1969 American League

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1969 American League
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The 1969 season of the American League was the sixty-ninth season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
Eastern Division
1	Baltimore Orioles	162	109	53	0	.673	-.-	779 (4.81)	517 (3.19)	0.265	0.341	0.414	2.83	0.984
2	Detroit Tigers	162	90	72	0	.556	19.0	701 (4.33)	601 (3.71)	0.242	0.315	0.387	3.31	0.979
3	Boston Red Sox	162	87	75	0	.537	22.0	743 (4.59)	736 (4.54)	0.251	0.331	0.415	3.92	0.975
4	Washington Senators	162	86	76	0	.531	23.0	694 (4.28)	644 (3.98)	0.251	0.328	0.378	3.49	0.978
5	New York Yankees	162	80	81	1	.494	28.5	562 (3.47)	587 (3.62)	0.235	0.309	0.344	3.23	0.979
6	Cleveland Indians	161	62	99	0	.385	46.5	573 (3.56)	717 (4.45)	0.237	0.306	0.345	3.94	0.976
Western Division
1	Minnesota Twins	162	97	65	0	.599	-.-	790 (4.88)	618 (3.81)	0.268	0.338	0.408	3.24	0.977
2	Oakland Athletics	162	88	74	0	.543	9.0	740 (4.57)	678 (4.19)	0.249	0.324	0.376	3.71	0.978
3	California Angels	163	71	91	1	.436	26.0	528 (3.24)	652 (4.00)	0.230	0.298	0.319	3.54	0.978
4	Kansas City Royals	163	69	93	1	.423	28.0	586 (3.60)	688 (4.22)	0.240	0.306	0.338	3.72	0.975
5	Chicago White Sox	162	68	94	0	.420	29.0	625 (3.86)	723 (4.46)	0.247	0.316	0.357	4.21	0.981
6	Seattle Pilots	163	64	98	1	.393	33.0	639 (3.92)	799 (4.90)	0.234	0.313	0.346	4.35	0.974

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Sal Bando Harmon Killebrew Carl Yastrzemski	Oakland Athletics Minnesota Twins Boston Red Sox	162
At Bats	Horace Clarke	New York Yankees	641
Runs Scored	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	123
Hits	Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins	197
Doubles	Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins	39
Triples	Del Unser	Washington Senators	8
Home Runs	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	49
Total Bases	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	340
Runs Batted In	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	140
Stolen Bases	Tommy Harper	Seattle Pilots	73
Caught Stealing	Don Buford Tommy Harper	Baltimore Orioles Seattle Pilots	18
Walks	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	145
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Reggie Jackson Harmon Killebrew	Oakland Athletics Minnesota Twins	20
Hit by Pitch	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	13
Strikeouts	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	142
Sacrifice Hits	Paul Blair Denny McLain	Baltimore Orioles Detroit Tigers	13
Sacrifice Flies	Roy White	New York Yankees	11
Grounded into Double Plays	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	29
Batting Average	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	0.332
On-Base Percentage	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	0.427
Slugging Percentage	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	0.608
On-Base plus Slugging	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	1.018
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	187

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	24
Losses	Luis Tiant	Cleveland Indians	20
Win-Loss Percentage	Mike Nagy	Boston Red Sox	0.857
Appearances	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	76
Games Started	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	41
Complete Games	Mel Stottlemyre	New York Yankees	24
Shutouts	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	9
Games Finished	Ron Perranoski	Minnesota Twins	52
Saves	Ron Perranoski	Minnesota Twins	31
Innings Pitched	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	325.0
Batters Faced	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	1304
Hits Allowed	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	288
Home Runs Allowed	Luis Tiant	Cleveland Indians	37
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Luis Tiant	Cleveland Indians	129
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Ron Perranoski	Minnesota Twins	16
Hit Batsmen	Tom Murphy	California Angels	21
Strikeouts	Sam McDowell	Cleveland Indians	279
Wild Pitches	Andy Messersmith Tom Murphy	California Angels California Angels	16
Balks	Rudy May	California Angels	4
Runs Allowed	Luis Tiant	Cleveland Indians	123
Earned Runs Allowed	Gary Peters	Chicago White Sox	110
Earned Run Average	Dick Bosman	Washington Senators	2.19
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Fritz Peterson	New York Yankees	0.996

All-Star Game

The American League lost the fortieth midsummer classic at R.F.K. Memorial Stadium in Washington, DC on Wednesday, July 23, 1969 by a score of 9 to 3. The league's manager was Mayo Smith.

Postseason

The American League Championship Series, featured Baltimore Orioles, the Eastern Division winner, and the Minnesota Twins, the Western Division winner. The Orioles defeated the Twins, 3 games to 0.

In the World Series, the American League champion Baltimore Orioles were defeated by the National League's New York Mets, 4 games to 1.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Harmon Killebrew, a third baseman with the Minnesota Twins. In the award's voting, he had 294 out of a possible 336 points and 16 first place votes.

The winners of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, were Mike Cuellar of the Baltimore Orioles and Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers. In the award's voting, both had 10 out of a possible 24 points and 10 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Lou Piniella, an outfielder with the Kansas City Royals. In the award's voting, he had 9 out of a possible 24 points and 9 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins
C	Bill Freehan	Detroit Tigers
1B	Joe Pepitone	New York Yankees
2B	Davey Johnson	Baltimore Orioles
3B	Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles
SS	Mark Belanger	Baltimore Orioles
OF	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox
	Paul Blair	Baltimore Orioles
	Mickey Stanley	Detroit Tigers

Hall of Fame Game

The twenty-seventh annual Hall of Fame Game was played on July 28 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Minnesota Twins defeated the Houston Astros of the National League by a score of 7 to 2. The game was stopped by rain after five innings.

Umpires

• Merle Anthony
• Emmett Ashford
• Larry Barnett
• Nestor Chylak
• Don Denkinger
• Lou DiMuro
• Cal Drummond
• Red Flaherty
• Art Frantz
• Russ Goetz
• Bill Haller
• Jim Honochick
• Bill Kinnamon
• Bill Kunkel
• Ron Luciano
• George Maloney
• Larry Napp
• Jerry Neudecker
• Jim Odom
• Jake O'Donnell
• John Rice
• Ed Runge
• Hank Soar
• Marty Springstead
• Johnny Stevens
• Bob Stewart
• Frank Umont

• Jim Bouton: Ball Four: My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues, Wiley Publishing Inc., New York, NY, 1990 (originally published in 1970). ISBN 0-02-030665-2