1968 Season
Northrup had his most satisfying season in 1968 as he played a key role in the Tigers’ World Series Championship. Northrup played 151 games at all three spots in the Detroit outfield in 1968, including 103 games in right field, many in place of the injured Al Kaline. Northrup had a range factor of 2.17 – well above the league average of 1.80.
But Northrup’s principal value was as a batter. Northrup led the 1968 Tigers in hits with 153 and in RBIs with 90. He was among the American League leaders with 90 RBIs (3rd in the AL), 57 extra base hits (4th in the AL), 259 total bases (5th in the AL), and 29 doubles (5th in the AL).
Northrup played in a rotation of four players at the three outfield positions, with Willie Horton, Mickey Stanley, and Al Kaline being the others. However, for the World Series, Detroit manager Mayo Smith decided to bring Stanley in from the outfield to play shortstop, giving the Tigers a firm outfield of Horton (left field), Northrup (center field), and Kaline (right field) in all seven of the games.
Northrup also hit five grand slams during the 1968 season, four in the regular season. The first came in May. Then, on June 24, 1968, Northrup hit grand slams in consecutive at bats in the 5th and 6th innings. This made him one of only 13 players (through July 28, 2009) to have hit 2 grand slams in one game, and the second to do so in consecutive at-bats (the first was Jim Gentile in 1961). Five days later, Northrup hit another grand slam, becoming the first major league player to hit three grand slams in a single week. (Larry Parrish later accomplished the feat in 1982.) Northrup’s fifth grand slam came in Game 6 of the 1968 World Series, fueling a 13-1 blowout win for Detroit.
In addition to his grand slam in Game 6, Northrup had the key hit in Game 7 off St. Louis Cardinals’ ace Bob Gibson. After striking out 17 batters in Game 1, and pitching a complete game victory in Game 4, Gibson held the Tigers scoreless through the first six innings of Game 7. Northrup, who had a solo home run against Gibson in Game 4 to account for the Tigers only run off the ace thus far in the Series, came to bat with two men on and two outs in the 7th inning. Northrup hit a triple over center fielder Curt Flood’s head, as Norm Cash and Willie Horton both scored. Bill Freehan followed with a double to score Northrup, and the Tigers won Game 7 and were World Series Champions.
Curt Flood, normally a superb defensive outfielder, was tagged a “goat” for having misplayed Northrup’s Game 7 triple. But Northrup defended Flood: “He slipped a little, but it still went 40 feet over his head. . . . He never had a chance to catch it.”
Northrup played all 7 games of the 1968 World Series, with a .536 slugging percentage, 8 RBIs, 7 hits, 4 runs scored, and 2 home runs. In a 2001 interview, Northrup concluded: “Winning the World Series had to be the highlight of my baseball career.” Northrup placed 13th in the 1968 American League Most Valuable Player voting.
Read more about this topic: Jim Northrup (baseball)
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