Whittaker's Peanut Slab Baseball: A History

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One hundred years before players took to the field, and on the opposite side of the world is where you'll find the origin story of Whittaker's Peanut Slab Baseball.

In 1868, John Henry Whittaker is born in Macclesfield, England. By age 14, he is employed by Cadbury's where he learns the trade of chocolate inside out. By 1890, he makes the voyage to New Zealand via Sydney on the `Valetta' and the `Wakatipu', presumably to act as a salesman for Cadbury's but in reality he had greater things in mind.

By 1896, he established the company that still stands today, selling his own chocolate out of the back of a horse and cart. A business he would continue to grow until his death in 1947. When his children took over, they continued his work to peddle chocolate and sweets into the mouths of New Zealanders. During the 1950's, they released the defining product of their company: the Peanut Slab.



This heavenly combination of chocolate and peanut won over the hearts and minds of Kiwis but Whittaker's still faced stiff competition from companies like Cadbury's and when Cadbury's introduced the Creme Egg in 1963 they knew they were in trouble.

What followed was a bold attempt by Whittaker's to establish themselves as the premier Chocolatier in the eyes of New Zealand. That came through the introduction of new products and various marketing schemes: including establishing a nationwide baseball league.

The sport of baseball had exploded in popularity the last decade and Whittakers were keen to get into the action. They scouted players and potential owners until finally in 1970, they had all their ducks lined up in a row for the first season of Whittaker's Peanut Slab Baseball.

Ten teams from across the country will take part in two divisions over a 80 game season. The winners of each division will take part in a seven game series to determine the ultimate winner of the Peanut Slab.

The charter teams were such:

Pohutukawa Division
Auckland Sharks
Bay of Plenty Steam
Hawkes Bay Moonshots
Taranaki Thunder
Waikato Morepork

Kowhai Division
Canterbury Knights
Manawatu Vikings
Otago Penguins
Southland Stags
Wellington Bees

[StLee]

Awesome! Look forward to this!

[Izz]

This looks like it'll be fun!

You had me at Whittakers because Whittakers = iconic.

[majormet]

Seems interesting, which team would a fan from Dunedin root for?

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Originally Posted by StLee

Awesome! Look forward to this!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Izz

This looks like it'll be fun!

You had me at Whittakers because Whittakers = iconic.

Haha. It's so good. Don't know how the rest of the world copes.

Originally Posted by majormet

Seems interesting, which team would a fan from Dunedin root for?

The team for you will be the Otago Penguins!



Based in Dunedin itself and named after the penguin colonies that you can find in the area (not totally sure if they existed in 1970 but it won't be the first reference I make that's a little ahead of it's time). Traditional Otago colours are a darker blue than the blue I've got in the logo but I found this image and decided to go for it.

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1970: The Inaugural Season

The Manawatu Vikings were the early pick for competition favourites. No one really expected them to set the world on fire with their hitting but the duo of Tyler Grimes and Dylan O'Neill at the top of their pitching rotation was definitely expected to make like difficult for the opposition. Both were old hands in the independent leagues in New Zealand, both 34 years old.

There were complemented with by the big hitting of Center Fielder Zachary Pritchard: 28 Home runs, 18 steals, and a slash line of .258/.387/.600 kept the runs ticking over. With Grimes and O'Neill combining for 8 complete game shutouts over the season, it made for an easy canter for the Kowhai title.

The Vikings might have been an easy pick for the Kowhai Division but there was a lot less consensus for the Pohutukawa Division. With the exception of the Waikato Morepork, no one could quite agree on their pick on who'd take it out.

Would it be the power hitting of Auckland, the contact prowess of Bay of Plenty, or the shutdown pitching of Hawkes Bay or Taranaki? The battle was tight over April and May but June saw the Taranaki Thunder emerge from the chaos with a 10-2 record and a firm lead on the division that they'll never relinquish

.

There we had it, our two first division winners and the stage is set for for the first ever Peanut Slab Series between the Thunder and Vikings.

The league budgeted for a lot more travel expenses for this series so when it ended up the two teams were only 232km away from each other, they had a big save on their hands. Whatever happened to this surplus is unknown.

August: A Magical Time for Dingers
Fans of the Long Bomb had to wait until August to see a player send the ball in into the stands three times in a single game. The first player to do it was Waikato 3B Dwaine Lowe, who did it in an extra innings loss to the Bay of Plenty Steam.

The Morepork, down 5-4 going to the top of the 9th forced the extra innings with a Lowe's third solo home run of the day. Unfortunately his good work was undone by a walk off hit from the Steam Catcher at the bottom of the 10th.

It was nearly two weeks to the day when the Morepork hosted the Hawke's Bay Moonshots. The Moonshots piled on the runs in a 14-4 shellacking. Including 3 home runs from their lead-off hitter CF Matthew Currier. He set the mood with a home run on the very first pitch of the game and never looked back.

Not to be undone, Lowe smacked another three home runs in into the stand the very next day against the Moonshots, but once again in a losing effort as his team fell 8-7 to the Moonshots.

Up Next: The 1970 Peanut Slab Series against the Vikings and Thunder!

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1970 Peanut Slab Series: Taranaki Thunder vs Manawatu Vikings

The first ever Peanut Slab pitted two of the top two pitching teams in the league against each other. The two battles between the two aces of the teams: Taranaki's Scott Kennedy and Manawatu's Tyler Grimes were tense low scoring affairs but Grimes coming out top both times 2-1 and 2-0.

But aside from a big Thunder win in Game 3, it was all Vikings all the time as the Thunder proved helpless against the big one-two punch of Grimes and #2 Starter Dylan O'Neill: losing all four games that the pair started over the series. A huge fourth inning in Game 5 just about sealed the deal when the Viking hitters piled on 6 runs in what ultimately ended up as a huge 8-2 win for the side.

Just like that, the Manawatu Vikings became the first champions of Whittaker's Peanut Slab Baseball.

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1970: Awards



To top up his team winning the whole thing, Center Fielder Zachary Pritchard was awarded the MVP award. Out of the ten ballots submitted, Pritchard got 8 of the first ballot votes -- the only other serious contender his one teammate in Pitcher Tyler Grimes and Hawke's Bay CF Matthew Currier.

Pritchard might not have lead in any of the major categories but he was certainly a common presence in the leaderboards. His 28 home runs was only one off the leader (Auckland's Rhys Howarth) and his 18 stolen runs was only 5 off off the leader (Hawkes Bay's Matthew Currier) but no one else could quite match the combination of power and speed that Pritchard bought to the table.

His main competition, Matthew Currier of the Moonshots definitely bought speed to the table (23 stolen bases) and a lot of other impressive feats (leading the league in hits and double plus a .343 batting average and .399 on-base percentage as well as much better defense than Pritchard) but ultimately the lack of power (only 11 home runs) counted against him.



The Manawatu Vikings completed their dominant year by taking the Championship, MVP and Pitcher of the Year! But this one wasn't quite as straight forward as the others as Grimes faced stiff competition from Taranaki's Scott Kennedy as well as his own team mate: Dylan O'Neill.

Grimes and Kennedy had virtually identical ERAs (1.86 vs 1.88) but Kennedy had some better peripherals. The HR/9 was basically identical at 0.3, but Kennedy had some better numbers with BB/9 at 3.2 vs 3.5 and K/9 at 7.6 vs 7.2.

The main claim to fame of Grimes was his playoff record and beating out Kennedy for complete game shutouts (5 vs 4) despite 3 fewer starts thanks to a sore elbow that saw him miss a few games in the middle of the season.

Rookie of the Year: Douglas Adams (1B of the Taranaki Thunder)
The 22 year old was a near unanimous pick for this award but lost one vote to Canterbury Pitcher Jon Viergutz. Adams was one of the big power hitters of the league with 25 home runs to his name.

Reliever of the Year: Casey Ogilvie (Taranaki Thunder)
It was a three way tie for first with Ogilvie barely narrowing out Neil Cox (Waikato Morepork) and Ellis Peacock (Hawkes Bay Moonshots). Ogilvie combined the Saves of Peacock (13 saves, 4-1 record vs Peacock's 14 saves, 4-5 record) and the ERA of Cox (1.31 vs 1.29) in a deadly combo that propelled Taranaki to their league best record of 52-28.

Ogilvie didn't give up a single home run over 34.1 innings and picked up an absurd ERA+ of 318. His main weakness was a tendency to give up walks. Peacock gave up less than half the walks that Ogilvie did (BB/9 of 4.5 vs 2.2) but ultimately Ogilve's ability to limit the run rate gave him the nod amongst the voters.

Cheese Roll Award for Best Hitters by Position
P Scott Kennedy (Taranaki Thunder)
C Matt Rushing (Auckland Sharks)
1B Emanuel Kice (Bay of Plenty Steam)
2B Ray Dickerson (Otago Penguins)
3B Dwaine Lowe (Waikato Morepork)
SS Richard Hayes (Manawatu Vikings)
LF Alan Golding (Auckland Sharks)
CF Zachary Pritchard (Manawatu Vikings)
RF Francis Dobson (Canterbury Knights)

Mince Pie Award for Best Defense by Position
P Paul Cochrane (Wellington Bees)
C Stewart Whelan (Southland Stags)
1B Borick Stockmeyer (Southland Stags)
2B Mitchell Waring (Southland Stags)
3B Jin Yong (Manawatu Vikings)
SS Richard Hayes (Manawatu Vikings)
LF Clyde King (Southland Stags)
CF Matthew Currier (Hawkes Bay Moonshots)
RF Jonathan Rox (Manawatu Vikings)

Mince & Cheese Pie Award for Best Overall Defense: Richard Hayes (Manawatu Vikings)

Batting Champion: Jin Young (Manawatu Vikings) .345
Home Run Champion: Dwaine Lowe (Waikato Morepork) 29
RBI Champion: Rhys Howarth (Auckland Sharks) 66
Stolen Base Champion: Matthew Currier (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) 23
OPS+ Leader: Emmanuel Kice (Bay of Plenty Steam) 184

ERA Crown: Tyler Grimes (Manawatu Vikings) 1.86
Wins Champion: Dylan O'Neill (Manawatu Vikings) 16
Saves Champion: Ellis Peacock (Hawkes Bay VIkings) 14
Strikeout King: Ben Goetting (Bay of Plenty) 150
WHIP Leader: Dylan O'Neill (Manawatu Vikings) 1.00
FIP Leader: Scott Kennedy (Taranaki Thunder) 2.22

10/10 Club (10 Home Runs & 10 Stolen Bases)
CF Matthew Currier (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) 11 HR / 23 SB
RF Francis Dobson (Canterbury Knights) 17 HR / 14 SB
CF Zachary Pritchard (Manawatu Vikings) 28 HR / 18 SB (also 15/15 Club)
CF Marcus Thompson (Taranaki Thunder) 13 HR / 14 SB
CF Howard Williams (Canterbury Knights) 14 HR / 12 SB

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1971: The Vikings Repeat

Scott Kennedy was the big news of the offseason, the runner-up for Pitcher of the Year elected to take his talents onto the open market. It was the Otago Penguins who ultimately signed him up a $304k/6yr deal -- the biggest amount paid out to a Pitcher yet.

The only bigger contracts have been given out to hitters: Hawkes Bay gave CF Matthew Currier a $437k/8yr extension that'll see him in Moonshot colours until 1978 or his age-34 season.

Kennedy, a right-handed groundballer with a solid Sinker, Curveball, Slider, and Changeup to his name. He led the league in 1970 in home run prevention, only giving up 5 home runs over 153.1 innings and holds the record for consecutive innings without giving up a run at 36. His ERA was 1.88 and granted him an ERA+ of 222 and a 2.22 FIP which granted him a FIP- of just 53. Shifting divisions now gives him more opportunities to take on the pitching powerhouse of Manawatu, and the Penguins were certainly excited about the possibilities that Kennedy offered.

So naturally, the Penguins would open the season 0-8.

The Penguins would recover but would fall 6 games short of the mark put up by the Vikings. Scott Kennedy, improved on his impressive numbers from the last season. His HR/9 moved up slightly from 0.3 to 0.5 but he'd slash his BB/9 from 3.2 to 2.2 and sharpen up his K/9 rate from 7.6 to 8.2 to lead the league in strikeouts. Unfortunately this translated to a 10-9 record and 3.52 ERA, dramatically different to his 12-5 record and 1.88 ERA with Taranaki. The league worst defense of the Penguins took it's toll on their big signing.

For Manawatu, their deadly duo of Tyler Grimes and Dylan O'Neill regressed slightly from their 1970 campaign but the pair still headed the most effective pitching rotation in the league. A couple of mid-season trades netted them some handy extra bats in the form of RF Mick Poggi and 3B Rhys Macmillan. By mid-June they'd find themselves on top of the Kowhai Division and never find themselves threatened.

In the Pohutukawa Division, the Auckland Sharks and Waikato Morepork battled for the top spot all season. It all came down to a final four game series between the two teams. Both went into the series with a 44-32 record but the immense power of Waikato 3B Dwaine Lowe sunk the aspirations of the Sharks. 3 home runs over 3 games helped propel the Morepork to the division title. The Sharks will win game four in extras but it was too little, too late.



The Morepork will take the Vikings to 6 games but ultimately fall short as the Vikings successfully defended their 1970 title.



Odds and Ends...
* This May 6 game against the Canterbury Knights and Southland Stags in Invercargill didn't look like it was going to be an historic event. Especially when Stag Pitcher Gabriel Harris started the first inning by giving up a Hit By Pitch, Walk, Fielder's Choice, Walk, and a Sac Fly to see his team go down 1-0. After that, he'd retire each batter he'd face until giving up another walk in he top of the 9th. It'd take a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth to secure him the win and the first ever no-hitter of Whittakers Peanut Slab Baseball.

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Opps, double posted somehow.

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1971: Awards



Votes were split in the MVP vote. 3 first place votes to Currier / 3 votes to Waikato 3B Dwaine Love / 3 votes to Bay of Plenty RF Marcus Tierney / and one vote to our eventual pitcher of the year. Last year's MVP Zachary Pritchard didn't even get a single vote despite putting up a 130 OPS+ season.

Currier, who came up second in last season's MVP vote arguably put up worse numbers in 1971 than he did in 1970. He upped his batting average from .343 to .355 to lead the league but saw some minor dips in his OBP and SLG rates -- as well as only getting half the amount of stolen bases --you can see why the voters were uncertain.

His competition? A pair of power hitters. Waikato Morepork 3B Dwaine Lowe was the home run leader in 1970 and amassed 25 in 1971 but the real king of the dinger was Bay of Plenty Steam RF Marcus Tierney who put up 34 over 68 starts (though let's get into those limited starts)

Tierney, left handed is especially vulnerable to the Southpaw... In fact, this MVP candidate didn't get a single hit against a left handed pitcher this season. His chances were limited, only 32 plate appearances against lefties versus 269 against righties but the logic to sit him in those opportunities might be justified. An absurd .000/.156/.000 with a -35 wRC+ (yes, negative) against lefties and a .271/.396/.774 with a 201 wRC+ slash line against righties.

Dwaine Lowe is a more balanced case. No clear weakness against the left handed pitchers. Like TIerney, Lowe is a proponent of the three true outcomes: racking up a lot of home runs, walks, and strikeouts putting up a slash line of .255/.378/.583 and 161 wRC+. Lowe also brings some decent defense at Third Base -- arguably top three defensively in the league.

Who would be your pick?



The race for Pitcher of the Year was a bit more agreeable.



Only one errant vote to Otago's Scott Kennedy prevented Zaiter from taking the award unanimously. Zaiter is a control pitcher with just a Fastball / Curveball / Changeup to his name. Far from the flashiest pitcher. Zaiter had the tools for a league leading 1.94 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and 15-5 record. All while doing the most pitching in Whittakers Peanut Slab Baseball with 176.1 innings to his name. Zaiter's work was certainly a key reason that the Morepork were able to grab themselves a division title.

Rookie of the Year: Chris Fairbanks (Wellington Bees)
The unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year. Fairbanks was a second round pick in the 1970 draft out of University ball. The 23 year old still needs to develop his command but the Bees felt confident in him to put him in the #2 spot in his rotation to lead the team in ERA with 3.87.

Reliever of the Year: Casey Ogilvie (Taranaki Thunder)
There was a fair bit of split votes when Ogilvie took out this prize in 1970 but he was an unanimous selection here in 1971 as he proved himself a dangerous weapon coming out of the bullpen. He didn't get many save opportunities (just 5) but he converted them all but also picked up 5 wins.

Over 49.1 innings over 32 games he picked up a 0.91 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 70 strikeouts, and like last season didn't concede a single home run.

Cheese Roll Award for Best Hitters by Position
P Chris Addison (Otago Penguins)
C Gabriel Morse (Southland Stags)
1B Emanuel Kice (Bay of Plenty Steam) *
2B Ray Dickerson (Otago Penguins) *
3B Dwaine Lowe (Waikato Morepork) *
SS Mei Hsi (Waikato Morepork)
LF Everton Wilkinson (Bay of Plenty Steam)
CF Matthew Currier (Hawkes Bay Moonshots)
RF Marcus Tierney (Bay of Plenty Steam)

Mince Pie Award for Best Defense by Position
P Robert Swieczak (Auckland Sharks)
C Charlie Mulligan (Canterbury Knights)
1B Efrain Mallernee (Wellington Bees)
2B Neil Giles (Waikato Morepork)
3B Danny Smith (Auckland Sharks)
SS Richard Hayes (Manawatu Vikings) *
LF Stephen Berkovicz (Waikato Morepork)
CF Rhys Morley (Auckland Sharks)
RF Joseph Sickle (Southland Stags)

Mince & Cheese Pie Award for Best Overall Defense: Neil Giles (Waikato Morepork)

Batting Champion: Matthew Currier (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) .355
Home Run Champion: Marcus Tierney (Bay of Plenty Steam) 34
RBI Champion: Daryl Smith (Wellington Bees) 67
Stolen Base Champion: Clyde King (Southland Stags) 30
OPS+ Leader: Everton Wilkinson (Bay of Plenty Steam) 178

ERA Crown: Konrad Zaiter (Waikato Morepork) 1.94
Wins Champion: Konrad Zaiter (Waikato Morepork) 15
Saves Champion: Quincy Walker (Manawatu Vikings) 13
Strikeout King: Scott Kennedy (Otago Penguins) 150
WHIP Leader: Konrad Zaiter (Waikato Morepork) 0.89
FIP Leader: Scott Kennedy (Taranaki Thunder) 2.19 *

10/10 Club (10 Home Runs & 10 Stolen Bases)
CF Francis Broadley (Waikato Morepork) 10 HR / 14 SB
RF Francis Dobson (Canterbury Knights) 16 HR / 11 SB *
CF Freddie O'Brien (Otago Penguins) 12 HR / 17 SB
LF Iestyn Taylor (Taranaki Thunder) 14 HR / 13 SB
CF Howard Williams (Canterbury Knights) 14 HR / 12 SB *

[progen]

Clever concept! Good read!

[Izz]

Loving the graphics!

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Originally Posted by progen

Clever concept! Good read!

Originally Posted by Izz

Loving the graphics!

Thanks!

[mrbucket]

1972: Wheeling and Dealing

The Otago Penguins were the ones to make a big splash in the free agent last year with a big $304k/6yr contract for Pitcher Scott Kennedy. It worked -- to a degree -- Kennedy put up some great numbers but the Penguins still found themselves falling short to the Manawatu Vikings in the division.

So they thought they'd try again and this time hit the Vikings where it hurt with Manawatu SS Richard Hayes, offering him up a $263k/5yr deal. Hayes offers up above average hitting with excellent defense. He's picked up two Mince Pie awards for his defense at Shortstop as well as a Cheese Roll award for his hitting over his two years with the championship winning Vikings. With Hayes, you're going to get a lot of singles and doubles, zero home runs, (nearly) zero strikeouts, and premium defense.

Otago fans thought they had the team to go all the way but it all came undone in a spring training game against Southland. A collision at the base broke the bone in Haye's elbow: rendering him out of the 1972 season.

Otago management was so glum with the news they traded away 38 year old All-Star RF Dane Carter for a prospect that very same day. Might as well get what you can from the guy now.

There was some more shifting around in the Kowhai Division as the Wellington Bees snapped up Southland OF Clyde King for a collection of prospects. That plus the emergence of Rookie of the Year: SP Chris Fairbanks had seen the Bees come up as a possible contender.

Over in the Pohutuawa Division, there was no consensus on who could emerge from there. Plenty of attention was paid to the big hitting Bay of Plenty Steam and Hawkes Bay Moonshots however.

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1972: Overthrowing the Vikings

Despite an early challenge from two-time defending champion Manawatu Vikings, the Kowhai Division belonged to the Wellington Bees who finished with a 53-27 record. The Bees boasted the best pitching in the league, with a rotation led by 1971's Rookie of the Year 24 year old Chris Fairbanks. Couple that with some plus defense and a dangerous top 6 of the lineup and the Bees certainly lived up to their billing as early season favourites.

The Pohutukawa Division was a much more competitive affair with the lead changing between the Taranaki Thunder, Waikato Morepork,and Hawke's Bay Moonshots regularly throughout the season. The Thunder had an early claim, but the title ultimately came down to the Morepork and Moonshots. With 8 games to go in the season, the two teams were tied 44-28 and had a four game series against each other.

The first game was a pitcher's duel that remained scoreless until the 10th until the Moonshots were able to string 3 hits together in the bottom of the 10th to walk it off. The Moonshots were able to blow the Morepork out before holding their nerve to win two more one-run games to sweep the series. And just like that, the Peanut Slab Series will feature two teams to never play at that level.



And do we need to talk about the 16-64 Southland Stags? Yikes. Their lead-off guy had an OPS+ of 30. In fact only one member of their batting lineup even managed an OPS+ above 100. Their pitching was headlined by two pitchers Derril Buzzo and Pat Gribble who could barely pitch a strike. Their 7.6 and 7.2 BB/9 were the worst in the league among qualified pitchers. Gribble did prove himself a strikeout threat though (the complete unpredictability of where his pitches will end up probably helped). His 8.1 K/9 good enough for 6th in the league, and also got him a 16K game against the Waikato Morepork.

A game that the Stags only won in the 13th inning after Gribble gave up walk after walk to let the Morepork tie the game up (including two bases loaded walks). His final line, 8.2 IP, 5 HA, 4 R, 8 BB, 16 K, 156 pitches.

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1972: The Bees Take It Out

It was a classic battle of defense vs offense. The Bees boasted the best pitching in the league while the Moonshots boasted the best offense in the league lead by the combined power of 1B Pat Gardner and LF Daryl Smith who combined for 55 home runs. Also of note was last season's MVP Matthew Currier, who didn't put up his MVP numbers but still put good numbers from the lead-off spot.

On the Wellington side was another duo: Chris Fairbanks and Edward Sherry. The pair lead the entire league in strikeouts and was 2nd and 3rd in ERA and with no defensive weaknesses, it was incredibly hard to score any runs.

The Bees sent up Taylor Gilmore as their first pitcher, Gilmore had proven effective against pitching against the home run. He had only conceded four over 14 starts -- and it was thought he was the ideal pitcher to temper down the home run threat that the Moonshots offered. The theory kinda worked until Pat Gardner took him deep in the top of the 5th but Gilmore will recover and pitch the entire game. Ultimately, the Bees will win 7-4 to get the first game in the series.



A home run will prove the difference in game two. The Moonshots gathered themselves an early lead but the Bees will break it open in the bottom of the 7th with a 2-run dinger from 3B Damien Cowling giving the Bees the lead and LF Steven Taylor single providing some insurance to give the Bees the 4-2 win and the 2-0 lead in the series. Pitcher Edward Sherry pitched the entire game for Player of the Game honours.



As the series moves back to Napier, the Moonshots will wrest some control back from the Bees as they unleash upon the pitching of Chris Fairbanks for a big 9-4 win.



After the high scoring of Game three, it went back to low scores in Game Four. Though pitcher Taylor Gilmore and the Bees will be ruing the missed opportunities in this game, after they left 9 men on base and after the Moonshots were able to drive in a run via a Hit By Pitch.

Ultimately the game came down to the bottom of the 9th tied 1-all but 1B Pat Gardner was in no mood to mess around as he smashed a lead-off home run into the home crowd for the walk-off victory to tie the series up.



The Moonshots will unleash in Game Five with 4 solo home runs but the Bees struck back in any way they could. An RF Alan Webb triple followed by a WIld Pitch in the 1st. A double from P Edward Sherry driving in two runs in the 2nd, and a frantic sprint from SS Ray Hickman to beat out the throw from Center Field in the 9th. It all contributed to a slim 5-4 win for the Bees.



In Game Three, Chris Fairbanks got absolutely smashed by the Moonshots and he came into this game with ideas of revenge. He got it, and pitched what will long stand an all-time classic pitching performance.

Over 9 innings, Fairbanks gave up 2 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and accumulated 14 strikeouts over 137 pitches.

On the other side of the ledger, the Bees run away with the scoring as they picked up 10 hits and put 7 runs on the board for a 7-2 win and the championship.

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1972: Awards



Daryl Smith is a pretty simple player. In all likelihood, he's going to either hit a dinger or draw a walk. In fact, this season he hit exactly 30 singles to match his 30 home runs. Smith was always a useful hitter the last two seasons for the Wellington Bees, boasting a 132 and 146 OPS+ despite his batting average not even exceeding the Mendoza Line (.183 and .198 in 1970 and 1971) but upon signing a $340k/7yr deal with he Moonshots this season, he's finally found his true home with Moonshots.

Smith plays like the act of running is a burden to be avoided. His walk rate of 24.4% must be a standard deviation or two above the the second place 19.8% and his home run total of 30 was a tie for first. 30 singles, and 8 doubles make up the remainder of his offensive production for the season.

He had an absolute monster July. Going .375/.566/1.107 for an insane 327 wRC+ with 13 home runs and 25 RBIs. His offensive explosion was a key component of the Moonshot's ability to take out the division.

He won the MVP award unanimously, with his teammate 1B Pat Gardner coming in second. Gardner put up .296/.460/.614 with 25 home runs.



The Pitcher of the Year battle was a bit more heated than the MVP vote with Kennedy forced to battle back claims from Wellington's Chris Fairbanks and Taranaki's Closer Casey Ogilvie. We'll deal more with Ogilvie when we get to Reliever of the Year but Fairbanks held a strong campaign by being the young Ace of the Championship winning Bees as well as his dominating performance in Game 6 of the Peanut Slab Series.

But Kennedy led the league in wins and ERA and ultimately won the voters over.

While he signed a 6 year deal back in 1971 with Otago, it included an opt-out after this season which he has exercised to make him one of hottest free agents on the market.

Rookie of the Year: Trent Defenbaugh (Otago Penguins)
There's still some rough edges to work out for Defenbaugh but there's a lot of potential for this young pitcher. The 8.9 K/9 is a lot to be excited about but the 5.7 BB/9 suggests a lot of room for improvement.

Reliever of the Year: Casey Ogilvie (Taranaki Thunder)
In his third straight year of taking this award out (including picking up votes for MVP and Pitcher of the Year), Ogilvie is going to be an interesting one to watch in free agency. Over his 29 appearances for the Thunder, he racked up a 0.51 ERA (only 3 earned runs over the season), a 8-0 record with 6 saves and an absurd 770 ERA+.

Ogilvie has been pitching for three years over 136.1 innings and still hasn't given up a home runs. That Sinker/Slider combo has proven unhittable. His only weakness is a tendency to give up walks but even that has only caused him to have 2 losses and 2 blown saves to his name.

Cheese Roll Award for Best Hitters by Position
P Michael Fifield (Auckland Sharks)
C Charlie Milligan (Canterbury Knights)
1B Pat Gardner (Hawkes Bay Moonshots)
2B Jay Hall (Wellington Bees)
3B Ronald Bernet (Manawatu Vikings)
SS Kieron Whitaker (Hawkes Bay Moonshots)
LF Daryl Smith (Hawkes Bay Moonshots)
CF Immeghar Mamo (Bay of Plenty Steam)
RF Marcus Tierney (Bay of Plenty Steam) *

Mince Pie Award for Best Defense by Position
P Keith Costello (Hawkes Bay Moonshots)
C Charlie Mulligan (Canterbury Knights) *
1B Eddie Hallet (Waikato Morepork)
2B Yushi Brunow (Auckland Sharks)
3B Damien Cowling (Wellington Bees)
SS Toby Teague (Bay of Plenty Steam)
LF Stephen Berkovicz (Waikato Morepork) *
CF Clyde King (Wellington Bees) *
RF Kieron Matthias (Auckland Sharks)

Mince & Cheese Pie Award for Best Overall Defense: Toby Teague (Bay of Plenty Steam)

Batting Champion: Chris Westerhold (Otago Penguins) .346
Home Run Champion: Ronald Bernet (Manawatu), Daryl Smith (Hawkes Bay), Marcus Tierney (Bay of Plenty) 30
RBI Champion: Ronald Bernet (Manawatu Vikings) 79
Stolen Base Champion: Dermot Gander (Taranaki Thunder) 37
OPS+ Leader: Daryl Smith (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) 207

ERA Crown: Scott Kennedy (Otago Penguins) 2.33
Wins Champion: Chris Fairbanks (Wellington), Scott Kennedy (Otago) 13
Saves Champion: Alfie Pailing (Bay of Plenty), Ellis Peacock (Hawkes Bay) 9
Strikeout King: Edward Sherry (Wellington Bees) 164
WHIP Leader: Edward Sherry (Wellington Bees) 0.93
FIP Leader: George Furlong (Manawatu Vikings) 1.95

10/10 Club (10 Home Runs & 10 Stolen Bases)
LF Stephen Berkovicz (Waikato Morepork) 10 HR / 10 SB
CF Immeghar Mamo (Bay of Plenty Steam) 14 HR / 15 SB
CF Kieron Matthias (Auckland Sharks) 17 HR / 14 SB
CF Howard Williams (Canterbury Knights) 18 HR / 13 SB

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1973: The Bees and Moonshots Go For The Sequel: This Time It's Personal Edition (not really though)

Pink Floyd dropped The Dark Side of the Moon as the baseball season kicked off and there was a handful of players who could have picked Money as their walkup song with the contracts they signed over the offseason.

Last season's Pitcher of the Year Scott Kennedy was swayed by an offer from the Hawkes Bay Moonshots as he made the move north from Otago with a $286k/5yr deal. The best offense from last season had just picked up last season's best pitcher.

Not that last season's champion - the Wellington Bees were exempt to making deals of their own as they picked up the dominant Casey Ogilvie to take on the Stopper role with them. The best pitching rotation from last season, just got the best man you could get to finish a game.

To round up Ogilvie's credentials. He had picked up every Reliever of the Year prize to date, had never given up a home run in the last three seasons, and in fact had given up just 13 earned runs over the last three years for a 0.86 ERA. His worst ERA+ in any given season was 318. He had converted 24 out of 26 save opportunities and finally had 53 shutdown innings vs 6 meltdown ones. This guy was a step above anyone else.

He signed a $28k/1yr deal with the Bees but soon signed an extension worth $92k/3yrs.

The other big moves was CF Clyde King shifting from Wellington to Otago ($171k/4yrs) and 3B Dwaine Lowe shifting from Waikato to Manawatu ($350k/6yrs).

All in all, the season went as predicted. The Wellington Bees and Hawkes Bay Moonshots both repeated as division champions and would meet in the Peanut Slab Series. The pair of teams both cruised to a division title.



So the pair of teams looked to square off again. Though with some different protagonists. Fairbanks and Kennedy were the talk of the preseason but it was Wellington #2 Edward Sherry who probably stole the show. Wellington RF Alan Webb also put up some insane numbers only to be matched by Hawkes Bay 1B Pat Gardner (though the Moonshots two previous MVPs in CF Matthew Currier and LF Daryl Smith and also put up some impressive numbers).

In the Peanut Slab series, the two teams split the first two games and the Wellington Bees were looking good in Game Three when a 3 run home run by Wellington 2B Jay Hall in the 8th secured them the win and a 2-1 lead in the 7 game series but the Moonshots turned it around after that and outscored the Bees 4-0, 7-1, and 9-0 in the final three games of the series. Complete and utter dominance to take out the series. The Hawkes Bay Moonshots had secured their first ever championship!

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1973: Awards



The voters had two great hitting performances to choose from: Hawkes Bay 1B Pat Gardner and Wellington RF Alan Webb. Gardner, big on the home runs, the walks, and the strikeouts vs Webb, who hit more for contact (though home runs and walks weren't exactly uncommon)

Between the two of them they put up the two best seasons by OBP / SLG / OPS so far in the short history of the league so far. Webb, with the better slashline: .388/.502/.759 and 23 home runs with 54 RBIs and Gardner with some of the more eye popping counting stats: .308/.490/.719 with 33 home runs and 71 RBIs. That batting average by Webb, a full .0329 higher than the second best in history (Matthew Currier's .3550 in 1971).

To further Webb's claim: a 33 game hit streak that started last season and finally put to an end in the end of June. Ultimately though, Webb's poor defense at RF and 15 games missed in the season to injury got Webb a shot at the title.

Instead, the honours went to Pat Gardner. 33 home runs over the season was a full 7 dingers over anyone else. The 26 year old has been steadily improving in all four seasons of his career. The Moonshots have such faith in him that they started the season off by signing him up to a $571k/8yr extension to keep him in Moonshot colours until 1981. The biggest contract given out in Whittakers Peanut Slab Baseball to date.



Edward Sherry is not an imposing figure. 171cm / 78kg (5'7" / 172lbs) but when he steps on the mound he is certainly feared.The 28 year old has turned it on the last two seasons for the Wellington Bees as he backs up an impressive 1972 with an even better 1973.

Sherry kicked the season off with a no-hitter and never looked back. His no-hitter was about as close to a perfect game you can get with just one walk given up in the 5th, he immediately followed that up by inducing the double play in the next pitch so that he still faced the minimum 27 batters over just 102 pitches.

Sherry's most devastating pitch is the changeup which has allowed him to lead the league in strikeouts and WHIP for the the last two seasons in a row.

One week before being announced as Pitcher of the Year, Sherry signed a big $348k/6yr contract.

His main competition was his teammate Chris Fairbanks, and last season's Pitcher of the Year: Hawkes Bay's Scott Kennedy.

Rookie of the Year: LF Bobby Harmon (Southland Stags)
This is bound to go down as one of the best rookie seasons of all time. The 23 year old went .350/.433/.576 with 17 home runs, 43 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases over all 80 games with the 29-51 Stags. So good, that he finished 3rd in MVP voting.

The scary thing is that most scouts don't even consider Harmon a finished product.

Harmon was the first overall pick in 1972 and was identified quickly as someone to fast track to the big time. He introduced himself strongly in just game three of the season when he went 5-5, got a stolen base and nailed an incredible double play when he caught the fly ball and then threw the speedy Otago CF Clyde King out at home who was trying to come home from third base.

This guy should be a pretty big deal. Let's see if he can shine on the Stags.

Reliever of the Year: Casey Ogilvie (Wellington Bees)
The fourth straight Reliever of the Year prize for Ogilvie in probably his worst season of work.

For one he gave up a home run. He went three years straight not giving up a single home run. His very first batter of the season (Canterbury C Charlie Milligan), narrowly edged the ball over the wall in the top of the 11th. The Bees will go on to win the game in the bottom of the 12th but Ogilvie was furious.

His 1.32 ERA was his worst ever (though he had 1.31 in 1970), his K/9 remained strong but his BB/9 (his only weakness) creeped up over the previous seasons. Only 7 earned runs over the year though. So don't think anyone in Wellington was complaining.

Initially he signed a one year deal but quickly signed a three year extension soon after so he'll be in Bee colours for a while longer.

Cheese Roll Award for Best Hitters by Position
P Konrad Zaiter (Waikato Morepork)
C Bert Cameron (Bay of Plenty Steam)
1B Pat Gardner (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) *
2B Ray Dickerson (Otago Penguins) **
3B Alexander Gibbs (Bay of Plenty Steam)
SS Toby Teague (Bay of Plenty Steam)
LF Bobby Harmon (Southland Stags)
CF Clyde King (Otago Penguins)
RF Alan Webb (Wellington Bees)

Mince Pie Award for Best Defense by Position
P Derril Buzzo (Southland Stags)
C Brian Graley
1B Eddie Hallet (Waikato Morepork) *
2B Jay Hall (Wellington Bees)
3B Damien Cowling (Wellington Bees) *
SS Toby Teague (Bay of Plenty Steam) *
LF Rhys Morley (Auckland Sharks)
CF Marcus Thompson (Taranaki Thunder)
RF Kieron Matthias (Auckland Sharks) *

Mince & Cheese Pie Award for Best Overall Defense: Toby Teague (Bay of Plenty Steam) *

Batting Champion: Alan Webb (Wellington Bees) .388
Home Run Champion: Pat Gardner (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) 33
RBI Champion: Rhys Howarth (Auckland Sharks) 73
Stolen Base Champion: Clyde King (Otago Penguins) 37
OPS+ Leader: Alan Webb (Wellington Bees) 237

ERA Crown: George Furlong (Manawatu Vikings) 1.85
Wins Champion: Scott Kennedy (Hawkes Bay), Edward Sherry (Wellington) 15
Saves Champion: Casey Ogilvie (Wellington Bees) 16
Strikeout King: Edward Sherry (Wellington), Chris Fairbanks (Wellington) 158
WHIP Leader: Edward Sherry (Wellington Bees) 0.87
FIP Leader: Scott Kennedy (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) 2.33

10/10 Club (10 Home Runs & 10 Stolen Bases)
SS Toby Teague (Bay of Plenty Steam) 10 HR / 22 SB
LF Bobby Harmon (Southland Stags) 17 HR / 13 SB