1968 Los Angeles Dodgers season

1968 Los Angeles Dodgers
LeagueNational League
BallparkDodger Stadium
CityLos Angeles,
OwnersWalter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey
PresidentWalter O'Malley
General managersBuzzie Bavasi, Fresco Thompson
ManagersWalter Alston
TelevisionKTTV (11)
RadioKFI
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett
KWKW
José García, Jaime Jarrín
← 1967 Seasons 1969 →

The 1968 Los Angeles Dodgers had a 76–86 record and finished in seventh place in the National League standings, 21 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. After the season, the Dodgers underwent some changes among the team management when long time general manager Buzzie Bavasi resigned to take over the expansion San Diego Padres. He was replaced by team vice-president Fresco Thompson. However, Thompson was diagnosed with cancer weeks after taking the job and died in November. Al Campanis became the new general manager for the following season.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

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


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


Opening Day lineup

Opening Day starters
Name Position
Willie Davis Center fielder
Zoilo Versalles Shortstop
Wes Parker First baseman
Al Ferrara Left fielder
Bob Bailey Third baseman
Ron Fairly Right fielder
Paul Popovich Second baseman
Tom Haller Catcher
Claude Osteen Starting pitcher

Notable transactions

Roster

1968 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders 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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Tom Haller 144 474 135 .285 4 53
1B Wes Parker 135 468 112 .239 3 27
2B Paul Popovich 134 418 97 .232 2 25
SS Zoilo Versalles 122 403 79 .196 2 24
3B Bob Bailey 105 322 73 .227 8 39
LF Len Gabrielson 108 304 82 .270 10 35
CF Willie Davis 160 643 161 .250 7 31
RF Ron Fairly 141 441 103 .234 4 43

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
Jim Lefebvre 84 286 69 .241 5 31
Ken Boyer 83 221 60 .271 6 41
Willie Crawford 61 175 44 .251 4 14
Jim Fairey 99 156 31 .199 1 10
Ted Savage 61 126 26 .206 2 7
Rocky Colavito 40 113 23 .204 3 11
Luis Alcaraz 41 106 16 .151 2 5
Jeff Torborg 37 93 15 .161 0 4
Bill Sudakis 24 87 24 .276 3 12
Bart Shirley 39 83 15 .181 0 4
Jim Campanis 4 11 1 .091 0 0
Cleo James 10 10 2 .200 0 0
Al Ferrara 2 7 1 .143 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
Bill Singer 37 256.1 13 17 2.85 227
Claude Osteen 39 254.0 12 18 3.08 119
Don Drysdale 31 239.0 14 12 2.15 155
Don Sutton 35 207.2 11 15 2.60 162
Mike Kekich 25 115.0 2 10 3.91 84
Joe Moeller 3 16.0 1 1 5.06 11
Alan Foster 3 15.2 1 1 1.72 10

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
Jim Brewer 54 8 3 15 2.49 75
Jack Billingham 50 3 0 8 2.14 46
Mudcat Grant 37 6 4 3 2.08 35
John Purdin 35 2 3 2 3.07 38
Hank Aguirre 25 1 2 3 0.69 25
Phil Regan 5 2 0 0 3.52 7
Vicente Romo 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Awards and honors

All-Stars

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Spokane Indians Pacific Coast League Roy Hartsfield
AA Albuquerque Dodgers Texas League Roger Craig
A Bakersfield Dodgers California League Don Williams
A Daytona Beach Dodgers Florida State League Bill Berrier
A Tri-City Atoms Northwest League Don LeJohn
Rookie Ogden Dodgers Pioneer League Tommy Lasorda

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tri-City, Ogden

1968 Major League Baseball Draft

This was the fourth year of a Major League Baseball Draft. The Dodgers drafted 78 players in the June draft and 23 in the January draft. This was one of the Dodgers most successful drafts in history as they drafted Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes and Bobby Valentine in this draft.

Notes

References