The Wilmington Quicksteps (also known as the Quickstep Club of Wilmington) were an 1884 late-season replacement baseball team in the Union Association. They finished with a 2–16 record and were managed by Joe Simmons. The team played their home games in Union Street Park in Wilmington, Delaware.

The ballpark was located on the southwest corner of Union Street and Front Street (now Lancaster Avenue), which at the time was just outside the city limits.[Ballparks of North America, Michael Benson, McFarland Publishing, 1989, p.413] The ballpark's life extended well beyond 1884, hosting minor league games until the 1910s.

In 1883, the Inter-State Association of Professional Baseball Clubs was founded, and local capital was invested for a franchise in Wilmington.

In 1884, The Interstate Association re-organized under the name "Eastern League" (not to be confused with the double A Eastern League of today); this was one of the first "minor leagues" and is considered a forerunner of today's AAA International League.The Wilmington Quicksteps quickly began to dominate the league, and so highly regarded was the club that major league clubs began to show up to play exhibition games; they defeated both the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Monumentals during the season.

By August, the Quicksteps had already sewn up the league championship with a 50-12 record; their dominance nearly destroyed fan interest in the Eastern League, and even in Wilmington, attendance averaged only 400 per game.

Late into the season, Henry Lucas, the Union Association founder and owner of the St. Louis Maroons, convinced Simmons and the Quicksteps to cross over into his league after the Philadelphia Keystones folded. After winning their first game 43 over Washington on August 18, it was all downhill for the Quicksteps.

Many Wilmington players no longer felt bound by their contracts and signed for more money with other teams in their new league. Shortstop and team captain Oyster Burns jumped to the Baltimore Monumentals for $900 a month, followed by outfielder Dennis Casey for $700 a month, while Catcher Andy Cusick jumped to the Philadelphia Phillies for $375 a month; each had been making about $150 a month in Wilmington.

The only star player to remain in Wilmington was pitcher Ed "The Only" Nolan, who went on to beat Washington for Wilmington's second and last victory. But the Quicksteps could not survive the loss of Burns, Casey and Cusick, and the team finished with a meagre batting average of .175 in the Union Association. By this time, however, St. Louis had already won the pennant, so Wilmington's only perceivable purpose being to fill in the last month of the season.

Simmons pulled his team from the field during warm-ups prior to a game against the Kansas City Cowboys on September 21, 1884, having discovered that he would be unable to pay the $60 gate fee to the visiting Cowboys as the attendance was zero.

Wilmington subsequently dropped out of the Association and folded, being replaced in the Union Association by the Milwaukee Brewers.

1884 season

Season standings

Union Association W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Maroons 9419 0.832 — 49–6 45–13
Cincinnati Outlaw Reds 6936 0.657 21 35–17 34–19
Baltimore Monumentals 5847 0.552 32 29–21 29–26
Boston Reds 5851 0.532 34 34–22 24–29
Milwaukee Brewers 84 0.667 35½ 8–4 0–0
St. Paul Saints 26 0.250 39½ 0–0 2–6
Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies 4150 0.451 42 21–19 20–31
Altoona Mountain Citys 619 0.240 44 6–12 0–7
Wilmington Quicksteps 216 0.111 44½ 1–6 1–10
Washington Nationals (UA) 4765 0.420 46½ 36–27 11–38
Philadelphia Keystones 2146 0.313 50 14–21 7–25
Kansas City Cowboys 1663 0.203 61 11–23 5–40

Record vs. opponents

1884 Union Association record

Sources:
Team ALT BAL BOS CHI/PIT CIN KC MIL PHI STL STP WSH WIL
Altoona —1–31–10–00–30–00–01–30–80–03–10–0
Baltimore 3–1—10–5–17–54–1010–21–310–21–140–011–51–0
Boston 1–15–10–1—4–8–15–118–42–28–38–80–012–45–0
Chicago/Pittsburgh 0–05–78–4–1—7–812–40–03–52–140–04–8–10–0
Cincinnati 3–010–411–58–7—9–10–09–04–123–010–62–1
Kansas City 0–02–104–84–121–9—0–00–40–11–11–1–14–8–10–0
Milwaukee 0–03–12–20–00–00–0—0–00–00–03–10–0
Philadelphia 3–12–103–85–30–94–00–0—0–80–04–70–0
St. Louis 8–014–18–814–212–411–0–10–08–0—2–113–34–0
St. Paul 0–00–00–00–00–31–1–10–00–01–2—0–00–0
Washington 1–35–114–128–4–16–108–4–11–37–43–130–0—4–1
Wilmington 0–00–10–50–01–20–00–00–00–40–01–4—

Roster

1884 Wilmington Quicksteps
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR
CTom Lynch165816.2760
1BRedleg Snyder175210.1920
2BCharlie Bastian176012.2002
SSHenry Myers6243.1250
3BJimmy Say165913.2200
OFIke Benners6221.0450
OFBill McCloskey9303.1000
OFJohn Cullen9316.1940

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs

Player G AB H Avg. HR
Andy Cusick11345.1470
John Murphy10312.0650
George Fisher8292.0690
John Munce7214.1900
Dennis Casey282.2500
Oyster Burns271.1430
Dan Sheahan261.1670
Jim McElroy120.0000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
John Murphy748.0063.2727
The Only Nolan540.0142.9352
Dan Casey218.0111.0010
Jersey Bakely217.0024.249
Fred Tenney18.0011.1310
Jim McElroy15.00110.803

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Charlie Bastian10003.002

Notes

1.^ Park coordinates are approximately 39.746769, -75.574665

39°44′48″N 75°34′29″W / 39.746769°N 75.574665°W / 39.746769; -75.574665

See also

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