Tag: Harmon Killebrew

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 38 – Chance pitches no-hitter in 2-1 win over Indians

The Twins swept a twin-bill from the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium in what turned out to be a very interesting day. The first game was tied at 4-4 after 9 innings and in the top of the tenth Tony Oliva singled and scored when Harmon Killebrew followed with his annual triple. Sandy Valdespino followed Harmon with a sac fly to score Killebrew and the Twins were up by 6-4. Ron Kline gave up a home run to Joe Azcue but kept Cleveland from scoring any more runs and the Twins won the game 6-5 in 10 innings.

The first game extra-innings victory was quickly put on the back burner when Twins starter Dean Chance pitched a no-hitter in the second game even though he allowed the Indians to score first in a no-hitter rarity. Chance threw 95 pitches and struck out 8 Indians but walked five and Cesar Tovar committed an error so it not like the Indians didn’t have their chances in the Twins 2-1 win. The Twins scored both of their runs without the benefit of a RBI, the first run scored on an error and the second scored on a balk. 

 

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Previous 1967 AL Pennant Race blogs can be found here.

1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 30 – Race continues, five teams within five games

In their final July game the Twins were helpless against Lee Stange, a former Twins pitcher and current Red Sox starter. Stange had a perfect game going until Harmon Killebrew singled with two out in the seventh inning at Fenway Park. The Twins final two hits took place in the ninth but Stange retired Tony Oliva and Killebrew on fly balls and he and the Red Sox closed out the 4-0 win. The Boston crew had only 4 hits themselves but three of them including a 3 run home run belonged to Carl Yastrzemski and Stange had the other Boston hit. Even though the Sox lost the five game series three games to two they held on to second place just 2 games out of the lead.

Star Tribune Aug 1 1967

With 2/3 of the 1967 season in their rear-view mirror the Twins find themselves with a 53-47 record, good enough for fourth place tie and 5 games behind the league leading White Sox. With 17 wins and 13 losses in July the Twins scored 122 runs and held the opposition to just 94 runs.

 

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 25 – Twins KO the Kansas City A’s 3-2 – just 1 1/2 games out of the lead

The Minnesota Twins allowed the Athletics to steal a record-breaking seven bases but yet found a way to beat the last place bunch from Kansas City. The Twins proved that at least in this game, that power beats speed. 

In the first inning the A’s scored two runs on a single hit, an error, a walk and four stolen bases. The Twins came back on a home run in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 2-1. The score remained 2-1 until Jack Aker relieved A’s starter Lew Krausse in the ninth inning. Harmon Killebrew greeted Aker with a game tying home run, his second of the game. Tony Oliva followed with another home run off Aker and the Twins walked off the running A’s 3-2. The Twins had but six hits but three were home runs and one was a double. Box Score

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By the way, do you what a KO line-up is versus an OK line-up in Twins history?

 

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 24 – Twins take two from White Sox

After the White Sox took the first two games from the Minnesota Twins, 31, 141 fans packed White Sox Park to see the home town nine take two more from the visiting Twins. But, it was not to be, after spotting the Whitey’s a one run lead the Twins tied it in the fourth inning and then scored 2 in the 5th, 6th, and 8th innings and held on for a 7-4 win in game one. Jim Kaat hit his first home run of the season.  Zoilo Versalles had 3 hits and Rich Rollins, Bob Allison and Jim Kaat each had 2 hits. Jim Kaat took home the win and Ron Kline registered the save. Box Score

In game two the Twins were out hit 8 to 6 but managed to out score the White Sox 5 to 1 and a double-header sweep was in the books. Dave Boswell was credited with the victory to even his record at 8-8 and Al Worthington notched his 12th save of the season. When the day was done the Twins still found themselves in third place but now only 2.5 games behind the league leading WSox but only a half game behind the Tigers at the All-Star break. Box Score

Pitcher Dean Chance along with Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Rod Carew (who missed the week-end series due to military obligations) left for the All-Star game in Anaheim after the DH was complete and were accompanied by manager Cal Ermer and owner Calvin Griffith.

 

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 20 – June comes to an end, Ermer, Kaat

L-R: Killebrew, Carew, Tovar and Versalles

The Minnesota Twins end June 36-34 record and in third place, 7 games behind the league leading Chicago White Sox and just one and a half a games behind the second place Detroit Tigers. Although the team has not put together any long winning streak, they have not lost back-to-back games since May 30th.

 

With the 1967 All-Star game just 11 days away, the Twins know they have a tough row to hoe before they get a few days off as they have three doubleheaders to play before taking time off for the mid-summer classic. That will be 11 games in 9 days.

New Twins manager Cal Ermer has a new plan in mind for Twins starting pitchers that maybe today’s Twins should implement. You can read about it in the Sporting News article below.

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The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 19 – Twins beat Red Sox as Boswell strikes out 13, four Twins named to AS team

Dave Boswell

The Twins scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh inning on George Scott‘s second error of the game and went on to win 3-2 at the Met. Twins starter Dave Boswell struck out a personal best 13 batters and evened his record at 5-5 in pitching a complete game even though he gave up home runs to Jerry Adair and Reggie Smith in the fifth that tied the game at the time. The Twins took the well pitched series two games to one as no team scored more than 3 runs in any of the three games. The 36-34 Twins who are still seven games out of first now await the arrival of the 32-41 Washington Senators.

MLB announced the Minnesota Twins players Dean Chance, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and rookie Rod Carew had been selected for the 1967 All-Star game scheduled for July 11 in Anaheim.

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The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 17 – Twins open 13 game home stand against division leading WSox

Joel Horlen

The 32-32 Minnesota Twins who are 7 games out of first open a 13 game home stand against the first place Chicago White Sox on Friday, June 23. A crowd of 30,100 fans, the largest since opening day show up to see the White Sox starter Joel Horlen who is 8-0 duel against the 9-5 Twins ace Dean Chance. As predicted it turns out to be a pitching duel with both teams scoreless through 6 innings, the Twins have 4 hits and the White Sox just 3. 

Chance holds Chicago scoreless in the top of the seventh while the Twins finally put a 1 on the board with a home run by Harmon Killebrew, his 12 of the month and 22 of the season. Chance finishes the shutout for his 10th win and Horlen is lifted for a pinch-hitter after 8 innings and Bobby Locker finishes up. Just one hour and 58 minutes after the game started Dean Chance retires Pete Ward for the 27th out and the game goes in the books as a 1-0 Twins win. The Twins pick up a game in the standings but still find themselves looking up at the Red Sox, Tigers and White Sox. Box Score

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The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

The 1967 AL pennant race – Part 16 – Twins and Tigers play nine and end up in a tie

The Twins had a 5-2 lead after five innings of play at Tiger Stadium but the Tigers scored one in sixth and two in the seventh to tie the game at 5 apiece. The game was finally called a draw in the top of the ninth with Harmon Killebrew at the plate with two strikes and one out after Rod Carew led off the top of the ninth with a single but was caught stealing. The game had four rain delays and was called around midnight CDT. Box Score.

The Star Tribune pages below will tell  you more about the Twins/Tigers game, a brawl in New York between the Yanks and Red Sox and more about the disagreement on the Twins bus between Tony Oliva and Ted Uhlaender that was supposedly instigated by Dave Boswell. At the end of the day the Twins were 32-31 and 6.5 games behind the high-flying Chicago White Sox.

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A nice picture of Tiger Stadium

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

 

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 11 – Back-to-back walk-off victories & Bob Allison

LF Bob Allison played for the Senators/Twins from 1958-1970

June 4 – Bob Allison drove in Ted Uhlaender from third base with a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the 10th inning in an 8-7 win over the Angels after blowing a 7-3 lead in the seventh inning. Jim Perry got his first win of the season and Minnie Rojas took the defeat. Box Score

June 5 – Bob Allison is again the star as the Twins have their second walk-off win in two days, this time the victim is the Cleveland Indians. With the score tied at 4-4 since the sixth inning the Twins face Indians reliever Steve Bailey in the bottom of the ninth. Bailey gets pinch-hitter Ted Uhlaender to ground out but then walks Cesar Tovar, Rod Carew singles with Tovar advancing to second bring up Rich Rollins to advances both runners by getting thrown out C-1B. With two runners on and two out Tribe manager Joe Adcock decides to give Harmon Killebrew a free pass to first bringing up Bob Allison. Bailey throws a wild pitch past catcher Duke Sims and the Twins win game number 24 putting them one game over the .500 mark. Al Worthington gets the win in relief. At the end of the day the Twins find themselves in 5th place and five games behind the league leading Detroit Tigers. Box Score 

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 10 – Killebrew goes deep, REAL DEEP!

That famous Harmon Killebrew swing

Harmon Killebrew hit the longest home run ever hit by a Twin, estimated at 522 feet. The Killer crushed this 3 run blast against Lew Burdette of the Angels on June 3, 1967 in front of just 12,337 Twins fans. The ball landed in the sixth row of the upper deck at Metropolitan Stadium and Killebrew becomes the first player to hit a ball into the second deck of the left field pavilion. The ball cracked the seat, which was later painted orange to commemorate the event and the seat eventually found its way to the Hall of Fame. Box Score

Eyewitness to history: This Harmon Killebrew home run made a sound like no other

Hartman: Killebrew made himself into fabulous power hitter

 

The Mall of America’s unusual tribute to Harmon Killebrew

The ’67 summer was the most heartbreaking of that era for Twins fans. We were edged out for the pennant at the very end. Boston and Carl Yastrzemski prevailed. Historical annals show Harmon hitting tape measure blasts at his very best then. He came to bat on an early summer day, looking out to the mound and pitcher Lew Burdette of the Los Angeles Angels. It was early summer but the temperature felt like midsummer, making the atmosphere perfect at our beloved “Met.” The wind was gusting in the 25-35 MPH range. Legend has it Harmon may have caught a jet stream. Burdette vainly tried to fool “the Killer” with a knuckler. Killebrew launched the ball on a ride of 520 feet. The ball came down in the upper deck of the Met’s left field pavilion. Burdette was quoted saying “I threw him a knuckle ball that started out high. And all it did was get higher.”

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.