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1890 Philadelphia Athletics season

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1890 Philadelphia Athletics
LeagueAmerican Association
BallparkJefferson Street Grounds
CityPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
OwnersBill Sharsig, H. C. Pennypacker, William Whitaker
ManagerBill Sharsig
← 1889
1891 →
Manager Bill Sharsig
Pitcher Sadie McMahon
Pitcher Ed Seward
Pitcher Duke Esper
Catcher Wilbert Robinson
First baseman Jack O'Brien
Third baseman Denny Lyons
Left fielder Blondie Purcell
Center fielder Curt Welch
Right fielder Orator Shafer

The 1890 Philadelphia Athletics had a 54–78 record and finished in eighth place in the American Association. During the season, the team struggled financially. They could not afford to keep paying their players and had to finish the season with a pickup team.

Summary

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Led by pitcher Sadie McMahon (29–18 win–loss record) and third baseman Denny Lyons (193 OPS+),[1] the Athletics started the season with a record of 41–21. At that point, on July 6, they were in first place by five games.[2] However, the team was struggling financially, and then they also struggled on the field.[3] They sold Lyons to the St. Louis Browns on September 6.[4] After winning on September 14, they had a 54–56 record and were in sixth place out of nine teams, 15 games out of first.[2] The Athletics lost their next game on September 16 right before leaving on a 16-game western road trip. By then, they were unable to pay their players.[5] That day, they released their starting catcher and only future Hall of Famer, Wilbert Robinson, who signed with the Baltimore Orioles two days later.[6] Many of the Athletics' other players deserted the team.[7] Among those who left were three regulars who never played in the major leagues again: right fielder Orator Shafer (113 OPS+) played his last game on September 13, and first baseman Jack O'Brien (126 OPS+) and left fielder Blondie Purcell (108 OPS+) both played their last game on September 16.[1][8][9][10]

For the road trip, Athletics manager Bill Sharsig was sent off with $245 (equivalent to $8,308 in 2023) and what was left of the team. As writer David Nemec noted, "[Sharsig] then lived from hand to mouth by spending gate receipts from each series to pay his players and hotel bills and buy train tickets to the next city. By the end of the season he was reduced each day to putting a uniform on anyone who even looked like a ballplayer in order to field a full nine-man lineup."[3] Among the "major league" players who appeared for the team in October were four people who are listed in the record books by just their last names, as their first names are unknown.[1][11] The Athletics lost all 16 games on that road trip, and then they lost their last five games at home. Overall, they finished their season on a 22-game losing streak for a record of 54–78 and eighth place. Of those 22 losses, 13 of them were by at least 10 runs.[2] They played the seventh-place Syracuse Stars in their last series of the season, and in three games, they were outscored by the Stars 43–7.[2]

The Athletics were expelled from the American Association after the season ended. They were replaced by a new Philadelphia Athletics team that had been in the Players' League in 1890.

Regular season

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Season standings

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American Association
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Louisville Colonels 88 44 .667 — 57‍–‍13 31‍–‍31
Columbus Solons 79 55 .590 10 47‍–‍22 32‍–‍33
St. Louis Browns 78 58 .574 12 45‍–‍25 33‍–‍33
Toledo Maumees 68 64 .515 20 40‍–‍27 28‍–‍37
Rochester Broncos 63 63 .500 22 40‍–‍22 23‍–‍41
Baltimore Orioles 15 19 .441 24 8‍–‍11 7‍–‍8
Syracuse Stars 55 72 .433 30½ 30‍–‍30 25‍–‍42
Philadelphia Athletics 54 78 .409 34 36‍–‍36 18‍–‍42
Brooklyn Gladiators 26 73 .263 45½ 15‍–‍22 11‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

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1890 American Association record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Team BAL BR COL LOU PHI ROC STL SYR TOL
Baltimore — 0–0 2–4–2 1–2–1 2–2 5–1 2–5 1–2 2–3–1
Brooklyn 0–0 — 5–9 2–13 2–10 3–10–1 4–10 5–12 5–9
Columbus 4–2–2 9–5 — 10–8–1 11–9 10–9–1 12–8–2 10–7 13–7
Louisville 2–1–1 13–2 8–10–1 — 17–3 11–6–2 9–11 14–5 14–6
Philadelphia 2–2 10–2 9–11 3–17 — 7–12 7–13 10–7 6–14
Rochester 1–5 10–3–1 9–10–1 6–11–2 12–7 — 8–12–1 11–4–1 6–11–1
St. Louis 5–2 10–4 8–12–2 11–9 13–7 12–8–1 — 10–9 9–7
Syracuse 2–1 12–5 7–10 5–14 7–10 4–11–1 9–10 — 9–11
Toledo 3–2–1 9–5 7–13 6–14 14–6 11–6–1 7–9 11–9 —


Roster

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1890 Philadelphia Athletics
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; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Wilbert Robinson 82 329 78 .237 4 42
1B Jack O'Brien 109 433 113 .261 4 80
2B Taylor Shafer 69 261 45 .172 0 21
SS Ben Conroy 117 404 69 .171 0 21
3B Denny Lyons 88 339 120 .354 7 73
OF Orator Shafer 100 390 110 .282 1 58
OF Curt Welch 103 396 106 .268 2 40
OF Blondie Purcell 110 463 128 .276 2 59

Other batters

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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
Joe Kappel 56 208 50 .240 1 22
George Carman 27 93 16 .172 0 7
Kid Baldwin 24 90 21 .233 0 12
John Riddle 27 85 7 .082 0 2
Andy Knox 21 75 19 .253 0 8
Joe Daly 21 75 21 .280 0 7
Henry Easterday 19 68 10 .147 1 3
Pete Sweeney 14 49 8 .163 0 0
Al Sauter 14 41 4 .098 0 0
Charles Snyder 9 33 9 .273 0 4
Ed O'Neil 10 31 5 .161 0 2
Ed Pabst 8 25 10 .400 0 3
Bart Cantz 5 22 1 .045 0 1
George Meyers 5 19 3 .158 0 1
George Crawford 5 17 2 .118 0 3
Dennis Fitzgerald 2 8 2 .250 0 0
Pete Hasney 2 7 1 .143 0 0
Sam Campbell 2 5 0 .000 0 0
Ed Carfrey 1 4 1 .250 0 0
Stafford 1 2 0 .000 0 0
McBride 1 2 0 .000 0 0
Bill Collins 1 1 0 .000 0 0
Macey 1 1 0 .000 0 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
Sadie McMahon 48 410.0 29 18 3.34 225
Ed Green 25 191.0 7 15 5.80 56
Ed Seward 21 154.0 6 12 4.73 55
Duke Esper 18 143.2 8 9 4.89 61
William Stecher 10 68.0 0 10 10.32 18
Ed O'Neil 6 52.0 0 6 9.69 17
Mickey Hughes 6 41.1 1 3 5.44 15
Bill Price 1 9.0 1 0 2.00 1
Harry Stine 1 8.0 0 1 9.00 1
Horace Helmbold 1 7.0 0 1 14.14 3
John Sterling 1 5.0 0 1 21.60 1

Other 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
Jim Whitney 6 40.0 2 2 5.18 6

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
William Lackey 1 0 0 0 9.00 1
Curt Welch 1 0 0 0 54.00 1

References

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  1. ^ a b c "1890 Philadelphia Athletics Statistics". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "1890 Philadelphia Athletics Schedule". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Nemec, David (2011). Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871–1900, Volume 2. p. 143.
  4. ^ "1890 Philadelphia Athletics Trades and Transactions". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  5. ^ Nemec, David (2006). The Great Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Major League Baseball. p. 519.
  6. ^ "Wilbert Robinson Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  7. ^ Nemec (2006). p. 521.
  8. ^ "Orator Shafer Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  9. ^ "Jack O'Brien Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  10. ^ "Blondie Purcell Stats". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  11. ^ In 2023, one player (John Sterling) was uncovered by the Society for American Baseball Research.
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