1980 in baseball

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Events

January-June

• January 9 - Al Kaline and Duke Snider are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Kaline is the 10th player to be elected in his first year of eligibility, while Snider is making his 11th appearance on the ballot.
• March 12 - Slugger Chuck Klein and former Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. Yawkey is the first club owner selected who never served as a player, manager, or general manager.

July-December

• July 4 - Houston Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan strike outs César Gerónimo of the Cincinnati Reds, to become the fourth major league pitcher ever to reach 3,000 career strikeouts. Ironically, Gerónimo was also Bob Gibson's 3,000th career strikeout victim six years earlier. Despite the milestone, Ryan allows six runs in four 1/3 innings and Houston loses, 8?1.
• July 6 - Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton becomes the major leagues' lefthanded strikeout king, fanning seven Cardinals in an 8?3 Phillies win to bring his career total to 2,836. Mickey Lolich had held the record with 2,832.
• July 8 - At Dodger Stadium, the National League battles back to win its ninth consecutive All-Star Game over the American League, 4-2. Ken Griffey, Sr. goes 2-for-3 with a solo home run to win the MVP honors.
• September 10 - Bill Gullickson struck out 18, the most by a major league rookie pitcher, as the Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 4?2.
• October 4 - In a 17?1 rout of the Minnesota Twins, Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals becomes the first major league player ever to be credited with 700 at-bats in one single season. Wilson will post 705 at bats, the highest this century. He also sets the AL record for singles in a season with 184, eclipsing the mark Sam Rice set in 1925. Wilson also becomes only the second player in major league history to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate, matching the feat accomplished by Garry Templeton in 1979.
• October 21 - The Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series, the first World Championship in their 98-year history, by beating the Kansas City Royals 4?1 in Game Six. Philadelphia's Mike Schmidt is named MVP, hitting .381 with two home runs and seven RBI, while KC's Willie Wilson is the "goat", striking out a WS record 12 times, including the final out of the Series with the bases loaded, and hitting only .154.