60) had 2 hits and drove in 3 runs for Atlanta while pitcher Dick Kelley (2-6) got his first career major league shutout.

CINCINNATI REDS
The Reds started the week off with 10-8 and 6-4 victories at home over Chicago before the Cubs rebounded with a 10-3 win to end the 3 game set. Frank Robinson continues to swing a hot bat as he homered twice in the opener and now is .367,32,91 in his quest for the triple crown.

The Houston Astros followed the Cubs into Riverfront and took 3 of four from the defending World Series champs. The leader for Houston was 22 year old second baseman Joe Morgan, who was 15-for-29 for the week with a pair of homers and 9 rbi's. Morgan, who is in his 4th major league season, is batting .278 with 7 homers and 51 rbi's through 104 games.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
The New York Yankees are 5 games up on Cleveland and 7.5 ahead of the Baltimore Orioles atop the American League. The Yankees started the week with 3 straight shutout victories. Fritz Peterson (12-4) tossed a 5-hitter as the Yanks blanked Minnesota 2-0 Tuesday while on Wednesday Jim Bunning (13-3) went one better with a 4-hit shutout in a 3-0 win over the Twins. On Friday in the opener of a 4-game set against the White Sox, Whitey Ford won his 270th career game and moved into sole possession of 6th on the career shutout list with a 2-0 win in which Ford allowed 3 hits. Ford's 56 career shutouts moved him out of a tie with Rube Marquard. Christy Mathewson is the all-time leader with 95 shutouts.

After taking the opener of the 4 game set in Chicago against the White Sox, the Yankees fell 7-2 on Saturday thanks to a 4-hit, 5-rbi game from Chicago outfielder Fred Valentine. A grand slam in the fourth inning off of Yankee starter Al Downing was the big blow. On Sunday the clubs split a doubleheader with Fritz Peterson getting his 13th win of the season in a 5-1 victory while Tommy McCraw's three hits including a 2-run homer allowed the White Sox to take the second game by a 6-2 count.

It capped a big week for White Sox outfielder McCraw, who was named the American League player of the week. The 25 year old McCraw (.261,12,47) went 16-for-32 with a pair of homeruns but his club still only won 3 of 8 games in a busy week.

With Jim Perry (9-4, 3.58) done for the year and Sam McDowell (11-4, 2.14) sidelined short term the Indians rotation was a mess but Cleveland did manage to win 4 of 5 games in a light week. The Indians started in Baltimore with a pair against the third place Orioles that ended up in a split. Cleveland took the first game 3-1 behind some strong pitching from Denny Lemaster (12-4, 2.82). The next night Boog Powell homered twice and drove in 5 runs while Curt Flood also had 5 rbi's as Baltimore pounded the Indians 15-5.

From Baltimore the Indians flew to west for a 3 game series in California. It was a Cleveland sweep with Steve Hargan (9-9, 2.84) getting things started by tossing a 3-hit shutout in a 7-0 Friday night victory. On Saturday Tommie Agee hit two homers in a 7-2 Indians win and Lemaster improved to 13-4 with a complete game 5-3 victory over Jim McGlothlin (12-4, 2.35) on Sunday.

Not sure if the Orioles have forgot about Willie Mays or what, but the 35 year old remains in Rochester on his injury rehab stint. Mays has now played 16 games and is batting .333 with 3 homers and 14 rbi's for the Red Wings. He was named International League player of the week this week. Baltimore could have used him on the weekend as, after splitting a pair with Cleveland to start the week, the Orioles dropped 2 of 3 in Minnesota. Baltimore won the first game 4-3 as Curt Flood(.255,4,42) had 3 hits including a homerun but the Twins came back with a 6-5 win Saturday and ended the series with a 14-7 victory yesterday.

OTHER MLB NOTES FROM THE WEEK - I already mentioned it above but Hank Aaron hit his 400th career homerun this week. Aaron is 13th all-time and closing in on Babe Ruth, who had 411 homeruns. Ted Williams is the all-time leader with 726.

21 year old Detroit Tigers pitcher Dick Drago tossed a 2-hit shutout of the White Sox in just his second major league start. Drago is ranked the 63rd best prospect.

It was a very quiet trade deadline with just two deals being made. The Tigers sent 32 year old first baseman Jim Davenport (.234,5,24) and 23 year old minor league pitcher Jim Rooker to Washington in exchange for 33 year old righthander Bob Shaw. Davenport, a veteran of 1071 career major league games, started his career in Washington with the old Senators (now Minnesota Twins) before being dealt to Detroit in 1959. Shaw was 6-12 with a 5.48 era in 22 starts for the Senators this season. A former New York Yankee, he is 73-84 with 25 saves in his major league career.

The other trade saw Atlanta send 30 year pitcher Joey Jay to Philadelphia for first baseman Danny Cater. Jay was 6-8 in 21 starts for the Braves this season. He had been in the Braves organization since making his MLB debut at the age of 17 in 1953. He has a lifetime record of 115-87. The 26 year old Cater was hitting .312 with 4 homers in 82 games for the Phillies this season, his third in the major leagues. Cater will replace 24 year old Wenton Etheridge in the Braves lineup. Etheridge was batting just .234 with 1 homerun in 101 games.


JULY MONTHLY AWARDS
AMERICAN LEAGUE - The player of the month goes to Boston Red Sox shortstop Rico Petrocelli (.292,27,89). The 23 year old hit .321 with 7 homers in August. Petrocelli was also named player of the month for April.

The pitcher of the month is New York Yankee lefthander Fritz Peterson (13-4,2.05), Peterson won all 6 of his July starts while compiling a 0.34 era. The top rookie in April is Willie Horton of the Detroit Tigers. The 23 year old, who is batting .295 with 19 homers and 52 rbi's this season, wins the award for the second straight month.

NATIONAL LEAGUE - Billy Williams of the Cubs was the National League player of the month for July. The 28 year old outfielder hit .394 with 10 homers and 30 rbi's in 28 games last month. On the season Williams is batting .294 with 21 round-trippers and 72 rbi's. It is the first time this year but the 5th in his career he was named player of the month.

Cincinnati lefthander Claude Osteen was named the top pitcher in the senior circuit for July. Osteen was 5-1 with a 2.65 era last month and is 14-5 with a 2.44 era for the season. The rookie of the month went to San Francisco shortstop Tito Fuentes (.293,6,30). In July, the 22 year old hit .376 and stole 9 bases.


MINOR LEAGUE NOTES
The Pioneer League regular season came to an end with the Ogden(LA) Dodgers claiming top spot by finishing 1 game ahead of the Treasure Valley (CHN) Cubs. Some names worth mentioning in that league include Dodgers outfielder Willie Crawford (.243,7,42) along with a pair of Idaho Falls Angels in Jim Spencer (.312,6,34) and Willie Montanez (.306,2,36). Crawford and Spencer are 19 years old while Montanez is 18.

I talked about Dodgers 19 year old pitching prospect Alan Foster a little while ago. He continues to be lights out for Albuquerque of the Texas League, throwing his fourth shutout in his last 6 starts. Foster is 9-4 with a Texas League leading 1.58 era in 14 starts since being promoted from Class A Santa Barbara.

20 year old Mike Lum of the Modesto (CIN) Reds hit for the cycle in a California League game against Santa Barbara this week.

Minor League players of the week included 20 year Ken Boswell of the Auburn Mets in the NY-Penn League, 19 year old Danny Walton of the Cocoa Astros in the Florida State League, Marion Mets' 17 year old first baseman Mike Jorgensen in the Appy League, Tony Horton of the Winston-Salem Red Sox (again) in the Carolina League and Bobby Tolan of Clinton (PIT) Pilots in the Midwest League.

Monthly award winners you have heard of include 23 year old catcher Andy Etchebarren of Cocoa (HOU) in the Florida State League, 20 year old Auburn Mets pitcher Les Rohr and 20 year old infielder Billy Grabarkewitz of Jamestown (LA) in the NY-Penn League, 19 year old first baseman Jim Spencer of Idaho Falls (CAL) in the Pioneer League, 25 year old infielder Bobby Cox of the Santa Barbara Dodgers in the California League while his 18 year old teammate Charlie Hough was named the top pitcher, Red Sox 21 year old 1B prospect Tony Horton was named the batter of the month in the Carolina League, 19 year old corner infielder Bob Robertson of Gastonia (PIT) in the Western Carolinas League and finally 21 year old Graig Nettles in the Southern League with the Charlotte (MIN) Hornets.


Here are the current MLB standings as well as the major league leaders sorted by batting average as well as pitcher's by wins.

[Tiger Fan]

MONDAY AUGUST 8, 1966

The Los Angeles Dodgers won 6 of 7 games this week and have moved to within 3.5 games of the front-running Cincinnati Reds in the National League. The Dodgers normally rely on their pitching, and it was strong most of the week, but for a change Dodger hurlers got an abundance of run support. The week for the Dodgers consisted of stops in Pittsburgh and Houston and they outscored their opponents 30-19.

Don Drysdale (11-6) was the star of Monday's game in Pittsburgh. Not only did he go the distance on the mound, allowing 6 hits but he also hit a grand slam in a 6-2 Dodgers win. On Tuesday, Pete Richert (10-4) and Larry Sherry combined on a 4-hitter ina 3-1 Dodger victory highlighted by Frank Howard's 13th homerun of the season. Don Sutton (9-8) did not have his best stuff Wednesday but the Dodgers hitters picked him up in an 8-7 victory that saw Bob Apromonte hit Los Angeles' second grand slam of the series. Joe Pepitone had two homers in the game for Pittsburgh. Los Angeles completed the 4-game sweep of the Bucs Thursday when Willie Davis homered for the game's only run and Sandy Koufax (10-8) scattered 8 hits in a 1-0 shutout win.

From there it was on to Houston and after being held to 5 hits by Chris Zachary (7-9) in a 6-1 loss Friday night to the Astros the Dodgers rebounded with a 7-2 win on Saturday and a 4-1 victory Sunday. Don Drysdale got his 12th victory of the season in Saturday's win and aided his on cause with 3 hits including his second homerun of the season and 3 rbi's. Pete Richert tossed a 2-hitter in Sunday's win.

The Cincinnati Reds have a winning record this season against every National League club except for the St Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals took 3 of 4 from the World Champions before the Reds rebounded with 2 wins in 3 games at Pittsburgh. The Reds offense was shut down in the first two games against the Cards, falling 2-1 and 4-0. Cincinnati bounced back with an 8-5 Wednesday as Frank Robinson had 2 hits and drove in 3 runs but St Louis took the final game 3-2 as Hank Aguirre and reliever Nelson Briles stymied the Reds hitters. For Briles it was his Major League leading 16th save of the season.

The Cincinnati offense got back on track in Pittsburgh with a 6-1 win Friday followed by a 6-5 victory the next day. Yesterday the Reds lost 3-2 and Frank Robinson aggravated a nagging shoulder injury and had to leave the game. Robinson (.359,33,96), who still leads in all 3 triple crown categories, is listed as day-to-day.

The San Francisco Giants missed a chance to gain ground on the Reds but after winning 2 of 4 in New York the Giants were swept by the Cubs in 3 games over the weekend in the Windy City. Those results left the Giants 5 back of the Reds heading into a big 4 game series between the two clubs in Cincinnati starting with a doubleheader tomorrow.

The top player in the National League this week was Atlanta Braves catcher Joe Torre. In 6 games that saw the Braves go 3-3 for the week, the 26 year old hit .522 (12-23) with 4 homers and 11 rbi's. On the season Torre is batting .354 with 19 homers and 62 rbi's.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
The big series in the American League this week was a 4 game set over the weekend at Cleveland between the Indians and the New York Yankees. Entering the series the Yankees had a 5.5 game lead on the Tribe after the Indians lost two of three to third place Baltimore to start the week.

Cleveland's Denny Lemaster(14-4) dominated the series opener, fanning 11 while allowing just 3 hits in a complete game 7-0 win over the Yankees. Tommie Agee homered and drove in 3 runs for the Indians while Floyd Robinson and Bill Davis each had 3 hits. New York lost Mickey Mantle with an injury but it is expected to sideline him only a few days.

On Saturday, Yankees catcher Oscar Rodriguez hit two homeruns to pace New York to a 6-2 victory as Jim Bunning improved to 14-4 on the season. The Indians, with starting pitcher injuries, were forced to call up 35 year old Dick Tomanek from Portland of the PCL to make his first major league appearance after 16 seasons in the minors. Tomanek, who had thrown a no-hitter early in his minor league career, lasted 5 innings and allowed just 4 hits but left trailing 5-0 thanks to the first of Rodriguez' two homers in the game - a 3-run blast.

The Sunday doubleheader started with a 3-2 Yankee win as Whitey Ford (11-4) outpitched Sam McDowell (11-5). McDowell, who was making his first start in over 2 weeks because of a minor arm issue, lasted just 5 innings. Game Two was also a 3-2 score but in the Indians favour after Tom Kelley pitched 8 2/3 innings to improve his record to 5-2. It was just the 4th career MLB start for the 22 year old Kelley.

The Baltimore Orioles are 6.5 games out of first after taking two of three from both Cleveland and Washington this week. Willie Mays joined the team after a rehab stint in the minors. He played in all 3 games against the Senators - his first MLB games in over a year since his knee injury - and went 3-for-9 with a pair of doubles in the series. Now the Orioles are only waiting on closer Stu Miller, who was hurt in spring training, to make his debut this season. Miller is said to be still about 2 weeks away from being ready.

The Washington Senators went just 1-6 this week and were officially eliminated from the postseason. The Senators are 28-88 (.241) on the season. The worst winning percentage of all time is .240 set by the 1956 Kansas City Athletics who went 37-117.

The American League player of the week award goes to Detroit Tiger infielder Dick McAuliffe, who went 16-for-31 with 5 homers and 9 rbi's this week. Quite a jump for McAuliffe as the 26 year old is hitting just .231 on the year with 17 homers and 49 rbi's in 109 games. A 1964 all-star, this is the first time he has been named player of the week. In 631 games over 5 seasons McAuliffe is a .247 hitter with 71 homeruns.

OTHER MLB NOTES: Jim Ray Hart of the Giants had a 3-homerun, 9 rbi day in a 16-9 win over the Mets this week. Hart hit a 3-run homer and a grand slam off of Gary Bell as well as a 2-run shot off reliever Jim McAndrew in the 6th. The Mets wisely chose to walk him in both the 7th and 9th innings. Hart, who had a record setting 4 homerun game 2 years ago against the Cubs, joins Boston's Rico Petrocelli and San Francisco teammate Willie McCovey as players with a 3-homer game this season. Hart is the only player ever to hit 4 homeruns in a single major league game.

The 9 rbi's tie a major league record for most in a game. Here is everyone who has done that since 1901:

MOST RBI'S IN A GAME 
Jim Ray Hart	  SF	Aug  3, 1966	9
Tony Kubek	  NYY   Aug 12, 1962    9
Willie Kirkland   NYM	Aug 10, 1962	9
Johnny Mize	  PHA   Aug 10, 1947    9
Joe DiMaggio	  NYG	Apr 18, 1944	9
Hal Trosky	  BOS   Jul  3, 1939    9
Dave Barbee	  STL   Apr 30, 1932    9
George Selkirk	  WSH   Aug 24, 1928    9
Harvey Hendrick	  PHI   Apr  3, 1926    9

The Philadelphia Phillies were bit by the injury bug once again. First, they lost rookie reliever Pete Cimino (1-2, 3sv) in June for the season and a day later they learned outfielder John Briggs suffered a broken thumb and will be sidelined until September. Briggs, a 22 year old, hit .255 with 14 homers as a rookie last season. In 46 games this year prior to the injury he was batting .212 with 4 homers.

Now the Phillies will lose infielder Dick Allen for a month, also with a thumb injury. The 24 year old Allen, a 3-time all-star, was batting .262 with 16 homers and 53 rbi's in 107 games.

Houston's Rusty Staub (.261,7,52) had a 5-hit game this week in the Astros 7-3 win over the Phillies. Staub had 4 singles and a 3-run homer in the contest.


MINOR LEAGUE NOTES
Finally some good news about young pitchers for the Kansas City Athletics. Paul Lindblad, who missed close to a full year with elbow woes following an injury while with the big league club last season, seems to be fully recovered. In 5 PCL starts for the Vancouver Mounties, the 24 year old is 2-1 with a 1.50 era and he is averaging a strikeout an inning. His latest start saw him toss a complete game shutout against Seattle.

Another week, another mention of 19 year old Dodgers prospect Alan Foster. Foster improved to 10-5 with a 1.57 era after throwing a 4-hit shutout for AA Albuquerque this week. He has 5 shutouts this season.

The Ogden Dodgers were crowned Pioneer League champions after beating the Treasure Valley Cubs 4 games to 2 in the league championship series. Dodgers third baseman Bill Sudakis, who was 8-for-21 with 5 rbi's, was named the Series MVP. The 20 year old is in his third pro season and he hit .329 with 1 homer and 50 rbi's over 67 games this season split between Ogden and the Tri-City Atoms of the Northwest League.

[Tiger Fan]

MONDAY AUGUST 15, 1966

Little changed atop the standings in either league this week as the Yankees and Reds ended the week with the same lead they started it with.

In the American League the New York Yankees went 4-3 in a week that saw them play their two closests rivals for the Pennant. New York began the week by taking two of three from the 3rd place Orioles and ended it with a split of their four game set with the second place Indians. All 7 games were at Yankee Stadium.

Fritz Peterson improved to 14-4 on the season after pitching New York to a 5-1 win in the opener with Baltimore. Horace Clarke had 3 hits including a homerun to pace the Yankees. The next night Baltimore 1B Pete Ward homered for the second consecutive night and Darold Knowles got his 15th save in a 5-3 Orioles win but the Yankees took the rubber match 5-1 behind Jim Bunning's 15th victory of the season.

While the Yankees and Orioles were duking it out in the Bronx, the Cleveland Indians kept pace with New York by taking two of three on the road in Boston. Indians lead-off hitter Carlos Ramirez had a 5-hit game in the opener, won 9-4 by the Tribe as Steve Hargan ran his record to 11-9. The next day Mack Jones had 3 hits, including a homerun, and drove in 3 runs as the Indians won 6-5. Boston avoided the sweep with a 5-4 victory in the final game of the series thanks to a walk-off rbi single from Carl Yastremski.

From Boston the Indians moved on to New York for their final meeting of the season with the Yankees. The Indians entered the series 5.5 games off the pace and would leave with the same deficit after the club's split their 4 game series. Dick Howser delivered a walk-off single to give the Yankees a 3-2 win in the series opener on Friday night. Bill Davis' 15th homer of the season, a 3-run shot, led Cleveland to a 5-1 victory on Saturday. The Indians took the first game of Sunday's doubleheader by a 7-5 score with Mack Jones leading the way for the Tribe. Jones had 3 hits and drove in a pair of runs. Bill Davis also had two rbi's as Conrad Galloway (7-9) outduelled Fritz Peterson for the win. David Witmer got a rare start for the Yankees in the second game and the 27 year old enjoyed his best game as a major leaguer, tossing a 2-hit shutout in a 4-0 New York victory.

While that was going on the third place Baltimore Orioles missed a chance to gain some ground as they split a 4-game weekend series with the Washington Senators.

Carl Yastremski (.314,25,82) was named the American League player of the week. The 26 year old Boston Red Sox outfielder hit .481 (13-27) last week with a homer and 6 rbi's. A six time all-star, Yastremski has been named player of the week 13 times in his career including 3 times this season.

Indians infielder Carlos Ramirez was not the only player to enjoy a 5-hit game this week. Kansas City shortstop Bert Campaneris also turned the trick in an 8-6 win over Minnesota. With 4 singles and a double, Campaneris improved his season average to .257.

In the same 8-6 game Minnesota first baseman Ernie Banks delivered his 400th career homerun. The 35 year old, who has 15 homers this season, homered twice in the game with both 399 and 400 coming off of Athletics starter Joe Bierly. Banks joins Hank Aaron, who now has 404, as players to hit their 400th career homerun this season. Banks is the 14th player to reach that milestone. He joined the Twins in 1963 after 10 years with the Chicago Cubs. His 60 homers in 1956 established a single season record but it was broken by Joe Adcock hitting 64 dingers 3 years later.


NATIONAL LEAGUE
The Cincinnati Reds continue to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers by 3.5 games in the National League pennant race. San Francisco creeped a half-game closer and are now 4.5 out of first. The Reds, who split a 4-game series with the Giants this week before taking two of three from Pittsburgh, start a key 3 game series with the Dodgers in Los Angeles tonight.

Pittsburgh outfielder Willie Stargell (.311,28,76) was named National League player of the week after going 10-for-21 with 3 homers in 6 games last week. The 26 year old, who was named NL MVP a year ago, has 6 player of the week awards to his credit but this is his first this season. Stargell is also a 3-time all-star including this season.

Los Angeles Dodger Sandy Koufax had the top pitching performance of the week. Koufax struck out 15 Chicago Cubs yesterday while allowing just 4 hits in a 6-0 victory. On the season the 30 year old is 11-9 with a 2.30 era. Koufax has led the National League in strikeouts 9 straight years, but at 193 so far this season he trails Cincinnati's Jim Maloney by 7.

FRANK LARY RETIRES
Rather than accept a demotion to the minor leagues, 36 year old pitcher Frank Lary informed the Washington Senators this week that he is retired from the game, effective immediately. A 2-time World Series winner with Detroit, Lary spent the first 9 seasons of his major league career with the Tigers before Houston selected him in the 1962 expansion draft. Lary made his only all-star team the year before he joined the Colt 45s when he went 15-8 for Detroit. After a dismal 10-23 season for the expansion Colt45s, he was released. Larry signed with Washington midway through the 1963 season.

He finishes his major league career with a 117-98 along with 13 saves and a 3.66 era. In 1,972 innings of work, Lary recorded 1,041 career strikeouts. He finished second in the 1959 Cy Young Award voting behind Whitey Ford when he won a career high 18 games with Detroit. He made 3 World Series starts including a 4-hit complete game shutout victory in Game Two of a Tigers 4-game sweep of Cincinnati. That season is also known for the highest scoring World Series game in history when the Tigers won Game 4 by a 22-11 score. In all, Detorit outscored Cincinnati 44-20 in the 4 games.

In real life Lary was known as the Yankee Killer because he had great success against New York. He finished with a career record of 128-116 with a 3.49 era in 2,162 innings pitched. Lary fanned 1,099 in real-life.

[guamyank]

I really like your formatting style, as well as your in depth writeups. I may blatantly steal some of your methods for my own thread!

[Tiger Fan]

MONDAY AUGUST 22, 1966
TRIBE CLOSE GAP ON YANKEES

A New York Yankee slump has allowed the Cleveland Indians to creep to within 2.5 games of the Yankees for the American League lead. After splitting a 4-game set with Cleveland at home to end last week the Yankees were beaten 3 straight games by the Detroit Tigers and then finished the week by losing 2 of 3 at home to the Kansas City Athletics.

Detroit, which started the week 23.5 games behind New York, completely dominated the Yankees outscoring them 20-6 in the 3 game set. Jim Northrup(.190,2,14) and Willie Horton(.305,25,73) each drove in 3 runs as the Tigers chased Jim Bunning (15-5, 2.56) in the 4th inning of a 9-2 Detroit win in the opener. Whitey Ford (11-5, 3.35) lasted just 5 innings the next night thanks in big part to a Horton 3-run double as Detroit got a solid outing of six scoreless innings from Sonny Siebert (13-9, 2.29) and then hung on for a 4-3 victory. The series finale was another laugher like Monday as Detroit won 7-1 behind Deron Johnson's(.258,20,59) 4-rbi's and Al Kaline's(.285,18,66) 3 hits.

Fritz Peterson (15-4, 2.18) got the Yankees back on track with 7 innings of 3-hit ball in a 2-1 win on Friday to open the series with Kansas City. Tom Tresh (.286,17,77) drove in both runs thanks to a pair of hits. On Saturday Bunning dropped his second straight start to fall to 15-6 with a 4-2 loss. Rookie callup Rick Monday(.269,2,7), with a double a triple and two rbi's led the Athletics. Sunday's game was a marathon 15 inning contest that the A's won 3-2 thanks to a solo homerun from backup catcher William Madden (.213,14,41). Kansas City tied the game in the ninth as Dick Hall blew the save after Whitey Ford allowed just 1 run and 4 hits over 8 innings.

While the Yankees were losing 5 of 6 games during the week the Indians took two out of three from both the Senators and White Sox this week. An unearned run in the top of the ninth made a 2-1 loser out of Denny Lemaster (14-4, 2.65) despite a solid outing from the Indians starter. Cleveland won by the same 2-1 score Tuesday as Sam McDowall (12-5, 2.20) and reliever Bob Allen combined to limit Washington to 6 hits and just 1 walk. Pitching was again the story Wednesday as Steve Hargan (12-9, 2.75) combined with Roy Face to allow Washington just 4 hits in a 3-1 Indians win. Tommie Agee (.275,24,69) and Bob Allison(.247,15,49) each hit a solo homerun in that game.

After an off-day Thursday the Indians welcomed Chicago to town by beating them 4-2 on Friday. Mack Jones(.302,32,93) homered twice and drove in all 4 runs while Conrad Halloway (8-9, 4.55) went the distance for the win. On Saturday Lemaster got shelled, allowing 7 runs and 11 hits before being pulled in the 4th inning of a 8-3 Indians loss but McDowall improved to 13-5 with a complete game 3-1 victory yesterday

The third place Baltimore Orioles missed a chance to gain some ground as they dropped 2 of 3 in Boston before doing the same at Detroit. 31 year old George Brunet, who has been sidelined since spring training had a great debut for Detroit yesterday as he went the distance blanking the Orioles 3-0 on 7 hits. At 14-6 for the month, the Tigers are one of the hottest teams in the game right now but it is far too late for them this season.

You can't blame 28 year old outfielder Curt Flood for the Orioles bad week. Flood was named American League player of the week for the first time in his career (although he did win an NL weekly award when he played for the Reds) after going 14-for-27 with a homerun in 6 games. On the season Flood is batting .270 with 5 homers and 45 rbi's.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Not much has changed in the National League but the Dodgers did slip another game back of front-running Cincinnati despite a pair of outstanding pitching efforts from Don Drysdale. The 30 year old two-time Cy Young Award winner improved to 15-6 with a 1.78 era on the season after tossing a pair of complete game shutouts this week. Drysdale, who was named Player of the Week, blanked Cincinnati 1-0 on a 4-hitter over 10 innings before tossing a 3-hit shutout against St Louis in a 4-0 win to end the week. Drysdale has won his last 6 starts, going the distance in 5 of them and allowing just 6 earned runs.

Drysdale's 1-0 win over the Reds, which ended on a Maury Wills walk-off rbi single, was the only win Los Angeles managed in their 3 game set at home to Cincinnati to start the week. Jim O'Toole pitched 8 shutout innings for the Reds but did not get a decision in the contest. On Monday Frank Robinson hit his league leading 35th homer and drove in 3-runs in a 4-2 Reds win as Gary Nolan (12-9, 3.28) outpitched Tommy John (10-8, 3.39) while on Wednesday Rocky Colavito's pinch-hit sac fly in the 9th gave the Reds and pitcher Sammy Ellis (10-9, 4.62) a 3-2 victory. Los Angeles would take 3 of 4 from St Louis to end the week but the Reds did the same in Houston.

San Francisco slipped 2 more games off the pace this week after losing a pair in St Louis before taking 2 of 3 against Atlanta. The Giants have a huge week ahead of them starting today as they host Cincinnati for 3 games before entertaining the Dodgers for 3 on the weekend.


MINOR LEAGUE NOTES - We had a pair of no-hitters in the Florida State League this week and both involved Daytona Beach. On Tuesday 18 year old rookie pro Bob Watkins of the Cocoa Beach Astros fanned 7 while walking four as he no-hit Daytona Beach 2-0. Watkins is 8-10 with a 4.23 era this season and not considered a major league prospect. In real-life the San Francisco native was selected by Houston in the 1966 draft appeared in 5 MLB games in relief for the Astros in 1969, posting no record with a 5.17 era in 15 and 2/3 innings. The other no-hitter came from Daytona Beach (DET) Islanders righthander Ronnie Chandler, when he beat West Palm Beach 2-1 on Saturday. Chandler walked 4 and struck out 4 in the game. He is 15-5 with a 1.79 era in 24 starts for the Islanders this season. I could find little on Chandler other than he pitched in the Tigers system until 1970, getting as high as AAA Toledo.

[Tiger Fan]

MONDAY AUGUST 29, 1966
INDIANS TAKE OVER AL LEAD

Over the last two weeks the Cleveland Indians have gained 6 games on the New York Yankees and turned a 5.5 game deficit into a half game lead atop the American League. The Yankees, winners of the last two American League pennants and 5 of the last six, have gone 11-16 in August and just 3-9 over the past two weeks. Meanwhile the Indians, despite losing #2 starter Jim Perry (9-4, 3.58) for the season in late July, have won 16 of 26 August games and are 9-3 over the past two weeks.

With just over a month to go in the season fans in Cleveland have to be thinking this might be the year they end what is now a 15 year pennant drought - the longest in team history since they won their first pennant in 1920.

The Yankees and Indians will not play each other again this year and we still have a little over a month to go in the season but it is looking another tight race in the American League. Each of the past three seasons have seen the margin of victory be no more than 4 games in the junior circuit. Compare that to the National League where the leader has had a 6,11 and 21 game lead on the second place club at the end of the year and another tight AL pennant race is to be expected.

Before I finish off the recap for the week here is a look at the Indians and Yankees lineups and stats as of August 29th.