1974 MLB season | |
League: | Major League Baseball |
Sport: | Baseball |
Duration: | April 4 – October 17, 1974 |
No Of Games: | 162 |
No Of Teams: | 24 |
Tv: | NBC |
Draft: | Draft |
Draft Link: | 1974 Major League Baseball draft |
Top Pick: | Bill Almon |
Top Pick Link: | List of first overall MLB draft picks |
Picked By: | San Diego Padres |
Season: | Regular season |
Mvp: | AL |
Mvp Link: | Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
Playoffs: | Postseason |
Playoffs Link: | 1974 Major League Baseball postseason |
Conf1: | AL |
Conf1 Link: | 1974 American League Championship Series |
Conf1 Champ: | Oakland Athletics |
Conf1 Runner-Up: | Baltimore Orioles |
Conf2: | NL |
Conf2 Link: | 1974 National League Championship Series |
Conf2 Champ: | Los Angeles Dodgers |
Conf2 Runner-Up: | Pittsburgh Pirates |
Finals: | World Series |
Finals Link: | 1974 World Series |
Finals Champ: | Oakland Athletics |
Finals Runner-Up: | Los Angeles Dodgers |
World Series Mvp: | Rollie Fingers (OAK) |
World Series Mvp Link: | World Series Most Valuable Player Award |
Seasonslist: | List of MLB seasons |
Seasonslistnames: | MLB |
Prevseason Link: | 1973 Major League Baseball season |
Prevseason Year: | 1973 |
Nextseason Link: | 1975 Major League Baseball season |
Nextseason Year: | 1975 |
The 1974 Major League Baseball season: The Oakland Athletics won their third consecutive World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers four games to one.
Two notable personal milestones were achieved during the 1974 season. The first came on April 8, when Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves blasted his 715th career home run, breaking the all-time career home run mark of 714 set by Babe Ruth. Aaron would finish his career with 755 home runs, a record that would stand until Barry Bonds broke it in 2007. The second milestone came on September 10, when the St. Louis Cardinals' Lou Brock stole his 105th base off pitcher Dick Ruthven and catcher Bob Boone of the Philadelphia Phillies. This broke the single-season stolen base record of 104, set by Maury Wills in 1962. Brock stole 118 bases for the season, a record that would stand until 1982, when Rickey Henderson stole 130.
See main article: article and 1974 MLB Postseason.
Statistic | American League | National League | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rod Carew MIN | .364 | Ralph Garr ATL | .353 | ||
Dick Allen CWS | 32 | Mike Schmidt PHI | 36 | ||
Jeff Burroughs TEX | 118 | Johnny Bench CIN | 129 | ||
Catfish Hunter OAK Ferguson Jenkins TEX | 25 | Phil Niekro ATL Andy Messersmith LA | 20 | ||
Catfish Hunter OAK | 2.49 | Buzz Capra ATL | 2.28 | ||
Nolan Ryan CAL | 367 | Steve Carlton PHI | 240 | ||
Terry Forster CWS | 24 | Mike Marshall LA | 21 | ||
Billy North OAK | 54 | Lou Brock STL | 118 |
Team name | Wins | Home attendance | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Dodgers[1] | 102 | 7.4% | 2,632,474 | 23.2% | 32,500 | |
Cincinnati Reds[2] | 98 | -1.0% | 2,164,307 | 7.3% | 26,394 | |
St. Louis Cardinals[3] | 86 | 6.2% | 1,838,413 | 16.8% | 22,696 | |
Philadelphia Phillies[4] | 80 | 12.7% | 1,808,648 | 22.5% | 22,329 | |
New York Mets[5] | 71 | -13.4% | 1,722,209 | -9.9% | 21,262 | |
Boston Red Sox[6] | 84 | -5.6% | 1,556,411 | 5.1% | 19,215 | |
New York Yankees[7] | 89 | 11.3% | 1,273,075 | 0.9% | 15,717 | |
Detroit Tigers[8] | 72 | -15.3% | 1,243,080 | -27.9% | 15,347 | |
Texas Rangers[9] | 84 | 47.4% | 1,193,902 | 74.0% | 14,924 | |
Kansas City Royals[10] | 77 | -12.5% | 1,173,292 | -12.8% | 14,485 | |
Chicago White Sox[11] | 80 | 3.9% | 1,149,596 | -11.7% | 14,019 | |
Cleveland Indians[12] | 77 | 8.5% | 1,114,262 | 81.1% | 13,756 | |
Pittsburgh Pirates[13] | 88 | 10.0% | 1,110,552 | -15.9% | 13,711 | |
Houston Astros[14] | 81 | -1.2% | 1,090,728 | -21.8% | 13,466 | |
San Diego Padres[15] | 60 | 0.0% | 1,075,399 | 75.8% | 13,277 | |
Montreal Expos[16] | 79 | 0.0% | 1,019,134 | -18.3% | 12,739 | |
Chicago Cubs[17] | 66 | -14.3% | 1,015,378 | -24.9% | 12,536 | |
Atlanta Braves[18] | 88 | 15.8% | 981,085 | 22.5% | 12,112 | |
Baltimore Orioles[19] | 91 | -6.2% | 962,572 | 0.4% | 11,884 | |
Milwaukee Brewers[20] | 76 | 2.7% | 955,741 | -12.5% | 11,799 | |
California Angels[21] | 68 | -13.9% | 917,269 | -13.3% | 11,324 | |
Oakland Athletics[22] | 90 | -4.3% | 845,693 | -15.5% | 10,441 | |
Minnesota Twins[23] | 82 | 1.2% | 662,401 | -27.0% | 8,078 | |
San Francisco Giants[24] | 72 | -18.2% | 519,987 | -37.7% | 6,420 |
On August 30, Texas Rangers player Dave Nelson steals three bases – 2nd, 3rd and home in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians.[25]
NBC was the exclusive national TV broadcaster of MLB, airing the weekend Game of the Week, Monday Night Baseball, the All-Star Game, both League Championship Series, and the World Series.