1968 Houston Astros season

The 1968 Houston Astros season was the seventh season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their fourth as the Astros, seventh in the National League (NL), and fourth at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season with a record of 68–93, in ninth place and 32+1⁄2 games behind the NL pennant and World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals.

1968 Houston Astros
League	National League
Ballpark	Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	72–90 (.444)
League place	10th
Owners	Roy Hofheinz
General managers	Spec Richardson
Managers	Grady Hatton, Harry Walker
Television	KTRK-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM) (Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Harry Kalas)
← 1967 Seasons 1969 →

In the amateur draft, Houston's first round selection was catcher Martin Cott, at third overall.

For the first time, the Astros hosted the MLB All-Star Game at The Astrodome, with the NL defeating the American League (AL), 1–0.^{[Note 1]} First baseman Rusty Staub represented the Astros and played for the National League at the All-Star Game, his second career selection.

The Astros concluded their season with a record of 72–90, an improvement of three wins, in tenth place of 10 teams and 25 games behind the repeat NL-pennant winning Cardinals. It was the first time the Astros finished a season in last place. Shortstop Héctor Torres was selected to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team.

Along with MLB's expansion featuring the introduction of four new franchises^{[Note 2]} and an extra playoff round^{[Note 3]}, this was also the final season prior to MLB's divisional era. Hence, all teams were realigned into four newly-commissioned divisions beginning the following season, with the Astros to compete in the NL West.

Offseason

• October 17, 1967: Bob Lillis was released by the Astros.^[1]
• October 25, 1967: César Cedeño was signed as an amateur free agent by the Astros.^[2]
• November 28, 1967: Doc Edwards was drafted from the Astros by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1967 minor league draft.^[3]

Regular season

Summary

Concurrent with a pitching duel on June 1 between the Chicago Cubs and the Astros at the Astrodome, Judge Hofheinz hosted the opening of Astroworld. Houston's newest newest amusement park, Astroworld was situated across the I-610 from The Astrodome.^[4]

Though games around Major League Baseball were postponed on June 10 in connection to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, two Houston Astros were fined for not playing in their game.^[5]

On July 9, the Astrodome hosted MLB All-Star Game for the first time, with the NL playing the American League (AL). San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays scored the game's only run as the National League won, 1–0. Mays was named the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award winner.^[6]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

National 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 record v t e 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	—

Notable transactions

• May 4, 1968: Aaron Pointer was traded by the Astros to the Chicago Cubs for Byron Browne.^[7]
• June 8, 1968: Larry Yount was drafted by the Astros in the 5th round of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft.^[8]

Roster

1968 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers 36 Wade Blasingame 30 John Buzhardt 31 Danny Coombs 35 Mike Cuellar 49 Larry Dierker 44 Tom Dukes 33 Hal Gilson 39 Dave Giusti 48 Fred Gladding 43 Pat House 23 Denny Lemaster 45 Jim Ray 40 Steve Shea 40 Don Wilson		Catchers  6 Dave Adlesh  7 John Bateman  9 Ron Brand  8 Hal King Infielders 14 Bob Aspromonte 17 Julio Gotay 00 John Mayberry 20 Leon McFadden 11 Denis Menke 18 Joe Morgan 12 Doug Rader 10 Rusty Staub 15 Héctor Torres		Outfielders 37 Byron Browne 27 Nate Colbert 22 Ron Davis 22 José Herrera 21 Norm Miller 20 Ivan Murrell 37 Dick Simpson 28 Lee Thomas 27 Bob Watson 24 Jimmy Wynn Other batters 50 Danny Walton		Manager  1 Grady Hatton 25 Harry Walker Coaches  4 Buddy Hancken  3 Mel McGaha  5 Jim Owens  2 Salty Parker

Game log

Regular season

Legend
	Astros win
	Astros loss
	Postponement
	Eliminated from playoff race
Bold	Astros team member

1968 regular season game log: 72–90 (Home: 42–39; Away: 30–51)[9]
April: 7–10 (Home: 6–2; Away: 1–8) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak — April 9 Pirates Postponed (Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.) (Makeup date: April 10) 1 April 10 Pirates 7 April 17 @ Pirates
May: 14–14 (Home: 8–6; Away: 6–8) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak
June: 11–19 (Home: 8–11; Away: 3–8) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 52 June 7 Pirates 53 June 8 Pirates 54 June 9 Pirates 57 June 14 @ Pirates 58 June 15 @ Pirates 59 (1) June 16 @ Pirates 60 (2) June 16 @ Pirates 61 June 17 @ Pirates
July: 13–17 (Home: 4–8; Away: 9–9) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak — July 9 7:15 p.m. CDT 39th All-Star Game in Houston, TX
August: 19–13 (Home: 11–6; Away: 8–7) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 113 August 8 Pirates 114 August 9 Pirates 115 (1) August 10 Pirates 116 (2) August 10 Pirates 117 August 11 Pirates
September: 8–17 (Home: 5–6; Away: 3–11) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 139 (1) September 2 @ Pirates 140 (2) September 2 @ Pirates 141 September 3 @ Pirates

Detailed records

National League Opponent W L WP RS RA Houston Astros Pittsburgh Pirates 5 13 0.278 57 90 Season Total 5 13 0.278 57 90

Month Games Won Lost Win % RS RA April May June July August September Total Games Won Lost Win % RS RA Home Away Total

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	John Bateman	111	350	87	.249	4	33
1B	Rusty Staub	161	591	172	.291	6	72
2B	Denis Menke	150	542	135	.249	6	56
SS	Héctor Torres	128	466	104	.223	1	24
3B	Doug Rader	98	333	89	.267	6	43
LF	Bob Watson	45	140	32	.229	2	8
CF	Jimmy Wynn	156	542	146	.269	26	67
RF	Norm Miller	79	257	61	.237	6	28

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
Bob Aspromonte	124	409	92	.225	1	46
Ron Davis	52	217	46	.212	1	12
Lee Thomas	90	201	39	.194	1	11
Dick Simpson	59	177	33	.186	3	11
Julio Gotay	75	165	41	.248	1	11
Dave Adlesh	40	104	19	.183	0	4
José Herrera	27	100	24	.240	0	7
Ron Brand	43	81	13	.160	0	4
Ivan Murrell	32	59	6	.102	0	3
Hal King	27	55	8	.145	0	2
Nate Colbert	20	53	8	.151	0	4
Leon McFadden	16	47	13	.277	0	1
Joe Morgan	10	20	5	.250	0	0
Byron Browne	10	13	3	.231	0	1
John Mayberry	4	9	0	.000	0	0
Danny Walton	2	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
Dave Giusti	37	251.0	11	14	3.19	186
Larry Dierker	32	233.2	12	15	3.31	161
Denny Lemaster	33	224.0	10	15	2.81	146
Don Wilson	33	208.2	13	16	3.28	175
Mike Cuellar	28	170.2	8	11	2.74	133

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
Steve Shea	30	4	4	6	3.38	15
Tom Dukes	43	2	2	4	4.27	37
Jim Ray	41	2	3	1	2.67	71
Danny Coombs	40	4	3	2	3.28	29
John Buzhardt	39	4	4	5	3.12	37
Wade Blasingame	22	1	2	1	4.75	22
Pat House	18	1	1	0	7.71	6
Fred Gladding	7	0	0	2	14.54	2
Hal Gilson	2	0	0	0	7.36	1

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

• Rusty Staub, First Base, Reserve

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	Pacific Coast League	Cot Deal
AA	Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs	Texas League	Hub Kittle
A	Greensboro Patriots	Carolina League	Brandy Davis
A	Cocoa Astros	Florida State League	Tony Pacheco and Leo Posada
Rookie	Covington Astros	Appalachian League	Tony Pacheco