[TotalEnd98]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

I actually haven't made up my mind yet. For the most part, I've stuck strictly to history... but then again, I'm doing an All-Star game already, and plan to open the Hall of Fame early, so maybe I will start the playoffs in 1882.

Personally, I wouldn't. Saving the playoffs for the advent of the American League makes the AL seem that much more important. Of course, the choice is yours, but I'd hold off on the playoffs until the AL has arrived.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by TotalEnd98

Personally, I wouldn't. Saving the playoffs for the advent of the American League makes the AL seem that much more important. Of course, the choice is yours, but I'd hold off on the playoffs until the AL has arrived.

Well, the problem is that there actually was a postseason series for a few years between the NL and AA. So if I want to be truly historical, I'll have it for a few years and then stop. I suppose if I really want to start thinking a lot about this, I could wonder about what to do in 1901, 1902 and 1904 (and 1994 I suppose).

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

We're into mid-July 1875 now.... I'll give a standings update at month-end, but until then, here's the career RBI leaders through the end of 1874:

(1) 171 - Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings
(2) 158 - Joe Start, New York Mutuals
(3) 155 - Cal McVey, Boston Red Stockings
(4) 145 - Adrian "Cap" Anson, Rockford Forest Citys-New York Mutuals
(5) 133 - George Wright, Boston Red Stockings
(6) 130 - Dick Higham, New York Mutuals
(7) 122 - George Hall, Washington Olympics-New York Mutuals
(8) 120 - Charlie Gould, Boston Red Stockings
(8) 120 - Al Reach, Philadelphia Athletics
(10) 118 - Frank McCarton, Middletown Mansfields-Boston Red Stockings
(11) 117 - Jimmy Wood, Chicago White Stockings-Baltimore Canaries
(12) 112 - George Bird, Rockford Forest Citys-Philadelphia Athletics
(12) 112 - Jim Foran, Fort Wayne Kekiongas-Brooklyn Atlantics
(14) 108 - Ed Pinkham, Chicago White Stockings-Brooklyn Atlantics
(14) 108 - Deacon White, Cleveland Forest Citys-Baltimore Canaries
(16) 104 - Charlie Hodes, Chicago White Stockings-Brooklyn Eckfords-New York Mutuals
(16) 104 - Pony Sager, Rockford Forest Citys-Brooklyn Eckfords-Washington Blue Legs-Chicago White Stockings
(18) 103 - Bill Craver, Troy Haymakers-Washington Blue Legs-Philadelphia Whites
(19) 101 - "Orator Jim" O'Rourke, Middletown Mansfields-Boston Red Stockings
(20) 100 - John Radcliff, Philadlephia Athletics

In honor of Ross Barnes' achievement, my avatar will now be switching back to him for the time being....

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

I'm still not quite done with July 1875, but I thought I'd do a little "baseball biography" of one of my historical players.... in this case second baseman Bob "Magnet" Addy.

Addy was, of course, called "Magnet" because of his superior fielding ability, and it was this fielding ability that caused him to be given the starting second base job with the Rockford Forest Citys in 1871. At 26, Bob was actually one of the more experienced players on the team, and he played a sort of "older brother" role with the team's younger stars, such as shortstop Pony Sager, center fielder George Bird and first baseman Adrian Anson. However, Bob's contributions were not merely off the field, as he drove in a team-leading 26 runs and batted a robust .343. Sadly, the team did not meet expectations, as they ended the 1871 campaign with a poor 8-17 record. Because of their poor play and the high cost of travel to the East Coast, the Rockford team was disbanded after the 1871 season and its players were set free to sign with whatever teams they wished.

Addy left his friends and teammates behind and set out east for the 1872 season, signing a contract with the Washington Olympics, who had gone 13-19 in 1871 but seemed poised for a breakout year. Addy was given the starting second base job, and hoped he could repeat his 1871 success for the Olympics.

However, it was not to be. While the team got out to a 5-4 start and was competitive on the field, the financial backers were losing money on the players' contracts (including Addy's - the highest paid player on his team). With an insufficient revenue source, the team collapsed in late May when they could no longer pay players' salaries. For his part, Bob had a miserable season back east, going only 2 for 31 in the team's nine games. He frequently wrote to his family in upstate New York about his dislike of the nation's capital, still not quite recovered from the ravages of war only seven years earlier.

Freed from his contract, Addy headed back home to Rochester for the fall and wondered whether he would ever return to professional base ball. However, unbeknownst to Bob, his excellent season in 1871 had attracted the attention of two veteran infielders. Both Joe Start and Dickey Pearce of the New York Mutuals had noticed Addy and figured he might make a good infield mate. The Mutuals had always been a bit unsettled at second, with Bob Ferguson and Frank Fleet alternating at the position, and neither of them really being all that successful with the cranks who followed the team's every move. So Start was dispatched up to Rochester in the winter of 1872 to convince Addy to return to professional base ball.

With a mixture of excitement and reluctance, Addy agreed to play for the Mutuals in 1873. However, it went poorly right from the start. Addy started slowly, and by midseason was replaced at second by Frank Fleet. For the rest of the year, he struggled to find any playing time at all and was ultimately waived in October 1873 after hitting only .213 for New York. He was picked up by a team that was still deciding whether to return for the 1874 campaign - the Baltimore Marylands. Addy promptly sent the team president a telegram stating that he would head back home to Rochester rather than play for the Marylands, as he hated "the very smell" of the Chesapeake.

Fortunately for Addy, the Marylands decided to disband after the 1873 season, leaving him again without a base ball home. He again thought about quitting the game, but again decided against it, as a brand new team started up in Hartford, Connecticut in 1874 and needed any experienced players they could find. They were more than happy to give Addy the starting second base job sight unseen. Finally away from the pressure he'd felt in Washington and New York, Addy became something of a minor star in Hartford - he hit a team-leading .303, and was one of the few players who was consistent on both offense and defense for the lowly Dark Blues. Also, the team was on fairly stable financial ground despite its lackluster record so there was no fear of a sudden collapse, as Addy had gone through in 1872. For the first time since his inaugural season, Addy was happy on the ball field.

Addy returned to Hartford for the 1875 season - his first chance to play for the same team two years in a row. Back in his familiar spot at second base, Addy was again solid for a fairly poor Hartford team. Through mid-July, he was hitting .274 and was third on the team in runs scored with 27. In addition, he was one of the National Association's best fielders at second base. Although the 30-year-old Addy was obviously never going to be a star, he had finally found his base ball niche and seemed happy. As he told a Hartford reporter, "If we could just get this ball club to be a winner, I'd have done everything I want to do in this game and could go back to Rochester or maybe move out west."

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

August 1, 1875 Standings

Boston Red Stockings 39-13
Philadelphia Athletics 32-11
Philadelphia Whites 32-12
New York Mutuals 30-12
St. Louis Red Stockings (defunct) 9-10
Keokuk Westerns (defunct) 5-8
Chicago White Stockings 17-23
St. Louis Brown Stockings 15-25
Washington Nationals (defunct) 9-19
New Haven Elm Citys 12-23
Brooklyn Atlantics 10-21
Philadelphia Centennials (defunct) 0-14
Hartford Dark Blues 13-32

League Leaders:

Batting - George Hall, New York Mutuals, .401
Home Runs - Charlie Gould, Boston Red Stockings and Jim Foran, Brooklyn Atlantics, 2 each
Runs Batted In - John Bass, Hartford Dark Blues, 42
Runs Scored - Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals, 58
Hits - Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings, 82
Doubles - Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings, 14
Triples - John Radcliff, Philadelphia Athletics, 8
Stolen Bases - Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals, 29

Wins - Asa Brainard, New York Mutuals, 16
Earned Run Average - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, 1.36
Strikeouts - Bill Stearns, Philadelphia Whites, 20
Opponent Average - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, .207

For my new avatar, I'm going to go with pitcher Cherokee Fisher of the Boston Red Stockings, who's got an astonishing 15-0 record through the end of July. The real Cherokee Fisher pitched for seven teams in as many years, and had a lifetime record of 57-84. In my replay, Fisher had a 13-15 record before coming over to Boston after the 1872 season, and has been 51-18 since.

[Dargone]

Great thread

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

August 20, 1875 - Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson of the Brooklyn Atlantics has just become the fourth player in BHL history to hit for the cycle in an 18-15 shootout win over the Hartford Dark Blues. He joins Frank McCarton, Ed Pinkham and Jim Foran on the list of players to have accomplished this rare feat. In honor of his achievement, the avatar is going to switch over to Death For Flying Things.

[gohorns98]

Do you make your own schedules for this league?

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by gohorns98

Do you make your own schedules for this league?

I use the as-played schedules from www.retrosheet.org, and input them manually. If you're ever going to do something like this, be sure you omit the tie games, or you'll end up with too many games, especially from the pre-night baseball era.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

September 1, 1875 Standings/Leaders

Philadelphia Athletics 42-13
Boston Red Stockings 43-16
Philadelphia Whites 37-15
New York Mutuals 36-15
St. Louis Red Stockings (defunct) 9-10
Keokuk Westerns (defunct) 5-8
Chicago White Stockings 20-29
Brooklyn Atlantics 13-22
Washington Nationals (defunct) 9-19
New Haven Elm Citys 14-26
Philadelphia Centennials (defunct) 0-14
St. Louis Brown Stockings 16-33
Hartford Dark Blues 16-40

League Leaders:

Batting - George Hall, New York Mutuals, .392
Home Runs - 3 tied with 2 each
Runs Batted In - Ezra Sutton, Philadelphia Athletics, 56
Runs Scored - Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals, 70
Hits - John Radcliff, Philadelphia Athletics, 95
Doubles - Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings, 16
Triples - John Radcliff, Philadelphia Athletics, 9
Stolen Bases - Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals, 30

Wins - Dick McBride, Philadelphia Athletics, 20
ERA - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, 1.37
Strikeouts - Bill Stearns, Philadelphia Whites, 22
Opponent Average - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, 1.98

In honor of the Athletics' march into first, I'm switching the avatar to Ezra Sutton - the best hitter on the Philadelphia team.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Well, I've finally made it to October 1, 1875, so I thought I'd fire up another update:

Philadelphia Athletics 46-15
Boston Red Stockings 48-20
Philadelphia Whites 42-19
New York Mutuals 41-21
St. Louis Red Stockings (defunct) 9-10
Keokuk Westerns (defunct) 5-8
Chicago White Stockings 23-31
New Haven Elm Citys 17-27
Washington Nationals (defunct) 9-19
Brooklyn Atlantics 16-27
Philadelphia Centennials (defunct) 0-14
St. Louis Brown Stockings 19-37
Hartford Dark Blues 19-46

League Leaders:

Batting - George Hall, New York Mutuals, .386
Home Runs - 4 tied with 2 each
Runs Batted In - John Bass, Hartford Dark Blues, 61
Runs Scored - Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals, 84
Hits - Mike McGeary, Philadelphia Whites, 112
Doubles - Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings, 18
Triples - Lip Pike, Hartford and Ed Pinkham, Brooklyn, 10 each
Stolen Bases - Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals, 39

Wins - Dick McBride, Philadelphia Athletics, 22
ERA - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, 1.72
Strikeouts - Dick McBride, Athletics and Bill Stearns, Whites, 23 each
Opponent Average - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, .219

I've decided to go with an even more faded avatar for a bit - Dickie Flowers of the Mutuals. Flowers has 19 runs scored more than anyone else in base ball at this point, which is quite an achievement considering he doesn't play for the high-powered Bostons or Athletics.

[DAL 9000]

Since I heart 19th-century baseball, this thread makes me a happy, happy youngster. Keep up the good work-- and by the way, how the hell has Brooklyn won so many games? The '75 Brooklyn A's went 2-42, for heaven's sake. (Now /that's/ a new favorite team for you, Dagrims.)

[cubuff38]

This was awesome, is it dead now?

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sorry for the delayed reply. The league is not dead, in fact I've just finished the 1875 season (well, about two weeks ago, but anyway). I was having problems with Cato which are summarized over in the mods section. The conclusion was that I got it to run without the leaderboards or Win Shares for 1875.... which sucks, but I will continue to work on a solution and I still have the files archived so that if the problem is ever solved in Catobase I can go back and run it again.

Anyway, here are the final 1875 standings:

Boston Red Stockings 58-21 (champion)
Philadelphia Athletics 54-19
Philadelphia Whites 46-22
New York Mutuals 45-23
St. Louis Red Stockings 9-10 (defunct)
Keokuk Westerns 5-8 (defunct)
Chicago White Stockings 29-38
Brooklyn Atlantics 17-27
Washington Nationals 9-19 (defunct)
New Haven Elm Citys 18-29
Philadelphia Centennials 0-14 (defunct)
St. Louis Brown Stockings 22-46
Hartford Dark Blues 23-59

Boston had a late surge to take the first-place crown by a very narrow margin from the Athletics and win their fourth consecutive title. So, the champions of the National Association have now been:

1871 Cleveland Forest Citys
1872 Boston Red Stockings
1873 Boston Red Stockings
1874 Boston Red Stockings
1875 Boston Red Stockings

For the 1876 season, the association format will be scrapped as the new National League is formed. The Boston Red Stockings (renamed the Red Caps), the Philadelphia Athletics, the New York Mutuals, the Chicago White Stockings, the St. Louis Brown Stockings, and the Hartford Dark Blues will survive to compete in the new association, and two new teams will be added - the Cincinnati Reds and the Louisville Grays.

This means that, in addition to the four teams which disbanded during the season, the Philadelphia Whites, the Brooklyn Atlantics and the New Haven Elm Citys will cease operations this offseason. So there will be a rather large pool of players from which the new teams can draw. Also, by the end of the 1876 season, "free agency" will allow many of the original players to begin signing contracts with the teams of their choice. So it will be interesting to see how this new National League copes with such challenges.....

The league leaders in a few categories:

Batting:

George Hall, New York Mutuals - .391
Mike McGeary, Philadelphia Whites - .374
Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson, Brooklyn Atlantics - .366
Joe McDermott, New Haven Elm Citys - .363
George Wright, Boston Red Stockings - .361

Hits:

Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings - 123
George Wright, Boston Red Stockings - 123
John Radcliff, Philadelphia Athletics - 121
Mike McGeary, Philadelphia Whites - 120
2 tied with 117

Doubles:

Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings - 22
John Bass, Hartford Dark Blues - 20
"Orator Jim" O'Rourke, Boston Red Stockings - 19
John Radcliff, Philadelphia Athetics - 17
George Heubel, Philadelphia Athletics - 16

Triples:

Lip Pike, Hartford Dark Blues - 12
John Radcliff, Philadelphia Athletics - 11
"Orator Jim" O'Rourke, Boston Red Stockings - 10
Ed Pinkham, Brooklyn Atlantics - 10
Bob "Magnet" Addy, Hartford Dark Blues - 9

Home Runs:

Charlie Gould, Boston Red Stockings - 2
Jim Foran, Brooklyn Atlantics - 2
Eddie Booth, Boston Red Stockings - 2
George Hall, New York Mutuals - 2
George Heubel, Philadelphia Athletics - 2

Runs Batted In:

John Bass, Hartford Dark Blues - 68
George Heubel, Philadelphia Athletics - 67
Ezra Sutton, Philadelphia Athletics - 66
"Orator Jim" O'Rourke, Boston Red Stockings - 66
Dick Higham, New York Mutuals - 65

Runs Scored:

Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals - 92
Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings - 75
John Radcliff, Philadelphia Athletics - 71
Fred Waterman, Hartford Dark Blues - 66
George Wright, Boston Red Stockings - 66

Stolen Bases:

Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals - 44 (of 57)
Ezra Sutton, Philadelphia Athletics - 34 (of 36)
Lip Pike, Hartford Dark Blues - 34 (of 36)
Fred Waterman, Hartford Dark Blues - 28 (of 38)
Pony Sager, Chicago White Stockings - 23 (of 37)

OPS:

George Hall, New York Mutuals - .907
Tom Carey, St. Louis Red Stockings - .853
Jimmy Wood, New Haven Elm Citys - .844
Joe McDermott, New Haven Elm Citys - .834
Gat Stires, New Haven Elm Citys - .828

ERA:

Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals - 1.66
Frank Buttery, Boston Red Stockings - 1.98
Al Spalding, Boston Red Stockings - 2.00
Bill Stearns, Philadelphia Whites - 2.00
Cherokee Fisher, Boston Red Stockings - 2.03

Wins-Losses:

Dick McBride, Philadelphia Athletics - 26-4
Cherokee Fisher, Boston Red Stockings - 22-2
Frank Buttery, Boston Red Stockings - 21-10
Asa Brainard, New York Mutuals - 20-9
Dan Collins, Chicago White Stockings - 19-23

Opponent Average:

Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals - .218
Bill Stearns, Philadelphia Whites - .228
Frank Buttery, Boston Red Stockings - .237
Joe Borden, Philadelphia Whites - .244
Al Spalding, Boston Red Stockings - .253

In honor of his batting title, my avatar is going to be switching over to George Hall of the New York Mutuals. I'll be doing the offseason stuff for the next day or two and hopefully will be able to update with the start of 1876 later this week. Thanks to all who've been reading, and sorry for the long layoff.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by DAL 9000

Since I heart 19th-century baseball, this thread makes me a happy, happy youngster. Keep up the good work-- and by the way, how the hell has Brooklyn won so many games? The '75 Brooklyn A's went 2-42, for heaven's sake. (Now /that's/ a new favorite team for you, Dagrims.)

If you look back over the Brooklyn roster for that season, it looks like they basically let all of their real players go sometime in the spring of 1875 and finished out the season with a bunch of random people who weren't really ballplayers. As a result, they were horrible. In my replay, they've gotten to keep all of the players they've amassed, and thus have done much better. In fact, a better question might be "why are they doing so poorly," since the other teams that have been around as long as Brooklyn are much, much better by 1875.

At any rate, we'll see how the Brooklyn alums fare on their new teams in 1876.

[goroyals]

Does Louisville have a snowball's chance in hades of winning the pennant?

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by goroyals

Does Louisville have a snowball's chance in hades of winning the pennant?

I haven't run free agency yet, so I can't really say. But they're going to need lots of help - no standout players debuted on their roster in 1876.

Best guess: It will be a three-team race between Boston, Philly and New York (again), with the winner being whoever signs the most leading free agents.

[goroyals]

Thats what I thought.

Are you planning on using free agency forever, or are you going to turn it off upon the implementation of the reserve clasue? Just wanted to know because you seem to follow history pretty close.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by goroyals

Thats what I thought.

Are you planning on using free agency forever, or are you going to turn it off upon the implementation of the reserve clasue? Just wanted to know because you seem to follow history pretty close.

Nah.... I'm going to replay without the reserve clause. That's one thing I think I'd rather do without. I'm debuting players with their original teams, so there's a good chance a lot of them will end up sticking around, but I'm going to let player movement happen freely.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

1871 Cleveland Forest Citys
1872 Boston Red Stockings
1873 Boston Red Stockings
1874 Boston Red Stockings
1875 Boston Red Stockings

Completely unrealistic!