1905 RECAP
NCAA
After two seasons of finishing just behind Alabama, the Tennessee Volunteers finally won their first SEC title, going 82-44 to finish one game ahead of the Crimson Tide in what is quickly becoming the most competitive conference in college baseball. The Vols were led by a tremendous season from senior outfielder Bill Stigall (.320,50,121) and freshman righthander Tim Jones (23-3, 2.33).
Defending National Champion Nebraska-Omaha won it's third straight Big 8 title behind the right arm of junior Jason Garrison (26-10, 1.80, 374k's).
Jason Sawyer will definitely be drafted this year. The Arizona slugger, who was given a 5th year of college eligibility due to his birthdate, had a down year by his standards but still hit .308 with 34 homers and 89 rbis. It is very early obviously but I have doubts if his career homers and rbi totals will ever be surpassed. He graduates with 245 round-trippers. Tennessee's Bill Stigall is number two on that list with 173. Sawyer's 540 career rbi's are 62 more than Stanford's Pedro Perez accumulated.
THE TOURNAMENT
The brackets for the 1905 NCAA Tournament were as follows:
Code:
EAST REGION
ACC champ Virginia Cavaliers 77-49
IVY champ Yale Bulldogs 82-44
At Large 8 TCU Horned Frogs 72-55
At Large 1 Alabama Crimson Tide 81-45
SOUTH REGION
SEC champ Tennessee Volunteers 82-44
Big East champ Miami Hurricanes 82-44
At Large 4 Arizona State Sun Devils 72-54
At Large 5 Mississippi State Bulldogs 72-54
MIDWEST REGION
Big10 champ Purdue Boilermakers 74-52
Big 8 champ Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 78-48
At Large 2 Cornell University Big Red 77-49
At Large 7 Kansas Jayhawks 72-55
WEST REGION
PAC10 champ Stanford Indians 75-51
SWC champ SMU Mustangs 73-53
At Large 3 Dartmouth Indians 73-53
At Large 6 Ohio State Buckeyes 72-54
Alabama finished first in the East Region with a 5-1 mark while Tennessee finished second in the South behind Miami setting up another chapter in what is becoming an outstanding rivalry. The two schools met in the East Region last year with Alabama winning both contests and advancing while the Vols season came to end but it is in SEC play where the rivalry has really taken hold. In 1903 and 1904 Tennessee finished a game back of Alabama for the conference title while this season Tennessee won it by just one game over the second place Tide. Now they will meet in a best two-of-three series for the first time. The other three Elite Eight matchups have Miami facing Yale, Dartmouth playing Purdue and defending champion Nebraska-Omaha meeting SMU.
Game one saw Alabama win 4-3 thanks to a walk-off homerun by pinch-hitter Tyler Bennett (.158,1,3) with two out in the bottom of the ninth. It was just the second career homerun for the little-used sophomore. In Game Two, senior pitcher Justin Webster (15-6, 3.84) tossed a complete game allowing Tennessee to even the series with a 4-2 victory but Alabama won the deciding game in convincing fashion, 7-1 behind a Sean Frego (.246,21,74) grand slam. Alabama would play Yale in the semi-finals while Nebraska-Omaha continues it's title defense with a matchup against Dartmouth.
Yale continued it's improbable run with a series win over Alabama. The Bulldogs won the Ivy League with an 82-44 season after never finishing above .500 in school history prior to this season. Their opponent in the final will be Nebraska-Omaha, as the Mavericks bid to become the first repeat winner of the College World Series.
In the title series every thing went Yale's way as the Bulldogs won each game by a single run coming in their final at bat. In Game One sophomore outfielder Tim Stainiszewski (.295,32,87) hit a run scoring single with 1 out in the bottom of the ninth to give Yale a 6-5 victory. Game Two it was a solo homerun from freshman Sklyer Gearhart (.210,3,33) to lead off the 9th that proved the difference in a 4-3 victory and in the final game it was an rbi double from junior Justin Pruitt (.253,5,21) in the top of the 12th that broke the tie and gave Yale a 7-6 win. This happened after Nebraska-Omaha rallied with 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game and force extra innings.
THE DRAFT
The Big Ten conference dominated the first few picks as 3 players from the conference went in the top five including first overall Andy Green, a pitcher from Michigan. Green missed much of his senior season with an injury but finished his college career with a 77-29 record and a 1.58 era. He was a two-time All-America selection and helped the Wolverines to the 1903 College World Series title. He goes to the Pirates, who have been just awful and show little signs at this point of getting better.
I included an 11th player on the top ten list as the Braves selected Arizona slugger Jason Sawyer with the final pick of the first round (before supplemental picks are taken). The Braves are a good fit for Sawyer as, while they are loaded with young outfielders, they did lose homerun king Matthew Eiden to Detroit as a free agent over the winter. One of the Braves prospects is 23 year old Eddie Banuelos, who won an NCAA MVP award while at Syracuse and was Southern League MVP last year at Little Rock when he hit .367 with 37 homers and 130 rbi's. The #9 prospect in baseball is now hitting .318 with 13 homers in 65 games for AAA Milwaukee.
MAJOR LEAGUE SEASON
I am not sure if I discussed the league settings much before but I am playing with finances enabled and include free agency. Now that we are 5 years into the league we are starting to see some player movement and no team was hit anywhere near as hard as the two-time defending World Champion Boston Braves. The Braves had one of the higher payrolls in the league but had terrible fan support (even with the titles) and were dead last in attendance so you knew something had to give soon. This past off-season it gave....big time. Without signing a single free agent in return, the Braves lost their two best pitchers, 2 outfielders and their starting second baseman. Leftfielder Matthew Eiden averaged 46 homers and 145 rbi's over the past two seasons. He signed a 7 year deal with Detroit. Centerfielder John Macomber (41 HR, 128 rbi last season) and veteran starter Dale Coats (1903 Cy Young winner) both left for Washington while Ralph Mason (19-7 last season) went to the Yankees. Finally, 4 time all-star second baseman Josh Downing signed with Brooklyn. As a result the Braves payroll dropped to the second lowest in the league and they fell to fifth place in the National League.
With Boston's 4 year run atop the National League over, it opened the doors for other teams and it was the St Louis Cardinals that took full advantage. No one really stood out on the Cardinals but they did have a solid lineup from top to bottom. Their best player would likely be 37 year old third baseman Craig Croy (.275,29,93), especially considering star pitcher Jimmy Wallace (13-2, 3.02) missed the final couple months of the season when he blew his arm out.
The young and improving Cincinnati Reds finished second with their best win total since the pennant-winning 1901 campaign. This is a retooled team with many starters in their mid-twenties with the exception of veterans Dan Perkins (.312,29,95) and Chad Eggers (.296,21,94). Eggers is an original Red and was the 1901 NL MVP while Perkins spent 4 years with the Braves before signing with Pittsburgh this off-season and being dealt to the Reds at the deadline.
Brooklyn's Ray Abernathy won his first batting title while, with Eiden gone to Detroit, the homerun and rbi race were wide open. Dan Miller of the Dodgers led with 111 rbi's while 30 year old Cubs infielder Jeremy Meadows won the homerun race with 37.
Injuries destroyed the Boston Red Sox chances of repeating in the American League. Pitcher Chris Tidwell blew out his arm and at age 35 a return to form is in doubt. Outfielder Mike Price and shortstop Craig Hill, who combined for 70 homers and 193 rbi's a year ago, both missed much of the season with long-term injuries.
That allowed the Chicago White Sox to step up and win their first pennant and probably earn some much deserved credit for the best pitcher I have yet to mention in Ryan Joy. Joy, winner of the 1902 Cy Young Award, has led the AL in ERA each of the past four seasons including a 1.85 mark this season. He was also the league's only 20 game winner this year at 22-6 and led the AL in K's for the fourth time in his career with 259. The best young player in the majors is 22 year old centerfielder Jonathan Collazo (.347,31,107). The former Wisconsin star led the American League in batting, rbi's and stolen bases in his first full major league season. Only ex-Brave Matthew Eiden's 37 homers for Detroit denied the young White Sox outfielder a triple crown.
WORLD SERIES
The Chicago White Sox won the World Series in 5 games over the St Louis Cardinals. The Sox were led by former Penn star Shawn Reamer (.279,18,70), who went 8-for-15 with 6 walks in the series and scored 7 runs. Despite the quick ending it was a tight series as four of the games were decided by just one run.
OTHER NOTES
Another .400 season for Roland Point. The 25 year old infielder hit exactly .400 this season, his fifth with the West Texas-New Mexico League's Abilene Blue Sox. After batting .340 as a rookie pro in 1901, Point has hit .400 each of the past 4 seasons and has won 4 straight batting titles.
After losing in the championship series last season, the Tampico Alijadores claimed another Mexican League playoff title - their fourth - with a 7 game victory over the Mexico City Red Devils.
The Trois-Rivieres Phillies won the Canadian Series in 6 games over the Victoria Royals. It was the third time in 5 years the two clubs have met. Victoria won in 1901 while the Phillies prevailed in 1902.
Minor league champions were as follows:
Code:
LEAGUE CHAMPION PARENT CLUB
American Association Milwaukee Brewers Bos Braves
International League Montreal Royals Brooklyn
Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels Chi Cubs
Southern Association Chattanooga Lookouts Washington
Texas League Shreveport Sports Chi White Sox
Eastern League Hartford Chiefs Bos Braves
SALLY League Savannah Indians Phi Athletics
Three I League Davenport Cubs Chi Cubs
Interstate League Allentown Cardinals StL Cardinals
West Texas-New Mex L Lamesa Lobos Independent