1963 in baseball

Champions

Major League Baseball

*World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers beat New York Yankees (4–0); Sandy Koufax, MVP
*All-Star Game, July 9 at Municipal Stadium: National League, 5–3; Willie Mays, MVP

Other champions

*College World Series: USC
*Japan Series: Yomiuri Giants over Nishitetsu Lions (4–3)
*Little League World Series: Granada Hills National, Granada Hills, California
* Senior League World Series: Monterrey, Mexico
*Pan American Games: Cuba over United States

Awards and honors

*Baseball Hall of Fame
** John Clarkson
**Elmer Flick
**Sam Rice
**Eppa Rixey
*Most Valuable Player
**Elston Howard, New York Yankees, C (AL)
**Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers, P (NL)
*Cy Young Award
**Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers
* Rookie of the Year
**Gary Peters, Chicago White Sox, P (AL)
**Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds, 2B (NL)
*Gold Glove Award
**Vic Power (1B) (AL)
**Bobby Richardson (2B) (AL)
**Brooks Robinson (3B) (AL)
** Zoilo Versalles (SS) (AL)
**Jim Landis (OF) (AL)
**Al Kaline (OF) (AL)
**Carl Yastrzemski (OF) (AL)
**Elston Howard (C) (AL)
**Jim Kaat (P) (AL)

MLB statistical leaders

¹ Major League Triple Crown Pitching Winner

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

National League final standings

Events

January

*January 27 – Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Elmer Flick and John Clarkson are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee.

February

March

*March 22 – The New York Mets, who finished last in the National League with a 40–120 record in their inaugural season, purchase pitcher Carl Willey from the Milwaukee Braves. Willey will boost a pitching rotation that includes Roger Craig, Al Jackson and Tracy Stallard. The Mets will improve to 51–111 in 1963.

April

*April 11 – Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves becomes the all-time winningest left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball history. His 6–1 victory over the New York Mets gives him 328 career wins, moving him ahead of Eddie Plank as the all-time winningest left-hander. Except for Duke Snider's home run in today's game, no Mets get past second base.
*April 13 — After 11 hitless at bats, Cincinnati Reds second baseman Pete Rose records his first major league hit, a triple off Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bob Friend. Increased enforcement of the balk rule produces a Major League record seven in the Pirates' 12–4 trouncing of the Reds at Crosley Field. Friend commits four of the balks.

May

*May 5 – The Detroit Tigers released Vic Wertz. Wertz would later sign with the Minnesota Twins to finish out his 17-year career.
*May 9 – Chicago Cubs first baseman Ernie Banks became the first National League player to record 22 putouts in a game, during a 3–1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
*May 11 – At Dodger Stadium, Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers no-hits the San Francisco Giants 8–0, his second no-hitter in as many seasons. The final out is made by Harvey Kuenn on a ground ball back to than Koufax. Kuenn will also make the final out of Koufax's perfect game two years later.
*May 17 – Houston Colt .45's pitcher Don Nottebart throws the first no-hitter in franchise history, leading his team past the Philadelphia Phillies, 4–1.
*May 19 – Detroit Tigers center fielder Bill Bruton tied a Major League record for most doubles in a single game. Brutton hit his four doubles in a row, as Detroit defeated the Washington Senators, 5–1. Teammate and rookie pitcher Bill Faul tossed a three-hitter in his first Major League start.
*May 23 – The New York Mets trade Gil Hodges to the Washington Senators for Jimmy Piersall. Hodges returned to the Mets as their manager in 1968.

June

*June 2 – At Busch Stadium, Willie Mays hits three home runs off pitchers Ernie Broglio, Bob Humphreys and Bobby Shantz, helping the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6–4.
*June 9 – Ernie Banks hits three home runs as the Chicago Cubs lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers 11–8.
*June 10 – Al Kaline hit his 200th career home run helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 6–1.
*June 11 – Bob Aspromonte clouts a walk-off grand slam in the tenth inning off pitcher Lindy McDaniel to give the Houston Colt .45s a 6–2 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Colt Stadium.
*June 14 – The New York Mets' Duke Snider hits his 400th career home run off Bob Purkey in the first inning of the Mets' 10–3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field.
** Willie Kirkland of the Cleveland Indians hits a home run in the 11th inning to tie the game 2–2. In the 19th inning, he hits the game-winning home run to defeat the Washington Senators. Kirkland joins Vern Stephens as the only player to hit two extra-inning home runs.
*June 15 – At Candlestick Park, Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants no-hits the Houston Colt .45's, 1–0, becoming the first Latin American pitcher to throw a no-hitter. The no-hitter is the first by a Giant since the franchise's move from New York City after the 1957 season. Moreover, Marichal joined Carl Hubbell, who did it while pitching for the New York York Giants in 1929, as the second Giants pitcher to accomplish the feat.

July

*July 1 – The Kansas City Athletics purchased the contract of Charley Lau from the Baltimore Orioles.
*July 2 – The Giants' Juan Marichal pitched a 16-inning shutout against the Milwaukee Braves, outdueling Warren Spahn, who pitched scoreless innings before Willie Mays won it 1–0 with a home run in the bottom of the 16th. In the 9th inning when the Giants' manager suggested Marichal should come out for a pinch hitter, he angrily replied “I am not going to come out of that game as long as that old man is still pitching.” Later, when the Braves manager suggested to Spahn that it was time for him to come out he was told that if that young kid could still pitch, then so could he. When it was over, Marichal had thrown 227 pitches and Spahn had thrown 201.
*July 9 – At Municipal Stadium, the National League wins 5–3 over the American League in the All-Star Game. After four years, MLB had decided to return to the original single-game format. The American League out-hit the National League 11–6, but the effort went in vain as MVP Willie Mays put on a one-man show. Although he was held to a single, Mays collected two runs, two RBI, two stolen bases and made the defensive play of the game – a running catch that deprived Joe Pepitone of an extra base hit in the eighth inning. This game also marked the 24th and final All-Star appearance of Stan Musial, who pinch-hit in the fifth inning. He lined out to right field, leaving behind a .317 batting average (20-for-63) and an All-Star Game record of six home runs.
*July 31 – A crowd of 7,288 at Cleveland Stadium watched Cleveland Indians infielder Woodie Held, pitcher Pedro Ramos, outfielder Tito Francona, and shortstop Larry Brown slug four straight solo home runs off Los Angeles Angels right-hander Paul Foytack in the bottom of the sixth inning. The four homers built the Indians' lead to 9–1, and they won, 9–5.

August

*August 7 – The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7–3. Mets outfielder Jim Hickman hits for the cycle, doing '' it in order''. Both are firsts for the Mets.
*August 9 – Jim Hickman of the New York Mets becomes the second player to hit a walk-off grand slam against Chicago Cubs pitcher Lindy McDaniel this season, in a 7–3 victory at Polo Grounds. Bob Aspromonte of the Houston Colt .45s did that on June 11. McDaniel is the second pitcher in major-league history to surrender two game-ending grand slams in one season, joining Satchel Paige, who did that in . Other pitchers will join Paige and McDaniel in the coming years: Lee Smith, in , and Francisco Rodríguez in .
*August 27 – Willie Mays hits his 400th career home run helping the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7–2.
*August 23 – Milwaukee Braves veteran pitcher Warren Spahn topped the National League record for most starts in a season, previously set by Grover Alexander, with his 601st appearance on the mound during a 6–1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Later in the season, Spahn would match a National League record set by Christy Mathewson with his 13th, 20-win season, while becoming the oldest pitcher to do so at age forty-two.
*August 29 – Helped by a league-record-tying eight home runs, the Minnesota Twins garner a team-record forty-seven total bases in the first game of a double-header at D.C. Stadium. Harmon Killebrew and Vic Power both strike for two homers in the 14–2 victory. In the second game, a 10–1 Minnesota win, the Twins hit four more homers for a team-record even dozen on the day.

September

*September 5 – Willie McCovey hits his 100th career home run.
*September 6 – Major League Baseball celebrated its 100,000th game with a classic match-up between the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators at D.C. Stadium.
*September 10 – The Alous become the first brother trio to bat consecutively in one game, during the eighth inning of a San Francisco Giants' 4–2 loss to the New York Mets at the Polo Grounds. Jesús pinch-hits in his Major League debut and grounds out to shortstop Al Moran; Matty, also pinch-hitting, strikes out, and Felipe ends the inning by grounding out to pitcher Carl Willey, who goes the distance for the victory.
*September 13:
**Cleveland Indians pitcher Early Wynn finally won his 300th and final game thanks to a little help from the Indian's bullpen. After losing eight straight starts and struggling through five innings against the Kansas City Athletics, Wynn was replaced by relief man Jerry Walker, who tossed four scoreless innings en route to a 7–4 win over the Athletics.
**The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 2-0 to clinch their 28th American League pennant.
*September 18 – In the final regular-season game ever played at the Polo Grounds, the Philadelphia Phillies defeat the New York Mets 6–1. New York gets its only run on Jim Hickman's 4th-inning home run, the last home run to be hit at the park.
*September 21 – Harmon Killebrew, in a double-header split between his Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, hits four home runs on the day to tie an American League record.
*September 22:
**Willie McCovey hits 3 home runs helping San Francisco Giants beat the New York Mets 13–4.
**Outfielder Jimmie Hall of the Minnesota Twins hits his 33rd and final home run of the year. No other rookie without previous-year at bats has hit more. Hall tops the current record-holder, Boston's Ted Williams, who hit 31 in 1939.
*September 27 – Manager Harry Craft of the Houston Colt 45s fields the "Baby Colts", a starting lineup with an average age of nineteen years, against the New York Mets at Colt Stadium. The oldest player used by Houston all game was 26-year-old Dick Drott, who pitched the ninth inning.
*September 28 – Minnesota Twins first baseman Vic Power hits his tenth home run of the year. It is the club's 225th, a season total that ranks second behind the 1961 New York Yankees' 240.
*September 29:
**Stan Musial hits an RBI single off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jim Maloney in the final at-bat of his 22-year major league career spent entirely with the St. Louis Cardinals as the Cardinals go on to defeat the Reds 3-2.
**John Paciorek makes his MLB debut for the Houston Colt .45s at the age of 18. In the game Paciorek hits three hits, drives in four runs, and draws two walks. Since he reached base in all five plate appearances, he has a batting average of 1.000. However, this would be Paciorek's only appearance in a major league game. He'd suffer an injury in the minors that would end his baseball career by the time he was 24.

October

*October 6 – At Dodger Stadium, Sandy Koufax defeats the New York Yankees, 2–1, completing a shocking World Series sweep for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Whitey Ford gives up only two hits, both by Frank Howard, who belts a long home run in the fifth inning to start the Dodgers' scoring. In the Series, the Yankees bat just .171 and score only four runs, the second-lowest total in World Series history. Curiously enough, the Dodgers would set the mark for the least runs scored in a World Series only three years later, falling victim to a decisive sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles.
*October 12 – In the first (and last) Hispanic American major league All-Star Game, the National League team beats the American League 5–2 at the Polo Grounds. The game features such names as Felipe Alou, Luis Aparicio, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Julián Javier, Minnie Miñoso, Tony Oliva and Zoilo Versalles. Vic Power receives a pregame award as the number one Latin player. NL starter Juan Marichal strikes out six in four innings, though reliever Al McBean is the winning pitcher. Pinch hitter Manny Mota drives in two runs against loser Pedro Ramos. This was the last baseball game played at the Polo Grounds, as the New York Mets would move into the brand new Shea Stadium in 1964."The forgotten all-star game: 50 years ago, baseball's Latino legends played in Polo Grounds’ last game"
by Robert Dominguez, ''New York Daily News''
*October 29 – The New York Yankees release catcher Yogi Berra so he could manage the team for the 1964 season.

November

*November 26 – Second baseman Pete Rose is a landslide winner of National League Rookie of the Year honors, taking 17 of 20 first place votes, with the others going to Ron Hunt (2) and Ray Culp (1). Rose becomes the second Cincinnati Reds player to win the award, joining Frank Robinson.
*November 27:
**Chicago White Sox pitcher Gary Peters, who posted a 19–8 record with 189 strikeouts and a 2.33 ERA, edges teammate third baseman Pete Ward (.295 BA, 22 HR, 84 RBI) and Minnesota Twins outfielder Jimmie Hall (.260, 33, 80) for American League Rookie of the Year honors. Peters takes 10 of 20 first-place votes, Ward six and Hall four.
**In a first baseman transaction, the Kansas City Athletics acquire Jim Gentile and $25,000 from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Norm Siebern.

December

*December 2:
**The MLB Rules Committee bans oversized catcher's mitts, effective in 1965.
**The Indianapolis and Little Rock franchises are transferred from the International League to the Pacific Coast League. With the movement, the IL is reduced to eight clubs while the PCL membership is raised to 12 clubs.

Births

January

*January 2 – David Cone
*January 4 – Daryl Boston
*January 4 – Trey Hillman
*January 5 – John Davis
*January 5 – Jeff Fassero
*January 6 – Norm Charlton
*January 6 – Bob Davidson
*January 7 – Craig Shipley
*January 8 – Shane Turner
*January 15 – William Brennan
*January 18 – Bill Sampen
*January 19 – Scott Little
*January 20 – Cecil Espy
*January 22 – Javier Ortiz
*January 22 – Jeff Treadway
*January 23 – Marty Brown
*January 26 – Kevin Blankenship
*January 26 – José Segura
*January 28 – Gary Mielke
*January 29 – Brian Meyer
*January 31 – Dave Cochrane
*January 31 – Francisco Oliveras

February

*February 7 – Brian O'Nora
*February 10 – Lenny Dykstra
*February 10 – Dane Johnson
*February 11 – Todd Benzinger
*February 14 – John Marzano
*February 15 – Barry Jones
*February 18 – LaVel Freeman
*February 18 – Jeff McKnight
*February 20 – Phil Lombardi
*February 21 – Jim Olander
*February 22 – Don Wakamatsu
*February 23 – Bobby Bonilla
*February 24 – Matías Carrillo
*February 25 – Larry Arndt
*February 25 – Joel McKeon
*February 25 – Paul O'Neill

March

*March 1 – Tony Castillo
*March 1 – Rich Rodriguez
*March 7 – Keith Miller
*March 9 – Terry Mulholland
*March 10 – John Cangelosi
*March 13 – Mariano Duncan
*March 14 – Mike Rochford
*March 16 – Fieldin Culbreth
*March 19 – Chuck Jackson
*March 20 – Rick Parker
*March 20 – Dana Williams
*March 21 – Shawon Dunston
*March 22 – Rich Monteleone
*March 26 – Luis Medina
*March 27 – Mike Dalton
*March 27 – Drew Hall
*March 29 – Laz Díaz

April

*April 3 – Chris Bosio
*April 9 – Mike Brumley
*April 9 – José Guzmán
*April 10 – Mike Devereaux
*April 10 – Marvin Freeman
*April 10 – Jeff Gray
*April 13 – Mark Leiter
*April 18 – Alex Madrid
*April 18 – Pete Stanicek
*April 21 – Ken Caminiti
*April 24 – Tony DeFrancesco
*April 26 – Lou Thornton

May

*May 3 – Joe Kmak
*May 5 – Kimiyasu Kudo
*May 14 – Shawn Barton
*May 14 – Pat Borders
*May 17 – Tom Newell
*May 20 – David Wells
*May 21 – José Román
*May 27 – Scott Jordan
*May 27 – Edwin Núñez

June

*June 2 – Bryan Harvey
*June 8 – Scott Ruskin
*June 12 – Keith Miller
*June 17 – Tom Drees
*June 17 – Matt Kinzer
*June 18 – Russ McGinnis
*June 21 – Jeff Musselman
*June 25 – Mike Stanley
*June 27 – Nelson Simmons

July

*July 3 – Don August
*July 4 – José Oquendo
*July 6 – Todd Burns
*July 6 – Lance Johnson
*July 7 – Paul Nauert
*July 9 – Mark Higgins
*July 14 – John Dopson
*July 17 – Bobby Thigpen
*July 18 – Mike Greenwell
*July 19 – Mark Carreon
*July 19 – Vicente Palacios
*July 22 – Gary Eave
*July 22 – Denny Gonzalez
*July 23 – Pat Pacillo
*July 29 – Steve Frey
*July 29 – Tommy Gregg
*July 30 – Jeff Shaver
*July 31 – Scott Bankhead

August

*August 8 – Brett Gideon
*August 8 – Ron Karkovice
*August 9 – Vance Lovelace
*August 10 – Jerald Clark
*August 11 – Mike Huff
*August 11 – Van Snider
*August 12 – Kent Anderson
*August 13 – Jeff Ballard
*August 13 – Dennis Powell
*August 14 – Mike Cook
*August 15 – Eric Fox
*August 17 – Jeff Fischer
*August 20 – Brad Arnsberg
*August 20 – José Cecena
*August 20 – Kal Daniels