Out of the Shadows: The Eclipse League

[luckymann]

With the other three races each safely in the bag, all eyes turn once again to the FC American. Disappointingly, however, it proves a bit of a fizzer as the Dodgers, trailing the BYs by a game entering the final series, go down without a yelp - dropping the first two against the LibStars to bow out. The Buckeyes finish with an EL-record 106 wins.

Final standings as follows:

Batting titles to Danny Tartabull of St. Louis (316, 1st) and Baltimore's Luis Arraez (325, 1st). Willie Kirkland belts 39 HR to lead the league, whilst Wyman Smith just edges out George Bell with 124 RBI to 123. Cool Papa Bell sets a new all-time record with 91 stolen bases.

Andy Porter holds his form to close out the year with an EL-high 26 wins against just 4 losses, a new all-time winning percentage of 867.His 2.51 ERA is also the league's best, while Gene Collins and Carlos Zambrano tie with 302 K.

Not quite at the levels of his rookie 1969 or unrivalled 1972 campaigns, but ShoTime collects 8.8 pWAR and 3.6 bWAR for a total of 12.4, while leading the WC with a 528 SLG and whacking 34 HR as well as winning 21 games on the mound. His career combined total now sits at 78.2.

Award-winners for September:

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: David Ortiz (West) 344 / 7 HR / 24 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Darltie Cooper (Black Yankees) 5-0 / 2.36 / 16 K / 49.2 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Nate Moreland (West) 3-2 / 2.09 / 34 K / 47.1 IP.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Willie Kirkland (American Giants) 352 / 7 HR / 22 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Shohei Ohtani (Buckeyes) 4-1 / 1.32 / 49 K / 54.2 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: William Anderson (Athletics) 3-1 / 2.16 / 5 SV / 12 K / 16.2 IP.

Final Top 20s:

Hitters - Overall

Hitters - NeLers

Pitchers - Overall

Pitchers - NeLers

News and final leaders:

[luckymann]

Fleet Conference

Cuban Stars West (91-71) v New York Black Yankees (87-75)

Best of seven, West with home-field advantage.

• In another stunning series that goes the distance, the West come back to win the last two at home to take down the BYs.
• The result is in doubt until the very final out with Oscar Estrada cementing his spot in CSW folklore with a complete game win in the decider.
• Big Papi hits 320 with 2 big flies to secure the MVP award.

Weldy Conference

Cleveland Buckeyes (106-56) v Baltimore Elite Giants (91-71)

Best of seven, ABCs with home-field advantage.

• Far from the straightforward summary execution one might have anticipated from a 106-win team, as the Buckeyes labour before finally putting the EGs away in six.
• Three of those are decided by a run as Baltimore makes a solid account of itself in the club's first ever playoff appearance.
• With 2 wins and 3 homers, ShoTime is named series MVP.

[luckymann]

Cleveland Buckeyes v Cuban Stars West

Best of seven, Buckeyes with home-field advantage.

As much as you have to think the Bucks will just have too much firepower for Los Cubanos here, the West has met every challenge and overcome every obstacle they have faced this year, so to underestimate them is a parlous endeavour.

I do see Cleveland getting the deserved prize here, but I also think they'll have to work harder for it than ever and that this series will be a seven-game classic.

Sadly, this bird never properly gets to fly as the Buckeyes are too professional, too clinical, too ruthless and put the West away in five.

Cleveland catcher Bob Watson is named MVP after going 6-for-19 with two homers and 6 RBI.

Game 1





Game 2





Game 3





Game 4





Game 5

[luckymann]

GRANT MEDAL (MOST VALUABLE PLAYER)

STOVEY MEDAL (PITCHER OF THE YEAR)

WHITE PLATE (RELIEVER OF THE YEAR)




FOWLER MEDAL (ROOKIE OF THE YEAR)




GARRETT BUTTON (MANAGER OF THE YEAR)

FC: Jerry Collins, West
WC: Minoru Imamura, Buckeyes


KINDLING AWARD (SILVER SLUGGER)
FC / WC




SLICK AWARD (GOLD GLOVE)
FC / WC

[luckymann]

The EL is going to have quite a different look to it come 1976 with a veritable stampede of big names moving clubs via Free-Agency. Just check out the cream of the crop now up for grabs.

For the Draft, this year's NeL Cat A players are Bill Byrd and Lazaro Salazar (Smoky Joe Williams was the FA), with the MLB hotshots including Felix Hernandez, Dusty Baker (what timing!), Andres Galarraga and Carl Everett.

Once again it is the Bacharach Giants with the first overall pick, which they use on King Felix, with Hilldale then choosing Dusty.

Here's Round 1 in full:

[CubMariner]

Gonna be some checkbooks getting overtime work in the coming off-season

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by CubMariner

Gonna be some checkbooks getting overtime work in the coming off-season

Too right.

[luckymann]

Atlantic City Bacharach Giants

Brooklyn Royal Giants

Newark Dodgers

New York Black Yankees

Pittsburgh Crawfords

[luckymann]

Birmingham Black Barons

Cuban Stars West

Kansas City Monarchs

Memphis Red Sox

St. Louis Giants

[luckymann]

Baltimore Elite Giants

Hilldale Athletic Club

Homestead Grays

New York Lincoln Giants

Philadelphia Liberty Stars

[luckymann]

Chicago American Giants

Cleveland Buckeyes

Cuban Stars East

Detroit Motown Stars

Indianapolis ABCs

[luckymann]

Unparalleled anticipation to see what the EL has in store for us in the 1976 season. So many fascinating permutations with all of the various moves and perhaps the tightest race yet awaits us, if BNN is on point.

Here are the net WAR gains and losses from the offseason:

And those preseason prognostications, with all four races predicted to go down to the wire.

Barry has reclaimed the #1 position player ranking, with rookie Hulon Stamps a surprise at the top of the pitchers' list.

Prospect-wise, Al Smith projects the best, although he isn't expected to hit the EL for a while yet.

Finally, the franchise finances on OD:

A wee hiatus while I get those pesky Janus Reports done and then we'll be on our way!

NB I have picked up that erroneous spelling for Hulon and fixed it.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

We are off and running, with Hank Thompson giving us some early fireworks against poor old AC, who start 0-7 and currently sit at 3-10. Ozzie Guillen also has a 5-for-6 game for the BYs.

Which gives us an excuse to check out the career HR leaderboard.

[luckymann]

Another underwhelming start by the Kansas City Monarchs, who just don't seem able to get it together after looking set to dominate a few years back. Perhaps this fine game from catcher Jose Maria Fernandez will provide the necessary spark.

JMF, known as "Cuso" to his teammates, had one of the more extraordinary careers among the NeLers. It spanned nearly three decades, with Cuso still in the game professionally into his 50s! He almost exclusively played for various designations of the teams from his homeland of Cuba (he both was born and died in Guanabacoa), with the Cuban Stars East the team he is most closely linked to. Seamheads gives him a lifetime 275/315/340 slash, while EC has allotted him 14 MLE WAR points and Jim Riley makes distinct reference to his ability behind the plate. In a lot of ways he reminds me of Martin Maldonado.

Cuso entered the EL via the 1970 Draft, serendipitously taken with the 79th overall pick by that same club, the Cuban Stars East. Alas, he was traded a couple seasons later to the American Giants with two other players for Jose Quintana. He was let go by Chicago at the end of last year and signed with KC.

While he has struggled to have much impact with the bat (225 career BA with just 10 HR), his glove continues to sparkle, with him having already amassed nearly 20 ZR points and one Slick Award. He is currently the #1 catcher for the Mons, but is only on a 1-year deal with them at the time of writing.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

A relatively low-key start, with the BGs fighting back after their dreadful first week and the Giants the biggest surprise of all in the early going.

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: David Ortiz (West) 349 / 9 HR / 23 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Nate Moreland (West) 5-1 / 2.75 / 46 K / 52.1 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Joel Pinero (Giants) 3-2 / 2.86 / 34 K / 44 IP.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Eric Chavez (American Giants) 410 / 8 HR / 23 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Shohei Ohtani (Buckeyes) 4-1 / 1.02 / 42 K / 53 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Bob Oliver (Lincoln Giants) 387 / 4 HR / 10 RBI.

Likewise in the TL, with the Indy Clowns off to a nice start.

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Robert Hudspeth (Choo-Choos) 378 / 6 HR / 17 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Johnny Taylor (Choo-Choos) 4-0 / 3.61 / 21 K / 42.1 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Jerry White (Clowns) 424 / 6 HR / 18 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Alcibiades Palma (Clowns) 4-0 / 1.01 / 13 K / 26.2 IP.

[luckymann]

Not much illuminating to be done here, I'm afraid, with James "Sonny" Harris being one of the many NeL players all but lost to posterity.

We know he was born in 1914 in Kent, AL and died in Cincy 76 years later. We know that his career was a fleeting one, with just 5 games played in 1934 for the Philly Stars, 5 more played in '36 for the Cincinnati Tigers and another 36 the following year for the same club. Then, after four years of silence, we know he reappears for 5 more games in 1942 with the Buckeyes. Seamheads gives him a career line of 290/375/503 in a total of 184 PAs, with 2 HR and 30 RBI.

Of the numerous books I have, only Jim Riley mentions him and he does so in a one-paragraph entry that sheds next to no light on the matter. He has a BBRef page but it tells us nothing we don't already know, and he isn't included in Eric's MLEs. Bizarrely, he has a Wikipedia page - albeit a nearly empty one. Further digging unearths nothing.

By dint of a 421 BA in that 1936 season, however, he imports incandescently hot. And, with the EL being a dev-only save, that may well mean he gets a really nice career in this league. The Grays certainly hope so, as they gave him a 7-year / $3m contract when he entered the league as a FA at the end of last year.

They'll like what they have seen so far.

And especially what he did today against the Elite Giants.

As per usual, we'll revisit Sonny intermittently along the way.

[luckymann]