Altoona Mountain Citys

The Altoona Mountain Citys were a professional baseball franchise that played in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1884. The Mountain Citys were a charter member of the Union Association, but folded after 25 games with a 6–19 record. They were alternately known as the Ottawas, after the local history of the Ottawa people in the 17th and 18th centuries. At the start of the season, they were also known by the nickname Altoona Pride, and were advertised as the Famous Altoonas. By the season's end, they were known as the Altoona Unfortunates.^[1]

Altoona Mountain Citys
Years 1884* Folded after 25 games with a 6–19 record
Based in Altoona, Pennsylvania
Major league affiliations
Union Association
Ballpark
Columbia Park
Colors
Purple, white
Other names
Altoona Pride Altoona Ottawas
Owners
Arthur Dively & William Ritz
Managers
Ed Curtis
Major league titles
Union Association pennants: 0

History

For its roughly six weeks of play, the Altoona Mountain Citys were managed by Ed Curtis and played in Altoona's Columbia Park. Among its roster, catcher Jerrie Moore and shortstop Germany Smith were two of its best players. John Murphy and Jim Brown were the team's ace pitchers.

When Henry Lucas, president of the newest major league, the Union Association, could only find seven teams for his league, he convinced the team, then part of the Inter-State Association, to join the league, with the promise that the Pennsylvania Railroad would provide some backing.^[2]

The Mountain Citys began the 1884 season by playing the top teams in the league, the St. Louis Maroons and the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds, and losing 11 straight. The Altoona team's performance against the Maroons was especially hideous; they gave up 92 runs and made 53 errors. After finally winning their first game on May 10, the Mountain Citys went 5–8 the rest of the way before folding. The team's final game was on May 31, 1884. The team was a disaster – attendance was as low as 200 on some games, and averaged slightly more than 1,000 per home game, low figures even for those times.

The Altoona Curve, Double-A Affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, saluted the Mountain Citys by changing their names to "The Altoona Mountain City" for every Thursday game.

1884 season

Season standings

v t e Union Association	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Maroons	94	19	0.832	—	49–6	45–13
Cincinnati Outlaw Reds	69	36	0.657	21	35–17	34–19
Baltimore Monumentals	58	47	0.552	32	29–21	29–26
Boston Reds	58	51	0.532	34	34–22	24–29
Milwaukee Brewers	8	4	0.667	35½	8–4	0–0
St. Paul Saints	2	6	0.250	39½	0–0	2–6
Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies	41	50	0.451	42	21–19	20–31
Altoona Mountain Citys	6	19	0.240	44	6–12	0–7
Wilmington Quicksteps	2	16	0.111	44½	1–6	1–10
Washington Nationals (UA)	47	65	0.420	46½	36–27	11–38
Philadelphia Keystones	21	46	0.313	50	14–21	7–25
Kansas City Cowboys	16	63	0.203	61	11–23	5–40

Record vs. opponents

1884 Union Association record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ALT	BAL	BOS	CHI/PIT	CIN	KC	MIL	PHI	STL	STP	WSH	WIL
Altoona	—	1–3	1–1	0–0	0–3	0–0	0–0	1–3	0–8	0–0	3–1	0–0
Baltimore	3–1	—	10–5–1	7–5	4–10	10–2	1–3	10–2	1–14	0–0	11–5	1–0
Boston	1–1	5–10–1	—	4–8–1	5–11	8–4	2–2	8–3	8–8	0–0	12–4	5–0
Chicago/Pittsburgh	0–0	5–7	8–4–1	—	7–8	12–4	0–0	3–5	2–14	0–0	4–8–1	0–0
Cincinnati	3–0	10–4	11–5	8–7	—	9–1	0–0	9–0	4–12	3–0	10–6	2–1
Kansas City	0–0	2–10	4–8	4–12	1–9	—	0–0	0–4	0–11–1	1–1–1	4–8–1	0–0
Milwaukee	0–0	3–1	2–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	—	0–0	0–0	0–0	3–1	0–0
Philadelphia	3–1	2–10	3–8	5–3	0–9	4–0	0–0	—	0–8	0–0	4–7	0–0
St. Louis	8–0	14–1	8–8	14–2	12–4	11–0–1	0–0	8–0	—	2–1	13–3	4–0
St. Paul	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–3	1–1–1	0–0	0–0	1–2	—	0–0	0–0
Washington	1–3	5–11	4–12	8–4–1	6–10	8–4–1	1–3	7–4	3–13	0–0	—	4–1
Wilmington	0–0	0–1	0–5	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–4	0–0	1–4	—

Opening Day lineup

Roster

1884 Altoona Mountain City
Roster
Pitchers Jim Brown John Murphy Catchers Pat Carroll Charlie Manlove Jerry Moore		Infielders Charlie Berry Joe Connors Clarence Cross Charlie Dougherty John Grady Frank Harris Harry Koons George Noftsker Germany Smith		Outfielders George Daisy Jack Leary Taylor Shafer Frank Shaffer		Manager Ed Curtis

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
C	Jerry Moore	20	80	25	.313	1
1B	Frank Harris	24	95	25	.263	0
2B	Charlie Dougherty	23	85	22	.259	0
3B	Harry Koons	21	78	18	.231	0
SS	Germany Smith	25	108	34	.315	0
OF	Taylor Shafer	13	55	18	.327	0
OF	Jim Brown	21	88	22	.250	1
OF	John Murphy	23	94	14	.149	0

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR
Pat Carroll	11	49	13	.265	0
John Grady	9	36	11	.306	0
Jack Leary	8	33	3	.091	0
Charlie Berry	7	25	6	.240	0
George Noftsker	7	25	1	.040	0
Frank Shaffer	6	19	3	.158	0
Joe Connors	3	11	1	.091	0
Clarence Cross	2	7	4	.571	0
Charlie Manlove	2	7	3	.429	0
George Daisy	1	4	0	.000	0

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 Murphy	14	111.2	5	6	3.87	48
Jim Brown	11	74.0	1	9	5.35	39
Jack Leary	3	24.0	0	3	5.25	7
Joe Connors	1	9.0	0	1	7.00	0

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
Germany Smith	1	0	0	0	9.00	1

References

1. Richard Worth (2013). Baseball Team Names: A Worldwide Dictionary, 1869-2011. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 20. ISBN 9780786468447. Retrieved 2015-04-11.
2. . Archived from the original on 2009-10-21.

External links

• Altoona Mountain City team page at Baseball Reference
• Altoona Mountain Citys at SABR