The 1890 Philadelphia Athletics had a 54–78 record and finished in eighth place in the American Association. During the season, the team struggled financially. They could not afford to keep paying their players and had to finish the season with a pickup team.

The Philadelphia Athletics were a professional baseball team, one of six charter members of the American Association, a 19th-century major league, which began play in 1882 as a rival to the National League. The other teams were the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Eclipse of Louisville, Pittsburgh Alleghenys, and St. Louis Brown Stockings. The team took its name from a previous team, which played in the National Association from 1871 through 1875 and in the National League in 1876.