1874 Season Leaders

Top performers from the 1874 baseball season. Click column headers to sort.

These are the 1874 Major League Baseball season leaders in batting and pitching. Jim O'Rourke led with 5 home runs, Cal McVey led with 71 RBI, and Cal McVey led with 123 hits. Batting average, OBP, SLG and OPS list qualified hitters only — 3.1 plate appearances per team game, which is 176 plate appearances at 57 team games; ERA and WHIP require one inning per team game (57 innings). Lines below those thresholds are shown and marked unqualified.

AVG (Batting Average):
Hits divided by at bats. .300 is the traditional mark of an excellent hitter.
HR (Home Runs):
Hits on which the batter circled the bases and scored, almost always by clearing the outfield fence.
RBI (Runs Batted In):
Runs that scored as a direct result of a batter's plate appearance.
ERA (Earned Run Average):
Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.

Data updated

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Batting Leaders

Qualified: 3.1 plate appearances per team game — 176 plate appearances at 57 team games. 54 of the 54 hitters listed qualify; the rest cleared 200+ plate appearances and are marked UNQ. Rate columns (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS) rank qualified hitters first.

1874 OPS Distribution

Every qualified batter that season, plotted as a histogram. The highlighted bin contains the league leader.

Complete Statistics

1874 Season Leaders — Complete Statistics
Player Team G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Levi Meyerle CH2 53 257 254 65 100 19 1 1 45 3 3 4 .394 .401 .488 .889
Cal McVey BS1 70 344 343 91 123 21 6 3 71 5 1 3 .359 .360 .481 .842
Lip Pike HR1 52 239 234 58 83 22 5 1 50 4 5 1 .355 .368 .504 .872
John McMullin PH1 55 268 260 61 90 10 2 2 32 4 8 13 .346 .366 .423 .789
Bill Craver PH2 55 269 265 68 91 19 11 0 56 11 4 2 .343 .353 .498 .851
Jim Holdsworth PH2 57 286 285 60 97 8 9 0 37 1 1 0 .340 .343 .432 .774
Ross Barnes BS1 51 267 259 72 88 12 4 0 39 8 8 2 .340 .360 .417 .777
Cap Anson PH1 55 264 260 51 87 8 3 0 37 6 4 1 .335 .345 .388 .733
George Wright BS1 60 318 313 76 103 10 15 2 44 2 5 6 .329 .340 .476 .816
Al Spalding BS1 71 365 362 80 119 13 1 0 54 2 3 0 .329 .334 .370 .704
Scott Hastings HR1 52 251 247 60 80 11 2 0 30 10 4 3 .324 .335 .385 .719
Mike McGeary PH1 54 272 271 61 87 10 2 0 22 10 1 2 .321 .324 .373 .696
Dave Eggler PH2 58 304 299 70 95 13 8 0 31 5 5 1 .318 .329 .415 .744
Jim O'Rourke BS1 70 335 331 82 104 15 8 5 61 11 4 5 .314 .322 .453 .776
Joe Start NY2 63 310 306 67 96 13 3 2 46 5 4 0 .314 .323 .395 .718
Davy Force CH2 59 297 294 61 92 9 0 0 26 4 3 1 .313 .320 .344 .663
Andy Leonard BS1 71 341 339 68 106 18 4 0 50 11 2 2 .313 .317 .389 .706
Deacon White BS1 70 357 352 75 106 5 7 3 52 1 5 0 .301 .311 .381 .692
Paul Hines CH2 59 275 271 47 80 10 2 0 34 4 4 4 .295 .305 .347 .652
Dickey Pearce BR2 56 261 255 48 75 1 0 0 26 1 6 1 .294 .310 .298 .608
Ezra Sutton PH1 55 243 243 54 71 10 3 0 28 6 0 2 .292 .292 .358 .650
John Peters CH2 55 241 239 39 69 10 0 1 25 2 2 11 .289 .295 .343 .638
George Hall BS1 47 223 222 58 64 10 8 1 34 2 1 0 .288 .291 .419 .710
Tom Carey NY2 64 289 287 56 82 10 3 1 38 3 2 4 .286 .291 .352 .643
Jim Devlin CH2 45 205 203 26 58 5 0 0 26 2 2 9 .286 .293 .310 .603
Doug Allison NY2 65 324 318 68 90 7 5 0 28 1 6 5 .283 .296 .336 .633
Everett Mills HR1 53 248 244 39 69 6 1 0 19 1 4 2 .283 .294 .316 .610
John Glenn CH2 55 242 237 33 67 9 0 0 32 2 5 4 .283 .298 .321 .618
Charles Fulmer PH2 57 260 258 49 72 3 2 0 37 0 2 5 .279 .285 .306 .591
Count Gedney PH1 54 229 222 49 61 4 1 1 34 2 7 11 .275 .297 .315 .612
Jack Burdock NY2 61 274 273 45 75 11 4 1 26 4 1 5 .275 .277 .355 .633
Nat Hicks PH2 58 271 266 51 73 8 1 0 30 3 5 4 .274 .288 .312 .600
Warren White BL1 45 213 211 21 57 1 0 0 17 1 2 2 .270 .277 .275 .552
Ned Cuthbert CH2 58 300 295 65 79 6 1 2 24 8 5 5 .268 .280 .315 .595
Harry Schafer BS1 71 328 327 69 87 10 2 1 45 2 1 5 .266 .268 .318 .586
Jack Chapman BR2 53 246 242 32 64 10 2 0 24 2 4 11 .264 .276 .322 .599
Dick Higham NY2 65 337 333 58 87 14 3 1 38 5 4 0 .261 .270 .330 .600
Bob Ferguson BR2 56 247 245 34 64 4 0 0 19 5 2 7 .261 .267 .278 .545
Fergy Malone CH2 47 227 223 33 56 5 0 0 28 2 4 0 .251 .264 .274 .538
Tom York PH2 50 229 224 36 56 4 7 0 37 1 5 4 .250 .266 .330 .597
Harry Deane BL1 47 207 203 29 50 8 1 0 13 2 4 3 .246 .261 .296 .556
Candy Nelson NY2 65 306 297 55 73 7 5 0 31 6 9 5 .246 .268 .303 .571
Bobby Mathews NY2 65 301 298 46 72 6 1 0 30 2 3 4 .242 .249 .268 .518
Bob Addy HR1 50 214 213 25 51 9 2 0 22 4 1 1 .239 .243 .300 .543
Joe Battin PH1 51 227 226 40 52 11 1 0 27 3 1 7 .230 .233 .288 .521
Jack Remsen NY2 64 284 284 52 65 9 3 2 38 6 0 5 .229 .229 .303 .532
John Hatfield NY2 63 299 292 47 66 12 1 0 29 4 7 12 .226 .244 .274 .518
Candy Cummings PH2 54 231 231 32 52 4 2 0 19 1 0 12 .225 .225 .260 .485
Herman Dehlman BR2 53 225 218 40 49 3 1 0 18 2 7 5 .225 .249 .248 .497
Cherokee Fisher HR1 52 243 241 28 54 7 0 0 31 2 2 7 .224 .230 .253 .484
Tommy Bond BR2 55 246 245 25 54 10 1 0 20 0 1 5 .220 .224 .269 .493
Dick McBride PH1 55 264 263 30 57 7 1 0 34 1 1 6 .217 .220 .251 .471
Denny Mack PH2 56 248 246 48 51 8 4 0 22 4 2 3 .207 .214 .272 .486
George Zettlein CH2 57 245 244 26 47 7 0 0 18 0 1 5 .193 .196 .221 .417
Showing 1-50 of 54 batters listed (54 qualified)

Pitching Leaders

Qualified: 1 inning pitched per team game — 57 innings at 57 team games. 10 of the 10 pitchers listed qualify; the rest cleared 50+ innings and are marked UNQ. ERA and WHIP rank qualified pitchers first.

Complete Statistics

1874 Season Leaders — Complete Statistics
Player Team W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA WHIP
Dick McBride PH1 33 22 55 55 55 0 0 487.0 514 89 32 37 1.64 1.12
Bobby Mathews NY2 42 22 65 65 62 4 0 578.0 652 122 41 101 1.90 1.20
Al Spalding BS1 52 16 71 69 65 4 0 617.1 755 132 19 31 1.92 1.25
Candy Cummings PH2 28 26 54 54 52 3 0 483.0 616 105 18 61 1.96 1.31
Tommy Bond BR2 22 32 55 55 55 1 0 497.0 606 112 8 42 2.03 1.24
Jack Manning BL1 4 16 22 20 17 0 0 176.2 222 41 12 12 2.09 1.32
Cherokee Fisher HR1 13 23 39 35 31 0 0 322.1 416 83 13 25 2.32 1.33
George Zettlein CH2 27 30 57 57 57 3 0 515.2 640 139 43 26 2.43 1.32
Bill Stearns HR1 3 14 22 18 14 0 0 158.2 237 52 15 14 2.95 1.59
Asa Brainard BL1 5 22 30 27 25 0 0 240.0 405 99 27 8 3.71 1.80
Showing 1-50 of 10 pitchers listed (10 qualified)

Reading the 1874 leader tables

Of the 54 batting lines shown for 1874, 54 are qualified. Sorted by average, the qualified race is headed by Levi Meyerle at .394, with Cal McVey next at .359. Jim O'Rourke has the most home runs in the table, 5, while Cal McVey leads the RBI column with 71. 10 pitchers qualify out of the 10 in the 1874 table. Dick McBride has the lowest qualified ERA, 1.64. The counting columns are topped by Al Spalding in wins (52) and Bobby Mathews in strikeouts (101).

1874 Season Leaders: Frequently Asked Questions

Who led MLB in home runs in 1874?
Jim O'Rourke led with 5 home runs in 1874.
Who led MLB in RBI in 1874?
Cal McVey led with 71 RBI in 1874.
Who led MLB in hits in 1874?
Cal McVey led with 123 hits in 1874.
Who led MLB in batting average in 1874?
Levi Meyerle led at .394 in 1874, among qualified hitters (3.1 plate appearances per team game).
Who led MLB in wins in 1874?
Al Spalding led with 52 wins in 1874.
Who led MLB in strikeouts in 1874?
Bobby Mathews led with 101 strikeouts in 1874.