1967 Yankees
The Plan
With Mota settled in left, his lack of power should be offset elsewhere, most likely right field or third base. Maris has a recent injury history with good power/low average and Boyer brings a great glove with some punch but an anemic average. Another annoyance is at second, where Clarke has an average glove along with a low .332 OB and awful running numbers (5 SB/10 CS) for a top-of the order player (in fact, in September he was moved down to seventh or eighth and Grote moved into the #2 hole). Whitaker showed some promise in right but the idea was to look for trade alternatives. But even before I could “pick up the phone” it rang with an offer from Detroit, Jim Northrup for Whitaker and Ford. I know Ford has only a month and change left in his career but I would pretend I didn’t and being in the 60’s Yankee management mindset wouldn’t trade an icon anyway. I substituted Bouton, Larry Sherry and some prospects and this was accepted. There is now an evenly balanced outfield, with 2 right-handed hitters, 2 left-handed hitters and a switch-hitter. Maris is now strictly a right fielder and White doesn’t have the arm for right, but the other 3 can man all 3 picket posts. With 2 rookie catchers in camp, there is now a glut in the receiving corps. I dangled Dick Dietz (midseason pickup when Gibbs was hurt) and was offered third baseman Sal Bando by Baltimore. He may not be good for a few years so will have to play him enough to keep him until he does. I made this deal before I saw that I had to trade Howard, since he didn’t play enough in ’66 to be allowed to keep him (my self-imposed “use him or lose him” penalty) so I had to shop an icon anyway. This done, Philly offered second baseman Cookie Rojas. Done. Catching will be the Grote/Gibbs platoon and I’m very happy with the pitching staff of a Downing-Blass-Perry-Peterson-Stottlemyre rotation backed by relievers Hamilton, Reniff and Hoerner.
What Happened to the Plan
In and out of first place through midseason, power being a still-glaring weakness (43 homers, 2nd worst at the time) and seeing Frank Howard on the trading block I dealt for him when the race looked like this:
Balt 44-31 -
Minn 45-32 -
Bos 43-36 1
NY 43-36 1
After adding Earl Wilson as a workhorse starter, there looked to be no place to go but up.
The Results
If I could fire myself, I almost should. Yes, the OOTP Yanks with an 83-79 record good for fifth place did better than the Burke-CBS and Houk version (72-90 and ninth), but after the Howard trade the team went straight down. With Howard added to the lineup, Northrup would either move Stanley (great glove/bad bat) or Mota (the inverse) to the bench and it seemed to upset the chemistry. Howard ending up leading the league with 37 HRs and Mantle turned in another super year, with leading .432 OB and 130 BBs for third in the MVP vote (Yastrzemski won, as in his real-life triple crown year). Disastrous Campaneris was again a speedster (67 steals, good for 2nd) but hit so badly he ended the year at the bottom of the order. The catching platoon of Grote/Gibbs was a debacle. Among 7 starters used, only Peterson and Downing stood out and Wilson went 1-9 for the Yanks. Womack, Hoerner and Mikkelson did well in relief. In news tied to reality, Boston was .002 in front when Tony Conigliaro went down and Harrelson, still with KC, did replace him. The Sox finished third, 5 games behind the Orioles. Hunter is also still an Athletic so is on track to be a ’75 free agent signing.
RF Mota .368 in 418 PAs
2B Clarke .274, 26 SBs
1B Mantle also 27 HRs (5th), .492 SA (2nd), .923 OPS (3rd)
LF Howard also 106 RBI (2nd, 22/56 in NY), .491 SA (3rd)
CF Northrup .240/10/64
3B Boyer 14 HRs
C Grote/Gibbs .194/.232
SS Campaneris .210 with .277 OB
Maris hit .251 with 5 HRs in part-time play, Stanley was relegated to being CF defensive replacement as a result of his .199 BA and White added .257 to the bench mix.
S1 Peterson: 2.30 (3rd), 4 Shutouts (4th)
S2 Downing 2.89, 204 K’s
S3 Perry: 2.54 in 149 IP
S4 Stottlemyre: 3.72
S5 Blass, Wilson and Thad Tillotson
RP Hoerner 2.27
RP Womack 1.92
RP Mikkelson 2.90
On deck, the 1968 Yankees.
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