The Simplest Beginnings: From Amateurism in 1857, to Pro Ball (1870), Int'l Ball, & More

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JACOB MILBURN JOINS CHARLES BROPHY IN THE 3,000 HIT CLUB

With his second hit during the Pennsylvania Quakers’ game at new crosstown rivals the Philadelphia Tigers on April 29th, Jacob Milburn became the second player to reach 3,000 hits during his professional career. While it took Brophy until his 21st season with the Knickerbockers to reach the feat, Milburn did at the tail end of the first month of season #17 as a pro.

Konrad Jensen is unofficially the third member of the “3,000 Hit Club” because about forty percent of his hits came before professional baseball even existed.

Milburn’s career batting average at the time of hit number 3,000: A mere .404, which is not a typo. His career OPS at the time of the hit was 1.031, and when considering the comparatively light power output of the time that meant his career OPS+ was 190.

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APBL 1898: PROVIDENCE FINALLY GOES DOWN – SIX-YEAR REIGN ENDED BY BUFFALO & EXCELSIOR!

Going into the 1898 preseason the Northeastern punditry decided that after the Providence Saints won yet another President’s Cup, even though they lost ace and team leader Charles Wilkerson to conference rivals Buffalo, they were probably going to win 90+ games and, much to the chagrin of everyone else, bring the cup home for the seventh year in a row. Despite the best efforts of the rest of the American Professional Baseball League, it now seemed predestined that until the core members of the Saints lineup aged and retired the team would have champagne-filled nights with the President’s Cup each September for the foreseeable future. Some were thinking that ten titles in a row wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, as the team had retooled its lineup, changed managers, and even switched pitching aces during its six-year championship run with nothing stopping them.

At the end of July Providence was right where they wanted to be, sitting at 70-35 with the Buffalo Blues one game back at 69-36. Another late-season dogfight was on the cards but, given the now perennial late-season heroics that the Saints routinely pulled off, the main issue to many was simply a matter of how many games Providence would win the Colonial Conference by.

Sure enough, Providence started the stretch run by winning their first four games in August, including a three-game sweep at Buffalo to take a four-game lead in the C.C. which led to the assumption that the race was over. This wasn’t just because of the results themselves, but also because of the scores:





It was extraordinary stuff, even by Providence’s standards.

However, what followed was six losses over the team’s next seven games, and Providence’s near-mythical form never materialized. After winning those first four games of August the Saints were a shocking 9-14 the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Buffalo responded to the embarrassment of the home demolition at the hands of Providence by holding a Players Only meeting and then proceeding to play their best baseball of the year. After that pivotal moment the Blues were 18-6 over their final two dozen games, turning what should have been the sweep that ended their season into an 87-45 record and the Colonial Conference title by four games over the Saints.





Buffalo would go on to play last year’s P.C. runners-up the Excelsior Knights, who managed to improve on their identical 90-42 records of the previous two seasons by going 93-39. Passing and then fending off the mighty Saints over the last few weeks of the season proved to be a task that took too much out of the Blues, as Excelsior took the President’s Cup four games to two. Charles Wilkerson, who never had an ERA higher than 2.79 in his five P.C. series triumphs with Providence, allowed fourteen Earned Runs (7.41 ERA) and 26 hits (.377 AVG) over seventeen innings. Knights catcher Joseph Fields, who drove in no less than thirteen runs over the six games, was named Most Valuable Player.

It was the first time the President’s Cup had made its home outside of Providence, Rhode Island since 1891, when the Manhattan Knickerbockers also beat Buffalo four games to two.

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MWBA 1898: THE INDY/MILWAUKEE DUOPOLY IS BROKEN!

Even though there was expansion and realignment in the MWBA ahead of the 1898 season, many still thought that the league would be dominated by two teams: the Indianapolis Indians and Milwaukee Bavarians. Outside of the Cleveland Generals’ Lincoln Memorial Cup win in 1891, the order of MWBA champions during the decade had been as follows: Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee. The two juggernauts were together in the Eastern League now, but it was presumed that the two would easily be the best of the East and the one that came out on top would take the cup home. Indianapolis returned the same lineup from 1897 while adding steady veteran Frank Woodram to the starting rotation, and Milwaukee made marginal changes in two lineup spots while adding their own steady veteran to the starting rotation: Leland Hirsch.

The results went exactly as predicted: Milwaukee and Indianapolis finished first and second in the Eastern League, with third-place Cleveland 23 games out of the top spot. It was Milwaukee that would go to the Lincoln Memorial Cup thanks to a 91-41 record, while Indianapolis finished 80-52.





Milwaukee finished with the best record in the MWBA (again) because they led the league in both runs scored and runs allowed - their Run Differential was +217 over 132 games. Theirry Moreau earned his second Batsman of the Year honor with a historic level of performance: a league-leading .430 average, 1.077 OPS, 306 Total Bases, and 8.4 Offensive WAR (8.1 total) as the anchor of the league’s best offense. Hans Ehle led the pitching staff as he always does, but his win total (23) was his lowest of the decade while his ERA (2.80) was his highest of the decade. He still managed to lead the league in Pitcher WAR for the fourteenth straight season (10.7).

Milwaukee’s opponent in their annual trip to the Lincoln Memorial Cup – they’d now gone to all nine editions – would be a newcomer to the league’s championship series: the Lake Michigan Gales, who took the Western League title thanks to an 84-48 record. Lake Michigan didn’t have the star power of Milwaukee, but they did have three key players: nine-time Team of the Year catcher Otto Christianson (93 RBI, 5.7 WAR), corner outfielder Thomas Buchanan (.453 OBP, 4.5 WAR), and pitching staff ace Clarence Boston (30-5, 2.66 ERA). They also had what was easily the league's best defense (Zone Rating +44 better than any other team, 56.4 Caught Stealing %).

What transpired was a stunner: Lake Michigan not only won the Lincoln Memorial Cup, but they swept the heavily favored Bavarians. That’s not to say the Gales were dominant. They won each of the first three games by one run – Game Three with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th – and the clincher was a 3-0 shutout in which Clarence Boston struck out eight but Milwaukee hitters left numerous men in scoring position. Boston only allowed one earned run while pitching two Complete Games but surprisingly the MVP went to Buchanan, who only drove in two runs but was 9/19 from the plate with five extra-base hits (three doubles, two triples).

The Lincoln Memorial Cup victory was Lake Michigan’s first MWBA championship, one that broke the stranglehold Indianapolis and Milwaukee had on the Midwestern Baseball Association for almost the entire 1890s.

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TWO MORE EARLY STARS – CHARLES BROPHY & ISAIAH DUFFY – HANG UP THEIR CLEATS

After the end of play in 1898, two more of the biggest stars of the early days of professional baseball – Charles Brophy & Isaiah “The Greyhound” Duffy – ended their lengthy and historic careers.




Brophy’s retirement was a curious case. It was thought he had retired when he didn’t return to the Knickerbockers and failed to sign with another professional team after becoming the first to cross the 3,000-hit barrier as a pro in 1894. As it turned out, instead he took a two-year hiatus and came back to play two seasons of semi-pro ball for the Erie Lakers in the Great Lakes Baseball Conference. In his final season, at the age of 44, he led the GLBC in batting average at .375 (OPS: .889) while playing first base (21 seasons at CF for the Knick's). Brophy added 260 hits over two years with Erie to his APBL total of 3,142 (posted here) for a final, senior-level total of 3,402, breaking Konrad Jensen’s senior-level record of 3,311 in about 300 more games.

Brophy’s career honors:

1st player to reach 3,000 hits as a professional (4/26/1894)
3,402 career hits between APBL & GLBC: all-time all-levels leader
6x APBL President’s Cup winner (1877, 78, 86, 88, 89, 91)
1x President’s Cup Most Valuable Player (1891)
14x APBL or Metropolitan Conference Team of the Year at OF (1875-81, 83, 85-90)
5x APBL or Metropolitan Conference MVP (1877, 78, 80, 82, 85)
4x Metropolitan Conference Batsman of the Year (1878, 83, 85, 86)
4x Metropolitan Conference Batting Champion (1878, 83, 85, 86)
3x Metropolitan Conference Golden Glove at OF (1885, 86, 88)
21x APBL Player of the Week
14x APBL Batsman of the Month

7x APBL or M.C. leader in Total Bases (1875-78, 81, 83, 86)
3x .400 hitter (1878, 79, 83)
3x M.C. leader in Position Player WAR (1885, 86, 88)
4x APBL or M.C. leader in On-Base Percentage (1875-78)
4x APBL or M.C. leader in Triples (1875, 76, 78, 86)
3x M.C. leader in Hits (1878, 83, 86)
3x APBL or M.C. leader in Runs (1878, 81, 83)
2x APBL or M.C. leader in On-Base + Slugging (1875, 78)

1898: GLBC Batting Champion at the age of 44 (.375)


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Isaiah Duffy’s career was one of nearly constant excellence, especially when it came to outfield defense. Signed directly to the Boston Shamrocks’ senior roster after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Duffy won the first of his record-setting fifteen Golden Gloves for outfield defensive work as a rookie in 1880. He would then proceed to win Golden Gloves each of the next thirteen seasons (1881-93), whether playing in left, center, or right field, before winning his final one in 1896. There was a reason why he was called “The Greyhound”, and it was because his outfield range was unparalleled. On top of that, his hands and throwing arm were almost peerless as he set numerous defensive records.

Duffy was excellent with the bat as well. He was good for an OPS+ of 152 over his seventeen seasons in Boston, and he won three Colonial Conference Batsman of the Year awards in the mid-1880s while helping lead the Shamrocks to four APBL titles. After Boston plunged to 33 games out of first place in 1896, he moved to Milwaukee in the MWBA for one last crack at a title and won his fifth in 1897. Even though Duffy was 40, he was still the third-best hitter in the Milwaukee lineup while winning the Lincoln Memorial Cup.

Duffy's fine offense combined with his extraordinary defense and longevity left him the career leader in WAR among retired position players when he transitioned into coaching.

Isaiah Duffy’s career stats:





Career honors:

5x Cup winner (4x APBL, 1x MWBA)
15x APBL Golden Glove winner at OF (1880-93, 96) – career record for any player or position group
3x APBL Colonial Conference Batsman of the Year (1884, 85, 88)
6x APBL Team of the Year member (1882, 84, 85, 86, 88, 91)
1x APBL Batting Champion (1885: .371)

2x APBL leader in Position Player WAR (1884, 88)
2x APBL leader in Home Runs (1891, 96)
2x APBL leader in Runs Batted In (1882, 84)
2x APBL leader in Walks (1886, 94)
2x APBL leader in On-Base Percentage (1884, 85)
2x APBL leader in On-Base + Slugging (1885, 88)

88.6 Career WAR (6.7 per 162 G) - new career leader among retired position players
Career outfield Zone Rating of +208.9 across LF/CF/RF - all-time record
1886: Zone Rating of +19.2 at Left Field - single-season record for LF
1890: Zone Rating of +22.1 at Center Field - single-season record for CF
1895: 29 Assists from Center Field - single-season record for outfielders

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VIVA CUBA! THE CUBAN NATIONAL SERIES IS CREATED

In the early weeks of 1899 (NOTE: around the same time as in real life), the third baseball competition outside of the United States was announced: the Serie Nacional de Beisbol Profesional de Cuba, to be known in English as the Cuban National Series (CNS).

The competition would feature teams from seven cities in Cuba: two from Havana and one each from Camaguey, Holguin, Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, Santa Clara, and Santiago de Cuba. Venues would range in size from 4,000 or so (Estadio Santa Catalina) in Santa Clara to 17,500 (Gran Estadio de la Habana) in the capitol city, although most of the parks in the CNS would sit under 10,000 people. Also, each team would play the others sixteen times to make a 112-game schedule.

The CNS would differ from the other leagues in two major ways. First, due to relative lack of travel CNS executives decided that normal series lengths would be two games instead of the more standard three or the historical five (NOTE: In reality, this is because the schedule-making engine refuses to add on series of two games in length after four sets of three if you want teams to play each other sixteen times). Second, because the summer is one long rainy season for a large portion of the Cuban island it was decided that it would be better to have the competition run over the late autumn and early winter. Because of this, the inaugural season of the CNS would start on the first Saturday of November in 1899, and not the first Saturday in April or May.

The eight founding members of the Cuban National Series: the Camaguey Bulls, Havana Sugar Kings, Holguin Miners, La Habana Miners, Matanzas Scorpions, Pinar del Rio Tobacco Growers, Santa Clara Saints, and Santiago Stars.











Pay for players in the league wasn’t much – Cuba was becoming independent from Spain, so the people were only just starting to keep the country’s economic output at home (NOTE: technically the Cuban Republic didn’t exist until 1902, but let’s suspend reality since this is a fake baseball universe). Players weren’t going to move around much, and likely the only way they were going to move abroad – to Canada or the U.S.A. – was if the front office granted permission and sold the player to their new team.

While the announcement of a Cuban league came in the early days of the last year of the Nineteenth Century, starting the league in November meant that the Cuban National Series would be the last competition of the Nineteenth Century and the first to determine a champion in the Twentieth Century.

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JACOB MILBURN MOVES TO SEMI-PRO BALL, GOES HOME TO ILLINOIS

During the 1898 season, Jacob Milburn became the second professional member of the 3,000-Hit Club, but the larger aims of his team weren’t realized as the Pennsylvania Quakers finished second in the Metropolitan Conference and didn’t get the chance to compete for the President’s Cup.

Because of the Quakers’ failure to reach the APBL’s final stage, after four years in Philadelphia Milburn was allowed to leave as a Free Agent for the crime of “only” hitting .343. Was that a career low by nearly thirty points? Yes it was, but he was still fourth in the APBL in hits (185), sixth in RBI (84), and had an OPS of .864 (136 OPS+) – all excellent marks for a 38-year-old.

Milburn had a deal in hand to stay in the APBL and play right field for the New York Athletics, but changed his mind. Instead, he opted to sign for the Peoria Cardinals in the Great Lakes Baseball Conference – the team located about a 90-minute train ride from his hometown of Rushville, Illinois. Why the change of mind? The game’s greatest-ever hitter stated to puzzled reporters that - after a record 3,151 hits, a .402 batting average, and thirteen Batsman of the Year awards over seventeen professional seasons - he felt didn’t have anything left to prove to the baseball executives who thought he was over the proverbial hill because he was “only” hitting in the mid-.300s.

His deal was huge by GLBC standards: three years at $2,480 per year, pay similar to that of a 3.5-star player in the APBL & MWBA, and pay that made him the highest paid player in the league by about $700 per year (39%) over Saginaw’s Ajdir Kambuji. This was also over $1,000 per year higher than the third-richest GLBC player (Grover Stump of Grand Rapids). However, the Cardinals had enough money in the coffers to add his salary and still sign one more semi-pro free agent. Milburn didn’t mind the pay cut – he made $5,300 for the Quakers in 1898 – because he’d earned more than sixty thousand dollars over the course of his career, more than anyone else all-time except Hans Ehle.





With Jacob Milburn making such a surprising change, it was going to be quite interesting to see what a career .402 hitter in the two best leagues in existence would do in a semi-professional league to end his career.

(NOTE: This is one of maybe two times I've put my thumb on the scale so far in the in-game universe. As I've noted before he was a serious outlier created by the OOTP23 player creation engine. His raw attributes when I made the Midwestern Baseball Association in 1882 in-game had him hitting .395 in a modern-day environment. So, I wanted him to end his career with a .400 average at MLB level because...why not?)

[Haystacks]

You're the MVP of Historical and Fictional Simulations

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Originally Posted by Haystacks

You're the MVP of Historical and Fictional Simulations

Well thanks!

And on that note, a bunch of stuff incoming...

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MELVIN SHERIDAN WINS PITCHING TRIPLE CROWN IN THE SEAL

1899 was a bit of a frustrating season for the Southeastern & Atlantic League’s Nashville Bobcats, as they finished just behind the resurgent Savannah Schooners for SEAL championship bragging rights. They were three to five games behind the league title winners for the last month of the season, and just couldn’t make up the handful of games they needed to in the standings. However, one Bobcats player had a fantastic season: pitching staff ace Melvin Sheridan.

Sheridan finished the season leading SEAL hurlers in wins (24), ERA (2.65), strikeouts (167), and numerous other categories, becoming the second SEAL pitcher in three years to win a Triple Crown (1897: Timothy Boyum of Charleston) and being rewarded with his third SEAL Hurler of the Year award in four years.

Sheridan’s numbers on the season:

24-10, 2.65 ERA (142 ERA+), 330.0 IP, 30 CG, 3 SHO, 69 BB, 167 K, 1.9 BB/9, 2.4 K/BB, 1.18 WHIP, 8.6 WAR

The six-year Nashville star was originally part of the Atlanta organization but was cast off as a 23-year-old in a trade during the winter of 1893, because the Atlanta front office figured he’d never be a long-term starter. Sheridan has pitched well enough for Nashville that he’d be fine in a APBL or MWBA starting rotation, but he’s under contract with the Bobcats until 1902 and appears to be completely content pitching for the team given the faith they’ve shown in him.

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CECIL RICHARDS TAKES CANADIAN HotY #3, ALMOST WINS ANOTHER TRIPLE CROWN

Cecil Richards had another excellent season in the Canadian Baseball League, leading the Quebec City Voyageurs to their second straight league title while winning his third Canadian Baseball League Hurler of the Year award. Richards has been the premier starter in Canada since his second year in the league and already has 180 career wins even though he turned 27 with three weeks left in the season.

Richard’s 1899 playing record:

27-9, 2.18 ERA, 322.2 IP, 34 CG, 7 SHO, 61 BB, 167 K, 1.7 BB/9, 2.7 K/BB, 1.08 WHIP, 9.3 WAR, Champion, HotY, MVP

Richards came within six strikeouts of winning his second CBL Pitching Triple Crown, but he couldn’t quite match Nathan Reeves’ (Riverside) mark of 173. Not only did he win another HotY award, but he also became the first pitcher to be named the league's Most Valuable Player.

So far in a career that started with him in the Quebec City rotation at the age of 20, he’s amassed 180 wins and 59.2 WAR over seven seasons while doing the following:

2x CBL Champion (1898, 99)
5x CBL leader in Wins (1894-96, 98, 99)
2x CBL leader in ERA (1896, 99)
3x CBL leader in Strikeouts (1894-96)
6x CBL leader in Complete Games (1894-99)
6x CBL leader in WHIP (1894-99)
5x CBL leader in Innings (1894-98)
5x CBL leader in Walks per 9 (1894-97, 99)
5x CBL leader in K/BB Ratio (1894-97, 99)
4x CBL leader in Pitching WAR (1895-97, 99)

There’s been much speculation that Richards could move to the APBL as he enters his prime years since he’s a Free Agent after the 1900 season. If he does, he’ll be a fine addition to any team’s rotation even if he’ll be an expensive signing (makes $2,520/yr for QC).

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ABA 1899: PROVIDENCE & MILWAUKEE BACK ON TOP; MARTIN KEARNS FINALLY GETS HIS HotY AWARD

The end of the 1890s saw a return to normalcy in the two leagues of the American Baseball Association.

In the American Professional Baseball League, familiar players were near the top of the standings: Providence, Buffalo, & Rochester in the Colonial and Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, & the N.Y. Athletics in the Metropolitan. Defending champions Excelsior fell to fourth after Father Time finally got to 43-year-old George Patterson and the team lost key players during the winter – Mahon Bailey, Kerwin Berry, & Sean Crane.

Providence went back to the President’s Cup for the seventh time in eight years after spending much of the second half of the season able to stay a handful of games in front of main rivals Buffalo. In the M.C. it looked for much of the season like Pennsylvania would do the same to both Brooklyn and the Athletics until the Brooklyn Kings pulled off an incredible fifteen-game winning streak during the month of August to go from a handful of games back of the Quakers to one game in front:








From there the Kings, led by surprising ace John Jorgensen (24-10, 3.00 ERA, nine years in semi-pro ball) and star outfielder Lindsey Christianson (.874 OPS, 81 RBI, 63 SB, 5.6 WAR), held off Pennsylvania over the final week to win the M.C. by two games.

Would Brooklyn’s August surge lead to a surprise in the President’s Cup? In a word: no. In two words: absolutely not. Providence took the series in a sweep while holding Brooklyn to exactly one run in each of the last three games. The series MVP was Providence second baseman Charles Woodram, who hit .429 (6/14, 1.395 OPS) with a pair of triples, one home run, and five runs batted in. Lindsey Christianson was the best hitter in the series at .529 (9/17, 1.353 OPS) in his first President’s Cup, but the rest of his Kings teammates did almost nothing to help him out.

The cup triumph capped off an incredible season for Saints starter Cecilio DeGiusti. He won APBL Hurler of the Year thanks to a 27-8 record and 2.13 ERA with half a dozen shutouts. When he joined the APBL in 1892 after six years with Youngstown in the GLBC, he christened his pro career by racking up 36 losses pitching for Jersey City, a league record that still stands.

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In the Midwestern Baseball Association, the Milwaukee Bavarians spent their second season in the Eastern League doing what they'd done during their first season in the E.L.: keeping the second-place team at arm’s length while making their way to the Lincoln Memorial Cup. However, this time it was Detroit who would finish a handful of games back instead of Indianapolis, who finished third (9 GB). Once again, Milwaukee would be led to the L.M.C. by the strength of their pitching staff, which led the league in runs allowed and Pitching WAR. However, for the first time as a pro Hans Ehle had a WAR below 10.0 (24-12, 2.66 ERA, 9.7 WAR) and the offensive attack fell from first to sixth in the MWBA in runs scored. Incredibly, Milwaukee’s first-place finish meant that they’d secured a sport in each of the first ten Lincoln Memorial Cup finals.

The Bavarians' opponents would be the St. Louis Saints, who successfully completed the rebuild they started when they let Jacob Milburn go after the 1894 season. In doing so, St. Louis pulled away from defending champions Lake Michigan during the final week to finish 82-50 and win the Western League by five games. They were led by the lightning-fast outfield duo of Petter Lund (.946 OPS, 77 SB, 7.1 WAR) and Russell Klockow (.781 OPS, 91 SB, 5.3 WAR), while the pitching staff was anchored by 10-time 20-game winner Salvatore Floris (21-10, 3.09 ERA, 5.1 WAR) and star rookie Joseph Layton (25-10, 3.32 ERA, 6.4 WAR).





In the Lincoln Memorial Cup itself, Milwaukee took care of business and won the series in five games. After winning the opener via walkoff and losing Game Two 11-5, the Bavarians allowed five runs over the final three games while winning the last two by multiple runs. The series MVP was first-year Bavarians third baseman Simpson Cotter, a veteran of two President’s Cup finals while with the Pennsylvania Quakers. He hit .450 (9/20, 1.022 OPS) with five runs batted in, four runs scored, and excellent defense while winning his first championship.

Elsewhere in the Midwestern Baseball Association, IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!! After thirteen years of trying, a career WAR of 144.7, and five times finishing as runner-up to Hans Ehle for MWBA Hurler of the Year, Martin Kearns actually won the darn thing. Kearns led the league in strikeouts as he always did – the eleventh year in a row, in fact – but on top of that he was 27-10 to lead the league in wins, and he was third in ERA at 2.78 after putting up a 4.36 mark in 1898. Upon receiving the award, the 32-year-old admitted a whole lot of relief at finally winning the HotY for the first time. He’d been in the MWBA Team of the Year in 1888 and ’89 due to his prodigious strikeouts totals for title-winning Detroit teams, but the highest individual pitching award had eluded him. No more.

A note about the previously mentioned Russell Klockow of St. Louis. The 23-year-old right fielder made some defensive history during 1899. He finished the season with a Zone Rating of +27.0 and an ARM Runs Rating of +7.2, with both numbers breaking professional records for outfielders that were previously held by fifteen-time Golden Glove winner Isaiah Duffy.

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BASEBALL MOVES TOWARD THE 20TH CENTURY

The end of the All-Ireland Championship Series, won by the Kerry Green & Gold on September 24th, marked the end of competition for the Nineteenth Century. While it was true that the new Cuban National Series was due to start about six weeks later, their first champion wouldn’t be crowned until the early months of 1900 and thus Kerry’s Game Four triumph in Dublin was the last word on the grand book of baseball for the 1800s.

For the sport itself, what began as a confederation of 48 amateur clubs in the Northeastern United States playing a three-month schedule in 1857 had morphed into comparatively big business. There were now four professional leagues, multiple semi-professional leagues, and a couple of international leagues that came into existence thanks to the efforts of civilians and former players. The two main professional leagues, the APBL and MWBA, now had their own governing body to set mutual standards for the highest level of the sport in the United States, while semi-pro circuits had their own organization so that players didn’t have to learn new rules and regulations if they moved from one region to another.

AMERICAN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION (ABA) MEMBER LEAGUES

American Professional Baseball League (APBL) – Northeastern United States; 16 teams

• Colonial Conference: Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Mass. Bay, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rochester, Washington
• Metropolitan Conference: Brooklyn, Excelsior, Jersey City, Knickerbockers, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Phi. Tigers

Midwestern Baseball Association (MWBA) – Midwestern United States; 16 teams

• Eastern League: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Milwaukee, Toledo
• Western League: Chicago, Lake Michigan, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Missouri, Omaha, St. Louis, St. Paul

APBL Reserve League (APBL-R) – 16 APBL Reserve teams (AA Equivalent)
MWBA Reserve League (MWBL-R) – 16 MWBL Reserve teams (AA Equivalent)

INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL LEAGUES

Southeastern & Atlantic League (SEAL) – Southeastern United States; 8 teams

• Atlanta, Charleston, Evansville, Memphis, Nashville, Old Dominion, Richmond, Savannah

Canadian Baseball League (CBL) – Ontario & Quebec (Canada); 8 teams

• Danforth, Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Quebec City, Riverside, Ville Marie, Ville Ray

NATIONAL BASEBALL ORGANIZATION (NBBO) MEMBER LEAGUES

New York Metropolitan League (NYL) – New York City & Brooklyn; 16 teams

• Brooklyn: Atlantic, Bedford, Continental, Eckford, Empire, Marathon, Nassau, Star
• New York City: Baltic, Gotham, Harlem, Metropolitan, Mutual, Morrisania, Orangemen, Yonkers

Northeastern League of Baseball Clubs (NEL) – Northeastern United States; 20 teams

• New York: Albany, Auburn, Binghamton, Elmira, Frontier, Niagara Falls, Schenectady, Syracuse, Troy, Utica
• Northeast: Camden, Delaware, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Olympic, Phi. Patriots, Reading, Scranton, Trenton, Wilkes-Barre

New England Baseball Association (NEBA) – New England; 16 teams

• Massachusetts: Bunker Hill, Cantabrigians, Fall River, Lowell, Salem, Sons of the Ocean, Springfield, Worcester
• New England: Bridgeport, Brass City, Hartford, New Hampshire, Pawtucket, Portland, Quinnipiac, Vermont

Great Lakes Baseball Conference (GLBC) – Great Lakes Border States; 10 teams

• Cook County, Dayton, Duluth, Erie, Ft. Wayne, Grand Rapids, Peoria, Rockford, Saginaw, Youngstown

Baseball League of the American Prairie (PL) – Midwestern United States; 10 teams

• Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Kansas, Lincoln, Sioux City, Southern Miss. St. Joseph, Wichita

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUES

All-Ireland Baseball Championship (AIBC) – Ireland

• Connacht: Cavan, Galway, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath
• Leinster: Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Wexford, Wicklow
• Munster: Clare, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford
• Ulster: Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Tyrone

Cuban National Series (CNS) – Cuba; 8 teams

• Camaguey, Havana, Holguin, La Habana, Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, Santa Clara, Santiago

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BASEBALL MOVES TOWARD THE 20TH CENTURY (PART II)

On top of the above, it was rumored that teams in the southern states of Texas and Louisiana were ready to form a professional league, as were teams on the Pacific Coast. It would probably only be a few years at most before independent leagues started there. Baseball was also thriving in larger markets in the Mountain West – Denver and Salt Lake City – but working out the travel logistics to make a league work in that area of the country would take more time. After all, steam trains could only go so fast, especially uphill through mountain ranges. The sport was spreading quickly, and it looked like the whole country was ready to take part.

It was also well-known that the leagues outside of the American Baseball Association were looking to expand as the population of the United States continued to grow. Markets that were previously too small for professional or semi-professional baseball would soon be able to host higher-tier teams. More teams could easily mean that longer schedules could come into existence, or even that existing leagues could split into separate competitions like the original National Base Ball Organization did in 1889-90.

Internationally, given that Ireland already had a competition and players born just across the Irish Sea played important roles in the early days of competitive baseball, it was surely a matter of when England, Scotland, & Wales began competitions of their own, and not if. The same could also be said of Germany, since the Midwest’s large slice of Germanic heritage quickly took to the young sport.

There were sure to be more changes to the game itself on the field. In the mid-1890s, now legendary Providence Pitching Coach Albert Tierney (NOTE: He’s the previously mentioned PC who had Teach Pitching and Handle Aging both around 190/200) responded to the 1893 change from the Pitching Box to the Pitching Rubber by experimenting with having team groundskeepers build a sloped mound for his hurlers to throw from. He figured that if one could gain momentum running downhill, maybe the same could happen with the speed of the ball when throwing downhill as well. Given the success of the Saints during the 1890s, other teams quickly followed suit. However, there was nothing in the rules of the game regarding such surfaces, so they could vary greatly from venue to venue and from game to game. It would probably be just a matter of time before a uniform Pitching Mound standard was agreed upon and another vestige of the 1850s game, pitching from flat ground, was done away with for good (NOTE: story in paragraph based on the history of the mound itself, found here).

As the calendar turned over to the year 1900, a changing of the guard was expected. The sport’s greatest ever batsman, Jacob Milburn, had moved to semi-pro ball at the age of 38 after deciding he had nothing left to prove as a pro after seventeen years of hitting .400. The sport’s greatest ever pitcher, Hans Ehle, was finally beginning to show signs of slowing down after turning 35 during the 1899 season. The core of the lineup for Providence’s seven cup wins – Leonard, Rankin, Snell, Williams, & Woodram – were now all 30 or older, as was staff ace Charles Carlyle. The sport’s most decorated catcher, Otto Christianson, was about to turn 35, and its second-best middle infielder, Thierry Moreau, was now on the other side of 30 as well.

The likeliest to take the leap up to superstardom in the new century was New York Athletics ace Homer Dabry, who was 23-14 with a 2.67 ERA and 8.3 WAR while pitching the entire season as a 19-year-old. There’s also Manhattan Knickerbockers right fielder Alan Gelmetti, who made the Team of the Year in the APBL as a rookie with a .347 average, league-leading .442 on-base percentage, and 7.3 offensive WAR. Alvin Kozlowski was third in the APBL in ERA for Philadelphia during his rookie season and was considered a five-star talent. The St. Louis Saints were led to the Lincoln Memorial Cup finals by rookie pitcher Joe Leyton, who was 25-10 during 1899. Detroit’s 21-year-old utility man Harold Borden finished second in the MWBA in batting as a rookie, hitting .375 after joining the team from Binghamton in the NEL. There were more ready to take the leap, but those were the most prominent examples.

After all the tea leaves had been read, it appeared the Twentieth Century held an exciting future in store for the sport of baseball, the men who played it, and the fans who watched it.

[tm1681]

1890s IN REVIEW: THE CHAMPIONS

AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE

1890: Massachusetts Bay Pilgrims (79-53, President’s Cup 4-2 over Manhattan)
1891: Manhattan Knickerbockers (80-52, P.C. 4-2 over Buffalo)
1892: Providence Saints (90-42, P.C. 4-2 over Brooklyn)
1893: Providence Saints (91-41, P.C. 4-1 over N.Y. Athletics)
1894: Providence Saints (90-42, P.C. 4-2 over Pennsylvania)
1895: Providence Saints (79-53, P.C. 4-0 over Pennsylvania)
1896: Providence Saints (90-42, P.C. 4-1 over Excelsior)
1897: Providence Saints (94-38, P.C. 4-1 over Excelsior)
1898: Excelsior Knights (93-39, P.C. 4-2 over Buffalo)
1899: Providence Saints (86-46, P.C. 4-0 over Brooklyn)

Saints, Saints, and more Saints. En route to taking the President’s Cup home seven times in eight years Providence beat four different members of the Metropolitan Conference, with Brooklyn making neat bookends for the team’s 1890s run. In the end, the 1890s Providence Saints amounted to what the 1880s Boston Shamrocks would have been if they’d won every President’s Cup series they entered.


MIDWESTERN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION

1890: Milwaukee Bavarians (82-48, Lincoln Memorial Cup 4-0 over Detroit)
1891: Cleveland Generals (84-46, L.M.C. 4-3 over Milwaukee)
1892: Indianapolis Indians (79-51, L.M.C. 4-1 over Milwaukee)
1893: Indianapolis Indians (85-45, L.M.C. 4-1 over Milwaukee)
1894: Milwaukee Bavarians (93-35, L.M.C. 4-2 over Detroit)
1895: Milwaukee Bavarians (84-44), L.M.C. 4-3 over Indianapolis)
1896: Indianapolis Indians (74-54, L.M.C. 4-2 over Milwaukee)
1897: Milwaukee Bavarians (85-43, L.M.C. 4-2 over Chicago)
1898: Lake Michigan Gales (84-48, L.M.C. 4-0 over Milwaukee)
1899: Milwaukee Bavarians (86-46, L.M.C. 4-1 over St. Louis)

Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Milwaukee…Milwaukee. The Indians took home three Lincoln Memorial Cups during the 1890s, but the Bavarians made the L.M.C. all ten times and won it five, even though they were forced to switch from the Western League to the Eastern League and directly compete with Indianapolis starting in 1898. It was nice of the two of them to give a couple of other teams the chance to hoist the cup, though.


SOUTHEASTERN & ATLANTIC LEAGUE

1890: Atlanta Flames (86-40, no playoffs – Savannah 12 GB)
1891: Savannah Schooners (82-44, Charleston 8 GB)
1892: Savannah Schooners (86-40, Charleston 18 GB)
1893: Savannah Schooners (84-42, Memphis 8 GB)
1894: Atlanta Flames* (83-44, Memphis 1 GB)
1895: Nashville Bobcats (91-35, Atlanta 5 GB)
1896: Memphis Showboats (77-49, Nashville 1 GB)
1897: Charleston Battery (78-48, Nashville 4 GB)
1898: Nashville Bobcats (80-46, Charleston 4 GB)
1899: Savannah Schooners (77-49, Nashville 5 GB)

Savannah ended the decade with SEAL championship number four, which was quite impressive considering they were 52-74 and 56-70 the two years before. Their 1899 record represented a 25-win improvement from two seasons earlier, and thanks to that the league’s smallest market hosted the league’s winningest team in the 1890s.

NATIONAL BASE BALL ORGANIZATION CHAMPIONS

1890: Gotham (NYL), Phi. Tigers (NEL), Bunker Hill (NEBA), Peoria (GLBC), Wichita (PL)
1891: Manhattan (NYL), Reading (NEL), Quinnipiac (NEBA), Peoria (GLBC), Lincoln (PL)
1892: Atlantic (NYL), Syracuse (NEL), Lowell (NEBA), Toledo (GLBC), Dubuque (PL)
1893: Marathon (NYL), Syracuse (NEL), Vermont (NEBA), Duluth (GLBC), Wichita (PL)
1894: Atlantic (NYL), Syracuse (NEL), Lowell (NEBA), Peoria (GLBC), Des Moines (PL)
1895: Marathon (NYL), Reading (NEL), Lowell (NEBA), Toledo (GLBC), Des Moines (PL)
1896: Metropolitan (NYL), Utica (NEL), Quinnipiac (NEBA), Saginaw (GLBC), Sioux City (PL)
1897: Marathon (NYL), Phi. Tigers (NEL), Vermont (NEBA), Saginaw (GLBC), Kansas* (PL)
1898: Metropolitan (NYL), Utica (NEL), Vermont (NEBA), Duluth (GLBC), Council Bluffs (PL)
1899: Marathon (NYL), Syracuse (NEL), Vermont (NEBA), Saginaw (GLBC), Wichita (PL)

Marathon, Syracuse, & Vermont took home four titles each, although Vermont was more dominant than the other two by the end of the decade. Not only did they win three straight NEBA titles to end the 90s, but they were 84-28 (.750) in 1899. In the other two NBBO leagues, Saginaw, Peoria, & Wichita took home three titles each.


INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONS

1893: Danforth* (Canada)
1894: Danforth (Canada)
1895: Ottawa (Canada)
1896: Riverside (Canada), Cavan (Ireland)
1897: Ottawa (Canada), Donegal (Ireland)
1898: Quebec City (Canada), Wicklow (Ireland)
1899: Quebec City (Canada), Kerry (Ireland)

In Canada, teams rotated in taking their turns as the dominant force. In Ireland, there was no clearly superior team and there was a different champion every year after the AIBC was established in 1896.

*Won championship or made playoffs via one-game playoff

[tm1681]

1890s IN REVIEW: MAJOR AWARD WINNERS

AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE


BATSMAN OF THE YEAR

1890: Daniel Snell (RF, Providence) – .372/.424/.538, .962 OPS, 197 H, 41 2B, 7 HR, 81 RBI, 29 SB, 285 TB, 6.4 WAR
1891: Owen Wilkie (SS, New Jersey) – .343/.399/.463, .862 OPS, 48 XBH, 4 HR, 83 RBI, 22 SB, 7.4 WAR
1892: Charley Rankin (SS, Providence) – .385/.458/.588, 1.046 OPS, 205 H, 120 R, 27 3B, 67 XBH, 7 HR, 111 RBI, 313 TB, 43 SB, 11.8 WAR, Cup win
1893: Charley Rankin (SS, Providence) – .332/.418/.514, .932 OPS, 107 R, 59 XBH, 8 HR, 100 RBI, 38 SB, 9.8 WAR, Cup win
1894: Lemuel Sanders (LF, Mass. Bay) – .383/.421/.596, 1.017 OPS, 198 H, 38 2B, 72 XBH, 4 HR, 95 RBI, 25 SB, 5.9 WAR
1895: Jacob Milburn (1B, Pennsylvania) – .361/.456/.485, .941 OPS, 41 XBH, 3 HR, 101 RBI, 16 SB, 5.12 WPA, 4.8 WAR
1896: Jacob Milburn (LF, Pennsylvania) – .430/.502/.602, 1.104 OPS, 215 H, 34 2B, 59 XBH, 2 HR, 97 RBI, 301 TB, 6.98 WPA, 10.1 WAR
1897: Lemuel Sanders (1B, Buffalo) – .400/.448/.624, 1.072 OPS, 213 H, 31 3B, 72 XBH, 8 HR, 94 RBI, 332 TB, 32 SB, 6.9 WAR
1898: Shaun Scott (1B, Manhattan) – .377/.471/.512, .983 OPS, 194 H 38 2B, 3 HR, 81 RBI, 85 BB, 6.2 WAR
1899: Lemuel Sanders (LF, Buffalo) – .385/.439/.557, .996 OPS, 188 H, 27 2B, 15 3B, 9 HR, 88 RBI, 36 SB, 5.5 WAR


HURLER OF THE YEAR

1890: Alexis Silver (Manhattan) – 340 IP, 29-8, 1.77 ERA, 37 CG, 4 SHO, 19 BB, 126 K, 0.5 BB/9, 6.6 K/BB, 0.98 WHIP, 8.2 WAR
1891: Jakob Hogh (Buffalo) – 398 IP, 31-12, 2.71 ERA, 38 CG, 1 SHO, 33 BB, 197 K, 1.06 WHIP, 12.1 WAR
1892: Charles Wilkerson (Providence) – 396 IP, 35-10, 2.38 ERA, 38 CG, 1 SHO, 68 BB, 256 K, 5.8 K/9, 3.8 K/BB, 1.07 WHIP, 12.8 WAR, Cup win
1893: Charles Wilkerson (Providence) – 410 IP, 34-10, 2.33 ERA, 40 CG, 3 SHO, 52 BB, 257 K, 4.9 K/BB, 1.04 WHIP, 13.4 WAR, Cup win
1894: George Patterson (N.Y. Athletics) – 357 IP, 31-12, 1.91 ERA, 36 CG, 6 SHO, 53 BB, 138 K, 2.6 K/BB, 1.04 WHIP, 11.0 WAR
1895: George Patterson (N.Y. Athletics – 385 IP, 32-11, 1.87 ERA (202 ERA+), 34 CG, 7 SHO, 77 BB, 156 K, 1.12 WHIP, 12.7 WAR
1896: Jurgen Schultz (Pennsylvania) – 415 IP, 33-11, 2.36 ERA, 44 CG, 6 SHO, 129 BB, 180 K, 1.15 WHIP, 8.6 WAR
1897: Hawk Nielsen (Excelsior) – 329 IP, 29-9, 1.48 ERA (231 ERA+), 34 CG, 7 SHO, 78 BB, 171 K, 1.06 WHIP, 7.6 WAR
1898: Hawk Nielsen (Excelsior) – 343 IP, 30-8, 2.70 ERA, 36 CG, 6 SHO, 79 BB, 172 K, 1.16 WHIP, 7.3 WAR, Cup win
1899: Cecilio DeGiusti (Providence) – 329 IP, 27-8, 2.13 ERA, 32 CG, 6 SHO, 61 BB, 120 K, 1.03 WHIP, .246 BABIP, 5.7 WAR, Cup win


MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

1890: Charley Rankin (SS, Providence) – .354 AVG, .893 OPS, 2 HR, 76 RBI, 29 SB, +21.1 ZR at SS, 5.35 WPA, 8.9 WAR, GG
1891: Eddie Flint (SS, Brooklyn) – .279 AVG, .763 OPS, 612 PA, 64 BB, 2 HR, 55 RBI, 48 SB, +33.6 ZR at SS, 4.26 WPA, 8.0 WAR, GG
1892: Charley Rankin (SS, Providence) – .385 AVG, 1.046 OPS, 120 R, 205 H, 27 3B, 313 TB, 7 HR, 111 RBI, 43 SB, 8.18 WPA, 11.8 WAR, BotY, Cup win
1893: Lindsey Christianson (CF, Philadelphia) – .369 AVG, .948 OPS, 608 PA, 202 H, 288 TB, 3 HR, 82 RBI, 74 SB 4.89 WPA, 6.5 WAR
1894: George Dulia (CF, Jersey City) – .313 AVG, .897 OPS, 34 3B, 7 HR, 60 RBI, 60 SB, 2.92 WPA, 7.5 WAR, GG
1895: Charley Rankin (SS, Providence) – .313 AVG, .900 OPS, 55 XBH, 8 HR, 88 RBI, 31 SB, +21.9 ZR at SS, 4.08 WPA, 8.4 WAR, GG, Cup win
1896: Charley Rankin (SS, Providence) – .329 AVG, .903 OPS, 46 XBH, 2 HR, 79 RBI, 38 SB, +32.5 ZR at SS, 4.23 WPA, 11.6 WAR, GG, Cup win
1897: Thomas Paulari (CF, Penn.) - .325 AVG, .891 OPS, 105 R, 62 XBH, 3 HR, 63 RBI, +14.6 ZR at CF, 4.83 WPA, 8.7 WAR, GG
1898: Charley Rankin (SS, Providence) – .363 AVG, .997 OPS, 32 2B, 27 3B, 81 RBI, 46 SB, +16.8 ZR at SS, 5.51 WPA, 9.8 WAR, GG, Cup win
1899: Charley Rankin (SS, Providence) - .321 AVG, .914 OPS, 33 2B, 28 3B, 91 RBI, 35 SB, +29.1 ZR at SS, 5.03 WPA, 9.3 WAR, GG, Cup win


NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

1890: Frank Woodram (P, Mass. Bay) – 384 IP, 28-12, 2.74 ERA, 31 CG, 1 SHO, 61 BB, 162 K, 1.20 WHIP, 7.9 WAR, TotY, Cup win
1891: Nicholas Faust (CF, N.Y. Athletics) – .315/.389/.449, .837 OPS, 3 HR, 37 RBI, 28 SB, +17.0 ZR at CF, 1.68 WPA, 6.0 WAR, GG
1892: Brogan Williams (3B, Providence) – .284/.370/.419, .790 OPS, 3 HR, 64 RBI, 40 SB, 3.46 WPA, 4.5 WAR, Cup win
1893: Fred Mikkelsen (1B, Rochester) – .283/.360/.392, .752 OPS, 5 HR, 74 RBI, 7 SB, 3.17 WPA, 0.4 WAR
1894: Elbert McMann (RF, New Jersey) – .283/.353/.426, .779 OPS, 5 HR, 41 RBI, 36 SB, 2.97 WPA, 2.9 WAR
1895: Jacob Mixon (RF, Rochester) – .339/.416/.464, .880 OPS, 42 XBH, 3 HR, 57 RBI, 96 SB, +8.0 ZR, 2.41 WPA, 7.5 WAR, TotY
1896: Gilbert Dwyer (P, Jersey City) – 349 IP, 17-18, 2.63 ERA, 29 CG, 4 SHO, 109 BB, 140 K, 1.28 WHIP, 4.5 WAR
1897: Frederick Hammond (CF, Providence) - .261/.321/.356, .678 OPS, 22 2B, 2 HR, 60 RBI, 26 SB, 2.0 WAR
1898: Evander Dunn (3B, Phi. Tigers) – .290/.351/.380, .731 OPS, 21 2B, 4 HR, 61 RBI, 17 SB, +9.2 ZR at 3B, 3.5 WAR, GG
1899: Alan Gelmetti (RF, Manhattan) - .347/.442/.504, .946 OPS, 25 2B, 24 3B, 1 HR, 88 RBI, 75 BB, 64 SB, 5.68 WPA, 7.0 WAR, TotY


MIDWESTERN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION


BATSMAN OF THE YEAR

1890: Jacob Milburn (LF, St. Louis) – .391/.457/.529, .986 OPS, 42 XBH, 1 HR, 62 RBI, 22 SB, 245 TB, 5.5 WAR
1891: Jacob Milburn (LF, St. Louis) – .438/.505/.616, 1.122 OPS (225 OPS+), 119 R, 209 H, 30 2B, 26 3B, 1 HR, 79 RBI, 31 SB, 294 TB, 9.2 WAR
1892: Henry Garvin (1B, Cleveland) – .377/.467/.488, .955 OPS, 101 R, 33 XBH, 0 HR, 60 RBI, 55 SB, 5.6 WAR
1893: Jacob Milburn (LF, St. Louis) – .416/.509/.632, 1.140 OPS (207 OPS+), 183 H, 27 3B, 56 XBH, 6 HR, 83 RBI, 278 TB, 7.6 WAR
1894: Jacob Milburn (LF, St. Louis) – .435/.491/.624, 1.116 OPS, 205 H, 24 3B, 55 XBH, 5 HR, 76 RBI, 40 SB, 7.3 WAR
1895: Thierry Moreau (2B, Milwaukee) – .368/.461/.511, .972 OPS, 45 XBH, 6 HR, 87 RBI, 79 BB, 25 SB, 5.7 WAR, MVP, Cup win
1896: Horan Berry (LF, St. Louis) – .394/.448/.522, .970 OPS, 34 2B, 11 3B, 0 HR, 66 RBI, 5.5 WAR
1897: Thoms Ervin (CF, Kansas City) – .368/.445/.574, 1.019 OPS ,97 R, 40 2B, 27 3B, 3 HR, 69 RBI, 287 TB, 84 SB, 8.2 WAR
1898: Thierry Moreau (2B, Milwaukee) – .430/.499/.577, 1.077 OPS, 228 H, 30 2B, 21 3B, 2 HR, 91 RBI, 306 TB, 22 SB, 8.1 WAR
1899: Petter Lund (CF, St. Louis) - .340/.412/.509, .921 OPS, 99 R, 29 2B, 24 3B, 3 HR, 97 RBI, 77 SB, 7.1 WAR


HURLER OF THE YEAR

1890: Hans Ehle (Milwaukee) – 404 IP, 34-11, 1.58 ERA (206 ERA+), 40 CG, 5 SHO, 50 BB, 305 K, 6.1 K/BB, 1.04 WHIP, 19.2 WAR, Cup win
1891: Hans Ehle (Milwaukee) – 392 IP, 30-15, 1.63 ERA (209 ERA+), 39 CG, 3 SHO, 38 BB, 301 K, 7.9 K/BB, .252 OBP, 0.98 WHIP, 16.9 WAR
1892: Hans Ehle (Milwaukee) – 381 IP, 31-13, 1.86 ERA, 39 CG, 5 SHO, 50 BB, 328 K, 6.6 K/BB, 1.06 WHIP, 18.4 WAR
1893: Hans Ehle (Milwaukee) – 389 IP, 34-9, 2.52 ERA, 39 CG, 7 SHO, 52 BB, 330 K, 6.3 K/BB, 1.25 WHIP, 18.2 WAR
1894: Hans Ehle (Milwaukee) – 406 IP, 37-7, 2.37 ERA, 40 CG, 4 SHO, 73 BB, 212 K, 2.9 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 13.8 WAR, Cup win
1895: Hans Ehle (Milwaukee) – 377 IP, 31-9, 2.17 ERA, 37 CG, 4 SHO, 58 BB, 188 K, 1.17 WHIP, 1.4 BB/9, 3.2 K/BB, 13.7 WAR, Cup win
1896: Hans Ehle (Milwaukee) – 389 IP, 36-8, 2.41 ERA, 37 CG, 7 SHO, 63 BB, 178 K, 1.5 BB/9, 2.8 K/BB, 1.18 WHIP, 12.6 WAR
1897: Henry Danforth (Minneapolis) – 338 IP, 28-13, 2.07 ERA (175 ERA+), 32 CG, 8 SHO, 63 BB, 170 K, 1.13 WHIP, 9.2 WAR
1898: Henry Danforth (Minneapolis) – 354 IP, 31-9, 2.59 ERA, 34 CG, 1 SHO, 67 BB, 150 K, 1.18 WHIP, 9.1 WAR
1899: Martin Kearns (Detroit) – 330 IP, 27-10, 2.78 ERA, 36 CG, 3 SHO, 107 BB, 204 K, 5.6 K/9, 1.16 WHIP, 7.3 WAR


MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

1890: Alva Burgess (CF, Detroit) – .372 AVG, .914 OPS, 104 R, 2 HR, 71 RBI, 47 SB, 4.90 WPA, 7.7 WAR
1891: Jacob Milburn (LF, St. Louis) – .438 AVG, 1.122 OPS, 119 R, 209 H, 30 2B, 26 3B, 294 TB, 58 BB, 1 HR, 79 RBI, 31 SB, 7.33 WPA, 9.2 WAR, BotY
1892: Jacob Milburn (LF, St. Louis) – .376 AVG, .968 OPS, 176 H, 247 TB, 4 HR, 70 RBI, 39 SB, 4.82 WPA, 4.8 WAR, BotY
1893: Jacob Milburn (LF, St. Louis) – .416 AVG, 1.140 OPS, 183 H, 27 3B, 278 TB, 6 HR, 83 RBI, 54 SB, 8.39 WPA, 7.6 WAR, BotY
1894: Dirk Humphries (RF, Milwaukee) – .359 AVG, .938 OPS, 120 R, 6 HR, 91 RBI, 60 SB, 6.13 WPA, 6.4 WAR
1895: Thierry Moreau (2B, Milwaukee) – .368 AVG, .972 OPS, 6 HR, 87 RBI, 25 SB, 5.89 WPA, 5.7 WAR, BotY, Cup win
1896: Thierry Moreau (2B, Milwaukee) – .351 AVG, .932 OPS, 600 PA, 99 R, 22 3B, 3 HR, 73 RBI, 25 SB, 248 TB, 3.30 WPA, 6.3 WAR
1897: Thierry Moreau (2B, Milwaukee) - .386 AVG, .973 OPS, 601 PA, 2 HR, 89 RBI, 83 BB, 34 SB, 5.95 WPA, 8.1 WAR, Cup win
1898: Petter Lund (CF, St. Louis) – .363 AVG, .989 OPS, 105 R, 25 2B, 20 3B, 5 HR, 94 RBI, 90 SB, 7.23 WPA, 8.7 WAR
1899: Cleveland DeVoe (3B, Minneapolis) - .320 AVG, .866 OPS, 107 R, 28 2B, 19 3B, 8 HR, 67 RBI, 62 SB, 6.80 WPA, 3.7 WAR


NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

1890: Franklin Etheridge (RF, Minneapolis) – .325/.368/.434, .802 OPS, 7 HR, 62 RBI, 14 SB, 3.34 WPA, 2.6 WAR, TotY
1891: Cameron Reid (3B, Indianapolis) – .316/.349/.435, .785 OPS, 3 HR, 57 RBI, 8 SB, 2.62 WPA, 4.8 WAR, GG
1892: Thierry Moreau (SS, Milwaukee) – .339/.430/.496, .925 OPS, 2 HR, 83 RBI, 25 SB, 4.59 WPA, 4.7 WAR
1893: Simon Laurendeau (P, Cincinnati) – 360 IP, 17-25, 3.67 ERA, 32 CG, 1 SHO, 104 BB, 105 K, 1.48 WHIP, 5.5 WAR
1894: Joseph Leavitt (C, Omaha) – .313/.370/.391, .761 OPS, 3 HR, 49 RBI, 0 SB, 1.02 WPA, 1.7 WAR
1895: Edward Zuberek (1B, Cincinnati) – .303/.406/.405, .812 OPS, 2 HR, 33 RBI, 25 SB, 3.16 WPA, 1.9 WAR
1896: Smithwick Fisher (2B, Minneapolis) - .311/.367/.417, .784 OPS, 2 HR, 44 RBI, 31 SB, 1.0 WAR
1897: Russell Klockow (RF, St. Louis) – .297/.371/.412, .783 OPS, 20 3B, 0 HR, 55 RBI, 92 SB, 2.78 WPA, 2.7 WAR
1898: Knud Van Steen (2B, Missouri) - .335/.379/.416, .795 OPS, 24 2B, 1 HR, 54 RBI, 48 SB, 4.44 WPA, 3.7 WAR
1899: Joseph Leyton (P, St. Louis) – 308 IP, 25-10, 3.32 ERA, 30 CG, 1 SHO, 83 BB, 112 K, 1.44 WHIP, 6.4 WAR

[tm1681]

1890s IN REVIEW: BEST OF THE DECADE

TEAM OF THE DECADE

Providence Saints (American Professional Baseball League)





1890: 74-58, 2nd place in Colonial Conference (5 GB)
1891: 66-66, 5th place in Colonial Conference (13 GB)
1892: 90-42, won President’s Cup 4-2 over Brooklyn
1893: 91-41, won President’s Cup 4-1 over N.Y. Athletics
1894: 90-42, won President’s Cup 4-2 over Pennsylvania
1895: 79-53, won President’s Cup 4-0 over Pennsylvania
1896: 90-42, won President’s Cup 4-1 over Excelsior
1897: 94-38, won President’s Cup 4-1 over Excelsior
1898: 83-49, 2nd place in Colonial Conference (4 GB)
1899: 86-46, won President’s Cup 4-0 over Brooklyn

1890s: 843-477 record (.639 WIN%), 7 President’s Cup victories in 7 appearances

After regressing from second place to fifth in the C.C. in 1891, the Providence Saints won seven of the last eight President’s Cup trophies of the 1890s. Their winning percentage over the last eight years of the decade: .667.

What made the Saints the team of the decade wasn’t just the fact that their incredible run of cup wins took place in the oldest and highest-spending league in existence. It was that their cup runs came on the back of late-season form that gradually took on nearly mythical status, with their most famous late summer surge taking place in 1895, when they went 17-2 to end the season to vault from third to first in the C.C. After that, they proceeded to sweep the Pennsylvania Quakers, holders of the most dominant offense in league history, while allowing a total of four runs over the four games.

To make the Saints' run of seven titles in eight years even more impressive, during that time they saw the man who managed the team to its first four titles – Stephen Lochhead – retire, the staff ace for their first five cup runs – Charles Wilkerson – leave, their outfield retooled every couple of years, and the expansion of starting rotations from three men to four. It didn’t matter – they kept winning. This was more than likely because of the core of their position player group – C Ray Leonard, 2B Charles Woodram, 3B Brogan Williams, SS Charley Rankins, and OF Daniel Snell – was present the entire time.

In the Midwestern Baseball Association, the Milwaukee Bavarians actually finished the decade with a better winning percentage (.650) and more cup final appearances than Providence, as the Bavarians managed to make it to all ten editions of the Lincoln Memorial Cup during the decade. However, they “only” took home the cup five times as they spent much of the decade alternating championships with the Indianapolis Indians. Providence’s superior cup final record of seven wins in seven appearances put them over the top.


BATSMAN OF THE DECADE

Jacob Milburn – St. Louis Saints (MWBA, 1890-94), Penn. Quakers (APBL, 1895-98), Peoria Cardinals (GLBC, 1899)








1,892 H, 264 2B, 186 3B, 29 HR, 773 RBI, 647 BB, 252 K, 303 SB, 2,615 TB, .394/.466/.544, 1.010 OPS (183 OPS+)

53.46 WPA (6.93 per 162 G) – most of any player in the 1890s, 63.8 WAR (8.3 per 162 G)

7x Batsman of the Year (4x MWBA, 2x APBL, 1x GLBC)
5x Most Valuable Player (3x MWBA, 1x APBL, 1x GLBC)
8x Team of the Year (5x MWBA, 2x APBL, 1x GLBC)
5x Batting Champion (3x MWBA, 1x APBL, 1x GLBC)

3x League leader in Position Player WAR (2x APBL, 1x GLBC)
7x League leader in On-Base % (4x MWBA, 2x APBL, 1x GLBC)
7x League leader in Slugging % (5x MWBA, 1x APBL, 1x GLBC)
7x League leader in OPS (5x MWBA, 1x APBL, 1x GLBC)
6x League leader in Hits (4x MWBA, 1x APBL, 1x GLBC)
3x MWBA leader in Doubles (1891, 93, 94)
3x League leader in Runs (1x MWBA, 1x APBL, 1x GLBC)
2x APBL leader in Runs Batted In (1895, 96)

5x Average over .400 (1891, 93-94, 96, 99)
5x OPS over 1.000 (1891, 93-94, 96, 99)
4x On-base % over .500 (1891, 93, 96, 99)
1x Double-digit WAR (1896: 10.1)

1893: 1.140 OPS – single-season record at any level
1899: First position player with over 100 Career WAR (101.6)

Jacob Milburn repeated as Batsman of the Decade, as he was the best technical hitter in the sport until he finally started to tail off a bit during the 1898 season, during which he turned 38. By the end of the 1890s he’d won Batsman of the Year for the thirteenth time, taken home his sixth league Most Valuable Player award, and been nominated to his fifteenth league Team of the Year – all in the American Baseball Association ranks. Of course, when he went home to Illinois and played for semi-pro Peoria in 1899 he added GLBC Batsman of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and Team of the Year honors as well.

There really is no other player who came close to Milburn’s accomplishments at the plate in the 1890s. If there was a second pick it would probably be Milwaukee second baseman Thierry Moreau. He didn’t join the MWBA until 1892, but in eight years he won four cup titles, put up a slash line of .373/.459/.507 for an OPS of .966 (161 OPS+) and finished the decade with a WAR of 48.4 (7.7/162 G). He also hit over .400 in 1898 (.430).

Bottom line: Jacob Milburn had seasons where he hit .430 with an OBP north of .500 in the MWBA and then he repeated the trick in the APBL, where the pitching was notably harder to deal with.


HURLER OF THE DECADE

Hans Ehle – Milwaukee Bavarians (1890-99)








307-108, 14 SV, 2.09 ERA (171 ERA+), 3,737 IP, 369 CG, 47 SHO, 586 BB (1.4 BB/9), 2,392 K, (5.8 K/9), 4.1 K/BB, 1.15 WHIP

53.2 WPA (3.2 per 225 IP), 144.7 WAR (8.7 per 225 IP)

5x Lincoln Memorial Cup winner (1890, 94-95, 97, 99)
1x Lincoln Memorial Cup MVP (1890)
7x MWBA Hurler of the Year (1890-96)
10x MWBA Team of the Year at P (1890-99)
1x MWBA Golden Glove at P (1899)

10x MWBA leader in Pitching WAR (1890-99)
7x MWBA leader in Wins (1890-96)
4x MWBA leader in ERA (1890-91, 95, 99)
8x MWBA leader in K/BB Ratio (1890-93, 95-98)
4x MWBA leader in Complete Games (1890-91, 93, 97)
4x MWBA leader in Innings Pitched (1890, 94, 96-97)
3x MWBA leader in WHIP (1892, 95-96)
2x MWBA leader in Shutouts (1893, 99)

9x Double-digit Pitching WAR (1890-98)
7x 30-game Winner (1890-96)
4x 300+ Strikeouts (1890-93)
3x Sub-2.00 ERA (1890-92)

1894: 37 Wins – single-season record at any level

307 wins in a single decade? 144.7 WAR over a span of ten years? Seven straight HotY awards? Ten appearances in the Lincoln Memorial Cup, with five titles? That’s the Hurler of the Decade.

As predicted when it came time to review the 1880s, Hans Ehle was easily the best hurler in baseball in the 1890s. While there were pitchers who put up numbers nearly as impressive as Ehle for a few seasons at a time, in the end nobody came remotely close to either his award haul or statistical output during the decade. Ehle finally showed some signs of falling off a bit during the 1899 season, during which he turned 35. In this case, “falling off” meant he led the MWBA in Pitching WAR for the fifteenth season in a row but it was the first time his WAR was under 10 - a measly 9.7. That was still 2.6 points higher than any other MWBA pitcher (Martin Kearns: 7.3). His run of HotY awards finally came to an end thanks to a pair of extraordinary seasons from Minneapolis’ Henry Danforth in 1897 & ‘98, and then Martin Kearns coming close to a pitching Triple Crown in 1899 (1st in Wins, 3rd in ERA, 1st in Ks).

Due to Ehle’s appearance in the Lincoln Memorial Cup every year of the 1890s, he threw an incredible 233.1 innings in cup final play, going 11-11 with a 2.66 ERA, 44 walks, 115 strikeouts, and 7.5 WAR. By comparison, Providence pitcher Charles Carlyle was in the rotation for all seven of the Saints’ President’s Cup wins and threw 124 innings over that span.

Thanks in no small part to his average of 31 wins per year during his time in Providence, Charles Wilkerson won 266 games during the 1890s and added a WAR of 123.7 while finishing in double-digits seven times. He also won a pair of APBL Hurler of the Year awards and five President’s Cups, with his signing being the final piece that started the Saints on their title-winning ways. Wilkerson was definitely the APBL’s Hurler of the Decade, but unfortunately for him there was a superior pitcher in the MWBA.


PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Charley Rankin – Providence Saints (1890-99)








1,664 H, 299 2B, 216 3B, 31 HR, 843 RBI, 647 BB, 199 HBP, 550 K, 343 SB, 2,506 TB, .328/.424/.494, .918 OPS (155 OPS+), +244 ZR at SS (+30.6/162 G)

43.06 WPA (5.35 per 162 G), 92.8 WAR (11.5 per 162 G) – most of any player in the 1890s, led APBL 9/10 seasons

7x President’s Cup winner (1892-97, 99)
1x President’s Cup MVP (1893)
2x APBL Batsman of the Year (1892-93)
6x APBL Most Valuable Player (1890, 92, 95-96, 98-99)
8x APBL Team of the Year at SS (1891-97, 99)
6x APBL Golden Glove at SS (1890, 95-99)
1x APBL Batting Champion (1892: .385)

9x APBL leader in Position Player WAR (1890-93, 95-99)
7x APBL leader in Hit by Pitch (1890-91, 93-95, 97-98)
6x APBL leader in Zone Rating at SS (1890, 95-99)
2x APBL leader in Runs (1892-93)
2x APBL leader in Runs Batted In (1892-93)
2x APBL leader in Slugging % (1892, 98)
2x APBL leader in OPS (1892, 98)

2x Double-digit WAR (1892, 96)
2x 100+ Runs Batted In (1892, 93)

1892: 11.8 Wins Above Replacement (14.8 per 162 G) – single-season record for position players at any level

The best player on the best team of the decade is a good bet for Player of the Decade, but Charley Rankin really was the best player of the 1890s. Included as evidence: he led the APBL in position player WAR no less than nine times in ten seasons, starting when he was only 21. The 1892 season where he led the league in Batting Average, OPS, and RBI while seeing a Zone Rating of +30.0 at shortstop is probably the best single season a position player has ever had. His 8.18 WPA that year would translate to 10.27 over a modern 162-game schedule, and his WAR of 11.8, the position player record, would be 14.8 over a season of a similar length. Rankin also had a bizarre knack for getting plunked at opportune times, as shown by the fact that he was hit by pitches more often than any other APBL player in seven seasons during the decade.

PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL TEAM OF THE DECADE

C: Otto Christianson (Lake Mich.) – 1x Champ, 6x TotY, 5x Golden Glove, 26.93 WPA, 42.4 WAR – 1898: .356, 3 HR, 93 RBI
1B: Lemuel Sanders (3 teams) – 3x BotY, 3x TotY, 31.2 WPA, 41.0 WAR – 1897: .400, 8 HR, 94 RBI, 1.072 OPS
2B: Thierry Moreau (Milwaukee) – 4x Champ, 1x Cup MVP, 3x MVP, 2x BotY, 8x TotY, 42.52 WPA, 48.4 WAR – 1898: .430, 228 H, 91 RBI, 1.077 OPS
3B: Simpson Cotter (3 teams) – 1x Champ, 1x Cup MVP, 4x TotY, 18.56 WPA, 31.3 WAR – 1894: .308, 7 HR, 90 RBI
SS: Charley Rankin (Providence) – 7x Champ, 6x MVP, 2x BotY, 8x TotY, 6x GG, 43.06 WPA, 92.8 WAR – 1892: .385, 205 H, 7 HR, 111 RBI, 1.046 OPS, 11.8 WAR
OF: Jacob Milburn (3 teams) – 7x BotY, 5x MVP, 8x TotY, 53.46 WPA, 63.8 WAR – 1896: .430, 105 R, 215 H, 97 RBI, 1.104 OPS, 10.1 WAR
CF: Thomas Ervin (3 teams) – 4x Champ, 3x MVP, 2x BotY, 5x GG, 7x TotY, 46.07 WPA, 63.8 WAR – 1894: .395, 140 R, 209 H, 96 RBI, 108 SB, 1.104 OPS, 10.42 WPA, 10.1 WAR
OF: Charleston Kirk (3 teams) – 4x Champ, 3x BotY, 6x TotY, 40.42 WPA, 46.5 WAR – 1895: .386, 100 RBI, 107 BB, 52 SB, 1.031 OPS, 7.32 WPA, 5.9 WAR

SP: Hans Ehle (Milwaukee) – 5x Champ, 1x Cup MVP, 7x HotY, 10x TotY, 1x GG, 144.7 WAR – 1890: 34-11, 1.58 ERA, 305 K, 19.2 WAR
SP: Charles Wilkerson (3 teams) – 5x Champ, 1x Cup MVP, 2x HotY, 7x TotY, 123.7 WAR – 1893: 34-10, 2.33 ERA, 257 K, 13.4 WAR
SP: George Patterson (NYA/Excelsior) – 1x Champ, 2x HotY, 1x TotY, 86.3 WAR – 1895: 32-11, 1.87 ERA, 156 K, 7 SHO, 12.7 WAR
SP: Martin Kearns (Detroit) – 1x HotY, 2x TotY, 10x K Champ, 114.7 WAR – 1894: 35-10, 2.03 ERA, 249 K, 13 SHO, 11.2 WAR

[tm1681]

1890s IN REVIEW: BEST OF SEMI-PRO BALL

SEMI-PRO TEAM OF THE DECADE

Marathon Baseball Club (New York League)





1890: 70-42, 2nd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (3 GB)
1891: 69-44, 2nd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (1 GB via playoff)
1892: 70-42, 2nd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (8 GB)
1893: 78-35, won New York City Finals 3-0 over Harlem
1894: 65-47, 2nd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (13 GB)
1895: 74-38, won New York City Finals 3-2 over Metropolitan
1896: 81-31, lost New York City Finals 3-1 to Metropolitan
1897: 74-38, won New York City Finals 3-0 over Gotham
1898: 61-51, 3rd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (2.5 GB)
1899: 72-40, won New York City Finals 3-1 over Metropolitan

1890s: 714-408 record (.636 WIN%), 4 NYC Finals wins in 5 appearances

The Marathon Base Ball Club of Brooklyn finished either first or second in the New York League’s Brooklyn Championship every season of the decade except for 1898, when they finished in third place but were only two and half games out of top spot – a particularly impressive record of sustained excellence considering they played in the toughest semi-pro league.

Aside from the alternating NYC titles in 1893, ’95, ’97, and ’99, another point in Marathon’s favor is that they employed a number of stars who either were or would go on to see feature roles as pros: Dave Wallace (3B for St. Louis), Clyde Gable (SS for Jersey City), Edward Lapley (P for Rochester), Albert Watkins (P for Excelsior), and Robert Edgerton (earlier HotY winner for Savannah) among them.

The Vermont Green Stockings in the New England Baseball Association also won four titles and had an ever so slightly higher winning percentage at .639, but that higher win percentage came thanks to a ludicrous 84-28 1899 season in which they put up a Run Differential of +265 over 112 games (2.36 R/G). What put them slightly behind the Marathon Club is that they played in a NEBA that was a little more top heavy, and unlike Marathon their title-winning teams didn’t feature stars who would be familiar names as professionals in either of the two ABA leagues or the SEAL. The only player they had in that regard was Carl Wells, the former SEAL Batsman of the Year who played for Vermont for two seasons.

The Syracuse Emeralds also took home four titles (NEL), but three of them came in consecutive seasons earlier in the decade (1892-94) and, like Vermont, their roster over the years didn’t feature the kind of notable talent that came through the Marathon organization. They also had a four-year stretch (1895-98) where their finishes in the Upstate New York division ranged from third to sixth place out of ten teams.


SEMI-PRO PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Henry Danforth – Duluth Loons (MWBA, 1890-93), Cantabrigians B.C. (1894-96)





Even though he only played lower tier ball for seven seasons in the 1890s before signing with the Minneapolis Lakers, Henry Danforth was the Semi-Professional Player of the Decade because of what he did in those seven seasons:





176-89, 2.13 ERA, 2,335.1 IP, 223 CG, 23 SHO, 534 BB (2.1 BB/9), 1,270 K (4.9 K/9), 1.12 WHIP, 83.6 WAR (8.1 per 225 IP)

4x Hurler of the Year (2x GLBC 2x NEBA)
5x Team of the Year Member (2x GLBC, 3x NEBA)
4x League leader in Wins (2x GLBC, 2x NEBA)
3x League leader in ERA (1x GLBC, 2x NEBA)
4x League leader in Pitching WAR (1x GLBC, 3x NEBA)
5x League leader in WHIP (2x GLBC, 3x NEBA)
4x League leader in Complete Games (2x GLBC, 2x NEBA)
3x League leader in Innings Pitched (1x GLBC, 2x NEBA)

6x Double-digit Pitching WAR (1890, 92-96)

Over that time, Danforth went from being an excellent young semi-pro pitcher to an utterly dominant one. During his three seasons in New England: an 80-35 record, 1.78 ERA, and 37.8 WAR. He then went on to become the man who dethroned Hans Ehle by winning MWBA Hurler of the Year in both of his first two seasons in Minneapolis, bringing his HotY for the decade to half a dozen.

If one had to give the honor to the most accomplished player who spent the entire decade in semi-professional or international baseball, then it would probably go to Emerson Gardner of the Syracuse Emeralds. He won four NEL titles and 240 games for Syracuse in the 1890s, along with a number of other notable achievements while also frequently starting at third base:

4x Adams Trophy winner (1892-94, 99)
2x Adams Trophy MVP (1894, 99)
4x NEL Hurler of the Year (1893-94, 97, 99)
4x NEL Team of the Year at P (1891-92, 94, 97)
2x NEL Golden Glove at P (1891, 98)

6x NEL leader in Pitching WAR (1890, 92-95, 97)
3x NEL leader in Strikeouts (1890, 92-93)
2x NEL leader in ERA (1894, 97)
5x NEL leader in Complete Games (1890-92, 94, 97)

1890s: 7x Double-digit WAR (1890-95, 97), total of 116.6 (104.9 as P, 11.7 as 3B)
1899: Won 300th game – career total of 305 (all for Syracuse)

[QBL]

Every fictional universe I create will always be a cheap and soulless recreation of this. Sir, I have no idea how you do it. But this is the greatest universe ever composed on OOTP. The dynamism of the leagues, the gradual yet satisfying expansion, and the storylines which develop organically. How do you do it?!

[tm1681]

Originally Posted by QBL

Every fictional universe I create will always be a cheap and soulless recreation of this. Sir, I have no idea how you do it. But this is the greatest universe ever composed on OOTP. The dynamism of the leagues, the gradual yet satisfying expansion, and the storylines which develop organically. How do you do it?!

haha thanks

As I've mentioned before, it all started with me making up logos in down time during a remote work job I started in 2012.

During Covid - October 2020 to be exact - I had my first child and she ended up spitting up every feeding to the point where she needed intervention from her Pediatrician. In the meantime, I had to stay up during the night (wife's a teacher) so we could try to make up for the feedings that she was throwing back up during the day. That's when I started creating the leagues because...well...not much else to do when I had to sit around and wait for a baby to get hungry again. I also watched a lot of live Japanese TV during this time.

Since then, the stress from sleeping 3-4 hours a night for eight months led to bleeding Ulcerative Colitis, and right around the time I was turning the corner on that I got nailed with Covid because my immune system was dealing with the ulcers.

So, for the last 13 months I've been dealing with a combination bleeding ulcers and long covid, while now working just part-time from home and helping take care of this kiddo. It's led to me having more physical down time than I care to have, and during that time I come up with the fictional stories based on my fictional universe.

I'm improving slowly and we're in the process of moving to a new place that won't be laid out like the 95-year-old duplex we were living in, so that should help.

That said, I don't plan on stopping once I'm in a place where I might FINALLY be able to say I'm physically okay.

[tm1681]

BASEBALL BEGINS IN CUBA

At 1:30 P.M. local time on November 4th, 1899, the first competitive game in the history of Cuban baseball took place as the Santiago Stars and Havana Sugar Kings played the inaugural game of the Cuban National Series in the nation’s capital.

The game was a competitive affair most of the way, with Havana opening scoring via two runs in the bottom of the sixth and Santiago clawing a run back in the top of the seventh to make it 2-1 in favor of the hosts. However, a six-run explosion in the bottom of the eighth inning ensured that the Havana Sugar Kings would walk out as winners of the first game in the history of the C.N.S.

Domingo Molina delivered the key hit: a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the eighth that drove in three runs. However, it was Havana pitcher Alejandro Alba who was named Player of the Game as he went the distance while allowing one run on seven hits. He also struck out three Santiago batters.

The conditions couldn’t have been any better for the historic matchup. November comes after the rainy season in Cuba, so there were perfectly clear skies and 80-degree temperatures there to greet the 3,600 or so who went to the game.