The United States Baseball League - An Experiment

[NYY #23]

I'm starting to feel that a fictional league with fictional players is my white whale. I don't know how many times I've started a fictional league, and it never got to the point I wanted it to be. I don't think it's uncommon for me to have spent more times getting a league set-up than I spent actually playing the league, only for me to send it off to the trash heap. Most of those leagues never even reach the stage where I even think about writing a dynasty.

For me it's much easier to get involved in a league when I do a dynasty. There is the accountability factor, but it also gives you an opportunity to share things that you find interesting. Doing a dynasty report at the league level can be challenging, and/or time consuming. That can be even more challenging with fictional players and teams, at least for me. I have a tendency to create leagues that are just too large and hard to manage. I also find myself getting bogged down in the monotony of forcing yourself to do an update that you don't want to do, because that's the format I established. Sometimes there really isn't much interesting happening in division x this month, but I feel like I have to say something.

I don't want to sound too negative, I've definitely had fun doing them, but there are parts of a dynasty report that are more satisfying. There are fictional teams from my dynasties of the past that I really enjoyed following, like the Brooklyn Atlantics, New Orleans Crescents, or the Cleveland Trolleys from way back in the day. There is also something refreshing about not having any pre-conceived notions about how a player should do. I have good memories following along with fictional players careers - Aaron Jackson, Ken Kaufman, George Sanborn, and even my Worst to First dynasty is completely fictional now, and I can't think of any player I've gotten more attached to than Vicente Cano. So I feel like there is some hope.

There are a couple of things that I like to do with a league, follow certain players, milestones, etc. I also like to poke around a league and find things that interest me. I'll export to an Access database, and brush up on my limited Access skills. That can always lead to interesting places, like discovery a late round draft pick who turned into a superstar. Sometimes I find something interesting when poking around the league, sometimes I don't.

For this dynasty I'm going to try and experiment, and post things that I find interesting. Sometimes that will be a player that I find intriguing, and I'll write something about them and shortlist that player. Sometimes that will be a milestone chase, a stat I find interesting, or a pennant race. It will be a window into the league, but I'm not going to go in depth about anything just because a month has gone by. I hope to hit the highlights, or the highlights that interest me, with the expectation that the league is going on in the background. I guess you can think of it as a blog or column that will talk about a portion of the league that interests me. Hopefully you'll get enough flavor of the league to be able to follow along, and if anybody has any questions or wants more information on something feel free to ask.

I wish I was as good as others as creating an interesting backstory for the league, but everything always feels forced. For the United State Baseball League I started with logos that I liked (most of which were done by txranger and knuckler in the retro thread), and then pared it down bugging my daughters to pick a or b until they lost interest. The result is the United States Baseball League, which began play in 1901. That's about it for the backstory of the league. While the league began play in 1901 updates will start in 1919. That allows for a little bit of history to fall back on.

I'm hoping that this turns out to be fun, or at a minimum not a miserable failure. If you've got any questions feel free to ask. I'll start things out with an overview of the league, and then get right into the stories.

[NYY #23]

Let's begin with the league structure, four divisions of four teams each spread between the American and National League for a total of 32 teams. That's a little larger than I would have liked, but I do like the balance of 4 divisions of 4 teams in each league. The winners of each division will face of in a best of seven Division Series, with the winners advancing to a best of seven League Championship Series, then finally the best of seven World Series pitting the winner of the American League against the National League.

For the most part the league has been dynasty free, with no repeat winners. There have been three teams with two World Series titles - the San Diego Seals, Kansas City Comets, and defending champion San Francisco Legion.

I'm treating this as a historical league so stats and finances should follow actual history. The All-Star Game and awards have been enabled since the beginning, and the Hall of Fame is off (for now), and will be established sometime between now and 1936.

I'll go into some more depth as part of the regular updates, but for now that's as much of the league history I'm going to share.

In game I'll be moving forward one week at a time, although I don't want to commit to a weekly post at this point, but I'll at least move forward one week at a time and make a decision on whether there is something worth sharing. There are certain scenarios where I may make more frequent posts, but not too often. I don't want to set any expectations about how quickly I'm going to move forward, but at least for now I expect it will take at least a couple weeks. I realize that's not for everyone, so I want to be up front and say I expect this to be a marathon and not a sprint. I'd love to say my plan is to make it to present day, but I'll have to see how the experiment works before I commit to that. I will commit to being up front and trying to wrap things up as best as possible if I feel this is not working and I won't be continuing.

Then finally I wanted to talk about format. I wanted to build some history and make sure things were working as expected. I was satisfied enough to get to this point and move forward, and I'm actually a couple of months into 1919. I've gone back and rewritten the first several posts several times now. I've created a fictional character with a history to tie into the story, taken him out, put him back in, and finally I'm taking him back out again. I'll just go with an unnamed columnist/analyst/narrator/guide with minimal backstory. I will also use all tools at my disposal, so if it makes sense to talk about WAR I will, even though it's been a long time since it's been invented. I don't have many rules for how I'm going to proceed, but when I talk about a player I will shortlist the player, in order to make sure I provide any updates.

[xepicx2729]

OH YES! finally made one of your dynasties day one and i love fictional leagues!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by xepicx2729

OH YES! finally made one of your dynasties day one and i love fictional leagues!

Thanks! That definitely makes things easier to follow along from the beginning. Hopefully the format I'll be using won't make it more difficult to follow along, but we'll see how it works out. Let me know if you want to see anything specific too.

[NYY #23]

First I want to thank United States Baseball Weekly for giving me this opportunity to write about the game I love, and giving me the freedom to write about topics that I want. I've been lucky enough to cover the Liberty the past eight seasons, and cover a team that never finished lower than second place, went to the playoffs four straight years, and won the World Series in 1914. I was happy to see them deliver the city of Philadelphia's first Championship, and had the opportunity to watch a lot of good ballplayers play in Philadelphia.



One of those players was their ace Nick English, who for a period of time I felt was the best pitcher in baseball. Philly fans would ask me frequently who was the best pitcher in baseball, and got a lot of satisfaction knowing the hometown guy was the answer I would give. English made his debut in Philly at the age of 21, and won 16 games his rookie season, and would continue to get better. English took his first step from good to great in 1912 when he went 27-12 with a 2.15 ERA, but English would finish second to Wisconsin hurler Jin-Woo Huang, who won his fifth Pitcher of the Year Award in the American League after going 27-12 with a 2.40 ERA.

Philly fans felt English was robbed, but calling English second best could be justified:

English:27-12, 2.15 ERA 351.2 IP,1.11 WHIP, 171 K, 4.4 K/9, 2.80 K/BB, .251 Opp Avg, 2.61 FIP, 8.5 WAR
Huang: 27-12, 2.40 ERA, 349 IP, 1.10 WHIP , 198 K, 5.1 K/9, 4.60 K/BB, .239 Opp Avg, 2.23 FIP, 10.8 WAR

English would win his first Pitcher of the Year Award in 1914 (23-14, 2.10), and his second in 1916 (27-15, 1.97). English would follow that up with a 22-15 season in 1917 with a 2.31 ERA, followed by a more pedestrian 13-20 with a 2.44 ERA last year.

English entered the 1919 season with 285 career wins, fifth on the career wins list, and the active leader:

1) Landon Norton - 308
2) Jin-woo Huang - 304
3) Dusty Kincheloe - 298
4) Alan Hansen - 287
5) Nick English# - 285

Before all is said and done Nick English could have more career wins than any other pitcher in the game. You develop a mutual respect when you cover certain players, and I developed a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for English, who I consider one of the all-time greats.

During my interviews I was asked what I would write in a column when asked who I thought the best pitcher in baseball was. I didn't hesitate when I gave my answer in the interview, and thought I'd kick off my column with my answer to that question.



I know Philly fans won't be happy, but my answer is Joe Jackson. The 29 year old has now won four straight Pitcher of the Year Awards in the National League for the St. Louis Terriers, and for good reason. Jackson went from good to great in 1915 when he went 25-9 with a 2.05 ERA while winning his first Pitcher of the Year Award. He followed that up with a 21-16 season with a 1.79 ERA, then went from great to best when he went 29-8 with a 1.67 ERA in 1917 and 32-10 with a 1.68 ERA in 1918.

Age is finally starting to catch up with Nick English, although he's still one of the top pitchers in the game, but he can't compete with Joe Jackson:

Jackson 32-10, 1.68, 158 K, 10.3 WAR
English 23-14, 2.10, 177 K, 8.3 WAR

Of course this is also a question that can and will change. Jackson won't stay the best pitcher in baseball forever, and someone will take his place and earn that title soon. One name to keep an eye on is 24 year old Sergio Calderon, who is turning into an ace in Detroit for the Giants. He pitched much better than his 22-19 record would indicate last year and he's only getting better. He's cut down on his walks and increased his strikeouts in each of the three years in the league,

[xepicx2729]

Rooting on Philly and Columbus!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by xepicx2729

Rooting on Philly and Columbus!

I'll give you the short version of each of their histories:

Philly finished in first place four years in a row from 1911-1914, and in second place the four years since. Before that period they struggled, and through April 21st are 5-8. They look like they are in the midst of working in young players, and have a mix of older players, and young players.

Columbus has never won it all, but won their division four times and went to the playoffs, all since 1912. They won their division last year, and have started off 11-3 this year in a tough division. I don't see many obvious holes though, so they will definitely be a team to watch.

[xepicx2729]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

I'll give you the short version of each of their histories:

Philly finished in first place four years in a row from 1911-1914, and in second place the four years since. Before that period they struggled, and through April 21st are 5-8. They look like they are in the midst of working in young players, and have a mix of older players, and young players.

Columbus has never won it all, but won their division four times and went to the playoffs, all since 1912. They won their division last year, and have started off 11-3 this year in a tough division. I don't see many obvious holes though, so they will definitely be a team to watch.

Thank you!

[NYY #23]

18 years is a long time, and for 18 years Nick Crisp would arrive at the ballpark and see his name in the starting lineup for the Portland Sea Dogs more often than not. Whether it was right field, center field, left field, or even the occasional start at first base Crisp would be in the starting lineup for the Sea Dogs. Crisp has played almost twice as many games in Sea Dogs history than any other player (2635 to 1333). There isn't an offensive category other than stolen bases where Crisp isn't the all-time team leader.

The fan favorite hit .304 during those 18 seasons for Portland, and collect 2970 hits. As a 39 year old last year it was a rough one for Crisp though, despite hitting .346 he made just 42 starts, pushed out of the starting lineup by younger players. The Sea Dogs dropped their final game of the season, which caused them to finish one game out of first place and miss the playoffs, and Crisp wouldn't get his fifth attempt at trying to earn his first World Series ring, and bring home a championship to the team that he loved.

Despite turning 40 Crisp still felt like he could contribute, especially with the bat. He was fine with a reduced role, but Crisp wanted two things this year, a chance to pick up those last 30 hits and become the first player in the history of the league to reach 3000 career hits, and another shot at that elusive World Series win.

But during the offseason Crisp got the unexpected news that the Sea Dogs didn't want him back for the 1919 season. After 18 years as a Sea Dog Crisp would have to either play for another team the first time in his career, or retire from the game.



Crisp wasn't ready to do that though, wanting to make history, and return for one more chance for a championship. The New Mexico native contacted Albuquerque, who went to the playoffs last season and appeared poised for a return trip, but the Dukes were not interested in the 40 year old veteran. However, just as Crisp was losing hope the Wisconsin Badgers contacted Crisp to express their interest in bringing aboard the veteran to provide some veteran leadership for the young team, and Crisp knew that he'd get a chance to meet both of his goals with the Badgers, who went to the playoffs the past two seasons.

Just 13 games into his tenure with the Badgers Crisp is adjusting well, going 8-20 in 5 starts, and helping the Badgers start the year 10-3 and in first place.

[NYY #23]

The Chicago Lincolns are in a familiar position this year, second place in the NL North. They've finished in second place three straight years, although they've been an average of 16 games back the past three years, unable to catch Joe Jackson and the St. Louis Terriers.

The Lincolns have the distinction of being one of only two teams to never make it to the postseason, with the Atlanta Thrashers being the other.

General Manager Moos Scheer built a winner in California and was brought back to Chicago two years ago to help Chicago finally reach the playoffs. It represented a return to Chicago for Scheer, and a shot at redemption, who was General Manager from 1901 to 1903 in Chicago, but was fired after three years after failing to produce a winning season.

Scheer has failed to address the Lincolns biggest problem though, pitching depth. Ace Corey Huntzinger missed time in each of the past two years with injury, and will be out until at least July. The Lincolns are relying on Bill Campas to fill his spot in the rotation, after Campas went 1-5 with a 5.11 ERA last season for the Lincolns.

Last year's top pick Justin Bare is still at least a couple of years away from the majors, and the Lincolns don't have any internal options.

But the Lincolns stood pat last offseason and did little too improve the team, once again relying on their offense to overtake the Terriers and their strong pitching and strong defense. It didn't work the past three seasons, and it won't work this year for the Lincolns, who don't have the tools to compete with the Terriers. With the Lincolns heading to St. Louis this week they'll get their first opportunity to prove me wrong.

[NYY #23]

Mike Stadig might have the easiest job in all of baseball this year pitching in the bullpen for the Wisconsin Badgers. Badgers' starters have pitched a complete game in 20 of 26 games, leading Stadig to pitch in just 3 innings this year.



Arcibaldo Mafra has won two consecutive Pitcher of the Year awards for the Badgers, going 27-12 with a 2.03 ERA in 1917, and 28-12 with a 1.51 ERA in 1918. This year he's already won a Pitcher of the Month award after going 6-0 with a 0.39 ERA.



Jason Awalt hit .462 for the month with a home run, 14 RBI, and 17 runs scored to win the Batter of the Month. Awalt and the Badgers have scored more runs than any other team in the American League, allowed fewer runs, and currently boasts a 20-6 record to lead the AL North.

After winning the AL North two straight years the Badgers entered the season as favorites to win it for a third straight year, and nobody seems capable of stopping them. To make matters worse for the rest of the league the Badgers have the second best minor league system in baseball, and four prospects in the top 21. Only one other team has more than one prospect in the top 21, the Atlanta Thrashers, who have two.

With a 20-6 record the Badgers are hitting .316 as a team, and have not only the best record this season, but have won more games than any other team in the history of the league. Their 6 game lead is the largest of any division leader.

Badgers fans are also enjoying the 3000 hit chase by Nick Crisp, who is 19-51(.373) on the season and now within 11 hits of becoming the first player to reach the milestone.

The Badgers have been pushing all of the right buttons, and it's hard not to label them World Series favorites and place them at the top of the power rankings:

Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) Wisconsin Badgers (143.5, o)
2) Columbus Explorers (128.6, +)
3) Massachusetts Generals (127.7, ++)
4) St Louis Terriers (125.4, o)
5) Las Vegas Aces (118.7, --)
6) Manhattan Skyscrapers (118.7, +)
7) Baltimore Atlantics (115.0, ++)
8) San Francisco Legion (113.8, o)
9) Louisville Kings (108.8, ++)
10) Sacramento Grizzlies (102.9, ++)

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Last week I talked about the Chicago Lincolns, and their upcoming test against the first place St. Louis Terriers. Chicago fans may be quick to point out Alonzo Montes' 4-0 shutout over the Terriers, but it was St. Louis that won the final two games of the series 6-1 and 6-4.

Not to mention that the Lincolns missed Terriers' ace Joe Jackson's turn in the rotation.

[NYY #23]

On the surface it looks like an easy choice between three pitchers:

Pitcher A - 228-181, 2.82 ERA
Pitcher B - 196-165, 2.66 ERA
Pitcher C - 235-296, 2.99 ERA

Not many people would pick option C, as Evan DeWees has found out. Two years ago Dewees was cut lose by the Atlanta Thrashers at the age of 35 after pitching his entire career for the Thrashers, one of only two teams who have never made the playoffs, and a team with more losses than any other team in history.

DeWees had trouble finding a team to pitch for, and thought about retiring from the game he loved before the Baltimore Atlantics gave him a shot. At 36 DeWees set a career high for wins going 22-17 with a 2.74 ERA, and has started the year with a 5-3 record and 1.64 ERA.

Of course every loss brings DeWees one step closer to becoming the first pitcher to lose 300 games in his career, and it's almost inevitable that DeWees is going to lose another 4 games. It's a record that DeWees, or nobody would want, but for DeWees his time in Baltimore has made it worth the stigmatism that losing 300 games would mean. DeWees has turned into the veteran leader of a veteran pitching staff that features 31 year old John Holman, 36 year old James Steffey, 34 year old Nick Jenkins, and 32 year old Jake Wessel.

Last year DeWees got to experience the playoffs for the first time in his career, making three starts and going 2-1 with a 2.79 ERA. The Atlantics are just a 1/2 game back of the Tampa Pirates this year in a two team AL East race. Both manager JD Meeks and pitching coach Josh Force have credited DeWees with helping to turn around the Atlantics' pitching staff. The Atlantics allowed less runs than any other team in the league last year, and with a trio of pitching prospects knocking on the door in Baltimore (Alvin Holton, Josh Stokes, and Felix Rivera) the Atlantics are hoping that DeWees will take them under his wing when they arrive in Baltimore.

That's a 300 game loser I'd want on my team, and when you take a closer look at his stats he's not as bad as he initially looked:

Ian Barbour - 228-181, 2.82 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, .272 BABIP, 3.57 RSG, .245 Opp Avg, 2.95 FIP
Alonzo Montes - 196-165, 2.66 ERA, 1.19 WHIP,.264 BABIP, 3.39 RSG, .242 Opp Avg, 2.90 FIP
Evan DeWees - 235-296, 2.99 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, .282 BABIP, 3.40 RSG, .260 Opp Avg, 2.87 FIP

One things is definitely true, Evan DeWees is happy to be out of Atlanta.

[NYY #23]

31 year old catcher Ed Montano has never hit over .300 in his career, but his .383 batting average is currently leading the league. Close on his heels is 24 year old second baseman Marco Arango who is hitting .376. It's still very early in the season, and I expect both players will cool off as the season progresses.

You never know what will happen though, and many fans weren't fans way back in the first year of play in the United States Baseball League, which feature a race to the finish to determine the batting title. That was the year that Bobby Matherne entered the final day of the season hitting .377, with Antonio Marquez trailing by a couple of percentage points hitting .375.

Matherne would go 1 for 4 at the plate in his final game, dropping his batting average to .376. Marquez would go 2 for 4 at the plate and finish with an identical .376 batting average. Marquez would be crowned batting champion in what was the closest race in history:

Antonio Marquez 193/513=0.3762
Bobby Matherne 170/452=0.3761

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Just a couple of weeks ago I labeled Sergio Calderon as a player to watch when talking about the best pitcher of the league. He was coming off a year in which he went 22-19 with a 2.30 ERA and appeared headed in the right direction.

It looked like something was off this year though, and Calderon started the year 4-5 with a 2.75 ERA. Last Friday on his 109th pitch of the night Calderon grabbed his arm in pain, after 8 2/3 shutout innings. He left the game and the Giants announced that Calderon is going to miss the next year with an elbow injury. It was little consolation that the Giants defeated the Wildcats 1-0, after losing their best pitcher.

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Nick Crisp had a rough week for the Badgers, picking up just 1 hit in 9 at-bats to increase his career total to 2993. Nick English won his only start this week against the Thrashers to win his 288th game of his career.

[NYY #23]

Despite having the best record in baseball the Badgers didn't feel like they should stand pat. I'd planned to talk about the top 5 players under 25, but the Badgers forced that to wait at least a week.



In his final game with the Wisconsin Badgers Jason Awalt went 5-6 at the plate to raise his batting average to .448. After the game he was called into the manager's office and was given the news that he was traded to Albuquerque. It was certainly unexpected news for the 28 year old left fielder who was having a career year. Awalt has already exceeded all expectations this year, with his previous career high batting average .273 and his career high WAR of 1.8, Awalt has already accumulated 1.7 WAR.

To me it looks like the case of selling high on a player that is having a career year, and the Badgers were able to bring in a dependable starting pitcher, Jace Rahn. Rahn was 21-19 last season with a 2.93 ERA, and started the year 7-1 with a 2.71 ERA. Rahn will slot in as the number three starter for the Badgers.

The Badgers also shipped off backup catcher Miguel Trevino to the Las Vegas Aces in exchange for center fielder Mike Heeter. While Heeter is hitting .368 he's only gone to the plate 22 times. The Badgers also added center field prospect Oscar Montano who is only 21 years old.

While I give the Badgers the edge in the Awalt/Rahn deal it's hard to say they won the Trevino trade. Even as a backup Trevino was hitting .354 and is just 26 years old. The Badgers felt they had to move Trevino with Jeff Gibson as their starter, but they may regret this trade with Trevino's superior defense and Gibson's injury history. 23 year old Andy Kelley will take over as the backup catcher for the Badgers.

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While I don't like the Badgers trade, a trade between two last place teams was the most puzzling:

Minnesota gets:
SP Mike Wesner (28) - 1-4, 2.94 ERA

San Diego gets:
SP Mike Jordan (24) - 6-2, 2.37 ERA (AAA)
C Dan Marshall (23) - .289 (AAA)

While Minnesota certainly needs the pitching help, they paid a steep price trading two prospects for a pitcher that would be a #5 starter for most teams. To make room for Wesner on the roster they optioned 24 year old prospect Tristan Jopp to AAA (4-7, 3.39).

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With two more hits 40 year old Nick Crisp moved up to 2995 career hits.

[NYY #23]

The last time the Pittsburgh Pirates won the American League East was in 1915, and they won the World Series. The time before they won the American League East was 1905, so after going 20-8 in May to open up a 6 1/2 game lead it appears that the Pirates are ahead of their schedule of winning the American League East every 10 years. The Pirates also entered the top 10 in the BNN Power Rankings with a debut at number 4:

Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) Wisconsin Badgers (137.1, o)
2) Las Vegas Aces (131.2, +)
3) Columbus Explorers (127.2, +)
4) Tampa Pirates (126.7, -)
5) Manhattan Skyscrapers (116.8, ++)
6) Iowa Hawkeyes (108.8, ++)
7) San Francisco Legion (106.3, -)
8) Massachusetts Generals (99.4, +)
9) Miami Hurricanes (99.4, -)
10) Louisville Kings (98.8, +)

Perhaps the biggest question for Pirates fans is whether they are contenders or pretenders?



It took four years in the majors, but Kenny McCrary is finally starting to look like an ace. Last year McCrary was 21-18 with a 2.57 ERA, and this year he has started out 11-1 with a 1.45 ERA. The 28 year old has also cut down on his walks and increased his strikeouts this year.



31 other teams passed on the opportunity to sign Roberto Sanchez to a minor league contract during the offseason, but the Pirates gave the 25 year old from the Dominican Republic a shot, and the Pirates liked what they saw and promoted Sanchez, who is 3-2 with a 2.51 ERA. With the addition of Sanchez the Pirates feel they have one of the best rotations in baseball.

25 year old DeMario Rodriguez made his debut last year for the Pirates and hit .252. The top prospect is faring much better this year, hitting .335 and leading the offense that has scored the third highest amount of runs in the league. With no regular over 28 years old it looks like things are coming together for the Pirates, and they have the potential to be good for a long time.

Defensively the Pirates are a little weak, with center field being their biggest defensive need. They may have to make due until 21 year old prospect Eddie Orozco is ready though. It looks like the Pirates are deep enough to contend though.

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Four time All-Star Chris Hoffman has hit safely in 23 straight games for the Las Vegas Aces and has raised his batting average to .352 for the year. The 26 year old led the league two seasons ago with a .321 batting average and is a career .308 hitter.

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• The last place Tycoons fired manager Dave Whisman
• Nick Crisp is now 3 hits away from 3000
• Nick English won career game number 289
• Evan DeWees lost the 297th game of his career

[NYY #23]

The Washington Maroons were selecting first in the amateur draft and made LF Ben Esparza the top overall selection. The 21 year old hit .439 in his final year of college, and Washington felt that Esparza was the player that could make an immediate impact in Washington.

The Maroons wasted no time promoting Esparza to the majors and he made the most of his opportunity going 5-12 in his first three games driving in a run and scoring three runs.

Rounding out the top five players selected were:

2) SS - Chris Wilson, California
3) SP - Eric Duckworth, Oakland
4) CF - Brian Barnes, Louisville
5) SP - Jay Flint, Atlanta

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Top prospect Josh Caron joined the Columbus Explorers two seasons ago and went 13-11 with a 2.88 ERA in his first full season. Last year was a breakthrough for Caron when he went 25-10 with a 2.28 ERA while striking out 145 batters in 351 2/3 innings which was good enough to finish third in the Pitcher of the Year voting.

This year Caron is picking up where he left off with a 9-3 record and 1.78 ERA, with Caron winning the Pitcher of the Month Award in May after going 6-0 with a 1.42 ERA with the Explorers jumping out to a 4 game lead in the National League East.

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Chris Hoffman saw his 26 game hitting streak come to an end for the Aces after going 0-3 against California. While Hoffman has the longest hitting streak of the year, he fails to crack the top 10 in All-Time hitting streaks and fell nine games short of Jason Stargell's 35 game hitting streak in 1901.

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Nick Crisp had two more hits over the last week and now sits at 2999 career hits. The Badgers finish up their series in Portland before heading back home for a three gamer series against the Thrashers before hitting the road again and heading to Louisville. The Badgers would love for Crisp to get his 3000th hit in front of the hometown crowd.

[NYY #23]

With the Wisconsin Badgers trailing 1-0 in the ninth inning with two outs Badgers manager Josh Keller looked down the bench and sent Nick Crisp to the plate to pinch hit. On a 2-0 pitch Crisp drove a single into right field to make history, becoming the first player in the history of the United States Baseball League to pick up 3000 career hits.

The next batter stepped to the plate and struck out as the Badgers fell 1-0 to the Sea Dogs.

Based on the age of players closest to 3000 hits, it appears that Crisp will be the last to reach the milestone for several years.

[NYY #23]

In a long overdue column I'll be looking at what I consider the top five players under 25 years old in the league.



It's not unheard of for teams to rush top prospects to the majors, and the Columbus Explorers certainly did that with centerfielder Francisco Estrad. Estrad made his debut at the age of 19 and hit .208 while striking out 151 times. Estrad had two things in his favor though, his speed and his defense. That allowed him to lead the league in triples, and swipe 55 bases while posting a 2.0 WAR.

Estrad would continue to struggle the next season hitting just .234 in the majors, .225 in the minors, and was caught stealing 51 times while only stealing 45 bases in Columbus. Estrad would work hard during the offseason though, and come back as a different player, hitting .272 while leading the league with a .455 slugging percentage and 33 triples. He'd head to his first All-Star game, win his first Silver Slugger Award, and have 6.6 WAR. Estrad would also cut down on his strikeouts while increasing his walk totals.

Last season Estrad led the league with 118 walks while striking out just 31 times while hitting .294 and stealing 44 bases, winning his third straight Silver Slugger and going to his third straight All-Star game, and Estrad has emerged as a leader for the first place Explorers at the age of 24.



24 year old King Anderson was drafted as the fourth overall pick in the amateur draft by the San Antonio Monks as a high school shortstop, and within a year he was ranked as the fourth overall prospect in baseball. He'd earn a quick trip to the majors for his strong defense, but would end up hitting .257 during his rookie season. Anderson would hit .269 his second year and swipe 26 bases and was elected to his first All-Star Game.

He'd follow that up with his best season yet, hitting a career high .308 with 27 stolen bases, 57 RBI, and 50 runs scored for 5.3 WAR. This season Anderson is on pace for his best season yet at the age of 24, with Anderson hitting .375, already accumulating 3.4. Anderson has a .295 career batting average so far with 18.9 WAR, and should be a force for years to come



Marco Arango has been in the league even longer than Anderson, despite being the same age. Arango was named the top prospect in baseball in 1914, and made his debut in the majors at the age of 19. He appeared overmatched at shortstop, and the plate hitting just .240 with a negative 1.1 WAR.

The Dukes stuck with him though, and the next season they moved Arango to the less demanding position of second base, and Arango took a step forward at the plate, hitting .260. He's improved each season since and is now hitting .368 on the year to raise his career batting average to .284 with 197 stolen bases.



There is a feeling watching Danny Paul play that the 24 year old still hasn't put it all together, and when he does watch out. With only two full seasons under his belt with the Sacramento Grizzlies Paul is probably the most raw out of every player on this list, and last season with a .291 batting average, .356 on-base percentage, and 49 RBI are a previous of what's to come. This year Paul is hitting a career high .313 and has already equaled his career high of 5 home runs. I think that the best is yet to come from Paul.



Dave Rangel is the only pitcher on the list, but the 24 year old Oakland Oak will need to continue to prove injuries are a thing of the past. The former top prospect pitched his first full season in 1916 and went 10-28 with a 3.90 ERA as a 21 year old. It was a year Rangel would like to forget, and despite a losing season the next year (20-22) Rangel showed improvement, reducing his ERA to 3.31 while improving his control.

Rangel was in the midst of his best season yet when he went out with a shoulder injury, ending his season with a 6-8 record and 2.30 ERA. Rangel appears to be fully healthy this year, going 4-7 with a 2.53 ERA while striking out 42 in 124 1/3 innings. After shaking off the rust in April (3.31 ERA), May Rangel posted a 1.83 ERA, and has started out June 2-0 with a 2.22 ERA.

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33 year old Alonzo Montes became the fiftieth pitcher in league history to reach 200 career wins for the Chicago Lincolns as they defeated the Kansas City Comets 3-2.

Joe Jackson hasn't been his normal self this year for the Terriers, entering this week's game against the Skyscrapers Jackson was 7-7 for the Terriers, but Jackson looked good in a five hit shutout of Manhattan.

Jace Rahn finally picked up his first win since being traded to the Wisconsin Badgers with a 4-0 win over the Thrashers. Rahn allowed 6 hits and walked 3 while improving his record to 1-3 in 4 starts for Wisconsin.

[NYY #23]

Since making their second trade in less than a week in May the Wisconsin Badgers have gone 8-17 and have not lost 8 of their past 10 games. Their once commanding lead in the AL North has evaporated to just a game and a half, with the Iowa Hawkeyes closing in fast.

While Jason Awalt is hitting .366 in Albuquerque, new Badgers' left fielder Michael Watson is hitting just .187, while new catcher Mike Whetstone is hitting .225 while Jace Rahn is just 1-3. The Badgers continue to play flat since the trades.

The Hawkeyes have been relying on pitching and defense, and just completed a trade to add another arm, Carlos De Robles, giving up backup shortstop Perry Denney and minor league catcher Bobby Aquino.



He'll join a rotation anchored by 27 year old Mike Tyler, who is 9-6 with a 2.92 ERA.

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The Louisville Kings are leading the AL South by 1/2 game over New Orleans, with the Miami Hurricanes trailing by a game and a half. All three teams could realistically be labeled flawed with both Louisville and Miami struggling offensively, and New Orleans having the worst defense in the league. The one thing in common is each team's ace is having a good season.



35 year old Aaron Noldy has a career low 2.08 ERA this year, and has a 13-6 record. The one time All-Star is on pace to surpass his career high of 25 wins, and needs just 7 more wins to reach 200.



Ryan Gildemeister is just 9-7 on the mound, but his 2.61 ERA is a career low. Poor run support is a culprit for Gildemeister, but he's only allowed 5 runs combined in his past three starts and has one three games in a row. The youngster was also a victim of poor run support last year when he went 17-24 with a 3.05 ERA, one year after going to the All-Star Game after going 23-10 with a 2.82 ERA.



It's been a long time since Mike Baumann was a top prospect coming up through Philadelphia's minor league system. After going 9-3 with a 1.83 ERA during the first half of 1911 Baumann was involved in one of the most lopsided trades in league history, going to Miami in exchange for SS AJ Haddock and CF Manny Ochoa. The two players combined to post a -.6 WAR during their career, while Baumann is at 52.6 WAR and counting.

Baumann would go 16-2 with a 1.53 ERA after the trade and win the American League Pitcher of the Year, adding his second Pitcher of the Year Award three years later (27-12, 2.16). Last year Baumann finished second in Pitcher of the Year voting after a 28-11 season and 2.27 ERA, and has started this year 10-6 with a 2.34 ERA. He's now 217-120 during his career, and 300 wins is not out of the question.

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Joe Jackson pitched his second consecutive shutout this week beating the Lincolns 6-0.

King Anderson was 1-4 in San Antonio's 6-3 win over the Golden Bears to increase his hitting streak to 20 games.

[NYY #23]

Before we get in to the All-Star Game results, I wanted to begin with a little bit of All-Star history. There are three players tied for most All-Star appearances during their career, LF Ruben Reyes, LF Antonino Dallavilla, and SP Jin-woo Huang. Reyes is a career .288 hitter who last played last year for Iowa, hitting just .214 before being released. Reyes is still a free agent at the age of 42, looking for one last shot in the majors. 42 year old Antonino Dallavilla is in a similar position, hitting .231 in his last year in the majors which came in 1917 for Washington. Dallavilla played last season in the minors, and is holding out hope, or waiting for his formal rival Reyes to retire first. Dallavilla hit .309 for his career with 638 stolen bases and 2349 hits. Then finally it's 304 game winner Jin-woo Huang, who retired in 1914.



When the current crop of All-Stars were announced it was the tenth time SP George Hill became an All-Star. The 36 year old Kansas native is 10-7 this season with a 2.24 ERA for the Golden Bears. With 273 career wins Hill is seventh on the career wins list, and second among active players, trailing only Nick English and his 293 wins.

25 players were making their first All-Star appearance this year, and Danny Paul of the Grizzlies.



Marco Arango was named All-Star Game MVP after going 2-2 with an RBI in the National League's 4-2 win. Francisco Estrad and King Anderson each added a hit, while German Rodriguez picked up the win in relief.

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King Anderson's hitting streak came to an end after 21 games with an 0-4 night in the Monks 4-1 loss to the Explorers.