1968 American League

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The 1968 season of the American League was the sixty-eighth season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	Detroit Tigers	164	103	59	2	.628	-.-	671 (4.09)	492 (3.00)	0.235	0.302	0.385	2.71	0.984
2	Baltimore Orioles	162	91	71	0	.562	12.0	579 (3.57)	497 (3.07)	0.225	0.301	0.352	2.66	0.981
3	Cleveland Indians	162	86	75	1	.531	16.5	516 (3.19)	504 (3.11)	0.234	0.290	0.327	2.66	0.979
4	Boston Red Sox	162	86	76	0	.531	17.0	614 (3.79)	611 (3.77)	0.236	0.312	0.352	3.33	0.979
5	New York Yankees	164	83	79	2	.506	20.0	536 (3.27)	531 (3.24)	0.214	0.290	0.318	2.79	0.979
6	Oakland Athletics	163	82	80	1	.503	21.0	569 (3.49)	544 (3.34)	0.240	0.301	0.343	2.94	0.976
7	Minnesota Twins	162	79	83	0	.488	24.0	562 (3.47)	546 (3.37)	0.237	0.295	0.350	2.89	0.973
8	California Angels	162	67	95	0	.414	36.0	498 (3.07)	615 (3.80)	0.227	0.287	0.318	3.43	0.977
9	Chicago White Sox	162	67	95	0	.414	30.0	463 (2.86)	527 (3.25)	0.228	0.281	0.311	2.75	0.977
10	Washington Senators	161	65	96	0	.404	37.5	524 (3.25)	665 (4.13)	0.224	0.284	0.336	3.64	0.976

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Sal Bando Brooks Robinson	Oakland Athletics Baltimore Orioles	162
At Bats	Bert Campaneris	Oakland Athletics	642
Runs Scored	Dick McAuliffe	Detroit Tigers	95
Hits	Bert Campaneris	Oakland Athletics	177
Doubles	Reggie Smith	Boston Red Sox	37
Triples	Jim Fregosi	California Angels	13
Home Runs	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	44
Total Bases	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	330
Runs Batted In	Ken Harrelson	Boston Red Sox	109
Stolen Bases	Bert Campaneris	Oakland Athletics	62
Caught Stealing	Bert Campaneris	Oakland Athletics	22
Walks	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	119
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins	16
Hit by Pitch	Bill Freehan	Detroit Tigers	24
Strikeouts	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	171
Sacrifice Hits	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	16
Sacrifice Flies	Curt Blefary Roger Repoz Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles California Angels Baltimore Orioles	8
Grounded into Double Plays	Mickey Stanley	Detroit Tigers	22
Batting Average	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	0.301
On-Base Percentage	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	0.426
Slugging Percentage	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	0.552
On-Base plus Slugging	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	0.921
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	171

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	31
Losses	George Brunet	California Angels	17
Win-Loss Percentage	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	0.838
Appearances	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	88
Games Started	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	41
Complete Games	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	28
Shutouts	Luis Tiant	Cleveland Indians	9
Games Finished	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	46
Saves	Al Worthington	Minnesota Twins	18
Innings Pitched	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	336.0
Batters Faced	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	1288
Hits Allowed	Mel Stottlemyre	New York Yankees	243
Home Runs Allowed	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	31
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Sam McDowell	Cleveland Indians	110
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Bob Locker	Chicago White Sox	13
Hit Batsmen	Joe Horlen	Chicago White Sox	14
Strikeouts	Sam McDowell	Cleveland Indians	283
Wild Pitches	Frank Bertaina Blue Moon Odom	Washington Senators Oakland Athletics	17
Balks	Dave Leonhard Tom Phoebus	Baltimore Orioles Baltimore Orioles	3
Runs Allowed	Jim Merritt	Minnesota Twins	102
Earned Runs Allowed	Catfish Hunter	Oakland Athletics	87
Earned Run Average	Luis Tiant	Cleveland Indians	1.60
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Dave McNally	Baltimore Orioles	0.842

All-Star Game

The American League lost the thirty-ninth midsummer classic at Astrodome in Houston, TX on Tuesday, July 9, 1968 by a score of 1 to 0. The league's manager was Dick Williams.

Postseason

In the World Series, the American League champion Detroit Tigers defeated the National League's St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Denny McLain, a pitcher with the Detroit Tigers. In the award's voting, he had 280 out of a possible 280 points and 20 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers. In the award's voting, he had 20 out of a possible 20 points and 20 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Stan Bahnsen, a pitcher with the New York Yankees. In the award's voting, he had 17 out of a possible 20 points and 17 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins
C	Bill Freehan	Detroit Tigers
1B	George Scott	Boston Red Sox
2B	Bobby Knoop	California Angels
3B	Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles
SS	Luis Aparicio	Chicago White Sox
OF	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox
	Reggie Smith	Boston Red Sox
	Mickey Stanley	Detroit Tigers

Hall of Fame Game

The twenty-sixth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on July 22 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Detroit Tigers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League by a score of 10 to 1.

Umpires

• Emmett Ashford
• Nestor Chylak
• Lou DiMuro
• Cal Drummond
• Red Flaherty
• Russ Goetz
• Bill Haller
• Jim Honochick
• Bill Kinnamon
• Bill Kunkel
• Larry Napp
• Jerry Neudecker
• Jim Odom
• Jake O'Donnell
• John Rice
• Ed Runge
• Al Salerno
• Hank Soar
• Marty Springstead
• Johnny Stevens
• Bob Stewart
• Frank Umont
• Bill Valentine

Further Reading

• William J. Ryczek: Baseball on the Brink: The Crisis of 1968, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2017. ISBN 978-1-4766-6848-2
• Tim Wendel: Summer of '68: The Season That Changed Baseball, and America, Forever, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012.