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1968 St. Louis Cardinals season

This article is about the Major League Baseball team. For the National Football League team, see 1968 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season.

1968 St. Louis Cardinals
National League Champions
LeagueNational League
BallparkBusch Memorial Stadium
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record97–65 (.599)
League place1st
OwnersAugust "Gussie" Busch
General managersBing Devine
ManagersRed Schoendienst
TelevisionKSD-TV
RadioKMOX
(Harry Caray, Jack Buck)
← 1967 Seasons 1969 →

The 1968 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 87th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 77th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 97–65 during the season, winning their second consecutive NL pennant, this time by nine games over the San Francisco Giants. They lost in 7 games to the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. The Cardinals would not return to the postseason until 1982.

Following the season, Major League Baseball announced plans to split both the National and American Leagues into East and West divisions starting with the 1969 season in order to accommodate the inclusion of two new franchises to each league. The Cardinals were assigned to the new National League East division. Originally, the Cardinals were placed in the National League West division. However, the New York Mets, wanting to compensate for the loss of home games against the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, desired three extra games against the Cardinals, the two-time defending NL champions. The Cardinals were thus moved to the National League East division along with the Chicago Cubs, who wished to maintain their long-standing rivalry with the Cardinals. The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds were correspondingly shifted to the National League West despite both being east of St. Louis and Chicago, a configuration maintained until 1993.

Offseason

Regular season

Pitcher Bob Gibson won both the MVP Award and the Cy Young Award this year, with a 1.12 ERA, 22 wins, and 268 strikeouts. From June 2 to July 30, Gibson allowed only two earned runs in 92 innings pitched.[3] For the season, opposing batters only had a batting average of .184, and an on-base percentage of .233 against Gibson. Gibson also won a Gold Glove this year, as did shortstop Dal Maxvill and outfielder Curt Flood.

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Cardinals 97 65 .599 — 47‍–‍34 50‍–‍31
San Francisco Giants 88 74 .543 9 42‍–‍39 46‍–‍35
Chicago Cubs 84 78 .519 13 47‍–‍34 37‍–‍44
Cincinnati Reds 83 79 .512 14 40‍–‍41 43‍–‍38
Atlanta Braves 81 81 .500 16 41‍–‍40 40‍–‍41
Pittsburgh Pirates 80 82 .494 17 40‍–‍41 40‍–‍41
Los Angeles Dodgers 76 86 .469 21 41‍–‍40 35‍–‍46
Philadelphia Phillies 76 86 .469 21 38‍–‍43 38‍–‍43
New York Mets 73 89 .451 24 32‍–‍49 41‍–‍40
Houston Astros 72 90 .444 25 42‍–‍39 30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1968 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD NYM PHI PIT SF STL
Atlanta — 8–10 10–8 11–7 9–9 12–6–1 11–7 6–12 9–9 5–13
Chicago 10–8 — 7–11 10–8 12–6 8–10 9–9 10–8 9–9–1 9–9
Cincinnati 8–10 11–7 — 9–9 9–9 10–8 11–7 10–8–1 8–10 7–11
Houston 7–11 8–10 9–9 — 11–7 10–8 9–9 5–13 8–10 5–13
Los Angeles 9–9 6–12 9–9 7–11 — 7–11 10–8 10–8 9–9 9–9
New York 6–12–1 10–8 8–10 8–10 11–7 — 8–10 9–9 7–11 6–12
Philadelphia 7–11 9–9 7–11 9–9 8–10 10–8 — 9–9 9–9 8–10
Pittsburgh 12–6 8–10 8–10–1 13–5 8–10 9–9 9–9 — 7–11 6–12
San Francisco 9–9 9–9–1 10–8 10–8 9–9 11–7 9–9 11–7 — 10–8
St. Louis 13–5 9–9 11–7 13–5 9–9 12–6 10–8 12–6 8–10 —


Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

Roster

1968 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Tim McCarver 128 434 110 .253 5 48
1B Orlando Cepeda 157 600 149 .248 16 73
2B Julián Javier 139 519 135 .260 4 52
SS Dal Maxvill 119 459 116 .253 1 24
3B Mike Shannon 156 576 153 .266 15 79
LF Lou Brock 159 660 184 .279 6 51
CF Curt Flood 150 618 186 .301 5 60
RF Roger Maris 100 310 79 .255 5 45

Other batters

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

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Bobby Tolan 92 278 64 .230 5 17
Johnny Edwards 84 230 55 .239 3 29
Dick Schofield 69 127 28 .220 1 8
Phil Gagliano 53 105 24 .229 0 13
Ron Davis 33 79 14 .177 0 5
Dick Simpson 26 56 13 .232 3 8
Ed Spiezio 29 51 8 .157 0 2
Dave Ricketts 20 22 3 .136 0 1
Joe Hague 7 17 4 .235 1 1
Floyd Wicker 5 4 2 .500 0 0
Ted Simmons 2 3 1 .333 0 0

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
Bob Gibson 34 304.2 22 9 1.12 268
Nelson Briles 33 243.1 19 11 2.81 141
Steve Carlton 34 231.1 13 11 2.99 162
Ray Washburn 31 215.1 14 8 2.26 124
Larry Jaster 31 153.2 9 13 3.51 70

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
Dick Hughes 25 63.2 2 2 3.53 49
Mel Nelson 18 52.2 2 1 2.91 16
Mike Torrez 5 19.0 2 1 2.84 6
Pete Mikkelsen 5 16.0 0 0 1.13 8

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
Joe Hoerner 47 8 2 17 1.47 42
Ron Willis 48 2 3 4 3.39 39
Wayne Granger 34 4 2 4 2.25 27
Hal Gilson 13 0 2 2 4.57 19

1968 World Series

Main article: 1968 World Series

Although essentially the same team as the previous year, they faced a tougher American League opponent in the Detroit Tigers, who had also won their pennant easily, behind the 31-win season of Denny McLain. Even though both Gibson and McLain were league MVPs that season, another Tigers starter, Mickey Lolich, stole the show, becoming the last pitcher to date to win three complete games in a single Series. Gibson excelled again in this World Series, winning Games 1 and 4. He had 17 strikeouts in Game 1 and totaled 35 strikeouts in the Series, both still World Series records. The Cardinals advanced to a 3–1 series lead, but the Tigers completed an improbable comeback by winning the final three games of the series to claim the championship, 4 games to 3. It was St. Louis' last Series appearance until 1982, and their last Series before MLB adopted its divisional format.

AL Detroit Tigers (4) vs. NL St. Louis Cardinals (3)

Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 Cardinals – 4, Tigers – 0 October 2 Busch Memorial Stadium 54,692 2:29
2 Tigers – 8, Cardinals – 1 October 3 Busch Memorial Stadium 54,692 2:41
3 Cardinals – 7, Tigers – 3 October 5 Tiger Stadium 53,634 3:17
4 Cardinals – 10, Tigers – 1 October 6 Tiger Stadium 53,634 2:34
5 Tigers – 5, Cardinals – 3 October 7 Tiger Stadium 53,634 2:43
6 Tigers – 13, Cardinals – 1 October 9 Busch Memorial Stadium 54,692 2:26
7 Tigers – 4, Cardinals – 1 October 10 Busch Memorial Stadium 54,692 2:07

Awards and honors

Major League Baseball records

  • Bob Gibson, major league record, lowest ERA in one season for a pitcher with more than 300 innings pitched (1.12) [3]

League leaders

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tulsa Oilers Pacific Coast League Warren Spahn
AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Vern Rapp
A Modesto Reds California League Joe Cunningham
A St. Petersburg Cardinals Florida State League Ron Plaza
A Cedar Rapids Cardinals Midwest League Jack Krol
A-Short Season Lewiston Broncos Northwest League Roy Majtyka
Rookie GCL Cardinals Gulf Coast League George Kissell and Ray Hathaway

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tulsa[7]

References

  1. ^ Luis Meléndez page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Jimy Williams page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ a b Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 25, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  4. ^ Bob Forsch page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Ramón Hernández page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Stolen Bases Single Season National League Leaders by Baseball Almanac
  7. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
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