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AMERICAN BASEBALL JULY RECAP

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (August 1, 1875) – The calendar has now turned over to August, which means that there are a scant few weeks left in the season and playoff places are soon to be decided. Here are how the three competitions stand.

APBL STANDINGS (75 of 90 games played)

COLONIAL – Alleghany increased their lead atop the standings from three games to seven during July, thanks to mostly excellent baseball. However, St. John’s has won nine of their last eleven games and thus have become a late-season threat once again. Shamrock, Massachusetts Bay, & Flour City played okay baseball in July, but by now it is highly unlikely that any of the three will make a miracle charge up the standings. Niagara fell from 3rd to last with a disastrous month.

METROPOLITAN – American is now alone in 1st by a handful of games thanks to a poor July by Excelsior in which they lost their last five games. Gotham also took advantage of Excelsior’s slide, using a 16-9 month to move into a tie for 2nd place and position themselves with a chance to catch American should the leaders falter. Orange is all but eliminated but can still play spoiler. Knickerbocker is playing for pride. Kings County is back to playing terrible baseball.

APBL MONTHLY AWARDS

BATSMAN OF THE MONTH
Konrad Jensen (LF, STJ) – .360, .987 OPS, 40 R, 41 H, 13 XBH, 2 HR, 29 RBI, 13 BB, 21 SB, 1.2 WPA, 1.8 WAR

PITCHER OF THE MONTH
Peadar Daly (GOT) – 7-3, 2.68 ERA, 100.2 IP, 9 CG, 0 SHO, 5 K, 0.6 K/BB, 1.22 WHIP, 1.3 WAR, 3.2 rWAR

GREENHORN OF THE MONTH
Daniel Gibson (P, FC) – 6-5, 2.70 ERA, 100.0 IP, 6 CG, 0 SHO, 5 K, 0.3 K/BB, 1.43 WHIP, 1.0 WAR, 0.8 rWAR

Nobody in the A.P.B.L. or N.B.B.O. has ever won B.o.t.M. with a monthly average as low as .360, but Jensen is exactly the kind of player to pull off such a feat with the ridiculous secondary numbers he put up. Still, Franklin Petty (.420, 42 R, 50 H, 16 SB, 1.5 WAR) will have felt robbed by Jensen having been awarded B.o.t.M. number fourteen.

Daly was one of four seven-game winners during July, and while he didn’t quite have the best ERA of the four (Elmer Seabold [ALL] w/ 2.61), Daly had the best W-L mark while pitching for an in-form Gotham team, and the Writers Pool felt that deserved P.o.t.M. honors over Seabold, teammate Albert Lively, & Orange’s George Sturgis.

Gibson pitched more innings and won more games than any other Greenhorn P in July, and for that he won G.o.t.M. It’s a much-deserved honor for Gibson, who was originally supposed to be a substitute for Flour City before the stunning retirement of 29-year-old James York over the winter left a big hole in the team’s pitching duo to fill, which Gibson has done admirably.

APBL STATISTICAL LEADERS

Average: .382 by James Burke (CF, American)
OPS: .902 by James Burke
Runs: 108 by Franklin Petty (RF, American)
Home Runs: 5 by Troy Oberst (LF, Excelsior)
Runs Batted In: 87 by Peter Boyce (2B, American)
Stolen Bases: 66 by Franklin Petty
Batsman WPA: 5.7 by Cormack Alexander (1B, Knick)
Batsman WAR: 4.6 by James Burke

ERA (150+ IP): 2.66 by Simeon DiStefano (American)
Wins: 23 by Jim Creighton (Excelsior)
Complete Games: 25 by Jim Creighton
Strikeouts: 99 by Jim Creighton
WHIP (150+ IP): 1.23 by Simeon DiStefano
Pitcher WAR: 7.5 by Jim Creighton
Pitcher rWAR: 5.0 by Elmer Seabold (Alleghany)

NBBO REGIONAL LEADERS (59 of 70 games played)

BROOKLYN: Eckford at 35-24 (Cont’l 1 GB, Atlantic 2 GB, Marathon 4 GB)
NEW YORK CITY: Metropolitan at 37-22 (Mutual 4 GB, Mercury & Union 5 GB)
UPSTATE N.Y.: Minuteman at 38-21 (Utica 2 GB, Frontier 5 GB, Victory 7 GB)
COASTAL: Port Jersey at 38-21 (Trenton Utd. 1 GB, Quaker St. 2 GB, Newark 4 GB)
INLAND: Merrimack & Susquehanna at 36-23 (Reading A.C. 5 GB, Pioneer 7 GB)
NEW ENGLAND: Cantabrigians at 36-23 (Portland 2 GB, Salem 5 GB, S.o.t.O. 6 GB)

BROOKLYN – Atlantic broke away from the pack during June, but they came right back to it with a 9-14 July. That left an opening for those masters of late-season surges, Eckford, who won their last ten games to take 1st place for themselves. Continental sits between the two of them, Marathon is lurking, and Bedford is six games behind.

NEW YORK CITY – Mutual played .500 baseball during July, meaning a 16-7 month by Metro vaulted them four games clear into top spot. Mutual still offers plenty of danger to Metro, as they play last-place Harlem to end the season. Mercury & Union are a handful of games back and are also good enough to make a move should Metro slip up.

UPSTATE N.Y. – A 16-7 month by Minuteman moved them ahead of Utica and alone into 1st place. The two teams play a series at Minuteman next week, so the five-game winner will almost certainly take the pennant. The only thing to give the previous statement pause is that Frontier is 8-2 over their last ten games and has won their last five.

COASTAL – For the second “1st of the Month” in a row the trio of Pt. Jersey, Trenton Utd., & Quaker St. find themselves two games apart, with Newark just a game or two behind. The last two weeks will be a bloodbath, as Pt. Jersey plays Newark & Quaker St., Quaker St. plays Maryland & P.J., and Newark plays P.J. & National. The team with a big advantage: Trenton Utd., who plays National (20-39) & Olympic (21-38).

INLAND – Merrimack ended the month on a 7-3 run but Susquehanna won their final fourteen games, leaving the two tied and setting up an epic pennant race. Merrimack ends the season vs Sportsman’s and then at Pioneer, while Susquehanna is at home against Pioneer and then at Reading A.C. In terms of strength of schedule, it’s a push.

NEW ENGLAND – Cantabrigians used an outstanding 15-8 July to keep the New England lead into August for the first time. They play at home against Portland next week, with the series winner the likely N.E. champion unless Salem sweeps Quinnipiac and does damage during their final series against Portland.

NBBO MONTHLY AWARDS

BATSMEN OF THE MONTH
NYL: Charles Fletcher (2B, NC) – .378, .926 OPS, 26 R, 37 H, 4 2B, 4 3B, 27 RBI, 9 BB, 8 SB, 2.5 WPA, 1.3 WAR
NEL: Ned Morganti (CF, QS) – .395, .978 OPS, 30 R, 45 H, 8 2B, 5 3B, 37 RBI, 5 BB, 5 SB, 1.5 WPA, 1.3 WAR

PITCHERS OF THE MONTH
NYL: William Tighe (P, MIN) – 11-4, 2.47 ERA, 113.0 IP, 7 CG, 11 K, 1.4 K/BB, 1.28 WHIP, 1.8 WAR, 2.7 rWAR
NEL: George Burroughs (PJ)* – 11-3, 2.30 ERA, 129.1 IP, 10 CG, 11 K, 1.4 K/BB, 1.21 WHIP, 2.9 WAR, 5.0 rWAR

GREENHORNS OF THE MONTH
NYL: William McMahon (BED) – 7-4, 2.60 ERA, 100.1 IP, 6 CG, 6 K, 1.5 K/BB, 1.25 WHIP, 2.2 WAR, 1.6 rWAR
NEL: Walt Harper (SPO) – 7-7, 1.72 ERA, 110.0 IP, 9 CG, 8 K, 0.9 K/BB, 1.25 WHIP, 2.2 WAR, 3.0 rWAR

*Burroughs also won N.E.L. Pitcher of the Month for June.

NBBO STATISTICAL LEADERS

Average: .411 by Gerhardt Berg (1B, Quaker St.)
OPS: .974 by Gerhardt Berg
Runs: 84 by Manuel Romeiras (CF, Trenton Utd.)
Home Runs: 5 by Henry Card (RF, Maryland) & Clarence Jones (CF, Mercury)
Runs Batted In: 79 by Ned Morganti (CF, Quaker St.)
Stolen Bases: 55 by Steffen Strandlund (CF, Sportman’s)
Batsman WPA: 4.8 by Jesse Craig (1B, S.o.t.O.)
Batsman WAR: 3.8 by Manuel Romeiras

ERA (150+ IP): 1.89 by George Burroughs (Pt. Jersey)
Wins: 26 by George Burroughs
Complete Games: 26 by Rudolph Fowler (Utica)
Strikeouts: 38 by Abraham Evans (Reading A.C.)
WHIP (150+ IP): 1.12 by William Hawk (Susquehanna)
Pitcher WAR: 6.5 by George Burroughs
Pitcher rWAR: 12.1 by George Burroughs

PCBL LEADERS (59 of 70 games played)

EAST: Frankford Arsenal at 37-22 (Minerva 4 GB, Keystone 5 GB, two teams 8 GB)
WEST: Philadelphia B.C.C. at 42-17 (Germantown 8 GB, no other teams within 10 GB)

EAST – Frankford played fine baseball during July, going 14-9, and as a result increased their lead over East Philadelphia from one game to four. They end the season playing at Spartan and vs Pt. Richmond, so it’s unlikely that Minerva or Keystone, both around .500 over their last ten games, will be able to catch up to 1st place.

WEST – P.B.C.C.’s 15-8 July actually brought their Winning Percentage down. They end the season playing at Merion & Penn but they have an unheard of 21-4 (.840) Away record this year, so going 8-2 or 9-1 over those games is entirely possible. Germantown will have to hope for the mother of all collapses by P.B.C.C. to have a chance at the pennant.

PCBL MONTHLY AWARDS

BATSMAN OF THE MONTH
Joseph Evans (LF, FRA)* – .381, .958 OPS, 37 R, 43 H, 12 XBH, 1 HR, 26 RBI, 8 BB, 3 SB, 2.5 WPA, 1.7 WAR

PITCHER OF THE MONTH
Harvey Bowman (SCH) – 8-2, 1.29 ERA, 77.0 IP, 8 CG, 4 K, INF K/BB, 1.01 WHIP, 1.1 WAR, 2.3 rWAR

GREENHORN OF THE MONTH
Ciaran Stewart (SoB)** – .493, 1.139 OPS, 20 R, 37 H, 6 2B, 2 3B, 19 RBI, 3 BB, 0 SB, 0.9 WPA, 1.1 WAR

*Evans also won P.C.B.L. Batsman of the Month for June.
**Stewart missed five games during July, and thus was passed over for B.o.t.M.

PCBL STATISTICAL LEADERS

Average: .396 by Joseph Evans (LF, Frankford)
OPS: 1.049 by Joseph Evans
Runs: 80 by Robert Chase (CF, P.B.C.C.)
Home Runs: 5 by Joseph Evans
Runs Batted In: 72 by Walter Kirby (LF, P.B.C.C.)
Stolen Bases: 34 by Harrison Comstock (LF, Germantown)
Batsman WPA: 6.4 by William Norman (1B, Merion)
Batsman WAR: 4.4 by Joseph Evans

ERA (150+ IP): 1.76 by Harvey Bowman (Schuylkill)
Wins: 23 by Arthur Lipscomb (P.B.C.C.)
Complete Games: 23 by Jackie Farmer (Germantown) & Arthur Lipscomb
Strikeouts: 36 by Oscar Downs (Queen Village)
WHIP (150+ IP): 1.10 by Harvey Bowman
Pitcher WAR: 5.9 by Timotheus Memminger (Schuylkill)
Pitcher rWAR: 7.3 by Arthur Lipscomb