1970 Major League Baseball season

The 1970 major league baseball season began on April 6, 1970, while the regular season ended on October 1. The postseason began on October 3. The 67th World Series began with Game 1 on October 10 and ended with Game 5 on October 15, with the Baltimore Orioles of the American League defeating the Cincinnati Reds of the National League, four games to one, capturing their second championship in franchise history, since their previous in. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the New York Mets from the season.
The 41st Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was held on July 14 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, home of the Cincinnati Reds. The National League won in twelve innings, 5–4, concluding their eight-season win streak.
During spring training, the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the Milwaukee Brewers, being the ninth team since 1953 to relocate, and the fifth of American League teams since them. Due to stadium issues and the team declaring bankruptcy, the team was sold to a Milwaukee-based group and promptly relocated. After having a team for only a single season, Seattle would be without a major league team for seven seasons until the expansion in, with the enfranchisement of the Seattle Mariners. The team was tied with the coincidentally named 1901 Milwaukee Brewers as the shortest-tenured team of the American League.
National League umpires began wearing numbers on the sleeves of their blazers and the new short-sleeved light blue shirts they began wearing. The numbers were in alphabetical order and this remained the annual numbering system until the 1979 season when the numbers became permanent regardless of retirements/resignations/firings/etc.

Schedule

The 1970 schedule consisted of 162 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had twelve teams. Each league was split into two six-team divisions. Each team was scheduled to play 18 games against their five division rivals, totaling 90 games, and 12 games against six interdivision opponents, totaling 72 games. This continued the format put in place since the previous season and would be used until in the American League and in the National League.
Opening Day took place on April 6, featuring four teams. The final day of the regular season was on October 1, featuring 22 teams. Each League Championship Series took place between October 3 and October 5. The World Series took place between October 10 and October 15.

Rule change

The 1970 season saw the following rule change:

A "caveat emptor" amendment was approved by both leagues, regarding player trades. Under the new rule, all trades, once agreed upon, would stand, such that a player could not elect to retire and freeze/cancel a trade as a means to stop it. Now, the trade would occur, and it was up to a team themselves to persuade their players to report to work.

Teams

An asterisk denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at

League	Division	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager
	East	Baltimore Orioles	Baltimore, Maryland	Baltimore Memorial Stadium	52,137
	East	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	33,375
	East	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	Cleveland Stadium	76,966
	East	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Tiger Stadium	54,226
	East	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Yankee Stadium	67,000
	East	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	43,500
	West	California Angels	Anaheim, California	Anaheim Stadium	43,202
	West	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	White Sox Park	46,550
	West	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	White Sox Park	46,550
	West	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	White Sox Park	46,550
	West	Kansas City Royals	Kansas City, Missouri	Municipal Stadium	34,164
	West	Kansas City Royals	Kansas City, Missouri	Municipal Stadium	34,164
	West	Milwaukee Brewers	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Milwaukee County Stadium	45,768
	West	Minnesota Twins	Bloomington, Minnesota	Metropolitan Stadium	45,914
	West	Oakland Athletics	Oakland, California	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	50,000
	East	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Wrigley Field	36,644
	East	Montreal Expos	Montreal, Quebec	Jarry Park Stadium	28,456
	East	New York Mets	New York, New York	Shea Stadium	55,300
	East	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Connie Mack Stadium	33,608
	East	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	35,500
	East	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Three Rivers Stadium*	50,500*
	East	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium	49,450
	West	Atlanta Braves	Atlanta, Georgia	Atlanta Stadium	51,383
	West	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Crosley Field*	29,603*
	West	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Riverfront Stadium	51,500
	West	Houston Astros	Houston, Texas	Houston Astrodome	44,500
	West	Los Angeles Dodgers	Los Angeles, California	Dodger Stadium	56,000
	West	San Diego Padres	San Diego, California	San Diego Stadium	50,000
	West	San Francisco Giants	San Francisco, California	Candlestick Park	42,500
	West	San Francisco Giants	San Francisco, California	Candlestick Park	42,500

Postseason

The postseason began on October 3 and ended on October 15 with the Baltimore Orioles defeating the Cincinnati Reds in the 1970 World Series in five games.

League leaders

American League

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Alex Johnson	.329
OPS	Carl Yastrzemski	1.044
HR	Frank Howard	44
RBI	Frank Howard	126
R	Carl Yastrzemski	125
H	Tony Oliva	204
SB	Bert Campaneris	42

Stat	Player	Total
W	Mike Cuellar Dave McNally Jim Perry	24
L	Mickey Lolich	19
ERA	Diego Seguí	2.56
K	Sam McDowell	304
IP	Sam McDowell Jim Palmer	305.0
SV	Ron Perranoski	34
WHIP	Fritz Peterson	1.102

National League

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Rico Carty	.366
OPS	Willie McCovey	1.056
HR	Johnny Bench	45
RBI	Johnny Bench	148
R	Billy Williams	137
H	Pete Rose Billy Williams	205
SB	Bobby Tolan	57

Stat	Player	Total
W	Bob Gibson Gaylord Perry	23
L	Steve Carlton	19
ERA	Tom Seaver	2.82
K	Tom Seaver	283
IP	Gaylord Perry	328.2
SV	Wayne Granger	35
WHIP	Ferguson Jenkins	1.038

Awards and honors

Other awards

Monthly awards

Player of the Month

Month	National League
May	Rico Carty
June	Tommie Agee
July	Bill Singer
August	Bob Gibson

Baseball Hall of Fame

Venues

The 1970 season saw three teams move to three new venues.

With the relocation of the Seattle Pilots from Seattle, Washington to Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the Milwaukee Brewers, they leave Sick's Stadium and move into the former home of the National League's Milwaukee Braves, Milwaukee County Stadium. They would go on to play there for 31 seasons through.
The Cincinnati Reds would play their last game at Crosley Field on June 24, having played 59 seasons there, and opened Riverfront Stadium on June 30, where they would go on to play for 33 seasons through.
The Pittsburgh Pirates would play their last game at Forbes Field on June 28, having played 62 seasons there, and opened Three Rivers Stadium on July 16, where they would go on to play for 31 seasons through.

The Philadelphia Phillies would play their final game at Connie Mack Stadium on October 1 against the Montreal Expos, moving into Veterans Stadium for the start of the season.

Television coverage

NBC was the exclusive national TV broadcaster of MLB, airing the weekend Game of the Week, the All-Star Game, both League Championship Series, and the World Series.

Retired numbers

Lou Boudreau had his No. 5 retired by the Cleveland Indians on July 9. This was the second number retired by the team.
Casey Stengel had his No. 37 retired by the New York Yankees on August 8. This was the fifth number retired by the team. Stengel previously had his No. 37 retired by the New York Mets in.