1968 Detroit Tigers (A Historic Championship Season)

With baseball season in full swing, I thought I’d take a break from my usual topics of weightlifting and football and talk about a baseball team that sometimes gets overlooked.

The 1968 Detroit Tigers don’t seem to get talked about as often as some other great teams in MLB history. Perhaps it’s because they didn’t win two or three World Series in a row like many other teams have.

It could also be because the team’s success was somewhat overshadowed by the attention directed at their pitcher, Denny McLain, who became the first MLB pitcher to win 30 games in a season since 1934. McLain also had a 1.96 ERA.

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How I Remember the 1968 Detroit Tigers

I was six years old in 1968, so I can’t say I remember a lot about that baseball season, but there are some things I remember.

I started playing in the Little League.
My team, the Yankees, finished the season with a respectable 83–79 record, albeit 20 games out of first place.
Mickey Mantle retired.
I started collecting baseball cards.

After winning their second World Series Trophy in 1945, the Tigers were reasonably successful for the next 22 seasons, having 14 winning seasons, but they could never finish higher than second place. In 1967, they finished just one game behind the Red Sox.

The Tigers started the 1968 season with nine wins and only one loss. By May 10th, they had cooled off considerably, but their 17–9 record was good enough for first place, where they remained for the rest of the season.

By the All-Star Game break on July 9th, Detroit had an impressive 55–28 record. Four Tigers players were on the American League All-Star team. Catcher Bill Freehan, pitcher Denny McLain, third baseman Don Wert, and left fielder Willie Horton.

After the All-Star Break

But after the All-Star break, the Tigers looked only slightly above average, going 35–26 from July 11th to Sept. 8th. Nevertheless, they still had a nine-game lead on the second-place Baltimore Orioles.

But on Sept. 9th, the Tigers began pulling away from the rest of the pack and won eleven games in a row. They finished the season with 103 wins and 59 losses, twelve games ahead of the Orioles.

Willie Horton led the team in home runs with 36. Horton also had 85 RBIs and batted .285. Bill Freehan and first baseman Norm Cash both belted 25 home runs, while right fielder Jim Northrup led the team in RBIs with 90 and hit 21 home runs.

The 33-year-old future Hall of Famer Al Kaline missed two months of the season with a broken arm, but he played in 102 games and led the team in batting average, hitting .287.

These stats may not seem that impressive by today’s standards, but remember that 1968 is remembered as “The Year of the Pitcher.”

Of course, McLain led the pitching staff, winning 31 games and losing only six. Mickey Lolich went 17–9 on the season.

The Tigers would face the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. The Cardinals finished the season with a 97–65 record, and they, too, had a dominant pitcher in Bob Gibson, who went 22–9 on the season with an incredible 1.12 ERA.

1968 World Series

Other than both having great pitching, the teams couldn’t have been more different. The Tigers hit 185 home runs, while the Cardinals hit only 73. The Cardinals had 110 stolen bases, while the Tigers had only 26.

Game one was a classic matchup between the two best pitchers in baseball. While McLain did not pitch poorly, he struggled in the fourth inning, allowing two walks and two hits. He also gave up a solo home run to Lou Brock in the seventh inning. The Tigers hitters could do little against Bob Gibson, who allowed only five hits and struck out seventeen batters—final score: St. Louis 4, Detroit 0.

Mickey Lolich pitched game two for Detroit, allowing only six hits and one run. Lolich also hit a home run, the only one he hit in his entire career. Willie Horton and Norm Cash also hit home runs. Second baseman Dick McAuliffe knocked in two runs with a timely single in the sixth inning.

Al Kaline scored a run in the seventh inning, and their final two runs came in the ninth inning with bases-loaded walks to Don Wert and Lolich. Detroit won easily 8–1, and it was on to Tiger Stadium for game three.

A two-run home run by Al Kaline gave the Tigers the early lead in the third inning, but the Cardinals scored four runs in the fifth inning. First, Curt Flood hit a double to drive in a run off of starting pitcher Earl Wilson. Wilson then let up another hit, and Manager Mayo Smith replaced him with reliever Pat Dobson. Dobson fared no better, giving up a three-run blast to Tim McCarver.

Dick McAuliffe hit a home run for the Tigers to cut the Cardinals lead to 4–3, but in the seventh inning, Orlando Cepeda hit a three-run blast for St.Louis to give them a 7–3 victory.

Denny McLain got the start in game four, but a 35-minute rain delay affected him. After Lou Brock led the game off with a home run, Mike Shannon added an RBI single, and St. Louis was off to an early 2–0 lead. The Cardinals added two more runs in the third inning on a Tim McCarver triple and a Mike Shannon double. McLain walked a batter to start the fourth inning, and then the umpires stopped the game for one hour and fifteen minutes due to more rain.

After the delay, McLain did not return, but Bob Gibson did, and he hit a home run off reliever Joe Sparma. Then Lou Brock hit a triple and scored on a ground-out by Roger Maris. The Cardinals had a 6–0 lead, but a home run by right fielder Jim Northup gave the Tigers hope. But Gibson was almost unhittable for the remainder of the game while Detroit’s pitching continued to struggle.

In the eighth inning, they walked Gibson with the bases loaded, and then Lou Brock hit a double to drive in three more runs. The Cardinals won 10–1!

St. Louis had outscored Detroit 22–12 and led three games to one. With games six and seven to be played in St. Louis and Bob Gibson set to start the Series’ final game, things did not look good for the Tigers.

Mickey Lolich started in game five and immediately let up three runs. Norm Cash hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, and Willie Horton hit a triple. Jim Northup drove in Horton with a single to cut the Cardinals lead to 3–2. The Cardinals had a chance to score another run in the fifth inning, but Lou Brock couldn’t beat the tag of catcher Bill Freehan.

With the bases loaded in the seventh inning, Al Kaline drove in two runs to give Detroit a 4–3 lead. Norm Cash drove in another run, and Lolich, who had struggled in the first inning, pitched brilliantly for the rest of the game. The final score was Detroit 5, St. Louis 3.

Denny McLain started game six on only two days’ rest. McLain pitched a complete game and gave up nine hits but only one run. Willie Horton and Bill Freehan each drove in a run in the second inning to give the Tigers an early lead.

Jim Northup belted a grand slam in the third inning, and Detroit exploded for ten runs. Al Kaline added a home run in the fifth inning, and the Tigers cruised to a 13–1 victory to tie the series three games to three.

In game seven Mickey Lolich got the start on two days rest while Gibson started for St. Louis on three days rest. After six scoreless innings, the Tigers finally got through to Gibson. Norm Cash and Willie Horton singled, and then Jim Northup hit a shot deep to center, where Cardinals centerfielder Curt Flood misjudged the ball. Cash and Horton scored, and then Bill Freehan drove in Northup with a double.

After seven complete innings, the Tigers led 3–0. Don Wert drove in another run in the ninth inning to make it 4–0. Cardinals third baseman Mike Shannon hit a solo home run in the ninth inning. It was the only run St.Louis could score off Series MVP Mickey Lolich, who allowed only five hits. Lolich pitched three complete games and allowed only five runs.

For the next 15 seasons, the Tigers would only reach the post-season one time, losing to the Oakland Athletics three games to two in the 1972 American League Championship Series. In 1984, the Tigers won their fourth World Series Trophy.

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Mark Morthier is the host of Yesterday’s Sports, a podcast dedicated to reliving memorable sports moments from his childhood days and beyond. He grew up in New Jersey just across from New York City, so many of his episodes revolve around the great sport’s teams of the 70s for the New York area.

He is also an author of No Nonsense, Old School Weight Training (Second Edition): A Guide for People with Limited Time and Running Wild: (Growing Up in the 1970s)