The 1969

American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. The winner of the ALCS wins the AL pennant and ...

was the first ALCS held after

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

adopted the two-division format that season. It was the opening semifinal round on the American League side of the inaugural edition of the

MLB postseason The Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason is the annual playoff elimination tournament held to determine the champion of MLB in the United States and Canada. Since 2022, the postseason for each league— American and National—consists of tw ...

. It featured the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

vs. the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

, with the Orioles winning the series 3–0 and advancing to the

1969 World Series The 1969 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1969 season. The 66th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Baltimore Orioles and the National L ...

, where they would lose to the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

in five games. The Orioles and Twins would meet again the following year, with similar results. This was the first of three straight appearances in the ALCS for the Orioles.

Summary

Minnesota Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles

Game summaries

Game 1

In the opener, eventual 1969 Cy Young Award winner

Mike Cuellar Miguel Ángel Cuellar Santana (; May 8, 1937 – April 2, 2010) was a Cuban professional baseball player. He played for 15 seasons in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher in 1959 and from 1964 through 1977, most prominently as a memb ...

faced off against 20-game winner

Jim Perry James Perry may refer to: * James Perry (journalist) (1756–1821), British journalist and newspaper editor * James Franklin Perry (1790–1853), early Texas settler (with wife Emily Austin Perry) * Jimmy Perry (1923–2016), English actor and scr ...

, who would finish 3rd in voting.

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019), nicknamed "the Judge", was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams over 21 seasons: the Cincinnati Reds (1956–196 ...

's home run in the fourth put the Orioles up 1–0 off Perry, but the Twins tied the game in the fifth inning when

Tony Oliva Tony Pedro Oliva Lopez (born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandes Javique; July 20, 1938) is a Cuban former professional baseball player and coach. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a right fielder and designated hitter for the M ...

hit a leadoff double off Cuellar, went to third on Robinson's error and scored on

Bob Allison William Robert Allison (July 11, 1934 – April 9, 1995) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), with the Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins. Allison attended the University of ...

's sacrifice fly.

Mark Belanger Mark Henry Belanger (June 8, 1944 – October 6, 1998), nicknamed "the Blade", was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from through , most notably as a member of the B ...

's home run in the bottom of the inning put the Orioles back in front 2–1, but Oliva's two-run home run in the seventh after a walk put the Twins up 3–2. In the ninth inning,

Boog Powell John Wesley "Boog" Powell (born August 17, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder from through , most prominently as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dyn ...

tied the score with a home run over the right-field fence. Reliever

Ron Perranoski Ronald Peter Perranoski (April 1, 1936 – October 2, 2020) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed relief pitcher from to , most prominently as a member of the Los Angeles Dodg ...

, who worked in all three games, shut off Baltimore's offense at that point. Then, with two down in the 12th and Belanger on third, Paul Blair stepped to the plate. Acting on his own, he bunted toward third. Neither third baseman

Harmon Killebrew Harmon Clayton Killebrew Jr. (; June 29, 1936May 17, 2011), nicknamed "the Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. He spent most of his 22-year career in Major League ...

nor catcher

John Roseboro John Junior Roseboro (May 13, 1933 – August 16, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1957 until 1970, most prominently as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A four ...

could make the play as Belanger sped across the plate with the winning run. Dick Hall, who pitched of an inning, was the winner. Perranoski did not allow a ball to leave the infield in the 12th, but was the loser nonetheless.

Game 2

Game 2 pitted

Dave McNally David Arthur McNally (October 31, 1942 – December 1, 2002) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from 1962 through 1975, most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dyn ...

, winner of 15 games in a row during the season against Dave Boswell. Both pitchers pitched shutout baseball into the 10th inning, until Curt Motton's pinch-hit single in the bottom of the 11th, scored

from second base for the only run of the game. Boswell was the losing pitcher with a line of innings, with 7 hits allowed, 7 walks, and 4 strikeouts with the lone earned run of the game. McNally pitched an eleven-inning

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

(the longest in MLB postseason history), struck out 11 Twins batters and yielded only three hits, none after the fourth inning.

Game 3

In a pivotal Game 3, the Twins sent veteran Bob Miller to the mound while the Orioles trotted out their young budding ace, future 3-time Cy Young winner

Jim Palmer James Alvin Palmer (born October 15, 1945) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1965–1967, 1969–1984). Palmer was the winningest MLB pitcher in the ...

. The Twins struck first in the bottom of the first off Palmer on

Rich Reese Richard Benjamin Reese (born September 29, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player who played first base and outfield in the major leagues from through for the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers. Born in Leipsic, Ohio, Reese t ...

's RBI single after a two-out double and intentional walk, but

Elrod Hendricks Elrod Jerome "Ellie" Hendricks (December 22, 1940 – December 21, 2005) was a U.S. Virgin Islander professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from through , most notably as a member of the Baltimo ...

's two-run double after a double and error put the Orioles up 2–1 in the second. Two outs later,

Don Buford Donald Alvin Buford (born February 2, 1937) is an American former professional baseball player scout, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from through , most notably as the leadoff hitter for the Baltimore Orio ...

's RBI single made it 3–1 Orioles and knocked Miller out of the game after only innings. Paul Blair's two-run double in the fourth off Dick Woodson made it 5–1 Orioles. The Twins scored their last run of the series in the fifth when

doubled with two outs and scored on Reese's single.

's RBI single with two on off

Al Worthington Allan Fulton Worthington (born February 5, 1929), nicknamed "Red", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played all or part of 14 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York / San Francisco Giants (1953–54, 1956–59), ...

made it 6–2 Orioles in the sixth. Blair's two-run home run in the eighth off

Dean Chance Wilmer Dean Chance (June 1, 1941 – October 11, 2015) was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher,https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/chancde01.shtml Dean Chance Page at Baseball-Reference.com he played in 11 M ...

made it 8–2 Orioles. Next inning,

Davey Johnson David Allen Johnson (born January 30, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played as a second baseman from through , most notably in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynasty t ...

hit a leadoff single off Chance, then scored on Hendricks's double off

while Hendricks himself scored on an error.

singled and scored on Blair's two-out double. Palmer pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the series. This Monday game at Metropolitan Stadium forced the NFL's

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

to play their game against division rival Green Bay the previous day at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

's Memorial Stadium in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. It was the first NFL game played in a

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

stadium. That same day, because the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

were hosting Game 2 of the

NLCS The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a Playoff format#Best-of-seven playoff, best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Major League Baseball po ...

, the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

had to move their home game against the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

from

Atlanta Stadium Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County and extends into neighboring DeKalb County. With a population of 520,070 (2024 estimate) living within the city limits, Atlan ...

Grant Field Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue at Techwood Drive on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It has been home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football t ...

on the campus of

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

Composite box

1969 ALCS (3–0):

over

References

External links

1969 ALCS at Baseball-Reference
{{Minnesota Twins

1960s in Baltimore 1960s in Minneapolis Baseball competitions in Baltimore

American League Championship Series Baltimore Orioles postseason Minnesota Twins postseason