1895 Major League Baseball season

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 1895 season saw the following rule changes:

• A held foul tip is now classified as a strike.^[2][3]
• The size of baseball bats were regulated to be at most 2¾ inches in diameter (an increase from 2½) and no longer than 42 inches.^[2][3]
• The infield fly rule is adopted, which is enforced when:^[2][3]
  • A fly ball is hit in the infield.
  • There is a force play at third base.
  • 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 $968 and $3870 in 2025), 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 $968 and $1935 in 2025, respectively).^[3]

• 1895 in baseball (Events, Births, Deaths)