The Kansas City Cowboys (also Unions and Kaycees) were a baseball team in the Union Association during its only season, . Referred to as the "Cowboys" mostly by historians, they had no official nickname during their short life and were most frequently referred to by local press of the day as the "Unions" and by the press of other cities as the "Kaycees". They were the first professional baseball team to represent Kansas City as well as the city's first major league team. Their home field was called Athletic Park.
They began play as a replacement for the Altoona Mountain City, which collapsed in May, and played out the remainder of the season. Despite a 16-63 (.203 WL percentage) finish, the franchise was one of only two (the St. Louis club being the other) in the league to make a profit. In contemporary newspaper reports, the team had Altoona's record (6-19) combined with their own and were considered to have finished last in an eight-team league. The Unions disbanded shortly after the Union Association voted to dissolve.
| 1884 Kansas City Cowboys | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| PitchersCatchers | Infielders | Outfielders | Manager | ||||||
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 | 50 | 191 | 37 | .194 | 0 | ||
| 1B | 31 | 129 | 34 | .264 | 0 | ||
| 2B | 29 | 118 | 29 | .246 | 1 | ||
| SS | 25 | 93 | 20 | .215 | 0 | ||
| 3B | 31 | 114 | 22 | .193 | 0 | ||
| OF | 44 | 164 | 28 | .171 | 0 | ||
| OF | 42 | 162 | 37 | .228 | 0 | ||
| OF | 30 | 124 | 27 | .218 | 0 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | 146 | 36 | .247 | 1 | ||
| 32 | 123 | 28 | .228 | 1 | ||
| 32 | 116 | 17 | .147 | 0 | ||
| Thomas Gorman | 25 | 106 | 34 | .321 | 0 | |
| 27 | 90 | 17 | .189 | 0 | ||
| 23 | 75 | 10 | .133 | 0 | ||
| 17 | 70 | 14 | .200 | 1 | ||
| 19 | 65 | 9 | .138 | 0 | ||
| 14 | 62 | 16 | .258 | 0 | ||
| 16 | 60 | 12 | .200 | 0 | ||
| 15 | 56 | 6 | .107 | 0 | ||
| 13 | 49 | 11 | .224 | 0 | ||
| 11 | 46 | 9 | .196 | 1 | ||
| 14 | 45 | 4 | .089 | 0 | ||
| 12 | 43 | 10 | .233 | 0 | ||
| 13 | 40 | 7 | .175 | 0 | ||
| 10 | 40 | 8 | .200 | 0 | ||
| 8 | 31 | 4 | .129 | 0 | ||
| 7 | 29 | 6 | .207 | 0 | ||
| 6 | 23 | 3 | .130 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 22 | 3 | .136 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 21 | 3 | .143 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 19 | 1 | .053 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 17 | 4 | .235 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 11 | 4 | .364 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 9 | 3 | .333 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 4 | 2 | .500 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 137.1 | 4 | 13 | 4.52 | 68 | ||
| 16 | 123.0 | 4 | 9 | 3.22 | 93 | ||
| 12 | 104.0 | 3 | 9 | 2.42 | 62 | ||
| 7 | 53.0 | 0 | 6 | 4.25 | 17 | ||
| 5 | 33.0 | 2 | 3 | 2.45 | 13 | ||
| 3 | 26.0 | 0 | 3 | 8.65 | 8 | ||
| 3 | 25.0 | 1 | 2 | 1.80 | 11 | ||
| 2 | 17.0 | 1 | 1 | 2.65 | 5 | ||
| 2 | 11.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.09 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 8.0 | 0 | 1 | 1.13 | 6 | ||
| 1 | 8.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.63 | 5 | ||
| 1 | 7.0 | 0 | 1 | 11.57 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 7.0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 3 | ||
| 1 | 5.0 | 0 | 1 | 3.60 | 2 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 48.2 | 1 | 3 | 5.36 | 14 | ||
| 6 | 29.2 | 0 | 5 | 5.76 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 21.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.86 | 9 | ||
| 2 | 17.0 | 0 | 0 | 4.24 | 6 | ||
| 2 | 12.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 3 |