1959 in baseball

Year in baseball
this year = 1959

Champions

Major League Baseball

*World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers over Chicago White Sox (4-2); Larry Sherry, MVP
*All-Star Game (#1), July 7 at Forbes Field: National League, 5-4
*All-Star Game (#2), August 3 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: American League, 5-3

Other champions

*Caribbean World Series: Almendares (Cuba)
*College World Series: Oklahoma State
*Japan Series: Nankai Hawks over Yomiuri Giants (4-0)
*Little League World Series: Hamtramck National, Hamtramck, Michigan

Awards and honors

*Most Valuable Player
**Nellie Fox, Chicago White Sox (AL)
**Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs (NL)
*Cy Young Award
**Early Wynn, Chicago White Sox (AL)
*Rookie of the Year
**Bob Allison, Washington Senators (AL)
**Willie McCovey, San Francisco Giants (NL)

MLB Statistical Leaders

Major League Baseball final standings

American League final standings

National League final standings

Events

January-March

*January 30 - The Cincinnati Reds trade catcher Smokey Burgess, pitcher Harvey Haddix, and third baseman Don Hoak to the Pittsburgh Pirates for third baseman Frank Thomas, right-handed pitcher Jim Pendleton, outfielder Johnny Powers, pitcher Whammy Douglas and cash. The deal will turn out to be one of the worst in Reds history.

April-June

* April 17 - Al Kaline hits 100th career home run.

* April 22 - The Chicago White Sox defeat the Kansas City Athletics 20-6 at Municipal Stadium. The White Sox score 11 of those runs in a wild seventh inning in which they collect only one hit. Ray Boone and Al Smith lead off the inning by reaching on errors. Johnny Callison then collects the hit, a single that scores Boone; on the play, Smith scores and Callison reaches third on a Roger Maris error. Eight of the next nine runs score on ten bases on balls; Callison is hit by a pitch to force in the remaining run.

*May 20 - The New York Yankees lose to the Detroit Tigers 13-6 at Yankee Stadium, the loss dropping the New Yorkers to last place in the American League—their first time in the cellar since May 23, by|1940. The Yankees had won nine pennants over the previous ten years, as well as winning 103 games in by|1954, the one year they didn't win the pennant.
*May 26 - Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix carries a perfect game into the 13th inning against the Milwaukee Braves, retiring 36 consecutive batters before Felix Mantilla reached on a Don Hoak error. Haddix would lose the game on a Joe Adcock hit (a baserunning mistake caused it to be changed from a 3-run home run to a 1-run double) later in the inning.

*June 12 - The Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Tokyo.

*June 14 - Ernie Banks hits 200th career home run helping Chicago Cubs beat Milwaukee Braves 6-0.

July-September

*July 7 - In the season's first All-Star Game, held at Forbes Field, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the National League topped the American League 5-4.

*August 3 - At the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the second All-Star Game was staged. The American League beat the National League 5-3.

* September 28 - September 29 - The L.A. Dodgers and Milwaukee Braves finish the NL regular schedule in a tie and the Dodgers defeat the Braves in a best-of-three playoff series 3-2 and 6-5 (12) to reach the World Series.

October-December

*October 1 - The Go-Go Chicago White Sox change character at home and hammer the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-0 in the first game of the 1959 World Series, as Ted Kluszewski has 2 home runs and 5 runs batted in. Chicago's Early Wynn and Gerry Staley combine for the shutout. New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel, sitting out only his second World Series since 1949, covers the game as a reporter.

*October 8 - The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Chicago White Sox, 9-3, in Game 6 of the World Series to win their second World Championship, and first since moving to Los Angeles, four games to two. The Dodgers have an 8-0 lead after 4 innings and hold on despite Ted Kluszewski's 3-run home run. The round-tripper gives the slugger a new 6-game RBI record of 10. Chicago's Chuck Essegian hits his second pinch HR to establish a new record, later equalled by Bernie Carbo of the Boston Red Sox in 1975. This was the first pennant for the White Sox in since the Black Sox scandal, 40 years earlier. It marked the first Championship for a West Coast team. It was the first ever World Series in which no pitcher for either team pitched a complete game. Dodgers P Larry Sherry was named MVP.

Births

January-March

*January 5 - Milt Thompson
*January 9 - Otis Nixon
*January 10 - Richard Dotson
*January 11 - Lloyd McClendon
*January 21 - José Uribe
*January 30 - La Schelle Tarver
*February 15 - Joe Hesketh
*February 19 - Keith Atherton
*February 19 - Tim Burke
*February 20 - Bill Gullickson
*March 4 - Mike Brown
*March 11 - Phil Bradley
*March 13 - Luis Aguayo
*March 15 - Harold Baines
*March 16 - Charles Hudson

April-June

*April 2 - Al Nipper
*April 18 - Jim Eisenreich
*April 18 - Dennis Rasmussen
*April 19 - R. J. Reynolds
*April 22 - Terry Francona
*April 25 - Tony Phillips
*May 12 - Kevin Bass
*May 16 - Bob Patterson
*May 16 - Mitch Webster
*May 19 - Bob Patterson
*May 28 - Steve Jeltz
*June 8 - Britt Burns
*June 11 - Mike Davis
*June 25 - Alejandro Peña

July-September

*July 21 - Mark Williamson
*July 29 - Dave LaPoint
*July 31 - Mike Bielecki
*August 3 - Jim Gott
*August 3 - Mike Jeffcoat
*August 13 - Tom Niedenfuer
*August 17 - Brad Wellman
*September 9 - Tom Foley
*September 13 - Tom Hughes
*September 16 - Tim Raines
*September 18 - Ryne Sandberg
*September 21 - Danny Cox
*September 22 - Wally Backman
*September 22 - Lee Graham
*September 25 - Geno Petralli
*September 26 - Rich Gedman
*September 28 - Todd Worrell

October-December

*October 6 - Oil Can Boyd
*October 6 - Greg Walker
*October 8 - Mike Morgan
*October 10 - Les Straker
*October 16 - Brian Harper
*October 16 - Kevin McReynolds
*October 21 - George Bell
*October 24 - Junior Ortiz
*October 29 - Jesse Barfield
*November 5 - Craig McMurtry
*November 5 - Lloyd Moseby
*November 6 - Leo Hernández
*November 23 - Brook Jacoby
*November 26 - Mike Moore
*December 6 - Larry Sheets
*December 17 - Marvell Wynne

Deaths

January-March

*January 21 - Hooks Wiltse, 79, pitcher for the New York Giants with two 20-win seasons and a 10-inning no-hitter
*January 22 - Ken Williams, 68, outfielder who in 1922 became the first player to have 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season
*February 7 - Nap Lajoie, 84, Hall of Fame second baseman who batted .338 in his career, winning the 1901 American League Triple Crown with a .426 batting average and becoming the third player to make 3000 hits
*February 12 - Dode Paskert, 77, outfielder and leadoff hitter known for his speed and defense
*February 27 - Howie Fitzgerald, 56, outfielder for the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox in the 1920s
*March 17 - Howard Ehmke, 64, pitcher with six 15-win seasons whose last major league victory was a record 13-strikeout performance in the 1929 World Series
*March 29 - Johnny Allen, 53, All-Star pitcher named Major League Player of the Year by "The Sporting News" in 1937 after a 15-1 season

April-June

*May 18 - John Hummel, 76, longtime Brooklyn utility player
*May 18 - Gene Packard, 71, pitcher who enjoyed a pair of 20-win seasons in the short-lived Federal League
*May 26 - Ed Walsh, 78, Hall of Fame spitball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox who compiled the lowest career ERA in history (1.82) and won an astonishing 40 games in 1908
*June 9 - Frank Huelsman, 85, regarded as the first player in major league history to play for four different teams in a season (1904), who later gained notoriety as a minor league star, compiling a .342 career average over nearly 20 years, including five batting titles, six RBI titles, and two Triple Crowns
*June 17 - Jim McHale, 83, outfielder for the 1908 Boston Red Sox
*June 28 - Joe Sugden, 88, platooning catcher for five teams, later a Cardinals scout for 31 years

July-September

*July 7 - Norwood Gibson, 82, pitcher for the Boston Americans between 1903 and 1906
*July 11 - Frank Gilhooley, 77, outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox between 1911 and 1919
*July 21 - Bill Hoffer, 88, pitcher who won 20 games in each of his first three seasons
*July 25 - Buck O'Brien, 77, pitcher who won 20 games for the Boston Red Sox 1912 World Champions
*July 29 - Boileryard Clarke, 90, backup catcher for the 1890s Baltimore Orioles, later a coach at Princeton for 34 years
*August 4 - Chappy Charles, 78, infielder for the Browns and Reds from 1908-1910
*August 4 - Pop Williams, 85, pitcher for 4 NL teams from 1898-1903
*September 20 - Tilly Walker, 72, power-hitting outfielder known for his strong arm
*September 28 - Red Corriden, 72, longtime MLB coach and manager of the 1950 White Sox

October-December

*October 16 - Herb Bradley, 56, pitched for the Boston Red Sox from 1927 through 1929
*October 29 - Dave Fultz, 84, outfielder who became a lawyer and unionized players in the 1910s, later coaching baseball and football at six universities
*November 20 - Roy Thomas, 85, Phillies outfielder and leadoff hitter who batted .300 five times
*November 28 - Ed McFarland, 85, catcher for five teams, known for his fielding
*November 30 - Jack Scott, 67, pitcher who threw a shutout in the 1922 World Series for the Giants and won 16 games the next year
*December 6 - Wid Conroy, 82, infielder for four teams, including the 1902 NL champion Pirates
*December 10 - Joe Harris, 68, first baseman and outfielder who batted .300 in his first eight seasons
*December 11 - Jim Bottomley, 59, power-hitting first baseman for four Cardinal pennant-winners and career .310 hitter who was named the NL's MVP in 1928 and set a record with 12 RBI in a 1924 game