1st January 1887
The fans of the Americans had to sit through another tough season this year and they are now hoping the off season will bring the improvements needed to move up the AL table. The Owner decided he was happy with the front office setup and his only move was to give GM Fred Treacey a 3 year contract extension.
The Americans had a quiet AL Awards dinner with their only player represntative being Oyster Burns who picked up both a golden glove and a platinum stick award.
The team lost 3 major players to retirement this year. The first to announce he was quitting professional baseball was short stop Davy Force. 37 year old force has spent 16 years with the league playing for the Brooklyn Grays and for the Boston Beaneaters and Boston Americans. In that time he won 2 Golden Glove awards and also made 5 All Star appearances. He also claimed the MLB Championship with the Brooklyn Grays in 1871. His career saw him claim 842 hits from 3106 at bats in 821 games. He scored 451 runs with 338 RBI's for an average of .271.(real life stats 1029 games, 1060 hits, 653 runs, 373 RBI's for average of .249)
The second player to decide that his time in baseball was over was Right Fielder Fraley Rogers. 36 year old Rogers spent his career with the Boston Beaneaters, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Blues as well as the last season with the Americans. His career saw him claim 2 All Star Appearances and 2 MLB Championship Medals in that time. He managed to pick up 577 hits from 2216 at bats in 641 games. He scored 351 runs with 262 RBI's for an average of .260. (real life stats 46 games, 58 hits, 40 runs, 30 RBI's for an average of .276)
The third player to retire was Right Fielder Tim Murnane. 35 year old Murnane has spent the last season in the minor leagues but before that he had a solid career that gave him 4 golden glove awards and 2 All Star Appearances. These were earned while playing with both the Boston Beaneaters and the Boston Americans. He also managed to claim an MLB Championship medal in 1877 with the Boston Beaneaters. He managed to claim 540 hits from 1968 at bats in 597 games. He scored 343 runs with 208 RBI's for an average of .274 (real life stats 384 games, 427 hits, 338 runs, 127 RBI's with an average of .261)
2 other players also decided their careers were over. Both these players had very minor careers in the big leagues. The first was second baseman Ben Laughlin who made 38 games with 11 hits from 42 at bats. He scored 8 runs with 7 RBI's for an average of .262. He did pick up an MLB Championship Medal with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1876. (real life stats 12 games, 12 hits, 3 runs, 6 RBI's for average of .240). The second was George Trenwith who made 34 appearances to claim 26 hits in 86 at bats. He scored 16 runs with 9 RBI's for an average of .302(real life stats 16 games, 14 hits, 6 runs, 7 RBI's with average of .200)
The team drafted 5 players in the first year player draft this year. The top pick went on First Baseman Tommy Tucker. The full draft log is given below.
The team failed to sign 3rd round dradft pick Fred O'Neill. All other draftees signed by the deadline.