1st January 1887
The fans are hoping that last seasons surprise second place can be built on during the off season so that the team doesn't fall back to it previous woeful form. The owner, unsurprisingly, decided not to touch the front office after such a good year.
There was good news at the NL awards Dinner for Rookie Ready Mack as he picked up the NL Rookie of the Year award against tough competition.
There was also a Golden Glove Award for Billy Nash and Platinum Stick Awards for Frank Fennelly and Sam Thompson
The team announced that likeable Left Fielder Bill Kelly has decided to bring his career in baseball to an end. The 37 year old Kelly has played in the league for 16 years with the Chicago White Stockings, St Louis Browns and Philadelphia Quakers. In that time he picked up 2 All Star Appearances along with 4 MLB Championship Medals with the Chicago White Stockings. His career saw him play in 471 games and pick up 293 hits from 1089 at bats. He scored 161 runs with 150 RBI's for an average of .269. (real life stats 18 games, 16 runs, 15 hits, 7 RBI's and an average of .224)
Also retiring is Left Fielder Ed Mincher. Mincher played very few times in the Major Leagues and spent most of his career in the minors. This did not stop him being part of the 1871 Brooklyn Grays Championship winning side and picking up his only MLB Madal. He played 23 games in his career with 9 hits from 22 at bats. He scored 5 runs with 2 RBI's and an average of .409. (real life stats 20 games, 9 runs, 14 hits, 9 RBI's and an average of .157)
With the fact that the team finished so high in the league this year it meant they only had 4 picks in the first year player draft. The first round pick was used to select Left Fielder George Van Haltren. The full draft log is shown below
All draftees signed by the deadline.