{"id":84311,"date":"2024-08-28T13:34:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T17:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=84311"},"modified":"2024-08-28T13:34:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T17:34:04","slug":"don-wert-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/28\/don-wert-passes-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Wert, Member of Tigers 1968 World Series Team, Passes Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don Wert<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

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The Tigers mourn the passing of former player Don Wert and share our condolences with his loved ones.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don Wert Passes Away at 86<\/h2>\n

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<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

One player who appreciated Wert was pitcher Denny McLain<\/a>, who won 31 games<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Wert had Some Big Hits for the 1968 Tigers<\/h3>\n

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 \u201cthe third baseman having the poorest season of his career.\u201d Against the Yankees’ left-handed reliever Lindy McDaniel<\/a>, 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\u2019s first pennant in 23 years.<\/p>\n