1880 Major League Baseball season
| 1880 MLB season | |
|---|---|
| League | National League (NL) |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Duration | May 1 – October 1, 1880 |
| Number of games | 84 |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Pennant winner | |
| NL champions | Chicago White Stockings |
| NL runners-up | Providence Grays |
The 1880 Major League baseball season was contested from May 1 through October 1, 1880, and saw the Chicago White Stockings as the pennant winner of the fifth season of the National League. There was no postseason.
The 1880 season is known for the first two major league perfect games in history, as well as being the only perfect games in the 19th century. Thrown by Lee Richmond and John Ward, these two perfect games were thrown in the span of five days, the shortest amount of time between two perfect games (the next closest is currently 20 days between Dallas Braden's May 9 and Roy Halladay's and May 29, 2010 perfect games). A perfect game would not be seen again in the Major Leagues for 24 years when Cy Young threw his perfect game in 1904.
Over the off-season, the Cincinnati Reds and Syracuse Stars disbanded, and were replaced by the Cincinnati Stars and Worcester Worcesters. This would be the Stars' only major league season.
Schedule
[edit]The 1880 schedule consisted of 84 games for all eight teams of the National League. Each team was scheduled to play 12 games against the other seven teams in the league. This continued the format put in place since the previous season and would be used until 1883.
Opening Day took place on May 1 featuring all eight teams. The final day of the season was on October 1, featuring a doubleheader between the Providence Grays and Worcester Worcesters.[1]
Rule changes
[edit]The 1880 season saw the following rule changes:
- Teams that wanted to change future playing dates now needed all eight teams to approve said change. Previously, only the two mutual teams needed to agree.[2]
- An oversight that technically allowed more than nine players to play at a time was corrected.[2]
- Umpires are now the sole arbiters of whether a ball was unfit for play.[2]
- Umpires will now note the time of the beginning of any rain (now without request of a team captain) and will call the game if it continued for 30 minutes.[2]
- The concept of a walk-off hit was implemented, as now, a contest would end if the team scheduled to bat in the bottom of the ninth (or bottom of any extra inning) was winning.[2]
- Eight balls became a base on balls, down from nine.[2]
- A catcher must now catch a third strike before it touched the ground.[2][3]
Teams
[edit]An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at
- ^ In today's Rensselaer.
Standings
[edit]National League
[edit]| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago White Stockings | 67 | 17 | .798 | — | 37–5 | 30–12 |
| Providence Grays | 52 | 32 | .619 | 15 | 31–12 | 21–20 |
| Cleveland Blues | 47 | 37 | .560 | 20 | 24–19 | 23–18 |
| Troy Trojans | 41 | 42 | .494 | 25½ | 20–21 | 21–21 |
| Worcester Worcesters | 40 | 43 | .482 | 26½ | 24–17 | 16–26 |
| Boston Red Caps | 40 | 44 | .476 | 27 | 25–17 | 15–27 |
| Buffalo Bisons | 24 | 58 | .293 | 42 | 13–28 | 11–30 |
| Cincinnati Stars | 21 | 59 | .263 | 44 | 14–25 | 7–34 |
Managerial changes
[edit]Off-season
[edit]| Team | Former Manager | New Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Bisons | John Clapp | Sam Crane |
| Chicago White Stockings | Silver Flint | Cap Anson |
| Cincinnati Reds | Cal McVey | Team folded |
| Providence Grays | George Wright | Mike McGeary |
| Syracuse Stars | Jimmy Macullar | Team folded |
In-season
[edit]| Team | Former Manager | New Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Providence Grays | Mike McGeary | John Ward |
| John Ward | Mike Dorgan |
League leaders
[edit]National League
[edit]| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| AVG | George Gore (CHI) | .360 |
| OPS | George Gore (CHI) | .862 |
| HR | Jim O'Rourke (BOS) Harry Stovey (WOR) |
6 |
| RBI | Cap Anson (CHI) | 74 |
| R | Abner Dalrymple (CHI) | 91 |
| H | Abner Dalrymple (CHI) | 126 |
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| W | Jim McCormick (CLE) | 45 |
| L | Will White (CIN) | 42 |
| ERA | Tim Keefe (TRO) | 0.86 |
| K | Larry Corcoran (CHI) | 268 |
| IP | Jim McCormick (CLE) | 657.2 |
| SV | Lee Richmond (WOR) | 3 |
| WHIP | Tim Keefe (TRO) | 0.800 |
Milestones
[edit]Perfect games
[edit]- Lee Richmond (WOR):
- Pitched the first perfect game in Major League history and the only in franchise history on Jun12 against the Cleveland Blues. Richmond struck out five in the 1–0 victory. There was little discussion about the perfect game as the concept did not exist in 1880.
- John Ward (PRO):
- Pitched the second perfect game in Major League history and the only in franchise history on June 17 against the Buffalo Bisons. Ward struck out two in the 5–0 victory. He is currently then only player-manager to have thrown a perfect game.
References
[edit]- ^ "1880 Major Leagues Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g Pajot, Dennis. "1879 Winter Meetings: 50-Cent Admission Price Main Issue of Sessions – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved February 13, 2025.
- ^ "MLB Rule Changes | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
- ^ "1880 Major League Baseball Managers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ "1880 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ "1880 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.