1Modern (post-1900) single season batting average record
Notable seasons[]
Nap Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics hits .426, an AL batting average record that still stands today. This record is also the modern or post-1900 batting average record and is often cited as the highest batting average of all time. The true all-time batting average leader is Hugh Duffy, who hit .440 in 1894.
February 27 - The National League Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are strikes, except those hit after two strikes. In order to prevent balls from fouled and lost, the committee urges that "batsmen who foul off good strikes are to be disciplined." Also, now a ball will be called if the pitcher does not throw to the ready batter within 20 seconds, or if the pitcher hits the batter with a pitch.
March 11 - Baltimore manager John McGraw attempted to sign a Cherokee Indian named Tokohama. The player was really a Negro named Charlie Black and McGraw's move was disallowed.
April 25 - History is made in just the second day of play in the new American League. The Milwaukee Brewers are leading the Detroit Tigers 13-4 going into the ninth innning, when the Tigers rally and score 10 runs to win, 14-13. This game is the greatest Opening Day rally in Tigers history.
Amos Rusie, pitching for the Cincinnati Reds, makes his first start in more than two years. He loses, 14-3, and retires after two more appearances.
With the New York Giants leading the Philadelphia Phillies 9-8 with two out in the ninth, John Ganzel of the Giants pulls the hidden ball trick on Harry Wolverton of the Phillies. This trick ends the game and preserves the Giants' win.
May 9 - Earl Moore of the Cleveland Blues pitched nine hitless innings against the Chicago White Stockings before giving up two hits in the 10th inning to lose 4-2.
May 21 - Andrew Freedman, owner of the New York Giants, refuses to allow umpire Billy Nash inside the Polo Grounds, accusing him of incompetence. Players from both teams umpired the rest of the game.
May 30 - In the afternoon game of a holiday doubleheader, the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the New York Giants 6-5 in 10 innings. An NL record 28,500 fans attend the game.
June[]
June 9 - 17,000 fans attend the Reds-Giants game. The Giants are up, 15-4, after six innings, when the fans begin to overflow the field. Over the next two and a half innings, 19 runs score as ground-rule doubles multiply. As the crowd enters the infield, with the Giants leading 25-13, umpire Bob Emslie forfeits the game to the Giants. The game ends with a record 31 hits and 13 doubles.
July 1 - With the Chicago Orphans playing the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, Jack Doyle, first baseman of the Orphans who was formerly of the Giants, gets into a fight with a fan. Though the police arrive, Doyle does not get in trouble, though he has to take himself out of the game in the seventh as his hand is hurting.
September 5 - The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, which would later become known as Minor League Baseball, was formed at a meeting of minor league executives at the Leland Hotel in Chicago. Patrick T. Powers, president of the Eastern League, became the first president of the NAPBL. [5]
September 19 - All games are cancelled due to the recent death of President William McKinley.
October 20 - The St. Louis Cardinals roster was devastated when seven players jumped to the American League's new St. Louis franchise.
December 3 - The American League officially approved the transfer of the Milwaukee franchise to St. Louis. The nickname changes from the Brewers to the Browns.
