# 1968 Cincinnati Reds season

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.
* November 29, 1967: Sammy Ellis was traded by the Reds to the California Angels for Bill Kelso and Jorge Rubio.
* 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.
* February 8, 1968: Johnny Edwards was traded by the Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jimy Williams and Pat Corrales.
* 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

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 97 | 65 | .599 | — | 47‍–‍34 | 50‍–‍31 |
| San Francisco Giants | 88 | 74 | .543 | 9 | 42‍–‍39 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Chicago Cubs | 84 | 78 | .519 | 13 | 47‍–‍34 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 83 | 79 | .512 | 14 | 40‍–‍41 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Atlanta Braves | 81 | 81 | .500 | 16 | 41‍–‍40 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 80 | 82 | .494 | 17 | 40‍–‍41 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 76 | 86 | .469 | 21 | 41‍–‍40 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 76 | 86 | .469 | 21 | 38‍–‍43 | 38‍–‍43 |
| New York Mets | 73 | 89 | .451 | 24 | 32‍–‍49 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Houston Astros | 72 | 90 | .444 | 25 | 42‍–‍39 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1968 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | NYM | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 8–10 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 12–6–1 | 11–7 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 5–13 |
| Chicago | 10–8 | — | 7–11 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 9–9–1 | 9–9 |
| Cincinnati | 8–10 | 11–7 | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 10–8–1 | 8–10 | 7–11 |
| Houston | 7–11 | 8–10 | 9–9 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 5–13 |
| Los Angeles | 9–9 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 7–11 | — | 7–11 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 9–9 |
| New York | 6–12–1 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 11–7 | — | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 6–12 |
| Philadelphia | 7–11 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 10–8 | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 8–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 12–6 | 8–10 | 8–10–1 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 9–9 | — | 7–11 | 6–12 |
| San Francisco | 9–9 | 9–9–1 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 11–7 | — | 10–8 |
| St. Louis | 13–5 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | — |

### Roster
## Player stats
### 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 | Johnny Bench | 154 | 564 | 155 | .275 | 15 | 82 |
| 1B | Lee May | 146 | 559 | 162 | .290 | 22 | 80 |
| 2B | Tommy Helms | 127 | 507 | 146 | .288 | 2 | 47 |
| SS | Leo Cárdenas | 137 | 452 | 106 | .235 | 7 | 41 |
| 3B | Tony Pérez | 160 | 625 | 176 | .282 | 18 | 92 |
| LF | Alex Johnson | 149 | 603 | 188 | .312 | 2 | 58 |
| CF | Vada Pinson | 130 | 499 | 135 | .271 | 5 | 48 |
| RF | Pete Rose | 149 | 626 | 210 | .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 |
| Pat Corrales | 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 |
| Mel Queen | 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 |
| Ted Abernathy | 78 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 2.46 | 64 |
| Bob Lee | 44 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5.15 | 34 |
| Bill Kelso | 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

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Indianapolis Indians | Pacific Coast League | Don Zimmer |
| AA | Asheville Tourists | Southern League | Sparky Anderson |
| A | Tampa Tarpons | Florida State League | George Scherger |
| A-Short Season | Sioux Falls Packers | Northern League | Jim Snyder |
| Rookie | GCL Reds | Gulf Coast League | Bill Lajoie |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Asheville