August 16, 1966: Bert Campaneris runs wild on White Sox, scores all runs for Athletics without an RBI

On the night of August 16, 1966, at White Sox Park, 24-year-old Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City Athletics had a phenomenal game as both a hitter and a baserunner. Campaneris collected three singles, a triple, and two stolen bases as the Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2. The 160-pound, Cuban-born shortstop scored all four of the Athletics’ runs and got four of their six hits.

Even though Campaneris was credited with only two steals, he tormented the White Sox pitchers and catchers on the basepaths. Nothing they did could stop Campaneris. In fact, the more the White Sox tried to stop him, the worse it got. They made throwing errors and catching errors, gave up walks, threw wild pitches, and committed passed balls, and Campaneris gained base after base on each of their miscues.

RBI hits by his teammates weren’t needed. No Athletic batted in any of his four runs.

Lefty Tommy John started the Tuesday night game for the White Sox, who were fourth in the American League at 61-57-1, 16 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles. He was just 23 years old and in his first season as a full-time starter. John entered the game with an 11-6 record, and his 2.25 ERA was tied for second lowest in the AL. He had pitched three straight complete games, including two shutouts, and had allowed just one unearned run and walked only one batter in 27 innings.

Twenty-one-year-old Johnny “Blue Moon” Odom started for the Athletics, whose 52-66 record left them in eighth place, 25 games out. Odom had been called up from the minors just three weeks prior. Five days earlier, on August 11, the White Sox had knocked him out in the third inning of a start in Kansas City.1

In front of 12,712 paid fans and 5,944 policemen and their families at White Sox Park,2 Campaneris led off the game. He had paced the AL with 51 steals in 1965, his first full big-league season, and he began the day with a league-best 33 steals and a .268 batting average.3

Campaneris quickly made it into scoring position by beating out a slow grounder to shortstop Jerry Adair for an infield single, then advancing to second on Mike Hershberger’s sacrifice. With first baseman Danny Cater4 at bat and, per the Chicago Tribune, “Campy dancing around second,” John issued his first walk in 24 innings – since a fourth-inning free pass to Héctor López in his July 31 shutout of the New York Yankees.5

With the next batter, Kansas City second baseman Dick Green, at the plate, Campaneris and Cater attempted a double steal. As Campaneris slid into third, the throw from catcher John Romano went past third baseman Don Buford, who was charged with an error.6 According to Dave Nightingale of the Chicago Daily News, Campaneris “picked himself up and waltzed home.”7 The Athletics had a 1-0 lead.

Campaneris struck again with one out in the third, grounding an opposite-field triple to the right field corner. It was his eighth three-base hit of the season, which matched Ed Brinkman of the Washington Senators for the AL lead.

John uncorked a wild pitch to the next batter, and Campaneris scored standing up.8 John had thrown only two wild pitches in 158 innings prior to this game.9 This was the only earned run of the four Campaneris scored that night, and it snapped John’s streak of not allowing an earned run at 30 innings.10

The White Sox threatened in the third when Buford tripled, but the next two Sox batters, center fielder Tommie Agee, the AL Rookie of the Year in 1966, and right fielder Pete Ward could not score him.

With two outs in the fifth, Campaneris singled to right. John attempted to pick him off first, but the throw was wide of first baseman Bill “Moose” Skowron, and the ball rolled down the right-     field line. Campaneris scored standing up,11 extending the Athletics’ lead to 3-0. It was scored a throwing error on John.

“That was the first time I ever saw anybody score from first without a play being made on him,” Athletics manager Alvin Dark said later.12

Campaneris wasn’t the only Athletic dominating the White Sox. Odom held Chicago scoreless for six innings, giving up only three hits to go with four strikeouts.

But in the seventh, Odom ran into trouble. With one out, Adair singled and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Pinch-hitter Floyd Robinson struck out, giving Odom a chance to get out of the inning, but pinch-hitter Wayne Causey walked. Lee Elia, a 29-year-old rookie, ran for Causey, and Buford doubled, scoring both Adair and Elia.

Dark replaced Odom with Jack Aker. It was the 26-year-old right-hander’s 50th appearance of the season. Aker had a 1.64 ERA and 25 retroactively-credited saves.13 He struck out Agee to end the inning. The Athletics still were      leading, but only 3-2.

In the eighth, the White Sox brought in future Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm for his 796th big-league appearance and replaced Romano behind the plate with Jerry McNertney. Wilhelm was 44 years old and in his 16th season. He appeared in 46 games for the White Sox that year, finishing 30 games with six saves and a 1.66 ERA.14 McNertney had a reputation for effectively handling knuckleball pitchers like Wilhelm.15

But all that made no difference to Campaneris. He led off the inning with a single and stole second, his 35th steal of the season.16 He advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on yet another. Both passed balls were charged to McNertney on Wilhelm knuckleballs.

“That guy is one of the most aggravating runners I’ve ever seen,” White Sox manager Eddie Stanky said of Campaneris. “He reminds me of Jackie Robinson.”17

Aker again took the mound in the bottom of the eighth. Ward singled, and McNertney walked. Pitcher Joe Horlen was brought in to run for Ward. Both baserunners advanced on a sacrifice, but Aker got Skowron and Adair out on grounders back to the mound to end the threat.

In the ninth, Aker set the White Sox down in order for his 26th save of the season and lowered his ERA to 1.59. Odom got the win, the third of his young career. John’s record dropped to 11-7 with the loss.

It was the third time in Campaneris’ big-league career that he had scored four runs in a game. “I love to run,” he said. “I go whenever I get the chance.”18

Dark, the Athletics’ manager,19 said he never had      seen anybody run around the bases faster than Campaneris.20

Stanky called Campaneris’ performance the best individual show of speed and hitting he had seen in many years. “He should get the kind of recognition … a fellow gets when he hits three or four home runs in a game. He was just great.”21

Campaneris went on to steal 52 bases against only 10 times caught stealing in 1966. It was his second of four successive AL stolen base crowns. His 82 runs scored easily topped the seventh-place Athletics22 – Green was second on the club with 58 runs – and he finished 10th in the AL MVP voting.

In 1968, the Athletics’ first season after relocating to Oakland, Campaneris was selected to his first of six All-Star teams, and he led the AL with 177 hits. He was also the starting shortstop on Oakland’s back-to-back-to-back World Series champions from 1972 through 1974.

Campaneris played in the majors until 1983, when he retired at age 41. As of 2026, he held the Athletics’ franchise records for games played (1,795), hits (1,882), and at-bats (7,180). Campaneris was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Photo credit: Bert Campaneris, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA196608160.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B08160CHA1966.htm

Notes

1 Odom, who allowed four runs on two hits and three walks in that start, received a no-decision in the Athletics’ 10-9 loss.

2 Paul O’Boynick, “Campy Races; A’s Win, 4-2,” Kansas City Times, August 17, 1966: 16.

3 At game time, Tommy Agee of the White Sox was just one steal behind Campaneris.

4 Cater began the season with the White Sox, but he was traded to Kansas City on May 27 in a deal that brought infielder Wayne Causey to Chicago.

5 Richard Dozer, “Campaneris Runs Wild on Tommy John,” Chicago Tribune, August 17, 1966.

6 Buford led the major leagues in errors by a third baseman (26) in 1966, but he was third in assists (301) by a third baseman that same year.

7 Dave Nightingale, “Sox Can’t Cope with Campaneris,” Chicago Daily News, August 17, 1966.

8 Nightingale.

9 Dozer.

10 Nightingale.

11 Nightingale.

12 United Press International, “Campaneris Runs White Sox Wild,” DeKalb Daily Chronicle, August 17, 1966.

13 Aker’s saves were retroactively-credited because saves were not adopted as an official statistic until 1969.

14 Wilhelm pitched in a total of 1,070 games, mostly in relief, with 227 saves, 2,254.1 innings pitched, and a 2.52 career ERA. He retired at age 49 in 1972. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.

15 Sean Farber, “McNertney Wants Crack at Old Mates,” Tacoma News Tribune, June 24, 1969: 22.

16 Campaneris led the American League in steals in 1966 with 52, one of six seasons between 1965 and 1972 in which he led the AL in steals.

17 United Press International.

18 Nightingale.

19 The Athletics fired Dark in August 1967, then rehired him before the 1974 season. He subsequently managed the Athletics to the third of their three consecutive World Series titles in 1974 as well as the AL West title in 1975.

20 United Press International.

21 Dozer.

22 The Athletics finished 1966 in seventh in the AL with a 74-86 record. The White Sox came in fourth in the AL at 83-79 and one tie.