1974 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1974 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1974 in baseball.

The 1974 Major League Baseball season: The Oakland Athletics won their third consecutive World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers four games to one.

1974 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 4 – October 17, 1974
Number of games	162
Number of teams	24
TV partner(s)	NBC
Draft
Top draft pick	Bill Almon
Picked by	San Diego Padres
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Jeff Burroughs (TEX) NL: Steve Garvey (LA)
Postseason
AL champions	Oakland Athletics
AL runners-up	Baltimore Orioles
NL champions	Los Angeles Dodgers
NL runners-up	Pittsburgh Pirates
World Series
Champions	Oakland Athletics
Runners-up	Los Angeles Dodgers
World Series MVP	Rollie Fingers (OAK)

Angels

White Sox

Royals

Twins

     Athletics

Rangers

Orioles

Red Sox

Indians

Tigers

Brewers

Yankees

Locations of teams for the 1974–1975 American League seasons
West   East

Braves

Reds

Astros

Dodgers

Padres

  Giants

Cubs

Expos

Mets

     Phillies

Pirates  

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1971–1976 National League seasons
West   East

Two notable personal milestones were achieved during the 1974 season. The first came on April 8, when Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves blasted his 715th career home run, breaking the all-time career home run mark of 714 set by Babe Ruth. Aaron would finish his career with 755 home runs, a record that would stand until Barry Bonds broke it in 2007. The second milestone came on September 10, when the St. Louis Cardinals' Lou Brock stole his 105th base off pitcher Dick Ruthven and catcher Bob Boone of the Philadelphia Phillies. This broke the single-season stolen base record of 104, set by Maury Wills in 1962. Brock stole 118 bases for the season, a record that would stand until 1982, when Rickey Henderson stole 130.

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	91	71	.562	—	46‍–‍35	45‍–‍36
New York Yankees	89	73	.549	2	47‍–‍34	42‍–‍39
Boston Red Sox	84	78	.519	7	46‍–‍35	38‍–‍43
Cleveland Indians	77	85	.475	14	40‍–‍41	37‍–‍44
Milwaukee Brewers	76	86	.469	15	40‍–‍41	36‍–‍45
Detroit Tigers	72	90	.444	19	36‍–‍45	36‍–‍45

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	90	72	.556	—	49‍–‍32	41‍–‍40
Texas Rangers	84	76	.525	5	42‍–‍38	42‍–‍38
Minnesota Twins	82	80	.506	8	48‍–‍33	34‍–‍47
Chicago White Sox	80	80	.500	9	46‍–‍34	34‍–‍46
Kansas City Royals	77	85	.475	13	40‍–‍41	37‍–‍44
California Angels	68	94	.420	22	36‍–‍45	32‍–‍49

National League

• v
• t
• e

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	88	74	.543	—	52‍–‍29	36‍–‍45
St. Louis Cardinals	86	75	.534	1½	44‍–‍37	42‍–‍38
Philadelphia Phillies	80	82	.494	8	46‍–‍35	34‍–‍47
Montreal Expos	79	82	.491	8½	42‍–‍38	37‍–‍44
New York Mets	71	91	.438	17	36‍–‍45	35‍–‍46
Chicago Cubs	66	96	.407	22	32‍–‍49	34‍–‍47

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	102	60	.630	—	52‍–‍29	50‍–‍31
Cincinnati Reds	98	64	.605	4	50‍–‍31	48‍–‍33
Atlanta Braves	88	74	.543	14	46‍–‍35	42‍–‍39
Houston Astros	81	81	.500	21	46‍–‍35	35‍–‍46
San Francisco Giants	72	90	.444	30	37‍–‍44	35‍–‍46
San Diego Padres	60	102	.370	42	36‍–‍45	24‍–‍57

Postseason

Main article: 1974 Major League Baseball postseason

Bracket

	League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS)					World Series
	East	Baltimore	1
	West	Oakland	3
						AL	Oakland	4
						NL	Los Angeles	1
	East	Pittsburgh	1
	West	Los Angeles	3

Awards and honors

• Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Cool Papa Bell
  • Jim Bottomley
  • Jocko Conlan
  • Whitey Ford
  • Mickey Mantle
  • Sam Thompson
• Most Valuable Player
  • Jeff Burroughs, Texas Rangers (AL)
  • Steve Garvey, Los Angeles Dodgers (NL)
• Cy Young Award
  • Catfish Hunter, Oakland Athletics (AL)
  • Mike Marshall, Los Angeles Dodgers (NL)
• Rookie of the Year
  • Mike Hargrove, Texas Rangers (AL)
  • Bake McBride, St. Louis Cardinals (NL)
• Gold Glove Award
  • George Scott (1B) (AL)
  • Bobby Grich (2B) (AL)
  • Brooks Robinson (3B) (AL)
  • Mark Belanger (SS) (AL)
  • Paul Blair (OF) (AL)
  • Amos Otis (OF) (AL)
  • Joe Rudi (OF) (AL)
  • Thurman Munson (C) (AL)
  • Jim Kaat (P) (AL)

Statistical leaders

Statistic	American League		National League
AVG	Rod Carew MIN	.364	Ralph Garr ATL	.353
HR	Dick Allen CWS	32	Mike Schmidt PHI	36
RBI	Jeff Burroughs TEX	118	Johnny Bench CIN	129
Wins	Catfish Hunter OAK Ferguson Jenkins TEX	25	Phil Niekro ATL Andy Messersmith LA	20
ERA	Catfish Hunter OAK	2.49	Buzz Capra ATL	2.28
SO	Nolan Ryan CAL	367	Steve Carlton PHI	240
SV	Terry Forster CWS	24	Mike Marshall LA	21
SB	Billy North OAK	54	Lou Brock STL	118

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Los Angeles Dodgers[1]	102	7.4%	2,632,474	23.2%	32,500
Cincinnati Reds[2]	98	−1.0%	2,164,307	7.3%	26,394
St. Louis Cardinals[3]	86	6.2%	1,838,413	16.8%	22,696
Philadelphia Phillies[4]	80	12.7%	1,808,648	22.5%	22,329
New York Mets[5]	71	−13.4%	1,722,209	−9.9%	21,262
Boston Red Sox[6]	84	−5.6%	1,556,411	5.1%	19,215
New York Yankees[7]	89	11.3%	1,273,075	0.9%	15,717
Detroit Tigers[8]	72	−15.3%	1,243,080	−27.9%	15,347
Texas Rangers[9]	84	47.4%	1,193,902	74.0%	14,924
Kansas City Royals[10]	77	−12.5%	1,173,292	−12.8%	14,485
Chicago White Sox[11]	80	3.9%	1,149,596	−11.7%	14,019
Cleveland Indians[12]	77	8.5%	1,114,262	81.1%	13,756
Pittsburgh Pirates[13]	88	10.0%	1,110,552	−15.9%	13,711
Houston Astros[14]	81	−1.2%	1,090,728	−21.8%	13,466
San Diego Padres[15]	60	0.0%	1,075,399	75.8%	13,277
Montreal Expos[16]	79	0.0%	1,019,134	−18.3%	12,739
Chicago Cubs[17]	66	−14.3%	1,015,378	−24.9%	12,536
Atlanta Braves[18]	88	15.8%	981,085	22.5%	12,112
Baltimore Orioles[19]	91	−6.2%	962,572	0.4%	11,884
Milwaukee Brewers[20]	76	2.7%	955,741	−12.5%	11,799
California Angels[21]	68	−13.9%	917,269	−13.3%	11,324
Oakland Athletics[22]	90	−4.3%	845,693	−15.5%	10,441
Minnesota Twins[23]	82	1.2%	662,401	−27.0%	8,078
San Francisco Giants[24]	72	−18.2%	519,987	−37.7%	6,420

Events

On August 30, Texas Rangers player Dave Nelson steals three bases – 2nd, 3rd and home in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians.^[25]

Television coverage

NBC was the exclusive national TV broadcaster of MLB, airing the weekend Game of the Week, Monday Night Baseball, the All-Star Game, both League Championship Series, and the World Series.