MLB Baseball's Seasons: 1968

[Music] [Applause] we shall repeat you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome to baseball season 1968 the year of the pitcher [Applause] game one of the 1968 World Series in his season home by pitchers the greatest of them all is adding an historic chapter I [Music] [Applause] know God was bought by the store laughing you know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] by this point the record comes as no surprise in fact it's the culmination of a seasons will be forever known as simply as the year of the pitcher that was the dominant system for pitchers I give some was incredible you know my plane Denis McLean did something which pitchers don't even dream about anymore 131 games wins were just one measurement of the mountain dominance pervading the game Seba mighty saw a lot of those the guys having a great year Juan Marichal it had 30 complete games that year in 126 then there was the bevy of microscopic erh I got one point six or and the American you know there were seven pitchers that year was er a s under two the average number of runs scored in the major league game was only 6.8 as for both teams combined that was the lowest average since the 1908 season along the way the pitching performances resonated well beyond the field Don Drysdale [Music] [Applause] in a year that began with another Kennedy taking aim at the White House in baseball the great pitching could also be traced back to the beginning of the decade and one of the most memorable hitting seasons in history 1961 was a year of change for the United States because it was the year that John Kennedy the youngest president ever elected moved into the White House and it was also a year change in baseball because for 60 years from nineteen one through nineteen sixty the two major leagues had each consisted of 18 leagues but in 1961 the American League expanded adding two new teams the Washington Senators and the Los Angeles Angels more teams meant more players and diluted pitching in the big leagues all leading to an offensive explosion [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Roger Maris's of record 61 homers in 1961 topped his previous career best by 22 there were others who had also improved dramatically like the Tigers norm cash who hit 41 home runs with a 361 average 75 points higher than his 1960 flip a lot of teams had to expand and bring up a lot of players from the minor leagues and the pitching was it up to par in 1962 when the NL expanded to ever Houston Colt 45s and the New York Mets it was the Dodgers Tommy Davis who enjoyed the most dramatic improvement as is 153 RBIs topped his career average by 95 from Maris to cash to Davis and beyond hitters were grabbing the headlines on the diamond powers-that-be in baseball looked at the 1961 and 62 seasons in which baseball saw a surge of offense and they decided that to get more balanced back into the game starting with 1963 the height of the pitching mound would be raised and the size of the strike zone would be increased to give more advantage pitchers also favoring the hurlers the influx of a series of new pitching friendly ballparks within a few years pictures were regaining their footing on the mound and then some 1965 was a year Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game against us he was just a dominating pitcher I think you could have 50 60 major-league players in here and you asked the same question who is the toughest pitcher that you face they will seyton Sandy Koufax Koufax is ascent coincided with the changes in the game and from 1963 to 66 the left-hander enjoyed one of the greatest pitching runs ever winning three Triple Crowns while leading the Dodgers to three minutes and two World Series Koufax won two World Series MVP awards before retiring with arm problems in 1966 along the way there was only one other pitcher on the game has spectacular in October his name was Bob Gibson I always liked those big games [Music] the Cardinals right-hander was the most intimidating pitcher in the game and he was at his fiercest in the Fall Classic Gibson was the MVP of the 1964 World Series leading the Cardinals over the Yankees then it was even better in the 67 series beating the Red Sox three times to early honor again Gibson in the Cardinals entered 1968 as the defending World Series champions loaded with confidence and what would be a year to remember [Music] here's a man that wanted to share his life with not only the black people of America but everybody he wanted peace equality for everybody and then once he got shot and killed I think time Stood Still Martin Luther King jr. was killed tonight in Memphis Tennessee shot in the face as he stood alone on the balcony of his hotel room I said dr. cave just as he straighten up and no words of mine can fill the void of the eloquent voice that has been spelled Jesus a summation sparked riot in cities all across the country further wounding a nation already being torn apart by war protests social revolution in the battle for civil rights I came up doing that here with dr. King I came up through that here with that my first five years or so it was tough I caught the tail in a Jackie Robinson I went to Lakeland Florida I can stay with the white cliffs so at that time I got very scared because it was a world concern because he was the world type spokesman a leader and for a week I didn't understand how to answer for myself or my family we were riding home from the Astrodome when the news came that Martin Luther King had been shot and there I am in the backseat of a car with Johnny Roseboro and I'm thinking what can I say and we're riding back and all of a sudden Rosie said I like the grip on that slider you're working he took it totally out of there on to baseball before that it probably was one of the most uncomfortable moments that I've ever experienced with the assassination rocking the country Major League Baseball took the unprecedented step of postponing opening day people still hadn't recovered from the shock of the assassination of dr. King and it was the tough time so I think it was the right decision to postpone the up on it particularly prudent in the city of Detroit which had become all too familiar with race riots during the previous summer the tanks have both pulled up and stopped and they've got their machine guns pointed they've got a searchlight up on the third floor of a brick building [Music] those 1967 riots decimated one of the great American cities 25 square miles of the city burned to the ground 43 people were killed 7,000 people were arrested it was a death blow in so many ways to the city of Detroit Detroit ballplayers did not escape the chaos in fact at times they were in the middle of it mickey lowlich was a member of the National Guard he has to literally change uniforms he takes off his baseball uniform and has two plans National Guard uniform he's one of these 8,000 National Guard members who have called out to control the streets in Detroit I end up leaving the ballpark in my uniform not in a bubble 12 Street I was up on my hood of my car and trying to talk to the people try to calm the crowd but the people's board for certain will of warden get hurt Willie Horton was a single greatest reason that there was a beginning of a unification in that city Willie was such a tremendous player he was a hometown hero and as that season progressed there were more and more blacks who would sit in left field right behind their hero Willie Horton and in probably during that frightening summer at 67 Willie Horton and his teammates also found themselves in a pennant race Tigers had not been a contender for many many years and that 1967 we had a great penetrate in the American League and it actually came down to the last day of the season a Red Sox win when tiger devil header split on that final bit of 67 left Detroit one game short and while Boston celebrated fans in the Motor City were left to continue the cleanup from the riots while contemplating another empty winter without a title you begin the 1968 season in spring training with the thoughts of that abject failure at the end of 67 hanging over the head of the team welcome the Tigers do it this year [Music] from Jim Northrup Mickey Stanley to Al kala and they said that just wasn't going to happen again they knew they had a great baseball team that confidence got the Tigers started with nine wins in their first 10 games and a steady hold on first place in the American League by early June [Applause] and as the Tigers started hot no one was hotter than their ace right-hander Denny McLain who took to the mound loaded with talent and tenacity God gave me a pretty good arm and he gave me a great ability to throw the ball where I wanted to throw it and I was told early in my career because how does he throw if you don't walk anybody we got a chance to win in a lot of our games and in 68 McLain would win more than as the 1968 baseball season unfolded in both leagues it was undeniable pitchers were more dominant than ever there were a few er heads and fewer runs I can recall losing 5 1 to nothing ballgame lots of strikeouts and plenty of shutouts and no I was winning more than that cocky 24 year old right-hander in Detroit Denny McLain then they had the guts of a burglar and he would just go out there throw the ball go here it is hit it you know he was phenomenal on the frame sailing along he was very cocky very confident and I think if you're going to be a success in this game that's why you've got him good McLain in 68 the multi-talented McLain who often spent nights playing keyboards and Detroit bars got off to a start but fitting up his self-confidence and by the all-star break he was leading the AL and win as the ace of the first place Tigers a plane done for the odds I'll break the fixity and victory and MacLean was just the start as all around the game pitchers were be fuddling hitters in Cleveland Cuban born right-hander Luis Tiant won 14 games over the first half of 68 including a streak of 42 consecutive scoreless innings if you need one game he's the guy to take charge Louie Tiant may be one of the funniest guy he'd ever want to play with a great teammate and he had a tremendous year that year headlined by a masterful 19 strikeout performance in early July against the twins for me it was my best game pitching on baseball the underling effort followed James catfish hunters perfect game in May the first regular season no head no walk no error game in the American League since 1922 there's catfish on a mound in Minnesota quarrel in a perfect game it just symbolized the kind of domination that pitchers had that season [Applause] it's the perfect ball game seemed like every pitch that night I knew where I could throw it I had great control I felt like I could throw a fastball a little bit faster if I wanted to catfish was one of those guys he could hit spots like nobody else and that was one of those perfect nights when he hit the perfect spot all night long in Los Angeles Don Drysdale signature performance was spread over seven outings fifty-eight and two thirds consecutive scoreless innings which broke a Walter Johnson record that had stood for 55 years swung on a ground ball there were really been a record freak or anything like that and I just say records are there to be broken and someday somebody will come along and and they'll probably do the same thing than I did there were also notable Knights by future stars in 68 like when a fireball team that's working in Nolan Ryan became just the ninth pitcher in NL history to strike out the side on nine pitches when you look back it just was phenomenal some of the pitching performances that you saw that year but the indisputable king of the hill in 68 was an ace for st. Louis there was a guy by the name of Bob Gibson who was absolutely fantastic right great and 1968 seemed to be the culmination of Gibson's perfection of his craft if you would just go back and look into the records and you watch my career leading up to 1968 you would see that there was an improvement every year even so his season didn't start all that auspiciously Gibson starts the season three and five of his June rolls around among those five losses several low-scoring games where he pitched very well and then June starts and he just starts on a roll five in a row only one run at fifty five a Gibson was capable of throwing shutouts no-hitters almost every time out and at the midway point of what was already a phenomenal year for pitchers the top hurler in the game had the defending World Series champion Cardinals in the first place in the national team [Music] the fabulous Astrodome the 8th wonder of the world you have to see it to believe it the 1968 all-star game was filled with firsts played indoors unofficial turf through the Cuban expatriate on the mountain for the American League I've been nominated to the all-star game to open the game that's a great feeling reading off for the National League Willie Mays was making one of his 24 all-star game appearances the problem was Willie may hear the bass a I trying to pick him out frisbee I saw Brad Killebrew on second please continue to distract the Indians ace you're not working out three into the Curt Flood [Music] you're the guy here to grumble finally balled it through they go for one back to first double play it in from there the gentle feet of all-star pitchers took over the diamond at one point nationally Oilers retired 20 batters in a row right city they after just the combined eight hits and 20 strikeouts the game ended with a one nothing final score of course as unsettling as the season was two hitters there was far greater upheaval in American society six weeks before the all-star game Robert Kennedy had been assassinated in Los Angeles and as this summer of 68 went on baseball continued to buy the cast at that time with the social turmoil that was going on and very famous political persons getting killed we were not immune to what was going on in 1968 that was a frightening time it sort of polarized us as individual teammates kind of like 9/11 did for New York and other cities across the world the Vietnam War was continuing and at who 80 War protests had surged it was so bad because our young people were being shot up and wounded he'll and really the country was not behind it the mayhem reached a new level in August with riots in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention whatever kind of off-field activities that are going on my escape was always the diamond the game itself what many of the veteran players said and felt was that it increased our responsibility as an outlet for people no where was that responsibility greater than in Detroit a year earlier riots had ravaged Motor City now is the summer at 68 wreaked havoc across the country the first place Tigers were a unifying local force the fact that the Tigers had had gone through the 67 riots in 68 everybody got behind the team and saw to pull the city together when the tiger started to win and in the way that they want the whites from the North suburbs started to come back into Tiger Stadium but said he was behind the tiger is 100% and the team knew it the members of the team had absolute faith in each other Willie Horton summed it up we play like he was so focused on six days and and try to come to peace in the city we brought black and white people together what we extravagent eehm I remember Al Kaline saying we would go out together we party together we would hang together so there was no racial divide close off the field and on the Tigers got contributions all season long from players up and down their roster see an important thing when an issue fence gates brown Tom man check Jim price we had great expecting each other as one guy go down at bench was ready and what better bench and hearin from the ex creating power of matthews and comer it seemed like every time they had a chance to play they produced and helped us win ball games thanks to their deep finish no game was ever out of reach for the Tigers we know we played to the last crack great FNG [Music] you almost got the feeling if you were a run ahead in the seventh inning that you were behind the Tigers got 40 victories in the seventh inning or later 27 in their last at-bat we never never thought that we've out a game today through the last wreck and as the Tigers remain comfortably atop the American League standings as Labour Day approached their success infrequent late-game heroics not only epitomized their city's resilience but offered hope to fans who could find the middle of it elsewhere I know that the Tigers that I've talked to you say that it wasn't there they just went out and played the game did they save the city did they unite the city yeah in some ways they did say that city unquestionably they helped heal the city and unless you were there unless you experienced it I don't think he could really feel the way I feel with pitching reigning supreme throughout the 1968 baseball season offensive numbers consequently reached historic bones it was one of those years where you kind of thought that the batter's were carrying around extra weight in the bat [Music] number seven at age 36 Mickey Mantle hit 237 the lowest average of his career but still 23 points higher than the Yankees team mantle had been perhaps the most popular player in the game in the 90s but age and injuries have taken their toll in the 18th season of a storied career and the mick decided 68 would be his final year miss reactions to the real good fastball sup and then he just didn't get to like he didn't also at like as the Yankee I kind took his final vows it was little question who assumed the mantle as the American League's best hitter an outfielder in Boston the Carl Yastrzemski in the year of the pitcher Yastrzemski was the only player in the AL to hit over 320 the second straight batting title with a 301 clip it might be an example of pitching dominance when you you know when you win a batting title with an average that low but yes it's real when I leave the league and hitting with all the great hitters we had if you go back and check the numbers of some of those great hitters it's just a remarkable how low they were as batting averages fell across the majors so did home runs several teams didn't have anyone with 20 or more and only seven sluggers would finish with over 30 the NL was led by a feared Slugger in San Francisco with 36 round trippers first baseman Willie McCovey who McCovey over first base most feared hitter I saw while I was playing in Major League Baseball willie mccovey without a doubt it was a dangerous hitter who's a lowball fastball slider hitter in the American League mckeavy's numbers were eclipsed by a 6 foot 7 inch Slugger for Washington nicknamed Ben capital punisher frank albert who blasted 44 home runs frank might have been the most intimidating hitter that i ever faced frank was 67 i think about 300 pounds he's the biggest strongest baseball player I've ever seen if there was one hitter that would strike fear into you it would be Frank Howard Howard's power numbers were far and away the best in baseball not unlike the pace set by the Cincinnati Reds hitting machine Pete Rose who led the majors with 210 hits and a 335 average [Applause] sixty-eight was one of ten seasons beat rosewood finished with over 200 hits 200 his needs you have to stay healthy you have to play almost every game and you gotta hit 330 or pretty close to it the consistency of Rose was legendary much like the Braves Hank Aaron whose steadiness had him on the cusp a homerun milestone its concentration and focus was this unbelievable you know he didn't miss pitches he wouldn't all hit them all the ballpark but he hit the ball hard someplace he would Center that ball as well as anybody you know I'd ever seen on July 14 he hit his 500 home run a feat only seven other players in baseball history and it take me to that point we won but even a gap we would fall victim to the great bitching at 68 with his lowest RBI total since his rookie season and averaged nearly 30 points below his career mark to that point and baseball's time-tested Dula pitcher versus hitter the victor was clear in 1968 and as the season drew to a close pitchers continued to show their mastery on the mouth in September Gaylord Perry of the Giants and Ray Washburn of the Cardinals broke back-to-back no-hitters in a 24-hour period at the same ballpark the only time that's ever happened Giants pitcher Juan Marichal won 26 games an Indian Luis Tiant won 21 and with a 1.60 ara the Cuban was part of an illustrious group 1968 7 pitchers have ers under - I mean that's just that looks like a misprint as the season continues the debate began over exactly why the pictures were so decisively dominating the hitters everything goes in cycles anyway like today if there's a lot of offense then teams start drafting and training pitches others propose that the height of the mound in pictures in advantage arguing the angle of the pitch from the mound was now too extreme for the hitters to handle I don't think mound height had anything to do with it simply because the mound had been the same height for a long time and pitchers had good years pitchers had bad years but it just seemed that year everything fell in place most notably for an ace with a certainty singular attitude in st. Louis when I think of Bob Gibson I think of him as the players a miserable sob I hated him and he hated me and that's alright he hated everybody he hated Santa Claus he was a mean black man I mean he was mean he didn't take no prisoner he demanded respect he got it and as far as I'm concerned haha he was one of the greatest pictures I've ever faced my mindset was to challenge pretty much everybody I've considered the pitching mound his office and nobody entered his office unless he was asking and that included hitters and it included his catcher to my wife you could go up to wrestle with hi Clayton Gibby God you don't want to see yeah I can honestly say he is the most competitive pitcher I ever met in 1968 that competitive fire translated into one of the most brilliant seasons a pitcher has ever had as Gibson tallied acidity credible numbers and it gave me built a bomber everybody gets wrapped up in statistics in baseball but with Bob Gibson in 1968 you have to talk about him because the statistics just blow you away he had 13 shutouts that year 28 complete games in 34 starts Gibson was unhittable light year he posted a one point one to earned run average the most remarkable statistic was how with that earned run average he managed to lose nine games and I wonder if his teammates have ever been indicted for that but along with those nine losses came 22 wins which was more than enough to lead the Cardinals to a third NL pennant in five years as impressive as Gibson was Detroit Tiger Danny mcclain eclipsed 22 wins long before seasons and he may have been a part-time keyboard player but he was a full-time is for the first place Tigers I remember Danny mcclain coming into Yankee Stadium and he had not lost the road game all year he had already won about 25 games already they beat him two to one that I had a call in the training room and it was dinner and he said hey what are you doing what are you doing he said I'm trying to win 30 games so what are you doing I said Danny I'm trying to put together and hopefully maybe win 20 games this year and you're thinking about 30 you know and I hung up on him [Music] twenty-eight we're gonna be playing do you think you'll ever see a 30 game winner you know you don't even see 25 game winners [Applause] the US EPA by playing green 31 game that's the way he he taking this at your work for me [Music] when the regular season ended in 1968 for the last time without League championship playoffs the Tigers and Cardinals were headed to the World Series as the year of the pitcher turned the page to a most satisfying final chapter starting the World Series was the Bob Gibson who had that terrific earned run average and he was pitching against the Sterling Denny McLain at 131 games two of the great pitchers of their time matched in that very first game have both loads individuals in a one World Series game that was a highlight [Music] t-80 theory is under way here in st. Louis and 15 that one going away in their baby not only were the Tigers a great team having won 103 games have done everything they did they were playing one of the great national league teams of all time though they shared success the Fall Classic combatants took different approaches to victory on the diamond so it appeared to be be balanced the Cardinals against the power of the Tigers but forth as the president sometime of not coming out the way with support since the series began but the most impressive postseason pitching matchup Bob Gibson and his 1.12 er a taking on Denny McLain as 31 wins two of the great pitchers of their time matched in that very first game in the st. Louis [Music] the Aces matched zeros for three innings but in the fourth the cards struck against McLean [Applause] stake to the lead gives him the game piling up strikeouts at an impressive rate we knew behind Gibson that a team that had not faced Bob Gibson all year that it was going to be tough to handle his location was so great and his ball was moving gives you that one five games in his previous two World Series in sixth would be distorted it's amazing when you think about it how the Detroit Tigers got the few hits that they do [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well the Tigers are glad Game one is over and as they all said yesterday in tribute to Bob Gibson no club nobody could have beat them yesterday as good as he was we had to come back and say we this US team is the Tigers we got to go out there the next day and play an in Game two it would be Willie Horton who jump-started the tiger office Hortons power supply may have been expected but a blast from one of his teammates was not though the cards having accounted for low which is bad they did have the scouting report on their 17 game winner Roger Maris told us in late July that if we played the Detroit Tigers which we probably will that Denny McLain is not going to be our toughest assignment it's going to be Mickey Louis knowledge has been using a sinking fastball breaking pitches mixing them up for moving that ball around in and and Rollie pollie doughnut maker out of Lake Orion Michigan really just stood his ground on the mound and came up so big that's it the Tigers have even the World Series at one apiece the series shifted to Detroit with the Tigers confidence in their bats revived and the city that had been in tatters a year earlier stood United for its ballclub but it would be another offense that broke out at Tiger Stadium in Game three Atlanta Cepeda add a three-run homer and I had a three-run homer in Game three those first two games at Tiger Stadium we were very comfortable hitting the car goes out loud in front of series two games to one they bring Gibson back tomorrow and McLain will go against him from the very first batter of Game four though it was apparent round two of the marquee pitching showdown would be a one-sided battle the cards leadoff man seemed intent on showing power and speed were both big parts of his game Lou Brock was the complexion guy that got on base he could disrupt the whole team they throw is not in time that's his seventh or face even with a highlight from Brock there was no denying the headline Bob Gibson appeared simply untouchable the dominance by Gibson in the first two times he faced Detroit allowing only one run in 18 innings we had seen what he had done and we realized how unhittable he was all year long that we didn't think anybody could beat Bob Gibson the Tigers were down three games to one a deficit only two teams in series history had ever come back from down 3-1 in the 1968 World Series the Tigers like their city the year before we're facing daunting odds of survival they've got their backs to the wall I think they know that there's no tomorrow but they can win the day and of course you said they're putting all their eggs in the basket of one mickey lowlich are you before a lull it should help restore order to his team City as a National Guardsman now the left-handed was trying to keep his clean season alive but in the first the red hot Lou Brock's leadoff double jump started a three-run round and it appeared that cards were going to cruise to a second straight world title [Music] boom attackers video in the fifth with a 3-2 lead the cards were again threatening with Brock on second base he picked up in our report that when Luke was on second he grounded takeoff they drift around the third and adrift in a home plate being waved around the throw by Hart and he is [Applause] [Music] he had a grande like blue profit so we when they came close and when brockless called out ultimately the the big key of that play leaves Mickey bullets in him and in turn Lowell each was keeping the Tigers in the game but then we run the two needed one more come back we had a veteran ballclub and we we we had a saying that the seventh thing now it's our time [Music] and the Tigers are second Lily if Rolex could keep believe the Tigers would survive for another day it comes right down to strength against strength then roll it to get Rock nikka Tigers three games of one we had an opportunity to put him away and we allowed them to get off the deck but Detroit still had to win two games back in st. Louis in Game six they came out swinging from the start [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the Tigers our fans have exploded and even to Siri he forced the deciding games [Applause] ago it was a cardinal runaway and now it goes down to the final day it was a cruel reward for the Tigers resolved baseball's greatest pitcher at the height of his powers to win them a world captain yeah he won is the seventh game of 64 he won again last year the seventh game and he's warming up right now though no one could match Gibson his numbers the Tigers had momentum and faith in me he loved it and the way the game unfolded was just so classic Gibson versus lowlich six scoreless innings zeros across the board the first six innings then in the seventh but Tigers got a break they get two hits they leave it off [Applause] and Jim Northrup's the next hitter I get that we're ready it's a line drive to left centerfield there's a curt flood sucks up all the time that's an easy place for flood [Music] finally the Tigers had found a way to get some runs off of Gibson and now it was up to low edge to hold the lead we ran up against a guy in game seven who not only better Gibson but was better than the Cardinals the three times he faced us and that was mickey lowlich like their city a year before the Tigers had come back from the bleep a lotta folks thought the Detroit Tigers were through when mickey lowlich beat Bob Gibson in Game seven I remember thinking it at the time and I still think that today that was probably the biggest upsets to me in baseball history and fighting back from the 3-1 deficit was only a part of the comeback story for Detroit City Detroit something amazing seeing people just come together I think just where Ernie Harwell was and what we did on the field I think people's saw beyond good and we all came together as one as a whole at this great city that 68 Tigers team brought a racially divided city that was under siege slowly but surely piece by piece back together again in ways that were really unimaginable after what happened in the riots of 67 [Music] in many ways 1968 was the end of an era the following year they small introduced the visual play that's when the although both Denny McLain and Bob Gibson would each go on to win another song award the domination of pictures in 1968 led to new rules and changes designed to tilt the balance back to the hitter the pitcher's mound was lower in the strike zone trunk coinciding with another expansion batting numbers went up immediately across the game but some of the averages remains lower than people wanted and so that was the birth of the talk about the designated hitter by 1973 the American League had decided to play with a BH and it's been a part of baseball in the American League from then till now the country of course would move on from the turmoil of the 1960s just as baseball moved on from the dictatorial dominance of pitchers in 1968 when pitching ruled baseball with a gloved fist to an extent the game may never see again [Music]

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Id: CrWoE7F6wEc

Length: 46min 58sec (2818 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 12 2019