1968: Year of the Pitcher Even the All-Star Game was dominated by 1968 was "the year of the pitcher." Period. pitchers. The National League won the contest 1-0, with the lone run scoring in the first-inning Detroit’s Denny McLain (American as a result of a double play. League MVP) won 31 regular season games; The Chicago White Sox scored only 463 runs St. Louis’ Bob Gibson (National League during the regular season and were shut out a MVP and Cy Young Award-winner) set league-high 23 times. Three other teams also a modern ERA record of 1.12 (including scored less than 500 runs; and no team scored 13 shutouts) and a World Series record 700 runs. Dozens of pitchers had sub-2.50 ERAs. of 17 strikeouts in Game 1 against the And the woeful ninth-place New York Mets (73- Tigers; 89) struck out a major league record 1,203 Don Drysdale of the L.A. Dodgers times to help the uber-achieving pitchers. pitched six consecutive shutout games, ending with 58 2/3 scoreless innings; As one might expect, hitting was anemic. Carl Juan Marichal of the Giants led the Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox had the National League with 26 wins; lowest batting average of any league champion Mickey Lolich won three complete when his .301 was good enough for the games for Detroit in the World Series; American League batting title. (The AL's Cleveland’s Luis Tiant (9 shutouts) had collective slugging average of .340 remains the the American League's lowest ERA at lowest since 1915, when the game was still in 1.60 (and a BAA of only .168, a major the so-called dead-ball era). The collective league record). He also struck out 19 batting average of .231 also was the all-time batters in a 10-inning game; lowest. AL Rookie of the Year was Yankee Stan Bahnsen, who went 17-12 with a 2.06 Washington’s Frank Howard led the AL with HR ERA; and and Slugging Average (46, .552), and Boston’s NYMets’ Jerry Koosman (19-12, 2.08) Ken Harrelson knocked in a league-leading 109 was just edged out by Cincinnati Reds RBI. And, Mickey Mantle managed to tag catcher Johnny Bench (.275, 15 HR, 82 McLain for his 535th career home run pushing RBI for NL Rookie of the year. him ahead of Jimmie Foxx for the #3 spot on the all-time list. These weren’t the only stars in the mound corps to put up astounding numbers. In the American Pete Rose of the Reds took the NL batting title League and National League combined, 339 with a .335 average; and San Francisco Giants’ shutouts were recorded in 1,619 regular- Willie McCovey copped the HR/SA/RBI title season games. The St. Louis Cardinals alone with 49, .545, and 105. pitched 30 shutouts, the most in the Majors. The 472 runs allowed by the Cardinals led the MLB After the 1969 season, the MLB Rules that year and remains the lowest total ever Committee, seeking to restore the delicate recorded by any Major League team in a 162- balance between pitcher and batter, went back game season. to the pre-1963 strike zone, and lowered the height of the pitching mound from 15 to Additionally, George Culver of Cincinnati, Tom 10 inches. Four expansion teams (Kansas City, Phoebus of Baltimore, Gaylord Perry of the Seattle, San Diego, and Montreal) joined the Giants, and Ray Washburn of the Cards pitched majors, and 1969 batting averages returned to no-hitters; and Catfish Hunter of the A’s pitched their historical averages. Never again would a perfect game against the Twins, while pitching have as large a statistical average over collecting three hits and four RBI to help his own batting in the major leagues. cause. © 2016 by Steven V. LeShay, Ph.D. 1 Produced under license by Hot Stove Games 1968 was the final year when baseball had no divisions within the two leagues, with the only The Tigers became the third team to come back post-season competition being the World from a three games to one deficit to win a best Series itself. So, the World Series saw Detroit of seven World Series. (103-59) who had easily won the AL by 12 games over the Orioles, and St. Louis (97-65) --Steven V. LeShay, Ph.D. who also easily beat the Giants by 9 facing each Creator of SherCo GrandSlam Baseball Game other in the best-of-seven. 1968 SEASON RECAP Each team was led by its most dominating 64th WORLD SERIES pitchers, Gibson and McLain; but the two teams Detroit (AL) def. St. Louis (NL) had entirely different playing styles. 4 games to 3 St. Louis was built on speed and defense. The AMERICAN LEAGUE team had led the league in triples (48) and Lou W L PCT GB Brock had a league-leading 62 stolen bases. Detroit 103 59 .636 -- Baltimore 91 71 .562 12.0 Detroit depended on the long ball. The Tigers Cleveland 86 75 .534 16.5 led the league in runs (671), homers (185), and Boston 86 76 .531 17.0 slugging average (.385). Willie Horton (.285, New York 83 79 .512 20.0 36 homers, 85 RBI), Bill Freehan (.263, 25 Oakland 82 80 .506 21.0 Minnesota 79 83 .488 24.0 homers, 84 RBI), and Jim Northrup (.264, 21 Chicago 67 95 .414 36.0 homers, 90 RBI) supplied the power. California 67 95 .414 36.0 Washington 65 96 .404 37.5 St. Louis went ahead three games to one by beating 31-game-winner McLain twice: 4-0 and NATIONAL LEAGUE 10-1. But behind the pitching of Lolich, Detroit W L PCT GB stormed back to tie the series, winning game St. Louis 97 95 .599 -- five with a come-from-behind 5-3 victory and San Francisco 88 74 .543 9.0 game six, a 13-1 rout, which included a 10-run Chicago 84 78 .518 13.0 second inning Cincinnati 83 79 .512 14.0 Atlanta 81 81 .500 16.0 The stage now was set for a dramatic game Pittsburgh 80 82 .494 17.0 seven -- a fitting match-up between the two Philadelphia 76 86 .469 21.0 Los Angeles 76 86 .469 21.0 hottest pitchers in baseball: Gibson and Lolich. New York 73 89 .451 24.0 Although Gibson eventually would set a Series Houston 72 90 .444 25.0 record with 35 strikeouts, six consecutive World Series wins, and 1.67 ERA, it wasn’t good enough. He allowed three runs on four straight LEAGUE LEADERS - BATTING hits in the decisive 7th inning of game seven, AMERICAN LEAGUE although the key play was a Jim Northrup triple Average: .301, Carl Yastrzemski, Boston that was misjudged by center fielder Curt Home Runs: 44, Frank Howard, Washington Flood, and would have been the third out with RBI: 109, Ken Harrelson, Boston no runs scoring. SB: 62, Bert Camapaneris, Oakland Lolich had three complete game 1968 World NATIONAL LEAGUE Series victories against no loses. He posted a Average: .335, Pete Rose, Cincinnati 1.67 ERA, and won the final game by a score of HR: 36, Willie McCovey, San Francisco 4-1. In a scoreless 6th inning, he defused a RBI: 105, Willie McCovey, San Francisco Cardinal threat twice by picking Flood and SB: 62, Lou Brock, St. Louis Brock off first base. © 2016 by Steven V. LeShay, Ph.D. 2 Produced under license by Hot Stove Games LEAGUE LEADERS – PITCHING AMERICAN LEAGUE ERA: 1.60, Luis Tiant, Cleveland Wins: 31, Denny McLain, Detroit Strikeouts: 283, Sam McDowell, Cleveland Saves: 18, Al Worthington, Minnesota NATIONAL LEAGUE ERA: 1.12, Bob Gibson, St. Louis Wins: 26, Juan Marichal, San Francisco Strikeouts: 268, Bob Gibson, St. Louis Saves: 25, Phil Regan, Chicago/Los Angeles AWARD WINNERS AMERICAN LEAGUE MVP: Denny McLain, Detroit Cy Young: Denny McLain, Detroit Rookie of the Year: Stan Bahnsen, New York NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP: Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cy Young: Bob Gibson, St. Louis Rookie of the Year: Johnny Bench, Cincinnati © 2016 by Steven V. LeShay, Ph.D. 3 Produced under license by Hot Stove Games 1968 California BATTING RATINGS PITCHING RATINGS DEF PLAYER GP POSITION(S) B T BAT RATE BB-K PIT RATE Wayne Causey 4 2B-SS-3B L G mw-mk2 84 Chuck Cottier 33 3B-2B R D(11) mw 84 Vic Davalillo 93 OF L B* mw-mk2 95 Tom Egan 16 C R E14 mw-pk S95(-2) Jim Fregosi 159 SS R C11(12) 95 Jimmie Hall 46 OF L C 84 Woodie Held 33 OF-3B-SS-2B R E [HP] pk 94 Chuck Hinton 116 1B-OF-3B-2B R D12(13) 84 Jay Johnstone 41 OF L B 94 Ed Kirkpatrick 89 OF-1B-C L C 94 Bobby Knoop 152 2B R C 95 Winston Llenas 16 3B R E [HP] 85 Orlando McFarlane 18 C R B 94(-2) Don Mincher 120 1B L C12 85 Bubba Morton 81 OF-3B R B [HP] 84 Rick Reichardt 151 OF R B13 [HP] 94 Roger Repoz 133 OF L C12 84 Buck Rodgers 91 C S D mw 94(-2) Aurelio Rodriguez 76 3B-2B R C 85 Tom Satriano 111 C-3B-2B-1B L B12 94(-2) Paul Schaal 60 3B R C* 95 Jim Spencer 19 1B L D mw 94 Jarvis Tatum 17 OF R D mw S85 Bobby Trevino 17 OF R C mw 95 Dennis Bennett 16 P L L F mw-pk4 +M4/Z (12-15) [HP] S84 George Brunet 39 P R L F mw-pk3 +L7/X (11-14) 94 Tom Burgmeier 56 P-OF L L G pw3-mk2 X2/Z (11-13) 84 Pete Cimino 4 P R R G mk2 –L2/Z (13-14) 84 Rickey Clark 21 P R R E mw-pk3 –M5/Z (13-16) 94 Sammy Ellis 42 P L R G [HP] mw-pk2 +M4/Z (12-15) 85 Jack Hamilton 21 P R R E mw-pk5 –M2/Z (12-14) S84 Bill Harrelson 10 P S R E mw-pk6 +Y4/Z (13-16) S84 Bob Heffner 7 P R R G mk2 –K2/Z (13-15) S84 Steve Kealey 6 P R R G mk2 –L2/Z (11-13) 84 Bobby Locke 29 P R R G mw-mk2 Z2/Z (11-13) 84 Jim McGlothlin 40 P R R E mw-pk2 +M6/Y (11-14) 95 Andy Messersmith 28 P R R E mw-pk3 K3/Z (12-22) 84 Tom Murphy 15 P R R G mw-pk K7/Y (11-14) 95 Marty Pattin 52 P R R F mw +L2/Z (12-16) S84 Minnie Rojas 38 P R R E mw-pk5 +X2/Z (11-14) 84 Larry Sherry 3 P R R G mk2 +Y1/Z (12-14) 84 Jim Weaver 14 P L L G mw-mk2 +L2/Z (12-14) 84 Clyde Wright 41 P R L C +M4/Z (11-14) S84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 #N/A #N/A PH/DH 84 (c) 2018 by Steven V.