| 1968 Cleveland Indians | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | American League | |||
| Ballpark | Cleveland Municipal Stadium | |||
| City | Cleveland, Ohio | |||
| Owners | Vernon Stouffer | |||
| General managers | Gabe Paul | |||
| Managers | Alvin Dark | |||
| Television | WJW-TV | |||
| Radio | WERE (1300) | |||
| ||||
The1968Cleveland Indians season was their 68th season of baseball in theAmerican League. It saw their pitching staff lead the major leagues with the most strikeouts (1,157) while allowing the fewest hits (1,087).[1] Despite this, they finished 3rd in the American League, their highest finish in nine years. They would not finish higher than 4th again until 1994.
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Tigers | 103 | 59 | .636 | — | 56–25 | 47–34 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 91 | 71 | .562 | 12 | 47–33 | 44–38 |
| Cleveland Indians | 86 | 75 | .534 | 16½ | 43–37 | 43–38 |
| Boston Red Sox | 86 | 76 | .531 | 17 | 46–35 | 40–41 |
| New York Yankees | 83 | 79 | .512 | 20 | 39–42 | 44–37 |
| Oakland Athletics | 82 | 80 | .506 | 21 | 44–38 | 38–42 |
| Minnesota Twins | 79 | 83 | .488 | 24 | 41–40 | 38–43 |
| California Angels | 67 | 95 | .414 | 36 | 32–49 | 35–46 |
| Chicago White Sox | 67 | 95 | .414 | 36 | 36–45 | 31–50 |
| Washington Senators | 65 | 96 | .404 | 37½ | 34–47 | 31–49 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | MIN | NYY | OAK | WSH | |||
| Baltimore | — | 9–9 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 14–4 | |||
| Boston | 9–9 | — | 9–9 | 14–4 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 11–7 | |||
| California | 8–10 | 9–9 | — | 8–10 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 5–13 | 12–6 | |||
| Chicago | 7–11 | 4–14 | 10–8 | — | 5–13 | 5–13 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 10–8 | |||
| Cleveland | 11–7 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 13–5 | — | 6–12 | 14–4 | 10–8–1 | 6–12 | 7–10 | |||
| Detroit | 10–8 | 12–6 | 13–5 | 13–5 | 12–6 | — | 10–8 | 10–8–1 | 13–5–1 | 10–8 | |||
| Minnesota | 8–10 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 4–14 | 8–10 | — | 12–6 | 8–10 | 11–7 | |||
| New York | 5–13 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 8–10–1 | 8–10–1 | 6–12 | — | 10–8 | 14–4 | |||
| Oakland | 9–9 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 5–13–1 | 10–8 | 8–10 | — | 7–11 | |||
| Washington | 4–14 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 10–7 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 4–14 | 11–7 | — | |||
| Opening Day Starters | ||
|---|---|---|
| # | Name | Position |
| 21 | Tommy Harper | LF |
| 13 | Vern Fuller | 2B |
| 1 | José Cardenal | CF |
| 9 | Duke Sims | C |
| 11 | Tony Horton | 1B |
| 25 | Vic Davalillo | RF |
| 10 | Max Alvis | 3B |
| 16 | Larry Brown | SS |
| 42 | Sonny Siebert | P |
| 1968 Cleveland Indians | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders
Other batters | Manager Coaches
| ||||||
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 | Joe Azcue | 115 | 357 | 100 | .280 | 4 | 42 |
| 1B | Tony Horton | 133 | 477 | 119 | .249 | 14 | 59 |
| 2B | Vern Fuller | 97 | 244 | 59 | .242 | 0 | 18 |
| SS | Larry Brown | 154 | 495 | 116 | .234 | 6 | 35 |
| 3B | Max Alvis | 131 | 452 | 101 | .223 | 8 | 37 |
| LF | Lee Maye | 109 | 299 | 84 | .281 | 4 | 26 |
| CF | José Cardenal | 157 | 583 | 150 | .257 | 7 | 44 |
| RF | Vic Davalillo | 51 | 180 | 43 | .239 | 2 | 13 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Sims | 122 | 361 | 90 | .249 | 11 | 44 |
| Chico Salmon | 103 | 276 | 59 | .214 | 3 | 12 |
| Tommy Harper | 130 | 235 | 51 | .217 | 6 | 26 |
| Russ Snyder | 68 | 217 | 61 | .281 | 2 | 23 |
| Lou Johnson | 65 | 202 | 52 | .257 | 5 | 23 |
| Dave Nelson | 88 | 189 | 44 | .233 | 0 | 19 |
| Jimmie Hall | 53 | 111 | 22 | .198 | 1 | 8 |
| Billy Harris | 38 | 94 | 20 | .213 | 0 | 3 |
| Richie Scheinblum | 19 | 55 | 12 | .218 | 0 | 5 |
| José Vidal | 37 | 54 | 9 | .167 | 2 | 5 |
| Leon Wagner | 38 | 49 | 9 | .184 | 0 | 6 |
| Willie Smith | 33 | 42 | 6 | .143 | 0 | 3 |
| Lou Klimchock | 11 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | 3 |
| Ken Suarez | 17 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 0 |
| Lou Piniella | 6 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Russ Nagelson | 5 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Eddie Leon | 6 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ray Fosse | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam McDowell | 38 | 269.0 | 15 | 14 | 1.81 | 283 |
| Luis Tiant | 34 | 258.1 | 21 | 9 | 1.60 | 264 |
| Sonny Siebert | 31 | 206.0 | 12 | 10 | 2.97 | 146 |
| Steve Hargan | 32 | 158.1 | 8 | 15 | 4.15 | 78 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stan Williams | 44 | 194.1 | 13 | 11 | 2.50 | 147 |
| Mike Paul | 36 | 91.2 | 5 | 8 | 3.93 | 87 |
| Horacio Piña | 12 | 31.1 | 1 | 1 | 1.72 | 24 |
| Steve Bailey | 2 | 5.0 | 0 | 1 | 3.60 | 1 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vicente Romo | 40 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 1.62 | 54 |
| Eddie Fisher | 54 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2.85 | 42 |
| Hal Kurtz | 28 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.21 | 16 |
| Billy Rohr | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.87 | 5 |
| Rob Gardner | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 6 |
| Darrell Sutherland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.10 | 2 |
| Tommy Gramly | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.70 | 1 |
| Mike Hedlund | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.80 | 0 |
| Willie Smith | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |