November in Baseball History
Published by Evan Wagner
Dec 01, 2023
Interesting Baseball History for the month of November:
1908 - The Reach All-Americans defeat Waseda University in Tokyo, 5-0, in the first game between a Japanese team and American professionals.
1913 - St. Louis Browns player-manager George Stovall, fired the previous summer, is the first major-league player to jump to the Federal League, signing to manage Kansas City.
1920 - Owners unanimously elect Kenesaw Mountain Landis chairman for seven years. Landis accepts, but only as sole commissioner with final authority over the players and owners, while remaining a federal judge (with his $7,500 federal salary deducted from the baseball salary of $50,000).
1926 - Tris Speaker resigns as Indians manager. Stories of a thrown game and betting on games by Ty Cobb and Speaker for third-place money in 1919 gain momentum when Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis holds a secret hearing with the two stars and former pitcher-outfielder Joe Wood.
1926 - Ty Cobb resigns as Tigers manager and announces his retirement from the game. Umpire and former Tigers infielder George Moriarty replaces him. Moriarty is the first man to hold baseball's four principal jobs: player, umpire, scout, and manager.
1934 - Although Lou Gehrig wins the Triple Crown with 49 home runs, 165 RBI, and a .363 average, the Tigers Mickey Cochrane, with two home runs, 76 RBI, and a.320 average, is named American League Most Valuable Player
1934 - Bucky Harris, who managed the 1924 and 1925 American League champion Senators, is hired back by Washington to replace youthful Joe Cronin, who has been sold to Boston.
1934 - Seventeen-year-old Eiji Sawamura gives up one hit, a home run to Lou Gehrig, as the touring American All-Stars win in Japan, 1-0. At one point Sawamura strikes out four future Hall of Famers in a row: Charlie Gehringer, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Gehrig.
1938 - The three DiMaggio brothers play together for the first time, making up an outfield for an all-star team in a West Coast charity game.
1940 - Former Washington hurler Walter Johnson, who won four-hundred sixteen games for the Senators, goes down in defeat as a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio is named American League Most Valuable Player. His 56-game hitting streak edges out Ted Williams and his .406 batting average for the award (291 for DiMaggio and 254 for Williams).
1941 - Lou Boudreau is named player-manager of the Cleveland Indians. Boudreau, at 24 years, four months, and eight days, is the youngest manager appointed in the 20th century. Scotland-born Jim McCormick managed Cleveland in 1879 at age 23.
1942 - Ted Williams is the Triple Crown winner in the major leagues, but the writers select second baseman Joe Gordon by 21 votes as American League Most Valuable Player. Gordon of the New York Yankees leads the American League with 95 strikeouts, the most ground balls hit into double plays (22), and the most errors at his position (28).
1942 - The Dodgers look to St. Louis for leadership. After two decades in St. Louis, Branch Rickey splits with owner Sam Breadon. He will sign to become General Manager at Brooklyn.
1943 - Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis rules that Phils owner William D. Cox is permanently ineligible to hold office or be employed in baseball for having bet on his own team. The Carpenter family of Delaware will buy the Philadelphia club and Bob Carpenter, age 28, will become president.
1944 - Five groups totaling 23 players, managers, umpires, and writers visit war theaters as part of the USO program. Included are Mel Ott, Frankie Frisch, Bucky Walters, Harry Heilmann, Carl Hubbell, Leo Durocher, Joe Medwick, Dixie Walker, Paul Waner, and Rip Sewell.
1949 - National League batting leader (.342) Jackie Robinson is picked for the National League Most Valuable Player award.
1949 - Ted Williams, who lost the Triple Crown when his batting average was.0002 below that of George Kell, wins the Most Valuable Player vote in a landslide
1950 - Branch Rickey signs a five-year contract as executive vice president/GM with the Pirates.
1951 - Catcher Yogi Berra of the Yankees wins the first of his three Most Valuable Player awards.
1951 - Lefty O'Doul's All-Stars, including Joe DiMaggio, Ferris Fain, and Billy Martin, lose 3-1 to a Pacific League All-Star team. This is only the second time since 1922 that an American professional team has lost to Japan, and the first time to professional players.
1952 - The baseball writers name Philadelphia A's pitcher Bobby Shantz the American League Most Valuable Player. He was 24-7 for the 79-75 A's.
1953 - The Giants end their tour of Japan. It is reported that each player received just $331 of the $3,000 they were promised.
1953 - The rules committee restores the 1939 sacrifice fly rule, which says a sacrifice fly is not charged as a time at bat.
1953 - The St. Louis Browns officially become the Baltimore Baseball Club Inc. The Baltimore franchise board officially changes its name to the Orioles.
1953 - The U.S. Supreme Court decides 7-2 that baseball is a sport and not a business and therefore not subject to antitrust laws.
1956 - Don Newcombe, who won the 1949 Rookie of the Year Award, takes home both the National League Most Valuable Player and the first-ever Cy Young Award.
1957 - Mayor Robert Wagner forms a four-member committee to find a replacement for the Dodgers and Giants in New York City.
1957 - Mickey Mantle edges Ted Williams, 233 to 209, to win the American League Most Valuable Player. Williams, at 39 years of age, led the league in hitting with a .388 average, hit 38 home runs, and compiled a slugging average of .731. Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey fumes at the news, noting that two Chicago writers listed Williams in the ninth and tenth places on their ballots.
1958 - Mayor Robert Wagner of New York announces preliminary plans for a third major league. Chairman William Shea, of what will become the Continental League, says it is apparent that the National League is going to ignore New York City. He implies that the new league will be free to raid major-league rosters.
1958 - The American League announces that its Opening Day game in 1959 will be the earliest ever, April 9.
1958 - The American League announces that Kansas City will play 52 night games in 1959, a new league mark.
1959 - Ernie Banks wins his second Most Valuable Player award in a row on the strength of his forty-five home runs and one-hundred forty-three runs batted in for the Cubs.
1959 - Giants slugger Willie McCovey is the National League Rookie of the Year. McCovey gets all 24 votes to make him the second Giant in a row to win the award unanimously. Teammate Orlando Cepeda ran away with the award in 1958.
1959 - White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox wins the American League's Most Valuable Player award. Teammates Luis Aparicio and Early Wynn finish second and third in the voting.
1960 - Roger Maris nips Mickey Mantle for the AL's Most Valuable Player award, 225-222, the second-closest vote ever. The closest was the Joe DiMaggio -- Ted Williams race in 1947.
1960 - The American League proposes that both leagues expand to nine teams in 1961 and begin interleague play. There will be expansion in the American League in 1961, but interleague play does not arrive until 1997.
1960 - Twins is the appropriate new name chosen for the club transplanted from Washington (Senators) to Minnesota's Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
1961 - Roger Maris, with a record-shattering 61 home runs, is voted American League Most Valuable Player with 202 votes to 198 for Mickey Mantle and 157 for Baltimore's Jim Gentile. Maris wins the award for the second consecutive year.
1961 - The Professional Baseball Rules Committee votes 8-1 against legalizing the spitball. Only National League supervisor of umpires Cal Hubbard votes in favor.
1962 - Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills, whose 104 steals broke Ty Cobb's major league record, is named National League Most Valuable Player.
1963 - Yankee catcher Elston Howard becomes the first black ever voted American League Most Valuable Player.
1966 - Sandy Koufax announces his retirement, due to increasing pain in his arthritic left elbow.
1966 - Sandy Koufax becomes the first three-time winner of the Cy Young Award. He is a unanimous winner for the second-straight year. This is the last year that only one award is given for pitchers in both of the major leagues.
1966 - Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson of the Orioles is the unanimous choice as American League Most Valuable Player. He is the first player to win the award in both leagues.
1967 - Orlando Cepeda of the Cards is the first unanimous selection as National League Most Valuable Player.
1967 - Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski of Boston is the overwhelming selection as American League Most Valuable Player.
1968 - Denny McLain, a thirty-one game winner for the American League champion Tigers, is the unanimous choice as American League Most Valuable Player.
1968 - Thirty-game winner Denny McLain is the unanimous American League winner of the Cy Young Award
1969 - Denny McLain and Mike Cuellar finish dead even in American League Cy Young Award voting. McLain held an edge in wins (24-23), complete games (23-18), shutouts (9-5), and innings (325-290.2), but Cuellar has a stingy 2.38 ERA and batters hit just .204 against him.
1971 - Pat Dobson of the Orioles pitches a no-hitter against the Yomiuri Giants in a 2-0 win. It is the first no-hitter in Japanese-American exhibition history. The Orioles compile a record of 12-2-4 on the tour.
1972 - Boston's Carlton Fisk is the first-ever unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year. The catcher hit 22 home runs and led the American League East with a .293 average.
1972 - Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente wins his 12th straight Gold Glove, and Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker captures his sixth Gold Glove in a row. Neither will play in 1973.
1972 - Steve Carlton caps off a remarkable 27-win, 300-strikeout season as the unanimous choice for the National League Cy Young Award.
1974 - Catfish Hunter meets with Charlie Finley in the American Arbitration Association office in New York City for a hearing to determine the validity of Hunter's breach-of-contract claim. Hunter contends that Finley failed to pay $50,000, half of Hunter's salary, to a life insurance fund. The case will go to arbitration.
1974 - Mike Marshall becomes the first relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. Ironman Marshall set major league records with one-hundred six appearances and two-hundred eight innings pitched in relief for the National League champion Dodgers.
1974 - The Braves trade Hank Aaron to the Brewers for outfielder Dave May and a minor-league pitcher to be named later. Aaron will finish his major league career in Milwaukee, where he started it in 1954.
1975 - Fred Lynn becomes the first rookie to win Most Valuable Player honors, taking the American League award. Lynn batted .331 with 21 home runs, 105 RBI, and league-leading figures in runs (103), doubles (47), and slugging (.566).
1976 - Former Twins relief ace Bill Campbell becomes the first of the free agent crop to sign with a new team, joining the Red Sox with a contract calling for $1 million over four years.
1976 - Reggie Jackson signs with the New York Yankees as a free agent.
1976 - The first mass-market free agent re-entry draft is held at New York's Plaza Hotel. Among those available are Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Don Gullett, Gene Tenace, Rollie Fingers, Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, and Willie McCovey.
1978 - Bob Horner of the Braves edges Padres shortstop Ozzie Smith to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Horner batted .266 with 23 home runs in just 323 at bats.
1978 - Ron Guidry is the unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young Award. The Yankees southpaw led the league in wins, winning percentage, shutouts, and ERA.
1978 - The Reds fire manager Sparky Anderson after nine years, during which the club averaged 96 wins per season and won five divisional titles, four National League pennants, and two World Championships.
1979 - For the first time in history, two players share the Most Valuable Player Award. The National League co-winners are Willie Stargell, the spiritual leader of the Pirates, who batted .281 with 32 home runs, and Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez, who led the National League in runs (116), doubles (48), and batting (.344).
1980 - Despite having missed 45 games with injuries, George Brett is named American League Most Valuable Player. The 27-year-old third baseman's .390 average was the highest in the major leagues since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, and he added 24 home runs and 118 RBI to lead Kansas City to its first American League pennant.
1981 - Brewers reliever Rollie Fingers (28 saves, 1.04 ERA) wins the American League Cy Young Award, collecting 22 of 28 possible first-place votes.
1981 - Dodgers southpaw Fernando Valenzuela becomes the first rookie ever to win a Cy Young Award, edging the Reds' Tom Seaver 70-67 for National League honors. He was the first rookie since Herb Score in 1955 to lead his league in strikeouts with 180
1981 - Milwaukee's Rollie Fingers becomes the first relief pitcher ever to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, edging Oakland's Rickey Henderson, 319-308.
1981 - Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt wins his second consecutive National League Most Valuable Player Award, joining Ernie Banks and Joe Morgan as the only National League players to take the award back-to-back. Schmidt hit .316 with 31 home runs and 91 RBI in the abbreviated season and also led the league in runs and walks.
1982 - Cal Ripken, Jr., who hit .264 with 28 home runs as a shortstop and third baseman for the Orioles, is named American League Rookie of the Year.
1982 - Joe Altobelli succeeds the retired Earl Weaver as Orioles manager. Altobelli is the second Yankees coach to take a managing job this month, and will be Baltimore's first new manager since 1968.
1982 - Second baseman Steve Sax is named National League Rookie of the Year, the fourth consecutive Dodger to win the award. Sax hit .282 and stole 49 bases as the replacement for Davey Lopes in the Los Angeles infield.
1984 - Four days after his 20th birthday, Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden becomes the youngest player ever to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Gooden was 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA and a major league-leading 276 strikeouts.
1984 - Ryne Sandberg wins the National League Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the first Cub to do so since Ernie Banks in 1959. Sandberg hit .314 with 19 home runs and 32 stolen bases and led the National League in runs (114) and triples (19).
1985 - The Brewers release 39-year-old pitcher Rollie Fingers, at the time the all-time major-league saves leader with 341.
1985 - Vince Coleman, who stole 110 bases for the Cardinals, joins Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie McCovey as the only unanimous winners of the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
1986 - Jose Canseco wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the first A's player to do so since Harry Byrd in 1952.
1986 - Roger Clemens (24-4) wins the American League Cy Young Award unanimously, joining Denny McLain (1968) as the only pitchers to do so.
1986 - Roger Clemens becomes the first starting pitcher to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award since Vida Blue in 1971, receiving 19 of a possible 28 first-place votes to defeat runner-up Don Mattingly.
1987 - Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson becomes the first player from a last-place club ever to win an Most Valuable Player Award, taking National League honors with .287 average, 49 home runs, and 137 RBI.
1987 - Oakland first baseman Mark McGwire, who hit forty-nine home runs, wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award. McGwire is the second player to win that league's award unanimously (Carlton Fisk was the first in 1972).
1988 - Oakland shortstop Walt Weiss becomes the third consecutive A's player to win the American League Rookie of the Year award, joining sluggers Jose Canseco (1986) and Mark McGwire (1987).
1988 - Oakland's Jose Canseco, the first 40-homer, 40-steal man in major league history, becomes the first unanimous American League Most Valuable Player since Reggie Jackson of the A's in 1973.
1989 - Baltimore's Gregg Olson becomes the first relief pitcher to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award.
1989 - Padres reliever Mark Davis wins the National League Cy Young Award. He saved 44 games with a 1.85 ERA.
1990 - Free-agent slugger Darryl Strawberry signs a five-year contract with his hometown Dodgers, formally ending his eight-year stay with the Mets. He is the all-time home run leader for the Mets with 252.
1990 - Oakland's Bob Welch wins the American League Cy Young Award. His 27 wins were the most in the majors since Steve Carlton in 1972.
1993 - Giants outfielder Barry Bonds is voted the National League Most Valuable Player for the third time in four years. He joins Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, and Mike Schmidt as the National League's only three-time MVPs. In 1993, his first year in San Francisco, Bonds reached career highs with a .336 average, 46 home runs, 129 runs, and 123 RBI to help the Giants to 103 wins, although the team missed the National League West title by one game.
1996 - Less than three weeks after major league owners voted 18-12 against ratification of baseball's new collective bargaining agreement, owners voted again and this time approved it by a vote of 26-4. The landmark agreement brings interleague play to the regular season for the first time as well as revenue sharing among owners and a payroll tax on players.
1997 - Colorado outfielder Larry Walker is named National League Most Valuable Player, becoming the first Canadian in either league to win the honor. Walker, who hit .366 with 49 homers and 130 RBI, caps off a big week for Canada. Earlier in the week, Roger Clemens of Toronto and Pedro Martinez of Montreal each won the Cy Young Award.
1997 - In an unprecedented move, Davey Johnson resigns the same day he is named American League Manager of the Year. Despite the fact that Johnson ended Baltimore's 13-year playoff drought in 1996 and led the Orioles to the league's best record in 1997, a dispute over $10,500 in fines to second baseman Roberto Alomar ends Johnson's reign in Baltimore. Johnson directed the fines to be paid to a charity where his wife, Susan, served as managing director. Cantankerous Orioles owner Peter Angelos is upset with the way the matter is handled and Johnson resigns.
1997 - Milwaukee is back in the National League 31 years after the Braves left the city for Atlanta. The Brewers are the first team to ever switch from the American League to the National League. With an expansion team joining each league in 1998, the move keeps an even number of teams in both leagues to allow interleague play to occur at selected times of the season.
1997 - Pedro Martinez breaks the hold Greg Maddux and the Braves have on the National League Cy Young Award. From 1991-1996, either Maddux or a Braves pitcher captured the award. Martinez beats out Maddux in 1997 with 17 wins, 305 strikeouts, a 1.90 ERA, and 13 complete games. Martinez gives Canada a clean sweep of the Cy Young in 1997, with Roger Clemens winning the American League award a day earlier. It's a bittersweet moment for Montreal: The cost-cutting Expos eventually deal Martinez to the highest bidder.
1997 - Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra is the sixth player to be the unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year. Garciaparra, twenty-four, led the American League in hits (209), triples (11), and multi-hit games (68), while also setting the American League rookie record with a 30-game hitting streak.
1997 - Roger Clemens becomes the first American League pitcher to win the Cy Young Award four times. Clemens, the first pitcher since Hal Newhouser in 1945 to win the pitching Triple Crown in the American League, led the league in wins (21), strikeouts (292), and ERA (2.05) in his first year with Toronto. Clemens won his first three Cy Young Awards with the Red Sox in 1986, 1987, and 1991.
1998 - Atlanta's Tom Glavine edges San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman for the National League Cy Young Award. It is the sixth time in the past eight seasons that a Braves pitcher has won the award
1998 - Toronto's Roger Clemens becomes the first pitcher to win five Cy Young Awards when he is named the American League's top pitcher.
1908 - The Reach All-Americans defeat Waseda University in Tokyo, 5-0, in the first game between a Japanese team and American professionals.
1913 - St. Louis Browns player-manager George Stovall, fired the previous summer, is the first major-league player to jump to the Federal League, signing to manage Kansas City.
1920 - Owners unanimously elect Kenesaw Mountain Landis chairman for seven years. Landis accepts, but only as sole commissioner with final authority over the players and owners, while remaining a federal judge (with his $7,500 federal salary deducted from the baseball salary of $50,000).
1926 - Tris Speaker resigns as Indians manager. Stories of a thrown game and betting on games by Ty Cobb and Speaker for third-place money in 1919 gain momentum when Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis holds a secret hearing with the two stars and former pitcher-outfielder Joe Wood.
1926 - Ty Cobb resigns as Tigers manager and announces his retirement from the game. Umpire and former Tigers infielder George Moriarty replaces him. Moriarty is the first man to hold baseball's four principal jobs: player, umpire, scout, and manager.
1934 - Although Lou Gehrig wins the Triple Crown with 49 home runs, 165 RBI, and a .363 average, the Tigers Mickey Cochrane, with two home runs, 76 RBI, and a.320 average, is named American League Most Valuable Player
1934 - Bucky Harris, who managed the 1924 and 1925 American League champion Senators, is hired back by Washington to replace youthful Joe Cronin, who has been sold to Boston.
1934 - Seventeen-year-old Eiji Sawamura gives up one hit, a home run to Lou Gehrig, as the touring American All-Stars win in Japan, 1-0. At one point Sawamura strikes out four future Hall of Famers in a row: Charlie Gehringer, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Gehrig.
1938 - The three DiMaggio brothers play together for the first time, making up an outfield for an all-star team in a West Coast charity game.
1940 - Former Washington hurler Walter Johnson, who won four-hundred sixteen games for the Senators, goes down in defeat as a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio is named American League Most Valuable Player. His 56-game hitting streak edges out Ted Williams and his .406 batting average for the award (291 for DiMaggio and 254 for Williams).
1941 - Lou Boudreau is named player-manager of the Cleveland Indians. Boudreau, at 24 years, four months, and eight days, is the youngest manager appointed in the 20th century. Scotland-born Jim McCormick managed Cleveland in 1879 at age 23.
1942 - Ted Williams is the Triple Crown winner in the major leagues, but the writers select second baseman Joe Gordon by 21 votes as American League Most Valuable Player. Gordon of the New York Yankees leads the American League with 95 strikeouts, the most ground balls hit into double plays (22), and the most errors at his position (28).
1942 - The Dodgers look to St. Louis for leadership. After two decades in St. Louis, Branch Rickey splits with owner Sam Breadon. He will sign to become General Manager at Brooklyn.
1943 - Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis rules that Phils owner William D. Cox is permanently ineligible to hold office or be employed in baseball for having bet on his own team. The Carpenter family of Delaware will buy the Philadelphia club and Bob Carpenter, age 28, will become president.
1944 - Five groups totaling 23 players, managers, umpires, and writers visit war theaters as part of the USO program. Included are Mel Ott, Frankie Frisch, Bucky Walters, Harry Heilmann, Carl Hubbell, Leo Durocher, Joe Medwick, Dixie Walker, Paul Waner, and Rip Sewell.
1949 - National League batting leader (.342) Jackie Robinson is picked for the National League Most Valuable Player award.
1949 - Ted Williams, who lost the Triple Crown when his batting average was.0002 below that of George Kell, wins the Most Valuable Player vote in a landslide
1950 - Branch Rickey signs a five-year contract as executive vice president/GM with the Pirates.
1951 - Catcher Yogi Berra of the Yankees wins the first of his three Most Valuable Player awards.
1951 - Lefty O'Doul's All-Stars, including Joe DiMaggio, Ferris Fain, and Billy Martin, lose 3-1 to a Pacific League All-Star team. This is only the second time since 1922 that an American professional team has lost to Japan, and the first time to professional players.
1952 - The baseball writers name Philadelphia A's pitcher Bobby Shantz the American League Most Valuable Player. He was 24-7 for the 79-75 A's.
1953 - The Giants end their tour of Japan. It is reported that each player received just $331 of the $3,000 they were promised.
1953 - The rules committee restores the 1939 sacrifice fly rule, which says a sacrifice fly is not charged as a time at bat.
1953 - The St. Louis Browns officially become the Baltimore Baseball Club Inc. The Baltimore franchise board officially changes its name to the Orioles.
1953 - The U.S. Supreme Court decides 7-2 that baseball is a sport and not a business and therefore not subject to antitrust laws.
1956 - Don Newcombe, who won the 1949 Rookie of the Year Award, takes home both the National League Most Valuable Player and the first-ever Cy Young Award.
1957 - Mayor Robert Wagner forms a four-member committee to find a replacement for the Dodgers and Giants in New York City.
1957 - Mickey Mantle edges Ted Williams, 233 to 209, to win the American League Most Valuable Player. Williams, at 39 years of age, led the league in hitting with a .388 average, hit 38 home runs, and compiled a slugging average of .731. Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey fumes at the news, noting that two Chicago writers listed Williams in the ninth and tenth places on their ballots.
1958 - Mayor Robert Wagner of New York announces preliminary plans for a third major league. Chairman William Shea, of what will become the Continental League, says it is apparent that the National League is going to ignore New York City. He implies that the new league will be free to raid major-league rosters.
1958 - The American League announces that its Opening Day game in 1959 will be the earliest ever, April 9.
1958 - The American League announces that Kansas City will play 52 night games in 1959, a new league mark.
1959 - Ernie Banks wins his second Most Valuable Player award in a row on the strength of his forty-five home runs and one-hundred forty-three runs batted in for the Cubs.
1959 - Giants slugger Willie McCovey is the National League Rookie of the Year. McCovey gets all 24 votes to make him the second Giant in a row to win the award unanimously. Teammate Orlando Cepeda ran away with the award in 1958.
1959 - White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox wins the American League's Most Valuable Player award. Teammates Luis Aparicio and Early Wynn finish second and third in the voting.
1960 - Roger Maris nips Mickey Mantle for the AL's Most Valuable Player award, 225-222, the second-closest vote ever. The closest was the Joe DiMaggio -- Ted Williams race in 1947.
1960 - The American League proposes that both leagues expand to nine teams in 1961 and begin interleague play. There will be expansion in the American League in 1961, but interleague play does not arrive until 1997.
1960 - Twins is the appropriate new name chosen for the club transplanted from Washington (Senators) to Minnesota's Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
1961 - Roger Maris, with a record-shattering 61 home runs, is voted American League Most Valuable Player with 202 votes to 198 for Mickey Mantle and 157 for Baltimore's Jim Gentile. Maris wins the award for the second consecutive year.
1961 - The Professional Baseball Rules Committee votes 8-1 against legalizing the spitball. Only National League supervisor of umpires Cal Hubbard votes in favor.
1962 - Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills, whose 104 steals broke Ty Cobb's major league record, is named National League Most Valuable Player.
1963 - Yankee catcher Elston Howard becomes the first black ever voted American League Most Valuable Player.
1966 - Sandy Koufax announces his retirement, due to increasing pain in his arthritic left elbow.
1966 - Sandy Koufax becomes the first three-time winner of the Cy Young Award. He is a unanimous winner for the second-straight year. This is the last year that only one award is given for pitchers in both of the major leagues.
1966 - Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson of the Orioles is the unanimous choice as American League Most Valuable Player. He is the first player to win the award in both leagues.
1967 - Orlando Cepeda of the Cards is the first unanimous selection as National League Most Valuable Player.
1967 - Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski of Boston is the overwhelming selection as American League Most Valuable Player.
1968 - Denny McLain, a thirty-one game winner for the American League champion Tigers, is the unanimous choice as American League Most Valuable Player.
1968 - Thirty-game winner Denny McLain is the unanimous American League winner of the Cy Young Award
1969 - Denny McLain and Mike Cuellar finish dead even in American League Cy Young Award voting. McLain held an edge in wins (24-23), complete games (23-18), shutouts (9-5), and innings (325-290.2), but Cuellar has a stingy 2.38 ERA and batters hit just .204 against him.
1971 - Pat Dobson of the Orioles pitches a no-hitter against the Yomiuri Giants in a 2-0 win. It is the first no-hitter in Japanese-American exhibition history. The Orioles compile a record of 12-2-4 on the tour.
1972 - Boston's Carlton Fisk is the first-ever unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year. The catcher hit 22 home runs and led the American League East with a .293 average.
1972 - Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente wins his 12th straight Gold Glove, and Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker captures his sixth Gold Glove in a row. Neither will play in 1973.
1972 - Steve Carlton caps off a remarkable 27-win, 300-strikeout season as the unanimous choice for the National League Cy Young Award.
1974 - Catfish Hunter meets with Charlie Finley in the American Arbitration Association office in New York City for a hearing to determine the validity of Hunter's breach-of-contract claim. Hunter contends that Finley failed to pay $50,000, half of Hunter's salary, to a life insurance fund. The case will go to arbitration.
1974 - Mike Marshall becomes the first relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. Ironman Marshall set major league records with one-hundred six appearances and two-hundred eight innings pitched in relief for the National League champion Dodgers.
1974 - The Braves trade Hank Aaron to the Brewers for outfielder Dave May and a minor-league pitcher to be named later. Aaron will finish his major league career in Milwaukee, where he started it in 1954.
1975 - Fred Lynn becomes the first rookie to win Most Valuable Player honors, taking the American League award. Lynn batted .331 with 21 home runs, 105 RBI, and league-leading figures in runs (103), doubles (47), and slugging (.566).
1976 - Former Twins relief ace Bill Campbell becomes the first of the free agent crop to sign with a new team, joining the Red Sox with a contract calling for $1 million over four years.
1976 - Reggie Jackson signs with the New York Yankees as a free agent.
1976 - The first mass-market free agent re-entry draft is held at New York's Plaza Hotel. Among those available are Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Don Gullett, Gene Tenace, Rollie Fingers, Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, and Willie McCovey.
1978 - Bob Horner of the Braves edges Padres shortstop Ozzie Smith to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Horner batted .266 with 23 home runs in just 323 at bats.
1978 - Ron Guidry is the unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young Award. The Yankees southpaw led the league in wins, winning percentage, shutouts, and ERA.
1978 - The Reds fire manager Sparky Anderson after nine years, during which the club averaged 96 wins per season and won five divisional titles, four National League pennants, and two World Championships.
1979 - For the first time in history, two players share the Most Valuable Player Award. The National League co-winners are Willie Stargell, the spiritual leader of the Pirates, who batted .281 with 32 home runs, and Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez, who led the National League in runs (116), doubles (48), and batting (.344).
1980 - Despite having missed 45 games with injuries, George Brett is named American League Most Valuable Player. The 27-year-old third baseman's .390 average was the highest in the major leagues since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, and he added 24 home runs and 118 RBI to lead Kansas City to its first American League pennant.
1981 - Brewers reliever Rollie Fingers (28 saves, 1.04 ERA) wins the American League Cy Young Award, collecting 22 of 28 possible first-place votes.
1981 - Dodgers southpaw Fernando Valenzuela becomes the first rookie ever to win a Cy Young Award, edging the Reds' Tom Seaver 70-67 for National League honors. He was the first rookie since Herb Score in 1955 to lead his league in strikeouts with 180
1981 - Milwaukee's Rollie Fingers becomes the first relief pitcher ever to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, edging Oakland's Rickey Henderson, 319-308.
1981 - Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt wins his second consecutive National League Most Valuable Player Award, joining Ernie Banks and Joe Morgan as the only National League players to take the award back-to-back. Schmidt hit .316 with 31 home runs and 91 RBI in the abbreviated season and also led the league in runs and walks.
1982 - Cal Ripken, Jr., who hit .264 with 28 home runs as a shortstop and third baseman for the Orioles, is named American League Rookie of the Year.
1982 - Joe Altobelli succeeds the retired Earl Weaver as Orioles manager. Altobelli is the second Yankees coach to take a managing job this month, and will be Baltimore's first new manager since 1968.
1982 - Second baseman Steve Sax is named National League Rookie of the Year, the fourth consecutive Dodger to win the award. Sax hit .282 and stole 49 bases as the replacement for Davey Lopes in the Los Angeles infield.
1984 - Four days after his 20th birthday, Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden becomes the youngest player ever to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Gooden was 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA and a major league-leading 276 strikeouts.
1984 - Ryne Sandberg wins the National League Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the first Cub to do so since Ernie Banks in 1959. Sandberg hit .314 with 19 home runs and 32 stolen bases and led the National League in runs (114) and triples (19).
1985 - The Brewers release 39-year-old pitcher Rollie Fingers, at the time the all-time major-league saves leader with 341.
1985 - Vince Coleman, who stole 110 bases for the Cardinals, joins Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie McCovey as the only unanimous winners of the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
1986 - Jose Canseco wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the first A's player to do so since Harry Byrd in 1952.
1986 - Roger Clemens (24-4) wins the American League Cy Young Award unanimously, joining Denny McLain (1968) as the only pitchers to do so.
1986 - Roger Clemens becomes the first starting pitcher to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award since Vida Blue in 1971, receiving 19 of a possible 28 first-place votes to defeat runner-up Don Mattingly.
1987 - Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson becomes the first player from a last-place club ever to win an Most Valuable Player Award, taking National League honors with .287 average, 49 home runs, and 137 RBI.
1987 - Oakland first baseman Mark McGwire, who hit forty-nine home runs, wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award. McGwire is the second player to win that league's award unanimously (Carlton Fisk was the first in 1972).
1988 - Oakland shortstop Walt Weiss becomes the third consecutive A's player to win the American League Rookie of the Year award, joining sluggers Jose Canseco (1986) and Mark McGwire (1987).
1988 - Oakland's Jose Canseco, the first 40-homer, 40-steal man in major league history, becomes the first unanimous American League Most Valuable Player since Reggie Jackson of the A's in 1973.
1989 - Baltimore's Gregg Olson becomes the first relief pitcher to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award.
1989 - Padres reliever Mark Davis wins the National League Cy Young Award. He saved 44 games with a 1.85 ERA.
1990 - Free-agent slugger Darryl Strawberry signs a five-year contract with his hometown Dodgers, formally ending his eight-year stay with the Mets. He is the all-time home run leader for the Mets with 252.
1990 - Oakland's Bob Welch wins the American League Cy Young Award. His 27 wins were the most in the majors since Steve Carlton in 1972.
1993 - Giants outfielder Barry Bonds is voted the National League Most Valuable Player for the third time in four years. He joins Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, and Mike Schmidt as the National League's only three-time MVPs. In 1993, his first year in San Francisco, Bonds reached career highs with a .336 average, 46 home runs, 129 runs, and 123 RBI to help the Giants to 103 wins, although the team missed the National League West title by one game.
1996 - Less than three weeks after major league owners voted 18-12 against ratification of baseball's new collective bargaining agreement, owners voted again and this time approved it by a vote of 26-4. The landmark agreement brings interleague play to the regular season for the first time as well as revenue sharing among owners and a payroll tax on players.
1997 - Colorado outfielder Larry Walker is named National League Most Valuable Player, becoming the first Canadian in either league to win the honor. Walker, who hit .366 with 49 homers and 130 RBI, caps off a big week for Canada. Earlier in the week, Roger Clemens of Toronto and Pedro Martinez of Montreal each won the Cy Young Award.
1997 - In an unprecedented move, Davey Johnson resigns the same day he is named American League Manager of the Year. Despite the fact that Johnson ended Baltimore's 13-year playoff drought in 1996 and led the Orioles to the league's best record in 1997, a dispute over $10,500 in fines to second baseman Roberto Alomar ends Johnson's reign in Baltimore. Johnson directed the fines to be paid to a charity where his wife, Susan, served as managing director. Cantankerous Orioles owner Peter Angelos is upset with the way the matter is handled and Johnson resigns.
1997 - Milwaukee is back in the National League 31 years after the Braves left the city for Atlanta. The Brewers are the first team to ever switch from the American League to the National League. With an expansion team joining each league in 1998, the move keeps an even number of teams in both leagues to allow interleague play to occur at selected times of the season.
1997 - Pedro Martinez breaks the hold Greg Maddux and the Braves have on the National League Cy Young Award. From 1991-1996, either Maddux or a Braves pitcher captured the award. Martinez beats out Maddux in 1997 with 17 wins, 305 strikeouts, a 1.90 ERA, and 13 complete games. Martinez gives Canada a clean sweep of the Cy Young in 1997, with Roger Clemens winning the American League award a day earlier. It's a bittersweet moment for Montreal: The cost-cutting Expos eventually deal Martinez to the highest bidder.
1997 - Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra is the sixth player to be the unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year. Garciaparra, twenty-four, led the American League in hits (209), triples (11), and multi-hit games (68), while also setting the American League rookie record with a 30-game hitting streak.
1997 - Roger Clemens becomes the first American League pitcher to win the Cy Young Award four times. Clemens, the first pitcher since Hal Newhouser in 1945 to win the pitching Triple Crown in the American League, led the league in wins (21), strikeouts (292), and ERA (2.05) in his first year with Toronto. Clemens won his first three Cy Young Awards with the Red Sox in 1986, 1987, and 1991.
1998 - Atlanta's Tom Glavine edges San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman for the National League Cy Young Award. It is the sixth time in the past eight seasons that a Braves pitcher has won the award
1998 - Toronto's Roger Clemens becomes the first pitcher to win five Cy Young Awards when he is named the American League's top pitcher.