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
April 15th, 2007 at 11:51 am
One can only wonder how the pale hose would have faved if they had won the bidding war for Ken Harrelson, who was the deciding wild card in the greatest race in history.