07 February 2009

1968 National League

The 97-win Cardinals won the pennant easily, by nine games over the Giants. Chicago was third, Cincinnati 4th and Atlanta 5th. Pittsburgh was 6th, LA and Philly tied for 7th, the Mets 9th (their second time of not being last) and the Astros last with 90 losses.

Pete Rose won his first batting title by three points, .335 to .332, over Matty Alou. Rose also led in OBP. Willie McCovey led in HR with 36, RBI with 105, slugging, and OPS. McCovey was the league's only 100-RBI guy, as Ron Santo and Billy Williams tied for second with 98. Richie Allen was second with 33 HR. Rose and Felipe Alou each had 210 hits. Lou Brock led in doubles with 46, triples with 14, and steals with 62.

"The year of the pitcher" was evident in the National League. Don Drysdale hurled 58 consecutive shutout innings while Bob Gibson tossed 13 shutouts and posted a 1.12 ERA for the season. Gibson started 34 games, and completed 28 of them. In the other six, he was removed for a pinch-hitter. That may be a modern record, over 30 starts and never relieved in the middle of an inning. Gibson won the MVP for his performance. Juan Marichal led in wins with 26, followed by Gibson at 22, while Gibson of course led in ERA as well as strikeouts with 268. Fergie Jenkins was second in strikeouts with 260, and third in wins with 20. Bob Bolin was second in ERA with a 1.99 mark. Marichal had 326 innings and 30 complete games. Phil Regan led in saves with 25.

Win Shares leaders, players; Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 34, Hank Aaron (Atlanta), Pete Rose (Cincinnati), Jim Wynn (Houston) and Dick Allen (Philadelphia) 32, Felipe Alou (Atlanta) and Lou Brock (St. Louis) 31, Billy Williams (Chicago) and Willie Mays (San Francisco) 30, Ron Santo (Chicago) and Rusty Staub (Houston) 28, Tom Haller (Los Angeles) and Curt Flood (St. Louis) 27, Tony Perez (Cincinnati) and Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh) 25, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bob Gibson (St. Louis) 36, Fergie Jenkins (Chicago) 25, Juan Marichal (San Francisco) 24, Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver (New York) 23, Phil Regan (LA/Chicago) 20, Pat Jarvis (Atlanta) and Gaylord Perry (San Francisco) 19, Phil Niekro (Atlanta), Bill Hands (Chicago), Don Drysdale (Los Angeles) and Chris Short (Philadelphia) 18.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Perez 8.3, Mays and Aaron 8.2, McCovey 7.7, Wynn 7.6, Haller 7.5, Rose 7.4, Brock and Bench 7.3, Alou 7.0, Flood and Santo 6.2, Allen 5.8, Matty Alou (Pittsburgh) 5.7, Clemente 5.4.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Gibson 11.0, Jenkins 8.7, Jarvis 6.7, Seaver 6.6, Marichal 6.3, Short and Larry Jackson (Philadelphia) 6.2, Perry 6.1, Niekro 5.9, Koosman 5.8, Hands 5.2, Regan 5.0.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Aaron 7.9, McCovey 7.6, Mays 7.3, Clemente 7.2, F. Alou 7.0, Santo 6.8, Rose 6.2, Brock 6.1, Wynn 6.0, Perez 5.9, Williams 5.7, Haller 5.5, M. Alou and Bench 5.1, Alley 5.0, Allen 4.7, Beckert 4.6, Clendenon 4.5. Pitchers (bWAR): Gibson 11.9, Seaver 7.5, Jenkins 6.9, Koosman 6.8, Perry 6.2, Marichal 6.1, Drysdale 5.9, Lemaster 5.3, Giusti 5.2, Bolin and Short 5.1, Jarvis 5.0, Niekro 4.9, Jackson 4.8.

Actual award winners;

MVP: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-------+-----++--+
1 Bob Gibson STL 14 242 280 0.86 | 94 16 0 .170 .456 1| 22-9 305 1.12 0.853 268
2 Pete Rose CIN 6 205 280 0.73 | 626 210 10 .335 .861 3
3 Willie McCovey SFG 0 135 280 0.48 | 523 153 36 .293 .923 4
4 Curt Flood STL 0 116 280 0.41 | 618 186 5 .301 .705 11
5 Juan Marichal SFG 0 93 280 0.33 | 123 20 0 .163 .376 0| 26-9 326 2.43 1.046 218
6 Lou Brock STL 0 73 280 0.26 | 660 184 6 .279 .746 62
7 Mike Shannon STL 0 55 280 0.20 | 576 153 15 .266 .710 1
8 Billy Williams CHC 0 48 280 0.17 | 642 185 30 .288 .836 4
9 Glenn Beckert CHC 0 40 280 0.14 | 643 189 4 .294 .695 8
10 Felipe Alou ATL 0 33 280 0.12 | 662 210 11 .317 .803 12
11 Matty Alou PIT 0 32 280 0.11 | 558 185 0 .332 .758 18
12 Hank Aaron ATL 0 19 280 0.07 | 606 174 29 .287 .852 28
13 Ernie Banks CHC 0 14 280 0.05 | 552 136 32 .246 .756 2
13 Jerry Koosman NYM 0 14 280 0.05 | 91 7 1 .077 .227 0| 19-12 264 2.08 1.100 178
13 Willie Mays SFG 0 14 280 0.05 | 498 144 23 .289 .860 12
16 Johnny Bench CIN 0 11 280 0.04 | 564 155 15 .275 .743 1
17 Phil Regan TOT 0 7 280 0.02 | + 21 3 0 .143 .372 0|+12-5 135 2.27 1.069 67 25
18 Fergie Jenkins CHC 0 6 280 0.02 | 100 16 1 .160 .438 0| 20-15 308 2.63 1.039 260
19 Tony Perez CIN 0 5 280 0.02 | 625 176 18 .282 .769 3
20 Nelson Briles STL 0 4 280 0.01 | 80 11 0 .138 .349 0| 19-11 244 2.81 1.256 141
20 Dal Maxvill STL 0 4 280 0.01 | 459 116 1 .253 .627 0
22 Steve Blass PIT 0 3 280 0.01 | 80 11 0 .138 .305 0| 18-6 220 2.12 1.126 132
22 Tom Haller LAD 0 3 280 0.01 | 474 135 4 .285 .733 1
24 Ron Santo CHC 0 2 280 0.01 | 577 142 26 .246 .775 3
25 Clay Carroll TOT 0 1 280 0.00 | + 29 6 0 .207 .440 0|+ 7-8 144 2.69 1.153 71 17
25 Tommy Helms CIN 0 1 280 0.00 | 507 146 2 .288 .668 5|
Gibson and Rose were the contenders, and Gibson won. Deservedly so.

Cy Young: Gibson was a unanimous pick.

Rookie: 1st Max | Season Results
Rk Name Team Place Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+----+---+--+
1 Johnny Bench CIN 10 10 20 0.50 | 564 155 15 .275 .743 1
2 Jerry Koosman NYM 9 9 20 0.45 | 91 7 1 .077 .227 0| 19-12 264 2.08 1.100 178
A close one between two outstanding rookies.

Top player: Hank Aaron. Aaron wins for his combination of solid hitting and solid defense. Rose was a bit behind him offensively, McCovey was not his equal with the glove.
#1 Hank Aaron, #2 Willie McCovey, #3 Pete Rose, #4 Jim Wynn, #5 Willie Mays, #6 Ron Santo.

Top pitcher: Bob Gibson. There can be no other answer to this question in 1968.
#1 Bob Gibson, #2 Fergie Jenkins, #3 Juan Marichal, #4 Tom Seaver, #5 Jerry Koosman.

Top rookie: Johnny Bench. Not by a large margin over Koosman, but by enough.

Top manager: Red Schoendienst won the pennant again.

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