Champions Major League Baseball World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers over Chicago White Sox (4–2); Larry Sherry, MVP All-Star Game (#1), July 7 at Forbes Field: National League, 5–4 All-Star Game (#2), August 3 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: American League, 5–3
Other champions College World Series: Oklahoma State Japan Series: Nankai Hawks over Yomiuri Giants (4–0) Little League World Series: Hamtramck National, Hamtramck, Michigan Pan American Games: Venezuela over Puerto Rico Winter Leagues 1959 Caribbean Series: Alacranes de Almendares Cuban League: Alacranes de Almendares Dominican Republic League: Tigres del Licey Mexican Pacific League: Ostioneros de Guaymas Panamanian League: Coclé BBC Puerto Rican League: Cangrejeros de Santurce Venezuelan League: Indios de Oriente
Awards and honors Baseball Hall of Fame Zack Wheat Baseball Writers' Association of America AwardsBBWAA Award National League American LeagueRookie of the Year Willie McCovey (SF) Bob Allison (WSH)Cy Young Award — Early Wynn (CWS)Most Valuable Player Ernie Banks (CHC) Nellie Fox (CWS)Gold Glove AwardsPosition National League American LeaguePitcher Harvey Haddix (PIT) Bobby Shantz (NYY)Catcher Del Crandall (MIL) Sherm Lollar (CWS)1st Base Gil Hodges (LAD) Vic Power (CLE)2nd Base Charlie Neal (LAD) Nellie Fox (CWS)3rd Base Ken Boyer (STL) Frank Malzone (BOS)Shortstop Roy McMillan (CIN) Luis Aparicio (CWS)Left field Jackie Brandt (SF) Minnie Miñoso (CLE)Center field Willie Mays (SF) Al Kaline (DET)Right field Hank Aaron (MIL) Jackie Jensen (BOS)
Statistical leaders American LeagueNational League Stat Player Total Player Total AVG Harvey Kuenn (DET) .353 Hank Aaron (MIL) .355 HR Rocky Colavito (CLE)Harmon Killebrew (WSH) 42 Eddie Mathews (MIL) 46 RBI Jackie Jensen (BOS) 112 Ernie Banks (CHC) 143 W Early Wynn (CWS) 22 Lew Burdette (MIL)Sam Jones (SF)Warren Spahn (MIL) 21 ERA Hoyt Wilhelm (BAL) 2.19 Sam Jones (SF) 2.83 K Jim Bunning (DET) 201 Don Drysdale (LAD) 242
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. GBYomiuri Giants 130 77 48 5 .612 —Osaka Tigers 130 62 59 9 .512 13.0Chunichi Dragons 130 64 61 5 .512 13.0Kokutetsu Swallows 130 63 65 2 .492 15.5Hiroshima Carp 130 59 64 7 .481 17.0Taiyo Whales 130 49 77 4 .392 28.5
Pacific League final standings Pacific League G W L T Pct. GBNankai Hawks 134 88 42 4 .677 —Daimai Orions 136 82 48 6 .631 6.0Toei Flyers 135 67 63 5 .515 21.0Nishitetsu Lions 144 66 64 14 .508 22.0Hankyu Braves 134 48 82 4 .369 40.0Kintetsu Buffaloes 133 39 91 3 .300 49.0
Events January January 13: The California Supreme Court unanimously validates the October 1957 transaction between the City of Los Angeles and Walter O'Malley that transfers ownership of 300 acres in Chavez Ravine to O'Malley in exchange for a minor-league baseball park in South Los Angeles. The decision reverses a lower court ruling against the transfer. O'Malley says he will break ground on what will become Dodger Stadium within 30 days. John J. Quinn, 50, general manager of the defending National League champion Milwaukee Braves, resigns to become GM of the cellar-dwelling Philadelphia Phillies, replacing Roy Hamey. Quinn has headed the Braves' front office since 1945, when they played in Boston. Hamey rejoins the New York Yankees as assistant to GM George Weiss. January 14 – Baseball Hall of Fame former shortstop Joe Cronin, 52, is chosen to succeed Will Harridge, 75, to become the fourth president of the American League. Harridge, who had spent 28 years as the AL's chief executive, becomes board chairman. One day later, Hall of Fame field manager Bucky Harris, 62, is named to replace Cronin as general manager of the Boston Red Sox. January 25 – MLB front-office shuffles continue as John McHale, 37, general manager of the Detroit Tigers since April 1957, resigns to take a similar post with the Milwaukee Braves. Former catcher and future Hall-of-Famer Rick Ferrell takes over Detroit's GM job. January 30 – The Cincinnati Redlegs trade catcher Smoky Burgess, pitcher Harvey Haddix, and third baseman Don Hoak to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for third baseman Frank Thomas, pitcher Whammy Douglas, outfielders Jim Pendleton and Johnny Powers, and cash considerations.
February February 7 – Baseball mourns all-time great Nap Lajoie upon his death from pneumonia in Daytona Beach, Florida at 84. Second baseman Lajoie, the third man to exceed 3,000 career hits, was so famous that the Cleveland American League club was known as the "Naps" during his 1902–1914 tenure. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937. (See Deaths entry for this date below.) February 11 – Although Cold War tensions remain high, Cincinnati's MLB franchise decides to return to its traditional identity, the Cincinnati Reds. The club had changed its official moniker to Cincinnati Redlegs in April 1953 to disassociate itself from Communism. Fans and media will intermittently refer to the team as the "Redlegs" into the early 1960s, however, and the word "Reds" will not return to the team's logo until a uniform makeover in 1961. February 14 – The San Francisco Giants sell the contract of Whitey Lockman to the Baltimore Orioles. February 15: Cuba wins its fourth straight Caribbean Series, defeating second-place Venezuela, 8–2, behind Camilo Pascual. Represented by its league champions, Almendares, Cuba wins five of the six games they play. The MVP is future MLB All-Star Norm Cash, a member of Venezuela's representative. An important upper-level minor league closes its doors forever when the Western League announces it will not operate in 1959. Since 1955, the Western circuit has lost markets like Denver, Omaha, Wichita and Amarillo to higher-classification loops. Four of its eight clubs stay afloat by joining the lower-classification Three–I League. February 28 – Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees ends his holdout after one day. Mantle agrees to a salary of $72,000 and a bonus of $2,000. He had been asking the Yankees for $85,000 after batting .304 with 42 home runs and 97 RBI in 1958.
March March 10 – After five years out of the spotlight, Bill Veeck returns to baseball, purchasing 54 percent majority interest in the Chicago White Sox from Dorothy Comiskey Rigney. The transaction caps the long-running feud between Dorothy and her brother Chuck, who owns the remaining 46%. It also marks the end of the Comiskey family's nearly six-decade-long control of the Pale Hose franchise. March 21 – Larry Doby, future Hall of Famer and the first African-American to play in the American League, is traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Tito Francona.
March 24 – Milwaukee Braves second baseman Red Schoendienst, hospitalized for four months with tuberculosis, is released from a St. Louis sanatorium and will continue his recovery at home. Schoendienst, 36, underwent lung surgery in February as part of his treatment. He was diagnosed with the ailment last November after he started all seven games of the 1958 World Series; playing in all 63 innings, he had batted .300 and made only one error in 38 total chances on defense. March 25 – In a trade that benefits both clubs, the St. Louis Cardinals obtain Bill White and Ray Jablonski from the San Francisco Giants for "Toothpick" Sam Jones and Don Choate. Veteran hurler Jones, 33, will lead the National League in games won (21), shutouts (four) and earned run average (2.83) in 1959. White, a 25-year-old first baseman who as a Giant was caught between incumbent Orlando Cepeda and prospect Willie McCovey — both future Hall of Famers — becomes a regular and team leader with the Cardinals, who is selected for eight All-Star Games, wins six Gold Glove Awards, and plays a critical role in the Redbirds' 1964 world-championship season and the racial integration of their spring training living quarters. After his playing days, White achieves further prominence as a broadcaster for the New York Yankees (1971–1988), then president of the National League (1989–1994). March 31 – The Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Braves pull off a six-man trade, with the Phils exchanging catcher Stan Lopata and infielders Ted Kazanski and Johnny O'Brien for pitcher Gene Conley and infielders Harry Hanebrink and Joe Koppe.
April April 2 – As spring training draws to an end, the Detroit Tigers return minor-league shortstop Maury Wills to the Los Angeles Dodgers' organization. Wills, 26, had been acquired "conditionally" in October 1958. Assigned to Triple-A Spokane to begin 1959, Wills will become a switch-hitter, hit .313 in 48 games, then be promoted to the Dodgers and make his debut on June 6, 1959; by he will set a new MLB season record for stolen bases and win the National League Most Valuable Player Award. April 10 – Sal Maglie's major league career comes to an end as the St. Louis Cardinals release the former 20-game winner right before the start of the season. April 11 – On Opening Day, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale hits a home run, becoming the only pitcher to hit more than one career homer in opening games. (He will hit 29 long balls over his 14-year career.) Drysdale's historic blast doesn't prevent the Dodgers from losing their game, 6–1, to the Chicago Cubs. April 17 – Detroit Tigers' Al Kaline belts his 100th career home run. April 22 – The Chicago White Sox defeat the Kansas City Athletics 20–6 at Municipal Stadium. The White Sox score 11 of those runs on only one hit in a wild seventh inning. Ray Boone and Al Smith lead off the seventh by reaching on errors. Johnny Callison then collects the hit, a single that scores Boone; on the play, Smith scores and Callison reaches third on a Roger Maris error. Eight of the next nine runs score on ten bases on balls; Callison is hit by a pitch to force in the remaining run. The KC "wild men" are relievers Tom Gorman, Mark Freeman and George Brunet."Chicago White Sox 20, Kansas City Athletics 6." Retrosheet box score (April 22, 1959)."Top Team Performances of 1959." Retrosheet.
May May 2 – Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds hits for the cycle, drives in five runs and scores twice in today's 16–4 triumph over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Crosley Field."Top Individual Performances of 1959." Retrosheet. Lead-off man Johnny Temple, #2 hitter Vada Pinson and third-place hitter Robinson go a combined nine-for-13, with eight runs scored and 12 runs batted in."Cincinnati Reds 16, Los Angeles Dodgers 4." Retrosheet box score (May 2, 1959). May 3 – The Detroit Tigers, losers of 15 of their first 17 games, replace manager Bill Norman with Jimmy Dykes. For the veteran Dykes, the Tigers are the fourth big-league team he's managed since 1951. In his first day with the Tigers, his club sweeps a doubleheader from the New York Yankees at Briggs Stadium, with renowned "Sunday slugger" Charlie Maxwell belting four home runs. Under Dykes, Detroit will perk up to go 74–63 for the rest of 1959. May 7 – An all-time MLB record crowd of 93,103 gathers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for "Roy Campanella Night", honoring the former Brooklyn Dodger catcher who was paralyzed in a January 1958 car accident on the eve of his team's move to Los Angeles. In the exhibition game that follows, the visiting New York Yankees defeat the Dodgers, 6–2. The event raises $60,000 to help defray Campanella's medical expenses. The attendance record will stand for almost 49 years until 115,300 witness the March 29, 2008, exhibition contest at the Coliseum between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox that marks the home side's 50th anniversary in Los Angeles.