Stars and Stripes League

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 09:27 PM

I started this league last week, and I meant to type up a dynasty report from the beginning. Unfortunately, I never got around to it, so we will now join the league 7 years in progress.

The premise came from reading about the instability of the National Association in 1871. It didn't have a unified structure, and it involved some smaller cities that weren't able to sufficiently support a baseball team. This helped lead to the creation of the National League in 1876. My idea was to create a league that could have existed in 1871 that would have been successful and would have prevented the creation of the National League from ever happening. Forming just five years after the end of the Civil War, this league would be called the Stars and Stripes League to help unify the country.

One of the first things that I did was to research populations of US cities in the 1870 census so that I could choose the eight largest and assign them market sizes based on their 1870 populations. The eight that I chose were New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Chicago, St Louis, Baltimore, Boston, and Cincinnati. The following is a bit of back ground about how I chose the nicknames of each.

New York Immigrants- My research of New York up to 1870 showed that New York was a city largely made up of immigrants who largely came through Clinton Castle in this pre-Ellis Island period. I thought that this was a nickname that would make sense to people in 1871.

Philadelphia Congress- My research of Philadelphia in the 1870s didn't turn up much that was name-worthy, so I named this team after the two Continental Congresses that met in Philadelphia.

Brooklyn Red Legged Devils- This team was named for the Red Legged Devils that had been a Civil War battalion from Brooklyn. I thought that this was a nickname that would have resonated with the people of 1871 Brooklyn, and they would have been proud of it.

Chicago Union- The Union stockyards were opened in 1865, so this is another topical nickname that would have been meaningful to the people of this time period.

St. Louis Survivors- This nickname is a bit of a rallying cry for the people of St. Louis. My research showed that St. Louis had a bad cholera epidemic that killed 50,000 in 1870, so this nickname speaks to the resiliency of the people of St. Louis to move on and persevere.

Baltimore Shippers- Baltimore was a major shipping port, and my research didn't turn up much that would make for a better nickname. I didn't want to go with something stupid like the Francis Scott Keys, so Shippers it is. It reminds me of the Brewers or Mariners from real-life in that it is a profession that has become associated with baseball.

Boston Brahmin- In the 1860s, Longfellow said that the history of America is the history of a class of Boston brahmins. I thought this was another topical nickname for a team in 1871.

Cincinnati Porkers- Cincinnati was known as Porkopolis because so much pork was processed and shipped from there. I would start off as general manager of this franchise since it was the smallest city of the eight in 1870.

Once I had nicknames for my teams, I had them play out a simple 21 game 1871 schedule as the league became established. I decided to make 1 or 2 changes each off-season since the history of baseball is one of many changes despite all of the traditions that we hold dear. Also, forcing myself to make a change or two for the benefit of the league would keep me informed about what is happening in the league, and it would force me to change something for the good of league every year regardless of whether it benefitted my team. Here are the changes that I made in the first few years.

1872- I changed the colors of the Chicago franchise, and I changed the logo of the Cincinnati franchise so that they wouldn't be so close. I also decided that Porkers was a hokey nickname, so I changed Cincinnati to the Abolitionists in honor of its history as a key city on the underground railroad.

1873- The league expanded its schedule to 42 games. Instead of playing each team for one 3 game series, each team would play 2 series against each other.

1874- Expanded the roster size from 15 to 18 players because the teams' reserve rosters were getting pretty full, and some teams were playing players out of position when they weren't carrying backup catchers, and their catchers got injured.

1875- Attempted to expand the schedule from 42 to 63 games, but I screwed up and didn't create the schedule so the teams still played 42. I also expanded the roster size to 20 players.

1876- After finished dead last in attendance by a wide margin for three years in a row, I decided that Baltimore's ownership would probably be looking to move their team in real life, so I moved them to New Orleans. Since we were still just 11 years after the Civil War, I decided that they should be the Rebels and where Confederate colors.

1977- With Philly, New York, and New Orleans/Baltimore finishing in the last three spots years after year and struggling to post .200 winning percentages, I decided to institute a draft so that they could start to acquire some prospects without being out-bidded by the other teams. Meanwhile, Boston and Cincinnati built new stadiums since they were consistently selling-out their parks every year.

Now for a rundown of the successes and failures of these franchises.

Boston Brahmins- 177-118 record- Champions in 1871 and 1876. Their all-time best hitter is Kyle "Congress Suspender" Strickland. He earned that nickname when he hit 3 homers in back to back games against Philadelphia. He has a .343 career batting average and has won one Great Glove Award at third base. Their best pitcher has been Corey Garvey who has a career record of 151-91 with a 2.75 career ERA. He has won one pitcher of the year award and one silver slugger award as a pitcher.

Brooklyn Red Legged Devils- 185-109 record- Champions in 1872. They've had several good hitters who are all pretty similar. Their career batting average leader is shortstop Travis Rogers, who has hit .340 in a Brooklyn uniform while winning 2 silver sluggers. Their career WAR leader is centerfielder Scott "Sawmill" Chaban, who is a career .303 hitter with one Silver Slugger. The key for Baltimore has been pitcher Chad Barden who has a 97-48 career record, one pitcher of the year award, and a 2.47 career ERA. Barden has thrown the only no-hitter in league history.

Chicago Union- 185-109- While the 1877 season is still in progress, they have already clinched the title with their 49-11 record. This will be their first title. Their best hitter has also been the league's best hitter. If he keeps it up, they MVP award might have to become the Jim Alexander Award. "Clang" Alexander has a career batting average of .347, and he is hitting .408 in 1877. Despite playing in the 19th century, he has a .640 career slugging percentage with 73 career home runs in 245 career games. Their best pitcher has been Mike "Doberman" Winchester. Winchester is a one-time ERA champ, and he has a career record of 81-35 with a 2.21 career ERA. He also has won a Great Glove award.

Cincinnati Porkers/Abolitionists- 168-126- 1873 Champions. My team's best offensive player has been shortstop Keith Peterson. Peterson is a .345 career hitter with 74 career stolen bases. He is leading the league in hitting in 1877 with an insane .472 batting average, and he is the only player in league history to ever hit for the cycle. He is a three time Silver Slugger. I traded for my franchise's best pitcher when I picked up Brooklyn reliever Nate Assel in a minor trade towards the end of the 1872 season. The 41 year only ever had one good year, but boy was it good. He pitched my Abolitionists to the championship going 24-10 in 1873 while leading the league in wins, strikeouts, starts, and innings pitched. His ERA more than doubled the following year, and he hasn't done much since.

New Orleans Rebels/ Baltimore Shippers- 91-204- No championships. This franchise led every day of the season before blowing it on the last day of 1871. Then, they were in first for most of 1872 before blowing that lead, too. Since then, they have been terrible, and their attendance was so terrible that Baltimore lost its team. Their best hitter has been centerfielder Dylan Wingard, who has one a gold glove and has a .289 career batting average and a career 8.8 WAR over 7 seasons, which sounds awful except that no one else in their franchise history comes close to that. Their number one pitcher has been Corey "Gimp" Brizendine since the franchise's inception, and the best thing that can be said for him is that he can hit. His career pitching mark is 56-94 with an ERA of 3.89. As a hitter, he has won four silver sluggers and is a career .260 hitter and posted a 3.0 WAR offensively in 1872 when he hit .354. I'm not sure why New Orleans/ Baltimore never moved him to first base.

New York Immigrants- 96-198- No championships. Unlike New Orleans/Baltimore, New York has never been competitive. Their best finish has been third from last. For the first time in their history, they won't even be profitable in 1877, and rumor has it that another non-profitable season in 1878 might lead to a move to Buffalo. Their all-time best hitter is catcher Chris Lege, who is a .302 career hitter with a 4.4 career WAR over 5 seasons. At just 28, he is an exciting player because he should have a few more good years left in him, and he is probably the third best catcher in the league behind two older players in Cincinnati's Cameron Piecynski and Chicago's Earl Crawford. They best pitcher was Corey Salchow, whom they traded to Chicago before the 1874 season. For New York he went 19-20 with a 2.53 ERA over 2 seasons. Those two seasons were the Immigrants best.The players that they received in the trade have a combined career WAR of -3.4, and that sums up why New York has been terrible.

Philadelphia Congress- 93-201- No championships. This has been the worst franchise in the league, but they have turned nice profits every season. They finished in fifth in their first two seasons, but they have also had season with winning percentages below .300 four times. Their best hitter has been shortstop Bobby Harris. He played his first three years in Baltimore before being traded to Philly, but the career .311 hitter has posted a WAR above 2 every year that he has been with the Congress, has led the league in walks twice, has hit over .330 twice, and has 2 career gold gloves. Their best pitcher, Bill Wilson, has spent the last three year with Cincinnati, but while in Philly he had a 26-42 record with an ERA of 2.60 over 626.1 IP.

St. Louis Survivors- 182-112- Champions in 1874 and 1875- The league's first repeat champions are led by three time manager of the year award winner Jerry Kerr. Their best hitter has been David Ratcliff. The diminutive 5'4" third sacker has hit .311 with 16 home runs in 275 career games for the Survivors while winning one Silver Slugger award. Their star, though, has been starting pitcher Chris Teasley. Teasley was the 1875 pitcher of the year award winner when he went 27-7 with a league leading 2.08 ERA. He has a career mark of 120-59 with a career ERA of 2.53.

Future plans for the SSL

I have two main future plans that I would like to try at some point with this league. One is to add a minor league at some point. The other is to create a rival league like when the American League formed in 1901 to rival the NL. I have thought about this new league possibly existing in the south, with New Orleans breaking away, to create a Stars and Bars League. Another possibility would be a league of 8 eastern Canadian cities. A third idea is to have a league of 8 cities on the west coast for whom travel east would be too costly except for one series to determine the true champion of baseball. All sound like fun.

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:03 PM

Since the purpose of instituting an amateur draft was to enable the three terrible franchises stop perpetually losing, it is important to note who the first picks of the draft were since a lot is riding on these guys. The note next to each is according to my scout.

1. Jaden Wilder, 21 year old centerfielder- New Orleans Rebels- Wilder has a really high ceiling. He still needs to refine his game to reach it, but if he does, he should be a star.

2. J.J. Ramirez, 20 year old starting pitcher- Philadelphia Congress- Difficult to project stardom here, but looks like a future big leaguer. Should survive as a back-of-the-rotation pitcher for a few years.

3. Cory Boldt, 21 year old left fielder- Philadelphia Congress- True impact potential-- could be a superstar if he figures it all out.

4. Justin Thompson, 19 year old starting pitcher, New York Immigrants- This kid needs to learn another pitcher. His repertoire isn't good enough. His best bet at a big-league career is in long relief.

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:29 PM

Another championship season has come to an end with the Chicago Union winning their first SSL championship with a 51-13 record. Taking second in a tie were Cincinnati and St. Louis with 37-27 marks. As has been the case for several seasons, the same three teams had losing records, Philadelphia, New York. and New Orleans. New Orleans was the worst of the three with the mirror image season of Chicago; their record was 13-51.

Jim "Clang" Alexander, third basemen for Chicago, took home the batting title hitting .397 with 24 home runs and 64 RBI. He also broke the league's all-time hits mark with 97 in a season to go along with new records for home runs, RBI, and runs scored (68).

Meanwhile, Cleetus McGee, the general manager of Cincinnati, is an OOTP god with a score of 110 out of 100. He will be retained as GM of the Abolitionists in 1878.

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:33 PM

P Keith Coehlo- New York Immigrants
C Cameron Piecynski- Cincinnati Immigrants- three time winner
1B Dave Hiser- Chicago Union- three time winner
2B Antonio Diaz- Chicago Union
3B Landon "Speedy" Hager- Brooklyn Red Legged Devils- three time winner
SS Ben Herd- New Orleans Rebels- two time winner
LF Jeremy Thibodeau- Philadelphia Congress
CF Dylan Wingard- New Orleans Rebels- two time winner
RF Josh McDaniel- St Louis Survivors- two time winner

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:36 PM

David Lipsitz of the Chicago Union has won the Reliever of the Year award for 1877 at the age of 40. Lipsitz went 7-1 with 2 saves and a 2.26 ERA in relief for Chicago this year.

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:41 PM

P Chad Barden- Brooklyn- hit .361.
C Mark Petersen- Brooklyn- hit .344 with 10 homers.
1B Mike Graham- Cincinnati- hit .349 with 9 homers.
2B Antonio Diaz- Chicago- hit .306 with 10 homers and 11 steals.
3B Jim Alexander- Chicago- hit .397 with 23 homers.
SS Keith Peterson- Cincinnati- hit .468 with 6 homer and 6 steals in just 158 at bats.
LF Josh Roszkowski- Chicago- hit .378 with 9 homers.
CF Joel Cobb- Boston- hit .359 with 18 homers.
RF Jaquan Dixon- Chicago- hit .384 with 8 homers.

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:42 PM

Josh Roszkowski of Chicago has been awarded the rookie of the year. The 25 year old left fielder for the union hit .378 with 9 home runs and 45 RBI this year.

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:44 PM

The 1877 manager of the year in the SSL was David Ramires of Chicago, who guided the Union to a 51-13 mark. This was Ramires's second manager of the year award. He won his first in 1873. This year saw Ramires win his first SSL championship, and his career record is 187 and 111.

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:46 PM

In a shocker, the baseball writers have awarded the SSL pitcher of the year award to 40 year old Chicago reliever David Lipsitz, who went 7-1 with 2 saves and a 2.26 ERA this year. Lipsitz previously won the award in 1874 when he was a starter.

fuzzy_patters · 12-27-2016, 10:48 PM

The MVP of 1877 in the SSL went to Jim Alexander, third basemen, of Chicago. He hit .397 with 23 homers and had a 31 game hitting streak.

Sizeman21 · 12-27-2016, 11:14 PM

Wow loving this so far. Great back story and great evolution. Very organic and not rushed feeling. Keep it up.

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 10:56 AM

There was one major trade in the 1878 off-season, and it was a blockbuster. I sent my best prospect, 1B Andy Buchanan, and catcher Pat Beasley (.314/.340/.627) to Boston for 3B Frank McCargar (.423/.483/.519 in 52 AB), SP Corey Garvey (25-25, 3.98 ERA, 29 BB, 209 K), 3B Kyle "Congress Suspender" Strickland (.404/.482/.596, 9 HR, 11 SB in an injury shortened season), and CF Joel Cobb (.362/.418/.638). The trade amounts to my two best prospects going to Boston for their four best players, all but Cobb are in their 30s. It is a win now move as I try to catch up with Chicago before my core is too old to compete.

In other news, I tried to add a minor league as my off-season league change because reserve rosters were getting large. However, when I created it, the game deleted the reserve roster players. As a result, I had to hard restart my computer so that it wouldn't save and then re-sim the last week of the season. This resulted in Strickland winning the batting title instead of Alexander. I will try to add minors for next season, and there will be no off-season changes to the league following the 1877 season.

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 11:20 AM

The date is April 18, 1878, and the Stars and Stripes League is about to have a huge series. The Chicago Union, the 1877 league champions, are off to a superb start with a 14-2 record, which gives them just 15 losses over the past two seasons. Their opponents in this tremendous tilt, which could already determine the fate of the young 1878 season, is the Cincinnati Abolitionists, who are 11-5. St. Louis's 10-6 mark is the only other winning record in the SSL. And now for the results...

Game 1 Cincinnati 4 Chicago 1- Despite four Chicago players having two hits or more and no one on the Cincinnati club having more than one hit, the Abs pulled off the game one upset in large part due to the pitching of veteran Corey Garvey who went the distance in this one and induced two bases loaded groundouts in the sixth to get out of trouble unscathed. Cincinnati took the lead 1-0 an inning later when Mike Graham had an RBI single. Garvey said that he "had a nice groove out there."

Game 2 Chicago 8 Cincinnati 7- Abs shortstop Keith Peterson did everything that he could against the Union with a homer, 2 singles, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBI, but it just wasn't enough to overcome the deep lineup from Chicago. The key at bat came in the bottom of the eighth when Chicago reliever Corey Salchow induced pinch hitter Jonathan Childs to fly out with Cincinnati threatening.

Game 3 Cincinnati 7 Chicago 1- Abolitionist's first basemen Jesus Martinez hit 2 bombs to lead the Abs past the Union at Freedom Field in Cincinnati. Corey Garvey only managed 6 innings, but he was the winning pitcher with Matt Eccleston following him with 3 scoreless innings of relief. Jaquan Dickerson was 4 for 4 for Chicago in the loss.

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 11:34 AM

There must be huge pressure in New York on manager Garrett Rodriguez. After his club's loss to Cincinnati, he said, "If you ever get this game figured out, let me know." If I were an Immigrant fan, I would be incensed. Rodriguez has a .326 career winning percentage after five years in Baltimore and two-plus seasons in New York. Will the Immigrants do the obvious thing and fire him in the off-season?

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 11:41 AM

With Cincinnati putting pressure on Chicago, the Union have responded with one small trade and one huge one.

In the first and smaller trade, they traded three prospects from their reserve roster to the Boston Brahmins for 30 year-old pitcher Robert Hughes, who is 2-1 with a 5.04 ERA this year after having a 5.14 ERA last year. He isn't a very good pitcher, but he will give them some depth.

In the huge trade, they sent 4 1/2 star catching prospect Jon Nelson to Brooklyn for their star centerfielder Scott "Sawmill" Chaban. The 28 year-old centerfielder is hitting .404 this year and has a .302 career average to go with two great glove awards and a silver slugger award.

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 11:44 AM

Four days after Rodriguez asked if anyone had figured out how to do his job, the New York Immigrants fired him as their manager. Being one of the laughing stocks of the league since its inception, the new Immigrants manager will have no where to go but up.

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 11:47 AM

The new New York manager will be Dan Weatherby, who has never coached or managed professionals before, but comes with an excellent reputation after coaching local YMCA players in his native Florida. Fortunately, the Immigrants had April 28th off, which gave him plenty of time to make the train ride to New York for their series with 22-4 Chicago. Welcome to a baptism by fire, Mr. Weatherby.

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 11:53 AM

Another month of SSL play has come to an end, and the league is shaping up to be a 3 team race. Chicago has a 3 game lead on Cincinnati and 7 on St. Louis. No one else even has a winning record. The batter of the month has been Kyle "Congress Suspender" Strickland of Cincinnati, who is hitting .496 with 5 homers, and the pitcher of the month has been his teammate Corey Garvey, who is 19-5 with a 3.45 ERA. Chicago's catcher, Danny Cobb, is the rookie of the month, hitting .344 for the first month of the season. All of the wins and all of the hardware seem to be going to the same two franchises.

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 12:01 PM

It's time to see if St. Louis is for real or if they will fade out of the race. They have a three game series with first place Chicago. St. Louis opened the season by sweeping second-place Cincinnati, so they do have a history of playing well against good teams.

Game 1 Chicago 4 St. Louis 3- St. Louis scored 3 in the ninth, but it wasn't enough. Mike Winchester pitched 7 shutout innings for Chicago to put them in position for the win.

Game 2 Chicago 5 St. Louis 3- This game was huge for Chicago because Cincinnati's win-streak came to an end in Boston on the same day. Back-up catcher Jimmy Ludemann went 3 for 5 with a big RBI single to give Chicago the lead. Winchester moved to 16-2.

Game 3 Chicago 7 St. Louis 2- Scott Chaban hit his first two home runs of the season and 41 year old pitcher David Lipsitz pitched a complete game to bring his record to 5-2.

Just like that, the league is a two-team race. Cincinnati is 4 games back, and no one else looks to have a chance to catch Chicago. The Union are incredibly talented and deep, and the acquisition of Chaban made them even stronger.

fuzzy_patters · 12-28-2016, 12:06 PM

On May 5th, 1878, the championship may already be decided in the 1878 season. Less than a week after Chicago upgraded it's centerfield position with a trade for Scott Chaban, their only competition, the Cincinnati Abolitionists, have lost their centerfielder, 1875 league MVP Jonathan Childs, for the season. That should just about do it.

The question for me, as Cincinnati GM Cleetus McGee, is whether I should try to trade for a replacement, trade my veterans as part of a rebuild, or stand pat and hope and pray. I'll probably stand pat with what I've got and hope it works out.

12-27-2016, 09:27 PM	#1
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Stars and Stripes League I started this league last week, and I meant to type up a dynasty report from the beginning. Unfortunately, I never got around to it, so we will now join the league 7 years in progress. The premise came from reading about the instability of the National Association in 1871. It didn't have a unified structure, and it involved some smaller cities that weren't able to sufficiently support a baseball team. This helped lead to the creation of the National League in 1876. My idea was to create a league that could have existed in 1871 that would have been successful and would have prevented the creation of the National League from ever happening. Forming just five years after the end of the Civil War, this league would be called the Stars and Stripes League to help unify the country. One of the first things that I did was to research populations of US cities in the 1870 census so that I could choose the eight largest and assign them market sizes based on their 1870 populations. The eight that I chose were New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Chicago, St Louis, Baltimore, Boston, and Cincinnati. The following is a bit of back ground about how I chose the nicknames of each. New York Immigrants- My research of New York up to 1870 showed that New York was a city largely made up of immigrants who largely came through Clinton Castle in this pre-Ellis Island period. I thought that this was a nickname that would make sense to people in 1871. Philadelphia Congress- My research of Philadelphia in the 1870s didn't turn up much that was name-worthy, so I named this team after the two Continental Congresses that met in Philadelphia. Brooklyn Red Legged Devils- This team was named for the Red Legged Devils that had been a Civil War battalion from Brooklyn. I thought that this was a nickname that would have resonated with the people of 1871 Brooklyn, and they would have been proud of it. Chicago Union- The Union stockyards were opened in 1865, so this is another topical nickname that would have been meaningful to the people of this time period. St. Louis Survivors- This nickname is a bit of a rallying cry for the people of St. Louis. My research showed that St. Louis had a bad cholera epidemic that killed 50,000 in 1870, so this nickname speaks to the resiliency of the people of St. Louis to move on and persevere. Baltimore Shippers- Baltimore was a major shipping port, and my research didn't turn up much that would make for a better nickname. I didn't want to go with something stupid like the Francis Scott Keys, so Shippers it is. It reminds me of the Brewers or Mariners from real-life in that it is a profession that has become associated with baseball. Boston Brahmin- In the 1860s, Longfellow said that the history of America is the history of a class of Boston brahmins. I thought this was another topical nickname for a team in 1871. Cincinnati Porkers- Cincinnati was known as Porkopolis because so much pork was processed and shipped from there. I would start off as general manager of this franchise since it was the smallest city of the eight in 1870. Once I had nicknames for my teams, I had them play out a simple 21 game 1871 schedule as the league became established. I decided to make 1 or 2 changes each off-season since the history of baseball is one of many changes despite all of the traditions that we hold dear. Also, forcing myself to make a change or two for the benefit of the league would keep me informed about what is happening in the league, and it would force me to change something for the good of league every year regardless of whether it benefitted my team. Here are the changes that I made in the first few years. 1872- I changed the colors of the Chicago franchise, and I changed the logo of the Cincinnati franchise so that they wouldn't be so close. I also decided that Porkers was a hokey nickname, so I changed Cincinnati to the Abolitionists in honor of its history as a key city on the underground railroad. 1873- The league expanded its schedule to 42 games. Instead of playing each team for one 3 game series, each team would play 2 series against each other. 1874- Expanded the roster size from 15 to 18 players because the teams' reserve rosters were getting pretty full, and some teams were playing players out of position when they weren't carrying backup catchers, and their catchers got injured. 1875- Attempted to expand the schedule from 42 to 63 games, but I screwed up and didn't create the schedule so the teams still played 42. I also expanded the roster size to 20 players. 1876- After finished dead last in attendance by a wide margin for three years in a row, I decided that Baltimore's ownership would probably be looking to move their team in real life, so I moved them to New Orleans. Since we were still just 11 years after the Civil War, I decided that they should be the Rebels and where Confederate colors. 1977- With Philly, New York, and New Orleans/Baltimore finishing in the last three spots years after year and struggling to post .200 winning percentages, I decided to institute a draft so that they could start to acquire some prospects without being out-bidded by the other teams. Meanwhile, Boston and Cincinnati built new stadiums since they were consistently selling-out their parks every year. Now for a rundown of the successes and failures of these franchises. Boston Brahmins- 177-118 record- Champions in 1871 and 1876. Their all-time best hitter is Kyle "Congress Suspender" Strickland. He earned that nickname when he hit 3 homers in back to back games against Philadelphia. He has a .343 career batting average and has won one Great Glove Award at third base. Their best pitcher has been Corey Garvey who has a career record of 151-91 with a 2.75 career ERA. He has won one pitcher of the year award and one silver slugger award as a pitcher. Brooklyn Red Legged Devils- 185-109 record- Champions in 1872. They've had several good hitters who are all pretty similar. Their career batting average leader is shortstop Travis Rogers, who has hit .340 in a Brooklyn uniform while winning 2 silver sluggers. Their career WAR leader is centerfielder Scott "Sawmill" Chaban, who is a career .303 hitter with one Silver Slugger. The key for Baltimore has been pitcher Chad Barden who has a 97-48 career record, one pitcher of the year award, and a 2.47 career ERA. Barden has thrown the only no-hitter in league history. Chicago Union- 185-109- While the 1877 season is still in progress, they have already clinched the title with their 49-11 record. This will be their first title. Their best hitter has also been the league's best hitter. If he keeps it up, they MVP award might have to become the Jim Alexander Award. "Clang" Alexander has a career batting average of .347, and he is hitting .408 in 1877. Despite playing in the 19th century, he has a .640 career slugging percentage with 73 career home runs in 245 career games. Their best pitcher has been Mike "Doberman" Winchester. Winchester is a one-time ERA champ, and he has a career record of 81-35 with a 2.21 career ERA. He also has won a Great Glove award. Cincinnati Porkers/Abolitionists- 168-126- 1873 Champions. My team's best offensive player has been shortstop Keith Peterson. Peterson is a .345 career hitter with 74 career stolen bases. He is leading the league in hitting in 1877 with an insane .472 batting average, and he is the only player in league history to ever hit for the cycle. He is a three time Silver Slugger. I traded for my franchise's best pitcher when I picked up Brooklyn reliever Nate Assel in a minor trade towards the end of the 1872 season. The 41 year only ever had one good year, but boy was it good. He pitched my Abolitionists to the championship going 24-10 in 1873 while leading the league in wins, strikeouts, starts, and innings pitched. His ERA more than doubled the following year, and he hasn't done much since. New Orleans Rebels/ Baltimore Shippers- 91-204- No championships. This franchise led every day of the season before blowing it on the last day of 1871. Then, they were in first for most of 1872 before blowing that lead, too. Since then, they have been terrible, and their attendance was so terrible that Baltimore lost its team. Their best hitter has been centerfielder Dylan Wingard, who has one a gold glove and has a .289 career batting average and a career 8.8 WAR over 7 seasons, which sounds awful except that no one else in their franchise history comes close to that. Their number one pitcher has been Corey "Gimp" Brizendine since the franchise's inception, and the best thing that can be said for him is that he can hit. His career pitching mark is 56-94 with an ERA of 3.89. As a hitter, he has won four silver sluggers and is a career .260 hitter and posted a 3.0 WAR offensively in 1872 when he hit .354. I'm not sure why New Orleans/ Baltimore never moved him to first base. New York Immigrants- 96-198- No championships. Unlike New Orleans/Baltimore, New York has never been competitive. Their best finish has been third from last. For the first time in their history, they won't even be profitable in 1877, and rumor has it that another non-profitable season in 1878 might lead to a move to Buffalo. Their all-time best hitter is catcher Chris Lege, who is a .302 career hitter with a 4.4 career WAR over 5 seasons. At just 28, he is an exciting player because he should have a few more good years left in him, and he is probably the third best catcher in the league behind two older players in Cincinnati's Cameron Piecynski and Chicago's Earl Crawford. They best pitcher was Corey Salchow, whom they traded to Chicago before the 1874 season. For New York he went 19-20 with a 2.53 ERA over 2 seasons. Those two seasons were the Immigrants best.The players that they received in the trade have a combined career WAR of -3.4, and that sums up why New York has been terrible. Philadelphia Congress- 93-201- No championships. This has been the worst franchise in the league, but they have turned nice profits every season. They finished in fifth in their first two seasons, but they have also had season with winning percentages below .300 four times. Their best hitter has been shortstop Bobby Harris. He played his first three years in Baltimore before being traded to Philly, but the career .311 hitter has posted a WAR above 2 every year that he has been with the Congress, has led the league in walks twice, has hit over .330 twice, and has 2 career gold gloves. Their best pitcher, Bill Wilson, has spent the last three year with Cincinnati, but while in Philly he had a 26-42 record with an ERA of 2.60 over 626.1 IP. St. Louis Survivors- 182-112- Champions in 1874 and 1875- The league's first repeat champions are led by three time manager of the year award winner Jerry Kerr. Their best hitter has been David Ratcliff. The diminutive 5'4" third sacker has hit .311 with 16 home runs in 275 career games for the Survivors while winning one Silver Slugger award. Their star, though, has been starting pitcher Chris Teasley. Teasley was the 1875 pitcher of the year award winner when he went 27-7 with a league leading 2.08 ERA. He has a career mark of 120-59 with a career ERA of 2.53. Future plans for the SSL I have two main future plans that I would like to try at some point with this league. One is to add a minor league at some point. The other is to create a rival league like when the American League formed in 1901 to rival the NL. I have thought about this new league possibly existing in the south, with New Orleans breaking away, to create a Stars and Bars League. Another possibility would be a league of 8 eastern Canadian cities. A third idea is to have a league of 8 cities on the west coast for whom travel east would be too costly except for one series to determine the true champion of baseball. All sound like fun. Last edited by fuzzy_patters; 12-27-2016 at 09:54 PM.

12-27-2016, 10:03 PM	#2
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Draft Day 1877 Since the purpose of instituting an amateur draft was to enable the three terrible franchises stop perpetually losing, it is important to note who the first picks of the draft were since a lot is riding on these guys. The note next to each is according to my scout. 1. Jaden Wilder, 21 year old centerfielder- New Orleans Rebels- Wilder has a really high ceiling. He still needs to refine his game to reach it, but if he does, he should be a star. 2. J.J. Ramirez, 20 year old starting pitcher- Philadelphia Congress- Difficult to project stardom here, but looks like a future big leaguer. Should survive as a back-of-the-rotation pitcher for a few years. 3. Cory Boldt, 21 year old left fielder- Philadelphia Congress- True impact potential-- could be a superstar if he figures it all out. 4. Justin Thompson, 19 year old starting pitcher, New York Immigrants- This kid needs to learn another pitcher. His repertoire isn't good enough. His best bet at a big-league career is in long relief.

12-27-2016, 10:29 PM	#3
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	1977 Season Retrospective Another championship season has come to an end with the Chicago Union winning their first SSL championship with a 51-13 record. Taking second in a tie were Cincinnati and St. Louis with 37-27 marks. As has been the case for several seasons, the same three teams had losing records, Philadelphia, New York. and New Orleans. New Orleans was the worst of the three with the mirror image season of Chicago; their record was 13-51. Jim "Clang" Alexander, third basemen for Chicago, took home the batting title hitting .397 with 24 home runs and 64 RBI. He also broke the league's all-time hits mark with 97 in a season to go along with new records for home runs, RBI, and runs scored (68). Meanwhile, Cleetus McGee, the general manager of Cincinnati, is an OOTP god with a score of 110 out of 100. He will be retained as GM of the Abolitionists in 1878.

12-27-2016, 10:33 PM	#4
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Great Glove Award winners for 1877 P Keith Coehlo- New York Immigrants C Cameron Piecynski- Cincinnati Immigrants- three time winner 1B Dave Hiser- Chicago Union- three time winner 2B Antonio Diaz- Chicago Union 3B Landon "Speedy" Hager- Brooklyn Red Legged Devils- three time winner SS Ben Herd- New Orleans Rebels- two time winner LF Jeremy Thibodeau- Philadelphia Congress CF Dylan Wingard- New Orleans Rebels- two time winner RF Josh McDaniel- St Louis Survivors- two time winner

12-27-2016, 10:36 PM	#5
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Reliever of the Year 1877 David Lipsitz of the Chicago Union has won the Reliever of the Year award for 1877 at the age of 40. Lipsitz went 7-1 with 2 saves and a 2.26 ERA in relief for Chicago this year.

12-27-2016, 10:41 PM	#6
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Silver Slugger Award Winners 1877 P Chad Barden- Brooklyn- hit .361. C Mark Petersen- Brooklyn- hit .344 with 10 homers. 1B Mike Graham- Cincinnati- hit .349 with 9 homers. 2B Antonio Diaz- Chicago- hit .306 with 10 homers and 11 steals. 3B Jim Alexander- Chicago- hit .397 with 23 homers. SS Keith Peterson- Cincinnati- hit .468 with 6 homer and 6 steals in just 158 at bats. LF Josh Roszkowski- Chicago- hit .378 with 9 homers. CF Joel Cobb- Boston- hit .359 with 18 homers. RF Jaquan Dixon- Chicago- hit .384 with 8 homers.

12-27-2016, 10:42 PM	#7
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Rookie of the Year Josh Roszkowski of Chicago has been awarded the rookie of the year. The 25 year old left fielder for the union hit .378 with 9 home runs and 45 RBI this year.

12-27-2016, 10:44 PM	#8
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Manager of the Year The 1877 manager of the year in the SSL was David Ramires of Chicago, who guided the Union to a 51-13 mark. This was Ramires's second manager of the year award. He won his first in 1873. This year saw Ramires win his first SSL championship, and his career record is 187 and 111.

12-27-2016, 10:46 PM	#9
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Pitcher of the Year award In a shocker, the baseball writers have awarded the SSL pitcher of the year award to 40 year old Chicago reliever David Lipsitz, who went 7-1 with 2 saves and a 2.26 ERA this year. Lipsitz previously won the award in 1874 when he was a starter.

12-27-2016, 10:48 PM	#10
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Most Valuable Player The MVP of 1877 in the SSL went to Jim Alexander, third basemen, of Chicago. He hit .397 with 23 homers and had a 31 game hitting streak.

12-27-2016, 11:14 PM	#11
Sizeman21 Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: The bleachers of Sportsman's Park Posts: 435	Wow loving this so far. Great back story and great evolution. Very organic and not rushed feeling. Keep it up.

12-28-2016, 10:56 AM	#12
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	There was one major trade in the 1878 off-season, and it was a blockbuster. I sent my best prospect, 1B Andy Buchanan, and catcher Pat Beasley (.314/.340/.627) to Boston for 3B Frank McCargar (.423/.483/.519 in 52 AB), SP Corey Garvey (25-25, 3.98 ERA, 29 BB, 209 K), 3B Kyle "Congress Suspender" Strickland (.404/.482/.596, 9 HR, 11 SB in an injury shortened season), and CF Joel Cobb (.362/.418/.638). The trade amounts to my two best prospects going to Boston for their four best players, all but Cobb are in their 30s. It is a win now move as I try to catch up with Chicago before my core is too old to compete. In other news, I tried to add a minor league as my off-season league change because reserve rosters were getting large. However, when I created it, the game deleted the reserve roster players. As a result, I had to hard restart my computer so that it wouldn't save and then re-sim the last week of the season. This resulted in Strickland winning the batting title instead of Alexander. I will try to add minors for next season, and there will be no off-season changes to the league following the 1877 season. Last edited by fuzzy_patters; 12-28-2016 at 10:59 AM.

12-28-2016, 11:20 AM	#13
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	A huge series! The date is April 18, 1878, and the Stars and Stripes League is about to have a huge series. The Chicago Union, the 1877 league champions, are off to a superb start with a 14-2 record, which gives them just 15 losses over the past two seasons. Their opponents in this tremendous tilt, which could already determine the fate of the young 1878 season, is the Cincinnati Abolitionists, who are 11-5. St. Louis's 10-6 mark is the only other winning record in the SSL. And now for the results... Game 1 Cincinnati 4 Chicago 1- Despite four Chicago players having two hits or more and no one on the Cincinnati club having more than one hit, the Abs pulled off the game one upset in large part due to the pitching of veteran Corey Garvey who went the distance in this one and induced two bases loaded groundouts in the sixth to get out of trouble unscathed. Cincinnati took the lead 1-0 an inning later when Mike Graham had an RBI single. Garvey said that he "had a nice groove out there." Game 2 Chicago 8 Cincinnati 7- Abs shortstop Keith Peterson did everything that he could against the Union with a homer, 2 singles, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBI, but it just wasn't enough to overcome the deep lineup from Chicago. The key at bat came in the bottom of the eighth when Chicago reliever Corey Salchow induced pinch hitter Jonathan Childs to fly out with Cincinnati threatening. Game 3 Cincinnati 7 Chicago 1- Abolitionist's first basemen Jesus Martinez hit 2 bombs to lead the Abs past the Union at Freedom Field in Cincinnati. Corey Garvey only managed 6 innings, but he was the winning pitcher with Matt Eccleston following him with 3 scoreless innings of relief. Jaquan Dickerson was 4 for 4 for Chicago in the loss.

12-28-2016, 11:34 AM	#14
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	This is fireable! There must be huge pressure in New York on manager Garrett Rodriguez. After his club's loss to Cincinnati, he said, "If you ever get this game figured out, let me know." If I were an Immigrant fan, I would be incensed. Rodriguez has a .326 career winning percentage after five years in Baltimore and two-plus seasons in New York. Will the Immigrants do the obvious thing and fire him in the off-season?

12-28-2016, 11:41 AM	#15
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Chicago is going for broke With Cincinnati putting pressure on Chicago, the Union have responded with one small trade and one huge one. In the first and smaller trade, they traded three prospects from their reserve roster to the Boston Brahmins for 30 year-old pitcher Robert Hughes, who is 2-1 with a 5.04 ERA this year after having a 5.14 ERA last year. He isn't a very good pitcher, but he will give them some depth. In the huge trade, they sent 4 1/2 star catching prospect Jon Nelson to Brooklyn for their star centerfielder Scott "Sawmill" Chaban. The 28 year-old centerfielder is hitting .404 this year and has a .302 career average to go with two great glove awards and a silver slugger award.

12-28-2016, 11:44 AM	#16
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	It took 4 days! Four days after Rodriguez asked if anyone had figured out how to do his job, the New York Immigrants fired him as their manager. Being one of the laughing stocks of the league since its inception, the new Immigrants manager will have no where to go but up.

12-28-2016, 11:47 AM	#17
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	The new New York manager will be Dan Weatherby, who has never coached or managed professionals before, but comes with an excellent reputation after coaching local YMCA players in his native Florida. Fortunately, the Immigrants had April 28th off, which gave him plenty of time to make the train ride to New York for their series with 22-4 Chicago. Welcome to a baptism by fire, Mr. Weatherby.

12-28-2016, 11:53 AM	#18
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	April 1878 report Another month of SSL play has come to an end, and the league is shaping up to be a 3 team race. Chicago has a 3 game lead on Cincinnati and 7 on St. Louis. No one else even has a winning record. The batter of the month has been Kyle "Congress Suspender" Strickland of Cincinnati, who is hitting .496 with 5 homers, and the pitcher of the month has been his teammate Corey Garvey, who is 19-5 with a 3.45 ERA. Chicago's catcher, Danny Cobb, is the rookie of the month, hitting .344 for the first month of the season. All of the wins and all of the hardware seem to be going to the same two franchises.

12-28-2016, 12:01 PM	#19
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	Another huge series! It's time to see if St. Louis is for real or if they will fade out of the race. They have a three game series with first place Chicago. St. Louis opened the season by sweeping second-place Cincinnati, so they do have a history of playing well against good teams. Game 1 Chicago 4 St. Louis 3- St. Louis scored 3 in the ninth, but it wasn't enough. Mike Winchester pitched 7 shutout innings for Chicago to put them in position for the win. Game 2 Chicago 5 St. Louis 3- This game was huge for Chicago because Cincinnati's win-streak came to an end in Boston on the same day. Back-up catcher Jimmy Ludemann went 3 for 5 with a big RBI single to give Chicago the lead. Winchester moved to 16-2. Game 3 Chicago 7 St. Louis 2- Scott Chaban hit his first two home runs of the season and 41 year old pitcher David Lipsitz pitched a complete game to bring his record to 5-2. Just like that, the league is a two-team race. Cincinnati is 4 games back, and no one else looks to have a chance to catch Chicago. The Union are incredibly talented and deep, and the acquisition of Chaban made them even stronger.

12-28-2016, 12:06 PM	#20
fuzzy_patters All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 1,804	A huge injury may give Chicago the championship! On May 5th, 1878, the championship may already be decided in the 1878 season. Less than a week after Chicago upgraded it's centerfield position with a trade for Scott Chaban, their only competition, the Cincinnati Abolitionists, have lost their centerfielder, 1875 league MVP Jonathan Childs, for the season. That should just about do it. The question for me, as Cincinnati GM Cleetus McGee, is whether I should try to trade for a replacement, trade my veterans as part of a rebuild, or stand pat and hope and pray. I'll probably stand pat with what I've got and hope it works out.