The 2009 Major League Baseball season began on April 5, 2009; the regular season was extended two days for a
one-game playoff between the
Detroit Tigers and the
Minnesota Twins for the
American League Central title. The postseason began the next day with the
Division Series. The
World Series began on October 28, and ended on November 4, with the
New York Yankees defeating the
Philadelphia Phillies in six games. This was the second time the season was completed in November. The only other occasion was the
2001 World Series, because of the delaying of the end of that season due to the
September 11 attacks as November baseball would be guaranteed when Game 4 was played on Sunday, November 1. Had the 2009 World Series gone the full seven games, Game 7 would've been played on November 5, the latest date ever scheduled for a World Series game. It became the latest date for a World Series game in 2022. The
American League champion had home field advantage for the
World Series by virtue of winning the
All-Star Game on July 14 at
Busch Stadium in
St. Louis, Missouri, 4–3. In addition, the annual
Civil Rights Game became a regular season game, and was played June 20 at
Great American Ball Park in
Cincinnati,
Ohio, when the host
Cincinnati Reds lost to the
Chicago White Sox in an
interleague game, 10–8. Both teams wore replicas of their 1965 uniforms in the contest.
Washington Nationals GM
Jim Bowden resigned on March 1 amid allegations that he was
skimming bonus money from Latin American players. Team president
Stan Kasten first took over the bulk of his duties before transferring them to assistant GM
Mike Rizzo, who had served as acting GM, and was named as the full-time general manager on August 20.
During the last days of the regular season, two teams fired their general managers, effective at the end of the season. On October 3, the
Toronto Blue Jays fired
J. P. Ricciardi after eight seasons. The following day, the
San Diego Padres axed
Kevin Towers, who had been the longest-tenured GM in Major League Baseball at 14 seasons.
Field managers
Off-season changes
Two teams announced new
managers in the offseason:
Wakamatsu, the first Major League Baseball manager of Asian descent, was the Athletics' bench coach.
Cito Gaston and
Jerry Manuel both entered their first full season as managers of the
Toronto Blue Jays and
New York Mets, respectively, after taking over for managers dismissed in the middle of the 2008 season. Gaston had previously been the Blue Jays' manager from 1989 until 1997.
On January 15, the owners of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs approved two rule changes governing the playing of postseason and one-game playoff games.
All "postseason games and games added to the regular season to determine qualifiers for the postseason" become
suspended games if they are called before nine innings are played, regardless of whether the game would otherwise qualify as an
official game, or the score at the time the game is called. The game is resumed when conditions permit at the same location from the point of suspension. This rule change codifies the controversial interpretation of the official rules made by
MLB commissionerBud Selig during
Game 5 of the 2008 World Series.[1][2]
Coin tosses will no longer be used to determine home-field advantage for one-game tiebreakers held to determine division champions or
wild card teams. Instead, "performance-based criteria" — starting with head-to-head record between the tied clubs — will be used to determine home-field advantage.[1][2] This came into play for the first time when the
Detroit Tigers and the
Minnesota Twins tied for the lead of the
American League Central at the end of the regular season (October 4);
the one-game playoff was played on October 6 at the
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome as the Twins won the season series, 11–7. The game cannot be played on October 5 because of a scheduling conflict with the
Minnesota Vikings, who hosted the
Green Bay Packers on
Monday Night Football that night.
Gary Sheffield of the
New York Mets became the 25th member of the
500 home run club on April 17 against the
Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field. The historic home run came in the bottom of the seventh inning as a pinch hitter, the first time a player has reached 500 home runs in this way.
Iván Rodríguez, then of the
Houston Astros, hit his 300th career home run in a game against the
Chicago Cubs on May 17 at
Wrigley Field. On June 17, Rodríguez played in his 2,227th game as a catcher, breaking the record for all-time games caught previously held by
Carlton Fisk. He finished the season as a member of the
Texas Rangers.
Derek Jeter of the
New York Yankees got his 2,600th hit and 1,500th run on June 2 against the
Texas Rangers. The Yankees' captain would then pass
Luis Aparicio for most hits by a shortstop on August 16. Jeter also became the all-time hit leader in Yankees history with a single in the third inning against the
Baltimore Orioles on September 11. He broke the record of 2,721 hits that was held by
Lou Gehrig.
Mariano Rivera becomes the second pitcher in MLB history to record 500 career saves on June 29 in a 4–2 victory against their crosstown rivals, the
New York Mets. He also
saved his major league record fourth
All-Star Game.
Albert Pujols of the
St. Louis Cardinals reached the
1,000 RBI list and the 1,000-run list. On June 30 at
Busch Stadium, Pujols became the 32nd player to hit 30 home runs before the All-Star break. He is also the seventh player to hit 30 home runs before the month of July. He would later become the second player in history to record at least 100 RBI in each of his first nine seasons on a 3-run double in the sixth inning at Pittsburgh on August 8, and also hit his 350th career home run after nine seasons.
Adam Dunn hit his 300th career home run on July 3.
Garret Anderson of the
Atlanta Braves hit his 500th career double on June 27. He also got his 2,500th career hit with a single in the second inning against the
Washington Nationals on October 1. He became the 90th player in major league history to reach this mark.
David Ortiz of the
Boston Red Sox reached the 300 home run plateau on July 9. He also got his 1,000th career hit as a member of the team on July 11. On September 15, Ortiz set the record for most home runs for a
designated hitter by hitting his 270th against the
Los Angeles Angels.
Jonathan Sánchez of the San Francisco Giants pitched baseball's first
no-hitter of the season on July 10 as he defeated the
San Diego Padres, 8–0 at
AT&T Park. It was the first no-hitter hurled at "The Phone Booth".
Carlos Lee of the
Houston Astros hits his 300th career home run in a game against the
Milwaukee Brewers on August 8. He becomes the 125th person in major league baseball history to reach this mark.
Vladimir Guerrero of the
Los Angeles Angels hits his 400th career home run in a game against the
Tampa Bay Rays on August 10. He becomes the 45th player in major league history to reach this mark. Guerrero would later single in the fifth inning against the
Detroit Tigers on August 26, and by doing so, became the 13th player to get over 1,000 hits for more than one franchise.[3]
Also on August 10,
Troy Tulowitzki hit for the cycle against the
Chicago Cubs, and became the second player in baseball history to have hit for the cycle and have an
unassisted triple play in their career. His unassisted triple play came on April 24, 2007, against the Atlanta Braves. John Valentin is the other player to have done both.
Eric Bruntlett, a reserve second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, pulled off baseball's fifteenth unassisted triple play against the New York Mets at Citi Field on August 23, 2009. It ended a Major League Baseball game for the first time since 1927, as the Phils beat the Mets, 9–7. The only other player to turn an unassisted triple play to complete a game was
Johnny Neun, who did it for the
Detroit Tigers on May 31, 1927, against the
Cleveland Indians. The game also featured an inside-the-park home run by
Ángel Pagán, the second such game to see both an inside-the-park homer and a triple play since July 4, 1988, when the Red Sox played at Kansas City where
Dwight Evans hit an inside-the-park homer and
Jim Rice hit into a triple play. Bruntlett was playing second base for regular starter
Chase Utley, who was given a day of rest by manager
Charlie Manuel.
Alex Rodriguez of the
New York Yankees collected his 2,500th hit with a single in the fifth inning against the
Baltimore Orioles on September 2. He became the 89th player in MLB history to reach this mark. He also set a new
American League record at seven, for most
RBI in one inning by a single player by hitting a 3-run home run, and a
grand slam later in the inning on October 4.
Ichiro Suzuki of the
Seattle Mariners collected his 2,000th hit with a double in the first inning against the
Oakland Athletics on September 6. Ichiro reached this mark in 1,402 games, which is the second fastest in history. (
Al Simmons reached the mark in 1,390 games.) He then broke
Willie Keeler's record of eight consecutive 200-hit seasons (1894–1901) with a single in the second inning of the nightcap of a make-up
doubleheader on September 13 against the
Texas Rangers.
The
Pittsburgh Pirates reached a new low in futility on September 7, losing to the
Chicago Cubs, 4–2 clinching their seventeenth consecutive losing season, breaking the all-time low set by the
Philadelphia Phillies between 1933 and 1948.
Tony La Russa passed
John McGraw for second-most games managed in baseball with his 4,770th game managed (2,552–2,214–4) on October 1. La Russa gets three more games (October 4) to extend his managed games to 4,773 (2,552–2,217–4) by the end of 2009.
The 2009 season marked the opening of two new stadiums, both in New York City;
Citi Field for the
Mets and the new
Yankee Stadium for the
Yankees. They respectively replaced
Shea Stadium (which was dismantled during the 2008–09 offseason) and
the original Yankee Stadium (which became a public park after its demolition). Because of the smaller seating capacities in these new parks,
Dodger Stadium is now the largest capacity park in use with 56,000 seats, and is also the third oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball behind
Fenway Park and
Wrigley Field. Citi Field opened with a night game on April 13 as the Mets hosted the
San Diego Padres losing 6–5. In that game,
Jody Gerut of the Padres became the first player in major league history to open a new ballpark with a leadoff homer.[4] Three days later, the
Cleveland Indians inaugurated New Yankee Stadium against the Bronx Bombers. The Indians won 10–2. On
Jackie Robinson Day (April 15), a
rotunda at Citi Field was named in honor of
Jackie Robinson and was dedicated prior to the Mets–Padres game that day.
While not a new stadium, Kansas City's
Kauffman Stadium completed a two-year renovation. The first year saw a new video board dubbed "Crown Vision" and refitting of several sections. Improvements for 2009 include a new glass and brick facade to the exterior of the ballpark, newly expanded team Hall of Fame, a new sports bar/restaurant, improved sightlines, new luxury suites and refurbished press and radio/TV facilities to name a few.
In late March, the
Florida Marlins had their funding for a
new stadium at the former site of the
Miami Orange Bowl approved by
Miami-Dade County commissioners. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on July 18, with an opening by 2012, at which time the team will be renamed the Miami Marlins.
This would have marked the first full season in the US for baseball games to be telecast as the
transition from
analog to
digital television that was to have been made on February 17. However, the transition took place June 12.
A new entrant in the baseball television rights marketplace debuted on January 1 when the
MLB Network, owned by
Major League Baseball, joined
Fox,
ESPN and
TBS not only televising games, but also other baseball-related programming from their studio in
Secaucus, New Jersey, formerly the studios of
MSNBC. MLB was the last of the four major team sports to start its own television channel. The national telecast breakdown, along with the maximum number of appearances per team, is:
FOX: Saturday afternoon Game of the Week on a regional basis; eight appearances per team. In addition, the network will broadcast the
All-Star Game,
ALCS, and World Series. The network started their telecasts on Saturdays at 4 PM US ET/1 PM US PT, except for three dates (April 18, and May 2 and 9) to adjust for
NASCAR coverage, when those programs began at 3:30 PM ET/12:30 PM PT.
ESPN/ESPN2:Sunday Night Baseball on a weekly basis; five appearances per team. In addition, there are games on
Monday and
Wednesday nights (with the Monday games moving to either Wednesday nights to form a doubleheader or Friday nights when the 2009
NFL season begins),
Opening Day games on April 6, and the
Home Run Derby on July 13.
TBS: Sunday afternoon games starting on April 12; 13 appearances per team. In addition, the network carried the announcement of the All-Star Teams in the
National and
American Leagues on July 5 as well as the
Division Series and the
NLCS as per the alternating contract with FOX.
MLB Network: The network carries a weekly Thursday Night Game of the Week and Saturday Night Game of the Week. Thursday Night games were produced in-house, while Saturday Night games (except for the Civil Rights Game) usually came off the home team's video production. Blackouts applied here, as viewers in the competing team's markets were telecast an alternate game off the home team feed of selected teams.
In Canada,
Toronto Blue Jays games will be televised on
Rogers Sportsnet and
TSN. RSN also holds the Canadian rights to air the Fox and ESPN/ESPN2 games if they do not conflict with Blue Jays games, as well as the All-Star Game and the entire postseason.
In Australia free to air channel One HD shows up to 5 games live per week, and European channel
ESPN America broadcasts games as well.
Radio
ESPN Radio served as MLB's national radio network, broadcasting Sunday Night Baseball as well as selected Saturday and holiday games during the regular season, the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, and all postseason series.
Uniforms, patches, and caps
Patches
As stated earlier, the
Mets and
Yankees wore patches commemorating the inaugural seasons of their new parks, the
Twins wore patches commemorating their final season at the Metrodome, and the
Cardinals, hosting the All-Star Game, wore a patch to celebrate that event.
Other teams' memorials and accomplishments on their sleeves:
On July 4, all teams remembered the 70th anniversary of
Lou Gehrig's farewell speech with a patch representing 4♦
ALS charities.[34]
The
Cleveland Indians memorialized the life of former pitcher and announcer
Herb Score by wearing a patch with his number (27), a microphone and the name "HERB" on the right sleeve of all uniforms.
The
Kansas City Royals wore patches commemorating the 40th anniversary of the founding of their team.
The
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim added patches to all jerseys (excluding the sleeveless ones) which incorporates the words "Angels Baseball", the team logo, and 1961, the year the team was founded.
To honor long-time coach and scout
Preston Gómez, who died in the offseason, a patch was added to the right sleeve of a black diamond with the word "Preston" on it.
After the death of
Nick Adenhart, a rookie starting pitcher who was killed in a DUI hit-and-run following his first start of the season, a black patch with his name and number (34) was added above the left breast of the team's
uniform.
The Twins also commemorated the passing of team owner
Carl Pohlad, who died on January 5 with his signature on a black oval trimmed in silver.
The
Oakland Athletics paid tribute to the Oakland Police Department—which had four of its officers killed and another injured in a
shootout on March 21, 2009—with black "OPD" patches on their home uniforms.[35]
The
Philadelphia Phillies donned a black circular patch with the letters "HK" that was added to all uniforms over the player's heart as a tribute to
Harry Kalas, who died on April 13 at
Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.[36] In addition, the team wore a patch commemorating their win in the
2008 World Series until August 7 on their home uniforms.
The
San Diego Padres wore patches commemorating the 40th anniversary of the founding of their team.
After the death of principal owner
Sue Burns, the
San Francisco Giants began wearing patches with the name "BURNS" on the right sleeves of their uniforms.
The
Toronto Blue Jays remembered the passing of
Ted Rogers, the
communications magnate and former owner of the club who died in December, with a tribute on their uniforms consisting the name "TED" on a red box. In addition, the team added a
Canadian maple leaf patch on all uniforms.
Uniforms
The
Baltimore Orioles unveiled new uniforms, including the return of the city name on the road uniforms for the first time since 1972, a new patch which incorporates the
Marylandstate flag, and a new logo featuring a revamped version of the ornithologically correct Oriole.
The
Boston Red Sox went slightly retro, with the return of navy blue as the predominant road uniform lettering color, and the addition of an alternate hat featuring the modified "hanging socks" logo and navy blue road alternate jersey.
The
Chicago Cubs wore only a single version of their cap. They stopped wearing their road cap (which had a red bill) and wore their former home cap (all blue with a red C) for all games. This change was also reflected on the batting helmets.
The
Minnesota Twins celebrated the final season of the Metrodome by wearing a modernized retro 1982 uniform with buttons and belts instead of the pullover and knit-in belts for Saturday games and their home opener April 6 against the
Mariners, and retired their navy road alternate jerseys.
The
New York Mets retired their black alternate road jersey with "NEW YORK" printed across the front. The black alternate home jersey with "Mets" printed across the front is now worn on the road as well.
The
Philadelphia Phillies wore an additional gold trim on their Opening Night game April 5, and added an alternate batting helmet for their alternate home uniforms.
The
Pittsburgh Pirates made jerseys with sleeves on their primary uniforms both home and away, and added a new black alternate with a Pirates' "P" on the left upper chest. The team has also changed their cap to place white outer trim around the "P".
The
Tampa Bay Rays added an alternate jersey in navy with light blue soutache around the placket and sleeve ends.
The
Texas Rangers dropped the team name from all uniforms in favor of their state name, and added a red alternate jersey and cap. Also, the letters and numbers on the jersey backs have been changed to match the "TEXAS" lettering on the front.
The
Washington Nationals made some minor changes to their uniforms, and now use red as their predominant color. The home and primary alternate jerseys have been modified, a new navy alternate to be worn several times a year with a stars and stripes "DC" along with a new hat, changing the front of their red alternates from "DC" (with a corresponding red cap) to the primary script "W" (worn with their regular home red cap), and the road uniform now bears a fancy script "Washington" akin to the style worn by the
Senators in the 1950s and 1960s, and their old incarnation, the
Montreal Expos.
Turn Back The Clock
The
Pittsburgh Pirates,
Detroit Tigers,
Oakland Athletics and
Chicago White Sox led the Majors in wearing throwback uniforms. On May 2 at
Safeco Field, the Athletics and
Seattle Mariners honored 1939 by wearing special uniforms. The Mariners honored the
Seattle Rainiers and the Oakland Athletics honored the
Oakland Oaks from that season. Both teams played in the
Pacific Coast League that season. The A's then wore a 1980s styled uniform in
St. Petersburg on July 11 against the
Tampa Bay Rays, who wore uniforms from their inaugural season of 1998 when they were known as the "Devil Rays". Finally, On August 16, the Athletics and White Sox used vintage throwbacks. The A's wore uniforms from their
Philadelphia period, with blue caps and a large A on the front of their jerseys. The White Sox wore their jerseys with a large S with a lowercase O in the top loop and a lowercase X in the bottom loop.[37]
On June 14, the Tigers and Pirates wore throwback uniforms to commemorate the 100th anniversary of both
Forbes Field and the
1909 World Series between the two teams. That game also featured a throwback atmosphere: no music or flashy graphics, no mascots (meaning no Jolly Roger or Pirate Parrot), and a hand-operated scoreboard. One modern item occurred in the pre-game: The
Stanley Cup championPittsburgh Penguins made a surprise visit and brought
the trophy with them. The Pirates and the
Kansas City Royals also honored the
Negro leagues on June 26 and 27 with the Pirates wearing the
Homestead Grays uniforms and the Royals donning
Kansas City Monarchs replicas. The Pirates and the
Cincinnati Reds recreated their
1979 National League Championship Series uniforms on August 21 as part of the Buccos' 30th anniversary celebration of their
World Series championship. The Bucs wore their gold pillbox hat with a gold jersey and black pants, a faux pas from the uniforms that season as a black cap was worn that year with the gold jersey.
In addition to the aforementioned Civil Rights Game and game in Oakland, the White Sox, originators of the genre of replica throwback uniforms, commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of their
1959 American League Championship on June 25 against the team that they played in that World Series, the
Los Angeles Dodgers, who opted to wear their regular uniforms instead, as manager Joe Torre did not want to create hype of a World Series that was 50 years ago.
The Tigers and the
Cleveland Indians played in Negro league replicas twice, with the Tigers in
Detroit Stars uniforms, and the Indians outfitted in
Cleveland Buckeyes replicas. In a "home-and-home" style series, the Tigers hosting the Tribe July 11 at
Comerica Park, with the Tigers in 1920 Stars uniforms and the Indians in the 1948 Buckeyes road grays, while the Indians played host August 1 at
Progressive Field seeing Cleveland wearing Buckeyes home whites and the Tigers in the gray Stars uniform.
For their series against the
San Francisco Giants beginning on August 14, the
New York Mets wore cream-colored jerseys featuring an oversized blue "NY" on the front and a
Mr. Met patch on the right sleeve. The throwback uniforms are similar to the ones the Giants wore in the early 20th century when they played at the
Polo Grounds, where the Mets played their first two seasons.[38]
On September 5 against the Rangers, the Orioles paid homage to the
Baltimore Elite Giants by wearing replicas of their uniforms from 1949.
Caps
Once again during major American holidays and the
September 11 weekend, all teams wore a cap with the cap logo in a
stars and stripes motif (with the exception of the
Toronto Blue Jays, whose cap logo is rendered in a
maple leaf motif). The
Cleveland Indians stars and stripes cap features a "C" instead of
Chief Wahoo, since the
Native American caricature emblazoned in stars and stripes caused some controversy when it debuted in 2008.[39] As was the case in 2008, the proceeds from the sales of authentic caps will go to the Welcome Back Vets fund. The 2009 models are red as opposed to the navy blue caps from the previous season.
For the home opener for the Pirates vs the Astros, the Pirates wore the caps of the Pittsburgh Police Department (PPD) which had lost three officers and had two injured in a shootout on April 4, 2009. The Astros had them on before the game.