Buffalo Bisons first baseman Dan Brouthers leads the NL with 129 hits, a .368 batting average, a .950 OPS, and a 199 OPS+. His 63 runs batted in rank second in the league.[1][2]
Cincinnati Red Stockings pitcher Will White has a record of 40–12 and leads the AA with 480 innings pitched, 40 wins, and 8 shutouts. He has a 1.54 earned run average and a 173 ERA+.[3][4]
Events
January–March
January 20 – The state of Kentucky modifies a poorly written law that had banned baseball from being played in the state.
February 25 – In an effort to increase attendance, the Providence Grays will require their players and the opposition team to parade through the streets of Providence in full uniform on game days, accompanied by a brass band.
March 11 – After losing Dasher Troy and Sam Wise to the National League after signing contracts to play in the American Association, the AA drops its policy honoring the blacklist and expelled list of the National League.
May 5 – Cap Anson of the Chicago White Stockings is called out for walking back to the base after a foul ball was hit. The rule states the baserunner must run back to the base. The rule will be changed in the off season.
May 25 – Charles Foley of the Buffalo Bisons becomes the first major leaguer to hit for the cycle. Foley will also become the first player to hit 2 grand slams in one season in 1882.
May 27 – Mike Moynahan has his finger amputated at the first joint after breaking it during a game. Moynahan will hit .310 as the everyday shortstop for the Philadelphia Athletics in the American Association in 1883.
June 5 – In describing the Boston Red Caps 10–2 win over the Detroit Wolverines, the Chicago Tribune states it is the first game in which a team scored 10 runs or more with all of them being earned.
June 6 – Blondie Purcell of the Buffalo Bisons is fined for cutting the game ball open, which was soggy, rendering it unusable. Purcell did it to force the umpire to put in a new ball so that Bison pitcher Pud Galvin could throw his curve more effectively.
June 20 – Larry Corcoran, pitcher for the Chicago White Stockings, goes 4–4 at the plate, including the first grand slam in the history of the White Stockings. It is the only home run of Corcoran's career.
July 18 – Tony Mullane of the Louisville Eclipse, begins switch-pitching in the 4th inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Mullane pitches left-handed against left-handed batters and right-handed against right-handed batters. Mullane gives up a 2-out homer to Charlie Householder in the 9th and loses 9–8.
August 17 – The Providence Grays beat the Detroit Wolverines 1–0 in 18 innings. Hall-of-Famer John Montgomery Ward goes the distance for the Grays, while fellow pitcher, teammate and Hall-of-Famer Charley Radbourn, playing right field on his non-pitching day, hits a home run in the 18th to win it. Some consider this the finest played game of the entire 19th century.
September 5 – The Baltimore Orioles play the first 4 innings of their game against Pittsburgh in street clothes because their uniforms have been delayed at the train station.
September 25 – The lame-duck Worcester Ruby Legs hold the first double-header while only charging one admission price. This idea will be used by virtually every major league club for nearly 100 years.
September 28 – The Worcester Ruby Legs lose to the Troy Trojans 4–1 in front of 6 people. The 2 teams are by far the worst in the league and have already been given the official boot from the National League.
September 29 – Worcester loses again to Troy 10–7 in front of 25 fans in Worcester's last major league game.
October 28 – The Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association announce that the club turned a $22,000 profit during the 1882 season. It is more than any team in the National League made and gives credibility to the fledgling AA.
November 22 – John Day, owner of the New York Gothams, proposes a resolution that would prohibit teams from signing players who had broken the reserve clause. Both leagues will ultimately adopt this proposal and turn the reserve clause from a protection against roster-raiding by other clubs into an item used against hard-bargaining players. The Gothams will join the National League in 1883.
December 14 – The American Association hires a permanent staff of umpires who will be scheduled, paid and overseen by the league rather than individual teams. It will eventually become the standard practice in every professional league, regardless of sport.
