A "Historical" Romp (1871-2015)

[Trebro]

While waiting for the patch to hit (and to ensure it's stable), I decided to just throw together a quick historical run-through, and share some notes every decade or so.

This is using Spritze database, but otherwise, it's OOTP's historical settings out of the box for OOTP16, including league evolution. I have talent set to the development engine instead of re-calc, Ratings are my usual 5-50-30-15 for the AI, and rosters are set to 15 (1871-1880), 20 (1881-1900), and 25 (1900-on). Trading is low, draft is on for simplicity, and I think that's all you need to know. Hope you enjoy over the next couple of days!

[Trebro]

Some notes from the first decade:

• The National League, led by the team that's currently the Buffalo Bisons and their 5 Championships, dominated the American League 7-3 in the World Series.
• The Philadelphia Athletics were none too pleased to get bounced out, as they'd won 4 pennants and 1 championship from 1871-1876

• Ned Cuthbert (1871) and Abner Dalrymple (1880) have both hit for the cycle. The latter did it in only 5 AB!
• Ed Morris came one error away from a perfect game. He gets the league's only no-hitter, though, and faces just 27 batters, winning the game 1-0 in 1880.
• Fred Waterman has the longest hitting streak, at 34 games in 1874.
• Ed Morris has 2 Pitching triple crowns in back to back years (1879-1880).
• George Derby had a pitching triple crown in 1877.
• George Hall, with 3HR-.385-47RBI, gets a batting triple crown in 1873.

• Joe Gerhardt has 6 Steady Hands (Gold Gloves) at SS.
• Ross Barnes has 6 Big Sticks (Silver Slugger), 2 at 2B and 4 at SS.
• Fred Treacey had 5 Big Sticks in 5 years in the OF, then fell apart and is toiling in the minors.

• No one has broken 1000 hits yet. Ross Barnes is closest, at 762. He's the career average leader at .338, and WAR at 28.2
• No one has hit .400 yet. Closest was Barnes, at .392 in 1879.
• Cy Bentley has 179 wins to top all pitchers. Cherokee Fisher won 35 in a year, currently tops. Bentley has 225 complete games of 317 total.

Time for another decade. 1891 may also see us start to enshrine folks in the Hall of Fame, too--or maybe not!

[Trebro]

If there's anyone you're curious about, just let me know and I'll look them up. Obviously, the 19th century folks aren't quite as well know, but I expect I'll get this all the way to 2015, if for no other reason than to get back into regular dynasty posting practice.

[Trebro]

Ross Barnes is the first to 1,000 hits. At his age, he's unlikely to see 2,000 but it's still fun to be the first to the post:



Look at those icons!

Cy Bentley is the first to hit 200 wins, just barely. He got hurt and is working his way back. I dunno if 300 wins is possible, we'll see:

[Trebro]

A look at the past 10 years:

• The National League won 6 of 10 World Series, but 2 of the American League wins came when the game moved the Buffalo Bison to the AL and named them the Brooklyn Grays.
• Now called the Brooklyn Grooms, that Grays (formerly Bison and many others) is the most successful franchise, with 9 World Series wins in 9 tries!
• No other team has more than 2 World Series wins. Only the Chicago Colts (formerly White Stockings and other teams) are anywhere closer, with 5 Pennants and 2 World Series wins.

• Ice Box Chamberlin, in 1884, managed to K 18 batters. That's the MLB record so far.
• Ed Morris, who looks to be one of the all-time greats, added two more no-hitters. He now has 3 for his career, and is only 28, so there's plenty of time for more.
• Egyptian Healy and Bill Sweeney both have 2 no-hitters each.
• Morris got a 3rd Pitching triple crown. No batters reached that feat.

• Dave Orr is now the all-time hits leader with 1473. He's 31, so there's a shot at 2000 or more. King Kelly is right behind him, with 1461.
• Ross Barnes retired with 1301 hits.
• Elmer Foster is the first player to 100 home runs.
• Bill Sweeney of the 2 no-hitters is the first pitcher to 300 wins, nabbing that honor in 1890 as part of a 29-win season. In this decade, he's won 23 or more games every year.
• Cy Bentley retired with 247 wins.
• Sweeney has 417 of 529 complete games. That's good for over 4500 innings pitched!
• Two pitchers, Sweeney (2718) and Hardie Henderson (2762) are over 2000 strikeouts.

• Dave Orr hit .410 in 1887, the only player to reach .400 so far.
• Pete Browning had 219 hits in 1889, the most so far. 3 other players, including Orr, have 200 or more hits in a year.
• Elmer Foster hit 32 HR in 1887. He's the only one with 30 or more so far in MLB, and only 4 others have hit 20 or more HR in a year.
• Jersey Bakley had 44 wins in 1884, a year diluted by the Union League. Hardie Henderson got 41 that same year.Jack Leary had 40 in 1887.

1884 was such a weird year. Bobby Matthews went 22-1, George Wetzel pitched 546 innings, and Hardie Henderson struck out 549. What a year of the pitcher!

As of yet, no one has made the Hall of Fame. Only 9 players have been eligible, and only Lip Pike, whose career was short but dominant (Black ink of 73, Grey ink of 167) got any traction so far. We shall see if he can get over the hump, which I have set at 80% (but with 20 years and 20 votes to do it).

On to the 1890s!

[Trebro]

Bill Sweeney was not just a first round draft pick--he was a #1 overall. There's a lot of pressure that goes into that position, but Sweeney hasn't wavered a bit. The now 32-year old, who never saw any seasoning in the minor leagues that the majors are contracted with, has been a buzzsaw, netting 20 wins or more from 1881 to 1893, and only saw his streak ended by injury in 1894. He's simply amazing, and a sure-fire Hall of Famer, once he quits.



The injury puts his future in doubt, but if he can remain even healthy enough to net 10-12 wins a year, reaching 500 victories isn't out of the realm of possibility. Even if not, the 14-time All Star, 3-time Best Pitcher has stories he can tell his children and grandchildren.

[Trebro]

When you're over 30 in OOTP, it's dangerous territory, especially when there's only 12 major league teams. David Orr learned this the hard way. Though he's still the all-time hits leader (for now), he got stuck on 1989 hits, 11 away from a very different dynasty post:



As you can see, the 11-time All-Star and 4-time Steady Hands winner nabbed 9 Big Stick awards at First Base, but once he started to struggle just a bit, the Washington Senators sold him off to a California team, where he ended up hitting just .236 in his final season (1896).

Orr will likely end up in the Hall of Fame, but he could have been so much more...

[Trebro]

Remember 3-time Pitching Triple Crown winner Ed Morris? After looking like he was going to be the best there ever was, Morris stumbled. His control never was amazing, but as we turned into the 1890s, it really fell apart, including 250 walks in 1891. St. Louis eventually had enough and shipped him off to a minor league team. They brought him back sparingly, when there was need, but Morris never looked the same.



His overall numbers look good for the Hall, but those free passes will always haunt what could have been an outstanding career, not just an amazing one.

[Trebro]

Sometimes, potential is all a person has. Drafted in the second round, rumors swirled that Cy Young might go on to great things. It never played out that way:



Young never even saw the majors, and with good reason, given those stats. When he finally didn't come back for another year in the minors, Young looked at the field one last time and said, "I wonder if there's a version of me out there that made it?"

[Trebro]

Taking over for the Buffalo/Brooklyn powerhouse, the Washington Senators absolutely controlled this past decade, going to the World Series a record 9 times in a row, and winning four of the 5 titles taken by the American League in a split decade. The Senators, who were the Nats in the NL for a few years in the 1880s, were also 2-time champs in the Senior Circuit in that decade, so they've had one heck of a run.

Among the Senators who have controlled baseball include Fred Clarke (career ave of .342) and Gus Krok (281 career wins).

There were several members of the 2000 club in the past two seasons: Harry Spies (2220), Buster Burrell (2205), Billy Nash (2119), and Hunky Hines (2024). All are 33 or older, making 3000 hits something unlikely for this generation of players.

Speaking of Harry Spies, he got to 200 HR first, and has 239 total. Gonna be awhile till we get a 300 HR hitter, let alone 500.

There were no major changes on the pitching side. Sweeney's records are going to be hard to top.

Ed Breckinridge hit 33 HR in 1894, setting a new record.

The Hall of Fame has been a disappointment. Despite setting an 80% threshold, allowing up to 20 votes has led to bloat, I think. I'll leave it alone for this dynasty, but I think I now see why current MLB is using a limit of 10. The Hall has 6 batters, including former hit champs Ross Barnes and Ty Cobb, and 10 pitchers, led by Cy Bentley. There's a lot of "best in his time" going on, I think, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. More deserving folks (300+ wins, 2000+ hits) should be forthcoming.

Time to start the 20th Century!

[Trebro]

In our world, Cap Anson, one of baseball's many talented yet horrible people, was the first to reach 3000 hits, doing so in 1897. In this dynasty, he was good but not amazing, and retired with less than half that number.

We're moving into the 1909 season here in this romp, and no one has yet reached the milestone, nor does it look likely to happen anytime soon.

Remember the 2000 hit club I posted about? Well, they've wrapped up their time in the show, and none got further than Buster Burrell, who managed 2801:



Burrell had a great career, mostly with Pittsburgh, and is a sure-fire member of the Hall of the Grey Ink. Still, he faded at the end and came up just a bit short. His attempts to hang on for a minor team saw him barely hitting over .200

Harry Spies, bar-none one of the best home run hitters of the 19th Century and first to 200 round-trips, played until he was 38, but ended up at just 2580. Also: He led the league in HR for 15 consecutive years!!!



It's going to be a long time before another catcher is this good.

Hunkey Hines is also a member of the 200 HR, 2000 hits club. He didn't have a bad run, but also missed by nearly 500 hits. As an aside, he kept battling in the minors, hitting around .250 here in his final years, trying for one last shot.



And there's no one even close right now, either. Ed McFarland has 2194, but is 34 years old and only managed 36 hits in 1908. Willie Keeler has 2132, but he's been sold to a minor league team at age 36.

But I hear good things about this Cobb kid, who has 600 hits at age 22....

[Trebro]

Though I'm sure the Pirates would have liked to move on sooner, Pittsburgh's baseball club was classy enough to use the 1908 season to help Scott Stratton get to exactly 400 wins. He is only the second player to do so, and likely the last. (Interestingly, Gus Weyhing, who has not played in the majors since 1902 but is still active in the minors at the age of 43, hoping for a call to glory one last time, is also playing within the system of lower-level teams associated with Pittsburgh.)

Stratton is playing a step below the majors in the New England area right now, but given his age, he's likely done at 400. Still, an amazing feat for a man who was solid but never amazing, and will certainly get his call to the Hall when the time comes.

[Trebro]

The World Series was split 5-5 this time. The Senators returns to the dance 3 times, but won it all only once. Pennsylvania was the real winner this decade: The Phillies (3 wins) and the Pirates (1) took 4 of the five Championships and went to the Series a total of seven times between them.

Overall, it was a slow decade. The OOTP random engine is being very brutal this time around to our historical figures as the pass the magical age-30 mark as I noted in my earlier post about no one getting 3,000 hits. I used real stats and no re-calc, so they're on their own here. I also went with my standard 5% ratings/50% current year/30% last year/15% 2 years ago setting, so it's a bit odd that we've seen this happen. I do a LOT of this kind of thing--I like seeing how it changes sim to sim--and this is by far the worst I've seen for veteran players, known or obscure. I'll be curious to see if this trend continues.

Because of the attrition, there's not a lot of notable counting stats that hit this decade. Here's a few of interest:

• Sam Crawford, long-time Chicago Cub center-fielder, hit his 250th triple, and now has 251 for his career. That's the best in history.
• Ed Breckinridge ended his career in 1905 as the all-time home run king. He crossed all four bags a total of 266 times for Pittsburgh (leading the league 9 years in a row at one point), and also amassed 2,019 hits in a sure-fire Hall of Fame career.
• John Gillroy snuck over the 500 steals mark, with 509, for his career. Playing with several teams, he also amassed 2383 hits.
• He may have competition from 1910 Best Greenhorn, Dwight Wertz. Playing for Boston, the young man stole 74 bases, a new MLB record.
• Tommy Adkins had 11 shutouts in 1906, a new record.

Notable Hall of Famers:

• Ed Morris was on 100% of the Ballots. He's still the only one with 3 triple crowns and 3 no-hitters.
• Bill Sweeney and his 418 wins was also 100%.

I'm hoping for some more interesting things next decade. This one was kind of blah.

[Trebro]

When Ed Morris retired after falling off a cliff in his early 30s, no pitcher had even come close to approaching his dominance. No one until Dutch Leonard, that is.

After another amazing season in 1917, Leonard took his 3rd pitching triple crown, matching Morris (though Morris did it 3 years in a row). He is just 25 and in an era where he is only getting 1/4 of the starts compared to the 2 and 3 man rotations of Morris' era, has already amassed 177 wins and 2466 strikeouts. He's not only a starter, the man comes in to finish off games as well, as you can see:



A second overall pick by Brooklyn, he never was sold off to a minor-league team, either, so all of his pro ball is with the elite talent. If he can remain healthy, Leonard may break all the major pitching records.

[Trebro]

It's absolutely unbelievable how talented the Ruth twins* are. While brother Babe continues his work as a winning pitcher for the loser Yankees, no mean feat in itself, Herman is blasting National League pitching. He won the first batting triple crown in 26 years in 1918. A look at his career, all with the Cincinnati Reds:



Even with teams walking Ruth at every chance, he's still putting up unprecedented numbers at just age 23. It looks as if the talent drain we'd seen between 1891 and 1911 is finally breaking.

*I didn't know if I wanted him to be a pitcher or a hitter in this dynasty, so I cloned him. Babe is a star pitcher with the Yankees, ironically enough, while this post is on his twin brother, Herman, who plays right field and looks poised to be a beast. Forget the Waners, here's the Ruths!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Trebro

It's absolutely unbelievable how talented the Ruth twins* are. While brother Babe continues his work as a winning pitcher for the loser Yankees, no mean feat in itself, Herman is blasting National League pitching. He won the first batting triple crown in 26 years in 1918. A look at his career, all with the Cincinnati Reds:

Attachment 413503

Even with teams walking Ruth at every chance, he's still putting up unprecedented numbers at just age 23. It looks as if the talent drain we'd seen between 1891 and 1911 is finally breaking.

*I didn't know if I wanted him to be a pitcher or a hitter in this dynasty, so I cloned him. Babe is a star pitcher with the Yankees, ironically enough, while this post is on his twin brother, Herman, who plays right field and looks poised to be a beast. Forget the Waners, here's the Ruths!

I like the idea of cloning Ruth. It'll be interesting to see how Herman does as home runs increase over the next couple years.

[Trebro]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

I like the idea of cloning Ruth. It'll be interesting to see how Herman does as home runs increase over the next couple years.

Yeah, I think if I use real players for a future dynasty, certain players may get brothers, either to see them play out as pitcher and hitter (like Ruth) or just see what it might be like to compare their careers, like having 2 Ted Williams or something. I dunno, we'll see!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Trebro

Yeah, I think if I use real players for a future dynasty, certain players may get brothers, either to see them play out as pitcher and hitter (like Ruth) or just see what it might be like to compare their careers, like having 2 Ted Williams or something. I dunno, we'll see!

I like the twin idea, that would be interesting.

[Trebro]

The New York Giants absolutely ruled the past decade with an iron fist, going to the world series 6 times between 1913 and 1919, with only the St. Louis Cardinals sneaking in in 1916. They won twice in a row in each set of three straight appearances, too. Meanwhile the American League saw the White Sox go 5 times, winning on 3 occasions. Both teams were just powerhouses, with no signs of slowing down (they both finished 2nd in 1920).

The Giants are led by superstar Ty Cobb, who now has 2529 hits and a shot at making 3000. Though slowed by injuries of late, he's been a model of consistency, averaging .308 for his career, with 444 doubles, 633 stolen bases, and 946 runs batted in.

Eddie Collins is Cobb's teammate, and he's no less formidable. He's got 784 steals, 2296 hits, and a career average of .286. It's no wonder these two have the Giants at the top of the heap more often than not.

The White Sox are built as a team. No one really stands out, but they are either 2nd or 3rd in almost every category, both offensively an defensively. It's not a team of stars, but it's one where only one regular is batting under .260 and only the little-used 5th starter has an ERA over 3.00.

A look at some other notable bits from the last decade:

• Ty Cobb set the record for hits with 228, in 1911.
• Rogers Hornsby's 49 doubles in 1920 is a new record.
• Yam Yaryan hits 34 home runs in 1920, to establish a new bar, edging Ed Breckenridge by 1. The all-time record is not even close to in danger, the next person active has only 121.
• Eddie Collins also set the stolen base record for one year with 85, in 1912.

[Trebro]

While brother Babe's pitching is winding down a bit as a result of livelier bats, Herman Ruth is flourishing under the new regime of baseball. Not only did he get his second triple crown in 4 years, he set a new home run record with 44, a new WAR record of 11.9, and was Best Batter, Steady Heads in RF and Big Stick in RF.

What a year! What a career! How far can Ruth go?