I am a Yankees fan. I must say 1967 was a magical year for the Bosox and I was rooting for them to beat the Cardinals. Magical with the exception of what happened to the late great Tony Conigliaro who my father compared to Joe DiMaggio. Being Italian ourselves we couldn't have been more proud of Tony C.
I was 18 years-young and just graduated high school that summer. I loved baseball and the Red Sox and have been a fan since 1959. I grew up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and I will NEVER forget the 1967 season. For the first time in my life I decided to start a scrap book of the Sox in April of that year. I still have it 52 years later, and what memories in conjures up. The near no-hitter by Billy Rohr at Yankee Stadium in April, and the great catch by Yaz in left field to keep the no-hitter in tact is etched in my mind forever. I can still see myself listening to the game that night on the small GE radio my mom had. The late Red Sox play-by-play man, Ken Coleman, (along with my favorite, Ned Martin), brought the '67 season to life for many of us Red Sox fans day after day, and night after night. "Yastrzemski dives and makes a tremendous catch in left field!" "Look at 'em go, ten in a row, and now our kids are second!" "If you've just turned on your radio, it's happened again..." Yaz of course, was at it again, getting clutch hit after clutch hit.
I am a Yankees fan but i give props to the '67 Red Sox. Beating a good Twins team that went to the series 2 years before)and an upcoming Tigers team that won the '68 world series to get to the fall classic was an accomplishment. Then taking a mini dynasty Cardinals team led by Bob Gibson to 7 games was something. Perhaps what the '67 Red Sox are best remembered for is that they were America's first pro "Cinderella" sports team in the television era. This Red Sox team got national and even international media attention. They laid the ground work for future CINDERELLA teams in MLB like the '69 Mets, '87 Twins, '88 Dodgers and more recently the 2016 Cubs that sometimes brings in more viewers and attention because of the surprise runs into the world series and sometimes winning it all.
Great perspective. Of course we in New England only think of the impact of this 1967 team on the Red Sox renaissance, but you are a absolutely right that it helped usher in the era of the Cinderella or underdog teams that attract more national attention. I remember for example being being very excited by Kirk Gibson's HR against Oakland. Thanks for sharing your astute thoughts.
@@hiramnoone Being fair, the 05 White Sox was not that “suprise” team. They were favorites all that season along with say the 04 Defending Champion Red Sox, Yankees who still had Jeter at the time, Cardinals Astros and Braves. So sorry the 05 White Sox don’t belong in the historic “underdog” teams that I mentioned before,
@@americangiant1003 well, they hadn't won a world series in 46 years, and including '05 have won only two in 102. so i don't know that they were favored. instead, much like boston and the cubs, were closer to being cursed.
Also that year we went to Yankees Stadium and bought the scorecard. I didn't know anyone who had my first name until I saw the name Americo Petrocelli on the scorecard. Thanks Rico.
I spoke with Rico on the phone when he was taking calls after announcing his retirement. In 1983 I met Rico, Luis Tiant, Yaz, and sports attorney Bob Wolfe at a baseball card show and dinner at Dunfey's Restaurant in Hyannis, Ma. Rico could not have been nicer. What a great guy he is.
As someone older who was there for that final game of the season, I sense that if the crowd was all folks who remember that year, the applause and feelings would have been far greater. That's not a criticism, but just an observation and opinion. For so many of us, when we think back to the clutch play of so many of those men, it stirs something in us and touches our hearts.
So true Phillip. I was 18 years-old in 1967, and NO Boston team will ever take the place in my heart those Red Sox have. If not for the Boston Celtics things would have been complete misery for us sports fans during the '60s and earlier. I would have been screaming my head off if I were at Fenway for the 50th anniversary of that 1967 Impossible Dream season.
LOVE this team!! In 1965...they were 40 games out of 1st place....in 1966 they were 26 games out...in 1967 they won the pennant on the last day of the season....and took the Cardinals to 7 games in the '67 WS!!! Yaz...Lonborg...Rico....Harrelson..Joe Foy...Jerry Adair....George Scott...Mike Andrews...Reggie Smith...and of course...Tony C. This team lives on in Boston baseball lore!!!
@@josephcoleman57 hey Coleman you don't have to curse at Dent. it wasn't his fault that you guys lost a 14 game lead Guidry went 25-3 . Nettles hit 37 home runs. how's this his fault.
@@josephcoleman57 i'm older than you and no more about baseball than you do. of course I knew Dent had 4 homeruns . but your team blows a 14 game lead and now you curse at Bucky? how about cursing at your team for going about 3 wins in September some low number they won is why you lost the division? Guidry going 25-3 is the real reason had he been 24-4 you would have won the east? no cursing.
@@marksantucci4230 you don't know anything. Saying 'Fucky Dent" is a gag that people in Boston have been saying for decades. Even Dent laughs about it. Take the stick out of your ass and think about 04 and the Yankees blowing a 3-0 lead with 3 outs to go.. Talk about epic chokes.
The team donated their extra pay for winning the pennant to the Jimmy Fund? You don’t see much of that today. When players thought they were lucky to play a sport for a living, stood for the flag and loved all people so much that they donated their bonuses to charity.
Anyone remember the 'Wednesday Night Fights" game at Yankee Stadium? Sox and Yankees really went at it that summer night in New York. Rico Petrocelli was about to take Yankee first baseman Joe Pepitone's head off, and it took about four or five players to hold Rico back. And rookie Reggie Smith showing off his judo skills on one of the Yankees that night! (I know Reggie came up in 1966, but only Sept. call up)
As someone said earlier, Lonborg won 22 games ( #22 was the game 162 win over the Twins), not 21. I was 8 years old at the time, living in Newport Rhode Island and that was my first memory of sports. It is hard to believe today but the 7th game of the World Series was played during the day and was not on local television. I had to go to school and we spent more time listening to the game on the radio than "learning". They took Gibson, Brock and the Cards to the seventh game but Lonborg pitching on only 2 days of rest just did not have it that day.
i was 8 years old as well that year and grew up 3 blocks from fenway. the 7th games was in fact on television, nbc with curt gowdy that columbus day which we had off from school in those days. i remember playing in my backyard and a tenant in our building was watching and telling us the sad news
Those of us who lived through that season will never forget how close the standings were. After the Sox won their game they were all sitting around the radio listening to the Tigers/Angels game. If the Tigers won there would be a tie and a American League Playoff. A few days before the end of the season it seemed impossible that there would not be a tie for first place. I'm 74 years-old now and '67 was the most exciting season I have ever witnessed. The 2004 Red Sox beat down of the Yanks after being down 3 games to 0 in the Playoffs was pretty close.
Joseph Coleman Joe- I was 12 and this was the first year that I went to Fenway, taking the subway and trolley in from Dorchester, including the last regular season game, aka "Pandemonium on the Field!" the famous quote from announcer Ned Martin
maximilian4477 nice to meet another long time fan Max Time flew huh? I am probably the same age as my grandfather was when he, his brother Tommy ( a Boston Braves fan ), my dad and my cousin Tommy went to my first Sox game. Been a long ride, Thankfully my dad lived long enough to see the Sox return to not only relevance but to greatness. these are good times indeed
Not to be a downer, but Jerry Moses didn't play for the '67 team. They had four catchers that season. Mike Ryan, Elston Howard, Russ Gibson and Bob Tillman. Moses spent the year in AA-ball.
Jerry was called up in September but did not have a chance to play. He spent his entire September call up catching relievers in the bullpen. George Thomas also caught some innings behind the plate.
Of course as everyone knows the Impossible Dream year saved baseball in Boston. Attendance was way down, 8,000 and change on opening day that year,yeesh. Yawkey threathening to move the team if no new stadium. But then came this team which not only won the pennant but did it against all odds and in the last great winner takes all pennant race. This team changed everything
We would have kept the team in Boston, but the fan base would have taken another hit. If the Boston Braves were still in town it may have been another story.
That team/season is the earliest lasting memory of anything connected to sports that I have. I wish that I could have been there for that tribute. There's the Red Sox franchise before 1967 and said franchise during and after 1967; a true line of demarcation in franchise history. But with that said, I counted three inaccuracies in the PA announcer's voiceover that jumped right out at me: Lonborg went 22-9 (not 21-9) in 1967, Yaz's early-season catch at Crankee Stadium I wasn't on Opening Day (the Red Sox opened that season at Fenway vs. the White Sox), and the Twins and Red Sox were tied at 91-70 (not 90-71) going into the final regular-season game on 10/1/67. The preceding might come across to some as being excessively nitpicky but for an event that honored such a landmark team, someone should have gone to great lengths to make sure that little things like talking points for said voiceover were done right. What was the use of doing something like that so half-assedly?
Paula Burkett I couldn't agree more! The Sox were literally 100-to-1 odds to take the American League pennant that season, and for such a magical, magnificent accomplishment as this, it is unforgivable to have such a sloppy, haphazard introduction. I was embarrassed that one of the all-time great teams in Red Sox history were presented with such carelessness to their devoted fans.
