1987 in baseball

Year in baseball
this year = 1987

Champions

Major League Baseball

*World Series: Minnesota Twins over St. Louis Cardinals (4-3); Frank Viola, MVP

4TeamBracket | RD1=League Championship Series | RD2=World Series

RD1-seed1=| RD1-seed2=| RD1-seed3=| RD1-seed4=

RD1-seed1=East | RD1-team1=Detroit Tigers
RD1-seed2=West | RD1-team2=Minnesota Twins
RD1-score1=1 | RD1-score2=4

RD1-seed3=East | RD1-team3=St. Louis Cardinals
RD1-seed4=West | RD1-team4=San Francisco Giants
RD1-score3=4 | RD1-score4=3

RD2-seed1=AL | RD2-team1=Minnesota Twins
RD2-seed2=NL | RD2-team2=St. Louis Cardinals
RD2-score1=4 | RD2-score2=3

**American League Championship Series: Gary Gaetti, MVP
**National League Championship Series: Jeff Leonard, MVP
*All-Star Game, July 14 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum: National League, 2-0 (13 innings); Tim Raines, MVP

Other champions

*Caribbean World Series: Criollos de Caguas (Puerto Rico)
*College World Series: Stanford
*Japan Series: Seibu Lions over Yomiuri Giants (4-2)
*Little League World Series: Hua Lian, Taiwan

Awards and honors

*Most Valuable Player
**George Bell, Toronto Blue Jays, OF (AL)
**Andre Dawson, Chicago Cubs, OF (NL)
*Cy Young Award
**Roger Clemens, Boston Red Sox (AL)
**Steve Bedrosian, Philadelphia Phillies (NL)
*Rookie of the Year
**Mark McGwire, Oakland Athletics, 1B (AL)
**Benito Santiago, San Diego Padres, C (NL)
*Manager of the Year Award
**Sparky Anderson, Detroit Tigers (AL)
**Buck Rodgers, Montreal Expos (NL)

MLB Statistical Leaders

Major League Baseball final standings

Events

*January 14 - Catfish Hunter and Billy Williams are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

*March 3 - Ray Dandridge, a legendary third baseman from the Negro Leagues, is the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee.

*April 6 - Al Campanis, a former teammate of Jackie Robinson, and currently a vice-president with the Los Angeles Dodgers, appears on the ABC news program, "Nightline" to discuss the progress of racial integration of baseball on the fortieth anniversary of Robinson's first game. When asked why more African-Americans have not become managers or executives, Campanis states that Blacks may lack certain qualities for those jobs, drawing the ire of host Ted Koppel. Campanis was fired two days later.

*April 13 - At Jack Murphy Stadium, the San Diego Padres set a major league record when the first three batters in the bottom of the first inning hit home runs off San Francisco Giants starter Roger Mason in their home opener. The Padres, trailing 2–0, got homers from Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk.

*April 15 - Juan Nieves of the Milwaukee Brewers pitches a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles. He becomes the second-youngest pitcher in major league history to accomplish the feat, and the first Brewer.

*April 17 - Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hits the 500th home run of his career. It came in the ninth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates' Don Robinson, giving the Phillies an 8-6 win.

*June 2 - The Seattle Mariners use the number one overall pick of the draft to select Ken Griffey, Jr., signaling a turnaround in their fortunes as an organization.

*June 28 - Don Baylor of the visiting Boston Red Sox is hit by a pitch from Rick Rhoden in the sixth inning of a 6-2 win over the New York Yankees. The HBP gives Baylor 244 for his career, breaking Ron Hunt's modern-day record.

*July 14 - Tim Raines caps a 3-for-3 performance in the All-Star Game with a 2-run triple in the top of the 13th inning, giving the National League a 2–0 victory over the American League. Raines is selected the MVP.

*July 18 - New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly homers in his record-tying eighth straight game, in a 7-2 Texas Rangers win over the Yankees. He ties the record set by Dale Long in 1956.

*August 11 - Mark McGwire of the Athletics broke Al Rosen's AL rookie record by hitting his 38th home run in Oakland's 8-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

*August 26 - Paul Molitor of the Milwaukee Brewers goes hitless, and ends his 39 game hitting streak; the longest American League hitting streak since Joe DiMaggio's 56 game streak in 1941.

*September 9 - Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 to pass 4,500 for his career as the Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2. Ryan strikes out 12 of the final 13 batters and fans Mike Aldrete to complete the seventh inning for his 4,500th strikeout.

*September 14 - In the midst of a Baltimore 18-3 drubbing of the Toronto Blue Jays, Cal Ripken, Jr. is lifted from the lineup and replaced by Ron Washington, stopping Ripken's consecutive innings played streak at 8,243.

*September 18 - Darrell Evans hits his 30th home run of the season, and becomes the first player to do so after the age of 40.

*September 21 - Darryl Strawberry swipes his 30th base of the season to join the 30-30 club. With teammate Howard Johnson already having joined, it marks the first time that two teammates achieve 30-30 seasons in the same year.

*September 22 - Wade Boggs of the Boston Red Sox reaches the 200-hit mark for the fifth straight season in an 8-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

*October 4 - The Detroit Tigers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 to clinch the American League East division title. The victory caps off a thrilling pennant race in which the Tigers overcame a 3.5 game deficit to the Blue Jays in the last two weeks of the season, including sweeping the Blue Jays at Tiger Stadium in the final weekend, and finishing two games ahead of Toronto in the standings.

*October 25 - In Game Seven of the World Series, starter Frank Viola and reliever Jeff Reardon hold the St. Louis Cardinals to six hits, as the Minnesota Twins win 4–2 for their first World Championship. The franchise's last title came in 1924 as the Washington Senators. Viola is named the Series MVP.

*November 18 - Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs is announced as the winner of the National League MVP Award, becoming the first recipient of the award to play for a last place team.

Movies

*"Long Gone" (TV)

Births

*April 3 - Jay Bruce
*April 4 - Cameron Maybin
*August 25 - Justin Upton

Deaths

January-April

*January 5 - Dale Mitchell, 65, All-Star left fielder and career .312 hitter who spent almost his entire career with the Indians; made the last out in Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, but had only one more major league at bat
*January 20 - Hank Behrman, 65, pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants between 1946 and 1949
*February 9 - Larry French, 79, All-Star pitcher who won 197 games, primarily with the Pirates and Cubs, before beginning a 26-year Naval career in 1943
*March 8 - Zeke Bonura, 78, first baseman for the White Sox, Senators, Giants and Cubs, who hit .300 or more in four of his seven major league seasons with a career-high .345 in 1937
*March 16 - Bob Kline, 77, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators in the 1930s, later a minor league manager
*April 27 - John Burrows, 74, pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago Cubs in the 1940s

May-August

*May 1 - Bobo Holloman, 62, pitcher for the 1953 St. Louis Browns, who threw a no-hitter in his major league debut
*May 7 - Boom-Boom Beck, 82, pitcher who posted a 38-65 record for seven different teams between 1924 and 1945
*May 14 - Luke Sewell, 86, All-Star catcher for four AL teams who managed the St. Louis Browns to their only pennant in 1944
*May 31 - Jerry Adair, 50, middle infielder for four AL teams, mainly the Orioles, who set various records for error-free play
*June 13 - Huck Betts, 90, pitcher who had a 61-68 record with the Philadelphia Phillies (1920-25) and Boston Braves (1932-35)
*June 15 - George Smith, 49, Negro League second baseman who played from 1963 to 1966 for the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox
*June 17 - Dick Howser, 51, manager, formerly an All-Star shortstop, who led the Kansas City Royals to their only World Series championship in 1985
*July 22 - Don McMahon, 57, All-Star relief pitcher for seven teams who led NL in saves in 1959, retired with the third most relief appearances in history
*July 27 - Travis Jackson, 83, Hall of Fame shortstop for the New York Giants who batted .300 six times, led NL shortstops in assists four times and double plays twice; later a minor league manager
*August 31 - Dick Young, 69, longtime New York sportswriter known for his hard-hitting style

eptember-December

*September 1 - Pinky Whitney, 82, All-Star third baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Braves who had four 100-RBI seasons
*September 2 - Cam Carreon, 50, catcher for the Orioles, Indians and White Sox from 1959 to 1966
*October 10 - Pete Cote, 85, utility for the 1926 New York Giants
*November 16 - Jim Brewer, 49, All-Star relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who held the club record for career saves
*November 17 - Paul Derringer, 81, 6-time All-Star pitcher who had four 20-win seasons for the Cincinnati Reds; earned 2-1 victory in Game 7 of the 1940 World Series
*November 21 - Dusty Cooke, 80, outfielder for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds during the 1930s, who later coached and managed with the Philadelphia Phillies
*November 27 - Babe Herman, 84, right fielder who batted .324 lifetime, and whose popularity while with the Brooklyn Dodgers was undiminished through a variety of fielding and baserunning lapses; hit for the cycle three times
*December 24 - Nino Espinosa, 34, pitcher for the Mets, Phillies and Blue Jays from 1974 to 1981

Notes

AL and NL Rookies of the Year Mark McGwire and Benito Santiago were two players who would be later linked to steroid use.