Champions Major League Baseball World Series: New York Yankees over Milwaukee Braves (4–3); Bob Turley, MVP All-Star Game, July 8 at Memorial Stadium: American League, 4–3
Other champions College World Series: USC 1958 Japan Series: Nishitetsu Lions over Yomiuri Giants (4–3) Little League World Series: Industrial, Monterrey, Mexico Winter Leagues 1958 Caribbean Series: Tigres de Marianao Cuban League: Tigres de Marianao Dominican Republic League: Leones del Escogido Mexican Pacific League: Venados de Mazatlán Panamanian League: Carta Vieja Yankees Puerto Rican League: Criollos de Caguas Venezuelan League: Industriales de Valencia
Awards and honors Baseball Writers' Association of America AwardsBBWAA Award National League American LeagueRookie of the Year Orlando Cepeda (SF) Albie Pearson (WSH)Cy Young Award — Bob Turley (NYY)Most Valuable Player Ernie Banks (CHC) Jackie Jensen (BOS)Gold Glove AwardsPosition National League American LeaguePitcher Harvey Haddix (CIN) Bobby Shantz (NYY)Catcher Del Crandall (MIL) Sherm Lollar (CWS)1st Base Gil Hodges (LAD) Vic Power (CLE/KCA)2nd Base Bill Mazeroski (PIT) Frank Bolling (DET)3rd Base Ken Boyer (STL) Frank Malzone (BOS)Shortstop Roy McMillan (CIN) Luis Aparicio (CWS)Left field Frank Robinson (CIN) Norm Siebern (NY)Center field Willie Mays (SF) Jimmy Piersall (BOS)Right field Hank Aaron (MIL) Al Kaline (DET)
Statistical leaders American LeagueNational League Stat Player Total Player Total AVG Ted Williams (BOS) .328 Richie Ashburn (PHI) .350 HR Mickey Mantle (NYY) 42 Ernie Banks (CHC) 47 RBI Jackie Jensen (BOS) 122 Ernie Banks (CHC) 129 W Bob Turley (NYY) 21 Bob Friend (PIT)Warren Spahn (MIL) 22 ERA Whitey Ford (NYY) 2.01 Stu Miller (SF) 2.47 K Early Wynn (CWS) 179 Sam Jones (STL) 225
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 52 1 .596 —Osaka Tigers 130 72 58 0 .554 5.5Chunichi Dragons 130 66 59 5 .527 9.0Kokutetsu Swallows 130 58 68 4 .462 17.5Hiroshima Carp 130 54 68 8 .446 19.5Taiyo Whales 130 51 73 6 .415 23.5
Pacific League final standings Pacific League G W L T Pct. GBNishitetsu Lions 130 78 47 5 .619 —Nankai Hawks 130 77 48 5 .612 1.0Hankyu Braves 130 73 51 6 .585 4.5Daimai Orions 130 62 63 5 .496 16.0Toei Flyers 130 57 70 3 .450 22.0Kintetsu Pearls 130 29 97 4 .238 49.5
Events January January 6 – With the National League season set to begin in a little more than 90 days, Walter O'Malley, owner of the newly transplanted Los Angeles Dodgers, meets for the third time with Pasadena officials about using the Rose Bowl as the Dodgers' temporary home stadium. NL president Warren Giles supports O'Malley at the confab. The club will ultimately play at the LA Coliseum for four seasons while Dodger Stadium is under construction in Elysian Park. January 21 – For one season, the Philadelphia Phillies will enjoy an exclusive National League television deal in New York City. With NL fans in Gotham reeling over the loss of their teams—the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants—they will be able to see 78 Senior Circuit contests, including those the Phillies play against the Dodgers and Giants, on WOR–TV. Veteran announcer Al Helfer will handle play-by-play. January 23 – The Boston Red Sox acquire infielder and future two-time American League batting champion (, ) Pete Runnels from the Washington Senators for first baseman Norm Zauchin and outfield prospect Albie Pearson. January 24 – Mary Louise Smith, widow of late pharmaceutical executive and Dodgers' co-owner John L. Smith, sells her 25 percent share in the club to Walter O'Malley, who now holds 75 percent of the team's stock. January 28 Dodger catcher Roy Campanella suffers a broken neck in an early morning auto accident on Long Island. His spinal column is nearly severed and his legs are permanently paralyzed. Only 36 years old, the Brooklyn immortal will never play for the Dodgers in Los Angeles; he will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969, his #39 uniform will be retired, and he will work for the Dodgers as a goodwill ambassador from 1977 until his death in 1993. The Detroit Tigers acquire third baseman Ozzie Virgil Sr. and first baseman Gail Harris from the San Francisco Giants for third baseman Jim Finigan and $25,000. Virgil, who in 1956 became the first native of the Dominican Republic to play in the majors, will break the Tigers' color line on June 6. January 29 – The Cleveland Indians claim first baseman Mickey Vernon off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.
February February 4 – The Baseball Hall of Fame fails to elect any new members for the first time since . February 6 – Ted Williams signs a one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox. Reports on the worth of the contract estimate from $135,000 to $150,000. Either way, Williams becomes the highest paid player in major league history. February 13 – By defeating Puerto Rico (3–3) today by a score of 2–0, Cuba captures its third consecutive Caribbean Series, four games to two. For the second straight year, Cuba's championship is delivered by its Marianao club. Earl Battey of the Chicago White Sox, playing for Venezuela, is series MVP. Cuba's winning runs cross the plate in the top of the ninth inning; future ChiSox hurler Bob Shaw wins the clincher. February 18 – The Detroit Tigers trade left-hander Hal Woodeshick and catcher Jay Porter to the Cleveland Indians for southpaw Hank Aguirre and longtime Cleveland catcher Jim Hegan.
March March 5 – Six-foot, seven-inch (2.01 m) Ohio State University outfielder Frank Howard enters professional baseball by signing a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. March 21 – Don Mueller, regular right-fielder for the New York Giants for the past eight seasons, won't keep that job in San Francisco after the Giants send the 30-year-old to the Chicago White Sox for cash considerations. Rookie Willie Kirkland will start in Mueller's old post on Opening Day 1958. March 30 – The Chicago Cubs sell the contract of left-hander Dick Littlefield to the Milwaukee Braves. The deal cements Littlefield's status as one of the most well-traveled players of the reserve clause era that restricted player movement: counting his brief time on the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1956–1957 winter roster (via a trade nullified by Jackie Robinson's retirement), the Braves are Littlefield's tenth MLB team, representing 63 percent of the 16 franchises in existence in 1958.
April
April 1 – After acquiring him in the offseason, the Baltimore Orioles trade future Hall-of-Fame outfielder Larry Doby and pitcher Don Ferrarese to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for pitcher Bud Daley and outfielders Gene Woodling and Dick Williams. Doby has spent 1956 and 1957 with the Chicago White Sox; this trade reunites him with the city and team where he broke the color line in the American League in July 1947, won a World Series, and spent the first nine seasons of his AL career. April 3 – New York Giants legend Bobby Thomson is traded to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder Bob Speake and cash in a spring training transaction. Thomson, 34 and the hero of the Giants' 1951 season, is traded before he can play an official game in a San Francisco uniform. April 15 – In the first Major League Baseball game played on the West Coast, Rubén Gómez of the homestanding San Francisco Giants hurls an 8–0 shutout against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. Giants' shortstop Daryl Spencer hits the first MLB home run on the Pacific Coast. A park-record 23,192 fans pack Seals Stadium, a minor league facility that will house the Giants in 1958–1959, to witness the historic game. April 17 Eddie Mathews hits two home runs and knocks in five runs, to lead the Milwaukee Braves to a 6–1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee County Stadium. Mathews had also hit a pair of homers against the Pirates to start the season, as he becomes the first major league player to begin a season with consecutive two-homer games. The mark will be matched by Barry Bonds, who also hit a pair of homers in each of the San Francisco Giants first two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers to start the 2002 season.Eddie Mathews – 1958 Batting Gamelog. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on January 20, 2018. The Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Athletics trade pitchers, with Cleveland dealing left-hander Bud Daley to Kansas City for righty Arnie Portocarrero. April 18 – Before 78,672 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a National League record for a regular-season game, the Dodgers play host to the Giants in Los Angeles' first-ever big-league contest. Veteran hurler Carl Erskine goes eight innings and rookie third baseman Dick Gray hits the Dodgers' first home run in the Coliseum's makeshift, misshapen baseball configuration, as Los Angeles wins, 6–5. April 25 – The Dodgers draw 60,635, a major-league record for a regular-season night game, to their 5–3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at the LA Coliseum.
May May 9 – Ted Kluszewski's home run in the bottom of the 12th off Robin Roberts breaks up a scoreless duel and enables the Pittsburgh Pirates to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1–0. Ron Kline hurls the 12-inning shutout for Pittsburgh. May 11 – St. Louis Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson sets a National League record by using ten pinch hitters during a doubleheader. Despite walking 14 batters in game one, St. Louis manages to top the Chicago Cubs, 8–7, and follow in game two with a 6–5 win. The Cardinals will tie their own record against the Pirates on July 13. May 12 – Willie Mays hits the first grand slam in San Francisco Giants history. Mays also belts another home run in a 12–3 victory over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. May 13 San Francisco Giants teammates Willie Mays and Daryl Spencer each have four extra-base hits as San Francisco drubs the Dodgers in Los Angeles, 16–9. Mays hits two home runs, two triples, a single and drives in four runs; Spencer has two home runs, a triple, a double and six RBI for a combined 28 total bases. The Giants amass 26 hits, most by any MLB team in a game this season."Top Team Performances of 1958." Retrosheet. For this four-game, home-and-home Giants–Dodgers series, Mays goes 12 for 17 (.706), including seven homers, with a OPS of 2.997."1958 SF N Regular Season Batting Log for Willie Mays." Retrosheet. Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals collects his 3,000th career hit with his pinch-hit double off Chicago Cubs pitcher Moe Drabowsky at Wrigley Field. The Cardinals win, 5–3. May 14 – The Kansas City Athletics purchase the contract of outfielder Whitey Herzog, 26, from the Washington Senators. May 20 – The St. Louis Cardinals trade veteran shortstop Alvin Dark to the Chicago Cubs for right-hander Jim Brosnan. Dark, 36, is a three-time former NL All-Star. May 23 – Willie Mays hits his 200th career home run, a two-run shot off Warren Spahn in the ninth inning of a game against the Milwaukee Braves at Milwaukee County Stadium. The home run drives in the decisive runs of the game, as the San Francisco Giants down the Braves, 5–3. May 31 – Milwaukee sluggers Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Wes Covington hit one home run apiece on three consecutive pitches against Pittsburgh Pirates starter Ron Kline as the Braves win, 8–3.
June June 3 Voters in Los Angeles approve "Proposition B" by 25,785 votes (out of 670,000 ballots cast), which enables the Dodgers' acquisition of land in Chavez Ravine to move forward. Privately built and owned Dodger Stadium will be constructed on that site and open in 1962. The San Francisco Giants sign 19-year-old amateur free agent pitcher Gaylord Perry to a $60,000 bonus contract after his standout high-school career in Williamston, North Carolina.