Editing Fred Dunlap (section)

===St. Louis Maroons===
In November 1883, Dunlap signed a contract to play for the [[St. Louis Maroons/Indianapolis Hoosiers|St. Louis Maroons]] in the new [[Union Association]].  He was the biggest star lured to the new league.  His contract paid Dunlap a salary of $3,400 (including $1,000 paid in advance),<ref>{{cite news|title=Sporting Matters: Fred Dunlap Leaves the Cleveland Base Ball Club To Weep and To Mourn|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=November 30, 1893|url=https://secure.pqarchiver.com/freep/display_pdf.pdf?filename=/share3/pqimage/hnirs104v/201108260018/59560/7984/out.pdf|access-date=August 26, 2011|archive-date=April 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401035302/https://secure.pqarchiver.com/freep/display_pdf.pdf?filename=/share3/pqimage/hnirs104v/201108260018/59560/7984/out.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> the highest salary paid to any baseball player at that time.<ref name=BD/>  He remained the highest paid baseball player every year from 1884 to 1889.<ref>{{cite news|author=William H. Dunbar|title=July 1918|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/BBM/1918/bbm213q.pdf|work=[[Baseball Magazine]]|page=291}}</ref>

Dunlap played second base for the St. Louis Maroons from 1884 to 1886 and also served as the team's manager for portions of those seasons.  During the 1884 season, the Maroons and Dunlap dominated the Union Association.  The team compiled a record of 94-19, and Dunlap led the new league in most significant offensive and defensive categories.  His .412 batting average was 56 points higher than any other player in the Union Association, the National League, or the [[American Association (19th century)|American Association]].  He also led the league in on-base percentage (.448), slugging percentage (.621), runs scored (160), hits (185), total bases (279), home runs (13), extra base hits (60), assists by a second baseman (300), putouts by a second baseman (341), range factor at second base (6.41), and fielding percentage at second base (.926).<ref name=BR>{{cite web|title=Fred Dunlap Statistics and History|work=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dunlafr01.shtml|access-date=March 9, 2014}}</ref>  Dunlap's .412 batting average in 1884 was the highest ever recorded in any of the major leagues up to that time.<ref>{{cite book|author=James M. Egan|title=Base Ball on the Western Reserve|publisher=McFarland|year=2008|page=97}}</ref>  His 160 runs scored in 1884 remains one of the highest single-season totals in major league history.<ref name=BD/>

Some baseball historians have suggested that Dunlap's accomplishments during the 1884 season should be discounted due to the lesser talent pool in the Union Association.<ref>{{cite book |author=James |first=Bill |author-link=Bill James |title=The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2003 |isbn=0-7432-2722-0 |pages=29–32}}</ref>  In 1885, the Union Association was disbanded after only one year, and the St. Louis Maroons joined the National League.  Although his batting average dropped 142 points to .270 in 1885, Dunlap continued to be one of the best defensive second basemen in the major leagues. He led the National League's second basemen in 1885 with a .934 fielding percentage and ranked second in assists (374), putouts (314), and range factor (6.49).<ref name=BR/> Dunlap spent a third season with the Maroons in 1886, and [[Hitting for the cycle|hit for the cycle]] on May 24. However, the Maroons were in financial distress, and rumors spread that the team might disband.<ref name=DFP4/>