1879 Season Leaders

Top performers from the 1879 baseball season. Click column headers to sort.

These are the 1879 Major League Baseball season leaders in batting and pitching. Charley Jones led with 9 home runs, John O'Rourke and Charley Jones tied for the lead with 62 RBI, and Paul Hines led with 146 hits. Batting average, OBP, SLG and OPS list qualified hitters only — 3.1 plate appearances per team game, which is 254 plate appearances at 82 team games; ERA and WHIP require one inning per team game (82 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

← Back to 1879 Season Overview

Batting Leaders

Qualified: 3.1 plate appearances per team game — 254 plate appearances at 82 team games. 56 of the 69 hitters listed qualify; the rest cleared 200+ plate appearances and are marked UNQ. Rate columns (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS) rank qualified hitters first.

1879 OPS Distribution

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

Complete Statistics

1879 Season Leaders — Complete Statistics
Player Team G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Paul Hines PRO 85 417 409 81 146 25 10 2 52 0 8 16 .357 .369 .482 .851
Jim O'Rourke PRO 81 375 362 69 126 19 9 1 46 0 13 10 .348 .371 .459 .829
King Kelly CN1 77 353 345 78 120 20 12 2 47 0 8 14 .348 .363 .493 .855
John O'Rourke BSN 72 325 317 69 108 17 11 6 62 0 8 32 .341 .357 .521 .877
Deacon White CN1 78 339 333 55 110 16 6 1 52 0 6 9 .330 .342 .423 .766
Joe Start PRO 66 324 317 70 101 11 5 2 37 0 7 4 .319 .333 .404 .737
Charley Jones BSN 83 384 355 85 112 22 10 9 62 0 29 38 .315 .367 .510 .877
Tom York PRO 81 361 342 69 106 25 5 1 50 0 19 28 .310 .346 .421 .767
Orator Shafer CHN 73 322 316 53 96 13 0 0 35 0 6 28 .304 .317 .345 .662
Cal McVey CN1 81 362 354 64 105 18 6 0 55 0 8 13 .297 .312 .381 .694
Jack Farrell 2 teams 66 295 292 45 86 8 2 1 26 0 3 13 .295 .302 .346 .648
Ed Williamson CHN 80 344 320 66 94 20 13 1 36 0 24 31 .294 .343 .447 .790
Buttercup Dickerson CN1 81 353 350 73 102 18 14 2 57 0 3 27 .291 .297 .440 .737
Abner Dalrymple CHN 71 337 333 47 97 25 1 0 23 0 4 29 .291 .300 .372 .672
Bill Crowley BFN 60 267 261 41 75 9 5 0 30 0 6 14 .287 .303 .360 .664
John Ward PRO 83 371 364 71 104 9 4 2 41 0 7 14 .286 .299 .349 .648
Silver Flint CHN 79 330 324 46 92 22 6 1 41 0 6 44 .284 .297 .398 .695
Hardy Richardson BFN 79 352 336 54 95 18 10 0 37 0 16 30 .283 .315 .396 .711
John Morrill BSN 84 362 348 56 98 18 5 0 49 0 14 32 .282 .309 .362 .671
Pete Hotaling CN1 81 381 369 64 103 20 9 1 27 0 12 17 .279 .302 .390 .692
George Wright PRO 85 401 388 79 107 15 10 1 42 0 13 20 .276 .299 .374 .673
Mike McGeary PRO 85 379 374 62 103 7 2 0 35 0 5 13 .275 .285 .305 .590
Oscar Walker BFN 72 295 287 35 79 15 6 1 35 0 8 38 .275 .295 .380 .675
Charlie Eden CL2 81 359 353 40 96 31 7 3 34 0 6 20 .272 .284 .425 .709
Bill Phillips CL2 81 367 365 58 99 15 4 0 29 0 2 20 .271 .275 .334 .609
Charles Fulmer BFN 76 311 306 30 82 11 5 0 28 0 5 34 .268 .280 .337 .616
Sadie Houck BSN 80 360 356 69 95 24 9 2 49 0 4 11 .267 .275 .402 .677
Mike Dorgan SR1 59 274 270 38 72 11 5 1 17 0 4 13 .267 .277 .356 .633
Joe Hornung BFN 78 321 319 46 85 18 7 0 38 0 2 27 .266 .271 .367 .638
Ross Barnes CN1 77 339 323 55 86 9 2 1 30 0 16 25 .266 .301 .316 .617
John Clapp BFN 70 303 292 47 77 12 5 1 36 0 11 11 .264 .290 .349 .640
George Gore CHN 63 274 266 43 70 17 4 0 32 0 8 30 .263 .285 .357 .642
Lew Brown 2 teams 59 255 250 25 65 14 4 2 41 0 5 28 .260 .275 .372 .647
Al Hall TRN 67 309 306 30 79 7 3 0 14 0 3 13 .258 .265 .301 .566
Ed Caskin TRN 70 306 304 32 78 13 2 0 21 0 2 14 .257 .261 .312 .574
Blondie Purcell 2 teams 75 330 327 42 83 6 3 0 29 0 3 16 .254 .261 .291 .551
Pud Galvin BFN 67 266 265 34 66 11 6 0 27 0 1 56 .249 .252 .336 .588
Ezra Sutton BSN 84 341 339 54 84 13 4 0 34 0 2 18 .248 .252 .310 .562
John Peters CHN 83 380 379 45 93 13 2 1 31 0 1 19 .245 .247 .298 .546
Fred Warner CL2 76 318 316 32 77 11 4 0 22 0 2 20 .244 .248 .304 .552
Tommy Bond BSN 65 263 257 35 62 3 1 0 21 0 6 8 .241 .259 .261 .519
Jack Burdock BSN 84 368 359 64 86 10 3 0 36 0 9 28 .240 .258 .284 .542
Tom Carey CL2 80 340 335 30 80 14 1 0 32 0 5 20 .239 .250 .287 .537
Pop Snyder BSN 81 334 329 42 78 16 3 2 35 0 5 31 .237 .249 .322 .571
Jake Evans TRN 72 285 280 30 65 9 5 0 17 0 5 18 .232 .246 .300 .546
Jim McCormick CL2 75 283 282 35 62 10 2 0 20 0 1 9 .220 .223 .270 .492
John Richmond SR1 62 258 254 31 54 8 4 1 23 0 4 24 .213 .225 .287 .512
Jack Glasscock CL2 80 331 325 31 68 9 3 0 29 0 6 24 .209 .224 .255 .479
Davy Force BFN 79 329 316 36 66 5 2 0 8 0 13 37 .209 .240 .237 .477
Dave Eggler BFN 78 328 317 41 66 5 7 0 27 0 11 41 .208 .235 .268 .503
Thorny Hawkes TRN 64 254 250 24 52 6 1 0 20 0 4 14 .208 .220 .240 .460
Joe Quest CHN 83 343 334 38 69 16 1 0 22 0 9 33 .207 .227 .260 .488
Hick Carpenter SR1 65 263 261 30 53 6 0 0 20 0 2 15 .203 .209 .226 .435
Joe Gerhardt CN1 79 316 313 22 62 12 3 1 39 0 3 19 .198 .206 .265 .471
George Strief CL2 71 274 264 24 46 7 1 0 15 0 10 23 .174 .204 .208 .413
Will White CN1 76 300 294 28 40 6 0 0 17 0 6 56 .136 .153 .156 .310
Ed Cogswell UNQ BSN 49 244 236 51 76 8 1 1 18 0 8 5 .322 .344 .377 .721
Cap Anson UNQ CHN 51 229 227 40 72 20 1 0 34 0 2 2 .317 .323 .414 .737
George Bradley UNQ TRN 63 252 251 36 62 9 5 0 23 0 1 20 .247 .250 .323 .573
Charlie Reilley UNQ TRN 62 237 236 17 54 5 1 0 19 0 1 20 .229 .232 .258 .491
Bill Hague UNQ PRO 51 212 209 20 47 3 1 0 21 0 3 19 .225 .236 .249 .485
Harry McCormick UNQ SR1 57 230 230 21 51 4 1 1 21 0 0 22 .222 .222 .261 .483
Terry Larkin UNQ CHN 60 236 228 26 50 12 2 0 18 0 8 24 .219 .246 .289 .535
Herm Doscher UNQ 2 teams 50 204 202 17 44 8 0 0 19 0 2 13 .218 .225 .257 .483
Mike Mansell UNQ SR1 67 247 242 24 52 4 2 1 13 0 5 45 .215 .231 .260 .491
Jimmy Macullar UNQ SR1 64 249 246 24 52 9 0 0 13 0 3 27 .211 .221 .248 .469
Will Foley UNQ CN1 56 220 218 22 46 5 1 0 25 0 2 16 .211 .218 .243 .461
Bill Holbert UNQ 2 teams 63 245 244 12 50 0 0 0 23 0 1 21 .205 .208 .205 .413
Barney Gilligan UNQ CL2 52 205 205 20 35 6 2 0 11 0 0 13 .171 .171 .220 .390
Showing 1-50 of 69 batters listed (56 qualified)

Pitching Leaders

Qualified: 1 inning pitched per team game — 82 innings at 82 team games. 15 of the 16 pitchers listed qualify; the rest cleared 50+ innings and are marked UNQ. ERA and WHIP rank qualified pitchers first.

Complete Statistics

1879 Season Leaders — Complete Statistics
Player Team W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA WHIP
Tommy Bond BSN 43 19 64 64 59 11 0 555.1 543 121 24 155 1.96 1.02
Will White CN1 43 31 76 75 75 4 0 680.0 676 150 68 232 1.99 1.09
John Ward PRO 47 19 70 60 58 2 1 587.0 571 140 36 239 2.15 1.03
Harry Salisbury TRN 4 6 10 10 9 0 0 89.0 103 22 11 31 2.22 1.28
Pud Galvin BFN 37 27 66 66 65 6 0 593.0 585 150 31 136 2.28 1.04
Bobby Mathews PRO 12 6 27 25 15 1 1 189.0 194 48 26 90 2.29 1.16
Jim McCormick CL2 20 40 62 60 59 3 0 546.1 582 147 74 197 2.42 1.20
Terry Larkin CHN 31 23 58 58 57 4 0 513.1 514 139 30 142 2.44 1.06
Frank Hankinson CHN 15 10 26 25 25 2 0 230.2 248 64 27 69 2.50 1.19
Curry Foley BSN 9 9 21 16 16 1 0 161.2 175 45 15 57 2.51 1.18
Bill McGunnigle BFN 9 5 14 13 13 2 0 120.0 113 35 16 62 2.62 1.07
George Bradley TRN 13 40 54 54 53 3 0 487.0 590 154 26 133 2.85 1.26
Harry McCormick SR1 18 33 54 54 49 5 0 457.1 517 152 31 96 2.99 1.20
Bobby Mitchell CL2 7 15 23 22 20 0 0 194.2 236 71 42 90 3.28 1.43
Blondie Purcell 2 teams 4 17 24 19 17 0 0 197.2 272 83 21 31 3.78 1.48
Fred Goldsmith UNQ TRN 2 4 8 7 7 0 0 63.0 61 11 1 31 1.57 0.98
Showing 1-50 of 16 pitchers listed (15 qualified)

Reading the 1879 leader tables

56 of the 69 hitters in the 1879 table reach the qualification line. Paul Hines tops the qualified hitters in batting average (.357); Jim O'Rourke is second at .348. John O'Rourke has the highest qualified OPS, .877. The HR column peaks with Charley Jones's 9, and John O'Rourke's 62 runs batted in top that column. Rows marked “2 teams” combine a traded player's stints, as with Jack Farrell and Lew Brown. Of 16 pitchers shown for 1879, the ERA and WHIP races include 15. First among qualified pitchers by ERA is Tommy Bond, 1.96. The counting columns are topped by John Ward in wins (47).

1879 Season Leaders: Frequently Asked Questions

Who led MLB in home runs in 1879?
Charley Jones led with 9 home runs in 1879.
Who led MLB in RBI in 1879?
John O'Rourke and Charley Jones tied for the lead with 62 RBI in 1879.
Who led MLB in hits in 1879?
Paul Hines led with 146 hits in 1879.
Who led MLB in batting average in 1879?
Paul Hines led at .357 in 1879, among qualified hitters (3.1 plate appearances per team game).
Who led MLB in wins in 1879?
John Ward led with 47 wins in 1879.
Who led MLB in strikeouts in 1879?
John Ward led with 239 strikeouts in 1879.