[fhomess]

Well, I've finally done it. Decided to start a dynasty thread.

The Baseball Saga will be a fictorical replay through major league history starting in 1871. I'll be doing my best to get league totals roughly in line with what they were in real life, and using the actual teams. This is the first time I'm doing something like this, so if any of you are brave enough to follow along, well you'll have to be patient as I try to get things to turn out the way I like.

HTML Reports

I hope people enjoy it.

[fhomess]

The growth of baseball in the 1850's and 1860's as a popular sport evolved into the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, more commonly known as the National Association. Having seen the success of teams such as the Cincinnati Red Stockings, 9 charter teams join the NA in its inaugural season, rising out of the amateur ranks to form the game's first professional league.

Charter Teams in the NA:
Boston Red Stockings
Chicago White Stockings
Cleveland Forest Citys
Fort Wayne Kekiongas
New York Mutuals
Philadelphia Athletics
Rockford Forest Citys
Troy Haymakers
Washington Olympics

[AZTarHeel]

I'm getting ready to do something similar, so I'll be following along to see how your league plays out ... i love some of these team names ...

[fhomess]

1871 Preview

Boston Red Stockings
Key Players:
CF Fred Mannion, LF Joe Arthur, SP Bobby Thrasher

Outlook:
Boston's hopes for the season rest on the well traveled arm of Thrasher, who's been bouncing around the amateur circuits for the better part of two decades. At 37 years old, Boston will be throwing out the oldest SP arm in the league. Mannion and Arthur are both in their early to mid 20's, and should be anchors of the Boston offense for a long time.

Projected Finish: 1st

Chicago White Stockings
Key Players
CF Bob Polansky, SP George Jury

Outlook:
At 24, Jury is a bit of the polar opposite to Thrasher. He's got a decent track record in amateur ball, but nothing neat the experience of Boston's starter. Polansky is one of the most promising young hitters in the league. The offense around him is well rounded but doesn't boast anyone else who might be a superstar.

Projected Finish: 2nd

Cleveland Forest Citys
Key Players
RF Joe Bonetti, SP Charlie Champ

Outlook:
Champ looks like a superstar and at 23 years old, will be around for a while. Bonetti isn't anything to get excited about, and the Cleveland offense lacks anyone else who migh reasonably be expected to step up and post some big numbers.

Projected Finish: 9th

Fort Wayne Kekiongas
Key Players
3B Harry Spina, SP John Hettinger

Outlook:
Hettinger is in the prime of his career and can be relied upon to perform extremely well. His amateur record is as good as any other pitcher in the league. Spina is a superb third baseman who isn't quite among the elite hitters of the league.

Projected Finish: 6th

New York Mutuals
Key Players
RF John Nero, LF Dick Morgan, SP Bill Severinsen

Outlook:
Nero is probably the most revered and feared hitter coming into the NA in this first season. Morgan is a veteran player that will give New York a tremendous 1-2 punch in the lineup. Severinsen is a veteran pitcher who doesn't rate as highly as many of the other starters in the league and a stong year from him will be essential.

Projected Finish: 5th

Philadelphia Athletics
Key Players
SS Bill Heim, SP Joe Dimond

Outlook:
The Athletics will go only as far as Dimond can take them. The offense is deep, but lacks any top threats. Heim is superb defensively, but lacks the hitting skills of other top players.

Projected Finish: 4th

Rockford Forest Citys
Key Players
C Mike Stanley, SS Harry Holmes, SP George Gedeon

Outlook:
Stanley is a star hitter behind the plate. Holmes and Gedeon are both a bit long in the tooth, but also still young enough to be reliable guys for at least the coming season. Stanley and Holmes give Rockford two excellent hitters at key defensive positions.

Projected Finish: 7th

Troy Haymakers
Key Players
LF Bob Brose, SP John Chapman

Outlook:
Brose is an excellent hitter who can lead a well rounded offense such as the one that Troy boasts. Chapman is a veteran pitcher who should be fine.

Projected Finish: 3rd

Washington Olympics
Key Players
CF John Arend, C Josh Croyle, SP Bill Winkles

Outlook:
The Olympics are strong up the middle and Winkles is a good starter. The question for the team is wether or not they have enough star power to outshine some of the other teams in the league.

Projected Finish: 8th


Projected Standings
1. Boston
2. Chicago
3. Troy
4. Philadelphia
5. New York
6. Fort Wayne
7. Rockford
8. Washington
9. Cleveland

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by AZTarHeel

I'm getting ready to do something similar, so I'll be following along to see how your league plays out ... i love some of these team names ...

Cool. It's taken a fair amount of work to get things as I like them. The league totals settings are a challenge, but I'll be recording them all as I go along.

[ifspuds]

I'll definitely be reading. You know I love fictorical replays.

[fhomess]

Note, I'll be using a schedule to reflect the actual games played in 1871

The first game of the NA was Cleveland at Fort Wayne on May 4 at Hamilton Field. The first pitch was a ball thrown by John Hettinger to CF Tom Gerheaser. Gerheaser would groundout to the third baseman on the next pitch for the first out. The Kekiongas would go on to win the game by a score of 10-7, powered by 2B Jack Van Houten, who went 3-3 with a home run.

June 1, 1871
The uneven schedule has, to this point, favored Fort Wayne. The Kekionga's 4 wins aren't the most in the league, but they've only got 1 loss to go with those wins to put them at the top of the standings early. Washington has played the most games, and in their case, it's hurt them so far. They're 3-7 and at the bottom of the pack. Meanwhile, the Athletics and Mutuals have just barely begun their seasons.

Standings

                         W     L      PCT      GB
Fort Wayne Kekiongas     4     1     .800       -
Boston Red Stockings     5     3     .625      .5
Troy Haymakers           4     2     .667      .5
Philadelphia Athletics   1     0    1.000     1.0
Cleveland Forest Citys   4     4     .500     1.5
New York Mutuals         1     1     .500     1.5
Rockford Forest Citys    4     4     .500     1.5
Chicago White Stockings  1     5     .167     3.5
Washington Olympics      3     7     .300     3.5

League Leaders
Average

.667 Sandy Flaugher (PHA)
.632 J. Van Houten (FW)
.556 E. Howard (NY)

Total Bases
27 John Arend (WSH)
25 J. Boles (WSH)
24 J. Bonetti (CLE), F. Hunsberger (WSH), B. Polansky (CHW)

Stolen Bases
10 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
9 T. Gerheauser (CLE)
8 J. Arend (WSH)

ERA

0.00 Joe Dimond (PHA)
1.17 B. McManis (FW)
1.39 C. Champ (CLE)

Wins
5 Bobby Thrasher (BOS)
4 C. Champ (CLE)
3 J. Chapman (TRO), J. Hettinger (FW), D. Klusman (ROC)

Strikeouts
9 Charlie Champ (CLE)
5 G. Jury (CHW)
5 D. Klusman (ROC)

[fhomess]

July 1, 1871
The Philadelphia Athletics have taken the league by storm, winning all their games in June to put their season record at a whopping 11-0. One of the highlights of the month for Philadelphia came on June 15 against Rockford. Catcher Charlie Harvard became the first player to collect 6 hits in a game as the Athletics routed the Forest Citys 22-6. He scored 5 times and drove in 6 runs, aided by a pair of home runs and a double. Surprisingly, only one other Athletic collected 4 or more hits, 2B George Barkley. Harvard's 3 HR's on the season are 2 more than any other player. At the other end of the standings, Washington pulled out of 9th place with a couple of wins, but still leads the league with 11 losses. Chicago fell below them, however, after falling to 3-9 on the year.

In other news, Fort Wayne finished their June 19th game against Troy under protest after the game ball became ripped and another was required to finish the contest. Umpire Isaac Leroy ordered Fort Wayne back on the field after the team refused to continue due to Troy's reputation for using illegal balls in the past. Fort Wayne was leading the game 8-5 at the time, and went on to win 12-8. The protest was dismissed by the league office.

Standings

                            W     L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics     11     0    1.000       -
Fort Wayne Kekiongas        6     3     .667     4.0
Cleveland Forest Citys      7     5     .583     4.5
New York Mutuals            7     5     .583     4.5
Boston Red Stockings        6     7     .462     6.0
Rockford Forest Citys       5     8     .385     7.0
Troy Haymakers              4     7     .364     7.0
Washington Olympics         6    11     .353     8.0
Chicago White Stockings     3     9     .250     8.5

League Leaders
Average
.486 Jack Van Houten (FW)
.478 Sandy Flaugher (PHA)
.472 George Barkley (PHA)

Total Bases

43 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
42 Bob Polansky (CHW)
38 John Arend (WSH)

Stolen Bases
18 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
13 Tom Gerheauser (CLE)
12 John Nero (NY)

ERA
1.83 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.12 Joe Dimond (PHA)
2.53 Mart Lemelle (WSH)

Wins

9 Joe Dimond (PHI)
7 Charlie Champ (CLE)
5 John Hettinger (FW), Bobby Thrasher (BOS)

Strikeouts
17 Joe Dimond (PHA)
12 Charlie Champ (CLE)
6 George Jury (CHW), Denny Klusman (ROC)


Finally, I'll be posting the HTML output on my personal website, here.

[No Pepper]

Good to see another 1871 dynasty and I'm enjoying the player photos! A couple of questions:

What is the fatigue status of your pitchers so far this season? I know you added the "as played" schedule so you do have some consecutive off days but are they faring well under that schedule? What are your settings in regards to pitching?

[fhomess]

I like the logos and jerseys you created for the NA, too.

Injuries are on but set to very low.
Position player fatigue is set to low.
Use of relievers: Very Rarely
Use of closers: Very Rarely
Pitcher Endurance: Very High
Typical Starting Rotation Size: 1 Man
Pinch Hit for Pitchers: Very Rarely
League Totasl modifier for Starting Pitcher Endurance: 6.000

I will say that I didn't find any difference in having SP Endurance set to 3.000 vs 6.000, and from what I've heard in the historical forums is that you simply can't get a realistic amount of complete games, so I gave up on that aspect.

[fhomess]

August 1, 1871
Philadelphia continues to pace the league, although Chicago finally got their number on July 14th with a 16-3 win in Chicago. The Athletics bounced back to beat Rockford on the 17th, but have since dropped three in a row including a pair of losses to Cleveland. The Mutuals took advantage of poor months by Fort Wayne and Cleveland to move up into second place. Meanwhile, Washington was the team of the month, going 6-1 to pull to an even .500 record after struggling mightily in the first part of the season.

In Other News
Washington's rise from the doldrums of the league has come on the hot bat of John Arend. Arend is hitting .333 on the season and has a 21 game hitting streak going for him.

The Independence Day game in Chicago saw Rockford pummel the White Stockings 29-19. LF Jim Smith and SS Harry Holmes each had 6 hits for the Forest Citys, with Holmes driving in 8 of his team's runs.

Troy is involved in another ball scandal when, on July 3rd, they played host to New York. Despite the fact that it is customary to allow the visiting team to choose the ball, Troy insists on using their own ball. Troy then proceeds to win the game 9-8. The two teams meet again on July 13 in Brooklyn, where police are required to calm fans intent on attacking the Troy ballplayers. Troy took an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd, and Haymakers pitcher John Fortenberry shuts out the Mutuals through 8 innings. New York then rallied for 2 in the bottom of the 9th to win.

Standings

                            W      L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics     14      4     .778       -
New York Mutuals           11      9     .550     4.0
Cleveland Forest Citys      9      8     .529     4.5
Fort Wayne Kekiongas        8      7     .533     4.5
Boston Red Stockings        9      9     .500     5.0
Washington Olympics        12     12     .500     5.0
Rockford Forest Citys       7     10     .412     6.5
Troy Haymakers              5     10     .333     7.5
Chicago White Stockings     5     11     .313     8.0

League Leaders
Average
.438 Bob Polansky (CHW)
.419 Bob Brose (TRO)
.417 Harry Lebeau (NY)

Total Bases

62 John Boles (WSH)
57 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
55 John Arend (WSH)

Stolen Bases
19 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
17 John Arend (WSH)
17 Tom Gerheauser (CLE)

ERA

1.14 Jake Lindsey (FW)
2.45 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.51 Joe Dimond (PHA)

Wins
11 Joe Dimond (PHI)
8 Charlie Champ (CLE)
6 Mart Lemelle (WSH), Bobby Thrasher (BOS)

Strikeouts
20 Joe Dimond (PHA)
13 Charlie Champ (CLE)
9 Denny Klusman (ROC)

[fhomess]

September 1, 1871
The New York Mutuals won all five of their games in August to pull within 3 of the Athletics, and Washington continued their rise. They now boast the 2nd most wins in the league but their losses have kept them from getting any higher than 3rd in the standings. Cleveland was the polar opposite, dropping from 3rd to 8th after losing all 6 of their August games.

In Other News
The Fort Wayne Kekiongas have been disbanded due to player defections. A number of players simply went home after their August 29 win against Troy after management declared they would be unable to pay the players due to low attendance at Kekionga home games. Star pitcher Jake Lindsey, who is leading the NA in ERA went to Dallas declaring that he would be willing to pitch for a team next year provided the team recompense him for his services. The National Association has already announced that the Kekiongas will be replaced with the Eckfords of Brooklyn in 1872.

Washington center fielder John Arend has extended his hitting streak to 26 games, the longest in the league.

Standings

                            W     L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics     17     4     .810       -
New York Mutuals           16     9     .640     3.0
Fort Wayne Kekiongas       11     8     .579     5.0
Washington Olympics        16    13     .552     5.0
Troy Haymakers              8    11     .421     8.0
Boston Red Stockings        9    13     .409     8.5
Rockford Forest Citys       9    13     .409     8.5
Cleveland Forest Citys      9    14     .391     9.0
Chicago White Stockings     6    16     .273    11.5

League Leaders
Average

.482 Bob Polansky (CHW)
.439 George Barkley (PHA)
.419 Bob Brose (TRO)

Total Bases
81 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
81 Bob Polansky (CHW)
72 Harry Holmes (ROC)

Stolen Bases
22 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
20 John Arend (WSH)
20 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)

ERA

1.68 Jake Lindsey (FW)
2.52 Joe Dimond (PHA)
2.96 Charlie Champ (CLE)

Wins
13 Joe Dimond (PHI)
8 Charlie Champ (CLE)
7 Mart Lemelle (WSH), John Hettinger (WSH)

Strikeouts
22 Joe Dimond (PHA)
15 Charlie Champ (CLE)
10 Denny Klusman (ROC)

[Dr. Wu]

How does the game handle a team not completing the season?

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by Dr. Wu

How does the game handle a team not completing the season?

Well, the 1871 schedule is pretty odd in comparison to modern schedules. I entered the schedule manually as it was actually played in 1871, and since FW really did fold after their last August game, they simply don't have any more games on the schedule. The rest is just storyline.

In terms of how I handle it in OOTP, I'll just keep them around till the offseason when I can remove the team from the league. The game will keep a history of the team as a folded franchise in the league history reports and all the players will be released as FA's.

[fhomess]

October 1, 1871
Philadelphia gave nothing up over the month of September, and Washington continued their rise to push up into second place. A quartet of teams sit at 10 games back while the White Stockings are pulling up the rear.

In Other News
Washington center fielder John Arend’s hitting streak ended at 26 games, but teammate Josh Croyle is challenging at the same time. The Olympics catcher extended his streak to 25 games in September, and it’s the only active streak longer than 15 games.

More than thirty whaling ships, chasing bowhead whales off the coast of Alaska, were abandoned by mid-September as pack ice closed in behind them. Seven ships that had escaped the ice before it closed in were able to rescue the stranded crews after dumping their cargos.

Standings

                            W     L       PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics     20      5     .800       -
Washington Olympics        19     13     .594     4.5
New York Mutuals           18     13     .581     5.0
Fort Wayne Kekiongas       11      8     .579     6.0
Boston Red Stockings       12     17     .414    10.0
Cleveland Forest Citys     12     17     .414    10.0
Rockford Forest Citys      10     15     .400    10.0
Troy Haymakers             10     15     .400    10.0
Chicago White Stockings     8     17     .320    12.0

League Leaders
Average
.484 Bob Polansky (CHW)
.461 Harry Ream (CHW)
.400 Harry Holms (ROC)

Total Bases
94 Bob Polansky (CHW)
93 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
83 Harry Holmes (ROC)

Stolen Bases

28 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
27 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
26 Tom Gerheauser (CLE)

ERA
1.68 Jake Lindsey (FW)
2.68 Joe Dimond (PHA)
2.85 Joe Winsor (WSH)

Wins

14 Joe Dimond (PHI)
10 Charlie Champ (CLE)
7 Mart Lemelle (WSH), John Hettinger (WSH), Bobby Thrasher (BOS)

Strikeouts
23 Joe Dimond (PHA)
15 Charlie Champ (CLE)
11 Denny Klusman (ROC)

[fhomess]

November 1, 1871
On Sunday, October 8, a fire breaks out in Chicago after a cow kicks over a lantern in the barn of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, at least, according to the Chicago Republican. The fire burns for three days and engulfs Union Base Ball Grounds, home of the White Stockings. The team will finish the season with a pair of road games in Troy, and a home game against Philadelphia played in Brooklyn. The fire quickly causes Chicago fans to forget that their team finishes the season in last place.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Athletics finish out the season in first place to take the first National Association championship. The Mutuals are unable to win both of their final two games to jump into second place.

Standings

                            W      L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics     22      6     .786       -
Washington Olympics        19     13     .594     5.0
New York Mutuals           19     14     .576     5.5
Fort Wayne Kekiongas       11      8     .579     6.5
Boston Red Stockings       13     18     .419    10.5
Cleveland Forest Citys     12     17     .414    10.5
Rockford Forest Citys      10     15     .400    10.5
Troy Haymakers             11     18     .379    11.5
Chicago White Stockings    10     18     .357    12.0

League Leaders
Average
.486 Bob Polansky (CHW)
.451 Harry Ream (CHW)
.400 Harry Holmes (ROC)

Total Bases
104 Bob Polansky (CHW)
95 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
87 John Nero (NY)

Stolen Bases

29 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
28 Joe Bonetti (CLE)
26 Tom Gerheauser (CLE)

ERA
1.68 Jake Lindsey (FW)
2.43 John McGonigal (NY)
2.64 Joe Dimond (PHA)

Wins

15 Joe Dimond (PHI)
10 Charlie Champ (CLE)
8 Bobby Thrasher (BOS)

Strikeouts
24 Joe Dimond (PHA)
15 Charlie Champ (CLE)
13 George Jury (CHW)

[fhomess]

Award Winners Announced!
With the conclusion of the 1871 season, the National Association has elected the best batter and pitcher for the year and the two players come from teams at opposite ends of the standings.

Batter of the Year

Chicago White Stockings center fielder Bob Polansky was named the National Assocation Batter of the year. Polansky led all of baseball in batting average, with a .486 and 69 hits. His 5 home runs were also tops in the league, while his 45 runs scored and 34 runs batted in were among the top 5 batters. At one point in the year, Polansky hit safely in 24 consecutive games. Despite Polansky's strong play, Chicago finished the year with a city recovering from the most destructive urban fire in American history and a last place team.

Pitcher of the Year

The Philadelphia Athletics were the best team in the National Association in 1871, and that was in no small part due to the efforts of moundsman Joe Dimond. Dimond's 15 wins on the season were 5 more than any other pitcher, and his 2.64 ERA was good enough for 3rd in the league. He completed 12 of his 26 starts, including shutting out the Boston Red Stockings when the team played their first game of the season on May 20. His 24 strikeouts were also the highest mark for all pitchers.

[fhomess]

I know some of you are curious about league totals. The best you can really do with league totals is run a bunch of test seasons with your settings, get them in a range that you like, then sim the season and hope they come close. At any rate, here's how the numbers compared with real life:

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

Stat       NA     TBS      %Diff
G         254     254       0.0%
AB      10822   10515       2.9
H        3101    3199       3.1
2B        434     413       5.1
3B        239     228       4.8
HR         47      61      23.0
BB        393     363       8.3
K         175     161       8.7
SB        441     361      22.2
R        2659    2410      10.3
AVG      .287    .304       5.7
OBP      .312    .339       8.0
SLG      .384    .404       5.0
IP       2250    2249       0.0
CG        231      73     216.4
SHO         4       4       0.0
ERA      4.22    4.19       0.7

Notes:
1. In my tests, HR's were always lower than the 47 in real life, although fairly close to it, so it was a bit frustrating to see the HR's go up so much when I ran the actual season.

2. Stolen bases were very hard to get right, and I didn't quite get it there. I had a lot of fluctuation in my test seasons, so I'm not surprised to see it off by a lot.

3. I think I've commented previously on complete games. I had SP endurance turned way up and all the SP settings so that pitchers would do their best to finish games. OOTP simply doesn't handle it very well, and from my discussion with other historical simmers, they haven't been able to do much better. The 73 CG's I did get was higher than any of my test seasons, so that's good. It's worth a reminder that I configured the schedule to be the same as played in real life, and when teams had games too close together, OOTP tended to start another pitcher. I suppose I could've managed it myself, but I don't like to micromanage to that extent, and I also thought if I tried it, I might get tired of it when the schedule expands. Best to have it be consistent throughout the league's history, I think.

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

Stat       NA     TBS
H          66      69
2B         11      13
3B         10      10
HR          4       5
BB         18      13
SB         20      29
AVG      .492    .486
OBP      .500    .500
SLG      .700    .732

W          19      15
L          17      13
K          34      24
IP        283     191
CG         31      12
SHO         1       2
ERA      2.73    1.68

In general, I'm relatively happy with how things turned out.

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

League Totals         Modifiers
AB         10822
H           3101        1.005
2B           434         .600
3B           239        2.800
HR            47        1.600
BB           393        2.200
HBP           54        1.000
K            175         .055
BABIP       .289
Errors                  6.661
DP's                     .800
SP End                  6.000
RP End                  1.000
GB%                     1.000
WP                      1.000
Balks                   1.000
PB's                    1.000
SF                      1.000
SB                      1.000
SB Att                  1.500
SB Suc%                 1.100

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by fhomess

1871 Projected Standings
1. Boston
2. Chicago
3. Troy
4. Philadelphia
5. New York
6. Fort Wayne
7. Rockford
8. Washington
9. Cleveland

Originally Posted by fhomess

Standings

                            W      L      PCT      GB
Philadelphia Athletics     22      6     .786       -
Washington Olympics        19     13     .594     5.0
New York Mutuals           19     14     .576     5.5
Fort Wayne Kekiongas       11      8     .579     6.5
Boston Red Stockings       13     18     .419    10.5
Cleveland Forest Citys     12     17     .414    10.5
Rockford Forest Citys      10     15     .400    10.5
Troy Haymakers             11     18     .379    11.5
Chicago White Stockings    10     18     .357    12.0

Yeesh.

As I get ready for 1872, I do hope I can improve upon this. Hopefully, having a season's worth of stats will help.

[fhomess]

Offseason Changes
With the Fort Wayne Kekiongas folding up shop in late August, the great fire in Chicago makes the White Stockings the second team that will not be returning to the NA for 1872. The White Stockings players looking for employment elsewhere. In addition, the Forest Citys of Rockford were unable to continue as a ball club due to financial issues. Their poor showing in the standings in 1871 certainly didn't help.

The National Association did more than simply replace the three departed clubs. A total of five teams joined the league for 1872, bringing the new total up to 11.

The Baltimore Canaries, also known as the Lord Baltimores would play their home games at Newington Park. The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn, commonly known as the Atlantics were established in 1855 and had declined the invitation to join the NA in 1871, but joined in 1872. Eckford of Brooklyn was in a similar situation, declining to join in 1871 and then joining the following year. Middletown, Connecticut also entered at team, dubbed Mansfield in the standings. Finally, the longtime Nationals ballclub from Washington joined the league as well.