(Updated May 10, 2020)
Curt Flood, the most consistent hitter on the 1968 Cardinals, helped the team and himself with a perfect performance at the plate in the pennant clincher.
On Sept. 15, 1968, Flood produced five hits in five at-bats, sparking the Cardinals to a 7-4 victory over the Astros at Houston. The win combined with the Giants’ loss to the Reds assured the Cardinals their second consecutive National League pennant and their third in five years.
Flood’s 5-for-5 game also elevated his batting average for the year to .302 and positioned him to become one of the few players to finish the 1968 season with a mark of .300 or better.
Key player
The 1968 Cardinals were a club with four future Hall of Fame players _ Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda and Bob Gibson _ and the reigning single-season home run record holder, Roger Maris, but Flood was an essential part of the team’s success.
Flood in 1968 led all National League center fielders in putouts (384) and assists (11) and he won the sixth of his seven Gold Glove awards. Flood also led the 1968 Cardinals in hits (186), batting average (.301) and on-base percentage (.339) and he ranked No. 1 in the league in singles (160).
Flood was one of six major-league players to achieve a batting mark of .300 or better in 1968. Pete Rose (.335), Matty Alou (.332), Felipe Alou (.317), Alex Johnson (.312) and Flood (.301) did it in the National League and Carl Yastrzemski (.301) was the lone achiever in the American League.
Manager Red Schoendienst usually batted Flood second in the order behind Lou Brock because Flood was able to hit consistently well even though he often took strikes to enable Brock to attempt steals of second base.
Run generator
Flood went into the three-game series with the Astros determined to cut down on his stride at the plate and the strategy worked. Flood had nine hits in 13 at-bats for the series.
In the Sunday finale, Flood was the ignitor of the Cardinals’ offense.
Flood singled against Don Wilson in the first inning and Brock scored from second on the play. In the third, Flood singled and scored on Maris’ two-run home run, the last of his career, giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
Flood singled and scored on Cepeda’s two-run hit in the fifth, singled and drove in Dal Maxvill from third in the sixth and capped his performance with a fifth single in the eighth.
Brock had three hits, a walk, two runs and a steal, Maris produced three RBI, and Cepeda contributed two hits and two RBI. Carlton struck out nine, went the distance and got the win, though he yielded 11 hits and four walks. Boxscore
Waiting game
With the win, the Cardinals were guaranteed of finishing the regular season in at least a tie for first place atop the 10-team league. The second-place Giants were playing the Reds in San Francisco that afternoon and needed a win to keep their pennant hopes alive.
After beating the Astros, the Cardinals gathered in the visiting team clubhouse, ate fried chicken and baked beans, played cards and monitored radio reports from the Reds-Giants game.
An hour later, when the final out was made in the Reds’ 4-0 triumph over the Giants, the Cardinals were outright champions, holding a 12.5-game lead over the Giants, who had 12 games remaining.
As the Cardinals celebrated with champagne, Cepeda got on top of a table and led the cheers.
“The Cardinals players baptized their newest teammate, 19-year-old catcher Ted Simmons, with champagne and beer after tearing off his undershirt,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Simmons, who joined the Cardinals for weekend games in September while attending classes at the University of Michigan on weekdays, “shook his head and said, ‘I’ve got to catch a plane to Michigan at 7 o’clock,’ ” the Post-Dispatch reported.
Winning combination
The 1968 pennant was the Cardinals’ 12th. The Sept. 15 date was the earliest they’d clinched a National League championship.
“This is the game you wait for from March 1st on,” Flood said to the Associated Press.
Flood credited Gibson, who won 15 consecutive decisions, as the biggest factor in the Cardinals’ successful run to the 1968 pennant. “Gibson having that fantastic streak of his is the most important thing that happened to us this year,” Flood said. “He was winning consistently and pitching complete games, which helped our bullpen.”
The Cardinals finished the season at 97-65, nine wins better than the runner-up Giants at 88-74.
“They’re not selfish as a ballclub,” Schoendienst said. “They’ll give themselves up at bat, move up the runner, or do whatever it takes. It’s just like Flood. He’ll take a strike and give Lou a chance to steal a base. Anytime you get Brock on base, he’s got a chance to score. He’s tough _ and you got Flood hitting behind him.”
Nearly 50 years later, in a 2015 interview with Fox Sports Midwest, Flood’s 1960s Cardinals teammate, catcher Tim McCarver, said Flood was “as good a teammate as any of us had … He was about as conscientious a guy as I ever played with.”
RetroSimba 
Curt Flood was just amazing.
And ‘The Way It Is’ should be required reading for any baseball fan.
Yes, Curt Flood’s 1971 memoir with author Richard Carter often is profound and unsparing.
I’ve always thought it to be a shame and an injustice that we’ve come to say that Curt Flood’s mishap in centerfield during the 7th game cost us the ’68 series. NONSENSE!! We had the series in the bag half way through game 5, but we let it slip away from us. More specifically though, we lost to the Tigers because unless a certain Mr. Bob Gibson happened to be on the mound, we had mediocre, if not even bad pitching.
Yes, after winning 3 of the first 4 in the 1968 World Series, the Cardinals led 3-2 after 6 innings in Game 5, but lost, 5-3, at Detroit, and the Cardinals lost, 13-1, in Game 6 at St. Louis. Tigers ace Denny McLain shares your views on the Cardinals’ pitching. Check out his answer to the final question in my interview with McLain: https://retrosimba.com/2015/02/02/denny-mclain-on-dizzy-dean-bob-gibson-1968-cardinals/
Steve Carlton starting at least one game in the Series may have made a difference. He slumped in the second half of the 68 season, opening a World Series spot for Ray Washburn.
Yes, good point. Future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton didn’t start any of the Cardinals’ seven World Series games in 1968. He was 13-11 with a 2.99 ERA during the regular season, but, as you note, he faltered at the end, going 1-2 with a 4.13 ERA in five September starts.
Yeah, it’s conceivable that Carlton could have wrapped it up, but I understand Red going with Washburn. Ray was money after the All-Star break, and he no-hit the Giants.
The crushing blow to me was not Flood’s slip, it was Joe Hoerner getting his tits lit up in Game 5. He faced 4 batters, and got zero outs. Good grief, Hoerner slammed doors all season…that was the last thing I expected.
Yes, during the regular season, left-handed reliever Joe Hoerner posted a 1.47 ERA in 47 appearances and had a team-leading 17 saves. In Game 5 of the 1968 World Series, Hoerner relieved starter Nelson Briles with one on, one out and the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, in the 7th. Hoerner gave up a single to Dick McAuliffe and walked Mickey Stanley, loading the bases. Al Kaline hit a two-run single and Norm Cash followed with a RBI-single, giving Detroit a 5-3 lead, before Hoerner was lifted. McAuliffe and Cash were left-handed batters. During the season, left-handed batters hit .189 vs. Hoerner.
Game 7, in my mind, is still the hardest defeat in my 61 years as a Cardinals fan. We just didn’t think that Gibson could lose in that situation. He had won game 7 in both 64 and 67 and he was pitching even better in 68. As I watched the ball sail over Curt Flood’s head, my heart sank and I just knew it was over. They had done nothing with Lolich. It still hurts.
Yes, I agree. I was 12 and listened to Game 7 on my transistor radio while delivering afternoon newspapers on my neighborhood route after school. I can still recall standing in a customer’s driveway in disbelief when Tigers prevailed.