June 29 – Archibald "Moonlight" Graham made his major league debut with the New York Giants during a game against the host Brooklyn Superbas at Washington Park. For the bottom of the eighth inning, Graham was sent in to play right field, replacing George Browne. In the top of the ninth, Graham was on deck when Claude Elliott flied out for the third and final out. Graham played the bottom of the ninth at right field but never came to bat, as the Giants won 11–1. That game turned out to be his only appearance in the major leagues. His story was popularized in Shoeless Joe, a novel by W. P. Kinsella, and the subsequent 1989 film Field of Dreams.
July 4 – In one of the greatest duels in baseball history, Cy Young and Rube Waddell go toe to toe in Boston. The A's and Waddell win 4–2 in 20 innings.
August 9 – Mistaking her husband for a burglar, the mother of minor league outfielder Ty Cobb shoots and kills him, an incident that will be cited as the reason for Cobb's intense desire to succeed. He will make his major league debut with the Tigers later this month.
August 16 – The Chicago Cubs purchase the contract of pitcher Jack Pfiester from the Omaha Rourkes of the Western League.
September 1 – The Chicago White Stockings draft Branch Rickey from the Dallas Giants from the Texas League.
October 14 – In Game 5 of the World Series, the New York Giants defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 2–0, to claim their first world championship, four games to one.
February 18 – Tom Poorman, 47, outfielder for five teams from 1880 to 1888, who led American Association in triples and stolen bases in its 1887 season.
March 18 – Dick Higham, 53, English right fielder and catcher who led National League in doubles in its 1876 first season, in runs and doubles in 1878; later an umpire, barred from the sport in 1882.
September 10 – Pete Browning, 44, legendary outfielder who helped to create the Louisville Slugger baseball bat and hit a .341 lifetime for the second-highest mark among right-handed hitters, who also won three batting titles and hit for the cycle twice, in a career that spanned from 1882 to 1894.