[BirdWatcher]

I am guessing that in spite of the great variation in types of fictional OOTP leagues that members of these forums have created and spend gobs of time immersed in, there are some universal elements of appeal and that primary among these is the joy of getting lost in an alternate baseball universe. One which often becomes even more real and present than the flesh-and-blood game outside of our imaginations and the roomy confines of the OOTP program.


That is certainly the case for me with the W.P. Kinsella League (and it's larger baseball universe, which at this point includes not just five levels of minor leagues affiliated with the 24 clubs in the WPK, as well as an international training facility for each club, but also feeder leagues of both the collegiate and high school variety, and most recently added an independent league (the Iowa Baseball Confederacy) which offers a sort of last chance landing spot and/or non-affiliated place to audition for WPK franchises for players who are having trouble getting jobs elsewhere in professional baseball). With the WPK now in its 21st year of existence, the balancing act for me is between forging forward in anticipation of what comes next for the league while also stopping and savoring the flavor of what already is and of the growing history of the universe.

One of the things I enjoy spending time tracking and researching and, well, just thinking about, is how the first round draft picks have fared in the WPK baseball world. And we are now at a stage of league history where the earliest drafts have mostly played out and some judgements can be made.
For the purposes of this post, let's just take a quick look at the first 5 amateur drafts in the WPK and see who the winners were, how overall #1's did, who missed completely, what the total WAR numbers are for each draft at this point, when little will be changing as the few players still in the league are aging and slowing down.

1965 Draft:
The #1 overall pick of the 1965 draft was starting pitcher Kyle Bidwell, who was chosen by the Portland Wild Things. Bidwell is still an active player at age 38. Well, not really active, as he is currently out with a torn flexor tendon and not expected to be able to pitch again for another year. And he has also been pitching in the minor leagues for most of the past few years, having appeared in just 4 games for Brooklyn during the 1983 season. His career WAR in the WPK is 35.4.
This is good for 3rd best among players taken in the first round of the draft. The leader, now retired, is outfielder Hector Alvares, taken 5th by Jacksonville, who finished his career with 49.4 WAR. Alvares was a 2-time All-Star and 2-time Gold Glove right fielder, but certainly not a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate.
Second highest WAR from this draft's first round was the 44.9 that shortstop Mike Silveira put up in his 11-year career, mostly with the club that drafted him with the 10th pick, the Seattle Alligators. Silveira was a 4-time All-Star, 2-time Gold Glove winner, and 3-time Silver Slugger who for a short time was considered the best in the game at his position, but his career took a nose-dive after age 30 and his last appearance in the WPK was at age 32.
The overall WAR combined for the players taken in the first round of this draft is 234.4 and this number is likely not to change much before they are all retired. Only four of the players chosen are still playing and none of them are currently at the big league level. Three of the guys chosen in this round never made it to the big leagues and several others didn't put up career WAR's above the single digits.

1966 Draft:
The first player chosen in the 1966 draft was starting pitcher Mike Stagner, by the Milwaukee Cadets. Stagner has had a long and mostly successful career, with 210 wins (along with 191 losses) and a career WAR of 69.3. He has been an All-Star 5 times and has one Harris/Lee award (best pitcher). He's likely a borderline Hall of Fame candidate. Stagner, who is 41 years old, was recently released by the Pittsburgh Roadrunners and his big league career may be over.

He is not, however, the most storied player taken in this round, as that honor goes to sure future 1st ballot Hall of Fame outfielder Justin Vargas, who was chosen 11th overall by the Los Angeles Spinners. Vargas has put up 86.9 WAR in his career, but not even one of which came as a member of the Spinners as they foolishly traded him to Boston while he was still a minor leaguer. Vargas is an 11-time All-Star, a 2-time league MVP, 3-time Silver Slugger, 1-time Gold Glover, and one of the best players of his generation. At age 37 he is currently playing only part time for the Portland Wild Things but as recently as two seasons ago he put up 5.2 WAR.
There were a couple of now retired outfielders from this draft class who put up at least 30 WAR careers (Greg Koenig, 35.4, Eric Taylor, 32.9) but the numbers thin out quite a bit after that, with the class totaling 345 WAR (again, we are just talking about the 1st round picks from this draft, not the entire draft class). Only Vargas, Stagner, and pitcher Eduardo Saucedo (now down at AAA) have not retired yet among this cohort. Two players did not ever play at the big league level.

1967 Draft:
The top pick of the 1967 draft, taken by the Detroit Falcons, was starting pitcher Edgar Lira. Lira is still pitching in the bigs, now with the Philadelphia Mud Hens, and having a decent season, but his career has been a bit uneven. He did go 19-6 with a 2.78 ERA for Jacksonville in 1982- his best season- and he won at least at least 16 games 4 others seasons, but his career record is 133-121 with a career 3.71 ERA and 30.8 WAR.
The best career WAR in this draft class is easily the 88 that left fielder Curtis Horah put up in his 15 plus year career. Horah was a decent all-around player but his real claim to fame (and the thing that might get him into the WPK Hall of Fame in Dubuque, Iowa) was his defense. He accumulated a phenomenal 326.1 Zone Rating over the course of 1,877 games played in left field. Horah was chosen 4th in the draft by the Boston Berserkers.
After Horah, the next highest career WAR belongs to the very next guy chosen in this round, the Denver Brewers pick, outfielder Joe McPhillips. McPhillips is still playing, of course, and at this point has a career WAR of 57.2.
Also still playing is starting pitcher Mike Hiatt, who holds the record for most career no-hitters in WPK history with 3. Hiatt has a career WAR of 56.1 and at age 36 is having a solid season for Jacksonville so he will likely pad this total before he retires.
Two players from this round never made the bigs, and a few others didn't do much in the WPK, but overall this was a strong draft round, with a combined WAR of 478.2 and counting.

1968 Draft:
El Paso chose starting pitcher Craig Luther with the first pick of the 1968 draft, and Luther had an okay 13-year WPK career, accumulating 37.2 WAR but with an unimpressive career record of 159-180 and ERA of 3.98.
The best career, thus far, from this round of the draft has been that of middle infielder Jared Hancock. Hancock has put up 56.3 WAR over the course of his 15 plus year career, and is an 8-time All-Star and 3-time Silver Slugger. Most WPK insiders think that Hancock would have had an even more impressive, and probably Hall of Fame career, had he not been nudged aside for playing time by the GOAT Bud Lindsay and another likely future Hall of Famer named John Mussaw. Having played his entire career with the San Antonio Keys, who picked him 5th, Hancock deserves special credit for being willing to play second fiddle to these other two great players, given that on most teams he would have been their best player and he likely will fall short of the Hall of Fame just because he has mostly been a back-up player since age 31, in spite of continued elite-level skills and performance.
Only one player chosen in this round did not make the big leagues, and although there aren't any Hall of Fame caliber careers here, there is enough quality depth that the overall WAR is 406.8 and counting. Thirteen of the twenty players from this round have retired but a few are still accumulating numbers.

1969 Draft:
The first overall pick of the 1969 draft belonged to the Charlotte Sting and with that pick they chose German-born, Oral Roberts University starting pitcher Lienhart Brown. In many ways this seemed like a logical choice as the young knuckleballing specialist was seen as having elite skills and was expected to confound WPK hitters. On the other hand, there were some who were concerned that Brown showed signs of being potentially very injury prone. In the end, the doubters were right. Brown pitched parts of 6 seasons in the WPK, in between an extremely long list of injuries, both small and large, and while he hung on in the minor leagues through the 1981 season, he last pitched in the big leagues in 1977, with his best season coming in '76, when he started a career-high 28 games, going 12-8 with a 2.88 ERA. Overall he accumulated just 9.6 WAR at the WPK level, with a career record of 42-35 and a 3.34 ERA, all with the Charlotte team.
The very next pick went to the Brooklyn Aces and they also chose a starting pitcher, a kid out of Lutheran High School in Rockford, Illinois named Aaron McNally. McNally is almost surely headed to the WPK Hall of Fame after his career ends, having won 3 Harris/Lee awards, and having been named to the All-Star game 8 times. He has a career 75.3 WAR with a record of 211 wins and 138 losses and a 3.01 ERA. Granted, McNally's career has been in decline since he signed a 7-year deal with Detroit as a free agent heading into the 1980 season and he led the league in losses last season with 19 and is off to a 6-9, 4.69 ERA season this year, but he was the best pitcher in the WPK through his 20's, leading the league in wins, ERA, K's, and WAR 3 times each. He is one of 2 pitchers in WPK history to win a pitching Triple Crown, and McNally has done it twice, in both 1974 (25-6, 2.44, 171 K's) and 1975 (21-5, 2.47, 182 K). In hindsight, certainly the Charlotte Sting wish they had chosen McNally over Brown with the first pick.
They also could have chosen Dan Bottom, who was chosen by El Paso with the 3rd pick overall, and who has put up 41.2 WAR over the course of 13 seasons pitching for the Dawgs, winning the Harris/Lee award in 1974 when he went just 11-4 over the course of 29 starts but led the league in ERA with a miniscule 2.12. The left-handed starting pitcher is considered wrecked at this stage of his career and like McNally he also lost 19 games in 1984, but he still has had a much better career than the 1-1 in this draft.
But if we are going to talk about missed opportunities in this draft, pity the 10 teams who passed on shortstop Bud Lindsay before the San Antonio Keys chose him with pick number 11. Lindsay is merely the GOAT at his position and probably of his generation in the WPK. He has also been injury prone but when healthy he has been the best all-around player and team Captain in the WPK, and he has managed to stay healthy enough to accumulate 99.9 career WAR and counting. He is as sure a first ballot Hall of Famer as exists in the WPK (with the great Felix Lopez right there with him). Lindsay is a 4-time league MVP, 12-time All-Star, 7-time Gold Glove shortstop, 10-time Silver Slugger, was the 1972 SJL Rookie of the Year, was the 1981 SJL LCS MVP, and the 1984 SJL LCS MVP, and during his career his team has gone to the post-season 6 times, winning the championship 3 times.
The first position player taken in this draft, like Lindsay also a shortstop, was Oscar Pereida. Unlike Lindsay, the disruptive Pereida isn't going to the Hall of Fame, unless as a visitor who paid for the admission ticket. Pereida is still playing ball, though at this point for the Omaha Packers of the independent Iowa Baseball Confederacy, and his career as a WPK player amounts to parts of 7 seasons, with his 339 plate appearances in 1980 with the Houston Cavaliers being his most significant season, one in which he hit .209/.294/.314 for a -1.0 WAR season. His career WPK WAR is -1.5. Yeah, that is the shortstop the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings choose with the 5th overall pick of the draft when they could have had Bud Lindsay.
Two-way player Vincent Medina was chosen by Baltimore with the 16th pick and between his pitching and hitting (mostly playing first base) he has put up a combined 48.9 career WAR. He is a 7-time All-Star and has won 4 Silver Sluggers for the pitcher position. He is considered wrecked at age 34 but while he rarely pitches anymore, having appeared out of the bullpen just 4 times this season with no starts and a 7.20 ERA, he continues to be good at the plate, hitting .323/.382/.528 in 353 PA's this season.
Two players from this draft class retired without ever having made the big leagues and 5 others have also retired, including top pick Brown, and 1973 league MVP and batting Triple Crown winner Joe Brodeur (.361, 41 HR's, 141 RBI in 1973). Brodeur was one of the most hated men in the game, a divisive clubhouse presence, and a dirty player who was suspended for the first 80 games of the 1975 season after failing a PED test. Although he had a few solid seasons after that (4.5 WAR in 1976, 3.4 WAR in 1977) he was essentially washed up by age 27. He finished his WPK career with 32.4 total WAR, 10.2 of those coming in 1973 and another 6.5 in 1974. Early career collapse and subsequent anonymity couldn't have happened to a nicer guy (sarcasm alert).
The combined WAR of 460.8 makes it this the second most successful first round draft class of the first five years of WPK history after the 478.2 1967 class, though the remaining players might have just enough left to catch up with that '67 cohort (although they also are still adding to their total). No matter what, any draft class that includes Bud Lindsay and Aaron McNally, two future HOF'ers, is a great draft class.


As always, my reach exceeds my grasp and I could go on and on about these topics as I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.
But for now I will leave off and take up with the second part of the title above- player similarity scores- in the next post.