Post War Baseball League (PWBL) - 1957
Actual 1957 Events
| January 4 | The Dodgers buy a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000, which they will use to transport the club during the season. They are the first team to own their own plane. |
| January 5 | Jackie Robinson retires rather than move across town from the Dodgers to the Giants, to whom he had been traded in December. |
| January 10 | Commissioner Ford Frick rules that singer Bing Crosby can keep his small stock holding in the Detroit Tigers, even though he owns part of the Pittsburgh Pirates. |
| January 15 | The Brooklyn Dodgers extend their five-year lease on Ebbets Field by signing a new three-year lease with real estate developer Marvin Kratter, who bought the field in 1953. A year later, the Dodgers will call Los Angeles their new home. |
| February 14 | The Georgia Senate unanimously approves Senator Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites. Religious gatherings are the only exceptions to this bill. |
| February 21 | Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley trades minor league franchises with Phil Wrigley of the Cubs. Brooklyn gives up its Ft. Worth club (Texas League) in return for the Los Angeles Angels (Pacific Coast League). In a year's time, Brooklyn will be without a team and Los Angeles will be a major league city. |
| February 22 | Walter O'Malley says the Dodgers may play 10 exhibition games in California in 1958. |
| February 25 | The U.S. Supreme Court decides 6-3 that baseball is the only professional sport exempt from antitrust laws. The issue arises when pro football seeks similar protection from the laws. |
| March 19 | In what is believed to be the largest offer for a player to date, the Indians reject Boston's bid of $1 million for Herb Score. Cleveland General Manager Hank Greenberg says that the team is interested in building for the future, not in selling its best ballplayers. Six weeks later Score is struck in the eye by Gil McDougald's liner. |
| April 22 | John Kennedy becomes the first black to play for the Philadelphia Phillies, making them the last N.L. team to integrate. Kennedy pinch runs for Solly Hemus in the 5-1 loss to Brooklyn. He will play only briefly in five games and goes hitless. |
| April 24 | Cubs pitchers walk nine Reds in the fifth inning, an N.L. mark, as Cincinnati wins 9-5. Moe Drabowsky starts with four walks, Jackie Collum adds three, and Jim Brosnan passes two. |
| May 7 | Cleveland pitcher Herb Score was hit on the right eye by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald in the first inning. The ball broke Score's nose and damaged his eye; he missed the rest of the season. |
| May 16 | The Yankees celebrate Billy Martin's 29th birthday in a raucous fashion. An ensuing fight at Manhattan's Copacabana Club leads to $5,500 in fines and the eventual trade of Billy to Kansas City. Hank Bauer allegedly starts the fight by hitting a patron, although Bauer denies it. |
| May 18 | |
| May 28 | The N.L. approves the proposed moves of the Dodgers and the Giants to the West Coast, provided both clubs make their request before October 1 and move at the same time. |
| June 12 | Stan Musial plays in his 823rd game for a new N.L. consecutive-game streak. This beats Gus Suhr's old record. Cardinals hurler Larry Jackson beats the Phils 4-0 to improve his record to 8-2. He has now beaten every N.L. team this season. |
| July 8 | The owners decide to re-elect Commissioner Ford Frick to another seven-year term when his present contract is up in 1958. |
| July 9 | At Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, the A.L. nips the N.L. 6-5 in the 24th All-Star Game. Both teams score three in the ninth inning, but Minnie Minoso's running catch with the bases loaded chokes off the N.L.'s last rally. |
| August 1 | Gil Hodges hits his 13th career grand slam to establish a new National League record. This is the last grand slam in the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers. |
| August 5 | The Brooklyn Sports Authority gets an engineering report on a 50,000-seat stadium in the downtown area. It will cost an estimated $20.7 million, including the land site. Indications are that there will be trouble finding a market for the bond issue. |
| August 10 | Mickey Mantle became the first player to clear the center-field hedge at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium when his 460-foot homer hit the base of the scoreboard. The Yankees beat the Orioles, 6-3. |
| August 17 | Richie Ashburn, known for his ability to foul pitches off, hits spectator Alice Roth twice in the same at bat. The first one breaks her nose, and the second one hits her while she is being removed from her seat on a stretcher. Ironically, she is the wife of Earl Roth, the sports editor of the Philadelphia Bulletin. The Phils win 3-1 over New York. |
| August 19 | New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham announced that the team's board of directors had voted 9-1 in favor of moving to San Francisco. |
| September 3 | The Dodgers play their last game in Jersey City, as Don Drysdale loses to Philadelphia 3-2 in 12 innings. Brooklyn ends with an 11-4 mark in New Jersey. |
| September 3 | Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves recorded his 41st career shutout with an 8-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Spahn's shutout set a Major League record for left-handed pitchers. |
| September 16 | The Los Angeles City Council approves a 300-acre site in Chavez Ravine for a Dodger stadium if the club will finance a public recreation area. |
| September 21 | Gail Harris is the last player to hit a home run as a New York Giant in a 9-5 win over the Pirates in the second game of a doubleheader. Ruben Gomez gains the last victory for the New York Giants. |
| September 22 | Duke Snider's 39th and 40th home runs are the last that will be hit at Ebbets Field. The Duke of Flatbush ties Ralph Kiner's National League mark of hitting at least 40 home runs in five consecutive seasons. Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts, who has a penchant for throwing home run balls, is the loser, 7-3. |
| September 23 | Hank Aaron's eleventh-inning homer gave the Milwaukee Braves a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and the National League pennant. It was the first time since 1950 that a New York team hadn't finished first. |
| September 24 | In the last game at Ebbets Field, 6,702 fans watch Dodgers lefty Danny McDevitt prevail over the Pirates 2-0. Gil Hodges has the last RBI. |
| September 29 | With 1895 manager Jack Doyle among the 11,606 looking on, the Giants lose their last game at the Polo Grounds 9-1. Bucs rookie John Powers hits a home run in the top of the ninth, the last homer and RBI at the Polo Grounds. This game is played on the 77th anniversary of the first Polo Grounds baseball game. |
| October 3 | In Game Three of the World Series, Lew Burdette wins the first of his three decisions against the Yankees. Burdette and the Braves beat Bobby Shantz 4-2. |
| October 6 | With the score tied at 5-5, Eddie Mathews of the Braves evens the World Series with a two-run home run in the bottom of the tenth to end Game Four. In the Series' first famous "shoeblack incident," pinch-hitter Nippy Jones convinces umpire Augie Donatelli that Tommy Byrne's pitch hit him on the foot. |
| October 9 | With Warren Spahn stricken by the flu, Lew Burdette, pitching with two days rest, hurls his third complete game and second shutout to beat New York 5-0 to win the World Series. |
| October 10 | Lew Burdette's third victory of the World Series, a 5-0 decision over the New York Yankees, gave the Milwaukee Braves the championship. |
| November 7 | The AP poll names Phillies pitcher Jack Sanford its National League Rookie of the Year with 16 votes. He beats out his teammate, first baseman Ed Bouchee. |
| November 14 | The AP names Henry Aaron as the 1957 National League Most Valuable Player with 239 votes. Stan Musial is a close second with 230, and Red Schoendienst is third with 221. |
| November 22 | Mickey Mantle edges Ted Williams, 233 to 209, to win the American League Most Valuable Player. Williams, at 39 years of age, led the league in hitting with a .388 average, hit 38 home runs, and compiled a slugging average of .731. Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey fumes at the news, noting that two Chicago writers listed Williams in the ninth and tenth places on their ballots. |
| November 28 | Warren Spahn of the Braves wins the Cy Young Award as the major league's top pitcher almost unanimously. The only competition for the 21-game winner is White Sox hurler Dick Donovan, who receives one vote. |
| November 29 | Mayor Robert Wagner forms a four-member committee to find a replacement for the Dodgers and Giants in New York City. |
| December 7 | The Associated Press votes Tony Kubek of the Yanks as the Rookie of the Year. Frank Malzone of the Red Sox, the only other candidate, receives one vote. |
| December 28 | CBS states that it will not broadcast baseball into any area at the time a minor league game is scheduled. |
Regular Season Statistics | Transactions | 1957 MLB History
|
|
Statistics
Transactions
All PWBL Trades | All Free Agent Transactions
Recent Birthdays:
 | Wes Covington Born: 1932 Mar 27 Died: 2011 Jul 04 Age: 79 Debut: 1956 Apr 19 Last G: 1966 Oct 02 |
 | Walt Craddock Born: 1932 Mar 25 Died: 1980 Jul 06 Age: 48 Debut: 1955 Sep 03 Last G: 1958 Sep 28 |
 | Marv Grissom Born: 1918 Mar 31 Died: 2005 Sep 19 Age: 87 Debut: 1946 Sep 10 Last G: 1959 Jun 11 |
 | Woodie Held Born: 1932 Mar 25 Died: 2009 Jun 11 Age: 77 Debut: 1954 Sep 05 Last G: 1969 Sep 28 |
 | Don Lassetter Born: 1933 Mar 27 Died: unknown Age: unknown Debut: 1957 Sep 21 Last G: 1957 Sep 29 |
 | Rudy Minarcin Born: 1930 Mar 25 Died: 2013 Oct 15 Age: 83 Debut: 1955 Apr 11 Last G: 1957 Sep 27 |
 | Garland Shifflett Born: 1935 Mar 28 Died: 2020 May 13 Age: 85 Debut: 1957 Apr 22 Last G: 1964 Jun 26 |