1899 Cleveland Spiders season

MLB yearly infobox-pre1969‎
name = Cleveland Spiders
season = 1899
misc =

current league = National League
y1 = 1889
Uniform
ballpark = League Park
y4 = 1891
city = Cleveland, Ohio
y5 = 1887
owners = Frank Robison
managers = Lave Cross, Joe Quinn
television = none
radio = none|

In 1899, the Cleveland Spiders' owners, the Robison brothers, bought the St. Louis Perfectos baseball club, but also retained ownership of the Cleveland club, an obvious conflict of interest that was later outlawed. They decided that a good team in St. Louis would draw more fans, so they proceeded to transfer most of the Cleveland stars, including future Baseball Hall of Famers Cy Young, Jesse Burkett, and Bobby Wallace to St. Louis.

According to various individual pages in [http://www.baseball-reference.com baseball-reference.com] , most of this activity took place on March 29, 1899, just 17 days before the beginning of the new season:

;Pitchers:Frank Bates, Nig Cuppy, Cowboy Jones, Pete McBride, Jack Powell, Zeke Wilson, Cy Young to St. Louis:Kid Carsey, Jim Hughey, Harry Maupin, Willie Sudhoff to Cleveland

;Catchers:Lou Criger, Jack O'Connor to St. Louis:Jack Clements, Joe Sugden to Cleveland

;Infielders:Jimmy Burke, Cupid Childs, Ed McKean, Ossee Schreckengost, Bobby Wallace to St. Louis:Patsy Tebeau to St. Louis (to be manager):Joe Quinn, Suter Sullivan, Tommy Tucker to Cleveland:Lave Cross to Cleveland (to be manager)

;Outfielders:Harry Blake, Jesse Burkett, Emmet Heidrick to St. Louis:Tommy Dowd, Dick Harley to Cleveland

There was further action on June 5:

:Willie Sudhoff, Lave Cross back to St. Louis:Frank Bates, Ossee Schreckengost back to Cleveland

Deprived of its talent, the last year of the Spiders team was the worst in major league history, as the club finished 20-134 (.130) and lost 40 of their last 41 games of the season. The 1899 Cleveland team trailed 84 games behind the pennant-winning Brooklyn Superbas. Cleveland was 35 games behind the next-to-last (11th) place Washington club.

Due to lackluster attendance, other NL teams refused to travel to Cleveland's park. The Spiders were thus forced to play the final 36 games of the season on the road, of which they lost 35. In so doing, they set a number of negative records, including one that is truly unbreakable due to baseball's schedule: 109 road losses.

The 1899 Spiders were 11-109 (.092) on the road, and 9-25 (.265) at home. The team's longest winning streak of the season was two games, which they accomplished once: on May 20 and May 21. Spiders opponents scored ten or more runs 49 times in 154 games. Pitchers Jim Hughey (4-30) and Charlie Knepper (4-22) tied for the team lead in wins. 6,088 fans paid for Spider home games in 1899, an average attendance of 179 per game.

Regular season

Opening Day Starters

eason standings

Roster

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Other pitchers

References

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CLE/1899.shtml 1899 Cleveland Spiders team page at Baseball Reference]