1967 Pan American Games

The 1967 Pan American Games were the 5th Pan American Games. They were held in Winnipeg, MB from July 23 through August 6, 1967. As of 2020, they are the only Pan Am Games to be won by the USA.

Games

July 24

•  Mexico 3,  Canada 1. Canada loses its debut in international competition as three errors and two hits lead to three runs in the 4th; Ron Stead fans 10 in 7 innings. Canada's first run comes when Maurice Oakes grounds in Erwin Doerksen. Bernardo Moncayo gets the win.
•  Cuba 4,  United States 3. A standing-room crowd of 6,548 turns out in Carmen, MB to see Manuel Alarcón fan 14 and beat John Curtis (11 K). C Steve Sogge goes 4 for 4 with a triple and a homer in a losing cause.

July 25

•  United States 4,  Mexico 1. Tim Plodinec tosses a five-hitter. George Greer's double is the big hit in the US's 3-run 6th to break a tie.
•  Canada 3,  Puerto Rico 2. Ross Stone allows only four hits, while Ron Smith homers to beat Francisco Mercado. Pedro Pacheco homers for Puerto Rico.

July 26

•  Cuba 4,  Mexico 1. Rigoberto Betancourt strikes out 18 in a four-hit gem.
•  United States 8,  Puerto Rico 3.

July 27

•  United States 14,  Canada 10. Canada loses Smith, Stead, Bob McKillop and John Elias as they had professional baseball experience and were thus ineligible. The short-handed team gives the Americans a scare with a 3-run double by PH Phil Doiron and a 3-run homer by Larry Wilson off Paul Splittorff in the 9th. 2B Mike Lisetski drives in four for the US; both Lisetski and C Sogge go deep. Bob Hunter takes the loss to Joe Sadelfeld.
•  Cuba 3,  Puerto Rico 0.

July 28

•  Cuba 6,  Canada 4. Cuba edges the hosts despite being outhit 12-7, aided by 8 Canadian errors. Alfredo Street wins in relief of Gaspar Pérez to beat Glennis Scott. 2B Al Robertson goes 4 for 5 for Canada while Wilson doubles and triples. Canada strands two on in the 9th.
•  Puerto Rico 9,  Mexico 5. Heriberto Feliciano gets the win in relief of Angel Davila.

July 29

•  Cuba 9,  United States 2. 9,000 fans turn out in Winnipeg to see Curtis lose to Cuba again. Jesus Torriente gets the win and Félix Isasi hits a two-run homer.
•  Mexico 7,  Canada 3. Juan Palafox no-hits Canada until the 9th before fading to allow three late runs to get the win over Stone.

July 30

•  United States 6,  Mexico 3. Plodinec throws another complete game and Daniel Carlson homers to beat Rafael Garcia.
•  Puerto Rico 5,  Canada 2. Mercado beats Hunter as Canada strands 15. Luis Medina homers for Puerto Rico, Cam Hurst for Canada.

July 31

•  Cuba 6,  Mexico 5
•  United States 7,  Puerto Rico 3

August 1

•  United States 14,  Canada 2. Sogge collects 4 hits, Greer 3 and Mark Marquess three in a 19-hit effort for the Americans, while Canada makes 7 errors. Sadelfeld gets the win over Stone.
•  Cuba 6,  Puerto Rico 5

August 2

•  Canada 10,  Cuba 9. Winless Canada beats unbeaten Cuba in a stunner. Scott walks 7 but gets the win over Fermín Laffita (usually a position player) thanks to four hits to help his own cause. Wilson homers and Oakes has a homer, three hits and four RBI.
•  Puerto Rico 7,  Mexico 6

August 3

•  United States 8,  Cuba 3. In the first game of the finals, the USA stunned Alarcón and four relievers with 13 hits and 8 runs for a win. Greer homered and singled and Marquess had four hits (3 doubles). Curtis got the win after having dropped two to Cuba.

August 4

•  Cuba 7,  United States 5. Kenneth Smith hits a two-run homer and Jim Spencer a solo shot in the third off Betancourt as the US leads 5-3 into the 5th. Torriente blanks the US after that, though, while Cuba rallies off Plodinec and Toomey. Pedro Chávez doubles in the winner.

August 5

•  United States 2,  Cuba 1. Cuba turned to Alarcón on one day off and he was fairly sharp. In the 4th, Greer walked, advanced on a passed ball and scored on a hit by Sogge. In the 6th, the Cubans tied it against Ray Blosse when Urbano Gonzalez reached on a Sogge error, advanced a base on a grounder twice and then came home on another error by Sogge. It remained 1-1 going into the 9th and Alarcón was still working on a one-hitter (the lone hit by Sogge in the 4th) when a rain delay of 15 minutes halted play after a walk to Blosse. Marquess bunted Blosse over, then Jack Kraus was intentionally walked to try to force a double play. Lisetski singled to load the bases. With the infield in, Greer singled through the right side for a 2-1 win.

Teams

 United States was 6-2 in the round-robin before taking 2 of 3 in the finals. Sogge led the tourney with 11 runs and 3 home runs while Greer led with 6 doubles. Joe Sanderfield led in ERA (0.75) and tied for the strikeout lead (23). Plodinec tied for the best record at 2-0.

 Cuba went 7-1 in the round-robin before fading in the championship. Laffita (.333) led the tourney with 5 steals while Isasi (.217) led with 10 RBI. Betancourt (2-0, 2.45) and Roberto Valdes (2-0, 2.81) tied for the top record. Alarcón finished only 1-2 despite a 2.33 ERA.

 Puerto Rico won Bronze by going 4-4. Jose Baez led the Games with two triples.

 Mexico was 4th at 2-6 and did not have any player who led the tournament in any major department.

 Canada finished last at 1-7, with their only win coming against the top team, Cuba. They had previously beaten Puerto Rico but had the win overturned due to using four players with prior professional experience. It was Canada's first international tournament. Robertson led the Games in average (.467) and hits (14). Stead, a future Canada Hall of Fame member, led the tournament with 23 strikeouts (tied) and 23 1/3 innings pitched according to A History of Cuban Baseball but this cannot be correct as he was one of the four players expelled from the tourney after two games (only one of which he played in).

Source: A History of Cuban Baseball by Peter Bjarkman, Western Canada baseball recap of the Games

Also see 1967 Pan American Games (Rosters)