1958 in baseball

• World Series: New York Yankees over Milwaukee Braves (4–3); Bob Turley, MVP
• All-Star Game, July 8 at Memorial Stadium: American League, 4–3

• College World Series: USC
• 1958 Japan Series: Nishitetsu Lions over Yomiuri Giants (4–3)
• Little League World Series: Industrial, Monterrey, Mexico

Winter Leagues

• 1958 Caribbean Series: Tigres de Marianao
• Cuban League: Tigres de Marianao
• Dominican Republic League: Leones del Escogido
• Mexican Pacific League: Venados de Mazatlán
• Panamanian League: Carta Vieja Yankees
• Puerto Rican League: Criollos de Caguas
• Venezuelan League: Industriales de Valencia

• January 6 – With the National League season set to begin in a little more than 90 days, Walter O'Malley, owner of the newly transplanted Los Angeles Dodgers, meets for the third time with Pasadena officials about using the Rose Bowl as the Dodgers' temporary home stadium. NL president Warren Giles supports O'Malley at the confab.^[1] The club will ultimately play at the LA Coliseum for four seasons while Dodger Stadium is under construction in Elysian Park.
• January 21 – For one season, the Philadelphia Phillies will enjoy an exclusive National League television deal in New York City. With NL fans in Gotham reeling over the loss of their teams—the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants—they will be able to see 78 Senior Circuit contests, including those the Phillies play against the Dodgers and Giants, on WOR–TV.^[2] Veteran announcer Al Helfer will handle play-by-play.
• January 23 – The Boston Red Sox acquire infielder and future two-time American League batting champion (1960, 1962) Pete Runnels from the Washington Senators for first baseman Norm Zauchin and outfield prospect Albie Pearson.
• January 24 – Mary Louise Smith, widow of late pharmaceutical executive and Dodgers' co-owner John L. Smith, sells her 25 percent share in the club to Walter O'Malley, who now holds 75 percent of the team's stock.
• January 28
  • Dodger catcher Roy Campanella suffers a broken neck in an early morning auto accident on Long Island.^[3] His spinal column is nearly severed and his legs are permanently paralyzed. Only 36 years old, the Brooklyn immortal will never play for the Dodgers in Los Angeles; he will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969, his #39 uniform will be retired, and he will work for the Dodgers as a goodwill ambassador from 1977 until his death in 1993.^[4]
  • The Detroit Tigers acquire third baseman Ozzie Virgil Sr. and first baseman Gail Harris from the San Francisco Giants for third baseman Jim Finigan and $25,000. Virgil, who in 1956 became the first native of the Dominican Republic to play in the majors, will break the Tigers' color line on June 6.
• January 29 – The Cleveland Indians claim first baseman Mickey Vernon off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.

• February 4 – The Baseball Hall of Fame fails to elect any new members for the first time since 1950.
• February 6 – Ted Williams signs a one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox. Reports on the worth of the contract estimate from $135,000 to $150,000. Either way, Williams becomes the highest paid player in major league history.^[5]
• February 13 – By defeating Puerto Rico (3–3) today by a score of 2–0, Cuba captures its third consecutive Caribbean Series, four games to two. For the second straight year, Cuba's championship is delivered by its Marianao club. Earl Battey of the Chicago White Sox, playing for Venezuela, is series MVP. Cuba's winning runs cross the plate in the top of the ninth inning; future ChiSox hurler Bob Shaw wins the clincher.
• February 18 – The Detroit Tigers trade left-hander Hal Woodeshick and catcher Jay Porter to the Cleveland Indians for southpaw Hank Aguirre and longtime Cleveland catcher Jim Hegan.

• March 5 – Six-foot, seven-inch (2.01 m) Ohio State University outfielder Frank Howard enters professional baseball by signing a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• March 21 – Don Mueller, regular right-fielder for the New York Giants for the past eight seasons, won't keep that job in San Francisco after the Giants send the 30-year-old to the Chicago White Sox for cash considerations. Rookie Willie Kirkland will start in Mueller's old post on Opening Day 1958.
• March 30 – The Chicago Cubs sell the contract of left-hander Dick Littlefield to the Milwaukee Braves. The deal cements Littlefield's status as one of the most well-traveled players of the reserve clause era that restricted player movement: counting his brief time on the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1956–1957 winter roster (via a trade nullified by Jackie Robinson's retirement), the Braves are Littlefield's tenth MLB team, representing 63 percent of the 16 franchises in existence in 1958.

• April 1 – After acquiring him in the offseason, the Baltimore Orioles trade future Hall-of-Fame outfielder Larry Doby and pitcher Don Ferrarese to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for pitcher Bud Daley and outfielders Gene Woodling and Dick Williams. Doby has spent 1956 and 1957 with the Chicago White Sox; this trade reunites him with the city and team where he broke the color line in the American League in July 1947, won a World Series, and spent the first nine seasons of his AL career.
• April 3 – New York Giants legend Bobby Thomson is traded to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder Bob Speake and cash in a spring training transaction. Thomson, 34 and the hero of the Giants' 1951 season, is traded before he can play an official game in a San Francisco uniform.
• April 15 – In the first Major League Baseball game played on the West Coast, Rubén Gómez of the homestanding San Francisco Giants hurls an 8–0 shutout against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. Giants' shortstop Daryl Spencer hits the first MLB home run on the Pacific Coast. A park-record 23,192 fans pack Seals Stadium, a minor league facility that will house the Giants in 1958–1959, to witness the historic game.^[6]
• April 17
  • Eddie Mathews hits two home runs and knocks in five runs, to lead the Milwaukee Braves to a 6–1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee County Stadium. Mathews had also hit a pair of homers against the Pirates to start the season, as he becomes the first major league player to begin a season with consecutive two-homer games. The mark will be matched by Barry Bonds, who also hit a pair of homers in each of the San Francisco Giants first two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers to start the 2002 season.^[7]
  • The Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Athletics trade pitchers, with Cleveland dealing left-hander Bud Daley to Kansas City for righty Arnie Portocarrero.
• April 18 – Before 78,672 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a National League record for a regular-season game, the Dodgers play host to the Giants in Los Angeles' first-ever big-league contest. Veteran hurler Carl Erskine goes eight innings and rookie third baseman Dick Gray hits the Dodgers' first home run in the Coliseum's makeshift, misshapen baseball configuration, as Los Angeles wins, 6–5.
• April 25 – The Dodgers draw 60,635, a major-league record for a regular-season night game, to their 5–3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at the LA Coliseum.

• May 9 – Ted Kluszewski's home run in the bottom of the 12th off Robin Roberts breaks up a scoreless duel and enables the Pittsburgh Pirates to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1–0. Ron Kline hurls the 12-inning shutout for Pittsburgh.
• May 11 – St. Louis Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson sets a National League record by using ten pinch hitters during a doubleheader. Despite walking 14 batters in game one, St. Louis manages to top the Chicago Cubs, 8–7, and follow in game two with a 6–5 win. The Cardinals will tie their own record against the Pirates on July 13.
• May 12 – Willie Mays hits the first grand slam in San Francisco Giants history. Mays also belts another home run in a 12–3 victory over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers.
• May 13
  • San Francisco Giants teammates Willie Mays and Daryl Spencer each have four extra-base hits as San Francisco drubs the Dodgers in Los Angeles, 16–9. Mays hits two home runs, two triples, a single and drives in four runs; Spencer has two home runs, a triple, a double and six RBI for a combined 28 total bases. The Giants amass 26 hits, most by any MLB team in a game this season.^[8]
    • For this four-game, home-and-home Giants–Dodgers series, Mays goes 12 for 17 (.706), including seven homers, with a OPS of 2.997.^[9][10]
  • Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals collects his 3,000th career hit with his pinch-hit double off Chicago Cubs pitcher Moe Drabowsky at Wrigley Field. The Cardinals win, 5–3.
• May 14 – The Kansas City Athletics purchase the contract of outfielder Whitey Herzog, 26, from the Washington Senators.
• May 20 – The St. Louis Cardinals trade veteran shortstop Alvin Dark to the Chicago Cubs for right-hander Jim Brosnan. Dark, 36, is a three-time former NL All-Star.
• May 23 – Willie Mays hits his 200th career home run, a two-run shot off Warren Spahn in the ninth inning of a game against the Milwaukee Braves at Milwaukee County Stadium. The home run drives in the decisive runs of the game, as the San Francisco Giants down the Braves, 5–3.
• May 31 – Milwaukee sluggers Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Wes Covington hit one home run apiece on three consecutive pitches against Pittsburgh Pirates starter Ron Kline as the Braves win, 8–3.

• June 3
  • Voters in Los Angeles approve "Proposition B" by 25,785 votes (out of 670,000 ballots cast), which enables the Dodgers' acquisition of land in Chavez Ravine to move forward. Privately built and owned Dodger Stadium will be constructed on that site and open in 1962.^[11]
  • The San Francisco Giants sign 19-year-old amateur free agent pitcher Gaylord Perry to a $60,000 bonus contract after his standout high-school career in Williamston, North Carolina.
• June 6 – Third baseman Ozzie Virgil breaks the Detroit Tigers' color line in an 11–2 triumph over the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium.^[12] Virgil collects a double and scores a run in five at bats. Detroit is the 15th of the 16 MLB clubs to integrate its roster; only the Boston Red Sox remain all-white.
• June 10
  • The disappointing, 21–28 Tigers, 12½ games out of the lead and in last place in the American League, replace manager Jack Tighe with Triple-A skipper Bill Norman.^[13] They will go 56–49 under Norman for the rest of the way and finish fifth in the AL.
  • Warren Spahn, en route to the Baseball Hall of Fame as the winningest left-hander in MLB annals, notches a dubious achievement: he surrenders five home runs in a seven-inning outing. But he gains the victory when his Milwaukee Braves down the Chicago Cubs, 9–6, at Wrigley Field.^[14] The five gopher-balls are the most allowed by any big-league pitcher in 1958.^[15]
• June 12 – In a shortstop-for-shortstop transaction, the Cleveland Indians trade Alfonso "Chico" Carrasquel to the Kansas City Athletics for Billy Hunter.^[16]
• June 15
  • Carresquel goes 5-for-6 with four runs batted in and scores two times, as his Kansas City Athletics thrash the Boston Red Sox, 17–6, at Fenway Park. Héctor López collects four RBI, while Bob Cerv and Frank House add two runs and three RBI a piece. Ralph Terry is the winning pitcher and Jack Urban ears the save, while Willard Nixon absorbs the loss. It's the fifth five-hit game of Carresquel's career.
  • The Cleveland Indians trade outfielder Roger Maris, pitcher Dick Tomanek and infielder/outfielder Preston Ward to the Kansas City Athletics for infielders Woodie Held and Vic Power.
  • The Athletics also acquire pitcher Bob Grim and outfielder Harry Simpson from the New York Yankees for pitchers Virgil Trucks and Duke Maas.
  • The Los Angeles Dodgers trade former ace starting pitcher Don Newcombe, 32, to the Cincinnati Redlegs for four players: hurlers Johnny Klippstein, Art Fowler ("player to be named later/PTBNL") and Charlie Rabe (PTBNL), and first baseman Steve Bilko.
  • The Chicago White Sox acquire pitcher Bob Shaw and first baseman Ray Boone from the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Bill Fischer and outfielder/first baseman Tito Francona.
  • The St. Louis Cardinals deal shortstop and former bonus baby Ducky Schofield and cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates for third baseman Gene Freese and infielder/pitcher Johnny O'Brien.
• June 23 – The Chicago White Sox claim relief pitcher Turk Lown on waivers from the Cincinnati Redlegs.
• June 26 – After only 67 games as their manager, Bobby Bragan is replaced by Joe Gordon at the helm of the Cleveland Indians. Gordon, their former standout second baseman, will post a 46–40 mark as Cleveland finishes fourth in the American League.
• June 27 – Against the Washington Senators at Comiskey Park, Billy Pierce of the Chicago White Sox has a perfect game broken up with two out in the ninth—by inches. Pinch-hitter Ed Fitz Gerald strokes Pierce's first pitch down the right field line, the ball landing just inside the foul line for a double, the only hit Pierce allows in a 3–0 White Sox victory.^[17] The perfect game would have been the first in regular season play since that of another White Sox, Charlie Robertson, in 1922. Today's complete game shutout is Pierce's third in a row; he's in the midst of a 341⁄3 consecutive innings scoreless streak—longest by any MLB pitcher in 1958.^[15]
• June 30 – The Detroit Tigers sign amateur free agent pitcher Mickey Lolich. The left-hander, 17, recently graduated from a Portland, Oregon, high school.

• July 2 – One day after he appears in a game as a pinch hitter, the Cleveland Indians release pitcher Bob Lemon, ending Lemon's Hall-of-Fame major league career, spent entirely with Cleveland.
• July 4 – After the holiday games are in the books, marking the season's unofficial half-way point, only seven games separate the eight National League clubs, with the defending World Series champion Milwaukee Braves (39–32) holding first place by 1½ games over the St. Louis Cardinals (37–33) with the San Francisco Giants (39–36) two games back. The New York Yankees, meanwhile, are 48–24 and threatening to run away with the American League pennant, sporting a 10½-game advantage over the surprising second-place Kansas City Athletics (38–35).
• July 8 – At Memorial Stadium, home of the Baltimore Orioles, the American League defeats the National League, 4–3, in the 1958 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in the first Midsummer Classic without an extra-base hit.
• July 19 – The Milwaukee Braves sign amateur free-agent pitcher Phil Niekro, 19, already a knuckleballer, who has been playing semi-pro baseball in his native Ohio.
• July 20 – In the first game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park, Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers no-hits the Boston Red Sox 3–0.
• July 22 – Eddie Sawyer, manager of the 1950 "Whiz Kids", returns to the Philadelphia Phillies' helm after a six-year absence, replacing Mayo Smith.^[18] The move fizzles, however, as the Phils (39–44) drop from a fifth-place tie to eighth and last in the National League over the season's final 68 games.
• July 27 – The second games of doubleheaders played in Pennsylvania are both suspended by Sunday evening curfews. At Connie Mack Stadium, umpires halt the contest between the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers with two outs in the home half of the sixth and the Phillies leading, 2–1. At Forbes Field, the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants are knotted 3–3 when the curfew bell tolls with one out in the eighth—one batter after Giants manager Bill Rigney is ejected for stalling tactics. On September 9, both games will be resumed in progress: the Dodgers push the Phillies to ten innings but Wally Post's grand slam home run settles matters definitively for the home side, 6–2;^[19] meanwhile, the Pirates' Roberto Clemente, who had drawn a base on balls on July 27, scores the winning run on Frank Thomas' RBI single, delivering a 4–3 Pittsburgh victory.^[20]
• July 28 – For the sixth time in his career, Mickey Mantle hits home runs from both sides of the plate. New York beats the Kansas City Athletics, 14–7.

• August 7 – The Pittsburgh Pirates sign amateur free-agent outfielder Willie Stargell, 18, a recent graduate of Encinal High School of Alameda, California.
• August 14
  • Birdie Tebbetts, manager of Cincinnati Redlegs since Opening Day 1954, announces his resignation and veteran coach Jimmy Dykes takes over as interim skipper. Cincinnati is 52–61 and last—but only 3½ games out of the first division—in the closely bunched National League standings.
  • Vic Power of the Cleveland Indians steals home twice during a ten-inning, 10–9 win over the Detroit Tigers. Power's second steal of home is the game-winner—and he swipes only one other base all season long. Accomplished numerous times during the deadball era, no player other than Power has twice stolen home in a game since the 1927 season.
• August 20 – Dale Long of the Chicago Cubs becomes MLB's first left-handed-throwing catcher in 56 years when he moves from his normal first-base position to behind the plate in the ninth inning of the Cubs' 4–2 defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He wears his first-baseman's mitt to handle the offerings of pitcher Bill Henry, a fellow southpaw. Long will repeat this feat 32 days later, on September 21, when he catches one inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field and allows one passed ball that does not factor in the scoring in a 2–1 Dodger victory. He also records one assist as a catcher.
• August 22 – Ralph Terry of the Kansas City Athletics allows only one hit and one baserunner in a 1–0 victory over the Washington Senators' Russ Kemmerer at Griffith Stadium. Kemmerer himself spoils the perfect game suspense early with his third-inning single.^[21]
• August 23 – At Yankee Stadium, Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox strikes out against Whitey Ford in the first inning of the White Sox' 7–1 victory over the New York Yankees. The strikeout ends Fox's streak of 98 consecutive games without striking out; he had last struck out on May 16 against Dick Tomanek of the Cleveland Indians.

• September 9 – Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers unleashes four wild pitches in only 51⁄3 innings pitched before he departs for a reliever in the Dodgers' 4–3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium.^[22] The 22-year-old Koufax—still trying to master the command of his repertoire—will lead the National League with 17 wild pitches this season; his four today are the most by any MLB hurler in a 1958 game.^[15]
• September 13 – Milwaukee Braves ace Warren Spahn becomes the first left-handed pitcher to win twenty or more games nine times, after beating the St. Louis Cardinals 8–2. Previously, Eddie Plank and Lefty Grove each won twenty or more games, eight times.
• September 14 – The New York Yankees sweep a doubleheader against the Kansas City Athletics, 5–3 and 12–7 (14 innings), clinching their fourth straight American League pennant.
• September 15 – St. Louis Cardinals owner August A. Busch Jr. fires the reigning Major League Manager of the Year, Fred Hutchinson, with the Redbirds a disappointing 69–75 and sitting in fifth place. Coach Stan Hack is named interim pilot, but Busch has earmarked the team's 1959 managerial job for Solly Hemus, a fiery infielder and ex-Cardinal who's still an active player for the Philadelphia Phillies.^[23]
• September 20 – At Memorial Stadium, Hoyt Wilhelm of the Baltimore Orioles no-hits the New York Yankees 1–0, striking out eight along the way. It is the first no-hitter since the franchise's move to Baltimore. Wilhelm had pitched exclusively in relief prior to this season; this was only his ninth career start.
• September 21 – The Milwaukee Braves clinch their second consecutive National League pennant with a 6–5 victory over the Cincinnati Redlegs, thus ensuring a Yankees vs. Braves World Series for the second straight year.
• September 28 – In the season finale, Ted Williams continues his late-September hot streak, homering and doubling in four at-bats and raising his batting average to .328—best in the American League. He had been hitting only .314 on September 21 before going on a 12-for-19 (.632) tear. In winning the sixth and final batting title of his career, the 40-year-old Williams nips Boston Red Sox teammate Pete Runnels, who finishes second with a .322 mark.
• September 29
  • Solly Hemus, expected since September 15 to become the 1959 manager of the St. Louis Cardinals even though he's an active player for the rival Philadelphia Phillies, officially returns to the Redbirds as player–manager in a trade for third baseman Gene Freese.
  • Despite leading the Cincinnati Redlegs to a 24–17 mark through the end of the season, interim manager Jimmy Dykes, 61, is passed over for the permanent post when the Redlegs hire Mayo Smith, 43, as their 1959 manager. Smith had been fired as the Phillies' skipper July 22. Cincinnati club owner Powel Crosley Jr. says Dykes' age is a factor in Smith's hiring.^[24]

• October 3 – The Cincinnati Redlegs and St. Louis Cardinals pull off a six-player trade in which Cincinnati sends pitcher Alex Kellner, first baseman George Crowe and shortstop Alex Grammas to St. Louis for pitcher Bob Mabe, infielder Eddie Kasko and outfielder Del Ennis.
• October 7 – The St. Louis Cardinals keep dealing, acquiring pitchers Ernie Broglio and Marv Grissom from the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Billy Muffett, catcher Hobie Landrith and third baseman Benny Valenzuela. Broglio will put up 21- and 18-victory seasons during his 5½ years in St. Louis before becoming a key part of a famous trade in June 1964.
• October 9 – The New York Yankees defeat the Milwaukee Braves, 6–2, in the decisive Game 7 of the World Series to win their 18th world title. First baseman Moose Skowron's three-run home run off Milwaukee pitcher Lew Burdette in the eighth inning puts the game on ice. The Yankees become only the second team to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win a World Series (the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates were the first). Milwaukee's Eddie Mathews strikes out for the 11th time, a record that will stand until 1980, when broken by Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals. The Braves' 53 strikeouts are also a new Series record. This is the seventh Fall Classic title for manager Casey Stengel, tying him with Joe McCarthy for most championships. Yankee hurler Bob Turley is named the MVP.
• October 28 – Construction for a new stadium for the San Francisco Giants begins at Candlestick Point. In honor of the location, the playing field will be called Candlestick Park,

• November 5 – Lee MacPhail, 41, is named general manager of the Baltimore Orioles after 14 years in the New York Yankees' organization, most recently as director of player personnel. His appointment restricts Paul Richards, who formerly held the dual role of GM and field manager, to the latter job. MacPhail will oversee the Orioles' rise to pennant contender and he departs the team in November 1965 when the franchise is poised to win its first World Series.
• November 12 – New York Yankees pitcher Bob Turley, who posted a 21–7 record with 168 strikeouts and a 2.97 earned run average, wins the Cy Young Award. With only one award given for the two leagues, Turley gathers five votes to four for the previous winner, Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves, who went 22–11 with 150 strikeouts and a 3.07 ERA.
• November 14 – Hall-of-Fame slugger Mel Ott, whose 511 career home runs remain the all-time National League record, is critically injured in an automobile accident in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The longtime New York Giants star, whose #4 uniform was retired in 1949, dies seven days later at the age of 49. (See Deaths below for November 21.)
• November 20 – The Detroit Tigers trade pitcher Al Cicotte and second baseman Billy Martin to the Cleveland Indians for hurlers Don Mossi and Ray Narleski and infielder Ossie Álvarez.
• November 25 – Chicago Cubs slugger Ernie Banks, who batted .313 with 47 home runs and 129 RBI, is named National League Most Valuable Player. Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants is the runner-up, after going .347, 29, 96.
• November 26 – Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Jensen, who hit .286 with 31 home runs and 122 RBI, is named American League MVP, winning over Cy Young Award recipient and World Series MVP Bob Turley and Cleveland Indians outfielder Rocky Colavito (.303, 41, 113).
• November 28
  • The American League announces that its 1959 Opening Day will be April 9, making it the earliest date ever to open the Junior Circuit's regular season.
  • The Boston Red Sox sign free-agent infielder Carl Yastrzemski to a reported bonus of $100,000. A sensation during his high school career in Bridgehampton, Long Island, Yastrzemski is a sophomore at Notre Dame.
• November 30 – Italian baseball commissioner Prince Borghese visits the United States to seek aid in organizing Italian teams.

• December 2
  • International League president Frank Shaughnessy reports that club owners are sympathetic to player demands for a pension plan, but says there is no way that $250,000 can be raised to start one.
  • National League president Warren Giles says he doubts New York City will get a franchise for several years. He says the NL will reject expansion now, even if assured of a stadium and financial backing.
  • The Cleveland Indians acquire two-time All-Star and 2x Gold Glove Award-winning centerfielder Jimmy Piersall from the Boston Red Sox for first baseman Vic Wertz and outfielder Gary Geiger. In a separate trade, Cleveland deals second baseman Bobby Ávila to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Russ Heman and cash.
• December 3
  • The San Francisco Giants obtain 1957's National League Rookie of the Year, pitcher Jack Sanford, from the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Rubén Gómez and catcher Valmy Thomas. In 1962, Sanford's 24 victories will power the Giants to the NL pennant.
  • The Phillies acquire 22-year-old shortstop Rubén Amaro from the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder Chuck Essegian.
• December 4
  • The Los Angeles Dodgers trade outfielder Gino Cimoli to the Cardinals for pitcher Phil Paine and outfielder Wally Moon. The left-handed-hitting Moon becomes a hero in Southern California for his opposite-field homers—called "Moon shots"—at the misshapen Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and a central part of the Dodgers' 1959 world championship team.
  • Western Michigan University right-hander Jim Bouton begins his professional baseball career, signing as an amateur free agent with the New York Yankees.
  • The Triple-A American Association expands to ten teams by admitting the Houston Buffaloes, Dallas Rangers and Fort Worth Cats from the Double-A Texas League. This effectively denudes the Texas League, leaving it with five teams. It adds Amarillo from the expiring Western League to enable it to operate as a six-team loop in 1959.
• December 6 – The Detroit Tigers and Washington Senators swing a six-player deal in which Detroit acquires third baseman Eddie Yost, shortstop Rocky Bridges and outfielder Neil Chrisley in exchange for infielders Reno Bertoia and Ron Samford and outfielder Jim Delsing.
• December 15 – The Baltimore Orioles trade outfielder Jim Busby to the Boston Red Sox for infielder Billy Klaus.
• December 23 – The Philadelphia Phillies trade three players—pitchers Jim Golden and Gene Snyder and outfielder Rip Repulski—to the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor-league second baseman George "Sparky" Anderson. While Anderson stumbles in his only MLB season in 1959, batting .218 in 152 games with only 12 extra-base hits, he will return to the majors in 1970 for a 26-year career as a Baseball Hall of Fame manager.
• December 30 – The Dodgers release team captain, future Hall-of-Fame shortstop and 16-year club veteran Pee Wee Reese. He will remain with the Dodgers as their third-base coach in 1959 (winning a World Series ring) before beginning a long career in television as a color man and analyst covering MLB games.

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  • Pat Murphy
  • Dave Righetti
• November 30
  • Toby Hernández
  • Steve Shields

• December 3 – Mike Martin
• December 5 – Scott Munninghoff
• December 10 – Dom Chiti
• December 16
  • Rondin Johnson
  • Ted Wilborn
• December 18 – Scott Nielsen
• December 22
  • Glenn Wilson
  • George Wright
• December 23 – Tim Leary
• December 25
  • Gerry Davis
  • Rickey Henderson