Champions Major League Baseball World Series: Milwaukee Braves over New York Yankees (4–3); Lew Burdette, MVP All-Star Game, July 9 at Busch Stadium: American League, 6–5
Other champions College World Series: California Japan Series: Nishitetsu Lions over Yomiuri Giants (4–0–1) Little League World Series: Monterrey Industrial, Monterrey, Mexico Winter Leagues 1957 Caribbean Series: Tigres de Marianao Cuban League: Tigres de Marianao Dominican Republic League: Leones del Escogido Mexican Pacific League: Naranjeros de Hermosillo Panamanian League: Cerveza Balboa Puerto Rican League: Indios de Mayagüez Venezuelan League: Leones del Caracas Global World Series: Japan
Awards and honors Baseball Hall of Fame Sam Crawford Joe McCarthy MLB Most Valuable Player Award Hank Aaron (MIL, National) Mickey Mantle (NYY, American) MLB Rookie of the Year Award Jack Sanford (PHI, National) Tony Kubek (NYY, American) Cy Young Award Warren Spahn (MIL) The Sporting News Player of the Year Award Ted Williams (BOS) The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award Warren Spahn (MIL, National) Billy Pierce (CWS, American) The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award Ed Bouchee (PHI, National player) Tony Kubek (NYY, American player) Jack Sanford (PHI, pitcher) The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award Fred Hutchinson (STL) Gold Glove Award (P) Bobby Shantz (NYY, AL) (C) Sherm Lollar (CWS, AL) (1B) Gil Hodges (BRO, NL) (2B) Nellie Fox (CWS, AL) (3B) Frank Malzone (BOS, AL) (SS) Roy McMillan (CIN, NL) (LF) Minnie Miñoso (CWS, AL) (CF) Willie Mays (NYG, NL) (RF) Al Kaline (DET, AL)
Statistical leaders American LeagueNational League Stat Player Total Player Total AVG Ted Williams (BOS) .388 Stan Musial (STL) .351 HR Roy Sievers (WSH) 42 Hank Aaron (MIL) 44 RBI Roy Sievers (WSH) 114 Hank Aaron (MIL) 132 W Jim Bunning (DET)Billy Pierce (CWS) 20 Warren Spahn (MIL) 21 ERA Bobby Shantz (NYY) 2.45 Johnny Podres (BRO) 2.66 K Early Wynn (CLE) 184 Jack Sanford (PHI) 188
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 74 53 3 .581 —Osaka Tigers 130 73 54 3 .573 1.0Chunichi Dragons 130 70 57 3 .569 4.0Kokutetsu Swallows 130 58 68 4 .462 15.5Hiroshima Carp 130 54 75 1 .419 21.0Taiyo Whales 130 52 74 4 .415 21.5
Pacific League final standings Pacific League G W L T Pct. GBNishitetsu Lions 132 83 44 5 .648 —Nankai Hawks 132 78 53 1 .595 7.0Mainichi Orions 132 75 52 5 .587 8.0Hankyu Braves 132 71 55 6 .561 11.5Toei Flyers 132 56 73 3 .436 28.0Kintetsu Pearls 132 44 82 6 .356 38.5Daiei Unions 132 41 89 2 .318 43.5
Events January
January 2 – Centerfielder Willie Mays agrees to terms on his 1957 New York Giants contract for a reported $35,000 annual salary (valued at about $415,000 in 2026 dollars). Mays, 25, led the National League with 40 stolen bases in and slugged 38 homers, fifth in the league. January 6 – Newspaper headlines report that future Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who broke the baseball color line as the 20th century's first acknowledged Black player in "Organized Baseball" (1946) and Major League Baseball (1947), is retiring from the game at age 36, and will explain his decision in a Look Magazine article later this month. The seven-time All-Star and Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year, National League Valuable Player, and 1955 World Series champion had been traded from the Brooklyn Dodgers, for whom he starred for a decade, to the arch-rival New York Giants on December 13, 1956. On January 14, Robinson will officially notify Giants president Horace Stoneham in writing of his retirement, which nullifies the trade. He will enter private business as an executive with Chock Full o'Nuts, a coffee manufacturer. January 8 – The American Association of College Baseball Coaches votes to ban professional scouts from their campuses, in response to Organized Baseball's recent rescinding of the 11-year-old "college rule" that prohibited pro teams from "poaching" college talent. January 9 – The Cleveland Indians release eight-time American League All-Star pitcher Bob Feller. Feller, now 38, first joined Cleveland in 1936 as a 17-year-old. He would go on to post a 266–162 record with 2,581 strikeouts over 18 years with the team, losing 3½ years due to military service in World War II. His uniform #19 will be retired this coming season. Like Jackie Robinson, Feller will be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in , his first year of eligibility. January 19 – General manager Frank Lane gives up on his controversial 1956 re-design of the St. Louis Cardinals' uniforms, announcing that the "two red birds on a gold bat" motif will return to the front of the club's home and road shirts this coming season. Lane claims that he underestimated fans' affection for the traditional uniforms, which were introduced during the 1920s. January 31 – Saying "I just can't do the job anymore," Al Rosen retires as an active player after ten seasons with the Cleveland Indians, four All-Star selections, two home run titles, and the AL Most Valuable Player Award. Third baseman Rosen, 32, smashed 192 home runs from through last season. He'll return to the game as a front-office executive in the 1970s.
February February 1 – The 16 MLB club owners vote to increase pension payments for retired players. The five-year agreement, funded by the sale of network radio and television rights to the World Series and All-Star Game, will pay $88 monthly to five-year veterans, $175/month to ten-year vets, and $275/month for players with 20 years of service, upon reaching age 50. Tomorrow, MLB magnates will reject raising active players' minimum salary from $6,000 to $7,500 annually. February 3 – The Baseball Hall of Fame will welcome its 82nd and 83rd members this year, after its Veterans Committee elects retired outfielder "Wahoo Sam" Crawford, 76, and former manager "Marse Joe" McCarthy, 69, to the Cooperstown shrine. Crawford collected 2,961 hits during his early-century (–) career for the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers; McCarthy won nine pennants and seven World Series between and as skipper of the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. February 14 – Cuba (5–1) wins the ninth annual Caribbean Series, defeating runner-up Puerto Rico (3–3) by an 8–3 score. The Tigres de Marianao capture the championship for Cuba; outfielder Solly Drake is elected the series' Most Valuable Player. February 19 – The New York Yankees and Kansas City Athletics—destined to be frequent and often controversial trading partners during Arnold Johnson's tenure as owner of the Athletics—consummate a 13-player transaction. The Bombers deal pitchers Rip Coleman, Mickey McDermott, Tom Morgan and Jack Urban (player to be named later, or PTBNL), infielders Milt Graff and Billy Hunter, and outfielder Irv Noren to Kansas City for pitchers Art Ditmar, Bobby Shantz and Jack McMahan, first baseman Wayne Belardi, and infielders Clete Boyer (PTBNL) and Curt Roberts (PTBNL). Ditmar, Shantz and Boyer will have a hand in a combined seven AL pennants (1957–1958, 1960–1964) and three World Series (1958, 1961, 1962) titles. The players Kansas City receives make no material contributions to the Athletics' futile attempts to climb out of the second division.
February 21 Owners Walter O'Malley of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philip K. Wrigley of the Chicago Cubs make an industry-changing "trade" of minor-league franchises. In the transaction, O'Malley acquires the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League and the Angels' ballpark, Los Angeles' Wrigley Field, in exchange for the Dodgers' Fort Worth Cats farm club in the Texas League and $3 million. The swap enables O'Malley to lay claim to at least 50 percent of the booming Los Angeles market as a potential new home for his Dodgers. (The PCL's Hollywood Stars also have territorial rights.) The franchise swap not only paves the way for the Dodgers' groundbreaking move to California, but it pays more dividends when O'Malley trades ownership of the Angels' old minor-league facility to the city for land in Chavez Ravine, where he will eventually build Dodger Stadium. The New York Giants, who are pioneering scouting young players in the Dominican Republic, sign 19-year-old amateur free agent and future record-setting pinch hitter Manny Mota. February 25 – In a 6–3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that professional football is subject to antitrust law—a year after a similar ruling concerning professional boxing. However, "Organized Baseball" remains exempt from antitrust statutes, based on the high court's 1922 decision in Federal Baseball Club v. National League. February 26 Bill Sarni, expected to be the Giants' starting catcher in 1957, is hospitalized after experiencing chest pain during spring training workouts in Phoenix. Diagnosed with a moderate heart attack, Sarni is forced to end his playing career at age 29; upon his recovery, he will serve as a New York coach in 1957 to protect his pension rights. Virgin Islander Valmy Thomas, a 31-year-old rookie, and light-hitting veteran Wes Westrum, 34, are the prime candidates to succeed to Sarni's role. The Giants reacquire first baseman Whitey Lockman from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm. New Congressional hearings into Organized Baseball's exemption from U.S. antitrust laws are threatened by a California lawmaker who charges that a "horsehide cartel" may try to keep Major League Baseball out of his state.
March
March 10 – A newly elected member of the Washington Senators' board of directors, prominent D.C. tax attorney C. Leo DeOrsey, creates a brief firestorm among the baseball establishment when he tells a United Press reporter that baseball is not a hobby or a mere sport, but "a business, and a big business." He says antitrust laws should apply to "Organized Baseball" as in other U.S. professional sports, the perpetual reserve clause should be replaced, and the traditional structure of two, eight-team leagues should be realigned geographically. He is quickly rebuffed by multiple MLB officials, including Commissioner Ford Frick and the Senators' president and principal owner, Calvin Griffith. March 14 – The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox make one of their infrequent trades in which the Yankees obtain right-hander Eli Grba and outfielder Gordie Windhorn from Boston for outfielder Bill Renna. March 18 – The Cleveland Indians say they've turned down a $1 million offer from wealthy Boston owner Tom Yawkey for the contract of their brilliant, 23-year-old left-hander, Herb Score, who has won 36 games and struck out 508 hitters in his first two seasons in a Cleveland uniform. March 21 – The St. Louis Cardinals trade colorful, legendary minor-league slugger Rocky Nelson to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Triple-A International League to complete an earlier transaction that netted the Redbirds pitcher Frank Barnes. Nelson, 32, is known for "terrorizing" minor-league hurlers but is chronically incapable of holding down a big-league job. The sale to Toronto turns out in Nelson's favor, however, when he wins his third International League Most Valuable Player Award of the 1950s and second Triple Crown with the 1958 Leafs—and merits one more MLB chance, when he will win a roster spot with the – Pittsburgh Pirates and a 1960 World Series ring as a platoon first baseman.
April April 5 – The Philadelphia Phillies acquire slick-fielding shortstop Humberto "Chico" Fernández from the Brooklyn Dodgers for $75,000 and five players, including pitchers Ron Negray and Ben Flowers (PTBNL), first baseman Tim Harkness, and veteran outfielder/pinch hitter Elmer Valo. Fernández starts 145 games during 1957, becoming the Phils' first Latin American regular player.