[Eckstein 4 Prez]

I've decided to post some of the results from my baseball history league, which was started in 1871 using real players, real teams, real schedules and real parks. I've got free agency on, although at this point (September 1874) no one's put in enough time to get there. (However, I've had a number of teams disband, which has put players into the FA pool each year.) All players start their careers with their real teams.

Here's what I got for the 1871 season:

Cleveland Forest Citys 18-11
Chicago White Stockings 17-11
Philadelphia Athletics 17-11
New York Mutuals 19-14
Troy Haymakers 14-15
Fort Wayne Kekiongas 8-11
Boston Red Stockings 13-18
Washington Olympics 13-19
Rockford Forest Citys 8-17

Using the Win Shares system, my Most Valuable Hitter was third baseman Ezra Sutton of the Cleveland club, with 0 home runs, 21 runs batted in, a .402 batting average, 6 steals in 7 attempts, and a .955 OPS.

The Cartwright Award for best pitcher went to George Zettlein of the Chicago White Stockings, who went 17-11 with a 4.02 ERA. In 253 2/3 innings, he gave up 5 home runs, 344 hits and 27 walks, striking out 18 batters.

The overall Most Valuable Player was Zettlein, pitching all of Chicago's games and bringing them to within a half-game of the pennant.

The best players by position in 1871 were:

1B - Joe "Old Reliable" Start, New York Mutuals
2B - Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson, New York Mutuals
SS - Dickey Pearce, New York Mutuals (the game chose him as MVH, which is actually not a bad choice)
3B - Ezra Sutton, Cleveland Forest Citys
LF - Charlie Pabor, Cleveland Forest Citys
CF - Lip Pike, Troy Haymakers
RF - Al Reach, Philadelphia Athletics
C - Charlie Hodes, Chicago White Stockings

For the 1872 season, there were some changes to the league's alignment. New teams were added: the Middletown Mansfields, Brooklyn Atlantics, Brooklyn Eckfords, Baltimore Canaries and Washington Nationals. However, the league lost most of its western entries as Fort Wayne and Rockford disbanded due to lack of interest and Chicago due to the devastating fire that nearly destroyed the city in October 1871. The league in 1872 would be centered around New York City and the nation's capital, with six of the eleven teams hailing from one of the boroughs, Washington or Baltimore.