Events
- January 14 - Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis declares 87 players from the Detroit Tigers' farm system free agents because he had been “hidden” from other teams.
- April 16 - The Cleveland Indians' Bob Feller pitches a 1-0 opening day no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox.
- April 23 - Hall of famer Pee Wee Reese makes his major league debut at shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
- April 30 - Tex Carleton pitches a no-hitter as the Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0.
- May 7 -The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 18-2. The Cards have 49 bases on twenty hits, including thirteen extra-base hits and seven home runs.
- June 6 - The Boston Bees sign 19-year-old left-handed pitcher Warren Spahn.
- June 15 - In a 12-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Giants' Harry Danning hits for a cycle against that includes an inside the park home run. The ball became lodged behind an Eddie Grant memorial in front of the Giants' clubhouse.
- July 9 - Boston Bees outfielder Max West hits a three-run home run in the first inning, as the National League defeats the American League, 4-0, in the All-Star Game at Sportsman's Park, home of the St. Louis Cardinals.
- September 24 - Jimmie Foxx hit his career 500th home run.
- September 30 - The Cleveland Indians finish one-game behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League pennant race, thus disappointing Ohio baseball fans who had been rooting all season long for what would have been the only All-Ohio World Series in baseball history, between the National League champions Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians.
- October 8 - The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1, in Game 7 of the World Series to win their second World Championship, four games to three. This was Cincinnati's first World Series victory since the infamous Black Sox scandal in 1919. Reds' Bill McKechnie became the first manager to win World Series with two different teams. In 1925 he had won the Classic as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- November 11 - Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Larry MacPhail acquires starting pitcher Kirby Higbe, from the Philadelphia Phillies, in exchange for catcher Mickey Livingston, pitchers Bill Crouch and Vito Tamulis, and $100,000. Higbe, who won 14 games this past season, will win 22 games in 1941 to lead National League pitchers.
- December 12 - The Boston Red Sox send Doc Cramer to the Washington Senators for Gee Walker, then package him with Jim Bagby & Gene Desautels, and send them to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Dobson, Odell Hale & Frankie Pytlak. They also purchase Pete Fox's contract from the Detroit Tigers.
Read more about this topic: 1940 In Baseball
Famous quotes containing the word events:
“There are no little events in life, those we think of no consequence may be full of fate, and it is at our own risk if we neglect the acquaintances and opportunities that seem to be casually offered, and of small importance.”
—Amelia E. Barr (1831–1919)
“One cannot be a good historian of the outward, visible world without giving some thought to the hidden, private life of ordinary people; and on the other hand one cannot be a good historian of this inner life without taking into account outward events where these are relevant. They are two orders of fact which reflect each other, which are always linked and which sometimes provoke each other.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“The return of the asymmetrical Saturday was one of those small events that were interior, local, almost civic and which, in tranquil lives and closed societies, create a sort of national bond and become the favorite theme of conversation, of jokes and of stories exaggerated with pleasure: it would have been a ready- made seed for a legendary cycle, had any of us leanings toward the epic.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)