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Eugene Church · 03-10-2006, 02:37 AM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Opening Day, Thursday, April 10, 1902

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MCGRAW'S NY GIANTS PICKED TO DETHRONE PITTSBURGH IN NL TITLE CHASE

The Baseball Writers of America have made the New York Giants their choice to win the National League championship.

1. New York Giants
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Philadelphia Phillies
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Brooklyn Dodgers
7. Boston Braves
8. Cincinnati Reds

Manager John McGraw agrees with the scribes and has gone on record that the New York Giants will win it all in 1902. His club finished a very strong second to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who came within an eyelash of beating the Bronx Bombers in the 1901 World Series. The writers and McGraw think the Giants have a better pitching staff than the Yankees and can match them homer for homer, something the Pirates could not do. McGraw's boys hammered 140 out of the park last year, second only to the Yanks' 142. Barry Bonds, Mel Ott, Willie Mays and Bill Terry totaled 95 home runs last year. Carl Hubbell, Christy Mathewson and Juan Marichal form a splendid nucleus for his mound corps, the envy of any team in baseball. Rob Nen is also a fine bullpen specialist, too. Negro outfield star, Chino Smith, adds the presence of an outstanding lefthander hitter to the roster. Some say he was the best pure hitter in the Negro Leagues. He will be used primarily as a pinchhitter and outfield relief for McGraw. But it may be hard to keep out of the lineup. Orlando Cepeda was another good pickup. He is a solid powerhitter and fine backup for Terry at first base. Harry Danning will improve the catching corps, which produced very little offensively last year. Danning can hit for average and will probably get first call at the start of the season. RHP Jeff Tesreau will be a newcomer on the Giants superb mound staff and will have to earn his spurs in the bullpen for awhile. In a showdown with the Yanks in the World Series the so-called and semi-experts of the Great American Pastime think the Giants will win the Subway Series. Better pitching gives them the edge.

Selected to finish in the runner-up spot in the NL are the St. Louis Cardinals, who played the best ball of any team in the second half of the 1901 season, but came up short by just 2 games in fourth place. Mediocre seasons from budding stars Satchel Paige and Dizzy Dean did the Redbirds in. Manager Tony Larussa thinks that will change this year. Both Paige and Dean has good springs and have earned their way back to his good graces. They both ended up in the bullpen last year. This year Larussa has them penciled in as spot starters. St. Louis got their wish in the Special Draft. They signed Dobie Moore, a fine hitter and splendid shortstop, a weakness last year. They got good fielding from Ozzie Smith, but no offense. Outfielder Jim Edmonds will provide needed longball offense and excellent defense. He will platoon in rightfield with Enos Slaugher and Ducky Medwick. The Cards have a new catcher, who can hit with power, Walker Cooper, pitcher Mort Cooper's brother. St. Louis hit only 90 home runs last year, but seem to have made some strides here if Moore, Edmonds and Cooper can produce. A sore point last year was middle relief. Jason Isringhausen is expected to fill the bill there and give Todd Worrell some needed help in the bullpen. Hornsby, Mize, Musial, Frisch and Hafey give Larussa the basis for a fine team, one that could be solid contender for the National League crown.

The Pittsburgh Pirates who were superb last year don't seem to have improved as much as the teams picked ahead of them. They did however rectify their main shortcoming...home run power. In the Special Draft they selected a great Japanese slugger, Sadaharu Oh, who will take over first base. Last year the Bucs hit only 55 homers, the worst in both leagues. It finally caught up with them in the World Series. The NY Yankees slammed 15 in the nine-game series, while Pittsburgh could counter with only 2. Fortunately hitting is a strong point with the Pirates, they led the NL with a .267 team batting average and lead the league in runs scored. Manager Danny Murtaugh thinks Oh, OF Dave Parker and C Manny Sanguillen might supple the key missing element this year. In the pitching corps Lefty Leifield and Howard Camnitz will try to bring improvement there. Last year this was a strong point for Murtaugh's crew. They had an overall 3.36 ERA, third in the NL and overall in the AAA. Last year the Pirates overachieved according to some scribes and almost beat a much more talented Yankee team. Pittsburgh did not choked in the World Series by losing after leading 4 games to 2, they just got beat by a superior ballclub. A critical hit in those last three NY victories could have changed the outcome very easily. Don't count them out just yet.

One of the great surprises of last season were the remarkable Philadelphia Phillies of Manager Danny Ozark, who took 2 pitchers, Pete Alexander and Robin Roberts, and teamed them with 4 home run hitters and came within an inch of winning the National League. Chuck Klein, Mike Schmidt, Dick Allen and Del Ennis slugged 98 between them, the best foursome in all of baseball, topping both the Yankees and Giants top power providers. Ozark has added a little more power on the bench with OF Bobby Abreu, OF/1B Von Hayes and 2B Juan Samuel. Abreau may move into a platoon situation with dependable Del Ennis, who really had a fine season last year. Abreu may just be too good to keep out of the lineup. The Phils hope the Special Draftee, Japanese pitching star, Jiro Noguchi, will eventually move into the main starting rotation. Initially he will just be a spot starter and setup man in the bullpen. He has superb control and rarely walks anyone. It looks like Ozark's charges could surprise again and battle for the National League trophy. Finding another starting pitcher or two could make this possible.

Manager Charlie Grimm piloted the Chicago Cubs to a sixth place finish last season with power hitting and just average pitching. All total the Bruins hit 137 into the stands, third behind the Bronx Bombers and Giants. Ernie Banks, Turkey Stearnes and Hack Wilson all hit a bunch out of Wrigley Field. Stearnes hit .332 with 23 HRs in just a half season with 55 RBIs and 56 runs scored. Banks led the NL with 31 fourbaggers. On Cholly Jolly's wishlist this season was a high average leadoff hitter and better pitching. He got his first wish in the Special Draft: Cool Papa Bell, a Negro League speed merchant, who hits well and plays a great centerfield, too. Grimm promoted southpaw Jack Pfiester and righty Howard Camnitz in an effort to bolster his pitching corps. The only other addition to the club was catcher Jody Davis, who hit with some power, but is only adequate behind the plate. One of the Chicubs' strengths is starters Mordecai Brown, the only 20-game winner in the Alltime Allstar Association, Fergie Jenkins, a 15-game winner, Larry French, a 2.93 ERA and Ed Ruelbach. Sometimes starter Lon Warneke and bullpen ace, Bruce Sutter, also put up good numbers.

Last year the Brooklyn Dodgers under Manager Tommy Lasorda ended up fifth in the standings and it looks like that is about the best they can hope for. Solid pitching from Dazzy Vance, Sandy Koufax and Don Sutton in the starting rotation kept the Bums in the bottom of the first division for the first half of the season. Star reliever Ron Perranoski had an outstanding year and won 13 games and had 6 saves. The Dodgers were adept at hitting homers, too. But in the second half of the season Duke Snider and Gil Hodges dropped in production and they were critical to the team's early season success. Late in the season the club swooned and finished up in the second division. The Dodger farm system provided 4 rookies: OF Babe Herman, an outstanding hitter with some power, but a little less than adequate in the field, 2B Steve Sax, good hitter and good fielder and pitchers Fernando Valenzuela and Preacher Roe. In the Special Draft Lasorda may have found a solution to his third base problem in Japanese recruit, Hiromitsu Ochiai. He has a reputation for for good home run power. If Valenzuela or Roe steps it up and becomes a starter, then Brooklyn might slip in the first division. They also need good years from SS Pee Wee Reese and 2B Jackie Robinson, who were a little subpar last season. Hodges and Snider need to step it up, too.

Last year the only thing the Boston Braves had going for them was outstanding pitching, which got absolutely no run support. As a team the Braves hit a pathetic .231, some 23 points below the next worst club, the Chicago Cubs. However their 3.28 Team ERA was the best in both leagues. A fine foursome of Greg Maddux (17-8 2.61), Warren Spahn (8-11 2.58), Phil Niekro (11-9 2.84) and Lew Burdette (10-12 3.02) kept them in just about every game, but could not overcome the poor hitting. Manager Bobby Cox went scouring the minors and found some gems in catcher Joe Torre, outfielder Tommy Holmes and Negro star outfielder, Phil Hill. Torre and Hill will move into the starting lineup right away and will add possible .300 hitters with moderate home run ability. Cox stayed pat with his pitching corps and expects it to get better. He doesn't think John Smoltz will have two poor years in a row. The Boston skipper thinks he will get improved performance from Johnny Sain, Don McMahon and Steve Bedrosian, too. If the holdovers from last year's club hit up to their potential, expect the Boston Braves to really blossom in the National League. That is a big "if", though. Otherwise, it looks like another seventh place finish.

And pulling up the rear just like they did in 1901, the Cincinnati Reds. Woeful pitching was Manager Sparky Anderson's main pitfall. The Reds were deadlast in all of baseball with a 4.18 ERA. To alleviate this problem somewhat, Anderson used the first pick in the Special Draft to select one of Japan's best hurlers, Kazuhisa Inao, a power pitcher with flawless control. From the Cincinnati farmhands he moved up a crafty lefthander, Ken Raffensberger, who also has great control. They will be used as spot starters and also as the club's late inning specialists. Anderson has faith that last season most of his players suffered an off year all at the same time. He has fine talent, but last year they flopped and wallowed in last place the whole season. He added OF Gus Bell and catcher Bubbles Hargrave to the roster. Both should get decent shots at some playing time, especially if the team flounders like 1901. The scribes' outlook is bleak for the Reds. They may still be the worst team in the AAA.

Check League Reports here:
http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/

03-10-2006, 02:37 AM	#392 (permalink)
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 16,947 Thanks: 92 Thanked 96x in 50 posts	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Opening Day, Thursday, April 10, 1902 NATIONAL LEAGUE *MCGRAW'S NY GIANTS PICKED TO DETHRONE PITTSBURGH IN NL TITLE CHASE* The Baseball Writers of America have made the New York Giants their choice to win the National League championship. 1. New York Giants 2. St. Louis Cardinals 3. Pittsburgh Pirates 4. Philadelphia Phillies 5. Chicago Cubs 6. Brooklyn Dodgers 7. Boston Braves 8. Cincinnati Reds Manager John McGraw agrees with the scribes and has gone on record that the New York Giants will win it all in 1902. His club finished a very strong second to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who came within an eyelash of beating the Bronx Bombers in the 1901 World Series. The writers and McGraw think the Giants have a better pitching staff than the Yankees and can match them homer for homer, something the Pirates could not do. McGraw's boys hammered 140 out of the park last year, second only to the Yanks' 142. Barry Bonds, Mel Ott, Willie Mays and Bill Terry totaled 95 home runs last year. Carl Hubbell, Christy Mathewson and Juan Marichal form a splendid nucleus for his mound corps, the envy of any team in baseball. Rob Nen is also a fine bullpen specialist, too. Negro outfield star, Chino Smith, adds the presence of an outstanding lefthander hitter to the roster. Some say he was the best pure hitter in the Negro Leagues. He will be used primarily as a pinchhitter and outfield relief for McGraw. But it may be hard to keep out of the lineup. Orlando Cepeda was another good pickup. He is a solid powerhitter and fine backup for Terry at first base. Harry Danning will improve the catching corps, which produced very little offensively last year. Danning can hit for average and will probably get first call at the start of the season. RHP Jeff Tesreau will be a newcomer on the Giants superb mound staff and will have to earn his spurs in the bullpen for awhile. In a showdown with the Yanks in the World Series the so-called and semi-experts of the Great American Pastime think the Giants will win the Subway Series. Better pitching gives them the edge. Selected to finish in the runner-up spot in the NL are the St. Louis Cardinals, who played the best ball of any team in the second half of the 1901 season, but came up short by just 2 games in fourth place. Mediocre seasons from budding stars Satchel Paige and Dizzy Dean did the Redbirds in. Manager Tony Larussa thinks that will change this year. Both Paige and Dean has good springs and have earned their way back to his good graces. They both ended up in the bullpen last year. This year Larussa has them penciled in as spot starters. St. Louis got their wish in the Special Draft. They signed Dobie Moore, a fine hitter and splendid shortstop, a weakness last year. They got good fielding from Ozzie Smith, but no offense. Outfielder Jim Edmonds will provide needed longball offense and excellent defense. He will platoon in rightfield with Enos Slaugher and Ducky Medwick. The Cards have a new catcher, who can hit with power, Walker Cooper, pitcher Mort Cooper's brother. St. Louis hit only 90 home runs last year, but seem to have made some strides here if Moore, Edmonds and Cooper can produce. A sore point last year was middle relief. Jason Isringhausen is expected to fill the bill there and give Todd Worrell some needed help in the bullpen. Hornsby, Mize, Musial, Frisch and Hafey give Larussa the basis for a fine team, one that could be solid contender for the National League crown. The Pittsburgh Pirates who were superb last year don't seem to have improved as much as the teams picked ahead of them. They did however rectify their main shortcoming...home run power. In the Special Draft they selected a great Japanese slugger, Sadaharu Oh, who will take over first base. Last year the Bucs hit only 55 homers, the worst in both leagues. It finally caught up with them in the World Series. The NY Yankees slammed 15 in the nine-game series, while Pittsburgh could counter with only 2. Fortunately hitting is a strong point with the Pirates, they led the NL with a .267 team batting average and lead the league in runs scored. Manager Danny Murtaugh thinks Oh, OF Dave Parker and C Manny Sanguillen might supple the key missing element this year. In the pitching corps Lefty Leifield and Howard Camnitz will try to bring improvement there. Last year this was a strong point for Murtaugh's crew. They had an overall 3.36 ERA, third in the NL and overall in the AAA. Last year the Pirates overachieved according to some scribes and almost beat a much more talented Yankee team. Pittsburgh did not choked in the World Series by losing after leading 4 games to 2, they just got beat by a superior ballclub. A critical hit in those last three NY victories could have changed the outcome very easily. Don't count them out just yet. One of the great surprises of last season were the remarkable Philadelphia Phillies of Manager Danny Ozark, who took 2 pitchers, Pete Alexander and Robin Roberts, and teamed them with 4 home run hitters and came within an inch of winning the National League. Chuck Klein, Mike Schmidt, Dick Allen and Del Ennis slugged 98 between them, the best foursome in all of baseball, topping both the Yankees and Giants top power providers. Ozark has added a little more power on the bench with OF Bobby Abreu, OF/1B Von Hayes and 2B Juan Samuel. Abreau may move into a platoon situation with dependable Del Ennis, who really had a fine season last year. Abreu may just be too good to keep out of the lineup. The Phils hope the Special Draftee, Japanese pitching star, Jiro Noguchi, will eventually move into the main starting rotation. Initially he will just be a spot starter and setup man in the bullpen. He has superb control and rarely walks anyone. It looks like Ozark's charges could surprise again and battle for the National League trophy. Finding another starting pitcher or two could make this possible. Manager Charlie Grimm piloted the Chicago Cubs to a sixth place finish last season with power hitting and just average pitching. All total the Bruins hit 137 into the stands, third behind the Bronx Bombers and Giants. Ernie Banks, Turkey Stearnes and Hack Wilson all hit a bunch out of Wrigley Field. Stearnes hit .332 with 23 HRs in just a half season with 55 RBIs and 56 runs scored. Banks led the NL with 31 fourbaggers. On Cholly Jolly's wishlist this season was a high average leadoff hitter and better pitching. He got his first wish in the Special Draft: Cool Papa Bell, a Negro League speed merchant, who hits well and plays a great centerfield, too. Grimm promoted southpaw Jack Pfiester and righty Howard Camnitz in an effort to bolster his pitching corps. The only other addition to the club was catcher Jody Davis, who hit with some power, but is only adequate behind the plate. One of the Chicubs' strengths is starters Mordecai Brown, the only 20-game winner in the Alltime Allstar Association, Fergie Jenkins, a 15-game winner, Larry French, a 2.93 ERA and Ed Ruelbach. Sometimes starter Lon Warneke and bullpen ace, Bruce Sutter, also put up good numbers. Last year the Brooklyn Dodgers under Manager Tommy Lasorda ended up fifth in the standings and it looks like that is about the best they can hope for. Solid pitching from Dazzy Vance, Sandy Koufax and Don Sutton in the starting rotation kept the Bums in the bottom of the first division for the first half of the season. Star reliever Ron Perranoski had an outstanding year and won 13 games and had 6 saves. The Dodgers were adept at hitting homers, too. But in the second half of the season Duke Snider and Gil Hodges dropped in production and they were critical to the team's early season success. Late in the season the club swooned and finished up in the second division. The Dodger farm system provided 4 rookies: OF Babe Herman, an outstanding hitter with some power, but a little less than adequate in the field, 2B Steve Sax, good hitter and good fielder and pitchers Fernando Valenzuela and Preacher Roe. In the Special Draft Lasorda may have found a solution to his third base problem in Japanese recruit, Hiromitsu Ochiai. He has a reputation for for good home run power. If Valenzuela or Roe steps it up and becomes a starter, then Brooklyn might slip in the first division. They also need good years from SS Pee Wee Reese and 2B Jackie Robinson, who were a little subpar last season. Hodges and Snider need to step it up, too. Last year the only thing the Boston Braves had going for them was outstanding pitching, which got absolutely no run support. As a team the Braves hit a pathetic .231, some 23 points below the next worst club, the Chicago Cubs. However their 3.28 Team ERA was the best in both leagues. A fine foursome of Greg Maddux (17-8 2.61), Warren Spahn (8-11 2.58), Phil Niekro (11-9 2.84) and Lew Burdette (10-12 3.02) kept them in just about every game, but could not overcome the poor hitting. Manager Bobby Cox went scouring the minors and found some gems in catcher Joe Torre, outfielder Tommy Holmes and Negro star outfielder, Phil Hill. Torre and Hill will move into the starting lineup right away and will add possible .300 hitters with moderate home run ability. Cox stayed pat with his pitching corps and expects it to get better. He doesn't think John Smoltz will have two poor years in a row. The Boston skipper thinks he will get improved performance from Johnny Sain, Don McMahon and Steve Bedrosian, too. If the holdovers from last year's club hit up to their potential, expect the Boston Braves to really blossom in the National League. That is a big "if", though. Otherwise, it looks like another seventh place finish. And pulling up the rear just like they did in 1901, the Cincinnati Reds. Woeful pitching was Manager Sparky Anderson's main pitfall. The Reds were deadlast in all of baseball with a 4.18 ERA. To alleviate this problem somewhat, Anderson used the first pick in the Special Draft to select one of Japan's best hurlers, Kazuhisa Inao, a power pitcher with flawless control. From the Cincinnati farmhands he moved up a crafty lefthander, Ken Raffensberger, who also has great control. They will be used as spot starters and also as the club's late inning specialists. Anderson has faith that last season most of his players suffered an off year all at the same time. He has fine talent, but last year they flopped and wallowed in last place the whole season. He added OF Gus Bell and catcher Bubbles Hargrave to the roster. Both should get decent shots at some playing time, especially if the team flounders like 1901. The scribes' outlook is bleak for the Reds. They may still be the worst team in the AAA. Check League Reports here: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/ Last edited by Eugene Church; 03-10-2006 at 10:43 PM.