1876 Major League Baseball season

Last updated

1876 MLB season
League National League (NL)
Sport Baseball
DurationApril 22 – October 21, 1876
Number of games57–70
Number of teams8
Pennant winner
NL champions Chicago White Stockings
  NL runners-up Hartford Dark Blues
MLB seasons
Locations of teams for the 1876 National League season
ButtonBlue.svg National League

The 1876 major league baseball season was contested from April 22 through October 21, 1876, and saw the Chicago White Stockings as the pennant winner of the inaugural season of the National League and of Major League baseball. [a] There was no postseason.

Contents

The National League was established on February 2, 1876 as a successor to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP or National Association (NA)), as a means to concentrate quality of talent and reduce the number of poor-drawing games played against low-quality competition in small towns (such as the 1875 Keokuk Westerns, located in the small Iowan town of Keokuk, which only had about 12,500 people). [1] The NA also suffered from lack of strong authority over clubs, unsupervised scheduling, unstable membership of cities, dominance by one team (the Boston Red Stockings), and an extremely low entry fee ($10, equivalent to $286in 2024) that gave clubs no incentive to abide by league rules when it was inconvenient to them.

Six teams from the NA would be established as charter members of the National League, including the Boston Red Stockings (renamed as the Red Caps, surviving today as the Atlanta Braves), Chicago White Stockings (surviving today as the Chicago Cubs), Hartford Dark Blues, New York Mutuals, Philadelphia Athletics, and St. Louis Brown Stockings. Two non-NA teams would join as charter members, including the Cincinnati Reds (unrelated to the modern team) and Louisville Grays.

Schedule

The 1876 schedule was formatted so that each team would play up to 10 games against each team in the league (split evenly between home and away games), for a maximum of 70 games (only fulfilled by the Boston Red Caps). Any game played against a team at home must be played within two months' time away, "under penalty of forfeiture." This was the only season that the National League adopted this format. The following season would see a more regulated format, requiring teams to schedule 12 games against each team.

Opening Day took place on April 22 featuring a game between the Boston Red Caps and Brooklyn Hartfords. The final day of the season was on October 21, featuring a game between the Hartford Dark Blues and Boston Red Caps. [2]

The year ended with the first postseason competition in major league history. The contest featured the first and second-place regular season finishers. The Saint Louis Brown Stockings defeated the Chicago White Stockings three games to two in a best-of-five "Championship of the West."

National League framework

A framework was outlined to remedy ills and shortcomings of the 1871–1875 National Association: [1]

Teams

LeagueTeamCityStadiumCapacityManager [3]
National League Boston Red Caps Boston, Massachusetts South End Grounds 3,000 Harry Wright
Chicago White Stockings Chicago, Illinois 23rd Street Grounds 7,000 Albert Spalding
Cincinnati Reds Cincinnati, Ohio Avenue Grounds Unknown Charlie Gould
Hartford Dark Blues New Haven, Connecticut Hartford Ball Club Grounds 10,000 Bob Ferguson
Louisville Grays Louisville, Kentucky Louisville Baseball Park 4,500 Jack Chapman
New York Mutuals Brooklyn, New York Union Grounds 1,500 Bill Craver
Philadelphia Athletics Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Jefferson Street Grounds 5,000 Al Wright
St. Louis Brown Stockings St. Louis, Missouri Grand Avenue Ball Grounds Unknown Mase Graffen
George McManus

Standings

National League

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Stockings 5214.788—25‍–‍627‍–‍8
Hartford Dark Blues 4721.691623‍–‍924‍–‍12
St. Louis Brown Stockings 4519.703624‍–‍621‍–‍13
Boston Red Caps 3931.5571519‍–‍1720‍–‍14
Louisville Grays 3036.4552215‍–‍1615‍–‍20
New York Mutuals 2135.3752613‍–‍208‍–‍15
Philadelphia Athletics 1445.23734½10‍–‍244‍–‍21
Cincinnati Reds 956.13842½6‍–‍243‍–‍32

Managerial changes

Off-season

TeamFormer ManagerNew Manager
Brooklyn Atlantics Bill Boyd Team not invited to National League, continues as independent
Chicago White Stockings Jimmy Wood Albert Spalding
New Haven Elm Citys Charlie Pabor Team folded
New York Mutuals Nat Hicks Bill Craver
Philadelphia Athletics Cap Anson Al Wright
Philadelphia Centennials Bill Craver Team folded
Philadelphia White Stockings Bob Addy Team folded
St. Louis Brown Stockings Dickey Pearce Mase Graffen

In-season

TeamFormer ManagerNew Manager
St. Louis Brown Stockings Mase Graffen George McManus

League leaders

National League

Hitting leaders [4]
StatPlayerTotal
AVG Ross Barnes (CHI).429
OPS Ross Barnes (CHI)1.052
HR George Hall (PHI)5
RBI Deacon White (BOS)60
R Ross Barnes (CHI)126
H Ross Barnes (CHI)138
Pitching leaders [5]
StatPlayerTotal
W Albert Spalding (CHI)47
L Jim Devlin (LOU)35
ERA George Bradley (STL)1.23
K Jim Devlin (LOU)122
IP Jim Devlin (LOU)622.0
SV Jack Manning (BOS)5
WHIP George Bradley (STL)0.887

Notes

  1. ↑ As recognized by Major League Baseball. Some sources, such as Baseball Reference and Retrosheet, include the five 1871–1875 seasons of the National Association as major league seasons.

References

  1. 1 2 Haupert, Michael. "1875 Winter Meetings: The Origin of the National League – Society for American Baseball Research" . Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  2. ↑ "1876 Major Leagues Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  3. ↑ "1876 Major League Managers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  4. ↑ "1876 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  5. ↑ "1876 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
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