1888 Cincinnati Red Stockings season

The 1888 Cincinnati Red Stockings season was a season in American baseball. The team finished in fourth place in the American Association with a record of 80–54, 11.5 games behind the St. Louis Browns.

1888 Cincinnati Red Stockings
Major League affiliations
American Association (since 1882)
Location
American Park (since 1884) Cincinnati (since 1882)
Other information
Owner(s)	Aaron Stern
Manager(s)	Gus Schmelz
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Regular season

The 1888 Cincinnati Red Stockings

Cincinnati retained manager Gus Schmelz, who led the team to a franchise record 81 wins in 1887. The Red Stockings were quiet during the off-season, as pitcher Lee Viau, who signed his first professional contract, was the only major signing by the team.

John Reilly had the best season of his career, hitting .321 while leading the league with 13 home runs and 103 RBI, as he became the first Red Stocking to crack 100 RBI in a season. He also had 83 stolen bases. Hugh Nicol hit only .239; however, he once again stole over 100 bases, finishing the season with 103. Nicol and Reilly tied for the team high with 112 runs scored.

On the mound, Lee Viau led Cincinnati with 27 wins and a 2.65 ERA in 42 starts. Tony Mullane and Mike Smith each finished with over 20 wins as well, with 26 and 22 respectively.

The Red Stockings began the season red hot, as they had a 12–5 record before winning 10 games in a row to be 22–5, three games ahead of the second place St. Louis Browns. Cincinnati then fell into a slump, going 5–16 in their next 21 games to fall into fourth place, seven games out of first. The Red Stockings remained in the pennant race until late in the season. However, the team finished the year in fourth place with an 80–54 record, 11.5 games behind the first place Browns.

Season standings

American Association	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Browns	92	43	0.681	—	60–21	32–22
Brooklyn Bridegrooms	88	52	0.629	6½	53–20	35–32
Philadelphia Athletics	81	52	0.609	10	55–20	26–32
Cincinnati Red Stockings	80	54	0.597	11½	56–25	24–29
Baltimore Orioles	57	80	0.416	36	30–26	27–54
Cleveland Blues	50	82	0.379	40½	33–27	17–55
Louisville Colonels	48	87	0.356	44	27–29	21–58
Kansas City Cowboys	43	89	0.326	47½	23–34	20–55

Record vs. opponents

1888 American Association Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BR	CIN	CLE	KC	LOU	PHI	STL
Baltimore	—	8–12	6–14	10–9	11–8	11–9	5–14	6–14
Brooklyn	12–8	—	14–6–1	16–4	11–9	13–7	12–8–1	10–10–1
Cincinnati	14–6	6–14–1	—	10–7–1	15–4	17–3–1	10–10	8–10
Cleveland	9–10	4–16	7–10–1	—	10–9	9–8–2	7–13	4–16
Kansas City	8–11	9–11	4–15	9–10	—	6–12	3–14	4–16
Louisville	9–11	7–13	3–17–1	8–9–2	12–6	—	5–15–1	4–16
Philadelphia	14–5	8–12–1	10–10	13–7	14–3	15–5–1	—	7–10–1
St. Louis	14–6	10–10–1	10–8	16–4	16–4	16–4	10–7–1	—

Roster

1888 Cincinnati Red Stockings
Roster
Pitchers Tony Mullane Billy Serad Mike Smith Lee Viau John Weyhing		Catchers Kid Baldwin Ned Bligh Jim Keenan Infielders Hick Carpenter Frank Fennelly Heinie Kappel Bid McPhee John Reilly		Outfielders Pop Corkhill Hugh Nicol Jack O'Connor George Tebeau		Manager Gus Schmelz

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	Jim Keenan	85	313	73	.233	1	40
1B	John Reilly	127	527	169	.321	13	103
2B	Bid McPhee	111	458	110	.240	4	51
SS	Frank Fennelly	120	448	88	.196	2	56
3B	Hick Carpenter	136	551	147	.267	3	67
OF	Hugh Nicol	135	548	131	.239	1	35
OF	Pop Corkhill	118	490	133	.271	1	74
OF	George Tebeau	121	411	94	.229	3	51

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
Kid Baldwin	67	271	59	.218	1	25
Heinie Kappel	36	143	37	.259	1	15
Jack O'Connor	36	137	28	.204	1	17
Ned Bligh	3	5	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
Lee Viau	42	387.2	27	14	2.65	164
Tony Mullane	44	380.1	26	16	2.84	186
Mike Smith	40	348.1	22	17	2.74	154
John Weyhing	8	65.2	3	4	1.23	30
Billy Serad	6	50.2	2	3	3.55	4

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Pop Corkhill	2	0	0	1	10.80	1

References

• 1888 Cincinnati Red Stockings season at Baseball Reference