Kansas City Blue Stockings

The Kansas City Blue Stockings were founded in 1902 to replace the Kansas City Blues in the Class A level Western League. The Kansas City Blues moved from the Western League to become members of the 1902 Class A American Association. In the era, Class A was the highest level of minor league play. In 1900, the original Kansas City Blues had relocated to become the Washington Senators. When the Kansas City Blue Stockings were formed to directly replace the Kansas City Blues in the 1902 Western Association, the combined franchise moves resulted in Kansas City having two Class A minor league baseball teams simultaneously, which proved to be tenuous.[1][2][3][4]

The Kansas City Blue Stockings began play at their newly built Sportsman's Park. The 1902 Kansas City Blue Stockings found a player/manager/part owner in Kid Nichols, an accomplished major league pitcher. Nichols had begun his professional career in the Western League with the 1887 Kansas City Cowboys and remained with 1888 Kansas City Blues. Aside from major league pitching with Boston, Nichols had also coached with nearby Amherst College (1899), Yale (1900) and Brown (1901). Nichols had received an offer from Brown to coach in 1902, but when the opportunity arose to return to Kansas City to co-own and manage the newly formed Blue Stockings, Nichols accepted and set his major league playing career aside.[5][6][7]

In their first season of play, the Kansas City Blue Stockings won the 1902 Western League Championship. Led by player/manager Kid Nichols, the Kansas City Blue Stockings finished 1st in the league standings with a 82–54 record. Nichols was 27–7, with an ERA of 1.82 as a pitcher. In the Western League standings, Kansas City finished mere percentage points ahead of the 2nd place Omaha Indians (84–56), followed by the Milwaukee Creams (80–54), Denver Grizzlies (81–57), St. Joseph Saints (71–68), Colorado Springs Millionaires (63–75), Des Moines Midgets (54–83) and Peoria Distillers (35–103).[8][9][10][1][6]

After the 1902 regular seasons were completed, both Kansas City teams met in an informal "championship series," with the games hosting up to 10,000 fans. In the series, the American Association Kansas City Blues won 4 to 2 over the Western League Kansas City Blue Stockings. Each winning Blues player received about a $200.00 share.[11][12]

The Kansas City Blue Stockings played their final season in 1903. Continuing play in the 1903 Western League, the Kansas City Blue Stockings finished in 3rd place, 18.0 games behind the 1st place Milwaukee Creams. The Blue Stockings finished 65–61, as player/manager Kid Nichols was 21–12 with a 2.51 ERA as a pitcher.[13][9][14][1][6]

After the 1903 season, the American Association and Western League negotiated territory rights, as both were Class A minor leagues, the highest level of minor leagues. As a result, the Kansas City Blues remained in Kansas City and the Kansas City Blue Stockings were forced to permanently fold the franchise. Relatedly, Milwaukee also had the exact situation and the Milwaukee Creams of the Western League were also forced to fold their franchise, with the Milwaukee Brewers continuing in the American Association.[1][2][6]

After the Blue Stockings were forced to fold, Kid Nichols resumed his major career with the 1904 St. Louis Cardinals. As player/manager for the Cardinals, Nichols was 21–13 with a 2.02 ERA. Nichols would retire as a player after the 1906 season with 362 victories. Nichols was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949.[12][6]

The Kansas City Blue Stockings played at Sportsman's Park. Sportsman's Park was built before the 1902 season by Kid Nichols and Jimmy Manning to house the Kansas City Blue Stockings. With a capacity of 3,500, Sportsman's Park opened on May 2, 1902, as the Kansas City Blue Sox played the Denver Grizzlies. Later known as Recreation Park, the ballpark was located at Indiana Avenue & 18th Street, Kansas City, Missouri.[15][16]

• Baseball Reference

Kansas City Blue Stockings players