The 1887 Major League baseball season began on April 16, 1887. The regular season ended on October 10, with the Detroit Wolverines and the St. Louis Browns as regular season champions of the National League and American Association, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the fourth World's Championship Series on October 10 and ended with Game 15 on October 26, in what was a best-of-fifteen-playoff, played across 10 cities.[1] The Wolverines defeated the Browns, ten games to five (and clinching on Game 11), capturing their first World's Championship Series.
The 1887 schedule consisted of 140 games for all American Association teams and 126 games for all National League, each of which had eight teams. Each AA team was scheduled to play 20 games against the other seven teams, while each NL team was scheduled to play 18 games against the other seven teams. Both the AA's 140-game format and NL's 126-game format were continued from their implementation the previous season. The NL would adopt the AA's format the following season, and each league would use this 140-game format until 1892.
American Association Opening Day took place on April 16 featuring all eight teams, while National League Opening Day took place on April 27, featuring four teams. The American Association would see its final day of the regular season on October 10 with four teams, while the National League would see its final day of the season on October 8, featuring all eight teams.[3] The 1887 World's Championship Series took place between October 10 and October 26.
Rule changes
The 1887 season saw many radical changes which affected the game, as well as unity on rules by the American Association and National League.[4] The following rule changes were made:
The pitcher's box was reduced to 4 feet by 5+1⁄2 feet.[5]
The ability for batters to call for high and low pitches was abolished. In lieu of this, the strike zone was doubled in size, and established to be between the shoulders and knees.[5][6]
The choice of who hits and pitches in each half of the inning is given to home team captain.[5]
Five balls became a base on balls, down from six in the AA and seven in the NL.[5][7]
Four "called strikes" were adopted for this season only, up from three.[5][7]
Bases on balls were recorded as hits for this season only (a change which would dramatically increase players' batting averages). The batting average as calculated in 1887 is very similar to the modern on-base percentage (OBP) (the difference being that OBP uses total plate appearances as the denominator, which includes hit by pitches and sacrifice flies, the latter of which was not recorded and was implemented in 1894).[5][7]
In the National League the batter was awarded first base when hit by a pitch.[5] The change was already implemented by the American Association in 1884.[7]
Home plate was to be made of rubber only - dropping the marble type and was to be 12 inches square.[5]
The pitcher must now keep his back foot on the rear line of the pitcher's box (55+1⁄2 feet from middle of home plate).[5]
Coaches were recognized by the rules for the first time ever.[5]
First and third base were repositioned to be entirely in fair territory.[6]
Blue laws restricted Sunday activities in several localities, causing several teams of the American Association (which was informally referred to as the "Beer & Whiskey League" due to its openness on alcohol, compared to the National League) to play at ballparks in a different locality.
In 1887, bases on balls (walks) were counted as hits by the major leagues in existence at the time. This inflated batting averages, with 11 players batting .400 or better, and the experiment was abandoned the following season. Historical statistics for the season were later revised, such that "Bases on balls shall always be treated as neither a time at bat nor a hit for the batter."[12] This results in ambiguity for some players' season and career hits totals, notably with Cap Anson.[13] Anson was credited with a .421 average and the National League batting title in 1887; however, the recalculation of averages with walks excluded lowered his average to .347 and retroactively gave the batting title to Sam Thompson.[13] The 1887 batting average and hits are included below, using contemporary data on Baseball Reference.[14][15]
1 2 Fleitz, David L. "Cap Anson". Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Biography Project. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
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