1954 Major League Baseball season

The 1954 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 13 to October 2, 1954. For the second consecutive season, an MLB franchise relocated, as the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Orioles, who played their home games at Memorial Stadium.

1954 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 13 – October 2, 1954
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16
TV partner(s)	ABC, NBC
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Yogi Berra (NYY) NL: Willie Mays (NYG)
AL champions	Cleveland Indians
AL runners-up	New York Yankees
NL champions	New York Giants
NL runners-up	Brooklyn Dodgers
World Series
Champions	New York Giants
Runners-up	Cleveland Indians
Finals MVP	Dusty Rhodes (NYG)
MLB seasons
← 1953 1955 →

The 1954 season saw the following rule changes:^[1]

During half innings where a team was batting, all players of that team must remove their gloves from the field. In addition, any equipment not on a player was to be removed from the field.^[2]
Rules regarding a defensive interference offense expanded to include all fielders on the field, not just changed from a catcher.
Fielders who were in the batter's vision could no longer deliberately distract the batter.
The sacrifice fly rule was brought back, having been previously used in 1939. This time, the rule was considered when a player scored after the catch only. Sacrifice bunts and flies were listed separately in official averages.^[3]

American League

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American League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	111	43	.721	—	59‍–‍18	52‍–‍25
New York Yankees	103	51	.669	8	54‍–‍23	49‍–‍28
Chicago White Sox	94	60	.610	17	45‍–‍32	49‍–‍28
Boston Red Sox	69	85	.448	42	38‍–‍39	31‍–‍46
Detroit Tigers	68	86	.442	43	35‍–‍42	33‍–‍44
Washington Senators	66	88	.429	45	37‍–‍41	29‍–‍47
Baltimore Orioles	54	100	.351	57	32‍–‍45	22‍–‍55
Philadelphia Athletics	51	103	.331	60	29‍–‍47	22‍–‍56

National League

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National League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	97	57	.630	—	53‍–‍23	44‍–‍34
Brooklyn Dodgers	92	62	.597	5	45‍–‍32	47‍–‍30
Milwaukee Braves	89	65	.578	8	43‍–‍34	46‍–‍31
Philadelphia Phillies	75	79	.487	22	39‍–‍39	36‍–‍40
Cincinnati Redlegs	74	80	.481	23	41‍–‍36	33‍–‍44
St. Louis Cardinals	72	82	.468	25	33‍–‍44	39‍–‍38
Chicago Cubs	64	90	.416	33	40‍–‍37	24‍–‍53
Pittsburgh Pirates	53	101	.344	44	31‍–‍46	22‍–‍55

Bracket

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World Series

AL	Cleveland Indians	0

NL	New York Giants	4

	American League		National League
Type	Name	Stat	Name	Stat
AVG	Bobby Ávila CLE	.341	Willie Mays NYG	.345
HR	Larry Doby CLE	32	Ted Kluszewski CIN	49
RBIs	Larry Doby CLE	126	Ted Kluszewski CIN	141
Wins	Bob Lemon CLE Early Wynn CLE	23	Robin Roberts PHP	23
ERA	Mike Garcia CLE	2.64	Johnny Antonelli NYG	2.30
SO	Bob Turley BAL	185	Robin Roberts PHP	185
SV	Johnny Sain NYY	22	Jim Hughes BKN	24
SB	Jackie Jensen BOS	22	Bill Bruton MIL	34

Umpire Bill McGowan set a Major League record by officiating in his 2,541st consecutive game.^[4]

American League

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Team	Manager	Comments
Baltimore Orioles	Jimmy Dykes
Boston Red Sox	Lou Boudreau
Chicago White Sox	Paul Richards and Marty Marion	Finished 3rd
Cleveland Indians	Al López	Won Pennant
Detroit Tigers	Fred Hutchinson
New York Yankees	Casey Stengel	Finished 2nd
Philadelphia Athletics	Eddie Joost
St. Louis Browns	Marty Marion
Washington Senators	Bucky Harris

National League

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Team	Manager	Comments
Brooklyn Dodgers	Walter Alston	Finished 2nd
Chicago Cubs	Stan Hack
Cincinnati Reds	Birdie Tebbetts
Milwaukee Braves	Charlie Grimm	Finished 3rd
New York Giants	Leo Durocher	Won World Series
Philadelphia Phillies	Steve O'Neill and Terry Moore
Pittsburgh Pirates	Fred Haney
St. Louis Cardinals	Eddie Stanky

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Milwaukee Braves^[5]	89	-3.3%	2,131,388	16.7%	27,680
New York Yankees^[6]	103	4.0%	1,475,171	-4.1%	18,912
Cleveland Indians^[7]	111	20.7%	1,335,472	24.9%	17,344
Chicago White Sox^[8]	94	5.6%	1,231,629	3.4%	15,790
New York Giants^[9]	97	38.6%	1,155,067	42.3%	15,198
Detroit Tigers^[10]	68	13.3%	1,079,847	22.1%	14,024
Baltimore Orioles^[11]	54	0.0%	1,060,910	256.9%	13,778
St. Louis Cardinals^[12]	72	-13.3%	1,039,698	18.1%	13,503
Brooklyn Dodgers^[13]	92	-12.4%	1,020,531	-12.3%	13,254
Boston Red Sox^[14]	69	-17.9%	931,127	-9.3%	11,786
Chicago Cubs^[15]	64	-1.5%	748,183	-2.0%	9,717
Philadelphia Phillies^[16]	75	-9.6%	738,991	-13.4%	9,474
Cincinnati Redlegs^[17]	74	8.8%	704,167	28.5%	9,145
Washington Senators^[18]	66	-13.2%	503,542	-15.5%	6,456
Pittsburgh Pirates^[19]	53	6.0%	475,494	-17.0%	6,175
Philadelphia Athletics^[20]	51	-13.6%	304,666	-15.9%	3,957

ABC aired the Saturday Game of the Week for the second consecutive year. The All-Star Game and World Series aired exclusively on NBC.

^ "MLB Rule Changes | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved May 28, 2024.

^ Bass, Mike. "Mike Bass column: Hate MLB's changes? You ain't seen nothing yet ... I hope". The Enquirer. Retrieved May 28, 2024.

^ admin. "The Sacrifice Fly – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved May 28, 2024.

^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.42, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

^ "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

^ "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.