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. 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.
The Maroons scored 887 runs while allowing 429, for a run differential of +458, the best in major-league history, 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.
Regular season
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster 1884 St. Louis Maroons 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 Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR C 80 317 52 .164 0 1B 103 429 116 .270 0 2B 101 449 185 .412 13 SS 99 393 83 .211 1 3B 92 395 128 .324 4 OF 106 467 168 .360 2 OF 109 485 142 .293 4 OF 65 262 68 .260 4
Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs Player G AB H Avg. HR 56 231 50 .216 0 46 211 77 .365 0 19 69 13 .188 0 8 28 7 .250 0 2 9 1 .111 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 33 271.0 24 7 1.83 192 33 263.0 25 4 1.68 154 19 150.0 15 3 1.74 88 16 141.1 12 1 1.97 51 14 121.0 12 2 2.01 41 2 17.0 1 1 2.12 13 1 9.0 1 0 2.00 2 1 8.0 0 1 9.00 2 1 6.0 1 0 9.00 3 1 6.0 1 0 4.50 3
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 1 0 0 1 13.50 1
Sources 1884 St. Louis Maroons team page at Baseball Reference
References