Union Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Union Association | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Founded | 1884 |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Country |  United States |
| Folded | 1884 |
| Last champions | 1884-St. Louis Maroons |
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for only one season in 1884. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season. Chicago moved to Pittsburgh in late August, and four teams folded during the season and were replaced.
Although the league is conventionally listed as a major league, this status has been questioned by a number of modern commentators, most notably Bill James. The league had a number of major league players (on the St. Louis franchise, at least), but the league's overall talent and organization was notably inferior to that of the two established major leagues. For perspective, a relatively modern comparison would be the World Football League of the early 1970s contrasted with the National Football League.
Contents |
[edit] Union Association franchises
- Altoona Mountain Citys
- Baltimore Monumentals
- Boston Reds
- Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies
- Cincinnati Outlaw Reds
- Keystones of Philadelphia
- Washington Nationals
- St. Louis Maroons
[edit] Midseason replacement teams
- Kansas City Cowboys replaced Altoona
- Wilmington Quicksteps replaced Philadelphia (played at Union Street Park)
- Milwaukee Brewers replaced Wilmington (played at Wright Street Grounds)
- St. Paul White Caps replaced Pittsburgh
[edit] History
The league was founded by the young St. Louis millionaire Henry Lucas, and his favoritism toward his own team doomed the league from the beginning. He acquired the best available players for his St. Louis franchise at the expense of the rest of the league. The team won 94 games while losing only 19, for an .832 percentage. Extrapolated to the length of a modern 162-game schedule, that would be 134 wins.
The lopsided competition and the revolving-door nature of its franchises and schedules earned the UA the dubious nickname "The Onion League." The league was desperate to fill out its schedule, and began picking up strays, as it were. The St. Paul franchise was acquired from a failed minor league, and played 9 games, all on the road, trying to earn enough money to get train fare home for the players. In more recent history, failures such as the World Football League of the early 1970s are an apt comparison.
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 were then the strongest team in all of baseball. Thus, the lone survivor of the Union folded after the 1886 season, having compiled records of 36-72 and 43-79. 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. With a schedule of a little over 100 games, most teams employed two regular pitchers. The Providence Grays' entry of the National League featured Radbourn and Charlie Sweeney. According to the 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 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 60 games during the regular season. For an encore, he won all three games of 1884's version of the World Series, pitching every inning of a sweep of the New York Metropolitans of the American Association. His heroic performance in 1884, along with a generally strong career topping 300 wins overall, assured his place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
[edit] Standings
| Team Name | Record | % | Games behind |
| St. Louis | 94-19 | .832 | -- |
| Cincinnati | 69-36 | .657 | 21 |
| Baltimore | 58-47 | .552 | 32 |
| Boston | 58-51 | .532 | 34 |
| Milwaukee | 8-4 | .667 | 35.5 |
| St. Paul | 2-6 | .250 | 39.5 |
| Chicago/Pittsburgh | 41-50 | .451 | 42 |
| Altoona | 6-19 | .240 | 44 |
| Wilmington | 2-16 | .111 | 44.5 |
| Washington | 47-65 | .420 | 46.5 |
| Philadelphia | 21-46 | .313 | 50 |
| Kansas City | 16-63 | .203 | 61 |
[edit] External links
- Union Association at baseball-reference.com.
[edit] References
David Pietrusza Major Leagues: The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present Jefferson (NC): McFarland & Company, 1991. ISBN 0-89950-590-2
