| 1968 St. Louis Cardinals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National League champions | ||||
 | ||||
| League | National League | |||
| Ballpark | Busch Memorial Stadium | |||
| City | St. Louis, Missouri | |||
| Record | 97–65 (.599) | |||
| League place | 1st | |||
| Owners | August "Gussie" Busch | |||
| General managers | Bing Devine | |||
| Managers | Red Schoendienst | |||
| Television | KSD-TV | |||
| Radio | KMOX (Harry Caray,Jack Buck) | |||
| ||||
The1968 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 87th season inSt. Louis, Missouri and its 77th season in theNational League. TheCardinals went 97–65 during the season, winning their second consecutive NL pennant, this time by nine games over theSan Francisco Giants. They lost in 7 games to theDetroit Tigers in theWorld Series. The Cardinals would not return to the postseason until1982.
Following the season,Major League Baseball announced plans to split both the National andAmerican Leagues into East and West divisions starting with the 1969 season in order to accommodate theinclusion of two new franchises to each league. The Cardinals were assigned to the newNational League East division. Originally, the Cardinals were placed in theNational League West division. However, theNew York Mets, wanting to compensate for the loss of home games against theLos Angeles Dodgers andSan Francisco Giants, desired three extra games against the Cardinals, the two-time defending NL champions. The Cardinals were thus moved to theNational League East division along with theChicago Cubs, who wished to maintain their long-standing rivalry with the Cardinals. TheAtlanta Braves andCincinnati Reds were correspondingly shifted to the National League West despite both being east of St. Louis andChicago, a configuration maintaineduntil 1993.
PitcherBob Gibson won both theMVP Award and theCy 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 anon-base percentage of .233 against Gibson. Gibson also won aGold Glove this year, as did shortstopDal Maxvill and outfielderCurt Flood.
| 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 |
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 | — | |||
| 1968 St. Louis Cardinals | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Although essentially the same team as the previous year, they faced a tougherAmerican League opponent in theDetroit Tigers, who had also won their pennant easily, behind the 31-win season ofDenny McLain. Even though both Gibson and McLain were leagueMVPs 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 until1982, and their last Series before MLB adopted its divisional format.
ALDetroit 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 |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tulsa[7]