1974 in baseball

The following are the baseball events of the year 1974 throughout the world.

List of years in baseball
See also: 1974 Major League Baseball season

Champions

Major League Baseball
  League Championship Series NBC World Series NBC
                 
East Baltimore Orioles 1  
West Oakland Athletics 3  
    AL Oakland Athletics 4
  NL Los Angeles Dodgers 1
East Pittsburgh Pirates 1
West Los Angeles Dodgers 3  

Other champions

Winter Leagues

 * The season was canceled due to a player's strike and the Mexican Pacific League's second place, Yaquis de Obregón, played as a replacement in the Caribbean Series.

Awards and honors

MLB statistical leaders
American League National League
AVGRod Carew MIN.364Ralph Garr ATL.353
HRDick Allen CWS   32Mike Schmidt PHI   36
RBIJeff Burroughs TEX 118Johnny Bench CIN 129
Wins   Catfish Hunter OAK
Ferguson Jenkins TEX    		   25Andy Messersmith LAD    
Phil Niekro ATL		   20
ERACatfish Hunter OAK 2.49Buzz Capra ATL 2.28
SONolan Ryan CAL  367  Steve Carlton PHI  240  

Major league baseball final standings

Events

January–March

April–June
  • April 3 - The Cleveland Indians trade Pedro Guerrero to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Bruce Ellingsen The 17-year-old infielder-outfielder will compile a .309 lifetime batting average and will be named to the all-star team five times during his 11 seasons with the team.
  • April 4 – Hank Aaron hits the 714th home run of his career, tying Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record.
  • April 6 – The New York Yankees defeat the Cleveland Indians 6-1 in their "home opener" at Shea Stadium. The Yankees will share this ballpark with the Mets for the 1974 and 1975 seasons, while Yankee Stadium is being re-furbished.
  • April 8 – Hank Aaron hits home run number 715, finally breaking Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record. Two fans run onto the field and congratulate him on the record breaking achievement as Hank moves past second base.
  • April 10 - The 1973 National League pennant is raised before the home opener in which The New York Mets defeat The St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 in front of only 17,154 fans at Shea Stadium. Jerry Grote of the Mets homered in that game.
  • April 14 – Graig Nettles of the New York Yankees hits four home runs during a doubleheader split against his former team, the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees win 9–5, then lose 6–9. Nettles will go on to tie a major league record with 11 home runs in the month of April.
  • April 17 - The Chicago Cubs new catcher George Mitterwald hit three home runs and drove in eight runs as the Cubs slaughter The Pittsburgh Pirates 16-9. As an added oddity, Burt Hooton went the distance for the Cubs despite giving up 16 hits.
  • April 24 – All twenty-one hits by both teams in the Chicago White Sox 7-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers are singles.[1]
  • April 26 – The record breaking is not over for Hank Aaron. Today he hits his 15th career grand slam home run, passing Gil Hodges and Willie McCovey for the NL mark. The Braves go on to beat the Cubs, 9-3.
  • April 30 – At Fenway Park, Nolan Ryan of the Angels strikes out 19 Red Sox batters in a 4-2 victory. In a frightening moment, he hits second baseman Doug Griffin in the head with a fastball. Griffin will be sidelined for two months.
  • May 1 – Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits three consecutive batters with pitches in the first inning, setting an ML record, and walks another in the frame before being lifted. Pittsburgh loses 5–3 to the Cincinnati Reds.
  • May 4 – Boston Red Sox shortstop Rick Burleson ties a major league record by committing three errors in his major league debut.
  • May 30 – Sadaharu Oh becomes the first player in Nippon Professional Baseball to hit 600 home runs. Only Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays are ahead of Oh among U.S. players at this time, but he will surpass them all.
  • June 4 – The Cleveland Indians attempt an ill-advised ten cent beer promotion for a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Cleveland forfeits 9-0 after alcohol-fueled mayhem and violence spreads from the stands onto the field.
  • June 5 – Hank Aaron hits his 16th career grand slam homer as the Braves top the Phillies, 7-3, in Philadelphia.
  • June 10 – The Philadelphia Phillies Mike Schmidt hits the ball off the speaker at the Houston Astrodome, turning a sure homer into one of the longest singles hit in a 12-0 Phillies victory over the Houston Astros.
  • June 11 – Mel Stottlemyre of the New York Yankees makes his 272nd consecutive start, with no relief appearances, to set an American League record.
  • June 14- California Angels pitcher Nolan Ryan pitches 13 innings, and strikes out 19 batters, including Red Sox first baseman Cecil Cooper, who alone struck out six straight times. The Angels defeated Boston 4-3 in 15 innings.
  • June 19 – George Scott, who walks to lead off the second inning, is the Brewers' only base runner as Steve Busby of the Kansas City Royals hurls a 2–0 no-hitter. Busby is the first major league pitcher to throw no-hitters in his first two seasons.
  • June 21 – The Braves fire manager Eddie Mathews, the only man to have played for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta.
  • June 24 – Steve Busby of the Kansas City Royals retires the first nine batters he faces to set an American League record with 33 consecutive batsmen retired. The Royals lose, however, 3–1 to the Chicago White Sox.

July–September

October–December

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January–April
  • January 14 – Lloyd Brown, 73, pitcher who won 46 games for the 1930-32 Senators and also played with the Dodgers, Browns, Red Sox, Indians and Phillies.
  • January 18 – Pete Appleton, 69, relief pitcher for seven teams who won 14 games for the 1936 Washington Senators.
  • January 20 – George Hockette, 72, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in the mid-1930s.
  • February 13 – Scrip Lee, 75, Negro league baseball pitcher from 1921 to 1934.
  • February 20 – Bob Christian, 28, outfielder who played from 1968-70 for the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox.
  • March 1 – Larry Doyle, 87, second baseman, primarily for the New York Giants whom he captained, who batted .300 five times and won the NL's 1912 MVP award; led NL in hits twice and stole home 17 times.
  • March 14 – Alex Pompez, 83, owner of the Negro Leagues' Cuban Stars and New York Cubans between 1916 and 1950, who later became a scouting director for the New York Giants.
  • April 5 – Fred Snodgrass, 86, center fielder for the New York Giants who made a critical drop of an easy fly ball in the tenth inning of the deciding game in the 1912 World Series.
  • April 6 – Roy Wood, 81, outfielder/first baseman who played from 1913-15 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Naps/Indians.
  • April 22 – Steve Swetonic, 70, pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1930s, who tied for the National League lead in shutouts in the 1932 season.
  • April 23 – Cy Williams, 86, center fielder for the Cubs and Phillies who became the first National League player to hit 200 home runs, leading the league four times.

May–August
  • May 5 – Tom McNamara, 78, pinch-hitter for the 1922 Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • May 5 – Vito Tamulis, 62, left-handed pitcher who posted a 40-28 record with a 3.97 ERA in six seasons for the Yankees, Browns, Dodgers and Phillies.
  • May 18 – Dan Topping, 61, co-owner and president of the Yankees from 1945 to 1964, during which time the team won ten World Series and fifteen AL pennants.
  • June 30 – Mule Haas, 70, center fielder for the Athletics and White Sox, who hit two home runs in the 1929 World Series.
  • July 4 – Del Webb, 75, co-owner and chairman of the Yankees from 1945 to 1964; co-owner Dan Topping had died just weeks earlier.
  • July 17 – Dizzy Dean, 64, Hall of Fame pitcher who won MVP award in 1934 with 30-7 campaign, the last 30-win season by an NL pitcher; was MVP runnerup the next two years, but an injury in 1937 All-Star game led to end of career; became a broadcaster known for folksy mangling of the English language.
  • August 8 – Howie Pollet, 53, All-Star pitcher who twice won 20 games for the St. Louis Cardinals.

September–December
  • September 8 – Bert Niehoff, 90, second baseman for four National League clubs from 1913 to 1918, and one of the first managers selected by the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
  • September 19 – Zack Taylor, 76, NL catcher for fifteen seasons, later a coach, manager and scout for 35 years.
  • September 25 – Cliff Brady, 77, a second baseman for the Boston Red Sox and minor league manager, who also was a member of the Scullin Steel soccer team which won the National Challenge Cup in 1922.
  • September 26 – Lefty Stewart, 74, pitcher who won 20 games for the 1930 St. Louis Browns.
  • October 13 – Sam Rice, 84, Hall of Fame right fielder for the Washington Senators who batted .322 lifetime and led AL in steals and triples once each, remembered for disputed catch in 1925 World Series; finished career with 2,987 hits, at a time when little attention was paid to career totals.
  • October 22 – Pat Pieper, 88, the Chicago Cubs field (public address) announcer from 1916 to 1974, a span of 59 years.
  • October 31 – Buddy Myer, 70, All-Star second baseman for the Washington Senators who batted .303 lifetime and won 1935 batting title.
  • November 1 – Bullet Joe Bush, 81, pitcher who won 195 games including a no-hitter, had 26 wins for 1922 New York Yankees.
  • November 24 – Johnny Weekly, 37, outfielder for the Houston Colt .45s from 1962 to 1964.
  • November 25 – Eddie Dent, 86, Starting pitcher for the Brooklyn Superbas from 1909-1912.
  • December 18 – Harry Hooper, 87, Hall of Fame right fielder for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox, who was an outstanding defensive player and solid leadoff hitter, helping the Red Sox to four champion titles, while retiring with the fifth-most walks in history.

References
  1. "Strange and Unusual Plays". www.retrosheet.org. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
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