2007 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the year 2007 throughout the world.
[edit] Champions
[edit] Major League Baseball
Click on any series score to link to that series' page.
Higher seed had home field advantage during Division Series and League Championship Series.
The American League champion has home field advantage during the World Series as a result of the AL victory in the All-Star Game.
[edit] Other champions
- Amateur
- International
- National teams
- International club team competitions
- Domestic leagues
1 - The appearance by the Huskies of Rouen, France in the final marks the first time since 1976 that a team from outside the professional leagues of the Netherlands or Italy has finished in the top two.
[edit] Awards and honors
* Francoeur and Rowand finished tied in the voting
[edit] Major League Baseball final standings
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†Denotes the club that won the wild card for its respective league. The Rockies defeated the Padres in a one-game playoff for the NL wild card.
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The 90 wins by the Diamondbacks and Rockies were the fewest to lead the NL since 1959, with the exception of the strike-shortened seasons of 1981, 1994 and 1995. No NL team won or lost 95 games for the first time since 1983.
Also, this was the second consecutive season in which a team failed to win at least 60% of its games, the first time that this has happened in Major League Baseball history.
[edit] Events
[edit] January-March
- April 2:
- Bruce Froemming works behind home plate for the opener between the Athletics and Mariners, tying Bill Klem's major league record of 37 seasons as an umpire.
- The Tribune Company, after agreeing to a buyout of $8.2 billion by real estate magnate Sam Zell, announces that the Chicago Cubs will be subsequently sold following the 2007 season.
- April 15 - To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first major league game, dozens of players wear his league-wide retired number, 42. The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of six teams whose entire roster wears number 42 for their games.
- April 20 - Bruce Froemming umpires at first base in the Cleveland Indians-Tampa Bay Devil Rays game, passing Bill Klem to become – at age 67 years 204 days – the oldest umpire in major league history.
- April 23 - Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees hits two home runs, his 13th and 14th of the season, in a 10-8 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, surpassing the American League record and tying the Major League record for most home runs hit in the month of April.
- June 4 - Mark Ellis hits for the cycle at McAfee Coliseum as his Oakland Athletics defeat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 in 11 innings. He hit a triple in the 2nd inning, a solo home run in the 4th and a double in the 6th. Although a fielder's choice in the 8th with the A's holding the lead seemingly ended his run for the cycle, a rally by the Red Sox in the 9th pushed extra innings, allowing Ellis to get the single he needed in the 10th inning.
- June 16 - The Cubs and Padres each collect only two hits as Russell Branyan's home run in the ninth inning gives San Diego a 1-0 win. The Cubs' Carlos Zambrano takes a no-hitter into the eighth, while Padres starter Chris Young allows no hits before being ejected in the fourth following a brawl.
- July 2 - Roger Clemens becomes the eighth major league pitcher to win 350 games, in the Yankees' 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins.
- July 9 - Vladimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels wins the 2007 Home Run Derby in San Francisco. Despite the highly publicized presence of McCovey Cove beyond the right field fence, not a single home run touches the water.
[edit] August
- August 9:
- Roger Clemens is suspended for the fourth time in his career for hitting Toronto's Alex Rios with a pitch after both teams were warned.
- Rick Ankiel, formerly a pitcher with infamous control problems, returns to the major leagues as an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, hitting a 3-run home run in his fourth at-bat.
- August 22 - In the first game of a doubleheader, the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 30-3, setting a new record for runs scored by a single team in a game in the modern (post-1900) era, and the American League all-time record. The Rangers' 30 runs were the most in a game since the Chicago Colts beat the Louisville Colonels 36-7 on June 29, 1897. With a 9-7 victory in the second game, the Rangers also set the record for most runs scored by a single team in a doubleheader, with 39.
[edit] September
- September 6 - Rick Ankiel's stunning one-month return to baseball as a hitter is mired by controversy when the New York Daily News reports that he purchased 12 month's worth of HGH from a Florida pharmacy from January to December 2004. A few days later, Jay Gibbons of the Orioles is reported to also have received HGH from the same pharmacy. Ankiel did not deny using HGH prior to MLB's official banning of the substance in 2005, stating he used it during that time under the care of a licensed physician.
- September 7 - Curtis Granderson of the Tigers hits his 20th home run of the season, becoming the sixth player in major league history, and the first since 1979, to join the 20-20-20 Club, indicating 20 doubles, 20 triples, and 20 home runs in the same season. He ends the season with 38 doubles, 23 triples, and 23 home runs.
- September 8 - The 50th and 51st home runs of the season by Alex Rodriguez are his 48th and 49th as a third baseman. The first breaks his own AL record for the position, while the second breaks the major league record for the position which had stood since 1980 (Mike Schmidt, tied by Adrian Beltre in 2004). Rodriguez's 50th home run also makes him the first player in major league history to collect 50 home runs, 130 runs scored, 130 RBI and 20 stolen bases in a single season (the previous closest player was Larry Walker in 1997, who fell one home run short with 49 HR, 143 runs, 130 RBI and 33 steals).
- September 9:
- The Milwaukee Brewers open the game with consecutive home runs from Rickie Weeks, J. J. Hardy and Ryan Braun to defeat the Reds 11–5 at Great American Ball Park. Weeks, Hardy and Braun connect off Phil Dumatrait, as the Brewers become only the third team in major league history to open a game with three straight home runs, joining San Diego's Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk (April 13, 1987 vs. the San Francisco Giants) and (Atlanta's Rafael Furcal, Mark DeRosa and Gary Sheffield (at Cincinnati on May 28, 2003).
- At Comerica Park, Curtis Granderson collects his 20th stolen base during the first inning of a 14-7 Seattle victory over Detroit. Granderson joins Willie Mays (1957) [26-20-35-38, respectively below] and Frank "Wildfire" Schulte (1911) [30-21-21-23, respectively below] as the only players in major league history with 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases during a regular season--ending his season with 38 doubles, 23 triples, 23 home runs, and 26 stolen bases.
- September 16:
- Jim Thome of the White Sox, playing in his 2,000th game, becomes the 23rd player in major league history to reach the 500 home run milestone when he hits a walk-off home run off Dustin Moseley of the Angels to win the game 9-7, making 2007 the first season in history in which three players have hit their 500th homer in the same season. It is also the first time that the 500-homer mark has been reached with a walk-off shot.
- David Wright of the Mets hits his 30th home run of the season to go with 31 stolen bases, becoming only the fifth player in major league history to become a member of the 30-30 club before the age of 25, in a 10-6 loss to the Phillies.
- Todd Jones of the Tigers becomes the 21st pitcher in major league history to record 300 saves.
- Todd Helton hits his 300th career home run.
- September 18 - Moisés Alou of the Mets, age 41, hits in his 22nd consecutive game, a modern era record for a player over 40.
- September 19 - Andy Pettitte becomes the 110th pitcher to earn 200 major league victories in the Yankees' 2-1 win over the Orioles.
- September 21
- Barry Bonds announces that his tenure (1993-2007) with the San Francisco Giants has ended, after the team indicates it will not sign him for 2008.
- Moisés Alou extends his hitting streak to 25 games, breaking the Mets single-season record shared by Mike Piazza and Hubie Brooks. In the same game, the Marlins commit a franchise-high six errors in a 9-6 loss. Eight of the nine runs were unearned as a result of the errors, two of them by Miguel Cabrera. Two days later, Alou surpasses David Wright's overall club mark of 26 games, which spanned two seasons. The streak ends at 30 games on the 26th, a new major league record for a player over 40.
- September 26
- Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols hits his 32nd home run of the season in the first inning against the Brewers, giving him 100 RBI and making him the first player in major league history to have at least a .300 batting average with 30 homers and 100 RBI in his first seven seasons.
- Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips homers in the first inning off Juan Gutiérrez of the Astros, making him only the second player at his position to collect 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season. Alfonso Soriano has accomplished the feat three times at the same position.
- Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell collects five RBI in a 11–6 Boston victory over the Athletics, raising his total to 116 and setting a new team record for most RBI in a season by a third baseman; Butch Hobson collected 112 RBI in 1977.
- The New York Yankees secure their 13th consecutive postseason berth with a 12-4 rout of the Devil Rays.
- Barry Bonds goes 0-for-3 in his final game with the Giants, an 11-3 loss to the visiting Padres.
- September 29
- The Arizona Diamondbacks clinch their fourth National League West title even before taking the field against the Colorado Rockies, when San Diego loses to Milwaukee 4-3.
- In his second-to-last major league game, Craig Biggio plays at his original position of catcher for the first two innings, playing behind the plate for the first time in 16 years after spending his first four seasons there.
- September 30
- The New York Mets lose to the Florida Marlins 8-1, completing one of the worst collapses in major league history by squandering a 7-game lead with 17 games remaining in the NL East race, and finish the season one game behind the Philadelphia Phillies, who defeat the Nationals 6-1 to clinch the division title for the first time since 1993.
- Jimmy Rollins collects his 20th triple of the season, making him the seventh member of the 20-20-20 club and the second new member this year along with Curtis Granderson; this also marks the first time in major league history that two batters record 20-20-20 seasons during the same year. He also becomes the fourth member of the 20-20-20-20 club, as well as the first player in major league history to collect at least 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season; this also marks the first time that two players record 20-20-20-20 seasons during the same year (Granderson met the mark earlier in September of 2007), and the second time that a batter had a 30-30 season and a 20-20-20-20 season during the same year (Willie Mays accomplished the feat in 1957). Rollins ends the season with 38 doubles, 20 triples, 30 home runs, and 41 stolen bases.
- Bruce Froemming receives a standing ovation from his Milwaukee hometown crowd prior to working his last regular-season game after a record 37 *full* seasons as a major league umpire; his final game overall takes place on October 8 in the Indians-Yankees AL Division Series. In the game, the San Diego Padres fail to clinch the NL wild card spot by losing 11-6 to the Milwaukee Brewers. He also extended his record (April 20) for oldest umpire ever in a regular-season game to 68 years, 2 days.
[edit] October
- October 1 - The Colorado Rockies defeat the San Diego Padres 9-8 in 13 innings in the 2007 NL Wild Card tie-breaker to secure the last of the eight MLB playoff spots, completing a run in which they won 14 of their last 15 games, tying the best 15-game finish in major league history. Despite an error in the game, the Rockies also set a major league record for team fielding percentage (.9893), breaking the 2006 Boston Red Sox mark of .9891.
- October 18 – After the New York Yankees offer him only a one-year contract at a base salary one-third less than what he earned in 2007, Joe Torre leaves after 12 seasons as manager.
- October 24 – The National Baseball Hall of Fame announces that it will honor Buck O'Neil by establishing a lifetime achievement award in his name. O'Neil, a Negro League first baseman and manager who died in October 2006, will be honored with a statue to be dedicated at the next Hall of Fame induction in Cooperstown, N.Y. After leaving the Negro Leagues, O'Neil became the first African American coach in the majors by joining the Cubs staff in 1962, and was later an influential figure in the promotion of baseball and study of Negro Leagues history. He was nominated to a special Hall ballot for Negro League players, managers, and executives in 2006, but didn't receive the necessary number of votes to gain admission into the Hall.
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