10 Days Until Opening Day

Opening Day, April 1, 2013 is 10 days away. There have been one hundred walk off home runs in Angels history. This is the story of #10, a blast that won the game that saw a long scoreless streak come to an end.

June 11, 1967 - Starter Jim McGlothlin came into the game with a 33-inning scoreless streak. It was snapped by Tigers slugger Al Kaline in the fourth inning. The future Hall of Famer hit a solo shot in the fourth inning to make it a 1-0 game.

It was 3-0 in the sixth when Tigers starter Joe Sparma got into trouble. With two on and two out, RF Jimmie Hall hit a three-run bomb to tie the game.

Minnie Rojas had taken over for McGlothlin after it became a 4-3 Tigers lead and Fred Gladding had been given the ball by Tigers manager Mayo Smith soon after the game was tied. He had allowed two hits in the seventh inning and two more eighth but danced around trouble and came out for the bottom of the ninth.

Bill "Moose" Skowron pinch hit for Rojas and struck out. Leadoff hitter Jose Cardenal doubled and Paul Schaal walked, bringing up Jim Fregosi. With Hall on deck the hope must have been to have Fregosi ground into a game ending double play. But Fregosi hit a come form behind three-run walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Final Score: Angels 6, Tigers 4.

One month to the day after this, on July 11, Fregosi would be representing the Angels in the All Star Game at Anaheim Stadium. Boston's Rico Petrocelli was the starting SS for the AL but Fregosi came in as a pinch hitter for his old teammate Dean Chance in the bottom of the third inning and played until the game ended - in the fifteenth inning, with a solo Tony Perez homer for the NL in the top of the fifteenth being the difference in a 2-1 game.