The 1968 Cincinnati Reds season was the 99th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball. The Reds finished in fourth in the National League, with a record of 83–79, 14 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. The Reds were managed by Dave Bristol and played their home games at Crosley Field. The team had 5,767 at bats, a single season National League record. The Reds as a team led all of MLB this season in runs scored (690) and in batting average (.273).

Offseason November 28, 1967: Clyde Mashore was drafted from the Reds by the New York Mets in the 1967 rule 5 draft.Clyde Mashore at Baseball Reference November 29, 1967: Sammy Ellis was traded by the Reds to the California Angels for Bill Kelso and Jorge Rubio.Bill Kelso at Baseball Reference January 27, 1968: Chris Chambliss was drafted by the Reds in the 2nd round of the secondary phase of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.Chris Chambliss at Baseball Reference February 8, 1968: Johnny Edwards was traded by the Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jimy Williams and Pat Corrales.Jimy Williams at Baseball Reference March 28, 1968: Clyde Mashore was returned to the Reds by the New York Mets.

Regular season Catcher Johnny Bench won the NL's Rookie of the Year Award.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster 1968 Cincinnati Reds Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches (Third base) (First base) (Pitching) (Bullpen)

Player stats = Indicates team leader

= Indicates league leader

Batting

Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; R = Runs; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI C Johnny Bench 154 564 67155 .275 15 82 1B Lee May 146 559 78 162 .290 22 80 2B Tommy Helms 127 507 35 146 .288 2 47 SS Leo Cárdenas 137 452 45 106 .235 7 41 3B Tony Pérez 160 625 93 176 .282 18 92 LF Alex Johnson 149 603 79 188 .312 2 58 CF Vada Pinson 130 499 60 135 .271 5 48 RF Pete Rose 149 626 94210 .335 10 49

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 Mack Jones 103 234 59 .252 10 34 Fred Whitfield 87 171 44 .257 6 32 Chico Ruiz 85 139 36 .259 0 9 Woody Woodward 56 119 29 .244 0 10 Don Pavletich 46 98 28 .286 2 11 Jim Beauchamp 31 57 15 .263 2 14 20 56 15 .268 0 6 Hal McRae 17 51 10 .196 0 2 Bob Johnson 16 15 4 .267 0 1 Jimmie Schaffer 4 6 1 .167 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 George Culver 42 226.0 11 16 3.23 114 Jim Maloney 33 207.0 16 10 3.61 181 Gerry Arrigo 36 205.1 12 10 3.33 140 Gary Nolan 23 150.0 9 4 2.40 111 Tony Cloninger 17 91.1 4 3 4.04 65 5 18.1 0 1 5.89 20 John Tsitouris 3 12.2 0 3 7.11 6

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 Milt Pappas 15 62.2 2 5 5.60 43

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 Clay Carroll 58 7 7 17 2.29 61 78 10 7 13 2.46 64 Bob Lee 44 2 4 3 5.15 34 35 4 1 1 4.00 39 Billy McCool 30 3 4 2 4.97 30 Jay Ritchie 28 2 3 0 4.61 32 Ted Davidson 23 1 0 0 6.23 7 Dan McGinn 14 0 1 0 5.25 16

Awards and honors Pete Rose, Hutch Award

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Asheville Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

Notes

References 1968 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference