The Union Association was a league in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

the following season. Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some point during the season did not play a full schedule: four teams folded during the season and were replaced, while Chicago moved to Pittsburgh in late August.

History

The league was founded in September 1883 by the young St. Louis millionaire Henry Lucas, who was eventually named the league's president, with owner Tom Pratt of the Philadelphia franchise serving as vice-president and Warren W. White of the Washington franchise as secretary. After being appointed president, Lucas bought the best available players for his St. Louis franchise at the expense of the rest of the league, which represented an obvious conflict-of-interest situation. Subsequently, the Maroons finished with a record of 94-19 (.832 winning percentage) and won the pennant by 21 games. The league not only suffered from lopsided talent distribution, but also instability (four franchises folded during the season, forcing the league to scramble to replace them with three teams from lower leagues and one new team, while Chicago moved to Pittsburgh mid-season) and a poorly drafted schedule, which saw the league derisively dubbed "The Onion League" by its detractors in the two established leagues. The list of franchise movements is as follows: * April 17: Season opens with the following franchises: Altoona Mountain Citys,

Baltimore Monumentals The Baltimore Monumentals were an American baseball team in the short-lived Union Association. 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 ...

, Boston Reds, Chicago Browns,

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 ...

Philadelphia Keystones The Philadelphia Keystones (also known as the Keystone Club of Philadelphia) were a professional baseball franchise. In 1884, they were a member of the short-lived Union Association. The team was owned by former player Tom Pratt. The Keystones w ...

, St. Louis Maroons, and

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 ...

* May 31: Altoona Mountain Citys folded. * June 7:

Kansas City Cowboys Several sports team in Kansas City, Missouri have used the name Cowboys: *Kansas City Cowboys (Union Association), a baseball team in the Union Association in 1884 *Kansas City Cowboys (National League), a baseball team in the National League in 18 ...

were formed to take over Altoona's games starting on this date. * August 7:

folded. * August 18:

Wilmington Quicksteps The Wilmington Quicksteps (also known as the Quickstep Club of Wilmington) were an 1884 late-season replacement baseball team in the Union Association. They finished with a 2-16 record and were managed by Joe Simmons. The team played their home ga ...

recruited from Eastern League to take over Philadelphia's games, starting on this date. * August 21: Chicago Browns played their last game before the franchise moved to Pittsburgh. * September 15: Wilmington Quicksteps fold, having played their final game on September 12: at this point of the season, the St. Louis Maroons have already clinched the pennant, even though there are still five weeks of games left to play. * September 18: Pittsburgh Stogies (formerly the Chicago Browns) folded. * September 27: St. Paul Saints and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

were recruited from the Northwest League to finish the Chicago/Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia/Wilmington schedules respectively. * October 19: Season concludes. On January 15, 1885, at a scheduled UA meeting in Milwaukee, only the Milwaukee and Kansas City franchises showed up, and the league was promptly disbanded. The St. Louis franchise itself was deemed to be strong enough to enter the National League in 1885, but it faced heavy competition within the city, as the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

were a power in the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

. The lone survivor of the Union moved to Indianapolis and became the Hoosiers after 1886, having compiled records of 36-72 and 43-79 in St. Louis, and they played another three seasons before folding, with records of 37-89, 50-85 and 59-75 for a .360 win percentage in the NL, and an all-time franchise winning percentage of .432. These figures perhaps reveal the gulf in class between the UA and the established major leagues. Perhaps the most obvious impact of the short-lived league was on the career of a player who did ''not'' jump to the new league:

Charles Radbourn Charles Gardner Radbourn (December 11, 1854 – February 5, 1897), 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), ...

. With a schedule of a little over 100 games, most teams employed two regular pitchers, and the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leag ...

in the

featured Radbourn and

Charlie Sweeney Charles Joseph Sweeney (April 13, 1863 – April 4, 1902) 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 ...

. According to the 1991 book ''Glory Fades Away'' by Jerry Lansche, Sweeney fell out of grace with the Providence team in late July after he refused to be replaced in a game while drunk, and was expelled. Rather than come crawling back, Sweeney signed with Lucas' team, leaving Radbourn by himself. Leveraging his situation, Radbourn pledged to stay with the club and be the sole primary pitcher if he would be given a raise and granted free agency at season's end. Radbourn, who already had 24 wins at that point to Sweeney's 17, pitched nearly every game after that, and went on to win an astounding 59 games (a record) during the regular season; he has since been credited with another win for 60 that season. For an encore, he also won all three games of 1884's version of the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

, pitching every inning of a sweep of the

New York Metropolitans The Metropolitan Club (New York Metropolitans or the Mets) was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887. (The ''New York Metropolitan Baseball Club'' was the name chosen in 1961 for the New York ...

of the

. His performance in 1884, along with a generally strong career and an overall record of 309-194 (.614), assured Radbourn his place in the

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

Notable players

The best hitter of the 1884 Union Association was

Fred Dunlap Frederick C. "Sure Shot" Dunlap (May 21, 1859 – December 1, 1902) was a second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball from 1880 to 1891. He was the highest paid player in Major League Baseball from 1884 to 1889. He has also been rated ...

of the Maroons, while star pitchers for the UA included Jim McCormick,

Dupee Shaw Frederick Lander "Dupee" Shaw (May 31, 1859 – January 12, 1938), also sometimes known as "Wizard," was a professional baseball player from 1883 to 1896. The left-handed pitcher played Major League Baseball for six seasons with the Detroit Wolv ...

and

Hugh Daily Hugh Daily (July 17, 1847 – after 1923), nicknamed "One Arm" Daily, was an Irish born professional right-handed pitcher who played six seasons, for seven different teams; the Buffalo Bisons, the Cleveland Blues, and the St. Louis Maroons of t ...

. Notable players that made their debut in the Union Association included Tommy McCarthy, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946, and

Jack Clements John J. "Jack" Clements (July 24, 1864 – May 23, 1941) was an American professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for 17 seasons. Despite being left-handed, Clements caught 1,076 games, almost four times as ma ...

, the only man in baseball history to play a full career as a left-handed catcher. Switch-pitcher

Tony Mullane Anthony John Mullane (January 30, 1859 – April 25, 1944), 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 pi ...

attempted to sign with the Maroons, but the Browns had a

reserve clause The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into ano ...

on Mullane, and he relented after he was threatened with banishment from the NL if he signed.

Highlights

The Union Association saw two no-hitters in its brief existence: one by Dick Burns of the Outlaw Reds on August 26 and one by

Ed Cushman Edgar Leander Cushman (March 27, 1852 – September 26, 1915) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher from – for five teams in three different Major leagues spanning his six-year career. Career Ed was born in Eagleville, Ohio, a ...

of the Brewers on September 28. On July 7, Hugh Daily struck out 19 Boston Reds in a nine-inning game, an "MLB" record that would stand for 102 years, until

Roger Clemens William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...

struck out 20 batters in a game in 1986. Henry Porter and Dupee Shaw got 18-strikeout games. The Chicago Browns executed a

triple play In baseball, a triple play (denoted as TP in baseball statistics) is the act of making three outs during the same play. There have only been 733 triple plays in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1876, an average of just over five per season. Th ...

on June 19.

Standings

Status as a major league

Although the league is conventionally listed as a major league, this status has been questioned by a number of modern baseball historians, most notably

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...

in ''

The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract ''The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract'' is a reference book written by Bill James featuring an overview of professional baseball decade by decade, along with rankings of the top 100 players at each position. The original edition was publi ...

'', who found that the contemporary

baseball guides There have been several Baseball Guides since the 19th century - the ''Spalding Guide'' and '' Reach Guide'' were the primary ones for decades. The two merged eventually and then were replaced by the Guides put out by ''The Sporting News''. The main ...

did not consider the Union Association to be a major league: the earliest record James found of the Union Association being referred to as a major league was

Ernest Lanigan Ernest John Lanigan (January 4, 1873 in Chicago, Illinois – February 6, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American sportswriter and historian on the subject of baseball. He was considered the premier baseball statistician and histori ...

's ''

The Baseball Cyclopedia ''The Baseball Cyclopedia'' was the first encyclopedia covering major league baseball. It was compiled and published by sportswriter Ernest J. Lanigan, who served as the editor of the sports section of the ''New York Press''. The nephew of '' ...

'', published in 1922. While the league had a number of major league players (on the St. Louis franchise, at least), the league's overall talent and organization was notably inferior to that of the two established major leagues. Of the 272 players in the Association, 107 (39.34%) never played in another major league, while 72 (26.47%) played very briefly (less than 300 at bats and/or 50 hits) in other major leagues, and 79 (29.04%) had longer careers but little success in other major leagues. The league's only star player,

, led the league in batting average with .412 (86 points higher than his second-best season, and 120 points higher than his career average), on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, total bases, and home runs (with 13, typical for the era). After the Association folded, Dunlap never hit higher than .274 or more than seven home runs until he retired in 1891, another measure of the inferior quality of the Union Association. In point of fact, if the 1884 UA season is excluded from his career totals, Dunlap's career batting average was .276 (a drop of sixteen points), and he hit 28 career home runs (losing one-third of his career total).

References

External links

*Union Association a
baseball-reference.com

Union Association
- Baseballbiography.com
1884 in baseball
at baseballlibrary.com {{Authority control 1884 establishments in the United States 1884 disestablishments in the United States Defunct major baseball leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 1884