The National Association Cleveland Spiders Logo
I can’t continue my chronological journey through baseball’s past without touching on the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. Baseball’s red-headed step child. No team in the history of the game was abused more than this team. No team lost more games in a season, gave up more runs and took more beat downs than this team.
Before the start of the 1899 season Frederick and Stanley Robison bought controlling interest of the St. Louis Perfectos. Making them a proud card carrying member of syndicate baseball. Owning both the Perfectos and the Spiders, the Robison’s went about dismantling the Spiders and building up the Perfectos. The Perfectos would finish 84-67, good for 5th place, thanks to the addition of Cy Young, Bobby Wallace, Jesse Burkett, and Patsy Tebeau, among others from the Spiders. The Spiders, a team that had a winning record their previous 6 seasons, finished 20-134. A .130 winning percentage, 84 games out, and 35 games in back of the 11th place Nationals, all records for futility.
The Spiders went winless against Brooklyn and Cincinnati, while winning just 1 time against St. Louis, Chicago, and NY. They owned both Washington and Louisville beating both teams 4 times while losing 10. Coincidentally at seasons end, along with Cleveland, both Louisville and Washington were disbanded from the league.
Because of low attendance the other teams refused to travel to Cleveland to play their road games, thus the Spiders ended up playing 112 games on the road, winning just 11. They had a 50 game road trip, a record, where they finished 4-46. They ended the season with 35 road games, winning just once. Their longest winning streak was just 2 games, they performed that feat just once. They had a losing streak of 11 games or more 6 x throughout the season.
Their home attendance averaged just 145 fans per game. They were last in runs allowed(1252), and runs scored(529). That’s an average of 8.13 runs allowed per game. They were last in batting average(.252), earned run average(6.37) almost a full 1.5 runs more than the 11th place Nationals. They were also last in doubles, triples, hrs, slg%, and stolen bases.
Other interesting Spider events:
1. The Spiders actually won their home opener in front of a standing room only crowd of 500.
2. Some of the nicknames given to the Spiders that season were, the Exiles, the Wanderers, and the Forsakens. That would be a great team name if there was baseball played in hell. Beelzabub’s Forsakens…not quite a Field of Dreams however.
3. They are one of the few teams to get shutout in both games of a double header. Losing 10-0 and 5-0 against the Pirates.
4. On 6/2 they lead Brooklyn 10-0 and lost the game 11-10.
5. On 7/1 they were losing to Boston 7-0 in the 9th inning. They tied the score and won 10-9 in 11 innings. Starting pitcher Frank Bates pitched all 11 innings, giving up 17 hits while picking up the win. He would finish 1-18 for the season.
6. They lost 24 games in a row at one point, still the all-time record.
All-in–all 32 different players toiled for the Spiders that season. Who were these misfits of misfortune?
Joe Quinn- His only season with Cleveland. He led the team in hits(176) doubles(24), rbis(72) and average(.286). Quinn was a pretty decent 2nd baseman, playing 17 seasons. He was transferred from St. Louis to Cleveland after the 1898 season, and then sent back to St. Louis in 1900. He was the Spiders manager for the last 116 games, winning just 12.
Tommy Dowd- Also his only season with Cleveland, and he too moved from St. Louis to Cleveland after the 1898 season. He led the team with 81 runs scored, tied for the team lead with 2 home runs, while hitting a respectable .278. Dowd played 10 seasons, mostly in the outfield and finished with a .271 lifetime average.
Dick Harley- Another St. Louis outcast, who played just 1 season with Cleveland. He played 142 games in left field and hit .250. He played 7 seasons finishing with a .262 average. He is surprisingly not the only Dick Harley to play in the majors. His namesake played 1 season(1905) as a pitcher for the Boston Braves.
Harry Lochhead- Harry made 81 errors while playing 146 games at shortstop. He would hit just .238 on the season, and would play only 10 more games at the major league level. He actually pitched 3.2 innings without allowing a run.
Suter Sullivan- Suter was sent to Cleveland via the St. Louis Perfectos. He would hit .245 while making just 23 errors in 101 games at 3rd base. He would not play another season at the major league level.
Tommy Tucker- Tucker was also moved from St. Louis to Cleveland at the end of the 1898 season. He would hit .241 while playing 110 games at 1st. Tucker actually led the American Association in hitting in 1889 with a .372 average. This was his last season in baseball, he would finish with a respectable .290 average over 13 seasons played.
Sport McAllister- Sport actually played 4 seasons with the Spiders. He would play 7 seasons with 1899 being the only season that he had more than 400 at bats. His 8 triples would lead the team.
Joe Sugden- Sugden played 13 seasons primarily at catcher. He hit .276 while playing in 76 games for the Spiders. Sugden would play 1st base for the Tigers for 1 game in 1912. This was the infamous Ty Cobb suspension game. He would single in 4 at bats.
Charlie Hemphill- His rookie season. He started the season with St. Louis but was transferred to Cleveland after playing in just 11 games. He would make the most of it by hitting .277 in 5 games with Cleveland. He would go on to play 10 seasons in the American League, finishing his career with the Highlanders in 1911.
Lave Cross- Lave started the season as the Spiders manager, guiding them to an 8-30 record. He hit .286 in those 38 games and was transferred to St. Louis where he would hit .303 in 103 games while playing 3rd for the Perfectos. Cross played 21 seasons, playing in 4 different major leagues; the National league, American Association , Players League, and American League. He would finish his career in 1907 with the Washington Seanators, after compiling a lifetime .292 average.
Osee Schrecongost- Osee(his real name) started the season with St. Louis, but after going 0-8 in 4 games he was shipped to Cleveland. Osee actually responded well to the move, hitting .313 in 43 games. Osee played 11 seasons and never saw his full name in a baseball box score. His name was usually shortened to Sch’gost, saving the typesetter a whole lot of work.
Jim Hughey- Hughey pitched for St. Louis in 1898, compiling a 7-24 record. Not too shabby when you place it next to his 4-30 record for the Spiders. He would tie for the team lead with those 4 wins. He would pitch in just 1 more season and would finish with a 29-80 lifetime record.
Whitey Duncan- He played 15 games with Washington before being released. Cleveland picked him off the scrap heap in time to play 31 games and tie for the team lead with 2 home runs. This would be his only season at the major league level.
Charlie Knepper- 4-22, with a 5.78 ERA. Despite leading the team in wins, he would not play another season.
Harry Colliflower- With a name like Colliflower you have to be multi-talented. He pitched, played the outfield, as well as 1st base. Despite his .303 average in 23 games this would be his only major league season. A 1-11 record and an 8.17 ERA might have also had something to do with it.
Chief Zimmer- After hitting .342 in 20 games, with 2 home runs for the Spiders, he was released. Probably because he was making the other Spiders look bad. He would sign with Louisville and appear in 75 games and hit .298. Zimmer played 19 seasons, 13 with Cleveland.
Crazy Schmit- AKA Frederick Scmit, was out of baseball for 6 years before signing on with the Spiders. Thus the Crazy. He had retired in 1893 with an 8-21 lifetime record. He padded his stats by going 2-17 with the Spiders.
Frank Bates- Bates went 2-1 for Cleveland in 1898. He was transferred to St Louis to start the 1899 season, but after appearing in 2 games he was moved back to Cleveland. His 1-18 record was highlighted by his 11 inning 17 hit CG victory as discussed above. He would not pitch another season.
Otto Krueger- As a rookie, Otto hit .227 playing in 13 games. He would play parts of 6 more seasons with St. Louis and Pittsburg.
Jack Stivetts- Stivetts was a 6x 20 game winner pitching on several pennant winning Beaneater teams. He would go 0-4 for the Spiders in his final season. He would finish with a 131-82 lifetime record.
Kid Carsey- Kid pitched in 10 games for the Spiders compiling a 1-8 record before being released. Kid was a 2x 20 game winner with the Phillies, and would finish with a 102-101 lifetime record.
Bill Hill- After going a respectable 3-6 for the Spiders he was released in June. He would play for Baltimore and Brooklyn in 1899 as well. He would go a combined 4-4 with them to finish the season 7-10. In his rookie season in 1896 with Louisville he went 9-28. So his 3-6 record with Cleveland wasn’t so bad. He would not pitch again after the 1899 season.
Willie Sudhoff- Willie started the season with Cleveland compiling a 3-8 record. He would be transferred to St Louis in June and would fair much better going 12-10. He would win 21 games for St. Louis in 1903, and would retire after the 1906 season with a 102-135 lifetime record.
Chief Sockalexis- Sockalexis joined the Spiders in 1897, hitting .338 in 66 games, winning the praise and admiration of Cleveland fans. Injuries and alcohol immediately took its toll on his career. He would appear in just 28 games over the next 2 seasons. His 7 games in 1899 marked the end of his career. The Cleveland Indians were so named in honor of the Chief.
Jack Clements- Best known as the last full-time left handed throwing catcher, Clements played in just 4 games for the Spiders, getting 3 hits. He would play 1076 games at catcher over 17 seasons. He would retire in 1900 with a .287 lifetime average.
Jack Harper- As a rookie Harper went 1-4 with a respectable 3.89 ERA in 5 games. He would pitch in 7 more seasons, winning 23 games for St. Louis in 1901, and going 23-9 for Cincinnati in 1904. He would retire in 1906 with an 80-64 lifetime record.
Harry Maupin- Maupin took his 0-2 record with the St. Louis Perfectos in 1898 and parlayed it into an 0-3 record with a 12.60 ERA for the 1899 Spiders. He would not pitch again in the majors.
Charlie Ziegler- Ziegler appeared in just 2 games in September and actually got 2 hits. He would play 3 games in 1900 with the Phillies and would get 3 hits. 5 games, 5 hits, all singles, out of baseball.
George Bristow- Played 3 games in the outfield, banging out a double in 9 abs. Was released on May 9th, and did not play again.
Highball Wilson- Pitched and lost just 1 game in 1899. He would play 3 more seasons and compiled a lifetime record of 14-26.
Eddie Kolb- Pitched in one game, the final game of the season, giving up 18 hits and 19 runs. During the Spiders season ending 35 game road trip they allowed Eddie Kolb to pitch a game for them. Eddie worked in a tobacco shop in Cincinnati and had to provide a box of cigars before he was allowed to take the mound. Although he pitched poorly he did get a hit and score a run. Eddie was just 19 years old.
This is a poorly scanned picture of former National Association Cleveland Spider players. It’s a compilation that I put together to remember some of the former players that toiled for the Diamond Mind 19th Century baseball team that I was involved with a couple of years ago. The National Association began with the 1888 season and progressed to 1895 before disbanding. It tweaked my interest in the early years of baseball, and is one of the reasons I started this blog. It is displayed prominently on a wall in my computer room.
A baseball blog asking the question:
What if?
What if the World Series was played in the 19th Century? What if they played the World Series in 1904? What if the 1919 White Stockings played to win? These answers and more will be found on this blog. It's not time travel, but it's the next best thing.
Email me at keving1701 @gmail.com I'd love to hear from you.
