I'm a big Michael Moore fan. I'm reading his current book, which is a collection of stories from his past, going all the way back to his birth--and beyond, as he even tells his family history. His great (x6) grandfather fought alongside Ethan Allen in the Revolutionary War days, which is special to me because ol' Ethan is my great (x8) grandfather. You may know him as the guy who surprised the British in the middle of the night at Fort Ticonderoga. (See, I even have night-owl roots.) Sadly, you're more likely to know him as a furniture store.

But back to Michael's book. In a story about the Detroit riots of 1967, he talks about his family venturing into the city shortly after calm had been restored to see a Tigers game. Of course, I had to find the game he went to. He said it was against the White Sox, a Thursday night game which Detroit lost, 2-1. So I headed for the Tigers' 1967 game log on retrosheet, and it turns out Michael had his facts right. The riots happened in late July, and the only home loss to the White Sox by a score of 2-1 on a Thursday night after that was August 10th, 1967.

It was the finale of a four-game split, and Moore's memory of the nice black man who helped get his father's wounded car to a gas station saying the game was a stinker is correct if you're a Detroit fan. The Tigers gave up the tying run in a 7th-inning rally started by a dropped fly ball, and then stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th after having given up the lead in the top half.

Chicago manager Eddie Stanky made a controversial decision to bring in starting pitcher Gary Peters to face Norm Cash in the 8th with three on and two out. As the caption below his picture (left, Windsor Star, 8/11/1967) says, "he knew best," as Peters struck Cash out. The author of the accompanying UPI article wondered if this would cost the White Sox down the line. I'm not sure it did, as Peters kept his ERA right about where it was the rest of the season. He did throw in two bad performances against the Red Sox a few weeks after this, but those were sandwiched around an 11-inning shutout, also against Boston, which kept the White Sox a game out on September 1st in the incredible four-team race that year. But Chicago, as well as Detroit, would come up just short in 1967, with the Impossible Dream coming true on October 1st.

So Michael saw a pretty important game, considering the Tigers would end up one game out of first place. Funny, he didn't mention the Tigers left fielder, Willie Horton....