The Kansas City Cowboys (also Unions and Kaycees) were a baseball team in the Union Association during its only season, . Referred to as the "Cowboys" mostly by historians, they had no official nickname during their short life and were most frequently referred to by local press of the day as the "Unions" and by the press of other cities as the "Kaycees". They were the first professional baseball team to represent Kansas City as well as the city's first major league team. Their home field was called Athletic Park.

They began play as a replacement for the Altoona Mountain City, which collapsed in May, and played out the remainder of the season. Despite a 16-63 (.203 WL percentage) finish, the franchise was one of only two (the St. Louis club being the other) in the league to make a profit. In contemporary newspaper reports, the team had Altoona's record (6-19) combined with their own and were considered to have finished last in an eight-team league. After the league had collapsed, and Henry Lucas abandoned the Union Association for the National League after they offered a spot for his St. Louis Maroons, the Cowboys and Milwaukee Greys voted to Disband/Dissolve the Union Association. Ted Sullivan and the Unions grouped with the Milwaukee Brewers and other cities and teams to help establish the Western League. The Kansas City Cowboys Had a spot in the league. So did Milwaukee.

1884 season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster 1884 Kansas City Cowboys 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 Kid Baldwin 50 191 37 .194 0 1B Jerry Sweeney 31 129 34 .264 0 2B Charlie Berry 29 118 29 .246 1 SS Clarence Cross 25 93 20 .215 0 3B 31 114 22 .193 0 OF Taylor Shafer 44 164 28 .171 0 OF 42 162 37 .228 0 OF 30 124 27 .218 0

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs Player G AB H Avg. HR 38 146 36 .247 1 32 123 28 .228 1 Jim Cudworth 32 116 17 .147 0 Thomas Gorman 25 106 34 .321 0 Henry Oberbeck 27 90 17 .189 0 Harry Decker 23 75 10 .133 0 Lou Say 17 70 14 .200 1 Nin Alexander 19 65 9 .138 0 14 62 16 .258 0 Joe Strauss 16 60 12 .200 0 George Strief 15 56 6 .107 0 Jerry Turbidy 13 49 11 .224 0 Charlie Bastian 11 46 9 .196 1 14 45 4 .089 0 Al Dwight 12 43 10 .233 0 John Deasley 13 40 7 .175 0 Charlie Fisher 10 40 8 .200 0 Jack Gorman 8 31 4 .129 0 Jumbo Davis 7 29 6 .207 0 6 23 3 .130 0 Milt Whitehead 5 22 3 .136 0 Wills 5 21 3 .143 0 Henry Luff 5 19 1 .053 0 Billy O'Brien 4 17 4 .235 0 Jim Chatterton 4 15 2 .133 0 3 12 1 .083 0 Joe Connors 3 11 1 .091 0 Ed Callahan 3 11 4 .364 0 3 9 3 .333 0 Joe Ellick 2 8 0 .000 0 Jimmy Say 2 8 2 .250 0 John Kirby 2 7 1 .143 0 Bill Dugan 3 6 0 .000 0 Emmett Seery 1 4 2 .500 0 Charlie Cady 2 3 0 .000 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 17 137.1 4 13 4.52 68 16 123.0 4 9 3.22 93 12 104.0 3 9 2.42 62 7 53.0 0 6 4.25 17 5 33.0 2 3 2.45 13 3 26.0 0 3 8.65 8 3 25.0 1 2 1.80 11 2 17.0 1 1 2.65 5 John Kirby 2 11.0 0 1 4.09 1 1 8.0 0 1 1.13 6 1 8.0 0 1 5.63 5 1 7.0 0 1 11.57 1 Frank Kreeger 1 7.0 0 1 0.00 3 Jim Chatterton 1 5.0 0 1 3.60 2

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 7 48.2 1 3 5.36 14 Henry Oberbeck 6 29.2 0 5 5.76 6 3 21.0 0 1 6.86 9 Jim Cudworth 2 17.0 0 0 4.24 6 Joe Connors 2 12.0 0 1 4.50 1 2 10.0 0 0 5.40 3

References and external links 1884 Kansas City Cowboys at Baseball Reference