# 1968 Chicago Cubs season

The 1968 Chicago Cubs season was the 97th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 93rd in the National League and the 53rd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished third in the National League with a record of 84–78.

## Offseason

* November 28, 1967: Ramón Hernández was drafted by the Cubs from the Atlanta Braves in the 1967 rule 5 draft.
* November 30, 1967: Paul Popovich and Jim Williams were traded by the Cubs to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Lou Johnson.

## Regular season
### 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 |

### Notable transactions

* May 4, 1968: Byron Browne was traded by the Cubs to the Houston Astros for Aaron Pointer.
* June 7, 1968: 1968 Major League Baseball draft
** Oscar Gamble was drafted by the Cubs in the 16th round. Player signed June 18, 1968.
** Paul Reuschel was drafted by the Cubs in the 4th round of the Secondary Phase. Player signed June 17, 1968.
* June 14, 1968: Ramón Hernández was purchased from the Cubs by the St. Louis Cardinals.

### 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 | Randy Hundley | 160 | 553 | 125 | .226 | 7 | 65 |
| 1B | Ernie Banks | 150 | 552 | 136 | .246 | 32 | 83 |
| 2B | Glenn Beckert | 155 | 643 | 189 | .294 | 4 | 37 |
| SS | Don Kessinger | 160 | 655 | 157 | .240 | 1 | 32 |
| 3B | Ron Santo | 162 | 577 | 142 | .246 | 26 | 98 |
| LF | Billy Williams | 163 | 642 | 185 | .288 | 30 | 98 |
| CF | Adolfo Phillips | 143 | 439 | 106 | .241 | 13 | 33 |
| RF | Lou Johnson | 62 | 205 | 50 | .244 | 1 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Hickman | 75 | 188 | 42 | .223 | 5 | 23 |
| Al Spangler | 88 | 177 | 48 | .271 | 2 | 18 |
| Willie Smith | 55 | 142 | 39 | .275 | 5 | 25 |
| Dick Nen | 81 | 94 | 17 | .181 | 2 | 16 |
| José Arcia | 59 | 84 | 16 | .190 | 1 | 8 |
| Lee Elia | 15 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 0 | 3 |
| John Boccabella | 7 | 14 | 1 | .071 | 0 | 1 |
| Jimmy McMath | 6 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 2 |
| Gene Oliver | 8 | 11 | 4 | .364 | 0 | 1 |
| John Upham | 13 | 10 | 2 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Randy Bobb | 7 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Ted Savage | 3 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Clarence Jones | 5 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Vic LaRose | 4 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Plummer | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| John Stephenson | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| John Felske | 4 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Ferguson Jenkins | 40 | 308.0 | 20 | 15 | 2.63 | 260 |
| Bill Hands | 38 | 258.2 | 16 | 10 | 2.89 | 148 |
| Ken Holtzman | 34 | 215.0 | 11 | 14 | 3.35 | 151 |
| Joe Niekro | 34 | 177.1 | 14 | 10 | 4.31 | 65 |
| Rich Nye | 27 | 132.2 | 7 | 12 | 3.80 | 74 |

#### 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 |
| Gary Ross | 13 | 41.0 | 1 | 1 | 4.17 | 31 |
| Archie Reynolds | 7 | 13.1 | 0 | 1 | 6.75 | 6 |
| Darcy Fast | 8 | 10.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.40 | 10 |
| Frank Reberger | 3 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Phil Regan | 68 | 10 | 5 | 25 | 2.20 | 60 |
| Jack Lamabe | 42 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4.30 | 30 |
| Chuck Hartenstein | 28 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4.54 | 17 |
| Bill Stoneman | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.52 | 18 |
| Bobby Tiefenauer | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6.08 | 9 |
| Ramón Hernández | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 3 |
| Pete Mikkelsen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.71 | 5 |
| John Upham | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Willie Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Jophery Brown | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tacoma Cubs | Pacific Coast League | Whitey Lockman |
| AA | San Antonio Missions | Texas League | Harry Bright |
| A | Lodi Crushers | California League | Jim Marshall and Al Heist |
| A | Quincy Cubs | Midwest League | Walt Dixon |
| Rookie | Caldwell Cubs | Pioneer League | George Freese |