The Toledo Blue Stockings formed as a minor league baseball team in Toledo, Ohio, in 1883. They won the Northwestern League championship in 1883. Their home ballpark was League Park. The following year, they joined the major league American Association. That year, they finished 8th with a 46–58 record. The team returned to the minors the next year and disbanded after the 1885 season.
The team was the only major league team with black players (brothers Moses Fleetwood Walker and Weldy Walker) prior to Jackie Robinson's appearance with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. This was before baseball's color barrier had been firmly established in 1887.
The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A Mud Hens team has played in Toledo for most seasons since 1896, including a 50-year history as a member of the now defunct American Association. The current franchise was established in 1965. They joined Triple-A East in 2021, but this was renamed the International League in 2022.
Adrian Constantine Anson, nicknamed "Cap" and "Pop", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 consecutive seasons. Anson was regarded as one of the greatest players of his era and one of the first superstars of the game. He spent most of his career with the Chicago Cubs franchise, serving as the club's manager, first baseman and, later in his tenure, minority owner. He led the team to six National League pennants in the 1880s. Anson was one of baseball's first great hitters, and probably the first to tally over 3,000 career hits. In addition to being a star player, he innovated managerial tactics such as signals between players and the rotation of pitchers.
Bluestocking is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Elizabeth Vesey (1715–1791), Hester Chapone (1727–1801) and the classicist Elizabeth Carter (1717–1806). In the following generation came Hester Lynch Piozzi (1741–1821), Hannah More (1745–1833) and Frances Burney (1752–1840). The term now more broadly applies to women who show interest in literary or intellectual matters.
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from 1878 until 1885. The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National League title twice, in 1879 and 1884. Following the 1884 season, they won the first World Series over the New York Metropolitans of the American Association. The team folded after the 1885 season.
The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor Leagues until 1947. Racial segregation in professional baseball was sometimes called a gentlemen's agreement, meaning a tacit understanding, as there was no written policy at the highest level of organized baseball, the major leagues. A high minor league's vote in 1887 against allowing new contracts with black players within its league sent a powerful signal that eventually led to the disappearance of blacks from the sport's other minor leagues later that century, including the low minors.
League Park is a former baseball ground located in Toledo, Ohio, US. The ground was home to the Toledo Blue Stockings baseball club of the then-major American Association from May 14, 1884, to September 23, 1884. The club also played minor league games here in 1883 and 1885.
Moses Fleetwood Walker was an American professional baseball catcher who, historically, was credited with being the first black man to play in Major League Baseball (MLB). A native of Mount Pleasant, Ohio, and a star athlete at Oberlin College as well as the University of Michigan, Walker played for semi-professional and minor league baseball clubs before joining the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association (AA) for the 1884 season.
A "cup of coffee" is a North American sports idiom for a short time spent by a minor league player at the major league level. The idea behind the term is that the player was only in the big leagues long enough to have a cup of coffee before being returned to the minors. The term originated in baseball and is extensively used in ice hockey, both of whose professional leagues utilize extensive farm systems; it is rarely used in basketball or American football since neither the NBA nor NFL have implemented a true farm system.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1884 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1883 throughout the world.
Anthony John Mullane, nicknamed "Count" and "The Apollo of the Box", was an Irish Major League Baseball player who pitched for seven teams during his 13-season career. He is best known as an ambidextrous pitcher that could throw left-handed and right-handed, and for having one of the highest career win totals of pitchers not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
John Thomas "Tug" Arundel was an American Major League Baseball catcher born in Romulus, New York. He played in parts of four seasons between 1882 and 1888 with four teams.
Steubenville High School is a public high school in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. It is the only secondary school in the Steubenville City School District.
Charles Hazen Morton was an American Major League Baseball outfielder, manager, and League executive. As a manager, he led a team whose members included the first African-American players in Major League history.
Weldy Wilberforce Walker, sometimes known as Welday Walker and W. W. Walker, was an American baseball player. In 1884, he became the third African American to play Major League Baseball.
The 1884 Toledo Blue Stockings finished with a 45–58 record, eighth place in the American Association. This was the only season the team was in a major league.
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball franchise based in Providence, Rhode Island from 1878 to 1885. During the team's eight seasons in the National League (NL), which then comprised eight teams, they finished third place or higher in the final standings seven times, and won the league championship in both 1879 and 1884. Providence played their home games at the Messer Street Grounds, which was located in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence. The Grays were officially organized on January 16, 1878 by Benjamin Douglas, who became the team's general manager. Henry Root was hired as the team president‚ and Tom Carey was initially hired to be the on-field captain, whose duties were similar to the modern-day manager. On January 21, 1878, Providence applied for membership in the NL, and was officially approved on February 6. On April 10, Root took over ownership of the team, fired Douglas for incompetence and insubordination, and hired Tom York to replace Carey as captain.
Daniel Albion "Jumping Jack" Jones, Jr. was an American professional baseball pitcher, dentist and voice trainer. He played in Major League Baseball in 1883, splitting the season between the Detroit Wolverines and Philadelphia Athletics. With a strong showing in September 1883, he helped the Athletics win the American Association pennant by one game over the St. Louis Browns. Jones also led the Yale Bulldogs baseball team to two intercollegiate championships in the early 1880s.
The Toledo White Stockings were a minor league baseball team based in Toledo, Ohio. In 1894 and 1895, Toledo teams played exclusively as members of the Class A level Western League. Toledo was known as the "Swamp Angels" in 1895, before the team relocated as the result of Blue laws. The Western League evolved to become today's American League in 1901. The team hosted minor league home games at both Whitestocking Park and Ewing Street Park.