1968 World Series

Here are the cards highlighting the 1968 World Series (coincidentally won by the Detroit Tigers). After a 4-game sweep in the '66 series, the Fall Classic went the distance for the next 2 seasons.

Several of the story lines during that time were:

1) Tigers' manager Mayo Smith putting centerfielder Mickey Stanley at shortstop, having never played there prior to late September. This kept weak-hitting Ray Oyler OUT of the lineup, while keeping outfielders Willie Horton, Jim Northrup, Al Kaline, and Stanley all IN the lineup.

2) Bob Gibson and his non-existent ERA leading the charge in the Year of the Pitcher.

3) The Tigers' Denny McLain becoming the first 30-game winner in decades.


The key for me was Smith's handling of his starting pitchers. With the 3-man post-season rotation back then, Gibson and McLain started games 1 and 4, with Gibson winning both. Detroit's #2 starter Mickey Lolich won games 2 and 5 against lesser Cardinals' pitching.

Instead of having McLain face Gibson in game 7, Smith brought McLain back on short rest for game 6, where he finally picked up a win against a lesser Cardinals pitcher, as the Tigers blew out the Cardinals by a 13-1 score.

This positioned Lolich for a game 7 match-up with Gibson, which paid off for the Tigers.

Let's Go O's!

Here's some old-school mojo to help get the Birds past the evil empire.

 
Here's their first foray into the post-season.

In 13 seasons with the Orioles, Dave McNally compiled a 184-119 record in 424 games. He was a 20-game winner every year from 1968-71, and tied teammate Mike Cuellar for the AL lead with 24 wins in 1970.

Jim Palmer pitched 19 seasons, all with the Orioles. His career record was 268-152 in 558 games. Jim won 20 or more every season from 1970-73, and 75-78.

Wally Bunker was 44-27 during his 6 seasons with the O's, and won 19 games as a rookie in 1964, while finishing 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting. He shut out the Dodgers in game 3 of the 1966 World Series.

After Bunker was lost to the Royals in the post-1968 expansion draft, Baltimore traded for Mike Cuellar. His record as an 8-year Oriole was 144-88 in 290 games. Cuellar won 23 games and the Cy Young award in 1969. The next season, he (and McNally) co-led the AL with 24 wins, while also leading the league with 21 complete games. In the next 4 seasons, he won 20 or more games twice and 18 twice.