The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that played in Louisville, Kentucky. They played in the American Association when it was considered a major league from 1882 through 1891 and in the National League from 1892 through 1899, after which the team folded and its best players were transferred to the Pittsburgh Pirates.[1][2] From 1882 through 1884 the team was named the Louisville Eclipse.[1] During their time as a Major League team, the Colonels employed 17 managers.[3] The duties of the team manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field.[4][5]
The Colonels' first manager was Denny Mack.[1] Mack managed the team for one season (1882), in which he led the Colonels to a record of 38 wins and 42 losses.[3] Fred Clarke was the Colonels' last manager.[1] Clarke took over as player-manager of the team during the 1897 season, and managed the team through the 1899 season while also playing as an outfielder for the Colonels.[1][6] Clarke was one of the players transferred to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1900, as were Honus Wagner, Tommy Leach, Claude Ritchey and Deacon Phillippe.[7][8] Clarke took over as the Pirates' player-manager, and after a second-place finish in 1900, he led the Pirates, with the former Colonels stars, to three consecutive league pennants in 1901, 1902, 1903, and a World Series championship in 1909.[9] Clarke was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945, the only Colonels' manager so honored.[10][11] The Colonels won their only Major League pennant when they had the best record in the American Association in 1890.[1] They played to a tie in the World Series that season against the National League champion Brooklyn Bridegrooms; each team won three games and there was one tie game.[a][12] Jack Chapman was the Colonels' manager that season.[3]
Clarke holds the Colonels' record for games managed (402), managerial wins (180), and managerial losses (212).[3] Mike Walsh, who managed the team in 1884, has the highest winning percentage of any Colonels' manager, at .630.[3] The only other two managers who had winning percentages over .500 for the Colonels are Mack and Joe Gerhardt, who managed the team in 1883.[3] The only Colonels' manager who served more than one term was Mordecai Davidson, who served two terms during the 1888 season while he was also the team's owner.[13][14] Davidson replaced John Kelly for three games before being replaced by John Kerins.[3][13] After Kerins managed the Colonels for seven games, Davidson took over again for the final 90 games of the season.[3][13] Davidson's total managerial record with the Colonels was 93 games managed with 35 wins and 54 losses, for a winning percentage of .393.[13]
- ^ a b c d e f "Louisville Colonels Team History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
- ^ Bernstein, S. "Barney Dreyfuss". The Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on 2010-07-13. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Louisville Colonels Managerial Register". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2010-02-09. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
- ^ "Manager: Definition | Dictionary.com". Dictionary.Reference.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 2006. Archived from the original on 2014-06-14. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ Dickson, P. (2009). The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third ed.). W.W. Norton & Co. p. 530. ISBN 978-0-393-06681-4.
- ^ "Fred Clarke". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-07. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
- ^ Simon, T. (2004). "Pittsburgh". Deadball Stars of the National League. Brassey's, Inc. p. 141. ISBN 1-57488-860-9.
- ^ Louisa, A. (2004). "Claude Cassius Ritchey". In Simon, T (ed.). Deadball Stars of the National League. Brassey's, Inc. pp. 161–162. ISBN 1-57488-860-9.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
clarkewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame with Induction Year". The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
- ^ "Louisville Colonels Hall of Fame Register". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ws1890was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
davidsonwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Sullivan, D. (1997). Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825–1908. U of Nebraska Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-8032-9244-4.
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