Ticketstub to the Impossible Dream

[Kutcher55]

Was digging through my old ticket stub collection yesterday, which consists of mostly Red Sox and Celtics stubs from the 1980s, and I fell upon a nice little piece of history that I totally forgot I even had.



Back in 1967, the Sox were good for the first time in many years. My dad was in Europe that summer with his new bride (my mom) and a couple of other friends. In order to keep up with the pennant race he had to resort to buying the NY Herald Tribune which provided him with 3-day old recap of the American League standings. Most people over 40 here can relate. I had to do the same thing back in the early 90s when I was in Russia for a semester. My how things have changed.

When he got back to the states in August he immediately went to the nearest Filene's Department Store and bought a few tickets to the remaining Sox games. Back then, as you can see from the reverse side of this stub, the Red Sox would give Filenes a brick of blank tickets and when buyers came to Filenes, the Filenes ticket seller would call the Red Sox offices and ask them what tickets were available and actually hand-write the date and the ticket location! Hard to believe it used to be like this.



So Dad ended up at the final game of the famed '67 season, the 4-way pennant race between the Red Sox, the Pale Sox, the Tigers and the team they would face on October 1st, the Minnesota Twins. The game featured that year's Cy Young winner, Jim Lonborg facing the hard-partying socialite Dean Chance, who although now mostly forgotten was one of the best pitchers in baseball for a stretch in the 1960s. The Twins also had Rookie-of-the-Year Rod Carew (0-4 in that final game), Tony Oliva and of course the Killer Brew.

My Dad still has the program for this game. Because he was so nervous he rolled it so tightly into a ball that it remains in that shape to this day. I need to take a photo of it.

Sox won the game 5-3, with Lonborg aiding his own cause with a key hit and Yaz of course, in the prime of his powers, getting a tie-breaking bases loaded line drive hit up the middle. He was 4-4 in that game and most people know he carried the Sox in posting one of the best seasons a player has ever had in MLB history. According to my Dad, Yaz was so popular that summer that when he had his at bats there were news stories that the cars on the expressway headed to Logan airport would pull over and not enter the Sumner Tunnel so they wouldn't miss the action, thus causing massive traffic jams.

My Dad sort of teared up when he was telling this story because he had intended to go to the game with my Mom, but she insisted he take Gramps instead. When they got home they listened to the Angels beat the Tigers and then went out and celebrated.

[hcv123]

The story and memories.....priceless! Thank you for sharing it.

[mmcgruff]

Thanks so much for posting and sharing this wonderful story! I’m a Sox fan here in the south. My dad is from Boston and remembers going to Fenway seeing all the greats.
I really enjoyed your post, thanks!

[Volod]

Enjoyed reading your memories of that '67 season. I recall a game from that year in which Tigers' great Al Kaline struck out against the Indians' Sam McDowell and was so upset about it that he slammed his bat into the batrack in the Detroit dugout and broke one of his fingers. Kaline's loss to the KittyKats for a month may have cost them the pennant that year.

[mortimer brewster]

It is stories like this that keep me coming back to this site. Thank You!

[Kutcher55]

Thanks everyone for reading. A friend of mine made an interesting point recently, that the Red Sox franchise was not doing well at all in the 1960s. In 1965, they averaged a pathetic 8,000 fans a game at Fenway. This went up to 10k in '66 and 21k in '67. In some ways, the 67 season doesn't get enough credit because they didn't win it all, which had a lot to do with a guy named Bob Gibson.

In any event, here is the rolled-up pennant almost 55 years later. The thing is a scientific marvel. My dad and I had to team up to pry it open so we could get the second photo.

[jingram058]

I have (I think) the color telecast of this game. I will have to get out my external hard drive and check, but I think it is this game, when the Red Sox won the 1967 AL pennant vs the Twins. I was told it is the oldest full-color complete telecast of a MLB baseball game in existence.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by mortimer brewster

It is stories like this that keep me coming back to this site. Thank You!

+1 TOTALLY agree!

[ALBB]

yea, 1967 AL race... that 4 way tie..last game of season....there were all kinds of possibility's that could happen..I recall somehow the Cal. Angels played a part in it

[Kutcher55]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I have (I think) the color telecast of this game. I will have to get out my external hard drive and check, but I think it is this game, when the Red Sox won the 1967 AL pennant vs the Twins. I was told it is the oldest full-color complete telecast of a MLB baseball game in existence.

I would love to see that. You can find the penultimate game of the season (sep 30, 1967) on YouTube almost in its entirety. I was watching some of it. Quite a contrast to today’s game in the sense that the entire focus was on baseball with much fewer distractions in the ballpark and by the announcing team.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Kutcher55

I would love to see that. You can find the penultimate game of the season (sep 30, 1967) on YouTube almost in its entirety. I was watching some of it. Quite a contrast to today’s game in the sense that the entire focus was on baseball with much fewer distractions in the ballpark and by the announcing team.

Shucks! I pulled out my hard drive, and the game I have is the day before, the 9/30 game!

I have the NBC audio of all 7 games of the 1967 World Series. Sadly, there is no NBC telecast video of the Series, other than what is on the official World Series video highlights. The NBC broadcast audio and highlights are up on YouTube.

But the 9/30 game is still a treasure!

[mortimer brewster]

The 10 1 67 tv audio is available on youtube also.

[Dewey]

That program tells the tale. I love it.

[MRSPORTSCARDCOLLECTOR]

That 1967 Red Sox team was loaded with young talent. Yaz, Lonborg, George "The Boomer" Scott, Rico Petrocelli, Reggie Smith and of course Tony C.
They probably would have been a WS winner in the future years after 1967, But Jim Lonborg got injured in a skiing accident in the 67 off-season, plus sadly what happened to Tony C getting beaned.
That 1967 Red Sox team did put the Red Sox back on the map here in New England.

[bmattioli]

That's a great story and read.. I can relate since I had to endure the 1986 Redsox season Overseas while station in Spain in the USAF. I remember all I had was the Stars and Stripes for the box scores and Armed Forces Radio for a sporadic game. I watched The World Series at a buddies dorm room with the games starting at 1:00 AM.. I cried after game 6..

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

That's a great story and read.. I can relate since I had to endure the 1986 Redsox season Overseas while station in Spain in the USAF. I remember all I had was the Stars and Stripes for the box scores and Armed Forces Radio for a sporadic game. I watched The World Series at a buddies dorm room with the games starting at 1:00 AM.. I cried after game 6..

I was in Japan, sporadically watching AFRTS as best I could. Thank you for your service!

[Harliduck]

Thanks for sharing that! I have the book that focuses on that 67 Red Sox season...great read. Seeing something from that time and hearing the personal story is flat out awesome...

[bb66]

Thanks so much for your story. Those last days of the '67 season are my first memories of really following baseball. I was eight years old and had been buying baseball cards with my older brother for the two previous seasons. But that summer showed me one of the greatest pennant races of all time.