The original Buffalo Bisons

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

club played in 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 ...

between 1879 and

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 – ...

. The Bisons played their games at Riverside Park (1879–1883) and

Olympic Park An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics ...

(1884–1885) in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. The NL Bisons are included in the history of the minor-league team of the same name that still plays today; it is thus the only NL team from the 19th century that both still exists and no longer plays 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), ...

Year-by-year records

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Pud Galvin James Francis "Pud" Galvin (December 25, 1856 – March 7, 1902) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher in the 19th century. He was MLB's first 300-game winner and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965. Baseball career Galv ...

Jack Chapman John Curtis "Jack" Chapman (May 8, 1843 – June 10, 1916) was an American Major League Baseball player and manager who was born in Brooklyn, New York. He began playing in the National Association when he played for the Brooklyn Atlantics a ...

, , 113, , 38, , 74, , 1, , .339, , 7th, , 49.0 , -

Players of note

Dan Brouthers Dennis Joseph "Dan" Brouthers (; May 8, 1858 – August 2, 1932) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball whose career spanned the period from to , with a brief return in . Nicknamed "Big Dan" for his size, he was and weighed , wh ...

* Bill Crowley *

Davy Force David W. "Davy" Force (July 27, 1849 – June 21, 1918) was a shortstop in Major League Baseball. From 1871 through 1886, he played in the National Association with the Washington Olympics (1871), Troy Haymakers (1872), Baltimore Canaries (18 ...

* Charley Radbourn * Jim O'Rourke *

Hardy Richardson Abram Harding "Hardy" Richardson (April 21, 1855 – January 14, 1931), also known as "Hardie" and "Old True Blue", was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned from 1875 to 1892 with a brief minor league comeback in 1898. He ...

Jack Rowe John Charles "Jack" Rowe (December 8, 1856 – April 25, 1911) was an American professional baseball player, manager and team owner from 1877 to 1898. He played 12 years in Major League Baseball, as a shortstop (657 games), catcher (298 games), ...

Deacon White James Laurie "Deacon" White (December 2, 1847 – July 7, 1939) was an American baseball player who was one of the principal stars during the first two decades of the sport's professional era. The outstanding catcher of the 1870s during baseball ...

Brouthers, Galvin, O'Rourke, Radbourn, and White are members of 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 ...

Highlights and memorable moments

* 1877: A precursor to the Bisons played in the

League Alliance The League Alliance was the first semi-affiliated minor league baseball league. Proposed by Al Spalding on January 15, 1877. Independent baseball teams were to affiliate with National League teams, which would honor their respective contracts. The ...

, finishing with a 79–28–3 record. The team subsequently joined the National League

* 1880 in baseball, 1880: Future Hall of Fame pitcher Charlie Radbourn debuted as a second baseman on May 5 * 1880 in baseball, 1880:

pitched a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

against the

Worcester Ruby Legs The Worcester Worcesters were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team from 1880 to 1882 in the National League. The team is referred to, at times, as the Brown Stockings or the Ruby Legs; however, no contemporary sources from the time exist tha ...

on Aug. 20 * 1881: 2B

recorded 12

putout In baseball statistics, a putout (denoted by ''PO'' or ''fly out'' when appropriate) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods: * Tagging a runner wit ...

s, seven

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

s, two unassisted

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Leag ...

s, participated in 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 ...

, and made just one

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

in 20 chances in a 12-inning game against Worcester, on September 15. *

1882 Events January–March * January 2 ** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates. ** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

-born Curry Foley became the first major league player ever to

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League Ba ...

(including a

grand slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

), on May 25, and

led the National League with a .368

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

: Brouthers won his second consecutive NL batting title with a .374 average and Galvin posted 46 wins *

1884 Events January–March * January 4 – The Fabian Society is founded in London. * January 5 – Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Princess Ida'' premières at the Savoy Theatre, London. * January 18 – Dr. William Price atte ...

: Brouthers hit triples in four consecutive games, set a season team-record with 14

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, and Galvin won 46 games for the second year in a row. Galvin threw another no-hitter, on August 4. The Bisons' 18–0 score remains the greatest margin of victory in a no-hitter in Major League history. Two years after Foley, Jim O'Rourke became the fourth player in MLB history to hit for the cycle, on June 16. *

: Brouthers hit .359, ending second in the NL batting race behind

Roger Connor Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

(.371)

National Baseball Hall of Fame members

{, - class="wikitable" style=text-align:center , - , style="background:#8F7D4B; color:white", Name"Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame."
Buffalo Bisons. Retrieved on August 19, 2018., , style="background:#8F7D4B; color:white", Position, , style="background:#8F7D4B; color:white", Inducted, , style="background:#8F7D4B; color:white", Tenure , - ,

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), ...

, , P, , 1939, , 1880 , - , Jim O'Rourke, , OF, , 1945, , 1881–1884 , - ,

, , 1B, , 1945, , 1881–1885 , - ,

, , P, , 1965, , 1879–1885 , - ,

, , 3B/ C, , 2013, , 1881–1885

References

External links