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1865: THE HALFWAY POINT
KNICKERBOCKER BEST EVER AFTER SEVEN WEEKS; ALLEGHANY & EXCELSIOR ALSO DOMINATING

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (June 19, 1865) – The National Base Ball Organization has played half its schedule, and so far the base ball landscape in 1865 looks like a land of contrasts. In Brooklyn, New York City, & Inland one team is dominating the competition. In Upstate, Coastal, & New England everything remains up for grabs. One more thing is certain: Knickerbocker B.B.C. has had the best first half of a season ever seen by a country mile.

Here are the leaders of the six regional championships:

• Brooklyn: Excelsior at 24-11 (+89 R.D, Bedford & Kings Co. 6 G.B.)
• N.Y.C: Knickerbocker at 31-4 (+113 R.D, Gotham 10 G.B.)
• Upstate: Niagara at 23-12 (+55 R.D, Minuteman 2 G.B.)
• Coastal: Trenton Utd. at 22-13 (+76 R.D, American & Shamrock 3 G.B.)
• Inland: Alleghany at 26-9 (+102 R.D, Pioneer 7 G.B.)
• N. England: S.o.t.O. & St. John’s at 22-13 (Quinnipiac 1 G.B.)

General observations from the first half of the season, via the Writers Pool:

• Knickerbocker, of course, is the talk of the base ball world. Their 31-4 record after seven weeks is easily the best in N.B.B.O. history. The previous best was 26-9, which Alleghany has achieved this season and a number of teams have reached in seasons past. To put it simply, Knickerbocker’s pitching & defense have been impenetrable. They have allowed 136 runs (3.9 R/G), 34 fewer than any other team. They have the lowest E.R.A. (2.34), walked the fewest batters (19), the lowest W.H.I.P. (0.96), the lowest opponents’ average (.230), and the lowest opponents’ O.P.S. (.539). Their defense has committed the fewest errors (121), has the highest fielding percentage (.918), is the most efficient (.707), and has the highest Zone Rating (+45.1; S.o.t.O. 2nd at +27.0).

• Alleghany’s winter machinations have most definitely paid off. Arthur Waltrip is batting .415 with a 2.4 W.A.R. at the head of the batting order. Samuel Kessler has 38 R.B.I. batting right behind him. Newcomer Royal Altman is batting .353 with 38 R.B.I. to match Kessler. Fellow first-year N.B.B.O. player Fred Richards is 13-5 with a 1.84 E.R.A. The only quibble they might have is that first-year 2B Arran Duffy is batting a bit worse than expected at .261, but he has hit a pair of home runs and has 30 R.B.I. to go with them.

• Excelsior is, of course, being led by mighty Jim Creighton (14-5, 2.13 E.R.A, 54 K), but they also have the best overall offense in the New York League – 2nd in runs (287; 8.2 R/G), 1st in average (.330), 1st in on-base (.356), 1st in O.P.S. (.794), and 1st in Batting W.A.R. (8.9). C Ruby Watson is batting .409, 3B Wesley Leone is batting .374 with 30 R.B.I, OF Uwe Schneider is batting .358 with 28 R.B.I. and 23 steals, and CF Archie Mask is batting .329 with 30 R.B.I.

• Niagara has won nine of their last ten games to race into the midway point with a 2-3 game lead over Minuteman and Flour City. Their offense sprung to life over the past two weeks, with Gotham import Hamish Barclay and Atlantic signee James Robertson leading the way. Newcomer Gus Woods is pitching well (9-7, 2.77 E.R.A.) and Walter Simon has a 9-2 record since taking on the #2 pitcher role.

• Plucky Trenton United, who has twice taken the Coastal pennant against a roster of much bigger clubs, has the Coastal lead thanks to the best pitching in the Northeastern League. #1 pitcher Robert Dozier is 12-3 with a sparkling 1.63 E.R.A. that he can thank his highly-rated defense for. The team’s other pitchers have performed well.

• St. John’s & Sons of the Ocean are in a dogfight for New England. The St. John’s offense has fallen just a bit after losing Anderson MacGyver to Mutual, as they have three batsmen currently performing below replacement level: C Bruce Botchko, SS Thomas DiMola, & 2B Walter Warren. Their pitching has actually improved a lot, jumping all the way up to 3rd in the N.E.L. in Runs Allowed thanks in no small part to newcomer William Tighe. S.o.t.O. was able to replace Samuel Kessler with Kings Co’s Jerald Peterson, and they also recruited three-time All-Star Albert Gore to play second base. The results speak for themselves, and they currently enjoy the #1 defense in the N.E.L. Quinnipiac, with its top-five offense, is just a game behind the two New England frontrunners.

• It was thought that the removal of the Bound Rule and its subsequent increase in fielding errors would lead to more runs, but scoring is holding steady at 7.0 R/G per team. As the Writers Pool mused during the annual season preview, the influx of quality pitching talent into the competition has balanced out the Bound Rule’s elimination.

• As mentioned, Knickerbocker is 31-4 at the halfway mark, which puts them on a pace for a 62-8 record. The best single-season record in N.B.B.O. history is 54-16, first done in 1859 by St. John’s and then in 1860 by Kings County. They are also on a pace to allow 272 runs (3.9 R/G), which would be the fewest allowed in a season by nearly 80 as the current record belongs to St. John’s with 350 Runs Allowed in 1860. Their current E.R.A. of 2.34 would also easily be the lowest in a season, with the current record belonging to the 1861 Syracuse pitching staff at 2.65.

• St. John’s is on a pace to draw more than 180 bases on balls, which would easily break the record of 169 they set in the 1861 season.

• There are seven players batting over .400, with Arthur Waltrip leading the N.B.B.O. at .415. There were a record nine .400 hitters after seven weeks last season.

• Konrad Jensen has 44 Stolen Bases, placing him on a pace for 88 over the entire season. That would significantly outdo the record of 69 set last season by Mathius Wirtz of Minuteman. Jensen is also on pace to break his own record for Bases on Balls taken over the course of a single season.

• James Heilman of Kings County is on pace for 108 runs, which would break the current record for runs scored in a season: 106 by Anderson MacGyver of St. John’s in 1859.

• Speaking of Anderson MacGyver, he currently has 3.62 Win Probability Added, which puts him on pace to be the first player with 7.0+ W.P.A. in a season.

• Robert Dozier has an E.R.A. of 1.63 over 154.2 innings. That would easily be the best Earned Run Average for a full-time starting pitcher over an entire season if his form holds.

• Jim Creighton is on a pace to break his own single-season records for strikeouts and Pitching W.A.R. He is on pace for 108 K’s, which would be the first 100-strikeout season. He has also walked only two batsmen, and his current K/BB ratio of 27/1 would break the existing record by roughly a factor of eight.