1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys season

1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys
Ballpark	Recreation Park
City	Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Owners	William A. Nimick
Managers	Guy Hecker

The 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys season was the ninth season for the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise. The team finished eighth and last in the National League with a record of 23–113, 66.5 games behind the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. This was the final season for the team with the name "Alleghenys", as the team changed their name to the Pittsburgh Pirates the next season. They have had this name ever since.

For all intents and purposes, the Alleghenys' season ended when most of their stars defected to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players' League. With a decimated roster, the Alleghenys made a wretched showing. The 113 losses by the Alleghenys set a new major league record, breaking the old record of 111 set the previous year by the Louisville Colonels. The record would stand until 1899, when the Cleveland Spiders lost 134 games, the all-time record.

Poor attendances meant that they played 97 of their 136 games on the road, finishing with a road record of 9-88 (the 88 losses remained a record until 1899, and is unreachable under current MLB scheduling rules, which allow a maximum of 81 road games). Their .093 road winning percentage is the lowest in MLB history for a minimum of 60 games. This would be the last time the Pittsburgh franchise reached the century mark in the loss column until 1917, when the team was known as the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Regular season

Season standings

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Bridegrooms	86	43	.667	—	58‍–‍16	28‍–‍27
Chicago Colts	83	53	.610	6½	48‍–‍24	35‍–‍29
Philadelphia Phillies	78	53	.595	9	54‍–‍21	24‍–‍32
Cincinnati Reds	77	55	.583	10½	50‍–‍23	27‍–‍32
Boston Beaneaters	76	57	.571	12	43‍–‍23	33‍–‍34
New York Giants	63	68	.481	24	37‍–‍27	26‍–‍41
Cleveland Spiders	44	88	.333	43½	30‍–‍37	14‍–‍51
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	23	113	.169	66½	14‍–‍25	9‍–‍88

Record vs. opponents

1890 National League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	BR	CHI	CIN	CLE	NYG	PHI	PIT
Boston	—	6–11	8–11	11–8	13–7	11–8–1	11–9	16–3
Brooklyn	11–6	—	11–9	9–7	17–3	10–8	10–8	18–2
Chicago	11–8	9–11	—	12–8–2	13–7	13–6	8–10–1	17–3
Cincinnati	8–11	7–9	8–12–2	—	13–4	14–6	11–9	16–4
Cleveland	7–13	3–17	7–13	4–13	—	6–12–2	5–14–1	12–6–1
New York	8–11–1	8–10	6–13	6–14	12–6–2	—	6–11	17–3–1
Philadelphia	9–11	8–10	10–8–1	9–11	14–5–1	11–6	—	17–2
Pittsburgh	3–16	2–18	3–17	4–16	6–12–1	3–17–1	2–17	—

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
1B	Guy Hecker	86	340	77	.226	0	38
OF	Billy Sunday	86	358	92	.257	1	33

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
Bill Wilson	83	304	65	.214	0	21
Fred Osborne	41	168	40	.238	1	14
John Coleman	3	11	2	.182	0	0
John Gilbert	2	8	0	.000	0	0
Jim Gray	1	3	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
Kirtley Baker	25	178.1	3	19	5.60	76
Guy Hecker	14	119.2	2	9	5.11	32
Dave Anderson	13	108	2	11	4.67	41
Billy Gumbert	10	79.1	4	6	5.22	18
Sumner Bowman	9	70.2	2	5	6.62	22
Pete Daniels	4	28	1	2	7.07	8

Other 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
Fred Osborne	8	58	0	5	8.38	14

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Billy Sunday	1	0	0	0	∞	0

References

• 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys team page at Baseball Reference
• 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys Page at Baseball Almanac