Final roster cuts for 1967 (not until mid-May!)

 

Recently, I posted a roster review of the 1967 Cardinals on my 1967 baseball cards blog. After examining each player and each game they played, with the help of Baseball-Reference.com (for starting lineups) and Retrosheet.org (for every game played by each player - which is easier to verify the non-starters than by pulling up each game's boxscore in Baseball-Reference.com), it seemed like the Cardinals had 26 or 27 players on their squad during April and May.

 

Reader Patrick Farrell pointed me in the direction of an internet newspaper archive, and specifically, columns in some of the Florida papers on May 11, 1967.

 

Below is the transactions column from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on May 11, 1967, which lists the players released or sent down as all teams scrambled to get down to the 25-man limit that late into the season. I wonder why this wasn't required by opening day? Does anyone have insight into this?

In my earlier review of the Phillies, I also noticed that they seem to have had 26 players on their roster in the early months, before Tito Francona was sold.

Last Active St. Louis Browns

Here are the last active players to have played for the St. Louis Browns.


In 1967, the 38-year-old Larsen was called up by the Cubs for 12 days. He hadn't played in the majors since 1965.
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1969 Phillies

Following the abysmal 1968 season, the Phillies embarked on a major housecleaning.

Lost to expansion were pitcher Larry Jackson, all 3 shortstops (Bobby Wine, Roberto Pena, and Gary Sutherland), and centerfielder Tony Gonzalez. Also gone were pitcher Dick Hall, catcher Clay Dalrymple, and first baseman Bill White. Outfielder Don Lock would soon follow in April.

New additions were 1B/3B Deron Johnson, acquired from Atlanta, and top rookies Don Money and Larry Hisle, both of who had flopped a year earlier. This lineup seemed like a mix of rookies and veterans playing out of position. Tony Taylor led the team in at-bats, but didn't play 80 games at any one position. Newly-acquired slugger Deron Johnson also bounced between positions.


Catchers
Weak-hitting right-handed Mike Ryan (#9) assumed the starting catcher's job, for lack of a better alternative. Rookie Dave Watkins was the backup (in his only major-league season).


Infielders
Richie Allen (#15) was the regular first baseman, although for less than 120 games (thanks to his suspension). Cookie Rojas (#16) and Tony Taylor (#8) split the second base duties, with Rojas starting more often. With all three of last year's shortstops departing, the starting job was given to rookie Don Money (#5), who was acquired from the Pirates for Jim Bunning following the 1967 season. Lightweight rookie infielder Terry Harmon backed up at SS and 2B. Tony Taylor played about half the games at third base, with the remaining games split between Deron Johnson (#11) and Rick Joseph (#19).


Outfielders
Johnny Callison (#6) the Phillies rightfielder since the early 60's, was back for one last go-round. Rookie Larry Hisle (#4) blossomed as the regular centerfielder. Newcomer Deron Johnson was the primary leftfielder, with John Briggs (#12) getting the call whenever Johnson would move in to third base. Spring-training rookie phenom Ron Stone soon settled back into the scrub role he would play throughout his Phillies career.


Pitchers
Last year's ace Chris Short (#41) missed the whole season due to injury. Filling his shoes was southpaw Grant Jackson (#29), previously a reliever. Woody Fryman (#35) was the other left-handed starter, while the righties were Rick Wise (#38), Jerry Johnson (#33), and rookie Billy Champion (#31).

The closers were veteran Turk Farrell (#32) and rookie Al Raffo, who came out of nowhere, pitched well, then disappeared after the season. The other bullpen suspects were long-time organizational fodder John Boozer, and rookies Billy Wilson and Lowell Palmer. Palmer was notable for always wearing dark glasses (even on his baseball cards!)


Summary
This team was worse than the '68 team, and as such, 2nd-year manager Bob Skinner got the boot before the season was over.

On the bright side, Don Money proved to be the real deal at shortstop, and Larry Hisle also had a fine rookie season. They both were selected to the major-league all-rookie team. Hisle's success as a Phillie was to be short-lived, as he faded in 1971 and was traded to the Dodgers. Rick Wise and Grant Jackson were also improving as quality starters. This Phillies team had gotten younger since 1968, but not better. Following the 1969 season, they would get even younger as Callison, Allen, Rojas, and Farrell would leave.

1969 was billed as the "last year at Connie Mack Stadium". However, because of construction delays at Veterans Stadium, they would play one more season at the old park.

1969 AL Expansion

In 1969, the American League added the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots. It had been eight years since the previous AL expansion added the Angels and Senators.

This time, the expansion draft guidelines were going to be more favorable to the new teams. (I guess they wanted to avoid another team losing 120 games!) Each established team would protect 15 players on their 40-man rosters, and the Royals and Pilots would each select up to 30 players (3 per established team, so that the existing teams would each lose a total of 6 players). When a team lost a player, they could protect 3 more players on their roster. (So, each team would theoretically lose their 16th, 20th, 24th, 28th, 32nd, and 36th best players.)

Here's how it went (click to enlarge):


After the draft (held in October 1968), teams also signed free agents, made rule 5 draft picks, trades, etc. The deals listed above were those that occurred before opening day 1969.

The Royals team was a direct result of the Kansas City Athletics moving to Oakland following the 1967 season. Never has a city had to wait so little for a replacement team.

The Pilots were another story. After one season (immortalized by Pilots' pitcher Jim Bouton in his book Ball Four), the team was in financial ruins. Bud Selig (then a car dealer from Milwaukee) bought the team and moved them to Milwaukee. This move occurred during spring training 1970. The team went to camp as the Seattle Pilots, and emerged as the Milwaukee Brewers!


Out of the above collection of prospects, has-beens, never-weres, and other assorted backups, the teams settled on these lineups:

1969 NL Expansion

In 1969, expansion added 4 new teams, unleashing 100 "major-league" players on the public. The National League added the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres. It had been seven years since the previous NL expansion added the Mets and Colt .45s (later renamed Astros).

This time, the expansion draft guidelines were going to be more favorable to the new teams. (I guess they wanted to avoid another team losing 120 games!) Each established team would protect 15 players on their 40-man rosters, and the Expos and Padres would each select up to 30 players (3 per established team, so that the existing teams would each lose a total of 6 players). When a team lost a player, they could protect 3 more players on their roster. (So, each team would theoretically lose their 16th, 20th, 24th, 28th, 32nd, and 36th best players.)

Here's how it went (click to enlarge):


After the draft (held in October 1968), teams also signed free agents, made rule 5 draft picks, trades, etc. The deals listed above were those that occurred before opening day 1969.

Notice that Johnny Podres is listed with the Padres. He had been out of baseball in 1968, but came back at age 36 for one season with the Padres.

The Phillies' Larry Jackson decided to retire, rather than to play for an expansion team. For compensation, the Phillies offered a group of players from which the Expos could choose one. When they chose shortstop Bobby Wine, this cleared out the Phillies roster of all their major-league shortstops (Bobby Wine, Gary Sutherland, Roberto Pena). No matter, it was already planned that Don Money would be promoted from triple-A and handed the shortstop job in 1969.


Out of the above collection of prospects, has-beens, never-weres, and other assorted backups, the teams settled on these lineups:



Next time: The 1969 American League expansion


10/13/2013 edit: I just found another blog entry about expansion today. It never occurred to me that Mickey Mantle would be left unprotected, but it doesn't make sense to protect him.

Phillies 1967 pre-season roster

Yesterday, I found a news archive site that includes page scans from the 1967 St. Petersburg Press. The February 26th issue had the spring training rosters of the teams training within 110 miles of St. Petersburg (Phillies, Cardinals, Mets, White Sox, Red Sox, Pirates, Reds, and Athletics).


This is a 42-man roster. (John Briggs and Mike Wegener are designated as on the "Military List", so maybe they're not counted toward the 40-man roster.) The non-roster invitees are listed at the bottom, and include veterans Ruben Gomez, Joey Jay, Jim Schaffer, and Jim Gentile.

Besides players that appeared for the Phillies in 1967, this roster includes future Phillies Billy Champion, Larry Colton, Lowell Palmer, Bill Wilson, Larry Bowa, Denny Doyle, and Larry Hisle.

Those Loveable Losers

I found this article today on the New York Times archive website. Only the headline and first paragraph are available without paying. The headline is hilarious:

Mets Acquire Kralick of Indians, An Experienced Losing Pitcher
By JOSEPH DURSO
May 2, 1967, Tuesday

THE NEW YORK METS, who will get their first look at Willie Mays and the San Francisco Giants tonight, reported yesterday that they had purchased Jack Kralick from the Cleveland Indians.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C1EF73558107B93C0A9178ED85F438685F9

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Philadelphia was no place for a young player in 1967

After trading away rookie pitcher Ferguson Jenkins for 2 old-timers (Larry Jackson, Bob Buhl) in early 1966, the Phillies apparently thought old = good, as they loaded up on aging veterans in the off-season. Pitchers Pedro Ramos, Ruben Gomez, Dick Hall, and Joey Jay were all brought in to supplement Bob Buhl and Terry Fox in the bullpen. First baseman Jim Gentile was signed to give the equally-old Bill White some time off.

This preference for geezers soon went by the wayside, as Jay, Fox, and Gentile never made it out of spring training (the latter two spending the year with the Phillies' triple-A team in San Diego, while surprisingly, Joey Jay wrapped up a long career by pitching for the Phillies single-A team in Tidewater). By mid-June, the Phillies had also dumped Buhl, Ramos, and Gomez, along with aging position players Dick Groat and Jackie Brandt. For good measure, little-used pitcher Dallas Green was let go 2 weeks before season's end.