Overview
The resiliency of this Chicago Defenders team is overwhelming. Picked by many of the top white sportswriters to never be worth anything based on little more than the color of our skin, the Defenders did not just cream their US rivals (33-21 in 1920 against Cincinnati, New York, and the US Army), they proved they were the cream of the crop in the America/Asia league. In fact, we welcome the attempt by our in-country rivals to set up a new division that includes only teams based within our borders. It will just mean an automatic seed in the playoffs for us. At least until the other 3 teams figure out a way to exclude us again.
Look, we don't mean to sound arrogant. Jack Johnson has already proven that blacks can compete with whites on the athletic field; why would it be strange at all, then that the best athletes black America has to offer can outplay the best white athletes who weren't quite talented enough to join the Baseball Brigade?
Retirements
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None
Code:
97-65, .599 PCT 1st, - GB
Home 48-33, .593 PCT
Road 49-32, .605 PCT
X-inning games 6-5, .545 PCT
One-run games 21-21, .500 PCT
Versus LHP 22-13, .629 PCT
Versus RHP 75-52, .591 PCT
April 11-8, .579 PCT
May 14-16, .467 PCT
June 18-13, .581 PCT
July 23-7, .767 PCT
August 17-10, .630 PCT
September 14-11, .560 PCT
Batting Average .283 - 2nd in AA
On-Base Percentage .347 - 1st in AA
Slugging Percentage .392 - 1st in AA
Runs Scored 903 - 1st in AA
Hits 1626 - 2nd in AA
Extra-Base Hits 447 - 1st in AA
Home Runs 42 - 7th in AA
Bases-On-Balls 557 - 2nd in AA
Strikeouts 478 - 5th in AA
Stolen Bases 189 - 4th in AA
Earned Run Average 3.57 - 4th in AA
Runs allowed 728 - 5th in AA
Hits allowed 1576 - 5th in AA
Opponents AVG .274 - 5th in AA
Home Runs allowed 39 - 6th in AA
Bases-On-Balls 406 - 4th in AA
Strikeouts 489 - 6th in AA
Pitching
The pitching wasn't the greatest out there, but it was good enough to at least get the Defenders to the World Series. Once there, the Revolution provided a real learning experience for the rotation: namely, that you cannot let up, ever. It was a tough lesson, but we believe that the old adage that you cannot teach old dogs new tricks is just plain wrong. We hope so, at least. The only Chicago Defender under the age of 30 and projected to be in the rotation is Jon Carlton.
But enough about what can't be. Juan Zorros placed among the league leaders in fewest walks per 9 innings. Nobody on the Defenders pitched to contact better than he did. Daryl "Cats" Evans was the most overpowering man on the roster until the playoffs. Pedro Ruiz also contributed. Nate Frost played primarily because we couldn't find anybody better.
Projected Rotation
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Juan Zorros
Darryl Evans
Pedro Ruiz
Nate Frost*
John Carlton*
Larry Cameron (CL)
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
Juan Zorros 35 26 10 0.722 39 39 0 325.2 342 96 7 40 96 2.65
Nate Frost 33 13 15 0.464 37 37 0 254.2 291 128 8 109 55 4.52
Darryl Evans 32 19 10 0.655 31 31 0 252.1 268 84 3 46 146 3.00
Pedro Ruíz 31 15 9 0.625 30 30 0 228.1 244 84 2 76 29 3.31
Jon Carlton 25 8 3 0.727 23 11 1 125.1 123 48 9 41 64 3.45
Larry Cameron 28 6 9 0.4 34 7 7 98.1 123 47 2 34 41 4.30
Jeff Anderson 24 2 2 0.5 23 0 2 48 61 23 2 13 25 4.31
Mark Henson 27 1 4 0.2 7 7 0 39 50 27 3 17 15 6.23
Derrick May 30 2 2 0.5 9 0 1 30.1 31 16 1 12 5 4.75
Tomás Ortíz 21 5 1 0.833 15 0 0 30.1 29 12 0 12 8 3.56
Cliff Kelly 28 0 0 0 3 0 0 7 7 6 2 5 4 7.71
Isaac Sparks 22 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.2 7 2 0 1 1 2.70
Team Totals 28 97 65 0.599 253 162 11 1446 1576 573 39 406 489 3.57
Batting
The hitting was where the Defenders really showed their mettle. 900 runs scored is a... lot of runs. You have to go back to the 19th century to find an American baseball team that scored that much (and the French, but... oh, be quiet). The offense was so deep that the team actually traded middle-of-the-lineup man Edgar Diaz in midseason for youth. This happened right exactly before the team vaulted itself into contention and was bemoaned within the Windy City as a "white flag" trade. It didn't help that his supposed replacement, Vaughn Wolf, went down and out with a really nasty knee injury right after Diaz left. Happily, Randy Edwards did even better than Wolf and will give the Defenders a real dilemma for the 1920 season.
On the other hand, the infield needs some work. Edward Bowles was great but he's getting up there in years. Shortstop was a mess and everybody else was just adequate.
Projected Lineup
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C - Tim English*, Sam Burton*
1B - Jason Inches, George Allison**
2B - Edward Bowles
3B - Tim Johnson
SS - Alex Garcia, Arcibaldo Reynolds**
LF - Randy Edwards*, Vaughn Wolf*
CF - Bryan Young
RF - Paul Stewart
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
C Tim English 25 108 98 341 39 88 19 3 1 47 0 0 33 56 0.258 0.329 0.340
C Sam Burton 25 77 64 231 21 57 12 2 2 27 0 0 14 39 0.247 0.290 0.342
C Shawn Jackson 24 4 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
1B Jason Inches 29 162 162 678 141 192 44 12 5 67 77 36 73 53 0.283 0.364 0.406
1B George Allison 22 131 7 72 44 17 0 1 1 10 29 7 7 8 0.236 0.296 0.306
2B Edward Bowles 36 157 157 611 92 196 41 9 7 129 2 1 67 19 0.321 0.386 0.452
3B Tim Johnson 27 142 119 522 77 149 21 15 2 65 7 5 37 23 0.285 0.333 0.395
3B Bill House 30 101 68 250 18 55 9 3 1 34 1 0 22 29 0.220 0.278 0.292
SS Álex García 27 105 73 273 31 64 8 4 1 32 0 1 15 41 0.234 0.278 0.304
SS Arcibaldo Reynolds 32 62 62 218 22 51 7 1 2 22 2 1 15 18 0.234 0.281 0.303
SS Clifford Kowalski 20 8 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SS Bob Schmidt 21 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LF Edgar Díaz 35 77 71 301 49 105 14 7 2 56 2 2 14 8 0.349 0.38 0.462
LF *Randy Edwards 26 66 60 242 34 80 15 6 0 52 0 0 17 19 0.331 0.376 0.442
LF *Clarence Ruffin 30 103 3 106 22 31 7 1 0 13 4 1 8 5 0.292 0.345 0.377
LF Raúl Briviesca 23 34 7 39 11 12 2 2 0 6 5 2 2 3 0.308 0.357 0.462
CF Bryan Young 30 156 155 569 118 197 43 16 3 99 25 6 105 14 0.346 0.447 0.494
CF #Vaughn Wolf 22 86 42 192 40 56 15 4 3 23 34 11 27 20 0.292 0.377 0.458
RF *Paul Stewart 22 128 118 442 70 139 29 9 8 76 0 3 76 44 0.314 0.413 0.475
RF *Luis Morales 30 32 24 88 13 21 5 1 0 7 1 1 5 8 0.239 0.302 0.318
RF José Ramos 36 44 6 57 8 17 1 0 0 12 0 0 6 3 0.298 0.369 0.316
- Kevin Greene 22 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team Totals 27.4 2045 1458 5753 903 1626 304 101 42 818 189 77 557 478 0.283 0.347 0.392
Legend
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no stars - Starter for sure
* - On the bubble
** - Longshot to be on Opening Day roster
*** - The bad jazz a man plays carries on with him for an eternity.