1881 Season Leaders

Top performers from the 1881 baseball season. Click column headers to sort.

These are the 1881 Major League Baseball season leaders in batting and pitching. Dan Brouthers led with 8 home runs, Cap Anson led with 82 RBI, and Cap Anson led with 137 hits. Batting average, OBP, SLG and OPS list qualified hitters only — 3.1 plate appearances per team game, which is 260 plate appearances at 84 team games; ERA and WHIP require one inning per team game (84 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 1881 Season Overview

Batting Leaders

Qualified: 3.1 plate appearances per team game — 260 plate appearances at 84 team games. 56 of the 68 hitters listed qualify; the rest cleared 200+ plate appearances and are marked UNQ. Rate columns (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS) rank qualified hitters first.

1881 OPS Distribution

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

Complete Statistics

1881 Season Leaders — Complete Statistics
Player Team G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Cap Anson CHN 84 369 343 67 137 21 7 1 82 0 26 4 .399 .442 .510 .952
Joe Start PRO 79 357 348 56 114 12 6 0 29 0 9 7 .328 .345 .397 .741
Fred Dunlap CL2 80 369 351 60 114 25 4 3 24 0 18 24 .325 .358 .444 .802
Abner Dalrymple CHN 82 377 362 72 117 22 4 1 37 0 15 22 .323 .350 .414 .764
King Kelly CHN 82 369 353 84 114 27 3 2 55 0 16 14 .323 .352 .433 .786
Dan Brouthers BFN 65 288 270 60 86 18 9 8 45 0 18 22 .319 .361 .541 .902
Buttercup Dickerson WOR 80 375 367 48 116 18 6 1 31 0 8 8 .316 .331 .406 .737
Silver Flint CHN 80 312 306 46 95 18 0 1 34 0 6 39 .310 .324 .379 .703
Deacon White BFN 78 328 319 58 99 24 4 0 53 0 9 8 .310 .329 .411 .740
Pete Hotaling WOR 77 335 317 51 98 15 3 1 35 0 18 12 .309 .346 .385 .731
Tom York PRO 85 345 316 57 96 23 5 2 47 0 29 26 .304 .362 .427 .790
Jim O'Rourke BFN 83 375 348 71 105 21 7 0 30 0 27 18 .302 .352 .402 .754
Charlie Bennett DTN 76 317 299 44 90 18 7 7 64 0 18 37 .301 .341 .478 .819
George Gore CHN 73 336 309 86 92 18 9 1 44 0 27 23 .298 .354 .424 .778
George Wood DTN 80 356 337 54 100 18 9 2 32 0 19 32 .297 .334 .421 .756
Roger Connor TRN 85 382 367 55 107 17 6 2 31 0 15 20 .292 .319 .387 .706
Ezra Sutton BSN 83 346 333 42 97 12 4 0 31 0 13 9 .291 .318 .351 .669
Hardy Richardson BFN 83 356 344 62 100 18 9 2 53 0 12 27 .291 .315 .413 .727
John Morrill BSN 81 323 311 47 90 19 3 1 39 0 12 30 .289 .316 .379 .695
Paul Hines PRO 80 374 361 65 103 27 5 2 31 0 13 12 .285 .310 .404 .715
Bob Ferguson TRN 85 368 339 56 96 13 5 1 35 0 29 12 .283 .340 .360 .700
Sadie Houck DTN 75 314 308 43 86 16 6 1 36 0 6 6 .279 .293 .380 .673
Ned Hanlon DTN 76 327 305 63 85 14 8 2 28 0 22 11 .279 .327 .397 .724
Tom Burns CHN 84 356 342 41 95 20 3 4 42 0 14 22 .278 .306 .389 .695
Patrick Gillespie TRN 84 357 348 43 96 14 3 0 41 0 9 24 .276 .294 .333 .627
Bill Phillips CL2 85 362 357 51 97 18 10 1 44 0 5 19 .272 .282 .387 .668
Mike Dorgan 2 teams 59 263 254 41 69 6 0 0 23 0 9 4 .272 .297 .295 .592
Ross Barnes BSN 69 311 295 42 80 14 1 0 17 0 16 16 .271 .309 .325 .634
Lon Knight DTN 83 363 340 67 92 16 3 1 52 0 23 21 .271 .317 .344 .661
Harry Stovey WOR 75 353 341 57 92 25 7 2 30 0 12 23 .270 .295 .402 .696
Ed Williamson CHN 82 362 343 56 92 12 6 1 48 0 19 19 .268 .307 .347 .654
Jack Glasscock CL2 85 350 335 49 86 9 5 0 33 0 15 8 .257 .289 .313 .602
Orator Shafer CL2 85 366 343 48 88 13 6 1 34 0 23 20 .257 .303 .338 .641
Curry Foley BFN 83 382 375 58 96 20 2 1 25 0 7 27 .256 .270 .328 .598
Jim McCormick CL2 70 314 309 45 79 9 4 0 26 0 5 16 .256 .268 .311 .578
Jim Whitney BSN 75 301 282 37 72 17 3 0 32 0 19 18 .255 .302 .337 .639
Bill Crowley BSN 72 293 279 33 71 12 0 0 31 0 14 15 .254 .290 .297 .588
John Clapp CL2 68 296 261 47 66 12 2 0 25 0 35 6 .253 .341 .314 .655
Buck Ewing TRN 67 279 272 40 68 14 7 0 25 0 7 8 .250 .269 .353 .622
Lee Richmond WOR 61 262 252 31 63 5 1 0 28 0 10 10 .250 .279 .278 .556
Joe Quest CHN 78 295 293 35 72 6 0 1 26 0 2 29 .246 .251 .276 .527
John Ward PRO 85 362 357 56 87 18 6 0 53 0 5 10 .244 .254 .328 .582
Joe Gerhardt DTN 80 304 297 35 72 13 6 0 36 0 7 31 .242 .260 .327 .586
Jake Evans TRN 83 329 315 35 76 11 5 0 28 0 14 30 .241 .274 .308 .581
Joe Hornung BSN 83 329 324 39 78 12 8 2 25 0 5 25 .241 .252 .346 .598
Jerry Denny PRO 85 325 320 38 77 16 2 1 24 0 5 44 .241 .252 .312 .565
Jack Farrell PRO 84 374 345 69 82 16 5 5 36 0 29 23 .238 .297 .357 .653
Jack Burdock BSN 73 289 282 36 67 12 4 1 24 0 7 18 .238 .256 .319 .575
Doc Bushong WOR 76 296 275 35 64 7 4 0 21 0 21 23 .233 .287 .287 .574
John Cassidy TRN 85 388 370 57 82 13 3 1 11 0 18 21 .222 .258 .281 .539
Old Hoss Radbourn PRO 72 280 270 27 59 9 0 0 28 0 10 15 .219 .246 .252 .498
Hick Carpenter WOR 83 350 347 40 75 12 2 2 31 0 3 19 .216 .223 .280 .502
George Creamer WOR 80 320 309 42 64 9 2 0 25 0 11 27 .207 .234 .249 .484
Frank Hankinson TRN 85 331 321 34 62 15 0 1 19 0 10 41 .193 .218 .249 .467
Davy Force BFN 75 289 278 21 50 9 1 0 15 0 11 29 .180 .211 .219 .430
Bill McClellan PRO 68 274 259 30 43 3 1 0 16 0 15 21 .166 .212 .185 .397
Martin Powell UNQ DTN 55 234 219 47 74 9 4 1 38 0 15 9 .338 .380 .429 .810
Jack Rowe UNQ BFN 64 247 246 30 82 11 11 1 43 0 1 12 .333 .336 .480 .816
Arthur Irwin UNQ WOR 50 213 206 27 55 8 2 0 24 0 7 4 .267 .291 .325 .616
George Bradley UNQ 2 teams 61 249 245 21 60 10 1 2 18 0 4 25 .245 .257 .318 .575
Blondie Purcell UNQ 2 teams 50 206 193 18 47 9 3 0 21 0 13 16 .244 .291 .321 .613
Pop Snyder UNQ BSN 62 222 219 14 50 8 0 0 16 0 3 23 .228 .239 .265 .504
Ed Caskin UNQ TRN 63 247 234 33 53 7 1 0 21 0 13 29 .226 .267 .265 .532
Fred Corey UNQ WOR 51 208 203 22 45 8 4 0 10 0 5 10 .222 .240 .300 .541
John Peters UNQ BFN 54 232 229 21 49 8 1 0 25 0 3 12 .214 .224 .258 .482
Pud Galvin UNQ BFN 62 239 236 19 50 12 4 0 21 0 3 70 .212 .222 .297 .518
George Derby UNQ DTN 59 240 236 17 44 3 1 0 12 0 4 29 .186 .200 .208 .408
Art Whitney UNQ DTN 58 221 214 23 39 7 5 0 9 0 7 15 .182 .208 .262 .470
Showing 1-50 of 68 batters listed (56 qualified)

Pitching Leaders

Qualified: 1 inning pitched per team game — 84 innings at 84 team games. 17 of the 21 pitchers listed qualify; the rest cleared 50+ innings and are marked UNQ. ERA and WHIP rank qualified pitchers first.

Complete Statistics

1881 Season Leaders — Complete Statistics
Player Team W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA WHIP
George Weidman DTN 8 5 13 13 13 1 0 115.0 108 23 12 26 1.80 1.04
John Ward PRO 18 18 39 35 32 3 0 330.0 326 78 53 119 2.13 1.15
George Derby DTN 29 26 56 55 55 9 0 494.2 505 121 86 212 2.20 1.19
Larry Corcoran CHN 31 14 45 44 43 4 0 396.2 380 102 78 150 2.31 1.15
Pud Galvin BFN 28 24 56 53 48 5 0 474.0 546 125 46 136 2.37 1.25
Old Hoss Radbourn PRO 25 11 41 36 34 3 0 325.1 309 88 64 117 2.43 1.15
Jim McCormick CL2 26 30 59 58 57 2 0 526.0 484 143 84 178 2.45 1.08
Jim Whitney BSN 31 33 66 63 57 6 0 552.1 548 152 90 162 2.48 1.16
Fred Goldsmith CHN 24 13 39 39 37 5 0 330.0 328 95 44 76 2.59 1.13
Mickey Welch TRN 21 18 40 40 40 4 0 368.0 371 109 78 104 2.67 1.22
Bobby Mathews 2 teams 5 8 19 15 11 1 2 125.1 143 42 32 33 3.02 1.40
The Only Nolan CL2 8 14 22 21 20 0 0 180.0 183 61 38 54 3.05 1.23
Tim Keefe TRN 18 27 45 45 45 4 0 403.0 434 145 83 103 3.24 1.28
John Fox BSN 6 8 17 16 12 0 0 124.1 144 46 39 30 3.33 1.47
Lee Richmond WOR 25 26 53 52 50 3 0 462.1 547 174 68 156 3.39 1.33
Jack Lynch BFN 10 9 20 19 17 0 0 165.2 203 66 29 32 3.59 1.40
Fred Corey WOR 6 15 23 21 20 1 0 188.2 231 78 31 33 3.72 1.39
Blondie Purcell UNQ BFN 4 1 9 5 5 0 0 61.2 62 19 9 15 2.77 1.15
Harry McCormick UNQ WOR 1 8 9 9 9 1 0 78.1 89 31 15 7 3.56 1.33
George Bradley UNQ CL2 2 4 6 6 5 0 0 51.0 70 22 3 6 3.88 1.43
Frank Mountain UNQ DTN 3 4 7 7 7 0 0 60.0 80 35 18 13 5.25 1.63
Showing 1-50 of 21 pitchers listed (17 qualified)

Reading the 1881 leader tables

The 1881 batting table lists 68 hitters, of whom 56 qualify for the rate columns. The first qualified row belongs to Cap Anson, a .399 hitter, ahead of Joe Start (.328). Sorting by home runs brings Dan Brouthers (8) to the top; for runs batted in, Cap Anson is first with 82. The 1881 pitching table lists 21 pitchers, 17 of them qualified. First among qualified pitchers by ERA is George Weidman, 1.80. Sorted by the counting stats, the leaders are Larry Corcoran in wins (31) and George Derby in strikeouts (212).

1881 Season Leaders: Frequently Asked Questions

Who led MLB in home runs in 1881?
Dan Brouthers led with 8 home runs in 1881.
Who led MLB in RBI in 1881?
Cap Anson led with 82 RBI in 1881.
Who led MLB in hits in 1881?
Cap Anson led with 137 hits in 1881.
Who led MLB in batting average in 1881?
Cap Anson led at .399 in 1881, among qualified hitters (3.1 plate appearances per team game).
Who led MLB in wins in 1881?
Larry Corcoran and Jim Whitney tied for the lead with 31 wins in 1881.
Who led MLB in strikeouts in 1881?
George Derby led with 212 strikeouts in 1881.