Kansas City Cowboys (Union Association)
The Kansas City Cowboys 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 finish, the franchise was one of only two in the league to make a profit. In contemporary newspaper reports, the team had Altoona's record combined with their own and were considered to have finished last in an eight-team league. After the league had collapsed, and Henry Lucas abandoned the Union Association for the National League after they offered a spot for his St. Louis Maroons, the Cowboys and Milwaukee Greys voted to Disband/Dissolve the Union Association. Ted Sullivan and the Unions grouped with the Milwaukee Brewers and other cities and teams to help establish the Western League. The Kansas City Cowboys Had a spot in the league. So did Milwaukee.
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 | Kid Baldwin | 50 | 191 | 37 | .194 | 0 |
| 1B | Jerry Sweeney | 31 | 129 | 34 | .264 | 0 |
| 2B | Charlie Berry | 29 | 118 | 29 | .246 | 1 |
| SS | Clarence Cross | 25 | 93 | 20 | .215 | 0 |
| 3B | 31 | 114 | 22 | .193 | 0 | |
| OF | Taylor Shafer | 44 | 164 | 28 | .171 | 0 |
| OF | 42 | 162 | 37 | .228 | 0 | |
| OF | 30 | 124 | 27 | .218 | 0 |
Other batters
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 | |
| Jim Cudworth | 32 | 116 | 17 | .147 | 0 |
| Thomas Gorman | 25 | 106 | 34 | .321 | 0 |
| Henry Oberbeck | 27 | 90 | 17 | .189 | 0 |
| Harry Decker | 23 | 75 | 10 | .133 | 0 |
| Lou Say | 17 | 70 | 14 | .200 | 1 |
| Nin Alexander | 19 | 65 | 9 | .138 | 0 |
| 14 | 62 | 16 | .258 | 0 | |
| Joe Strauss | 16 | 60 | 12 | .200 | 0 |
| George Strief | 15 | 56 | 6 | .107 | 0 |
| Jerry Turbidy | 13 | 49 | 11 | .224 | 0 |
| Charlie Bastian | 11 | 46 | 9 | .196 | 1 |
| 14 | 45 | 4 | .089 | 0 | |
| Al Dwight | 12 | 43 | 10 | .233 | 0 |
| John Deasley | 13 | 40 | 7 | .175 | 0 |
| Charlie Fisher | 10 | 40 | 8 | .200 | 0 |
| Jack Gorman | 8 | 31 | 4 | .129 | 0 |
| Jumbo Davis | 7 | 29 | 6 | .207 | 0 |
| 6 | 23 | 3 | .130 | 0 | |
| Milt Whitehead | 5 | 22 | 3 | .136 | 0 |
| Wills | 5 | 21 | 3 | .143 | 0 |
| Henry Luff | 5 | 19 | 1 | .053 | 0 |
| Billy O'Brien | 4 | 17 | 4 | .235 | 0 |
| Jim Chatterton | 4 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 |
| 3 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | |
| Joe Connors | 3 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 |
| Ed Callahan | 3 | 11 | 4 | .364 | 0 |
| 3 | 9 | 3 | .333 | 0 | |
| Joe Ellick | 2 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| Jimmy Say | 2 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 |
| John Kirby | 2 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 |
| Bill Dugan | 3 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| Emmett Seery | 1 | 4 | 2 | .500 | 0 |
| Charlie Cady | 2 | 3 | 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 |
| 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 | |
| John Kirby | 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 | |
| Frank Kreeger | 1 | 7.0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 3 |
| Jim Chatterton | 1 | 5.0 | 0 | 1 | 3.60 | 2 |
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 |
| 7 | 48.2 | 1 | 3 | 5.36 | 14 | |
| Henry Oberbeck | 6 | 29.2 | 0 | 5 | 5.76 | 6 |
| 3 | 21.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.86 | 9 | |
| Jim Cudworth | 2 | 17.0 | 0 | 0 | 4.24 | 6 |
| Joe Connors | 2 | 12.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 1 |
| 2 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 3 |