The 1968 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 10 to October 10, 1968. It was the final year of baseball's pre-expansion era, in which the teams that finished in first place in each league went directly to the World Series to face each other for the "World Championship."
The playoff system was developed and debuted in 1969; with the addition of four expansion teams, both leagues were divided into two six-team divisions, with the winners competing in the League Championship Series.
It also featured the most dominant pitching year of the modern era, and was the first season for the Athletics in Oakland (having moved from Kansas City after the 1967 season).
The rookie minimum salary, $7,000 in 1967, was increased to $10,000 in 1968.[1]
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",[2]Bob Gibson of the Cardinals led the National League with 268 strikeouts, but also setting a modern earned run average record of 1.12 (a record regarded to be unbreakable today) and a still-standing World Series record of 17 strikeouts in Game 1, while their World 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. His teammate Mickey Lolich won three complete games in the World Series, the last player to ever do so. Don Drysdale of the L.A. Dodgers pitched six consecutive shutout games in May and June, ending with 58 consecutive scoreless innings – a record that stood until being beaten by Orel Hershiser in 1988. Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants led the National League with 26 wins and 30 complete games. Luis Tiant of the Cleveland Indians had the American League's lowest ERA at 1.60 and allowed an opponents batting average of only .168, a major league record (since broken by Pedro Martínez in 2000).[3] He also led the AL with 9 shutouts. Both MVPs for that year were pitchers.
339 shutouts were recorded in 1,619 regular-season games.[4][5] The St. Louis Cardinals alone pitched 30 shutouts, the most in the majors. The 472 runs they allowed remains the lowest total ever recorded by any major league team in a 162-game season.
Ray Washburn of the Cardinals pitched a no-hitter against the Giants for a 2–0 victory on September 18 at Candlestick Park. The day before, Gaylord Perry pitched a no-hitter with a 1–0 Giants victory over the Cardinals. It was the first time in baseball history that no-hitters had been thrown in consecutive games and also that back-to-back no-hitters occurred in the same series.
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[6] 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.[7] The Chicago White Sox scored only 463 runs during the regular season and were shut out a league-high 23 times. The shutout record was eclipsed in 1972 by the Texas Rangers, who were blanked 26 times in 154 games.
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 (38 to 25 cm). Four expansion teams joined the majors, and batting averages in 1969 returned to their historical averages; the large statistical advantage of pitching over batting in the major leagues during 1968 has not been seen since.
Rule changes
The 1968 season saw the following rule changes regarding the spitball and moistened balls:[8][9][10]
While on the pitcher's mound, the pitcher is banned entirely from bringing his pitching hand into contact with his mouth or lips. If this occurs, the pitcher can avoid penalty by stepping off the rubber and prepare to pitch again
If the violation occurred, a ball is awarded to the batter in the pitch count if nobody is on base. If there are runners on base, a balk is called. If the moistened ball is hit and the batter reaches first base, an error, or hit-by-pitch occurs, the violation is ignored. Any ball in play to the detriment of the batter will not count, and the at-bat continues. Previously, the penalty for a spitball was an immediate ejection. Repeat offenders were to be fined by the league.
The pitcher can no longer spit on the non-pitching hand.
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 calling him for that indiscretion and two further examples, umpire Ed Vargo ejected Boozer.[31]
^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, ISBN978-0-8027-1745-0
