January 21 – For one season, the Philadelphia Phillies will enjoy an exclusive National League television deal in New York City. With NL fans in Gotham reeling over the loss of their teams—the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants—they will be able to see 78 Senior Circuit contests, including those the Phillies play against the Dodgers and Giants, on WOR–TV. Veteran announcer Al Helfer will handle play-by-play.
January 24 – Mary Louise Smith, widow of late pharmaceutical executive and Dodgers' co-owner John L. Smith, sells her 25 percent share in the club to Walter O'Malley, who now holds 75 percent of the team's stock.
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. Only 36 years old, Campanella will never play for the Dodgers in Los Angeles, but he will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969, his #39 uniform will be retired, and he will work for the team as a goodwill ambassador from 1977 until his death in 1993.
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.
March 30 – The Chicago Cubs sell the contract of left-hander Dick Littlefield to the Milwaukee Braves. The deal cements Littlefield's status as one of the most well-traveled players of the reserve clause era that restricted player movement: counting his brief time on the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1956–1957 winter roster (via a trade nullified by Jackie Robinson's retirement), the Braves are Littlefield's tenth MLB team, representing 63 percent of the 16 franchises in existence in 1958.
April 15 – In the first Major League Baseball game played on the West Coast, Rubén Gómez of the homestanding San Francisco Giants hurls an 8–0 shutout against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. Giants' shortstop Daryl Spencer hits the first MLB home run on the Pacific Coast. A park-record 23,192 fans pack Seals Stadium, a minor league facility that will house the Giants in 1958–1959, to witness the historic game.
April 18 – Before 78,672 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a National League record for a regular-season game, the Dodgers play host to the GiantsinLos Angeles' first-ever big-league contest. Veteran hurler Carl Erskine goes eight innings and rookie third baseman Dick Gray hits the Dodgers' first home run in the Coliseum's makeshift, misshapen baseball configuration, as Los Angeles wins, 6–5.
April 25 – The Dodgers draw 60,635, a major-league record for a regular-season night game, to their 5–3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at the LA Coliseum.
May
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 manages to top the Chicago Cubs, 8–7, and follow in game two with a 6–5 win. The Cardinals will tie their own record against the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 13.
May 23 – Willie Mays hits 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.
June
June 3:
Voters in Los Angeles approve "Proposition B" by 25,785 votes (out of 670,000 ballots cast), which enables the Dodgers' acquisition of land in Chavez Ravine to move forward. Privately built and owned Dodger Stadium will be constructed on that site and open in 1962.
June 10 – The disappointing, 21–28 Detroit Tigers, 12½ games out of the lead and in last place in the American League, replace manager Jack Tighe with Triple-A skipper Bill Norman. They will go 56–49 under Norman for the rest of the way and finish fifth in the AL.
June 26 – After only 67 games as their manager, Bobby Bragan is replaced by Joe Gordon, their former standout second baseman, at the helm of the Cleveland Indians. Gordon will post a 46–40 mark as Cleveland finishes fourth in the American League.
July 2 – One day after he appears in a game as a pinch hitter, the Cleveland Indians release pitcher Bob Lemon, ending Lemon's major league career, spent entirely with Cleveland.
August 13 – The Cincinnati Redlegs fire Birdie Tebbetts, their manager since Opening Day 1954, and veteran coach Jimmy Dykes takes over as interim skipper. Despite leading the club to a 24–17 mark through the end of the season, Dykes will be passed over for the permanent post when Cincinnati hires Mayo Smith as its 1959 manager on September 29.
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 steal of home is the game-winner—and he swipes 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.
August 20 – Dale Long of the Chicago Cubs becomes MLB's first left-handed-throwing catcher in 56 years when he moves from his normal first-base position to behind the plate in the ninth inning of the Cubs' 4–2 defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He wears his first-baseman's mitt to handle the offerings of pitcher Bill Henry, a fellow southpaw. Long will repeat this feat 32 days later, on September 21, when he catches one inning against the Los Angeles DodgersatWrigley Field and allows one passed ball that does not factor in the scoring in a 2–1 Dodger victory. He also records one assist as a catcher.
September 13 – Milwaukee Braves ace Warren Spahn becomes 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 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 28 – In the season finale, Ted Williams continues his late-September hot streak, homering and doubling in four at-bats and raising his batting average to .328—best in the American League. He had been hitting only .314 on September 21 before going on a 12-for-19 (.632) tear. In winning the sixth and final batting title of his career, the 40-year-old Williams nips Boston Red Sox teammate Pete Runnels, who finishes second with a .322 mark.
October 9 – The New York Yankees defeat the Milwaukee Braves, 6–2, in the decisive Game 7 of the World Series to win their 18th world title. First baseman Moose Skowron's three-run home run off Milwaukee pitcher Lew Burdette in the eighth inning puts the game on ice. The Yankees become only the second team to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win a World Series (the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates were the first). 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 Fall Classic title for manager Casey Stengel, tying him with Joe McCarthy for most championships. Yankee hurler Bob Turley is named the MVP.
November
November 5 – Lee MacPhail, 41, is named general manager of the Baltimore Orioles after 14 years in the New York Yankees' organization, most recently as director of player personnel. His appointment restricts Paul Richards, who formerly held the dual role of GM and field manager, to the latter job. MacPhail will oversee the Orioles' rise to pennant contender and he departs the team in November 1965 when the franchise is poised to win its first World Series.
November 12 – New York Yankees pitcher Bob Turley, who posted a 21–7 record with 168 strikeouts and a 2.97 earned run average, wins 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 strikeouts and a 3.07 ERA.
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.
December 30 – The Dodgers release team captain, future Hall-of-Fame shortstop and 16-year club veteran Pee Wee Reese. He will remain with the Dodgers as their third-base coach in 1959 (winning a World Series ring) before beginning a long career in television as a color man and analyst covering MLB games.
January 14 – Percy Miller, 60, southpaw pitcher and first baseman who played for at least nine Negro leagues teams (primarily the St. Louis Stars and Nashville Elite Giants) between 1921 and 1937; managed the Detroit Stars of the Negro American League for part of the 1937 season.
February 1 – Mysterious Walker, 73, University of Chicago three-sport athlete with colorful personality, who later pitched for three major league teams from 1910 to 1913 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]
February 2 – Johnnie Vivens, 61, pitcher for the 1929 St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League.
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 to 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 to 1916.
March 23 – Harry Kelley, 52, pitcher who played for the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics in all or part of six seasons between 1925 and 1939; led American League in games lost (21) in 1937.
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 5 – Ollie Chill, 79, umpire who worked 1,028 American League games (1914–1966, 1919–1922), plus eight games of the 1921 World Series
May 14 – Billy Clingman, 88, 19th century third baseman and shortstop who played for seven teams in a span of ten seasons from 1890 to 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 to 1898, and then for the Detroit Tigers of the American League in 1901.
May 26 – Dwight Wertz, 69, 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.
May 28 – Oscar Davis, 62, infielder/outfielder for the 1926 Dayton Marcos of the Negro National League.
July 27 – Phil Page, 52, southpaw pitcher who appeared in 31 games for the Detroit Tigers from 1928 to 1930 and Brooklyn Dodgers in 1934; minor league manager and scout for the New York Yankees; MLB coach for the Cincinnati Reds from 1947 through 1952.
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 major-league clubs from 1922 to 1932; nevertheless, Boone is remembered as one of the greatest minor-leaguers of all-time: he led 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; inducted into the International League Hall of Fame and the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.[10][11]
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.[12]
August 31 – George Quellich, 55, 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.[14]
September
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 to 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), 13th best in minor league history;[15] brother of "Reindeer" Bill Killefer.
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]
October 12 – Oscar Boone, 47, catcher/first baseman who appeared for the Indianapolis ABCs/Atlanta Black Crackers, Baltimore Elite Giants and Chicago American Giants of the Negro leagues between 1939 and 1941.
November 17 – Mort Cooper, 45, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Braves, New York Giants and Chicago Cubs over 12 seasons from 1938 to 1949; selected to four National League All-Star teams (1942–1943 and 1945–1946); led NL with 22 wins, 10 shutouts and a 1.78 ERA in 1942, earning Most Valuable Player honors, while anchoring Cardinals' pitching staff during three consecutive pennant-winning seasons (1942–1944), when he won over 20 games three times and earned two World Series rings (1942, 1944); brother Walker, an All-Star catcher, was frequently his battery mate.[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 to 1947; jumped from his high school team into the majors as a 17-year-old, and a member of Giants' 1933 World Series champions; led 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] also managed Giants from 1942 to July 15, 1948, to a 464–530 (.467) record; becoming a broadcaster, he served on the Detroit Tigers' radio/TV team from 1956 until his death.
December 4 – Red Murray, 74, right fielder for three National League clubs from 1906 to 1917, whose combination of power, fielding and speed on the bases guided the New York Giants to three pennants from 1911 to 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, 75, outfielder/third baseman who played 379 games for six teams, primarily the St. Louis Cardinals, over seven years spanning 1909 to 1922; as coach for 1921–1924 New York Giants, he was a part of four National League and two World Series (1921, 1922) champions, but was suspended for life by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis after being implicated in a scheme to bribe a Philadelphia player to deliberately lose the last game of 1924 season.
December 15 – Harry Heitmann, 62, pitcher for the 1918 Brooklyn Robins.
December 16 – Bill Corum, 63, New York sportswriter and sportscaster who covered the 1920s Brooklyn Robins and New York Giants and later worked World Series games on radio alongside Red Barber; became best known for announcing the Kentucky Derby and as a key figure in thoroughbred racing.
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 27 – Julio Rojo, 64, Cuban-born catcher who was the regular receiver for the Baltimore Black Sox (1923–1927) and New York Lincoln Giants (1928–1929) of the Eastern Colored League.
December 30 – Jim Hickman, 66, backup outfielder for the Baltimore Terrapins and Brooklyn Robins in four seasons from 1915 to 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]
