Detroit sweeps opening series with Cleveland

Detroit: 10  Cleveland: 3
W - McLain (1-0)
L - Tiant (0-1)

Willie Horton, Norm Cash, and Al Kaline all went yard as the Tigers bombed the Indians in the opener.  Denny McLain (1-0) settled down and went the distance after serving up a 2-run dinger to Tony Horton in the top of the first.  The Tigers pounded out 10 hits in all, and took advantage of a wild Luis Tiant (0-1) for the opening day victory.  53,000+ fans came out to Tiger Stadium for the opening day festivities and were not disappointed.


Detroit: 4  Cleveland: 2
W - Lolich (1-0)
L - McDowell (0-1)

Mickey Lolich (1-0) struck out 12 Indians over 9 strong innings as the Tigers beat the Indians for a second straight day.  Lolich toyed with the Tribe batters for most of the game, and got the best of fellow southpaw Indians pitcher Sam McDowell (0-1).  Al Kaline got a couple more hits for the Tigers giving him 5 overall during the two-game set.

Baltimore Takes Two on Opening Day Home Stand

Game 1: Baltimore 5  Boston 4
WP: Dave McNally (1-0)
LP: Sparky Lyle (0-1)
SV: Eddie Watt (1)

Boog Powell had 6 hits, 3 RBI's and Homer
as Baltimore downs Boston in a 2 game
series.

The Orioles swung the bats freely in their home opener racking up 10 hits (3 for extra bases) as they hung on to down a stubborn Red Sox squad 5-4.  Boog Powell and Frank Robinson each went 3 for 4.  Every time Boston would make a run, Baltimore seemed to have an answer.  With the score tied, 4-4, in the bottom of the 7th.  A lead off double by Frank Robinson would result in the eventual game winning run as Davey Johnson would drive him in with a crisp single between third and short.  Eddie Watt would then come in and allow only 1 hit in 2 innings of relief to grab the save.

Game 2: Baltimore 6  Boston 5
WP: Eddie Watt (1-0)
LP: Sparky Lyle (0-2)

A 3 run 9th inning explosion by the Red Sox, including a a ball that almost cleared the wall for Carl Yaztresmski (ending in a double), gave the Boston fans hopes of grabbing their first win of the season.  The Sox would take a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth as Sparky Lyle again would take the mound to try and close things out.  Lyle would face the same fate as he did in the opener, a Baltimore team that would knock him silly in just .1 innings of work.  A Davey Johnson single, followed by a PH Carl Mouton homer would quickly have the "O's" tied up.  With 1 out Paul Blair would walk and steal a base, giving Boog Powell a chance at glory.  Powell finished up his series with an impressive single to right field to improve the Orioles to 2-0 on the season.

Boog Powell would go 6-9 with 3 RBI's and a home run to take the Series MVP honor for Baltimore.  Russ Gibson pounded out 3 hits in 6 attempts (2 RBI's ) for the Sox.

Opening Day - Coming Friday 1/31/14

Bob Gibson and the reigning champion St. Louis Cardinals will try and defend their title for the

1969 season!  Their quest to repeat will be underway this week as the OPENING DAY game disk will be sent out this Friday (1/31/14).  We still have 1 open team (New York Yankees) in case you know of anyone who would like to join.

If anyone is interested in posting to this blog, please let me know and I'll send you an invite.

1969 Season - Coming Soon!

The 1969 Major League Baseball season was celebrated as the 100th anniversary of professional baseball, honoring the first professional touring baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

Can Tom Seaver lead the "Miracle Mets" to the
1969 title?

It was the first season of what is now called the "Divisional Era," where each league of 12 teams was divided into two divisions of six teams each. The winners of each division would compete against each other in a League Championship Series, then best-of-five, to determine the pennant winners that would face each other in the World Series.

In a year marked by the second expansion of the decade, the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles faced each other in the1969 World Series. Having won the N.L. East Division with a league-best 100–62 record, and sweeping the N.L. West Division Champion Atlanta Braves in three games in the first National League Championship Series, the "Miracle Mets" became the first expansion team to win a pennant. They faced the A.L. East Division Champion Orioles, holders of the best record in baseball (109–53), who swept the A.L. West Division Champion Minnesota Twins in three games in the first American League Championship Series. The upstart Mets would upset the heavily favored Orioles and win the World Series title in five games.

Expansion

MLB called for a four-team expansion to take place in 1971 at the 1967 Winter Meetings, the first since 1962. However, there was a complication: influential Missouri U.S. Senator Stuart Symington was irate over the American League's approval of Kansas City Athletics owner Charles O. Finley's arrangement to move his team to Oakland, California, for the 1968 season. This happened even though Finley had just signed a deal to play at Municipal Stadium at AL president Joe Cronin's behest, and Jackson County, Missouri, had just issued public bonds to build a stadium, the future Kauffman Stadium.

Symington drew up legislation to remove baseball's anti-trust exemption, and threatened to pursue its passage if Kansas City did not get a new team. The Leagues agreed and moved expansion to 1968, with the AL putting one of its new franchises in Kansas City. Ewing Kauffman won the bidding for that franchise, naming it the Kansas City Royals, after the local American Royal livestock show. The other AL team was awarded to Seattle, Washington. A consortium led by Dewey Soriano and William Daley won the bidding for the Seattle franchise, and named it the Seattle Pilots, a salute to the harbor pilots of the Puget Sound maritime industry.

In the NL, one franchise was awarded to San Diego, California; the other to Montreal, Quebec, resulting in the first MLB franchise outside the United States. C. Arnholdt Smith, former owner of the AAA Pacific Coast League's San Diego Padres, won the bidding for the San Diego franchise, also naming it the Padres. Charles Bronfman, owner of Seagram, won the bidding for the Montreal franchise, naming them the Expos, in honor of the World's Fair that year. This was the last NL expansion until the 1993 season.