Sox 67

Billy Rohr’s followup to his near no-hitter brought out a Fenway crowd of 25,000 (large in those days) on Friday night, April 21, and they were not disappointed. The rookie southpaw tamed the Yanks again by a 6-1 count, surrendering 8 hits, walking one and fanning six. He extended his scoreless streak to 16 before Elston Howard-still a Rohr nemesis-singled in Bill Robinson, but Boston already had a 6-0 cushion.

Dalton Jones, playing third in place of the benched Joe Foy, broke up a scoreless game in the fifth with a two-out single, followed by doubles from Carl Yastrzemski, George Thomas, and Tony Horton for a 3-0 advantage against longtime Sox nemesis Mel Stottlemyre. Jones later homered around Pesky’s Pole (it wasn’t yet called that) off reliever Steve Hamiliton for a 5-run lead. Rohr was later quoted in a story by the late Will McDonough as saying he feared just one batter-Mickey Mantle. “The guy’s power is amazing,” said the youngster, “if I’m lucky enough to stay in the big leagues for 20 years, I will never forget pitching those first three times to (Mantle) tonight.” The words ring rather sad; Rohr would never win another big league game.

As a sidelight, on the same page as the Rohr story, a paragraph is written about the Harvard freshman baseball team beating BC, 7-6. The piece even contained a box score. Today a Harvard-BC game (freshman teams are long gone) woul barely have a score mentioned; the Boston sport pages were still very provincial in 1967.

The following day, the crowd dropped to a more normal 8100 on a cold, cloudy day as the Sox edged New York 5-4. George Scott, still on the bench, drove in the winner on a sixth inning pinch-hit sacrifice fly as Boston overcame a 3-1 deficit. In the fifth Mike Andrews opened with a single, Reggie doubled and Yaz’s bases-loaded hit off reliever Hal Reniff knotted the count at 3. The Sox then pulled off a delayed double steal with Carl stopping before second, drawing a throwing error and allowing  Jones, who had walked, to score and put the Sox in the lead. Scotty’s sacrifice fly off the immortal Dooley Womack plated the winner. Don McMahon then shut the visitors down over the last three frames to preserve the victory.

In the past, writers and fans had often charged that Sox managers didn’t dispute many calls because they often slept on the bench. The next day, Williams proved that was no longer the case. In the fifth inning of the Yankee finale, Dick and Yastrzemski were ejected for questioning ball and strike calls of umpire Red Flaherty as the Sox blew a 5-1 lead and fell 7-5. “He’s a bad umpire-incompetent,” said Williams, who was protesting Flaherty’s call on a pitch to Howard. It was a very important decision, since Elston went on to double home the tying and winning runs. The Sox had tallied 3 off starter and future author Jim Bouton, sparked by Yaz’s two-run homer. Russ Gibson doubled home two more in the third off reliever Fritz Peterson, and with Darrell Brandon throwing well, Boston seemed headed for a sweep. But Bucky suddenly lost his control, walking two to load the bases and uncorked a wild pitch. After a sac fly and another pass, Jose Santiago relieved and surrendered a run-scoring hit to Jake Gibbs. With Howard up, Flaherty called a close 0-2 pitch a ball, causing Williams’ outburst and ejection: Yaz’s would come later. Howard then doubled in two for a 6-5 lead. The Sox didn’t score again, as Al Downing came in from the pen and threw 6 scoreless innings.

“It was the first time I’ve ever been thrown out of a game before I cussed an umpire, ” remarked Williams. According to the rules, protesting balls and strikes can merit an automatic ejection, a statute put in because of managers like Leo Durocher, who would do it for entire games.

The Sox were only 4-5, trailing the Angels by a game and a half. Sox Nation, however, knew already that there was no snoozing in the dugout.