1888 Major League Baseball season

The 1888 major league baseball season began on April 18, 1888. The regular season ended on October 17, with the New York Giants and the St. Louis Browns as regular season champions of the National League and American Association, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the fifth World's Championship Series on October 16 and ended with Game 10 on October 27, in what was a best-of-eleven-playoff. The Giants defeated the Browns, six games to four, capturing their first World's Championship Series.

Over the offseason, the American Association's New York Metropolitans folded, and saw them replaced by the newly enfranchised Kansas City Cowboys. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Grays renamed as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms.

The 1888 schedule consisted of 140 games for all teams in the American Association and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 20 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place by the American Association since the 1886 season and was the first season that the National League adopted the format. This format would last until 1892.

American Association Opening Day took place on April 18 featuring all eight teams, while National League Opening Day took place on April 20, also featuring all eight teams. The American Association would see its final day of the regular season on October 15 with a game between the Cleveland Blues and Philadelphia Athletics, while the National League would see its final day of the season on October 13, featuring all eight teams.^[1] The 1888 World's Championship Series took place between October 16 and October 27.

The 1888 season saw the following rule changes:

• A batter was credited with a base hit when a runner was hit by his batted ball.^[2]
• A batter was credited with a hit when a runner is out for being hit by the batted ball.^[2]
• The base on balls exemption from a time at bat was restored.^[2]
• Rule 50 § 4 was amended allowing a runner to take a base if the ball hits the umpire, while a struck ball hits a base runner after an attempt has been made to field it, the runner shall not be declared out.^[3]
• Rules distinguishing earned runs from unearned runs were created, mainly that an earned run was defined as one unaided by errors, with an exception for bases on balls; a player that was walked and scores will be counted towards a pitcher's total earned runs.^[4]
• Rule 4 changed, changing the total number of strikes needed for a strikeout were reduced from four to three (as they were, prior to 1887.^[2][3]
• The 1887 batting average rule which included balls in the calculation of the batting average is reversed.^[2]

An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at

Blue laws restricted Sunday activities in several localities, causing several teams of the American Association (which was informally referred to as the "Beer & Whiskey League" due to its openness on alcohol, compared to the National League) to play at ballparks in a different locality.

21 tie games (9 in AA, 12 in NL), which are not factored into winning percentage or games behind (and were often replayed again), occurred throughout the season.

Any team shown in small text indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.

• Harry Stovey (PHA):
  • Stovey hit for his first cycle and fourth in franchise history, on May 15 against the Baltimore Orioles.^[13]
• Sam Barkley (KC):
  • Barkley hit for his first cycle and first in franchise history, on June 13 against the Cincinnati Red Stockings.^[13]
• Jimmy Ryan (CHI):
  • Ryan hit for his first cycle and first in franchise history, on July 28 against the Detroit Wolverines.^[13]
• Mike Tiernan (NYG):
  • Tiernan hit for his first cycle and first in franchise history, on August 25 against the Philadelphia Quakers.^[13]

• Adonis Terry (BRO):
  • Terry threw his second career no-hitter and third no-hitter in franchise history, by defeating the Louisville Colonels 4–0 on May 27. Terry walked three and struck out eight.^[14]
• Henry Porter (KC):
  • Porter threw his first career no-hitter and first no-hitter in franchise history, by defeating the Baltimore Orioles 4–0 on June 6. Porter walked one and struck out an unknown amount.^[15][16]
• Ed Seward (PHA):
  • Seward threw his first career no-hitter and third no-hitter in franchise history, by defeating the Cincinnati Red Stockings 12–2 on July 26. Seward walked three and struck out six.^[17]
• Gus Weyhing (PHA):
  • Weyhing threw his first career no-hitter and fourth no-hitter in franchise history, by defeating the Kansas City Cowboys 4–0 on July 31. Weyhing walked one, hit one by pitch, and stuck out five.^[18]

• Tim Keefe (NYG):
  • Set a Major League record for most consecutive wins in a single season, at 19. The streak ran from June 23 to August 10.
• Ed Morris (PIT):
  • Set a Major League record for most consecutive shutouts, setting a National League record at four on September 15.
• Pud Galvin (PIT):
  • Is the first member of the 300-win club, defeating the Washington Nationals on October 5, winning 5–1.^[19]

The Kansas City Cowboys join the American Association and play at Association Park in Kansas City, Missouri. For the last home game of the season, they permanently left Association Park and move into Exposition Park on September 30.

The New York Giants would play their final game at the original Polo Grounds in game 5 of the World's Championship Series on October 20 against the St. Louis Browns, playing at Oakland Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, St. George Cricket Grounds in St. George, New York, and the second Polo Grounds further uptown the following season.

The South End Grounds, home of the Boston Beaneaters, saw a completely new structure over the offseason. The team would play their first game at the revamped South End Grounds on May 25.

Three teams of the American Association hosted Sunday games:

• Brooklyn Bridegrooms played 20 games at Ridgewood Park in Ridgewood, New York on April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27, June 3, 10, 17, 24, July 22, 29, August 5, 26, September 2, a doubleheader on September 9, September 16, October 7 and 14.^[20] It would be the second of three seasons that the team played Sunday games there.
• Cleveland Blues: played three games at Geauga Lake Grounds in Bainbridge Township, Ohio on July 22, 29 and August 26, as well as one game at Beyerle's Park in Newburgh Township, Ohio on September 2.^[21][22]
• Philadelphia Athletics played two games at Fireworks Park in Gloucester City, New Jersey on August 5 and 26, as well as one game at Gloucester Point Grounds, also in Gloucester City on October 14.^[23][24]

• 1888 in baseball (Events, Births, Deaths)

• 1888 Major League Schedule at Baseball Reference