The 1899 Louisville Colonels baseball team finished with a 75–77 record and ninth place in the National League. Following the season, owner Barney Dreyfuss bought the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and folded his Louisville team. Manager Fred Clarke and most of the players moved over to the Pirates where they enjoyed much more success in the coming years. The Colonels, a perennial also-ran through their National League run from 1892 to 1899, appeared to be on the cusp of becoming a strong team when the National League contracted from 12 teams to 8 after the end of the 1899 season. Louisville started the season with a 15–37 record after 52 games, but then went 60–40 in their last 100 in the first glimpse of what was to become a strong Pirates team in the years to come. Many star players, including several Hall of Famers, of the first decade of the 20th Century came from the 1899 Louisville squad including Clarke, Honus Wagner, Rube Waddell, Deacon Phillippe, Tommy Leach and Claude Ritchey.
Regular season
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Opening Day lineup
Roster 1899 Louisville Colonels Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
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 Chief Zimmer 75 262 78 .298 2 29 1B Mike Kelley 76 282 68 .241 3 33 2B Claude Ritchey 148 540 162 .300 4 73 SS Billy Clingman 110 369 97 .263 2 45 3B Tommy Leach 106 406 117 .288 5 57 OF Charlie Dexter 81 298 76 .255 1 34 OF Dummy Hoy 155 636 194 .305 5 49 OF 148 602 206 .342 5 70
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 Honus Wagner 148 575 196 .341 7 114 Doc Powers 49 169 35 .207 0 22 39 138 37 .268 1 18 Malachi Kittridge 46 131 26 .198 0 13 Dave Wills 24 94 21 .223 0 12 Topsy Hartsel 30 75 18 .240 1 7 Fred Ketchum 15 61 18 .295 0 5 Tacks Latimer 9 29 8 .276 0 4 Farmer Steelman 4 15 1 .067 0 2 Tom Messitt 3 11 1 .091 0 0 Bob Langsford 1 4 0 .000 0 0 Burley Bayer 1 3 0 .000 0 0 Harry Croft 2 2 0 .000 0 0 Rudy Hulswitt 1 0 0 ---- 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 Bert Cunningham 39 323.2 17 17 3.84 36 Deacon Phillippe 42 321.0 21 17 3.17 68 Pete Dowling 35 298.1 13 17 3.05 89 Walt Woods 26 186.1 9 13 3.28 21 Rube Waddell 10 79.0 7 2 3.08 44 Bill Magee 12 71.0 3 7 5.20 13 Patsy Flaherty 5 39.0 2 3 2.31 5 Clay Fauver 1 9.0 1 0 0.00 1
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 Harry Wilhelm 5 25.0 1 1 6.12 6
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 3 1 0 0 4.50 5
References 1899 Louisville Colonels team page at Baseball Reference