1968 World Series
| 1968 World Series | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | |||||||||||||
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| Dates | October 2–10 | ||||||||||||
| MVP | Mickey Lolich (Detroit) | ||||||||||||
| Umpires | Tom Gorman (NL), Jim Honochick (AL), Stan Landes (NL), Bill Kinnamon (AL), Doug Harvey (NL), Bill Haller (AL) | ||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers |
Umpire: Doug Harvey Tigers: Al Kaline, Eddie Mathews Cardinals: Red Schoendienst‡ (mgr.), Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, Bob Gibson ‡ elected as a player. |
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| Broadcast | |||||||||||||
| Television | NBC | ||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Curt Gowdy, Harry Caray (Games 1–2, 6–7) and George Kell (Games 3–5) | ||||||||||||
| Radio | NBC | ||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Pee Wee Reese, Ernie Harwell (Games 1–2, 6–7), Jack Buck (Games 3–5) and Jim Simpson (Game 7) | ||||||||||||
| Team (Wins) | Manager | Season | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Tigers (4) | Mayo Smith | 103–59, .636, GA: 12 | |
| St. Louis Cardinals (3) | Red Schoendienst | 97–65, .599, GA: 9 |
The 1968 World Series featured the American League champion Detroit Tigers against the National League champion (and defending World Series champion) St. Louis Cardinals, with the Tigers winning in seven games for their first championship since 1945, and the third in their history.
The Tigers came back from a 3–1 deficit to win three in a row, largely on the arm of MVP Mickey Lolich, who as of 2016 remains the last pitcher to earn three complete-game victories in a single World Series. (The three World Series wins were duplicated by Randy Johnson in 2001, but Johnson started only two of his games.) In his third appearance in the Series, Lolich had to pitch after only two days rest in the deciding Game 7, because regular-season 31-game winner Denny McLain was moved up to Game 6 — also on two days rest. In Game 5, the Tigers hopes for the title would have been very much in jeopardy had Bill Freehan not tagged out Lou Brock in a home plate collision, on a perfect throw from left fielder Willie Horton, when Brock elected not to slide and went in standing up.
The 1968 season was tagged "The Year of the Pitcher", and the Series featured dominant performances from Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson, MVP of the 1964 and 1967 World Series. Gibson came into the World Series with a regular season earned run average (ERA) of just 1.12, a modern era record, and he would pitch complete games in Games 1, 4, and 7. He was the winning pitcher in Games 1 and 4. In Game 1, he threw a shutout, striking out a Series record 17 batters, besting Sandy Koufax's 1963 record by two. The 17 strikeouts still stands as the World Series record today. In Game 4, a solo home run by Jim Northrup was the only offense the Tigers were able to muster, as Gibson struck out ten batters. In Game 7, Gibson was defeated by series MVP Lolich, allowing three runs on four straight hits in the decisive seventh inning, although the key play was a Northrup triple that was seemingly misplayed by center fielder Curt Flood and could have been the third out with no runs scoring.
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