2019 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the year 2019 throughout the world.
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Champions
Major League Baseball
Other Champions
- Minor League Baseball
- AAA
- AA
- High A
- Short Season A
- Advanced Rookie
- Rookie
- Amateur
International competition
- National Teams
Awards and Honors
Major League Baseball
- Baseball Hall of Fame Honors
Events
January
- January 3 – Veteran shortstop Troy Tulowitzki signed a one year contract with the New York Yankees after missing the entire 2018 season due to bone spurs. The Yankees will pay Tulowitzki the major league minimum salary for 2019 ($555,000), and the contract includes a no-trade clause.[1] For the Yankees, Tulowitzki offered a lost-cost solution to their hole at shortstop, as Didi Gregorius will miss at least the first part of 2019 while he rehabs from Tommy John Surgery.[2]
- January 11 – The Boston Red Sox and American League MVP Mookie Betts settled on a one year deal worth $20 million. The salary figure is a record for a player in his second year of arbitration eligibility,[3] with Betts still having one more year of arbitration-eligibility to go. Betts won his arbitration case with the Red Sox a year ago, securing $10.5 million, and will become an unrestricted free agent in 2021.[3]
- January 21 - The Cincinnati Reds acquire veteran starting pitcher Sonny Gray from the New York Yankees which was followed by signing him to a three year extension of $30,500,000 with the option of an additional season in 2023 ($12 million).[4] Reiver Sanmartin, a minor league pitcher also came to Cincinnati with a prospect second baseman Shed Long winding up in Seattle after being traded by the Yankees (who also received and undisclosed draft pick).
- January 22 - For the second consecutive year, the Baseball Writers Association of America elects four players into the Hall of Fame, including the first player ever selected unanimously. Mariano Rivera, Major League Baseball's all-time saves leader, is listed on all 425 ballots cast. He is joined by Roy Halladay and Edgar Martínez, both of whom receive 363 votes, or 85.4%, and Mike Mussina, who receives 326 votes, or 76.7%. Rivera and Halladay are both elected in their first year on the ballot, while Mussina is elected in his sixth year and Martínez in his tenth and last. [5] Halladay, who died in a plane crash in November 2017, also becomes the first player to be elected posthumously by the BBWAA since Roberto Clemente in 1973. Also in his final year of eligibility, Fred McGriff was unable to receive enough votes to be elected in to Cooperstown by the BBWAA.
February
Upcoming events
February
- February 22: Spring Training begins for all 30 MLB teams, including pitchers and catchers
March
- March 20: The Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners will open the 2019 Championship Season with a two-game set on March 20th-21st at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan
- March 28: 2019 Major League Baseball season begins for most teams
April
- April 4: Minor League season begins
- April 15: Jackie Robinson Day
May
- May 12: Mother’s Day
- May 27: Memorial Day
June
- June 16: Father’s Day
July
- July 1: Canada Day (Toronto)
- July 4: Independence Day (U.S. teams)
- July 9: 90th MLB All-Star Game at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH
- July 28: Baseball Hall of Fame enshrinement
- July 31: Non-waiver trading deadline
August
- August 15–25: 2019 Little League World Series at Williamsport, PA
- August 18: 2019 MLB Little League Classic
- August 23–25: MLB Players Weekend
- August 31: Postseason-eligible trading deadline
September
- September 1: Rosters expand
- September 2: Labor Day
- September 29: End of regular season
- September 30: Make-up and tiebreaker games, if necessary
October
Postseason
- October 1: AL Wild Card Game
- October 2: NL Wild Card Game
- October 3: NLDS begins
- October 4: ALDS begins
- October 11: ALCS begins
- October 12: NLCS begins
- October 22: 115th World Series
- October 30: Game 7 of World Series (if necessary)
November
- November 15 (tentative): Day to file lists for all Major and Minor League Levels.
- Immediately after World Series: Eligible players become free agents.
- Third day after end of World Series: Deadline for team and player options to be exercised.
- Fifth day after end of World Series: Deadline for clubs to make qualifying offers to their eligible. former players who become free agents.
- Sixth day after end of World Series: First day that free agents may sign contracts with a club other than a former club.
- 12th day after end of World Series: Last Day for article XX (B) free agents to accept a qualifying offer from a former club (midnight ET).
December
- December 9–12: Winter Meetings in San Diego, California.
- December 12: Rule 5 Draft.
Deaths
January
- January 1 – Walt McKeel, 46, reserve catcher who played for the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies in a three-season span from 1996–2002.
- January 2 – Jerry Buchek, 76, backup middle infielder and third baseman who played for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets over seven seasons spanning 1961-1968, also a member of the 1964 World Series Champion Cardinals.
- January 6 – Lenny Green, who died on his 86th birthday, a speedy outfielder whose career spanned 12 years from 1957 to 1958, beginning with the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Senators before they relocated to Minnesota as the Twins, following stints with the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox, while ending his major league career with his hometown Detroit Tigers, where he was a steady contributor in part of two seasons.[7]
- January 10 – Johnny Hetki, 96, long relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Browns and Pittsburgh Pirates in all or parts of eight seasons spanning 1945–1954, who made history during the longest game played in Winter League history in 1952, as he battled to a 3–3, 18–inning tie game which lasted three hours and ten minutes while pitching all 18 innings, setting a record for a WL pitcher that still stands.[8][9]
- January 13 – Mel Stottlemyre, 77, five-time All-Star pitcher who played from 1964 though 1974 for the New York Yankees, winning 20 games on three separate occasions before becoming one of the most respected and successful pitching coaches in the game, most notably for the New York Mets (1984–1993) and Yankees (1996–2005), appearing in only one World Series as a player (the 1964 Fall Classic won by the St. Louis Cardinals) while winning five world championships as a coach for the Mets (1986) and Yankees (1996. 1998, 1999, 2000), being honored with a plaque at Monument Park in 2015.[10]
- January 14 – Eli Grba, 84, pitcher for the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels over the course of five seasons from 1959–1963, who made history as the first Angel player to throw out the first-ever pitch in the franchise’s history, while pitching a 7–2 complete game victory over the host Baltimore Orioles on April 11, 1961.[11]
- January 16 – Tom Hausman, 65, steady long reliever and spot starter who played for the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves across seven seasons between 1975 and 1982.
February
References
- ^ Troy Tulowitzki to the Yankees. New York Post. Retrieved on January 8, 2019.
- ^ Troy Tulowitzki will have chance to earn starting SS job, Yanks GM says. ESPN. Retrieved on January 8, 2019.
- ^ a b Betts avoids arbitration with record $20M deal. MLB.com. Retrieved on January 11, 2019.
- ^ http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25818687/reds-complete-trade-get-sonny-gray-yanks-pitcher-signs-extension
- ^ https://www.mlb.com/news/hall-of-fame-class-of-2019/c-302988924
- ^ Important Dates – Upcoming Events on the MLB calendar. MLB.com
- ^ Lenny Green article by Bill Nowlin. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on January 7, 2019.
- ^ Bjarkman, Peter (1994). Baseball with a Latin Beat: A History of the Latin American Game. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-89950-973-0
- ^ "Magallanes Mania - Beisbol Venezolano: Historia del Magallanes (1946 - 1956)" (in Spanish). Retrieved August 8, 2016.
- ^ Feinsand, Mark (January 14, 2019). "Stottlemyre, New York baseball icon, dies at 77". MLB.com. MLB. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
- ^ Eli Gbra article by Chuck Johnson and Chuck Boyer. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on January 17, 2019.
