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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
Record94–19 (.832)
League place1st
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, a number of factors have often led to the Maroons' season being questioned or disregarded as a true accomplishment, including: the relatively low number of games played; the debate over the classification of the Union Association as a "major league"; and the fact that the founder and president of the Union Association was also the owner of the Maroons, and deliberately (and anti-competitively) stocked his team with most of the league's best talent. Accordingly, 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 9419 .832 — 49‍–‍6 45‍–‍13
Cincinnati Outlaw Reds 6936 .657 21 35‍–‍17 34‍–‍19
Baltimore Monumentals 5847 .552 32 29‍–‍21 29‍–‍26
Boston Reds 5851 .532 34 34‍–‍22 24‍–‍29
Milwaukee Brewers 84 .667 35½ 8‍–‍4 0‍–‍0
St. Paul Saints 26 .250 39½ 0‍–‍0 2‍–‍6
Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies 4150 .451 42 21‍–‍19 20‍–‍31
Altoona Mountain Citys 619 .240 44 6‍–‍12 0‍–‍7
Wilmington Quicksteps 216 .111 44½ 1‍–‍6 1‍–‍10
Washington Nationals (UA) 4765 .420 46½ 36‍–‍27 11‍–‍38
Philadelphia Keystones 2146 .313 50 14‍–‍21 7‍–‍25
Kansas City Cowboys 1663 .203 61 11‍–‍23 5‍–‍40

Record vs. opponents

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1884 Union Association record

Sources:
Team ALT BLU BSU CUN COR KC MIL PHK SLM SPS WST WIL
Altoona —1–31–10–00–30–00–01–30–80–03–10–0
Baltimore 3–1—10–5–17–54–1010–21–310–21–140–011–51–0
Boston 1–15–10–1—4–8–15–118–42–28–38–80–012–45–0
Chicago/Pittsburgh 0–05–78–4–1—7–812–40–03–52–140–04–8–10–0
Cincinnati 3–010–411–58–7—9–10–09–04–123–010–62–1
Kansas City 0–02–104–84–121–9—0–00–40–11–11–1–14–8–10–0
Milwaukee 0–03–12–20–00–00–0—0–00–00–03–10–0
Philadelphia 3–12–103–85–30–94–00–0—0–80–04–70–0
St. Louis 8–014–18–814–212–411–0–10–08–0—2–113–34–0
St. Paul 0–00–00–00–00–31–1–10–00–01–2—0–00–0
Washington 1–35–114–128–4–16–108–4–11–37–43–130–0—4–1
Wilmington 0–00–10–50–01–20–00–00–00–40–01–4—

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
CGeorge Baker8031752.1640
1BJoe Quinn103429116.2700
2BFred Dunlap101449185.41213
SSMilt Whitehead9939383.2111
3BJack Gleason92395128.3244
OFOrator Shafer106467168.3602
OFDave Rowe109485142.2934
OFHenry Boyle6526268.2604

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 Brennan5623150.2160
Buttercup Dickerson4621177.3650
Tom Dolan196913.1880
Tom Ryder8287.2500
Sleeper Sullivan291.1110

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 Sweeney33271.02471.83192
Billy Taylor33263.02541.68154
Henry Boyle19150.01531.7488
Perry Werden16141.11211.9751
Charlie Hodnett14121.01222.0141
John Cattanach217.0112.1213
Dave Rowe19.0102.002
Milt Whitehead18.0019.002
C. V. Matteson16.0109.003
Sleeper Sullivan16.0104.503

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 Dunlap100113.501

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, Rodger (December 3, 2015). "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.
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