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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: During the 1967 season the Boston Red Sox carried a total of four catchers. Three of them batted under .200 on the season. Who was the fourth who batted over .200?
The 1967
World Series would have been if not for one pitch. A pitch which hit
Boston Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro
in the face. It did not bring Tony C.'s career to a complete end, but
it ended the dreams which could have been, not only for the player but
for the Boston Faithful.
Conigliaro
was having a fantastic year on a fantastic club, batting behind the
ultimate player in Carl Yastrzemski. Yaz would go on to win the Triple
Crown batting in front of Conigliaro. Conigliaro was on the rise, he had
slugged 20 homers in just 95 games while driving in 67, and batting
.287.
The Sox were 10 games over .500 at the time after winning the game 3-2. Perhaps spurred on by the loss of their young slugger, the club went on a winning streak. They went on to win six in a row and 12 of the next 15 games. They led by 1.5 games and played outstanding baseball the rest of the season. So did the Minnesota Twins who faced the Sox on the final day of the season needing a win. Boston, behind Cy Young Winner Jim Lonborg beat the Twins and 20-game winner Dean Chance 5-3 to clinch the pennant.
They would face the powerful Cardinals in the World Series. With Tony C., out, manager Dick Williams was forced to play Hawk Harrelson and Jose Tartabull in right field. In four games Harrelson had one hit in 13 at bats driving in one run and batting .077. Tartabull had only two hits in 13 at bats, scored one run and batted .154. They combined to go 0-fror-5 in Game 7. Certainly one would assume Conigilaro would have done somewhat, if not much better. Red Sox dreams would have to wait for nearly 40 more years.
Conigiliaro would not live to see a Red Sox championship. He died in 1990 at the age of 45. After sitting out the 1968 season he came back in 1969 and 1970 with two really solid seasons. He was named Comeback Player of the Year for his efforts in 1969 smacking 20 home runs and followed it up with 36. A year later with the Angels and back to Boston for the final season, he retired in 1975 at the age of 30.
Hamilton was traded to the Indians after the season and then to the White Sox, and retired after the 1969 season, also at the age of 30. He died in 2018. Neither one of them ever played in the post season.
TRIVIA CONTEST;