Universal Baseball Ass'n reborn: 1904 update

[J.HenryWaugh]

Thru PC issues, I lost my 77-year-old UBA (along with EVERYTHING ELSE), a lamentation detailed in the General Discussion forum under "Making lemonade from lemons..."

But in its rebirth, it is closer to historical believablility and I think closer to what J. Henry himself might have created. A couple of guys asked if I would chronicale the exploits of this fledgling enterprise, and I thought why not?

I just wrapped up 1904, the second season of this revamped UBA. Preseason picks had Boston facing Chicago in the Diamond King Championship. True to form, the experts got it wrong...well, thanks to a mistimed collapse of the Keystones down the stretch, they were only HALF wrong.

The Boston Beaneaters were picked win the Atlantic League by 14 games. They held a slim one-game lead when they rolled into Philadelphia for a KEY four-game series in mid-September. And they left Philly with a three-game lead, taking three of four from the Keystones. They finished their season on a high, winning six straight and nine of ten to win the AL by 8 over the second-place Keystones.

In the Heartland, the scribes picked Chicago, but any horse player with a nose for talent would not bet against the state of Missouri, and a few lucky bettors could have taken the trifecta with that knowledge. The defending Diamond King champion St. Louis Stars reclaimed the HL by just two games over their arch-rivals from Kansas City. The Black Stockings of Chicago won 81 games, finished a distant third, 13 games out.

The Beaneaters kept up their hot hand, taking the best of seven Diamond King Championship in five games. The Beanies were led by pitching ace Carl Rodgers, whose 25 wins and 1.78 ERA made him a favorite for the Pitcher of the Year Award. Troy Watts won 21 with a 2.20 ERA, and immediate fan favorite Phineas 'Skinny Ass' Flint replaced injured 16-game Conan Bunch and reeled off an impressive 11-0, 2.24 season. He was 2-0, with a 1.78 ERA in his two starts against the Stars in the postseason. The Beanies were number one in runs allowed.

Boston's offense was even more impressive, led by Owen Kendrick, who became the first UBA hitter to drive in 100 runs. He also hit .302 to go along with it. Secondbaseman Jasper Buckner hit .307 with 87 RBIs, and CF Barnaby North drove in 86 runs and stole 65 bases. The Beaneaters were tops in the AL in batting average, runs, home runs, and on-base average.

Rodgers did NOT win the POTY award, however. That went to Keystone ace 'Fancy Dan' Casey, 25-13 with a 1.75 ERA. He was also the first pitcher to strike out 300 batters in a season. Headcase Duncan of St. Louis was the HL winner, going 23-15 with a 2.12 ERA. Duncan is just 23, so a few more accolades seem likely.

The two best hitters were a study in contrasts. Weasel Wilson of the Keystones hit .324 with 32 doubles, 7 triples, 3 homers and 60 RBIs; he was just 3 of 7 in steal attempts. Shadow Dixon of the KC Cowboys hit .323, with 27 doubles, a UBA record 32 TRIPLES!!!, 6 homers, 93 RBIS and 55 steals.

[J.HenryWaugh]

THe 1905 season is underway, only the third year of this still toddler Universal Baseball Association. The preseason picks were, for once, predictable. After two straight Heartland League pennants and the first-ever Diamond King Championship, the St. Louis Stars finally saw some love from the "experts", who picked them to once again stave off their in-state brethren from Kansas City, this time by four games.

No small surprise that defending DK champion Boston was picked in the Atlantic League, meaning the scribes expect a rematch in this year's fall classic. The Beaneaters, with the best offense in baseball, are again picked to eclipse their league rivals by double digits, penned as winners by 16 games over 1903 AL champion Atlanta.

Speaking of Atlanta, I have a boxscore that still has making me shaking my head. The Haymakers were in Charlotte to face the Carolina Pastime Club, but what they did on this Saturday afternoon in late May turned the record books upside down! The Haymakers scored five runs in the first inning...okay, good start. But Patsies starting pitcher Largo Spagnuolo would record just one more out, while his follow-up, John Bradshaw barely managed to get those final two outs of the second. After two, Haymakers 17, Patsies 0.

But then five more in the third and one in the fourth. Then NOTHING in the fifth...shocker! Carolina pushed across its only runs of the game in the bottom half, a four spot that made it 23-4. But by the time the dust had cleared, the Haymakers had bashed five Carolina pitchers for 45 hits, plus 13 walks, in a mind-blowing 45-4 victory!

Check out the Haymakers' boxscore:


ATLANTA BATTING LINESCORES
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
R. Gilmore 2B 8 8 5 6 2 0 3 .272 3 32
G. Walker CF, RF 6 7 5 6 3 0 0 .374 2 23
R. Albright LF 9 4 4 6 1 0 5 .289 0 22
M. Kline RF 6 3 2 3 1 0 6 .208 1 5
a-P. Avilés PH 2 1 1 1 0 0 2 .362 2 19
b-R. Irwin CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .340 0 7
T. Dozier 1B 8 4 5 4 0 0 5 .347 4 17
D. Jensen C 5 3 5 4 4 0 0 .268 0 6
M. Clements 3B 9 4 6 5 0 0 5 .264 1 17
T. Hendricks SS 8 5 6 3 1 0 4 .394 0 9
J. Rodgers P 7 6 6 3 1 1 2 .436 0 5

Totals 68 45 45 41 13 1 32

SEVEN players had five or more hits in this game. Graham Walker, the player of the game, was responsible for 13 runs. The pitcher, John Rodgers, allowed four runs (only one earned), but he SCORED SIX and drove in THREE!!!! There were no fewer than 20 league and UBA record tied, set or broken in this game! Walker had the overall #1 performance in the UBA that day; teammates Randy Gilmore and Deron Jensen were #2 and #3, respectively. Thanks to that one game, the Haymakers are tops in hits, home runs and runs scored in the UBA.

On Friday, the day BEFORE this shellacking, Walker was 5-for-6 as the Haymakers rolled 13-3. But on Sunday, both teams ran out o steam, as Stanley Montgomery shut down the Pastime Club on just 4 hits, as Atlanta completed the sweep, 1-0. That rampage helped the Haymakers leap in the Power Rankings from 9th to 3rd.

While Atlanta was ramping up their offense, the Boston Beaneater were at the other end, keeping other teams from scoring. Beaneater pitching had them #1 in runs allowed by a wide margin (34 fewer than runner-up Atlanta) and starter ERA (only team under 2.00).

Entering June, the Beaneaters hold a 4 1/2-game lead over the Excelsiors of Brooklyn, and a 5 1/2-game lead on those ERA-destroying Haymakers. The Keystones of Philadelphia are fourth, 6 1/2 games out.

In the Heartland, the Kansas City Cowboys cling to a two-game edge over Chicago's Black Stockings. The defending champion St. Louis Stars are just 2 1/2 back, while the Pittsburgh Stogies trail by just three.

[J.HenryWaugh]

The sun has set on another season in this UBA restart, our third year under this new look, and the two-time bridesmaids were finally the bride. The Kansas City Cowboys, who finished back of league rival St. Louis by three games in 1903 and just two back in 1904, finally found the winner's circle, running away with the Heartland League by seven games over runner-up Pittsburgh. The Stars, two-time HL champions and overwhelming choice for a three-peat, faded to fourth, just 77-77.

The Cowboys capped a magical season by besting the favored Beaneaters of Boston in a thrilling seven-game Diamond King Championship. KC was an offensive tour-de-force, scoring a league-best 4.6 runs a game. They were tops in runs, hits, walks, batting average, on-base pct., slugging and OPS. Their pitching was only middle of the road, but with hitters like Timothy Anderson (.389, 10 HRs, 93 RBIs), Randy Dixon (.384 with 25 triples and 53 SBs), Burt Naylor (.330 with 63 RBIs and 111 walks) and Arturo Rosado (who had an off year, hitting just .237 but with 25 doubles, 13 triples and 38 SBs), their pitching only had to be good enough.

Boston, on the other hand, won 104 games, 14 more than KC's 90, and they bested second-place Philly by 11. They were tops in both hitting (runs, hits, walks, batting average, OBP, SLG and OPS) and pitching (runs allowed, shutouts, saves, ERA, walks and WHIP).

Player of the Year in the Atlantic was Excelsior SS Verne MacKenzie, Pitcher of the Year was Beaneater ace Carl Rodgers. Five Boston fielders won Gold Gloves, including their entire starting outfield. Boston was also #1 in AL attendance.

The HL winners of the yearly awards were Jerry "Arky" Hamilton of the Cincinnati Grays (hitter) and William "Headcase" Duncan of the St. Louis Stars. The DK champion Cowboys had three players win Gold Gloves, including pitcher Rick Williams, his battery mate Donald Atkins and superstar firstbaseman Anderson.

So far, the expert prognosticators have missed at least half of the predictions each year. In 1905, they predicted a repeat of the 1904 DKC, picking Boston and St. Louis to square off in a rematch. Again, half right, as Boston easily won the AL. As we move into 1906, the scribes once again see a repeat in their crystal balls, as the Beaneaters are penned in as a three-peat in the AL, and newly crowned champion Kansas City are the pick to make to back-to-back titles in the HL.

[J.HenryWaugh]

For many weeks, it looked like Missouri's brief stranglehold on the Heartland League would be over, at least for one year. The Cleveland Barons, who NOBODY saw coming, suddenly were a team people were paying attention to. This club, who has never had a winning season in their first three tries, got off to their typical start, losing 11 of their first 16 games.

But then came a 20-9 record in May, followed by a nifty 17-8 in June and a sparkling 19-9 in July. They entered August with a 1 1/2 game lead over favored (and defending DK champion) Kansas City.

But then came the dog days...and these dogs BIT. The Barons stumbled in August, or actually really just the latter HALF of August. They were 9-7 through the 18th. But then they won just two more games, losing 9, including ending August on a 6-game skid.

The turning of the calendar page hasn't helped yet, either. Playing at home in the second game of a three-game set against another perennial contender, the St. Louis Stars, the Barons looked like a team destined to wipe out that six-game losing streak when they roughed up Stars' ace Dan Taylor for five runs in the first inning.

But Taylor settled down after that, and the Stars began to whittle away at Cleveland starter John Adams. And the Barons just quit hitting. It took 15 innings, but the Stars pulled out the 7-6 win, and Cleveland's loss streak hit seven. They are now tied with St. Louis for second place, three games back of the KC Cowboys. Still plenty of baseball left, but the Barons picked a lousy time to hit a cold spell.

[J.HenryWaugh]

With three straight Atlantic League pennants, the Boston Beaneaters were threatening to become the UBA's first dynasty. Taking two out of three Diamond King Championships wasn't hurting their cause any.

Meanwhile, the Heartland League rarely drew much interest outside of Missouri, where the St. Louis Stars and Kansas City Cowboys had each won two of their league's first four pennants. And year five, 1907, figured to be more of the same.

And I was right, sad to say. All year long, the top of the Power Rankings had Boston #1, St. Louis #2. The Beanies hit a snag in September, losing their top ranking, but still coasting to their fourth straight AL flag. In fact, Boston went a Red Sox-like 9-19 in September, but they had such a HUGE lead by then, they STILL bested second-place Atlanta by 12, whose 19-7 mark in the last month still couldn't make things interesting.

The Stars, who switched places with Boston for tops in the PR, thanks in large part to a 21-6 September, a blistering pace that helped the Stars top 100 wins (101) and beat out second-place K.C. by 20.

But then the two behemoths locked horns in the championship. Unlike the pennant chases, this one was not over quickly. Carl Rodgers started things off nicely for the underdog Beaneaters, with a 7-hit shutout. Thomas Shaw was 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs in the 5-0 win.

Turn about was fair play, so St. Louis stud Oliver Rivers fashioned his own shutout, allowing just six hits and four walks in the Stars' series-evening 3-0 win.

Shifting to Boston, the Stars just picked up where they left off, and the Beanies did too, unfortunately for them. William 'Head Case' Duncan got his own 6-hitter and the Stars recorded their second straight 3-0 whitewash.

Carl Rodgers gave up 11 hits in game four, but only one earned run, as Boston finally got on the board, holding on for the 4-2 win that knotted the DKC at two wins apiece.

The Stars grabbed a big advantage by winning game five, the last game in Boston. Doug Gregory and Ed Wolfe combined for four hits, a run and three RBIs as St. Louis headed home 4-2 winners, up 3-2 in the series.

But the Beantowners were not finished, and they responded in game six, pounding Duncan and friends for 16 hits, helping back Troy Watts' complete game 9-1 win, forcing a game seven.

Game seven was a great matchup, featuring Boston's ace Rodgers against St. Louis ace Dan Taylor. It was a classic pitching game, a jaw-to-jaw duel that neither combatant would yield. The Stars pushed across a run in the third, only to see the Beaneaters knot it up in the top of the fourth. But St. Louis got the tie-breaker in the fifth, and Taylor did not let up. With a slim 2-1 lead, the Stars put the icing on the cake with a pair of runs in the 8th. Taylor finished up, allowing just six hits and no walks in St. Louis' second Diamond King Championship.

Offseason news: With so many young players coming into the UBA, some of the minor league rosters had more players on them than some high school football teams. So the powers that be, namely Chancellor Abe Flint, signed a deal with the independent, but struggling Texas League. They agreed to reform their league to 16 teams and serve as a second AA option for the parent UBA. More players will have the opportunity to play and develop their skills.

[J.HenryWaugh]

Could this be the year the boys from Charlotte cast off the nickname that came into use only three years into the club's existance? The Carolina Pastime Club, or the Pastimers, were also called the Patsies by those who had witnessed the team's pathetic start to its history. Granted, the Patsies could finish no better than 20 games below .500 nor closer than 28 games to the pennant winner in their first four seasons.

But last season was their first glimmer of hope, as Carolina won 80 games, 13 more than any other season, a .519 win percentage. They also finished fourth, its highest place in the standings, "just" 16 games out of first.

But even that lofty finish did not prepare ANYONE for 1908. As the league gets ready for its Labor Day games, the Pastime Club finds itself in unfamiliar waters...first place. The lead the three-time defending champion Boston Beaneaters by three full games with 18 to play.

Led by Jerry "Arky" Hamilton and his UBA leading .369 average and team0best 56 RBIs, the Pastimers are 2nd in the Atlantic League in runs scored and batting average. In fact, they are no worse than third in any offensive or pitching category, except for Defensive Efficiency, where they are sixth.

Pitching is led by 21-game winner Toby Young (1.40 ERA), Jackson Turner (17 wins and 2.57 ERA) and Gavin Powell, who missed the first month of the season but since then has racked up 12 wins with an Association best 0.92 ERA).

There may still be 18 games in which the Pastimers can let this lead slip away to the heavily favored Beaneaters. But with 81 wins, Carolina ALREADY has the most victories in a season. To them, they still 18 games to build upon that record. A pennant, which NOBODY said was within their grasp at the beginning of the campaign, would simply be the cherry on top of this sweet sundae of the season.