The following are the baseball events of the year 1883 throughout the world. [edit] Champions Inter-league playoff: Philadelphia (AA) declined to play Boston (NL) [edit] Major League Baseball final standings [edit] National League final standings [edit] American Association final standings [edit] Statistical leaders [edit] National League Statistical Leaders [edit] American Association Statistical Leaders [edit] Notable seasons [edit] Events [edit] January-March - February 17 - The American Association and the National League, along with the Northwestern League, sign the Tripartite Agreement (also known as the National Agreement). This agreement binds the leagues to respect each other's valid player contracts as well as increasing the size of the reserve list from 6 to 11 players. This leads to relative harmony among the leagues until the Players League wars of 1889-1890.
- March 14 - The Peoria Club of the Northwestern League makes a motion to ban blacks, a move directly aimed at Toledo's star catcher, Moses Fleetwood Walker. After heated discussion, the motion is withdrawn and Walker remains eligible to play.
- March 30 - Charles Fowle, one of the original founders of the National League, and secretary of the St. Louis Brown Stockings from 1875-1877, dies in St. Louis.
- March 31 - The nations's oldest baseball club, the Olympic Town-Ball Club of Philadelphia, marks its 50th anniversary.
[edit] April-June - April 15 - Francis Richter publishes the first issue of Sporting Life which will grow into the leading weekly publication for baseball information and run continuously until 1917.
- April 24 - Terry Larkin, a pitcher who has not played in the majors since 1880, shoots his wife and a policeman, then tries to kill himself. He attempts suicide the next day and fails again. Fortunately, both his wife and the police officer survive as well and Larkin actually appears in 40 games for the Richmond Virginians in 1884.
- May 1 - In the inaugural National League game for both teams, the New York Gothams defeat the Philadelphia Quakers 7-5 in front of 15,000 fans that includes President Ulysses S. Grant.
- May 3 - John Montgomery Ward becomes the first pitcher to hit 2 home runs a game as his New York Gothams defeat the Boston Beaneaters 10-9.
- May 13 - In what was still a very rare occurrence, neither team commits an error as the St. Louis Browns defeat the Louisville Eclipse 4-3.
- May 28 - Fort Wayne and Indianapolis play the first of 2 games under electric lights.
- May 30 - Several of the American Association teams play a Memorial Day double-header in 2 different cities. At one point, there is an American Association game being played at the Polo Grounds on the New York Metropolitans field and a National League game being played at the Polo Grounds on the New York Gothams field where the outfield fences back up to one another.
- June 9 - The Philadelphia Quakers receive special permission from the National League to lower their ticket prices to 25¢ per game in order to compete with the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association. The Quakers average game attendance quadruples for the remainder of the season.
- June 16 - The New York Gothams introduce ladies day, where all females are admitted free without restriction. This idea will remain a staple of major league baseball for nearly 100 years.
- June 28 - Providence Grays player Joe Mulvey is shot in the shoulder while leaving the playing field at Messer Street Grounds in Providence. The shooter, James Murphy, was actually aiming for Mulvey's teammate, Cliff Carroll after Carroll had drenched Murphy with a hose. Within a month, Mulvey would be sold to the Philadelphia Quakers.
[edit] July-September [edit] October-December - November 22 - New York Gothams owner John B. Day proposes a resolution to prohibit a team from signing a player who has broken the reserve clause of his contract. This resolution, eventually adopted by both the American Association and National League, effectively changes the reserve clause from a device to protect owners from their own greediness to a vindictive weapon to be used against uncooperative players.
[edit] Births [edit] January-March [edit] April-June [edit] July-September [edit] October-December Date of birth unknown [edit] Deaths - July 5 - Charlie Guth, 27?, pitched a complete game victory in his only major league game in 1880 for the Chicago White Stockings.
- October 10 - Jim Devlin, 34, pitcher for the Louisville Grays in 1876-77 who led NL in games, innings, starts and strikeouts in its first season; expelled from baseball in 1877 due to a game-fixing scandal.
[edit] External links [edit] References - Nemec, David (1994). The Beer and Whiskey League: The Illustrated History of the American Association-Baseball's Renegade Major League. New York: Lyons & Burford, Publishers ISBN 1-55821-285-X
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