From 1884-1886, there was a professional baseball team in st. Louis known as the St. Louis Maroons. It was established by Henry Lucas (more on him later). The team played in the Union Association and dominated the only and only season the league was in existence.  St. Louis Maroons debuted on April 20, 1884, at the Union Base Ball Park, defeating Chicago  Browns, 7–2. for the season they won the league by 21 games as they finished with and finished in 1884 with a 132-20 record.

It is likely that the team was so good that the rest of the league folded. n 1885, the Maroons were asked to join the National League. They found the competition much tougher as they only won 37 games and had to compete with the St. Louis Browns for fans. The Browns were in their prime at this time and won the hearts of the fans of st. Louis baseball.

The Maroons had two stars from the mound which were Charlie Sweeney and Old Hoss Radbourn. Radbourn won 60 games in one season. while Sweeney won 24 games before bolting the team and pitching for the the Providence Grays. In St Louis, he won 41 games in 1884.

The Maroons only lasted one more season before the owner sold them team and it was moved to Indianapolis to become the Hoosiers.

Owner Henry Lucas was an avid sports fan and became commissioner of the Union Association in its one year.in existence.

Lucas died in 1910 in his home city, of blood poisoning from an ankle injury originally suffered years earlier. Lucas was employed as a street department inspector at the time of his death. One newspaper headline following his death read, “Famous Sportsman Who Spends Millions in Fruitless Baseball War Dies in Poverty”.He was survived by his son.