1960 in baseball

Champions

Major League Baseball

Continental League: Proposed 3rd Major League with teams in Atlanta, Buffalo, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis-St.Paul and New York disbanded before scheduled start of play in 1961.

Other champions

Winter Leagues

Awards and honors

MLB statistical leaders
  American League National League
TypeNameStatNameStat
AVGPete Runnels BOS.320Dick Groat PIT.325
HRMickey Mantle NY40Ernie Banks CHC41
RBIRoger Maris NY112Hank Aaron MIL126
WinsChuck Estrada BAL
Jim Perry CLE		18Ernie Broglio STL
Warren Spahn MIL		21
ERAFrank Baumann CHW2.67Mike McCormick SF2.70
SOJim Bunning DET201Don Drysdale LA246
SVMike Fornieles BOS
Johnny Klippstein CLE		14Lindy McDaniel STL26
SBLuis Aparicio CHW51Maury Wills LA50

Major league baseball final standings

Events

January–February
  • January 5 – The Continental League, a proposed third major league, gets an assurance of Congressional support from New York Senator Kenneth Keating.
  • January 11 - He was the heart and soul of Philadelphia Phillies baseball, but on this day, Richie Ashburn was traded to the Chicago Cubs. But 3 years later he returned to the Phillies as a member of its broadcasting team and he would remain with the team until his untimely death in 1997.
  • February 4 – For the second straight election, the BBWAA voters fail to elect a new member to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Edd Roush gets 146 votes, but 202 are necessary for election. Sam Rice (143) and Eppa Rixey (142) are next in line.
  • February 15 – In Caribbean Series action, the Elefantes de Cienfuegos completes a 6-0 sweep to give the Cuban team the Series championship for the fifth straight year. Camilo Pascual, who went 2-0 with 15 strikeouts including a one-hit shutout in the clincher, is named Most Valuable Player.
  • February 18 – Walter O'Malley, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, completes the purchase of the Chavez Ravine area in Los Angeles by paying $494,000 for property valued at $92,000.
  • February 20 – Branch Rickey meets with officials of the proposed Western Carolinas League about pooling talent for Continental League clubs.
  • February 23 – Demolition of Ebbets Field begins. Lucy Monroe sings the National Anthem, and Roy Campanella is given an urn of dirt from behind home plate.

March–April

May

June
  • June 12 – In a record-tying three-hour-and-52-minute, 9-inning game, Willie McCovey's pinch-hit grand slam, the first slam of his career, and Orlando Cepeda's three-run double pace the Giants to a 16–7 rout of the Braves.
  • June 15 – Mexico City and Poza Rica combine to hit 12 home runs in one game, a Mexican League record.
  • June 19 – In a brilliant pair of pitching performances, Orioles pitchers Hoyt Wilhelm and Milt Pappas threw shutouts to beat the host Detroit Tigers. Wilhelm allowed two hits in winning the opener, 2–0, over Jim Bunning, and Pappas allows three hits in winning the nightcap, 1–0, over Don Mossi. Jim Gentile and Ron Hansen collected home runs as catcher Clint Courtney, using the big glove designed by manager Paul Richards, is twice charged with batter interference, the first loading the bases in the 4th inning.
  • June 24 – Willie Mays belted two home runs and made 10 putouts to lead the Giants in a 5–3 win at Cincinnati. Mays added three RBI, three runs scored, a single and stole home.
  • June 26 – Hoping to speed up the election process, the Hall of Fame changes its voting procedures. The new rules allow the Special Veterans Committee to vote annually, rather than every other year, and to induct up to two players a year. The BBWAA is authorized to hold a runoff election of the top 30 vote getters if no one is elected in the first ballot.
  • June 29 – The Cleveland Indians buy pitcher Don Newcombe from the Reds.
  • June 30 – Dick Stuart blasts three consecutive home runs, as the Pirates split with the Giants. Stuart drives in seven runs and joins Ralph Kiner as the second Pirates player to hit three home runs in a game at Forbes Field.

July

August
  • August 2 – In an agreement with the major leagues, the Continental League abandons plans to join the American League and National League. Walter O'Malley, chairman of the NL Expansion Committee, says, "We immediately will recommend expansion and that we would like to do it in 1961." Milwaukee Braves owner Lou Perini proposes a compromise that four of the CL territories be admitted to the current majors in orderly expansion. Branch Rickey's group quickly accepts. The Continental League ends without playing a game.
  • August 3 – In an unusual move, Cleveland Indians GM Frank Lane trades managers with Detroit Tigers GM Bill DeWitt. The Indians' Joe Gordon (49-46) is dealt to the Tigers for Jimmy Dykes (44-52). For one game, until the pair can change places, Jo-Jo White pilots the Indians and Billy Hitchcock guides the Tigers.
  • August 7 – The Chicago White Sox win a pair from the Washington Senators, with reliever Gerry Staley picking up two victories. Staley will be 13–8, all in relief, with both wins and losses topping the American League relievers.
  • August 8 – A day crowd of 48,323, the largest day crowd ever at Comiskey Park, cheers White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce's four-hit victory over the Yankees, 9–1. Pierce faces just 31 batters.
  • August 9 – With fine relief pitching of Lindy McDaniel in the opener and a five-hitter by Curt Simmons in the nightcap, the St. Louis Cardinals sweep the Philadelphia Phillies, 5–4 and 6–0. Phillies Tony Taylor ties a major league record for a second baseman by going the entire doubleheader (18 innings) without a putout – the first to achieve the feat since Connie Ryan, of the Phillies, on June 14, 1953.
  • August 10 – Ted Williams blasts a pair of home runs and a double to pace the Red Sox to a 6–1 win over the Cleveland Indians. Williams has 21 homers for the season. The first of the two today, #512, moves him past Mel Ott into fourth place on the all-time list. After the game, Williams announces that he will retire at the end of the season.
  • August 18 – At County Stadium, Lew Burdette of the Milwaukee Braves no-hits the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0. He faces the minimum 27 batters, a fifth-inning hit-by-pitch to Tony González being the only Phillies base runner; González is retired on Lee Walls' double play ground ball one batter later. Burdette also helps his own cause by scoring the only run of the game; after doubling to lead off the eighth, he scores on Bill Bruton's double one batter later.
  • August 20 – Ted Williams draws the 2,000th walk of his career in the Red Sox' split of a twi-night doubleheader with the Orioles. Williams joins Babe Ruth as the only major leaguers to collect 2,000 walks. Rickey Henderson in 2000, and Barry Bonds in 2003, will join the select 2,000 walks group.
  • August 23 – Following up his no-hitter, Lew Burdette fires his third shutout in a row, pitching the Milwaukee Braves to a 7–0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
  • August 27 – After pitching 32​2⁄3 shutout innings, Braves pitcher Lew Burdette gives up a Felipe Alou home run as San Francisco defeats the Braves 3–1.
  • August 30 – Boston Red Sox second baseman Pete Runnels goes 6-for-7, as Boston edges the Tigers in the 15-inning opener of a twin bill. Runnels’ 15th-inning double brings Frank Malzone home with the winning run to win, 5–4. Runnels has three more hits in the nightcap victory, 3–2 in 10 innings. His six hits are the most in an American League game since July 8, 1955. With 9-for-11 in the doubleheader, Runnels ties the major league record.

September
  • September 2 – Boston's Ted Williams hits a home run off Don Lee of the Senators. Williams had homered against Lee's father, Thornton, 20 years earlier.
  • September 3:
  • September 6 – In his final game at Yankee Stadium, Ted Williams hits his 518th career home run in a Red Sox 7–1 win.
  • September 10 – In Detroit, the Yankees' Mickey Mantle hits a home run in the 6th inning, the ball clearing the right field roof and landing in the Brooks Lumber Yard across Trumbull Avenue. In June 1985, Mantle's blow was retroactively measured at 643 feet, and will be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records at that distance.
  • September 13 – 18-year-old outfielder Danny Murphy becomes the youngest Chicago Cubs player to hit a home run when he clouts a three-run homer off Bob Purkey of the Cincinnati Reds, as the Reds win 8–6 at home. Murphy will play just 49 games for the Cubs from 1960 to 1962. He will come back as a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox in 1969-70.
  • September 15 – Willie Mays ties the modern major league record with three triples in a game against the Phillies. The last National League player to hit three triples in a game was Roberto Clemente, in 1958.
  • September 16:
    • At the age of 39, Warren Spahn notches his 11th 20-win season with a 4–0 no-hitter against the Phillies. Spahn also sets a Milwaukee club record with 15 strikeouts in handing the last-place Phils their 90th loss of the year.
    • The Baltimore Orioles (83-58) and New York Yankees (82-57) open a crucial four games series with the Orioles just .002 in back of New York. Three days later, during a doubleheader, the Yankees will sweep Baltimore. The faltering Birds, now four back, will end up in second place, eight games back.
  • September 18 – At Wrigley Field, Ernie Banks sets a record by drawing his 27th intentional walk of the season.
  • September 19 – The Chicago White Sox pennant hopes are damaged with a nightcap 7–6 loss to the Detroit Tigers, after they win the opener, 8–4. Pinch hitter Norm Cash scores the decisive run in game two. Cash thus ends the season by grounding into no double plays, becoming the first American League player since league records on this were started in 1940. Teammates Dick McAuliffe and Roger Repoz will duplicate this in 1968.
  • September 20 – Boston Red Sox outfielder Carroll Hardy pinch-hits for Ted Williams, who is forced to leave the game after fouling a ball off his ankle, and grounds into a double play. On May 31, 1961, Hardy will pinch hit for rookie Carl Yastrzemski, making him the only player to go in for both future Hall of Famers. Hardy also hit his first major league home run pinch-hitting for Roger Maris when both were at Cleveland (May 18, 1958).
  • September 25:
  • September 28 – In his last major league at bat, Ted Williams picks out a 1-1 pitch by Baltimore's Jack Fisher and drives it 450 feet into the right-center field seats behind the Boston bullpen. It is Williams' 521st and last career home run, putting him third on the all-time list. Williams stays in the dugout, ignoring the thunderous ovation at Fenway Park, and refused to tip his hat to the hometown fans. However, they would make up for that 39 years later.

October
  • October 2 – The Baltimore Orioles defeat the Washington Senators 2-1 at Griffith Stadium in the Senators' final game before their move to the Minneapolis–St. Paul area. Milt Pappas wins the pitchers' duel against Pedro Ramos, who gives up a home run to Jackie Brandt for the deciding run.
  • October 3 – The New York Yankees head into the World Series with a 15-game winning streak, the 8th longest streak in the American League this century, after Dale Long's two-run 9th-inning home run gives them an 8–7 win over the Boston Red Sox. The 193 home runs are an AL season record, three better than the 1956 Yankees. RBI leader Roger Maris drives in three runs, but falls one home run short of Mickey Mantle's league-high 40.
  • October 5 – In a portent of things to come, Bill Mazeroski's two-run 5th-inning home run off Jim Coates is the difference as Pittsburgh beats the Yankees 6–4 in its first World Series win since 1925. Roy Face survives a two-run 9th-inning Elston Howard home run to preserve Vern Law's victory.
  • October 6 – Mickey Mantle hits two home runs in a Yankees 16–3 victory at Forbes Field, evening the World Series. A seven-run 6th inning overwhelms Pittsburgh.
  • October 8 – At Yankee Stadium, Bobby Richardson collects six RBI, including a grand slam off reliever Clem Labine in a six-run first inning, and Whitey Ford pitches a four-hitter 10–0 shutout to give the Yankees a 2-1 World Series lead, spoiling Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh's 43rd birthday.
  • October 9 – Vern Law wins again, thanks to his own RBI single and Bill Virdon's two-run hit. Roy Face retires the final eight batters in order. The Pittsburgh Pirates 3–2 win evens the 1960 World Series.
  • October 10 – Bill Mazeroski stars again. His two-run double stakes Harvey Haddix to a 3–0 lead. Roy Face is called on once more for another hitless effort to preserve a 5–2 win over the Yankees and 3-2 World Series lead for the surprising Pirates.
  • October 12 – In Game Six of the World Series, Whitey Ford preserves the Yankees hopes with a seven-hit shutout at Forbes Field. Bob Friend is bombed again as the Yankees coasts 12–0. Bobby Richardson's two run-scoring triples give him a WS record of 12 RBI.
  • October 13 – The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the New York Yankees, 10-9, in Game 7 of the World Series, to win their third World Championship, and first since 1925, four games to three. In a 9–9 tie, Bill Mazeroski leads off the last of the ninth inning and hits what is arguably the most dramatic home run in WS history, off Yankees P Ralph Terry. The drama of Mazeroski's home run was heightened by the excitement that preceded the home run: A combined total of seven runs were scored by both teams in a wild and whacky bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth. An oddity in this game – it is the only World Series game this century with no strikeouts recorded. Another oddity, this one to the 1960 World Series itself – Mazeroski's home run makes this 1960 World Series the only World Series in Major League history won by a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh and deciding game. Despite Mazeroski's heroics, however, Yankees 2B Bobby Richardson is named the Series MVP, as the Yankees outscore Pittsburgh, 55 to 27.
  • October 17 – The National League votes to admit Houston and New York City teams to the league in 1962, the first structural change since 1900, and to go to a 10-team league.
  • October 18 – Instituting a mandatory retirement age of 65, New York Yankees co-owners Dan Topping and Del Webb relieve Casey Stengel as the team manager. Stengel says "I wasn't retired—they fired me." The veteran skipper has a 1,149-696 career record.
  • October 20 – Coach Ralph Houk, at age 41, is named to succeed Casey Stengel as the Yankees manager. Houk briefly led the Yankees in 1960 when Stengel was hospitalized.
  • October 26 – Trying to jump ahead of the National League, the American League admits Los Angeles and Minneapolis teams to the league with plans to have the new clubs begin competition in 1961 in the new 10-team league. Calvin Griffith is given permission to move the existing Washington Senators franchise to Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota. (An expansion team, also called the Senators, will be placed in Washington.) American League president Joe Cronin says the league will play a 162-game schedule, with 18 games against each opponent. The National League will balk, saying the two expansions are not analogous and that the American League was not invited to move into LA.
  • October 31- The San Francisco Giants acquire Alvin Dark from the Milwaukee Braves in exchange for infielder Andre Rodgers. However, Dark is not acquired as a player, but instead is acquired so he can become the team's manager.

November–December
  • November 2 – Hank Greenberg asks for American League dates at the Los Angeles Coliseum, home of the National League Dodgers. Greenberg and Bill Veeck are expected to run the new Los Angeles club in the AL. On November 17, Greenberg will drop out of the bidding to run the new franchise.
  • November 21 – Bob Scheffing signs to manage the Detroit Tigers after the job is turned down by Casey Stengel.
  • November 22 – The American League proposes that both leagues expand to nine teams in 1961 and begin interleague play. It will delay entering the Los Angeles market if the National League agrees. (There will be expansion to 10 teams in the American League in 1961, followed by the National League doing so in 1962, but interleague play does not arrive until 1997.)
  • November 23 – Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Frank Howard is selected National League Rookie of the Year with 12 of 24 votes. The six-foot, nine-inch Howard belted 23 home runs during the regular season.
  • November 26 – The relocated American League team in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis – Saint Paul chooses the appropriate nickname Twins to represent its franchise. The team recently moved from Washington, D.C., where they were known as the Senators.
  • December 3 - The Milwaukee Brewers purchase the contract of Billy Martin from the Cincinnati Reds.
  • December 5 – American League president Joe Cronin suggests that if the National League starts its new New York City franchise in 1961, the AL will stay out of Los Angeles until 1962. The NL turned down the suggested compromise of November 22 because Houston will not be ready in 1961.
  • December 6 – A group headed by movie star Gene Autry and former football star Bob Reynolds is awarded the new American League Los Angeles Angels. Charlie Finley withdraws his bid for Los Angeles and offers to purchase control of the Kansas City Athletics. On December 20, Finley will buy 52 percent of the A's from Arnold Johnson's estate.
  • December 21 – Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley says his team will have no manager, but will use a college of coaches.

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January–July
  • January 12 – Jimmy Lavender, 75, pitcher for the Chicago Cubs from 1912 to 1916, and for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1917.
  • February 11 – Fritz Clausen, 90, a 19th-century pitcher for the Louisville Colonels and Chicago Colts
  • February 16 – Stuffy McInnis, 69, excellent fielding first baseman who batted .307 career, most prominently with the Philadelphia Athletics' "$100,000 infield"
  • March 2 – Howie Camnitz, 78, pitcher who had three 20-win campaigns for the Pirates
  • March 3 – Toussaint Allen, 63, outfielder in the Negro Leagues from 1914 to 1928
  • March 18 – Dixie Howell, 40, relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox between 1940 and 1958, who threw a no-hitter game in the American Association, and also was a POW during World War II
  • March 22 – Gordon Rhodes, 52, pitcher who played from 1929 to 1936 for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics
  • March 30 – Joe Connolly, 76, outfielder for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox in the 1920s
  • May 6 – Vern Bickford, 39, pitcher who won 66 games for the Braves, including a no-hitter in 1950
  • May 12 - Gus Felix, 64, outfielder for the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Robins. Finished 3rd in the National League in putouts by a centerfielder in 1925.
  • May 21 – George Cochran, 71, a third baseman for the 1918 Boston Red Sox
  • May 30 – George Hildebrand, 81, American League umpire from 1913 to 1934 who worked in four World Series; outfielder for Brooklyn in 1902, also credited with developing the spitball while in the minor leagues
  • June 25 – Tommy Corcoran, 91, longtime shortstop, and captain of the Cincinnati Reds for 10 years
  • July 14 – Al Kellett, 58, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics in the 1920s
  • July 14 – Walter Thornton, 85, pitcher/outfielder for the early Chicago teams, 1895–1898. He later became a street preacher.
  • July 17 – Pat Duncan, 66, Cincinnati Reds outfielder who was the first player to homer over Crosley Field's left-field fence
  • July 18 – Terry Turner, 79, shortstop for the Cleveland Naps and Indians, who led American League shortstops in fielding percentage four times, ranks among the top 10 Cleveland all-timers in seven different offensive categories, and set team-records with 1,619 games played and 4,603 putouts that still stand
  • July 28 – Ken Landenberger, 31, minor league slugger and briefly a first baseman for the 1952 White Sox; manager of the Class D Selma Cloverleafs until mid-July 1960 when, stricken with acute leukemia, he stepped aside. He died by month's end.
  • July 28 – Marty Kavanagh, 69, Second baseman for the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals in the 1910s

August–December
  • August 12 – Leo Murphy, 71, catcher for the 1915 Pittsburgh Pirates and manager of the AAGPBL Racine Belles
  • August 14 – Fred Clarke, 87, Hall of Fame left fielder and manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates who batted .312 in his career, and became one of the first dozen players to make 2500 hits and the first manager to win 1500 games
  • August 21 – John Kelleher, 66, backup infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Robins, Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves from 1912 to 1924
  • September 23 – Paul Hinson, 56, utility for the 1928 Boston Red Sox
  • October 16 – Arch McDonald, 59, broadcaster for the Washington Senators from 1934 to 1956
  • October 22 – Charlie Hartman, 72, pitcher for the 1908 Boston Red Sox
  • November 2 – Everett Scott, 67, shortstop who played in 1,307 consecutive games from 1916 to 1925, a record later broken by Lou Gehrig
  • November 3 – Bobby Wallace, 86, Hall of Fame shortstop for the St. Louis Browns who set several fielding records, later a scout for the Cincinnati Reds for 33 years
  • November 12 – Merle Keagle, 37, All-Star female outfielder who set several single-season records in the AAGPBL
  • November 16 – Weldon Henley, 80, pitcher for the Athletics and Superbas from 1903 to 1907, pitched no-hitter on July 22, 1905
  • December 10 – Ernie Quigley, 80, National League umpire from 1913 to 1937 who worked in six World Series, was later a league supervisor
  • December 18 – Art Nehf, 68, pitcher who won 184 games for four National League teams
  • December 22 – Jack Onslow, 72, manager of the White Sox in 1949-50, formerly a catcher, coach and scout
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