1875 in baseball



Champions
National Association: Boston Base Ball Club

National Association final standings

Statistical leaders

Notable seasons
Boston Red Stockings pitcher Al Spalding has a record of 54–5 and leads the NA in wins. His 570.2 innings pitched ranks second in the league. He has 75 strikeouts, a 1.59 earned run average, and a 136 ERA+. At the plate, he has a .312 batting average and a 134 OPS+.
Boston Red Stockings first baseman Cal McVey leads the NA with 87 runs batted in and a .873 OPS. His 138 hits and 192 OPS+ both rank second in the league. He has a .355 batting average and 89 runs scored.

Events

January–March

April–June
May 3 – The Hartfords are caught using an illegal bat which had been whittled nearly flat on one side and painted black to conceal the altering.  The bat is thrown out and Hartford goes on to win the game.
May 5 – National of Washington gives up 20+ runs for the 5th consecutive game.
May 11 – The Red Stockings of St. Louis fall to the Chicagos 1–0, the lowest scoring game ever at the time.
May 21 – Only 10 days after it happened for the first time, the NA sees its second 1–0 game as Candy Cummings of Hartford outduels Bobby Mathews of Mutual.
May 22 – Pud Galvin makes his debut with the St. Louis Club.  Galvin will only pitch in 8 games for St. Louis and will not be seen in the major leagues again until 1879.
June 11 – George Hall of the Philadelphia Athletics, who will finish 2nd in the league with 4, homers in consecutive at-bats.

July–September
July 20 – Harry Wright learns that Albert Spalding, Deacon White, Ross Barnes and Cal McVey will jump to Chicago for the 1876 season.  The Chicago Tribune reports that Wright will return to Cincinnati to start a new team.
July 21 – Joe Start of Mutual hits 3 home runs and a triple in a Mutuals victory.
July 28 – Joe Borden of Philadelphia pitched professional baseball's first no-hitter in defeating Chicago 4–0.
September 6 – The Bostons win their 4th pennant in a row roughly 6 weeks sooner than they had in the previous 3 seasons.  Boston clinches with 16 games left to play in the schedule.
September 11 – The first professional women's game is played in Springfield, Illinois on a half-sized field.  The "Blondes" defeat the "Brunettes" 42–38.
September 24 – George Gage, President of the Chicago Base Ball Club, passes away after suffering a stroke.  William Hulbert will take over the team and drive the final nail in the NA's coffin by starting the National League during the off-season.
September 25 – Paul Hines commits 10 errors at 2nd base for Chicago in a loss.

October–December
October 10 – At a meeting of Chicago Base Ball Club stockholders, William Hulbert uses a proxy from the widow of the deceased George Gage to declare himself President of the team.  He names Albert Spalding as Secretary.
October 30 – Boston defeats Hartford 7–4 in what proves to be the final game in the history of the NA.  The Bostons claim the last 4 pennants in increasingly dominating fashion after the Athletics win the inaugural flag in 1871.

Births
1875 – Bill Magee [1]
January 7 – Kitty Bransfield
January 20 – C. I. Taylor
January 20 – Ernie Courtney
January 24 – Bunk Congalton
February 1 – Billy Sullivan
February 12 – Michael J. Kelley
February 18 – Walter Thornton
February 21 – Luther Taylor
February 25 – Johnny Kling [2]
February 28 – George Gillpatrick
March 3- John Kerin
March 14 – Wilbur Murdoch
March 28 – Jimmy Barrett
March 28 – Harry Gleason
April 2 – Ed Siever [3]
April 11 – Ossee Schreckengost
April 12 – Joe Corbett
April 13 – Kid Elberfeld
May 29 – Dave Fultz
June 25 – Bill Phyle
August 6 – Brownie Foreman
August 21 – Frank Isbell
August 31 – Eddie Plank
September 4 – Jack Gilbert
November 25 – Freddy Parent
November 30 – Myron Grimshaw
December 4 – Joe Corbett
December 17 – Jim McHale

Notes

Deaths
February 14 – Charlie Hodes, 26?, catcher/utility player from 1871 to 1874.
July 22 – Eb Smith, 28, umpire for one game during the 1872 National Association season.

References

External links
1875 season at Baseball-Reference.com
Charlton's Baseball Chronology at BaseballLibrary.com
Retrosheet.org