The 1899 St. Louis Perfectos season was the team's 18th season in St. Louis, Missouri and their 8th season in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. The Perfectos went 84–67 during the season and finished 5th in the National League. This was the team's only season in which they were named the Perfectos. The Robison brothers, who had just bought the team from original owner Chris von der Ahe, changed the colors to red, the name of the team to Perfectos, and the name of the ballpark to

League Park League Park was a baseball park located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was situated at the northeast corner of Dunham Street (now known as East 66th Street) and Lexington Avenue in the Hough neighborhood. It was built in 1891 as a wood ...

. The red color proved so popular that fans and sportswriters began referring to the team by the shade of red,

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

. The next season, the team officially became the Cardinals. The team benefited from many players who were transferred to the team from the

Cleveland Spiders The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followe ...

, which were also owned by the Robison brothers. This led to the Spiders compiling the worst season in MLB history, losing 134 games. However, the Perfectos wound up finishing only fifth. The pennant-winning

Brooklyn Superbas The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Califo ...

, who finished 18½ games ahead of St. Louis, benefited from a similar arrangement, as Brooklyn's owners also owned the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

, allowing them to also transfer their better players to one team. After the 1899 season, such arrangements were outlawed in the National League, and both the Spiders and Orioles were among four teams eliminated from the league.

Offseason

Notable transactions

* March 29, 1899: Jack O'Connor was assigned to the Perfectos by the

.Jack O'Connor page at Baseball Reference
/ref>

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

''Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Other pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Relief pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

References

External links

1899 St. Louis Perfectos at Baseball Reference1899 St. Louis Perfectos team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
St. Louis Cardinals seasons Saint Louis Perfectos season

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

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