Thursday, August 11, 2011

1899 Cleveland Spiders

The worst team in baseball history:
The numbers tell the sordid story best. The Spiders scored 205 fewer runs and allowed 269 more runs than any team in the league. Their No. 1 pitcher, Jim Hughey, won a team-high four games and lost a league-high 30. No. 2 pitcher Charlie Knepper, in his only major league season, went 4-22. A third pitcher, Crazy Schmit, won two of 19 decisions. Teammate Frank Bates produced a 1-18 record and a 7.24 ERA, which might qualify as the most dismal performance ever, except that fifth starter Harry Colliflower had an 8.17 ERA to go with his 1-11 mark.
In the Spiders' season finale, which proved to be the last game ever for a National League franchise in Cleveland, the team called on a cigar-store clerk and amateur player named Eddie Kolb to pitch against the Cincinnati Reds. He lost 19-3. It was the Spiders' 134th loss of the year, the most in league history. Their 20 wins are the fewest. Their .130 winning percentage is far and away the worst. Cleveland finished in 12th place, 35 games out of 11th and 65½ games out of first.
The Spiders were the first team to call League Park home.  The Indians played there until 1946:
From July 1932 through the 1933 season, the Indians played at the new and far larger Municipal Stadium. However, the players and fans complained about the huge outfield, which reduced the number of home runs. Moreover, as the Great Depression worsened, attendance at the much larger facility plummented.[3] In 1934 the Indians moved most of their games back to League Park.
In 1936, the Indians began splitting their schedule between the two parks, playing Sunday and holiday games at Cleveland Stadium during the summer and the remainder at League Park. Beginning in 1938, they also played selected important games downtown at Cleveland Stadium. Lights were never installed at League Park, and thus no major league night games were played there. However, at least one professional night game was played on July 27, 1931, between the Homestead Grays and the House of David, who borrowed the portable lighting system used by the Kansas City Monarchs.
By 1940, the Indians played most of their home schedule at Municipal Stadium, abandoning League Park entirely after the 1946 season. League Park became the last stadium used in Major League Baseball never to install permanent lights.

League Park viewed from the air.  There was a 60 foot fence in right field, which was 290 feet down the line.  The center field fence was 420 feet, and the scoreboard was 460 feet from home plate.   It was 375 feet down the left field line.

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