Thriftlon Reports - Page 8

Syd Thrift · 09-22-2007, 02:06 PM

Overview: In an attempt to create a new Cleveland tradition, the Blues have become the first team to have an official cartoon mascot: Chief Wahoo, the blues-singing Indian. He likes the blues so much, he cannot stop grinning even though the blues are supposed to be sad! We hope that the on-paper presence of Chief Wahoo will make fans forget the horrible legacy of baseball in this city. They still aren't going to games but we are confident that just one winning season - just one! - will cause them to find their love for the game. Will this happen in 1903? Let's not go too crazy. But it should happen by the end of the decade. Unless the team is attacked by bees, which is not unlikely given the history of baseball in this town.

Pitching

Berto Sarrie

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Louisville - AA	23 54 12 15 233.1 219 107  69  7  64  77 17  2	2.66
1901 Louisville - AL	24 30 15 14 272.2 217 106  58  4  54 112 27  2	1.91
1902 Cleveland - AL	25 35 14 21 280.1 312 162 121  5  87  82 29  2	3.88

Sarrie was supposed to be the ace of this staff for the next decade. He was the key component of the trade that sent 1B Rick Harpham to the Colonels last offseason, but it just didn't work out. He was moved to the brand new New York ball club in exchange for P Sean Nickerson and CF Lynch Passager, who threatened to jump back to the National League if they had to play in the Big Apple again. Strangely, the other part of the Harpham trade, P Harry Herapeth, was also moved in the recent deal. We fully expect Sarrie to become a superstar with his new club.

Bill Hawkins

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Baltimore - AA	33 42  5  4  69.0  61  23  19  0  24  39  0  0	2.48
1901 Baltimore - AL	34 10  2  1  22.0  20  15  14  0   7  12  0  0	5.73
1901 Cleveland - AL	34  4  4  0  33.0  29  12  10  1   6  26  3  0	2.73
1901 Total - AL		34 14  6  1  55.0  49  27  24  1  13  38  3  0	3.93
1902 Cleveland - AL	35 36 14 19 254.2 283 141  81  1 105 142 21  1	2.86

Hawkins was a fantastic free-agent pickup by the Blues in '01. The former relief ace for the Orioles was jettisoned after a poor start the season before but gave Cleveland baseball fans a glimpse of what they might expect with 4 blazing starts. He didn't win every game for Cleveland in 1902, but an 18-19 career record for a team this, shall we say, less than superb is not a bad showing at all.

Harry Herapeth

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Louisville - AA	26 54  8  6 151.2 156  76  63  4  53  38  0  0	3.74
1901 Louisville - AL	27 21  3  5  82.1  87  45  31  4  34  20  4  0	3.39
1902 Cleveland - ABA	28 32 10  8 209.1 210 113  70  9  83  50 15  0	3.01

Now with his 5th major league team thanks to the Berto Sarrie trade, Herapeth just can't get started. He looks so fantastic in pre-game warmups, but that masks his true deficiency: this man simply does not have the stamina needed to consistently finish games that he starts. As such, his 10 victories last year tied the 2nd highest total of his career. Now the New York Highlanders will try and harness this tantalizing talent. And they will, be sure of that.

Kathel Semon

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1902 Cleveland - AL	20 21  6 15 165.1 227 117  89  4  74  32 16  0	4.84

Semon didn't particularly light up the minors before the Blues brought him up, but what the heck. With a team this bad, a manager may as well watch his prospects mature up close. He actually had a pretty decent first month in the majors (3-5 with a 3.38 ERA), but it was all downhill from there (3-10, 5.77 to the end of the season).

Auliffe Oulton

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Baltimore - AA	23 47 20 20 341.1 350 158 112 15  73  91  8  2	2.95
1901 Baltimore - AL	24 16  6  7 123.2 134  60  45  3  21  46 11  0	3.27
1901 Cleveland - AL	24 10  3  7  80.2 107  56  40  2  31  26  8  0	4.46
1901 Total - AL		24 26  9 14 204.1 241 116  85  5  52  72 19  0	3.74
1902 Cleveland - AL	25 28  3 11 152.2 204 114  84  7  57  37 12  0	4.95

Oulton looked like a decent enough prospect with the old Baltimore Orioles but since coming to Cleveland in the Bill Copeland trade he's been nothing short of awful. He's still young but his problems don't seem to be the kind that will go away with age: he needs to add about a foot to his fastball and a couple inches of movement to his curve.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Brian Gilbert		23  7  1  6  56.0  75	   36  2  29  15	5.79
Dave Jaynes		30  3  0  1  11.0  10	    4  0   3   5	3.27
Bobby Ralph		32  2  1  0   3.0   5	    2  0   1   0	6.00
John Thurmond		27  5  1  4  45.0  60      34  1  22  12	6.80
Kevin Trimbey		31  6  4  1  56.2  57	   22  1  10   6	3.49

Catcher and First Base

Chad Werrett C(66)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Baltimore - AA	25 117 171  44	9  2  0	 22  23	 13  15	  4 .257
1901 Baltimore - AL	26  23	53  17	3  1  1	 15   2	 12   3	  0 .321
1901 Cleveland - AL	26  35 127  34 10  3  1	 11  18	  5  12	  0 .268
1901 Total - AL		26  58 180  51 13  4  2	 26  20	 17  15	  0 .283
1902 Cleveland - AL	27  66 227  60 15  3  0	 30  25	 16  15	  0 .264

The second third of the Bill Copeland trade, Werrett was solid but unspectacular at the backstop. He is reportedly not all that happy to be in Cleveland, but his lack of relative talent may preclude the team from moving him any time soon. Congratulations, Chad! Everybody else in the Forest City is sad as well! You'll continue to blend right in.

John Coleman C(61), CF(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Cleveland - AL	22  43 135  35 10  1  1	 18  14	 10  14	  0 .259
1902 Cleveland - AL	23  63 211  53 15  1  0	 20  24	 14  21	  0 .251

Coleman earned a spot in the majors by batting .287 and .298 in the minors from 1899-1900. The way he's played, he could probably use some more time somewhere other than the American League, but the Blues prefer to get their fans acclimated to the players who one day might take this squad into storied mediocrity.

Nivens "Quack" O'Mulvaney 1B(63), LF(7)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Chicago - NL	35 133 528 151 16  8  5	102  83	 64  56	 31 .286
1901 Cleveland - AL	36 103 348  86 13  6  3	 35  61	 39  48	 19 .247
1902 Cleveland - AL	37  92 276  58	6  1  3	 40  40	 31  31	  8 .210

It's probably about time that "Quack" calls it a career. He's been a fixture at left field and first base for the Blues over the past couple of years due to his ability to draw fans, but at some point one has to look to the effect a bad offensive player has to the wins and losses, which also influence attendance. For Cleveland, that point came midway through last season. O'Mulvaney is still on the roster as of this writing as a pinch hitter.

Werner "Charlie Chan" Oland 1B(34), 2B(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Cleveland - AL	25   8	27   7	0  0  0	  1   1	  1   3	  0 .259
1902 Cleveland - AL	26  44 140  28	2  0  1	 10  16	  9  15	  0 .200

Oland got his first chance to show what he could do, and he just didn't look comfortable at the plate. Actually, he looked somewhat more comfortable imitating Chinese people, which got him in trouble with teammate Ning Zhang and eventually kicked off the team.

Bill Young 1B(33)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	33  64	48  15	3  2  1	  7   9	  7   1	  0 .313
1901 Washington - AL	34  44 159  42	8  0  3	 32  22	 15   8	  0 .264
1902 Washington - AL	35  29	26   9	2  1  0	  9   6	  3   4	  1 .346
1902 Cleveland - AL	35  36 135  33	5  0  0	 10  19	 10  13	  2 .244
1902 Total - ABA	35  65 161  42	7  1  0	 19  25	 13  17	  3 .261

Bill Young was the Blues' final candidate for the first base job. They picked him up from the Louisville Colonels for 2B Rowan Dillon, who was rumored to be in discussions with the Cincinnati Reds in a potential "kangaroo" action. The American League could not afford to lose anybody to the senior circuit so the Blues moved him for this former starter with the Washington Nationals who has been hitting mostly in the pinch the last couple years.

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Ernest Ka'ai		19   4  14   2	0  0  0	1     0	  0   0	  0 .143 C(4)	
Charles Goddard		21  13	46  10	0  2  0	8     1	  0   0	  2 .217 1B(11), 2B(2)

[b]Infield[b]

Ning Zhang 2B(83), 3B(51)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Philadelphia - NL	28  73 310 101	9  1  3	 34  49	 12  21	 24 .326
1901 Philadelphia - NL	29   9	34  12	1  0  1	  4   9	  4   2	  2 .353
1901 Philadelphia - AL	29   8	29   7	1  0  0	  2   5	  1   2	  1 .241
1901 Total - ABA	29  17	63  19	2  0  1	  6  14	  5   4	  3 .302
1902 Cleveland - AL	30 134 570 148 17  4  0	 37  73	 31  58	 29 .260

What was the Philadelphia Athletics' loss turned out to be the Blues' gain. After the Philadelphia AL entrant lost a lawsuit filed by the Phillies, it appeared that Zhang and Kevin MacKeochan were going to have to go back to the National League. Not so fast! The suit filed only to the state of Philadelphia and the American League quickly got around the issue by re-assigning Zhang and MacKeochan to Cleveland. The Phillies dropped the suit shortly thereafter, after it became clear that the team was unwilling to actually pay the salaries of these two players.

Rowan Dillon 3B(85)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Cleveland - AL	25  85 336  92 22  5  4	 51  33	  6  37	  2 .274

Yes, Dillon needs to walk more and strike out less. He's still quite a pickup considering the Indians snatched him out of free agency after he spent six fruitless seasons in the Reds and Phillies organizations. He showed nice average, power, and a solid glove at the third base position.

George "Krazy Kat" Herriman SS(91)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Cleveland - AL	23   7	25   7	1  0  0	  4   1	  0   6	  1 .280
1902 Cleveland - AL	24  93 324  95	6  1  1	 40  38	 10  28	  4 .293

Herriman, a talented artist who specializes in what the youngsters call "cartoons", also showed a fair bit of promise in his rookie campaign. If he can improve his power, watch out... if you are the pitcher, because he will likely hit a lot of hard comebackers that will bounce past you for a base hit.

John Parris SS(46), 2B(3), 3B(3)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cleveland - AA	26 113 322  77 14  5  2	 35  31	 32  12	  1 .239
1901 Cleveland - AL	27  71 242  59 10  2  2	 27  19	 13  20	  1 .244
1902 Cleveland - AL	28  52 168  33 10  1  2	 18  15	  4   9	  0 .196

Parris was one of those guys rescued from the old Spiders to give the club some of that "local flavor". Which raises the question: why would you want fans to *remember* the Spiders? He was pretty awful last year, awful enough that maybe he won't play for Cleveland anymore.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Rowan Dillon		27  45 179  55	9  3  2	 23  35	 16   3	 22 .307 2B(45), SS(1)
German Queiruga		38  14	37   4	1  0  0	  4   4	  0   0	  5 .108 2B(9), 3B(2)
Igor Stravinsky		21  12  47   8	0  0  0	  1   1	  0   0	  0 .170 SS(12)

Outfield

Kevin MacKeochan LF(130), SS(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Philadelphia - NL	35 136 526 178 23  3  1	 60  91	 75  13	 19 .338
1901 Philadelphia - AL	36  12	49  21	5  0  0	  8   7	  3   2	  1 .429
1902 Cleveland - AL	37 130 492 143 16  2  2	 48  77	 66  31	 10 .291

MacKeochan, as mentioned, came along with Ning Zhang in the lawsuit. It figures that the only way the Blues get good players is by another team suing for them. Anyway, MacKeochan made the transition from second base into left field and put up a decent season that may not be anything like his years in Philly (of course not!) but was still the best performance of any Blues player.

Nealon Bryson CF(69)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Cleveland - AL	36   9	32  13	2  2  0	  3   7	  5   2	  3 .406
1902 Cleveland - AL	37  75 265  62 11  2  1	 26  31	 23  13	 27 .234

Yes, the Blues employed a 37 year old rookie for half the season in center field. No, we don't want to talk about it.

Kevin Bright CF(49)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Cleveland - AL	29  31 109  20	2  1  1	 16   6	  7  13	  0 .183
1902 Cleveland - AL	30  49 192  52	8  0  2	 13  18	  7  13	  2 .271

Okay, prattle on if you will about the folly of playing Bryson so much. It's not like they were taking valuable playing time away from this man. He did hit a lot better when given the chance, but what's the best case scenario there? The team finishes 6th instead of 7th? Even that's unlikely.

Jim Shears RF(81), CF(20)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Boston - NL	25  31	42   8	1  0  0	  5   5	  3   4	  1 .190
1901 Cleveland - AL	26 109 424 118 20 14  0	 36  70	 33  34	 10 .278
1902 Cleveland - AL	27 102 416 103 17  6  0	 51  49	 16  41	  6 .248

When he played the position, Shears was the rangiest CF the team used. Of course, he was also a poor hitter last year after an encouraging 1901, and playing him in center generally meant the team was using Valentin Lochilosurdo in right (granted, that doesn't then excuse them from using Shears in RF but these are the Blues we are speaking of).

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Bip Campbell		28  34	64  19	1  0  1	  5   6	  2   3	  3 .297 CF(5), LF(4), RF(3)	
Ken Collen		29  12	46  15	0  1  3	  9   7	  0   0	  4 .326 RF(12)
Valentin LoschiLosurdo	34  49 184  37	6  0  0	  5  18	  1   0	 12 .201 RF(44)

Syd Thrift · 09-23-2007, 12:19 AM

Overview: We admit it. We really don't know what we are doing. Two consecutive last place finishes probably caused you all to guess this anyway, but we wanted to state it for the record. Detroit seems to be a nice enough place and should turn into a nice baseball town once we figure all this out. One encouraging point, we think, is that everything was bad last year. That means that no one person will have the finger pointed at them. We do so hate confrontation.

Pitching

Chris "The Birmingham Bunter" Langdon

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Brooklyn - NL	23 35  3  3  74.1  86  41  30  2  21  14  0  0	3.63
1901 Detroit - AL	24 20  2  6  78.1  94  59  42  3  26  25  4  1	4.83
1902 Detroit - AL	25 35 14 16 237.0 253 138  95  6  59  39 19  0	3.61

One thing that we have found has worked for us is to get people who live nearby. We are considering trying out our grounds crew in spring training. Boy, can those guys shovel! Chris Langdon is from nearby Birmingham, Michigan. This was his first season in which he got the chance to start in more than seven games. It was good, and we can only expect better things as he gets used to the role.

Dempsey Quarell

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Detroit - AL	33  3  0  3  24.0  20  12  11  1   9   7  2  0	4.13
1902 Detroit - AL	34 30  5 18 209.1 265 169  98  5  78  53 17  0	4.21

Quarell had an absolutely insane 1901 season in the minors. We have him recording more than 70 games started and a 26-21 record. Apparently his manager had the idea of putting him out on the mound for 5 innings every single day. We tried a more sane approach with him last year... and it appears that the insanity was the way to go with this man.

Brad Leach

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Brooklyn - NL	29 48  5  3  95.0 120  51  39  1  33  26  0  0	3.69
1901 Brooklyn - NL	30 14  1  3  36.2  49  26  21  2   9  18  0  0	5.15
1902 Detroit - AL	31 26 11  9 180.2 181  91  61  1  50  46 13  0	3.04

We bet the Superbas are really kicking themselves now that we figured out that Brad Leach is a perfectly decent starting pitcher. The White Stockings too, for that matter; they held his rights before releasing him at the end of spring training. Leach may not be the youngest player in the world, but his status as a long-time reliever means he has never been used much and as such should be a staple of this rotation for years to come.

Newton MacDaid

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Detroit - AL	31 31  9 15 207.2 261 156  98  4  61  64 16  1	4.25
1902 Detroit - AL	32 24  7 15 179.1 240 131  89  2  58  46 16  2	4.47

We aren't entirely sure why this man pitched in 55 games for us over the years. It might have, ah, had something to do with a certain notion that the Irish are natural born pitchers, what with their propensity to tilt back the ale giving them extra wrist strength. We never said it was a sound theory.

Reardon "Chuckles" O'Mullany

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Cleveland - AA	23 52  3  4  95.0 119  67  44  3  45  25  0  0	4.17
1901 Detroit - AL	24 16  7  7 116.1 128  63  38  2  41  40 10  0	2.94
1902 Detroit - AL	25 17  7  9 143.2 143  60  45  3  37  59 13  0	2.82

It's good to see a man who is able to laugh. On a team such as this, it helps him to get through the good times as well as the bad. We are never really sure what he's talking about. Frankly, we think he's either one of those introspective types or touched in the head. We suppose he could be both.

Gar "Doctor Detroit" Wood

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Cleveland - AA	17 20  0  8  62.2  90  71  44  5  56  21  0  0	6.32
1901 Detroit - AL	18 34  9 18 238.1 250 155 109  4 115 109 20  0	4.12
1902 Detroit - AL	19 29  1 10 136.1 143  86  58  1  59  43  9  0	3.83

We cannot wait until this man truly learns how to pitch. He got sent down last year after a 1-7 beginning to the season, but got called back up to mop up and make the occasional spot start. He just turned 20 in December - we think that just being able to pitch at his age is something.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Dennis Culler		31 16  6  0  70.0  61	   19  2  17  16	2.44	
Brian Mellen		37 10  2  7  79.0 103	   38  0  40  18	4.33
Fiachra Rat		23  3  0  3  21.1  26	    7  0   9   6	2.95
Ken Wilson		25  1  0  0   2.1   3	    2  1   1   0	7.72

Catcher and First Base

Earl McAllen C(91)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Detroit - AL	34  90 320  81	3  2  0	 38  26	 13  33	  1 .253
1902 Detroit - AL	35  94 317  71	6  1  0	 31  29	 15  42	  0 .224

Prior to 1901, Earl McAllen had never played in the major leagues. Even in the minors, he was a backup catcher. Let's chalk this one up to beginner's mistakes and move forward, shall we?

George O'Kyan C(51)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Detroit - AL	28  47 152  34	2  2  0	 10  14	  6  20	  0 .224
1902 Detroit - AL	29  53 166  31	2  0  0	 17  10	  7  16	  0 .187

Look, our catchers show just as much grit and determination as anybody else's catchers. Is it their fault they can't hit, run, or throw? No. Next question.

Farquhar "The Gay Slapper" Kifford 1B(140)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Detroit - AL	25  82 263  77 13  4  1	 32  29	 27  16	  0 .293
1902 Detroit - AL	26 140 542 144 25  6  3	 75  75	 56  39	  2 .266

The Gay Slapper played in every inning of every game for the Tigers and looked visibly fatigued as the year went on. He posted averages of .253 and .211 in August and September. We found this strange because we had always heard that gay men have vast, unheard of quantities of stamina, owing from the lack of stress that their laugh-filled lifestyle gives them.[It's a good thing "gay" doesn't mean something else other than happy because we'd have a lawsuit on our hands! Woo boy! - ed][Why did I add the last entry? I'm not asking you to edit anything, after all. Note to the printer: please delete both of these annotations. - ed]

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Tim McCleave		25   8  33   7	2  0  0	  3   2	  0   0	  0 .212 C(8)

Infield

Hegarty Babbage 2B(115)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Detroit - AL	28  21	78  20	3  2  0	  8   3	  6  10	  0 .256
1902 Detroit - AL	29 115 464 112 15  3  3	 48  54	 27  29	  7 .241

There sure are a lot of Irishmen on this team. We just now noticed that because we are so color-blind. We don't mind, really. We like the Irish just as much as the next guy, provided the next guy also doesn't want them buying property in our neighborhood. It's just... why do they all have to be this bad?

Brodie "The Dive" Swan 3B(122)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Detroit - AL	22 108 414 116 23 10  3	 53  57	 39  38	  1 .280
1902 Detroit - AL	23 124 485  98 22  4  2	 41  53	 41  32	  1 .202

Okay, we admit it. We gave Brodie Swan the nickname because of his last name. That being said, it's not our fault he chose to fulfill it by composing a season-long Swan Lake style descent. There's no good point to bring out of this. He was bad in the beginning, middle, and end of the season. We're going to give him one more chance but that's it.

Max Fitzgerald 3B(19), 2B(16), SS(2)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Detroit - AL	29  44 150  32	3  3  0	  8  13	  4  19	  2 .213
1902 Detroit - AL	30  58 171  43	5  3  0	 21  20	  6  11	  6 .251

One of the best things Brodie Swan has going for him is that this is the guy pushing him. Pushing may be too strong of a word. Gently caressing his back, perhaps?

Montrell "Sandman" Liotta SS(78)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	25 107 340  94 14  8  1	 33  46	 11  36	 25 .276
1901 New York - NL	26 107 429 103 10  6  0	 45  54	 16  49	 31 .240
1902 Baltimore - AL	27   7	21   4	0  0  0	  1   4	  2   3	  3 .190
1902 Detroit - AL	27  78 278  73	5  5  1	 21  30	  7  27	 26 .263
1902 Total - AL		27  85 299  77	5  5  1	 22  34	  9  30	 29 .258

We believe that even when we're scouting out people on the waiver wire that they should have a good, interesting nickname. Nicknames denote character. Also, you don't give nicknames out to utility scrubs, do you? No. We envision a man who has ensorceled the Dream World to do his bidding, giving him the ability to make pitchers nap and then club singles and stolen bases off of them. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but such are the nature of dreams.

Kenyon "Christmas" Merrilees SS(45), 3B(1), 2B(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Detroit - AL	27  51 184  43	9  1  1	 17  21	  5  19	  1 .234
1902 Detroit - AL	28  50 115  26	5  3  0	 16  10	  7  11	  0 .226

You would think that "Christmas" Merrilees would violate our Nickname Rule, except that we were the ones who gave him the nickname and we do not know talent. He has, it should be said, done a passable job as a backup shortstop over the last two years.

Phil MacConnechy SS(35)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Detroit - AL	34  36 117  26	4  1  0	 15  11	  2  13   0 .222

Okay, so we admit that giving this man 117 at-bats was not the wisest of choices. In addition to the offensive numbers you see, he also might have committed almost twice as many errors as double plays for an .887 fielding average that could have been 28 points below the worst qualifying mark in the league (Sandman Liotta's .915 - hey, we never claimed to be baseball gurus).

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Roger Milstead		38  13	44  13	1  0  0	  4   6	  1   0	  2 .295 2B(11)

Outfield

Henry "Fireman" Hosler LF(139) AL Gold Glove, RF(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Baltimore - AA	20  48	89  16	0  0  1	  4  12	  6   8	  0 .180
1901 Baltimore - AL	21  15	38  12	1  2  1	  8   4	  4   8	  0 .316
1901 Detroit - AL	21  53 207  68 13  0  1	 15  37	 22  31	  0 .329
1901 Total - AL		21  68 245  80 14  2  2	 23  41	 26  39	  0 .327
1902 Detroit - AL	22 140 561 203 24  6  3	 48  97	 67  49	  3 .362

Not everything we do is tainted with the aura of not knowing what we are doing. Look at this move: we trade star second baseman Pearce Fulbrook to the Baltimore Orioles for this man *and* future considerations. Not that we couldn't use Fulbrook at 2nd base, but this man is going to be a star in this league for a long, long time. Way to go, us!

Dave Wilson CF(129)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Boston - NL	22 130 360 113 11  6  3	 48  49	 17  33	 36 .314
1901 Boston - AL	23 128 577 158 22 10  1	 45  87	 16  58	 41 .274
1902 Detroit - AL	24 129 563 137 22 15  1	 58  80	 32  36	 61 .243

What to make of Dave Wilson last year? On the one hand, his average plummeted and he looked every bit the converted left fielder, committing 31 errors in center. On the other, he doubled his walk rate and set career highs in steals and triples. He's still young, but if he needs to move to a corner outfield spot there's no place for him. My! That sounded almost like a coherent "baseball" sentence!

Bob "Pencil Case" Trantham RF(129)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cleveland - AA	22  90 356 117 14  7  1	 52  41	 21  26	 14 .329
1901 Detroit - AL	23 137 568 167 23 15  2	 54  83	 47  66	 15 .294
1902 Detroit - AL	24 132 536 148 27 13  5	 77  87	 30  49	 15 .276

Pencil Case's average dropped for the second straight year but otherwise it was a very solid season. He demonstrated remarkable clutch capabilities, finishing 5th in the American League in RBIs despite, to be frank, playing for this squad. Overall, it looks like the outfield is pretty much set for the next decade. Nope, no reason to draft anybody or even keep backups there.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Arthur Altichioro	20  11  41   8	0  0  0	  5   4	  0   1	  1 .195
Clint Heath		35  40	43  10	2  2  0	  5   4	  0   0	  0 .233
Gary O'Larkin		31  49	49  11	2  0  0	  5   8	  0   0	  4 .224
P.G. Wodehouse		18  11	46  13	1  2  0	  7   1	  0   2	  1 .283

Syd Thrift · 09-23-2007, 05:17 PM

Overview: Military precision beats... well, it beats anything else. That was what 1902 proved. Despite playing in the smallest city of all the 16 major league teams, the Colonels prevailed in the American League due to a rare combination of grit, hustle, and talent. Should one expect more of the same? We'd say yes. The top two stars on the team, Johnny Gruelle and Paul Bump, are relative rookies to this game. Fire up the bugles and raise a 76 gun salute! The Colonels are here!

Pitching

Johnny "Raggedy Andy" Gruelle AL Pitcher of the Year

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Saint Louis - NL	23 36 23 11 309.2 282 110  73  8  70 155 32  2	2.12
1902 Louisville - AL	24 37 27  6 315.0 273 111  74 10  40 170 30  4	2.11

Johnny Gruelle is, how should we put this... an artist. He likes to draw these funny cartoons of rag dolls and make stories about them and such. We don't get it. Clearly this is not a man who has had his will broken down and then put back together by the military. That will come sooner or later. For now, we are content to bask in this man's glory.

Kelan Quarton

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Louisville - AA	25 43 18 18 315.2 333 172 128  3  90  84  8  1	3.65
1901 Louisville - AL	26 39 20 17 330.2 302 153 113  3  80  87 33  1	3.08
1902 Louisville - AL	27 34 23 10 309.2 289 124  80  1  79  69 30  4	2.33

Now, Kelan Quarton on the other hand... this man is all about the salutes, the drumming, the trumpeting, and the logistics of the military career. If his face looks a little puffy, it's only because he has grown fat upon the hitters. Wait, that makes no sense. Actually, he eats a pretty good amount but that's okay so long as you are an officer.

Jerry "Magoo" Watson

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Philadelphia - NL	31 46 23 12 341.2 293 108  71  4  78 184  6  1	1.87
1901 Philadelphia - NL	32 36 22 13 323.2 250 108  78  9  65 218 34  2	2.17
1902 Louisville - AL	33 34 18 16 296.2 267 117  79  0  37 157 30  3	2.40

We have to admit that we're a little concerned with Watson. We expected him to be the team leader but at season's end he was just the #3 starter and Outstanding Veteran Presence. Much of that is due to the rise of Gruelle and Quarton but it must be said that while the American League remained static with a 3.14 ERA in 1902 compared to a 3.17 in '01, Watson's average jumped 27 points. As a result, we think, he also failed to win 20 games for the first time since 1896.

Jesse "Rawhide" MacLagan

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Chicago - NL	29 50 23 21 392.1 414 176 126  7  69 165 20  3	2.89
1901 Chicago - AL	30 24 14  9 194.0 182  78  48  2  27 119 21  1	2.23
1901 Boston - AL	30 16  9  7 147.1 150  60  48  3  31  78 16  1	2.93
1901 Total - AL		30 40 23 16 341.1 332 138  96  5  58 197 37  2	2.53
1902 Boston - AL	31 24 11 12 205.1 197 100  61  2  51  90 23  1	2.67
1902 Louisville - AL	31 15  8  6 128.0 116  44  32  1  17  66 12  1	2.25
1902 Total - AL		31 39 19 18 333.1 313 144  93  3  68 156 35  2	2.51

Like Watson, Rawhide MacLagan also failed to win 20 games for the first time in a long time (1892 was the last and only other time he didn't reach that plateau), but at least he had the excuse of playing for the lowly Red Stockings for half the season. A full year in Louisville for the major league career wins leader should only be a good thing.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Jim Badgett		36  4  1  3  35.0  45	   14  1   9   4	3.60	
Ralph O'Mulvany		22 19  9  9 160.2 151	   55  9  40  48	3.08
Kent Sanders		27 12  0  1  25.1  32	    5  0   5   9	1.78
Stephen Vickers		27  4  2  1  15.2  16	   10  2   6   2	5.74

Catcher and First Base

Joey Tadlock C(71)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Louisville - AA	26 129 470 138 25 10  0	 48  53	 37  40	  4 .294
1901 Louisville - AL	27  94 338  88 26  5  1	 43  40	 31  45	  1 .260
1902 Louisville - AL	28  73 266  80 17  3  0	 45  35	  8  30	  0 .301

Joey Tadlock was more or less back to his normal self in '02. He's touted by the rest of the league as the fielding half of the excellent Colonels catching duo but his offense was nothing to sneeze at. He threw out 30 of 75 baserunners, a record good for 2nd in the league.

"Ball Four" Tony Stone C(58)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Chicago - NL	31 116 266  71	8  3  4	 33  46	 71   6	  1 .267
1901 Chicago - NL	32  64 196  45	5  3  1	 20  30	 28  11	  1 .230
1902 Baltimore - AL	33   6	21   5	0  1  0	  2   2	  5   2	  0 .238
1902 Louisville - AL	33  67 204  57 15  5  4	 34  31	 39   9	  1 .279
1902 Total - AL		33  73 225  62 15  6  4	 36  33	 44  11	  1 .276

See? Tony Stone wasn't finished. He just wasn't being used right. We think it is time to forget the aborted experiment of Stone at third base and just accept that the man is a catcher and that's it. Although we're inclined to believe that drawing walks is mostly based on luck, we're also inclined to accept that Stone is one of the few exceptions.

Rick Harpham 1B(87)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Cleveland - AL	23 124 470 147 16  4  4	 67  61	 43  37	  2 .313
1902 Louisville - AL	24  88 363 113 16  2  3  41  51	 33  27	  2 .311

In order to get the young .300 hitting Harpham, the Colonels had to part company with Berto Sarrie, a prospect they'd been developing since the mid-90s, and the inscrutable Harry Herapeth. Harpham played well during the time he wasn't injured. Unfortunately, he did miss the last 2 months of the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon despite our entreaties to just play through it.

Zander Bostic 1B(50), 2B(34)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Chicago - NL	25  32	82  15	0  1  0	  2   5	  5  10	  3 .183
1901 Chicago - NL	26  81 359 100 17  9  1	 46  39	 15  48	 24 .279
1902 Louisville - AL	27  90 368 100 17  5  0	 44  58	  7  34	 30 .272

Bostic did an adequate job in the utility role and all, but what's up with that nickname "Zander"? Your full name is Alexander, one of the greatest of all war leaders in the history of world civilization. Do you think a man named Genghis would shorten it to "Genghi"? Think over these words carefully, 'Zander'.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Jay Hoskinson		33   5	16   2	0  0  0	  0   1	  0   0	  2 .125 1B(3), C(2)

Infield

Fergus McKnight 2B(108), LF(7)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Louisville - AA	25 145 589 172 20 10  2	 54  65	 27  27	  9 .292
1901 Louisville - AL	26 125 499 129 29  8  2	 64  59	 36  39	  0 .259
1902 Louisville - AL	27 115 486 144 30  7  0	 56  63	 28  29	  9 .296

Don't tell McKnight that offenses are in a decline! He celebrated the finest season of his career last year, setting a career high in doubles and... well, I guess it would be best to tell him that offenses are in decline after all. Or if this is what pushes him to produce, maybe it's best after all not to tell him.

Loren Larson 3B(140)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - NL	27 117 391 122	7  5  3	 36  48	 34  31	  2 .312
1901 Saint Louis - NL	28 140 556 162 18 12  5	 60  78	 35  49	  0 .291
1902 Louisville - AL	29 140 577 171 20  9  2	 62  86	 52  56	  2 .296

Larson played every inning of every game at the hot corner and... well, he hit well. We won't mention the fielding for the sake of humanity [but we will - 73 errors, just 10 double plays, an .848 FA - ed.] but he did hit well. Larson's obviously not the long-term solution at third but the Colonels have to find him a place in this lineup.

Brendon Harrison SS(140)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Louisville - AA	28 108 275  84 10  3  0	 34  39	 15  18	  4 .305
1901 Louisville - AL	29 139 534 170 35 17  0	 65  82	 35  51	  6 .318
1902 Louisville - ABA	30 140 541 156 19 10  1	 63  71	 35  36	  6 .288

The Colonels were, among other things, extremely provident in terms of avoiding major injury last year. Of course, the philosophers all say that providence is the residue of design and therefore we planned all of this. We wonder what would happen if Brendon Harrison and Loren Larson switched places. Surely things could not be as bad at third as they were last year.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Lawrence Willis		26  13	15   3	0  1  0	  2   5	  0   0	  2 .200 2B(3), SS(2), 1B(1)

Outfield

Dan DeBose LF(73)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Boston - NL	27 109 368 109	8  7  4	 34  57	 29  27	 19 .296
1901 Boston - AL	28 137 557 172 23  5  0	 89  78	 47  39	 24 .309
1902 Boston - AL	29  49 198  56 11  1  3	 18  28	 14  10	  6 .283
1902 Louisville - AL	29  73 274  75 11  4  2	 44  34	 16  16	 11 .274
1902 Total - AL		29 122 472 131 22  5  5	 62  62	 30  26	 17 .278

Dan DeBose actually came from the Red Stockings in a separate trade from the Jesse MacLagan one. The Colonels traded away Jay Hoskinson and some future considerations for this guy, and although Hoskinson didn't have a place on this year's club, one still wonders if we could have gotten more.

Garrick MacPhedron RF(30), LF(19)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Louisville - AA	33 100 382 108 17  7  9	 46  66	 56  24	  3 .283
1901 Louisville - AL	34  85 329  85 17  5  2	 34  43	 41  32	  6 .258
1902 Louisville - AL	35  49 169  47	9  1  0	 22  12	 17  14	  4 .278

MacPhedron has quietly moved from starter to 4th outfielder as the young'uns around him have matured. A true organization soldier - boy, do we love that term - he enjoys whatever role we give him.

Ray Cable CF(63), RF(45), LF(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - NL	30 129 550 163 34 14  1	 85  79	 37  43	 12 .296
1901 Saint Louis - NL	31  95 398 119 33 10  2	 41  63	 13  47	 14 .299
1902 Louisville - AL	32 108 449 136 23  8  0	 65  62	 20  38	  7 .303

Cable was a key pickup in the offseason but went down for the season in August with a hernia. Again, we regret to say that he would not play through the injury. Before his loss, we were moving him around between center and right. He's a world-class fielder in right so you'd figure he'd be the man up the middle as well, but not so much.

Paul Bump RF(63), CF(47), LF(5) AL Most Valuable Player

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Louisville - AL	22  57 234  69	4  4  3	 29  27	  7  18	  6 .295
1902 Louisville - AL	23 114 473 173 24  6  7	 44  87	 42  32	 26 .366

Bump absolutely exploded on the league in his first full year as a starter. He led the league in hitting and finished in the top 10 in 5 other categories, more than enough for Most Valuable Player consideration. The next hurdle: getting him a Gold Glove in right field, where he has incomparable range and a gun for an arm.

Carl Hendron CF(33)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Louisville - AA	30 146 655 222 27 18  0	 65 102	 20  28	 83 .339
1901 Louisville - AL	31 123 543 173 32 11  0	 45  93	 18  36	 49 .319
1902 Louisville - AL	32  33 150  52 18  4  0	 23  27	  2  10	 15 .347

Hendron's injury is the reason why the Colonels played with Cable and Bump in center for so much of the season. He broke his ankle in early June and won't be back until some time around Opening Day this year. Up to that point, he was off to one of the best starts of his career. How good will he be when he comes back? We're expecting a full recovery because that is the kind of thing that the Colonels expect out of their soldiers.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Cipriano Izquerdo	23   7  12   1	1  0  0	  3   2	  0   0	  1 .083 RF(5)
Billy Mitchell		25  31 144  42	2  2  1	 13  10	  1   4	  5 .292 LF(31)
Ron Mure		31  19	35   4	3  0  1	  2   3	  3   1	  6 .114 LF(9), RF(2), CF(1)

Syd Thrift · 10-15-2007, 02:12 AM

Overview: Others may not view the acquisition of the Baltimore Orioles by owner John T. Brush as a move worthy of truth, justice, and freedom. Those are wrong. We did it, therefore it is good. Why do so many question this? The American League is a pack of fools if they think they can really compete against the venerable National League, and the ease of our little takeover just proved things. Sorry to sound so mean about this, but it's truth. Again, the first of the Three True Virtues. And with this buttressed lineup and our new manager John McGraw, we plan on vaulting to the front of the league with pure greatness.

Pitching

Nathan "Pretty Bird" Woombill

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 New York - NL	31 48 19 21 368.1 396 184 112  6  75  96 11  2	2.74
1901 New York - NL	32 29 14 15 249.2 263 122  82  6  47  93 26  1	2.96
1902 New York - NL	33 40 23 17 354.0 353 142  97  7  62 109 36  1	2.47

Woombill was the unsung hero of this team. Well, one of the unsung heroes. Being that this team is 100% heroes, any team members who do not have songs composed for them are by definition unsung. Woombill trimmed half a run off his ERA and won 20 for the first time this decade. He is now tied for the 2nd highest win total of all time with 274.

John "Big Six" Pearson

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 New York - NL	22 16  2  2  30.2  42  20  18  3   7  11  0  0	5.28
1901 New York - NL	23 15 11  3 130.0 106  33  26  4  18  66 14  2	1.80
1902 New York - NL	24 39 24 13 344.2 301 123  96 11  43 140 36  2	2.51

When we say that manager John J. McGraw is a heavy drinker with the tongue of the devil himself, we say so only because we acknowledge that super powers come in all sorts of forms. Also, we say this to contrast him with clean-living, milk-drinking golden boy John "Big Six" Pearson. This man has every quality a young boy should fashion to become a smart, classy young man. That he's also a budding superstar is almost besides the point.

Bill "Snoopy" Haddon

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Baltimore - AA	29 53 29 20 461.0 477 194 151 13  72 203 44  3	2.95
1901 Baltimore - AL	30 40 27 12 347.2 314 111  73  4  39 219 37  6	1.89
1902 Baltimore - AL	31 23 18  5 202.2 148  53  40  5  17  87 22  4	1.78
1902 New York - NL	31 23 16  6 194.1 185  56  38  4  24 100 19  2	1.76
1902 Total - ABA	31 46 34 11 397.0 333 109  78  9  41 187 41  6	1.77

It was a season for the ages for Snoopy Haddon. It seems rather unfair that he did not make Pitcher of the Year in either league, considering he was probably the best hurler for both. For what it's worth, we looked up the 3 people who finished with better single-season ERAs than Haddon. The record-holder is Blake Biddulph, a relief pitcher from the inaugural season who was retired by the end of 1895. Can anyone say "fluke"? Numbers 2 and 3 were by American Leaguers.

Cullen Crewe

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 New York - NL	30 33  9  9 178.2 204  92  70  6  78  30  5  2	3.53
1901 New York - NL	31 30 10 14 212.2 218 120  82  3  61  76 21  2	3.47
1902 New York - NL	32 23  8 12 190.0 195 103  67  3  57  18 20  2	3.17

Talk about your eerie coincidences: Crewe was a teammate of Haddon's on the Orioles from 1894 through 1896, although by that time he was no longer a regular member of the team's roster. Crewe's resurrection with the Giants was the stuff of legends, actually; he'd been almost completely out of the game since the Orioles cut him in 1897 but has returned to be, if not the greatest pitcher in the world, a man who can win nearly as many games as he loses. This is a valuable level for a 4th starter to be at.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Pat Nihil		38 17  7 10 151.1 154      51  2  39  31	3.03	
John O'Cloonan		31  7  1  1  17.1  17	    1  0   5  12	0.52
Bob Shank		33  3  1  1  13.2  10	    1  0   4   8	0.66

Catcher and First Base

Garrett Olson C(91)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	31  65 101  28	2  0  0	 12  10	  2   5	  0 .277
1901 New York - NL	32  74 258  67	8  4  0	 37  32	 18  28	  0 .260
1902 New York - NL	33  92 339  83 11  3  0	 45  38	 12  22	  1 .245

Olsen, a career vagabond who finally found a home in the Big Apple three short years ago, starts because of the way he handles pitchers as well as a rocket for an arm that has allowed him to catch 40% and 38% of opposing steal attempters the past two seasons. We would give him a flashy superheroic nickname but frankly we don't know how much longer he's going to be around.

Dylan Nelson C(57)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Brooklyn - NL	30  91 187  43	8  0  1	 23  14	 20  18	  1 .230
1901 Brooklyn - NL	31  38 122  34	5  3  1	 18  18	 12   8	  0 .279
1902 Brooklyn - NL	32  32	95  30	6  1  1	 13  11	  9   4	  0 .316
1902 New York - NL	32  30	92  19	3  0  0	 10  11	 12   5	  0 .207
1902 Total - ABA	32  62 187  49	9  1  1	 23  22	 21   9	  0 .262

Nelson's career path has been almost exactly the opposite: he was with the Brooklyn Superbas since the league's inception. We say "almost" because after all he is on another ballclub now. The Giants picked him up to add some flashy stickwork (flashier stickwork, at least), but he appeared to have left his bat back in the other borough. He'll face a severe challenge this spring training for the backup backstop position; the Giants own the rights to one Alexander Fleming, a chemist by trade who whupped opposing pitchers like the polio virus in the minors last year (.306 average).

John "The Black" Knight 1B(68)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	30  71 268  90 11  6  5	 41  36	 23  15	  2 .336
1901 New York - NL	31 140 561 155 26  7  7	 72  95	 55  60	  9 .276
1902 New York - NL	32  71 258  67	8  1  0	 27  27	 30  15	  3 .260

Knight's New York career came to an abrupt halt on the 16th of July when he was unceremoniously cut by new manager John McGraw. McGraw had to make a statement as to the kind of play he would accept and not accept, and in addition the writing was really on the wall when he announced he'd brought over former Cincinnati Reds phenom Cody Plummer. We'll miss you, Black Knight, but we're sure you'll find a job somewhere.

Cody Plummer 1B(132)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cincinnati - AA	22 140 427 140 20  7  9	 79  76	 61  18	  1 .328
1901 Cincinnati - NL	23 125 512 159 32 11 10	 70  96	 65  34   1 .311
1902 Baltimore - AL	24  66 262  76 10  3  4	 44  38	 38   7	  1 .290
1902 New York - NL	24  66 253  77 19  4  0	 39  35	 31  12	  1 .304
1902 Total - ABA	24 132 515 153 29  7  4	 83  73	 69  19	  2 .297

Some pundits have claimed that the Giants made a mistake in signing a notorious kangaroo like Plummer and letting their long-time first sacker go in the process, but those people do not, we think, pay enough attention to what this man can do. He makes pitchers' knees wobble: last season they gave him an automatic ticket to first base 30 times. That is why we started calling him "The Punisher".

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Keith Bissell		34  28  90  18	4  0  0	  8   9	  0   0	 10 .200 C(27)
Jerry Turner		26  32  50  12	2  0  0	  7   4	  0   0	  1 .240 1B(6)

Infield

Duarte Gonzalez 2B(66), SS(66)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	22  95 377 109 15  8  4	 40  60	 24  24	 10 .289
1901 New York - NL	23  81 310  96 11  6  0	 55  44	 23  23	 13 .310
1902 New York - NL	24 132 516 139 22  3  1	 60  69	 30  33	 29 .269

Gonzalez finally enjoyed his first full season as a regular. One looks at the averages and figures that perhaps he started off hot and then cooled down as he found himself unaccustomed to the regularity of play, but such was not the case. He pretty much hit in the .270 range all year long. Alas, that seems to be pretty good for a short-stop.

Norm "The Big Napoleon" Aston 3B(71), 2B(64)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	29 145 520 146 14  7  6	 65  71	 83  11	 11 .281
1901 New York - ABA	30 137 504 179 30 17  5	 93  98	 92  10	 12 .355
1902 New York - ABA	31 135 491 139 20  7  7	 74  93	106   6	 17 .283

Okay, the '02 model wasn't quite as solid as the '01 one was, but take a gander at that strikeout to walk ratio. Admittedly, we haven't looked that hard, but that's the best rate we can find in the history of the league, exclusing people who had 5 walks and no strikeouts in 19 at-bats, of course. And he did it all while learning a new position.

Dolan Packard 3B(140)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Baltimore - AA	28 115 443 157 13  7  1	 47  69	 38  26	 19 .354
1901 Baltimore - AL	29 140 594 203 25  3  1	 64  98	 55  41	  9 .342
1902 Baltimore - AL	30  77 339 116	8  3  1	 31  54	 25  22	 14 .342
1902 New York - NL	30  64 275  98 11  2  1	 29  48	 16  15	 14 .356
1902 Total - ABA	30 141 614 214 19  5  2	 60 102	 41  37	 28 .349

How often can you bring a superstar in his prime onto a ballclub? Normally you have to pick out a "rooky" who looks like he's going to be great one day and then nurture him into stardom. With Packard, the Giants don't have to do that. They did have to move the infield around a bit but complaining about that is a lot like looking a prize horse that you were just given in the mouth for cavities.

Chris Fortescue SS(43), 2B(4)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - AA	31  57 110  12	3  2  0	  8   8	  9  13	  6 .109
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	32  35 107  19	4  4  0	 13  12	  8  13	 10 .178
1902 New York - NL	33  49 141  32	8  6  0	 13  20	  6  11	 22 .227

What were they thinking? The fact that the pre-McGraw Giants gave this guy 149 at-bats is a very good part of why they were not in contention until the Little General took over. Yes, he was filling in a hole. That's no excuse.

Doonan Sidebotham SS(36)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	25  35	74  17	2  1  0	  7   6	  0   5	  0 .230
1901 New York - NL	26  36 129  37	5  2  0	 21  14	  5  11	  0 .287
1902 New York - NL	27  36 134  23	2  2  0	  9  11	  4  14	  0 .172

Sidebotham, at least, showed some signs of being a major-league quality hitter. Not many signs, mind you. But he was quite a bit younger than Fortescue and hadn't just hit .109 and .178 the previous two seasons. He's still in the organization just in case somebody gets an owie.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Luciano Chevere		22  48  81  28	3  1  1	14   11	  5   1	  4 .346 SS(10), 2B(7), 3B(6)
Sexton Blake		22  11	13   6	0  0  0	 0    0	  0   1	  0 .462 SS(7), 2B(1)

Outfield

Tracy "The Hit Doctor" Welsman LF(83), CF(38)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	28 122 438 133 13  9  2	 36  55	 50  21	 21 .304
1901 New York - NL	29 111 430 128 17  8  4	 55  70	 42  20	 28 .298
1902 New York - ABA	30 121 469 136 23  6  1	 65  74	 54  14	 28 .290

Welsman managed to avoid getting hurt until the very end of the season and as a result appeared at the plate in '02 more times than he had so far this century. We're using the plebian definition of "century" here that includes the year 1900. Yes, we know that it really started in 1901. Now that he is in his prime, it's clear that the Hit Doctor is never going to be a star but nevertheless he is what he is: a corner OF who will hit somewhere around .300 for you and who will cover enough ground to play center field if needed. There are certainly worse men out there to give a baseball-related job to.

Paul Blenkiron LF(29)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 New York - NL	27  23	42   9	2  0  1	 10   7	  3   3	  1 .214
1902 New York - NL	28  29 118  30	9  1  2	 17  12	  5   9	  3 .254

Blenkiron will always be one of the great "what if" tales in baseball lore. What would have become of him had he not torn up his ankle that dark day in June? Would he have forever been a poor man's King Royal, or would he have swung the stick like a man who truly belonged in an outfield full of Giants? The world, sadly, will never know.

Ray Pearl CF(87), LF(10)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 New York - NL	20 102 384 112	6  4  2	 69  53	 14  19	 27 .292

Ray Pearl didn't just take advantage of the Blenkiron injury, he leapt upon his opportunity with the ferociousness of a singles-hitting tiger. In addition to the hitting, he fielded the position very, very well and probably would have won the Gold Glove had he played all season in center.

Rick Douglas RF(137)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	24  78 304  93	9  4  1	 25  38	  3  36	 18 .306
1901 New York - NL	25 135 530 172 16 14  8	 85  86	 50  51	 36 .325
1902 New York - ABA	26 139 577 155 20 14  3	 37 107	 65  52	 49 .269

Douglas still swings at too many bad pitches, but despite seeing his average drop nearly 60 points he still managed to finish 2nd in the National League in runs scored. That's precisely what you ask a leadoff hitter to do, score runs. When he did get on base, he made sure he got into scoring position. He finished in the top 10 in both triples and stolen bases.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Dante Bommarito		34  23	71  16	5  1  0	11   10	  3   3	  9 .225 LF(10), CF(8), RF(4)
Liam Gascoine		19  11  42   8	1  0  0	0     4	  4   0	  0 .190 LF(11)

Syd Thrift · 10-21-2007, 12:23 PM

Overview: Given the way this team was savagely rent asunder by the conniving mountebanks at the Polo Grounds and in Cincinnati, it is amazing that this team still managed to finish 2nd in their league. They never really had a chance of staying in first place but the youngsters not only made a "game" of it, they showed that they might just be the foundation of a club that will have to be reckoned with for some time to come. That dynasty, should it exist, will happen in Hilltop Park, just outside of Manhattan Island, a state of the art facility that should have Giants cranks flocking to see their crosstown brethren.

Pitching

Sean Nickerson

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Chicago - NL	29 22  2  2  40.2  31  14   8  0  10  15  0  0	1.77
1901 Chicago - NL	30 29 18 11 251.2 251 101  68  4  37 126 27  1	2.43
1902 Baltimore - AL	31 40 26  9 331.1 284 110  89 15  53 123 33  5	2.42

Nickerson is, shall we say, a grump. That might explain why he didn't taste real big league experience until he was 30 years of age. It most certainly is the reason he is now with his 3rd team in 3 years. The Highlanders were more than willing to keep him but he expressed an extreme desire to get out of New York to the press so there you go.

Jim Badgett

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Louisville - AA	34 33  9 20 238.0 258 151 113  2 124  23 12  0	4.27
1901 Louisville - AL	35 35 20 13 286.1 284 165  97  2 127  49 28  0	3.05
1902 Louisville - AL	36  4  1  3  35.0  45  23  14  1   9   4  4  0	3.60
1902 Baltimore - AL	36 26  7 16 185.2 219 138  93  5  76  16 14  0	4.51
1902 Total - AL		36 30  8 19 220.2 264 161 107  6  85  20 18  0	4.36

Acquired in early May for catcher Tony Stone, Jim Badgett's career has been an enigma. Despite having walked nearly 3 times as many men as he's struck out (1588 to 573), Badgett has a career record very near .500 (207-230). Whatever the riddle, opposing hitters seemed to have solved it as of late. Badgett's time in the league may be running short.

Ed Gargen

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Cleveland - AA	21 38  5 14 157.0 170  95  51  2  31  53  1  0	2.92
1901 Baltimore - AL	22 17  9  7 138.0 129  45  27  2   7  51 11  0	1.76
1902 Baltimore - AL	23 15  6  8 117.2 125  66  40  1  15  27  9  2	3.06

Gargen was a casualty of a manager (John McGraw) who wanted so badly to win right now that he could not see the talent in front of him. Gargen pitched for Baltimore entirely after McGraw skipped town and was a lot better than his numbers suggest. He was rough around the edges in his first month but then really put it together in September, going 5-1 with an ERA of 1.04. He is by default the team ace for 1903.

Fionn Kempson

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Baltimore - AA	26  6  0  0   7.2   7	1   1  0   0   3  0  0	1.17
1901 Baltimore - AL	27  6  0  3  19.1  17	7   5  1   3  10  0  0	2.33
1902 Baltimore - AL	28 15  7  5 115.1 117  57  46  2  23  53  9  1	3.59

Kempson's another guy who came more or less out of nowhere to keep the Orioles respectable in the second half of '02. His spot in the rotation is nearly assured.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Bill Copeland		34 21 14  6 193.2 191      52  3  24  60	2.42
Don Cushingham		29  1  0  1   2.1   6	    3  0   1   1       11.57
Bill Haddon		31 23 18  5 202.2 148	   40  5  17  87	1.78
Kirby Iversen		28 17  4  3  71.0  79	   22  1  23  10	2.79
John O'Cloonan		31  9  1  4  56.1  73	   24  2  19  14	3.83

Catcher and First Base

Von Craufurd C(95)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Baltimore - AA	31 130 487 137 31  7  2	 75  66	 40  35	  2 .281
1901 Baltimore - AL	32 107 433 120 33 10  1	 72  61	 24  53	  0 .277
1902 Baltimore - AL	33  97 351  81 17  3  2	 43  35	 15  36	  0 .231

Craufurd didn't play as much as he usually does and wasn't that effective when he did play, but you have to give the man a break: after John McGraw left, he handled the managerial reins. He's back in that dual role in 1903. His arm is still there as well as his sure hands (only one catcher in all of baseball had a higher fielding average last season) but you have to wonder how long it might take for him to notice his own slide downward in hitting proficiency.

Elliott Strong C(48)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - NL	26  64	84  18	1  0  2	 16  13	 13   6	  0 .214
1901 Boston - AL	27  69 197  39	9  0  1	 24  23	 28  13	  0 .198
1902 Boston - AL	28   3	 3   2	0  0  0	  0   0	  0   0	  0 .667
1902 Baltimore - AL	28  54 138  34	5  0  2	 20  19	 18   8	  0 .246
1902 Total - AL		28  57 141  36	5  0  2	 20  19	 18   8	  0 .255

Strong came over in a relatively unheralded trade from the Red Stockings and was decidedly average in his backup role. That's not such a bad thing in and of itself but it does mean that he probably would not be the heir apparent should Craufurd fall.

Bill McAchounich 1B(63)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Baltimore - AL	23  63 256  68 15  2  2	 47  29	 11  26	  1 .266

Although he showed that he was ready for the bigs by hitting .320 in half a season in the minors, it was clear that

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Tony Stone		33   6	21   5	0  1  0	  2   2	  5   2	  0 .238 C(6)
Emiliano Zapata		23   4	12   3	0  0  0	  1   1	  0   1	  0 .250 C(4)
Cody Plummer		24  66 262  76 10  3  4	 44  38	 38   7   1 .290 1B(66)
Bob Perry		31  14  43   6	0  0  0	  5   3	  4   6   0 .140 1B(11)

Infield

Pearce "Captain New Jersey" Fulbrook 2B(91)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	32 127 527 155 14 13  4	 71  71	 34  33	  5 .294
1901 Detroit - AL	33  69 265  81 11  7  2	 28  29	 35  18	  2 .306
1901 Baltimore - AL	33  61 253  70	7  1  0	 37  35	 22  16	  1 .277
1901 Total - AL		33 130 518 151 18  8  2	 65  64	 57  34	  3 .292
1902 Baltimore - AL	34  91 389 106 19  7  1	 32  64	 36  17	  6 .272

We were surprised as anybody else to see that Pearce Fulbrook, a man who seems to enjoy changing teams once every couple years just to see the continent, did not join his teammates in moving back to the Giants. Perhaps he felt he had worn out his welcome in the big city. Or maybe he was just a big fan of crab cakes. Anyway, shortly after the Big Evil Thing he was lost for the season with a bad back and then the Orioles moved to New York.

Ed Higson SS(84), 2B(27)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Baltimore - AA	26 142 540 169 22  9  7	 56  94	 32  35	 15 .313
1901 Baltimore - AL	27 125 475 114 12  8  3	 50  63	 30  37	  2 .240
1902 Baltimore - AL	28 115 445 113 11  3  1	 41  47	 21  30	  5 .254

'02 was going to be the year where Higson would show whether he was the heavy hitter of the 1900 season or the weakling of 1901. Sadly, he appeared to be mostly a weakling. He's still a more than adequate middle infielder who can aid the Orioles with his utility.

Pablo Picasso 3B(41), 2B(18)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Baltimore - AL	20  59 259  72	6  3  2	 26  44	  7  26	  6 .278

Picasso is also, we ought to point out, a painter. What we've seen of his painting style is just... weird. Not bad, mind you. We just don't get it. It looks terribly modern and he might have an issue with depth perception. We are happy to say that this possible depth perception thing did not manifest itself on the ballfield, where he showed himself to be of major league quality at the young age of 20.

Fred Sisk SS(45), 2B(6)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Baltimore - AL	24  53 193  62 11  3  1	 29  29	 29  16	  3 .321

Sisk was as responsible as anybody else for the late-season resurgence of the Orioles. Not only did he hit a strong .321, he also fielded what many pundits consider the hardest position in the field. He didn't do it terribly well, mind you, but he was out there day after day in the months of August and September. Far from wilting in the late months as so many rookys do, Sisk batted .341 in September and had 5 hits in 12 October at-bats.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
E.M. Forster		25  32	95  21	2  0  1	 10  13	  3   6   0 .221 3B(23), 2B(1)	
Montrell Liotta		27   7	21   4	0  0  0	  1   4	  2   3   3 .190 SS(7)
Dolan Packard		30  77 339 116	8  3  1	 31  54	 25  22  14 .342 3B(77)
Leegan Perot		21   6	23   3	0  0  0	  2   3	  1   4   0 .130 SS(6)

Outfield

Crowmarn Kempe CF(45), LF(29)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Baltimore - AA	25  19	19   4	0  0  0	  2   2	  2   2	  1 .211
1901 Baltimore - AL	26  13	31   8	1  0  0	  1   3	  1   4	  1 .258
1902 Baltimore - AL	27  83 284  91	9  1  5	 32  48	 32  11	  5 .320

Kempe was finally given an opportunity to play major league baseball and looked like a man who should have had his chance about 3 years previously. What position he'll play is sort of up for grabs but it's for certain that he'll be in the lineup somewhere.

Casey Labrey LF(27), CF(4), RF(2)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Baltimore - AA	29 126 281  87 17  5  2	 45  50	 29  10	 30 .310
1901 Baltimore - AL	30  48 140  44	5  6  0	 17  25	 17   5	  4 .314
1902 Baltimore - AL	31  39 131  35 11  1  0	 11  23	 11   4	 11 .267

What happened to Casey? Following a solid year as a 4th outfielder in 1900, he struggled to get at-bats as the Orioles brought in one superstar outfielder after another. Then when all those guys left he finally got a shot at starting only to hurt his shoulder on August 1 and miss the remainder of the season. At this point, the Orioles probably can't count on him to be an everyday starter, but he's yet to disappoint us when he is able to play.

Valentin Lochilosurdo RF(44), LF(23)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cincinnati - AA	32  37	41  13	4  0  1	  8   7	  3   5	  0 .317
1900 Brooklyn - NL	32  87 351 101 10  5  4	 52  41	 15  29	  0 .288
1900 Total - ABA	32 124 392 114 14  5  5	 60  48	 18  34	  0 .291
1901 Cleveland - AL	33 109 425 133 22  7  0	 59  59	 34  41	  1 .313
1902 Cleveland - AL	34  49 184  37	6  0  0	  5  18	 12  14	  1 .201
1902 Baltimore - AL	34  25	99  22	3  0  0	  8  14	  4   8	  0 .222
1902 Total - AL		34  74 283  59	9  0  0	 13  32	 16  22	  1 .208

Lochilosurdo's career seems to be just about over after a horrendous 1902. Being released by the lowly Cleveland Blues should have ended things right there but the Orioles were in need of outfielders so he got one final chance. He didn't hit then either. It wasn't a bad career - a lifetime .291 average, 1481 hits, 203 doubles, 764 career runs scored.

Lynch Passager CF(88) AL Gold Glove CF

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Baltimore - AA	26 105 408 127 15  6  3	 61  71	 59  16	 13 .311
1901 Baltimore - AL	27  84 322 120	9  7  4	 70  56	 52  20	  4 .373
1902 Baltimore - AL	28  88 356 122	9  7  4	 42  62	 36  30	 11 .343

If Passager could just play an entire season, he'd be regarded as one of the best players in the league. Even in roughly half a season, his prowess afield was good enough to earn him a Gold Glove. He stayed with Baltimore out of loyalty to the town and when the team announced it was moving they had no choice but to trade this man. He'll be wearing Cleveland blue in 1903.

Bob Donley RF(56)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Baltimore - AL	21   1	 2   1	0  0  0	  0   0	  0   0	  0 .500
1902 Baltimore - AL	22  56 199  56 14  0  1	 21  28	 22  15	  1 .281

It just seems unfair sometimes that a team like the Orioles/Highlanders could lose so many front-line players but have rookies like this waiting in the wings where a team like Cleveland or Detroit is forced to deal with fringe players due to a complete lack of a farm system. Oh well. They'll be better in time. For now, Donley took over right field incredibly well and is just 23 years of age this year.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Lonan Eve		24   2	 6   0	0  0  0	  0   0	  0   1   0 .000	 
Mike Hartigan		35  67 258  86 16 10  3	 50  57	 46   8  27 .333
Dave Heading		26  75 320 101 16  2  0	 56  40	 10  25   3 .316
Bobby Winchell		22  41	67  18	2  0  1	 16   6	  7   6   0 .269

Syd Thrift · 10-28-2007, 09:29 AM

Overview: One can make bromides about how the mighty are due for a fall but the slip of the Phillies into the cellar of the National League was a mere side effect of the scientific nature of the new ownership. This Philadelphia team will act on hypotheses and no, they will not always be correct. It is only in the end that this process will result in a step forward. Therefore, the fans ought to remain patient. Sometimes that feminine intuition practiced by the other clubs gets them quicker positive effects, but it also leads them down worn-out trails best traveled by bears.

Pitching

Jimmy Baker

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Philadelphia - NL	29 74 10  8 138.2 124  51  39  3  47  20  1  0	2.53
1901 Philadelphia - AL	30 35 16 14 262.2 306 132  94 10  57  65 26  1	3.22
1902 Philadelphia - AL	31  4  2  1  28.1  29	6   4  0   5   4  3  1	1.27
1902 Philadelphia - NL	31 31  6 20 252.2 293 160 103 13  60  62 21  0	3.67
1902 Total - ABA	31 35  8 21 281.0 322 166 107 13  65  66 24  1	3.43

Welcome back, Baker, welcome back. Your dream was your ticket out. In retrospect, the old ownership's idea that Baker was nothing more than a reliever was misplaced. We offered him a spot in the rotation across town and he gladly accepted. Unfortunately, his lone weakness, a penchant for the long ball, did not mesh well with the Baker Bowl's cozy dimensions. He did lead all Phillies in innings pitched but the results were not the optimum.

Phelan McWard

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1902 Philadelphia - NL	28 32 16 13 240.2 242 146  88  2 106  34 22  2	3.29

You can always count on the Irish for cheap labor, that's what we always say. Picked to be one of the original Phillies, things never broke right for McWard before this season. Although he made 27 of his career 33 starts in the majors last season, he is a wily minor league veteran who we are sure we can count on for more decent innings in '03.

John Boyd Orr

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Philadelphia - NL	19 30 11 17 241.0 287 146  98 10  69  51 22  2	3.66
1902 Philadelphia - NL	20 23  6 14 172.2 173  93  65  5  45  32 17  0	3.39

Orr had a disappointing sophomore season. He could never stay healthy or pitch particularly well when he was out there. He's still a 20 year old kid who throws 5 pitches for strikes so it's way too early to give up on him.

Horan Mulcahy

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Philadelphia - NL	23  4  1  3  29.0  40  22  15  1  11  10  1  0	4.66
1902 Philadelphia - NL	24 15  4 11 130.0 131  73  38  4  36  16 14  0	2.63

With apologies to Mr. Orr, Horan Mulcahy is the new phenom of the staff. We were so impressed by what he did in the Baker Bowl last year that at the bequest of the Irishman we tried something known as "Irish coffee". We believe that it had some sort of alcoholic content in it. It tasted funny and made us say inappropriate things to members of the fairer sex.

Dave Gill

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Philadelphia - NL	25  5  4  1  42.0  45  18  14  0  18   6  4  0	3.00
1902 Philadelphia - NL	26 12  1 11  88.1 120  86  64  6  53  21  5  0	6.52

Gill did not have a good season last year. We think that this has to do with the fact that he is very, very large - according to our metrics, 6 feet 3 inches and 235 pounds. Our theory is that the cork center of the baseball is insulted by its proximity to such girth and thus refuses to spin and dance about as it is wont to do with smaller, thinner pitchers. We have explained this to him but the man continues to eat "hot dogs" as though they are going out of style.

Chris Tippett

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Pittsburgh - NL	32 40 22 13 302.1 346 162 136 11  94  43 11  3	4.05
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	33 19  3  8  99.2 135  81  60  6  42  11  5  1	5.42
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	34  3  0  1   9.1   6	4   2  0   5   1  0  0	1.93
1902 Philadelphia - NL	34 13  2  9  86.2 112  73  54  1  51   1  6  1	5.61
1902 Total - NL		34 16  2 10  96.0 118  77  56  1  56   2  6  1	5.25

When we received Tippett from the Pirates, we believed that the thing that was keeping him from reaching the 20-win status he'd achieved just 2 years before was due to trying to strike out every batter he faced. We told him we would fine him for each batsman who did not put the ball in play or at least reach base via balls. The results of this experiment were mixed. On the plus side, he did only walk the one batter the entire time he was with us. On the downside, he didn't pitch very effectively. Sadly, he was just too far gone.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Johnny Epps		22  3  0  0  14.0  14	    7  1   3   2	4.50
Ben Henstock		22  9  1  0  21.1  21      17  1  17   6	7.17
Riordan Kitson		25  2  0  2  15.2  21	    9  1  12   1	5.17
Federico Martinez	27 10  0  1  22.2  27	    8  1  13   5	3.18
Jim McNeiledge		34  4  2  2  31.0  34	   13  1   7   9	3.77
David Pininferino	35 19 11  8 169.2 150	   58  0  56  76	3.08

Catcher and First Base

Stephen Getchell C(94)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 New York - NL	24   4	13   4	0  0  0	  1   1	  0   0	  1 .308
1901 Philadelphia - NL	25  22	73  16	3  1  0	  9   9	  5   8	  0 .219
1902 Philadelphia - NL	26  96 345  93 16  3  4	 45  47	 19  20	  1 .270

Usually when a team finishes a season with 90 losses and 41 games in back of the leader, it is because they have bad pitching and hitting. This was not the case with the Phillies. They actually had middle-of-the-pack hitting, as evidenced by their 5th place .256 average. It was just that their pitching was terrible. Don't blame that on Stephen Getchell, who did a fine job in his first season as a starter. Well, we suppose you can blame the fact that he threw out just 30% of baserunners he saw on him. But other than that, no. All right, the 37 errors too.

Lou Mawhinney C(40), RF(3)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Philadelphia - NL	31  47 136  44	7  0  1	 22  12	 11   5	  0 .324

Mawhinney was part of another Phillies experiment: how important are good fielding catchers, really? Mawhinney had been held back prior to last year due to a complete inability to call a game or throw runners out. Last year he proved to us that he could hit well.

George Darbyshire 1B(115)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Philadelphia - NL	27  23	91  33	1  0  1	 13  16	  8   4	  0 .363
1902 Philadelphia - NL	28 116 424 123 18  1  8	 56  64	 60  39	  0 .290

After we exposed Tom Cruse's scientological approach to hitting as mere quackery, we noticed that we had this excellent gentleman locked up in the minor leagues. Darbyshire doesn't have a philosophy to hitting. He just hits. That is fine with us... for now.

Daniel LaCour 1B(25), C(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Philadelphia - NL	26   5	12   4	0  0  3	  6   3	  2   1	  0 .333
1902 Philadelphia - NL	27  36 109  36	3  0  3	 20  21	  3  12	  0 .330

We regret to say that we just could not find a spot for Mister LaCour last year. We don't know where he'll be in '03 either but when you hit .330 you've got to go somewhere.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Gallagher Tarrant	26  11	35   7	2  0  0	  2   1	  4   2   0 .200

Infield

Dale Huntington 2B(84)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Philadelphia - NL	22  23 101  30	3  2  0	 10  16	  2  12	  1 .297
1902 Philadelphia - NL	23  88 315  88 12  6  0	 49  39	 12  28	  6 .279

Huntington was a hard man to figure out last year as well as a source of some frustration. He started the season as the team's #1 second baseman and actually hit pretty well for the month and a half or so that he held the job. He also fielded the spot adequately. However, he failed one standardized test after another and finally we were forced to choose a man with a higher I.Q. Huntington might be fit in somewhere in the future if all the proper-brained Phillies go down.

Irving Langmuir 2B(56), SS(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Philadelphia - NL	19  58 239  71	4  2  3	 20  33	 15  20	  1 .297

The difference between idiot and mastermind was striking last year. Where Huntington kept the ball in his hand so often when turning the double play as if he did not understand that his mission was to throw the orb to first, Langmuir understood exactly what to do. He also walked more and struck out less than his stupider counterpart, and as a result we think hit for a higher average as well. The sky is the limit for this young brainchild.

Jose Quenones 3B(126)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cleveland - AA	34  81 317  92	9  4  0	 28  35	 26  23	  6 .290
1900 Philadelphia - NL	34  24	52  10	0  1  0	  3   6	  3   4	  2 .192
1900 Total - ABA	34 105 369 102	9  5  0	 31  41	 29  27	  8 .276
1901 Philadelphia - NL	35 134 557 157 16 10  0	 50  80	 40  45	 15 .282
1902 Philadelphia - NL	36 126 519 143 12  8  1	 51  66	 23  40	 14 .276

Quenones just keeps on going and going. He was never what you would call a great player but he's a guy the Phillies can just stick in the 3rd base slot and concentrate on other things. How to create dihydrogen oxygenate, for example.

Rowan Caird 3B(15), SS(10), 2B(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Philadelphia - NL	28  88 174  52	7  2  0	 23  13	  3  14	  0 .299
1901 Philadelphia - NL	29  24	67  13	1  0  0	  6   7	  1  11	  0 .194
1902 Philadelphia - ABA	30  30	99  24	3  0  0	  7   7	  1   8	  0 .242

Caird's career is like the answer to a story problem in math class. If a player hits .299 in Year One and .194 in Year Two, what should he hit in Year Three? .242, of course! Caird's year was so predictable, we would call him "The Hypothesis" if it wasn't for the fact that he'll probably be out of the league soon.

Bill Snow SS(131), 3B(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cincinnati - AA	32 131 541 169 30 18  0	 88  78	 32  38	 14 .312
1901 Cincinnati - NL	33  75 300  73 15  5  0	 37  39	 19  28	  6 .243
1901 Philadelphia - NL	33  40 165  46	6  5  0	 15  28	 13  16	  3 .279
1901 Total - NL		33 115 465 119 21 10  0	 52  67	 32  44	  9 .256
1902 Philadelphia - NL	34 131 539 150 33 11  0	 42  75	 28  43	 26 .278

Who says you can't teach an old hound some new tricks? Much like Pavlov's dog that has been trained to salivate at the ring of a bell, Snow was trained to handle shortstop at the crack of a bat. He will never be confused with a Gold Glove candidate at the position, but it was good enough for Philadelphia.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
(none)

Outfield

Nathan Ketcham LF(45), CF(22), RF(10), SS(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Philadelphia - NL	21   2	 7   4	0  0  0	  1   0	  1   0	  0 .571
1902 Philadelphia - NL	22  82 306  82	7  1  0	 29  32   9  33	 11 .268

Ketcham... well, Nathan Ketcham filled a hole. He's a solid 4th outfielder who probably shouldn't have gotten as many appearances as he did but it's not like he cost the team a pennant or anything.

Ken McKichan LF(40)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	33  78 275  57	7  0  0	 26  19	 10  20	 22 .207
1901 Philadelphia - AL	34 106 442 138 12  9  2	 65  60	 19  37	 32 .312
1902 Philadelphia - AL	35  41 153  32	1  4  0	 13  22	  4  10	 13 .209
1902 Philadelphia - NL	35  40 158  39	7  3  0	 15  16	  7   9	 14 .247
1902 Total - ABA	35  81 311  71	8  7  0	 28  38	 11  19	 27 .228

Ken McKichan just might - we are not saying he was, just entertaining the possibility - have been signed off of waivers last year because his name is similar to that of long-time Philly star Kevin MacKeochan. On the field, he didn't resemble MacKeochan at all. This aging speedster is a solid enough left fielder who may or may not have enough left with the stick to be a good contribution.

Kenyon Ingham CF(114)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Philadelphia - NL	24  48 216  57	9  3  0	 14  29	  9  20	  9 .264
1902 Philadelphia - NL	25 114 479 122 14  6  1	 50  44	 13  40	 32 .255

It is our opinion that players like Kenyon Ingham, who appear to contribute so little in the plate and in the field, actually add countless wins to their team through their use of their "tools", natural gifts they possess such as running, jumping, hollering, and carrying on. We shudder to think of how bad this club would have been without Ingham manning center field.

Sean McGilvray RF(94), LF(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - AA	32 104 396 114	7  7  1	 52  41	 27  33	  0 .288
1901 Saint Louis - NL	33  29	88  20	1  0  0	  5  10	  8  14	  1 .227
1902 Philadelphia - NL	34  98 374  99 13  7  1	 44  44	 18  22	  4 .265

We are not positive what happened to McGilvray in 190`, but it probably had something to do with bees. He kept getting hurt in '02 but otherwise did a fine job manning the right corner.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Tom Cruse		27  38 107  14	2  0  1	  8  12	  4   7   0 .131
Bill MacAlduie		24   1	 2   0	0  0  0	  0   0   0   0   0 .000
Bob Mathie		35  30 127  25	1  2  1	 11  16	  9   7  16 .197	
Floyd Pickleheimer	29  39 129  26	5  0  2	 11  18	 11  11   4 .202
Franklin Sluggett	28  11  24   3	1  1  0	  2   2	  0   0   1 .125
Grady Stafford		32  15	39   6	0  1  0	  2   6	  6   3   4 .154

Syd Thrift · 10-28-2007, 05:21 PM

Overview: It just goes to show where athletic prowess can get you. Unlike our counterparts across the city, the Athletics are on the

rise. In just our third year of existence, we appear poised to be the team that breaks the deadlock on the first division by the existing

major league clubs that created the American League. Last year ours was the only of the new clubs to win more games than we lost, and now

that Baltimore/New York seems poised to fall by the wayside, we feel we should finish at least third and perhaps higher.

Pitching

Garrison "Rube" Lindsley

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Washington - NL	23 50  6  4 106.2  90  35  20  0  23  61  0  0	1.69
1901 Washington - AL	24 30 15 11 251.1 214  97  61 10  34 206 23  2	2.18
1902 Philadelphia - AL	25 36 24 10 319.1 303 131  94  8  62 197 31  3	2.65

The rumor is that the Nationals let Lindsley go to the A's because they weren't sure how well he'd be able to carry the workload of a

starter. Perhaps it could be said that he would never have been able to carry things if he hadn't joined the A's and our tough workout

regimen. Lindsley responded to his critics by winning 9 more games pitching 70 more innings than the season before.

Claude Cugnoni

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Brooklyn - NL	25 26  4  0  47.0  52  22  13  1   8  22  0  0	2.49
1901 Philadelphia - AL	26 37 17 10 239.2 218  95  72  4  51 147 21  1	2.70
1902 Philadelphia - AL	27 37 16 17 305.2 307 129  89  1  68 118 31  3	2.62

Another converted reliever, Cugnoni was just fair last season, although there is an argument to be made that he was nearly as good as

Lindsley but just had poor run support. We aren't making that argument as we believe that you go out on the field and prove your mettle and

do not make excuses. Whatever the case may be, Cugnoni is most certainly a member of this rotation in '03.

Martin Cheney

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Philadelphia - NL	19  7  3  1  48.2  45  25  19  1  24  20  2  0	3.51
1901 Philadelphia - NL	20 31  6 14 188.2 186 126  85  8 111  92 13  0	4.05
1902 Philadelphia - AL	21 35 17 17 284.0 269 177 109  2 164  99 25  1	3.45

Cheney jumped the sinking ship that was the Philadelphia Phillies last year to join their superior cross-town athletic counterparts.

Well, not exactly. Initially he jumped to the Washington Nationals, but seeing that he wasn't going to make the team agreed to be

transported to the A's in exchange for third baseman Bailey Hamilton. It worked out well for both Cheney and the city of Philadelphia.

Riordan Rowell

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Cincinnati - AA	29 48 13 10 192.2 234 109  97  5  83  48  6  0	4.53
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	30  7  2  5  51.2  77  49  30  0  15  15  4  0	5.23
1901 Chicago - NL	30 23 12 11 199.2 213 105  78  6  55  65 21  1	3.52
1901 Total - NL		30 30 14 16 251.1 290 154 108  6  70  80 25  1	3.87
1902 Philadelphia - AL	31 25  3 11 136.2 162  84  59  3  49  27 11  0	3.89

Rowell won 27 games for Cincinnati one year in the 1890s but has never quite lived up to the lofty expectations generated by that

season. Last year he was just not very good and got moved out of the rotation in exchange for Pat Nihil when he was claimed from the Giants.

Pat "The Caped Crusader" Nihil

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 New York - NL	36 49 13 19 276.0 328 170 116  6  58  62 10  2	3.78
1901 New York - NL	37 31 15 14 245.0 293 151  99  6  52  81 25  0	3.64
1902 New York - NL	38 17  7 10 151.1 154  67  51  2  39  31 17  1	3.03
1902 Philadelphia - AL	38 15  7  8 118.2 122  66  46  5  31  24 11  1	3.49
1902 Total - ABA	38 32 14 18 270.0 276 133  97  7  70  55 28  2	3.23

The face of the New York Giants for so many years, Nihil was the first casualty of the new regime that was installed last July for

that club. Their loss, our gain. Nihil gives the rotation some badly needed baseball experience. He seemed to have a calming effect on the

rest of the staff and was a .500 pitcher to boot.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Jimmy Baker		31  4  2  1  28.1  29	    4  0   5   4	1.27
Chris Leroy		20  6  0  0  15.0  21	   11  0  11   5	6.60
Jim McNeiledge		34  7  4  3  63.0  55	   13  4  13  17	1.86

Catcher and First Base

David Daniel C(89)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cleveland - AA	24  84 267  74 15  1  1	 36  22	 18  29	  2 .277
1901 Philadelphia - AL	25 109 383 106 12  7  1	 47  39	 25  39	  0 .277
1902 Philadelphia - AL	26  91 283  74 13  1  2	 50  27	 14  26	  0 .261

Daniel is a solid, young backstop who has learned to call a game while his pitchers have learned to pitch them. He got a little

banged up last year but it's nothing a few extra calisthenics can't cure.

Carey Waye C(31)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cleveland - AA	25  60 126  20	4  0  0	  8   4	  4  12	  0 .159
1901 Philadelphia - AL	26  41 127  28	9  0  1	 12  13	  2  17	  0 .220
1902 Philadelphia - AL	27  31 101  24	7  1  1	 12  14	  5  11	  0 .238

Waye is slowly learning how to hit in the major leagues but he didn't come around quickly enough for manager Connie Mack, who

dispatched him to the minors in mid-season. He could still contribute if somebody gets hurt.

Gunnar Settarwal C(30)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Philadelphia - AL	21  34	98  23	0  1  0	 11  11	  2  12	  0 .235

Settarwal wasn't exactly a superstar either but he is six youngers than Waye and about twice as fast in morning sprints.

Ron Eshelman 1B(140)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cleveland - AA	32 150 539 142 26  7  5	 59  64	 68  29	  2 .263
1901 Philadelphia - AL	33 133 505 134 40  8  5	 71  88	 80  58	  1 .265
1902 Philadelphia - AL	34 140 556 163 38  8  1	 74  77	 63  43	  1 .293

Eshelman played in every inning of every game for the A's last year. Going into the season, he also made the decision to watch fewer

pitches go by and as a result he had his best year in a long, long time. Another good year like this will push Eshelman over the 2,000 hit

and 400 doubles plateaus (he has 1,849 hits and 388 doubles right now). Given that he's hit 68 more 2-baggers than the next guy, he is sure

to be the first to reach the latter mark.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Biff Minion		29   7  28   5	1  0  0	  5   1	  0   5   0 .179 C(7)

Infield

George Marshall 2B(135) AL Gold Glove

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 New York - NL	18  63 218  57	7  0  1	 28  27	 10  31	 13 .261
1902 Philadelphia - AL	19 135 599 171	7  1  0	 36  78	 14  47	 33 .285

Marshall still has another year to go before he can lawfully purchase alcoholic beverages, so we do not mind terribly much that he has so far been not much more than a singles hitter with a nice glove. Marshall has all the tools to be the greatest 2nd baseman of all time.

Jerry Miller 3B(119)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Philadelphia - AL	26 125 474 111	9  7  1	 54  38	 14  41   4 .234
1902 Philadelphia - AL	27 122 447 125 11  2  2	 49  47	 24  37	 10 .280

Miller solved one problem about his game last year when he hiked his average up 46 points but he still has huge questions about him. In his 2 major league seasons he has committed 51 and 52 errors respectively. We can't be too hard on him because after all he does get his uniform dirty but this cannot continue.

Norman Dobbins 3B(25), 2B(5), SS(4)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Louisville - AA	23  95 268  92 16  7  1	 38  46	 28  17   6 .343
1902 Philadelphia - AL	25  41 131  20	5  0  0	 10   8	  4   8   4 .153

Dobbins had a fantastic 1900, but broke his ankle in spring training 1901 and just wasn't the same person last year. He was nominally the man traded for Ning Zhang and Kevin MacKeochan but in reality those folks were moved to avoid a Philadelphia city injunction.

Ty Graham SS(136)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - NL	28 142 565 156 17 13  5	 61 104	 60  23	 10 .276
1901 Philadelphia - AL	29 124 483 131 19  7  3	 49  92	 62  16	  6 .271
1902 Philadelphia - AL	30 136 560 159 22  8  4	 39  95	 63  30	 16 .284

When you see Graham's .284 average, you may think "ho hum, another above average slap hitter". You would be wrong. Graham finished 1st or 2nd among all AL shortstops in every major category. His 95 runs were 3rd among *all* American Leaguers, quite an accomplishment considering the fielding demands of the position. He also led all AL shortstops in errors, but that's what happens when you get to a lot of balls.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
(none)

Outfield

Ross MacKerlich LF(96), RF(41)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Philadelphia - AL	20  62 238  73	5  0  4	 42  28	 11  27	  3 .307
1902 Philadelphia - AL	21 136 580 156 21  8  8	 85  86	 22  74	  2 .269

In some ways, MacKerlich's sophomore effort was a let-down. In others, he continued his clutch ways, leading the AL in RBIs and finishing a close 2nd in home runs. He also led the league in strikeouts, so he has room to improve.

Jerry Caples LF(24), CF(2), RF(2)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Chicago - NL	25 113 457 132 25 11  1	 53  60	 25  59	 14 .289
1902 Philadelphia - AL	26  46 128  29	7  2  0	 22  11	  6  14	  3 .227

Caples kangarooed from the lowly Cubs but proved that he is nothing more than a cold-weather hitter. Even with a club that only faintly sniffed contention, he proved not to be able to handle the pressure.

Doonan Elmes RF(81), LF(16), CF(14)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Philadelphia - NL	25 142 508 149 16  9  2	 72  60	 35  40	 11 .293
1901 Philadelphia - AL	26 132 489 149 21  4  3	 58  69	 43  47	 14 .305
1902 Philadelphia - AL	27 112 434 135 10  5  8	 59  67	 41  31	 11 .311

Elmes suffered a nasty facial injury from a hit by pitch in early September and is expected to be out until around the 2nd week of spring training. He has been more or less carrying this team's offense over the past 2 years so we are definitely crossing our fingers in hopes that he won't become a casualty like Norm Dobbins.

Dan Leaf CF(96), RF(4), LF(2)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cincinnati - AA	26  86 213  65 10  4  0	 16  30	 11  10	 12 .305
1901 Philadelphia - AL	27 136 580 149 29 13  1	 54  88	 24  69	 27 .257
1902 Philadelphia - AL	28 105 386 103 15  7  1	 47  50	 20  39	 22 .267

Last year may not have looked like Leaf's best season, but it was the year that he finally put aside all the doubts others have had in the forms of striking out too often and making reckless decisions on the basepaths. He wasn't great but he was good. Manager Connie Mack shuffled the outfield around constantly. As such, his 94 games started in center was the highest total for any OFer at any one position.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
John Duley		29  30	71  22	1  0  0	10   10	  6   6   1 .310 RF(15)
Ken McKichan		35  41 153  32	1  4  0	13   22	  4  10  13 .209 CF(28), LF(4)

Syd Thrift · 11-01-2007, 07:13 PM

Overview: It not be easy to talk like a Pirate. Nar. But talk - and use thar typewriter contraption - we must because it be our chance to discuss our team. We are not like those dorky idiot semi-pirates that solve a bunch of puzzles and collect thar booty only to spend it on pastel-colored clothing. No, we make ye walk the plank if ye talk like that. We had thar National League pennant stolen from us, we say, and that will not happen again.0

Pitching

Samuel Oullette

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Pittsburgh - NL	24 42 23 15 327.2 349 150 111  6  72 133 22  4	3.05
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	25 35 17 18 304.1 277 133  88  5  76 166 32  1	2.60
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	26 42 22 16 334.2 337 157 108  5  71 131 33  1	2.90

Oullette had another onna them solid seasons that make us happy he's our staff ace. From here on out we are calling him the Staff Buccaneer. For that's what he is.

Teh-Huai Wang

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Pittsburgh - NL	25 79  5  9 138.2 152  70  54  0  36  74  0  0	3.50
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	26 34 16  7 219.0 193  86  65  1  58 118 18  2	2.67
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	27 38 15 16 283.0 260 137  93  6  63 149 25  2	2.96

What do we do with a drunken Teh-Huai? Wang actually doesn't drink a whole lot, at least compared to his teammates, but that be close to the title of onna our sea shanties. We pirates love to sing. Wang does not love starting for a full season, but what kinda job does he expect? Swabbin' the poop deck if this keeps up.

Kenneth Cudlip

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	20 36 18 15 307.2 300 136  89  7  78 172 32  2	2.60
1902 Pittsburgh - ABA	21 29 19  7 235.2 192  80  59  4  43 106 24  6	2.25

This landlubber hurt his arm on September 1 and missed the rest o' thar year. We be worried, for it's the kind of arm hurtin' ya can't just rub some seawater on and hope that it's better. Up until that point, he be darn near the best Pirate on the mound.

Jim "Checkmate" McNeiledge

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Philadelphia - NL	32 45 19 22 367.1 391 168 125  6 101 108 23  5	3.06
1901 Philadelphia - AL	33 35 18 16 294.0 314 161 112  4  60 117 29  5	3.43
1902 Philadelphia - AL	34  7  4  3  63.0  55  20  13  4  13  17  7  0	1.86
1902 Philadelphia - NL	34  4  2  2  31.0  34  21  13  1   7   9  3  0	3.77
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	34 26 17  7 222.2 211  87  65  2  29  64 22  3	2.63
1902 Total - ABA	34 37 23 12 316.2 300 128  91  7  49  90 32  3	2.59

Checkmate did see him some sights last year. First he jumped back from the Americanners to the Nationals in Phil-ar-delphia, then he threatened to flip back so they traded him to us hearty mates for a washed-up Chris Tippett and a sack of doubloons. We were happy with him and don't mind if we do put him back in thar rotation next year.

Patrick Pearse

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	24 14  6  7 121.1 114  61  42  0  46  41 13  2	3.12

Pearse looked alright but he just wasn't quite ready. Landlubbers had better look out, for it won't be long until he'll be blowin' away people with his drop-shoot and another pitch he throws that we will keep secret.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Kerry Osbaldeston	29 10  3  4  61.1  62      24  1   7  11	3.52
Chris Tippett		34  3  0  1   9.1   6	    2  0   5   1	1.93

Catcher and First Base

Mark Miller C(85)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - NL	26 129 502 172 14  4  7	 78  83	 33  27	  0 .343
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	28  93 332  93 13  2  0	 45  33	 16  14	  0 .280

Miller spent all of 1901 in bed recovering from a head injury he suffered at the end of spring training. Bleedin' ugly, it was. We thought he was a goner, at least from baseball. Fortunately for us he came back and had a good year, considerin'. We pirates don't like ta make excuses, but holy bejeezers.

Alfred Eberhart C(49)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - NL	27  92 149  33	4  1  0	 22  14	 11  13	  1 .221
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	28  63 207  59 11  8  2	 29  34	 17  22	  0 .285
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	29  56 191  48	8  4  1	 31  23	 15  13	  0 .251

Eberhart is a fine specimen of a backup backstop. Yar har har! We made a funny!

Mark Lucott 1B(140)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - NL	27 154 636 208 28  6  4	106  96	 61  29	  3 .327
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	28 137 548 173 29  9  3	 83  71	 51  34	  0 .316
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	29 140 590 176 31  5  4	 92  84	 59  16	  3 .298

Lucott has missed 3 games in the past 3 years. He strikes out as often as he sits down, and in the field has been known to pull on a man's belt as he's taggin' up for second base. He's our kinda Pirate.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Ray Ellis		21  10	48  12	1  4  0	  7   4	  1   3   0 .250 C(10)

Infield

Tim William 2B(92), SS(51)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Chicago - AA	32 143 507 155 17  7  4	 50 111	 87  17	 28 .306
1901 Chicago - NL	33  34 123  29	3  3  1	 15  20	 19   6	  4 .236
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	33  95 376 125 11 10  5	 48  68	 44  18	  6 .332
1901 Total - NL		33 129 499 154 14 13  6	 63  88	 63  24	 10 .309
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	34 135 503 140 26 12  5	 98  83	 74  16	 19 .278

Scurvy dogs like Tim William don't get older, they just get... ar, I suppose they do get older. But they stay good as they get old. William had the pirate's gift of clutch last season, leadin' his league in ribeyes for the second time in his career and just missing 100.

Gianlucca Pezzo 2B(59)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - AA	22 132 497 131 11  6  3	 66  84	 46  30	 14 .264
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	23 120 455  98 12 10  1	 52  68	 42  54	  9 .215
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	24  60 184  36	5  2  0	 20  23	 14  13	  3 .196

Pezzo is a surehanded second baseman that the Pirates would love to continue to start at the position, but he just can't hit enough to avoid walking the plank. Last year he committed 2 errors in 296 chances, which is great if you are not a landlubber.

George "Smooth" Theodore 3B(133)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - AA	23 146 559 172 20  6 12	 96  90	 81  23	  0 .308
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	24  74 266  75 15  4  5	 45  37	 53  15	  0 .282
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	25 133 480 143 23  6  2	 65  93	117  10	  1 .298

Just because the sportswriters ignore Smooth Theodore does not mean that pitchers do the same. Last year he led all of baseball in free passes to first base. Even though he's only stolen one base in 3 years - is this the way a pirate acts? - he also just missed scoring a hundred times last year. A finer third baseman there could not be.

Monk Eastman SS(92)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	21   5	18   3	0  0  0	  1   2	  0   3	  2 .167
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	22  92 324  89 13  1  1	 42  42	 36  29	  1 .275

Eastman's scary visage, complete with wide mustache, makes him in many ways the Ultimate Pirate. He does not clout the ball like some of his teammates, though, so for now that honor shall be kept.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Shane Rathmell		27  26	70  11	1  1  1	  7   8	  0   4   1 .157 3B(10), SS(9), 2B(4), 1B(1)

Outfield

David Cook LF(131) NL Rookie of the Year

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	20  29	73  24	3  1  0	 11  15	  4   8	  0 .329
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	21 134 571 172 29  7  1	 70  78	 38  36	  6 .301

Boy, did John Choate pick a bad year to get hurted up. His replacement David Cook came in and looked nearly as good as Choate ever did at the plate - okay, perhaps that is overstating things, but you know how we pirates get - and far, far better afield than the fumble-fingered superstar. As a result, Choate is likely headed to yet another team.

Johnston "Captain Kid" Long CF(127) NL Most Valuable Player

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - AA	22 143 535 165 20  7 11	 62 136	133  26	 53 .308
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	23 138 540 174 25 18  7	 58 120	112  44	 28 .322
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	24 128 517 175 25 16  8	 63 125	101  19	 59 .338

Although for a couple months it looked like Long might actually manage to finish the season reaching base on more than half of his trips at bat before he slumped a little, it is hard to call last year a disappointment. Long proved that he is still growing as a ballplayer. He says he won't stop until the Pirates win a World Series or he "gets in on some of that Bluebeard action", 'twatever that should mean.

Ned Kelly Jr. RF(124)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Pittsburgh - AA	22  32	50  18	1  0  2	 15  13	  8   3	  1 .360
1901 Pittsburgh - NL	23 117 493 128 22  8  6	 63  77	 44  29	  8 .260
1902 Pittsburgh - NL	24 124 509 156 38 19  8	 82  95	 55  32	 10 .306

If there was such an award as "Sophomore of the Year", we suspect Ned Kelly would have won it, aye. Then again, there are so many young players on the Pirates roster that maybe they would have awarded it to someone else instead. Then we would have stolen it, for we are pirates.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
John Bebbington		38  40	92  22	1  0  2	 13   6	  2   5   2 .239 CF(15), RF(5), LF(2)
Jon Wellwood		27  53 117  35	5  4  0	 11  17	  6   8   3 .299 RF(15), LF(8)

Syd Thrift · 11-02-2007, 01:02 AM

Overview: Pitching and defense, that is the name of the saintly game. We have come to the conclusion that the best way to preach our Word to the masses is by deflecting their team's hitting and causing their driven orbs to fall lightly into our fielders' hands, and then pushing just enough of our own runs across to be victorious. A 2-0 victory means just as much in the standings as a 14-5 one, after all, but only the former will cause people to look back upon the game as a turning point in their lives. We were nearly victorious in this aim last year despite losing some of our less saintly men, and we feel we can only be better in the years to come. That was our third 2nd place finish in 5 years. The bridesmaids will become the brides soon. Just you wait.

Pitching

Mike "Saint" Hebert

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Saint Louis - AA	29 46 24 19 363.1 386 170 132  0 103 125 22  4	3.27
1901 Saint Louis - NL	30 12  2  4  62.1  80  47  32  0  19  23  3  0	4.62
1902 Saint Louis - NL	31 37 23 13 319.0 296 118  77  0  87  89 33  3	2.17

Mike Hebert was dispatched to the minor leagues for much of 1902 and told to find a way to control his fast pitch, for to the Cardinals control is a virtue. He returned a changed man, and we can only suppose there will be more of this in the future.

Trevor Munzie

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Saint Louis - NL	20 23 13 10 196.2 207 105  65  5  67  92 21  2	2.97
1902 Saint Louis - NL	21 35 24 10 302.2 261 104  75  4  73  55 33  4	2.23

Trevor Munzie is not like most young phenoms. He lacks a blinding "cyclone" style out pitch, preferring to spread the divine glory of the assist and the put-out to the men behind him. He is still a highly effective player, though, and the fact that he does not expend himself on any one batter allows him to complete nearly every game that he starts.

Dan Hanson

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Saint Louis - AA	21 26  7  6  83.1 104  62  40  2  46  21  1  0	4.32
1901 Saint Louis - NL	22  5  3  2  41.1  44  23  12  0  28  21  3  1	2.61
1902 Saint Louis - NL	23 35 15 17 290.2 252 124  77  3 130  77 29  3	2.38

If Dan Hanson has a fault, it is that he lacks the kind of oratory skills that Trevor Munzie and Saint Herbert possess. Rather than deliver a stunning speech before each game that moves his teammates to score enough runs behind him to win, he rather hopes that they'll do well. We think this is a skill he will acquire over time.

Gianfrocco "The Love Hunter" Amocacci

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Saint Louis - NL	26  4  0  0   4.1   4	3   1  0   1   2  0  0	2.08
1902 Saint Louis - NL	27 29 15 10 227.1 168  81  45  4  72  62 22  3	1.78

Amocacci, whose name literally does mean "the hunter of love" in his native Italian, quickly became a fan favorite with his "all or nothing, deus vult" attitude. He might have been the most effective pitcher on the team when he did pitch, although it took him a month or so to get settled into the rotation.

Coffey O'Malley

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 New York - NL	30 65 23 14 340.1 321 126  91 10 105  93 15  0	2.41
1901 New York - NL	31 12  5  6 102.1 109  46  36  3  21  33  9  1	3.17
1901 Cincinnati - NL	31 19 12  6 159.0 191 102  80  4  65  49 15  1	4.53
1901 Total - NL		31 31 17 12 261.1 300 148 116  7  86  82 24  2	3.99
1902 Saint Louis - NL	32 19  6  7 135.2 135  72  62  4  57  41 12  0	4.11

For every man who finds the right way, it is necessary to point out those who have gone down the wrong path. We expected good things from Coffey O'Malley, who was 40-26 in the 2 years leading up to 1902. Sadly, he proved himself unable to keep his fast ball or his slow ball from meandering their way outside of the strike zone and as such was relegated to occasional relief appearances by July.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
(none)

Catcher and First Base

Scott Syrett C(98)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - NL	28 129 468 137 16  3  0	 49  61	 27  35	  0 .293
1901 Saint Louis - NL	29 108 391 102 17  3  1	 44  30	 24  51	  0 .261
1902 Saint Louis - NL	30 101 385  98	9  1  0	 44  25	  8  31	  0 .255

Do not look for Scott Syrett to deliver 5 hits in a lopsided blow-out victory. Syrett is more the type who approaches each game with a kind of stoic calm, whose ability to stay in this league is predicated on avoidance of mistakes. It may be time for another to take the majority of catcher starts for this team, but that is no knock on Syrett.

Horst Verhaar C(43)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Cleveland - AA	23  20	71  16	2  1  2	 10  11	  5   6	  0 .225
1901 Saint Louis - NL	24  34 124  29	3  1  0	 11  13	  6  22	  0 .234
1902 Saint Louis - NL	25  54 184  45 10  1  0	 24  15	  6  20	  0 .245

Verhaar might just be positioning himself to take over the starting job. He has beatifically raised his average by 10 points each of the last two seasons and in addition he set a career high by throwing out a full 40.3% of all baserunners rude enough to steal on the Cardinals.

Paul "No Comment" Woolcock 1B(115)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - AA	29 104 356 128 17  7  2	 55  52	 16  22	  8 .360
1901 Saint Louis - NL	30 140 570 189 33 17  3	 69  83	 28  72	 28 .332
1902 Saint Louis - NL	31 122 502 128 19  4  1	 52  59	 18  44	 35 .255

After years of being the kind of players teams held their nose for in the field so they could take advantage of his hitting talents, Woolcock finally appeared to have found a position suited for him. Sadly, he may be the kind of person who needs "drama" in their lives; he chose to be very average with the bat following four seasons in which he did not once hit under .332. In the last month, Woody Randles had taken over his position.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
(none)

Infield

Dave "Dominicani" Bulwer 2B(93)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - AA	29 154 628 191 21 13  8	 69 127	125   6	  0 .304
1901 Saint Louis - NL	30 116 422 124 19 10  2	 42  69	 82   7	 57 .294
1902 Saint Louis - NL	31  94 369 105 17  6  6	 43  79	 60   4	 65 .285

Just having the Dominicani in the lineup for a whole year might be enough to push this team over the top. Bulwer suffered a knee injury last year that forced him to miss almost 2 months of time, but he came back even better than before. Was it divine intervention? That is between us and our clergy-men.

Woody Randles 3B(62), 2B(39), 1B(27), SS(12)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	25 142 524 143 16 10 10	 56  74	 67  35	 16 .273
1901 Washington - AL	26 139 531 160 28 12 11	 78 115	111  19	  9 .301
1902 Saint Louis - NL	27 137 506 153 21  9 13	 80  86	104  17	 19 .302

Randles was nothing if not earnest. He never once complained, even as the requirements of the team had him play all around the infield. He was best at first base, decent at second, not good at third, and awful at shortstop. Next year we expect him to have a single role, even if it means trading somebody else.

John "The Primary" Acton 3B(79)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	29 142 535 126 20  6  8	 62  69	 48  33	  2 .236
1901 Washington - AL	30   7	 5   1	1  0  0	  2   0	  1   0	  0 .200
1901 Chicago - AL	30 106 393 104 22  6  4	 46  61	 36  35	  1 .265
1901 Total - AL		30 113 398 105 23  6  4	 48  61	 37  35	  1 .264
1902 Saint Louis - NL	31  90 279  54 10  1  4	 29  27	 43  18	  1 .194

Some critics have said that it was the Primary, John Acton, who was responsible for the team not getting over the hump last year. They don't understand how badly Woody Randles played the position. Do not get us wrong, the man tried, but he was simply not suited for 3rd base. Acton kept the defense in the game, even if his bat was, shall we say, "holy".

Brian Roadley SS(115), 2B(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1902 Saint Louis - NL	26 116 368  63	9  4  1  37  38	 12  34	  7 .171

The 26-year old Roadley finally got a chance to play in the majors, but his first may have also been his last. In addition to not hitting at all, he really wasn't that terrific with the glove either.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Roger DeMowbray		32  56 	88  15	5  0  0	  5   7	  3   7   3 .170 SS(49), 3B(2), 2B(2)
Cal Roddis		29   7	29   7	0  0  0	  2   2	  0   2   1 .241 2B(5), SS(1)

Outfield

Galimberto Eccelino LF(94) NL Gold Glove LF

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Philadelphia - NL	29 131 386  88 18  4  8	 39  61	 45  31	 11 .228
1901 Philadelphia - NL	30  17	26  10	0  2  0	  1   7	  4   4	  1 .385
1901 Saint Louis - NL	30  20	56  14	4  0  1	 11   7	  5   7	  0 .250
1901 Total - NL		30  37	82  24	4  2  1	 12  14	  9  11	  1 .293
1902 Saint Louis - NL	31 105 354  83 12  9  6	 54  62	 58  24	  9 .234

Eccelino was expected to be a good clutch hitter who could occasionally play in the field but turned out to be precisely the opposite. Pressed into regular duty, he continued to fail to provide hits - this is the same man, remember, who scored 150 runs in 1899 - but shined the glove in such a great manner that despite only playing in the field 2 out of 3 games he won the league Gold Glove award.

Cooley Wellwood LF(48), RF(2)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - AA	29 101 135  46	8  1  0	 25  16	 11  12	  1 .341
1901 Saint Louis - NL	30  55 186  48	9  5  1	 25  28	 18  12	  7 .258
1902 Saint Louis - NL	31  81 223  60 16  0  1	 25  20	 14  19	  2 .269

Wellwood and Eccelino provided an excellent "platoon" combination in 1902 - Wellwood played when the team needed an offensive spark, Eccelino when the defense would be the name of the game. Although the team would likely be better served by having one man in there at all times, the club has more pressing needs at the moment.

Fred Jacobsen CF(108)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Philadelphia - NL	24 115 498 123 13 11  8	 39  90	 37  48	 50 .247
1901 Philadelphia - NL	25  71 301  74 10  2 11	 34  53	 27  35	 21 .246
1901 Saint Louis - NL	25  43 169  34	2  3  1	  8  23	 19  29	 11 .201
1901 Total - NL		25 114 470 108 12  5 12	 42  76	 46  64	 32 .230
1902 Saint Louis - NL	26 110 409  71 10  6  8	 37  53	 29  30	 34 .174

Only 27 years of age, Fred Jacobsen is at a crossroads. He fielded daintily enough to earn his 5th consecutive Gold Glove in center field, but he hit so poorly even we had to take notice. Can he ever learn to bat? In St. Louis, we can always hope that a leopard can change his spots. It will take lots and lots of prayer.

Dace MacSporran CF(48), RF(1), LF(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Saint Louis - NL	23  24 109  35	2  2  0	 10  16	  4   8	  7 .321
1902 Saint Louis - NL	24  57 150  33	7  3  0	 15  22	  5  17  13 .220

MacSporran was hitting .351 in the minors and had done well in a September call-up the year before, so the Cardinals expected that he would provide the spark that Jacobsen lacked. Strangely, he did not hit well in the majors. That could be due to his feeling overmatched in center (he played right field before this year), but whatever it is, if he can fix the issue the CF job is his.

Toby Mudd RF(138)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Saint Louis - AA	24 103 235  67	6  2  3	 36  37	 31  13	  1 .285
1901 Saint Louis - NL	25 110 419 126 20  2  4	 54  54	 39  39   6 .301
1902 Saint Louis - NL	26 140 577 191 19  6  5	 81  92	 35  38	 12 .331

With so many players around him floundering at the plate, it was wonderful to see Toby Mudd make the transition from solid starter into star. Leading the entire National League in hits with 191, he finished a close 2nd to Pittsburgh's Johnston Long in average and was among the top 10 in both runs scored and runs batted in. With him and Dave Bulwer anchoring this lineup, these Cardinals cannot go wrong.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
(none)

Syd Thrift · 11-02-2007, 12:03 PM

Overview: It appears that our penchant for diplomacy may have gotten the better of us in 1902. Is it a bad thing to want to ensure that the entire American League is able to prosper? Please bear that in mind, gentle reader, when you remember some of the trades that we made. At one point, for example, we had 6 starting pitchers but only needed 4. Sure, we could have used those extra 2 people later on, but Philadelphia was able to utilize them immediately and as a result we have a clear victory in one of the battleground cities. We believe we are still first in the American League, if not in wins then by leadership.

Pitching

Bob Cummins

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Washington - AA	26 13  7  5 110.2 110  37  21  0  12  34 10  1	1.71
1901 Washington - AL	27 31 18 11 274.0 259 129  81  3  30 102 28  0	2.66
1902 Washington - AL	28 36 19 14 315.0 313 139  86  3  50  68 28  2	2.46

One of the things that we should have accounted for, in retrospect, was that in moving from a 5-man staff with one in the bull pen to a 4 man staff, some of the pitchers would not hold up so well. Cummins was actually an exception to this, but his ability sometimes highlighted the inability of other, supposedly better pitchers to "bring it" every 4th day instead of every 5th.

John "Losing Pitcher" Putnam

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Washington - AA	32 47 23 16 333.2 336 140  92  2  72 108  5  2	2.48
1901 Washington - AL	33 33 26  7 286.1 249  90  60  2  41 121 31  5	1.89
1902 Washington - AL	34 36 17 18 297.2 335 161 120  5  64  92 27  0	3.63

Putnam lived up to his formerly ironic nickname in '03. The career 230 game winner gave up almost twice as many runs as before, struck out fewer batters, walked more people, gave up a lot more hits, and overall looked nothing like the superstar he was in 1902. He is, sad to say, getting to an age where a regression like that may be permanent.

Chet Kinser

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Philadelphia - NL	26 34 19 11 259.1 240  91  57  7  57  74 27  3	1.98
1902 Washington - AL	27 32 17 12 283.2 289 121  80  5  33  60 26  2	2.54

After Washington so dominated the league in 1901, several players from the old league came over to us asking for a job. Decisions had to be made. Maybe we should have sent Chet Kinser to Philadelphia instead of Rube Lindsley, but Kinser was no slouch himself and young Connie Mack was so excited over the speed of Lindsley's fast pitch... ah well. One cannot spend too much time second-guessing, as it leads to inaction.

Brian "Heavy" Pike

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Washington - AA	29 49 20 16 394.2 355 167  96  1  73 156 23  2	2.19
1901 Washington - AL	30 32 20 11 287.0 229 110  56  1  37 148 28  4	1.76
1902 Washington - AL	31 16  9  7 136.1 121  55  31  0  21  61 14  2	2.05

It was a trying year for Heavy Pike. For the first 2 months of the season he pitched decently but had little to show for his efforts. Then, following a masterful effort against the Athletics he was carrying a no-hitter into the 6th inning against the Cleveland Blues when he felt a tearing sensation in his arm and was suddenly unable to pitch. His doctor says he'll be back by spring training. We hope so.

Dennis Culler

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1901 Detroit - AL	30  5  1  0   6.0   4	0   0  0   1   1  0  0	0.00
1902 Detroit - AL	31 16  6  0  70.0  61  28  19  2  17  16  4  1	2.44
1902 Washington - AL	31 15  9  5 132.0 137  61  48  3  24  48 12  0	3.27
1902 Total - AL		31 31 15  5 202.0 198  89  67  5  41  64 16  1	2.99

We gave up an awful lot (2 prospects, including starter Ken Wilson) for a 31-year-old rooky, but he did pitch well for us and trades like this were part of our overall league-building strategy. It does no good to dominate a league that then folds under that domination. Better to utilize something akin to democracy and give every team a chance. Anyway, Culler did a highly decent job in both Detroit and the Capitol.

Marvin Jones

Code:

Year Team		Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
1900 Washington - AA	30 52  6  7  84.0  74  43  31  1  32  22  0  0	3.32
1901 Washington - AL	31 17  2  4  44.1  31  19   3  0   9  26  0  0	0.61
1902 Washington - AL	32 28  5  2  63.1  49  15  11  0  10  35  0  0	1.56

Jones is the last of a dying breed: the bull pen specialist. With so many starting pitchers nowadays demanding the glory of the complete game and the victory that is all theirs and none of the rest of the team's, men like Jones have become completely scarce. Either they convince their masters to let them start a few (and are never as effective as they once were in relief) or they drift away to a minor league or a "real" job. It takes a special kind of man to pitch just 28 games in a season, doing little more than bailing out his cohorts when they get into a mess.

Everyone Else

Code:

Name			Age G  W  L    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO CG Sh   ERA
Aleksander Kerensky	23  2  1  1  18.0  15	    4  0  10   5	2.00
Ken Wilson		25  4  1  3  33.2  45	   20  0  11  10	5.35

Catcher and First Base

Raphael 'The Vowel' Pollaiuolo C(96), 1B(1), LF(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	20  84 132  32	4  1  0	 10  10	 13  12	  0 .242
1901 Washington - AL	21  71 219  69	3  3  1	 28  32	 32  20	  0 .315
1902 Washington - AL	22  99 378 104 20  0  2	 32  66	 41  22	  0 .275

The Vowel finds new ways to confound his opponents every year. Last year he introduced a new skill of acquiring two-base hits. This came at the expense of batting average, but he's so young that he stands a great chance of gaining that loss right back.

Ossan Waithman C(44)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	28 129 499 147 18  4  0	 33  57	 11  35	  3 .295
1901 Washington - AL	29  82 302  78 10  1  0	 28  35	 22  30	  1 .258
1902 Washington - AL	30  54 171  60	6  2  0	 29  23	  7  12	  1 .351

Waithman turned just about anything in the vicinity of the plate into a ball in play last year and this had a grand effect on his average. The man is a .314 career hitter who definitely deserves to start somewhere. Hmm.

Matt Barlow 1B(140) AL Gold Glove 1B

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	33 154 579 173 19  7  7	 81  82	 80  46	 25 .299
1901 Washington - AL	34  87 336 113	3  2  9	 53  70	 52  24	 15 .336
1902 Washington - AL	35 140 586 194 15  4  8	 60  98	 57  39	 49 .331

This is how you come back from an injury. Barlow has turned into more of a singles-hitting phenomenon rather than the power source he was earlier in his career, but you can't argue with a lifetime .333 average and a hit total of 1,925 that is the second highest in baseball history. On top of that, he was even named the best fielder at his position last year.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Bill Young		35  29  26   9	2  1  0	  9   6	  3   4   1 .346 1B(3)

Infield

Kayne McMartin 2B(140)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	29  97 376 101 13 11  4	 54  42	 34  21	  7 .269
1901 Washington - AL	30 107 417 150 26 16  4	 78  67	 42  20	  4 .360
1902 Washington - AL	31 140 548 175 31  5  7	 82  93	 73  25	 26 .319

McMartin did not exactly replace the kangaroo mountebank known as Woody Randles, but he did play the position and provide nearly as much offensive power as the 1901 AL MVP did. He also provides a love of diplomacy that was tempered by so many years in that communist city of evil known as Cincinnati.

Bailey Hamilton 3B(88), SS(1) AL Gold Glove 3B

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Brooklyn - NL	25  89 376 115 17  7  5	 38  57	 24  41	 15 .306
1901 Philadelphia - AL	26  89 354 102 10 13  3	 58  50	 25  40	  6 .288
1902 Washington - AL	27 100 349  97 13  3  2	 62  47	 36  26	 12 .278

Talk of stocking the rest of the league is based in truth but we also expected big things from Mister Hamilton. Unfortunately, we were largely disappointed. Remember, we picked him up as much to keep what we thought would be a rising star from jumping back to the National as anything else. He did field the position more than adequately, as evidenced by his Gold Glove.

Rowan Dillon 3B(50), SS(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Chicago - NL	25 147 612 208 23  8  7	 70 140	 94  32	 69 .340
1901 Cleveland - AL	26  70 269  72	8  5  3	 45  45	 35  25	  8 .268
1902 Cleveland - AL	27  45 179  55	9  3  2	 23  35	 22   8	 16 .307
1902 Washington - AL	27  50 196  43	3  1  1	 20  32	 28   8	 14 .219
1902 Total - AL		27  95 375  98 12  4  3	 43  67	 50  16	 30 .261

Dillon was brought in to replace the too-mediocre Bailey Hamilton but ended up being the biggest disappointment on the team. We expected something akin to his blazing 1900 season - his 140 runs scored are still the highest total this decade - but instead we got a guy who could not or would not poke singles through the infield. What will happen at the "hot corner" next year will be decided in spring training.

Don Croom SS(115), 3B(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	28   2	 1   1	0  0  0	  0   0	  0   0	  01.000
1901 Washington - AL	29  43 129  34	4  5  0	 10  14	  9  11	  2 .264
1902 Washington - AL	30 115 422 106 20  3  1	 78  46	 29  36	 11 .251

Croom is not a long-term solution by any means but as a stopgap he did what he was supposed to do: not embarrass himself at the plate and field better than Jim Trafford.

Jim "The Ceylon Cyclone" Trafford SS(35), 3B(3)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	25  69 154  34	5  4  0	 22  18	  6  12	  2 .221
1901 Washington - AL	26 139 544 141 25  9  0	 78  60	 16  46	  5 .259
1902 Washington - AL	27  44 122  33	4  2  0	 18  16	  3  14	  2 .270

It was back to the bench for Ceylon's only major leaguer in 1902. Trafford did manage to hit a career-best .270 while backing up Don Croom.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Jeremy McCullogh	28   4	 3   1	0  0  0	  0   0	  0   0	  0 .333 SS(1)

Outfield

Donoghue Boffin LF(128)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	25  74 226  63	4  6  0	 26  19	 14  17	  7 .279
1901 Washington - AL	26  58 212  65 14  5  1	 28  35	 19  18	  6 .307
1902 Washington - AL	27 128 573 172 20  8  3	 52  89	 43  30	 19 .300

Boffin, a converted second baseman, proved his critics wrong in his first season as a full-time starter. He would never live up to the promise he showed in the minor leagues, they said. Well, he's living up to it now.

Yoshihito "Ichiro" Taisho CF(95)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1901 Washington - AL	25  26	97  21	2  1  0	 12  13	  4   5	  5 .216
1902 Washington - AL	26  95 353  91	9  4  1	 38  43	 16  34	 19 .258

Taisho, though he's already 26 years of age, is still maturing as a player. He fields well enough to win multiple Gold Gloves if his bat can keep him in the lineup. He's also immensely popular in his native country of Japan, which would likely lead to the sale of many seats in our stadium if we allowed that sort of rabble to buy tickets.

Ilari D'Annunzio CF(55), LF(1)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	30 116 509 147 25 10  1	 34  68	 18  23	 50 .289
1901 Washington - AL	31 114 425  90 15  4  2	 59  55	 38  35	 37 .212
1902 Washington - AL	32  58 185  36	5  6  2	 23  26	 10  13	 13 .195

It's official: D'Annunzio can no longer hit. He still has use as a defensive replacement and spare pair of legs.

Behellagh Pennefather RF(125)

Code:

Year Team/League	Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
1900 Washington - AA	26 127 277  72	8  4  3	 35  37	 33  17	 15 .260
1901 Washington - AL	27  56 205  49	8  4  3	 25  34	 29  15	  8 .239
1902 Washington - ABA	28 130 471 126 19  3  9	 38  65	 68  12	 30 .268

Pennefather as a starter looked a lot like he did as a backup. We just saw him a lot more.

Everybody Else

Code:

Player			Age  G	AB   H 2B 3B HR	RBI   R	 BB   K	 SB  AVG
Ben Hollar		34  11	35  10	0  0  0	  4   4	  1   1   0 .286 LF(9)	
Brian Pendergest	28  26	75  11	3  0  0	 11  13	 11   8  12 .147 RF(18), LF(4)

Syd Thrift · 11-02-2007, 01:18 PM

Together At Last!

The American and National Leagues have announced a truce to their ongoing war. Effective immediately, the Americans will respect the contracts that National players are under and vice versa. "It's a real win for both leagues", said Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack. "I'd much rather concentrate on knocking my opponents' heads in than knocking out a whole different league."

The parties agreed to the current set-up of two eight-team leagues. As announced, the Americans will have a team in New York City but will stay out of the Pittsburgh market (where the Louisville Colonels have been rumored to go). The league as a whole shall be governed by a three-man commission consisting of both league Presidents and Chicago Cubs owner Samuel "Bucktooth" Varmint. The two circuits will be separate and equal and have concurrently running schedules. The reserve clause will continue to be in effect, although any players who have jumped from one league to another will be held to their current contract.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly for you, dear fans, the leagues will agree to play a best-of-nine winner-take-all series between the top teams at the end of the season.

Syd Thrift · 11-02-2007, 01:26 PM

Chris Langdon Found Dead
Detroit Tigers Pitcher Committed Suicide

SAN FRANCISCO - The man known to Detroit fans as the Birmingham Bunter was found dead in his hotel room today. Self-inflicted asphyxiation seems to have been the culprit. Langdon reportedly left behind a note that blamed "women and gambling" for his untimely demise. Langdon was 14-16 last season for the Tigers. Just 26 years old, he was expected to be the anchor of their rotation.

Syd Thrift · 11-02-2007, 02:52 PM

Here's the Thrift Training in action with the first 3 teams:

Boston Beaneaters
-----------------
Manager: Jeremy Neary is pretty equal at handling each aspect of the game, as well as all three different kinds of players. Alan O'Heron badly needs a curve ball and Neary is just the man to teach him. Skills: 113/92/110 for a low C. Result: 34, an Ignore. Hope the endurance bonus helps!

Bench Coach: Hunter Batson is no great shakes at anything, but is a little better at teaching pitching. He will pass. 6/1/2007: With Carmelo "Bones" Latini hitting lights-out but not holding it up on the defensive end, the time has come to train him at the position. Skills: 76/69/191, a C. Result: Good, but will the performance morale hit make him demand a trade?

Hitting Coach: Steve Koepke is solid at teaching hitting and excels with rookies and regular players. Eric McNeice is not known for working hard but he is smart. He'll try to learn Open Stance. Skills: 139/144/132, for a C. Well, he's not going to last long without a change anyway. Result: a 46, just barely enough for "Good". McNeice may still have a career yet!

Pitching Coach: Dean Martin isn't the greatest pitching coach in the world and is best suited for youngsters. He'll pass.

Boston Red Sox
----------------
Manager: Jeff Sass is good at teaching both pitching and hitting and is a whiz with young players. He's the best on the team at teaching fielding, and somebody in the majors needs to learn third base. That man will be 20-year-old Kevin Adams, who is still young enough to bounce back from possible mistakes. Skills: 194/109/146, for a B. Result: 34, an ignore, meaning Adams only gains 50 points in 3rd base from "The Morgan"'s tutelage. Looks like he'll be learning the position in spring training.

Bench Coach: Ron Kays is better at teaching fielding than anything else and handles all players equally (which is not that well). Pass.

Hitting Coach: Ryan Jamfrey is all right at teaching hitting and teaches rookies better than anything else. Pass.

Pitching Coach: Bob Ives is okay at teaching pitching but does not handle rookies well. Pass.

Brooklyn Superbas
----------------
Manager: Ned Hanlon is great at teaching fielding, and handles players in their prime and vets well. He'll work on teaching farmhand Werner Oland to Choke Up because if he doesn't learn this soon he never will. Skills: 144/104/99 for a C. Result: Good. He's still not that great at avoiding 'em, but he is better.

Bench Coach: Chad Morris was a real find. The 31 year old first-year coach is good at teaching hitting and fielding and excellent with all player types. It's time Nagai Kafu made the transition from so-so second baseman to terrific slap hitter with Be Aggressive. Skills: 165/126/189 for a B. Result: Ignore. Oh well.

Hitting Coach: Sheamus Hassard is fantastic at teaching hitting to vets. He also does well in teaching the skill to rookies and regular players. He's going to try to turn Tyler Salters into a major-league quality hitter by imploring him to be aggressive (after all, it's not like he can possibly walk any less than he already is). Skills: 200/184/152, for a B that is oh so close to an A. Result: Good! Hassard does it again.

Pitching Coach: Erik Lawson is okay at teaching pitching to vets. Pass.

Syd Thrift · 11-03-2007, 10:42 PM

3 more Thrift Trainings:

Chicago Colts
----------------
Manager: Jimmy Murphy isn't really all that good at anything. He's adequate at teaching hitting and handling veterans. Since I'm making it a house rule that the managers *have* to instruct somebody on something (otherwise, why are they there?), he's going to try to save Max Bonizo's career by Opening up his Stance. Skills: 78/72/189 (I chose a stance skill specifically so I could use Bonizo's great baseball IQ) for a low C. Result: Ignore. Congratulations, Cubbies! Bonizo will now be able to dodge out of the way of any hit batsman but is otherwise unchanged.

Bench Coach: Steven Handy really should be the manager here. He's a stud at teaching pitching but is okay at the other two categories as well. He is better with young players than older ones. His mission this spring training: to teach Henry H. Laughlin a new pitch... the dropshoot (sinker). Skills are 178/149/107, good enough for a B. Result: a GREAT result! Somebody gve Steven Handy a raise!

Hitting Coach: Conroy Savery is actually not quite as good as Hardy at training hitters, and he's not as good with any of the three ages. He's going to try and teach young SS Ettore Missaghi to draw a few more walks by convincing him that Patience is the Key. Score: 146/103/140, for a B. Result: Excels!

Pitching Coach: Alan Cook is okay at teaching pitching and handles vets the best. Glenn Spiller is just about toast anyway, so teaching him the Curve Ball won't do that much harm. Skills: 117/140/143, a C. Result: Ignore. Ah well. He had a nice, long career.

Chicago White Stockings
----------------
Manager: Tim Linker is best at teaching hitting and fielding, and handles all three ages adequately. He's going to teach Frank Raines to play first base, since Raines is not a really great fielder at 2nd and 1B Dax Dickinson came out of nowhere last year and could therefore disappear right back to nowhere. Skills: 145/120/84, a C. Linker's excellence at teaching fielding overcomes Frank Raines' mediocre Work Ethic. Result: a Failure. Fortunately, all Failures in fielding mean are that the player just doesn't learn the position all that well, but Raines is also peeved at Linker for asking him to do something he didn't want to do.

Bench Coach: Gregorio Cardia isn't very good at anything. He is best at teaching pitching to vets, I guess. Pass. 3/20: With Dax Dickinson out for the first month of the regular season, Cardia will impart to Tim Gillett the secrets of first base. Skills: 48/56/125, a D. Result: Good, just barely.

Hitting Coach: Conan Robinson is still learning the ropes and is okay at teaching hitting to rookies and players in their prime. Pass for now. 5/25/2007: The White Sox are filled to the gills with infielders and as such need to teach someone to play the outfield. That someone: Branson Sellars. Skills: 109/72/60, a D. Result: A bust! Not only does he not learn the position, his stats take a hit. Bad, bad news.

Pitching Coach: Ray Burrowes is adequate at teaching pitching but doesn't really handle any of the ages well. Given that one of the reasons I created Thrift Training was to give Matt Nutt an opportunity to de-learn some of his pitches, I'm going to ignore my instinct to Pass and instead will have him unlearn the Cutter. Skills: 71/76/55. Wow, Matt Nutt is not a smart man. That's going to go off the D column. Result: Nutt surprises everyone with a Good result.

Cincinnati Reds
----------------
Manager: Keeley Murch is just a good all-around coach, but is best at teaching pitching to rookies and players in their prime. He will try to get Joshua Williams back into the pantheon of elite pitchers by teaching him how to throw the nickel curve (Slider). Skills: 180/141/99, the closest B yet. Result: Excels. This is just unfair. Cincinnati gets another great pitcher on an already solid staff.

Bench Coach: Scott Conwell is one of the best fielding coaches in the business. He is also attuned to exactly how to teach older players. Given that Ed Scalf's career is winding down, he's been entrusted to teach him the finer points of playing left field. Skills: 196/200/29. Wow. How did Scalf stay in the league this long with a Work Ethic that poor? That's a B by 6 points. Result: Good. Looks like Scalf will be playing a new position in '03.

Hitting Coach: Cory Rennison is a top-flight hitting coach. The only thing keeping him from being the best in the league is that he's only above average at handling vets and prime players. He is going to secretly and clandestinely replace Kent Cashion's bats with a special cork-filled model. Shh! Don't tell the commish! Skills: 197/117/169, for a highish B. If only Rennison was better at relating to vets... Result: GREAT. The ball is really flying off of Cashion's bat now!

Pitching Coach: Don Anderson is only great at teaching pitching, but that's all he's asked to do. He specializes in turning the careers of veterans around. He's going to try to stave off some of the effects of aging by teaching 35-year old Big Bill Copeland the Circle Change. Skills: 183/163/115 for a B. Result: Excels. Look out, National League!

Syd Thrift · 11-06-2007, 02:52 PM

Cleveland Blues
----------------
Manager: Darryl Davis is one of the best in the business at teaching pitching and is very solid at teaching hitting as well. He handles vets and prime players the best but is great with rookies as well. He's going to teach Bill Hawkins the forkball (I'd teach him the nickel curve/slider but he doesn't throw fast enough), as he is about to go under the threshold at which the game won't let you effectively start. Skills: 200/182/128 for a high B. Result: Excels.

Bench Coach: Mac Bergstrom doesn't really do anything well. Keep him away from hitters. Since there isn't much to lose, he will teach Chad Werrett the art of first base. Skills: 62/74/198 for a C that would have been a D if it weren't for Werrett's great work ethic. Result: Good. Looks like Werrett will be backing up first this year.

Hitting Coach: Bartolome Grafals is also not very good. But he is also cheap! Pass.

Pitching Coach: Colson isn't that great either. Looks like this is pretty much a one-man coaching staff. Pass.

Detroit Tigers
----------------
Manager: Bryan Mertz is pretty good at all three skills, particularly hitting, and does not handle veterans well. His mission: to teach Bob "Pencil Case" Trantham the art of patience. It's a risky move but the kind of thing a young team needs to do. Skills: 129/118/9. Mertz is, how shall we say, stubborn. Yes, Trantham has a 9 work ethic. Yikes. Incidentally, they get a D. Result: Failure.

Bench Coach: Griffin Salomans is really only useful teaching vets how to pitch. Pass. 3/18: With their starting SS out for the next 3 months, Griffin will attempt to instruct 3B Max Fitzgerald in the ways of the position. Skills: 44/90/33, a D. Result: a Failure, which still means he gets a *little* extra experience at the position but is not happy about the ordeal.

Hitting Coach: Richard Canavan has even less utility than Salomans. He is mediocre at teaching rookies how to hit. Pass.

Pitching Coach: Bill Davis is okay at teaching rookies and players how to pitch. Pass.

Louisville Colonels
----------------
Manager: For a reigning league champion, Luis Sanlatte is not much of a manager. He should handle veterans only, and then just for pitching and fielding. Because he likes to tinker, he will work with Kelan Quarton on learning the Curve Ball. Skills: 83/89/27 for a D. This will not work out well. Result: A costly Failure.

Bench Coach: Vittorio Brando is adequate at teaching pitching and is best with older players. Pass.

Hitting Coach: Tim Mitchell is perhaps a better managerial candidate than Luis Sanlatte. He teaches fielding the best and works well with youngsters. He's going to teach Zander Bostic to Chop at the Ball. Skills: 105/121/170 (Bostic has a Loyalty of 180 so we used his speed instead) for a C. Result: Good. Maybe Bostic *will* be able to hold that first base job.

Pitching Coach: Benjamin Hitchcock is a one-trick pony, teaching pitching well, especially to older folk. He'll be tasked with teaching Jesse "Rawhide" MacLagan the nickel curve in an attempt to push him back into front-line quality. Skills: 150/165/86, a C thanks to MacLagan's iffy Work Ethic. Result: Good.

New York Giants
----------------
Manager: John McGraw is a stud at teaching hitting especially and works well with all kinds of players. Because this is my game, I am giving him a boost of one letter grade when he teaches Patience is the Key. He will impart his teachings upon young CF Ray Pearl. Skills: 192/165/118, for a B that is magically transformed into an A by McGraw's specialty. Result: The rarest of all outcomes, a Bust! Ray Pearl, we hardly knew ye.

Bench Coach: Dave Dubois must have compromising pictures of the owner or something because there's no good reason why he's on this team. Pass.

Hitting Coach: Luhan Philcox is solid at teaching hitting to all player types. Pass.

Pitching Coach: Don Birtles is a whiz at teaching pitching to older players. He is entrusted with teaching the Circle Change to Nathan Woombill so that he can more effectively pitch in McGraw's 3-man rotation. Skills: 200/171/190. We chose the change-up because Woombill is a very smart man. That is an A. Result: Excels.

Syd Thrift · 11-07-2007, 01:29 AM

And the rest...

New York Highlanders
----------------
Manager: Von Craufurd is excellent with the kids but in terms of straight teaching skills is only average. He will work on teaching Bill McAcounich the skill of Be Aggressive. Skills: 177/116/176, a B. Result: Good.

Bench Coach: Craig Nault works well with others. His specialty is in teaching fielding. He will try to teach Lonan Eve how to play center field. Skills: 160/144/199. Always a pleasure to work with a man like Eve! That's a B. Result: Good.

Hitting Coach: Jim Weatherhead works with vets better than kids. He's actually semi-adequate at instructing fielding. Pass. 5/24/2007: With Lonan Eve coming back from an injury, veteran Valentin Lochilosurdo has an increasingly small role on this ballclub. Weatherhead will attempt to expand this role by teaching him first base. Skills: 119/71/192, a C. Result: GREAT.

Pitching Coach: Raymond Kieran does the same. Pass.

Philadelphia Phillies
----------------
Manager: McGrath Adger is ideally suited to teach fielding to vets. He'll go away from his strengths a little bit to teach Left Field to youngster Bill McAlduie. Skills: 91/130/33. McAlduie does not have the greatest work ethic in the world but this is probably the only way he keeps a job in the majors. That's a D. Result:

Bench Coach: Kel Williams is just not very good all around. Keep him away from anybody but veterans. Pass. 5/29/2007: With Lou Mahwhinney putting out offensively like he should be a starter, a change needs to be made at catcher. He'll learn the ins and outs of left field. Skills: 28/53/171, a D. Result: Good. Will Mahwhinney's attitude improve with playing time at the new position, or will the hit to his Performance morale knock him down to the point where he demands a trade?

Hitting Coach: Glenn Cawse is pretty awful as well, and likewise should only teach rooks. Pass. 6/20/2007: Albert Einstein is a rookie, and what's more, he needs to learn himself some shortstop right quick. Skills: 167/68/23, a D. Man, is this guy bad. Good thing Albert has a strong Work Ethic because otherwise this could be disaster. Result: Good. Einstein's attention to detail saves the day!

Pitching Coach: Greg Bold is an ace at teaching pitching to youngsters. He will be entrusted to teach John Boyd Orr the secrets of the nickel curve (Slider) and try to arrest the steep decline in his potential over the last couple years. Skills: 191/174/24, a C in spite of Orr's lackadaisical approach. Result: Good.

Philadelphia Athletics
----------------
Manager: Norbert Whiteley specializes in teaching hitting to veterans. He is only average at dealing with youngsters. He's going to make a last-ditch effort at saving Norman Dobbins' career by teaching him to Choke Up at the plate. Skills: 163/149/28 for a C. Result: Excels. Nice spring training for the A's.

Bench Coach: Dave Thaxton isn't terribly great but is okay at teaching pitching. Pass.

Hitting Coach: Sloan Miltead excels at instructing vets on hitting. He's going to try to teach George Marshall to put the ball into play earlier in the count to avoid strikeouts (Be Aggressive). Skills: 173/143/67, a C. Result: Excels.

Pitching Coach: Sean Highland is only okay for a pitching coach. He's about comparable to Dave Thaxton, actually. Pass.

Pittsburgh Pirates
----------------
Manager: Dave Wilke is just along for the ride. Unfortunately he's the manager of this club. He's best at imparting fielding wisdom to rookies, which is to say that's about the only thing he's not bad at. He will teach Jon Wellwood, the 4th OFer going into the season, how to play center field. Skills: 86/79/63, a D. Result: Good.

Bench Coach: George Blevins is a solid all-around coach who specializes in hitting and works well with all ages. Pass.

Hitting Coach: Owen Serginson is probably the best in the league at teaching old bat-dogs new tricks. He's going to concentrate on the one weak link in the lineup, SS Monk Eastman, even though he's not a vet by any means. The training? Choke Up. Skills: 200/124/190, a B. As he gets older he'll be the recipient of A's with this hitting coach. Result: Excels. Let the accolades begin!

Pitching Coach: Jonathan Magee handles older players better than younger ones but is an all-around ace. Pass.

St. Louis Cardinals
----------------
Manager: Alvin Pahl is a solid coach, with specialties in fielding and handling veterans. This is tempting fate, but he's going to try to teach 2B Dave "Dominicani" Bulwer 3rd so that he can get both Woody Randles and Paul Woolcock in the lineup. Actually, since he's just plain fantastic at avoiding errors, this should be a low-risk move. Skills: 158/176/153 for a B. Result: Good, which may or may not be enough added experience to field the position successfully.

Bench Coach: Lawler Gahlan is more or less equally matched with all coaching skills and handles vets the best. Pass. 5/29/2007: It's time to try and train Fred Jacobsen to Choke Up on the ball and stop swinging for the fences. Skills: 148/139/55, a C. Result: Failure. Ah, darn. I was hoping that he could kind of resurrect his career.

Hitting Coach: Fiorenzo Celi is no great shakes against anybody. Pass.

Pitching Coach: Jimmy Richards, because of his great ability to work with any age, is likely the best pitching coach in baseball. He'll be tasked with helping Gianfrocco Amocacci consolidate his excellent debut season by teaching him the Forkball. Skills: 199/186/129, a high B. Wait 'till this guy's paired with someone with an awesome Work Ethic or baseball IQ. Result: Sadly, things don't work out so well. Failure.

Washington Nationals
----------------
Manager: Rooney O'Merry is the best man in the game at teaching hitting to vets and players in their prime. He's only average at teaching fielding and rather poor, actually, at pitching (although his charisma with the players will still help him avoid low letter grades). He's noticed that Behellagh Pennefather's predilection towards the long ball is hurting his game, so he'll impart on him the virtues of Choking Up. Skills: 195/194/91 for a B (too bad this isn't the lively ball era, because this man's Greed is through the roof). Result: Excels, *just* missing a GREAT mark.

Bench Coach: Teague Candlemaker is really good at teaching hitting as well, especially to vets. Pass. 4/28: With the injury to Donoghue Boffin in left field, the time has come to teach Kemal Ataturk how to play that position. Skills: 123/139/65, a C. Result: Good.

Hitting Coach: Given the strengths of Candlemakers and O'Merry, it's only fitting that Girard Kagan is such a stud at instructing rookies.

Pitching Coach: Anlon O'Mackey also works better with young'uns than veterans. He's going to work on teaching minor league starter Mohammed Mossadegh to unlearn the slider. His endurance is pretty high already and this will hopefully reduce the bit of arm trouble he's already gained in his short career. Skills: 200/200/85, a B. Result: Good.

Syd Thrift · 11-07-2007, 06:35 PM

May Day Review

Code:

National League Standings
Team			W  L   PCT  GB	Home	Away	XInn	1Run	M#	Streak
Pittsburgh Pirates	7  0 1.000   -	4-0	3-0	0-0	1-0	131	W7
Cincinnati Reds		5  3  .625 2.5	4-3	1-0	0-0	0-0		W1
New York Giants		5  3  .625 2.5	0-1	5-2	0-1	1-0		L2
Boston Beaneaters	5  5  .500 3.5	3-0	2-5	1-1	4-2		W1
Saint Louis Cardinals	4  4  .500 3.5	3-4	1-0	1-0	0-2		W2
Philadelphia Phillies	4  6  .400 4.5	4-3	0-3	1-1	2-3		L1
Chicago Colts		2  5  .286 5.0	0-3	2-2	0-0	0-0		L4
Brooklyn Superbas	1  7  .125 6.5	0-1	1-6	0-0	0-1		L1

American League Standings
Team			W   L  PCT  GB	Home	Away	XInn	1Run	M#	Streak
New York Highlanders	11  4 .733   -	3-2	8-2	0-1	1-2	124	L1
Cleveland Blues		 8  6 .571 2.5	3-2	5-4	1-2	3-2		L1
Washington Nationals	 8  6 .571 2.5	6-3	2-3	0-0	0-3		L1
Louisville Colonels	 7  6 .538 3.0	5-5	2-1	0-1	1-1		W1
Boston Red Stockings	 7  8 .467 4.0	2-2	5-6	2-0	2-2		W2
Detroit Tigers		 6  7 .462 4.0	5-4	1-3	2-2	6-3		W1
Philadelphia Athletics	 5  8 .385 5.0	2-2	3-6	1-0	2-3		W1
Chicago White Stockings	 3 10 .231 7.0	2-7	1-3	0-0	1-0		L2

News From Around The League

Boston Beaneaters: Steven Corliss is off to a fantastic start, hitting .343 and leading the team in runs scored. "I'm just seeing the ball better, I guess," he told the Thriftlon Reports. "Why are you guys bugging me about this?" Having hit just .249 last season, the 25-year old is trying to make the transition from hacker to slugger.

Boston Red Stockings: The rest of the team may not be able to push the ball out of the infield, but "Flyboy" Billy Mitchell is hitting so well that the American League bestowed its Player of the Month award upon him. Mitchell hit .409 last month with 10 runs and 11 RBIs. He was especially potent from the 7th inning on, batting .435 during that time. The remainder of the team is batting just .230 (114 for 496).

Brooklyn Superbas: The Superbas are not off to a good start at all. However, the one exception (as always seems to be the case with this club) is SP Jonathan Gaines. On April 29, Gaines five-hit the defending champion Cincinnati Reds en route to a 4-2 victory, the only one earned by the team this season. "I'm just happy to get the opportunity to start", he told us when asked about the direction of the team. One wonders how long he'll retain this sunny disposition.

Chicago Colts: Martínez Bajana at first refused to leave April 8's Saint Louis-Chicago game after he suffered a fractured elbow while throwing a pitch. But his manager convinced him not to be foolish. "I'm a competitor," the feisty Chicago reliever said. "I'll play through just about anything." Given time to reflect on the situation, he knew it was in his best interest to get immediate treatment. The injury is expected to keep Bajana out of action for 7 months. Bajana was 6-8 with a 3.89 ERA last season and was fighting for a spot in the Colts' rotation at the time of the injury.

Chicago White Stockings: If one wants to know why the White Stockings are currently in the cellar, one need look no further than the pitching staff. Of the five men in the rotation and reliever Matt Nutt, only SP Larry MacCaa has an ERA of under 3. He has nothing to show for his work, as he's 0-2, but that is hardly uncharted territory for him: his career record includes 130 losses against just 87 victories.

Cincinnati Reds: Big Bill Copeland has not given up an earned run in 2 starts so far this season. As you'd might expect, he is 2-0. Though his opposition - the Chicago Colts and the Brooklyn Superbas - are not exactly strong contenders, it is a good sign.

Cleveland Blues: Could this be the year a Cleveland team makes it out of the second division? So far, two starters - Bill Hawkins and Sean Nickerson are 3-0 and the team ERA is a tiny 2.51, good for 2nd in the league. Both highlighted pitchers are crafty veterans who get their opponents out with guile and trickery. The Blues will take success any way they can get it.

Detroit Tigers: The loss of Chris Langdon over the offseason was sure to hit the Tigers hard, but who knew it would be the hitting that was most affected rather than the pitching staff that he was a part of? So far, the club is dead last in the AL in hitting and runs scored and were recently shut out twice in the same week. "Chris was so smart, we kind of relied on him to change the signs around," said OF Henry "Fire" Hosler. "It's been kind of rough having to figure out how to do that on our own."

Louisville Colonels: Despite all the talk during spring training of Jesse "Rawhide" MacLagan's new pitch and vastly improved effectiveness, it was the reigning Pitch of the Year award winner Johnny Gruelle that was named the best hurler of the month by the AL. Gruelle won 3 games and lost 1 with a 1.22 ERA in April and thus far has allowed the fewest baserunners per 9 innings in the league.

New York Giants: With veteran Dante Bommarito taking the lion's share of the at-bats in center field, rumors abound that Ray Pearl is on the outs with manager John McGraw. "I ain't sayin' nothin' to you people" was all we could get in response from the man some call "The Little Napoleon." So far, Pearl has just 6 at-bats and no hits in 2 games.

New York Highlanders: Who is responsible for the hot start of the Highlanders? We have to point to manager/catcher Von Craufurd. He's been making all the right moves as the skipper, but we have to say that it's easy to look good when you have a backstop who's hitting .333 with 7 two-base hits in 48 at-bats.

Philadelphia Phillies: George Darbyshire let his bat do the talking in April and the National League heard him loud and clear. He made plenty of noise as he put together a sparkling .417 batting average and this offensive outburst is the prime reason he was honored as the hottest hitter of the month. Darbyshire's month-to-remember saw him accumulate 15 hits, no home runs, 6 RBI, 5 runs, 5 walks, along with a .488 on-base percentage.

Philadelphia Athletics: The ball hasn't quite bounced the way the A's would like but they do have to be impressed by the play of young keystoner George Marshall. Marshall was brought in from the Giants and there were doubts that he'd ever live up to his massive potential. Well, so far he is getting there. He's hitting .364 with a team-high 4 steals in the A's first 13 games. Additionally, he's committed just 2 errors to date and holds a solid .974 fielding average.

Pittsburgh Pirates: The National League scribes have announced April's Pitcher of the Month and have given the award to Kenneth Cudlip of Pittsburgh. He was one tough cookie on the mound last month and has the numbers to prove it: 2-0 record, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 18 IP, 9 HA, 1 BB, 9 K, .141 OBA.

St. Louis Cardinals: Thanks to Dave Bulwer taking a lot of extra time this spring training to learn how to play third base, Paul Woolcock was able to stay in the lineup this year and has really responded. He's at .382 right now, hitting leadoff for a resurgent Cardinals squad that's 2nd in the NL in hitting.

Washington Senators: He missed the second half of last season with a torn muscle in his arm, so the Nationals were concerned that he wouldn't be back to normal. Brian "Heavy" Pike, however, has made the front office forget he was ever hurt at all. To date he has completed and won all three of his starts, has a 2.05 ERA, and has struck out more than twice as many batters as he's walked (14 to 6).

Syd Thrift · 11-09-2007, 03:27 AM

Mid-May Consensus

Code:

National League Standings
Team			W   L	PCT	 GB	Home	Away	+/-	XInn	1Run	M#	Streak	Last10
Pittsburgh Pirates	18  3	.857	  -	11-2	7-1	+5	0-0	4-1	117	W1	8-2
New York Giants		14  6	.700	3.5	3-3	11-3	+8	0-2	5-1		L1	8-2
Cincinnati Reds		13  9	.591	5.5	5-7	8-2	+1	1-0	0-2		W1	6-4
Boston Beaneaters	12 10	.545	6.5	6-5	6-5	+1	2-2	5-3		W4	6-4
Philadelphia Phillies	11 11	.500	7.5	6-4	5-7	+1	4-2	5-6		W2	6-4
Saint Louis Cardinals	8  12	.400	9.5	3-4	5-8	+1	1-0	1-4		L1	3-7
Brooklyn Superbas	6  16	.273	12.5	5-10	1-6	-9	0-1	2-2		L2	2-8
Chicago Colts		3  18	.143	15.0	0-11	3-7	-8	0-1	0-3		L4	1-9

American League Standings
Team			W   L	PCT	 GB	Home	Away	+/-	XInn	1Run	M#	Streak	Last10
New York Highlanders	18  7	.720	  -	9-3	9-4	+6	1-1	3-4	114	W4	7-3
Washington Nationals	16  9	.640	2.0	10-3	6-6	+3	1-1	3-4		W1	8-2
Louisville Colonels	14 11	.560	4.0	10-7	4-4	-3	1-2	3-3		W3	7-3
Boston Red Stockings	13 12	.520	5.0	5-5	8-7	+3	2-0	3-3		L1	6-4
Cleveland Blues		13 13	.500	5.5	3-3	10-10	+7	2-3	6-6		W3	4-6
Detroit Tigers		11 14	.440	7.0	7-7	4-7	-3	3-2	7-3		L3	4-6
Philadelphia Athletics	10 16	.385	8.5	5-7	5-9	-2	1-0	4-6		L4	3-7
Chicago White Stockings	6  19	.240	12.0	3-14	3-5	-11	0-2	1-1		L3	3-7

News From Around The League

Boston Beaneaters: One question that has been on every Beaneaters fan's mind this year has been, "who will be the staff ace now that Erik Pritchitt is gone?" Pritchitt, of course, left in an offseason trade to the Pirates, where he is lighting up the league. The answer to the question, at least so far, is 23 year old Alan O'Heron, who is 4-2 with a 2.18 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 57.1 innings. O'Heron is also known around the clubhouse as the man who will get in your face when you aren't hustling like you should be. That kind of leadership can only help the Bostons.

Updates: LF Steven Corliss .289 BA in 80 AB, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 15 R, 9 RBI, 16 SB

Boston Red Stockings: Granted, they were against the lowly White Stockings, but back to back shut-outs are something to be proud of. Keith Gages started things off on the 8th of May with a 6-hitter. Then, to prove that Chicago-ing the Chicagos was no fluke, Mike Green followed things up the next day with a whitewashing that saw him yield just 3 hits and 1 walk.

Updates: Flyboy Billy Mitchell .340 BA in 140 AB, 4 2B, 3 3B, 14 R, 18 RBI

Brooklyn Superbas: What's the matter with 3B Terrence Swarbrick? He was and SS Devlin Shaner were the backbone of this ballclub last year but so far the two of them have combined for just 11 runs and 9 RBIs. Swarbrick is batting just .197 and is having the same glove issues that made him a mixed blessing last year (14 errors in his first 21 games). He's reportedly distraught over the team's horrendous start, but if he wants to move on to a better team he's going to need to show them a reason to trade for him first.

Updates: Jonathan Gaines 2-3 1.77 ERA 40.2 IP 16 BB 19 K

Chicago Colts: The Colts' rough start is beginning to take on historical proportions. We don't have statistics on bad starts but will can tell you this: if this keeps up it will be just the 2nd time in club history that the Colts finished 3 consecutive seasons not in first place. Pitcher Henry H. Laughlin is already 0-6 and well on the way towards breaking Jesse "Rawhide" MacLagan's team-record 25 losses in 1897.

Updates: P Martinez Bajana Out for the season

Chicago White Stockings: Is there a contest in the Windy City to see who can field the worst team? The White Sox, facing long odds at even returning to .500, let alone contending this year, have decided that they can lose just as easily with youngsters as they can with a veteran pitching staff. Veteran hurlers Orran Meager and Bob Shank were let go and Rino Dallaliglio was sent to serve as a player-coach for the minor league club. In their place, they called up Jim Cox, a 22 year old whose previous major league experience consisted of 8.2 innings with the 1900 Cleveland Spiders. Matt Nutt, previously the extra man on the staff, will also move into the rotation.

Updates: P Larry MacCaa 0-5 3.51 ERA 41 IP 12 BB 11 K

Cincinnati Reds: It's a wonder that the Reds have been able to stay within striking distance of the Pittsburgh Pirates considering the way they've been hitting. Their batting average of .227 is 2nd to last in the National League. One reason is SS Drake Gates, who played through a head injury he probably shouldn't have. He's still fighting off its effects and is hitting just .240.

Updates: P Big Bill Copeland won his 250th game on May 5. 5-1 0.98 ERA 5 IP 7 BB 24 K

Cleveland Blues: Although his career is also winding down, it is readily apparent that OF Kevin MacKeochan is not going to be a lame duck the way Nivens O'Mulvaney or Valentin Lochilosurdo were. So far, hitting cleanup for this surprising ballclub, he's hitting a respectable .279 and his experience has allowed him to coax 17 walks from opposing hitters, 1 free pass away from the league lead.

Updates: P Bill Hawkins 5-1, 1.46 ERA, 55.1 IP, 23 BB, 37 K
P Sean Nickerson 3-2, 2.00 ERA, 45 IP, 11 BB, 15 K

Detroit Tigers: In the course of 3 seasons with the Tigers, OF Gary O'Larkin has gone from starter to occasional pinch hitter back to starter again. With the preseason injury to Dan Wilson, who played in 129 games last year, O'Larkin was forced to take over the starting center field job. He has risen to the occasion, batting .269 and scoring 8 runs in 16 games at the Detroit lead-off position.

Update: P Chris Langdon is still deceased.

Louisville Colonels: Paul Bump is a human dynamo. He can beat you any way it is possible for a hitter to beat you: laying down a bunt, pushing the ball to somewhere the infielders are not, poking the ball between the outfield and the infield, or driving it into the gaps. He now has 276 hits in 876 career at-bats, a mark that would be good for 8th best in league history if he had the plate appearances to qualify. And this despite playing in the depressed offenses of the 'aughts.

Update: Johnny Gruelle 4-2 with a 1.53 ERA, 59 IP, 7 BB, 35 K

New York Giants: What is going on with the Giants' hitting? Don't ask Cody "The Punisher" Plummer, because whatever ailment is striking the rest of the ballclub, he does not have it. He's hitting .342 but to hear manager John McGraw, that's completely unimportant compared to what the Little Napoleon calls an "on base percentage" of .445. "Pitchers are so yellow, they'd rather give him four wide ones than pitch to him," the skipper told us.

Update: OF Ray Pearl .235 BA, 1 2B, 3 3B, 2 R, 4 RBI

New York Highlanders: One of the qualities that has allowed Von Craufurd to lead his charges to first place in the league at this point in the season is that he's been able to reclaim pitching prospects that John McGraw abandoned in his brief push to excellence. Case in point: Fionn Kempson, who now leads the team with 5 wins and is 12-5 since Craufurd penciled him into the rotation last July. "The kid can pitch" is all the manager had to say. All we have to say is: he's no kid.

Update: C Von Craufurd .366 BA, 12 2B, 9 R, 7 RBI

Philadelphia Phillies: To everybody outside the system, it looked like the Philles were going to be releasing P Jimmy Baker. He'd just come off of an 8-21 season, including 6-20 in the National League, and at age 32 he did not figure into the future plans of this club. Maybe it's best to always assume that this science-minded team is going to do something that doesn't jibe with established wisdom. Baker, so far, has proven his critics wrong. He's just 3-3 this year but has been quite stingy with the walks (8 in 49 innings) and runs (a 2.51 ERA).

Update: George Darbyshire .392 BA, 6 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 14 R, 15 RBI, 1 SB

Philadelphia Athletics: The major-league record for strikeouts in a season is 239 but don't tell Rube Lindsley that. Actually, you can probably get away with telling him. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed. "When I heard about that, I was like, oh my god, wow!" said the Moreno Valley, California native. "That is totally tubular. Qual." Lindsley is on pace, according to our resident stat guru, to whiff 307 hitters this season. To date, he has 57 of them, which goes well with his 5-3 record and 2.72 ERA.

Update: 2B George Marshall .362 BA, 14 R, 3 RBI, 9 SB

Pittsburgh Pirates: Jon Choate missed all of last season with torn ligaments in his ankle and was, at best, a question mark going into this season. We'll admit that we didn't agree with Pittsburgh's trading off incumbent 1B Mark Lucott off to the Beaneaters (Choate's old job, left field, was taken by the younger and more agile David Cook). Choate so far has been a cog in that powerful Pirates' machine, batting .312 with 19 runs batted in on the season.

Update: P Ken Cudlip 5-0, 1.65 ERA, 45 IP, 7 BB, 21 K

St. Louis Cardinals: The Saint Louis Cardinals will lose the services of second baseman Woody Randles after he sustained a scratched cornea while colliding with a player at a base in today's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. When asked about the injury, he took a philosophical approach. "Worse things can happen in life," Randles said. "The key now is to stay positive." His trainer said he is expected to be sidelined for the next 3-4 weeks. Randles is batting .233 this season in 20 games with 1 home run, 12 RBIs and 9 runs scored. He has 17 hits in 73 at-bats, 9 walks and a .313 on-base percentage. Randles has played in 20 games.

Update: 1B Paul Woolcock .420 BA, 1 2B, 2 3B, 11 R, 7 RBI, 6 SB

Washington Senators: With a .385 average that ranks 2nd in the league, Kayne McMartin has been tearing the cover off the ball. So why has he been sitting out the last few games? "He turned his ankle," said manager Rooney O'Merry. "2 years ago, we played things safe all year and you saw the results. Last year, we think we were trying to hard to win one game at the expense of the season." Kayne McMartin is completely on board with his coach on this. It doesn't hurt that his replacement, Jeremy McCullough, has 8 hits in 25 at-bats on the season.

Update: P Brian Pike 5-1, 2.06 ERA, 52.1 IP, 13 BB, 29 K

Syd Thrift · 11-11-2007, 10:36 PM

Giants Tie Pirates For First

Code:

National League Standings

Team			W   L  PCT   GB	Home	Away	XInn	1Run	M#	Streak	Last10
New York Giants		27  7 .794    -	 3-3	24-4	0-2	5-1	105	W6	9-1
Pittsburgh Pirates	29  9 .763    -	20-6	 9-3	3-0	8-1	103	W1	5-5
Cincinnati Reds		22 17 .564  7.5	13-13	 9-4	2-0	1-5		L1	4-6
Boston Beaneaters	19 17 .528  9.0	 8-7	11-10	2-3	6-4		W1	6-4
Saint Louis Cardinals	14 21 .400 13.5	 3-4	11-17	2-1	5-7		L1	4-6
Philadelphia Phillies	13 23 .361 15.0	 6-8	 7-15	4-6	5-11		L4	2-8
Brooklyn Superbas	13 24 .351 15.5	 8-18	 5-6	1-1	4-4		W5	5-5
Chicago Colts		 9 28 .243 19.5	 6-20	 3-8	1-2	3-4		L6	4-6

American League Standings

Team			W   L  PCT   GB	Home	Away	XInn	1Run	M#	Streak	Last10
New York Highlanders	29 11 .725    -	18-6	11-5	3-1	7-7	98	L1	7-3
Washington Nationals	26 14 .650  3.0	10-3	16-11	2-1	7-5		W7	8-2
Louisville Colonels	23 17 .575  6.0	19-13	4-4	2-4	4-6		W1	6-4
Boston Red Stockings	21 19 .525  8.0	12-10	9-9	3-0	4-6		L1	5-5
Philadelphia Athletics	18 23 .439 11.5	 6-8	12-15	3-0	7-7		L1	6-4
Cleveland Blues		17 24 .415 12.5	 3-6	14-18	2-5	9-8		L5	3-7
Detroit Tigers		15 25 .375 14.0	 8-7	7-18	3-4	7-5		W1	3-7
Chicago White Stockings	12 28 .300 17.0	 9-23	3-5	0-3	2-3		W1	2-8

News From Around The League

Boston Beaneaters: Is Jeremy McKinney nearing the end of the line? The 35-year old played for the Cincinnati Reds way back in the inaugural season of 1892 and has played for the Colonels and Beaneaters since then. He has a career record of 209 wins versus 148 losses but so far this year he's just 3-6. More distressing is that he's managed to strike out just 18 batters in 74 innings on the year. He made quite a living by getting batters to hit the ball to a fielder, but with all these "cyclone" pitchers on the mound today, this strategy only ends in losses.

Updates: LF Steven Corliss .299 BA, 5 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 20 R, 7 RBI, 18 SB, on the disabled list with a bad knee
P Alan O'Heron 6-3 2.02 ERA, 84.2 IP, 38 BB, 54 K

Boston Red Stockings: He wasn't in their original plans, but Carmelo "Bones" Latini has managed to argue and then play his way into this lineup. The outfielder has been regarded well by this team for some time, but marks of .237 and .224 in '01 and '02 led them to believe that he would be, at best, a 4th outfielder. Earlier this year he got into a huff and nearly walked off the team. Rather than deal him (which is what many critics think the Red Stockings should have done), they inserted Latini into the lineup in place of slumping Eddie Hoddell. He has responded well, hitting .364 and scoring 13 runs in 55 at-bats.

Updates: Flyboy Billy Mitchell .329, 4 2B, 3 3B, 25 R, 24 RBI
P Keith Gages 5-4. 2.58 ERA, 83.2 IP, 24 BB, 41 K
P Mike Green 5-5, 1.23 ERA, 88 IP, 21 BB, 56 K

Brooklyn Superbas: With Terrence Swarbrick dispatched to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for veteran John "The Primary" Acton, the onus for the bad start falls on SS Devlin Shaner. Shaner, a career .311 hitter, is batting just .177 on the year. What is the reason for the slump? Nobody seems to know, least of all Shaner himself. "There's a lot of pressure on me to hit well, but then again there's always been a lot of pressure. All I can say is, I know I'm better than this." Manager Ned Hanlon recently dropped Shaner down to 8th in the lineup but should the star start hitting again, he will surely go back to the heart of the order.

Updates: Jonathan Gaines 3-5 1.83 ERA 64 IP 19 BB 31 K
Terrence Swarbrick (now with St. Louis) .205, 3 2B, 9 R, 8 RBI, 2 SB

Chicago Colts: He doesn't have the good baseball face and that is perhaps how he remained unsigned for so long, but SS Ettore Missaghi continues to amaze those who thought he'd never amount to anything in the majors. Missaghi now holds a career .314 average in 582 major league at-bats. This year he has added power to his game, slapping 11 extra-base hits out of 43 overall. The lack of offensive output around him has limited him to just 10 runs and 15 RBIs but there is no doubt that Ettore is here to stay.

Updates: P Martinez Bajana Out for the season
P Henry H. Laughlin 2-7 3.55 ERA, 71 IP, 31 BB, 14 K

Chicago White Stockings: In this lost White Stockings season, it is time to find good news wherever it can be found. One high point is relative unknown Roy MacCodrum, who is leading the team in hitting with a .284 average. This speedster also has 12 steals and 5 triples and is second on the club with 16 runs scored. He is one of 2 American League center fielders to turn 2 fly-outs into double plays this season.

Updates: P Larry MacCaa 1-7 2.41 ERA 71 IP 24 BB 23 K
P Jim Cox 2-2 4.00 ERA 36 IP 13 BB 7 K

Cincinnati Reds: Mike Altmann seems to play his best when his back is against the wall. Altmann is the team's starting 3rd baseman but turned 33 this year. On May 2, he collided with Pittsburgh Pirate Alfred Eberhart on a play at first base and couldn't see straight for several games afterward. He didn't re-enter the lineup until the 11th. In the interim, rookie George Pointer hit a blistering .375, leaving Cincinnati Reds rooters to wonder if they were seeing the replacement. However, Altmann has had 27 base knocks in 72 attempts since coming back (also a .375 clip), rendering the point moot.

Updates: P Big Bill Copeland 6-4 2.20 ERA 90 IP 12 BB 37 K (and 0-2 with a 5.82 ERA last week)
SS Drake Gates is out for another week with an eye injury. Guess who's taking his place? We'll give you a hint: his first name starts with a 'G' and his last rhymes with 'Mointer'. .247 BA 2 2B 1 3B 1 HR 16 R 11 RBI 6 SB

Cleveland Blues: Heading into the season, manager Doug Davis had a novel solution to the problem of how to keep C Chad Werrett into the lineup: rather than keep him behind the plate, where he'd need to be substituted for constantly, he planned on shifting the agile hitter around from catcher to first base on a daily basis. Unfortunately, Werrett did not get on board with this and, according to sources within the clubhouse, demanded that he make all of his appearances at catcher from here on out. Is the anger affecting his play? Werrett is hitting .243 with just a fraction of the power he showed last year.

Updates: P Bill Hawkins 6-4 2.32 ERA 81.1 IP, 33 BB, 51 K
P Sean Nickerson 4-4 2.61 ERA 72.1 IP, 18 BB, 27 K
LF Kevin MacKeochan .267 BA 4 2B 4 3B 1 HR 21 R 17 RBI 1 SB

Detroit Tigers: Call it Hosler and the Fire Hydrants. Henry "Fireman" Hosler is at this point the lone bright spot on an anemic Detroit Tigers offense. His average of .320 is nearly a hundred points higher than the team's .238. For a man with his dedication to play, he's not that bothered about the tough start. "We'll get better eventually, I'm sure. In the meantime, Detroit's a nice, big city with lots of nice, big endorsement opportunities. I don't plan on being a firefighter forever, you know."

Update: P Chris Langdon is still deceased.
CF Gary O'Larkin .280 BA, 4 2B 4 3B 1 HR 15 R 10 RBI 4 SB

Louisville Colonels: Jerry Watson had one of his most memorable months in May. Not only did he earn the 6th Player of the Month award of his career, he won his 250th game in the process. "Magoo" was 6-1 with a 1.50 ERA for the month, striking out 44 and walking 10 in 66 innings pitched. "It's all about being a good role model for the kids," he said about his accomplishments. "Some guys would hoot and holler. Me, I'm just going to keep working at it and before you know, I'll be at 300 victories." No pitcher has yet reached that mark, although teammate Jesse MacLagan is close.

Update: Johnny Gruelle 7-3 with a 1.33 ERA, 95 IP, 10 BB, 66 K
OF Paul Bump .355 BA, 5 2B, 5 3B, 2 HR, 27 R, 17 RBI, 7 SB

New York Giants: Bill Haddon is at it again. A year removed from tying the single-season wins record with 34, Haddon is pacing the league in that category once again with a 9-2 mark. May saw him win 8 games against just 1 loss, good enough to take the Pitcher of the Month award. Haddon combines a tricky fast ball with a trickier change-up and pinpoint control. His record of 63 strikeouts vs. 8 walks represents the best such ratio in the National League.

Update: OF Ray Pearl .179 BA, 1 2B, 4 3B, 4 R, 8 RBI
1B Cody Plummer .276 BA (.253 for the month, .160 last week), 4 2B, 2 3B, 23 R, 12 RBI

New York Highlanders: Out of all the new Highlanders, perhaps LF Bob Donley has escalated his game the most for "Uncle Vonnie", the team's nickname for their lovable player/manager. Donley looked decent enough in 56 games with the old Baltimore franchise in 1902, but nothing could prepare the league for his '03: a .386 average (good for 2nd in the league), 26 runs, 22 RBIs, and 12 extra-base hits. The only thing he doesn't do is run.

Update: C Von Craufurd .319 BA, 15 2B, 2 3B, 12 R, 16 RBI
P Fionn Kempson 7-1 1.83 ERA 69 IP 15 BB 40 K

Philadelphia Phillies: Lou Mawhinney is not happy about his situation. He has a strong enough bat that he could be one of the top catchers in the league but Stephen Getchell isn't going anywhere so they're trying him in the outfield. "Look. I can take the losing. I just don't like getting messed around with. Start me or sit me. Just make up your mind." So far, Mawhinney's hitting .340 with 7 RBIs in 50 at-bats and could provide some punch to the lineup.

Update: 1B George Darbyshire .366 BA 10 2B 5 3B 2 HR 21 R 22 RBI 1 SB
P Jim Baker 4-4 2.53 ERA 67.2 IP 9 BB 17 K

Philadelphia Athletics: Along with Marshall, Doonan Elmes is pretty much why this team is 2nd in the AL in hitting. The 28-year-old right fielder is hitting .400 on the season. He missed a couple weeks with a hip injury but returned as though nothing happened.

Update: 2B George Marshall .400 BA 1 2B 1 3B 31 R 6 RBI 14 SB
P Rube Lindsley 9-3 1.92 ERA 93.2 IP 18 BB 80 K (on pace for 273)

Pittsburgh Pirates: Although the Pirates couldn't possibly keep up the torrid pace with which they started the season, Ned Kelly Jr. did everything he could to make it so. He was named the NL Player of the Month for May after batting .316 with 31 runs scored. With Johnston Long temporarily out of the lineup, his production is sorely needed.

Update: P Ken Cudlip 6-3, 2.33 ERA, 81 IP, 16 BB, 47 K
1B Jon Choate .317 BA, 10 2B, 3 3B, 17 R, 35 RBI, 3 SB

St. Louis Cardinals: Looking to upgrade their pitching staff, the Cardinals traded off unused outfielder Galimberto Eccelino and future karmic considerations to the Pirates for equally unused starter Teh-Huai Wang. "It is okay," said manager Alvin Pahl. "Wang is a good hurler for a heathen and besides, karma is not a Christian concept and therefore does not exist." Wang, who was 15-16 last year with Pittsburgh, is 1-1 so far in 3 starts with a 3.12 ERA and nearly 3 times as many strikeouts as walks (17 to 6).

Update: 1B Paul Woolcock .377 BA 2 2B 2 3B 15 R 8 RBI, 8 SB
IF Woody Randles .233 2 2B 1 3B 1 HR 9 R 12 RBI 2 SB. He'll be back in about a week.

Washington Senators: Behellagh Pennefather led the charge of the Nationals into second place in the month of May, and for his heroics the league granted him his first Batter of the Month award. He crushed the ball at a .360 clip, walloping 4 home runs, scoring 18 times, and driving in 24 batsmen. He's hitting .307 for the year in what looks to be his breakout season. Unfortunately, he won't repeat: a sore knee figures to keep him out of the lineup until at least mid-June.

Update: P Brian Pike 7-3, 2.29 ERA, 86.1 IP, 20 BB, 48 K
2B/SS Kayne McMartin .361 BA, 13 2B, 1 3B, 29 R, 9 RBI, 4 SB

Syd Thrift · 12-16-2007, 12:56 PM

[QUOTE=Syd Thrift;2349106]Two Leagues, Two Tight Races

Code:

National League Standings

Team			W  L   PCT  GB	Home	Away	XInn	1Run	Streak	Last10
Pittsburgh Pirates	36 13 .735    -	20-6	16-7	 4-1	11-5	W3	7-3
New York Giants		33 13 .717  1.5	 9-9	24-4	 1-2	 8-5    L2	4-6
Cincinnati Reds		29 21 .580  7.5	15-13	14-8	 2-2	 4-8	W2	6-4
Boston Beaneaters	22 26 .458 13.5	11-13	11-13	 3-4	 7-7	L5	3-7
Brooklyn Superbas	20 28 .417 15.5	10-18	10-10	 2-2	 5-5	W1	6-4
Saint Louis Cardinals	19 28 .404 16.0	 8-11	11-17	 4-2	 8-7	L1	3-7
Philadelphia Phillies	17 31 .354 18.5	10-13	 7-18	 4-6	 7-13	L1	4-6
Chicago Colts		16 32 .333 19.5	 6-20	10-12	 1-2	 5-5	W1	7-3

American League Standings

Team			W  L   PCT   GB	Home	Away	XInn	1Run	Streak	Last10
New York Highlanders	36 18 .667    -	18-6	18-12	3-1	 8-10	L1	5-5
Washington Nationals	34 20 .630  2.0	18-9	16-11	2-1	 8-6	W1	6-4
Louisville Colonels	33 21 .611  3.0	19-13	14-8	4-5	 7-9	W2	7-3
Boston Red Stockings	26 27 .491  9.5	12-10	14-17	3-1	 6-10	L1	3-7
Philadelphia Athletics	26 27 .491  9.5	14-12	12-15	5-1	10-9	L1	8-2
Cleveland Blues		23 32 .418 13.5	 9-14	14-18	2-6	13-9	W1	5-5
Detroit Tigers		19 35 .352 17.0	12-17	 7-18	3-4	10-7	L2	2-8
Chicago White Stockings	18 35 .340 17.5	 9-23	 9-12	0-3	 2-4	W1	4-6

News From Around The League

Boston Beaneaters: The Beaneaters need CF Ernie Merwin to hit the way he has in his career, but so far this season he's been a disappointment. Merwin, who has been a member of the franchise since it began, is hitting just .261 this year, 30 points below his career average. Manager Jeremy Neary is flummoxed as to why he's slumping at the plate. "He looks like the same Ernie Merwin I remember all these years," he told us.

Updates
LF Steven Corliss .305 BA, 5 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 21 R, 7 RBI, 19 SB
P Alan O'Heron 7-5 2.20 ERA, 110.2 IP, 44 BB, 63 K
P Jeremy McKinney 4-8 3.06 ERA 100 IP 31 BB 23 K

Boston Red Stockings:The rest of the team may be scuffling so far in the month of June, but Red Stockings third baseman Ken Vine has been slugging up a storm, leading the club in steals, average, hits, and runs at the ripe old age of 38. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone wants my job," said Vine to our intrepid beat reporter. "But I'm not giving it up without a fight." Vine is hitting .385 on the year, which would be the highest average of his career since 1896.

Updates
Flyboy Billy Mitchell .328, 5 2B, 3 3B, 28 R, 26 RBI
P Keith Gages 5-8. 2.97 ERA (0-4, 3.98 in June), 83.2 IP, 24 BB, 41 K
P Mike Green 7-6, 1.26 ERA, 114 IP, 22 BB, 72 K
OF Carmelo "Bones" Latini .264 (.164 in June) 5 2B 21 R 10 RBI 6 SB

Brooklyn Superbas: On June 8, Duane "The Anvil" Bryant showed that he might just turn into a good player, notching his first career shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies. Bryant scattered six hits over the course of the game, striking out three and walking the same number. He currently posts 6 wins against 5 losses - no mean feat considering the awfulness of this team - and has an earned run average of just 2.21.

Updates
Jonathan Gaines 5-5 1.76 ERA 82 IP 20 BB 42 K
Terrence Swarbrick (now with St. Louis) .220, 4 2B, 1 3B, 16 R, 10 RBI, 2 SB
Devlin Shaner .190 BA 7 2B 2 3B 23 R 7 RBI

Chicago Colts: One mark of a bad baseball team is an inability to keep up with the times. In a season where players are stealing bases with raw abandon, the Colts are seemingly satisfied with staying glued to the bases. Their team leaders in steals is CF Herbert Chapin who has just four. He might have more if he could ever get on base; so far on the year he's hitting just .219. As a result, despite batting leadoff the whole year he has just 22 runs scored to his name.

Updates
P Martinez Bajana Out for the season
P Henry H. Laughlin 3-8 3.58 ERA, 88 IP, 40 BB, 21 K
SS Ettore Missaghi .319 BA 6 2B 7 3B 23 R 20 RBI

Chicago White Stockings: We still have no idea where this guy came from. We've looked far and wide but so far as we can tell, 1B Dax Dickinson just appeared one day and asked for a major league job. He's hitting .306 on the season despite missing the first month with a bad knee. How long can he keep this up? We don't know because we don't know how long he's been doing it in the first place.

Updates
P Larry MacCaa 5-7 2.44 ERA 107 IP 34 BB 31 K
P Jim Cox 2-5 4.20 ERA 60 IP 23 BB 10 K
CF Roy MacCodrum .271 9 2B 6 3B 20 R 14 RBI 13 SB

Cincinnati Reds: Who's leading the Reds in victories? No, it's not Big Bill Copeland. It's not Tommy Wace either. It's cagey veteran Joshua Williams, who has rediscovered his stuff this year and is 9-3 with an ERA of 1.99. Williams is the 2nd winningest pitcher in National League history, just one game behind Giants ace Nathan "Pretty Bird" Woombill (who's also a resurgent 10-4). Williams has notched every one of his victories with the Peoples' Ballclub.

Updates: P Big Bill Copeland 8-5 2.05 ERA 118.2 IP 18 BB 50 K
SS Drake Gates .295 BA (.455 since returning from the injury) 4 2B 1 3B 2 HR 20 R 17 RBI 10 SB
3B Mike Altmann .313 BA 3 2B 2 3B 18 R 17 RBI

Cleveland Blues: More good news for the sad Cleveland cranks: the Blues have one of the best young players in the game. SS George "Krazy Kat" Herriman loves to doodle, but also enjoys swinging a hard stick. In 154 career games played, Herriman's hitting an even .300. Just 25 years old, he's getting better every year. Right now he's pacing the team with a .313 average and 27 runs batted in.

Updates
P Bill Hawkins 7-4 2.52 ERA 107.1 IP, 45 BB, 70 K
P Sean Nickerson 4-7 2.63 ERA 99.1 IP, 25 BB, 42 K
LF Kevin MacKeochan .273 BA 7 2B 4 3B 1 HR 28 R 21 RBI
C Chad Werrett .244 7 2B 10 R 9 RBI

Detroit Tigers: The Tigers don't have a staff ace so much as they have a staff mediocrity. Their pitching staff is surprisingly old for such a bad group: Reardon "Chuckles" O'Mullany and Ken Wilson (not pictured because he looks like a sockeye salmon) are the only members of the rotation under the age of 30. O'Mullany is tied for 3rd in all of baseball with 8 losses but is the only man on the team with an ERA anywhere near the league average of 2.95 (his is 3.25; actually, Ken Wilson's is 2.45, but he's only thrown 45 innings and, again, salmon-face).

Update
P Chris Langdon is still deceased.
CF Gary O'Larkin .268 BA, 4 2B 4 3B 1 HR 17 R 12 RBI 6 SB
LF Henry "Fireman" Hosler .311 BA 10 2B 19 R 10 RBI

Louisville Colonels: It's been that kind of year for the Colonels. 2B Fergus McKnight won Player of the Week honors this past week and promptly hurt his knee sliding into second base. He'll miss a week and a half to two weeks. He's hitting .311 on the season, including 10 hits in 15 tries in the last seven days. The defending AL champion Colonels as a whole just cannot seem to get healthy and therefore get past the Washington Senators and the upstart New York Highlanders.

Update
Johnny Gruelle 11-3 1.24 ERA, 131 IP, 12 BB, 89 K
OF Paul Bump .335 BA, 7 2B, 5 3B, 3 HR, 34 R, 23 RBI, 10 SB
Jerry "Magoo" Watson 9-4 2.03 ERA 119.2 IP 26 BB 87 K

New York Giants: We started the year out spotlighting Giants hitters but that seems rather unfair as it is their pitching that is leading them to the top of the National League. All three of their major starters have earned run averages under 2 and at least 10 victories. John "Big Six" Pearson is #3 on the team in terms of innings pitched, but on any other staff he'd be the stopper. Pearson's 10 victories come against just 4 losses and through 124 innings he has yet to issue his 10th free pass.

Update
OF Ray Pearl .188 BA, 2 2B, 4 3B, 4 R, 10 RBI
1B Cody Plummer .272 BA, 8 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 26 R, 24 RBI
Snoopy Haddon 11-3 1.58 ERA 125 IP 9 BB 78 K

New York Highlanders: We've seen 3B Pablo Picasso's painting and all we have to say to the man is, do not quit your day job whatever you do. It doesn't look so much like people as a bunch of crazy shapes and rectangles thrown together. His people look like angular flounders. Fortunately, he can hit. Just 21 years of age, he's over the .300 mark (.302) and would be a prime candidate for AL Rookie of the Year except that he played too much last season to qualify.

Update
C Von Craufurd .305 BA, 18 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 14 R, 23 RBI
P Fionn Kempson 7-4 2.22 ERA (0-3, 3.33 for the month) 93.1 IP 20 BB 55 K
LF Bob Donley .359 BA 16 2B 2 HR 34 R 32 RBI

Philadelphia Phillies: It may be premature to call him "The Belting Backstop" but C Stephen Getchell is just plain pounding the ball. Despite its poor record, Philadelphia leads the National League in home runs with 16. Getchell is responsible for nearly a quarter of that total (3) and on top of that is hitting .325. We can see why Lou Mawhinney is an outfielder now.

Update
1B George Darbyshire .352 BA 11 2B 5 3B 3 HR 21 R 22 RBI 1 SB
P Jim Baker 5-6 2.88 ERA 93.2 IP 14 BB 21 K
C/OF Lou Mawhinney .312 5 2B 10 R 10 RBI and is now only vaguely unhappy about his situation

Philadelphia Athletics: It was a major bummer to see Doonan Elmes traded off to the Louisville Colonels, but Connie Mack and the Philaelphia Athletics feel they got a lot in return. All three of the players they got in the trade are currently on the roster. We all know what Ray Cable can (and can't) do: he can hit but hasn't played a full season since 1899. He's 33 and is showing his age. That being said, Ulysses S. Grant III might already be a better player. He earned the call-up after hitting .368 in the minors. He is the grandson of the Civil War hero and President of the United States. Finally, C Wally Hanley doesn't have Grant's pedigree but hit an equally impressive .358 before moving over to the City of Brotherly Love.

Update
2B George Marshall .345 BA (.146 in June) 1 2B 1 3B 39 R 7 RBI 17 SB
P Rube Lindsley 11-4 1.80 ERA 124.2 IP 26 BB 112 K (on pace for 296)
RF Doonan Elmes was traded to the Louisville Colonels on the 9th for Ray Cable and 2 prospects. .355 BA 8 2B 1 3B 1 HR 26 R 25 RBI

Pittsburgh Pirates: With his team sitting on top of the league, reigning MVP Johnston "Captain Kid" Long is once again leading the way. He's maybe just a little bit off of what he was doing last year: a .308 average to date, 31 runs scored, and 20 steals are all among the league leaders but not actually leading the league anymore. The worst that can be said about the man is that he is a sometimes indifferent fielder.

Update
P Ken Cudlip 8-4, 2.27 ERA, 107 IP, 17 BB, 61 K
1B Jon Choate .310 BA, 11 2B, 3 3B, 22 R, 38 RBI, 4 SB
RF Ned Kelly Jr. .319 BA 18 2B 6 3B 3 HR 43 R 23 RBI 6 RBI

St. Louis Cardinals: RF Toby Mudd doesn't seem to realize that his team is having a very disappointing season after contending for a league title in 1901 and 1902. Mudd is hitting .298 right now, a bit off from the .331 that he put up last year, but when you take the level of offense of the league into account he's really doing just as well.

Update
1B Paul Woolcock .335 BA 3 2B 2 3B 23 R 12 RBI, 9 SB
IF Woody Randles .253 (.318 since returning) 2 2B 1 3B 1 HR 12 R 12 RBI 2 SB
P Teh-Huai Wang 1-3 3.07 ERA 44 IP 18 BB 23 K

Washington Senators: The Nats are soaring to a close 2nd place mark in the American League due to their great hitting. Despite playing in spacious Griffith Stadium, they're 2nd in the AL in runs scored with 284. Leading the charge is 1B Matt Barlow, who's hitting .336 and despite his age (he turns 37 in November) has swiped 11 stolen bases. With 2 more hits, he'll have 2,000 in his career.

Update
P Brian Pike 9-4, 2.32 ERA, 112.1 IP, 25 BB, 69 K
2B/SS Kayne McMartin .309 BA, 18 2B, 1 3B, 35 R, 12 RBI, 7 SB
OF Behellagh Pennefather .329 BA 8 2B 5 3B 5 HR 31 R 41 RBI 13 SB

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode