1894 Major League Baseball season

The 1894 major league baseball season began on April 19, 1894. The regular season ended on September 30, with the Baltimore Orioles as the pennant winner of the National League and the New York Giants as runner-up. The postseason began with Game 1 of the first Temple Cup on October 4 and ended with Game 4 on October 8. The Giants swept the Orioles, capturing their first Temple Cup.

The 1894 season saw the return of a postseason championship series, the Temple Cup, following the end of the World's Championship Series with the demise of the American Association in and the one-off, split-season 1892 World's Championship Series.

Schedule

The 1894 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 in the previous season and would be used until .

Opening Day took place on April 19 featuring eight teams. The final day of the season was on September 30, also featuring eight teams. The Temple Cup took place between October 4 and October 8.

Rule changes

The 1894 season saw the following rule changes:

• Foul bunts are now classified as strikes.
• The sacrifice hit rule, which is when a batter deliberately gets out in an effort to advance a baserunner to another base, is implemented.
• Sacrifice hits, which exempt a batter from a time at bat (including sacrifice bunts), is implemented.
• A precursor to the Infield fly rule is implemented, stating "the batsman is out if he hits a fly ball that can be handled by an infielder while first base is occupied, with only one out."

Teams

An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at. Ballparks listed in chronological order.

Standings

National League

Tie games

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

• Baltimore Orioles, 1
• Boston Beaneaters, 1
• Brooklyn Grooms, 4
• Chicago Colts, 5
• Cincinnati Reds, 4
• Cleveland Spiders, 1
• Louisville Colonels, 1
• New York Giants, 7
• Philadelphia Phillies, 4
• Pittsburgh Pirates, 3
• St. Louis Browns, 1

Postseason

Bracket

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Managerial changes

Off-season

In-season

League leaders

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

National League

¹ All-time single-season runs record

¹ National League Triple Crown pitching winner

Milestones

Batters

Four home runs in one game

• Bobby Lowe (BSN):
• Became the first player to hit four home runs in one game in a 20&ndash;11 win against the Cincinnati Reds on May 30.

Cycles

• Lave Cross (PHI):
• Cross hit for his first cycle and first in franchise history, on April 24 against the Brooklyn Grooms
• Bill Hassamaer (WAS):
• Hassamaer hit for his first cycle and fifth in franchise history, on June 13 against the St. Louis Browns.
• Sam Thompson (PHI):
• Thompson hit for his first cycle and second in franchise history, on August 17 against the Louisville Colonels.
• Tom Parrott (CIN):
• Parrott hit for his first cycle and fifth in franchise history, on September 28 against the New York Giants.

Miscellaneous

• Billy Hamilton (PHI):
• Tied a record for most stolen bases in a single game, stealing seven bases in game 2 of a doubleheader on August 31 against the Washington Senators.

Home field attendance

Venues

There were two instances of conflagration causing the temporary relocation of teams before returning to a rebuilt ballpark:

• In what was only the fifth home game of the Boston Beaneaters' season, their home of the South End Grounds burned down during the third inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles on May 15, forcing the team to play at the Congress Street Grounds, the former home of the Players' League/American Association Boston Reds from May 16 until the South End Grounds could be rebuilt. The team would play 27 home games at the Congress Street Grounds through June 20, before going on a month-long road trip and returning to a rebuilt South End Grounds on July 20, where they would go on to play another 31 home games for the rest of the season.
• During a practice session on August 6, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies, the Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds burned down. The Phillies would play six games from August 11 through August 17 at University of Pennsylvania Athletic Field before returning to the Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds the following day, where temporary bleachers had been installed.

Prior to the start of the season, the Cincinnati Reds' home as League Park saw major changes. A new grandstand in what was left field was built, as well as an ampitheater. The baseball diamond was shifted from the southeast corner of the lot to the southwest corner, with the original seating retained as right field seating.

See also

• 1894 in baseball (Events, Births, Deaths)

References

External links

• 1894 Major League Schedule at Baseball Reference