October 15, 1899: The End of Major League Baseball In Louisville

Honus Wagner, as a rookie in 1897

October 15, 1899: The Louisville Colonels beat the Chicago Orphans, 9-5 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. The former Chicago White Stockings got this name because their longtime 1st baseman and manager, Adrian Anson, known as "Cap" (for "Captain") when he was younger and "Pop" as he got older, had retired, and "they missed their Pop."

The Orphans actually played 2 games against 2 different teams on this day. They also beat the St. Louis Perfectos, 7-0 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. The Perfectos became the Cardinals in 1900, and the Orphans became the Cubs in 1903.

The Colonels' win over Chicago would be the last game they ever played, as they were absorbed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Led by manager and left fielder Fred Clarke, and shortstop John "Honus" Wagner, they ended the season on this day in 9th place, at 75-77.

The National League contracted from 12 to 8 teams for the 1900 season. Barney Dreyfuss, owner of the Colonels, bought a half-interest in the Pirates. As part of the deal, he negotiated the transfer of the best Louisville players, namely Wagner (himself a Pittsburgh native), Clarke, center fielder Tommy Leach, and pitchers Charles "Deacon" Phillippe and George "Rube" Waddell, to the Pirates.

As a result of this deal, the Pirates won 4 of the next 10 NL Pennants, and were at least in the race for most of the rest. With Wagner becoming the best player in baseball, the Pirates reached but lost the 1st World Series in 1903, and won the World Series in 1909.

The Colonels began in the American Association in 1882, won the Pennant in 1890, and transferred to the NL with the AA's demise after the 1891 season. But most ballparks at the time were made of wood, and their home field, Eclipse Park, burned down on September 27, 1892. It was rebuilt, but burned down again on August 12, 1899, while the team was on the road, and they finished the season on the road.

Given the team's struggles on the field since entering the NL, and the fact that the NL was determined to contract -- the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Spiders and the Washington Senators were also eliminated -- it made more sense for the Colonels to be one of the teams that gave up.

Louisville has since been one of the top minor-league cities of the last 120 years, in terms of both competitiveness and attendance. But it has never returned to the major leagues, nor is it likely to, since the Louisville metropolitan area is home to only 1.4 million people, and the city is just 82 miles from Cincinnati, itself one of MLB's smallest markets. Louisville has been denied a team in every MLB expansion: 1961-62, 1969, 1977, 1993 and 1998.

In a new, Class AAA league called the American Association, the Louisville Colonels won Pennants in 1909, 1916, 1921, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1939, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1954, 1960, 1961 and 1962. That team was moved, due to stadium issues. A new Louisville Colonels played in the Class AAA International League from 1967 to 1972, winning no Pennants.

On January 6, 1964, Charlie Finley signed a 2-year pact to move the Athletics from Kansas City to Louisville, pending American League approval. He is later denied that approval, and the A's stay put in Kansas City until after the 1967 season, when they moved to Oakland. 

In 1982, the Louisville Redbirds began play in the IL, and won Pennants in 1984, 1985 and 1995. They were renamed the Louisville RiverBats in 1999, and won the Pennant in 2001. The name was shortened to the Louisville Bats in 2002, and, through the 2022 season, they have not won another Pennant, although they have won their Division as recently as 2010.

Charlie Emig, a lefthanded pitcher from Cincinnati, who started 1 game for the Colonels in 1896, was not only the club's last surviving player, but also the last surviving man who had played a Major League Baseball (as we would now call it) game in the 19th Century. He died on October 2, 1975, age 100.

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October 15, 1899 was a Sunday. There were 2 other baseball games played on this day, a doubleheader at League Park in Cincinnati, between the 2 Ohio teams. The Cincinnati Reds swept the Cleveland Spiders, 16-1 and 19-3.

I have a separate entry for that event, because the Spiders put together the worst season in the history of what's now called Major League Baseball. Their removal from the NL opened the door in 1901 for the AL team that was named the Blues, renamed the Bronchos in 1902, renamed the Naps for Napoleon Lajoie in 1903, renamed the Indians, in 1915, and renamed the Guardians in 2022.

Along with Cleveland and Louisville, the NL also dropped the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Senators. The American League added teams with those names in 1901.

The Orioles had won the Pennant in 1894, 1895 and 1896, and had nearly done so in 1897. But the era of "syndicate baseball" meant that some of their best men were transferred to the Brooklyn team, including manager Ned Hanlon.

Hanlon's name reminded sportswriters of a circus troupe called Hanlon's Superbas, and so the team formerly known as the Grays and the Bridegrooms was renamed the Superbas. They won the Pennant in 1899, and would do so again in 1900. In 1911, they became the Dodgers.

The AL's Orioles were mismanaged, and the franchise was canceled after the 1902 season. A new team was established for the 1903 season, called the New York Highlanders, and renamed the Yankees in 1913. A minor-league version of the Orioles was established, and replaced in 1954 when the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore to take up the old name.

July 22, 1894: The 1st Auto Race

Albert Lemaitre, furthest to the left

July 22, 1894: The Parisian magazine Le Petit Journal organized what is considered to be the world's first motoring competition, from Paris to Rouen.

Sporting events were a tried and tested form of publicity stunt and circulation booster. Pierre Giffard, the paper's editor, promoted it as a Concours des Voitures sans Chevaux (Competition for Horseless Carriages) that was "not dangerous, easy to drive, and cheap during the journey." Thus, it blurred the distinctions between a reliability trial, a general event, and a race. One hundred and two competitors paid a 10-franc entrance fee.

There were 69 cars starting the 50-kilometer (31-mile) selection event that would show which entrants would be allowed to start the main event, the 127-kilometer (79-mile) race from Paris to Rouen. The entrants ranged from serious manufacturers like Peugeot, Panhard, or De Dion to amateur owners. Only 25 were selected for the main race.

The race started from Porte Maillot, and went through the Bois de Boulogne. Count Jules-Albert de Dion was first into Rouen, after 6 hours and 48 minutes at an average speed of 19 kilometers (12 miles) per hour. He finished 3 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of Albert Lemaître of Peugeot. However, Lemaître was declared the official winner, as cars were judged on their speed, handling and safety characteristics. De Dion's steam car needed a stoker, which was forbidden.

Lemaître was then 30 years old. He continued to drive in events for Peugeot until 1900, when Mercedes-Benz hired him away. In 1906, he murdered his wife after she asked for a divorce. He was acquitted. Male privilege, I suppose. He died in 1912, and should not be confused with a Belgian painter of the same name (1886-1975).

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July 22, 1894 was a Sunday. At the time, the only major professional team sport in America was baseball, and some States still did not permit games to be played on Sundays.

There were 2 National League games played on this day. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Louisville Colonels, 4-0 at Eclipse Park in Louisville. And the Chicago Colts beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Browns, 11-9 at an early version of Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. By 1903, these teams would be known as the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals, respectively.

June 23, 1889: Baseball's Longest Losing Streak

June 23, 1889: The Louisville Colonels beat the St. Louis Browns, 7-3 at the original Eclipse Park in Louisville, Kentucky. This ends the longest losing streak in the history of what would come to be called Major League Baseball: 26 games.

The Colonels were a founding franchise of the American Association in 1882, and had winning seasons in their 1st 3 years. They fell below .500 in 1885, and got back above .500 in 1887. So far, nothing dramatic, in either direction.

But in the middle of the 1888 season, their managing partner, W.L. Lyons, resigned, and was replaced by team secretary Mordecai Davidson, and named himself the team's manager. This was a disaster, and they fell to 48-87.

Things got worse in 1889. Davidson went through 4 managers. They lost their 1st 6 games of the season, and went through a 1-9 stretch, but ended the day on May 21 with a 3-game winning streak. They were 8-20, and things looked like they had been turned around.

They weren't. On May 22, the Baltimore Orioles beat them, 11-2. This began a losing streak of 26 games. It wasn't all their fault: There were 4 games against the Cincinnati Reds that had to be moved to Cincinnati, due to Eclipse Park's unavailability. There were 3 postponements due to rain. And 7 of the games, including the last 2, were lost by only 1 run; 4 others were lost by 2 runs. That's 11 games: If the Colonels had simply gone 1 game over .500 in those, they would have been 6-20 over that stretch. Still bad, but not historically bad.

By June, the players were in open revolt over Davidson's handling of the club, and several of them refused to play outright on June 14, in a game that ended up being postponed by rain, anyway. A special meeting of the AA board was called, and Davidson was issued an ultimatum to strengthen the club or be forced out. In early July, Davidson surrendered control of the Colonels to the league. 

The team finished the season in last place, with a record of 27–111, making them the 1st major league team ever to lose 100 games in a season. Their "winning" percentage of .195 is lower than that of such legendary 20th Century losers as the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117, .235), the 1935 Boston Braves (38-115, .248), and the 1962 New York Mets (40-120, .250).

In 1890 the team, which had been purchased by Barney Dreyfuss, bounced back with a vengeance. The Colonels went 88-44, and won the 1890 Pennant in the AA. Not for another 101 years would a team go from last place in its league to a Pennant in the next season. They met the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, who had joined the National League from the AA that season, in a postseason series. Each team won 3 games, and there was a tie, and a tiebreaker could never be arranged, making Brooklyn and Louisville Co-World Champions.

The Colonels fell apart again in 1891, but were, along with the Reds, Orioles and Browns, 1 of the 4 AA teams that was granted entry into the NL. They couldn't compete in that League, even with the 1897 arrival of shortstop Honus Wagner.

After the 1899 season, along with the Orioles, the Washington Senators and the Cleveland Spiders -- who lost 24 straight games and had a 1-40 stretch, on their way to the worst record in baseball history, 20-134 -- the Colonels were contracted out of the NL. But Dreyfuss bought the NL's Pittsburgh Pirates, and took the Colonels' best players, including Wagner, with him, and won the Pennant in 1901, '02, '03 and '09.

The longest MLB losing streak of the 20th Century was 23, by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies. The 1988 Baltimore Orioles began the season 0-21, nearly going 0-for-April. That's the longest losing streak in American League history, and the longest to start an MLB season. The longest in the 21st Century, so far, is 19, by both the 2005 Kansas City Royals and the 2021 Orioles.

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June 23, 1889 was a Sunday. At the time, some States didn't allow professional sports on Sundays, and the National League respected this by not scheduling any games on Sundays. But the American Association did. Along with Colonels vs. Browns -- the team now known as the St. Louis Cardinals -- they scheduled these:

* The Brooklyn Bridegrooms, the team that became the Dodgers, beat the Columbus Solons, 8-2 at the original Washington Park in Brooklyn.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 8-0 at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia. Although both names would later be used by AL teams, neither of these particular teams would survive to the 20th Century.

* And the Cincinnati Reds beat the Kansas City Cowboys, 15-7 at American Park in Cincinnati.

May 31, 1889: The Johnstown Flood

May 31, 1889: The Johnstown Flood kills 2,208 people, one of the worst man-made disasters in history.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania is 67 miles east of Pittsburgh. It sits at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh River and the Stonycreek River, as they form the Conemaugh River. That river eventually flows into the Kiskiminetas River, which flows into the Allegheny River, which combines with the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River.

Like so many other Pennsylvania towns in the 19th Century, Johnstown became a producer of iron, coal and steel. But it flooded pretty much every year. On May 30, 1889, they had a Memorial Day parade, and got it done before the rain came. But the rain kept coming, and coming.

The next day, at 2:55 PM, the South Fork Dam, which had formed Lake Conemaugh, burst. The City of Johnstown, 14 miles downriver, never had a chance: It was hit with over 14 million cubic meters of water, about the average annual flow of the Mississippi River, coming at 40 miles per hour. It hit at 3:52, and in 10 minutes, Johnstown was ruined.

There were 1,600 homes destroyed. The 2,208 deaths included 396 children. Bodies of Johnstown residents were carried westward, past Pittsburgh. One was found as far down the Ohio River as Cincinnati. One person listed as missing wasn't found until 1911.

Frank Shomo, the last known person to have been living in Johnstown in 1889, lived until March 20, 1997, age 108.

Remarkably, the Pennsylvania Railroad was able to restore service in only 3 days. On June 5, Clara Barton, founder and President of the American Red Cross, arrived to lead their 1st major disaster relief effort. She stayed for 5 months, and it made the Red Cross the country's defining relief organization. Donations for relief amounted to over $3.7 million -- about $113 million in 2022 money.

Within a month, the mills were operating again. The city grew. By the turn of the 20th Century, Johnstown was home to 67,000 people. But on March 17, 1936, the city was stricken again, with the St. Patrick's Day Flood. This time, they were comparatively lucky, with just 25 deaths.

From 1938 to 1943, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers altered the river channels, with the idea of making the city "flood-free." When Hurricane Agnes hit the Northeast in 1972, Johnstown was pretty much the only riverside town in Pennsylvania that didn't get flooded.

In 1926, Point Stadium opened, as a minor-league ballpark, right where the two rivers come together to form one. The Johnstown Johnnies had won the Middle Atlantic League Pennant the year before, and got a new ballpark as a reward. They won the Pennant again that 1st season, and won it again in 1930. But the team played until 1961, and never won another.

The ballpark was torn down and replaced in 2005, and they have since had teams in "independent" leagues. A a renovated 7,500-seat Sargent's Stadium at The Point became home Johnstown Mill Rats of the Prospect League in 2021.

The city became the home of a minor-league hockey team, the Johnstown Jets, starting in 1950. The 4,000-seat Cambria County War Memorial Arena opened that year. In 1976, the hockey movie Slap Shot was filmed in the city, including inside the Arena and outside the steel mills, even though it was said to be taking place in the Charlestown section of Boston.

Life imitated art: Like the movie's Charlestown Chiefs, the Johnstown Jets were moved after the 1976-77 season. But new teams have come and gone, including the Johnstown Chiefs, in honor of the movie, from 1988 to 2010. Since 2012, the Arena has been home to the Johnstown Tomahawks of the North American Hockey League.

But like Pennsylvania as a whole, the decline of industry in the 1970s clobbered Johnstown. And then, on July 19, 1977, they found out they weren't flood-proof. The Laurel Run Dam failed, and 84 people were killed. By the recession of the early 1990s, steel was out of Johnstown. In 2003, a survey rated Johnstown the least likely city in American to attract newcomers.

Today, Johnstown is a small city of about 19,000 people. The University of Pittsburgh opened a campus there, and that helped. Some of the abandoned mills have been turned into low-income housing, and studios for artists and dancers. But the city will never be what it was between the floods of 1889 and 1977.

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May 31, 1889 was a Friday. There were three games played in what would later be called Major League Baseball.

Two of them were a National League doubleheader, at the Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds. The Philadelphia Quakers swept the Indianapolis Hoosiers, winning the 1st game 11-8, and the 2nd game 11-4.

The Hoosiers folded at the end of the season. The Quakers would change their name to the Philadelphia Phillies the next season. The Base Ball Grounds would burn down in 1894, and be replaced on the same site the next season by the ballpark eventually known as Baker Bowl.

And in the American Association, the Columbus Solons beat the Louisville Colonels, 7-2 at Recreation Park in Columbus, Ohio. The Solons folded with the AA in 1891, while the Colonels joined the NL, only to fold after the 1899 season.