February 2 – The newly relocated Baltimore Orioles unconditionally release all-time great hurler Satchel Paige, who went 3–9 (3.53 ERA) with 11 saves in 57 games at age 47 for the 1953 St. Louis Browns. The release does not end Paige's remarkable career, however: in 1965, at 59, he will return to the majors for the Kansas City Athletics and throw three shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox.
February 23 – The New York Yankees part company with "The Springfield Rifle," right-handed pitcher Vic Raschi, selling his contract to the St. Louis Cardinals for $85,000. Raschi, almost 35, spent all or part of eight seasons with the Bombers, going 120–50 (a winning percentage of .706) with a 3.47 earned run average in 218 American League games; he won 20 or more games for three straight seasons (1949–1951), made four All-Star teams, and led AL hurlers in strikeouts (1951). A six-time World Series champion, Raschi went 5–3 (2.24 ERA) in 11 Fall Classic games, eight of them starting assignments.
March 13 – Milwaukee Braves outfielder Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle while sliding into a base during a spring training game. Thomson will be out of the Braves' lineup until July 14. In between, he is immediately replaced by a promising prospect named Hank Aaron.[2][3]
March 16 – The Philadelphia Phillies sell the contract of veteran first baseman Eddie Waitkus to the Baltimore Orioles for $40,000. Waitkus, 34, will essentially split first-base duties with Dick Kryhoski during the "modern" Orioles' maiden season in Baltimore.
March 29 – Chicago Cubsplayer–managerPhil Cavarretta gives team owner Philip K. Wrigley an honest (and negative) assessment of the Cubs' chances for the upcoming season, then is dismissed for his defeatist attitude. He becomes the first manager ever to be given the gate during spring training. Stan Hack replaces him, even though Cavarretta is right: the Cubs will finish in seventh place this year. He spends 1954 with the crosstown Chicago White Sox and bats .316 in 77 appearances as a pinch-hitter and part-time outfielder/first baseman.
After performing military service, Willie Mays of the New York Giants, 22, appears in his first MLB game since May 28, 1952. Since coming to the Giants in late May of 1951, Mays' team has gone 107–48 with him on the roster, and 153–157 with him in a U.S. Army uniform.[4] In the bottom of the sixth inning of Opening Day at the Polo Grounds, Mays hits a solo home run off Carl Erskine to break a three-all tie and secure a 4–3 victory over the arch-rival Brooklyn Dodgers—a harbinger of Mays' and the Giants' remarkable 1954 season to come.
April 23 – At Sportsman's Park, now called "Busch Stadium," Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hits his first major league home run, off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Vic Raschi. His first major league hit, a double, had also been hit off Raschi, eight days earlier. Aaron will go on to break Babe Ruth's record of 714 career home runs in 1974 and retire with 755, a record that will stand until Barry Bonds breaks it in 2007.
Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals slams five home runs in a doubleheader against the visiting New York Giants. He hits three in the first game, won by the Cardinals 10–6, and adds two in the nightcap, won by the Giants 9–7. Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres will tie Musial's record by hitting five home runs in a 1972 doubleheader; coincidentally, an eight-year-old Colbert is in attendance today to watch Musial's feat.
May 9 – Two ties are recorded in the American League, both caused by Sunday darkness curfews in the second games of doubleheaders. At Comiskey Park, left-handers Billy Pierce of the White Sox and Billy Hoeft of the Tigers battle to a ten-inning, scoreless tie. In The Bronx, the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Athletics play to a nine-inning, 1–1 deadlock. Per AL rules, individual statistics will count but each game will be replayed in full later in the season.
May 12 – The Washington Senators purchase the contract of 26-year-old outfielder Jim Lemon from the Cleveland Indians. Lemon has batted only .175 over 28 games with Cleveland, but in 1956 he'll win the Senators' right field job and average 28 homers and 87 runs batted in for the next five seasons.
In the American League, the Cleveland Indians take a half-game lead in the pennant race, defeating the Boston Red Sox 4–3 behind Bob Feller and Don Mossi. It's the Tribe's second victory in what will be a five-game sweep of the stumbling Bosox at Fenway Park, and the second in a nine-game winning streak overall. By June 20, Cleveland's AL lead will be four full games over the Chicago White Sox.
June 29 – At the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants go 13 innings to defeat their hated rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4–3. Pinch hitterLamar "Dusty" Rhodes'single drives home the tying and winning runs to erase a 3–2 Brooklyn lead. The Giants and Dodgers have been going head-to-head in the National League race since early June; after sweeping the Dodgers in this three-game series, the Giants will hold a four-game lead in the Senior Circuit on July 1.
July 15 – When the All-Star break ends, the 40–37 Philadelphia Phillies have a new manager in their dugout: former St. Louis Cardinals standout centerfielder Terry Moore, 42, who takes over for 63-year-old veteran Steve O'Neill. Moore has never managed before, while O'Neill has reached the end of a 14-year career as a pilot of four MLB teams, highlighted by his leadership of the 1945 World Series champion Detroit Tigers. The change doesn't light a fire under the Phils, however: they will go only 35–42 under Moore in his half-season as their skipper.
Meanwhile, in the American League, both the first-place Cleveland Indians (61–28) and the runner-up New York Yankees (61–29) win. The two teams have kept in lockstep, with Cleveland a half-game in front of the Bombers, for nine straight days—since before the All-Star break.
July 25 – Jack Harshman of the Chicago White Sox sets a team record by striking out 16 in a 5–2 complete game victory over the Boston Red Sox. The previous White Sox mark (15) was shared by Eddie Cicotte, Ed Walsh and Jim Scott. Harshman's 16 Ks are the most strikeouts in Fenway Park history and the record would stand for 32 years until Roger Clemens strikes out 20 Seattle Mariners in 1986 and becomes the first pitcher in MLB history to strike out 20 players in a game.
July 31 – Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves hits four home runs successfully in a game, becoming the seventh player to do so in Major League history. The Braves beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 15–7.
August 4 – Earle Mack, one of three co-owners of the Philadelphia Athletics, reveals that Chicago-based businessman Arnold Johnson's reported $4.5 million bid for the team is the only offer the nearly destitute franchise has received. If his bid succeeds, Johnson plans to move the Athletics to Kansas City, Missouri, where voters have approved a $2 million bond issue for renovation and expansion of Blues Stadium, which Johnson owns and operates. Says Mack: "There isn't a chance at keeping the team in Philadelphia as far as finances are concerned."[5]
August 15 – At Ebbets Field, the visiting New York Giants out-homer the Brooklyn Dodgers, four to two, but all four blasts come with the bases empty and the Dodgers claim a 9–4 victory. Billy Loes (8–3) is the winning pitcher, as Brooklyn creeps to within a half-game of the league-leading Giants.
September 8 – The first-place New York Giants beef up their catching corps for the stretch drive by claiming Joe Garagiola on waivers from the Chicago Cubs. Garagiola, 28, is wrapping up a nine-year MLB playing career before moving to the broadcast booth, where he will become a Ford C. Frick Award winner.
September 14 – Paul Richards resigns as skipper of the Chicago White Sox to become both field manager and general manager of the Baltimore Orioles. As their pilot, Richards, 45, has led the ChiSox' renaissance on the field, going 342–265 (.607) since the opening of the 1951 season. In Baltimore, he will be entrusted with building the lowly Orioles into a winner. Although his front office duties begin immediately, Richards allows incumbent Orioles' skipper Jimmy Dykes to finish the 1954 season before he will take over in the O's dugout. Meanwhile, in Chicago, coach and former St. Louis Cardinals star shortstop Marty Marion becomes the White Sox' new manager.
September 19 – Only 1,915 fans are on hand at Connie Mack Stadium to witness the New York Yankees defeat the Philadelphia Athletics in what proves to be the last home game played in the franchise's 54-year tenure in Philadelphia.
September 26 – The end of the American League's regular season schedule reveals a stark imbalance between the top three teams—Cleveland (111–43), New York (103–51) and Chicago (94–60)—and the rest of the loop. Fourth-place Boston (69–85), though nominally in the "first division," finishes 42 games out of first place, which is the weakest record of any fourth-place club since the modern era began in 1901. The AL's lopsided standings spur an unprecedented turnover in its managerial ranks, in which six of the eight league clubs change field leaders between September 14 and the start of the 1955 campaign. Only Al López of Cleveland and Casey Stengel of New York survive.
September 29 – In Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, with the score tied 2–2 and two base runners in the eighth inning, New York Giantscenter fielderWillie Mays makes one of the greatest catches in history when he races back in the Polo Grounds to make an over-the-head catch of Vic Wertz' 462-foot drive. Wertz, who had driven in the Cleveland Indians' two runs in the first inning, will finish the day 4-for-5, including a double and a triple. The Giants go on to win the game in extra innings, 5–2, thanks to a pinch-hit three-run home run by Dusty Rhodes off Bob Lemon in the bottom of the 11th inning. Since then, The Catch is a term used to refer to the memorable defensive play executed by Mays.
October 2 – The New York Giants defeat the Cleveland Indians, 7–4, in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series to win their fifth World Series championship, four games to none. After finishing the regular schedule with an American League-record 111 wins, Cleveland fails to win a Series game. This is the Giants' fifth Fall Classic title, and their first in 21 years. They will not win another World Series until 2010, more than 50 years after they moved to San Francisco.
October 12 – After a daylong meeting in Chicago, American League magnates unanimously—but provisionally—approve the transfer of the Philadelphia Athletics to Kansas City. The provision demands that Roy Mack, one of the club's three co-owners, convince his legendary father, Connie, and his brother Earle to approve the team's sale to Arnold Johnson and its shift to Missouri. Meanwhile, four other bids for the club, including two local groups who want to keep the Athletics in Philadelphia, emerge. However, according to AL president Will Harridge, only the Johnson offer is considered "really sound."
October 28 – Defying reports that three American League owners—Clark Griffith, Tom Yawkey and Spike Briggs—have formed a bloc devoted to keeping the moribund Athletics franchise in Philadelphia under new ownership, AL moguls vote down the club's possible sale to a group of businessmen based in that city. It's known that owners Dan Topping and Del Webb of the New York Yankees strongly favor Arnold Johnson's bid to buy the team and move it to Kansas City. The following day, on October 29, patriarch and Baseball Hall of FamerConnie Mack charges that the American League is forcing a move to Kansas City and publicly reprimands his eldest son, Roy, for supporting the sale to Johnson.
November 5 – The fate of the Philadelphia Athletics is finally sealed when, after a bitter family squabble, Connie Mack and son Earle capitulate to Earle's brother Roy's desire to sell the team to Chicago businessman Arnold Johnson for $3.5 million. Connie Mack, 91, signs the sale agreement from his sickbed. The club will immediately abandon Philadelphia and move to Kansas City for 1955.
November 8 – R. R. M. Carpenter Jr., owner of Philadelphia's lone surviving MLB team, the Phillies, tells the press he will reluctantly purchase Connie Mack Stadium from Arnold Johnson, new owner of the soon-to-be-called Kansas City Athletics. The Phillies have shared the ballpark, built in 1909, as tenants of the Athletics since 1938, and have no other suitable place to play until a modern stadium can be built.
Seventh-place Baltimore allows incumbent skipper Jimmy Dykes to finish the regular season before Richards takes on his field management role in spring training of 1955.
November 22 – In the Rule 5 draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates select 19-year-old outfielder Roberto Clemente from the roster of the Montreal Royals, Triple-A affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Although Clemente hit only .257 for the Montreal Royals, he will become a Hall of Fame member with the Pirates, for whom he will play all of his brilliant, 18-year MLB career and never again appear in a minor-league game .[1]
December 13 – The Baltimore Orioles acquire two aging stars of the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers, left-handed pitcher Preacher Roe and third baseman Billy Cox, for two minor-leaguers and $50,000. Roe, 38, retires rather than report to Baltimore, while an injured Cox, 35, appears in 53 games until he's traded in June 1955, then also retires.
C. Joseph Maney, 69, construction executive who in 1944 became co-owner of Boston Braves as one of the "Three Little Steam Shovels" before selling his share to partner Louis R. Perini in 1952.
Red Schillings, 53, relief pitcher in four games for the 1922 Philadelphia Athletics.
February 1 – Norman Plitt, 60, pitcher who played with the Brooklyn Robins and New York Giants in part of two seasons spanning 1918–1927.
February 4 – Ollie Smith, 88, outfielder who played for the Louisville Colonels in the 1894 season.
February 5 – Ed Warner, 64, pitcher for the 1912 Pittsburgh Pirates.
February 10 – Heinie Berger, 72, one of the many German baseball players in the early part of the 20th century, who pitched from 1905 through 1910 for the Cleveland Naps of the American League.
February 13 – Walter Ancker, 60, pitcher who played briefly for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1915 season.
February 15
John Callahan, 79, pitcher for the St. Louis Browns of the National League in the 1898 season.
John Gillespie, 53, pitcher who appeared in 31 games for the Cincinnati Reds during the 1922 season.
February 16 – Red Parnell, 48, All-Star left fielder and manager in the Negro leagues, most notably for the Philadelphia Stars club from 1936 to 1943.
February 20 – Sadie McMahon, 86, 19th century pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Brooklyn Bridegrooms in a span of nine seasons from 1889 through 1897, sporting a 173-127 record and a 3.51 ERA in 351 games, while leading the American Association in wins (36), strikeouts (291), games pitched (60) and innings (509) during the 1890 season.
February 22 – Chief Wilson, 70, outfielder best known for setting the single-season record for triples in 1912 with 36, a record that still stands, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals during nine seasons from 1908 to 1916, and was also a member of the 1909 World Series Champion Pirates.
March 12 – J. A. Robert Quinn, 84, executive; principal owner of the Boston Red Sox from 1923 to 1933 and the Boston Braves from 1936 to 1945; also served as business manager of St. Louis Browns and general manager of Brooklyn Dodgers; patriarch of a four-generation baseball family.
March 16 – George Grantham, 53, second baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants in a span of 13 seasons from 1922 to 1934, who hit over .300 every season from 1924 to 1931, and also was a member of the Pirates teams that won the World Series in 1925 and the National League pennant in 1927.
March 19
Charlie Babb, 81, shortstop who played from 1903 through 1905 for the New York Giants and Brooklyn Superbas, managing later in the Minor Leagues from 1906 to 1913.
Frank Fahey, 58, left fielder and pitcher for the 1918 Philadelphia Athletics.
March 22 – Harry LaRoss, 66, outfielder who played for the Cincinnati Reds in 1914.
March 24 – Chubby Snyder, 63, Danish and German American catcher who appeared in just one game in 1914 with the Buffalo Buffeds of the Federal League.
May 4 – Otto McIvor, 69, outfielder for the 1911 St. Louis Cardinals.
May 7 – Les Channell, 68, backup outfielder who played with the New York Highlanders in the 1910 season and for the New York Yankees in 1914.
May 10 – Eddie Files, 70, pitcher who played with the Philadelphia Athletics during the 1908 season.
May 11 – Dorsey Riddlemoser, 78, pitcher for the 1899 Washington Senators.
May 17
Roy Parker, 58, pitcher who played briefly for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1919 season, just after serving in the United States Navy during World War I.
Earl Tyree, 64, catcher for the 1914 Chicago Cubs.
Vern Duncan, 64, center fielder who played with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1913 and for the Baltimore Terrapins from 1914 to 1915.
June 3 – Zaza Harvey, 75, outfielder who played from 1900 through 1902 for the Chicago Orphans, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Bronchos.
June 8 – Tom O'Hara, 73, outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1906 and 1907 seasons.
June 15 – Lew Carr, 81, utility infielder for the 1901 Pittsburgh Pirates.
June 23 – Red Massey, 63, outfielder who played with the Boston Braves in the 1918 season.
June 26 – Charlie Pick, 66, infielder who played with four different teams in part of six seasons spanning 1914–1920, most notably for the 1918 National League champion Chicago Cubs.
July 8 – Wiley Taylor, 66, pitcher who played from 1911 through 1914 for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Browns.
July 13
Ed Porray, 65, pitcher for the 1914Buffalo Buffeds, who is best known as being the only Major League player born at sea.
Grantland Rice, 73, "The Dean of American Sportswriters"; though famed for his football reportage, his baseball coverage made him a posthumous recipient of the 1966 J. G. Taylor Spink Award.
July 15 – Chris Mahoney, 69, pitcher and outfielder for the 1910 Boston Red Sox.
July 16 – Jack Bracken, 73, pitcher who played for the Cleveland Blues in 1901.
July 28 – Jim Bagby, 64, Cleveland Indians star pitcher who led the American League with 31 victories in 1920, defeating the Detroit Tigers, 10–1, in a clinching game for the pennant, then defeating the Brooklyn Robins in the 1920 World Series, 8–1, while hitting the first home run by a pitcher in World Series history, en route to a world championship for the Indians.[10]
July 29 – Babe Borton, 65, first baseman who played for the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Terriers and St. Louis Browns in part of four seasons between 1912 and 1916.
August 3 – Art Hoelskoetter, 71, utility man who played all nine positions in his four seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1905 to 1908, though he played at least 15 games at all the positions, except only one game in left field.[11]
September 1 – Wimpy Quinn, 36, pitcher for the Chicago Cubs in 1941, who later played and managed in the Minor Leagues with the Bakersfield Indians.
September 2 – Fred Osborn, 70, center fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies over parts of three seasons from 1907 to 1909.
September 5 – Maurice Archdeacon, 55, center fielder who played from 1923 through 1925 for the Chicago White Sox; as a minor-leaguer, scored 166, 151 and 162 runs in successive International League seasons (1921–1923).
September 13 – Roy Grimes, 61, infielder who played briefly for the New York Giants in 1920; twin brother of first baseman Ray Grimes
October 5 – Oscar Charleston, 57, Hall of Fame Negro leagues outfielder and manager, a powerful hitter who could hit to all fields and bunt, steal a hundred bases a year, hit over .300 consistently, and cover center field as well as anyone.[12]
October 6 – Josh Devore, 66, outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants and Boston Braves during seven season from 1908 to 1914, who arrived in time for the Miracle Braves stretch run which saw them win the National League pennant and the 1914 World Series.
October 12 – Walter Holke, 61, first baseman for the New York Giants, Boston Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds in part of 11 seasons spanning 1914–1925, who holds the record for the most fielding chances by a player in a game with 43, 42 put-outs and one assist during a 26-inning, 1–1 tie game between the Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Robins on May 1, 1920.[13]
October 14 – Bill Swanson, 66, backup infielder for the 1914 Boston Red Sox.
October 19 – Dave Davenport, 64, pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Terriers and St. Louis Browns from 1914 through 1919, who posted a 22-18 record and 2.20 ERA while playing for the Terriers of the Federal League in 1915, leading also the league in games (55), starts (46), complete games (30), shutouts (10), strikeouts (229) and innings (3922⁄3).[14]
October 19 – Hugh Duffy, 87, Hall of Fame center fielder who posted an all-time record .438 batting average in 1894, one of the top hitters of the 1890s that recorded more hits, home runs and runs batted in than any other player in the game, while also teaming with fellow Hall of Famer Tommy McCarthy to form the called Heavenly Twins outfield tandem for the Boston Beaneaters, which captured two National League pennants and a pre-modern World Series Championship in 1892 and 1893.[15]
October 21 – Art Gardiner, 54, pitcher who appeared in just one game with the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1923 season.
October 22 – Earl Whitehill, 55, dominant left-handed pitcher with four teams from 1923 to 1939, while helping the Washington Senators win the American League pennant in 1933, whose 218 career wins ranks him 79th in Major League history.
Art Bues, 66, third baseman who played with the Boston Braves in the 1913 season and for the Chicago Cubs in 1914.
Charlie Frisbee, 80, backup outfielder for the Boston Beaneaters and New York Giants between 1899 and 1900.
November 20 – Hod Fenner, 57, pitcher who played for the Chicago White Sox in the 1921 season.
November 21 – Uel Eubanks, 51, pitcher for the 1922 Chicago Cubs.
November 22 – Charlie Gibson, 75, catcher who played in 1905 for the Philadelphia Athletics.
November 26 – Bill Doak, 63, pitcher for three different clubs in a span of sixteen seasons from 1912 to 1929, eleven of them with the St. Louis Cardinals, who won 20 games in 1920 and twice led the National League in ERA in 1914 and 1921.
November 27 – Nick Maddox, 68, pitcher who posted a 43-20 record and 2.29 earned run average from 1907 to 1910 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who threw a two-hit, 14-strikeout 4–0 shutout in his debut against the St. Louis Cardinals, and later in the season hurled a 2–1 no-hitter against the Brooklyn Superbas, becoming the youngest pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter in Major League history at the age of 20 years and ten months, which was also the first no-hit game ever thrown by a Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher.[16]
November 29 – Al Lawson, 85, pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters and Pittsburgh Alleghenys during the 1890 season, who later went on to play a pioneering role in the U.S. aircraft industry.
December 1 – Kid O'Hara, 78, outfielder for the Boston Beaneaters in the 1904 season.
December 4 – Tony Madigan, 86, pitcher for the 1886 Washington Nationals of the National League.
December 5 – Russ Christopher, 37, pitcher who played from 1942 through 1948 with the Philadelphia Athletics and Cleveland Indians, including the 1948 World Champion Indians.
December 9 – Bill McGowan, 58, Hall of Fame American League umpire who officiated in 4,425 league games (April 14, 1925 to July 27, 1954), and worked in eight World Series and four All-Star games; did not miss a single inning over 2,541 consecutive games umpired between 1925 and 1942.[17]
December 11 – Harry Courtney, 56, who pitched from 1919 to 1922 for the Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox.
December 17 – Red Proctor, 54, pitcher who saw action in two games with the Chicago White Sox in 1923.
December 19 – Big Jeff Pfeffer, 72, National League pitcher for the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Beaneaters/Doves/Rustlers teams, who pitched his way into baseball history by throwing a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on May 8, 1907.
December 31 – Tom Raftery, 73, outfielder who appeared in eight games for the Cleveland Naps in the 1909 season.
^Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.42, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN978-0-451-22363-0
