Headline Events of the Year First radio broadcast of the World Series. Babe Ruth breaks Roger Connor's All-Time Home Run record of 138.
Champions World Series: New York Giants over New York Yankees (5–3)
Statistical leaders American League National League Negro National League Stat Player Total Player Total Player Total AVG Harry Heilmann (DET) .394 Rogers Hornsby (STL) .397 Oscar Charleston1 (SLG) .433 HR Babe Ruth (NYY) 59 George Kelly (NYG) 23 Oscar Charleston1 (SLG) 15 RBI Babe Ruth (NYY) 168 Rogers Hornsby (STL) 126 Oscar Charleston1 (SLG) 91 W Carl Mays (NYY)Urban Shocker (SLB) 27 Wilbur Cooper (PIT)Burleigh Grimes (BRO) 22 Dave Brown (CAG)Bill Drake (SLG) 17 ERA Red Faber (CWS) 2.48 Bill Doak (STL) 2.59 Bullet Rogan (KCM) 1.72 K Walter Johnson (WSH) 143 Burleigh Grimes (BRO) 136 Bill Holland (DTS/CAG) 140 1 Negro National League Triple Crown batting winner
Major League baseball final standings American League final standings
National League final standings
Negro Leagues final standings All Negro leagues standings below are per MLB and Seamheads. Negro National League final standings This was the second overall season of the first Negro National League. Chicago repeated as pennant champion.
West (independent teams) final standings A loose confederation of teams were gathered in the West which were not in the Negro National League. These teams did not organize a formal league. vs. All Teams Western Independent Clubs W L T Pct. GBCleveland Tate Stars202411½Homestead Grays341—Pittsburgh Keystones121824½
East (independent teams) final standings A loose confederation of teams was gathered in the East to compete with the West, however East teams did not organize a formal league as the West did. vs. All Teams Eastern Independent Clubs W L T Pct. GBHilldale Club27181—Atlantic City Bacharach Giants44363½New York Lincoln Giants121003½Cuban Stars (East)10904Baltimore Black Sox4404½Brooklyn Royal Giants5806All Cubans41208½
Playoffs Chicago, the best team of the "West" and Hilldale, the best team of the "East Coast", engaged in a "postseason series" that was played over eleven days in three states (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey). It was the first postseason series between two Negro league teams in eight years and it would be the first of six held in the 1920s. Hilldale won three games against Chicago winning two while Game 4 ended in a tie.
Events January January 23 – The Chicago Cubs release first baseman Fred Merkle. January 25 – The Chicago Cubs released infielder Buck Herzog. Herzog never again played in the major leagues.
February March March 12 – Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspends eight members of the Chicago White Sox club for their alleged involvement in the fixing of the 1919 World Series. The group includes outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson, who batted .375 in the Series. Others players banned are Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams. None of them will ever play in organized baseball again.
April April 13: George Toporcer debuts at second base for the St. Louis Cardinals. Nicknamed "Specs", he is the first-position player to wear eyeglasses on the field. In the season opener, New York Yankees left fielder Babe Ruth goes five-for-five with two doubles, two runs batted in and a run scored to lead the Yankees to an 11–1 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics at the Polo Grounds. April 24 – Shortstop Ralph Miller hits a single and draws a walk, and is the only base runner as the Philadelphia Phillies are one-hit by Phil Douglas and the New York Giants.
May May 15 – Goose Goslin makes his MLB debut for the Washington Senators, going 1 for 3. Goslin would go one to become one of the few star players for the franchise and eventually be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. May 22 – In their first meeting of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the New York Giants 8–6 at the Polo Grounds, to improve their record to 25–6 and to increase their lead over the second-place Giants to 4.5 games. After trailing for most of the game, the Pirates scored twice in the eighth and six times in the ninth. May 30 – There are eight doubleheaders on the major league schedule, with all four NL contests resulting in a sweep; the Pittsburgh Pirates sweep the Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field, the New York Giants sweep the Philadelphia Phillies at the Polo Grounds, the St. Louis Cardinals sweep the Cincinnati Reds at Redland Field and the Boston Braves sweep the Brooklyn Dodgers at Braves Field. Meanwhile, in the American League, the Boston Red Sox are swept by the A's in Philadelphia, and the St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox split a pair at Comiskey Park, the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers split a pair at Navin Field, and the New York Yankees and Washington Senators split a pair at Griffith Stadium. Highlights of the doubleheaders include a two-hitter by the Senators' George Mogridge and a sixteen-inning marathon between the Braves and Dodgers.
June June 13 – Babe Ruth pitches the first five innings and hit two home runs in an 11–8 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
July July 8 – Tigers right fielder Harry Heilmann hits a 610-foot home run July 12 – Babe Ruth hits his 33rd and 34th home run of the season. His 33rd home run gave him 136 career home runs, tying Roger Connor's all-time mark. His 34th home run makes him the all-time home run king, a title he will hold until .
August August 2 – The 8 White Sox players involved in the Black Sox Scandal (Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, and Lefty Williams) are all acquitted by a Chicago jury of conspiring to throw the 1919 World Series. August 3 – One day after their acquittal, the eight players involved in the Black Sox scandal are permanently banned from Major League Baseball by commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. August 5 – The Pittsburgh Pirates 8–5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Forbes Field is the first Major League game to be broadcast on radio. Harold Arlin calls the game for Pittsburgh station KDKA. August 9 – The St. Louis Browns defeat the Washington Senators 8–6 in nineteen innings. Dixie Davis pitches all nineteen innings for St. Louis. August 12 – Philadelphia Phillies pitcher George Smith gives up twelve hits and still hurling a shutout as the Phillies beat the Boston Braves 4–0. August 19 – Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers becomes the fourth player with 3,000 career hits. August 27 – With a 3–1 victory at the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants complete a five-game sweep of the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates to move within 2.5 games of first-place Pittsburgh. The Giants outscored the Pirates 27–6 in the series.
September September 9 – The Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox combine for thirty-five runs at Comiskey Park. The Tigers collect twenty hits and six walks on their way to scoring fifteen runs. However, the White Sox scored twenty runs on 22 hits, including a home run by Earl Sheely. September 16 In the first game of a crucial three-game series for first place in the National League, the New York Giants' Fred Toney holds the Pittsburgh Pirates to two hits in the Giants' 5–0 victory. Hall of Famer Goose Goslin makes his major league debut in the Washington Senators' 2–0 loss to the Cleveland Indians. September 17 – The New York Giants complete a ten-game winning streak that sees them go from a half-game back of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League to first place, 4.5 games up. September 20 – With a 4–2 victory over the Detroit Tigers, and a 7–4 loss by the Cleveland Indians at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees capture first place in the American League, and hold it for the remainder of the season. September 25 – The New York Yankees defeat the Cleveland Indians 21–7. Surprisingly, none of the 21 runs scored are driven in by Babe Ruth, who goes on to compile one of the greatest single seasons of batting in Major League baseball history by hitting 59 home runs, driving in 171 runs, scoring 177 runs with 204 hits for a .378 batting average in only 540 At-Bats. His On-base percentage for the season is .510 and his slugging percentage is an astounding .846 mark. Ruth's 59 home runs are more than the other seven American League team home run totals combined. September 29 – Future Hall of Fame outfielder Kiki Cuyler makes his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is held hitless in three at-bats by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bill Sherdel.
October October 2 – The Philadelphia Athletics lose 11–6 to the Washington Senators for their 100th loss of the season, giving both Philadelphia teams 100 losses for the season. October 5 – The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants 3–0 in the first World Series game in franchise history. The Series is the first to be broadcast on radio. Announcer Thomas Cowan recreated the game over Westinghouse-owned WJZ in Newark, listening to phoned-in reports from the stadium. October 6 – The Yankees defeat the Giants in the second game of the World Series by the same score of the first game, 3–0. October 7 – After having been outscored 10–0 in the World season, and falling behind 4–0 to the Yankees in game three, the Giants explode for thirteen runs, and defeat the Yankees 13–5. October 9 – The New York Giants even the 1921 World Series at two games apiece with a 4–2 victory. Babe Ruth homers in the bottom of the ninth. October 10 – Babe Ruth catches the New York Giants' infield off guard as the Yankee slugger bunts his way on to lead off the fourth inning. The strategy works, as Ruth scores the winning run in the Yankees' 3–1 victory. October 11 – The New York Giants battle back from 3–0 and 5–3 deficits to beat the Yankees 8–5 in game six of the World Series. October 12 – A costly error by second baseman Aaron Ward on a Johnny Rawlings ground ball leads to an unearned run, and is the difference in the Giants' 2–1 victory in game seven of the World Series. October 13 – The New York Giants defeat the New York Yankees, 1–0, in Game eight of the World Series to capture their second World Championship, five games to three. For the first time in World Series play, all games were held at one site: the Polo Grounds in New York, with the home team alternating. The Yankees sub-leased the Polo Grounds from the New York Giants from through .
November
December
Births January January 1: Royce Lint Doris Tetzlaff January 3 – Lucella MacLean January 7 – Ted Beard January 8: Herb Conyers Marv Rickert Johnny Tobin January 11 – Al Kvasnak January 19 – Mary Louise Lester January 21 – Ken Polivka January 28 – Julio Moreno
February February 1 – Dave Madison February 3 – Red Durrett February 8: Hoot Evers Willard Marshall February 12 – Don Bollweg February 13 – Pete Castiglione February 17: Muriel Coben Doyle Lade February 20 – Jack Robinson February 25 – Andy Pafko
March March 1: Howie Fox Art Frantz Frank Rosso March 2 – Dick Starr March 3 – Roy Nichols March 5 – Elmer Valo March 7 – Les Fusselman March 10: James Atkins Johnny Blatnik George Elder March 13 – Joe Rossi March 14 – Bill Kennedy March 20 – Bill Peterman March 22 – George Crowe March 29 – Ferris Fain March 30 – Dick Fowler
April April 1 – Red Murff April 3 – Dick Conger April 5 – Bobby Hogue April 7 – Frank Seward April 8 – Dee Sanders April 9 – Charlie Mead April 10 – Chuck Connors April 11 – Jim Hearn April 21: Vivian Anderson Bob Rinker April 23 – Warren Spahn April 26 – Gene Lambert April 27 – Mary Reynolds
May May 4 – Larry Drake May 6: Bob Chesnes Dick Wakefield May 18 – John Fick May 19 – John Carden May 20: Hal Newhouser Earl Rapp May 23 – Bill Drescher May 24 – Clancy Smyres
June June 7 – Bill McCahan June 9 – Ray Shore June 10 – Al Verdel June 13 – Nancy Warren June 17 – Dave Pope June 19 – Clara Cook June 23 – Ed Redys June 26 – Howie Pollet June 27: Hank Behrman Lou Kretlow June 28 – Steve Filipowicz