Kansas City Cowboys

• Location: Kansas City, MO
• League: Union Association 1884; Western League 1885; National League 1886; Western League 1887; American Association (major league) 1888-1889; Western League 1892; Western Association 1893; American Association (minor league) 1902-1903
• Ballpark: Athletic Park (June 7 – October 19, 1884), Pastime Park (1885), Association Park (1886-1902), League Park (1886-1889), Exposition Park (1888-1902), Parade Park (1899), Sportsmans Park (1902-03)

Team History

The Kansas City Cowboys was the name of both both major league and minor league teams in the 1880s and 1890s, the distinction between the two often being quite superficial. The 1884 team that played in the Union Association and which was more commonly known at the time as the Kansas City Unions is considered to be a major league team, although many have contested the classification that was accorded to that circuit. The 1886 team that played in the National League and the 1888 and 1889 teams that played in the American Association are of undisputed major-league quality, however. The name was then used again in the new, minor league American Association in 1902 and 1903, before that team settled on the name Kansas City Blues.

Year-by-Year Record

Year	League	Record	Finish	Manager	Notes
1884	UA	16-63	--	Harry Wheeler (0-4) / Matthew Porter (3-13) /Ted Sullivan (13-46)	replaced Altoona on June 7
1885	WL	17-13	3rd	Ted Sullivan	League disbanded on June 15
1886	NL	30-91	7th	Dave Rowe
1887	WL	58-54	3rd	Joe Ellick / Bradley Patterson
1888	AA	43-89	8th	Dave Rowe (14-36) / Sam Barkley (21-36) / Bill Watkins (8-17)
1889	AA	55-82	7th	Bill Watkins
1892	WL	33-33	2nd	Jim Manning	League disbanded July 15
1893	WA	12-8	1st	William Henry Lucas	League disbanded June 20
1902	AA	69-67	4th	Dale Gear
1903	AA	69-66	5th	Dale Gear

Sources:

• Peter Filichia: Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebrations of All 273 Major League and Negro League Ballparks Past and Present, Addison Wesley Publishing Company (March 1993)
• Kansas City Ballparks