1968 Major League Baseball season

The 1968 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 10 to October 10, 1968. It was the last season of the traditional two-league system before each of the leagues were split into divisions for the following season. It featured the most dominant pitching year of the modern era, and the first season of the Oakland Athletics (having moved from Kansas City after the 1967 season). The 1968 season was the last year of baseball's pre-playoffs era, in which the team that finished in first place in each league went directly to the World Series to face each other for the "World Championship." Following the addition of expansion teams in 1961 and 1962, the regular season was extended from 154 games to 162 games. In order to maintain a 162-game season, a playoff system was developed following the addition of expansion teams in 1969.

This article is about the 1968 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1968 in baseball.
1968 MLB season
LeagueMajor League Baseball
SportBaseball
DurationApril 10 – October 10, 1968
Draft
Top draft pickTim Foli
Picked byNew York Mets
Regular season
Season MVPAL: Denny McLain (DET)
NL: Bob Gibson (STL)
Postseason
AL championsDetroit Tigers
  AL runners-upBaltimore Orioles
NL championsSt. Louis Cardinals
  NL runners-upSan Francisco Giants
World Series
ChampionsDetroit Tigers
  Runners-upSt. Louis Cardinals
Finals MVPMickey Lolich (DET)

The Year of the Pitcher

In Major League Baseball, the trend throughout the 1960s was of increased pitching dominance, caused by enforcing a larger strike zone (top of armpit to bottom of knee) beginning in 1963. The delicate balance of power between offense and defense reached its greatest tilt in favor of the pitcher by 1968.

During what later became known as "the year of the pitcher",[1] Bob Gibson set a modern earned run average record of 1.12 and a World Series record of 17 strikeouts in Game 1, while Series opponent Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers won 31 regular season games, the only player to reach the 30 win milestone since Dizzy Dean in 1934. Don Drysdale of the L.A. Dodgers pitched 6 consecutive shutout games in May and June, ending with 58 2/3 scoreless innings. Mickey Lolich won three complete games in the World Series, the last player as of today to do so. Luis Tiant of the Cleveland Indians had the American League's lowest ERA at 1.60 and allowed a batting average of only .168, a major league record (since broken by Pedro Martinez in 2000).[2] Both MVPs for that year were pitchers.

339 shutouts were recorded in 1,619 regular-season games.[3][4] The St. Louis Cardinals alone pitched 30 shutouts, the most in the Majors. The 472 runs allowed by the Cardinals led the MLB that year and remains the lowest total ever recorded by any Major League team in a 162-game season.

Hitting was anemic. Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox had the lowest batting average of any league champion when his .301 was good enough for the American League batting title. The AL's collective slugging average of .339[5] remains the lowest since 1915 (when the game was still in the so-called dead-ball era), while the collective batting average of .230 is the all-time lowest.[6] The Chicago White Sox scored only 463 runs during the regular season and were shut out a league-high 23 times. Both those totals are still all-time records in the era of the 162-game season.

After the season, the Rules Committee, seeking to restore balance, restored the pre-1963 strike zone and lowered the height of the pitching mound from 15 to 10 inches. Four expansion teams joined the majors. 1969 batting averages returned to their historical averages and never again would pitching have as large a statistical average over batting in the major leagues.

Awards and honors

Statistical leaders
 American LeagueNational League
TypeNameStatNameStat
AVGCarl Yastrzemski BOS.301Pete Rose CIN.335
HRFrank Howard WSH44Willie McCovey SF36
RBIKen Harrelson BOS109Willie McCovey SF105
WinsDenny McLain DET31Juan Marichal SF26
ERALuis Tiant CLE1.60Bob Gibson STL1.12
SOSam McDowell CLE283Bob Gibson STL268
SVAl Worthington MIN18Phil Regan LAD/CHC25
SBBert Campaneris OAK62Lou Brock STL62

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 10359 0.636 — 56–25 47–34
Baltimore Orioles 9171 0.562 12 47–33 44–38
Cleveland Indians 8675 0.534 16½ 43–37 43–38
Boston Red Sox 8676 0.531 17 46–35 40–41
New York Yankees 8379 0.512 20 39–42 44–37
Oakland Athletics 8280 0.506 21 44–38 38–42
Minnesota Twins 7983 0.488 24 41–40 38–43
California Angels 6795 0.414 36 32–49 35–46
Chicago White Sox 6795 0.414 36 36–45 31–50
Washington Senators 6596 0.404 37½ 34–47 31–49

National League final standings
National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Cardinals 9765 0.599 — 47–34 50–31
San Francisco Giants 8874 0.543 9 42–39 46–35
Chicago Cubs 8478 0.519 13 47–34 37–44
Cincinnati Reds 8379 0.512 14 40–41 43–38
Atlanta Braves 8181 0.500 16 41–40 40–41
Pittsburgh Pirates 8082 0.494 17 40–41 40–41
Los Angeles Dodgers 7686 0.469 21 41–40 35–46
Philadelphia Phillies 7686 0.469 21 38–43 38–43
New York Mets 7389 0.451 24 32–49 41–40
Houston Astros 7290 0.444 25 42–39 30–51

Events
  • May 1 – Philadelphia Phillies pitcher John Boozer is ejected from a game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium without throwing a pitch. Boozer had put spit on his hand to clean his uniform, which was in contravention of the anti-spitball rule that had been introduced that year. After being called for that indiscretion and two further examples, umpire Ed Vargo ejected Boozer.[7]

Movies

See also

References
  1. "1968 – The Year of the Pitcher" Sports Illustrated, August 4, 1998.
  2. http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Player+pitching&game_type='R'&season=&season_type=SINGLE&league_code='MLB'&sectionType=sp&statType=pitching&page=1&ts=1523801929736&sortColumn=avg&sortOrder='asc'&extended=0&split=&playerType=ALL&timeframe=
  3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1968.shtml
  4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/1968.shtml
  5. http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Team+hitting&game_type='R'&season=1968&season_type=ANY&league_code='NL'&sectionType=st&statType=hitting&page=1&ts=1523801533612&playerType=QUALIFIER&sportCode='mlb'&split=&team_id=&active_sw=&position=&page_type=SortablePlayer&sortOrder='desc'&sortColumn=avg&results=&perPage=50&timeframe=&last_x_days=&extended=0
  6. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.123, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  7. "Ejected While Warming Up". goldenrankings.com. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
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