MARCH

14th

The 4th annual convention of the National Association of Base Ball Players opens with 62 teams represented. The new rules provide for called strikes on a batter who does not swing at good balls repeatedly pitched to him. The umpire must warn the batter before he calls the first strike on him.

JUNE

30th

The Excelsiors of Brooklyn leave for Albany, starting the first tour ever taken by a baseball club. They will travel 1,000 miles in 10 days and play games in Albany, Troy, Buffalo, Rochester, and Newburgh.

JULY

22nd

One of the first triple plays in baseball is triggered by Jim Creighton, playing LF for the Excelsiors of New York. With Baltimore runners on 2B and 3B, Creighton makes a spectacular catch of a fly ball. The subsequent throws to 3B and then to 2B complete the triple play.

OCTOBER

22nd

The Nassau Base Ball Club of Princeton University plays a 42-42 tie game against a team of former Yale and Princeton collegians.

NOVEMBER

8th

The first shutout game ever recorded is won by the Excelsiors of Brooklyn against the St. George Cricket Club 25-0.