January 31 - Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voids the Oakland Athletics' trade of Vida Blue to the Cincinnati Reds, citing the "best interests of baseball" clause. As compensation, the A's send Doug Bair to the Reds for minor-league prospect Dave Revering.
March 17 – At Al Lopez Field in Tampa, Florida, the Cincinnati Reds host the New York Yankees in a Spring training match-up wearing green uniforms in honor of St. Patrick's Day. In, the Boston Red Sox become the second team to adopt this tradition.
April 13 – The New York Yankees defeat the Chicago White Sox 4–2 in their home opener on Reggie Candy Bar Day. Reggie Jackson slugs a 3-run home run in the first inning, and the field is showered with candy bars which were given out free to the fans at the game.
April 16 – The St. Louis Cardinals' Bob Forsch hurls a no-hitter in beating the Philadelphia Phillies 5–0. Forsch walks 2 and strikes out 3 in pitching the first home no-hitter by a Cardinal since Jesse Haines in. His brother, the Houston Astros' Ken Forsch, will toss a no-hitter the following season against the Atlanta Braves — making them the first big league brothers to each toss a no-hitter.
April 20 – With two out in the top of the fourth inning, the Atlanta Braves' Jeff Burroughs hits a ground ball up the middle that San Diego Padres rookie shortstopOzzie Smith dives for behind second base. As he was in the air, the ball hits the base and caroms behind Smith. As he is diving in the opposite direction, Smith reaches out with his bare hand and catches the ball. He bounces up, and throws Burroughs out at first. The Padres win the game 2–0.
May 5 – Pete Rose singles off Montreal's Steve Rogers for career hit 3,000 and gets a hug at first base from former teammate Tony Pérez. The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds 4–3.
May 14 – With the Chicago Cubs losing 7–5 to the Los AngelesDodgers, Dave Kingman hits a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings. Kingman, who had also homered in the sixth, hits his third home run of the day in the fifteenth inning to give the Cubs a 10–7 victory over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, and end his day with eight RBIs. Following the game, Paul Olden, a reporter for radio station KLAC in Los Angeles asks Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, "What's your opinion of Kingman's performance?" during his post-game interview. Lasorda goes off in a now-famous obscenity-laced tirade.
May 20 – At Olympic Stadium, Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits two home runs off Wayne Twitchell in a 6–0 victory over the Montreal Expos. His second is a 535-foot shot in the fourth inning that lands in the upper deck — the only fair ball ever to be hit there.
June 14 – Pete Rose starts his 44-game hitting streak by collecting two hits in the Cincinnati Reds' 3–1 win over the Chicago Cubs.
June 16 –
In his 12th major league season speckled with near-misses, Cincinnati's Tom Seaver finally hurls a no-hitter. The Cardinals are the 4–0 victims as Seaver strikes out 3 batters.
June 17 – The Yankees' Ron Guidry strikes out 18 batters — 15 in 6 innings — in a 4–0 shutout of the California Angels, setting an American League record for left-handers. The victory raises the New York Yankee southpaw's record to 11–0.
June 30 – In the first game of a 10–9, 10–5 doubleheader loss to the Atlanta Braves, the San Francisco Giants' Willie McCovey hits his 500th career home run, off Braves pitcher Jamie Easterly. McCovey becomes the 12th member of the 500th home run club. Giant Mike Ivie adds his 2nd pinch grand slam of the year in the opener. Giant Jack Clark has 3 runs in the 2 games.
July 11 – At San Diego, the National League wins the All-Star Game over the American League, 7–3. Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey earns the MVP trophy. Vida Blue starts for the NL, becoming the first pitcher to start for both leagues in the All-Star Game. Blue also started in 1971 and 1975 for the American League.
July 13 – Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver lock up for the second time since Seaver's trade to the Cincinnati Reds. Koosman and the Mets beat Seaver and the Reds, 4–2. Only one of the three runs Seaver gives up is earned.
July 17 – The Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Yankees 9-7 in 11 innings, but the game is remembered for Reggie Jackson ignoring signs from third-base coach Dick Howser with the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 10th. With Thurman Munson on first, manager Billy Martin wanted Jackson to sacrifice bunt. Jackson made a half-hearted attempt with the first pitch, and Martin removed the bunt sign. Jackson, however, defied Martin and still attempted a bunt, but ended up striking out. Jackson was suspended by Martin for five games.
July 21:
*As Reggie Jackson was returning from suspension, Billy Martin says in a post-game interview about Jackson and Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, "One's a born liar, and the other's convicted." Martin later appears on live television tearfully announcing his resignation from the Yankees, although some sources believed Steinbrenner actually fired him. Bob Lemon is named Yankee manager for the remainder of the season.
*Cleveland Indians starter Mike Paxton strikes out four batters in the fifth inning of an 11–0 win over the Seattle Mariners.
July 26 – Johnny Bench hits his 300th career home run.
August 1 – The Atlanta Braves trounce the Cincinnati Reds, 16–4, and stop Pete Rose's hitting streak at 44 games. Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber are the Atlanta pitchers. Rose goes 0-for-4, including striking out in the 9th inning to end the game. Rose's streak is the second-longest in major league history. He goes 70-for-182 during the skein.
August 5 – At Old-timers Day at Yankee Stadium, recently fired Billy Martin is announced as the New York Yankees' manager for the 1980 season.
August 20 – Before the Los Angeles Dodgers' game against the New York Mets, Steve Garvey and Don Sutton engage in a clubhouse fistfight over comments made by Sutton in an interview with The Washington Post about Garvey being the "All-American boy".
September–December
September 5 – The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs 10–8 in a 9-inning game that sees a Major-League record 45 players participate.
September 7 – The "Boston Massacre" begins. The Boston Red Sox enter today's opening game of a four-game series in Boston with a four-game lead over the New York Yankees; a lead which had been fourteen games just weeks earlier. The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 15–3, and go on to sweep the series, erasing the Red Sox lead in the American League East Division.
September 14 – 39-year-old Atlanta Braves pitcher Jim Bouton earns his 62nd and final big league victory, a 4–1 win over the San Francisco Giants. Bouton is best known as the author of the baseball diary Ball Four.
September 20 – The Yankees' Ron Guidry suffers his third and final loss in a stellar 25-3, Cy Young Award-winning season. The Yankees are defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays with left-hander Mike Willis the winning pitcher. All three of Guidry's losses in 1978 were to left-handers named "Mike": Mike Caldwell, Mike Flanagan, and Willis.
September 23 – Following a dinner party in Gary, Indiana, California Angels outfielder Lyman Bostock was killed while riding in a car with several others. The estranged husband of a woman in the car fired a single shotgun blast into the car, killing Bostock. Bostock was 27 years old.
September 30 – The Philadelphia Phillies overcame a first-inning grand slam by Willie Stargell to beat the host Pittsburgh Pirates, their in-state rivals, 10–8, to clinch their third straight National League East Title. Winning pitcher Randy Lerch contributes two home runs to his cause. The loss snaps the Pirates' streak of 24 straight wins at Three Rivers Stadium.
October 1
*Gaylord Perry of the San Diego Padres records his 3000th career strikeout.
*Led by home runs from Rick Burleson and Jim Rice, and Luis Tiant's two-hit pitching, the Boston Red Sox shut out the Toronto Blue Jays 5–0 at Fenway Park, closing out the regular season with an eight-game winning streak. They will have to play a one-game playoff at Fenway the very next day against the New York Yankees, whom they had led by as many as 14 games in July, as the Cleveland Indians and Rick Waits defeat the Yankees 9–2 at Yankee Stadium. News of the Indians' victory is announced on Fenway Park's video screen with the words "THANK YOU, RICK WAITS – GAME TOMORROW."
October 2 – Bucky Dent's crucial 7th-inning home run helps the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 5–4, in a one-game playoff for the American League East title. It is another defining moment in the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry. With Kansas City, Los Angeles and Philadelphia also having won their divisions, all four defending division winners repeat. Ron Guidry closes out the year with a 25–3 record, but not before giving up a home run to Carl Yastrzemski—the only one he will allow to a left-handed hitter all season.
October 7 – The Los Angeles Dodgers win the National League Championship Series, 3 games to 1, with a 4–3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Bill Russell's 10th-inning, two-out single scores Ron Cey with the winning run. A walk to Cey and a routine liner that Garry Maddox muffs in center field sets up Russell's game-winner. Dusty Baker collects four hits for the Dodgers.
October 17 – The New York Yankees win their fourth straight game, 7–2, to clinch their second consecutive World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent is named Series MVP.
November 28 – The Cincinnati Reds dismiss their nine-year manager, Sparky Anderson, who had led the team to five NL Division titles, four NL Championship pennants, two World Championships, and averaged 96 wins per season. Anderson will become the manager of the Detroit Tigers in, replacing Les Moss.
January 7 – George H. Burns, 84, first baseman for five AL teams who batted.307 lifetime and won 1926 MVP award with the Cleveland Indians
January 13 – Bill Clowers, 79, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in the 1920s
January 13 – Merwin Jacobson, 83, backup outfielder for the New York Giants, Chicago Cubs and Brooklyn Robins between 1915 and 1927
January 13 – Joe McCarthy, 90, Hall of Fame manager who led the New York Yankees to eight pennants and record seven World Series titles; also won 1929 NL pennant with Chicago Cubs, and was first manager to capture titles in both leagues; 2125 career wins ranked 4th in major league history, and winning percentages of.615 and.698 were both records
January 27 – Monte Pearson, 69, All-Star pitcher who won 100 games, mainly with the Indians and Yankees.
January 28 – Larry Raines, 47, middle infielder and third baseman for the Cleveland Indians from 1957 to 1958, who is recognized for having been the first ballplayer to perform professionally in Minor League Baseball, Negro League baseball, Japanese Baseball and the major leagues.
February
February 3 – Mike Herrera, 80, second baseman for the Boston Red Sox from 1925–26, and one of the first men to play in both the major leagues and the negro leagues.
February 23 – Vic Harris, 72, outfielder and manager in the Negro Leagues who guided the Homestead Grays to seven Negro National League pennants, including five in a row from 1937 to 1941; played in six East-West All-Star games between 1933 and 1947.
March
March 12 – Gene Moore, 68, All-Star right fielder known for his accurate arm
March 21 – Fritz Coumbe, 88, a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Naps and Indians and the Cincinnati Reds between 1914 and 1921.
March 30 – Billy Cox, 58, third baseman, mainly with the Brooklyn Dodgers, well known for his spectacular defense.
April
April 8 – Ford Frick, 83, Hall of Fame executive who served as commissioner from 1951 to 1965 and was the National League president from 1935 to 1951, serving also as ghostwriter for Babe Ruth while a sportswriter, ruling in 1961 that home run records of Ruth and Roger Maris would be recorded separately based on season length.
April 14 – Joe Gordon, 63, nine-time All-Star second baseman in 11 seasons for the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians, who won the 1942 MVP award, while setting an American Leaguee record of 246 home runs at his position, later a manager and scout.
April 15 – Nick Cullop, 78, outfielder for the New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Robins and Cincinnati Reds, and also a longtime player/manager at minor league level.
April 20 – Jack Graney, 91, Canadian left fielder who played his entire career with the Cleveland Naps and Indians teams, best known the first batter to face Boston Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth in a Major League Baseball game, on July 11, 1914.
May 29 – Carl Reynolds, 75, outfielder for five teams who batted.302 lifetime.
May
May 1 – Claude Corbitt, 62, infield utility who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds in a span of four seasons from 1945–1949.
May 8 – Red Smith, 73, two-sport star at Notre Dame before becoming a player and coach in both professional baseball and professional football, while debuting as a catcher for the New York Giants of the National League in 1927 and later playing with the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League.
May 16 – Mike Wilson, 81, catcher for the 1921 Pittsburgh Pirates.
May 20 – Bob Logan, 68, pitcher who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Braves in all or part of five seasons between 1935 and 1945.
May 22 – Pete Susko, 73, first baseman for the Washington Senators in its 1934 season.
May 26 – Harris McGalliard, 71, Japanese Baseball League catcher who played for Nagoya and the Korakuen Eagles from 1936–1938.
May 29 – Carl Reynolds, 75, fine outfielder and consistent hitter who played from 1927 through 1939 for the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, ending his career with a.302 batting average, including 1357 hits, 80 home runs and 699 runs batted in 1,222 games.
June
June 2 – Bob McGraw, 83, pitcher for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Brooklyn Robins, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies in a span of nine seasons from 1917–1929.
June 20 – Bill Dietrich, 68, pitcher who played from 1933 through 1948 for the Philadelphia Athletics, Washington Senators Chicago White Sox, whose no-hitter over the St. Louis Browns in 1937 lifted the helpless White Sox in their race for the American League pennant.
June 28 – Johnny Schulte, 81, backup catcher for five teams in all of his five years in the Major Leagues between 1923 and 1932, being also a member of the 1929 National League pennant-winning Chicago Cubs, and later a coach during 15 full seasons for the New Yankees from 1934 to 1948.
June 30 – Dummy Lynch, 52, second baseman for the 1948 Chicago Cubs.
July
July 1 – Joe Vance, 72, pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees in parts of three seasons between 1935 and 1938.
July 24 – Joel Hunt, 72, Hall of Fame football player and coach, who also played in the majors as an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1932.
July 29 – Charlie Bold, 83, Swedish first baseman who played for the St. Louis Browns in its 1914 season.
August
August 5 – Jesse Haines, 85, Hall of Fame pitcher who won 210 games, including a no-hitter, for the St. Louis Cardinals, while compiling three 20-win seasons, and two wins in the 1926 World Series.
August 14 – Maury Newlin, 64, pitcher who played with the St. Louis Browns in the 1940 and 1941 seasons.
August 15 – Ed Chaplin, 84, catcher for the Boston Red Sox between 1920 and 1922.
August 18 – George Harper, 86, outfielder for six teams in five seasons between 1943 and 1950, who hit.300 or higher in three of these seasons.
August 30 – Ed Sicking, 81, middle infielder and third baseman who played for the Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates over part of five seasons from 1916–1927.
September
September 11 – Mike Gazella, 82, utility infielder for the New York Yankees in four seasons between 1923 and 1928, being a member of three World Series champion teams and one AL pennant winner.
September 11 – Snipe Hansen, 71, pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Browns in a span of four seasons from 1930–1935).
September 15 – Larry Bettencourt, 72, outfielder and third baseman who played for the St. Louis Browns in three seasons from 1928–1932, and later served as a center for the NFL Green Bay Packers in 1933.
September 16 – Bill Foster, 74, star pitcher in the Negro Leagues where he was a dominant left-hander, and later a head coach at Alcorn State University for two decades.
September 24 – Lyman Bostock, 27, finest defensive outfielder and excellent bases runner, who hit.323 and.336 during his first two full big league seasons with the Minnesota Twins from 1976-1977, whose promising career was cut short by a gunshot, being victim of a meaningless and accidental homicide.
October
October 1 – Abe White, 74, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1937.
October 8 – Jim Gilliam, 49, two-time All-Star second baseman for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers teams from 1953–1966, who won four World Series rings with the franchise, and also received Rookie of the Year Award honors both in the Negro Leagues and the National League, as his jersey #19 was retired by the Dodgers.
October 13 – George Jeffcoat, 64, pitcher who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Boston Braves in four seasons between 1936 and 1943.
October 16 – Eddie Stumpf, 84, Minor league player, manager, coach, scout and executive in a career that spanned more than four decades.
October 25 – Molly Craft, 82, pitcher who played from 1916 through 1919 for the Washington Senators.
October 27 – Rube Walberg, 82, pitcher who won 155 games, primarily with the Philadelphia Athletics.
October 30 – Reese Diggs, 63, pitcher who appeared in four games for the Washington Senators in the 1934 season.
November
November 5 – Tommy O'Brien, 59, backup outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators in a span of five seasons from 1943–1950.
November 8 – Steve Gerkin, 75, 32-year-old rookie pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Athletics in its 1945 season, one of many ballplayers who only appeared in the major leagues during World War II.
November 12 – Buzz Boyle, 70, outfielder for the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers during five seasons spanning 1929–1935, who led all National League outfielders in assists in 1934 and also had a 25-game hitting streak that year, while later managing in the minors for a long time, including a stint between in 1946 with the Muskegon Lassies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
November 12 – Roy Elsh, 87, backup outfielder for the Chicago White Sox over part of two seasons from 1923–1925.
November 12 – George Shears, 88, pitcher for the 1912 New York Highlanders.
November 13 – Les Powers, 69, first baseman who played with the New York Giants in 1938 and for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1939.
November 16 – Harry Matuzak, 68, pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1936 and 1938 seasons.
November 23 – Buck Ross, 63, pitcher who played from 1936 through 1945 for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox.
November 29 – Al Williamson, 78, pitcher for the 1928 Chicago White Sox.
December
December 8 – Nick Cullop, 78, backup outfielder who played for the New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Robins and Cincinnati Reds over part of five seasons spanning 1926–1931.
December 9 – Dick Siebert, 66, All-Star first baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics who twice batted.300, and later coached at the University of Minnesota for 31 years, while winning three College World Series titles.
December 11 – Paul O'Dea, 78, two-way player who performed for the Cleveland from 1944 to 1945 and later scouted and managed in the Indians minor league system.
December 12 – Nick Dumovich, 76, pitcher for the 1923 Chicago Cubs.
December 20 – Willard Mullin, 76, cartoonist whose caricature of the Brooklyn Bum personified the Dodgers franchise.
December 21 – Joe Mathes, 87, second baseman who played for the Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Terriers and Boston Braves in a span of three seasons from 1912–1916, and later managed in the minor leagues off and on from 1919 through 1934.
December 24 – George McQuinn, 68, seven-time All-Star first baseman for the St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees, who had 34-game hitting streak in 1938.
December 24 – Bill Rodgers, 91, second baseman who played between 1915 and 1916 for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds.
December 29 – Walt Alexander, 87, backup who played for the St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees in part of four seasons from 1912–1917.
December 31 – Tod Davis, 54, infielder and pinch-hitter who played for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1949 and 1951 seasons.
