Nap Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics hits .426, an AL batting average record that still stands today. This record is also the modern or post-1900 batting average record and is often cited as the highest batting average of all time. However, the all-time batting average leader is Hugh Duffy, who hit .440 in 1894.
February 27 – The National League Rules Committee decrees that all foul balls are to count as strike balls, except after two strikes. To cut the cost of lost foul balls, the committee urges that batters who foul off good strikes are to be disciplined. The American League will not adopt this rule until the 1903 season. Other new rules: catchers must play within 10 feet of the batter; a ball will be called if the pitcher does not throw to a ready and waiting batter within 20 seconds, and players using indecent or improper language will be banished by the umpire. A ball will be called when a batter is hit by a pitch, but, in a mail vote, the owners will rescind this in April, and a HBP will earn a batter first base.
March 11 – John McGraw, manager of the Baltimore Orioles of the American League, attempts to sign infielder Charlie Grant, a black man, and attempt to pass him off as a Cherokee Indian named Tokohoma. However, Chicago White Sox president Charles Comiskey recognizes Grant and McGraw's attempt to integrate major league baseball falls apart.
March 19 – Pitcher Cy Young jumps from the NL's St. Louis Cardinals to the AL's Boston Americans.
April 25 – History is made in just the second day of play in the new American League at Bennett Park. The Milwaukee Brewers are leading the Detroit Tigers 13–4 going into the ninth inning, when the Tigers rally and score 10 runs to win, 14–13. Pop Dillon drives in the winning run with his fourth double of the game, setting a Major League Baseball record with four doubles on Opening Day, that will be matched by Jim Greengrass in 1954.
April 27 – Billy Clingman of the Washington Senators hits the first home run in franchise history off Wiley Piatt of the Philadelphia Athletics. Washington would go on to win the game 11–5.
April 28 – The Cleveland Blues defeat the Chicago White Sox 13–1. The Blues (who would later change their name to the Indians) hit 23 singles, 22 of them off White Sox pitcher Bock Baker.
May 1 – Herm McFarland of the Chicago White Sox hits the first gland slam in American League history as the White Sox rout the Detroit Tigers 19–9. The Tigers commit an AL record 12 errors, 10 in the infield.
May 2 – This was the date of the American League's first forfeit, with the Detroit Tigers playing the Chicago White Stockings. The Tigers scored five runs in the top of the ninth to put them on top, 7–5, and the White Stockings began stalling for a rainout. However, the umpire forfeited the game to the Tigers.
May 4 – Future politician Fred Brown makes his MLB debut. Brown, who'd later win a seat as a Democrat in New Hampshire, only plays nine games over two years in the major leagues.
May 8:
Amos Rusie, pitching for the Cincinnati Reds, makes his first start in more than two years. He loses, 14–3, and retires after two more appearances.
May 9 – Earl Moore of the Cleveland Blues pitched nine hitless innings against the Chicago White Stockings before giving up two hits in the 10th inning to lose 4–2.
May 15 – Watty Lee throws the first shutout in American League history when the Washington Senators blank the Boston Americans 4–0 in Boston. The 21 year-old southpaw, who will finish the season with a 16–16 record, will be the author of two of the eight shutouts thrown in the Junior Circuit's inaugural season.
May 17 – The Philadelphia Athletics are beating the Washington Senators 7–6 in the bottom of the ninth when Senators player Bill Coughlin hits an apparent game-ending home run. However, under the rules of the time, Coughlin is credited with just a single, as that is all that it would have taken for the Senators to beat the Athletics.
Scoring nine runs in the bottom of the ninth at Cleveland's League Park, the Blues, later to be known as the Indians, stun the Senators, 14–13. The incredible comeback, which consists of six singles, two doubles, a walk, a hit batsman, and a passed ball, comes after two outs.
May 30 – In the afternoon game of a holiday doubleheader, the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the New York Giants 6–5 in 10 innings. An NL record 28,500 fans attend the game.
June 9–17,000 fans attend the Reds–Giants game. The Giants are up, 15–4, after six innings, when the fans begin to overflow the field. Over the next two and a half innings, 19 runs score as ground-rule doubles multiply. As the crowd enters the infield, with the Giants leading 25–13, umpire Bob Emslie forfeits the game to the Giants. The game ends with a record 31 hits and 13 doubles.
July 1 – With the Chicago Orphans playing the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, Jack Doyle, first baseman of the Orphans who was formerly of the Giants, gets into a fight with a fan. Though the police arrive, Doyle does not get in trouble, though he has to take himself out of the game in the seventh as his hand is hurting.
August 5 – In the second inning of the nightcap against the Boston Americans, Jimmy Hart of the Baltimore Orioles punches umpire John Haskell in the face. The rookie first baseman who hits .311 playing in a total of only 58 games in his major league career, serves a ten-day suspension, but quits after going 4-for-4 upon his return because the team refused to pay the $25 he had been fined.
September 5 – The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, which would later become known as Minor League Baseball, was formed at a meeting of minor league executives at the Leland Hotel in Chicago. Patrick T. Powers, president of the Eastern League, became the first president of the NAPBL. [3]
September 19 – All games are cancelled due to the recent death of President William McKinley.
September 23 – The Brooklyn Superbas establish a new franchise record for runs scored in a game when they rout the Cincinnati Reds, 25–6. Brooklyn scores 11 runs in the fifth inning.
November 5 – Sportsman Park is lease by the American League. Two weeks later, the league transfers the Milwaukee Brewers to St. Louis and the team is renamed the St. Louis Browns.
December 3 – The Milwaukee Brewers are contracted from the American League, due to poor attendance and fiscal instability. The league adds the St. Louis Browns to replace the Brewers.
December 19 – Rube Waddell jumps from the Chicago Orphans of the national league to Los Angeles of the California League.
February 3 – Tom O'Brien, 27, outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Giants National League clubs between 1897 and 1900.
February 21 – Dennis Driscoll, 38, second baseman for the 1885 Buffalo Bisons.
February 22 – Tom Kinslow, 35, distinguished catcher during the Dead Ball Era, a career .266 hitter who posted a .923 fielding average for eight teams from 1886 to 1892.
March 3 – Charles Snyder, 28, catcher/outfielder who hit .273 for the 1890 Philadelphia Athletics.
March 24 – Mike Trost, 35[?], backup catcher/centerfielder/first baseman for the 1890 St. Louis Browns and 1895 Louisville Colonels.
March 31 – George Popplein, 60, utility player who appeared in one game for the Baltimore Marylands during the 1873 season.
April 10 – John Hiland, 40, backup infielder for the 1885 Philadelphia Quakers.
April 14 – Pat Sullivan, 38, third baseman/centerfielder for the 1884 Kansas City Cowboys.
April 20 – Bill Yeatman, 62, outfielder who played one game with the 1872 Washington Nationals.
April 30 – Dude Esterbrook, 43, infielder who batted .314 for the pennant-winning 1884 New York Metropolitans
June 17 – Bill Craver, 57, catcher and manager who later was expelled from organized baseball for gambling.
July 9 – Sy Studley, 60, center fielder for the 1872 Washington Nationals of the National Association.
July 11 – Dave McKeough, 37, catcher who hit .231 in part of two seasons for the Rochester Broncos (1890) and Philadelphia Athletics (1891).
July 24 – Joe Simmons, 56, player in National Association for three seasons, them managed the 1884 Wilmington Quicksteps of the Union Association.
August 15 – Gene Bagley, 40, catcher/outfielder for the 1886 New York Giants.
August 15 – Milt Whitehead, 39[?], Canadian shortstop who played in 1884 with the St. Louis Maroons and Kansas City Cowboys.
August 22 – Pete Sweeney, 37, infielder/outfielder who played from 1888 through 1890 for the Nationals, Browns, Athletics and Colonels.
September 23 – Doc McJames, 27, pitcher who posted a 79-80 record with 593 strikeouts and a 3.43 ERA in six seasons, and led the National League with 156 strikeouts in 1897.
October 9 – Chappy Lane, [?], who hit .203 with four home runs in 114 games for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (1882) and Toledo Blue Stockings (1884), and led American Association first basemen in fielding percentage (1882).
October 16 – Jim Duncan, 28, catcher/first baseman for the Cleveland Spiders and Washington Senators during the 1899 season.
October 31 – John Cahill, 36, outfielder/infielder/pitcher for the Columbus Buckeyes (1884), St. Louis Maroons (1886) and Indianapolis Hoosiers (1887).
November 2 – John Corcoran, 28[?], infielder for the 1895 Pittsburgh Pirates.
November 7 – Tub Welch, 35, catcher/first baseman who hit .261 in 82 games for the Toledo Maumees (1890) and Louisville Colonels (1895).
November 29 – Jim Sullivan, 34, who posted a career pitching record of a 26-28 and was a member of the 1897 National League Champions Boston Beaneaters.
