The 1890 Buffalo Bisons baseball team was a member of the short lived Players' League, and an "outlaw" franchise that used the name of the existing minor league Buffalo Bisons without permission.[not verified in body] The Players' League Buffalo Bisons compiled a 36–96 record, which landed them in last place, 46½ games behind the pennant-winning Boston Reds and 20 games behind the seventh-place Cleveland Infants in the eight-team league. After the season, the league folded, as did the team and the stadium continued to home field for their International League rival Bisons.
| 1890 Buffalo Bisons | |
|---|---|
| League | Players' League |
| Ballpark | Olympic Park |
| City | Buffalo, New York |
| Owners | Connie Mack (minority) |
| Managers | Jack Rowe, Jay Faatz |
Regular season edit
Season standings edit
| Players' League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Reds | 81 | 48 | 0.628 | — | 48–21 | 33–27 |
| Brooklyn Ward's Wonders | 76 | 56 | 0.576 | 6½ | 46–19 | 30–37 |
| New York Giants | 74 | 57 | 0.565 | 8 | 47–19 | 27–38 |
| Chicago Pirates | 75 | 62 | 0.547 | 10 | 46–23 | 29–39 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 68 | 63 | 0.519 | 14 | 35–30 | 33–33 |
| Pittsburgh Burghers | 60 | 68 | 0.469 | 20½ | 37–28 | 23–40 |
| Cleveland Infants | 55 | 75 | 0.423 | 26½ | 31–30 | 24–45 |
| Buffalo Bisons | 36 | 96 | 0.273 | 46½ | 23–42 | 13–54 |
Record vs. opponents edit
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | BR | BUF | CHI | CLE | NY | PHI | PIT | |||||||||
| Boston | — | 11–7 | 14–6–1 | 12–8 | 12–8 | 12–8 | 10–6 | 10–5 | |||||||||
| Brooklyn | 7–11 | — | 12–6–1 | 10–9 | 12–8 | 7–10 | 14–6 | 14–6 | |||||||||
| Buffalo | 6–14–1 | 6–12–1 | — | 5–15 | 7–9 | 3–17 | 4–16 | 5–13 | |||||||||
| Chicago | 8–12 | 9–10 | 15–5 | — | 13–7 | 9–9–1 | 10–10 | 11–9 | |||||||||
| Cleveland | 8–12 | 8–12 | 9–7 | 7–13 | — | 8–11 | 8–11–1 | 7–9 | |||||||||
| New York | 8–12 | 10–7 | 17–3 | 9–9–1 | 11–8 | — | 5–12 | 14–6 | |||||||||
| Philadelphia | 6–10 | 6–14 | 16–4 | 10–10 | 11–8–1 | 12–5 | — | 7–12 | |||||||||
| Pittsburgh | 5–10 | 6–14 | 13–5 | 9–11 | 9–7 | 6–14 | 12–7 | — | |||||||||
Opening Day lineup edit
Roster edit
| 1890 Buffalo Bisons | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers
Infielders |
Outfielders | Manager | ||||||
Brooklyn vs Buffalo game and the story of Lewis edit
A player known only as "Lewis" made his only MLB appearance in a game on July 12, 1890 against the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders. Born in Brooklyn, New York,[2] Lewis, according to Macht, was a "local boy" who stated he was a pitcher and asked for a tryout when Buffalo played against the Ward's Wonders on July 12, 1890, at Eastern Park in Brooklyn.[3][4][5] Bisons player–manager Jack Rowe started Lewis on the mound.[3]
Lewis probably[note 1] pitched in the top of the first, second, and third innings of the Bisons' game on July 12, during which he allowed 20 earned runs over three innings pitched for an ERA of 60.00.[note 2] After the third inning, he moved to left field and left fielder Ed Beecher switched to pitcher.[3][2][4] In the third inning Lou Bierbauer hit two home runs off Lewis's pitching;[9] this was only the second time a batter in a major league game had hit two home runs in a single inning.[10][11] Lewis did manage to record at least one strikeout as a pitcher.[2][7] Defensively, Lewis recorded two putouts and three assists on five total chances as a pitcher, with no putouts or assists on no chances as a left fielder. As a batter, Lewis recorded one hit over five at bats for a batting average of .200, and scored a run.[2] Lewis is credited with only two innings played in the outfield,[2] though several box scores[4][1][12] only list nine players as having played for Buffalo in the game, the game as lasting nine innings, and Lewis as having played only in left field and as a pitcher. A July 13, 1890 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described Beecher as an "improvement" over Lewis as a pitcher, but Sporting Life's notes on the game say Beecher "fared but little better".[1][13]
Brooklyn won the game 28–16. The total of 44 runs set a record for the most combined runs scored in a single MLB game which stood until 1922.[14] Lewis recorded a loss for his dismal performance.[2] According to a box score in The New York Times, 600 people attended the game,[4] compared to attendances of 2,156 for a PL game in Boston, 2,508 for a PL game in Philadelphia, and 4,304 for a PL game in New York.[15] The game in which Lewis played lasted two hours and three minutes, according to The New York Times; Lon Knight and Charley Jones served as umpires.[4] The wind during the game was described as "chilly",[16] with "awfully stiff" winds blowing in from Jamaica Bay and fans "shiveringly [clinging] to their seats".[8]
Several articles recounted Lewis's performance in the game. A contemporary writer for The Pittsburgh Press described Lewis's tryout as a "disastrous experiment" and called the game "one of the greatest slugging matches ever seen since curve pitching came into vogue",[12] while Sporting Life reported that "[t]he Buffalos tried a new pitcher named Lewis in the box, but after three innings he retired to left field, a much disgusted ball tosser."[1] The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said that "the way [Ward's Wonders] pounded Lewis' delivery must have convinced that aspirant for fame that the [P]layers' [L]eague [was] above his class", and described him as "unfortunate".[13] Other contemporary papers covered the game: the Buffalo Courier said Lewis was "slaughtered";[17] the New-York Tribune called him a "failure";[18] and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the game was "full of accidents", though "Lewis was used worse than all the rest, as he was knocked completely out of the box".[16] A 1963 article in Baseball Digest described Lewis as a "neophyte" whose "first name has been lost to posterity",[19] and as of 2007[update], Lewis's first name remained "mercifully unknown", according to Macht.[3]
Lewis did not make another appearance for the Bisons during the rest of the season, and his first name, date of birth, date of death, and batting and pitching stances were unknown as of June 2021[update],[3][2] though a writer for The Pittsburgh Press described Lewis as a "young man" when he played for the team.[12] The Brooklyn Daily Eagle used the performance to argue that Buffalo should ask other clubs to borrow pitchers for the team.[13]
Lewis's ERA is given as 60.00, by allowing 20 earned runs in three innings, but there is a problem with this. Since Buffalo committed eight errors that day (Brooklyn was even less astute in the field, with eleven miscues) it seems unlikely that all 20 of the runs Lewis allowed were earned; and one look at the boxscore (q.v.) reveals this to be impossible. Only fourteen of the 28 runs Brooklyn scored are credited as earned, so at least six (and potentially as many as fourteen) of the scores allowed by the unfortunate Lewis had to be unearned. This places Lewis' true ERA somewhere between 18.00 and 42.00, not 60.00 (that and his WHIP rate of 6.667 would be both the highest on the Bisons and the highest in the history of the PL).[20][21][22] Lewis does not hold the MLB single-season highest ERA record among non-qualifiers, which is infinity.[23] (If not Lewis, the current MLB record for the highest ERA with at least three innings pitched is 30.00 by Dave Davidson, who gave up ten earned runs in three innings from 2007 to 2009.) Lewis is not listed as having played in any other major or minor-league games.[2]
Player stats edit
Batting edit
Starters by position edit
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Connie Mack | 123 | 503 | 134 | .266 | 0 | 53 |
| 1B | Deacon White | 122 | 439 | 114 | .260 | 0 | 47 |
| 2B | Sam Wise | 119 | 505 | 148 | .293 | 5 | 102 |
| 3B | John Irwin | 77 | 308 | 72 | .234 | 0 | 34 |
| SS | Jack Rowe | 125 | 504 | 126 | .250 | 2 | 76 |
| OF | Dummy Hoy | 122 | 493 | 147 | .298 | 1 | 53 |
| OF | Ed Beecher | 126 | 536 | 159 | .297 | 3 | 90 |
| OF | Jocko Halligan | 57 | 211 | 53 | .251 | 3 | 33 |
Other batters edit
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spider Clark | 69 | 260 | 69 | .265 | 1 | 25 |
| Larry Twitchell | 44 | 172 | 38 | .221 | 2 | 17 |
| John Rainey | 42 | 166 | 39 | .235 | 1 | 20 |
| Jay Faatz | 32 | 111 | 21 | .189 | 1 | 16 |
| John Carney | 28 | 107 | 29 | .271 | 0 | 13 |
| Lewis | 1 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Gillespie | 1 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching edit
Starting pitchers edit
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Haddock | 35 | 290.2 | 9 | 26 | 5.76 | 123 |
| Bert Cunningham | 25 | 211.0 | 9 | 15 | 5.84 | 78 |
| George Keefe | 25 | 196.0 | 6 | 16 | 6.52 | 55 |
| Larry Twitchell | 13 | 104.1 | 5 | 7 | 4.57 | 29 |
| General Stafford | 12 | 98.0 | 3 | 9 | 5.14 | 21 |
| Alex Ferson | 10 | 71.0 | 1 | 7 | 5.45 | 13 |
| Lady Baldwin | 7 | 62.0 | 2 | 5 | 4.50 | 13 |
| John Buckley | 4 | 34.0 | 1 | 3 | 7.68 | 4 |
| Bill Duzen | 2 | 13.0 | 0 | 2 | 13.85 | 5 |
| Dan Cotter | 1 | 9.0 | 0 | 1 | 14.00 | 0 |
| Fred Doe | 1 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 12.00 | 2 |
| Lewis | 1 | 3.0 | 0 | 1 | 60.00 | 1 |
Other pitchers edit
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gus Krock | 4 | 25.0 | 0 | 3 | 6.12 | 5 |
Relief pitchers edit
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deacon White | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |
| Ed Beecher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12.00 | 0 |
| Spider Clark | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 2 |
Notes edit
- ^ Home teams in the late 19th century could select which team batted first, the home team often opting to bat first to get the first opportunity to hit using the game ball, only one of which was often available for the entire game.[6] A recollection in The Illustrated Buffalo Express and in the Brooklyn Citizen state that Brooklyn batted first,[7][8] though it is recorded that Brooklyn batter Lou Bierbauer hit his two home runs in the bottom of the third inning.[9]
- ^ Baseball-Reference lists Lewis as allowing 20 earned runs,[2] though various box scores[1][4][8] state Brooklyn only scored 14 earned runs over the entire game. A recap of Lewis's pitching in The Illustrated Buffalo Express was as follows: "Lewis sent Ward and Joyce to first on balls, and Ward scored on a passed ball. Orr made a home run and Joyce run in [sic] ahead of him. Van Haltren got a base on balls and scored on McGeachy's single. Daly [sic] hit safe and McGeachy scored. ... In the second the Brooklyns added six more runs to their credit on hits by Orr, Daly [sic], Sowders, Ward, Joyce, and Andrews. ... In the third on Bauer's two home runs, McGeachy's two-bagger, Daly's, Sowder's, Ward's and Andrew's singles added eight runs to the Brooklyn's score".[8] A different recollection appeared in the Brooklyn Citizen.[7]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e "Base Ball: Players' League" (PDF). Sporting Life. Vol. 15, no. 16. July 19, 1890. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2014 – via LA84 Foundation.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Lewis". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Macht, Norman L. (2007). Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball. University of Nebraska Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-8032-0990-9.
- ^ a b c d e f "All our Local Clubs Won: The Cincinnatis Leave the Field, Causing a Scene" (PDF). The New York Times. July 13, 1890.
- ^ Snyder-Grenier, Ellen Marie (1996). Brooklyn!: An Illustrated History. Temple University Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-59213-082-5.
- ^ Simon, Gary A.; Simonoff, Jeffrey S. (2006). ""Last Licks": Do They Really Help?". The American Statistician. 60 (1): 13. doi:10.1198/000313006X90350. JSTOR 27643721. S2CID 219593418.
- ^ a b c "The Baseball World: Results of Games Played on Many Diamonds Yesterday". Brooklyn Citizen. July 13, 1890. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "Just Think of It". The Illustrated Buffalo Express. July 13, 1890. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Lou Bierbauer Career Home Runs". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ Dickson, Paul (2011). The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (3rd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. p. 527. ISBN 978-0-393-07349-2.
- ^ Vincent, Dave (2007). Home Run: The Definitive History of Baseball's Ultimate Weapon. Potomac Books. Chapter 1. ISBN 978-1-61234-459-1.
- ^ a b c "A Disastrous Experiment". The Pittsburgh Press. July 13, 1890. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Fine Fun for Ward: His Wonders have Taken Four Straight Games". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 13, 1890. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Liebman, Ronald G. (1980). "The Highest Scoring Games". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
- ^ "Yesterday's Ball Games: Player's League". The Boston Globe. July 13, 1890. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Brooklyn, 28; Buffalo, 16". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. July 13, 1890. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "His Name Was Lewis: After the Game it Was Mud – Bisons Tried a New Pitcher". Buffalo Courier. July 13, 1890. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Home Nines Win Again: Bridegrooms Increase Their Lead". New-York Tribune. July 13, 1890. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Overfield, Joseph M (April 1963). "The Wildest Opening Series Ever Played". Baseball Digest. p. 49.
- ^ "1890 Buffalo Bisons Statistics". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ "1890 PL Standard Pitching". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ "Leaderboard Glossary". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ Spatz, Lyle, ed. (June 2004). "The Infinite ERA Club" (PDF). Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 6, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2020.