April 11 – In the season opener, the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 before 16,642 at Wrigley Field. Ferguson Jenkins pitched a complete game and Glenn Beckert hit a home run.
April 14 – In his Major League debut, Billy Rohr of the Boston Red Sox has a no-hitter broken up with two out in the ninth inning—and one strike to go—of a 3-0 victory over the New York Yankees and Whitey Ford at Yankee Stadium. A single by Elston Howard breaks up the bid; this will be the only hit Rohr will allow. Exactly one week later, Rohr again defeats the Yankees in a complete game victory, this time at Fenway Park—the second of: 1) the only two games Rohr will win this season and 2) the only three he will win as a Major Leaguer.
April 16 – At Busch Memorial Stadium, in the St. Louis Cardinals' fourth game of the season, Lou Brock hits two home runs in an 11-8 victory over the Houston Astros. With two home runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers the day before and a fifth against the San Francisco Giants on Opening Day, he becomes the first player to hit five home runs in his team's first four games of the regular season.
April 30 – Steve Barber and Stu Miller combine for a no-hitter, but the Detroit Tigers score twice in the ninth on walks, a wild pitch and an error for a 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
June 15 – At the Astrodome, Jimmy Wynn becomes the first Houston Astro to hit three home runs in one game. The shots, all with the bases empty, come in the 4th, 6th and 8th innings of the Astros' 6-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
July 2 – The Chicago Cubs moved into a tie for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals after defeating the Cincinnati Reds 4-1 before 40,464 at Wrigley Field. After the game, many in the crowd waited until the pennant flags on the scoreboard were rearranged with the Cubs flag placed on the top. It was the first time the Cubs were in first place since the 1945 season.
July 4 – The Niekro brothers face each other for the first time, with Phil Niekro pitching for the Atlanta Braves and Joe Niekro hurling for the Chicago Cubs. Phil beat Joe in an 8-3 decision in the first game of a double-header in Atlanta. The Braves also won the second game 4-2.
July 25 – The Chicago Cubs lose 4-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis to drop into 2nd place, the Cubs would not regain first place for the rest of 1967.
August 18 – Tony Conigliaro of the Boston Red Sox is beaned by the California Angels' Jack Hamilton. Hit on the left cheekbone, just below the eye socket, Conigliaro will miss the rest of 1967 and all of 1968. He was hitting .267 with 20 home runs and 67 RBIs in 95 games in 1967. Despite the loss of Tony C., the Red Sox will sweep the four-game series with the Angels. The sweep, however, still leaves the Minnesota Twins in first place, with Boston, the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox all within two games.
August 20 – In the first game of a double header, Al Kaline hits his 300th career home run helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-2. Kaline has another home run in the second game with Detroit winning, 4-0.
September 10 – Joe Horlen of the Chicago White Soxno-hits the Detroit Tigers 6-0, in the first game of a doubleheader at Comiskey Park. The White Sox also shut out the Tigers in the nightcap, with Cisco Carlos gaining his first Major League victory, and pull into a third-place tie with the Tigers and within 1+1⁄2 games of the first-place Minnesota Twins.
September 27 – In the tight AL pennant race, the possibility of a four-way tie is eliminated as the Twins and Red Sox both lose (5-1 to California and 6-0 to Cleveland, respectively). Minnesota now has a 91-69 won-lost record and Boston is 90-70, and the only games left for those two teams are two games against each other.
September 29 – The White Sox lose 1-0 to the Washington Senators and are eliminated from the AL pennant race. Chicago is now 89-71, and can win a maximum of 91 games, and must finish behind the Twins or the Red Sox (those two teams only have the two games against each other left to play). The only remaining tie possibilities are Twins-Tigers or Red Sox-Tigers.
Ferguson Jenkins wins his 20th game of the 1967 season with a 4-1 decision over the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati. It was the first of seven 20-win seasons for Jenkins in his career, six of which were with the Cubs.
October 1:
One of the closest American League pennant races ever enters the season's final day with the Red Sox and Twins tied for first place and the Tigers one-half game back. The Red Sox and Twins play a game against each other, with the winner clinching a tie for the pennant and the loser being eliminated. In that game, eventual American League MVPCarl Yastrzemski goes 4 for 4 as the Red Sox beat the Twins 5-3. The Tigers can tie the Red Sox if they sweep a doubleheader from the California Angels in Detroit. The Tigers win the first game 6-4, but their bullpen fails in the finale and the Angels win 8-5 to give the Red Sox the pennant with no playoff.
Today's doubleheader is the second in as many days for the Tigers and the Angels. The doubleheaders are the result of earlier postponements of games which are needed in the deciding of the pennant race. Many years later, also in the AL, there will be a case of a day doubleheader scheduled on the day after a twi-night doubleheader; there will be a player protest to AL president Bobby Brown, who will rule that there will be only one game on the second day.
For the first time since 1937 both Chicago teams succeed in winning at least 85 games during the regular season. For the Cubs it was only their 2nd winning season (1963 being the other one) since 1946.
October 5 – In Game 2 of the World Series, Boston's Jim Lonborg is brilliant as he retires the first 19 Cardinals before walking Curt Flood with one out in the seventh inning. His no-hit bid is broken up with two out in the eighth by a Julián Javier double. Lonborg has to settle for pitching the fourth one-hitter in World Series history as the Red Sox even the series with a 5-0 win.
October 12 – In Game Seven of the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals earn their second World Championship of the decade with a 7–2 victory over pitcher Jim Lonborg and the Boston Red Sox. Pitcher Bob Gibson notches his third win in the Series with a three-hitter, in which he records 10 strikeouts and a fifth-inning home run, while outfielder Lou Brock has two hits and three stolen bases for a record seven steals in a seven-game World Series.
October 18: City officials from Kansas City, Oakland and Seattle were invited by Joe Cronin to discuss the A's relocation plans. United States Senator Stuart Symington attended the meeting and discussed the possibility of revoking baseball's antitrust exemption if the A's were allowed to leave Kansas City. The owners began deliberation and after the first ballot, only six owners were in favour of relocation. The owner of Baltimore voted against, while the ownership for Cleveland, New York and Washington had abstained.[1] In the second ballot, the New York Yankees voted in favour of the Athletics relocation to Oakland. To appease all interested parties, the Athletics announced that MLB would expand to Kansas City and Seattle no later than the 1971 MLB season.[2]
October 22 – Kansas City Athletics owner Charlie Finley hires Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio as the team's vicepresident. DiMaggio will also serve as a coach for the newly transplanted Oakland Athletics. DiMaggio needed two more years of baseball service to qualify for the league's maximum pension allowance.[3]
November 22 – Minnesota Twins second baseman Rod Carew wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Receiving 19 of 20 first place votes, Carew easily outdistances Reggie Smith of the Boston Red Sox.
January 6 – Joe Haynes, 49, All-Star pitcher who played for the Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox from 1939 through 1948.
January 6 – Johnny Keane, 55, manager who won the 1964 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals and joined the opposing Yankees immediately afterward.
January 13 – Charlie Gelbert, 60, infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators and Boston Red Sox between 1929 and 1940, who helped the 1931 Cardinals win the World Series.
February 12 – Bob Rhoads, 87, pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, and St. Louis Cardinals in the early 20th century, who won 22 games and posted a 1.80 ERA in 1906.
February 14 – Jimmy Johnston, 77, infielder/outfielder for the Brooklyn Robins, Chicago Cubs & White Sox, and later a coach with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
March 4 – Bullet Rogan, 77, pitcher in the Negro Leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs
April 7 – Shanty Hogan, 61, catcher for the Boston Braves, New York Giants, and Washington Senators between 1925 and 1936.
April 13 – Herb Welch, 66, shortstop for the 1925 Boston Red Sox.
April 22 – Bill Salkeld, 50, catcher who hit for the cycle as a rookie for the 1945 Pittsburgh Pirates and was also a member of the 1948 National League champion Boston Braves.
May–August
May 20 – Senaida Wirth, 40, All-Star shortstop in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
June 13 – Dick Reichle, 70, outfielder who played from 1922 to 1923 for the Boston Red Sox
July 21 – Jimmie Foxx, 59, Hall of Fame first baseman who retired with more career home runs (534) than any player except Babe Ruth; a 3-time MVP and the AL's 1933 triple crown winner, he hit .325 lifetime and played in the first nine All-Star games
August 17 – Ray Caldwell, 79, spitball pitcher for the Yankees who was later struck by lightning during a 1919 game while with the Indians; he no-hit the Yankees two weeks later
September -December
September 2 – Jack Ryan, 62, outfielder for the 1929 Boston Red Sox
September 4 – George Loepp, 65, center fielder for the Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators from 1928 to 1930
September 12 – Rollie Zeider, 83, infielder for three Chicago franchises from 1910 to 1918
September 14 – Walt Bond, 29, outfielder for the Cleveland Indians, Houston Colt .45s/Astros, and Minnesota Twins between 1960 and 1967
September 25 – Phil Geier, 90, outfielder for five teams from 1896 to 1904
October 17 – Louise Clapp, 33, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League pitcher
November 12 – Cleo Carlyle, 65, outfielder for the Boston Red Sox in the 1920s
December 27 – Paul Lehner, 47, outfielder for the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, and Boston Red Sox between 1946 and 1952
December 28 – Bill Pertica, 69, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox (1918) and St. Louis Cardinals (1921–23)
References
^Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.113, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN978-0-8027-1745-0
^Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.114, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN978-0-8027-1745-0
^Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.119, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN978-0-8027-1745-0
