# 1968 New York Mets season

The 1968 New York Mets season was the seventh regular season for the Mets. They went 73–89 and finished ninth in the National League, twenty-four games behind the first place St. Louis Cardinals They were managed by Gil Hodges. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

## Offseason

* November 28, 1967: Clyde Mashore was drafted by the Mets from the Cincinnati Reds in the 1967 rule 5 draft.
* November 28, 1967: Darrell Sutherland was drafted from the Mets by the Cleveland Indians in the 1967 minor league draft.
* November 29, 1967: Bill Short was sold to the New York Mets by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* December 15, 1967: Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, Billy Wynne, and Buddy Booker were traded by the Mets to the Chicago White Sox for Tommie Agee and Al Weis.
* March 28, 1968: Clyde Mashore was returned by the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds.

## Regular season

1968 marked the beginning of Gil Hodges' tenure at the helm. A former infielder with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he replaced Salty Parker as manager. Despite the team's 9th place finish, the Mets managed to narrowly avoid yet another last place ranking, and boasted their best record since their inception in 1962. They would go on to stun the baseball world the following year when they won the World Series.

### 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 | Jerry Grote | 124 | 404 | 114 | .282 | 3 | 31 |
| 1B | Ed Kranepool | 127 | 373 | 86 | .231 | 3 | 20 |
| 2B | Ken Boswell | 75 | 284 | 74 | .261 | 4 | 11 |
| SS | Bud Harrelson | 111 | 402 | 88 | .219 | 0 | 14 |
| 3B | Ed Charles | 117 | 369 | 102 | .276 | 15 | 53 |
| LF | Cleon Jones | 147 | 509 | 151 | .297 | 14 | 55 |
| CF | Tommie Agee | 132 | 368 | 80 | .217 | 5 | 17 |
| RF | Ron Swoboda | 132 | 450 | 109 | .242 | 11 | 59 |

#### 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 |
| Art Shamsky | 116 | 345 | 82 | .238 | 12 | 48 |
| Al Weis | 90 | 274 | 47 | .172 | 2 | 14 |
| Phil Linz | 78 | 258 | 54 | .209 | 0 | 17 |
| J.C. Martin | 78 | 244 | 55 | .225 | 3 | 31 |
| Jerry Buchek | 73 | 192 | 35 | .182 | 1 | 11 |
| Larry Stahl | 53 | 183 | 43 | .235 | 3 | 10 |
| Kevin Collins | 58 | 154 | 31 | .201 | 1 | 13 |
| Don Bosch | 50 | 111 | 19 | .171 | 3 | 7 |
| Greg Goossen | 38 | 106 | 22 | .208 | 0 | 6 |
| Bob Heise | 6 | 23 | 5 | .217 | 0 | 1 |
| Mike Jorgensen | 8 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Duffy Dyer | 1 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |

### 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 |
| Tom Seaver | 36 | 278.0 | 16 | 12 | 2.20 | 205 |
| Jerry Koosman | 35 | 263.2 | 19 | 12 | 2.08 | 178 |
| Don Cardwell | 29 | 180.0 | 7 | 13 | 2.95 | 82 |
| Dick Selma | 33 | 170.1 | 9 | 10 | 2.75 | 117 |
| Nolan Ryan | 21 | 134.0 | 6 | 9 | 3.09 | 133 |
| Jim McAndrew | 12 | 79.0 | 4 | 7 | 2.28 | 46 |

#### 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 |
| Al Jackson | 25 | 92.2 | 3 | 7 | 3.69 | 59 |
| Danny Frisella | 19 | 50.2 | 2 | 4 | 3.91 | 47 |
| Les Rohr | 2 | 6.0 | 0 | 2 | 4.50 | 5 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Ron Taylor | 58 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 2.70 | 49 |
| Cal Koonce | 55 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 2.42 | 50 |
| Bill Short | 34 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4.85 | 24 |
| Bill Connors | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.00 | 8 |
| Don Shaw | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.75 | 11 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Jacksonville Suns | International League | Clyde McCullough |
| AA | Memphis Blues | Texas League | Roy Sievers |
| A | Visalia Mets | California League | Roy McMillan |
| A | Raleigh-Durham Mets | Carolina League | Pete Pavlick |
| A-Short Season | Mankato Mets | Northern League | Joe Frazier |
| Rookie | Marion Mets | Appalachian League | Gary Gearhart |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jacksonville, Marion