1968 World Series

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Introduction

The 1968 World Series featured the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals against the Detroit Tigers, with the Tigers winning in 7 games for their first championship since 1945, and the third in their history. The Tigers came back from a 3-1 deficit to win three in a row, largely on the arm of MVP Mickey Lolich, who won three complete games in a single World Series, a feat that has not been duplicated since. In his third appearance in the Series, Lolich had to pitch after only two days' rest in the deciding Game 7, because regular-season 31-game winner Denny McLain had proven ineffective in the postseason. In Game 5, the Tigers' hopes for the title would have been very much in jeopardy had Bill Freehan not tagged out Lou Brock in a home plate collision.

The narrow win for the Tigers was due, in small part, to a bold gamble by Manager Mayo Smith. The Tigers rotated four good-hitting outfielders during the season (Willie Horton, Mickey Stanley, Al Kaline, and Jim Northrup); in an effort to get all four into the lineup in the World Series, Smith moved center fielder Stanley to shortstop (replacing Ray Oyler, who batted .135 during the season) even though he had never played there in his minor or major league career. The gamble paid off as Kaline, Northrup, and Horton had a good series at the plate while Stanley made only two insignificant errors.

1968 was tagged "The Year of the Pitcher", and fittingly the Series featured dominant performances from Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson, MVP of the 1964 World Series and 1967 World Series. Gibson came into the Series with a stunning regular-season Earned Run Average of just 1.12, and he pitched complete games in Games 1, 4, and 7. He was the winning pitcher in Games 1 and 4. In Game 1, he threw a shutout, striking out 17 batters, besting Sandy Koufax's 1963 record by 2, and a total which still stands as the World Series record. In Game 4, a solo home run by Jim Northrup was the only offense the Tigers were able to muster, as Gibson struck out 10 batters. In Game 7, Gibson was defeated by series MVP Mickey Lolich, allowing three runs on four straight hits in the decisive 7th inning, although the key play was a triple that was seemingly misplayed by Curt Flood in center field which could have been the third out with no runs scoring.

The Series saw the Cardinals lose a Game 7 for the first time in their history. The Tigers were the third team to come back from a 3 games to 1 deficit to win a best-of-7 World Series, the first two being the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1958 New York Yankees. Later, the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, and 1985 Kansas City Royals would accomplish this feat.

The two teams would meet again in the 2006 World Series. The Cardinals once again raced to a 3 games to 1 lead, but didn't relinquish it as they captured the championship in five games. That would give the Cardinals the "rubber match" , as they had won the first encounter between the two teams, in the 1934 World Series.

This was the last World Series before Divisional Play. In his book about the history of the World Series, historian Lee Allen made the point that it was the last "pure" Series in the sense that divisional play would raise the possibility that the team with the best record from one or both leagues might not get into the Series, which has proven to be an accurate prediction (both teams in 2006, for example).

Records: Detroit Tigers (W: 103, L: 59, Pct: .636, GA: 12) - St. Louis Cardinals (W: 97, L: 65, Pct: .599, GA: 9)

Managers: Mayo Smith (Detroit), Red Schoendienst (St. Louis)

Umpires: Tom Gorman (NL), Jim Honochick (AL), Stan Landes (NL), Bill Kinnamon (AL), Doug Harvey (NL), Bill Haller (AL)

MVP: Mickey Lolich (Detroit)

Television: NBC (Curt Gowdy, George Kell and Harry Caray announcing)

Summary

AL Detroit Tigers (4) vs. NL St. Louis Cardinals (3)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance	Time of Game
1	Tigers – 0, Cardinals – 4	October 2	Busch Memorial Stadium	54,692	2:29
2	Cardinals – 1, Tigers – 8	October 3	Busch Memorial Stadium	54,692	2:41
3	Tigers – 3, Cardinals – 7	October 5	Tiger Stadium	53,634	3:17
4	Tigers – 1, Cardinals – 10	October 6	Tiger Stadium	53,634	2:34
5	Tigers – 5, Cardinals – 3	October 7	Tiger Stadium	53,634	2:43
6	Cardinals – 1, Tigers – 13	October 9	Busch Memorial Stadium	54,692	2:26
7	Cardinals – 1, Tigers – 4	October 10	Busch Memorial Stadium	54,692	2:07

Matchups

Game 1

October 2, 1968 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	3
St. Louis	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	4	6	0
W: Bob Gibson (1-0) L: Denny McLain (0-1)
HR: STL – Lou Brock (1)

Game 2

October 3, 1968 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit	0	1	1	0	0	3	1	0	2	8	13	1
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	6	1
W: Mickey Lolich (1-0) L: Nelson Briles (0-1)
HR: DET – Willie Horton (1), Mickey Lolich (1), Norm Cash (1)

Game 3

October 5, 1968 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	4	0	3	0	0	7	13	0
Detroit	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	4	0
W: Ray Washburn (1-0) L: Earl Wilson (0-1)
HR: STL – Tim McCarver (1), Orlando Cepeda (1)    DET – Al Kaline (1), Dick McAuliffe (1)

Game 4

October 6, 1968 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	4	0	10	13	0
Detroit	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	4
W: Bob Gibson (2-0) L: Denny McLain (0-2)
HR: STL – Lou Brock (2), Bob Gibson (1)    DET – Jim Northrup (1)

Game 5

October 7, 1968 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	9	0
Detroit	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	5	9	1
W: Mickey Lolich (2-0) L: Joe Hoerner (0-1)
HR: STL – Orlando Cepeda (2)

Game 6

October 9, 1968 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit	0	2	10	0	1	0	0	0	0	13	12	1
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	9	1
W: Denny McLain (1-2) L: Ray Washburn (1-1)
HR: DET – Jim Northrup (2), Al Kaline (2)

Game 7

October 10, 1968 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	1	4	8	1
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	5	0
W: Mickey Lolich (3-0) L: Bob Gibson (2-1)
HR: STL – Mike Shannon (1)

Quote of the series

*"Its a happy bunch of Tigers!" - Curt Gowdy describing the scene among the Tigers.

*"If Flood hadn't slipped and fallen on that triple by Northrup they might still be playing." - Ernie Harwell describing the key mistake in Game 7

Composite Box

1968 World Series (4-3): Detroit Tigers (A.L.) over St. Louis Cardinals (N.L.)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit Tigers	0	3	13	3	2	3	7	0	3	34	56	11
St. Louis Cardinals	5	0	2	5	4	1	4	4	2	27	61	2
Total Attendance: 379,670   Average Attendance: 54,239
Winning Player’s Share: – $10,937   Losing Player’s Share – $7,079

Further Reading

• Brendan Donley: An October to Remember 1968: The Tigers-Cardinals World Series as Told by the Men Who Played in It, Sports Publishing, New York, NY, 2018. ISBN 9781683582021
• Doug Feldmann: El Birdos: The 1967 and 1968 St. Louis Cardinals, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2007.
• Mickey Lolich and Tom Gage: Joy in Tigertown: A Determined Team, a Resilient City, and Our Magical Run to the 1968 World Series, Triumph Books, Chicago, IL, 2018. ISBN 978-1-6293-7583-0
• Mark Pattison and David Raglin, ed.: Sock it to 'em Tigers: The Incredible Story of the 1968 Detroit Tigers, Maple Street Press LLC, Hanover, MA, 2008.
• Tim Wendel: Summer of '68: The Season That Changed Baseball, and America, Forever, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012.

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