The 1960 major league baseball season began on April 12, 1960. The regular season ended on October 2, with the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 57th World Series on October 5 and ended with Game 7 on October 13. In the second iteration of this World Series matchup, the Pirates, led by second baseman Bill Mazeroski, defeated the Yankees, led by outfield sluggers Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, four games to three, capturing their third championship in franchise history, since their previous in . The series ended with Mazeroski hitting a walk-off home run in Game 7 and is among the most memorable in baseball history. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the Los Angeles Dodgers from the season.
For the second year, there were two separate All-Star Games played. The first, the 28th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was held on July 11 at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, home of the Kansas City Athletics. The National League won, 5âÂÂ3. The second, the 29th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was held on July 13 at Yankee Stadium in New York, New York, home of the New York Yankees. The National League won, 6âÂÂ0.
The American League's Washington Senators played their final season in Washington, D.C. before moving to the MinneapolisâÂÂSaint Paul metropolitan area as the Minnesota Twins for the 1961 season. Due to threats of the proposed Continental League, a third major league which would host teams in cities that did not play major-league teams (as well as a National League New York team), the 1960 season would prove to be the final season before the expansion-era; the following season would see the American League grow to ten teams, ending the 16-team hegemony across the American and National Leagues that had existed for most of the 20th century to this point. Expansion would also see the end of the 154-game schedule in favor of a 162-game schedule.
Following the end of the previous season, the two leagues saw their first interleague trade on November 21, when the Chicago Cubs received 1B Dick Gernert from the Boston Red Sox, in exchange for RHP Dave Hillman and 1B Jim Marshall.
The 1960 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 was the last season to use the format by the American League due to the 1961 American League expansion, which saw an extension of the schedule to 162 games. The National League would use the 154-game format for one more season.
National League Opening Day took place on April 12, featuring all eight teams, while American League Opening Day took place on April 18, featuring the Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators. The final day of the regular season was on October 2, which saw all sixteen teams play, continuing the trend since the previous season. The World Series took place between October 5 and October 13.
The 1960 season saw the following rule change:
The postseason began on October 5 and ended on October 13 with the Pittsburgh Pirates defeating the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series in seven games.
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The San Francisco Giants open Candlestick Park after playing at Seals Stadium for two seasons. The team would play at the Candlestick Park for 40 seasons through .
The Washington Senators would play their final game at Griffith Stadium on October 2 against the Baltimore Orioles, relocating to Bloomington, Minnesota at Metropolitan Stadium as the Minnesota Twins for the start of the season.
CBS and NBC continued to air weekend Game of the Week broadcasts. ABC also returned to MLB broadcasting with a series of afternoon Saturday games. ABC typically did three regional games a week. Two of ABC's games were always from the Eastern or Central Time Zone, while the late game was usually a San Francisco Giants or Los Angeles Dodgers home game.
The All-Star Game and World Series aired on NBC.