The 'Coyote' is latest '68 hero to leave us

Tigers 3B Don Wert delivered the pennant-clinching hit in 1968, but he was more than that.

If a fella named Brooks Robinson hadn’t been around, Don Wert would have been collecting Gold Gloves in the American League like they were going out of style.

As it was, Wert was the only third baseman to lead the AL in fielding other than Robinson in the 1960s, when he posted a .976 fielding percentage in 1965.

But it was the Orioles’ Robinson who captured the fancy of those who cast such votes, and Brooks came away with gold on an annual basis.

They might have taken Gold Gloves away from Wert, but they couldn’t take away the biggest hit of his career.

Wert passed away Sunday at the age of 86. His life was poignantly symmetrical, having been born and died in Strasburg, PA.

It was Wert who singled to drive in Al Kaline in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded, to upend the Yankees, 2-1 and clinch the AL pennant for the Tigers in 1968.

I feel like there’s a misconception that Wert was the prototypical good field, no hit infielder, but that really wasn’t the case.

Though whatever proficiency that Wert had with the bat, mostly drained away after they hit him on the head.

It was June 24, 1968.

The game was overshadowed by Jim “Bases Loaded” Northrup, who hit two grand slams that day.

The Indians’ Hal Kurtz drilled Wert so directly on the noggin that the baseball split Don’s batting helmet in two. After that, he really wasn’t the same hitter, though he was named to the All-Star team the following month, his only appearance.

But before the beaning, Wert wasn’t bad with the stick.

In 1965, his third year in the big leagues, Wert played all 162 games, hit .261, had an OBP of .341, managed 12 HR, led the AL in 3B fielding and finished 10th in league MVP balloting. He was also named “Tiger of the Year” by Detroit baseball writers.

He followed that performance with an almost identical one in ‘66: .268/.342/.370 with 11 HR and 70 RBI.

Not bad at all.

But then came the beaning and his BA fell to .200, .225 and .218 from ‘68-70.

Wert was a Forrest Gump of baseball, of sorts. He was in the right place at the right time to gain shreds of notoriety.

There was the GW hit in ‘68 that delivered the Tigers their first pennant in 23 years.

There was the triple play he started in 1969 in Washington, with President Nixon in attendance.

There was his being passed on the base paths by teammate Dalton Jones (between 1st and 2nd bases) in 1970, robbing Jones of a grand slam and turning it instead into a three-run single.

And there was his inclusion in the big trade of October 1970 that sent Wert, OF Elliott Maddox and pitchers Norm McRae and Denny McLain to the Senators for IF Eddie Brinkman, Aurelio Rodriguez and pitchers Joe Coleman and Jim Hannan.

But by then, Wert was finished as a ballplayer. He only appeared in 20 games for the Senators in 1971 and went 2-for-40 before being released just shy of his 33rd birthday.

They called Wert “Coyote.”

In 1964, Tigers manager Chuck Dressen reportedly requested Wert to become more vocal at third base and Don responded with high-pitched chatter that sounded like the yip-yip-yipping of a coyote. Teammate Don Demeter is credited with giving Wert the nickname.

Speaking of Dressen, Wert had a big fan in the high-strung, veteran baseball man.

“There isn’t a better fielding third baseman in the American League,” Dressen once said. “The little guy makes all the plays that Brooks Robinson and Clete Boyer make.”

Coming from a poor family in Pennsylvania indirectly funneled Wert into a baseball career, even though he was arguably better at football—as a star halfback and quarterback in high school.

He chose football, but after a semester at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA, the school proved too expensive for his parents. His dream of playing football dashed, Wert returned to baseball.

Good thing he did.

Ralph DeFranco, a Lancaster native, was the Tigers’ scout for eastern Pennsylvania. He had followed Wert’s baseball career since his prep days and had continued to follow it as he played American Legion ball and in the Lancaster City and County leagues. DeFranco, along with chief Tigers scout Ed Katalinas, signed the right-handed-hitting Wert to a contract in early 1958 for $5,000.

Wert tore up the minor leagues as a hitter and continued to hone his mad fielding skills. He finally made his MLB debut in 1963.

Of the magical ‘68 season, Wert once said, “We were a close-knit club. A lot of us came up together through the minors. Our families did things together. Our kids grew up together.”

It was a different time, but Don Wert had his big night in a season full of them.

The Coyote yips no more.