American Association of Baseball Clubs

[fuzzy_patters]

This will be a continuation of a dynasty report that I was typing and stopped typing for awhile because of some things that were happening in my personal life; however, I was still playing the dynasty occasionally so there have been a few season that have passed.

Background
After the Civil War, the United States of America was a nation divided. A new baseball league was needed in order to try and bring the country together around the new war. Eight northern business magnates convened to create a new baseball league to be known as the Stars and stripes League with cities in eight of the country's largest cities at the time: New York; Boston; Baltimore; Chicago; Philadelphia; St Louis; Brooklyn; and Cincinnati.

Should Baseball Be in Baltimore?
In 1871 Baltimore was in first place for most of the season before giving up the lead on the last day of the season to the Boston Brahmins. After that season, Baltimore quickly sank to the bottom of the standings for several years and became the league's least profitable team and had the least attended games. The team, known as the Shippers, was soon moved to New Orleans and became the Rebels; however, their luck did not improve. Their record and attendance were even worse in New Orleans with their nadir coming when they failed to win even ten games. After baseball failed in New Orleans, the team returned to Baltimore and was much more successful than in their previous run winning championships in 1881, 1883, and 1890.

New Orleans Is Irate
Civic leaders in New Orleans soon became convinced that being given such a terrible franchise was part of a conspiracy to keep baseball out of the south and saw it as salt in their wounds after losing the Civil War. They began a resistance movement across the southern and border states against the league, and their supporters bombarded northern newspaper editorial offices with letters protesting the league. The league responded by promising to allow New Orleans and one other city, Cleveland, to come into the league as expansion teams in 1889.

Additional Expansion
New Orleans, however, saw this expansion as more of the same. They had a team now, but it was a terrible one that could not possibly hope to compete. They demanded more expansion so that their team could have some northern teams to beat. The league responded by bringing in Pittsburgh and Buffalo as new teams in the 1890 season. New Orleans not only beat Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Cleveland, but they also finished in front of one of the old guard, Chicago, in 1890.

A New League Forms
Emboldened by their past successes, New Orleans threatened the rest of the league with another resistance campaign if they did not help New Orleans form a new league. They still felt that the league was part of a conspiracy to keep baseball away from southern cities and possibly smaller northern cities in order to protect the interests of the original eight clubs. The league sought a compromise in order to stymie any more bad publicity. They offered to hold one more expansion draft of four teams so that the eight new clubs could break away and create their own league to be called the Great American Baseball League, but they had several demands of their own as well. One was that the draft be eliminated so that the eight big market SSL teams could sign up all of the talent before the small-market GABL could get any. Another was that the winners of the two leagues would play in an All-Star Game and a World Series every year, which they saw as an opportunity to show the public how inferior the GABL was and to squash it before any considered it to be a major league. The GABL agreed provided that they also received an equal voice in future baseball decisions, so a new organization, the American Association of Baseball Clubs, was created with each of the sixteen teams getting one vote on future baseball decisions. After the SSL dominated play early on, the GABL eventually won some All-Star Games and some World Series starting with New Orleans winning the 1892 Series to secure the GABL's position as a major league.

Two More Rounds of Expansion
With every team extremely profitable, the two leagues decided to reinstitute the draft in order to make it so that struggling teams in the future could compete, and they decided to create four new franchises to join the two leagues. The SSL received teams in Providence and Minneapolis, and the GABL received teams in Jersey City and Louisville.

The Plight of the Immigrants
Perhaps the worst franchise in the history of baseball has been the New York Immigrants. They were an original franchise in 1871, and they are the biggest market team with the most money. Despite these advantages, they have never won a championship of any kind. In fact, they have never finished higher than third in any season, and their all-time winning percentage is a mere .468. The only three franchises with worse winning percentages, Milwaukee, Washington, and Louisville, have had their winning percentages brought down by expansion seasons. Yet, that doesn't apply to New York. They have just been bad.

Cleetus McGee
I am Cleetus McGee. My role is general manager of the Cincinnati Abolitionists. I have been the most successful general manager in history of the most successful franchise in history. My challenge now is that my team has become old and has fallen on hard times recently. My owner is upset with me, and my job is on the line despite 14 championships in 38 years as general manager. The 1909 season will be a challenge. What do I do?

[fuzzy_patters]

Every year, I take a look around the league and come up with a few changes that would probably take place in this world given what has been happening in it. These could be big or small. Here are the changes for 1909.

Louisville Open New Stadium
Louisville won the Great American Baseball League pennant in 1908 before losing in the World Series; yet few Speed fans were able to see their team play because they sold out almost every single game. Because of this, they are moving out of Speed Ballpark and moving into Wilson Field, named for owner Kevin Wilson, which will hold 10,000 more fans (15,500), than Speed Field.

No Revenue Sharing
Every single team in the league is profitable right now, and the eight original teams in the SSL would like more of the pie because they are the eight biggest markets. Meanwhile, Detroit, Newark, and Louisville have been very successful lately financially, so that makes eleven out of twenty teams that would benefit from not having to share revenue. There will be no revenue sharing in 1909.

Year on Ballot Reduced
The Hall of Fame ballot has become quite bulky with players staying on the ballot for 20 years. There are now enough former players to reduce the size of the ballot. Players will now remain on the ballot for only 15 years.

[fuzzy_patters]

Here were the statistical leaders for the Abolitionists in 1908. Brian Metz was traded to Pittsburgh at the trading deadline.

[fuzzy_patters]

My owner has three goals after our third place finish. This is going to be tough.

• Win the championship
• Build a dynasty
• Upgrade at catcher

[fuzzy_patters]

October 3, 1909

Dear Diary,



These are the starters as we end the 1908 season. Bill Wilson will have his work cut out for him managing this team in 1909. Sanchez, Schrock, Frey, and Licon are all 34 or older with Schrock, who led the team with 5.4 WAR, entering is age 40 season. We need to find some young talent to replace some of these guys. Philadelphia is a much younger team, and they finished 9 games in front of us this year.

Before I worry about that, I should find a catcher so that maybe I can protect my job...

[fuzzy_patters]

October 4, 1908

Dear Diary,

I made a trade. Mike Marquez has been one of our best prospects for awhile now, but he has been blocked by Willie Sanchez for years. Willie is 37 years old, but he is a legend in Cincinnati so I can't trade him. Newark wants Marquez and has offered me catcher David Robinson, who hit .284 last year and minor league centerfielder Carlos Hernandez. I'm going for it. I need to upgrade at catcher so that I can keep my job!

[fuzzy_patters]

October 5, 1908

While riding the trolly into work this morning, I couldn't wait to receive the telegram for this year's Gilded Glove winners. Would any of the Abs make it? I was very excited to see that first baseman Dave Burton and shortstop Alex Martinez both made it. It looks like our infield defense is in good shape for 1909, and we have improved offensively at catcher. I can't wait for the new season! I might have to go to a picture show. Maybe I should see a comedy like DW Griffith's Deceived Slumming Party that came out last July. It's so hard to see a show during the season.

[fuzzy_patters]

October 7, 1908

I can still remember, in baseball's early days, sitting in the stands as a young general manager, excited for the possibility of an Abs victory, only to see "Clang" Alexander, of the Chicago Union, hit line drives all over the park. Ever since, it has always been exciting to hear who each year's Clang award winners are, and this year it is especially exciting because 39 year old Mike Schrock is this year's shortstop winner. I hope that he has another good year left in him

Top Sluggers Win SSL Clang Alexander Award Honors
For their standout offensive performances, the Stars and Stripes League today announced the winners of the Clang Alexander Award. The winners for 1908 are:

Pitcher
Ben Lipscomb (Philadelphia Congress)
.328/.339/.376, 125 AB, 114 wRC+, 1.5 WAR

Catcher
Jason Medlin (Baltimore Shippers)
.278/.360/.339, 493 AB, 1 HR, 5 SB, 130 wRC+, 5.9 WAR

First Baseman
Mike Farmer (Philadelphia Congress)
.298/.375/.357, 507 AB, 1 HR, 4 SB, 135 wRC+, 3.9 WAR

Second Baseman
Steve Byers (Philadelphia Congress)
.295/.313/.433, 430 AB, 1 HR, 30 SB, 140 wRC+, 4.2 WAR

Third Baseman
Mike Schrock (Cincinnati Abolitionists)
.260/.361/.355, 484 AB, 5 HR, 3 SB, 134 wRC+, 5.4 WAR

Shortstop
Jesse Savage (New York Immigrants)
.360/.409/.446, 397 AB, 3 HR, 180 wRC+, 7.0 WAR

Left Fielder
Bill Taylor (New York Immigrants)
.323/.347/.526, 331 AB, 29 SB, 176 wRC+, 2.7 WAR

Center Fielder
Josh Cook (Philadelphia Congress)
.322/.379/.429, 538 AB, 5 HR, 93 SB, 163 wRC+, 6.2 WAR

Right Fielder
Fernando Nevarez (St. Louis Survivors)
.252/.324/.346, 437 AB, 2 HR, 22 SB, 121 wRC+, 3.9 WAR

Clang Alexander Award Winners Named for the GABL
There was no shortage of offensive contribution from this year's Great American Baseball League Clang Alexander Award honorees.

The winners were recognized today for their solid offensive contributions in 1908:

Pitcher
Dave Mojica (New Orleans Rebels)
.293/.311/.310, 116 AB, 87 wRC+, 1.1 WAR

Catcher
Chris Giannakopoulos (New Orleans Rebels)
.302/.364/.384, 497 AB, 3 HR, 146 wRC+, 7.1 WAR

First Baseman
Jason Young (Louisville Speed)
.307/.365/.414, 430 AB, 7 HR, 2 SB, 154 wRC+, 5.0 WAR

Second Baseman
Dan O'Toole (Louisville Speed)
.285/.343/.411, 550 AB, 6 HR, 33 SB, 141 wRC+, 5.5 WAR

Third Baseman
Travis Brown (Detroit Electric)
.293/.333/.393, 529 AB, 9 HR, 138 wRC+, 5.5 WAR

Shortstop
Fumiki Sakamoto (Washington Presidents)
.304/.364/.440, 368 AB, 3 HR, 27 SB, 163 wRC+, 6.3 WAR

Left Fielder
Josh Stroud (New Orleans Rebels)
.328/.396/.424, 500 AB, 2 HR, 2 SB, 157 wRC+, 3.8 WAR

Center Fielder
Phil Riley (New Orleans Rebels)
.276/.314/.417, 463 AB, 2 HR, 49 SB, 135 wRC+, 4.4 WAR

Right Fielder
Matt Sweeney (Cincinnati Abolitionists)
.290/.332/.425, 466 AB, 3 HR, 35 SB, 151 wRC+, 2.6 WAR

[fuzzy_patters]

October 8, 1908

Dearest diary,

It looks like two second basemen have won the Kyle Strickland Award as the top rookies in the league. Neither of them are as good as the real Kyle Strickland, who starred for us twenty-plus years ago. The award went to Louisville's Dan O'Toole and Philadelphia's Steve Byers. Both are 22. Neither hit over .300 for the season and only one of them topped 50 RBIs. What an underwhelming rookie class?!?

[fuzzy_patters]

October 8, 1908

The winning managers were the World Series managers. I'm shocked. Today was so boring that I went shopping instead of working on baseball. I bought one of these new-fangled Model Ts that were released a week ago. Now I need to learn how to drive.

[fuzzy_patters]

October 9, 1908

I really hate Ben Lipscomb, but I would love him if he were on my team. We couldn't beat him when he pitched for New York, and we can't beat him pitching for Philadelphia. Now he has won his third Corey Garvey Award. Twenty-two wins and a 2.15 ERA seem kind of high for him, but for anyone else it would be a great season. It was still enough to win the award.

In the GABL, Arturo Diaz won the award for Detroit by going 21-12 with a 1.81 ERA. He is only 26. I wish that he pitched for me. Once upon a time, I traded for Corey Garvey, so maybe there's a chance...

[fuzzy_patters]

October 10, 1908

Philadelphia was damn good this year. We finished 9 games behind them, but it is hard to feel bad about it when they swept the major awards. Josh Cook was just named the MVP after hitting .322, and they also won the Kyle Strickland, Corey Garvey, and Manager of the Year Awards. They have an incredible team.

Arturo Diaz won the MVP. He was also the pitcher of the year. I really, really, really, wish that he pitched for us. Our pitchers are sometimes wilder than my driving my Model T!

[fuzzy_patters]

October 12, 1908

Talk about underrated! Josh Stroud of New Orleans had 38 doubles this year, and the second most was only 28. Maybe he should have been considered for the MVP! He only led the league in hits with 164, doubles with 38, and average with .328. He's good.

[fuzzy_patters]

October 15, 1908

Dear Diary,

I must give Philadelphia credit. They just don't stop trying to improve. Today they traded RF Travis Mergler, who hit .277 with 39 SB last year to Cleveland for LHP Glenn Osbore, who was 13-17 with a 2.81 ERA last year. Cleveland had a losing record and was second to last in pitching last year. This is a dumb deal for Cleveland, but I'm sure that Philadelphia will benefit from it.

Meanwhile, Chicago and Pittsburgh also made a trade. Pittsburgh will get 1B Kevin Provence, who hit .284 in 168 AB for Chicago last year, and Chicago will get LHP Steve Seidelman, who was 11-15 with a 2.07 ERA. That looks like an unbalanced trade in Chicago's favor until you consider that Chicago is getting a 38 year old, and Pittsburgh is getting a 28 year old. Pittsburgh had a losing record last year while Chicago was 12 games over .500, so I think that this deal makes sense for both teams. Pittsburgh is getting younger, and Chicago is getting better.

[fuzzy_patters]

October 19, 1908

Dear Diary,

Boy can this Model T fly! It runs almost as fast as reigning MVP Josh Cook, who set the record last year with 93 SBs! He is one of two players to set a record or two this past season. The other was Larry Roberston, who set two of them for Milwaukee. Robertson had the lowest H/IP (6.07) and lowest opponents' batting average (.192) of all time. Robertson has quietly been a great pitcher for Milwaukee. Some of these "scoops" in the papers need to get a load of him.

[fuzzy_patters]

October 20, 1908

Rumor has it that Pat Jones of New York is now going by "Fat Pat" Jones. That makes sense since he is 20 pounds heavier than anyone else in baseball.

[fuzzy_patters]

October 31, 1908

Happy Halloween! This year I think that I will dress up like Teddy Roosevelt. You've got to love Teddy!

In other news, the winter meetings start tomorrow. I could still use an upgrade at first base or catcher. We will have to wait and see what happens.

[fuzzy_patters]

November 3, 1908

What a trade?!? The Boston Brahmins have traded four time Gilded Glove Award third baseman and two-time All-Star Ruben Gonzalez to the Milwaukee Germans for centerfielder Jim Ryan. At 29, Ryan has never made an All-Star team, but is four years younger than Gonzalez and hit .352 in 72 games played last year to Gonzalez's .275.

What does it mean for me? For me it means that Gonzalez, a guy who I traded mid-season last year lasted less than a year in Boston. I traded him for right fielder Jim Dutton last year. Dutton hit .302 in 51 at bats for us. Dutton will probably be a bench player for us this year.

[fuzzy_patters]

November 10, 1908

The Chicago Union and the St Louis Survivors made a trade. Chicago will get RF Fernando Nevarez, who hit .252 with 22 SBs for St Louis last year. St Louis will receive SS Joe "Coffin" McElwee, who hit .242 with 29 SBs for Chicago last year and is a great fielder, and 21 year old minor league centerfielder Andy Davis. Our scouts don't think that Davis is much of a prospect.

This is a scary trade for us. Chicago finished in fourth place, one place behind us, and St Louis finished in second, one place in front of us last year. St Louis will get an upgrade at shortstop over Tyler Matthew, who hit just .213 last year, while Chicago will get a right fielder who can also play center, where Jason Stanley hit just .208 last year. We don't need these teams to be getting better.

[fuzzy_patters]

November 11, 1908

There was no action in the SSL today, but there was a big trade in the GABL. The Louisiville Speed have acquired Roy Pizzi from Pittsburgh for minor league left fielder Trey Kelly. Pizzi is 38-years old, but he also was 21-18 with a 2.37 ERA last year for Pittsburgh. This is a great short-term pick-up for the defending GABL champions.