Wikipedia

1985 in baseball

See also: 1985 Major League Baseball season and 1985 Nippon Professional Baseball season

The following are the baseball events of the year 1985 throughout the world.

Champions

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Major League Baseball

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League Championship Series
(ALCS, NLCS) 		World Series
      
East Toronto 3
West Kansas City 4
AL Kansas City 4
NL St. Louis 3
East St. Louis 4
West Los Angeles 2

Other champions

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Awards and honors

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MLB statistical leaders

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  American League National League
Type Name Stat Name Stat
AVG Wade Boggs BOS .368 Willie McGee STL .353
HR Darrell Evans DET 40 Dale Murphy ATL 37
RBI Don Mattingly NYY 145 Dave Parker CIN 125
Wins Ron Guidry NYY 22 Dwight Gooden1 NYM 24
ERA Dave Stieb TOR 2.48 Dwight Gooden1 NYM 1.53
Ks Bert Blyleven CLE/MIN 206 Dwight Gooden1 NYM 268

1Major League Triple Crown Pitching Winner

Major league baseball final standings

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Events

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January–April

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Draft

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Main article: 1985 Major League Baseball Draft

May–June

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  • May 13 – Against the Philadelphia Phillies at Riverfront Stadium, Tony Pérez of the Cincinnati Reds becomes the oldest player to hit a grand slam. The shot comes in the sixth inning off Dave Rucker with Dave Concepción, Ron Oester and Dave Van Gorder on base and breaks a 3–3 tie; the Reds win by that 7–3 score. Pérez, who will celebrate his 43rd birthday the next day, breaks Honus Wagner's 70-year record as the oldest player to hit a grand slam; Wagner had done so on July 29, 1915, at 41 years, 5 months. Perez' record will be broken 20 years later by 46-year old Julio Franco of the Atlanta Braves.
  • May 20 – 44-year old player-manager Pete Rose hits his first home run since 1982 in a 6–1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Ironically, Rose would later hit his final career home run, also against the Cubs, on in a 7–5 win on September 6.
  • June 6 – In a key game for the American League East, Toronto Blue Jays' pitcher Jimmy Key had a no-hitter broken up in the 9th inning by Detroit Tigers' Tom Brookens. But the Blue Jays regroup and in the 12th inning, Buck Martinez break up a scoreless tie with a game-winning home run to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 win over The Tigers.
  • June 11 – In a 26-7 romp over the New York Mets, Von Hayes of the Philadelphia Phillies becomes the first player in MLB history to hit two home runs in the first inning of a game. Hayes leads off the bottom of the first with a homer, then hits a grand slam later in the frame. They are the only two home runs hit in the high-scoring affair.
  • June 13 - Earl Weaver comes out of retirement to replace Joe Altobelli as the new manager of the Baltimore Orioles.
  • June 16 - The Earl Weaver Baltimore Orioles revival show rolls on as Wayne Gross hit 2 solo home runs, part of the five home runs the Orioles hit that day as they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-1.

July–August

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September

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  • September 3 – At Tiger Stadium, Reggie Jackson of the California Angels becomes the first player to hit 100 home runs for three different teams. He hits the milestone home run off Detroit Tiger Bob Stoddard in the ninth inning of the Angels' 14–8 loss; he had homered off Dan Petry earlier in the game, in the fourth inning. Jackson had hit 269 home runs with the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics and 144 with the New York Yankees.
  • September 8 – Pete Rose inserts himself into the Cincinnati Reds' lineup as a late addition, and picks up two singles, the second of which gives him 4,191 hits in his career, tying him with Ty Cobb for the career record. Being that the game is at Wrigley Field, the game is eventually called because of darkness after nine innings, resulting in a rare 5–5 tie.
  • September 11 – Eric Show of the San Diego Padres goes down in history for pitching Pete Rose's historic 4,192nd career hit; a line drive single to center field. It breaks the tie for the career record which Rose shares with Ty Cobb since September 8.
  • September 22 – At a hotel bar in Baltimore, the New York Yankees' pitcher Ed Whitson and manager Billy Martin get into a heated argument that spreads to other parts of the hotel. An ensuing fistfight results in Martin suffering a broken arm and bruised right side, while Whitson suffers a cracked rib and a split lip.
  • September 24 – At Wrigley Field, Andre Dawson of the Montreal Expos (a future Cub) joins Willie McCovey as the only players to hit two home runs in the same inning twice in their careers. The two home runs come in a 12-run fifth inning that gives the Expos a 15–2 lead against the Chicago Cubs. The Expos hold on to win 17-15 after nearly squandering the 13-run lead, as the Cubs score 13 runs in the last four innings, including five in the ninth; the final out is recorded with the tying run at bat.[1] Dawson also hit two home runs in the third inning of the Expos' 19-0 pounding of the Atlanta Braves at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium on July 30, 1978.[2]
  • September 29 - In front of a national television audience, the Minnesota Twins beat the eventual World Champion Kansas City Royals 6-3, but the game will be remembered as the final game Howard Cosell would ever be in the Broadcast booth, he would later leave ABC Sports as a television commentator.

October

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November-December

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Movies

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Births

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January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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June

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

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December

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Deaths

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January

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  • January 16 – Ken Chase, 71, pitcher for the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox and New York Giants between 1936 and 1943.
  • January 30 – Joe Bradshaw, 87, pitcher for the 1929 Brooklyn Robins.

February

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  • February 3 – Johnnie Bob Dixon, 85, pitched for six Negro leagues teams over five seasons in a period spanning 1926 and 1934.
  • February 4 – Bobby Young, 60, second baseman who hit .248 in an eight-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians from 1948 to 1958.
  • February 10 – Johnny Mokan, 89, outfielder who hit .291 in 582 games for the Pirates and Phillies between 1921 and 1927.
  • February 12 – Van Lingle Mungo, 73, All-Star pitcher whose antics delighted Brooklyn Dodgers fans; led NL in strikeouts, shutouts and innings once each.
  • February 17 – George Washington, 77, outfielder who hit .268 with two home runs for the Chicago White Sox from 1935–36.
  • February 20 – Syl Johnson, 84, pitcher who posted a 112–117 record with four different teams over 19 seasons (1922–1940), and a member of the 1931 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.
  • February 26 – George Uhle, 86, pitcher for the Indians and Tigers who won 200 games and is credited with having developed the slider pitch in the 1920s; also batted .289, one of the highest averages for a pitcher.

March

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  • March 1 – George Banks, 46, third baseman/outfielder who hit .219 in 106 games for the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians from 1962 to 1966.
  • March 2 – Leslie Green, 71, All-Star outfielder whose career in the Negro and Mexican leagues stretched from 1939 to 1946.
  • March 8 – Al Todd, 83, catcher for the Phillies, Pirates, Dodgers and Cubs between 1932 and 1943; later a minor league manager.
  • March 10 – Bill Cooper, 70, left-handed-hitting catcher for four Negro leagues teams between 1938 and 1946.
  • March 10 – Bob Nieman, 58, left fielder who appeared in 1,113 games for six teams between 1951 and 1962 and batted .300 twice for the Baltimore Orioles; first player to hit home runs in his first two major league at-bats; later a scout.
  • March 17 – Ike Pearson, 68, pitcher who posted a 13–50 record hurling for two struggling teams, the Philadelphia Phillies (1939–1942 and 1946) and Chicago White Sox (1948).
  • March 22 – Arthur Allyn Jr., 71, co-owner and club president of the Chicago White Sox from 1961 to 1969.
  • March 25 – Curt Barclay, 53, pitcher who posted a 10–9 record with a 3.48 for the Giants from 1957 to 1959.
  • March 25 – Joe Wood, 65, infielder who played briefly for the 1943 Detroit Tigers.
  • March – Roland Calhoun, 72, who pitched for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Washington Black Senators of the Negro National League in 1932.

April

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  • April 5 – Hal Totten, 83, Chicago-based sportscaster who did play-by-play for the Cubs and White Sox from 1924 to 1945 and the Mutual Network Game of the Day from 1946 to 1950; also a minor league executive.
  • April 8 – Joe Sullivan, 74, knuckleballing southpaw pitcher for three teams from to 1935 to 1941, and a member of the 1935 World Champion Detroit Tigers.
  • April 16 – Benny Zientara, 67, second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1940s.
  • April 23 – Bob Wilson, 60, right fielder for the 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers.
  • April 23 – Whitey Wistert, 73, pitcher for the 1934 Cincinnati Reds, and a World War II veteran.

May

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  • May 1 – Frank Glieber, 51, Dallas sportscaster and longtime CBS-TV NFL announcer who was the television voice of MLB's Texas Rangers from 1978 to 1980.
  • May 4 – Bill Kunkel, 48, AL umpire since 1968 who worked two World Series and four ALCS; previously a relief pitcher who appeared in 89 games for the Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees (1961–1963); father of shortstop Jeff Kunkel.
  • May 5 – Joe Glenn, 76, catcher for the New York Yankees, St. Louis Browns and Boston Red Sox, who caught Babe Ruth during his last pitching appearance in 1933, and also caught Ted Williams in a rare relief appearance in 1940.
  • May 5 – Charles Shipman Payson, 86, who succeeded his late wife, Joan Whitney Payson, as principal owner of the New York Mets in 1975 until selling the team in 1980 to Nelson Doubleday Jr. and Fred Wilpon.
  • May 6 – Kirby Higbe, 70, All-Star pitcher for five NL teams who won 22 games for the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers.
  • May 6 – Red Peery, 78, pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Braves between 1927 and 1929.
  • May 10 – Walter Burch, 77, manager who led the Cleveland–Cincinnati Buckeyes of the Negro American League to a 13–9 record during part of the 1942 season.
  • May 11 – Johnny Bero, 62, shortstop who played in 65 major-league games for the 1948 Detroit Tigers and 1951 St. Louis Browns.
  • May 11 – Ramón Bragaña, 76, pitcher, catcher and corner outfielder for the 1928 Cuban Stars East of the Eastern Colored League who had a lengthy career in Black and winter baseball; member of the Cuban and Mexican baseball halls of fame.
  • May 11 – Bud Teachout, 81, pitcher and outfielder for the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals from 1930 to 1932.
  • May 14 – Earl Bumpus, 71, outfielder, first baseman and southpaw hurler for the Kansas City Monarchs, Birmingham Black Barons and Chicago American Giants of the Negro American League between 1944 and 1948.
  • May 14 – Harry Byrd, 60, All-Star pitcher and American League Rookie of the Year in 1952, who posted a 46–54 career record with a 4.35 ERA for five American League teams.
  • May 14 – Bill Morley, 95, second baseman for the 1913 Washington Senators.
  • May 16 – Johnny Broaca, 73, Yale-educated pitcher who posted a 44–29 record with a 4.08 ERA in 121 games for the Yankees and Indians from 1934 to 1939.
  • May 21 – Archie McKain, 74, left-handed reliever who posted a 26–21 record with a 4.26 ERA and 16 saves for the Red Sox, Tigers and Browns from 1937–43.
  • May 21 – Grover Powell, 44, left-handed pitcher for the 1963 New York Mets, who hurled a four-hit shutout in his first start but was struck in the face by a Donn Clendenon line drive in his next start and never won another game.
  • May 23 – Whitey Wilshere, 72, pitcher who posted a 10–12 record with a 5.28 ERA for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1934 through 1936.
  • May 29 – Billy Zitzmann, 89, outfielder who hit a .267 career average with Cincinnati and Pittsburgh between 1919 and 1929.
  • May 31 – Jake Early, 70, catcher who hit .241 with 32 home runs and 264 RBI in 747 games for the Washington Senators and St. Louis Browns from 1939 to 1949.
  • May – Pete McQueen, 76, outfielder who played for three Negro leagues clubs over three seasons (1932, 1936, 1937).

June

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  • June 2 – Dorothy Mueller, 59, All-Star pitcher and a member of three champion teams of the AAGPBL from 1947 to 1953.
  • June 10 – Bob Prince, 68, nicknamed "The Gunner", legendary radio and television voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1948 to 1975; elected to broadcasters' wing of Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986; also did play-by-play for ABC Monday Night Baseball and the Houston Astros.
  • June 23 – Alf Anderson, 71, shortstop who played 126 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1940–1941 and 1946).
  • June 26 – Wes Schulmerich, 83, outfielder who hit .289 in 429 games with the Boston Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds from 1931 to 1934.
  • June 29 – Orville Singer, 86, outfielder for five Negro leagues teams, primarily the New York Lincoln Giants, between 1923 and 1932.

July

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  • July 2 – Guy Bush, 83, pitcher who won 176 games, most with the Chicago Cubs, but was best remembered for having given up Babe Ruth's last home run.
  • July 4 – Frank Walsh, 79, National League umpire who worked in 344 games between September 1961 and September 1963; umpired in over 4,000 games in organized baseball.
  • July 14 – Larry Drake, 64, outfielder who played from 1945 through 1948 for the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics.
  • July 24 – Ted Kleinhans, 86, left handed reliever who posted a 4–9 record with a 5.08 ERA and one save for the Reds, Yankees and Phillies from 1934 to 1938.
  • July 27 – Smoky Joe Wood, 95, pitcher for the Red Sox who posted a 34–5 record with a 1.91 ERA in 1912, and went on to win three games in the World Series against the New York Giants; after wearing out his arm by age 26 with a record of 117–57, returned as an outfielder with the Indians and batted .366 while platooning in 1921; later coached at Yale for 20 years.
  • July 27 – Carl Yowell, 82, pitcher for the Cleveland Indians in the 1920s.

August

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  • August 3 – Cloy Mattox, 82, backup catcher who hit a .167 average for the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics.
  • August 7 – Johnny Rucker, 68, center fielder who hit .272 in 705 games for the New York Giants from 1940 to 1946, leading his team in at-bats (622), hits (179), doubles (38), triples (9) and runs (95) during the 1941 season.
  • August 15 – Sam Streeter, 84, Negro league baseball player.
  • August 16 – Dick Drott, 49, pitcher for the Cubs and Colt .45s from 1957 to 1963, who posted a 15–11 record with a 3.58 in his season debut, ending third in the Rookie of the Year vote behind pitcher Jack Sanford (19–8, 3.08) and first baseman Ed Bouchee (.293, 17 HR, 76 RBI).
  • August 20 – Clarence Fieber, 71, left handed reliever for the 1932 Chicago White Sox.
  • August 21 – Roy Luebbe, 84, backup catcher for the 1925 New York Yankees.
  • August 24 – Boots McClain, 86, infielder who played for seven Negro National League teams over six seasons between 1920 and 1926.
  • August 25 – Dick Wakefield, 64, All-Star left fielder who played for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees and New York Giants between 1941 and 1952.
  • August 26 – Stu Clarke, 79, backup infielder who hit .273 in 61 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1929 to 1930.
  • August 27 – Rogelio Crespo, 90, Havana-born infielder who played for the Cuban Stars East of the Eastern Colored League in 1926 and 1927.
  • August 27 – Johnny Lindell, 68, 1943 All-Star outfielder who hit .273 in a 12-year career; also posted an 8–18 record with a 4.47 ERA as a pitcher; won three World Series rings with the Yankees in 1943, 1947 and 1949.
  • August 31 – Lefty Smoll, 71, pitcher for the 1940 Philadelphia Phillies.

September

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  • September 4 – Art Bramhall, 74, backup infielder for the 1935 Philadelphia Phillies.
  • September 5 – Blaine Walsh, 60, sportscaster; member of the Braves' radio or TV broadcast team from 1953 to 1965, the franchise's 13-year tenure in Milwaukee.
  • September 12 – Steamboat Struss, 76, pitcher for the 1934 Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • September 21 – George Jefferson, 63, pitcher for the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro American League (1944–1945, 1947–1948).
  • September – Lloyd Davenport, 73, outfielder and five-time Negro leagues All-Star who played in black and independent baseball between 1935 and 1951, and briefly appeared in "organized" minor league baseball in 1953 at age 42.

October

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  • October 7 – Philly Holmes, 72, shortstop whose career in black baseball spanned 1937 to 1945, including three years in the Negro American League; brother of Lefty Holmes.
  • October 8 – Subby Byas, 75, catcher, first baseman and outfielder for three Negro leagues clubs, chiefly the Chicago American Giants, between 1932 and 1942.
  • October 9 – Rusty Yarnall, 82, pitcher for the 1926 Philadelphia Athletics.
  • October 14 – Ossie Bluege, 84, All-Star third baseman who spent his entire 50-year baseball career with the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins; played for 18 seasons (1922–1939), then served as a coach (1940–1942), manager (1943–1947), farm system director (1948–1957) and comptroller (1958–1971).
  • October 17 – Bud Sheely, 64, backup catcher who hit .210 in 101 games for the Chicago White Sox from 1951 to 1953; son of Earl Sheely.
  • October 20 – Hal Goldsmith, 87, pitcher who posted a 6–10 record with a 4.04 ERA for the Boston Braves and St. Louis Cardinals from 1926 to 1929.
  • October 26 – Bob Scheffing, 72, catcher, coach, manager and executive; hit .263 with 20 home runs and 187 RBI in 517 games for the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals between 1941 and 1951; managed Cubs from 1957 through 1959 and Detroit Tigers from 1961 until June 16, 1963; succeeded Johnny Murphy as general manager of the New York Mets upon Murphy's sudden death in January 1970, and served as GM through the 1974 season.
  • October – Barney Brown, 77 or 78, southpaw whose career in black baseball spanned 1931 through 1948, notably with New York Black Yankees and Philadelphia Stars; led 1942 Negro National League in complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, and games lost.

November

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  • November 11 – Roy Lee, 68, left handed pitcher for the 1945 New York Giants.
  • November 11 – Frank Mulroney, 82, pitcher who had a two-game "cup of coffee" for the 1930 Boston Red Sox.
  • November 12 – Augie Walsh, 81, pitcher who went 4–10 with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1927 to 1928.
  • November 14 – Oscar Harstad, 93, pitcher who posted a 3–5 record with a 3.40 ERA in 32 games for the 1915 Cleveland Indians.
  • November 14 – Luke Nelson, 91, relief pitcher who posted a 3–0 mark with a 2.96 ERA in nine appearances with the 1919 New York Yankees.
  • November 15 – Riggs Stephenson, 87, left fielder who batted .336 lifetime with 1,515 hits, while usually platooning for the Cleveland Indians (1921–1925) and Chicago Cubs (1926–1934).
  • November 23 – Sam West, 81, center fielder for the Washington Senators (1927–1932, 1938–1941) and St. Louis Browns (1933–1938) who batted .300 eight times; four-time AL All-Star.
  • November 25 – Ray Jablonski, 58, All-Star third baseman, mainly with the Cardinals, Reds and Giants, who had 100 RBI in his first two seasons.
  • November 26 – Monk Sherlock, 81, first baseman who hit .324 in 92 games for the 1930 Philadelphia Phillies.
  • November 30 – Jim Grant, 91, pitcher for the 1923 Philadelphia Phillies.

December

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  • December 6 – Burleigh Grimes, 92, "Old Stubblebeard", Hall of Fame pitcher who won 270 games between 1916 and 1934, 158 of them for Brooklyn, with five 20-win seasons using the spitball, of which he was the last legal practitioner; later managed 1937–1938 Dodgers and for 14 seasons in minors, and was a longtime scout.
  • December 8 – Dave Madison, 64, relief pitcher who played from 1950 through 1953 for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees.
  • December 8 – Bill Wambsganss, 91, second baseman for the Cleveland Indians (1914–1923) and member of their 1920 World Series champions, who made the only unassisted triple play in World Series history; also played for the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics (1924–1926); later became a manager in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
  • December 14 – Roger Maris, 51, seven-time All-Star right fielder whose 61 home runs in 1961 broke Babe Ruth's long-standing record, earning him his second consecutive American League MVP award and setting an MLB standard that would last for 37 years; the Yankees, for whom Maris starred from 1960 to 1966, retired his #9 uniform in 1984; three-time World Series champion — 1961 and 1962 with Yanks and 1967 with St. Louis Cardinals — and 1960 Gold Glove winner; also played for Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Athletics during his 12-season (1957–1968) career.
  • December 17 – Elmer Bowman, 88, pinch-hitter for the 1920 Washington Senators.
  • December 17 – Ken O'Dea, 72, All-Star catcher who hit a .255 average with 40 home runs and 323 RBI in a 12-year career with three teams, and was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals teams that won the World Series in 1942 and 1944.
  • December 21 – Joe Genewich, 88, pitcher who went 73–92 with the Boston Braves and New York Giants from 1922 to 1930, who led Major League pitchers with 17 putouts in the 1917 season.
  • December 26 – Les Bell, 84, third baseman who hit .290 with 66 home runs and 509 RBI in a nine-season career with three teams, and a member of the 1926 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.
  • December 26 – Jim Bilbrey, 61, pitcher for the 1949 St. Louis Browns.

References

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  1. ^ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Montreal Expos 17, Chicago Cubs 15". www.retrosheet.org.
  2. ^ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Montreal Expos 19, Atlanta Braves 0". www.retrosheet.org.
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