Troy Trojans | |
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Years 1879 - 1882 | |
Based in Troy, New York (1879-1881) Watervliet, New York (1882) |
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Major league affiliations | |
Ballpark | |
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Team colors | |
Green, orange |
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Managers | |
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Major league titles | |
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Green, orange
The Troy Trojans were a Major League Baseball team in the National League for four seasons from 1879 to 1882. Their home games were played at Putnam Grounds (1879) and Haymakers' Grounds (1880-1881) in the upstate New York city of Troy, and at Troy Ball Clubs Grounds (1882) across the Hudson in Watervliet, or "West Troy" as it was known at the time.
Overall, the franchise won 131 games and lost 194. The Trojans, along with Worcester's unnamed NL team, were expelled from the league shortly before the end of the 1882 season, as Troy and Worcester were seen as too small for the league's ambitions, but were encouraged to play out the rest of their seasons as lame duck teams.
On September 28, 1882, only 6 fans appeared to watch Worcester host the Trojans in the second-to-last game of the season, then only 25 arrived for the last game between the two teams. Among games that have had at least one paying attendee, the attendance figure of 6 is the lowest attendance ever recorded at a Major League baseball game. In 1883 the New York Gothams, later becoming the New York and San Francisco Giants, took the Trojans' former slot in the National League. Four of the original Gotham players were former members of the disbanded Trojans, including three Hall of Famers, Buck Ewing, Roger Connor and Mickey Welch.
A previous team named the Union Base Ball Club Lansingburgh was organized in 1860, the successor to the Victories of Troy, and was a member of the National Association of Base Ball Players. That team was given the nickname Haymakers by a defeated New York City team.