1899 Louisville Colonels season

March 2026 March 2024 Louisville Colonels 1899 National League Eclipse Park II Louisville, Kentucky 75 77 y 9th Barney Dreyfuss Fred Clarke The 1899 Louisville Colonels baseball team finished with a 75–77 record and ninth place in the National League. Following the season, owner Barney Dreyfuss bought the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and folded his Louisville team. Manager Fred Clarke and most of the players moved over to the Pirates where they enjoyed much more success in the coming years. The Colonels, a perennial also-ran through their National League run from 1892 to 1899, appeared to be on the cusp of becoming a strong team when the National League contracted from 12 teams to 8 after the end of the 1899 season. Louisville started the season with a 15–37 record after 52 games, but then went 60–40 in their last 100 in the first glimpse of what was to become a strong Pirates team in the years to come. Many star players, including several Hall of Famers, of the first decade of the 20th Century came from the 1899 Louisville squad including Clarke, Honus Wagner, Rube Waddell, Deacon Phillippe, Tommy Leach and Claude Ritchey. Regular season Season standings Louisville Colonels Record vs. opponents LOU Opening Day lineup Roster 1899 Louisville Colonels Roster Pitchers Kitty Brashear Bert Cunningham Pete Dowling Clay Fauver Patsy Flaherty Bill Magee Deacon Phillippe Rube Waddell Harry Wilhelm Walt Woods Catchers Malachi Kittridge Tacks Latimer Tom Messitt Doc Powers Farmer Steelman Chief Zimmer Infielders Burley Bayer Billy Clingman George Decker Rudy Hulswitt Mike Kelley Bob Langsford Tommy Leach Claude Ritchey Honus Wagner Dave Wills Outfielders Fred Clarke Harry Croft Charlie Dexter Topsy Hartsel Dummy Hoy Fred Ketcham Manager Fred Clarke 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 Chief Zimmer 75 262 78 .298 2 29 1B Mike Kelley 76 282 68 .241 3 33 2B Claude Ritchey 148 540 162 .300 4 73 SS Billy Clingman 110 369 97 .263 2 45 3B Tommy Leach 106 406 117 .288 5 57 OF Charlie Dexter 81 298 76 .255 1 34 OF Dummy Hoy 155 636 194 .305 5 49 OF Fred Clarke 148 602 206 .342 5 70 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 Honus Wagner 148 575 196 .341 7 114 Doc Powers 49 169 35 .207 0 22 George Decker George Decker (baseball) 39 138 37 .268 1 18 Malachi Kittridge 46 131 26 .198 0 13 Dave Wills 24 94 21 .223 0 12 Topsy Hartsel 30 75 18 .240 1 7 Fred Ketchum 15 61 18 .295 0 5 Tacks Latimer 9 29 8 .276 0 4 Farmer Steelman 4 15 1 .067 0 2 Tom Messitt 3 11 1 .091 0 0 Bob Langsford 1 4 0 .000 0 0 Burley Bayer 1 3 0 .000 0 0 Harry Croft 2 2 0 .000 0 0 Rudy Hulswitt 1 0 0 ---- 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 Bert Cunningham 39 323.2 17 17 3.84 36 Deacon Phillippe 42 321.0 21 17 3.17 68 Pete Dowling 35 298.1 13 17 3.05 89 Walt Woods 26 186.1 9 13 3.28 21 Rube Waddell 10 79.0 7 2 3.08 44 Bill Magee 12 71.0 3 7 5.20 13 Patsy Flaherty 5 39.0 2 3 2.31 5 Clay Fauver 1 9.0 1 0 0.00 1 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 Harry Wilhelm 5 25.0 1 1 6.12 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 Kitty Brashear 3 1 0 0 4.50 5 References 1899 Louisville Colonels team page at Baseball Reference Category:Louisville Colonels seasons Louisville Colonels season Louisville Colonels Category:1899 in Louisville, Kentucky