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1958 Major League Baseball season
Sports season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1958 major league baseball season began on April 14, 1958. The regular season ended on September 28, with the Milwaukee Braves and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 55th World Series on October 1 and ended with Game 7 on October 9. In the second iteration of this World Series matchup (and a rematch of the previous year), the Yankees defeated the Braves, four games to three, capturing their 18th championship in franchise history, since their previous in 1956. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the Milwaukee Braves from the 1957 season.
The 25th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 8 at Baltimore Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, home of the Baltimore Orioles. The American League won, 4–3.
Following the relocation trend that began in 1953, the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moved from New York, New York (Brooklyn and Manhattan, respectively) to California (Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively), becoming the fourth and fifth teams to relocate in the relocation era and leaving New York a one-team city. The moves to California marked the first time major-league teams played on the West Coast. The National League exodus from New York would go on to inspire the proposed Continental League the following year, which pressured the two existing leagues to begin expansion.[1] New York went without a National League team for four seasons, until the expansion New York Mets began play in 1962.
On June 6, the Detroit Tigers became the 15th team in professional baseball to break the color line when they fielded Ozzie Virgil Sr.[2]
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Schedule
The 1958 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.
American League Opening Day took place on April 14, featuring the Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators, while National League Opening Day took place the following day, featuring all eight NL teams. This continued the trend from the previous season which saw both leagues opened on different days. The final day of the regular season was on September 28, which saw fourteen teams play. The World Series took place between October 1 and October 9.
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Rule changes
The 1958 season saw the following rule changes:
- The Open Classification level ceased to exist, as the minor-league Pacific Coast League (PCL) was demoted to Triple-A following the relocation of the Giants and Dodgers to California.[3]
- The bonus rule, which stipulated that players signed to major-league contract were required to spend the first two years on the parent team before he could farmed out or if signed to minor-league contract, players could not be moved up or down in the farms system for one year, was removed for the second time. In its place, Any player previously reserved by a minor league team of Double-A classification or higher, and who had been in the major or minor league system for at least four years, were now subjects to an unrestricted draft. For players in Single-A, players needed a minimum of three years to be subject to the draft, while players of lower classifications needed a minimum of two years.[4]
- Selection prices for players drafted by major-league team were set at $25,000 (equivalent to $272,000 in 2024).[4]
- Scorers could now change a call if a player or umpire asked for said call to be checked.[4]
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Teams
Standings
American League
National League
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Postseason
The postseason began on October 1 and ended on October 9 with the New York Yankees defeating the Milwaukee Braves in the 1958 World Series in seven games.
Bracket
| World Series | ||||
| AL | New York Yankees | 4 | ||
| NL | Milwaukee Braves | 3 | ||
Managerial changes
Off-season
In-season
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League leaders
American League
National League
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Awards and honors
Regular season
Other awards
Monthly awards
Player of the Month
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Home field attendance
Events
January–March
- January 29 – Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella suffers a broken neck in an early morning auto accident on Long Island. His spinal column is nearly severed and his legs are permanently paralyzed. Campanella will never play for the Dodgers after their move to Los Angeles, although a newspaper story (showing a picture of him wearing a Brooklyn cap) describes him as being of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- February 4 – The Baseball Hall of Fame fails to elect any new members for the first time since 1950.
April–June
- April 15 – In the first Major League Baseball game played on the West Coast, Rubén Gómez of the San Francisco Giants hurls an 8–0 shutout against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Giants' shortstop Daryl Spencer hits the first Major League home run on the Pacific Coast. A park-record 23,192 fans pack San Francisco's Seals Stadium to witness the historic game.
- April 25 – The Dodgers set a record for the most fans at a regular season night game as 60,635 fans are on hand to see the Dodgers defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 5–3.
- May 13 – Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals gets his 3,000th career hit, a pinch-hit double off Moe Drabowsky in the sixth inning of a 5–3 Cardinals victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
- May 23 – Willie Mays hits his 200th career home run, a two-run shot off Warren Spahn in the ninth inning of a game against the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium. The home run drives in the decisive runs of the game, as the San Francisco Giants down the Braves, 5–3.
July–September
- September 14 – The New York Yankees sweep a doubleheader against the Kansas City Athletics, 5–3 and 12–7 (14 innings), clinching their fourth straight American League pennant.
- September 20 – Hoyt Wilhelm of the Baltimore Orioles strikes out eight while throwing a no-hitter against the New York Yankees.
- September 21 – The Milwaukee Braves clinch their second consecutive National League pennant with a 6–5 victory over the Cincinnati Redlegs, thus ensuring a Yankees–Braves World Series for the second straight year.
October–December
- October 8 – The New York Yankees win the 1958 World Series handily as Moose Skowron's 3-run home run off Milwaukee Braves pitcher Lew Burdette in the 8th inning puts Game 7 on ice, 6–2. The Yankees became only the second team to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win a best-of-seven World Series, joining the Pittsburgh Pirates, who did it in the 1925 World Series. (The Boston Americans/Red Sox came back from a 3–1 deficit to win the first World Series in 1903, a best-of-nine series.) Milwaukee's Eddie Mathews strikes out for the 11th time, a record that will stand until 1980, when broken by Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals. The Braves' 53 strikeouts are also a new World Series record. This is Casey Stengel's 7th world championship, tying him with Joe McCarthy for the most Series won.
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Television coverage
CBS and NBC aired weekend Game of the Week broadcasts. NBC began airing a special regional feed of its games in the southeast. The All-Star Game and World Series also aired on NBC.
Movies
Births
- January 20 – Bill Scherrer
- February 21 – Alan Trammell
- April 29 – Steve Crawford
- June 15 – Wade Boggs
- August 19 – Gary Gaetti
- August 23 – Julio Franco
- September 16 – Orel Hershiser
- November 28 – Dave Righetti
- December 25 – Rickey Henderson
Deaths
- January 23 – Walter Lonergan, 72, shortstop for the 1911 Boston Red Sox
- March 28 – Chuck Klein, 53, slugging right fielder, primarily with the Philadelphia Phillies, who was named the NL's MVP in 1932 and won the Triple Crown one year later; the 7th player to hit 300 home runs, winning four league titles
- April 14 – John Freeman, 57, outfielder for the 1927 Boston Red Sox
- June 9 – John Fick, 37, pitcher for the 1944 Philadelphia Blue Jays
- August 1 – Ike Boone, 61, an outfielder for the New York Giants, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and Brooklyn Dodgers between 1922 and 1932, who posted an ML career average of .321, compiled a .370 BA for the highest minor league all-time, and set a professional baseball record in 1929 collecting 553 total bases while playing in the Pacific Coast League
- November 21 – Mel Ott, 49, Hall of Fame outfielder and 12-time All-Star for the New York Giants who held National League career record for home runs (511), leading league 6 times
- November 27 – Harry G. Salsinger, 71, sportswriter for the Detroit News for over 50 years
- December 8 – Tris Speaker, 70, Hall of Fame center fielder known for spectacular defense as well as superlative batting, becoming the second player to compile over 3,500 hits and posting a .345 career average
- December 31 – Jack Doyle, 89, 17 year playing career includes a one time stint as manager of the New York Giants.
See also
References
External links
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