Recreating My Dad's Childhood: Chicago White Sox 1970-

[fuzzy_patters]

Baseball is magical when you are around 12 years old, and it is the White Sox players from when my Dad was that age that he has often told me about. The funny thing about that is that the team from that year finished 56-106 and was the third worst team in the history of the franchise. This is my attempt to do better. The real life White Sox wouldn't see post-season play until 1983. I'm going to try and get there sooner and, hopefully, learn a little bit more about 1970s baseball in the process.

How I will Play
I will be the GM and manager and will play with instant, short-PBP so that the games will go quickly. I also plan on handling minor league promotions and demotions. All settings will be default, and I will be using the OOTP development engine so that it will be more difficult for me to predict how players' careers will play out.

Owner's Goals

Making the playoffs is going to be a bit tough considering that this team was so horrible in real life. I'll have to see what I can do so that I don't get fired.

Who are our stars?
Our top 3 players are:
- SS Luis "Little Louie" Aparicio- Age 35- hit .280 with 25 SBs and 77 R in 1969
- P Tommy John- Age 26- 9-11 with a 3.25 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 1969
- 3B Bill "Beltin' Bill" Melton- Age 24- .255 with 23 HR and 87 RBI in 1969

[fuzzy_patters]

Opening Spring Training Camp

I have decided to go into spring training camp with 37 players. I'm hoping to make some cuts after week one with the hope of having a solid 25 by the end.

Projected Line-up
For right now anyway, I'm thinking that this will be the starting lineup, rotation, and stopper for the 1970 season.

SS Luis Aparicio
LF Carlos May
3B Bill Melton
C Ed Herrmann
1B Ossie Blanco
RF Steven Houck
CF Ken Berry
2B Bobby Knoop
P Tommy John

SP 1 Tommy John
SP 2 Joe Horlen
SP 3 Gerry Janeski
SP 4 Rich Hinton
SP 5 Ken Frailing

ST Wilbur Wood

There is a lot of youth here with 3/5 of the rotation 23 or younger and 5/8 of the position players 24 or younger.

The rest of my spring training roster is as follows

C- Duane Josephson/Doug Adams
1B- Gail Hopkins/Tommy McCraw/Bob Spence
2B- Bob Christian/Jerry Hairston/Syd O'Brien
3B- Rich McKinney
SS- Bucky Dent
LF- Joseph Talley
CF- Buddy Bradford
CF- Ron Lolich
RF Walt Williams
P- Bucky Branon/Jerry Crider/Marcelino Dominguez/Jack Hamilton/Bart Johnson/Danny F Murphy/Denny O'Toole/Don Secrist/Floyd Weaver

[fuzzy_patters]

No Cuts

I gave the team seven games to see if I wanted to make any cuts. I figured that I would cut a couple of pitchers. Unfortunately, Don Secrist has been by far the worst reliever, and outside of stopper Wilbur Wood, he's the only left-handed reliever in camp.

New plan! I am transitioning to a six-man rotation with Bucky Brandon as the sixth starter. If he pitches well, I will be able to use one of the left-handed starters in relief if I can't rely on Secrist. I'm also inviting Jim Magnuson to camp as a second lefty. This leaves me with three options to be my left-handed reliever- Secrist, one of the current starters, or Magnuson.

I'll give it three games, and then possibly cut somebody, but it might be a right-handed reliever instead.

[Scottiedog43]

Good luck. I will be following.

[fuzzy_patters]

I have given it three more games. Secrist is still the weakest link- by far. He has made four appearances.

1 IP 5 ER
1 IP 3 ER
1 IP 0 ER
1.2 IP 3 ER

Rich McKinney has been the worst position player with 0 times on base in 7 appearances. I need to start making cuts so that I can hone in a little more on who will be my team, but I think I should give these guys a little bit more time. Maybe I'll give McKinney a start or something.

[fuzzy_patters]

First Cuts

Fifteen games into spring training, I need to cull the herd a bit so that I can figure out what I have. It's a small sample size, but I have a lot of players who don't look very promising. I need to figure out which ones to get rid of somehow. I will be cutting the following.

RP Don Secrist 17.47 ERA/13.44 FIP
RP Jerry Crider 10.50 ERA/6.87 ERA
RP Marcelino Dominguez 9.95/6.36
CF Buddy Bradford .000/.111/.000
3B Rich McKinney .000/.182/.000

I would also like to cut the following, but he is out of options.
RP Floyd Weaver 18.90 ERA/9.50 FIP

Also, one player has really struggled, but his scouting report makes him a candidate to make the team.
LF Joseph Talley .125/.125/.125 (50 Con /35 Pow/ 55 eye)

Finally, Tommy McCraw has zeroes across the board, but he is my best candidate to pinch-run, which I assume that I will need playing 1970s ball.

I'll have to make some more decisions by the end of spring training. The roster now stands at 33 players.

[fuzzy_patters]

Trade Proposal

Cleveland wants to send LF Richie Scheinblum in exchange for P Jack Hamilton and minor league P Goose Gossage. I could use another bat, and Scheinblum is a good player. I have other needs that are more important, though, so I'm just going to make a note that I could get a good player in return for Hamilton and Gossage. If we get off to a good start, I might look to do something like that. If we don't, I'll keep Gossage at least because he's the future.

[fuzzy_patters]

The Game Crashed!

The game crashed, and we are back to March 4. I think I might just sim two weeks and see how the spring stats look. So frustrating!

[fuzzy_patters]

The End of Spring Training

We just finished our last spring training game. With most of my pitchers having similarly bad ratings, I'm going to let the results determine our major league roster where players are similar. Here is our 1970 pitching staff.

SP 1 Tommy John
SP 2 Joe Horlen
SP 3 Gerry Janeski
SP 4 Ken Frailing
SP 5 Rich Hinton

ST Wilbur Wood
MR Jerry Crider
MR Danny Murphy
MR Denny O'Toole
LR Jack Hamilton (out of options)
None (probably a mop-up role) Floyd Weaver (out of options)

The only one of my projected starters who was terrible in spring was Carlos May, and he should be one of my best players. Steven Houck seems to be learning to play right field okay, so I don't see any changes in the lineup from how we started the spring.

SS Luis Aparicio
LF Carlos May
3B Bill Melton
C Ed Herrmann
1B Ossie Blanco
RF Steven Houck
CF Ken Berry
2B Bobby Knoop

The bench will be a mixture of guys with good scouting reports, good spring stats, guys who give us a balance of right and left handed pinch hitters, guys who can pinch run, and guys who can play multiple positions. Our biggest weakness will be a lack of a third catcher because Doug Adams was completely awful all spring (0 hits and a .111 OBP).

C Duane Josephson
1B/OF Tommy McCraw
1B Gail Hopkins
UTIL Jerry Hairston
CF Buddy Bradford (out of options)
LF/RF Walt Williams

All of this is subject to change, though, as I will be checking the waiver wire to see who doesn't make other teams' rosters. I will also be looking to upgrade at second base at some point, since that is a goal of my owner's.

[fuzzy_patters]

Opening Day 1970

We do not have a game today. The only two games are Detroit @ Washington and Montreal @ Cincinnati.

We do, however, have the second best prospect in all of baseball, pitcher Goose Gossage. The only better prospect is Baltimore shortstop Bobby Grich.

[fuzzy_patters]

Preseason Predictions








We aren't expected to be very good, but 47 homers from Melton would be nice.

[fuzzy_patters]

Here are the lineups for the White Sox and the Twins for their opening game of the 1970 season.

[fuzzy_patters]

4/7 and 4/9 vs Twins

4/7/70 Twins 10 White Sox 7
Tommy John only allowed 3 earned runs in 7 innings, but the bullpen let it get away falling behind 10-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. Then the offense almost bailed them out and had the tying run at the plate at the end. Included in the ninth inning rally was a pinch-hit grand slam by Tommy McCraw.

In between games, we were granted 2B Bart Shirley off waivers from the Dodgers. Jerry Hairston will be sent to AAA Tuscon to make room for Shirley. Hairston had a pinch-hit double in his first ever professional at bat, and I would like to see him make his way back to the majors before 1970 is over. I'll be keeping an eye on him.

4/7/70 Twins 7 White Sox 2

For the second game in a row, I called on a pinch-hitter for my pitcher while trailing 3-2 in the seventh. For the second game in a row, the bullpen imploded. I have been saving Wood for games where we are ahead or tied, but I may have to pitch the knuckleballer any time it is close regardless of who is winning.

[fuzzy_patters]

4/10-4/12/70 4 games vs Milwaukee

4/10 Brewers 7 White Sox 6
We had a big lead 6-3 going into the seventh when starter Gerry Janeski got into trouble. With the score 6-5, I brought in Wood, who was ineffective allowing one run in the seventh and the game winning run in the ninth. Ossie Blanco hit his second homer in three games, so I guess we have that going for us.

Elsewhere, Washington Senators catcher Johnny Roseboro has announced that he will retire at the end of the season at the age of 35.

4/11 Brewers 5 White Sox 2
Ken Frailing was amazing through eight innings taking a 5-hit shutout into the ninth. Then he loaded the bases up, so I brought in Wilbur Wood in relief. Wilbur proceeded to give up a 2-run single and a three-run homer to blow it. I'm not sure what to do about this bullpen. Jack Hamilton did retire two of the three batters he faced in relief of Wood in what was Hamilton's first appearance of the season. Maybe he should get another shot soon.

4/12 Game 1 White Sox 11 Brewers 9
We finally won one, but even when we win, it is ugly. Tommy John was cruising through 8 taking an 11-3 lead into the ninth. After he allowed two runs, I went out to talk to him. He said that he had hit a speed bump but was accelerating again, so I left him in. After a grand slam cut the lead to two, I brought in Wood to close it out. He was finally able to do so successfully for the first time this season. Also of note, Luis Aparicio left the game with back spasms and will be day-to-day for the next week.

4/12 Game 2 Brewers 13 White Sox 7
We still can't pitch. Hinton was awful from the first pitch, but I left him in through 5 anyway so that I could save the bullpen. He allowed 11 runs with 10 of them earned. A three-run bottom of the fifth cut the deficit to 11-6, but it wasn't enough.

So much for the home stand! Maybe we will be better on the road. Let's fly out to California!

[fuzzy_patters]

4/14/70 @ California

This is a weird anomaly with a one-game series at the Angels. I assume that in real life, there must have been a game scheduled on 4/13 that was rained out.

Cleveland catcher Ray Fosse was the AL player of the week, and New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver was the NL player of the week. Fosse hit .700 and Seaver pitched two shutouts.

4/14 Angels 8 White Sox 3
Joe Horlen allowed 6 and 3.2 IP before leaving with a minor elbow injury. Later in the game, Bobby Knoop left with a day-to-day hamstring injury that will bother him for the next three weeks. It should only affect his running. With Aparicio still dealing with his own day-to-day injury and Bart Shirley the only back-up middle infielder currently on the roster, I'll have to play at least one of them each day.

Record: 1-6

[fuzzy_patters]

4/14/70 and 4/15/70 @ Oakland

4/14 A's 5 White Sox 0
Al Downing shut us out and held us to 2 hits.

4/15 White Sox 6 A's 3
Ken Frailing pitched 6.2 strong innings. He allowed all of the A's runs, but he pitched well enough to win. Wilbur Wood and Floyd Weaver combined to shut the A's out after that.

Elsewhere, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron are both suspended for four games for their parts in different bench-clearing brawls. That's pretty wild.

Record: 2-7

[fuzzy_patters]

4/17-4/19/70 @ Milwaukee

4/17 White Sox 9 Brewers 8

Tommy John and Wilbur Wood were terrible, but Bill Melton's 3 hits helped us rack up 9 wins and a victory. Jerry Crider and Danny O'Toole retired the last 5 Brewers without incident.

4/18 Brewers 4 White Sox 3
We came back to tie it up in the seventh, but Ted Savage took Jerry Crider deep to lead off the eighth. The bullpen let us down again.

4/19 Brewers 3 White Sox 2
Ed Herrmann's two throwing errors on SB attempts hurt us. Joe Horlen allowed 3 runs in 6 innings, but only 2 of them were earned.

Record: 3-9

It might be time to change catchers. Ed Herrmann is a fantastic hitter, but he has a caught stealing rate of 5.6%. His back-up, Duane Josephson, looks like he is pretty similar. If the DH existed, they would both be great players to have. After not getting a hit all spring, Doug Adams is hitting .333 with 2 home runs after 5 games in Tuscon. I'm going to keep an eye on him and the another eye on the waiver wire for now.

[fuzzy_patters]

4/20/70 Off Day News

We have April 20 off, so it's a good time to take a look at prospects, and it's also the day that the weekly awards come out. Those are always interesting to see.

First, let's look at the weekly awards. The American League player of the week was Tigers CF Jim Northrup, who hit .545 this week. The National League player of the week was Giants C Dick Dietz, who hit .462 with 5 HR.

Now let's check in with our best prospects.

1. SP Rich "Goose Gossage" 0-1 3.38 ERA 8 IP at Duluth (A)
2. RF Brian Downing- no stats- rookie ball hasn't started yet
3. LF Joseph Talley .304 BA .448 OBP 0 HR at Appleton (A)
4. 1B Lamar Johnson .348/.400/.522 1 HR at Appleton (A)
5. SP Ken Frailing 1-1 3.60 ERA in 15 IP at Chicago (MLB)
6. RP Terry Forster- no stats- rookie ball hasn't started yet

The top 5 teams in the power rankings are:
1. Minnesota Twins
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. California Angels
5. Chicago Cubs

We are 23rd of 24. Only the Royals are worse.

[fuzzy_patters]

4/21-4/21/70 @ Minnesota

4/21 White Sox 4 Twins 3
Duane Josephson started behind the plate, and the Twins didn't steal a base. Gerry Janesky went the distance to earn the win and induced inning-ending double plays in the eighth and ningth. Luis Aparicio broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth with an RBI single.

4/22 Twins 6 White Sox 5 (10 innings)
Harmon Killebrew hit a walk-off homer off of Wilbur Wood in the tenth inning to win it for the Twins. For us, the star was Luis Aparicio who was 4-for-4 2 home runs. Duane Josephson started behind the plate for the second straight game, and for the second game in a row, the Twins didn't attempt a steal.

4/23 White Sox 6 Twins 5 (10 innings)
This time we returned the favor. Ossie Blanco tied it with an RBI-single in the ninth, and Luis Aparicio won it with an RBI-double in the tenth. Jerry Crider pitched two relief innings and allowed only one base runner to earn the win. Ken Frailing was ineffective and allowed all 5 Twins runs to score in his 6.2 IP.

Record: 5-10

We took two out of three from Minnesota with Josephson catching and batting third rather than having him be the first bat off the bench. I'm going to have Josephson and Herrmann switch roles for awhile and see if this continues.

[The Game]

White Sox were predicted exactly how they finished IRL in '70. Call up Bart Johnson.