The Baltimore Monumentals were an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

baseball team in the short-lived

Union Association 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. Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...

. In their lone season of 1884, they finished fourth in the UA with a 58–47 record.

History

The team was managed by Bill Henderson. Their top-hitting regular was

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

Emmett Seery John Emmett Seery (February 13, 1861 – August 7, 1930) 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 Kell ...

, who batted .311 with a

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

of .408, and their ace

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

was Bill Sweeney, who was 40–21 with an

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

of 2.59, and pitched 538 of the team's 946 innings. The Monumentals were disbanded after the Union Association folded at the end of the 1884 season.

Ballpark

The Monumentals' home ground was the

Belair Lot Belair Lot is a former baseball ground located in Baltimore, Maryland. The ground was home to the Baltimore Unions of the Union Association in 1884, with the exception of one game at the Madison Avenue Grounds. The ballpark was also called Union ...

, which was sometimes known as the Union Association Grounds. On July 4, 1884, Baltimore played a split double header against the

Cincinnati Outlaw Reds The Cincinnati Outlaw Reds of 1884, also called the Cincinnati Unions, were a member of the short-lived Union Association. One of the league's best teams, they finished third with a record of 69-36. The team was owned by former Cincinnati Stars a ...

and the run-away league leaders, the St. Louis Maroons, which saw a sellout crowd in attendance. The field also hosted a home game for the traveling Chicago Browns team. The team did play one game on August 25, 1884 at the larger Madison Avenue Ground, in a win against the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

. However, the playing field was deemed unfit to use and they returned to the Belair Lot.

Team nickname

Baltimore was the first city to erect a monument to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

. According to the city's article, "Baltimore has more public statues and monuments per capita than any other city in the country." It is assumed that the team's name was a recognition of that fact.

Name confusion

Retroshee

and Baseball Reference call the UA team the Monumentals. However, ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

'' for 1884 consistently called the UA team simply the "Unions", while "Monumentals" referred to a short-lived Baltimore entry in the minor Eastern League.

External links

Baseball Reference Team Index
{{Union Association Union Association baseball teams Sports clubs and teams in Baltimore Baseball teams established in 1884 Baseball teams disestablished in 1884 1884 establishments in Maryland 1884 disestablishments in Maryland Baseball teams in Maryland Defunct baseball teams in Maryland

History

Ballpark

Team nickname

Name confusion

See also

External links