The Baseball Saga

[fhomess]

Top 5 Career Leaders
Average minimum 1000 PA

.385 Bob Polansky
.352 John Nero
.352 Bob Brose
.345 Jim Shemo
.334 Mike Stanley

Home Runs

7 Joe Arthur
7 Bob Polansky
6 Bob Brose
6 Jack Lowry
6 John Nero

Stolen Bases

105 John Nero
72 John Arend
71 Tom Hedgepeth
59 Tom Gerheauser
58 Fred Mannion

Runs Scored

330 John Nero
294 Joe Arthur
293 Fred Mannion
288 Tom Hedgepeth
274 Sam Shokes

ERA minimum 500 IP

1.98 Fred Ross
2.03 Joe Gotcher
2.12 Jack Anderson
2.31 Al Allen
2.55 Will Svoboda

Wins

63 Jack Anderson
56 Joe Gotcher
56 Will Svoboda
52 Mart Lemelle
43 Joe Dimond

Strikeouts

71 Jack Anderson
63 Joe Dimond
39 Fred Ross
37 Al Allen
37 John Fortenberry
37 Will Svoboda

[fhomess]

I'm currently in the process of advancing this dynasty to 1876. For those of you following along with the process of this fictorical replication and not just the results, here's a summary of where I'm at.

There were 6 teams from the NA that helped form the National League in 1876. Two additional teams that were not part of the NA rounded out the initial 8 teams. In order to keep the team records separate, I did not want to move the teams from the NA to the NL. For that reason, I added a new major league called the National League. I wanted the NL to have players from the NA in it, so I declined the option for an inaugural draft when creating the NL. The game then created the teams and filled them with players. The next step is to clear out those rosters. You have to release all the players, then delete them in the Free Agents screen. You can't just delete them directly from each team's roster.

Next, I'm moving the players one-by-one from their NA team to the correct NL team. I'm doing this by going into the player editor and reassigning them to the new team. The final step is then to delete the NA league. At this point, the existing NA teams that weren't part of the NL still have all their players on their roster. For me, that was fine, as deleting the league just releases all those players into the free agent pool. The league history of the NA still shows up on the history pages, and the players still have their NA stats credited to them, but the league is gone.

I still have some player moves left to do, and I'm in the process of creating an 1876-1900 FaceGen pack for use with this league, as I wasn't able to find anything like that. There's little documentation available in terms of what team logos and jerseys looked like in this era, so where I haven't been able to find it, I'm just making something up. I'll release it all to the OOTP community when done. Anyway, that's where I'm at.

[fhomess]

Offseason News:
The big news of the offseason was the dissolution of the National Association. The idea for replacing the NA with a new league was foated by William Hulbert of the Chicago White Stockings. He approached several NA clubs with a plan for a new league with a stronger central authority and placing teams in exclusive territories in large cities only. Hulbert recruited the St. Louis Brown Stockings privately, then met with them and representatives from Cincinnati and Louisville in January 1876. The National League was officially established on February 2 with eight teams. The aforementioned four were joined by the New York Mutuals, Boston Red Stockings, Philadelphia Athletics, and Hartford Dark Blues.

In Other News:
Jan 31, 1876: The United States government orders all Native Americans into reservations.

Feb 22: Johns Hopkins University is founded.

Mar 7: Alexander Graham Bell's patent is approved for the telephone.

[fhomess]

1876 Preview

Boston Red Caps
NA Record: 149-143 (.510), 1873 Championship

Key Players:
SP Fred Ross, 24-27, 1.90 ERA
CF Fred Mannion, .290/.307/.339
1B Charlie Rossi, .294/.299/.380
2B Jim Gray, .265/.281/.284

Comings and Goings
Traded for LF Joe Holleran from the Philadelphia Athletics
Trade for RF Dave Hasse from the Hartford Dark Blues

Outlook:
Boston and Cincinnati both join the National League as the Red Stockings, so to make things simple, neither team will go by that moniker. Boston, now known as the Red Caps, was not a good team during the last season of the NA. The team added a couple of solid outfield veterans in Holleran (the 1872 NA Batter of the Year) and Hasse. The offense will likely be improved, which will help starter Fred Ross, who wasn’t bad last year. This is a team that could really surprise some people after a very disappointing year in 1875.

Projected Finish: 2nd

Chicago White Stockings
NA Record: 77-51 (.602), 1874 Championship

Key Players
SP Frank Smyth, 8-9, 1.33 ERA
RF Harry Pigg, rookie
LF Bill Shew, .300/.295/.338

Comings and Goings
Traded P Mart Lemelle to the New York Mutuals for OF Harry Pigg

Outlook:
President William Hulbert may have been instrumental in bringing about the end of the NA and creating the NL, but he didn’t do much over the offseason to improve the team. Smyth is a relatively untested pitcher who was good after the 37 year old Lemelle started to show his age last year. Pigg is the most likely player to contribute significantly on offense, and that is a sign of a long, miserable year in Chicago.

Projected Finish: 8th

Cincinnati Reds
Key Players
SP Joe Bormann, rookie
RF Joe Bonetti, .284/.299/.348 (w/ WSH)
1B Steve Tucker, .270/.280/.304, 1 HR (w/ PWS)

Outlook:
The Reds picked up a number of players out of the remains of the NA to supplement the players they bring with them out of the amateur ranks. Bormann’s a young starter with plenty of potential, but he never pitched in the NA and that leaves him as a rather unproven commodity. The offense has some decent hitters, but no one that is particularly frightening to an opposing pitcher.

Projected Finish: 6th

Hartford Dark Blues
NA Record: 61-78 (.439)

Key Players
SP Frank Kale, 9-11, 1.96 ERA
1B George Gower, .294/.291/.359
RF Jim Linhart, .280/.287/.369, 1 HR

Comings and Goings
Traded RF Dave Hasse to the Boston Red Caps.

Outlook:
Kale was acquired from Chicago last July and given the starting role for Hartford the rest of the way. He posted solid, if unspectacular numbers in 24 starts for the Dark Blues. Gower and Linhart are solid hitters who will give the team the bulk of the offense, which won’t be enough to finish anywhere near the money.

Projected Finish: 7th

Louisville Grays
Key Players
SP Jack Due, 1-1, 1.86 ERA (w/ ATL)
2B Tim Balke, .332/.330/.415, 1 HR (w/ NY)
LF Henry Rasnick, rookie
RF Joe Scheinblum, rookie

Outlook:
Louisville is the other team, in addition to Cincinnati, that was not a part of the NA last season but will be in the NL this year. The Grays signed a handful of players with NA experience, among them starter Jack Due. Due pitched for three different organizations in the NA, but was only a regular starter for the Baltimore Canaries in 1874, when he went 6-9 with a 2.65 ERA. One can’t expect too much out of him this year, and the Grays will likely replace him if they find another option. Balke was an excellent hitter last year, although the Grays may go with Steve Reger for most of the time at second base. Rasnick and Scheinblum are both new to the highest level of baseball, but also highly successful in the amateur circuits.

Projected Finish: 5th

New York Mutuals
NA Record: 144-134 (.518)

Key Players
SP George Ott, rookie
RF John Nero, .296/.313/.388, 13 3B’s, 18 SB’s
2B Tom Childers, .288/.300/.315
LF Sam Shokes, .272/.293/.333, 2 HR’s
CF Jim Michel, .326/.367/.383

Comings and Goings
Signed 1B Billy Horace

Outlook:
Have the Mutuals finally found a starting pitcher they can rely on? Their offense has always been good, and the addition of Horace to a lineup that already included Nero, Childers, and Michel means the Mutuals are likely to score plenty of runs. The real question is whether or not Ott is finally ready to make the step to face major league hitters.

Projected Finish: 4th

Philadelphia Athletics
NA Record: 171-88 (.660), 1871, 1872, 1875 Championship

Key Players
SP Joe Gotcher, 38-13, 1.73 ERA, NA POY
2B George Barkley, .289/.291/.333, 1 HR
RF Jim Shemo, .347/.354/.394, 1 HR, NA BOY
1B Will Melnick, .281/.278/.329, 2 HR

Comings and Goings
Traded OF Joe Holleran to the Boston Red Caps

Outlook:
The 3-time NA champions come into the first season of the National League with a bevy of stars that make them a formidable team to face. Gotcher was a deserving Pitcher of the Year winner last season, and the offense is very deep even with the trade of aging outfielder Holleran. Shemo, Barkley, and Melnick are supported by others such as C Charlie Harvard and 3B Oscar Williams.

Projected Finish: 1st

St. Louis Brown Stockings
NA Record: 27-43 (.386)

Key Players
SP Charlie Barta, 13-8, 1.43 ERA (w/ WSH)
C Mike Stanley, .335/.336/.406 (w/ ATL)
CF Bob Polansky, .283/.282/.325 (w/ ATL)
RF Bob Brose, .311/.333/.357 (w/ ATL)

Outlook:
The Brown Stockings were very eager to do away with the NA and get the NL started and taking a look at their roster, it’s easy to see why. Several teams had complained in the offseason that St. Louis’ management had been less than fair in their dealings with various stars around the league, and their roster now looks totally different than last season. They added a bona fide star pitcher in Barta. They also stocked their lineup with several of the best hitters from perennial contenders Brooklyn. Unlike last year’s team, this edition of the Brown Stockings is a team to be reckoned with.

Projected Finish: 2nd

1876 Projected Standings
1. Philadelphia Athletics
2. Boston Red Caps
3. St. Louis Brown Stockings
4. New York Mutuals
5. Louisville Grays
6. Cincinnati Reds
7. Hartford Dark Blues
8. Chicago White Stockings

[fhomess]

June 1, 1876
With just a handful of games in April, I went ahead and simmed through May
The Boston Red Caps have taken the early season lead after making a significant pitching switch. Starter Fred Ross struggled, so the team returned a familiar face to the mound. 38 year old Will Svoboda, who won 20 games in the NA in 1874, has been getting the majority of the starts for the team. Svoboda is now 6-1 with a 1.24 ERA. The offense has been superb, too, led by .384 hitting Joe Holleran.

As expected, the St. Louis Browns are also right in the thick of things. Starter Charlie Barta has a 1.67 ERA and 7 wins, while the offense is leading the league with a .300 batting average. Five players are batting over .300, with Bob Polansky leading the group at .384.

While no team is completely out of it yet, the Louisville Grays are certainly making a bid to be the first team so designated. Starter Jack Due has not been good, with 10 losses already on the year. The offense boasts Henry Rasnick’s .392 average, but he’s not getting much help from his teammates outside of Doc Bankhead.

Among the other interesting developments around the league are George Ott losing his role as New York’s starter, where Bill McManis has been getting regular duty after Ott failed to deliver. As expected, Chicago has had the greatest difficulty scoring runs.

In Other News
May 1: Boston’s Charlie Rossi becomes the first National Leaguer to collect 6 hits in a ballgame. Rossi was 6-6 with a double and a home run in the Red Caps’ 15-4 victory over Hartford.

May 10: The Centennial Exposition, a World’s Fair celebrating the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, commences in Philadelphia.

May 18: Wyatt Earp begins work as assistant marshal of Dodge City, Kansas.

May 19: Veteran infielder Charlie Groezinger injured his shoulder and is unexpected to play baseball again. Groezinger played for 5 different teams in the National Association before signing with Hartford to play shortstop for the Dark Blues this season. He hit over .300 for the first time last year, and was hitting .302 with a pair of doubles this season. George Marrion and Charlie Norman have been splitting time at shortstop since.

May 19, May 23: Boston’s Will Svoboda hurled a pair of shutouts, the first against Hartford and the second against Cincinnati. Hartford had 3 hits while the Reds managed 6, as Svoboda showed that experience can be more valuable than ability.

Standings

                             W     L      PCT      GB
Boston Red Caps             11     5     .688       -
St. Louis Brown Stockings   10     6     .625     1.0
Cincinnati Reds              9     7     .563     2.0
New York Mutuals             8     7     .533     2.5
Chicago White Stockings      7     9     .438     4.0
Hartford Dark Blues          6     8     .429     4.0
Philadelphia Athletics       7     9     .438     4.0
Louisville Grays             5    12     .294     6.5

League Leaders
Average

.392 Henry Rasnick (LOU)
.384 Joe Holleran (BOS)
.384 Mike Stanley (STL)

Total Bases
40 Henry Rasnick (LOU)
37 Fred Mannion (BOS)
36 Bob Polansky (STL), Mike Stanley (STL)

Stolen Bases
7 Fred Mannion (BOS)
4 Jim Heyman (PHA)
3 Nat Alsop (STL), John Arend (STL), Jim Maranto (CHW), John Nero (NY)

ERA

1.22 Bill McManis (NY)
1.24 Will Svoboda (BOS)
1.67 Charlie Barta (STL)

Wins
8 Joe Bormann (CIN)
7 Charlie Barta (STL)
7 Bill McManis (NY)

Strikeouts
21 Joe Bormann (CIN)
20 Charlie Barta (STL)
14 Jack Due (LOU)

[fhomess]

National League Firsts:
Fred Ross and the Boston Red Caps won the National League's first game with a 9-2 complete game victory over the Philadelphia Athletics. Boston scored first with a 1-out home run in the top of the 1st inning by RF Dave Hasse. The game was never close, as Boston scored in each of the first four innings to jump out to a 7-0 lead. Ross allowed just 6 hits in the game, and neither of the 2 runs that Philadelphia scored were earned. CF Fred Mannion and LF Joe Holleran each had 3 hits for Boston, as did RF Jim Shemo of the Athletics.


1st Hit: Home run by Dave Hasse off of Joe Gotcher with 1 out in the top of the 1st inning on 4/22.

1st Strikeout: Fred Mannion, by Joe Gotcher with 1 out in the top of the 1st inning on 4/22.

1st Single: Jim Shemo off of Fred Ross with 2 out in the bottom of the 1st on 4/22

1st Double: George Robb off of Joe Gotcher with no out in the top of the 4th on 4/22.

1st Triple: Joe Holleran, off of Joe Gotcher with 2 out in the top of the 3rd on 4/22.

1st Home Run: Dave Hasse off of Joe Gotcher with 1 out in the top of the 1st inning on 4/22.

1st Error: SS Billy Jumper, on a grounder hit by Jim Heyman with 2 out in the bottom of the 3rd on 4/22

1st HBP: Harry Rivers, by Fred Ross with 2 out in the bottom of the 4th on 4/22.

1st BB: Fred Mannion by John Belcher with 2 out in the top of the 6th on 4/22.

1st CS: Jim Heyman, by Josh Croyle, on his way to 2nd base with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th on 4/22.

1st SB: Jim Heyman, off of P Fred Ross and C Terry Godby, with 1 out in the bottom of the 6th on 4/24.

1st Extra Inning Game: Boston defeats New York 11-10 in 10 innings on 4/25.

1st Shutout: Jack Due and Louisville shut out the Chicago White Stockings 3-0 on 5 hits on 4/25.

[fhomess]

July 1, 1876
The Philadelphia Athletics shot up the standings in June, going 12-1 for the month with only the Reds getting the better of them. Starter Joe Gotcher has been the catalyst, who is now 13-2 with a 2.15 ERA on the year. Meanwhile, Boston struggled to a 8-5 record as the Athletics caught up with them for first place. St. Louis and Cincinnati both managed to stay close to the league leaders as well, and with a month like Philadelphia had, either could easily move into first place in the coming months.

New York and Hartford each dropped back a few more games, and will have a long way to climb, but the team that struggled the most was Chicago. The White Stockings were the antithesis to the Athletics over the month of June. They managed to beat the Mutuals twice, but those were the only victories they managed. They lost 11 games against Boston, Philadelphia, and New York combined, and while they’ll have a slightly easier schedule in July, their season is already starting to look lost.

In Other News
June 4: The Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco after leaving New York City 83 hours earlier.

June 8: The Chicago Tribune reports the following: "One of the stupidest ideas that ever entered into the head of base-ball managers is the new arrangement on the Hartford grounds‚ by which they refuse to permit the transmission of any report of the game by innings. As the 'Courant' well says‚ those who have been visitors to the bulletins are those who have an interest in the game‚ which is kept alive by their opportunity of watching the board‚ and the increased interest they have had has made them visitors to the games when a game of special interest has been played‚ or when they could get away from their business to attend. Not to continue the score by innings is to remove a very excellent and cheap feature of advertising‚ and‚ in a money way‚ to cause a loss to the ball manager"

June 15: Left fielder Henry Rasnick of the Louisville Grays goes hitless against Hartford to see his 23 game hit streak come to an end. It is the longest hitting streak the National League has seen in its short history.

June 20: Cincinnati Reds pitcher Joe Bormann shuts out the league leading Red Caps on 5 hits, winning 3-0 after LF Bob Handy hits a 3-run home run in the 4th inning. Will Svoboda gets the loss for Boston.

June 25: Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry Regiment are wiped out by Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Standings

                             W      L      PCT      GB
Boston Red Caps             19     10     .655       -
Philadelphia Athletics      19     10     .655       -
Cincinnati Reds             17     12     .586     2.0
St. Louis Brown Stockings   16     13     .552     3.0
New York Mutuals            13     15     .464     5.5
Hartford Dark Blues         12     16     .429     6.5
Louisville Grays            11     20     .355     9.0
Chicago White Stockings      9     20     .310    10.0

League Leaders
Average
.386 Joe Holleran (BOS)
.362 Tom Childers (NY)
.358 Charlie Rossi (BOS)

Total Bases

65 Bob Polansky (STL)
61 Henry Rasnick (LOU)
59 Joe Holleran (BOS), Fred Mannion (BOS)

Stolen Bases
10 Fred Mannion (BOS)
8 John Arend (STL)
7 Harry Pigg (CHW)

ERA
1.93 Bill McManis (NY)
2.08 Charlie Barta (STL)
2.15 Joe Gotcher (PHA)

Wins

15 Joe Bormann (CIN)
13 Joe Gotcher (PHA)
13 Will Svoboda (BOS)

Strikeouts
39 Joe Bormann (CIN)
33 Charlie Barta (STL)
18 Frank Kale (HAR)

[fhomess]

August 1, 1876
The United States celebrated the nation’s centennial on July 4th, 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Baseball celebrated with a full slate of games. Boston defeated the Brown Stockings in St. Louis by a score of 6-3. In Louisville, the Grays and Mutuals put on an offensive show with a 14-8 New York victory. The game in Chicago between Hartford and the White Stockings was offensive in another way. The teams combined for 19 errors in the game. Hartford’s Bill Phillips allowed 6 runs on 1 hit and a walk in just 1/3 of an inning pitched, as Chicago won 13-5.

However, the game that really gave fans their money’s worth was between the Athletics and Reds in Cincinnati. The Athletics jumped out to an early 3-0 lead off of Joe Bormann when Charlie Harvard hit a 2-run triple in the top of the first. Cincinnait would battle back, though, scoring runs in the bottom of the 1st, 5th, and 8th. Bormann pitched tremendously the whole time, holding Philadelphia scoreless after that first inning, and when the 9th inning came and went, the score was still 3-3. Philadelphia starter Joe Gotcher was also still in the game, and for the next several innings, both Gotcher and Bormann would shut down the opposing offenses. The two scattered a handful of hits, but neither team was able to string anything together. In the 14th, Bormann took things into his own hands. He managed a single of his own off of Gotcher, and after Joe Bonetti popped out to the catcher, Rudy Stirnemann singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd. John Gano then came to the plate and hit a line drive over the second baseman to score Bormann from 2nd and give the Reds a 4-3 victory in the longest game the NL has seen to date.

In other news, the 38 year old Will Svoboda started to show signs of his age in the middle of July with a series of particularly poor outings, and the Red Caps have turned to Billy Lamacchia to try to right the ship. With the Athletics having gained a few games on Boston, the team felt it had to do something to keep up, and Lamacchia has pitched well since being handed the ball. Still, Philadelphia has stayed out of the loss column a few more times than Boston and has a slight edge. St. Louis and New York each dropped an additional half game off the pace, while the Reds fell 3.5 games further back despite their dramatic victory on Independence Day. The big drops in the standings, however, came from Hartford and Louisville, who both had a very difficult time in July, with the Dark Blues going just 4-10. The only team to gain in the standings over the course of the month was Chicago, who went 9-4, but was already far enough back that they’re still 9 games out and in 6th place.

In Other News
July 2: Boston sends SS Billy Jumper to Hartford for 2B Jack Van Houten.

July 4: 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

July 8: Joe Gotcher of the Philadelphia Athletics shuts out the Cincinnati Reds on 3 hits. Joe Bormann of the Reds also holds Philadelphia to 3 hits, but the Athletics scored in the 7th inning after catcher Charlie Harvard reached on an error and scored via an Oscar Williams triple. The 1-0 final score is the first game in National League history to see only 1 run scored.

July 8: The Boston Herald carries mid season averages showing hits per game and errors per game (not per AB or per chance). Obviously, OOTP gives us better stats than this, but this is what was reported back then. I am running the league on the lowest stats detail level, and will increase it as MLB stat tracking increased.

July 14: Bill Phillips, who had that awful 6-runs allowed in 1/3 of an inning on July 4th is traded from Hartford to Cincinnati, having fallen out of favor with the team.

July 22: Chicago White Stockings pitcher Art Stokes pitches a 5-hit shutout against the Louisville Grays. The White Stockings win the game by a whopping score of 12-0 as the Grays commit 9 errors in the game.

July 29: Billy Lamacchia, pitches a 6-hit shutout over the New York Mutuals. Boston scores 7 runs on 16 hits.

July 29: Joe Bormann strikes out Bill Shew of the Chicago White Stockings for his 50th strikeout of the season.

Standings

                             W      L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics      25     13     .658       -
Boston Red Caps             25     16     .610     1.5
St. Louis Brown Stockings   23     18     .561     3.5
Cincinnati Reds             21     20     .512     5.5
New York Mutuals            20     20     .500     6.0
Chicago White Stockings     18     24     .429     9.0
Hartford Dark Blues         15     21     .417     9.0
Louisville Grays            15     30     .333    13.5

League Leaders
Average
.371 Joe Holleran (BOS)
.358 Tom Childers (NY)
.356 Henry Rasnick (LOU)

Total Bases
88 Henry Rasnick (LOU)
85 Joe Holleran (BOS)
85 Bob Polansky (STL)

Stolen Bases

13 John Arend (STL)
11 Fred Mannion (BOS)
10 John Nero (NY), Harry Pigg (CHW)

ERA

2.00 Joe Gotcher (PHA)
2.11 Bill McManis (NY)
2.30 Charlie Barta (STL)

Wins
19 Joe Bormann (CIN)
16 Charlie Barta (STL)
15 Joe Gotcher (PHA), Will Svoboda (BOS)

Strikeouts
50 Joe Bormann (CIN)
46 Charlie Barta (STL)
22 Frank Kale (HAR)

[fhomess]

September 1, 1876
The Philadelphia Athletics extended their lead in dramatic fashion over the course of August. The team took 3 of 5 from Boston and 5 of 6 from Hartford en route to a 10-4 record for the month while Boston was just 3-9 in August. Chicago continued to play relatively well, and Louisville actually wasn’t all that bad, either, but for the most part, the teams in behind the Athletics merely beat up on each other. The result is a 7-game lead for Philadelphia, with both Boston and St. Louis tied for second place.

In Other News
Aug 1: Colorado is admitted to the Union as the 38th U.S. State.

Aug 4: The Louisville Grays, trailing the White Stockings, intentionally commit errors to extend a game during which rain appears to be on the way. Eventually, the game is ruled a forfeit by the umpires. Later, the game is removed from the official standings altogether.

Aug 18: Hartford left fielder Ed Buteau extends his hitting streak to a new National League record 24 games. Buteau has since extended the streak to 27 games and will look to continue into September. Buteau managed one of just 3 hits for the Dark Blues, as Boston’s Billy Lamacchia shuts out Hartford for a 3-0 victory.

Standings

                             W      L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics      35     17     .673       -
Boston Red Caps             28     24     .538     7.0
St. Louis Brown Stockings   28     24     .538     7.0
New York Mutuals            24     24     .500     9.0
Cincinnati Reds             25     27     .481    10.0
Chicago White Stockings     25     29     .463    11.0
Hartford Dark Blues         21     28     .429    12.5
Louisville Grays            22     35     .386    15.5

League Leaders
Average

.354 Joe Holleran (BOS)
.345 Bob Polansky (STL)
.337 Henry Rasnick (LOU)

Total Bases
106 Bob Polansky (STL)
102 Henry Rasnick (LOU)
99 Joe Holleran (BOS)

Stolen Bases
14 Harry Pigg (CHW)
13 John Arend (STL)
12 Bill Dix (LOU), Fred Mannion (BOS)

ERA

1.83 Doc Taylor (HAR)
1.98 Billy Lamacchia (BOS)
2.20 Bill McManis (NY)

Wins
22 Joe Bormann (CIN)
19 Charlie Barta (STL)
19 Joe Gotcher (PHA)

Strikeouts
60 Joe Bormann (CIN)
56 Charlie Barta (STL)
27 Frank Kale (HAR)

[fhomess]

October 1, 1876
Controversy was the big story of September in the National League. The league leading Philadelphia Athletics declined to complete their playing obligations for the season, announcing on the 11th that they would play out their remaining home games, but would not make their planned trip out west. With the Athletics as one of the largest drawing clubs in the league, teams located in western cities Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisville all complained about the lack of revenue. However, the greater complaint came from the Brown Stockings and Reds, both of whom began to make a run at the Athletics by the end of the month. Unfortunately, they won’t have enough remaining games on their schedule to catch Philadelphia without those head-to-head matchups.

The Boston Red Caps, who had been hanging in there until September, fell far off the pace, while Hartford was the other team that really saw their record plummet. The Dark Blues were just 2-10 for the month.

In Other News
Sep 7: The James-Younger Gang, led by outlaw Jesse James, is surrounded by angry citizens during an attempted bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota. Frank and Jesse James escape, although the rest of the gang, including the three Younger brothers are all either captured or killed, resulting in the dissolution of the gang.

Sep 9: Hartford and Cincinnati play the National League’s first doubleheader. Hartford center fielder Ed Buteau, who has a league high 28-game hit streak coming into the day, goes hitless in four at-bats in the first game. The Reds then give him the second game off.

Sep 11: The Philadelphia Athletics, content with their lead in the standings, declare that they will not make their final western road trip. This leaves them with just 4 games remaining: two against the Reds and two against the Grays, both in Philadelphia over the next week. Other teams in the league cry foul as the lack of games helps the Athletics stay ahead of anyone willing to catch up. In particular, the St. Louis Brown Stockings, who are now 7 games out in second place, lose several head-to-head games with the Athletics that could’ve given them an opportunity to catch Philadelphia. The decision essentially clinches the pennant for Philadelphia. [i]Note: In real life, the Athletics informed the league that they could not afford the trip, but I went this route since they’re in first place.[i]

Sep 15 & 16: With games on consecutive days, the St. Louis Brown Stockings decide to use two different pitchers against the Hartford Dark Blues. On the 15th, Charlie Champ shuts Hartford out on 3 hits for a 3-0 victory. The next day, Charlie Barta shuts out the Dark Blues again, this time on 4 hits in a 5-0 win. In Philadelphia on the same days, Louisville defeated the Athletics twice to bring the Brown Stockings within 5 games of the Athletics. However, with Philadelphia done for the year, and St. Louis now having just 4 games remaining, they’re unable to catch up. Boston, Cincinnati, and New York all sit 6 games back.

Sep 16: For financial reasons, the New York Mutuals declare that they, too, will forego their remaining road games for the season. The announcement comes after a 2-3 loss to Cincinnati in which only 155 fans showed up to watch the home team Mutuals play. Their final game at home will be against Hartford in October, but they are otherwise done for the year. Again, teams still hoping to catch the Athletics cry foul as they have fewer opportunities to win games down the stretch.

Standings

                             W      L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics      37     23     .617       -
St. Louis Brown Stockings   34     28     .548     4.0
Cincinnati Reds             33     29     .532     5.0
New York Mutuals            29     27     .518     6.0
Boston Red Caps             33     33     .500     7.0
Chicago White Stockings     32     34     .485     8.0
Louisville Grays            29     38     .433    11.5
Hartford Dark Blues         23     38     .377    14.5

League Leaders
Average

.359 Bob Polansky (STL)
.337 Sam Shokes (NY)
.334 Henry Rasnick (LOU)

Total Bases
130 Bob Polansky (STL)
117 Henry Rasnick (LOU)
112 Jim Maranto (CHW)

Stolen Bases
16 John Arend (STL)
15 Joe Bonetti (CIN)
15 Bill Dix (LOU)

ERA

1.98 Art Stokes (CHW)
1.99 Billy Lamacchia (BOS)
2.09 Bill McManis (NY)

Wins
29 Joe Bormann (CIN)
20 Charlie Barta (STL)
19 Joe Gotcher (PHA), Art Stokes (CHW)

Strikeouts
66 Joe Bormann (CIN)
60 Charlie Barta (STL)
28 Joe Gotcher (PHA), Frank Kale (HAR)

[fhomess]

October 23, 1876
With the Athletics and Mutuals sitting at home, there aren’t many games left on the schedule for October. The Reds and Brown Stockings attempted to win a few to make it close, but neither team has the number of games left needed to catch the idle Philadelphians. While the Athletics are declared the National League’s first champions, complaints filed by various teams lead to a decision to hold meetings in December to determine the future direction of the league.

In Other News
Oct 4: Texas A&M opens for classes.

Oct 7: Left fielder Sepp Apel of the Hartford Dark Blues becomes the first National Leaguer to hit for the cycle. Apel collected a double in the 1st inning and a triple in the 3rd. He then singled in each of his next two at-bats, but managed a home run off of Cincinnati pitcher Frank Mokosky in the 8th inning. The Dark Blues would win the game 14-7, with 15 errors being committed by the two teams combined.

Oct 17: In their final game of the season, and first game since the middle of September, the New York Mutuals play host to Hartford in front of 121 fans. New York loses 7-2.

Oct 21: The final game of the season is played as Boston hosts Hartford for the second game of a two game set with the Dark Blues. In a back-and forth game, Hartford heads into the 9th inning with a 6-2 lead, but Boston scores 4 in the bottom of the 9th after Hartford commits 3 errors in the inning. However, a come from behind victory is not in the cards, as the Dark Blues score a run on a passed ball in the 11th to win the game.

Standings

                             W      L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics      37     23     .617       -
Cincinnati Reds             35     30     .538     4.5
St. Louis Brown Stockings   34     30     .531     5.0
New York Mutuals            29     28     .509     6.5
Boston Red Caps             35     35     .500     7.0
Chicago White Stockings     32     34     .485     8.0
Louisville Grays            30     39     .435    11.5
Hartford Dark Blues         28     41     .406    13.5

League Leaders
Average
.352 Bob Polansky (STL)
.339 Sam Shokes (NY)
.333 Joe Holleran (BOS)

Total Bases
131 Bob Polansky (STL)
120 Henry Rasnick (LOU)
118 George Marion (HAR)

Stolen Bases

17 John Arend (STL)
16 Joe Bonetti (CIN)
15 Bill Dix (LOU)

ERA

1.98 Art Stokes (CHW)
2.00 Doc Taylor (HAR)
2.09 Bill McManis (NY)

Wins
29 Joe Bormann (CIN)
20 Charlie Barta (STL)
19 Joe Gotcher (PHA), Art Stokes (CHW)

Strikeouts
66 Joe Bormann (CIN)
63 Charlie Barta (STL)
28 Joe Gotcher (PHA), Frank Kale (HAR)

[fhomess]

1876 Award Winners Announced!
The first National League award winners were announced and despite Philadelphia’s dominance in the standings, neither player winning an award came from the Athletics. Instead, the second and third place teams, Cincinnati and St. Louis, are represented.

Batter of the Year
CF Bob Polansky (STL): .352-.354-.431, 107 H, 8 3B, 6 SB

Bob Polansky, one of the stars of the National Association over the past five years, has proven that he’s going to be one of the stars of the National League as well. Polansky led all NL batters with 107 hits and was second in the league with 8 triples. He added 8 doubles and a handful of stolen bases en route to leading the St. Louis Brown Stockings offense.

Pitcher of the Year
SP Joe Bormann (CIN): 29-24, 2.47 ERA, 451.2 IP, 66 K, 35 CG, 2 SHO

Joe Bormann of the Cincinnati Reds was a deserving selection as the league’s best pitcher in its inaugural season. Bormann led all pitchers with 29 victories and 66 strikeouts. He started 59 of his team’s 65 games this year, the highest rate in the league. The 23 year old Bormann came into the league this season as a relative unknown, having never pitched in the National Association, but he proved to everyone that he belongs among the best players baseball has to offer.

[fhomess]

Here’s the season totals summary for 1876. Here's how the numbers compared with real life:

NA = Real National Association
TBS = The Baseball Saga (my sim)
* = estimated totals (no actual league totals available)

Stat       NA     TBS      %Diff
G         520     520       0.0%
AB      20121   20353       1.1
H        5338    5373       0.7
2B        633     633       0.0
3B        181     181       0.0
HR         40      31      29.0
BB        336     323       4.0
K         589     564       4.4
SB        260*    268       3.0
CS        141*    133       6.0
R        3066    3116       1.6
AVG      .265    .264       0.4
OBP      .277    .280       1.1
SLG      .321    .317       1.1
IP       4739  4616.1       2.7
CG        473     276      71.4
SHO        47      15     213.3
ERA      2.31    2.61      11.5

Notes:
1. I hit doubles and triples right on the nose! HR’s were off, though in general this is a pretty good showing.

2. I found that messing a bit with more of the settings allowed me to get the totals a little more accurate than I have been in the past. In particular, I looked at runs allowed and ERA to try to tune the fielding rate. Since ERA only includes earned runs, you can get a feel for whether or not errors are too frequent by looking at the relationship between ERA and total runs allowed. I must say, however, that my tuning wasn’t very scientific. Really, just a lot of trial and error.

3. There are a number of statistics that we can tune in league totals that we don’t have actual league totals for during the time period I’m simming. Stolen bases are an example of this. What I’ve decided to do is get an estimated total for those statistics. How? Well it’s not very scientific, but I’ve been projecting those stats based on league trends from years that I do actually have some data. I then added in a small randomizer since I know that these stats didn’t track any sort of linear or exponential best line fit. At any rate, my goal for stolen base attempts this season was 401, which is exactly what I had. My success rate was just slightly higher than what I had projected.

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

Stat       NA     TBS
AVG      .429    .352*
OBP      .462    .369*
SLG      .590    .431*
H         138     107
2B         21      15
3B         14       9
HR          5       2
BB         20      14
SB         23      17

ERA      1.23    1.98+
W          47      29
IP      622.0   451.2
K         122      66
CG         66      35
SHO        16       3
L          35      24

*-Minimum of 200 PA's on the batting rates..
+-Minimum of 200 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        167353
H          44522         .955
2B          8919         .530
3B           898        1.230
HR          5451        4.670
BB         16222        1.350
HBP         1850         .740
K          31828         .910
BABIP       .272
Errors                  5.000
DP's                     .400
SP End                  6.000
RP End                  1.000
GB%                      .920
WP                      1.257
Balks                    .100
PB's                   15.000
SF                       .100
SB                      1.000
SB Att                   .310
SB Suc%                 1.110

The process for creating the National League in my game was to create it as an entirely new league. Once the league was created, I used the option on the Game Setup Strategy tab to import league settings for 1876. The numbers that I got were fairly different from what I had previously in the NA. Ultimately, you really have the option of modifying either the league totals raw numbers or the modifiers to get the results you’re looking for. I adjust the modifiers since they’re easy to understand in terms of what you’re looking for. The only thing you have to remember is that a lot of them are interrelated, so you have to do everything iteratively and in small increments. For those with control theory, I’m just using a basic proportional control concept.

I have the settings checked to automatically adjust league totals modifiers after each season and to automatically import player creation modifiers. That said, I modified almost all of these settings in order to get the results that I did.

[CatKnight]

Hm. I think YOUR Athletics will go down as the villains of the early NL

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by CatKnight

Hm. I think YOUR Athletics will go down as the villains of the early NL

Oh, I don't know. I think the league is going to deal with them rather severely.