50 Years Ago - 1967 Opening Day Lineups

Last year, I posted the 50th Anniversary Opening Day lineups for the National League and American League teams from 1966.

I was going to do the same for the 50th anniversary of the 1967 teams, but realized that I had already done that back on Opening Day in 2014. So I will just re-post those links for that season (my 1st following major-league baseball), and will remember not to get ahead of myself for '68, '69, or '70.

Starting pitchers for all 20 teams

NL position players

AL position players

It's Opening Day! - AL starters

I'm wrapping up this 3-post Opening Day exercise with a look at the American League opening day starters in 1967. The teams are shown in order of their 1967 finish.

The only "Hey!  Where's so-and-so?" moments here are the absence of Tigers' left fielder Willie Horton, and the Athletics' rookie center field phenom Rick Monday. Rick started 105 games in center as a rookie, but none until game #10.

Except for Jose Tartabull, the other seven were the AL champs' regular position players.  Rookie Reggie Smith started the first 6 games at 2nd base before moving out to center field.

With last year's shortstop Dick McAuliffe moving over to play 2nd base, the Tigers had their choice of 2 weak-hitting shortstops (Dick Tracewski, Ray Oyler), and gave the opening day nod to the Weasel. Also, Gates Brown was the opening day left fielder?  Where's Willie Horton?  If not him, then where's Mickey Stanley?

Rookie phenom Rod Carew started 131 games at 2nd base in 1967 (even while missing 17 straight games in early August), pushing Cesar Tovar to center field.

The big surprise here is that 3rd-string catcher Jerry McNertney got the opening-day nod.  I would have thought rookie Duane Josephson was behind the dish.

The Angels' opening-day lineup included the newly-acquired Don Mincher and Jimmie Hall, both coming from Minnesota in exchange for pitcher Dean Chance.  Rick Reichart was a fixture in left field, and Jose Cardenal and Hall were the best of the SEVEN other outfielders on the Angels' roster.

Doug Camilli was the opening-day catcher?  Where was Paul Casanova? Frank Howard is listed as 6'-7" and 255 lb.  That must have been a scary sight watching him lumbering around in left field!

This opening-day starting 8 remained intact from the 1966 World Series champions.

This is pretty much the lineup I would have expected.  The Indians didn't have a viable 2nd baseman for the first half of the season, so Gus Gil was no worse than the other available options.

The Yankees lineup is as I would have expected, except at shortstop.  John Kennedy was acquired from the Dodgers one week before the season opener, and started the first 24 games at short, before Ruben Amaro took over for the remainder of the season.  Due to his limited mobility, Mickey Mantle swapped positions with Joe Pepitone in '67 and '68.

The big surprise here is in left and center fields.  I thought Joe Rudi wasn't due for another year? Also, first-ever #1 overall draft pick (in 1965) Rick Monday rode the bench for the first 8 games.  After 2 starts in left field, he assumed the center field job on April 23rd.

It's Opening Day! - NL starters

Continuing with the theme of the previous post, here are the opening day starting eight for each NL team, in order of the each team's 1967 finish.

Unlike the starting pitchers in the last post, I made no attempt to guess who the starters were here. (Too many players!)

Conspicuous by their absence are Dodgers' centerfielder Willie Davis, Phillies' 1st baseman Bill White, Cubs' catcher Randy Hundley, Mets' 1st baseman Ed Kranepool, and to a lesser extent, Giants' rightfielder Ollie Brown and Astros' leftfielder Ron Davis.

I know that White was injured, and I would have to assume the same for Willie Davis.  Maybe the others as well.

 

No surprises here.  These were the starting 8 all year, all the way to winning the World Series.

I would have suspected that Ollie Brown was the right fielder, instead of Henderson.

Dick Bertell?  This veteran didn't even have a card in the 1967 set. I would have assumed Randy Hundley would be the opening day starter, since he was the Topps All-Rookie catcher in 1966.

This is a solid group of starters, who, if I recall correctly, spent the first 2/3 of the 1967 season in first place.  Rookie 1st baseman Lee May wasn't the starter until later.

Bill White missed the first month of the season due to injury, so super-sub Tony Taylor filled in at 1st base.

No surprises here, although I would have guessed Jerry May or Jim Pagliaroni was behind the plate, instead of Gonder.

These 8 Braves were the season-long regulars, although Woodward shared 2nd base with rookie Felix Millan.

The league-leader of interchangeable parts doesn't disappoint! The absence of center fielder Willie Davis moves Parker from 1B to CF, Fairly from RF to 1B, Lou Johnson from LF to RF, with Bob Bailey inserted into left field.

Veteran ex-Braves' 3rd baseman Eddie Mathews was the Astros' primary 1st baseman in 1967, while rookie Aaron Pointer (on his only card) was the left fielder for the first week or so, until Ron Davis took over.

I was surprised to see that regular right fielder Ron Swoboda was the opening-day 1st baseman instead of Ed Kranepool. Cleon Jones slid over to right field, with rookie Don Bosch in center.


 Next post: AL starting eight

It's Opening Day!

Here are the opening day starting pitchers (for 1967, that is), in order of the teams' 1967 finish. (Senior Circuit first, natcherly!)

Before I looked these up in Baseball-Reference.com, I wrote down who I thought was each team's opening day starter. I was right on 13 of 20 (not so difficult, because most teams had an undisputed #1 ace).

The biggest shock was that Don Drysdale was not the Dodgers' opening-day starter. That honor went to Bob Miller (who would not have been among the first 4 names I picked). Drysdale started game #4.

Only slightly less surprising was the White Sox starting John Buzhardt on opening day. (What, were Gary Peters and Joel Horlen given the day off to go fishing up in Green Bay?)

So here are the opening day pitchers:

I was four-for-four with this first group.

I was right on Bunning and Veale, but I guessed Tony Cloninger for the Braves.  And who would have thunk Bob Miller would start ahead of Don Drysdale (my guess), Claude Osteen, or Don Sutton?

I picked Larry Dierker, because I always forget that Cuellar was on the Astros then. Knowing Tom Seaver wouldn't be the opening day starter as a rookie, I guessed Jack Fisher.  Fisher/Cardwell is a toss-up.  I was right on Lonborg and McLain.

I guessed correctly on Jim Kaat, and on George Brunet (which was a completely lucky guess, because to me, all the Angels' pitchers in 1967 were non-descript). Buzhardt was a complete surprise, as I guessed Gary Peters (and Joel Horlen would have been my backup).  For the Senators, I figured it would be either Camilo Pascual or Phil Ortega.

Some great opening-day starters here at the bottom of the barrel! (Well, the first 3 anyway).  I correctly guessed all but Nash, assuming Catfish Hunter was the opening-day starter.


The next 2 posts will be the opening-day eight for each NL and AL team.