1983 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1983 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1983 in baseball.

The 1983 Major League Baseball season ended with the Baltimore Orioles defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in the fifth game of the World Series. Rick Dempsey was named MVP of the Series. The All-Star Game was held on July 6 at Comiskey Park; the American League won by a score of 13–3, with California Angels outfielder Fred Lynn being named MVP. As of 2024 this remains the most recent season where no player hit for the cycle in a game (excluding the 2020 season which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic). This would be the final full season for Bowie Kuhn as commissioner of baseball.

1983 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 4 – October 16, 1983
Number of games	162
Number of teams	26
TV partner(s)	ABC, NBC, USA
Draft
Top draft pick	Tim Belcher
Picked by	Minnesota Twins
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Cal Ripken Jr. (BAL) NL: Dale Murphy (ATL)
Postseason
AL champions	Baltimore Orioles
AL runners-up	Chicago White Sox
NL champions	Philadelphia Phillies
NL runners-up	Los Angeles Dodgers
World Series
Champions	Baltimore Orioles
Runners-up	Philadelphia Phillies
World Series MVP	Rick Dempsey (BAL)

Angels

White Sox

Royals

Twins

     Athletics

Mariners

Rangers

Orioles

Red
Sox

Indians

Tigers   

Brewers

Yankees

Blue
Jays

Locations of teams for the 1982–1988 American League seasons
West   East

Braves

Reds

Astros

Dodgers

Padres

  Giants

Cubs

Expos

Mets

     Phillies

Pirates  

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1977–1992 National League seasons
West   East

Awards and honors

• Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Walter Alston
  • George Kell
  • Juan Marichal
  • Brooks Robinson

Further information: 1983 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards
BBWAA Award	National League	American League
Rookie of the Year	Darryl Strawberry (NYM)	Ron Kittle (CWS)
Cy Young Award	John Denny (PHI)	LaMarr Hoyt (CWS)
Manager of the Year	Tommy Lasorda (LAD)	Tony La Russa (CWS)
Most Valuable Player	Dale Murphy (ATL)	Cal Ripken Jr. (BAL)
Gold Glove Awards
Position	National League	American League
Pitcher	Phil Niekro (ATL)	Ron Guidry (NYY)
Catcher	Tony Peña (PIT)	Lance Parrish (DET)
First Baseman	Keith Hernandez (NYM)/(STL)	Eddie Murray (BAL)
Second Baseman	Ryne Sandberg (CHC)	Lou Whitaker (DET)
Third Baseman	Mike Schmidt (PHI)	Buddy Bell (TEX)
Shortstop	Ozzie Smith (STL)	Alan Trammell (DET)
Outfielders	Andre Dawson (MTL)	Dwight Evans (BOS)
	Willie McGee (STL)	Dwayne Murphy (OAK)
	Dale Murphy (ATL)	Dave Winfield (NYY)
Silver Slugger Awards
Pitcher/Designated Hitter	Fernando Valenzuela (LAD)	Don Baylor (NYY)
Catcher	Terry Kennedy (SD)	Lance Parrish (DET)
First Baseman	George Hendrick (STL)	Eddie Murray (BAL)
Second Baseman	Johnny Ray (PIT)	Lou Whitaker (DET)
Third Baseman	Mike Schmidt (PHI)	Wade Boggs (BOS)
Shortstop	Dickie Thon (HOU)	Cal Ripken Jr. (BAL)
Outfielders	José Cruz (HOU)	Lloyd Moseby (TOR)
	Andre Dawson (MTL)	Jim Rice (BOS)
	Dale Murphy (ATL)	Dave Winfield (NYY)

Other awards

• Outstanding Designated Hitter Award: Greg Luzinski (CWS)
• Roberto Clemente Award (Humanitarian): Cecil Cooper (MIL)
• Rolaids Relief Man Award: Dan Quisenberry (KC, American); Al Holland (PHI, National).

Player of the Month

Month	American League	National League
April	George Brett	Terry Kennedy
May	Rod Carew	Darrell Evans
June	Lou Whitaker	Andre Dawson
July	Cecil Cooper	Dusty Baker
August	Lloyd Moseby	Mel Hall
September	Cal Ripken Jr.	Dale Murphy

Pitcher of the Month

Month	American League	National League
April	Rick Honeycutt	Pascual Pérez
May	Dave Stieb	Bill Laskey
June	Charlie Hough	Burt Hooton
July	Scott McGregor	Joe Price
August	Jack Morris	Jesse Orosco
September	Richard Dotson	John Denny

MLB statistical leaders

Statistic	American League		National League
AVG	Wade Boggs BOS	.361	Bill Madlock PIT	.323
HR	Jim Rice BOS	39	Mike Schmidt PHI	40
RBI	Cecil Cooper MIL Jim Rice BOS	126	Dale Murphy ATL	121
Wins	LaMarr Hoyt CWS	24	John Denny PHI	19
ERA	Rick Honeycutt TEX	2.42	Atlee Hammaker SF	2.25
SO	Jack Morris DET	232	Steve Carlton PHI	275
SV	Dan Quisenberry KC	45	Lee Smith CHC	29
SB	Rickey Henderson OAK	108	Tim Raines MTL	90

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	98	64	.605	—	50‍–‍31	48‍–‍33
Detroit Tigers	92	70	.568	6	48‍–‍33	44‍–‍37
New York Yankees	91	71	.562	7	51‍–‍30	40‍–‍41
Toronto Blue Jays	89	73	.549	9	48‍–‍33	41‍–‍40
Milwaukee Brewers	87	75	.537	11	52‍–‍29	35‍–‍46
Boston Red Sox	78	84	.481	20	38‍–‍43	40‍–‍41
Cleveland Indians	70	92	.432	28	36‍–‍45	34‍–‍47

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	99	63	.611	—	55‍–‍26	44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals	79	83	.488	20	45‍–‍36	34‍–‍47
Texas Rangers	77	85	.475	22	44‍–‍37	33‍–‍48
Oakland Athletics	74	88	.457	25	42‍–‍39	32‍–‍49
California Angels	70	92	.432	29	35‍–‍46	35‍–‍46
Minnesota Twins	70	92	.432	29	37‍–‍44	33‍–‍48
Seattle Mariners	60	102	.370	39	30‍–‍51	30‍–‍51

National League

• v
• t
• e

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Phillies	90	72	.556	—	50‍–‍31	40‍–‍41
Pittsburgh Pirates	84	78	.519	6	41‍–‍40	43‍–‍38
Montreal Expos	82	80	.506	8	46‍–‍35	36‍–‍45
St. Louis Cardinals	79	83	.488	11	44‍–‍37	35‍–‍46
Chicago Cubs	71	91	.438	19	43‍–‍38	28‍–‍53
New York Mets	68	94	.420	22	41‍–‍41	27‍–‍53

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	91	71	.562	—	48‍–‍32	43‍–‍39
Atlanta Braves	88	74	.543	3	46‍–‍34	42‍–‍40
Houston Astros	85	77	.525	6	46‍–‍36	39‍–‍41
San Diego Padres	81	81	.500	10	47‍–‍34	34‍–‍47
San Francisco Giants	79	83	.488	12	43‍–‍38	36‍–‍45
Cincinnati Reds	74	88	.457	17	36‍–‍45	38‍–‍43

Postseason

Main article: 1983 Major League Baseball postseason

Bracket

	League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS)					World Series
	East	Baltimore	3
	West	Chicago White Sox	1
						AL	Baltimore	4
						NL	Philadelphia	1
	East	Philadelphia	3
	West	Los Angeles	1

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Los Angeles Dodgers[1]	91	3.4%	3,510,313	−2.7%	43,879
California Angels[2]	70	−24.7%	2,555,016	−9.0%	31,543
Milwaukee Brewers[3]	87	−8.4%	2,397,131	21.1%	29,594
Montreal Expos[4]	82	−4.7%	2,320,651	0.1%	28,650
St. Louis Cardinals[5]	79	−14.1%	2,317,914	9.8%	28,616
New York Yankees[6]	91	15.2%	2,257,976	10.6%	27,876
Chicago White Sox[7]	99	13.8%	2,132,821	36.0%	26,331
Philadelphia Phillies[8]	90	1.1%	2,128,339	−10.4%	25,955
Atlanta Braves[9]	88	−1.1%	2,119,935	17.6%	26,499
Baltimore Orioles[10]	98	4.3%	2,042,071	26.6%	25,211
Kansas City Royals[11]	79	−12.2%	1,963,875	−14.0%	23,950
Toronto Blue Jays[12]	89	14.1%	1,930,415	51.3%	23,832
Detroit Tigers[13]	92	10.8%	1,829,636	11.8%	22,588
Boston Red Sox[14]	78	−12.4%	1,782,285	−8.6%	22,004
San Diego Padres[15]	81	0.0%	1,539,815	−4.2%	18,778
Chicago Cubs[16]	71	−2.7%	1,479,717	18.4%	18,268
Texas Rangers[17]	77	20.3%	1,363,469	18.1%	16,833
Houston Astros[18]	85	10.4%	1,351,962	−13.3%	16,487
Oakland Athletics[19]	74	8.8%	1,294,941	−25.4%	15,987
San Francisco Giants[20]	79	−9.2%	1,251,530	4.2%	15,451
Pittsburgh Pirates[21]	84	0.0%	1,225,916	19.7%	15,135
Cincinnati Reds[22]	74	21.3%	1,190,419	−10.3%	14,697
New York Mets[23]	68	4.6%	1,112,774	−15.9%	13,570
Minnesota Twins[24]	70	16.7%	858,939	−6.8%	10,604
Seattle Mariners[25]	60	−21.1%	813,537	−24.0%	10,044
Cleveland Indians[26]	70	−10.3%	768,941	−26.3%	9,493

Television coverage

This was the last season of USA Network Thursday Night Baseball, as MLB decided to only renew the contracts with ABC and NBC.^[27][28][29]

Network	Day of week	Announcers
ABC	Monday nights Sunday afternoons	Al Michaels, Howard Cosell, Earl Weaver, Don Drysdale, Steve Stone
NBC	Saturday afternoons	Vin Scully, Joe Garagiola, Bob Costas, Tony Kubek
USA	Thursday nights	Eddie Doucette, Nelson Briles, Monte Moore, Wes Parker

Significant events

• April 27 – Nolan Ryan strikes out Brad Mills of the Montreal Expos. It is the 3,509th strikeout of Ryan's career, breaking the long time record established by Walter Johnson. Ryan will go on to break his own record 2,205 times before retiring.
• June 24 – Don Sutton of the Milwaukee Brewers records the 3,000th strikeout of his career against Alan Bannister of the Cleveland Indians.^[30]
• July 3 — The Texas Rangers score twelve runs in the fifteenth inning to defeat the Oakland Athletics 16–4, in the process breaking the MLB record for most runs scored during one single extra inning, previously held by the 1928 New York Yankees.^[31][32]
• July 24 – In the game now known as the Pine Tar Game, George Brett hits an apparent go-ahead 2-run home run off Goose Gossage in the ninth inning of a game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. However, Yankees manager Billy Martin challenges that Brett's bat had more than the 18 inches (460 mm) of pine tar allowed, and home plate umpire Tim McClelland upholds Martin's challenge. After being called out and having the home run nullified, Brett goes ballistic and charges out of the dugout after McClelland. The AL president's office later upholds the Kansas City Royals protest, restoring the home run, and the game is completed on August 18, with the Royals winning 5–4.
• July 29 – Steve Garvey, first baseman for the San Diego Padres dislocates his thumb, and ends his streak of 1,207 consecutive games played. It is still the National League record for consecutive games played, but less than half the American League and MLB record of 2,632 by Cal Ripken Jr. from 1982-98.
• September 28 – The Philadelphia Phillies defeat the Chicago Cubs 13–6, for the 7000th regular season win in their history to clinch the National League East Division title.
• October 16 – Eddie Murray slams a pair of home runs and Scott McGregor pitches a five-hitter as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5–0 and win the 1983 World Series in Game Five. Baltimore catcher Rick Dempsey, who hit .385 with four doubles and a home run, is the Series MVP.