1952 in baseball

Major League Baseball

• World Series: New York Yankees over Brooklyn Dodgers (4-3)
• All-Star Game, July 8 at Shibe Park: National League, 3-2 (5 innings)

Other champions

• All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: South Bend Blue Sox
• College World Series: Holy Cross
• Japan Series: Yomiuri Giants over Nankai Hawks (4-2)
• Little League World Series: Norwalk National, Norwalk, Connecticut

Winter Leagues

• 1952 Caribbean Series: Senadores de San Juan
• Cuban League: Leones del Habana
• Dominican Republic League: Águilas Cibaeñas
• Mexican Pacific League: Tacuarineros de Culiacán
• Panamanian League: Carta Vieja Yankees
• Puerto Rican League: Senadores de San Juan
• Venezuelan League: Cervecería Caracas

January

• January 31 – Harry Heilmann with 203 votes, and Paul Waner with 195, become the newest members of the Hall of Fame.

February

• February 16 – Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, 77, retires after 40 years as a major league player and coach. He receives a pension from the Pittsburgh Pirates, with whom he spent most of those years.
• February 21 – Thomas Fine of Cuba's Leones de la Habana hurled the first no-hitter in Caribbean Series history, a 1–0 masterpiece against Al Papai and Venezuela's Cervecería Caracas. Through 2013, it has been the only no-hitter pitched in Series history.
• February 26 – Thomas Fine was three outs from consecutive no-hitters in the Caribbean Series, having allowed a single in the ninth inning to break it up, in an 11–3 Cuba's victory over Panama's Carta Vieja Yankees. His 17 consecutive hitless innings pitched record still as the longest in Series history.

March

• March 24 – St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Slaybaugh is hit in the left eye with a line drive, necessitating an operation to remove the eye. Slaybaugh will pitch briefly in the minors in 1953-54 and then retire.

April

• April 23 – Bob Cain and the St. Louis Browns defeat Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians, 1–0, in a game in which both pitchers throw a one-hitter.
• April 30
  • Veteran Negro League catcher Quincy Trouppe makes his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians. At 39 years of age, he is one of the oldest rookies in major league history. Three days later, Trouppe is behind the plate when relief pitcher Toothpick Sam Jones enters the game, forming the first black battery in American League history.
  • Ted Williams hits a two run home run to break a 3-3 tie on "Ted Williams Day" at Fenway Park. It was Williams' final game of the season before his departure for the Korean War to serve as a Marine fighter pilot.

May

• May 5 – Mickey Mantle's father dies of Hodgkin's Disease, and Mantle will miss six games while attending the funeral and seeing to family matters in Oklahoma.
• May 13 – Ron Necciai of the Bristol Twins strikes out 27 batters while pitching a 7–0 no-hitter against the Welch Miners in an Appalachian League game. Four of the Welch hitters reach base on a walk, an error, a hit by pitch, and a passed ball charged to Twins' catcher Harry Dunlop on a swinging third strike. But 27 strikeouts are recorded on the night, including four in the ninth inning, as a result of Dunlop's miscue, while one batter is retired on a grounder in the second inning.
• May 15 – After pitching four no-hitters in the minors, 33-year-old Virgil Trucks of the Detroit Tigers pitches his first in the majors, a 1–0 blanking of the Washington Senators. Vic Wertz's two-out home run in the ninth inning off Bob Porterfield wins the game at Briggs Stadium.
• May 21 – At Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn Dodgers set a Major League record by scoring 15 runs in the first inning of a 19-1 pounding of the Cincinnati Reds. All nine Dodgers in the starting lineup both score a run and bat in a run in that first inning.
• May 29 – Boston Red Sox pitcher Mickey McDermott faces 27 batters and fire a one-hitter to beat the Washington Senators, 1–0, at Fenway Park. Mel Hoderlein's fourth-inning single is the only Washington hit and he is thrown out while trying to stretch the hit into a double.

June

• June 11 – Sammy White clouts a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning off pitcher Satchel Paige to give the Boston Red Sox an 11–9 victory over the St. Louis Browns at Fenway Park.
• June 19 – Carl Erskine of the Brooklyn Dodgers tosses a 5–0 no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs at Ebbets Field. Erskine would pitch his second career no-hitter on May 12, 1956 against the New York Giants, 3–0, at Ebbets Field.
• June 25 – Chicago White Sox shortstop Chico Carrasquel fractures his little finger in a play‚ which drops Chicago four games out of first place. Carrasquel will reinjure it on July 9 and be out of the lineup until August 19. The injury to Carrasquel‚ the starting shortstop for the American League in the MLB All-Star Game, is a key damage component as the White Sox will finish in third place.

July

• July 8 – In a rain-shortened affair at Shibe Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, the National League tops the American League, 3–2 (5 innings), in the All-Star Game. Jackie Robinson and Hank Sauer each homer for the NL.
• July 15
  • Detroit Tigers first baseman Walt Dropo collects seven consecutive hits over the course of doubleheader against the Washington Senators. Combined with the five consecutive hits he recorded on July 14, Dropo establishes the American League and Major League record for consecutive hits in consecutive plate appearances with twelve base hits.
  • Eddie Joost of the Philadelphia Athletics became the second player to hit a walk-off grand slam against St. Louis Browns pitcher Satchel Paige this season, in a 7–6 victory at Shibe Park (The first being the Boston Red Sox's Sammy White on June 11). Paige is the first pitcher in Major League history to surrender two walk-off homers in the same season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Other pitchers will join Paige in the coming years: Lindy McDaniel in 1963, Lee Smith in 1995 and Francisco Rodríguez in 2009.

August

• August 15 – Detroit Tigers pitcher Virgil Trucks hurled his second no-hitter of the season, a 1–0 over the host New York Yankees. Previously, Trucks held the Washington Senators without a hit on May 15. Besides, Trucks is one of five pitchers to throw two no-hitters in a season, being the others Johnny Vander Meer (1938), Allie Reynolds (1951), Nolan Ryan (1973) and Roy Halladay (2010), as one of his no-hitters came in the postseason.^[1]

• August 30 – Arky Vaughan, Hall of Fame shortstop, nine-time All-Star and MVP Award winner, was drowned in a boat accident at Lost Lake in Lakeville, California. He was 40 year old. During a 14-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Brooklyn Dodgers between 1932 and 1948, Vaughan hit a combined .318 batting average and 2,103 base hits. Overall, he posted 11 seasons with a .300 or more average, while his lifetime average of .318 is second only to Honus Wagner's .329 for a shortstop. His most productive came in 1935, when he led the National League with a .385 average and was named MVP player. Additionally, he topped the league three times in runs, triples and walks, posting a career .406 on-base percentage with 937 walks, while striking out only 276 times in 6,622 at bats. Besides being a solid hitter, Vaughan was a better than average fielder, having led the league three times in assists, twice in putouts, and once each in total chances and double plays.^[2]

September

• September 13 – Buffalo Bisons outfielder Frank Carswell wins the International League batting title with a .344 average, leading also the league with 30 home runs while driving in 101 runs and slugging .587.^[3]

October

• October 1 – In Game 1 of the 1952 World Series, the Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees, 4–2, at Ebbets Field behind relief ace Joe Black, who started only two games during the regular season.
• October 7 – The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4–2, in the decisive Game 7 of the World Series to win their fourth straight World Championship title – tying the mark they set between 1936 and 1939 and fifteenth overall. Billy Martin saves the day by snaring a two-out, bases-loaded infield pop off the bat of Jackie Robinson. Gil Hodges goes hitless again and is 0-for-21 in the Series. This is the Yankees' third defeat of the Dodgers in six years.
• November 12 – Bobby Shantz, who posted a 24-7 record with 152 strikeouts and a 2.48 ERA for the Philadelphia Athletics, is selected the AL Most Valuable Player by the Baseball Writers' Association of America and the AL Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News.

November

• November 20 – Fred McMullin, best known for his involvement in the 1919 World Series Black Sox Scandal, died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 61. McMullin, a reserve infielder with the Chicago White Sox, was one of the eight White Sox players that were banned from baseball for gambling on the series, won by the Cincinnati Reds. McMullin began his major league career in 1914, as a shortstop for the Detroit Tigers before making the Chicago club in 1916. Afterwards, he was a member of the 1917 World Series Champion White Sox. In his final years, he suffered from arteriosclerosis, a heart ailment. Just over a month after his 61st birthday, he had a stroke that caused hemorrhaging in the brain and died a day later.^[4]
• November 22 – Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Harry Byrd, who won 15 games and posted and a 3.31 ERA, is selected American League Rookie of the Year. Byrd will be the last Athletics player to win the award until José Canseco in 1986.
• November 28 – International League President Frank Shaughnessy reveals plans to form two new major leagues by merging the top teams in the American Association and the top teams from the IL. Shaughnessy thinks that in five to six years, Major League Baseball will elevate these two leagues, along with the Pacific Coast League, which nearly has MLB status now.
• November 30 – On a local New York TV program, Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers charges that the New York Yankees management is racist for its failure to bring up a black player. Yankees executive George Weiss denies the allegations.

December

• December 2:
  • The Pittsburgh Pirates draft relief pitcher Elroy Face from the Montreal Royals, the top minor league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. During a 15-year career with the Pirates, Face will lead the National League in saves three times and will be a three-time All-Star, as well as his amazing 18 relief wins in 1959 remains a major league record.
  • Brooklyn Dodgers executive Buzzie Bavasi dismisses the New York Yankees reaction to the Jackie Robinson racism charges. Commissioner Ford Frick plans no action against Robinson. Two days earlier, Robinson had called the Yankees a racist organization for its failure to promote a black player to the parent club.

January

• January   2 – Greg Heydeman
• January   6 – Bob Adams
• January   7 – Doug Capilla
• January   7 – Bob Gorinski
• January   9 – Don Hopkins
• January   9 – Joe Wallis
• January 13 – Bob Galasso
• January 14 – Terry Forster
• January 14 – Wayne Gross
• January 17 – Pete LaCock
• January 17 – Darrell Porter
• January 21 – Mike Krukow
• January 22 – Ramón Avilés
• January 24 – John Scott
• January 26 – Morris Nettles

February

• February   2 – Warren Brusstar
• February   3 – Fred Lynn
• February 14 – Will McEnaney
• February 16 – Barry Foote
• February 16 – Jerry Hairston, Sr.
• February 18 – Marc Hill
• February 19 – Dave Cheadle
• February 26 – Dennis Kinney
• February 27 – Henry Cruz
• February 28 – Orlando Álvarez
• February 29 – Al Autry

March

• March   1 – Bob Davis
• March   5 – Mike Squires
• March   6 – Eduardo Rodríguez
• March 15 – Steve Stroughter
• March 17 – Jerry Tabb
• March 19 – Harry Bay
• March 19 – Perry Hill
• March 20 – Rick Langford
• March 20 – Greg Terlecky
• March 21 – Fernando Arroyo
• March 22 – Eddie Bane
• March 22 – Eric Rasmussen
• March 29 – Bill Castro

April

• April   1 – Mike Bacsik
• April   6 – Steve Waterbury
• April   9 – Ed Plank
• April 20 – Joe Gilbert
• April 24 – Pat Zachry
• April 29 – Bob McClure
• April 29 – Ron Washington

May

• May   1 – Bob Allietta
• May   4 – Fred Andrews
• May   9 – Sam Mejías
• May 15 – Rick Waits
• May 17 – Porfi Altamirano
• May 19 – Dan Ford
• May 23 – Pepe Mangual
• May 23 – Butch Metzger
• May 29 – Fred Holdsworth
• May 31 – Dwight Bernard

June

• June   2 – Mike Davey
• June 13 – Ernie Whitt
• June 21 – Dave Downs
• June 22 – Randy Scarbery
• June 26 – Steve Bowling
• June 28 – Joe Sambito

July

• July   1 – Kerry Dineen
• July   3 – Ryan Kurosaki
• July   3 – John Verhoeven
• July   5 – Don DeMola
• July   6 – Cardell Camper
• July 24 – Jerry Augustine
• July 27 – Rich Dauer
• July 27 – Bump Wills
• July 30 – Mickey Mahler

August

• August   1 – Greg Gross
• August   2 – Art James
• August   2 – Bombo Rivera
• August   3 – Bob Davidson
• August   3 – Dan Meyer
• August   8 – Mike Ivie
• August   8 – Greg Mahlberg
• August 16 – Al Holland
• August 19 – Tim Blackwell
• August 20 – Bobby Cuellar
• August 20 – Lance Rautzhan
• August 21 – Chip Lang
• August 22 – Gary Beare
• August 23 – Jerry White
• August 27 – Marshall Edwards
• August 27 – Mike Edwards

September

• September   2 – Nate Snell
• September   7 – Rick Sweet
• September   8 – Larry McCall
• September   9 – Jerry Mumphrey
• September 15 – Don Collins
• September 18 – Sam Bowen
• September 20 – Jim Wilhelm
• September 21 – Art Gardner
• September 21 – Gary Gray
• September 22 – Dell Alston
• September 23 – Dennis Lamp
• September 23 – Jim Morrison
• September 23 – Pat Scanlon
• September 24 – Rod Gilbreath
• September 25 – Sal Butera
• September 25 – Mike Stanton

October

• October   1 – Bob Myrick
• October   2 – Terry Cornutt
• October   7 – John Caneira
• October 18 – Allen Ripley
• October 18 – Jerry Royster
• October 20 – Dave Collins
• October 23 – John Poff
• October 23 – Randy Tate
• October 24 – Omar Moreno
• October 24 – Angel Torres
• October 24 – Reggie Walton
• October 25 – Rowland Office
• October 25 – Roy Smalley
• October 27 – Gil Flores
• October 27 – Bill Travers
• October 27 – Pete Vuckovich
• October 30 – Tom Brennan
• October 31 – Joe West

November

• November   4 – Doug Corbett
• November   5 – Tom Carroll
• November   8 – John Denny
• November   8 – Jerry Remy
• November   9 – Jim Riggleman
• November   9 – Dave Wehrmeister
• November   9 – Rick Williams
• November 13 – John Sutton
• November 15 – Tom Donohue
• November 16 – Glenn Burke
• November 17 – Dave Frost
• November 18 – Dan Briggs
• November 18 – Steve Henderson
• November 21 – Bill Almon

December

• December   1 – Dan Warthen
• December   3 – Larry Anderson
• December   6 – Chuck Baker
• December   6 – Jeff Schneider
• December   9 – Bruce Boisclair
• December 11 – Rob Andrews
• December 15 – Bud Bulling
• December 16 – Tommy Bianco
• December 21 – Joaquín Andújar
• December 23 – Santo Alcalá
• December 25 – Julio González
• December 27 – Mark Budaska
• December 27 – Craig Reynolds
• December 28 – Ray Knight
• December 28 – José Sosa
• December 29 – Dennis Werth

January

• January   6 – Frank Oberlin
• January   8 – Art Evans
• January 10 – Bones Ely
• January 14 – Rube Sellers
• January 15 – Ben Houser
• January 17 – Solly Salisbury
• January 20 – Ollie Pickering
• January 24 – Ángel Aragón
• January 24 – Dick Wright

February

• February   5 – Esty Chaney
• February   5 – Mike Hopkins
• February   6 – Del Paddock
• February 12 – Charlie Manlove

March

• March 11 – Pete Daglia
• March 13 – Vincent Maney
• March 19 – Lefty Thomas
• March 20 – Harry Bay
• March 23 – Steve Sundra
• March 30 – John Gallagher
• March 30 – Deacon Phillippe

April

• April   3 – Dick Harley
• April   3 – Phenomenal Smith
• April   5 – Ray Jacobs
• April   8 – Willie Ludolph
• April 21 – Sheldon Lejeune
• April 30 – Frank Madden

May

• May   1 – Ernie Johnson
• May   4 – Burt Keeley
• May   6 – Rube Dessau
• May   6 – Harry Berte
• May   7 – Red Bluhm
• May 12 – Charlie Young
• May 14 – Bert Cunningham
• May 14 – Red Dooin
• May 16 – Sal Campfield
• May 18 – Spec Harkness
• May 23 – Bill McGilvray
• May 27 – Lew Ritter
• May 29 – Doc Lavan

June

• June   5 – Bruno Haas
• June   9 – Bob McHale
• June 17 – Julio Bonetti
• June 17 – Al Atkinson
• June 19 – Dick Crutcher
• June 20 – John Kalahan
• June 21 – Andy Dunning

July

• July   3 – Fred Tenney
• July 11 – Dutch Leonard

August

• August   1 – [Phil Douglas (baseball)|Phil Douglas]]
• August   2 – Bob Neighbors
• August 13 – Hal Haid
• August 19 – George McAvoy
• August 20 – Red Owens
• August 20 – Ned Pettigrew
• August 21 – Jack Ryan
• August 25 – Harry Maupin
• August 30 – Arky Vaughan, 40, a drowning victim, 9-time All-Star shortstop who was named the NL's MVP in 1935 by The Sporting News; career .318 hitter led NL in runs, triples and walks three times each. He would be eventually inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.

September

• September   3 – Bert Daly
• September   4 – Butch Schmidt
• September   8 – Ed Hearne
• September 13 – Al Clauss
• September 16 – Earl Sheely
• September 28 – Zeke Wrigley
• September 30 – Jerry Freeman

October

• October   4 – Bill Zimmerman
• October   8 – Joe Adams
• October 11 – Roy Beecher
• October 14 – Jim Banning
• October 27 – Vince Shields
• October 22 – Howard McGraner
• October 26 – Tom Angley
• October 26 – Mike Murphy
• October 28 – Bob Lawson

November

• November   1 – Wally Clement
• November   1 – Ed McNichol
• November   3 – Frank Smith
• November 20 – Fred McMullin (Obit)
• November 26 – Warren Gill
• November 29 – Arlie Latham

December

• December   6 – Don Hurst
• December 14 – Frank Hansford
• December 28 – Deacon Jones
• December 29 – Bob Meinke