The Western club of Keokuk, Iowa

Keokuk, Iowa

Keokuk is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Iowa and one of the county seats of Lee County. The other county seat is Fort Madison. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census. The city is named after the Sauk Chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park...

, or Keokuk Westerns, were a professional baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team in the National Association

National Association of Professional Base Ball Players

The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...

 in 1875, the last season of that first professional league. They are considered a major league team by those who count the NA as a major league.

In 1875 the NA entry fee was $20 for one championship season. The Westerns won one of 13 games (1-12 record) before going out of business. For 1876, stronger clubs in bigger cities, led by the Chicago White Stockings

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

, organized the National League

National League

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 on a different basis, chiefly in order to exclude weaker clubs from smaller cities such as Keokuk.

The Westerns were managed by Joe Simmons

Joe Simmons

Joseph S. Simmons, born as Joseph S. Chabriel, was an American Major League Baseball player and manager from New York, New York. Joe played three seasons in the National Association, the last year he was player-manager for the Keokuk Westerns, a team that would win just one game of the 13 that...

 and played their home games at Perry Park

Perry Park (Iowa)

Perry Park was a baseball grounds in Keokuk, Iowa. It was home to the Keokuk Westerns of the National Association during the 1875 season, so it is considered a major league ballpark by those who count the NA as a major league.- References :...

. Their top hitter was catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

 Paddy Quinn

Paddy Quinn (baseball)

Patrick "Paddy" Quinn was an American baseball player in the first professional league. He played catcher in five games for the 1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas and he appeared in two other more major league seasons in the 1870s.Quinn was a regular league player during only one season, with three...

, who went 14-for-43 for a batting average

Batting average

Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

of .326.