1.
Sportsman's Park
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Sportsmans Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in the central United States, in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street. The physical street address was 2911 North Grand Boulevard, in 1923, the stadium hosted St. Louiss first NFL team, the St. Louis All-Stars. Baseball was played on the Sportsmans Park site as early as 1867, the tract was acquired in 1866 by August Solari, who began staging games there the following year. It was the home of the St. Louis Brown Stockings in the National Association, originally called the Grand Avenue Ball Grounds. Some sources say the field was renamed Sportsmans Park in 1876, the local papers also still used the alternate name Grand Avenue Park until at least 1885. The first grandstand—one of three on the built in 1881. At that time, the diamond and the grandstands were on the southeast corner of the block, the park was leased by the then-major American Association entry, the St. Louis Brown Stockings, or Browns. The Browns were a strong team in the mid-1880s. When the National League absorbed the strongest of the old Association teams in 1892, soon they went looking for a new ballpark, finding a site just a few blocks northwest of the old one, and calling it New Sportsmans Park, which was later renamed Robison Field. They also changed colors from Brown to Cardinal Red, thus acquiring a new nickname. When the American League Browns moved from Milwaukee in 1902, they built a new version of Sportsmans Park and they initially placed the diamond and the main stand at the northwest corner of the block. This Sportsmans Park saw football history made and it became both the practice field and home field for Saint Louis University football teams, coached by the visionary Eddie Cochems, father of the forward pass. These included a 39–0 thrashing of Iowa before a crowd of 12,000, robinson launched an amazingly long pass in the game against the Jayhawks, which was variously reported to have traveled 67 or 87 yards in the air. College Football Hall of Fame coach David M. Nelson called the extraordinary, considering the size, shape and weight of the fat. Sports historian John Sayle Watterson agreed, in his book, College Football, History, Spectacle, Controversy, Watterson described Robinsons long pass as truly a breathtaking achievement. St. Louis finished with an 11–0 record in 1906, outscoring its opponents 407–11, the previous wooden grandstand was retained as left-field bleachers for a while, but was soon replaced with permanent bleachers. The Cardinals came back to their home in mid-1920, as tenants of the Browns, after abandoning the outdated
2.
St. Louis
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St. Louis is an independent city and major U. S. port in the state of Missouri, built along the western bank of the Mississippi River, on the border with Illinois. Prior to European settlement, the area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture. The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, in 1764, following Frances defeat in the Seven Years War, the area was ceded to Spain and retroceded back to France in 1800. In 1803, the United States acquired the territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase, during the 19th century, St. Louis developed as a major port on the Mississippi River. In the 1870 Census, St. Louis was ranked as the 4th-largest city in the United States and it separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its own political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the Summer Olympics, the economy of metro St. Louis relies on service, manufacturing, trade, transportation of goods, and tourism. This city has become known for its growing medical, pharmaceutical. St. Louis has 2 professional sports teams, the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, the city is commonly identified with the 630-foot tall Gateway Arch in Downtown St. Louis. The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture and their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the Mound City and these mounds were mostly demolished during the citys development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane. The earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country on the east side of the Mississippi River during the 1690s and early 1700s at Cahokia, Kaskaskia, migrants from the French villages on the opposite side of the Mississippi River founded Ste. In early 1764, after France lost the 7 Years War, Pierre Laclède, the early French families built the citys economy on the fur trade with the Osage, as well as with more distant tribes along the Missouri River. The Chouteau brothers gained a monopoly from Spain on the fur trade with Santa Fe, French colonists used African slaves as domestic servants and workers in the city. In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, the founding of St. Louis began in 1763. Pierre Laclede led an expedition to set up a fur-trading post farther up the Mississippi River, before then, Laclede had been a very successful merchant. For this reason, he and his trading partner Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent were offered monopolies for six years of the fur trading in that area
3.
Charles Comiskey
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Charles Albert Charlie Comiskey, also nicknamed Commy or The Old Roman, was an American Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League, Comiskey Park, the White Sox storied baseball stadium, was built under his guidance and named for him. Comiskey was inducted as an executive into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, Comiskey was born on August 15,1859, in Chicago, the son of Illinois politician John Comiskey. He attended public and parochial schools in Chicago, St. Ignatius College Prep and he played baseball at St. Comiskey started his playing career as a pitcher, and moved to first base after developing arm trouble. He is credited with being the first to play hitters off of first base and he entered the American Association in 1882 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings. He managed the team during parts of its first seasons and took over full-time in 1885, leading the Browns to four consecutive American Association championships and a close second in 1889. He also played and managed for the Chicago Pirates in the Players League, the Browns again, Comiskey left Cincinnati and the majors in fall 1894 to purchase the Western League club in Sioux City, Iowa and move it to Saint Paul, Minnesota. He had compiled a.264 batting average with 29 home runs,883 RBI and 419 stolen bases, as a manager, he posted an 839-542 record. The St. Paul Saints moved to the South Side as the White Stockings of the renamed American League for the 1900 season, the American League then declared itself a major league starting in 1901. As owner of the White Sox from 1900 until his death in 1931, Comiskey oversaw building Comiskey Park in 1910 and winning five American League pennants, Comiskey was notoriously stingy, even forcing his players to pay to launder their own uniforms. Traci Peterson notes that, in an era when professional athletes lacked free agency and she writes, Charles Risberg and Claude Williams made less than $3,000 a year. Joe Jackson and George Weaver made only $6,000 a year, eddie Cicotte had been promised a $10,000 bonus if he could win 30 games in a season. When Cicotte closed in on the 30-game goal, Comiskey had him benched to keep him from reaching the mark, Comiskeys stated reason for having manager Kid Gleason bench Cicotte was that with the Sox headed for the World Series he had to protect his star pitchers arm. In one incident, he promised his players a bonus for winning the 1919 pennant — the bonus turned out to be a case of flat champagne, however, he initially defended the accused players and, in an unusual display of largesse, provided them with expensive legal representation. Indeed, the White Sox promptly tumbled into seventh place and would not be a factor in a pennant race again until 1936, five years after Comiskeys death. Comiskey is sometimes credited with the innovation of playing the first base position behind first base or inside the foul line, later he had played a large role in the dissolution of the National Commission, baseballs former body of authority, following a quarrel with Ban Johnson. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, Comiskey died in Eagle River, Wisconsin in 1931. Comiskeys son J. Louis inherited the team but died a few years later, the trustees of his estate were going to sell the team, but J. Louis widow Grace was able to gain control of the team and avoid a sale
4.
St. Louis Cardinals
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The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. Busch Stadium has been their home ballpark since 2006, with origins as one of the early professional baseball clubs in St. Upon the discontinuation of the AA, St. Louis joined the NL in 1892, at time, they were called the Browns. One of the most successful franchises in history, the Cardinals have won 11 World Series championships. Their 19 National League pennants rank third in NL history, in addition, St. Louis has won 13 division titles in the East and Central divisions. While still in the AA, St. Louis won four league championships, the Cardinals have won 105 or more games in four different seasons and won 100 or more a total of nine times. Cardinals players have won 20 league MVPs, four batting Triple Crowns, and three Cy Young Awards. Baseball Hall of Fame inductees include Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Medwick, Stan Musial, Branch Rickey, Red Schoendienst, Ozzie Smith, and Bruce Sutter. In 2016, Forbes valued the Cardinals at $1.6 billion, making them the 7th-most valuable franchise in MLB, their revenue the year was $300 million. Since their purchase in 1995, owner William DeWitt, Jr. s investment group has seen enormous growth from the $147 million purchase price, John Mozeliak is the general manager and Mike Matheny is the manager. Professional baseball began in St. Louis with the inception of the Brown Stockings in the National Association in 1875, the NA folded following that season, and the next season, St. Louis joined the National League as a charter member, finishing in third place at 45-19. George Bradley hurled the first no-hitter in Major League history, the NL expelled St. Louis from the league after 1877 due to a game-fixing scandal and the team went bankrupt. Without a league, they continued play as a barnstorming team through 1881. For the 1882 season, Chris von der Ahe purchased the team, reorganized it, and made it a member of the American Association. 1882 is generally considered to be the first year existence of the St. Louis Cardinals, the next season, St. Louis shortened their name to the Browns. Soon thereafter they became the dominant team in the AA, as manager Charlie Comiskey guided St. Louis to four pennants in a row from 1885 to 1888. Pitcher and outfielder Bob Caruthers led the league in ERA and wins in 1885 and he also led the AA in OBP and OPS in 1886 and finished fourth in batting average in 1886 and fifth in 1887
5.
Bill Gleason
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William G. Bill Gleason was a shortstop in Major League Baseball who played from 1882 through 1889 for three different teams of the American Association. Listed at 5 ft 8 in,170 lb. Gleason batted and he was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His older brother, Jack Gleason, was also a ballplayer, Gleason entered the majors in 1882 with the St. Louis Browns, playing for them six years before joining the Philadelphia Athletics and Louisville Colonels. His most productive came in 1887, when he posted career numbers in batting average, runs, hits. A member of three St. Louis champion teams from 1885 to 1887, in 1883 and 1885 he led the league in games played. In an eight-season career, Gleason was a.267 hitter with seven runs and 298 RBI in 798 games, including 613 runs,111 doubles. Incomplete data shows him stealing 70 bases and getting hit by 52 pitches, Gleason died in his native St. Louis at the age of 73. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference Bill Gleason at Find a Grave
6.
Hit (baseball)
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If a batter reaches first base because of offensive interference by a preceding runner, he is also credited with a hit. A hit for one base is called a single, for two bases a double, and for three bases a triple, a home run is also scored as a hit. Doubles, triples, and home runs are also called extra base hits, an infield hit is a hit where the ball does not leave the infield. Infield hits are uncommon by nature, and most often earned by speedy runners, a no-hitter is a game in which one of the teams prevented the other from getting a hit. Throwing a no-hitter is rare and considered an accomplishment for a pitcher or pitching staff. In most cases in the game, no-hitters are accomplished by a single pitcher who throws a complete game. A pitcher who throws a no-hitter could still allow runners to reach safely, by way of walks, errors, hit batsmen. If the pitcher allows no runners to reach base, the no-hitter is a perfect game, in 1887, Major League Baseball counted bases on balls as hits. The result was skyrocketing batting averages, including some near.500, Tip ONeill of the St. Louis Browns batted.485 that season, the experiment was abandoned the following season. There is controversy regarding how the records of 1887 should be interpreted, the number of legitimate walks and at-bats are known for all players that year, so computing averages using the same method as in other years is straightforward. In 1968, Major League Baseball formed a Special Baseball Records Committee to resolve this issues, the Committee ruled that walks in 1887 should not be counted as hits. Most current sources list ONeills 1887 average as.435, as calculated by omitting his walks and he would retain his American Association batting championship. However, the variance between methods results in differing recognition for the 1887 National League batting champion, cap Anson would be recognized, with his.421 average, if walks are included, but Sam Thompson would be the champion at.372 if they are not. The official rulebook of Major League Baseball states in Rule 10, Rule 10.05 Comment, In applying Rule 10.05, the official scorer shall always give the batter the benefit of the doubt. Runner is called out for interference with a fielder attempting to field a batted ball, unless in the scorers judgment the batter-runner would have been safe had the interference not occurred
7.
Chris von der Ahe
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Christian Friedrich Wilhelm von der Ahe was a German entrepreneur, best known as the owner of the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the American Association, now known as the St. Louis Cardinals. Von der Ahe arrived in New York City but quickly moved to St. Louis, later, he bought out the store owner and expanded business by establishing a saloon in the back of the store. He named the team the Browns and hired future Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey to play first base, Von der Ahe took a very active role in the team, even though he knew almost nothing about baseball. He was the first baseball owner with a significant public persona, with his thick German accent bushy mustache and showmanship, he was as much of a story as his players. The Browns dominated the American Association, winning four league championships starting in 1885, and the baseball, beer. He made $500,000 off the team alone. He set the price at 25 cents, hoping fans would spend money on beer. As a result, the Browns led the league in attendance, the term fan is sometimes attributed to von der Ahe. In 1885, von der Ahe erected a statue outside of Sportsmans Park, not of any of his star players. A sportswriter from Denver mockingly dubbed the statue Von der Ahe discovers Illinois, although eccentric, von der Ahe made a number of innovations, including operating a farm club called the St. Louis Whites. Also, tradition holds that von der Ahe was the first to sell hot dogs at the ballpark, Von der Ahe billed himself as the Millionaire Sportsman. In 1887, after a showing in the World Series. In 1891, he was majority owner of the Cincinnati Kellys Killers which played for part of one season in the American Association. In 1892 the team joined the National League after the American Association folded, by this time, Comiskey had lost patience with von der Ahe and left for the Cincinnati Reds. Without Comiskey, the Browns quickly became a last-place team, legal problems plagued von der Ahes ownership, especially in the later years. The league, which prohibited gambling on its grounds, disapproved of the race track, the press called the facility Coney Island West and nicknamed von der Ahe Von der Ha Ha. With losses still piling up, von der Ahe resorted to selling off his best players, in 1898, part of the ballpark burned down during an April game with Chicago, his second wife divorced him, and his bondsman kidnapped him for not paying his debts. In a highly publicized trial connected with the fire, von der Ahe lost his baseball team, the Browns changed hands twice and changed their name twice, first to the Perfectos and then to the Cardinals
8.
Road (sports)
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A road game or away game is a sports game where the specified team is not the host and must travel to another venue. Most professional teams represent cities or towns and amateur sports teams often represent academic institutions, each team has a location where it practices during the season and where it hosts games. When a team is not the host, it must travel to games. Thus, when a team is not hosting a game, the team is described as the team, the visiting team, or the away team. The venue in which the game is played is described as the stadium or the road. The host team is said to be the home team, major sporting events, if not held at a neutral venue, are often over several legs at each teams home ground, so that neither team has an advantage over the other. Occasionally, the team may not have to travel very far at all to a road game. These matches often become local derbies, a few times a year, a road team may even be lucky enough to have the road game played at their own home stadium or arena. This is prevalent in college athletics where many schools will play in regional leagues or groundshare. The related term true road game has seen increasing use in U. S. college sports in the 21st century, while regular-season tournaments and other special events have been part of college sports from their creation, the 21st century has seen a proliferation of such events. These are typically held at sites, with some of them taking place outside the contiguous U. S. or even outside the country entirely. In turn, this has led to the use of true road game to refer to contests played at one home venue. In some association football leagues, particularly in Europe, the teams fans sit in their own section. Depending on the stadium, they will either sit in a designated section or be separated from the home fans by a cordon of police officers. However, in the leagues in England, supporters may be free to mix. When games are played at a site, for instance the FA Cup final in England which is always played at Wembley Stadium. This results in each team occupying one half of the stadium and this is different from other sports, particularly in North America, where very few fans travel to games played away from their home stadium. Home and away fans are not separated at these games
9.
Jumbo McGinnis
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George Washington Jumbo McGinnis was a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1882 to 1887. McGinnis started his career with the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the American Association and was one of their top pitchers, from 1882 to 1884, he pitched over 300 innings and won over 20 games each year. He later played for the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Red Stockings and he died at the age of 80. List of St. Louis Cardinals team records Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference
10.
Tony Mullane
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Anthony John Tony Mullane, nicknamed Count and The Apollo of the Box, was an Irish Major League Baseball player who pitched for seven teams during his 13-season career. He is best known as a pitcher that could throw left-handed and right-handed, born in County Cork, Ireland, Mullane emigrated to the United States in 1864. He made his Major League debut with the Detroit Wolverines on August 27,1881, Mullane suffered an injury to his right arm and managed to teach himself to throw left-handed. Mullane resumed throwing right-handed once the injury healed, and he would even alternate throwing right-handed and left-handed in the same game, Mullane would face the batter with both hands on the ball, and then use either one to throw a pitch. Harris had spent most of his career prohibited by the Red Sox from pitching left-handed, on June 5,2015 Pat Venditte began his major league career by switch pitching two scoreless innings for the Oakland Athletics. On September 11, he pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Red Stockings and he recorded 35 victories with the 1883 St. Louis Browns. In 1884, Mullane attempted to sign with the St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association, threatened with banishment for defying his contract, Mullane relented. The Browns then sold Mullane to the expansion Toledo Blue Stockings, for this action, the American Association suspended Mullane for the entire 1885 season. Coming in the midst of his string of consecutive 30-win seasons, following the suspension, Mullane joined the Cincinnati Red Stockings for the 1886 season and remained there for the next seven and a half years, over which he won 163 games. At the plate, in 1889 he recorded career-highs with 24 stolen bases, a.296 batting average, the 1893 season brought several rules changes, most notably the moving of the pitchers mound an additional five feet from home plate. Mullane began the season a mediocre 6–6, and was traded to the Baltimore Orioles on June 16 and he staggered to an 18–25 record with the Orioles in a little more than one full season over 1893 and 1894. Mullane set a record on June 18,1894, by allowing 16 runs in the first inning of a game with the Boston Beaneaters. A month later he was traded again, this time to the Cleveland Spiders. Mullane retired after the 1894 season with a record of 284–220 and he also worked five games as an umpire. His 284 wins tie him with Ferguson Jenkins for 27th on the all-time list, he is fourth among eligible pitchers not in the Hall of Fame, behind only Roger Clemens, Bobby Mathews and Tommy John. Mullane still holds the record for the most wild pitches in Major League history, after his baseball career, Mullane went on to join the Chicago Police Department, from which he retired in 1924. Tony Mullane died at the age of 85 years in Chicago and he was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame on July 17,2010
11.
Pat Deasley
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Pat Deasley was a 19th-century professional baseball player. Deasley primarily played catcher for several teams during his 8-year career from 1881 to 1888, Deasley played for the Boston Red Caps, St. Louis Browns, New York Giants, and Washington Nationals over the course of his career. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference
