1991 in baseball

Events

January-June

• January 8 - Rod Carew, Gaylord Perry and Ferguson Jenkins are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, with Carew becoming the 22nd player to be named in his first year of eligibility.
• February 4 - The 12 members of the board of directors of the Hall of Fame vote unanimously to bar Pete Rose from the ballot. He will become eligible again only if the commissioner reinstates him by December, 2005.
• February 26 - Former New York Yankees second baseman Tony Lazzeri and former major league owner Bill Veeck are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

July-December

• July 9 - Cal Ripken, Jr.'s three-run home run lifts the American League to a 4-2 win over the National League in the annual All-Star Game. Andre Dawson homers for the NL who lose for the fourth straight year. Ripken, who also won the pre-All-Star Game Home Run Derby, is named the game's MVP.
• September 4 - Removing an asterisk which really never existed, the Statistical Accuracy Committee decides to put Roger Maris' 61 home run season ahead of Babe Ruth's 60 mark. Regarding the expunging of the asterisk, historian Bill Deane later points out, "It was an easy job: the asterisk never existed. Maris's 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 a no-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 of Harvey Haddix's 12 perfect innings against the Braves and Jim Maloney's 1965 1-0 loss to the Mets in 11-innings. Another casualty is Ernie Shore's 27 straight outs in 1917, a game in which he relieved Ruth with a runner on and no outs in the first inning. It is now a combined no-hitter.
• October 3 - Chicago White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit two home runs, including a grand slam, to lead the White Sox to a 13-12 victory over the Minnesota 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 off Steve 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: he's the oldest major league player to hit a pair.
• October 6 - David Cone of the New York Mets ties a National League record by striking out 19 Phillies in a 7?0 Mets win.
• October 27 - The Minnesota Twins become the World Series Champions with a 1-0 victory behind Jack Morris's masterful 10-inning shutout. Gene Larkin's single off Atlanta Braves reliever Alejandro Peña scores Dan Gladden with the game's only run. The game is the first Game Seven to go into extra innings since the 1924 World Series between the Washington Senators and New 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.