JANUARY

6th

Joe Battin reportedly will not sign with the St. Louis Brown Stockings because of the new NL policy of charging players $30 for uniforms and, during road trips, deducting 50¢ a day from salaries to help offset the cost of meals.

13th

St. Louis announces the signing of Mike Dorgan for $1,600, much to the surprise of the Syracuse Stars, who claim to hold a signed contract with him.

15th

Al Spalding proposes a League Alliance in which independent teams would affiliate with the NL and the NL would honor their contracts. Spalding also promises to honor all contracts signed after March 15th.

24th

The Centennial club is organized in San Francisco in an attempt to field the first professional team in California.

FEBRUARY

3rd

Cherokee Fisher admits he was paid $100 to lose a game last September while pitching for the West Ends in Milwaukee.

20th

The International Association is organized at a meeting of representatives of 17 clubs held in Pittsburgh. Although set up as an alternative to the NL, the IA will go down in history as the first minor league.

21st

The IA adopts a $10 admission fee, with an additional $10 required to enter the pennant race. Candy Cummings, pitcher-manager of the Live Oaks of Lynn, MA, is elected president.

MARCH

5th

The Hartford club completes arrangements to play its 1877 NL home games in Brooklyn. The club will still be called "Hartford."

10th

The IA Indianapolis Blues play the first game of their spring training tour in Galveston, TX, beating the Dallas team 50-0. No NL clubs will travel further south than Memphis this spring.

22nd

The NL publishes its 1877 game schedule, the first league-wide schedule ever issued. The failure of the Athletics and the Mutuals to finish the 1876 season has convinced the NL of the necessity of agreeing on a schedule.

APRIL

26th

The IA opening game is played in Lynn, MA. The Manchester, NH, team beats the Live Oaks 14-3.

30th

The Boston Red Stockings and the Hartford Dark Blues open the NL season with a tie game in Brooklyn, 1-1 in 11 innings. Tommy Bond makes his debut with Boston against his old team. Hartford manager Bob Ferguson, who suspended Bond last year after the pitcher had accused him of throwing games, drives in the only run for the Dark Blues.

Jim Galvin of the Pittsburgh Alleghenies hurls the minor league IA's first shutout, defeating Columbus 2-0.

MAY

1st

In a preseason game in St. Louis, the Browns and the Syracuse Stars play a 15-inning scoreless tie, the longest scoreless game played by professional clubs.

2nd

The Allegheny (IA) club of Pittsburgh upsets the Boston Red Stockings behind the brilliant work of Jim Galvin. Not only does he pitch a one-hit shutout, he hits a HR said to be the first ball to clear the fence at Pittsburgh's Union Park.

8th

Batting champ Ross Barnes goes 2-for-4 in Chicago's opener despite the new rule that makes a ball that goes foul before reaching 1B or 3B a foul ball. The old rule enabled Barnes to hit many safe "fair-foul" balls back past 3B.

12th

Chicago makes 21 errors, including passed balls and wild pitches, and loses to Boston 18-9. The winners make 11 errors.

17th

At a special league meeting, the NL adopts a livelier version of the Spalding ball for all games.

Umpire John Draper walks off the field in the 8th inning of the Cincinnati-Boston game. John Brockway comes out of the stands to finish the game, but the incident underscores the hazards of having amateurs officiate for the NL.

JUNE

1st

The Dark Blues play the Athletics in Hartford, CT, for the 2nd day in a row. With a game against amateurs on June 5th, the "Hartford" club plays only 3 games all season in Hartford.

5th

Making his last start as a pitcher, Chicago's Al Spalding fails to retire any of the 5 Cincinnati batters he faces. Spalding's old Rockford teammate, Bob Addy, literally knocks Spalding out of the box with a line drive to the chest.

10th

The St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds stage a Sunday exhibition game, the only Sunday game between NL teams that would be played until 1892.

Lip Pike resigns as Cincinnati captain and is succeeded by Bob Addy.

18th

Lacking the funds to start their scheduled eastern trip, the Cincinnati club disbands.

21st

Cincinnati stockholders move to reorganize the club.

25th

Hard luck continues to dog the Cincinnati club, as a heavy windstorm nearly destroys the pavilion at the Cincinnati Baseball Park.

30th

Cincinnati signs P Candy Cummings, formerly of the Live Oaks of Lynn. Cummings will join the NL club but will still serve as president of the IA.

JULY

3rd

The reorganized Cincinnati Red Stockings reappear in action versus the Louisville Grays, losing 6-3. Whether or not their games will count in the NL standings will not be resolved until the NL meeting in December.

11th

Having been struck in the eye by a foul tip one month earlier, Pete Hotaling of the IA Syracuse Stars returns behind the plate wearing a wire mask for protection. Hotaling and teammate Al Hall would often use the mask this summer.

13th

After pitching in 88 consecutive games since the start of the NL, an all-time record, George Bradley steps aside for Cal McVey, and Chicago beats Hartford 6-3. The revamped lineup shows Bradley at 3B, Spalding at 1B, and Cap Anson catching.

20th

Ed Nolan of Indianapolis pitches his 5th straight shutout, all within a span of 8 days, beating Milwaukee 1-0. His previous shutouts were over Louisville, Syracuse, and Manchester twice. Nolan will total 30 shutouts in 1877 against all levels of opponents.

Slumping Paul Hines receives a letter from Chicago club president William Hulbert threatening him with a release for poor play.

21st

Jim Galvin of Pittsburgh beats the Champion City 9 of Springfield, OH, 1-0 on one hit. This game would later be claimed as a perfect game, since only 27 Champion City batters faced the pitcher.

31st

Louisville supplants St. Louis in first place, beating the Browns 7-0 despite 13 St. Louis runners reaching 1B.

AUGUST

1st

Umpire Dan Devinney charges that St. Louis manager George McManus tried to bribe him with $250 to help the Browns beat the Grays in Louisville. But the home team wins 3-1. St. Louis management will vehemently deny the charges.

2nd

Charley Bennett signs with Milwaukee for 1878 when the Milwaukee club's offer of $1,700 was supplemented by a private purse of $300 raised by local fans. The terms are among the most lucrative ever offered by an independent club.

6th

The NL rule calls for the home team to submit 3 names of approved local men as a possible umpire for each game, with the visiting team choosing one of them at random. Today in Louisville, Chicago's Cal McVey reaches into the hat and picks out a slip with Devinney's name on it. Disgusted, McVey then grabs the hat and finds that all 3 slips have Devinney's name on them. The incensed White Stockings demand a new umpire and then snap the Grays' 6-game winning streak 7-2.

7th

Chicago scores 13 runs in the 2nd inning and trounces Cincinnati 21-7. The rally still stands as the NL record for runs in the 2nd inning.

8th

After St. Louis C John Clapp has his cheek smashed by a foul tip, replacement Mike Dorgan goes behind the plate wearing a mask. Though used earlier in the IA, this is perhaps the first use of a catcher's mask in an official NL game.

12th

Johnny Quigley, catcher for the Clippers of Harlem, dies from head injuries sustained in a home-plate collision with Dan Brouthers on July 7th in a game against the Actives of Wappingers Falls, NY, while trying to catch a throw home. The 19-year-old Brouthers has already been exonerated by the authorities.

16th

Louisville loses in Boston 6-1, but retains first place. Bill Craver takes a called 3rd strike with the tying runs on base, and Jim Devlin fans 4 times, raising suspicions of gambling.

20th

Louisville director Charles E. Chase receives an anonymous telegram from Hoboken, NJ, saying that "something is wrong with the Louisville players" and that gamblers were betting on Hartford.

SEPTEMBER

4th

Boston beats St. Louis 7-1 to take over first place.

5th

Louisville's Jim Devlin and George Hall agree to throw tomorrow's game in Cincinnati for $25 apiece. Louisville will lose the game 1-0.

6th

Sam "Buck" Weaver of Milwaukee no-hits the Mutuals of Janesville, to win the Wisconsin state championship. The Janesville battery consists of future stars John Montgomery Ward and Albert Bushong.

Bobby Mitchell of Cincinnati, the first southpaw to pitch in the NL, wins a 1-0 victory over Jim Devlin of Louisville. Teammate Lipman Pike, described as the first Jewish player in the NL, provides the margin with a HR.

15th

A 3-team tournament in Pittsburgh, featuring the top 3 non-NL pitchers in the game, Galvin of Allegheny, Nolan of Indianapolis, and McCormick of Syracuse, ends in a tie, with each team 2-2. The tournament moves to Chicago.

22nd

Hartford plays Chicago in an NL championship game in New Haven before a crowd of 700. Hartford wins 11-9 with 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th.

23rd

The Chicago Times denounces the Syracuse-Indianapolis-Allegheny tournament as a "swindle" with the outcomes fixed by gamblers, especially the deciding game won yesterday by the Stars.

24th

Two Allegheny players confirm that the Chicago games were "sold" by 2 other players. They add that 3 of the Allegheny club's directors bet upon Syracuse.

27th

Boston clinches the NL pennant with a 13-2 victory over Hartford. The league's leading hitter, Jim "Deacon" White, leads the Reds' offense with a 4-for-4 performance.

29th

Boston completes its league schedule with its 20th victory in its last 21 games, beating Hartford 8-4. The Reds' final record is 31-17, 42-18 counting Cincinnati games.

OCTOBER

2nd

In the final game of the IA season, the London, Ontario, Tecumsehs defeat Pittsburgh 5-2 and win the pennant. Their championship record is 14-4.

20th

At an exhibition, LH Bobby Mitchell and RH Tommy Bond offer conclusive proof that a ball can curve. Three stakes are set up in a straight line; Bond curves the ball around the center stake on one side, while Mitchell curves it around on the other side.

26th

Louisville club vice president Charles Chase confronts George Hall and Jim Devlin with charges that they threw road games in August and September. Both admit to throwing non-league games and implicate teammates Al Nichols and Bill Craver.

27th

The Louisville club formally expels Devlin, Hall, and Nichols for selling games and tampering with other players and expels Craver for "disobedience to positive orders." Craver will deny any wrongdoing.

NOVEMBER

12th

The champion Boston Red Stockings play a game against the club's stockholders. The players play lefthanded as a handicap but still win 28-18.

17th

The Chicago club secures a lease to Lake Front Park, located downtown at Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue. That is the site used before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The White Stockings have been playing at 23rd Street since 1874.

30th

At Boston's South End Fair, Andy Leonard wins a gold watch valued at $300 for being voted the league's "most popular player."

DECEMBER

4th

At the formal meeting in Cleveland, the NL directors meet and confirm the expulsions of the four Louisville players. The directors also vote to throw out all Cincinnati games from the standings on the grounds that Cincinnati never paid its $100 dues.

5th

The NL confirms the actions of the directors and accepts the resignation of the St. Louis club. The Cincinnati Reds are readmitted for 1878. The Indianapolis Hoosiers and the Milwaukee Cream Citys are also admitted.

6th

William Hulbert is reelected NL president and Nick Young NL secretary. Hartford is stripped of its membership.

9th

August Sloari, operator of the Grand Avenue ballpark in St. Louis, announces that he will take down the stands and stack the lumber now that the pro team has folded. Sportsman's Park would eventually be built at the Grand Avenue site.