## Standings / Recap / Comments
WE'RE COMIN TO American League
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Boston Red Sox 102 60 .630 - 708 542
Detroit Tigers 92 70 .568 10 681 610
Washington Senators 83 76 .522 17½ 659 589
New York Yankees 80 82 .494 22 692 683
Baltimore Orioles 76 82 .481 24 595 602
Cleveland Indians 72 90 .444 30 688 753
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Oakland Athletics 90 71 .559 - 621 622
California Angels 81 81 .500 9½ 650 620
Minnesota Twins 80 80 .500 9½ 657 664
Kansas City Royals 76 85 .472 14 672 746
Chicago White Sox 70 92 .432 20½ 608 676
Milwaukee Brewers 64 97 .398 26 562 686
WHOA WHOA MERCY MERCY ME THE National League AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
St. Louis Cardinals 88 74 .543 - 704 691
Philadelphia Phillies 85 77 .525 3 713 630
New York Mets 83 79 .512 5 663 649
Pittsburgh Pirates 82 80 .506 6 602 598
Chicago Cubs 77 85 .475 11 737 785
Montreal Expos 68 93 .422 19½ 630 749
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Atlanta Braves 93 69 .574 - 783 657
Houston Astros 91 71 .562 2 736 702
Los Angeles Dodgers 79 83 .488 14 673 672
San Diego Padres 77 84 .478 15½ 652 662
San Francisco Giants 75 87 .463 18 618 661
Cincinnati Reds 73 89 .451 20 649 704
And there you have it! The AL looks a lot like a league that didn't have any kind of pennant races but we all know the truth, right? For that matter, for the Cardinals to finish a full 3 games up on the Phillies is, well, a lot. This is becoming "hey did you know that Jimmy Graham played basketball?" in my brain but Philadelphia lead the East by 4 games 11 days ago, so this has to be one of the worst choke jobs of all time. Good news for the Cardinals, though, as not only do they get to the playoffs for the 5th time in their history but they get to play a Braves team which finished September 11-13 and who has been just .500 since the end of July.
I'll go into those matchups a little more in my next post!
Team Hitting
AL
Code:
Team R/G R G AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Boston Red Sox 4.4 708 162 5635 1535 295 31 121 439 757 62 .272 .325 .400 .725
New York Yankees 4.3 692 162 5511 1400 254 35 133 636 934 32 .254 .333 .385 .718
Cleveland Indians 4.2 688 162 5626 1437 209 40 154 539 859 76 .255 .321 .389 .710
Detroit Tigers 4.2 681 162 5541 1447 232 35 125 490 953 98 .261 .323 .383 .706
Kansas City Royals 4.2 672 161 5290 1276 214 52 131 704 1003 105 .241 .331 .376 .706
Washington Senators 4.1 659 159 5422 1411 247 33 96 495 924 57 .260 .323 .371 .694
Minnesota Twins 4.1 657 160 5450 1415 240 36 136 589 882 54 .260 .333 .392 .725
California Angels 4.0 650 162 5542 1397 192 52 113 469 867 152 .252 .313 .367 .680
Oakland Athletics 3.9 621 161 5417 1445 256 31 106 425 767 55 .267 .323 .384 .707
Chicago White Sox 3.8 608 162 5481 1360 197 35 119 514 978 73 .248 .313 .362 .675
Baltimore Orioles 3.8 595 158 5376 1345 225 34 126 486 934 89 .250 .314 .375 .689
Milwaukee Brewers 3.5 562 161 5466 1339 200 36 94 415 827 56 .245 .300 .346 .646
TOTALS 4.0 7793 1932 65757 16807 2761 450 1454 6201 10685 909 .256 .321 .378 .699
AVERAGE 649 161 5480 1401 230 38 121 517 890 76
NL
Code:
Team R/G R G AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Atlanta Braves 4.8 783 162 5575 1457 248 32 182 555 889 79 .261 .330 .415 .745
Chicago Cubs 4.5 737 162 5570 1454 225 51 186 497 917 82 .261 .325 .420 .745
Houston Astros 4.5 736 162 5573 1484 267 28 130 475 854 62 .266 .325 .394 .719
Philadelphia Phillies 4.4 713 162 5444 1393 221 33 142 636 982 91 .256 .336 .387 .723
St. Louis Cardinals 4.3 704 162 5572 1508 229 44 132 525 817 39 .271 .335 .399 .734
Los Angeles Dodgers 4.2 673 162 5567 1418 196 35 147 544 856 75 .255 .324 .382 .705
New York Mets 4.1 663 162 5474 1351 248 35 128 559 936 48 .247 .318 .375 .693
San Diego Padres 4.0 652 161 5480 1394 246 47 100 474 854 85 .254 .315 .371 .686
Cincinnati Reds 4.0 649 162 5477 1349 226 47 129 583 976 113 .246 .319 .375 .695
Montreal Expos 3.9 630 161 5527 1417 238 44 135 445 937 60 .256 .314 .389 .703
San Francisco Giants 3.8 618 162 5568 1400 227 31 90 479 864 89 .251 .311 .352 .663
Pittsburgh Pirates 3.7 602 162 5535 1398 217 43 102 561 909 66 .253 .322 .363 .684
TOTALS 4.2 8160 1942 66362 17023 2788 470 1603 6333 10791 889 .257 .323 .385 .708
AVERAGE 680 162 5530 1419 232 39 134 528 899 74
Team Pitching
AL
Code:
Team R/G R G CG SHO SV ERA IP HA HRA BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP
Boston Red Sox 3.3 542 162 52 20 31 3.03 1479.1 1298 114 472 1042 1.20 .236 .270
Washington Senators 3.7 589 159 47 13 29 3.18 1435.2 1276 125 453 876 1.20 .238 .261
Baltimore Orioles 3.8 602 158 33 16 33 3.39 1419.0 1349 113 475 775 1.29 .253 .275
Detroit Tigers 3.8 610 162 30 11 36 3.34 1462.1 1345 140 538 929 1.29 .245 .271
California Angels 3.8 620 162 37 13 27 3.42 1464.2 1397 125 532 836 1.32 .251 .274
Oakland Athletics 3.9 622 161 33 8 40 3.42 1435.1 1276 112 657 1056 1.35 .240 .277
Minnesota Twins 4.2 664 160 30 13 29 3.75 1434.2 1491 73 497 886 1.39 .270 .307
Chicago White Sox 4.2 676 162 28 12 29 3.83 1451.1 1436 146 489 800 1.33 .262 .281
New York Yankees 4.2 683 162 38 16 22 3.86 1450.0 1433 143 438 962 1.29 .259 .290
Milwaukee Brewers 4.3 686 161 37 7 25 3.81 1434.2 1429 93 592 794 1.41 .262 .290
Kansas City Royals 4.6 746 161 28 16 31 4.38 1426.1 1530 135 541 834 1.45 .277 .303
Cleveland Indians 4.6 753 162 32 12 29 4.14 1464.0 1547 135 517 895 1.41 .272 .301
TOTALS 4.0 7793 1932 425 157 361 3.63 17357.1 16807 1454 6201 10685 1.33 .256 .284
AVERAGE 649 161 35 13 30 1446 1401 121 517 890
NL
Code:
Team R/G R G CG SHO SV ERA IP HA HRA BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP
Pittsburgh Pirates 3.7 598 162 44 19 32 3.25 1476.1 1388 117 420 922 1.22 .248 .276
Philadelphia Phillies 3.9 630 162 37 5 27 3.59 1440.1 1354 117 443 958 1.25 .249 .281
New York Mets 4.0 649 162 28 11 40 3.76 1451.2 1367 131 563 987 1.33 .251 .283
Atlanta Braves 4.1 657 162 30 8 40 3.64 1455.1 1465 139 450 853 1.32 .262 .285
San Francisco Giants 4.1 661 162 37 8 33 3.63 1464.1 1414 133 491 860 1.30 .256 .279
San Diego Padres 4.1 662 161 31 7 31 3.74 1444.0 1428 115 559 759 1.38 .260 .281
Los Angeles Dodgers 4.1 672 162 41 7 31 3.51 1475.2 1372 135 505 1033 1.27 .245 .276
St. Louis Cardinals 4.3 691 162 24 8 34 3.86 1445.0 1426 117 530 896 1.35 .259 .287
Houston Astros 4.3 702 162 31 13 35 3.94 1454.0 1447 114 646 861 1.44 .262 .288
Cincinnati Reds 4.3 704 162 29 7 29 4.02 1450.0 1448 152 511 874 1.35 .261 .285
Montreal Expos 4.7 749 161 19 4 33 4.26 1440.1 1386 191 621 895 1.39 .254 .270
Chicago Cubs 4.8 785 162 31 7 26 4.41 1451.1 1528 142 594 893 1.46 .273 .300
TOTALS 4.2 8160 1942 382 104 391 3.80 17448.1 17023 1603 6333 10791 1.34 .257 .283
AVERAGE 680 162 32 9 33 1454 1419 134 528 899
## Major Transactions
## News
September 27: Hirohito becomes the first reigning Emperor of Japan to go outside of the nation, taking a 3 week trip to the USA and Europe.
September 27: UK Prime Minister Edward Heath hosts a closed meeting with Irish Republic PM Jack Lynch and Northern Ireland PM Brian Faulkner to try and untangle the crisis in Northern Ireland (aka the Troubles).
September 27: Wilhelm Simon, a convicted war criminal and administrator of the Buchenwald concentration camp, dies at 71. After serving a 9 year sentence for his crimes, Simon lived his life out in obscurity as a salesman.
September 27: And Billboard's Top 5:
1. Maggie May / Reason To Believe, Rod Steward
2. Go Away Little Girl, Donny Osmond
3. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Joan Baez
4. Superstar / Bless the Beasts and Children, The Carpenters
5. Ain't No Sunshine, Bill Withers
"Spanish Harlem" fell out of the top 6 to 7th without quite hitting #1. Oh well. I remember being weirdly into the Carpenters when I was in high school. I make no excuses for that. They were corny then too.
September 27: The Dixie Association's season ended and while it's only AA there were... a couple? One? guys in there I wanted to look at...
Jorge Chacon, P, Phillies: Chacon was something of a mainstay in the Phillies' rotation throughout he 60s and topped out at 224.2 innings pitched in 33 starts in 1968. He fell off a huge cliff just in time for my taking over the league in 1969, with a 3-7, 5.91 record in 26 games (11 starts). That's pretty much all she wrote for Chacon, who finished with an 89-89 record, an All-Star appearance as a 23 year old rookie in 1960 who finished with an 11-7 record, 16 saves, and a 3.19 ERA, and a career 3.76 ERA.
C Ian Singleton was a part-time / semi-starter behind the plate for the Pirates between 1964 and 1969. A late bloomer who didn't really crack into the majors until he was 30, Singleton was a classic good-field, no-hit guy, throwing out 40% of attempted basestealers in his career but hitting just .205.
September 27: The Braves, should they limp into the postseason, will have to do so without their #2 starter Felix Carranza (16-9, 3.92), who sprained his elbow in a 7-6 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday. He was... fine, I guess? He finishes the season with a career high in wins and complete games and overall was a good control guy with somewhat average stuff who relied a bit too much of flyball outs last year for a guy who plays half his games at the Launching Pad.
September 27: (kind of hitting this a day ahead of time of the actual story but whatever) Indians CF Carlos Hernandez (.284, 3, 15), who was suspended by the team in June after allegedly brandishing a firearm in the locker room, was ordered to be reinstated by an arbitrator due to the sheer lack of evidence of the allegation. It was always 1B Ernesto Garcia's word against his and when Garcia failed to show up to the hearing, things were sealed. The Indians have been forced to pay Hernandez' back pay and they've placed him on the roster for the last couple games of the season.
September 27: The FINAL AL Player of the Week is A's 3B Chase Jones (.271, 31, 83), who eclipsed the 30 HR mark for the first time in his career this past week with 2 of them in 24 at bats and also 10 hits (a .417 average) and 6 RBIs. This was his first ever PotW, which caps off a Cinderella season in which Jones set career highs in every major category.
September 27: Meanwhile in the NL, the Griller, Big George Foreman (.384, 8, 37), an outfielder for the Houston Astros, won this week with a monster .583 average (14-24) and 7 RBIs. Foreman also won the award back in August so I won't reprint his card. There's a good chance he'll finish in the money for Rookie of the Year voting, too, even though the 22 year old has only played in 53 major league games this season. That's what a .384 average and a .446 on base percentage will do for you...
September 27: In the only game scheduled today, a pitching duel between the Cardinals' Ernie Alvarez (16-18, 4.40) and the Mets' John Mash (9-18, 3.94) turned into a showcase for Cardinals superstar 1B Lorenzo Martinez (.269, 37, 100), who accounted for all of St. Louis' runs in a 3-1 10-inning victory. The Mets loss mathematically eliminates them from the postseason and, for the first time I've seen, gives the Cardinals a better than 50% chance of playing in October themselves (now at 63%).
September 28: Cardinal Josef Mindszenty, who had taken refuge in he US Embassy in Budapest since 1956, was allowed to leave Hungary for the first time in almost 15 years.
September 28: All 32 people on Cruzeiro do Sul Flight 332 were killed when the Brazilian DC-3 airliner suffered an engine failure shortly after takeoff from Sena Madureira.
September 28: Dr. Amalia Fleming, a physician and widow of Alexander Fleming (the guy who discovered penicillin), was sentenced to 16 months incarceration Athens, Greece for her part in a conspiracy to help a would-be assassin attempt an escape from prison. She will serve a month of this sentence before being deported to Britain.
September 28: Nate Herod (0-1, 6.60), last seen with the Yankees this year before being released in May, retired today with the end of the Eastern League (AA) season. Herod was a lefty who threw the screwball, which made him really hard to use correctly; however, he was really good as recently as last season, when he went a combined 5-2, 2.70 with 5 saves between NY and Montreal. Herod also started for several years... somehow (as of his retirement he threw only 2 pitches) and was one of the few 20 game losers in league history, "earning" that mark in 1962 with the second-year Washington Senators. He retires with a record of 90-92 and an ERA of 3.70.
September 28: Indians 1B Ernesto Garcia (.271, 65, 147) had 2 hits in today's 3-1 loss to the Tigers but neither one went over the fence and so now the star slugger has just one game left to break the homerun record. He's tied it, in case you haven't read the last 5371513 updates, and 65 ding-dongs is enough for the most in AL history, but one more and it's all of the marbles.
September 28: The Braves got the job done but man, they keep losing members of their rotation to do it. Julio Sandoval (13-15, 3.88) was pulled from the game in the first inning, requiring Atlanta to use up their entire bullpen in a 3-2 win over the Reds. The good news is, they did get the win at least. Stopper John Winn (10-4, 1.25) entered into the 8th inning with the bases loaded and nobody out and induced a weak fly ball and two strikeouts to deliver his team from perdition. A 1-2-3 9 later and he earned his 31st save. I doubt he'll be up there in the Cy Young voting but if any reliever deserves that award, it's him.
September 28: The comeback is complete, folks! The Cardinals took down the Mets 8-2 in Shea Stadium and then the Pirates played the ultimate spoiler, eking out a win over the Phillies in 15 innings, 4-3. 1968 Olympic silver medalist James Ryun (.500, 0, 1) got a hit in his 2nd major league at-bat in the top of the inning, scoring 2B Henry Villar (.276, 3, 34), and the Pirates handed the ball to none other than their ace, Santos Arango (24-8, 2.50), who struck out the side to earn his first save since 1964 (when he was a 21 year old used primarily in relief). "It felt good, dashing their hopes and dreams," said Arango after the game. "But I think I'll leave the closer job to Paz [Lemus (11-12, 3.70), who pitched 3 scoreless innings himself in this one]."
That was also the Phillies' 8th straight loss and if ever a team deserved to get bounced from the playoffs... man. I guess we should have seen it coming when they got swept by the Montreal Expos last week...
September 28: With their backs against the wall, Astros' SP Tony Rivera (25-9, 3.20) did what he's done all season: he put the, um, backs that were against the wall on his own back and carried them through. Rivera scattered 9 hits in a 7-0 victory over the Dodgers, who lost consecutive games for the first time since September 9th. It was also Rivera's 4th shutout of the season, one short of his career high he set in 1968. "Not gonna lie to you all," said Rivera after the game. "We needed this. I needed this. Now all we have to do is win out."
The latter is not entirely true: the Braves also need to lose their final game of the season, which will be on the 30th against the Reds at home. Their ace starter George House (23-9, 3.11), who hasn't pitched since September 22 because of a sore back, might be ready to play in that game, although obviously the Braves would rather save him for the playoffs at this point.
September 29: Julio Hirschfeld Almada, Mexico's Federal Aviation Director and a millionaire industrialist, is released by kidnappers after his family posted a $240,000 ransom.
September 29: Spain holds symbolic elections for the Spanish unicameral (one-party) Parliament for the final time in General Francisco Franco's regime. No, ladies and gentlemen, General Franco is not dead.
September 29: With a 5-4 loss to the Angels, the Twins will be .500 or worse for the first time since 1962, when they finished 79-83 in their second season in Minnesota. Life's been good since then, with 8 consecutive 90-win seasons, 3 postseason berths, and 2 World Series titles, but the end of that Twins dynasty might be at hand.
September 29: Oakland, meanwhile, breaks the 90 win mark for the first time in franchise history in their final game, a 4-3 victory over Kansas City. Nate Lancaster (11-3, 3.05) pitched into the 8th and then setup man Chris Wilson (6-0, 1.69) wrapped things up for his 4th save. Oakland's previous record was 83 wins. A little bird tells me that they were also outscored this year, 620 to 622, but I'm not going to allow that to dampen Oakland's enthusiasm. Kansas City, speaking of which, wound up having a pretty solid season themselves: they set their own franchise record with 76 wins and at 76-85 they avoided 90 losses for the first time in their young history.
September 29: There were homers aplenty at Cleveland Municipal Stadium today - 6 in all - but they were pretty much all hit by Tigers and, most notably, Ernesto Garcia (.270, 65, 147) went homerless in 5 at-bats in a 10-2 loss to finish the season tied for the major league record. "It sucks," he said after the game. "A tie is like kissing your sister. And I don't like my sister like that."
Garcia had plenty of chances against Tigers starter Jim Goddard (19-8, 2.59) and reliever Jim Marceau (5-3, 2.22), who pitched the final inning. In fact, in that 9th frame, he got into a bit of a jam and had to face Garcia with 2 outs and runners on first and second. Garcia took a big swing but got over the pitch, pounding it into the dirt for an easy 6-3 groundout to end it. "I'm gonna be honest with y'all," said Goddard following the game. "I asked Coach to put me in. Nobody on this team like Ernie, and nobody's better than old Jimmy at keeping balls in the park." Goddard, bravado and all, did indeed allow just 12 HRs in 226 innings pitched and it's also true that Garcia has a lifetime average of .226 against him (7-31), although it should also be noted that 3 of those 7 hits by Garcia off him are homeruns.
The win, incidentally, caps off a very nice season for the Tigers, albeit one that only puts them in place as also-rans in a stacked division. Detroit set a franchise record in both wins and winning percentage this year and their 22 game improvement over last season is surely the best in all of baseball.
September 29: I wouldn't exactly want to put the ball in the hands of Josh Mullett (15-14, 4.45) with the game on the line but that's what it came down to with the Astros. Did he come through? I'd say not exactly but at the same time he kind of did what you expect Josh Mullett to do - he went 6 innings, gave up 5 runs, and kept the Astros in the game. In the end, though, he didn't quite keep them in the game enough, as Houston lost this one to the Dodgers 5-4 to allow Atlanta to back in to their 2nd NL West title in 3 years. Credit where credit's due, Houston even got a rally going against Dodgers stopper Alec Cosby (6-7, 2.63), putting runners on the corners in the bottom of the 9th with just one out. However, at that point Cosby's clutch and mostly his devastating forkball took over, as he induced C Dan Rigdon (.270, 6, 52) to hit into a game-ending, season-ending (technically there's still one game left but you get the gist), and hope-ending double play.
.344
The Dodgers (79-82) have been 34-20 since August 1. Had they got onto this hot streak just a month earlier, perhaps they and not the Braves would be popping open the champagne tonight.
September 30: The US and USSR signed The Agreement on Measures to Reduce the Risk of a Nuclear War in Washington. Basically, it said that if either side had some kind of nuclear accident, they'd notify each other. Stuff like this really brings that whole "we are inches close from wiping out all sentient life on the planet" thing into clear view.
September 30: Japan's largest chemical company, Showa Denko, paid compensation totalling $810k to representatives of 77 victims of Niigata Minamata disease, which had been caused by mercury poisoning from industrial waste by the corporation. This is kind of the Japanese Love Island.
September 30: The tallest structure... in Pittsburgh is dedicated, the 65 story US Steel Tower, standing 841 feet. Actually, at the time it was the tallest building in the US not in New York or Chicago.
September 30: The last day of the season! This is sort of my favoritest and also least favoritest day of the year. All the games are academic but hey, it's one final time to get in touch with players on 20 of these teams (less than that since not everyone's playing on the final day but you get the idea).
September 30: It's the final day of baseball in the nation's capital and perhaps the final day forever as the Senators' move to Texas is all but a foregone conclusion. Even though the official attendance is only 9,617, the security guards at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC leave early and thousand of fans enter, swelling attendance to an estimated 25,000. They watch the Senators win 9-6 over the Yankees with 24 year old 2B Jose Hernandez (.229, 25, 86) putting a cherry on top with a 2-run blast off of New York's Jesse Kelly (8-7, 4.90). IRL the fans rushed the field in the 9th looking for souvenirs but in my dynasty we play out the games so the win stands. Which, speaking of, the Senators' record of 83-76 is, bittersweetly, their 2nd best record since they were reformed in 1961 (their expansion season they somehow managed to go 87-74).
September 30: Now that the season is in the dust, it's official that Cleveland 3B Bobby Ramirez (.344, 15, 67) is the AL's leading hitter, carrying the league with 177 hits in 515 at-bats. The 23 year old also has to be the odds-on favorite to win Rookie of the Year but we'll wait until the postseason for that to be official. What's clear is that Roberto Hernandez (.252, 4, 25), who was the Tribe's starting 3rd baseman from 1968 to 1970, is the new Wally Pipp.
September 30: In the National Baseball League, the batting champ is also a first-timer, although in the case of Giants CF Danny "The Phantom" Seligman (.333, 6, 44), it was a long time coming. Seligman's issue has always been that he gets hurt a lot and this year was no different - he missed almost 50 games this year with a strained PCL. That said, he was able to get in just enough plate appearances - 528 by my count - to qualify for the title and on top of that the career .282 hitter used his speed and slap-hitting ability to deliver hits all year long. He's 30 and there's a good, solid chance that this was his career year. Enjoy it, Danny!
October 1: It's time for the final Player of the Month Awards for 1971!
NL Rookie: It's Astros OF George Foreman (.380, 9, 39), of course. He did his level best to carry the team into the postseason with a .433/5/19 month. It wasn't enough but man, that was one hell of a good 2 months. If it weren't for Cardinals 3B Mike Galeana (.238, 30, 80) and his 30 dingers he'd be the easy, easy favorite for NL RotY.
AL Rookie: 21 year old Indians P Robbie Coltrane (5-3, 3.34) will have a long career in this league if September is any judge. He finished 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 38.2 innings. Cleveland's picking up a potential staff ace right when they need it, too: they fell off this year in large part because the pitching just kind of collectively up and died.
NL Pitcher: Wow, didn't expect to see an Expo anywhere in here but there you have it: Montreal SP Javier Olvera (16-9, 3.27) cemented a very strong season with a great September that saw him go undefeated: 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA and 29 Ks in 38.1 innings. He even collected the game-winning hit and sole RBI in a 1-0 win against the division champion Cardinals on Septembe 19. Only 22, he now has 2 full seasons under his belt and the future looks bright.
AL Pitcher: Boston had pretty much locked up the AL East but that didn't stop Justin Kindberg (27-6, 2.06) from going on an absolute rampage last month. He went 6-1 with a 1.36 ERA in 7 starts. That studly month even allowed him to tie Marius Gaddi's 1970 season for the most victories in the modern era. This for that matter was his 2nd consecutive Pitcher of the Month award and if he doesn't win the Cy I'll eat my hat.
NL Hitter: Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.293, 38, 112) led a surprising run by LA last month. They finished the month 18-9; he finished the month with a .351 average, 14 HRs, and 29 RBIs, reminding everyone why he's considered one of the pre-eminent power hitters in baseball. That was his 2nd Batter of the Month award and the 21st of his career. Only 32, he already has 432 homeruns; you've got to figure that whatever number Braves RF Henry Riggs reaches (he's at 523, although TBF he hit 5 more dingers than Stone did this season), Stone will eventually surpass it.
AL Hitter: Indians 1B Ernesto Garcia (.270, 65, 147) had really put himself in a hole at the beginning of the month, needing a full 14 HRs just to tie the all-time homerun record. Well, guess what? He hit exactly 14 of them, hitting .303 and driving in 28 runners in the process, and for that he's an easy choice for Batter of the Month. This was his 2nd BotM of both 1971 and his career; he won it in June as well. In honor of his season, Garcia requested that his uniform number be changed to 65.
## Teams in Review
It's September. EXPECT NONE OF THESE