19th Century Washington Baseball

19th Century Washington Baseball Teams

1871-1872 Washington Olympics

Ballparks: Madison Avenue Grounds (Baltimore, MD) (May 5, 1871-May 24, 1872)

Washington fielded a team in the National Association in 1871 and 1872. That team was known as the Olympics. The Olympics had a combined record of 17-22 in their two-year existence. The Olympics had been a well-known amateur team before joining the N.A.

Ballpark: Olympics Grounds

1871

In a league with nine teams, the Olympics finished in fourth place with a record of 15-15 under manager Nick Young.

Team Photo:

BR Team page

1872

In their second and final year of existence, the Olympics fell to 10th place (out of 11 teams) with a record of 2-7. The team was again managed by Nick Young.

BR Team page

Washington Blue Legs

Ballpark: Olympics Grounds (April 15-October 23, 1873)

The Washington Blue Legs played in the National Association in 1873.

1884 Washington Nationals

The sole year of the Union Association saw an alternate use of the Nationals name. The American Association also had a team of the same name in 1884. The UA team fared far better than its A.A. counterpart, finishing in 7th place with a 47-65 record.

• BR Team Page

Sources and Further Reading

• 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.
• Frederic J. Frommer: The Washington Nationals 1859 to Today: The Story of Baseball in the Nation's Capital, Taylor Trade Publishing, Lanham, MD, 2006. Re-edited in 2013 as You Gotta Have Heart: A History of Washington Baseball from 1859 to the 2012 National League East Champions. ISBN 978-1589798434
• Norman L. Macht: "Washington Nicknames", in Bob Brown, ed.: Monumental Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Capital Region, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 39, 2009, pp. 93-94.