1951 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1951 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1951 in baseball.

1951 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 17 – September 30, 1951 (AL) April 16 – October 3, 1951 (NL) World Series: October 4–10, 1951
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Yogi Berra (NYY) NL: Roy Campanella (BKN)
AL champions	New York Yankees
AL runners-up	Cleveland Indians
NL champions	New York Giants
NL runners-up	Brooklyn Dodgers
World Series
Champions	New York Yankees
Runners-up	New York Giants
Finals MVP	Phil Rizzuto (NYY)
MLB seasons
← 1950 1952 →

Red Sox

White Sox   

Indians

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Yankees

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1942–1953 American League seasons
American League

Braves

Dodgers

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1943–1952 National League seasons
National League

The 1951 major league baseball season began on April 16, 1951. The regular season ended on October 3, with the New York Giants and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Giants defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in a regular season best-of-three tiebreaker, for the National League title, after both teams finished their 154-game schedules with identical 96–58 records. This was the third regular season tie-breaker, and saw a reversion from the single-game tie-breaker featured in 1948 to the three-game format featured in the 1946 tie-breaker series. After splitting the first two games, the stage was set for a decisive third game, won in dramatic fashion on a walk-off home run from the bat of Giant Bobby Thomson, one of the most famous moments in the history of baseball, commemorated as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" and "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff". The postseason began with Game 1 of the 48th World Series on October 4 and ended with Game 6 on October 10. In the sixth iteration of this Subway Series World Series matchup, the Yankees defeated the Giants, four games to two, capturing their 14th championship in franchise history, and their third in a five-run World Series. This would be the final Subway Series matchup between the two teams, as the next World Series between the two in 1962 would see a relocated Giants franchise in San Francisco, California.

The 18th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 10 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, home of the Detroit Tigers. The National League won, 8–3.

On May 1, the Chicago White Sox become the sixth team in professional baseball to break the color line when they fielded future Hall-of-Famer Minnie Miñoso. ^[1]

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1951 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the 1904 season (except for 1919) and would be used until 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.

National League Opening Day took place on April 16, with a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, while American League Opening Day took place the following day, featuring all eight teams. This was the first season since 1943 that both leagues opened on different days. The final day of the scheduled regular season was on September 30, which saw all sixteen teams play, continuing the trend from 1946. Due to the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants finishing with the same record of 96–58, a best-of-three tie-breaker was scheduled, to be considered an extension of the regular season, and took place between October 1 and October 3. The World Series took place between October 4 and October 10.

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager [2]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,200	Steve O'Neill
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	Comiskey Park	47,400	Paul Richards
	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	Cleveland Stadium	73,811	Al López
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Briggs Stadium	58,000	Red Rolfe
	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Yankee Stadium	67,000	Casey Stengel
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	33,166	Jimmy Dykes
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,000	Zack Taylor
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	29,731	Bucky Walters
National League	Boston Braves	Boston, Massachusetts	Braves Field	37,106	Billy Southworth
					Tommy Holmes
	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York, New York	Ebbets Field	32,111	Chuck Dressen
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Wrigley Field	36,755	Frankie Frisch
					Phil Cavarretta
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Crosley Field	29,980	Luke Sewell
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	54,500	Leo Durocher
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	33,166	Eddie Sawyer
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	33,730	Billy Meyer
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,000	Marty Marion

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	98	56	.636	—	56‍–‍22	42‍–‍34
Cleveland Indians	93	61	.604	5	53‍–‍24	40‍–‍37
Boston Red Sox	87	67	.565	11	50‍–‍25	37‍–‍42
Chicago White Sox	81	73	.526	17	39‍–‍38	42‍–‍35
Detroit Tigers	73	81	.474	25	36‍–‍41	37‍–‍40
Philadelphia Athletics	70	84	.455	28	38‍–‍41	32‍–‍43
Washington Senators	62	92	.403	36	32‍–‍44	30‍–‍48
St. Louis Browns	52	102	.338	46	24‍–‍53	28‍–‍49

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	98	59	.624	—	50‍–‍28	48‍–‍31
Brooklyn Dodgers	97	60	.618	1	49‍–‍29	48‍–‍31
St. Louis Cardinals	81	73	.526	15½	44‍–‍34	37‍–‍39
Boston Braves	76	78	.494	20½	42‍–‍35	34‍–‍43
Philadelphia Phillies	73	81	.474	23½	38‍–‍39	35‍–‍42
Cincinnati Reds	68	86	.442	28½	35‍–‍42	33‍–‍44
Pittsburgh Pirates	64	90	.416	32½	32‍–‍45	32‍–‍45
Chicago Cubs	62	92	.403	34½	32‍–‍45	30‍–‍47

• The New York Giants defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in best-of-three playoff series to earn the National League pennant.

Postseason

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	New York Yankees	1	3	2	6	13	4
	NL	New York Giants	5	1	6	2	1	3

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Brooklyn Dodgers	Burt Shotton	Chuck Dressen
Chicago White Sox	Red Corriden	Paul Richards
Cleveland Indians	Lou Boudreau	Al López
Philadelphia Athletics	Connie Mack	Jimmy Dykes
St. Louis Cardinals	Eddie Dyer	Marty Marion

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Boston Braves	Billy Southworth	Tommy Holmes
Chicago Cubs	Frankie Frisch	Phil Cavarretta

League leaders

Any team shown in small text indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.

American League

Hitting leaders ^[3]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Ferris Fain (PHA)	.344
OPS	Ted Williams (BRS)	1.019
HR	Gus Zernial (PHA/ CWS )	33
RBI	Gus Zernial (PHA/ CWS )	129
R	Dom DiMaggio (BRS)	113
H	George Kell (DET)	191
SB	Minnie Miñoso (CWS/ CLE )	31

Pitching leaders ^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Bob Feller (CLE)	22
L	Ted Gray (DET) Alex Kellner (PHA) Bob Lemon (CLE) Billy Pierce (CWS) Duane Pillette (SLB) Dizzy Trout (DET)	14
ERA	Saul Rogovin (CWS/ DET )	2.78
K	Vic Raschi (NYY)	164
IP	Early Wynn (CLE)	274.1
SV	Ellis Kinder (BRS)	16
WHIP	Eddie Lopat (NYY)	1.193

National League

Hitting leaders ^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Stan Musial (SLC)	.355
OPS	Ralph Kiner (PIT)	1.079
HR	Ralph Kiner (PIT)	42
RBI	Monte Irvin (NYG)	121
R	Ralph Kiner (PIT) Stan Musial (SLC)	124
H	Richie Ashburn (PHP)	221
SB	Sam Jethroe (BSB)	35

Pitching leaders ^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Larry Jansen (NYG) Sal Maglie (NYG)	23
L	Paul Minner (CHC) Ken Raffensberger (CIN) Willie Ramsdell (CIN)	17
ERA	Chet Nichols Jr. (BSB)	2.88
K	Don Newcombe (BKN) Warren Spahn (BSB)	164
IP	Robin Roberts (PHP)	315.0
SV	Ted Wilks (PIT/ SLC )	13
WHIP	Ken Raffensberger (CIN)	1.086

Awards and honors

Regular season

Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards
BBWAA Award	National League	American League
Rookie of the Year	Willie Mays (NYG)	Gil McDougald (NYY)
Most Valuable Player	Roy Campanella (BKN)	Yogi Berra (NYY)

Other awards

• Babe Ruth Award (World Series MVP): Phil Rizzuto (NYY)

The Sporting News Awards
Award	National League	American League
Player of the Year [7]	Stan Musial (STL)	—
Pitcher of the Year [8]	Preacher Roe (BKN)	Bob Feller (CLE)
Rookie of the Year [9]	Willie Mays (NYG)	Minnie Miñoso (CWS)
Manager of the Year [10]	Leo Durocher (NYG)	—
Executive of the Year [11]	—	George Weiss (NYY)

Baseball Hall of Fame

Main article: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

• Mel Ott
• Jimmie Foxx

Further information: 1951 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
New York Yankees [12]	98	0.0%	1,950,107	−6.3%	25,001
Cleveland Indians [13]	93	1.1%	1,704,984	−1.3%	22,143
Chicago White Sox [14]	81	35.0%	1,328,234	70.0%	17,029
Boston Red Sox [15]	87	−7.4%	1,312,282	−2.4%	17,497
Brooklyn Dodgers [16]	97	9.0%	1,282,628	8.2%	16,444
Detroit Tigers [17]	73	−23.2%	1,132,641	−42.0%	14,710
New York Giants [18]	98	14.0%	1,059,539	5.0%	13,584
St. Louis Cardinals [19]	81	3.8%	1,013,429	−7.3%	12,828
Pittsburgh Pirates [20]	64	12.3%	980,590	−15.9%	12,572
Philadelphia Phillies [21]	73	−19.8%	937,658	−23.0%	12,177
Chicago Cubs [22]	62	−3.1%	894,415	−23.3%	11,616
Washington Senators [23]	62	−7.5%	695,167	−0.6%	9,147
Cincinnati Reds [24]	68	3.0%	588,268	9.2%	7,640
Boston Braves [25]	76	−8.4%	487,475	−48.4%	6,250
Philadelphia Athletics [26]	70	34.6%	465,469	50.2%	5,892
St. Louis Browns [27]	52	−10.3%	293,790	18.9%	3,815

Events

• May 1 – Umpire Frank Dascoli banishes all 11 players on the Chicago Cubs bench during the fourth inning of the game against the New York Giants, after the Cubs players allegedly call Dascoli "Rabbit Ears". Bill Serena and Smoky Burgess are later allowed to return to the game to pinch hit for the Cubs. ^[28]
• May 15 – At Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox celebrated the franchise's 50th anniversary and honored members of the 1901 Boston Americans. Overall, 29 old-timers who played, managed, or umpired in the American League in that first year attended, including Bill Bradley, Tom Connolly, Wid Conroy, Hugh Duffy, Clark Griffith, Dummy Hoy, Connie Mack, Ollie Pickering, Billy Sullivan and Cy Young. ^{[29] [30]} Eight of them participated in the first-ever game of the American League, played in Chicago on April 24, 1901. The regular game that followed the ceremony featured the 300th career home run of Ted Williams ^[29] in the 4th inning off Chicago White Sox pitcher Howie Judson. With the game tied at 7–7 in the top of the 11th inning, Nellie Fox hit the first homer of his six-year career ^[29] against reliever Ray Scarborough, to give the White Sox and reliever Harry Dorish a 9–7 victory. ^[31]
• July 7 – The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Chicago Cubs 8–6 — every scoring half-inning featured two runs. ^[32]
• September 13 – The St. Louis Cardinals become the first team in Major League history to play two different teams on the same day. Due to a rained out game, the Cardinals are forced to play the New York Giants in an afternoon game prior to their scheduled night game against the Boston Braves. ^[33]
• September 14 – Bob Nieman of the St. Louis Browns becomes the first player to hit two home runs in his first two at-bats. ^[34]
• October 1–3 – The Giants and Dodgers meet in a special three-game playoff to decide the National League pennant. Bobby Thomson's walk-off homerun at the bottom of the ninth in the third game becomes known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World"

See also

• 1951 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season
• 1951 Nippon Professional Baseball season

References

1. "These players integrated each MLB team". MLB.com. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
2. "1951 Major League Managers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
3. "1951 American League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
4. "1951 American League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
5. "1951 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
6. "1951 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
7. "Major League Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
8. "Pitcher of the Year Award by The Sporting News | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
9. "Rookie of the Year Award by The Sporting News | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
10. "Manager of the Year Award by The Sporting News | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
11. "MLB Executive of the Year Award | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
12. "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
13. "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
14. "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
15. "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
16. "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
17. "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
18. "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
19. "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
20. "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
21. "Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
22. "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
23. "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
24. "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
25. "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
26. "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
27. "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020.
28. "Charlton's Baseball Chronology". www.baseballlibrary.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
29. May 15 in Baseball History ^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}. Know More About Baseball]. Retrieved on May 15, 2019.
30. Fenway Park Timeline. MLB.com. Retrieved on May 15, 2019.
31. Chicago White Sox at Boston Red Sox Box Score, May 15, 1951. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on May 15, 2019.
32. Firstman, Diane (May 16, 2016). "And all the Runs were Scored 2 by 2". valueoverreplacementgrit.com. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
33. "Strange and Unusual Plays". www.retrosheet.org. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
34. Mackin, Bob (2004). The Unofficial Guide to Baseball's Most Unusual Records. Canada: Greystone Books. p. 240. ISBN   9781553650386.

External links

• 1951 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference