The National League Expansion of 1886

In January of 1886, the National League was still looking for the seventh and eighth members to fill their field of teams for the upcoming season. After the 1885 season, both the Buffalo Bisons and Providence Greys had been disbanded, and their players bought out by other National League clubs.

On January 16 ^th , a committee comprised of four men (Arthur Soden of Boston, John Day of New York, A.G. Spalding of Chicago, and A.J. Reach of Philadelphia) met in the Fifth-Avenue hotel in New York City to announce the seventh team for admittance in the National League. Many onlookers were on hand from the baseball community, including players, managers, other owners, and umpires. At the end, the committee announced that Washington, headed up by H.B. Bennett, would take the place of the Providence team. Bennett was said to pleased and felt confident that Washington would serve as a great baseball community.

It was also said at that meeting that three cities had emerged for the right to take the place of the Buffalo squad: Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee. James McPhlean, representing the Kansas City group, was at the meeting to make the application for entrance. A new committee of owners, comprising of the western owners of the National League, would announce the seventh team at a later date. The group was given until the end of February to name the eighth franchise.

On February 9 ^th in Chicago, the Western Committee gathered to decide the final team. Representatives from both Kansas City and Milwaukee were on hand to give presentations to the committee while Indianapolis sent a letter in, seeking entrance. At 7 o’clock in the evening, the committee made its choice. Unanimously, the committee granted the franchise to the City of Kansas City.

Dave Rowe was named the new manager of the Kansas City Cowboys, giving him his first chance to manage. The 30-year old outfielder had spent three stints as a reserve in the National League, all with different clubs. His best season came with St. Louis in 1884 when the team was in the Union Association, batting .293 in 108 games. The team also acquired its first two players. First it was 20-year old third baseman Jim Donnelly, formerly of the Detroit Wolverines. Later, they purchased second baseman Al Myers from the Philadelphia Quakers.

Washington went to a familiar face for a new manager, Michael Scanlon, who had managed the Nationals two years earlier when they were a part of the Union Association. Their first acquisition was 24-year old pitcher Ed “Cannonball” Crane, who at the time was under National League control. The team also signed veteran infielder Davy Force, who had spent his last seven years with the now defunct Buffalo team. Force’s career dated all the way back to the National Association years in 1871, when he debuted as a rookie for the Washington Olympics.

Both franchises were formally admitted in a league meeting on March 3 ^rd , when both teams also received players from the defunct Buffalo and Providence teams who were still under National League control. Among these players was former two-time National League batting champion, Paul Hines, who was assigned to Washington. The Nationals also received outfielder Cliff Carroll, previously of Providence. Boston president Arthur Soden laid a claim to Carroll, but the National League decided to award him to Washington.

The season opened alright for both new teams. Washington won three of its first four at home, including a 12-11 win against Boston, a game which saw Boston catcher Patrick Dealy charged with 10 passed balls and his battery mate, pitcher Ed Stemmeyer, throw five wild pitches. Kansas City, although losing its first four games, they battled hard with defending champion Chicago on opening day, taking them to thirteen innings in front of 5,000 fans. The New York Times said that the disbandment of the Buffalo and Providence clubs had not only “allowed the strengthening of others” but “have enabled the two new nines to enter the League in encouraging form”.

Kansas City showed signs of life in May, going 5-11, highlighted by a 15-1 win in Philadelphia. Washington however, spiralled downwards. After beating Boston to open up the season at 3-1, the club lost 17 of its next 18 contests, including a 20-0 trashing at the hands of Chicago, an error-filled affair in which only two runs were earned. When the two teams met for the first time on June 1 ^st , it was the Cowboys who emerged victorious in a 2-1 ballgame.

The Cowboys continued their dominance of Washington when they met again in July for a three game series in Kansas City. On the 5 ^th , they took both ends of the doubleheader, 7-4 and 8-1, and then finished the sweep the next day with a 10-4 victory. By that time though, both teams were clearly out of the National League picture. Kansas City had a 12-32 record for seventh place, only better then Washington’s horrid win-loss total of 9-37, putting each team miles behind NL front runner Detroit, who was 39-10.

It was Detroit whom Kansas City played at home on July 21 ^st when it found itself in the middle of a story. The box score read a 12-2 Cowboys victory in 11 innings, but the box score rarely tells the full story. After pitching ten stellar innings to lead his team into extras, Detroit pitcher Charlie “Pretzel” Getzien apparently became upset with the lack of support by his teammates and packed it in. He gave up 10 runs on 9 hits and a walk in the inning, leading to the Detroit loss. The next day, Detroit manager William Watkins fined Getzien $10 per run in the eleventh ($100 in total) for his poor play.

A couple days later, Kansas City found itself on the wrong side of a bad news story. After being booed heartily after a call in New York, Umpire York submitted his resignation to the National League via a letter. In it, he slams Kansas City fans as the worst for umpire treatment and says of the western teams as a whole, “if the local club loses, an umpire is fortunate if he escapes with his life.” He singled out Kansas City vice-president McKim, saying after one particular call, McKim threatened to end his umpiring career.

On the field, things were getting worse in Washington. In August, Manager Scanlon became so flustered that he announced he was resigning as soon as a replacement could be found. The game before, an 11-0 loss against Chicago, the Nationals play was described as: “The fielding of the home club was wretched, their batting lamentably weak, and their base running stupid.” The loss marked their eleventh loss in a row, making it four losing streaks of ten-plus games for the Nationals on the season.

The team would eventually find their new skipper, former NL umpire John Gaffney, who resigned from his post behind the plate in order to lead the Nationals. Gaffney promised he would make a few changes and in September, he purchased four players from Hartford of the Eastern League. One of those players was a young catcher by the name of Connie Mack, who eventually would become perhaps the most famous manager in baseball history. Mack debuted as a catcher on September 11 ^th and contributed a single in a 4-3 win over Philadelphia.

The final games of the 1886 National League season for each team would be against each other, with seven scheduled games over five days, including doubleheaders on the 7 ^th , 8 ^th , and 9 ^th of October. Washington won five of the six games of the double header, the other being a tie, although Kansas City forfeited three of the games. The final game for the teams took place on the 11 ^th , the last game left to be played on the National League schedule. Kansas City came out victorious, 7-5, in what turned out to be the final game for the franchise in the National League.

The Cowboys went out of business in March and sold all of its players back to the NL for $6,000. Their spot in the league was already taken by Pittsburgh. Kansas City played 1887 in the Western League, before being reincarnated in professional baseball for two years by the American Association in 1888.

Meanwhile, Washington stayed open for a few more years, but never could settle on a manager. Gaffney went 46-76 the following season, but would resign after the season to return to umpiring. Washington could not find another solid manager, going through Walter Hewett and Ted Sullivan in 1888 and in 1889, John Morrill and Arthur Irwin. None of the managers could lead Washington out of the basement and the team left the National League in ’89, before going back into the American Association in 1891.