1947 Major League Baseball season

{{See also|Baseball color line#Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby}}

On April 15, Opening Day for the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers, Jackie Robinson was in the Dodgers' lineup, playing first base against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field. His appearance in a major league game broke the baseball color line, the practice of excluding players of black African descent. Though he endured epithets and death threats, as well as a slow start, his skill would earn him the first ever Rookie of the Year award, named in Robinson's honor 40 years later.{{cite news |title=Sports News |agency=Associated Press |date=July 14, 1987}}

Halfway through the season on July 5, the American League's Cleveland Indians debuted Larry Doby, becoming the first black player in the American League and breaking the AL color line. Doby was a more low-key figure, suffered many of the same indignities that Robinson did, albeit with less press coverage.{{cite web |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/larry-doby/ |title=Larry Doby |first=John |last=McMurray |website=SABR |access-date=October 8, 2020}}

Kansas City Monarchs star Willard Brown and teammate Hank Thompson briefly played for the St. Louis Browns, becoming the third and fourth Black players in either the NL or AL, and made the St. Louis Browns the first of either the NL or AL to field two Black players on one roster. Brown was the first black player to hit a home run in the American League.

{{See also|Major League Baseball schedule}}

The 1947 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 {{mlby|1904}} season (except for {{mlby|1919}}) and would be used until {{mlby|1961}} in the American League and {{mlby|1962}} in the National League.

Opening Day took place on April 15, featuring all sixteen teams, continuing the trend from {{mlby|1945}}. The final day of the regular season was on September 28, which also saw all sixteen teams play, continuing the trend from the previous season. This was the first time since {{mlby|1940}} that all sixteen teams played their first and last games on the same days. The World Series took place between September 30 and October 6.

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{{1947 American League standings|highlight=New York Yankees}}

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{{1947 National League standings|highlight=Brooklyn Dodgers}}

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The postseason began on September 30 and ended on October 6 with the New York Yankees defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1947 World Series in seven games.

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¹ American League Triple Crown batting winner

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File:Joe_DiMaggio_1951.png

{{main|National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum}}

• Carl Hubbell
• Frankie Frisch
• Mickey Cochrane
• Lefty Grove

{{further|1947 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting}}

• April 15 – Major League Baseball's color line is officially broken when Jackie Robinson makes his Major League debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field.
• April 27 – It is Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium. Despite having throat cancer, he speaks to the packed house, proclaiming, "The only real game, I think, in the world is baseball."
• June 18 – Ewell Blackwell pitches a no-hitter, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 6–0 win over the Boston Braves.

• July 5 – Larry Doby makes his debut for the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black baseball player in the American League, and fully integrating Major League Baseball.
• July 8 – At Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, the American League defeats the National League, 2–1, in the All-Star Game.
• July 10 – Cleveland Indians pitcher Don Black throws a no-hitter in a 3–0 win over the Philadelphia Athletics.
• July 19 – Hall of Fame Negro leagues player Willard Brown makes his major league debut with the St. Louis Browns. Brown would only appear in 21 games for St. Louis in his only major league season, batting .179 with one home run and six runs batted in.
• July 20 – With both Hank Thompson and Willard Brown in the starting line-up, the St. Louis Browns become the first major league club to field two black players at the same time. Both players play all nine innings of both games of a doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox.
• August 13 – The St. Louis Browns' Willard Brown clubs a pinch hit a two-run, inside-the-park homer against Detroit Tigers pitcher Hal Newhouser, to become the first African American player to hit a home run in American League history.
• August 20 – Washington Senators relief pitcher Tom Ferrick loses both games of a doubleheader with the Cleveland Indians. While pitching with the St. Louis Browns the previous season, Ferrick won both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics on August 4.
• August 26 – Brooklyn Dodgers' Dan Bankhead became the first black pitcher in the majors. He homered in his first major league plate appearance, but didn't fare well on the mound. In 3 ¹⁄₃ innings of relief, he gave up 10 hits and six earned runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who won the game, 16–3.
• September 3 – Bill McCahan of the Philadelphia Athletics no-hits the Washington Senators in a 3–0 victory.

• October 6 – The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5–2, in Game 7 of the World Series to win their eleventh World Championship, four games to three. This was the first World Series involving a nonwhite player, as Dodgers first baseman Jackie Robinson had racially integrated Major League Baseball at the beginning of the season. It was also the first Series to be shown on television although coverage was limited to New York City and surrounding environs.
• November 27 – Triple Crown winner Ted Williams (.343 BA, 32 home runs, 114 RBI) is edged out by Joe DiMaggio (.315, 20, 97) for the American League MVP Award by one point. One BBWAA member fails to include Williams anywhere on his ballot.

• 1947 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1947-schedule.shtml 1947 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference]

{{1947 MLB season by team}}

{{MLB seasons}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1947 Major League Baseball Season}}

Category:Major League Baseball seasons