St. Louis,Oct. 8 –The Detroit Tigers swept the World Series with their fourth one-run victory against the St. Louis Cardinals. Twenty-game winner Earl Wilson,knocked out of the Series opener,demonstrated why many considered the Tiger right hander to be the best hurler in the American League. In previous series games,the Cardinals squandered several scoring opportunities,and today was no different as the Birds could only nibble and peck against the strong arm of Wilson,never able to muster a knockout blow. Norm Cash drove in the game’s only run by slicing a double off the glove of third baseman Mike Shannon to score Bill Freehan in the second inning. Detroit once again cashed in on Cardinal miscues as Freehan had reached base after being hit by a Steve Carlton pitch. Don Wert moved Freehan into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt to set the stage for Cash. Carlton held the Tigers to a run despite opening singles by Detroit in the third and fourth innings. The southpaw used his strikeout pitch to dodge further trouble as Carlton finished with six whiffs before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning.
St. Louis manager Red Schoendienst was on the receiving end of some pre-game rumblings regarding his decision to sit ace Bob Gibson with his club teetering on the brink. Carlton worked himself out of early jitters,and along with Ray Washburn and Ron Willis,no better than could have been expected from Gibson. For nearly a century this game as been played and one axiom holds true:a team cannot win if it does not score. So on this day,Earl Wilson was the story by scattering eight hits over nine innings for the first Series shutout since Don Drysdale’s 1-0 gem in Game Three of the 1963 Series. With one out in the fifth inning,pinch-hitter Bobby Tolan singled up the middle. After Lou Brock flied to left,Tolan stole second base and advanced to third after Freehan mishandled a Wilson curve ball. The sellout crowd of 54,575 rose in anticipation,but Curt Flood grounded out to short leaving Tolan to die at third base. Roger Maris belted Wilson’s first pitch of the sixth inning off the center field wall for an inning opening double. Orlando Cepeda failed to advance Maris with a ground out to third. Left-handed hitting Tim McCarver was intentionally passed to set up the double play. But,Shannon flied out to center fielder Mickey Stanley and Julian Javier grounded out to second to kill the threat. The Cardinals hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the seventh,but Maris,who batted .118 for the Series,grounded out to second to end the inning. Wilson retired the final six Cardinals in order. Pinch hitter Ed Spezio was the Cardinals’final hope in the ninth,and after three consecutive foul balls,Spezio could not catch up Wilson’s final fast ball. Freehan jumped for joy and joined Wilson and the rest of the Tigers team at the mound for a victory celebration on foreign soil.
Norman Dalton Cash was named the Series’Most Valuable Player with game-winning and a game-tying home runs in the Series. Cash was the only Tiger to hit in all four victories,but he was not the Tigers’leading hitter. Cash led both clubs with four RBI,but Jim Northrup was the Tigers’leading batter. Lou Brock led all batters with a Series batting average of .421,but Bill Freehan cut Brock down in three of four stolen base attempts. The neutralization of Brock on the base paths was a key factor for Detroit as well as the outstanding starting pitching Manager Mayo Smith received from Wilson,McLain and Lolich. Brock and McCarver were the only two Cardinals to collect base hits in all four games,but the failures of Maris,Cepeda (.188),and Javier (.125) at the plate cost St. Louis the ability to sustain any significant threats against the Tiger hurlers.
0/8/1967,DET67-STL67,Busch Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP1967 Detroit 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 10 01967 St. Louis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 9 1Detroit AB R H BI D T HR BB K SB CS IW HP SH SF AVG PO A E PBTracewski ss 5 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286 0 3 0 0McAuliffe 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 .056 2 6 0 0Kaline rf 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .267 1 0 0 0Horton lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .188 2 0 0 0Freehan c 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .083 6 0 0 1Wert 3b 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .308 2 2 0 0Cash 1b 4 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 12 1 0 0Stanley cf 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1 0 0 0Wilson p 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 1 1 0 0 30 1 6 1 2 0 0 5 8 0 0 1 1 2 0 27 13 0 1St. Louis AB R H BI D T HR BB K SB CS IW HP SH SF AVG PO A E PBBrock lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .421 3 1 0 0Flood cf 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .412 1 0 0 0Maris rf 4 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .118 0 0 0 0Cepeda 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .188 8 0 0 0McCarver c 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .333 9 1 0 0Shannon 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 0 4 0 0Javier 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 5 0 1 0Maxvill ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .214 1 6 0 0 Gagliano ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0Carlton p 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 Tolan ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333 0 0 0 0 Washburn p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 1 0 0 Ricketts ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 Willis p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 Spiezio ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 35 0 8 0 1 0 0 1 6 1 0 1 0 0 0 27 13 1 0Detroit INN H R ER BB K PCH STR BF HR IW HP WP DP ERAWilson W 1-0 9.0 8 0 0 1 6 118 81 36 0 1 0 0 0 2.51 9.0 8 0 0 1 6 118 81 36 0 1 0 0 0 St. Louis INN H R ER BB K PCH STR BF HR IW HP WP DP ERACarlton L 0-1 5.0 3 1 1 1 6 68 40 20 0 0 1 0 0 1.80Washburn 2.0 1 0 0 4 1 39 19 10 0 1 0 0 0 0.00Willis 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 26 19 8 0 0 0 0 0 2.70 9.0 6 1 1 5 8 133 78 38 0 1 1 0 0 STL:Tolan batted for Carlton in the 5th Ricketts batted for Washburn in the 7th Gagliano batted for Maxvill in the 9th Spiezio batted for Willis in the 9thGWRBI:CashTemperature:77,Sky:clear,Wind:in from center at 3 MPH.
