Columbus Buckeyes

Win-Loss Record: 101-104-2 (.493)

Ballpark: Recreation Park I (May 1, 1883-Sept. 22, 1884)

Team History

After being left out of the American Association in 1882, Columbus, OH joined the loop the next year with the Columbus Buckeyes. Managed by Horace Phillips, the expansion club finished sixth at 32-65. With Gus Schmelz running the show in 1883, the team finished second at 69-39 and once won 31 of 36 games. Much of the roster was the same but one significant addition was Cannonball Ed Morris, who went 34-13 and struck out 302 batters. Despite being a success on the field, the team drew poorly (in part due to a battle against Sunday baseball by Christian elements in town) and declared bankruptcy. Many players joined the Pittsburgh Alleghenies, including Morris, Bill Kuehne, Pop Smith and Fred Carroll.

A Buckeyes name was brought back a second time, when an expansion team from Columbus was added to the Western League for the 1896 season. The next year the team changed it to the Columbus Senators.

In 1921 the Buckeyes name was briefly revived by a team in the Negro National League. See: 1921 Columbus Buckeyes.

Sources:

• "The Beer and Whisky League" by David Nemec,
• "The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues" by John Holway,
• "The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues" by James Riley
• Eugene C. Murdock Ban Johnson: Czar of Baseball (Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture) Greenwood Press; annotated edition (Oct. 28, 1982)
• Peter Filichia: Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebrations of All 273 Major League and Negro League Ballparks Past and Present, Addison Wesley Publishing Company (March 1993)
• Denis Pajot: The Rise of Milwaukee Baseball: The Cream City from Midwestern Outpost to the Major Leagues, 1859-1901, McFarland, Sep 30, 2009