1880 Major League Baseball season

February 2025 1880 1880 MLB season National League (NL) Baseball May 1 – October 1, 1880 84 8 Pennant winner NL Chicago White Stockings Providence Grays List of Major League Baseball seasons MLB 1879 Major League Baseball season 1879 1881 Major League Baseball season 1881 The 1880 major league baseball season was contested from May 1 through October 1, 1880, and saw the Chicago White Stockings as the pennant winner of the fifth season of the National League. There was no postseason. The 1880 season is known for the first two major league perfect games in history, as well as being the only perfect games in the 19th century. Thrown by Lee Richmond and John Ward, these two perfect games were thrown in the span of five days, the shortest amount of time between two perfect games (the next closest is currently 20 days between Dallas Braden's May 9 and Roy Halladay's and May 29, 2010 perfect games). A perfect game would not be seen again in the Major Leagues for 24 years when Cy Young threw his perfect game in 1904. Over the off-season, the Cincinnati Reds and Syracuse Stars disbanded, and were replaced by the Cincinnati Stars and Worcester Worcesters. This would be the Stars' only major league season. Schedule Major League Baseball schedule The 1880 schedule consisted of 84 games for all eight teams of the National League. Each team was scheduled to play 12 games against the other seven teams in the league. This continued the format put in place since the previous season and would be used until 1883. Opening Day took place on May 1 featuring all eight teams. The final day of the season was on October 1, featuring a doubleheader between the Providence Grays and Worcester Worcesters.1880 Major Leagues Schedule https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1880-schedule.shtml 2025-02-13 Baseball Reference en Rule changes The 1880 season saw the following rule changes: Teams that wanted to change future playing dates now needed all eight teams to approve said change. Previously, only the two mutual teams needed to agree.Pajot Dennis 1879 Winter Meetings: 50-Cent Admission Price Main Issue of Sessions Society for American Baseball Research https://sabr.org/journal/article/1879-winter-meetings-50-cent-admission-price-main-issue-of-sessions/ 2025-02-13 en-US An oversight that technically allowed more than nine players to play at a time was corrected. Umpires are now the sole arbiters of whether a ball was unfit for play. Umpires will now note the time of the beginning of any rain (now without request of a team captain) and will call the game if it continued for 30 minutes. The concept of a walk-off hit was implemented, as now, a contest would end if the team scheduled to bat in the bottom of the ninth (or bottom of any extra inning) was winning. Eight balls became a base on balls, down from nine. A catcher must now catch a third strike before it touched the ground.MLB Rule Changes https://www.baseball-almanac.com/rulechng.shtml 2025-01-28 Baseball Almanac en-us Teams An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at LeagueTeamCityBallparkCapacityManager1880 Major League Managers https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1880-managers.shtml 2025-02-05 Baseball Reference enNational League National League (baseball) National LeagueBoston Red CapsBoston, MassachusettsSouth End Grounds3,000Harry WrightBuffalo BisonsBuffalo, New YorkRiverside Park (Buffalo)UnknownSam Crane second basemanChicago White StockingsChicago, IllinoisLakefront Park5,000Cap AnsonCincinnati StarsCincinnati, OhioBank Street Grounds3,000John Clapp baseballCleveland BluesCleveland, OhioNational League ParkUnknownJim McCormick pitcherProvidence GraysProvidence, Rhode IslandMesser Street Grounds6,000Mike McGearyJohn Ward John Montgomery WardMike DorganTroy TrojansLansingburgh, New YorkA 1 1Haymakers' GroundsUnknownBob Ferguson infielderGreenbush, New YorkB 1 1Riverside Park (Greenbush)*Unknown*Worcester WorcestersWorcester, MassachusettsAgricultural County Fair GroundsUnknownFrank Bancroft A 1 In today's Troy, New York. B 1 In today's Rensselaer, New York. Standings National League Chicago White Stockings Tie games Eight 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).The 1880 Season https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1880/Y_1880.htm 2026-03-12 Retrosheet The Buffalo Bisons, Cincinnati Stars, and Providence Grays had three tie games each. The Boston Red Caps, Chicago White Stockings, and Worcester Worcesters had two tie games each. The Cleveland Blues had one tie game. May 19, Providence Grays vs. Boston Red Caps, tied at 5.1880 Boston Schedule https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BSN/1880-schedule-scores.shtml 2026-03-11 Baseball Reference en June 4, Chicago White Stockings vs. Providence Grays, tied at 1.1880 Providence Grays Schedule https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PRO/1880-schedule-scores.shtml 2026-03-11 Baseball Reference en July 3, Worcester Worcesters vs. Cleveland Blues, tied at 4.1880 Cleveland Blues Schedule https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CLV/1880-schedule-scores.shtml 2026-03-11 Baseball Reference en August 26, Boston Red Caps vs. Buffalo Bisons, tied at 3.1880 Buffalo Bisons Schedule https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BUF/1880-schedule-scores.shtml 2026-03-11 Baseball Reference en September 10, Cincinnati Stars vs. Buffalo Bisons, tied at 11. September 18, Cincinnati Stars vs. Chicago White Stockings, tied at 5.1880 Chicago White Stockings Schedule https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/1880-schedule-scores.shtml 2026-03-11 Baseball Reference en September 25, Buffalo Bisons vs. Cincinnati Stars, tied at 3.1880 Cincinnati Stars Schedule https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1880-schedule-scores.shtml 2026-03-11 Baseball Reference en September 30, Providence Grays vs. Worcester Worcesters, tied at 14.1880 Worcester Ruby Legs Schedule https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WOR/1880-schedule-scores.shtml 2026-03-11 Baseball Reference en Managerial changes Off-season TeamFormer ManagerNew ManagerBuffalo BisonsJohn ClappSam CraneChicago White StockingsSilver FlintCap AnsonCincinnati RedsCal McVeyTeam foldedProvidence GraysGeorge WrightMike McGearySyracuse StarsJimmy MacullarTeam folded In-season TeamFormer ManagerNew ManagerProvidence GraysMike McGearyJohn WardJohn WardMike Dorgan League leaders National League start + Hitting leaders1880 National League Batting Leaders https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/1880-batting-leaders.shtml 2025-02-05 Baseball Reference en Stat Player Total AVG George Gore (CHI) .360 OPS George Gore (CHI) .862 HR Jim O'Rourke (BSN)Harry Stovey (WOR) 6 RBI Cap Anson (CHI) 74 R Abner Dalrymple (CHI) 91 H Abner Dalrymple (CHI) 126 break + Pitching leaders1880 National League Pitching Leaders https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/1880-pitching-leaders.shtml 2025-02-05 Baseball Reference en Stat Player Total W Jim McCormick (CLE) 45 L Will White (CIN) 42 ERA Tim Keefe (TRO) 0.86 K Larry Corcoran (CHI) 268 IP Jim McCormick (CLE) 657.2 SV Lee Richmond (WOR) 3 WHIP Tim Keefe (TRO) 0.800 end Milestones Pitchers Perfect games List of Major League Baseball perfect games Lee Richmond (WOR): Pitched the first perfect game in Major League history and the only in franchise history on June 12 against the Cleveland Blues. Richmond struck out five in the 1–0 victory. There was little discussion about the perfect game as the concept did not exist in 1880. John Montgomery Ward (PRO): Pitched the second perfect game in Major League history and the only in franchise history on June 17 against the Buffalo Bisons. Ward struck out two in the 5–0 victory. He is currently then only player-manager to have thrown a perfect game. No-hitters List of Major League Baseball no-hitters Larry Corcoran (CHI): Corcoran threw his first career no-hitter and the first no-hitter in franchise history, by defeating the Boston Red Caps 6–0 on August 19.Catchers Who Caught No Hitters http://bb_catchers.tripod.com/catchers/catchnoh.htm bb_catchers.tripod.com Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers 2012-07-19 August 6, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120806172440/http://bb_catchers.tripod.com/catchers/catchnoh.htm dead Pud Galvin (BUF): Galvin threw his first career no-hitter and the first no-hitter in franchise history, by defeating the Worcester Worcesters 1–0 on August 20. Miscellaneous Chicago White Stockings: Set a Major League record for largest winning streak, winning 21 games from June 2, and ending following their July 10 loss to the Cleveland Blues. Venues The National League saw two teams join for the 1880 season: The Cincinnati Stars played at the Bank Street Grounds. The Worcester Worcesters played at the Agricultural County Fair Grounds. The Troy Trojans leave the Putnam Grounds (where they played their inaugural seasons) and move to the Haymakers' Grounds, where they would play for two seasons through 1881. The Troy Trojans begin to host a few games at Riverside Park in nearby Greenbush, New York, playing on September 11.1880 Log For Riverside Park in Greenbush, NY https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1880/PKL_ALB011880.htm 2026-03-12 Retrosheet See also 1880 in baseball (Events, Births, Deaths) References External links 1880 Major League Schedule at Baseball Reference Category:Major League Baseball seasons Category:1880 in baseball