1886 MLB Season Leaders

2 leagues · 136 team games · 46 ranking tables

Awards

None of these awards existed yet. The earliest award in this database is from 1911, so a 1886 season has no award to show. That is a fact about the calendar, not about the players on this page.

National League

Led the National League — the first row of every table below.

Batting13 categories

RunsR

1	King Kelly	155
2	George Gore	150
3	Dan Brouthers	139
4	Hardy Richardson	125
5	Cap Anson	117
6	Jim O'Rourke	106
7	Roger Connor	105
7	Ned Hanlon	105
9	Sam Thompson	101
10	Jack Rowe	97

HitsH

1	Hardy Richardson	189
2	Cap Anson	187
3	Dan Brouthers	181
4	King Kelly	175
5	Roger Connor	172
6	Jack Glasscock	158
7	Sam Thompson	156
8	Paul Hines	152
9	Alex McKinnon	148
10	Jack Rowe	142
10	Deacon White	142

Doubles2B

1	Dan Brouthers	40
2	Cap Anson	35
3	King Kelly	32
4	Paul Hines	30
5	Roger Connor	29
5	Jack Glasscock	29
7	Mox McQuery	27
7	Hardy Richardson	27
9	Jim O'Rourke	26
10	John Morrill	25

Triples3B

1	Roger Connor	20
2	Dan Brouthers	15
2	George Wood	15
4	Sam Thompson	13
5	Abner Dalrymple	12
5	George Gore	12
5	Sam Wise	12
8	Cap Anson	11
8	Charlie Bastian	11
8	King Kelly	11
8	Jimmy Knowles	11
8	Hardy Richardson	11

Home RunsHR

1	Dan Brouthers	11
1	Hardy Richardson	11
3	Cap Anson	10
4	Jerry Denny	9
4	Paul Hines	9
6	Alex McKinnon	8
6	Sam Thompson	8
8	Roger Connor	7
8	Fred Dunlap	7
8	John Morrill	7
8	Fred Pfeffer	7

Runs Batted InRBI

1	Cap Anson	147
2	Fred Pfeffer	95
3	Sam Thompson	89
4	Jack Rowe	87
5	John Ward	81
6	Mike Dorgan	79
6	King Kelly	79
8	Deacon White	76
9	Dan Brouthers	72
9	Alex McKinnon	72
9	Sam Wise	72

WalksBB

1	George Gore	102
2	King Kelly	83
3	Ed Williamson	80
4	Dan Brouthers	66
5	Paul Radford	58
6	Ned Hanlon	57
6	Emmett Seery	57
8	John Morrill	56
9	Cap Anson	55
10	Charlie Bennett	48

Stolen BasesSB

1	Ed Andrews	56
2	King Kelly	53
3	Ned Hanlon	50
4	Hardy Richardson	42
5	Paul Radford	39
6	Jack Glasscock	38
7	John Ward	36
8	Cliff Carroll	31
8	Tom Poorman	31
8	Sam Wise	31

Wins Above ReplacementWAR

1	King Kelly	8.5
2	Dan Brouthers	7.2
3	Cap Anson	7.1
4	Hardy Richardson	6.8
5	Roger Connor	6.1
6	Jack Glasscock	5.9
7	George Gore	5.4
8	Paul Hines	5.2
9	Sam Thompson	3.9
10	Jim O'Rourke	3.9

Batting Averagemin 422 PA

1	King Kelly	.388
2	Cap Anson	.371
3	Dan Brouthers	.370
4	Roger Connor	.355
5	Hardy Richardson	.351
6	Jack Glasscock	.325
7	Paul Hines	.312
8	Sam Thompson	.310
9	Jim O'Rourke	.309
10	George Gore	.304

On-Base Percentagemin 422 PA

1	King Kelly	.483
2	Dan Brouthers	.445
3	George Gore	.434
4	Cap Anson	.433
5	Roger Connor	.405
6	Hardy Richardson	.402
7	Jack Glasscock	.374
8	Jim O'Rourke	.365
9	Paul Hines	.358
10	Sam Thompson	.355

Slugging Percentagemin 422 PA

1	Dan Brouthers	.581
2	Cap Anson	.544
3	Roger Connor	.540
4	King Kelly	.534
5	Hardy Richardson	.504
6	Paul Hines	.462
7	Sam Thompson	.445
8	George Gore	.444
9	Jack Glasscock	.432
10	Alex McKinnon	.428

On-Base Plus Sluggingmin 422 PA

1	Dan Brouthers	1.026
2	King Kelly	1.018
3	Cap Anson	.977
4	Roger Connor	.945
5	Hardy Richardson	.906
6	George Gore	.878
7	Paul Hines	.820
8	Jack Glasscock	.806
9	Sam Thompson	.800
10	Jim O'Rourke	.768

Pitching10 categories

WinsW

1	Lady Baldwin	42
1	Tim Keefe	42
3	John Clarkson	36
4	Mickey Welch	33
5	Jim McCormick	31
6	Charlie Ferguson	30
6	Pretzels Getzien	30
8	Old Hoss Radbourn	27
9	Dan Casey	24
10	Jocko Flynn	23

SavesSV

1	Charlie Ferguson	2
2	Jim Devlin	1
2	Jocko Flynn	1
2	Jimmy Ryan	1
2	Ed Williamson	1

StrikeoutsSO

1	Lady Baldwin	323
2	John Clarkson	313
3	Tim Keefe	297
4	Mickey Welch	272
5	Bill Stemmyer	239
6	Old Hoss Radbourn	218
7	Egyptian Healy	213
8	Charlie Ferguson	212
9	Dan Casey	193
10	Dupee Shaw	177

Innings PitchedIP

1	Tim Keefe	535.0
2	Old Hoss Radbourn	509.3
3	Mickey Welch	500.0
4	Lady Baldwin	487.0
5	John Clarkson	466.7
6	George Weidman	427.7
7	Charlie Ferguson	395.7
8	Jim Whitney	393.0
9	Pretzels Getzien	386.7
10	Dupee Shaw	385.7

Complete GamesCG

1	Tim Keefe	62
2	Old Hoss Radbourn	57
3	Mickey Welch	56
4	Lady Baldwin	55
5	John Clarkson	50
6	George Weidman	48
7	Charlie Ferguson	43
7	Dupee Shaw	43
9	Pretzels Getzien	42
9	Jim Whitney	42

ShutoutsSHO

1	Lady Baldwin	7
2	Dan Casey	4
2	Charlie Ferguson	4
4	John Clarkson	3
4	Egyptian Healy	3
4	Old Hoss Radbourn	3
4	Jim Whitney	3
8	Henry Boyle	2
8	Jocko Flynn	2
8	Tim Keefe	2
8	Jim McCormick	2

Wins Above ReplacementWAR

1	Tim Keefe	15.7
2	Lady Baldwin	14.8
3	John Clarkson	14.1
4	Mickey Welch	12.0
5	Old Hoss Radbourn	12.0
6	Jim Whitney	11.6
7	Charlie Ferguson	11.1
8	George Weidman	10.9
9	Pretzels Getzien	10.3
10	Dupee Shaw	9.4

Earned Run Averagemin 136 IP

1	Henry Boyle	1.76
2	Charlie Ferguson	1.98
3	Lady Baldwin	2.24
4	Jocko Flynn	2.24
5	John Clarkson	2.41
6	Dan Casey	2.42
7	Tim Keefe	2.56
8	Jim McCormick	2.82
9	Egyptian Healy	2.88
10	Mickey Welch	2.99

Walks and Hits per Inningmin 136 IP

1	Lady Baldwin	0.97
2	Charlie Ferguson	0.98
3	Jocko Flynn	1.05
4	John Clarkson	1.08
5	Tim Keefe	1.09
6	Henry Boyle	1.09
7	Dan Casey	1.17
8	Pretzels Getzien	1.22
9	Egyptian Healy	1.22
10	Dupee Shaw	1.23

Fielding Independent Pitchingmin 136 IP

1	Lady Baldwin	2.69
2	Tim Keefe	2.78
3	John Clarkson	2.84
4	Charlie Ferguson	2.92
5	Jim Whitney	2.97
6	Pretzels Getzien	3.07
7	Egyptian Healy	3.08
8	Henry Boyle	3.11
9	Jocko Flynn	3.16
10	Dan Casey	3.22

Other leagues

Led the Other leagues — the first row of every table below.

Batting13 categories

RunsR

1	Arlie Latham	152
2	Bid McPhee	139
3	Henry Larkin	133
4	Bill McClellan	131
5	George Pinkney	119
6	Harry Stovey	115
7	Curt Welch	114
8	Frank Fennelly	113
8	John Kerins	113
10	Tom Brown	106
10	Tip O'Neill	106

HitsH

1	Dave Orr	193
2	Tip O'Neill	190
3	Henry Larkin	180
4	Arlie Latham	174
5	Bill Phillips	160
6	Pete Browning	159
7	Curt Welch	158
8	George Pinkney	156
9	Bill McClellan	152
10	Bid McPhee	150

Doubles2B

1	Henry Larkin	36
2	Bill McClellan	33
3	Sam Barkley	31
3	Curt Welch	31
5	Pete Browning	29
6	Fred Carroll	28
6	Tip O'Neill	28
6	Harry Stovey	28
9	Bill Phillips	26
9	William Robinson	26

Triples3B

1	Dave Orr	31
2	John Coleman	17
2	Frank Fennelly	17
2	Bill Kuehne	17
5	Henry Larkin	16
6	Bill Phillips	15
7	Bob Caruthers	14
7	Fred Mann	14
7	Tip O'Neill	14
7	Joe Werrick	14

Home RunsHR

1	Bid McPhee	8
2	Dave Orr	7
2	Harry Stovey	7
4	Frank Fennelly	6
4	Charley Jones	6
4	John Reilly	6
7	Fred Carroll	5
7	John Corkhill	5
7	John Milligan	5
7	James Roseman	5

Runs Batted InRBI

1	Tip O'Neill	107
2	John Corkhill	97
3	Curt Welch	95
4	Dave Orr	91
5	John Reilly	79
6	Charlie Comiskey	76
7	John Coleman	74
7	Henry Larkin	74
9	Ernie Burch	72
9	Frank Fennelly	72
9	Bill Phillips	72

WalksBB

1	George Pinkney	70
1	Ed Swartwood	70
3	Reddy Mack	68
4	John Kerins	66
5	Bob Caruthers	64
5	Candy Nelson	64
5	William Robinson	64
5	Harry Stovey	64
9	Charley Jones	61
10	Frank Fennelly	60

Stolen BasesSB

1	Harry Stovey	68
2	Arlie Latham	60
3	Curt Welch	59
4	William Robinson	51
5	Bill McClellan	43
6	Charlie Comiskey	41
7	Bid McPhee	40
8	Hugh Nicol	38
8	Pop Smith	38
10	Ed Swartwood	37

Wins Above ReplacementWAR

1	Bid McPhee	6.7
2	Henry Larkin	6.5
3	Tip O'Neill	5.8
4	Harry Stovey	5.6
5	Frank Fennelly	5.4
6	Dave Orr	5.2
7	William Robinson	5.1
8	Bob Caruthers	5.0
9	Curt Welch	4.9
10	Arlie Latham	4.8

Batting Averagemin 422 PA

1	Pete Browning	.340
2	Dave Orr	.338
3	Tip O'Neill	.328
4	Henry Larkin	.319
5	Arlie Latham	.301
6	Harry Stovey	.294
7	Fred Carroll	.288
8	Tom Brown	.285
9	Curt Welch	.281
10	Dave Foutz	.280
10	Ed Swartwood	.280

On-Base Percentagemin 422 PA

1	Henry Larkin	.390
2	Pete Browning	.389
3	Tip O'Neill	.385
4	William Robinson	.377
4	Harry Stovey	.377
4	Ed Swartwood	.377
7	Arlie Latham	.368
8	Tom Brown	.365
9	Dave Orr	.363
10	Fred Carroll	.362

Slugging Percentagemin 422 PA

1	Dave Orr	.527
2	Henry Larkin	.450
3	Pete Browning	.441
4	Tip O'Neill	.440
4	Harry Stovey	.440
6	Fred Carroll	.422
7	Bid McPhee	.395
8	Curt Welch	.393
9	Charley Jones	.390
10	Dave Foutz	.389

On-Base Plus Sluggingmin 422 PA

1	Dave Orr	.890
2	Henry Larkin	.839
3	Pete Browning	.830
4	Tip O'Neill	.826
5	Harry Stovey	.817
6	Fred Carroll	.783
7	William Robinson	.761
8	Charley Jones	.746
8	Ed Swartwood	.746
10	Arlie Latham	.741

Pitching10 categories

WinsW

1	Dave Foutz	41
1	Ed Morris	41
3	Toad Ramsey	38
4	Tony Mullane	33
5	Bob Caruthers	30
6	Pud Galvin	29
6	Matt Kilroy	29
8	Henry Porter	27
9	Guy Hecker	26
10	Al Atkinson	25

SavesSV

1	Bones Ely	1
1	Dave Foutz	1
1	Nat Hudson	1
1	Ed Morris	1
1	Joe Strauss	1

StrikeoutsSO

1	Matt Kilroy	513
2	Toad Ramsey	499
3	Ed Morris	326
4	Dave Foutz	283
5	Tony Mullane	250
6	Jack Lynch	193
7	Ed Cushman	167
8	Bob Caruthers	166
9	Al Mays	163
9	Henry Porter	163

Innings PitchedIP

1	Toad Ramsey	588.7
2	Matt Kilroy	583.0
3	Ed Morris	555.3
4	Tony Mullane	529.7
5	Dave Foutz	504.0
6	Pud Galvin	434.7
7	Jack Lynch	432.7
8	Henry Porter	424.0
9	Guy Hecker	420.7
10	Al Atkinson	396.7

Complete GamesCG

1	Matt Kilroy	66
1	Toad Ramsey	66
3	Ed Morris	63
4	Dave Foutz	55
4	Tony Mullane	55
6	Jack Lynch	50
7	Pud Galvin	49
8	Henry Porter	48
9	Guy Hecker	45
10	Al Atkinson	44

ShutoutsSHO

1	Ed Morris	12
2	Dave Foutz	11
3	Matt Kilroy	5
3	Adonis Terry	5
5	Toad Ramsey	3
6	Bob Caruthers	2
6	Ed Cushman	2
6	Pud Galvin	2
6	Bill Hart	2
6	Guy Hecker	2
6	George Pechiney	2

Wins Above ReplacementWAR

1	Toad Ramsey	18.9
2	Matt Kilroy	18.2
3	Ed Morris	16.5
4	Dave Foutz	13.7
5	Tony Mullane	12.3
6	Bob Caruthers	10.4
7	Jack Lynch	10.2
8	Pud Galvin	9.9
9	Henry Porter	9.7
10	Guy Hecker	9.7

Earned Run Averagemin 136 IP

1	Dave Foutz	2.11
2	Bob Caruthers	2.32
3	Toad Ramsey	2.45
4	Ed Morris	2.45
5	Pud Galvin	2.67
6	Guy Hecker	2.87
7	Cyclone Miller	2.97
8	Nat Hudson	3.03
9	Adonis Terry	3.09
10	Ed Cushman	3.12

Walks and Hits per Inningmin 136 IP

1	Ed Morris	1.03
2	Bob Caruthers	1.06
3	Toad Ramsey	1.11
4	Dave Foutz	1.11
5	Matt Kilroy	1.13
6	Ed Cushman	1.16
7	Guy Hecker	1.21
8	Nat Hudson	1.22
9	Pud Galvin	1.22
10	Tony Mullane	1.26

Fielding Independent Pitchingmin 136 IP

1	Toad Ramsey	2.59
2	Matt Kilroy	2.60
3	Ed Morris	2.72
4	Dave Foutz	3.02
5	Bob Caruthers	3.07
6	Nat Hudson	3.23
7	Ed Cushman	3.24
8	Bobby Mathews	3.36
9	Adonis Terry	3.39
10	Jack Lynch	3.40

How this page is built

The qualifying line for 1886 is 422 plate appearances and 136 innings pitched. It comes from the length of the schedule — 136 games per team, measured from the season files themselves — at the official rate of 3.1 plate appearances and one inning per team game. Batting average, on-base, slugging, OPS, earned run average and WHIP all use it; a player who came to the plate twice and got two hits does not appear at the top of the batting average table, which is exactly what that line is for. Counting statistics such as home runs and strikeouts have no minimum, because none is needed.

How the rankings were made

Wins above replacement in these tables is ours rather than the source database's, so it will not match a published figure exactly. Also: why every ranking stops at one league, and why some categories are missing on purpose.

Every ranking on this page is worked out inside one league. 1886 is counted as 2 separate leagues — National League and Other leagues, and a player is ranked only against the men in his own. Leading the American League and leading baseball are different claims, and the one we can make from these files is the first. There is no combined table anywhere on this page, because adding two leagues together would produce a number that no record book recognises.

There are 46 ranking tables here, 12 places deep. Players tied on a value share a place, so a table can run past ten rows when the tenth spot is shared, and a league with fewer than ten qualified players in a category is left out rather than shown as a top ten that is not one. A player who did none of the thing is not ranked in it either — a shutout table lists the pitchers who threw one, not the hundreds who threw none tied on zero. Some categories are missing on purpose: nobody leads a league in strikeouts at the plate, in losses, or in home runs allowed. A ranking is meant to mark an achievement, so only achievements are ranked.

Wins above replacement on this page is ours, not the source database's. The hitting and pitching files carry a WAR column that we compute here from the same season lines you see, using park factors and a run environment worked out per season. Published versions elsewhere use different methods and will not match ours exactly. Every other column is the record as the database supplies it.

Names on this page lead to that player's own record. Most of them open a full career page with every season he appeared in. Some open a summary screen instead — we pre-build pages for the players people look for, and everyone else is assembled on demand from the same files, so the numbers are identical either way even though the address looks different.

Data for 1871 to 2025: Lahman Baseball Database 2025, compiled by SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) and licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported. Negro Leagues data licensed from Seamheads.com and included under SABR major-league recommendations (2021-02-11, 2024-06-03). This page ranks the 1886 season lines published on this site, league by league, with WAR worked out here. — the WAR columns are computed here — and they are published under the same CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported licence, as ShareAlike requires. That database is published once a season is complete, so the 2026 figures on this site come from a different place: the MLB Stats API, whose notice reads “Copyright 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Use of any content on this page acknowledges agreement to the terms posted here http://gdx.mlb.com/components/copyright.txt”. Those numbers are MLB Advanced Media, L.P.’s, not SABR (Society for American Baseball Research)’s, and they carry that notice rather than the CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported licence above. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Major League Baseball or any of its clubs.