The 1951 major league baseball season began on April 16, 1951. The regular season ended on October 3, with the New York Giants and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Giants defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in a regular season best-of-three tiebreaker, for the National League title, after both teams finished their 154-game schedules with identical 96âÂÂ58 records. This was the third regular season tie-breaker, and saw a reversion from the single-game tie-breaker featured in 1948 to the three-game format featured in the 1946 tie-breaker series. After splitting the first two games, the stage was set for a decisive third game, won in dramatic fashion on a walk-off home run from the bat of Giant Bobby Thomson, one of the most famous moments in the history of baseball, commemorated as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" and "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff". The postseason began with Game 1 of the 48th World Series on October 4 and ended with Game 6 on October 10. In the sixth iteration of this Subway Series World Series matchup, the Yankees defeated the Giants, four games to two, capturing their 14th championship in franchise history, and their third in a five-run World Series. This would be the final Subway Series matchup between the two teams, as the next World Series between the two in would see a relocated Giants franchise in San Francisco, California.
The 18th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 10 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, home of the Detroit Tigers. The National League won, 8âÂÂ3.
On May 1, the Chicago White Sox become the sixth team in professional baseball to break the color line when they fielded future Hall-of-Famer Minnie Miñoso.
This was Happy Chandler's last season of his 5ý-tenure as Commissioner of Baseball, as he resigned on July 15, after team owner voted against renewing his contract which expired in April 1952. National League president Ford Frick would be elected as commissioner, officially taking the position September 20, just days before the end of the regular season.
The 1951 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the season (except for ) and would be used until in the American League and in the National League.
National League Opening Day took place on April 16, with a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, while American League Opening Day took place the following day, featuring all eight teams. This was the first season since that both leagues opened on different days. The final day of the scheduled regular season was on September 30, which saw all sixteen teams play, continuing the trend from . Due to the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants finishing with the same record of 96âÂÂ58, a best-of-three tie-breaker was scheduled, to be considered an extension of the regular season, and took place between October 1 and October 3. The World Series took place between October 4 and October 10.
The 1951 season saw the following rule changes:
4 tie games (1 in AL, 3 in NL), which are not factored into winning percentage or games behind (and were often replayed again) occurred throughout the season.
The postseason began on October 1 and ended on October 10 with the New York Yankees defeating the New York Giants in the 1951 World Series in six games.
Any team shown in indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.