Wikipedia

1959 in baseball

See also: 1959 Major League Baseball season and 1959 Nippon Professional Baseball season

The following are the baseball events of the year 1959 throughout the world.

Champions

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Major League Baseball

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Other champions

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Winter Leagues

Awards and honors

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MLB statistical leaders

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  American League National League
Type Name Stat Name Stat
AVG Harvey Kuenn DET .353 Hank Aaron MIL .355
HR Rocky Colavito CLE
Harmon Killebrew WSH		 42 Eddie Mathews MIL 46
RBI Jackie Jensen BOS 112 Ernie Banks CHC 143
Wins Early Wynn CHW 22 Lew Burdette MIL
Sam Jones SF
Warren Spahn MIL		 21
ERA Hoyt Wilhelm BAL 2.19 Sam Jones SF 2.83

Major league baseball final standings

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Nippon Professional Baseball final standings

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Central League final standings

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Central League G W L T Pct. GB
Yomiuri Giants 130 77 48 5 .612 —
Osaka Tigers 130 62 59 9 .512 13.0
Chunichi Dragons 130 64 61 5 .512 13.0
Kokutetsu Swallows 130 63 65 2 .492 15.5
Hiroshima Carp 130 59 64 7 .481 17.0
Taiyo Whales 130 49 77 4 .392 28.5

Pacific League final standings

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Pacific League G W L T Pct. GB
Nankai Hawks 134 88 42 4 .677 —
Daimai Orions 136 82 48 6 .631 6.0
Toei Flyers 135 67 63 5 .515 21.0
Nishitetsu Lions 144 66 64 14 .508 22.0
Hankyu Braves 134 48 82 4 .369 40.0
Kintetsu Buffaloes 133 39 91 3 .300 49.0

Events

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January

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February

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  • February 7 – Baseball mourns all-time great Nap Lajoie upon his death from pneumonia in Daytona Beach, Florida at 84. Second baseman Lajoie, the third man to exceed 3,000 career hits, was so famous that the Cleveland American League club was known as the "Naps" during his 1902–1914 tenure. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937. (See Deaths entry for this date below.)
  • February 11 – Although Cold War tensions remain high, Cincinnati's MLB franchise decides to return to its traditional identity, the Cincinnati Reds. The club had changed its official moniker to Cincinnati Redlegs in April 1953 to disassociate itself from Communism. Fans and media will intermittently refer to the team as the "Redlegs" into the early 1960s, however, and the word "Reds" will not return to the team's logo until a uniform makeover in 1961.[1]
  • February 14 – The San Francisco Giants sell the contract of Whitey Lockman to the Baltimore Orioles.
  • February 28 – Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees ends his holdout after one day. Mantle agrees to a salary of $72,000 and a bonus of $2,000. He had been asking the Yankees for $85,000 after batting .304 with 42 home runs and 97 RBI in 1958.

March

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April

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  • April 10 – Sal Maglie's major league career comes to an end as the St. Louis Cardinals release the former 20-game winner right before the start of the season.
  • April 11 – On Opening Day, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale hits a home run, becoming the only pitcher to hit more than one career homer in opening games. (He will hit 29 long balls over his 14-year career.) Drysdale's historic blast doesn't prevent the Dodgers from losing their game, 6–1, to the Chicago Cubs.
  • April 17 – Detroit Tigers' Al Kaline belts his 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. The KC "wild men" are relievers Tom Gorman, Mark Freeman and George Brunet.

May

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  • May 3 – The Detroit Tigers, losers of 15 of their first 17 games, replace manager Bill Norman with Jimmy Dykes. For the veteran Dykes, the Tigers are the fourth big-league team he's managed since 1951. In his first day with the Tigers, his club sweeps a doubleheader from the New York Yankees at Briggs Stadium, with renowned "Sunday slugger" Charlie Maxwell belting four home runs. Under Dykes, Detroit will perk up to go 74–63 for the rest of 1959.
  • May 7 – An all-time MLB record crowd of 93,103 gathers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for "Roy Campanella Night", honoring the former Brooklyn Dodger catcher who was paralyzed in a January 1958 car accident on the eve of his team's move to Los Angeles. In the exhibition game that follows, the visiting New York Yankees defeat the Dodgers, 6–2. The event raises $60,000 to help defray Campanella's medical expenses. The attendance record will stand for almost 49 years until 115,300 witness the March 29, 2008, exhibition contest at the Coliseum between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox that marks the home side's 50th anniversary in Los Angeles.[2][3]
  • May 10 – At Forbes Field, Jim Hearn of the Philadelphia Phillies gives up two runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates before the second game of a Sunday doubleheader is suspended by curfew. On May 22, the Phillies release Hearn, ending the pitcher's 13-year MLB career. The suspended game is completed July 21, with the Pirates winning 6–4, and Hearn is tagged with the loss almost two months after he retired from baseball.
  • May 12 – Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees commits an error, as his errorless streak of 148 games for a catcher comes to an end in a New York 7–6 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium.
 
Harvey Haddix in 1953
  • 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, 1940. The Yankees had won nine pennants over the previous ten years, as well as winning 103 games in 1954, the one year in that stretch when they didn't win the pennant (that year, they finished second to the Cleveland Indians, who won 111). The Yankees will battle back in 1959 but finish third, 15 games behind the pennant-winning White Sox.
  • May 26 – Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix carries a perfect game into the 13th inning against the Milwaukee Braves, retiring 36 consecutive batters before Félix Mantilla reaches 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 three-run home run to a one-run double) later in the inning.
  • June 10 – Cleveland Indians right-fielder Rocky Colavito becomes the eighth player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game. He hits all four home runs in consecutive at-bats, as the Indians top the Baltimore Orioles, 11–8.

June

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  • June 8 – The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds exchange right-handed pitchers, with Cincinnati obtaining Jim Brosnan for Hal Jeffcoat. The trade occurs as aspiring writer Brosnan, 29, is working on a breakthrough memoir, The Long Season, the first account of a baseball season as seen through the eyes of a player. Upon publication in 1960, the book is criticized by the baseball establishment, but well-received by critics.[4]
  • 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.
  • June 18 – At Memorial Stadium‚ Chico Carrasquel drives in two runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to give the Baltimore Orioles a 7–6 win over the visiting Detroit Tigers.
  • June 21 – At Seals Stadium, Hank Aaron hits three home runs in the Milwaukee Braves' 13–3 victory over the San Francisco Giants. For Aaron, Major League Baseball's future home run king, it will be the only three-home run game of his career.
  • June 30 – The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs are involved in a bizarre play at Wrigley Field in which two balls are in play at the same time. With one out in the fourth inning, Stan Musial is at the plate with a 3–1 count. The next pitch from the Cubs' Bob Anderson evades catcher Sammy Taylor and rolls to the backstop. Home plate umpire Vic Delmore calls ball four on Musial, much to the chagrin of Anderson and Taylor, both of whom argue that Musial had foul tipped the ball. With the ball still in play and Delmore arguing with both Anderson and Taylor, Musial attempts to run for second. Meanwhile, Cubs third baseman Alvin Dark runs to the backstop and retrieves the ball despite it having ended up in the hands of field announcer Pat Pieper. However, Delmore unknowingly pulls out a new ball and gives it to Taylor. Anderson sees Musial attempting to advance to second and throws the ball to second baseman Tony Taylor, only for it to sail into the outfield. At the same time, Dark throws the original ball to shortstop Ernie Banks. Musial sees Anderson's ball go over Tony Taylor's head and attempts to advance to third, unaware that Dark's throw has reached Banks, who tags Musial. After a delay, Musial is declared out. Both teams play the game under protest; the Cardinals drop theirs after defeating the Cubs 4–1.

July

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August

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September

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  • September 12 – Ken Boyer of the St. Louis Cardinals triples and homers in a 6–4 victory over the Chicago Cubs, extending his hitting streak to 29 games, longest in the majors since 1950. The streak ends the next day.
  • September 18 – A season-long feud with general manager "Frantic" Frank Lane spurs Cleveland Indians manager Joe Gordon to announce that he will quit his post after the 1959 season ends. The Indians are still mathematically in pennant contention, although 51⁄2 games behind the Chicago White Sox.
  • September 22:
  • September 23 – When contract negotiations break down between Lane and Durocher, the Indians' general manager reverses course and rehires Joe Gordon as his manager, giving him a two-year contract and a raise in salary. "I made a mistake," Lane tells the press. Gordon returns to the Tribe helm for 1960, but on August 3, Lane will fire Gordon again — part of a bizarre "trade" of managers with the Detroit Tigers.
  • September 27 – A wild National League pennant race comes down to the final day with three teams—the Milwaukee Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers (each 85–68), and the San Francisco Giants (83–69)—within reach of the championship. A three-way tie is possible, should the Giants win their doubleheader and their foes lose their single games. But the Giants' hopes are crushed when the Braves and Dodgers win and they're swept by the St. Louis Cardinals. Los Angeles and Milwaukee will continue their regular season with the third NL tie-breaker series in 14 years, all of them involving the Dodgers.
  • September 28 – Charlie Grimm, known as "Jolly Cholly," is named to replace Bob Scheffing, whose nickname is "Grump," as manager of the Chicago Cubs for 1960. For the affable, 61-year-old Grimm, the appointment represents his third term as skipper of the Cubs, for whom he piloted NL champions in 1932, 1935 and 1945.
  • September 28–29 – The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Milwaukee Braves in two straight games in a best-of-three playoff series, 3–2 and 6–5, to reach the World Series. In the clinching contest, played in Los Angeles, the Dodgers stage a stirring three-run, ninth-inning rally to tie the score at five, then plate the winning tally in the 12th on a single by Carl Furillo and an error by Braves' shortstop Félix Mantilla.
  • September 30 – Bill DeWitt, 57, former owner and general manager of the St. Louis Browns and currently a senior member of the Commissioner of Baseball's staff, becomes president and de facto GM of the Detroit Tigers.

October

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November

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Nellie Fox

December

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Births

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January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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June

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

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December

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Deaths

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January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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June

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

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December

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Sources

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  1. ^ Greene, Bob (May 19, 2011). "When the Reds Showed Their 'Legs'". cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  2. ^ Krell, David. "May 7, 1959: Roy Campanella Night". sabr.org. The Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  3. ^ Nowlin, Bill. "Record 115,300 Fans See Red Sox Beat Dodgers at LA Coliseum Exhibition". sabr.org. The Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  4. ^ Johnson, Richard (1990). "An Interview with Jim Brosnan". sabr.org. The Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  5. ^ Harvey Frommer (2002). A Yankees Century, A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball's Greatest Team. The Berkley Publishing Group. p. 392. ISBN 0-425-18617-2.
  6. ^ Hooks Wiltse. Article written by Gabriel Schechter. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 6, 2019.
  7. ^ New York Giants 1, Philadelphia Phillies 0 (1). Game Played on Saturday, July 4, 1908 (D) at Polo Grounds IV. Box score. Retrosheet. Retrieved on July 6, 2019.
  8. ^ Ken Williams. Article written by Joseph Wancho. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 8, 2019.
  9. ^ Nap Lajoie. Article written by David Jones and Stephen Constantelos. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 11, 2019.
  10. ^ Howard Ehmke. Article written by Gregory H. Wolf. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 11, 2019.
  11. ^ Johnny Allen. Career statistics and history. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on July 11, 2019.
  12. ^ "A's Rookie Wins One-Hitter, 3 to 0". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 31, 1943. p. 26.
  13. ^ Marshall, William (January 13, 2015). Baseball's Pivotal Era, 1945-1951. University Press of Kentucky. p. 153. ISBN 9780813158792.
  14. ^ Willy Fetzer. Major and Minor Leagues career. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on July 12, 2019.
  15. ^ John Hummel. Article written by Tom Simon. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 12, 2019.
  16. ^ Gene Packard. Article written by Bill Lamb. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 12, 2019.
  17. ^ a b c Ed Walsh. Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved on July 13, 2019.
  18. ^ a b Big Ed Walsh. Article written by Stuart Schimler. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 13, 2019.
  19. ^ Frank Huelsman. Major and Minor leagues career. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on July 13, 2019.
  20. ^ Caruso, Gary (1995). The Braves Encyclopedia (Baseball Encyclopedias Of Nort). Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-56-639384-3
  21. ^ Bill Hoffer. Major and Minor leagues career. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on July 14, 2019.
  22. ^ Boston Red Sox at New York Highlanders Box Score, April 12, 1912. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on July 14, 2019.
  23. ^ New York Highlanders at Boston Red Sox Box Score, April 20, 1912. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on July 14, 2019.
  24. ^ Boileryard Clarke. Major and Minor leagues career. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on July 14, 2019.
  25. ^ 1902- First Ever Pinch Hit Grand Slam. History of Cardinals. Retrieved on July 15, 2019.
  26. ^ Dave Fultz. Article written by Brian McKenna SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 19, 2019.
  27. ^ Joe Harris. Article written by Bill Nowlin. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 20, 2019.
  28. ^ Jim Bottomley. Article written by Bill Johnson. SABR Biography Project. Retrieved on July 20, 2019.
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