[fhomess]

1873 Preview

Baltimore Canaries
Last Season: 22-36 (11th)

Key Players:
SP Jack Wheeler, CF John Gano, 3B Frank Stuart, LF John Retherford

Outlook:
Baltimore signed Wheeler away from the Washington Nationals, who are no longer in the league. He pitched for Rockford in 1871, and really has very little experience to go on. The Canaries do have some other options that could take over as the team’s starter if Wheeler can’t cut it, but none of them have shown to be able to either. On offense, young center fielder Gano is a guy the team thinks can eventually become a great hitter. Stuart and Retherford will need his help if the team’s to improve on last season’s poor showing.

Projected Finish: 6th

Baltimore Marylands
Key Players
SP Jack Due, CF Joe Bonetti, 2B Jack Van Houten, LF Jim Smith

Outlook:
The Marylands picked up some key hitters from teams that folded last season, so the offense is looking fairly good. The problem will be pitching. Due is slated as the team’s starter, but doesn’t have any track record of success to go on. The Marylands spent a lot of money on the offense, and if Due fails, there’s no one else that the team has that can be counted on to keep opponents from scoring.

Projected Finish: 7th

Boston Red Stockings
Last Season: 28-20 (2nd)
Best Finish: 1872 (2nd)

Key Players:
SP Will Svoboda, CF Fred Mannion, LF Joe Arthur, 2B Jim Gray

Outlook:
Svoboda returns as the team’s starter after a superb season in which he went 10-6 with a 2.76 ERA. He is a bit older at 35, so he’ll need to show that he can still fool the younger hitters. Mannion’s been an excellent hitter for the Red Stockings over the past two seasons, and Arthur picked up his offense in 1872 after a bit of a disappointing 1871. Gray was a bit of a surprise last year as he hit much better than 1871, and the three will be a tough middle of the order for opposing pitchers.

Projected Finish: 3rd

Brooklyn Atlantics
Last Season: 18-19 (6th)

Key Players
SP Charlie Champ, CF Bob Polansky, LF Bob Brose, C Mike Stanley

Outlook:
The Atlantics made a splash by spending a fair amount of money on Charlie Champ, the pitcher with the lowest ERA in the league last season. Champ’s two seasons with Cleveland have placed him among the best pitchers in the league, and the Atlantics are fortunate to have him. The team wasn’t done with Champ, though, as they signed Polansky, Brose, and Stanley to anchor the offense. The team is expecting that the money they’ve spent on these players will give them a shot at finally taking down the Athletics.

Projected Finish: 2nd

Elizabeth Resolutes
Key Players
SP Bill Phillips, 1B Billy Horace, 3B George Gower

Outlook:
Starter Bill Phillips is someone the team is really taking a gamble on. He’s got no track record of success, but the difficulty in finding starting pitching has forced the team to try something, and Phillips is it. Horace is a solid offensive player, but Gower and company aren’t the greatest supporting cast.

Projected Finish: 8th

New York Mutuals
Last Season: 28-28 (5th)
Best Finish: 1871 (3rd)

Key Players
SP Mike Burge, RF John Nero, CF Tom Hedgepeth

Outlook:
New York continued to struggle with pitching in 1872, and for 1873 they’ll turn to former Cleveland pitcher Mike Burge. Burge didn’t pitch well for Cleveland in the limited opportunities he got behind Charlie Champ, but the Mutuals haven’t had success with any of their own guys, so they might as well give Burge a shot. Nero and Hedgepeth are both star hitters, but they need more hitters around them in order for the team to really contend.

Projected Finish: 5th

Philadelphia Athletics
Last Season: 37-10 (1st)
Championships: 1871, 1872

Key Players
SP Joe Dimond, 2B George Barkley, LF Joe Holleran, C Charlie Harvard, SS Bill Heim

Outlook:
Dimond has proven beyond any doubt that he’s the best pitcher in the league, and until someone else proves otherwise, his presence alone has to make the Athletics one of the favorites for the championship. He’s got plenty of support on offense. Holleran was chosen as the league’s best hitter last year, but Barkley, Harvard, and Heim are all very accomplished hitters, too.

Projected Finish: 1st

Philadelphia White Stockings
Key Players
SP Al Newbold, C Josh Croyle, 3B Harry Spina

Outlook:
Newbold pitched for the nationals last season and was 4-2 with a 3.42 ERA in his 9 starts. Those are decent stats for a short period of time, and it’s not entirely certain whether he can keep that up or not, but he should be no worse than league average. Croyle and Spina will lead an offense that isn’t too strong on star power but does have good depth. If things break right, the White Stockings will surprise a lot of teams, but if they don’t, they’ll have a long season.

Projected Finish: 4th

Washington Blue Legs
Key Players
SP Frank Salley, LF Frank Mitchell, RF Dave Hasse

Outlook:
Salley hasn’t done much in his time in the NA, and he’ll have to prove himself if the Blue Legs will get anywhere. Mitchell and Hasse lead a lackluster collection of hitters that don’t inspire confidence.

Projected Finish: 9th


1873 Projected Standings
1. Philadelphia Athletics
2. Brooklyn Atlantics
3. Boston Red Stockings
4. Philadelphia White Stockings
5. New York Mutuals
6. Baltimore Canaries
7. Baltimore Marylands
8. Elizabeth Resolutes
9. Washington Blue Legs

[fhomess]

May 1, 1873
A short schedule in April had the Washington Blue Legs introduced themselves to the NA, winning all four of their games. They beat each Baltimore team twice, scoring 11 runs in 3 of the 4 games. Catcher Art Johnson led the offensive assault with 8 hits in 13 at bats.

The two-time defending champion Athletics started off their season by hosting their new cross-town rivals, the White Stockings. The game was an extraordinarily ugly affair, with 23 errors committed by the two teams as the White Stockings won 18-13. Only 10 of the 33 runs scored were earned.

Standings

                               W     L      PCT      GB
Washington Blue Legs           4     0    1.000       -
Boston Red Stockings           1     0    1.000     1.5
Elizabeth Resolutes            1     0    1.000     1.5
Brooklyn Atlantics             0     0     .000     2.0
New York Mutuals               0     0     .000     2.0
Philadelphia Athletics         1     2     .333     2.5
Philadelphia White Stockings   1     2     .333     2.5
Baltimore Canaries             1     3     .250     3.0
Baltimore Marylands            0     2     .000     3.0

League Leaders
Average

.615 Art Johnson (WBL)
.600 Sandy McWhorter (ELI)
.571 Steve Tucker (PWS)

Total Bases
13 George Best (WBL)
13 John Retherford (BAL)
12 Art Johnson (WBL)

Stolen Bases
3 Tom Gerheauser (WBL)
2 Ed Buteau (PWS)
1 several players

ERA

2.00 Will Svoboda (BOS)
2.70 Jack Due (MAR)
2.89 Joe Dimond (PHA)

Wins
2 Frank Salley (WBL)
1 several players

Strikeouts
2 Joe Gotcher (PHA)
2 Pete Jackson (BAL)
1 several players

[fhomess]

June 1, 1873
The Washington Blue Legs continued to dominate the opposition offensively. They scored a minimum of 8 runs in each of their 5 games in May, winning all but one of them to improve their record to 8-1 on the year. The Baltimore Canaries are wishing the season would end sooner rather than later. They’ve played more games than any other team in the league, but have been losing most of them.

Across town, the Marylands began May by cancelling all of their remaining games except those against the Canaries. The other member clubs of the NA contend that the Marylands only joined the NA in order to schedule games against the Canaries, and then refused to travel and have filled other dates with amateur opponents. Unfortunately, with no central governing body in the NA, the other teams are unable to do anything about it.

In Other News
May 15: Baltimore CF Ed Walden sees his hitting streak, dating back to the 1872 season, end at 33 games. It is the longest streak in league history, surpassing the 30 game streak by Josh Croyle that ended last season. Teammate John Retherford now holds the longest active streak at 28 games.

May 23: The Preakness Stakes is run in Baltimore, Maryland for the first time. The winner is Survivor, ridden by George Barbee and owned by John F. Chamberlain.

Standings

                               W     L      PCT      GB
Washington Blue Legs           8     1     .889       -
Boston Red Stockings           5     2     .714     2.0
Elizabeth Resolutes            4     1     .800     2.0
New York Mutuals               7     4     .636     2.0
Philadelphia Athletics         7     4     .636     2.0
Brooklyn Atlantics             4     3     .571     3.0
Baltimore Marylands            1     2     .333     4.0
Philadelphia White Stockings   2    11     .154     8.0
Baltimore Canaries             4    14     .222     8.5

League Leaders
Average
.528 Bob Polansky (ATL)
.500 Charlie Sandin (ELI)
.481 George Gower (ELI)

Total Bases

44 John Retherford (BAL)
43 Jim Lindstrom (BAL)
44 John Bissell (BAL)

Stolen Bases
4 John Arend (ATL)
4 Ed Buteau (PWS)
4 John Gano (BAL)
4 John Nero (NY)

ERA
1.93 Harry Hulsey (ELI)
2.37 Charlie Champ (ATL)
2.42 Jack Due (MAR)

Wins

5 Frank Salley (WBL)
4 Will Svoboda (BOS)
3 Mike Burge (NY), Harry Hulsey (ELI)

Strikeouts
6 Pete Cannon (BAL)
3 several players

[No Pepper]

Originally Posted by fhomess

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.

This is great news, thank you for doing this. And for telling us about how you use OOTP to set this up. Which brings me to my questions.

Are you filling new team rosters with the "fill team with fictional players", using an "expansion draft" or some other method? What do your reserve rosters look like?

I'm enjoying this so far.

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by No Pepper

This is great news, thank you for doing this. And for telling us about how you use OOTP to set this up. Which brings me to my questions.

Are you filling new team rosters with the "fill team with fictional players", using an "expansion draft" or some other method? What do your reserve rosters look like?

I'm enjoying this so far.

Glad you're enjoying it. It's been fun for me to see how things are coming together. I've never done a historical replay of any sort before, so I'm sure there are things I could be doing differently, but I'm having fun with it.

In terms of player movement, I tried to look around a little over at baseball reference to get a rough idea of player movement. To be fair, "a little" is pretty accurate. I didn't spend much time on it, but I came away with the idea that players could jump teams pretty freely. I didn't want guys who were really good for one team getting completely lost. I have financials turned off and no minors, and at the moment, I have roster size at 15.

When a team folds, I keep that team around until the offseason. OOTP still allows that team to make trades (set on the lowest frequency setting), so sometimes a folded team has made a trade. In the offseason, I use the league structure editor to remove the folded teams and add the new teams. The teams that get removed have all their players released into the FA pool. Now with financials off, there's no bidding on these players, but teams do sign them. I'm not sure exactly how OOTP decides which team gets which player, but it's worked out alright. I did feel that the Marylands were a bit too strong, so I sent some of their players to the White Stockings after they had been signed. I just don't trust OOTP's handling of historical finances enough to try it that way. I'm not prepared to deal with any headaches and the rest of this is still pretty new to me, so I've got enough to keep track of. Like I said earlier, I'm having fun with it and I think adding financials in might make it a bit of a chore. Anyway, some of the existing teams have picked up the FA's, and the new teams have picked up enough guys to field a 15 player team.

It's worth pointing out that when the league went from 9 to 11 teams between 1871 and 1872, I did create another 40 random FA's (2 additional teams, 15 players on the active roster, and 5 reserve) that teams could sign. I wanted to make sure that the new teams had enough players to choose from to pick up, and they did.

As of June 1, 1873, here's how the reserve rosters look in terms of number of players:
25 - Baltimore Canaries
4 - Baltimore Marylands
27 - Boston Red Stockings
22 - Brooklyn Atlantics
6 - Elizabeth Resolutes
29 - New York Mutuals
29 - Philadelphia Athletics
5 - Philadelphia White Stockings
7 - Washington Blue Legs

The trend you see above is that the new teams have only a handful of reserve guys, while the returning teams have quite a few. Brooklyn was a new team last season, and had quite a bit fewer players on the reserve roster than they do now. I think what's happening is that teams aren't really releasing guys so much as they're stashing them away when they sign new guys. It's also worth pointing out that there are currently 157 guys sitting unsigned in the free agent pool. Some of them look like they're as good or better than guys on a roster somewhere, but for whatever reason, they haven't been signed. At any rate, there's plenty of guys for teams to pick up if they need a replacement.

I did not use the expansion draft because that's not really what it was like. Essentially, all these teams existed as amateur clubs, and whether or not they paid the $10 fee to join the NA, they were already somewhat established. They didn't get any opportunity to draft from the existing teams.

When the league went from 11 teams to 9 teams between 1872 and 1873, I just let the folded teams release their players and the new teams sign from the FA pool. I didn't worry about the quantity of players since we had 30 fewer active roster spots to fill league wide.

In terms of talent on the reserve rosters, I do see some guys getting stashed there that could play for other teams. Offensively, most of the guys are 1-2 stars. There are a decent number of 2.5* guys, and only a couple of 3* guys. The one 4* guy that I saw is a 3B with ratings that don't seem to justify being 4*. His contact is only 6 (I use the 1-10 scale), and the stars of the league are all in the 9-10 range with 8 being a good hitter and 7 being a regular. 6 contact is pretty much back-up or starter on a lousy team, so I chalk this guy up to weird star ratings. There are some 7-8 contact guys, but for the most part, they're with teams where better players are preventing them from getting on the active roster. On the pitching side, it's really hard for me to tell how good the reserves are. Movement and control for most pitchers is in the 10-10+ range. Successful pitchers have either a 2 or 3 stuff, and some are ok with a 1 stuff. It's the era I'm playing in that makes the ratings a challenge to understand. My feeling is that the quality of pitchers on the reserve rosters is comparable to the distribution on offense.

[fhomess]

I should mention that with the 15-man rosters, teams are carrying 9 batters and 6 pitchers. That breaks down as one bench hitter (typically a catcher although some teams have a different position player), one starter, one closer, and 4 MR's. The game really doesn't handle SP endurance from this ERA. As I've previously stated, all the SP endurance settings are turned to the highest possible settings. The game doesn't typically start the SP on two days in a row, although it will sometimes start a non SP on two days in a row. Also, I often see the game pulling SP's after a couple of innings if they've given up a lot of runs (either earned or unearned) and thrown a lot of pitches. I will say that I think the game is carrying an appropriate number of pitchers on the active roster for the way the game actually uses those pitchers in the game. Unfortunately, that's just not very comparable to how pitchers were used in this era.

[fhomess]

July 1, 1873
The standings continue to stay tight as Washington dropped a few games in June. Elizabeth, Brooklyn, and Boston are all hot on their heels, while the defending champion Athletics are struggling. In particular, Joe Dimond hasn’t been anywhere near as good as he was the past two seasons, and the team has experimented with Charlie Calmus starting some games. Calmus has been better than Dimond this year, but it's not showing up in the W-L column.

In Other News
June 23: Baltimore Canaries left fielder John Retherford goes hitless against the Philadelphia White Stockings after extending his hitting streak to 36 games, a new NA record.

Standings

                               W     L      PCT      GB
Washington Blue Legs          11     4     .733       -
Elizabeth Resolutes           10     5     .667     1.0
Brooklyn Atlantics            10     7     .588     2.0
Boston Red Stockings          11     9     .550     2.5
New York Mutuals              11    10     .524     3.0
Baltimore Marylands            2     3     .400     4.0
Philadelphia Athletics         9    10     .474     4.0
Baltimore Canaries            11    18     .379     7.0
Philadelphia White Stockings   8    17     .320     8.0

League Leaders
Average
.500 Joe Bonetti (MAR)
.432 Bob Polansky (ATL)
.426 Charlie Harvard (PHA)

Total Bases
68 John Gano (BAL)
65 John Retherford (BAL)
59 John Bissell (BAL)

Stolen Bases

9 Ed Buteau (PWS)
7 John Arend (ATL)
7 John Nero (NY)

ERA
2.33 Bill McManis (NY)
3.23 Will Svoboda (BOS)
3.35 Jack Wheeler (BAL)

Wins
8 Frank Salley (WBL)
7 Harry Hulsey (ELI)
6 Will Svoboda (BOS)

Strikeouts

8 Pete Cannon (BAL)
6 Bill McManis (NY)
6 Jack Wheeler (BAL)

[fhomess]

August 1, 1873
Boston has moved up into a virtual dead heat with the Blue Legs, who played well in July. The rest of the league has dropped ever so slightly, with 5 teams all hovering just above .500 on the year. As has been the case for most of the year, the Canaries and White Stockings have no answers as the league’s doormats.

In Other News
July 1 – Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation.

July 4 – In celebration of Independence Day, the Resolutes play in Boston for the league’s first scheduled double header. Boston starter Will Svoboda pitches all 18 innings of both games, allowing 2 runs in each, with only one of them earned. As a result, the Red Stockings win both games.

Standings

                               W      L      PCT      GB
Boston Red Stockings          18     11     .621       -
Washington Blue Legs          13      6     .684       -
Brooklyn Atlantics            14     13     .519     3.0
Elizabeth Resolutes           11     10     .524     3.0
New York Mutuals              15     14     .517     3.0
Philadelphia Athletics        14     13     .519     3.0
Baltimore Marylands            3      3     .500     3.5
Baltimore Canaries            17     22     .436     6.0
Philadelphia White Stockings   9     22     .290    10.0

League Leaders
Average

.485 Joe Bonetti (MAR)
.406 Bob Polansky (ATL)
.401 Charlie Harvard (PHA)

Total Bases
86 John Gano (BAL)
86 John Retherford (BAL)
75 John Nero (NY)

Stolen Bases
11 John Arend (ATL)
11 Ed Buteau (PWS)
9 John Nero (NY)

ERA

2.63 Will Svoboda (BOS)
2.91 Bill McManis (NY)
2.95 Jack Wheeler (BAL)

Wins
10 Will Svoboda (BOS)
9 Frank Salley (WBL)
8 Harry Hulsey (ELI), Bill McManis (NY)

Strikeouts
8 Charlie Calmus (PHA)
8 Pete Cannon (BAL)
8 Jack Wheeler (BAL)

[fhomess]

September 1, 1873
The race for the NA championship has never been tighter as three teams are in a virtual dead heat. The Blue Legs still have the advantage, although losing a pair of games to the Athletics in the middle of the month not only gave Boston and Brooklyn a chance to keep pace, but also allowed both New York and Philly to stay close. With two months to play in the season, any of these five teams seem like a potential candidate to come out on top.

In Other News
Aug 4 – Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, commander of the Seventh Cavalry, clashes with Sioux Indians in Montana for the first time.

Aug 16 – Chicago announces that they intend to field a team in 1874 for the first time since the Great Fire forced the White Stockings to close shop.

Aug 26 – Brooklyn scores 27 runs on 27 hits including 11 runs in the 8th inning as they beat the Canaries 27-12.

Standings

                                W      L      PCT      GB
Boston Red Stockings           19     13     .594       -
Brooklyn Atlantics             21     15     .583       -
Washington Blue Legs           15      9     .625       -
New York Mutuals               19     17     .528     2.0
Philadelphia Athletics         16     15     .516     2.5
Baltimore Marylands             3      3     .500     3.0
Elizabeth Resolutes            11     12     .478     3.5
Baltimore Canaries             19     24     .442     5.5
Philadelphia White Stockings   11     26     .297    10.5

League Leaders
Average
.485 Joe Bonetti (MAR)
.434 George Gower (ELI)
.405 Bob Polansky (ATL)

Total Bases

100 Bob Polansky (ATL)
95 John Retherford (BAL)
94 John Nero (NY)

Stolen Bases
15 John Arend (ATL)
12 John Nero (NY)
11 Ed Buteau (PWS)

ERA
2.63 Will Svoboda (BOS)
2.88 Bill McManis (NY)
2.93 Jack Wheeler (BAL)

Wins
11 Will Svoboda (BOS)
9 Charlie Calmus (PHA)
9 Frank Salley (WBL)
9 Jack Wheeler (BAL)

Strikeouts

9 Charlie Calmus (PHA)
9 Jack Wheeler (BAL)
8 Pete Cannon (BAL)

[fhomess]

October 1, 1873
With Boston having beaten the Atlantics on September 8th, the Red Stockings had pushed Brooklyn slightly behind themselves and the Blue Legs. The Red Stockings then traveled to Washington for a pivotal game that would either put them back in a tie with the Blue Legs or put them up 2 games. Boston would quickly go up 4-0 after John Yawn reached base due to an error with runners on 2nd and 3rd. The Red Stockings would explode for another 7 runs in the 4th on a series of hits and costly defensive mistakes to take an 11-1 lead. Washington would ultimately commit 11 miscues on the day, gifting a 15-7 win to the team they could least afford to lose to. Will Svoboda gave up 7 runs (2 earned), on 13 hits for the complete game victory. The two teams would meet again 2 days later, and this time Boston completely demoralized the Blue Legs, winning by a score of 21-1. Washington again committed 11 errors, but the real story was Boston pitcher Bill Johnson, making his second start of the season shutting down the Blue Legs to the tune of just 5 hits.

Washington’s struggles would give the Atlantics a chance to move up again in the standings, and even the Mutuals pulled ahead of them as well. The Athletics have become an afterthought.

In Other News
Sept 17 – The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College opens its doors to 25 students. It will later become Ohio State University.

Sept 18 – The New York stock market crashes. Triggered by the bankruptcy of Jay Cooke and Co., the “Panic of 1873” causes a severe economic depression that lasts for four years.

Standings

                                W      L      PCT      GB
Boston Red Stockings           29     17     .630       -
Brooklyn Atlantics             27     19     .587     2.0
New York Mutuals               26     20     .565     3.0
Washington Blue Legs           18     14     .563     4.0
Baltimore Marylands             3      3     .500     6.0
Elizabeth Resolutes            11     12     .478     6.5
Philadelphia Athletics         20     21     .488     6.5
Baltimore Canaries             20     27     .426     9.5
Philadelphia White Stockings   13     34     .277    16.5

League Leaders
Average
.485 Joe Bonetti (MAR)
.434 George Gower (ELI)
.412 John Nero (NY)

Total Bases

134 John Nero (NY)
120 Bob Brose (ATL)
115 Steve Tucker (PWS)

Stolen Bases
19 John Nero (NY)
18 John Arend (ATL)
14 Ed Buteau (PWS)

ERA
2.67 Will Svoboda (BOS)
2.81 Bill McManis (NY)
3.19 Jack Wheeler (BAL)

Wins
16 Will Svoboda (BOS)
11 Charlie Calmus (PHA)
10 Jack Anderson (ATL)

Strikeouts

13 Charlie Calmus (PHA)
9 Jack Wheeler (BAL)
8 Pete Cannon (BAL), Jake Lindsey (ATL)

[fhomess]

November 3, 1873
Brooklyn and Boston squared off on October 17th with 2.5 games separating them in the standings for 1st and 2nd place. While Brooklyn would score 11 runs in the first two innings and go on to win 22-10, the victory was bittersweet. Star left fielder Bob Brose, batting .385 with a league leading 4 home runs on the year was forced to leave the game with a torn abdominal muscle, and would remain out for the rest of the season.

Boston would struggle down the stretch, losing to the Canaries and splitting 2-game sets against the Blue Legs and Athletics. Meanwhile, Brooklyn would finish the year going 2-1, and wind up in a virtual tie with Boston. Despite the identical winning percentage, Boston would be awarded the NA championship after winning more games than the Atlantics.

Standings

                                W      L      PCT      GB
Boston Red Stockings           36     24     .600       -
Brooklyn Atlantics             33     22     .600      .5
New York Mutuals               29     24     .547     3.5
Washington Blue Legs           22     17     .564     3.5
Baltimore Marylands             3      3     .500     6.0
Elizabeth Resolutes            11     12     .478     6.5
Philadelphia Athletics         25     27     .481     7.0
Baltimore Canaries             23     34     .404    11.5
Philadelphia White Stockings   17     36     .321    15.5

League Leaders
Average
.485 Joe Bonetti (MAR)
.434 George Gower (ELI)
.409 John Nero (NY)

Total Bases
153 John Nero (NY)
141 Bob Polansky (ATL)
140 Bob Brose (ATL)

Stolen Bases

21 John Nero (NY)
20 John Arend (ATL)
15 Ed Buteau (PWS)

ERA
2.80 Will Svoboda (BOS)
2.97 Jack Anderson (ATL)
3.11 Bill McManis (NY)

Wins
20 Will Svoboda (BOS)
13 Jack Anderson (ATL)
12 Charlie Calmus (PHA)

Strikeouts

14 Jack Anderson (ATL)
13 Charlie Calmus (PHA)
11 Jack Wheeler (BAL)

[CatKnight]

What a mess. You're doing a great job conveying the utter chaos of the NA!

[fhomess]

Award Winners Announced!
A pair of new faces show up as the 1873 award winners, aided by the struggles and subsequent demotion of Philadelphia’s Joe Dimond.

Batter of the Year
RF John Nero (NY): .409-.437-.595, 1 HR, 17 2B, 14 3B, 81 R, 62 RBI

New York Mutuals right fielder John Nero was selected as the league’s best batter for 1873. Nero batted .409 on the season, and led the league in stolen bases, walks, and triples. He also finished the year in the top three in hits, doubles, and runs scored. Nero’s most productive game of the season came on October 2 against the Philadelphia Athletics. While the Athletics won 24-14, Nero collected 6 hits, including 5 singles and his only home run of the season.

Pitcher of the Year
SP Will Svoboda (BOS): 20-15, 2.80 ERA, 305.2 IP, 17 BB, 10 K, 20 CG, 1 SHO

Will Svoboda of the National Assocation champion Boston Red Stockings has been named as the league’s best hurler. Svoboda was the only pitcher in the league to win 20 games. Brooklyn’s Jack Anderson finished 2nd with just 13 wins in comparison. Svoboda also led the league in ERA among pitchers with more than 100 innings pitched. Svoboda completed 20 of his starts, which were 8 more than the next pitcher in the league, Charlie Calmus of the Athletics. He also threw one of only 2 shutouts recorded, holding the Philadelphia White Stockings scoreless on 6 hits in the middle of September.

[fhomess]

Here’s the season totals summary for 1873. Here's how the numbers compared with real life:

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

Stat       NA     TBS      %Diff
G         398     398       0.0%
AB      16975   17374       2.3
H        4923    5145       4.3
2B        613     637       3.8
3B        228     229       0.4
HR         51      51       0.0
BB        321     321       0.0
K         240     209      14.8
SB        173     218      20.6
CS         95      92       3.3
R        3580    3821       6.3
AVG      .290    .296       2.1
OBP      .303    .308       1.6
SLG      .355    .368       3.5
IP       3584    3522       1.8
CG        364     103     253.4
SHO         8       3     166.7
ERA      3.25    3.61      10.0

Notes:
1. I hit it pretty close on most stats, although run scoring was a little higher than I was hoping. Hard to say why exactly, especially since stats for things like WP’s and errors are hard to know from the NA.

2. Stolen bases were too high. I kept lowering and lowering the stolen base setting until I felt I was finally getting numbers in the upper 100’s, but they still came out too high. The next couple of NA seasons don’t have accurate SB stats for me to base my league settings off of, so I’ll probably aim for a similar SB rate to 1873.

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

Stat       NA     TBS
H         137     113
2B         29      20
3B          9      14
HR          4       4
BB         18      15
SB         13      21
AVG      .425    .434*
OBP      .456    .437*
SLG      .584    .602*

W          41      20
L          36      18
K          75      14
IP      497.2   305.2
CG         51      20
SHO         3       1
ERA      1.81    2.80+

*-Minimum of 100 AB's on the batting rates..
+-Minimum of 100 IP for the ERA title.

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

League Totals         Modifiers
AB         10822
H           3101         .964*
2B           434         .563*
3B           239        1.591*
HR            47         .858*
BB           393         .794*
HBP           54         .187
K            175         .044*
BABIP       .289
Errors                  8.127
DP's                     .346
SP End                  6.000*
RP End                  1.000
GB%                      .874
WP                      1.397
Balks                    .241
PB's                   16.175
SF                       .248
SB                       .936
SB Att                   .305*
SB Suc%                  .930*

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 above those settings which I actually modified myself from the modifiers the game chose from me in doing the game adjustments.

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by CatKnight

What a mess. You're doing a great job conveying the utter chaos of the NA!

It really was a mess. I didn't really know anything about it until trying to run this simulation. I guess the lack of an organized central structure and the fact that teams could join the league for $10, which wasn't a ton of money, meant that a lot of teams joined without any intention of really taking it seriously. They kind of used the league structure to make money for themselves, which meant a lot of teams dropping out if road trips were too expensive. There wasn't any disincentive to doing it.

[fhomess]

Top 5 Career Leaders
Average minimum 300 PA

.415 Bob Polansky
.380 John Nero
.378 Bob Brose
.366 Rudy Stirnemann
.365 George Barkley

Home Runs

7 Bob Polansky
4 Joe Arthur
4 Bob Brose
4 George Miller
4 Dick Morgan
4 Al Noack
4 Harry Ream

Stolen Bases

65 John Nero
59 Tom Hedgepeth
47 John Arend
40 Joe Bonetti
40 Tom Gerheauser
40 Fred Mannion

Runs Scored

187 John Nero
169 John Yawn
165 Joe Arthur
165 Tom Hedgepeth
157 Charlie Harvard

ERA minimum 200 IP

2.79 Will Svoboda
2.93 Jake Lindsey
2.97 Jim Carlos
3.02 Charlie Champ
3.11 Al Allen

Wins

43 Joe Dimond
30 Will Svoboda
22 Charlie Champ
21 Gid Washer
17 Charlie Bickley
17 Jim Carlos
17 Jake Lindsey

Strikeouts

63 Joe Dimond
31 Charlie Champ
25 Gid Washer
23 Al Allen
22 Jake Lindsey

[fhomess]

1873-1874 Offseason
As expected, the Baltimore Marylands, who played only 6 games last season and went 3-3, did not rejoin the National Association for 1874. In addition, the Elizabeth Resolutes will not be back. The Resolutes quietly ended their season in mid-August without making any announcements regarding the fact that they were done. Finally, the Washington Blue Legs are the most successful 1873 team not to return for 1874. The team finished in 4th place but like the Olympics and Nationals before them, were not able to manage their finances in such a way as to make continued participation in the NA profitable.

That leaves 6 of 9 teams from last season returning for 1874. Chicago had already announced that they would once again field a team, and the new Chicago team will once again dub themselves the White Stockings. They'll play their home games at newly built 23rd Street Grounds, which replaces the burned down Union Base-Ball Grounds of their previous incarnation. Additionally, Hartford, Connecticut will represent the Nutmeg State with the Dark Blues joining the league. That brings the total number of teams up to 8 again. It's the first time the league will have fewer than 9 teams, and also the first time the league has an even number of teams.

In Other News
December 16 - Heineken brewery is founded in the Netherlands.

January 1 - New York City annexes The Bronx.

January 29 - The National Assocation's two championship teams travel to England for a brief tour that pits the Red Stockings against the Athletics at various locations around the country.

March 18 - Hawaii signs an exclusive trading rights agreement with the United States.

March - Aston Villa Football Club founded.

[fhomess]

1874 Preview

Baltimore Canaries
Last Season: 23-34 (8th)
Best Finish: 1873 (8th)

Key Players:
SP John Waitt, 0-0, 1.93 ERA (w/ ATL) in 1873
RF Joe Bonetti, .485 avg, 6 gms (w/ MAR)
1B Billy Horace, .330/.347/.420 (w/ RES)

Outlook: Given how poorly the Canaries finished last year, Baltimore fans should be happy to see some new faces come to town to try to help the team improve. There’s some concern, though. Waitt has never been a regular starter for any team, although he did post some promising numbers with the Atlantics the past two seasons. Bonetti has been tremendous in the past, but played only a handful of NA games with the Marylands last year. He’ll need to show that he can hold up that pace over the course of a full season. Horace is the only other real offensive threat, which should worry fans.

Projected Finish: 7th

Boston Red Stockings
Last Season: 36-24 (1st)
Championships: 1873

Key Players:
SP Will Svoboda, 20-15, 2.80 ERA, NA POY
CF Fred Mannion, .326/.347/.378, 11 BB
LF Joe Arthur, .295/.314/.366, 3 HR
2B Jim Gray, .324/.327/.395

Outlook:
Boston returns many of the key players from last season’s title team and will almost certainly contend again this year. Svoboda’s POY performance gives the team confidence against anyone. The offense has a number of strong players. Mannion is the biggest star on the team but has yet to establish himself as one of the league’s superstars.

Projected Finish: 2nd

Brooklyn Atlantics
Last Season: 33-22 (2nd)
Best Finish: 1873 (2nd)

Key Players
SP Charlie Champ, 7-9, 3.89 ERA
CF Bob Polansky, .395/.411/.493, 2 HR
LF Bob Brose, .385/.401/.528, 4 HR
RF John Arend, .356/.374/.429, 20 SB

Outlook:
Charlie Champ was a bit of a disappointment last season, but if he pitches as well as he did in 1872, the Atlantics will be very hard to beat. They came within a hair’s breadth of the title last season in large part due to the tremendous offense. Polansky and Brose are two of the best hitters in the league. Arend headlines a very strong supporting cast that should see the Atlantics among the league leaders in runs scored once again.

Projected Finish: 1st

Chicago White Stockings
Key Players
SP Josh Yewcic, 0-1, 2.08 ERA (w/ CFC in 1872)
CF Tom Gerheauser, .318/.346/.375 (w/ WBL)
LF Charlie Sandin, .305/.314/.439 (w/ RES)

Outlook:
Chicago’s return to the NA is going to be a bigger story in the city than what they do on the field. Yewcic didn’t play in the NA last season, despite being on the roster of the weak Marylands. Gerheauser and Sandin are solid offensively, but not great. There’s also very little depth to the team, so it should be a long year.

Projected Finish: 8th

Hartford Dark Blues
Key Players
SP Harry Hulsey, 8-7, 3.35 ERA (w/ RES)
1B George Gower, .434/.431/.602, 2 HR (w/ RES)
LF Frank Mitchell, .342/.361/.472 (w/ WBL)
RF Jim Linhart, .281/.281/.344 (w/ MAR)

Outlook:
Hulsey’s a solid starting pitcher, but hasn’t shown he’s among the best in the league. Gower had a great, albeit shortened, season for Elizabeth last year and will be relied on to provide offensive leadership. Linhart is expected to perform much better than he did in his 6 games with the Marylands last year. In all, Hartford has put together a team that probably won’t embarrass itself, but also isn’t likely to contend.

Projected Finish: 5th

New York Mutuals
Last Season: 29-24 (3rd)
Best Finish: 1871, 1873 (3rd)

Key Players
SP Art Alvord, 3-3, 4.38 ERA (w/ WBL)
RF John Nero, .409/.437/.595, 32 EBH, 21 SB, NA BOY
LF Sam Shokes, .368/.397/.467
3B Ed Briggs, .338/.333/.396

Outlook:
The Mutuals continue to rotate their carousel of starting pitching, this season electing to start the year with newcomer Art Alvord. Alvord isn’t someone to get excited about, so it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see other pitchers get a chance throughout the year. Offensively, John Nero emerged as a superstar last season after a couple of very good seasons the two prior years. Sam Shokes is an excellent hitter, too, but beyond them there probably isn’t enough to bring a title home. Briggs is solid but no one is quite sure whether last season was an indication of future success or a merely a fluke.

Projected Finish: 6th

Philadelphia Athletics
Last Season: 25-27 (7th)
Championships: 1871, 1872

Key Players
SP John Belcher, 4-5, 2.18 ERA
2B George Barkley, .338/.352/.369
RF Jim Shemo, .351/.372/.420
C Charlie Harvard, .353/.369/.435

Outlook:
Last season, the Athletics looked nothing like the team that won the first two NA championships. Joe Dimond’s struggles on the mound left the team shaken, unable to find a solid replacement for him. This year, they turn to Belcher who pitched well after being handed the ball later in the season. The offense also seemed to have been affected by the mound struggles. Their lineup is deep, but they’ve lost the element of fear they once instilled in opposing pitchers.

Projected Finish: 3rd

Philadelphia White Stockings
Last Season: 17-36 (9th)

Key Players
SP Al Newbold, 1-6, 3.82 ERA
1B Steve Tucker, .356/.367/.458, 2 HR
CF Ed Buteau, .314/.329/.424, 15 SB
C Josh Croyle, .306/.301/.374

Outlook:
The White Stockings have nowhere to go but up. Newbold pitched reasonably well, but didn’t get the results that he needed to see it in the W/L column. The offense wasn’t all that bad last season. Tucker, Buteau, and Croyle are all decent hitters, and there’s reasonable depth that could allow the team to surprise a lot of people if they get the pitching they need.

Projected Finish: 4th


1874 Projected Standings
1. Brooklyn Atlantics
2. Boston Red Stockings
3. Philadelphia Athletics
4. Philadelphia White Stockings
5. Hartford Dark Blues
6. New York Mutuals
7. Baltimore Canaries
8. Chicago White Stockings

[fhomess]

June 1, 1874 (only 3 games in April, so I went through May)
No team has been able to set themselves apart in a positive way, although Baltimore is already doing so at the opposite end of the spectrum. For now, the Athletics have convinced everyone that they’re once again a team to be concerned about. Boston and Brooklyn are expectedly right behind them, with the surprise White Stockings also in the area.

In Other News
Apr 16: The Philadelphia White Stockings’ Al Newbold shuts out the Athletics on 10 hits in the season opener.

May 16: Chicago hosts their first home game after rejoining the NA. Mart Lemelle gets the win in a 7-5 defeat of the Athletics. John Belcher, the Philadelphia starter, gets the loss despite not allowing an earned run.

May 20: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

May 26: Brooklyn 3B Harry Ream was forced to leave the Atlantics' game against the Red Stockings, and is unlikely to return this season.

Standings

                               W     L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics         9     5     .643       -
Boston Red Stockings          10     8     .556     1.0
Brooklyn Atlantics             5     3     .625     1.0
Chicago White Stockings        4     2     .667     1.0
New York Mutuals               6     5     .545     1.5
Hartford Dark Blues            5     6     .455     2.5
Philadelphia White Stockings   3     6     .333     3.5
Baltimore Canaries             4    11     .267     5.5

League Leaders
Average

.455 John Arend (ATL)
.455 Bob Polansky (ATL)
.448 Charlie Sandin (CHW)

Total Bases
42 Fred Mannion (BOS)
41 Joe Arthur (BOS)
36 Jim Gray (BOS)

Stolen Bases
4 Joe Bonetti (BAL)
4 John Gano (BAL)
4 John Nero (NY)

ERA

1.72 Pat Macy (HDB)
1.74 Will Svoboda (BOS)
2.15 Al Newbold (PWS)

Wins
7 Will Svoboda (BOS)
4 Jack Anderson (ATL)
4 Mart Lemelle (CHW)

Strikeouts
5 Jack Anderson (ATL)
5 Will Svoboda (BOS)
4 Al Newbold (PWS)

[fhomess]

July 1, 1874
The big story of June was the ascendance of Chicago. The team has been on fire ever since turning the ball over to Mart Lemelle, who threw not one, but two shutouts in June. The first was a 5-hit shutout against Baltimore, and the second was a 2-hit masterpiece against Hartford. Offensively, the team has LF Charlie Sandin hitting well and not much else, so it will be interesting to see where they finally finish.

Despite Chicago’s climb, it’s the Atlantics who have a 1-game lead at the moment. Brooklyn’s success is the polar opposite of Chicago. They’ve been winning with offense, sporting the top three batting averages in the league. Jack Anderson and Charlie Champ have both been given the ball, and both have been good, but Bob Polansky and John Arend are the hitters that have stepped up in the absence of Harry Ream.

Boston struggled in June, losing 5 times to Chicago among their 9 losses during the month.

In Other News
June 12: The Athletics Joe Gotcher gets the win after going the distance in a 14-inning marathon against the Mutuals.

Standings

                               W      L      PCT      GB
Brooklyn Atlantics            13      4     .765       -
Chicago White Stockings       14      7     .667     1.0
Philadelphia Athletics        16     11     .593     2.0
New York Mutuals              14     13     .519     4.0
Boston Red Stockings          15     17     .469     5.5
Hartford Dark Blues            8     12     .400     6.5
Philadelphia White Stockings   7     13     .350     7.5
Baltimore Canaries             7     17     .292     9.5

League Leaders
Average
.420 Bob Polansky (ATL)
.381 John Arend (ATL)
.372 Mike Stanley (ATL)

Total Bases

70 Fred Mannion (BOS)
69 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
64 Jim Shemo (PHA)

Stolen Bases
8 John Nero (NY)
7 Joe Bonetti (BAL)
6 Tom Gerheauser (CHW)

ERA
1.19 Al Allen (NY)
1.90 Mart Lemelle (CHW)
2.24 Will Svoboda (BOS)

Wins

11 Mart Lemelle (CHW)
11 Will Svoboda (BOS)
10 Jack Anderson (ATL)

Strikeouts
8 Jack Anderson (ATL)
6 Will Svoboda (BOS)
5 Denny Klusman (PWS)