Quadruple Crown and "THE COMEBACK"

[Deft]

I just had to post this because it was so unprecedented and well it happened to my team. The Louisville Jockeys are one of the original franchises in the very successful ATHL (see hyperlink in signature). After having a commanding lead at the halfway point in 2001 the Jockeys folded in the second half and the Memphis Express took the division and their GM won the manager of the year. In 2002, the Jockeys surprised everyone by sneaking up to win 94 games and making a run in the playoffs to win the world series. The team then became a perennial contender by making the WS in 03 and losing in the Federal League championship in 2004. The centerpiece of their team is their first pick in 2001 centerfielder Darrin "The" Gross, quite possibly the best player in any OOTP league ever seen. Gross coming into 2005 had won 4 straight MVPs and broken .400 twice playing in the modern era.

The Jockeys had to rearrange their big league roster for financial reasons and felt they were still the class of the Federal League Central in 2005 but not that much better than the New Orleans Blues or their bitter rival, the Express. The Express jumped out to an awesome start in 2005 with a winning % hovering around .800 as late as June 1st. The Jockey however were struggling to stay over .500 and at one point fell 15 games out of first place. "The" was however playing out of his mind hitting well above .400 most of the first half of the season with a renewed power surge. After the Allstar break the Jockeys made a push and got within 6.5 games by September 4th. The Jockeys sensing a historic comeback prophesied that the last three games of the year with division leading Memphis coming into play at Gross Field will have playoff implications.

But the road back seemed too much to overcome and they lost 4 straight and slipped to 9 games back with 2 weeks to go and 10 games to play. Gross had also slumped and was trailing his personal rival, Memphis thirdbasemen Jim Curry in HRs and RBIs. What happened next was amazing.

The Jockeys all of a sudden caught fire and so did Gross. They won 6 straight and the Express started to flounder, the lead was down to 5.5 with 6 games to go and the Express were playing 100 game winner Omaha before coming to Louisville while the Jockeys had last place South Shores on their docket. Gross or his slick hitting running mate Carmen Raiford held the lead in every major statistical category except BB (Gross finished third with 109), 2B (Raiford finished 7th with 37), and 3B (Raiford finished 8th with 8) Either way the Jockeys had secured their playoff spot and their opponent was to be none other than the Memphis Express. Omaha finally figured out the Memphis pitching and swept them in 3 while the Jockeys handely swept South Shores. The Jockeys had made the series a match for the Federal League Central title and homefield. In game 1, rookie SP Charles Dashiell, hit a baseloaded double, his 5th of the year, to bring the Jockeys back from a 3 run early deficit and eventually won 5-4. In game 2, the Jockeys jumped out to big 11-3 lead after six and held on despite bad relief to win 16-10.

The teams were tied at 98-63 with one game to go. Louisville with playoff rotation on their minds held off on starting 23 game winner, Mike DePalma, and opted to go with 30 year old rookie Lewis Keyser. Memphis, sensing an urgent need to stem the swing of momentum ran out their best in 16 game winner Felix Arriaga. The game started ominously as Keyser retired the front side and Raiford hit a leadoff homer in the bottom. The momentum continued to roll as the Jockeys rocked Arriaga and Keyser held the Express to 1 run and won in a going away fashion, 11-1! They had done it. From 9 back with two weeks to go, the Jockeys won 12 straight and the Express lost 7 straight. Louisville won its fourth straight FL Central title. Raiford followed his homer with a single, a double, and a triple to hit for the cycle! Gross and Fausty "the Snowman" also homered for the Jockeys.

Gross's late season exploits had brought him back to the top of 11 categories including winning the Quadruple crown (avg,HR,RBI, and Runs)! His stats speak for themselves .378 avg (believe it or not this is also his career average), 52 HR, 143 RBI, 151 runs, 33 SB (down from 62 the year before), 109 walks, and a 1.196 OPS!

For all of their efforts culminating in the climax of winning the division title the only thing they accomplished was the opportunity to host Memphis for a best of 5 series to open the playoffs. Will Memphis get sweet revenge or will the Jockeys continue to roll? Time will tell...

Darrin Gross and Jim Curry

[drprestwood]

Out of control. See you in the World Series?

love,
Adrian Baker
Steven Mingo
Charles Pfarr
Edward Sedgwick
Richard Woods

[Fadilles]

the man is a machine... the best hitter I've seen in any league. He batted .400 2 of the last 5 seasons.. sick... esp when u add in 50 hr/season power and 30+ SB potential.... however...i see one small flaw in his game.... he has the worst nickname ever!!!!!

"THE" what kinda nickname is dat?? "the"???? for pete's sake give the man a cooler name

Dan

p.s. I was quite impressed w/ that league... emailed commish

[Deft]

It's Darrin "The" Gross. As in the possesive conjuction with Gross more commonly associated with tyrants or despots (eg the Terrible, the Impaler...). As in Darrin "The" Gross statistical anomaly or Darrin "The" Gross neglect to pitcher equal rights.

[Fadilles]

well yes i do understand what is means...though i wouldnt have known to call it a possessive conjunction...... the fact the word THE is in quotes is what throws it off....so yes i understand the connection to Vlad The Impaler etc..... still a weak nickname for a monster

[drprestwood]

I like the nickname. I think it is in his character. If you read the stories on the messageboard, Gross is a huge egotistical jerk. Probably as he should be. He is The. There is no other.

[Deft]

Darrin Gross
I thought I would update this thread as Darrin Gross is closing in on the ludicrous decade of MVPs. With 7 under his belt he is assured of an 8th as his OPS is .2 better than anyone else and his OBP is .109 better than second place. He's hitting .405 and is so good his .466 avg. in June with 8 HR and a 1.367 OPS wasn't good enough to win player of the month. He now sits at 1st in hits, average, RBI, and runs. He's second in walks, 4th in SB, and 6th in HR. At 32, he still has at least 6-8 more good years. With his contract expiring in 2 years, we'll see if he stays in Louisville and continue to play CF in Gross Field.

Michael DePalma
Maybe less dramatic but nonetheless impressive, Gross's teammate, Michael DePalma has a 3 straight Cy Young streak going too.

[Deft]

Gross added another Quadruple Crown but just slipping below .400 half way through the last week of the season. He finished first in HR, TB, Avg., OBP, OPS, BB, RBI, RC, RC/27 IP, and Runs as well as 7th in SB. Although his team lost in the WS, he moved one step closer to his dream of ten straight MVPs. Has anyone ever done that in any league solo or online?

As a side note, Michael DePalma took his 4th straight Cy Young barely edging Omaha SP, Chris Dewey.

[Dark Horse]

In the LBA we have Red Vedder who won the Rookie of the Year and then 7 straight Rick Blast (MVP) Awards and Matt Cruise who won five straight King of the Mound (Cy Young) Awards and six in seven years.

Fortunately, they're not on the same team.

[Cyclone792]

Originally Posted by Deft

Darrin Gross
I thought I would update this thread as Darrin Gross is closing in on the ludicrous decade of MVPs. With 7 under his belt he is assured of an 8th as his OPS is .2 better than anyone else and his OBP is .109 better than second place. He's hitting .405 and is so good his .466 avg. in June with 8 HR and a 1.367 OPS wasn't good enough to win player of the month. He now sits at 1st in hits, average, RBI, and runs. He's second in walks, 4th in SB, and 6th in HR. At 32, he still has at least 6-8 more good years. With his contract expiring in 2 years, we'll see if he stays in Louisville and continue to play CF in Gross Field.

I've got a fella by the name of Babe Ruth in The Ball Alive who'd give the Gross man a run for his money The league was born in 1919 so his pre 1919 stats are his real life stats, but from 1919-1925 he's won 7 straight MVPs (1926 opening day is tomorrow night).

http://stauderama.com/tba_wp/tbafiles/p178.html

That's his player link. In 1924 Ruth hit a ridiculous 114 home runs, twice has hit 70+ and one other season smacked 67 out of the park. His lifetime (including pre 1919 seasons) stats are .344/.465./783 which is good for a 1.249 OPS. I'm too lazy to figure out his exact OPS from 1919-1925, but the seven season average has been around 1.320. He already has 476 homers and he's only 31-years-old. It'll be interesting to see what his stats look like when he's finished.

[Jadetorc]

114 home-runs, in one year !?! Gaaaaaaayyyyyyy.

Someone needs to learn how to adjust the league totals ...

[Jeremy Weimer]

Red Vedder sucks, never speak of him again.

[Cuss16]

man, I would have loved to see this guy in the world cup of baseball that I ran a while ago.

July Madness - Game Under the Spotlight

[pat]

Are they (Gross and DePalma) related anyhow? Don't you see the resemblance?

[Deft]

That Ruth season was ridiculous but Gross what makes Gross special is he's an unadultered CPU generated player, not a historical player.

[Jeremy Weimer]

Deft, you didn't alter him did you?

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Weimer

Red Vedder sucks, never speak of him again.

Yeah, i'd like to banish him to the ATHL.

[Deft]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Weimer

Deft, you didn't alter him did you?

Nope, just his nickname and his bad attitude.

[Jeremy Weimer]

Alright, just checking.

[drprestwood]

Originally Posted by Cuss16

man, I would have loved to see this guy in the world cup of baseball that I ran a while ago.

July Madness - Game Under the Spotlight

Cuss,

We were going to submit a team, and then ran out of time. If you ever do it again, holla at the ATHL.