Cincinnati Reds
It should be noted that these Reds won more game than the 1931 World Series champion Chicago Cubs. In the end, solidarity proved to be a strong weapon during this greatest of depressions, but it wasn't enough. The Reds started well enough but they really needed to be perfect to win in '32 and... they were not perfect. A 3-11 stretch in mid-May pretty much sealed the deal.
This offseason, manager Dave Elder was cruelly lured by Yankee riches and as such the Reds of Cincinnati were forced to look elsewhere for their new manager. The man they nabbed for the job, Bob Reed, was pulled from the unemployment lines. He last managed for the Philadelphia Athletics, where he did not do a great job. This will be his chance to prove himself, and if he does not he shall be the first against the wall.
Code:
Record overall 89-65, .578 PCT 2nd, 21.0 GB
Home 48-29, .623 PCT
Road 41-36, .532 PCT
X-inning games 5-6, .455 PCT
One-run games 16-15, .516 PCT
Versus LHP 27-16, .628 PCT
Versus RHP 62-49, .559 PCT
April 7-1, .875 PCT
May 12-15, .444 PCT
June 16-10, .615 PCT
July 14-14, .500 PCT
August 18-11, .621 PCT
September 13-12, .520 PCT
October 9-2, .818 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .308 - 2nd in NL
On-Base Percentage .378 - 1st in NL
Slugging Percentage .435 - 3rd in NL
On-Base + Slugging .813 - 3rd in NL
Runs Scored 974 - 2nd in NL
Hits 1743 - 2nd in NL
Extra-Base Hits 464 - 6th in NL
Home Runs 99 - 5th in NL
Bases-On-Balls 632 - 1st in NL
Strikeouts 310 - 1st in NL
Stolen Bases 39 - 5th in NL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 4.24 - 3rd in NL
Starters' ERA 4.12 - 2nd in NL
Bullpen ERA 5.00 - 6th in NL
Runs allowed 779 - 3rd in NL
Hits allowed 1637 - 6th in NL
Opponents AVG .292 - 6th in NL
BABIP .309 - 5th in NL
Home Runs allowed 94 - 2nd in NL
Bases-On-Balls 424 - 3rd in NL
Strikeouts 514 - 2nd in NL
Pitching
Had fortune smiled upon the Reds just a little bit more, Earl Crockett may have been named the Pitcher of the Year. As it was, he led the league in innings pitched, strikeouts, and quality starts, and finished 2nd in earned run average. He's a pitcher who has definitely turned the corner from above-average gamer to staff ace.
Outside of Sterling Weaver, who was really bad anyway, this was a very young pitching staff. That's a great sign for years to come. Also a great sign is their ability to blow away hitters: they turned the rare feat of striking out more men than they walked, finishing 2nd in the league-wide K race to do so.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Earl Crockett 28 27 12 0.692 40 40 0 330 335 115 18 67 161 3.14 104.4
Ted O'Toole 30 19 16 0.543 39 39 0 302.1 362 151 34 92 100 4.50 55.8
Lyndon Key 24 14 10 0.583 31 31 0 229.2 289 102 14 62 65 4.00 53.6
Ed Shoulders 29 9 14 0.391 34 25 1 212 275 114 13 81 76 4.84 32.1
Roman Loomis 26 5 3 0.625 12 12 0 87.2 119 49 2 21 30 5.03 11.7
Alan Marable 22 4 3 0.571 13 7 0 64 71 31 4 25 11 4.36 12.7
Morgan Cargile 20 2 4 0.333 28 0 3 46.2 58 27 1 34 29 5.21 5.4
Sterling Weaver 36 4 1 0.800 25 0 6 38.2 55 32 6 13 18 7.45 -4.1
Bill James 26 2 2 0.500 28 0 1 35.2 46 18 1 20 15 4.54 6.4
Mike Harris 21 2 0 1.000 8 0 1 14.2 13 2 0 4 5 1.23 7.4
Martin Sheets 36 1 0 1.000 8 0 0 10.2 14 5 1 5 4 4.22 2.1
Team Totals 27.1 89 65 0.578 266 154 12 1372 1637 646 94 424 514 4.24 287.6
Catcher/First Base
Ed Townsley took a couple steps forward and a couple back in his second full season in the majors. On the plus side, he added a new level of power and proved that he could handle the catching duties over the second half of the season. That's good news for the Reds, given that they were making do with playing him part-time in left field the last two years. On the downside, his average took a bit of a hit and he still can't take a pitch to save his life. Fortunately for him, John Lamar wasn't able to repeat a solid 1930-31 run and the position is the youngster's to lose.
Despite only hitting 9 homeruns last year, Bob Leonhardt might be the best pure hitter in the game. All he does is rake. A true student of the game, his 239 hits in 1932 were the most ever by a National Leaguer not named Jay Calvin. And now that he can consider Calvin a teammate, one can only imagine the conversations the two have in the locker room. It must be a regular baseball Algonquin table.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C Ed Townsley 24 100 87 378 52 105 27 3 11 65 0 0 12 25 0.278 0.298 0.452 0.751 0.6
C John Lamar 34 87 84 261 35 70 12 0 2 31 0 0 47 22 0.268 0.386 0.337 0.723 -0.2
C Jim Bartlett 32 52 22 85 14 26 2 0 4 12 0 0 15 4 0.306 0.404 0.471 0.874 5.3
1B *Bob Leonhardt 30 149 149 633 102 239 33 4 9 124 1 0 62 49 0.378 0.434 0.485 0.919 47.6
Infield
The Reds quietly put together the two best hitters in the game and put them on the corners. Jay Calvin was looking all but washed up when the Reds traded for him in June. His 1931 year was an off-year by his standards; he "only" had 189 hits and his RBI total of 57 was the smallest since his rookie season. So when he came out of the gate cold, it felt to Brooklyn like it was time to cash in on the guy. All he did afterwards was hit .417 while mostly batting 5th in the Reds' order with peripheral numbers that wound up making 1932 look like just another trip to the salt mines for the Manhattan native.
Bill Heath and Augusto Gonzalez both did a superb job up the middle. Neither player is going to get confused with a Gold Glover any time soon but when you hit the way these men do that's not always necessary. They fielded good enough. Heath in particular did well to rebound from a tough 1931 in which he missed most of the year with a broken ankle. He's not the high-average hitter he once was but he still has a keen eye and can knock one into the gap when a pitcher makes a mistake.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B #Bill Heath 29 116 114 468 119 133 28 9 4 45 5 11 93 19 0.284 0.402 0.408 0.810 24.5
2B #Keith Jones 28 55 26 138 17 37 3 2 4 19 0 1 15 8 0.268 0.348 0.406 0.754 4.4
2B #Elmer Copple 22 14 14 67 16 27 4 0 0 8 1 0 2 2 0.403 0.437 0.463 0.899 6.9
3B *Jay Calvin 30 87 87 379 87 158 29 4 1 64 5 7 45 12 0.417 0.477 0.522 0.999 50.1
3B Benjamin Gray 24 49 42 172 20 44 6 4 2 27 0 0 11 15 0.256 0.299 0.372 0.671 -4.4
3B Dean Backman 26 14 14 62 8 23 1 1 1 8 0 0 4 4 0.371 0.409 0.468 0.877 4.8
3B Yoichibei Yamada 23 15 12 45 4 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 0.111 0.149 0.178 0.327 -8.5
3B Johnston Walker 20 3 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.667 0.0
SS #Augusto González 32 153 153 575 107 174 37 3 13 91 5 2 120 11 0.303 0.423 0.445 0.868 34.2
Outfield
How does a player from an 89 victory team win the Most Valuable Player Award away from a team that won 110? By playing in every game, for one. For two, playing near-Gold Glove quality defense in right field. And oh yeah, how about setting a major league record for 151 RBIs? Our statistical nuts are tossing around a statistic called "OPS", which is basically just on-base percentage added to slugging. Box had the second highest OPS of the year and of all time to the Phillies' Charles Payne, and since the Reds do not play in the bandbox known as the Baker Bowl, one has to consider that Box had the better year. Does that mean he had the best season of all time?
The other outfield positions were not real plusses. In fact, one thing Cincy could do to get themselves up to the level of the Giants is to upgrade left and center field. Last year's CF Dwayne McNeil hit for an okay average, we guess, but that was about it. He got hurt in June and when he was ready to play again in August he said something about free markets to the front office and was promptly released. In the meantime the Reds acquired Victor Ward from the hapless St. Louis Browns. Look, we believe in "to each according to his need" as much as anybody else - more than anybody else, actually, but this team needed Ward badly. Left was kind of a mess, but Gustavo Castro's performance in late September appears to herald his arrival as a big league player.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF Brian James 21 82 80 365 45 112 18 4 8 71 2 0 10 15 0.307 0.330 0.444 0.774 -0.9
LF *Gustavo Castro 22 11 10 40 10 18 4 0 3 13 0 2 4 1 0.450 0.489 0.775 1.264 9.2
CF Victor Ward 30 60 60 247 50 83 17 2 6 65 2 5 25 11 0.336 0.393 0.494 0.887 13.3
CF Dwayne McNeil 29 53 52 224 33 61 6 2 1 32 3 2 12 10 0.272 0.314 0.330 0.644 -11.8
CF *Bill Briggs 27 48 34 153 23 42 6 1 0 22 1 2 15 13 0.275 0.339 0.327 0.666 -5.9
CF *John Buehler 26 44 22 114 13 31 4 0 1 12 0 0 6 13 0.272 0.306 0.333 0.639 -5.5
CF Columbus Glaze 31 35 10 60 9 16 2 0 0 4 4 0 7 5 0.267 0.338 0.300 0.638 -2.2
CF George Glasser 22 24 6 47 8 16 2 0 0 11 0 1 2 2 0.340 0.346 0.383 0.729 -0.1
CF Barry Davis 24 6 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -1.4
RF *Brad Box 27 154 154 612 138 224 41 10 28 151 8 7 111 13 0.366 0.459 0.603 1.062 92.0
Code:
- *Steve Skeen 38 15 0 14 2 5 2 0 0 4 1 0 0 1 0.357 0.333 0.500 0.833 1.1
- *Cliff Shoemake 25 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -0.6
Team Totals 27.1 1694 1386 5650 974 1743 311 54 99 929 39 41 632 310 0.308 0.378 0.435 0.813 263.0