1968 Houston Astros season

Offseason

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

Regular season

Summary

April—June

The start of the 1968 season, delayed to due to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., commenced for Houston on April 10. On a walk-off hit, the Astros triumphed, 5–4, over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Down 4–2 in the bottom of the ninth, Ivan Murrell plated Joe Morgan via a run batted in (RBI) single. Bob Aspromonte then tripled in Murrell and Julio Gotay to deliver the decisive run. In the bottom of the second, Norm Miller took Jim Bunning deep for the Astros' first home run of the new campaign. Larry Dierker started for Houston and earned the complete game victory, with all four runs as earned, including Roberto Clemente's game-tying home run in the top of the third.

On April 14, New York Mets handed the Astros their first defeat of the season, 4–0. It was in that contest that young Mets phenom—and future Astro—Nolan Ryan earned his first major league victory. For the first five innings, Ryan held the Astros hitless. The Astros mounted their greatest scoring threat during the bottom of the sixth, trailing the Mets, 2–0. With two outs and Lee Thomas on third base and Morgan on second, Ryan retired Rusty Staub looking to emerge from the inning unscathed. Ryan tossed frames of shutout ball prior to departing due to a blister on his pitching hand.

The Astros and Mets took their April 15 contest to 24 innings at the Astrodome, with Houston prevailing 1–0. This was the longest shutout in major league history, lasting more than 6 hours before anyone scored. During the final inning, Bob Aspromonte's ground ball rolled through the legs of Al Weis, allowing Norm Miller to charge home and score for the walk-off win. Catchers Hal King and Jerry Grote played through the entire contest. over seven innings and established a club record for relievers by fanning 11. With the victory raising their record to , the Astros climbed to a season-high 4 games over .500.

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 amusement park, Astroworld was situated across the I-610 from the Astrodome.

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.

MLB All-Star Game at the Astrodome

On July 9, the Astrodome hosted the MLB All-Star Game for the first time, the 39th edition, with the NL playing the American League (AL). San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays, who scored the game's only run as the National League prevailed, 1–0, was named the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award winner. In a season hallmarked by some of the most dominant pitching of the modern era, the game depicted a microcosm of the times. In the bottom of the first inning, Mays scored the game's only run via a fielder's choice off a sharp Willie McCovey ground ball which the AL converted into a double play. The American League managed three hits while the NL collected five. This was the first-ever 1–0 score to result in the Midsummer Classic.

The loudest cheers from the hometown crowd erupted for first baseman Rusty Staub—representing the Astros as a reserve—and for Mickey Mantle. In the sixth inning, Staub popoed out to third base as a pinch hitter for Denny McLain. In the eighth inning, Mantle pinch hit in what would be his final All-Star Game appearance and struck out against Tom Seaver.

Don Wilson's 18-strikeout game

Right-hander Don Wilson fanned 18 Cincinnati Reds on July 14 to establish the Houston Astros club record for one game,

Cincinnati was loaded with offensive talent, pacing the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging percentage, hits, runs scored, doubles, and total bases. Meanwhile, the Astros ranked eighth in runs per game, last in defensive efficiency, and seventh in runs per game surrendered. However, they led the league in strikeouts.

Each member of Cincinnati's starting lineup struck out at least once except outfielder Alex Johnson, who also scored the Reds' only run. The final out of the contest—and Wilson's final strikeout victim—was rookie Johnny Bench, whom he punched out looking. In all, Wilson allowed five hits, two walks, and earned a complete game and a game score of 89. The 18 strikeouts represented Wilson's permanent career high.

Dick Simpson homered off Gerry Arrigo in the top of the third inning for the first run of the contest.

During the bottom of the fourth frame, with Tony Pérez batting, Johnson on third, and Lee May on first, the latter two executed a double steal. Johnson's steal was of home, which tied the score, 1–1. The run was unearned due to a throwing error on catcher John Bateman.

In the top of the fifth, the Astros resumed the lead with run-scoring singles by Jimmy Wynn and Bob Aspromonte, at 3–1.

Wilson's performance matched the modern major league record over a nine-inning game first established by Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians on October 2, 1938, when he whiffed 18 Detroit Tigers. Sandy Koufax equaled the record twice, for the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 31, 1959, against the San Francisco Giants, and again on April 24, 1962, against the Chicago Cubs.

Rest of July

Jimmy Wynn blasted his 100th career home run on July 26, deep to center field at the Astrodome, off Frank Linzy of San Francisco. Wynn connected in the bottom of the eighth inning for three runs batted in (RBI) to augment the Astros' lead to 4–0. Denny Lemaster came within one out of earning a complete game victory, surrendering his only run in the ninth inning, and yielding on 7 hits to San Francisco.

September

Just two months after showcasing his career-high 18 punchouts, on September 10, Don Wilson reprised that feat with 16, The 16 strikeouts represented the second-highest of Wilson's career.

Performance overview

The Astros concluded their season with a record of 72–90, in tenth place of 10 teams and 25 games behind the repeat NL-pennant winning St. Louis Cardinals. In spite of an improvement of three wins, it was the first time the Astros finished a season in last place. At the time, the 72 wins represented the most in a season in franchise history, tying the 1966 squad. The following year, Houston improved by 9 wins to attain their first-ever .500 season at 81–81. This would break a streak of each of the first 7 consecutive seasons in franchise history ending with 90 losses or more. The 1969 campaign also represented the first year of divisional play, situating the Astros into the newly-commissioned National League West division.

Houston's starting rotation featured four hurlers who each tallied double-figures in wins that year: Wilson (13), Larry Dierker (12) Dave Giusti (11) and Denny Lemaster (10).

At the time, Mike Cuellar (2.74) and Lemaster (2.81) posted the second- and third-lowest ERA in club history among left-handers, behind only Cuellar himself in 1966 (2.22). The 1968 figures were later surpassed by Bob Knepper (2.18 in 1981), Andy Pettitte (2.39 in 2005) and Dallas Keuchel (2.48 in 2015).

With the advent of divisional play for 1969, Major League Baseball held an expansion round to introduce four expansion teams: the Montreal Expos in the National League East division, the San Diego Padres in the NL West, and both the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots in the American League West.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

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

Roster

Game log

Regular season

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Detailed records

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

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Awards and achievements

;Awards

• Houston Astros Most Valuable Player (MVP): Denis Menke
• All-Star Game—Reserve infielder: Rusty Staub
• Topps All-Star Rookie Team—Shortstop: Héctor Torres

Minor league system

Notes

References

References

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2. "César Cedeño stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com.
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8. Boston, Talmadge. (January 4, 2012). "Nolan Ryan biography". [[Society for American Baseball Research]] (SABR).
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11. Riis, Richard. (April 15, 1968). "The Astrodome Marathon: Astros beat Mets 1–0 in 24-inning duel". Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
12. "The Strikeout Zone". Astros Daily.
13. "1968 Houston Astros schedule". Baseball-Reference.com.
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23. "Jimmy Wynn career home runs". Baseball-Reference.com.
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33. "Byron Browne stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com.
34. "Larry Yount stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com.
35. "1968 Houston Astros Schedule & Results". Baseball-Reference.com.
36. McTaggart, Brian. (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com.