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The following are the baseball events of the year 2004 throughout the world.  

This year in baseball

2020s

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2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000

1990s

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1994 • 1993 • 1992 • 1991 • 1990

1980s

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1984 • 1983 • 1982 • 1981 • 1980

1970s

1979 • 1978 • 1977 • 1976 • 1975
1974 • 1973 • 1972 • 1971 • 1970

1960s

1969 • 1968 • 1967 • 1966 • 1965
1964 • 1963 • 1962 • 1961 • 1960

1950s

1959 • 1958 • 1957 • 1956 • 1955
1954 • 1953 • 1952 • 1951 • 1950

1940s

1949 • 1948 • 1947 • 1946 • 1945
1944 • 1943 • 1942 • 1941 • 1940

1930s

1939 • 1938 • 1937 • 1936 • 1935
1934 • 1933 • 1932 • 1931 • 1930

1920s

1929 • 1928 • 1927 • 1926 • 1925
1924 • 1923 • 1922 • 1921 • 1920

1910s

1919 • 1918 • 1917 • 1916 • 1915
1914 • 1913 • 1912 • 1911 • 1910

1900s

1909 • 1908 • 1907 • 1906 • 1905
1904 • 1903 • 1902 • 1901 • 1900

1890s

1899 • 1898 • 1897 • 1896 • 1895
1894 • 1893 • 1892 • 1891 • 1890

1880s

1889 • 1888 • 1887 • 1886 • 1885
1884 • 1883 • 1882 • 1881 • 1880

1870s

1879 • 1878 • 1877 • 1876 • 1875
1874 • 1873 • 1872 • 1871 • 1870

1860s

1869 • 1868 • 1867 • 1866 • 1865
1864 • 1863 • 1862 • 1861 • 1860

See also
Sources


Headline Events of the Year[]

Champions[]

Major League Baseball[]

  • Regular Season Champions
League Eastern Division Champion Central Division Champion Western Division Champion Wild Card Qualifier
American League New York Yankees Minnesota Twins Anaheim Angels Boston Red Sox
National League Atlanta Braves St. Louis Cardinals Los Angeles Dodgers Houston Astros
  Division Series
TV: ESPN/FOX
League Championship Series
TV: FOX
World Series
TV: FOX
                           
  1  New York Yankees 3  
3  Minnesota Twins 1  
  1  New York Yankees 3  
American League
  4  Boston Red Sox 4  
2  Anaheim Angels 0
  4  Boston Red Sox 3  
    AL4  Boston Red Sox 4
  NL1  St. Louis Cardinals 0
  1  St. Louis Cardinals 3  
3  Los Angeles Dodgers 1  
  1  St. Louis Cardinals 4
National League
  4  Houston Astros 3  
2  Atlanta Braves 2
  4  Houston Astros 3  

Click on any series score to link to that series' page.
Higher seed has home field advantage during Division Series and League Championship Series.
American League has home field advantage during World Series as a result of American League victory in 2004 All-Star Game.
American/National League is seeded 1-3/2-4 as a result of A/NL regular season champion (New York Yankees)/(St. Louis Cardinals) and A/NL wild card (Boston Red Sox)(Houston Astros) coming from the same division.

Other champions[]

  • Caribbean World Series: Tigres de Licey (Dominican Republic)
  • College World Series: Cal State-Fullerton
  • Cuban National Series: Industriales def. Villa Clara
  • Japan Series: Seibu Lions over Chunichi Dragons (4-3)
  • Little League World Series: Pabao, Willemstad, Curaçao
  • Summer Olympic Games at Athens, Greece: Cuba (Gold), Australia (Silver), Japan (Bronze)
  • European Cup: Neptunus (Netherlands) over Fortitudo Bologna (Italy)

Awards and honors[]

Statistical leaders[]

  American League National League
Type Name Stat Name Stat
AVG Ichiro Suzuki SEA .372 Barry Bonds SFG .362
HR Manny Ramirez BOS 43 Adrian Beltre LAD 48
RBI Miguel Tejada BAL 150 Vinny Castilla COL 131
Wins Curt Schilling BOS 21 Roy Oswalt HOU 20
ERA Johan Santana MIN 2.61 Jake Peavy SDP 2.27
Ks Johan Santana MIN 265 Randy Johnson ARI 290

Notable seasons[]

  • Barry Bonds of the Giants has another outstanding year. He sets the all-time record for highest on base percentage at .609, breaking his previous record of .582, set in 2002. He also posts a slugging average of .812, the fourth-highest ever, and also breaks his previous OPS record of 1.381, set in 2002, with a 2004 OPS of 1.422. Bonds also set a record for most walks in a season, with 232. Finally, with 120 intentional walks, he almost doubles his previous record of 68.
  • Adam Dunn's 195 strikeouts break Bobby Bonds' previous record of 189.
  • With 262 hits, Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners breaks George Sisler's record of 257. Suzuki also sets the record for most singles in a season, with 225.

Major League Baseball final standings[]

American League
Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
East Division
1st New York Yankees 101   61 .623    --
2nd Boston Red Sox *   98   64 .605   3.0
3rd Baltimore Orioles   78   84 .481 23.0
4th Tampa Bay Devil Rays   70   91 .435 30.5
5th Toronto Blue Jays   67   94 .416 33.5
Central Division
1st Minnesota Twins   92   70 .568    --
2nd Chicago White Sox   83   79 .512   9.0
3rd Cleveland Indians   80   82 .494 12.0
4th Detroit Tigers   72   90 .444 20.0
5th Kansas City Royals   58 104 .358 34.0
West Division
1st Anaheim Angels   92   70 .568    --
2nd Oakland Athletics   91   71 .562   1.0
3rd Texas Rangers   89   73 .549   3.0
4th Seattle Mariners   63   99 .389 29.0


National League
Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
East Division
1st Atlanta Braves   96   66 .593    --
2nd Philadelphia Phillies   86   76 .531 10.0
3rd Florida Marlins   83   79 .512 13.0
4th New York Mets   71   91 .438 25.0
5th Montreal Expos   67   95 .414 29.0
Central Division
1st St. Louis Cardinals 105   57 .648    --
2nd Houston Astros *   92   70 .568 13.0
3rd Chicago Cubs   89   73 .549 16.0
4th Cincinnati Reds   76   86 .469 29.0
5th Pittsburgh Pirates   72   89 .447 32.5
6th Milwaukee Brewers   67   94 .416 37.5
West Division
1st Los Angeles Dodgers   93   69 .574    --
2nd San Francisco Giants   91   71 .562   2.0
3rd San Diego Padres   87   75 .537   6.0
4th Colorado Rockies   68   94 .420 25.0
5th Arizona Diamondbacks   51 111 .315 42.0

 

  • The asterisk denotes the club that won the wild card for its respective league.

Events[]

January-April[]

May-June[]

  • May 8 - At Fenway Park, Pokey Reese has the first two-homer game of his career in the Boston Red Sox' 9-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Curt Schilling pitches his first AL complete game, and the 80th of his career, while striking out eight. Reese hits an inside-the-park home run and one of the conventional type over the Green Monster, to snap a 172 at-bat homerless streak dating to April 4, 2003. The last Red Sox player to hit a conventional homer and an inside-the-park homer in the same game was Tony Armas on September 24, 1983, at Tiger Stadium.
  • May 18 - Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson becomes only the 17th person in major league history to throw a perfect game, throwing 13 strikeouts on his way to a 2-0 defeat of the Atlanta Braves.
  • May 26 - The Pittsburgh Pirates' Daryle Ward hits for the cycle in the Pirates' 11-8 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. It has been done 23 times in Pittsburgh history and 243 times in the majors since 1882. Ward joins his father, Gary Ward, to become the first father-son combination in major league history to hit for the cycle. The senior Ward accomplished the feat on September 18, 1980, for the Minnesota Twins.
  • May 28 - Mariano Rivera notches his 300th career save in the New York Yankees' 7-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He also becomes the first Yankee and 17th reliever in major league history to reach the milestone.
  • May 28 - Matt Clement becomes the 21st big league pitcher and the first Chicago Cubs pitcher in over a century to hit three batters in one inning, to tie a major league record. The victims plucked in the fifth inning of the first game of a doubleheader against Pittsburgh are Bobby Hill, Jason Kendall and Craig Wilson.
  • June 12 - San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds drills a solo home run (the 675th of his career) off the Baltimore Orioles' Rodrigo López, who becomes the 400th pitcher to be so victimized. Bonds' performance upstaged a milestone afternoon by Rafael Palmeiro, who hits his 536th and 537th homers to move past Mickey Mantle into 11th place on the career list. It is only the third time in baseball history that two players with 500 homers connected in the same game. Willie Mays and Ernie Banks did it in 1970, and Mays and Hank Aaron both homered on May 8, 1971.
  • June 20 - On Father's Day afternoon at Busch Stadium, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. goes deep on a 2-2 fastball from the St. Louis Cardinals' Matt Morris, securing a spot in the record books as the 20th player with 500 career home runs.
  • June 26 - With a 6-4 victory over the Florida Marlins, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have a record of 36-35, becoming the first team in Major League history to have a winning record after being 18 games under .500. At one point in the season, they were 10-28, then went on a 26-7 run. Before falling under .500 for good in July, the Rays would win or tie 13 out of 14 series, including three straight sweeps during a club-record 12-game winning streak.
  • June 27 - College World Series: Cal State Fullerton wins the NCAA College World Series, defeating Texas 3-2 to win the best-of-three championship series 2-0. The Longhorns later stir up controversy by refusing to accept the runner-up trophy.
  • June 28 - David Bell hits for the cycle as the Philadelphia Phillies slug their way to a 14-6 victory over the Montréal Expos. Bell goes 4-for-4, scores two runs, and gets a career-high six RBI. He becomes the third player to hit for the cycle this season, joining the Pirates' Daryle Ward and the Brewers' Chad Moeller. Coincidentally, Ward and his father Gary Ward accomplished the feat, and when Bell achieved the honor, he joined his grandfather Gus Bell, who turned the trick on June 4, 1951.
  • June 29 - At home, the Yankees' Tony Clark hits a deep-center two-run homer off Derek Lowe, to help his team to an 11-3 win over the Boston Red Sox. Clark joins Bernie Williams and Danny Tartabull as the only players to reach the center-field bleachers more than once since the remodeled Yankee Stadium opened in 1976.

July[]

August[]

September[]

October-December[]

Movies[]

Deaths[]

January[]

  • January 2 - Lynn Cartwright, 76, actress who performed as the older version of Geena Davis' character in the 1992 film A League of Their Own
  • January 2 - Paul Hopkins, 99, oldest living major leaguer, and the pitcher who gave up Babe Ruth's record-tying 59th home run in 1927
  • January 3 - Leon Wagner, 69, All-Star left fielder for the Angels and Indians who had two seasons of 30 HR and 100 RBI; MVP of the second 1962 All-Star game
  • January 5 - Tug McGraw, 59, All-Star relief pitcher for the Mets and Phillies who held the NL's career saves record for lefthanders (180) until 1990, and was on the mound when the Phillies won their first World Series title in 1980
  • January 13 - Mike Goliat, 82, second baseman on the Phillies' 1950 "Whiz Kids"
  • January 15 - Gus Suhr, 98, All-Star first baseman for the Pirates who set NL record of 822 consecutive games played, broken by Stan Musial in 1957
  • January 17 - Harry Brecheen, 89, All-Star pitcher for the Cardinals who was 3-0 with a 0.45 ERA in the 1946 World Series, clinching the Series with a Game 7 relief win; led NL in ERA and strikeouts in 1948

February[]

  • February 10 - Hub Kittle, 86, pitching coach for the 1982 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals; also a minor league manager and executive
  • February 15 - Lawrence Ritter, 81, author of numerous books on baseball, including The Glory of Their Times
  • February 16 - Charlie Fox, 82, manager who led Giants to the 1971 NL West title, and later managed the Expos and Cubs
  • February 22 - Andy Seminick, 83, All-Star catcher who was the last surviving everyday player for the Phillies' 1950 "Whiz Kids"

March[]

  • March 2 - Marge Schott, 75, owner of the Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1999 who often provoked controversy with her social views
  • March 6 - John Henry Williams, 35, son of Hall of Famer Ted Williams who began a brief minor league career at age 33
  • March 18 - Gene Bearden, 83, pitcher who employed the knuckleball in a remarkable 1948 rookie season for the Indians, winning 20 games, leading the AL in ERA and earning a save in the final World Series game
  • March 27 - Bob Cremins, 98, pitcher who made four relief appearances for the 1927 Red Sox
  • March 29 - Al Cuccinello, 89, reserve second baseman for the 1935 Giants who hit a home run in his first game at the Polo Grounds

April[]

  • April 4 - George Bamberger, 80, manager of the Brewers (twice) and Mets, also Orioles' pitching coach; won 213 games as a minor league pitcher, mainly in Pacific Coast League
  • April 6 - Lou Berberet, 74, catcher for four AL teams who posted a perfect fielding average for the 1957 Senators
  • April 6 - Ken Johnson, 81, pitcher who threw a one-hitter for the Cardinals in his first major league start

May[]

  • May 2 - Moe Burtschy, 82, relief pitcher for the Philadelphia & Kansas City Athletics from 1950-56
  • May 3 - Darrell Johnson, 75, manager of the Red Sox' 1975 AL champions who later became the Seattle Mariners' first manager
  • May 17 - Buster Narum, 63, pitcher who won 14 games for the 1964-67 Senators after homering in his first career at bat with the Orioles

June[]

  • June 3 - Joe Cleary, 85, pitcher; last native of Ireland to play in a major league game
  • June 4 - Wilmer Fields, 81, All-Star pitcher and third baseman for the Negro Leagues' Homestead Grays
  • June 8 - Mack Jones, 65, outfielder for three NL teams who had the first major league home run hit in Canada
  • June 16 - George Hausmann, 88, second baseman for the New York Giants in 1944-45; suspended for jumping to the Mexican League

July[]

  • July 9 - Tony Lupien, 87, first baseman for three teams who later managed in the minor leagues and coached at Dartmouth for 21 years
  • July 26 - Rubén Gómez, 77, pitcher for the Giants who in 1954 became the first Puerto Rican to win a World Series game

August[]

  • August 3 - Bob Murphy, 79, broadcaster for the Mets for 40 years, previously with the Red Sox and Orioles
  • August 11 - Joe Falls, 76, sportswriter for various Detroit newspapers since 1953, also a Sporting News columnist; winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award
  • August 23 - Hank Borowy, 88, All-Star pitcher who was the last hurler to get four decisions in a World Series, going 2-2 with the 1945 Cubs against Detroit
  • August 27 - Willie Crawford, 57, outfielder, primarily for the Dodgers, who hit .304 for the 1976 Cardinals

September[]

  • September 7 - Bob Boyd, 84, first baseman who was the first black player to sign with the White Sox, and the first 20th-century Oriole to hit over .300
  • September 7 - Hal Reniff, 66, relief pitcher for the Yankees who saved 18 games in 1963

October[]

  • October 3 - John Cerutti, 44, pitcher and broadcast announcer for the Blue Jays who won 11 games for the 1989 division champions
  • October 10 - Ken Caminiti, 41, All-Star third baseman who won the NL's 1996 MVP award and three Gold Gloves; made news in 2002 with admission of steroid use and allegations of their prevalence in major leagues
  • October 17 - Ray Boone, 81, All-Star infielder and patriarch of three-generation major league family which included son Bob and grandsons Bret and Aaron
  • October 20 - Chuck Hiller, 70, second baseman for four NL teams who was that league's first player to hit a grand slam in the World Series
  • October 21 - Jim Bucher, 93, infielder/outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox between 1934 and 1945
  • October 26 - Bobby Avila, 80, Mexican All-Star second baseman for the Indians who won the AL batting title in 1954, the first Hispanic player to do so; became president of the Mexican League

November[]

  • November 14 - Jesse Gonder, 68, catcher and pinch-hitter for five teams, most notably the 1963-65 Mets; won a batting title in Pacific Coast League
  • November 19 - Brian Traxler, 37, former first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers
  • November 26 - Tom Haller, 67, All-Star catcher for the Giants and Dodgers, later Giants' general manager from 1981-86; brother Bill was longtime AL umpire
  • November 28 - Connie Johnson, 81, All-Star pitcher for the Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs, later with the White Sox and Orioles
  • November 29 - Harry Danning, 93, All-Star catcher for the New York Giants who batted .300 three times

December[]

  • December 10 - Ed Sudol, 84, National League umpire from 1957-77 who worked three World Series and was behind the plate for Jim Bunning's perfect game (1964), Hank Aaron's 715th home run (1974), and three Mets games of 23 or more innings
  • December 13 - Andre Rodgers, 70, shortstop for the Giants, Cubs and Pirates who was the first Bahamian major leaguer; former cricket player learned baseball at a Giants tryout
  • December 14 - Danny Doyle, 87, scout for the Red Sox since 1949 who signed Roger Clemens; briefly a catcher for the 1943 team
  • December 14 - Rod Kanehl, 70, second baseman and outfielder for the Mets who hit the team's first grand slam
  • December 15 - Larry Ponza, 86, pitching machine innovator
  • December 16 - Ted Abernathy, 71, relief pitcher who led the NL in saves in 1965 and 1967
  • December 16 - Bobby Mattick, 89, longtime scout who managed the 1980-81 Blue Jays; previously a shortstop for the Cubs and Reds
  • December 22 - Doug Ault, 54, first baseman for the Blue Jays who hit two home runs in the franchise's first game
  • December 23 - Wilmer Harris, 80, pitcher for the Negro Leagues' Philadelphia Stars
  • December 24 - Johnny Oates, 58, manager who led the Rangers to their only three playoff appearances in 1996, '98 and '99; also managed Orioles, and was catcher with five teams
  • December 26 - Eddie Layton, 79, organist for the New York Yankees from 1967 to 2003
  • December 29 - Ken Burkhart, 89, National League umpire from 1957-73 who worked in three World Series; a pitcher who won 18 games for the 1945 Cardinals, he was the last surviving umpire who played in the majors
  • December 29 - Gus Niarhos, 84, catcher for four teams, most notably the Yankees; later a minor league manager
  • December 31 - Joe Durso, 80, sportswriter for The New York Times since 1950, and author of several baseball books
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