Buffalo Bisons (National League)

Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons
Years 1879–1885
Based in Buffalo, New York
	A program cover featuring the 1882 Buffalo Bisons
Major league affiliations
National League;
Ballpark
	Olympic Park (1884–1885); Riverside Park (1879–1883);
Colors
	Gold, black;
Managers
	Pud Galvin & Jack Chapman (1885); Jim O'Rourke (1881–1884); Sam Crane (1880); John Clapp (1879);
Major league titles
	National League pennants: 0;

The original Buffalo Bisons baseball club played in the National League between 1879 and 1885. The Bisons played their games at Riverside Park (1879–1883) and Olympic Park (1884–1885) in Buffalo, New York. The NL Bisons are included in the history of the minor-league team of the same name that still plays today; it is thus the only NL team from the 19th century that both still exists and no longer plays in Major League Baseball.

Year-by-year records

Brouthers, Galvin, O'Rourke, Radbourn, and White are members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1877: A precursor to the Bisons played in the League Alliance,^[1] finishing with a 79–28–3 record. The team subsequently joined the National League. [1]
1880: Future Hall of Fame pitcher Charlie Radbourn debuted as a second baseman on May 5
1880: Pud Galvin pitched a no-hitter against the Worcester Ruby Legs on Aug. 20
1881: 2B Davy Force recorded 12 putouts, seven assists, two unassisted double plays, participated in a triple play, and made just one error in 20 chances in a 12-inning game against Worcester, on September 15.
1882: Ireland-born Curry Foley became the first major league player ever to hit for the cycle (including a grand slam), on May 25, and Dan Brouthers led the National League with a .368 batting average
1883: Brouthers won his second consecutive NL batting title with a .374 average and Galvin posted 46 wins
1884: Brouthers hit triples in four consecutive games, set a season team-record with 14 home runs, and Galvin won 46 games for the second year in a row. Galvin threw another no-hitter, on August 4. The Bisons' 18–0 score remains the greatest margin of victory in a no-hitter in Major League history. Two years after Foley, Jim O'Rourke became the fourth player in MLB history to hit for the cycle, on June 16.
1885: Brouthers hit .359, ending second in the NL batting race behind Roger Connor (.371)