History of Baseball - OOTP19 version

[Tiger Fan]

1967 ALL-STAR BREAK
Been busy the last week so have not had time to write much but I did play through the 1967 all-star game so here is your mid-year update. I will slow things down a bit and provide weekly or at very least bi-weekly updates through the second half of the season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

As expected the Minnesota Twins are having a huge season, entering the all-star break with a major league best 62-21 record and an 8 game lead on the defending champion Cleveland Indians. The Twins lead the majors in runs scored and only the Indians pitching staff has given up less runs in the American League than Minnesota.

The office is coming from Reggie Smith (.301,10,47), homerun leader Harmon Killebrew (.303,21,63), rbi leader Joe Foy (.302,14,67) and stolen base leader Pat Kelly (.248,4,25, 31 SB) along with Rod Carew (.280,3,35). The rotation has been outstanding, with Mickey Lolich (11-1, 1.68) enjoying a career year with Jim Kaat (11-2, 2.36) and Jim Merritt (10-6, 2.45) not far behind. In addition to the three lefthanders, 22 year old righthander Dave Boswell (12-0, 3.08) is having a breakout season.

The defending champs are 56-31, but the Indians still find themselves 8 games out of first place. Sam McDowell (13-6, 1.91), Steve Hargan (8-5, 2.10) and Denny Lemaster (8-5, 2.06) have pitched well and there is plenty of offense thanks to Tommie Agee (.273,11,45), Mack Jones (.209,15,35), Bob Allison (.249,12,33), Don Lukaszewski (.259,18,48) and Duke Sims (.317,16,47) but a 4-9 head to head record against the Twins has hurt.

Boston is in third despite their powerful offense led by batting average leader Carl Yastremski (.331,18,55), Tony Conigliaro (.267,18,48) and Orlando Cepeda (.318,13,60). The offense has overcome an injury to shortstop Rico Petrocelli but it can't overcome the Red Sox usual issue, subpar pitching.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The National League is looking like it might give us a race for the ages as no fewer than 8 of the 10 teams are within 5.5 games of first place at the break. Right now the two-time defending pennant winning Cincinnati Reds are in the lead with a 47-38 record, but that is just a half game better than both Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Despite missing a month with an injury Pete Rose (.336,4,26) is the leader of the Reds offense but he has plenty of help from the likes of Vada Pinson (.259,8,32), Frank Robinson (.294,11,35), Jim Wynn (.262,7,34), Tony Perez (.280,9,31), Lee May (.278,9,33) and rookie catcher Johnny Bench (.284,10,32). The pitching has not been as good as in past years as Jim Maloney (8-8, 2.92) and Claude Osteen (9-6, 3.11) have seen their era's rise but rookie Mel D Queen (5-1, 2.77) has been a pleasant surprise. At the other end of the spectrum Ray Sadecki, a pickup from St Louis over the winter, has been awful at 1-7 with a 4.09 era.

As usual it is pitching that leads the way for the Dodgers thanks to Sandy Koufax (9-6, 2.59), Don Drysdale (9-7, 2.47), Bill Singer (7-5, 2.49) and a great season out of 22 year old Don Sutton (10-6, 1.89). The offense has been improved led by outfielders Frank Howard (.242,12,40) and Roberto Clemente (.284,9,40) and first baseman Wes Parker (.329,3,40).

The Giants haven't won a pennant since 1938 but solid pitching and hitting has them in the mix. Jim Ray Hart (.285,13,48), Willie McCovey (.226,13,46) and the Alou brothers (Felipe .291,3,24 and Matty .330,0,26) take care of the offense while Juan Marichal (8-4, 2.36), Bobby Bolin (6-5, 2.87) and Gaylord Perry (8-9, 2.33) have led the pitching.

24 year old outfielder Alex Johnson(.341,3,24) is leading the majors in batting average at the break and along with Dick Allen (.290,17,61),who is tied for the NL lead in homeruns and leads in rbi's, are 2 big reasons the Phillies are in contention. Their real strength has been the pitching staff led by Fergie Jenkins (9-6, 2.37), Rick Wise (9-2, 3.35) and reliever Grant Jackson (13 sv).

Lou Brock (.312,9,32) with a major league leading 41 steals at the break, is helping the Cubs contend. Other leaders at Wrigley include Billy L Williams (.260,9,33), Ron Santo (.246,11,35), Ken Holtzman (8-5, 1.88) and Pat Jarvis (8-3, 2.43).

Pittsburgh is led by Luis Tiant (9-4, 1.91), Joe Pepitone (.248,16,48) and Bob Bailey (.307,7,30) and the Pirates are in the mix despite a slow start to the season from Willie Stargell (.227,8,29). The young Houston Astros are led by 23 year old's Joe Morgan (.315,3,24) and Rusty Staub (.281,4,38) and 27 year old Dave Giusti (7-3, 2.07) while in Atlanta, the Braves strength has been the bats of Hank Aaron (.304,17,56), Joe Torre (.328,15,60) and Eddie Mathews (.231,10,31) along with the arm of Phil Niekro (8-3, 2.20).

[Tiger Fan]

AMERICAN LEAGUE WINS ALL-STAR GAME

Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan was the hero as his 9th inning homerun proved the difference in a 6-4 American League victory over the National League stars in the annual all-star game. Freehan hit a solo homer off of Braves reliever Juan Pizarro to put the AL stars ahead 5-3 at the time. The National League would get one run back in the bottom of the ninth but would fall short. Freehan was 2-for-4 in the game as he also singled in the second inning.

As a note I think I will have to take over managing both clubs in the game as starting pitchers got just 1 inning and both clubs ran out of pinch-hitters forcing pitchers to hit. Of course, much of that was my fault for setting all-star game roster size at 24 but I will raise it to 28 for next season. I just didn't want too many players earning all-star berths.

[BadluckinOOTP]

No all star game for ERA leader Krausse??

[Tiger Fan]

Originally Posted by BadluckinOOTP

No all star game for ERA leader Krausse??

LEW KRAUSSE JR

Just like in real-life, 18 year old Lew Krausse Jr came straight from high school to the major leagues in 1961. In real life he threw a shutout in his major league debut but would go on to finish with a 68-91 career record with the Athletics, Brewers, Red Sox, Cardinals and Braves.

In the sim he spent his first 4 years in the A's bullpen, recording 13 saves in 1964. He finally earned a spot in the rotation two years ago and went 7-13 before following that up with a 13-12 campaign a year ago. This year Krausse has been dominant, going 7-1 with a league leading 1.39 era. However, he was overlooked for the American League all-star game likely due to the fact that he suffered an elbow strain on May 12th and was sidelined for a month.

Krausse's dad, Lew Sr, enjoyed a long major league career in the sim as he pitched for the Boston Braves for 17 seasons after making his major league debut with Pittsburgh as a 19 year old in 1932. The elder Krausse was used exclusively in relief, appearing in 326 games while compiling a 26-15 lifetime record. In real life Krausse Sr pitched in 2 seasons with the Athletics, going 5-1 with a 4.50 era in 23 appearances.

[Tiger Fan]

ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1967

Here is a list of the milestones reached in the major leagues during the first half of the 1967 season.

Three different players recorded their 300th career homerun. Ken Boyer started the group off with his 300th on May 29th, followed by Boston's Orlando Cepeda June 1st and finally Detroit Tiger outfielder Al Kaline reaching the pinnacle on June 18. A fourth player, Roger Maris of the California Angels, is just 3 shy of reaching the 300 mark. He may come up short as the 32 year old, has just 2 homeruns in 47 games played this season, split between Cleveland and the Angels, and appears to be on a rapid decline.

Frank Robinson of Cincinnati and Eddie Mathews of Atlanta each scored their 1500th career run while Cepeda and the Reds Vada Pinson passed the 1000 run mark. Speaking of Robinson, his 11 homeruns so far this season raise his career total to 493 homers. Only 6 players in history, led by Ted Williams' 726, have surpassed the 500 homerun mark.

Jim Bunning became just the 20th pitcher in baseball history to reach the 2000 strikeout mark when he fanned Minnesota's Dave Boswell on July 3rd. Bunning, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, is 160-99 over a major league career spent primarily with the Yankees but did including 5 games for Detroit as a rookie.

While on the topic of strikeouts, Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers had a 15 strikeout game against Houston on May 10th. It is the 6th time in his career - a record - that Koufax fanned at least 15 in a game. Koufax is just 13 strikeouts shy of joining Walter Johnson (3260), Rube Waddell (3201) and Christy Mathewson (3037) as the only players with 3000 career K's. He is 9-6 with a National League leading 156 strikeouts this season and 183-117 for his career.

The longest hitting streak so far this season belongs to 26 year old Cincinnati infielder Pete Rose (.336,4,36), who hit safely in 27 games ending in June. California's Jim Fregosi (.270,5,33) had a 25 game streak. The major league record is 39, set by Charlie Hollocher of the Phillies in 1928.

NO-HITTERS
There has not been a no-hitter in the major leagues this season but there have been 6 in the minor leagues including 3 in 5 days- with all 3 being thrown by Philadelphia Phillies farmhands. Archie Dawson of the Huron Phillies of the Northern League got the party started when he no-hit Duluth-Superior 3-0 on May 23rd. The 21 year old lefthander is 5-4 with a 2.77 era in his second pro season. Two days later it was the Western Carolinas League Spartanburg Phillies who celebrated a no-hitter as 21 year old righthander Smith Holland turned the trick against Greenville in a 2-0 win. Holland is also in his second pro season and is 10-5 between Spartanburg and Tidewater this season. On May 27, 4 days after Dawson got things started, Jeff James of the Reading Phillies no-hit the Williamsport Mets 5-0 in Eastern League play. James is 8-8 with a 2.40 era on the year - his 7th in the Phillies organization. None have made the majors yet and in real life only James, with a lifetime record of 6-6 over 2 seasons, ever reached the big leagues.

The other 3 minor league no-hitters came from Edward Brown of the Fort Lauderdale Yankees, William Robertson of the GCL White Sox and Trevor Madden of the Kinston Eagles (Atl). None of those 3 ever made the major leagues in real life.

We have seen 3 hitting streaks in the minors reach 25 games including two by a pair of likely future major leaguers. All 3 streaks were stopped at 25 and they belonged to Ralph Garr of the Kinston(Atl) Eagles, George Mitterwald of the Wilson (MIN) Tobs and Jim Yacknow of the Reno (CLE) Silver Sox.

[Tiger Fan]

Here are the mid-season lineups, basic stats and injuries for each of the teams.

Looking at this it is easy to see why the Yankees have had such a terrible start to the season. With injuries to Tom Tresh, Whitey Ford and Al Downing along with poor numbers from the aging Mickey Mantle and Jim Bunning the Yanks appear headed for some down years.

I will also take a closer look in the next post at the Mets as there have been all kinds of trouble for their highly touted young collection of pitchers and almost all of their hitters have seen a significant drop in production from last year. We are still a couple of years away but at this stage it is very hard to believe we will see a "Miracle Mets" season in '69.

[Tiger Fan]

I thought it would be fun to take a look at the Mets and see if a 1969 Miracle season is a possibility in this universe.

THE NOT SO MIRACLE METS

After winning a franchise record 75 games a year ago and blessed with a deep collection of young arms many felt this was the year the Mets might reach .500 and start to lay the groundwork towards establishing themselves as possible pennant contender. Instead the Mets hit the break at 33-52 and on pace for the worst season in the franchise's 6 year history.

So what has gone wrong for the Mets this year? Almost everything. Let's start with the offense. Here is the 1966 starters by position vs 1967.

1966		 POS AVG HR RBI  WAR	1967		AGE POS	AVG  HR RBI  WAR
Joe Azcue	 C  .266  6  40  1.4	Joe Azcue	 27  C .258   3  23  1.2
Donn Clendenon   1B .273 18  60  1.4    Donn Clendenon   31 1B .213   7  25 -0.5
Bobby Richardson 2B .278  9  37  2.9    Bobby Richardson 31 2B .225   1  19  0.8
Luis Aparicio    SS .225  3  31  1.7    Bud Harrelson	 23 SS .251   0   7  1.7
Ed Charles	 3B .284  9  62  4.5    Ed Charles	 34 3B .234   4  25  0.9
Lou Johnson	 LF .241  8  29 -0.3    Lou Johnson      32 LF .289   3  24  1.3
Michael Mitchell CF .205  7  32  1.3    Ken Singleton    20 CF .204   0  13  0.1
Cleon Jones	 CF .251  2  24 -0.3    Cleon Jones	 24 OF .258   2  17  1.0
Ron Swoboda	 RF .275 21  81  3.5    Ron Swoboda      23 RF .239   7  30  0.8

Breaking them down by position Azcue is doing about what you would expect from him but the veteran infielders Clendenon, Richardson and Charles have all seen a significant drop. Rookie Harrelson has replaced Aparicio at short and has done a very good job defensively.

The drop off in production from Swoboda has also been felt as the Mets are 9th out of 10 in all the main offensive categories (runs, batting avg, on-base pct and HR's). Last season with basically the same offense the Mets finished with 566 runs scored, 7th overall but just 4 runs out of fifth. They had 3.5 runs per game a year ago while at the midway point this season they are averaging under 2.8 runs per game.

OUTFIELD
At the start of the 1966 season the Mets had to be feeling pretty good about their outfield. Paul Blair was just 22 years old and coming off a .256, 26 stolen base season in his second full year in the majors after winning NL rookie of the year the previous season. The Mets also had a budding young star in 22 year old Ron Swoboda, who was preparing for his first full season in the majors. 23 year old Cleon Jones was also ready to make the jump after hitting .251 with 2 homers in a 50 game trial with the Mets in 1965. Finally, the Mets had Leroy Stanton - a top 50 overall prospect - and would add 19 year old Ken Singleton to the system at the end of the year.

However, in May of 1966 Blair suffered a gruesome knee injury and has not played since. He had been expected back for this season but it was decided in spring training the knee had not healed properly and surgery was necessary which will cost him all of 1967. Big worries for a player who's biggest asset is his speed and stole 77 bases over the first two years of his career.

If Blair can't return to the same level the Mets should feel comfortable with Singleton patrolling centerfield. Swoboda's numbers, particularly homers which dropped from 21 a year ago to just 7 at the break, is a bit of a concern but he just turned 23 last week so there is hope he will rebound. Jones, who is still 3 weeks shy of his 25th birthday, also has potential so the Mets could survive without Blair but having the 1965 rookie of the year healthy makes New York a much better team, especially out of the lead-off spot because of his threat to steal. What they do lack in the outfield is a power hitter and there is not one in their system.

INFIELD
Adding Bud Harrelson this season gives the Mets their shortstop for the future. However, the other 3 infield positions look to be big areas of concern going forward for the Metropolitans. Charles is having a dramatic drop off in production and at 34 it is unlikely he will rebound. The issue is the Mets have no one in their system capable of replacing him. The closest thing they have to a third base prospect is 21 year old Curtis Brown, who is batting .288 for Mankato of the Northern League and does not crack the Mets top 20 prospects list.

31 year old Bobby Richardson at second base is, like Charles, an expansion draft pick, but also like Charles appears to be near the end of the line. The Mets do not have any second base prospect anywhere near ready for the majors with the closest being 21 year old Ken Boswell, who is batting .270 also with Mankato of the Northern League.

First base is also an issue as Donn Clendenon, an expansion draft pick and original Met like Charles and Richardson, is in a terrible funk and likely belongs on the bench instead of in the lineup. The good news for the Mets is they do have a talented first base prospect in John Mayberry. The first year pro is only 18 years old but was recently promoted to the big leagues after tearing up two different Class A loops. Mayberry is off to a decent start, hitting .294 in his first 17 at bats and also hit a pinch-hit game winning 2-run homer to beat San Francisco 2-0 a week ago.


CATCHER
Joe Azcue is a 10 year minor league veteran who was signed as a free agent a year ago by the Mets. He caught 86 games, providing decent defense while batting .266 last season and is doing much the same. Azcue is serviceable in the role but the Mets have no one in place for the future (Jerry Grote is an Astros farmhand in case you are wondering). The only prospect, so to speak, is 19 year old Michael Minster who is catching at Winter Haven of the Florida State League. In real life Minster would play nearly a decade in the minors but never make the big leagues.

Which brings us to pitching. Originally thought to be the Mets strength there have been some serious setbacks suffered by two of their 3 big arms.

PITCHING
When you read the list of young pitchers the Mets have in their organization you would think they should be dominant for the next decade:

NAME		AGE	NOTES
Jerry Koosman   24   5-8 2.44 with Mets former #43 MLB prospect
Jim Hardin	23   #15th MLB prospect  3-5, 4.52 era as rookie with Mets
Jim McAndrew	23   9-5, 1.98 at AAA Jacksonville  #96 prospect a year ago
Tom Seaver	22   6-10, 3.36 in 2nd year with Mets, former #5 MLB prospect
Jim Bibby	22   #72 MLB prospect, at AA Williamsport, 6-7 through 3 levels this year
Tug McGraw	22   7-5, 2.81 at AAA after 2 seasons with Mets going 12-11, 3.85
Steve Renko	22   #97 MLB prospect newly converted from OF.
Danny Frisella	21   #153 MLB prospect  4-5, 3.38 at AAA Jacksonville
Nolan Ryan	20   #6 MLB prospect 1-0 at AAA but injured for 10 weeks
Gary Gentry	20   #34 MLB prospect 0-1, 2.70 pitching out of Mets pen
Ernie McAnally	20   #60 MLB prospect playing OF in Class B
Rich Folkers    20   unranked, 7-9 with 1.95 era and 3 shutouts at AA Williamsport
Ed Figueroa	18   #56 MLB prospect, 2nd pro season, 8-7 4.00 at Class A Durham
Jon Matlack	17   #49 MLB Prospct, 1st pro season, 6-0 1.58 at Class A Durham

The Mets may still be fine but so far only Koosman has lived up to expectations. The biggest setback is the injury to Nolan Ryan. The 20 year old was slated to start in the big leagues this season but after a week of sitting in the bullpen without appearing in a game, Ryan was optioned to AAA Jacksonville. After winning his first start he suffered an arm injury in his second start and will be sidelined until at least August. It is the second serious injury for Ryan, as he missed over a year with a torn rotator cuff suffered in June of 1965.

Ryan and Tom Seaver were expected to be the co-aces of the staff but Seaver has also stumbled. It is not injury in his case, but rather inconsistency as he had a rough April, dropping all 4 of his starts, rebounded in May and early June but over the past month has lost 6 of his last 8 decisions and his morale has suffered.

There are plenty of other good young arms in the system if Ryan and Seaver don't live up their billing, but it is doubtful any of the others can quite equal the expectations set for those two.

OUTLOOK - With so many good young arms you have to think the Mets will have some very good years in the near future but the lack of infield depth could cause problems. Looking to the future the Mets draft Tim Foli, a shortstop, in 1968 as well as pitcher Burt Hooton and outfielder John Milner. Beyond that, Mets drafts look pretty thin until Lee Mazzelli arrives in 1973.

If I was running the Mets I would look at the Boston Red Sox or Pittsburgh Pirates as a potential trade partner and see if I could pry away a young infielder like Tony Horton, Don Money or Richie Hebner for one or two of the good young arms. Getting someone who can play second or third and contribute in a big way to the offense or a power hitting outfielder would go a long ways towards cementing the Mets potential to contend. Without some big deals, even if their pitching is as good as forecast I can't see the Mets having the offense to compete for a National League pennant over the next 6-10 years when you look at the powerhouse that has been built in Cincinnati, and talented clubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Pittsburgh on the rise.

[Tiger Fan]

AUGUST 1, 1967

A lot has changed in the American League in the 3 weeks since the all-star break. The Cleveland Indians won 13 of 18 games to close to within 4.5 games of the first place Minnesota Twins. The Twins won just 7 of their last 18 including dropping 6 of 9 to the Red Sox and Yankees over the past week.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have opened a little breathing room atop the National League standings. The Dodgers are 2.5 games ahead of San Francisco and 3 up on Cincinnati. It is still tight from 1 to 8 as the 8th place Braves are 8 games off the pace and the fifth place Astros are just 5 back.

Here are the standings as I prepare to begin doing daily recaps as the National League battle is too intriguing to not look at in detail.

SOME RANDOM NOTES
We got our first no-hitter of the year. It came from Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax in a 5-0 win over the Phillies on July 30th. It was the first no-hitter of his career and came just 10 days after Koufax pitched a complete game 1-hitter over the same Phillies squad. On the season, Koufax is 12-7 with a 2.27 era. It was the second Dodger no-hitter in 3 years as Don Sutton tossed one in 1965 but just the fourth in franchise history as you have to go back to 1909 (Jack Powell) and 1907 (Jim McGinley) for the other two.

Since I talked about Tom Seaver's struggles 2 weeks ago the 22 year old has gone 3-1 in his last 4 starts including complete game shutout wins over both the Reds (on a 3hits) and the Dodgers. Seaver is now 9-11 with a 2.89 era but his morale has not improved and the Mets are just 8-13 since the break, although a 4 game winning streak over LA and Houston should have been a confidence booster. The streak ended when Astros hurler Chris Zachary and 2 relievers 1-hit the Mets 1-0 yesterday.

JULY AWARDS
Don Sutton of the Dodgers was named the top pitcher for July in the National League. The 22 year old Sutton was 5-0 in his 6 starts and is now 13-6 with a 1.81 era on the season. American League honours went to Cleveland's Sam McDowell, who was 5-1 in July and is 17-6, 1.65 on the year.

Joe Morgan (.326,3,36) of Houston was the top batter in the National League. The 23 year old second baseman hit .381 with 24 runs scored last month. In the American League, the winner was Minnesota slugger Harmon Killebrew (.299,30,79), who hit .269 with 13 homers and 25 rbi's in July.

Rookie awards for July go to Boston's Glenn Beckert(.377,0,19) and Cubs righthander Gary Ross (3-0, 2.03).

[Tiger Fan]

TUESDAY AUGUST 1, 1967

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Don Drysdale tossed a 3-hit complete game leading the Los Angeles Dodgers past the visiting Philadelphia Phillies by a 3-1 score. Drysdale, who improves to 12-8, 2.34 on the year, allowed a solo homerun to Johnny Briggs (.237,11,47) for his only real mistake on the day. The Dodgers managed 7 hits off of Phillies starter Chris Short (6-8, 3.38) including a pair of Willie Davis (.286,3,32) doubles. Davis had 3 hits on the day and was driven in twice by Roberto Clemente (.290,11,51), who had two of the Dodger rbi's with Frank Howard's (.253,17,55) sac fly accounting for the final LA run.

The Dodgers improve to 59-45 on the season and stretch their lead on second place San Francisco to 3.5 games after the Giants fell 8-6 in 10 innings to Pittsburgh. Bucs third baseman Donald Keller, fresh up from AAA Columbus and making his season debut, had two hits in the game including an rbi triple off of Giants reliever Bill Hands in the top of the 10th to provide the margin of victory.

Joe Torre (.327,20,68), Tony Gonzalez (.282,4,34) and Hilaro Salinas (.239,1,4) each homered to help the Atlanta Braves past the slumping Cincinnati Reds 5-1. The Reds have dropped 4 of their last 5 and are now 4 games behind the first place Dodgers.

Elsewhere in the National League a 3-run outburst in the bottom of the ninth allowed the Cubs to take a walk-off win over St Louis 8-7 and make a loser out of young St Louis lefty Steve Carlton (6-5,2.80) while in Houston the New York Mets got a 3-run homer from Marshall Hamlitt - his first big league round-tripper - in the top of the ninth to beat Houston 3-2 and spoil a tremendous effort from Astros starter Larry Dierker.

No changes atop the American League as both Minnesota and Cleveland posted lobsided wins. In Washington, the Twins thumped the Senators 10-6 as Harmon Killebrew (.302,31,81) hit his league leading 31st homerun while the Indians spanked Chicago 13-1 as Jim Perry (10-8, 3.34) tossed a 5-hit complete game. Other results saw Al Kaline (2.95,19,53) and Jim Northrup (.281,17,53) homer to lead Detroit past Baltimore 4-3. Rookie Tony Horton's 2-run pinch-hit homer gave Boston a 4-2 win over Kansas City and John Lytle improved to 11-8 on the season after allowing just 4 hits in a 4-1 California win over the Yankees.

[Tiger Fan]

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 2, 1967
ROSS CONTINUES AMAZING DEBUT

The Chicago Cubs knew 19 year old Gary Ross had the ability to pitch in the major leagues but I don't think anyone thought the teenager would be this good, this fast. After making his pro debut by going 8-1 with a 3.05 era in 13 starts for Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League, Ross was called up by the Cubs and made his major league debut on June 21st by pitching 1 inning of scoreless relief in a 5-1 win over PIttsburgh. Since then he has been outstanding coming out of the Cubs bullpen, posting an era well under 2.00 in 13 relief appearances. He was finally given his first chance to start, taking Byron Klapprott's (8-7, 4.04) spot in the rotation today for game one of a doubleheader against St Louis.

All Ross did was toss 8 2/3 innings of 3-hit ball, beating the Cardinals and Mel Stottlemyre (7-10) 2-1. He had held the Cards scoreless on 2 hits until with 2 out in the ninth inning when Mike Shannon singled. Ross was replaced by Jim Brewer, who notched his 13th save despite allowing Randy Hundley to break up the shutout bid with an rbi triple before getting Leo Cardenas of the Cards to fly out and end the game. Ross gave up two singles in the second inning and did not allow another hit until Shannon's 9th inning base knock. He fanned 9 Cardinals while walking 3 to improve his record to 4-0 and his era to 1.82 on the year. Ross was named National League rookie of the month for July. The real life Gary Ross spent a decade in the major leagues with the Cubs, Padres and Angels, posting a 25-47 career record with 7 saves.

St Louis won the second game 2-0 thanks to rbi singles from Felix DeLeon and Leo Cardenas. Ray Washburn (7-10) and Steve Carlton (2sv) combined on the shutout. Cubs outfielder Lou Brock hit safely in both games to run his hitting streak to 25.

Willie McCovey went 3-for-4 with a walkoff homerun in the bottom of the 11th inning to give San Francisco a 6-5 win over Pittsburgh. That, combined with the Dodgers 3-1 loss to Philadelphia, moves the Giants to within 2.5 games of first place Los Angeles atop the National League.

The Reds failed to gain ground as they fell for the fourth straight game, dropping an 8-3 decision to the Atlanta Braves. In the other game Houston beat the Mets 3-1 as Mike Cuellar (9-9, 2.36) outduelled Tom Seaver (9-12, 2.96).

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Minnesota and Cleveland both lost so no change atop the American League standings. The Twins lead by 4.5 games despite falling 3-1 in Washington while the Indians fell 5-4 to the White Sox. Elsewhere, the Yankees blasted California 11-1 behind a pair of Bobby Murcer homeruns. Baltimore tamed the Detroit Tigers 6-1 and Boston won it's 5th straight game, beating Kansas City 4-3.

[JaBurns]

Doesn’t look like you a going to have a race like IRL ‘67, too bad. That was the first pennant race I followed, have the Chisox changed in your sim. An particular reason for the awful Sox?

You are teasing me to start one these leagues to go along with my HRD that is in 1920. Comparing careers in the two modes would be fun.

[Tiger Fan]

Originally Posted by JaBurns

Doesn’t look like you a going to have a race like IRL ‘67, too bad. That was the first pennant race I followed, have the Chisox changed in your sim. An particular reason for the awful Sox?

You are teasing me to start one these leagues to go along with my HRD that is in 1920. Comparing careers in the two modes would be fun.

I am hoping my National League races comes close to matching what the real life American League race was like in 1967. Certainly are a lot of teams in the mix.

And comparing careers between random debut and straight historical would be fun to follow. I hope you do decide to do it. I, for one, would look forward to reading about it.



As for the White Sox they have been bad for a while, most recently due to mismanagement with a lot of bad trades.

The White Sox franchise did win 6 straight pennants and 5 World Series titles from 1915-1920 but since then only won 1 Series (1953) and 2 pennants (1953 & 1959). They finished second in 1960 (just 1 game back of Yankees) and again in 1961 (4 back of NY this time) but dropped from 96 wins in 1961 to seasons of 84,68,61,78 and finally bottomed out (hopefully) with 56 wins a year ago.

The 1961 club led the American League in runs scored with their leaders being all in their prime:

1961 CHICAGO WHITE SOX
NAME		AGE POS  AVG HR RBI
John Ramano      26  C  .280 10  66
Norm Cash	 26  1B .280 31 117
Ronald Smith     25  2B .196 11  59
Deron Johnson    22  3B .201 14  65
Luis Aparicio    27  SS .277  1  48
Charlie Maxwell  34  LF .258 26  82
Jim Landis       27  CF .277 21  77
Don Lukaszewski  26  RF .260 43 120

They also had 24 year old Don Buford make his major league debut that summer, batting .243 with a homer and 15 rbi's in 41 games. The expectation was Buford would be the eventual replacement for the aging Charlie Maxwell in left field. Other names in the Sox system at that time included 23 year old 1B Don Mincher, 20 year old OF Ken Berry, 21 year old 1B-OF Tommy McCraw and 22 year old SS Dal Maxvill.

Pitching was not quite as strong but the 61 White Sox did have the following rotation:

1961 CHICAGO WHITE SOX
NAME		AGE  W-L   ERA  GS
Glen Hobbie	 25 17-13 3.39  35
Jack Kralick	 26 18-8  3.43  33
Frank Pontello   33 15-7  3.25  35
Bob Locker	 23 12-14 4.16  30
Jose Lizondro	 21 11-9  4.99  25

In addition 23 year old Joe Horlen would make his MLB debut that season.

Looking at the '61 White Sox one would expect with Cash, Johnson, Landis and Lukaszewski all in their prime and some good prospects led by Buford the team should contend for a number of years.

Unfortunately for White Sox fans the team began to fall apart thanks to some bad decisions. The first one came right after the 1961 World Series when the White Sox inexplicably sent Buford, the 18th ranked prospect in the game at the time, to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a 32 year old Frank Malzone. Malzone would play 4 seasons at third base for the White Sox but hit just .241 with 28 homers in 511 games. He would also relegate Deron Johnson to the bench although Johnson would regain the position as a 25 year old, batting .258 with 23 homers and 63 rbi's in 1964, but was then immediately dealt to Detroit where he hit 55 homers and batted .259 over the next 2 seasons. Oh, and Buford - well all he did in Boston was make 3 all-star teams, bat .294 including a pair of 200+ hit seasons and he is still in his prime at age 30.

Next to go was Aparicio, after being left unprotected in the expansion draft of 1962 and selected by the New York Mets. Despite winning 4 straight American League gold gloves (he would win a 5th straight albeit in the National League with the Mets in '62) he was allowed to walk away at the age of 27. He is still with the Mets and still playing solid defense although his average and obp in New York (.236,.280) are much lower than his White Sox days (.268,.320).

Faced with no starting shortstop for 1962 the White Sox decided to send pitchers Bill Fischer and Bruce Howard to the Phillies for Don Buddin, a 28 year old who hit .242 while playing mediocre defense in 5 seasons with the Phils. He lasted just one year in Chicago, batting .223 and playing terrible defense before finding a home as a decent AAA shortstop, which is where he still resides. Losing Fischer did not matter much as he was a 30 year old who pitched a little out of the Phillies pen over the next couple of seasons but Howard was, at the time a 19 year old minor leaguer who was ranked the #42 prospect in the game. He has been in the Phillies rotation the last 4 years and is 30-36 overall so he may not amount to a lot but it is another example of the White Sox willing to give away potential.

I could go on about a few other moves but I think you get the point. Things like sending Don Mincher and Ken Berry to St Louis for pitcher Larry Jackson. Mincher makes two all-star appearances and Berry wins NL rookie of the year and a gold glove in centerfield while the 32 year old Jackson does okay, going 14-12, 15-13 and then 6-22 a year ago before being dispatched to San Francisco this off-season for prospects Jesus Alou (the least talented of the 3 brothers), Rich Robertson and Jimmy Rosario

I guess the White Sox finally did something right this off-season when they blew it up and dealt most of their aging veterans away for prospects. They did not have a lot to offer aside from Don Lukaszewski, who went to Cleveland in a deal that brought 19 year old Ray Fosse and 23 year old Lou Piniella back but they did add a quantity of youngsters if not a lot of quality. I would have thought they would move 32 year old Norm Cash (.250,30,81 last year and .226,19,56 so far this year) at the deadline but they chose not to.

As it is even with the moves the White Sox system ranks 19th out of 20 (only Detroit is worse) but they do have 4 top-100 prospects in Bill Melton(60), Marty Perez (83), Ken Frailing (86) and Fosse (96). The future still does not look that bright especially when I look ahead to baseballreference.com and what they will get over the next couple of drafts. We do have Rich Gossage coming but not until 1970.

The depth chart does not look good although Piniella is definately undervalued at this point. Sox fans just have to hope they don't deal him away in another one of their bad trading decisions.

[Tiger Fan]

THURSDAY AUGUST 3, 1967

A light schedule in the major leagues with 3 American League contests and just one in the National League. With the AL front-runners both off and Minnesota enjoying a 4.5 game lead on Cleveland I thought I would visit a National League park today and check out the Cubs entertaining Atlanta at Wrigley Field.

Both of these clubs still find themselves in the hunt for a pennant, something the Cubs haven't won since 1937 and the Braves since 1956. There is suddenly hope at Wrigley Field nowadays, as the Cubs presently sit 4 games back of the first place Dodgers. You have to go all the way back to 1945 and the days of Andy Pafko, Phil Cavaretta and Phil Weintraub to find the last Cubs team to finish within 10 games of first place as that group ended up in third, 5 games back. Needless to add, there have been a lot of lean seasons at Wrigley but thanks to stars Billy Williams (.254,15,53), Ron Santo (.258,15,45) and lead-off man Lou Brock (.327,10,38, 48 SB) the Cubs are finally in a pennant race again.

The Braves are in just their second season in Atlanta since moving from Milwaukee, and while they currently sit in 7th place they are just 7 games out of first. Even though the pitcher has been the dominant species this season, Braves fans have been treated to some longball heroics from the likes of Hank Aaron (.307,22,69), Joe Torre (.328,20,69) and Eddie Mathews (.247,12,48) with the 27 year old Torre in particular becoming a fan favourite after nearly wrestling the batting title from triple crown winner Frank Robinson a year ago. Only a late season injury seemed to have been the reason Torre, a 5 time all-star, was denied his first batting crown. Aaron, at age 33, and the 35 year old Mathews have 960 career homeruns between them and always get fans out of their seat when either approaches the plate. Fans in Atlanta are flocking to the ball park to see major league baseball after over 60 years, and 14 league titles as a Southern Association city.

On this day I would witness 26 year old Tony Cloninger (9-7, 3.14) take the hill for Atlanta against 22 year old Rich Nye (5-10,3.57) of the Cubs. Hardly a marquee matchup but I was more interested in watching hitters like Aaron, Torre, Santo and Brock in action.

The Cubs would squeeze out a 7-6 victory after nearly blowing the game in the ninth. Chicago entered the final inning up 7-3 but the Braves plated 3 and had the bases loaded when rookie Cubs pitcher Jim Zerilla got his first career save by coming on to strike out Braves pinch-hitter Bill Robinson to end the game. For the 23 year old Zerilla, who never advanced past A ball in real life, it was just the second major league appearance of his career and first since being called up from AAA Tacoma at the beginning of the month.

Rico Carty (.322,8,52) had the big bat for the Braves, getting 2 hits and driving in 5 runs while Aaron went 1-for-5 with a double and he also fanned with the bases loaded. Mathews also doubled for his only hit in 4 at bats. The stars for the Cubs were Dick Simpson, who hit his first National League homerun, and Charles Keller. Simpson was signed as a free agent in late July after being waived by California and was playing in his first game with the Cubs. He entered the contest on a double-switch in the 6th inning and hit a 2-run homer to snap what was a 3-3 tie in his first at bat. The 24 year old Simpson had played 723 games with the Angels in a major league career that started in 1962, but hit just .234 during that time with 72 homeruns.

As for Keller, he is in his first season with the Cubs after joining the team in a June deal that sent reliever Ron Perranowski and 25 year old minor league shortstop Don Kessinger to the Yankees. Perranowski would make just 4 appearances for New York before retiring due to an arm injury. Kessinger has yet to advance past AA. I have come across Keller before as he appeared in 3 World Series with the Yankees in my sim and played 520 games over 8 years with the Yankees as he bounced from the bigs to AAA a few times. I have wondered if he is related to former Yankee star Charlie Keller and seems to be the right age to be a son but everything I found about the more famous Keller mentions only a son named Donald. Charles Keller had a big game for the Cubs on this day, getting 3 hits - a single, a double and a triple - scoring twice and drivine in one run. Billy Williams, Ron Santo an Ken Hubbs each had 2 hits for the winners with Williams driving in a pair of runs. Of note, Lou Brock did not start in the game but grounded out in his pinch-hit appearance, which snapped his hitting streak at 25 games.

The win moves the Cubs to 58-52 on the year and into sole possession of third place, three and a half games behind Los Angeles. The 7th place Braves drop to 53-55 on the year.

In American League action Rick Monday (.276,7,28) and Reggie Jackson (.275,18,56) each homered while Jose RA Santiago (10-10,3.02) tossed 6 shutout innings as Kansas City blanked the third place Boston Red Sox 4-0 at Fenway. Elsewhere, Jim Bunning improved his record to 8-11 by pitching the New York Yankees past California 7-1 and in Baltimore, second baseman Robert Halaska (.220,2,13) hit a 3-run double in the 8th inning to pace the hometown Orioles to a 5-2 win over Detroit. Jack Fisher (10-9, 3.42) held the Tigers to 7 hits in going the distance for the win.


MINOR LEAGUE NOTES - 18 year old rookie pro Bobby Grich had two hits for the Stockton (BAL) Ports of the California League in their 2-1 loss to the Santa Barbara Dodgers. The hits extended Grich's hitting streak to 20 games. The Orioles highly touted second baseman, who is ranked the #7 prospect in the game, is hitting .300 with a homerun and 26 rbi's in 59 games for the Ports this year.

Elsewhere, 25 year old pitcher John Fouse had 15 strikeouts in his Carolina League debut for the Lynchburg(CHA) White Sox. He went the distance allowing 8 hits while walking 2 in a 7-2 victory over the Peninsula Grays. Prior to being promoted to Lynchburg, Fouse was 5-0 with a 3.25 era and 40 strikeouts in 8 starts for the Gulf Coast League White Sox. He originally signed with the Indians in 1964 but was released prior to the 1966 season, and he sat out the entire year before joining the White Sox this spring. In real life he progressed as high as AAA, going 13-12 over two seasons with the Portland Beavers. The real life Fouse was a All-American at baseball and was also a 3-year starter at tight end for the University of Arizona's football team. He was drafted by the NFL Philadelphia Eagles and AFL Buffalo Bills but after failing a physical with the Eagles due to a leg problem, Fouse elected to sign with the Cleveland Indians instead. In 1965, the year the Indians drafted him, Fouse was 12-1 with a school record 40 consecutive shutout innings pitched while also clubbing 16 homers and leading the team in rbi's.

[Tiger Fan]

FRIDAY AUGUST 3, 1967
INDIANS INCH CLOSER TO TWINS

The Cleveland Indians are now just 3.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins after Friday's MLB action. The Indians opened a 4-game weekend series with the Detroit Tigers with a dramatic come from behind 5-3 win in a 14 inning marathon while the struggling Twins, who led Cleveland by 8 games at the all-star break, dropped a 7-2 decision to Boston.

In Cleveland, the Indians entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 3-2 thanks to some fine work from Tiger starter Joe Sparma(10-4, 3.67). However, three singles in the bottom of the ninth of Detroit reliever Phil Regan, including a 2-out rbi hit from Tommie Agee (.275,15,58), allowed the Indians to tie the contest. Detroit had a chance to win it in the 10th with runners on the corners and just 1 out but Steve Hamilton struck out Don Wert (.254,3,36) and induced a ground out from pinch-hitter Bubba Morton to escape the jam. Cleveland also missed a chance to end the game in the 12th when the got the lead-off man on with a double but were unable to score. Finally the game ended in the 14th when Agee singled, his 4th hit of the game, and trotted home on a 2-out, 2-run homer off the bat of Don Lukaszewski (.254,24,60). The win improves the Indians record to 71-40.

The Twins dropped to 72-34 after Don Buford (.293,9,40) stole the show for the Red Sox in Boston's 7-2 win. The Boston third baseman had 3 hits including a 2-run homer and drove in 5 runs to lead the Bosox past Mickey Lolich (13-2, 1.93) and the Twins. Minnesota managed just 3 hits off of Pete Richert (9-7, 4.68) and 3 Boston relievers. Richert had to leave the game in the fifth with an injury despite having not allowed a Minnesota hit at the time. His injury was diagnosed as a mild abdominal strain that is expected to sideline him for two weeks. Boston got further bad news when shortstop Rico Petrocelli (.279,9,47) was injured in a collision at the plate with Twins catcher Jim Pagliaroni. Early word is Petrocelli may be done for the year. The Red Sox, despite being 11 games over .500, are still 13.5 games out of first place.

In other American League action Boog Powell's (.281,19,57) three-run homer in the first inning lifted Baltimore to a 4-2 win over the visiting Chicago White Sox. Dave McNally (7-13, 3.77) went the distance for the Orioles, allowing 5 Chicago hits. Norm Miller's(.201,2,16) walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 9th lifted California past Washington 5-4 while in Kansas City the Athletics beat the New York Yankees 5-2 as Felix Millan (.303,4,18), Jim Mooring (.252,4,9) and catcher Richard Rogers (.281,10,25) all went deep for the A's.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
No real change atop the National League as each of the top three clubs won tonight. The first place Dodgers improved to 60-46 with 4-1 win in Pittsburgh. Sandy Koufax (13-7, 2.21) outduelled Luis Tiant (9-8, 2.57) while Wes Parker (.331,4,47) had 3 hits including a 2-run double for the Dodgers. Pirates outfielder Joe Pepitone (.243,19,56) had a big game, going 4-for-4 in the loss.

San Francisco remains 2.5 games back after Larry Jackson (7-7, 2.64) tossed a 3-hitter to lead the Giants to a 7-1 win over the last place New York Mets. The 36 year old Jackson is in his first season with San Francisco after previously pitching for the White Sox and Cardinals. He is 145-135 in his 12 year major league career. Jim Ray Hart (.273,18,64) led the Giants offense with 2 hits and a pair of rbi's. The Mets made 3 errors leading to 3 unearned runs.

The Cubs beat Atlanta for the second straight night, winning 4-2 thanks to a 3rd inning grand slam off the bat of Ron Santo (.263,16,49). Dick Ellsworth (8-9, 3.48) got the win with Jim Brewer earning his 14th save of the season. Chicago remains 3.5 games behind first place Los Angeles.

The Cincinnati Reds slide continues as the defending NL champs dropped their 5th straight game, falling 4-3 in St Louis despite Frank Robinson getting his 16th homerun of the season. Cardinals starter Bob Gibson (8-6, 1.76) faced just one batter before leaving the game with elbow troubles. He is expected to only miss 1 or 2 starts with the issue. 22 year old Steve Carlton got the win in relief to run his record to 7-5 on the season. At 57-53, the Reds are now 5 games back and tied with Houston for 4th place after the Astros beat Philadelphia 5-1. Dave Giusti (11-4, 2.03) outpitched Rick Wise (11-5, 3.69) for the win while Joe Morgan (.332,3,39) had 3 hits for Houston.

[Tiger Fan]

FIGUEROA A SOURCE OF BRIGHT NEWS FOR METS

The news has been pretty much all bad for the New York Mets this season: sitting dead last in the National League with a 42-67 record, losing young pitching stud Nolan Ryan for the first half of the season, continued knee problems that have cost Paul Blair well over a year and now shutting down 24 year old Jerry Koosman for a start or two due to elbow issues.

However, they did get some good news from their Eastern League affiliate today as 18 year old starter Ed Figueroa made his debut this season for the Williamsport Mets. Figueroa, who is ranked the #56 prospect in the game, was 10-9 with a 4.07 era in 21 starts for Class A Durham of the Carolina League before being moved up to the Eastern League this week. Figueroa was no stranger to Williamsport fans as he did get called up last year and pitched out of their pen but this would be his first start at the AA level.

The native of Puerto Rico made the most of his opportunity, going the distance in a 2-1 victory over the Elmira(BAL) Pioneers. Figueroa gave up 5 hits and walked 5 in the contest, but he also fanned 14 Pioneer hitters. The baby Mets are in second place in the West Division with a 58-47 record, 2 games back of the Reading Phillies.

[Tiger Fan]

SATURDAY AUGUST 5, 1967

I decided to watch Houston and Philadelphia play today. The Astros are a team I have not talked a lot about but they are enjoying some pretty good success, certainly much more then their expansion brother's from New York. The Astros suffered through a dismal first couple of seasons, finishing dead last both years including an awful 45-117 campaign in their inaugural season. Fans taunting players that the win total matching their original nickname was one of the deciding factors in changing their name to the Houston Astros, it sounded a lot better than being mocked as the Houston Colt 45-wins in visiting ballparks. That season set the standard for most losses by an NL team and they were just 1 win ahead of the 1902 Pirates for least wins in a year although Houston played 22 more games then the '02 Bucs.

However, from those early struggles came Rusty Staub, Joe Morgan and Mike Cuellar - who would form the backbone of the current club. In their second season the Astros improved by 17 games to 62-100 and have climbed each year since, going 64-98, 74-88 and 75-87 over the past three seasons. This year they find themselves presently 4 games over .500 at 57-53 and tied for fourth place.

The future looks bright for Houston as their best players now, except for Cuellar, are still in their early twenties and their depth chart going forward looks very good. There are certainly still some holes but with 23 year olds Morgan and Staub, along with 21 year old Bob Watson to lead the offense and 22 year old Don Wilson along with a pair of 20 year olds in Larry Dierker and prospect Dick Tidrow there is a good core of pitchers in place.

The Philadelphia Phillies, with a record 14 World Series titles and 23 National League pennants, have been the class of baseball since the turn of the century. Unfortunately, all of that success has faded over time as the once dominant franchise (well actually 4 times dominant franchise with strings of 7 straight pennants and 4 World Series from 1901-1907, 4 pennants in a 5 year span from 1916-1921, 5 pennants and 5 World Series in a 6 year run from 1926-1931 and finally 6 pennants and 4 World Series titles in 7 years from 1948-54) has fallen into hard times over the past decade. Since their last pennant in 1954 the Phillies have finished 2nd once (1959) and 4th once (1955) but the other 10 years they ended up in the second division.

Old-timers will say it is nothing to worry about as they can harken back to the mid-1930's when the Phillies, fresh off a run of 5 World Series titles in 6 years suddenly found themselves in a 15 year pennant drought that included 9 straight seasons of finishing 6th, 7th or 8th. That club righted itself in the mid-1940s and went on another run of Series titles. The question is whether or not this team, after 7 straight seasons of finishing at least 29 games out of first place, is ready to not only contend - but win.

With all the success the city of Philadelphia has enjoyed - not just the Phillies but also the Athletics who won 23 American League pennants before being chased out of town because of many seasons of very few wins and nearly as few fans in the late 40's-early 50's when the Phillies dominated the city- fans do not take kindly to losing but unfortunately due to the play of the Phillies, now the only game in town, they have been getting used to it.

The Phillies have a good collection of talent in their minor league pipeline led by #8 prospect infielder Toby Harrah but also including Steve Arlin, Andre Thornton, Bill Champion and Larry Bowa. It is a group deep enough that the Baseball News Network declared the Phillies to have the 6th best farm system in the game. Add in players already on the big league roster and 25 or younger and you have something to look forward to in Philadelphia beyond a great cheesesteak. Included in that 25 or younger group are Dick Allen (.293,19,69), Larry Hisle (.285,10,43), Fergie Jenkins (10-10, 2.69), Ray Culp (10-8, 2.01), Rick Wise (11-5, 3.69) and Bruce Howard (6-9, 3.02).

With Houston 5 games off the pace and the Phillies 5.5 back of Los Angeles this 3 game series, which saw Houston take the opener 5-1 last night, is key for both clubs if they want to stay in the mix. The Phillies have a tough series coming up as they get second place San Francisco at home for 3 games before visiting Wrigely Field for 4 games with the 3rd place Cubs. Houston has trips to Cincinnati and Atlanta before returning home to the Astrodome for a big 3 game showdown with the league leading Dodgers.

But our focus is on today where the Phillies send their young ace Fergie Jenkins to the mound against 22 year old Don Wilson (7-10, 2.96) of the Astros. Despite Jenkins being 2 years older they are both in their third major league season. Jenkins was 3-3 out of the pen as a rookie in 1965 before going 7-11 a year ago splitting his time between the rotation and relief work. This year he has been at the top of the Phillies rotation and will be making his 25th start of the season. Wilson, on the other hand, has spent all 3 years in the Houston rotation posting seasons of 9-15 3.73 and 11-14 2.86 before this year.

The game was a close one with both starting pitchers throwing 7 strong innings. Houston took a 1-0 lead in the third when Bob Watson (.211,3,20) hit a solo homerun off of Fergie Jenkins, one of only 3 hits the Phillies ace would allow. Wilson was outstanding for Houston, fanning 8 Philadelphia batters but he left after 7 innings trailing 2-1 thanks to a 6th inning 2 run shot off the bat of Tony Oliva (.250,7,41). The Astros would win the game 3-2 as Walt Williams(.346,1,7), pinch-hitting for Wilson in the top of the 8th, blasted a 2-run homer off of Phillies reliever Grant Jackson, who would be saddled with his 6th blown save of the season.

Houston's win did not move them up in the standings at all as each of the top 5 teams in the National League all picked up victories on this day. With Atlanta and Pittsburgh now both 9.5 games back I would suggest the NL pennant race is now a 6 team battle.

NATIONAL LEAGUE	 W  L  GB  STRK
Los Angeles	61 46   -   W2
San Francisco   60 50  2.5  W3
Chicago		60 52  3.5  W3
Cincinnati	58 53  5.0  W1
Houston		58 53  5.0  W3
Philadelphia	55 53  6.5  L1

In other National League action the front-running Dodgers got a complete game six hitter from Don Sutton (14-7, 1.77) as they beat Pittsburgh 4-2. Jim Lefebvre (.245,8,35) had 2 hits and drove in a pair of runs for Los Angeles. The second place Giants kept pace as Bobby Bolin (11-4, 2.49) blanked the Mets 9-0 on a 3-hitter. Jim Ray Hart (.276,20,70) carried the San Francisco offense with 2 homers and 6 rbi's in the game.

Lou Brock (.333,10,38) and Johnny Callison (.250,7,42) each had 3 hits to pace the Cubs past Atlanta 6-5. Hank Aaron (.310,23,72) extended his National League homerun lead with a solo shot off of Cubs starter Ken Holtzman (10-6, 2.45), who got the win with relief help from Jim Brewer (1.96, 15 sv).

The Cincinnati Reds snapped a 5-game losing streak with a 6-4 victory over the St Louis Cardinals. The Reds needed a pair of runs in the top of the ninth to pull out the win. Pete Rose (.354,6,35), who leads the major leagues in batting average, was 3-for-5 with a triple , a double and 2 runs scored. Hoyt Wilhelm (1-3, 6.43), recently back from 3 months on the disabled list, pitched two innings of relief for his first win of the season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Cleveland Indians beat Detroit 4-3 thanks to a strong performance from starting pitcher Denny Lemaster (10-8, 2.23), who pitched 8 2/3 while fanning 6 and allowing 7 hits for the win. Lemaster did need some help from the pen as Joe Hoerner came on to record the final out for his 9th save of the season. The win allows the Tribe to keep pace with Minnesota, remaining 3.5 games back after the Twins spanked Boston 7-2. Harmon Killebrew (.298,32,85) hit a grand slam as part of a 7-run 8th inning for the Twins. Boston starter Jim Lonborg had allowed just 2 hits entering the 8th inning when the wheels fell off for the Red Sox. Jim Merritt (11-9, 2.89) pitched 8 innings for Minnesota to earn the victory.

Other American League games saw Baltimore win it's fourth in a row, beating the White Sox 2-1 thanks to a Boog Powell (.284,20,59) 2-run homer in the 7th inning. In California, Angels starter Jim Lytle (11-8, 2.91) pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball as his team built a 5-0 lead on Washington. Lytle would not factor in on the decision as the Senators rallied late to tie the game but eventually the Angels prevailed 6-5 thanks to Roger Maris (.168,1,8) scoring the winning run on a passed ball in the bottom of the ninth. The Kansas City Athletics rallied with 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the New York Yankees 4-3. It was the A's third straight win.

MINOR LEAGUES - Another fine pitching display by a New York Met prospect. This time it was 17 year old Jon Matlack of the Durham Bulls (Class A Carolina Lg) who gets the attention. Matlack tossed a complete game 2-hit shutout with 7 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over the Wilson (MIN) Tobs. The Bulls have the best record in the West Division at 63-38, 4.5 games up on the Asheville(HOU) Tourists. Matlack is a huge reason why, posting a 10-1 record with a 1.94 era in his 12 starts since being promoted from Mankato of the Northern League. The first year pro is ranked the #49 prospect in the game. He is also the second youngest player in the league behind only Andre Thronton, an infielder with the Tidewater (PHI) Tides who his batting .270 with 8 homers and 38 rbi's in 87 games.

There was also a great pitching performance in the Class AA Eastern League today. Richard Masterman of the York (WSH) White Roses pitched a 10-inning shutout while allowing just 1-hit as his club beat the Reading(PHI) Phillies 2-0. The Reading pitcher, Alfred Gendreau, also went the distance allowing 9 hits but 3 of them came in succession in the 10th inning. Jake Wood singled with 2 out and scored on a triple off the bat of Vincent Comer. Comer would score on Ossie Chavarria's rbi single. Masterman would then retire the Phillies in order in the bottom of the 10th to get his first career win at the AA level.

The 22 year old Masterman was 9-8 with a 3.65 era in 20 starts before being promoted from Class A Burlington to York. This was just his second AA start, having been beaten 9-0 by Elmira(Bal) in his first career AA appearance. The real life Richard Masterman spent 4 years in the minors but never advanced past Class A.

Finally in the Texas League Albuquerque and Austin hooked up in a pitcher's duel. Albert Choate of the Dodgers got the win as his Albuquerque team prevailed 2-0 over the Austin Braves despite Wayne Twitchell recording 10 strikeouts for the Braves. Both pitchers went the distance allowing just 4 hits each. The game was scoreless until the top of the ninth when Dave McDonald tripled in Bobby Cox with the first run and then scored on a sac fly off the bat of Philip Borders.

Choate is a 22 year old righthander who is 2-0 for Albuquerque since being promoted from Class A Dubuque of the Midwest League, where he was 7-3 with a 3.23 era. The real-life Choate pitched 2 seasons in the minors but did not advance past Class A Dubuque. Twitchell, on the other hand, is a 19 year old future major leaguer (in real life anyway) who is fast tracking through the Braves system after being acquired from Houston over the winter in a deal that sent Carl Morton to the Astros. He moved up to the Texas League last week and is 0-2 in his two starts after going 11-5 with a 2.86 era and 171 strikeouts in 160 innings for Lexington, Kinston and West Palm Beach earlier in the year. He has rated the #31 prospect in the game.

[Tiger Fan]

SUNDAY AUGUST 6, 1967

Today's stop will be at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field for a chance to see the Dodgers in action with Don Drysdale (12-8, 2.34) on the hill. The two-time Cy Young winner is not having the greatest year by his standards, but Drysdale's numbers this season would still be career years for many. He has fanned 114 in 169 innings while walking just 27 batters so far this season. The 31 year is coming off of three very strong outings: a 1-0 loss to the Mets when he allowed just one hit over 8 innings, followed by a pair of complete game 3-1 victories over the same Mets and Philadelphia.

The Dodgers have had the best pitching in the National League for close to a decade and feature a rotation of Koufax (13-7, 2.21), Drysdale, Don Sutton (14-6, 1.77), Bill Singer (10-5, 2.56) and Tommy John (6-7, 3.69). The problem is their offense has never been able to compete and as a result the club has just 2 pennants and 1 World Series title in the Koufax-Drysdale years of the past decade as they have been overshadowed by Cincinnati.

Despite Roberto Clemente (.292,11,52) and Frank Howard (.251,18,58) in the middle of the lineup and table-setter Maury Wills (.258, 18 SB) leading off, the Dodgers still rank only 7th in runs scored in the National League this season. For today's game they will be without Wills, who is nursing a wonky knee and his return date is presently uncertain.

In this universe the Pirates never drafted Clemente away from the Dodgers as a young minor leaguer so Pittsburgh's offense is not where it could be either. The big bats belong to Joe Pepitone (.243,19,56) and 27 year old Willie Stargell (.225,9,35) but teenager Richie Hebner (.264,7,40) has stepped up since his major league debut in April.

The Pirates history has been full of disappointment as they are one of 3 original 1901 franchises never to win a World Series (joining the Giants and Orioles\Browns). The Pirates only celebrations came in 1933 and 1934 when they won their only 2 National League pennants before losing in the World Series. The club has only finished as high as third once since 1945 and has 11 last place finishes in that span. There is some hope for the future with the club's minor league system currently ranked 3rd in the major leagues led by Bob Moose, Richie Zisk, Hebner, Bob Robertson, Mickey Stanley, Don Money, Al Oliver, Freddie Patek, Dave Cash and Manny Sanguillen. Sanguillen was just called up to the majors a few days ago and made his big league debut against San Francisco. He played his second game yesterday and went 0-for-4 in a 4-2 loss. The 23 year old is 1-for-7 in his major league career with his first hit being a single off of the Giants' Gaylord Perry.

The Pirates enter the game in a terrible slump, losing 3 straight and 11 of their last 14 games. At the all-star break they were 3.5 games out of first place, now they sit 9.5 games back. In their defense they have had a tough schedule since the break with 7 of those losses coming in 8 games vs Los Angeles or San Francisco - the top two teams in the National League.

31 year old Bob Veale gets the start on the mound for the Bucs. Veale is just 6-12 despite a decent 2.82 era on the season. He is just 2 years removed from a career year when he went 19-3 with a league leading 1.36 era but he lost the Cy Young to Cincinnati's Jim Maloney (22-4, 1.95). The Dodgers have won 11 of the 14 meetings between the two clubs this season.

Veale would have a tough first inning as the Dodgers got off to a quick start when Clemente stakes them to a first inning lead with a 2-run homer and Jim Lefebvre adds an rbi double as the Dodgers get 3 runs on 4 hits in the opening inning. It was all or nothing for Veale, who retired three Dodgers on strikeouts but trailed 3-0 after the first.

Pittsburgh responded quickly by tying the game in the bottom of the second thanks to a 2-run double from Orlando McFarlane and an rbi single off the bat of Joe Pepitone. Two innings later Pepitone would hit a two-run homer off of Drysdale to put the hometown Pirates up 5-3 and in the bottom of the fifth a Bill Mazerowski sac fly increased the lead to 6-3. Overcoming a rough opening inning, Veale settled down and kept the Dodgers off the scoreboard through 5 innings, fanning 7 in the process.

In the fifth the Pirates pinch-hit for Veale and their bullpen then proceeded to give the game away as the Dodgers got 7 runs over the final 4 innings, including 3 on bases loaded walks and rolled to a 10-6 victory. Clemente, with a 3-for-4 afternoon, including 2 homers, 4 rbi's and 3 runs scored, is named the top performer in the majors for the day.

The Pirates now will limp off to Chicago and New York for games next week with their season - one that showed so much promise just 3 weeks ago - in shambles as they now sit 10.5 games back of first place Los Angeles with little to no hope of getting back into the race.

The news was not all good for the Dodgers, winners of 6 of their last seven games. After the contest word filtered through the Los Angeles locker room that Maury Wills knee injury was much more serious than originally thought. The 34 year old Dodger lead-off man would be done for the season because of the injury. Bob Aspromonte, a 28 year old who had spent most of the season in AAA Spokane, will take over for Wills at shortstop down the stretch. Aspromonte has a .272 career average in 766 major league games.

San Francisco kept pace with the Dodgers, staying 2.5 games back thanks to an 11 inning 6-3 win over the Mets. The Giants tied the game in the top of the ninth on a Felipe Alou rbi double and won it with 3 runs and 5 hits in the 11th. Alou (.306,5,32) had 4 hits to capture player of the game honours.

The Cubs dropped a game in the standings after being blown out 10-4 by Atlanta. Elsewhere, Philadelphia beat Houston 2-1 despite a 4-hitter from Astros starter Larry Dierker (9-9, 2.80) and St Louis blanked Cincinnati 4-0 thanks to a pair of homeruns from Don Mincher (.238,12,37) and a complete game 2-hit shutout for Denny McLain (8-10, 2.44).

AMERICAN LEAGUE
KALINE GETS 2500TH CAREER HIT

Al Kaline (.290,20,56) became the 63rd player to reach the 2500 hit plateau in major league history. The Detroit Tiger veteran hit an rbi single off of Cleveland's Jim Perry in a 7-5 Detroit victory for the milestone. The 32 year old Kaline accomplished the feat in his 2,136th career major league game - all played in a Detroit uniform. He is an 8-time all-star who won 3 World Series titles, an MVP award and the 1954 rookie of the year award. A .313 lifetime hitter, Kaline also won a batting title in 1958 at the age of 23.

As for the Tigers the win over the Indians, in a sloppy game that saw each club commit two errors which led to 4 unearned runs, came in the opener of a doubleheader. Cleveland took the second game by a 3-1 score as Lee Stange (10-4, 2.80) and reliever Steve Hamilton (1.47, 4 sv) combined to hold Detroit to 5 hits while Mack Jones (.229,19,49), with 3 hits and a rbi, and Bob Allison (.244,17,50) led the Cleveland offense. Allison was just 1-for-3 but his only hit was the game winner, driving in two runs with a 7th inning double.

Minnesota beat Boston by the same 3-1 score so the Twins improved to a major league best 74-34 and added a half game to their lead on second place Cleveland, which now sits at 4 games.

In Kansas City, little used back up infielder Randy Schwartz (.147,0,7) hit a pinch-hit walk-off rbi double to give Kansas City it's fourth straight win, beating the Yankees 3-2. Jack Aker (5-6, 2.32) blew the save but got the win in relief of John O'Donoghue (6-12, 3.88). Both of the other games on the schedule needed extra innings. It took 15 for California to pull out a 7-6 win over the visiting Washington Senators while the White Sox won 3-2 in Baltimore thanks to a Tommy McCraw (.247,6,27) homerun.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Baltimore Orioles first baseman Boog Powell was named the American League player of the week. The 25 year old was 11-for-19 (.579) with 4 homers and 10 rbi's last week as the Orioles won 4 out of 6 games. On the year, Powell is batting .286 with 21 homers and 60 rbi's. He has 240 career homeruns as he is in his 8th season with the Orioles. A two-time all-star, this the 6th time in his career he has been named AL player of the week.

The top performer in the National League was Ron Santo of the Cubs. The Chicago third baseman was 15-for-29 with 4 homers last week as the Cubs continue to challenge for the National League pennant, which would be their first since 1937. The 27 year old Santo is batting .264 on the year with 17 homers and 52 rbi's. He is a 4 time all-star with 2 gold gloves in his 9th season in the major leagues.

MINOR LEAGUE NOTES
Among the winners of the player of the week awards in the minors are some recognizable names. Pittsburgh prospect Richie Zisk of Gastonia was named the top player in the Western Carolinas League. The 18 year old his batting .326 with 32 homers and 97 rbi's in 109 games. In the Midwest League, the winner was Von Joshua of the Dubuque (LA) Packers. Joshua is a 19 year old first year pro hitting .324 with a homer and 15 rbis through 72 games. 20 year old Tony Soliata of the Evansville (CHA) White Sox was named the Southern League's top player.

[Tiger Fan]

MONDAY AUGUST 27, 1967

Well I got carried away watching a lot of games play out and did not have time to do a recap so we have fast forwarded towards the end of August. My hope of seeing a pennant race involving multiple teams - something that looked very possible for the National League at the all-star break - is now long gone as San Francisco, and to a degree Los Angeles, have distanced themselves from the pack.

The Giants have been on fire, winning 12 straight in early August and 20 of their last 23 games. That has allowed them to take over first place, 3.5 games ahead of the Dodgers heading into 3 game series between the two clubs at Candlestick beginning today. It seems like every Giant has been on a tear all month, with none playing better than Jim Ray Hart (.288,24,81), who is hitting .347 this month with 7 homers and 23 rbi's in 24 games.

The Dodgers have not played bad in August, going 15-10 for the month, but they have fallen out of first place. The young Houston Astros made a good run and are 70-62 but at 8.5 games back with just over a month to play you can pretty much count them out. Same for the defending champion Reds, who have fallen below .500 after winning just 8 of 25 games this month. The Reds are presently on a 3-game winning streak after beating the Astros 3-straight over the weekend.

All of the attention on the National League will be focused on the Dodgers-Giants series. A San Francisco sweep can go a long way towards allowing the Giants to win their first pennant since 1938.


Meanwhile in the American League the Minnesota Twins continue to hold off the defending World Series champion Cleveland Indians. The Twins, at 86-42, have a 2 game lead on Cleveland but are coming off a weekend series where they lost two of three to the Indians in Cleveland. The two clubs will play 4 games in Minnesota next week and that will end their season series. The Twins have won 9 of the 15 games the two clubs have played against each other so far this season.

[JaBurns]

The Left Arm of God continues to put up very impressive numbers. I find the most intriguing thing about OOTP is the almost limitless possibilities of playing out "what if" scenarios.

[crawdad5000]

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

I chose 1965 to join the action in my sim because it was the year I was born and will give me a chance to follow the career arcs of all the players I loved as a kid in the 1970s.

1965 Huh!! That's awesome. I was born in '60. Started playing Strat-o-matic in 1970 and never looked back as far as baseball stat sims go. What you said about this game hits home Tigerfan. I've learned so much about players I didn't know existed until I played all my various replays. I've been playing since OOTP3 and I've tried just about every way to play. Historical replay is still my favorite with just a little chance involved to make it interesting. Toad Ramsey finally wasn't so dominating this year!! I'm like you when I sim a replay. I get to the 60's and 70's and start watching the results more because my boyhood heroes have arrived.

I like to play random debut, starting 1920 or later also, for the what if factor. Anyway, I'm babbling. Keep the reports coming. Love this stuff.