1967 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersSam Mele, Cal Ermer
TelevisionWTCN-TV
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Merle Harmon)
Seasons

The 1967 Minnesota Twins finished 91–71, tied for second in the American League with the Detroit Tigers. The Twins had a one-game lead on the Red Sox with two games remaining in Boston, but lost both games. A total of 1,483,547 fans attended Twins games, the second highest total in the American League.

Offseason

Regular season

With a second-place finish in 1966, the Twins appeared poised to contend in 1967. However, at the end of May, they were in sixth place (in a ten team league), with 20 wins and 22 losses.[2] One week later, owner Calvin Griffith fired manager Sam Mele, who had guided the club to a pennant in 1965. He was replaced by Cal Ermer, who had been managing the Twins AAA farm club in Denver.[3]

On May 21, César Tovar became the first Twin to have a four-extra-base day hitting.

The Twins continued to play .500 ball until late June, when Minnesota reeled off an eight-game winning streak. At the All-Star break, they had risen to third place, two and one half games behind the league leading Chicago White Sox.

On July 26, pitcher Jim Merritt set a club record, pitching the first thirteen innings (and taking a no-decision) in an 18-inning win over the New York Yankees. Facing 46 batters, he allowed just two runs.

Four Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Harmon Killebrew, who led the team with 44 HR and 113 RBI; second baseman Rod Carew, the AL Rookie of the Year; outfielder Tony Oliva, and pitcher Dean Chance, a 20-game winner in 1967.

After a brief slump in late July, the Twins began the month of August by winning 15 of 20 games, including a three-game sweep of the White Sox, which put them in first place on August 13. From that point on, they remained in first place, or never more than two games out of it.

Twins pitcher Dean Chance threw the club's second no-hitter on August 25. Earlier in the month, he pitched a perfect five innings on August 6 -- but the game was called for rain and ultimately not counted. On July 28, Chance got his first hit as a Minnesota Twin after going 0 for 53 since arriving from the California Angels.[4]

On September 14, outfielder Walt Bond died of leukemia. Bond had been diagnosed with the disease several years earlier, but it had gone into remission.[5] He started the season with the Twins and played in 10 games before being removed from the active roster. His final game was on May 7.

With one day left in the regular season, Minnesota was tied for first place with the Boston Red Sox, with the Detroit Tigers just a half game behind them. The two first place teams were scheduled to play one another in Fenway Park, while the Tigers were to meet the California Angels in a doubleheader. Dean Chance threw five scoreless innings and the Twins scored unearned runs in the first and third inning to take a 2–0 lead. However, in the sixth inning, things fell apart for the Twins as the Red Sox took advantage of four consecutive singles, two wild pitches, and an error to score five runs.[6] Minnesota mustered only one more run, and lost the game and their chance for a second league championship in three years. The Tigers won their first game, but lost their second, and Boston earned the American League pennant.

Utilityman César Tovar set an American League record by playing in 164 games this season. Pitcher Jim Kaat won his sixth Gold Glove Award.

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Red Sox 9270 0.568 — 49–32 43–38
Detroit Tigers 9171 0.562 1 52–29 39–42
Minnesota Twins 9171 0.562 1 52–29 39–42
Chicago White Sox 8973 0.549 3 49–33 40–40
California Angels 8477 0.522 7½ 53–30 31–47
Washington Senators 7685 0.472 15½ 40–40 36–45
Baltimore Orioles 7685 0.472 15½ 35–42 41–43
Cleveland Indians 7587 0.463 17 36–45 39–42
New York Yankees 7290 0.444 20 43–38 29–52
Kansas City Athletics 6299 0.385 29½ 37–44 25–55

Record vs. opponents

1967 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KCA MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore —10–86–117–119–93–1510–88–1013–510–8
Boston 8–10—10–88–1013–511–712–67–1112–611–7
California 11–68–10—7–1114–48–1014–47–119–96–12
Chicago 11–710–811–7—12–68–108–109–912–68–10
Cleveland 9–95–134–146–12—8–1011–710–89–913–5
Detroit 15–37–1110–810–810–8—12–68–10–110–89–9
Kansas City 8–106–124–1410–87–116–12—8–107–116–11
Minnesota 10–811–711–79–98–1010–8–110–8—12–6–110–8
New York 5–136–129–96–129–98–1011–76–12–1—12–6
Washington 8–107–1112–610–85–139–911–68–106–12—

Notable transactions

Roster

1967 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CJerry Zimmerman10423439.167112
1BHarmon Killebrew163547147.26944113
2BRod Carew137514150.292851
SSZoilo Versalles160581116.200650
3BRich Rollins10933983.245639
LFBob Allison153496128.2582475
CFTed Uhlaender133415107.258649
RFTony Oliva146557161.2891783

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
César Tovar164649173.267647
Russ Nixon7417040.235122
Earl Battey4810918.16508
Rich Reese9510125.248420
Sandy Valdespino999716.16513
Ron Clark206010.167211
Frank Kostro323110.32302
Andy Kosco9284.14304
Jackie Hernández29284.14303
Hank Izquierdo16267.26902
Frank Quilici23192.10500
Walt Bond10165.31315
Carroll Hardy1183.37512
Graig Nettles331.33300
Pat Kelly810.00000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dean Chance41283.220142.73220
Jim Kaat42263.116133.04211
Jim Merritt37227.21372.53161
Dave Boswell37222.214123.27204

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jim Perry37130.2873.0394
Mudcat Grant2795.1564.7250

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Al Worthington5989162.8480
Ron Kline547153.7736
Jim Roland250123.0316
Jim Ollom210105.4017
Dwight Siebler20003.000
Mel Nelson100054.000

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Denver Bears Pacific Coast League Cal Ermer and Johnny Goryl
AA Charlotte Hornets Southern League Harry Warner
A Wilson Tobs Carolina League Vern Morgan
A Orlando Twins Florida State League Ralph Rowe
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Ray Bellino
A-Short Season Auburn Twins New York–Penn League Tom Umphlett
A-Short Season St. Cloud Rox Northern League Ken Staples
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Fred Waters

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Auburn, St. Cloud

Notes

  1. ↑ Bernie Allen at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ 1967 Minnesota Twins game log at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Cal Ermer at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ "Minnesota Twins". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  5. ↑ The Hardball Times article on Walt Bond
  6. ↑ Boston Red Sox 5, Minnesota Twins 3
  7. ↑ Mike Sadek at Baseball Reference
  8. ↑ Steve Luebber at Baseball Reference

References

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