1896 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1896 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1896 in baseball.
1896 MLB season
LeagueNational League (NL)
SportBaseball
DurationRegular season:
  • April 16 – September 26, 1896
Temple Cup:
  • October 2–8, 1896
Games132
Teams12
Pennant winner
NL championsBaltimore Orioles
  NL runners-upCleveland Spiders
Temple Cup
ChampionsBaltimore Orioles
  Runners-upCleveland Spiders
Locations of teams for the 1896–1897 National League seasons
National League

The 1896 major league baseball season began on April 16, 1896. The regular season ended on September 26, with the Baltimore Orioles as the pennant winner of the National League and the Cleveland Spiders as runner-up. In a rematch of the previous season, the postseason began with Game 1 of the third Temple Cup on October 2 and ended with Game 4 on October 8. The Orioles swept the Spiders, capturing their first Temple Cup.

The 1896 Temple Cup was the only one of four Temple Cups which saw the NL pennant winner win the championship series.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1896 schedule consisted of 132 games for the twelve teams of the National League. Each team was scheduled to play 12 games against the other eleven teams in the league. This continued the format put in place since 1893 and would be used until 1898.

Opening Day took place on April 16 featuring all twelve teams. The final day of the season was on September 26, featuring ten teams.[1] The Temple Cup took place between October 2 and October 8.

Tripleheader

The 1896 season featured an extremely rare tripleheader—the second of three in National League and major-league history, having previously occurred only in 1890—when the Baltimore Orioles hosted the Louisville Colonels on September 7 for three games. The Orioles swept the Colonels.[2]

Rule changes

The 1896 season saw the following rule changes:

  • A player ejection was mandatory after the third violation of minor in-game discretions.[3]
  • Umpires must "give corners of the plate" to the pitcher, meaning that if a ball passed over any part of the plate while in the zone between shoulders and knees, the pitch must be called a strike.[3]

Teams

League Team City Ballpark Capacity Manager[4]
National League Baltimore Orioles Baltimore, Maryland Union Park 6,500 Ned Hanlon
Boston Beaneaters Boston, Massachusetts South End Grounds 6,600 Frank Selee
Brooklyn Bridegrooms Brooklyn, New York[A] Eastern Park 12,000 Dave Foutz
Chicago Colts Chicago, Illinois West Side Park 13,000 Cap Anson
Cincinnati Reds Cincinnati, Ohio League Park (Cincinnati) 9,000 Buck Ewing
Cleveland Spiders Cleveland, Ohio League Park (Cleveland) 9,000 Patsy Tebeau
Louisville Colonels Louisville, Kentucky Eclipse Park 6,400 John McCloskey
Bill McGunnigle
New York Giants New York, New York Polo Grounds 16,000 Arthur Irwin
Bill Joyce
Philadelphia Phillies Philadelphia, Pennsylvania National League Park 18,000 Billy Nash
Pittsburgh Pirates Allegheny, Pennsylvania[B] Exposition Park 6,500 Connie Mack
St. Louis Browns St. Louis, Missouri New Sportsman's Park 14,500 Harry Diddlebock
Arlie Latham
Chris von der Ahe
Roger Connor
Tommy Dowd
Washington Senators Washington, D.C. Boundary Field 6,500 Gus Schmelz
  1. ^
    In today's New York, New York.
  2. ^
    In today's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Standings

National League

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 90 39 .698 — 49‍–‍16 41‍–‍23
Cleveland Spiders 80 48 .625 9½ 43‍–‍19 37‍–‍29
Cincinnati Reds 77 50 .606 12 51‍–‍15 26‍–‍35
Boston Beaneaters 74 57 .565 17 42‍–‍24 32‍–‍33
Chicago Colts 71 57 .555 18½ 42‍–‍24 29‍–‍33
Pittsburgh Pirates 66 63 .512 24 35‍–‍31 31‍–‍32
New York Giants 64 67 .489 27 39‍–‍26 25‍–‍41
Philadelphia Phillies 62 68 .477 28½ 42‍–‍27 20‍–‍41
Washington Senators 58 73 .443 33 38‍–‍29 20‍–‍44
Brooklyn Bridegrooms 58 73 .443 33 35‍–‍28 23‍–‍45
St. Louis Browns 40 90 .308 50½ 27‍–‍34 13‍–‍56
Louisville Colonels 38 93 .290 53 25‍–‍37 13‍–‍56

Tie games

14 tie games, which are not factored into winning percentage or games behind (and were often replayed again), occurred throughout the season.

  • Baltimore Orioles, 3
  • Boston Beaneaters, 1
  • Brooklyn Bridegrooms, 2
  • Chicago Colts, 4
  • Cincinnati Reds, 1
  • Cleveland Spiders, 7
  • Louisville Colonels, 3
  • New York Giants, 2
  • Pittsburgh Pirates, 2
  • St. Louis Browns, 1
  • Washington Senators, 2

Postseason

Bracket

Temple Cup
      
NL1 Baltimore Orioles 7 7 6 5
NL2 Cleveland Spiders 1 2 2 0

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team Former Manager New Manager
New York Giants Harvey Watkins Arthur Irwin
Philadelphia Phillies Arthur Irwin Billy Nash
St. Louis Browns Lou Phelan Harry Diddlebock

In-season

Team Former Manager New Manager
Louisville Colonels John McCloskey Bill McGunnigle
New York Giants Arthur Irwin Bill Joyce
St. Louis Browns Harry Diddlebock Arlie Latham
Arlie Latham Chris von der Ahe
Chris von der Ahe Roger Connor
Roger Connor Tommy Dowd

League leaders

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

National League

Hitting leaders[5]
Stat Player Total
AVG Jesse Burkett (CLE) .410
OPS Ed Delahanty (PHI) 1.103
HR Ed Delahanty (PHI)
Bill Joyce (NYG/WAS) 		11
RBI Ed Delahanty (PHI) 126
R Jesse Burkett (CLE) 160
H Jesse Burkett (CLE) 240
SB Joe Kelley (BAL) 87
Pitching leaders[6]
Stat Player Total
W Frank Killen (PIT)
Kid Nichols (BSN) 		30
L Bill Hart (STL) 29
ERA Billy Rhines (CIN) 2.45
K Cy Young (CLE) 140
IP Frank Killen (PIT) 432.1
SV Cy Young (CLE) 3
WHIP Billy Rhines (CIN) 1.231

Milestones

Batters

Four home runs in one game

See also: List of Major League Baseball single-game home run leaders

Cycles

See also: List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle

Miscellaneous

Home field attendance

Team name Wins %± Home attendance %± Per game
Cincinnati Reds[10] 77 16.7% 373,000 32.7% 5,652
Philadelphia Phillies[11] 62 −20.5% 357,025 −24.8% 5,174
Chicago Colts[12] 71 −1.4% 317,500 −17.0% 4,669
New York Giants[13] 64 −3.0% 274,000 14.2% 4,152
Baltimore Orioles[14] 90 3.4% 249,448 −14.9% 3,723
Boston Beaneaters[15] 74 4.2% 240,000 −0.8% 3,582
Washington Senators[16] 58 34.9% 223,000 45.8% 3,279
Brooklyn Bridegrooms[17] 58 −18.3% 201,000 −12.6% 3,092
Pittsburgh Pirates[18] 66 −7.0% 197,000 4.8% 2,985
St. Louis Browns[19] 40 2.6% 184,000 8.2% 2,968
Cleveland Spiders[20] 80 −4.8% 152,000 6.3% 2,375
Louisville Colonels[21] 38 8.6% 133,000 44.6% 2,078

See also

References

  1. ^ "1896 Major Leagues Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Triple Headers in Major League Baseball". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Johnson, Bill. "1895 Winter Meetings: The Magnates Expand Their Control – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  4. ^ "1896 Major League Managers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  5. ^ "1896 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  6. ^ "1896 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  7. ^ "Ed Delahanty Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on August 21, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  8. ^ "Ed Delahanty Career Home Runs". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Cycles". Retrosheet.org. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  10. ^ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  11. ^ "Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  12. ^ "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  13. ^ "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  14. ^ "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  15. ^ "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  16. ^ "Washington Senators Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  17. ^ "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  18. ^ "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  19. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  20. ^ "Cleveland Spiders Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  21. ^ "Louisville Colonels Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
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