April 1, 1931
I think I'll make an updated list of the best players and prospects in the game into a regular preseason feature. Here's the list for 1931, with their rankings for 1930:
Code:
PLAYER TEAM AGE POS LY
1. Lou Gehrig PIT 28 1B 2
2. Al Simmons NYY 29 CF 1
3. Chuck Klein POR 26 RF 3
4. Wally Berger STL 25 LF 5
5. Cool Papa Bell SD 28 CF 6
6. Tony Lazzeri PIT 27 2B 11
7. Jimmie Foxx KC 23 1B 15
8. John Kinney PIT 37 LF 9
9. Jason Alexander WAS 33 SS 17
10. Jim Bottomley WAS 31 1B 13
11. Francisco Zavala LA 37 CF 18
12. Bob Fothergill WAS 33 CF 8
13. Mel Ott BKN 22 RF NR
14. Mark Chappell PIT 37 SS 4
15. Arnold Burns HOL 34 LF 16
16. Dale Alexander CIN 28 1B 10
17. Rick Mar BAL 35 CF 19
18. Charlie Gehringer WAS 28 2B 7
19. Buck Leonard NYY 23 1B NR
20. Mule Suttles WAS 30 LF NR
PITCHER TEAM AGE LY
1. Satchel Paige BOS 24 1
2. Jim Jessup CLE 34 2
3. Carl Hubbell HOL 27 4
4. Bernardo Piniella PHI 35 3
5. Lefty Grove SD 31 5
6. Ed Brandt BOS 26 11
7. Rob Browne BKN 32 8
8. Jesse Hester BOS 31 7
9. Mike Crawford BAL 34 6
10. Jonathon Vance SAC 33 9
11. Whit Wyatt SF 23 NR
12. Gordon Rhodes CHW 23 NR
13. Tommy Bridges PHI 24 NR
14. Colton Blanton SF 39 10
15. Paul Derringer KC 24 NR
16. Pat Caraway POR 25 13
17. Ray Brown CHW 23 NR
18. Eugene Wise CHW 35 12
19. Rafael Perez STL 34 14
20. Bill Foster KC 27 NR
And here are the game's ten best prospects:
Code:
PLAYER TEAM AGE POS
1. Josh Gibson POR 19 C
2. Buck Leonard NYY 23 1B
3. Dizzy Dean WAS 21 P
4. Willie Wells WAS 23 3B
5. Hank Greenberg MIL 20 1B
6. Arturo Reyes SAC 22 RF
7. Ray Brown CHW 23 P
8. Van Mungo MIL 20 P
9. Whit Wyatt CHW 23 P
10. Ernie Lombardi WAS 23 C
- Leonard, the reigning NL ROY, really isn't a "prospect" anymore; he's a bona fide major leaguer.
- Some teams were beginning to run short of players, so I generated some fictional guys to fill out the rosters. Most of them turned out to be "organizational guys," but a few, like Arturo Reyes, ended up being fairly good.