1968 New York Mets season explained

New York Mets
Season:	1968
League:	National League
Ballpark:	Shea Stadium
City:	New York
Record:	73-89
League Place:	9th
Owners:	Joan Whitney Payson
General Managers:	Johnny Murphy
Managers:	Gil Hodges
Television:	WOR-TV
Radio:	WJRZ/WABC-FM (Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)

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

• November 28, 1967: Clyde Mashore was drafted by the Mets from the Cincinnati Reds in the 1967 rule 5 draft.^[1]
• November 28, 1967: Darrell Sutherland was drafted from the Mets by the Cleveland Indians in the 1967 minor league draft.^[2]
• November 29, 1967: Bill Short was sold to the New York Mets by the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[3]
• December 15, 1967: Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, Billy Wynne, and Buddy Booker were traded by the Mets to the Chicago White Sox for Tommie Agee and Al Weis.^[4]
• March 28, 1968: Clyde Mashore was returned by the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds.^[1]

Regular season

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.

Roster

1968 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

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		124	404	114	.282	3	31
1B		127	373	86	.231	3	20
2B		75	284	74	.261	4	11
SS		111	402	88	.219	0	14
3B		117	369	102	.276	15	53
LF		147	509	151	.297	14	55
CF		132	368	80	.217	5	17
RF		132	450	109	.242	11	59

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
	116	345	82	.238	12	48
	90	274	47	.172	2	14
	78	258	54	.209	0	17
	78	244	55	.225	3	31
	73	192	35	.182	1	11
	53	183	43	.235	3	10
	58	154	31	.201	1	13
	50	111	19	.171	3	7
	38	106	22	.208	0	6
	6	23	5	.217	0	1
	8	14	2	.143	0	0
	1	3	1	.333	0	0

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
	36	278.0	16	12	2.20	205
	35	263.2	19	12	2.08	178
	29	180.0	7	13	2.95	82
	33	170.1	9	10	2.75	117
	21	134.0	6	9	3.09	133
	12	79.0	4	7	2.28	46

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
	25	92.2	3	7	3.69	59
	19	50.2	2	4	3.91	47
	2	6.0	0	2	4.50	5

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	58	1	5	14	2.70	49
	55	6	4	11	2.42	50
	34	0	3	1	4.85	24
	9	0	1	0	9.00	8
	7	0	0	0	0.75	11

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jacksonville, Marion

References

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

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mashocl01.shtml Clyde Mashore page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sutheda01.shtml Darrell Sutherland page at Baseball Reference
3. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19671003&id=lNRNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZIoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=969,3111485 Mets buy Short
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/ageeto01.shtml Tommie Agee page at Baseball Reference