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, twenty-four games behind the first place St. Louis Cardinals 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.Clyde Mashore page at Baseball Reference November 28, 1967: Darrell Sutherland was drafted from the Mets by the Cleveland Indians in the 1967 minor league draft.Darrell Sutherland page at Baseball Reference November 29, 1967: Bill Short was sold to the New York Mets by the Pittsburgh Pirates.Mets buy Short 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.Tommie Agee page at Baseball Reference March 28, 1968: Clyde Mashore was returned by the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds.
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.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster 1968 New York Mets 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 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 132 368 80 .217 5 17 RF Ron Swoboda 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 Art Shamsky 116 345 82 .238 12 48 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
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 Tom Seaver 36 278.0 16 12 2.20 205 Jerry Koosman 35 263.2 19 12 2.08 178 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 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 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 9 0 1 0 9.00 8 7 0 0 0 0.75 11
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jacksonville, Marion
Notes
References
1968 New York Mets at Baseball Reference 1968 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com