1973 in baseball


Champions

Major League Baseball

Winter Leagues
1 Modern single-season strikeouts record

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

National League final standings

Events

January

  • January 3 – A group of investors headed by 42-year-old Cleveland shipping and ship-building magnate George M. Steinbrenner III purchases the New York Yankees from CBS. The entire deal is valued at $10 million and includes parking lots near Yankee Stadium, but when CBS buys those properties back from the Yankees, the purchase price for the team falls to $8.8 million. By the time of Steinbrenner's death 37 years later, the Yankees are valued at over $1.6 billion.
  • January 11:
  • *American League owners vote 8–4 to adopt the designated hitter position for a three-year trial period, after which it will be accorded permanent status. The DH, which future Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig will call "the biggest rule change in the history of baseball to that point," is rejected by National League magnates and will not be adopted by the Senior Circuit until 2023.
  • *The New York Yankees reveal that veteran MLB executive Gabe Paul has resigned as president and general manager of the Cleveland Indians and joined the 15-member ownership syndicate headed by George Steinbrenner that purchased the Bombers eight days earlier. Paul will occupy a senior executive post on the Yankee organization chart, but insists he will not displace incumbent president Michael Burke or general manager Lee MacPhail.
  • *The Indians promote Paul's assistant, Phil Seghi, 63, to succeed his former boss as general manager.
  • *Procter & Gamble heir Louis Nippert acquires majority control of the Cincinnati Reds. He has been a member of the Cincinnati-based ownership syndicate, originally led by Francis L. Dale, since it purchased the Reds in December 1966.
  • January 18 – Free agent and longtime first baseman Orlando Cepeda, 35, signs with the Boston Red Sox, making the future Hall of Famer the first player signed to serve expressly as a designated hitter.
  • January 24 – Left-handed pitcher Warren Spahn, with 363 triumphs the winningest southpaw of all time, is elected to the Hall of Fame in his first try on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, receiving 316 of 380 votes.
  • January 28 – The Hall of Fame Special Veterans Committee selects 19th-century pitcher Mickey Welch and Giants first baseman George Kelly, plus umpire Billy Evans, for enshrinement.

    February

  • February 1 – Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces the selection of Monte Irvin for the Hall of Fame by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues.
  • February 14 – A column in the Minneapolis Tribune reveals that Minnesota Twins shortstop Danny Thompson, 26, has been diagnosed with leukemia. He will be able to play four more full MLB seasons, enduring aggressive anti-cancer therapies, before the disease claims his life ten weeks after appearing in his final game on October 2, 1976.
  • February 27 – Chicago White Sox slugger and reigning American League Most Valuable Player Dick Allen signs a three-year contract for an estimated $250,000 per year, making him the highest-paid player in major league history.

    March

  • March 5 – New York Yankees teammates and fellow left-handed pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich arrive at spring training and announce that they have swapped their wives and families. Even the family dogs are traded.
  • March 8 – After only one season with the Cleveland Indians, former American League batting champion Alex Johnson is traded to the Texas Rangers for pitchers Vince Colbert and Rich Hinton. The Rangers become the sixth team Johnson has played for in his decade in the major leagues.
  • March 20 – In a special election held by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, the late Roberto Clemente receives 393 of 424 votes to earn entry into the Hall of Fame, less than three months after his death in a plane crash during a humanitarian mission to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua. The Hall's board of directors had earlier waived the five-year-wait rule for Clemente.
  • March 24 – The Cleveland Indians trade catcher Ray Fosse and infielder Jack Heidemann to the Oakland Athletics for catcher Dave Duncan and outfielder George Hendrick.
  • March 26 – Denny McLain, who won 31 games for the Detroit Tigers in, becoming the last MLB pitcher to win 30 games, is released by the Atlanta Braves. His career tarnished by his 1970 suspension for association with known gamblers, McLain never pitches in the major leagues again.
  • March 29 – Orange baseballs, the brainchild of Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley, are used in the Athletics' 11–5 exhibition loss to the Cleveland Indians.

    April

  • April 6:
  • *At Three Rivers Stadium, 51,695 fans watch as the jersey #21 of the late Roberto Clemente is retired. The Pittsburgh Pirates then beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7–5, with a ninth-inning rally.
  • *At Fenway Park, Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees becomes the first designated hitter in major league history. He is walked by Boston Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance. Boston wins 15–5, however, powered by two home runs and six runs batted in from sophomore catcher Carlton Fisk.
  • *At Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Tony Oliva of the Minnesota Twins becomes the first designated hitter to homer, with a first-inning shot off Catfish Hunter.
  • April 10 – The Kansas City Royals open their new park, Royals Stadium, with a 12–1 rout of the Texas Rangers. The game is attended by 39,464 fans braving 39-degree weather.
  • April 17:
  • *Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dick Ruthven, the first player selected in the secondary phase of the January 1973 amateur draft out of Fresno State, makes his major league debut without playing in the minors. He starts against the Montreal Expos, allowing four runs in less than two innings, but does not figure in the decision as the Phillies win 9–6.
  • *The San Francisco Giants sell the contract of former starting third baseman Jim Ray Hart, 31, to the New York Yankees. Hart will assume the role of the Bombers' primary designated hitter with Ron Blomberg gaining playing time at first base.
  • April 27 – In 50-degree weather, Kansas City Royals rookie Steve Busby no-hits the host Detroit Tigers 3–0. For the Royals, who began play in, it's the first no-hitter in franchise history, and the first in Tiger Stadium since Virgil Trucks' in. With the designated hitter rule in effect, Busby becomes the first pitcher of a no-hitter to not come to bat.
  • April 28 – The San Francisco Giants' Jim Willoughby tosses a four-hit, complete game shutout and Bobby Bonds provides the only run he needs with a first-inning homer off Reggie Cleveland, as the Giants defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 1–0 at Busch Memorial Stadium. The loss gives the Cardinals an abysmal 2–15 record for 1973—but they will battle back to reach.500 in late June and take the National League East's divisional lead July 22, before ultimately placing second by the end of the campaign.
  • April 29 – Michael Burke, president of the New York Yankees since 1966, resigns amid rumors of disagreements with general partner George Steinbrenner. Burke remains a limited partner in the Yanks' ownership group, which took control of the club on January 3.
  • April 30 – All 24 teams are off. It will be the last time all teams would receive a day off during the regular season until June 29,.

    May

  • May 4 – José Pagán's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 20th inning gives the Philadelphia Phillies a 5–4 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Both managers are ejected during the marathon contest: the Phillies' Danny Ozark during the 17th inning, and the Braves' Eddie Mathews in the 20th, when he argues the decisive "safe" call at home plate.
  • May 8:
  • *For the second time in his career, Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a home run out of Dodger Stadium. His blast off Andy Messersmith hits the right field pavilion roof 470 feet away. His first home run, a 506-foot shot, came off Alan Foster on August 5,. The Los Angeles Dodgers win, 7–4.
  • *In a 9–7 losing effort against the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson makes his 242nd consecutive start. It is a new 20th-century record, passing that of Red Ruffing, who never pitched in relief the last ten years of his career.
  • * Whitey Lockman, manager of the Chicago Cubs, is ejected by Shag Crawford in the 11th inning of a road game against the San Diego Padres. Coach Ernie Banks takes over, unofficially becoming the first black manager in major league baseball. With Banks at the helm, the Cubs push across the winning run in the 12th on a pinch-hit double by Joe Pepitone.
  • May 9 – Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds belts three home runs off fellow future Hall-of-Famer Steve Carlton for the second time in his career, in a 9–7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Bench knocks in seven runs.
  • May 11 – Manager Leo Durocher returns to the Houston Astros' dugout after being sidelined since April 20 by diverticulitis. In his absence, the Astros have gone 14–3 under coach Preston Gómez and climbed to second place in the National League West.
  • May 15:
  • *Nolan Ryan of the California Angels pitches the first of his seven career no-hitters, defeating the Kansas City Royals, 3–0 at Royals Stadium. Ryan fans 12 and issues three bases on balls.
  • *At County Stadium, Dave May's 17th-inning walk-off home run enables his Milwaukee Brewers to edge the Cleveland Indians, 2–1. The 15–15 Brewers are the only team in the American League East with a.500-or-above record.
  • May 17 – California Angels centerfielder Bobby Valentine, 23, suffers a career-altering compound leg fracture when he catches his spikes in the outfield fence at Anaheim Stadium trying to flag down a home run by the Oakland Athletics' Dick Green. Valentine, considered a potential "five-tool" talent and a centerpiece of the Angels' massive trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers the previous winter, will miss the rest of the season and his MLB playing career will be limited by the serious injury.
  • May 19 – The Atlanta Braves trade Andre Thornton to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Joe Pepitone.
  • May 20 – The 12–23 Texas Rangers make a five-player deal with a division rival, sending pitcher Rich Hand, catcher Rick Stelmaszek and first baseman Mike Epstein to the 21–14 California Angels for pitcher Lloyd Allen and first baseman Jim Spencer.
  • May 24:
  • *Willie Davis of the Los Angeles Dodgers gets six hits, all singles, in a 19-inning, 7–3 loss to the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium. The record will still stand, as of 2017, for most hits in a game by a Dodger.
  • *Bert Blyleven of the Minnesota Twins one-hits the Kansas City Royals, 2–0 at Metropolitan Stadium. The lone Kansas City safety is a fifth-inning bunt single by Ed Kirkpatrick.
  • May 27 – Beset by financial troubles, C. Arnholt Smith, majority owner of the five-year-old San Diego Padres, announces he is selling the team to Joseph Danzansky and two partners for $12 million. Danzansky's group plans to move the franchise to Washington, D.C. The city attorney for San Diego reacts by filing an $84 million suit for damages against Smith, Danzansky and the National League seeking payment for the team's stadium lease, which has 15 years to run, and other anticipated lost revenues.
  • May 28 – Dick Allen blasts a three-run home in the home half of the 22nd inning to give the Chicago White Sox a 6–3 victory over the Cleveland Indians in a game that was suspended May 26 in the 17th inning. Later on this day, in the regularly scheduled game, knuckleball artist Wilbur Wood improves to 13–3 by tossing a four-hit shutout. Their 4–0 triumph gives the 26–14 ChiSox a 3½-game lead in the American League West.
  • May 31:
  • *At Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs score ten first-inning runs against the Houston Astros and cruise to a 16–8 win.
  • *Ken Holtzman and Rollie Fingers combine for a one-hitter in a 6–0 Oakland Athletics triumph over the New York Yankees in The Bronx. The Yanks' Matty Alou touches Holtzman for a seventh-inning single for his team's only safety.