Keokuk Westerns

The Western baseball club of Keokuk, Iowa, or Keokuk Westerns in modern nomenclature, was a professional baseball team in the National Association in 1875, the last season of that first professional league.[1][2][3] It is considered a major league team by those who count the NA as a major league.[4] It was geographically the farthest west that major league baseball had progressed up to that time.

In 1875, the NA entry fee was $20 for one championship season. The Westerns won one of 13 games (1–12 record) before going out of business.[1][2][3] On June 14, 1875, the Western club played their last game and dropped out of the league two days later.[1][2][5] For 1876, stronger clubs in bigger cities, led by the Chicago White Stockings, organized the National League on a different basis, chiefly in order to exclude weaker clubs from smaller cities such as Keokuk.[4]

The Westerns were managed by Joe Simmons and played their home games at Perry Park, which was located in a field located beyond Rand Park.[1][2][3][5][6][7][8] Their top hitter was catcher Paddy Quinn, who went 14-for-43 for a batting average of .326.[1][2][3][7][9]