1968 Washington Senators season

The 1968 Washington Senators season was the eighth in the expansion team's history, and it saw the Senators finish tenth and last in the ten-team American League with a record of 65 wins and 96 losses. The club also finished 20th and last in MLB attendance, with a total of 564,661 fans,[1] a decrease of about 206,000 from 1967. Civil unrest in Washington, D.C., resulting from the April 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., caused a two-day postponement of the traditional Presidential opener, which had been scheduled for D.C. Stadium on April 8.[2]

1968 Washington Senators
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkD.C. Stadium
CityWashington, D.C.
OwnersJames H. Lemon
General managersGeorge Selkirk
ManagersJim Lemon
TelevisionWTOP
RadioWTOP
(Dan Daniels, John MacLean)
Seasons

The Senators' struggles on the field and at the turnstiles helped drive owner James H. Lemon to put the team on the market. On December 3, 1968, it was announced that Minneapolis businessman and politician Bob Short had outbid entertainer Bob Hope to purchase the team. Short had earlier owned a professional sports team when he purchased the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA in 1957, moved them to Los Angeles in 1960, and sold the reborn Los Angeles Lakers to Jack Kent Cooke in 1964.[3]

In a front-office housecleaning, Short ousted general manager George Selkirk and took responsibility for the club's baseball operations himself. He then made headlines by replacing 1968's first-year manager Jim Lemon (no relation to the former owner) with Baseball Hall of Fame hitter Ted Williams, whom he lured back into uniform to become the club's new pilot.[4] Williams' signing was announced just prior to spring training on February 21, 1969.[5]

Offseason

Regular season
  • July 30, 1968, Ron Hansen of the Senators turned an unassisted triple play. He caught a line drive, touched second base and tagged the runner coming from first base.[7]

Opening Day starters

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 10359 0.636 — 56–25 47–34
Baltimore Orioles 9171 0.562 12 47–33 44–38
Cleveland Indians 8675 0.534 16½ 43–37 43–38
Boston Red Sox 8676 0.531 17 46–35 40–41
New York Yankees 8379 0.512 20 39–42 44–37
Oakland Athletics 8280 0.506 21 44–38 38–42
Minnesota Twins 7983 0.488 24 41–40 38–43
California Angels 6795 0.414 36 32–49 35–46
Chicago White Sox 6795 0.414 36 36–45 31–50
Washington Senators 6596 0.404 37½ 34–47 31–49

Record vs. opponents
1968 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET MIN NYY OAK WSH
Baltimore —9–910–811–77–118–1010–813–59–914–4
Boston 9–9—9–914–410–86–129–910–88–1011–7
California 8–109–9—8–107–115–137–116–125–1312–6
Chicago 7–114–1410–8—5–135–1310–86–1210–810–8
Cleveland 11–78–1011–713–5—6–1214–410–8–16–127–10
Detroit 10–812–613–513–512–6—10–810–8–113–5–110–8
Minnesota 8–109–911–78–104–148–10—12–68–1011–7
New York 5–138–1012–612–68–10–18–10–16–12—10–814–4
Oakland 9–910–813–58–1012–65–13–110–88–10—7–11
Washington 4–147–116–128–1010–78–107–114–1411–7—

Notable transactions

Roster
1968 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CPaul Casanova9632263.196425
1BMike Epstein12338590.2341333
2BBernie Allen12037390.241640
SSRon Hansen8627551.185828
3BKen McMullen151557138.2482062
LFFrank Howard158598164.27444106
CFDel Unser156635146.230130
RFEd Stroud10530673.239423

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
Cap Peterson9422646.204318
Ed Brinkman7719336.18706
Frank Coggins6217130.17507
Jim French5916532.194110
Brant Alyea5315040.267623
Hank Allen6812828.21919
Sam Bowens5711522.19147
Tim Cullen4711431.272116
Billy Bryan4010822.20438
Fred Valentine3710124.23837
Gary Holman758525.29407
Dick Billings12336.18213
Gene Martin9114.36411

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
Joe Coleman33223.012163.27139
Camilo Pascual31201.013122.69111
Jim Hannan25140.11063.0175
Frank Bertaina27127.17134.6681
Gerry Schoen13.2017.361

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
Dick Bosman46139.0293.6963
Barry Moore32117.2463.3756
Phil Ortega31115.25124.9857
Bruce Howard1348.2145.8623

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
Dennis Higgins5944133.2566
Bob Humphreys565723.6956
Dave Baldwin400254.0730
Darold Knowles321142.1837
Bill Haywood140004.7010
Steve Jones71205.9111
Casey Cox40102.354
Jim Miles300012.465
Bill Denehy30009.001

Awards and honors

League leaders

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Buffalo Bisons International League Wayne Terwilliger
AA Savannah Senators Southern League Buddy Hicks
A Burlington Senators Carolina League Len Johnston
A Salisbury Senators Western Carolinas League Billy Klaus
A-Short Season Geneva Senators New York–Penn League Joe Marchese

Notes
  1. "1968 Major League Baseball Attendance". baseball-reference.com. Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  2. Francis, Bill. "National Tragedy Brought Baseball to a Halt for Two Days in 1968". baseballhall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  3. Saxon, Wolfgang (November 22, 1982). "Robert E. Short, Businessman, Dies". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  4. Whelan, Bob; West, Steve. "Bob Short". sabr.org. Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  5. Muder, Craig. "Huge Contract Lures Williams to Job as Senators' Manager". baseballhall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  6. Tim Cullen page at Baseball reference
  7. "Unassisted Triple Plays | Baseball Almanac".
  8. Don Castle page at Baseball Reference
  9. Jim Mason page at Baseball Reference
  10. Mike Cubbage page at Baseball Reference

References
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