The Wilmington Quicksteps

Imagine if halfway through the season the New York Mets disbanded and were replaced by the Long Island Ducks.  In 1884 a minor league team was invited into the major league Union Association for the last month of the season, to replace the disbanded Philadelphia Keystones.

The disparate team records of that year highlight the jump in level of play: the Quicksteps were 50-12 in the Eastern League, ensuring the league championship.  Despite having beaten major-league level teams earlier in the season during the exhibition season, the Quicksteps managed to put up only two wins in eighteen attempts during the last month of the season.    The Quicksteps lost many players during the transitions to other teams, leaving the team bereft of star players.

On September 21st of that year, manager Joe Simmons disbanded the team.  They hold the dubious distinction of not attracting one fan during their last game.  Wilimington being recognized as a placeholder, the Union Association gave their spot in the league the following season to the Milwaukee Brewers.   

Players who played for the Quicksteps include: Oyster Burns (who left for the Baltimore franchise right after the switch), Tony Kusick (who went on to a laughable .193 lifetime batting average for the Philadelphia Quakers), Dennis Casey (a journeyman who was pushing thirty and only put in over a year at the major league level), and Ed "The Only" Nolan (who possessed fully half of the team's major league wins).   

An overview of the Quicksteps season can be found here.

Excellent article by J. Gross over at SABR about the Wilmington Quickstep's lone half-season can be found here.

The Troy Trojans

Between the 1879-1882 seasons, the Troy Trojans were a basement-dwelling National League team in upstate Troy, New York.   During their four seasons in existence, they managed to play in three ballparks: Putnam Grounds, Haymaker Grounds and the Troy Ball Clubs Grounds.  

Perennially in the bottom half of the standings, the Troy Trojans disbanded in 1882, to be replaced in the National League by the New York Gothams, later to become the New York Giants.   Many players from the Trojans made the switch to the Gothams.

Five plaques in Cooperstown have Troy (N.L.) on them: those belonging to the Nineteenth Century players Mickey Welch, Tim Keefe, Buck Ewing, Roger Connor and Dan Brouthers.

The team was managed for three seasons, and part of a fourth, by Bob Ferguson, compiling a 122-157 record.  (As a player, Ferguson developed the nickname "Death to Flying Things," oh, that name is dying to be resurrected).  The final part of the team's last season was led to a 12-34 record by Horace Phillips.

Hall-of-Famer Dan Brouthers made a brief appearance with the Trojans in 1879, but was subsequently let go after a few failed pitching outings (he was originally a first baseman).  It was a few years before he made it to the majors again.

Roger Connor started his career in Troy, and made the move to New York with the Gothams, eventually lending the team its new nickname "The Giants."   Buck Ewing also made the move to New York.   Tim Keefe, from the getgo a dominating pitcher, moved to New York after the Trojans folded, but to the New York Metropolitans of the American Association.  

300 game winner Mickey Welch won 69 of his games in three seasons in Troy, including a most-impressive (even for that time) 34 games in 1880.