The Simplest Beginnings: From Amateurism in 1857, to Pro Ball (1870), Int'l Ball, & More - Page 2

tm1681 · 05-01-2023, 08:48 PM

THE SOUTHEAST GETS A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN!

With the Northeast and Midwest now covered by professional baseball, the growing amateur and semi-pro game in the Southeastern United States decided it was time to turn professional as well. In the winter of 1884, leaders from six of the best amateur clubs in the southeast got together to form the Southeastern & Atlantic League of Baseball, which quickly became known as the SEAL. The clubs involved, and the new names they took:

Armory Baseball Club, which became the Charleston Battery
Atlanta Baseball Club, which became the Atlanta Flames
Cumberland Baseball Club, which became the Nashville Bobcats
Mississippi River B.C., which became the Memphis Showboats
Savannah Baseball Club, which became the Savannah Schooners
Tobacco Growers Guild of Richmond, which became the Richmond Rollers

Their identities:

The SEAL league was going to have the same roster rules & regulations as the two existing professional leagues, but its aims were a bit lower. The southeast had smaller metro areas and thus smaller markets, meaning that it couldn’t match the kind of pay the APBL and MWBA offered – about 2/3 of the APBL and maybe 3/4 of the MWBA.

In the meantime, what it could be was a professional league that let players in the Southeastern United States become full-time professionals while allowing overlooked players in the other two pro leagues a chance to become everyday starters, or perhaps even stars, in a new home. And unlike the other two leagues, the SEAL played its ball in pitcher-friendly environments that led to batting average, power output, and ERAs that were noticeably lower than elsewhere. To wit, in that inaugural season teams averaged only 5.4 runs per game and the league batting average was just .253, a good 20-25 points lower than the other two pro leagues.

The inaugural season of the SEAL was tighter than any pennant chase baseball had seen – pro, semi-pro, or amateur – up to that point, with five of the league’s six teams finishing within two games of eventual champions Richmond:

Richmond Rollers: 54-46
Charleston Battery: 52-48 (2 GB)
Memphis Showboats: 52-48
Nashville Bobcats: 52-48
Savannah Schooners: 52-48
Atlanta Flames: 38-62 (16 GB)

As you can see, there was a four-way tie for second place that league executives didn’t anticipate at all, so they came up with a tiebreaker in which the teams were placed in the standings based on their season-long run differential. Charleston finished second because theirs was a +24, Memphis in third at +16, Nashville in fourth thanks to a +7, and Savannah was the only one of the four 52-48 teams with a negative RD (-8) so they finished in fifth.

BATSMAN OF THE YEAR & MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

Henry Duncan – CF, Nashville Bobcats

100 G, .306/.358/.397, .755 OPS (151 OPS+), 86 R, 135 H, 11 3B, 48 RBI, 175 TB, 47 SB, 4.50 WPA, 5.0 WAR (8.1/162)

Duncan didn’t have the highest average or OPS in the first season of the SEAL. Those honors went to Pearl Drury of Savannah (.331 AVG, .776 OPS). However, Duncan led the league in numerous other offensive categories while finishing close to Drury in the most basic batting statistics. Also, Duncan leading the six-team league in both WPA and WAR made him the obvious choice for not just BotY but also MVP.

HURLER OF THE YEAR

Charles Davis - Richmond Rolllers

385 IP, 25-20, 2.20 ERA, 48 G, 45 GS, 32 CG, 60 BB, 186 K, 3.1 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 12.3 WAR (7.2/225 IP)

Charles Davis won HotY even though he managed to both win and lose 20 games, but he was clearly the league’s best pitcher given that he was the ace of champions Richmond, led the SEAL in multiple important pitching categories and his WAR (12.3) was nearly four full points higher than that of anyone else who took to the mound.

TEAM OF THE YEAR

P: Charles Davis (RICH) – 385 IP, 32 CG, 25-20, 186 K, 3.1 K/BB, 12.3 WAR, HotY, champion
C: Earl Parham (RICH) – .312 AVG, .719 OPS (139 OPS+), 106 H, 47 RBI, 41.4 RTO%, 2.38 CERA, 3.11 WPA, 2.7 WAR, champion
1B: Joseph Elmore (MEM) – .255 AVG, .637 OPS (112 OPS+), 6 HR, 48 RBI, 1.0 WAR
2B: Pearl Drury (SAV) – .331 AVG, .776 OPS (158 OPS+), 132 H, 59 RBI, 2.94 WPA, 2.5 WAR
3B: Hewitt Miller (ATL) – .300 AVG, .756 OPS (151 OPS+), 125 H, 29 XBH, 40 RBI, 2.87 WPA, 4.5 WAR
SS: Turner Yates (RICH) – .257 AVG, .604 OPS (101 OPS+), 114 H, 70 R, 2.4 WAR, champion
OF: Beauregard Kemp (ATL) – .303 AVG, .752 OPS (150 OPS+), 76 R, 125 H, 55 RBI, 19 SB, 2.62 WPA, 3.3 WAR
OF: Henry Duncan (NASH) – .306 AVG, .755 OPS (151 OPS+), 86 R, 135 H, 11 3B, 48 RBI, 175 TB, 47 SB, 4.50 WPA, 5.0 WAR, BotY, MVP
OF: David Chisolm (SAV) – .308 AVG, .727 OPS (142 OPS+), 132 H, 27 2B, 65 RBI, 2.05 WPA, 2.4 WAR

tm1681 · 05-03-2023, 08:59 PM

THE END OF THE NBBO SIGNALS A NEW BEGINNING

As the 1880s progressed, the NBBO was running into a problem. Owing to the Northeastern United States’ – as well as that of the overall United States' – quickly-growing population, more cities and towns expressed the desire to have ball clubs that were a step up from the amateur ranks, and they had enough people going to games to make it happen.

Toward the end of the decade NBBO executives realized that the above meant the 48-team, 2-league format it had run since 1857 wasn’t going to be feasible for much longer. There were at least two towns in New York that wanted in, and enough in New England that the region could conceivably be split off into its own league. It was then that NBBO commissioner Charles Spalding had an idea: have New York City, the Northeast, and New England each be separate, but associated, competitions and turn the NBBO into more of an organizational governing body.

During 1888 National Base Ball Organization Winter Meetings, it was agreed that the NBBO would split into three competitions starting in the new decade:

The New York Metropolitan League (NYL), covering the New York City clubs
The Northeastern League (NEL), covering Upstate New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
The New England Baseball Association (NEBA), covering Massachusetts & greater New England

The three competitions could then add new entrants as they wished, which would allow for more baseball in more cities to be played further into the year at a higher-than-amateur standard.

The NBBO received a bigger boost when meetings with the other two notable semi-professional competitions, the Great Lakes Baseball Conference (GLBC) and the Baseball League of the American Prairie (PL), proved fruitful, and both agreed to move under the NBBO umbrella for 1890. This meant that 1890s would see the National Base Ball Organization turn from a competition into an organizing body for the non-professional sport in the entire United States, and should other semi-pro leagues pop up they would likely join as well.

The last year of the NBBO’s single competition was a closely-contested one, for the most part. In the New York League, Eckford (53-31) won the Brooklyn Championship by 3 games over Nassau County, Yonkers (53-31) won the New York City Championship by 2 games over Manhattan, and Binghamton (50-34) won the Upstate New York Championship by 2 games as well, besting Utica. In the Northeastern League, Olympic B.C. (52-32) took the Coastal Championship by 4 games over Philadelphia and Sons of the Ocean (56-28) also took their regional Championship, New England, by 4 over the Cantabrigians.

However, the Lancaster Dukes won the Inland Championship by no less than 16 games thanks to a record of 61-23 and the best lineup in the league, and it looked to many like they would be the final NBBO champions. Instead, they were taken down 3-1 in the Northeastern League Championship Series by Sons of the Ocean in a stunner, and it was the Sons of the Ocean who would be crowned the NBBO’s last victors after besting Eckford of Greenpoint in the Tucker-Wheaton Cup, winning it for the fourth time. This was perhaps a fitting end to the NBBO given that SotO were the NBBO’s first champions back in 1857.

The final list of NBBO finalists & champions (Tucker-Wheaton Cup winners are highlighted in blue):

BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL

AFTER PROFESSIONAL SPLIT

NOTE: In 1889, Batting Averages were .274 for the NYL and .273 for the NEL, while Earned Run Averages were 3.64 for the NYL and 3.66 for the NEL.

All totaled, there were 33 Tucker-Wheaton Cups awarded. 18 went to clubs in the Northeastern League, 15 went to clubs in the New York League, and Sons of the Ocean won it more times (four) than anyone else. Orange BBC/Manhattan Orangemen made more Tucker-Wheaton Cup appearances than any other club with nine, but unfortunately for them they only won it three times.

With five semi-pro leagues on the books for 1890 a fair playoff wouldn’t be feasible, but it wouldn’t surprise if the TWC was revived before long…

tm1681 · 05-03-2023, 09:53 PM

THE 1880s IN REVIEW

THE CHAMPIONS

AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE

1880: Brooklyn Kings (52-38, President’s Cup 4-2 over Boston)
1881: Boston Shamrocks (58-32, PC 4-2 over Brooklyn)
1882: Boston Shamrocks (53-37, PC 4-2 over NY Athletics)
1883: Brooklyn Kings (59-31, PC 4-0 over Massachusetts Bay)
1884: Boston Shamrocks (73-39, PC 4-2 over Brooklyn)
1885: Brooklyn Kings (79-33, PC 4-1 over Boston)
1886: Manhattan Knickerbockers (76-36, PC 4-1 over Boston)
1887: Boston Shamrocks (92-20, PC 4-1 over New Jersey)
1888: Manhattan Knickerbockers (75-37, PC 4-1 over Boston)
1889: Manhattan Knickerbockers (74-38, PC 4-2 over Rochester)

Three teams dominated the APBL in the 80s: Boston, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. The Knickerbockers took a back seat after winning the last two non-playoff titles (1877, 78), but by the end of the decade they were firmly back on top as Boston was faltering and Brooklyn wasn’t quite great enough.

MIDWESTERN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION

1882: St. Louis Saints (55-35, no playoffs)
1883: Louisville Sluggers (64-26)
1884: St. Louis Saints (59-31)
1885: St. Louis Saints (65-43)
1886: Cincinnati Royals (70-38)
1887: Detroit Robins (66-42)
1888: Detroit Robins (75-33)
1889: Detroit Robins (80-28)

Early on, it was looking like the inaugural decade of the MWBA would belong to St. Louis as they finished 1st, 1st, 2nd (62-28), and 1st over the league’s first four seasons thanks to the unstoppable Jacob Milburn. However, they fell to third (57-51) in 1886 and once Detroit signed Alva Burgess there was no looking back.

SOUTHEASTERN & ATLANTIC LEAGUE

1885: Richmond Rollers (54-46, no playoffs)
1886: Richmond Rollers (64-36)
1887: Richmond Rollers (60-40)
1888: Atlanta Flames (60-40)
1889: Atlanta Flames (65-35)

In the first three seasons of the SEAL, it was all Richmond as their outstanding pitching trumped the rest of the league. However, by the end of the decade Atlanta, through the signing of outstanding young talent, had caught and passed their northern foes to become the league’s dominant side.

NON-PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONS

1880: NYAC (NBBO)
1881: Manhattan (NBBO)
1882: Empire (NBBO), Saginaw (GLBC), St. Paul (PL)
1883: Eckford (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), St. Paul (PL)
1884: Fall River (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), Kansas City (PL)
1885: Eckford (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), Dubuque (PL)
1886: Sons of the Ocean (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), Omaha (PL)
1887: Olympic (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), Kansas City (PL)
1888: Lancaster (NBBO), Duluth (GLBC), Kansas City (PL)
1889: Sons of the Ocean (NBBO), Peoria (GLBC), St. Paul (PL)

Sons of the Ocean ended the NBBO the same way they started it: by winning the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. Meanwhile, Toledo’s iron grip on the GLBC was finally broken by the end of the decade and clubs in the emerging markets of Kansas City and St. Paul dominated the Prairie League.

TEAM OF THE DECADE

The Boston Shamrocks (American Professional Baseball League)

1880: 59-31, Lost President’s Cup 4-2 vs Brooklyn
1881: 58-32, Won President’s Cup 4-2 over Brooklyn
1882: 53-37, Won President’s Cup 4-2 over NY Athletics
1883: 50-40, 2nd place in APBL Metropolitan Conference
1884: 73-39, Won President’s Cup 4-2 over Brooklyn
1885: 80-32, Lost President’s Cup 4-1 vs Brooklyn
1886: 88-24, Lost President’s Cup 4-1 vs Manhattan
1887: 92-20, Won President’s Cup 4-1 over New Jersey
1888: 82-30, Lost President’s Cup 4-1 vs Manhattan
1889: 70-42, 2nd place in APBL Metropolitan Conference

1880s: 705-327 record (.683 WIN%), 8 President’s Cup appearances, 4 APBL Championships

The 1880s was Boston’s decade. Even though none went to seven games, they had some epic confrontations with Brooklyn in the President’s Cup and in the end their record and title haul was simply superior to that of any other pro team. At the height of their powers, Boston not only had pro baseball’s best starting rotation, but they also had baseball’s most feared position player trio in the outfield “Hydra” of Anderson “The Wild Horse” Belknap, Alva “The Cheetah” Burgess, and Isaiah “The Locomotive” Duffy, all of whom would have an 80/80 on range at their positions had such scouting grades existed back then. Boston had the best winning percentage (.683), the most titles (4), and easily most President’s Cup appearances (8) of any APBL team.

The Brooklyn Kings were outstanding for most of the decade, making the PC five times and winning it three. However, by the end of the ‘80s they’d fallen behind the Knickerbockers and in 1888 they slipped as far down as sixth place (49-63) in the Metropolitan Conference.

In the early days of the MWBA it looked like St. Louis would put up a record that could match Boston’s, winning three of the first four titles and finishing second in the other season even though they went 62-28. However, once Detroit signed Alva Burgess the balance of power in the league immediately shifted and the Saints fell off quickly.

BATSMAN OF THE DECADE

Jacob Milburn – LF, St. Louis Saints (1882-89)

808 G, 1,421 H, .413 AVG, 1.041 OPS, 194 OPS+, 221 2B, 141 3B, 1,964 TB, 45.93 WPA (9.21/162 G), 37.8 WAR (7.7/162 G)

8x MWBA Team of the Year at OF (1882-89)
7x MWBA Batsman of the Year (1882-88)
3x MWBA Most Valuable Player (1882, 84, 86)
3x MWBA Champion (1882, 84, 85)
7x MWBA Batting Champion (1882-88)
7x MWBA Leader in hits, OBP, SLG, & OPS (1882-88)
7x MWBA Leader in total bases (1882-88)
3x MWBA Leader in runs, doubles, & triples
1x MWBA Leader in RBI (1882)

1886: 106 starts, .432 AVG, .505 OBP, 1.059 OPS (213 OPS+), 111 R, 187 H, 240 TB, 69 RBI, 41 SB, 6.67 WPA (10.19/162), 6.5 WAR (10.0/162), BotY, MVP

No debate. None. As dominant as Konrad Jensen was in the late 1860s and throughout the ‘70s, Jacob Milburn was arguably even more dominant over the first eight seasons of the MWBA. He hit more than .400 seven times. He led the league in AVG, OBP, and OPS seven times. He led the league in hits and total bases seven times. His OPS was over 1.000 six times, and his OPS+ was over 200 five times.

Milburn came into professional baseball at the age of 22 hitting like Jensen did when he hit his final stage of development as a 27-year-old for Excelsior, and Milburn was doing it at a higher level of play.

HURLER OF THE DECADE

Henry Polley – Boston Shamrocks (1881-89)

209-96 record, 2.59 ERA, 151 ERA+, 2,801.2 IP, 243 CG, 14 SHO, 475 BB, 1,226 K, 75.5 WAR (6.1/225 IP)

4x APBL Champion (1881, 82, 84, 87)
1x APBL Hurler of the Year (1888)
2x APBL Leader in wins (1886, 88)
2x APBL Leader in ERA (1882, 88)
2x APBL Leader in pitcher WAR (1888, 89)
8x 20-game winner (1881-82, 84-89)

1888: 333.1 IP, 28-11, 2.32 ERA (166 ERA+), 30 CG, 3 SHO, 49 BB, 185 K, 3.8 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 9.9 WAR (6.7/225 IP), HotY

Polley entered pro baseball as a 25-year-old rookie for Boston in 1881 and proceeded to go 26-14 with a 2.77 ERA. He was almost uniformly excellent over the rest of the decade, even if that only earned him one Hurler of the Year award. Teammate Martin Nielson won the award three times, but he was more inconsistent with a slightly worse record and notably lower WAR even though the two had similar statistics. Polley was Boston’s ace the entire time, making his 209-96 record that much more impressive since he was always up against the opposition's #1 pitcher.

Arthur Meyer had a playing record that came close, but he didn’t really get going until joining Brooklyn in 1885 after four okay years with Massachusetts Bay. He actually won more games than Polley, but a couple of seasons with sub-500 records and ERAs over 4.00 with the other Boston team really hurt his resumé.

On talent and recent record alone, Hans Ehle is the winner. He topped every other pro pitcher of the decade in Hurler of the Year awards (4), ERA (1.74), ERA+ (213), strikeouts (1,650), and WAR (81.0), but he did that playing just five seasons of pro baseball after spending 1882-84 as a semi-pro with Columbus. That’s remarkable, but it also meant he wasn’t the Pitcher of the (entire) Decade. Given the way things are going he’s almost certain to be the #1 pitcher of the 1890s.

PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Alva Burgess – Boston Shamrocks (APBL – 1880-86) & Detroit Robins (MWBA – 1887-89)

1,000 G, 1,638 H, 1,114 R, .369 AVG, .888 OPS, 149 OPS+, 682 RBI, 842 SB, 50.96 WPA (8.25/162 G), 50.0 WAR (8.1/162 G), BotY, MVP

6x Champion (3x APBL, 3x MWBA)
4x Most Valuable Player (3x APBL, 1x MWBA)
2x APBL Batsman of the Year (1880, 86)
1x APBL Batting Champion (1886 – also led in SLG & OPS)
7x Team of the Year at OF (5x APBL, 2x MWBA)
2x Golden Glove at OF (1x APBL, 1x MWBA)
10x League stolen base leader (7x APBL, 3x MWBA)
5x League leader in runs (3x APBL, 2x MWBA)
4x APBL leader in total bases (1880, 82, 85, 86)
4x League leader in position player WAR (2x APBL, 2x MWBA)
4x APBL leader in hits (1880, 82, 84, 86)

1886 (Boston): 106 games, .382 AVG, .890 OPS (168 OPS+), 108 R, 171 H, 84 RBI, 215 TB, 102 SB, 6.70 WPA (10.23/162), 8.2 WAR (12.5/162), GG

Alva Burgess was baseball’s biggest winner in the 1880s with six titles, and thus its brightest star. His combination of batting, speed, and range in center field made him the scariest player in the APBL for Boston, and that carried over when he joined Detroit after arguably the best season by a position player in APBL history in 1886. He led his league in stolen bases every season of the decade, averaging 84 per year. He was a player who could hit for average, find the gap, steal at will, cover massive amounts of ground in center field, and do every little thing possible to move his team closer to a win. Boston fell off their first-place perch just a couple of years after he left, and it’s also no coincidence that Detroit immediately moved up from a mediocre team typically in the middle of the MWBA pack to instant title-winners after he shocked the APBL by signing for the Robins in October of ‘86.

There could be an argument for shortstop Edward Fitzsimmons, who won four APBL titles, eight Golden Gloves, seven Team of the Year nods, and an MVP while finishing higher on WAR than Burgess (51.1, 8.3/162), but Burgess’ extra titles and the massive impact his crossing over into the MWBA had were too much.

NON-PROFESSIONAL PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Earl Clements – Toledo Mud Hens (GLBC – 1882-89)

705 G, 1,058 hits, .353 AVG, .880 OPS, 159 OPS+, 267 XBH, 478 RBI, +268.4 ZR at SS (+61.7/162 G), 1.235 D-EFF at SS, 25.25 WPA (5.80/162 G), 47.0 WAR (10.8/162 G)

5x GLBC Champion (1883-87)
2x GLBC Batsman of the Year (1885, 89)
2x GLBC MVP (1886, 89)
8x GLBC Team of the Year at SS (1882-89)
7x GLBC Golden Glove at SS (1882-88)
6x GLBC leader in position player WAR (1882, 1884-87, 89)
2x GLBC leader in hits (1885, 89)
2x GLBC leader in total bases (1885, 89)
1x GLBC Batting Champion (1889 – also led in OBP & SLG)

1887: 90 games, .380 AVG, .937 OPS (178 OPS+), 93 R, 148 H, 26 2B, 61 RBI, +31.2 ZR at SS, 3.09 WPA (5.5/162), 7.0 WAR (12.6/162), BotY, TotY, GG

Clements is someone who probably would have been a four-star player in the APBL or MWBA. However, the Wisconsin native loved Toledo and Toledo loved him back – he didn’t seem to care that he only made about half of what players with similar talent did in the three pro leagues. He led a dynasty in Toledo via impeccable defense and batting that was easily the best at his position in the Great Lakes Baseball Conference. Not a single player in the NBBO or Prairie League came remotely close to Clements in terms of titles won, accomplishments, or simple WAR. He was easily the best semi-pro baseball player in the United States over the timeframe.

His 1889 season (.408 AVG, 1.010 OPS, 190 OPS+) was even better than 1887 season from the batter’s box, but he was so great on defense in ’87 that the latter season comes out on top by almost a full point of WAR.

ALL-DECADE TEAM

C: Frederick Kearney – 1882-89 w/Lake Michigan (MWBA), Rochester (APBL) – 6x Team of the Year, 28.3 WAR (6.0/162)
1B: Lee Douglass – 1882-89 w/ New Jersey & Brooklyn (APBL), Cleveland (MWBA) – 6x Golden Glove, 1x Batsman of the Year & MVP, 22.9 WAR (4.5/162G)
2B: Joseph Welling – 1880-89 w/Orangemen, Brooklyn & Washington (APBL) – 2x champ, 4x Team of the Year, 28.0 WAR (4.5/162G)
3B: Franklin Rader – 1882-89 w/ Missouri (MWBA) – 5x Team of the Year, 1x Golden Glove, 25.7 WAR (5.2/162)
SS: Edward Fitzsimmons – 1880-89 w/ Brooklyn & Boston (MWBA) – 4x champ, 8x Golden Glove, 7x Team of the Year, 1x MVP, 51.1 WAR (8.3/162)
LF: Jacob Milburn – 1882-89 w/ St. Louis (MWBA) – 3x champ, 7x Batsman of the Year, 3x MVP, 8x Team of the Year, 37.8 WAR (7.7/162)
CF: Alva Burgess – 1880-89 w/ Boston (APBL), Detroit (MWBA) – 6x champ, 4x MVP, 2x Batsman of the Year, 7x Team of the Year, 50.0 WAR (8.1/162)
RF: Isaiah Duffy – 1880-89 w/ Boston (APBL) – 3x champ, 3x Batsman of the Year, 10x Golden Glove, 4x Team of the Year, 42.0 WAR (6.9/162)
SP: Henry Polley – 1881-89 w/Boston (APBL) – 209-96, 4x champ, 8x 20-game winner, 1x Hurler of the Year, 75.5 WAR (6.1/225 IP)
SP: Arthur Meyer – 1880-89 w/ Mass. Bay & Brooklyn (APBL) – 215-133, 1x champ, 8x 20-game winner, 1x Hurler of the Year, 71.5 WAR (5.1/225 IP)
SP: Hans Ehle – 1885-89 w/Milwaukee (MWBA) – 124-58, 4x Hurler of the Year, 5x 20-game winner, 81.0 WAR (11.2/225 IP)

tm1681 · 05-03-2023, 10:22 PM

CHANGES TO THE BASEBALL LANDSCAPE

As planned, baseball went into the decade of the 1890s featuring significant changes. The NBBO was now a governing body overseeing three new competitions – the New York League, the Northeastern League, & the New England Baseball Association – while bringing two existing ones – the Great Lakes Baseball Conference & the Prairie League – into the fold, which put all the semi-pro clubs under one umbrella.

However, that was far from the end of the changes facing baseball at the start of the final decade of the 19th Century.

In the Prairie League, four clubs – Kansas City, Minneapolis, Omaha, & St. Paul – saw their markets become too big for semi-pro status and the Midwestern Baseball Association came calling. As a result, the MWBA grew to fourteen teams for the 1890 season while the PL found four clubs – the Council Bluffs Unions, Davenport Riversiders, Kansas Blue Stockings, & Southern Missouri Ozarks – to replace the departees.

With the MWBA (14 teams) now almost as big as the APBL (16 teams) and widely seen as nearly equal in quality, the two leagues decided to form a loose association which would henceforth be dedicated to professional leagues of the highest quality: the American Baseball Association. The open competition between the two for talent would still be there, but now there was mutual understanding and less hostility.

The Southeastern & Atlantic League remained an independent professional league, but after five years of slow growth it added two new clubs to bring its total to eight. One club came from the GLBC: the Evansville Angels, a team situated in far southern Indiana that was closer to some of the SEAL teams than many GLBC counterparts. The other was a high-profile amateur club from Chesapeake, Virginia: Lords of the Old Dominion, which became the Old Dominion Lords.

The GLBC found an easy replacement for Evansville, as former NBBO members the Erie Lakers were situated right along the Great Lake they were named after and were thus a natural fit for the GLBC instead of the Northeastern League. The other nine teams remained, meaning the league stayed at ten.

In addition to the five new clubs mentioned above there were others to make the move up from amateur ball. The NEL saw the Niagara Falls Rapids and Schenectady Bolts join to bring the league to twenty teams. The NEBA added three new clubs – the Brass City Watchmakers, Bridgeport Ironmen, & Pawtucket Foxes – so the greater New England half of the league could have as many teams as the Massachusetts half (8), giving the NEBA sixteen teams going into its inaugural season.

Meanwhile, the New York League had the easiest time setting up shop, as all sixteen members of the old Brooklyn and New York championships in the NBBO simply moved over and sorted out what the schedule would be.

In addition to the new leagues and new teams, seasons would now be longer. Beginning in 1890 the semi-professional leagues would have seasons ranging from 108-114 games, up from 84 in the NBBO and 90 in the GLBC & PL. In the pro ranks, the SEAL increased its schedule to 126 games (from 100), the MWBA went to 130 (from 108), and the APBL added enough games to have the longest season of the three pro leagues at 132 games (from 112).

This was how the baseball landscape looked going into the 1890s:

NATIONAL BASEBALL ASSOCIATIONS

AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE (APBL)

MIDWESTERN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE (MWBA)

SOUTHEASTERN & ATLANTIC LEAGUE OF BASEBALL (SEAL)

NEW YORK METROPOLITAN BASEBALL LEAGUE (NYL)

NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE OF BASEBALL CLUBS (NEL)

NEW ENGLAND BASEBALL ASSOCIATION (NEBA)

GREAT LAKES BASEBALL CONFERENCE (GLBC)

BASEBALL LEAGUE OF THE AMERICAN PRAIRIE (PL)

On top of the new look to the baseball landscape, there were changes on the field as well.

During the 1880s the number of balls needed for a walk kept creeping down from seven, to six, then to five, then to the final amount of four – that still stands today – before the 1889 season. That, combined with the pitching area being tinkered with dulled the mid-80s dominance the best pitchers enjoyed after overhand throwing motions were allowed for the first time.

Also, during the decade alterations were made to bat specifications – size, flatness, substances, etc. – and in the process these regulation changes helped turn the massive hitters’ paradises like The Elysian Fields, where center field was 500+ feet from home plate and both foul poles were 375+, into parks that now favored the pitcher. This meant that while walks were going up and strikeouts were going back down, the days of league batting leaders regularly hitting over .400 and fast gap hitters racking up 30 triples in 100-110 games were over. The enormous stadiums meant pitchers still didn’t have to worry about home runs, as rare as they already were, but it meant that 15-12 slugfests in the oldest APBL parks were going to be a far less common sight.

As the new decade dawned, the state of baseball in the USA was looking very good, and no doubt it wouldn’t be long before more leagues emerged, perhaps even ones in other countries.

luckymann · 05-03-2023, 10:41 PM

Just amazing stuff - absolutely fantastic work here, my friend.

G

tm1681 · 05-07-2023, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckymann

Just amazing stuff - absolutely fantastic work here, my friend.

G

Hey thanks again!

And if anyone else happens to be reading these little vignettes, you all can feel free to comment.

tm1681 · 05-07-2023, 06:08 PM

HISTORY IS MADE IN MULTIPLE WAYS IN 1891!

After one year of baseball’s new-look setup there were no major off-the-field shakeups ahead of the 1891 professional and semi-pro seasons. However, the action on the field would more than make up for the relative quiet off it, as history of both the spectacular and unique kind was made across the sport during the year.

JACOB MILBURN DETHRONES THE KING

As mentioned, ahead of the 1890s various changes were made to the rules and regulations of baseball that simultaneously granted hitters minor advantages (four balls for a walk) while tamping down their raw batting and gap power (bat size, shape, etc). Jacob Milburn again won MWBA Batsman of the Year in 1890, but for the first time he won it with a batting average under .400 and he did so with an OPS under 1.000 – the changes had their desired effect. In fact, his 1890 season was a full point of WAR better (5.5) than his 1887 in which he won BotY with a .409 AVG and 1.032 OPS (4.4 WAR).

Over the winter Milburn made some tweaks to his hitting approach, and he felt going into 1891 that he could crack .400 again. What he didn’t know was that he would have the single best batting season in the history of the sport.

Here was what Milburn did against the rest of the MWBA in 1891:

.438/.505/.616, 1.122 OPS (+225 OPS+), 119 R, 209 H, 30 2B, 26 3B, 57 XBH, 294 TB, 58 BB, 31 SB (4 CS), 7.33 WPA (9.28/162), 9.2 WAR (11.6/162)

Over 128 games Milburn led the fourteen-team league in:

Runs: 119 (1st by 19)
Hits: 209 (1st by 35)
Total Bases: 294 (1st by 56)
Doubles: 30 (1st by 2)
Triples: 26 (1st by 7)
Walks: 58 (tied for 1st)
Average: .438 (1st by 52 points)
OBP: .505 (1st by 67 points)
OPS: 1.122 (1st by 196 points)
OPS Plus: 225 (1st by 65 points)
WPA: 7.33 (1st by 1.47)
WAR: 9.2 (1st by 3.1)

His 9.0 offensive WAR was the single highest ever recorded in a season in any league, and as seen above he led the league in some categories by amounts never seen before. This was especially true of his 196-point OPS margin over second place. He did this in a Midwestern Baseball Association where the batting average was 5-10 points lower and the OPS 20-25 points lower than two years ago, before the new regulations were put in place.

Milburn hit quite well over the first two months of the season, comfortably 400+ at the end of June. However, what followed was the single-best month of batting anyone had ever laid eyes on:

3.30 WPA and 3.7 WAR over the 28 games Milburn played in July would translate to 19.09 WPA and 21.4 WAR over a modern 162-game schedule. From there, he coasted a bit and “only” hit .365 (.961 OPS) in the season’s final month to finish with a year that will be written about forever.

HANS EHLE GOES THE LIMIT FOR MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee Bavarians pitcher Hans Ehle, the most dominant pitcher in the sport, added a new accomplishment to his name in the 1891 season: he became the first pitcher ever to finish 40 complete games in consecutive seasons, ones in which Milwaukee won its first MWBA title and then lost the first edition of the Lincoln Memorial Cup in seven games to Cleveland.

The Bavarians went into the '90s having finished runners up in the MWBA three times, and they asked Ehle how much further he could push his pitching arm in order to put the team over the top. He obliged, throwing nearly 800 innings over 1890-91, and as the coaching staff hoped it led to championship baseball.

Ehle’s 1891 (MWBA leader in italics):

30-15, 2 SVs, 1.63 ERA (209 ERA+), 392 IP, 40 CG, 38 BB, 301 K, 7.9 K/BB, 0.98 WHIP, 16.9 WAR (9.7 per 225 IP)

Somehow 16.9 WAR was only the third-best single season total of his career to that point, but the result was another Hurler of the Year Award – his sixth in seven pro seasons.

PETTER LUND BECOMES THE FIRST POSITION PLAYER WITH 10+ WAR IN A SEASON

In the semi-pro ranks, the Reading Athletics’ 22-year-old star center fielder Petter Lund went into 1891 already as the league’s best player. He’d hit .315 the year before (.864 OPS, 159 OPS+) and stole 71 bases while playing Golden Glove outfield defense, leading to a league-high WAR of 7.3.

What Lund did for Reading over 110 games in 1891 was something far more spectacular:

.350/.426/.564, .990 OPS (198 OPS+), 89 R, 146 H, 62 XBH, 59 RBI, 235 TB, 90 SB (18 CS), 5.51 WPA (8.11/162), 10.0 WAR (14.7/162)

Batsman of the Year
Most Valuable Player
Golden Glove (OF)

He led the Northeastern League in hits, average, OBP, slugging, and naturally OPS, while stealing no less than 90 bases and playing more Golden Glove defense at CF. The result: 5.8 offensive WAR and 4.2 WAR from other areas for a total of 10.0, making him the first position player in baseball history to earn 10+ Wins Above Replacement in a single season.

The fact that he had only just turned 22 before the start of the season made the accomplishment even more incredible, and no doubt the APBL or the MWBA would come calling to Reading with a bag of cash and a contract offer in short order.

KNICKERBOCKERS GET APBL’S #1 RECORD & PRESIDENT’S CUP WITH NO TEAM OF THE YEAR MEMBERS

1891 wouldn’t see any truly historic individual performances in the APBL. Lindsey Christianson of Philadelphia was the Batting Champion at .349. Nobody drove in 100 runs or hit more than a handful of home runs. No starter had an ERA under 2.00. Jakob Hogh (Buffalo) and Jurgen Schultz (Pennsylvania) both won 30+ games, but given the new length of the APBL season (132 G) it was expected that at least one pitcher a year would win 30+ since teams still had three-man starting rotations.

Along the same lines, the New York Knickerbockers made history with a team full of players who performed in a similar vein, becoming the first team in baseball history to have either their league’s best record or win their league’s championship series while having zero players make the league’s official Team of the Year, and they did both.

NYK was an APBL-best 80-52 with a starting lineup full of position players that ranged from 1.5-4.5 Wins Above Replacement. Nobody hit better than .315, and they were 4th in runs scored while just 10th out of 16 teams in batting average. Their pitching staff was 3rd in ERA, 4th in WAR, and just 9th in strikeouts. All three members of the rotation won 20+ games, but their best performer was about four points of WAR off Pitcher of the Year Hogh of Buffalo.

So, how did the Knickerbockers find success? They were top-three in the APBL in runs allowed thanks to a defense that was top-three in fielding percentage and errors while topping the league in Zone Rating. Their pitchers also allowed the fewest walks in the league, and those factors led the team to be extremely successful in close games, culminating in their 4-2 President’s Cup series win over the Buffalo Blues.

SYRACUSE GOES 89-25 WITHOUT A SINGLE PLAYER HITTING .300

Back in the semi-pro ranks, the Syracuse Emeralds of the Northeastern League made some odd history of their own in 1891.

The Emeralds finished the regular season with the NEL’s best record by eleven games, going 89-25 (.781) and finishing no less than twenty-three games in the clear in the New York Conference. Yet, they did this without having a single regular position player hit .300 or better, which was the first time a league champion or division/conference winner had done so. They finished 5th out of 20 NEL teams in runs scored, average, and OPS, but the best hitter in their lineup topped out at .293 (CF Ilario Cercignani) and only two others hit above .260.

Even with that seeming lack of offensive punch, Syracuse won 78 percent of their games before the Adams Trophy series because they were easily the best in the twenty-team league in numerous other areas:

#1 in Runs Allowed (385, 3.37 p/g)
#1 in Starters’ ERA (2.43)
#1 in Relievers’ ERA (1.53)
#1 in Fielding-Independent Pitching (2.35)
#1 in Pitching WAR (28.8, 40.9/162)
#1 in Strikeouts (700, 6.14 p/g)
#1 in Errors (206, 1.81 p/g)
#2 in Zone Rating (+85.2)
#2 in Def. Efficiency (.695)

However, in the Adams Cup finals they were up against the aforementioned Petter Lund and the 78-36 Reading Athletics, where Syracuse’s relative lack of attack finally did them in. They were swept 3-0 while being outscored 16-9, and what had been a historic season ended with a crash at the final hurdle.

tm1681 · 05-07-2023, 06:11 PM

THE FIVE THOUSAND DOLLAR MAN

Ahead of the 1892 season, the American Baseball Association floated an idea that would allow teams to keep their star players for longer while still allowing plenty of free player movement. The ABA commissioner suggested to executives from the APBL and MWBA that, instead of limiting themselves to contracts that had a maximum length of three or four years, perhaps teams should offer longer-term contracts to key players. Both member leagues quickly agreed that this was a sound idea, and perhaps one that could secretly keep down costs since salaries normally didn’t rise significantly during each season of a multi-year contract.

The result was that numerous important players signed lengthy deals over the winter and in the early days of the 1892 season:

Buffalo ace Edward Millard signed a six-year extension to his contact ($2,700/yr)
Charles Woodram (2B for Jersey City) & Charles Wilkerson (ace for Philadelphia) both signed five-year deals with Providence ($4,000/yr each)
Joseph Selby, ace for Richmond in the SEAL, moved to Rochester on a seven-year contract ($3,000/yr)
Rochester also signed highly rated Scottish OF Matthew Robinson for eight years ($3,000/yr)
Cleveland signed a pair of Midwestern semi-pro players – Leland Hirsch and Frederick Hood – to five-year contracts
Detroit signed star SS Kiefer Hyneman away from rivals Chicago with a seven-year deal ($3,500/yr)
Indianapolis bought two-time NEBA Batsman of the Year Ed Hayward and gave him a seven-year contract ($4,000/yr)
Milwaukee signed Indianapolis Team of the Year 2B Lionel Bernard for seven years ($4,000/yr)
Missouri brought six-time Team of the Year member SS George Shay back to the MWBA with a five-year deal ($3,750/yr)

This all led up to yet another history-making moment for Milwaukee legend Hans Ehle ten days into the MWBA season on April 16th, 1892. He was in the last year of his contract, with both he and the Bavarians front office keen on locking up the now 28-year-old for as long as possible. At the end of negotiations that lasted all of Spring Training and shortly into the season, Ehle signed a seven-year contract extension for $36,400.

The above meant Ehle would be making $5,200 a year from 1893 to 1899, and that made him the first player in the history of baseball set to earn five thousand dollars per season. Given that Ehle had topped 19 Wins Above Replacement in a season twice already and was theoretically just hitting his prime, some argued that the highest-paid player in baseball was still underpaid.

Nevertheless, Der Kaiser was now baseball’s first truly “big money” player.

tm1681 · 05-07-2023, 06:22 PM

BASEBALL ARRIVES IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH!

Since the beginning of organized baseball in the spring of 1857, Canadian players, while not the dominant forces in the sport, could be found playing important roles for nearly every club in existence outside of the ones in the nearly All-American Southeastern & Atlantic League. In particular, the National Base Ball Organization and the American Professional Baseball League were home to the best Canadian players since the leagues were based nearest the country’s main population centers: Montreal and Toronto. Among the Canadian all-stars:

Bruce Fine (1864-81): 5x NBBO All-Star, 8x Team of the Year at C (4x NBBO, 4x APBL) for Boston & Manhattan
Douglas Marion (1863-77): 3x NBBO All-Star, 1x Batsman of the Year, and 3x Team of the Year at OF for Shamrock/Boston
Guy LeBreton (1878-); 8x NBBO All-Star, 2x Hurler of the Year, 282 wins, 154.8 WAR for the Fall River Marksmen (NBBO/NEBA)
Jack Meldrum (1881-): 4x NBBO All-Star, 5x Golden Glove at C, 4x Team of the Year (various semi-pro clubs)
Remy Voltaire (1861-72): 3x NBBO All-Star at 1B for Quinnipiac B.C.
Robert Carr (1862-77): 4x All-Star and 2x Team of the Year at 3B for various clubs in the NBBO
Albert McFadden (1857-70): 2x NBBO All-Star for Excelsior B.B.C., 203 career wins

Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long after the foundation of the NBBO in 1857 for some of the original Canadians playing in New York and the Northeast to bring the game home. The first formal Canadian club – Riverside B.B.C. – was founded in Toronto in 1859, and the second – Hamilton B.B.C. – started up the next year.

It took a while for the sport to spread outside of the Toronto area, but eventually there would be clubs in Montreal (Ville Ray CdB in 1873), London (Royal B.B.C. in 1877), Ottawa (National B.B.C. in 1878), and Quebec City (Voyageur CdB in 1890). These clubs, along with others that sprang up in Toronto and Montreal, meant that by the last decade of the 1800s Canada had enough serious baseball clubs to create an organized, professional competition. In 1892, The Professional Baseball League of Canada (CBL) was formed, with the league’s first season starting in April of the next year. This also marked the formal expansion of the sport of baseball outside of the United States.

The teams:

Unsurprisingly, the new league was entirely based in Ontario and Quebec as train travel to clubs in provinces further to the west or east would have been prohibitively expensive and time-consuming.

The league was set up to be fully professional. That said, it was not to be confused with either of its major American counterparts: the APBL and the MWBA. The pay packets given to those playing for clubs in the CBL were about half the value of those for players in the APBL. Furthermore, since the quality of baseball to the north of the United States wasn’t quite as good there were limits on the number of foreign players clubs could employ in order to keep them from stockpiling Americans on their rosters. Each club could have up to five foreign players on its senior roster: 1-2 pitchers and 1-4 position players. Other than that, roster rules were almost identical to those in the other non-ABA professional outfit, the Southeastern & Atlantic League.

The inaugural season of Canada’s first baseball league ended up with the clubs finishing in two groups, with four – Danforth, Riverside, Ville Marie, Quebec City – clearly in the front and four – Ville Ray, Hamilton, Ottawa, Hamilton – in the rear. That said, the spread of the eight was fairly tight, with last place London 20 games out of first while nobody won or lost more than 60% of their contests over the 126-game season.

The final standings looked like this:

Danforth Minotaurs: 72-54
Riverside Huskies: 72-54
Ville Marie Guardians: 68-58 (4 GB)
Quebec City Yoyageurs: 68-58
Ville Ray Saints: 60-66 (12 GB)
Hamilton Chargers: 58-68 (14 GB)
Ottawa Federals: 54-72 (18 GB)
London Monarchs: 52-74 (20 GB)

Danforth and Riverside ending up even at 72-54 meant that an all-Toronto one-game playoff would decide the first CBL championship, and on September 1st the game took place at Sunlight Park on the Don River. Thanks to a three-run rally in the top of the 8th and a stellar performance by ace Thomas Withers, Danforth won 4-1 and were crowned as the first Canadian champions.

As far as the individual talent in the CBL, at the top the league’s stars were very level in terms of performance. This meant that there were no clear-cut favorites for the inaugural awards, and in the end champions Danforth swept the three individual awards as they had the league leaders in batting average, wins, and WPA.

INAUGURAL CBL AWARD WINNERS

BATSMAN OF THE YEAR
Keith Picard (2B, Danforth) – 122 G, .317/.376/.445, .821 OPS (144 OPS+), 61 R, 33 2B, 5 HR, 84 RBI, 202 TB, 45 BB, 16 K, 4.0 WAR (5.2/162)

HURLER OF THE YEAR
Thomas Withers (Danforth) – 371 IP, 25-13, 2.84 ERA, 129 BB, 121 K, 1.30 WHIP, 5.2 WAR (3.2/225 IP)

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Patrick Henry (SS, Danforth) – 125 G, .318/.388/.429, .817 OPS (143 OPS+), 33 2B, 10 3B, 76 RBI, 23 SB, 5.65 WPA (7.32/162), 4.9 WAR (6.4/162)

TEAM OF THE YEAR
P: Cherif Monnier (Riverside) – 370 IP, 20-16, 2.57 ERA, 148 K, 1.11 WHIP, 2.7 K/BB, 12.1 WAR
C: Richard Heath (Ville Ray) – 116 G, .302/.363/.401, 30 2B, 7 3B, 53 RBI, 112 OPS+, 4.2 WAR, Golden Glove
1B: Bartholomew Potter (Riverside) – 127 G, .307/.358/.397, 155 H, 43 2B, 92 RBI, 109 OPS+, 4.48 WPA
2B: Keith Picard (Danforth) - 122 G, .317/.376/.445, 33 2B, 5 HR, 84 RBI, 45 BB, 16 K, 129 OPS+, 4.0 WAR, BotY
3B: Bernard Woodford (Hamilton) – 124 G, .289/.359/.402, 34 2B, 6 3B, 68 RBI, 114 OPS+, 3.5 WAR
SS: Patrick Henry (Danforth) – 125 G, .318/.388/.429, 33 2B, 10 3B, 76 RBI, 23 SB, 128 OPS+, 5.65 WPA, 4.9 WAR, MVP
OF: William Mutton (Ottawa) – 124 G, .309/.377/.455, 41 2B, 12 3B, 81 RBI, 27 SB, 134 OPS+, 3.5 WAR
OF: Vance Harris (Danforth) – 123 G, .287/.362/.421, 27 2B, 13 3B, 62 RBI, 23 SB, 118 OPS+, 4.0 WAR
OF: Davide Perrin (Ottawa) – 125 G, .303/.372/.440, 106 R, 34 2B, 10 3B, 5 HR, 69 RBI, 44 SB, 128 OPS+, 5.7 WAR

The first season of competitive baseball in Canada was a success, and all hoped it would be the first of many more.

tm1681 · 05-07-2023, 06:29 PM

THE CHEETAH ENDS THE HUNT

The end of the 1893 season marked the end of the career of baseball’s winningest player: Alva “The Cheetah” Burgess.

Burgess’ career spanned from 1876-1893, with all but the final season spent playing for the Boston Shamrocks in the APBL and the Detroit Robins in the MWBA. During his eighteen-year career he won seven professional championships: three in the APBL (1881, 82, 84), three in the MWBA (1887-89), and the SEAL championship in his final season as a player/coach with the Savannah Schooners. Not only had he won more titles than any other player, but he’d also become the first to be part of championship teams in all three professional leagues in the United States.

While Burgess wasn’t a key figure in the 1893 Savannah squad that went 84-42 and won the SEAL by eight games, he was the star player on each of the other six title winners he played on. At the height of his powers, Alva Burgess was a center fielder who could hit for contact and gap power, draw a fair number of walks, steal bases at will, move teammates on the basepaths, play Golden Glove defense with 80/80 range, work harder than anyone else, and be a leader in the clubhouse (NOTE: He had the “Captain” personality type).

His career stats:

NOTE: because of an issue with my game during OOTP23 I had to reload a backup after the 1881 season, and for some reason lost all of the black/grey ink & leaderboard highlighting up to that point.

His career honors and leaderboard appearances:

7x Championship winner (3x APBL, 3x MWBA, 1x SEAL)
11x Team of the Year at OF (7x APBL, 4x MWBA)
5x Most Valuable Player (2x APBL, 3x MWBA)
3x Golden Glove (2x APBL, 1x MWBA)
2x APBL Batsman of the Year (1880, 86)
2x APBL President’s Cup MVP (1882, 85)
2x APBL Batting Champion (1880, 86)
17x Player of the Week
9x Batsman of the Month
1876 APBL Newcomer of the Year

All-time leader (all levels) in Stolen Bases at 1,359 (George Reese in second at 953)
2nd-place all-time (all levels) in Position Player WAR at 85.2 (Anthony Mascherino in first at 85.7)
2nd-place all-time (all levels) in Position Player WPA at 84.27 (Konrad Jensen in first at 100.47)

16x League leader in Stolen Bases (11x APBL, 5x MWBA)
6x League leader in Position Player WAR (4x APBL, 2x MWBA)
6x League leader in Runs (3x APBL, 3x MWBA)
4x APBL leader in Hits (1880, 82, 84, 86)
4x APBL leader in Total Bases (1880, 82, 85, 86)
3x APBL leader in Slugging % (1880, 82, 86)
2x APBL leader in OPS (1880, 86)
2x APBL leader in Triples (1880, 82)
1x APBL leader in Extra-Base Hits (1878)
1x APBL leader in Runs Batted In (1886)

His 1886 season for the 88-24 Boston Shamrocks was one of the finest ever put forth by any player. His subsequent move to the Detroit Robins for the 1887 season became the catalyst for open competition between for talent the APBL and the MWBA, and it led many to believe that there were now two “major” professional leagues. The sixteen consecutive seasons he led his league in stolen bases will be almost impossible to match, as well as his career stolen base total of over 1,300.

It is perhaps not surprising that, given how much of a clubhouse leader he was, Burgess ended up becoming a manager less than a year after retirement, taking over as the new manager for Continental B.B.C. in the New York League just before the end of the 1894 season. A team that was 37-70 went 4-1 after he took them over for the final week.

If the powers the be ever decide to open a Hall of Fame for the sport of baseball, surely Burgess will be part of the first class of players to be inducted.

tm1681 · 05-12-2023, 01:57 PM

CHARLES BROPHY BECOMES THE 1ST PLAYER WITH 3,000 HITS AS A PROFESSIONAL

History was made on April 26th, 1894, as the Knickerbockers’ Charles Brophy became the first player to record 3,000 hits as a full-time professional, doing so with a single in the seventh inning of his team’s 11-3 victory in Carroll Park over the Excelsior Knights.

Brophy wasn’t the first player to record 3,000+ hits. Of course, that honor went to Konrad Jensen, but the first 10-15 years of his career were spent with Excelsior in the National Base Ball Organization before professional baseball even existed. On the other hand, Brophy debuted with the Knickerbockers in 1874, the fourth season of the APBL, and had spent his entire career playing for the club up until his milestone hit.

By the end of the 1894 season he’d reached a total of 3,142 hits over the course of his 21-year professional career, and here were his career statistics over that timeframe:

His honors over 21 seasons in Manhattan*:

6x APBL championship winner (1877, 78, 86, 88, 89, 91)
14x APBL or Metropolitan Conference Team of the Year at OF (1875-81, 83, 85-90)
5x APBL or Metropolitan Conference Most Valuable Player (1877, 78, 80, 82, 85)
4x Metropolitan Conference Batsman of the Year (1878, 83, 85, 86)
4x Metropolitan Conference Batting Champion (1878, 83, 85, 86)
3x Metropolitan Conference Golden Glove at OF (1885, 86, 88)
1x President’s Cup Most Valuable Player (1891)
21x APBL Player of the Week
14x APBL Batsman of the Month

7x APBL/MC leader in Total Bases (1875-78, 81, 83, 86)
3x .400 hitter (1878, 79, 83)
3x Metropolitan Conference leader in position player WAR (1885, 86, 88)
4x APBL/MC leader in OBP (1875-78)
4x APBL/MC leader in triples (1875, 76, 78, 86)
3x Metropolitan Conference leader in hits (1878, 83, 86)
3x APBL/MC leader in runs (1878, 81, 83)
2x APBL/MC leader in OPS (1875, 78)
1x APBL leader in doubles (1877)

*The APBL was a single division before 1878, and because of an issue I lost black/grey ink & highlighting before 1881

tm1681 · 05-12-2023, 01:59 PM

THE SEAL GOES TO A ONE-GAME PLAYOFF!

The 1894 Southeastern & Atlantic League season was dominated by two teams: the Memphis Showboats and the Atlanta Flames. The problem: neither could prove to be better than the other over the course of the 126-game season…

The SEAL had no playoffs, so this meant a one-game championship decider was in order. The game was played on the first day of September in Memphis’ Red Elm Park, with both teams’ aces – Richard Capriotti (23-15, 3.84) for Atlanta and Henry Flowers (26-11, 2.43) for Memphis – going head-to-head in the final game of the season.

After some back and forth over the first three innings, Atlanta broke the game open with three runs in the fourth and never looked back, winning the game and thus the 1894 Southeastern & Atlantic League championship by the score of 8-3.

The player of the game was Atlanta third baseman Caleb Cornell, who went 3/4 with a pair of runs scored and a key two-out RBI in the top of the fourth which started the three-run rally that put the Flames five runs in front. Capriotti went the distance for Atlanta, shutting Memphis out the rest of the game after allowing three earned runs over the first four innings. In his championship-winning complete game Capriotti walked four and struck out five while throwing 163 pitches. The Flames defense also deserved plenty of credit in the win as they didn’t commit a single error, a distinct rarity in 1800s baseball.

The victory gave Atlanta their fourth SEAL championship, and their first since the tail end of their three-peat of 1888, ’89, & ’90.

tm1681 · 05-12-2023, 02:01 PM

SEAL PLAYER BECOMES THE FIRST TO EARN BOTH 10+ WPA AND 10+ WAR IN A SINGLE SEASON

Also in the Southeastern & Atlantic League in 1894, one of its star players had a season never seen in professional baseball before – or semi-pro baseball for that matter.

23-year-old outfielder Thomas Ervin, who signed a three-year contract to play for Nashville over the winter after spending four and a half years in Savannah, marked his debut season with Nashville with a historic level of performance: over the 126-game schedule he became the first player ever to post 10+ WPA and 10+ WAR in the same season.

How did he do it? He put up 7.9 offensive WAR (10.1/162 G) while playing all 126 games with the following stat line:

.395 AVG, .457 OBP, .647 SLG, 1.104 OPS (164 OPS+), 140 R, 209 H, 45 2B, 41 3B, 2 HR, 96 RBI, 342 TB, 108 SB (36 CS)

Add in his fielding metrics at center field:

617 TC, 561 PO, 25 A, 3 DP, 31 E, 4.73 RNG, +10.0 ZR, 1.043 EFF, +8.8 OF ARM rating

And a player this talented:

Put up a total of 10.42 WPA (13.39/162 G) and 10.1 WAR (13.0/162 G) over the course of the 1894 SEAL season. His work earned him two Player of the Month awards, the Batsman of the Year Award, the Most Valuable Player Award, a Golden Glove at OF, and a spot on the SEAL Team of the Year at OF as well.

The SEAL might not be the best league in professional baseball, but it may well have had professional baseball’s best player in 1894.

tm1681 · 05-13-2023, 02:25 PM

THE QUAKERS’ $75,000 WAR CHEST LEADS TO THE END OF AN ERA IN ST. LOUIS

After taking on ownership of the Pennsylvania Quakers during the winter of 1881-82, Ashley Emmerson oversaw a club that was mired in futility, posting sub-500 records in ten of his first eleven seasons as the man in the owner’s box.

However, starting in 1892 fortunes would rapidly change as the Quakers’ record improved from 57-75 (30 GB in the Metropolitan) in 1892 to 77-55 (5 GB) in 1893 to 87-45 in 1894, which was easily good enough for a spot in the President’s Cup against two-time defending champions Providence.

Pennsylvania was stymied in the President’s Cup – Providence making it a three-peat by taking the series 4-2. After getting his first taste of championship-level baseball Emmerson decided he needed more…much more. He had run the club prudently during his thirteen seasons as owner, turning slight deficits or profits every year. However, the sudden improvement in the team’s fortunes led to attendance in 1894 being double what it was just two seasons earlier, and leaguewide ticket prices were now 30 cents instead of 25. The unexpected success meant the Quakers earned massive profits of more than $29,500 for the year, which was far and away the most in a league where, on average, half the clubs lost slight amounts of money each season. Merchandising, playoff receipts, and salaries of mediocre players whose contracts were ending added another $19,000. Emmerson decided to go all in and put $15,000 of his own money in the coffers. Revenue forecasts for 1895 led Emmerson to believe he could add $11-12,000 to the budget as well.

In the end, the above totals meant that the Pennsylvania Quakers front office had a surreal $75,000 to spend on players over the winter of 1894-95.

Comparing that figure to the other most profitable clubs in the APBL, Providence ($15,800 profit in 1894) had about $6,000 set aside for signings and Excelsior ($9,200 profit in 1894) had $15-20,000 set aside because they had well over ten grand in salary coming off the books.

To give an idea of just how much that was with respect to 1890s baseball, the highest paid player in the sport at the time was Providence’s Charley Rankin at $6,300 per year and the highest paid pitcher was the Milwaukee Bavarians’ Hans Ehle at $5,200 per year. This meant that the Quakers’ $75,000 war chest was enough to sign three or four five-star talents to multiyear contracts to play for a team that was already the best in the Metropolitan Conference.

General Manager Charlie Flemming put the money to good use in short order, as his first notable signing was very, VERY notable: putting living legend Jacob Milburn’s name to a four-year contract for $25,200 ($6,300/yr) contract on November 2nd.

It was thought that Milburn, an Illinois native, would never leave the club he’d been with since graduating from high school. However, he had become disillusioned with the mismanagement of the St. Louis Saints by their front office over recent years – the team had fallen from winning three of the first four MWBA titles to putting up records of 55-75, 54-76, and 43-85 over the previous three seasons. Their 43-85 mark in 1894 was the worst in team history and it left them no less than fifty games behind first-place Milwaukee in the MWBA’s Eastern League at the end of the season. The club was also having trouble balancing the books, so Milburn saw the writing on the wall and decided to leave the club he’d been with since their pre-MWBA days.

When he decided to become a Free Agent for the first time, it was thought that the two likeliest landing spots for him would be the two Chicago clubs, given he was a western Illinois native (Rushville) and the Griffins/Gales were about as far from his hometown as St. Louis was. The two clubs were fairly successful as well. The Griffins had never had the chance to play for the MWBA title, but their lowest winning percentage over the previous five seasons was .562 (73-57 in 1890) and they had just an okay left fielder in Louis Engel. The Lake Michigan Gales didn’t have as good of a product on the field but since the 1882 debut of the MWBA they’d been over .500 more often than not, even if their record had slipped in recent seasons (56-74 in 1893, 55-73 in ’94). They also employed merely decent players in the corner outfield spots, so signing Milburn wouldn’t have upset the balance of the starting lineup.

There were other possible suitors in the MWBA. Big-name teams like Detroit and Milwaukee had a chance at Milburn if he wanted to return to championship-level baseball. Detroit had an opening at left field, but Milburn would have to play his backup position, first base, if he were to sign with Milwaukee. Two-time champions Indianapolis had arguably the best outfield in the league and the MWBA’s #1 first baseman in Matthew Towns, so somebody would have to leave to accommodate Milburn. The other St. Louis club, the Missouri Bluebirds, had some previous Team of the Year members (SP/C Gerald Pierotti, SS George Shay, 3B Alfred Anderson) and had been second to Milwaukee in the West for four of the five seasons since the MWBA expanded and split to an Eastern League and a Western League, and would have been a logical landing spot as well.

While the Giffons front office reached out to Milburn and had discussions, the Gales had lost about $6,000 over the course of 1894 and didn’t have the resources to sign him. Champions Milwaukee had spent all its money loading up the roster for the ’94 season and didn’t have the money. Runners-up Detroit had money thanks to hefty profits, so they were also in the running to sign him. Indianapolis let Towns leave to open a spot at first base for Milburn, and he had talks with them as well. The Bluebirds had a profitable second-place season in the MWBA’s Eastern League, but in the end didn’t quite have the resources to sign him.

Then Philadelphia came calling. Signings ahead of the 1894 APBL season meant they had the best catcher (Christian Ornstein), second baseman (Owen Wilkie), third baseman (Simpson Cotter), two-way player (SP/LF Jurgen Schultz), and #2 starter (Salvatore Floris) in the APBL. They obviously had more than enough money to secure Milburn’s services, but there was one question: given that they had a superstar at LF in Jurgen Schultz and a RF in William O’Neill who’d previously made the APBL Team of the Year, would Milburn be comfortable playing first base full time? Milburn was a credible first baseman (50/80) but quite a bit better in left field (70/80). Milburn said he was okay to play first base, a momentous deal was struck, and Milburn was likely going to get another shot at championship-level baseball starting in 1895.

Here was Milburn’s batting record over his thirteen seasons playing in St. Louis and the MWBA:

One would think that his WAR would have been higher given his 196 OPS+ over thirteen years but remember that much of his career in St. Louis came before fielders had anything resembling proper baseball fielder's gloves, so at that time outstanding defensive work, especially in the middle of the infield, could have just as much of an impact as elite batsmanship.

The list of awards and leaderboard appearances he made while playing for the St. Louis Saints:

13x MWBA Team of the Year at OF (1882-94)
11x MWBA Batsman of the Year (1882-88, 90, 91, 93, 94)
6x MWBA Most Valuable Player (1883, 84, 86, 91-93)
3x MWBA championship winner (1882, 84, 85)
24x MWBA Player of the Week
23x MWBA Batsman of the Month

10x MWBA Batting Champion (1882-88, 91, 93, 94)
12x MWBA leader in Total Bases (1882-88, 90-94)
12x MWBA leader in Slugging % (1882-88, 90-94)
12x MWBA leader in OPS (1882-88, 90-94)
11x MWBA leader in Hits (1882-87, 89, 91-94)
11x MWBA leader in On Base % (1882-88, 90, 91, 93, 94)
7x MWBA leader in Extra-Base Hits (1882-84, 87, 88, 91, 94)
6x MWBA leader in Triples (1882, 83, 88, 91, 93, 94)
4x MWBA leader in Runs (1883, 84, 86, 91)
4x MWBA leader in Doubles (1883, 84, 87, 91)
3x MWBA leader in Position Player WAR (1886, 91, 94)
1x MWBA leader in Runs Batted In (1882)
1x MWBA leader in Walks (1891)

As for the St. Louis Saints, they decided it was time to start from scratch. They traded away their starting catcher (Bert Bronson), third baseman (Bill McMahon), and a member of the pitching rotation (Lucas Soderblom) for younger players, and in one of those transactions they were able to bring in Golden Glove outfielder Knute Leighton from Kansas City. The hope was that if they could get some decent pitching to add to a core of young position players who were solid to excellent on defense – every projected regular ranked 60/80 or better at their position – the team would once again be highly competitive in a couple of years.

tm1681 · 05-13-2023, 02:30 PM

FOUR ACES BECOME THE FIRST MEMBERS OF THE ALL-PROFESSIONAL 300 WIN CLUB

1895 was a momentous year for professional hurlers, as the season saw several pitchers become members of the first group to win 300+ games in the professional leagues (APBL, MWBA, SEAL). The group of pitchers:

Longtime Boston Shamrocks rotation member Martin Nielson, who’d been with the club since 1875 and made his APBL debut in 1879.
Arthur Michaels, who won 273 games for the N.Y. Athletics over 13 seasons before spending a year with Jersey City and then winning #300 with Brooklyn.
Jakob Hogh, who spread his 300 victories across six APBL teams and became the second to win #300 while pitching for Boston.
Milwaukee ace and living legend Hans Ehle, who pulled off the feat in just his 11th season in the MWBA.

N.Y. Athletics ace George Patterson roared toward 300 victories with a combined record of 63-23 over the 1894-95 seasons, but he ended 1895 with 299 professional victories.

The first four members of the professional 300 Win Club

MARTIN NIELSON

4x APBL President’s Cup winner (1881, 82, 84, 87)
3x APBL Hurler of the Year (1884*, 85, 89)
11x 20-game winner (1884-89, 91-95)
11x APBL Pitcher of the Month
2x APBL Player of the Week

2x APBL leader in Wins (1885, 89)
2x APBL leader in ERA (1884, 87)
2x APBL leader in Strikeouts (1884-85)
4x APBL leader in Complete Games (1884-85, 88-89)
3x APBL leader in Quality Starts (1884, 88, 95)
3x APBL leader in K/9 (1884-86)
2x APBL leader in Winning % (1888-89)
2x APBL leader in WHIP (1887-88)
1x APBL leader in Shutouts (1887)

ARTHUR MICHAELS

3x APBL Hurler of the Year (1882, 86, 88)
1x APBL Golden Glove (1888)
11x 20-game winner (1881-82, 84-88, 92-95)
1x 30-game winner (1892)
7x APBL Pitcher of the Month
2x APBL Player of the Week

2x APBL leader in wins (1882, 86)
1x APBL leader in ERA (1893)
5x APBL leader in Pitcher WAR (1882-84, 86, 88)
5x APBL leader in Innings (1882, 84, 86-88)
3x APBL leader in Shutouts (1884, 92-93)
2x APBL leader in Complete Games (1884, 86)
2x APBL leader in WHIP (1886, 93)
1x APBL leader in K/BB (1886)

JAKOB HOGH

2x APBL Hurler of the Year (1884*, 91)
10x 20-game winner (1884-87, 90-95)
1x 30-game winner (1891)
3x APBL Player of the Week
3x APBL Pitcher of the Month

2x APBL leader in Wins (1884, 91)
1x APBL leader in ERA (1884)
4x APBL leader in Pitcher WAR (1885-87, 91)
3x APBL leader in Quality Starts (1883-85)
2x APBL leader in Shutouts (1885-86)
2x APBL leader in Winning % (1884, 91)
2x APBL leader in WHIP (1884, 91)
1x APBL leader in K/BB (1891)

*From 1878 to 1890 the APBL gave out a separate set of awards for both conferences.

HANS “DER KAISER” EHLE

3x MWBA champion (1890, 94, 95)
10x MWBA Hurler of the Year (1885-88, 90-95)
1x MWBA Lincoln Memorial Cup MVP (1890)
2x MWBA Pitching Triple Crown winner (1886-87)
11x 20-game winner (1885-95)
7x 30-game winner (1887, 90-95)
21x MWBA Pitcher of the Month
9x MWBA Player of the Week

8x MWBA leader in Wins (1886-87, 90-95)
8x MWBA leader in ERA (1885-91, 95)
4x MWBA leader in Strikeouts (1885-88)
11x MWBA leader in Pitcher WAR (1885-95)
10x MWBA leader in K/BB (1885-93, 95)
8x MWBA leader in Complete Games (1885-91, 93)
7x MWBA leader in WHIP (1885-89, 92, 95)
5x MWBA leader in Innings (1886-88, 90, 94)
5x MWBA leader in Shutouts (1886-89, 93)
4x MWBA leader in K/9 (1885-88)
4x MWBA leader in Winning % (1890, 93-95)

tm1681 · 05-13-2023, 02:37 PM

1895 GIVES US A PAIR OF CLASSIC SEASONS IN THE AMERICAN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION!

Going into 1895, there were a pair of clear favorites in the two member leagues of the American Baseball Association: Pennsylvania in the APBL and Milwaukee in the MWBA. Pennsylvania, the 1894 runners-up, were tipped to end Providence’s three-year run as champions because of the offseason spending spree they underwent that brought in eleven-time MWBA Batsman of the Year Jacob Milburn. Defending MWBA champs Milwaukee went 93-35 in 1894 and were returning the core of their roster after a straightforward 4-2 Lincoln Memorial Cup win over Detroit.

For much of the APBL season, the Pennsylvania Quakers were clearly the league’s best team. They led the Metropolitan Conference basically wire-to-wire with a winning percentage that spent most of the season between .650 and .700 while having the APBL’s best offensive attack. However, it looked like their opponent in the President’s Cup would not actually be the mighty Providence Saints, as the Saints spent much of the Colonial Conference season in a three-way dogfight with Rochester and Boston, with Rochester spending much of ‘95 hanging on to first place. Even though they were in third in late August, the Saints went an extraordinary 17-2 over their final nineteen games to rip a spot in the President’s Cup out of Rochester’s hands by two games once the final day of the season was complete.

And thus, it was time for a Providence-Pennsylvania rematch in the President’s Cup – one that was sure to be an epic encounter. However, Providence had other plans….

The Saints swept the series – outscoring a team that had led the APBL in Runs (764), Run Differential (+237), Batting Average (.298), On-Base % (.380), Slugging % (.397), and thus OPS (.776) – by a total of 21-4.

The four runs allowed over four games was easily the best team-wide pitching performance in the history of the President’s Cup. Charles Wilkerson and Charles Carlyle threw four complete games in the process, and the President’s Cup MVP was given to Wilkerson when it easily could have been split with Carlyle. The two combined to hold the sport’s best active batsman, Jacob Milburn, to 2/15 with just a single RBI over the four games of the PC – a feat that seemed impossible on the face of it. In fact, the only Quaker that hit above .270 in the series was Owen Wilkie.

Even though he wasn't the APBL Batting Champion, Milburn would win the Batsman of the Year Award in his maiden APBL season as he was the best hitter on the APBL’s best team & #1 offense. He was the only APBL player with over 100 RBI, while he finished in the top three in Batting Average, OBP, Slugging Percentage, and OPS as he transitioned to first base. Once he got used to the APBL’s superior pitching he hit .400 over the season’s final two months, which both helped his BotY candidacy AND made his postseason performance even more shocking.

George Patterson of the New York Athletics won his second straight Hurler of the Year Award, and second of his career, at the young age of 39 thanks to a league-leading ERA (1.87) and seven shutouts to go with a 32-11 record for the APBL’s second-best team.

Charley Rankin won his third APBL Most Valuable Player award thanks to eight home runs and 88 RBIs while also playing Golden Glove defense at shortstop for Providence. He finished the year with a league-leading 8.4 WAR for a team that would go on to win their fourth APBL championship in as many years.

Jacob Mixon added to the excitement of the season, putting up a rookie position player record 7.5 WAR for the oh-so-close Rochester squad. Just one year after being signed out of college the 23-year-old right fielder hit well over .300 and stole 96 bases, nearly 25 more than any other player.

Meanwhile…

Over in the MWBA, Milwaukee cruised to the Lincoln Memorial Cup. Their record wasn’t as good as the previous year’s at 84-44, but they took the Eastern League by nineteen games over a group of clubs that ranged from mediocre to terrible. The western half of the MWBA was non-stop suspense, as nearly the entire Western League finished within ten games of first place…

Note: The two halves of the MWBA do play games against each other during the season.

The Western League wasn’t decided until the final two days, with Indy clinching it thanks to a 7-2 home win over Detroit on September 10th that kept them two games ahead of Cincinnati with one game to go.

Since Milwaukee was seven games better than any other MWBA team and effectively coasted into the playoffs over the season’s final month, many figured that the Bavarians had the Lincoln Memorial Cup in the bag. Instead, what unfolded was a seven-game classic…

In the final game in Milwaukee on September 21st, the Bavarians took the LMC 1-0 thanks to a home run in the bottom of the sixth by Thierry Moreau and a complete-game shutout by Thomas Tinsley, who struck out six Indians batters. Hans Ehle didn’t start Game Seven because he had already gone 26 innings over three starts in the series to get the Bavarians to the deciding game, putting up a 1.73 ERA in the process.

Louis Bennett was given the Lincoln Memorial Cup MVP because he went 10/26 at the plate with a double, triple, and home run while playing stellar defense in center field. It made up for his performance during the previous LMC, in which he was Milwaukee’s worst hitter (.111, 5 Ks) during their six-game series win against Detroit.

The suspense would continue after the LMC, as the league needed to decide who would receive the first Batsman of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards after the departure of Jacob Milburn to the APBL. In the end, both decisions were easy, and both went to the same player: Milwaukee second baseman Thierry Moreau. Moreau was 3rd in the MWBA in Average, 1st in OPS, 1st in OPS+, 3rd in RBI, 5th in Hits, 6th in Runs, 3rd in Total Bases, and 1st in Walks while leading the league in both WPA (5.89) and WAR (5.7). To top it off, he did it all while playing for the MWBA’s best team. Matthew Towns of Detroit was the MWBA Batting Champion at .387, but Moreau’s numbers in other offensive categories were superior.

There was no suspense for MWBA Hurler of the Year, as Hans Ehle once again led the MWBA in Wins (31), ERA (2.17), and WAR (13.7) while pitching for the champions.

tm1681 · 05-15-2023, 06:08 PM

FORGOTTEN HISTORY: ANTHONY MASCHERINO

One of the best players of both pre-professional baseball and the early years of the American Professional Baseball league is someone who still manages to be underappreciated: shortstop Anthony Mascherino.

Mascherino manages to fall into both categories because he achieved a longevity that made people take him for granted and played extraordinary defense at a time when a player’s glove was what amounted to wraps on their off-hand, and thus errors occurred at an astronomical amount compared to the early 1900s and especially to today’s game.

That said, here’s what Mascherino was: he was quite possibly the second-best player – behind only Konrad Jensen – over the fourteen seasons of the NBBO before the creation of professional baseball, and he was great for long enough that he was still an elite player plying his trade for the Knickerbockers near the end of the APBL’s first decade.

The Concord, NH native entered the NBBO at its foundation fresh out of high school with the Green Mountain Club of Vermont in 1857. He stayed there for a dozen years before moving to Upstate New York to play with the Minuteman Club in Albany for the last two seasons before the start of the APBL. He won just one Batsman of the Year Award and one Most Valuable Player award in the Northeastern League, but he was an eleven-time All-Star and won eight Golden Gloves before his move to the professional game:

Again, all stat highlighting before 1881 in my game was nuked due to an issue…

Mascherino was never a Batting Champion (2nd once) or an RBI king (best was 6th), but his hitting as a shortstop, combined with his fielding being so far better than his peers, led to him having a stretch where he led the Northeastern League in position player WAR for no less than nine straight seasons: 1859-67. What makes that run truly amazing is that his first season leading the NEL in WAR came when he was just 20 years old. That dominant stretch meant he left the NBBO having earned more WAR than any other position player at 51.6 (2nd: Edward Huntley at 49.7) and he was STILL the all-time NBBO position player WAR leader when its single competition format ended in 1889.

During Mascherino’s time in the NBBO he made it to the Tucker-Wheaton Cup playoffs seven times – six with Green Mountain and one with Minuteman – and won two cups, both with Green Mountain. During the postseason he was even a better player than he was during the NBBO’s May-July regular season:

A playoff OPS+ of 175 for Mascherino was just two points off that of the NBBO’s best hitter: Konrad Jensen (177). His playoff batting earned him three MVP awards: the 1861 Northeastern League semifinals MVP, the 1863 NEL semifinals MVP, and the 1865 NEL semifinals MVP.

Because Mascherino became a regular for Green Mountain while he was a teenager, he was still only 32 when he moved to the Pennsylvania Quakers for the debut season of the American Professional Baseball league. He should have only had a few decent to good seasons left in him, but Mascherino kept up his performance long enough to effectively have another full career in the APBL:

Mascherino would go on to be part of the first APBL championship winners, and he would win three more APBL titles: 1876 (Brooklyn), ’77 (Knickerbockers), and ’78 (Knickerbockers). More importantly, Mascherino won six of the first eight APBL Golden Gloves at shortstop, the last of them coming when he was 39 years old. Those six, combined with his Golden Glove haul from the NBBO, brought his career total to fourteen, a number unmatched by any infielder in the 19th Century and equaled only by Boston Shamrocks outfielder Isaiah Duffy.

Mascherino was not a highly decorated hitter but he was a very good one, and his defense was so far ahead of its time that with the help of advanced metrics he is now seen as one of the very best players of the early days of baseball. Mascherino’s accomplishments over his 25-year career (14 in the NBBO, 11 in the APBL):

6x Championship Winner (4x APBL, 2x NBBO)
1x Northeastern League (NBBO) Batsman of the Year (1865)
1x Northeastern League (NBBO) Most Valuable Player (1861)
14x Golden Glove at SS (8x NBBO, 6x APBL) – career record holder as of 1895
8x Team of the Year at SS (5x NBBO, 3x APBL)
11x National Base Ball Organization All-Star (1859-67, 69-70)
12x League Leader in Position Player WAR (9x NBBO, 3x APBL) – career record holder as of 1895

85.7 WAR over 1,734 G (8.0/162 G) – career record holder for position players (all levels) as of 1895
+525.1 Zone Rating at SS over 1,688 G – career record holder for position players (all levels) as of 1895
1.193 Defensive Efficiency at SS over 1,688 G – career record holder for shortstops (all levels) as of 1895

During his career in the NBBO, Mascherino was overshadowed by the hitting of star 3B/SS Edward Huntley, and during his time in the APBL he would continue to be looked over, first due to the star power of Huntley and then at the tail end of his career the fantastic ability of then-young star Edward Fitzsimmons. However, a look back shows him to be baseball’s first defensive wizard and possibly the best middle infielder of the first fifty years of the sport.

Some would argue that players like Charley Rankin surpassed him, but shortness of seasons play a factor. Back when the NBBO was the highest level of baseball Mascherino averaged 9.9 WAR per 162 games before he hit the age Rankin was at the end of 1895 (26), and Rankin averaged 9.0 WAR per 162 games over the same span.

tm1681 · 05-16-2023, 07:13 PM

FORGOTTEN HISTORY: MORE ON THE FIRST SEASON

Initially, not much was written about the first year of organized baseball, and to be fair the maiden season of the National Base Ball Organization was as much of a curiosity as anything else so not much press was devoted to it. Teams were drawing 1,500 to 2,500 fans per game, with the best attendance always coming on the weekends. Most of the spectators were middle to upper class since those people could afford to take a day off for a family outing or spend money on a curious new sport.

Baseball was still such a fly-by-night operation at that time that even the clubs whose founding easily predated the NBBO, such as the Knickerbockers and the Gotham Base Ball Club, spent maybe $2,000 all year for facilities, field time, equipment, travel, and player per diems in the amateur league.

Players in senior-level rosters ranged from teenagers fresh out of high school, like Konrad Jensen and Anthony Mascherino, to men pushing forty years of age and retiring after a season or two, such as Victory Club’s #2 starter Ståle Hansen. Anyone capable of playing the game at the highest amateur level was welcome.

As mentioned (in one of the first posts in this thread but expanded on more here), the on-field product itself was something completely unlike anything that a person today would think of as baseball. Examples (many from here):

The game ball was hand-made, comparatively soft, and had a brown leather cover.
A bat could be of any length so long as the hitter could effectively swing it.
What passed for a glove was basically a wrap on a player’s off-hand, or at most a leather gardening/work glove.
Home plate was circular and made of iron.
Catchers didn’t wear protective equipment of any kind and stationed themselves 20-25 feet behind home plate.
A run was called an “ace”.
There were no called balls, and called strikes had only just been introduced.
There was no strike zone, with a strike instead being called if the umpire felt the batter refused to swing at a ball that was hittable.
There was no set number of balls for a walk – one was awarded if the umpire felt the pitcher wasn’t giving a batter a chance to hit the ball.
Batters could request that a pitch be delivered to them in a specific manner (think schoolyard kickball).
Pitchers could only throw the ball underhanded, and with no windup.
Pitchers delivered the ball from a line 45 feet from home plate.
One way to get a batter out was to catch a batted ball after one bounce.
One way to get a baserunner out was to hit him with a throw while he was between bases.

All of the above meant that the sport was very much an action-based product. Walks were minimal since they were based on pitcher unfairness – Josiah Rayburn led the NBBO with 56 in 261 innings. Strikeouts were even rarer since batters could request the type of pitch they wanted – Terrance Sampson was the strikeout king with all of 31 in 258.2 innings for the Sportsman’s Club. Strikeouts and walks were so rare that the entire 24-team New York League combined for 1,051 walks and 1,229 Ks by their pitchers in nearly 15,000 innings. About five out of every six hits were singles, so there were ample opportunities to steal and nearly every one of the NBBO’s 48 teams averaged one stolen base per game or more. Batters rarely saw more than a few pitches per at bat, and pitchers could easily take to the mound every other game.

The above rules on balls and strikes also meant that balls and walks weren't a matter of a pitcher lacking control, but they were more of a matter of the pitcher being perceived by the umpire as unfair to the batter. This basically meant Josiah Rayburn was a jerk instead of a comparatively wild pitcher.

The lack of specialized gloves meant error rates were huge. Teams typically committed about half a dozen fielding errors per game, and seeing a team commit a double-digit amount over the course of nine innings was not at all uncommon. Passed Balls were a very frequent occurrence too, as the New York League’s first Golden Glove catcher, Joram Stolk of Orange B.B.C. committed no less than one hundred of them in 66 games.

The most striking difference between the NBBO version of the sport in 1857 and now came in the long ball, because back then you could forget about home runs. The softer balls and huge fields – center field at several NBBO venues were over 500 feet from home – meant most of the round-trippers were of the Inside the Park variety, and in 1857 the 48 teams combined to hit a total of 138 home runs, or about three per team. Granite B.C. were the NBBO leaders with seven. There was not an individual Home Run king in the NBBO’s first season – a trio of players hit three home runs each to share the crown. The almost total lack of round trippers also meant that triples were a far more common sight than they are in the 21st Century.

What this all meant was that even though batters didn’t pack much of a punch – OPS was in the .640 range in 1857 – the average team scored between 7.5 and eight runs per game, with Eckford of Greenpoint having the NBBO’s best offense at 9.3 runs per outing on nearly thirteen hits per game and the worst offense still scoring more than six times per game.

It wouldn't be long before some of the strange rules of 1857 baseball were changed and the sport began to look like its modern version, but in that first season things were different...very different.

italyprof · 05-19-2023, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tm1681

Hey thanks!

It's kind of funny how ideas get in your head sometimes. I mentioned at the top of the first post how I came up with the team logos, but turning the logos into leagues themselves is a bit stranger.

My daughter was born in October 2020 with an issue keeping down her feedings that was bad enough to need medical intervention. In the meantime I stayed up during the night to supplement her feedings for about six months - thank god for project-based remote work - and during these nights I had to come with stuff to fill the time.

One of the things was getting into Japanese media and culture after the Japanese baseball season was over (was streaming live games) and another was seeing how I could turn these things I was working on in my free time into functional OOTP leagues. There was test simulations and spreadsheets and research and experimentation with OOTP settings and so on.

Hence....this!

P.S. - A fascinating source for things pertaining to the history of pre-professional baseball is https://protoball.org/

First of all, I hope your daughter is well now. My own daughter - now a teen - was also ill and in the hospital for the first 11 days of her life, and I remember too the difficulty of filling the time in between hospital visits to her and my wife who stayed there with her. I can relate.

Great, imaginative idea. It seems like neither of the teams I would have rooted for: Newark and Binghamton - my family came from the former and I got my Ph.D. from the latter - make the cut to professional league status.. Oh well.

tm1681 · 05-22-2023, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by italyprof

First of all, I hope your daughter is well now. My own daughter - now a teen - was also ill and in the hospital for the first 11 days of her life, and I remember too the difficulty of filling the time in between hospital visits to her and my wife who stayed there with her. I can relate.

Great, imaginative idea. It seems like neither of the teams I would have rooted for: Newark and Binghamton - my family came from the former and I got my Ph.D. from the latter - make the cut to professional league status.. Oh well.

My daughter - two and a half now - passed her most recent pediatric checkup with flying colors, except she has a giant head (98th percentile) thanks to genetics. Thanks for the well wishes, and I hope your daughter is okay as well!

Newark did actually make the jump to the pros in my game. Newark B.B.C. became the New Jersey Clippers at the foundation of the American Professional Baseball League.

05-01-2023, 08:48 PM	#21
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	THE SOUTHEAST GETS A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN! With the Northeast and Midwest now covered by professional baseball, the growing amateur and semi-pro game in the Southeastern United States decided it was time to turn professional as well. In the winter of 1884, leaders from six of the best amateur clubs in the southeast got together to form the Southeastern & Atlantic League of Baseball, which quickly became known as the SEAL. The clubs involved, and the new names they took: Armory Baseball Club, which became the Charleston Battery Atlanta Baseball Club, which became the Atlanta Flames Cumberland Baseball Club, which became the Nashville Bobcats Mississippi River B.C., which became the Memphis Showboats Savannah Baseball Club, which became the Savannah Schooners Tobacco Growers Guild of Richmond, which became the Richmond Rollers Their identities: The SEAL league was going to have the same roster rules & regulations as the two existing professional leagues, but its aims were a bit lower. The southeast had smaller metro areas and thus smaller markets, meaning that it couldn’t match the kind of pay the APBL and MWBA offered – about 2/3 of the APBL and maybe 3/4 of the MWBA. In the meantime, what it could be was a professional league that let players in the Southeastern United States become full-time professionals while allowing overlooked players in the other two pro leagues a chance to become everyday starters, or perhaps even stars, in a new home. And unlike the other two leagues, the SEAL played its ball in pitcher-friendly environments that led to batting average, power output, and ERAs that were noticeably lower than elsewhere. To wit, in that inaugural season teams averaged only 5.4 runs per game and the league batting average was just .253, a good 20-25 points lower than the other two pro leagues. The inaugural season of the SEAL was tighter than any pennant chase baseball had seen – pro, semi-pro, or amateur – up to that point, with five of the league’s six teams finishing within two games of eventual champions Richmond: Richmond Rollers: 54-46 Charleston Battery: 52-48 (2 GB) Memphis Showboats: 52-48 Nashville Bobcats: 52-48 Savannah Schooners: 52-48 Atlanta Flames: 38-62 (16 GB) As you can see, there was a four-way tie for second place that league executives didn’t anticipate at all, so they came up with a tiebreaker in which the teams were placed in the standings based on their season-long run differential. Charleston finished second because theirs was a +24, Memphis in third at +16, Nashville in fourth thanks to a +7, and Savannah was the only one of the four 52-48 teams with a negative RD (-8) so they finished in fifth. BATSMAN OF THE YEAR & MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Henry Duncan – CF, Nashville Bobcats 100 G, .306/.358/.397, .755 OPS (151 OPS+), 86 R, 135 H, 11 3B, 48 RBI, 175 TB, 47 SB, 4.50 WPA, 5.0 WAR (8.1/162) Duncan didn’t have the highest average or OPS in the first season of the SEAL. Those honors went to Pearl Drury of Savannah (.331 AVG, .776 OPS). However, Duncan led the league in numerous other offensive categories while finishing close to Drury in the most basic batting statistics. Also, Duncan leading the six-team league in both WPA and WAR made him the obvious choice for not just BotY but also MVP. HURLER OF THE YEAR Charles Davis - Richmond Rolllers 385 IP, 25-20, 2.20 ERA, 48 G, 45 GS, 32 CG, 60 BB, 186 K, 3.1 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 12.3 WAR (7.2/225 IP) Charles Davis won HotY even though he managed to both win and lose 20 games, but he was clearly the league’s best pitcher given that he was the ace of champions Richmond, led the SEAL in multiple important pitching categories and his WAR (12.3) was nearly four full points higher than that of anyone else who took to the mound. TEAM OF THE YEAR P: Charles Davis (RICH) – 385 IP, 32 CG, 25-20, 186 K, 3.1 K/BB, 12.3 WAR, HotY, champion C: Earl Parham (RICH) – .312 AVG, .719 OPS (139 OPS+), 106 H, 47 RBI, 41.4 RTO%, 2.38 CERA, 3.11 WPA, 2.7 WAR, champion 1B: Joseph Elmore (MEM) – .255 AVG, .637 OPS (112 OPS+), 6 HR, 48 RBI, 1.0 WAR 2B: Pearl Drury (SAV) – .331 AVG, .776 OPS (158 OPS+), 132 H, 59 RBI, 2.94 WPA, 2.5 WAR 3B: Hewitt Miller (ATL) – .300 AVG, .756 OPS (151 OPS+), 125 H, 29 XBH, 40 RBI, 2.87 WPA, 4.5 WAR SS: Turner Yates (RICH) – .257 AVG, .604 OPS (101 OPS+), 114 H, 70 R, 2.4 WAR, champion OF: Beauregard Kemp (ATL) – .303 AVG, .752 OPS (150 OPS+), 76 R, 125 H, 55 RBI, 19 SB, 2.62 WPA, 3.3 WAR OF: Henry Duncan (NASH) – .306 AVG, .755 OPS (151 OPS+), 86 R, 135 H, 11 3B, 48 RBI, 175 TB, 47 SB, 4.50 WPA, 5.0 WAR, BotY, MVP OF: David Chisolm (SAV) – .308 AVG, .727 OPS (142 OPS+), 132 H, 27 2B, 65 RBI, 2.05 WPA, 2.4 WAR Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:38 AM.

05-03-2023, 08:59 PM	#22
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	THE END OF THE NBBO SIGNALS A NEW BEGINNING As the 1880s progressed, the NBBO was running into a problem. Owing to the Northeastern United States’ – as well as that of the overall United States' – quickly-growing population, more cities and towns expressed the desire to have ball clubs that were a step up from the amateur ranks, and they had enough people going to games to make it happen. Toward the end of the decade NBBO executives realized that the above meant the 48-team, 2-league format it had run since 1857 wasn’t going to be feasible for much longer. There were at least two towns in New York that wanted in, and enough in New England that the region could conceivably be split off into its own league. It was then that NBBO commissioner Charles Spalding had an idea: have New York City, the Northeast, and New England each be separate, but associated, competitions and turn the NBBO into more of an organizational governing body. During 1888 National Base Ball Organization Winter Meetings, it was agreed that the NBBO would split into three competitions starting in the new decade: The New York Metropolitan League (NYL), covering the New York City clubs The Northeastern League (NEL), covering Upstate New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania The New England Baseball Association (NEBA), covering Massachusetts & greater New England The three competitions could then add new entrants as they wished, which would allow for more baseball in more cities to be played further into the year at a higher-than-amateur standard. The NBBO received a bigger boost when meetings with the other two notable semi-professional competitions, the Great Lakes Baseball Conference (GLBC) and the Baseball League of the American Prairie (PL), proved fruitful, and both agreed to move under the NBBO umbrella for 1890. This meant that 1890s would see the National Base Ball Organization turn from a competition into an organizing body for the non-professional sport in the entire United States, and should other semi-pro leagues pop up they would likely join as well. The last year of the NBBO’s single competition was a closely-contested one, for the most part. In the New York League, Eckford (53-31) won the Brooklyn Championship by 3 games over Nassau County, Yonkers (53-31) won the New York City Championship by 2 games over Manhattan, and Binghamton (50-34) won the Upstate New York Championship by 2 games as well, besting Utica. In the Northeastern League, Olympic B.C. (52-32) took the Coastal Championship by 4 games over Philadelphia and Sons of the Ocean (56-28) also took their regional Championship, New England, by 4 over the Cantabrigians. However, the Lancaster Dukes won the Inland Championship by no less than 16 games thanks to a record of 61-23 and the best lineup in the league, and it looked to many like they would be the final NBBO champions. Instead, they were taken down 3-1 in the Northeastern League Championship Series by Sons of the Ocean in a stunner, and it was the Sons of the Ocean who would be crowned the NBBO’s last victors after besting Eckford of Greenpoint in the Tucker-Wheaton Cup, winning it for the fourth time. This was perhaps a fitting end to the NBBO given that SotO were the NBBO’s first champions back in 1857. The final list of NBBO finalists & champions (Tucker-Wheaton Cup winners are highlighted in blue): BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL AFTER PROFESSIONAL SPLIT NOTE: In 1889, Batting Averages were .274 for the NYL and .273 for the NEL, while Earned Run Averages were 3.64 for the NYL and 3.66 for the NEL. All totaled, there were 33 Tucker-Wheaton Cups awarded. 18 went to clubs in the Northeastern League, 15 went to clubs in the New York League, and Sons of the Ocean won it more times (four) than anyone else. Orange BBC/Manhattan Orangemen made more Tucker-Wheaton Cup appearances than any other club with nine, but unfortunately for them they only won it three times. With five semi-pro leagues on the books for 1890 a fair playoff wouldn’t be feasible, but it wouldn’t surprise if the TWC was revived before long… Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:31 AM.

05-03-2023, 09:53 PM	#23
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	THE 1880s IN REVIEW THE CHAMPIONS AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE 1880: Brooklyn Kings (52-38, President’s Cup 4-2 over Boston) 1881: Boston Shamrocks (58-32, PC 4-2 over Brooklyn) 1882: Boston Shamrocks (53-37, PC 4-2 over NY Athletics) 1883: Brooklyn Kings (59-31, PC 4-0 over Massachusetts Bay) 1884: Boston Shamrocks (73-39, PC 4-2 over Brooklyn) 1885: Brooklyn Kings (79-33, PC 4-1 over Boston) 1886: Manhattan Knickerbockers (76-36, PC 4-1 over Boston) 1887: Boston Shamrocks (92-20, PC 4-1 over New Jersey) 1888: Manhattan Knickerbockers (75-37, PC 4-1 over Boston) 1889: Manhattan Knickerbockers (74-38, PC 4-2 over Rochester) Three teams dominated the APBL in the 80s: Boston, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. The Knickerbockers took a back seat after winning the last two non-playoff titles (1877, 78), but by the end of the decade they were firmly back on top as Boston was faltering and Brooklyn wasn’t quite great enough. MIDWESTERN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION 1882: St. Louis Saints (55-35, no playoffs) 1883: Louisville Sluggers (64-26) 1884: St. Louis Saints (59-31) 1885: St. Louis Saints (65-43) 1886: Cincinnati Royals (70-38) 1887: Detroit Robins (66-42) 1888: Detroit Robins (75-33) 1889: Detroit Robins (80-28) Early on, it was looking like the inaugural decade of the MWBA would belong to St. Louis as they finished 1st, 1st, 2nd (62-28), and 1st over the league’s first four seasons thanks to the unstoppable Jacob Milburn. However, they fell to third (57-51) in 1886 and once Detroit signed Alva Burgess there was no looking back. SOUTHEASTERN & ATLANTIC LEAGUE 1885: Richmond Rollers (54-46, no playoffs) 1886: Richmond Rollers (64-36) 1887: Richmond Rollers (60-40) 1888: Atlanta Flames (60-40) 1889: Atlanta Flames (65-35) In the first three seasons of the SEAL, it was all Richmond as their outstanding pitching trumped the rest of the league. However, by the end of the decade Atlanta, through the signing of outstanding young talent, had caught and passed their northern foes to become the league’s dominant side. NON-PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONS 1880: NYAC (NBBO) 1881: Manhattan (NBBO) 1882: Empire (NBBO), Saginaw (GLBC), St. Paul (PL) 1883: Eckford (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), St. Paul (PL) 1884: Fall River (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), Kansas City (PL) 1885: Eckford (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), Dubuque (PL) 1886: Sons of the Ocean (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), Omaha (PL) 1887: Olympic (NBBO), Toledo (GLBC), Kansas City (PL) 1888: Lancaster (NBBO), Duluth (GLBC), Kansas City (PL) 1889: Sons of the Ocean (NBBO), Peoria (GLBC), St. Paul (PL) Sons of the Ocean ended the NBBO the same way they started it: by winning the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. Meanwhile, Toledo’s iron grip on the GLBC was finally broken by the end of the decade and clubs in the emerging markets of Kansas City and St. Paul dominated the Prairie League. TEAM OF THE DECADE The Boston Shamrocks (American Professional Baseball League) 1880: 59-31, Lost President’s Cup 4-2 vs Brooklyn 1881: 58-32, Won President’s Cup 4-2 over Brooklyn 1882: 53-37, Won President’s Cup 4-2 over NY Athletics 1883: 50-40, 2nd place in APBL Metropolitan Conference 1884: 73-39, Won President’s Cup 4-2 over Brooklyn 1885: 80-32, Lost President’s Cup 4-1 vs Brooklyn 1886: 88-24, Lost President’s Cup 4-1 vs Manhattan 1887: 92-20, Won President’s Cup 4-1 over New Jersey 1888: 82-30, Lost President’s Cup 4-1 vs Manhattan 1889: 70-42, 2nd place in APBL Metropolitan Conference 1880s: 705-327 record (.683 WIN%), 8 President’s Cup appearances, 4 APBL Championships The 1880s was Boston’s decade. Even though none went to seven games, they had some epic confrontations with Brooklyn in the President’s Cup and in the end their record and title haul was simply superior to that of any other pro team. At the height of their powers, Boston not only had pro baseball’s best starting rotation, but they also had baseball’s most feared position player trio in the outfield “Hydra” of Anderson “The Wild Horse” Belknap, Alva “The Cheetah” Burgess, and Isaiah “The Locomotive” Duffy, all of whom would have an 80/80 on range at their positions had such scouting grades existed back then. Boston had the best winning percentage (.683), the most titles (4), and easily most President’s Cup appearances (8) of any APBL team. The Brooklyn Kings were outstanding for most of the decade, making the PC five times and winning it three. However, by the end of the ‘80s they’d fallen behind the Knickerbockers and in 1888 they slipped as far down as sixth place (49-63) in the Metropolitan Conference. In the early days of the MWBA it looked like St. Louis would put up a record that could match Boston’s, winning three of the first four titles and finishing second in the other season even though they went 62-28. However, once Detroit signed Alva Burgess the balance of power in the league immediately shifted and the Saints fell off quickly. BATSMAN OF THE DECADE Jacob Milburn – LF, St. Louis Saints (1882-89) 808 G, 1,421 H, .413 AVG, 1.041 OPS, 194 OPS+, 221 2B, 141 3B, 1,964 TB, 45.93 WPA (9.21/162 G), 37.8 WAR (7.7/162 G) 8x MWBA Team of the Year at OF (1882-89) 7x MWBA Batsman of the Year (1882-88) 3x MWBA Most Valuable Player (1882, 84, 86) 3x MWBA Champion (1882, 84, 85) 7x MWBA Batting Champion (1882-88) 7x MWBA Leader in hits, OBP, SLG, & OPS (1882-88) 7x MWBA Leader in total bases (1882-88) 3x MWBA Leader in runs, doubles, & triples 1x MWBA Leader in RBI (1882) 1886: 106 starts, .432 AVG, .505 OBP, 1.059 OPS (213 OPS+), 111 R, 187 H, 240 TB, 69 RBI, 41 SB, 6.67 WPA (10.19/162), 6.5 WAR (10.0/162), BotY, MVP No debate. None. As dominant as Konrad Jensen was in the late 1860s and throughout the ‘70s, Jacob Milburn was arguably even more dominant over the first eight seasons of the MWBA. He hit more than .400 seven times. He led the league in AVG, OBP, and OPS seven times. He led the league in hits and total bases seven times. His OPS was over 1.000 six times, and his OPS+ was over 200 five times. Milburn came into professional baseball at the age of 22 hitting like Jensen did when he hit his final stage of development as a 27-year-old for Excelsior, and Milburn was doing it at a higher level of play. HURLER OF THE DECADE Henry Polley – Boston Shamrocks (1881-89) 209-96 record, 2.59 ERA, 151 ERA+, 2,801.2 IP, 243 CG, 14 SHO, 475 BB, 1,226 K, 75.5 WAR (6.1/225 IP) 4x APBL Champion (1881, 82, 84, 87) 1x APBL Hurler of the Year (1888) 2x APBL Leader in wins (1886, 88) 2x APBL Leader in ERA (1882, 88) 2x APBL Leader in pitcher WAR (1888, 89) 8x 20-game winner (1881-82, 84-89) 1888: 333.1 IP, 28-11, 2.32 ERA (166 ERA+), 30 CG, 3 SHO, 49 BB, 185 K, 3.8 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 9.9 WAR (6.7/225 IP), HotY Polley entered pro baseball as a 25-year-old rookie for Boston in 1881 and proceeded to go 26-14 with a 2.77 ERA. He was almost uniformly excellent over the rest of the decade, even if that only earned him one Hurler of the Year award. Teammate Martin Nielson won the award three times, but he was more inconsistent with a slightly worse record and notably lower WAR even though the two had similar statistics. Polley was Boston’s ace the entire time, making his 209-96 record that much more impressive since he was always up against the opposition's #1 pitcher. Arthur Meyer had a playing record that came close, but he didn’t really get going until joining Brooklyn in 1885 after four okay years with Massachusetts Bay. He actually won more games than Polley, but a couple of seasons with sub-500 records and ERAs over 4.00 with the other Boston team really hurt his resumé. On talent and recent record alone, Hans Ehle is the winner. He topped every other pro pitcher of the decade in Hurler of the Year awards (4), ERA (1.74), ERA+ (213), strikeouts (1,650), and WAR (81.0), but he did that playing just five seasons of pro baseball after spending 1882-84 as a semi-pro with Columbus. That’s remarkable, but it also meant he wasn’t the Pitcher of the (entire) Decade. Given the way things are going he’s almost certain to be the #1 pitcher of the 1890s. PLAYER OF THE DECADE Alva Burgess – Boston Shamrocks (APBL – 1880-86) & Detroit Robins (MWBA – 1887-89) 1,000 G, 1,638 H, 1,114 R, .369 AVG, .888 OPS, 149 OPS+, 682 RBI, 842 SB, 50.96 WPA (8.25/162 G), 50.0 WAR (8.1/162 G), BotY, MVP 6x Champion (3x APBL, 3x MWBA) 4x Most Valuable Player (3x APBL, 1x MWBA) 2x APBL Batsman of the Year (1880, 86) 1x APBL Batting Champion (1886 – also led in SLG & OPS) 7x Team of the Year at OF (5x APBL, 2x MWBA) 2x Golden Glove at OF (1x APBL, 1x MWBA) 10x League stolen base leader (7x APBL, 3x MWBA) 5x League leader in runs (3x APBL, 2x MWBA) 4x APBL leader in total bases (1880, 82, 85, 86) 4x League leader in position player WAR (2x APBL, 2x MWBA) 4x APBL leader in hits (1880, 82, 84, 86) 1886 (Boston): 106 games, .382 AVG, .890 OPS (168 OPS+), 108 R, 171 H, 84 RBI, 215 TB, 102 SB, 6.70 WPA (10.23/162), 8.2 WAR (12.5/162), GG Alva Burgess was baseball’s biggest winner in the 1880s with six titles, and thus its brightest star. His combination of batting, speed, and range in center field made him the scariest player in the APBL for Boston, and that carried over when he joined Detroit after arguably the best season by a position player in APBL history in 1886. He led his league in stolen bases every season of the decade, averaging *84 per year. He was a player who could hit for average, find the gap, steal at will, cover massive amounts of ground in center field, and do every little thing possible to move his team closer to a win. Boston fell off their first-place perch just a couple of years after he left, and it’s also no coincidence that Detroit immediately moved up from a mediocre team typically in the middle of the MWBA pack to instant title-winners after he shocked the APBL by signing for the Robins in October of ‘86. There could be an argument for shortstop Edward Fitzsimmons, who won four APBL titles, eight Golden Gloves, seven Team of the Year nods, and an MVP while finishing higher on WAR than Burgess (51.1, 8.3/162), but Burgess’ extra titles and the massive impact his crossing over into the MWBA had were too much. NON-PROFESSIONAL PLAYER OF THE DECADE* Earl Clements – Toledo Mud Hens (GLBC – 1882-89) 705 G, 1,058 hits, .353 AVG, .880 OPS, 159 OPS+, 267 XBH, 478 RBI, +268.4 ZR at SS (+61.7/162 G), 1.235 D-EFF at SS, 25.25 WPA (5.80/162 G), 47.0 WAR (10.8/162 G) 5x GLBC Champion (1883-87) 2x GLBC Batsman of the Year (1885, 89) 2x GLBC MVP (1886, 89) 8x GLBC Team of the Year at SS (1882-89) 7x GLBC Golden Glove at SS (1882-88) 6x GLBC leader in position player WAR (1882, 1884-87, 89) 2x GLBC leader in hits (1885, 89) 2x GLBC leader in total bases (1885, 89) 1x GLBC Batting Champion (1889 – also led in OBP & SLG) 1887: 90 games, .380 AVG, .937 OPS (178 OPS+), 93 R, 148 H, 26 2B, 61 RBI, +31.2 ZR at SS, 3.09 WPA (5.5/162), 7.0 WAR (12.6/162), BotY, TotY, GG Clements is someone who probably would have been a four-star player in the APBL or MWBA. However, the Wisconsin native loved Toledo and Toledo loved him back – he didn’t seem to care that he only made about half of what players with similar talent did in the three pro leagues. He led a dynasty in Toledo via impeccable defense and batting that was easily the best at his position in the Great Lakes Baseball Conference. Not a single player in the NBBO or Prairie League came remotely close to Clements in terms of titles won, accomplishments, or simple WAR. He was easily the best semi-pro baseball player in the United States over the timeframe. His 1889 season (.408 AVG, 1.010 OPS, 190 OPS+) was even better than 1887 season from the batter’s box, but he was so great on defense in ’87 that the latter season comes out on top by almost a full point of WAR. ALL-DECADE TEAM C: Frederick Kearney – 1882-89 w/Lake Michigan (MWBA), Rochester (APBL) – 6x Team of the Year, 28.3 WAR (6.0/162) 1B: Lee Douglass – 1882-89 w/ New Jersey & Brooklyn (APBL), Cleveland (MWBA) – 6x Golden Glove, 1x Batsman of the Year & MVP, 22.9 WAR (4.5/162G) 2B: Joseph Welling – 1880-89 w/Orangemen, Brooklyn & Washington (APBL) – 2x champ, 4x Team of the Year, 28.0 WAR (4.5/162G) 3B: Franklin Rader – 1882-89 w/ Missouri (MWBA) – 5x Team of the Year, 1x Golden Glove, 25.7 WAR (5.2/162) SS: Edward Fitzsimmons – 1880-89 w/ Brooklyn & Boston (MWBA) – 4x champ, 8x Golden Glove, 7x Team of the Year, 1x MVP, 51.1 WAR (8.3/162) LF: Jacob Milburn – 1882-89 w/ St. Louis (MWBA) – 3x champ, 7x Batsman of the Year, 3x MVP, 8x Team of the Year, 37.8 WAR (7.7/162) CF: Alva Burgess – 1880-89 w/ Boston (APBL), Detroit (MWBA) – 6x champ, 4x MVP, 2x Batsman of the Year, 7x Team of the Year, 50.0 WAR (8.1/162) RF: Isaiah Duffy – 1880-89 w/ Boston (APBL) – 3x champ, 3x Batsman of the Year, 10x Golden Glove, 4x Team of the Year, 42.0 WAR (6.9/162) SP: Henry Polley – 1881-89 w/Boston (APBL) – 209-96, 4x champ, 8x 20-game winner, 1x Hurler of the Year, 75.5 WAR (6.1/225 IP) SP: Arthur Meyer – 1880-89 w/ Mass. Bay & Brooklyn (APBL) – 215-133, 1x champ, 8x 20-game winner, 1x Hurler of the Year, 71.5 WAR (5.1/225 IP) SP: Hans Ehle – 1885-89 w/Milwaukee (MWBA) – 124-58, 4x Hurler of the Year, 5x 20-game winner, 81.0 WAR (11.2/225 IP) Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:29 AM.

05-03-2023, 10:22 PM	#24
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	CHANGES TO THE BASEBALL LANDSCAPE As planned, baseball went into the decade of the 1890s featuring significant changes. The NBBO was now a governing body overseeing three new competitions – the New York League, the Northeastern League, & the New England Baseball Association – while bringing two existing ones – the Great Lakes Baseball Conference & the Prairie League – into the fold, which put all the semi-pro clubs under one umbrella. However, that was far from the end of the changes facing baseball at the start of the final decade of the 19th Century. In the Prairie League, four clubs – Kansas City, Minneapolis, Omaha, & St. Paul – saw their markets become too big for semi-pro status and the Midwestern Baseball Association came calling. As a result, the MWBA grew to fourteen teams for the 1890 season while the PL found four clubs – the Council Bluffs Unions, Davenport Riversiders, Kansas Blue Stockings, & Southern Missouri Ozarks – to replace the departees. With the MWBA (14 teams) now almost as big as the APBL (16 teams) and widely seen as nearly equal in quality, the two leagues decided to form a loose association which would henceforth be dedicated to professional leagues of the highest quality: the American Baseball Association. The open competition between the two for talent would still be there, but now there was mutual understanding and less hostility. The Southeastern & Atlantic League remained an independent professional league, but after five years of slow growth it added two new clubs to bring its total to eight. One club came from the GLBC: the Evansville Angels, a team situated in far southern Indiana that was closer to some of the SEAL teams than many GLBC counterparts. The other was a high-profile amateur club from Chesapeake, Virginia: Lords of the Old Dominion, which became the Old Dominion Lords. The GLBC found an easy replacement for Evansville, as former NBBO members the Erie Lakers were situated right along the Great Lake they were named after and were thus a natural fit for the GLBC instead of the Northeastern League. The other nine teams remained, meaning the league stayed at ten. In addition to the five new clubs mentioned above there were others to make the move up from amateur ball. The NEL saw the Niagara Falls Rapids and Schenectady Bolts join to bring the league to twenty teams. The NEBA added three new clubs – the Brass City Watchmakers, Bridgeport Ironmen, & Pawtucket Foxes – so the greater New England half of the league could have as many teams as the Massachusetts half (8), giving the NEBA sixteen teams going into its inaugural season. Meanwhile, the New York League had the easiest time setting up shop, as all sixteen members of the old Brooklyn and New York championships in the NBBO simply moved over and sorted out what the schedule would be. In addition to the new leagues and new teams, seasons would now be longer. Beginning in 1890 the semi-professional leagues would have seasons ranging from 108-114 games, up from 84 in the NBBO and 90 in the GLBC & PL. In the pro ranks, the SEAL increased its schedule to 126 games (from 100), the MWBA went to 130 (from 108), and the APBL added enough games to have the longest season of the three pro leagues at 132 games (from 112). This was how the baseball landscape looked going into the 1890s: NATIONAL BASEBALL ASSOCIATIONS AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE (APBL) MIDWESTERN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE (MWBA) SOUTHEASTERN & ATLANTIC LEAGUE OF BASEBALL (SEAL) NEW YORK METROPOLITAN BASEBALL LEAGUE (NYL) NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE OF BASEBALL CLUBS (NEL) NEW ENGLAND BASEBALL ASSOCIATION (NEBA) GREAT LAKES BASEBALL CONFERENCE (GLBC) BASEBALL LEAGUE OF THE AMERICAN PRAIRIE (PL) On top of the new look to the baseball landscape, there were changes on the field as well. During the 1880s the number of balls needed for a walk kept creeping down from seven, to six, then to five, then to the final amount of four – that still stands today – before the 1889 season. That, combined with the pitching area being tinkered with dulled the mid-80s dominance the best pitchers enjoyed after overhand throwing motions were allowed for the first time. Also, during the decade alterations were made to bat specifications – size, flatness, substances, etc. – and in the process these regulation changes helped turn the massive hitters’ paradises like The Elysian Fields, where center field was 500+ feet from home plate and both foul poles were 375+, into parks that now favored the pitcher. This meant that while walks were going up and strikeouts were going back down, the days of league batting leaders regularly hitting over .400 and fast gap hitters racking up 30 triples in 100-110 games were over. The enormous stadiums meant pitchers still didn’t have to worry about home runs, as rare as they already were, but it meant that 15-12 slugfests in the oldest APBL parks were going to be a far less common sight. As the new decade dawned, the state of baseball in the USA was looking very good, and no doubt it wouldn’t be long before more leagues emerged, perhaps even ones in other countries. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:21 AM.

05-03-2023, 10:41 PM	#25
luckymann Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 10,769	Just amazing stuff - absolutely fantastic work here, my friend. G __________________ HISTORICAL DO-OVERS PIRATES A'S RED SOX CUSTOM SAVES ECLIPSE LEAGUE MOON SHOT LEAGUE EVERYMAN LEAGUE AROUND THE HORN LEAGUE MY MODS MY NEL PROJECT

05-07-2023, 06:08 PM	#27
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	HISTORY IS MADE IN MULTIPLE WAYS IN 1891! After one year of baseball’s new-look setup there were no major off-the-field shakeups ahead of the 1891 professional and semi-pro seasons. However, the action on the field would more than make up for the relative quiet off it, as history of both the spectacular and unique kind was made across the sport during the year. JACOB MILBURN DETHRONES THE KING As mentioned, ahead of the 1890s various changes were made to the rules and regulations of baseball that simultaneously granted hitters minor advantages (four balls for a walk) while tamping down their raw batting and gap power (bat size, shape, etc). Jacob Milburn again won MWBA Batsman of the Year in 1890, but for the first time he won it with a batting average under .400 and he did so with an OPS under 1.000 – the changes had their desired effect. In fact, his 1890 season was a full point of WAR better (5.5) than his 1887 in which he won BotY with a .409 AVG and 1.032 OPS (4.4 WAR). Over the winter Milburn made some tweaks to his hitting approach, and he felt going into 1891 that he could crack .400 again. What he didn’t know was that he would have the single best batting season in the history of the sport. Here was what Milburn did against the rest of the MWBA in 1891: .438/.505/.616, 1.122 OPS (+225 OPS+), 119 R, 209 H, 30 2B, 26 3B, 57 XBH, 294 TB, 58 BB, 31 SB (4 CS), 7.33 WPA (9.28/162), 9.2 WAR (11.6/162) Over 128 games Milburn led the fourteen-team league in: Runs: 119 (1st by 19) Hits: 209 (1st by 35) Total Bases: 294 (1st by 56) Doubles: 30 (1st by 2) Triples: 26 (1st by 7) Walks: 58 (tied for 1st) Average: .438 (1st by 52 points) OBP: .505 (1st by 67 points) OPS: 1.122 (1st by 196 points) OPS Plus: 225 (1st by 65 points) WPA: 7.33 (1st by 1.47) WAR: 9.2 (1st by 3.1) His 9.0 offensive WAR was the single highest ever recorded in a season in any league, and as seen above he led the league in some categories by amounts never seen before. This was especially true of his 196-point OPS margin over second place. He did this in a Midwestern Baseball Association where the batting average was 5-10 points lower and the OPS 20-25 points lower than two years ago, before the new regulations were put in place. Milburn hit quite well over the first two months of the season, comfortably 400+ at the end of June. However, what followed was the single-best month of batting anyone had ever laid eyes on: 3.30 WPA and 3.7 WAR over the 28 games Milburn played in July would translate to 19.09 WPA and 21.4 WAR over a modern 162-game schedule. From there, he coasted a bit and “only” hit .365 (.961 OPS) in the season’s final month to finish with a year that will be written about forever. HANS EHLE GOES THE LIMIT FOR MILWAUKEE Milwaukee Bavarians pitcher Hans Ehle, the most dominant pitcher in the sport, added a new accomplishment to his name in the 1891 season: he became the first pitcher ever to finish 40 complete games in consecutive seasons, ones in which Milwaukee won its first MWBA title and then lost the first edition of the Lincoln Memorial Cup in seven games to Cleveland. The Bavarians went into the '90s having finished runners up in the MWBA three times, and they asked Ehle how much further he could push his pitching arm in order to put the team over the top. He obliged, throwing nearly 800 innings over 1890-91, and as the coaching staff hoped it led to championship baseball. Ehle’s 1891 (MWBA leader in italics): 30-15, 2 SVs, 1.63 ERA (209 ERA+), 392 IP, 40 CG, 38 BB, 301 K, 7.9 K/BB, 0.98 WHIP, 16.9 WAR (9.7 per 225 IP) Somehow 16.9 WAR was only the third-best single season total of his career to that point, but the result was another Hurler of the Year Award – his sixth in seven pro seasons. PETTER LUND BECOMES THE FIRST POSITION PLAYER WITH 10+ WAR IN A SEASON In the semi-pro ranks, the Reading Athletics’ 22-year-old star center fielder Petter Lund went into 1891 already as the league’s best player. He’d hit .315 the year before (.864 OPS, 159 OPS+) and stole 71 bases while playing Golden Glove outfield defense, leading to a league-high WAR of 7.3. What Lund did for Reading over 110 games in 1891 was something far more spectacular: .350/.426/.564, .990 OPS (198 OPS+), 89 R, 146 H, 62 XBH, 59 RBI, 235 TB, 90 SB (18 CS), 5.51 WPA (8.11/162), 10.0 WAR (14.7/162) Batsman of the Year Most Valuable Player Golden Glove (OF) He led the Northeastern League in hits, average, OBP, slugging, and naturally OPS, while stealing no less than 90 bases and playing more Golden Glove defense at CF. The result: 5.8 offensive WAR and 4.2 WAR from other areas for a total of 10.0, making him the first position player in baseball history to earn 10+ Wins Above Replacement in a single season. The fact that he had only just turned 22 before the start of the season made the accomplishment even more incredible, and no doubt the APBL or the MWBA would come calling to Reading with a bag of cash and a contract offer in short order. KNICKERBOCKERS GET APBL’S #1 RECORD & PRESIDENT’S CUP WITH NO TEAM OF THE YEAR MEMBERS 1891 wouldn’t see any truly historic individual performances in the APBL. Lindsey Christianson of Philadelphia was the Batting Champion at .349. Nobody drove in 100 runs or hit more than a handful of home runs. No starter had an ERA under 2.00. Jakob Hogh (Buffalo) and Jurgen Schultz (Pennsylvania) both won 30+ games, but given the new length of the APBL season (132 G) it was expected that at least one pitcher a year would win 30+ since teams still had three-man starting rotations. Along the same lines, the New York Knickerbockers made history with a team full of players who performed in a similar vein, becoming the first team in baseball history to have either their league’s best record or win their league’s championship series while having zero players make the league’s official Team of the Year, and they did both. NYK was an APBL-best 80-52 with a starting lineup full of position players that ranged from 1.5-4.5 Wins Above Replacement. Nobody hit better than .315, and they were 4th in runs scored while just 10th out of 16 teams in batting average. Their pitching staff was 3rd in ERA, 4th in WAR, and just 9th in strikeouts. All three members of the rotation won 20+ games, but their best performer was about four points of WAR off Pitcher of the Year Hogh of Buffalo. So, how did the Knickerbockers find success? They were top-three in the APBL in runs allowed thanks to a defense that was top-three in fielding percentage and errors while topping the league in Zone Rating. Their pitchers also allowed the fewest walks in the league, and those factors led the team to be extremely successful in close games, culminating in their 4-2 President’s Cup series win over the Buffalo Blues. SYRACUSE GOES 89-25 WITHOUT A SINGLE PLAYER HITTING .300 Back in the semi-pro ranks, the Syracuse Emeralds of the Northeastern League made some odd history of their own in 1891. The Emeralds finished the regular season with the NEL’s best record by eleven games, going 89-25 (.781) and finishing no less than twenty-three games in the clear in the New York Conference. Yet, they did this without having a single regular position player hit .300 or better, which was the first time a league champion or division/conference winner had done so. They finished 5th out of 20 NEL teams in runs scored, average, and OPS, but the best hitter in their lineup topped out at .293 (CF Ilario Cercignani) and only two others hit above .260. Even with that seeming lack of offensive punch, Syracuse won 78 percent of their games before the Adams Trophy series because they were easily the best in the twenty-team league in numerous other areas: #1 in Runs Allowed (385, 3.37 p/g) #1 in Starters’ ERA (2.43) #1 in Relievers’ ERA (1.53) #1 in Fielding-Independent Pitching (2.35) #1 in Pitching WAR (28.8, 40.9/162) #1 in Strikeouts (700, 6.14 p/g) #1 in Errors (206, 1.81 p/g) #2 in Zone Rating (+85.2) #2 in Def. Efficiency (.695) However, in the Adams Cup finals they were up against the aforementioned Petter Lund and the 78-36 Reading Athletics, where Syracuse’s relative lack of attack finally did them in. They were swept 3-0 while being outscored 16-9, and what had been a historic season ended with a crash at the final hurdle. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:19 AM.

05-07-2023, 06:11 PM	#28
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	THE FIVE THOUSAND DOLLAR MAN Ahead of the 1892 season, the American Baseball Association floated an idea that would allow teams to keep their star players for longer while still allowing plenty of free player movement. The ABA commissioner suggested to executives from the APBL and MWBA that, instead of limiting themselves to contracts that had a maximum length of three or four years, perhaps teams should offer longer-term contracts to key players. Both member leagues quickly agreed that this was a sound idea, and perhaps one that could secretly keep down costs since salaries normally didn’t rise significantly during each season of a multi-year contract. The result was that numerous important players signed lengthy deals over the winter and in the early days of the 1892 season: Buffalo ace Edward Millard signed a six-year extension to his contact ($2,700/yr) Charles Woodram (2B for Jersey City) & Charles Wilkerson (ace for Philadelphia) both signed five-year deals with Providence ($4,000/yr each) Joseph Selby, ace for Richmond in the SEAL, moved to Rochester on a seven-year contract ($3,000/yr) Rochester also signed highly rated Scottish OF Matthew Robinson for eight years ($3,000/yr) Cleveland signed a pair of Midwestern semi-pro players – Leland Hirsch and Frederick Hood – to five-year contracts Detroit signed star SS Kiefer Hyneman away from rivals Chicago with a seven-year deal ($3,500/yr) Indianapolis bought two-time NEBA Batsman of the Year Ed Hayward and gave him a seven-year contract ($4,000/yr) Milwaukee signed Indianapolis Team of the Year 2B Lionel Bernard for seven years ($4,000/yr) Missouri brought six-time Team of the Year member SS George Shay back to the MWBA with a five-year deal ($3,750/yr) This all led up to yet another history-making moment for Milwaukee legend Hans Ehle ten days into the MWBA season on April 16th, 1892. He was in the last year of his contract, with both he and the Bavarians front office keen on locking up the now 28-year-old for as long as possible. At the end of negotiations that lasted all of Spring Training and shortly into the season, Ehle signed a seven-year contract extension for $36,400. The above meant Ehle would be making *$5,200 a year* from 1893 to 1899, and that made him the first player in the history of baseball set to earn five thousand dollars per season. Given that Ehle had topped 19 Wins Above Replacement in a season twice already and was theoretically just hitting his prime, some argued that the highest-paid player in baseball was still underpaid. Nevertheless, Der Kaiser was now baseball’s first truly “big money” player. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:13 AM.

05-07-2023, 06:22 PM	#29
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	BASEBALL ARRIVES IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH! Since the beginning of organized baseball in the spring of 1857, Canadian players, while not the dominant forces in the sport, could be found playing important roles for nearly every club in existence outside of the ones in the nearly All-American Southeastern & Atlantic League. In particular, the National Base Ball Organization and the American Professional Baseball League were home to the best Canadian players since the leagues were based nearest the country’s main population centers: Montreal and Toronto. Among the Canadian all-stars: Bruce Fine (1864-81): 5x NBBO All-Star, 8x Team of the Year at C (4x NBBO, 4x APBL) for Boston & Manhattan Douglas Marion (1863-77): 3x NBBO All-Star, 1x Batsman of the Year, and 3x Team of the Year at OF for Shamrock/Boston Guy LeBreton (1878-); 8x NBBO All-Star, 2x Hurler of the Year, 282 wins, 154.8 WAR for the Fall River Marksmen (NBBO/NEBA) Jack Meldrum (1881-): 4x NBBO All-Star, 5x Golden Glove at C, 4x Team of the Year (various semi-pro clubs) Remy Voltaire (1861-72): 3x NBBO All-Star at 1B for Quinnipiac B.C. Robert Carr (1862-77): 4x All-Star and 2x Team of the Year at 3B for various clubs in the NBBO Albert McFadden (1857-70): 2x NBBO All-Star for Excelsior B.B.C., 203 career wins Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long after the foundation of the NBBO in 1857 for some of the original Canadians playing in New York and the Northeast to bring the game home. The first formal Canadian club – Riverside B.B.C. – was founded in Toronto in 1859, and the second – Hamilton B.B.C. – started up the next year. It took a while for the sport to spread outside of the Toronto area, but eventually there would be clubs in Montreal (Ville Ray CdB in 1873), London (Royal B.B.C. in 1877), Ottawa (National B.B.C. in 1878), and Quebec City (Voyageur CdB in 1890). These clubs, along with others that sprang up in Toronto and Montreal, meant that by the last decade of the 1800s Canada had enough serious baseball clubs to create an organized, professional competition. In 1892, The Professional Baseball League of Canada (CBL) was formed, with the league’s first season starting in April of the next year. This also marked the formal expansion of the sport of baseball outside of the United States. The teams: Unsurprisingly, the new league was entirely based in Ontario and Quebec as train travel to clubs in provinces further to the west or east would have been prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. The league was set up to be fully professional. That said, it was not to be confused with either of its major American counterparts: the APBL and the MWBA. The pay packets given to those playing for clubs in the CBL were about half the value of those for players in the APBL. Furthermore, since the quality of baseball to the north of the United States wasn’t quite as good there were limits on the number of foreign players clubs could employ in order to keep them from stockpiling Americans on their rosters. Each club could have up to five foreign players on its senior roster: 1-2 pitchers and 1-4 position players. Other than that, roster rules were almost identical to those in the other non-ABA professional outfit, the Southeastern & Atlantic League. The inaugural season of Canada’s first baseball league ended up with the clubs finishing in two groups, with four – Danforth, Riverside, Ville Marie, Quebec City – clearly in the front and four – Ville Ray, Hamilton, Ottawa, Hamilton – in the rear. That said, the spread of the eight was fairly tight, with last place London 20 games out of first while nobody won or lost more than 60% of their contests over the 126-game season. The final standings looked like this: Danforth Minotaurs: 72-54 Riverside Huskies: 72-54 Ville Marie Guardians: 68-58 (4 GB) Quebec City Yoyageurs: 68-58 Ville Ray Saints: 60-66 (12 GB) Hamilton Chargers: 58-68 (14 GB) Ottawa Federals: 54-72 (18 GB) London Monarchs: 52-74 (20 GB) Danforth and Riverside ending up even at 72-54 meant that an all-Toronto one-game playoff would decide the first CBL championship, and on September 1st the game took place at Sunlight Park on the Don River. Thanks to a three-run rally in the top of the 8th and a stellar performance by ace Thomas Withers, Danforth won 4-1 and were crowned as the first Canadian champions. As far as the individual talent in the CBL, at the top the league’s stars were very level in terms of performance. This meant that there were no clear-cut favorites for the inaugural awards, and in the end champions Danforth swept the three individual awards as they had the league leaders in batting average, wins, and WPA. INAUGURAL CBL AWARD WINNERS BATSMAN OF THE YEAR Keith Picard (2B, Danforth) – 122 G, .317/.376/.445, .821 OPS (144 OPS+), 61 R, 33 2B, 5 HR, 84 RBI, 202 TB, 45 BB, 16 K, 4.0 WAR (5.2/162) HURLER OF THE YEAR Thomas Withers (Danforth) – 371 IP, 25-13, 2.84 ERA, 129 BB, 121 K, 1.30 WHIP, 5.2 WAR (3.2/225 IP) MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Patrick Henry (SS, Danforth) – 125 G, .318/.388/.429, .817 OPS (143 OPS+), 33 2B, 10 3B, 76 RBI, 23 SB, 5.65 WPA (7.32/162), 4.9 WAR (6.4/162) TEAM OF THE YEAR P: Cherif Monnier (Riverside) – 370 IP, 20-16, 2.57 ERA, 148 K, 1.11 WHIP, 2.7 K/BB, 12.1 WAR C: Richard Heath (Ville Ray) – 116 G, .302/.363/.401, 30 2B, 7 3B, 53 RBI, 112 OPS+, 4.2 WAR, Golden Glove 1B: Bartholomew Potter (Riverside) – 127 G, .307/.358/.397, 155 H, 43 2B, 92 RBI, 109 OPS+, 4.48 WPA 2B: Keith Picard (Danforth) - 122 G, .317/.376/.445, 33 2B, 5 HR, 84 RBI, 45 BB, 16 K, 129 OPS+, 4.0 WAR, BotY 3B: Bernard Woodford (Hamilton) – 124 G, .289/.359/.402, 34 2B, 6 3B, 68 RBI, 114 OPS+, 3.5 WAR SS: Patrick Henry (Danforth) – 125 G, .318/.388/.429, 33 2B, 10 3B, 76 RBI, 23 SB, 128 OPS+, 5.65 WPA, 4.9 WAR, MVP OF: William Mutton (Ottawa) – 124 G, .309/.377/.455, 41 2B, 12 3B, 81 RBI, 27 SB, 134 OPS+, 3.5 WAR OF: Vance Harris (Danforth) – 123 G, .287/.362/.421, 27 2B, 13 3B, 62 RBI, 23 SB, 118 OPS+, 4.0 WAR OF: Davide Perrin (Ottawa) – 125 G, .303/.372/.440, 106 R, 34 2B, 10 3B, 5 HR, 69 RBI, 44 SB, 128 OPS+, 5.7 WAR The first season of competitive baseball in Canada was a success, and all hoped it would be the first of many more. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:12 AM.

05-07-2023, 06:29 PM	#30
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	THE CHEETAH ENDS THE HUNT The end of the 1893 season marked the end of the career of baseball’s winningest player: Alva “The Cheetah” Burgess. Burgess’ career spanned from 1876-1893, with all but the final season spent playing for the Boston Shamrocks in the APBL and the Detroit Robins in the MWBA. During his eighteen-year career he won seven professional championships: three in the APBL (1881, 82, 84), three in the MWBA (1887-89), and the SEAL championship in his final season as a player/coach with the Savannah Schooners. Not only had he won more titles than any other player, but he’d also become the first to be part of championship teams in all three professional leagues in the United States. While Burgess wasn’t a key figure in the 1893 Savannah squad that went 84-42 and won the SEAL by eight games, he was the star player on each of the other six title winners he played on. At the height of his powers, Alva Burgess was a center fielder who could hit for contact and gap power, draw a fair number of walks, steal bases at will, move teammates on the basepaths, play Golden Glove defense with 80/80 range, work harder than anyone else, and be a leader in the clubhouse (NOTE: He had the “Captain” personality type). His career stats: NOTE: because of an issue with my game during OOTP23 I had to reload a backup after the 1881 season, and for some reason lost all of the black/grey ink & leaderboard highlighting up to that point. His career honors and leaderboard appearances: 7x Championship winner (3x APBL, 3x MWBA, 1x SEAL) 11x Team of the Year at OF (7x APBL, 4x MWBA) 5x Most Valuable Player (2x APBL, 3x MWBA) 3x Golden Glove (2x APBL, 1x MWBA) 2x APBL Batsman of the Year (1880, 86) 2x APBL President’s Cup MVP (1882, 85) 2x APBL Batting Champion (1880, 86) 17x Player of the Week 9x Batsman of the Month 1876 APBL Newcomer of the Year All-time leader (all levels) in Stolen Bases at 1,359 (George Reese in second at 953) 2nd-place all-time (all levels) in Position Player WAR at 85.2 (Anthony Mascherino in first at 85.7) 2nd-place all-time (all levels) in Position Player WPA at 84.27 (Konrad Jensen in first at 100.47) 16x League leader in Stolen Bases (11x APBL, 5x MWBA) 6x League leader in Position Player WAR (4x APBL, 2x MWBA) 6x League leader in Runs (3x APBL, 3x MWBA) 4x APBL leader in Hits (1880, 82, 84, 86) 4x APBL leader in Total Bases (1880, 82, 85, 86) 3x APBL leader in Slugging % (1880, 82, 86) 2x APBL leader in OPS (1880, 86) 2x APBL leader in Triples (1880, 82) 1x APBL leader in Extra-Base Hits (1878) 1x APBL leader in Runs Batted In (1886) His 1886 season for the 88-24 Boston Shamrocks was one of the finest ever put forth by any player. His subsequent move to the Detroit Robins for the 1887 season became the catalyst for open competition between for talent the APBL and the MWBA, and it led many to believe that there were now two “major” professional leagues. The sixteen consecutive seasons he led his league in stolen bases will be almost impossible to match, as well as his career stolen base total of over 1,300. It is perhaps not surprising that, given how much of a clubhouse leader he was, Burgess ended up becoming a manager less than a year after retirement, taking over as the new manager for Continental B.B.C. in the New York League just before the end of the 1894 season. A team that was 37-70 went 4-1 after he took them over for the final week. If the powers the be ever decide to open a Hall of Fame for the sport of baseball, surely Burgess will be part of the first class of players to be inducted. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:09 AM.

05-12-2023, 01:57 PM	#31
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	CHARLES BROPHY BECOMES THE 1ST PLAYER WITH 3,000 HITS AS A PROFESSIONAL History was made on April 26th, 1894, as the Knickerbockers’ Charles Brophy became the first player to record 3,000 hits as a full-time professional, doing so with a single in the seventh inning of his team’s 11-3 victory in Carroll Park over the Excelsior Knights. Brophy wasn’t the first player to record 3,000+ hits. Of course, that honor went to Konrad Jensen, but the first 10-15 years of his career were spent with Excelsior in the National Base Ball Organization before professional baseball even existed. On the other hand, Brophy debuted with the Knickerbockers in 1874, the fourth season of the APBL, and had spent his entire career playing for the club up until his milestone hit. By the end of the 1894 season he’d reached a total of 3,142 hits over the course of his 21-year professional career, and here were his career statistics over that timeframe: His honors over 21 seasons in Manhattan: 6x APBL championship winner* (1877, 78, 86, 88, 89, 91) 14x APBL or Metropolitan Conference Team of the Year at OF (1875-81, 83, 85-90) 5x APBL or Metropolitan Conference Most Valuable Player (1877, 78, 80, 82, 85) 4x Metropolitan Conference Batsman of the Year (1878, 83, 85, 86) 4x Metropolitan Conference Batting Champion (1878, 83, 85, 86) 3x Metropolitan Conference Golden Glove at OF (1885, 86, 88) 1x President’s Cup Most Valuable Player (1891) 21x APBL Player of the Week 14x APBL Batsman of the Month 7x APBL/MC leader in Total Bases (1875-78, 81, 83, 86) 3x .400 hitter (1878, 79, 83) 3x Metropolitan Conference leader in position player WAR (1885, 86, 88) 4x APBL/MC leader in OBP (1875-78) 4x APBL/MC leader in triples (1875, 76, 78, 86) 3x Metropolitan Conference leader in hits (1878, 83, 86) 3x APBL/MC leader in runs (1878, 81, 83) 2x APBL/MC leader in OPS (1875, 78) 1x APBL leader in doubles (1877) The APBL was a single division before 1878, and because of an issue I lost black/grey ink & highlighting before 1881 Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:07 AM.*

05-12-2023, 01:59 PM	#32
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	THE SEAL GOES TO A ONE-GAME PLAYOFF! The 1894 Southeastern & Atlantic League season was dominated by two teams: the Memphis Showboats and the Atlanta Flames. The problem: neither could prove to be better than the other over the course of the 126-game season… The SEAL had no playoffs, so this meant a one-game championship decider was in order. The game was played on the first day of September in Memphis’ Red Elm Park, with both teams’ aces – Richard Capriotti (23-15, 3.84) for Atlanta and Henry Flowers (26-11, 2.43) for Memphis – going head-to-head in the final game of the season. After some back and forth over the first three innings, Atlanta broke the game open with three runs in the fourth and never looked back, winning the game and thus the 1894 Southeastern & Atlantic League championship by the score of 8-3. The player of the game was Atlanta third baseman Caleb Cornell, who went 3/4 with a pair of runs scored and a key two-out RBI in the top of the fourth which started the three-run rally that put the Flames five runs in front. Capriotti went the distance for Atlanta, shutting Memphis out the rest of the game after allowing three earned runs over the first four innings. In his championship-winning complete game Capriotti walked four and struck out five while throwing 163 pitches. The Flames defense also deserved plenty of credit in the win as they didn’t commit a single error, a distinct rarity in 1800s baseball. The victory gave Atlanta their fourth SEAL championship, and their first since the tail end of their three-peat of 1888, ’89, & ’90. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:05 AM.

05-12-2023, 02:01 PM	#33
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	SEAL PLAYER BECOMES THE FIRST TO EARN BOTH 10+ WPA AND 10+ WAR IN A SINGLE SEASON Also in the Southeastern & Atlantic League in 1894, one of its star players had a season never seen in professional baseball before – or semi-pro baseball for that matter. 23-year-old outfielder Thomas Ervin, who signed a three-year contract to play for Nashville over the winter after spending four and a half years in Savannah, marked his debut season with Nashville with a historic level of performance: over the 126-game schedule he became the first player ever to post 10+ WPA and 10+ WAR in the same season. How did he do it? He put up 7.9 offensive WAR (10.1/162 G) while playing all 126 games with the following stat line: .395 AVG, .457 OBP, .647 SLG, 1.104 OPS (164 OPS+), 140 R, 209 H, 45 2B, 41 3B, 2 HR, 96 RBI, 342 TB, 108 SB (36 CS) Add in his fielding metrics at center field: 617 TC, 561 PO, 25 A, 3 DP, 31 E, 4.73 RNG, +10.0 ZR, 1.043 EFF, +8.8 OF ARM rating And a player this talented: Put up a total of *10.42 WPA (13.39/162 G) and 10.1 WAR (13.0/162 G)* over the course of the 1894 SEAL season. His work earned him two Player of the Month awards, the Batsman of the Year Award, the Most Valuable Player Award, a Golden Glove at OF, and a spot on the SEAL Team of the Year at OF as well. The SEAL might not be the best league in professional baseball, but it may well have had professional baseball’s best player in 1894. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:04 AM.

05-13-2023, 02:25 PM	#34
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	THE QUAKERS’ $75,000 WAR CHEST LEADS TO THE END OF AN ERA IN ST. LOUIS After taking on ownership of the Pennsylvania Quakers during the winter of 1881-82, Ashley Emmerson oversaw a club that was mired in futility, posting sub-500 records in ten of his first eleven seasons as the man in the owner’s box. However, starting in 1892 fortunes would rapidly change as the Quakers’ record improved from 57-75 (30 GB in the Metropolitan) in 1892 to 77-55 (5 GB) in 1893 to 87-45 in 1894, which was easily good enough for a spot in the President’s Cup against two-time defending champions Providence. Pennsylvania was stymied in the President’s Cup – Providence making it a three-peat by taking the series 4-2. After getting his first taste of championship-level baseball Emmerson decided he needed more…much more. He had run the club prudently during his thirteen seasons as owner, turning slight deficits or profits every year. However, the sudden improvement in the team’s fortunes led to attendance in 1894 being double what it was just two seasons earlier, and leaguewide ticket prices were now 30 cents instead of 25. The unexpected success meant the Quakers earned massive profits of more than $29,500 for the year, which was far and away the most in a league where, on average, half the clubs lost slight amounts of money each season. Merchandising, playoff receipts, and salaries of mediocre players whose contracts were ending added another $19,000. Emmerson decided to go all in and put $15,000 of his own money in the coffers. Revenue forecasts for 1895 led Emmerson to believe he could add $11-12,000 to the budget as well. In the end, the above totals meant that the Pennsylvania Quakers front office had a surreal *$75,000* to spend on players over the winter of 1894-95. Comparing that figure to the other most profitable clubs in the APBL, Providence ($15,800 profit in 1894) had about $6,000 set aside for signings and Excelsior ($9,200 profit in 1894) had $15-20,000 set aside because they had well over ten grand in salary coming off the books. To give an idea of just how much that was with respect to 1890s baseball, the highest paid player in the sport at the time was Providence’s Charley Rankin at $6,300 per year and the highest paid pitcher was the Milwaukee Bavarians’ Hans Ehle at $5,200 per year. This meant that the Quakers’ $75,000 war chest was enough to sign three or four five-star talents to multiyear contracts to play for a team that was already the best in the Metropolitan Conference. General Manager Charlie Flemming put the money to good use in short order, as his first notable signing was very, VERY notable: putting living legend Jacob Milburn’s name to a four-year contract for $25,200 ($6,300/yr) contract on November 2nd. It was thought that Milburn, an Illinois native, would never leave the club he’d been with since graduating from high school. However, he had become disillusioned with the mismanagement of the St. Louis Saints by their front office over recent years – the team had fallen from winning three of the first four MWBA titles to putting up records of 55-75, 54-76, and 43-85 over the previous three seasons. Their 43-85 mark in 1894 was the worst in team history and it left them no less than fifty games behind first-place Milwaukee in the MWBA’s Eastern League at the end of the season. The club was also having trouble balancing the books, so Milburn saw the writing on the wall and decided to leave the club he’d been with since their pre-MWBA days. When he decided to become a Free Agent for the first time, it was thought that the two likeliest landing spots for him would be the two Chicago clubs, given he was a western Illinois native (Rushville) and the Griffins/Gales were about as far from his hometown as St. Louis was. The two clubs were fairly successful as well. The Griffins had never had the chance to play for the MWBA title, but their lowest winning percentage over the previous five seasons was .562 (73-57 in 1890) and they had just an okay left fielder in Louis Engel. The Lake Michigan Gales didn’t have as good of a product on the field but since the 1882 debut of the MWBA they’d been over .500 more often than not, even if their record had slipped in recent seasons (56-74 in 1893, 55-73 in ’94). They also employed merely decent players in the corner outfield spots, so signing Milburn wouldn’t have upset the balance of the starting lineup. There were other possible suitors in the MWBA. Big-name teams like Detroit and Milwaukee had a chance at Milburn if he wanted to return to championship-level baseball. Detroit had an opening at left field, but Milburn would have to play his backup position, first base, if he were to sign with Milwaukee. Two-time champions Indianapolis had arguably the best outfield in the league and the MWBA’s #1 first baseman in Matthew Towns, so somebody would have to leave to accommodate Milburn. The other St. Louis club, the Missouri Bluebirds, had some previous Team of the Year members (SP/C Gerald Pierotti, SS George Shay, 3B Alfred Anderson) and had been second to Milwaukee in the West for four of the five seasons since the MWBA expanded and split to an Eastern League and a Western League, and would have been a logical landing spot as well. While the Giffons front office reached out to Milburn and had discussions, the Gales had lost about $6,000 over the course of 1894 and didn’t have the resources to sign him. Champions Milwaukee had spent all its money loading up the roster for the ’94 season and didn’t have the money. Runners-up Detroit had money thanks to hefty profits, so they were also in the running to sign him. Indianapolis let Towns leave to open a spot at first base for Milburn, and he had talks with them as well. The Bluebirds had a profitable second-place season in the MWBA’s Eastern League, but in the end didn’t quite have the resources to sign him. Then Philadelphia came calling. Signings ahead of the 1894 APBL season meant they had the best catcher (Christian Ornstein), second baseman (Owen Wilkie), third baseman (Simpson Cotter), two-way player (SP/LF Jurgen Schultz), and #2 starter (Salvatore Floris) in the APBL. They obviously had more than enough money to secure Milburn’s services, but there was one question: given that they had a superstar at LF in Jurgen Schultz and a RF in William O’Neill who’d previously made the APBL Team of the Year, would Milburn be comfortable playing first base full time? Milburn was a credible first baseman (50/80) but quite a bit better in left field (70/80). Milburn said he was okay to play first base, a momentous deal was struck, and Milburn was likely going to get another shot at championship-level baseball starting in 1895. Here was Milburn’s batting record over his thirteen seasons playing in St. Louis and the MWBA: One would think that his WAR would have been higher given his 196 OPS+ over thirteen years but remember that much of his career in St. Louis came before fielders had anything resembling proper baseball fielder's gloves, so at that time outstanding defensive work, especially in the middle of the infield, could have just as much of an impact as elite batsmanship. The list of awards and leaderboard appearances he made while playing for the St. Louis Saints: 13x MWBA Team of the Year at OF (1882-94) 11x MWBA Batsman of the Year (1882-88, 90, 91, 93, 94) 6x MWBA Most Valuable Player (1883, 84, 86, 91-93) 3x MWBA championship winner (1882, 84, 85) 24x MWBA Player of the Week 23x MWBA Batsman of the Month 10x MWBA Batting Champion (1882-88, 91, 93, 94) 12x MWBA leader in Total Bases (1882-88, 90-94) 12x MWBA leader in Slugging % (1882-88, 90-94) 12x MWBA leader in OPS (1882-88, 90-94) 11x MWBA leader in Hits (1882-87, 89, 91-94) 11x MWBA leader in On Base % (1882-88, 90, 91, 93, 94) 7x MWBA leader in Extra-Base Hits (1882-84, 87, 88, 91, 94) 6x MWBA leader in Triples (1882, 83, 88, 91, 93, 94) 4x MWBA leader in Runs (1883, 84, 86, 91) 4x MWBA leader in Doubles (1883, 84, 87, 91) 3x MWBA leader in Position Player WAR (1886, 91, 94) 1x MWBA leader in Runs Batted In (1882) 1x MWBA leader in Walks (1891) As for the St. Louis Saints, they decided it was time to start from scratch. They traded away their starting catcher (Bert Bronson), third baseman (Bill McMahon), and a member of the pitching rotation (Lucas Soderblom) for younger players, and in one of those transactions they were able to bring in Golden Glove outfielder Knute Leighton from Kansas City. The hope was that if they could get some decent pitching to add to a core of young position players who were solid to excellent on defense – every projected regular ranked 60/80 or better at their position – the team would once again be highly competitive in a couple of years. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:03 AM.

05-13-2023, 02:30 PM	#35
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	FOUR ACES BECOME THE FIRST MEMBERS OF THE ALL-PROFESSIONAL 300 WIN CLUB 1895 was a momentous year for professional hurlers, as the season saw several pitchers become members of the first group to win 300+ games in the professional leagues (APBL, MWBA, SEAL). The group of pitchers: Longtime Boston Shamrocks rotation member Martin Nielson, who’d been with the club since 1875 and made his APBL debut in 1879. Arthur Michaels, who won 273 games for the N.Y. Athletics over 13 seasons before spending a year with Jersey City and then winning #300 with Brooklyn. Jakob Hogh, who spread his 300 victories across six APBL teams and became the second to win #300 while pitching for Boston. Milwaukee ace and living legend Hans Ehle, who pulled off the feat in just his 11th season in the MWBA. N.Y. Athletics ace George Patterson roared toward 300 victories with a combined record of 63-23 over the 1894-95 seasons, but he ended 1895 with 299 professional victories. The first four members of the professional 300 Win Club MARTIN NIELSON 4x APBL President’s Cup winner (1881, 82, 84, 87) 3x APBL Hurler of the Year (1884, 85, 89) 11x 20-game winner* (1884-89, 91-95) 11x APBL Pitcher of the Month 2x APBL Player of the Week 2x APBL leader in Wins (1885, 89) 2x APBL leader in ERA (1884, 87) 2x APBL leader in Strikeouts (1884-85) 4x APBL leader in Complete Games (1884-85, 88-89) 3x APBL leader in Quality Starts (1884, 88, 95) 3x APBL leader in K/9 (1884-86) 2x APBL leader in Winning % (1888-89) 2x APBL leader in WHIP (1887-88) 1x APBL leader in Shutouts (1887) ARTHUR MICHAELS 3x APBL Hurler of the Year (1882, 86, 88) 1x APBL Golden Glove (1888) 11x 20-game winner (1881-82, 84-88, 92-95) 1x 30-game winner (1892) 7x APBL Pitcher of the Month 2x APBL Player of the Week 2x APBL leader in wins (1882, 86) 1x APBL leader in ERA (1893) 5x APBL leader in Pitcher WAR (1882-84, 86, 88) 5x APBL leader in Innings (1882, 84, 86-88) 3x APBL leader in Shutouts (1884, 92-93) 2x APBL leader in Complete Games (1884, 86) 2x APBL leader in WHIP (1886, 93) 1x APBL leader in K/BB (1886) JAKOB HOGH 2x APBL Hurler of the Year (1884, 91) 10x 20-game winner* (1884-87, 90-95) 1x 30-game winner (1891) 3x APBL Player of the Week 3x APBL Pitcher of the Month 2x APBL leader in Wins (1884, 91) 1x APBL leader in ERA (1884) 4x APBL leader in Pitcher WAR (1885-87, 91) 3x APBL leader in Quality Starts (1883-85) 2x APBL leader in Shutouts (1885-86) 2x APBL leader in Winning % (1884, 91) 2x APBL leader in WHIP (1884, 91) 1x APBL leader in K/BB (1891) From 1878 to 1890 the APBL gave out a separate set of awards for both conferences. HANS “DER KAISER” EHLE* 3x MWBA champion (1890, 94, 95) 10x MWBA Hurler of the Year (1885-88, 90-95) 1x MWBA Lincoln Memorial Cup MVP (1890) 2x MWBA Pitching Triple Crown winner (1886-87) 11x 20-game winner (1885-95) 7x 30-game winner (1887, 90-95) 21x MWBA Pitcher of the Month 9x MWBA Player of the Week 8x MWBA leader in Wins (1886-87, 90-95) 8x MWBA leader in ERA (1885-91, 95) 4x MWBA leader in Strikeouts (1885-88) 11x MWBA leader in Pitcher WAR (1885-95) 10x MWBA leader in K/BB (1885-93, 95) 8x MWBA leader in Complete Games (1885-91, 93) 7x MWBA leader in WHIP (1885-89, 92, 95) 5x MWBA leader in Innings (1886-88, 90, 94) 5x MWBA leader in Shutouts (1886-89, 93) 4x MWBA leader in K/9 (1885-88) 4x MWBA leader in Winning % (1890, 93-95) Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 01:00 AM.

05-13-2023, 02:37 PM	#36
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	1895 GIVES US A PAIR OF CLASSIC SEASONS IN THE AMERICAN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION! Going into 1895, there were a pair of clear favorites in the two member leagues of the American Baseball Association: Pennsylvania in the APBL and Milwaukee in the MWBA. Pennsylvania, the 1894 runners-up, were tipped to end Providence’s three-year run as champions because of the offseason spending spree they underwent that brought in eleven-time MWBA Batsman of the Year Jacob Milburn. Defending MWBA champs Milwaukee went 93-35 in 1894 and were returning the core of their roster after a straightforward 4-2 Lincoln Memorial Cup win over Detroit. For much of the APBL season, the Pennsylvania Quakers were clearly the league’s best team. They led the Metropolitan Conference basically wire-to-wire with a winning percentage that spent most of the season between .650 and .700 while having the APBL’s best offensive attack. However, it looked like their opponent in the President’s Cup would not actually be the mighty Providence Saints, as the Saints spent much of the Colonial Conference season in a three-way dogfight with Rochester and Boston, with Rochester spending much of ‘95 hanging on to first place. Even though they were in third in late August, the Saints went an extraordinary 17-2 over their final nineteen games to rip a spot in the President’s Cup out of Rochester’s hands by two games once the final day of the season was complete. And thus, it was time for a Providence-Pennsylvania rematch in the President’s Cup – one that was sure to be an epic encounter. However, Providence had other plans…. The Saints swept the series – outscoring a team that had led the APBL in Runs (764), Run Differential (+237), Batting Average (.298), On-Base % (.380), Slugging % (.397), and thus OPS (.776) – by a total of 21-4. The four runs allowed over four games was easily the best team-wide pitching performance in the history of the President’s Cup. Charles Wilkerson and Charles Carlyle threw four complete games in the process, and the President’s Cup MVP was given to Wilkerson when it easily could have been split with Carlyle. The two combined to hold the sport’s best active batsman, Jacob Milburn, to 2/15 with just a single RBI over the four games of the PC – a feat that seemed impossible on the face of it. In fact, the only Quaker that hit above .270 in the series was Owen Wilkie. Even though he wasn't the APBL Batting Champion, Milburn would win the Batsman of the Year Award in his maiden APBL season as he was the best hitter on the APBL’s best team & #1 offense. He was the only APBL player with over 100 RBI, while he finished in the top three in Batting Average, OBP, Slugging Percentage, and OPS as he transitioned to first base. Once he got used to the APBL’s superior pitching he hit .400 over the season’s final two months, which both helped his BotY candidacy AND made his postseason performance even more shocking. George Patterson of the New York Athletics won his second straight Hurler of the Year Award, and second of his career, at the young age of 39 thanks to a league-leading ERA (1.87) and seven shutouts to go with a 32-11 record for the APBL’s second-best team. Charley Rankin won his third APBL Most Valuable Player award thanks to eight home runs and 88 RBIs while also playing Golden Glove defense at shortstop for Providence. He finished the year with a league-leading 8.4 WAR for a team that would go on to win their fourth APBL championship in as many years. Jacob Mixon added to the excitement of the season, putting up a rookie position player record 7.5 WAR for the oh-so-close Rochester squad. Just one year after being signed out of college the 23-year-old right fielder hit well over .300 and stole 96 bases, nearly 25 more than any other player. Meanwhile… Over in the MWBA, Milwaukee cruised to the Lincoln Memorial Cup. Their record wasn’t as good as the previous year’s at 84-44, but they took the Eastern League by nineteen games over a group of clubs that ranged from mediocre to terrible. The western half of the MWBA was non-stop suspense, as nearly the entire Western League finished within ten games of first place… Note: The two halves of the MWBA do play games against each other during the season. The Western League wasn’t decided until the final two days, with Indy clinching it thanks to a 7-2 home win over Detroit on September 10th that kept them two games ahead of Cincinnati with one game to go. Since Milwaukee was seven games better than any other MWBA team and effectively coasted into the playoffs over the season’s final month, many figured that the Bavarians had the Lincoln Memorial Cup in the bag. Instead, what unfolded was a seven-game classic… In the final game in Milwaukee on September 21st, the Bavarians took the LMC 1-0 thanks to a home run in the bottom of the sixth by Thierry Moreau and a complete-game shutout by Thomas Tinsley, who struck out six Indians batters. Hans Ehle didn’t start Game Seven because he had already gone 26 innings over three starts in the series to get the Bavarians to the deciding game, putting up a 1.73 ERA in the process. Louis Bennett was given the Lincoln Memorial Cup MVP because he went 10/26 at the plate with a double, triple, and home run while playing stellar defense in center field. It made up for his performance during the previous LMC, in which he was Milwaukee’s worst hitter (.111, 5 Ks) during their six-game series win against Detroit. The suspense would continue after the LMC, as the league needed to decide who would receive the first Batsman of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards after the departure of Jacob Milburn to the APBL. In the end, both decisions were easy, and both went to the same player: Milwaukee second baseman Thierry Moreau. Moreau was 3rd in the MWBA in Average, 1st in OPS, 1st in OPS+, 3rd in RBI, 5th in Hits, 6th in Runs, 3rd in Total Bases, and 1st in Walks while leading the league in both WPA (5.89) and WAR (5.7). To top it off, he did it all while playing for the MWBA’s best team. Matthew Towns of Detroit was the MWBA Batting Champion at .387, but Moreau’s numbers in other offensive categories were superior. There was no suspense for MWBA Hurler of the Year, as Hans Ehle once again led the MWBA in Wins (31), ERA (2.17), and WAR (13.7) while pitching for the champions. Last edited by tm1681; 06-08-2023 at 07:52 PM.

05-15-2023, 06:08 PM	#37
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	FORGOTTEN HISTORY: ANTHONY MASCHERINO One of the best players of both pre-professional baseball and the early years of the American Professional Baseball league is someone who still manages to be underappreciated: shortstop Anthony Mascherino. Mascherino manages to fall into both categories because he achieved a longevity that made people take him for granted and played extraordinary defense at a time when a player’s glove was what amounted to wraps on their off-hand, and thus errors occurred at an astronomical amount compared to the early 1900s and especially to today’s game. That said, here’s what Mascherino was: he was quite possibly the second-best player – behind only Konrad Jensen – over the fourteen seasons of the NBBO before the creation of professional baseball, and he was great for long enough that he was still an elite player plying his trade for the Knickerbockers near the end of the APBL’s first decade. The Concord, NH native entered the NBBO at its foundation fresh out of high school with the Green Mountain Club of Vermont in 1857. He stayed there for a dozen years before moving to Upstate New York to play with the Minuteman Club in Albany for the last two seasons before the start of the APBL. He won just one Batsman of the Year Award and one Most Valuable Player award in the Northeastern League, but he was an eleven-time All-Star and won eight Golden Gloves before his move to the professional game: Again, all stat highlighting before 1881 in my game was nuked due to an issue… Mascherino was never a Batting Champion (2nd once) or an RBI king (best was 6th), but his hitting as a shortstop, combined with his fielding being so far better than his peers, led to him having a stretch where he led the Northeastern League in position player WAR for no less than nine straight seasons: 1859-67. What makes that run truly amazing is that his first season leading the NEL in WAR came when he was just 20 years old. That dominant stretch meant he left the NBBO having earned more WAR than any other position player at 51.6 (2nd: Edward Huntley at 49.7) and he was STILL the all-time NBBO position player WAR leader when its single competition format ended in 1889. During Mascherino’s time in the NBBO he made it to the Tucker-Wheaton Cup playoffs seven times – six with Green Mountain and one with Minuteman – and won two cups, both with Green Mountain. During the postseason he was even a better player than he was during the NBBO’s May-July regular season: A playoff OPS+ of 175 for Mascherino was just two points off that of the NBBO’s best hitter: Konrad Jensen (177). His playoff batting earned him three MVP awards: the 1861 Northeastern League semifinals MVP, the 1863 NEL semifinals MVP, and the 1865 NEL semifinals MVP. Because Mascherino became a regular for Green Mountain while he was a teenager, he was still only 32 when he moved to the Pennsylvania Quakers for the debut season of the American Professional Baseball league. He should have only had a few decent to good seasons left in him, but Mascherino kept up his performance long enough to effectively have another full career in the APBL: Mascherino would go on to be part of the first APBL championship winners, and he would win three more APBL titles: 1876 (Brooklyn), ’77 (Knickerbockers), and ’78 (Knickerbockers). More importantly, Mascherino won six of the first eight APBL Golden Gloves at shortstop, the last of them coming when he was 39 years old. Those six, combined with his Golden Glove haul from the NBBO, brought his career total to fourteen, a number unmatched by any infielder in the 19th Century and equaled only by Boston Shamrocks outfielder Isaiah Duffy. Mascherino was not a highly decorated hitter but he was a very good one, and his defense was so far ahead of its time that with the help of advanced metrics he is now seen as one of the very best players of the early days of baseball. Mascherino’s accomplishments over his 25-year career (14 in the NBBO, 11 in the APBL): 6x Championship Winner (4x APBL, 2x NBBO) 1x Northeastern League (NBBO) Batsman of the Year (1865) 1x Northeastern League (NBBO) Most Valuable Player (1861) 14x Golden Glove at SS (8x NBBO, 6x APBL) – career record holder as of 1895 8x Team of the Year at SS (5x NBBO, 3x APBL) 11x National Base Ball Organization All-Star (1859-67, 69-70) 12x League Leader in Position Player WAR (9x NBBO, 3x APBL) – career record holder as of 1895 85.7 WAR over 1,734 G (8.0/162 G) – career record holder for position players (all levels) as of 1895 +525.1 Zone Rating at SS over 1,688 G – career record holder for position players (all levels) as of 1895 1.193 Defensive Efficiency at SS over 1,688 G – career record holder for shortstops (all levels) as of 1895 During his career in the NBBO, Mascherino was overshadowed by the hitting of star 3B/SS Edward Huntley, and during his time in the APBL he would continue to be looked over, first due to the star power of Huntley and then at the tail end of his career the fantastic ability of then-young star Edward Fitzsimmons. However, a look back shows him to be baseball’s first defensive wizard and possibly the best middle infielder of the first fifty years of the sport. Some would argue that players like Charley Rankin surpassed him, but shortness of seasons play a factor. Back when the NBBO was the highest level of baseball Mascherino averaged 9.9 WAR per 162 games before he hit the age Rankin was at the end of 1895 (26), and Rankin averaged 9.0 WAR per 162 games over the same span. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 12:46 AM.

05-16-2023, 07:13 PM	#38
tm1681 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 581	FORGOTTEN HISTORY: MORE ON THE FIRST SEASON Initially, not much was written about the first year of organized baseball, and to be fair the maiden season of the National Base Ball Organization was as much of a curiosity as anything else so not much press was devoted to it. Teams were drawing 1,500 to 2,500 fans per game, with the best attendance always coming on the weekends. Most of the spectators were middle to upper class since those people could afford to take a day off for a family outing or spend money on a curious new sport. Baseball was still such a fly-by-night operation at that time that even the clubs whose founding easily predated the NBBO, such as the Knickerbockers and the Gotham Base Ball Club, spent maybe $2,000 all year for facilities, field time, equipment, travel, and player per diems in the amateur league. Players in senior-level rosters ranged from teenagers fresh out of high school, like Konrad Jensen and Anthony Mascherino, to men pushing forty years of age and retiring after a season or two, such as Victory Club’s #2 starter Ståle Hansen. Anyone capable of playing the game at the highest amateur level was welcome. As mentioned (in one of the first posts in this thread but expanded on more here), the on-field product itself was something completely unlike anything that a person today would think of as baseball. Examples (many from here): The game ball was hand-made, comparatively soft, and had a brown leather cover. A bat could be of any length so long as the hitter could effectively swing it. What passed for a glove was basically a wrap on a player’s off-hand, or at most a leather gardening/work glove. Home plate was circular and made of iron. Catchers didn’t wear protective equipment of any kind and stationed themselves 20-25 feet behind home plate. A run was called an “ace”. There were no called balls, and called strikes had only just been introduced. There was no strike zone, with a strike instead being called if the umpire felt the batter refused to swing at a ball that was hittable. There was no set number of balls for a walk – one was awarded if the umpire felt the pitcher wasn’t giving a batter a chance to hit the ball. Batters could request that a pitch be delivered to them in a specific manner (think schoolyard kickball). Pitchers could only throw the ball underhanded, and with no windup. Pitchers delivered the ball from a line 45 feet from home plate. One way to get a batter out was to catch a batted ball after one bounce. One way to get a baserunner out was to hit him with a throw while he was between bases. All of the above meant that the sport was very much an action-based product. Walks were minimal since they were based on pitcher unfairness – Josiah Rayburn led the NBBO with 56 in 261 innings. Strikeouts were even rarer since batters could request the type of pitch they wanted – Terrance Sampson was the strikeout king with all of 31 in 258.2 innings for the Sportsman’s Club. Strikeouts and walks were so rare that the entire 24-team New York League combined for 1,051 walks and 1,229 Ks by their pitchers in nearly 15,000 innings. About five out of every six hits were singles, so there were ample opportunities to steal and nearly every one of the NBBO’s 48 teams averaged one stolen base per game or more. Batters rarely saw more than a few pitches per at bat, and pitchers could easily take to the mound every other game. The above rules on balls and strikes also meant that balls and walks weren't a matter of a pitcher lacking control, but they were more of a matter of the pitcher being perceived by the umpire as unfair to the batter. This basically meant Josiah Rayburn was a jerk instead of a comparatively wild pitcher. The lack of specialized gloves meant error rates were huge. Teams typically committed about half a dozen fielding errors per game, and seeing a team commit a double-digit amount over the course of nine innings was not at all uncommon. Passed Balls were a very frequent occurrence too, as the New York League’s first Golden Glove catcher, Joram Stolk of Orange B.B.C. committed no less than one hundred of them in 66 games. The most striking difference between the NBBO version of the sport in 1857 and now came in the long ball, because back then you could forget about home runs. The softer balls and huge fields – center field at several NBBO venues were over 500 feet from home – meant most of the round-trippers were of the Inside the Park variety, and in 1857 the 48 teams combined to hit a total of 138 home runs, or about three per team. Granite B.C. were the NBBO leaders with seven. There was not an individual Home Run king in the NBBO’s first season – a trio of players hit three home runs each to share the crown. The almost total lack of round trippers also meant that triples were a far more common sight than they are in the 21st Century. What this all meant was that even though batters didn’t pack much of a punch – OPS was in the .640 range in 1857 – the average team scored between 7.5 and eight runs per game, with Eckford of Greenpoint having the NBBO’s best offense at 9.3 runs per outing on nearly thirteen hits per game and the worst offense still scoring more than six times per game. It wouldn't be long before some of the strange rules of 1857 baseball were changed and the sport began to look like its modern version, but in that first season things were different...very different. Last edited by tm1681; 06-07-2023 at 12:43 AM.