The issue of Sunday ball was an awkward one for the 19th century National League. The League's ban on Sabbath games, in force since 1877, had contributed to the formation of the League's chief rival, the American Association, which played Sunday ball where it was legal to do so (and some times even if it wasn't).

When the Association folded in 1891, the clamor for Sunday play -- the only games many working fans could attend --increased. That clamor was fueled even more by the League's appropriation of the Association's Washington, Louisville, Baltimore and St. Louis franchises.

At their meetings between the 1891 and 1892 season, club owners finally agreed to drop the Sunday ban and allow play where law and custom dictated. Since ballplaying on Sunday was illegal in many Eastern states -- including New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts -- that left it up to the Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and Kentucky clubs. Most readily scheduled Sunday games.

The first of those games was played in Cincinnati on April 17 and it featured a rare event: a home  un by the Reds' second baseman, Bid McPhee. (He hit only four that season.) Clubs that year were given the option of playing or refusing to play Sunday games. For some Eastern clubs, scheduling was awkward. It was common, for example, for Philadelphia, Baltimore or Pittsburgh to host a Saturday game, hop a train to Cleveland or Cincinnati for a Sunday contest, and then return Sunday night. Nor were the participants always safe from righteousindignation. One May Sunday that first season, members of Cleveland's Ministerial Association and Liquor League filed complaints with the authorities. The entire Cleveland and Washington teams were arrested.

ELSEWHERE IN BASEBALL

On June 10, Baltimore catcher Wilbert Robinson hits safely seven times in seven trips to the plate against St. Louis, a feat that goes unduplicated in a nine-inning game for more than seven decades.

The National League schedules a split season. Boston wins the first half, then defeats second-half champion Cleveland in a post-season series.

IN THE WORLD

The Chicago World's Fair, the famed "Columbian Exposition," is held marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the New World.