Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A major-league city?

Altoona is home to the Curve, the Class AA affiliate of the Pirates.

But the Blair County city once had a major-league team.

The year was 1884, and a new league, christened the Union Association, was ready to challenge the other two established major leagues, the National League and American Association.

The UA had seven members and wanted an even eighth, so league founder Henry Lucas allowed Altoona's team, known collectively as the Mountain City, to be admitted. Lucas promptly scheduled eight of Altoona's first 11 games against his own St. Louis Maroons.

According to David Nemec in his book "The Beer and Whisky League," Altoona lost all of those games to St. Louis on the way to opening the season 0-11. After 25 games, the Mountain City called it quits at 6-19.

The team's best player in its brief existence was George "Germany" Smith, who hit .315 and went on to play 15 seasons in the majors, albeit finishing with a lifetime .243 average. He was the starting shortstop on two pennant-winning teams, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms (later Dodgers) of 1889 in the American Association and 1890 in the National League.

By the way, baseball statistics-history guru Bill James heavily disputes the Union Association's standing as a major league, contending that no one considered it as such until decades after the fact.

For now, though, Altoona can call itself a major-league city ... old-school.

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