January–March • January 2 – Not even a full season into owning the
Atlanta Braves, Commissioner
Bowie Kuhn suspends
Ted Turner for tampering with the signing of
Gary Matthews. • January 4 –
Mary Shane is hired by the
Chicago White Sox as the first woman TV play-by-play announcer. • January 19 – The
Baseball Writers' Association of America elects
Ernie Banks to the
Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. • January 31 – The Special Veterans Committee selects
Joe Sewell,
Amos Rusie and
Al López for the Hall of Fame. • February 3 – The Hall of Fame's Special Committee on the Negro Leagues picks versatile Cuban star
Martín Dihigo and shortstop
John Henry Lloyd for induction. The committee then dissolves, its functions being taken over by the Veterans Committee. • March 21 –
Mark Fidrych, the 1976 AL Rookie of the Year, rips the cartilage in his left knee and will undergo surgery in ten days. The injury will effectively end the fabled career of
The Bird.
April–June • May 14 – Journeyman Kansas City Royals pitcher
Jim Colborn no-hits the Texas Rangers at
Royals Stadium, striking out six, walking one, and hitting one batter in a 6–0 Royals win. Colborn faces 28 batters, one more than the complete game minimum. • April 6 – The
Seattle Mariners open their existence and their home stadium, the
Kingdome, with a 7–0 loss to the
California Angels. • April 7 – The
Toronto Blue Jays play their first game in franchise history, in the snow, defeating the
Chicago White Sox 9–5 at
Exhibition Stadium. • April 15 – The
Montreal Expos play their first game at
Montreal's Olympic Stadium before a crowd of 57,592, as the visiting
Philadelphia Phillies win 7–2. • April 24 – Canadian
Ferguson Jenkins throws the first shutout ever in
Exhibition Stadium, as the visiting
Boston Red Sox defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 9–0. • May 11 –
Atlanta Braves owner
Ted Turner names himself manager, and skippers the team to a 2–1 loss to the
Pittsburgh Pirates.
National League president
Chub Feeney orders him to desist, and soon after, owners are banned from managing. • May 30 –
Dennis Eckersley of the Cleveland Indians throws the second
no-hitter of the 1977 season, striking out twelve in a 1–0 win over the California Angels at
Cleveland Municipal Stadium. A first inning walk to
Tony Solaita is all that prevents Eckersley from throwing the first
perfect game since 1968. The home plate umpire for the game is Bill Deegan, who was also the home plate umpire for Jim Colburn's no-hitter roughly two weeks earlier. • June 7 – The
Chicago White Sox select
Harold Baines with the number one pick in the draft. White Sox owner
Bill Veeck had first seen Baines play Little League ball and had followed his career. Pitcher
Bill Gullickson is taken with the second pick by the
Montreal Expos, and the
Milwaukee Brewers take
University of Minnesota infielder
Paul Molitor with the third pick.
Danny Ainge, a potential pro
basketball player, is picked in the 15th round. • June 8 – For the fourth time in his career,
Nolan Ryan strikes out 19 batters in a game, doing so against the
Toronto Blue Jays. • June 15 – The
New York Mets trade
Tom Seaver to the
Cincinnati Reds for
Pat Zachry,
Doug Flynn,
Steve Henderson and Dan Norman. They then trade
Mike Phillips to the
St. Louis Cardinals for
Joel Youngblood, and send
Dave Kingman to the
Padres for minor league pitcher Paul Siebert and
Bobby Valentine, who will one day manage the Mets. • June 18 – In the sixth inning of an
NBC-televised game against the
Boston Red Sox at
Fenway Park,
New York Yankee manager
Billy Martin pulls right fielder
Reggie Jackson and replaces him with
Paul Blair after Jackson misplays
Jim Rice's fly ball for a double. As Jackson returns to the dugout, he and Martin exchange words, Martin arguing that Jackson had shown him up by "not hustling" on the play. The Yankee manager lunges at Jackson (who is 18 years younger than Martin and outweighs him by about 40 pounds), and has to be restrained by coaches
Yogi Berra and
Elston Howard—with the NBC cameras showing the confrontation to the entire country. The Red Sox win, 10–4. • June 24 – In a 6–5 win over the visiting San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros first baseman
Bob Watson hits for the cycle. • June 27 – The
San Francisco Giants'
Willie McCovey smashes two home runs, one a
grand slam off reliever
Joe Hoerner, in the sixth inning to pace a 14–9 victory over the
Cincinnati Reds. McCovey becomes the first player in major league history to twice hit two home runs in one inning (his first time was on April 12, 1973), and also becomes the all-time National League leader with 17 career grand slams.
Andre Dawson, in both 1978 and 1986, will be the next player to hit two homers in the same inning. • June 29 –
Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits his 400th career home run when he takes St. Louis Cardinals pitcher
Eric Rasmussen deep for a two-run shot in the fifth inning of a 9–1 Pirates' victory at
Busch Stadium.
July–September • July 19 – In the
All-Star Game at
Yankee Stadium, the
National League defeats the
American League for the 14th time in the last 15 encounters.
Don Sutton of the
Los Angeles Dodgers is named MVP. • August 5 – Kansas City Royals designated hitter
John Mayberry hits for the cycle in a 12–2 win over the visiting Chicago White Sox. • August 12 – For the second consecutive day,
Manny Sanguillén of the
Oakland Athletics foils a
no-hit bid with a single hit off the
Baltimore Orioles'
Jim Palmer, who settles for a two-hit 6–0 victory. Yesterday's hit was off the
New York Yankees'
Mike Torrez, who finished with a 3–0 two-hitter. • August 27 –
Toby Harrah and
Bump Wills of the
Texas Rangers become the first players in Major League history to hit back-to-back inside the park
home runs. They do so in a game against the
New York Yankees. • August 29 –
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder
Lou Brock steals two bases in a 4–3 loss to the
San Diego Padres. It is the 893rd career stolen base for Brock, breaking
Ty Cobb's modern record. • September 9 – In the second game of a double header in
Boston, the
Detroit Tigers debut their new second baseman,
Lou Whitaker, and their new shortstop,
Alan Trammell. They will play side by side for 19 years to establish a new Major League record for tandem play at those positions. • September 10 –
Roy Howell hits two home runs, two doubles, and a single, and drives in nine runs, as
Toronto beats the
Yankees 19–3. • September 15 – The
California Angels trade
Dave Kingman to the
New York Yankees for
pitcher Randy Stein. Having also played with the
New York Mets and
San Diego Padres earlier in the season, Kingman becomes the first – and only –
Major League Baseball player to play in all four divisions in one season. • September 15 –
Earl Weaver pulls his
Baltimore Orioles from the field at
Exhibition Stadium citing "hazardous conditions" caused by a small tarp weighed down by bricks covering the bullpen mound. This results in a forfeiture of the game to the
Toronto Blue Jays. • September 22 – Texas Rangers pitcher
Bert Blyleven throws the third and final
no-hitter of the 1977 season, striking out seven and walking one in a 6–0 win over the California Angels at
Anaheim Stadium. • September 24 – Second baseman
Jack Brohamer of the Chicago White Sox becomes the third man of the season to
hit for the cycle, accomplishing the feat in an 8–3 win over the Seattle Mariners at the
Kingdome. • September 25 – California Angels pitcher
Nolan Ryan notches his 341st strikeout of the season, the fifth highest single season total in American League history. Ryan set the American League single-season record four years earlier when he struck out 383 batters in 1973. • September 30 –
Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals steals the 900th base of his career in a 7–2 win over the New York Mets at
Busch Stadium, becoming just the second man in baseball history to reach the plateau.
October–December • October 7 – In Game Three of the
National League Championship Series at
Philadelphia's
Veterans Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers were down 5–3 with 2 outs in the 9th inning. Pinch-hitter
Vic Davalillo beats out a 2-strike drag bunt and pinch-hitter
Manny Mota follows with a long double off
Greg Luzinski's glove. Mota reaches third on a throw that
Ted Sizemore mishandles.
Davey Lopes' grounder caroms off
Mike Schmidt's knee to
Larry Bowa, and the shortstop's throw is ruled late although television replays and a scene from a 1977
Philadelphia Phillies highlight film showed that Lopes was out. Los Angeles pulls out a 6–5 victory over the Phillies. • October 18 – New York Yankees right fielder
Reggie Jackson hits three first-pitch home runs, in consecutive at-bats, during the decisive
Game 6 of the World Series, leading the crowd to serenade him with chants of "Reg-gie! Reg-gie!" after his final home run lands deep in "the black" (center field bleachers). Jackson's historic feat powers the Yankees to an 8–4 win and a four-games-to-two Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The World Series title is the Yankees' first since 1962 and their 21st overall. • November 22 –
Andre Dawson of the Montreal Expos wins the National League Rookie of the Year Award by one vote over
Steve Henderson of the New York Mets. Dawson hit .282 with 19 home runs and 65 RBI, while Henderson had .297, 12, 65. • December 8 – In an unusual four team, off-season trade, the
Atlanta Braves sent
Willie Montañez to the
New York Mets. Then, the
Texas Rangers sent
Adrian Devine,
Tommy Boggs and
Eddie Miller to the Braves;
Tom Grieve and a player to be named later to the Mets, and
Bert Blyleven to the
Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates sent
Al Oliver and
Nelson Norman to the Rangers, and the Mets sent
Jon Matlack to the Rangers and
John Milner to the Pirates. The Rangers later sent
Ken Henderson to the Mets to complete the trade (March 15, 1978). ==Television coverage==