[mandersen]

The Baseball Time Machine will be an attempt at a dynasty thread to follow the early 1900's Chicago Orphans/Cubs franchise as they race toward greatness. It will be played within OOTP5 using the Lahman database. coaches and Scouts are off, trades set to very hard and favor prospects, injuries set to very low, everything else pretty much left as standard. As the Orphans/Cubs entered the 20th Century they were a very young team that was a few years away from being ready to compete. Offensively they're lead by 23 year old 1B/OF-Frank Chance and RF-Topsy Harsel, both who will be playing full time for the first time in their careers. CF-Danny Green will bat cleanup and has proven in his first 3 years in the league to be an effective power source. They will be surrounded by a mix of over the hill veterans and too young to really contribute rookies. The pitching staff is led by 22 year old Long Tom Hughes, a very promising rookie and 26 year old Jack Taylor who was 10-17 with a 2.55 era for a losing Orphans team in 1900. Mal Eason is a 22 year old rookie who may or may not make it. Bert Cunningham will be the closer after years of starting. He's clearly near the end of the road of his career. 33 year old Jock Menefee will round out the rotation as the 4th starter/sometimes swing man. Menefee has been around a while and never ammounted to much and really is just filling space until additional help arrives. The Orphans goal for 1901 is to finish at least .500 while developing some of their youngsters.

[mandersen]

The Orphans will open the season with a 3 game set against the Reds in Cincinatti at old League Park II. The Reds finished in 7th in the NL last year, one spot behind the Orphans at 62-77. They are led by one of baseballs all time greats in 1B-Jake Beckley and 2nd year OF-Sam Crawford. Beckley finished 6th in the NL in batting last year with a .341 average. He's baseball's 4th all time HR leader with 74 and is only 2 hits shy of 2000. Crawford hit 7HR's as a rookie and at 22 is one of baseballs most exciting young players. An interesting side note is he was born in Wahoo, NE, which is about 30 minutes from my home town and is the one time home of the Home Office of the David Letterman show. 21 year old lefty Noodles Hahn will take the mound on opening day for the Reds. Hahn is a very promising young pitcher who led the NL in shutouts and K's in 1900 while compiling a 16-20 record with a 3.27 ERA.

Opening Day lineups:

Orphans Reds
LF-F.Chance CF-D.Harley
2B-C.Childs C-H.Peitz
LF-T.Hartsel RF-Crawford
CF-Green [B]1B-Beckley
1B-C.Dexter CF-J.Dobbs
C-Kling 3B-H.Steinfeldt
SS-B.McCormick SS-G.Magoon
3B-Raymer 2B-P.O'Brien
SP-J.Taylor SP-N.Hahn

It's in Cincy, but our goal for the series is to take 2 out of 3, preferably the first 2 since we have no idea what we'll get from our #3 and #4 starters this year.

[mandersen]

Reds 3 Orphans 2 in 10 innings.

What started off so promising ended ugly as the Orphans bullpen, thought to be the teams major weakness ended up costing them the game on Opening Day 1901. Things started well and good as speedy 1B Frank Chance led off the game with a hit. Cupid Childs was then hit by a pitch from Noodles Hahn. After Topsy Hartel reached on a fielders choice leaving Chance at third and Hartsel at first, Danny Green laced a single into CF and the Orphans had a 1-0 lead. Noodles Hahn settled in after Greens hit however and didn't allow another hit for 6+ innings, retiring 12 in a row in one stretch. Jack Taylor kept the Cubs in front with some outstanding pitching of his own pitching 6 shutout innings. However, in the 7th, Reds CF-John Dobbs led off with a triple and 3B-Harry Steinfeldt promptly singled him in, tying up the game at 1 in the bottom of the 7th. Hahn started the 8th, but 3B-Fred Raymer reached on an error by LF-Dick Harley who dropped his fly ball. After Jack Taylor bunted him over to 2nd, Frank Chance lined his second single of the game driving in Raymer and giving the Orphans a 2-1 lead. Chance stole 2nd and took 3B on a throwing error by catcher Heinie Peitz, but Cupid Childs couldn't take advantage of the scoring situation, weakly grounding out and then Topsy Hartsel flew out to center to end the inning with Chance still standing on 3B. The Reds came right back in the bottom of the 8th after pinch hitter Charlie Irwin led off with a triple of his own. SS-George Magoon walked and then Pete O'Brien grounded into a double play but Irwin scored to tie the game. With Barry McCormick leading off the top of the 10th with a walk, Fred Raymer quickly bunted him over to 2nd and the Orphans were back in business. Orphans manager Matt Andersen had a decision to make as Taylor obviously still had some pitches left in him, but the Orphans had the winning run standing on 2B with only 1 out. Andersen pinch hit Cozy Dolan for Taylor, but Dolan flied out weakly. After Frank Chance grounded out, the inning was over. Reliever Charlie Ferguson made his first appearance of his young career for the Orphans in the bottom of the 10th and it didn't last long. Dick Harley led off with a triple and Heinie Peitz drove him in the very next at bat and the Reds had walked off with a victory. The Orphans were encouraged by Taylor's pitching performance. He went 9 innings allowing only 7 hits and a walk while striking out 8 men. Unfortunately, the left arm of Noodles Hahn and the timely hitting of Dick Harley were too much for the Orphans to overcome. The real difference was the bullpen in this one. The Reds pen was able to go 2 2/3 scoreless while the Orphans pen couldn't record a single out. Hope still springs eternal and Long Tom Hughes goes to the mound tomorrow trying to even up the Orphans record.

[mandersen]

Following their disappointing loss to the Reds in extra innings on Monday, the Orpans sent 22 year old rookie Long Tom Hughes to the mound to square off with another of Cincinatti's young stud starting pitchers, Doc Newton. Once again, the Orphans got on the board in the first inning after a Cupid Childs walk and a Topsy Hartsel single. After Childs had went to 3rd on Hartsel's single, clutch hitting Danny Green drove him in with a 1-4 Fielders Choice. The lead would stay at 1-0 until the 6th when the Orphans got on the board again, and once again it was the top of the lineup that got things going. After Childs was hit by a pitch, Hartsel reached first on a fielders choice. After Hartsel stole 2nd, Danny Green reached on an error by the pitcher, Doc Neweton. With men on 1st and 3rd again, this time it was Charlie Dexter who would drive in the run on the 6-4 fielders choice. It was looking as if the bullpen wouldn't be needed on this day as Tom Hughes had cruised through the first 8 giving up only 3 hits. But in the 9th the lead disappeared. 1B-Tom Beckley got his 2000th career hit to lead off the 9th. John Dobbs reached on a fielders choice and then stole 2nd. Hughes hit Harry Steinfeldt putting men on 1B and 2B for SS-George Magoon. Magoon singled, driving in Dobbs and cutting the lead to 2-1. After an errant throw to the plate the Reds had men on 2nd and 3rd with only 1 out and were only down a run. Orphans manager Matt Andersen decided to put 2B-Pete O'Brien aboard with the intentional walk to load the bases and set up the double play, but pinch hitter Algie McBride would have no part of that and he singled home the tying run. Orphans closer Bert Cunningham would come in to pitch the 10th inning, and although he gave up a walk and 2 singles, he was able to wiggle out of a 10th inning jam and keep the Orphans hopes alive. In the top of the 11th Charlie Dexter hit a 1 out single. After Noisy Kling grounded out with Dexter running, Barry McCormick walked to put men on first and second for new LF-Cozy Dolan. Dolan singled home Dexter to give the Orphans a 3-2 lead and Bert Cunningham closed it out in the bottom of the 11th to give the Orphans their first win of the year and even their record at 1-1. Tom Hughes was named player of the game, and he had quite a line, pitching 9 innings giving up 2 earned runs, striking out 3 and walking 3, although 2 of the walks were intentional. The Orphans will go for the series win tomorrow.