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The following are the baseball events of the year 1948 throughout the world.
Champions
Major League Baseball
Other champions
Awards and honors
MLB Statistical Leaders
Major League Baseball final standings
American League final standings
National League final standings
Negro League Baseball final standings
Negro National League final standings
- No standings were published.
- Baltimore won the first half, Washington won the second half.
Events
January-March
- January 29 - Commissioner Happy Chandler fines the Yankees, Cubs and Phillies $500 each for signing high school players.
April-June
July-September
- July 24 Four members of the Duluth club in the Northern League are killed, and 14 are injured, seven critically, in a bus-truck crash near St. Paul, Minnesota. All told, five are dead including manager George Treadwell, three players, and the driver of the truck. The injured include Mel McGaha, future major league manager in the 1960s, and Elmer Schoendienst, brother of Cardinals infielder Red Schoendienst. The tragedy recalls the 1946 bus crash involving the Spokane Indians baseball team which took the lives of nine players.
October-December
October 4 - The Red Sox defeat disappointed Boston fans who had been rooting the entire season for an all-Boston World Series between the AL Boston Red Sox and the NL Boston Braves. It was the 2nd time an All-Boston World Series had been thwarted as in 1890 when the NL champion Boston Beaneaters refused to meet the American Association champion Boston Reds in a proposed 1890 World Series due to inter-league squabbling over player contracts.
- November 30 - Shortstop/manager Lou Boudreau is selected the American League MVP. Boudreau had almost been traded to the St. Louis Browns earlier in the year, but protests by Indians fans kept him in Cleveland. After the World Series victory, Indians owner Bill Veeck commented: Sometimes the best trades are the ones you never make.
- December 2 - Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals is named National League Most Valuable Player. In one of the best season ever, Musial led the NL in batting average (.365), runs (135), RBI (131), hits (230), doubles (46), triples (18) and slugging pct. (.702). His 39 home runs were one short of Johnny Mize and Ralph Kiner.
Movies
Births
January-March
April-June
July-September
October-December
Deaths
- January 4 - Biff Schlitzer, 63, pitched from 1908 through 1914 for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox and Buffalo Blues
- January 30 - Herb Pennock, 53, pitcher who won 240 games, third most among AL left-handers, and had two 20-win seasons with the Yankees; general manager of the Phillies since 1943
- February 14 - Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, 71, pitcher whose loss of two fingers in a childhood accident gave him remarkable movement on pitches, winning 20 games six straight years for the Cubs and posting the lowest career ERA (2.06) in NL history
- March 1 - Rebel Oakes, 64, center fielder for seven seasons, 1909-1915, including two years as player-manager for the Pittsburgh Rebels of the Federal League.
- April 3 - Candy Jim Taylor, 64, third baseman and manager of the Negro Leagues
- July 27 - Joe Tinker, 68, Hall of Fame shortstop best remembered as part of famed Chicago Cubs infield which led team to 4 pennants between 1906 and 1910
- August 14 - Phil Collins, 46, pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals between 1923 and 1935
- August 16 - Babe Ruth, 53, Hall of Fame right fielder and pitcher who was the greatest star in baseball history, holding records for most home runs in a season (60) and lifetime (714), as well as most career RBI (2,213); lifetime .342 hitter also posted a 94-46 record and 2.28 ERA as a pitcher while playing for seven champions; won 1923 MVP award, at a time when AL rules prohibited winning it more than once
- August 20 - Walter Blair, 64, catcher for the New York Highlanders and later played in the Federal League. Played a total of seven seasons from 1907 to 1915.
- August 29 - Charlie Graham, 70, catcher for the 1906 Boston Red Sox, who later became manager and owner of the PCL San Francisco Seals
- September 3 - Bert Husting, 60, two-star in the 1890s University of Wisconsin teams, later pitched for the Pirates, Brewers, Americans and Athletics from 1900 to 1902
- October 8 - Al Orth, 76, pitcher who won 204 games with Phillies, Senators and Yankees while often batting .300
- October 24 - Jack Thoney, 68, well-traveled outfielder/infielder who played from 1902 through 1911 for the Cleveland Bronchos, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators, New York Highlanders and Boston Red Sox
- October 31 - Dick Redding, 58, star pitcher of the Negro Leagues who set numerous strikeout records and pitched several no-hitters
- November 23 - Hack Wilson, 48, center fielder who set NL record for home runs (56) and major league record for RBI (191) in spectacular 1930 season for the Cubs; won four home run titles
- November 30 - Frank Bowerman, 79, catcher and battery-mate for Christy Mathewson on the New York Giants, who also played for the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates, and later managed the 1909 Boston Doves
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