Wilmington Quicksteps

The Wilmington Quicksteps (also known as the Quickstep Club of Wilmington) were an 1884 late-season replacement baseball team in the Union Association. They finished with a 2–16 record and were managed by Joe Simmons. The team played their home games in Union Street Park in Wilmington, Delaware.

The ballpark was located on the southwest corner of Union Street and Front Street (now Lancaster Avenue)[1], which at the time was just outside the city limits.[1] The ballpark's life extended well beyond 1884, hosting minor league games until the 1910s.

In 1883, the Inter-State Association of Professional Baseball Clubs was founded, and local capital was invested for a franchise in Wilmington.

In 1884, the Interstate Association re-organized under the name "Eastern League" (not to be confused with the double A Eastern League of today); this was one of the first "minor leagues" and is considered a forerunner of today's AAA International League.The Wilmington Quicksteps quickly began to dominate the league, and so highly regarded was the club that major league clubs began to show up to play exhibition games: they defeated both the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Monumentals during the season.

By August, the Quicksteps had already sewn up the league championship with a 50-12 record; their dominance nearly destroyed fan interest in the Eastern League, and even in Wilmington, attendance averaged only 400 per game.

Late into the season, Henry Lucas, the Union Association founder and owner of the St. Louis Maroons, convinced Simmons and the Quicksteps to cross over into his league after the Philadelphia Keystones folded.

After winning their first game 4-3 over Washington on August 18, it was all downhill for the Quicksteps, as many players no longer felt bound by their contracts and signed for more money with other teams in their new league. Shortstop and team captain Oyster Burns jumped to the Baltimore Monumentals for $900 a month, followed by outfielder Dennis Casey for $700 a month, while Catcher Andy Cusick jumped to the Philadelphia Phillies for $375 a month; each had been making about $150 a month in Wilmington.

The only star player to remain in Wilmington was pitcher Ed "The Only" Nolan, who went on to beat Washington for Wilmington's second and last victory. But the Quicksteps could not survive the loss of Burns, Casey and Cusick, and the team finished with a meagre batting average of .175 in the Union Association. By this time, however, St. Louis had already won the pennant, so Wilmington's only perceivable purpose was to fill in the last month of the season.

Simmons pulled his team from the field during warm-ups prior to a game against the Kansas City Cowboys on September 21, 1884, after he discovered that he would be unable to pay the $60 gate fee to the visiting Cowboys - the attendance at the game was zero. Wilmington subsequently dropped out of the Union Association and folded, being replaced by the Milwaukee Brewers.

1884 season

Season standings

Union Association
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Maroons 94 19 .832 — 49‍–‍6 45‍–‍13
Cincinnati Outlaw Reds 69 36 .657 21 35‍–‍17 34‍–‍19
Baltimore Monumentals 58 47 .552 32 29‍–‍21 29‍–‍26
Boston Reds 58 51 .532 34 34‍–‍22 24‍–‍29
Milwaukee Brewers 8 4 .667 35½ 8‍–‍4 0‍–‍0
St. Paul Saints 2 6 .250 39½ 0‍–‍0 2‍–‍6
Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies 41 50 .451 42 21‍–‍19 20‍–‍31
Altoona Mountain Citys 6 19 .240 44 6‍–‍12 0‍–‍7
Wilmington Quicksteps 2 16 .111 44½ 1‍–‍6 1‍–‍10
Washington Nationals (UA) 47 65 .420 46½ 36‍–‍27 11‍–‍38
Philadelphia Keystones 21 46 .313 50 14‍–‍21 7‍–‍25
Kansas City Cowboys 16 63 .203 61 11‍–‍23 5‍–‍40

Record vs. opponents

1884 Union Association record

Sources: [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Team ALT BAL BOS CHI/PIT CIN KC MIL PHI STL STP WSH WIL
Altoona — 1–3 1–1 0–0 0–3 0–0 0–0 1–3 0–8 0–0 3–1 0–0
Baltimore 3–1 — 10–5–1 7–5 4–10 10–2 1–3 10–2 1–14 0–0 11–5 1–0
Boston 1–1 5–10–1 — 4–8–1 5–11 8–4 2–2 8–3 8–8 0–0 12–4 5–0
Chicago/Pittsburgh 0–0 5–7 8–4–1 — 7–8 12–4 0–0 3–5 2–14 0–0 4–8–1 0–0
Cincinnati 3–0 10–4 11–5 8–7 — 9–1 0–0 9–0 4–12 3–0 10–6 2–1
Kansas City 0–0 2–10 4–8 4–12 1–9 — 0–0 0–4 0–11–1 1–1–1 4–8–1 0–0
Milwaukee 0–0 3–1 2–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 — 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–1 0–0
Philadelphia 3–1 2–10 3–8 5–3 0–9 4–0 0–0 — 0–8 0–0 4–7 0–0
St. Louis 8–0 14–1 8–8 14–2 12–4 11–0–1 0–0 8–0 — 2–1 13–3 4–0
St. Paul 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–3 1–1–1 0–0 0–0 1–2 — 0–0 0–0
Washington 1–3 5–11 4–12 8–4–1 6–10 8–4–1 1–3 7–4 3–13 0–0 — 4–1
Wilmington 0–0 0–1 0–5 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–4 0–0 1–4 —


Roster

1884 Wilmington Quicksteps
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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR
C Tom Lynch 16 58 16 .276 0
1B Redleg Snyder 17 52 10 .192 0
2B Charlie Bastian 17 60 12 .200 2
SS Henry Myers 6 24 3 .125 0
3B Jimmy Say 16 59 13 .220 0
OF Ike Benners 6 22 1 .045 0
OF Bill McCloskey 9 30 3 .100 0
OF John Cullen 9 31 6 .194 0

Other batters

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

Player G AB H Avg. HR
Andy Cusick 11 34 5 .147 0
John Murphy 10 31 2 .065 0
George Fisher 8 29 2 .069 0
John Munce 7 21 4 .190 0
Dennis Casey 2 8 2 .250 0
Oyster Burns 2 7 1 .143 0
Dan Sheahan 2 6 1 .167 0
Jim McElroy 1 2 0 .000 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
John Murphy 7 48.0 0 6 3.27 27
The Only Nolan 5 40.0 1 4 2.93 52
Dan Casey 2 18.0 1 1 1.00 10
Jersey Bakely 2 17.0 0 2 4.24 9
Fred Tenney 1 8.0 0 1 1.13 10
Jim McElroy 1 5.0 0 1 10.80 3

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
Charlie Bastian 1 0 0 0 3.00 2

Notes

^ Park coordinates are approximately 39.746769, -75.574665

39°44′48″N 75°34′29″W / 39.746769°N 75.574665°W / 39.746769; -75.574665

  1. ^ Ballparks of North America, Michael Benson, McFarland Publishing, 1989, p.413

See also