The Orioles trade P Billy Loes and Billy O’Dell to the Giants for P Gordon Jones, OF Jackie Brandt, and C Roger McCardell. O’Dell will win 56 games for the Giants.
The Cards send popular SS Don Blasingame to the Giants for infielder Daryl Spencer and Leon Wagner.
History of the World Series – 1959 Times they were a-changing. Major league baseball underwent its first alignment switch in 50 years in 1953 with the transfer of the Boston Braves to Milwaukee, and then saw the St. Louis Browns move to Baltimore in 1954 and the Philadelphia Athletics shift to Kansas City in 1955….
1959 – In the first inter-league trade, the Chicago Cubs send 1B Jim Marshall and P Dave Hillman to the Boston Red Sox for 1B Dick Gernert.
Washington Senators outfielder Bob Allison is voted the American League Rookie of the Year. Allison led all major league rookies with 30 home runs and 85 RBI. Cleveland Indians pitcher Jim Perry, who posted a 12-10 record with a 2.65 ERA, is a distant second.
Harry Craft is replaced by Bob Elliott as the A’s manager. During his three-year stint in Kansas City, ‘Wildfire’ will compile a 162-196 (.453) record, finishing in seventh place each season in eight-team circuit.
1959 – San Francisco Giants slugger Willie McCovey is selected as the National League Rookie of the Year, after hitting .354 with 13 home runs and 38 RBI in just 52 games. McCovey gets all 24 votes to make him the second Giants player in a row to win the award unanimously. Teammate Orlando Cepeda ran away with the award in 1958.
1959 – Chicago White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox wins the American League MVP Award. Teammates Luis Aparicio and Early Wynn finish second and third respectively.
1959 – Ernie Banks wins his second National League MVP Award in a row on the strength of his 45 home runs and 143 RBI for the Chicago Cubs. Eddie Mathews finishes second.
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