Events
| Date | Place | Ballpark | Event | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2 | Chicago | William Hulbert organized the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, replacing the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, which had folded at the conclusion of the 1875 season. Morgan Bulkeley, the owner of the Hartford Dark Blues, is selected as the league's first President. | ||
| February 12 | Chicago | After he joined the Chicago White Stockings as a player, Albert Spalding announced his plan to open a sporting goods retail store in Chicago; known today as Spalding. | ||
| April 22 | Philadelphia | Athletic Park | The Boston Red Caps defeat the Philadelphia Athletics by the score of 6–5, in the first NL game. Joe Borden, pitching under the pseudonym Joe Josephs, is the winning pitcher, and Jim O'Rourke collected the league's first base hit. | |
| April 25 | Louisville | Louisville Baseball Park | In the Chicago White Stockings' first game, Albert Spalding threw the NL's first shutout as Chicago defeated the Louisville Grays by the score of 4–0. Spalding threw another shutout in the White Stockings' second game, on April 25, also against Louisville. | |
| May 2 | Cincinnati | Avenue Grounds | Ross Barnes of the Chicago White Stockings hit the first NL home run, an inside-the-park home run off pitcher Cherokee Fisher of the Cincinnati Red Stockings. | |
| May 13 | Hartford | Hartford Ball Club Grounds | The New York Mutuals achieved a triple play in a loss to the Hartford Dark Blues. | |
| May 25 | Philadelphia | Jefferson Street Grounds | The game between the Philadelphia Athletics and Louisville Grays ended in a 2–2 tie, the first game to end in a tie in the NL and in major league history. | |
| May 30 | New York | Union Grounds | In a game between the Louisville Grays and the New York Mutuals, Louisville right fielder, George Bechtel, committed three of the nine errors that led to his team's defeat. Louisville's ownership suspected that he intentionally "fixed" the game by intentionally committing errors to ensure a winning bet for himself and other gamblers. Management intercepted a wire dated June 10, in which Bechtel conspired to lose the game that day. Bechtel refused to resign when confronted with the evidence, so Louisville banished him from the team. | |
| June 14 | Philadelphia | Jefferson Street Grounds | George Hall and Ezra Sutton of the Philadelphia Athletics each hit three triples in a 20–5 victory against the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the only time teammates have accomplished this feat. | |
| June 17 | Philadelphia | Jefferson Street Grounds | In a 23–15 victory over the Cincinnati Red Stockings, George Hall of the Philadelphia Athletics becomes the first major league player to hit two home runs in a single game. | |
| June 27 | Chicago | 23rd Street Grounds | Davy Force of the Philadelphia Athletics collects six hits in six at bats in a 14–13 victory against the Chicago White Stockings and Albert Spalding. He is the first major leaguer to collect six hits in a nine-inning game. | |
| July 15 | St. Louis | Grand Avenue Park | George Bradley of the St. Louis Brown Stockings pitches the first no-hitter in MLB history, a 2–0 victory against the Hartford Dark Blues. It is the second no-hitter recorded in professional play, after Joe Borden's on July 28, 1875. | |
| July 25 | Chicago | 23rd Street Grounds | Cal McVey of the Chicago White Stockings collects six hits for the second consecutive nine-inning game. He has totaled 15 hits in the last three games, and 18 hits in the last four, both records. After collecting two more hits on July 27, and four more on July 29, McVey will have tied his own record with 18 hits in a four-game stretch. | |
| August 4 | Louisville | Louisville Baseball Park | Trailing the Chicago White Stockings with rain looming, the Louisville Grays stall the game by committing error after error until the umpire rules the game a forfeit. The game result would later be removed from the official league standings. | |
| August 21 | St. Louis | Grand Avenue Park | In the ninth inning, and the score tied 6–6, of game between the Chicago White Stockings and the St. Louis Brown Stockings, a St. Louis batter hit the base-runner coming from third base with batted ball. The umpire ruled that the runner was allowed to score, so Chicago left the field in protest. The umpire then awarded the game to St. Louis. | |
| September 5 | New York | Union Grounds | George Bradley of the St. Louis Brown Stockings records his 16th shutout of the season in a 9–0 win over the New York Mutuals. This season total of 16 shutouts has since been tied, by Grover Cleveland Alexander, of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1916. | |
| September 11 | Philadelphia | The Philadelphia Athletics inform the league office that they will be unable to make their last western road trip due to financial trouble. The owner of the Athletics suggested that the Chicago White Stockings and the St. Louis Brown Stockings play additional games in Philadelphia, take a larger than normal portion of the gate receipts, so they raise enough money to finish their schedule, which was denied. | ||
| September 16 | New York | The New York Mutuals announce the league office that they will not make their final western road trip of the season due to lack of funds. | ||
| September 26 | Chicago | 23rd Street Grounds | The Chicago White Stockings clinch the first National League pennant with a 7–6 win over the Hartford Dark Blues. | |
| October 23 | Chicago | The Chicago Tribune published the year-end player statistics, one of which would be the newly created, batting average; the first known instance of this statistic being published. | ||
| December 10 | Cleveland | During the NL's Winter Meetings, it was announced that William Hulbert was elected President of the league, and that the Philadelphia Athletics and the New York Mutuals were expelled for failure to complete their required schedule in the 1876 season. |
Read more about this topic: 1876 Major League Baseball Season
Famous quotes containing the word events:
“Since events are not metaphors, the literal-minded have a certain advantage in dealing with them.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“All strange and terrible events are welcome,
But comforts we despise.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man’s judgement.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)