[Highlander]

Here’s a look at the NL teams….again in reverse order of the standings.

Cincinnati Reds

Record- 55-85

Games Back- 26

Batters
- Dickie Thon didn’t do much at the plate, as evidenced by his .259/.286/.338 slash line, but he won the Gold Glove at 2B.
- Frank Shugart won the Gold Glove in LF, but was even worse at the plate (hey, this team really stunk so it makes sense!) than Thon- .231/.279/.286.
- Finally, a look at the curious case of Ron Jones. His batting line wasn’t that bad at all- .279/.309/.389, 59 R, 15 doubles, 8 triples, 9 HR, 72 RBI, 18 SB. However, his WAR was dead last on the team at -1.9. Taking a closer look at his defense, I think I found the reason why. He played a little bit in the OF, but started 128 games at 1B. He had 45 errors, which was the most at 1B, but not by THAT many. His Defensive Efficiency was only .875 which is quite a bit worse than any other regular 1B. Then the big one….his Zone Rating was -21.3. That is incredibly bad compared to everyone else…even in this age of horrible fielding. It’s like he was playing 1B by just standing on the base and not moving.

Pitchers
- On a better team, Michael Soroka could have been a big winner. However, he was only able to go 13-20 with 1 save in 293.2 IP, despite having a 2.97 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. He struck out 69.
- Dave Ferris led the league in losses with 22. He was 12-22 overall in 266 IP with a 3.72 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 99 Ks.


Boston Beaneaters

Record- 65-75

Games Back- 16


Batters
- Frank Chance didn’t let being on one of the worst teams in all of baseball hold him back. Despite his team’s record, he still won the league MVP and was the Platinum Stick Award winner at C. His stats were impressive- .340/.426/.470 (that OBP led the league), 91 R, 32 doubles, 10 triples, 3 HR, 58 RBI and a league leading 84 SB. He also led the league in HBP (27) and RC/27 (8.25). He also had a game where he stole 4 bases and a 25-game hitting streak. Hopefully Boston can put together a better team around Frank….or trade him to a team that can win!
- Greg Gagne led the league in games started with 140. So far, I think he is the only player I’ve seen who didn’t miss a game all season. His batting line was OK- .258/.302/.401, 62 R, 21 doubles, 21 triples, 2 HR, 52 RBI, 22 SB.
- On May 4th, Elmer Smith went 4-5 with 2 doubles, a triple and a HR. He scored 4 runs and drove in a whopping 8.
- Now that I mentioned Greg Gagne and his 140 games, I see that a teammate of his did the same thing. Brandon Moss played in all 140, plus he led the league in HR with 13. That season earned him a trade in October after the playoffs ended. He was sent to Detroit for another OF, Delmon Young. Delmon has some good potential, but got very little playing time in Detroit, so it remains to be seen how he will be compared to Moss. He is about 8 years younger and Detroit is closer to contention than this team is right now.

Pitchers
- Buck O’Brien had a great season, despite how bad Boston was. He went 18-15 with 1 save in 285.2 IP, with a 2.46 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 124 Ks.
- DJ Herz also had a winning record for Boston, going 19-16 in 293 IP with a 3.10 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 145 Ks. He also won the Gold Glove at Pitcher.
- On the other end of the spectrum, Charles Nagy tied for the league lead in losses with 22.
- Joe Barlow went 2-3 with a league leading 9 saves in 39.2 IP. He had a 2.27 ERA, .98 WHIP and 8 Ks. He was also the league leader in Relief Appearances with 30 and Games Finished with 23.


New York Giants

Record- 67-73

Games Back- 14

Batters
- Joe Cronin was a star of the Giants, even at age 36. He finished 3rd in the MVP voting, won the Platinum Stick at SS and won 2 Player of the Month Awards. He hit .322/.389/.474, 93 R, 36 doubles, 10 triples, 9 HR, 100 RBI, 4 SB. He was the league leader in WAR at 7.9.
- Jarren Duran was even better! He finished 2nd in the MVP voting, was named NL Rookie of the Year and won the Platinum Stick Award at LF. His numbers were fantastic- .338/.382/.547 (League leader in SLG), 92 R, a league leading 46 doubles, a league leading 30 triples, 3 HR, 78 RBI, 48 SB. He also led the league in Total Bases (300), XBH (79), RC (113.76), ISO (.210), wOBA (.431), OPS (.930) and wRC+ (164.4). Whew!
- Joe Morgan, at age 41, only hit .202 on the season, but he still led the league in walks with 84.


Pitchers
- Eric Show started the season with Detroit and pitched enough innings to qualify for and win the ERA title. With Detroit, he went 8-8 in 146 IP with a 2.16 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 46 Ks. Then he was traded to the Giants on 7/31, along with Darryl Hamilton for Lew Fonseca. Eric was somehow even better in NY! He went 6-5 in 112 IP with a 1.53 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 26 Ks. Not who I expected to win the ERA title, but he kept it up all season so we’ll see where he goes from here.


Philadelphia Phillies

Record- 68-72

Games Back- 13

Batters
- Ben Chapman won the Platinum Stick for CF. He was another NL player who played all 140 games. He hit .277/.306/.408, 81 R, 24 doubles, 18 triples, 4 HR, 60 RBI, 46 SB. Not a bad start to a career for a 22-year old!
- Another Platinum Stick winner was Robby Thompson at 2B. He was another 140 game guy and also led the league in AB with 568. His numbers were- .287/.335/.440 with 97 R, 23 doubles, 20 triples, 8 HR, 68 RBI and 31 SB.
- Robin Ventura won the Gold Glove at 3B. He only had a .709 OPS, so his hitting wasn’t quite where I thought it would be….but he’s only 24.

Pitchers
- Joe Magrane was the ace, going 22-13 with 2 saves in a league leading 316.1 IP. He had a 2.73 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 102 Ks. He also led the league in Batters Faced (1334) and Quality Starts (29).


St. Louis Cardinals

Record- 69-71

Games Back- 12

Batters
- This Cardinals team was all about pitching and defense, but offense was pretty lacking. The best offensive player was probably Nemo Leibold. He hit .312/.375/.392 with 80 R, 15 doubles, 12 triples, 1 HR, 62 RBI and 36 SB. He also won the Gold Glove in RF.
- David Freese didn’t have a bad season, but the fact he won the Platinum Stick at 3B says more about the other 3Bmen in the league and not so much about what he did. His numbers were- .298/.354/.368 with 58 R, 18 doubles, 4 triples, 4 HR, 79 RBI and 16 SB.
- Kevin McReynolds led the league in Sac Flys with 8.
- Andrew Young won the Gold Glove at 1B….but also led the league in Ks with 78.

Pitchers
- As disappointing as the Cardinals offense was, their pitching was terrific. Roy Halladay was the ace of the staff and finished 3rd in the Best Pitcher Award voting. He went 20-15 with 2 Saves in 312.2 IP with a 2.45 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 117 Ks. He had 6 games where he gave up 3 or less hits, including a No-Hitter against the Reds on June 17th. It would have been a perfect game, but Roy himself made an error to spoil it. He only needed 77 pitches to complete it, however. Roy led the league in HR/9 (.03….he gave up 1 HR in his 312.2 IP) and Shutouts (5).
- Fellow teammate Juan Marichal was also really good, but fell victim to the poor Cardinal offense a lot more than Halladay did. He only went 14-18 in 299.2 IP, but had a 2.94 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and struck out 116. He tied Halladay for the league lead in Shut Outs (5), so in games where he gave up even 1 run, he went 9-18.


Brooklyn Superbas

Record- 75-65

Games Back- 6

Batters
- Ken Griffey Sr finished 3rd in ROY voting and was a major force on this Brooklyn team. He hit 349/.423/.481 with 97 R, 26 doubles, 22 triples, 1 HR, 66 RBI and 36 SB. He led the league in Plate Appearances (624) and Hits (193).

Pitchers
- James McDonald led the league in Games Pitched with 50. He went 20-16 with 2 Saves in 304 IP with a 3.05 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 110 Ks. He also led the league in Walks (112).
- Slim Harriss had the highest Groundball Percentage in the league at 59%. It didn’t help his record, as he only went 12-19, but despite a 1.43 WHIP, he only had a 3.40 ERA.
- Ervin Santana went 6-5 with a 2.92 ERA in just 13 starts. He suffered a shoulder injury on June 14th and missed the rest of the season.
- Jacob Lopez took over for Santana in the rotation and was really good….11-5 in 171 IP with a 2.32 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 24 Ks. He led the league in BABIP (.226) and H/9 (7.47).


Pittsburgh Pirates

[URecord[/U]- 80-60

Games Back- 1

Batters
- The #1 overall pick, Roger Bresnahan wasn’t the best player in the league, but he was very good. He won the Platinum Stick for RF and hit .304/.401/.466 with a league leading 111 R, 31 doubles, 16 triples, 7 HR, 94 RBI and 37 SB. On June 25th, he hit for the cycle and drove in 7 runs.
- Billy Goodman was the Platinum Stick winner at 1B and was also the NL Batting Champion. He hit .364/.423/.442 with 94 R, 25 doubles, 8 triples, 0 HR, 67 RBI and 20 SB.
- Les Mann only hit .281/.325/.429, but he led the league with 109 RBI. His 38 doubles and 17 triples definitely helped him. He also tied for the league lead in Sac Flys (8).

Pitchers
- Ed Reulbach was traded to the Pirates on July 17th from Brooklyn for Ruben Gotay. Ruben did very little and was actually traded again for another player who didn’t do much either. However, Reulbach was fantastic….both with Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. Not sure if it was a salary issue for Brooklyn, or what, but on the season Reulbach went 17-6 in 233 IP with a league leading 2.01 ERA, a league leading 1.09 WHIP and 82 Ks. He also led the league in Winning Percentage (.739) and RA/9 (10.12).


Chicago Orphans

Record- 81-59….both Chicago teams had tough races with just 1 game leads.

Batters
- Johnny Evers led the World Champion Orphans in WAR with 5.5, so it seems like he is worth a mention. He hit .282/.364/.355 with 97 R, 20 doubles, 8 triples, 1 HR, 48 RBI and 55 SB.
- Ted Easterly was 2nd in ROY voting and was the World Series MVP for the Orphans, hitting .429/.455/.619 with 1 double, 1 HR and 7 RBI. On the season he hit .317/.343/.452 with 78 R, 27 doubles, 17 triples, 3 HR, 78 RBI and 50 SB.
- Mike Lum’s .609 OPS wasn’t very impressive, but he won the Gold Glove in CF, so he was still able to carve out a valuable role on the World Champs.
- Brendan Ryan’s .500 OPS was REALLY unimpressive, but he was also a Gold Glove winner, as predicted at SS.


Pitchers
- Smokey Joe Wood was the big star for this Chicago team. He won the Best Pitcher Award and the Platinum Stick at P. Offensively, he hit .319/.371/.425 over 113 AB with 16 R, 3 doubles, 3 triples, 1 HR, 20 RBI and 9 SB. On the mound he went 24-10 with 4 Saves in 313 IP. His wins led the league. He had a 2.76 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and led the league with 197 Ks. He also led the league in WAR (7.9), K/BB (2.94), K/9 (5.66) and FIP- (77.2).
- Masahiro Tanaka was a big factor in the Orphans’ championship season as well. He started the season off pretty well with the Reds. He only went 8-10 with them but with a 2.66 ERA. On July 18th he was traded to Chicago for a bag of balls….I mean Daniel Joseph Garcia, a little used player who would be traded yet again and be used very little yet again. This is another real head scratcher of a deal, like the Reulbach one fo Pittsburgh. Once Tanaka came to Chicago, he took off, going 11-4 in 131.2 IP with a 1.71 ERA, .94 WHIP and 40 Ks. His final numbers earned him 2nd place in the Best Pitcher Award voting and he led the league in BB/9 (1.57) and CG (28).


Alright….that’s finally the end of the inaugural season recap. I was involved in some other things that caused this to take so long, but I also need to shorten up the reports since it did take a long time…plus when more teams are added to the league, it will become impossible to go into so much detail. I’ll keep working on it…..next up will be a look at the new players joining the league in 1902 through the draft and any major trades that occur.