1923 In Baseball

Champions

*World Series: New York Yankees over New York Giants (4–2)

Awards and honors

* League Award
**Babe Ruth, New York Yankees, OF

Statistical leaders

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

National League final standings

Negro leagues final standings

Negro National League final standings

†Memphis was not in the league but their games counted in the standings.

Eastern Colored League final standings

Events

January

*January 3 – The New York Yankees selects two rookies from the Boston Red Sox; pitcher George Pipgras and outfielder Harvey Hendrick in exchange for backup catcher Al DeVormer. Then 27 days later, the Red Sox continue to feed the Yankees by sending them pitcher Herb Pennock for infielder Norm McMillan, outfielder Camp Skinner, pitcher George Murray, and $50,000 cash.

February

*February 2 – Red Schoendienst is born in Germantown, Illinois. Primarily a second baseman, Schoendienst will hit .289 during a 19-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and Milwaukee Braves. He will win election to the Hall of Fame in 1989.
*February 20 - Christy Mathewson, along with Emil Fuchs, purchase the Boston Braves franchise for $300,000. Matthews is named as team president, though failing health reduces Matthewson's role to just a figurehead and he turns over the role of team president to Fuchs at the end of the season.

March

*March 6 – The St. Louis Cardinals announce that their players will wear numerals on their uniforms and number them according to the batting order, but it does not happen this season.
*March 8 - Pitcher Rube Benton is reinstated by Commissioner Landis even though Benton admitted to having prior knowledge regarding the 1919 world Series fix.

April

*April 3 - Swede Risberg and Happy Felsch sue the Chicago White Sox seeking back salary and an addition $400,000 in damages. Though acquitted on charges they fixed the 1919 World Series, both players were banned for life.
*April 7 – The longest National League opener (to date) took place with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies battling head-to-head for a grueling, fourteen innings and a 5–5 tie.
*April 18- The New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox, 4–1, in the very first game at old Yankee Stadium. In the third inning, Babe Ruth hits the stadium's first-ever home run, a shot off Howard Ehmke with Whitey Witt and Joe Dugan on base.
*April 20 – In a 5–3 loss to the St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers future Hall of Famer Heinie Manush makes his major league debut, and hits a double in his only at-bat.
*April 23- The New York Yankees sign first baseman Lou Gehrig

May

*May 2 – Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson gets his 100th career shutout and New York Yankees shortstop Everett Scott gets a gold medal from the American League for playing in his 1,000th consecutive game. Scott began his streak on June 20, 1916. Washington defeats the Yankees, 3–0, as Johnson allows just three hits.
*May 11
**The Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals bash a game-record 10 home runs, as the Phillies beat the Cardinals, 20–14. Cy Williams hit three homers with seven RBI for Philadelphia, while teammate Johnny Mokan adds two homers, a double, and seven RBI. Besides, Les Mann belts two homers for St. Louis‚ and losing pitcher Bill Sherdel connects one. Overall, 23 batters hit safely with the two teams combining for 79 total bases. Williams now has 12 home runs, which tops the Major Leagues.
**In Pacific League action, Vernon Tigers outfielder Pete Schneider collects five home runs, including two grand slams and 14 runs batted in, in a 35–11 victory over the Salt Lake Bees. Vernon also adds a double that hits two feet from the top of the center field wall. A former Major League pitcher, Vernon won 20 games for the Cincinnati Reds in its 1917 season, while his five homers and 14 RBI, settled records in the Pacific League that still stands today.
*May 12 - The St. Louis Browns sell the contract of pitcher Sloppy Thurston to the Chicago White Sox.
*May 13 – Joe Sewell of the Cleveland Indians strikes out twice in one game for the first time in his career. Washington Senators rookie Cy Warmoth is the pitcher. In a 14-year career, Sewell will have only one other multiple strikeout game.
*May 18 - Benny Bengough makes his major debut for the New York Yankees in their 9–4 win over the St. Louis Browns. Bengough would serve as a back-up catcher on the Yankees 1927 Murders Row team.
*May 19 – For the first time in major league history, brothers on opposite teams hit home runs in the same game. Boston Red Sox catcher Rick Ferrell homers off his brother Wes Ferrell in the second inning, but the Cleveland Indians pitcher returns the favor as he homers in the third on a pitch called by his sibling. It is the only time that the Ferrell brothers homer in the same game.
*May 25 – Detroit Tigers legend Ty Cobb scored his 1,741 run to pass another legend, Pittsburgh Pirates' Honus Wagner. Cobb went on to hold ninety separate Major League records when he retired in 1928.

June

*June 1 – Heinie Groh, Ross Youngs and Jimmie O'Connell collects five hits apiece, a first in the 20th century, as the New York Giants score in all nine innings, setting also a Major League record, while beating the Philadelphia Phillies 22–8 at Baker Bowl. It has been done only once since in the National League by the St. Louis Cardinals (September 13,‚1964), but never in the American League. O'Connell hit three doubles, one home run‚and a single in his five safeties, good for seven runs batted in. Pitcher Claude Jonnard is credited with the win.
*June 3 – After pitching a complete game the day before, Detroit Tigers Herman Pillette relieves in the 8th inning against the Cleveland Indians with Detroit up, 7–5. Pillette allows both inherited runners to score, but the Tigers tally a run in the bottom of the 9th to give him his second win in two days.
*June 7 - The Boston Braves trade Hank Gowdy and Mule Watson to the New York Giants in exchange for Earl Smith and Jesse Barnes.
*June 15 – After going two-for-four with a double, two runs batted in and a run scored, New York Yankees star first baseman Wally Pipp is rested by manager Miller Huggins, allowing recently signed rookie Lou Gehrig to make his major league debut in the Yankees' 10–0 victory over the St. Louis Browns. Gehrig does not receive an at bat.
*June 23 through July 22 – The Cleveland Indians play 31 consecutive home games against the other American League teams, finishing their homestand with a 16–15 record.
*June 26 - Moe Berg, who would go on to be a spy for the United States during World War II, is signed by the Brooklyn Robins as a free agent.

July

*July 2 – Already down 7–0 to the St. Louis Browns, future Hall of Fame pitcher Ted Lyons makes his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox, and throws a perfect inning.
*July 7 – In the first game of a double header at Dunn Field, the Cleveland Indians set an American League record after scoring in every inning against the Boston Red Sox. The feat was completed in eight innings (the home team did not bat in the ninth). The Indians collected 24 hits and 14 walks, while scoring 13 runs in the sixth inning for an embarrassing 27–3 victory. Cleveland win the second game as well, 8–5.
*July 10 – In a doubleheader, St. Louis Cardinals rookie pitcher Johnny Stuart hurled two complete game victories over the Boston Braves, winning by scores of 11–1 and 6–3, while allowing three hits in the opener and 10 in the nightcap.
*July 11 – Harry Frazee, owner of the Boston Red Sox since 1916, sells the club for over $1 million to a group of Ohio businessmen. Veteran front office man Bob Quinn will run the Red Sox, and as team president he will work to restore the credibility of a franchise whose best players had been sold off by Frazee over the years.
*July 22 – Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators founds the 3,000 strikeout club.
*July 24 – New York Yankees pitcher Carl Mays beats the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, 9–2, setting an American League record with his 24th straight win. This also matches the Major League high of Christy Mathewson, who won 24 consecutive games in the National League.

August

*August 3 – All Major League Baseball games are postponed after the sudden death of U.S. President Warren G. Harding the night before.
*August 4 – Travis Jackson drives in eight runs on four hits to lead the New York Giants to a 14–4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
*August 13 – Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Max Carey steals second base, third base and home plate against the Brooklyn Robins. Carey will again lead the National League with 51 stolen bases and, equally fleet in the field, will garner 450 putouts and 28 assists in the season. Besides, Carey becomes the first outfielder in the majors to catch 400 or more putouts six times. Richie Ashburn will later do it nine times.
*August 15 – Washington Senators left-hander George Mogridge becomes the only pitcher in Major League history to steal home in extra innings, when he scores an insurance run in the 12th in a 5–1 win over the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park.
*August 17 – The New York Yankees edge the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park, 5–4. Babe Ruth hits his 31st home run in the 1st inning and adds a double in the 8th. After 111 games, Ruth is batting .401. He will wind up with his highest average at .393, leading the American League with 205 hits, 41 homers, 151 runs, a Major League record 170 walks, and will reach base a record 379 times en route to the AL MVP Award.

September

*September 4 – Sad Sam Jones pitches a no-hitter for the New York Yankees in a 2–0 win over the Philadelphia Athletics.
*September 7 – Boston Red Sox pitcher Howard Ehmke tosses a no-hitter in a 4–0 win over the Philadelphia Athletics, marking the second time in four days Philadelphia is no-hit.
*September 14 – Boston Red Sox first baseman George Burns completed the third unassisted triple play in Major League Baseball history during the second inning of a game against the Cleveland Indians, as he gathered in a Frank Brower line drive, tags Rube Lutzke coming from first base, and beat Riggs Stephenson while returning to second. Boston wins, 2–0.
*September 16 – A riot broke out at Wrigley Field after umpire Charley Moran made an out call at second base on Chicago Cubs' Sparky Adams. Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was in attendance and shook his cane at the angry mob, as Moran and the other officials were pelted by hundreds of empty bottles. After holding up play for over fifteen minutes, the game resumed with the visiting New York Giants winning, 10–6.
*September 17 – George Kelly of the New York Giants sets a major-league record by hitting home runs in three consecutive innings (3rd, 4th and 5th) against Chicago Cubs pitcher Vic Aldridge, as New York rolls to a 13–6 win. Kelly adds a single and double to run his total bases to 15 for the game. Kelly has now hit a record six homers off cousin Aldridge this year, a mark off one pitcher that will be tied by Ted Williams in the 1941 season, off Johnny Rigney, and Ted Kluszewski in 1954, off Max Surkont.
*September 24 – Future Hall of Famer Bill Terry makes his major league debut with the New York Giants in a 6–3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
*September 28 – The New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox by a difference of twenty runs at Fenway Park, 24–4.
*September 29 – Future Hall of Famer Hack Wilson makes his major league debut for the New York Giants in a 5–1 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

October

*October 6 – In the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Boston Braves shortstop Ernie Padgett turns the fourth unassisted triple play in Major League history in a 4–1 Braves win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
*October 10 – Game One of the 1923 World Series is won by the New York Giants on a ninth inning inside-the-park home run by Casey Stengel.
*October 11 – The New York Yankees win their first World Series game against the New York Giants in nine tries on two home runs by Babe Ruth. Going back to the 1921 World Series, they were 0-8-1, with a tie game in the 1922 World Series.
*October 12 – A solo home run by Casey Stengel in the seventh inning is the only run of the third game of the World Series.
*October 13 – The Yankees get off to an 8–0 lead in game four of the World Series, and win it, 8–3.
*October 14 – Joe Dugan hits the second inside-the-park home run of the World Series, as the Yankees defeat the Giants, 8–1.
*October 15 – The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants, 4–2, in Game 6 of the World Series to win their first World Championship, four games to two. The Yankees opened their new Yankee Stadium in April making it the third time that a team had inaugurated a new stadium with a World Series win. The three consecutive matchups between the Yankees and Giants (1921–1923) marked the only time, to date, that three straight World Series featured the same two clubs.

November

*November 12 – New York Giants owner and manager John McGraw trades outfielders Casey Stengel and Bill Cunningham along with shortstop Dave Bancroft to the Boston Braves in exchange for pitchers Joe Oeschger and Bill Southworth.
*December 11 – Pitcher Carl Mays is purchased by the Cincinnati Reds from the New York Yankees.

December

*December 13 – Boston Braves acquire second baseman Cotton Tierney from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for shortstop Hod Ford and outfielder Ray Powell, who is later replaced by outfielder Al Nixon.
*December 16 – The Eastern Colored League is formed with Ed Bolden serving as chairman.

Births

January

*January 3 – John André
*January 5 – Johnny Ritchey
*January 6 – Red Hardy
*January 8 – Ray Flanigan
*January 11 – Frank Fanovich
*January 14 – Ken Johnson
*January 16 – Dick Sipek
*January 20 – Elizabeth Emry
*January 23 – Cot Deal
*January 30 – Walt Dropo

February

*February 2 – Red Schoendienst
*February 3 – Edith Barney
*February 5 – Chuck Diering
*February 16 – Ribs Raney
*February 17 – Dorothy Ferguson
*February 17 – Bill Sommers
*February 19 – Russ Sullivan
*February 20 – Walter McCoy
*February 22 – Anne Surkowski
*February 26 – Jean Ladd

March

*March 3 – Barney Martin
*March 7 – Bobo Holloman
*March 17 – Pat Seerey
*March 21 – Jim Hughes
*March 21 – Merle Keagle
*March 22 – George Crowe
*March 23 – Barney Koch
*March 24 – Zander Hollander

April

*April 7 – Lois Barker
*April 9 – Josephine Figlo