Milwaukee Grays

Win-Loss Record: 34-58-1 (.371)

Ballpark: Milwaukee Baseball Grounds (May 14-September 14, 1878)

The Milwaukee Grays were formed in 1876 and were originally known as the West End Club. Shortly thereafter, the remnants of the Cream City Club joined the team upon their dissolution. The West Ends posted a 23-8 record, with two of the losses coming from a ball club from San Francisco, CA. The highlight of the season came when the club played an exhibition game against the National League pennant winners, the Chicago White Stockings. The game went 10 innings with the White Stockings prevailing by a score of 10-7.

The team would become known as the "Milwaukees" and joined the League Alliance for the 1877 season. The roster included 6 former members of the National Association, and two prospects. One of the prospects was Charlie Bennett, who would go on to have a stellar baseball career, and would later have a stadium, Bennett Stadium named after him. The Milwaukees posted a 19-13 record that year. After two stellar seasons, club officials felt that this warranted the team the right to join the National League for the 1878 season. To manage the team, club president John L. Kaine, brought in former Louisville Grays manager, Jack Chapman. Chapman was best known as member of the Brooklyn Atlantics who hit a home run against the Cream City Club in years past.

The Grays, as the team was then known, were accepted into the National League on December 5, 1877. The 1878 season saw the Grays open the year on the road, a 6-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The Grays got their first win in Indianapolis against the Indianapolis Blues. After a seven-game road trip, which saw the team go 1-5-1, the Grays returned home for their first home opener, an 8-5 against the Red Stockings. The Grays would never reach the .500 mark, the closest it got was a 3-5-1 record. Following a 5-2 loss to the Providence Grays, the team dropped to 6th place, a position they held for the rest of the season. The season ended with the 4-3 win over Providence, giving the club their 15th win of the season and an overall 15-45-1 record.

The team only played six opponents that year, including the Boston Red Caps and the White Stockings. Against each of the six teams, the Grays had a losing record including a 14-game losing streak between June 20th and July 23rd. Rather than try again for the 1879 season, the Grays dropped out on Valentine's Day. Baseball would not return to Milwaukee until the formation of the Milwaukee Cream Citys in the Winter of 1883: late in the 1884 season, the Cream Citys joined the Union Association, getting a Milwaukee team to play major league baseball. It would be 74 years until the city had another team in the National League: the 1953 Milwaukee Braves.

Further Reading

• Dennis Pajot: The Rise of Milwaukee Baseball: The Cream City from Midwestern Outpost to the Major Leagues, 1859-1901, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2009.
• Brian A. Podoll: The Minor League Milwaukee Brewers 1859-1952, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2003.

Source:

• 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