1967 World Series

The Boston Red Sox finally returned to the "Big Show" after a grueling twenty-one year absence to face a much more experienced Cardinals team. The National League champions had steamrolled over their competition and finished with an impressive 10½ game margin over the rest of the National League. Ending up ninth in '66, the American Leaguers finished in first after a close four team pennant chase. Despite the neck-and-neck marathon, rookie manager Dick Williams' team held on to complete the season one game ahead of both the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins and three games in front of the Chicago White Sox.

Bob Gibson remained the "Redbirds" biggest threat, winning ninteen, twenty and twenty-one games in the previous three years although he totaled a mere thirteen regular-season victories in '67. The Cardinals, sparked by Orlando Cepeda (twenty-five home runs, one-hundred eleven runs batted in and a .325 batting mark) gave Red Schoendienst a pennant in his third year as the St. Louis manager. Other key contributors included outfielders Curt Flood (a .335 hitter), Lou Brock (fifty-two stolen bases), twenty-nine year-old rookie righthander Dick Hughes (sixteen victories) and young pitchers Nelson Briles and Steve Carlton. On the Boston side, Carl Yastrzemski boasted the Triple Crown (forty-four home runs, one-hundred twenty-one RBIs and a .326 avg.) and was balanced by Jim Lonborg who won twenty-two games (ten more than any other pitcher in the rotation).

As Game 1 opened in the picturesque Fenway Park, Gibson went up against Jose Santiago in what would be a hitter's nightmare. The Cardinal ace struck out ten batters and only allowed six hits all day in the 2-1 victory. Roger Maris, (obtained from the New York Yankees in December 1966) knocked in both of St. Louis' runs with third and seventh-inning grounders. Game 2 however, belonged to the "Beantown Bombers" as Yastrzemski nailed two homers and Lonborg pitched no-hit ball for 7 2/3 innings before winding up with a one hit (Julian Javier's double), 5-0 masterpiece. As the Series shifted to St. Louis' Busch Memorial Stadium, the home team answered back with 5-2 and 6-0 victories. Game 3 foiled Boston's best efforts as Nelson Briles' seven hitter and Mike Shannon's two run blast proved to be the decisive factors, while Gibson's five hit hurling and two RBIs apiece by Maris and Tim McCarver kept the "Redbirds" up in Game 4.

Lonborg returned for Game 5 after an outstanding effort in the second outing and nothing changed as the twenty-five year-old righty tossed two hit, shutout ball over 8 2/3 innings, then settled for a 3-1 decision when Maris knocked a last-desperate homer to right. Going for the clincher, the visiting team took a 2-1 lead going into the fourth inning when Dick Hughes (who led the National League with a .727 winning percentage) gave up a record three homers in a single inning. Yastrzemski led off the fourth with a long drive over the wall in left-center and, two outs later, rookie Reggie Smith and Rico Petrocelli both hammered consecutive shots. Brock managed to tie the game four-all with a two run homer in the seventh, but Boston retaliated with four runs of their own and went on for the 8-4 triumph.

Game 7 promised to be a "gunslingers" shootout as Gibson and Lonborg met for the final duel. Both pitchers were 2-0 in the Series with Gibson giving up four hits in eighteen innings and Lonborg surrendering a single run and four hits in his eighteen. Pitching on three days rest (to his rivals two) the Cardinal ace clearly dominated the finale, permitting only three hits, striking out ten batters and even adding a homerun blast of his own in the fifth. Julian Javier added a three run shot off Lonborg in the sixth and Gibson cruised to the decisive 7-2 victory. He now boasted a 5-1 record and a 2.00 ERA in World Series competition, with fifty-seven strikeouts in fifty-four innings and only thirty-seven hits allowed.