Kansas City Unions
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The Kansas City Unions were a major league baseball team in the Union Association in its only season, 1884. Sometimes called the "Cowboys", they had no official nickname during their short life and were rarely referred to by the local press of the day as anything but the "Unions" or the "Kaycees".
They were the first professional baseball team to represent Kansas City as well as the city's first major league team.
They began play as a replacement for the Altoona Mountain City, which collapsed in May, and played out the remainder of the season. Despite a 16-63 (.203 WL percentage) finish, the franchise was one of only two (the St. Louis club being the other) in the league to make a profit. In contemporary newspaper reports, the team had Altoona's record (6-19) combined with their own and were considered to have finished last in an eight-team league.
The Unions disbanded shortly after the Union Association voted to dissolve. Kansas City was represented in the minor league Western League the next season, and had at least one professional baseball team in town continuously until 1968.