1873 in baseball

The following are the baseball events of the year 1873 throughout the world.

Champions

• National Association: Boston Base Ball Club

National Association final standings

National Association	W	L	GB	Pct.
Boston Red Stockings	43	16	–	.729
Philadelphia White Stockings	36	17	4.0	.679
Baltimore Canaries	34	22	7.5	.607
New York Mutuals	29	24	11.0	.547
Philadelphia Athletics	28	23	11.0	.549
Brooklyn Atlantics	17	37	23.5	.205
Washington Blue Legs	8	31	25.0	.205
Elizabeth Resolutes	2	21	23.0	.087
Baltimore Marylands	0	6	16.5	.000

Statistical leaders

Ross Barnes

National Association
Type	Name	Stat
AVG	Ross Barnes BOS	.431
HR	Lip Pike BAL	4
RBI	Deacon White BOS	77
Wins	Al Spalding BOS	41
ERA	Cherokee Fisher PHI	1.81
Strikeouts	Bobby Mathews NYM	79

Notable seasons

• Boston Red Stockings second baseman Ross Barnes leads the NA with 138 hits, 43 stolen bases, 125 runs scored, a .431 batting average, a 1.080 OPS, and a 207 OPS+. ^{[1] [2]}
• Boston Red Stockings pitcher Al Spalding has a record of 41–14, leading the NA with 41 wins and 496.2 innings pitched. His 50 strikeouts rank second in the league. He has a 2.99 earned run average and a 115 ERA+. ^{[3] [4]}

Events

January–March

• March 3 – For the first time, the NA adopts a standardized ball to be used in all league games.

April–June

• May 14 – Nearly 5,000 fans watch the upstart Philadelphia Club defeat the established Athletics 5–4 in 13 innings. Only once before, in 1865, had that many innings been played in one game.
• June 7 – Mutual and Philadelphia combine for 40 errors. The Philadelphias, aided by the Mutuals' 26 miscues, win 12–10.
• June 11 – 10,000 fans are in attendance see Philadelphia score 5 runs in the 7th inning to defeat Athletic 7–5.

July–September

• July 4 – Leading 11–3 over Resolute of Elizabeth, the Bostons score 21 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 32–3 victory. The home-ahead rule would not be instituted for 6 more years.
• July 22 – Tom Barlow of Atlantic lays down 6 bunts, all for hits, in a game against Lord Baltimore.
• July 24 – Bob Ferguson of the Atlantic is the umpire in a game between Mutual of New York and Lord Baltimore which ends with the Mutuals scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th for an 11–10 victory. Ferguson and Mutual's Nat Hicks get into an altercation with Ferguson breaking Hicks' arm by hitting him with a bat. Ferguson requires a police escort to leave the field and Hicks will be out for 2 months due to the incident.
• August 16 – Boston defeats Philadelphia 11–8 in Chicago in front of several thousand fans. After the game, it is announced that Chicago has signed several players in hopes of placing a team in the NA for the 1874 season.

October–December

• October 16 – Lord Baltimore turns a triple play in a losing cause against Philadelphia.
• October 22 – Boston wins the pennant for the 2nd year in a row. They clinch on the same date as they had in 1872.
• November 6 – A crosstown benefit game is played between the Philadelphia and Athletic Clubs under a proposed rule of 10 men on the field and 10 innings for a game. The extra player is placed on the infield as a right shortstop and with most observers feeling the extra player unnecessary, the rule is never implemented.

Births

• January 10 – Chick Stahl
• January 10 – Jack O'Neill
• January 19 – Arlie Pond
• January 23 – Red Donahue
• February 5 – Jack O'Brien
• February 20 – Tom O'Brien
• March 10 – Gene DeMontreville
• March 29 – Duff Cooley
• April 7 – John McGraw
• April 22 – Frank Figgemeier
• May 23 – "Brewery" Jack Taylor
• June 13 – Walter Coleman
• July 11 – Jimmy Slagle
• July 19 – Harry Davis
• August 26 – Chick Fraser
• October 5 – Claude Ritchey
• October 9 – Bill Reidy
• November 4 – Bobby Wallace
• November 10 – Willie McGill
• November 24 – Ed Doheny
• November 29 – Jake Weimer
• December 6 – Harry Wolverton
• December 9 – Oscar Purner
• December 14 – John Anderson

Deaths

• February 26 – Cy Bentley, 22, pitcher and right fielder for the 1872 Middletown Mansfields.

External links

• 1873 season at Baseball-Reference.com
• Charlton's Baseball Chronology at BaseballLibrary.com
• Retrosheet.org

References

• Levine, Peter (1985). A.G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball: The Promise of American Sport. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-503552-6

1. "1873 National Association Batting Leaders". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
2. "Ross Barnes Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
3. "1873 National Association Pitching Leaders". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
4. "Al Spalding Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 29, 2020.