January 1, 1934
It's time for the annual Best Player, Best Pitcher, and Best Prospect lists. First, the 20 best position players in the major leagues, as the 1934 season draws near:
Code:
PLAYER TEAM AGE POS LW AVG HR RBI
1 Buck Leonard NYY 26 1B 6 .375 40 120
2 Lou Gehrig PIT 30 1B 1 .285 37 126
3 Chuck Klein POR 29 RF 2 .333 39 115
4 Al Simmons NYY 31 CF 3 .311 20 112
5 Jimmie Foxx KC 26 1B 4 .297 38 101
6 Cool Papa Bell SD 30 CF 14 .345 2 68
7 Earl Averill STL 31 CF NR .344 15 66
8 Jim Bottomley WAS 34 1B 11 .317 25 103
9 Charlie Gehringer WAS 30 2B 5 .319 14 86
10 Arky Vaughan CHW 22 SS 16 .333 10 89
11 Buzz Boyle BOS 26 LF 13 .304 11 66
12 Wally Berger STL 28 LF 10 .290 19 101
13 Mule Suttles WAS 33 LF 9 .291 36 125
14 Bob Fothergill WAS 36 RF 7 .335 4 76
15 Ken Rich CLE 42 LF NR .376 1 73
16 Willie Wells WAS 25 SS NR .311 10 85
17 Josh Gibson POR 22 C NR .271 5 53
18 Chris Clark POR 34 3B NR .327 2 84
19 Tony Lazzeri PIT 30 2B NR .265 15 89
20 Paul Waner DET 31 RF NR .333 7 57
There's
Josh Gibson, making what should be the first of many appearances on this list.
And here are the pitchers:
Code:
PITCHER TEAM AGE LY W-L ERA K
1 Satchel Paige BOS 27 1 16-13 2.35 188
2 Tommy Bridges PHI 27 2 18-10 2.27 192
3 Jesse Hester CHC 34 5 17-12 3.55 58
4 Carl Hubbell HOL 30 4 17-17 3.01 156
5 Ray Brown CHW 26 6 21-11 2.28 170
6 Bill Swift NYY 25 9 22-13 2.61 100
7 Whit Wyatt SF 26 13 16-9 2.37 91
8 Jim Jessup CLE 37 3 16-14 3.56 103
9 Mike Crawford BAL 37 8 23-7 2.41 120
10 Ed Brandt BOS 29 10 18-8 2.89 159
11 Jonathon Vance SAC 36 7 12-15 2.97 42
12 Ricardo Morales SEA 27 14 13-17 3.98 119
13 Paul Baker POR 26 NR 7-12 4.13 62
14 Grady Price CHC 28 NR 3-3 3.70 40
15 Ad Liska OAK 27 19 18-9 2.23 104
16 Dizzy Dean WAS 24 NR 13-14 3.76 109
17 Eugene Wise CHW 37 11 17-11 2.69 93
18 Pat Caraway POR 28 16 18-12 2.91 140
19 Gabriel de Klerk POR 24 NR 14-10 3.48 70
20 Tex Carleton HOL 27 18 15-16 3.20 152
This list is an interesting mix of pitchers who have been productive for a while and guys who, quite frankly, don't yet have the body of work to support their rankings. I suppose we'll find out if
Baker and
Price, and to some extent,
Dean and
de Klerk, are really among the best 20 pitchers in the majors.
And, finally, the ten best prospects:
Code:
PROSPECT TEAM AGE POS
1 Harlond Clift DET 21 3B
2 Bob McBryde WAS 21 C
3 Ray Dandridge POR 20 3B
4 Rudy York NYY 20 C
5 Jack Sutherland WAS 20 P
6 Jose Sanchez CLE 25 CF
7 Whitey Wilshere PHI 21 P
8 Augie Galan CLE 22 LF
9 Slick Castleman BOS 20 P
10 Hal Trosky CHC 21 1B
McBryde, Sutherland, and
Sanchez are fictional players. I suppose until the "real" major leagues expands to 24 teams in 1969, we'll have some fictional guys playing roles in our story. I actually think that's fun, and I hope you do too.
And, yes, I'm planning to keep this dynasty running as far as I can go...
