1889 Louisville Colonels season

The 1889 Louisville Colonels season was a season in American baseball. The team finished with a 27–111 record, last in the American Association.

1889 Louisville Colonels
League	American Association
Ballpark	Eclipse Park
City	Louisville, Kentucky
Owners	Mordecai Davidson, John R. Botto
Managers	Dude Esterbrook, Jimmy Wolf, Dan Shannon, Jack Chapman

The Colonels were the first Major League team to lose more than 100 games in a season. The previous record for losses was 92, set by the Washington Nationals in 1886 and matched by the Cleveland Blues in 1887. The record would be broken again in 1890 by the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, but remained the AA record until the league folded in 1891. The Colonels also held a 24-game losing streak on the road, which not only was the longest losing streak on the road throughout the MLB-recognized American Association, but was also an infamous feat that would not be tied until the 2021 Arizona Diamondbacks matched it 132 years later in the MLB.

Offseason

Prior to the start of the season, team owner Mordecai Davidson brought in Dude Esterbrook to manage the team, replacing Davidson himself. He was also seeking a buyer for the team, as his own finances were precarious.

Regular season

Early season woes

The 1889 season was a tumultuous one for the Colonels. Manager Esterbrook fined several players, and was fired just ten games into the season. Outfielder Jimmy "Chicken" Wolf was appointed team captain, although Davidson traveled with the team as well to ensure their good behavior – which proved quite unpopular.

Davidson continued to attempt to sell the club as the season progressed, but to no avail. He, too, began levying fines, and the local media was harsh on both the owner and the team. On May 22, the team began a losing streak that would eventually reach 26 straight games, which still stands as the all-time Major League record as of 2018. Most of the losses came during a stretch from May 24 until July 1 in which the team played just three games at home.

The strike

Things were no better from the perspective of the AA. Financial difficulties had caused the team to miss payroll on three occasions, and the players alerted AA president Wheeler C. Wyckoff to the problem. This led the AA to call a meeting to discuss the issue on June 14. On the way to the meeting, Davidson was confronted by his players calling for the rescinding of previous fines, threatening to strike if refused. Davidson instead upped the ante, threatening to fine the players further if they lost.

The team was scheduled to play against the Baltimore Orioles that day, and following Davidson's actions, five members of the club refused to take the field. Three local semi-pro players, Charles Fisher, Mike Gaule and John Traffley, were recruited to join the remaining players on the field to allow the game to commence. The game was cancelled after just two innings due to rain, and was rescheduled for the following day.

At the meeting, Davidson admitted that he could not fulfill his obligations of ownership, but left promising to strengthen the team upon threat of the league taking control of the franchise. Davidson and Wyckoff met the players at their hotel the next day, but Davidson still refused to rescind the player fines. The team took the field with the semi-pros still in the lineup, losing 4–2 in a game shortened by rain to five innings. The second game was cancelled, and Wyckoff promised the players a hearing to return to the club for the next game. None of the three replacements ever played in the majors again.

Continuing problems

Davidson met payroll on June 21, but only by accounting for new fines to the team's players. In some cases, the fines exceeded the players' salary, and they were told they owed the club money. Star outfielder Pete Browning was fined $335, and total team fines came to $1,800, $1,200 of which was attributed to the walkout. Guy Hecker began taking steps towards founding a branch of John Montgomery Ward's Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players for the AA. On June 24, Davidson hired local bouncer Buck McKinney, ostensibly as team manager. While Wolf continued to handle on-field duties, McKinney traveled with the team to keep an eye on the players for the owner.

Davidson gives up

By July 2, however, another payroll was due, and when it became apparent that he would be unable to meet it, Davidson decided to turn the team over to the AA. He did so officially on July 5, at the same time that the players received their hearing from Wyckoff. On July 10, all previous fines were remitted, with the exception of those associated with the June 15 walkout. While local owners were quickly secured, the team continued to spiral downward, and after the season the team was bought by local distillery owner Barney Dreyfuss.

Season standings

American Association	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Bridegrooms	93	44	0.679	—	50–19	43–25
St. Louis Browns	90	45	0.667	2	51–18	39–27
Philadelphia Athletics	75	58	0.564	16	46–22	29–36
Cincinnati Red Stockings	76	63	0.547	18	47–26	29–37
Baltimore Orioles	70	65	0.519	22	40–24	30–41
Columbus Solons	60	78	0.435	33½	36–33	24–45
Kansas City Cowboys	55	82	0.401	38	35–35	20–47
Louisville Colonels	27	111	0.196	66½	18–46	9–65

Record vs. opponents

1889 American Association record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BAL	BR	CIN	COL	KC	LOU	PHI	STL
Baltimore	—	8–12	8–11–2	12–8	11–7	16–4	8–11	7–12–2
Brooklyn	12–8	—	15–5	11–8–2	16–4	19–1	12–7–1	8–11
Cincinnati	11–8–2	5–15	—	11–9	14–6	18–2	9–11	8–12
Columbus	8–12	8–11–2	9–11	—	9–11	13–7	7–12	6–14
Kansas City	7–11	4–16	6–14	11–9	—	13–6	8–12–1	6–14–1
Louisville	4–16	1–19	2–18	7–13	6–13	—	5–14–1	2–18–1
Philadelphia	11–8	7–12–1	11–9	12–7	12–8–1	14–5–1	—	8–9–2
St. Louis	12–7–2	11–8	12–8	14–6	14–6–1	18–2–1	9–8–2	—

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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	Paul Cook	81	286	65	.227	0	15
1B	Guy Hecker	81	327	93	.284	1	36
2B	Dan Shannon	121	498	128	.257	4	48
SS	Phil Tomney	112	376	80	.213	4	38
3B	Harry Raymond	130	515	123	.239	0	47
OF	Farmer Weaver	124	499	145	.291	0	60
OF	Jimmy Wolf	130	546	159	.291	3	57
OF	Pete Browning	83	324	83	.256	2	32

Other batters

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
Farmer Vaughn	90	360	86	.239	3	45
Scott Stratton	62	222	66	.288	4	34
John Galligan	31	120	20	.167	0	7
Fred Carl	25	99	20	.202	0	13
Ed Flanagan	23	88	22	.250	0	8
Jack Ryan	20	79	14	.177	0	2
Bill Gleason	16	58	14	.241	0	5
Dude Esterbrook	11	44	14	.318	0	9
John Kerins	2	9	3	.333	0	3
Harry Scherer	1	3	1	.333	0	0
John Traffley	1	2	1	.500	0	0
Harry Smith	1	2	1	.500	0	1
Charles Fisher	1	2	1	.500	0	0
Mike Gaule	1	2	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Red Ehret	45	364.0	10	29	4.80	135
John Ewing	40	331.0	6	30	4.87	155
Guy Hecker	19	151.1	5	13	5.59	33
Toad Ramsey	18	140.0	1	16	5.59	60
Scott Stratton	19	133.2	3	13	3.23	42
Michael McDermott	9	84.1	1	8	4.16	22
Harry Raymond	1	9.0	1	0	1.00	1
Bill Anderson	1	8.0	0	1	10.13	2
Ed Springer	1	5.0	0	1	9.00	1

References

• 1889 Louisville Colonels team page at Baseball Reference