The Kansas City Cowboys (also Unions and Kaycees) were a
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 t ...
team in the
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 ...
during its only season, . Referred to as the "Cowboys" mostly by historians, they had no official nickname during their short life and were most frequently referred to by local press of the day as the "Unions" and by the press of other cities as the "Kaycees". They were the first professional baseball team to represent
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...
as well as the city's first major league team. Their home field was called
Athletic Park.
They began play as a replacement for the
Altoona Mountain City Altoona, a variant of "Altona", may refer to:
Places
*Altoona, Alabama
*Altoona, Florida
*Altoona, Iowa
*Altoona, Kansas
*Altoona, Ohio
*Altoona, Pennsylvania
*Altoona, Washington
*Altoona, Wisconsin
Biology
*''Altoona'', a synonym of the moth gen ...
, which collapsed in May, and played out the remainder of the season. Despite a 16-63 (.203 WL percentage) finish, the franchise was one of only two (the
St. Louis club being the other) in the league to make a profit. In contemporary newspaper reports, the team had Altoona's record (6-19) combined with their own and were considered to have finished last in an eight-team league. The Unions disbanded shortly after the Union Association voted to dissolve.
1884 season
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
''Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs''
Other batters
''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs''
Pitching
Starting pitchers
''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''
Other pitchers
''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''
References and external links
1884 Kansas City Cowboys at Baseball Reference
{{Union Association
Defunct Major League Baseball teams
Union Association baseball teams
Kansas City Cowboys
1884 establishments in Missouri
1884 disestablishments in Missouri
Baseball teams established in 1884
Baseball teams disestablished in 1884
Defunct baseball teams in Missouri