2003 in baseball

This article is currently under construction

Deaths

January-March

• January 9 - Don Landrum, 69, Major League Baseball outfielder who played with for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants.
• February 12 - Haywood Sullivan, 72, former major league player, manager, general manager and owner.
• February 17 - Steve Bechler, 23, a pitching prospect with the Baltimore Orioles.
• March 14 - Al Gionfriddo, 81, a former Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder who robbed Joe DiMaggio of a home run in Game 6 the 1947 World Series, preserving a Dodgers 8-6 victory over the New York Yankees.
• March 19 - Joe Buzas, 84, who spent more than 60 years in baseball as a player for the New York Yankees, managing in minor leagues, and who at the time of his death, had operated 82 minor league franchises in his 47 years as a owner.

April-June

• April 19 - Chris Zachary, 59, a former major league pitcher who played with the Houston Colt .45s & Astros, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates.
• May 6 - Art Houtteman, 75, who in a 12-season major leagues career pitched for the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles.
• June 1 - Johnny Hopp, 86, an All-Star outfielder who played in five World Series in his 14-year career.
• June 18 - Larry Doby, 79, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and the first black player in the American League.

July-September

• July 27 - Bob Hope, 100, made a name in comedy and the movies, but he also had a connection to baseball as a part-owner of the Cleveland Indians, and performing in 1993 his signature song Thanks for the Memories, as the Indians ended 60 years of games at Municipal Stadium.
• August 7 - Mickey McDermott, 74, a major league pitcher who played for the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Athletics, Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals.
• August 21 - Ken Coleman, 78, a one-time voice for the Boston Red Sox for 20 years.
• August 23 - Bobby Bonds, 57, a former major league outfielder and the father of Barry Bonds, who compiled 332 home runs and 461 stolen bases in a 14-year career with the Giants, Yankees, Angels, White Sox, Rangers, Indians, Cardinals and Cubs.
• August 30 - Claude Passeau, 94, a former major league pitcher who posted a 162-150 record with a 3.32 ERA in a 13-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs, and who playing for the Cubs, pitched a one-hit shutout in Game 3 of the 1945 World Series against the Detroit Tigers.
• September 25 - George Plimpton, 76, an author who prior to the second 1960 All Star Game pitched against the National League (he retired Willie Mays), later wrote a book about the experience, Out of My League, and in 1985 wrote a fictitious story for Sports Illustrated on Sidd Finch; a baseball pitching prospect with a 168 mph fastball.

October-December

• October 10 - Johnny Klippstein, 75, who pitched in the major leagues for 18 years and posted a 101-118 record as a starter and reliever for the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Redlegs & Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.
• October 12 - Joan B. Kroc, 75, the widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, who inherited the San Diego Padres when her husband died in 1984, and sold the team in 1990.
• November 5 - Dernell Stenson, 25, a promising young outfielder who played with the Cincinnati Reds, was found dead in Chandler, Arizona had been shot and apparently run over.
• November 6 - Spider Jorgensen, 84, a five-year career outfielder who debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers on the same day that teammate Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier (April 15, 1947).
• November 15 - Earl Battey, 68, a four-time All-Star and twice a Gold Glove Award winner, who major league lasted 13 seasons as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins.
• November 18 - Ken Brett, 55, the brother of Hall of Famer George Brett and the youngest pitcher in World Series history.
• November 24 - Warren Spahn, 82, the Hall of Fame pitcher who won more games than any other left-hander in major league history (363).
• December 27 - Ivan Calderón, 42, an All-Star outfielder who played in the major leagues with the Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos, was shot to death in his homeland, Puerto Rico.