Tom Loftus

Thomas Joseph Loftus

• Bats Right, Throws Unknown
• Weight 168 lb.

• Debut August 17, 1877
• Final Game May 13, 1883
• Born November 15, 1856 in St. Louis, MO USA
• Died April 16, 1910 in Dubuque, IA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

" . . . one of the great builders-up of the national game." - Al Spink

Tom Loftus was a veteran minor league ball player of the 1870s and 1880s who played briefly in the majors before becoming a manager, owner and league president.

Loftus earned his first taste of the majors in 1877, playing briefly for the St. Louis Brown Stockings. At the age of twenty-two, he became the player-manager of a minor league franchise, the Peoria Reds the following year. He later played in the minors with Charlie Comiskey. They were also briefly teammates on the St. Louis Browns in 1883, and the pair formed a lifelong friendship.

Loftus later managed the Dubuque entry in the Northwestern League in 1895. He also managed several teams in four different major leagues (the Union Association, American Association, National League, and American League) and was, for a time, a part owner of the Washington Senators from their founding in 1901 until 1904. He was also President of the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League in 1908.

He was one of the key movers who turned the minor league Western League into a second major league, the American League, alongside Comiskey and Ban Johnson. Unfortunately because he died young, his role was largely forgotten, but he was one of the most respected baseball men in the nation in the 1890s and 1900s. He moved his Grand Rapids Furniture Makers into the abandoned Cleveland, OH market after the 1899 season, them negotiated with the Chicago Orphans to receive agreement to have a rival team installed in the Windy City in 1900. After he did so (and was named the Orphans' manager), Comiskey was able to move the St. Paul Saints into the city, where they became the Chicago White Sox. Adding these two large cities put the re-named American League much further along to being considered a major league, a status it achieved a year later, in 1901.

His time as a manager in Dubuque allowed Loftus to develop business interests in that city. He made it his home and died there of throat cancer in April 1910.

Preceded by Jimmy Williams

Cleveland Blues/Spiders Manager 1888-1889

Succeeded by Gus Schmelz

Preceded by Gus Schmelz

Cincinnati Reds Manager 1890-1891

Succeeded by Charlie Comiskey

Preceded by Tom Burns

Chicago Orphans Manager 1900-1901

Succeeded by Frank Selee

Preceded by Jim Manning

Washington Senators Manager 1902-1903

Succeeded by Malachi Kittridge

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Notes
1884	Milwaukee Cream Citys	Northwestern League	41-30	1st	replaced Jim McKee
	Milwaukee Cream Citys	Union Association	8-4	5th	Joined league on September 27
1885	Milwaukee Cream Citys	Western League	22-13
1888	St. Louis Whites	Western League	10-18	Team disbanded on June 20
	Cleveland Blues	American Association	30-38	6th	Replaced Jimmy Williams (20-44) on July 17
1889	Cleveland Spiders	National League	61-72	6th
1890	Cincinnati Reds	National League	77-55	4th
1891	Cincinnati Reds	National League	56-81	7th
1898	Columbus Senators	Western League		--	Replaced by George Tebeau
1899	Columbus Senators/Grand Rapids Furniture Makers	Western League		--	Replaced by George Tebeau
1900	Chicago Orphans	National League	65-75	6th
1901	Chicago Orphans	National League	53-86	6th
1902	Washington Senators	American League	61-75	6th
1903	Washington Senators	American League	43-94	8th

Further Reading

• John T. Pregler: "Tom Loftus: The American League's Forgotten Founding Father", in Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 49, Nr. 1 (Spring 2020), pp. 26-36.

Related Sites

• BR Manager page