1958 – Major League Baseball comes to California as the transplanted Giants and Dodgers play the first game on the Pacific Coast. The Californian contest at San Francisco’s Seals Stadium sees Ruben Gómez blanking Los Angeles and Don Drysdale. Daryl Spencer hits the first home run and Orlando Cepeda also homers in the Giants’ 8 – 0 victory in front of 23,448 fans.
On April 7, 1958, the newly transplanted Los Angeles Dodgers erect a 42-foot screen at the Los Angeles Coliseum as part of an effort to cut down on home runs to left field, which is only 250 feet from home plate. This creates the term, Moon shots, for Wally Moon’s famous homeruns.
On March 31, 1958, the Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles pull off a major five-player deal. In the trade, the Indians acquire Hall of Famer Larry Doby and another player in exchange for outfielder Gene Woodling, pitcher Bud Daley, and utility man Dick Williams. In 1947, Doby had become the first black player in the…
The Milwaukee Braves purchase veteran Dick Littlefield from the Chicago Cubs. The well-traveled pitcher will be wearing his 10th and last major league uniform.
1958 – Slugger Chuck Klein dies in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the age of 53. Klein batted .320 with 300 home runs and 1201 RBI over a 17-year career. His most productive season came in 1933, when he won the National League Triple Crown. Klein will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1980.
1958 – The Chicago White Sox obtain outfielder Don Mueller from the San Francisco Giants for cash.
On March 20, 1958, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired veteran first baseman Joe Collins from the New York Yankees. Opting not to report to the Phillies’ spring training camp, Collins decides to retire, thereby canceling the deal.
Emmett Kelly, the Dodgers’ resident ‘tramp’ in Brooklyn, announces his contract has not been renewed to join the team when they begin playing in L.A. this season. The veteran circus performer believes the size of the Coliseum, the club’s new home on the West Coast, is just “too big for one clown”.
American League president Will Harridge informs the circuit’s umpires the wearing of a helmet is mandatory for batters this season, reinforcing the edict passed by a 7-1 vote of the owners at their December meeting in Colorado Springs. The Red Sox dissent, knowing their slugger Ted Williams adamantly is opposed to wearing headgear, asserting the protective equipment will interfere with the timing of their hitters.
1958 – Duke Snider, Johnny Podres, and Don Zimmer suffer minor injuries in an auto accident in Vero Beach, Florida, as they try to beat a 12:30 A.M. curfew. This is the third accident involving Dodgers players in the last two months; Jim Gilliam and his family had an accident shortly after Roy Campanella’s.
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