1968 New York Yankees season

The 1968 New York Yankees season was the 66th season for the team in New York, and its 68th season overall. The team finished above .500 for the first time since 1964, with a record of 83–79, finishing 20 games behind the Detroit Tigers. New York was managed by Ralph Houk. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium. The 1968 season was notable for being Mickey Mantle's final season before he announced his retirement the following spring. The Yankees batted .214 as a team, the lowest total ever for the live-ball era (as of 2019).

1968 New York Yankees
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)CBS
General manager(s)Lee MacPhail
Manager(s)Ralph Houk
Local televisionWPIX (Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Coleman, Frank Messer)
Local radioWHN
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Coleman)
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Offseason

Regular season

In 1968, Yankees executive E. Michael Burke was a candidate to become Commissioner of Baseball. Bowie Kuhn would eventually get the appointment.[5]

Season 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

Record vs. opponents
1968 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET MIN NYY OAK WSH
Baltimore —9–910–811–77–118–1010–813–59–914–4
Boston 9–9—9–914–410–86–129–910–88–1011–7
California 8–109–9—8–107–115–137–116–125–1312–6
Chicago 7–114–1410–8—5–135–1310–86–1210–810–8
Cleveland 11–78–1011–713–5—6–1214–410–8–16–127–10
Detroit 10–812–613–513–512–6—10–810–8–113–5–110–8
Minnesota 8–109–911–78–104–148–10—12–68–1011–7
New York 5–138–1012–612–68–10–18–10–16–12—10–814–4
Oakland 9–910–813–58–1012–65–13–110–88–10—7–11
Washington 4–147–116–128–1010–78–107–114–1411–7—

Notable transactions
  • June 7, 1968: 1968 Major League Baseball Draft
  • July 15, 1968: Rocky Colavito was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.[8]
  • September 30, 1968: Rocky Colavito was released by the Yankees.[8]

Roster
1968 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

  • 12 Rubén Amaro
 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R= Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
CJake Gibbs1244233190.2133299
1BMickey Mantle14443557103.23718546
2BHorace Clarke14857952133.23022620
3BBobby Cox13543733100.2297413
SSTom Tresh1525076099.195115210
LFRoy White15957789154.267176220
CFJoe Pepitone1083804193.24515568
RFAndy Kosco13146647112.24015592

[9]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R= Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
Bill Robinson1073423482.2406407
Dick Howser851502423.153030
Frank Fernández511351523.1707301
Gene Michael61116823.198183
Rocky Colavito39911320.2205130
Mike Ferraro2387514.161010
Charley Smith4670216.229170
Steve Whitaker286037.117030
Rubén Amaro474135.122000
Ellie Rodríguez92415.208010
Tony Solaita1100.000000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mel Stottlemyre36278.721122.45140
Stan Bahnsen37267.317122.05162
Fritz Peterson36212.312112.63115
Steve Barber20128.1653.2387
Bill Monbouquette1789.1574.4332
Al Downing1561.1333.5240

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Fred Talbot2999193.3667
Joe Verbanic4097673.1540
Jim Bouton1244113.6824

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Dooley Womack453723.2127
Steve Hamilton4022112.1342
Lindy McDaniel2441101.7543
Thad Tillotson71004.351
John Wyatt70202.166
Gene Michael10000.003
Rocky Colavito11000.001
John Cumberland10009.001

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League Gary Blaylock and Frank Verdi
AA Binghamton Triplets Eastern League Frank Verdi, Cloyd Boyer and Jim Gleeson
A Kinston Eagles Carolina League Bob Bauer
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Billy Shantz
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Jerry Walker
Rookie Johnson City Yankees Appalachian League Gene Hassell

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oneonta[10]

Notes
  1. Andy Kosco page at Baseball Reference
  2. Gene Michael page at Baseball Reference
  3. Bobby Cox page at Baseball Reference
  4. Merritt Ranew page at Baseball Reference
  5. Madden, Bill (2010). Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball. New York: Harper Collins Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0.
  6. Thurman Munson page at Baseball Reference
  7. Wayne Nordhagen page at Baseball Reference
  8. Rocky Colavito page at Baseball Reference
  9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1961.shtml
  10. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References
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