One of his baseball cards. |
An old black and white of Don. |
His pennant clinching hit to win the 1968 AL pennant. |
This big crowd here ready to break loose. Three men on, two men out. Game tied, 1-1, in the ninth inning. McDaniell checkin' his sign with Jake Gibbs. The tall right-hander ready to go to work again, and the windup, and the pitch...He swings, a line shot, base hit, right field, the Tigers win it! Here comes Kaline to score and it's all over! Don Wert singles, the Tigers mob Don, Kaline has scored...The fans are streaming on the field...And the Tigers have won their first pennant since 1945. Let's listen to the bedlam here at Tiger Stadium!!
Game 3 in Detroit - Teams line up before Game 3 of the 1968 World Series at Tiger Stadium. |
But, he wasn't done yet. He singled in Detroit's final run of the 1968 World Series, driving in Dick Tracewski with two outs in the top of the 9th inning in St. Louis, completing the Tiger's comeback to top the defending Series champs, 4-1, wining the series, 4 games to 3. What a season...and I was pulling for him all the way.
On July 15 of the following season, with President Richard Nixon in atten- dance, Don started a triple play on a ground ball hit by Ed Brinkman. On October 9, 1970, Don and Denny McLain were traded to the Washington Senators in an eight-player deal. Wert ended up being released from the Senators the following year. During nine years in the Majors, Don played in 1,100 games and had a batting average of .242 with 929 hits, 417 runs scored, 389 walks, 366 RBIs, 129 doubles and 77 homers. He played 1,043 of his games at third base and collected 914 putouts, 1,987 assists, and 173 double plays. And, I had finished my baseball career by that time and was playing slo-pitch softball. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
1968 Tigers infield: Don Wert, Ray Oyler, Dick McAuliffe, Norm Cash |
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