1967 American League Pennant Race

In 1967, the White Sox offense was pretty bad.  I know this was a very pitcher friendly era, but the 1967 White Sox hearken back to the Hitless Wonders of 1906.  The finished eighth in batting average (.225) and ninth in both OBP (.288) and slugging (.320).  They also finished dead last in hits (1,209) and they struck out more then any other team in the American League (849).  Yes, it’s a very good thing the White Sox had a good pitching staff in 1967.

Every offense, no matter how bad, has a leader though.  And the 1967 White Sox offensive leader was Pete Ward.  He led the team in slugging (.392), homeruns (18) and RBIs (62).    He didn’t finish in the top ten in anything, but that’s kind of how the White Sox offense was that year.  Ward was good (above average with an OPS+ of 118), but that’s about it.

Ward had a pretty extreme platoon split in 1967.  As a left hander, he was pretty good against right handed pitchers (.264/.363/.445) but he was awful against left handed pitching (.154/.257/.254).  August was his best month and eight of his eighteen homeruns came during that time.  His best game of the season came on August 16th when the White Sox blew out the Royals 14-1.  In that game, he went four for four with two homeruns, four RBIs and three runs.

There’s no doubt Ward was a solid player.  It’s just unfortunate he wasn’t on a team that could hit a little better or he might have had a few 100 RBI seasons.  Here’s a look at Ward’s numbers in 1967:

Games 146
AB 467
Runs 49
Hits 109
Doubles 16
Triples 2
Homeruns 18
RBIs 62
Walks 61
Strikeouts 109
Stolen Bases 3
Caught Stealing 2
BA .233
OBA .334
SLG% .392
OPS .726
RC 64
RCAA 16
RCAP 4
RC/G 4.70
ISO .158

Dean Chance might have been only 26 years old in 1967, but it was already his seventh big league season.  He was a September callup in 1961 for the Angels and then in his first full season in 1962, he finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting with a solid season both as a starter and a reliever.  In 1964, he broke out and put together a season worth of the Cy Young in which he won 20 games and posted a league leading 1.65 ERA.  Like Jim Lonborg, it would be the only time he’d net a Cy Young vote although his 1967 season was almost as worthy.

Chance had losing seasons in 1965 and 1966 before the Angles traded him away to the Twins.  In 1967, he put it back together.  He led the team with 20 wins, 283 2/3 innings and 220 strikeouts.  He’d play in his only All Star game and his 1.100 WHIP was good for the eighth best in the American League.  The 283 2/3 innings would lead the league as would his 18 complete games and his 127 ERA+ was the fifth best in the American League.

Dean Chance was death to right handed hitters.  Righties hit only .215/.247/.286 against him in 1967 vs. .246/.313/.346 against lefties.  And after losing his first start of the season, he then rattled off seven straight wins.  He struggled in June but then in August, he had another nice stretch where he won five straight.

He didn’t get a single vote for the Cy Young, but then again, only two people did with Lonborg running away with it.  Regardless, Chance’s arm kept the Twins in the pennant race and he was the ace on a team that just missed playing in the World Series.

Here are Chance’s numbers in 1967.

Wins 20
Losses 14
Games 41
Games Started 39
Complete Games 18
Innings Pitched 284
Hits 244
Runs 109
Earned Runs 86
Walks 68
Strikeouts 220
ERA 2.73
Runs Saved Above Average 22
Shutouts 5
H/9 7.73
BR/9 10.11
SO/9 6.97
BB/9 2.15
SO/BB 3.24
Neutral Wins 20
Neutral Losses 14