January 21 – For one season, the Philadelphia Phillies held an exclusive National League Television deal in New York City. As baseball in New York City was still reeling over the loss of their teams the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants, fans were able to see the Phillies on WOR television for half of their games (77 games).
January 28 – Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella suffers a broken neck in an early morning auto accident on Long Island. His spinal column is nearly severed and his legs are permanently paralyzed. Campanella will never play for the Dodgers after their move to Los Angeles, although a newspaper story (showing a picture of him wearing a Brooklyn cap) describes him as being of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
February
February 4 – The Baseball Hall of Fame fails to elect any new members for the first time since 1950.
February 6 – Ted Williams signs a one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox. Reports on the worth of the contract estimate from $135,000 to $150,000. Either way, Williams becomes the highest paid player in major league history.
May 11 – The St. Louis Cardinals set a National League record by using ten pinch hitters during a doubleheader. Despite walking fourteen batters in game one, St. Louis managed to top the Chicago Cubs, 8–7, and followed in game two with another 6–5 win. The Cardinals tied their own record two months later against the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 13.
May 23 – Willie Mays hit his 200th career home run, helping the San Francisco Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves, 5–3.
May 31 – Milwaukee Braves sluggers Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Wes Covington hit one home run apiece on three consecutive pitches against Pittsburgh Pirates starter Ron Kline, as Milwaukee wins, 8–3.
July 28 – For the sixth time in his career, Mickey Mantle hits home runs from both sides of the plate. New York beats the Athletics, 14–7.
August
August 14 – Vic Power of the Cleveland Indians steals home twice during a ten-inning, 10–9 win over the Detroit Tigers. Power's second swipe of home is the game-winner, as he steals only one other base all season long. Accomplished numerous times during the deadball era, no player other than Power has twice stolen home in a game since the 1927 season.
September 13 – Milwaukee Braves ace Warren Spahn became the first left handed pitcher to win twenty or more games, nine times, after beating the St. Louis Cardinals 8–2. Previously, Eddie Plank and Lefty Grove each won twenty or more games, eight times.
September 14 – The New York Yankees sweep a doubleheader against the Kansas City Athletics, 5–3 and 12–7 (14 innings), clinching their fourth straight American Leaguepennant.
September 20 – At Memorial Stadium, Hoyt Wilhelm of the Baltimore Orioles no-hits the New York Yankees 1–0, striking out eight along the way. It is the first no-hitter since the franchise's move to Baltimore. Wilhelm had pitched exclusively in relief prior to this season; this was only his ninth career start.
September 21 – The Milwaukee Braves clinch their second consecutive National League pennant with a 6–5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, thus ensuring a Yankees-Braves World Series for the second straight year.
October
October 9 – The New York Yankees defeat the Milwaukee Braves, 6–2, in the decisive Game 7 of the World Series to win their eighteenth World Championship title. Yankees 1B Moose Skowron's three-run home run off Milwaukee pitcher Lew Burdette in the 8th inning puts the game on ice. The Yankees became only the second team to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win the World Series (the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates were the first to do it). Milwaukee's Eddie Mathews strikes out for the 11th time, a record that will stand until 1980, when broken by Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals. The Braves' 53 strikeouts are also a new Series record. This is the seventh World Series title for manager Casey Stengel, tying him with Joe McCarthy for the most Series won. Yankees P Bob Turley is named the Series MVP.
November
November 12 – New York Yankees pitcher Bob Turley, who posted a 21–7 record with 168 strikeouts and a 2.97 earned run average, is named the MLB Cy Young Award. With only one award given for the two leagues, Turley gathers five votes to four for the previous winner, Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves, who went 22–11 with 150 SO and a 3.07 ERA.
The American League announces that its Opening Day will be April 9 making it earliest date ever to open the junior circuit's regular season.
The Boston Red Sox sign teenage sensation Carl Yastrzemski to a reported bonus of $100,000. The future Hall of Famer will make his major league debut with Boston in the 1961 season.
November 30 – Italian baseball commissioner Prince Borghese visits the United States to seek aid in organizing Italian teams.
December
December 2 :
International League President Frank Shaughnessy reports that club owners are sympathetic to player demands for a pension plan, but says there is no way that $250,000 can be raised to start one.
National League President Warren Giles says he doubts New York City will get a franchise for several years. He says the NL will reject expansion now, even if assured of a stadium and financial backing.
February 1 – Mysterious Walker, 73, University of Chicago three-sport athlete with colorful personality, who later pitched for three major league teams from 1910-13 before jumping to the outlaw Federal League in 1914–15, whose unusual moniker came after debuting professionally in the minors with the PCL San Francisco Seals, because he refused to take the field until umpires banished photographers, apparently trying to get away from public scrutiny, although curiously attracting attention as a ballplayer.[3]
March 9 – Skel Roach, 86, German-born pitcher for the Chicago Orphans during the 1899 season, who also spent nine seasons in the Minors Leagues between 1895 and 1905, and was hired as baseball coach by the University of Michigan in 1903.[5]
March 10 – Leon Cadore, 68, starting pitcher for the Brooklyn Robins, Chicago White Sox and New York Giants over ten seasons from 1915–1924, who shares an MLB record for the most innings pitched in a single game while pitching for Brooklyn in 1920, when he joined fellow Boston Braves starter Joe Oeschger to pitch 26 innings without relief, which eventually ended in darkness and a 1–1 tie.[6]
March 10 – Earl Williams, 55, backup catcher for the 1928 Boston Braves.
March 17 – Bob Blewett, 80, pitcher who played with the New York Giants in its 1902 season.
March 20 – Gene Dale, 68, who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds in a span of four seasons from 1911–1916.
March 23 – Harry Kelley, pitcher who played for the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics in part of six seasons between 1925 and 1939.
March 25 – Al Shaw, 84, English-born catcher who played for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Americans, Chicago White Sox and Boston Doves, in part of four seasons spanning 1901–1909.
March 25 – Clarence Kraft, 70, first baseman who appeared in three games for the Boston Braves in the 1914 season.
May 3 – Al Maul, 92, 19th century pitcher who played for ten different clubs over 15 seasons spanning 1884–1901, compiling an 84–80 career record in 188 games, while leading the National Leaque with a 2.45 earned run average in the 1895 season.
May 14 – Billy Clingman, 88, 19th century third baseman and shortstop who played for seven teams in a span of ten seasons from 1890–1903.
May 20 – Frank Bird, 89, 19th century catcher who played in 1892 for the St. Louis Browns of the National League.
May 28 – Kid Nance, 81, outfielder who played with the Louisville Colonels of the National League from 1897–1898, and then for the Detroit Tigers of the American League in 1901.
May 26 – Dwight Wertz, shortstop for the 1914 Buffalo Buffeds of the outlaw Federal League, who was better known for his professional American football career in the Ohio League over three seasons between 1912 and 1914, where he won three consecutive championship titles while playing for different teams.
July 28 – Lu Blue, 61, World War I veteran who put together a solid 13-year major league career after his discharge, playing first base with the Detroit Tigers from 1921 to 1924, being traded to the St. Louis Browns in 1927 and staying with them until 1931, when he joined the Chicago White Sox for two years before ending his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1933, collecting a .287/.402/.401 batting line with a .989 fielding average, being ranked as the 77th best first baseman in Major League history, according to baseball historian Bill James.[9]
August
August 1 – Ike Boone, 61, part-time MLB outfielder who hit a .321/.394/.475 line with 26 home runs and 194 runs batted in through 356 games with four clubs from 1922–1932. Nevertheless, Boone is remembered as one of the greatest minor-leaguers of all-time, as he the Texas League in 1923 with a .402 batting average and 125 RBI while playing for the San Antonio Bears, posting a league-record 35-game hitting streak during the season, as his 241 base hits obliterated the league record. Afterwards, Boone played for the Mission Reds of the Pacific Coast League in 1929, hitting .407 with 55 homers and 218 RBI, setting a league record with 553 total bases while delivering 323 hits, two hits short of matching the all-time PCL record for hits in a single season, set by Paul Strand with 325 hits. Overall, Boone batted .300 or better in 12 of his 14 minors seasons, including .400 or more four times. He was inducted both in the International League Hall of Fame and the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.[10][11]
August 21 – George Quellich, 52, left fielder who played 13 games for the 1931 Detroit Tigers, all as a replacement for the team's sluggerJohn Stone, but earned his place in baseball history by setting a record that has never been equaled at any level of professional baseball, with fifteen consecutive hits while playing for the Reading Coal Barons of the International League in 1929, which included one grand slam, four home runs, a double and ten singles. Immediately following the end of his string, Quellich collected 13 hits in his next 18 at-bats.[12]
August 22 – Dummy Taylor, 83, the only successful deaf pitcher in Major League Baseball, who was a vital part of the New York Giants in the early years of the 20th Century, helping them clinch three National League pennants and the 1905 World Series title.
August 28 – Jean Dubuc, 69, pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and New York Giants in all or part of nine seasons spanning 1908–1919, whose name was mentioned during the Black Sox Scandal investigation in the Summer of 1921, but he was neither a participant nor a conspirator in the scandal, even though he was pursued for his guilty knowledge of the fix.[13]
September 4 – Red Killefer, 73, who spent 35 years in Organized Baseball as a player, coach, manager, team president and owner of a minor league team named after him, being known as a hot-tempered, fiery and passionate utility man able to play any position but pitcher in a seven-year, major league career with the Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants from 1907–1916, and later becoming a successful manager minor league manager for 25 years from 1917 to 1941, while compiling a managerial record of 1,940–1,800 (519), the best 13th in minor league history.[15]
September 6 – Tommy de la Cruz, 46, Cuban pitcher for the 1944 Cincinnati Reds, who was one of many ballplayers to appear only in the majors during World War II.
September 15 – Snuffy Stirnweiss, 39, two-time All-Star second baseman who played for the New York Yankees between 1943 and 1950, winning three World Series rings with them and the 1945 American League batting championship with a .309 average, leading also the league twice in runs scored, hits, triples and stolen bases, and once in slugging and total bases.[16]
November 17 – Mort Cooper, 45, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Braves, New York Giants and Chicago Cubs over twelve seasons from 1938–1949, being selected for the All-Star Game from 1942–43 and from 1945–46, who led the National League with 22 wins, 10 shutouts and a 1.78 ERA in 1942, earning NL Most Valuable Player honors, while anchoring the pitching staff for the Cardinals in three consecutive NL pennants from 1942 through 1944, collecting three 20-win seasons and World Series rings in 1942 and 1944.[17]
November 20 – Bill Lathrop, 67, pitcher who played for the Chicago White Sox in part of two seasons from 1913 to 1914.
November 21 – Mel Ott, 49, Hall of Fame right fielder and 12-time All-Star who played his 22-season big league career with the New York Giants from 1926–1947; one of few players to jump from a high school team into major league action as a 17-year-old, being a member of three World Series champion teams, while leading the National League in home runs and walks six times, in runs scored, triples and outfield double plays twice, and in runs batted in once, ending his career with a .304/.414/.533 batting line, 511 home runs, 488 doubles, 2,876 hits, 9,456 runs and 1,860 RBI in 2,730 games played.[18]
December 4 – Red Murray, 74, right fielder for three National League clubs from 1906–1917, whose combination of power, fielding and speed on the bases guided the New York Giants to three pennants from 1911–1913, while leading all outfielders in assists in 1909 and 1910, becoming the only outfielder in the modern era to accumulate more than 100 assists during the period of 1907 to 1910, and also one of only three players in the same period to finish twice among the top five in home runs and stolen bases during the same season (1908–1909), joining Honus Wagner (1907–1908) and Ty Cobb (1909–1910).[19]
December 8 – Bernie Friberg, 59, valuable utility man who was able to play all nine defensive positions in a 14-season career for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox between 1919 and 1933.
December 8 – Tris Speaker, 70, Hall of Fame center fielder highly regarded for both his batting and his fielding in a 22-year career, who earned American League MVP honors in 1912 and led the Boston Red Sox to a World Series title, then another World Series title in 1915, also carrying the Cleveland Indians to its first World Series championship in 1920 as a player/manager, while compiling 3,514 hits and posting a .345 career average –sixth on the all-time list– including 792 doubles –a career record that nobody has surpassed–, and leading the league in putouts seven times and in double plays six times, as his career totals in both categories are still major-league records at his position.[20]
December 9 – Rube Vickers, 80, pitcher who played from 1902 through 1909 for the Brooklyn Superbas, Cincinnati Reds, and Philadelphia Athletics.
December 10 – Cozy Dolan, 68, who came up as a pitcher in 1895 and returned as mainly an outfielder and first baseman in the early 1900s, while playing for the Cincinnati Red, New York Highlanders, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Giants.
December 15 – Harry Heitmann, 62, pitcher for the 1918 Brookyn Robins.
December 16 – Les Scarsella, 45, first baseman and left fielder who played with the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Bees in part of four seasons between 1935 and 1940.
December 24 – Jim Boyle, 54, catcher for the New York Giants, who has the distinction of having one of the shortest known Major League Baseball careers, while catching for only one inning in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 20, 1926, without registering an at bat appearance.
December 30 – Jim Hickman, 66, backup outfielder for the Baltimore Terrapins and Brooklyn Robins in four seasons from 1915–1919.
December 30 – Glenn Spencer, 53, pitcher who played from 1928 to 1933 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Giants.
December 31 – Jack Doyle, 89, Irish-born first baseman whose solid 17-year playing career includes a National League Championship with the Baltimore Orioles in 1896 and two stints as manager of the New York Giants in 1895 and the Washington Senators in 1898, while leading the National League first basemen with 96 assists in 1900 and 1.418 putouts in 1903, and collecting a career slash line of .299/.351/.385 with 971 runs batted in and 518 stolen bases in 1,569 games.[21]