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1968 Washington Senators season

The 1968 Washington Senators season was the eighth in the expansion team's history, and it saw the Senators finish tenth and last in the ten-team American League with a record of 65 wins and 96 losses. The club also finished 20th and last in MLB attendance, with a total of 564,661 fans,[1] a decrease of about 206,000 from 1967. Civil unrest in Washington, D.C., resulting from the April 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., caused a two-day postponement of the traditional Presidential opener, which had been scheduled for D.C. Stadium on April 8.[2]

The Senators' struggles on the field and at the turnstiles helped drive owner James H. Lemon to put the team on the market. On December 3, 1968, it was announced that Minneapolis businessman and politician Bob Short had outbid entertainer Bob Hope to purchase the team. Short had earlier owned a professional sports team when he purchased the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA in 1957, moved them to Los Angeles in 1960, and sold the reborn Los Angeles Lakers to Jack Kent Cooke in 1964.[3]

In a front-office housecleaning, Short ousted general manager George Selkirk and took responsibility for the club's baseball operations himself. He then made headlines by replacing 1968's first-year manager Jim Lemon (no relation to the former owner) with Baseball Hall of Fame hitter Ted Williams, whom he lured back into uniform to become the club's new pilot.[4] Williams' signing was announced just prior to spring training on February 21, 1969.[5]

Offseason

Regular season

Opening Day starters

Season standings

Record vs. opponents


Notable transactions

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

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

Other 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 honors

League leaders

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system

Notes

  1. ^ "1968 Major League Baseball Attendance". baseball-reference.com. Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  2. ^ Francis, Bill. "National Tragedy Brought Baseball to a Halt for Two Days in 1968". baseballhall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  3. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (November 22, 1982). "Robert E. Short, Businessman, Dies". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  4. ^ Whelan, Bob; West, Steve. "Bob Short". sabr.org. Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  5. ^ Muder, Craig. "Huge Contract Lures Williams to Job as Senators' Manager". baseballhall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Tim Cullen page at Baseball reference
  7. ^ "Unassisted Triple Plays | Baseball Almanac".
  8. ^ Don Castle page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Jim Mason page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Mike Cubbage page at Baseball Reference

References