# 1968 Cleveland Indians season

The 1968 Cleveland Indians season was their 68th season of baseball in the American League. It saw their pitching staff lead the major leagues with the most strikeouts (1,157) while allowing the fewest hits (1,087). Despite this, they finished 3rd in the American League, their highest finish in nine years. They would not finish higher than 4th again until 1994.

## Off season

* October 17, 1967: Jim King was released by the Indians.
* October 26, 1967: Marv Staehle was sent to the Indians by the Chicago White Sox to complete an earlier deal (the White Sox sent Jim King and a player to be named later to the Indians for Rocky Colavito) made on July 29, 1967.
* November 28, 1967: Darrell Sutherland was drafted by the Indians from the New York Mets in the 1967 minor league draft.
* November 28, 1967: Eddie Fisher was traded by the Baltimore Orioles with Bob Scott (minors) and John Scruggs (minors) to the Cleveland Indians for Gordy Lund and John O'Donoghue.
* January 27, 1968: Rick Sawyer was drafted by the Indians in the 3rd round of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft Secondary Phase.

## Regular season
### Transactions

* June 7, 1968: Vince Colbert was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 11th round of the 1968 amateur draft.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Detroit Tigers | 103 | 59 | .636 | — | 56‍–‍25 | 47‍–‍34 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 91 | 71 | .562 | 12 | 47‍–‍33 | 44‍–‍38 |
| Cleveland Indians | 86 | 75 | .534 | 16½ | 43‍–‍37 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Boston Red Sox | 86 | 76 | .531 | 17 | 46‍–‍35 | 40‍–‍41 |
| New York Yankees | 83 | 79 | .512 | 20 | 39‍–‍42 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Oakland Athletics | 82 | 80 | .506 | 21 | 44‍–‍38 | 38‍–‍42 |
| Minnesota Twins | 79 | 83 | .488 | 24 | 41‍–‍40 | 38‍–‍43 |
| California Angels | 67 | 95 | .414 | 36 | 32‍–‍49 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Chicago White Sox | 67 | 95 | .414 | 36 | 36‍–‍45 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Washington Senators | 65 | 96 | .404 | 37½ | 34‍–‍47 | 31‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1968 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | MIN | NYY | OAK | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 9–9 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 14–4 |
| Boston | 9–9 | — | 9–9 | 14–4 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| California | 8–10 | 9–9 | — | 8–10 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 5–13 | 12–6 |
| Chicago | 7–11 | 4–14 | 10–8 | — | 5–13 | 5–13 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 10–8 |
| Cleveland | 11–7 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 13–5 | — | 6–12 | 14–4 | 10–8–1 | 6–12 | 7–10 |
| Detroit | 10–8 | 12–6 | 13–5 | 13–5 | 12–6 | — | 10–8 | 10–8–1 | 13–5–1 | 10–8 |
| Minnesota | 8–10 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 4–14 | 8–10 | — | 12–6 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| New York | 5–13 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 8–10–1 | 8–10–1 | 6–12 | — | 10–8 | 14–4 |
| Oakland | 9–9 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 5–13–1 | 10–8 | 8–10 | — | 7–11 |
| Washington | 4–14 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 10–7 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 4–14 | 11–7 | — |

### Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters :
| # | Name | Position |
| 21 | Tommy Harper | LF |
| 13 | Vern Fuller | 2B |
| 1 | José Cardenal | CF |
| 9 | Duke Sims | C |
| 11 | Tony Horton | 1B |
| 25 | Vic Davalillo | RF |
| 10 | Max Alvis | 3B |
| 16 | Larry Brown | SS |
| 42 | Sonny Siebert | P |

### 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 | Joe Azcue | 115 | 357 | 100 | .280 | 4 | 42 |
| 1B | Tony Horton | 133 | 477 | 119 | .249 | 14 | 59 |
| 2B | Vern Fuller | 97 | 244 | 59 | .242 | 0 | 18 |
| SS | Larry Brown | 154 | 495 | 116 | .234 | 6 | 35 |
| 3B | Max Alvis | 131 | 452 | 101 | .223 | 8 | 37 |
| LF | Lee Maye | 109 | 299 | 84 | .281 | 4 | 26 |
| CF | José Cardenal | 157 | 583 | 150 | .257 | 7 | 44 |
| RF | Vic Davalillo | 51 | 180 | 43 | .239 | 2 | 13 |

#### 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 |
| Duke Sims | 122 | 361 | 90 | .249 | 11 | 44 |
| Chico Salmon | 103 | 276 | 59 | .214 | 3 | 12 |
| Tommy Harper | 130 | 235 | 51 | .217 | 6 | 26 |
| Russ Snyder | 68 | 217 | 61 | .281 | 2 | 23 |
| Lou Johnson | 65 | 202 | 52 | .257 | 5 | 23 |
| Dave Nelson | 88 | 189 | 44 | .233 | 0 | 19 |
| Jimmie Hall | 53 | 111 | 22 | .198 | 1 | 8 |
| Billy Harris | 38 | 94 | 20 | .213 | 0 | 3 |
| Richie Scheinblum | 19 | 55 | 12 | .218 | 0 | 5 |
| José Vidal | 37 | 54 | 9 | .167 | 2 | 5 |
| Leon Wagner | 38 | 49 | 9 | .184 | 0 | 6 |
| Willie Smith | 33 | 42 | 6 | .143 | 0 | 3 |
| Lou Klimchock | 11 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | 3 |
| Ken Suarez | 17 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 0 |
| Lou Piniella | 6 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Russ Nagelson | 5 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Eddie Leon | 6 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ray Fosse | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Sam McDowell | 38 | 269.0 | 15 | 14 | 1.81 | 283 |
| Luis Tiant | 34 | 258.1 | 21 | 9 | 1.60 | 264 |
| Sonny Siebert | 31 | 206.0 | 12 | 10 | 2.97 | 146 |
| Steve Hargan | 32 | 158.1 | 8 | 15 | 4.15 | 78 |

#### 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 |
| Stan Williams | 44 | 194.1 | 13 | 11 | 2.50 | 147 |
| Mike Paul | 36 | 91.2 | 5 | 8 | 3.93 | 87 |
| Horacio Piña | 12 | 31.1 | 1 | 1 | 1.72 | 24 |
| Steve Bailey | 2 | 5.0 | 0 | 1 | 3.60 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Vicente Romo | 40 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 1.62 | 54 |
| Eddie Fisher | 54 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2.85 | 42 |
| Hal Kurtz | 28 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.21 | 16 |
| Billy Rohr | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.87 | 5 |
| Rob Gardner | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 6 |
| Darrell Sutherland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.10 | 2 |
| Tommy Gramly | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.70 | 1 |
| Mike Hedlund | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.80 | 0 |
| Willie Smith | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Portland Beavers | Pacific Coast League | Red Davis |
| AA | Waterbury Indians | Eastern League | Phil Cavarretta and Ray Mueller |
| A | Reno Silver Sox | California League | Clay Bryant |
| A | Rock Hill Indians | Western Carolinas League | Pinky May |
| Rookie | GCL Indians | Gulf Coast League | Ken Aspromonte |