1953 in baseball


Champions

Major League Baseball

Winter Leagues

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

National League final standings

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League final standings

Nippon Professional Baseball final standings

Central League final standings

Pacific League final standings

Events

January

  • January 17 – The Brooklyn Dodgers trade veteran outfielder Andy Pafko to the Boston Braves for infielder Roy Hartsfield and $50,000. Two months from now, Wisconsin-native Pafko will find himself playing in his home state when Boston's National League franchise abruptly transfers to Milwaukee during spring training.
  • January 21 – The Baseball Hall of Fame inducts former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean and former Philadelphia Athletics slugger Al Simmons.
  • January 27 – The Chicago White Sox acquire the reigning, two-time American League batting champion, first baseman Ferris Fain, from the Philadelphia Athletics in a five-player trade. Chicago also receives a minor-league infielder and sends first baseman Eddie Robinson, shortstop Joe DeMaestri and outfielder Ed McGhee to Philadelphia in the deal.
  • January 28 – St. Louis Cardinals owner Fred Saigh pleads no contest to two charges of income tax evasion in a U.S. federal court, and is sentenced to 15 months in prison. The penalty forces Saigh to put the Cardinals up for sale, and triggers fears that an out-of-town buyer could move the franchise out of St. Louis.
  • January 29 – The Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers exchange veteran utility infielders, with Billy Hitchcock, 36, going to Detroit for Don Kolloway, 34.

    February

  • February 9 – The Boston Red Sox trade shortstop/third baseman Vern Stephens, 32, an eight-time All-Star and 3x AL runs batted in champion, to the Chicago White Sox for pitchers Hal Brown, Marv Grissom and Bill Kennedy. Stephens, Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr had formed a formidable slugging trio for the Bosox' late-1940s contending teams.
  • February 13 – The Philadelphia Athletics' home field, known as Shibe Park since its 1909 opening, is renamed Connie Mack Stadium in honor of the team's 90-year-old, legendary and longtime former manager.
  • February 16:
  • *Future Baseball Hall of Fame hitter Ted Williams, flying combat missions as a U.S. Marine Corps pilot during the Korean War, survives the crash-landing of his F9F Panther fighter jet at Suwon airfield after it is hobbled by enemy anti-aircraft fire. The jet is "trailing smoke and a 30-foot ribbon of fire" as Williams brings it in on its belly; he escapes with minor injuries.
  • *A complicated four-team, five-player trade occurs in the National League involving the Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies. When the dust settles, the Braves acquire first baseman Joe Adcock from the Reds and outfielder Jim Pendleton from the Dodgers, Brooklyn obtains pitcher Russ Meyer from the Phillies, the Reds get infielder Rocky Bridges from the Dodgers, and the Phillies receive first baseman Earl Torgeson from Boston. Cash payments also figure in the transaction.
  • February 20 – Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch and its president, August A. Busch Jr., purchase the St. Louis Cardinals franchise from Fred Saigh for $3.75 million, removing all concerns that the team will move elsewhere. Rumors had abounded that a group from Houston were bidding on the club with the intention of transferring it to that Texas city. The Busch ownership will last until the start of, and witness six NL pennants and three World Series championships.

    March

  • March 13 – Boston Braves owner Lou Perini announces he is moving the team to Milwaukee, site of the Braves' top farm club, in time for the 1953 season. The move ends the club's presence in Boston after 82 consecutive years, predating the formation of the National League, of which it is a charter member; it began in 1871 as a member of the old National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. The franchise transfer is the NL's first of the 20th century, and MLB's first since 1903—but nine more will follow over the next two decades.
  • March 19 – The Pittsburgh Pirates sign twin brothers Eddie and Johnny O'Brien, 22, former baseball and basketball stars at Seattle University, to bonus contracts as amateur free agents. The first twins to play on the same MLB team in 38 years, on June 7, they will start at shortstop and second base and become Pittsburgh's primary double-play combination for the 1953 season.
  • March 26 – The St. Louis Browns return minor-league southpaw Tommy Lasorda to the Brooklyn Dodgers' organization. Lasorda's contract had been sold to the Browns on a conditional basis on February 21.
  • March 28 – Jim Thorpe, famed American Indian athlete considered by many as the greatest athlete in recorded history, dies in Lomita, California at the age of 64. A native of Prague, Oklahoma, Thorpe played six seasons of Major League Baseball between 1913 and 1919, mostly for the New York Giants, in addition to his Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon competition, while playing and coaching for a long time in the National Football League.

    April

  • April 5 – Herb Gorman, 28-year-old left-fielder for San Diego of the Pacific Coast League, suffers severe chest pain after hitting his second double of the game. Rushed to a local hospital, Gorman dies en route from a heart attack.
  • April 9:
  • *The financially-stressed St. Louis Browns sell Sportsman's Park to August A. Busch Jr., new owner of their National League tenants, the Cardinals, for $800,000. The brewery magnate will refurbish the 44-year-old edifice and rename it "Busch Stadium."
  • *The Cincinnati Reds announce they're changing their official name to the Cincinnati Redlegs. The name "Reds" dates to 1890 and is derived from the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869. But American troops are fighting Communism in Korea and the Cold War is escalating globally; as Cincinnati's general manager, Gabe Paul, notes later, "We wanted to be certain we weren't confused with the 'Russian Reds'." The team's official identity will remain "Redlegs" until February 1959.
  • April 13 – In Cincinnati, over 30,000 see the Milwaukee Braves win their first game, 2–0, behind the pitching of Max Surkont.
  • April 14 – After a motorcade through its downtown streets, Milwaukee hosts its first major-league baseball game since the "original" Brewers, a turn-of-the-century American League team, played their last home game on September 12, 1901 before transferring to St. Louis for. Today, the National League Braves debut before a delirious County Stadium crowd by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in ten innings, 3–2. Warren Spahn gets the win, secured by rookie Bill Bruton's walk-off home run. The single-game attendance—34,357—represents 12 percent of the total turnstile count of the 1952 Boston Braves.
  • April 15 – Triple-A baseball returns to Toledo with the relocation of the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers franchise that has been displaced by the MLB Braves. The Toledo Sox succeed the famous original Mud Hens, who moved to Charleston, West Virginia, on June 23, 1952. The T-Sox will win the regular-season American Association pennant and lead the circuit in attendance.
  • April 16 – Connie Ryan of the Philadelphia Phillies, a.248 lifetime hitter, goes six-for-six in a 14–12 defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. His is the first of two six-for-six days in MLB in 1953: the other is recorded by Jimmy Piersall of the Boston Red Sox against the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park on June 10.
  • April 17 – The New York Yankees' Mickey Mantle hits the longest home run in Griffith Stadium history, a 565-foot shot off Washington Senators' left-hander Chuck Stobbs. The Yankees win, 7–3.
  • April 29 – Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves hits the first home run ever hit over the center field wall of the Polo Grounds. The shot, measured 475 feet, comes off Jim Hearn in the third inning of the Braves' 3–1 victory over the New York Giants.
  • April 30 – The Little-Bigger League changes its name to the Babe Ruth League.

    May

  • May 6 – At Sportsman's Park, Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns no-hits the Philadelphia Athletics, 6–0, in his very first Major League start. Holloman walks five and strikes out three in the majors' only no-hit game of the season. He will only post two more victories in his MLB career, with his final appearance coming on July 19 of this season.
  • May 16 – At County Stadium, southpaw Curt Simmons of the Philadelphia Phillies allows a single to lead-off man Bill Bruton of the Milwaukee Braves—then he sets down the next 27 Braves' hitters in order, fanning ten of them. His 3–0 shutout is one of nine one-hitters in MLB in 1953.
  • May 27 – The Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox battle 15 innings at Comiskey Park, but can't break a 2–2 deadlock. Each team has 12 hits. The game, halted by a 1 a.m. curfew, will be replayed in full at a later date.
  • May 28 – It is the National League's turn for a tie game: in this case, at Crosley Field, the Cincinnati Redlegs battle back with two runs in the home half of the tenth to tie the St. Louis Cardinals, 10–all. Then the game is called so the Redbirds can catch a train.
  • May 31 – At Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn Dodgers sweep a Sunday doubleheader from the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates, 4–3 and 4–1, to stretch their winning streak to ten. At 27–14, they lead the surprising, second-place Milwaukee Braves by half a game.