The Kansas City Packers

Kansas City has had seven major league baseball teams.

You can probably name two or three of them. The Royals are pretty obvious, and I think most people who read about baseball history know the Athletics called Kansas City home before they moved to Oakland. And, of course, the Monarchs are one of the flagship franchises in Negro Leagues history.

The final four are more tricky, because they were a long time ago. Three of the four had the same name, and played in the nineteenth century.

• In 1884, a new league called the Union Association was formed by a millionaire named Henry Lucas. He promptly bought the best players for his franchise in that league, the St. Louis Maroons, making most of the other owners furious. The Maroons walked away with the pennant while four teams folded mid-year. When the Altoona squad closed up shop barely a month into the season, the Kansas City Cowboys were formed to take their place. They went 16-63, the worst record in the league among teams that played more than 20 games. The UA only played one season and was very clearly gamed so Lucas’ Maroons would dominate, yet it is somehow still considered a major league.

• Two years later, a new Cowboys franchise was created and joined the National League. It was a trial admission, so when the club finished with a 30-91 record, they were forced to close up shop and sell of their players, one of whom was Silver King, who went on to win 203 big league games and become a first-ballot entry into the Great Name Hall of Fame. The Cowboy’s slot in the National League was taken over the following seasons by the Allegheny City team from the American Association. They’re now better known as the Pittsburgh Pirates.

• Speaking of the American Association, it was a major league from 1882 to 1891, so when a third Kansas City Cowboys club formed as a member of that league in 1888, that counted as a major league franchise. Like their namesake predecessors, these Cowboys were also pretty bad, finishing their first season with a record of 43-89 and a last place finish, followed by a 55-82 mark in 1889. They closed up shop after that, and are now best known for having launched the career of Hall of Famer Sliding Billy Hamilton.