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1884 St. Louis Maroons season

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1884 St. Louis Maroons
1884 Union Association Champions
LeagueUnion Association
BallparkUnion Base Ball Park
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
OwnerHenry Lucas
ManagersTed Sullivan, Fred Dunlap
1885 →

The 1884 St. Louis Maroons baseball team finished with a 94–19 record and won the championship of the new Union Association (UA). After the season, the UA folded and the Maroons joined the National League; they were the only UA team to continue past the 1884 season.

To this day, the Maroons' .832 winning percentage hasn't been matched by a professional baseball team;[1] however, due to the relatively low amount of games played, as well as the debate over the classification of the Union Association as a "major league," the 1884 St. Louis Maroons are not usually mentioned in the conversation of baseball teams with the best single-season records of all time. This team also set the record for the best start to a season in baseball history, going 20–0 before losing 8-1 to the Boston Reds on May 24, in their 21st game of the season.[2]

The Maroons scored 887 runs while allowing 429, for a run differential of +458, the best in major-league history,[3] as records and statistics of the UA are recognized by Major League Baseball (MLB).

The team was back in the news in 2015, when the Golden State Warriors started the 2015–16 season with an NBA-record 24 straight wins; this surpassed the Maroons' 20–0 start, which was previously the record for the four major professional sports leagues in the United States.[4]

Regular season

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Second baseman Fred Dunlap
Right fielder Orator Shafer
Pitcher Charlie Sweeney
Left fielder Henry Boyle
First baseman Joe Quinn

Season standings

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Union Association
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Maroons 94 19 .832 49‍–‍6 45‍–‍13
Cincinnati Outlaw Reds 69 36 .657 21 35‍–‍17 34‍–‍19
Baltimore Monumentals 58 47 .552 32 29‍–‍21 29‍–‍26
Boston Reds 58 51 .532 34 34‍–‍22 24‍–‍29
Milwaukee Brewers 8 4 .667 35½ 8‍–‍4 0‍–‍0
St. Paul Saints 2 6 .250 39½ 0‍–‍0 2‍–‍6
Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies 41 50 .451 42 21‍–‍19 20‍–‍31
Altoona Mountain Citys 6 19 .240 44 6‍–‍12 0‍–‍7
Wilmington Quicksteps 2 16 .111 44½ 1‍–‍6 1‍–‍10
Washington Nationals (UA) 47 65 .420 46½ 36‍–‍27 11‍–‍38
Philadelphia Keystones 21 46 .313 50 14‍–‍21 7‍–‍25
Kansas City Cowboys 16 63 .203 61 11‍–‍23 5‍–‍40

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ALT BAL BOS CHI/PIT CIN KC MIL PHI STL STP WSH WIL
Altoona 1–3 1–1 0–0 0–3 0–0 0–0 1–3 0–8 0–0 3–1 0–0
Baltimore 3–1 10–5–1 7–5 4–10 10–2 1–3 10–2 1–14 0–0 11–5 1–0
Boston 1–1 5–10–1 4–8–1 5–11 8–4 2–2 8–3 8–8 0–0 12–4 5–0
Chicago/Pittsburgh 0–0 5–7 8–4–1 7–8 12–4 0–0 3–5 2–14 0–0 4–8–1 0–0
Cincinnati 3–0 10–4 11–5 8–7 9–1 0–0 9–0 4–12 3–0 10–6 2–1
Kansas City 0–0 2–10 4–8 4–12 1–9 0–0 0–4 0–11–1 1–1–1 4–8–1 0–0
Milwaukee 0–0 3–1 2–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–1 0–0
Philadelphia 3–1 2–10 3–8 5–3 0–9 4–0 0–0 0–8 0–0 4–7 0–0
St. Louis 8–0 14–1 8–8 14–2 12–4 11–0–1 0–0 8–0 2–1 13–3 4–0
St. Paul 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–3 1–1–1 0–0 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–0
Washington 1–3 5–11 4–12 8–4–1 6–10 8–4–1 1–3 7–4 3–13 0–0 4–1
Wilmington 0–0 0–1 0–5 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–4 0–0 1–4


Roster

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1884 St. Louis Maroons
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR
C George Baker 80 317 52 .164 0
1B Joe Quinn 103 429 116 .270 0
2B Fred Dunlap 101 449 185 .412 13
SS Milt Whitehead 99 393 83 .211 1
3B Jack Gleason 92 395 128 .324 4
OF Orator Shafer 106 467 168 .360 2
OF Dave Rowe 109 485 142 .293 4
OF Henry Boyle 65 262 68 .260 4

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs

Player G AB H Avg. HR
Jack Brennan 56 231 50 .216 0
Buttercup Dickerson 46 211 77 .365 0
Tom Dolan 19 69 13 .188 0
Tom Ryder 8 28 7 .250 0
Sleeper Sullivan 2 9 1 .111 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Charlie Sweeney 33 271.0 24 7 1.83 192
Billy Taylor 33 263.0 25 4 1.68 154
Henry Boyle 19 150.0 15 3 1.74 88
Perry Werden 16 141.1 12 1 1.97 51
Charlie Hodnett 14 121.0 12 2 2.01 41
John Cattanach 2 17.0 1 1 2.12 13
Dave Rowe 1 9.0 1 0 2.00 2
Milt Whitehead 1 8.0 0 1 9.00 2
C. V. Matteson 1 6.0 1 0 9.00 3
Sleeper Sullivan 1 6.0 1 0 4.50 3

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Fred Dunlap 1 0 0 1 13.50 1

Sources

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References

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  1. ^ "Best Record In A Season By A Team In MLB History". StatMuse. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  2. ^ "1884 Major League Scores, Standings, Box Scores for Saturday, May 24, 1884". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  3. ^ "Highest Run Differential Ever". statmuse.com. August 10, 2022.
  4. ^ "Sherman: 1884 St. Louis Maroons were the last sports team to start 20-0". Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
Preceded by
League created
Union Association Championship Season
1884
Succeeded by
League dissolved