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

During the 1890s, the Cleveland Spiders built a reputation as baseball’s roughest club. The game devolved into a war in the Gay Nineties, rife with cheating, intimidation and violence on and off the field. The Spiders were the rowdiest team of all. Managed by Oliver “Patsy” Tebeau, a 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. They never won a pennant but their battles with the Baltimore Orioles became legend. Yet their story was not all hijinks. Cy Young, who won more games than any pitcher in history, played his first nine seasons with the Spiders. The team was ahead of its time racially, signing Louis Sockalexis, the first Native American in the major leagues. Their run ended on a sour note in 1899 when they compiled the worst record in Major League history, winning 20 of 154 games.

David L. Fleitz is a web developer and database analyst who lives in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan. A longtime SABR member, he has written eight other books on baseball history.