Rowdy Patsy Tebeau and the Cleveland Spiders: Fighting to the Bottom of Baseball, 1887-1899

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During the 1890s, Cleveland’s National League team, called the Blues and later the Spiders, built a reputation as baseball’s roughest, toughest club. Baseball became a war in the Gay Nineties, full of cheating, intimidation, and violence on and off the field, from which the concept of sportsmanship had virtually disappeared. The Spiders were the rowdiest team of all. Managed by Oliver (Patsy) Tebeau, a hard-charging, quick-fisted infielder, the Spiders cut a swath through the National League. They fought with umpires, opposing players, and fans at home and on the road, and though they never won a pennant, their battles with the Baltimore Orioles became the stuff of legend.
Their story is not all unpleasant. Cy Young, who won more games than any pitcher who ever lived, spent his first nine seasons with the Spiders. They were also ahead of their time from a racial perspective when they signed Louis Sockalexis, the first recognized Native American in major league ball. The Spiders ended their run on a sour note when the 1899 club compiled the worst record in major league history, winning only 20 of 154 games. Shortly afterward, the Spiders were no more. They left a complicated legacy, but an interesting one.