1895 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1895 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1895 in baseball.

1895 MLB season
League	National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 18 – September 30, 1895 Temple Cup: October 2–8, 1895
Number of games	132
Number of teams	12
Pennant winner
NL champions	Baltimore Orioles
NL runners-up	Cleveland Spiders
Temple Cup
Champions	Cleveland Spiders
Runners-up	Baltimore Orioles
MLB seasons
← 1894 1896 →

Orioles

Beaneaters

Grooms

Colts

Reds

Spiders

Colonels

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Browns

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1893–1895 National League seasons
National League

The 1895 major league baseball season began on April 18, 1895. The regular season ended on September 30, with the Baltimore Orioles as the pennant winner of the National League and the Cleveland Spiders as runner-up. The postseason began with Game 1 of the second Temple Cup on October 2 and ended with Game 5 on October 8. The Spiders defeated the Orioles, four games to one, capturing their first Temple Cup.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1895 schedule consisted of 132 games for the twelve teams of the National League. Each team was scheduled to play 12 games against the other eleven teams in the league. This continued the format put in place since 1893 and would be used until 1898.

Opening Day took place on April 18 featuring ten teams. The final day of the season was on September 30, featuring six teams. ^[1] The Temple Cup took place between October 2 and October 8.

Rule changes

The 1895 season saw the following rule changes:

• A held foul tip is now classified as a strike. ^{[2] [3]}
• The size of baseball bats were regulated to be at most 2¾ inches in diameter (an increase from 2½) and no longer than 42 inches. ^{[2] [3]}
• The infield fly rule is adopted, which is enforced when: ^{[2] [3]}
  • A fly ball is hit in the infield.
  • There is a force play at third base.
  • The infield fly rule shall be called by the umpire if they judge that the fly ball can be caught with ordinary effort.
• The pitcher's plate was enlarged from 12 inches by 4 inches, to 24 inches by 6 inches. ^{[2] [3]}
• Aside from catcher and first basemen's mitts and the size of gloves for all other position players were limited to 10 ounces and no more than 14 inches in circumference. ^{[2] [4] [3]}
• Each incident of a player using indecent, obscene, or abusive language on the field resulted in a fine between $25 and $100 (equivalent to $945 and $3780 in 2024), and that the money would be forwarded to Secretary Nicholas Young within five days or the player would be suspended until the fine was paid. ^[3]
• A rule requiring umpires to "enforce the playing rules as written" was adopted, imposing a $25 fine on the respective umpire for the first such failure in a game, and doubling that to $50 for a second failure (equivalent to $945 and $1890 in 2024, respectively). ^[3]

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager [5]
National League	Baltimore Orioles	Baltimore, Maryland	Union Park	6,500	Ned Hanlon
	Boston Beaneaters	Boston, Massachusetts	South End Grounds	6,600	Frank Selee
	Brooklyn Grooms	Brooklyn, New York	Eastern Park	12,000	Dave Foutz
	Chicago Colts	Chicago, Illinois	West Side Park	13,000	Cap Anson
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	League Park (Cincinnati)	9,000	Buck Ewing
	Cleveland Spiders	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park (Cleveland)	9,000	Patsy Tebeau
	Louisville Colonels	Louisville, Kentucky	Eclipse Park	6,400	John McCloskey
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	16,000	George Davis
					Jack Doyle
					Harvey Watkins
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	National League Park	18,000	Arthur Irwin
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Allegheny, Pennsylvania	Exposition Park	6,500	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	New Sportsman's Park	14,500	Al Buckenberger
					Chris von der Ahe
					Joe Quinn
					Lou Phelan
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Boundary Field	6,500	Gus Schmelz

Standings

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	87	43	.669	—	54‍–‍12	33‍–‍31
Cleveland Spiders	84	46	.646	3	49‍–‍13	35‍–‍33
Philadelphia Phillies	78	53	.595	9½	51‍–‍21	27‍–‍32
Chicago Colts	72	58	.554	15	43‍–‍24	29‍–‍34
Brooklyn Grooms	71	60	.542	16½	43‍–‍22	28‍–‍38
Boston Beaneaters	71	60	.542	16½	48‍–‍19	23‍–‍41
Pittsburgh Pirates	71	61	.538	17	44‍–‍21	27‍–‍40
Cincinnati Reds	66	64	.508	21	42‍–‍22	24‍–‍42
New York Giants	66	65	.504	21½	40‍–‍27	26‍–‍38
Washington Senators	43	85	.336	43	31‍–‍34	12‍–‍51
St. Louis Browns	39	92	.298	48½	25‍–‍41	14‍–‍51
Louisville Colonels	35	96	.267	52½	19‍–‍38	16‍–‍58

Postseason

Bracket

	Temple Cup
	NL1	Baltimore Orioles	4	2	1	5	2
	NL2	Cleveland Spiders	5*	7	7	0	5

*Denotes walk-off

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Cincinnati Reds	Charles Comiskey	Buck Ewing
Louisville Colonels	Billy Barnie	John McCloskey
New York Giants	John Ward	George Davis
St. Louis Browns	George Miller	Al Buckenberger

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
New York Giants	George Davis	Jack Doyle
	Jack Doyle	Harvey Watkins
St. Louis Browns	Al Buckenberger	Chris von der Ahe
	Chris von der Ahe	Joe Quinn
	Joe Quinn	Lou Phelan

League leaders

National League

Hitting leaders ^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Jesse Burkett (CLE)	.405
OPS	Ed Delahanty (PHI)	1.117
HR	Sam Thompson (PHI)	18
RBI	Sam Thompson (PHI)	165
R	Billy Hamilton (PHI)	166
H	Jesse Burkett (CLE)	225
SB	Billy Hamilton (PHI)	97

Pitching leaders ^[7]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Cy Young (CLE)	35
L	Theodore Breitenstein (STL)	30
ERA	Al Maul (WSH)	2.45
K	Amos Rusie (NY)	201
IP	Pink Hawley (PIT)	444.1
SV	Ernie Beam (PHI) Tom Parrott (CIN)	3
WHIP	Cy Young (CLE)	1.185

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Philadelphia Phillies [8]	78	9.9%	474,971	34.6%	6,506
Chicago Colts [9]	72	26.3%	382,300	60.0%	5,706
Baltimore Orioles [10]	87	−2.2%	293,000	−10.7%	4,373
Cincinnati Reds [11]	66	20.0%	281,000	77.8%	4,323
Boston Beaneaters [12]	71	−14.5%	242,000	58.4%	3,559
New York Giants [13]	66	−25.0%	240,000	−38.0%	3,582
Brooklyn Grooms [14]	71	1.4%	230,000	7.5%	3,433
Pittsburgh Pirates [15]	71	9.2%	188,000	18.2%	2,806
St. Louis Browns [16]	39	−30.4%	170,000	9.7%	2,500
Washington Senators [17]	43	−4.4%	153,000	22.4%	2,217
Cleveland Spiders [18]	84	23.5%	143,000	74.4%	2,306
Louisville Colonels [19]	35	−2.8%	92,000	22.7%	1,559

References

1. "1895 Major Leagues Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
2. "MLB Rule Changes | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
3. Johnson, Bill. "1894 Winter Meetings: The Empire Strikes Back – Society for American Baseball Research" . Retrieved March 26, 2025.
4. "#GoingDeep: The evolution of baseball gloves | Baseball Hall of Fame". baseballhall.org. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
5. "1895 Major League Managers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
6. "1895 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
7. "1895 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
8. "Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
9. "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
10. "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
11. "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
12. "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
13. "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
14. "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
15. "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
16. "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
17. "Washington Senators Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
18. "Cleveland Spiders Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
19. "Louisville Colonels Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved January 22, 2025.

External links

• 1895 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference