1873 in baseball

Year in baseball
this year = 1873

Champions

*National Association: Boston Red Stockings

National Association final standings

tatistical leaders

Notable seasons

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
*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
*November 4 - Bobby Wallace
*November 10 - Willie McGill
*November 24 - Ed Doheny
*November 29 - Jake Weimer
*December 6 - Harry Wolverton
*December 14 - John Anderson

Deaths

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

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NA_1873.shtml/ 1873 season at baseball-reference.com]
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/chronology/ Charlton's Baseball Chronology at BaseballLibrary.com]
* [http://retrosheet.org/ 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