One Month Into The Season

April 30, 1969

The first month is in the books! The Atlanta Braves are on top of the national league west division by five games over San Francisco. The St. Louis Cardinals have a narrow 2 game lead on the Cubs in the east. The Detoit Tigers, are followed closely by the Baltimore Orioles in the american east. The Athletics are two games ahead of the White Sox in the AL west.

Tony Perez is still hitting over .400 on top of the batting leaders. Reggie Jackson is now the home run leader at 9, followed by Ron Santo of the Cubs at 8. The Tigers Norm Cash is top RBI man at 29. The OPS leaderboard reads Jackson, Cash, Perez. Maury Wills the Dodgers speedster is tops in bases stolen at 17. On the mound Steve Carlton of the Cardinals is holding on to a 0.79 era. Denny McLain is tops in wins at 6 and is tied for the most strikeouts at 48 with Jim Kaat of the Twins. Jack Aker of the Athletics has saved 6 games.

Batting Leaders

Tony Perez CIN - .406
Norm Cash DET - .394
Al Kaline DET - .361

Home Run Leaders

Reggie Jackson OAK - 9
Ron Santo CHN - 8
Sal Bando OAK - 7

RBI Leaders

Norm Cash DET - 29
Mack Jones ATL - 27
Sal Bando OAK - 26

OPS Leaders

Reggie Jackson OAK - 1.289
Norm Cash DET - 1.168
Tony Perez CIN - 1.108

Stolen Bases Leaders

Maury Wills LAN - 17
Lou Brock STL - 10
Sonny Jackson HOU - 8

ERA Leaders

Steve Carlton STL - 0.79
Milt Pappas BAL - 1.32
Don Drysdale LAN - 1.38

Wins Leaders

Denny McLain DET - 6
Dave Wickersham DET - 5
Tom Phoebus BAL - 5

Saves Leaders

Jack Aker OAK - 6
Bill Dailey MIN - 4
Ron Kline WAS - 3

Team Batting

ATL - .291
DET - .283
OAK - .278

Team Runs/Game

ATL - 6.2
OAK - 6.1
DET - 6.0

Team ERA

BAL - 2.61
STL - 2.66
CHA - 2.92

Team Fielding

PHI - .984
BOS - .984
BAL - .981

Highlights

April 10th Sandy Koufaz faced Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals. The game lasted 16 innings with the Cardinals outlasting the Dodgers 4-1. The game was tied at one each going into the top of the 16th inning. Curt Flood knocked in the go ahead run and Tim McCarver belted a 2 run homer to put the Cards up by 3. The Dodgers did not score in the bottom of the inning giving the Cards the win. Both starting pitchers, Koufax and Gibson went 10 innings giving up only one run each. Koufax only allowed 2 hits while striking out 9 Cards.

April 20th, Lee Maye of the Atlanta Braves batted 5-5 with 2 homers against the Pirates.

April 29th, Larry Jackson of the Cubs pitched a perfect game against the Mets in New York.

April 30th, The very next day team mate Dick Ellsworth pitched a no-hitter on April 30th against the Mets. Walking one batter and striking out 10.

See the box scores in the in the Highlights list in the Records section below. (Note: not available on iphone)