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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... April 12, 1967 ... Opening day at Fenway Park created good vibrations all over Boston. The Red Sox, with a winning spring training record, won their season are opener from the Chicago White Sox, 5 to 4. Before the game, the Northeastern University band was the main attraction. There were three numb majorettes cavorting in the cold weather. One of the girls dropped her baton every fifth bar. Governor Volpe was smiling in tossed out the first ball. Mayor Collins smiled approvingly as Johnny Mathis crooned the Star-Spangled Banner. The magic moment had arrived and the 1967 baseball season began. A frozen crowd of 8324 worried about keeping warm. The temperature was 46° as Dick Williams won his first game as manager of the Red Sox. The opening day crowd was the smallest since 1953. At the beginning, Rico Petrocelli settled the game in about five seconds. The first time he came to bat against John Buzhardt, with Reggie Smith on second base via a double, he hit a fastball on a line over second base to score Reggie. The next time he came to bat, with two Red Sox players on base, Rico's foul pop up was misjudged by catcher Gerry McNertney. The side should've been retired, but Rico got Buzhardt's next pitch and hit it into the left-field net. It was two pitches, two swings and four runs batted in, 4-0. The way Jim Lonborg had pitched in spring training, four runs seemed to look immense. In the fourth inning however, one of his sinkers got past catcher Mike Ryan and the White Sox scored. Tommy Agee had singled to right and Pete Ward had walked. Ken Berry hit into a doubleplay as Agee went into third, scoring while Ryan was having trouble locating the wild pitch. making it 4-1. The Red Sox got that back in the sixth inning when José Tartabull hit a high bouncer toward the mound and beat it out, with one out. Joe Foy grounded out after Tartabull had stolen second base and scored when Ron Hansen threw Carl Yastrzemski's ground ball into the dugout, making it 5-1. Boston was beating up the White Sox at their own game up to that point. It used to be that every time the Red Sox made a mistake, the White Sox would capitalize. That all seem to change. Three Red Sox players had stolen bases up to this point. The frozen fans were yelling that the Red Sox were now the "Go-Go" team. In the seventh inning and eighth-inning, the White Sox almost grabbed back the game. Ward doubled to right to open the 7th inning and Berry hit a hard ground ball over first base that got through George Scott's diving attempt. With men on first and third Lonborg uncorked another wild pitch that allowed Ward to score. But then he struck out pinch-hitter Bill Skowron and got Ron Hansen on a fly ball to right. When Jerry Adair followed with a single, to bring the White Sox back to only a run behind, 5-4, manager Dick Williams came out and called in John Wyatt. Pinch-hitter Smokey Burgess lined one that pinned Tony Conigliaro against the bullpen and Walt Williams sent out a short fly ball that ended the inning. In the next inning there was still trouble. Wyatt walked Agee and Ward, and with Berry at the plate, the White Sox instituted a double steal. With runners on second and third, Wyatt fanned Berry on a 3-2 pitch. He struck out J.C. Martin to end the threat. In the eighth-inning, relief pitcher, Bob Locker hit Wyatt with a pitch, and Tartabull walked. Mike Andrews came into pinch run for Wyatt but Joe Foy fouled off a third strike and both Carl Yastrzemski and Tony Conigliaro grounded out to finished the inning. Still it was 5-4. The game finished as Tony Conigliaro got a good jump on a line drive to right-field and caught it going full speed. Jerry Adair's ground ball was headed toward right-field when George Scott backhanded it for the second out. Reliever, Don McMahon, struck out Ed Stroud to win the game. |
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