The 1968 Minnesota Twins season was the 8th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 8th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 68th overall in the American League. The team finished 79–83, seventh in the American League.
Offseason January 27, 1968: Eric Soderholm was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (1st pick) of the secondary phase of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft.Eric Soderholm at Baseball-Reference
Regular season Leadoff batter César Tovar sparked the offense, finishing second in the American League (AL) with 167 hits and third with 89 runs. Tony Oliva was third in the AL with a .289 batting average. Harmon Killebrew had 17 HR and 40 RBI at the All-Star break but was injured in the All-Star Game and missed most of the second half of the season.
It took until their eighth season for the Twins to get no-hit and then it happened profoundly, as their first opposing no-hitter was the perfect game thrown by Oakland's Catfish Hunter on May 8 in Oakland. Hunter struck out 11 and drove in three of his team's four runs.
A first for the Twins: on July 11, Rick Renick played his first-ever major league game, at shortstop. In his first big-league at bat, he homered. The run came off Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich. Renick is the first Twins player to accomplish the feat, later to be joined in history by Dave McKay (1975), Gary Gaetti (1981), Andre David (1984), and Eddie Rosario (2015), who hit a homer not only in his first at bat, but on the first major-league pitch thrown to him.
Three Twins made the All-Star Game: Killebrew, Oliva, and second baseman Rod Carew.
On September 22, utility player César Tovar played all nine positions, an inning each, against the Oakland Athletics. Duplicating the feat that Bert Campaneris had performed three years prior, Tovar topped Campy by starting as pitcher and allowing no hits or runs. In the inning, the first batter Tovar faced was Campaneris, who fouled out. Tovar then struck out slugger Reggie Jackson.
Four Twins won 10 or more games: Dean Chance (16–16), Jim Kaat (14–12) Jim Merritt (12–16), Dave Boswell (10–13). Kaat won his seventh Gold Glove. Al Worthington led the AL with 18 saves.
1,143,257 fans attended Twins games, the fourth highest total in the AL.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster 1968 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches
Player stats = Indicates team leader
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 135 380 82 .216 8 39 1B 100 295 62 .210 17 40 2B 127 461 126 .273 1 42 SS 83 199 35 .176 2 17 3B 157 613 167 .272 6 47 LF 145 469 116 .247 22 52 CF 140 488 138 .283 7 52 RF 128 470 136 .289 18 68
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 126 332 86 .259 4 28 97 229 56 .245 1 22 104 227 42 .185 1 13 93 203 49 .241 6 30 59 118 29 .246 0 9 63 108 26 .241 0 9 70 106 22 .208 0 8 42 97 21 .216 3 13 22 76 17 .224 5 8 24 45 5 .111 0 2 12 35 4 .114 1 2 11 34 7 .206 0 1
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 43 292.0 16 16 2.53 234 38 238.1 12 16 3.25 181 30 208.0 14 12 2.94 130 34 190.0 10 13 3.32 143 2 11.1 1 1 4.76 4 1 1.0 0 0 0.00 1
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 32 139.0 8 6 2.27 69 28 61.2 4 1 3.50 36 8 29.2 2 1 2.43 18 7 16.0 0 1 1.69 11 3 10.2 0 1 1.69 6
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 54 4 5 18 2.71 57 66 8 7 6 3.10 65 45 0 3 2 2.74 41
Farm system
League champions: Orlando, St. Cloud
Notes
References Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com