1967 American League Pennant Race

Jim Lonborg definitely had a career year in 1967.  In only his third year, he won more games, pitched in more innings and struck out more batters then he ever would in a career that spanned 15 seasons.  In only one season did he pick up a single vote for the Cy Young and that was in 1967, when he picked up 18 of the 20 first place votes to run away with the award.  It was also the only season he’d ever pick up a vote for the MVP and it was only All Star Game appearance as well.

For that one season though, Lonborg shined.  He led the league with 22 wins and 246 strikeouts and he was second in innings pitched with 246 1/3.  He was second in the league with 15 complete games and first with 39 starts.  No other starter in the Red Sox rotation threw more then 182 innings and Lornborg won ten more games then the next closest hurler on the team (Gary Bell and Jose Santiago).  

One key to Lonborg’s success in 1967 was he was equally good against right handed pitchers as he was against lefties.   As a right hander, he was very good against right handed pitching (.226/.278/.353) but he was probably even better againt lefties (.225/.314/.333).  Oddly, Lonborg didn’t fare as well at Fenway Park as he did on the road.  He was 9-5 at Fenway with a .725 OPS against but outside of Fenway he was 13-4 with a .565 OPS against.  And in Lonborg’s first eleven starts, he went 7-1 with two shutouts   During that stretch, he had the first of two five game winning streaks.

So while Lonborg may have just had the one really good year, it did come at a great time.  The team finished in the second half of the league in things like ERA, hits allowed and homeruns allowed but Lonborg came out to the mound time and again and kept the Red Sox in the pennant race.

Here are Lonborg’s numbers in 1967.

Wins 22
Losses 9
Games 39
Games Started 39
Complete Games 15
Innings Pitched 273
Hits 228
Runs 102
Earned Runs 96
Walks 83
Strikeouts 246
ERA 3.16
Runs Saved Above Average 18
Shutouts 2
H/9 7.52
BR/9 10.88
SO/9 8.11
BB/9 2.74
SO/BB 2.96
Neutral Wins 18
Neutral Losses 13

Bill Freehan is one of those star players that people forget about.  He played in the shadow of guys like Al Kaline and Willie Horton, yet he’s one of the top catchers to ever play and he had a stretch of ten straight seasons in which he made the All Star Game.  He never had 100 RBIs in a season nor did he score 100 but year in and year out he was productive from behind the plate in an era where a lot of catchers didn’t hit all that well. In fact, his Runs Created Above Position (RCAP) was better then Killebrew’s.

It’s hard to pick Freehan’s best season because 1967 and 1968 were so similar.  In 1967, he hit a solid .282 but he walked 73 vs. only 71 strikeouts so he ended up with a .389 OBP.  Throw in 20 homeruns and some gold glove defense, and the net result was a third place finish in the MVP voting behind sluggers Carl Yastrzemski and Harmon Killebrew.  The .389 OBP was good for sixth in the American League and his .838 OPS was good for eighth.  Freehan also led the league by being hit by 20 pitches.

Freehan mashed left handed pitching in 1967.  Nine of his 20 homeruns came against lefties despite having almost 150 less plate appearances against left handed pitching.  His final line was .324/.461/.983 vs. lefties while he was only .260/.345/.406 vs. righties.

April and May were Freehan’s best months and he helped get the Tigers off to a good start in 1967.  Freehan had nine of his 20 homeruns in those first two months and in April alone, he posted an OPS of 1.110.  Even his May OPS of .915 was very good but a rough June and July helped temper his numbers a bit.  Part of his decline in the second may have been because he caught 147 games in 1967.  So all but fifteen games had Freehan behind the plate, which had to wear the big catcher down.

If you look at the Tigers championship seasons, all but 1945 had a top notch back stop behind the plate.  I’d put Bill Freehan just ahead of Lance Parrish but just behind Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane. 

Here’s a look at Freehan’s final 1967 numbers

Games 155
AB 517
Runs 66
Hits 146
Doubles 23
Triples 1
Homeruns 20
RBIs 74
Walks 73
Strikeouts 71
Stolen Bases 1
Caught Stealing 2
BA .282
OBA .389
SLG% .447
OPS .835
RC 97
RCAA 37
RCAP 49
RC/G 6.44
ISO .164