1968 Major League Baseball season

The 1968 Major League Baseball season 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." The addition of expansion teams in 1961, 1962, and 1969 finally led to the advent of a playoff system in baseball the following season.

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. Both MVPs for that year were pitchers.

In the American League and National League combined, 339 shutouts were recorded in 1,619 regular-season games.^[2][3] 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 .340 remains the lowest since 1915 (when the game was still in the so-called dead-ball era), while the collective batting average of .231 is the all-time lowest.^[4] 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 zoomed back to their historical averages and never again would pitching have as large a statistical average over batting in the major leagues.

Awards and honors

• Most Valuable Player
  • Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers, P (AL)
  • Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals, P (NL)
• Cy Young Award
  • Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers (AL)
  • Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals (NL)
• Rookie of the Year
  • Stan Bahnsen, New York Yankees, P (AL)
  • Johnny Bench, Cincinnati Reds, C (NL)

Statistical leaders

American League National League Type Name Stat Name Stat AVG Carl Yastrzemski BOS .301 Pete Rose CIN .335 HR Frank Howard WAS 44 Willie McCovey SFG 36 RBI Ken Harrelson BOS 109 Willie McCovey SFG 105 Wins Denny McLain DET 31 Juan Marichal SFG 26 ERA Luis Tiant CLE 1.60 Bob Gibson STL 1.12 SO Sam McDowell CLE 283 Bob Gibson STL 268 SV Al Worthington MIN 18 Phil Regan LAD/CHC 25 SB Bert Campaneris OAK 62 Lou Brock STL 62

Major league baseball final standings

American League
Rank	Wins	Losses	Win %	GB
Detroit Tigers	103	59	.636	–
Baltimore Orioles	91	71	.562	12
Cleveland Indians	86	75	.534	16.5
Boston Red Sox	86	76	.531	17
New York Yankees	83	79	.512	20
Oakland Athletics	82	80	.506	21
Minnesota Twins	79	83	.488	24
California Angels	67	95	.414	36
Chicago White Sox	67	95	.414	36
Washington Senators	65	96	.404	37.5

National League
Rank	Wins	Losses	Win %	GB
St. Louis Cardinals	97	65	.599	–
San Francisco Giants	88	74	.543	9
Chicago Cubs	84	78	.519	13
Cincinnati Reds	83	79	.512	14
Atlanta Braves	81	81	.500	16
Pittsburgh Pirates	80	82	.494	17
Los Angeles Dodgers	76	86	.469	21
Philadelphia Phillies	76	86	.469	21
New York Mets	73	89	.451	24
Houston Astros	72	90	.444	25

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.^[5]

References

1. "1968 – The Year of the Pitcher" Sports Illustrated, August 4, 1998.
2. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1968.shtml
3. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/1968.shtml
4. 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
5. "Ejected While Warming Up". goldenrankings.com. Retrieved 29 November 2014.