1967-1968 Cuban National League

The 1967-1968 season was the seventh season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The seventh Serie Nacional saw a significant expansion of the series as it doubled in size to twelve teams and went to a 99-game schedule. La Habana under Coco Gómez won the championship, setting a record for wins with 74. On the other end of the table Pinar del Río, goes 12 - 85 – 2 (.124) to establish a record for most losses and lowest winning percentage.

In the month of January, four no-hitters were pitched in the span of three weeks. On January 7, two were thrown on the same day; the first by La Habana's Leopoldo Valdés against Pinar del Río and was followed by Jesús Pérez, pitching for Industriales versus Vegueros. Florentino González threw a no-no on April 4 to bring the season's total to five.

The increased season length saw a plethora of records being set. La Habana's Julio Rojo won eighteen games, Manuel Alarcón of the Mineros struck out 200, while Gaspar Pérez throws 212 2/3 innings and 18 complete games for Matanzas. Eulogio Osorio for La Habana has 129 hits, the first batter to record more than 100 base hits and Miguel Cuevas of Granjeros drives in 86 runs, a record not broken for thirty years. Las Villas's Juan Díaz steals 52 bases to lead the league, no player will post more thefts for another 25 years.

On January 18 Industriales' Raúl Reyes became the first hitter to belt three home runs in a single game, versus Azucareros. Two of his round-trippers were grand slams, a record never surpassed, and he had eleven runs batted in, a record not broken for twenty years.

Granjeros hurler Douglas Sorriba throws two no-hitters in the span of a January week. He first no-hits Henequeneros on January 9 in Bauta, La Habana and a week later on January 16 he no-hits Vegueros at Camagüey's Estadio Cándido González. He wins both decisions by a score of 4 to 1.

Standings

Bold indicates Serie Nacional champion

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
La Habana	99	74	25	0	0.747	-.-
Industriales	99	69	30	0	0.697	5.0
Azucareros	98	63	35	0	0.643	10.5
Mineros	99	61	38	0	0.616	13.0
Las Villas	99	57	41	1	0.582	16.5
Henequeneros	99	52	47	0	0.525	22.0
Granjeros	98	49	49	0	0.500	24.5
Oriente	99	48	51	0	0.485	26.0
Camagüey	99	37	62	0	0.374	37.0
Matanzas	99	36	63	0	0.364	38.0
Vegueros	99	33	65	1	0.337	40.5
Pinar del Río	99	12	85	2	0.124	61.0

Leaders

Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record

Batting

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average	José Pérez	Azucareros	.328	102 hits in 311 at-bats
Runs Scored	Antonio Jiménez	Industriales	72
Base Hits	Eulogio Osorio	La Habana	129
Doubles	Eulogio Osorio	La Habana	24
Triples	Fermín Laffita	Mineros	8
Home Runs	Felipe Sarduy	Granjeros	13
Runs Batted In	Miguel Cuevas	Granjeros	86
Base-on-Balls	Elpidio Mancebo	Mineros	87
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Fermín Laffita	Mineros	15
Hit-by-Pitch	Fermín Laffita Reinaldo Isasi	Mineros Matanzas	10
Strikeouts	Ramón Gómez	Henequeneros	75
Sacrifice Hit	Jorge Hernández	Camagüey	13
Sacrifice Fly	Miguel Cuevas	Granjeros	11
Stolen Bases	Juan Díaz	Las Villas	52

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Julio Rojo	La Habana	18
Win-Loss Percentage	Modesto Verdura	Las Villas	1.000	11 - 0
Earned Run Average	Braudilio Vinent	Mineros	1.03	14 ER in 122.1 IP
Innings Pitched	Gaspar Pérez	Matanzas	212.2
Games Pitched	Raúl López	Industriales	41
Games Started	Walfrido Ruiz Carlos Gálvez	Industriales Las Villas	26
Games Relieved	Raúl López	Industriales	41
Complete Games	Gaspar Pérez	Matanzas	18
Shutouts	Santiago Mederos Carlos Gálvez	Industriales Las Villas	8
Hits Allowed	Gaspar Pérez	Matanzas	164
Strikeouts	Manuel Alarcón	Mineros	200
Base-on-Balls	Emilio Salgado	Vegueros	111
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Lázaro Santana	Granjeros	13
Hit Batters	Gaspar Pérez	Matanzas	14

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Eulogio Osorio a outfielder with La Habana. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Manuel Alarcón of Mineros. Rodolfo Puente of La Habana was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

All-Star Series

The first All-Star Series was scheduled after the Serie Nacional season was completed. It featured two teams playing a 9-game series. Orientales, managed by Pedro Jiménez, defeated Occidentales, 5 to 3 with 1 tie.

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .357 - Pedro Chávez, Occidentales
• Base Hits: 10 - Pedro Chávez, Occidentales; Felipe Sarduy, Orientales; Eulogio Osorio, Occidentales
• Runs Scored: 7 - Felipe Sarduy, Orientales
• Doubles: 3 - Eulogio Osorio, Occidentales; Elpidio Mancebo, Orientales
• Triples: 2 - Felipe Sarduy, Orientales
• Home Runs: 2 - Felipe Sarduy, Orientales
• Stolen Bases: 2 - Felipe Sarduy, Orientales

Pitching

• Complete Games: 2 - José Huelga, Orientales; Manuel Alarcón, Orientales
• Wins: 2 - José Huelga, Orientales
• Innings Pitched: 38.1 - José Huelga, Orientales
• Strikeouts: 21 - José Huelga, Orientales
• Base-on-Balls: 15 - José Huelga, Orientales
• Earned Run Average: 0.36 - Andrés Liaño, Occidentales

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1968 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la VII serie 1968 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (November 18, 2005). "Guía Digital 2005-06". Guía Oficial de Béisbol 2005 (Digital). Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• Peter C. Bjarkman. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. : McFarland, 2007. ISBN 0786428295