[legendsport]

Friday, January 1st, 1892, Brooklyn, NY:

The Brooklyn Bridegrooms are the champions of the National League. The Browns of St. Louis are the champions of the now-absorbed American Association. Which of these outstanding ballclubs is the favorite to win the 1892 National League Championship?

"The Brooklynites have to be given a slight edge," opines Chicago Colts manager Pop Lee. "The National League of 1891 was obviously superior to the Association, so it stands to reason that our best club is better than their best club." Bridegrooms star Charlie Shanafelt agrees. "Pshaw! Of course we're the best. Any fool can see that!"

Shanafelt's opinion is not shared by all. Cincinnati star Otto Bentz, who played for the Reds when the club was part of the Association and continues to play for them after their move into the National League is blunt: "The quality of play in the Association, for the most part, was as good as anything the League has to offer. The Browns are a good club and will acquit themselves quite well as part of the League." For his part, St. Louis star Ron Hulett shrugs it off. "Charlie's what you'd call outspoken," he says with a grin. "Me? I'll let my play do the talking."

Only time will tell, but for now the debate rages.

CHARLIE SHANAFELT, BROOKLYN STAR
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday, January 1st, 1892, Cincinnati, OH:

When you're considered to be the best pitcher to ever toss the old horsehide, you're entitled to a certain amount of eccentricity. For Cincinnati Reds chucker Thomas Goss, that may mean putting your golden arm into retirement long before your time. Goss, the beloved "Winter Goose" of the Queen City, shocked a visiting reporter at his home this winter when he said that 1892 may be the final campaign of his storied career.

"My arm aches something awful all through the winter," says Goss who insists on returning to his native Maine each offseason and braving the notorious winters there - winters he spends chopping firewood. "It keeps my arm strong," Goss insists before adding, "though maybe that's why my arm hurts in the winter."

Cincinnati rooters can only pray that Goss was joking. His 385 victories are the standard by which all other hurlers are measured. And at 31 years of age, it stands to reason that Goss' golden arm can hold up for a few more summers.


THOMAS "WINTER GOOSE" GOSS - THE PRIDE OF THE QUEEN CITY

[legendsport]

The online-league transition has been completed. Check out this thread if you think you'd like to manage a team in "The Baseball Chronicle"

Another dynasty update post coming later today (more off-season shenanigans)...

[legendsport]

Born on a farm near Columbia, Missouri on June 8, 1875, Fred Goodenough was the eighth of nine children born to Elijah and Mary Goodenough. Elijah, a blacksmith and farmer, moved his family to Cowley County, Kansas when Fred was three years old. It was here that Fred began school, attending a county district school. But the Goodenoughs didn't stay in Cowley County long. When Fred was just ten, Elijah uprooted his family again, moving this time to a farm outside Des Moines, Iowa.

In the late 1880s Fred got a job delivering newspapers for the Des Moines Register, a paper owned by Harold Leinster, Jr., the son of legendary base ball manager Harold Leinster. The younger Leinster owned a semi-professional team, the Des Moines Mascots. Fred moved from spectator to participant, playing second base before moving to catcher at age 15 in 1890.

Young Fred quickly earned a reputation as a good hitter and his affable nature endeared the red-haired youngster to his older team mates. In the summer of 1891, while just 16 years old, Fred was surprised when Leinster Jr. introduced him to Jake Works, soon to be the owner of a club in the Eastern League, the Rochester Flour Citys.

"Son," said Works to young 'Goody' (as he was known to his fellow players), "how would you like to come play ball for me in Rochester?"

Fred was speechless. His immediate thought was of his father. Elijah was no supporter of base ball. But Fred had decided to make a go of it and, confronted with his son's earnest determination, Elijah relented and gave his blessing. And so it was that Fred "Goody" Goodenough left his family farm in Iowa to become a professional ball player.



(To be continued)

ED. NOTE: I will be posting periodic updates on Fred's career as a part of The Baseball Chronicle. He will begin the 1892 season backing up Patsy Kelly with the Flour Citys.

[rocknfire7]

Might mention that this is an OOTP 9 League now not a 6.5 league as previously mentioned...

[legendsport]

The oldest of eight children of Susan (Cummings) and Edward Burrell, a Scottish immigrant who fought in the Civil War and later worked in railroad maintenance, Edward Ulysses Burrell was born in working-class poverty on July 8, 1871, in the city of Cairo, Illinois. During the winter of 1883-84 a diphtheria epidemic struck Cairo, taking Susan and three of her children, and leaving Edward Sr., a heavy drinker, alone to raise Eddie and the other four surviving children. One night in the fall of 1884, 13-year-old Eddie received such a severe beating from his father that he moved across the street to the Riverside Inn, where a kindly widow named Mary Johnson took him in and raised him along with her own two sons. Besides attending school, Eddie performed chores around the hotel, delivered newspapers, and peddled candy, fruit, and magazines out of a basket on the train from Cairo to Chicago. He used the money to buy new baseballs and the annual Spalding guide, parts of which he memorized.

At 16 years old, Eddie Burrell already stood 5'11" but weighed little more than 140 lbs., yet that didn't prevent his becoming the star pitcher for the local Cairo Egyptians. When Cairo's manager, Jeff Longley (a former professional with Philadelphia in both the Association and National League), became part owner and manager of the Joliet franchise in the Illinois-Iowa League in 1888, Eddie begged for and received a place on the team. In his first game on May 18, Burrell played third base and made eight errors in 10 chances. He was released after six games but caught on with Kokomo of the Indiana State League, batting .384 in 22 games.

One of Eddie's teammates (who had taken to calling him "The Egyptian" due to his having been born in Cairo) was a former National League player named Glenn Felty who was organizing a winter tour of Cuba. Burrell went along and played some third base and some second base for the "American All-Stars." On the way home from Cuba, Felty's team stopped in Gainesville, Florida, to play a spring-training exhibition against the NL's Cleveland Spiders. Eddie collected three doubles in five at-bats, receiving national publicity when the game story appeared in The Sporting News. From among the resulting offers he received for the coming season, he chose Cedar Rapids - back in the Illinois-Iowa League and batted .276 in 85 games as the club's regular second baseman.

In August of that year (1889), Eddie signed with the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (bearing with him the recommendations of former Phils Felty and Longley) and played in 22 games over the last two months of play, batting just .136, but showing he could handle the fielding chores at second base and displaying flashes of speed and determination.

In 1890 Burrell was the Phillies' starter at the keystone, playing 125 games, hitting .246 but displaying a hard-nosed, gritty approach to the game and swiping 48 bases. In 1891 he appeared in 81 games for the Phils and though he regressed at the plate with a .236 average and only 24 stolen bases, his combative play and fiery temper made him a "nuisance" according to opponents such as New York's Hick Rogers who had a famous dust-up with Burrell in June after the latter spiked him while attempting to steal second. Asked later which Phillie he'd like to have on the Giants, Rogers replied: "Burrell. That s.o.b. is tough as nails and mean as a tomcat in a sack."

He enters the 1892 season as the presumptive starter at second base, with his main challenger, Ed Stevenson, slated to be the left fielder for the Phillies.


ED "THE EGYPTIAN" BURRELL

(To Be Continued)

ED. NOTE: Like Goodenough, Burrell will be a featured player in the TBC dynasty thread.

[legendsport]

When the American Association was absorbed into the National League, the older league only deemed four franchises worthy of joining the 12-team monolith. Among the teams left out was the Philadelphia Athletics - and they promptly saw most of their players head for greener (as in more greenbacks) pastures in the NL.

The Athletics took their act to the Eastern League, maintaining their home park and, somewhat optimistically, hoped they could compete head-to-head with the Philadelphia Phillies of the NL. It turned out that they couldn't. With a roster of has-beens and never-wills, the new-look Athletics were forced by dwindling attendance (the Phils were neck & neck with Brooklyn atop the League, so who cared about the Eastern League?) to call it quits.

In a similar boat was the New Haven Elm City club. Though the didn't have direct competition with the League, the nearby New York Giants didn't help either. New Haven also folded up shop, with both announcements coming on the same day: June 18.

For the National League, the scramble was on to sign the best players from the two defunct teams, with both Brooklyn and Baltimore in the mix.

[legendsport]

National League Standings
			W	L	PCT	GB
Cleveland Spiders	91	57	.615	-
Philadelphia Phillies	92	61	.601	1.5
Cincinnati Reds		87	63	.580	5.0
Louisville Colonels	85	67	.559	8.0
Brooklyn Bridegrooms	85	69	.552	9.0
Boston Beaneaters	79	71	.527	13.0
St. Louis Browns	74	76	.493	18.0
Chicago Colts		65	80	.448	24.5
New York Giants		66	84	.440	26.0
Washington Senators	61	89	.407	31.0
Pittsburgh Pirates	60	89	.403	31.5
Baltimore Orioles	54	93	.367	36.5

RECAP
The 1892 season saw the emergence of the National League as a monopoly. Having buried the Players League in 1891, the National League earned the moniker of the "Big League" by absorbing the American Association and then promptly ditching four of the AA teams to leave a twelve-team monolith which would remain unchallenged for the balance of the 19th Century.

In an attempt to generate a little extra excitement the Big League decided to go with a split-season format. The first-half winners would take on the second-half winners for the World's Championship in a best-of-nine series in October. The first-half went to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms who raced through the early going, posting a 50-27 record in the first-half to earn the first berth in the postseason series. The second-half was interesting as several teams competed for that final berth, while Brooklyn struggled with mediocrity. Cleveland (46-29) and Philadelphia (46-31) fought hard but it was the Cincinnati Reds with a 49-26 second-half which won the right to play for the title.

In the Championship Series, the Bridegrooms rediscovered their winning ways and defeated Cincinnati in six games. Several of the victories featured late-inning heroics by the Bridegrooms who were declared Champions despite finishing with the fifth-best overall record in the League at 85-69. Good seasons by Cleveland (91-57), Philadelphia (92-61) and Louisville (85-67) were all wasted by the strange split-season format, which would be discarded for 1893.

There was no shortage of big news in the 1892 season either, as several pitchers notched their 300th victory, while one - the game's winningest pitcher, Thomas Goss - pushed his total to 417. That the "Winter Goose" could accomplish this at age 32 is simply amazing. One of the game's greats, Jim Durr, decided to retire following the season. Durr's final season, a disappointing 14-27 for Pittsburgh, left him with a lifetime 359-257 record, an earned run average of 3.13 and 1895 strikeouts in 5514 innings. The hitters were not to be left out either as the great Hick Rogers of New York became the first batsman to pass 2000 hits.

In other leagues, the Eastern League, considered the top of the so-called "minor" circuits, struggled in 1892 with fully four clubs not making it to the finish line. Syracuse, Elmira, New Haven and Philadelphia all shut down in the middle of the season, with several of their players quickly finding new employment in the National League. League officials have promised that the 1893 Eastern League will be a stable and profitable league.

LEADERS
TOP 5 in BATTING AVG :
.360 Ron Hulett (SLN)
.345 Jeffrey McMillen (WSN)
.336 George Christian (BRO)
.336 Charlie Shanafelt (BRO)
.334 Cornbread Collins (CHN)

TOP 5 in HOMERUNS :
8 Harry Ransom (BSN)
7 Paul Bruner (BRO)
7 Jasper Hines (SLN)
7 Joe Wright (BLN)
6 Four Players

TOP 5 in RBI :
116 George Wade (CIN)
100 Jasper Hines (SLN)
94 Victor Hines (NY1)
93 Travis Krupp (CL4)
91 Joe Wright (BLN)

TOP 5 in ERA :
1.79 Paul Trail (BRO)
2.10 George Tharp (BRO)
2.12 Jim Campbell (SLN)
2.13 Joe Philpott (CL4)
2.14 George Hughes (BSN)

TOP 5 in WINS :
32 Thomas Goss (CIN)
32 Roger Mason (LS3)
31 Joe Philpott (CL4)
30 Dave Necaise (PHI)
30 Randy Sergent (PHI)

[legendsport]

The 1893 season is in full swing. The big news in the early going is the rule change which moved the pitcher's slab back to 60 feet, 6 inches. The expected rise in offense is occurring, though a few of the hurlers seem to have adjusted fairly well.

Through 40 games the Bridegrooms are in the driver's seat in the National League, but a pair of contenders sit just four games back waiting for a falter from the guys in Brooklyn. The number of teams within ten games of the top spot is down to three as the rest of the teams seem to have settled in at or below .500 for the time being.

The move of the pitching rubber back to 60'6" is being seen as the reason offense is up - for the first time in recent memory the top ERA mark in the league is above the 2.00 level with Chicago's Thelen the current leader. Baltimore's Kushner is making a strong push for top pitcher honors, having won 15 contests thus with his nearest competitors having "merely" 10 apiece. Kushner is second to Thelen in ERA with a 2.19 mark.

Among batsmen, Baltimore's newly acquired outfielder Lachlan Garrigan has made a strong start and is currently fifth in average with a .354 mark. The top batting average is held by Cincinnati's Buster Brown who is flirting with .400, a mark that hasn't been reached since Carpetbagger Jenkins clipped at .407 in 1889.


RICK KUSHNER, ORIOLES

[legendsport]

NOTE: I will try to update the thread every "month" of the TBC season to keep things running and so the people who've created players can keep track of the goings-on in the Chronicle universe.


There is a new team atop the standings as Baltimore has passed Brooklyn for the top spot, but it's still really close with Louisville and Philadelphia also both very much in the hunt. The Orioles made several key acquisitions in the offseason, especially in the outfield - and purchased solid hitting catcher Norm Schmitt from the Eastern League's Troy club in mid-July to further bolster their attack.

The surge by the Colonels can be laid mainly at the feet of Ronald Mason and Dell Coyne. Mason won Pitcher of the Month by going 9-1 for Louisville to help them close to within striking distance of the top. Coyne did his part as well, winning Batter of the Month with a .385 average.

Rick Kushner continues to star for Baltimore, running his record to 25-8 through the end of July with a very solid 2.31 ERA. He also became the first and so far only, hurler to crack the 100 strikeout barrier this season. Buster Brown continues to pace the League in hitting with a .357 mark.

Usual deadline for tomorrow's 8/1-15 sim.


RONALD MASON, LOUISVILLE

[legendsport]

The Baltimore Orioles have edged ahead of Brooklyn with just 24 games remaining in the 1893 season. Baltimore put together a strong 19-7 August to put a little seperation between themselves and the defending champions. With the lead at just three games, however, the Bridegrooms are far from being out of the race.

Baltimore's star hurler Rick Kushner has pushed his wins total past 30, entering September with 31 victories on his ledger sheet against just 11 defeats. He will be gunning to become the league's first 40-game winner since Ryan Sebastian went 43-16 for the 1886 St. Louis Brown Stockings. If he does reach 40, he will also notch the 100th career victory of his career - he entered the 1893 campaign with 60 victories to his credit.

The Philadelphia Phillies may have a phenom on their hands as young Ed Burrell won August honors as the League's Best Batsman. "The Egyptian" as Burrell is known, hit .435 in August to take top bat honors and for the season the 22-year-old keystone has collected hits at a .367 rate, good for second-place on the League's standing board.

And speaking of young stars in the making, Boston may have one of its own in the German-born Heinie Staudenmaier. The family Staudenmaier emigrated from Munster, passing through Ellis Island in 1874 when the budding baseball behemoth was a mere lad of four. He quickly became an all-American boy and learned the game of baseball. Now he is playing left field for Boston and hitting .315 as a freshman. The general consensus is that when the young man fully realizes his potential, he may become one of the game's greats.


HEINIE STAUDENMAIER, BOSTON

[LFC1892]

Finally caught up...great work legend

[legendsport]

National League Standings
                         W       L       PCT    GB
Baltimore Orioles       85      47      .644    -
Brooklyn Bridegrooms    80      52      .606    5.0
Louisville Colonels     73      59      .553    12.0
Boston Beaneaters       71      61      .538    14.0
Philadelphia Phillies   71      61      .538    14.0
St. Louis Browns        69      63      .523    16.0
Chicago Colts           68      64      .515    17.0
Cleveland Spiders       66      66      .500    19.0
Washington Senators     62      70      .470    23.0
New York Giants         51      81      .386    34.0
Cincinnati Reds         48      84      .364    37.0
Pittsburgh Pirates      48      84      .364    37.0

RECAP
The 1893 season saw the return of the National League to a "traditional" season as the length of the campaign dropped to 132 games and the season was not split into halves. Postseason play was also shelved - the club with the best record after 132 games would be declared the Champions.

The Brooklyn Bridegrooms, following the script from 1892 that had seen them storm out of the gate to win the first-half championship, were again the class of the League in the early going. They swooned a bit in the second half, and ended up finished second to a rejuvenated Baltimore club. The Orioles had revamped their lineup in the offseason, and the results of their spending paid off handsomely as they took over the lead in midseason and held on down the stretch to win the pennant by five games over the Bridegrooms.

Baltimore was led by the pitching of Rick Kushner. Kushner had never made much of a name for himself in his previous performances. The 27-year-old had been middling for some poor teams in Kansas City during the American Association years and had made 10 appearances for the Orioles in '92, posting a 4-5 mark with a 3.19 earned run average. So no one expected the dominant performance Kushner put up in '93. He led the League in victories with 37, in strikeouts with 149 and finished third in ERA at 2.39 - all of which were career-bests.

The Orioles also boasted one of the league's best lineups. Lachlan Garrigan, the Scottish-born left fielder acquired by the Orioles in a preseason purchase from the Eastern League, hit .332 in the new-look outfield for Baltimore that featured holdover Joe Wright (.339) and young centerfielder Paddy Murphy.

Another young star was rising in Philadelphia as Ed "The Egyptian" Burrell won the batting crown with a .371 mark. Burrell, an infielder who had been playing since he was a 17-year-old in 1889, improved upon a good 1892 campaign where he hit .322 - his improvement in 1893 has marked Burrell as one of the best talents in base ball - and he's a mere 22 years of age.

In other leagues, the Eastern League, considered the top of the so-called "minor" circuits, rebounded from its financial struggles of 1892 to post a complete season for all eight members in 1893. Providence took home the pennant with a 69-51 record, finishing two games ahead of Troy. "The Concord Comet," John Clark, who had played briefly in the National League for Cleveland back in 1890, was the batting champion with a .374 mark, signifying that the 28-year-old is probably good enough to rejoin the big league in 1894. Another former National Leaguer, Philippe Martineau, was the ERA champion with a 1.97 mark, and he too may find himself employed in the National League come next spring.

LEADERS
TOP 5 in BATTING AVG :
.371 Ed Burrell (PHI)
.359 Tex Vetter (CIN)
.355 Squirrel Downs (LOU)
.345 Tommy Work (SLN)
.341 3 Players Tied

TOP 5 in HOMERUNS :
10 Candy Lemmons (BLN)
8 Stuart Bailey (LOU)
8 Travis Krupp (CLE)
8 Gavin Renwick (PIT)
7 5 Players Tied

TOP 5 in RBI :
105 John Heyward (LOU)
102 Shooter Smith (WAS)
96 Candy Lemmons (BLN)
93 Will Wessels (BSN)
92 Nick Eanes (PHI)

TOP 5 in ERA :
1.97 George Tharp (BRO)
2.37 Randy Lumley (BLN)
2.39 Rick Kushner (BLN)
2.48 Jim Campbell (SLN)
2.54 Mark Thelen (CHN)

TOP 5 in WINS :
37 Rick Kushner (BAL)
32 George Tharp (BRO)
28 Roger Mason (LOU)
26 Paul Trail (BRO)
25 Eli Money (CHN)

[legendsport]

The 1894 season is underway! The Cleveland Spiders tore out of the gate quickly, winning 8 of 9 games to claim the early lead. But that lead is small, with a surprisingly strong Washington team sitting just a game back and last year's champion Orioles just behind the Capitol City nine.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Philadelphia Phillies. The City of Brotherly Love's club took a beating this offseason, losing a couple of players to retirement and management did little to upgrade in the offseason. The results show as the Phils dropped 8 of their first 9 and sit in the basement.

A new circuit has emerged in the midwest as the Western League, reorganized after a disastrous - and shortened - 1893 campaign, made big news by signing big name cast-offs from the Big League such as Paul Trail and his 396 career victories. Trail, left unreserved by Brooklyn after posting 26 victories in 1893 for the Bridegrooms, has returned home to his native Wisconsin and is pitching for the Milwaukee club in the Western League. The Western has enough talent to vie with the Eastern League for top status among the leagues below the National League.

[metsgeek]

Maybe the Spiders can avenge how they were screwed over in 1892!

[legendsport]

The Cleveland Spiders slowed down - a bit - but remain atop the standings, with the Orioles nipping at their heels. Washington got off to a good start this past fortnight, but faltered a bit at the end, dropping to fourth as the New York Giants passed them in the standings. Half the league is within five games of the top, and it's still very early, so it remains (forgive the cliche) "anyone's ballgame."

One of the biggest stories thus far is the performance of Brooklyn's old warhorse, Charlie Shanafelt. Though just 29 years of age, the fan favorite is in his 12th season and with a .343 lifetime batting average, is generally considered one of the best hitters in the game. His performance thus far in '94, though, is other-worldly. Shanafelt has collected 39 safeties in his first 77 at-bats, good for a .506 batting average. Of course, hitting is up all over the National League, with the twelve clubs' composite average at .307, but Shanafelt's performance is still eye-popping.

With offense up, it's no surprise that the Giants, owners of the league's top batting average - an incredible .342 - are in the thick of the early battle for the pennant. What is surprising is that any pitchers are able to find success this season. But there are a few who are still baffling hitters - perhaps not as completely as a season or two ago - but effective nonetheless. Thomas Goss, Cincinnati's legendary hurler, currently leads the loop with a 2.61 ERA and has won six games so far in the young season. The Winter Goose's six victories have run his all-time leading total to 437. Baltimore's Rick Kushner has eight victories, again leading the league, but his ERA is a robust 4.90 and his victory total can be attributed, at least in part, to the Orioles' starting him as often as possible.


Charlie "Traveler" Shanafelt, Brooklyn

[legendsport]

Not much has changed in the standings - the Orioles continue to lead the way with a decent, though not overwhelming, lead. The Browns and Colonels are tied for the second spot with Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Brooklyn clumped together just behind the top three.

Rick Kushner continues to thrive as a workhorse for Baltimore, having piled up 23 victories thus far (of the 42 posted by the first-place Orioles). The second place total is a mere 13 and Kush is on pace to eclipse 40 for the year. His 3.02 earned run mark is also the best in the league. The only question is when his arm is going to fall off.

The batters continue to get the best of things with Brooklyn's Nathan Joseph pacing the race with a robust .441 average. The 22-year-old Joseph has earned his first starting role this season after hitting .325 as a reserve last year and is putting up numbers that would lead you to believe he's going to be a fixture in the Bridegrooms lineup for many years.

Even home runs are being collected at a brisk pace this season. Ed Stevenson of the Phillies has already made 11 round trips of the bases this year in just 60 games - his previous career-best was 9 in 132 games back in the watered-down year of 1890.


RICK KUSHNER, BALTIMORE'S GOLDEN ARM

[legendsport]

Sorry for the delay, we had a huge problem with the league crashing which I eventually found to be two pitchers in the Eastern League. Once I retired those guys, everything worked again. Weirdest part? Neither of them had anything seemingly wrong with them.

Back to the business at hand:

No change at the top of the standings, but the Orioles' lead has shrunk to under 10 games for the first time in over a month. The Cleveland Spiders enjoyed a solid fortnight to grab a slim lead in the race for second place over the Louisville Colonels. Both Cleveland and Louisville have opened up a bit of breathing space ahead of the Chicago Colts with Pittsburgh and St. Louis also coming back to the pack a bit.

Perhaps the heavy workload has caught up to Rick Kushner. The Orioles' ace was seemingly a steam-roller on course for an enormous season, but he seems to have a hit a wall. He's winless (0-5) in his last six starts and has just a 2-7 record in his last ten. In 50 starts, Kusner is 34-11 and his ERA is 3.76. Is the Age of the Ironman over at last?

Ed Burrell has edged ahead again in the race to be batting champion and put at least a little shine on a poor season for the Philadelphia Phillies. Burrell is over .400 again, finishing August at .405 and has a nine-percentage point lead on Brooklyn's Nathan Joseph for the batting crown. Surprisingly it was not Burrell's team mate Ed Stevenson who became the first man since 1889 (and just the third ever) to crack the 20-HR plateau. That honor went to Boston's Harry Ransom. Even more astounding is that Ransom has accomplished this feat in a mere 48 games!


Boston's Amazing Harry Ransom

[rocknfire7]

Whoa! Did Bruno Barbella shave his mustache?

[legendsport]

Originally Posted by rocknfire7

Whoa! Did Bruno Barbella shave his mustache?

The custom facial hair mod was wreaking havoc with the league file (making it crash), so unfortunately a lot of players got an unwanted trip to the barber's shop.

1894 Season End Update

The 1894 campaign saw two players garner most of the headlines during the regular season as the pennant race was never much in doubt during the summer with the powerful Baltimore Orioles rolling towards a pennant they'd win by an easy eight-game margin.

The first of those two players was a key player of that Orioles club - pitcher Rick Kushner. Kushner, given the opportunity to start nearly every-other-day, racked up a number of starts unseen in recent seasons, making a total of 58 starts for the Orioles. For most of the season, the workload, and Kushner's ability to not only carry it, but be successful with it, had him marching towards a 40-win season. A slump in August doomed the chances of hitting that plateau, but he did manage to finish with 38 victories, twelve more than the next best mark in the league.

The other player story was centered around Philadelphia's Ed Burrell. Nicknamed the "Egyptian" because he hails from Cairo (the one in Illinois, not the one on the Nile), Burrell put on a hitting display all season long and became the first hitter to notch a .400 average since a slew of hitters had taken advantage of rules changes and watered-down pitching to crack .400 back in 1887. There were times when it appeared that Burrell might break the all-time mark of Carpetbagger Jenkins (set in '87 of course), but he ended up with the third-best mark of all-time, finishing with a .419 average.

The pennant race was a runaway for Baltimore. With Kushner's pitching and a lineup deep enough to succeed even after losing several players to devastating injury, the Orioles won the race by a full eight games over the second-place Louisville club with an 86-46 record. In the Temple Cup, the Orioles dispatched the Colonels in five games to put a stamp on one of the most impressive seasons in baseball history.

1894 Season HTML Reports

[legendsport]

Well, more issues with the league file, but it related only to the Eastern League (which I had to rebuild as a "new" league), so it's on with the show.

The story of 1895 thus far has been the Philadelphia Phillies. A team which struggled in recent seasons, the Phils have shown surprisingly strong play this season and are currently sitting on top of the National League standings, but just a game ahead of the ever-powerful Baltimore Orioles.

There's a tight group of clubs just behind Baltimore as well, with Brooklyn, Pittsburgh and Louisville ready to jump ahead should either of the top two teams falter.

Brooklyn's diminutive Harvey Cart looks like he's finally matured into the star player observers have been waiting on since he broke into the National League in 1890 as an 18-year-old. Cart currently leads the League in hitting with a .387 mark.


HARVEY "DOG & PONY" CART