1968 in baseball

In Major League Baseball, the trend throughout the 1960s was of increased pitching dominance.^[1][2] After the record home run year by Roger Maris in 1961, the major leagues increased the size of the strike zone from the top of the batter's shoulders to the bottom of his knees.^[3] A significant "power shortage" culminated in 1968, with far fewer runs scored than in the early 1960s.^[1]

Pitchers including Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals and Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers dominated hitters, producing 339 shutouts in 1968, almost double the number of shutouts thrown in 1962.^[1] Individually, Gibson set a modern earned run average record of 1.12, the lowest in 54 years, and set a World Series record of 17 strikeouts in Game 1. McLain won 31 regular season games, the only player to reach the 30 win milestone since Dizzy Dean in 1934.^[4] Mickey Lolich won three complete games in the World Series, the last player as of 2015 to do so. Luis Tiant of the Cleveland Indians had the American League's lowest ERA at 1.60 and allowed a batting average of only .168, a major league record.^[1] Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers threw a record 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, and Catfish Hunter of the Oakland Athletics was the first American League pitcher to record a perfect game since Don Larsen in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.^[1] In addiction, Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants led the National League with 26 wins and 30 complete games.

Hitting was anemic as Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox would be the only American League hitter to finish the season with a batting average higher than .300.^[1] Yastrzemski's batting average of .301 was the lowest batting average of any league batting champion. The American League's collective slugging average of .340 remains the lowest since 1915 (when the game was still in the so-called dead-ball era), while the collective batting average of .231 is the all-time lowest. As a result of the dropping offensive statistics, Major League Baseball Rules Committee took steps to reduce the advantage held by pitchers by lowering the height of the pitchers mound from 15 inches to 10 inches, and by reducing the size of the strike zone for the 1969 season.^[5] 1969 batting averages climbed back to their historical averages and never again would pitching have as large a statistical average over batting in the major leagues.

1968 was the final year when baseball had no divisions within the two leagues, with the only post-season competition being the World Series itself. Four expansion teams would join baseball for the season following in 1969. This was also the first season that the Athletics franchise played in Oakland, California, after their departure from Kansas City, Missouri.

• World Series: Detroit Tigers over St. Louis Cardinals (4–3); Mickey Lolich, MVP
• All-Star Game, July 9 at the Astrodome: National League, 1–0; Willie Mays, MVP

• Big League World Series: Charleston, West Virginia
• College World Series: USC
• Japan Series: Yomiuri Giants over Hankyu Braves (4–2)
• Little League World Series: Wakayama, Osaka, Japan
• Senior League World Series: New Hyde Park, New York

• Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Kiki Cuyler
  • Goose Goslin
  • Joe Medwick

• January 11
  • Kansas City officially re-enters the American League when it is granted an expansion team to begin play in 1969. The team, to be known as the Kansas City Royals, replaces the departed Athletics and will be locally owned by pharmaceuticals magnate Ewing Kauffman. The owner immediately appoints Cedric Tallis the first general manager in team history. Tallis, 53, is the former business manager of the California Angels.
  • The Cincinnati Reds acquire Alex Johnson from the St. Louis Cardinals for fellow outfielder Dick Simpson. Johnson, 25, had batted only .211 with St. Louis in 1966–1967, but he will win Cincinnati's left field job, hit .312 in 149 games (fourth in the National League), and be named The Sporting News' NL Comeback Player of the Year Award for 1968.
• January 23 – Joe Medwick is voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
• January 26 – The Philadelphia Phillies sign infielder Manny Trillo as an undrafted free agent.
• January 28
  • Goose Goslin and Kiki Cuyler are admitted into the Hall of Fame by unanimous vote of the Special Veterans Committee.
  • Davey Lopes, a 22-year-old outfielder, is drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of Kansas' Washburn University in the second round of the 1968 January Major League Baseball draft's secondary phase. As a second baseman, Lopes will become a Dodger regular for nearly a decade and four-time NL All-Star.

• February 6 – Voters in King County, Washington, approve by 62 percent a $40 million bond issue to build a domed, multipurpose stadium. The Kingdome will be built between 1972 and 1976 and operate from 1976 until its demolition in 2000.
• February 8 – Johnny Edwards, former three-time NL All-Star and 2x Gold Glove Award winner for the Cincinnati Reds, is traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for catcher Pat Corrales and infielder Jimy Williams. Edwards, 29, is losing his starting catcher job to rookie and future Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench.
• February 13
  • The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers execute a four-player trade when catcher Tom Haller and minor-league hurler Fran Kasheta go to Los Angeles for second baseman Ron Hunt and utility infielder Nate Oliver. The trade is the first between the two rivals since their move to the West Coast, and the first since the December 1956 deal that would have sent Jackie Robinson from the Brooklyn Dodgers to the New York Giants—which was nullified by Robinson's retirement one month later.
  • In the American League, the Chicago White Sox and Washington Senators make a six-player swap. Chicago sends pitchers Dennis Higgins and Steve Jones and shortstop Ron Hansen to Washington for pitchers Buster Narum and Bob Priddy and infielder Tim Cullen.
• February 21 – Seattle's American League expansion team, set to debut in 1969, names Marvin Milkes, 44, its first general manager. Milkes had previously been assistant GM of the California Angels.

• March 4 – The San Francisco Giants sign pitcher Elias Sosa as an undrafted free agent.
• March 24 – The Chicago Cubs release pitcher Dick Radatz.
• March 26 – The Chicago White Sox sell the contract of veteran American League slugger Rocky Colavito to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Colavito, 34, is entering his 14th and final big-league season; the Dodgers will release him July 11, and four days later the native of The Bronx will "come home" to sign with his final team, the New York Yankees.
• March 31 – Pacific Northwest Sports, owners of Seattle's expansion team, announces that it has chosen Pilots as the club's nickname. The moniker is suggested by a local resident to recognize Seattle's maritime heritage and its status as the home of aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

• April 2 – Infielder Phil Linz signs with the New York Mets as a free agent.
• April 3 – Pitcher Skip Lockwood, drafted by the Houston Astros from the Oakland Athletics, is returned to Oakland when the Astros opt against having Lockwood on the final roster.

• April 4 – The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the American civil rights leader, is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, causing violent civil disturbances in multiple U.S. cities. Riots in Washington postpone the traditional "Presidential Opener" on April 8 at District of Columbia Stadium. Major League Baseball postpones all games scheduled for April 9 to mark King's funeral.
• April 11 – Denny McLain gets the ball in the Detroit Tigers' second game of the 1968 campaign. He goes seven innings against the defending American League champion Boston Red Sox, allows six hits (including two homers), and leaves for a pinch hitter with the game tied, 3–3. Although the Tigers triumph, 4–3, the victory goes to reliever Jon Warden. McLain gives little evidence he's in store for an historic season, but by September 19 his record will be 31 wins, five defeats—MLB's first 30+-game winner since Dizzy Dean in 1934—and, like Dean, he is driving his team towards a World Series.
• April 14 – Jim Bunning's first win with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3–0 at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium, is his 40th career shutout and includes his 1,000th National League strikeout, making him the first pitcher since Cy Young with 1,000 in each league.
• April 15 – At the Astrodome, the Houston Astros defeat the New York Mets 1–0 in a 24-inning, six-hour, six-minute marathon. In the bottom of the 24th, Astro Bob Aspromonte's bases-loaded ground ball goes through the legs of Met shortstop Al Weis for an error (the only one committed by the Mets all game) that plates Norm Miller for the winning run. To date, the game is the longest to end in a shutout in terms of both innings and duration.
• April 19 – Nolan Ryan of the New York Mets becomes the sixth pitcher in National League history to strike out the side on nine pitches. But the Los Angeles Dodgers win 3–2 at Shea Stadium.
• April 23 – The Chicago Cubs acquire pitcher Phil Regan and outfielder Jim Hickman from the Dodgers for southpaw hurler Jim Ellis and outfielder Ted Savage. Regan will lead the NL in saves (25) in 1968, and Hickman will make the Senior Circuit's All-Star team in 1970.
• April 25 – The Chicago White Sox lose their tenth consecutive game to start the 1968 campaign, stretching their two-season losing streak to 15 contests dating to September 1967.
• April 27 – Tom Phoebus, the Baltimore Orioles' top pitcher in 1967, throws a 6–0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. He walks three and fans nine.^[6] Brooks Robinson drives in three runs and makes a great stab to rob Rico Petrocelli of a hit in the eighth inning. Converted outfielder Curt Blefary is Phoebus' catcher.

• May 2 – At Shea Stadium, pitcher John Boozer of the Philadelphia Phillies is ejected from a game without having thrown a pitch. His Phillies trailing the New York Mets by what will be the final score of 3–0, Boozer, after a 13-minute rain delay, enters the game in the seventh inning in relief of Woodie Fryman and repeatedly goes to his mouth while warming up in contravention of the anti-spitball rule that had been introduced this year. Home plate umpire Ed Vargo gives Boozer two warnings and awards three balls to batter Bud Harrelson—the last resulting in Boozer's ejection, as well as that of Phillie manager Gene Mauch.
• May 6 – At Memorial Stadium, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dave Leonhard takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Detroit Tigers outfielder Jim Northrup breaks it up with a single after two outs. Leonhard settles for a one-hit shutout, 4–0 victory over Detroit.
• May 8 – At Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Catfish Hunter of the Oakland Athletics pitches a 4–0 perfect game over the Minnesota Twins. The perfect game is the first in an American League regular season game since Charlie Robertson's in 1922 and the first no-hitter in the franchise's Oakland history, which is in only its 25th game. (The franchise had never had a no-hitter in its Kansas City history, which was from 1955 to 1967. Its last no-hitter was by Bill McCahan on September 3, 1947, when the Athletics were based in Philadelphia). Hunter strikes out 11 batters, including Rich Reese for the final out. He also records three RBIs: with a seventh-inning bunt single that drives in Rick Monday to break a scoreless tie, and a single in the eighth to drive in Jim Pagliaroni, his catcher, and Monday.
• May 27 – The National League announces it will expand to 12 teams in 1969, awarding franchises to Montréal and San Diego. The American League had announced a similar 1969 expansion (to Kansas City and Seattle) late in 1967.
• May 31 – At Dodger Stadium and facing the arch-rival San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles' Don Drysdale is working on his fifth consecutive shutout victory when he loads the bases in the top of the ninth inning. His 2–2 inside pitch nicks Giants' batter Dick Dietz on the elbow. The apparent "HBP" would force in a run, make the game 3–1 Los Angeles, and halt Drysdale's scoreless innings pitched streak at 44 frames. But home plate umpire Harry Wendelstedt rules that Dietz did not make an effort to evade Drysdale's pitch and orders him back to the plate—nullifying the Giants' run. A wild argument ensues and San Francisco manager Herman Franks is ejected, but the ruling stands. Dietz flies out, the Giants do not score, and Drysdale's scoreless streak stays intact at 45. Walter Johnson's all-time MLB record of 552⁄3 straight shutout innings pitched, set in 1913, remains within reach.^[7]

• June 1 – St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Joe Hoerner ties a National League record for relievers with six consecutive strikeouts vs. the New York Mets.
• June 3 – The New York Yankees turn a triple play in the eighth inning of a 4–3 loss to the Minnesota Twins. It will be the team's last triple play until 2010.
• June 4:
  • Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers fires his MLB-record sixth consecutive shutout, blanking the Pittsburgh Pirates on three hits, 5–0. Drysdale's consecutive scoreless innings streak, now 54, is only 12⁄3 frames short of Walter Johnson's all-time record. The former mark of five straight shutouts was held by Doc White of the 1904 Chicago White Sox.^[7]
  • After almost 18 years as the Dodgers' top baseball executive, Buzzie Bavasi, 53, departs to become president and minority owner of the San Diego Padres, a National League expansion team set to debut in 1969. Longtime Dodger farm system boss Fresco Thompson replaces Bavasi in Los Angeles.
• June 7 – In the 1968 Major League Baseball draft, the Los Angeles Dodgers select Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Bill Buckner, Bobby Valentine, Joe Ferguson and Doyle Alexander. All, save Valentine (whose brilliant future is torpedoed by a broken leg in 1973), become stars; Garvey, Cey and Ferguson anchor Los Angeles' four-time NL pennant winners between 1974 and 1981.
• June 8 – Against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles' Don Drysdale breaks Walter Johnson's 1913 streak of 552⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings. A fifth-inning sacrifice fly by Howie Bedell scores Tony Taylor for the run that ends the spotless streak at 582⁄3 innings. Twenty years later, in 1988, Drysdale—by then a member of Dodgers' broadcasting team—will be an eyewitness to Orel Hershiser's surpassing of his achievement when Hershiser sets a new MLB record, 59 straight shutout innings.^[7]
• June 14 – The Philadelphia Phillies fire Gene Mauch, the longest-tenured manager in their 85-year history, and replace him with former MLB outfielder Bob Skinner, skipper of their Triple-A San Diego affiliate. Mauch's Phillies had gone 646–684–2 (.486) since April 16, 1960.
• June 17 – Languishing in tenth and last place in the National League, the Houston Astros oust manager Grady Hatton and replace him with batting instructor Harry "The Hat" Walker. It's Walker's third opportunity to helm an NL team, having previous managed the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates for all or portions of four seasons.
• June 18 – The Chicago Cubs release pitcher Don Larsen, author of a perfect game in the 1956 World Series as a member of the Yankees. Attempting a comeback, Larsen is 0–4 for Double-A San Antonio when he's released, effectively ending his career.^[8]
• June 24 – Detroit Tigers right fielder Jim Northrup belts two grand slams, as the Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 14–3, at Cleveland Stadium. Northrup connects for his first slam off Eddie Fisher in the fifth inning and the second off Billy Rohr in the sixth, to become the sixth player in Major League Baseball history to hit two grand slams in one single game.^[9]
• June 28 – The Chicago Cubs sweep the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8–3 and 1–0, in front of 42,261, the largest Wrigley Field crowd in over 20 years. Randy Hundley catches both games off a doubleheader and drives in four of the Cubs' nine runs.

• July 1 – As a part of the season that will see him post a 1.12 ERA, Bob Gibson's streak of 482⁄3 innings of scoreless pitching is broken.^[6] Gibson defeats record-holder Don Drysdale 5–1 at Dodger Stadium.
• July 3 – Luis Tiant of the Cleveland Indians strikes out 19 in a ten inning, 1–0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
• July 9 – At the Houston Astrodome, in the first All-Star Game to be played in an indoor arena and on artificial turf, the National League defeats the American League 1–0. Appropriately, pitching dominates the game. Willie Mays, playing in place of injured Pete Rose, tallies an unearned run in the first inning against American League starter Luis Tiant. Don Drysdale, Juan Marichal, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Ron Reed and Jerry Koosman hold the AL to three hits, as Mays is named MVP.
• July 11 – The Baltimore Orioles promote first base coach Earl Weaver to manager, replacing Hank Bauer. Weaver will manage the Orioles for all or parts of 17 seasons, win four American League pennants, the 1970 World Series, and a berth in Cooperstown.
• July 13 – The Chicago White Sox fire third-year manager Eddie Stanky and replace him with his predecessor, Al López, the future Hall of Fame catcher who had managed the ChiSox to nine winning seasons between 1957 and 1965, including the 1959 American League pennant.
• July 14
  • Hank Aaron becomes the eighth player in major league history to reach 500 career homers.
  • Don Wilson of the Houston Astros strikes out 18, including eight in a row at one point.
• July 20 – The California Angels trade infielder Woodie Held to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for another infielder, Wayne Causey; nine days later, the Angels will sell Causey's contract to the Atlanta Braves.
• July 24 – The Chicago White Sox' Hoyt Wilhelm, 45, appears in his 907th game as a pitcher, breaking Cy Young's long standing all-time record.
• July 30 – At Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Washington Senators' shortstop Ron Hansen completes the major leagues' first unassisted triple play since 1927, and the eighth in MLB history. The triple-killing occurs in the second inning and Indians hitter Joe Azcue is the victim. Cleveland wins the game, however, 10–1. Three days after his feat, Washington trades Hansen back to his former team, the Chicago White Sox, for Tim Cullen.

• August 8 – Rick Wise of the Philadelphia Phillies one-hits the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning 1–0 at Chavez Ravine. Dick Allen provides the razor-thin winning margin with a solo homer in the ninth inning off Bill Singer. Light-hitting Bart Shirley spoils the no-hitter with a third-inning infield single. Wise will successfully throw a no-no in 1971 against Cincinnati, and fire three other one-hitters during his 18-season MLB career.
• August 14 – It's a red-letter day for Canada's first Major League Baseball franchise, as Montreal's expansion team is officially welcomed into the National League under its principal owner, Charles Bronfman, and key minority partners such as Paul Beaudry and Lorne Webster. The club, which will be named the Montreal Expos after the 1967 world exposition, will be overseen by president John McHale and general manager Jim Fanning, who formerly worked together with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves.
• August 15 – At Fenway Park, a capacity crowd of 35,323 see the Detroit Tigers' Denny McLain win his 25th game (against three losses) with a 4–0 shutout against Jim Lonborg of the Boston Red Sox. It's a battle of American League Cy Young Award winners, pitting 1968's (McLain) against 1967's (Lonborg).
• August 19 – At Shea Stadium, ex-New York Met Ron Hunt singles home Hal Lanier in the visiting half of the 15th inning, scoring the lone run of the game in the San Francisco Giants' 1–0 triumph over the Mets. Neither starting pitcher—Bob Bolin (11 innings) nor Jerry Koosman (12 frames)—gets the decision, as Frank Linzy bests Ron Taylor.
• August 23 – The Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees play to a 19-inning, 3–3 tie at Yankee Stadium, the game halted by a 1 a.m. curfew on August 24. Detroit's John Hiller tosses nine shutout innings of relief, while the Yanks' Lindy McDaniel posts seven scoreless frames out of his bullpen. The stats count, but the game is replayed in its entirety on Sunday, August 25 as part of a doubleheader.
• August 26 – The Chicago White Sox fall to the Tigers 3–0 before 42,808 fans at Milwaukee County Stadium in the ninth and final game in the season-long experiment that saw the ChiSox play one home contest against each of their nine American League foes in Milwaukee, which is trying to lure an expansion or relocated franchise. The White Sox, who will finish ninth in 1968, go 1–8 in these games, but draw 265,552 total fans, an average of 29,500 fans per game. They attract only 538,323 people over their 59 home dates at Comiskey Park, or about 9,125 per date. They decide to continue the Milwaukee experiment in 1969, playing one game against each of their 11 foes in the expanded AL at County Stadium.
• August 29 – Preston Gómez, third-base coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is hired as the first manager in the history of the MLB San Diego Padres, set to debut in 1969. On September 5, Gene Mauch, former pilot of the Philadelphia Phillies, becomes the first-ever skipper of the Padres' expansion cohorts, the Montreal Expos.
• August 31 – In a game versus the Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Steve Blass retires the first batter he faces. Manager Larry Shepard comes out, and shifts Blass to left field, replacing Willie Stargell. Shepard then brings in Roy Face to face Félix Millán, who grounds out to shortstop. Face's appearance breaks Walter Johnson's record of most games pitched by a hurler with a single team, which had been 802. Blass then returns to the mound, relieving Face, and the Pirates go on to win 8–0. After the game, the Bucs announce that Face's contract has been sold to the Detroit Tigers.

• September 7 – Fred Haney, 72, general manager of the California Angels since the team's inception in December 1960, announces his retirement, effective at the end of the season. His successor will be Dick Walsh, former assistant GM of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• September 9 – Future Hall-of-Fame second baseman Joe Gordon is named the first manager in Kansas City Royals history; coincidentally, he had briefly managed the city's previous franchise, the Athletics, in 1961. The other American League expansion team, the Seattle Pilots, will wait until the conclusion of the 1968 World Series in October before confirming that Joe Schultz, third-base coach for the NL champion St. Louis Cardinals, will be their first-ever pilot.
• September 14 – Denny McLain becomes MLB's first 30-game winner since Dizzy Dean in 1934 as the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 5–4, at Detroit's Tiger Stadium. Reggie Jackson's home run in the fourth puts the A's ahead 2–0, but Norm Cash answers with a three-run shot. Jackson hits another in the sixth, but the Tigers push across two in the ninth to win. Al Kaline, pinch hitting for McLain, walks and scores the tying run. McLain, who posted a 31–6 record in the regular season, gives up six hits and strikes out ten.
• September 15 – The St. Louis Cardinals clinch their 12th National League pennant with a 7–4 win at the Astrodome over the host Houston Astros. Roger Maris hits his 275th, and last, regular-season home run off Don Wilson in the third inning, and Curt Flood racks up five hits.
• September 16 – American League president Joe Cronin fires veteran umpires Al Salerno and Bill Valentine, allegedly for poor performance; however, union organizing soon surfaces as the actual reason for the terminations. Cronin's tactics backfire, as AL arbiters—previously not unionized—vote to join with their National League brethren in a new Major League Umpires Association on September 30. The union considers and rejects calling a strike for the 1968 World Series to force Salerno's and Valentine's reinstatement, but the two fired arbiters never regain their jobs.
• September 17 – Gaylord Perry of the San Francisco Giants hurls a no-hitter at Candlestick Park as the Giants edge the visiting St. Louis Cardinals and Bob Gibson, 1–0. Ron Hunt's first-inning home run (the second of the only two he will hit on the season and one of only 11 Gibson will allow in 3042⁄3 innings) backs Perry, who evens his record at 14–14.
• September 18 – Sixteen hours after Perry's feat, Ray Washburn of the St. Louis Cardinals makes major league history by hurling a second consecutive no-hitter in the same park. Run-scoring hits by Mike Shannon and Curt Flood down the Giants, 2–0. This is the first time in history back-to-back no hitters have been pitched between the same two teams on two consecutive days.
• September 22 – Minnesota Twins utility player César Tovar plays all nine positions, an inning each, against the Oakland Athletics. Duplicating the feat that Bert Campaneris performed three years earlier, Tovar tops Campaneris by starting as pitcher and allows no hits or runs, for a 0.00 earned run average. In the inning, the first man to face Tovar is Campaneris, who fouls out. Tovar then strikes out Reggie Jackson. Tovar is charged with a walk and a balk in the scoreless inning; his other contributions to the 2–1 Minnesota win include a single, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored. He makes five putouts and an assist, with no fielding errors.
• September 24 – Gil Hodges, 44-year-old manager of the New York Mets, suffers a "small" coronary thrombosis in Atlanta during a game against the Braves. Hospitalized, he will miss the final four games of the 1968 regular season and the National League expansion draft, but will return to the Mets' helm in 1969.
• September 28 – Mickey Mantle plays in what will be his 2,401st and final game, eight days after hitting his last home run ending his career with 536. His final MLB appearance occurs at Fenway Park in a 4–3 victory over the Red Sox before 25,534 spectators. He starts the game as the Yankees' first baseman, plays one inning, and bats once against Jim Lonborg—popping out to shortstop Rico Petrocelli—before being replaced in the field by Andy Kosco.^[10] Mantle will not announce his retirement until March 1, 1969.
• September 29
  • Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox goes 0-for-5 but maintains a .3005 batting average, to win his second straight American League batting crown with the lowest winning average. Yastrzemski is the league's only .300 hitter. Danny Cater of the Oakland Athletics ends second with a .290 average.
  • At Shea Stadium, Dick Allen hits three home runs in the Philadelphia Phillies' 10–3 victory over the New York Mets. He becomes the second player, after Gus Zernial of the Chicago White Sox in 1950, to hit three home runs in his team's regular-season finale. Evan Longoria will join them by hitting three home runs in the Tampa Bay Rays' 2012 regular-season finale.
  • In the franchise's first over-.500 season since 1952, when it played in Philadelphia, the Oakland Athletics finish 82–80 and one game out of the first division. Owner Charles O. Finley celebrates by firing first-year pilot Bob Kennedy and replacing him with Hank Bauer. It's Finley's eighth managerial change in eight full seasons as the Athletics' owner—and it marks the second time he has hired Bauer, who managed for him from June 19, 1961 through 1962.

• October 2 – For the first time in history, two soon-to-be-named MVPs oppose each other in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. St. Louis Cardinals' Bob Gibson is nearly untouchable with a Series-record 17 strikeouts and a 4–0 win over Denny McLain and the Detroit Tigers. Detroit manager Mayo Smith moves Gold Glove outfielder Mickey Stanley to shortstop, improving his offense by opening a spot for Al Kaline.
• October 10 – In Game 7 of the World Series, Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers, pitching on two days rest, wins his third game of the Series as he beats Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals, 4–1. Lolich brings Detroit its first world championship since 1945. Lolich hurls a five-hitter, and is named Series MVP. Key moments came in the sixth inning when Lolich picks Lou Brock and Curt Flood off first base to keep the score 0–0. With the game scoreless in the seventh, the Tigers have two on and two out when Jim Northrup hits a line drive to center field. Gold-Glover Flood misjudges the ball and starts in, allowing the ball to sail over his head for a triple. Northrup then scores on Bill Freehan's double for a 3–0 lead. Each team adds a ninth-inning run to account for the 4–1 final score. It's the first time the Cardinals have lost a seventh game of a World Series. The Tigers become only the third team (after the 1925 Pirates and 1958 Yankees) to rally from a 3–1 deficit to win the Series, four games to three. The Tigers also become the last team to win a Fall Classic between two first-place teams from leagues without division play where the pennant is automatically awarded to the team with the best won-lost record in its league.
• October 11
  • The Minnesota Twins replace manager Cal Ermer with Billy Martin, 40, who had been managing their Triple-A Denver farm club. It's Martin's first MLB managerial opportunity.
  • The San Francisco Giants appoint former MLB pitcher and pitching coach Clyde King, 44, as their new manager. He succeeds Herman Franks, whose Giants finished second in the National League during each of his four seasons as their pilot.
  • One day after the World Series ends, the St. Louis Cardinals make two trades. They deal catcher Johnny Edwards and minor-leaguer Tommy Smith (also a catcher) to the Houston Astros for pitcher Dave Giusti and catcher Dave Adlesh. Giusti will spend only three days on the Cardinal roster before departing in the 1968 NL expansion draft on October 14. The Redbirds also deal pitcher Wayne Granger and outfielder Bobby Tolan to the Cincinnati Reds for veteran outfielder Vada Pinson.
• October 14 – The National League stocks the rosters of its two teams set to debut in 1969, the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres, with an intraleague expansion draft. The American League does the same for its new teams, the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots, the following day. Ollie Brown (Padres) and Roger Nelson (Royals) are the first overall picks in each circuit.
• October 21
  • Catcher Elston Howard, a 12-time All-Star and four-time World Series champion as a member of the New York Yankees, announces his retirement after almost 1½ seasons with the Boston Red Sox. He soon rejoins the Yankees as their first Black coach and spends 11 more seasons with them, winning two more World Series rings.
  • The Montreal Expos purchase the contract of third baseman Bob Bailey from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bailey will be a mainstay in the Montreal lineup during the club's first seven years of existence.
  • The Cleveland Indians send lanky first baseman Bill Davis to the San Diego Padres for shortstop and former AL MVP Zoilo Versalles ("PTBNL" ).
• October 28 – The world-champion Detroit Tigers release veteran third baseman Eddie Mathews, ending the future Hall-of-Famer's 17-year MLB career. During that time, Mathews socked 512 homers, 493 as a member of the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves.

• November 1 – Denny McLain, the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season, is the unanimous American League winner of the Cy Young Award.
• November 2 – The International Amateur Baseball Tournament kicks off in Mexico City. The competition includes the U.S., Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican national teams, and is held after the 1968 Summer Olympics.
• November 10 – The Mexico City tournament concludes, with the U.S. team, managed by MSU coach Danny Litwhiler, defeating Cuba to win the championship
• November 19 – New York Yankees pitcher Stan Bahnsen, who posted a 17–12 record with 162 strikeouts and a 2.05 ERA, is named American League Rookie of the Year. Bahnsen easily outdistances outfielder Del Unser of the Washington Senators.
• November 20 – Al Campanis succeeds the late Fresco Thompson as head of baseball operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers. His official title is vice president, player personnel, but Campanis will function as the team's general manager until April 1987.
• November 21 – The Cincinnati Reds trade shortstop Leo Cárdenas, a four-time NL All-Star, to the Minnesota Twins for left-hander Jim Merritt.
• November 22 – Cincinnati catcher Johnny Bench edges out New York Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Bench becomes the third member of the Reds in six years to be named the top rookie.

• December 3
  • With the 1968 season already famous as "The Year of the Pitcher"—also called the "second Dead Ball Era"—major league owners vote to lower the pitching mound by 5 inches (130 mm) to a height of 10 inches (250 mm) and tighten the strike zone, as they attempt to stimulate offense and run-scoring.
  • Bob Short, Minneapolis businessman and former owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA, outbids entertainer Bob Hope to purchase the Washington Senators, who had finished last in the ten-team American League and in MLB attendance in 1968.
  • In a four-for-one deal, the St. Louis Cardinals reacquire veteran pitcher Dave Giusti from the newborn San Diego Padres, sending catcher Danny Breeden, third baseman Ed Spiezio, outfielder Ron Davis and pitching prospect Philip Knuckles to San Diego. After being obtained by St. Louis in a trade with the Houston Astros on October 11, Giusti had been the third overall pick in the NL expansion draft three days later.
  • The Philadelphia Phillies purchase the contract of veteran first baseman Deron Johnson from the Atlanta Braves. Johnson will swat 88 homers in 563 games with the Phils.
• December 4
  • In the most impactful trade of the winter meetings, the Baltimore Orioles acquire southpaw pitcher Mike Cuellar from the Houston Astros for outfielder Curt Blefary in a five-player transaction; as an Oriole, Cuellar will win 20 or more games four times, and 18 games twice, between 1969 and 1974.
  • The Astros also trade third baseman Bob Aspromonte, a stalwart since the club's 1962 debut season, to the Atlanta Braves for infielder Orlando "Marty" Martínez.
  • The New York Yankees acquire left-hander Mike Kekich from the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfielder Andy Kosco. Kekich, 23, will put up mediocre numbers (31–32, 4.31 in 125 games) with the Yankees, and will become more famous off the field when, in 1973, he and teammate Fritz Peterson announce they have "swapped" families.
• December 6 – MLB owners fire William Eckert, the fourth Commissioner of Baseball, in office for only three years and three weeks.
• December 12 – The California Angels acquire future Hall-of-Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm from the fledgling Kansas City Royals for catcher Dennis Paepke and outfielder Ed Kirkpatrick. Wilhelm, 46, had been selected in October's AL expansion draft.
• December 15 – Al Campanis, the Los Angeles Dodgers' newly installed general manager, sells the contract of his son Jim, a catching prospect, to the Kansas City Royals.