1895: Controversial Eastern Iowa League season Clinton began hosting minor league play in 1895, when the Clinton "Bridegrooms" were formed. The new Clinton team became charter members of the eight-team, independent
Eastern Iowa League. The
Burlington Colts,
Cedar Rapids Rabbits,
Dubuque Colts,
Galesburg Trotters,
Ottumwa Brownies,
Rock Island Tri-Cities and
Waterloo Indians teams in league play. The Eastern Iowa League began play on May 10, 1895, as an eight–team league. Playing in the day game era, the local businesses of the home team regularly closed when their team hosted home games. On June 14, 1895, both the Clinton Bridegrooms and the Rock Island Tri-Cities teams were expelled from the Eastern Iowa League. After their expulsion from the league, on July 4, 1895 the Clinton Bridegrooms were allowed to rejoin the Eastern Iowa League. The Clinton Bridegrooms ended their volatile 1895 season with compiling a record of 11–26 in before their expulsion. The Bridegroom managers were George Shugart and Edward Corbett. In the final standings, the Dubuque Colts won the championship with a 66–31 record as the Eastern Iowa League finished the season playing with four teams. Dubuque captured the Eastern Iowa League championship by winning both halves of the league's split season schedule, so no playoff was held. The Eastern Iowa League did not return to minor league play in 1896 and permanently disbanded after the 1895 season was completed on August 25, 1895. The Iowa State League began their 1906 season without Clinton as a member. The
Boone Coal Miners,
Burlington River Rats,
Fort Dodge Gypsum Eaters,
Keokuk Indians,
Marshalltown Grays,
Oskaloosa Quakers,
Ottumwa Snappers and
Waterloo Microbes were the member teams that started league play on May 6, 1908. The Iowa State League had the formal name as the "
Iowa League of Professional Baseball Clubs." Clinton's membership in the Iowa State League began on July 14, 1906, when the Boone Coal Miners franchise moved from
Boone, Iowa to Clinton. Boone had compiled a record of 25–33 at the time of the move to Clinton. After the relocation, the team finished the season known as the Clinton "Miners." After compiling a 21–37 record while based in Clinton, the Miners ended the season with an overall record of 46–70. Clinton ended the 1906 Iowa State League season in sixth place in the eight-team league, while playing the season under managers William Wooley, Harold Johnson and Patrick Ryan in the two locations. No playoffs held in the Iowa State League, as the Burlington River Rats ended the season in first place in the final Iowa State League standings, as the rest of the eight-team league franchises remained intact. Instead of continuing in the Iowa State League, the Clinton franchise continued play in 1907 in a new league.
1907 & 1908 Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Leaving the Iowa State League, Clinton continued minor league play in 1907, as the Clinton "Infants" became members of the eight team
Class B level (the equivalent of today's
Class AA)
Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. The Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League was known commonly as the
Three-I League. Clinton replaced the
Davenport Knickerbockers team in the league, after Davenport finished in last place the season prior and then folded. As player-manager for Clinton at age 34, McFarland did not pitch and batted .190 in 26 games and 95 at-bats for Clinton. Leaving Clinton during the season, McFarland ended the 1907 season playing 101 games for the
Oklahoma City Mets of the Class C level
Western Association, hitting .168 in 376 at-bats for the Mets. Clinton pitcher Harry Stauffer replaced McFarland as manager and compiled a 12–14 record on the season. In their first season of Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League play, the 1907 Clinton Infants ended the season in sixth place. The 1908 team was also known as the "Adults." Clinton ended the season with a 55–78 record and in eighth place under managers Harry Stauffer and
Charlie Buelow. Harry Stauffer returned to Clinton, beginning the season as player-manager. Stauffer compiled a 2-10 pitching record for Clinton in 14 games before being replaced as manager. Buelow had been a player in 1908 with the
Evansville River Rats of the
Central League. With Clinton at age 31, Buelow played
first base and hit .256 in 135 games with 27 stolen bases. in 1909, Buelow remained in the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League as he became player-manager of the Dubuque Dubs. Despite pitching for the last place team, Clinton pitcher Bill Fleet was the 1908 Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League co-league leader with 23 wins on the season. After their last place finish, Clinton did not return to the 1909 Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. The Clinton franchise was replaced by the
Davenport Prodigals in the eight-team league. Clinton had replaced Davenport in the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League two seasons earlier. When the Northern Association was formed in the winter of 1909-1910, E.M. Kehoe representing Clinton was named as the vice president of the league and
Ted Sullivan was listed as the "magnate" for Clinton. The newly formed Clinton teams joined with the
Decatur Commodores,
Elgin Kittens,
Freeport Pretzels,
Jacksonville Jacks,
Joliet Jolly-ites,
Kankakee Kays and
Muscatine Pearl Finders teams as fellow charter members, beginning league play on May 10, 1910. Besides reflecting the name of their manager, the Clinton Teddies nickname also corresponds to
President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt who served as the U.S. President through 1909. Roosevelt inspired his namesake
Teddie bears stuffed animal, which became prominent in the era. . Sullivan was the manager for the 1910 Clinton Teddies. Born in
Ireland, Ted Sullivan was a former major league player with the 1884
Kansas City Cowboys. Sullivan served as a major league manager for the 1883
St. Louis Cardinals, 1884
St. Louis Maroons/
Indianapolis Hoosiers and Kansas City Cowboys and 1888
Washington Nationals. Sullivan then became major league scout and a longtime minor league president, team owner and manager. After his 1910 season with Clinton, Sullivan was hired by the
New York Giants to establish their 1911
Spring training site, and then coached the baseball team at
St. Louis University in 1911. At age 59, the 1910 season with Clinton was his final season serving as a minor league manager. On the opening day for the Northern Association on May 10, 1910, Clinton hosted the Elgin Kittens for their home opener. A longtime minor league player,
Hunkey Hines played for Clinton in 1910, in his final minor league season. Hines had played in the major leagues for the
1895 Brooklyn Grooms. In a minor league playing career that started in 1887 with the
Milwaukee Cream Citys at age 19, Hines played and managed in his final season in 1910 at age 42. Hines began the 1910 season as the manager of the Joliet team before it relocated. His final playing appearance was a partial game at second base and an 0-1 appearance as a batter. Playing under manager Ted Sullivan and John Mammen, Clinton folded before the end of the Northern Association, as did the entire league. The 1910 season was Mannens only season as a minor league professional. The Teddies had compiled a 10–39 record when the team folded on June 28, 1910. Besides Clinton folding, the Joliet Jolly-ites moved to Sterling on June 21, Freeport disbanded with Clinton on June 28 and the Elgin and Kankakee franchises both disbanded on July 11, 1910. With four remaining teams, the Northern Association folded on July 19, 1910, with the
Muscatine Pearl Finders (37–321) in first place of the remaining league teams after Elgin (37–20) had folded with a better record. Clinton hosted Kankakee in Northern Association games from May 25 to May 27 and Clinton played at Kankakee June 16 to June 18, 1910. The new Clinton Pilots team replaced the
Monmouth Browns franchise in the league. The Central Association began the league schedule on May 7, 1914. The Pilots nickname corresponds with Clinton's geographic location on the
Mississippi River. A
Mississippi River Pilot is responsible for guiding ships along the Mississippi River. The Clinton Pilots' manager was Bert Houth. The previous season, Houth had been the manager of the Monmouth Browns franchise in 1913 and remained in the league to manage Clinton in 1914. Hough had been a manager in the Central Association since 1909, when he led the
Hannibal Cannibals to the first league championship. Hough then managed the
Galesburg Pavers and had managed the Monmouth Browns in both 1912 and 1913. During the 1914, Central Association season, the Ottumwa Packers franchise remained in the Central Association, but the franchise moved to
Rock Island, Illinois on July 17, 1914. In a ruling over the league relocation, the
National Association which governed minor league baseball, did not allow the Central Association to place a franchise in the territory of the
Three-I League, so Rock Island quickly moved to
Galesburg, Illinois on July 24, 1914, finishing the season as the
Galesburg Pavers. The rest of the league franchises remained stable during the season. Clinton continued play in the Central Association in 1915 with a new manager. 30-year-old George Manush was hired to be the player-manager for the Clinton Pilots. Previously, Manush had served as the player-manager of the 1913 Keokuk Indians and the player-manager for the
Burlington Pathfinders in 1914. George Manush was the older brother of Baseball Hall of Fame member
Heinie Manush and two were included in the six Manush brothers to play professional baseball. The family resided in
Tuscumbia, Alabama. George Manush remained as a Burlington resident and owned a plumbing business in Burlington. At age 37, George Manush died in Burlington in 1923 when he was electrocuted in an automobile accident. Heine Manush lived and worked with his brother in Burlington as a 17 year old, before beginning his professional baseball career. A catcher, Evans batted .208 in 98 games for Clinton at age 31. At age 18,
Bert Ellison signed with the
St. Louis Cardinals in the spring of 1915 and was assigned to Clinton. An Arkansas native, Ellison had attended the
University of Arkansas, where he played
third base and led the
Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team in batting in 1914. In the fall of 1914, Ellison played for the
Arkansas Razorbacks football team. In August 1915, the
Detroit Tigers purchased Ellison from the Clinton club. He was assigned for the 1916 season to the
Muscatine Muskies, remaining in Central Association. He compiled a .361 batting average in 127 games with the Muskies. Ellison made his major league debut with the Detroit Tigers at age 19 on September 18, 1916. Despite folding during the previous season, the Clinton Pilots returned to the Central Association in 1916 and ended the season as the runner-up in the eight-team Class D level league. Tom Drohan, played for Clinton in 1916, after having made his major league debut with the 1913
Washington Senators. At age 28, Tom Drohan was the younger brother of the manager and had a lengthy tenure of pitching in the league. In 1911, Drohan pitched for the Central Association's
Kewanee Boilermakers, with a record of 19–10. In 1912 with Kewanee he had a record of 24–6. He then returned to the Central Association in 1914 with the
Waterloo Jays and went 15–7 for Waterloo that season and 14–17 in 1915. Drohan then pitched for the Clinton Pilots in 1916 and went 9–6 with a 2.34
earned run average. The Clinton Pilots played their final season in the 1917 Western Association, folding during the season. The league eventually folded following the completion of the 1917 season. The Pilots team folded on July 17, 1917, along with the
La Crosse Infants franchise. At the time their franchise folded, Clinton had compiled a 40–33 record, playing the partial season under manager Larry Brown. After Clinton and La Crosse folded, the Western Association then shortened their season and ended play on August 7, 1917. With Philadelphia, Miller was the starting
right fielder for the Athletics during their era of three consecutive
American League pennants. Miller was in the
batting orders with three future
Baseball Hall of Fame members in
Al Simmons,
Jimmie Foxx, and
Mickey Cochrane. In his sixteen-year major league career, Miller played with the Washington Senators (1921), Philadelphia Athletics (1922–1926),
St. Louis Browns (1926–1927), Philadelphia Athletics (1928–1934) and
Boston Red Sox (1935–1936). Miller retired with .311 career
batting average, along with 946
runs, 389
doubles, 96
triples, 116
home runs, 993
runs batted in, 127
stolen bases, 383
bases on balls, .359
on-base percentage and .461
slugging percentage. After his playing career ended, Miller was a coach in the American League for 17 years Boston Red Sox (1937),
Detroit Tigers (1938–1941),
Chicago White Sox (1942–1949) and Athletics (1950–1953). The Central Association did not return to play in 1918. The Central Association reformed in 1947, with the
Clinton Cubs rejoining the league and winning the first two league championships in the reformed league. From 1966 to 1976, the Clinton team was again known as the Pilots. ==The ballpark==