1895 MLB Season Leaders

1 league · 133 team games · 23 ranking tables

Awards

None of these awards existed yet. The earliest award in this database is from 1911, so a 1895 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	Billy Hamilton	166
2	Willie Keeler	162
3	Hughie Jennings	159
4	Jesse Burkett	153
5	Ed Delahanty	149
6	Joe Kelley	148
7	Mike Griffin	140
8	Ed McKean	131
8	Sam Thompson	131
10	Bill Everitt	129

HitsH

1	Jesse Burkett	225
2	Willie Keeler	213
3	Sam Thompson	211
4	Hughie Jennings	204
5	Billy Hamilton	201
6	Bill Everitt	197
7	Duff Cooley	194
7	Ed Delahanty	194
7	Ed McKean	194
10	Jake Stenzel	192

Doubles2B

1	Ed Delahanty	49
2	Sam Thompson	45
3	Hughie Jennings	41
4	Mike Griffin	38
4	Jake Stenzel	38
6	George Davis	36
7	Jimmy Bannon	35
8	Ed Cartwright	34
9	Ed McKean	32
10	Jake Beckley	31
10	Dusty Miller	31

Triples3B

1	Kip Selbach	22
2	Sam Thompson	21
2	Mike Tiernan	21
4	Duff Cooley	20
5	Jake Beckley	19
5	Joe Kelley	19
5	George Van Haltren	19
8	Ed Cartwright	17
8	Tommy Dowd	17
8	Ed McKean	17

Home RunsHR

1	Sam Thompson	18
2	Bill Joyce	17
3	Jack Clements	13
4	Ed Delahanty	11
5	John Anderson	10
5	Joe Kelley	10
5	Bill Lange	10
5	Deacon McGuire	10
5	Dusty Miller	10
5	Billy Nash	10

Runs Batted InRBI

1	Sam Thompson	165
2	Steve Brodie	134
2	Joe Kelley	134
4	Hughie Jennings	125
5	Ed McKean	119
6	Dusty Miller	112
7	Jake Beckley	111
7	George LaChance	111
9	Billy Nash	110
10	Ed Delahanty	106

WalksBB

1	Billy Hamilton	96
1	Bill Joyce	96
3	Mike Griffin	93
4	Ed Delahanty	86
5	Joe Kelley	77
6	Jesse Burkett	74
6	Cupid Childs	74
6	Billy Nash	74
9	Bid McPhee	73
10	Tommy McCarthy	72

Stolen BasesSB

1	Billy Hamilton	97
2	Bill Lange	67
3	John McGraw	61
4	Joe Kelley	54
5	Hughie Jennings	53
5	Jake Stenzel	53
7	Ed Cartwright	50
7	Billy Hoy	50
9	George Davis	48
9	Arlie Latham	48

Wins Above ReplacementWAR

1	Hughie Jennings	7.7
2	Billy Hamilton	7.5
3	Ed Delahanty	7.3
4	Bill Lange	6.5
5	Mike Griffin	5.8
6	Jesse Burkett	5.7
7	Sam Thompson	5.6
8	Joe Kelley	5.6
9	Jake Stenzel	5.3
10	Bill Joyce	5.3

Batting Averagemin 412 PA

1	Jesse Burkett	.405
2	Ed Delahanty	.404
3	Sam Thompson	.392
4	Billy Hamilton	.389
4	Bill Lange	.389
6	Hughie Jennings	.386
7	Willie Keeler	.377
8	Jake Stenzel	.371
9	John McGraw	.369
10	Joe Kelley	.365

On-Base Percentagemin 412 PA

1	Ed Delahanty	.500
2	Billy Hamilton	.490
3	Jesse Burkett	.482
4	John McGraw	.459
5	Joe Kelley	.456
5	Bill Lange	.456
7	Hughie Jennings	.444
7	Jake Stenzel	.444
9	Mike Griffin	.442
10	Bill Joyce	.440

Slugging Percentagemin 412 PA

1	Sam Thompson	.654
2	Ed Delahanty	.617
3	Bill Lange	.575
4	Joe Kelley	.546
5	Jake Stenzel	.535
6	Mike Tiernan	.527
7	Bill Joyce	.526
8	Jesse Burkett	.519
9	Hughie Jennings	.512
10	Dusty Miller	.510

On-Base Plus Sluggingmin 412 PA

1	Ed Delahanty	1.117
2	Sam Thompson	1.085
3	Bill Lange	1.032
4	Joe Kelley	1.003
5	Jesse Burkett	1.001
6	Billy Hamilton	.985
7	Jake Stenzel	.978
8	Bill Joyce	.966
9	Hughie Jennings	.957
10	Mike Tiernan	.955

Pitching10 categories

WinsW

1	Cy Young	35
2	Pink Hawley	31
2	Bill Hoffer	31
4	Kid Nichols	27
5	George Cuppy	26
5	Clark Griffith	26
5	Jack Taylor	26
8	Kid Carsey	24
9	Amos Rusie	23
10	Adonis Terry	21

SavesSV

1	Ernie Beam	3
1	Tom Parrott	3
3	Jack Cronin	2
3	George Cuppy	2
3	John Foreman	2
3	Jake Hewitt	2
3	John Malarkey	2
3	Win Mercer	2
3	Kid Nichols	2
3	Bill Phillips	2
3	Arlie Pond	2

StrikeoutsSO

1	Amos Rusie	201
2	Kid Nichols	148
3	Pink Hawley	142
4	Theodore Breitenstein	131
5	Cy Young	121
6	Jack Stivetts	111
7	Jack Taylor	93
8	George Cuppy	91
9	Adonis Terry	88
10	Bill Hart	85
10	Bill Hutchison	85
10	Win Mercer	85

Innings PitchedIP

1	Pink Hawley	444.3
2	Theodore Breitenstein	438.7
3	Amos Rusie	393.3
4	Kid Nichols	390.7
5	Cy Young	369.7
6	George Cuppy	353.0
6	Clark Griffith	353.0
8	Kid Carsey	342.3
9	Jack Taylor	335.0
10	Bill Hoffer	314.0

Complete GamesCG

1	Theodore Breitenstein	47
2	Pink Hawley	44
3	Kid Nichols	43
4	Amos Rusie	42
5	Clark Griffith	39
6	George Cuppy	36
6	Cy Young	36
8	Kid Carsey	35
9	Jack Taylor	33
10	Bill Hoffer	32
10	Win Mercer	32

ShutoutsSHO

1	Pink Hawley	4
1	Bill Hoffer	4
1	Sadie McMahon	4
1	Amos Rusie	4
1	Cy Young	4
6	Cozy Dolan	3
6	Con Lucid	3
8	Frank Dwyer	2
8	Bill Hutchison	2
8	Brickyard Kennedy	2

Wins Above ReplacementWAR

1	Pink Hawley	10.3
2	Kid Nichols	10.2
3	Cy Young	9.9
4	Amos Rusie	9.6
5	Theodore Breitenstein	8.5
6	George Cuppy	8.5
7	Clark Griffith	8.2
8	Jack Taylor	8.2
9	Adonis Terry	6.8
10	Dad Clarke	6.8

Earned Run Averagemin 133 IP

1	Al Maul	2.46
2	Pink Hawley	3.18
3	Bill Hoffer	3.21
4	John Foreman	3.22
5	Cy Young	3.26
6	Dad Clarke	3.39
7	Kid Nichols	3.41
8	George Cuppy	3.54
9	Amos Rusie	3.73
10	Duke Esper	3.92

Walks and Hits per Inningmin 133 IP

1	Cy Young	1.19
2	Al Maul	1.27
3	Pink Hawley	1.28
4	Bill Hoffer	1.34
5	Kid Nichols	1.34
6	George Cuppy	1.36
7	Amos Rusie	1.38
8	John Foreman	1.40
9	Dad Clarke	1.41
10	Cozy Dolan	1.42

Fielding Independent Pitchingmin 133 IP

1	Cy Young	3.95
2	Kid Nichols	4.05
3	Dad Clarke	4.09
4	Amos Rusie	4.12
5	Jack Taylor	4.17
6	Pink Hawley	4.19
7	George Cuppy	4.27
8	Billy Rhines	4.32
9	Duke Esper	4.43
10	Al Maul	4.44

How this page is built

The qualifying line for 1895 is 412 plate appearances and 133 innings pitched. It comes from the length of the schedule — 133 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. 1895 is counted as a single league, National League, 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 23 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 1895 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.