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LEAGUE FILE (2/4) · CONTRACTS · INFO · HISTORY · FORUM
1967 · 11/1 · 3/1 · 4/1 · 4/16 · 5/1 · 5/16 · 6/1 · 6/16· 7/1 · 7/8 · 7/20 · 8/1

Gray Sox Stalk Barons
Torrid Torre Puts Manhattan in the Chase
MANHATTAN (Aug. 1) -- After six years playing in the long shadow cast by their crosstown rivals, the Manhattan Gray Sox are finally having the first winning season and find themselves locked in a pennant race with East-leading Cleveland.  The Barons stumbled to their first losing month in July (12-13) and Manhattan took advantage by going 14-10.  The Sox are 28-18 since June 1, and sit just three games back of Cleveland with two months to go.

The key man has been catcher Joe Torre (.364-21-73, 1.030 OPS), who won his staggering fourth Player of the Week July 28, batting 13-23 with 4 home runs and 11 RBIs.  Torre led the league with a .409 average and 1.134 OPS in July, blasting seven homers and 27 RBIs.  He is batting .405 since June 1, and overtook Washington's Cleon Jones atop the league batting chart with a season average of .364.  The 28-year-old backstopper hit five tators in five days July 20-24 as the Sox won five straight over Detroit and Washington.  Utility infielder Bob Johnson got the streak going with an 11th inning pinch RBI single to edge the Griffins 5-4, and the Sox' four-run sixth inning buried Joey Jay the next day.  Phil Niekro then pitched eight shutout innings and Torre homered twice, driving in five, in a 9-1 win for the sweep.  Jim Hardin then tossed seven two-hit innings and Zoilo Versalles drove in four runs en route to a 8-0 at Washington for win number four, and Torre's ninth inning solo shot turned out to be the margin of victory after Dave Leonhard stuffed a late rally for yet another 5-4 win.

Jim Hardin and Joe Gibbon have been among the league's hottest pitchers lately.  Hardin (7-4, 3.49) has thrown 17 consecutive shutout innings, anchoring a two-hit shutout at Washington July 23, and completing a three-hit shutout of Cleveland July 28.  Gibbon (8-7, 4.29) is 4-0, 1.62 in last 7 starts, including six shutout innings at San Francisco July 29.  Fifth starter Joe Horlen, on the other hand, has been a liability, going 0-4, 5.94 in 5 starts since UL call-up June 22.

Manhattan has had six straight losing seasons since entering the league as an expansion team in 1962, fininshing in the bottom half of the East Division the last five years running.  Traditionally an average pitching and weak hitting team, GM Jeff Gurganus has flipped the formula this season, to good effect.  Manhattan in third in offense with 505 runs (4.9 per game), but ranks 9th in runs allowed.  Gurganus is squeezing career years out of 1B Willie Stargell (.305-12-67, .879 OPS), 3B Pete Ward (.314-19-66, .902 OPS), and CF Vada Pinson (.331-11-39, .982 OPS), and the club ranks second in batting, slugging, and extra-base hits. 

Meanwhile, their Triple-A farm team, the Havana Sugar Kings (70-41), in pursuit of their fourth title in six years, are sitting atop the International League.  Havana boasts a league best 2.46 ERA, led by #2 starter Don Cardwell (4-2, 1.69), closer Bob Lee (1.87, 21 SV), and fourth starter Dean Chance (11-6, 2.13).

Qualls Doubles Down
Cleveland GM Demands "Win Now"
CLEVELAND (Aug. 1) -- GM Charlie Qualls shipped his first two 1969 draft picks and one of the best starters, Bob Friend (6-4, 3.08, 1.22 WHIP) for four-time Cy Young winner Gene Conley (10-7, 2.92, 1.18 WHIP), giving the Barons the best 1-2 combo since the heyday of the Brooklyn Superbas.  Conley just re-upped with the Superbas on July 25, inking a $9.4 million per year extension throuigh 1970.  The 37-year old righthander is the second winningest pitcher in UL history, and is showing no signs of slowing down.  Bob Friend has been one of the Barons' top hurlers since joining the club in June 1965.  In three years he has posted a 50-36 record and 3.93 ERA in 94 starts. 

The move signals that Qualls is going for all or nothing this year and next.  The trade makes Cleveland even older.  The club has 11 players over 35 and only six under 30, and has now traded away its first three draft picks next season.  Cleveland has won two East Division titles in the last three years, but lost both World Series, in seven games to Chicago in 1965 and in a four-game sweep by Atlanta in 1967.  In addition to getting older, the Barons will press hard against their salary cap next year, with big payouts for Conley ($9.4 million -- a $4.6 million raise), Podres ($12.5 million -- a $1.5 million raise), closer Ted Abernathy ($4.8 next year -- a $4 million raise).  The Barons will find it difficult to retain their best hitter Harvey Kuenn (.335-10-54, .872 OPS), who is expected to be a free agent after this season.
 
Contenders Re-Arm for Homestretch
Kline to Maroons, Ford to Sox
MANHATTAN (Aug. 1) -- Both second place teams made trade deadline deals to upgrade their starting rotations for the stretch run.  St. Louis got right Ron Kline from San Francisco, and Manhattan pulled the trigger on a deadline deal for Brooklyn's Whitey Ford.  Ford, a five-time 20-game winner and 1964 Cy Young winner, has struggled mightily this season.  His overall 5-5, 5.65 record belies a solid July, which saw him go 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA in five starts.  He plugs a hole in the Manhattan rotation caused by the season-ending tendon injury to Tom Seaver in late June.