The 1895 major league baseball season began on April 18, 1895. The regular season ended on September 30, with the Baltimore Orioles as the pennant winner of the National League and the Cleveland Spiders as runner-up. The postseason began with Game 1 of the second Temple Cup on October 2 and ended with Game 5 on October 8. The Spiders defeated the Orioles, four games to one, capturing their first Temple Cup.
The 1895 schedule consisted of 132 games for the twelve teams of the National League. Each team was scheduled to play 12 games against the other eleven teams in the league. This continued the format put in place since 1893 and would be used until 1898.
Opening Day took place on April 18 featuring ten teams. The final day of the season was on September 30, featuring six teams.[1] The Temple Cup took place between October 2 and October 8.
The infield fly rule shall be called by the umpire if they judge that the fly ball can be caught with ordinary effort.
The pitcher's plate was enlarged from 12 inches by 4 inches, to 24 inches by 6 inches.[2][3]
Aside from catcher and first basemen's mitts and the size of gloves for all other position players were limited to 10 ounces and no more than 14 inches in circumference.[2][4][3]
Each incident of a player using indecent, obscene, or abusive language on the field resulted in a fine between $25 and $100 (equivalent to $945 and $3780 in 2024), and that the money would be forwarded to Secretary Nicholas Young within five days or the player would be suspended until the fine was paid.[3]
A rule requiring umpires to "enforce the playing rules as written" was adopted, imposing a $25 fine on the respective umpire for the first such failure in a game, and doubling that to $50 for a second failure (equivalent to $945 and $1890 in 2024, respectively).[3]
