2001 in baseball

Events

January-March

• January 16 - Outfielders Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in their first year on the ballot.
• February 8 - The Dominican Republic defeats Mexico, 5-3, to take its fourth Caribbean World Series title in five years.
• February 11 - Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, the home of the Pirates since 1970, is imploded before thousands of onlookers. The team will play in new PNC Park this season.
• February 20 - Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones wins a record $8.2 million contract in salary arbitration. The previous record of $7.25 million was set in 2000 by Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera.
• March 6 - Second baseman Bill Mazeroski and Negro League pitcher Hilton Smith are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Old-timers Committee.
• March 8 - The Baltimore Orioles announce that Albert Belle is "totally disabled and unable to perform as a major league baseball player" due to a severe case of degenerative arthritis of the right hip.
• March 23 - A panel of veteran baseball writers, historians and executives selected a roster of the Top 100 Greatest Cleveland Indians Players, as part of the club?s 100th Anniversary Celebration.

April-June

• April 4 - Hideo Nomo hurls a 3-0 no-hitter against the Orioles in his Boston debut. It is Nomo's second career no-hit no-run, making him the fourth pitcher in history to hurl one in both the National League and the American League. It is also the earliest no-hitter, by date, in major league history.
• April 14 - A major league record is set as 11 one-run games are played, breaking the mark of 10 set in 1967. With a 1?0 win over the Mets, Cincinnati set the modern day National League record with their 175th consecutive game without being shutout, breaking the mark of 174, set by the 1992-93 Philadelphia Phillies.
• May 5 - The Chicago Cubs defeat the Dodgers, 20-1. It was the 15th time since 1900 that Chicago have scored 20 runs in a game and the 11th time they've done it at Wrigley Field.
• May 12 - At Jack Murphy Stadium, A.J. Burnett of the Florida Marlins throws a 3-0 no-hitter against the host San Diego Padres. Burnette strikes out seven, but walks nine (the most in a no-hitter) and hits a batter. It is the 228th complete game no-hitter in major-league history.
• May 16 - Rickey Henderson leads off with a home run, extending his major-league record for leadoff home runs to 79. This more than twice the total for the #2 and #3 players on the list: Brady Anderson (44) and Bobby Bonds (35).
• May 25 - Hideo Nomo of the Boston Red Sox tossed a one-hitter and struck out 14 in a 4-0 win over Toronto. Nomo faced one batter over the minimum of 27, giving up a leadoff double in the fourth inning to Shannon Stewart. Previously, Nomo tossed a no-hitter game in April 4 against the Orioles.
• May 28 - Collecting five singles and a three-run home run, Dodgers' catcher Paul Lo Duca hit 6-for-6 in against the Rockies to tie a National League record for hits in an extra-inning game.
• June 12 - Dodgers outfielder Gary Sheffield became the first player in major league history to win three 1-0 games in a season with a home run, when he solos to beat the Atlanta Braves, 1-0. He also supplied the only scoring by homering in April 2, versus Milwaukee, and in May 7, against Florida.

July-September

• July 10 - The American League defeats the National League, 4?1, in the All?Star Game. Cal Ripken thrills the crowd by hitting a home run and being selected the MVP. Derek Jeter and Magglio Ordóñez also homered for the American League.
• August 15 - For the first time in major league history, four pitchers from Venezuela combined to win their respective starts the same day: Freddy García, of the Seattle Mariners, against the Boston Red Sox, 6-2; Kelvim Escobar, of the Toronto Blue Jays, over the Oakland Athletics, 5-2; Giovanni Carrara of the Los Angeles Dodgers, against the Montreal Expos, 13-1, and Omar Daal, in a Philadelphia Phillies victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-6.
• September 1 - Rafael Palmeiro of the Texas Rangers collected his 100th run batted in. He became only the fourth major league player with seven consecutive seasons with at least 35 home runs and 100 RBI. This was the eighth time in his career he had at least 100. He joined some pretty elite company. Jimmie Foxx had nine such consecutive seasons. Babe Ruth and Sammy Sosa also had seven.
• September 3 - Bud Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals became the 16th rookie in modern history to throw a no-hitter and the second to do it to San Diego Padres this season in Cardinals' 4-0 win. Smith was making his 11th career start.
• September 5 - Roger Clemens became the second pitcher in major league history to win 19 of his first 20 decisions, leading the New York Yankees over Toronto, 4-3.
• September 6 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants became the fifth player in ML history to hit 60 home runs in a season during a game against Arizona. He joined Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Bonds, who is the oldest to join this elite group, reaches the historic plateau the quickest needing only 141 games to reach the milestone.
• September 24 - Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Craig Wilson tied the major league record for pinch-hitting home runs in a season by hitting his seventh in the Pirates' 7?6 win over the Cubs. Dave Hansen of the Dodgers set the mark last season.
• September 28 - Alex Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers hit his 50th home run in an 11?2 victory over Anaheim and became the 20th player in major league history to hit 50 homers in a season.

October-December

• October 4:
• Rickey Henderson hits a home run to become baseball's all-time career runs scored leader with 2,246.
• Tim Raines, Jr. plays center field and Tim Raines, Sr. plays left field in the Orioles' 5-4 loss to the Red Sox. They become the 2nd father-son duo to play in the same game, matching the feat turned by Ken Griffey, Sr. and Ken Griffey, Jr.
• October 5:
• Barry Bonds hits his 71st and 72nd home runs of the year to set a new major league single-season mark in the Giants' 11-10 loss to the Dodgers.
• The Orioles lose to the Red Sox, 7-5, as Cal Ripken becomes the 7th player in history to play in 3,000 career games.
• October 6 - Lenny Harris breaks Manny Mota's all-time mark for pinch hits with the 151st of his career as the Mets defeat the Expos, 4-0.
• October 7:
• Rickey Henderson gets the 3,000th hit of his career, as the Padres lose to the Rockies. The game is the final one of Tony Gwynn's career. Meanwhile, Larry Walker wins his third National League batting title in three years at .350. Walker and Rockies teammate Todd Helton (.336) become the first teammates to finish 1-2 since John Olerud (.363), Paul Molitor (.332) and Roberto Alomar (.326) were the top three for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993.
• Albert Pujols ties Emmet "Snags" Heidrick (1899) for most hits by a Cardinal rookie when he makes his 194th.
• Barry Bonds extends his major-league record with his 73rd home run of the season. He will finish the year with a .863 slugging percentage to break Babe Ruth's all-time single-season record.
• In a day of records, The Cubs lose to the Pirates in their final game of the season, 4-3. They become the first team in major league history to not allow an opposing pitcher to throw a complete game against them all season. Sammy Sosa closes out 2001 with his 64th homer in his final at-bat of the game and sets a new franchise record with 98 extra base hits, one more than Hack Wilson (1930). Sosa also finishes with another franchise record of 425 total bases (the 7th best all-time total), two ahead of Wilson. His 160 RBI is the highest total in the National League since Chuck Klein posted 170 in 1930; Sosa's RBI total for the past four years also breaks Klein's four-year mark set in 1929-32. To finish out the record day, five Cubs pitchers combine for 12 strikeouts as the staff sets a major league record with 1,246 strikeouts. The Yankees did the same, setting an American League mark with 1,266 strikeouts.
• November 4 - The Arizona Diamondbacks win the first World Series of their four-year existence with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Yankees. Luis Gonzalez drives home the winning run while Randy Johnson gets the win in relief. Johnson and Curt Schilling share the 2001 World Series MVP award.
• November 11 - Mark McGwire announces his retirement. His 583 career home runs place him 5th on the all-time list.
• December 6 - Major League Baseball reportedly gives John Henry permission to sell the Florida Marlins to Montreal Expos owner, Jeffrey Loria. The Expos are expected to be either contracted or taken over by MLB.
• December 20 - The limited partners of the Red Sox vote unanimously to sell the team to a group led by Florida Marlins owner John Henry and former Padres owner Tom Werner. The $660 million price, plus an assumption of $40 in debt, would double the record price for a baseball team.