Red
Caps

 Bisons

White Stockings

Reds

Blues

   Grays

Stars

Trojans      

Locations of teams for the 1879National League season
National League

The1879 major league baseball season was contested from May 1 through September 30, 1879, and saw theChicago White Stockings as thepennant winner of the fourth season of theNational League. There was no postseason.

Over the off-season, the National League was set on expanding from a six-team league to an eight-team league. TheIndianapolis Blues andMilwaukee Grays folded, and in its place, the league admitted theCleveland Blues, theInternational Association'sBuffalo Bisons andSyracuse Stars, and finally (with confirmation Milwaukee was not returning) theTroy Trojans.^[1]

The 1879 schedule consisted of 84 games for all eight teams of the National League. Each team was scheduled to play 12 games against the other seven teams in the league. This format was an adjustment to the 12-games-each format that had been in place since1877, as the National League expanded from six to eight teams, adding 24 games to each team's schedule.

Opening Day took place on May 1 featuring all eight teams. The final day of the season was on September 30, featuring six teams.^[2]

The 1879 season saw the following rule changes:

• The number of balls called that would award abase on balls remained nine, but the rule was reworded, so that there simply needed to be nine balls to walk a batter. Previously, three balls were required, but one ball was the same as three "unfair pitches".^[1]
• Anypitcher who hit abatter, "unless it was clearly an accident", would be fined between $10 and $50 (between $337 and $1,687 in 2024), in an effort to reduce intentionalhit by pitches.^[1]
• The first batter of any inning of a game will be the batter who followed the last batter of the previous inning. Previously, if a runner wasputout on a base, the batter after the runner called out would lead off the next inning.^[1]
• The pitcher's box was changed from a six feet square to an area four feet wide and six feet long, by moving the back line forwards two feet^[1][3]
• The Playerreserve clause was for the first time put into a contract.^[4]
• The pitcher had to face a batsman before pitching to him.^[4]

• 1879 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference

• 1879 Major League Baseball season
• Major League Baseball seasons

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