1873 in baseball

The following are the baseball events of the year 1873 throughout the world.

Champions

National Association
Rank	Club	Wins	Losses	Win %	GB
1st	Boston Red Stockings	43	16	.729	–
2nd	Philadelphia White Stockings	36	17	.679	4.0
3rd	Baltimore Canaries	33	22	.600	8
4th	Philadelphia Athletics	28	23	.549	11.0
5th	New York Mutuals	29	24	.547	11.0
6th	Brooklyn Atlantics	17	37	.315	23.5
7th	Washington Blue Legs	8	31	.205	25.0
8th	Elizabeth Resolutes	2	21	.087	23.0
9th	Baltimore Marylands	0	5	.000	16

March 3 – For the first time, the NA adopts a standardized ball to be used in all league games.

May 14 – Nearly 5,000 fans watch the upstart Philadelphia White Stockings defeat the established Philadelphia Athletics 5–4 in 13 innings. Only once before, in 1865, had that many innings been played in one game.
June 7 – The New York Mutuals and Philadelphia White Stockings combine for 40 errors in a game won by the White Stockings. The White Stockings, aided by the Mutuals 26 miscues, win 12–10.
June 11 – 10,000 fans are in attendance see the Philadelphia White Stockings score 5 runs in the 7th inning to defeat the Philadelphia Athletics 7–5.

July 4 – Leading 11–3 over the Elizabeth Resolutes, the Boston Red Stockings score 21 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 32–3 victory. The home-ahead rule would not be instituted for 6 more years.
July 22 – Tom Barlow of the Brooklyn Atlantics lays down 6 bunts, all for hits, in a game against the Baltimore Canaries.
July 24 – Bob Ferguson of the Brooklyn Atlantics is the umpire in a game between the New York Mutuals and the Baltimore Canaries which ends with the Mutuals scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th for an 11–10 victory. Ferguson and the Mutuals' Nat Hicks get into an altercation with Ferguson breaking Hicks' arm by hitting him with a bat. Ferguson requires a police escort to leave the field and Hicks will be out for 2 months due to the incident.
August 16 – The Boston Red Stockings defeat the Philadelphia White Stockings 11–8 in Chicago in front of several thousand fans. After the game, it is announced that Chicago has signed several players in hopes of placing a team in the NA for the 1874 season.

October 16 – The Baltimore Canaries turn a triple play in a losing cause against the Philadelphia White Stockings.
October 22 – The Boston Red Stockings win the pennant for the 2nd year in a row. They clinch on the same date as they had in 1872.
November 6 – A benefit game is played between the Philadelphia White Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics under a proposed rule of 10 men on the field and 10 innings for a game. The extra player is placed on the infield as a right shortstop and with most observers feeling the extra player unnecessary, the rule is never implemented.

February 26 – Cy Bentley, 22, pitcher and right fielder for the 1872 Middletown Mansfields.

Levine, Peter (1985). A.G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball: The Promise of American Sport. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-503552-6

v t e History of baseball
1845 to 1868 1869
1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
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1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
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See also Baseball Major League Baseball Minor League Baseball Negro league baseball Nippon Professional Baseball