1975 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1975 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1975 in baseball.

The 1975 Major League Baseball season saw Frank Robinson become the first black manager in the Major Leagues. He managed the Cleveland Indians.

1975 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 7 – October 22, 1975
Number of games	162
Number of teams	24
TV partner(s)	NBC
Draft
Top draft pick	Danny Goodwin
Picked by	California Angels
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Fred Lynn (BOS) NL: Joe Morgan (CIN)
Postseason
AL champions	Boston Red Sox
AL runners-up	Oakland Athletics
NL champions	Cincinnati Reds
NL runners-up	Pittsburgh Pirates
World Series
Champions	Cincinnati Reds
Runners-up	Boston Red Sox
World Series MVP	Pete Rose (CIN)

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

At the All-Star Break, there were discussions of Bowie Kuhn's reappointment. Charlie Finley, New York owner George Steinbrenner and Baltimore owner Jerry Hoffberger were part of a group that wanted him gone.^[1] Finley was trying to convince the new owner of the Texas Rangers Brad Corbett that MLB needed a more dynamic commissioner.^[2] During the vote, Baltimore and New York decided to vote in favour of the commissioner's reappointment. In addition, there were discussions of expansion for 1977, with Seattle and Washington, D.C. as the proposed cities for expansion.

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	95	65	.594	—	47‍–‍34	48‍–‍31
Baltimore Orioles	90	69	.566	4½	44‍–‍33	46‍–‍36
New York Yankees	83	77	.519	12	43‍–‍35	40‍–‍42
Cleveland Indians	79	80	.497	15½	41‍–‍39	38‍–‍41
Milwaukee Brewers	68	94	.420	28	36‍–‍45	32‍–‍49
Detroit Tigers	57	102	.358	37½	31‍–‍49	26‍–‍53

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	98	64	.605	—	54‍–‍27	44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals	91	71	.562	7	51‍–‍30	40‍–‍41
Texas Rangers	79	83	.488	19	39‍–‍41	40‍–‍42
Minnesota Twins	76	83	.478	20½	39‍–‍43	37‍–‍40
Chicago White Sox	75	86	.466	22½	42‍–‍39	33‍–‍47
California Angels	72	89	.447	25½	35‍–‍46	37‍–‍43

National League

• v
• t
• e

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	92	69	.571	—	52‍–‍28	40‍–‍41
Philadelphia Phillies	86	76	.531	6½	51‍–‍30	35‍–‍46
New York Mets	82	80	.506	10½	42‍–‍39	40‍–‍41
St. Louis Cardinals	82	80	.506	10½	45‍–‍36	37‍–‍44
Chicago Cubs	75	87	.463	17½	42‍–‍39	33‍–‍48
Montreal Expos	75	87	.463	17½	39‍–‍42	36‍–‍45

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	108	54	.667	—	64‍–‍17	44‍–‍37
Los Angeles Dodgers	88	74	.543	20	49‍–‍32	39‍–‍42
San Francisco Giants	80	81	.497	27½	46‍–‍35	34‍–‍46
San Diego Padres	71	91	.438	37	38‍–‍43	33‍–‍48
Atlanta Braves	67	94	.416	40½	37‍–‍43	30‍–‍51
Houston Astros	64	97	.398	43½	37‍–‍44	27‍–‍53

Postseason

Main article: 1975 Major League Baseball postseason

Bracket

	League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS)					World Series
	East	Boston	3
	West	Oakland	0
						AL	Boston	3
						NL	Cincinnati	4
	East	Pittsburgh	0
	West	Cincinnati	3

Awards and honors

• Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Earl Averill
  • Bucky Harris
  • Billy Herman
  • Judy Johnson
  • Ralph Kiner
• Most Valuable Player
  • Fred Lynn (AL) Boston Red Sox
  • Joe Morgan (NL) Cincinnati Reds
• Cy Young Award
  • Jim Palmer (AL) Baltimore Orioles
  • Tom Seaver (NL) New York Mets
• Rookie of the Year
  • Fred Lynn (AL) Boston Red Sox
  • John Montefusco (NL) San Francisco Giants
• Gold Glove Award
  • George Scott (1B) (AL)
  • Bobby Grich (2B) (AL)
  • Brooks Robinson (3B) (AL)
  • Mark Belanger (SS) (AL)
  • Paul Blair (OF) (AL)
  • Fred Lynn (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	.359	Bill Madlock CHC	.354
HR	Reggie Jackson OAK George Scott MIL	36	Mike Schmidt PHI	38
RBI	George Scott MIL	109	Greg Luzinski PHI	120
Wins	Jim Palmer BAL Catfish Hunter NYY	23	Tom Seaver NYM	22
ERA	Jim Palmer BAL	2.09	Randy Jones SD	2.24
SO	Frank Tanana CAL	269	Tom Seaver NYM	243
SV	Rich Gossage CWS	26	Rawly Eastwick CIN Al Hrabosky STL	22
SB	Mickey Rivers CAL	70	Davey Lopes LA	77

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Los Angeles Dodgers[3]	88	−13.7%	2,539,349	−3.5%	31,350
Cincinnati Reds[4]	108	10.2%	2,315,603	7.0%	28,588
Philadelphia Phillies[5]	86	7.5%	1,909,233	5.6%	23,571
Boston Red Sox[6]	95	13.1%	1,748,587	12.3%	21,587
New York Mets[7]	82	15.5%	1,730,566	0.5%	21,365
St. Louis Cardinals[8]	82	−4.7%	1,695,270	−7.8%	20,674
New York Yankees[9]	83	−6.7%	1,288,048	1.2%	16,513
San Diego Padres[10]	71	18.3%	1,281,747	19.2%	15,824
Pittsburgh Pirates[11]	92	4.5%	1,270,018	14.4%	15,875
Milwaukee Brewers[12]	68	−10.5%	1,213,357	27.0%	14,980
Kansas City Royals[13]	91	18.2%	1,151,836	−1.8%	14,220
Texas Rangers[14]	79	−6.0%	1,127,924	−5.5%	14,099
Oakland Athletics[15]	98	8.9%	1,075,518	27.2%	13,278
Detroit Tigers[16]	57	−20.8%	1,058,836	−14.8%	13,235
California Angels[17]	72	5.9%	1,058,163	15.4%	13,064
Chicago Cubs[18]	75	13.6%	1,034,819	1.9%	12,776
Baltimore Orioles[19]	90	−1.1%	1,002,157	4.1%	13,015
Cleveland Indians[20]	79	2.6%	977,039	−12.3%	12,213
Montreal Expos[21]	75	−5.1%	908,292	−10.9%	11,213
Houston Astros[22]	64	−21.0%	858,002	−21.3%	10,593
Chicago White Sox[23]	75	−6.3%	750,802	−34.7%	9,269
Minnesota Twins[24]	76	−7.3%	737,156	11.3%	8,990
Atlanta Braves[25]	67	−23.9%	534,672	−45.5%	6,683
San Francisco Giants[26]	80	11.1%	522,919	0.6%	6,456

Notable events

• August 14 – Atlanta Braves pitcher Phil Niekro hits the only triple of his Major League career, off of Lynn McGlothen of the St. Louis Cardinals.^[27]

Television coverage

This was the last season that 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. Beginning in 1976, MLB would split the TV rights between NBC and ABC.