1876 Major League Baseball season

The 1876 major league baseball season was contested from April 22 through October 21, 1876, and saw the Chicago White Stockings as the pennant winner of the inaugural season of the National League and of Major League baseball.^[a] There was no postseason.

The National League was established on February 2, 1876 as a successor to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP or National Association (NA)), as a means to concentrate quality of talent and reduce the number of poor-drawing games played against low-quality competition in small towns (such as the 1875 Keokuk Westerns, located in the small Iowan town of Keokuk, which only had about 12,500 people).^[1] The NA also suffered from lack of strong authority over clubs, unsupervised scheduling, unstable membership of cities, dominance by one team (the Boston Red Stockings), and an extremely low entry fee ($10, equivalent to $293 in 2025) that gave clubs no incentive to abide by league rules when it was inconvenient to them.

Six teams from the NA would be established as charter members of the National League, including the Boston Red Stockings (renamed as the Red Caps, surviving today as the Atlanta Braves), Chicago White Stockings (surviving today as the Chicago Cubs), Hartford Dark Blues, New York Mutuals, Philadelphia Athletics, and St. Louis Brown Stockings. Two non-NA teams would join as charter members, including the Cincinnati Reds (unrelated to the modern team) and Louisville Grays.

The 1876 schedule was formatted so that each team would play up to 10 games against each team in the league (split evenly between home and away games), for a maximum of 70 games (only fulfilled by the Boston Red Caps). Any game played against a team at home must be played within two months' time away, "under penalty of forfeiture." This was the only season that the National League adopted this format. The following season would see a more regulated format, requiring teams to schedule 12 games against each team.

Opening Day took place on April 22 featuring a game between the Boston Red Caps and Brooklyn Hartfords. The final day of the season was on October 21, featuring a game between the Hartford Dark Blues and Boston Red Caps.^[2]

The year ended with the first postseason competition in major league history. The contest featured the first and second-place regular season finishers. The Saint Louis Brown Stockings defeated the Chicago White Stockings three games to two in a best-of-five "Championship of the West."

A framework was outlined to remedy ills and shortcomings of the 1871–1875 National Association:^[1]

• First: No club should be allowed to enter for the championship unless it be backed by a responsible association, financially capable of finishing a season when begun.
• Second: No club should be admitted from a city of less size than 100,000 inhabitants, excepting only Hartford. (This would later be amended to 75,000).
• Third: No two clubs should be admitted from the same city.
• Fourth: The faith of the management of a club should be shown by the deposit of $1,000, or perhaps $1,500 ($30234 and $45352 in 2025), in the hands of the association before the season begins. This sum not to be played for but returned to each club which carries out its agreements and plays its return games. If it refuses to play all the games that it agrees to, let the sum be forfeited.

Three tie games, which are not factored into winning percentage or games behind occurred throughout the season (though standings were determined by total wins, not winning percentage).^[4]

The Louisville Grays had three tie games. The Hartford Dark Blues, New York Mutuals, and Philadelphia Athletics had one tie game each.

• May 25, Louisville Grays vs. Philadelphia Athletics, tied at 2.^[5]
• June 21, Hartford Dark Blues vs. Louisville Grays, tied at 5.^[6]
• July 8, New York Mutuals vs. Louisville Grays, tied at 5.^[6]

• George Bradley (STL):
  • Pitched the first no-hitter in Major League history and the only in franchise history, by defeating the Hartford Dark Blues 2–0 on July 15.^[9]

• George Bradley (STL):
  • Set a Major League record for most shutout wins in a season, throwing 16 shutouts.^[10]

The 1876 season saw the formation of National League, and with eight teams joining the league:

• The Boston Red Caps played at South End Grounds.
• The Chicago White Stockings played at 23rd Street Grounds.
• The Cincinnati Reds played at Avenue Grounds.
• The Hartford Dark Blues played at the Hartford Ball Club Grounds.
• The Louisville Grays played at Louisville Baseball Park.
• The New York Mutuals played at the Union Grounds.
• The Philadelphia Athletics played at the Jefferson Street Grounds.
• The St. Louis Brown Stockings played at the Grand Avenue Ball Grounds.

The Hartford Dark Blues would play their final game at the Hartford Ball Club Grounds on September 16 against the St. Louis Brown Stockings, relocating to Brooklyn, New York at the Union Grounds as the Brooklyn Hartfords for the start of the 1877 season.

• 1876 in baseball (Events, Births, Deaths)

• 1876 Major League Schedule at Baseball Reference