Swoonin' A's: A last bang amid a whimper in '67

  The Athletics, or A's, exited Kansas City in 1967 in a final blaze of incompetence, as Jerry said to George once on "Seinfeld."
  In their final year in K.C., the A's finished in 10th place, their fifth last-place finish in 13 seasons in the Paris of the Plains. (Sixth place in the then-eight team American League in their first season in K.C. was the best the A's would ever muster in the city.)
  The A's of '67 also brought notoriety upon themselves with an airplane dust-up involving alcohol and stewardesses that led to a revolt against owner Charlie Finley, the firing of manager of Alvin Dark and the release of Ken "Hawk" Harrelson.
  But before the A's got the hell out of Kansas City, they managed one final blaze of glory, on the night of Wednesday, Sept. 27, five days before the end of the regular season, Municipal Stadium for a twi-night doubleheader.
  Before an announced crowd of 5,325, the A's took on the Chicago White Sox, who entered the night one game behind first-place MInnesota in the AL, tied with Boston, with Detroit one-half game behind the Soxes in perhaps the tightest multiteam pennant race in baseball history. Perhaps? Probably. Nearly half the teams in a 10-team league right there battling for first.
  (The only other comparison I can think of offhand is the 1973 NL Least, when the Mets topped four teams within three games of each other with a final record of 82-79, the worst record ever for a first-place finisher. The Mets went on to beat Cincinnati in the NL Championship Series and lost to Oakland in seven games in the World Series.)
  Amid this situation the White Sox sent their two best pitchers to the mound. Gary Peters started the first game and would finish the season 16-11 with a 2.28 ERA. Second-game starter Joe Horlen finished 19-7 with a 2.06 ERA. The two finished 1-2 in the AL in ERA.
  Result? The A's, who'd lost 26 of 34 games coming in, swept the Chisox, 5-2 and 4-0, behind Chuck Dobson and Jim "Catfish" Hunter. The White Sox were effectively out of the race after that, never closer than one game and three out at the end, in fourth place after getting swept on the final weekend by Washington.
  (The usually lowly Senators finished sixth that year under Gil Hodges, their best finish since becoming an expansion team in 1961 upon the departure of the original Senators for Minnesota.)

Chuck Dobson (above) and Jim "Catfish" Hunter beat the Chicago White Sox's best pitchers, Gary Peters and Joe Horlen, on Sept. 27, 1967, and effectively knocked the ChiSox out of the American League pennant race as the Kansas City's swept a twi-night doubleheader at Munipical Stadium. Four days later the A's ended their tenure in Kansas City.

  Dobson, 10-10 with a 3.69 ERA in 1967, went 8 1/3 innings and allowed two runs, both earned, and three hits in the opener while striking out five and walking two. Paul LIndblad relieved Lew Krausse in the ninth with the bases loaded and one out and got both batters he faced for the save.
 Future Hall of Famer Hunter (13-17, 2.81 ERA in '67) tossed a three-hit shutout in the nightcap, walking two and striking out two.
  Mike Hershberger put the A's ahead in the first game, in the second inning, when he doubled, stole third and scored on Sal Bando's sacrifice fly. The White Sox gifted the A's a pair of runs in the sixth. An error and passed ball led to an RBI single by Rick Monday, and a wild pitch by Don McMahon, who'd just relieved Peters, helped the A's add another unearned run on Jim Gosger's single that scored Monday.
  The A's made it 5-0 in the eighth off Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm, triggered by Joe Rudi's leadoff double. Bando and Gosger, who went 3 for 4 in the game with three RBIs, had back-to-back RBI singles with one out.
  The White Sox, who finished last in the league in runs scored in '67, made it interesting in the ninth. Tommy Agee led off with a triple and Tommy McCraw walked after Don Buford flew out to Hershberger in right (Agee held). Dobson gave way to Krausse, who issued back-to-back walks, the second of which scored Agee. Rocky Colavito singled in McCraw and loaded the bases. Enter Lindblad, the Chanute, Kan., native, who got former Athletic Wayne Causey to fly out to Monday in center field and Ron Hansen to ground out to Bando at third, ending the game.
  Hunter got all the runs he needed in the second game with a four-run sixth, and Hunter got it started with a leadoff single. Ted Kubiak and John Donaldson followed with two more singles, Hunter scoring on Donaldson's hit. After Hershberger grounded out, rookie Ramon Webster delivered a two-run single.
  Three batters later Monday scored an unearned run (courtesy Don Buford's error in left) on a passed ball by Bob Locker.
  Meanwhile, Hunter was hardly threatened. "Catfish," who pitched a perfect game in 1968, retired the first nine batters he faced, 12 of the first 13, and never allowed more than one base runner in an inning. McCraw's one-out double in the seventh was the only occasion Chicago reached scoring position. Hunter retired the final eight batters he faced after that.
  Bolstered by all this momentum, the A's moved on to Yankee Stadium, and after a day off Thursday were swept by New York in four games over the final weekend. The once-mighty Yankees finished one place ahead of the A's in ninth, but they didn't need the final sweep to do so since they were five games ahead of K.C. coming in.
  And then it was off to Oakland and bigger and better things for the A's, where'd they become swingin', after 13 years of ineptitude in Kansas City.