P L A G U E !!!!!

[metsgeek]

Damn, I just realized that I forgot to post the election polls. I seriously have my head up my rectum.

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by metsgeek

Damn, I just realized that I forgot to post the election polls. I seriously have my head up my rectum.

tsk tsk tsk

[metsgeek]

I've been completely distracted lately with a new project....setting up an online league similar to Time Warp Baseball.

Soon, I'll be posting the 1901-10 seasons in a new dynasty thread to give it a bit of history, then we'll go live in 1911.

Anyway, I apologize for the delay. I have a 3 day weekend, so I should be able to resume PLAGUE!, starting with the 1932 political conventions poll.

[orin2]

Hey! What the heck is going on???

[metsgeek]

Originally Posted by orin2

Hey! What the heck is going on???

Still distracted. I have some time tonight.

[metsgeek]

We're baaaaaaack! Sorry for the extended leave.

The 1932 political conventions are up. Vote HERE so I can get this rolling again

[THE GUT]

Welcome back....NOW GET TO WORK!!

[metsgeek]

PRESIDENT SMITH VOWS TO RUN IN NOVEMBER
Embattled incumbent will run as an independent; Barbour of New Jersey to be running mate

August 1, 1932

In the two weeks since the surprise nomination of Illinois Senator J. Hamilton Lewis to run on the Democratic ticket for President in the 1932 election, the man who currently holds the highest office in the land has been on a mission. Vowing to run as an independent, he has crossed party lines and convinced Senator William W. Barbour, Republican from New Jersey, to join him on the ticket.

"We don't know how this will affect the election whatsoever," stated an anonymous Washington insider. "Smith will leech off some of the Democratic votes, while Barbour will garner some Republican support, though the effect may be less, considering his relative inexperience."

Senator Barbour brushed off rumors that he was not President Smith's first choice to be his running mate. Appointed to the U.S. Senate by New Jersey Governor Morgan F. Larson soon after the death of his predecessor Dwight Morrow in October 1931, Barbour was vaulted into the public eye this spring with his vocal condemnation of the policies of the Magyar Dominion in the European conflict. He has continued to speak on this topic, urging the United States and their allies to interject themselves diplomatically, if not militarily.

Barbour also has some renown for being the amateur heavyweight boxing champion of the U.S. and Canada in 1910 and 1911. Rumor has it that both Theodore Roosevelt and "Gentleman Jim" Corbett wanted him to take up the mantle of "the great white hope" and fight Jack Johnson, the reigning professional heavyweight champion in 1913. While the idea apparently appealed to Barbour and, apparently, his father, his mother was adamantly opposed and firmly quashed the plan.



President Smith speaks at a campaign stop in Ohio.

When the announcement hit the wire, both the J. Hamilton Lewis and Alf Landon campaigns issued statements that were interestingly similar, despite coming from opposite sides of the fence.

Lewis welcomed the president's candidacy, but stated, "The practice of democracy is this nation's greatest legacy. We remain confident, however, that the public recognizes the need for a change in the highest office in the land."

Landon's comments were a bit less restrained, "President Smith may not be running under the banner of the Democratic Party, but you can't turn a donkey into an Arabian thoroughbred just by painting him white. The American public knows the president's record. They know that it is time for a change."

[Jpotapoff]

Wow, 1932 must have been a bad year for rookies. With both rookie of the year award winners being pictures with ERA's of 5+, and not spectacular winning percentages (one was 16 and 16 the other only 12 wins and 10 loses).

[canadiancreed]

A possibility of the US not being a two party system? Hmm...

[lewis31lewis52]

Originally Posted by Jpotapoff

Wow, 1932 must have been a bad year for rookies. With both rookie of the year award winners being pictures with ERA's of 5+, and not spectacular winning percentages (one was 16 and 16 the other only 12 wins and 10 loses).

Well that explains it, they were pictures. They couldn't even get pitchers to win the award. Walter Johnson, they are not.

Anyways, looks good. Can't wait until 1938!

[metsgeek]

NOTEWORTHY EVENTS - 1932

* Italicized events actually happened. If the event is partially italicized, the parts in normal type have been changed for this reality. The changes could be extremely minor or quite significant.

• January 3 - British arrest and intern Mohandas Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel
• January 12 - Hattie W. Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate
• January 25-29 - Anti-government riots across the C.C.P. are forcefully put down by the Army in the cities of Kiev, Uzhorod, Chernobyl and Lviv. Rioters are heard chanting fascist slogans and numerous flyers emblazoned with the arrow cross, symbol of the Magyar Dominion, are discovered throughout the countryside. Yakov Dzhugashvili, the estranged eldest son of Premier Josef Stalin is contacted by agents of the Magyar Dominion's Central Information Office, known as the KAH, or Központi Adat Hivatal, in an attempt to recruit him to their cause. He declines, but maintains contact with the agents, meeting with them multiple times over the next few months.
  
  
  Yakov Dzhugashvili & the hated Arrow Cross symbol
  
  
• March 1 - Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the infant son of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped.
• March 25 - Tarzan the Ape Man opens to rave reviews, with former Chicago Colt ace, Joseph "Chop" Tempkin, in the title role. Tempkin is under contract to star in a a number of sequels.
  
  
  L: Tempkin in his baseball days R: As the legendary ape-man
  
  
• April 17 - Haile Selassie announces an anti-slavery law in Abyssinia.
• May 12 - Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey just a few miles from the Lindbergh's home.
• June 6 - The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States at 1 cent per US gallon sold. Demonstrations across the country oppose the tax, blaming it solely on President Smith, despite his threats to veto the act earlier in the year.
• June 17 - As the U.S. Senate votes on the Patman Bonus Bill, which would move forward the date when World War I veterans receive a cash bonus, the "Bonus Army", an assemblage of about 20,000 World War I veterans, their families, and other affiliated groups, demonstrate in Washington, D.C. seeking immediate payment of a "bonus" granted by the Adjusted Service Certificate Law of 1924 for payment in 1945. They are led by Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant, and encouraged by an appearance from retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, one of the most popular military figures of the time. Most of the Bonus Army camps in a Smithville on the Anacostia Flats, a swampy, muddy area across the Anacostia River from the federal core of Washington. The protesters hope that they can convince Congress to make payments that had been granted to veterans immediately, which would provide relief for the marchers who were unemployed due to the Great Depression.
  
  
  Waters addresses the "Bonus Army" in front of the Capitol
  
  
• July 1-3: Republican National Convention - On the second ballot, Alf Landon, Senator from Arkansas, is chosen to represent the Republican Party as its candidate for President over Senator William Borah of Idaho. Also in the running were Senator Henry Hatfield of West Virginia and Senator James Eli Watson of Indiana.
• July 15-17: Democratic National Convention - In a shocking development, the Democratic Party chooses Senator J. Hamilton Lewis of Illinois over incumbent President Al Smith on the 35th ballot. Smith had held a slight plurality over the first 34 ballots, but never garnering more than 35%, with Lewis and Texas Governor Ross Sterling right on his heels. The decisive vote comes when Sterling bows out of the race after Lewis agrees to choose him as his running mate.
• July 18 - President Smith vows to run as an independent, stating that "The American public understands that you change horses midstream!" Ever controversial, he has crossed party lines and convinced Senator William W. Barbour, Republican from New Jersey, to join him on the ticket. Many Democrats are reported to be furious, saying he had all but guaranteed a Republican victory in November.
• July 27 - Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon announces that his running mate would be Senator Charles Curtis from Kansas. Some feel he is being foolish selecting someone from the same region of the country as his running mate, but they can't deny that the popular Curtis is one of the most recognizable names in the nation.
• July 28 - President Al Smith orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, DC. US troops dispersed the last of the "Bonus Army" the next day.
• July 30 - The 1932 Summer Olympics open in Los Angeles. President Smith is in attendance as well as his opponents Lewis and Landon.
• September 18 - Suffering from depression resulting from recent theatrical failures and a difficult divorce, actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide jumping from the letter H of the (then) Hollywoodland sign. Her bloody and broken body was discovered on September 18, 1932, in the brush at the base of the hill. When police examined the girl's belongings, in her purse they found a note that read: "I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E." Two days later, in an ironic twist, Entwistle's uncle opened a letter addressed to Peg from the Beverly Hills Playhouse. It was mailed the day before she jumped. In it was an offer for her to play the lead role in a stage production, in which her character would commit suicide in the final act.
  
  
  Miss Entwistle & the fateful iconic sign marking her demise
  
  
• September 20 - Mohandas Gandhi begins an hunger strike in Poona prison.
• November 7 - Buck Rogers in the 25th Century airs on radio for the first time.
• November 8 - U.S. presidential election: Republicans Alf Landon and Charles Curtis soundly defeat Democrats J. Hamilton Lewis and Ross Sterling and Independent President Al Smith in a landslide victory. The Landon/Curtis ticket wins 45 of 48 states, with New York and New Jersey going to the incumbent Smith, and Illinois going to Lewis.
• November 19 - The second wife of C.C.P. Premier Josef Stalin, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, is found dead in her home. Reports state she may have committed suicide by shooting herself after a quarrel with Stalin, leaving a suicide note which according to their daughter was "partly personal, partly political". Officially, she died of an illness.
• December 1 - Josef Stalin is shot in the stomach twice in an altercation with his son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, over politics. It is rumored that Stalin also disapproved of Yakov's choice of a Jewish woman as his wife. Dzhugashvili immediately surrenders to members of Stalin's guard rushing to the Premier's aid.
• December 25 - An earthquake hits the Kansu Province in China - 70,000 are reported dead.
• December 30 - Stalin dies in a Kiev hospital of complications from his stomach wounds.

[metsgeek]

IN MEMORIAM - 1933

FRANKIE HAYES
LEO TANKERSLEY
JOE MALAY
PEP YOUNG
TONY ROBELLO
MICKEY HASLIN
EDDIE HUNTER
IKE BOONE
AARON WARD
BURGESS WHITEHEAD
BOB JOHNSON
BILL DUNLAP
JOE MOWRY
JOE ZAPUSTAS
JOE KELLY
MILT BOCEK
IKE EICHRODT
MEM LOVETT
RALPH BIRKOFER
JACK KNOTT
SCHOOLBOY ROWE
ED LINKE
JOHN JACKSON
GOWELL CLASETT
JOHN CAMPBELL
ALEX MCCOLL
CHARLIE BUTLER
BOB ADAMS
HANK WINSTON

[metsgeek]

THOSE WHO HAVE BECOME MAGGOT CONDOS
1933

In addition to the players listed above, the following individuals will never make their mark on the world. They would have been born in 1933, but Haemorrhagic Fever struck them down.

CHITA RIVERA
CORAZON AQUINO
YOKO ONO
MICHAEL CAINE
QUINCY JONES
RUTH BADER GINSBURG
JAYNE MANSFIELD
BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL
JOHNNY UNITAS
LOUIS FARRAKHAN
DANNY AIELLO
JOAN RIVERS
BERT CONVY
DOM DELUISE
MICHAEL DUKAKIS
LARRY KING
LOU RAWLS
MORTON DOWNEY, JR.
NICHELLE NICHOLS

[Raidergoo]

July 27 - Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon announces that his running mate would be fellow Kansan senator, Charles Curtis. Some feel he is being foolish selecting someone from his own state as his running mate, but they can't deny that the popular Curtis is one of the most recognizable names in the nation.

This is a major error.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitut...ndmentxii.html

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves;

Remember how some fellows tried to claim Cheney was a Texan?

[metsgeek]

1933 Prospect Watch: BOB SAXON

Saxon probably will never be the best guy on the team. He may not even be the second or third best player, but scouts on a wide variety of teams agree that he has that intangible aspect that will make him a success in the big leagues. Minutes after meeting him, you know that he's destined to become a fan favorite. With his easygoing, laidback attitude and infectious guffaw, he is the type of player onto whom young fans of the game latch. He's not flashy, but he has a knack of delivering the hit just when his teams needs one. Saxon should go in the top half of this very rich draft.

Talents (Contact/Gap/Power/Eye/Avoid K): 78/61/62/46/51
Current Ratings: 39/31/31/23/26

[metsgeek]

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

July 27 - Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon announces that his running mate would be fellow Kansan senator, Charles Curtis. Some feel he is being foolish selecting someone from his own state as his running mate, but they can't deny that the popular Curtis is one of the most recognizable names in the nation.

This is a major error.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitut...ndmentxii.html

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves;

Oh well, I'm not a historian and I don't pretend to be.

I'll go back and fix it. Looks like Landon moved to Arkansas as a youth due to the high concentartion of plague outbreaks in Kansas.

Remember how some fellows tried to claim Cheney was a Texan?

Yeah, kinda like some people actually think Bush grew up in Texas and is a "real cowboy".

[metsgeek]

1933 DRAFT - Round 1

Cleveland pick: C Josh Gibson
Washington pick: 1B Dolph Camilli
Chicago pick: 1B Hal Trosky
Milwaukee pick: LF Hank Leiber
Buffalo pick: RF Phil Weintraub
Brooklyn pick: P Ray Prim
Cincinnati pick: LF Bob Saxon
Philadelphia pick: P Emil Roy
Detroit pick: CF Jimmy Crutchfield
Boston (C) pick: C Frank Reiber
Pittsburgh pick: 3B Cecil Travis
New York (C) pick: CF Tommy Thompson
New York (F) pick: CF Pete Fox
Boston (F) pick: C Harry Danning
St. Louis pick: P Dutch Leonard
Louisville pick: SS Lonny Frey

[orin2]

This was the best batch of deaths. I hate to say it but it is true. No longer must we suffer the lives of Yokho Ono and Joan Rivers.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by orin2

This was the best batch of deaths. I hate to say it but it is true. No longer must we suffer the lives of Yokho Ono and Joan Rivers.

But what about Michael Caine? That means he won't appear on The Simpsons, pretending to be Homer when Burnsey tires to make Bart his heir.

"Sorry, M.B., but I'm having trouble with this character. Is he supposed to have some kind of neurological impairment, like "Rain Man", or "Awakenings"? I mean, what the _hell_ am I doing here?!"