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1968 Washington Senators season

1968 Washington Senators
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkD.C. Stadium
CityWashington, D.C.
OwnersJames H. Lemon
General managersGeorge Selkirk
ManagersJim Lemon
TelevisionWTOP
RadioWTOP
(Dan Daniels, John MacLean)
← 1967 Seasons 1969 →

The 1968 Washington Senators season was the eighth in the expansion team's history, and it saw the Senators finish tenth and last in the ten-team American League with a record of 65 wins and 96 losses. The club also finished 20th and last in MLB attendance, with a total of 564,661 fans,[1] a decrease of about 206,000 from 1967. Civil unrest in Washington, D.C., resulting from the April 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., caused a two-day postponement of the traditional Presidential opener, which had been scheduled for D.C. Stadium on April 8.[2]

The Senators' struggles on the field and at the turnstiles helped drive owner James H. Lemon to put the team on the market. On December 3, 1968, it was announced that Minneapolis businessman and politician Bob Short had outbid entertainer Bob Hope to purchase the team. Short had earlier owned a professional sports team when he purchased the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA in 1957, moved them to Los Angeles in 1960, and sold the reborn Los Angeles Lakers to Jack Kent Cooke in 1964.[3]

In a front-office housecleaning, Short ousted general manager George Selkirk and took responsibility for the club's baseball operations himself. He then made headlines by replacing 1968's first-year manager Jim Lemon (no relation to the former owner) with Baseball Hall of Fame hitter Ted Williams, whom he lured back into uniform to become the club's new pilot.[4] Williams' signing was announced just prior to spring training on February 21, 1969.[5]

Offseason

Regular season

  • July 30, 1968, Ron Hansen of the Senators turned an unassisted triple play. He caught a line drive, touched second base and tagged the runner coming from first base.[7]

Opening Day starters

Season standings

American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 103 59 .636 — 56‍–‍25 47‍–‍34
Baltimore Orioles 91 71 .562 12 47‍–‍33 44‍–‍38
Cleveland Indians 86 75 .534 16½ 43‍–‍37 43‍–‍38
Boston Red Sox 86 76 .531 17 46‍–‍35 40‍–‍41
New York Yankees 83 79 .512 20 39‍–‍42 44‍–‍37
Oakland Athletics 82 80 .506 21 44‍–‍38 38‍–‍42
Minnesota Twins 79 83 .488 24 41‍–‍40 38‍–‍43
California Angels 67 95 .414 36 32‍–‍49 35‍–‍46
Chicago White Sox 67 95 .414 36 36‍–‍45 31‍–‍50
Washington Senators 65 96 .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 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1968 Washington Senators
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 Paul Casanova 96 322 63 .196 4 25
1B Mike Epstein 123 385 90 .234 13 33
2B Bernie Allen 120 373 90 .241 6 40
SS Ron Hansen 86 275 51 .185 8 28
3B Ken McMullen 151 557 138 .248 20 62
LF Frank Howard 158 598 164 .274 44 106
CF Del Unser 156 635 146 .230 1 30
RF Ed Stroud 105 306 73 .239 4 23

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
Cap Peterson 94 226 46 .204 3 18
Ed Brinkman 77 193 36 .187 0 6
Frank Coggins 62 171 30 .175 0 7
Jim French 59 165 32 .194 1 10
Brant Alyea 53 150 40 .267 6 23
Hank Allen 68 128 28 .219 1 9
Sam Bowens 57 115 22 .191 4 7
Tim Cullen 47 114 31 .272 1 16
Billy Bryan 40 108 22 .204 3 8
Fred Valentine 37 101 24 .238 3 7
Gary Holman 75 85 25 .294 0 7
Dick Billings 12 33 6 .182 1 3
Gene Martin 9 11 4 .364 1 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
Joe Coleman 33 223.0 12 16 3.27 139
Camilo Pascual 31 201.0 13 12 2.69 111
Jim Hannan 25 140.1 10 6 3.01 75
Frank Bertaina 27 127.1 7 13 4.66 81
Gerry Schoen 1 3.2 0 1 7.36 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
Dick Bosman 46 139.0 2 9 3.69 63
Barry Moore 32 117.2 4 6 3.37 56
Phil Ortega 31 115.2 5 12 4.98 57
Bruce Howard 13 48.2 1 4 5.86 23

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
Dennis Higgins 59 4 4 13 3.25 66
Bob Humphreys 56 5 7 2 3.69 56
Dave Baldwin 40 0 2 5 4.07 30
Darold Knowles 32 1 1 4 2.18 37
Bill Haywood 14 0 0 0 4.70 10
Steve Jones 7 1 2 0 5.91 11
Casey Cox 4 0 1 0 2.35 4
Jim Miles 3 0 0 0 12.46 5
Bill Denehy 3 0 0 0 9.00 1

Awards and honors

League leaders

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Buffalo Bisons International League Wayne Terwilliger
AA Savannah Senators Southern League Buddy Hicks
A Burlington Senators Carolina League Len Johnston
A Salisbury Senators Western Carolinas League Billy Klaus
A-Short Season Geneva Senators New York–Penn League Joe Marchese

Notes

  1. ^ "1968 Major League Baseball Attendance". baseball-reference.com. Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  2. ^ Francis, Bill. "National Tragedy Brought Baseball to a Halt for Two Days in 1968". baseballhall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  3. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (November 22, 1982). "Robert E. Short, Businessman, Dies". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  4. ^ Whelan, Bob; West, Steve. "Bob Short". sabr.org. Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  5. ^ Muder, Craig. "Huge Contract Lures Williams to Job as Senators' Manager". baseballhall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Tim Cullen page at Baseball reference
  7. ^ "Unassisted Triple Plays | Baseball Almanac".
  8. ^ Don Castle page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Jim Mason page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Mike Cubbage page at Baseball Reference

References
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