1968 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home List of Articles

1968 Season

The 1968 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

Next in my continuing series of looking at individual seasons through the prism of Player won-lost records is the year I was born: 1968, also known as the Year of the Pitcher. Denny McLain won 31 games, Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA, Carl Yastrzemski won a batting title by hitting .301. And the last season before expansion, divisions, and multiple playoff rounds.

How does the 1968 season look through the prism of Player won-lost records?

The Best of 1968

I calculate Player won-lost records two ways: pWins, which tie to team wins and eWins, which control for context and the ability of one's teammates. For players with more pWins than eWins, their Player wins contributed to more team wins than one might expect; for players with more eWins than pWins, just the opposite is true: their Player wins translated into fewer team wins than expected. Or more briefly: a player with more pWins than eWins was better in context, a player with more eWins than pWins was worse in context.

The top 10 players in pWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.


		pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Bob Gibson	21.7	14.3	8.3	10.2	1	Bob Gibson	21.7	14.3	8.3	10.2
2	Denny McLain	22.9	15.7	8.2	10.1	2	Denny McLain	22.9	15.7	8.2	10.1
3	Carl Yastrzemski	26.0	16.8	7.5	9.6	3	Carl Yastrzemski	26.0	16.8	7.5	9.6
4	Luis Tiant Jr.	18.9	12.6	7.3	9.0	4	Luis Tiant Jr.	18.9	12.6	7.3	9.0
5	Jim Northrup	23.9	15.9	6.8	8.8	5	Jim Northrup	23.9	15.9	6.8	8.8
6	Dave McNally	19.2	13.7	6.4	8.1	6	Hank Aaron	27.7	20.1	5.9	8.3
7	Bill Freehan	19.3	13.1	6.3	8.0	7	Dick Allen	25.4	17.8	6.1	8.3
8	Willie Horton	22.4	14.6	6.3	8.2	8	Willie Mays	24.1	16.8	6.2	8.2
9	Willie Mays	24.1	16.8	6.2	8.2	9	Willie Horton	22.4	14.6	6.3	8.2
10	Dick Allen	25.4	17.8	6.1	8.3	10	Dave McNally	19.2	13.7	6.4	8.1

The top 10 players in eWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.


		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Bob Gibson	21.3	14.7	7.8	9.6	1	Bob Gibson	21.3	14.7	7.8	9.6
2	Carl Yastrzemski	25.7	17.0	7.0	9.1	2	Carl Yastrzemski	25.7	17.0	7.0	9.1
3	Luis Tiant Jr.	18.0	13.5	5.8	7.5	3	Luis Tiant Jr.	18.0	13.5	5.8	7.5
4	Willie McCovey	21.4	14.5	5.4	7.2	4	Willie Mays	23.6	17.3	5.2	7.3
5	Willie Mays	23.6	17.3	5.2	7.3	5	Willie McCovey	21.4	14.5	5.4	7.2
6	Bill Freehan	18.8	13.6	5.2	6.9	6	Jimmy Wynn	25.0	18.7	5.0	7.2
7	Jimmy Wynn	25.0	18.7	5.0	7.2	7	Bill Freehan	18.8	13.6	5.2	6.9
8	Felipe Alou	25.3	19.3	4.5	6.7	8	Hank Aaron	26.9	21.0	4.4	6.8
9	Hank Aaron	26.9	21.0	4.4	6.8	9	Felipe Alou	25.3	19.3	4.5	6.7
10	Ron Santo	23.4	18.9	4.3	6.4	10	Ron Santo	23.4	18.9	4.3	6.4

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 1968 at the end of this article.

1968 World Series

The 1968 season was the last year when the World Series was the only postseason game in town. It featured the third World Series appearance in five seasons by the St. Louis Cardinals, who faced off against the Detroit Tigers in a classic seven-game series.

The top performers in the 1968 World Series, as measured by Player won-lost records, are shown in the next table.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	1968 World Series

Mickey Lolich	DET	2.1	1.0	1.0
Tim McCarver	SLN	1.5	0.4	1.0
Al Kaline	DET	1.3	0.5	0.8
Bob Gibson	SLN	1.7	1.0	0.7
Willie Horton	DET	1.3	1.0	0.3

Best of 1968 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in various aspects of the game.

Best by Factor: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, Fielding

There are four basic factors for which players earn Player won-lost records: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding. The top players in 1968 in wins over positional average (WOPA) by factor were as follows.


Batting
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Willie McCovey	18.4	11.2	6.8	1	Dick Allen	18.1	9.3	8.5
2	Carl Yastrzemski	15.9	9.6	5.9	2	Willie Mays	17.4	10.0	7.0
3	Frank Howard	17.1	10.8	5.8	3	Willie McCovey	18.4	11.1	6.9
4	Jimmy Wynn	16.4	10.5	5.5	4	Hank Aaron	19.5	12.2	6.8
5	Ken Harrelson	17.5	11.6	5.5	5	Willie Horton	16.1	9.0	6.8
6	Dick Allen	16.6	10.8	5.4	6	Ken Harrelson	18.0	11.0	6.6
7	Willie Mays	16.6	10.8	5.4	7	Bill Freehan	16.0	9.7	5.9
8	Willie Horton	15.1	9.9	4.8	8	Carl Yastrzemski	15.8	9.7	5.7
9	Hank Aaron	18.4	13.3	4.7	9	Billy Williams	18.5	12.6	5.4
10	Bill Freehan	15.2	10.5	4.3	10	John 'Boog' Powell	17.6	11.9	5.2

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Lou Brock	3.2	1.9	1.2	1	Lou Brock	3.3	1.8	1.4
2	Carl Yastrzemski	2.1	1.1	1.0	2	Carl Yastrzemski	2.2	1.0	1.2
3	Cesar Tovar	2.9	2.0	0.9	3	Bert Campaneris	3.9	2.8	1.0
4	Bert Campaneris	3.8	2.8	0.8	4	Ken McMullen	1.8	0.9	0.9
5	Willie Davis	2.1	1.3	0.7	5	Willie Davis	2.1	1.3	0.8
6	Don Buford	1.9	1.2	0.7	6	Alex Johnson	2.1	1.4	0.7
7	Luis Aparicio	2.0	1.3	0.7	7	Curt Flood	1.7	1.0	0.6
8	Mark Belanger	1.4	0.7	0.6	8	Bobby Bonds	1.6	1.0	0.6
9	Jose Cardenal	2.4	1.8	0.5	9	Jim Northrup	1.5	0.9	0.6
10	Maury Wills	2.7	2.1	0.5	10	Dal Maxvill	1.1	0.6	0.6

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Bob Gibson	18.7	13.3	5.4	1	Bob Gibson	19.9	12.1	7.7
2	Luis Tiant Jr.	16.6	11.4	5.1	2	Luis Tiant Jr.	17.8	10.2	7.6
3	Dean Chance	16.5	13.4	3.0	3	Denny McLain	20.6	13.4	7.2
4	Gaylord Perry	14.8	11.9	3.0	4	Dave McNally	17.3	11.7	5.6
5	Sam McDowell	16.9	14.0	3.0	5	Ray Culp	14.2	9.6	4.7
6	Denny McLain	18.4	15.6	2.8	6	Stan Bahnsen	16.0	11.6	4.4
7	Tom Seaver	15.1	12.3	2.8	7	Juan Marichal	17.5	13.2	4.3
8	Dave McNally	15.8	13.2	2.6	8	Sam McDowell	17.3	13.7	3.6
9	Fergie Jenkins	17.9	15.7	2.2	9	Mel Stottlemyre Sr.	17.2	13.7	3.6
10	Wilbur Wood	9.2	7.3	1.9	10	Fergie Jenkins	18.4	15.1	3.2

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Dooley Womack	0.5	0.2	0.4	1	Tommy John	0.6	0.2	0.4
2	Denny McLain	0.6	0.3	0.3	2	Denny McLain	0.6	0.2	0.4
3	Tommy John	0.5	0.2	0.3	3	Bob Gibson	0.6	0.2	0.4
4	Jerry Koosman	0.5	0.2	0.3	4	Camilo Pascual	0.6	0.2	0.3
5	Juan Pizarro	0.3	0.1	0.2	5	Jim Merritt	0.5	0.2	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Jim French	1.3	0.8	0.5	1	Frank Fernandez	1.0	0.5	0.6
2	Jerry May	2.1	1.8	0.3	2	Tim McCarver	1.5	1.0	0.5
3	Frank Fernandez	0.9	0.6	0.3	3	Joe Azcue	1.5	1.0	0.5
4	Mike J. Ryan	1.3	1.0	0.3	4	Tom Haller	2.1	1.7	0.4
5	Joe Torre	1.3	1.1	0.3	5	Jim French	1.2	0.9	0.4


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Tony Horton	2.2	1.8	0.5	1	John 'Boog' Powell	2.6	2.1	0.5
2	Tommie Aaron	0.6	0.2	0.4	2	Tommie Aaron	0.6	0.2	0.4
3	John 'Boog' Powell	2.5	2.2	0.4	3	Orlando Cepeda	2.6	2.2	0.4
4	Donn Clendenon	3.2	2.9	0.3	4	Donn Clendenon	3.2	2.8	0.3
5	Chuck Hinton	0.8	0.5	0.3	5	Ramon Webster	1.0	0.7	0.3


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Felix Millan	6.3	5.2	1.1	1	Bobby Knoop	5.6	4.6	0.9
2	Bobby Knoop	5.5	4.7	0.9	2	Horace Clarke	6.2	5.2	0.9
3	Davey Johnson	4.6	3.9	0.7	3	John D. Donaldson	3.5	2.8	0.7
4	Glenn Beckert	6.5	6.0	0.5	4	Ken Boswell	2.9	2.1	0.7
5	Bill Mazeroski	6.1	5.6	0.5	5	Tommy Helms	5.2	4.5	0.7


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Brooks Robinson	5.2	3.9	1.3	1	Brooks Robinson	5.5	3.6	1.9
2	Ron Santo	5.5	4.7	0.8	2	Ron Santo	5.9	4.3	1.6
3	Don Wert	4.4	3.9	0.6	3	Don Wert	4.7	3.6	1.1
4	Maury Wills	4.5	4.0	0.5	4	Clete Boyer	2.7	1.7	1.0
5	Ed Charles	3.4	3.0	0.5	5	Maury Wills	4.7	3.9	0.8


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Mark Belanger	6.2	5.2	1.0	1	Mark Belanger	6.5	4.9	1.6
2	Don Kessinger	8.3	7.3	1.0	2	Gene Alley	5.5	4.2	1.2
3	Hal Lanier	7.1	6.3	0.7	3	Rico Petrocelli	5.2	4.2	1.0
4	Gene Alley	5.2	4.5	0.7	4	Hal Lanier	7.2	6.2	0.9
5	Luis Aparicio	7.5	6.9	0.6	5	Leo Cardenas	5.8	4.9	0.9


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Lou Brock	7.4	6.2	1.3	1	Carl Yastrzemski	7.9	6.0	2.0
2	Carl Yastrzemski	7.4	6.5	0.9	2	Lou Brock	7.3	6.3	0.9
3	Roy White	6.6	5.9	0.8	3	Roy White	6.7	5.8	0.9
4	Willie Crawford	2.5	2.0	0.5	4	Willie Crawford	2.7	1.8	0.8
5	Mike Lum	2.4	2.0	0.4	5	Jimmy Wynn	2.9	2.1	0.8


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Mickey Stanley	4.8	3.6	1.2	1	Mickey Stanley	5.0	3.3	1.7
2	Felipe Alou	7.1	6.1	0.9	2	Cesar Tovar	2.2	1.0	1.2
3	Paul Blair	4.2	3.3	0.8	3	Paul Blair	4.2	3.3	0.8
4	Cesar Tovar	1.8	1.3	0.5	4	Curt Flood	5.9	5.3	0.6
5	Ken Berry	6.0	5.6	0.4	5	Ken Berry	6.1	5.6	0.5


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Tony Oliva	5.6	4.5	1.1	1	Jim Northrup	4.7	3.1	1.6
2	Reggie Jackson	6.0	5.1	1.0	2	Roger Maris	4.6	3.4	1.2
3	Ron Fairly	4.4	3.7	0.7	3	Ron Fairly	4.6	3.5	1.1
4	Jim Northrup	4.2	3.5	0.7	4	Reggie Jackson	6.1	5.0	1.1
5	Johnny Callison	5.1	4.7	0.4	5	Tony Oliva	5.5	4.5	1.0

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1968 Major-League leaders by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position.


Catcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Bill Freehan	15.7	11.5	4.6	1	Bill Freehan	16.1	11.1	5.3
2	Tom Haller	13.0	11.5	1.9	2	Joe Torre	11.2	8.7	2.8
3	Joe Torre	10.7	9.2	1.8	3	Joe Azcue	9.8	8.0	2.1
4	Johnny Bench	14.8	13.7	1.6	4	Johnny Bench	15.1	13.5	2.1
5	Joe Azcue	9.4	8.4	1.4	5	Tim McCarver	11.0	9.6	1.7


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Willie McCovey	21.4	14.5	5.1	1	Willie McCovey	21.5	14.3	5.4
2	Frank Howard	9.0	5.5	2.9	2	John 'Boog' Powell	21.0	15.4	3.6
3	Ken Harrelson	3.6	1.8	1.5	3	Frank Howard	9.3	5.2	3.5
4	Mickey Mantle	13.4	10.7	1.4	4	Mickey Mantle	13.6	10.5	1.8
5	John 'Boog' Powell	19.8	16.5	1.1	5	Hank Aaron	2.5	1.0	1.4


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Dick McAuliffe	19.3	16.3	3.6	1	Dick McAuliffe	19.4	16.2	3.9
2	Mike Andrews	18.6	16.8	2.4	2	Mike Andrews	19.0	16.4	3.2
3	Ron Hunt	18.7	17.2	2.1	3	Ron Hunt	19.0	16.9	2.7
4	Davey Johnson	14.6	13.3	1.8	4	Julian Javier	16.3	14.2	2.6
5	Bobby Knoop	16.2	15.0	1.7	5	Glenn Beckert	21.3	19.7	2.4


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Ron Santo	23.3	18.9	4.1	1	Ron Santo	24.1	18.1	5.6
2	Brooks Robinson	21.0	17.4	3.2	2	Brooks Robinson	21.8	16.6	4.8
3	Ken McMullen	18.9	15.9	2.7	3	Mike Shannon	21.3	16.2	4.8
4	Tony Perez	20.9	18.1	2.5	4	Joe Foy	18.6	15.8	2.5
5	Mike Shannon	19.9	17.6	2.0	5	Ken McMullen	18.7	16.1	2.2


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Bert Campaneris	22.3	20.8	3.4	1	Bert Campaneris	22.5	20.6	3.6
2	Jim Fregosi	22.1	21.8	2.2	2	Tom Tresh	17.2	15.7	2.7
3	Dal Maxvill	16.1	15.2	2.0	3	Dal Maxvill	16.4	14.9	2.6
4	Luis Aparicio	20.8	20.6	2.0	4	Gene Alley	13.0	11.9	2.1
5	Rico Petrocelli	13.1	12.5	1.6	5	Rico Petrocelli	13.2	12.3	1.9


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Carl Yastrzemski	24.8	17.0	6.2	1	Carl Yastrzemski	25.4	17.0	7.4
2	Dick Allen	22.1	17.0	3.4	2	Willie Horton	21.9	15.7	5.9
3	Willie Horton	20.6	15.7	3.2	3	Dick Allen	23.1	17.0	5.5
4	Lou Brock	24.7	20.0	2.4	4	Lou Brock	25.7	20.0	4.6
5	Billy Williams	18.4	14.9	1.8	5	Billy Williams	19.6	14.9	4.3


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Willie Mays	22.9	17.0	4.7	1	Willie Mays	23.6	16.3	6.1
2	Felipe Alou	24.9	19.6	3.9	2	Jimmy Wynn	15.5	11.1	3.7
3	Jimmy Wynn	15.5	11.1	3.7	3	Mickey Stanley	18.1	13.5	3.5
4	Cesar Tovar	6.3	4.3	1.6	4	Felipe Alou	24.6	19.9	3.3
5	Don Buford	6.0	4.2	1.5	5	Curt Flood	21.4	17.6	2.5


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Hank Aaron	24.5	19.7	3.2	1	Hank Aaron	25.2	19.1	4.6
2	Reggie Jackson	20.8	16.5	3.0	2	Jim Northrup	15.3	10.1	4.4
3	Tony Oliva	19.1	15.1	2.8	3	Ken Harrelson	21.5	16.7	3.5
4	Roberto Clemente	20.3	16.6	2.5	4	Tony Oliva	19.2	15.0	2.9
5	Ken Harrelson	20.8	17.4	2.1	5	Roger Maris	12.3	9.4	2.2


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Bob Gibson	19.2	13.6	5.6	1	Bob Gibson	20.4	12.4	8.1
2	Luis Tiant Jr.	16.6	11.2	5.4	2	Luis Tiant Jr.	17.9	9.9	7.9
3	Denny McLain	18.9	15.9	3.1	3	Denny McLain	21.2	13.6	7.6
4	Gaylord Perry	15.1	12.1	3.0	4	Dave McNally	17.5	11.8	5.7
5	Dean Chance	16.9	14.0	2.9	5	Ray Culp	14.4	9.8	4.6
6	Tom Seaver	15.5	12.6	2.9	6	Stan Bahnsen	16.1	11.6	4.5
7	Sam McDowell	17.3	14.6	2.7	7	Juan Marichal	18.2	13.8	4.4
8	Dave McNally	16.0	13.3	2.7	8	Mel Stottlemyre Sr.	17.9	14.1	3.8
9	Fergie Jenkins	18.4	16.0	2.3	9	Fergie Jenkins	18.9	15.4	3.4
10	Juan Marichal	17.0	15.1	1.9	10	Sam McDowell	17.6	14.3	3.3


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Wilbur Wood	8.8	7.2	1.6	1	Vicente Romo	4.4	2.2	2.1
2	Hoyt Wilhelm	4.3	3.1	1.3	2	Jim Brewer	5.3	3.2	2.1
3	Vicente Romo	3.9	2.7	1.2	3	Wilbur Wood	8.9	7.0	1.9
4	Clay Carroll	6.3	5.1	1.2	4	Phil Regan	8.4	6.6	1.8
5	Bob Locker	4.5	3.5	1.0	5	Joe Hoerner	3.7	2.1	1.6
6	Frank Linzy	5.3	4.4	1.0	6	Ron Kline	5.4	3.8	1.5
7	Steve Hamilton	2.5	1.7	0.9	7	Steve Hamilton	2.9	1.3	1.5
8	Moe Drabowsky	3.5	2.6	0.9	8	Lindy McDaniel	4.0	2.7	1.4
9	Ron Kline	5.0	4.2	0.9	9	Daryl Patterson	3.5	2.1	1.3
10	Don McMahon	3.4	2.5	0.9	10	Stan Williams	2.4	1.1	1.3

Finally, here are the best at three oft-forgotten positions that can nevertheless matter: pitcher offense, pinch hitting, and pinch running.


Pitcher Offense
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Earl Wilson	2.6	1.9	1.6	1	Earl Wilson	3.1	1.5	2.3
2	Catfish Hunter	1.6	1.7	0.7	2	Stan Williams	1.8	1.2	1.2
3	Rick Wise	1.3	1.3	0.7	3	Gary Nolan	1.6	1.0	1.1


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Gates Brown	2.4	0.9	1.5	1	Gates Brown	2.2	1.1	1.2
2	Ed Charles	1.2	0.4	0.8	2	Lou Johnson	1.0	0.2	0.8
3	Mike Hershberger	1.1	0.4	0.7	3	Mike Hershberger	1.1	0.4	0.8


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Dave Nelson	0.5	0.2	0.3	1	Dave Nelson	0.5	0.2	0.3
2	Jose Cardenal	0.2	0.0	0.2	2	Jose Cardenal	0.2	0.0	0.2
3	Allan Lewis	0.5	0.4	0.1	3	Al McBean	0.2	0.0	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 1968

Year of the Pitcher

To most baseball fans, 1968 is probably most famous as the "Year of the Pitcher". The ERA for the American League as a whole in 1968 was 2.98. The AL league batting average was .230 and Carl Yastrzemski won the batting title with a .301 batting average.

Things were a bit less dramatic in the National League - league ERA of 3.43, league batting average of .243, Pete Rose won the batting title with a fairly reasonable-looking .335 batting average. Except, of course, when Bob Gibson was pitching and putting up a 1.12 ERA over 304.2 innings pitched.

I wrote an earlier article which compared the 1968 AL to the 2000 AL, looking at how the overall run environment of a league affects the win value of various events. That article can be found here. The key results from that article, net win values for various offensive events, are presented next, just to give a general sense of how different 1968 was from both average and, especially, from the more recent "sillyball" era with which many of you might be more familiar.

	Net Offensive Wins
	Runs/Game	HR	T	D	S/ROE	W/HBP	IW	Out
1916 - 2019	4.69	0.1419	0.0808	0.0605	0.0365	0.0303	0.0077	-0.0233
1968 AL	3.41	0.1707	0.0974	0.0734	0.0423	0.0323	0.0050	-0.0232
2000 AL	5.31	0.1253	0.0699	0.0511	0.0352	0.0300	0.0084	-0.0245

Year of the Pitchers: Bob Gibson and Denny McLain

The Year of the Pitcher saw pitchers win the MVP award in both leagues for the first (and, so far, last) time since 1924. Both of the MVP winners had eye-popping traditional stats: 31 pitcher wins for Denny McLain, 1.12 ERA for Bob Gibson.

Looking at pWOPA and pWORL, it looks like the MVP voters got it right. The next table compares Bob Gibson and Denny McLain in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Bob Gibson	35	21.7	14.3	0.604	8.3	10.2	21.3	14.7	0.592	7.8	9.6
Denny McLain	43	22.9	15.7	0.593	8.2	10.1	20.5	18.1	0.531	3.8	5.8

A 1.12 ERA looks good in or out of context. And, sure enough, Gibson crushes McLain in (context-neutral) eWins over either positional average or replacement level.

I've always been surprised, though, at Bob Gibson's (traditional) won-lost record, 22-9. How do you lose 9 games when you're only giving up 1 run a game? Okay, two of them were 1-0 losses, one was a 2-0 loss, and he lost three more games where he only gave up 3 runs (3-1 and two 3-2's). And the 1.12 ERA is a bit misleading. He allowed 11 unearned runs: his RA was 1.45 (which is still pretty damn outstanding, obviously). But still, somehow the Cardinals lost 10 games that Gibson started (he left one game with the Cardinals trailing 5-4 in the 11th inning; the Cardinals came back to tie the game in the 11th only to go on to lose 6-5 in 13).

Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers went 33-8 in McLain's starts. Part of that was that the Tigers were a somewhat better team offensively than the Cardinals, so McLain got very good run support (5.23 runs per 27 outs in McLain starts, which is remarkable for 1968). But the Tigers also went 9-4 in one-run games started by McLain with McLain going 7-2 in such games. Whether it was good clutch pitching, pitching to the score, or sheer dumb luck, it resulted in real victories for the Tigers. Whether repeatable or predictable or not, it resulted in real value and in an accounting system such as pWins, where all value is credited to the players on the field when it accrues, that translated into a lot of pWins for Denny McLain in 1968.

Bill Freehan

According to MVP voters, the the best American League non-pitcher in the Year of the Pitcher was Denny McLain's battery mate: Bill Freehan. Bill Freehan made 11 All-Star teams, which I believe gives him the most All-Star appearances for any player who retired before 2000 and is eligible for the Hall of Fame who has not been elected to the Hall of Fame. He was, however, elected to the Hall of Merit in his 4th year of eligibility.

The 1968 season was arguably Freehan's best but he was the best catcher in the American League by Player won-lost records at least four times between 1964 and 1971.

The next table presents Bill Freehan's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Bill Freehan Basic Player Won-Lost Records
										Value Decomposition
1961	DET	19	4	0.5	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.1	0.1
1963	DET	21	98	6.7	7.6	-1.0	-0.3	7.4	7.0	0.3	1.0
1964	DET	22	144	14.0	12.8	1.5	2.8	14.7	12.1	2.9	4.2
1965	DET	23	130	12.0	11.5	1.2	2.3	11.6	12.0	0.3	1.5
1966	DET	24	136	11.5	11.2	0.6	1.6	11.2	11.5	-0.0	1.0
1967	DET	25	155	16.8	13.3	4.3	5.7	17.5	12.6	5.6	7.1
1968	DET	26	155	19.3	13.1	6.3	8.0	18.8	13.6	5.2	6.9
1969	DET	27	143	11.7	11.8	0.2	1.4	12.3	11.2	1.4	2.6
1970	DET	28	115	9.9	9.3	0.7	1.7	9.6	9.7	0.1	1.0
1971	DET	29	148	13.9	12.2	1.9	3.1	14.0	12.1	2.1	3.3
1972	DET	30	111	12.8	10.1	2.9	4.0	12.6	10.3	2.4	3.6
1973	DET	31	110	8.7	10.3	-1.1	-0.1	9.3	9.8	-0.0	0.9
1974	DET	32	130	13.8	12.5	1.1	2.3	14.3	12.0	2.0	3.3
1975	DET	33	120	10.6	11.6	-0.7	0.3	11.1	11.1	0.2	1.3
1976	DET	34	71	5.0	6.4	-1.1	-0.5	5.6	5.8	0.1	0.7
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,770	167.2	154.1	16.9	32.7	170.2	151.1	22.7	38.5
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			10	1.2	1.1		0.2	1.1	1.2		0.0
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			1,780	168.4	155.2		33.0	171.3	152.3		38.6

Notable Debuts

The 1968 season saw the major-league debut of two players who have been elected to the Hall of Fame: Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons.

Fingers is most remembered as a mustachioed member of the Oakland A's and Simmon's best years were as a St. Louis Cardinal. But Fingers and Simmons ended up spending five years together as teammates with the Milwaukee Brewers, helping them to their only World Series appearance in 1982.

Rollie Fingers's and Ted Simmons's career records, as measured by Player won-lost records, are presented in the table below.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Rollie Fingers						Ted Simmons
1968	1	0.0	0.1	0.173	-0.0	-0.0	2	0.1	0.0	0.764	0.1	0.1
1969	60	6.7	7.9	0.459	-1.0	0.3	5	0.5	0.4	0.595	0.2	0.2
1970	45	8.7	8.7	0.501	0.5	1.7	82	6.1	7.0	0.468	-0.8	-0.1
1971	48	7.0	7.0	0.502	0.3	1.4	133	13.9	11.9	0.539	2.2	3.5
1972	65	7.9	5.0	0.611	3.1	4.4	152	17.4	16.5	0.512	0.9	2.5
1973	62	8.0	5.9	0.574	2.1	3.5	161	19.3	17.1	0.530	2.5	4.3
1974	76	8.6	5.7	0.603	2.9	4.3	152	17.7	15.6	0.532	2.4	3.9
1975	76	9.1	5.6	0.619	3.4	4.9	157	18.1	15.3	0.542	2.9	4.4
1976	70	9.2	8.3	0.524	0.8	2.4	150	15.1	15.3	0.495	-0.3	1.2
1977	78	9.1	7.7	0.542	1.3	2.9	150	17.7	13.9	0.559	3.4	5.0
1978	67	9.2	6.7	0.578	2.7	4.1	152	16.7	15.9	0.511	0.7	2.3
1979	54	5.0	7.8	0.390	-2.8	-1.6	123	14.5	10.9	0.571	3.7	4.9
1980	66	7.5	6.6	0.533	0.8	2.2	145	16.9	15.0	0.529	2.0	3.5
1981	47	7.1	3.7	0.658	3.3	4.3	100	10.0	9.2	0.522	1.2	2.3
1982	50	7.9	3.9	0.667	3.5	4.6	137	13.8	12.6	0.523	1.7	2.9
1983							153	16.2	14.0	0.536	2.3	3.9
1984	33	5.0	2.5	0.665	2.3	3.0	132	10.1	13.0	0.436	-3.6	-2.3
1985	47	4.3	4.5	0.487	-0.3	0.6	143	12.3	13.6	0.473	-1.7	-0.2
1986							76	4.3	4.9	0.466	-0.7	-0.2
1987							73	5.1	5.0	0.505	-0.0	0.5
1988							78	2.7	4.4	0.382	-1.6	-1.2
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	945	120.3	97.7	0.552	23.0	43.0	2,456	248.5	231.7	0.517	17.6	41.6

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 1968 was the final season for two of the greatest players of the 1950s (and ever): Mickey Mantle and Eddie Mathews.

Mantle and Mathews played against each other in back-to-back classic 7-game World Series in 1957 and 1958.

The career records of Mickey Mantle and Eddie Mathews, as measured by Player won-lost records, are shown in the table below. Their performances in the 1957 and 1958 World Series are shown in the final row.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Mickey Mantle						Eddie Mathews
1951	96	13.0	8.9	0.593	3.8	5.0
1952	142	22.6	14.6	0.608	7.4	9.4	145	16.4	16.4	0.501	-0.3	1.5
1953	127	20.4	13.1	0.609	6.6	8.5	157	24.5	16.4	0.599	7.0	9.4
1954	145	24.2	14.9	0.619	8.1	10.4	138	20.6	13.8	0.598	5.8	7.8
1955	147	24.6	13.9	0.639	9.7	11.7	141	20.7	13.9	0.599	6.3	8.1
1956	150	25.2	14.7	0.631	9.5	11.6	151	20.3	15.5	0.568	4.4	6.3
1957	144	24.8	12.6	0.663	11.4	13.3	147	20.7	14.7	0.584	5.8	7.6
1958	150	23.1	15.7	0.595	6.2	8.1	149	21.7	15.7	0.580	5.8	7.6
1959	144	20.3	14.8	0.578	4.5	6.1	148	22.9	15.9	0.590	6.1	7.9
1960	153	23.5	13.3	0.639	9.2	11.1	153	22.4	14.8	0.603	7.1	9.0
1961	153	26.0	14.6	0.641	10.5	12.7	152	19.4	14.9	0.566	4.3	6.2
1962	123	19.9	11.2	0.641	8.1	9.7	152	20.1	15.4	0.565	4.4	6.2
1963	65	9.0	4.8	0.652	4.0	4.6	158	22.6	16.7	0.575	5.3	7.1
1964	143	21.2	13.5	0.611	7.0	8.7	141	18.0	13.5	0.571	4.0	5.5
1965	122	13.6	12.9	0.513	-0.3	1.0	156	19.8	15.6	0.560	3.5	5.3
1966	108	12.6	11.2	0.530	0.7	1.8	134	14.8	12.8	0.537	1.4	2.7
1967	144	15.8	11.9	0.571	2.6	4.0	137	14.5	13.8	0.512	-0.6	0.8
1968	144	14.3	10.9	0.568	2.2	3.5	30	1.2	1.3	0.480	-0.1	0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,400	354.1	227.5	0.609	111.1	141.3	2,389	320.7	240.9	0.571	70.1	99.0

Article last updated: October 13, 2020

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 1968 season. Positional averages for starting pitching and relief pitching are calculated using single-year data for all starting pitchers and all relief pitchers.

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

Home List of Articles