The following are the baseball events of the year 1969 throughout the world.
Expansion Fever
After the addition of the Los Angeles (now California) Angels and Washington Senators to the American League in 1961, and the New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s (now Astros) to the National League in 1962, Major League Baseball called for a further four-team expansion at the 1967 Winter Meetings. However, there was a complication: Missouri Senator Stuart Symington was irate over the seemingly shady deal to permit Kansas City Athletics owner Charles O. Finley to move his team to Oakland, California for the 1968 season. This happened even though Finley had just signed a new deal to play at Municipal Stadium at A.L. president Joe Cronin's behest, and Jackson County, Missouri, had just issued public bonds to build a new stadium, the future Kauffman Stadium.
Senator Symington drew up legislation to remove baseball's anti-trust exemption, and threatened to push it through if Kansas City did not get a new team. The Office of the Commissioner complied, and the American League agreed to put one of its new franchises in Kansas City. Ewing Kauffman won the bidding for the new franchise, and named it the Kansas City Royals. The other A.L. team was awarded to Seattle, Washington. A consortium led by Dewey Soriano and William Daley, the later of whom once tried to move the Cleveland Indians to Seattle, won the bidding for the Seattle Franchise, and named it the Seattle Pilots.
In the National League, they gave one franchise to San Diego, California, and the other to Montreal, Quebec, resulting in the first Major League franchise built outside the United States. C. Arnholdt Smith, former owner of the AAA Pacific Coast League's San Diego Padres, won the bidding for the San Diego franchise and named it the San Diego Padres. Charles Bronfman owner of Seagram, won the bidding for the Montreal franchise and named them the Montreal Expos.
As part of the expansion, each league was to be split into two divisions of six teams, and each league would have a new playoff level--the best-of-five American League and National League Championship Series. The teams were originally to be fielded in 1971, but further pressure from Senator Symington led to the expansion being hastened to take place in time for the 1969 season.
In a year marked by the Mets' miracle World Series run, both the Padres and Expos finished with 110 losses and at the bottom of their respective divisions. The Royals did better, finishing 69-93 and in fourth in the A.L. East. Even though the Pilots managed to avoid losing 100 games (they were 63-98), financial trouble would lead to a wrangle for team control, ending with bankruptcy and the sale of the team to Bud Selig and their move to Milwaukee for the 1970 season. The legal fallout of the battle would lead eventually to the expansion for the 1977 expansion.
Champions
Major League Baseball
Other champions
Awards and honors
MLB Statistical Leaders
Major League Baseball final standings
Events
- May 1 - The Houston Astros, no-hit the day before by Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds, answer back as Don Wilson pitches a 4-0 no-hitter, with 13 strikeouts over the Reds. Houston ties a National League record with just one assist. In Wilson's previous start against Cincinnati, on April 22, he gave up six runs in five innings in a 14-0 loss. The back-to-back no-hitters are only the second in Major League history, the feat having been accomplished just the year before by Gaylord Perry and Ray Washburn.
- July 8 - With three runs in the 9th inning, the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3, cutting Chicago's lead in the National League East to four games. Chicago's Ron Santo rips into center fielder for two misplays in the outfield; Santo apologizes the next day for criticizing Young, who had left early and didn't take the team bus. Santo is later booed in his first game back at Wrigley Field.
- August 14 - In the National League Eastern Division, the Chicago Cubs lead the St. Louis Cardinals by 8.5 games and the New York Mets by 9.5 games. The Mets win 38 out of their next 49 games, and the Cubs finish the season 8 games behind the Mets.
- September 24 - After 7 uninspired losing seasons, the New York Mets clinched the National League East title as Donn Clendenon hit 2 home runs in a 6-0 Mets win over the St. louis Cardinals.
Births
January-March
April-June
July-September
October-December
Deaths
- January 23 - Al Bridwell, 85, shortstop whose apparent game-winning single for the New York Giants in a 1908 contest led to the controversial play in which baserunner Fred Merkle was eventually called out for not touching second base
- February 19 - Doc White, 89, Chicago White Sox pitcher whose record of five consecutive shutouts was finally broken by Don Drysdale in 1968
- March 14 - Heinie Zimmerman, 82, third baseman who won the NL triple crown in 1912 but was barred from baseball in 1919 for his role in fixing games
- March 16 - William Bell, 71, All-Star pitcher of the Negro Leagues who posted the highest career winning percentage in black baseball
- March 21 - Pinky Higgins, 59, third baseman who held the AL record for career games at that position from 1944 to 1959, a 3-time All-Star and later manager of the Red Sox
- April 19 - Rip Collins, 59, catcher for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees in the 1940s
- May 5 - Eddie Cicotte, 84, pitcher who won 208 games for the Tigers, Red Sox and White Sox, but was thrown out of baseball as one of the eight "Black Sox" involved in fixing the 1919 World Series; he was the first of the eight to come forward, confessing his involvement and testifying before the grand jury
- May 17 - Pants Rowland, 90, manager of the 1917 World Series champion Chicago White Sox, later president of the Pacific Coast League from 1944 to 1954
- May 20 - Lee Allen, 54, historian at the Baseball Hall of Fame since 1959, former sportswriter
- July 8 - Bill Carrigan, 85, manager and backup catcher for the Boston Red Sox' world champions in 1915 and 1916
- September 29 - Tommy Leach, 91, third baseman and center fielder, primarily for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who led the NL in runs twice and home runs once
- October 2 - , 70, sportswriter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer from 1928 to 1964
- October 9 - Don Hoak, 41, third baseman who played on 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers and 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates World Series championship teams.
- November 14 - Curt Roberts, 40, first black player in Pittsburgh Pirates history
- November 15 - Billy Southworth, 76, manager who won World Series titles in 1942 and 1944 with the St. Louis Cardinals and the 1948 NL pennant with the Boston Braves, posting a .597 career winning percentage
- December 3 - Roy Wilson, 83, pitcher for the Chicago White Sox in the 1920s
- December 7 - Lefty O'Doul, 72, left fielder who batted .349 in his career and won two batting titles after being converted from a pitcher; became the winningest manager in Pacific Coast League history, and earned additional fame as the "father" of professional baseball in Japan