Let's Play Two! - Page 5

jksander · 07-10-2023, 05:55 PM

DECEMBER 21, 1953 . . . The Draft is complete and we’re currently negotiating with our picks. We picked 14th overall, so ours are not expected to be studs of the future, but maybe we’ll come out with a lottery surprise or something. Russ Snyder, a 19-year-old high school left handed left fielder was our top pick. He could become a solid major leaguer, but he’s going to take a lot of development. Luis Aparicio, a 19-year-old Venezuelan prospect at shortstop, looks promising as well, though he too will be expected to be a long term project. None of our other prospects are expecting significant investments via bonuses. We’re offering above market value to keep Snyder and Aparicio, while the rest of our prospects are willing to negotiate well below slot value. So in the end we should be able to sign them all well under budget.

JANUARY 4, 1954 . . . Russ Snyder has agreed to our offered $18,000 bonus and we look forward to seeing what he becomes as a member of our Cubs organization. My scouts have higher expectations for him than I initially did, and it’s quite possible he could make our Spring Training rosters, though more likely than not he’ll play at the triple A level to start the season.

JANUARY 11, 1954 . . . All our draftees have signed except second-rounder Luis Aparicio. If he rejects our offer and returns to the draft next year we will receive a compensatory pick. He was asking for $4,100 and I offered $7,000 as a bonus so if he declines I’m inclined to let him try his luck next year and just move on. That’s more than enough money to start a good life in this day and age, and he hasn’t proved a thing yet.

JANUARY 18, 1954 . . . Aparicio has indeed chosen to remain draft eligible. He will return to the draft in 1956. In other more current news, at least as to our developing bullpen situation, Hy Cohen finally agreed to join the Cubs! The 22-year old reliever signed a four year deal with us after a protracted bidding war -- he will earn $20,000 this year and the contract will build up to $22,000 in 1957. He immediately joins Baczewski, Fear and Consuegra as our strongest prospects in the relief corps.

jksander · 07-10-2023, 06:52 PM

JANUARY 25, 1954 . . . The following players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame:

SP Dizzy Dean 69.9 (1st year)
C Bill Dickey 67.6 (1st year)
SS Arky Vaughan 55.5 (1st year)
SP Tommy Bridges 42.5 (1st year)
SP Guy Bush 33.8 (1st year)
CL Johnny Murphy 32.1 (1st year)
C Rick Ferrell 29.4 (1st year)
SP Johnny Allen 26.4 (1st year)
CF Wally Berger 23.1 (1st year)
1B Frank McCormick 22.1 (1st year)
SP Larry French 19.1 (1st year)
SP Claude Passeau 15.7 (1st year)
SP Bump Hadley 15.1 (1st year)
C Frankie Hayes 11.4 (1st year)
SP Thornton Lee 10.4 (1st year)
SP Bill Lee 10.0 (1st year)
CF Doc Cramer 8.7 (1st year)
RP Clint Brown 8.7 (1st year)
SP Curt Davis 8.4 (1st year)
1B Rudy York 7.7 (1st year)

FEBRUARY 15, 1954 . . . Baseball’s so close I can smell the popcorn and pine tar! Our owner is very heppy with the direction I’ve taken the team in the offseason, and he’s boosted our budget to $1.8 million and he’s recommended we put more money into our draft budget for next year, which after the Aparicio fiasco I can understand. I still don’t think he was worth giving away a ton of money over, but I’ll be glad to have a more solid budget in place for next year’s draft.

Meanwhile, our schedule for the upcoming season is now official, and we know we’ll be opening the season with a game at St. Louis on April 13, followed by a game against Cincy here at home on April 15. Fans are already snapping up tickets for the July 4th double-header against St. Louis here at Wrigley, and I’m told that fan interest in our upcoming season is particularly high with season ticket sales projected to be up nearly 28 percent over last year!

APRIL 12, 1954 . . . We’ve made it through Spring Training, and it’s been two months of finally getting to see how our roster is shaping up after all the changes I’ve made since taking over as General Manager. Russ Snyder has arrived as a prospect well above early expectations, easily one of the top ten prospects in the league ... he performed well enough during the March and early April training games that he’ll be starting out at AA Cedar Rapids, with potential to move up quickly if he performs well.

Here’s our pitching rotation as we get things started:

SP - Warren Hacker
SP - Johnny Klippstein
SP - Herb Score
SP - Saul Rogovin
SP - Karl Drews

Long/Spot - Robert Diehl
Middle - Steve Nagy
Setup - Frank Smith
CL - Sandy Consuegra

Our starting lineup heading into Opening Day looks like this:

1 - Dee Fondy (1B)
2 - Frank Baumholtz (LF)
3 - Wilie Mays (CF)
4 - Ernie Banks (SS)
5 - Hank Sauer (RF)
6 - Elston Howard (C) -- last year at AAA: .311/.369/.520, 28 doubles 9 triples 19 homers 74 RBIs
7 - Gene Baker (2B) -- last year at AAA: .287/.364/.449, 16 doubles 4 triples 8 homers 30 RBIs
8 - Woody Smith (3B) -- last year at AAA: .302/.350/.477, 14 doubles 5 triples 5 homers 34 RBIs

Cavarretta’s contact and eye have improved markedly, but his defensive ability has taken a hit as he’s aged, and I no longer feel comfortable having him as an everyday player. He’ll make a magnificent pinch-hitter, and if that role doesn’t suit him we may consider using him in a trade package. Starting three new young players will be good for their development and the fans are going to love seeing the faces of the future. And Clyde McCullough will still get opportunities to start as catcher even at 37, though cerainly far less frequently. He’s starting to wear down physically which makes pinch-hitting a better fit for him as well as filling in as a starter only on occasion. Kenneth Chapman will be our backup second baseman, with 26-year old Robert Ludwig as a backup option at shortstop and third base. Jack Graham is an aging option as a backup to Baumholtz, but I consider it more likely that Russ Snyder may come up later in the season periodically to fill that role when needed ... I’d rather give the young player some opportunities to see major league pitching if it can speed his development. Carmen Mauro, Ron Northey and Earl Rapp will also be available as part of our 26-man roster off the bench.

Expect me to be more hands-on in deciding on potential call-ups than our previous GM, as I still expect to maintain my job as a full-time manager as well.

Who’s ready for opening day?

jksander · 07-10-2023, 10:55 PM

APRIL 13, 1954 . . . It’s a beautiful day for baseball in St. Louis, and we’re ready to get this season started!

Willie Mays had our first hit of the season, but Ernie Banks had to one-up him, hitting a homer to center to put us up 2-0 in the top of the first! Gene Baker had a hit in his first major league at-bat in the second inning, a double, and he reached third on a wild pitch. Woody Smith hit a sac-fly to center to drive him home, and just like that we’re up 3-0! But Warren Hacker gave up a two-run homer to Bill Sarni in the bottom of the second, getting St. Louis on the baord in a big way. Hacker struggled in the third inning, loading the bases on just one out, allowing the tying run to score on a sac-fly to center before getting the final out. Elton Howard got his first major leageue hit in the top of the fourth inning, but Gene Baker hit into a double play to snuff out the rally. Hacker got through the fifth inning with the game still knotted at 3-3, but I was going to have to keep an eye on his pitch count as we ease into the season.

Howard took a walk to start the top of the seventh, followed by a Gene Baker hit. Phil Cavarretta came in to pinch hit for Woody Smith, but he struck out, at which point Clyde McCullough came in to hit for Hacker, and HE struck out. And Dee Fondy completed the trifecta by groudning out to first and ending the inning as something of a letdown, squandering the man in scoring position. Robert Diehl came in to start the bottom of the seventh for his major league debut, and he got his three outs, working nicely around a pair of walks to get out of the inning unscathed. And in the top of the eighth, Willie Mays hit a solo homer to left, giving us a 4-3 lead! Ernie Banks singled and then got to second on a bad pick-off attempt at first, but we weren’t able to add more insurance and we went into the bottom of the eighth with a one run lead. Robert Diehl came out for more in the eighth, giving up one hit but then getting three quick outs to hold the lead, Kenneth Chapman came in to pinch hit for Diehl in the top of the ninth, taking a walk to put two men on, but Fondy hit into a double play again to end the inning and send Consuegra out to close for the first time this year. He gave up a risky pair of hits but did the work to get out of it and we were able to preserve the win, 4-3! What a great team effort on a sunny St. Louis afternoon.

Warren Hacker lasted six innings on just six hits, but he gave up three runs with a strikeout and a walk through 100 pitches and it’s way too early to be leaving a guy out there beyond that in such a situation. I was very pleased with Robert Diehl, who came in for two innings and only gave up a single hit, walking two and striking out one to remain unblemished through 30 pitches, taking the win in the process! Consuegra saved his first game in his season debut, giving up two hits through 19 pitches but doing no damage. Mays and Sauer each had their home runs, and both hit twice as well, with Banks batting in two runs with his moonshot. Fondy and Baumholtz went hitless, but Gene Baker was impressive with three hits in four tries, scoring a run. Welcome to the Cubs, kid!

APRIL 15, 1954 . . . More than 20,000 fans packed Wrigley for our first game of the new season, under clear skies and with decent temperatures for Chicago in mid-April, welcoming the Cincinnati Redlegs to the Windy City. Herb Score took today’s start, as the 20-year old rookie made his major league debut, and he had to overcome some early jitters, allowing the first run of the night to score on a wild pitch to put the Redlegs up 1-0 with a man on second and a single out. It was definitely an adjustment, and by the time he got out of the inning Cincinnati had a 2-0 lead on us. But everyone starts somewhere. You don’t win the pennant or make the All Star game in your first innings. Woody Smith got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second with an RBI single, Elston Howard had a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth, and then Baker and Smith walked, loading the bases for Herb Score who came up with no outs. His ball didn’t get out of the infield, allowing the Redlegs to get our batter out at home while keeping the bases loaded, but Cavarretta then hit into a double play, ending the inning that had begun so successfully without a single run scored. And in the top of the fifth Score gave up a solo homer to Johnny Temple, making the score 3-1 Redlegs. His control remained an issue but he got out of the fifth with a pair of strikeouts, at least giving us a chance to still come back.

Robert Diehl came in for the top of the sixth with two outs and a man on first, and he got us safely out of the inning with the deficit still at two runs. He got two outs quickly in the seventh but then surrendered a 400-footer over the center field wall by Gus Bell, giving Cincinnati the 4-1 lead with time starting to run out. Jim Greengrass hit a solo over the exact same spot moments later to make it 5-1, and this game just wasn’t going the way we’d hoped. But Diehl got the third out and got us out of the inning. And he hit a single to right that opened the bottom of the seventh on a good note, but we couldn’t string hits together and the rest of the lineup left him stranded. Diehl’s arm was still fresh, so we kept him out there to build his confidence. Unfortunately the wind kept carrying their balls out and blowing ours in, the strange brew of air currents in Wrigley that, at least for today, had no interest in helping us. And it didn’t help either that our fielders seemed to constantly be out of position for fly balls. Either way, by the end of eight we were down 6-1, and barring a comeback in the last two innings this one was looking like a wash.

Diehl struck out the side in the top of the ninth, but we still trailed by five runs. Kenneth Chapman came in to pinch hit for Howard, and he wound up reaching second on a throwing error at first! Clyde McCullough flew out to center field and Chapman held back at second. Ron Northey then pinch hit but flew out to left, and again Chapman stayed conservative and held at second. That brought in Dee Fondy, pinch hitting for Cavarretta, and he grounded out to first. Ho, hum, this one was a forgettable 6-1 loss that hopefully we can learn from. It’s hard for our pitchers to survive a game like this without any run support, and we’re not going to get run support until the lineup gels ... too many young players at the end of the lineup card means we have to account for growing pains.

Herb Score took the loss, starting out at 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA thanks to seven hits and three earned runs in 5.2 innings of play. He had four strikeouts, which was good, but also five walks, which shows he needs work on his control while under pressure. Robert Diehl threw 3.1 innings with five hits and three earned runs, but he impressed me when he volunteered to stay out once the game got out of control, taking one for the team. His temporary sub-5.00 ERA says nothing of how good a pitcher I sense he’s going to be for us this year. That’s a rare trait for a kid who’s also just 22 years old.

I’ve decided to waive and designate Max West and Jack Graham for assignment, freeing up a spot on the 40-man roster for Russ Snyder, who I am also promoting to the major league roster. So far in 10 games at AA Cedar Rapids he’s been hitting .349/.378/.581 with 15 hits, two doubles a triple and two homers. And we’re incredibly weak right now at left field so I’m taking the risk of bringing him up quickly. I’m planning to use the following lineup for the next few games and see if we start hitting better:

1. Dee Fondy (1B)
2. Phil Cavarretta (RF)
3. Willie Mays (CF)
4. Ernie Banks (SS)
5. Russ Snyder (LF)
6. Kenneth Chapman (2B)
7. Elton Howard (C)
8. Woody Smith (3B)

For now the lineup is a work in progress, just like our team. But I think we’ll get to the level we should be soon enough.

APRIL 17, 1954 . . . Johnny Klippstein took to the mound today and immediately was a victim to the capricious wind and some abysmal fielding as we spotted our opponents from St. Louis a two run lead in the top of the first. Elston Howard hit a run scoring double in the bottom of the second to get us one back, and with the bases loaded a moment later, Johnny Klippstein hit a deep shot to center, reaching third and scoring three -- that’s what I’m TALKING ABOUT! We went into the top of the third leading 4-2, and Klippstein settled down and struck out the side, quickly sending us back up to the plate for more. Ernie Banks hit a two-run shot to right, his second homer of the year already, to make it 6-2 at the end of three. Willie Mays added a two run blast in the bottom of the fifth and we led 8-2. Elton Howard then hit into a double play with the bases loaded, but still drove in a run since we had no outs. By the time Klippstein came up and struck out to end the inning we led 9-2. Dee Fondy made it 10-2 with a solo blast of his own in the bottom of the sixth, and we gave Klippstein the hook so he could rest his arm after throwing 120 pitches in six innings.

I brought in Karl Drew to pitch in the top of the seventh -- our pitching coaches have decided that Drew will be a better fit in the bullpen, while Robert Diehl has the arm to handle starters’ innings so I’m going to defer to their judgment. He gave up a single run in the top of the seventh off a dropped ball by the catcher, and in the bottom of the seventh rookie Russ Snyder picked up his first major league hit to start the inning. Moments later he got his first major league steal, but he was tagged out at home trying to reach from second on a single to center. Clyde McCullough got a single batting for Drew in the bottom of the eighth, and we quickly loaded the bases with no outs, bringing up Willie Mays who sent the crowd into paroxysms of joy with a grand slam to right! Steve Nagy came out in the top of the ninth with us ahead 14-3, and he shut them down quickly to ice it. What a great win in front of our home crowd! I’d say the bats woke up in style this afternoon.

Klippstein got the win, starting his season out with a 1-0 record and a 3.00 ERA with eight hits and two runs in six innings, alongside eight strikeouts and four walks. Drews lasted two innings with just one hit one strikeout and one walk, giving up a single run to give him a 4.50 ERA. And Nagy was perfect in his one inning debut, with no hits a strikeout and a walk. Willie Mays had a juggernaut of a day, getting three hits and two homers for three runs scored and six RBIs, while Ernie Banks’ homer heroics netted him three runs and two RBIs on three hits. Russ Snyder picked up two hits in four tries and Kenneth Chapman added three hits for a run scored.

With the win we improved to 2-1 on the young season, and through the three games we’ve seen a little bit of everything. This isn’t going to be a team that wins easily right away, but I think we’re going to win a lot once we get going.

Tomorrow’s our first double-header of the young season, with the Cardinals still in town.

jksander · 07-12-2023, 10:44 AM

APRIL 18, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker pitched the first game of today’s doubleheader, and St. Louis got on the board first with two runs in the top of the second to go up 2-0 on a triple, and then they added a third run when Mays bobbled a cach at shortstop -- as good as his bat is, his defense is still somewhat suspect at times. And at that point Hacker really started to crumble, giving up hits I wouldn’t have expected. He got out of the inning with no further damage, but was already at 40+ pitches. He has not looked like himself so far, but I am hopeful he’ll settle in as the season progresses; he had a slow start last year and we all saw how that turned out.

Ernie Banks got us on the baord with a solo homer in the bottom of the second, his third in four games, and Hank Sauer jacked one over left immediately after, making it 3-2. Hacker gave up another run on a triple in the third, and we went into the bottom of the seventh still trailing 4-2. Woody Smith started the inning with a single to right, and Ken Boyer came in to pinch hit for Hacker and got safely to first on an infield hit thanks to his great speed. Russ Snyder then batted out to deep center, but the runners held, leaving us with two outs. And Cavarretta flew out to left, leaving us two more men wasted on the bases. Frank Smith came in to pitch in the eighth, amd asode from a one-out single, he got out of the inning unblemished, and Willie Mays hit a solo homer to left in the bottom of the inning, his fourth of the year, putting us within a run! Frank Smith got us through the ninth without adding any runs, but we couldn’t get anyone onboard in the bottom of the ninth, dropping to 2-2 with a 3-4 loss.

Hacker fell to 1-1 on the season with a 4.15 ERA, giving up 10 hits (way too many) for four runs (three earned), striking out four and walking three (also too many) over seven innings and 123 pitches. Frank Smith gave up just two hits with three strikeouts and a walk in two innings, a solid effort. Mays, Banks and Sauer homered, but we were outhit 12-8 -- surviving on just the long ball is going to be risky indeed, especially when they’re all solo ones. Sauer was our only player with two hits.

With his baserunning speed and good power, eye and speed on the basepaths, I’m experimenting with Russ Snyder as our lead-off man. Dee Fondy has been having surprising issues with skill drops, particularly in his eye ratings, since he turned 29. At this point he seems happy coming off the bench as a sub / pinch-hitter, so I’m comfortable starting Cavarretta at 1B and having Fondy as an option I can turn to earlier in a game and still use his defensive abilities as well.

In the second game of our double-header, Saul Rogovin got his first start of the year this afternoon and he got out of a bit of a jam with two walks and a hit to avoid being dinged with any runs. And Russ Snyder came out for the bottom of the first and absolutely HAMMERED his first major league home run of the year to put us up 1-0! Rogovin gave up a run to tie it up in the top of the third, and then an RBI single drove in a second to put us in a one run hole. Multiple singles in a row added up to a struggle, but he got himself out of it. The homer train continued for us, however, and Willie Mays hit a long ball to left to keep his pace blistering and tying the score 2-2. The homer-per-game pace is clearly unsustainable, but damned if it isn’t fun! Rogovin set down the side with three strikeouts in a row in the fourth, and he wound up lasting through six before I had Dee Fondy pinch hit for him with the bases loaded and only one out, still knotted up. Fondy got a hit through the middle right by the second baseman, scoring the go-ahead run! Russ Snyder then walked the bases loaded, but Cavarretta flew out to left to end the inning with our 3-2 lead.

Steve Nagy came in to pitch in the seventh for the first time this year, with Sandy Consuegra ready to go in the closing role when needed, but Nagy struggled immediately, giving up two hits including a run scoring single, and by the time he got his first out we were down 4-3. Consuegra came in and got the second out by strikeout, and the third by flyout. Consuegra gave up four runs in the top of the eighth and this game melted down quickly. What a shame. We came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth facing a five-run deficit and though Consuegra pitched well the rest of the way, our offense was shut down the remainder of the way as we lost this one 8-3.

Steve Nagy took the blown save and the loss, opening his season with an 0-1 record and a 13.50 ERA. He gave up three hits and two runs in 15 pitches, only getting one out. Consuegra pitched 2.2 innings and gave up six hits and four runs, all in the top of the eighth, and though he got through a perfect ninth inning and threw 52 pitches with three strikeouts, the damage was done. He has a 9.82 ERA through 3.2 innings, but I certainly don’t think this game showcased his true skill. Not going to let a small sample size scare me off of what we all knew was going to be a bullpen work-in-progress. It was disappointing however that Rogovin, who threw six innings of six-hit ball with just two runs scored didn’t get to keep his win -- he had four strikeouts and three walks, which contributed to his early exit.

St. Louis outhit us 13-8, but McCullough was a bright spot with three hits in four tries, though he was stranded each time. Russ Snyder had a hit, two walks and scored a run while batting one in, and Willie Mays’ homer gave him nine RBIs through five games. There’s no way he keeps up this insane pace on homers, but the fans are loving it while it lasts. Hank Sauer also had a hit and scored a run.

We will head into a two-game split home and away set after an off day, taking on Milwaukee with a 2-3 record. The Braves have also started out 2-3. Tuesday’s game should pit Herb Score (0-1, 4.76 ERA) up against Warren Spahn (1-0, 1.00 ERA) in what should be a nice test for the 20-year old rookie starter.

jksander · 07-12-2023, 12:19 PM

APRIL 20, 1954 . . . Prior to today’s game I made a reliever swap with the New York Yankees, sending Frank Smith to New York in exchange for right-handed reliever Bob Alexander. We’ll be a little short in the bullpen as a result until Alexander can get here by train, but I think it’s a solid move to bring a veteran into our relief corps -- Alexander has been a career minor-leaguer, but I like his stuff. His stamina isn’t much, but he’s got high ratings in his ability to hold runners, his movement and control are above average, and he’s got a multi-pitch arsenal. As soon as he gets here he’ll take our 25th roster spot in the majors and we’ll get to see what he can do.

I’ve also made a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates to send us a solid 19-year-old prospect, rookie left fielder Roger Maris, in exchange for backup 3B Ken Boyer. My assistant GM thinks I am absolutely insane, but there’s just something I like about the kid. He may not be ready to come up to the Cubs right away, but he hit .333/.396/.500 last year for Pittsburgh’s AA team, and if we don’t rush him I think he could be a real hidden gem.

In this afternoon’s game, Russ Snyder got a hit to start the bottom of the first, taking a steal and then reaching home on an Ernie Banks single which gave us a 1-0 lead with two men on and just a single out. Hank Sauer walked the bases loaded, and Mays scored a run on a sac-fly to center by Elston Howard to make it 2-0! Herb Score was lights-out through the first four innings, blanking the Braves, and Russ Snyder got an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to make our lead 3-0, getting his second steal of the game before Cavarretta flew out to left for the last out. That kid is QUICK ... he’s already got three steals so far this year! Herb Score successfully bunted and reached base safely in the bottom of the sixth, and Russ Snyder hit a sac-fly to center that advanced Woody Smith to third, giving us runners on the corners with just a single out. Cavarretta hit a sac-fly to right, driving Smith home for our fourth run, and we went into the seventh inning leading convincingly 4-0. Elston Howard added a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, his first of his major league career, that put us up six and which ended Warren Spahn’s night. Herb Score gave up a solo homer in the eighth, but we had no trouble holding on to win this one 6-1!

Herb Score pitched our first complete game of the season, giving up just two hits for one run, with eight strikeouts and only one walk! The win brings his record to 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA on the still very young season. Russ Snyder led the way as our leadoff man, hitting three times and stealing twice, scoring a run and batting in another. Elston Howard hit his two run homer and scored on a sac-fly, giving him a solid three RBI night. Phil Cavarretta walked once and was able to bat in a run without getting a hit all night thanks to his sacrifice late in the game.

APRIL 21, 1954 . . . I’ve added Alexander and Maris to our major league rosters effective today, as both arrived in time to make the trip to Milwaukee. Marris will be a pinch hitting option for now, not a starter. Alexander will be our long relief option out of the bullpen, joining Karl Drews, Steve Nagy and Sandy Consuegra in what I am hoping will be our set relief corp for the forseeable future.

Robert Diehl (1-0, 5.06) got his second start of the year tonight on the road on an ice cold Milwaukee evening in front of 16,700 rabid Braves fans -- cloudy, 37 degrees, wind blowing out, so definitely not the best recipe for strong pitching. Sauer gave us an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, scoring off a Gene Baker sac-fly to center. But the game, which we’d all expected would be a hitter’s game due to the wind, turned into a pitchers’ duel because of the bitter cold. By the time we came up to bat in the top of the sixth there had been just five hits in the game combined and we still held our 1-0 lead. We started warming up Alexander in the sixth, but not in time to prevent Diehl from giving up a massive three-run homer to give the Braves the lead in a huge way. Alexander came in with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and empty bases for his first relief appearance in the majors at age 31, and he got us out of it quickly ... but could our bats rally to retake the lead on such an inhospitable night on the road?

McCullough pinch-hit for Howard in the top of the seventh, taking a walk and giving us two runners and only one out, and Kenneth Chapman pinch hit for Gene Baker, though he flew out and was unable to advance the runners, and a Woody Smith flyout to right ended the inning with us still two in the hole. Alexander got us through the seventh safely, with Nagy warming up to take over in the eighth. With Russ Snyder on base and with just one out on the board, Cavarretta hit to deep left, the ball rolling into the corner, winding up with a double which put Snyder on third. And Willie Mays got us two runs to knot it up, thanks to a slow-hit ball right up the middle, barely a single but good enough to confound the defense. Mays got caught stealing, giving us our second out, but Banks doubled to deep center and Sauer took a walk, sending McCullough back up to bat with two on and two outs. Though he wasn’t able to score, we did head to the bottom of the eighth all tied up, so we had a chance!

Alexander came in and got a strikeout to start the bottom of the eighth, but a runner reached second on a hit and a steal, bringing in Nagy with the one out to hopefully get us out of the inning unscathed. But a grounder got past our defender out into right, allowing the go-ahead run to score for Milwaukee, and Nagy gave up an additional run before getting his outs, sending us into the top of the ninth needing two or more runs or it was over. Kenneth Chapman took a walk, and I brought Frank Baumholtz in to pinch hit, getting a fly ball double over the head of the center fielder, giving us two in scoring position with Roger Maris coming in for his first pinch-hit opportunity with Consuegra warming up for the bottom of the ninth. With a good eye, Maris took a walk to load the bases, bringing up Russ Snyder, no outs, who hit the ball just over the head of the second baseman and into the outfield! Two runs score to knot it all at 5-5! Cavarretta took an out, but Willie Mays again walked the bases loaded, bringing up Ernie Banks with only one out! Banks hit a fly-out to center, but not deep enough for anyone to go ... leaving it up to Sauer with two outs and the loaded bases. But he flew out to center, leaving Consuegra to come in and get us a chance at extras. Unfortunately he gave up two hits, the second of which grounded right by our third-baseman, scoring the walk-off game winner as Milwaukee put us away 6-5.

Consuegra took the loss, falling to 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA, as he was only able to get one out before the walk-off double. Robert Diehl made it through 5.2 innings but gave up five hits and three runs (two earned) with two strikeouts and a walk, thanks to the three-run homer he gave up in the fifth. Alexander finished with 1.2 innings but gave up a run on his only hit through 27 pitches, giving him a 5.40 ERA. Nagy continues to struggle for control, only lasting two outs but giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and a walk, giving him a 13.50 ERA through two innings. Small sample sizes, however, and we have to be careful not to be too strong on early judgments -- the weather tonight was already not pitcher friendly, and yet we stayed in this game to the end.

Snyder, Cavarretta and Banks each had two hits tonight, with Snyder and Cavarretta getting runs out of it for their trouble. Willie Mays hit once and walked once, driving in two runs while Snyder picked up two RBIs and Gene Baker added one on a sacrifice play. We fell to 3-4 on the young season, but we’ve been in most of the games and we’ve had a +5 run differential Once everyone settles in and the real slog of the season gets going I think we’re going to adjust well.

We have an off day tomorrow, making the drive down to Cincinnati for four games in three days. We’ll then have the 26th off as we return to Wrigley for two against the Phillies, the start of a nine game, ten day homestand. We’ll then have a two week 13-game road stand, so I hope our players are ready to start really putting in work.

jksander · 07-12-2023, 12:21 PM

APRIL 20, 1954 . . . Prior to today’s game I made a reliever swap with the New York Yankees, sending Frank Smith to New York in exchange for right-handed reliever Bob Alexander. We’ll be a little short in the bullpen as a result until Alexander can get here by train, but I think it’s a solid move to bring a veteran into our relief corps -- Alexander has been a career minor-leaguer, but I like his stuff. His stamina isn’t much, but he’s got high ratings in his ability to hold runners, his movement and control are above average, and he’s got a multi-pitch arsenal. As soon as he gets here he’ll take our 25th roster spot in the majors and we’ll get to see what he can do.

I’ve also made a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates to send us a solid 19-year-old prospect, rookie left fielder Roger Maris, in exchange for backup 3B Ken Boyer. My assistant GM thinks I am absolutely insane, but there’s just something I like about the kid. He may not be ready to come up to the Cubs right away, but he hit .333/.396/.500 last year for Pittsburgh’s AA team, and if we don’t rush him I think he could be a real hidden gem.

In this afternoon’s game, Russ Snyder got a hit to start the bottom of the first, taking a steal and then reaching home on an Ernie Banks single which gave us a 1-0 lead with two men on and just a single out. Hank Sauer walked the bases loaded, and Mays scored a run on a sac-fly to center by Elston Howard to make it 2-0! Herb Score was lights-out through the first four innings, blanking the Braves, and Russ Snyder got an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to make our lead 3-0, getting his second steal of the game before Cavarretta flew out to left for the last out. That kid is QUICK ... he’s already got three steals so far this year! Herb Score successfully bunted and reached base safely in the bottom of the sixth, and Russ Snyder hit a sac-fly to center that advanced Woody Smith to third, giving us runners on the corners with just a single out. Cavarretta hit a sac-fly to right, driving Smith home for our fourth run, and we went into the seventh inning leading convincingly 4-0. Elston Howard added a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, his first of his major league career, that put us up six and which ended Warren Spahn’s night. Herb Score gave up a solo homer in the eighth, but we had no trouble holding on to win this one 6-1!

Herb Score pitched our first complete game of the season, giving up just two hits for one run, with eight strikeouts and only one walk! The win brings his record to 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA on the still very young season. Russ Snyder led the way as our leadoff man, hitting three times and stealing twice, scoring a run and batting in another. Elston Howard hit his two run homer and scored on a sac-fly, giving him a solid three RBI night. Phil Cavarretta walked once and was able to bat in a run without getting a hit all night thanks to his sacrifice late in the game.

APRIL 21, 1954 . . . I’ve added Alexander and Maris to our major league rosters effective today, as both arrived in time to make the trip to Milwaukee. Marris will be a pinch hitting option for now, not a starter. Alexander will be our long relief option out of the bullpen, joining Karl Drews, Steve Nagy and Sandy Consuegra in what I am hoping will be our set relief corp for the forseeable future.

Robert Diehl (1-0, 5.06) got his second start of the year tonight on the road on an ice cold Milwaukee evening in front of 16,700 rabid Braves fans -- cloudy, 37 degrees, wind blowing out, so definitely not the best recipe for strong pitching. Sauer gave us an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, scoring off a Gene Baker sac-fly to center. But the game, which we’d all expected would be a hitter’s game due to the wind, turned into a pitchers’ duel because of the bitter cold. By the time we came up to bat in the top of the sixth there had been just five hits in the game combined and we still held our 1-0 lead. We started warming up Alexander in the sixth, but not in time to prevent Diehl from giving up a massive three-run homer to give the Braves the lead in a huge way. Alexander came in with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and empty bases for his first relief appearance in the majors at age 31, and he got us out of it quickly ... but could our bats rally to retake the lead on such an inhospitable night on the road?

McCullough pinch-hit for Howard in the top of the seventh, taking a walk and giving us two runners and only one out, and Kenneth Chapman pinch hit for Gene Baker, though he flew out and was unable to advance the runners, and a Woody Smith flyout to right ended the inning with us still two in the hole. Alexander got us through the seventh safely, with Nagy warming up to take over in the eighth. With Russ Snyder on base and with just one out on the board, Cavarretta hit to deep left, the ball rolling into the corner, winding up with a double which put Snyder on third. And Willie Mays got us two runs to knot it up, thanks to a slow-hit ball right up the middle, barely a single but good enough to confound the defense. Mays got caught stealing, giving us our second out, but Banks doubled to deep center and Sauer took a walk, sending McCullough back up to bat with two on and two outs. Though he wasn’t able to score, we did head to the bottom of the eighth all tied up, so we had a chance!

Alexander came in and got a strikeout to start the bottom of the eighth, but a runner reached second on a hit and a steal, bringing in Nagy with the one out to hopefully get us out of the inning unscathed. But a grounder got past our defender out into right, allowing the go-ahead run to score for Milwaukee, and Nagy gave up an additional run before getting his outs, sending us into the top of the ninth needing two or more runs or it was over. Kenneth Chapman took a walk, and I brought Frank Baumholtz in to pinch hit, getting a fly ball double over the head of the center fielder, giving us two in scoring position with Roger Maris coming in for his first pinch-hit opportunity with Consuegra warming up for the bottom of the ninth. With a good eye, Maris took a walk to load the bases, bringing up Russ Snyder, no outs, who hit the ball just over the head of the second baseman and into the outfield! Two runs score to knot it all at 5-5! Cavarretta took an out, but Willie Mays again walked the bases loaded, bringing up Ernie Banks with only one out! Banks hit a fly-out to center, but not deep enough for anyone to go ... leaving it up to Sauer with two outs and the loaded bases. But he flew out to center, leaving Consuegra to come in and get us a chance at extras. Unfortunately he gave up two hits, the second of which grounded right by our third-baseman, scoring the walk-off game winner as Milwaukee put us away 6-5.

Consuegra took the loss, falling to 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA, as he was only able to get one out before the walk-off double. Robert Diehl made it through 5.2 innings but gave up five hits and three runs (two earned) with two strikeouts and a walk, thanks to the three-run homer he gave up in the fifth. Alexander finished with 1.2 innings but gave up a run on his only hit through 27 pitches, giving him a 5.40 ERA. Nagy continues to struggle for control, only lasting two outs but giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and a walk, giving him a 13.50 ERA through two innings. Small sample sizes, however, and we have to be careful not to be too strong on early judgments -- the weather tonight was already not pitcher friendly, and yet we stayed in this game to the end.

Snyder, Cavarretta and Banks each had two hits tonight, with Snyder and Cavarretta getting runs out of it for their trouble. Willie Mays hit once and walked once, driving in two runs while Snyder picked up two RBIs and Gene Baker added one on a sacrifice play. We fell to 3-4 on the young season, but we’ve been in most of the games and we’ve had a +5 run differential Once everyone settles in and the real slog of the season gets going I think we’re going to adjust well.

We have an off day tomorrow, making the drive down to Cincinnati for four games in three days. We’ll then have the 26th off as we return to Wrigley for two against the Phillies, the start of a nine game, ten day homestand. We’ll then have a two week 13-game road stand, so I hope our players are ready to start really putting in work.

jksander · 07-15-2023, 11:12 AM

APRIL 23, 1954 . . . The Redlegs have gotten out to a 5-3 start, and we lost to them on our field 6-1 in the first meeting of the season series. We’ll have Hacker up for tonight’s game, and I expect to use Klippstein, Rogovin and Score in the remaining games which should give our rotation its first real test of the season.

For tonight’s game I kept Snyder in the leadoff position but used Fondy instead of Cavarretta to bat second, keeping the rest of the lineup in order (Mays / Banks / Sauer / Howard / Baker / Smith). Snyder opened with a double, and Fondy sacrified himself at first but Snyder reached third safely. Mays then grounded out to first, but Snyder was quick enough to score, putting us up 1-0 after one. Hacker gave up a solo homer in the second, however, to tie it right back up, and his confidence shaken somewhat he gave up a second run, all with two outs. By the time he got his third out in the bottom of the first he’d thrown 32 pitches and looked shaken as he headed back to the dugout. Thanksfully Elston Howard came up big with an RBI triple in the second to tie the game, and Gene Baker drove him home with a single to left to give us back the lead. Baker stole second moments later, and Warren Hacker got himself some insurance by hitting a single to right, advancing Baker to third. Snyder hit into a double play, however, so we had to settle for a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the second. And Hacker came out confident in the second, throwing two strikeouts and getting a flyout to end the inning much more quickly. Hacker gave up two doubles in the third, only escaping trouble thanks to a brilliant tag-out at home plate, and though we still held a 3-2 lead after three, it looked increasingly less likely he’d go deeper into this game than five or six innings unless we could put up some serious insurance runs. Willie Mays gave us one in the top of the fifth, a sac-fly to right leading Russ Snyder to score from third to give us a two run lead midway through the fifth. But Hacker gave up a two-run homer to send momentum the other way, and I had no choice but to start warming Bob Alexander up in the bullpen. Hacker then got his outs quickly and we came back up in the sixth knotted 4-4.

Gene Baker gave us back our 6-4 lead thanks to a two-run jam of his own, his first of the year, qualifying Hacker to get the win if we could hold it. He stayed in and got through the sixth with three quick outs, so I sat Alexander and warmed up Karl Drews who I expected to take over in the seventh, with Hacker past 100 pitches already. Drews pitched to three batters in the seventh, getting an out but allowing a run to score, so Alexander came in with a man on first to try and get those two outs and keep us in this lead. He got a flyout to left, then gave up a hit that put runners on the corners with two outs. And an easy out at first was botched by Fondy, who bobbled the ball and allowed the tying run to score. Damn it! We got the third out but went into the eighth inning knotted 6-6. Alexander stayed in for the bottom of the eighth, getting us out of the inning with the game still tied and Consuegra ready to come in for the bottom of the ninth. Cavarretta came in to pinch hit for Alexander, but he struck out swinging. So did Russ Snyder. And Fondy grounded out to first, putting a ton of pressure on Consuegra to get us into extras. Two groundouts and a flyout later he did just that, at least giving us a chance if we could find a way to score something.

McCullough got a pinch-hit single in the top of the 11th, but we couldn’t get anyone else on base. Steve Nagy came in for the bottom of the inning and, without even bothering to get a single bloody out, gave up a walk-off homer to end this one aa a 7-6 loss. I still can’t believe it. And we’ve pretty much blown our bullpen in game one, meaning the pressure is on Klippstein tomorrow to go the distance.

Hacker lasted six innings but gave up eight hits for four earned runs, striking out six and walking one but throwing 102 pitches and looking inconsistent throughout the night. Last year in a game like this I would have left him in to defend his win, but he didn’t have the stuff tonight and he knew it. Drews came out of the game with a hold, giving up two runs (one earned) on one hit and a walk, while Alexander took the blown save through 1.2 innings of two-hit ball. Consuegra was excellent through two innings, and I should have kept him in for a third -- that will go down as a managerial boner on my part and I’m going to be roasted in the Chicago papers for it. He had no hits, a strikeout and a walk with 20 pitches. But it all came down to Nagy’s one pitch homer to end it, and he deservedly took the loss, falling to 0-2 and begging the question: is it worth keeping him in the majors? His efforts so far this year have been less than impressive, and it HAS been four years since his last major league stint. Perhaps it’s time to hang it up. Not going to make any hasty decisions, but I’m growing concerned.

We had 12 hits today but let the Redlegs put up 13 ... Gene Baker had three hits with a run scored and three batted in, while Synder added two hits and two runs scored, bringing his aveage up to .407 after six major league starts! Fondy is not the player we knew last year -- through 16 at-bats this season he’s hitting just .067 and his eye is failing him with an OBP of .118 ... I may regret that extension I gave him, not thinking he’d decline so quickly at 29. Small sample size, though ... will give him a chance to fight his way out of it. Willie Mays has stayed strong, adding a hit, a walk and two RBIs to his total, and McCullough has been a solid pinch hitter despite his declining defensive skills as a catcher, adding a hit to keep his average at .556 through nine at-bats.

Three games left in this series including the double-header on Sunday, and we really need a good game tomorrow to get out of this funk.

APRIL 24, 1954 . . . This afternoon Klippstein took the mound for us, while our former starter Paul Minner took the mound for the Redlegs. Woody Smith batted a run in with the bases loaded in the top of the second to give us a 1-0 lead, but Minner got himself out of it surprisingly well and we weren’t able to pile on. But Johnny Klippstein batted in a second run in the top of the fourth, and two more scored on an RBI double by Russ Snyder, opening this one up quickly. Willie Mays batted Snyder home from third, and we went into the bottom of the fourth with a significant 5-0 lead on the Redlegs. They got on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth, but Klippstein dealt it well the rest of the way. Roger Maris came in to pinch hit for Snyder in the top of the eighth, and his single sparked a rally that wound up loading the bases with two outs, bringing up Ernie Banks with a chance to add to the score. And Banks came up big in that situation, driving in three runs with a triple to deep right that was inches shy of a grand slam, putting us up 8-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth. Klippstein was dominant the rest of the way and we held tough to beat the Redlegs 8-1 heading into tomorrow’s doubleheader!

Johnny Klippstein improved to 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA thanks to nine innings with five hits, five strikeouts and only two walks over 124 pitches. Snyder had a hit and scored a run with two RBIs, while Maris got two at-bats and had a hit and a run scored. Ernie Banks’ two hits batted in three for us, and Hank Sauer was incredibly consistent with three hits and a walk, scoring a run.

APRIL 25, 1954 . . . Doubleheader day! Herb Score started the first game for us, and he got us through the first inning scoreless. In the top of the second, Elston Howard hit a double that he turned into a triple with his quick speed on the basepaths, driving in the first run of the game to put us up 1-0, and a second run scored on a wild pitch that got by the catcher. Gene Baker hit a triple with one out, and pitcher Herb Score then hit a two-run homer to make it 4-0 heading into the bottom of the second. Ernie Banks drove in another run with an RBI double in the top of the third. In the top of the fourth Russ Snyder reached first safely on an infield hit, but was injured in the process. We had to sub in Maris to pinch-run and then take over at left field, with men on the corners and one out. Cavarretta hit into a double play to end the top of the inning with us ahead 5-0. Maris is going to get a trial by fire today, because he’ll now have to finish this game and then start in the second.

Hank Sauer sacrificed himself at first to allow Willie Mays to score our sixth run in the top of the fifth, and in the top of the sixth Roger Maris came up for the first time and hit a triple to deep center, making it 7-0 as Woody Smith came around from second to score. Herb Score gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to make it 7-1, but he closed out an amazing game for a rookie starter as we beat the Redlegs 7-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the series heading into today’s second game!

Score dominated this game, improving to 2-1 with a 1.90 ERA thanks to just seven hits and the one earned run, with nine strikeouts against a single walk. He threw 119 pitches in the winning effort. Willie Mays led our hitters with three hits, scoring a single run. Sauer added a pair of hits for a run and an RBI, and Roger Maris got a hit in two tries with an RBI, his first as a Cub! He’s hit in four out of five at-bats since joining our team. And Herb Score has been impressive enough maybe I should consider him as a pinch-hitting option! He hit twice in four tries today including his homer, scoring one and driving in two!

Unfortunately, Russ Snyder fractured his foot running into first-base, and he’s going to be out for at least four weeks. We’ve placed him on the 15 day IL, and I’m going to bring Hy Cohen onto the 25 man roster for the time being, giving us an additional arm out of the bullpen, as we still have six fielders on the main roster.

Saul Rogovin came out to pitch in the second game of the doubleheader, and instead of risking wearing Roger Maris out too quickly we will continue to use him in this game as a potential pinch-hitter, bringing Frank Baumholtz in to play left, as he’ll be a stronger fielder overall. Willie Mays put us on the board with a two-run homer in the top of the first, his sixth of the season, and Frank Baumholtz hit a sac-fly to center that drove in a third run, so Rovovin had a 3-0 cushion before he even threw his first pitch. Sauer added a solo homer in the top of the third, his second of the season, to make it 4-0. From there both sides played solid defense and the score remained locked. Sandy Consuegra came in for the ninth inning to preserve the four run lead, and he got them out on flyouts one, two, three to end this one as a 4-0 win! We beat the Redlegs three games to one, and now we have a 6-5 record on the season!

Saul Rogovin improved to 1-0 on the season with a 1.29 ERA, giving up just five hits in eight innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Consuegra came in for three outs and was perfect, bringing his ERA down to 6.43 on the year. Cavarretta hit twice and scored a run, bringing him out of his slump a bit, though his .205 average is still concerning. Willie Mays hit once to score a run and bat in two with his home run, and Ernie Banks added two hits for a run. Hank Sauer was solid as well with three hits, scoring one and batting in another, keeping his average at .410 through 39 at-bats.

Our 6-5 record has us in third place in the NL, half a game behind Pittsburgh (8-6) and Philadelphia (7-5) and tied with the Cardinals.

jksander · 07-15-2023, 01:01 PM

APRIL 27, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl gave up the first run of the game in the top of the fourth on a terrible pickoff throw to home, a costly error, sending us into the bottom of the inning trailing 1-0. And Diehl, despite throwing a great game overall, had really bad luck and no early-game run support, and in the middle of the sixth we trailed 2-0 off just four hits. Bob Alexander came in with one out and two men in scoring position in the top of the seventh, and he surrendered both of Diehl’s runs on the sixth pitch, before giving up a two-run homer of his own with two outs to make the deficit 6-0. And we couldn’t buy a hit, dooming us in the end to losing this one by the same six run margin.

Robert Diehl took the loss, falling to 1-1 with a 4.67 ERA thanks to five hits and four earned runs with just one strikeout and one walk. Bob Alexander gave up two runs and only secured two outs, dropping his ERA to 6.75. Steve Nagy came in and got the two final innings’ worth of outs in a two strikeout no hit night, bringing his ERA down to 9.00 after five innings pitched. We were outhit 7-4 in this one, all four hits coming from the bottom of our lineup (Howard, Baker, Smith and Diehl) with all our star sluggers struggling. There’s no way to win a game like this without Mays, Banks and Sauer getting something going in the middle of the lineup.

This will be Nagy’s last game with us, despite the solid innings -- we’ve worked out a trade with the Detroit Tigers over in the American League, sending him, Herb Score and Dee Fondy to the Tigers in exchange for right fielder and major league legend-in-the-making Al Kaline and minor league reliever Richard Dotson! Kaline, at 19, is the 4th best prospect in the majors, so I don’t feel bad about having to give up Score in the deal -- I think it works out well for both sides. Hopefully we’ll have Kaline here in Chicago in time for Friday’s first game against the New York Giants here at Wrigley.

To fill a gap in our bullpen for tomorrow’s second game against the Phillies we’ve called up Fred Baczewski to the major league roster, leaving the other two open spots in our 25-man roster for the two incoming Tigers.

APRIL 28, 1957 . . . Warren Hacker pitched for us in the second game against the Phillies. Philly got on the board in the top of the third with an RBI single on two outs, and Hacker struggled in the fifth inning, giving up two more runs to add to our difficulty level. In the bottom of the ninth, still down 3-0, Roger Maris pinch hit for Baumholtz and took a walk, followed by a walk by Mays, which brought up Ernie Banks with a chance to finally do something good for us offensively, but he struck out. Sauer, however, hit a line drive to left that loaded the bases, but Elston Howard hit a fly to deep center and everyone held their bases. Damn it! Clyde McCullough came in to pinch hit for Gene Baker, and he walked in a run! Bill Serena came in to pinch hit for Woody Smith, bases loaded and two outs, and he struck out swinging as we lost this one 3-1.

Hacker took the loss, falling to 0-2 with a 4.39 ERA, having given up eight hits and three runs in 7.2 innings with three strikeouts and a walk. Sandy Consuegra came in and threw 1.1 innings with only one hit to at least give us a shot, but the damage came early in this one and we don’t have a hitters’ row to make up for it -- particularly when Mays and Banks went hitless for the second game in a row. Maybe getting Kaline into the lineup will give us a boost of energy, because right now we’re getting outhit daily. Cavarretta, Baumholtz and Sauer got our only three knocks of the night as we fell to 6-7. An off day awaits, and then two games this weekend against the Giants, followed by a Sunday doubleheader at Wrigley against Pittsburgh before a three game series against Brooklyn (May 4-6) that then setus us up for what could be a brutal two week 13-game road trip.

jksander · 07-15-2023, 03:10 PM

APRIL 30, 1954 . . . I thought the fans were going to flat-out murder the umpire when the Giants took a 1-0 lead on us via a bases loaded balk called against Johnny Klippstein in the top of the first, but Klippstein got out of the inning without further incident. Al Kaline got a hit in his first at-bat in the leadoff position, but the rest of the lineup left him completely stranded. In his second at-bat in the bottom of the third, Kaline got on base with a double and this time Cavarretta drove him home with an RBI single, tying the score 1-1 and putting some life into the crowd. But Willie Mays hit into a fielder’s choice and then Ernie Banks flew out to center, ending any chance at an extended offensive blast. Hank Sauer hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to put us up 2-1, and Kaline got a third hit in the bottom of the fifth, though for the second time he was stranded. But Klippstein was on fire defending the lead with two strikeouts and a flyout in the top of the sixth, knowing that with our offensive struggles he was going to have to win this one himself. We had an opportunity to score when Banks came up in the bottom of the seventh with men on the corners and two outs, but he struck out again to extend his slump and the score remained 2-1 Cubs heading into the eighth inning. The score was unchanged heading into the top of the ninth, and Klippstein stayed in to close out the game himself, and he held on to the lead despite giving up a hit and a walk via hit-by-pitch, striking out a batter and then getting two flyouts as we beat the Giants 2-1!

Klippstein threw 122 pitches in the complete game win, improving to 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA by giving up only three hits with nine strikeouts and only two walks. We outhit them 11-3, led by Al Kaline in the leadoff position with three hits and a run scored. Cavarretta and Sauer each had a pair of hits, with Sauer batting in one and scoring another, and Cavarretta batting in Kaline’s run early in the game. Ernie Banks went hitless again -- he has had three consecutive hitless games, but Mays broke out of his slump with a single hit.

MAY 1, 1954 . . . Rogovin came out to pitch today and on the second pitch of the afternoon he gave up a triple. A sacrifice out at first scored the first run, but he was effective from there at shutting them down. Al Kaline hit a blistering line drive that almost went over the wall, bouncing off the top and back into the park instead for a run scoring triple in the bottom of the third to tie the game, and Kaline scored a run on a wild pitch to make it 2-1. Mays took a walk, and then Banks broke out of his slump with a two-run blast to center, making it 4-1 with his fourth home run of the season! Elston Howard added a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-1, and in the bottom of the seventh Cavarretta drove Rogovin home from third to score a sixth run. Ernie Banks batted in another moments later, and Gene Baker joined the party to make it 8-1 before Elston Howard finally struck out to end the inning.

Karl Drews came in for the top of the eighth with the game well in hand, and as has been typical with our bullpen he threw up all over himself, loading the bases with a single out and then giving up a grand slam. Vince Lombardi came in with a man on and just one out, with Consuegra already warming in the bullpen to protect the game if it continued to be out of hand. Lombard got a strikeout, but then gave up a two-run homer to make it 8-7 ... I can’t believe this! Consuegra came in and got the final out, but this was a whole different ballgame heading into the bottom of the eighth than it was twenty minutes prior. Al Kaline came out and hit his first homer as a Cub, his sixth of the year thus far overall, to make it a 9-7 game, giving Consuegra a bit more room to breathe as he came in for the save in the top of the ninth. And though we had some drama, with a man reaching second on a fielding error involving a bad throw from third to first, Consuegra got out of the inning with no damage and we held on to win 9-7.

Saul Rogovin improved to 2-0 on the year with a 1.29 GPA, giving up just five hits and one earned run with five strikeouts and a walk. Drews and Lombardi came in and only managed two outs with six runs (three earned) between them, but Consuegra came out for 1.1 innings and improved his ERA to 4.66 thanks to a near-perfect effort, earning his second save of the season. Al Kaline has definitely sparked our offense, getting three hits again today with three runs scored and two batted in, while Ernie Banks finally had a solid night with two hits with a run scored and three batted in. Willie Mays had four hits and scored two runs, and Gene Baker added a pair of hits and an RBI as well.

Tomorrow will be a challenge -- two games against Pittsburgh here at home, with a chance to distance ourselves from .500 ... Diehl will pitch for us in the first game, with Hy Cohen coming up from AA to get his first start as a Cub in the second game.

MAY 2, 1954 . . . It was a cool dreary day at Wrigley with the wind blowing in slightly, making for a rare pitcher-friendly atmosphere in what is normally a hitter’s park. We loaded the bases in the second inning with a single out, and pitcher Robert Diehl hit a line drive past the first baseman for a deep double to right, scoring three runs! A passed ball advanced Diehl to third, and Al Kaline grounded it up the gap to score our fourth run. Willie Mays walked the bases loaded again, but that was all the damage we could do. Still, by 12:43 in the afternoon we held a 4-0 lead on the visiting Pirates and the fans were loving every minute of it. Diehl gave up a run in the third inning, but also added a pair of strikeouts to his tally as he kept the Pirates from clawing back. But he wasn’t so lucky in the fourth inning, stringing together a series of hits for the Pirates that wound up completely erasing the lead -- by the time we came up to bat in the bottom of the fourth the Pirates held a 5-4 lead and I had Bob Alexander ready to come out and pitch for the fifth.

Alexander pitched well into the top of the seventh, but then gave up a solo homer to add to our deficit. Karl Drews came in with one out and got a strikeout and a groundout to keep the score 6-4 Pirates heading into the bottom of the seventh. Kenneth Chapman came in to pinch hit for Gene Baker in the bottom of the eighth but he struck out, while Howard and Smith both flew out, but Drews kept us in the game by getting us quickly through the top of the ninth with no damage. Frank Baumholtz came in to pinch hit for Drews to open the bottom of the ninth, but he was a quick out at first. Kaline flew out to left for our second out, but Cavarretta laid down a fly ball to right that the fielder couldn’t catch, getting himself on base with Willie Mays at the plate and Ernie Banks waiting in the wings. But Mays’ solid hit was blown inward by the wind and became an easy catch for the center fielder as we dropped game one 6-4 after having blown a 4-0 lead.

Robert Diehl took the loss, giving up eight hits in four innnings with five earned runs, blowing his ERA all the way up to 5.91 for the year thus far. Bob Alexander lasted 2.1 innings with three hits and a run, and Karl Drews was impressive in 2.2 innings, just giving up a single hit with two strikeouts and a walk, improving his ERA to 8.44 overall after just 5.1 innings pitched. Both teams notched a dozen hits; Kaline, Cavarretta and Banks each had two for us, with pitcher Robert Diehl’s one hit for a run and three batted in was also impressive. Here’s hoping we can get a few hits in the second game and come out with a split.

We won a bidding war in free agency for Hy Cohen, and in the second game of the day it was time to see what he was made of! Willie Mays helped him out with a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the first, and Hank Sauer had a sac-fly to right that scored a second run. Cavarretta then added a three-run homer in the bottom of the second to break the game open, his second homer of the year thanks to it blowing inches inside fair territory. Meanwhile, Cohen was unhittable early on, completely dominating the Pirates and pitching like he’d been born on the mound! It started to feel historic when we entered the ninth inning with Cohen still on the mound, up 5-0 and having to that point pitched a perfect game ... Flyout to right? Check! Batter thrown out at first? Check! When he got the final out and this place erupted, it was the wildest thing I’ve ever seen in this ballpark ... we shut the Pirates out 5-0 in Hy Cohen’s Cubs debut and he pitched a perfect game!

Cohen threw nine innings and just 94 pitches to attain perfection, striking out six batters and doing something he’ll almost certainly never match in his career. I’m still stunned, and I watched it happen! He also notched a hit and scored a run early in the game. Cavarretta’s homer notched him a run scored and three batted in, and Ernie Banks added three hits though he never scored.

Pelican · 07-17-2023, 11:11 PM

Who is this guy, and where did he get that stuff? IRL looks like he appeared in only seven games for the Cubs in 1955. Minor league record only fair. What are his OOTP ratings? Amazing. Good find, needless to say.

jksander · 07-18-2023, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pelican

Who is this guy, and where did he get that stuff? IRL looks like he appeared in only seven games for the Cubs in 1955. Minor league record only fair. What are his OOTP ratings? Amazing. Good find, needless to say.

My ratings show him as 3.5 stars with good potential, but even with 100% scouting accuracy I see a lot of up-and-down in the ratings. I think it was a fluke, but it was fun to watch nonetheless! We'll see if he can keep pitching well ... Warren Hacker has certainly been struggling since his Cy Young run, so perhaps he's reverted back to his more natural pitching form.

EDIT: He has a three star rating with four star potential -- 64 Stuff, 46 Movement, 65 Contact, 72 Stamina. His Stuff rating shows a 94 Potential rating, so I'm leaning toward 'fluke' but hopeful that he'll pan out -- scouting currently says he's a finesse pitcher who is likely miscast as a major league starter.

jksander · 07-18-2023, 01:25 PM

MAY 4, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker came out tonight for his fifth start of the year, and so far he’s been struggling to find his way back to the consistency he showed during his Cy Young campaign last year, coming into this game with an 0-2 record and a 4.39 ERA through 26.2 innings. And tonight he gave up a solo homer to Carl Furillo to put us beind 1-0 after just seven pitches. But Willie Mays flipped the script in the bottom of the inning with his seventh homer of the year to put us ahead 2-1, taking some of the presure off. Brooklyn tied it up in the top of the third off a sac fly to center, and Hacker gave up the go-ahead run moments later before finally getting the final strikeout as he edged over 50 pitches. But Mays hit a solid two-base hit to drive in the tying run in the bottom of the third, at least keeping us in this one. Woody Smith batted out to first in the bottom of the fourth to drive in the go-ahead run, and Hacker came out in the fifth and got three quick outs to maintain the lead, but he couldn’t do it through six ... with no outs in the top of the sixth Hacker surrendered the tying run, a solo homer by Monte Irvin, and his night was over -- I brought Bob Alexander in from the bullpen to try and get us out of this one. He did well, getting us two outs into the eighth inning, at which point Karl Drew came in to get us a final out with the store still knotted 4-4.

We went into the bottom of the ninth still knotted -- Bill Serena came in to pinch hit for Woody Smith, but he flew out to left bringing up Roger Maris, who was standing in for Drews. Maris laid down a soft fly to right and the fielder lost it in the sun, allowing us a base runner! And Al Kaline then slammed one deep into left, over the wall, and we won this one 6-4 without needing extra innings!

Karl Drews took the win, improving to 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA thanks to 1.1 innings of no hit one strikeout ball, but Bob Alexander did a lot of the work to keep us in this one, throwing 42 pitches over 2.2 innings, giving up just one hit with two strikeouts and a walk. Hacker didn’t have a great night, giving up four runs off eight hits in his five innings of work, and though he struggled like this early last season too, it wasn’t this bad -- at least he was getting quality starts in April and May last year. This season he’s yet to make it out of the eighth inning, and he’s given up three or more earned runs in all five games and his BAPIP of .318 is by far his worst since 1949.

Willie Mays led our hitters this afternoon with three hits, a run scored and three batted in, while Cavarretta added a pair of hits for two runs scored. Al Kaline has hit .409 since joining our team, and today he added a hit, a run scored and two more batted in. Finally we have our permanent lead-off man, I’d say, and he won’t even turn 20 until December!

MAY 5, 1954 . . . Al Kaline hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third to put us up 1-0 on the Giants, and Willie Mays batted in a second with a single of his own to make it 2-0. Ernie Banks hit a sac-fly to left to drive in a third run, giving us a solid three run advantage heading into the fourth. Kaline sacrificed himself at center field to drive in a fourth run in the bottom of the fourth, We held them off completely from there, Klippstein going eight full innings and Consuegra coming in to close it out successfully in the ninth as we held tough to beat the Giants 4-0!

Klippstein improved to 4-0 with a 1.12 ERA through 32 innings thanks to just three hits today with three strikeouts and three walks. Consuegra gave up two hits in the non-save situation but preserved the shutout with two strikeouts to improve his ERA to 4.22 through 10.2 innings pitched. Hank Sauer hit three times but never scored, while Willie Mays added a pair of hits and an RBI. Al Kaline had a hit, a run scored and two batted in, and Ernie Banks batted one in though he didn’t get any hits on the board.

MAY 6, 1954 . . . Saul Rogovin took the mound today, and after an efficient first inning he got some support from our bats in the bottom of the first, with Cavarretta batting Kaline in with a double to put us up 1-0. Mays and Banks walked the bases loaded, still no outs, nd Elston Howard hit a fly to deep right, an easy catch for out number two but still managing to score Cavarretta from third. Baker batted in a third run and we were able to head into the top of the second leading the Dodgers 3-0. Rogovin bought us some added insurance in the second inning, leading off with a solo homer to left, his first four-bagger of the year, to bump us up to 4-0, and Rogovin was red-hot all night from the mound, keeping the Dodgers at bay with pitch after pitch of great stuff. Ernie Banks added his fifth homer of the season to bat in three runs in the bottom of the seventh, and Elston Howard added a triple that batted in another to make it 8-0! With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Willie Mays batted in two more runs and Mays batted in our 11th run with a sac-fly to center. Sauer scored on a fly-out to first to make it 12-0, and Rogovin closed it out with three fly-outs in the ninth to win this one by a dozen in a one-hit game for the Dodgers -- who look like a shell of their former selves, let me tell you!

Rogovin improves to 3-0 on the season with a 0.90 ERA through 30 innings, giving up one hit with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks. He’s quickly becoming our true ace from the mound as Hacker tries to find the stuff that made him a Cy Young candidate last year. We outhit the Dodgers 14-1 tonight, with Al Kaline leading the charge with three hits for three runs scored. Ernie Banks hit twice and walked once, scoring a run and driving in four, while Willie Mays got a hit and two walks, scoring three times and batting in two. Rogovin has been potent from the batter’s box as well this year, hitting three times today, scoring twice and batting in one, giving him a surprising .364 average through 13 plate appearances.

We have a three-game set on the road starting tomorrow, followed by two at Philly (May 11-12), three at the Giants (May 13-15), three at Pittsburgh (May 16-17) and two at Brooklyn (May 18-19) before we get back to Wrigley for a four-game set against Milwaukee. Here are the current NL standings:

1. St. Louis Cardinals (15-7)
2. Chicago Cubs (12-8) 2 GB
3 (tie). Philadelphia Phillies (12-10) 3 GB
3 (tie). Cincinnati Redlegs (12-10) 3 GB
5 (tie). Milwaukee Braves (10-10) 4 GB
5 (tie). Pittsburgh Pirates (12-12) 4 GB
7. Brooklyn Dodgers (8-14) 7 GB
8. New York Giants (6-16) 9 GB

And the AL standings:

1. Cleveland Guardians (16-6)
2. Washington Senators (15-7) 1 GB
3. New York Yankees (13-9) 3 GB
4. Philadelphia Athletics (11-11) 5 GB
5. Chicago White Sox (11-12) 5.5 GB
6. Detroit Tigers (8-11) 6.5 GB
7. Boston Red Sox (8-13) 7.5 GB
8. Baltimore Orioles (4-17) 11.5 GB

jksander · 07-19-2023, 07:10 PM

MAY 7, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen came out tonight for his second start ever, first ever on the road as a Cub, and his first since pitching that perfect game on May 2nd. And Al Kaline gave him run support from the word ‘go,” hitting a solo homer (his eighth of the year overall!) to put us up 1-0 on the very first pitch of the night! Elston Howard hit a triple that batted in two more, and by the time Cohen came up to throw his first pitch of the night we already had a 3-0 lead on the Braves. And Cohen gave up both a walk and a hit in the inning to prove he’s human ... in fact, the Braves took the game on a three-run homer moments later, and though Cohen only gave up two walks and two hits, the score was 4-3 Braves at the end of the first inning.

Cohen gave up a triple in the bottom of the second but escaped with no runs, but he gave up a two-run homer in the third to make it 6-3 Braves, but Cohen hit a ground-rule double to start the fourth inning and was able to get around to score, cutting the Milwaukee lead to two runs. In the top of the sixth Cohen reached second on a throwing error at first, giving us a man in scoring position with just one out and the top of the lineup coming up to hit. Kaline walked and Cavarretta hit it through the gap just out of the reach of the center fielder, allowing Cohen to score his second run of the game to make it 6-5! Cohen stayed strong from the mound and in the top of the eighth we loaded the bases, bringing up Willie Mays who singled to right and drove in the game-tying run, at which point Ernie Banks drove one to left, pushing in our seventh run and giving us, and Cohen, the lead! Consuegra came in for three quick outs in the bottom of the eighth, and he came back for the bottom of the ninth inning with the lead still at one run. Two bobbled balls allowed two runners to reach base, but Consuegra was the consumnate professional -- unfortunately a bobbled catch by Mays made it a trifecta and scored the tying run, driving runners to second and third. A bases-loaded walk and then a throw from shortstop to first ended the inning, but now we were headed for extras on the road.

Willie Mays hit a solo homer in the top of the 13th inning to put us up 8-7, and Ernie Banks scored a run on a throwing error to home plate, making it a 9-7 lead! Bob Alexander held tough through the bottom of the inning and we wound up winning this one in a marathon 9-7 victory, absolutely stunning the fans from Milwaukee who had stayed through a nearly four hour game.

Cohen lasted seven innings, giving up seven hits for six earned runs with five K’s and a trio of walks to bring his ERA down to 3.38 on the year. Consuegra got a blown save, his first of the year, but only gave up one hit in two innings with a strikeout and a walk. Alexander earned his win, improving to 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA out of the bullpen, throwing four complete innings with only one hit and a strikeout, lasting 37 pitches and proving to be a real workhorse! We outhit the Braves 20-9 but struggled to string hits together -- this should not have been nearly as hard as it was. Kaline was a stud again from the leadoff, hitting four times to score twice and drive one in, while Mays hit three times for two runs and three RBIs including the game winner in the 13th.

Russ Snyder still reportedly has two or three weeks before he’ll be ready to consider a rehab assignment after his broken foot sidelined him. We’re definitely keeping an eye on his recovery time, but the team is doing well in the interim, so we have to keep hoping luck remains on our side.

MAY 8, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker hit a blooper to right field that barely eluded the fielder, allowing our first run of the night to score in the top of the second inning, putting us up 1-0 on the Braves. Kaline batted in another with a double before they were able to successfully get the final out. And Hacker came out pitching like we haven’t seen so far this year, dominating the first few innings to put us in a areally solid position. Hank Sauer added an RBI sac-fly in the top of the third to make it 3-0, and Hacker stayed in his top form through the remainder of the game. Cavarretta drove in a fourth run in the top of the ninth, and Hacker shut them down in the bottom of the frame with two strikeouts and a flyout to preserve the 4-0 complete game victory!

Hacker improved to 1-2 with a 3.76 ERA thanks to the nine innings of three-hit ball he threw, alongside five strikeouts and a walk. Cavarretta hit three times and scored a run and batted one in, while Mays and Sauer each added a pair of hits as we out-bashed the Braves 10-3 in our sixth win in a row!

MAY 9, 1954 . . . Klippstein pitched for us today, and we brought in Roger Maris to sub at third base to give Woody Smith a day to rest -- it’s not his normal position, but we’re clogged right now at left field, so it’s going to be important to see if he can fill in elsewhere or if he’s only going to be useful out in left. We took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third thanks to a solo homer by Gene Baker, and Cavarretta hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0. Willie Mays made it 4-0 with a two run homer in the sixth, his ninth homer of the season, and Bob Alexander came in with one out in the bottom of the eighth to make sure we kept the lead intact. And he lasted through the remainder of the game, closing out a 4-0 win as we swept Milwaukee and kept our win-streak going!

Klippstein took the win, improving him to 5-0 with a 0.92 ERA, giving up just two hits with two strikeouts and three walks in 7.1 innings. Alexander came in and threw 1.1 innings of no hit, one strikeout ball, improving his ERA to 2.45 and earning his first save of the year. Cavarretta was our best batter of the night with three hits for two runs and an RBI, and with three players hitting homers we were able to overcome a weak hitting night overall and win this one in style.

St. Louis has been dominating the NL so far, rushing out to an 18-8 record, but we’re nipping at their heels just a game and a half back of first thanks to seven wins in a row (and an 8-1 record so far in May). We head into Philly (14-11, 3.5 GB) on a serious roll and with a chance to keep our season rolling in the right direction.

Bad news: Russ Snyder had a setback in his recovery -- our team trainers now say he has to undergo foot surgery and will now likely not return until the middle of June at the least. I’m confident at least that the 19-year-old slugger is in good hands, but it’s disappointing that he’s out of the picture for so long when he was hitting .382/.432/.588 through eight games with four doubles and a homer to go with three stolen bases. Here’s hoping he comes back strong before the All Star break.

jksander · 07-27-2023, 02:51 AM

This is not dead, fyi ... I just have been in the process of switching jobs. I am really looking forward to playing out some games this weekend

jksander · 07-29-2023, 01:53 PM

MAY 11, 1954 . . . Today was Saul Rogovin’s day up in the rotation, amd he leads the team with his 0.90 ERA and a 3-0 record with 21 K’s through thirty innnings. And it turned into a real duel early betweeen him and Robin Roberts -- Rogovin gave up his first two hits of the game in the bottom of the fourth, but got out of it safely and through four WE had only gotten a single hit ourselves as the game remained deadlocked 0-0 at the end of four. The top of our order came up to start the sixth, but Robin Roberts was on FIRE -- strikeout, flyout, strikeout and we remained with a goose egg. And Philadelphia drew first blood, Del Innis hitting a homer off of Rogovin with two outs and no one on, giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. They then followed it with another as Smoky Burgess nailed one deep into the right field stands to make it 2-0, both runs “unearned” thanks to the fact that he should have been out of the inning. We got out of the inning with just the two runs’ damage, but Rogovin gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases, getting out of the inning before I could get anyone warmed up -- but that meant he was done after six, lucky enough not to have his ERA dinged.

Ernie Banks got us on the board in the top of the seventh, with a one-out solo homer to make it 2-1 Philly, his sixth home run of the season. Bob Alexander came in for Rogovin to start the bottom of the seventh, but he gave up back to back doubles, allowing the Phillies to increase the margin to 3-1. Clyde McCullough pinch hit for Alexander in the top of the eighth, reaching second on a head-first slide after a shot to deep left, and then Hank Sauer hit his fourth homer of the year, tyinng the score 3-3! Willie Mays reached first safely on a fielding error, but was then thrown out trying to steal second while Ernie Banks was at bat, ending the inning and bringing Consuegra in to hopefully close things out. Ernie Banks opened the bottom of the eighth with a triple, and he scored as Kenneth Chapman, subbing in for Gene Baker, hit a line drive to center. Consuegra stayed in for the bottom of the ninth, and though he did allow a runner on base with two outs, he got the fly-out to right that we needed to keep this 4-3 victory and the win-streak continues!

Saul Rogovin gave up six hits and two unearned runs with four strikeouts and three walks on 99 pitches, dropping his ERA to 0.75 in the no-decision. Alexander gave up two hits and the earned run, no walks or strikeouts, and his ERA slipped to 2.87 through 15.2 innings. Sandy Consuegra improved to 1-1 with a 3.07 ERA, lasting two innings with three hits and a strikeout. Ernie Banks led with two hits two runs and an RBI, while Elston Howard added a pair of hits that never got him around to score. Hank Sauer batted in two with his homer, and Kenneth Chapman batted in his first run of the year in his 13th at-bat of the season, bringing his on base percentage up to .471!

In huge news, I’ve made a deal with Cleveland to bring us an All Star at 3B! It’s been going back and forth for a while now, but the Guardians are sending us Al Rosen and closer Harry Dorish to join our Cubs, and we’re sending them Bob Alexander (1-0, 2.87 ERA, opponent batting average .211) a player they’ve been clamoring to get. Both cities are reportedly buzzing about the deal, although I hear the Yankees are as well -- they’re currently 2.5 games behind the Guardians and looking for any opening to get back into the lead in the AL. We’re hoping to have both players in Chicago in time for our game on the 13th, but regardless it’s safe to say our very good team just got a lot better!

jksander · 07-29-2023, 03:15 PM

MAY 12, 1954 . . . Diehl pitched tonight for us as we await our new arrivals. Through 21.1 innings he’s held a 5.91 ERA with a 1-2 record, so I’m hoping tonight is the night he finally finds some consistency to match his stamina (he has yet to have a quality start). Diehl actually wound up with our first hit of the night in the top of the third, and Al Kaline drove him all the way around thanks to a triple that put us up 1-0! Diehl kept pitching as well as I’ve seen him pitch, and he held his own in the pitcher’s duel, getting us through the sixth with the 1-0 lead still secure. Vic Lombardi came in and got the final out of the seventh inning, saving Diehl from the men he put in scoring position and keeping the lead at 1-0 as we headed into the eighth inning. Lombardi then opened the top of the inning with a line drive to right, reaching first safely and bringing up the top of the order! Unfortunately Kaline batted out to center, and then Cavarretta hit into an infield double play and we again couldn’t buy any insurance. Lombardi got through the inning with three quick outs, and Mays opened the top of the ninth with a triple! Sauer reached first on an error by the shortstop which also allowed Mays to score, extending our lead to 2-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Vic Lombardi, having been incredibly efficient with his pitches, stayed in for the three-inning save, and though he did give up a couple hits, he pitched his way out of the jam and ended the game on a strikeout as we stumped the Phillies again, this time winning 2-0.

Diehl lasted six shutout four-hit innings, with three strikeouts and a walk to earn the win, improving to 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA. Lombardi, in his first-ever relief appearance for us as a Cub, pitched 2.2 innings with two hits and two strikeouts, keeping a perfect 0.00 ERA in a 26-pitch effort. Both teams tonight had six hits each, but we made ours count -- six separate Cubs (Kaline, Cavarretta, Mays, Baker, Diehl and Lombardi) came up with a hit apiece, with Diehl and Mays scoring runs and Kaline and Sauer batting them in. Having only batted one time, Lombardi has the rare distinction of holding both a 0.00 ERA and a 1.000 batting average at the same time!

We head into tomorrow’s first of three against the Giants with a nine-game win streak intact and our record standing at 17-8 -- and with the Cardinals having lost last night 3-4 at Pittsburgh in a 13-inning slog, we now hold a half-game first place lead in the National League! With the Giants standing in dead last at 7-20 with a -36 run differential, we stand a legitimate shot at keeping this insane run going! So far our run differential is +50, best in the majors by six runs (NY Yankees, +44) and we look even better in the NL, where only the Phillies (+23) are even close to us on offense -- hell, St. Louis (+4 Diff) and Cincinnati (+2 Diff) look to be surviving on luck, while we’re actually a game UNDER our expected record at this point.

Warren Hacker, Hy Cohen and Johnny Klippstein will be pitching for us in this upcoming series, and Harry Dorish got here in time to expand our bullpen back to four pitchers. With Al Rosen stepping in to play third, he’ll now be batting fifth in our lineup, and with a top six of Kaline / Cavarretta / Mays / Banks / Rosen / Sauer, I’m feeling confident in our ability to maintain our hot streak offensively. Elston Howard will bat 7th (.266/.318/.481) and Gene Baker will bat eighth (.278/.363/.405) which finally gives us a lineup where I don’t see any major holes from a hitting standpoint.

jksander · 07-29-2023, 06:12 PM

MAY 13, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker (1-2, 3.76 ERA, 40.2 IP) started for us today, and he had a lead to work with early as Ernie Banks tripled and then got home thanks to an RBI groundout to first by Al Rosen, putting us ahead 1-0, one out, top of the second. Elston Howard batted in a run with a single up the gap in the top of the fourth, Banks scoring headfirst to avoid the throw from the shortstop and putting us up 2-0! Moments later, Warren Hacker hit one to just about the same spot, reaching first and driving Rosen home from second to make it 3-0. Kaline drove one deep into the left corner that brought Howard and Hacker around to score and turning this one into a 5-0 rout. Cavarretta drove in a sixth run, and Banks got his second hit of the INNING with a slice up the middle that drove in two more! Rosen picked up his first hit as a Cub after walking earlier in the inning, at which point Hank Sauer finally, mercifully, ended the inning with a strikeout. But the damage for the Giants was massive, and we went into the bottom of the fourth leading 8-0.

Hacker gave up his first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth, and eventually that man did score on a sac-fly to center, but that was all the Giants could manage. And they played conservatively -- in the bottom of the fifth they easily could have had a run on a fly-out to center with only one out, but the man on third held his base and Hacker then threw for two quick outs to end the inning with our seven-run lead intact. Gene Baker batted in a run for us in the top of the sixth to make it 9-1 Cubs, and in the top of the ninth we added salt to their wounds with an RBI single by Mays that drove Kaline in for our 10th run of the game. Harry Dorish got the last four outs of the game for us and we held tough to win our 10th game in a row by a 10-1 margin.

Hacker improved to 2-2 with a 3.35 ERA on 125 pitches, going 7.2 innings with five hits, four strikeouts, a walk and just the one earned run. Dorish stepped in nicely for 1.1 innings with a strikeout and no hits. Consuegra remains our closer but if Dorish can handle the setup role and Lombardi can remain a solid middle relief option, I think we’ll stay in really good shape out of the bullpen. We picked up 16 hits tonight, with everyone but Sauer and Dorish getting in on some action. Al Kaline led the way with four hits in six at-bats, scoring twice and driving in two more to bring his average up to .407 since joining the Cubs! Ernie Banks added three hits for three runs scored with two batted in, and Mays, Howard and Hacker each added two hits. Hacker is batting .278 so far through seven starts, with two RBIs off five hits.

MAY 14, 1954 . . . Tonight’s starting pitcher is ace Johnny Klippstein (5-0, 0.92 ERA, 39.1 IP, 27 K’s, 0.89 WHIP), and he’s taking on Jack Harshman (0-5, 4.19 ERA, 43.0 IP, 22 K’s 1.40 WHIP). Rosen scored our first run on a throwing error off a fly-out by Klippstein that put us up 1-0 in the top of the second, but despite some disgustingly bad fielding by his teammates, Harshman kept the Giants in this one. He did, that is, until Sauer brought his mini-slump to an end with a solo homer in the top of the sixth, his fifth of the year, to put us up 2-0. Klippstein got through the eighth with the two-run shutout safely in hand -- and, being a solid hitter, he stayed in long enough to hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth (his first of the year!) to bring his average up to .316 and give us a 3-0 lead! But his arm was gassed after 138 pitches, so Consuegra came in for the save attempt in the bottom of the ninth. He did his job efficiently -- shortstop to first, out, strikeout, third-base to first, out -- and we won this one 3-0, our 11th in a row! Tomorrow night we’ll go for the sweep.

Klippstein improved to 6-0 with a spectacular 0.76 ERA, giving up five hits with four strikeouts and four walks in 138 pitches over eight innings. Consuegra earned his third save of the year with a strikeout and no hits, bringing his ERA down to 2.87 through 15.2 innings. We out-hit the Giants 8-5 overall, with Klippstein getting a hit for a run scored and two batted in, Rosen adding two hits for a run scored, and Sauer adding his homer to the night’s tally. Kaline had two hits and Cavarretta had one, but neither was able to capitalize. Kaline, hitting .413 since joining our team, is now hitting .384 overall and slugging .705! We are working hard to extend his contract and make him a Cub long term.

MAY 15, 1954 . . . Tonight Hy Cohen (1-0, 3.38 ERA, 16.0 IP, 11 K’s, 0.62 WHIP) faced off against Dave Koslo (2-1, 4.28 ERA, 27.1 IP, 7 K’s, 1.39 WHIP) in the final game of this series against the Giants on the road, his third start of the season. I think it’s safe to say we’re all wondering which Cohen we’ll see tonight -- the one who threw a perfect game in his first outing ever? Or the one who gave up six runs in seven innings in his second outing?

Al Rosen gave him some run support right off the bat, hitting a two run homer to put us up 2-0 in the top of the first, his first homer since joining the Cubs and his fourth overall this year! Sauer hit his sixth homer of the year in the fourth inning, another two-run shot that put us up 4-0, and Cohen hit a shot up the middle to load the bases with just one out. Kaline batted in Baker via a fly-out to right, Cavarretta walked the bases loaded again, and then they got Willie Mays to fly weakly out to right to end the inning, in a moment I just know he was looking for power. Still, leading 5-0 midway through the fourth had both us AND the Giants in familiar territory.

But Cohen loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and let the Giants in through a crack in the door. A triple by Hector Lopez drove in three runs with two outs. He got the strikeout to end the inning, but I started warming up Lombardi in case I needed to make a pitching change heading into the seventh. But Cohen stayed in to get three quick outs in the seventh, so I was able to wait until the eighth inning to bring in Harry Dorish instead. We loaded the bases in the top of the ninth but were unable to add any runs, bringing in Consuegra for another save opportunity. Alas, he gave up a single, got a strikeout, and then Daryl Spencer hit a two-run blast to tie the game at 5-5. He got the two additional outs we needed, but now we were going to have to win this one in extras.

In the top of the 11th, Frank Baumholtz pinch hit for Sandy Consuegra and got on base with a single to right, followed by an infield single by Al Kaline to give us two men on, no outs. But Cavarretta hit into a double play that sent Baumholtz to third. Willie Mays was intentionally walked, bringing up Al Rosen with men on the corners and two outs. Rosen hit a brillant drive to right, but the Giants’ right fielder made a spectacular sliding catch and suddenly our chance was gone. Karl Drews came in to pitch, and he gave up a walk-off homer to the very first batter. The win streak comes to an end, and the Giants got to celebrate the 6-5 upset.

Hy Cohen had a great night with just five hits and three earned runs in seven innings to go with five strikeouts and two walks. But the 102 pitches he threw in those seven innings wore him down. Dorish got a hold with a hitless inning with a walk, keeping his ERA spotless. I’ll have to wonder whether keeping him in for the ninth inning might have made a difference. Instead, Consuegra went two innings but blew his second save of the year, giving up two hits for two runs along with two strikeouts, bloating his ERA to 3.57. The less said about Drews, who took the loss and fell to 1-1 with an 8.10 ERA, the better. Lombardi had warmed up twice, but was cold heading into the bottom of the 11th because our rally had lasted long enough to cause him to go cold. I’ll also wonder whether sending him in slightly tired might have been a better choice.

Sauer had three hits tonight for a run scored and two RBIs. Cavarretta, Banks and Cohen each added two hits, with Cohen actually batting .400 and slugging .500 through ten plate appearances! Rosen’s homer gave him two RBIs, as did Sauer’s. What’s truly frustrating is we outhit the Giants 14-8, so I’m going to take the biggest hit for poor bullpen management. Still, everyone knows in close games like this that then go into overtime, especially on the road, eventually the home team is going to have the better shot at coming out with the win. And on a streak like ours it’s hard not to play into the let-down when the innings keep coming.

Tomorrow night we’ll see how well we can bounce back, since we have to drive down tonight to Pittsburgh where we have a double-header, followed by a game on Monday. We then drive BACK to New York to play two at Brooklyn before a much-needed day off followed by a four-game set back at Wrigley from Friday through Sunday. Current standings are posted below.

jksander · 08-02-2023, 08:18 PM

MAY 16, 1954 . . . Saul Rogovin (3-0, 0.75 ERA, 36.0 IP, 25 K’s, 0.89 WHIP) has been red hot this year through six starts, and tonight in Pittsburgh for game one of today’s doubleheader he’s up against Gene Conley (3-3, 3.31 ERA, 54.1 IP, 22 K’s, 1.36 WHIP) as we try to keep the Pirates from getting back above .500 on the young season. Al Rosen got us on the board quickly in the top of the first, hitting a double that drove Willie Mays home all the way from first with two outs to make it quickly 1-0 Cubs, and Rogovin got through the inning on nine pitches, quickly finding his rhythm. Unfortunately we didn’t add any insurance, and in the bottom of the sixth Rogovin gave up a string of hits allowing the tying run to score. With the bases loaded and one out, the Pirates made weak contact for an easy out at center that held all the runners, and Rosen caught the third out on a weak infield fly to third that got us out of the inning without letting the Pirates score a second run. We loaded the bases in the top of the eighth with just one out, and Frank Baumholtz grounded into a fielder’s choice, Al Kaline being picked off as he tried to reach home. Bases still loaded, Hy Cohen came in to pinch hit for Gene Baker, and he hit it deep into center, driving home Mays and Rosen with a double. Baumholtz got greedy and tried for home but was tagged out to end the inning with us leading 3-1.

Kenneth Chapman came in to take over at second base, with Saul Rogovin still going strong from the mound for the bottom of the eighth. A quick flyout and a double play and we were back up to bat for the top of the ninth, with Rogovin looking to stay in for a complete game -- Consuegra was warming up just in case, but he’s thrown three innings in the last two days, so if we could avoid using him we wanted to. Kaline got a sac fly to left that scored Elston Howard, and with the three run lead, Rogovin promptly gave up a walk and a hit to put two men on. He got the runner out at second on a fielder’s choice which left runners on the corners with a single out. Once he walked the bases loaded I had to bring in Consuegra. A quick flyout to left held all the runners, and a strikeout ended the game ... all hail Consuegra! We won this one 4-1 in the first of two for the day.

Rogovin’s win was safe as he improved to 4-0 with an 0.81 ERA with seven hits, four strikeouts and three walks on 97 pitches. Consuegra came in for the final two outs, striking out one and improving his ERA to 3.44 with a seven-pitch save. This was a tight battle but we outhit the Pirates 8-7, with eight Cubs getting hits. Robert Ludwig got his first major league hit in just his second start of the year, and Hy Cohen -- our first pitcher to pinch hit in a game since I took over as GM! -- got a hit that drove in two runs, bringing his average up to .455 through 11 plate appearances. I know it’s not sustainable, but he’s been asking for the chance to prove himself offensively and I think I’m gonna let him!

In the second game of the day, Warren Hacker (2-2, 3.35 ERA, 48.1 IP, 26 K’s, 1.20 WHIP) will be matching up against one of Pittsburgh’s young phenoms in the making, Dick Hall (0-3, 2.66 ERA, 50.2 IP, 22 K’s, 1.16 WHIP). Hacker has been coming into his own of late, after a slow start to the season, and I am hopeful he can go the distance tonight like he did so often last year, saving our bullpen for tomorrow.

Roger Maris helped us go up 1-0, batting in a run with a single to right that brought Baker home in the top of the second. But Danny O’Connell grounded out to right, driving in Ted Kazanski to tie things up in the bottom of the third, keeping this one interesting for the Pirates fans who had stuck around for both games. Kaline got a hit to start the fifth, and Cavarretta drove him to third with a single himself, setting up Willie Mays perfectly; he nailed a shot to right that gave us men on first and second while driving Kaline home for the go-ahead run. Then Ernie Banks hit a moonshot to left to blow the score up quickly to 5-1. That was Banks’ seventh homer of the year! Hacker gave up two walks to start the bottom of the fifth, but he pitched around the jam nicely and no runs scored. Willie Mays broke his home run drought by knocking one out of the park into the right field bleachers, his 10th of the season and his first in a week, to make it a five-run lead in the top of the ninth. Al Rosen followed it with a triple, but Ernie Banks batted out to center, sending us into the bottom of the ninth, Hacker got three quick outs, and we won this one 6-1!

Warren Hacker improved to 3-2 thanks to a three-hitter, with three strikeouts and three walks to go with the one earned run, bringing his ERA down to 2.98 in a complete game victory. We outhit the Pirates 11-3, led by Willie Mays’ three hits for two runs and two more batted in. Al Kaline added two hits for a run scored, while everyone but Hacker got in on the hitting spree with one each.

MAY 17, 1954 . . . As this game got underway we officially had a 2.5 game lead on the second-place Cardinals, and we’re 14-2 overall in May having gone 13-3 on the road! One more here in Pittsburgh then we have two games at Brooklyn before we can finally get back home to Wrigley for a few. This afternoon Johnny Klippstein (6-0, 0.76 ERA, 47.1 IP, 33 K’s, 0.93 WHIP) is up against Bob Friend (3-2, 2.79 ERA, 58.0 IP, 21 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) so a pitchers’ duel would not be unexpected.

Pittsburgh got on board first in the bottom of the third, with a solo homer by the Pittsburgh pitcher, Bob Friend, his first of the year. Giving Klippstein his first earned run since April 30, only his fifth of the year, only the second time he’s given up a homer this season. We left two runners stranded in the top of the sixth, and weak contact was the word of the day. We headed into the eighth inning trailing still 1-0, hoping to catch Friend off guard as he neared his 100th pitch. Kaline doubled with one out, his 11th of the season, but Cavarretta’s bullet to left was caught in a slide I have never seen the likes of, robbing him of the chance to bat in the tying run. That brought up Willie Mays with two outs, and he batted it into the left corner, driving Kaline around to score on a double of his own, tying this one 1-1! Ernie Banks walked, but Rosen flew out to center field to end the rally. Klippstein added a groundout to first and two strikeouts to get out of the inning. Clyde McCullough pinch hit for Elston Howard in the top of the ninth, doubling to give us a man in scoring position with two outs, but Klippstein batted out at center, putting the pressure on him to get us into extra innings. He gave up a double but then got a groundout and a strikeout, bringing Catfish Metkovic up to bat with two outs and the winning run on third. Klippstein walked him, bringing up Jim Finigan who hit it straight to Rosen, who made a miracle throw to first, getting us out! My heart! My aging heart!

Ernie Banks hit a triple with two outs in the top of the 10th, driving Willie Mays in to score and put us up 2-1. Hank Sauer then hit a blooper up the middle to center field, scoring Banks and advancing Al Rosen, who had taken a walk, to second. Kenneth Chapman drove it hard to right, a triple that scored Rosen and Sauer, and suddenly this one was a rout! Flyout to left, flyout to center, strikeout and that was that! Klippstein completed his own 10-inning start and we won this one 2-1, sweeping the Pirates!

Klippstein is now undefeated with a 7-0 record and 0.78 ERA thanks to a 10-inning three-hitter, giving up just the one earned run with seven strikeouts and three walks on 125 pitches. Willie Mays had two hits to score a run and bat in another, while Cavarretta and Sauer each also had two hits (Sauer adding a run and an RBI of his own).

MAY 18, 1954 . . . Just two more road games in this long two week trip! Tonight we take the field in Brooklyn against the seventh-place Dodgers (13-19). Robert Diehl (2-2, 4.50 ERA, 28.0 IP, 12 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) will pitch tonight against Brooklyn’s Johnny Podres (2-2, 5.08 ERA, 39.0 IP, 23 K’s, 1.31 WHIP), with Hy Cohen set up to pitch tomorrow. Jackie Robinson hit his second homer of the year, a solo blast in the bottom of the second that put the Dodgers up 1-0. Gil Hodges added a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to make it 2-0, his fourth four-bagger of the year. We left the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, scoring nothing, and that was pretty much our best and only chance in this one. We lost the game 2-0 as our bats went completely silent.

Diehl took the loss and fell to 2-3, throwing seven innings of five-hit ball with three strikeouts, a walk and the two earned runs, giving him a 4.11 ERA on the year. Harry Dorish came in for the eighth inning and struck out one with no hits or runs, keeping his ERA spotless through 3.1 innings. Al Kaline did everything he could, hitting three times in four at-bats but getting nowhere. Cavarretta and Banks each had one hit, while McCullough walked twice and also wound up permanently stranded. We were bound to have a game like this, now hopefully we can get it out of our system and go out tomorrow for the win.

TC Dale · 08-02-2023, 08:39 PM

Enjoying the series! Keep it up!

jksander · 08-05-2023, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TC Dale

Enjoying the series! Keep it up!

OOC: Thanks, TC Word Count has officially passed 91,000!

- - -

MAY 19, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (1-0, 3.52 ERA, 23.0 IP, 16 K’s, 0.74 WHIP) got the start today, taking on Billy Loes (3-1, 4.01 ERA, 49.1 IP, 26 K’s, 1.44 WHIP) in our second of two games on this road trip against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Cohen let two men on in the second inning but got out unscatched and the score remained knotted 0-0 after two innings. A well timed double play kept it scoreless at the end of the third inning. But his luck ran out in the fourth, as Jackie Robinson hit a towering homer to left, putting Brooklyn up 1-0. And later in the same inning, Duke Snyder hit a three run homer that really opened things up for the Dodgers and which signalled that Cohen’s night was likely to be a short one. He got out of the inning but we trailed 4-0. Gene Baker hit a single up the middle in the top of the fifth to finally put us on the board by batting in Clyde McCullough, who had pinch hit for Cohen, but we weren’t able to put a significant run together.

Harry Dorish came in for the top of the fifth, and he got three quick outs to send our offense back out in a search for runs. Dorish surrendered a run in the top of the sixth, but otherwise handled himself admirably while he wondered where our run support was. But the support never showed up. Vic Lombardi came out in the bottom of the eighth and got out with no damage, but we still trailed 5-1 heading into the top of the ninth, and we were at the bottom of the order. We made it quick, getting just one hit in the inning before bowing out and showing we’re not invincible this year -- Brooklyn beat us 5-1 and swept the two-game series.

Cohen had his worst game of the season thus far, only lasting four innings and giving up eight hits for four runs (three earned) with just one strikeout against one walk, dropping his ERA to 4.00. Harry Dorish finally surrendered his first run of the year, but he lasted three innings and only gave up the single hit, with two strikeouts and a walk, with his 1.42 ERA still quite exceptional through four appearances and 6.1 innings. Vic Lombardi gave us an inning of relief as well with two walks but no damage overall, keeping his ERA unblemished through 3.2 innings. Each team had nine hits, but only Gene Baker (two hits, one RBI) and Clyde McCullough (one hit, one run scored) managed to do anything with theirs. Al Rosen was hitless and he’s been ICE COLD of late, his average at just .188 since coming to the Cubs and showing the hot start that he had.

With the loss we’ve fallen to 22-11, but Cincy’s been on a slide so we still hold a three game lead on the NL overall. We return home on Friday for a four game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, who are currently 5.5 games back of first with a 16-16 record.

07-10-2023, 05:55 PM	#81
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	DECEMBER 21, 1953 . . . The Draft is complete and we’re currently negotiating with our picks. We picked 14th overall, so ours are not expected to be studs of the future, but maybe we’ll come out with a lottery surprise or something. Russ Snyder, a 19-year-old high school left handed left fielder was our top pick. He could become a solid major leaguer, but he’s going to take a lot of development. Luis Aparicio, a 19-year-old Venezuelan prospect at shortstop, looks promising as well, though he too will be expected to be a long term project. None of our other prospects are expecting significant investments via bonuses. We’re offering above market value to keep Snyder and Aparicio, while the rest of our prospects are willing to negotiate well below slot value. So in the end we should be able to sign them all well under budget. JANUARY 4, 1954 . . . Russ Snyder has agreed to our offered $18,000 bonus and we look forward to seeing what he becomes as a member of our Cubs organization. My scouts have higher expectations for him than I initially did, and it’s quite possible he could make our Spring Training rosters, though more likely than not he’ll play at the triple A level to start the season. JANUARY 11, 1954 . . . All our draftees have signed except second-rounder Luis Aparicio. If he rejects our offer and returns to the draft next year we will receive a compensatory pick. He was asking for $4,100 and I offered $7,000 as a bonus so if he declines I’m inclined to let him try his luck next year and just move on. That’s more than enough money to start a good life in this day and age, and he hasn’t proved a thing yet. JANUARY 18, 1954 . . . Aparicio has indeed chosen to remain draft eligible. He will return to the draft in 1956. In other more current news, at least as to our developing bullpen situation, Hy Cohen finally agreed to join the Cubs! The 22-year old reliever signed a four year deal with us after a protracted bidding war -- he will earn $20,000 this year and the contract will build up to $22,000 in 1957. He immediately joins Baczewski, Fear and Consuegra as our strongest prospects in the relief corps. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-10-2023, 06:52 PM	#82
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JANUARY 25, 1954 . . . The following players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: SP Dizzy Dean 69.9 (1st year) C Bill Dickey 67.6 (1st year) SS Arky Vaughan 55.5 (1st year) SP Tommy Bridges 42.5 (1st year) SP Guy Bush 33.8 (1st year) CL Johnny Murphy 32.1 (1st year) C Rick Ferrell 29.4 (1st year) SP Johnny Allen 26.4 (1st year) CF Wally Berger 23.1 (1st year) 1B Frank McCormick 22.1 (1st year) SP Larry French 19.1 (1st year) SP Claude Passeau 15.7 (1st year) SP Bump Hadley 15.1 (1st year) C Frankie Hayes 11.4 (1st year) SP Thornton Lee 10.4 (1st year) SP Bill Lee 10.0 (1st year) CF Doc Cramer 8.7 (1st year) RP Clint Brown 8.7 (1st year) SP Curt Davis 8.4 (1st year) 1B Rudy York 7.7 (1st year) FEBRUARY 15, 1954 . . . Baseball’s so close I can smell the popcorn and pine tar! Our owner is very heppy with the direction I’ve taken the team in the offseason, and he’s boosted our budget to $1.8 million and he’s recommended we put more money into our draft budget for next year, which after the Aparicio fiasco I can understand. I still don’t think he was worth giving away a ton of money over, but I’ll be glad to have a more solid budget in place for next year’s draft. Meanwhile, our schedule for the upcoming season is now official, and we know we’ll be opening the season with a game at St. Louis on April 13, followed by a game against Cincy here at home on April 15. Fans are already snapping up tickets for the July 4th double-header against St. Louis here at Wrigley, and I’m told that fan interest in our upcoming season is particularly high with season ticket sales projected to be up nearly 28 percent over last year! APRIL 12, 1954 . . . We’ve made it through Spring Training, and it’s been two months of finally getting to see how our roster is shaping up after all the changes I’ve made since taking over as General Manager. Russ Snyder has arrived as a prospect well above early expectations, easily one of the top ten prospects in the league ... he performed well enough during the March and early April training games that he’ll be starting out at AA Cedar Rapids, with potential to move up quickly if he performs well. Here’s our pitching rotation as we get things started: SP - Warren Hacker SP - Johnny Klippstein SP - Herb Score SP - Saul Rogovin SP - Karl Drews Long/Spot - Robert Diehl Middle - Steve Nagy Setup - Frank Smith CL - Sandy Consuegra Our starting lineup heading into Opening Day looks like this: 1 - Dee Fondy (1B) 2 - Frank Baumholtz (LF) 3 - Wilie Mays (CF) 4 - Ernie Banks (SS) 5 - Hank Sauer (RF) 6 - Elston Howard (C) -- last year at AAA: .311/.369/.520, 28 doubles 9 triples 19 homers 74 RBIs 7 - Gene Baker (2B) -- last year at AAA: .287/.364/.449, 16 doubles 4 triples 8 homers 30 RBIs 8 - Woody Smith (3B) -- last year at AAA: .302/.350/.477, 14 doubles 5 triples 5 homers 34 RBIs Cavarretta’s contact and eye have improved markedly, but his defensive ability has taken a hit as he’s aged, and I no longer feel comfortable having him as an everyday player. He’ll make a magnificent pinch-hitter, and if that role doesn’t suit him we may consider using him in a trade package. Starting three new young players will be good for their development and the fans are going to love seeing the faces of the future. And Clyde McCullough will still get opportunities to start as catcher even at 37, though cerainly far less frequently. He’s starting to wear down physically which makes pinch-hitting a better fit for him as well as filling in as a starter only on occasion. Kenneth Chapman will be our backup second baseman, with 26-year old Robert Ludwig as a backup option at shortstop and third base. Jack Graham is an aging option as a backup to Baumholtz, but I consider it more likely that Russ Snyder may come up later in the season periodically to fill that role when needed ... I’d rather give the young player some opportunities to see major league pitching if it can speed his development. Carmen Mauro, Ron Northey and Earl Rapp will also be available as part of our 26-man roster off the bench. Expect me to be more hands-on in deciding on potential call-ups than our previous GM, as I still expect to maintain my job as a full-time manager as well. Who’s ready for opening day? __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-10-2023, 10:55 PM	#83
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	APRIL 13, 1954 . . . It’s a beautiful day for baseball in St. Louis, and we’re ready to get this season started! Willie Mays had our first hit of the season, but Ernie Banks had to one-up him, hitting a homer to center to put us up 2-0 in the top of the first! Gene Baker had a hit in his first major league at-bat in the second inning, a double, and he reached third on a wild pitch. Woody Smith hit a sac-fly to center to drive him home, and just like that we’re up 3-0! But Warren Hacker gave up a two-run homer to Bill Sarni in the bottom of the second, getting St. Louis on the baord in a big way. Hacker struggled in the third inning, loading the bases on just one out, allowing the tying run to score on a sac-fly to center before getting the final out. Elton Howard got his first major leageue hit in the top of the fourth inning, but Gene Baker hit into a double play to snuff out the rally. Hacker got through the fifth inning with the game still knotted at 3-3, but I was going to have to keep an eye on his pitch count as we ease into the season. Howard took a walk to start the top of the seventh, followed by a Gene Baker hit. Phil Cavarretta came in to pinch hit for Woody Smith, but he struck out, at which point Clyde McCullough came in to hit for Hacker, and HE struck out. And Dee Fondy completed the trifecta by groudning out to first and ending the inning as something of a letdown, squandering the man in scoring position. Robert Diehl came in to start the bottom of the seventh for his major league debut, and he got his three outs, working nicely around a pair of walks to get out of the inning unscathed. And in the top of the eighth, Willie Mays hit a solo homer to left, giving us a 4-3 lead! Ernie Banks singled and then got to second on a bad pick-off attempt at first, but we weren’t able to add more insurance and we went into the bottom of the eighth with a one run lead. Robert Diehl came out for more in the eighth, giving up one hit but then getting three quick outs to hold the lead, Kenneth Chapman came in to pinch hit for Diehl in the top of the ninth, taking a walk to put two men on, but Fondy hit into a double play again to end the inning and send Consuegra out to close for the first time this year. He gave up a risky pair of hits but did the work to get out of it and we were able to preserve the win, 4-3! What a great team effort on a sunny St. Louis afternoon. Warren Hacker lasted six innings on just six hits, but he gave up three runs with a strikeout and a walk through 100 pitches and it’s way too early to be leaving a guy out there beyond that in such a situation. I was very pleased with Robert Diehl, who came in for two innings and only gave up a single hit, walking two and striking out one to remain unblemished through 30 pitches, taking the win in the process! Consuegra saved his first game in his season debut, giving up two hits through 19 pitches but doing no damage. Mays and Sauer each had their home runs, and both hit twice as well, with Banks batting in two runs with his moonshot. Fondy and Baumholtz went hitless, but Gene Baker was impressive with three hits in four tries, scoring a run. Welcome to the Cubs, kid! APRIL 15, 1954 . . . More than 20,000 fans packed Wrigley for our first game of the new season, under clear skies and with decent temperatures for Chicago in mid-April, welcoming the Cincinnati Redlegs to the Windy City. Herb Score took today’s start, as the 20-year old rookie made his major league debut, and he had to overcome some early jitters, allowing the first run of the night to score on a wild pitch to put the Redlegs up 1-0 with a man on second and a single out. It was definitely an adjustment, and by the time he got out of the inning Cincinnati had a 2-0 lead on us. But everyone starts somewhere. You don’t win the pennant or make the All Star game in your first innings. Woody Smith got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second with an RBI single, Elston Howard had a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth, and then Baker and Smith walked, loading the bases for Herb Score who came up with no outs. His ball didn’t get out of the infield, allowing the Redlegs to get our batter out at home while keeping the bases loaded, but Cavarretta then hit into a double play, ending the inning that had begun so successfully without a single run scored. And in the top of the fifth Score gave up a solo homer to Johnny Temple, making the score 3-1 Redlegs. His control remained an issue but he got out of the fifth with a pair of strikeouts, at least giving us a chance to still come back. Robert Diehl came in for the top of the sixth with two outs and a man on first, and he got us safely out of the inning with the deficit still at two runs. He got two outs quickly in the seventh but then surrendered a 400-footer over the center field wall by Gus Bell, giving Cincinnati the 4-1 lead with time starting to run out. Jim Greengrass hit a solo over the exact same spot moments later to make it 5-1, and this game just wasn’t going the way we’d hoped. But Diehl got the third out and got us out of the inning. And he hit a single to right that opened the bottom of the seventh on a good note, but we couldn’t string hits together and the rest of the lineup left him stranded. Diehl’s arm was still fresh, so we kept him out there to build his confidence. Unfortunately the wind kept carrying their balls out and blowing ours in, the strange brew of air currents in Wrigley that, at least for today, had no interest in helping us. And it didn’t help either that our fielders seemed to constantly be out of position for fly balls. Either way, by the end of eight we were down 6-1, and barring a comeback in the last two innings this one was looking like a wash. Diehl struck out the side in the top of the ninth, but we still trailed by five runs. Kenneth Chapman came in to pinch hit for Howard, and he wound up reaching second on a throwing error at first! Clyde McCullough flew out to center field and Chapman held back at second. Ron Northey then pinch hit but flew out to left, and again Chapman stayed conservative and held at second. That brought in Dee Fondy, pinch hitting for Cavarretta, and he grounded out to first. Ho, hum, this one was a forgettable 6-1 loss that hopefully we can learn from. It’s hard for our pitchers to survive a game like this without any run support, and we’re not going to get run support until the lineup gels ... too many young players at the end of the lineup card means we have to account for growing pains. Herb Score took the loss, starting out at 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA thanks to seven hits and three earned runs in 5.2 innings of play. He had four strikeouts, which was good, but also five walks, which shows he needs work on his control while under pressure. Robert Diehl threw 3.1 innings with five hits and three earned runs, but he impressed me when he volunteered to stay out once the game got out of control, taking one for the team. His temporary sub-5.00 ERA says nothing of how good a pitcher I sense he’s going to be for us this year. That’s a rare trait for a kid who’s also just 22 years old. I’ve decided to waive and designate Max West and Jack Graham for assignment, freeing up a spot on the 40-man roster for Russ Snyder, who I am also promoting to the major league roster. So far in 10 games at AA Cedar Rapids he’s been hitting .349/.378/.581 with 15 hits, two doubles a triple and two homers. And we’re incredibly weak right now at left field so I’m taking the risk of bringing him up quickly. I’m planning to use the following lineup for the next few games and see if we start hitting better: 1. Dee Fondy (1B) 2. Phil Cavarretta (RF) 3. Willie Mays (CF) 4. Ernie Banks (SS) 5. Russ Snyder (LF) 6. Kenneth Chapman (2B) 7. Elton Howard (C) 8. Woody Smith (3B) For now the lineup is a work in progress, just like our team. But I think we’ll get to the level we should be soon enough. APRIL 17, 1954 . . . Johnny Klippstein took to the mound today and immediately was a victim to the capricious wind and some abysmal fielding as we spotted our opponents from St. Louis a two run lead in the top of the first. Elston Howard hit a run scoring double in the bottom of the second to get us one back, and with the bases loaded a moment later, Johnny Klippstein hit a deep shot to center, reaching third and scoring three -- that’s what I’m TALKING ABOUT! We went into the top of the third leading 4-2, and Klippstein settled down and struck out the side, quickly sending us back up to the plate for more. Ernie Banks hit a two-run shot to right, his second homer of the year already, to make it 6-2 at the end of three. Willie Mays added a two run blast in the bottom of the fifth and we led 8-2. Elton Howard then hit into a double play with the bases loaded, but still drove in a run since we had no outs. By the time Klippstein came up and struck out to end the inning we led 9-2. Dee Fondy made it 10-2 with a solo blast of his own in the bottom of the sixth, and we gave Klippstein the hook so he could rest his arm after throwing 120 pitches in six innings. I brought in Karl Drew to pitch in the top of the seventh -- our pitching coaches have decided that Drew will be a better fit in the bullpen, while Robert Diehl has the arm to handle starters’ innings so I’m going to defer to their judgment. He gave up a single run in the top of the seventh off a dropped ball by the catcher, and in the bottom of the seventh rookie Russ Snyder picked up his first major league hit to start the inning. Moments later he got his first major league steal, but he was tagged out at home trying to reach from second on a single to center. Clyde McCullough got a single batting for Drew in the bottom of the eighth, and we quickly loaded the bases with no outs, bringing up Willie Mays who sent the crowd into paroxysms of joy with a grand slam to right! Steve Nagy came out in the top of the ninth with us ahead 14-3, and he shut them down quickly to ice it. What a great win in front of our home crowd! I’d say the bats woke up in style this afternoon. Klippstein got the win, starting his season out with a 1-0 record and a 3.00 ERA with eight hits and two runs in six innings, alongside eight strikeouts and four walks. Drews lasted two innings with just one hit one strikeout and one walk, giving up a single run to give him a 4.50 ERA. And Nagy was perfect in his one inning debut, with no hits a strikeout and a walk. Willie Mays had a juggernaut of a day, getting three hits and two homers for three runs scored and six RBIs, while Ernie Banks’ homer heroics netted him three runs and two RBIs on three hits. Russ Snyder picked up two hits in four tries and Kenneth Chapman added three hits for a run scored. With the win we improved to 2-1 on the young season, and through the three games we’ve seen a little bit of everything. This isn’t going to be a team that wins easily right away, but I think we’re going to win a lot once we get going. Tomorrow’s our first double-header of the young season, with the Cardinals still in town. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 07-11-2023 at 02:02 PM.

07-12-2023, 10:44 AM	#84
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	APRIL 18, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker pitched the first game of today’s doubleheader, and St. Louis got on the board first with two runs in the top of the second to go up 2-0 on a triple, and then they added a third run when Mays bobbled a cach at shortstop -- as good as his bat is, his defense is still somewhat suspect at times. And at that point Hacker really started to crumble, giving up hits I wouldn’t have expected. He got out of the inning with no further damage, but was already at 40+ pitches. He has not looked like himself so far, but I am hopeful he’ll settle in as the season progresses; he had a slow start last year and we all saw how that turned out. Ernie Banks got us on the baord with a solo homer in the bottom of the second, his third in four games, and Hank Sauer jacked one over left immediately after, making it 3-2. Hacker gave up another run on a triple in the third, and we went into the bottom of the seventh still trailing 4-2. Woody Smith started the inning with a single to right, and Ken Boyer came in to pinch hit for Hacker and got safely to first on an infield hit thanks to his great speed. Russ Snyder then batted out to deep center, but the runners held, leaving us with two outs. And Cavarretta flew out to left, leaving us two more men wasted on the bases. Frank Smith came in to pitch in the eighth, amd asode from a one-out single, he got out of the inning unblemished, and Willie Mays hit a solo homer to left in the bottom of the inning, his fourth of the year, putting us within a run! Frank Smith got us through the ninth without adding any runs, but we couldn’t get anyone onboard in the bottom of the ninth, dropping to 2-2 with a 3-4 loss. Hacker fell to 1-1 on the season with a 4.15 ERA, giving up 10 hits (way too many) for four runs (three earned), striking out four and walking three (also too many) over seven innings and 123 pitches. Frank Smith gave up just two hits with three strikeouts and a walk in two innings, a solid effort. Mays, Banks and Sauer homered, but we were outhit 12-8 -- surviving on just the long ball is going to be risky indeed, especially when they’re all solo ones. Sauer was our only player with two hits. With his baserunning speed and good power, eye and speed on the basepaths, I’m experimenting with Russ Snyder as our lead-off man. Dee Fondy has been having surprising issues with skill drops, particularly in his eye ratings, since he turned 29. At this point he seems happy coming off the bench as a sub / pinch-hitter, so I’m comfortable starting Cavarretta at 1B and having Fondy as an option I can turn to earlier in a game and still use his defensive abilities as well. In the second game of our double-header, Saul Rogovin got his first start of the year this afternoon and he got out of a bit of a jam with two walks and a hit to avoid being dinged with any runs. And Russ Snyder came out for the bottom of the first and absolutely HAMMERED his first major league home run of the year to put us up 1-0! Rogovin gave up a run to tie it up in the top of the third, and then an RBI single drove in a second to put us in a one run hole. Multiple singles in a row added up to a struggle, but he got himself out of it. The homer train continued for us, however, and Willie Mays hit a long ball to left to keep his pace blistering and tying the score 2-2. The homer-per-game pace is clearly unsustainable, but damned if it isn’t fun! Rogovin set down the side with three strikeouts in a row in the fourth, and he wound up lasting through six before I had Dee Fondy pinch hit for him with the bases loaded and only one out, still knotted up. Fondy got a hit through the middle right by the second baseman, scoring the go-ahead run! Russ Snyder then walked the bases loaded, but Cavarretta flew out to left to end the inning with our 3-2 lead. Steve Nagy came in to pitch in the seventh for the first time this year, with Sandy Consuegra ready to go in the closing role when needed, but Nagy struggled immediately, giving up two hits including a run scoring single, and by the time he got his first out we were down 4-3. Consuegra came in and got the second out by strikeout, and the third by flyout. Consuegra gave up four runs in the top of the eighth and this game melted down quickly. What a shame. We came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth facing a five-run deficit and though Consuegra pitched well the rest of the way, our offense was shut down the remainder of the way as we lost this one 8-3. Steve Nagy took the blown save and the loss, opening his season with an 0-1 record and a 13.50 ERA. He gave up three hits and two runs in 15 pitches, only getting one out. Consuegra pitched 2.2 innings and gave up six hits and four runs, all in the top of the eighth, and though he got through a perfect ninth inning and threw 52 pitches with three strikeouts, the damage was done. He has a 9.82 ERA through 3.2 innings, but I certainly don’t think this game showcased his true skill. Not going to let a small sample size scare me off of what we all knew was going to be a bullpen work-in-progress. It was disappointing however that Rogovin, who threw six innings of six-hit ball with just two runs scored didn’t get to keep his win -- he had four strikeouts and three walks, which contributed to his early exit. St. Louis outhit us 13-8, but McCullough was a bright spot with three hits in four tries, though he was stranded each time. Russ Snyder had a hit, two walks and scored a run while batting one in, and Willie Mays’ homer gave him nine RBIs through five games. There’s no way he keeps up this insane pace on homers, but the fans are loving it while it lasts. Hank Sauer also had a hit and scored a run. We will head into a two-game split home and away set after an off day, taking on Milwaukee with a 2-3 record. The Braves have also started out 2-3. Tuesday’s game should pit Herb Score (0-1, 4.76 ERA) up against Warren Spahn (1-0, 1.00 ERA) in what should be a nice test for the 20-year old rookie starter. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 07-12-2023 at 12:15 PM.

07-12-2023, 12:19 PM	#85
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	APRIL 20, 1954 . . . Prior to today’s game I made a reliever swap with the New York Yankees, sending Frank Smith to New York in exchange for right-handed reliever Bob Alexander. We’ll be a little short in the bullpen as a result until Alexander can get here by train, but I think it’s a solid move to bring a veteran into our relief corps -- Alexander has been a career minor-leaguer, but I like his stuff. His stamina isn’t much, but he’s got high ratings in his ability to hold runners, his movement and control are above average, and he’s got a multi-pitch arsenal. As soon as he gets here he’ll take our 25th roster spot in the majors and we’ll get to see what he can do. I’ve also made a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates to send us a solid 19-year-old prospect, rookie left fielder Roger Maris, in exchange for backup 3B Ken Boyer. My assistant GM thinks I am absolutely insane, but there’s just something I like about the kid. He may not be ready to come up to the Cubs right away, but he hit .333/.396/.500 last year for Pittsburgh’s AA team, and if we don’t rush him I think he could be a real hidden gem. In this afternoon’s game, Russ Snyder got a hit to start the bottom of the first, taking a steal and then reaching home on an Ernie Banks single which gave us a 1-0 lead with two men on and just a single out. Hank Sauer walked the bases loaded, and Mays scored a run on a sac-fly to center by Elston Howard to make it 2-0! Herb Score was lights-out through the first four innings, blanking the Braves, and Russ Snyder got an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to make our lead 3-0, getting his second steal of the game before Cavarretta flew out to left for the last out. That kid is QUICK ... he’s already got three steals so far this year! Herb Score successfully bunted and reached base safely in the bottom of the sixth, and Russ Snyder hit a sac-fly to center that advanced Woody Smith to third, giving us runners on the corners with just a single out. Cavarretta hit a sac-fly to right, driving Smith home for our fourth run, and we went into the seventh inning leading convincingly 4-0. Elston Howard added a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, his first of his major league career, that put us up six and which ended Warren Spahn’s night. Herb Score gave up a solo homer in the eighth, but we had no trouble holding on to win this one 6-1! Herb Score pitched our first complete game of the season, giving up just two hits for one run, with eight strikeouts and only one walk! The win brings his record to 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA on the still very young season. Russ Snyder led the way as our leadoff man, hitting three times and stealing twice, scoring a run and batting in another. Elston Howard hit his two run homer and scored on a sac-fly, giving him a solid three RBI night. Phil Cavarretta walked once and was able to bat in a run without getting a hit all night thanks to his sacrifice late in the game. APRIL 21, 1954 . . . I’ve added Alexander and Maris to our major league rosters effective today, as both arrived in time to make the trip to Milwaukee. Marris will be a pinch hitting option for now, not a starter. Alexander will be our long relief option out of the bullpen, joining Karl Drews, Steve Nagy and Sandy Consuegra in what I am hoping will be our set relief corp for the forseeable future. Robert Diehl (1-0, 5.06) got his second start of the year tonight on the road on an ice cold Milwaukee evening in front of 16,700 rabid Braves fans -- cloudy, 37 degrees, wind blowing out, so definitely not the best recipe for strong pitching. Sauer gave us an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, scoring off a Gene Baker sac-fly to center. But the game, which we’d all expected would be a hitter’s game due to the wind, turned into a pitchers’ duel because of the bitter cold. By the time we came up to bat in the top of the sixth there had been just five hits in the game combined and we still held our 1-0 lead. We started warming up Alexander in the sixth, but not in time to prevent Diehl from giving up a massive three-run homer to give the Braves the lead in a huge way. Alexander came in with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and empty bases for his first relief appearance in the majors at age 31, and he got us out of it quickly ... but could our bats rally to retake the lead on such an inhospitable night on the road? McCullough pinch-hit for Howard in the top of the seventh, taking a walk and giving us two runners and only one out, and Kenneth Chapman pinch hit for Gene Baker, though he flew out and was unable to advance the runners, and a Woody Smith flyout to right ended the inning with us still two in the hole. Alexander got us through the seventh safely, with Nagy warming up to take over in the eighth. With Russ Snyder on base and with just one out on the board, Cavarretta hit to deep left, the ball rolling into the corner, winding up with a double which put Snyder on third. And Willie Mays got us two runs to knot it up, thanks to a slow-hit ball right up the middle, barely a single but good enough to confound the defense. Mays got caught stealing, giving us our second out, but Banks doubled to deep center and Sauer took a walk, sending McCullough back up to bat with two on and two outs. Though he wasn’t able to score, we did head to the bottom of the eighth all tied up, so we had a chance! Alexander came in and got a strikeout to start the bottom of the eighth, but a runner reached second on a hit and a steal, bringing in Nagy with the one out to hopefully get us out of the inning unscathed. But a grounder got past our defender out into right, allowing the go-ahead run to score for Milwaukee, and Nagy gave up an additional run before getting his outs, sending us into the top of the ninth needing two or more runs or it was over. Kenneth Chapman took a walk, and I brought Frank Baumholtz in to pinch hit, getting a fly ball double over the head of the center fielder, giving us two in scoring position with Roger Maris coming in for his first pinch-hit opportunity with Consuegra warming up for the bottom of the ninth. With a good eye, Maris took a walk to load the bases, bringing up Russ Snyder, no outs, who hit the ball just over the head of the second baseman and into the outfield! Two runs score to knot it all at 5-5! Cavarretta took an out, but Willie Mays again walked the bases loaded, bringing up Ernie Banks with only one out! Banks hit a fly-out to center, but not deep enough for anyone to go ... leaving it up to Sauer with two outs and the loaded bases. But he flew out to center, leaving Consuegra to come in and get us a chance at extras. Unfortunately he gave up two hits, the second of which grounded right by our third-baseman, scoring the walk-off game winner as Milwaukee put us away 6-5. Consuegra took the loss, falling to 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA, as he was only able to get one out before the walk-off double. Robert Diehl made it through 5.2 innings but gave up five hits and three runs (two earned) with two strikeouts and a walk, thanks to the three-run homer he gave up in the fifth. Alexander finished with 1.2 innings but gave up a run on his only hit through 27 pitches, giving him a 5.40 ERA. Nagy continues to struggle for control, only lasting two outs but giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and a walk, giving him a 13.50 ERA through two innings. Small sample sizes, however, and we have to be careful not to be too strong on early judgments -- the weather tonight was already not pitcher friendly, and yet we stayed in this game to the end. Snyder, Cavarretta and Banks each had two hits tonight, with Snyder and Cavarretta getting runs out of it for their trouble. Willie Mays hit once and walked once, driving in two runs while Snyder picked up two RBIs and Gene Baker added one on a sacrifice play. We fell to 3-4 on the young season, but we’ve been in most of the games and we’ve had a +5 run differential Once everyone settles in and the real slog of the season gets going I think we’re going to adjust well. We have an off day tomorrow, making the drive down to Cincinnati for four games in three days. We’ll then have the 26th off as we return to Wrigley for two against the Phillies, the start of a nine game, ten day homestand. We’ll then have a two week 13-game road stand, so I hope our players are ready to start really putting in work. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-12-2023, 12:21 PM	#86
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	APRIL 20, 1954 . . . Prior to today’s game I made a reliever swap with the New York Yankees, sending Frank Smith to New York in exchange for right-handed reliever Bob Alexander. We’ll be a little short in the bullpen as a result until Alexander can get here by train, but I think it’s a solid move to bring a veteran into our relief corps -- Alexander has been a career minor-leaguer, but I like his stuff. His stamina isn’t much, but he’s got high ratings in his ability to hold runners, his movement and control are above average, and he’s got a multi-pitch arsenal. As soon as he gets here he’ll take our 25th roster spot in the majors and we’ll get to see what he can do. I’ve also made a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates to send us a solid 19-year-old prospect, rookie left fielder Roger Maris, in exchange for backup 3B Ken Boyer. My assistant GM thinks I am absolutely insane, but there’s just something I like about the kid. He may not be ready to come up to the Cubs right away, but he hit .333/.396/.500 last year for Pittsburgh’s AA team, and if we don’t rush him I think he could be a real hidden gem. In this afternoon’s game, Russ Snyder got a hit to start the bottom of the first, taking a steal and then reaching home on an Ernie Banks single which gave us a 1-0 lead with two men on and just a single out. Hank Sauer walked the bases loaded, and Mays scored a run on a sac-fly to center by Elston Howard to make it 2-0! Herb Score was lights-out through the first four innings, blanking the Braves, and Russ Snyder got an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to make our lead 3-0, getting his second steal of the game before Cavarretta flew out to left for the last out. That kid is QUICK ... he’s already got three steals so far this year! Herb Score successfully bunted and reached base safely in the bottom of the sixth, and Russ Snyder hit a sac-fly to center that advanced Woody Smith to third, giving us runners on the corners with just a single out. Cavarretta hit a sac-fly to right, driving Smith home for our fourth run, and we went into the seventh inning leading convincingly 4-0. Elston Howard added a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, his first of his major league career, that put us up six and which ended Warren Spahn’s night. Herb Score gave up a solo homer in the eighth, but we had no trouble holding on to win this one 6-1! Herb Score pitched our first complete game of the season, giving up just two hits for one run, with eight strikeouts and only one walk! The win brings his record to 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA on the still very young season. Russ Snyder led the way as our leadoff man, hitting three times and stealing twice, scoring a run and batting in another. Elston Howard hit his two run homer and scored on a sac-fly, giving him a solid three RBI night. Phil Cavarretta walked once and was able to bat in a run without getting a hit all night thanks to his sacrifice late in the game. APRIL 21, 1954 . . . I’ve added Alexander and Maris to our major league rosters effective today, as both arrived in time to make the trip to Milwaukee. Marris will be a pinch hitting option for now, not a starter. Alexander will be our long relief option out of the bullpen, joining Karl Drews, Steve Nagy and Sandy Consuegra in what I am hoping will be our set relief corp for the forseeable future. Robert Diehl (1-0, 5.06) got his second start of the year tonight on the road on an ice cold Milwaukee evening in front of 16,700 rabid Braves fans -- cloudy, 37 degrees, wind blowing out, so definitely not the best recipe for strong pitching. Sauer gave us an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, scoring off a Gene Baker sac-fly to center. But the game, which we’d all expected would be a hitter’s game due to the wind, turned into a pitchers’ duel because of the bitter cold. By the time we came up to bat in the top of the sixth there had been just five hits in the game combined and we still held our 1-0 lead. We started warming up Alexander in the sixth, but not in time to prevent Diehl from giving up a massive three-run homer to give the Braves the lead in a huge way. Alexander came in with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and empty bases for his first relief appearance in the majors at age 31, and he got us out of it quickly ... but could our bats rally to retake the lead on such an inhospitable night on the road? McCullough pinch-hit for Howard in the top of the seventh, taking a walk and giving us two runners and only one out, and Kenneth Chapman pinch hit for Gene Baker, though he flew out and was unable to advance the runners, and a Woody Smith flyout to right ended the inning with us still two in the hole. Alexander got us through the seventh safely, with Nagy warming up to take over in the eighth. With Russ Snyder on base and with just one out on the board, Cavarretta hit to deep left, the ball rolling into the corner, winding up with a double which put Snyder on third. And Willie Mays got us two runs to knot it up, thanks to a slow-hit ball right up the middle, barely a single but good enough to confound the defense. Mays got caught stealing, giving us our second out, but Banks doubled to deep center and Sauer took a walk, sending McCullough back up to bat with two on and two outs. Though he wasn’t able to score, we did head to the bottom of the eighth all tied up, so we had a chance! Alexander came in and got a strikeout to start the bottom of the eighth, but a runner reached second on a hit and a steal, bringing in Nagy with the one out to hopefully get us out of the inning unscathed. But a grounder got past our defender out into right, allowing the go-ahead run to score for Milwaukee, and Nagy gave up an additional run before getting his outs, sending us into the top of the ninth needing two or more runs or it was over. Kenneth Chapman took a walk, and I brought Frank Baumholtz in to pinch hit, getting a fly ball double over the head of the center fielder, giving us two in scoring position with Roger Maris coming in for his first pinch-hit opportunity with Consuegra warming up for the bottom of the ninth. With a good eye, Maris took a walk to load the bases, bringing up Russ Snyder, no outs, who hit the ball just over the head of the second baseman and into the outfield! Two runs score to knot it all at 5-5! Cavarretta took an out, but Willie Mays again walked the bases loaded, bringing up Ernie Banks with only one out! Banks hit a fly-out to center, but not deep enough for anyone to go ... leaving it up to Sauer with two outs and the loaded bases. But he flew out to center, leaving Consuegra to come in and get us a chance at extras. Unfortunately he gave up two hits, the second of which grounded right by our third-baseman, scoring the walk-off game winner as Milwaukee put us away 6-5. Consuegra took the loss, falling to 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA, as he was only able to get one out before the walk-off double. Robert Diehl made it through 5.2 innings but gave up five hits and three runs (two earned) with two strikeouts and a walk, thanks to the three-run homer he gave up in the fifth. Alexander finished with 1.2 innings but gave up a run on his only hit through 27 pitches, giving him a 5.40 ERA. Nagy continues to struggle for control, only lasting two outs but giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and a walk, giving him a 13.50 ERA through two innings. Small sample sizes, however, and we have to be careful not to be too strong on early judgments -- the weather tonight was already not pitcher friendly, and yet we stayed in this game to the end. Snyder, Cavarretta and Banks each had two hits tonight, with Snyder and Cavarretta getting runs out of it for their trouble. Willie Mays hit once and walked once, driving in two runs while Snyder picked up two RBIs and Gene Baker added one on a sacrifice play. We fell to 3-4 on the young season, but we’ve been in most of the games and we’ve had a +5 run differential Once everyone settles in and the real slog of the season gets going I think we’re going to adjust well. We have an off day tomorrow, making the drive down to Cincinnati for four games in three days. We’ll then have the 26th off as we return to Wrigley for two against the Phillies, the start of a nine game, ten day homestand. We’ll then have a two week 13-game road stand, so I hope our players are ready to start really putting in work. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-15-2023, 11:12 AM	#87
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	APRIL 23, 1954 . . . The Redlegs have gotten out to a 5-3 start, and we lost to them on our field 6-1 in the first meeting of the season series. We’ll have Hacker up for tonight’s game, and I expect to use Klippstein, Rogovin and Score in the remaining games which should give our rotation its first real test of the season. For tonight’s game I kept Snyder in the leadoff position but used Fondy instead of Cavarretta to bat second, keeping the rest of the lineup in order (Mays / Banks / Sauer / Howard / Baker / Smith). Snyder opened with a double, and Fondy sacrified himself at first but Snyder reached third safely. Mays then grounded out to first, but Snyder was quick enough to score, putting us up 1-0 after one. Hacker gave up a solo homer in the second, however, to tie it right back up, and his confidence shaken somewhat he gave up a second run, all with two outs. By the time he got his third out in the bottom of the first he’d thrown 32 pitches and looked shaken as he headed back to the dugout. Thanksfully Elston Howard came up big with an RBI triple in the second to tie the game, and Gene Baker drove him home with a single to left to give us back the lead. Baker stole second moments later, and Warren Hacker got himself some insurance by hitting a single to right, advancing Baker to third. Snyder hit into a double play, however, so we had to settle for a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the second. And Hacker came out confident in the second, throwing two strikeouts and getting a flyout to end the inning much more quickly. Hacker gave up two doubles in the third, only escaping trouble thanks to a brilliant tag-out at home plate, and though we still held a 3-2 lead after three, it looked increasingly less likely he’d go deeper into this game than five or six innings unless we could put up some serious insurance runs. Willie Mays gave us one in the top of the fifth, a sac-fly to right leading Russ Snyder to score from third to give us a two run lead midway through the fifth. But Hacker gave up a two-run homer to send momentum the other way, and I had no choice but to start warming Bob Alexander up in the bullpen. Hacker then got his outs quickly and we came back up in the sixth knotted 4-4. Gene Baker gave us back our 6-4 lead thanks to a two-run jam of his own, his first of the year, qualifying Hacker to get the win if we could hold it. He stayed in and got through the sixth with three quick outs, so I sat Alexander and warmed up Karl Drews who I expected to take over in the seventh, with Hacker past 100 pitches already. Drews pitched to three batters in the seventh, getting an out but allowing a run to score, so Alexander came in with a man on first to try and get those two outs and keep us in this lead. He got a flyout to left, then gave up a hit that put runners on the corners with two outs. And an easy out at first was botched by Fondy, who bobbled the ball and allowed the tying run to score. Damn it! We got the third out but went into the eighth inning knotted 6-6. Alexander stayed in for the bottom of the eighth, getting us out of the inning with the game still tied and Consuegra ready to come in for the bottom of the ninth. Cavarretta came in to pinch hit for Alexander, but he struck out swinging. So did Russ Snyder. And Fondy grounded out to first, putting a ton of pressure on Consuegra to get us into extras. Two groundouts and a flyout later he did just that, at least giving us a chance if we could find a way to score something. McCullough got a pinch-hit single in the top of the 11th, but we couldn’t get anyone else on base. Steve Nagy came in for the bottom of the inning and, without even bothering to get a single bloody out, gave up a walk-off homer to end this one aa a 7-6 loss. I still can’t believe it. And we’ve pretty much blown our bullpen in game one, meaning the pressure is on Klippstein tomorrow to go the distance. Hacker lasted six innings but gave up eight hits for four earned runs, striking out six and walking one but throwing 102 pitches and looking inconsistent throughout the night. Last year in a game like this I would have left him in to defend his win, but he didn’t have the stuff tonight and he knew it. Drews came out of the game with a hold, giving up two runs (one earned) on one hit and a walk, while Alexander took the blown save through 1.2 innings of two-hit ball. Consuegra was excellent through two innings, and I should have kept him in for a third -- that will go down as a managerial boner on my part and I’m going to be roasted in the Chicago papers for it. He had no hits, a strikeout and a walk with 20 pitches. But it all came down to Nagy’s one pitch homer to end it, and he deservedly took the loss, falling to 0-2 and begging the question: is it worth keeping him in the majors? His efforts so far this year have been less than impressive, and it HAS been four years since his last major league stint. Perhaps it’s time to hang it up. Not going to make any hasty decisions, but I’m growing concerned. We had 12 hits today but let the Redlegs put up 13 ... Gene Baker had three hits with a run scored and three batted in, while Synder added two hits and two runs scored, bringing his aveage up to .407 after six major league starts! Fondy is not the player we knew last year -- through 16 at-bats this season he’s hitting just .067 and his eye is failing him with an OBP of .118 ... I may regret that extension I gave him, not thinking he’d decline so quickly at 29. Small sample size, though ... will give him a chance to fight his way out of it. Willie Mays has stayed strong, adding a hit, a walk and two RBIs to his total, and McCullough has been a solid pinch hitter despite his declining defensive skills as a catcher, adding a hit to keep his average at .556 through nine at-bats. Three games left in this series including the double-header on Sunday, and we really need a good game tomorrow to get out of this funk. APRIL 24, 1954 . . . This afternoon Klippstein took the mound for us, while our former starter Paul Minner took the mound for the Redlegs. Woody Smith batted a run in with the bases loaded in the top of the second to give us a 1-0 lead, but Minner got himself out of it surprisingly well and we weren’t able to pile on. But Johnny Klippstein batted in a second run in the top of the fourth, and two more scored on an RBI double by Russ Snyder, opening this one up quickly. Willie Mays batted Snyder home from third, and we went into the bottom of the fourth with a significant 5-0 lead on the Redlegs. They got on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth, but Klippstein dealt it well the rest of the way. Roger Maris came in to pinch hit for Snyder in the top of the eighth, and his single sparked a rally that wound up loading the bases with two outs, bringing up Ernie Banks with a chance to add to the score. And Banks came up big in that situation, driving in three runs with a triple to deep right that was inches shy of a grand slam, putting us up 8-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth. Klippstein was dominant the rest of the way and we held tough to beat the Redlegs 8-1 heading into tomorrow’s doubleheader! Johnny Klippstein improved to 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA thanks to nine innings with five hits, five strikeouts and only two walks over 124 pitches. Snyder had a hit and scored a run with two RBIs, while Maris got two at-bats and had a hit and a run scored. Ernie Banks’ two hits batted in three for us, and Hank Sauer was incredibly consistent with three hits and a walk, scoring a run. APRIL 25, 1954 . . . Doubleheader day! Herb Score started the first game for us, and he got us through the first inning scoreless. In the top of the second, Elston Howard hit a double that he turned into a triple with his quick speed on the basepaths, driving in the first run of the game to put us up 1-0, and a second run scored on a wild pitch that got by the catcher. Gene Baker hit a triple with one out, and pitcher Herb Score then hit a two-run homer to make it 4-0 heading into the bottom of the second. Ernie Banks drove in another run with an RBI double in the top of the third. In the top of the fourth Russ Snyder reached first safely on an infield hit, but was injured in the process. We had to sub in Maris to pinch-run and then take over at left field, with men on the corners and one out. Cavarretta hit into a double play to end the top of the inning with us ahead 5-0. Maris is going to get a trial by fire today, because he’ll now have to finish this game and then start in the second. Hank Sauer sacrificed himself at first to allow Willie Mays to score our sixth run in the top of the fifth, and in the top of the sixth Roger Maris came up for the first time and hit a triple to deep center, making it 7-0 as Woody Smith came around from second to score. Herb Score gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to make it 7-1, but he closed out an amazing game for a rookie starter as we beat the Redlegs 7-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the series heading into today’s second game! Score dominated this game, improving to 2-1 with a 1.90 ERA thanks to just seven hits and the one earned run, with nine strikeouts against a single walk. He threw 119 pitches in the winning effort. Willie Mays led our hitters with three hits, scoring a single run. Sauer added a pair of hits for a run and an RBI, and Roger Maris got a hit in two tries with an RBI, his first as a Cub! He’s hit in four out of five at-bats since joining our team. And Herb Score has been impressive enough maybe I should consider him as a pinch-hitting option! He hit twice in four tries today including his homer, scoring one and driving in two! Unfortunately, Russ Snyder fractured his foot running into first-base, and he’s going to be out for at least four weeks. We’ve placed him on the 15 day IL, and I’m going to bring Hy Cohen onto the 25 man roster for the time being, giving us an additional arm out of the bullpen, as we still have six fielders on the main roster. Saul Rogovin came out to pitch in the second game of the doubleheader, and instead of risking wearing Roger Maris out too quickly we will continue to use him in this game as a potential pinch-hitter, bringing Frank Baumholtz in to play left, as he’ll be a stronger fielder overall. Willie Mays put us on the board with a two-run homer in the top of the first, his sixth of the season, and Frank Baumholtz hit a sac-fly to center that drove in a third run, so Rovovin had a 3-0 cushion before he even threw his first pitch. Sauer added a solo homer in the top of the third, his second of the season, to make it 4-0. From there both sides played solid defense and the score remained locked. Sandy Consuegra came in for the ninth inning to preserve the four run lead, and he got them out on flyouts one, two, three to end this one as a 4-0 win! We beat the Redlegs three games to one, and now we have a 6-5 record on the season! Saul Rogovin improved to 1-0 on the season with a 1.29 ERA, giving up just five hits in eight innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Consuegra came in for three outs and was perfect, bringing his ERA down to 6.43 on the year. Cavarretta hit twice and scored a run, bringing him out of his slump a bit, though his .205 average is still concerning. Willie Mays hit once to score a run and bat in two with his home run, and Ernie Banks added two hits for a run. Hank Sauer was solid as well with three hits, scoring one and batting in another, keeping his average at .410 through 39 at-bats. Our 6-5 record has us in third place in the NL, half a game behind Pittsburgh (8-6) and Philadelphia (7-5) and tied with the Cardinals. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-15-2023, 01:01 PM	#88
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	APRIL 27, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl gave up the first run of the game in the top of the fourth on a terrible pickoff throw to home, a costly error, sending us into the bottom of the inning trailing 1-0. And Diehl, despite throwing a great game overall, had really bad luck and no early-game run support, and in the middle of the sixth we trailed 2-0 off just four hits. Bob Alexander came in with one out and two men in scoring position in the top of the seventh, and he surrendered both of Diehl’s runs on the sixth pitch, before giving up a two-run homer of his own with two outs to make the deficit 6-0. And we couldn’t buy a hit, dooming us in the end to losing this one by the same six run margin. Robert Diehl took the loss, falling to 1-1 with a 4.67 ERA thanks to five hits and four earned runs with just one strikeout and one walk. Bob Alexander gave up two runs and only secured two outs, dropping his ERA to 6.75. Steve Nagy came in and got the two final innings’ worth of outs in a two strikeout no hit night, bringing his ERA down to 9.00 after five innings pitched. We were outhit 7-4 in this one, all four hits coming from the bottom of our lineup (Howard, Baker, Smith and Diehl) with all our star sluggers struggling. There’s no way to win a game like this without Mays, Banks and Sauer getting something going in the middle of the lineup. This will be Nagy’s last game with us, despite the solid innings -- we’ve worked out a trade with the Detroit Tigers over in the American League, sending him, Herb Score and Dee Fondy to the Tigers in exchange for right fielder and major league legend-in-the-making Al Kaline and minor league reliever Richard Dotson! Kaline, at 19, is the 4th best prospect in the majors, so I don’t feel bad about having to give up Score in the deal -- I think it works out well for both sides. Hopefully we’ll have Kaline here in Chicago in time for Friday’s first game against the New York Giants here at Wrigley. To fill a gap in our bullpen for tomorrow’s second game against the Phillies we’ve called up Fred Baczewski to the major league roster, leaving the other two open spots in our 25-man roster for the two incoming Tigers. APRIL 28, 1957 . . . Warren Hacker pitched for us in the second game against the Phillies. Philly got on the board in the top of the third with an RBI single on two outs, and Hacker struggled in the fifth inning, giving up two more runs to add to our difficulty level. In the bottom of the ninth, still down 3-0, Roger Maris pinch hit for Baumholtz and took a walk, followed by a walk by Mays, which brought up Ernie Banks with a chance to finally do something good for us offensively, but he struck out. Sauer, however, hit a line drive to left that loaded the bases, but Elston Howard hit a fly to deep center and everyone held their bases. Damn it! Clyde McCullough came in to pinch hit for Gene Baker, and he walked in a run! Bill Serena came in to pinch hit for Woody Smith, bases loaded and two outs, and he struck out swinging as we lost this one 3-1. Hacker took the loss, falling to 0-2 with a 4.39 ERA, having given up eight hits and three runs in 7.2 innings with three strikeouts and a walk. Sandy Consuegra came in and threw 1.1 innings with only one hit to at least give us a shot, but the damage came early in this one and we don’t have a hitters’ row to make up for it -- particularly when Mays and Banks went hitless for the second game in a row. Maybe getting Kaline into the lineup will give us a boost of energy, because right now we’re getting outhit daily. Cavarretta, Baumholtz and Sauer got our only three knocks of the night as we fell to 6-7. An off day awaits, and then two games this weekend against the Giants, followed by a Sunday doubleheader at Wrigley against Pittsburgh before a three game series against Brooklyn (May 4-6) that then setus us up for what could be a brutal two week 13-game road trip. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-15-2023, 03:10 PM	#89
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	APRIL 30, 1954 . . . I thought the fans were going to flat-out murder the umpire when the Giants took a 1-0 lead on us via a bases loaded balk called against Johnny Klippstein in the top of the first, but Klippstein got out of the inning without further incident. Al Kaline got a hit in his first at-bat in the leadoff position, but the rest of the lineup left him completely stranded. In his second at-bat in the bottom of the third, Kaline got on base with a double and this time Cavarretta drove him home with an RBI single, tying the score 1-1 and putting some life into the crowd. But Willie Mays hit into a fielder’s choice and then Ernie Banks flew out to center, ending any chance at an extended offensive blast. Hank Sauer hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to put us up 2-1, and Kaline got a third hit in the bottom of the fifth, though for the second time he was stranded. But Klippstein was on fire defending the lead with two strikeouts and a flyout in the top of the sixth, knowing that with our offensive struggles he was going to have to win this one himself. We had an opportunity to score when Banks came up in the bottom of the seventh with men on the corners and two outs, but he struck out again to extend his slump and the score remained 2-1 Cubs heading into the eighth inning. The score was unchanged heading into the top of the ninth, and Klippstein stayed in to close out the game himself, and he held on to the lead despite giving up a hit and a walk via hit-by-pitch, striking out a batter and then getting two flyouts as we beat the Giants 2-1! Klippstein threw 122 pitches in the complete game win, improving to 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA by giving up only three hits with nine strikeouts and only two walks. We outhit them 11-3, led by Al Kaline in the leadoff position with three hits and a run scored. Cavarretta and Sauer each had a pair of hits, with Sauer batting in one and scoring another, and Cavarretta batting in Kaline’s run early in the game. Ernie Banks went hitless again -- he has had three consecutive hitless games, but Mays broke out of his slump with a single hit. MAY 1, 1954 . . . Rogovin came out to pitch today and on the second pitch of the afternoon he gave up a triple. A sacrifice out at first scored the first run, but he was effective from there at shutting them down. Al Kaline hit a blistering line drive that almost went over the wall, bouncing off the top and back into the park instead for a run scoring triple in the bottom of the third to tie the game, and Kaline scored a run on a wild pitch to make it 2-1. Mays took a walk, and then Banks broke out of his slump with a two-run blast to center, making it 4-1 with his fourth home run of the season! Elston Howard added a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-1, and in the bottom of the seventh Cavarretta drove Rogovin home from third to score a sixth run. Ernie Banks batted in another moments later, and Gene Baker joined the party to make it 8-1 before Elston Howard finally struck out to end the inning. Karl Drews came in for the top of the eighth with the game well in hand, and as has been typical with our bullpen he threw up all over himself, loading the bases with a single out and then giving up a grand slam. Vince Lombardi came in with a man on and just one out, with Consuegra already warming in the bullpen to protect the game if it continued to be out of hand. Lombard got a strikeout, but then gave up a two-run homer to make it 8-7 ... I can’t believe this! Consuegra came in and got the final out, but this was a whole different ballgame heading into the bottom of the eighth than it was twenty minutes prior. Al Kaline came out and hit his first homer as a Cub, his sixth of the year thus far overall, to make it a 9-7 game, giving Consuegra a bit more room to breathe as he came in for the save in the top of the ninth. And though we had some drama, with a man reaching second on a fielding error involving a bad throw from third to first, Consuegra got out of the inning with no damage and we held on to win 9-7. Saul Rogovin improved to 2-0 on the year with a 1.29 GPA, giving up just five hits and one earned run with five strikeouts and a walk. Drews and Lombardi came in and only managed two outs with six runs (three earned) between them, but Consuegra came out for 1.1 innings and improved his ERA to 4.66 thanks to a near-perfect effort, earning his second save of the season. Al Kaline has definitely sparked our offense, getting three hits again today with three runs scored and two batted in, while Ernie Banks finally had a solid night with two hits with a run scored and three batted in. Willie Mays had four hits and scored two runs, and Gene Baker added a pair of hits and an RBI as well. Tomorrow will be a challenge -- two games against Pittsburgh here at home, with a chance to distance ourselves from .500 ... Diehl will pitch for us in the first game, with Hy Cohen coming up from AA to get his first start as a Cub in the second game. MAY 2, 1954 . . . It was a cool dreary day at Wrigley with the wind blowing in slightly, making for a rare pitcher-friendly atmosphere in what is normally a hitter’s park. We loaded the bases in the second inning with a single out, and pitcher Robert Diehl hit a line drive past the first baseman for a deep double to right, scoring three runs! A passed ball advanced Diehl to third, and Al Kaline grounded it up the gap to score our fourth run. Willie Mays walked the bases loaded again, but that was all the damage we could do. Still, by 12:43 in the afternoon we held a 4-0 lead on the visiting Pirates and the fans were loving every minute of it. Diehl gave up a run in the third inning, but also added a pair of strikeouts to his tally as he kept the Pirates from clawing back. But he wasn’t so lucky in the fourth inning, stringing together a series of hits for the Pirates that wound up completely erasing the lead -- by the time we came up to bat in the bottom of the fourth the Pirates held a 5-4 lead and I had Bob Alexander ready to come out and pitch for the fifth. Alexander pitched well into the top of the seventh, but then gave up a solo homer to add to our deficit. Karl Drews came in with one out and got a strikeout and a groundout to keep the score 6-4 Pirates heading into the bottom of the seventh. Kenneth Chapman came in to pinch hit for Gene Baker in the bottom of the eighth but he struck out, while Howard and Smith both flew out, but Drews kept us in the game by getting us quickly through the top of the ninth with no damage. Frank Baumholtz came in to pinch hit for Drews to open the bottom of the ninth, but he was a quick out at first. Kaline flew out to left for our second out, but Cavarretta laid down a fly ball to right that the fielder couldn’t catch, getting himself on base with Willie Mays at the plate and Ernie Banks waiting in the wings. But Mays’ solid hit was blown inward by the wind and became an easy catch for the center fielder as we dropped game one 6-4 after having blown a 4-0 lead. Robert Diehl took the loss, giving up eight hits in four innnings with five earned runs, blowing his ERA all the way up to 5.91 for the year thus far. Bob Alexander lasted 2.1 innings with three hits and a run, and Karl Drews was impressive in 2.2 innings, just giving up a single hit with two strikeouts and a walk, improving his ERA to 8.44 overall after just 5.1 innings pitched. Both teams notched a dozen hits; Kaline, Cavarretta and Banks each had two for us, with pitcher Robert Diehl’s one hit for a run and three batted in was also impressive. Here’s hoping we can get a few hits in the second game and come out with a split. We won a bidding war in free agency for Hy Cohen, and in the second game of the day it was time to see what he was made of! Willie Mays helped him out with a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the first, and Hank Sauer had a sac-fly to right that scored a second run. Cavarretta then added a three-run homer in the bottom of the second to break the game open, his second homer of the year thanks to it blowing inches inside fair territory. Meanwhile, Cohen was unhittable early on, completely dominating the Pirates and pitching like he’d been born on the mound! It started to feel historic when we entered the ninth inning with Cohen still on the mound, up 5-0 and having to that point pitched a perfect game ... Flyout to right? Check! Batter thrown out at first? Check! When he got the final out and this place erupted, it was the wildest thing I’ve ever seen in this ballpark ... we shut the Pirates out 5-0 in Hy Cohen’s Cubs debut and he pitched a perfect game! Cohen threw nine innings and just 94 pitches to attain perfection, striking out six batters and doing something he’ll almost certainly never match in his career. I’m still stunned, and I watched it happen! He also notched a hit and scored a run early in the game. Cavarretta’s homer notched him a run scored and three batted in, and Ernie Banks added three hits though he never scored. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-17-2023, 11:11 PM	#90
Pelican Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Wilmington, Delaware Posts: 2,923	Who is this guy, and where did he get that stuff? IRL looks like he appeared in only seven games for the Cubs in 1955. Minor league record only fair. What are his OOTP ratings? Amazing. Good find, needless to say. __________________ Pelican OOTP 2020-? ”Hard to believe, Harry.”

07-18-2023, 01:25 PM	#92
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	MAY 4, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker came out tonight for his fifth start of the year, and so far he’s been struggling to find his way back to the consistency he showed during his Cy Young campaign last year, coming into this game with an 0-2 record and a 4.39 ERA through 26.2 innings. And tonight he gave up a solo homer to Carl Furillo to put us beind 1-0 after just seven pitches. But Willie Mays flipped the script in the bottom of the inning with his seventh homer of the year to put us ahead 2-1, taking some of the presure off. Brooklyn tied it up in the top of the third off a sac fly to center, and Hacker gave up the go-ahead run moments later before finally getting the final strikeout as he edged over 50 pitches. But Mays hit a solid two-base hit to drive in the tying run in the bottom of the third, at least keeping us in this one. Woody Smith batted out to first in the bottom of the fourth to drive in the go-ahead run, and Hacker came out in the fifth and got three quick outs to maintain the lead, but he couldn’t do it through six ... with no outs in the top of the sixth Hacker surrendered the tying run, a solo homer by Monte Irvin, and his night was over -- I brought Bob Alexander in from the bullpen to try and get us out of this one. He did well, getting us two outs into the eighth inning, at which point Karl Drew came in to get us a final out with the store still knotted 4-4. We went into the bottom of the ninth still knotted -- Bill Serena came in to pinch hit for Woody Smith, but he flew out to left bringing up Roger Maris, who was standing in for Drews. Maris laid down a soft fly to right and the fielder lost it in the sun, allowing us a base runner! And Al Kaline then slammed one deep into left, over the wall, and we won this one 6-4 without needing extra innings! Karl Drews took the win, improving to 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA thanks to 1.1 innings of no hit one strikeout ball, but Bob Alexander did a lot of the work to keep us in this one, throwing 42 pitches over 2.2 innings, giving up just one hit with two strikeouts and a walk. Hacker didn’t have a great night, giving up four runs off eight hits in his five innings of work, and though he struggled like this early last season too, it wasn’t this bad -- at least he was getting quality starts in April and May last year. This season he’s yet to make it out of the eighth inning, and he’s given up three or more earned runs in all five games and his BAPIP of .318 is by far his worst since 1949. Willie Mays led our hitters this afternoon with three hits, a run scored and three batted in, while Cavarretta added a pair of hits for two runs scored. Al Kaline has hit .409 since joining our team, and today he added a hit, a run scored and two more batted in. Finally we have our permanent lead-off man, I’d say, and he won’t even turn 20 until December! MAY 5, 1954 . . . Al Kaline hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third to put us up 1-0 on the Giants, and Willie Mays batted in a second with a single of his own to make it 2-0. Ernie Banks hit a sac-fly to left to drive in a third run, giving us a solid three run advantage heading into the fourth. Kaline sacrificed himself at center field to drive in a fourth run in the bottom of the fourth, We held them off completely from there, Klippstein going eight full innings and Consuegra coming in to close it out successfully in the ninth as we held tough to beat the Giants 4-0! Klippstein improved to 4-0 with a 1.12 ERA through 32 innings thanks to just three hits today with three strikeouts and three walks. Consuegra gave up two hits in the non-save situation but preserved the shutout with two strikeouts to improve his ERA to 4.22 through 10.2 innings pitched. Hank Sauer hit three times but never scored, while Willie Mays added a pair of hits and an RBI. Al Kaline had a hit, a run scored and two batted in, and Ernie Banks batted one in though he didn’t get any hits on the board. MAY 6, 1954 . . . Saul Rogovin took the mound today, and after an efficient first inning he got some support from our bats in the bottom of the first, with Cavarretta batting Kaline in with a double to put us up 1-0. Mays and Banks walked the bases loaded, still no outs, nd Elston Howard hit a fly to deep right, an easy catch for out number two but still managing to score Cavarretta from third. Baker batted in a third run and we were able to head into the top of the second leading the Dodgers 3-0. Rogovin bought us some added insurance in the second inning, leading off with a solo homer to left, his first four-bagger of the year, to bump us up to 4-0, and Rogovin was red-hot all night from the mound, keeping the Dodgers at bay with pitch after pitch of great stuff. Ernie Banks added his fifth homer of the season to bat in three runs in the bottom of the seventh, and Elston Howard added a triple that batted in another to make it 8-0! With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Willie Mays batted in two more runs and Mays batted in our 11th run with a sac-fly to center. Sauer scored on a fly-out to first to make it 12-0, and Rogovin closed it out with three fly-outs in the ninth to win this one by a dozen in a one-hit game for the Dodgers -- who look like a shell of their former selves, let me tell you! Rogovin improves to 3-0 on the season with a 0.90 ERA through 30 innings, giving up one hit with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks. He’s quickly becoming our true ace from the mound as Hacker tries to find the stuff that made him a Cy Young candidate last year. We outhit the Dodgers 14-1 tonight, with Al Kaline leading the charge with three hits for three runs scored. Ernie Banks hit twice and walked once, scoring a run and driving in four, while Willie Mays got a hit and two walks, scoring three times and batting in two. Rogovin has been potent from the batter’s box as well this year, hitting three times today, scoring twice and batting in one, giving him a surprising .364 average through 13 plate appearances. We have a three-game set on the road starting tomorrow, followed by two at Philly (May 11-12), three at the Giants (May 13-15), three at Pittsburgh (May 16-17) and two at Brooklyn (May 18-19) before we get back to Wrigley for a four-game set against Milwaukee. Here are the current NL standings: 1. St. Louis Cardinals (15-7) 2. Chicago Cubs (12-8) 2 GB 3 (tie). Philadelphia Phillies (12-10) 3 GB 3 (tie). Cincinnati Redlegs (12-10) 3 GB 5 (tie). Milwaukee Braves (10-10) 4 GB 5 (tie). Pittsburgh Pirates (12-12) 4 GB 7. Brooklyn Dodgers (8-14) 7 GB 8. New York Giants (6-16) 9 GB And the AL standings: 1. Cleveland Guardians (16-6) 2. Washington Senators (15-7) 1 GB 3. New York Yankees (13-9) 3 GB 4. Philadelphia Athletics (11-11) 5 GB 5. Chicago White Sox (11-12) 5.5 GB 6. Detroit Tigers (8-11) 6.5 GB 7. Boston Red Sox (8-13) 7.5 GB 8. Baltimore Orioles (4-17) 11.5 GB __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-19-2023, 07:10 PM	#93
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	MAY 7, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen came out tonight for his second start ever, first ever on the road as a Cub, and his first since pitching that perfect game on May 2nd. And Al Kaline gave him run support from the word ‘go,” hitting a solo homer (his eighth of the year overall!) to put us up 1-0 on the very first pitch of the night! Elston Howard hit a triple that batted in two more, and by the time Cohen came up to throw his first pitch of the night we already had a 3-0 lead on the Braves. And Cohen gave up both a walk and a hit in the inning to prove he’s human ... in fact, the Braves took the game on a three-run homer moments later, and though Cohen only gave up two walks and two hits, the score was 4-3 Braves at the end of the first inning. Cohen gave up a triple in the bottom of the second but escaped with no runs, but he gave up a two-run homer in the third to make it 6-3 Braves, but Cohen hit a ground-rule double to start the fourth inning and was able to get around to score, cutting the Milwaukee lead to two runs. In the top of the sixth Cohen reached second on a throwing error at first, giving us a man in scoring position with just one out and the top of the lineup coming up to hit. Kaline walked and Cavarretta hit it through the gap just out of the reach of the center fielder, allowing Cohen to score his second run of the game to make it 6-5! Cohen stayed strong from the mound and in the top of the eighth we loaded the bases, bringing up Willie Mays who singled to right and drove in the game-tying run, at which point Ernie Banks drove one to left, pushing in our seventh run and giving us, and Cohen, the lead! Consuegra came in for three quick outs in the bottom of the eighth, and he came back for the bottom of the ninth inning with the lead still at one run. Two bobbled balls allowed two runners to reach base, but Consuegra was the consumnate professional -- unfortunately a bobbled catch by Mays made it a trifecta and scored the tying run, driving runners to second and third. A bases-loaded walk and then a throw from shortstop to first ended the inning, but now we were headed for extras on the road. Willie Mays hit a solo homer in the top of the 13th inning to put us up 8-7, and Ernie Banks scored a run on a throwing error to home plate, making it a 9-7 lead! Bob Alexander held tough through the bottom of the inning and we wound up winning this one in a marathon 9-7 victory, absolutely stunning the fans from Milwaukee who had stayed through a nearly four hour game. Cohen lasted seven innings, giving up seven hits for six earned runs with five K’s and a trio of walks to bring his ERA down to 3.38 on the year. Consuegra got a blown save, his first of the year, but only gave up one hit in two innings with a strikeout and a walk. Alexander earned his win, improving to 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA out of the bullpen, throwing four complete innings with only one hit and a strikeout, lasting 37 pitches and proving to be a real workhorse! We outhit the Braves 20-9 but struggled to string hits together -- this should not have been nearly as hard as it was. Kaline was a stud again from the leadoff, hitting four times to score twice and drive one in, while Mays hit three times for two runs and three RBIs including the game winner in the 13th. Russ Snyder still reportedly has two or three weeks before he’ll be ready to consider a rehab assignment after his broken foot sidelined him. We’re definitely keeping an eye on his recovery time, but the team is doing well in the interim, so we have to keep hoping luck remains on our side. MAY 8, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker hit a blooper to right field that barely eluded the fielder, allowing our first run of the night to score in the top of the second inning, putting us up 1-0 on the Braves. Kaline batted in another with a double before they were able to successfully get the final out. And Hacker came out pitching like we haven’t seen so far this year, dominating the first few innings to put us in a areally solid position. Hank Sauer added an RBI sac-fly in the top of the third to make it 3-0, and Hacker stayed in his top form through the remainder of the game. Cavarretta drove in a fourth run in the top of the ninth, and Hacker shut them down in the bottom of the frame with two strikeouts and a flyout to preserve the 4-0 complete game victory! Hacker improved to 1-2 with a 3.76 ERA thanks to the nine innings of three-hit ball he threw, alongside five strikeouts and a walk. Cavarretta hit three times and scored a run and batted one in, while Mays and Sauer each added a pair of hits as we out-bashed the Braves 10-3 in our sixth win in a row! MAY 9, 1954 . . . Klippstein pitched for us today, and we brought in Roger Maris to sub at third base to give Woody Smith a day to rest -- it’s not his normal position, but we’re clogged right now at left field, so it’s going to be important to see if he can fill in elsewhere or if he’s only going to be useful out in left. We took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third thanks to a solo homer by Gene Baker, and Cavarretta hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0. Willie Mays made it 4-0 with a two run homer in the sixth, his ninth homer of the season, and Bob Alexander came in with one out in the bottom of the eighth to make sure we kept the lead intact. And he lasted through the remainder of the game, closing out a 4-0 win as we swept Milwaukee and kept our win-streak going! Klippstein took the win, improving him to 5-0 with a 0.92 ERA, giving up just two hits with two strikeouts and three walks in 7.1 innings. Alexander came in and threw 1.1 innings of no hit, one strikeout ball, improving his ERA to 2.45 and earning his first save of the year. Cavarretta was our best batter of the night with three hits for two runs and an RBI, and with three players hitting homers we were able to overcome a weak hitting night overall and win this one in style. St. Louis has been dominating the NL so far, rushing out to an 18-8 record, but we’re nipping at their heels just a game and a half back of first thanks to seven wins in a row (and an 8-1 record so far in May). We head into Philly (14-11, 3.5 GB) on a serious roll and with a chance to keep our season rolling in the right direction. Bad news: Russ Snyder had a setback in his recovery -- our team trainers now say he has to undergo foot surgery and will now likely not return until the middle of June at the least. I’m confident at least that the 19-year-old slugger is in good hands, but it’s disappointing that he’s out of the picture for so long when he was hitting .382/.432/.588 through eight games with four doubles and a homer to go with three stolen bases. Here’s hoping he comes back strong before the All Star break. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-27-2023, 02:51 AM	#94
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	This is not dead, fyi ... I just have been in the process of switching jobs. I am really looking forward to playing out some games this weekend __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-29-2023, 01:53 PM	#95
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	MAY 11, 1954 . . . Today was Saul Rogovin’s day up in the rotation, amd he leads the team with his 0.90 ERA and a 3-0 record with 21 K’s through thirty innnings. And it turned into a real duel early betweeen him and Robin Roberts -- Rogovin gave up his first two hits of the game in the bottom of the fourth, but got out of it safely and through four WE had only gotten a single hit ourselves as the game remained deadlocked 0-0 at the end of four. The top of our order came up to start the sixth, but Robin Roberts was on FIRE -- strikeout, flyout, strikeout and we remained with a goose egg. And Philadelphia drew first blood, Del Innis hitting a homer off of Rogovin with two outs and no one on, giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. They then followed it with another as Smoky Burgess nailed one deep into the right field stands to make it 2-0, both runs “unearned” thanks to the fact that he should have been out of the inning. We got out of the inning with just the two runs’ damage, but Rogovin gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases, getting out of the inning before I could get anyone warmed up -- but that meant he was done after six, lucky enough not to have his ERA dinged. Ernie Banks got us on the board in the top of the seventh, with a one-out solo homer to make it 2-1 Philly, his sixth home run of the season. Bob Alexander came in for Rogovin to start the bottom of the seventh, but he gave up back to back doubles, allowing the Phillies to increase the margin to 3-1. Clyde McCullough pinch hit for Alexander in the top of the eighth, reaching second on a head-first slide after a shot to deep left, and then Hank Sauer hit his fourth homer of the year, tyinng the score 3-3! Willie Mays reached first safely on a fielding error, but was then thrown out trying to steal second while Ernie Banks was at bat, ending the inning and bringing Consuegra in to hopefully close things out. Ernie Banks opened the bottom of the eighth with a triple, and he scored as Kenneth Chapman, subbing in for Gene Baker, hit a line drive to center. Consuegra stayed in for the bottom of the ninth, and though he did allow a runner on base with two outs, he got the fly-out to right that we needed to keep this 4-3 victory and the win-streak continues! Saul Rogovin gave up six hits and two unearned runs with four strikeouts and three walks on 99 pitches, dropping his ERA to 0.75 in the no-decision. Alexander gave up two hits and the earned run, no walks or strikeouts, and his ERA slipped to 2.87 through 15.2 innings. Sandy Consuegra improved to 1-1 with a 3.07 ERA, lasting two innings with three hits and a strikeout. Ernie Banks led with two hits two runs and an RBI, while Elston Howard added a pair of hits that never got him around to score. Hank Sauer batted in two with his homer, and Kenneth Chapman batted in his first run of the year in his 13th at-bat of the season, bringing his on base percentage up to .471! In huge news, I’ve made a deal with Cleveland to bring us an All Star at 3B! It’s been going back and forth for a while now, but the Guardians are sending us Al Rosen and closer Harry Dorish to join our Cubs, and we’re sending them Bob Alexander (1-0, 2.87 ERA, opponent batting average .211) a player they’ve been clamoring to get. Both cities are reportedly buzzing about the deal, although I hear the Yankees are as well -- they’re currently 2.5 games behind the Guardians and looking for any opening to get back into the lead in the AL. We’re hoping to have both players in Chicago in time for our game on the 13th, but regardless it’s safe to say our very good team just got a lot better! __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-29-2023, 03:15 PM	#96
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	MAY 12, 1954 . . . Diehl pitched tonight for us as we await our new arrivals. Through 21.1 innings he’s held a 5.91 ERA with a 1-2 record, so I’m hoping tonight is the night he finally finds some consistency to match his stamina (he has yet to have a quality start). Diehl actually wound up with our first hit of the night in the top of the third, and Al Kaline drove him all the way around thanks to a triple that put us up 1-0! Diehl kept pitching as well as I’ve seen him pitch, and he held his own in the pitcher’s duel, getting us through the sixth with the 1-0 lead still secure. Vic Lombardi came in and got the final out of the seventh inning, saving Diehl from the men he put in scoring position and keeping the lead at 1-0 as we headed into the eighth inning. Lombardi then opened the top of the inning with a line drive to right, reaching first safely and bringing up the top of the order! Unfortunately Kaline batted out to center, and then Cavarretta hit into an infield double play and we again couldn’t buy any insurance. Lombardi got through the inning with three quick outs, and Mays opened the top of the ninth with a triple! Sauer reached first on an error by the shortstop which also allowed Mays to score, extending our lead to 2-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Vic Lombardi, having been incredibly efficient with his pitches, stayed in for the three-inning save, and though he did give up a couple hits, he pitched his way out of the jam and ended the game on a strikeout as we stumped the Phillies again, this time winning 2-0. Diehl lasted six shutout four-hit innings, with three strikeouts and a walk to earn the win, improving to 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA. Lombardi, in his first-ever relief appearance for us as a Cub, pitched 2.2 innings with two hits and two strikeouts, keeping a perfect 0.00 ERA in a 26-pitch effort. Both teams tonight had six hits each, but we made ours count -- six separate Cubs (Kaline, Cavarretta, Mays, Baker, Diehl and Lombardi) came up with a hit apiece, with Diehl and Mays scoring runs and Kaline and Sauer batting them in. Having only batted one time, Lombardi has the rare distinction of holding both a 0.00 ERA and a 1.000 batting average at the same time! We head into tomorrow’s first of three against the Giants with a nine-game win streak intact and our record standing at 17-8 -- and with the Cardinals having lost last night 3-4 at Pittsburgh in a 13-inning slog, we now hold a half-game first place lead in the National League! With the Giants standing in dead last at 7-20 with a -36 run differential, we stand a legitimate shot at keeping this insane run going! So far our run differential is +50, best in the majors by six runs (NY Yankees, +44) and we look even better in the NL, where only the Phillies (+23) are even close to us on offense -- hell, St. Louis (+4 Diff) and Cincinnati (+2 Diff) look to be surviving on luck, while we’re actually a game UNDER our expected record at this point. Warren Hacker, Hy Cohen and Johnny Klippstein will be pitching for us in this upcoming series, and Harry Dorish got here in time to expand our bullpen back to four pitchers. With Al Rosen stepping in to play third, he’ll now be batting fifth in our lineup, and with a top six of Kaline / Cavarretta / Mays / Banks / Rosen / Sauer, I’m feeling confident in our ability to maintain our hot streak offensively. Elston Howard will bat 7th (.266/.318/.481) and Gene Baker will bat eighth (.278/.363/.405) which finally gives us a lineup where I don’t see any major holes from a hitting standpoint. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-29-2023, 06:12 PM	#97
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	MAY 13, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker (1-2, 3.76 ERA, 40.2 IP) started for us today, and he had a lead to work with early as Ernie Banks tripled and then got home thanks to an RBI groundout to first by Al Rosen, putting us ahead 1-0, one out, top of the second. Elston Howard batted in a run with a single up the gap in the top of the fourth, Banks scoring headfirst to avoid the throw from the shortstop and putting us up 2-0! Moments later, Warren Hacker hit one to just about the same spot, reaching first and driving Rosen home from second to make it 3-0. Kaline drove one deep into the left corner that brought Howard and Hacker around to score and turning this one into a 5-0 rout. Cavarretta drove in a sixth run, and Banks got his second hit of the INNING with a slice up the middle that drove in two more! Rosen picked up his first hit as a Cub after walking earlier in the inning, at which point Hank Sauer finally, mercifully, ended the inning with a strikeout. But the damage for the Giants was massive, and we went into the bottom of the fourth leading 8-0. Hacker gave up his first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth, and eventually that man did score on a sac-fly to center, but that was all the Giants could manage. And they played conservatively -- in the bottom of the fifth they easily could have had a run on a fly-out to center with only one out, but the man on third held his base and Hacker then threw for two quick outs to end the inning with our seven-run lead intact. Gene Baker batted in a run for us in the top of the sixth to make it 9-1 Cubs, and in the top of the ninth we added salt to their wounds with an RBI single by Mays that drove Kaline in for our 10th run of the game. Harry Dorish got the last four outs of the game for us and we held tough to win our 10th game in a row by a 10-1 margin. Hacker improved to 2-2 with a 3.35 ERA on 125 pitches, going 7.2 innings with five hits, four strikeouts, a walk and just the one earned run. Dorish stepped in nicely for 1.1 innings with a strikeout and no hits. Consuegra remains our closer but if Dorish can handle the setup role and Lombardi can remain a solid middle relief option, I think we’ll stay in really good shape out of the bullpen. We picked up 16 hits tonight, with everyone but Sauer and Dorish getting in on some action. Al Kaline led the way with four hits in six at-bats, scoring twice and driving in two more to bring his average up to .407 since joining the Cubs! Ernie Banks added three hits for three runs scored with two batted in, and Mays, Howard and Hacker each added two hits. Hacker is batting .278 so far through seven starts, with two RBIs off five hits. MAY 14, 1954 . . . Tonight’s starting pitcher is ace Johnny Klippstein (5-0, 0.92 ERA, 39.1 IP, 27 K’s, 0.89 WHIP), and he’s taking on Jack Harshman (0-5, 4.19 ERA, 43.0 IP, 22 K’s 1.40 WHIP). Rosen scored our first run on a throwing error off a fly-out by Klippstein that put us up 1-0 in the top of the second, but despite some disgustingly bad fielding by his teammates, Harshman kept the Giants in this one. He did, that is, until Sauer brought his mini-slump to an end with a solo homer in the top of the sixth, his fifth of the year, to put us up 2-0. Klippstein got through the eighth with the two-run shutout safely in hand -- and, being a solid hitter, he stayed in long enough to hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth (his first of the year!) to bring his average up to .316 and give us a 3-0 lead! But his arm was gassed after 138 pitches, so Consuegra came in for the save attempt in the bottom of the ninth. He did his job efficiently -- shortstop to first, out, strikeout, third-base to first, out -- and we won this one 3-0, our 11th in a row! Tomorrow night we’ll go for the sweep. Klippstein improved to 6-0 with a spectacular 0.76 ERA, giving up five hits with four strikeouts and four walks in 138 pitches over eight innings. Consuegra earned his third save of the year with a strikeout and no hits, bringing his ERA down to 2.87 through 15.2 innings. We out-hit the Giants 8-5 overall, with Klippstein getting a hit for a run scored and two batted in, Rosen adding two hits for a run scored, and Sauer adding his homer to the night’s tally. Kaline had two hits and Cavarretta had one, but neither was able to capitalize. Kaline, hitting .413 since joining our team, is now hitting .384 overall and slugging .705! We are working hard to extend his contract and make him a Cub long term. MAY 15, 1954 . . . Tonight Hy Cohen (1-0, 3.38 ERA, 16.0 IP, 11 K’s, 0.62 WHIP) faced off against Dave Koslo (2-1, 4.28 ERA, 27.1 IP, 7 K’s, 1.39 WHIP) in the final game of this series against the Giants on the road, his third start of the season. I think it’s safe to say we’re all wondering which Cohen we’ll see tonight -- the one who threw a perfect game in his first outing ever? Or the one who gave up six runs in seven innings in his second outing? Al Rosen gave him some run support right off the bat, hitting a two run homer to put us up 2-0 in the top of the first, his first homer since joining the Cubs and his fourth overall this year! Sauer hit his sixth homer of the year in the fourth inning, another two-run shot that put us up 4-0, and Cohen hit a shot up the middle to load the bases with just one out. Kaline batted in Baker via a fly-out to right, Cavarretta walked the bases loaded again, and then they got Willie Mays to fly weakly out to right to end the inning, in a moment I just know he was looking for power. Still, leading 5-0 midway through the fourth had both us AND the Giants in familiar territory. But Cohen loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and let the Giants in through a crack in the door. A triple by Hector Lopez drove in three runs with two outs. He got the strikeout to end the inning, but I started warming up Lombardi in case I needed to make a pitching change heading into the seventh. But Cohen stayed in to get three quick outs in the seventh, so I was able to wait until the eighth inning to bring in Harry Dorish instead. We loaded the bases in the top of the ninth but were unable to add any runs, bringing in Consuegra for another save opportunity. Alas, he gave up a single, got a strikeout, and then Daryl Spencer hit a two-run blast to tie the game at 5-5. He got the two additional outs we needed, but now we were going to have to win this one in extras. In the top of the 11th, Frank Baumholtz pinch hit for Sandy Consuegra and got on base with a single to right, followed by an infield single by Al Kaline to give us two men on, no outs. But Cavarretta hit into a double play that sent Baumholtz to third. Willie Mays was intentionally walked, bringing up Al Rosen with men on the corners and two outs. Rosen hit a brillant drive to right, but the Giants’ right fielder made a spectacular sliding catch and suddenly our chance was gone. Karl Drews came in to pitch, and he gave up a walk-off homer to the very first batter. The win streak comes to an end, and the Giants got to celebrate the 6-5 upset. Hy Cohen had a great night with just five hits and three earned runs in seven innings to go with five strikeouts and two walks. But the 102 pitches he threw in those seven innings wore him down. Dorish got a hold with a hitless inning with a walk, keeping his ERA spotless. I’ll have to wonder whether keeping him in for the ninth inning might have made a difference. Instead, Consuegra went two innings but blew his second save of the year, giving up two hits for two runs along with two strikeouts, bloating his ERA to 3.57. The less said about Drews, who took the loss and fell to 1-1 with an 8.10 ERA, the better. Lombardi had warmed up twice, but was cold heading into the bottom of the 11th because our rally had lasted long enough to cause him to go cold. I’ll also wonder whether sending him in slightly tired might have been a better choice. Sauer had three hits tonight for a run scored and two RBIs. Cavarretta, Banks and Cohen each added two hits, with Cohen actually batting .400 and slugging .500 through ten plate appearances! Rosen’s homer gave him two RBIs, as did Sauer’s. What’s truly frustrating is we outhit the Giants 14-8, so I’m going to take the biggest hit for poor bullpen management. Still, everyone knows in close games like this that then go into overtime, especially on the road, eventually the home team is going to have the better shot at coming out with the win. And on a streak like ours it’s hard not to play into the let-down when the innings keep coming. Tomorrow night we’ll see how well we can bounce back, since we have to drive down tonight to Pittsburgh where we have a double-header, followed by a game on Monday. We then drive BACK to New York to play two at Brooklyn before a much-needed day off followed by a four-game set back at Wrigley from Friday through Sunday. Current standings are posted below. Attached Images __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

08-02-2023, 08:18 PM	#98
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	MAY 16, 1954 . . . Saul Rogovin (3-0, 0.75 ERA, 36.0 IP, 25 K’s, 0.89 WHIP) has been red hot this year through six starts, and tonight in Pittsburgh for game one of today’s doubleheader he’s up against Gene Conley (3-3, 3.31 ERA, 54.1 IP, 22 K’s, 1.36 WHIP) as we try to keep the Pirates from getting back above .500 on the young season. Al Rosen got us on the board quickly in the top of the first, hitting a double that drove Willie Mays home all the way from first with two outs to make it quickly 1-0 Cubs, and Rogovin got through the inning on nine pitches, quickly finding his rhythm. Unfortunately we didn’t add any insurance, and in the bottom of the sixth Rogovin gave up a string of hits allowing the tying run to score. With the bases loaded and one out, the Pirates made weak contact for an easy out at center that held all the runners, and Rosen caught the third out on a weak infield fly to third that got us out of the inning without letting the Pirates score a second run. We loaded the bases in the top of the eighth with just one out, and Frank Baumholtz grounded into a fielder’s choice, Al Kaline being picked off as he tried to reach home. Bases still loaded, Hy Cohen came in to pinch hit for Gene Baker, and he hit it deep into center, driving home Mays and Rosen with a double. Baumholtz got greedy and tried for home but was tagged out to end the inning with us leading 3-1. Kenneth Chapman came in to take over at second base, with Saul Rogovin still going strong from the mound for the bottom of the eighth. A quick flyout and a double play and we were back up to bat for the top of the ninth, with Rogovin looking to stay in for a complete game -- Consuegra was warming up just in case, but he’s thrown three innings in the last two days, so if we could avoid using him we wanted to. Kaline got a sac fly to left that scored Elston Howard, and with the three run lead, Rogovin promptly gave up a walk and a hit to put two men on. He got the runner out at second on a fielder’s choice which left runners on the corners with a single out. Once he walked the bases loaded I had to bring in Consuegra. A quick flyout to left held all the runners, and a strikeout ended the game ... all hail Consuegra! We won this one 4-1 in the first of two for the day. Rogovin’s win was safe as he improved to 4-0 with an 0.81 ERA with seven hits, four strikeouts and three walks on 97 pitches. Consuegra came in for the final two outs, striking out one and improving his ERA to 3.44 with a seven-pitch save. This was a tight battle but we outhit the Pirates 8-7, with eight Cubs getting hits. Robert Ludwig got his first major league hit in just his second start of the year, and Hy Cohen -- our first pitcher to pinch hit in a game since I took over as GM! -- got a hit that drove in two runs, bringing his average up to .455 through 11 plate appearances. I know it’s not sustainable, but he’s been asking for the chance to prove himself offensively and I think I’m gonna let him! In the second game of the day, Warren Hacker (2-2, 3.35 ERA, 48.1 IP, 26 K’s, 1.20 WHIP) will be matching up against one of Pittsburgh’s young phenoms in the making, Dick Hall (0-3, 2.66 ERA, 50.2 IP, 22 K’s, 1.16 WHIP). Hacker has been coming into his own of late, after a slow start to the season, and I am hopeful he can go the distance tonight like he did so often last year, saving our bullpen for tomorrow. Roger Maris helped us go up 1-0, batting in a run with a single to right that brought Baker home in the top of the second. But Danny O’Connell grounded out to right, driving in Ted Kazanski to tie things up in the bottom of the third, keeping this one interesting for the Pirates fans who had stuck around for both games. Kaline got a hit to start the fifth, and Cavarretta drove him to third with a single himself, setting up Willie Mays perfectly; he nailed a shot to right that gave us men on first and second while driving Kaline home for the go-ahead run. Then Ernie Banks hit a moonshot to left to blow the score up quickly to 5-1. That was Banks’ seventh homer of the year! Hacker gave up two walks to start the bottom of the fifth, but he pitched around the jam nicely and no runs scored. Willie Mays broke his home run drought by knocking one out of the park into the right field bleachers, his 10th of the season and his first in a week, to make it a five-run lead in the top of the ninth. Al Rosen followed it with a triple, but Ernie Banks batted out to center, sending us into the bottom of the ninth, Hacker got three quick outs, and we won this one 6-1! Warren Hacker improved to 3-2 thanks to a three-hitter, with three strikeouts and three walks to go with the one earned run, bringing his ERA down to 2.98 in a complete game victory. We outhit the Pirates 11-3, led by Willie Mays’ three hits for two runs and two more batted in. Al Kaline added two hits for a run scored, while everyone but Hacker got in on the hitting spree with one each. MAY 17, 1954 . . . As this game got underway we officially had a 2.5 game lead on the second-place Cardinals, and we’re 14-2 overall in May having gone 13-3 on the road! One more here in Pittsburgh then we have two games at Brooklyn before we can finally get back home to Wrigley for a few. This afternoon Johnny Klippstein (6-0, 0.76 ERA, 47.1 IP, 33 K’s, 0.93 WHIP) is up against Bob Friend (3-2, 2.79 ERA, 58.0 IP, 21 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) so a pitchers’ duel would not be unexpected. Pittsburgh got on board first in the bottom of the third, with a solo homer by the Pittsburgh pitcher, Bob Friend, his first of the year. Giving Klippstein his first earned run since April 30, only his fifth of the year, only the second time he’s given up a homer this season. We left two runners stranded in the top of the sixth, and weak contact was the word of the day. We headed into the eighth inning trailing still 1-0, hoping to catch Friend off guard as he neared his 100th pitch. Kaline doubled with one out, his 11th of the season, but Cavarretta’s bullet to left was caught in a slide I have never seen the likes of, robbing him of the chance to bat in the tying run. That brought up Willie Mays with two outs, and he batted it into the left corner, driving Kaline around to score on a double of his own, tying this one 1-1! Ernie Banks walked, but Rosen flew out to center field to end the rally. Klippstein added a groundout to first and two strikeouts to get out of the inning. Clyde McCullough pinch hit for Elston Howard in the top of the ninth, doubling to give us a man in scoring position with two outs, but Klippstein batted out at center, putting the pressure on him to get us into extra innings. He gave up a double but then got a groundout and a strikeout, bringing Catfish Metkovic up to bat with two outs and the winning run on third. Klippstein walked him, bringing up Jim Finigan who hit it straight to Rosen, who made a miracle throw to first, getting us out! My heart! My aging heart! Ernie Banks hit a triple with two outs in the top of the 10th, driving Willie Mays in to score and put us up 2-1. Hank Sauer then hit a blooper up the middle to center field, scoring Banks and advancing Al Rosen, who had taken a walk, to second. Kenneth Chapman drove it hard to right, a triple that scored Rosen and Sauer, and suddenly this one was a rout! Flyout to left, flyout to center, strikeout and that was that! Klippstein completed his own 10-inning start and we won this one 2-1, sweeping the Pirates! Klippstein is now undefeated with a 7-0 record and 0.78 ERA thanks to a 10-inning three-hitter, giving up just the one earned run with seven strikeouts and three walks on 125 pitches. Willie Mays had two hits to score a run and bat in another, while Cavarretta and Sauer each also had two hits (Sauer adding a run and an RBI of his own). MAY 18, 1954 . . . Just two more road games in this long two week trip! Tonight we take the field in Brooklyn against the seventh-place Dodgers (13-19). Robert Diehl (2-2, 4.50 ERA, 28.0 IP, 12 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) will pitch tonight against Brooklyn’s Johnny Podres (2-2, 5.08 ERA, 39.0 IP, 23 K’s, 1.31 WHIP), with Hy Cohen set up to pitch tomorrow. Jackie Robinson hit his second homer of the year, a solo blast in the bottom of the second that put the Dodgers up 1-0. Gil Hodges added a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to make it 2-0, his fourth four-bagger of the year. We left the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, scoring nothing, and that was pretty much our best and only chance in this one. We lost the game 2-0 as our bats went completely silent. Diehl took the loss and fell to 2-3, throwing seven innings of five-hit ball with three strikeouts, a walk and the two earned runs, giving him a 4.11 ERA on the year. Harry Dorish came in for the eighth inning and struck out one with no hits or runs, keeping his ERA spotless through 3.1 innings. Al Kaline did everything he could, hitting three times in four at-bats but getting nowhere. Cavarretta and Banks each had one hit, while McCullough walked twice and also wound up permanently stranded. We were bound to have a game like this, now hopefully we can get it out of our system and go out tomorrow for the win. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

08-02-2023, 08:39 PM	#99
TC Dale Global Moderator Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 4,953	Enjoying the series! Keep it up! __________________ ----------------------------------