The Factory Workers Baseball League

[Sven Draconian]

As Steven exited the stadium, he again left disappointed. It hadn't been a particularly close game and had taken entirely too long, do more to sloppy play rather than dramatic pauses. There was something missing from this version of baseball, which seemed only a distant cousin to what he had watched on film.


He sighed and spoke to his cousin,”Do you think we will ever have a professional league again?”


It had been 20 years since the last pro sport, The National Football League, had died, and as a man of only 18, he had never had the pleasure of watching one. Major League Baseball had ended nearly 30 years before, and seemed a distant memory to even his parents.


The sporting world had been reduced to amateur tournaments, Olympic style and otherwise. The brain-child of a congressional hearing. Nearly every country fielded teams for year long tournaments, seasons, cups and challenges in a nonsensical ordering which made following anything impossible, as nothing ever ended.


Players, who were only provided room, board and “allowance” played for several different teams, in several leagues and several countries. Teams could play 10 months, fold and come back two years later. There were cups and tournaments in all major cities, seemingly continuous but winning some corporate sponsored cup didn't provide a whole lot of glory.


“Why did they have to follow the Soccer model anyway. Doesn't matter, I'll go reread about the 1907 pennant, though, it is beginning to get repetitive”


An old-man overheard, and approached the youths.


“''scuse me son, but did I hear you correctly, your going to read about the 1907 Pennant?”


A bit startled, Steve responded, “Well yea, I've read as many books about as many seasons as I can about the old MLB, real baseball the way I see it.”


The old man let a long, slow grin spread across his face. “Have you read about the Factory Workers Baseball league any?”


A bit confused, Steve shook his head slowly. “No, is that some minor league or something?”


“Ha, no son, THAT was real baseball. That was the league everyone watched, and he league MLB stole everything from. Free Agency, playoffs, divisions, everything.”


“Then why have I never heard of it?”


“It folded nearly 50 years before MLB, I was two when it happened. It had slowed considerably before it died, its been many many years sense its hey-day. When the popularity slowed, the writing stopped, it was taken off TV, and nobody payed attention”


He smiled again and produced a small magazine from his pocket, dated 1980. “Here is a world series program, if you follow me home I can give you an entire library of the league, a complete history. I have it memorized, and it isn't going to serve me good much longer anyhow”

[Sven Draconian]

As the men approached the old man modest house, the man began to describe more about the league....

"The Factory Workers Baseball League began just as it sounds. Around 1880 or so factory workers began to play quick games of pepper or just 3 inning sprint games on lunch or break.

As happens with men, gambling started to strive with the spectators. workers, supervisors and foreman all took interest in the games, and when money is won, men are revered

After a few years the owners began a bright factory owners by the name of Jon Hobbin had the bright idea to start scheduling these games on weekends and charging for the spectators to watch. This spread like wildfire between factories, and it didn't take too long before the schedules of the better playing employees started to change and shifts were being arranged to accommodate day games.”


The man guided them into his office which was more of a library than work area and began to pull books from a shelf.


“It was 1888 when we saw the first game between factories, just a match up of steel factories around Pittsburgh. Later that year some plants around Chicago arranged for a tournament to be played between any teams that wished to attend. The next year saw a lot of travel, and a lot of players jumping around, between the areas.


In 1891 a “league” finally emerged, not much of a league, just a loose collection of teams that played regular games They scheduled 162 games for the spring and summer of 1891. 10 teams joined, and with each team having to pay in 1,000, a 10,000 prize was the reward for the team with the best record, and naturally, gate revenue”


The man handed Steven a small blue and red book entitled The Loose Federation: The First 10 Years of the FWL, and continued.


“10,000 may not have been much, but publicity and pride also played a role. Factories began to merge their teams in the more populated areas, some factories leased out others teams to supply them with emergency players and the owners were quick to formulate a deal with he newsman about rights to report”


...To Be Continued...

[Sven Draconian]

Steve was a bit puzzled when he first had opened the book. The picture looked authentic, the records were neatly kept and looked authentic, yet these did not look like turn of the 20^th century stats They looked closer to the 70s than the era of Cobb, Young and Nap Lajoie. And the players were on a lot of different teams, he had counted one player as on 8 teams in 4 years, even with trades that was hardly possible. As he approached the old mans home he had a mind full of questions


He explained his confusion, which the man found amusing.


“Try not to pay too much attention to those early years. Look at the stars and how the game was played, but the players were free to jump around as much as they wanted. Contracts were binding and things changed considerably in 1901. I was just wondering if you would actually bother to read it”


Steve still had one question, “But the stats, nobody was hitting even 15 home runs consistently in that era, these numbers are more than double that. Why so different”


This answer, was simple “Several reasons, one was a higher player quality the other was smaller parks. They had fences from the get-go, for crowd control and there was nothing like the Polo Grounds or Forbes field where you had just massive outfields”


The man pulled a few more books from his shelfs,


“The other is, well they were smarter. The FWL never developed a bias against walks and taking pitches. They wanted to win first, and the figured out quick that getting on base was a bit part of winning. Major League Baseball had a whole bunch of bush league slap ballers that would rip your head off for making the game go long by waiting for pitches,. FWL players figured you were keeping them off the line longer if the game went on longer”


Steve looked at the massive volume of books he had just been handed and skimmed through the titles, including many thin volumes labeled “Players of the Decade” with sequential numbers, A pair of similar books by the same author, “Greats of the Factory League” and “Goats of the Factory League”, a trio of very large volumes, one entitled “The Complete Yearly History of the Factory Workers League,” “Newspaper Man: The FWL as told in the News” and “The Factory Workers Baseball League Hall of Fame Index”. He kept looking and saw various player biographies, various “Team History” books and s spiffy illustrated “A Ballpark Factory”.


“These should keep you busy for quite a while. Id start with the Complete History myself, but try not to pay too much attention to the first 10 years or so, the “league” didn't gain its true form until 1901. Id suggest keeping a pace, read 10 years, look at the greats of the decade and then read their biographies and look up various entries about them It'll let you relive the league”


He tossed one last small book to him, “How the Factory League Started”


The man grinned at the last one “I've already told you most of that one, but old man tend to leave things out. I'd give it a brief going over eventually”.


When Steven arrived back at his place, he wasted no time before starting to study.

[Sven Draconian]

Now don to the details.

What Im doing is setting up a 12 team league, split into 2 sub-leagues with 2 three team divisions apeice. Im using Skydogs settings, and my own financial setup (I'll explain below).

The first 10 years (1891-1901) are just 10 teams to get history with 1 league and no divisions or playoffs, winner take all. Then Im using the expansion wizard and adding the 2 missing teams and moving them into divisions. At this point I'll be taking over an expansion team (since I've always wanted to do that), and I'll document my play in a different thread

For financials I made a lengthy thread in the general discussion abotu how to work with a 250,000 cap. Essentially, media revenue is 40,000. Tickets are going to be .08 to start with 20,000 avg attendance, which should generate revenues varying between 200,000 and 280,000 a team, most teams get stuck around 215/220K.

Every year the cap goes up 5%, I raise attendance by 10 fans, avg media contract goes up 5% and the Ticket Prices raise on a sliding scale. (Every year is 2x the decade number after the first two decades. IE, 1900-1910 it goes up 1cent a year, 1910-1920 it goes up 3cents, 1920-1930 it goes up 4cents, 1930-1940 it goes up 6cents, 1950-1960 it goes up 10 cents ect ec).

These financials should get me a gradually rising scale up unto 85million cap with a 75-90 variation in revenue by the year 2007. I may need to adjust a few rates at some point, but this is a good baes

The postings of the league reports are going to be various book extracts. I'll have entries fo great players, each season, teams and players of the decade, goats, hall of famers ect. It will make more sense when the league has a bit of history behind it so you can see it unfold, bu it will make more sense I promise .


Any more questions just feel free to ask. Im going to begin posting the 10 "history" years later today. The first 10 are going to be fairly breif posts, since the main purpose of those 10 years are to establish a brief league history.

[Sven Draconian]

1891

Standings
Kankakee King 100-62
Dayton Storm 99-63
Sandusky Maurauders 93-69
South Bend Bandits 89-73
Green Bay Huskies 84-78
Joliet Thunder
Youngstown Warriors 77-88
Flint Gladiators 67-95
Harrisburg Patriots 65-47
Erie Knights 56-06


The inaugural season of the Factory Workers Baseball League came right down to the final day. The Kankakee Kings brought a 5 game lead into September, but the Dayton Storm slowly eroded it away, before cutting it down to just one game after sweeping the Kings September 19-21. Dayton tied it up heading into the final game of the season, but Kankakee ace Manolo “Brick” Cruz pitched an 8 inning, no run, 9 K gem to lead the Kings to a win, while Dale Nicholson, the #1 starter for the Storm, gave up 5 runs in 4 innings for the loss.


The writers voted Manolo Cruz “Outstanding Pitcher” unanimously. The Kings ace lead the league in ERA (2.04),, Wins (25), Innings Pitched (251.2), strikeouts (263), WHIP (0.96), HR/9, K/9, K/BB and pitcher VORP.


He wasn't the Kings backed him up with three other starters who won 15 games, and lead the league in ERA and Runs Allowed. The dominance in pitching was complimented by the leagues 4^th best offense, lead by 26 year old RF Julio Guerrero who had 31 Hrs and 105 RBIs.


The MVP race was much closer, with Joliet slugger Felipe Limon taking the award with a .331/.413/.38 line along with 45HR and 130 RBI. Nipping at his heels for the award was 26 year old Andy Adams of the Green Bay Huskies. Adams led the league in AVG, RBI and was 2^nd in Hrs (with Limon). His line was .345/.402/.670 with 45HR and 130RBI.


Another Joliet Thunder player took home the Rookie of the Year award Thom Bell, a 23 year old center fielder, played in 123 games and put up a 326/407/483 line with 14 Hrs, 97runs and 71 RBI.

[Sven Draconian]

1892

Standings
Dayton Storm 89-73
Jolit Thunder 88-75
Kankakee Kings 87-76
South bend Bandits 85-77
Flint Gladiators 84-78
Sandusky Mauauders 82-80
Youngstown Warriors 81-81
Erie Knights 74-88
Harrisburg Patriots 57-105

Year two came down to the final days again, with 4 teams within one game with just 10 game left on the schedule. Kankakee Kings ace Manolo Cruz continued with his late season herroics, throwing a no-hitter on the second to last day of the season, but it wasn't enough as his team dropped 6 of their last 10.

Dayton vindicated last season with the championship this year. Dayton lead the league in Runs, OBP, SLG, HR and OPS. They featured 3 hitters who jacked over 30, Alfredo Martinez who led the league wtih 48 homers and a record 158 RBI. Dennis Wood who had a .339/.371/.614 line to compliment his 34 HR and 126 RBI. George O'Farrell contibuted an aditional 34 HR and 103 RBI.

Pitching wise the Storm featured last years goat, Dale Nicholson, who went 17-7 with a 3.57ERA and Salvador Mendozza who went 15-11 3.68 ERA.

League wise, Erie Knights pitcher Justin NIcholas edged Manolo Cruz (2.19ERA), who missed 6 weeks due to injury, for the Outstanding PItcher award going 19-10 with a 2.98 in 251.1IP, he also picked up 185 strikeouts.

Last years Rookie of the Year, Joliet Thunder CF Thom Bell took home the MPV, posting a .382/.438/.653 line, winning the batting title and postig 36 HRs, 127RBI and 53 doubles, with 133R and a 104.7 VORP Bell beat out Strom slugger ALfredo Martinez and his 48 HRs and 158 RBI and Green Bay Husky Andy Adams who knocked 46 HRs and had 141 RBI.

The Rookie of the Year was Green Bay Husky Fernando Travino. Travino posted a .303/.373/.502 line with 26 HR and 90RBI.

[Sven Draconian]

1893

Standings
South Bend Bandits 98-64
Youngstown Warriors 95-67
Flint Gladiators 88-74
Joliet Thunder 88-74
Erie Knights 86-76
Dayton Storm 83-79
Green Bay Huskies 82-80
Sandusky Maurauders 76-86
Kankakee Kings 75-87
Harrisburg Patriots 39-123

Despite what was thought to be a very nice off-season trade by Dayton for perenial MVP Andy Adams, the Storm had a disapointing year and the South Bend Bandits finally stayed in stride an entire season.

The Bandits had an interesting team, they lead the league on OBP and Stolen Bases and were third in runs. The Bandits were first in runs against, but not because of starting pitching. Angel Garcia (15-9, 3.67) and Leon Cannon (11-9, 3.31) anchored the rotation in a sense, but the staff was really anchored by the bullpen. Relievers Richie Hedges, Arnold Connor and Fernando Hernandez combined for 23 wins and a sub 3 ERA over the course of 214 IP. Closer John Brooks added a 1.29 ERA and a 38 saves (vs only 2 blown) over 56 more innings.

The offense was led by OBP monsters Bill Clark (.409), Pedro Gonzalez (.450), and Ambrosio Soto (.379). Soto led the league in steals with 65, giving him a FWL high of 188 over his career, while Bill Clark provided both steals (45) and power (25 HR, 108RBI). Richard Garcia also came in handy with a .368 OBP, 38HR, 25HR and 119RBI.

Erie Knight Larry Cook was voted Rookie of the Year, posting a .272/.347/.407 line with 9HR and 73RBI. Fellow Knight Eric Roberts went 20-8 with a 2.78 ERA over 223 innings with 186K to win "Outstanding Pitcher".

It was Green Bay Huskies Slugger Will Turner who won "Outstanding Batter" with a .347/.483/.671 with 37HR and 93RBI and an outstanding 85.1VORP.

Also of note was Joliet Thunder centerfielder Thom Bell, who won his second consecutive batting title with a .358 BA ove the course of the season. His .434 OBP and .572 slg also kept him in contention for "Outstanding Batter".

[Sven Draconian]

1894

Standings

South Bend Bandits 105-57
Kankakee Kings 100-62
Green Bay Huskies 89-73
Dayton Storm 87-75
Flint Gladiators 86-76
Youngstown Warriors 86-76
Joliet Thunder 79-83
Erie Knights 76-86
Sandusky Maurauders 71-91
Harrisburg Patriots 31-131

The South Bend Bandits repeated as champs with a FWL high 105 wins this season. The Bandits led the league in Runs and Runs allowed again. Bill Clark led the offense again, winning the team triple crown at just 25 years of age and posting a .316/.427/.544 line along with 29HR, 125RBI and 39 steals. As the Bandits again lead the league in OBP and steals, Ambrosio Soto and his .366 OBP and 79steals, Pedro Gonzalez and his .422OBP and FA signe Bill Jacobsen and his .398 OBP all were big contributors.

It was a pair of FA pitchers who lead the Bandits this season, as Carlos Cruz (19-5, 3.89) and Jeff Combs (17-12, 3.40) anchored the staff. Also contributing was Dirk Johnson, who despite being injured nearly all of last season, posted an 18-2 record wit a 3.44 ERA. Roundng out the rotation was Angel Garcia (15-7, 3.87 ERA).

Not to be forgotten are Arnold Conner (3-1, 5sv, 2.15 ERA) and John Brooks (36sv, 2.37ERA) who led the leagues best bullpen.

The Bandits also won another honor, as Carlos Cruz took home the Outstanding Pitcher award desite just 96K in 218 innings.

Kankakee King Gerald Webber (337/459/642, 37HR and 118RBI) won a very close Outstanding Batter race, despite Will Turner putting in a valinet bid for his 2nd straight award, posting a 1.119 OPS, .467OBP and 49HRs, a FWL record.

Erie Knight Brian Thomas took home the teams 2nd straight Rookie of the Year award by putting up a .297/.355/.465 line with 20 HR and 74 RBI.

[Sven Draconian]

1895

Standings

South Bend Bandits 95-67
Erie Knights 91-71
Flint Gladiators 90-77
Kankakee Kings 90-72
Sandusky Maurauders 89-73
Youngstown Warriors 81-81
Dayton Storm 77-85
Green Bay Huskies 77-85
Joliet Thunder 7290
Harrisburg Patriots 52-110

South Bend three-peat as champions on the strength of 1B/SS Bill Clark, who took home the "Outstanding Batter" award by hiting .317/.434/.558 with 37HR, 96RBI and 47 steals. The Bandits won purely on offensive, scoring a league record 869 runs. Bill Jackobsen (.424) and Pedro Gonzalez (.438) continued the Bandits streak ofleading the league in OBP with Ricardo Garcia hitting .274/.370/.470 with 19 HR, 137 RBI and 44 steals.

The Bandits did lack in pitching. No starter had an ERA under 4.00 this season, though Antonio Tamayo did win the Rookie of the Year award going 17-7 in 201 IP with a team leading 4.06 ERA. The bullpen was solid as always, with John Brooks going 9-3 with 27 saves and a 1.86ERA and Arnold Connor posting 6 wins and a 3.12 ERA.

Erie Knight ace Arturo Ortega posted an amazing season to win the "Outstandings Pitcher" award. "Worm" Ortega went 20-8 with a 2.07 ERA over 270 IP. He only walked 40 batters and struck out 266 in those innings.

Dayton Storm slugger Alfrdo Martinez continued to cream opposing pitchers, hitting 46 HRs, batting .322 with a .367 OBP and .604 slg. He now has 225 career HRs, and is the FWL all-time leader in HR, Hits, ABs, RBI and doubles.

[Sven Draconian]

1896

Standings

Youngstown Warriors 93-69
Joliet Thunder 89-74
Kankakee Kings 85-77
Dayton Storm 84-78
Erie Knights 84-78
Flint Gladiators 82-80
Sandusky Mauauders 77-85
Green Bay Huskies 75-87
Harrisburg Patriots 54-108

A very competitive stretch run culminated in South Bend reaching full-fledged dynasty status with their 4^th consecutive title. Youngstown and Joliet were both 2 games back on September 16th, but during the final 9 games South Bend goes 7-2 while Youngstown was swept by Harrisburg and Joliet sludged to just 5-4.


Bill Clark again lead the way for the leagues #1 offense. Clark put up a .285/.385/.463 line with 22 Hrs, 112 RBI and 39 steals. Clark had his 6^th consecutive season as a 20-20 player, and has stolen over 30 bases every season. Ricardo Garcia .316/.429/.492 with 16 HR, 102RBI and 43 steals, Bill Jacobsen .291/.398/.434, 15 HR, 88RBI 26 steals, Pedro Gonzalez posted a .461OBP and catcher Zander Shorts had his third season over .370 OBP in 4.


Former Dayton storm ace has resurrected his career in South Bend, and went 15-6 with a 3.31 ERA to lead the staff. John Brooks had 31 saves while Arnold Connor picked up 6 wins in relief along with 5 saves and a 2.45 ERA. Last years Rookie of the Year, Antonio Tomayo, was hurt for 13 months in his second start.


For the awards we had a pair of 2^nd time winners. Erie Knight ace Justin Nicholas was voted “Outstanding Pitcher” going 20-8 with a 3.33 ERA in 240IP, walking just 41 while striking out 157. The “Outstanding Batter” award went to Huskies slugger Will Turner, who again posted a monster line going .33/.475/.721 with 38HR and 105 RBI.


The Rookie of the Year award went to Doug Jenkins who had a .270/.328/.428 line with 21 steals and 15 HR.

[Sven Draconian]

1897

Standings

South Bend Bandits 95-67
Erie Knights 88-74
Kankakee Kings 88-74
Youngstown Warriors 87-75
Joliet Thunder 85-77
Sandusky Maurauders 82-80
Green Bay Huskies 81-81
Flint Gladiators 73-89
Dayton Storm 70-92
Harrisburg Patriots 56-106

South Bend completed their now familiar pattern, finishing 1^st in runs, middle of the pack in runs allowed, and winning their 5^th consecutive title. In the off-season the Bandits traded Ricardo Garcia for the leagues #2 in VORP all-time, 2B Dennis Wood who contributed a .275/.433/.466 line with 20HR and 104RBI. Bill Clark played half the season as a SS but still put up .288/.398/.468 stats with 22HR (lead the team) 98RBI and 35 steals to again go 20-20. This time he was rewarded with a 7 year 395,150 contract to become the leagues highest paid player. Bill Jacobsen had a .429OBP, 21 steals and 114 RBI and Pedro Gonzalez again posted an outstanding OBP, .435.


A pair of unknowns lead the staff, with Rookie Jesus Mendoza going 14-11, 3.88 in 199IP and struck out 222. Ray Morris, he of 65 career IP coming into the year, went 15-5 with a 3.98. John Brooks had 36 saves and a 2.68ERA, despite his setup man, Arnold Connor, collapsing.


Jose Lopez of the Youngstown Warriors was voted Rookie of the Year by posting a .341/.368/.611 line with 14HR and 49RBI. Kankakee King Victor Joseph won the “Outstanding Batter” award with a .297/.423/.586 line with 32HR and 97RBI. Erie Knight ace Arturo “Worm” Ortega went 19-10 with a 2.60 ERA and 237K in 262.2 IP with just 44 walks to win the “Outstanding Pitcher” award for the 2^nd time.

[Sven Draconian]

1898

Standings

Erie Knights 101-61
Kankakee Kings 94-68
South Bend Bandits 93-69
Youngstown Warriors 88-74
Joliet Thunder 84-78
Dayton Storm 82-80
Green Bay Huskies 78-84
Sandusky Maurauders 68-94
Flint Gladiators 62-100
Harrisburg Patriots 60-102

The Erie Knights finally de-throne the Bandits, who fall all the way too third place this season. Not an overly exciting season, as the Knights and the leagues best pitching staff controlled it from the midway point on.

The Knights had a simply amazing pitching staff, two time "Outstanding Pitcher" Arturo "Worm" Ortega went 16-11 with a 3.26 over 253 innings with 235K and just 31 walks. He was complimented by this years "Outstanding Pitcher" Erasmo Venegos who went 16-5 with a 2.09 in 211 innings and this years Rookie of the Year Fred Richardson who posted a 15-8 3.50 line over 210 innings. Jose Gonzalez filled out the rotation going 109 with a 3.45 and 200K in 195 innings.

The Knights also had a bullpen, led by FWL All-Time saves leader Anthony McClain who had 43 saves and a 1.95 ERA and Greg Walker who went 5-3 with a 2.45 in 99 innings in a setup role.

Offensively the Knights featured Mike Ferrell who posted a .322/.407/.484 line with 18HR and 99 driven in. Joe Bullard (.97/.395/.416, 43 steals) set the table and Jon James (.294/.339/.471) lead the team in both HRs (21) and RBI (107).

Kankakee King Antonio Bautista was voted "Outstanding Batter" hitting .295/.372/.571 with 39 dongs and 109RBI.

[Sven Draconian]

1899

Standings
Erie Knights 109-53
Kankakee Kings 95-67
South Bend Bandits 92-70
Joliet Thunder 84-78
Youngstown Warriors 82-80
Dayton Storm 80-82
Green Bay Huskies 72-90
Sandusky maurauders 72-90
Harrisburg Patriots 63-99
Flint Gladiators 61-101

As the 19th Century ended, we may be ushering in a new Dynasty. The Erie Knights finished first in runs and runs allowed, despite South Bend signing Alfredo Martinez, who hit his 400th career HR this season.

The Knights posted the best single-season in FWL history to date by winning 109 and blowing out the field. A somewhat competitive race was ended when the Knights won 9 of their final 10 games on the season

Mike Ferrell drove the Knights offense and won the "Outstanding Batter" award. Ferrell hit .339/.435/.550 with 28HR and 112RBI. Jon James helped out with3 a .286/.355/.509 line with 30HR and 103RBI. Joe Bullard set the table once again with a .390OBP, 60 steals and scored 129 times.

The big boost came from Jim Hanson. The 25 year old had 163 career ABs coming into the seasons, but socked 43 HRs and drove in 134 runs in the middle of the Knights lineup, almost single handedly moving them from 4th in runs last season to first this year.

Arturo "Worm" Ortega pitched fantasic, going 18-6 with a 2.98ERA in 262IP and picking up 233K to just 30 walks. Erasmus Venegas had a bit of a fall from his "Outstanding Pitcher" season last year posting just a 3.78 ERA, but picking up 17 wins. Fred Richadson went 12-6 with a 3.70 and Jose Gonzalez picked up 13 more wins and 207 strikeouts.

Also in support was former South Bend Bandit Arnold Connor. The setup man resurrected his career in Erie and had 13 wins and a 2.51 IP in his familiar setup role, pitching 79 innings. Anthony McClain had 46 saves and a 2.43 ERA as well.

Kankakee closer Emillo Rodriguez was voted "Outstanding Picher" by going 8-0, picking up 47 saves and posting a 1.38 ERA over the coruse of 72 innings.

Sandusky Maurauder Ken Wagner won the Rookie of the Year award by sealing 62 bases to go with his .307/.344/.436 line.

[Sven Draconian]

1900

Standings
Erie Knighs 97-65
South Bend Bandits 96-66
Dayton Storm 88-74
Youngstown Warriors 83-79
Kankakee Kings 80-82
Harrisburg Patriots 79-83
Green Bay Huskies 76-86
Flint Gladiators 73-89
Sandusky Maurauders 70-92
Joliet Thunder 68-94

The 20th century started with a bang in the baseball world. In what was maybe the most exciting race in the FWL to date, the Erie Knights edged out the South Bend Bandits to take home their third straight crown.

On September 15th the Knights dealt pitcher Fred Richardson to South Bend for prospects. On September 18th Richardson took the hill against his former club in the deciding game of a three game series. The teams were dead-locked in the standings with just 6 games to go.

Richardson piched a solid 7 innings, giving up just 3 runs, but Arturo "Worm" Ortega pitched 8 scoreless, striking out 9 and Anthony McClain came in for the save.

Arturo "Worm" Ortega was 19-6 on the year with a 2.87ERA over 260 innings, fanning 224 and walking just 42. Erasmo Venegas went 15-10 with a 3.72 while Jose Gonzalez slipped a bit to 4.17 in ERA but managed 14 wins as the Knights aain lead the league in runs allowed.

Mike Ferrell drove the leagues 2nd best offense, posting a .340/.457/.541 line with 22HRs and 98RBI, while Jon James socked 33 RHs and drove in 119. Gerald Webber was the key cog at the top this year with a .448OBP, 19 HR, 90RBI and 30 steals.

Maybe more important around the league, Harrisburg didn't suck!. They approached .500, not 100 loss's on the strength of 24 year old pitching phenom Roger Cox, who won the "Outstanding Pitcher" award goign 20-10 with a 2.23 ERA over 241 innings on a 79 win team. Harrisburg also boasted the Rookie of the Year in Alfonso Galindo, who went .319/.343/.520 with 34 bombs and 115RBI.

Dayton Storm slugger Scott Gilbert posted an awesome .482 line to ompliment his .337batting average and .584 slugging percentage along with 33HR and 115 RBI to take home the "Outstanding Batter Award".

[Sven Draconian]

Just a few notes. I had a bug of some sort so the expansion draft was just auto-completed instead of me making my teams selection, no big deal.

I was having some major financial problems, so I tweaked my numbers and set hte salary cap up to 400,000, and things are working like a charm. The cap wont be going up for a while, but Im going to begin leveling the revenue (right now Im some teams spending 200,000, others spending 380, I want it had 300,000-380 before I shift the cap).

Otherwise, any comment on my format or things you would like to see are appreciated. The season reports are going to become more detailed now that the league has a base of sorts. News during the season, news on teams other than the champ, big transactiosn and such.

Any other quetsions about players, records or anything I'll be happy to answer.

[Sven Draconian]

Expansion and Re-Alignment


The League announced the completion of the expansion draft and the finalization of the leagues re-alignment proposal.


The Monroe (MI) Spartans and Gary (IN) Iron Men were officially accepted into the league following the 35 round expansion draft. Each existing FWL was permitted to protect 17 players in their organization. The Spartans and Iron men selected from an array of under-developed prospects and platoon players, but some big names were taken such as former South Bend Bandit star Bill Jacobsen (Gary), South Bend Bandit pitcher Hisashi Yokoyama, who finished 2^nd in ERA and won 16 games last season to Monroe,


The League also announced the re-alignment. The now 12 team league will be split into two separate league, one named after FWL John Hobbin, the other after Owner Committee President and brain-child of the expansion and realignment, Robert Coover.


The new setup is:
Hobbin League (HL)


East:
Harrisburg Patriots
Dayton Storm
Sandusky Marauders


West:
South Bend Bandits
Kankakee Kings
Monroe Spartans


Coover League (CL)

East:
Flint Gladiators
Youngstown Warriors
Erie Knights


West:
Joliet Thunder
Green Bay Huskies
Gary Iron men


The two leagues will not play during the season. A Post-Season has also been announced. This “Play-Off” will the division winners from the East and West of each league against one another in a best of 9 series. Each leagues winner will then face the winner from the other league with the winner receiving “HC” Trophy and title of FWL Champions.

[Sven Draconian]

Will Turner to be Honored with Award

The FWL announced this week they will honor Will Turner by re-naming the "Outstanding Batter" award, which he one twice, to the "William Turner Award".

Turner, if you recall, was struck with a fastball between the eyes in a game last August, rendering him 70% blind and ending his career.

The Green Bay Huskies star had amassed 300 career HRs, and is the leagues All-Time leader in VORP with 536 for his career. He also carried a career .441 OBP.

[Sven Draconian]

The Off-Season

It was a relatively slow off-season transaction wise. Without any marquee players available, most team deferred away from the free agent market, allowing the new franchises in Gary and Monroe to gobble up the mid-tier talent.

Gary stole the show, giving a 5 year 170,000 contract to SP Chris Miller. Miller is 72-65 for his career with a 4.42 ERA and a 871/603 K/BB rate in 1119.2career IP. Monroe handed out 52,000 for a pair of relief pitchers in Ivan Garcia and Anthony Smith.


However, the Dayton Storm are the off-seasons winner. They made a key re-signing, keeping closer Jorge Baez who has 140 career saves and had 36 last season and trading for Pedro Gonzalez of South Bend. To acquire the OBP machine, they gave up Riley Andrews, who had just 15 Hrs and a .351career OBP. South Bend also threw in prospects. Dayton also signed Gold Glove CF Angel Reyes to a 3 year 60,000 and has a .342career OBP, 276 steals and 126HRs. Reyes does carry the label of “injury prone”.


The Kankakee Kings also took advantage of South Bend, getting 29 year old former “Outstanding Batter” and last season RBI leader Victor Joseph. Joseph has a .400 career OB, 229career HR, and Kankakee only had to give up prospects.

[Sven Draconian]

Season Preview


With Spring Training now complete its time to handicap the upcoming season in our exclusive Division by Division breakdown.

Hobbin League
The league's Eastern Division is definitely the Harrisburg Patriots for the taking. The Patriots have easily the best rotation in the division, feature Roger Cox, "Bucky" Novak, Salvador Mendoza and FA acquisition Diego Vigil. The Patriots are weak offensively, but with John Moran leading the charge and Alfonso Galindo & Manuel Sanchez the Patriots have power, if not speed or On-Base percentage.

The Sandusky Marauders have star power, featuring Jim Hanson who had 43 HRs and OBP machine Bob Moore (.413), as well as star closer Mike Jensen, but the lack of any semblance of a rotation behind Floyd Walker, who lost 19 games last season. The Dayton Storm aren't much better. The Storm are led by Scott Gilbert (.433/33HR) but he is the only every-day player returning to the team. They made some big acquisitions in the off-season, including run-scoring force Pedro Gonzalez but he is aging and Angel Reyes is a great defensive player, but light on offense. The rotation is fronted by washed up SP Justin Nicholas, who gave up 39HR last season, and the only other starter worth noting is Mike Roy who bolstered a pathetic 4.79ERA.

The Western Division is similarly top-heavy. The South Bend Bandits have Pedro Gonzalez clone Jason Martin at the top of the lineup with All-Time HR champ Alfredo Martinez and Steady Bill Clark driving him home. They feature a solid top of the rotation with Jesus Mendoza, Fred Richardson and David Peterson all proven and capable of winning 20. Pete Peterson wins both the alliterated name award and locks down games with a 1.40ERA and 71 saves the past two seasons.

A scare could be provided by the Kankakee Kings, which bolster one of the best 3-4-5's in baseball with new acquisition Victor Joseph capable of taking home the "Will Turner" award any season and Hagenam and Ezzell who jacked 48HRs combined and each have OBP over .350. They also have maybe the best closer in the game, with Emilio Rodriguez who is the only reliever to ever take home the "Outstanding Pitcher[/b] award, but they don't have anybody in the rotation who has had a full season wtih an ERA under 4.80. The Monroe Spartans have a decent staff of used parts, but will struggle to score ones and avoid the 100 loss threshold.

Coover League

The leagues Western Division is the best in all of baseball, featuring the three-time running champion Erie Knights, who boast the amazing Arturo Ortega who hass taken home 2 "Outstanding Pitcher" awards and Erasmus Venegas who's also won the award. Jose Gonzalez rounds out the leagues best 1-2-3 rotation and Anthony McClain is one of the tops in the game out of the bullpen. However, Erie also has offense with 7 Time World Champion Zander Shorts behind the plate with a .383OBP, [b]Mike Ferrell (.457/22), Gerald Webber (.448/19) and Jon James (33HR) providing pop in the middle while Joe Bullard (.386) and Dave Williams (.369) help Shorts set the table.

Erie does have some tough compeition if they slip, including the leagues best 5-deep rotation in Flint. The Flint Gladiators have Claudio Flores, Leonard Murray, Jason Shermitt, Randy Nash and Jimmy Taylor who all went over 175 innings and all but Murray (4.40) had ERAs under 4.00 last year. The team has bullpen issues, but feature a lineup with a knack for getting on base with Kelley Boyd (.383/17), Mike tate (.363), Alden Bryan (.361) and Arenas (.386/14) even if they lack power.

Not to be left behind, Youngstown has a very potent lineup featuring some serious OBP at the top of the lineup provided by Larry Wheeler (.396), Doug Barr (.377) and Fernando Travino (.448) being followed up with big power by McFadden (25), Bautistio (19) and Erickson (20), who can get on base as well as smack the long-ball. The rotation is young, but Hells Adams (15-10, 3.16) makes for a fine front-man.

The Eastern Division isn't quite as loaded, but the Green Bay Huskies will make noise this season. The Huskies lost William Turner, but still have Brit Owens (.466), Felipe D La Garza (.397), Freddy Mendez (.370) who all can get on and have Justin Welch (33) and Antonio Ramirez (24)
providing pop in the middle. The Huskies have some bullpen issues, but [b]Luis Gomez (16-5 2.36) and Jams Davis (12-12, 3.95) front a solid rotation.

The Joliet Thunder are a solid club. With long-time Bandit Bill Jacobsen getting on base and providing experience and Steve Hahn getting on frequently and hitting 20 HRs to go with catcher Matt Stavely who has 30 HR potential this club can score. Bartolo Ocha and Al Bell are a solid, if unspectacular, 1-2 punch in the rotation. The Gary Iron men spent some big bucks in the off-season and were very active, but a lack of proven veterans renders this team out of contention almost from the start.

[Sven Draconian]

Log Jam On The Eastern Front


Just 17 games into the season, but all is not quiet, in fact, its quite comical. The Hobbin League may have been considered the lesser of the leagues during the pre-season, but it is certainly entertaining, especially the Eastern Division, which features all three teams dead-locked at 10-7.

The East has throughly dominated the West in the HL, especially Sandusky who made a clean sweep of all three Eastern teams on there way to a 9-0 record to start the season. They've cooled intra-division and Dayton has warmed up, winning three straight, and all three teams are even this early in the year.

South Bend has limped out to an 8-9 start, though slow starts are nothing new to them. The expansion Monroe Spartans have kicked it up a notch after a 2-7 start and went 5-3 over their next 8, leaving thier record at 7-10, one game better than Kankakee.

Erasmo Venegas Injured

In what is projected as a very tight division in the CL West, the Erie Knights lost one of their top guns early when Venegas went down for 6 weeks in his first start.

Even without their #2 starter, the Knights still lead all teams with an 11-6 record thus far, but Youngstown is nipping at their heels at 10-7.

The Knights seemed to have switched MO's this year, leading the CL in Runs with 99, and using a very balanced pitching staff to win. The most surprising thing about thier season is they are winning without Venegas, and Arturo "Worm" Ortega is 0-2 with a 4.09 ERA this season.

Easy Expansion

While the Monroe Spartans stumbled out of the gate, the Gary Iron Men took off. Gary has jumped out to the early lead in the CL West, leading by two over Joliet and by 5 over the sluggish Green Bay Huskies.

The Iron Men have been led by 23 year old Rookie Shortstop Tracy Pearson, who through 17 games is hitting an incredible .462, easily tops in the league. Gary also has another .400 hitter in 24 year-old Tom Clark. Their `17 HRs as a team also lead the CL.