# 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys season

The 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys season was the ninth season for the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise. The team finished eighth and last in the National League with a record of 23–113, 66.5 games behind the Brooklyn Bridegrooms.
This was the final season for the team with the name "Alleghenys," as the team changed its name to the Pittsburgh Pirates the next season, a name it has retained to the present day.

## Background

The Alleghenys' season essentially ended when most of its stars defected to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players' League. With a decimated roster, the Alleghenys made a poor showing. The 113 losses by the Alleghenys set a new major league record, breaking the old record of 111 set the previous year by the Louisville Colonels. That record would stand until 1899, when the Cleveland Spiders lost 134 games, the all-time record.
Poor crowd attendance meant that this team played 97 of its 136 games on the road, finishing with a road record of 9-88. (The 88 losses remained a record until 1899 and continues to be one that cannot be replicated under current MLB scheduling rules, which only allow a maximum of 81 road games.)
The team's .093 road winning percentage is the lowest in MLB history for a minimum of 60 games. This would be the last time the Pittsburgh franchise reached the century mark in the loss column until 1917, when the team was known as the Pittsburgh Pirates.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Brooklyn Bridegrooms | 86 | 43 | .667 | — | 58‍–‍16 | 28‍–‍27 |
| Chicago Colts | 83 | 53 | .610 | 6½ | 48‍–‍24 | 35‍–‍29 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 78 | 53 | .595 | 9 | 54‍–‍21 | 24‍–‍32 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 77 | 55 | .583 | 10½ | 50‍–‍23 | 27‍–‍32 |
| Boston Beaneaters | 76 | 57 | .571 | 12 | 43‍–‍23 | 33‍–‍34 |
| New York Giants | 63 | 68 | .481 | 24 | 37‍–‍27 | 26‍–‍41 |
| Cleveland Spiders | 44 | 88 | .333 | 43½ | 30‍–‍37 | 14‍–‍51 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 23 | 113 | .169 | 66½ | 14‍–‍25 | 9‍–‍88 |

### Record vs. opponents

1890 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHI | CIN | CLE | NYG | PHI | PIT |
| Boston | — | 6–11 | 8–11 | 11–8 | 13–7 | 11–8–1 | 11–9 | 16–3 |
| Brooklyn | 11–6 | — | 11–9 | 9–7 | 17–3 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 18–2 |
| Chicago | 11–8 | 9–11 | — | 12–8–2 | 13–7 | 13–6 | 8–10–1 | 17–3 |
| Cincinnati | 8–11 | 7–9 | 8–12–2 | — | 13–4 | 14–6 | 11–9 | 16–4 |
| Cleveland | 7–13 | 3–17 | 7–13 | 4–13 | — | 6–12–2 | 5–14–1 | 12–6–1 |
| New York | 8–11–1 | 8–10 | 6–13 | 6–14 | 12–6–2 | — | 6–11 | 17–3–1 |
| Philadelphia | 9–11 | 8–10 | 10–8–1 | 9–11 | 14–5–1 | 11–6 | — | 17–2 |
| Pittsburgh | 3–16 | 2–18 | 3–17 | 4–16 | 6–12–1 | 3–17–1 | 2–17 | — |

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Harry Decker | 92 | 354 | 97 | .274 | 5 | 38 |
| 1B | Guy Hecker | 86 | 340 | 77 | .226 | 0 | 38 |
| 2B | Sam LaRocque | 111 | 434 | 105 | .242 | 1 | 40 |
| SS | Ed Sales | 51 | 189 | 43 | .228 | 1 | 23 |
| 3B | Doggie Miller | 138 | 549 | 150 | .273 | 4 | 66 |
| OF | Tun Berger | 104 | 391 | 104 | .266 | 0 | 40 |
| OF | John Kelty | 59 | 207 | 49 | .237 | 1 | 27 |
| OF | Billy Sunday | 86 | 358 | 92 | .257 | 1 | 33 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Bill Wilson | 83 | 304 | 65 | .214 | 0 | 21 |
| Fred Roat | 57 | 215 | 48 | .223 | 2 | 17 |
| Fred Osborne | 41 | 168 | 40 | .238 | 1 | 14 |
| Mike Jordan | 37 | 125 | 12 | .096 | 0 | 6 |
| Eddie Burke | 31 | 124 | 26 | .210 | 1 | 7 |
| Paul Hines | 31 | 121 | 22 | .182 | 0 | 9 |
| Sam Crane | 22 | 82 | 16 | .195 | 0 | 3 |
| Ducky Hemp | 21 | 81 | 19 | .235 | 0 | 4 |
| Fred Dunlap | 17 | 64 | 11 | .172 | 0 | 3 |
| Dad Lytle | 15 | 55 | 8 | .145 | 0 | 0 |
| Henry Youngman | 13 | 47 | 6 | .128 | 0 | 4 |
| Peek-A-Boo Veach | 8 | 30 | 9 | .300 | 2 | 5 |
| Robert M. Gibson | 3 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 1 |
| John Coleman | 3 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 0 | 0 |
| John Gilbert | 2 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Harry H. Gilbert | 2 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Phil Routcliffe | 1 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Frank McGinn | 1 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Gray | 1 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Fred Truax | 1 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Fred Clement | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 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 |
| Kirtley Baker | 25 | 178.1 | 3 | 19 | 5.60 | 76 |
| Guy Hecker | 14 | 119.2 | 2 | 9 | 5.11 | 32 |
| Dave Anderson | 13 | 108.0 | 2 | 11 | 4.67 | 41 |
| Bill Sowders | 15 | 106.0 | 3 | 8 | 4.42 | 30 |
| Crazy Schmit | 11 | 83.1 | 1 | 9 | 5.83 | 35 |
| Bill Phillips | 10 | 82.0 | 1 | 9 | 7.57 | 25 |
| Billy Gumbert | 10 | 79.1 | 4 | 6 | 5.22 | 18 |
| Sumner Bowman | 9 | 70.2 | 2 | 5 | 6.62 | 22 |
| Bill Day | 6 | 50.0 | 0 | 6 | 5.22 | 10 |
| Phenomenal Smith | 5 | 44.0 | 1 | 3 | 3.07 | 15 |
| Charlie Heard | 6 | 44.0 | 0 | 6 | 8.39 | 13 |
| Pete Daniels | 4 | 28.0 | 1 | 2 | 7.07 | 8 |
| Duke Esper | 2 | 17.0 | 0 | 2 | 5.29 | 9 |
| John Coleman | 2 | 14.0 | 0 | 2 | 9.64 | 3 |
| George Ziegler | 1 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 10.50 | 1 |

#### Other 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 |
| Fred Osborne | 8 | 58.0 | 0 | 5 | 8.38 | 14 |
| Henry Jones | 5 | 31.0 | 2 | 1 | 3.48 | 13 |
| Charlie Gray | 5 | 31.0 | 1 | 4 | 7.55 | 10 |
| Robert Murray Gibson | 3 | 12.0 | 0 | 3 | 17.25 | 3 |
| Alfred Lawson | 2 | 10.0 | 0 | 2 | 9.00 | 2 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Fred Hayner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 1 |
| Billy Sunday | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | inf | 0 |