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1888 in baseball

Champions

Major League Baseball

World Series

New York defeated St. Louis, six games to four.

Statistical leaders

<sup>1</sup> National League Triple Crown pitching winner

Major league baseball final standings

Note: team nicknames are given here according to the modern retroactive convention. According to the 1889 Spalding Official Guide, however, which covered the 1888 season, no nicknames were used for any team - aside from Athletic - with the exception of "Giants" (always within quotation marks).

American Association final standings

National League final standings

Events

January–March

  • January 2 – Fred Dunlap signs a contract paying him a $5,000 salary and a $2,000 signing bonus. It is the largest contract ever given to a player to date.
  • January 15 The Pittsburgh Alleghenys purchase the contract of Billy Sunday from the Chicago White Stockings for $2,000
  • January 17 – The Kansas City Cowboys are admitted to the American Association.
  • January 27 – The Brooklyn Bridegrooms keep 5 players from the New York Metropolitans that they purchased last October and sell the rest, plus 4 of their own players, to the Kansas City Cowboys for $7,000.
  • February 2 – The Indianapolis Hoosiers announce that they will have 42 private boxes on top of their new grandstand. The boxes will only be available to season subscribers.
  • February 13 - The Kansas City Cowboys purchase the contract of Jumbo Davis from the Baltimore Orioles of the International League.
  • March 2 – The National League reverts to its original policy of a 50¢ admission price with no concessions given to individual clubs.
  • March 5 – The American Association votes to adopt the use of turnstiles at all parks in order to better control entry into games.

April–June

July–September

October–December

  • October 1 – With darkness looming, the Indianapolis Hoosiers score three runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 4–2 lead over the Washington Nationals when Washington catcher Connie Mack suddenly develops an "injury" to his finger. The delay causes the game to be called because of darkness with the score reverting to the last completed inning, resulting in a 2–1 Washington victory.
  • October 3 – The New York Giants and the St. Louis Browns each clinch their respective league pennants.
  • October 5 – Pud Galvin of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys becomes the first pitcher to record 300 career wins with a 5–1 victory over the Washington Nationals.
  • October 13 – The National League season comes to a close with the champion New York Giants setting a league attendance record by drawing 305,000 fans for the season.
  • October 16
  • Rumours abound of the Detroit Wolverines dropping out of the National League and being replaced by the Cleveland Blues of the American Association after they sell star players Sam Thompson, Dan Brouthers and 30-game winner Pete Conway.
  • The World Series opens with the New York Giants beating the St. Louis Browns, 2–1.
  • October 17 – The Browns even the series by taking a 3–0 victory over the Giants.
  • October 18 – New York wins Game 3, 4–2, over the Browns.
  • October 19 – New York takes a 3–1 series advantage with a 6–3 win over St. Louis.
  • October 20 – The Giants score five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 6–4 victory and a 4–1 lead in the series.
  • October 22 – New York wins again in Game 6 by a score of 12–5.
  • October 24 – The Browns get a must-win by scoring four runs in the eighth to beat the Giants 7–5.
  • October 25 – The New York Giants clinch the series with an 11–3 win over the St. Louis Browns. The final 2 games will be played for revenue purposes with St. Louis winning both contests for an overall series result of 6 games to 4 in favor of the Giants.
  • November 10 – A new club is organized in Detroit to compete in the International Association during the next season, in order to take the place of the disbanded Detroit Wolverines, who finished in fifth place in the National League this past season. The Wolverines sell off their stars, including Sam Thompson to the Philadelphia Quakers, as well as the so-called Big Four Dan Brouthers and Hardy Richardson to the Boston Beaneaters, and Jack Rowe and Deacon White to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys.
  • November 20 – The Joint Rules Committee reduces the number of balls needed for a walk to 4. With the 4 ball, 3 strike at-bat and overhand pitching rules now in place, baseball in will be played very similar to the game of today.
  • November 21 – The National League formally admits the Cleveland Blues from the American Association. The Blues are the second team to leave the AA for the NL, following the Pittsburgh Alleghenys who made the switch after the season.
  • November 22 – The National League adopts a five-tier salary structure based on a player's on-field abilities and off-field personal habits, with the salary scale ranging from $1,500–2,500 in each tier. The Brotherhood of the Professional Baseball Players is incensed by the classification system, and it will be the impetus for the organization of the Players' League in .
  • November 23 – The World Champion New York Giants announce the sale of star player and leader of the Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players, John Montgomery Ward, to the Washington Nationals for $12,000. The deal will fall through after Ward refuses to abide by the sale.
  • December 5 – The Columbus Solons are admitted to the American Association to replace the departed Cleveland Blues.

Births

January–April

May–August

September–December

Deaths

References

External links