1968 Baseball Season

 

Highlights:

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Presley Division:

After a two-year absence from the top, Philadelphia breezed to their fifth division championship with a 105-57 record.  Led by rookie Stan Bahnsen (20-6 1.84) and veteran Ferguson Jenkins (19-12 2.37) the Freedom posted a 2.40 team ERA to rank third in the league.  The offense was the most productive in the league leading with an average of 4.0 runs per game behind the left-right tandem of Billy Williams (.272-24-82) and Willie Horton (.259-32-96).  Rusty Staub appears to be an up-and-comer as he batted .271 and drove in 79 runs while smacking 35 doubles and 4 homers.  Pittsburgh finished a very distant second with an 80-82 record while Meadowbrook and Meadville brought up the rear. 

 

Notable accomplishments of the also rans were Steve Blass (PIT) 19-6 record and second best 1.20 ERA.  Pete Rose (MEA) batted .314 to finish third in the league.  Rookie of the Year Johnny Bench (MEA) batted .275 and finished third in doubles with 43.  Meadowbrook’s Dick Allen (.583) led the league in slugging while teammate Willie McCovey (.511) finished third.  Allen also finished 9th in the batting race with a .273 mark.  McCovey drove in 106 runs to finish 2nd while Allen drove home 88.  Allen and McCovey also finished 2-3 in homers in the league with 39 and 37 respectively.

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Brando Division:

Crimson led the league with 111 wins to notch its 8th division title in the 14 seasons of the league.  However, as has too often been the case, the Fire went out in the playoffs for the 6th time to bring a frustrating close to another glorious season.  Crimson led the league in batting with a team .247 average and were second in slugging.  However, they average 3.5 runs per game or little better than the league average.  They had far and away the best pitching as the team ERA was 1.99 and led the league with 31 shutouts.  Led by Denny McLain (28-7 1.04), Juan Marichal (22-8 1.90) and Blue Moon Odom (19-5 1.91), that trio accounted for 61.5% of the total innings pitched for Crimson in the season. 

 

The Alou brothers led the offense as Felipe (.318-8-82) won the batting crown and Matty (.287-0-41) was one of a trio of base stealer.  Lou Brock led the league with 81 thefts and Don Buford was 7th with 25.  The team total of 130 steals was second to Wild Card winner Lansing’s 132 but they led the league in highest rate of success at 76.9%.  The team punch was provided by Brooks Robinson (.255-22-75) and Norm Cash (.240-24-71).

 

Lansing took the Wild Card title with 91 wins, two better than division mate Mars Hill.  This marked the third trip to the post season for Lansing and the first since another Wild Card appearance in 1961.  Lansing was third in club batting and fourth in pitching and hit the second fewest homers in the league. 

 

Bob Gibson (20-10 1.27) was the rock of the rotation with help from lefties Woody Fryman (17-7 3.55) and Ken Holtzman (11-6 2.35).  The offense was a patchwork affair as Alex Johnson led the team in batting with a .315 mark, good enough to be second best in the league.  However, while he did hit 45 doubles to lead the league, he hit only two homers and drove in 67.  Ron Santo hit 25 homers and drove home 91 but batted .233.  Tony Oliva batted .259 with 15 homers but drove in only 52.  Leadoff batter Roy White was the most complete offensive player as he had 22 doubles, 10 triples, 20 homers, scored 98 runs and drove in 91 while stealing 25 bases.  He did hit .231.

 

Highlights from the rest of the division were Mars Hill’s Dave McNally with a 20-11 record and 1.51 ERA.  MH’s Luis Tiant was 14-12 with a 1.59 ERA.  Bill Freehan hit 30 homers and drove in 96 and Ken McMullen hit 23 and drove in 67.  For Providence Gaylord Perry (9-15) and Phil Niekro (9-9) led the team in wins while posting ERAs of 2.42 and 2.63 respectively.  Adolfo Phillips’ 16 homers and 60 RBI led the club. 

 

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Dean Division:

A charter member of 3RBL, West Deer has posted two winning seasons in the fourteen we have played.  In 1965 they won the Wild Card and in 1968 they unseated five-time division winner Surf City to take the crown with 89 wins.  Sixth in team pitching, tenth in team batting and eleventh in team fielding they were second in runs scored per game and led the league with 170 homers.

 

MVP Frank Howard was the key to the offense.  While his .250 average and 132 strikeouts were nothing to rave about, his league leading 54 homers and 112 RBI were.  1967 MVP Carl Yastrzemski saw his average plummet to .219 for the season but he did hit 26 homers and drove in 71 while scoring 94 times.  Developing star Reggie Jackson was an all or nothing proposition.  Reggie smacked 25 homers and drove in 66 runs but batted .191 and struck out 210 times in 607 at bats to set a league record he would likely prefer not to have.  Tony Perez (.273-16-71) was a rock at third base.

 

Fireman of the Year, Wilbur Wood, was the key to the pitching staff.  While posting a 6-12 record, Wood led the league with 39 Saves and posted a 1.65 ERA in 92 games and 131 innings.  Sam McDowell was the Ace with a 21-11 record and 2.23 ERA. 

 

Surf City was knocked from its 1967 title perch and finished six games behind.  Ken Harrelson led the fifth best offense with 35 homers and 96 RBI to go with a .251 average.  Harmon Killebrew muscled up for 28 homers and 70 RBI but hit only .205.  Cleon Jones had a steady season batting .258 with 19 homers and 64 RBI.  Joel Horlen (16-12 2.06) was the top starter and the ageless Hoyt Wilhelm (10-3-14 1.83) was the ace of the pen.

 

New York finished its first season with a 76-86 mark.  Led by Lee May, one of the few .300 hitters in the league, the first sacker batted .307 with 22 homers and 84 RBI.  Curt Flood (.272) was a solid centerfielder and Jimmy Wynn (.238-27-83) lived up to his “Toy Cannon” moniker.  Willie Mays (.213-22-54) is showing his age but still dangerous. 

 

A six-time division winner, Highland suffered through its third losing season since the league’s inception and did it in a big way with a 53-109 record.  Not much went right for a team that was 11th in team batting and 12th in team pitching.  Joe Torre was the overall best offensive player batting .271 with 11 homers and 60 RBI.  Henry Aaron suffered through his second successive sub-.250 batting season and finished with a .238 mark while hitting 28 homers and riving home 87.  Jim Kaat (11+14 2.97) and Lindy McDaniel (4-6-2 2.56) were the only sub-3.00 ERA pitchers in a season when the league posted a 2.89 mark.

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Post Season:

It was one of those upset seasons as the matchup of Crimson-Lansing and Philadelphia-West Deer appeared to be nothing but a preliminary to the Crimson-Philly matchup.  Crimson held a 15-7 season advantage over Lansing and all of the team statistical advantages.  However, Lansing’s Bob Gibson defeated Crimson’s Denny McLain 1-0 in the opener and 2-0 in the 4th game as Crimson attempted to tie the series.  Jim Perry then tossed a 2-1 win over Tommy John to complete the upset that featured only two times in the ten line scores did a team score more than 2 runs.

 

This Philadelphia advantage over West Deer was narrower as they posted a 7-5 mark against the Wanderers during the season.  Philadelphia won the opener and the teams traded wins until tied 2-2 in the series.  However, West Deer pulled out the 5th game 2-1 to return to Philadelphia with a 3-2 series lead.  The final game was a Battle Royale as the teams entered the 9th tied at two.  West Deer rallied for three runs in the top of the inning, but Philadelphia answered with three of their own to force extra innings.  However, West Deer pushed across the winning run in the top of the 12th on Tony Perez’ sac fly after Denis Menke had tripled.

 

Assured of a first-time champion, Lansing took the opener behind Bob Gibson, but West Deer reeled off three wins including a 6-1 win over Gibson in game #4.  However, Roy White opened the 5th game with a homer and Lansing would get only one more hit against Sam McDowell but the one run was enough for Jim Perry to force game 6 in West Deer.  Woody Fryman took the mound for Lansing against Denny Lemaster.  However, Lemaster was on and Fryman not as West Deer built a 7-0 lead through six innings and won 7-1 for their first championship.

 

This marks the 8th different franchise to win the league championship in the 14 seasons we have played.