[Eugene Church]

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Tuesday, April 8, 1905

AMERICAN LEAGUE

NY YANKS PICKED TO WIN 3RD TITLE IN 5 YEARS

The mighty New York Yankees will win the American League pennant in 1905. That is what the baseball experts predict in the latest poll by the Baseball Writers of America.

Rank Team (1904 record) (Rank)

1. New York Yankees (96-58) (1st)
2. Washington Senators (85-69) (2nd)
3. Philadelphia Athletics (77-77) (5th)
4. Boston Red Sox (79-75) (3rd)
5. Cleveland Indians (79-75) (3rd)
6. Chicago White Sox (74-80) (6th)
7. Detroit Tigers (60-94) (8th)
8. St. Louis Browns (66-88) (7th)

The Bronx Bombers are the dominant team in the Alltime Allstar Association with excellent pitching, both starting and in the bullpen, and a powerful lineup of longball hitters, that walloped an AAA alltime record 208 home runs last year. They won the pennant by a whopping eleven games over the surprising Washington Senators and are expected to win easily again this season.

They also won the World Series, edging the Chicago Cubs in a thrilling nine-game series, 5 games to 4.

With Whitey Ford (22-7), Lefty Gomez (20-5) , Mariano Rivera (7-5, 28 saves) and company on the mound and Babe Ruth (.306 BA/50 HR), Lou Gehrig (.293 BA/27 HR), Joe DiMaggio (.297 BA/33 HR) at bat, Manager Casey Stengel's club will be hard to beat.

The only additions to the roster this season are third baseman Graig Nettles, back for another try as a backup to Derek Jeter, and righthanded pitcher, Red Ruffing, who will get a shot at the starting rotation.

One of the great stories of last season, the Washington Senators are the choice to finish second to the almighty Yanks. A solid mound staff and timely hitting led the Nats to their surprising second place finish. Manager Clark Griffith will rely on pitchers Walter Johnson (17-9), Alvin Crowder (13-7), Frank Viola (13-9), Camilo Pascual (14-14) and bullpen ace, Rick Aguilera (8-4, 32 saves) to keep the Senators in the battle with New York.

Last year's rookie of the year, Kent Hrbek (.287 BA/27 HR), and the AL batting champ, Heinie Manush (.342 BA/5 HR) will be back, hoping to continue their outstanding play. Reliable regulars Goose Goslin (.280 BA/11 HR), Rod Carew (.276 BA/5 HR) and Cecil Travis (.259 BA/1 HR) will be back as well.

Washington will add two lefthanders to the staff, rookies Johan Santana and Tom Zachary. Santana will be a spot starter, Zachary will be used in long and short relief.

Right fielder Kirby Puckett will be given the postion by Griffith and every chance to fail. He has not managed to hang on to it in three previous trials. Griffith says he has too much talent not to be successful and will be given every chance to make it this year. He told the press, "I'm gonna be more patient with him and give him time to develop." The Senator skipper did this last year with third baseman, Harmon Killebrew, who responded with 21 homers and 69 RBIs.

The Philadelphia Athletics, decimated by the loss of pitchers Lefty Grove (6-8) and Rube Waddell (12-2) for half the season, are ready to rebound from a fifth place finish. They are forecast to finish third in 1905. Manager Connie Mack has added a rookie righthander, Jack Coombs, to the starting rotation and expects good things from him. Add lefty Ed Plank (15-12) and righthander Tim Hudson (12-8) to the starting mix and Mack has a solid club that just needs to perform up to potential and they could rival New York.

The A's only weakness is home run power. Mack is hoping for a breakout season from first baseman Jimmie Foxx.

"Foxx (.247 BA/20 HR] has the physical strength to be up there with Ruth in the home run derby," Mack said. "One of these years he is going to bust loose. I hope it is this year."

The Philadelphia skipper added, "John Henry Lloyd (.248 BA/13 HR) is another key to our success, along with Al Simmons (.275 BA/12 HR). Both of them had disappointing seasons."

Mack told reporters during his press interview, "Mickey Cochrane (.303 BA/11 HR) and Shigeo Nagashima (.280 BA/18 HR) both had solid seasons at catcher and third base. I am looking for bigger and better things from them, too."

The hard-hitting Boston Red Sox will end up the season in fourth place this year according to the baseball prognosticators. Manager Joe McCarthy's fate will live or die with his pitching. The Bosox finished next-to-last in that department last year with a 4.12 ERA. Lousy relief pitching cost starters George Ruth (16-12), Pedro Martinez (14-8), Roger Clemens (13-13), Smokey Joe Wood (14-14) dearly. McCarthy has brought in two rookie hurlers this year and has added righthander Bill Dinneen and lefty Bruce Hurst to his staff. The Red Sox manager said that reliever Dick Radatz has to improve this year, too. "4-13 and 5.19 ERA just won't cut it this year".

Boston has the top team batting average in the AL at .262, led by Oscar Charleston (.309/30 HR), Ted Williams (.276 BA/26 HR) and Nomar Garciaparra (.295 BA/23 HR). David Ortiz (.247 BA/22 HR), Bobby Doerr (.265 BA/18 HR) and Fred Lynn (.281 BA/15 HR) also make their presence known from time-to-time.

Rookie outfielder Doc Cramer is the only new position player on the Red Sox roster. He will be a backup outfielder.

Steve O'Neill's Cleveland Indians are predicted to come in fifth. Last season they tied with Boston for fourth place, 17 games out. But this year the A's are expected to move up ahead of the Tribe. O'Neill has good pitching, but needs help in the hitting department. He hopes rookie first baseman, Travis Hafner, can energize the offense with his home run power. "Hafner, Al Rosen and Earl Averill will be given a long look at their positions in the hope we can get some solid run production out of them," the Indian skipper told the press. "They are the keys for us to challenge the Yankees in this year's race."

Light-hitting infielders Nap Lajoie (.306 BA/6 HR) and Willie Wells (.270 BA/16 HR) were the best Cleveland had average-wise.

Cleveland has a solid group of starters: Bob Feller (14-11), Addie Joss (11-14) and Herb Score (12-14). They also can count on Doug Jones (13-4, 23 saves) to bail them out when needed. He had an outstanding season in the bullpen last year. Manager O'Neill's newcomers to the mound corps this season are rookies Gary Bell and C. C. Sabathia. They will be used initially in relief roles.

The Chicago White Sox have renewed hopes for the 1905 season with the addition of five new players. Two are true freshmen, southpaw pitcher Tommy John and second baseman Ray Durham. The other two are semi-rookies back from the minors for another chance at the Majors, third baseman Robin Ventura and outfielder Carlos Lee, both of them have less than 100 at bats in the Majors. Manager Al Lopez said Ventura and Lee hit very well in the minors and he thinks this year they can do it in the American League. He told the baseball writers, "I think I gave up on them too soon in their previous tries. This time they will be given a thorough opportunity to show their stuff."

Lopez added, "We will be better this year for sure. We'll have Billy Pierce for the whole season and look for Tommy John to be a solid pitcher. I expect good things from him. He will be my #4 starter. With him, Pierce (5-5), Ed Walsh (14-13), Mark Buehrle (8-7), Ted Lyons (9-2) and relief standout Bobby Thigpen (6-6 29 saves), we are looking strong. Don't forget Joe Horlen, either. He looked real good at the end of the season last year."

The Chisox will need improvement from last season's top producers, Louis Santop (.272 BA/22 HR), Frank Thomas (.220 BA/28 HR) and Joe Jackson (.303 BA/10 HR), if they expect to rise up in the AL standings.

The writers think the Pale Hose will finish sixth, just like last year. But Lopez thinks he will end up in the first division.

The Detroit Tigers were dead last in 1904. This upcoming season will not be much better. According to the BWA they will be seventh in this year's race, beating out only the St. Louis Browns. Manager Hughie Jennings is pinning his hopes on three new pitchers, all rookies. Lefthander Frank Tanana and two righthanders, Hooks Dauss and Joe Coleman. Tanana will move into a starting role immediately. The other two will bide their time and have to prove themselves in relief roles at first. Virgil Trucks (13-13) and Hal Newhouser (11-17) are the Tigers best starters. Jennings thinks Bill Donovan (4-2) will do well as the #4 starter.

Detroit was the best hitting team in the American League with a .272 batting average, but were the worst in home runs, hitting only 64. Rookie third baseman, Carlos Guillen will bring some needed power to that position. Hank Greenberg (.283 BA/21 HR), Ty Cobb (.326 BA/6 HR), Charlie Gehringer (.318 BA/6 HR), Harvey Kuenn (.291 BA/4 HR) and Johnny Bassler (.303 BA/0 HR) are back for another go-round. Besides Guillen, outfielder Pete Fox is the only new position player.

Better pitching will move the Tigers up a little in the standings, but no first division this year according to the baseball scribes.

It looks like another long, long season for the St. Louis Browns and Manager Earl Weaver. They came in seventh last season and it looks worse this year. Weaver has made wholesale changes to his roster, adding seven rookies. New position players are second baseman Brian Roberts, third baseman Melvin Mora and outfielder Fred Schulte, all are good hitters, but only Mora has any pop in his bat. St. Louis will move newcomers Ben McDonald and Jack Powell into starting roles and will use Carl Weilman and Harry Howell in relief. One of the few Browns bright spots is pitching. Weaver has some quality starters in Jim Palmer (13-13) and Mike Mussina (11-12). Dick McNally (3-7) pitched very well despite his won-loss mark. Former starter Hoyt Wilhelm (13-13) will go to the bullpen and become Weaver's relief specialist.

The Browns are the worst hitting team in the American League, batting a composite .245 last year, led by Josh Gibson (.243 BA/32 HR), Ken Williams (.282 BA/26 HR), Jack Tobin (.305 BA/13 HR) and George Sisler (.275 BA/11 HR).

If the pitching improves, St. Louis could move up slightly...sixth at the most.