1880 Season Leaders

Top performers from the 1880 baseball season. Click column headers to sort.

These are the 1880 Major League Baseball season leaders in batting and pitching. Jim O'Rourke and Harry Stovey tied for the lead with 6 home runs, Cap Anson led with 74 RBI, and Abner Dalrymple led with 126 hits. Batting average, OBP, SLG and OPS list qualified hitters only — 3.1 plate appearances per team game, which is 263 plate appearances at 85 team games; ERA and WHIP require one inning per team game (85 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 1880 Season Overview

Batting Leaders

Qualified: 3.1 plate appearances per team game — 263 plate appearances at 85 team games. 54 of the 66 hitters listed qualify; the rest cleared 200+ plate appearances and are marked UNQ. Rate columns (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS) rank qualified hitters first.

1880 OPS Distribution

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

Complete Statistics

1880 Season Leaders — Complete Statistics
Player Team G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
George Gore CHN 77 343 322 70 116 23 2 2 47 0 21 10 .360 .399 .463 .862
Cap Anson CHN 86 370 356 54 120 24 1 1 74 0 14 12 .337 .362 .419 .781
Roger Connor TRN 83 353 340 53 113 18 8 3 47 0 13 21 .332 .357 .459 .816
Abner Dalrymple CHN 86 385 382 91 126 25 12 0 36 0 3 18 .330 .335 .458 .793
Tom Burns CHN 85 345 333 47 103 17 3 0 43 0 12 23 .309 .333 .378 .712
Paul Hines PRO 85 387 374 64 115 20 2 3 35 0 13 17 .307 .331 .396 .726
Charley Jones BSN 66 291 280 44 84 15 3 5 37 0 11 27 .300 .326 .429 .755
Blondie Purcell CN1 77 330 325 48 95 13 6 1 24 0 5 13 .292 .303 .378 .681
Curry Foley BSN 80 340 332 44 97 13 2 2 31 0 8 14 .292 .309 .361 .670
King Kelly CHN 84 356 344 72 100 17 9 1 60 0 12 22 .291 .315 .401 .716
John Clapp CN1 80 344 323 33 91 16 4 1 20 0 21 10 .282 .326 .365 .691
Joe Start PRO 82 358 345 53 96 14 6 0 27 0 13 20 .278 .304 .354 .658
Fred Dunlap CL2 85 380 373 61 103 27 9 4 30 0 7 32 .276 .289 .429 .718
Jim O'Rourke BSN 86 384 363 71 100 20 11 6 45 0 21 8 .275 .315 .441 .756
John O'Rourke BSN 81 331 313 30 86 22 8 3 36 0 18 32 .275 .314 .425 .739
Jack Farrell PRO 80 349 339 46 92 12 5 3 36 0 10 6 .271 .292 .363 .655
Bill Crowley BFN 85 373 354 57 95 16 4 0 20 0 19 23 .268 .306 .336 .642
Orator Shafer CL2 83 355 338 62 90 14 9 0 21 0 17 36 .266 .301 .361 .662
Joe Hornung BFN 85 350 342 47 91 8 11 1 42 0 8 29 .266 .283 .363 .645
Harry Stovey WOR 83 367 355 76 94 21 14 6 28 0 12 46 .265 .289 .454 .742
Bob Ferguson TRN 82 356 332 55 87 9 0 0 22 0 24 24 .262 .312 .289 .601
Hardy Richardson BFN 83 357 343 48 89 18 8 0 17 0 14 37 .259 .289 .359 .647
Emil Gross PRO 87 363 347 43 90 18 3 1 34 0 16 15 .259 .292 .337 .629
Arthur Irwin WOR 85 363 352 53 91 19 4 1 35 0 11 27 .259 .281 .344 .625
Bill Phillips CL2 85 340 334 41 85 14 10 1 36 0 6 29 .254 .268 .365 .633
John Cassidy TRN 83 364 352 40 89 14 8 0 29 0 12 34 .253 .277 .338 .616
Jack Burdock BSN 86 364 356 58 90 17 4 2 35 0 8 26 .253 .269 .340 .609
Jack Rowe BFN 79 332 326 43 82 10 6 1 36 0 6 17 .252 .265 .328 .593
Ed Williamson CHN 75 326 311 65 78 20 2 0 31 0 15 26 .251 .285 .328 .613
Ezra Sutton BSN 76 295 288 41 72 9 2 0 25 0 7 7 .250 .268 .295 .563
Ned Hanlon CL2 73 291 280 30 69 10 3 0 32 0 11 30 .246 .275 .304 .578
Mike Dorgan PRO 79 331 321 45 79 10 1 0 31 0 10 18 .246 .269 .283 .552
Jim McCormick CL2 78 294 289 34 71 11 0 0 26 0 5 5 .246 .259 .284 .542
George Wood WOR 81 337 327 37 80 16 5 0 28 0 10 37 .245 .267 .324 .591
Jack Glasscock CL2 77 298 296 37 72 13 3 0 27 0 2 21 .243 .248 .307 .556
Patrick Gillespie TRN 82 363 346 50 84 20 5 2 24 0 17 35 .243 .278 .347 .625
Hick Carpenter CN1 77 302 300 32 72 6 4 0 23 0 2 15 .240 .245 .287 .532
Pete Hotaling CL2 78 335 325 40 78 17 8 0 41 0 10 30 .240 .263 .342 .604
John Morrill BSN 86 353 342 51 81 16 8 2 44 0 11 37 .237 .261 .348 .609
Joe Quest CHN 82 308 300 37 71 12 1 0 27 0 8 16 .237 .256 .283 .540
Larry Corcoran CHN 72 296 286 41 66 11 1 0 25 0 10 33 .231 .257 .276 .533
John Peters PRO 86 364 359 30 82 5 0 0 24 0 5 15 .228 .239 .242 .481
John Ward PRO 86 362 356 53 81 12 2 0 27 0 6 16 .228 .240 .272 .513
George Bradley PRO 82 314 309 32 70 7 6 0 23 0 5 38 .227 .239 .288 .527
Lee Richmond WOR 77 318 309 44 70 8 4 0 34 0 9 32 .227 .248 .278 .527
Ed Caskin TRN 82 340 333 36 75 5 4 0 28 0 7 24 .225 .241 .264 .505
Art Whitney WOR 76 311 302 38 67 13 5 1 36 0 9 15 .222 .244 .308 .552
Tommy Bond BSN 76 290 282 27 62 4 1 0 24 0 8 14 .220 .241 .241 .483
Frank Hankinson CL2 69 264 263 32 55 7 4 1 19 0 1 23 .209 .212 .278 .490
Pop Smith CN1 83 340 334 35 69 10 9 0 27 0 6 36 .207 .221 .290 .511
John Reilly CN1 73 275 272 21 56 8 4 0 16 0 3 36 .206 .215 .265 .479
George Creamer WOR 85 310 306 40 61 6 3 0 27 0 4 21 .199 .210 .239 .448
Davy Force BFN 81 300 290 22 49 10 0 0 17 0 10 35 .169 .197 .203 .400
Silver Flint CHN 74 289 284 30 46 10 4 0 17 0 5 32 .162 .176 .225 .402
Ed Cogswell UNQ TRN 47 220 209 41 63 7 3 0 13 0 11 10 .301 .336 .364 .700
Mickey Welch UNQ TRN 66 256 251 25 72 20 3 0 27 0 5 24 .287 .301 .390 .691
Buttercup Dickerson UNQ 2 teams 61 255 252 37 62 10 8 0 30 0 3 5 .246 .255 .349 .604
Dude Esterbrook UNQ BFN 64 253 253 20 61 12 1 0 35 0 0 15 .241 .241 .296 .538
Lon Knight UNQ WOR 49 206 201 31 48 11 3 0 21 0 5 8 .239 .257 .323 .581
Charlie Bennett UNQ WOR 51 203 193 20 44 9 3 0 18 0 10 30 .228 .266 .306 .572
Tom York UNQ PRO 53 211 203 21 43 9 2 0 18 0 8 29 .212 .242 .276 .518
Pud Galvin UNQ BFN 66 246 241 25 51 9 2 0 12 0 5 57 .212 .228 .266 .493
Doc Kennedy UNQ CL2 66 255 250 26 50 10 1 0 18 0 5 12 .200 .216 .248 .464
Sadie Houck UNQ 2 teams 61 234 231 29 44 7 7 1 24 0 3 12 .190 .201 .294 .495
Bill Holbert UNQ TRN 60 221 212 18 40 5 1 0 8 0 9 18 .189 .222 .222 .443
Will White UNQ CN1 62 213 207 16 35 7 1 0 14 0 6 29 .169 .192 .213 .405
Showing 1-50 of 66 batters listed (54 qualified)

Pitching Leaders

Qualified: 1 inning pitched per team game — 85 innings at 85 team games. 16 of the 17 pitchers listed qualify; the rest cleared 50+ innings and are marked UNQ. ERA and WHIP rank qualified pitchers first.

Complete Statistics

1880 Season Leaders — Complete Statistics
Player Team W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA WHIP
Tim Keefe TRN 6 6 12 12 12 0 0 105.0 68 10 16 39 0.86 0.80
George Bradley PRO 13 8 28 20 16 4 2 196.0 158 30 6 54 1.38 0.84
John Ward PRO 39 24 70 67 59 8 1 595.0 501 115 45 230 1.74 0.92
Fred Goldsmith CHN 21 3 26 24 22 4 1 210.1 189 41 18 90 1.75 0.98
Jim McCormick CL2 45 28 74 74 72 7 0 657.2 585 135 75 260 1.85 1.00
Larry Corcoran CHN 43 14 63 60 57 4 2 536.1 404 116 99 268 1.95 0.94
Will White CN1 18 42 62 62 58 3 0 517.1 550 123 56 161 2.14 1.17
Lee Richmond WOR 32 32 74 66 57 5 3 590.2 541 141 74 243 2.15 1.04
Fred Corey WOR 8 9 25 17 9 2 2 148.1 131 40 16 47 2.43 0.99
Mickey Welch TRN 34 30 65 64 64 4 0 574.0 575 162 80 123 2.54 1.14
Tommy Bond BSN 26 29 63 57 49 3 0 493.0 559 146 45 118 2.67 1.23
Pud Galvin BFN 20 35 58 54 46 5 0 458.2 528 138 32 128 2.71 1.22
Blondie Purcell CN1 3 17 25 21 21 0 0 196.0 235 70 32 47 3.21 1.36
George Weidman BFN 0 9 17 13 9 0 0 113.2 141 43 9 25 3.40 1.32
Tom Poorman 2 teams 3 8 13 10 9 0 1 100.0 129 43 27 13 3.87 1.56
Curry Foley BSN 14 14 36 28 21 1 0 238.0 264 103 40 68 3.89 1.28
Gid Gardner UNQ CL2 1 8 9 9 9 0 0 77.0 80 22 20 21 2.57 1.30
Showing 1-50 of 17 pitchers listed (16 qualified)

Reading the 1880 leader tables

54 of the 66 hitters in the 1880 table reach the qualification line. The first qualified row belongs to George Gore, a .360 hitter, ahead of Cap Anson (.337). Jim O'Rourke has the most home runs in the table, 6, while Cap Anson leads the RBI column with 74. The 1880 pitching table lists 17 pitchers, 16 of them qualified. The qualified ERA race is led by Tim Keefe at 0.86. Sorted by the counting stats, the leaders are Jim McCormick in wins (45) and Larry Corcoran in strikeouts (268).

1880 Season Leaders: Frequently Asked Questions

Who led MLB in home runs in 1880?
Jim O'Rourke and Harry Stovey tied for the lead with 6 home runs in 1880.
Who led MLB in RBI in 1880?
Cap Anson led with 74 RBI in 1880.
Who led MLB in hits in 1880?
Abner Dalrymple led with 126 hits in 1880.
Who led MLB in batting average in 1880?
George Gore led at .360 in 1880, among qualified hitters (3.1 plate appearances per team game).
Who led MLB in wins in 1880?
Jim McCormick led with 45 wins in 1880.
Who led MLB in strikeouts in 1880?
Larry Corcoran led with 268 strikeouts in 1880.