1968 World Series Game Seven
MVP Lolich and Tigers Stop St. Louis in Final to Win Championship
Aug 11, 2008
It took Detroit over twenty years to win another World Series championship after wearing title rings in 1945. Lefthanded pitcher Mickey Lolich wore down the Cardinal bats of St. Louis for the third time in the Series to bring Detroit to the winners' circle. He was voted Most Valuable Player.
St. Louis Pitching Star Gibson Defeated
After Detroit had clawed their way back from a Series deficit of 3-1 through the first four games of the 1968 World Series, they had to face St. Louis pitching star Bob Gibson in Game Seven, the final. During the season, Gibson had won 22 games, hurling 28 complete games and holding opposing hitters powerless with a stifling 1.12 earned run average. From 1965 through 1970, Gibson won 20, or more games each year.
In the Series' final game, the Tigers knew their task was a huge one -- hit Gibson in his home park. Gibson was the National League's Most Valuable Player and the year's Cy Young Award winner. The Cardinal ace had already beaten the Tigers twice in the Series, in Game One and in Game Four.
The Tigers found a way, starting with sending their Series star, Lolich, to the mound to try to get his third win of the seven-game set. Lolich had outpitched his teammate, Denny McLain, the Tigers' 31-game winner, who had been voted the Most Valuable Player in the American League and its Cy Young Award recipient. In the Series, McLain had been effective only in Game Six when the Tigers evened the Series at three games apiece.
Lolich To The Rescue Again
Detroit's lefty locked horns with Gibson through six scoreless innings. The Series outcome was on the line and neither star showed signs of cracking. The crucial play came in the seventh inning when St. Louis centerfielder Curt Flood got a late jump on a line drive drilled by the Tigers' Jim Northrup.
Flood couldn't make the catch, apparently misjudging the liner as he hesitated before peddling backwards to try to grab it. The ball dropped in behind him. Two Tigers crossed the plate to break the string of goose eggs hung on the scoreboard.
The Tigers pushed two more runners home and led 4-0 entering the bottom of the ninth inning. The Cardinals' Mike Shannon touched Lolich for a home run, but the game ended on Tim McCarver's foul ball pop fly.
The Tigers were World Series champions, the first team in history to come back from a three games to one deficit to capture baseball's fall classic.
