1895 Cincinnati Reds season

1895 Cincinnati Reds
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1890)
Location
League Park (since 1890)
Cincinnati (since 1882)
Other information
Owner(s)	John T. Brush
Manager(s)	Buck Ewing
< Previous season     Next season  >

The 1895 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds finished in eighth place in the National League with 66 wins and 64 losses, 21 games behind the Baltimore Orioles.

Regular season

After finishing the 1894 season with a record of only 55–75, the Reds replaced Charles Comiskey as player-manager with first baseman Buck Ewing. Ewing was previously a player-manager with the New York Giants of the Players' League in 1890, leading them to a 74–57 record and a third-place finish. He spent the last two seasons playing with the Cleveland Spiders, and in 1893 with Cleveland, Ewing hit .344 with six home runs and 122 RBI before missing much of the 1894 season with injuries. He also once led the National League in home runs with ten in 1883 while playing for the New York Giants, and in triples with twenty with the Giants in 1884.

The Reds would suffer a big blow, as outfielder Bug Holliday would have an appendectomy and would miss most of the season recovering. Cincinnati signed outfielder Dusty Miller, who last played in the majors with the St. Louis Browns in 1890. The Reds also acquired Billy Rhines, who previously pitched with the team from 1890–1892 before playing with the Louisville Colonels in 1893. Rhines missed the entire 1894 season due to injuries, and had not pitched a full season since 1891 when he went 17–24 with a 2.87 ERA with Cincinnati.

During the season, the Reds acquired outfielder Eddie Burke from the New York Giants.

Cincinnati got off to a hot start, as they had a league-best 18–8 record after twenty-six games. The Reds though went 3–12 in their next fifteen games to fall into seventh place, five games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cincinnati got back into the pennant race after posting a 19–9 clip in their next twenty-eight games, pushing their record to 40–29, sitting in third place, one game behind the Pirates and Cleveland Spiders. The team went on a 5–9 slide in their next fourteen games to fall into sixth place, 5.5 games out of first, before reeling off five wins in a row, but they only moved up to fifth and were still five games behind the first place Spiders. After winning two of their next three games to move into fourth place with a 52–39 record, Cincinnati would win only fourteen of their last thirty-nine games to drop out of the pennant race and finish with a 66–64 record, which put them in eighth place, 20.5 games behind the pennant winning Baltimore Orioles.

Dusty Miller had a spectacular season with the Reds, as he hit a team high .335 with ten homers and 112 RBI, as well as swiping 43 bases in 132 games. Player-manager Buck Ewing hit .318 with five home runs and 94 RBI, while Bid McPhee batted .299 with a homer, 75 RBI and a team high 107 runs scored. Dummy Hoy led the Reds with 50 stolen bases, while hitting .277 with three home runs and 55 RBI.

On the mound, Billy Rhines had a very solid comeback season, leading Cincinnati with a 19–10 record in 38 games pitched, 33 starts and 25 complete games. Frank Dwyer had an 18–15 record with a team-best 4.24 ERA in 37 games.

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	87	43	0.669	—	54–12	33–31
Cleveland Spiders	84	46	0.646	3	49–13	35–33
Philadelphia Phillies	78	53	0.595	9½	51–21	27–32
Chicago Colts	72	58	0.554	15	43–24	29–34
Brooklyn Grooms	71	60	0.542	16½	43–22	28–38
Boston Beaneaters	71	60	0.542	16½	48–19	23–41
Pittsburg Pirates	71	61	0.538	17	44–21	27–40
Cincinnati Reds	66	64	0.508	21	42–22	24–42
New York Giants	66	65	0.504	21½	40–27	26–38
Washington Senators	43	85	0.336	43	31–34	12–51
St. Louis Browns	39	92	0.298	48½	25–41	14–51
Louisville Colonels	35	96	0.267	52½	19–38	16–58

Record vs. opponents

1895 National League Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	BAL	BOS	BR	CHI	CIN	CLE	LOU	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL	WSH
Baltimore	—	10–2	7–5	8–4	8–4	5–6	10–1	9–3	8–4–1	7–5–1	6–6	9–3
Boston	2–10	—	4–7	7–5	5–7	6–6	9–3–1	8–4	5–7	7–5	9–3	9–3–1
Brooklyn	5–7	7–4	—	6–6	5–7	2–10	11–1	9–3–1	5–7–1	7–5–1	9–3	5–7
Chicago	4–8	5–7	6–6	—	5–7	6–5	9–3–1	4–8	6–6	8–4	10–2	9–2–2
Cincinnati	4–8	7–5	7–5	7–5	—	6–6	6–6	4–8	4–8	4–8–1	9–3–1	8–2
Cleveland	6–5	6–6	10–2	5–6	6–6	—	10–2	7–5	7–5	7–5	11–1–2	9–3
Louisville	1–10	3–9–1	1–11	3–9–1	6–6	2–10	—	3–9	2–10	2–10	6–6	6–6
New York	3–9	4–8	3–9–1	8–4	8–4	5–7	9–3	—	3–8	4–8	11–1	8–4
Philadelphia	4–8–1	7–5	7–5–1	6–6	8–4	5–7	10–2	8–3	—	8–4	7–5	8–4
Pittsburg	5–7–1	5–7	5–7–1	4–8	8–4–1	5–7	10–2	8–4	4–8	—	9–3	8–4
St. Louis	6–6	3–9	3–9	2–10	3–9–1	1–11–2	6–6	1–11	5–7	3–9	—	6–5–2
Washington	3–9	3–9–1	7–5	2–9–2	2–8	3–9	6–6	4–8	4–8	4–8	5–6–2	—

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Farmer Vaughn	92	334	102	.305	1	48
1B	Buck Ewing	105	434	138	.318	5	94
2B	Bid McPhee	115	432	129	.299	1	75
OF	Dummy Hoy	107	429	119	.277	3	55
OF	Dusty Miller	132	529	177	.335	10	112

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Eddie Burke	56	228	61	.268	1	25
Bill Gray	52	181	55	.304	1	29
Morgan Murphy	25	82	22	.268	0	16
Bill Merritt	22	79	14	.177	0	12

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Frank Dwyer	37	280.1	18	15	4.24	46
Billy Rhines	38	267.2	19	10	4.81	72
Tom Parrott	41	263.1	11	18	5.47	57
Frank Foreman	32	219	11	14	4.11	55
King Bailey	1	8	1	0	5.63	0

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Bill Phillips	18	109	6	7	6.03	15

References

• 1895 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference