Overview: It appears that our penchant for diplomacy may have gotten the better of us in 1902. Is it a bad thing to want to ensure that the entire American League is able to prosper? Please bear that in mind, gentle reader, when you remember some of the trades that we made. At one point, for example, we had 6 starting pitchers but only needed 4. Sure, we could have used those extra 2 people later on, but Philadelphia was able to utilize them immediately and as a result we have a clear victory in one of the battleground cities. We believe we are still first in the American League, if not in wins then by leadership.
Pitching
Bob Cummins
Code:
Year Team Age G W L IP H R ER HR BB SO CG Sh ERA
1900 Washington - AA 26 13 7 5 110.2 110 37 21 0 12 34 10 1 1.71
1901 Washington - AL 27 31 18 11 274.0 259 129 81 3 30 102 28 0 2.66
1902 Washington - AL 28 36 19 14 315.0 313 139 86 3 50 68 28 2 2.46
One of the things that we should have accounted for, in retrospect, was that in moving from a 5-man staff with one in the bull pen to a 4 man staff, some of the pitchers would not hold up so well. Cummins was actually an exception to this, but his ability sometimes highlighted the inability of other, supposedly better pitchers to "bring it" every 4th day instead of every 5th.
John "Losing Pitcher" Putnam
Code:
Year Team Age G W L IP H R ER HR BB SO CG Sh ERA
1900 Washington - AA 32 47 23 16 333.2 336 140 92 2 72 108 5 2 2.48
1901 Washington - AL 33 33 26 7 286.1 249 90 60 2 41 121 31 5 1.89
1902 Washington - AL 34 36 17 18 297.2 335 161 120 5 64 92 27 0 3.63
Putnam lived up to his formerly ironic nickname in '03. The career 230 game winner gave up almost twice as many runs as before, struck out fewer batters, walked more people, gave up a lot more hits, and overall looked nothing like the superstar he was in 1902. He is, sad to say, getting to an age where a regression like that may be permanent.
Chet Kinser
Code:
Year Team Age G W L IP H R ER HR BB SO CG Sh ERA
1901 Philadelphia - NL 26 34 19 11 259.1 240 91 57 7 57 74 27 3 1.98
1902 Washington - AL 27 32 17 12 283.2 289 121 80 5 33 60 26 2 2.54
After Washington so dominated the league in 1901, several players from the old league came over to us asking for a job. Decisions had to be made. Maybe we should have sent Chet Kinser to Philadelphia instead of Rube Lindsley, but Kinser was no slouch himself and young Connie Mack was so excited over the speed of Lindsley's fast pitch... ah well. One cannot spend too much time second-guessing, as it leads to inaction.
Brian "Heavy" Pike
Code:
Year Team Age G W L IP H R ER HR BB SO CG Sh ERA
1900 Washington - AA 29 49 20 16 394.2 355 167 96 1 73 156 23 2 2.19
1901 Washington - AL 30 32 20 11 287.0 229 110 56 1 37 148 28 4 1.76
1902 Washington - AL 31 16 9 7 136.1 121 55 31 0 21 61 14 2 2.05
It was a trying year for Heavy Pike. For the first 2 months of the season he pitched decently but had little to show for his efforts. Then, following a masterful effort against the Athletics he was carrying a no-hitter into the 6th inning against the Cleveland Blues when he felt a tearing sensation in his arm and was suddenly unable to pitch. His doctor says he'll be back by spring training. We hope so.
Dennis Culler
Code:
Year Team Age G W L IP H R ER HR BB SO CG Sh ERA
1901 Detroit - AL 30 5 1 0 6.0 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0.00
1902 Detroit - AL 31 16 6 0 70.0 61 28 19 2 17 16 4 1 2.44
1902 Washington - AL 31 15 9 5 132.0 137 61 48 3 24 48 12 0 3.27
1902 Total - AL 31 31 15 5 202.0 198 89 67 5 41 64 16 1 2.99
We gave up an awful lot (2 prospects, including starter Ken Wilson) for a 31-year-old rooky, but he did pitch well for us and trades like this were part of our overall league-building strategy. It does no good to dominate a league that then folds under that domination. Better to utilize something akin to democracy and give every team a chance. Anyway, Culler did a highly decent job in both Detroit and the Capitol.
Marvin Jones
Code:
Year Team Age G W L IP H R ER HR BB SO CG Sh ERA
1900 Washington - AA 30 52 6 7 84.0 74 43 31 1 32 22 0 0 3.32
1901 Washington - AL 31 17 2 4 44.1 31 19 3 0 9 26 0 0 0.61
1902 Washington - AL 32 28 5 2 63.1 49 15 11 0 10 35 0 0 1.56
Jones is the last of a dying breed: the bull pen specialist. With so many starting pitchers nowadays demanding the glory of the complete game and the victory that is all theirs and none of the rest of the team's, men like Jones have become completely scarce. Either they convince their masters to let them start a few (and are never as effective as they once were in relief) or they drift away to a minor league or a "real" job. It takes a special kind of man to pitch just 28 games in a season, doing little more than bailing out his cohorts when they get into a mess.
Everyone Else
Code:
Name Age G W L IP H R ER HR BB SO CG Sh ERA
Aleksander Kerensky 23 2 1 1 18.0 15 4 0 10 5 2.00
Ken Wilson 25 4 1 3 33.2 45 20 0 11 10 5.35
Catcher and First Base
Raphael 'The Vowel' Pollaiuolo C(96), 1B(1), LF(1)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 20 84 132 32 4 1 0 10 10 13 12 0 .242
1901 Washington - AL 21 71 219 69 3 3 1 28 32 32 20 0 .315
1902 Washington - AL 22 99 378 104 20 0 2 32 66 41 22 0 .275
The Vowel finds new ways to confound his opponents every year. Last year he introduced a new skill of acquiring two-base hits. This came at the expense of batting average, but he's so young that he stands a great chance of gaining that loss right back.
Ossan Waithman C(44)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 28 129 499 147 18 4 0 33 57 11 35 3 .295
1901 Washington - AL 29 82 302 78 10 1 0 28 35 22 30 1 .258
1902 Washington - AL 30 54 171 60 6 2 0 29 23 7 12 1 .351
Waithman turned just about anything in the vicinity of the plate into a ball in play last year and this had a grand effect on his average. The man is a .314 career hitter who definitely deserves to start somewhere. Hmm.
Matt Barlow 1B(140) AL Gold Glove 1B
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 33 154 579 173 19 7 7 81 82 80 46 25 .299
1901 Washington - AL 34 87 336 113 3 2 9 53 70 52 24 15 .336
1902 Washington - AL 35 140 586 194 15 4 8 60 98 57 39 49 .331
This is how you come back from an injury. Barlow has turned into more of a singles-hitting phenomenon rather than the power source he was earlier in his career, but you can't argue with a lifetime .333 average and a hit total of 1,925 that is the second highest in baseball history. On top of that, he was even named the best fielder at his position last year.
Everybody Else
Code:
Player Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
Bill Young 35 29 26 9 2 1 0 9 6 3 4 1 .346 1B(3)
Infield
Kayne McMartin 2B(140)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 29 97 376 101 13 11 4 54 42 34 21 7 .269
1901 Washington - AL 30 107 417 150 26 16 4 78 67 42 20 4 .360
1902 Washington - AL 31 140 548 175 31 5 7 82 93 73 25 26 .319
McMartin did not exactly replace the kangaroo mountebank known as Woody Randles, but he did play the position and provide nearly as much offensive power as the 1901 AL MVP did. He also provides a love of diplomacy that was tempered by so many years in that communist city of evil known as Cincinnati.
Bailey Hamilton 3B(88), SS(1) AL Gold Glove 3B
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Brooklyn - NL 25 89 376 115 17 7 5 38 57 24 41 15 .306
1901 Philadelphia - AL 26 89 354 102 10 13 3 58 50 25 40 6 .288
1902 Washington - AL 27 100 349 97 13 3 2 62 47 36 26 12 .278
Talk of stocking the rest of the league is based in truth but we also expected big things from Mister Hamilton. Unfortunately, we were largely disappointed. Remember, we picked him up as much to keep what we thought would be a rising star from jumping back to the National as anything else. He did field the position more than adequately, as evidenced by his Gold Glove.
Rowan Dillon 3B(50), SS(1)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Chicago - NL 25 147 612 208 23 8 7 70 140 94 32 69 .340
1901 Cleveland - AL 26 70 269 72 8 5 3 45 45 35 25 8 .268
1902 Cleveland - AL 27 45 179 55 9 3 2 23 35 22 8 16 .307
1902 Washington - AL 27 50 196 43 3 1 1 20 32 28 8 14 .219
1902 Total - AL 27 95 375 98 12 4 3 43 67 50 16 30 .261
Dillon was brought in to replace the too-mediocre Bailey Hamilton but ended up being the biggest disappointment on the team. We expected something akin to his blazing 1900 season - his 140 runs scored are still the highest total this decade - but instead we got a guy who could not or would not poke singles through the infield. What will happen at the "hot corner" next year will be decided in spring training.
Don Croom SS(115), 3B(1)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 28 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 01.000
1901 Washington - AL 29 43 129 34 4 5 0 10 14 9 11 2 .264
1902 Washington - AL 30 115 422 106 20 3 1 78 46 29 36 11 .251
Croom is not a long-term solution by any means but as a stopgap he did what he was supposed to do: not embarrass himself at the plate and field better than Jim Trafford.
Jim "The Ceylon Cyclone" Trafford SS(35), 3B(3)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 25 69 154 34 5 4 0 22 18 6 12 2 .221
1901 Washington - AL 26 139 544 141 25 9 0 78 60 16 46 5 .259
1902 Washington - AL 27 44 122 33 4 2 0 18 16 3 14 2 .270
It was back to the bench for Ceylon's only major leaguer in 1902. Trafford did manage to hit a career-best .270 while backing up Don Croom.
Everybody Else
Code:
Player Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
Jeremy McCullogh 28 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 SS(1)
Outfield
Donoghue Boffin LF(128)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 25 74 226 63 4 6 0 26 19 14 17 7 .279
1901 Washington - AL 26 58 212 65 14 5 1 28 35 19 18 6 .307
1902 Washington - AL 27 128 573 172 20 8 3 52 89 43 30 19 .300
Boffin, a converted second baseman, proved his critics wrong in his first season as a full-time starter. He would never live up to the promise he showed in the minor leagues, they said. Well, he's living up to it now.
Yoshihito "Ichiro" Taisho CF(95)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1901 Washington - AL 25 26 97 21 2 1 0 12 13 4 5 5 .216
1902 Washington - AL 26 95 353 91 9 4 1 38 43 16 34 19 .258
Taisho, though he's already 26 years of age, is still maturing as a player. He fields well enough to win multiple Gold Gloves if his bat can keep him in the lineup. He's also immensely popular in his native country of Japan, which would likely lead to the sale of many seats in our stadium if we allowed that sort of rabble to buy tickets.
Ilari D'Annunzio CF(55), LF(1)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 30 116 509 147 25 10 1 34 68 18 23 50 .289
1901 Washington - AL 31 114 425 90 15 4 2 59 55 38 35 37 .212
1902 Washington - AL 32 58 185 36 5 6 2 23 26 10 13 13 .195
It's official: D'Annunzio can no longer hit. He still has use as a defensive replacement and spare pair of legs.
Behellagh Pennefather RF(125)
Code:
Year Team/League Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
1900 Washington - AA 26 127 277 72 8 4 3 35 37 33 17 15 .260
1901 Washington - AL 27 56 205 49 8 4 3 25 34 29 15 8 .239
1902 Washington - ABA 28 130 471 126 19 3 9 38 65 68 12 30 .268
Pennefather as a starter looked a lot like he did as a backup. We just saw him a lot more.
Everybody Else
Code:
Player Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB AVG
Ben Hollar 34 11 35 10 0 0 0 4 4 1 1 0 .286 LF(9)
Brian Pendergest 28 26 75 11 3 0 0 11 13 11 8 12 .147 RF(18), LF(4)