February 16 - Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, 77, retires after 40 years as a major league player and coach. He receives a pension from the Pittsburgh Pirates, with whom he spent most of those years.
March 24 - St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Slaybaugh is hit in the left eye with a line drive, necessitating an operation to remove the eye. Slaybaugh will pitch briefly in the minors in 1953-54 and then retire.
April 30 - Veteran Negro League catcher Quincy Trouppe makes his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians. At 39 years of age, he is one of the oldest rookies in major league history. Three days later, Trouppe is behind the plate when relief pitcher Toothpick Sam Jones enters the game, forming the first black battery in American League history.
May 5 - Mickey Mantle's father dies of Hodgkin's Disease, and Mantle will miss six games while attending the funeral and seeing to family matters in Oklahoma.
May 29 - Boston Red Sox pitcher Mickey McDermott faces 27 batters and fire a one-hitter to beat the Washington Senators, 1–0, at Fenway Park. Mel Hoderlein's fourth inning single is the only Washington's hit and he is thrown out while trying to strech the hit into a double.
October 7 - The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2, in Game 7 of the World Series to win their fourth straight World Championship – tying the mark they set between 1936 and 1939 - and fifteenth overall, four games to three. Billy Martin saves the day by snaring a 2-out bases-loaded infield pop off the bat of Jackie Robinson. Gil Hodges goes hitless again and is 0-for-21 in the Series. This was the Yankees' third defeat of the Dodgers in six years.
July 3 - Fred Tenney, 80, first baseman for 17 years, primarily with Boston; batted .300 six times
August 30 - Arky Vaughan, 40, a drowning victim, 9-time All-Star shortstop who was named the NL's MVP in 1935 by The Sporting News; career .318 hitter led NL in runs, triples and walks three times each
November 29 - Arlie Latham, 92, first player to play 1500 games at third base; among all-time top 10 in runs upon retirement