Misadventures in the Forest City: the 1899 Cleveland Spiders

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where it is another installment in our critically acclaimed series of Dollop-style bonus episodes. This week Ed presents the story of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders baseball team. There are often brutal seasonal campaigns across team sports, but the Spiders of 1899 set high marks for futility that have lasted well over a century. Join us this week for a deep dive into a team that managed a near impossible 20 wins against 134 losses, found themselves outscored by a mind-blowing 723 runs, averaged a mere 145 fans per home game despite only playing 42 of them, and unsurprisingly ended the franchise as the Spiders disbanded at season’s end. That story, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, is this week on the Bill Bradley Collective, and be sure to tune in next week for our next conversation on rivalries across sports and politics, as we examine John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.