1967 Kansas City Athletics season

1967 Kansas City Athletics
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Municipal Stadium (since 1955)
Kansas City, Missouri (since 1955)
Other information
Owner(s)	Charles O. Finley
General manager(s)	Ed Lopat
Manager(s)	Alvin Dark, Luke Appling
Local television	KCMO
Local radio	KCMO (AM) (Monte Moore, Lynn Faris)
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The 1967 Kansas City Athletics season involved the team's finishing 10th in the American League with a record of 62 wins and 99 losses, 29½ games behind the American League Champion Boston Red Sox. This was the franchise's 13th and final season in Kansas City. After the season, the team relocated from Kansas City to Oakland. This precipitated a series of events culminating in the enfranchisement of the Kansas City Royals in the 1969 Major League Baseball expansion.

The paid attendance for the season was 726,639 fans.^[1]

Offseason

• November 29, 1966: Manny Jiménez was drafted from the Athletics by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1966 minor league draft.^[2]
• January 28, 1967: 1967 Major League Baseball Draft (January Draft) notable picks:^[3]

Round 1: Ken Hottman (did not sign)

Secondary Phase^[4]

Round 5: Jim Panther .^[5]

• In the offseason, local millionaire Ewing Kauffman was approached by a group led by sportswriter Ernie Mehl to buy the club and ensure that it remained in Kansas City.^[6]

Regular season

• Despite an 18–18 start, the Athletics had a record of 35 wins compared to 49 losses by the All-Star Break.^[7]
• On June 9, Reggie Jackson debuted in the major leagues with the A's at home in a doubleheader shutout sweep of the Cleveland Indians. He started in right field and went hitless in three at-bats in the opener, then entered the nightcap in the fifth inning and promptly hit a lead-off triple off of long reliever Orlando Peña, but did not score.^[8][9]

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	92	70	0.568	—	49–32	43–38
Detroit Tigers	91	71	0.562	1	52–29	39–42
Minnesota Twins	91	71	0.562	1	52–29	39–42
Chicago White Sox	89	73	0.549	3	49–33	40–40
California Angels	84	77	0.522	7½	53–30	31–47
Washington Senators	76	85	0.472	15½	40–40	36–45
Baltimore Orioles	76	85	0.472	15½	35–42	41–43
Cleveland Indians	75	87	0.463	17	36–45	39–42
New York Yankees	72	90	0.444	20	43–38	29–52
Kansas City Athletics	62	99	0.385	29½	37–44	25–55

Record vs. opponents

1967 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	WSH
Baltimore	—	10–8	6–11	7–11	9–9	3–15	10–8	8–10	13–5	10–8
Boston	8–10	—	10–8	8–10	13–5	11–7	12–6	7–11	12–6	11–7
California	11–6	8–10	—	7–11	14–4	8–10	14–4	7–11	9–9	6–12
Chicago	11–7	10–8	11–7	—	12–6	8–10	8–10	9–9	12–6	8–10
Cleveland	9–9	5–13	4–14	6–12	—	8–10	11–7	10–8	9–9	13–5
Detroit	15–3	7–11	10–8	10–8	10–8	—	12–6	8–10–1	10–8	9–9
Kansas City	8–10	6–12	4–14	10–8	7–11	6–12	—	8–10	7–11	6–11
Minnesota	10–8	11–7	11–7	9–9	8–10	10–8–1	10–8	—	12–6–1	10–8
New York	5–13	6–12	9–9	6–12	9–9	8–10	11–7	6–12–1	—	12–6
Washington	8–10	7–11	12–6	10–8	5–13	9–9	11–6	8–10	6–12	—

Notable transactions

• June 6, 1967: 1967 Major League Baseball Draft (June Draft) notable picks:^[10]

Round 2: Vida Blue^[11]

Round 11: Eric Soderholm (did not sign)^[12]

Secondary Phase:^[13]

Round 4: Warren Bogle

Round 5: Ray Peters (did not sign)

Round 7: Darrell Evans ^[14]

Roster

1967 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 23 Jack Aker 29 Chuck Dobson 31 Bob Duliba 22 Bill Edgerton 27 Catfish Hunter 20 Lew Krausse 28 George Lauzerique 25 Paul Lindblad 30 Jim Nash 13 Blue Moon Odom 32 Tony Pierce 16,17 Roberto Rodríguez 33 Jack Sanford 26 Diego Seguí 22 Bill Stafford 18 Wes Stock		Catchers  6 Dave Duncan  4 Phil Roof 17 Ken Suarez 11 Tim Talton Infielders  6 Sal Bando 10 Weldon Bowlin 19 Bert Campaneris  2 Danny Cater 16 Ed Charles 10,12 Ossie Chavarria 12 John Donaldson  1 Dick Green 6,8 Ken Harrelson 14 Ted Kubiak 15 Joe Rudi 34 Ray Webster		Outfielders 21 Jim Gosger  3 Mike Hershberger 31 Reggie Jackson  7 Rick Monday 24 Joe Nossek  9 Roger Repoz Other batters 10 Allan Lewis		Manager 42 Luke Appling  5 Alvin Dark Coaches 42 Cot Deal 40 Bobby Hofman 18 Wes Stock 41 Al Vincent

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
1B	Webster, RayRay Webster	122	360	92	.258	11	51
2B	Donaldson, JohnJohn Donaldson	105	377	104	.276	0	28

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jackson, ReggieReggie Jackson	35	118	21	.300	28	78
Duncan, DaveDave Duncan	34	101	19	.188	5	11

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Dobson, ChuckChuck Dobson	32	197.2	10	10	3.69	110

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Krausse, LewLew Krausse	48	160	7	17	4.28	96
Rodríguez, RobertoRoberto Rodríguez	15	40.1	1	1	3.57	29

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Aker, JackJack Aker	57	3	8	12	4.30	65
Seguí, DiegoDiego Seguí	36	3	4	1	3.09	52
Duliba, BobBob Duliba	7	0	0	0	6.52	6

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Vancouver Mounties	Pacific Coast League	Mickey Vernon
AA	Birmingham A's	Southern League	John McNamara
A	Peninsula Grays	Carolina League	Gus Niarhos
A	Leesburg Athletics	Florida State League	Jimmy Williams
A	Burlington Bees	Midwest League	Al Ronning
Rookie	GCL A's	Gulf Coast League	Connie Ryan

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Birmingham, GCL A's

Awards and honors

• Bert Campaneris led the American League in stolen bases for the third consecutive season.

Relocation

• May 7, 1967: The New York Times and New York Daily News reported that the Athletics were prepared to relocate to Oakland, California.^[15]
• July 1967: The Sporting News reported that the Athletics had reached an agreement to relocate to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Athletics had obtained pledges for television and radio broadcasting rights with the sponsorship of Schlitz Brewery. The proposed move would require the support of seven of the ten American League owners. The league only had five votes in favour of the proposed relocation.^[16]
• August 1, 1967: The Governor of Washington State Dan Evans, and mayor of Seattle, J.D. Braman spoke to Finley on the phone to discuss the relocation of the team to Seattle.^[17] Finley had met with city officials on August 7 to discuss a possible relocation.^[18]
• In September 1967, Finley had sent a telegram to city manager Carleton Sharpe, advising that the Athletics would leave Kansas City for Oakland.^[19]
• October 18, 1967: City officials from Kansas City, Oakland and Seattle were invited by Joe Cronin to discuss the A's relocation plans. United States Senator Stuart Symington attended the meeting and discussed the possibility of revoking baseball's antitrust exemption if the A's were allowed to leave Kansas City. The owners began deliberation and after the first ballot, only six owners were in favour of relocation. The owner of Baltimore voted against, while the ownership for Cleveland, New York and Washington had abstained.^[20] In the second ballot, the New York Yankees voted in favour of the Athletics relocation to Oakland. To appease all interested parties, the Athletics announced that MLB would expand to Kansas City and Seattle no later than the 1971 MLB season.^[21]

References

1. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.109, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
2. Manny Jiménez page at Baseball-Reference
3. 1967 Kansas City Athletics Picks in the MLB January Amateur Draft
4. 1967 Kansas City Athletics Picks in the MLB January Draft-Secondary Phase
5. Jim Panther page at Baseball-Reference
6. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.98–99, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
7. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.99, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
8. "A's smear Tribe with whitewash". Toledo Blade (Ohio). Associated Press. June 10, 1967. p. 17.
9. "Kansas City Athletics 6, Cleveland Indians 0". Bases Produced. June 9, 1967. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
10. 1967 Kansas City Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
11. Vida Blue page at Baseball-Reference
12. Eric Soderholm page at Baseball-Reference
13. 1967 Kansas City Athletics Picks in the MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase
14. Darrell Evans page at Baseball-Reference
15. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.100, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
16. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.102, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
17. Seattle wants A's
18. Finley checks Seattle, Says he's pleased
19. Finley takes first step to move
20. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.113, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
21. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.114, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0

External links

• 1967 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1967 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com