Headline events of the year
Champions
Major League Baseball
Click on any series score to link to that series'
page.
Higher seed has home field advantage during Division
Series and League Championship Series.
American League has home field advantage during World Series as a
result of American League victory in 2004 All-Star Game.
American/National League is seeded 1-3/2-4 as a result of A/NL
regular season champion (New York Yankees)/(St. Louis Cardinals)
and A/NL wild card (Boston Red Sox)(Houston Astros) coming from the
same division.
Other champions
Awards and honors
Statistical leaders
Notable seasons
- Barry Bonds of the Giants has
another outstanding year. He sets the all-time record for highest
on base percentage at .609, breaking his previous record of .582,
set in . He also posts a slugging average of .812, the
fourth-highest ever, and also breaks his previous OPS record of 1.381, set in 2002, with a 2004 OPS of
1.422. Bonds also set a record for most walks in a season, with
232. Finally, with 120 intentional walks, he almost doubles his
previous record of 68.
- Adam Dunn's 195 strikeouts break
Bobby Bonds' previous record of
189.
- With 262 hits, Ichiro Suzuki of
the Mariners breaks George Sisler's
record of 257. Suzuki also sets the record for most singles in a
season, with 225.
Major League Baseball final standings
- The asterisk denotes the club that won the wild card for its respective
league.
Events
January-April
May-June
- May 8 - At Fenway Park
, Pokey Reese has the
first two-homer game of his career in the Boston Red Sox' 9-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Curt Schilling pitches his first AL complete
game, and the 80th of his career, while striking out eight. Reese
hits an inside-the-park home
run and one of the conventional type over the Green Monster, to snap a 172 at-bat homerless
streak dating to April 4, 2003. The last Red Sox player to hit a conventional
homer and an inside-the-park homer in the same game was Tony Armas on September 24, , at Tiger
Stadium
.
- May 18 - Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson becomes only the 17th person in
major league history to throw a perfect
game, throwing 13 strikeouts on his way to a 2-0 defeat of the
Atlanta Braves.
- May 26 - The Pittsburgh Pirates' Daryle Ward hits for the cycle in the Pirates'
11-8 victory over the St. Louis
Cardinals. It has been done 23 times in Pittsburgh history and
243 times in the majors since 1882. Ward joins his father, Gary Ward, to become the first father-son
combination in major league history to hit for the cycle. The
senior Ward accomplished the feat on September 18, , for the
Minnesota Twins.
- May 28 - Mariano Rivera notches his 300th career save
in the New York Yankees' 7-5
victory over the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays. He also becomes the first Yankee and 17th reliever in
major league history to reach the milestone.
- May 28 - Matt
Clement becomes the 21st big league pitcher and the first
Chicago Cubs pitcher in over a century
to hit three batters in one inning, to tie a major league record.
The victims plucked in the fifth inning of the first game of a
doubleheader against Pittsburgh are Bobby Hill, Jason Kendall and Craig Wilson.
- June 12 - San Francisco Giants outfielder
Barry Bonds drills a solo home run (the
675th of his career) off the Baltimore
Orioles' Rodrigo
López, who becomes the 400th pitcher to be so victimized.
Bonds' performance upstaged a milestone afternoon by Rafael Palmeiro, who hits his 536th and
537th homers to move past Mickey
Mantle into 11th place on the career list. It is only the third
time in baseball history that two players with 500 homers connected
in the same game. Willie Mays and
Ernie Banks did it in , and Mays and
Hank Aaron both homered on May 8, .
- June 20 - On Father's Day afternoon at Busch
Stadium
, with his father, Ken
Griffey, Sr., in attendance, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. goes deep on a 2-2
fastball from the St. Louis
Cardinals' Matt Morris,
securing a spot in the record books as the 20th player with 500
career home runs. The home run also ties Griffey Jr. with
his father in career hits (2,143).
- June 24 - Carlos Beltran is traded from the Royals to
the Astros.
- June 25 - Larry
Walker hits 3 home runs helping Colorado Rockies beat Cleveland Indians 10-8.
- June 26 - With a 6-4 victory over the
Florida Marlins, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have a record of
36-35, becoming the first team in Major League history to have a
winning record after being 18 games under .500. At one
point in the season, they were 10-28, then went on a 26-7 run.
Before falling under .500 for good in July, the Rays would win or
tie 13 out of 14 series, including three straight sweeps during a
club-record 12-game winning streak.
- June 27 - College World Series: Cal State
Fullerton
wins the NCAA College World Series, defeating
Texas
3-2 to win the best-of-three championship series
2-0. The Longhorns later stir up controversy by refusing to
accept the runner-up trophy.
- June 28 - David Bell hits for the cycle as the Philadelphia Phillies slug their way
to a 14-6 victory over the Montreal
Expos. Bell goes 4-for-4, scores two runs, and gets a
career-high six RBI. He becomes the third player to hit for the
cycle this season, joining the Pirates' Daryle Ward and the Brewers' Chad Moeller. Coincidentally, Ward and his
father Gary Ward accomplished the feat,
and when Bell achieved the honor, he joined his grandfather
Gus Bell, who turned the trick on June 4,
.
- June 29 - At home, the Yankees' Tony Clark hits a deep-center two-run homer off
Derek Lowe, to help his team to an 11-3
win over the Boston Red Sox.
Clark
joins Bernie Williams and Danny Tartabull as the only players to reach
the center-field bleachers more than once since the remodeled
Yankee
Stadium
opened in .
July
- July 5: Éric Gagné's consecutive saves streak
ends at 84 in a 6-5 Los Angeles
Dodgers victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the last team to
keep him from converting a save. Gagné had not blown a save chance
since David Dellucci hit a tying
double on Aug. 26, 2002. Those are his only blown saves in 75
attempts at Dodger Stadium. During the streak, Gagné blew the lead
in the All-Star game when he allowed a home run to the Texas Rangers' Hank Blalock, but that exhibition game isn't
counted in the statistics.
- July 10: Barry
Bonds breaks his own record for intentional walks received in a
season; amazingly, he broke the former full-season record of 68,
set in 2002, before the All-Star break. After three intentional
walks in a 3-1 San Francisco
Giants win over the Arizona
Diamondbacks, his total stands at 71; he will finish with
120.
- July 13: In the 75th
All-Star Game,
played at Minute Maid
Park
, the American League
rocks Roger Clemens for six runs in
the first inning, including home runs by Manny Ramírez and Alfonso Soriano, and coasts to a 9-4 victory
over the National League before
41,886 fans. Mark Mulder is the
winning pitcher, Clemens gets the loss, and Soriano is selected the
MVP.
- July 16: Cleveland Indians catcher Víctor Martínez hits
three home runs, singles twice, draws a walk, and drives in a
career-high seven runs in a perfect 5-for-5 game, recording his
first career multi-homer game, as the Indians belt eight homers and
21 hits in an 18-6 rout of the Seattle
Mariners. Matt Lawton, Casey Blake, Ben Broussard, Travis
Hafner and Jody Gerut add shots;
Lawton, Martínez and Blake homer in consecutive at-bats in the
third inning. It is the first time Cleveland has hit three
consecutive homers since Jim Thome,
Albert Belle, and Julio Franco accomplished the feat on September
12, . Broussard, Martínez, Hafner and Gerut all homer in the ninth
inning as the Indians match their team record for home runs in one
game, previously accomplished at Milwaukee on April 25, . Cleveland also sets a
new Safeco
Field
HR record, surpassing the six homers hit by the
Kansas City Royals in .
The major league record for home runs in a game is 10, set by the
Toronto Blue Jays in .
- July 16: With his solo home run in the eighth inning of the
Philadelphia Phillies' 5-1
victory over the New York Mets,
Bobby Abreu joins Willie Mays, Bobby
Bonds and Barry Bonds by reaching
the elite 20-homers/20-steal plateau for a sixth straight season.
That quartet are the only players to have six straight 20-20
seasons in major league history. Abreu also becomes the only member
of the quartet with no family connection to Barry, his late father
Bobby, or his godfather Willie.
- July 23: At Fenway Park, Kevin Millar becomes
the third player to hit three home runs in a Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees game, joining Lou Gehrig ( ) and Mo
Vaughn ( ). Despite Millar's effort, the Yankees edge
the Sox 8-7.
- July 24: In a Red Sox 11-10 win over the
Yankees, also at Fenway Park, Alex
Rodriguez and Jason Varitek begin
a bench-clearing brawl after Rodriguez was hit by a Bronson Arroyo pitch. Gabe Kapler and Tanyon
Sturtze broke off of the fight, giving Sturtze a bloody
ear.
- July 29: New York Mets outfielder Eric Valent becomes the eighth player in Mets
history to hit for the cycle
to lead his team to a 10-1 victory over the Montreal Expos at Olympic
Stadium
. Valent goes 4 for 4 with a walk, drives in
three runs and scores three times in becoming the fourth player in
the majors this season to hit a single, double, triple, and home
run in a game - joining Milwaukee's Chad
Moeller, Pittsburgh's Daryle Ward,
and Philadelphia's David
Bell.
- July 30 - The Pittsburgh Pirates obtained OF/IF
José Bautista
from the New York Mets. Bautista
became the 10th major leaguer to play for four teams in a season.
He began the year with Baltimore
and also played with Tampa Bay
and Kansas City, in addition to
Pittsburgh. The last to do so was Dan
Miceli (2003). Before him, the four-in-one players were
Frank Huelsman (1904), Willis Hudlin (1940), Paul Lehner (1951), Ted
Gray, (1955), Wes Covington
(1961), Mike Kilkenny (1972), Dave Kingman (1977) and Dave Martinez (2000). Bautista was technically
on five teams, because he was acquired by New York from Kansas City
but was sent to Pittsburgh the same day.
- July 31: Boston Red Sox sends five-time All-Star
shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the
Chicago Cubs in a four-team deal that
highlights clubs beating baseball's trade deadline. Montreal Expos shortstop Orlando Cabrera, Cubs shortstop Alex S. Gonzalez and Minnesota Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz also move in the
four-way trade. The Red Sox wind up with Cabrera and Mientkiewicz,
both Gold Glovers; the Cubs get Garciaparra and minor league
outfielder Matt Murton; Montreal
acquires Gonzalez, pitcher Francis
Beltran and infielder Brendan
Harris, and the Twins get minor league pitcher Justin Jones.
August
- August 3: The St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols, at age 24, becomes the first
player ever to hit at least 30 home runs in each of his first four
seasons. In , Joe DiMaggio belted 29
home runs in his rookie season with the New York Yankees, and 30 or more in the
following five seasons. Mark McGwire
hit three homers in his first year with the Oakland Athletics, and 30 or more in the
next four seasons. Pujols also becomes the first Cardinal in the
franchise's 112-year history to hit 30 or more home runs in four
consecutive years.
- August 6 - Larry Walker and Jason
Burch are traded by the Colorado
Rockies to the St. Louis
Cardinals for Luis Martinez and
Chris Narveson.
- August 7: Greg
Maddux of the Chicago Cubs defeats
the San Francisco Giants 8-4,
to earn his 300th career victory.
- August 8: At
Comerica
Park
, the Boston Red Sox
outslug the Detroit Tigers 11-9,
despite knuckleballer Tim Wakefield
giving up a record-tying six home runs. Wakefield becomes
the sixth pitcher since 1900 to yield six homers in a game, but the
first since George Caster of the
Philadelphia Athletics against the
Red Sox on Sept. 24, . The others were Larry Benton (New York Giants, 1930), Hollis Thurston (Brooklyn Dodgers, 1932), Wayman Kerksieck (Philadelphia Phillies, 1939) and
Al Thomas (St. Louis Browns, 1936). Both teams
combine for 10 homers. For Boston, Kevin
Youkilis homers twice and David
Ortiz belts one. For Detroit, Iván Rodríguez and Eric Munson each connect twice, and one each to
Carlos Peña, Dmitri Young and Craig
Monroe. In 1886, Charlie Sweeney
of the St. Louis Maroons in the National
League gave up seven homers in a game, according to the Elias
Sports Bureau.
- August 10: At
Great
American Ballpark
, Adam Dunn of the Cincinnati Reds hits the first home run ever
to land in another state. Against José Lima of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dunn hits a ball
that exits the ballpark in center field and bounces onto Mehring
Way, which runs between GABP and the Ohio
River. The ball then bounces onto a piece of
driftwood in the river, which is considered Kentucky
territory. Despite Dunn's blast, which is
measured at 535 feet (to date, the longest in the stadium's
history), the Dodgers defeat the Reds 4-2.
- August 11: Randy
Wolf homered twice and threw seven solid innings to lead the
Philadelphia Phillies to a 15-4 victory over Colorado. Wolf, who
has four career homers, went 3-for-3 and scored three runs.
- August 16: Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves hits the 300th home run of his
career in a 5-4 victory over the San
Diego Padres.
- August 17: Mark Teixeira becomes the second player in
Texas Rangers history - and
the first in more than 19 years - to hit for the cycle, leading Texas to a
16-4 rout of the visiting Cleveland
Indians. He goes 4-for-5 and drives in a career-high
seven runs for the club's first cycle since Oddibe McDowell accomplished the feat on
July 23, , against the Indians at Arlington Stadium
. Teixeira is the fifth player to hit for the
cycle this season.
- August 25: Cuba
defeats
Australia 6-2 in the final of the 2004 Summer Olympics
Baseball tournament.
- August 26: At
Safeco
Field, the Seattle
Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki belts a
leadoff home run in the ninth inning for his 200th hit in 2004,
reaching the mark in fewer games than any player since . In
that season, Bill Terry of the New York Giants reached 200 in the
Giants' 119th game, while Chuck Klein of
the Philadelphia Phillies
collected No. 200 in game No. 125. With the hit, which snaps an
0-for-11 slide, Ichiro becomes the first player in major league
history to record at least 200 hits in each of his first four
seasons. He hit 242 in , 208 in , and 212 in .
- August 29: Pabao of
Willemstad
, Curaçao
wins the
2004 Little League World
Series.
- August 31: Omar Vizquel goes 6-for-7 to tie the AL record
for most hits in a nine-inning game as the Cleveland Indians roll to a 22-0 rout of
the New York Yankees, who endure
the worst shutout loss in league history. The only players with
seven hits in a nine-inning game are Rennie Stennett (Pittsburgh in ) and Wilbert Robinson (Orioles in 1892). Cleveland matches the largest
shutout in the majors since 1900, set by the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Chicago Cubs on September 16, . The Yankees had
never lost by more than 18 runs, falling 24-6 at Cleveland on July
29, , and 19-1 at home against the Detroit Tigers on June 17, . Previously, the
Yankees' biggest shutout loss was 15-0 at home against the Chicago White Sox on May 4, . Cleveland
sets a team record for largest shutout win, topping its 19-0 rout
of the Boston Red Sox on May 18,
.
September
- September 6 - Keith Ramsey of the
Kinston Indians in the Carolina League tosses a perfect game against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.
- September 9 - Joe Randa becomes the first player in AL history
to have six hits and six runs in the same nine-inning game in the
Kansas City Royals' 26-5 victory
over the Detroit Tigers in the first
game of a doubleheader.
- September 17 - The San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds becomes just the third player in
major league history to hit 700 career home runs. Bonds joins the
select company of Hall of Famers Hank
Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) when
he connects on an 0-1 slider from San
Diego Padres hurler Jake Peavy in the
third inning.
- September 17 -
At Safeco
Field, the Seattle
Mariners defeat the Oakland
Athletics 6-3. Rookie Greg
Dobbs' three-run pinch-hit double starts Seattle's five-run
seventh inning. Meanwhile, Edgar
Martínez gets his 1,000th career RBI as a designated hitter - a
record for RBI at the position - and Ichiro Suzuki breaks the major league record
with his 199th single of the season in the seventh. He bettered the
mark of 198 set by Lloyd Waner of the
Pittsburgh Pirates in .
- September 18 - The St. Louis Cardinals become the first
major league team to clinch a playoff spot this season, winning the
NL Central Division for the third time in five seasons. A few hours
after the Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-0, the playoff
berth is clinched when the San
Francisco Giants lose to the San
Diego Padres 5-1. When the Chicago
Cubs lose 6-5 at the Cincinnati
Reds, the division title is assured.
- September 18 to September 19 - The players from Nippon Professional Baseball
launchs the historical first strike after an unsuccessful
negotiations towards the merging issue of Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the
Orix Blue Wave, which was considered
as a steppingstone to merge the Pacific
League and Central League, the
strike lasts for two days which all professional and minor teams'
games are suspended.
- September 20 - The Minnesota Twins clinch the AL Central Division with an 8-2 victory over
the Chicago White Sox. This Twins
team has done what no other Twins team could. It has won three
consecutive division titles and has had four winning seasons in a
row.
- September 22 - Raúl Ibáñez of the Seattle Mariners ties an AL record with six
hits in Seattle's 16-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of
Anaheim.
- September 23 - The NPB player
dispute officially ends when the owners make agreement with players
to allow a new team to join the Pacific League and fill the void of
the merger of the Buffaloes and Blue Wave in 2005 season. The
Buffaloes will be merged with the Blue Wave to form the Orix Buffaloes in the following season.
Tohoku Rakuten Golden
Eagles later become the team to fill the place.
- September 26 - The Boston Red Sox complete their home schedule
by selling out all 81 games. The only other teams to do that were
Cleveland ( through ), Colorado (1996) and San Francisco (2000).
- September 27 - The Boston Red Sox clinch their second straight
trip to the postseason, beating the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7-3.
- September 29 -
Major League Baseball announces that the Montreal Expos will be moved to the Washington,
D.C.
area for the season. That night, the Expos
play their final home game in front of 30,000+ fans. The Expos lose
to the Florida Marlins 9-1.
- September 30 - Bernie Williams hits a two-run homer in the
ninth inning and the New York
Yankees clinch their seventh straight AL East Division title,
beating the Minnesota Twins 6-4 for
their 100th victory of the season. The Yankees become just the
fourth team in baseball history to post three straight 100-win
seasons, joining the Atlanta Braves (
-99), Baltimore Orioles ( -71) and Philadelphia Athletics ( -31).
- David Ortiz and Manny Ramírez become the first pair of AL
teammates since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in to both bat .300 with 40 HR and 100
RBI. The feat has been accomplished only 11 other times.
October-December
- October 1: Ichiro Suzuki surpasses George Sisler's 84-year-old record of 257 hits
in a single season. After this game, Ichiro has collected 259 hits
in the season with two games left; he will finish the season with
262 hits.
- October 2: The Anaheim Angels clinch their
first AL West Division division title in 18 years with a 5-4
victory over the Oakland
Athletics. The Angels also earn their first playoff berth since
, when they won the World Series as the wild card. The Angels, who
trailed Oakland by one game four days before, were tied for first
place when the three-game series started, and many expected the
race to come down to the last day of the season; but Anaheim ends
the suspense with two consecutive victories.
- October 2: Steve Finley's walk-off grand slam caps a seven-run rally
in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers win the NL West
Division title by beating the San
Francisco Giants 7-3. The Dodgers and the Angels both qualify for the postseason in the
same year for the first time ever.
- October 3: The Houston Astros clinch a berth in the playoffs
with their 18th consecutive home victory by beating the Colorado Rockies 5-3 to win the NL wild
card. Houston wins the final seven games of the regular season and
nine of the last 10 to complete an amazing late-season push for the
playoffs under manager Phil Garner, who
replaced Jimy Williams at the All-Star
break. The Astros were a season-worst 56-60 on August 14. Since
then, the team compiled a major league-best 36-10.
- October 8: At
Fenway
Park, David Ortiz homers in
the 10th inning to send the Boston Red
Sox to their second consecutive ALCS, completing a three-game
sweep of the Anaheim
Angels with an 8-6 victory.
- October 9: At Minnesota, the New York Yankees rally for four runs to tie
the game in the eighth, then push across the winning run in the
11th on a wild pitch. The 6-5 win against the Minnesota Twins gave them a 3-1 AL Division
Series victory and sends them back to Yankee
Stadium, where they will open against the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-seven
ALCS.
- October 10: The St. Louis Cardinals advance to the NLCS
for the third time in five years, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 to win their
first-round playoff 3-1.
- October 11: The Houston Astros post a 12-3 triumph over the
Atlanta Braves in the decisive fifth
game of the NLDS. Winning a postseason series for the first time in
the 43-year history of the franchise, the Astros earn a spot in the
best-of-seven NLCS against the St.
Louis Cardinals.
- October 20: At
Yankee
Stadium, the Boston Red Sox
pull off the greatest of baseball comebacks, beating the New York Yankees four straight times after
losing the first three games of the ALCS.
- October 21: At home, the St. Louis Cardinals advance to the
2004 World Series after a Game 7
victory over the Houston Astros.
- October 24: The
Red Sox win 6-2 at Fenway
Park behind Curt
Schilling, to take the Series lead 2-0. Schilling goes 6
innings, giving up only 1 run (not earned) and only 4 hits, while
striking out 4.
- October 26: Takashi Ishii goes six strong innings and
Alex Cabrera hits a towering two-run
homer as the Seibu Lions defeat the
Chunichi Dragons 7-2 in Game 7 of
the Japan Series to win their first
championship since . The ball bounces off the glass-enclosed
private boxes above the left field seats. It is Cabrera's third
home run of the Series. The former Arizona Diamondbacks player also had a
grand slam and a two-run homer in Game 3. For his part, Ishii is
selected the Series MVP.
- October 27: The Boston Red Sox complete a four-game sweep of
the St. Louis Cardinals to win
the World Series for the first
time since 1918.
- November: The independent Atlantic League of
Professional Baseball announces former Major Leaguer Tom Herr as the manager of the Lancaster Barnstormers.
- November 22 - The
recently relocated Washington, D.C. National League franchise announces its new
name, logo and colors. Using the official original name of the
district's team which used the nickname the Senators from 1901 to 1972, the club clad in
red, white, blue and gold will be known as the Nationals.
- November 26 - Vladimir Guerrero (.337 BA, 39 HR, 126
RBI) wins the American League MVP Award, receiving 21 of the 28
first-place votes. The former Montreal
Expos outfielder signed as a free agent with the Anaheim Angels, after the New York Mets refused to guarantee his salary
based on advice from their medical staff.
Movies
Deaths
January
- January 2 - Lynn Cartwright, 76, actress who performed
as the older version of Geena Davis'
character in the 1992 film A
League of Their Own
- January 2 - Paul Hopkins, 99, oldest living major leaguer,
and the pitcher who gave up Babe Ruth's
record-tying 59th home run in 1927
- January 3 - Leon Wagner, 69, All-Star left fielder for the
Angels and Indians who had two seasons of 30 HR and 100 RBI; MVP of
the 1962 All-Star game
- January 5 - Tug
McGraw, 59, All-Star relief pitcher for the Mets and Phillies
who held the NL's career saves record for left-handers (180) until
1990, and was on the mound when the Phillies won their first World
Series title in 1980
- January 13 - Mike Goliat, 82, second baseman on the Phillies'
1950 "Whiz Kids"
- January 15 - Gus
Suhr, 98, All-Star first baseman for the Pirates who set NL
record of 822 consecutive games played, broken by Stan Musial in 1957
- January 17 - Harry Brecheen, 89, All-Star pitcher for the
Cardinals who was 3-0 with a 0.45 ERA in the 1946 World Series,
clinching the Series with a Game 7 relief win; led NL in ERA and
strikeouts in 1948
- January 21 - Johnny Blatnik, 82, outfielder who played
from 1948-50 for the Phillies and Cardinals
February
- February 10 - Hub Kittle, 86, pitching coach for the 1982 World
Series champion St. Louis Cardinals; also a minor league manager
and executive
- February 15 - Lawrence Ritter, 81, author of numerous
books on baseball, including The Glory of Their Times
- February 16 - Charlie Fox, 82, manager who led Giants to the
1971 NL West title, and later managed the Expos and Cubs
- February 22 - Andy Seminick, 83, All-Star catcher who was
the last surviving everyday player for the Phillies' 1950 "Whiz
Kids"
March
- March 2 - Marge
Schott, 75, owner of the Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1999 who
often provoked controversy with her social views
- March 6 - John Henry Williams, 35, son
of Hall of Famer Ted Williams who began
a brief minor league career at age 33
- March 18 - Gene
Bearden, 83, pitcher who employed the knuckleball in a
remarkable 1948 rookie season for the Indians, winning 20 games,
leading the AL in ERA and earning a save in the final World Series
game
- March 27 - Bob
Cremins, 98, pitcher who made four relief appearances for the
1927 Red Sox
- March 29 - Al
Cuccinello, 89, reserve second baseman for the 1935 Giants who
hit a home run in his first game at the Polo Grounds
April
- April 4 - George Bamberger, 80, manager of the
Brewers (twice) and Mets, also Orioles' pitching coach; won 213
games as a minor league pitcher, mainly in Pacific Coast
League
- April 6 - Lou
Berberet, 74, catcher for four AL teams who posted a perfect
fielding average for the 1957 Senators
- April 6 - Ken Johnson, 81, pitcher
who threw a one-hitter for the Cardinals in his first major league
start (1947)
May
- May 2 - Moe
Burtschy, 82, relief pitcher for the Philadelphia & Kansas
City Athletics from 1950-56
- May 3 - Darrell
Johnson, 75, manager of the Red Sox' 1975 AL champions who
later became the Seattle Mariners' first manager
- May 17 - Buster
Narum, 63, pitcher who won 14 games for the 1964-67 Senators
after homering in his first career at bat with the Orioles
June
- June 3 - Joe
Cleary, 85, pitcher; last native of Ireland to play in a major
league game
- June 4 - Wilmer
Fields, 81, All-Star pitcher and third baseman for the Negro
Leagues' Homestead Grays
- June 8 - Mack
Jones, 65, outfielder for three NL teams who had the first
major league home run hit in Canada
- June 16 - George Hausmann, 88, second baseman for the
New York Giants in 1944-45; suspended for jumping to the Mexican
League
July
- July 9 - Tony
Lupien, 87, first baseman for three teams who later managed in
the minor leagues and coached at Dartmouth for 21 years
- July 26 - Rubén Gómez, 77,
pitcher for the Giants who in 1954 became the first Puerto Rican to
win a World Series game
August
- August 3 - Bob Murphy, 79, broadcaster for the
Mets for 40 years, previously with the Red Sox and Orioles
- August 11 - Joe
Falls, 76, sportswriter for various Detroit newspapers since
1953, also a Sporting News columnist; winner of the J.G.
Taylor Spink Award
- August 23 - Hank Borowy, 88, All-Star pitcher who was the
last hurler to get four decisions in a World Series, going 2-2 with
the 1945 Cubs against Detroit
- August 27 - Willie Crawford, 57, outfielder, primarily
for the Dodgers, who hit .304 for the 1976 Cardinals
September
- September 7 - Bob Boyd, 84, first baseman who
was the first black player to sign with the White Sox, and the
first 20th-century Oriole to hit over .300
- September 7 - Hal Reniff, 66, relief pitcher for the Yankees
who saved 18 games in 1963
October
- October 3 - John Cerutti, 44, pitcher and broadcast
announcer for the Blue Jays who won 11 games for the 1989 division
champions
- October 10 - Ken Caminiti, 41, All-Star third baseman who
won the NL's 1996 MVP award and three Gold Gloves; made news in
2002 with admission of steroid use and allegations of their
prevalence in major leagues
- October 13 - Mike Blyzka, 75, pitcher for the St. Louis
Browns and Baltimore Orioles from 1953 to 1954, and one of 17
players involved in the largest transaction in major league
history
- October 17 - Ray
Boone, 81, All-Star infielder and patriarch of three-generation
major league family which included son Bob
and grandsons Bret and Aaron
- October 20 - Chuck Hiller, 70, second baseman for four NL
teams who was that league's first player to hit a grand slam in the
World Series
- October 21 - Jim Bucher, 93, infielder/outfielder for the
Brooklyn Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox between
1934 and 1945
- October 26 - Bobby Avila, 80, Mexican All-Star second baseman
for the Indians who won the AL batting title in 1954, the first
Hispanic player to do so; became president of the Mexican
League
November
- November 14 - Jesse Gonder, 68, catcher and pinch-hitter for
five teams, most notably the 1963-65 Mets; won a batting title in
Pacific Coast League
- November 19 - Brian Traxler, 37, former first baseman for
the Los Angeles Dodgers
- November 26 - Tom Haller, 67, All-Star catcher for the Giants
and Dodgers, later Giants' general manager from 1981-86; brother
Bill was longtime AL umpire
- November 28 - Connie Johnson, 81, All-Star pitcher for the
Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs, later with the White Sox and
Orioles
- November 29 - Harry Danning, 93, All-Star catcher for the
New York Giants who batted .300 three times
December
- December 10 - Ed
Sudol, 84, National League umpire from 1957-77 who worked three
World Series and was behind the plate for Jim Bunning's perfect game (1964), Hank Aaron's 715th home run (1974), and three
Mets games of 23 or more innings
- December 13 - Andre Rodgers, 70, shortstop for the Giants,
Cubs and Pirates who was the first Bahamian major leaguer; former
cricket player learned baseball at a Giants tryout
- December 14 - Danny Doyle, 87, scout for the Red
Sox since 1949 who signed Roger
Clemens; briefly a catcher for the 1943 team
- December 14 - Rod Kanehl, 70, second baseman and outfielder for
the Mets who hit the team's first grand slam
- December 15 - Larry Ponza, 86, pitching machine
innovator
- December 16 - Ted Abernathy, 71, relief pitcher who led the
NL in saves in 1965 and 1967
- December 16 - Bobby Mattick, 89, longtime scout who managed
the 1980-81 Blue Jays; previously a shortstop for the Cubs and
Reds
- December 22 - Doug Ault, 54, first baseman for the Blue Jays who
hit two home runs in the franchise's first game
- December 23 - Wilmer Harris, 80, pitcher for the Negro
Leagues' Philadelphia Stars
- December 24 - Johnny Oates, 58, manager who led the Rangers
to their only three playoff appearances in 1996, '98 and '99; also
managed Orioles, and was catcher with five teams
- December 26 - Eddie Layton, 79, organist for the New York
Yankees from 1967 to 2003
- December 29 - Ken Burkhart, 89, National League umpire from
1957-73 who worked in three World Series; a pitcher who won 18
games for the 1945 Cardinals, he was the last surviving umpire who
played in the majors
- December 29 - Gus Niarhos, 84, catcher for four teams, most
notably the Yankees; later a minor league manager
- December 31 - Joe Durso, 80, sportswriter for The New York
Times since 1950, and author of several baseball books
See also
, Greece
: Cuba (Gold), Australia (Silver), Japan (Bronze)
.
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
