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Old 04-05-2003, 01:15 AM   #1
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HOB3 begins

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the HOB3 will be written along the lines of how I grew up a baseball fan. It begins with little details about the current season (1974) when I first started following the game and will expand with more detailed reports on the late 1970's seasons as I get more interested in the game and finally become an all-out focus on the history of the game (in this case as it occurred in my HOB3 rather than real life).

I figured this was a better route since I and many others have heavily documented the early years of our historical replays but rarely do we get to the seventies and eighties. I like the idea of having 70 years of history to look back on and tie stories from the great teams and players of the past to the current day happenings. So without further ado, here is the HOB3. I hope it is as enjoyable as the previous versions.


1972 7 years old
One of my first real life baseball memories is of watching the early innings of the 1971 allstar game from Detroit. In the HOB3, the 1971 midseason classic was in Montreal but I was happy to see the 1972 game took place at Tiger Stadium. It will be there that I began my HOB3 journal.

It would be hard to pick a better place to start than the 1972 all-star game as it had a little of everything including a dramatic finish. The American League starting pitcher was the great Bob Gibson, a 36 year old fireballer from Oakland. Gibson, who began his career with the Cardinals before joining the A's as a free agent in 1967, holds every strikeout record in both leagues. He has won 3 Amos Rusie Awards and a pair of World Series rings.

His opponent will be Steve Barber, a pitcher who will eventually hit the 300 win plateau. At this writing Barber has 3 Amos Rusie Awards to his credit and is the ace of the Cardinals staff.

The National League lineup is as follows:

2B Joe Morgan Houston
LF Boog Powell San Francisco
CF Orlando Cepeda San Francisco
RF Bobby Bonds Mets - Bonds will be a 30-30 man in 1972
1B Willie Stargell Philadelphia - 6 straight 30+ homer seasons
C Johnny Bench Cincinnati
3B Ron Santo San Diego
SS Bert Campanaris Pittsburgh

The American League Starters are:
2B Dave Nelson Cleveland
SS Tom Tresh Yankees
3B Jim Ray Hart Detroit
CF Reggie Smith Boston
C Carlton Fish Boston
1B Don Mincher Baltimore
LF Tommie Agee Oakland
RF Reggie Jackson Oakland


.
A backup on the American League team this season is Willie McCovey. McCovey, who's name will come up frequently in future reports would likely have been my favourite player if the HOB3 really was baseball history. He joined the Tigers as a free agent in 1971 after a decade in San Francisco. McCovey surpassed the 50 homer mark 3 times while with the Giants, including an NL record 59 in 1966. He missed Babe Ruth's major league record set with the Yankees in 1923 by 6 round trippers. McCovey hit the 500th bomb of his career late in 1971 off of Marcelino Lopez of the Angels and now appears the best candidate to surpass the Babe's career mark of 641. Here are the top ten home run hitters at the all star break 1972.


500 HOMERUN CLUB - July 1972
Babe Ruth 641
Willie Mays 608 Mays was released by Milwaukee with just 1 homer in June 1972
Ralph Kiner 582
Rocky Colavito 581
Jimmie Foxx 559
Mickey Mantle 555
Frank Robinson 549 37 year old still active with Boston
Hank Greenberg 546
Willie McCovey 520 35 year old still active with Detroit
Joe Dimaggio 510

Active players in the top 20
Roger Maris 433 38 year old active with Cleveland
Frank Howard 391 36 year old active with Minnesota

While on the leaderboard topic here are the 3000 hit club and 300 win members

3000 HIT CLUB
George Sisler 3280
Ty Cobb 3254
Joe Jackson 3177
Tris Speaker 3120
Mel Ott 3120
Ted Williams 3097
Willie Mays 3043

No active players in the top 25 but Norm Siebern and Pete Rose are closing in

300 VICTORIES
Kid Nichols 383
Noodles Hahn 355
Cy Young 350
Walter Johnson 335
Ray Brown 333
George Mullin 332
Dizzy Dean 329
Jay Hughes 325
Josh Billings 323
Clark Griffith 320
Pat Bohen 315
Paul Dean 304

Check out the Dean brothers.

Last edited by Tiger Fan; 04-05-2003 at 01:18 AM.
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Old 04-05-2003, 01:43 AM   #2
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the 1972 allstar game

1972 ALL STAR GAME FROM DETROIT
As mentioned above the 1972 allstar game was a classic. After giving up a lead off walk to Joe Morgan and a single to Boog Powell, American League starter Bob Gibson fanned Orlando Cepeda, Bobby Bonds and Willie Stargell to end the inning. Gibson would not allow another hit in his 3 innings of work. National League starter Steve Barber allowed 1 run thanks to a Tommie Agee double and a Reggie Jackson RBI-single in the second.

In the fourth inning the Nationals tied the game at one. Joe Morgan drove in Ron Santo with a single off of veteran Orioles hurler Jerry Walker, who had replaced Gibson. It would remain 1-1 thru 7 innings thanks to some fine pitching from Nolan Ryan of the Mets and Atlanta's Phil Niekro of the National League along with Roger Nelson of Baltimore for the AL stars.

In the top of the 8th with Milwaukee's Steve Hamilton on the hill, the Nationals scored a pair of runs thanks to a 3-hit outburst. Atlanta's Dennis Menke delivered the crucial blow doubling in both runs but he ended the inning with an unsuccessful attempt to stretch the two-bagger into a triple.

Braves closer Cecil Upshaw, who had 42 saves a year ago, set the American Leaguers down in order in the bottom of the 8th. The Nationals had runners on first and third with nobody out in the ninth but with the infield drawn in pitcher Ted Davidson did his job, inducing easy ground balls from Jim Pagliaroni, Santo and Campanaris.

The Nationals gave the ball to Joe Hoerner in hopes the Houston closer could shut the door in the bottom of the ninth. Hoerner, who left St Louis as a free agent in the offseason, saved 111 games over the past 3 seasons. Detroit third baseman Jim Ray Hart worked Hoerner for a lead off walk. Pinch hitter Carl Yastremski grounded into a fielders choice retiring Hart. A free pass to pinch hitter Tom Haller put the tying run on base. Hoerner fanned Felipe Alou for the second out. Tommie Agee, who scored the American Leaguers first run, tied the game with a dramatic 2 out full count double that scored both Yaz and Haller. Reggie Jackson flied out to end the inning and we were headed for extra innings.

Neither team could mount a threat in the next 3 innings and we entered the thirteenth still knotted at 3. Yankee reliever Ted Davidson set down the Nationals in order in the top of the 13th. Jack Baldschun of Cincinnati, who struck out the side in the 12th, would take the mound for his third straight inning in the 13th. Lead off man Rico Petrocelli ground out but Dal Maxvill followed with a single for the American Leaguers. Baldschun got his 5th k of the night when he fanned Jim Ray Hart for the second out but a Carl Yastremski single moved Maxvill to third. Haller drew a walk to load the bases for Felipe Alou. Alou then ended the game with a bloop single to score Maxvill and end the game after nearly 5 hours.


The 1972 allstar game, then becomes a 7 year old's first real memory of watching a baseball game - and what a game it was.
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Old 04-05-2003, 04:36 AM   #3
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HOB3 Champions thru 1980

HOB3 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
1901 Pittsburgh, beat Boston (A) 2 to 0
1902 Pittsburgh, beat Chicago (A) 2 to 1
1903 Chicago (A), beat Pittsburgh 5 to 4
1904 Detroit, beat New York(N) 4 to 1
1905 Pittsburgh, beat Detroit 4 to 1
1906 Washington, beat St Louis(N) 4 to 1
1907 Pittsburgh, beat New York 4 to 2
1908 Pittsburgh, beat New York 4 to 1
1909 New York(N), beat Washington 4 to 1
1910 Boston (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 3
1911 New York(N), beat Boston (A) 4 to 1
1912 Chicago (A), beat Pittsburgh 4 to 3
1913 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 1
1914 Chicago (A), beat Boston (N) 4 to 1
1915 Chicago (A), beat New York(N) 4 to 1
1916 Chicago (A), beat Brooklyn 4 to 2
1917 Philadelphia (N), beat Chicago (A) 4 to 0
1918 Chicago (N), beat New York 4 to 1
1919 Philadelphia (N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 3
1920 Boston (A), beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 3
1921 New York, beat Boston (N) 4 to 1
1922 St Louis(N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 1
1923 Detroit, beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 1
1924 New York, beat Boston (N) 4 to 3
1925 New York(N), beat New York 4 to 1
1926 Pittsburgh, beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 3
1927 Philadelphia (A), beat New York(N) 4 to 1
1928 New York(N), beat New York 4 to 2
1929 New York(N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 0
1930 Detroit, beat Boston (N) 4 to 0
1931 Philadelphia (N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 3
1932 Philadelphia (N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 2
1933 Philadelphia (N), beat St.Louis(A) 4 to 2
1934 Philadelphia (N), beat Detroit 4 to 0
1935 Philadelphia (N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 3
1936 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 0
1937 Philadelphia (A), beat Chicago (N) 4 to 0
1938 Philadelphia (A), beat Chicago (N) 4 to 0
1939 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 1
1940 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 3
1941 New York, beat St Louis(N) 4 to 0
1942 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 3
1943 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 1
1944 Philadelphia (A), beat Brooklyn 4 to 3
1945 Brooklyn, beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 2
1946 Detroit, beat Pittsburgh 4 to 0
1947 Brooklyn, beat Detroit 4 to 2
1948 Boston (A), beat Boston (N) 4 to 1
1949 Detroit, beat Brooklyn 4 to 3
1950 Cleveland, beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 2
1951 St.Louis(A), beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 0
1952 Brooklyn, beat Boston (A) 4 to 1
1953 New York(N), beat New York 4 to 3
1954 New York, beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 1
1955 Philadelphia (N), beat New York 4 to 1
1956 Baltimore, beat Brooklyn 4 to 0
1957 Philadelphia (N), beat Kansas City 4 to 1
1958 New York, beat Pittsburgh 4 to 3
1959 Kansas City, beat San Francisco 4 to 3
1960 Kansas City, beat Los Angeles 4 to 1
1961 San Francisco (N), beat Kansas City 4 to 2
1962 Kansas City, beat San Francisco 4 to 2
1963 San Francisco, beat Kansas City 4 to 2
1964 San Francisco, beat Baltimore 4 to 1
1965 Cleveland, beat San Francisco 4 to 1
1966 Los Angeles, beat Detroit 4 to 2
1967 Chicago (A), beat Houston 4 to 2
1968 Oakland, beat Cincinnati 4 to 2
1969 Oakland, beat Cincinnati 4 to 1
1970 Boston (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 3
1971 New York(N), beat Oakland 4 to 2
1972 Cincinnati, beat Minnesota 4 to 2
1973 Kansas City, beat New York(N) 4 to 3
1974 New York(N), beat Oakland 4 to 3
1975 Boston (A), beat Atlanta 4 to 3
1976 Cincinnati, beat Kansas City 4 to 3
1977 Oakland, beat Houston 4 to 1
1978 Oakland, beat Cincinnati 4 to 3
1979 Oakland, beat New York(N) 4 to 2
1980 Boston (A), beat New York(N) 4 to 1





WORLD SERIES TITLES BY TEAM

PHIL/KC/OAKLAND A's 18 - 1913,27,36,37,38,39,40,42,43,44,59,60,62,68,69,77, 78,79
Philadelphia Phillies 9 - 1917,19,31,32,33,34,35,55,57
NY/SF Giants 9 - 1909,11,25,28,29,53,61,63,64
Pittsburgh Pirates 6 - 1901,02,05,07,08,26
Chicago White Sox 6 - 1903,12,14,15,16,67
Boston Red Sox 6 - 1910,20,48,70,75,80
New York Yankees 5 - 1921,24,41,54,58
Detroit Tigers 5 - 1904,23,30,46,49
Bkn/Los Angeles Dodgers 4 - 1945,47,52,66
Cleveland Indians 2 - 1950,65
StL/Baltimore Orioles 2 - 1951,56
New York Mets 2 - 1971,74
Cincinnati Reds 2 - 1972,76
Washington/Minnesota 1 - 1906
Chicago Cubs 1 - 1918
St Louis Cardinals 1 - 1922
Kansas City Royals 1 - 1973

Last edited by Tiger Fan; 04-05-2003 at 04:38 AM.
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Old 04-05-2003, 12:37 PM   #4
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looks like my mets have a little dynasty a brewing, very nice! very good read, looking to see where this goes
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Old 04-05-2003, 11:00 PM   #5
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and look at the domination from the City of Brotherly Love!
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Old 04-06-2003, 12:29 AM   #6
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Great to see the HOB back. I was actually wondering when you would restart to post info just last nite.
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Old 04-06-2003, 01:07 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally posted by blubbla
and look at the domination from the City of Brotherly Love!
Yep. Expect a big story on the Phily domination of the thirties.
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Old 04-06-2003, 02:42 AM   #8
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Go White Sox! 6 World Series since 1900, thats great. And they have more than the Yankees and the Cubs!
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Old 04-06-2003, 02:21 PM   #9
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I'm so glad the HOB is back. The first thing I ever checked out on these boards was the HOB2, and I was a huge fan of the level of detail as well as the interesting stories that developed. I'm really looking forward to reading more about this.

And - I just spent 5-10 minutes figuring out which one team had never won the Series, then another few minutes figuring out that they had made it six times but never won. I'm so glad it's a team I really hate - and one that has a RL history of choking.
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Old 04-07-2003, 12:16 AM   #10
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yay! Glad to see HOB3!
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Old 04-07-2003, 10:07 PM   #11
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Gotta love those 30's in Philadelphia, Man those A's were good, even when my Phillies were winning the titles the A's were still there. Outstanding.
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Old 04-09-2003, 01:27 PM   #12
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Reggie and the glory days in Philadelphia

In real life the 1971 allstar game was right about the time I really started to follow baseball and the Detroit Tigers in particular. I also recall having great interest in Reggie Jackson after seeing highlights of his monsterous home run in the game. In an effort to try and keep a continuity between real life memories and the HOB3 I thought I would take a detailed look at the career of Mr. October plus pass along some info about his Athletics franchise, which has become the Yankees of the HOB3.

REGGIE JACKSON
Just like in real life, the HOB3 Reggie Jackson surpassed the 500 homer plateau. In the HOB3 Jackson finished with 507 - good for 12th on the alltime list as of the 1986 season. He played 33 postseason games but was hardly a Mr. October, hitting just .242. He won his only 2 World Series rings in his first two seasons, but his best playoff performance was saved for the 1982 NLCS. Reggie batted .381 with 2 homers and 7 rbi's but his Houston Astros blew a 2 game lead and lost the series in 5 to the Mets.
Never an MVP, Jackson did have a solid 17 year career with Oakland, Baltimore and Houston. A 10-time allstar he was an automatic Hall of Famer due to his 500 homers.

CAREER STATS
REAL LIFE 2820 games, .262, 563 HR, 1702 RBI
HOB3 2585 games, .282, 507 HR, 1739 RBI

1930's PHILADELPHIA - CENTER OF THE BASEBALL UNIVERSE
For a baseball fan there was never a better place to be than in Philadelphia in the 1930's. During the 20 World Series played between 1926 and 1945, on just 3 occassions did Philadelphia not have at least one representative and on 3 occassions it was the Phillies against the A's in the Fall Classic.

Let's start with a look at the Athletics who totally dominated the American League for two decades.

Here are the A's season by season results from 1926 to 1945


YEAR RECORD FINISH
1926 91-63 1
1927 94-60 1 Won WS
1928 95-59 2
1929 110-44 1
1930 93-61 2
1931 84-70 1
1932 90-65 1 won playoff for AL
1933 83-71 2
1934 81-73 3
1935 88-66 1
1936 97-57 1 Won WS
1937 91-63 1 Won WS
1938 114-40 1 Won WS
1939 113-41 1 Won WS
1940 98-56 1 Won WS
1941 93-61 2
1942 96-58 1 Won WS
1943 97-57 1 Won WS
1944 99-55 1 Won WS
1945 86-68 1
-

With 8 World Series titles in 9 seasons, no team comes close to duplicating the A's success. The greatest team in HOB3 history has to be the 1938-39 versions of the Athletics. The '38 squad finished 21 games ahead of the second place Yankees while the '39 team had a 25 game cushion on second place Boston. From 1936-40 the Philadelphia A's were 20-4 in World Series play including 3 straight sweeps of the NL opponent from 1936-38. Season by season here is a look at the A's clubs from 1936-45.

1936 Led by an Amos Rusie Award winning season from pitcher Jumbo Elliott (23-11, 3.19) the A's cruise to the pennant with a 15 game margin over second place Chicago. A 4 game sweep of the Cardinals completes the dominant season. 26 year old Bill Dietrich wins 20 games for the first time in his young career. Kent Greenfield (17-14), a free agent pickup from Detroit, and Pea ridge Day (17-8) round out the rotation.
The A's survive a season ending injury to Mickey Cochrane (.293,3,47) in July but there is more than enough offense from Jimmie Foxx (.281,24,79), Harry Rice (.289,15,86) and an outfield consisting of Bob Johnson (.291,22,85), Johnny Frederick (.308,16,112) and Wally Moses (.325,2,46).

1937Tied with the Yankees with a week to play the A's turn it on and win by 3 games thanks to winning 3 out of 4 in Yankee Stadium the final weekend. Greenfield (23-7), Dietrich (21-12) and Al Benton (23-13) each won 20 to lead the majors stingiest pitching staff. Cochrane (.322,2,62) appeared fully recovered from his injury a year ago. The infield featured Foxx (.312,25,90), Charlie Gehringer (.291,11,93), Rice (.297,15,90) and newcomer Bobby Reeves (.245,6,46). Reeves was acquired from the Phillies at the trade deadline to replace the slumping Pinky Higgins at the hot corner.
The outfield once again featured Johnson (.270,18,85) and Frederick (.281,13,101) along with Bruce Campbell (.276,12,70) who missed much of the 1936 season with an injury.
The A's swept the Cubs in the World Series as Jimmie Foxx hit .586 with a pair of homers and Rusie Award winner Kent Greenfield went 2-0.

1938 114 wins! The A's added the great Dizzy Dean to an already imposing rotation. Here are the records of the 4 starters. Dean (29-4, 1.85), Greenfield (28-3,2.15), Dietrich (25-8, 2.28) and Al Benton (19-11, 3.66). Dean won the Rusie Award in the greatest season of his career.
The A's also added outfielder Mel Ott (.303,16,76). Ott had won the last 3 NL MVP Awards. A spring trade sent Bruce Campbell to Detroit in exchange for centerfielder Gee Walker (.300,6,74). Johnny Frederick left via free agency leaving Bob Johnson (.285,18,90) as the only returnee in the outfield.
Third base was the only weak spot in the infield so the A's inked free agent Arky Vaughan to fill the void. Vaughan (.283,7,63) was coming off an allstar season in Pittsburgh. Jimmie Foxx (.346,34,140) won the 5th MVP award of his career. Gehringer (.267,5,54), Rice (.233,13,76) and catcher Cochrane (.285,5,83) rounded out the starting lineup.
The World Series was again a 4 game sweep of Chicago with Kent Greenfield taking the MVP award on the strength of 2 complete game victories and an 0.50 era.

1939 4 20-game winners highlighted the 1939 squad that won 113 games. Dizzy Dean (25-6) won his second straight Rusie Award and making 4 in a row for Athletics hurlers. Greenfield (26-9), Dietrich (24-7) and Benton (20-7) again completed the rotation. Bob Johnson left for Detroit as a free agent with youngster Sam Chapman (.219,10,66) taking his spot in leftfield. Mel Ott (.298,36,143) and Jimmie Foxx (.310,35,113) finished 2-3 in homers behind the Yankees Joe Dimaggio.
It was almost unbelievable when the Cardinals handed the A's their first World Series loss in 3 years but Philadelphia responded with a 10-2 win in game 2. The A's then reeled off 3 straight wins in St Louis to take their 4th straight series.

More to come....
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Old 04-09-2003, 06:59 PM   #13
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Consistently some of the best-written, most enjoyable reading on the boards! Thanks for all the HOBs; looking forward to many more.
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Old 04-10-2003, 02:00 AM   #14
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A's glory years of 1936-45 continued.

1940 Another pennant despite some major changes. Bill Dietrich left for the Cardinals as a freee agent but he was hardly missed with the elevation of Benny Frey to the starting rotation. The 34 year old Frey, who spent the last 4 seasons in the bullpen, went 24-8 to earn his first Rusie Award and gave the A's 5 straight pitcher of the year trophies spread out over 4 different players. Greenfield (21-11), Benton (17-15) and Dean (17-9) all returned.
Mickey Cochrane went down for the season in early April so the catching duties went to career backup Ed Madjeski (.278,6,58). Jimmie Foxx (.297,30,103) and Arky Vaughan (.291,7,69) were back to man the corner infield positions but with Gehringer and Rice aging there was a new doubleplay combo. Dario Lodigiani (.280,6,48) seemed ready for fulltime duty at 2B as a 24 year old while Frankie Crosetti (.207,4,24) was acquired from Brooklyn to take over for Rice at SS.
The outfield remained the same as last season with Mel Ott (.289,22,90), Gee Walker (.298,2,61) and Sam Chapman (.312,24,103). For the 24 year old Chapman, this would be the greatest season of his 15 year career.

The 1940 World Series against the Cardinals proved to be a classic. The A's won the first two games in St Louis by 3-1 and 4-0 scores. Dizzy Dean was sensational in the opener and Al Benton outduelled former Athletic Bill Dietrich in game 2. The series shifted to Philadelphia and thats when the St Louis bats came alive. Doc Marshall homered in both games 3 and 4 to lead the Redbirds to 11-7 and 10-5 victories. Dietrich got revenge on his ex-mates taking game 5 by a 5-2 scores and the Cardinals were one win away from their first World Championship since 1922.

Game 6 turned into the Ed Madjeski show as the A's backup catcher had 3 hits including a homer and 7 rbi's as Philadelphia evened the series with an 11-8 victory. Game 7 would feature ex-Cardinal Dizzy Dean on the hill for the A's against Bill Lee. Mel Ott's first inning double gave the A's a 2-0 lead before many fans had reached their seats and that was all Dizzy would need as he held the Cardinals to just 1 run in a 3-1 Athletics victory.

1941 The streak of 5 straight World Series titles comes to an end as the Yankees finish two games ahead of the A's atop the American League. The A's were tied with the Yankees with 4 games to play but they dropped 3 out of 4 to Washington to end their reign. The dynasty appears to be in need of retooling as Mickey Cochrane retires, Kent Greenfield finishes the season in AAA and Gee Walker signs with the Red Sox. Foxx, Ott and Dean are all still in their early thirties so there is a good base to work from. Foxx wins yet another MVP after a .324,41,115 season.


1942 Back on top. Dizzy Dean wins another Rusie Award with the second 29 victory season of his career. Benny Frey (18-17), Al Benton (17-15) and 31 year old rookie Roger Wolff (16-17) round out the rotation. Harry Craft (.340,13,103) who came over in a deal with Cincinnati last year to replace Gee Walker in centerfield, finished second in the batting average race. Ott (.309,21,103) and Chapman (.246,16,86) complete the outfield. Jimmie Foxx led the American League in homers with 25 while second baseman Dario Lodigiani (.326,8,76) had a strong year. Second year man Hal Wagner (.311,4,57) made it easy for A's fans to forget Mickey Cochrane behind the plate. Foxx joined Babe Ruth as the only two players to surpass the 500 career homer mark but at 515 Foxx has a long way to go to catch the Babe's total of 641.

The World Series again put the A's against St Louis and once again the Cardinals had a 3 games to two lead. However, just like two years ago the A's would win game 6 - this time by a 5-2 score thanks to a Jimmie Foxx homer. Game 7 would again go to Philadelphia, this time in a rout as Dizzy Dean 4 hit the Cardinals in a 16-1 Philadelphia laugher.

1943 The A's cruise to yet another pennant as Foxx (.274,26,108), Ott (.286,20,77) and Dean (24-9, 2.29) again lead the way. Ex-Brown Johnny Lucadello (.334,8,78) joins the team at third base replacing Arky Vaughan who signed with the Yankees.
Once again the World Series pits the Cardinals against the A's. St Louis wins the opener 4-1 before Philadelphia reels off 4 straight wins.

1944 99 wins and a 6 game margin of victory over second place Detroit. Fred Caligiuri (17-10) joins the rotation after 3 years in AAA and the 25 year old is named rookie of the year - the first Athletic so honoured since Jimmie Foxx won it in 1928. Dizzy Dean (28-6) wins the 4th Rusie Award of his career and Mel Ott completes the sweep of the hardware with his first AL MVP to go with the 3 he won in the National League in the thirties. Ott also won the second batting crown of his career. Free agent outfielder Frenchy Bordagaray (.312,6,65) was the only new face besides Caligiuri although a 22 year old third baseman named George Kell saw some action in September and could be a force in the future.
The series saw the A's face Brooklyn and they dropped the first two games to the Dodgers before winning three straight when the series moved south to Philadelphia. Brooklyn appeared to have ripped the heart out of the Athletics in a thrilling game 6 comeback. Due to injuries the A's gave the ball to little used Russ Christopher. Christopher was outstanding through 8 innings, blanking the Dodgers and holding a 3-0 lead with just 3 outs seperating the A's from another World Championship. It was not to be, at least not on this day, as the Dodgers rallied for 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth to win 4-3 and force a 7th game.
The Dodgers seemed to have all the momentum heading into game 7 but the Athletics had Dizzy Dean. Dean, 10-4 lifetime in World Series play, was coming off of a 1-0, 2 hit shutout victory in game 4. A sacrifice fly scored Mickey Vernon in the second to give the hometown Dodgers a 1-0 lead but that was all Dean would allow. He held the Dodgers to just that one run on 5 hits and waited for his teammates bats to come alive. They did in the 7th as Philadelphia scored a pair thanks to doubles from Lodigiani and Crosetti. Dean would seal the victory with an rbi single of his own in the top of the ninth and he retired the Dodgers in order in the bottom half to clinch another World Series for the A's.

1945 One last moment of glory for the Philadelphia dynasty. Jimmie Foxx was gone as wonky knees hastened his retirement. Catcher Hal Wagner was dealt to the Cubs. Mel Ott signed as a free agent with Cincinnati. Injuries also hampered the season of sophomore Caligiuri and Harry Craft. As management did its best to keep the dynasty going, luring Ted Williams (.351,21,93) from Boston to replace Ott and acquiring Frank McCormick from Pittsburgh to fill in for Foxx. Dean won another Rusie Award and the A's took the pennant by 3 games over Detroit. However, an injury in his final start of the season would force Dean to miss the postseason.
The World Series was a rematch with Brooklyn. The first two games in Philadelphia were blowouts with game 1 going to the Dodgers by a 10-4 score and game two in 16-1 in Philadelphia's favour. The next two games were much tigher as the Dodgers scored in the bottom of the 8th to take game 3 by a 5-4 score and the A's pulled even with an 8-7 extra-innings victory in Game 4.
Russ Meers 2-hit the A's in game 5 and Pee Wee Reese homered to give the Dodgers a 2-0 victory. Game 6 was a blowout as Roger Wolff was not an adequate replacement for the injured Dizzy Dean. Brooklyn waltzed to an 11-2 win and handed the A's their first series loss in 8 trips to the postseason.


SUMMARY The Athletics had some other great runs, particularily the Kansas City club that won 5 straight pennants and 3 World Series titles from 1959-63 and the decade in Oakland from 1968-79 when the A's won 5 World Series and 7 pennants but clearly the greatest dynasty in the HOB3 was the Athletics of 1935-45.
Hall of Famers from those clubs include Jimmie Foxx with 559 career homers, Mel Ott who is one of just 8 members in the 3000 hit club as of 1985. Foxx and Ott also rank 1-2 in career rbi's. Dizzy Dean is 7th alltime with 329 career victories. Kent Greenfield won 269 games in his career. Al Benton had 212 wins and spent his entire career with the A's. Injuries curtailed Mickey Cochrane's career but he still had over 2000 career hits.

Next up will be a look at the Phillies team of the early thirties before I move on to a couple of exciting races as players challenge the Babe and hit king George Sisler.
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Old 04-10-2003, 06:43 AM   #15
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Amazing thread! Thanks for taking the time to write this up Tiger Fan
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Old 04-10-2003, 07:49 PM   #16
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Random notes as I sim 1989-90

Rickey Henderson blows out his knee at age 29, ending his career with 519 stolen bases. He seemed to be on pace to have a shot at Billy Hamilton's record of 973.

Not again Cub fans....Maddux gets away. The Cubs deal the number 2 prospect in the game to California for Billy Buckner. Buckner hits .317 as a 37 year old helping the Cubbies to a 4th place finish and is a spare part the following season. In Maddux's rookie season he wins 15 games and helps the Angels to the American League pennant.

Dan Driessen becomes the 9th member of the 3000 hit club and at age 38 is just 152 hits away from being the alltime hit king. Cesar Cedeno could become the 10th player to reach the 3000 mark if he can stay healthy for the 1990 season.

John Milner's great career comes to an end with 539 homers. Milner played all but 6 of his 2463 major league games in a Mets uniform.

The Rocket continues to dominate. Clemens wins his 5th Rusie Award and runs his career record to 136-44. He is 27. Can he reach the 300 victory plateau?

The ageless wonder. At age 39 Randy Jones goes 24-5 to win his third Rusie Award. He leads the Reds to a World Series title. Quite a change from his rookie year in San Diego when Jones went 3-24 and followed it up with an 0-12 sophomore campaign. Jones now sports a nifty 235-200 career record and looks like he may have one more good season left in his arm.
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Old 04-10-2003, 08:44 PM   #17
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Poor Rickey Henderson
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Old 04-10-2003, 08:52 PM   #18
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Great read, TF! Thanks for the write-ups!
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Old 04-11-2003, 03:08 AM   #19
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was Dave Kingman any better than in real life.
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Old 04-11-2003, 08:20 AM   #20
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Just a quick comment on Kingman before I go to work. I will write more on him later but the quick answer is no. Kingman batted just .234 for his career (compared to .236 in real life) and hit 305 homers (compared to 442 in real life).

He played all but 11 of his 1897 career games with San Francisco, making 1 allstar appearance. Kingman never played a postseason game.
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