The Baltimore Monumentals were an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
baseball team in the short-lived
Union Association
The Union Association was an American professional baseball league which competed with Major League Baseball, lasting for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season.
Seven of the twelv ...
. In their lone season of 1884, they finished fourth in the UA with a 58–47 record.
History
The team was managed by
Bill Henderson. Their top-hitting regular was
left fielder
In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...
Emmett Seery, who batted .311 with a
slugging percentage
In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...
of .408, and their ace
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
was
Bill Sweeney, who was 40–21 with an
earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
of 2.59, and pitched 538 of the team's 946 innings. The Monumentals were disbanded after the Union Association folded at the end of the 1884 season.
Ballpark
The Monumentals' home ground was the
Belair Lot, which was sometimes known as the Union Association Grounds. On July 4, 1884, Baltimore played a split double header against the
Cincinnati Outlaw Reds
The Cincinnati Outlaw Reds of 1884, also called the Cincinnati Unions, were a member of the short-lived Union Association. One of the league's best teams, they finished third with a record of 69–36. The team was owned by former Cincinnati Stars ...
and the run-away league leaders, the
St. Louis Maroons, which saw a sellout crowd in attendance. The field also hosted a home game for the traveling
Chicago Browns team.
The team did play one game on August 25, 1884 at the larger Madison Avenue Ground, in a win against the
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...
. However, the playing field was deemed unfit to use and they returned to the Belair Lot.
Team nickname
Baltimore was the first city to erect a monument to
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
. According to the city's article, "Baltimore has more public statues and monuments per capita than any other city in the country." It is assumed that the team's name was a recognition of that fact.
Name confusion
Retroshee
and Baseball Reference call the UA team the Monumentals. However, ''
The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news.
Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...
'' for 1884 consistently called the UA team simply the "Unions", while "Monumentals" referred to a short-lived Baltimore entry in the minor
Eastern League.
See also
*
1884 Baltimore Monumentals season
External links
Baseball Reference Team Index
{{Union Association
Union Association teams
Baseball teams established in 1884
Baseball teams disestablished in 1884
1884 establishments in Maryland
1884 disestablishments in Maryland
Baseball teams in Baltimore
Defunct baseball teams in Maryland
1880s in Baltimore