The 1895 season was scheduled to begin Saturday, October 5. All 11 teams would play home-and-away against each team.
The Baltimore Chimney Swifts and Brooklyn Bridegrooms entered the season as the odds-on favorites. They had continued to play after the abbreviated 1894 season.
At the end of the fall section, the Privateers stood atop the table with 14 points. Baltimore and Philadelphia were only a point behind, although the Libbies had the best goal difference of the three teams.
Pittsburgh faded in the spring season, falling all the way to 7th place. The Privateers only garnered 6 points in the spring from 3 wins. Philadelphia faded as well, falling as low as 8th before jumping up to 5th by season's end.
Washington was mired near the bottom of the table all season. From Week 5 onwards, they jockeyed with Cincinnati for the bottom. At the conclusion of the season, the Scarlets kept out of the basement by a better goal difference (as if -12 could be considered good) than the Insiders.
Being in the 5th spot after the fall section, the Shipwrights steadily marched upward in the table, pulling even on points with Baltimore in Week 20, although 3 behind in goal difference. Boston was desperate for a win in week 21. They were even with Baltimore on points, but the Chimney Swifts had a game in hand. Sadly, the Shipwrights could only manage a draw against Chicago at the West Side Park.
The Shipwrights could only watch during the final game day as they had already played out their season to 26 points.
Baltimore spent the second half of the season always in the top two spots. The Chimney Swifts went into the final weekend against the Fomorians needing only a point to claim the title. However, the Chimney Swifts never played for tie; they only had one draw all season. They came out hard against New York and took an early 1-0. Not content with only one goal, Baltimore continued to push forward and left themselves open to counterattacks. New York punished the Chimney Swifts for three goals and claimed the victory.
Chicago had the opportunity to play spoiler again as they traveled to the Eastern Park to face the Bridegrooms. Shortly before game time, a telegram delivered news of Baltimore's defeat. That meant that Brooklyn and Baltimore were tied on goal difference. A Bridegroom win would net them the title. Inspired by this opportunity, Brooklyn came out flying with 2 goals from Bannister, and tallies from Harrington, Tobin, and Farrell. Golden Shoe winner Brad Forton didn't score that day, but assisted on all of the goals in the 5:1 triumph.
Other Notes on the 1895 season.
Brooklyn was on the good side of the season's most embarrassing win, pasting the Lt. Colonels in Week 15 5:0 at Louisville's Eclipse Park.
St. Louis emerged victorious in the season's highest scoring game, a 5:4 slugfest over Boston.
356 goals were scored over the course of the season, translating to an average of over three goals per game. There were only 5 scoreless ties during the season, although the Libbies were involved in 3 of them.
As voted by the newspaper writers, the Bridegrooms placed 6 players on the Top 11 squad, the Shipwrights had 2, while the Fomorians and Chimney Swifts each had one.
The Bridegrooms' Brad Forton claimed the Golden Shoe with 14 goals for the season, outpacing his nearest competitors by 4 tallies.
Mickey Mackay of the Fomorians was Goalkeeper of the Year with a goals against average of 1.20. He also recorded 5 shutouts.
