1968 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersCal Ermer
TelevisionWTCN-TV
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Merle Harmon)
← 1967 Seasons 1969 →

The 1968 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished 79–83, seventh in the American League.

Offseason

Regular season

Leadoff batter César Tovar sparked the offense, finishing second in the AL with 167 hits and third with 89 runs. Tony Oliva was third in the AL with a .289 batting average. Harmon Killebrew had 17 HR and 40 RBI at the All-Star break, but was injured in the game and missed the second half of the season.

It took until their eighth season for the Twins to get no-hit and then it happened profoundly, as their first opposing no-hitter was the perfect game thrown by Oakland's Jim "Catfish" Hunter on May 8 in Oakland. Hunter struck out eleven, and drove in three of his team's four runs.

A first for the Twins: on July 11, Rick Renick played his first-ever major league game, at shortstop. In his first big-league at bat, he homered. The run came off Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich. Renick is the first Twins player to accomplish the feat, later to be joined in history by Dave McKay (1975), Gary Gaetti (1981) and Andre David (1984). They all were then joined in 2015 by Eddie Rosario, who hit a homer not only in his first at bat, but on the first major-league pitch thrown to him.

Three Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Harmon Killebrew, second baseman Rod Carew, and outfielder Tony Oliva.

On September 22, utility player César Tovar played all nine positions, an inning each, against the Oakland Athletics. Duplicating the feat that Bert Campaneris had performed three years prior, Tovar topped Campy by starting as pitcher and allowing no hits or runs, for a 0.00 earned run average. In the inning, the first man to face Tovar was Campaneris, who fouled out. Tovar then struck out slugger Reggie Jackson.[2]

Four Twins won 10 or more games: Dean Chance (16–16), Jim Kaat (14–12) Jim Merritt (12–16), Dave Boswell (10–13). Pitcher Jim Kaat won his seventh Gold Glove. Al Worthington led the American League with 18 saves.

1,143,257 fans attended Twins games, the fourth highest total in the American League.

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 103 59 0.636 — 56–25 47–34
Baltimore Orioles 91 71 0.562 12 47–33 44–38
Cleveland Indians 86 75 0.534 16½ 43–37 43–38
Boston Red Sox 86 76 0.531 17 46–35 40–41
New York Yankees 83 79 0.512 20 39–42 44–37
Oakland Athletics 82 80 0.506 21 44–38 38–42
Minnesota Twins 79 83 0.488 24 41–40 38–43
California Angels 67 95 0.414 36 32–49 35–46
Chicago White Sox 67 95 0.414 36 36–45 31–50
Washington Senators 65 96 0.404 37½ 34–47 31–49

Record vs. opponents

1968 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET MIN NYY OAK WSH
Baltimore — 9–9 10–8 11–7 7–11 8–10 10–8 13–5 9–9 14–4
Boston 9–9 — 9–9 14–4 10–8 6–12 9–9 10–8 8–10 11–7
California 8–10 9–9 — 8–10 7–11 5–13 7–11 6–12 5–13 12–6
Chicago 7–11 4–14 10–8 — 5–13 5–13 10–8 6–12 10–8 10–8
Cleveland 11–7 8–10 11–7 13–5 — 6–12 14–4 10–8–1 6–12 7–10
Detroit 10–8 12–6 13–5 13–5 12–6 — 10–8 10–8–1 13–5–1 10–8
Minnesota 8–10 9–9 11–7 8–10 4–14 8–10 — 12–6 8–10 11–7
New York 5–13 8–10 12–6 12–6 8–10–1 8–10–1 6–12 — 10–8 14–4
Oakland 9–9 10–8 13–5 8–10 12–6 5–13–1 10–8 8–10 — 7–11
Washington 4–14 7–11 6–12 8–10 10–7 8–10 7–11 4–14 11–7 —


Roster

1968 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C John Roseboro 135 380 82 .216 8 39
1B Harmon Killebrew 100 295 62 .210 17 40
2B Rod Carew 127 461 126 .273 1 42
SS Jackie Hernández 83 199 35 .176 2 17
3B César Tovar 157 613 167 .272 6 47
LF Bob Allison 145 469 116 .247 22 52
CF Ted Uhlaender 140 488 138 .283 7 52
RF Tony Oliva 128 470 136 .289 18 68

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Rich Reese 126 332 86 .259 4 28
Frank Quilici 97 229 56 .245 1 22
Ron Clark 104 227 42 .185 1 13
Rich Rollins 93 203 49 .241 6 30
Bruce Look 59 118 29 .246 0 9
Frank Kostro 63 108 26 .241 0 9
Jim Holt 70 106 22 .208 0 8
Rick Renick 42 97 21 .216 3 13
Graig Nettles 22 76 17 .224 5 8
Jerry Zimmerman 24 45 5 .111 0 2
Pat Kelly 12 35 4 .114 1 2
George Mitterwald 11 34 7 .206 0 1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dean Chance 43 292.0 16 16 2.53 234
Jim Merritt 38 238.1 12 16 3.25 181
Jim Kaat 30 208.0 14 12 2.94 130
Dave Boswell 34 190.0 10 13 3.32 143
Buzz Stephen 2 11.1 1 1 4.76 4
César Tovar 1 1.0 0 0 0.00 1

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jim Perry 32 139.0 8 6 2.27 69
Jim Roland 28 61.2 4 1 3.50 36
Tom Hall 8 29.2 2 1 2.43 18
Ron Keller 7 16.0 0 1 1.69 11
Danny Morris 3 10.2 0 1 1.69 6

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Al Worthington 54 4 5 18 2.71 57
Ron Perranoski 66 8 7 6 3.10 65
Bob Miller 45 0 3 2 2.74 41

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Denver Bears Pacific Coast League Johnny Goryl and Billy Martin
AA Charlotte Hornets Southern League Harry Warner
A Wilson Tobs Carolina League Vern Morgan
A Orlando Twins Florida State League Ralph Rowe
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Ray Bellino and Tom Umphlett
A-Short Season Auburn Twins New York–Penn League Boyd Coffie
A-Short Season St. Cloud Rox Northern League Carroll Hardy
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Fred Waters

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Orlando, St. Cloud

Notes

  1. ^ Eric Soderholm at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ "Minnesota Twins". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 21, 2016.[permanent dead link]

References

Categories