1968 Minnesota Twins season

March 2026 November 2013 Minnesota Twins 1968 American League Metropolitan Stadium Bloomington, Minnesota 79 83 y 7th Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes) Calvin Griffith Cal Ermer WTCN-TV 830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Merle Harmon) The 1968 Minnesota Twins season was the 8th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 8th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 68th overall in the American League. The team finished 79–83, seventh in the American League. Offseason January 27, 1968: Eric Soderholm was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (1st pick) of the secondary phase of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft.Eric Soderholm at Baseball-Reference Regular season Leadoff batter César Tovar sparked the offense, finishing second in the American League (AL) with 167 hits and third with 89 runs. Tony Oliva was third in the AL with a .289 batting average. Harmon Killebrew had 17 HR and 40 RBI at the All-Star break but was injured in the All-Star Game and missed most of the second half of the season.1968 American League Standard Batting https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1968-standard-batting.shtml 2026-05-18 Baseball-Reference.com enJuly 9, 1968: All-Star parade of pitchers in the ‘Year of the Pitcher’ https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-9-1968-all-star-parade-of-pitchers-in-the-year-of-the-pitcher/ 2026-05-18 Society for American Baseball Research It took until their eighth season for the Twins to get no-hit and then it happened profoundly, as their first opposing no-hitter was the perfect game thrown by Oakland's Catfish Hunter on May 8 in Oakland. Hunter struck out 11 and drove in three of his team's four runs.Hunter authors rare perfect game https://baseballhall.org/discover/hunter-authors-rare-perfect-game 2026-05-18 Baseball Hall of Fame A first for the Twins: on July 11, Rick Renick played his first-ever major league game, at shortstop. In his first big-league at bat, he homered. The run came off Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich. Renick is the first Twins player to accomplish the feat, later to be joined in history by Dave McKay (1975), Gary Gaetti (1981), Andre David (1984), and Eddie Rosario (2015), who hit a homer not only in his first at bat, but on the first major-league pitch thrown to him. Three Twins made the All-Star Game: Killebrew, Oliva, and second baseman Rod Carew.1968 All-Star Game https://www.baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1968as.shtml 2026-05-18 Baseball Almanac On September 22, utility player César Tovar played all nine positions, an inning each, against the Oakland Athletics. Duplicating the feat that Bert Campaneris had performed three years prior, Tovar topped Campy by starting as pitcher and allowing no hits or runs. In the inning, the first batter Tovar faced was Campaneris, who fouled out. Tovar then struck out slugger Reggie Jackson.September 22, 1968: César Tovar plays all nine positions, leads Twins to victory – Society for American Baseball Research https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-22-1968-cesar-tovar-plays-all-nine-positions-leads-twins-to-victory/ 2026-05-18 en-US Four Twins won 10 or more games: Dean Chance (16–16), Jim Kaat (14–12) Jim Merritt (12–16), Dave Boswell (10–13). Kaat won his seventh Gold Glove. Al Worthington led the AL with 18 saves.1968 Minnesota Twins Statistics https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/1968.shtml 2026-05-18 Baseball-Reference.com 1,143,257 fans attended Twins games, the fourth highest total in the AL. Season standings Minnesota Twins Record vs. opponents MIN Roster 1968 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers 23 Dave Boswell 32 Dean Chance 18 Tom Hall 36 Jim Kaat 38 Ron Keller 26 Jim Merritt 21,49 Bob Miller 27 Danny Morris 16 Ron Perranoski 31 Jim Perry 19 Jim Roland 42 Buzz Stephen 15 Al Worthington Catchers 25 Bruce Look 34 George Mitterwald 10,13 John Roseboro 22 Jerry Zimmerman Infielders 29 Rod Carew  8 Ron Clark 24 Jackie Hernández  3 Harmon Killebrew  7 Frank Quilici 20 Rich Reese 10 Rick Renick  9 Rich Rollins Outfielders  4 Bob Allison 45 Jim Holt 25 Pat Kelly  2 Frank Kostro 28 Graig Nettles  6 Tony Oliva 12 César Tovar 11 Ted Uhlaender Manager 43 Cal Ermer Coaches 46 George Case 48 Johnny Goryl  1 Billy Martin  5 Bob Oldis 47 Early Wynn Player stats = Indicates team leader 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 Roseboro 135 380 82 .216 8 39 1B Harmon Killebrew 100 295 62 .210 17 40 2B Rod Carew 127 461 126 .273 1 42 SS Jackie Hernández 83 199 35 .176 2 17 3B César Tovar 157 613 167 .272 6 47 LF Bob Allison 145 469 116 .247 22 52 CF Ted Uhlaender 140 488 138 .283 7 52 RF Tony Oliva 128 470 136 .289 18 68 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 Rich Reese 126 332 86 .259 4 28 Frank Quilici 97 229 56 .245 1 22 Ron Clark Ron Clark (baseball) 104 227 42 .185 1 13 Rich Rollins 93 203 49 .241 6 30 Bruce Look 59 118 29 .246 0 9 Frank Kostro 63 108 26 .241 0 9 Jim Holt Jim Holt (baseball) 70 106 22 .208 0 8 Rick Renick 42 97 21 .216 3 13 Graig Nettles 22 76 17 .224 5 8 Jerry Zimmerman 24 45 5 .111 0 2 Pat Kelly Pat Kelly (outfielder) 12 35 4 .114 1 2 George Mitterwald 11 34 7 .206 0 1 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 Dean Chance 43 292.0 16 16 2.53 234 Jim Merritt baseball 38 238.1 12 16 3.25 181 Jim Kaat 30 208.0 14 12 2.94 130 Dave Boswell Dave Boswell (baseball player) 34 190.0 10 13 3.32 143 Buzz Stephen 2 11.1 1 1 4.76 4 César Tovar 1 1.0 0 0 0.00 1 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 Jim Perry Jim Perry (baseball) 32 139.0 8 6 2.27 69 Jim Roland 28 61.2 4 1 3.50 36 Tom Hall Tom Hall (baseball) 8 29.2 2 1 2.43 18 Ron Keller 7 16.0 0 1 1.69 11 Danny Morris 3 10.2 0 1 1.69 6 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 Al Worthington 54 4 5 18 2.71 57 Ron Perranoski 66 8 7 6 3.10 65 Bob Miller Bob Miller (baseball, born 1939) 45 0 3 2 2.74 41 Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Denver Bears Pacific Coast League Johnny Goryl and Billy Martin AA Charlotte Hornets Southern League Harry Warner A Wilson Tobs Carolina League Vern Morgan A Orlando Twins Florida State League Ralph Rowe A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Ray Bellino and Tom Umphlett A-Short Season Auburn Twins New York–Penn League Boyd Coffie A-Short Season St. Cloud Rox Northern League Carroll Hardy Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Fred Waters League champions: Orlando, St. Cloud Notes 2 References Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 Category:Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins season Minnesota Twins