The Bucs Start Here - A Pirates Do-Over

[luckymann]

In typical Mantle style, he belts one in each game of a DH at Yankee Stadium to hurdle Lou is one fell swoop.

#571 v Baltimore 05/04 in the 7th off Vicente Romo.




#572 v Baltimore 05/04 in the 1st off John Buzhardt!!!

[luckymann]

Which active pitchers are leading the MLB in career wins?

• Whitey Ford, EP, 221
• Jim Bunning, PIT, 210
• Don Drysdale, LAD, 206
• Sandy Koufax, LAD, 191
• Larry Jackson, CAL, 179

Of course, Walter Johnson is the all-time leader with that almost mystical 500 on the dot.

[luckymann]

Which pitchers are leading the MLB in career strikeouts?

• Satchel Paige, -, 4496
• Walter Johnson, -, 4015
• Sandy Koufax, LAD, 3413
• Dick Redding, -, 3200
• Rube Waddell, -, 3162

[luckymann]

A not totally unexpected scratchy start by the boys that more closely resembles a Claymation short than a baseball season in progress. It’s mainly our hitting that struggles, with dominant performances interspersed by hapless ones with great regularity and neither Rose (246 BA / 0.2 bWAR) nor Johnson (1 HR / 9 RBI) showing much from the off. While better than the hitting, our pitching isn’t totally immune as Woodie Fryman, Grant Jackson and Dave Giusti each has a couple of worrying blowouts as well. All in all, everything looks a bit shaky in this early sectional.





Our depth is tested for the first time when a thumb fracture sidelines C Ed Kirkpatrick for 4 weeks. At least a nice turn comes of it as Don Leppert, who has been in the league since 1961 but never played a game in the bigs, finally gets the long-awaited call-up at age 37 (and cracks his first homer a few games in). But it does mess up our shape, leaving us with only Al Oliver to backup Pops at 1B. A subsequent injury to Clemente further erodes our group, although we elect to keep him off the IL and just rest him.






The only even remotely positive thing I can say is that at least – thanks to this season’s somewhat forgiving environment with the expansion clubs and divisional alignment being introduced, as well as what seems to be a pretty evenly-balanced competition – we haven’t completely stuffed our chances of participating in the post-season action. But the Phillies have made a strong move to head us by 5.5 going into June, so another sectional like this one will change that entirely.




Monthly Award Winners

April

American League

• Batter – Bill Melton (White Sox): 397 / 6 HR / 18 RBI
• Pitcher – Bob Veale (Red Sox): 4-1 / 0.66 / 36 K / 40.2 IP
• Rookie – Gary Gentry (Angels): 3-0 / 1.42 / 22 K / 38 IP

National League

Batter – Frank Robinson (Reds): 397 / 2 HR / 18 RBI
Pitcher – Bob Gibson (Cardinals): 4-0 / 1.41 / 39 K / 44.2 IP
Rookie – Jim Colborn (Padres): 3-2 / 2.91 / 20 K / 34 IP


May

American League

• Batter – Rico Petrocelli (Red Sox): 333 / 9 HR / 20 RBI
• Pitcher – Sam McDowell (Indians): 5-1 / 0.87 / 55 K / 51.2 IP
• Rookie – Vida Blue (A’s): 3-0 / 2.92 / 31 K / 40 IP

National League

• Batter – Tony Perez (Reds): 361 / 10 HR / 23 RBI
• Pitcher – Rick Wise (Reds): 5-1 / 2.55 / 24 K / 42.1 IP
• Rookie – Steve Renko (Expos): 4-1 / 3.38 / 19 K / 42.2 IP

News and Leaders






Milestones and Observations of Note

• 400 HR: Harmon Killebrew
• 2500 Hits: Henry Aaron
• A slight setback for reigning AL RoY Reggie Jackson, with a hamstring tear set to keep him out of action for a month or so. A bigger one for Willie Mays, knocked out for the mandatory 3 month Legacy maximum with an Achilles’ injury.
• The Twins sign Claude Osteen on a 1/212 deal, while Chico Salmon is claimed off the Cubs by KC.
• The Waiver Wire is indeed treacherous as you’d expect, and we claim Bill Robinson from the Tigers and install him at the big club. That’s a great get for us, despite him being bereft of OYs. Bill is a young and talented three-slot OF who played for us IRL from 1975-82. The only hiccup is that Ted Savage is subsequently claimed by the A’s, but that’s only a minor annoyance.

Our re-signing project starts well, with Woodie Fryman agreeing to a 5-year deal at a total outlay of $587k. That’s an AAV of $117k, a decent margin less than we’d expected. Johnson follows for a year on $168k, which implies a higher-than-forecast cost for him beyond next season. Tolan re-ups on a slightly backended 4-year / $820k deal that hopefully gives us some time to grow into the latter part of. Only Blass is a holdout despite us making a generous offer, which is a real disappointment given what we’re trying to build here. So we’ll send him to arb and we’ll lowball him when we do just to remind him who’s running things in case he’s forgotten or maybe even trade his ass, just for spite—1971 heroics IRL be damned. So the other three cost us a fair bit less than we had budgeted for, which is great going. We also keep Grant Jackson at the club thru 1972 for $35k per and Paul Popovich on a 2/100 deal. That’ll do us for now.


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[luckymann]

Most HRs over a 5 year span

[luckymann]

So, who is the active leader in the MLB in career bases on balls?

• Mickey Mantle, NYY, 1915
• Richie Ashburn, SE1, 1324
• Eddie Mathews, SE1, 1286
• Harmon Killebrew, NYY, 1161
• Jim Gilliam, HOU, 1147

All-time Leader: Ted Williams, 2328

[luckymann]

The Sens are making a surprising early tilt at the newborn AL East, but the Sox show they won't give up their title quite so meekly with this stirring 16-inning comeback win over the Twins.

And rest easy, Boston fans, the injury to Petrocelli is only DtD.

[Brad K]

Rose hitting .241... he's betting on games and throwing them.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Rose hitting .241... he's betting on games and throwing them.

Hahaha

For us, he is worth the risk. Remember that the vast majority of top players are verboten for us via the Legacy Players rules. So he's like a unicorn for our club.

Just in case, however, all betting agencies within the city have been told to enforce a strict exclusion policy for Mr Hustle throughout the baseball season.

[luckymann]

I guess this takes the form of an unscheduled mini-update, but it fits better here than waiting until end July because some big changes are afoot.

We start June in a positive manner with a 4-game sweep at the Braves seeming to put some wind in our sails. We need it, too, just to keep up with the surging Phillies, although we have ground down the deficit to 2 games by the time we head there for a four-gamer in late June.

Then we play our worst series to date as the usual characters just don’t show up when needed. Long gone are the days when opponents had to fight this club for every win. This is a different type of player we’re seeing now and I don’t like it one bit. Nor do I like being a half-dozen games back again just like that.

I do, however, like it better than being 10 games back, as is the case when we just keep losing—eight in a row for starters, and by the time July rolls around and we cap off this absolutely horrid stretch (ignoring for now the fact that we went 15-15 for the month) by dropping two of three at home to Philly to sit at 41-41, we have trashed our season entirely.

At this point my focus shifts to 1971. There are members of this group that I just don’t see us winning with and it is time to move them on in favour of the players that I believe will get us there.

Step one in this process uses up our second trade ticket for the year. We try everything we can to make this an even bigger swap but to no avail. It won't be the last of 1970, if I have my way.




Bunning has really turned it around for us this year but at 37 and on big $$ his brief Pirates career in this timeline ends with this season, leaving us in desperate need of an ace to lead our rotation moving forward. The role was Fryman's but he has been horrendous this season and has now blown his chance. I had always intended to acquire Dock at some point, and now I have. Hide the purple pills, people.




The cliff approaches for Lemaster and that $200k per for the next couple seasons will come in real handy, as will his CC slot. Torrez is an ineligible we'd been holding back for this sort of deal; Schwall is toast.

We've still got Mota and Helms in tow. Blass remains in my bad books and so, if we can tie the three of those up in a nice package for another top-notch SP then we will. But I'm not going to do anything foolish, we simply can't afford to at this point, voices in my head be damned...


EDIT

The Mets come to town for four immediately after this and we break bread with them at the end of the series because the top guy on their list is at their club. It takes a long negotiation and a fairly hefty price, but eventually we swing this deal:




"The Singer Throwing Machine" - easily the best nickname in MLB history IMHO - comes aboard as our new SP2 and CC3. He's got another year of arb and will be pricey to retain past that, but when we add the payroll relief from this trade to the kitty, even with the retentions we should be able to find a way, especially with some other imminent departures.



OK, we are done for now.

[luckymann]

So, who is the active leader in the MLB in career triples?

• Willie Mays, SF, 132
• Roberto Clemente, PIT, 127
• Richie Ashburn, SE1, 124
• Vada Pinson, CIN, 110
• Lou Brock, STL, 82

All-time leader: Ty Cobb, 281

[luckymann]

Four of our boys get a nod this year, with Bob Bailey among them for the first time in his career.

American League

• SP Dick Bosman (DET) - 11-8, 2.60 ERA, 159.1 IP, 1.15 WHIP, 5.1 K/9, 2.9 WAR
• SP Sam McDowell (CLE)* - 11-5, 2.51 ERA, 157.2 IP, 1.24 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 5.0 WAR
• SP Denny McLain (WS2) - 12-6, 2.64 ERA, 157.0 IP, 1.17 WHIP, 6.2 K/9, 4.0 WAR
• SP George Stone (CLE) - 6-8, 2.45 ERA, 150.1 IP, 1.04 WHIP, 5.3 K/9, 2.4 WAR
• SP Bob Veale (BOS) - 10-8, 2.77 ERA, 152.2 IP, 1.22 WHIP, 7.1 K/9, 3.4 WAR
• SP Ray Washburn (NYY) - 8-3, 2.24 ERA, 132.2 IP, 1.30 WHIP, 5.2 K/9, 2.6 WAR
• RP Luis Tiant (BOS) - 5-0, 2.32 ERA, 62.0 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 6.1 K/9, 0.8 WAR
• CL Jim Derrington (DET)* - 4-2, 10 SV, 2.75 ERA, 55.2 IP, 1.06 WHIP, 8.2 K/9, 0.7 WAR
• CL Joe Hoerner (BAL) - 3-6, 19 SV, 2.11 ERA, 47.0 IP, 1.21 WHIP, 4.0 K/9, -0.0 WAR
• CL Tug McGraw (CAL) - 0-6, 12 SV, 2.07 ERA, 65.1 IP, 1.30 WHIP, 6.5 K/9, 1.1 WAR
• C Dick Dietz (CWS) - .318/.488/.490, 151 AB, 5 HR, 179 wRC+, 2.0 WAR
• C Frank Fernandez (WS2) - .203/.414/.411, 202 AB, 12 HR, 4 SB, 152 wRC+, 2.6 WAR
• C Bill Freehan (DET)* - .292/.348/.482, 253 AB, 13 HR, 142 wRC+, 3.4 WAR (Injured)
• 1B Norm Cash (DET) - .267/.351/.495, 329 AB, 19 HR, 145 wRC+, 3.1 WAR
• 2B Rod Carew (MIN) - .356/.420/.471, 348 AB, 5 HR, 13 SB, 160 wRC+, 4.0 WAR
• 2B Dick McAuliffe (DET)* - .286/.392/.515, 297 AB, 11 HR, 4 SB, 159 wRC+, 3.8 WAR
• 3B Bill Melton (CWS)* - .259/.333/.427, 321 AB, 14 HR, 1 SB, 123 wRC+, 2.3 WAR
• SS Leo Cardenas (NYY) - .354/.400/.490, 339 AB, 6 HR, 2 SB, 161 wRC+, 4.6 WAR
• SS Jim Fregosi (CAL) - .325/.391/.472, 335 AB, 7 HR, 5 SB, 152 wRC+, 4.6 WAR
• SS Rico Petrocelli (BOS)* - .326/.414/.608, 301 AB, 22 HR, 196 wRC+, 5.1 WAR (Injured)
• LF Ken Henderson (CAL) - .328/.449/.464, 317 AB, 7 HR, 13 SB, 173 wRC+, 4.7 WAR
• LF Merv Rettenmund (CLE) - .282/.405/.471, 323 AB, 15 HR, 12 SB, 153 wRC+, 4.3 WAR
• LF Roy White (NYY)* - .325/.422/.485, 363 AB, 11 HR, 16 SB, 165 wRC+, 4.6 WAR
• LF Carl Yastrzemski (BOS)* - .283/.415/.495, 315 AB, 16 HR, 7 SB, 161 wRC+, 3.6 WAR
• CF Reggie Smith (BOS)* - .332/.407/.553, 331 AB, 14 HR, 6 SB, 176 wRC+, 5.5 WAR
• RF Reggie Jackson (OAK)* - .280/.411/.582, 225 AB, 18 HR, 7 SB, 184 wRC+, 3.1 WAR
• RF Tony Oliva (MIN) - .315/.364/.531, 356 AB, 12 HR, 6 SB, 155 wRC+, 4.7 WAR

National League

• SP Jim Bunning (PIT) - 11-3, 2.57 ERA, 154.0 IP, 1.12 WHIP, 5.6 K/9, 3.3 WAR
• SP Steve Carlton (PHI) - 9-7, 2.40 ERA, 172.1 IP, 1.13 WHIP, 7.3 K/9, 4.2 WAR
• SP Larry Dierker (HOU) - 13-6, 2.07 ERA, 173.2 IP, 0.96 WHIP, 5.9 K/9, 4.1 WAR
• SP Bob Gibson (STL)* - 11-5, 2.31 ERA, 175.0 IP, 1.10 WHIP, 6.5 K/9, 4.9 WAR
• SP Fergie Jenkins (CHC) - 13-7, 2.93 ERA, 166.0 IP, 0.99 WHIP, 5.5 K/9, 4.3 WAR
• SP Sandy Koufax (LAD) - 14-3, 1.60 ERA, 168.2 IP, 0.87 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, 7.7 WAR
• CL Jerry Cram (SD) - 4-5, 11 SV, 3.41 ERA, 66.0 IP, 1.36 WHIP, 5.2 K/9, 1.5 WAR
• CL Bob Locker (MON) - 6-7, 9 SV, 2.31 ERA, 66.1 IP, 1.16 WHIP, 4.7 K/9, 0.8 WAR
• CL Pete Richert (LAD) - 5-7, 2.81 ERA, 93.0 IP, 1.10 WHIP, 8.0 K/9, 0.4 WAR
• CL Dale Willis (NYM)* - 6-8, 6 SV, 4.94 ERA, 51.0 IP, 1.55 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, -0.8 WAR
• C Johnny Bench (CIN)* - .321/.386/.624, 271 AB, 21 HR, 1 SB, 191 wRC+, 4.3 WAR
• C Tim McCarver (STL) - .290/.341/.420, 283 AB, 3 HR, 3 SB, 113 wRC+, 2.0 WAR
• 1B Dick Allen (PHI)* - .298/.402/.614, 342 AB, 30 HR, 5 SB, 192 wRC+, 4.6 WAR (Injured)
• 1B Willie McCovey (SF) - .282/.392/.549, 337 AB, 25 HR, 167 wRC+, 4.0 WAR
• 2B Denis Menke (PHI)* - .301/.389/.438, 352 AB, 8 HR, 5 SB, 139 wRC+, 4.3 WAR
• 3B Bob Bailey (PIT) - .272/.366/.450, 313 AB, 13 HR, 141 wRC+, 2.8 WAR
• 3B Tommy Harper (SF) - .297/.392/.443, 327 AB, 10 HR, 64 SB, 147 wRC+, 3.6 WAR
• 3B Tony Perez (CIN)* - .329/.368/.524, 353 AB, 17 HR, 5 SB, 159 wRC+, 3.9 WAR
• 3B Ron Santo (CHC) - .286/.411/.484, 322 AB, 15 HR, 162 wRC+, 4.6 WAR
• SS Maury Wills (LAD)* - .283/.339/.336, 321 AB, 3 HR, 34 SB, 96 wRC+, 1.0 WAR
• LF Rico Carty (HOU) - .364/.446/.516, 335 AB, 13 HR, 176 wRC+, 4.0 WAR
• LF Al Oliver (PIT) - .345/.394/.490, 351 AB, 11 HR, 2 SB, 157 wRC+, 3.7 WAR
• LF Frank Robinson (CIN)* - .314/.421/.487, 312 AB, 12 HR, 3 SB, 161 wRC+, 3.7 WAR
• CF Pete Rose (PIT)* - .298/.357/.438, 363 AB, 4 HR, 1 SB, 132 wRC+, 1.9 WAR
• RF Henry Aaron (ATL) - .288/.361/.511, 333 AB, 20 HR, 11 SB, 143 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
• RF Bobby Bonds (SF)* - .324/.415/.573, 321 AB, 19 HR, 47 SB, 189 wRC+, 5.7 WAR

Eddie Mathews wins the HR Derby over Johnny Bench, but the Reds backstop gets his own back with an MVP performance in an 8-4 NL ASG win.

[luckymann]

Let's just pick things up where that trade update left them then, shall we? Very well.

The trade frenzy either coincides with or precipitates a sharp turnaround in our fortunes as we win nine in a row. The fact that these games were against the struggling Mets and expansion Expos matters not. It happens just as the Phils cool off and suddenly we have closed the gap to 5 and at least sparked some hope of a miraculous comeback. We see through this stretch what our lineup is truly capable of, with Stargell just destroying pitchers seemingly at will, Oliver putting in a star-making turn and Rose slowly working his way back up to being the apex predator we know he is.

We keep on this improved track right through to the All-Star Break, putting an emphatic exclamation point on an unbelievable 17-2 run since the Ellis deal with this Al Oliver-led demolition of the defending Champs that happens without both Stargell or Rose in the lineup.






At this point we are 3½ back of the Phillies, but we slip back into poor old habits again after the break, dropping three of four at home to the Padres (putting us at 3-6 against them to this point) and a couple more to the Dodgers. In one of those, Giusti implodes for the umpteenth time and, with my eye very much turned to the future, I resist the urge to move Gibbon back to Stopper for a while and stick with the status quo. This season has been like a damn game of Whack-a-Mole and, I tell you, my mallet is pretty much worn down to the nub.

Thankfully the Phils are having problems of their own and the margin as we enter August remains just 4 ½, with the Cubs tied with us at 60-48.







Some of these batting numbers are verging on tawdry. Al Oliver wins the batting award for July (hitting 452!) and special note to Bobby Tolan, who has racked up 3.5 bWAR - behind only Oliver and Clemente - in a backup role. His 22 SB from 25 attempts don't hurt.




Dave Roberts is continuing to impress in his rookie season, all while also hitting 257! Dock Ellis has settled right in, winning the July pitching gong.




Some outrageous figures here as well, with the Pilots on track to lose 108 and the defending Champs also looking at a 100-loss season. Plenty of baseball left in this season from the looks of it.


News, Leaders and Top 20s











Monthly Award Winners

June

American League

• Batter – Tony Oliva (Twins): 373 / 5 HR / 17 RBI
• Pitcher – Denny McLain (Senators): 5-0 / 1.73 / 32 K / 41.2 IP
• Rookie – Vida Blue (A’s): 3-2 / 1.79 / 25 K / 40.1 IP

National League

• Batter – Dick Allen (Phillies): 301 / 7 HR / 24 RBI
• Pitcher – Larry Dierker (Astros): 6-0 / 1.87 / 40 K / 53 IP
• Rookie – Jerry Reuss (Astros): 4-1 / 2.01 / 16 K / 40.1 IP

July

American League

• Batter – Ed Charles (Twins): 367 / 8 HR / 23 RBI
• Pitcher – Rudy May (White Sox): 6-0 / 1.81 / 37 K / 44.2 IP
• Rookie – Tom Griffin (Twins): 4-1 / 1.14 / 48 K / 47.1 IP

National League

• Batter – Al Oliver (Pirates): 452 / 5 HR / 28 RBI
• Pitcher – Dock Ellis (Pirates): 4-1 / 1.99 / 28 K / 45.1 IP
• Rookie – Del Unser (Dodgers): 432 / 2 HR / 7 RBI

Milestones and Observations of Note

• Sandy Koufax is giving himself a fantastic chance of achieving a second Triple Crown, something no other pitcher has done. He also collects career Win number 200 during the month, with Frank Robinson belting his 400th homer as well.
• Eddie Mathews – playing for Seattle at the ripe old age of 37 – is threatening to win his first HR title since his rookie year all the way back in 1952.
• The Expos lose 2B Tony Taylor for the remainder with a meniscus tear, while a knee injury also puts Rich Reese of the White Sox on ice for two months or so.
• Some elbow inflammation puts Houston pitcher Alan Foster out of commission for 6 weeks.
• Bill Hands gets moved on again, traded by Seattle to the Twins for Stan Bahnsen straight up. A few other Deadline trades of note:

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[luckymann]

Most Ks in Rookie Season

[luckymann]

Reggie's at it again - this in a doubleheader against the Tigers...




He's taking Oakland along for the ride, with the boys in Kelly Green and Fort Knox Gold just 3 GB of the Twins nearing the end of August and on an 8-game win streak as I post this.

EDIT In the end, he puts this week together...

[luckymann]

Denny Lemaster seems to have settled in nicely at the Sens...





No IRL no-nos for Denny.

[luckymann]

Which pitchers are leading the MLB in career strikeouts per 9 innings?

• Sam McDowell, CLE, 9.7
• Sandy Koufax, LAD, 9.2
• Mickey Lolich, DET, 8.1
• Bob Veale, BOS, 7.9
• Dick Stigman, SD, 7.9

[luckymann]

Despite winning a AAA-record 99 regular season games, our Barons can't get the 100th, swept by Amarillo - just the third title for the Gold Sox.

And it will be their last, in Amarillo at least, with the AAA league getting a complete makeover in the offseason that will see pretty much every franchise replaced, including theirs.

[luckymann]

August begins in ominous fashion with yet another Dave Giusti meltdown, and our form in this period remains far too choppy to make any headway on Philly’s lead. But the Phils haven’t been in this position too often of late and it starts to show as they slowly start creeping back toward the pack like they need to borrow change.

We catch them for the first time (thanks in part to the Giants hammering them 18-4) right at the end of August with still 30 or so games to play and the Cubs hot on our heels. Been a while since we’ve been in this position, let alone the other two, so it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any muscle memory for the guys who were playing back when we last enjoyed some success. Chasing and leading involve two entirely different states of mind, as shown by the fact that we immediately start losing including yet another hellacious 9th-inning implosion from Dave Giusti.

By the time September rolls around we are already back to 2½ behind, with the Cubs on a 6-game losing streak as well and in danger of falling out of contention. We lose a couple more to fall 4 back. It’ll be tough from here, even with five games still to play against the Phils.

And so it proves, with us 6 back when we head to Philly for two of those games. We split them to put their magic number into single figures but then give ourselves a sniff with a 5-game win streak that closes the gap to 3 ½ when they come to Pittsburgh for a three-gamer that suddenly has a whole heap of significance.

Carlton gets them the all-important win in the opener and a 7-6 loss in 12 the next day all but ends our challenge. We at least prevent them clinching at our park the next night as Singer wins his 20th (12-2 / 2.65 for us since the trade) but the inevitable happens with a 10-3 thumping at the hands of the Cubs in Game 159.

The Phils are, in fact, the first to clinch, along with the Giants. The Twins finally see off the A’s with two to play, but the Red Sox make a complete mess of the AL East and need a 6-5 final day win by the Tribe over the Yanks to get them home by a game.

We finish 90-72 and 5 GB. Whatever disappointment I might be feeling about getting so close but coming away empty-handed are well and truly eclipsed by the feeling that our club has turned the corner and that, with most if not all of the necessary pieces now in place, a period of success beckons.













Sandy Koufax does nail down his second TC with his 23 wins and 1.49 ERA the league’s best - the latter, in fact, the best ever, beating Smoky Joe Wood's 1909 mark by 0.13 of a run - but his 254 strikeouts some distance behind Nolan Ryan's 299. Rod Carew and Rico Carty win the batting titles, with Willie McCovey's 42 HR and Dick Allen's 115 RBI the most in either league. Wayne Grange and Ron Perranoski tie for the saves high with 35 apiece.


Final Top 20s and Leaders








Monthly Award Winners

August

American League

• Batter – Reggie Jackson (A’s): 323 / 11 HR / 28 RBI
• Pitcher – Catfish Hunter (A’s): 4-0 / 1.66 / 38 K / 48.2 IP
• Rookie – Gary Gentry (Angels): 3-1 / 2.40 / 35 K / 48.2 IP

National League

• Batter – Johnny Bench (Reds): 407 / 8 HR / 22 RBI
• Pitcher – Don Wilson (Astros): 5-0 / 1.17 / 32 K / 46.1 IP
• Rookie – Jerry Reuss (Astros): 4-1 / 1.44 / 23 K / 43.2 IP

September

American League

• Batter – Tony Oliva (Twins): 398 / 5 HR / 27 RBI
• Pitcher – Nolan Ryan (Angels): 5-1 / 2.17 / 63 K / 45.2 IP
• Rookie – Mike Wegener (White Sox): 2-0 / 1.86 / 7 SV / 8 K / 9.2 IP

National League

• Batter – Tony Perez (Reds): 308 / 8 HR / 19 RBI
• Pitcher – Joe Coleman (Cardinals): 5-0 / 1.24 / 26 K / 43.2 IP
• Rookie – Jerry Reuss (Astros): 4-0 / 2.12 / 26 K / 34 IP

Milestones and Observations of Note

• 3000 Hits: Richie Ashburn
• Shoulder woes see Cards SP Chris Short’s season echo his surname, while Henry Aaron also gets an early holiday courtesy of an elbow strain.
• Willie Mays, while on a rehab assignment, does his ACL and is done for the year.

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[luckymann]

American League
Boston Red Sox (93-69) v Minnesota Twins (92-70)

A Tom Griffin 2-hit shutout in Game 1 sets the tone for the Twins, who go on to win three close games to sweep the Red Sox and give themselves a chance for a second Championship to go with the 1962 title (plus the two won by the Senators).




National League
San Francisco Giants (99-63) v Philadelphia Phillies (92-70)

An outstanding series has a fittingly epic finish when the Giants hang on at home for a tight 4-3 Game 5 win to book their spot in the Big Dance.