1968

In 1968, the pendulum had swung hugely to favour the pitcher over major league batsmen. In that year, Carl Yastzremski won the American League batting title with an all-time low batting average of just .301. In addition, Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers won 31 games, making him the last player to win 30 games in a season, and St Louis starting pitcher Bob Gibson completed the season with an astronomically low ERA of just 1.12. As a result, from 1969 the pitching mound was lowered and the strike zone reduced.

Bob Gibson