1964 Major League Baseball season

Schedule

The 1964 schedule consisted of 162 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had ten teams. Each team was scheduled to play 18 games against the other nine teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place by the American League since the season and by the National League since the season, and would be used until .

Opening Day took place on April 13, featuring four teams. The final day of the regular season was on October 4, which saw 18 teams play. The World Series took place between October 7 and October 15.

Rule changes

The 1964 season saw the following rule changes:

• In an attempt to help bolster the four expansion teams, (Houston Colt .45s, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, and Washington Senators), they were permitted to farm out four first-year players in addition to what all other sixteen teams could do. These four additional players did not count in each team's player roster, nor would the teams risk losing said players on waivers. The rules for the other sixteen teams limited the number of players to one.
• Colored bats, unless approved by the Rules Committee, were banned.

Teams

Standings

American League

National League

Postseason

The postseason began on October 7 and ended on October 15 with the St. Louis Cardinals defeating the New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series in seven games.

Bracket

| RD1-seed1=AL | RD1-team1=New York Yankees | RD1-score1=3 | RD1-seed2=NL | RD1-team2=St. Louis Cardinals | RD1-score2=4

Managerial changes

Off-season

In-season

League leaders

American League

National League

Awards and honors

Regular season

Other awards

• Sport Magazine's World Series Most Valuable Player Award: Bob Gibson (STL)

Monthly awards

Player of the Month

Main article: Major League Baseball Player of the Month Award

Baseball Hall of Fame

Main article: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

• Luke Appling
• Red Faber
• Burleigh Grimes
• Tim Keefe
• Heinie Manush
• John Montgomery Ward
• Miller Huggins (manager)

Home field attendance

Venues

The New York Mets leave the Polo Grounds (where they played for two seasons) and open Shea Stadium (with the AFL's New York Jets) where they would go on to play 45 seasons through . Excluding –, the time in which there was no National League New York team (following the relocation of the New York Giants to San Francisco, California), this marked the first season to not see any iteration of the Polo Grounds not feature a major-league team since , the season prior to founding of the Giants.

The Houston Colt .45s would play their final game at Colt Stadium on September 27 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, moving into the Houston Astrodome (as the Houston Astros) for the start of the season.

Television coverage

CBS and NBC aired weekend Game of the Week broadcasts. Although it had been three years since the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 was passed to authorize sports leagues to enter into television contracts that "pooled" the TV rights of all their teams, MLB still operated under the older system where the networks purchased the regular season rights to individual clubs. By 1964, CBS paid $895,000 total for the rights to six teams, with the New York Yankees getting a $550,000 share. The six clubs that exclusively played nationally televised games on NBC were paid $1.2 million total.

The All-Star Game and World Series aired on NBC.

Retired numbers

• Fred Hutchinson had his No. 1 retired by the Cincinnati Reds on October 19. This was the first number retired by the team (aside from the temporary, two-season retired No. 5 of Willard Hershberger).

Notes

References

References

1. Jones, Chris. "1963 Winter Meetings: No Little League Bats Allowed – Society for American Baseball Research".
2. "Rules History".
3. "1964 Major League Managers".
4. "1964 American League Batting Leaders".
5. "1964 American League Pitching Leaders".
6. "1964 National League Batting Leaders".
7. "1964 National League Pitching Leaders".
8. "Vic Power Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More".
9. "Major League Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News {{!}} Baseball Almanac".
10. "Pitcher of the Year Award by The Sporting News {{!}} Baseball Almanac".
11. "Fireman of the Year Award / Reliever of the Year Award by The Sporting News {{!}} Baseball Almanac".
12. "Rookie Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News {{!}} Baseball Almanac".
13. "Rookie Pitcher of the Year Award by The Sporting News {{!}} Baseball Almanac".
14. "Manager of the Year Award by The Sporting News {{!}} Baseball Almanac".
15. "MLB Executive of the Year Award {{!}} Baseball Almanac".
16. "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
17. "New York Mets Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
18. "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
19. "Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
20. "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
21. "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
22. "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
23. "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
24. "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
25. "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
26. "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
27. "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
28. "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
29. "Los Angeles Angels Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
30. "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
31. "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
32. "Houston Astros Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
33. "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
34. "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
35. "Texas Rangers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
36. (February 25, 1964). "Baseball Gets Slightly More for TV Rights". [[Tribune Publishing]].