American Association
After spending several years as a well-known semi-pro team, the Eclipse joined the new American Association in 1882. The team's backer, local distiller J. H. Pank, was named vice-president of the AA, and the team was to be run by a consortium led by W. L. Lyons. Accompanying them to the major leagues was their star player, infielder Pete Browning, who had already achieved some measure of local fame. The team got off to a good start, finishing in second place that first season. That would be their best finish for several seasons.
Ownership troubles were also afoot, as managing partner Lyons resigned in mid-1888, with team secretary Mordecai Davidson taking over. The following season, the team sank to a 27–111 record and a last place finish, and Davidson surrendered control of the team to the AA. The 1889 Colonels were the first team in major-league history to lose 100 games in a season.
The next season, the team, which had been purchased by Barney Dreyfuss, would bounce back with a vengeance. The Colonels won the 1890 pennant in the AA, during a season in which the league was considered only the third-best behind the NL and the Players' League, and appeared in an early version of the World Series which resulted in three wins for each team. Following up on their last place finish the previous year, they became the one and only team to rise from the cellar to the pennant in one season.
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