St. Louis Maroons/Indianapolis Hoosiers

Last updated
St. Louis Maroons/Indianapolis Hoosiers
Years 1884–1889
Based in
St. Louis, Missouri (1884–1886)
Indianapolis (1887–1889)
Major league affiliations
Ballpark
Colors

Maroon, white (St. Louis, 1884–1885)
  
Black, white (St. Louis, 1886)
  
Navy, yellow, white (Indianapolis, 1887–1889)
   

Contents

Owners
Managers
Major league titles
  • Union Association pennants1 (1884)
  • National League pennants0
1888 Indianapolis Hoosiers 1888 Indianapolis Hoosiers.jpg
1888 Indianapolis Hoosiers

The St. Louis Maroons were a professional baseball club based in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1884–1886. The club, established by Henry Lucas, were the one near-major league quality entry in the Union Association, a league that lasted only one season, due in large part to the dominance of the Maroons. When the UA folded after playing just one season, the Maroons joined the National League. In 1887 the Maroons relocated to Indianapolis and became the Indianapolis Hoosiers, where they played three more seasons before folding.

St. Louis Maroons

The St. Louis Maroons debuted on April 20, 1884, at the Union Base Ball Park, defeating Chicago Browns, 7–2.

Henry Lucas, the founder and president of the Union Association and owner of the Maroons, had stocked his team with most of the league's best talent. They started the season 20–0, a mark that would not be topped in major American professional sports until the Golden State Warriors of the NBA surpassed it 131 years later in the 2015–16 season. The mark has never been surpassed in Major League Baseball, with the closest teams being the 1982 Atlanta Braves, the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers, and the 2023 Tampa Bay Rays (who all started the season 13–0). The Maroons went 94–19 in that season, with their closest rivals, the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds, finishing 21 games behind.

For comparison, the Maroons' record would project to 135–27 under the modern schedule of 162 games, while Pythagorean expectation based on the Maroons' results (887 runs scored, 429 runs allowed) and a 162-game schedule would translate to a record of 132–30, but these results are of questionable merit, and serve to indicate something of the quality of the remainder of the organization, which many derided as the "Onion League".

One of the Maroons' major stars was pitcher Charlie Sweeney, best known today as the pitcher who left Old Hoss Radbourn to shoulder the pitching burden alone with the Providence Grays of the National League. Radbourn went on to pitch most of the rest of the Providence club's games, winning an MLB record total of 60. Sweeney won 24 with the Maroons after having already won 17 with the Grays, so he had a fair year as well.

After the Union Association collapsed, the National League was persuaded to bring the St. Louis Union entry into the established league, to try to provide some competition for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association. Unfortunately for the Maroons, the Browns were at the peak of their game, winning pennants four straight years (1885–1888). Meanwhile, the Maroons, facing much better competition in the National League, finished well off the National League pace in 1885 and 1886, not gaining anything in the latter season from new uniforms sporting large black diamonds on the chest.

Fred Dunlap hit for the cycle for the Maroons on May 24, 1886.

Following the 1886 season, the team was sold to the league, which in turn sold it to John T. Brush. He moved the team to Indianapolis, where they were renamed the Hoosiers. [1] Brush owned the stadium in Indianapolis, which had been previously used by the previous Hoosier team.

Indianapolis Hoosiers

This was the second major league team to bear the name Indianapolis Hoosiers, though they bore no relationship to the earlier team that played in 1884. The Hoosiers three seasons in the National League from 1887 to 1889 and posted records of 37–89 (8th), 50–85 (7th) and 59–75 (7th), respectively.

The team played its weekday home games at Athletic Park. Due to blue laws, the club staged Sunday games outside the city limits, at Bruce Grounds in 1887 and at Indianapolis Park during 1888–89. When the team folded, Brush became part-owner of the New York Giants.

Baseball Hall of Fame member Amos Rusie made his big league debut with the 1889 Hoosiers. Jack Glasscock hit for the cycle for the Hoosiers on August 8, 1889.

Baseball Hall of Famers

St. Louis Maroons/Indianapolis Hoosiers Hall of Famers
InducteePositionTenureInducted
Amos Rusie P 18891977

See also

Related Research Articles

The following is a list of United States Major League Baseball teams that played in the National League during the 19th century. None of these teams, other than Athletic and Mutual, had actual names during this period; sportswriters however often applied creative monickers which are still, mistakenly, used today as "team names" following a convention established in 1951.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Radbourn</span> American baseball player (1854–1897)

Charles Gardner Radbourn, nicknamed "Old Hoss", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for Buffalo (1880), Providence (1881–1885), Boston (1886–1889), Boston (1890), and Cincinnati (1891).

The American Association of Base Ball Clubs (AA) was a professional baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from 1882 to 1891. Together with the National League (NL), founded in 1876, the AA participated in an early version of the World Series seven times versus the champion of the NL in an interleague championship playoff tournament. At the end of its run, several AA franchises joined the NL. After 1891, the NL existed alone, with each season's champions being awarded the Temple Cup (1894–1897).

The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Glasscock</span> American baseball player (1857–1947)

John Wesley Glasscock was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for several teams from 1879 to 1895. Nicknamed "Pebbly Jack", he was the top player at his position in the 1880s during the sport's bare-handed era. He led the National League in fielding percentage seven times and in assists six times; he was the only shortstop to lead in fielding percentage and total chances in a season three different times until Luis Aparicio matched him. Ozzie Smith eventually surpassed Glasscock's marks in the 1980s; Glasscock also led the NL in double plays four times and in putouts twice. He won the 1890 batting title with a .336 average for the New York Giants and led the league in hits twice; in his final season he became the sixth major league player to make 2,000 hits. He was the first player to appear in over 600 games as a shortstop, and ended his career with major league records for games (1,628), putouts (2,821), assists (5,630), total chances (9,283), double plays (620) and fielding percentage (.910) at the position. When he retired he ranked fifth in major league history in games (1,736) and at bats (7,030), seventh in total bases (2,630) and eighth in doubles (313).

The Western League was the name of several minor league baseball leagues that operated between 1885 and 1900. These leagues were focused mainly in the Midwestern United States.

The following are the baseball events of the year 1884 throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Sweeney</span> American baseball player (1863–1902)

Charles Joseph Sweeney was an American Major League Baseball pitcher from 1883 through 1887. He played for the Providence Grays, St. Louis Maroons, and Cleveland Blues, and is best known for his performance in 1884, when he won 41 games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Gore</span> American baseball player (1854–1933)

George F. Gore, nicknamed "Piano Legs", was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for 14 seasons, eight for the Chicago White Stockings, five for the New York Giants, one for the St. Louis Browns (1892) of the National League (NL), and the New York Giants of the Players' League (1890).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John T. Brush</span> American baseball executive

John Tomlinson Brush was an American baseball executive who is primarily remembered as the principal owner of the New York Giants franchise in Major League Baseball from late in the 1902 season until his death following the 1912 season. He also owned the Indianapolis Hoosiers in the late 1880s, followed by ownership of the Cincinnati Reds for a decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Lucas (baseball)</span> Major League Baseball owner and league president

Henry Van Noye Lucas was a baseball executive in the late 19th century, president of the Union Association during its one season (1884), and owner of the St. Louis Maroons for three seasons (1884–1886).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Burns</span> American baseball player (1863–1937)

Richard Simon Burns was an American professional baseball player from 1883 to 1890. He played three seasons in Major League Baseball, principally as a pitcher and outfielder, for the Detroit Wolverines, Cincinnati Outlaw Reds and St. Louis Maroons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kerins</span> American baseball player (1858–1919)

John Nelson Kerins was an American Major League Baseball player who appeared mainly at first base but also at catcher and in the outfield. He played for the Indianapolis Hoosiers (1884), Louisville Colonels (1885-1889), Baltimore Orioles (1889) and St. Louis Browns (1890). He was a player-manager for Louisville in 1888 and for St. Louis in 1890, and he umpired American Association games through 1891.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fatty Briody</span> American baseball player (1858–1903)

Charles F. "Fatty" Briody, nicknamed "Alderman", was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned from 1877 to 1888. He played eight seasons in Major League Baseball— for the Troy Trojans (1880), Cleveland Blues (1882–1884), Cincinnati Outlaw Reds (1884), St. Louis Maroons (1885), Kansas City Cowboys (NL) (1886), Detroit Wolverines (1887) and Kansas City Cowboys (AA) (1888).

Charles Augustus "Chub" Collins was a Canadian professional baseball player and politician. He played two seasons in Major League Baseball from 1884 to 1885 as a second baseman and shortstop for the Buffalo Bisons, Indianapolis Hoosiers, and Detroit Wolverines. He later served as the mayor of Dundas, Ontario, from 1901 to 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclone Miller</span> American baseball player (1859–1916)

Joseph H. "Cyclone" Miller was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He played just two seasons in the majors, but did play with four teams in three leagues. He stood at 5'9".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmett Seery</span> American baseball player (1861–1930)

John Emmett Seery was an outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played for the Baltimore Monumentals, Kansas City Cowboys, St. Louis Maroons, Indianapolis Hoosiers, Brooklyn Ward's Wonders, Cincinnati Kelly's Killers, and Louisville Colonels from 1884 to 1892. His first six teams ended their existence in a season in which he played for them. In 916 career Major League games, Seery batted .252 with 893 hits. He was 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighed 145 pounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Donnelly (baseball)</span> American baseball player (1865–1915)

James B. Donnelly was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned from 1884 to 1900. He played all or part of 11 seasons in Major League Baseball, principally as a third baseman, for nine different major league clubs. In his 11 major league seasons, Donnelly compiled a .230 career batting average and led the National League's third basemen with 73 errors in 1886 and 275 assists in 1887.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pretzels Getzien</span> German baseball player (1864–1932)

Charles H. "Pretzels" Getzien was a German-born American professional baseball pitcher. He played all or parts of nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with five different National League teams from 1884 to 1892. He was the first German-born regular player in the National League.

The Kansas City Blues was the primary moniker of the minor league baseball teams based in Kansas City, Missouri between 1885 and 1901. The Kansas City minor league teams played as members of the Class A level Western League in 1885 and 1887, the Western Association in 1888, 1890 and 1891, Western League in 1892, Western Association in 1893 and Western League from 1894 to 1899. The Blues transitioned to the American League in 1900, a year before the league became a major league, before returning to the Western League in 1901. The American League Blues evolved into today's Minnesota Twins. The minor league team played under the "Cowboys" moniker in 1885, 1887 and 1894. The Kansas City Blues/Cowboys played home games at Exposition Park.

References

  1. ↑ Cash, John David. Before They Were Cardinals: Major League Baseball in Nineteenth-Century St. Louis. University of Missouri Press, 2002, ISBN   0-8262-1401-0, ISBN   978-0-8262-1401-0, p. 107
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.