1968 New York Mets season

1968 New York Mets
LeagueNational League
BallparkShea Stadium
CityNew York
Record73-89
League place9th
OwnersJoan Whitney Payson
General managersJohnny Murphy
ManagersGil Hodges
TelevisionWOR-TV
RadioWJRZ/WABC-FM
(Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)
← 1967 Seasons 1969 →

The 1968 New York Mets season was the seventh regular season for the Mets. They went 73–89 and finished ninth in the National League. They were managed by Gil Hodges. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

Offseason

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Regular season

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1968 marked the beginning of Gil Hodges' tenure at the helm. A former infielder with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he replaced Salty Parker as manager. Despite the team's 9th place finish, the Mets managed to narrowly avoid yet another last place ranking, and boasted their best record since their inception in 1962. They would go on to stun the baseball world the following year when they won the World Series.

Season standings

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National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Cardinals 97 65 .599 — 47‍–‍34 50‍–‍31
San Francisco Giants 88 74 .543 9 42‍–‍39 46‍–‍35
Chicago Cubs 84 78 .519 13 47‍–‍34 37‍–‍44
Cincinnati Reds 83 79 .512 14 40‍–‍41 43‍–‍38
Atlanta Braves 81 81 .500 16 41‍–‍40 40‍–‍41
Pittsburgh Pirates 80 82 .494 17 40‍–‍41 40‍–‍41
Los Angeles Dodgers 76 86 .469 21 41‍–‍40 35‍–‍46
Philadelphia Phillies 76 86 .469 21 38‍–‍43 38‍–‍43
New York Mets 73 89 .451 24 32‍–‍49 41‍–‍40
Houston Astros 72 90 .444 25 42‍–‍39 30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

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1968 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD NYM PHI PIT SF STL
Atlanta — 8–10 10–8 11–7 9–9 12–6–1 11–7 6–12 9–9 5–13
Chicago 10–8 — 7–11 10–8 12–6 8–10 9–9 10–8 9–9–1 9–9
Cincinnati 8–10 11–7 — 9–9 9–9 10–8 11–7 10–8–1 8–10 7–11
Houston 7–11 8–10 9–9 — 11–7 10–8 9–9 5–13 8–10 5–13
Los Angeles 9–9 6–12 9–9 7–11 — 7–11 10–8 10–8 9–9 9–9
New York 6–12–1 10–8 8–10 8–10 11–7 — 8–10 9–9 7–11 6–12
Philadelphia 7–11 9–9 7–11 9–9 8–10 10–8 — 9–9 9–9 8–10
Pittsburgh 12–6 8–10 8–10–1 13–5 8–10 9–9 9–9 — 7–11 6–12
San Francisco 9–9 9–9–1 10–8 10–8 9–9 11–7 9–9 11–7 — 10–8
St. Louis 13–5 9–9 11–7 13–5 9–9 12–6 10–8 12–6 8–10 —


Roster

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1968 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Jerry Grote 124 404 114 .282 3 31
1B Ed Kranepool 127 373 86 .231 3 20
2B Ken Boswell 75 284 74 .261 4 11
SS Bud Harrelson 111 402 88 .219 0 14
3B Ed Charles 117 369 102 .276 15 53
LF Cleon Jones 147 509 151 .297 14 55
CF Tommie Agee 132 368 80 .217 5 17
RF Ron Swoboda 132 450 109 .242 11 59

Other batters

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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
Art Shamsky 116 345 82 .238 12 48
Al Weis 90 274 47 .172 2 14
Phil Linz 78 258 54 .209 0 17
J.C. Martin 78 244 55 .225 3 31
Jerry Buchek 73 192 35 .182 1 11
Larry Stahl 53 183 43 .235 3 10
Kevin Collins 58 154 31 .201 1 13
Don Bosch 50 111 19 .171 3 7
Greg Goossen 38 106 22 .208 0 6
Bob Heise 6 23 5 .217 0 1
Mike Jorgensen 8 14 2 .143 0 0
Duffy Dyer 1 3 1 .333 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tom Seaver 36 278.0 16 12 2.20 205
Jerry Koosman 35 263.2 19 12 2.08 178
Don Cardwell 29 180.0 7 13 2.95 82
Dick Selma 33 170.1 9 10 2.75 117
Nolan Ryan 21 134.0 6 9 3.09 133
Jim McAndrew 12 79.0 4 7 2.28 46

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Al Jackson 25 92.2 3 7 3.69 59
Danny Frisella 19 50.2 2 4 3.91 47
Les Rohr 2 6.0 0 2 4.50 5

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Ron Taylor 58 1 5 14 2.70 49
Cal Koonce 55 6 4 11 2.42 50
Bill Short 34 0 3 1 4.85 24
Bill Connors 9 0 1 0 9.00 8
Don Shaw 7 0 0 0 0.75 11

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Jacksonville Suns International League Clyde McCullough
AA Memphis Blues Texas League Roy Sievers
A Visalia Mets California League Roy McMillan
A Raleigh-Durham Mets Carolina League Pete Pavlick
A-Short Season Mankato Mets Northern League Joe Frazier
Rookie Marion Mets Appalachian League Gary Gearhart

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jacksonville, Marion

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Clyde Mashore page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Darrell Sutherland page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Mets buy Short
  4. ^ Tommie Agee page at Baseball Reference

References

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  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
  • 1968 New York Mets at Baseball Reference
  • 1968 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
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