Sox 67

One of the important aspects of Dick Williams’ 67 Sox team was its ability to bounce back quickly from tough and sometimes embarrassing losses. An example of this came during a four-game series with the Tigers in mid-May at Fenway.

A night after he was accidentally beaned by catcher Bob Tillman, top reliever John Wyatt was allowed to stay in the game and absorb a 6-run explosion in the ninth inning of a 10-8 Tiger victory. Wyatt entered the game in the seventh to protect a 5-4 advantage and in the ninth he allowed a hit batter, double, home run, infield out, double, homer and fly ball to give the visitors a 10-5 advantage. A 3-run Sox uprising in the ninth fell short.

Williams tried vainly to explain his failure to change pitchers, but some players, according to Clif Keane, were “grim and muttering.” The homers were by Bill Freehan and Earl Wilson, former Sox star hurler who was often used as a pinch batter because of his hitting prowess (he had originally been a catcher). Joe Foy and Rico Petrocelli had three hits each in a losing cause.

The defeat dropped the Sox into a tie for last place with an 11-14 record. They recovered in a hurry, however, sweeping the league-leading Tigers in a Sunday twinbill, 8-5 and 13-9 while connecting for six homers. One of the hitting leaders was George Scott, who tripled in game 1 against starter Denny McLain, a year away from his 31-win season, to clear the bases and give Boston the lead for good. Though reached for 9 hits and 4 runs in six innings, Jim Lonborg ran his record to 3-1. The Sox broke open game 2 with 5 in the fifth on 5 hits, including another Foy homer. Boston picked up 15 safeties in the second game, including 3 by Don Demeter against his former team. There were many other Boston heroes, including Rico, who homered twice in game 1 and Carl Yastrzemski, who connected for  a 4-bagger in each game, the second off Tiger star hurler Mickey Lolich. In the cramped AL, the sweep moved the Sox from eighth to third.

Around the same time, two headlines stand out. One was “Rohr Faces 14-Day Army Tour.” It was common in those days for athletes to avoid the Vietnam draft by enrolling in local reserve units. Another was a hockey one: “B’s Get Esposito for Marotte in 3-3 Swap.” No one knew it then, but the deal, which also brought the Bruins Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield, would go down as one of the most one-sided in NHL history.