Kansas City Cowboys (baseball)

The Kansas City Cowboys was the name of three different baseball Major League Baseball teams in Kansas City, Missouri in the 19th century.

Union Association Cowboys

The first Cowboys were a team in the Union Association during its only season, 1884. 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.

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. The Unions disbanded shortly after the Union Association voted to dissolve.

National League Cowboys

The second Cowboys were a National League for a single season in 1886. They played at Association Park and finished with a 32-89 record.

American Association Cowboys

The third and final edition of the Cowboys played in the American Association from 1888 to 1889. They played at Exposition Park. Like the first two editions of the Cowboys, the third incarnation struggled, posting records of 43-89 and 55-82. However, these Cowboys did feature a Hall of Famer, outfielder Billy Hamilton, who made his big-league debut with the 1888 Cowboys and went on to post a .344 batting average over fourteen seasons. Henry Porter threw a no-hitter for the Cowboys on June 6, 1888. Sam Barkley hit for the cycle for Kansas City on June 13 of that year.

Other Kansas City MLB teams

Kansas City had a Federal League team in 1914-15, the Packers, and had a highly successful franchise in the Negro Leagues, the Monarchs, but would not be represented in Major League Baseball again until the Philadelphia A's moved to Kansas City in 1955. While the A's moved to Oakland in 1968, the Royals brought baseball back to Kansas City in 1969 -- and remain there to this day.

ee also

*1884 Kansas City Cowboys season
*1886 Kansas City Cowboys season
*1888 Kansas City Cowboys season
*1889 Kansas City Cowboys season

References and external links

*Kansas City "Journal"
*Kansas City "Evening Star"
*Kansas City "Times"
*"Sporting News"
*"Sporting Life"
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCU/ 1884 Cowboys] at Baseball Reference
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCN/1886.shtml 1886 Cowboys] at Baseball Reference
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCC/ 1888-9 Cowboys] at Baseball Reference