Don Wert, who drove in the pennant-clinching run for the Detroit Tigers in 1968, passed away on Sunday at the age of 86. Those Tigers went on to win the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The right-handed-hitting Wert was the regular third baseman on that Tigers team.
The Tigers mourn the passing of former player Don Wert and share our condolences with his loved ones.
Wert played in Detroit for eight seasons, during which he was an All-Star and member of the 1968 World Series championship team. pic.twitter.com/7hqA8CbgL6
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 26, 2024
Don Wert Passes Away at 86
Wert played for the Tigers at third base from 1963-70 and finished his career with the Washington Senators in 1971. For his career, he hit .242/.314/.343, 77 home runs, and 365 RBI. In 1968, he hit just .200/.258/.299, 12 home runs, and 37 RBI in 150 games. But he was regarded as one of his era’s better fielding third basemen. He never won a Gold Glove Award because his career overlapped that of a guy named Brooks Robinson. Yet Wert received a couple of honors on the strength of his glove work. He was named to the American League All-Star team in 1968 despite hitting just .220 at the break. Additionally, he received consideration for the AL Most Valuable Player Award (he was 10th in the voting) in 1965 when he hit .261/.341/.363 and played in all 162 games.
One player who appreciated Wert was pitcher Denny McLain, who won 31 games for the 1968 Tigers. Often on the road, Wert and a few other infielders would go to lunch together. McLain would join them, down a cup of coffee, and abruptly leave the table. Invariably, they would find out that McLain had paid their check on the way out.
Wert had Some Big Hits for the 1968 Tigers
On September 17, 46,512 fans crammed their way into Tiger Stadium to see their heroes clinch the AL pennant against the New York Yankees. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Tigers loaded the bases with two outs. Up came Wert, who the Associated Press described as “the third baseman having the poorest season of his career.” Against the Yankees’ left-handed reliever Lindy McDaniel, Wert worked the count to 2-2, then lined a single to the opposite field to win the pennant for the Tigers. It was Detroit’s first pennant in 23 years.
When it came time for the World Series, Tigers manager Mayo Smith had a dilemma. Future Hall-of-Famer Al Kaline was limited to 102 games in 1968, 70 in his familiar right field. In his place, Jim Northrup had the finest season of his career. Northrup hit .264/.324/.447, 21 home runs, and 90 RBI, including five grand slams. With Kaline healthy, Smith had to think of a creative way to get both in the lineup in the pre-designated hitter days. One option Smith seriously considered was moving Kaline to third base in place of Wert. In the end, he moved center fielder Mickey Stanley to shortstop, a position he’d never played.
Wert was just 2-for-17 in the Series but rewarded Smith’s faith with an important two-out RBI single in the ninth inning of the Tigers’ 4-1 victory in Game 7, knocking in the final run of the Series. With two RBI and a run scored, Wert made the most of his two hits in helping the Tigers to the 1968 championship.
A Trade
Shortly after the 1970 season, Wert was traded, along with McLain, Elliott Maddox, and Norm McRae to the Washington Senators for Joe Coleman, Ed Brinkman, Aurelio Rodriguez, and Jim Hannan. It went down as one of the worst trades in Senators history. Senators manager Ted Williams hated the trade instantly. In his book, My Turn At Bat, Williams wrote that he wasn’t happy that owner Bob Short had traded his best starting pitcher (Coleman) and the left side of his starting infield (Brinkman and Rodriguez) to get a “washed-up” McLain.
Meanwhile, Wert injured his back in a spring training game against the Montreal Expos. He wasn’t the same player after that, going just 2-for-40 for the Senators before they released him in June. One of those hits occurred in the 10th inning of a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on April 25. Wert led off the inning with a single to center field and scored the winning run on a single by Tommy McCraw.
Why Wert wasn’t given more at-bats to right himself is apparently lost to history. He may have been collateral damage from Williams’ dislike of McLain.
Main Photo: Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images
