2002 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the year 2002 throughout the world.
See also: 2002 Major League Baseball season and 2002 Nippon Professional Baseball seasonRegular Season Champions
Baseball Hall of Fame
Most Valuable Player
Cy Young Award
Rookie of the Year
Manager of the Year Award
Woman Executive of the Year (major or minor league): Brenda Yoder, , Southern League
Greenville Braves
The asterisk denotes the club that won the for its respective league.
wild card
January 8 – is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Smith, named on 91.7 percent of the ballots, became the 37th player in baseball history in being elected to be elected to the hall in his first year on the ballot.
Ozzie Smith
, by Bill James, presenting the sabermetrician's new system for evaluating player performance.
Win Shares
, by Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, presenting the A's statistical method to the 2002 season.
Moneyball
(TV)
Bleacher Bums
The Rookie (2002 film)
January 11 –
Elly De La Cruz
January 12 –
Anthony Molina
January 24 –
Carson Tucker
January 27 –
Ángel Martínez
January 28 –
Luis Matos
January 29 –
Ed Howard IV
January 2 – , 85, sportswriter for the San Francisco Chronicle for over 40 years.
Bob Stevens
January 3 – , 73, three-time All-Star outfielder who, after three seasons in the Negro leagues, spent 12 years (1953–1964) in the American League with four different clubs, chiefly the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox; member of two pennant-winners: the 1954 Indians, who won a then-AL record 111 games, and 1959 White Sox.
Al Smith
January 4 – , 85, Cuban pitcher who played for the New York Giants in the 1945 and 1949 seasons, and also one of the players barred from organized baseball in 1946 by Commissioner of Baseball Happy Chandler for jumping to the Mexican League.
Adrián Zabala
January 6 – , 77, first baseman who played from 1950 through 1952 for the Washington Senators.
Fred Taylor
January 7 – , 83, backup infielder who played for the Philadelphia Phillies in part of three seasons spanning 1940–1942.
Hal Marnie
January 18 – , 83, outfielder for the 1943 Cleveland Buckeyes and 1947 Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League who later played six seasons in racially integrated "Organized Baseball" minor leagues.
Quincy Smith
January 24 – , 89, All-Star second baseman (1940–1947) and player-manager (1946–1947) of the Birmingham Black Barons; signed teenager and future Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays to Mays' first pro contract.
Tommy Sampson
January 26 – , 79, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1948 to 1949.
Ray Yochim
January 27 – , 52, first baseman for the 1974 Detroit Tigers, who hit a home run off pitcher Catfish Hunter in his first major league at bat.
Reggie Sanders
January 31 – , 69, catcher for the Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Athletics, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets in a span of ten seasons from 1950 to 1962; regarded as a specialist in catching knuckleball pitchers.