The 1968 World Series was not only a thrilling baseball event but also a significant moment in sports broadcasting and a precursor to changes in Major League Baseball. The series, which saw the Detroit Tigers defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, was widely televised and broadcast on radio, reaching a national audience. Beyond the diamond, the series' outcome and the dominant pitching performances of the era led to notable rule adjustments
and marked a turning point in the sport's history.
Broadcast Coverage and Announcers
NBC held the television rights for the 1968 World Series, bringing the action to homes across the United States. Curt Gowdy served as a primary play-by-play commentator, joined by local announcers to provide color commentary from each city. Harry Caray covered the games in St. Louis, while George Kell provided insights from Detroit. Tony Kubek acted as a field reporter and conducted in-stands interviews, adding another layer to the broadcast. Pre-game coverage was hosted by Jim Simpson, alongside former pitching great Sandy Koufax.
Radio coverage was also provided by NBC, with Pee Wee Reese sharing play-by-play duties. Ernie Harwell, the Tigers' announcer, covered the games in St. Louis, and Jack Buck, the Cardinals' announcer, covered the games in Detroit. Notably, Jim Simpson stepped in to do play-by-play for the final two innings of Game 7, allowing Harwell to move to the Tigers' clubhouse to cover the trophy presentation and conduct post-game interviews. This series marked Reese's final NBC broadcast, as he was replaced by Kubek as the lead color commentator for "Game of the Week" telecasts in 1969. All seven games of NBC's TV coverage were preserved on black-and-white kinescopes by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and have since been shown on sports networks like CSN and ESPN Classic.
"The Year of the Pitcher" and Rule Changes
The 1968 season, and by extension the World Series, was famously dubbed "The Year of the Pitcher" due to the overwhelming dominance of pitching. Bob Gibson's 1.12 regular-season ERA and his 17-strikeout performance in Game 1 of the World Series exemplified this trend. This era of pitching supremacy ultimately prompted Major League Baseball to implement significant rule changes for the 1969 season. These adjustments, sometimes referred to as the "Gibson rules," included lowering the pitcher's mound from 15 inches to 10 inches and reducing the height of the strike zone from the batter's armpits to the jersey letters.
These rule modifications were intended to rebalance the game, making it more favorable to hitters and increasing offensive production. The 1968 World Series was also the last played before the introduction of the Major League Baseball postseason playoff format the following year, which initially included a League Championship Series. This meant that the 1968 series was the final one that guaranteed the teams with the best records from each league would play each other directly for the championship. The series thus stands as a historical marker, not just for its thrilling conclusion, but for its influence on the evolution of baseball's rules and postseason structure.
