Orioles

Red Sox

White Sox

Indians

Tigers

Athletics

Angels

Twins

Yankees

Senators

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Locations of teams for the 1962–1964American League seasons
American League

Cubs

Reds

Colt .45s

Dodgers

Braves

Mets

     Phillies

Pirates  

  Giants

Cardinals

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Locations of teams for the 1962–1963National League seasons
National League

The1963 major league baseball season began on April 8, 1963. The regular season ended on September 29, with theLos Angeles Dodgers andNew York Yankees as the regular season champions of theNational League andAmerican League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the60th World Series on October 2 and ended with Game 4 on October 6. In the eighth iteration of this World Series matchup, and their first since the Dodgers relocated toLos Angeles fromBrooklyn, New York, the Dodgers swept the Yankees in four games, capturing their third championship in franchise history, since their previous in1959, and second in Los Angeles. The Dodgers' stellar pitching staff, anchored by left-handerSandy Koufax and right-handerDon Drysdale, was so dominant that the vaunted Yankees, despite the presence of sluggers such asMickey Mantle andRoger Maris in their lineup, never took a lead against Los Angeles the entire Series. This was the eighth World Series between the two teams. Going into the season, the defendingWorld Series champions were theNew York Yankees from the1962 season.

In a return to the single-game-in-a-season format, the34th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was held on July 9 atCleveland Stadium inCleveland,Ohio, home of theCleveland Indians. TheNational League won, 5–3.

The 1963 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 the1961 season and by the National League since theprevious season, and would be used until1969.

Opening Day took place on April 8, featuring four teams. The final day of the regular season was on September 29, which saw 16 teams play. TheWorld Series took place between October 2 and October 6.

The 1963 season saw the following rule changes:

• The top of thestrike zone was raised from the armpits to the top of the shoulders.^[1][2]
• Caught stealing, a statistic that began being tracked in1951, was officially codified.^[3]
• In efforts to speed up the game:^[4]
  • Both theAmerican andNational Leagues implement a five-pitch warm-up limit per inning, reducing the number from eight.
    • The American League, however, still allows eight pitches for the first 30 days of the season.
  • Both leagues implement a rule forcingpitchers to be in theon-deck circle as the nextbatter in the lineup. Previously, the following batter would stand in the on-deck circle while the pitcher rested on the bench until his at-bat.
    • The American League additionally required catchers in the on-deck circle to remove all protective gear.
  • The National League now limits the ability of managers to visit the mound to once per inning. The pitcher would be removed from the game if the manager visited a second time.
• If offensive interference is called, all runners must return to their last legally touched base.^[3]

The postseason began on October 2 and ended on October 6 with theLos Angeles Dodgers sweeping theNew York Yankees in the1963 World Series in four games.

In the American League, theNew York Yankees were in the 4th of 5 straight pennant winning years, and, led by MVPElston Howard, cruised to the American League title by 10.5 games over the 2nd placeChicago White Sox.

In the National League, most experts figured theSan Francisco Giants andLos Angeles Dodgers would be locked in another battle for the pennant, much like 1962 when the Giants came from behind and beat the Dodgers in a playoff. The Dodgers started slowly, perhaps feeling the hangover effect from blowing the pennant the year before. They were 2 games under .500 in early May, and trailed the surprisingSt. Louis Cardinals by 4.5 games. Then their pitching asserted itself, and on August 28, the Dodgers led the Giants by 5.5 games and the Cardinals by 6.5 games. The Cardinals proceeded to win 19 of their next 20 games and, while the Dodgers didn't exactly slump, they went "only" 14–7 during that same period. Thus, the Dodgers went into St. Louis on September 16 to play the Cardinals in a 3-game series leading by only 1 game. With the memory of blowing the 1962 pennant fresh in their minds, the Dodgers proceeded to sweep the Cardinals and take a 4-game lead with 7 games to go. The key game was the third one; the Cardinals led 5–1 in the 8th inning and a win would move them back to within 2 games of L.A. But the Dodgers got 3 in the 8th and in the top of the 9th, late season call upDick Nen, in only his 8th major league at bat, hit a pinch hit homer to force extra innings. The Cardinals got a leadoff triple fromDick Groat in the 10th but could not score. The Dodgers then scored an unearned run in the 13th inning and won, 6–5. The disheartened Cardinals then lost their next 3 games as well while the Dodgers won 3 of their next 4 to clinch the pennant with 6 games left.

• Sport Magazine'sWorld Series Most Valuable Player Award:Sandy Koufax (LAD)

• John Clarkson
• Elmer Flick
• Sam Rice
• Eppa Rixey

In an attempt to create an identity distinguishable from all other teams,Kansas City Athletics ownerCharlie Finley changed the team uniforms tokelly green and yellow. This tradition of "green and gold" has been preserved to this day, although the kelly green has since been replaced withforest green. Finley also changed the Athletics' cleats to white instead of the standard black. Coaches and managers were also given white hats, which were dropped when the Athletics adopted new colors in 1993. The white cleats were dropped in 2000, but were revived in 2008.

TheNew York Mets would play their final game at thePolo Grounds on September 18 against thePhiladelphia Phillies, moving intoShea Stadium for the start of the1964 season. This would be the final of 78 seasons since1882 that any iteration of thePolo Grounds featured a major-league team.

CBS andNBC aired weekendGame of the Week broadcasts. TheAll-Star Game andWorld Series also aired on NBC.

• Stan Musial had his No. 6 retired by theSt. Louis Cardinals on September 29. This was the first number retired by the team.

• 1963 in baseball (Events,Births,Deaths)
• 1963 Nippon Professional Baseball season

Wikimedia Commons has media related to1963 in Major League Baseball.

• 1963 Major League Schedule atBaseball Reference

• 1963 Major League Baseball season
• Major League Baseball seasons
• 1963 in baseball

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