1873 in baseball

The following are the baseball events of the year 1873 throughout the world.

Champions

• National Association: Boston Red Stockings

National Association final standings

National Association
Rank	Club	Wins	Losses	Win %	GB
1st	Boston Red Stockings	43	16	.729	–
2nd	Philadelphia White Stockings	36	17	.679	4.0
3rd	Baltimore Canaries	33	22	.600	8
4th	Philadelphia Athletics	28	23	.549	11.0
5th	New York Mutuals	29	24	.547	11.0
6th	Brooklyn Atlantics	17	37	.315	23.5
7th	Washington Blue Legs	8	31	.205	25.0
8th	Elizabeth Resolutes	2	21	.087	23.0
9th	Baltimore Marylands	0	5	.000	16

Statistical leaders

Lip Pike

National Association
Type	Name	Stat
AVG	Ross Barnes BOS	.425
HR	Lip Pike BAL	4
RBI	Deacon White BOS	66
Wins	Albert Spalding BOS	41
ERA	Cherokee Fisher ATH	1.81
Strikeouts	Bobby Mathews NYU	75

Events

January–March

• March 3 – For the first time, the NA adopts a standardized ball to be used in all league games.

April–June

• May 14 – Nearly 5,000 fans watch the upstart Philadelphia White Stockings defeat the established Philadelphia Athletics 5–4 in 13 innings. Only once before, in 1865, had that many innings been played in one game.
• June 7 – The New York Mutuals and Philadelphia White Stockings combine for 40 errors in a game won by the White Stockings. The White Stockings, aided by the Mutuals 26 miscues, win 12–10.
• June 11 – 10,000 fans are in attendance see the Philadelphia White Stockings score 5 runs in the 7th inning to defeat the Philadelphia Athletics 7–5.

July–September

• July 4 – Leading 11–3 over the Elizabeth Resolutes, the Boston Red Stockings score 21 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 32–3 victory. The home-ahead rule would not be instituted for 6 more years.
• July 22 – Tom Barlow of the Brooklyn Atlantics lays down 6 bunts, all for hits, in a game against the Baltimore Canaries.
• July 24 – Bob Ferguson of the Brooklyn Atlantics is the umpire in a game between the New York Mutuals and the Baltimore Canaries which ends with the Mutuals scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th for an 11–10 victory. Ferguson and the Mutuals' Nat Hicks get into an altercation with Ferguson breaking Hicks' arm by hitting him with a bat. Ferguson requires a police escort to leave the field and Hicks will be out for 2 months due to the incident.
• August 16 – The Boston Red Stockings defeat the Philadelphia White Stockings 11–8 in Chicago in front of several thousand fans. After the game, it is announced that Chicago has signed several players in hopes of placing a team in the NA for the 1874 season.

October–December

• October 16 – The Baltimore Canaries turn a triple play in a losing cause against the Philadelphia White Stockings.
• November 6 – A benefit game is played between the Philadelphia White Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics under a proposed rule of 10 men on the field and 10 innings for a game. The extra player is placed on the infield as a right shortstop and with most observers feeling the extra player unnecessary, the rule is never implemented.
• October 22 – The Boston Red Stockings win the pennant for the 2nd year in a row. They clinch on the same date as they had in 1872.

Births

• January 10 – Chick Stahl
• January 10 – Jack O'Neill
• January 19 – Arlie Pond
• January 23 – Red Donahue
• February 5 – Jack O'Brien
• February 20 – Tom O'Brien
• March 10 – Gene DeMontreville
• March 29 – Duff Cooley
• April 7 – John McGraw
• April 22 – Frank Figgemeier
• May 23 – "Brewery" Jack Taylor
• June 13 – John Coleman
• July 11 – Jimmy Slagle
• July 19 – Harry Davis
• August 26 – Chick Fraser
• October 5 – Claude Ritchey
• October 9 – Bill Reidy
• November 4 – Bobby Wallace
• November 10 – Willie McGill
• November 24 – Ed Doheny
• November 29 – Jake Weimer
• December 6 – Harry Wolverton
• December 9 – Oscar Purner
• December 14 – John Anderson

Deaths

• February 26 – Cy Bentley, 22, pitcher and right fielder for the 1872 Middletown Mansfields.

External links

• 1873 season at baseball-reference.com
• Charlton's Baseball Chronology at BaseballLibrary.com
• Retrosheet.org

References

• Levine, Peter (1985). A.G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball: The Promise of American Sport. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-503552-6