California’s Mike Miley knocked in four runs as the Angels defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-3 to advance the American League West finals of the 1975 Strat-O-Matic Tournament.
Miley hit a solo homer in the third and added a two-run shot in the fifth to give the Angels a 3-0 advantage against Royals starter Steve Busby.
Frank White‘s RBI double cut Kansas City’s deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth before Jerry Remy blasted a solo homer to put the Angels on top 4-2.
George Brett had a two-run double in the seventh to close the gap again for the Royals.
In the eighth, Miley’s single produced the final run for the Angels.
Frank Tanana went the distance for California with 12 strikeouts to get the win, while giving up 11 hits with four by Amos Otis.
Twins Runaway from A’s
The Minnesota Twins broke open a tight contest on their way to a 9-4 victory over Oakland.
With the scored tied, Dan Ford hit a 3-run homer in the seventh to give the Twins a 5-2 advantage.
Gene Tenace closed the gap with a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh, but the Twins put the game away with four runs in the ninth.
Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Phil Roof and Eric Soderholm all drove in a run during the rally.
Dave Goltz went the distance for the Twinswith six strikeouts.
Reggie Jackson put Oakland on top in the first with a RBI double, while Larry Hisle tied the contest with a sacrifice fly in the third off A’s starter Vida Blue.
In the fifth, Bill North put the A’s in front 2-1 with a RBI single before Minnesota’s Steve Braun tied it with a run-scoring single in the sixth.
American League West Results and Schedule
(4) Twins 9, (1) A’s 4
(6) Angels 5, (2) Royals 3
(6) Angels at (4) Twins, championship
IN REAL LIFE:
Mike Miley was a rookie with California in 1975. Miley made his debut in July and appeared in 70 games with four homers and 26 RBI.
The 23-year old played in just 14 games for the Angels in 1976, which was to be his final season.
Miley was selected in the first round of the 1971 draft out of high school by the Cincinnati Reds. He didn’t sign and opted to attend Louisiana State University, where he would play baseball and football.
After his junior year at LSU, Miley was again a first round pick as the Angels chose him in 1974. That year he played a Double-A El Paso with 13 homers and 45 RBI. He would play at Salt Lake City in Triple-A in 1975 and 1976.
Another claim to fame for Miley at LSU was that he was the starting quarterback for the Tigers in 1973 as he led the football team to a 9-3 record and an appearance in the 1974 Orange Bowl against Penn State.
Miley’s life was tragically cut short by an auto accident in Baton Rouge on Jan. 6, 1977.