1968 Oakland Athletics season

Last updated

1968  Oakland Athletics
League American League
Ballpark Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
City Oakland, California
Record82–80 (.506)
Owners Charles O. Finley
Managers Bob Kennedy
Television KBHK-TV
Radio KNBR
(Monte Moore, Al Helfer)
←  1967 Seasons 1969  →

The 1968 Oakland Athletics season was the franchise's 68th season and its first in Oakland, California. The team finished sixth in the American League with a record of 82 wins and 80 losses, placing them 21 games behind the eventual World Series champion Detroit Tigers. The Athletics' paid attendance for the season was 837,466.

Contents

The 1968 season represented a tremendous breakthrough for the Athletics organization. The campaign resulted in their first winning record since 1952, when they were still located in Philadelphia. Moreover, the Athletics' 82 wins marked a 20-win increase over the prior year's 62–99 mark. The team's young core of Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Joe Rudi, Bert Campaneris, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace, and Rick Monday began to gel; all of these young players (with the exception of Monday, who would be traded in 1971 for pitcher Ken Holtzman) would power the Athletics' forthcoming 1970's dynasty.

Offseason

Relocation to Oakland

Front office

Finley had persuaded Joe DiMaggio to take a position as Executive Vice President and consultant. DiMaggio needed two more years of baseball service to qualify for the league's maximum pension allowance. [3] In addition, Finley signed Phil Seghi to run the A's farm system (of note, Seghi signed Pete Rose to his first major league contract). [4]

Notable transactions

Round 1: George Hendrick
Round 2: Reggie Sanders
Secondary Phase: [7]
Round 2: Ray Peters (did not sign)

Regular season

Opening day

The first game in Oakland A's history took place on the road, on April 10, 1968, against the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium. The Orioles defeated the Athletics, 3–1, behind starting pitcher Tom Phoebus and the efforts of three relievers. Jim "Catfish" Hunter started for Oakland and took the loss, with Reggie Jackson hitting the first home run in Oakland's MLB history to account for the A's only run, the blow coming in the eighth inning. [8] Seven days later, the Athletics made their home debut, also against the Orioles, and were again defeated, this time by a 4–1 score with Dave McNally besting Lew Krausse Jr. before 50,164 at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. [9]

Starting lineup, April 10, 1968

19 Bert Campaneris    SS
  9 Reggie Jackson RF
  6 Sal Bando   3B
31 Ramón Webster 1B
12 John Donaldson 2B
17 Jim Pagliaroni   C
21 Jim Gosger   LF
  7 Rick Monday CF
27 Catfish Hunter P [8]

Hunter's perfect game

Catfish Hunter's number 27 was retired by the Oakland Athletics in 1991 . OaklandRetired27.PNG
Catfish Hunter's number 27 was retired by the Oakland Athletics in 1991 .

On May 8 against the Minnesota Twins, Hunter pitched the first regular season perfect game in the American League since 1922, [11] but the paid attendance in Oakland was only 6,298 on a Wednesday night. [12] The game was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh when Hunter squeezed the first run in. In the eighth, he drove in two more with a bases-loaded single, and ended with three hits and three RBI. [13] Hunter was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987 and was the first to have his number retired by the franchise, in 1991. [10] [14]

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 103590.636—56–2547–34
Baltimore Orioles 91710.5621247–3344–38
Cleveland Indians 86750.53416½43–3743–38
Boston Red Sox 86760.5311746–3540–41
New York Yankees 83790.5122039–4244–37
Oakland Athletics 82800.5062144–3838–42
Minnesota Twins 79830.4882441–4038–43
California Angels 67950.4143632–4935–46
Chicago White Sox 67950.4143636–4531–50
Washington Senators 65960.40437½34–4731–49

Record vs. opponents

1968 American League record

Sources:
TeamBALBOSCALCWSCLEDETMINNYYOAKWSH
Baltimore —9–910–811–77–118–1010–813–59–914–4
Boston 9–9—9–914–410–86–129–910–88–1011–7
California 8–109–9—8–107–115–137–116–125–1312–6
Chicago 7–114–1410–8—5–135–1310–86–1210–810–8
Cleveland 11–78–1011–713–5—6–1214–410–8–16–127–10
Detroit 10–812–613–513–512–6—10–810–8–113–5–110–8
Minnesota 8–109–911–78–104–148–10—12–68–1011–7
New York 5–138–1012–612–68–10–18–10–16–12—10–814–4
Oakland 9–910–813–58–1012–65–13–110–88–10—7–11
Washington 4–147–116–128–1010–78–107–114–1411–7—

Notable transactions

Round 1: Pete Broberg (did not sign)
Round 6: Rich Troedson (did not sign). [16]
Round 26: John Strohmayer

Roster

1968 Oakland Athletics
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Dave Duncan 8224647.191728
1B Danny Cater 147504146.290662
2B John Donaldson 12736380.220227
SS Bert Campaneris 159642177.276438
3B Sal Bando 162605152.251967
LF Joe Rudi 6818132.177112
CF Rick Monday 148482132.274849
RF Reggie Jackson 154553138.2502974

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Mike Hershberger 9924667.272532
Dick Green 7620247.233618
Jim Pagliaroni 6619949.246620
Ray Webster 6619642.214323
Jim Gosger 8815027.18005
Ted Kubiak 4812030.25008
Joe Keough 349821.214218
Floyd Robinson 538120.247114
Phil Roof 346412.18812
Rene Lachemann 19609.15004
Allan Lewis 2641.25000
Tony La Russa 531.33300

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Catfish Hunter 36234.013133.35173
Blue Moon Odom 32231.116102.45143
Jim Nash 34228.213132.28169
Chuck Dobson 35225.112143.00168
Lew Krausse Jr. 36185.010113.11105

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Tony Pierce 1732.2123.8616

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Jack Aker 5444114.1044
Diego Seguí 526562.3972
Ed Sprague 473443.2834
Paul Lindblad 474322.4042
Warren Bogle 160004.3026
Ken Sanders 70103.386
Rollie Fingers 100027.000
George Lauzerique 10000.000

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Vancouver Mounties Pacific Coast League Mickey Vernon
AA Birmingham A's Southern League Gus Niarhos
A Peninsula Grays Carolina League Jimmy Williams
A Leesburg Athletics Florida State League Al Ronning
A Burlington Bees Midwest League Jim Hughes
Rookie GCL A's Gulf Coast League Billy Herman

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL A's

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References

  1. ↑ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.118, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN   978-0-8027-1745-0
  2. ↑ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.120, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN   978-0-8027-1745-0
  3. ↑ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.119, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN   978-0-8027-1745-0
  4. ↑ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.121, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN   978-0-8027-1745-0
  5. ↑ Andy Kosco page at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ 1968 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB January Amateur Draft
  7. ↑ 1968 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB January Amateur Draft – Secondary Phase
  8. 1 2 Retrosheet box score: 1968-04-10
  9. ↑ Retrosheet box score: 1968-04-17
  10. 1 2 "'Catfish' has number retired by Oakland". Union Democrat. Sonora, California. Associated Press. June 10, 1991. p. 2B.
  11. ↑ Catfish Hunter perfect game box score by Baseball Almanac
  12. ↑ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.126, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN   978-0-8027-1745-0
  13. ↑ "'Catfish' spins first perfect regular AL game in 46 years". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. May 9, 1968. p. 1D.
  14. ↑ "Catfish's number retired". Gadsden Times. Associated Press photo. June 10, 1991. p. B3.
  15. ↑ 1968 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
  16. ↑ Rich Troedson page at Baseball Reference
  17. ↑ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.85, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN   978-0-8027-1745-0
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