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1951 Major League Baseball season
Sports season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1951 major league baseball season began on April 16, 1951. The regular season ended on October 3, with the New York Giants and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Giants defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in a regular season best-of-three tiebreaker, for the National League title, after both teams finished their 154-game schedules with identical 96–58 records. This was the third regular season tie-breaker, and saw a reversion from the single-game tie-breaker featured in 1948 to the three-game format featured in the 1946 tie-breaker series. After splitting the first two games, the stage was set for a decisive third game, won in dramatic fashion on a walk-off home run from the bat of Giant Bobby Thomson, one of the most famous moments in the history of baseball, commemorated as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" and "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff". The postseason began with Game 1 of the 48th World Series on October 4 and ended with Game 6 on October 10. In the sixth iteration of this Subway Series World Series matchup, the Yankees defeated the Giants, four games to two, capturing their 14th championship in franchise history, and their third in a five-run World Series. This would be the final Subway Series matchup between the two teams, as the next World Series between the two in 1962 would see a relocated Giants franchise in San Francisco, California.
The 18th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 10 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, home of the Detroit Tigers. The National League won, 8–3.
On May 1, the Chicago White Sox become the sixth team in professional baseball to break the color line when they fielded future Hall-of-Famer Minnie Miñoso.[1]
This was Happy Chandler's last season of his 5½-tenure as Commissioner of Baseball, as he resigned on July 15, after team owner voted against renewing his contract which expired in April 1952. National League president Ford Frick would be elected as commissioner, officially taking the position September 20, just days before the end of the regular season.
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Schedule
The 1951 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the 1904 season (except for 1919) and would be used until 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.
National League Opening Day took place on April 16, with a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, while American League Opening Day took place the following day, featuring all eight teams. This was the first season since 1943 that both leagues opened on different days. The final day of the scheduled regular season was on September 30, which saw all sixteen teams play, continuing the trend from 1946. Due to the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants finishing with the same record of 96–58, a best-of-three tie-breaker was scheduled, to be considered an extension of the regular season, and took place between October 1 and October 3. The World Series took place between October 4 and October 10.
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Rule changes
The 1951 season saw the following rule changes:
- The bonus rule, which stated that any player signed to a contract greater than $4,000 (equivalent to $48,500 in 2024) had to stay on the team's 25-man roster for two years, was abolished.[2]
- In the event of a walk, hit by pitch, or other plays with the bases loaded which forces the runners to advance bases which wins the game for the team batting in the bottom of the final inning, the runner on third must touch home base and the hitter of the current at bat must reach first base.[3]
- Following a dead ball, play shall resume only when the pitcher, with the current ball, takes his place on the pitcher's mound.[3]
- If a pitcher must come into a game to relieve the previous pitcher with no opportunity to warm up, he is allowed to throw as many warmup pitches on the field until the umpire feels the pitcher is properly prepared to face batters.[3]
- If interference occurs by the catcher or fielder, and if so a batter or baserunner is awarded their next base, the catcher or fielder is charged with an error.[3]
- Caught stealing became a trackable statistic. Official rules surrounding caught stealing would not be codified until 1963.[3]
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Teams
Standings
American League
National League
- The New York Giants defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in best-of-three playoff series to earn the National League pennant.
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Postseason
The postseason began on October 4 and ended on October 10 with the New York Yankees defeating the New York Giants in the 1951 World Series in six games.
Bracket
| World Series | |||||||||
| AL | New York Yankees | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 4 | ||
| NL | New York Giants | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
Managerial changes
Off-season
In-season
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League leaders
Summarize
Perspective
Any team shown in small text indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.
American League
National League
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Awards and honors
Regular season
Other awards
Baseball Hall of Fame
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Home field attendance
Events
- May 1 – Umpire Frank Dascoli banishes all 11 players on the Chicago Cubs bench during the fourth inning of the game against the New York Giants, after the Cubs players allegedly call Dascoli "Rabbit Ears". Bill Serena and Smoky Burgess are later allowed to return to the game to pinch hit for the Cubs.[30]
- May 15 – At Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox celebrated the franchise's 50th anniversary and honored members of the 1901 Boston Americans. Overall, 29 old-timers who played, managed, or umpired in the American League in that first year attended, including Bill Bradley, Tom Connolly, Wid Conroy, Hugh Duffy, Clark Griffith, Dummy Hoy, Connie Mack, Ollie Pickering, Billy Sullivan and Cy Young.[31][32] Eight of them participated in the first-ever game of the American League, played in Chicago on April 24, 1901. The regular game that followed the ceremony featured the 300th career home run of Ted Williams[31] in the 4th inning off Chicago White Sox pitcher Howie Judson. With the game tied at 7–7 in the top of the 11th inning, Nellie Fox hit the first homer of his six-year career[31] against reliever Ray Scarborough, to give the White Sox and reliever Harry Dorish a 9–7 victory.[33]
- July 7 – The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Chicago Cubs 8–6 — every scoring half-inning featured two runs.[34]
- September 13 – The St. Louis Cardinals become the first team in Major League history to play two different teams on the same day. Due to a rained out game, the Cardinals are forced to play the New York Giants in an afternoon game prior to their scheduled night game against the Boston Braves.[35]
- September 14 – Bob Nieman of the St. Louis Browns becomes the first player to hit two home runs in his first two at-bats.[36]
- October 1–3 – The Giants and Dodgers meet in a special three-game playoff to decide the National League pennant. Bobby Thomson's walk-off homerun at the bottom of the ninth in the third game becomes known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World"
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See also
References
External links
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