Champions Major League Baseball World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates over New York Yankees (4–3); Bobby Richardson, MVP All-Star Game (#1), July 11 at Municipal Stadium: National League, 5–3 All-Star Game (#2), July 13 at Yankee Stadium: National League, 6–0
Other champions College World Series: Minnesota Japan Series: Taiyō Whales over Daimai Orions (4–0) Little League World Series: American, Levittown, Pennsylvania Winter Leagues 1960 Caribbean Series: Elefantes de Cienfuegos Cuban League: Elefantes de Cienfuegos Dominican Republic League: Leones del Escogido Mexican Pacific League: Ostioneros de Guaymas Panamanian League: Marlboro BBC Puerto Rican League: Criollos de Caguas Venezuelan Western League: Rapiños de Occidente
Awards and honors Baseball Writers' Association of America AwardsBBWAA Award National League American LeagueRookie of the Year Frank Howard (LAD) Ron Hansen (BAL)Cy Young Award Vern Law (PIT) —Most Valuable Player Dick Groat (PIT) Roger Maris (NYY)Gold Glove AwardsPosition National League American LeaguePitcher Harvey Haddix (PIT) Bobby Shantz (NYY)Catcher Del Crandall (MIL) Earl Battey (WSH)1st Base Bill White (STL) Vic Power (CLE)2nd Base Bill Mazeroski (PIT) Nellie Fox (CWS)3rd Base Ken Boyer (STL) Brooks Robinson (BAL)Shortstop Ernie Banks (CHC) Luis Aparicio (CWS)Left field Wally Moon (LAD) Minnie Miñoso (CWS)Center field Willie Mays (SF) Jim Landis (CWS)Right field Hank Aaron (MIL) Roger Maris (NYY)
Statistical leaders American LeagueNational League Stat Player Total Player Total AVG Pete Runnels (BOS) .320 Dick Groat (PIT) .325 HR Mickey Mantle (NYY) 40 Ernie Banks (CHC) 41 RBI Roger Maris (NYY) 112 Hank Aaron (MIL) 126 W Chuck Estrada (BAL)Jim Perry (CLE) 18 Ernie Broglio (STL)Warren Spahn (MIL) 21 ERA Frank Baumann (CWS) 2.67 Mike McCormick (SF) 2.70 K Jim Bunning (DET) 201 Don Drysdale (LAD) 246
Major league baseball final standings American League final standings
National League final standings
Nippon Professional Baseball final standings Central League final standings Central League G W L T Pct. GBTaiyo Whales 130 70 56 4 .554 —Yomiuri Giants 130 66 61 3 .519 4.5Osaka Tigers 130 64 62 4 .508 6.0Hiroshima Carp 130 62 61 7 .504 6.5Chunichi Dragons 130 63 67 0 .485 9.0Kokutetsu Swallows 130 54 72 4 .431 16.0
Pacific League final standings Pacific League G W L T Pct. GBDaimai Orions 133 82 48 3 .631 —Nankai Hawks 136 78 52 6 .600 4.0Nishitetsu Lions 136 70 60 6 .538 12.0Hankyu Braves 136 65 65 6 .500 17.0Toei Flyers 132 52 78 2 .400 30.0Kintetsu Buffaloes 131 43 87 1 .331 39.0
Events January
January 5 – The Continental League—the proposed third major league in North American professional baseball—gets an assurance of Congressional support from U.S. Senator Kenneth Keating, a New York Republican, who offers to serve as "an informal mediator, day or night" on behalf of the start-up circuit. January 11 – Centerfielder Richie Ashburn, the "heart and soul" of the Philadelphia Phillies for a dozen seasons, is traded to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher John Buzhardt, shortstop Alvin Dark and third baseman Jim Woods. Three years later, he will return as a member of the Phillies' broadcasting team and remain until his death in . January 26 – Reigning American League runs batted in champion and MVP Jackie Jensen, 32, announces his retirement from the Boston Red Sox because of airplane flight phobia. Jensen is a three-time All-Star as well as a three-time RBI champ (1955 and 1958, in addition to 1959), and the incumbent Gold Glove Award-winning rightfielder for the Junior Circuit. He will sit out the 1960 season, return to the Red Sox with diminished skills in 1961, then retire for good. January 29 – The Continental League grants its eighth and final franchise to Buffalo. For the Western New York metropolis, the proposed 1961 debut of the CL would restore Major League Baseball to the city for the first time since , when the Buffalo Blues and the upstart Federal League disbanded.
February February 4 – For the second straight election, the BBWAA voters fail to elect a new member to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Edd Roush gets 146 votes, but 202 are necessary for election. Sam Rice (143) and Eppa Rixey (142) are next in line. February 15 – In the 1960 Caribbean Series, the Elefantes de Cienfuegos complete a 6–0 sweep and give Cuba's representative the championship for the fifth straight year. Camilo Pascual, who went 2–0 with 15 strikeouts including a one-hit shutout in the clincher, is named Most Valuable Player. It's Cuba's seventh title in the Series' 12-year history. This year's competition will be the last Caribbean Series until 1970, after Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick bans major-leaguers from playing in Cuba, and Fidel Castro abolishes the Cuban Winter League and all professional sports on the island. February 18 – Walter O'Malley, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, finalizes the purchase of the Chavez Ravine area in Los Angeles by paying $494,000 for property valued at $92,000. February 20 – Branch Rickey meets with officials of the proposed Class D Western Carolinas League about pooling talent for Continental League clubs.
February 23 – Demolition of Ebbets Field begins. Lucy Monroe sings the National Anthem, and Roy Campanella is given an urn of dirt from behind home plate. February 24 – Major League Baseball and NBC announce an extension of their contract allowing the network to telecast the All-Star Game and World Series through the campaign. NBC will pay $4 million for the broadcast rights, with Gillette remaining the primary sponsor. February 27 – The New York Yankees and superstar Mickey Mantle are locked in a contract impasse as the reporting date for spring training approaches. The Bombers, who finished third in the American League in 1959, want to cut Mantle's 1959 salary by 17.3% to $62,000. Outfielder Roger Maris, acquired in December from the Kansas City Athletics, is also unsigned.
March March 1 – At the Boston Red Sox' training camp in Arizona, 41-year-old Ted Williams tells reporters "there's considerable doubt" that he will play again. The hitting legend is still suffering from chronic neck pain; he had been treated for a pinched nerve during 1959, when an injury-plagued Williams batted a career-low .254 in 103 games. March 12 – The Cincinnati Reds sign Cuban prospect Tony Pérez, 17, as an amateur free agent. Pérez will go on to be a seven time All-star, a leader of the Big Red Machine of the 1970s, and (in ) a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. March 13 – The Chicago White Sox unveil new road uniforms with the players' names above the number on the back, another innovation by Sox owner Bill Veeck. March 15 – Victims of the ongoing attendance crisis plaguing minor league baseball, the New Orleans Pelicans, members of the Double-A Southern Association since 1901, disband after drawing only 71,577 fans during . The Pelican franchise—which won nine SA championships over 59 seasons, but none since —will move to Little Rock after businessmen there raise an initial $25,000 to re-enter the league in time for the season to come. March 16 – In the midst of spring training, the Cleveland Indians trade catcher Russ Nixon to the Boston Red Sox for former All-Star catcher Sammy White and first baseman Jim Marshall. On March 25, White—who has opened a bowling alley in Boston—announces his retirement at age 32, cancelling the trade. March 24 – Commissioner Ford Frick says he will not allow the Continental League to pool players in the Western Carolinas League because it would violate existing major-minor league agreements. March 26 – A Baltimore Orioles–Cincinnati Reds series scheduled for Havana, is moved to Miami by Baltimore club president Lee MacPhail. The Reds, with a farm club in Cuba, want the trip, but the Orioles fear increased political unrest in the area. Thirty-nine years later, in March 1999, the Orioles will attempt to thaw the 39-year-old estrangement between Cuba and MLB by playing an exhibition game in Havana against the Cuban national team. March 31 – By a vote of 8–1, the Professional Baseball Rules Committee turns down a Pacific Coast League proposal to use a designated hitter for the pitcher.
April April 1 – The Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees agree to a four-player trade that features three "players to be named later." In it, the Reds deal catcher Jesse Gonder and pitchers Luis Arroyo (PTBNL, added to the deal July 20) and Ted Wieand (PTBNL) to New York for pitcher Zach Monroe (PTBNL) and cash. The trade is significant because southpaw Arroyo, 33, will develop into the Yankees' bullpen ace in , going 15–5 (2.19) with a league-leading 29 saves in 65 games pitched during the regular season, and capture a victory in Game 3 of the 1961 World Series (against the Reds), a Fall Classic that Arroyo's Yankees will win in five games. April 3–4 – The Washington Senators make two trades on back-to-back days. On April 3, they deal lefthanded-hitting catcher Clint Courtney and infielder Ron Samford to the Baltimore Orioles for second baseman Billy Gardner. Then, on the fourth, they send four-time AL All-Star first baseman Roy Sievers to the Chicago White Sox for catcher Earl Battey, first baseman Don Mincher and $150,000. April 5 – The San Francisco Giants purchase first baseman Dale Long from the Chicago Cubs. April 6 – The Continental League franchise that will eventually become the National League's New York Mets names stockbroker M. Donald Grant club president, and minority owners George Herbert Walker Jr. and Dwight Davis Jr. vice presidents and members of its board of directors. Grant, 55, represents the interests of majority stockholder Joan Whitney Payson; Walker, 54, is the uncle of future U.S. President George H. W. Bush. A longtime minor-league executive, Charles Hurth, is appointed the as-yet-unnamed club's first general manager. April 8 – The Los Angeles Dodgers deal veteran infielder Don Zimmer to the Chicago Cubs for left-hander Ron Perranoski, infielder Johnny Goryl and minor-league outfielder Lee Handley. Perranoski, then hurling in Triple-A, will debut with the Dodgers in and become a leading member of their bullpen through .
April 12: In the National League's traditional Opening Day contest, the homestanding Cincinnati Reds defeat the rebuilding Philadelphia Phillies, 9–4. Following the game, veteran Phillies manager Eddie Sawyer resigns, saying, "I'm 49 years old, and I want to live to be fifty." After coach Andy Cohen handles the Phils for one game on April 14, Gene Mauch, skipper of the Boston Red Sox' top farm club in Minneapolis, gets the Phillies' permanent job on April 16. At 34, Mauch becomes the youngest manager in the majors. With 42,269 fans in attendance, the San Francisco Giants edge the St. Louis Cardinals, 3–1, in the first game at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. Sam Jones pitches a three-hitter, and Cardinals outfielder Leon Wagner hits the first home run in the $15 million stadium. Chuck Essegian belts an 11th-inning pinch-hit home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 3–2, before a record Opening Day crowd (67,550) at Los Angeles. The home run is Essegian's third straight as a pinch hitter, including two in the 1959 World Series. Don Drysdale pitches all the way, striking out 14, for the win over Don Elston. In a deal that will haunt the Cleveland Indians, general manager Frank Lane sends Norm Cash to the Detroit Tigers for third baseman Steve Demeter. Cash will be Detroit's regular first baseman for the next 14 years and will hit 373 home runs for them. Demeter will play four games for Cleveland. April 17: