The1991 Major League Baseball season saw theMinnesota Twins defeat theAtlanta Braves for the World Series title, in a series where every game was won by the home team.
The Twins and Braves became the first two teams in MLB history to win the pennant after finishing last the previous season.
January 6 –Alan Wiggins, former leadoff hitter for the San Diego Padres and a key member of their 1984 pennant run, becomes the first baseball player known to die ofAIDS. He was 32.
January 7 –Pete Rose is released from Marion Federal Prison after serving a five-month sentence for tax evasion.
April 8 – Just hours before the first pitch of the baseball season, MLB averts an umpires strike by reaching agreement with the Major League Umpires' Association on a new four-year contract.
April 21 – TheChicago Cubs score five runs in the top of the eleventh inning, but thePittsburgh Pirates comeback with six runs in the bottom of the inning for the victory; the greatest extra-innings comeback (in terms of runs) in Major League history.
July 7 – Outside a restaurant inArlington, Texas, American League umpireSteve Palermo is shot and paralyzed from the waist down after aiding a woman who was being mugged. The assailant is later sentenced to 75 years in prison.
July 26 –Montreal Expos pitcherMark Gardner throws a no-hitter through nine innings, but does not complete it when his team fails to score againstLos Angeles Dodgers starterOrel Hershiser and relieverKip Gross. Gardner loses the no-hitter and the game in the tenth inning when the Dodgers get three hits and score the only run of the game. The Expos only get two hits.
July 28 – Picking up whereMark Gardner left off,Montreal Expos hurlerDennis Martínez throws aperfect game against theLos Angeles Dodgers. The Expos only get four hits, but they score two runs and give Martínez the thirteenth perfect game in major league history.Ron Hassey, Martínez's catcher, becomes the first player to catch two perfect games, having also caughtLen Barker's in 1981.
July 31 – Two-sport starDeion Sanders of theAtlanta Braves, playing in his final game of the season with the Braves before having to report to theAtlanta Falcons' training camp, hits a three-run homer to spark a come-from-behind 8-6 win over thePittsburgh Pirates.
August 11 – In only his second Major League game, and first Major League start,Wilson Álvarez throws a no-hitter as theChicago White Sox beat theBaltimore Orioles, 7–0. It is the fifth no-hitter of the 1991 season, not includingMark Gardner's nine inning no-hitter that was lost in the tenth on July 26.
August 26 – The sixth no-hitter of 1991 is thrown by two-time Cy Young Award winnerBret Saberhagen. TheKansas City Royals pitcher no-hits theChicago White Sox, 7–0, for his first career no-hitter. On the same day, the seventh managerial firing of 1991 occurs as theCalifornia Angels, who have gone from first to last in less than one month, fireDoug Rader and replace him with the recently deposedBuck Rodgers.
September 4 – Removing an "asterisk" which was never universally recognized, the Statistical Accuracy Committee decides to putRoger Maris' 61 home run season of 1961 ahead ofBabe Ruth's 60 mark of 1927. Regarding the expunging of the asterisk, historianBill Deane later points out, "It was an easy job: the asterisk never existed. Maris' record was, from 1962 until 1991, listed separately from Ruth's and was never actually defined by 'some distinctive mark.'" The eight-man panel also re-defines ano-hit game as one which ends after nine or more innings with one team failing to get a hit, thereby removing 50 games from the list that had previously been considered hitless, including the 1959 performance ofSt. Louis Cardinals'Harvey Haddix, who pitched 12perfect innings against theMilwaukee Braves, andCincinnati Reds'Jim Maloney 1965 1–0 loss to theNew York Mets in 11 innings. Another casualty isBoston Red Sox relieverErnie Shore 27 straight outs on June 23, 1917, a game in which he relievedBabe Ruth after being ejected for protesting a walk toRay Morgan, the firstWashington Senators batter he faced. Morgan was thrown out trying to steal second, and Shore retired all 26 men he faces in a 4–0 win‚ getting credit in the books for a perfect game.
September 13 – A piece of concrete weighing several tons falls inMontréal'sOlympic Stadium. It forces theMontreal Expos to play the remainder of their home games on the road.
September 15 –Smokey Burgess, a former major leaguer and previous holder of the record for most pinch-hits, dies at age 64.
September 16 –Otis Nixon, the league's leading base stealer and catalyst on theAtlanta Braves' run from last to first, fails a drug test and is suspended for sixty days, consisting of the rest of the 1991 baseball season and the first six weeks of the 1992 season. The Braves lose the first two games without Nixon but rebound to win the National League pennant.
October 2 –Atlanta Braves pitcherTom Glavine becomes the first 20-game winner in the majors by beating theCincinnati Reds. The win assures Glavine of the Cy Young Award when it is given in November.
October 2 – TheToronto Blue Jays capture their thirdAmerican League East title since 1985 by beating theCalifornia Angels 6–5 on a walk-off RBI single byJoe Carter. The same day, the Blue Jays become the first team to ever play before more than four million fans in a single season.
October 3 –Chicago White Sox catcherCarlton Fisk hits two home runs, including agrand slam, to lead the White Sox to a 13–12 victory over theMinnesota Twins. In doing so, just nine months shy of his 44th birthday, Fisk becomes the oldest 20th-century player to collect a two-HR game. His 7th-inning grand slam offSteve Bedrosian also makes him the oldest major leaguer ever to hit a bases-loaded homer.Cap Anson, at 45, hit two home runs on this date in 1897, and is the oldest major league player to hit a pair.
October 5 – TheAtlanta Braves become the second team in two weeks to go from last to first when they beat theHouston Astros, 5–2. Moments later, theSan Francisco Giants eliminate theirarch-rivals, theLos Angeles Dodgers, whenTrevor Wilson pitches a 4–0 complete game shutout, handing the National League West division title to the Braves.John Smoltz gets his fourteenth win of the season as the Braves close out with eight consecutive wins after trailing the Dodgers by two with only ten games left to play.
October 7 –Leo Durocher, who is credited with the phrase 'nice guys finish last,' dies at the age of 86. The same day, theNew York Yankees fireStump Merrill, the ninth major league manager fired in 1991.
October 8 – Despite finishing in second, their lowest finish in his 3½ years as manager, theBoston Red Sox dismissJoe Morgan and replace him withButch Hobson. Morgan is the tenth manager fired in 1991.
October 9 –Tom Trebelhorn becomes the eleventh managerial casualty of 1991 despite a record of 40–19 and a finish over .500 with theMilwaukee Brewers.
October 18 –Jim Essian, who replacedDon Zimmer in May, is fired as manager of theChicago Cubs, the thirteenth and last firing of a manager in 1991. The thirteen firings in a season set a majors record that still stands.
October 27 – TheMinnesota Twins become theWorld Series Champions with a 1–0 victory behindJack Morris' masterful 10-inning shutout.Gene Larkin's single offAtlanta Braves relieverAlejandro Peña scoresDan Gladden with the game's only run. The game is the first Game Seven to go into extra innings since the1924 World Series between theWashington Senators andNew York Giants. Morris is named the Series MVP for the Twins, who win all four games at home while losing all three in Atlanta. Four of the seven games are decided on the final pitch, while five are decided by a single run, and three in extra innings. All are Series records.
