1888 Louisville Colonels season

The 1888 Louisville Colonels season was a season in American baseball. The team was coming off a strong 1887 season, in which it won 76 games and lost 60 under new manager John "Kick" Kelly, but the 1888 season proved to be a disappointment. The team's primary problem was a lack of quality pitching. The best pitcher, Thomas "Toad" Ramsey, had won 37 games in 1887; in 1888, plagued by a sore arm, he won only 8. None of the other pitchers proved capable of picking up the slack. The 1888 Colonels finished with a 58–87 record, seventh place in the American Association.

Regular season

On June 7, shareholder Mordecai Davidson bought out most of the other shareholders, appointing himself president and John R. Botto vice-president. Two days later, he officially took over as manager as well. John Kerins, among others, served as team captain, guiding the team's on-field activities.
The most famous member of the 1888 Colonels was outfielder Pete Browning, a ferocious hitter who was noted for excessive drinking and peculiar behavior. One of the best-known stories about Browning concerns an incident which occurred in Kansas City on June 19 of the 1888 season. Browning got up in a Kansas City hotel that morning, following a heavy rainstorm. The gutter in front of the hotel had been overwhelmed by the rain; there was a large puddle of water there. The drunken Browning purchased some fishing gear and tried his hand at fishing in the gutter. It's unclear whether he did this as a joke or whether he really believed that he could catch fish in the gutter, but in any event, the gutter-fishing incident became one of the most often-repeated Pete Browning stories. It's documented in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

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		57	185	34	.184	0	13
1B	Skyrocket Smith	58	206	49	.238	1	31
2B	Reddy Mack	112	446	97	.217	3	34
3B		111	413	89	.215	0	51
SS		49	198	55	.278	1	30
OF	Chicken Wolf	128	538	154	.286	0	67
OF		99	383	120	.313	3	72
OF		116	485	149	.307	2	50

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
	83	319	75	.235	2	41
	56	211	48	.227	0	29
Farmer Vaughn	51	189	37	.196	1	21
Lave Cross	46	180	41	.228	0	15
Harry Raymond	32	123	26	.211	0	13
Phil Tomney	34	120	18	.150	0	4
Farmer Weaver	26	112	28	.250	0	8
	26	93	18	.194	0	6
Dude Esterbrook	23	93	21	.226	0	7
Phil Reccius	2	9	2	.222	0	4
Hercules Burnett	1	4	0	.000	0	0
Eddie Fusselback	1	4	1	.250	0	1
	1	2	0	.000	0	0
Joe Cross	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
	40	342.1	8	30	3.42	228
	33	269.2	10	17	3.64	97
	26	223.1	8	17	3.39	63
	24	196.0	14	9	2.53	119
	21	191.0	8	13	2.83	87
	1	9.0	0	1	6.00	5