[AZTarHeel]

This is cool, good job ... I also like the pics ...

[fhomess]

Small Town Mansfields Spend Big

With 3 teams leaving the league, a number of players suddenly found themselves without a job heading into the 1872 season. Making matters more interesting is the fact that 5 teams joined the returning 6 teams in an effort to aquire them. With all those players available, no team made a bigger splash than the free spending Mansfields...

The Manfields went out and signed two of the best hitters from 1871 as well as one of the best pitchers. 1871 Batter of the Year winner Bob Polansky and teammate Harry Ream both will be playing for Middletown after seeing their stadium go up in flames last October. The former White Stockings will be supporing a former Kekionga. Fort Wayne's star pitcher Jake Lindsey also signed with Middletown. While he only managed a 5-1 record in Fort Wayne's short season, he did post a 1.68 ERA and the trio of stars immediately creates a formidable force in Connecticut.

The rest of the league has certainly sat up to take notice of Middletown, but there is a legitimate concern that the team has overspent on stars in a town that simply can't afford all that talent. Certainly, teams in large markets such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia have mocked the signings, citing the example of Fort Wayne and Rockford as small town teams that were unable to pay even their more modest payrolls.

[fhomess]

1872 Preview

Baltimore Canaries
Key Players:
RF John McGovern, SP John Zackery

Outlook:
Baltimore decided to go with players already under contract from their days as an amateur team, recruiting only a couple of players with any experience in the NA last year. Both McGovern and Zackery are among those holdovers, and there's little expectation that they'll be enough to keep the team competitive in the league this year.

Projected Finish: 11th

Boston Red Stockings
Last Season: 13-18 (5th)

Key Players:
CF Fred Mannion, LF Joe Arthur, SP Will Svoboda

Outlook:
Last year's starter, Bobby Thrasher, posted a 3.88 ERA, which was the 10th best ERA in the league. With only 9 teams, that was a strong sign that he wasn't cutting it, and after receiving little interest from teams for the coming season, he decided to retire. In steps Will Svoboda, who the team signed out of the amateur ranks and is slated to be this season's starter. In the vein of Thrasher, Svoboda is an older star from the amateur circuit at 34 years old, but he's proven himself there and certain deserves a chance to show his stuff in the NA. On offense, Mannion and Arthur both return from last season. Mannion's .377 average was 8th in the league last year, and he moves from CF to RF to make room for new CF John Yawn. Yawn hit .352 with Fort Wayne and is a fine addition to the team.

Projected Finish: 4th

Brooklyn Atlantics
Key Players
RF Bob Handy, 1B Randy Stirnemann, SP Bill Burman

Outlook:
Handy and Stirnemann were signed from Rockford and Chicago, respectively, and are the two most promising experienced players on the team. Burman was also picked off of the smoldering remains of Chicago, and he is not considered to have high end ability. The White Stockings used him for only 5 innings over 4 games last year, and he was not good.

Projected Finish: 8th

Brooklyn Eckfords
Key Players
1B Billy Horace, RF Dave Hasse, SP Frank Nasser

Outlook:
Just as Baltimore is bringing along several players from their days as an amateur team, Nasser will continue to be the Eckford starter as he was last year when they weren't in the NA. It's a comfortable strategy, but he's also one of the starters with the least expected out of him. Horace is another holdover, and will be the team's #3 hitter. Eckford did pick off some of the lesser players from the folding franchises, and Hasse is coming to Brooklyn from Chicago.

Projected Finish: 9th

Cleveland Forest Citys
Last Season: 12-17 (6th)

Key Players
RF Joe Bonetti, CF Tom Gerheauser SP Charlie Champ

Outlook:
Champ lived up to his name last season with the league's 5th best ERA at 3.00 and his 15 strikeouts were second in the league. He'll need more run support to improve on his 10-13 record from last year. Bonetti and Gerheauser led the offense, hitting .329 and .333 respectively. The two combined for 54 stolen bases, which was more than any team except Philadelphia. As a team, Cleveland stole bases twice as often as anyone else, and that trend will likely continue.

Projected Finish: 10th

Middletown Mansfields
Key Players
CF Bob Polansky, 1B Harry Ream, 2B Jack Van Houten, C Mike Stanley, SP Jake Lindsey

Outlook:
As previously reported, Middletown did their best to snap up every legitimate star that was dropped by the folded teams, and they nearly accomplished the feat. Their lineup is quite formidable with a number of players who could hit in the middle of any lineup in the league.

Projected Finish: 1st

New York Mutuals
Last Season: 19-14 (3rd)

Key Players
RF John Nero, LF Dick Morgan, SP John McGonigal

Outlook:
The Mutuals never settled on a starter they were happy with last year, and this year they'll start out the year with McGonigal taking the mound. He'll be 38 by the end of April, and the team will likely play out the season with a similarly chaotic situation on the mound. Nero is a legitimate #3 hitter and a star in the prime of his career, while Morgan is aging star that will need to hold up over the course of the season to give the offense the depth it needs.

Projected Finish: 5th

Philadelphia Athletics
Last Season: 22-6 (1st)
Championships: 1871

Key Players
2B George Barkley, RF Al Noack SP Joe Dimond

Outlook:
Dimond established himself as the league's best pitcher last year, earning 1871 Pitcher of the Year honors. Barkley proved himself to be a star with his .397 average good enough for 4th in the league. Noack was a surprise contributor, and helped give the offense the depth it needed to support Dimond.

Projected Finish: 2nd

Troy Haymakers
Last Season: 11-18 (8th)

Key Players
LF Bob Brose, 2B Oscar Williams, SP Al Allen

Outlook:
With starter John Chapman unable to deliver any consistent performance, Troy gave the ball to a number of pitchers on various occasions. The plan for this season is to give it to Allen and hope that he is able to deliver what is needed to win. Brose proved to be an excellent hitter, but he'll need more help from guys like Williams if the team is going to have a chance to win.

Projected Finish: 6th

Washington Olympics
Last Season: 19-13 (2nd)

Key Players
CF John Arend, RF John Boles, C Josh Croyle, SP Joe Winsor

Outlook:
Boles' .385 average was 6th in the league, while Arend and Croyle each had hitting streaks of 25 games or more. On the mound, Mart Lemelle was acquired from Troy in May of last year and started 20 games for the team, but over the course of the year, Winsor evolved into a viable option, and the team will go with him this year after he posted solid numbers over the final part of the season. His ERA last year in 10 games was 2.85.

Projected Finish: 3rd

Washington Nationals
Key Players
CF Charlie Sandin, LF Jim Linhart, SP Al Newbold

Outlook:
Newbold has been the team's starter for the past few seasons in barnstorming and amateur ball, and he will continue in that role for the team this year. Sandin was a key signing for the team off of Rockford's leftovers. He hit a productive .347 for the Forest Citys in 25 games last year. Linhart is another holdover the team has brought along with them, and should be a solid player in the NA as well.

Projected Finish: 7th


1872 Projected Standings
1. Middletown Mansfields
2. Philadelphia Athletics
3. Washington Olympics
4. Boston Red Stockings
5. New York Mutuals
6. Troy Haymakers
7. Washington Nationals
8. Brooklyn Atlantics
9. Brooklyn Eckfords
10. Cleveland Forest Citys
11. Baltimore Canaries

[fhomess]

May 1, 1872
Only a handful of games were played in April as the season didn’t start till the 18th, but already the Mansfields have made themselves known to the league. As expected, the Canaries find themselves already with 4 losses, which is more games than most teams have played. A handful of teams, including last year’s champions have yet to play.

Washington catcher Josh Croyle extended his hitting streak from last season into his first two games of this one. That put his streak at 27 games, which eclipsed the mark of 26 set by teammate John Arend.

In Other News
On March 1, efforts by F.V. Hayden, including photos by William Henry Jackson and paintings by Thomas Moran convince president Ulysses S. Grant to sign a bill into law that established Yellowstone National Park as the first national park in the world. President Grant appointed Nathaniel P. Langford as the park’s first superintendent. The bill withdrew the lands of Yellowstone from public auction.

Standings

                          W     L      PCT      GB
Middletown Mansfields     3     0    1.000       -
Washington Olympics       2     0    1.000      .5
Boston Red Stockings      1     0    1.000     1.0
Brooklyn Atlantics        0     0     .000     1.5
Brooklyn Eckfords         0     0     .000     1.5
Cleveland Forest Citys    0     0     .000     1.5
Philadelphia Athletics    0     0     .000     1.5
Washington Nationals      2     2     .500     1.5
New York Mutuals          2     3     .400     2.0
Troy Haymakers            0     2     .000     2.5
Baltimore Canaries        1     4     .200     3.0

League Leaders
Average

.667 Charlie Rossi (BOS)
.667 John Arend (WSH)
.667 John Boles (WSH)

Total Bases
18 Bill Shew (BAL)
16 John Lyle (NY)
16 Harry Reinholz (BAL)

Stolen Bases
3 John Arend (WSH)
2 John Nero (NY)
1 Bob Brose (TRO), Tom Hedgepeth (NY), Billy Reader (NAT)

ERA

1.09 Jim Carlos (NY)
2.00 Jake Lindsey (MID)
3.21 Joe Winsor (WSH)

Wins
2 Jake Lindsey (MID)
2 Joe Winsor (WSH)
1 – several players

Strikeouts
4 Jake Lindsey (MID)
2 Jack Eastland (NAT)
2 John Zackery (BAL)

[RMc]

So if Middletown wins the pennant (or comes close), will they be back for 1873?

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by RMc

So if Middletown wins the pennant (or comes close), will they be back for 1873?

No. The reason they folded was for financial reasons. Given the stars they signed, there's no way they'd be able to pay them all. In my mind, they're the first team that's tried to buy a title, but they'll pay for it. The story works it's way out pretty well.

[RMc]

Hm. I'd like to set up a similar "saga" (never give a saga an even break!), but not necessarily hew to the actual timeline; if, say, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas survive the 19th century to become the Green Bay Packers of baseball, so be it. How did you set up this universe? I tried once and it froze up on me...

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by RMc

Hm. I'd like to set up a similar "saga" (never give a saga an even break!), but not necessarily hew to the actual timeline; if, say, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas survive the 19th century to become the Green Bay Packers of baseball, so be it. How did you set up this universe? I tried once and it froze up on me...

Yeah, I'm going with the actual teams. I've thought about approaching it from the standpoint of letting teams get through if they can manage financially, but I didn't want to deal with that in OOTP's financial system.

As far as setting up the league, you have to create the league with an even number of teams, then edit the league to have an odd number of teams after the league has been created. Then edit/import the schedule manually since the game can't generate schedules for an odd number of teams.

One other thing I ran into of note: I decided to use the ammy draft to distribute new talent to the league since financials are off. The pre-draft screen will only display an even number of teams. That said, you still get every team drafting. The team that you don't see on the screen drop downs is the one that drafts last. Now that I think about it, I should probably post this in the tech support forum, too.

[fhomess]

June 1, 1872
The defending champion Philadelphia Athletics opened their season on May 1 in Baltimore against the league rookie Canaries. Baltimore jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the 1st, and looked to put the champs down 0-1 in the standings with and 8-6 lead heading into the 9th. However, a triple by 2B George Barkley sparked a 3-run rally that gave the Athletics a 9-8 lead, their first of the game. However, a pair of costly errors allowed Baltimore to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning, and the game went to the 10th inning. Philadelphia would go on to score 2 in the 10th and wound up with an 11-9 victory.

Early standings leader Middletown and the Washington Olympics both struggled through the month of May, dropping several spots in the standings. Taking their place at the top were the Boston Red Stockings and New York Mutuals. While Middletown will get a shot to redeem themselves in June and beyond, the Olympics have run out of money to pay players and for travel expenses, and have canceled all of the remaining games on their schedule. At this point, it seems unlikely that the team will be able to return to the league at any point in the future, and they appear to be done.

In Other News
Washington Olympics catcher Josh Croyle saw his hitting streak snapped at 30 games after being held hitless by Charlie Champ and the Cleveland Forest Citys.

On May 10, Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States, despite being a year too young to appear on the ballot.

On May 22, President Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872, restoring full civil rights to almost all confederate sympathizers.

Standings

                         W     L      PCT      GB
Boston Red Stockings     7     3     .700       -
New York Mutuals         7     4     .636      .5
Troy Haymakers           9     6     .600      .5
Brooklyn Atlantics       3     2     .600     1.5
Middletown Mansfields    5     4     .556     1.5
Philadelphia Athletics   4     3     .571     1.5
Washington Olympics      5     4     .556     1.5
Washington Nationals     5     4     .556     1.5
Cleveland Forest Citys   5     5     .500     2.0
Brooklyn Eckfords        0     4     .000     4.0
Baltimore Canaries       2    13     .133     7.5

League Leaders
Average

.479 Dick Livermore (CLE)
.462 John Arend (WSH)
.450 Billy Horace (ECK)

Total Bases
42 Bob Brose (TRO)
30 Harry Bowling (TRO)
30 John Lyle (NY)
30 Bill Shew (BAL)

Stolen Bases
5 John Arend (WSH)
5 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
4 Nat Alsop (CLE), Bob Brose (TRO), Nat Kuhlmann (CLE), Jack Masterson (BAL)

ERA
1.25 Jim Carlos (NY)
1.86 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.39 Al Allen (TRO)

Wins

6 Pete Jackson (TRO)
5 Jim Carlos (NY)
4 Charlie Bickley (BOS), Charlie Champ (CLE), Al Newbold (OLY)

Strikeouts
7 Al Allen (TRO)
7 Jake Lindsey (MID)
6 Charlie Champ (CLE)

[fhomess]

July 1, 1872
The Athletics assert themselves with a 7-2 month that puts them atop the standings just ahead of the Red Stockings and Atlantics. At one point, Philadelphia won 5 games in a row, and their two losses came against the Mutuals and Forest Citys. Meanwhile, the Red Stockings and Haymakers continue to look strong, while the Mansfields struggle to restore some promise to their ever dwindling home crowds.

The league continues to struggle financially and in particular in the nations capitol. A month after the Olympics ended their season with a 5-4 record due to financial difficulty, the Nationals have folded their doors as well. The Nationals were 5-6 and 9th in the standings. Several ballclubs criticized the team’s presence in the NA to begin with. Since each team was responsible for scheduling their own games, the Nationals decision to close up shop comes after playing all of their games at home. With upcoming games scheduled on the road in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, the team left the league before having to travel on those expensive road trips.

Standings

                            W     L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics     11     5     .688       -
Boston Red Stockings       11     8     .579     1.5
Brooklyn Atlantics          6     3     .667     1.5
Troy Haymakers             12     9     .571     1.5
New York Mutuals           11    10     .524     2.5
Washington Olympics         5     4     .556     2.5
Middletown Mansfields       7     7     .500     3.0
Cleveland Forest Citys      6     7     .462     3.5
Washington Nationals        5     6     .455     3.5
Brooklyn Eckfords           3     5     .375     4.0
Baltimore Canaries          6    19     .240     9.5

League Leaders
Average

.475 Billy Horace (ECK)
.462 John Arend (WSH)
.456 Joe Bonetti (CLE)

Total Bases
58 Bob Brose (TRO)
51 Bill Shew (BAL)
50 Joe Arthur (BOS)

Stolen Bases
9 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
9 Jack Masterson (BAL)
7 John Nero (NY)

ERA

2.04 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.39 Al Allen (TRO)
2.50 Jim Carlos (NY)

Wins
9 Jim Carlos (NY)
9 Pete Jackson (TRO)
8 Charlie Bickley (BOS), Joe Dimond (PHA)

Strikeouts
10 Joe Dimond (PHA)
10 Jake Lindsey (MID)
9 Jim Carlos (NY), Pete Jackson (TRO)

[fhomess]

August 1, 1872
Philadelphia continued their torrid pace in a bid to repeat as champions of the National Association, and made a big statement against their closest challengers at the end of the month. On July 27, the Athletics traveled to Boston to play the Red Stockings at South End Grounds. Third baseman Sandy Flaugher led a Philly barrage of 18 runs against Charlie Bickley and the Boston pitching staff. Meanwhile, Joe Dimond shut down the league’s highest scoring offense, earning an easy 18-1 victory.

Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Eckfords end their season early on July 9 after being unable to stay competitive, winning just 4 games out of 13 and having few fans show up to their games. Cleveland and Baltimore, despite their poor showing in the standings.

Despite being a first division team, the Troy Haymakers drop out of the NA midseason, disbanding amidst financial woes. Several of the Haymakers head to Brooklyn to join the Eckfords, including pitchers Al Allen and Pete Jackson, as well as LF Bob Brose, SS Harry Bowling, and 2B Oscar Williams. The influx of players allows the Eckfords to make plans to continue their season, and the team schedules their next game for August 9 against Baltimore. Meanwhile, 3B Frank Stuart went to the Canaries, and will have several games before facing off against his former teammates.

Standings

                            W     L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics     15     6     .714       -
Boston Red Stockings       16    10     .615     1.5
New York Mutuals           16    11     .593     2.0
Brooklyn Atlantics          7     6     .538     4.0
Troy Haymakers             13    12     .520     4.0
Washington Olympics         5     4     .556     4.0
Middletown Mansfields       9     9     .500     4.5
Washington Nationals        5     6     .455     5.0
Brooklyn Eckfords           4     7     .364     6.0
Cleveland Forest Citys      6    14     .300     8.5
Baltimore Canaries          8    19     .296    10.0

League Leaders
Average
.482 Billy Horace (ECK)
.462 John Arend (WSH)
.424 Bob Polansky (MID)

Total Bases

62 Fred Mannion (BOS)
61 Bob Brose (TRO)
61 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
61 John Nero (NY)

Stolen Bases
11 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
10 Jack Masterson (BAL)
8 Fred Mannion (BOS), John Nero (NY)

ERA
1.98 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.47 Jim Carlos (NY)
2.56 Al Allen (TRO)

Wins

12 Joe Dimond (PHA)
11 Charlie Bickley (BOS)
9 Jim Carlos (NY), Pete Jackson (TRO)

Strikeouts
20 Joe Dimond (PHA)
10 Jake Lindsey (MID)
9 Al Allen (TRO), Jim Carlos (NY), Pete Jackson (TRO)

[fhomess]

September 1, 1872
In addition to Joe Dimond’s superb pitching, the Athletics have gotten a lot of runs up and down the lineup. Two players had hitting streaks of 20 games or more come to an end in August. SS Bill Heim, who’s hitting .315 this season, saw his 22 game hit streak come to an end on August 3 against Middletown. C Charlie Harvard had a 21 game hit streak snapped in a 10-1 loss to the Eckfords. Speaking of Brooklyn, even the bolstered Eckford lineup couldn’t pull the team up higher in the standings, as they went 3-5 in their return to play over the last half of the month.

Meanwhile, the announcement that everyone expected to occur ages ago has finally happened. Middletown has been unable to maintain their high payroll amidst diminished returns. After starting the season 3-0, the team fell to 10-14 before announcing their withdrawal from the league on August 13. Despite all the talent the team had acquired, they were 5th in the league in runs scored and 8th in runs allowed. Too many errors on defense cost the team a lot of runs, and the offense simply hasn’t lived up to expectations.

A 3-12 loss to the Red Stockings on August 19 was also the final straw for the Forest Citys. Languishing at 7-15 and 10th place in the league, Cleveland’s departure leaves just 6 active teams for the remainder of the season: Philadelphia, New York, Boston, the Atlantics, Baltimore, and the bolstered remains known as Eckford.

Standings

                          W    L    PCT     GB
Philadelphia Athletics   22    8   .733      -
New York Mutuals         24   14   .632    2.0
Boston Red Stockings     19   15   .559    5.0
Brooklyn Atlantics       13   10   .565    5.5
Troy Haymakers           13   12   .520    6.5
Washington Olympics       5    4   .556    6.5
Washington Nationals      5    6   .455    7.5
Middletown Mansfields    10   14   .417    9.0
Brooklyn Eckfords         7   12   .368    9.5
Cleveland Forest Citys    7   15   .318   11.0
Baltimore Canaries       13   28   .317   14.5

League Leaders
Average
.462 John Arend (WSH)
.454 Billy Horace (ECK)
.418 Rudy Stirnemann (ATL)

Total Bases

90 John Nero (NY)
83 Bill Shew (BAL)
81 Bob Brose (ECK)

Stolen Bases
17 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
15 John Nero (NY)
10 Nat Alsop (CLE), Jack Masterson (BAL)

ERA

1.93 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.42 Jim Carlos (NY)
2.82 Joe Dimond (PHA)

Wins
12 Joe Dimond (PHA)
11 Charlie Bickley (BOS)
9 Jim Carlos (NY), Pete Jackson (TRO)

Strikeouts
27 Joe Dimond (PHA)
12 Al Allen (ECK)
11 Jake Lindsey (MID)

[fhomess]

October 1, 1872
Philadelphia and New York faced off with two games at the start of September, giving the Mutuals a chance to catch up with the Athletics, but Philly came out ahead in both contests, pushing their lead in the standings to 4 games. They then faced off against Boston for a pair, winning the first game to extend their winning streak to 8 games. Boston won a 15-11 slugfest in the second game to stay within 6 in the standings. Philadelphia would get revenge later in the month, as well as dropping the Mutuals one more time, and ultimately extended their league to a seemingly insurmountable 8.5 games. Their 12-2 record in September puts them in excellent position to repeat as champions.

At the other end of the standings, Baltimore actually played fairly well, going 5-3, while the Eckfords struggled to a 2-5 record. The Atlantics did not cope well with the loss of their starting shortstop (see below), and went 2-7 to drop to 13 back.

In Other News
Sept 1: Brooklyn Atlantics shortstop Tommy Bise drowns in New York harbor after falling from a fishing boat.

Sept 7: Joe Dimond becomes the first pitcher in NA history to win 20 games in a single season. Dimond shuts down the Eckford offense to the tune of just 4 hits and 2 runs in a complete game performance. He’s supported by a superb defense that commits just 4 errors in the game,

Sept 26: The first Shriners Temple is established, in New York City.

Standings

                            W     L      PCT       GB
Philadelphia Athletics     34    10     .773        -
Boston Red Stockings       24    17     .585      8.5
New York Mutuals           26    23     .531     10.5
Troy Haymakers             13    12     .520     11.5
Washington Olympics         5     4     .556     11.5
Washington Nationals        5     6     .455     12.5
Brooklyn Atlantics         15    17     .469     13.0
Middletown Mansfields      10    14     .417     14.0
Brooklyn Eckfords           9    17     .346     16.0
Cleveland Forest Citys      7    15     .318     16.0
Baltimore Canaries         18    31     .367     18.5

League Leaders
Average
.462 John Arend (WSH)
.419 Billy Horace (ECK)
.412 Frank Hogge (NAT)

Total Bases

112 Joe Holleran (PHA)
108 John Nero (NY)
103 Tom Hedgepeth (NY), Bill Shew (BAL)

Stolen Bases
19 John Nero (NY)
17 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
12 Fred Mannion (BOS)

ERA
1.93 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.60 Jim Carlos (NY)
2.80 Al Allen (ECK)

Wins

23 Joe Dimond (PHA)
14 Gid Washer (BAL)
13 Charlie Bickley (BOS)

Strikeouts
32 Joe Dimond (PHA)
18 Gid Washer (BAL)
14 Pete Jackson (ECK)

[fhomess]

November 1, 1872
The Philadelphia Athletics surprised no one by winning their final 3 games of the season against Boston to wrap up their second consecutive championship season. Boston finishes in 2nd place with 28 victories, a total matched only by New York. The Mutuals actually went just 2-5 in the final month of the season to drop to a .500 record on the year.

The Canaries finish the season in last place, although Baltimore papers list them in 4th, electing to list teams in order of victories regardless of losses (technically, the NA actually ordered teams in the standings in this fashion, but OOTP only supports standings based on win pct, so I’m going with OOTP here).

In Other News
Oct 1: Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, later renamed Virginia Tech, opens its doors to students for the first time.

Standings

                            W      L      PCT       GB
Philadelphia Athletics     37     10     .787        -
Boston Red Stockings       28     20     .583      9.5
Troy Haymakers             13     12     .520     13.0
Washington Olympics         5      4     .556     13.0
New York Mutuals           28     28     .500     13.5
Brooklyn Atlantics         18     19     .486     14.0
Washington Nationals        5      6     .455     14.0
Middletown Mansfields      10     14     .417     15.5
Cleveland Forest Citys      7     15     .318     17.5
Brooklyn Eckfords          10     19     .345     18.0
Baltimore Canaries         22     36     .379     20.5

League Leaders
Average
.462 John Arend (WSH)
.412 Frank Hogge (NAT)
.411 Harry Holmes (MID)

Total Bases

122 Joe Holleran (PHA)
118 John Nero (NY)
118 Bill Shew (BAL)

Stolen Bases
21 John Nero (NY)
20 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
14 Fred Mannion (BOS)

ERA
1.93 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.76 Will Svoboda (BOS)
2.90 Jim Carlos (NY)

Wins

26 Joe Dimond (PHA)
17 Gid Washer (BAL)
13 Charlie Bickley (BOS)

Strikeouts
36 Joe Dimond (PHA)
23 Gid Washer (BAL)
15 Al Allen (ECK)

[fhomess]

Award Winners Announced!
The 1872 award winners sees one familiar face and one new face compared with those from last season, and this time they're both from the champion Athletics.

Batter of the Year

Left fielder Joe Holleran of the Philadelphia Athletics was named the best offensive player for 1872 by the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. Holleran's 98 hits were 3rd in the league, as were his 16 doubles. He also hit a triple and had 2 home runs, one of only five players to hit that many round trippers. He hit .398 on the season, drove in 49 runs, and scored 55 times.

Pitcher of the Year

Just as the Philadelphia Athletics left no doubt as to who the premier team of the National Association is, Joe Dimond demonstrated why he's been the moundsman to lead that team. Dimond's 26 wins and 36 strikeouts led the league, and his shutout of the Boston Red Stockings was the only one thrown all season. He threw more innings than any other pitcher in the league. Dimond lost only 5 games all season, and his two year totals now include 41 wins, 9 losses, and a 2.95 ERA.

[fhomess]

Once again, I present to you my season totals summary for 1872. Here's how the numbers compared with real life:

NA = Real National Association
TBS = The Baseball Saga (my sim)

Stat       NA     TBS      %Diff
G         366     366       0.0%
AB      15713   15582       0.8
H        4479    4801       6.7
2B        582     605       3.8
3B        148     153       3.3
HR         35      31      12.9
BB        246     232       6.0
K         252     252       0.0
SB        247     227       8.8
CS        116     120       3.3
R        3390    3104       9.2
AVG      .286    .308       7.2
OBP      .297    .318       6.6
SLG      .347    .373       6.9
IP       3284    3254       0.9
CG        329     110     199.1
SHO        10       1     900.0
ERA      3.72    3.48       6.9

Notes:
1. While I've gotten pretty close on most counting stats, I still have a tendency to see runs scored a bit lower than real life. That said, this season's runs total was actually a bit higher and closer to real life than any of my test simulations. Not bad!

2. I'm not going to complain about being 13% off on HR's when it's only 4 that are short. I'm a bit more annoyed that hits were this high, as they were consistently closer to the real 4479 in my tests.

League Leading Stats
These stats represent the top individual performance in each category.

Stat       NA     TBS
H          99     101
2B         28      17
3B          8       9
HR          6       2
BB         23      11
SB         18      21
AVG      .432    .411*
OBP      .455    .422*
SLG      .585    .518*

W          38      26
L          28      20
K          55      36
IP        497   282.1
CG         53      22
SHO         3       1
ERA      1.98    1.93+

*-I went with a minimum of 100 AB's on the batting rates. The game bases qualifiers on 3.1 PA per team game, but that Olympics batters with only 9 games played qualify for that, and that didn't seem right. I can't do anything about the game awarding Arend the batting title, though.

+-Once again, I went with a minimum of 100 IP for the ERA title. John Waitt of Atlantic was given the game's ERA title for his 1.54 ERA, but that was in 41 IP over the course of 12 games and only 5 starts. My ERA listed here is for Charlie Champ of Cleveland, who threw 116.2 innings and started all 19 games in which he appeared.

Actual League Settings
These are the values I had entered on the Strategy tab in League Setup.

League Totals         Modifiers
AB         10822
H           3101        1.028*
2B           434         .520*
3B           239        1.200*
HR            47         .630*
BB           393        0.623*
HBP           54         .194
K            175         .050*
BABIP       .289
Errors                  7.224
DP's                     .376
SP End                  6.000*
RP End                  1.000
GB%                      .800
WP                      1.176
Balks                    .304
PB's                   15.015
SF                       .459
SB                       .833
SB Att                   .545*
SB Suc%                 1.035*

It's very important for you to know that I have the settings checked to automatically adjust league totals modifiers after each season and to automatically import player creation modifiers. For that reason, I've indicated with an asterisk those settings which I actually modified myself from the modifiers the game chose for me in doing the game adjustments.

[fhomess]

1872-1873 Offseason
The National Association continues to see a great deal of turnover in the teams in the league. Returning after the 1872 season are Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Batlimore, and the Atlantics. Four teams join the league in 1873 to bring the total back up to 9. The new teams are the Baltimore Marylands, Philadelphia White Stockings, Elizabeth Resolutes, and Washington Blue Legs.

In Other News
Nov 5: Ulysses S. Grant wins the presidential election over Horace Greeley. Also, Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time. She is arrested and fined.

Dec 4: The American ship Mary Celeste is found drifting crewless by a British vessel, with no evidence of foul play any apparent reason for the crew to be missing.

Mar 3: The NA adopts a standardized ball to be used in all games.

Mar 15: Phi Simga Kappa is founded at the University of Massachusetts.

[Dr. Wu]

Nice job so far. I have a question about leagues with an odd number of teams. If you finish the season with 7 (or 9, or another odd number) teams, does the game crash when it heads into the next season? And does the game handle the amateur draft properly for odd leagues?

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by Dr. Wu

Nice job so far. I have a question about leagues with an odd number of teams. If you finish the season with 7 (or 9, or another odd number) teams, does the game crash when it heads into the next season?

No, it doesn't crash. The game can't create a schedule for leagues with an odd number of teams. For that reason, you can't create a new league with an odd number of teams. You have to create the league with one fewer team and then add the odd team after the league has been created. Then you need to go into the schedule editor and either create a schedule manually or import one. I've been creating the schedules manually to reflect the actual games played by the teams involved. That said, I've been saving them off, too, and will make them available once I get through the 5-year NA schedule.

As for heading to the next season, the game will just use the schedule from the previous year, so there's no issue moving on to the next season.

Originally Posted by Dr. Wu

And does the game handle the amateur draft properly for odd leagues?

Yes and no. The pre-draft screen where you define draft order will only display an even number of teams. What ends up happening is that you get one less team displayed than are in your league. So with a 9-team league, only the first 8 teams show up. What I found, though, is that the 9th team does get to draft, it just drafts last. So the draft itself has the right number of players for your 9-team league, and all 9 teams get to draft. That said, if you were to reconfigure a round of the draft so that one of the teams picks twice, I don't know how the game would choose which of the left out teams to give the final pick of each round. I'm guessing it would just give it to the team with the lowest team ID.

[fhomess]

After 2 seasons, here's where the NA career leaders stand:

Top 5 Career Leaders
Average minimum 200 PA

.437 Bob Polansky
.405 Harry Holmes
.389 Jim Smith
.383 George Barkley
.372 Bob Brose

Home Runs

5 Bob Polansky
4 Dick Morgan
3 Bob Handy
3 Charlie Harvard
3 Tom Hedgepeth
3 Bill Heim
3 Joe Holleran
3 Al Noack

Stolen Bases

49 Tom Hedgepeth
44 John Nero
36 Joe Bonetti
33 Tom Gerheauser
29 Nat Alsop

Runs Scored

110 Tom Hedgepeth
106 John Nero
101 George Barkley
97 Joe Arthur
94 John Lyle

ERA minimum 150 IP

2.56 Charlie Champ
2.61 Jake Lindsey
2.76 Will Svoboda
2.95 Joe Dimond
2.97 Jim Carlos

Wins

41 Joe Dimond
17 Jim Carlos
17 Gid Washer
15 Charlie Champ
14 Charlie Bickley

Strikeouts

60 Joe Dimond
23 Charlie Champ
23 Gid Washer
18 Al Allen
15 Bill Severinsen