1968 Chicago Cubs season

1968 Chicago Cubs
League	National League
Ballpark	Wrigley Field
City	Chicago
Owners	Philip K. Wrigley
General managers	John Holland
Managers	Leo Durocher
Television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd)
Radio	WGN (Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
← 1967 Seasons 1969 →

The 1968 Chicago Cubs season was the 97th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 93rd in the National League and the 53rd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished third in the National League with a record of 84–78.

Offseason

• November 28, 1967: Ramón Hernández was drafted by the Cubs from the Atlanta Braves in the 1967 rule 5 draft.^[1]
• November 30, 1967: Paul Popovich and Jim Williams were traded by the Cubs to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Lou Johnson.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	97	65	0.599	—	47–34	50–31
San Francisco Giants	88	74	0.543	9	42–39	46–35
Chicago Cubs	84	78	0.519	13	47–34	37–44
Cincinnati Reds	83	79	0.512	14	40–41	43–38
Atlanta Braves	81	81	0.500	16	41–40	40–41
Pittsburgh Pirates	80	82	0.494	17	40–41	40–41
Los Angeles Dodgers	76	86	0.469	21	41–40	35–46
Philadelphia Phillies	76	86	0.469	21	38–43	38–43
New York Mets	73	89	0.451	24	32–49	41–40
Houston Astros	72	90	0.444	25	42–39	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1968 National League record v t e 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	—

Notable transactions

• May 4, 1968: Byron Browne was traded by the Cubs to the Houston Astros for Aaron Pointer.^[3]
• June 7, 1968: 1968 Major League Baseball draft
  • Oscar Gamble was drafted by the Cubs in the 16th round. Player signed June 18, 1968.^[4]
  • Paul Reuschel was drafted by the Cubs in the 4th round of the Secondary Phase. Player signed June 17, 1968.^[5]
• June 14, 1968: Ramón Hernández was purchased from the Cubs by the St. Louis Cardinals.^[1]

Roster

1968 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers 47 Jophery Brown 38 Darcy Fast 49 Bill Hands 42 Chuck Hartenstein 33 Ramón Hernández 30 Ken Holtzman 31 Ferguson Jenkins 40 Jack Lamabe 40 Pete Mikkelsen 48 Joe Niekro 32 Rich Nye 37 Frank Reberger 27 Phil Regan 39 Archie Reynolds 33 Gary Ross 36 Bill Stoneman 38,45 Bobby Tiefenauer 37 John Upham		Catchers  6 Randy Bobb 12 John Boccabella 24 John Felske  9 Randy Hundley  8 Bill Plummer Infielders 14 Ernie Banks 18 Glenn Beckert 19 Lee Elia 29 Clarence Jones 11 Don Kessinger 22 Vic LaRose 15 Dick Nen 12 Gene Oliver 10 Ron Santo		Outfielders 17 José Arcia 28 Jim Hickman 41 Lou Johnson 24 Jimmy McMath 20 Adolfo Phillips 25 Ted Savage 25 Willie Smith 21 Al Spangler 26 Billy Williams Other batters  6 John Stephenson		Manager  2 Leo Durocher Coaches  5 Joey Amalfitano  3 Joe Becker  7 Pete Reiser  4 Verlon Walker

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	Randy Hundley	160	553	125	.226	7	65
1B	Ernie Banks	150	552	136	.246	32	83
2B	Glenn Beckert	155	643	189	.294	4	37
SS	Don Kessinger	160	655	157	.240	1	32
3B	Ron Santo	162	577	142	.246	26	98
LF	Billy Williams	163	642	185	.288	30	98
CF	Adolfo Phillips	143	439	106	.241	13	33
RF	Lou Johnson	62	205	50	.244	1	14

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 Hickman	75	188	42	.223	5	23
Al Spangler	88	177	48	.271	2	18
Willie Smith	55	142	39	.275	5	25
Dick Nen	81	94	17	.181	2	16
José Arcia	59	84	16	.190	1	8
Lee Elia	15	17	3	.176	0	3
John Boccabella	7	14	1	.071	0	1
Jimmy McMath	6	14	2	.143	0	2
Gene Oliver	8	11	4	.364	0	1
John Upham	13	10	2	.200	0	0
Randy Bobb	7	8	1	.125	0	0
Ted Savage	3	8	2	.250	0	0
Clarence Jones	5	2	0	.000	0	0
Vic LaRose	4	2	0	.000	0	0
Bill Plummer	2	2	0	.000	0	0
John Stephenson	2	2	0	.000	0	0
John Felske	4	2	0	.000	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
Ferguson Jenkins	40	308.0	20	15	2.63	260
Bill Hands	38	258.2	16	10	2.89	148
Ken Holtzman	34	215.0	11	14	3.35	151
Joe Niekro	34	177.1	14	10	4.31	65
Rich Nye	27	132.2	7	12	3.80	74

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
Gary Ross	13	41.0	1	1	4.17	31
Archie Reynolds	7	13.1	0	1	6.75	6
Darcy Fast	8	10.0	0	1	5.40	10
Frank Reberger	3	6.0	0	1	4.50	3

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
Phil Regan	68	10	5	25	2.20	60
Jack Lamabe	42	3	2	2	4.30	30
Chuck Hartenstein	28	2	4	1	4.54	17
Bill Stoneman	18	0	1	0	5.52	18
Bobby Tiefenauer	9	0	1	1	6.08	9
Ramón Hernández	8	0	0	0	9.00	3
Pete Mikkelsen	3	0	0	0	7.71	5
John Upham	2	0	0	0	0.00	2
Willie Smith	1	0	0	0	0.00	2
Jophery Brown	1	0	0	0	4.50	0

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tacoma Cubs	Pacific Coast League	Whitey Lockman
AA	San Antonio Missions	Texas League	Harry Bright
A	Lodi Crushers	California League	Jim Marshall and Al Heist
A	Quincy Cubs	Midwest League	Walt Dixon
Rookie	Caldwell Cubs	Pioneer League	George Freese

Notes

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1968 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference