The Short Version
The 1967 World Series went the full seven games. On Thursday, 12 October 1967, at Fenway Park in Boston, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox 7 to 2 in the deciding game, giving St. Louis the title. Bob Gibson started for the Cardinals and Jim Lonborg started for Boston, pitching on two days of rest.
How the Series Reached Game Seven
The Series opened at Fenway Park on 4 October. Gibson won the first game for St. Louis, 2 to 1. Lonborg answered in Game 2 with an exceptional performance for Boston, giving up just one hit in a shutout, with Carl Yastrzemski hitting home runs. Boston won that game, and the Series moved to St. Louis tied at one game each.
The Cardinals won Game 3. Gibson then won Game 4 for St. Louis, which put the Cardinals ahead three games to one. Boston did not give up. Lonborg won Game 5, and the Red Sox won Game 6 back at Fenway, which tied the Series at three games each and forced a seventh game. Boston’s comeback from the brink of elimination fit the way the whole season had gone for them.
The Pitching Matchup
Game 7 matched the two pitchers who had dominated the Series. Gibson was a veteran right-hander and was already one of the best pitchers in the National League. He had won twice in the Series, and was now being asked to pitch again after his Game 4 start.
For Boston, manager Dick Williams went with Lonborg, who had started Game 2 and Game 5. Lonborg’s Game 5 start was on 9 October and Game 7 came on 12 October, so he was working on two days of rest, which is a short turnaround by any standard. Williams had little choice. The Red Sox had no obvious alternative who could match what Lonborg had done earlier in the Series, and the team’s season had been built on the idea of going all in. Lonborg had already pitched a great deal that year, and his Cy Young Award season, covered in a separate article, had been exceptional. The risk of asking him to pitch again so soon was clear to everyone, and nothing guaranteed that it would work.
How the Game Went
Gibson had his full repertoire from the start. Lonborg was working with less. The Cardinals scored early and kept adding runs, and by the middle innings the game had moved out of the Red Sox’s reach. Gibson also hit a home run in the game, a detail that has stuck to the memory of the afternoon. Boston scored twice but not enough, and the Cardinals closed it out for a 7 to 2 victory.
For Lonborg it was a hard end to a remarkable season. He pitched into the middle of the game before being replaced, and the toll of three starts in the Series and the long season behind it showed. In later accounts, writers noted that he was exhausted, though it is difficult to prove how much that decided the result. Gibson was simply very good that day, as he had been in his two earlier wins.
The Series Result
The Cardinals won four games to three. Gibson was named the Series Most Valuable Player after three complete-game wins, a performance that earned him a place among the greatest October pitchers. The details of his Series are given in a separate article. Lou Brock and Roger Maris also hit well for St. Louis, while Yastrzemski and Rico Petrocelli provided most of the Boston power.
For Boston, the loss ended what had been called the Impossible Dream season. The team had finished ninth the year before and was widely written off in the spring. Reaching a seventh game was a considerable achievement in itself.
Why Game Seven Is Remembered
A seventh game has a particular quality in baseball, since the team that wins takes everything and the one that loses has no further chance. The 1967 game had a few extra elements. It was the last act of one of the closest pennant races in the American League. It carried two of the best pitchers of the day, one of them on short rest. And it took place at Fenway Park, where the home crowd had spent the summer believing that the long wait since 1918 might finally end.
It did not end that afternoon. Boston would wait until 2004 for another title. But the 1967 Series is remembered in Boston with a different kind of affection than most losses are, and the seventh game is the moment from which that feeling comes. It also left a lasting impression on baseball in general, as one of the last great Series before the playoff system changed the way October was played.