This article is about the 1987 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see
1987 in baseball .
Sports season
The 1987 Major League Baseball season ended with the American League Champion Minnesota Twins winning the World Series over the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals , four games to three, as all seven games were won by the home team.
In June, future Hall of Fame outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. was selected with the number one overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft , by the Seattle Mariners .
Player of the Month [ edit ] Pitcher of the Month [ edit ] Statistical leaders [ edit ]
Statistic
American League
National League
AVG Wade Boggs , Boston Red Sox .363
Tony Gwynn , San Diego Padres .370
HR Mark McGwire , Oakland Athletics 49
Andre Dawson , Chicago Cubs 49
RBIs George Bell , Toronto Blue Jays 134
Andre Dawson , Chicago Cubs 137
Wins Roger Clemens , Boston Red Sox Dave Stewart , Oakland Athletics 20
Rick Sutcliffe , Chicago Cubs 18
ERA Jimmy Key , Toronto Blue Jays 2.76
Nolan Ryan , Houston Astros 2.76
SO Mark Langston , Seattle Mariners 262
Nolan Ryan , Houston Astros 270
SV Tom Henke , Toronto Blue Jays 34
Steve Bedrosian , Philadelphia Phillies 40
SB Harold Reynolds , Seattle Mariners 60
Vince Coleman , St. Louis Cardinals 109
Home field attendance and payroll [ edit ]
Team name
Wins
%±
Home attendance
%±
Per game
Est. payroll
%±
St. Louis Cardinals [ 1] 95
20.3%
3,072,122
24.3%
37,927
$11,758,000
19.1%
New York Mets [ 2] 92
−14.8%
3,034,129
9.6%
37,458
$13,846,714
−10.0%
Los Angeles Dodgers [ 3] 73
0.0%
2,797,409
−7.5%
34,536
$14,474,737
−4.9%
Toronto Blue Jays [ 4] 96
11.6%
2,778,429
13.2%
34,302
$10,765,401
−15.9%
California Angels [ 5] 75
−18.5%
2,696,299
1.5%
33,288
$13,855,999
−4.0%
New York Yankees [ 6] 89
−1.1%
2,427,672
7.0%
29,971
$19,457,714
5.2%
Kansas City Royals [ 7] 83
9.2%
2,392,471
3.1%
29,537
$12,513,056
−4.1%
Boston Red Sox [ 8] 78
−17.9%
2,231,551
3.9%
27,894
$13,770,171
−4.4%
Cincinnati Reds [ 9] 84
−2.3%
2,185,205
29.1%
26,978
$9,281,500
−22.0%
Philadelphia Phillies [ 10] 80
−7.0%
2,100,110
8.6%
25,927
$12,482,997
7.7%
Minnesota Twins [ 11] 85
19.7%
2,081,976
65.8%
25,703
$10,585,000
11.4%
Detroit Tigers [ 12] 98
12.6%
2,061,830
8.5%
25,455
$12,122,881
−1.7%
Chicago Cubs [ 13] 76
8.6%
2,035,130
9.5%
25,439
$15,473,026
−10.1%
San Francisco Giants [ 14] 90
8.4%
1,917,168
25.4%
23,669
$8,532,500
−4.6%
Houston Astros [ 15] 76
−20.8%
1,909,902
10.1%
23,579
$12,758,371
29.2%
Milwaukee Brewers [ 16] 91
18.2%
1,909,244
50.9%
23,571
$7,293,224
−26.7%
Montreal Expos [ 17] 91
16.7%
1,850,324
63.9%
22,844
$8,762,052
−21.1%
Baltimore Orioles [ 18] 67
−8.2%
1,835,692
−7.0%
22,386
$14,250,273
9.6%
Texas Rangers [ 19] 75
−13.8%
1,763,053
4.2%
21,766
$5,992,718
−11.1%
Oakland Athletics [ 20] 81
6.6%
1,678,921
27.7%
20,727
$12,730,839
30.2%
San Diego Padres [ 21] 65
−12.2%
1,454,061
−19.5%
17,951
$12,065,796
6.0%
Atlanta Braves [ 22] 69
−4.2%
1,217,402
−12.2%
15,030
$17,444,560
2.0%
Chicago White Sox [ 23] 77
6.9%
1,208,060
−15.2%
14,914
$12,135,343
16.5%
Pittsburgh Pirates [ 24] 80
25.0%
1,161,193
16.0%
14,336
$8,789,500
−19.6%
Seattle Mariners [ 25] 78
16.4%
1,134,255
10.2%
14,003
$4,623,000
−22.4%
Cleveland Indians [ 26] 61
−27.4%
1,077,898
−26.8%
13,307
$9,033,750
15.7%
Television coverage [ edit ] January 14 – Catfish Hunter and Billy Williams are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America .
March 3 – Ray Dandridge , a third baseman from the Negro leagues , is the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee.
April 13 – At Jack Murphy Stadium , the San Diego Padres set a major league record when the first three batters in the bottom of the first inning hit home runs off San Francisco Giants starter Roger Mason in their home opener. The Padres, trailing 3–0, got homers from Marvell Wynne , Tony Gwynn and John Kruk .[ 27]
April 15 – Juan Nieves of the Milwaukee Brewers pitches a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles . He becomes the second-youngest pitcher in major league history to accomplish the feat, and the first Brewer to do so.
April 17 – Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hits the 500th home run of his career. It came in the ninth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates ' Don Robinson , giving the Phillies an 8–6 win.
June 2 – The Seattle Mariners use the number-one overall pick of the draft to select Ken Griffey Jr. , signaling a turnaround in their fortunes as an organization.
June 28 – Don Baylor of the visiting Boston Red Sox is hit by a pitch from Rick Rhoden in the sixth inning of a 6–2 win over the New York Yankees . The HBP gives Baylor 244 for his career, breaking Ron Hunt 's modern-day record.
July 14 – Tim Raines caps a 3-for-3 performance in the All-Star Game with a two-run triple in the top of the 13th inning, giving the National League a 2–0 victory over the American League . Raines is selected the MVP.
July 18 – New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly homers in his record-tying eighth straight game, in a 7–2 loss to the Texas Rangers. He ties the record set by Dale Long in 1956.
August 11 – Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics breaks Al Rosen 's American League rookie record by hitting his 38th home run in an 8–2 loss to the Mariners.
August 26 – Paul Molitor of the Milwaukee Brewers goes hitless, and ends his 39-game hitting streak; it is the longest American League hitting streak since Joe DiMaggio 's 56-game streak in 1941.
August 30 – With knuckleball pitcher Charlie Hough on the mound, Texas Rangers catcher Geno Petralli ties a Major League record by committing six passed balls in a 7–0 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium . All seven runs are unearned and come as a result of the passed balls. Petralli will go on to commit 35 passed balls on the season, breaking J. C. Martin 's single-season record of 33 in 1965.
September 9 – Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 to pass 4,500 for his career as the Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants 4–2. Ryan strikes out 12 of the final 13 batters and fans Mike Aldrete to complete the seventh inning for his 4,500th strikeout.
September 14 – In the midst of the Toronto Blue Jays ' 18–3 drubbing of the Baltimore Orioles , Cal Ripken Jr. is lifted from the lineup and replaced by Ron Washington , stopping Ripken's consecutive innings played streak at 8,243.
September 18 – Darrell Evans hits his 30th home run of the season, and becomes the first player to do so after the age of 40.
September 21 – Darryl Strawberry swipes his 30th base of the season to join the 30–30 club . With teammate Howard Johnson already having joined, it marks the first time that two teammates achieve 30–30 seasons in the same year.
September 22 – Wade Boggs of the Boston Red Sox reaches the 200-hit mark for the fifth straight season in an 8–5 loss to the Detroit Tigers .
October 4 – The Detroit Tigers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 1–0 to clinch the American League East division title. The victory caps off a thrilling pennant race in which the Tigers overcame a 3.5 game deficit to the Blue Jays in the last two weeks of the season, including sweeping the Blue Jays at Tiger Stadium in the final weekend, and finishing two games ahead of Toronto in the standings.
October 25 – In Game Seven of the World Series , starter Frank Viola and reliever Jeff Reardon hold the St. Louis Cardinals to six hits, as the Minnesota Twins win 4–2 for their second World Championship, and their first since moving to Minnesota and changing their name to the Twins. The franchise's first title came in 1924 as the Washington Senators. Viola is named the Series MVP.
November 18 – Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs is announced as the winner of the National League MVP Award , becoming the first recipient of the award to play for a last place team.
^ "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "New York Mets Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Toronto Blue Jays Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Los Angeles Angels Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Kansas City Royals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Milwaukee Brewers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Washington Nationals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Texas Rangers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "San Diego Padres Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Seattle Mariners Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors" . Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 8, 2020 .^ Mackin, Bob (2004). The Unofficial Guide to Baseball's Most Unusual Records . Canada: Greystone Books. p. 240. ISBN 9781553650386
Pre-modern era
Beginnings Competition NL monopoly
Modern era
See also
