1899 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1899 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1899 in baseball.
1899 MLB season
LeagueNational League (NL)
SportBaseball
DurationApril 14 – October 15, 1899
Games154
Teams12
Pennant winner
NL championsBrooklyn Superbas
  NL runners-upBoston Beaneaters
Locations of teams for the 1899 National League season
National League

The 1899 major league baseball season was contested from April 14 through October 15, 1899, and saw the Brooklyn Superbas as the pennant winner of the National League. There was no postseason.

The 1899 was the final season of a stable 12-team, eight-season run which saw no expansion or contraction of teams. Following the end of the season, the National League contracted from 12 to 8 teams, eliminating the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Spiders, Louisville Colonels, and Washington Senators. The elimination of major-league baseball from these cities prompted the minor league Western League to position themselves as a major league in 1901, by beginning a transition from a Midwest-focused league to the nationwide focused American League.

The 1899 season is famous for the Cleveland Spiders finishing with the worst single-season record of all time (minimum 120 games), finishing at a dismal 20–134 (.130), largely due to the fact that the Spiders-owning Robison family bought the St. Louis Perfectos prior to the 1899 season, then proceeded to move all Cleveland talent to St. Louis, leaving the Spiders a talent-depleted team. The only other major-league team of the 19th century with a worse record was the 1884 Wilmington Quicksteps, who entered the unstable single-season Union Association as a late-season replacement for the Philadelphia Keystones and played only 18 games, with a record of 2–16 (.111).

The Brooklyn Bridegrooms and St. Louis Browns renamed as the Brooklyn Superbas and St. Louis Perfectos, respectively.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1899 schedule consisted of 154 games for the twelve teams of the National League. Each team was scheduled to play 14 games against the other eleven teams in the league. This format had previously been used by the National League in 1892 and the previous season. This would be the final season which saw this format, due to the reduction of teams the following season.

Opening Day took place on April 14 featuring four teams. The final day of the season on October 15, featuring five teams play in four games (Chicago hosted Louisville and St. Louis hosted Chicago, while Cincinnati hosted Cleveland in a doubleheader).[1]

Rule changes

The 1899 season saw the following rule changes:

  • Home plate is required to be a 12 in × 12 in (30 cm × 30 cm) square, positioned such that opposite corners point towards the pitcher and catcher.[2]
  • As a result of catcher's interference, a batter is now awarded first base.[3]
  • Catchers must remain within the catcher's box until a pitch was released from the pitcher's hand (Rule 17).[4]
  • A player in a uniform different from his teammates will not be allowed on the field (Rule 19).[4]
  • A foul tip caught by a catcher in the catcher's box is a strike (Rule 43).[4]
  • Restrictions on coaches in the coaching boxes were implemented, forbidding them from bench jockeying, arguing umpire calls, and interacting with spectators (Rule 52).[4]
  • The number of players that each team could place its reserved list to was reduced to 18.[4]

Teams

League Team City Ballpark Capacity Manager[5]
National League Baltimore Orioles Baltimore, Maryland Union Park 11,000 John McGraw
Boston Beaneaters Boston, Massachusetts South End Grounds 6,600 Frank Selee
Brooklyn Superbas New York, New York Washington Park 12,000 Ned Hanlon
Chicago Orphans Chicago, Illinois West Side Park 13,000 Tom Burns
Cincinnati Reds Cincinnati, Ohio League Park (Cincinnati) 9,000 Buck Ewing
Cleveland Spiders Cleveland, Ohio League Park (Cleveland) 9,000 Lave Cross
Joe Quinn
Louisville Colonels Louisville, Kentucky Eclipse Park 6,400 Fred Clarke
New York Giants New York, New York Polo Grounds 16,000 John Day
Fred Hoey
Philadelphia Phillies Philadelphia, Pennsylvania National League Park 18,000 Bill Shettsline
Pittsburgh Pirates Allegheny, Pennsylvania[A] Exposition Park 6,500 Bill Watkins
Patsy Donovan
St. Louis Perfectos St. Louis, Missouri League Park (St. Louis) 14,500 Patsy Tebeau
Washington Senators Washington, D.C. Boundary Field 6,500 Arthur Irwin
  1. ^
    In today's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Sunday games

Blue laws restricted Sunday activities in several localities, causing several teams to play at ballparks in a different locality.

Team City Ballpark Capacity Games played
Cleveland Spiders[6] St. Louis, Missouri League Park (St. Louis) 14,500 1
New York Giants[7] West New York, New Jersey West New York Field Club Grounds Unknown 4

Standings

National League

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Brooklyn Superbas 101 47 .682 — 61‍–‍16 40‍–‍31
Boston Beaneaters 95 57 .625 8 53‍–‍26 42‍–‍31
Philadelphia Phillies 94 58 .618 9 58‍–‍25 36‍–‍33
Baltimore Orioles 86 62 .581 15 51‍–‍24 35‍–‍38
St. Louis Perfectos 84 67 .556 18½ 50‍–‍33 34‍–‍34
Cincinnati Reds 83 67 .553 19 57‍–‍29 26‍–‍38
Pittsburgh Pirates 76 73 .510 25½ 49‍–‍34 27‍–‍39
Chicago Orphans 75 73 .507 26 44‍–‍39 31‍–‍34
Louisville Colonels 75 77 .493 28 33‍–‍28 42‍–‍49
New York Giants 60 90 .400 42 35‍–‍38 25‍–‍52
Washington Senators 54 98 .355 49 35‍–‍43 19‍–‍55
Cleveland Spiders 20 134 .130 84 9‍–‍33 11‍–‍101

Tie games

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

  • Baltimore Orioles, 4
  • Boston Beaneaters, 1
  • Brooklyn Superbas, 2
  • Chicago Orphans, 4
  • Cincinnati Reds, 7
  • Louisville Colonels, 4
  • New York Giants, 3
  • Pittsburgh Pirates, 6
  • St. Louis Perfectos, 4
  • Washington Senators, 3

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team Former Manager New Manager
Baltimore Orioles Ned Hanlon John McGraw
Brooklyn Superbas Charles Ebbets Ned Hanlon
Cleveland Spiders Patsy Tebeau Lave Cross
New York Giants Cap Anson John Day
St. Louis Perfectos Tim Hurst Patsy Tebeau

In-season

Team Former Manager New Manager
Cleveland Spiders Lave Cross Joe Quinn
New York Giants John Day Fred Hoey
Pittsburgh Pirates Bill Watkins Patsy Donovan

League leaders

National League

Hitting leaders[8]
Stat Player Total
AVG Ed Delahanty (PHI) .410
OPS Ed Delahanty (PHI) 1.046
HR Buck Freeman (WAS) 25
RBI Ed Delahanty (PHI) 137
R Willie Keeler (BRO)
John McGraw (BAL) 		140
H Ed Delahanty (PHI) 238
SB Jimmy Sheckard (BAL) 77
Pitching leaders[9]
Stat Player Total
W Jay Hughes (BRO)
Joe McGinnity (BAL) 		28
L Jim Hughey (CLE) 30
ERA Vic Willis (BSN) 2.50
K Noodles Hahn (CIN) 145
IP Sam Leever (PIT) 379.0
SV Sam Leever (PIT) 3
WHIP Cy Young (STL) 1.116

Milestones

Pitchers

No-hitters

See also: List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
  • Deacon Phillippe (LOU):
    • Phillippe threw his first career no-hitter and the fourth no-hitter in franchise history, by defeating the New York Giants 7–0 on May 25. Phillippe walked three struck out one.[10][11]
  • Vic Willis (BSN):
    • Willis threw his first career no-hitter and the second no-hitter in franchise history, by defeating the Washington Senators 7–1 on August 7. Willis walked three, hit two by pitch, and struck out five.[12][13]

Home field attendance

Team name Wins %± Home attendance %± Per game
Philadelphia Phillies[14] 94 20.5% 388,933 46.5% 4,686
St. Louis Perfectos[15] 84 115.4% 373,909 146.5% 4,298
Chicago Orphans[16] 75 −11.8% 352,130 −17.0% 4,143
Brooklyn Superbas[17] 101 87.0% 269,641 120.1% 3,457
Cincinnati Reds[18] 83 −9.8% 259,536 −22.8% 2,949
Pittsburgh Pirates[19] 76 5.6% 251,834 66.9% 2,963
Boston Beaneaters[20] 95 −6.9% 200,384 −12.6% 2,505
Baltimore Orioles[21] 86 −1.2% 121,935 −2.5% 1,584
New York Giants[22] 60 −22.1% 121,384 −54.3% 1,597
Louisville Colonels[23] 75 −15.2% 109,319 6.2% 1,735
Washington Senators[24] 54 −16.3% 86,392 −15.3% 1,094
Cleveland Spiders[25] 20 −91.4% 6,088 −88.3% 145

Venues

The home of the St. Louis Perfectos, New Sportsman's Park, is renamed League Park.

The home of the Louisville Colonels, Eclipse Park, was destroyed in a fire on August 12, while the team was on a road trip. Following their return home, they would have a 12-game homestand from August 22 through September 2 in a partially rebuilt park, before spending the rest of the season on the road.

Regarding games that were rescheduled to Sunday, and existing blue laws:

See also

References

  1. ^ "1899 Major Leagues Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  2. ^ "Why is home plate shaped different than other bases?". MLB.com. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  3. ^ "MLB Rule Changes | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e Talbot, Jamie. "1898 Winter Meetings: Little of Substance Accomplished – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  5. ^ "1899 Major League Managers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Cleveland Spiders – Seamheads.com Ballparks Database". www.seamheads.com. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  7. ^ a b "New York Giants – Seamheads.com Ballparks Database". www.seamheads.com. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  8. ^ "1899 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  9. ^ "1899 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  10. ^ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Louisville Colonels 7, New York Giants 0". www.retrosheet.org. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  11. ^ "National League". St. Paul Globe. May 26, 1899. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  12. ^ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Boston Beaneaters 7, Washington Nationals 1". www.retrosheet.org. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  13. ^ "National League". St. Paul Globe. August 8, 1899. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  14. ^ "Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  15. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  16. ^ "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  17. ^ "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  18. ^ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  19. ^ "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  20. ^ "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  21. ^ "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  22. ^ "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  23. ^ "Louisville Colonels Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  24. ^ "Washington Senators Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  25. ^ "Cleveland Spiders Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  26. ^ "1899 Cleveland Spiders Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  27. ^ "1899 New York Giants Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
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