1968 – On Old Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium, the Twins stop the Yankees, 3 – 2. New York’s only scores are two solo shots by Mickey Mantle off Jim Merritt. It is the Mick’s 46th two-homer game.
Luis Tiant strikes out nineteen Twins and scatters six hits in a ten-inning 1-0 complete-game victory against Minnesota at Cleveland Stadium. ‘El Tiante’, who equals Sandy Koufax’s record for 41 strikeouts for three consecutive games, becomes the second hurler to whiff more than 18 batters in an American League contest, behind only Tom Cheney of the Senators, who recorded more when he punched out 21 Baltimore batters in a 16-inning game in 1962.
On May 8, 1968, Catfish Hunter of the Oakland A’s pitches a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins. Hunter’s perfect game is the first in the American League during the regular season in 46 years, when White Sox right-hander Charlie Robertson, who accomplished the feat against Detroit in 1922. Don Larsen had pitched a…
On November 28, 1967, the Minnesota Twins trade former MVP shortstop Zoilo Versalles and pitcher Mudcat Grant to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitchers Ron Perranoski and Bob Miller and catcher John Roseboro. Just 3 years removed from winning the 1965 AL MVP, Versalles will hit .196 in his only season with the Dodgers in…
Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski (.326, 44, 121), receiving 19 of 20 first-place votes, is selected by the BBWAA as the American League Most Valuable Player. A writer puts the light-hitting Twins infielder Cesar Tovar (.267, 6, 47) on the top of his ballot, denying the 28 year-old Red Sox outfielder of being the unanimous choice for the award.
On October 1, 1967, With identical 91-70 records and just one game to play, the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox faced, nearly, a single-game playoff for the pennant. After going down 2-0, when the Twins scored 2 unearned runs, the Red Sox broke through against Twins ace Dean Chance to score 5 in…
Boston beats the Twins, 6 – 4, to tie Minnesota for first place. Carl Yastrzemski’s 3-run home run gives him the American League-lead with 44, but Harmon Killebrew answers with his 44th for the losers. Meanwhile, Detroit, which had games rained out on the 28th and 29th, plays two with the Angels. Mickey Lolich wins the opener, 5 – 0, his 3rd straight shutout, and Detroit takes a seemingly safe 6 – 2 lead into the 8th inning of the nitecap. The Angels then bat around, scoring six runs, to hand Detroit a devastating 8 – 6 loss. Detroit now trails Minnesota and Boston by a half-game.
Dean Chance throws his second no-hitter of the month, defeating the Indians 2-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. On August 5th, the Twins’ 26 year-old right-hander hurled five perfect innings in an abbreviated game against the Red Sox.
On July 15, 1967, Allan Lewis of the Kansas City A’s ties a major league record by stealing two bases as a pinch-runner in one inning. Lewis, who is used exclusively as a runner and never plays the field during the season, swipes the bases during a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins.
Harmon Killebrew launches the longest home run ever hit in Metropolitan Stadium, a 503-foot shot which travels deep in the second deck of the left-center field bleachers. The stadium chair the ball hit by the Twins’ outfielder is mounted high on a wall overlooking the flume ride at Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America, the former site of the Met, in the precise spot the ball landed in the upper deck in deep left-center field.
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