1899 St. Louis Perfectos season

1899 St. Louis Perfectos
LeagueNational League
BallparkLeague Park
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record84–67 (.556)
League place5th
OwnersFrank Robison and Stanley Robison
ManagersPatsy Tebeau

The 1899 St. Louis Perfectos season was the team's 18th season in St. Louis, Missouri and their eighth season in the National League. The Perfectos went 84–67 during the season and finished fifth in the National League.[1]

This was the team's only season in which they were named the Perfectos. The Robison brothers, who had just bought the team from original owner Chris von der Ahe, changed the colors to red, the name of the team to Perfectos, and the name of the ballpark to League Park. The red color proved so popular that fans and sportswriters began referring to the team by the shade of red, cardinal. The next season, the team officially became the Cardinals.

The team benefited from many players who were transferred to the team from the Cleveland Spiders, which were also owned by the Robison brothers. This led to the Spiders compiling the worst season in MLB history, losing 134 games. However, the Perfectos wound up finishing only fifth. The pennant-winning Brooklyn Superbas, who finished 18½ games ahead of St. Louis, benefited from a similar arrangement, as Brooklyn's owners also owned the Baltimore Orioles, allowing them to also transfer their better players to one team. After the 1899 season, such arrangements were outlawed in the National League, and both the Spiders and Orioles were among four teams eliminated from the league.

NOTE: The "Perfectos" nickname was never official and it certainly didn't originate with the ownership (Robison brothers). Contemporary sources confirm the name was sarcastic and bestowed by the local cadre of base ball writers as a pejorative reference to their preseason over-optimism and the fact that so many new players came to St. Louis from the 1898 Cleveland Spiders, which was a historically poor-performing team also owned by the Robison Brothers. Naturally, the team finished 5th, albeit with a winning record. Credit for the accuracy on the etymology of the team nickname goes to Jerry Vickery, who was the original curator of the Cardinals Museum and Hall of Fame. Jerry had a deep friendship with legendary Hall of Fame sportswriter Bob Broeg. Broeg carried the story forward from his relationship with another Hall of Fame base ball writer from St. Louis, J. Roy Stockton, who covered the Cardinals from 1915 to 1958. Stockton also wrote for The Sporting News (based in StL) and had a relationship with the Spink Brothers, who covered the 1899 St. Louis National League team.

Offseason

Notable transactions

Regular season

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Brooklyn Superbas 101 47 .682 — 61‍–‍16 40‍–‍31
Boston Beaneaters 95 57 .625 8 53‍–‍26 42‍–‍31
Philadelphia Phillies 94 58 .618 9 58‍–‍25 36‍–‍33
Baltimore Orioles 86 62 .581 15 51‍–‍24 35‍–‍38
St. Louis Perfectos 84 67 .556 18½ 50‍–‍33 34‍–‍34
Cincinnati Reds 83 67 .553 19 57‍–‍29 26‍–‍38
Pittsburgh Pirates 76 73 .510 25½ 49‍–‍34 27‍–‍39
Chicago Orphans 75 73 .507 26 44‍–‍39 31‍–‍34
Louisville Colonels 75 77 .493 28 33‍–‍28 42‍–‍49
New York Giants 60 90 .400 42 35‍–‍38 25‍–‍52
Washington Senators 54 98 .355 49 35‍–‍43 19‍–‍55
Cleveland Spiders 20 134 .130 84 9‍–‍33 11‍–‍101

Record vs. opponents

1899 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BSN BRO CHI CIN CLE LOU NYG PHI PIT STL WAS
Baltimore — 7–7 6–8 9–5 4–9 12–2 6–7–2 10–4 6–7–1 9–3 8–6 9–4–1
Boston 7–7 — 6–8 5–7 10–4 11–3 9–5 12–2 5–9 10–4 8–6 12–2–1
Brooklyn 8–6 8–6 — 8–5–1 7–6 14–0 11–3 10–4 8–6 8–6 8–4–1 11–3
Chicago 5–9 7–5 5–8–1 — 8–6 13–1 7–7 7–6–1 5–9 6–7–2 8–6 4–9
Cincinnati 9–4 4–10 6–7 6–8 — 14–0 8–6 9–5–1 4–10 10–3–3 5–8–2 8–6–1
Cleveland 2–12 3–11 0–14 1–13 0–14 — 4–10 1–13 2–12 2–12 1–13 4–10
Louisville 7–6–2 5–9 3–11 7–7 6–8 10–4 — 7–7 7–6 6–8–1 5–9–1 12–2
New York 4–10 2–12 2–10 6–7–1 5–9–1 13–1 7–7 — 4–10–1 6–7 4–10 7–7
Philadelphia 7–6–1 9–5 6–8 9–5 10–4 12–2 6–7 10–4–1 — 6–8 7–7 12–2
Pittsburgh 3–9 4–10 6–8 7–6–2 3–10–3 12–2 8–6–1 7–6 8–6 — 7–7 11–3
St. Louis 6–8 6–8 4–8–1 6–8 8–5–2 13–1 9–5–1 10–4 7–7 7–7 — 8–6
Washington 4–9–1 2–12–1 3–11 9–4 6–8–1 10–4 2–12 7–7 2–12 3–11 6–8 —


Roster

1899 St. Louis Perfectos
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; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Lou Criger 77 258 66 .256 2 44
1B Patsy Tebeau 77 281 69 .246 1 26
2B Cupid Childs 125 464 123 .265 1 48
3B Lave Cross 103 403 122 .303 4 64
SS Bobby Wallace 151 577 170 .295 12 108
OF Emmet Heidrick 146 591 194 .328 2 82
OF Jesse Burkett 141 558 221 .396 7 71
OF Harry Blake 97 292 70 .240 2 41

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Jack O'Connor 84 289 73 .253 0 43
Ed McKean 67 277 72 .260 3 40
Ossee Schreckengost 72 277 77 .278 2 37
Mike Donlin 66 266 86 .323 6 27
Jake Stenzel 35 128 35 .273 1 19
Dusty Miller 10 39 8 .205 0 3
Charlie Hemphill 11 37 9 .243 1 3
Tim Flood 10 31 9 .290 0 3
Fritz Buelow 7 15 7 .467 0 2
Freddy Parent 2 8 1 .125 0 1
Jimmy Burke 2 6 2 .333 0 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
Jack Powell 48 373.0 23 19 3.52 87
Cy Young 44 369.1 26 16 2.58 111
Willie Sudhoff 26 189.1 13 10 3.61 33
George Cuppy 21 171.2 11 8 3.15 25
Cowboy Jones 12 85.1 6 5 3.59 28
Jack Sutthoff 2 13.0 0 2 10.38 4

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
Pete McBride 11 64.0 2 4 4.08 26
Zeke Wilson 5 26.0 1 1 4.50 3
Tom Thomas 4 25.0 1 1 2.52 8
Mike Donlin 3 15.1 0 1 7.63 6

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Frank Bates 2 0 0 0 1.04 0

References

  1. ^ "1899 St. Louis Perfectos Statistics and Roster - Baseball-Reference.com". Archived from the original on May 1, 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
  2. ^ Jack O'Connor page at Baseball Reference


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