Champions
Major League Baseball World Series: Cincinnati Reds over Boston Red Sox (4–3); Pete Rose, MVP
All-Star Game, July 15 at County Stadium: National League, 6–3; Bill Madlock and Jon Matlack, MVPs
Other champions College World Series: Texas Japan Series: Hankyu Braves over Hiroshima Toyo Carp (4–0–1) Big League World Series: Taipei, Taiwan Little League World Series: Lakewood, New Jersey Senior League World Series: Pingtung, Taiwan Pan American Games: Cuba over United States Mexican Baseball League: Alijadores de Tampico over Cafeteros de Córdoba Winter Leagues 1975 Caribbean Series: Vaqueros de Bayamón Dominican Republic League: Águilas Cibaeñas Mexican Pacific League: Naranjeros de Hermosillo over Mayos de Navojoa Puerto Rican League: Vaqueros de Bayamón Venezuelan League: Tigres de Aragua
Awards and honors Baseball Hall of Fame Earl Averill Billy Herman Judy Johnson Ralph Kiner Bucky Harris (manager)
Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards BBWAA Award National League American League Rookie of the Year John Montefusco (SF) Fred Lynn (BOS) Cy Young Award Tom Seaver (NYM) Jim Palmer (BAL) Most Valuable Player Joe Morgan (CIN) Fred Lynn (BOS) Babe Ruth Award(World Series MVP) — Luis Tiant (BOS)Gold Glove Awards Position National League American League Pitcher Andy Messersmith (LAD) Jim Kaat (CWS) Catcher Johnny Bench (CIN) Thurman Munson (NYY) 1st Base Steve Garvey (LAD) George Scott (MIL) 2nd Base Joe Morgan (CIN) Bobby Grich (BAL) 3rd Base Ken Reitz (STL) Brooks Robinson (BAL) Shortstop Dave Concepción (CIN) Mark Belanger (BAL)Outfield César Cedeño (HOU) Paul Blair (BAL) César Gerónimo (CIN) Fred Lynn (BOS) Garry Maddox (PHI/) Joe Rudi (OAK)
Statistical leaders American LeagueNational League Stat Player Total Player Total AVG Rod Carew (MIN) .359 Bill Madlock (CHC) .354 HR Reggie Jackson (OAK)George Scott (MIL) 36 Mike Schmidt (PHI) 38 RBI George Scott (MIL) 109 Greg Luzinski (PHI) 120 W Catfish Hunter (NYY)Jim Palmer (BAL) 23 Tom Seaver (NYM) 22 ERA Jim Palmer (BAL) 2.09 Randy Jones (SD) 2.24 K Frank Tanana (CAL) 269 Tom Seaver (NYM) 243
Major league baseball final standings American League final standings
National League final standings
Nippon Professional Baseball final standings Central League final standings +Central League年度別成績 1975年 セントラル・リーグ | NPB.jp 日本野球機構 Team G W L T Pct. GBHiroshima Toyo Carp 130 72 47 11 .605 --Chunichi Dragons 130 69 53 8 .566 4.5Hanshin Tigers 130 68 55 7 .553 6.0Yakult Swallows 130 57 64 9 .471 16.0Taiyo Whales 130 51 69 10 .425 21.5Yomiuri Giants 130 47 76 7 .382 27.0
Pacific League final standings +Pacific League年度別成績 1975年 パシフィック・リーグ | NPB.jp 日本野球機構 Team G W L T Pct. 1st half ranking 2nd half rankingHankyu Braves 130 64 59 7 .520 1 6Kintetsu Buffaloes 130 71 50 9 .587 3 1Taiheiyo Club Lions 130 58 62 10 .483 2 4Lotte Orions 130 59 65 6 .476 6 2Nankai Hawks 130 57 65 8 .467 5 3Nippon-Ham Fighters 130 55 63 12 .466 4 4
Events The year will see the two Major League Baseball teams located in the San Francisco Bay Area ponder possible relocation scenarios. The proposed sale of the Chicago White Sox presents opportunities for Charlie Finley's Oakland Athletics. A group from Seattle is ready to purchase the White Sox and move them there. With Chicago the site of Finley's insurance business headquarters, he is prepared to move his Athletics there to take the White Sox's place. But, due to his 20-year stadium lease with the city of Oakland (to expire in 1987), Finley is blocked. In December, Bill Veeck buys the Chicago White Sox from owner John Allyn and keeps them in Chicago.Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.229, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, Meanwhile, plunging attendance and cash flow problems create an ownership crisis for the San Francisco Giants. The financial woes facing club president Horace Stoneham—who moved the Giants to California in , and whose father purchased the team in 1919 when it was based in New York—force him to put the team on the market during the summer. By the end of 1975, the most likely outcome sees the team being sold to a Canadian group that plans to move them to Toronto.
January January 5 – Tragedy strikes the Houston Astros when starting pitcher Don Wilson, 29, and his five-year-old son die by accidental carbon monoxide poisoning at their Houston home. His wife and nine-year-old daughter are hospitalized but survive. Author of two no-hitters and a 1971 National League All-Star, Wilson has posted double-digit victory seasons in each of his eight full MLB seasons; a workhorse, he also exceeded 180 innings pitched in each of those campaigns. The Astros retire Wilson's #40 when the 1975 season begins. (See Deaths entry for this date below.) January 16 – Harmon Killebrew, 38, is released by the Minnesota Twins. The future Baseball Hall of Famer, a 13-time American League All-Star and the Most Valuable Player, has hit 559 home runs for the franchise over 21 seasons, and his #3 uniform will be retired. Eight days later, Killebrew signs with the Kansas City Royals.
January 22 – The New York Mets sign free agent pitcher Juan Berenguer. January 23 – Slugger Ralph Kiner, who led or co-led the National League in home runs seven years in a row (1946–1952), is elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He earns his Hall of Fame membership by a single vote.
February February 3 – Former second baseman Billy Herman, outfielder Earl Averill and manager Bucky Harris are selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. February 6 - The Detroit Tigers released outfielder Jim Nettles. February 10 – The Special Committee on the Negro Leagues picks Judy Johnson for the Hall of Fame. February 25: The Baltimore Orioles trade pitcher Don Hood and first baseman Boog Powell to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for catcher Dave Duncan and minor leaguer Alvin McGrew. The trade reunites the veteran Powell with his former Baltimore teammate Frank Robinson, now the Indians' player-manager. The Indians also acquire southpaw relief pitcher Dave LaRoche, along with outfielder Brock Davis, from the Chicago Cubs for right-hander Milt Wilcox. February 28 – The New York Mets purchase the contract of right-handed slugger Dave Kingman, 26, from the San Francisco Giants for $150,000. He will bash 73 home runs for them over the next two full seasons and make the NL All-Star team during his first term as a Met.
March March 4 - The Baltimore Orioles signed pitcher and current fugitive from justice Byron McLaughlin. March 5 – The Boston Red Sox sign Tony Conigliaro as a free agent. Conigliaro, 30, returns to the hometown team where he starred during the 1960s until an August 18, 1967 beanball compromised his vision, sidelined him for the full season, and drove his early retirement from the California Angels in July of . Conigliaro is trying to make a comeback for the 1975 Red Sox as their designated hitter. March 6 - The Milwaukee Brewers purchase the contract of Kurt Bevacqua from the Kansas City Royals. March 15 – The Los Angeles Dodgers sign future Hall-of-Fame pitcher Juan Marichal, 37-year-old former longtime ace of the arch-rival San Francisco Giants, as a free agent. March 21 – Georgia Tech shuts out Earlham, 41–0, setting an NCAA record for scoring and for winning margin. March 27 – The Pittsburgh Pirates release their former top starting pitcher, Steve Blass. A 103-game winner in a Pittsburgh uniform, a hero of the Bucs' 1971 World Series triumph (two complete game victories, no losses, 1.00 earned run average), and the runner-up for the NL Cy Young Award, Blass suddenly and inexplicably developed severe control problems in , forcing his retirement at age 32. He will go on to spend 34 years as a member of the Pirates' broadcasting team. March 29 – The New York Yankees release former ace starting pitcher Mel Stottlemyre, who won 164 games for them over an 11-year (1964–1974) career.
April April 4 – The Pittsburgh Pirates release infielder Tony La Russa, 30, from his minor league contract. He signs a Triple-A pact three days later with the Chicago White Sox and will continue his playing career into 1977 in the organizations of the White Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals—two teams he will later manage during his Hall-of-Fame career. April 5 – The Pirates obtain veteran outfielder Bill Robinson from the Philadelphia Phillies for right-hander Wayne Simpson. Robinson will be a key contributor to the Bucs' 1979 world-championship season. April 6: The Atlanta Braves sell the contract of pitcher Joe Niekro to the Houston Astros for $35,000. Niekro, 30, will pitch for Houston for almost 11 full seasons; he will rack up two 20-win campaigns (, ), and capture 144 victories in his 397 games in an Astro uniform. The defending world champion Oakland Athletics pick up an important bullpen arm, Jim Todd, from the Chicago Cubs for cash and a "PTBNL" (outfielder Champ Summers, who is added to the deal April 29). Todd will finish with 12 saves and 31 games finished, second only to Oakland's Hall-of-Fame closer, Rollie Fingers. April 7 – The Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds, who battled each other for supremacy in the National League West in , open the NL season at Riverfront Stadium, with Cincinnati winning 2–1 in 14 innings.
April 8: Hall of Fame outfielder Frank Robinson becomes the first African American man to manage a Major League Baseball team, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 5–3 victory over the New York Yankees. Robinson homers in his first at bat as a playing manager; Boog Powell, Robinson's longtime teammate in Baltimore, adds another solo blow in the fourth. Both homers are off Yankee starter Doc Medich. A crowd of 56,715 watch the historic game at Cleveland Stadium. Lyman Bostock makes his MLB debut for the Minnesota Twins, getting one hit in four at bats against the Texas Rangers. Bostock will become a star, batting .311 in 526 games, before his life comes to a tragic end in late September 1978 when he is shot while sitting in a parked car at age 27. April 11: Hank Aaron returns to Milwaukee as a member of the Brewers, then in the American League. A crowd of 48,160 fans watches Aaron drive in a run in the Brewers' 6–2 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Aaron starred for the Milwaukee Braves for a dozen years before the franchise moved to Atlanta for the 1966 season. At Memorial Stadium, Tony Conigliaro homers off southpaw Mike Cuellar of the Baltimore Orioles in the third game of his comeback attempt. The solo shot helps his Boston Red Sox triumph, 6–5. Conigliaro has been out of baseball for nearly four full years, as he battles vision problems. April 14 – Days after he is released by the New York Yankees, pitcher Skip Lockwood is signed by the Oakland A's. April 15 – In his final major league appearance, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Juan Marichal gives up six hits in 2 innings against the Cincinnati Reds before Rick Rhoden relieves him.
May May 1 – Hank Aaron goes 4-for-4, driving in two runs in the Milwaukee Brewers' 17–3 win over the Detroit Tigers. This brings his career RBI total to 2,211, breaking Babe Ruth's published record of 2,209. On February 3, 1976, the Records Committee will revise Ruth's total to 2,204, meaning that in actuality, Aaron set the record on April 18. May 2 – The Los Angeles Dodgers trade pitchers Eddie Solomon and Geoff Zahn to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for pitcher Burt Hooton, 25. Hooton will win 18 games for the 1975 Dodgers and be a key member of three NL pennant winners, including 1981's world champions. May 4: