1878 National League
| 1878 in baseball |
|---|
| 1878 National League |
| Japanese baseball |
| Negro Leagues |
| << 1877 1879 >> |
The 1878 season of the National League was the third season of the league.
Season summary[edit]
Following the 1877 season, the National League held its annual meeting at the Kennard House in Cleveland, OH beginning on December 4th. After electing William Hulbert chairman, the league voted the Cincinnati Red Stockings out of the league for failure to pay their dues. The league’s directors then recommended that the Indianapolis Base Ball Association (aka Indianapolis Blues) be added to the league as they had won the most games played under league rules. The following morning the directors also recommended that the Cincinnati Base Ball Association (aka Cincinnati Red Stockings) to the league. When the league reconvened at noon, both teams were unanimously elected as full members along with the Milwaukee Base Ball Club (aka Milwaukee Grays.
After the decision to expel James Devlin and George Hall for taking money to throw games the previous day, the St. Louis Brown Stockings decided to drop out. This was because the team had signed both players for the upcoming season, but the owners felt that with both players being expelled the team could not compete. On December 6th, the Hartford club decided to drop out as they had lost $5,000 over two seasons. With all the changes in league membership, the number of league teams stood at six when the meetings ended on December 7th. The following year, on January 21st, the Providence Base Ball Association (aka Providence Grays) applied for league membership with the team being officially admitted on February 6th. About a month later (March 7th) the Louisville Grays decided to drop out on account of the gambling scandal that had involved their players.
Standings[edit]
- Bold indicates league champion
| Rank | Team | G | W | L | T | WPCT | GB | RS (RS/G) | RA (RA/G) | AVG | OBP | SLG | ERA | FPCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Red Stockings | 60 | 41 | 19 | 0 | .683 | -.- | 298 (4.97) | 241 (4.02) | 0.241 | 0.253 | 0.300 | 2.32 | 0.914 |
| 2 | Cincinnati Reds | 61 | 37 | 23 | 1 | .607 | 4.0 | 333 (5.46) | 281 (4.61) | 0.276 | 0.294 | 0.331 | 1.84 | 0.901 |
| 3 | Providence Grays | 62 | 33 | 27 | 2 | .532 | 8.0 | 353 (5.69) | 337 (5.44) | 0.263 | 0.279 | 0.346 | 2.38 | 0.892 |
| 4 | Chicago White Stockings | 61 | 30 | 30 | 1 | .492 | 11.0 | 371 (6.08) | 331 (5.43) | 0.290 | 0.316 | 0.350 | 2.37 | 0.891 |
| 5 | Indianapolis Blues | 63 | 24 | 36 | 3 | .381 | 17.0 | 293 (4.65) | 328 (5.21) | 0.236 | 0.256 | 0.286 | 2.32 | 0.898 |
| 6 | Milwaukee Grays | 61 | 15 | 45 | 1 | .246 | 26.0 | 256 (4.20) | 386 (6.33) | 0.250 | 0.272 | 0.300 | 2.60 | 0.866 |
League leaders[edit]
- Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record
Batting[edit]
Pitching[edit]
Notable events[edit]
Umpires[edit]
- A.C. Bredberg
- Frank Burlingame*
- Robert Crandall
- John Cross
- Charles Daniels
- Harry Deane*
- John Eagan
- Bill Furlong
- Joseph Julian
- Billy McLean
- Dickey Pearce
- George Seward
- Calvin Stambaugh
- James Sumner
- William Walker
- Mike Walsh
- George West*
- Gideon White
- Ned Williamson*
* Denotes a fill-in umpire
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