AL Standings as of April 15, 1967
On Monday, May 15, 1967 the Minnesota Twins found themselves on the way to Chicago to play the 18-7 first place Chicago White Sox. Sam Mele’s bunch had just completed a two-week home stand in the cold Minnesota weather and the team played 6-5 baseball. But now the Twins were now on a three-game losing skid and their record stood at 11-15, tied for eighth place and 7 1/2 games out of the league lead. The highest attendance at any of the 11 home games in early May against the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Senators and Athletics was just 11,864.
One of the highlights of their recent home-stand was watching Rod Carew go 5 for 5 on May 8 against the Washington Senators but unfortunately the Senators scored six in the top of the seventh inning and won the game 7-4. Carew became the first Twins player to go 5 for 5 at Met Stadium.
The Twins were struggling, they had five hitters (Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, Russ Nixon, Rich Rollins, Early Battey) hitting under 2.25. Starter Dave Boswell had a 9.50 ERA in four starts. Rumors were flying that manager Sam Mele’s job was at risk.
Sporting News May 20, 1967 P21
The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.