A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World

jksander · 10-03-2025, 01:09 PM

Home in San Francisco, Dominic [DiMaggio] had been having some practical thoughts besides the philosophical ones. He also looked forward to being back with his core teammates, but after returning from the fight to defeat the Evil Axis, he wanted to fight for the rights of players -- starting with himself. Decades before it became official in baseball, Dominic, after discussing his position with [his financial manager and brother] Tom, declared himself a free agent.

He wrote a letter to the Red Sox brass explaining that after spending three years in military service and not signing any baseball contracts, he didn’t belong to anyone.

- Tom Clavin, The DiMaggios, p. 255

What if, after World War II, the owners of Major League teams had decided to eliminate the Reserve Clause and start a rudimentary form of free agency? The idea doesn’t seem far fetched based on how Dominic DiMaggio reacted to returning to the Boston Red Sox. According to Clavin’s excellent biography The DiMaggios, Dom’s holding out wound up getting him the concession of an increased salary with the addition of benchmarks for raises based on team attendance, something that had never been given to a player. Though he became a leader in the “Player’s Union” movement, his postwar move simply didn’t draw in the other players who were also returning from the War ... but what if it had?

I’m starting this dynasty write-up based on the assumption that, following the end of WWII in September of 1945, the owners of teams in both the National League and American League met during winter meetings and agreed to a new system, voluntarily abolishing the reserve clause. In its place, they voted in a system where a player, having reached 10 full years of service time, could apply to become a full free agent, establishing an arbitration system that would kick in after five years of service. Minor league players would also earn free agency after the same 10-year service period. This system would allow veteran players to at least get one opportunity to “choose his destiny,” while preventing teams from having to massively shake up their rosters constantly as soon as players emerged as stars.

The owners agreed that, starting after the 1946 season a rookie draft would take place, replacing the “bonus baby” free-for-all that existed at the time. Once a team drafted a player, that player would be theirs until such time as he reached his 10 years of full service, and would remain on a rookie scale contract until reaching arbitration after five years. This compromise kept owners happy with a system still heavily weighted in their favor, while giving players returning from defending their country a sense that they too had some control over where their careers would take them.

The game has a few “top prospects” still unassigned as of March 17, 1946, and I’ve chosen to assign them to the real life teams they debuted on. So Bobby Avila will go to Cleveland, Whitey Lockman will go to the Giants and Joe Nuxhall will go to the Reds. Journeymen like Luis Olmo, Nap Reyes and Arky Vaughn, who did not play for a MLB team in 1946 and who are all 26 or older, will remain free agents, to be signed by teams as they see fit.

So what does this mean for teams heading into 1946, you might ask ... who all will be eligible for free agency in the ’46 offseason should their teams not sign them? Short answer ... not a whole lot. But here’s a list of players of 3.5-star status or better (100% accuracy, scouting off) who will be negotiating for their long term futures:

Brooklyn Dodgers: 1B Augie Galan, RF Dixie Walker, 2B Billy Herman
Chicago Cubs: LF Phil Cavarretta
Chicago White Sox: SS Luke Appling
Detroit Tigers: 1B Hank Greenberg
New York Giants: C Ernie Lombardi, RF Mel Ott
Philadelphia Phillies: 1B Frank McCormick
Washington Senators: LF Jeff Heath

That’s ten players to keep an eye on as we go through the first season of this new experiment, with the knowledge that teams will have to keep an eye on their other veterans if they want to attempt to stave off future major free agency exodus in the future. That will be especially important since there will be no compensation for lost players ... it’s up to owners to decide how much they value keeping a core together.

jksander · 10-03-2025, 01:14 PM

OOC Note: Obviously there may be other players who got overlooked ... I had only the "pending FA" tab to look at, and it's clear that players like Dutch Leonard, age 36, should be eligible in the offseason as well if they don't sign extensions, but did not show up for Washington on that tab. But this should give a good idea of how the system is set up.

I'm still trying to decide which team I will take over, and this will be another long-term slow-simming dynasty, so if you're into it feel free to follow

jksander · 10-06-2025, 01:56 PM

1946 Season

July 31, 1946: News of baseball’s new “free agency” opportunities for players has been the dominant source of league-wide gossip, but once the season got underway it was all about the games themselves and the battle to become the first post-war World Champion. By the time we reached the trade deadline, the Yankees (68-33) held a 13 game lead over the Red Sox in the AL, with Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago in a four-way battle for a distant second place. Over in the NL, St. Louis (59-40) led the 53-47 Dodgers by six and a half, with Chicago and Boston trailing nine games back at 51-50 each.

A few big deals have come through as owners tentatively try to stave off players who are on the verge of free agency:

- On March 29th, Dixie Walker signed a three-year deal worth $1 65,000 to stay with the Dodgers. The 35-year-old is earning $18,000 this year, but will get a raise to $55,000 per year over the three-year deal, with a clause promising him the starting right fielder spot, along with $6,500 for an MVP win and $980 as an All Star bonus. Thus far in 1946 he has batted .307 with 22 doubles, nine triples, four homers and 40 runs batted in, giving him 3.1 wins above replacement ... and yes, he got that All-Star bonus!

- On April 30th, the Dodgers got busy again, offering an extension to Augie Galan that was even richer ... $300,000 spread over the next five seasons, including a vesting option in 1951, so Galan will go from $19,000 this year to $60,000 per year starting in 1947, and if he plays 130 games in 1950 he’ll keep earning that amount through his 39th birthday! He has the league’s first No Trade Clause, and earns $4,500 for an MVP win and $1,200 for any All Star appearances (he made one this year) ... he’s hit .301 this year with 25 doubles, 48 RBIs and seven stolen bases, netting him 3.4 wins above replacement as he and Walker try to get the Dodgers ahead of St. Louis in the NL pennant chase.

- The final big deal has gone to yet another Dodger ... this time Brooklyn signed veteran infielder Billy Herman to a two year deal worth $25,000 per year, a deal they made official on July 9th. Herman, 37, has played in 95 games and hit just .240, but his defense has been valuable to the team. But of the three, this is the deal that made the least waves.

September 30, 1946: The Dodgers were locked in battle with St. Louis all year, and it came down to the final day of the season, when the Dodgers beat the Boston Braves 11-6 and the Cardinals lost to the Chicago Cubs 10-2 ... both teams playing at home, giving the Dodgers, with their 90-64 record, a pennant win by one game over the 89-65 Cards who had literally led the entire season. That’s brutal! The Cubs, at 73-81 and in sixth place, were perfectly happy playing postseason spoiler, and they helped set up a Dodgers / Yankees subway series as a result. The Yankees (99-55) won their league in a ho-hum season, with the Chicago White Sox finishing a distant 16-games back at 83-71. Boston, an early favorite, was pretty much out of the race in May, but had shown signs of life until early August. They finished third, at 82-72, tied with Cleveland. The hapless St. Louis Browns (60-94) won the distinction of being the worst team in either league, which means they’ll get the top amateur pick in the draft this winter.

There have been no other extensions to contracts ahead of free agency since the trade deadline.

October 10, 1946: The Dodgers won the series’ first two games by 11-3 and 7-1 margins over the Yankees while playing on their home field. And on the 5th of October they stole game three in the House that Ruth Built, beating the Yanks 1-0 in a game that featured even hitting among the teams but better pitching by far via Brooklyn. The Yankees went on to win the next two games 5-2 and 10-3, sending the series back to Brooklyn for an improbable game six, but the Dodgers won it 6-4, breaking a 1-1 tie with three runs in the bottom of the fourth and never looking back. Augie Galan had five hits and three runs batted in, setting a new NL playoff record, and he was named World Series MVP, hitting 11-25 with three doubles and five RBIs, a .440 clip with a 1.041 OPS.

On October 6th, the Detroit Tigers came to an agreement with “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg that keeps the 35-year-old first baseman in Detroit for the next three seasons. Greenberg earned $15,000 this year, but will get $34,800 each year through 1949, along with $4,200 for an MVP and $840 for an All Star appearance. The $104,400 deal looks paltry compared to what Walker and Galan got with the Dodgers, but the Tigers were 78-76 and finished 21 games back in the AL race .. so keeping Greenberg’s 4.5 WAR (he hit .255 with 25 doubles and 38 homers with 114 RBIs) was important, but so was keeping the budget under control. Or that’s what the owner will tell you, though the Tigers are sitting on a mountain of cash right now.

Yesterday the New York baseball Giants signed 37-year-old right fielder Mel Ott to a two year extension: $40,000 next year and another $40K if he makes 520 plate appearances in ’47 ... an unlikely prospect, considering he only had 418 at-bats this year, hitting .263 with 16 doubles, 25 homers and 69 RBIs (though he put up a whopping 6.1 WAR, thanks to his excellent fielding (a +9.8 zone rating and just four errors all season).

Finally, today the Cubs made a deal with Stan Hack, keeping the 36-year-old third baseman playing at Wrigley for the next three seasons at $29,400 per year with a $340 All Star bonus (he hasn’t been one since 1945). Hack put up 2.8 WAR this year with a .283 average, hitting 19 doubles and batting in 52 runs with six stolen bases while providing a modicum of defensive prowess from the hot corner. Nothing particularly impressive, but clearly the Cubs wanted to keep “Smiling Stan” around a while longer for his veteran leadership.

The draft pool will be announced on October 16, 1946, with the draft taking place on November 15th.

jksander · 10-06-2025, 02:38 PM

October 11, 1946: The rumors are over, and all speculation is finished, as the St. Louis Browns, the MLB’s punching bag of late, have finally found a manager and GM to take the helm. Niccolo “Nico” Lazzeri, age 29, has taken the thankless job just a month or so out from the team choosing first in the first-ever Major League Amateur Draft. Lazzeri, who is the American born son of Italian immigrants who came to Chicago just three decades ago from Salerno, will become the youngest front office leader in the game right out of the gate. And he’s going to have a tough road to hoe ... though the team reportedly has cash to spend, he’ll be working for a demanding owner who has shown little signs that he’s willing to do what needs done to field a winner. While the Cardinals, who share Sportsmans Park with the hapless Browns, have found much success in the baseball world, the Browns have just one pennant win since 1888, and it took place in 1944 when the bulk of the league’s players were off fighting in World War II. Outside of the War seasons of ’44 and ’45, they haven’t finished less than 10 games back since 1922 when they were 93-61 and lost the pennant by a single game.

“I know I have my work cut out for me,” Lazzeri told the local assembled press. “But I’ve spoken with Vern Stevens, who has been the young leader of the team over the last half decade, and I’ve assured him that I want to build a team here that can make our city proud just like the Cardinals have done. It’s going to take work, both in this new draft and via free agency, but I’m ready to dig in and fight for this team and its fans. We’re going to prove that more than one team can win games in St. Louis.”

Owner Kelly Nau has made it clear he expects this team to be able to play .500 ball, though with what roster remains to be seen. The Browns had attendance of fewer than 9,000 fans per game last season, falling short of 700,000 attendance during a season where the Cardinals packed more than 1.5 million fans into Sportsmans Park while the Browns were on the road. The team spent $290,000 on its roster, which was comparable to other teams of its stature, but with players now having more freedom to demand “big money” as free agents, will they be able to compete as an organization to get the players needed to field an actually competitive roster? Only time will tell.

Babe Dahlgren remains the team’s only major player who could become a free agent this offseason ... Dahlgren, a first baseman, hit .294 with a double and an RBI in 21 games as a pinch-hitter, so it is unlikely that Lazzeri will be focused on bringing him back. More likely, the focus is on planning for the upcoming draft and then hoping that ownership will free up some money for any free agents who do end up declaring in the next couple weeks. But he’ll be working with one of the league’s worst overall front office, full of unproven, inexperienced baseball minds, and the team’s hitting and pitching coaches as it stands are among the dregs that all other major league teams have let pass by. It’s worth noting, however, that the group has shown good morale and it may be worth keeping them around in this “transition year” to keep the team’s young core energized.

jksander · 10-06-2025, 04:02 PM

October 16, 1946: I’ve signed my first player of my tenure as GM of the Browns! Tom Seats became a minor league free agent after being let go by the Dodgers, and we needed veteran leadership for our pitching, so we’ve signed the 36-year-old left handed pitcher to a minor league deal worth $10,000 if he gets promoted to the major league roster. Right now we have him set to start with the AAA Toledo Mud Hens, but it’s very likely he’ll make the jump to the bigs in time for spring training. Last year with AAA San Diego he put up a 14-16 record with a 3.96 ERA, striking out 139 batters and putting up 5.8 wins above replacement. And though he’s all control, most of his best stuff now in his past, he still has a great changeup and the stamina to throw it and his fastball and curve while holding runners on base at a big league level.

The draft pool has been officially revealed, and we have a lot of options for our first round pick ... 27-year-old Diomedes Olivio is the best player who is ready to start now, with a five pitch mix and incredible stuff, and he’d be an ace from opening day. But he’s 27 ... and if we take him now, we’d have to pass up younger guys like Harvey Haddix, Bob Rush, Roy Sievers, Curt Simmons or Joe Adcock, all of whom have higher potential than him to become great players but at extreme development risk. Olivo, who hails from the Dominican Republic, may be too good for us to pass up, considering we need to build a team that can compete on the field now before we can focus too much on drafting risky players for our future.

We’re still awaiting the final declarations of free agents following the final negotiation stretch for teams to extend their players’ contracts. At that point maybe we can luck out and get someone from one of the big teams to add to our 1947 roster.

November 3, 1946: Salary Arbitration has begun, and we’ve offered all our minor leaguers automatic extensions while we figure out the direction of this organization long term. We offered Joe “Dode” Schultz an $11,500 contract, based off his .300 hitting and 3.0 WAR for us at catcher last season. Jack Kramer (7-15, 4.60 ERA, 2.7 WAR) got a $9,000 offer at age 28, and Bob Muncrief (8-15, 5.28 ERA, 2.2 WAR) got a $13,750 offer at age 30. Two veteran players, Al Hollingsworth and B abe Dahlgren, will be allowed to become free agents, as neither looks to be above replacement level for us, and that really says something.

Awards announcements begin November 11th, starting with Gold Gloves, followed by Reliever of the Year (Nov 12), Platinum Stick awards (Nov 13), Rookie of the Year (Nov 14), Manager of the Year (Nov 15), the Cy Young Award for Pitcher of the Year (Nov 16) and the MVP Award (Nov 17). Arbitration hearings are scheduled for November 24th, and free agency will officially begin on November 26th, just a couple days before Thanksgiving! Hopefully a few team leaders will be turkeys and allow players to fall through the cracks for us to feast upon as we head toward a new year!

November 7, 1946: Muncrief, Kramer and Schultz all signed their one year contracts without taking it to arbitration. Aside from a few minor league holdouts, we’ve done what we set out to do. And when those minor leaguers get free agency, we’ll move to fill the spots with players who want to be here.

November 15, 1946: It’s draft day, and after a lot of internal discussion we decided to go with center fielder Richie Ashburn with the number one pick, choosing his high potentials in pure contact and defensive ability over a quick roster fix ... the 19-year-old will definitely need some development time. In the second round, however, we did decide to take Diomedes Olivo, who will come into the league ready to be a number one starter ... we couldn’t risk waiting for later rounds and miss out on a guy who can play for us now. The rest of the draft was pretty uneventful ... twenty-three more rounds to find minor league development players. We’ve offered Ashburn $7,614 as the #1 pick, and all our other players have offers on the table befitting their talent levels.

We got Ashburn, but other top guys are worth noting as well ... the three top pitching prospects went to the Senators (Curt Simmons), the Reds (Bob Rush) and the Cubs (Harvey Haddix), though the Giants seem particularly happy with their young hurler Whitey Ford who is all stuff, no control at this point. The Tigers are pleased with second baseman Nellie Fox, and the Cardinals took shortstop Johnny Logan who, even as a long-term development risk to reach his full potentials does look ready to at least play major league defense. It’ll be interesting to see how our guy fares against all theirs in the grand scheme of things.

We’re just a couple weeks away now from the league’s first real run of free agency bidding. Stay tuned!

jksander · 10-06-2025, 06:18 PM

November 17, 1946: I haven’t put much emphasis on announcing awards, but I will mention that the AL MVP award went to Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. “The Kid” batted .342 with 35 doubles, 29 homers and 119 RBIs, putting up 7.8 WAR as he dominated pitchers across the league. He only made $7,500 in 1946, but his salary is expected to skyrocket when he reaches arbitration after this coming season. But he’s been open about how frustrated he is that he won’t be able to push Boston to the limit on free agency extension talks until he’s well into his 30’s. Lord knows we’d love to have him in St. Louis, though that’s a laugher ... no way we could afford what he’d demand on an open market.

In the NL, Stan Musial won MVP for the Cardinals, and he’s in a similar boat, though only 25 ... he too will be able to go to arbitration after the 1947 season, but he’s likely to draw even more than Williams if push comes to shove -- this year he hit .333 with 41 doubles, 15 triples, 14 homers and 108 RBIs, and he put up nearly nine games of WAR, thanks to having what the Kid lacks ... strong defensive ability. Knowing what I know about ownership on the other side of this city, there’s no way it’ll come to that, “The Man” will get paid when the time comes to stay a Cardinal if they intend to compete for additional titles. I’d bet my career on it.

November 26, 1946: It’s the big day ... free agents have officially filed, and there are some big bats on the table, including 30-year-old Phil Cavarretta, Luke Appling, Arky Vaughn, and Jeff Heath. The biggest name among pitchers is 37-year-old Dutch Leonard, and he’s definitely on our radar right now for his control and ability to help our very raw, young pitching core. We’re definitely looking to make a few moves, if the price is right, but we’ll have to be careful not to get drawn into a bunch of bidding wars over players we have no hopes of getting.

December 11, 1946: The Washington Senators made the first big FA splash, signing 31-year-old outfielder Jeff Heath to a five year deal worth a total of $170,000 ... $34,000 per year with a fifth year team option that has just an $8,000 buyout. Heath hit .277 last year with 23 doubles 14 homers and 85 RBIs while playing for the White Sox. The deal is notable because Washington essentially loaned Heath to the White Sox last year in exchange for bullpen help and center fielder Jim Delsing last July, and when the Sox decided not to sign him, the Senators saw an opportunity to bring him back. But they’re now paying him a lot more than he was making before. We’ll see how that works out for them in the long term.

December 20, 1946: We took outfielder Dick Whitman from the Dodger’s minor league system in the Rule 5 draft, selecting the 26-year-old first overall after a season where he put up a .339 average, 24 doubles, 18 homers and 101 RBIs while playing for the Montreal Royals. That was our only pick in what was an otherwise weak pool of players. Only the Phillies picked three players, with the Athletics and Senators taking two each.

We currently have offers out on multiple players, but are reaching our limit and may not be able to continue our bidding if their asks continue to rise beyond current offers without express input from ownership.

January 3, 1947: In a huge deal, we’ve officially signed legendary pitcher Dutch Leonard to a five year deal worth potentially $291,000, though the fourth year has a player option and the fifth is a team option. He’ll earn $57,000 per year for the first three years, and can opt in to a fourth at $60,000 ... we can opt OUT of his fifth year at the same value by buying him out at $25,000. The deal includes $800 per All Star appearance and $3,400 if he should win a Cy Young, and he has a no-trade agreement, coming to St. Louis essentially to play out the twilight of his career. Last year with the Washington Senators he put up an 18-15 record and 3.37 ERA while pitching 296.2 innings. He contributed 6.5 wins above replacement, and his control was impeccable. With Diomedes Olivo as our ace and Leonard pitching second in the rotation, I’m really starting to like our odds ... especially if we can firm up some defense to back those two up.

January 13, 1947: The dominos of our offseason plans are falling properly into place, as Arky Vaughn has agreed to a four year, $200,000 deal that will pay him $50,000 per season through the 1950 season! Vaughn hit .250 last year in Boston and only batted in 42 runs off 22 doubles, five triples and three homers, but his strong fielding helped put him 3.4 wins above replacement, and with us now planning to move Vern Stephens over to third (his more comfortable position) we’re going to have a much-improved defensive infield (with our adaptable 30-year-old journeyman Ellis Clary helming second). The fans are loving having a guy of Arky’s renown coming to play for us, and suddenly fan interest is on the rise for a team that hasn’t been able to put bottoms in seats properlty for years.

January 14, 1947: Today we completed our offseason moves with a big deal and a HUGE deal. First, right fielder Wally Moses, formerly of the Chicago White Sox, signed a three year deal worth $50,000 in 1947 and 1948, with a player option for a third year at $45,000 along with $500 All Star bonuses. Moses batted .263 last year with 32 doubles and 79 RBIs, putting up 4.5 WAR on solid right field defense, and the 36-year-old said he felt slighted by the White Sox’s unwillingness to even consider extending him to let him retire in Chicago. He’s a born leader, and expressed excitement about helping build a clubhouse culture for a team that has had none in the past.

Then the big deal came in ... Chicago Cubs legend Phil Cavarretta came into the offseason saying that, at 31, he had little interest in doing this “free agency” thing again. He wanted a long term deal that would make it worth playing in a new city, and he wanted it in writing, so he could play out his career without worrying about money. He was the player we put the most time into “bidding for” ... we finally won him over with a contract that runs eight years, starting at $63,000 and finishing at $70,000 each during the final four years. The total value is $539,000 spread over the eight seasons, and it includes a team buyout option on the 1954 season, at $25,000 ... he does NOT get a no-trade clause, but will earn $1,000 for any All Star appearances and $5,000 if he wins an MVP. Winner of the 1945 MVP, Cavarretta followed it up in ’46 by batting .298 for the Cubs, including 27 doubles and 53 RBIs. He had a +7.1 zone rating in left field, committing just four errors all year in the position, which helped him to 4.5 wins above replacement.

All told we’ve added 18.2 WAR during this offseason, and we’ve committed slightly over $100,000 in salary that will go on this year’s books. But our owner has said if we’re going to dip our toe into this changing world of free agency, we might as well do it this year when other teams are potentially skittish about taking risks on veteran contracts. Based on our signings, preseason ticket sales are up nearly 30 percent, and we’re on track to average 13,000 fans per game, which would keep us on track to meet owner goals in that regard.

Whatever happens, our fans are going to see a vastly different hitting lineup than before, with Vaughn in the leadoff spot, Cavarretta batting third ahead of Stephens and first-baseman Wally Judnich, and with Wally Moses batting sixth. Our bullpen remains an open question mark, but we’ve added two key starters, and our other three, Jack Kramer, Bob Muncrief and and Fred Sanford, were all playing above replacement level last year despite pitching with no offensive help.

So I think we’re on track for a solid season ... come along for the ride, why don’t ya?

jksander · 10-06-2025, 06:26 PM

January 22, 1947: Goose Goslin was officially inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, earning 93.7 percent of the vote from the national press! Earl Averill came close, with 72.5 percent, but nobody else broke the 60 percent mark.

February 7, 1947: Rumors have abounded about various MLB teams looking to break the color barrier by signing either league’s first players from the Negro Leagues to play in the majors. While I can’t get into specifics, we’ve been negotiating with several players, and are definitely hopeful that St. Louis will be the first to break this artificial barrier, reaching out to a part of our community that has been long overlooked.

February 16, 1947: Two of the state of Pennsylvania’s three teams made huge signings this afternoon, officially breaking the color barrier:

- Satchel Paige, 40, signed a three-year $168,000 deal that will bring him to Pittsburgh to play for the Pirates. Paige will earn $56,000 yearly and has a no-trade clause in his contract, having gone 18-6 with a 2.25 ERA last season while pitching 208.1 innings for the Kansas City Monarchs, striking out 161 with hitters only getting .258 off his pitches. He immediately makes Pittsburgh, which went 73-81 last year, a serious threat even at his advanced age, and their fan interest is through the roof. Paige knew he was only going to have a few years as a viable major league pitcher, and he got the deal he wanted, three years of guaranteed money before risking arbitration.

- Meanwhile, center fielder Willard Brown signed a one year deal with Philadelphia’s Athletics worth $63,000. But his contract will be handled under the existing arbitration rules, so because he only has 135 days of “professional” time, for his first five seasons he will automatically earn that salary, and the 31-year-old will then be under arbitration control through 1956. Well worth it, since he hit .392 last year for the Monarchs with 25 doubles, 12 triples, 31 homers and 115 RBIs, giving him an incredible 9.0 WAR. We had him in our sights and he got away ... all over a few thousand dollars, something I suspect I will regret, since he’ll be playing against us 21 games a year.

February 20, 1947: It’s official -- our St. Louis Browns have signed second baseman Jackie Robinson to a $71,000 one year contract that makes him just the third black ballplayer to join the major leagues. Robinson will earn that same contract amount through 1951 and will then become arbitration eligible. The financial world of baseball has shifted, and our team is embracing the risk, spending money now in hopes that we can bring the fans in and make it financially viable for our club to keep doing so in the future. Robinson spent last season with the Kansas City Monarchs (in 43 games he hit .395 with 15 doubles and 39 RBIs) and the AAA-level Montreal Royals (playing 149 games, he hit .386 with 41 doubles, 10 triples, 31 homers and an incredible 162 RBIs), and he completes our infield in a huge way, bringing excellent defense and a bat that can’t be beat.

February 21, 1947: The floodgates have been unleashed, as teams across the league continue to sign up players from the Negro Legaues ahead of the start of spring training:

- Chicago’s Cubs announced the signing of 42-year-old shortstop Willie Wells, who will earn $46,400 this year on a one-year deal that will likely pay him the same rate until he retires, considering his advanced age. Last year for the Baltimore Elite Giants he hit .291 with 11 doubles and 52 RBIs, while playing elite defense as a shortstop.

- The Philadelphia Phillies fired a salvo against their crosstown rivals, by signing third baseman Ray Dandridge to a deal worth $41,000 this season, the 33-year-old having hit .365 last year for the Elite Giants in Baltimore while making himself indispensible from the hot corner defensively.

February 22, 1947: Washington’s Senators signed 35-year-old catcher Josh Gibson to a $61,000 one-year contract, shocking everyone who thought the Pittsburgh Homestead Grays legend would stay in Pennsylvania. Gibson hit .336 last year with 14 doubles, 44 homers and 128 runs batted in, putting up 7.9 wins above replacement in a very competive playing environment. And with the Yankees, Red Sox, Guardians, Tigers and White Sox so far choosing not to sign NeL players, the American League is going to be potentially a very different battlefield in a few months’ time.

The flurry of major signings seems to be waning, and in a few weeks we’ll get to finally see the action leave the front office and take the competition onto the diamond.

jksander · 10-06-2025, 09:29 PM

March 10, 1947: Spring training officially begins today, and though we’ve signed many great players this offseason, a reminder of our previous doormat status is that we’ve only got 34 players on our 40-man and do not have any intention of inviting more to the party this spring. The good thing is that we won’t have to deny players their playing time to prove their worth -- when we cut our rosters down to 25 in a few weeks, we’ll know we have our best players on the field ready to get this team out of the American League basement.

Here’s our spring training roster:

Lineup
C - Joe Schultz, Frank Mancuso, Les Moss
1B - Wally Judnich*
2B - Jackie Robinson, Johnny Berardino, Ellis Clary, Johnny Lucadello, Ben Steiner
3B - Vern Stephens, Bob Dillinger
SS - Arky Vaughn**
LF - Phil Cavarretta, Joe Grace, Paul Lehner, Don Lenhart, Glenn McQuillen, Mayo Smith, Dick Whitman
CF - Harry Walker, Tommy Glaviano, Jerry Witte
RF - Wally Moses, Al Zarilla

* 3B Bob Dillinger and LF Joe Grace will be playing for a chance to back him up out of position
** 2B Ellis Clary will be playing to most likely be his primary backup at short.

Starters
L Diomedes Olivo
R Dutch Leonard
R Jack Kramer
R Bob Moncrief
R Fred Sanford
L Tom Seats

Bullpen
L Sam Zoldak (MR)
R Al Jurisich (MR)
R Ned Garner (LR)
L Stan Ferens (LR)

Of our many left fielders competing, it’s going to be a matter of who gets to stay up and be a potential pinch hitter, and who is not major league ready at all (McQuillen and Smith in particular are playing for their very baseball future, as if they don’t make the team, they’re likely trade bait at best.

We’ll play thirty exhibition games starting today against Washington and ending on April 10th against the Yankees. Official opening day is April 14th, but we’ll open our season with a three-game home series against the Tigers April 15-17.

jksander · 10-09-2025, 12:44 AM

March 10, 1947 (cont’d): Our spring gameplan is to play our first seven games and then start making cuts on offense (particularly in the outfield where we have a glut of players competing for limited spots) ... and by the end of April I want to have us pretty close to our final 25-man roster, so by that point we’re able to get our starters ready for full games. We have ten pitchers competing for what will likely be seven spots ... four starters, a spot starter, a long reliever and a middle reliever ... but that will allow us to spread out innings during these spring games, with the aim to start making pitching cuts later in April. We only have to cut down from 35 to 25, so unlike a lot of teams with more players competing for fewer spots in the roster, we don’t have to make any particularly dramatic reductions. So I see this as a month to get to know my team and really figure out what we have ... are there real holes in our roster that can be filled by trades? I’d rather find out now than later.

In our first spring training game, Diomedes Olivo looked great throwing, striking out the side in the bottom of the second, and our first run of the spring was scored by Jackie Robinson, who tripled in the top of the third and then came home off a sac-fly by Harry Walker to give us a 1-0 lead over the Washington Senators. The Senators got a couple runs off him in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead, but he looked good in those five innings, with just four hits and two walks for two earned runs, striking out seven on 77 pitches. We tied the score in the top of the eighth (don’t tell these guys the games don’t matter, they came out ready to fight) thanks to an RBI single by Joe Grace, and reliever Sam Zoldak got the final out in the bottom of the ninth and then singled to start the top of the 10th inning, taking third off a single by Johnny Lucadello. Zoldak would score the go-ahead run when Bob Dillinger hit into a 3-6 fielder’s choice, and he won it on a double play in the bottom of the inning as we took the victory 3-2. We played 25 players in the game, and 21 of them at least had an at-bat -- as a team we outhit them 8-7, led by Dillinger with a hit, a run and an RBI, and by Robinson who had a hit and a run. Our four relievers got through five innings without a run scoring, so I was very happy with what I saw in the early going.

March 11, 1947: We played the Yankees this afternoon, with Dutch Leonard facing off against Red Munger, who last year played for the Cardinals and put up a 16-10 record and 3.12 ERA through 224.2 innings before being traded to the Yanks in November. New York took the lead in the bottom of the first off an E3 error, Tommy Henrich scoring for the Bronx Bombers. They added on in the fourth with an RBI single by Marvin Williams, but in the top of the fifth Al Zarilla reached on an error and, replaced by Bob Dillinger as a pinch runner, we scored after Dillinger stole third and came home off a double by Joe Schultz -- way to manufacture a run! Jackie Robinson doubled in Schultz to tie the game up 2-2, and just like that we had ourselves a ballgame. Jerry Witte came in as a pinch-hitter with runners on second and third in the top of the sixth, hitting a three-run homer out of right to put us squarely in control. We held tough from there and won our second exhibition game in a row, this time by a 5-2 margin. Leonard looked great, lasting five innings with two hits, two walks, two runs and a strikeout as he got the win, and our three bullpen arms (Zoldak, Ferens and Garver) kept our bullpen perfect through the remining four innings. We outhit them 8-4, led by Jerry Witte with his three-run homer, and by Jackie Robinson, who had two hits in three at-bats, batting in a run.

March 12, 1947: Today we hosted the Red Sox for a spring game, our two teams both undefeated during the exhibition season so far. Jack Kramer started for us, and Harry Walker gave us a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third off a two-run homer, his first of the spring. Dom Dimaggio scored a run for the Red Sox off a sac-fly by Jim Tabor in the top of the fourth, and in the top of the seventh our bullpen’s perfect streak ended when Al Jurisich gave up a solo homer to Johnny Lazor to tie the score at 2-2. Moments later he gave them the lead, when Gene Benson hit an RBI single, so we went into the stretch trailing 3-2. They added on two more in the top of the ninth off a homer by Jack Albright, and we lost by a 5-2 margin, Boston outhitting us 12-8. Jack Kramer had five innings with five hits, a run and a strikeout, but Jarisich gave up four hits and two runs (with two K’s) as the game slipped away. Harry Walker had two RBIs off his homer, pretty much providing all our offense.

March 13, 1947: Today’s game featured us versus Cleveland, and Bob Moncrief took the mound for us, and his day went poorly from the start. He gave up a staggering seven hits and five earned runs in the first inning as the game became a wash before it began. We got on the board in the top of the second with an RBI triple by Jerry Witte, and a double by Joe Schultz got us a second run. Long reliever Ned Garver took over for our beleagured starter in the bottom of the second, giving up a run to get Cleveland back toa 6-2 lead. But this game was clearly going to be all hitting, and we got the run back with the bases loaded, Wally Judnich singling in Robinson to cut it back to three. With two outs, Witte hit himself a double, clearing the bags and just like that we were tied 6-6! Boston answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning including a Les Fleming three-run homer as our pitching showed real cracks. We’d go on to lose 11-6. There were two bright spots -- though we were outhit 18-8, backup center fielder Jerry Witte hit twice in four at-bats, with a run and four RBIs thanks to a double and a triple, his seven RBIs leading the team so far this spring. And long reliever Sam Zoldak came out, trailing 10-6, and got us through three innings with five hits and three K’s, keeping the game from becoming worse than it was. Zoldak remains our only perfect reliever thus far, with an 0.00 ERA through 6.1 innings.

Harry Walker may have himself a fight for the starting CF spot ... right now he’s hit twice in six tries, with one homer, giving him three RBIs, while Jerry Witte has hit three times in eight tries, including a double, a triple and a homer for seven RBIs (still no singles, but he’s slugging 1.125, which is amazing, small sample or not!)

jksander · 10-09-2025, 12:58 PM

March 14, 1947: Today’s pitching matchup was our Fred Sanford against Detroit’s Ari Houtteman, their 19-year-old top 30 pitching prospect who is hoping to start after two years in the bullpen. The Tigers pounced quickly, Barney McCoskey hitting a double and then scoring on a sac-fly by Roy Cullenbine early in the bottom of the first. But despite putting two more runners on base, Sanford handled business and kept it to the one run ... and in the top of the second, he hit a line-drive single that drove in two runs to give us the lead on two outs! Arky Vaughn drove home Cavarretta in the third to add on, doubling in the run, Harry Walker hit a solo homer in the fourth, But Sanford got into a jam in the fifth and couldn’t get the second out to save his life ... a Lennie Pearson single drove in a run, and moments later Roy Cullenbine hit a two-run double to tie us at 4-4. He got the final out as the bullpen warmed, but we’d lost our advantage. In the bottom of the seventh, Ned Garver gave up a homer to Pat Mullin as his first batter faced, continuing to blow up his ERA early in this spring, But we stunned them in the top of the ninth, when, with runners on second and third and two outs against us, backup shortstop Ellis Clary picked up a hit into center, driving in two to put us into the lead! We brought Muncrief out to pitch an inning and rest the remainder of our bullpen, giving him a chance to make up for his miserable first start attempt, and he got three quick outs to seal the 6-5 win for us. Sam Zoldak got the win, and is now 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA so far this spring, and we outhit the Tigers 11-9 ... Phil Cavarretta hit three times in three at-bats, driving in a run, and Clary’s two-run single came through in the clutch as well.

March 15, 1947: Tom Seats pitched for us today against the Philly Athletics, and the 36-year-old control-minded pitcher really hoped to have a good start .. we signed him on a minor league contract, and he’s among the pitchers who will be truly fighting for his spot on the 25-man roster. Unfortunately, his flyball focus got him in trouble in the top of the first, and Clyde Vollmer hit a three-run dinger off him, getting us off to a poor start quite quickly. But we answered well ... Jackie Robinson scored off a single by Cavarretta, Arky Vaughn batted home Tommy Glaviano with another single, and with two outs we had the bases loaded for catcher Joe Schultz, who popped out to end the inning with us trailing 3-2. Robinson hit a double in the bottom of the second, his second of the game, scoring two batters later when Cavarretta reached first on an error, tying the score. Seats settled down nicely, and we walked in a run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth to give him a chance to play for the win! Al Jurisich took over with a 4-3 lead to start the top of the sixth, He got into a jam with runners on the corners in the top of the seventh, leting the tying run through on a fielder’s choice, but Muncrief came in and got the final out to keep us from giving them a lead. Arky Vaughn hit a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to get us the lead back, and Muncrief stayed out into the ninth, but blew the lead with two outs when Kenneth Humphrey hit an RBI groundball single to tie the score at 5-5. Moments later he let Pete Suder hit one into center to give them the lead, our batters trailing by a run as we came up to hit in the bottom of the inning. But Harry Walker came out to pinch hit for Muncrief with runners on second and third, one out, and his sac-fly got us the tying run in. Sam Zoldak came out to pitch in the top of the 10th, and he pitched around two baserunners, getting two strikeouts and a groundout to keep our chances alive ... and in the bottom of the inning, backup first baseman Joe Grace walked it off with a single, Bob Dillinger scoring from second to win the game for us 7-6! Zoldak remained perfect and got his third win out of the pen, with a hit, a walk and two K’s for his trouble. We outhit them 14-10, led by Robinson (two hits, two runs) and Arky Vaughn (two hits, two RBIs).

Looking at our pitching through our first six spring games, our top three starters -- Olivo, Leonard and Kramer -- all look solid. But the fourth starter spot is completely up for grabs. The bullpen, including Zoldak (8.1 innings with no earned runs, six strikeouts and just two walks), Stan Ferens (7.0 innings with a 3.86 ERA, three strikeouts, two walks and a .150 BAPIP) and Al Jarisich (5.2 innings with a 4.76 ERA, seven K’s against one walk, and just seven hits against him) has been solid ... I think Zoldak has guaranteed himself a middle relief spot, and it’s now looking like Jarisich vs. Ferens for a long relief spot, though we may keep them both. At this point Ned Garver is playing for his life, however ... through 4.2 innings he’s given up six runs and has an 11.57 ERA, with three walks and no strikeouts. The 21-year-old is most likely going to be playing in the minors this spring, but we’ll keep him up for additional experience against major league pitching.

We’ve decided on our biggest batch of cuts to our offense for the season ... catcher Frank Mancuso, second basemen Johnny Lucadello and Ben Steiner, and left fielders Don Lenhardt, Glen McQuillen and Mayo Smith will be headed back to the minors, though Lucadello will have to pass through waivers first. We’ll spend the rest of April letting the outfield battle shape up ... of Paul Lehner, Dick Whitman (R5), Tommy Glaviano, Jerry Witte and Al Zarillo, it’s very likely two of those will not make the final roster. I’m still deciding if we’re going with a four man or five man rotation, and that’s going to make a big difference.

jksander · 10-13-2025, 10:27 PM

March 16, 1947: The White Sox were our opponent this afternoon, as our ace Diomedes Olivo faced off against Johnny Rigney, who only played two innings in his spring debut, but with two hits and no runs against him. We took the lead in the top of the second off a sac-fly by Arky Vaughn, but they had one of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie it up. Olivo reached on an error in the third and took second in the process, Jackie Robinson batting him home with a double into left to retake the lead. Robinson was caught stealing third, but we added a run when Vern Stephens hit a single that scored Cavarretta from second to make our lead 3-1. That’s when we broke their starter, loading the bags and tacking on another pair with a single by Wally Moses, the White Sox finally getting out of the inning with us ahead by four runs. Chicago got a run back in the bottom of the fourth off a double by Thurman Tucker, but we got it back in the sixth with a two-out RBI double from pinch-hitter Paul Lehner, who set Jackie Robinson up to hit an RBI single to pile on. Ned Garver took over in the bottom of the inning with a sparkling 7-2 lead, and though he gave up a run in the botom of the seventh, we again got it back in the eighth and were able to cruise to an 8-3 win. We outhit them 13-8, led by Robinson (two hits, two RBIs) and Stephens (two hits, two runs, one RBI), and Olivo got the win, pitching five innings with four hits, two walks, one strikeout and two earned runs.

Arky Vaughn strained his oblique in the top of the fourth inning, and had to be pulled from the game. He’s going to be day-to-day for at least a week.

March 17, 1947: Dutch Leonard had a great start against Washington, but so did their pitcher Leon Day, so this one was an unusual pitching duel early on. We broke through in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI triple by Wally Moses to go up 1-0, and a two-run homer by our next hitter, Lee Moss, broke it wide open. We added a fourth run in the fifth inning, and Leonard stayed out to pitch beyond the fifth inning, our first pitcher of the spring to do so. He got out of the sixth while stranding a pair on the corners, and we pinch-hit Arky Vaughn for him in the bottom of the inning, having pitched six innings with five hits, a walk, a strikeout and no runs against. Zoldak took over with the lead 4-0, and he blew the shutout when Ed Stevens hit a one-out solo homer, the first run he’s given up so far this spring. In the bottom of the seventh we got it back off an RBI single by Joe Grace, but they led off with another solo homer against Zoldak in the top of the eighth to at least keep a fire lit beneath them. With no outs and runners on first and second, Jarisich took the mound, and by the time he got out of the inning we’d completely surrendered our lead ... first by walking in a run with the bases loaded and then clearing them with an RBI triple by Jeff Heath that made it 6-5 Senators. Ned Garver got us through the ninth with three quick outs, and with two outs we got a double off the bat of Glaviano, but there was nothing left in us ... we lost this one 6-5. Dutch Leonard now has an 0.82 ERA through 11 spring innings, pitching incredibly well this afternoon, and we outhit them 11-10 but the bullpen did not perform admirably and most of our hits led to stranded baserunners when we couldn’t string the hits together late.

March 18, 1947: We’re up against the Yankees again, and had Jack Kramer on the mound for us. The Yanks got on the board first with a sac-fly by Charlie Keller which scored Tommy Henrich from third in the top of the first inning, and they added on in the second via an RBI double from Hank Majeski. Keller struggled from there to get the third out in the inning, but finally got us up to hit trailing 3-0. We tried to give him a chance to settle in to start the third, but two baseruners in a row forced our hand -- Stan Ferens took over still trailing by three and with runners on first and second, no outs -- and the game turned into a complete loss from there, Ferens giving up both of Kramer’s runs and two more of his own before we got out of the third. We finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI triple by Joe Grace, but we trailed 9-1 at that point, so it mattered little in the grand scheme of things. Jerry Witte’s two-run homer moments later definitely brought the fans to a higher level of alertness, cuting the deficit to six, We made further inroads in the bottom of the seventh, Johnny Berardino hitting an RBI double to cut it to five, and in the bottom of the ninth we loaded the bases off a trio of walks, scoring a run when Al Zarilla hit into a fielder’s choice. But it didn’t matter, and we lost this one 9-5 despite our bench players valliantly trying to claw their way back in the exhibition game. The Yankees outhit us 13-7, and Kramer and Ferenz combined for 4.1 innings with nine hits and nine earned runs, walking four and striking out just two. Jerry Witte led our offense with two hits a run and two RBIs.

March 19, 1947: Bob Muncrief started for us today against the Boston Red Sox, and he walked a pair in the first but escaped without giving up a run. For him this spring, that counts as a BIG win, as he tries to get his ERA back under 10. But a solo homer for Jim Tabor put Boston up 1-0 in the top of the second, and his number of chances is starting to wane. The Sox added a run in the third, but Muncrief held firm and got through five innings without further incident, allowing a total of six hits with four walks, a strikeout and the two earned runs, improving his ERA to 8.68. With the bullpen worn down, we gave the rest of the game to Tom Seats, who is competing for a spot starter position. He had a rough start -- a triple and an RBI single right off the bat -- but in the bottom of the inning we got on the board with an RBI single for Berardino, and we went into the seventh trailing just 3-1. Al Zarilla cut that margin to a single run when he hit a solo bomb out of right in the bottom of the eighth ... but they answered with one of their own in the top of the ninth by Hank Thompson, and that was all she wrote as we lost this one 4-2. Boston outhit us 10-4, with Zarilla leading our offense late ... Seats did what he could, allowing just four hits and two runs off 39 pitches through four innings, but we weren’t able to manufacture baserunners.

jksander · 10-24-2025, 07:11 PM

March 21, 1947: We’re 5-5 in spring games so far, heading into today’s game against Cleveland who have had a similar trajectory. We took the lead in the bottom of the second off a two-run homer by Wally Judnich, and Vern Stephens grounded out to first in the bottom of the third to drive in Phil Cavaretta from third base after he’d tripled moments before. They got on the board in the top of the fourth with an RBI triple by Gene Woodling, but we got it back in the fourth plus two more in the fifth to put ourselves solidly in the lead. Fred Sanford got us through six solid innings, and Sam Zoldak took over in the seventh, putting in a solid three-inning bullpen performance as we shut them down 7-1. Sanford got his first win of the spring with just four hits two walks and a run against him, while Zoldak allowed just a hit and a walk while throwing 28 pitches. We outhit the Guardians 10-5, led by Vern Stephens with two hits, two runs and an RBI.

March 22, 1947: Diomedes Olivo started his third game of the spring in this tilt against the Detroit Tigers, but he was pitching to back up our reserves on offense -- I wanted to see how our backup guys would handle playing, and how long Olivo would be able to handle leading from the mound, particularly in a situation where he’d be unlikely to be pitching with a lead. Joe Grace got us the lead off a sac-fly in the bottom of the third, but with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the fourth they tied us with a sac-fly of their own. Olivo was solid, holding that tie through seven innings and nearly 100 pitches, but he finally had to hand the ball to Ned Garver to start the bott still knotted 1-1. Garver was decidedly NOT up to the challenge, giving up a leadoff triple and then, after one out, intentionally walking one batter before accidentally walking the next two to hand them the lead. He did get us out of the inning without further damage, the Tigers leading by a slim 2-1 margin. He stayed out for the ninth and did well enough to keep us in the game, but our bats weren’t up to the challenge of a comeback and we lost by that same 2-1 margin. Oliver pitched seven innings with two hits, two walks, six strikeouts and an unearned run, while Garver took the loss, lasting two innings with three hits, three walks, a strikeout and an earned run. Surprisingly we managed to outhit them 7-5, but a pair of errors were hard to overcome. Al Zarilla led the offense with two hits and our lone run scored.

March 23, 1947: Dutch Leonard had his third start of the spring facing the Philadelphia Athletics this afternoon, and we took the lead quickly, Robinson scoring as Vern Stephens hit into a 5-4-3 double play, with Wally Judnich following it with an RBI single to bring Jackie home, giving us a 2-0 lead halfway through the first. Second time through the lineup we brought in our subs, looking to give our backup bats more spring experience as we make our decisions on final cuts. Dick Whitman hit a sac-fly in the top of the fourth to make it a 3-0 lead, and Leonard didn’t give up his first hit until he already had two outs in the bottom of the fourth. But his second hit, moments later, allowed the Athletics to get on the board thanks to a double via Willard Brown’s bat, and just like that we had a ballgame. He gave up an RBI double to Pete Suder in the bottom of the fifth to cut our lead to one, and his struggles magnified from there -- Elmer Valo hit a two-run single to give Philly the lead before Leonard got back to back strikeouts to end the inning. Al Jurisich took over in the sixth, still trailing 4-3, and he did well in that inning but allowed a homer off Cass Michaels’ bat with two outs in the seventh to give the Athletics a two-run advantage. We found a spark in the top of the eighth with two outs against us when Joe Schultz hit an RBI double to get us back within a run. Tommy Glaviano pinch-hit for Jurisich, walking his way to load the bags, but we couldn’t get the tying run across. Stan Ferens took over on the mound for the bottom of the inning, loading the bases and then incredibly getting three outs in a row to strand them all ... giving us a chance heading into the ninth. They had us on the ropes, runners on the corners, two outs, Zarilla up to bat, when our right fielder showed true power, hitting one clear out of right field for a three-run homer and the lead! We brought out Sam Zoldak to close, getting three quick outs as we nabbed a surprising 7-5 victory. Ferens got the win, walking two but giving up no runs, and Zoldak got his second save of the spring and brought his ERA down to 2.35. Dutch Leonard had a rough outing, giving up four runs off six hits and a walk, but he’s still got a 2.81 ERA through three starts -- his next start will show us how he comes back from a tough outing. Our bats were solid all day, outhitting them 13-8 as we stormed back. Zarilla was king once again, hitting twice with two runs and three batted in. He has hit .304 so far this spring and has actually outperformed Wally Moses ... could the 27-year-old actually become our opening day starter? He’s playing like he wants it.

March 24, 1947: Next up: the White Sox, with Tom Seats getting the start for us. His first inning didn’t go as well as we’d hoped, giving up a two-run homer to Chet Laabs to get the Sox started. But Arky Vaughan hit an RBI single for us in the bottom of the inning, so we weren’t out of it yet. Seats settled in well in the second and third, but proved vulnerable to the long ball -- in the top of the fourth, Minnie Minoso hit one out of left to extend their lead to 3-1, and our bats were not popping off in the same way. Luis Olmo hit an RBI triple for the Sox in the sixth and this one was getting away from us quickly. Ned Garver took over after another run scored on an error, the score 5-1 against us with two on and two outs -- and it went from bad to “let’s just get this one over with” as both runs scored off a double by pinch-hitter Thurman Tucker. We got a run back in the bottom of the inning and Zoldak came out to pitch the rest of the way, but it didn’t make much difference as we got hammered 7-2. Seats took a big hit with six hits, a strikeout and seven runs against him (only four of which were earned). Zoldak’s three inning effort impressed us all, getting his ERA back under 2.00 ... but we got outhit 10-9 and looked lost out there, Dillinger leading the way with two hits, a walk and a run.

We’re nearly at the halfway point for spring training, and so far pitching looks like it’s going to be our biggest issue ... only Olivo and Leonard look secure in their starting spots, and Zoldak remains by far our best reliever. Who will become our back-end starters, and who will anchor our bullpen? We’ve made a lot of strides this offseason, but it’s still going to be an uphill climb.

jksander · 10-30-2025, 02:30 PM

March 25, 1947: We faced off against Washington today, with Fred Sanford on the mound -- Sanford started on the 14th and the 21st, and is coming off a one earned run performance over six innings that suggests he has the chance to be our #3 starter if he can keep the strong innings coming. He acquitted himself well in a pitching duel today, but Washington drew first blood in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by George Binks, just the second hit they’d had all day. They’d add another just moments later to take a 2-0 lead, but we loaded the bases and walked in a run in the top of the sixth to keep this one close. Sanford got us through the bottom of the sixth inning safely, and was rewarded in the top of the seventh when Bob Dillinger tied it with an RBI triple, our boys taking the lead off a line drive double by Harry Walker to lead 3-2 heading into the stretch! Al Jurisich took over in the bottom of the inning, and in the top of the eighth we bought insurance with an RBI single by Vern Stephens. Zoldak took over with two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the eighth, getting the out that got us into the ninth safely. He then finished the ninth on three quick outs to ease us into the 4-2 win! Sanford is looking great after his second win, a six inning effort with four hits, two walks, five strikeouts and a pair of earned runs, giving him a 3.71 ERA. We outhit the Senators 8-5, led by Dillinger, who had two hits, a walk, two runs and an RBI.

March 26, 1947: The Yankees were our opponent this afternoon, with Jack Kramer and his 7.71 ERA taking the mound for us. He and Bob Muncrief (8.68 ERA) are fighting to be a back-end starter or long relief out of the bullpen, and neither has much room for error. Kramer understood the situation and played like he really wants to be on our opening day roster, pitching four shutout innings before giving up a run in the bottom of the fifth as Marvin Williams hit an RBI double to givbe the Yankees a 1-0 lead. We answered in the top of the sixth with an RBI single by Arky Vaughan, and Kramer got us through the sixth with verve, keeping us in the game with three quick outs as he got his ERA under 5.00 for the spring. Stan Ferens took over in the bottom of the seventh still tied 1-1, and Ned Garver came out in the eighth with it unchanged, but the Yankees took the lead off a single by Bobby Brown, bringing us up in the top of the ninth trailing by a run. Al Zarillo hit a leadoff single in the top of the ninth, and catcher Joe Schultz hit one moments later that drove Zarilla to third. That’s when Phil Cavarretta, with one out against us, hit a single into left field to drive in the tying run! They walked Robinson to load the bases, and Bob Dillinger then came up and got us the lead, hitting a flyball single with two strikes against him to drive home two more runs and leave the Yankees stunned. The game quickly turned into a rout, our boys scoring seven total in the inning to take a six run lead into the bottom of the frame as Tom Seats came in to clean up. Seats got the outs we needed as we shut them down 8-2. Kramer was solid with six innings and just five hits, a walk, two strikeouts and one earned run as his ERA improved to 4.85. Garver (1-2, 6.23 ERA) got the win despite allowing two hits a walk and a run in his inning -- our bats came through big in that ninth inning as we outhit them 12-9, led by Dillinger with two hits, two runs and two RBIs.

March 27, 1947: Bob Muncrief came into today’s game against the Boston Red Sox playing for his roster spot ... through two starts and two bullpen outings over 9.1 innings, he’s given up NINE earned runs off 16 hits and four walks, and he desperately needs to show us he can put something together or he’s headed for AAA. He came out focused and steady early, getting two solid innings in before we took our first lead off a sac-fly by Phil Cavarretta to go up 1-0 heading into the top of the third. But Boston answered quickly with an RBI triple by Johnny Hopp to tie the score in the top of the third, and a two-run homer by Dom DiMaggio shot them into the lead. Muncrief got some breathing room when we made a comeback in the bottom of the inning, thanks to a two-run triple by Jackie Robinson that tied the score 3-3. He safely pitched through the fourth inning, but when he opened the top of the fifth with a hit into left by Happ, we had to pull him for Tom Seats, who was ready to put in a few innings if he needed to. He got the three outs quickly to bring us back up to hit, and a solo homer for Harry Walker put us back on top 4-3 heading into the sixth. We added on another pair in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Seats got us into the stretch still ahead by the three-run margin. Vern Stephens hit a two-run blast in the bottom of the inning, which was followed by a solo bomb for Robinson, and this game was officially ours for the taking. Jarisich came in with a six-run advantage in the eighth, and he quietly got his six outs to finish off the 9-3 victory. Muncrief finished with six hits, a walk, two strikeouts and three more earned runs, keeping his ERA at 8.10, failing to get through the fifth inning ... but we outhit Boston 11-8 with four homers as a team, including two for Jackie Robinson who finished with four hits, three runs and four RBIs to lead the team. Seats got the win, improving to 1-1 with a 4.34 ERA through 18.2 innings over three starts and two relief appearances.

Muncrief has refused to be demoted, and has been put on waivers. We’re officially down to 27 men on our roster, and we’ll likely cut one more player from the bullpen and one more from the outfield before spring training is done, in order to have our roster “opening day compliant.” Thirteen spring games remain, with opening day set for April 14 (our first game coming on the 15th).

jksander · 10-30-2025, 03:44 PM

March 28, 1947: Diomedes Olivo got the start for us against Cleveland, and with this being his fourth start of the spring, and he being our rotation leader, I am looking to see how deep he can go -- I expect an ace starter to be able to complete games, and today was his chance. The game became an instant blowout in our favor, however, before he ever threw a pitch -- Robinson singled, Walker got him to second with another single, Vern Stephens walked the bases loaded with one out, and Wally Judnich hit a grand slam homer to put us up by four just minutes into the game! Wally Moses would add an RBI triple and he scored himself off a passed ball as we whipped the Guardians 6-0 heading into the bottom of the first. Olivo struggled in the bottom of the second, letting them on the board with a run-scoring wild pitch, but we still led 6-2 heading into the top of the third. He loaded the bases in the bottom of the third but got out of the jam with nobody scoring. And his day continued to drag on as in the fourth inning they got another run in, thanks to an RBI double by Dale Mitchell, and Olivo’s pitch count continued to rise. A strong play at the plate kept a fourth run from scoring and we got into the fifth still ahead 6-3, but Diomedes’ control was off and it was difficult to pinpoint a specific issue. Even then, he got us through six innings with the lead still safe, at which point Ned Garver took over. And though Garver retired the side on eight pitches in the seventh, he had a terrible run in the eighth ... two walks and a three-run homer by Ken Keltner that tied the score and blew everything from our solid start away. He got us into the ninth tied 6-6, Stan Zoldak taking over in the bottom of the inning to send this one into extras. He pitched the rest of the way, and Cleveland wound up walking it off with a homer out of right by Al Cihocki in the bottom of the 11th, as they beat us 7-6. Olivo actually had a decent night, with six innings of eight hit four walk four strikeout baseball, allowing three runs. But those walks were critical, if he had avoided those free passes he could have kept this game from going to the pen until much later. Zoldak (3-1, 2.05 ERA) took the loss, but pitched 2.1 innings with two hits a strikeout and the one run. We outhit them 12-11, led by Judnich who had two hits and four RBIs.

March 29, 1947: In the top of the first against Detroit, Vern Stephens hit an RBI double to again give us an early lead. But yesterday when that happened we then went ten innings without scoring again. Tonight Larry Walker made sure that didn’t happen again, hitting a solo homer to lead off in the top of the third, extending our lead to 2-0. Dutch Leonard was great in the first four frames, but in the bottom of the fifth he showed cracks, and Detroit capitalized with an RBI double by Eddie Mayo to cut our lead to 2-1. Moments later they tied it on a single by Lennie Pearson and we had ourselves a ballgame. We retook the lead in the top of the sixth with a bases-loaded walk by Jackie Robinson, but they led off with a homer by Jimmy Outlaw in the bottom of the inning to tie us again at 3-3, taking the lead in the bottom of the seventh on two outs when Outlaw hit an RBI double to pile on. Al Jurisich took over in the bottom of the eighth, still trailing by a run, and his first batter faced hit a homer out of right to signal us that this just wasn’t our game. They would hit another homer off us moments later, a two-run shot to pretty much the same damned spot, and though we got a run back in the ninth we lost a rough one 7-4. Leonard (1-1, 3.52 ERA) had a good night with seven innings and just six hits, but he walked three against just two strikeouts, and four runs scored on him. We again outhit our opponent, this time 10-9, led by Robinson’s two hits, a walk, two runs and an RBI, but our bats were inconsistent when it counted, and we’re struggling to find ways to score the runners we get on base.

Bob Muncrief has passed through waivers and still refuses to go to the minor leagues. We’ve agreed to send him to the Cubs alogn with $5,000, about a third of his salary, rather than pay to cut him outright. If he can find a spot on their 25-man roster, more power to him. But my bet is he’ll soon wind up a free agent regardless.

March 30, 1947: Philadelphia took the lead in the top of the second against us today with a solo homer by Buddy Rosar, and Fred Sanford got into trouble in the third, loading the bases without an out -- Al Smith walked in a run to extend their lead, but amazingly we escaped further damage on a brilliant 4-6-3 doubleplay, so we still had a chance to calm the waters. But our bats weren’t making good contact, and Sanford’s in the middle of our rotation for a reason. He got us through six innings but we were down 3-0 when Stan Ferens took over in the top of the seventh, and even with Ferens pitching perfectly for three innings, we never even made a squeak offensively. The Athletics won easily 3-0, outhitting us 9-6. Sanford only allowed eight hits in his six innings, striking out three with two walks and three earned runs. But that was enough. Ferens pitched three innings with a hit, two walks and a strikeout, and our offense (as it was) was led by Arky Vaughn, who hit twice to nowhere.

March 31, 1947: Jackie Robinson helped end our offensive drought with an RBI triple in the top of the first against the White Sox, and we scored runs in the second and third as well before Tom Seats got shellacked in the bottom of the inning to give up four runs and the lead. It’s the time of spring where we need to see if he can dig out of things, so Seats stayed out there ... particularly since three of the runs had come off one hit by Minnie Minoso, so it was going to also be key to see if our bats could find ways to get hits late in a game to keep us competitive -- so far, most recent games have suggested they cannot. Ned Garver got the ball with no outs in the sixth, score still 4-3 in Chicago’s favor with a runner on base, and he pitched well to keep them from scoring ... but with two outs in the seventh and a runner on, Ken Silvestri hit a two-run bomb out of right to put a nail in. We went into the eighth inning trailing by three runs, and our late-game offense is non-existant of late. Ferens gave up a run in the eighth and we lost this one 7-3, our bats showing no bite once the lead was gone. Seats (1-2, 4.56 ERA) had five innings with 10 hits, a walk, a strikeout and four runs (three earned), and we were outhit 15-12. Robinson looked good with three hits and a pair of RBIs, but no one else shined at all.

April 1, 1947: Jack Kramer started for us today against the Senators, and he dug us a hole early, Washington scoring two each in the second and third to take control. He got his five innings, but had to pitch around loaded bags in the fifth (nobody scored) which shortened his day significantly. Garver took over in the top of the sixth, still trailing 4-0, and nothing beyond that mattered. Our offense remained nonexistant, and we got shut out in this one 5-0 ... I’m no longer seeing any of the good signs we’d been noting early in the spring, as this team seems to be fully on autopilot. Am I looking at leading a 60-win team at best this year, even with our added talent from free agency? I certainly hope not. This has to be a slump ... and all slumps come to an end eventually. Jack Kramer finished with nine hits, a walk, three strikeouts and four earned runs in his five innings, and the Senators outhit us 11-8 ... Even Jackie Robinson was unable to spark anything, going 0-5 while leaving four runners on base.

April 2, 1947: We’re seeing that, as expected the Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox and Guardians look to have the best all-around teams at this early point in the year. We only won 60 games last year and should have no expectations of significant improvement, but we did bring in strong bats in free agency, so I’m confident this slump will ebb eventually. Goal one is to get a win today against the Yankees. Diomedes Olivo pitched his fifth start of the spring, and he pitched confidently, shutting the Yankees’ batters down one by one and giving us time for ours to find their footing. Harry Walker hit a solo homer for us in the bottom of the third to give us a 1-0 lead, but a Snuffy Stirnweiss triple and a Phil Rizzuto homer back to back got New York into the lead 2-1 in the top of the fourth, and Olivo did not react well ... Joe Dimaggio hit a triple into left and quite quickly the Yankees loaded the bases, but Olivo was able to hold them off and get out of the inning still with the one run deficit. We tied things up in the bottom of the fifth with a triple of our own by Wally Moses, but the Yankees struck again in the sixth, scoring two off a single by Nick Etten to go up 4-2. Sam Zoldak took over in the top of the seventh, and we got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Harry Walker hit an RBI single into right to score Johnny Berardino. In the bottom of the eighth we tied it with an RBI single by Joe Schultz, and finally I got to see this team show life late in a hard-fought game! Zoldak got us through the ninth safely, and in the bottom of the inning we walked it off on two outs with a line drive single by Vern Stephens, Harry Walker scoring the winning run as we took this one 5-4! Zoldak (4-1, 1.80 ERA) got the win, pitching three innings with two hits and two walks, and we outhit them 10-9, led by Walker who had two hits, a walk, two runs and two RBIs.

Olivo has a 1-0 record and a 3.41 ERA through 29 innings over five spring starts, and though he hasn’t always looked like a guy who can put up complete games and help us dominate pitching duels, he’s done what a rookie can to show he’s got the skills to compete at this level. He’ll get one more start to show his stuff before opening day, but his spot at the top of our rotation is secure. With seven games left of the spring season, we’re close to having our final roster lined up, but there are still plenty of innings left before the final cut has to be made.

jksander · 10-31-2025, 03:04 PM

April 4, 1947: We took the lead in the top of the fourth against Boston when Arky Vaughn hit a sac-fly to drive home Jackie Robinson, putting us up 1-0. And Dutch Leonard, having his best game of the spring, kept us in it from there, dominating batter after batter as he held the one-run lead into the sixth -- when he blew a pick-off play at first, an E1 error that allowed Johnny Peacock to tie the game on two outs: Tie Game. In the top of the eighth we got the lead back when Bob Dillinger hit an RBI single, driving in Wally Moses from third, and Dillinger later scored off a bases loaded walk by Vaughn, putting us up 3-1 heading into the bottom of the inning. Leonard got us thorugh the eighth with the lead intact, and with his arm still fresh we let him complete the game as we held tough to win 3-1. Leonard, in nine innings, allowed just nine hits and a run with two strikeouts and no walks, and we won while being outhit 9-6! Vaughn batted in two runs without a hit, and Dillinger led the team with two hits, a run and an RBI.

April 5, 1947: Against Cleveland, we again took the lead first, this time in the bottom of the second off an RBI single by Ellis Clary. We added a pair in the fourth, thanks to RBI doubles by Clary and Tommy Glaviano, and Ned Garver took the ball in the top of the eighth leading 3-0! Garver blew the shutout, as Lou Boudreau hit an RBI double to drive home Cleveland’s first run, but he got out of the inning with a hold. Les Moss hit an RBI double in the ninth to add a run back, and Al Jurisich took over in the bottom of the inning, pitching around a walked batter to get us the outs we needed to win 4-1. Sanford improved to 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA, allowing just three hits with three walks and four strikeouts in his seven innings, and we outhit the Guardians 8-5, led by Clary, who hit twice with a run scored and two batted in.

April 6, 1947: We played the Tigers today, with Spring Training nearly at an end, Tom Seats getting his last start to impress us before we set the opening day rosters. We traded a run apeice in the top of the first and the bottom of the second, Wally Judnich scoring the tying run for us, and Seats got us into the seventh still tied ... but with one out, he gave up a solo homer to Hoot Evers and the Tigers retook the lead. Stan Ferens took over from there, and he gave up a run in the top of the ninth to Jimmy Bloodworth -- another solo bomb -- but we tied the game with a two-run blast by Les Moss and this one went into extras tied 3-3. Ferens got us through the 10th safely, Sam Zoldak taking the ball in the top of the 11th. Cleveland retook the lead in the top of the 12th off an absolutely piss-poor defensive play (Johnny Outlaw getting them the lead) and a second run scored off a wild pitch ... and that was all she wrote, our guys losing 5-3 after 12 innings. Zoldak (4-2, 2.33 ERA) took the loss, pitching two innings with four hits and two runs, and Detroit outhit us 14-7 ... we had no business keeping it a ballgame as long as it was. Phil Cavarretta led the way with two hits and a run scored.

jksander · 11-01-2025, 03:41 PM

April 7, 1947: Four spring games remain, and today we faced the bottom-dwelling Philly Athletics, with Jack Kramer looking at his final start of the spring. Aside from trading runs in the second (Wally Judnich hit a solo homer for us, Buddy Rosar hit an RBI single for them) the game was tight early on. In the bottom of the eighth, still knotted 1-1, Sam Zoldak took over on the mound, and we took the lead in the top of the ninth when he hit an RBI single to give himself the lead! Three quick outs in the bottom of the inning and he sealed the 2-1 win for us. Zoldak improved to 5-2 with a two inning one hit effort, improving his ERA to 2.17, while Kramer had his best start of the spring, pitching seven innings with four hits a walk and a run, throwing 95 pitches as he improved his ERA to 4.32. We outhit Philly 10-5, led by Judnich and Zoldak, whose homer and RBI single won us the game.

April 8, 1947: Ned Garver got the start for us in today’s game against the White Sox, giving him a shot at proving whether he or Stan Ferens have what it takes to be long-reliever / spot starters this year (Ferens will start tomorrow’s game). The White Sox scored in the top of the first, a solo homer by Eddie Joost doing the trick, but we tied it in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double by Garver, who seemed to be trying singlehandedly to will us back into this one. He got us through the sixth safely, and in the bottom of the inning Ellis Clary got us the lead with a two-run single, Les Moss later scoring off a sac-fly by Garver to give us a 4-1 lead as Al Jurisich came out to relieve the exhausted starter. Jurisich pitched the remainder of the way and we were able to hold on to win 5-2. Garver (2-2, 5.67 ERA) took the win after a solid six inning effort, allowing five hits, five walks and a run with just one strikeout through 102 pitches, a good audition indeed for that final bullpen spot. We outhit Chicago 9-7, led by Clary, who hit three times with a run and two RBIs.

April 9, 1947: Stan Ferens got the start today against Washington, and he found himself locked into a pitching duel with Senators starter Claude Passeau, the two pitchers combining for just three hits through five scoreless innings. Ferens kept it scoreless through the sixth while pitching around runners on the corners, and after the stretch we brought out Sam Zoldak, the score still knotted up with nobody on the board. I was impressed with our defense -- they’d outhit us by a significant margin, but we were still in there fighting like hell. In the end we came up short -- Zoldak gave up a hit to Ed Stephens on two outs, George Myatt coming around from second to score the game’s only run in our 1-0 loss. But we fought hard as hell, and I liked seeing it. Zoldak took the loss, but he pitched 2.2 innings with four hits, a walk, a strikeout and the one earned run, following Ferens, who had 6.1 innings with four hits, two walks and four K’s while letting nobody in. We were outhit 8-3, so being in such a tight battle of wills was a sign of our improvement. Arky Vaughn led the offense with a hit and two walks, but just couldn’t get around.

April 10, 1947: It’s the final game of the spring training stretch, and we’ve decided not to use Olivo or any of our other starters ... since our final cut is going to have to come from the pitching side, I’m going to give our bullpen one more chance to show who deserves to make that final difficult cut. Al Jurisich will get the start today against the Yankees, but our plan was to hopefully get two or three good innings from him and then let Ferens and Garver split the remainder. Alas, Jurisich gave up four runs to the Yankees in the bottom of the first without even getting an out (Henrich single, Lindell single, Dimaggio single, Berra GRAND SLAM) ... and Garver had to come out to salvage things way earlier than planned. He got us into the top of the second down 5-0, and pitched through the fourth without giving up more runs. Zoldak relieved him in the botom of the fifth, and instead of using Ferens, who was more worn down from yesterday than he was willing to admit, I brought out Tom Seats to pitch the remainder of the game, taking the ball in the bottom of the sixth and pitching until we finished the 7-1 loss. We finished the spring dead even, 15 wins, 15 losses, the loss going to Jurisich (2-2, 6.63 ERA) as we got outhit 11-5.

Opening day isn’t for four days, and we don’t play again until the 15th. Detroit finished 18-12 in spring games, tied with the Yankees, while Cleveland finished 17-13 and Washington was 16-14. We beat out Boston, Chicago and Philly, and while competing for a penant is so wildly beyond what our team has accomplished in recent history (not counting the 1944 season during which most of the league’s best were still fighting across the European and Japanese theaters) it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that we could be competitive enough to finish in the top half of the table ... which aside from ’44, hasn’t happened since ’42 (and before that, ’29). Not counting ’44, we haven’t beaten out the league since the late 1880s, so our main focus this year will be on building a foundation for future success. And not finishing last. I’ll be damned if we can’t at least beat out the Athletics!

April 12, 1947: After much debate among my coaching staff, I’ve decided to demote 25-year-old Al Jarisich to AAA, though as he’s out of options he’ll have to pass through waivers before we can officially send him to Toledo to play with the Mud Hens. With one additional player needing to be moved down, we’ve chosen to demote 26-year-old Paul Lehner (left field) as well ... Lehner only managed to bat .187 in his limited spring appearances, and that’s not good enough to be a legitimate option off the bench.

As such, here is our opening day roster:

Lineup
C - Joe Schultz
1B - Wally Judnich
2B - Jackie Robinson
3B - Vern Stephens
SS - Arky Vaughn
LF - Phil Cavarretta
CF - Harry Walker
RF - Wally Moses

Bench
C - Les Moss
1B - Joe Grace
2B - Johnny Berardino
3B - Bob Dillinger
SS - Ellis Clary
LF - Dick Whitman
CF - Tommy Glaviano
CF - Jerry Witte
RF - Al Zarilla

Zarilla, Whitman, Witte and Moss will be our primary pinch-hitters, with Dillinger, Glaviano, Zarilla and Whitman being our primary pinch-runners.

Starters
1 - Diomedes Olivo
2 - Dutch Leonard
3 - Fred Sanford
4 - Tom Seats

Bullpen
L - Sam Zoldak (Stopper, Middle Relief)
L - Stan Ferens (Middle Relief, High Leverage)
R - Ned Garver (Long Relief, Setup)
R - Jack Kramer (Doubleheader SP, Long Relief)

I like the idea of a four-man rotation in this era ... there are a lot of double plays in this era of baseball, but that’s where a solidly qualified fifth man out of the pen can be a regular spot starter. I’ll be expecting my starters to anchor games, and since the closer doesn’t exist yet, Zoldak will be our primary “stoppper” and will likely still get the lion’s share of three-inning saves when they are a necessary evil. Ferens and Garver will get plenty of innings in games where the starters fail to deliver, but this is a time in baseball where even having four guys in the pen is something of a luxury. But with Olivo, Leonard and Sanford our obvious top three, beyond that Seats and Kramer are decent but inconsistent ... so I want to make sure we have the bullpen arms to help keep rough starts from becoming automatic losses.

April 14, 1947: Our top pick in last year’s draft, center fielder Richie Ashburn, was named the 16th best prospect in baseball and has been tearing it up for the Springfield Browns in the AA Illinois-Indiana-Iowa league, hitting .426/.507/.656 through 14 games and 61 at-bats, including six doubles and four triples. I have decided to promote him to AAA Toledo in the American Association ... I don’t expect he’ll make it up to the bigs this year, but if he rakes like that against AAA pitching, we may end up needing to find a spot for him sooner than later.

The Associated Press and the Sporting News have predicted that we will finish 78-76, tied with Boston for fourth in the AL. They’re anticipating another Subway Series, with New York (92-62) facing off against Brooklyn (90-64), with the NL race finishing tighter (St. Louis expected to win 86) though in our league Cleveland (84-70) and Detroit (83-71) are predicted to be both fighting hard for a shot. The Phillies have been picked to finish last in either league with 64 wins, while the Washington Senators were surprisingly picked to finish with 65 wins, tied for last with the White Sox (the Athletics are expected to win 73, which would be surprising based on how their players looked all spring. But you never know ... when was the last time these guys ever picked the leagues correctly before any of our 154 games were played?

Opening day’s tomorrow ... bring on the Tigers! Our upcoming schedule for the first three full weeks:

4/15-17: vs. Detroit
4/18-20: at Chicago (Sunday DH)
4/22-23: at Cleveland
4/24-25: at Detroit
4/26-27: vs. Chicago (Sunday DH)
4/29-30: vs. New York
5/1-3: vs. Washington
5/4: vs. Boston (DH)

jksander · 11-01-2025, 09:14 PM

April 15, 1947: It’s opening day, and this afternoon Diomedes Olivo took the field against Detroit’s Hal Newhouser, the team’s 25-year-old five star ace, who was 29-9 in 1944 and 25-9 in 1945 before having a “down” year last season going 13-11 with a 3.17 ERA. We surprised a lot of folks by actually getting 26,000 fans to come see us open the season, and the enthusiasm didn’t last long as the Tigers got a three-run homer off the bat of Hoot Evers in the top of the first to take a quick 3-0 lead. Eddie Lake hit an RBI single to add another on in the second, but Wally Moses did get an RBI single that, coupled with an E9 throwing error, got us on the board trailing 4-1 after two. In the bottom of the third Jackie Robinson got the fans on their feet with an RBI double, scoring Dillinger and Stephens to get us back within a run, though he got caught stealing moments later, so he didn’t get a chance to score a run himself. Olivo stayed locked in, and in the bottom of the fifth we tied the score with an RBI single from Stephens, took the lead off a bases loaded walk by Cavarretta, and added on with a sac-fly by Joe Schultz to put us ahead 6-4 heading into the top of the sixth inning! Olivo himself would score in the bottom of the sixth, off a flyball double from Harry Walker, and though they got a run back off a sac-fly in the seventh, Fevers took the ball with two outs and a man on and got us safely into the stretch leading 7-5. Sam Zoldak took over in the ninth with the lead still at two runs, and it didn’t go well ... Barney McCoskey hit an RBI double with no outs to cut our lead to one, and with two outs Hank Greenberg hit a line drive single that drove in the tying run. Zoldak got the strikeout to get us into the bottom of the frame, and this one wound up going into extra innings. Ned Garver took over in the 10th, and he pitched a beauty -- three excellent innings, capped off when Harry Walker hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 12th to walk it off as we won this one 8-7! Garver got the win, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out one batter, making up for Zoldak’s blown save ... he allowed two hits, a walk and two runs in his inning, an inauspicious start to the season that, hopefully, he’ll make up for in the coming games. Our bats won the game for us, outhitting Detroit 14-10, unfazed by the rough start. Robinson debuted with a 3-6 performance, scoring one run and driving in another two, while Vern Stephens added two hits, two runs and an RBI.

April 16, 1947: Dutch Leonard pitched against Fred Hutchison in game two, Hutchison having won 26 games in 1941 playing in the minor leagues before getting drafted ... he returned from service last year and was 15-14 with a 3.65 ERA and 156 strikeouts, his major league career finally ready to get started after being derailed for so long. We took the lead in the bottom of the first, thanks to an RBI single by Arky Vaughn which scored Jackie Robinson his second major league run, but in the top of the fourth the Tigers came roaring back with an RBI double for Evers and a sac-fly by Eddie Mayo which shot them into the lead 2-1. Hank Greenberg added on with an RBI single in the top of the eighth, and Ned Garver pitched a solid inning in the ninth to give us a chance though this time our bats did not have a comeback ready. We lost this one 3-1, sending us into tomorrow’s rubber match looking to find a way to pick up a series win. Leonard took the loss, pitching eight innings with eight hits, two walks, three strikeouts and three earned runs, and we were out hit 9-5. Vaughn led the offense with a hit, a walk and an RBI, but there really wasn’t anything to cheer about for us offensively after that first inning.

Richie Ashburn’s doing well at AAA through his first three starts, getting five hits in his first 15 at-bats, with two doubles and two RBIs, giving him a .333 average and a .467 slugging percentage. He’s young and raw, and needs to stay at that level for the time being ... but I like what I’m hearing from over in Toledo.

April 17, 1947: Fred Sanford matched up against Preacher Roe in game three -- Roe, at 31, is a veteran with the Tigers staff, but he has only recently arrived there after a trade last year from Pittsburgh ... he won 14 games in 1945 for the Pirates, and then went 15-17 combined last year with an ERA around 3.00 ... he’s a control pitcher who does well when his curve and screwball are curving and screwing properly. We again took the lead in the bottom of the first with a sac-fly by Vern Stephens, and in the bottom of the third we added on with an RBI single, also from Stephens, to go up 2-0. But Detroit kept it interesting with a Hoot Evers groundout that scored Eddie Lake in the top of the fourth, and though we got that run back in the bottom half of the inning, Cavarretta scoring on a fielder’s choice, we weren’t feeling like we had the game fully under control. But Sanford pitched incredibly well, and in the bottom of the eighth he bought himself some insurance by hitting an RBI double to make it a three-run lead. He insisted on staying out in the ninth, but his first batter faced, Roy Cullenbine, hit one out of center and cut the lead to two so we went to Stan Ferens, who blew what was left of our lead ... a Greenberg single and a two-run homer ... INSIDE THE PARK! ... tied the score at 4-4, still no outs. The collapse became complete when, on one out, Paul Richards hit a two-run homer out of left to steal the lead. In the bottom of the inning Harry Walker got a double on one out and then successfully stole his way to third, but Stephens and Robinson struck out and we lost this one 6-4. What a brutal way to lose a series. Sanford was visibly frustrated with me after the game ... he’d gone eight innings with five hits, four walks, four strikeouts and the two runs. In retrospect I should have let him pitch, but hindsight’s always 20/20. I had no way to expect Ferens would throw 23 pitches and allow four hits and four runs without a walk or a strikeout. We actually outhit Detroit 10-9, led by Stephens with two hits and two RBIs. But he and Robinson couldn’t bring Walker home from third, and that’s all that mattered in the end.

Our focus is now on Chicago, where we’re headed to face the 1-1 White Sox for a four game series over three days.

April 18, 1947: Tom Seats got his first start of the year, facing Chicago’s Ray “Pop” Prim. Both are control-oriented pitchers, but Prim is 40 and still going strong, having gone 12-6 last year combined for the Cubs and Sox. It’s definitely going to be an interesting matchup. We rang up Prim for three runs in the top of the first, thanks to an RBI double from Stephens, and RBI single from Cavarretta and Schultz. But the White Sox came back in the fourth with a homer by Chet Laabs and a sac-fly by Bob Kennedy, and just like that this was a tight ballgame. Cavarretta hit another RBI single to give Seats some breathing room, and he made it through seven before Ned Garver took over in the bottom of the eighth still leading by a pair. Sam Zoldak took over in the bottom of the ninth, still leading by two but with one out and Reinaldo Drake on third ... Ralph Hodgin hit a sac-fly to score Drake, bringing up pinch hitter Whitey Platt, who popped out harmlessly to right field as we won 4-3! Tom Seats got the win, lasting seven innings with six hits, a walk, two strikeouts and two runs (only one of which was earned) while Garver held the lead for 1.1 innings with a hit, a walk and a run. Zoldak got the high-leverage save on just four pitches, and we out hit Chicago 11-7. Vern Stephens led our offense with two hits, a walk, two runs and an RBI, while Cavarretta added two hits and two RBIs.

April 19, 1947: This afternoon Diomedes Olivo (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 6.2 IP, 4 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) pitched against Chicago’s Martin Crue, who is making his first start of the year. Crue is a rookie at 27, but he had great stuff stuff playing for the New York Cubans in the Negro Leagues where he was 11-10 with a 3.14 ERA and 4.3 wins above replacement. The White Sox purchased his contract in January and he’s earning just $5,000 this season ... could it be a total steal? We wound up blowing him up n the top of the second, taking the lead off a Wally Moses two-run double and adding an RBI single by Bob Dillinger, and in the top of the third Les Moss batted in two more with a line drive double to give us a 5-0 lead ... Crue had thrown 58 pitches and dug himself a huge hole. Olivo, meanwhile, was pitching the game of his LIFE, dominating the White Sox in a shutout heading into the ninth inning, having allowed just one hit! In the bottom of the ninth, Bob Kennedy grounded out to first, Whitey Platt struck out swinging, and Dave Philley struck out looking as we held tough to the 5-0 win! Olivo earned his first complete game win, with just one hit, two walks and six strikeouts, improving his ERA to 2.30. We outhit them 11-1, led by Wally Moses with two hits, a run and two RBIs, while Arky Vaughn added a hit, two walks and two runs scored. Tomorrow we’ll face our first doubleheader of the year, with Dutch Leonard set to pitch in game one and Jack Kramer looking to make his debut in the second game.

April 20, 1947: Dutch Leonard (0-1, 3.38 ERA, 8.0 IP, 3 K’s, 1.25 WHIP) started against Johnny Rigney (0-1, 3.38 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 K’s, 1.25 WHIP) in pretty much an even matchup on paper for our first game of the day. A Harry Walker triple and a Cavarretta single got us our first run of the game in the top of the first inning, but the White Sox scored three in the bottom of the second, the runs coming off two singles and a groundout. Cavarretta hit an RBI single in the top of the third, and we tied it moments later off a Vern Stephens sac fly, and this one was definitely entertaining for fans of scoring. Dutch Leonard got himself the lead back with a single that scored Vaughn in the top of the fourth, giving us a 4-3 advantage mid-inning, and a Wally Judnich two-run homer in the fifth helped us start to pull away. But the White Sox kept it close with a two-run homer of their own by Tommy Butts, leaving it to Leonard to keep fighting in a tight contest. He had ice in his veins, completing the game as we held on to win 6-5! Leonard improved to 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA, allowing eight hits, two walks and five runs (two earned) with one strikeout, throwing 132 pitches in the process. We outhit the White Sox 11-8, led by Wally Judnich with two hits, a run and two RBIs.

In the late-afternoon game, Jack Kramer made his debut against the White Sox’s Ed Lopat, who was also making his debut -- Lopat, at 28, is in his third season as a big leaguer, and is coming off a 10-11 season and a 3.42 ERA last year with the Sox, having thrown 163 innings with 2.6 wins above replacement. It was a pitching duel early, but Kramer hit a snag in the bottom of the fourth and Chicago picked up three quick runs off a single by Thurman Tucker and a two-run triple by Tommy Butts. But that woke our offense up, and in the top of the fifth we came out SLUGGING ... Wally Moses got us on the board with an RBI double, and then Harry Walker hit a three-run homer to bat us into the lead 4-3! Arky Vaughn hit an RBI single in the seventh to add on, and Kramer stayed out and finished what he started as we held tough and won 5-3, completing the four-game sweep! He only allowed five hits, a walk and three runs (two earned), striking out three while throwing just 93 pitches, a remarkably efficient performance considering he could have collapsed after the three-run fourth. Instead, our bats rallied and we outhit them 12-5, led by Walker’s three-run homer and by leadoff man Bob Dillinger, who finished with two hits and a run, giving him a .346 average now through his first 26 at-bats.

It’s too early to get high on our own press, but a 5-2 start and a half game lead in the American League over Washington is a hell of a lot better a start than anyone expected of us. Next we’ll face Cleveland (3-2, 1 GB) for a pair on their field, before making the short trip to Detroit (3-4, 2 GB) to complete this road trip with another pair.

jksander · Yesterday, 04:53 PM

April 22, 1947: In minor league news, we’ve purchased the contract of negro league pitcher Amos Watson from the Indianapolis Clowns, and have put the 20-year-old on our AAA team in Toledo. Watson has an exquisite changeup and splitter combo, and though he doesn’t yet have firm control of them, he’s got great movement and I see him as a solid backup option for our bullpen which has been less than excellent early on.

Today we faced Cleveland on the road, Tom Seats (1-0, 1.29 ERA, 7.0 IP, 2 K, 1.00 WHIP) facing off against Jim Bennett (0-0, 8.10 ERA, 6.2 IP, 3 K, 2.10 WHIP) who got rocked in his season debut in what became a 6-9 loss for the Guardians. His second start didn’t go much better, as we shot out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single for Cavarretta and a two-run homer for Wally Judnich, already the second of his season! But the Guardians got back into it in the bottom of the second, Babe Young hitting an RBI single to get them on the board ... though it was short-lived, as we answered in the third with a two-run single by Arky Vaughn to extend our lead back to four, up 5-1. We should have been able to start putting them away from there, but they got the two runs back with a double by Ken Keltner in the bottom of the inning, and Seats’ tendency to allow flyballs got him in trouble again when Sherm Lollar hit an RBI single to cut our lead to one ... and Wally Moses was hurt, wrenching his back on the play badly enough that we had to pull him for Al Zarilla. Thankfully our bats didn’t quit. Judnich hit an RBI triple that drove in a pair in the top of the fifth, and he scored when their pitcher had a balk called on him, helping us get our lead back to four runs. Lou Boudreau hit a solo bomb out of center for the Guardians in the bottom of the fifth, but we held the 8-5 lead into the stretch, bringing out Sam Zoldak to help us hold it. We bought ourselves plenty of insurance in the top of the ninth -- Harry Walker hit an RBI double to score Robinson, Robinson scored off a single by Phil Cavarretta, and Cavarretta scored when Wally Judnich hit a single into right to make it a six run lead. Ned Garver took over in the bottom of the inning, shutting them down nicely as we won 11-5. Seats got the win, improving to 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA despite allowing 10 hits and five runs with no walks and four K’s. Zoldak improved his ERA to 4.91 with a solid two inning hold, allowing just one hit. As a team we outhit them 15-12 in the slugfest, led by Judnich who went 4-5 with three runs and five RBIs, falling just a double short of hitting for the cycle.

April 23, 1947: Diomedes Olivo (1-0, 2.30 ERA, 15.2 IP, 10 K, 0.83 WHIP) went up against Steve Gromek (0-1, 13.50 ERA, 2.0 IP, 0 K, 3.00 WHIP) in game two, facing another pitcher for the Guardians who had a less than stellar debut, pitching two innings of what became a 9-6 loss to the White Sox. It was a mismatch we hoped to exploit, but the game turned into a duel, one Cleveland got the first lead in -- Babe Young hit a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to give them a 2-0 lead. That was the only offense in a game Olivo pitched the entirety of, but it was plenty as we lost 2-0. We out hit them 9-7, led by Walker and Cavarretta, who combined for five hits to nowhere. Olivo allowed just seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts, his two earned runs giving him a 2.38 ERA as he fell to 1-1. We’ll leave Cleveland for Detroit with a split series.

April 24, 1947: Dutch Leonard (1-1, 2.65 ERA, 17.0 IP, 4 K 1.18 WHIP) pitched against Tommy Bridges (0-1, 17.18 ERA, 3.2 IP, 1 K, 3.00 WHIP) in game one in Detroit, Bridges having lost his first game of the year in a 10-6 beatdown against ... Cleveland, another team whose starters have taken serious beatings early on. Detroit took the lead from us early, with a Billy Johnson homer in the second, but Jackie Robinson got it back for us in the fifth when he hit a two-run single into deep right that scored Judnich and Vaughn to put us ahead 2-1. The margins stayed razor thin until the top of the ninth when Cavarretta and Vern Stephens each hit RBI singles back to back to extend our lead, and Leonard pitched the whole game as we beat them 4-1. He finished with just four hits, walking three and striking out three with the one earned run, improving to 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA. We outhit the Tigers 10-4, led by Robinson (two hits, a run and two RBIs) and Harry Walker (three hits and a run).

April 25, 1947: Fred Sanford (0-0, 2.25 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 K, 1.12 WHIP) pitched against Hal Newhouser (0-1, 5.14 ERA, 14.0 IP, 11 K, 2.07 WHIP) in game two against the Tigers, our final road game of this long stretch before getting to return to our field for a while. And Detroit seemed to be able to score consistently and at will early on. Roy Cullenbine hit a homer in the second and Eddie Mayo hit an RBI single in the third to give them a 2-0 lead, and after we tied it in the top of the third, socing off a wild pitch and an RBI single by Cavarretta, they got one back in the bottom of the inning and added on a pair in the fifth. Jackie Robinson hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh to keep us within two of the Tigers, and Sanford got us into the eighth without any additional scoring. Sam Zoldak came out of the pen in the eighth and he got us safely through the inning, and Vern Stephens hit a solo bomb in the ninth to get us back within one. But that was all we had in us, losing this one 5-4. Sanford (0-1, 4.20 ERA) took the loss, while Zoldak had a hit against him but improved his ERA to 3.86 through his first four appearances. We again outhit Detroit, this time 11-10, led by Bob Dillinger with three hits and two runs. But we weren’t able to get ahead when it counted.

The loss drops us to second place, half a game behind ... Philadelphia? That’s right, the Athletics have gotten off to a hot 7-3 start as well, while the Yankees (5-7) currently sit in last place, three games back. Small sample sizes, of course, and unlikely to bear much resemblance to what we see come August and September. But that’s why you play all 154 games! This weekend we’re back in St. Louis for three games in two days against the White Sox (5-6), followed by a pair against New York, three against Washington (5-6) and a Sunday Doubleheader against Boston (5-6). We’re then here the entire next week, with a Tuesday game against Boston, two against Philly, and three against Cleveland (4-5). It should be a nice 16-game stretch in a two week period to show if we’ve got the legs to truly be good this year.

jksander · Yesterday, 06:01 PM

April 26, 1947: Today’s game was posponed due to weather, and will be played on July 2nd, during our home series with the White Sox that coincides with the July 4th doubleheader. That’s going to be interesting, with doubleheaders against them July 2 and July 4, with an off day in between. The July 2nd doubleheader will cap an eight-game-in-six-days stretch, and from July 4th through the 6th we’ll have five games in three days. That’s going to be an interesting lead-up to the All Star break!

April 27, 1947: Doubleheader Day! Tom Seats (2-0, 4.15 ERA, 13.0 IP, 6 K, 1.31 WHIP) started game one, facing Lino Donoso (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 15.0 IP, 8 K, 1.67 WHIP), and we broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run Robinson homer, scoring again off a Joe Schultz RBI single, a wild pitch, a Wally Moses RBI double and a Tom Seats RBI single, going into the top of the sixth with a stunning, out of nowhere 6-0 lead! Arky Vaughn scored off another wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh, but infield miscues cost Seats the shutout as an E6 error, an E4 error and a bases loaded walk finally got Chicago on the board. Stan Ferens took the ball at that moment, bases still loaded, and Don Kolloway hit into a 5-2-3 double play that let our fans breath more easily. Ferens got out of the inning with no damage at all, and he pitched a clean inning in the ninth to keep it that way as we won 7-1! Seats improved to 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA, allowing nine hits two walks and two strikeouts with one (unearned) run. But Ferens was impressive too, getting six outs and stranding three, with no hits and a strikeout as he got his ERA down to 8.31 after his rough first appearance. We outhit Chicago 13-9, led by Robinson, who hit three times with a run and two batted in, improving his average to .365 through his first 52 at-bats.

Jack Kramer (1-0, 2.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 3 K, 0.67 WHIP) pitched in the second game to buy Olivo an extra day of rest, facing Gordon Maltzberger (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7.1 IP, 1 K, 0.95 WHIP). Vern Stephens grounded into a U5-3 double play but allowed Robinson to score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the first, but Chicago answered with an RBI single by George McQuinn to tie it in the top of the second. Phil Cavarretta batted home Robinson in the bottom of the third to make it a 2-1 lead again, but Reinaldo Drake hit a two-run single in the top of the sixth to flip it again Chiago’s way. Sam Zoldak came out to pitch in the top of the seventh, pitching around a single to avoid any damage, and in the bottom of the inning we struck again as Vern Stephens hit a three-run fireball out of right to put us up by a pair! Zoldak pitched the rest of the way and we were unwavering as we shut them down 5-3. Kramer was solid with eight hits, three walks and four strikeouts in his six innings, allowing three runs. But Zoldak earned his first win in style, pitching three innings with four hits on 39 pitches, no runs scoring as he got his ERA down to 2.35 thorugh 7.2 innings over five appearances. They outhit us 12-11, but Robinson had two hits and two runs, and Stephens’ second homer of the season netted us the runs we needed to break them in the end.

April 28, 1947: Jackie Robinson was named AL Player of the Week, having gone 11-26 this week for a .423 average ... including a homer, seven RBIs and five runs scored. The talented rookie has batted .375 so far through 13 games, with five doubles and a homer and seven RBIs, already giving him a full win above replacement level. Those numbers are absolutely insane, and if he were to keep them up all year, he’d be hard-pressed not to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP.

April 29, 1947: Unaccustomed to six days’ rest, Diomedes Olivo (1-1, 2.28 ERA, 23.2 IP, 13 K, 0.97 WHIP) was ready and raring to go against Yankees starter Spud Chandler (1-2, 3.38 ERA, 24.0 IP, 10 K, 1.50 WHIP) in our first of two against New York. He pitched brilliantly, and in the bottom of the fifth we took the lead off a Wally Moses RBI double, adding on when Olivo hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Moses. But Johnny Lindell hit a solo bomb in the sixth to get New York right back into this game, so it came down to Olivo locking in and just throwing fire. He held the entire team’s ground as we won this one 2-1 despite the Yankees outhitting us 4-3 in the duel! Olivo improved to 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA, allowing four hits, three walks and an earned run with two strikeouts, while Wally Moses led the offense with a hit, a run and an RBI.

April 30, 1947: Dutch Leonard (2-1, 2.00 ERA, 26.0 IP, 7 K, 1.04 WHIP) has been red hot early, so he went into this one against Red Munger (1-0, 3.57 ERA, 22.2 IP, 8 K, 1.24 WHIP) with great confidence, but New York snapped him out of that quickly when Joe Dimaggio hit an RBI double to get them on the board in the top of the first. We got it back in the bottom of the second, Wally Moses hitting an RBI single that scored Judnich, but New York hit back in the fifth with a two-run double by Johnny Lindell to flip it again in their direction. Leonard got us through the ninth without anyone else scoring, but it did nothing to spur our bats on as we lost this one 3-1. He fell to 2-2 with a 2.31 ERA, despite pitching the entire game with six hits, four strikeouts and the three earned runs. Another pitching duel, this one finished with both teams hitting just six times, Wally Moses leading our offense with a hit, a walk and an RBI.

We finish the month of April with a 10-5 record, leading the AL by one game over the Athletics, who sit at 9-6, a game and a half upon the Guardians (7-7), Yankees (8-8) and Tigers (8-8). Washington comes into town to play three games against us with their 7-8 record, followed by three against Boston (7-9), with the White Sox (5-10) sitting on the bottom of the heap for now. Fans are already circling their calendars for the two games against Philly on our schedule on the 7th and 8th of May, but for now we need to just focus on winning these games we’re now more or less expected to win.

Is it too early to think we’ve got a really competitive team? Possibly not ... right now our batters are ranked 1st in the AL in batting average (.289), slugging (.403) and extra base hits (42), and are second in OBP+ (.756), wOBA (.343) and total hits (153). On the pitching end, we lead the league in ERA (2.71), starters’ ERA (2.60), runs allowed (48), hits allowed (113), opponents’ average (.228), BAPIP (.235), walks (34) and defensive efficiency (.754). We’re 6-2 on the road and are 4-1 in one-run games, with the best run differential (+19) in either league. But it is incredibly early in the season, barely 10 percent of the games having played out.

10-03-2025, 01:14 PM	#2
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	OOC Note: Obviously there may be other players who got overlooked ... I had only the "pending FA" tab to look at, and it's clear that players like Dutch Leonard, age 36, should be eligible in the offseason as well if they don't sign extensions, but did not show up for Washington on that tab. But this should give a good idea of how the system is set up. I'm still trying to decide which team I will take over, and this will be another long-term slow-simming dynasty, so if you're into it feel free to follow __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-06-2025, 02:38 PM	#4
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	October 11, 1946: The rumors are over, and all speculation is finished, as the St. Louis Browns, the MLB’s punching bag of late, have finally found a manager and GM to take the helm. Niccolo “Nico” Lazzeri, age 29, has taken the thankless job just a month or so out from the team choosing first in the first-ever Major League Amateur Draft. Lazzeri, who is the American born son of Italian immigrants who came to Chicago just three decades ago from Salerno, will become the youngest front office leader in the game right out of the gate. And he’s going to have a tough road to hoe ... though the team reportedly has cash to spend, he’ll be working for a demanding owner who has shown little signs that he’s willing to do what needs done to field a winner. While the Cardinals, who share Sportsmans Park with the hapless Browns, have found much success in the baseball world, the Browns have just one pennant win since 1888, and it took place in 1944 when the bulk of the league’s players were off fighting in World War II. Outside of the War seasons of ’44 and ’45, they haven’t finished less than 10 games back since 1922 when they were 93-61 and lost the pennant by a single game. “I know I have my work cut out for me,” Lazzeri told the local assembled press. “But I’ve spoken with Vern Stevens, who has been the young leader of the team over the last half decade, and I’ve assured him that I want to build a team here that can make our city proud just like the Cardinals have done. It’s going to take work, both in this new draft and via free agency, but I’m ready to dig in and fight for this team and its fans. We’re going to prove that more than one team can win games in St. Louis.” Owner Kelly Nau has made it clear he expects this team to be able to play .500 ball, though with what roster remains to be seen. The Browns had attendance of fewer than 9,000 fans per game last season, falling short of 700,000 attendance during a season where the Cardinals packed more than 1.5 million fans into Sportsmans Park while the Browns were on the road. The team spent $290,000 on its roster, which was comparable to other teams of its stature, but with players now having more freedom to demand “big money” as free agents, will they be able to compete as an organization to get the players needed to field an actually competitive roster? Only time will tell. Babe Dahlgren remains the team’s only major player who could become a free agent this offseason ... Dahlgren, a first baseman, hit .294 with a double and an RBI in 21 games as a pinch-hitter, so it is unlikely that Lazzeri will be focused on bringing him back. More likely, the focus is on planning for the upcoming draft and then hoping that ownership will free up some money for any free agents who do end up declaring in the next couple weeks. But he’ll be working with one of the league’s worst overall front office, full of unproven, inexperienced baseball minds, and the team’s hitting and pitching coaches as it stands are among the dregs that all other major league teams have let pass by. It’s worth noting, however, that the group has shown good morale and it may be worth keeping them around in this “transition year” to keep the team’s young core energized. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 10-06-2025 at 04:02 PM.

10-06-2025, 04:02 PM	#5
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	October 16, 1946: I’ve signed my first player of my tenure as GM of the Browns! Tom Seats became a minor league free agent after being let go by the Dodgers, and we needed veteran leadership for our pitching, so we’ve signed the 36-year-old left handed pitcher to a minor league deal worth $10,000 if he gets promoted to the major league roster. Right now we have him set to start with the AAA Toledo Mud Hens, but it’s very likely he’ll make the jump to the bigs in time for spring training. Last year with AAA San Diego he put up a 14-16 record with a 3.96 ERA, striking out 139 batters and putting up 5.8 wins above replacement. And though he’s all control, most of his best stuff now in his past, he still has a great changeup and the stamina to throw it and his fastball and curve while holding runners on base at a big league level. The draft pool has been officially revealed, and we have a lot of options for our first round pick ... 27-year-old Diomedes Olivio is the best player who is ready to start now, with a five pitch mix and incredible stuff, and he’d be an ace from opening day. But he’s 27 ... and if we take him now, we’d have to pass up younger guys like Harvey Haddix, Bob Rush, Roy Sievers, Curt Simmons or Joe Adcock, all of whom have higher potential than him to become great players but at extreme development risk. Olivo, who hails from the Dominican Republic, may be too good for us to pass up, considering we need to build a team that can compete on the field now before we can focus too much on drafting risky players for our future. We’re still awaiting the final declarations of free agents following the final negotiation stretch for teams to extend their players’ contracts. At that point maybe we can luck out and get someone from one of the big teams to add to our 1947 roster. November 3, 1946: Salary Arbitration has begun, and we’ve offered all our minor leaguers automatic extensions while we figure out the direction of this organization long term. We offered Joe “Dode” Schultz an $11,500 contract, based off his .300 hitting and 3.0 WAR for us at catcher last season. Jack Kramer (7-15, 4.60 ERA, 2.7 WAR) got a $9,000 offer at age 28, and Bob Muncrief (8-15, 5.28 ERA, 2.2 WAR) got a $13,750 offer at age 30. Two veteran players, Al Hollingsworth and B abe Dahlgren, will be allowed to become free agents, as neither looks to be above replacement level for us, and that really says something. Awards announcements begin November 11th, starting with Gold Gloves, followed by Reliever of the Year (Nov 12), Platinum Stick awards (Nov 13), Rookie of the Year (Nov 14), Manager of the Year (Nov 15), the Cy Young Award for Pitcher of the Year (Nov 16) and the MVP Award (Nov 17). Arbitration hearings are scheduled for November 24th, and free agency will officially begin on November 26th, just a couple days before Thanksgiving! Hopefully a few team leaders will be turkeys and allow players to fall through the cracks for us to feast upon as we head toward a new year! November 7, 1946: Muncrief, Kramer and Schultz all signed their one year contracts without taking it to arbitration. Aside from a few minor league holdouts, we’ve done what we set out to do. And when those minor leaguers get free agency, we’ll move to fill the spots with players who want to be here. November 15, 1946: It’s draft day, and after a lot of internal discussion we decided to go with center fielder Richie Ashburn with the number one pick, choosing his high potentials in pure contact and defensive ability over a quick roster fix ... the 19-year-old will definitely need some development time. In the second round, however, we did decide to take Diomedes Olivo, who will come into the league ready to be a number one starter ... we couldn’t risk waiting for later rounds and miss out on a guy who can play for us now. The rest of the draft was pretty uneventful ... twenty-three more rounds to find minor league development players. We’ve offered Ashburn $7,614 as the #1 pick, and all our other players have offers on the table befitting their talent levels. We got Ashburn, but other top guys are worth noting as well ... the three top pitching prospects went to the Senators (Curt Simmons), the Reds (Bob Rush) and the Cubs (Harvey Haddix), though the Giants seem particularly happy with their young hurler Whitey Ford who is all stuff, no control at this point. The Tigers are pleased with second baseman Nellie Fox, and the Cardinals took shortstop Johnny Logan who, even as a long-term development risk to reach his full potentials does look ready to at least play major league defense. It’ll be interesting to see how our guy fares against all theirs in the grand scheme of things. We’re just a couple weeks away now from the league’s first real run of free agency bidding. Stay tuned! __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 10-06-2025 at 04:03 PM.

10-06-2025, 06:18 PM	#6
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	November 17, 1946: I haven’t put much emphasis on announcing awards, but I will mention that the AL MVP award went to Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. “The Kid” batted .342 with 35 doubles, 29 homers and 119 RBIs, putting up 7.8 WAR as he dominated pitchers across the league. He only made $7,500 in 1946, but his salary is expected to skyrocket when he reaches arbitration after this coming season. But he’s been open about how frustrated he is that he won’t be able to push Boston to the limit on free agency extension talks until he’s well into his 30’s. Lord knows we’d love to have him in St. Louis, though that’s a laugher ... no way we could afford what he’d demand on an open market. In the NL, Stan Musial won MVP for the Cardinals, and he’s in a similar boat, though only 25 ... he too will be able to go to arbitration after the 1947 season, but he’s likely to draw even more than Williams if push comes to shove -- this year he hit .333 with 41 doubles, 15 triples, 14 homers and 108 RBIs, and he put up nearly nine games of WAR, thanks to having what the Kid lacks ... strong defensive ability. Knowing what I know about ownership on the other side of this city, there’s no way it’ll come to that, “The Man” will get paid when the time comes to stay a Cardinal if they intend to compete for additional titles. I’d bet my career on it. November 26, 1946: It’s the big day ... free agents have officially filed, and there are some big bats on the table, including 30-year-old Phil Cavarretta, Luke Appling, Arky Vaughn, and Jeff Heath. The biggest name among pitchers is 37-year-old Dutch Leonard, and he’s definitely on our radar right now for his control and ability to help our very raw, young pitching core. We’re definitely looking to make a few moves, if the price is right, but we’ll have to be careful not to get drawn into a bunch of bidding wars over players we have no hopes of getting. December 11, 1946: The Washington Senators made the first big FA splash, signing 31-year-old outfielder Jeff Heath to a five year deal worth a total of $170,000 ... $34,000 per year with a fifth year team option that has just an $8,000 buyout. Heath hit .277 last year with 23 doubles 14 homers and 85 RBIs while playing for the White Sox. The deal is notable because Washington essentially loaned Heath to the White Sox last year in exchange for bullpen help and center fielder Jim Delsing last July, and when the Sox decided not to sign him, the Senators saw an opportunity to bring him back. But they’re now paying him a lot more than he was making before. We’ll see how that works out for them in the long term. December 20, 1946: We took outfielder Dick Whitman from the Dodger’s minor league system in the Rule 5 draft, selecting the 26-year-old first overall after a season where he put up a .339 average, 24 doubles, 18 homers and 101 RBIs while playing for the Montreal Royals. That was our only pick in what was an otherwise weak pool of players. Only the Phillies picked three players, with the Athletics and Senators taking two each. We currently have offers out on multiple players, but are reaching our limit and may not be able to continue our bidding if their asks continue to rise beyond current offers without express input from ownership. January 3, 1947: *In a huge deal, we’ve officially signed legendary pitcher Dutch Leonard to a five year deal worth potentially $291,000, though the fourth year has a player option and the fifth is a team option. He’ll earn $57,000 per year for the first three years, and can opt in to a fourth at $60,000 ... we can opt OUT of his fifth year at the same value by buying him out at $25,000. The deal includes $800 per All Star appearance and $3,400 if he should win a Cy Young, and he has a no-trade agreement, coming to St. Louis essentially to play out the twilight of his career. Last year with the Washington Senators he put up an 18-15 record and 3.37 ERA while pitching 296.2 innings. He contributed 6.5 wins above replacement, and his control was impeccable. With Diomedes Olivo as our ace and Leonard pitching second in the rotation, I’m really starting to like our odds ... especially if we can firm up some defense to back those two up. January 13, 1947: The dominos of our offseason plans are falling properly into place, as Arky Vaughn has agreed to a four year, $200,000 deal that will pay him $50,000 per season through the 1950 season!* Vaughn hit .250 last year in Boston and only batted in 42 runs off 22 doubles, five triples and three homers, but his strong fielding helped put him 3.4 wins above replacement, and with us now planning to move Vern Stephens over to third (his more comfortable position) we’re going to have a much-improved defensive infield (with our adaptable 30-year-old journeyman Ellis Clary helming second). The fans are loving having a guy of Arky’s renown coming to play for us, and suddenly fan interest is on the rise for a team that hasn’t been able to put bottoms in seats properlty for years. January 14, 1947: Today we completed our offseason moves with a big deal and a HUGE deal. *First, right fielder Wally Moses, formerly of the Chicago White Sox, signed a three year deal* worth $50,000 in 1947 and 1948, with a player option for a third year at $45,000 along with $500 All Star bonuses. Moses batted .263 last year with 32 doubles and 79 RBIs, putting up 4.5 WAR on solid right field defense, and the 36-year-old said he felt slighted by the White Sox’s unwillingness to even consider extending him to let him retire in Chicago. He’s a born leader, and expressed excitement about helping build a clubhouse culture for a team that has had none in the past. Then the big deal came in ... Chicago Cubs legend Phil Cavarretta came into the offseason saying that, at 31, he had little interest in doing this “free agency” thing again. He wanted a long term deal that would make it worth playing in a new city, and he wanted it in writing, so he could play out his career without worrying about money. He was the player we put the most time into “bidding for” ... we finally won him over with a contract that runs eight years, starting at $63,000 and finishing at $70,000 each during the final four years. The total value is $539,000 spread over the eight seasons, and it includes a team buyout option on the 1954 season, at $25,000 ... he does NOT get a no-trade clause, but will earn $1,000 for any All Star appearances and $5,000 if he wins an MVP. Winner of the 1945 MVP, Cavarretta followed it up in ’46 by batting .298 for the Cubs, including 27 doubles and 53 RBIs. He had a +7.1 zone rating in left field, committing just four errors all year in the position, which helped him to 4.5 wins above replacement. All told we’ve added 18.2 WAR during this offseason, and we’ve committed slightly over $100,000 in salary that will go on this year’s books. But our owner has said if we’re going to dip our toe into this changing world of free agency, we might as well do it this year when other teams are potentially skittish about taking risks on veteran contracts. Based on our signings, preseason ticket sales are up nearly 30 percent, and we’re on track to average 13,000 fans per game, which would keep us on track to meet owner goals in that regard. Whatever happens, our fans are going to see a vastly different hitting lineup than before, with Vaughn in the leadoff spot, Cavarretta batting third ahead of Stephens and first-baseman Wally Judnich, and with Wally Moses batting sixth. Our bullpen remains an open question mark, but we’ve added two key starters, and our other three, Jack Kramer, Bob Muncrief and and Fred Sanford, were all playing above replacement level last year despite pitching with no offensive help. So I think we’re on track for a solid season ... come along for the ride, why don’t ya? __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-06-2025, 06:26 PM	#7
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	January 22, 1947: *Goose Goslin was officially inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, earning 93.7 percent of the vote from the national press! Earl Averill came close, with 72.5 percent, but nobody else broke the 60 percent mark. February 7, 1947: Rumors have abounded about various MLB teams looking to break the color barrier by signing either league’s first players from the Negro Leagues to play in the majors. While I can’t get into specifics, we’ve been negotiating with several players, and are definitely hopeful that St. Louis will be the first to break this artificial barrier, reaching out to a part of our community that has been long overlooked. February 16, 1947: Two of the state of Pennsylvania’s three teams made huge signings this afternoon, officially breaking the color barrier: - Satchel Paige, 40, signed a three-year $168,000 deal that will bring him to Pittsburgh to play for the Pirates. Paige will earn $56,000 yearly and has a no-trade clause in his contract, having gone 18-6 with a 2.25 ERA last season while pitching 208.1 innings for the Kansas City Monarchs, striking out 161 with hitters only getting .258 off his pitches. He immediately makes Pittsburgh, which went 73-81 last year, a serious threat even at his advanced age, and their fan interest is through the roof. Paige knew he was only going to have a few years as a viable major league pitcher, and he got the deal he wanted, three years of guaranteed money before risking arbitration. - Meanwhile, center fielder Willard Brown* signed a one year deal with Philadelphia’s Athletics worth $63,000. But his contract will be handled under the existing arbitration rules, so because he only has 135 days of “professional” time, for his first five seasons he will automatically earn that salary, and the 31-year-old will then be under arbitration control through 1956. Well worth it, since he hit .392 last year for the Monarchs with 25 doubles, 12 triples, 31 homers and 115 RBIs, giving him an incredible 9.0 WAR. We had him in our sights and he got away ... all over a few thousand dollars, something I suspect I will regret, since he’ll be playing against us 21 games a year. February 20, 1947: It’s official -- *our St. Louis Browns have signed second baseman Jackie Robinson to a $71,000 one year contract that makes him just the third black ballplayer to join the major leagues.* Robinson will earn that same contract amount through 1951 and will then become arbitration eligible. The financial world of baseball has shifted, and our team is embracing the risk, spending money now in hopes that we can bring the fans in and make it financially viable for our club to keep doing so in the future. Robinson spent last season with the Kansas City Monarchs (in 43 games he hit .395 with 15 doubles and 39 RBIs) and the AAA-level Montreal Royals (playing 149 games, he hit .386 with 41 doubles, 10 triples, 31 homers and an incredible 162 RBIs), and he completes our infield in a huge way, bringing excellent defense and a bat that can’t be beat. February 21, 1947: The floodgates have been unleashed, as teams across the league continue to sign up players from the Negro Legaues ahead of the start of spring training: - Chicago’s Cubs announced the signing of 42-year-old shortstop Willie Wells, who will earn $46,400 this year on a one-year deal that will likely pay him the same rate until he retires, considering his advanced age. Last year for the Baltimore Elite Giants he hit .291 with 11 doubles and 52 RBIs, while playing elite defense as a shortstop. - The Philadelphia Phillies fired a salvo against their crosstown rivals, by signing third baseman Ray Dandridge to a deal worth $41,000 this season, the 33-year-old having hit .365 last year for the Elite Giants in Baltimore while making himself indispensible from the hot corner defensively. February 22, 1947: Washington’s Senators signed 35-year-old catcher Josh Gibson to a $61,000 one-year contract, shocking everyone who thought the Pittsburgh Homestead Grays legend would stay in Pennsylvania. Gibson hit .336 last year with 14 doubles, 44 homers and 128 runs batted in, putting up 7.9 wins above replacement in a very competive playing environment. And with the Yankees, Red Sox, Guardians, Tigers and White Sox so far choosing not to sign NeL players, the American League is going to be potentially a very different battlefield in a few months’ time. The flurry of major signings seems to be waning, and in a few weeks we’ll get to finally see the action leave the front office and take the competition onto the diamond. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 10-06-2025 at 09:08 PM.

10-03-2025, 01:09 PM	#1
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World Home in San Francisco, Dominic [DiMaggio] had been having some practical thoughts besides the philosophical ones. He also looked forward to being back with his core teammates, but after returning from the fight to defeat the Evil Axis, he wanted to fight for the rights of players -- starting with himself. Decades before it became official in baseball, Dominic, after discussing his position with [his financial manager and brother] Tom, declared himself a free agent. He wrote a letter to the Red Sox brass explaining that after spending three years in military service and not signing any baseball contracts, he didn’t belong to anyone. - Tom Clavin, The DiMaggios, p. 255 What if, after World War II, the owners of Major League teams had decided to eliminate the Reserve Clause and start a rudimentary form of free agency? The idea doesn’t seem far fetched based on how Dominic DiMaggio reacted to returning to the Boston Red Sox. According to Clavin’s excellent biography The DiMaggios, Dom’s holding out wound up getting him the concession of an increased salary with the addition of benchmarks for raises based on team attendance, something that had never been given to a player. Though he became a leader in the “Player’s Union” movement, his postwar move simply didn’t draw in the other players who were also returning from the War ... but what if it had? I’m starting this dynasty write-up based on the assumption that, following the end of WWII in September of 1945, the owners of teams in both the National League and American League met during winter meetings and agreed to a new system, voluntarily abolishing the reserve clause. In its place, they voted in a system where a player, having reached 10 full years of service time, could apply to become a full free agent, establishing an arbitration system that would kick in after five years of service. Minor league players would also earn free agency after the same 10-year service period. This system would allow veteran players to at least get one opportunity to “choose his destiny,” while preventing teams from having to massively shake up their rosters constantly as soon as players emerged as stars. The owners agreed that, starting after the 1946 season a rookie draft would take place, replacing the “bonus baby” free-for-all that existed at the time. Once a team drafted a player, that player would be theirs until such time as he reached his 10 years of full service, and would remain on a rookie scale contract until reaching arbitration after five years. This compromise kept owners happy with a system still heavily weighted in their favor, while giving players returning from defending their country a sense that they too had some control over where their careers would take them. The game has a few “top prospects” still unassigned as of March 17, 1946, and I’ve chosen to assign them to the real life teams they debuted on. So Bobby Avila will go to Cleveland, Whitey Lockman will go to the Giants and Joe Nuxhall will go to the Reds. Journeymen like Luis Olmo, Nap Reyes and Arky Vaughn, who did not play for a MLB team in 1946 and who are all 26 or older, will remain free agents, to be signed by teams as they see fit. So what does this mean for teams heading into 1946, you might ask ... who all will be eligible for free agency in the ’46 offseason should their teams not sign them? Short answer ... not a whole lot. But here’s a list of players of 3.5-star status or better (100% accuracy, scouting off) who will be negotiating for their long term futures: Brooklyn Dodgers: 1B Augie Galan, RF Dixie Walker, 2B Billy Herman Chicago Cubs: LF Phil Cavarretta Chicago White Sox: SS Luke Appling Detroit Tigers: 1B Hank Greenberg New York Giants: C Ernie Lombardi, RF Mel Ott Philadelphia Phillies: 1B Frank McCormick Washington Senators: LF Jeff Heath That’s ten players to keep an eye on as we go through the first season of this new experiment, with the knowledge that teams will have to keep an eye on their other veterans if they want to attempt to stave off future major free agency exodus in the future. That will be especially important since there will be no compensation for lost players ... it’s up to owners to decide how much they value keeping a core together. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-06-2025, 01:56 PM	#3
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	1946 Season July 31, 1946: News of baseball’s new “free agency” opportunities for players has been the dominant source of league-wide gossip, but once the season got underway it was all about the games themselves and the battle to become the first post-war World Champion. By the time we reached the trade deadline, the Yankees (68-33) held a 13 game lead over the Red Sox in the AL, with Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago in a four-way battle for a distant second place. Over in the NL, St. Louis (59-40) led the 53-47 Dodgers by six and a half, with Chicago and Boston trailing nine games back at 51-50 each. A few big deals have come through as owners tentatively try to stave off players who are on the verge of free agency: - On March 29th, Dixie Walker signed a three-year deal worth $1 65,000 to stay with the Dodgers. The 35-year-old is earning $18,000 this year, but will get a raise to $55,000 per year over the three-year deal, with a clause promising him the starting right fielder spot, along with $6,500 for an MVP win and $980 as an All Star bonus. Thus far in 1946 he has batted .307 with 22 doubles, nine triples, four homers and 40 runs batted in, giving him 3.1 wins above replacement ... and yes, he got that All-Star bonus! - On April 30th, the Dodgers got busy again, offering an extension to Augie Galan that was even richer ... $300,000 spread over the next five seasons, including a vesting option in 1951, so Galan will go from $19,000 this year to $60,000 per year starting in 1947, and if he plays 130 games in 1950 he’ll keep earning that amount through his 39th birthday! He has the league’s first No Trade Clause, and earns $4,500 for an MVP win and $1,200 for any All Star appearances (he made one this year) ... he’s hit .301 this year with 25 doubles, 48 RBIs and seven stolen bases, netting him 3.4 wins above replacement as he and Walker try to get the Dodgers ahead of St. Louis in the NL pennant chase. - The final big deal has gone to yet another Dodger ... this time Brooklyn signed veteran infielder Billy Herman to a two year deal worth $25,000 per year, a deal they made official on July 9th. Herman, 37, has played in 95 games and hit just .240, but his defense has been valuable to the team. But of the three, this is the deal that made the least waves. September 30, 1946: The Dodgers were locked in battle with St. Louis all year, and it came down to the final day of the season, when the Dodgers beat the Boston Braves 11-6 and the Cardinals lost to the Chicago Cubs 10-2 ... both teams playing at home, giving the Dodgers, with their 90-64 record, a pennant win by one game over the 89-65 Cards who had literally led the entire season. That’s brutal! The Cubs, at 73-81 and in sixth place, were perfectly happy playing postseason spoiler, and they helped set up a Dodgers / Yankees subway series as a result. The Yankees (99-55) won their league in a ho-hum season, with the Chicago White Sox finishing a distant 16-games back at 83-71. Boston, an early favorite, was pretty much out of the race in May, but had shown signs of life until early August. They finished third, at 82-72, tied with Cleveland. The hapless St. Louis Browns (60-94) won the distinction of being the worst team in either league, which means they’ll get the top amateur pick in the draft this winter. There have been no other extensions to contracts ahead of free agency since the trade deadline. October 10, 1946: The Dodgers won the series’ first two games by 11-3 and 7-1 margins over the Yankees while playing on their home field. And on the 5th of October they stole game three in the House that Ruth Built, beating the Yanks 1-0 in a game that featured even hitting among the teams but better pitching by far via Brooklyn. The Yankees went on to win the next two games 5-2 and 10-3, sending the series back to Brooklyn for an improbable game six, but the Dodgers won it 6-4, breaking a 1-1 tie with three runs in the bottom of the fourth and never looking back. Augie Galan had five hits and three runs batted in, setting a new NL playoff record, and he was named World Series MVP, hitting 11-25 with three doubles and five RBIs, a .440 clip with a 1.041 OPS. On October 6th, the Detroit Tigers came to an agreement with “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg that keeps the 35-year-old first baseman in Detroit for the next three seasons. Greenberg earned $15,000 this year, but will get $34,800 each year through 1949, along with $4,200 for an MVP and $840 for an All Star appearance. The $104,400 deal looks paltry compared to what Walker and Galan got with the Dodgers, but the Tigers were 78-76 and finished 21 games back in the AL race .. so keeping Greenberg’s 4.5 WAR (he hit .255 with 25 doubles and 38 homers with 114 RBIs) was important, but so was keeping the budget under control. Or that’s what the owner will tell you, though the Tigers are sitting on a mountain of cash right now. Yesterday the New York baseball Giants signed 37-year-old right fielder Mel Ott to a two year extension: $40,000 next year and another $40K if he makes 520 plate appearances in ’47 ... an unlikely prospect, considering he only had 418 at-bats this year, hitting .263 with 16 doubles, 25 homers and 69 RBIs (though he put up a whopping 6.1 WAR, thanks to his excellent fielding (a +9.8 zone rating and just four errors all season). Finally, today the Cubs made a deal with Stan Hack, keeping the 36-year-old third baseman playing at Wrigley for the next three seasons at $29,400 per year with a $340 All Star bonus (he hasn’t been one since 1945). Hack put up 2.8 WAR this year with a .283 average, hitting 19 doubles and batting in 52 runs with six stolen bases while providing a modicum of defensive prowess from the hot corner. Nothing particularly impressive, but clearly the Cubs wanted to keep “Smiling Stan” around a while longer for his veteran leadership. The draft pool will be announced on October 16, 1946, with the draft taking place on November 15th. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 10-06-2025 at 04:03 PM.

10-06-2025, 09:29 PM	#8
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	March 10, 1947: Spring training officially begins today, and though we’ve signed many great players this offseason, a reminder of our previous doormat status is that we’ve only got 34 players on our 40-man and do not have any intention of inviting more to the party this spring. The good thing is that we won’t have to deny players their playing time to prove their worth -- when we cut our rosters down to 25 in a few weeks, we’ll know we have our best players on the field ready to get this team out of the American League basement. Here’s our spring training roster: *Lineup* C - Joe Schultz, Frank Mancuso, Les Moss 1B - Wally Judnich* 2B - Jackie Robinson, Johnny Berardino, Ellis Clary, Johnny Lucadello, Ben Steiner 3B - Vern Stephens, Bob Dillinger SS - Arky Vaughn LF - Phil Cavarretta, Joe Grace, Paul Lehner, Don Lenhart, Glenn McQuillen, Mayo Smith, Dick Whitman CF - Harry Walker, Tommy Glaviano, Jerry Witte RF - Wally Moses*, Al Zarilla 3B Bob Dillinger and LF Joe Grace will be playing for a chance to back him up out of position 2B Ellis Clary will be playing to most likely be his primary backup at short. Starters L Diomedes Olivo R Dutch Leonard R Jack Kramer R Bob Moncrief R Fred Sanford L Tom Seats Bullpen L Sam Zoldak (MR) R Al Jurisich (MR) R Ned Garner (LR) L Stan Ferens (LR) Of our many left fielders competing, it’s going to be a matter of who gets to stay up and be a potential pinch hitter, and who is not major league ready at all (McQuillen and Smith in particular are playing for their very baseball future, as if they don’t make the team, they’re likely trade bait at best. We’ll play thirty exhibition games starting today against Washington and ending on April 10th against the Yankees. Official opening day is April 14th, but we’ll open our season with a three-game home series against the Tigers April 15-17. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL** (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 10-06-2025 at 09:30 PM.

10-09-2025, 12:44 AM	#9
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	March 10, 1947 (cont’d): Our spring gameplan is to play our first seven games and then start making cuts on offense (particularly in the outfield where we have a glut of players competing for limited spots) ... and by the end of April I want to have us pretty close to our final 25-man roster, so by that point we’re able to get our starters ready for full games. We have ten pitchers competing for what will likely be seven spots ... four starters, a spot starter, a long reliever and a middle reliever ... but that will allow us to spread out innings during these spring games, with the aim to start making pitching cuts later in April. We only have to cut down from 35 to 25, so unlike a lot of teams with more players competing for fewer spots in the roster, we don’t have to make any particularly dramatic reductions. So I see this as a month to get to know my team and really figure out what we have ... are there real holes in our roster that can be filled by trades? I’d rather find out now than later. In our first spring training game, Diomedes Olivo looked great throwing, striking out the side in the bottom of the second, and our first run of the spring was scored by Jackie Robinson, who tripled in the top of the third and then came home off a sac-fly by Harry Walker to give us a 1-0 lead over the Washington Senators. The Senators got a couple runs off him in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead, but he looked good in those five innings, with just four hits and two walks for two earned runs, striking out seven on 77 pitches. We tied the score in the top of the eighth (don’t tell these guys the games don’t matter, they came out ready to fight) thanks to an RBI single by Joe Grace, and reliever Sam Zoldak got the final out in the bottom of the ninth and then singled to start the top of the 10th inning, taking third off a single by Johnny Lucadello. Zoldak would score the go-ahead run when Bob Dillinger hit into a 3-6 fielder’s choice, and he won it on a double play in the bottom of the inning as we took the victory 3-2. We played 25 players in the game, and 21 of them at least had an at-bat -- as a team we outhit them 8-7, led by Dillinger with a hit, a run and an RBI, and by Robinson who had a hit and a run. Our four relievers got through five innings without a run scoring, so I was very happy with what I saw in the early going. March 11, 1947: We played the Yankees this afternoon, with Dutch Leonard facing off against Red Munger, who last year played for the Cardinals and put up a 16-10 record and 3.12 ERA through 224.2 innings before being traded to the Yanks in November. New York took the lead in the bottom of the first off an E3 error, Tommy Henrich scoring for the Bronx Bombers. They added on in the fourth with an RBI single by Marvin Williams, but in the top of the fifth Al Zarilla reached on an error and, replaced by Bob Dillinger as a pinch runner, we scored after Dillinger stole third and came home off a double by Joe Schultz -- way to manufacture a run! Jackie Robinson doubled in Schultz to tie the game up 2-2, and just like that we had ourselves a ballgame. Jerry Witte came in as a pinch-hitter with runners on second and third in the top of the sixth, hitting a three-run homer out of right to put us squarely in control. We held tough from there and won our second exhibition game in a row, this time by a 5-2 margin. Leonard looked great, lasting five innings with two hits, two walks, two runs and a strikeout as he got the win, and our three bullpen arms (Zoldak, Ferens and Garver) kept our bullpen perfect through the remining four innings. We outhit them 8-4, led by Jerry Witte with his three-run homer, and by Jackie Robinson, who had two hits in three at-bats, batting in a run. March 12, 1947: Today we hosted the Red Sox for a spring game, our two teams both undefeated during the exhibition season so far. Jack Kramer started for us, and Harry Walker gave us a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third off a two-run homer, his first of the spring. Dom Dimaggio scored a run for the Red Sox off a sac-fly by Jim Tabor in the top of the fourth, and in the top of the seventh our bullpen’s perfect streak ended when Al Jurisich gave up a solo homer to Johnny Lazor to tie the score at 2-2. Moments later he gave them the lead, when Gene Benson hit an RBI single, so we went into the stretch trailing 3-2. They added on two more in the top of the ninth off a homer by Jack Albright, and we lost by a 5-2 margin, Boston outhitting us 12-8. Jack Kramer had five innings with five hits, a run and a strikeout, but Jarisich gave up four hits and two runs (with two K’s) as the game slipped away. Harry Walker had two RBIs off his homer, pretty much providing all our offense. March 13, 1947: Today’s game featured us versus Cleveland, and Bob Moncrief took the mound for us, and his day went poorly from the start. He gave up a staggering seven hits and five earned runs in the first inning as the game became a wash before it began. We got on the board in the top of the second with an RBI triple by Jerry Witte, and a double by Joe Schultz got us a second run. Long reliever Ned Garver took over for our beleagured starter in the bottom of the second, giving up a run to get Cleveland back toa 6-2 lead. But this game was clearly going to be all hitting, and we got the run back with the bases loaded, Wally Judnich singling in Robinson to cut it back to three. With two outs, Witte hit himself a double, clearing the bags and just like that we were tied 6-6! Boston answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning including a Les Fleming three-run homer as our pitching showed real cracks. We’d go on to lose 11-6. There were two bright spots -- though we were outhit 18-8, backup center fielder Jerry Witte hit twice in four at-bats, with a run and four RBIs thanks to a double and a triple, his seven RBIs leading the team so far this spring. And long reliever Sam Zoldak came out, trailing 10-6, and got us through three innings with five hits and three K’s, keeping the game from becoming worse than it was. Zoldak remains our only perfect reliever thus far, with an 0.00 ERA through 6.1 innings. Harry Walker may have himself a fight for the starting CF spot ... right now he’s hit twice in six tries, with one homer, giving him three RBIs, while Jerry Witte has hit three times in eight tries, including a double, a triple and a homer for seven RBIs (still no singles, but he’s slugging 1.125, which is amazing, small sample or not!) __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-09-2025, 12:58 PM	#10
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	March 14, 1947: Today’s pitching matchup was our Fred Sanford against Detroit’s Ari Houtteman, their 19-year-old top 30 pitching prospect who is hoping to start after two years in the bullpen. The Tigers pounced quickly, Barney McCoskey hitting a double and then scoring on a sac-fly by Roy Cullenbine early in the bottom of the first. But despite putting two more runners on base, Sanford handled business and kept it to the one run ... and in the top of the second, he hit a line-drive single that drove in two runs to give us the lead on two outs! Arky Vaughn drove home Cavarretta in the third to add on, doubling in the run, Harry Walker hit a solo homer in the fourth, But Sanford got into a jam in the fifth and couldn’t get the second out to save his life ... a Lennie Pearson single drove in a run, and moments later Roy Cullenbine hit a two-run double to tie us at 4-4. He got the final out as the bullpen warmed, but we’d lost our advantage. In the bottom of the seventh, Ned Garver gave up a homer to Pat Mullin as his first batter faced, continuing to blow up his ERA early in this spring, But we stunned them in the top of the ninth, when, with runners on second and third and two outs against us, backup shortstop Ellis Clary picked up a hit into center, driving in two to put us into the lead! We brought Muncrief out to pitch an inning and rest the remainder of our bullpen, giving him a chance to make up for his miserable first start attempt, and he got three quick outs to seal the 6-5 win for us. Sam Zoldak got the win, and is now 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA so far this spring, and we outhit the Tigers 11-9 ... Phil Cavarretta hit three times in three at-bats, driving in a run, and Clary’s two-run single came through in the clutch as well. March 15, 1947: Tom Seats pitched for us today against the Philly Athletics, and the 36-year-old control-minded pitcher really hoped to have a good start .. we signed him on a minor league contract, and he’s among the pitchers who will be truly fighting for his spot on the 25-man roster. Unfortunately, his flyball focus got him in trouble in the top of the first, and Clyde Vollmer hit a three-run dinger off him, getting us off to a poor start quite quickly. But we answered well ... Jackie Robinson scored off a single by Cavarretta, Arky Vaughn batted home Tommy Glaviano with another single, and with two outs we had the bases loaded for catcher Joe Schultz, who popped out to end the inning with us trailing 3-2. Robinson hit a double in the bottom of the second, his second of the game, scoring two batters later when Cavarretta reached first on an error, tying the score. Seats settled down nicely, and we walked in a run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth to give him a chance to play for the win! Al Jurisich took over with a 4-3 lead to start the top of the sixth, He got into a jam with runners on the corners in the top of the seventh, leting the tying run through on a fielder’s choice, but Muncrief came in and got the final out to keep us from giving them a lead. Arky Vaughn hit a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to get us the lead back, and Muncrief stayed out into the ninth, but blew the lead with two outs when Kenneth Humphrey hit an RBI groundball single to tie the score at 5-5. Moments later he let Pete Suder hit one into center to give them the lead, our batters trailing by a run as we came up to hit in the bottom of the inning. But Harry Walker came out to pinch hit for Muncrief with runners on second and third, one out, and his sac-fly got us the tying run in. Sam Zoldak came out to pitch in the top of the 10th, and he pitched around two baserunners, getting two strikeouts and a groundout to keep our chances alive ... and in the bottom of the inning, backup first baseman Joe Grace walked it off with a single, Bob Dillinger scoring from second to win the game for us 7-6! Zoldak remained perfect and got his third win out of the pen, with a hit, a walk and two K’s for his trouble. We outhit them 14-10, led by Robinson (two hits, two runs) and Arky Vaughn (two hits, two RBIs). Looking at our pitching through our first six spring games, our top three starters -- Olivo, Leonard and Kramer -- all look solid. But the fourth starter spot is completely up for grabs. The bullpen, including Zoldak (8.1 innings with no earned runs, six strikeouts and just two walks), Stan Ferens (7.0 innings with a 3.86 ERA, three strikeouts, two walks and a .150 BAPIP) and Al Jarisich (5.2 innings with a 4.76 ERA, seven K’s against one walk, and just seven hits against him) has been solid ... I think Zoldak has guaranteed himself a middle relief spot, and it’s now looking like Jarisich vs. Ferens for a long relief spot, though we may keep them both. At this point Ned Garver is playing for his life, however ... through 4.2 innings he’s given up six runs and has an 11.57 ERA, with three walks and no strikeouts. The 21-year-old is most likely going to be playing in the minors this spring, but we’ll keep him up for additional experience against major league pitching. We’ve decided on our biggest batch of cuts to our offense for the season ... catcher Frank Mancuso, second basemen Johnny Lucadello and Ben Steiner, and left fielders Don Lenhardt, Glen McQuillen and Mayo Smith will be headed back to the minors, though Lucadello will have to pass through waivers first. We’ll spend the rest of April letting the outfield battle shape up ... of Paul Lehner, Dick Whitman (R5), Tommy Glaviano, Jerry Witte and Al Zarillo, it’s very likely two of those will not make the final roster. I’m still deciding if we’re going with a four man or five man rotation, and that’s going to make a big difference. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-13-2025, 10:27 PM	#11
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	March 16, 1947: The White Sox were our opponent this afternoon, as our ace Diomedes Olivo faced off against Johnny Rigney, who only played two innings in his spring debut, but with two hits and no runs against him. We took the lead in the top of the second off a sac-fly by Arky Vaughn, but they had one of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie it up. Olivo reached on an error in the third and took second in the process, Jackie Robinson batting him home with a double into left to retake the lead. Robinson was caught stealing third, but we added a run when Vern Stephens hit a single that scored Cavarretta from second to make our lead 3-1. That’s when we broke their starter, loading the bags and tacking on another pair with a single by Wally Moses, the White Sox finally getting out of the inning with us ahead by four runs. Chicago got a run back in the bottom of the fourth off a double by Thurman Tucker, but we got it back in the sixth with a two-out RBI double from pinch-hitter Paul Lehner, who set Jackie Robinson up to hit an RBI single to pile on. Ned Garver took over in the bottom of the inning with a sparkling 7-2 lead, and though he gave up a run in the botom of the seventh, we again got it back in the eighth and were able to cruise to an 8-3 win. We outhit them 13-8, led by Robinson (two hits, two RBIs) and Stephens (two hits, two runs, one RBI), and Olivo got the win, pitching five innings with four hits, two walks, one strikeout and two earned runs. Arky Vaughn strained his oblique in the top of the fourth inning, and had to be pulled from the game. He’s going to be day-to-day for at least a week. March 17, 1947: Dutch Leonard had a great start against Washington, but so did their pitcher Leon Day, so this one was an unusual pitching duel early on. We broke through in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI triple by Wally Moses to go up 1-0, and a two-run homer by our next hitter, Lee Moss, broke it wide open. We added a fourth run in the fifth inning, and Leonard stayed out to pitch beyond the fifth inning, our first pitcher of the spring to do so. He got out of the sixth while stranding a pair on the corners, and we pinch-hit Arky Vaughn for him in the bottom of the inning, having pitched six innings with five hits, a walk, a strikeout and no runs against. Zoldak took over with the lead 4-0, and he blew the shutout when Ed Stevens hit a one-out solo homer, the first run he’s given up so far this spring. In the bottom of the seventh we got it back off an RBI single by Joe Grace, but they led off with another solo homer against Zoldak in the top of the eighth to at least keep a fire lit beneath them. With no outs and runners on first and second, Jarisich took the mound, and by the time he got out of the inning we’d completely surrendered our lead ... first by walking in a run with the bases loaded and then clearing them with an RBI triple by Jeff Heath that made it 6-5 Senators. Ned Garver got us through the ninth with three quick outs, and with two outs we got a double off the bat of Glaviano, but there was nothing left in us ... we lost this one 6-5. Dutch Leonard now has an 0.82 ERA through 11 spring innings, pitching incredibly well this afternoon, and we outhit them 11-10 but the bullpen did not perform admirably and most of our hits led to stranded baserunners when we couldn’t string the hits together late. March 18, 1947: We’re up against the Yankees again, and had Jack Kramer on the mound for us. The Yanks got on the board first with a sac-fly by Charlie Keller which scored Tommy Henrich from third in the top of the first inning, and they added on in the second via an RBI double from Hank Majeski. Keller struggled from there to get the third out in the inning, but finally got us up to hit trailing 3-0. We tried to give him a chance to settle in to start the third, but two baseruners in a row forced our hand -- Stan Ferens took over still trailing by three and with runners on first and second, no outs -- and the game turned into a complete loss from there, Ferens giving up both of Kramer’s runs and two more of his own before we got out of the third. We finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI triple by Joe Grace, but we trailed 9-1 at that point, so it mattered little in the grand scheme of things. Jerry Witte’s two-run homer moments later definitely brought the fans to a higher level of alertness, cuting the deficit to six, We made further inroads in the bottom of the seventh, Johnny Berardino hitting an RBI double to cut it to five, and in the bottom of the ninth we loaded the bases off a trio of walks, scoring a run when Al Zarilla hit into a fielder’s choice. But it didn’t matter, and we lost this one 9-5 despite our bench players valliantly trying to claw their way back in the exhibition game. The Yankees outhit us 13-7, and Kramer and Ferenz combined for 4.1 innings with nine hits and nine earned runs, walking four and striking out just two. Jerry Witte led our offense with two hits a run and two RBIs. March 19, 1947: Bob Muncrief started for us today against the Boston Red Sox, and he walked a pair in the first but escaped without giving up a run. For him this spring, that counts as a BIG win, as he tries to get his ERA back under 10. But a solo homer for Jim Tabor put Boston up 1-0 in the top of the second, and his number of chances is starting to wane. The Sox added a run in the third, but Muncrief held firm and got through five innings without further incident, allowing a total of six hits with four walks, a strikeout and the two earned runs, improving his ERA to 8.68. With the bullpen worn down, we gave the rest of the game to Tom Seats, who is competing for a spot starter position. He had a rough start -- a triple and an RBI single right off the bat -- but in the bottom of the inning we got on the board with an RBI single for Berardino, and we went into the seventh trailing just 3-1. Al Zarilla cut that margin to a single run when he hit a solo bomb out of right in the bottom of the eighth ... but they answered with one of their own in the top of the ninth by Hank Thompson, and that was all she wrote as we lost this one 4-2. Boston outhit us 10-4, with Zarilla leading our offense late ... Seats did what he could, allowing just four hits and two runs off 39 pitches through four innings, but we weren’t able to manufacture baserunners. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-24-2025, 07:11 PM	#12
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	March 21, 1947: We’re 5-5 in spring games so far, heading into today’s game against Cleveland who have had a similar trajectory. We took the lead in the bottom of the second off a two-run homer by Wally Judnich, and Vern Stephens grounded out to first in the bottom of the third to drive in Phil Cavaretta from third base after he’d tripled moments before. They got on the board in the top of the fourth with an RBI triple by Gene Woodling, but we got it back in the fourth plus two more in the fifth to put ourselves solidly in the lead. Fred Sanford got us through six solid innings, and Sam Zoldak took over in the seventh, putting in a solid three-inning bullpen performance as we shut them down 7-1. Sanford got his first win of the spring with just four hits two walks and a run against him, while Zoldak allowed just a hit and a walk while throwing 28 pitches. We outhit the Guardians 10-5, led by Vern Stephens with two hits, two runs and an RBI. March 22, 1947: Diomedes Olivo started his third game of the spring in this tilt against the Detroit Tigers, but he was pitching to back up our reserves on offense -- I wanted to see how our backup guys would handle playing, and how long Olivo would be able to handle leading from the mound, particularly in a situation where he’d be unlikely to be pitching with a lead. Joe Grace got us the lead off a sac-fly in the bottom of the third, but with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the fourth they tied us with a sac-fly of their own. Olivo was solid, holding that tie through seven innings and nearly 100 pitches, but he finally had to hand the ball to Ned Garver to start the bott still knotted 1-1. Garver was decidedly NOT up to the challenge, giving up a leadoff triple and then, after one out, intentionally walking one batter before accidentally walking the next two to hand them the lead. He did get us out of the inning without further damage, the Tigers leading by a slim 2-1 margin. He stayed out for the ninth and did well enough to keep us in the game, but our bats weren’t up to the challenge of a comeback and we lost by that same 2-1 margin. Oliver pitched seven innings with two hits, two walks, six strikeouts and an unearned run, while Garver took the loss, lasting two innings with three hits, three walks, a strikeout and an earned run. Surprisingly we managed to outhit them 7-5, but a pair of errors were hard to overcome. Al Zarilla led the offense with two hits and our lone run scored. March 23, 1947: Dutch Leonard had his third start of the spring facing the Philadelphia Athletics this afternoon, and we took the lead quickly, Robinson scoring as Vern Stephens hit into a 5-4-3 double play, with Wally Judnich following it with an RBI single to bring Jackie home, giving us a 2-0 lead halfway through the first. Second time through the lineup we brought in our subs, looking to give our backup bats more spring experience as we make our decisions on final cuts. Dick Whitman hit a sac-fly in the top of the fourth to make it a 3-0 lead, and Leonard didn’t give up his first hit until he already had two outs in the bottom of the fourth. But his second hit, moments later, allowed the Athletics to get on the board thanks to a double via Willard Brown’s bat, and just like that we had a ballgame. He gave up an RBI double to Pete Suder in the bottom of the fifth to cut our lead to one, and his struggles magnified from there -- Elmer Valo hit a two-run single to give Philly the lead before Leonard got back to back strikeouts to end the inning. Al Jurisich took over in the sixth, still trailing 4-3, and he did well in that inning but allowed a homer off Cass Michaels’ bat with two outs in the seventh to give the Athletics a two-run advantage. We found a spark in the top of the eighth with two outs against us when Joe Schultz hit an RBI double to get us back within a run. Tommy Glaviano pinch-hit for Jurisich, walking his way to load the bags, but we couldn’t get the tying run across. Stan Ferens took over on the mound for the bottom of the inning, loading the bases and then incredibly getting three outs in a row to strand them all ... giving us a chance heading into the ninth. They had us on the ropes, runners on the corners, two outs, Zarilla up to bat, when our right fielder showed true power, hitting one clear out of right field for a three-run homer and the lead! We brought out Sam Zoldak to close, getting three quick outs as we nabbed a surprising 7-5 victory. Ferens got the win, walking two but giving up no runs, and Zoldak got his second save of the spring and brought his ERA down to 2.35. Dutch Leonard had a rough outing, giving up four runs off six hits and a walk, but he’s still got a 2.81 ERA through three starts -- his next start will show us how he comes back from a tough outing. Our bats were solid all day, outhitting them 13-8 as we stormed back. Zarilla was king once again, hitting twice with two runs and three batted in. He has hit .304 so far this spring and has actually outperformed Wally Moses ... could the 27-year-old actually become our opening day starter? He’s playing like he wants it. March 24, 1947: Next up: the White Sox, with Tom Seats getting the start for us. His first inning didn’t go as well as we’d hoped, giving up a two-run homer to Chet Laabs to get the Sox started. But Arky Vaughan hit an RBI single for us in the bottom of the inning, so we weren’t out of it yet. Seats settled in well in the second and third, but proved vulnerable to the long ball -- in the top of the fourth, Minnie Minoso hit one out of left to extend their lead to 3-1, and our bats were not popping off in the same way. Luis Olmo hit an RBI triple for the Sox in the sixth and this one was getting away from us quickly. Ned Garver took over after another run scored on an error, the score 5-1 against us with two on and two outs -- and it went from bad to “let’s just get this one over with” as both runs scored off a double by pinch-hitter Thurman Tucker. We got a run back in the bottom of the inning and Zoldak came out to pitch the rest of the way, but it didn’t make much difference as we got hammered 7-2. Seats took a big hit with six hits, a strikeout and seven runs against him (only four of which were earned). Zoldak’s three inning effort impressed us all, getting his ERA back under 2.00 ... but we got outhit 10-9 and looked lost out there, Dillinger leading the way with two hits, a walk and a run. We’re nearly at the halfway point for spring training, and so far pitching looks like it’s going to be our biggest issue ... only Olivo and Leonard look secure in their starting spots, and Zoldak remains by far our best reliever. Who will become our back-end starters, and who will anchor our bullpen? We’ve made a lot of strides this offseason, but it’s still going to be an uphill climb. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-30-2025, 02:30 PM	#13
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	March 25, 1947: We faced off against Washington today, with Fred Sanford on the mound -- Sanford started on the 14th and the 21st, and is coming off a one earned run performance over six innings that suggests he has the chance to be our #3 starter if he can keep the strong innings coming. He acquitted himself well in a pitching duel today, but Washington drew first blood in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by George Binks, just the second hit they’d had all day. They’d add another just moments later to take a 2-0 lead, but we loaded the bases and walked in a run in the top of the sixth to keep this one close. Sanford got us through the bottom of the sixth inning safely, and was rewarded in the top of the seventh when Bob Dillinger tied it with an RBI triple, our boys taking the lead off a line drive double by Harry Walker to lead 3-2 heading into the stretch! Al Jurisich took over in the bottom of the inning, and in the top of the eighth we bought insurance with an RBI single by Vern Stephens. Zoldak took over with two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the eighth, getting the out that got us into the ninth safely. He then finished the ninth on three quick outs to ease us into the 4-2 win! Sanford is looking great after his second win, a six inning effort with four hits, two walks, five strikeouts and a pair of earned runs, giving him a 3.71 ERA. We outhit the Senators 8-5, led by Dillinger, who had two hits, a walk, two runs and an RBI. March 26, 1947: The Yankees were our opponent this afternoon, with Jack Kramer and his 7.71 ERA taking the mound for us. He and Bob Muncrief (8.68 ERA) are fighting to be a back-end starter or long relief out of the bullpen, and neither has much room for error. Kramer understood the situation and played like he really wants to be on our opening day roster, pitching four shutout innings before giving up a run in the bottom of the fifth as Marvin Williams hit an RBI double to givbe the Yankees a 1-0 lead. We answered in the top of the sixth with an RBI single by Arky Vaughan, and Kramer got us through the sixth with verve, keeping us in the game with three quick outs as he got his ERA under 5.00 for the spring. Stan Ferens took over in the bottom of the seventh still tied 1-1, and Ned Garver came out in the eighth with it unchanged, but the Yankees took the lead off a single by Bobby Brown, bringing us up in the top of the ninth trailing by a run. Al Zarillo hit a leadoff single in the top of the ninth, and catcher Joe Schultz hit one moments later that drove Zarilla to third. That’s when Phil Cavarretta, with one out against us, hit a single into left field to drive in the tying run! They walked Robinson to load the bases, and Bob Dillinger then came up and got us the lead, hitting a flyball single with two strikes against him to drive home two more runs and leave the Yankees stunned. The game quickly turned into a rout, our boys scoring seven total in the inning to take a six run lead into the bottom of the frame as Tom Seats came in to clean up. Seats got the outs we needed as we shut them down 8-2. Kramer was solid with six innings and just five hits, a walk, two strikeouts and one earned run as his ERA improved to 4.85. Garver (1-2, 6.23 ERA) got the win despite allowing two hits a walk and a run in his inning -- our bats came through big in that ninth inning as we outhit them 12-9, led by Dillinger with two hits, two runs and two RBIs. March 27, 1947: Bob Muncrief came into today’s game against the Boston Red Sox playing for his roster spot ... through two starts and two bullpen outings over 9.1 innings, he’s given up NINE earned runs off 16 hits and four walks, and he desperately needs to show us he can put something together or he’s headed for AAA. He came out focused and steady early, getting two solid innings in before we took our first lead off a sac-fly by Phil Cavarretta to go up 1-0 heading into the top of the third. But Boston answered quickly with an RBI triple by Johnny Hopp to tie the score in the top of the third, and a two-run homer by Dom DiMaggio shot them into the lead. Muncrief got some breathing room when we made a comeback in the bottom of the inning, thanks to a two-run triple by Jackie Robinson that tied the score 3-3. He safely pitched through the fourth inning, but when he opened the top of the fifth with a hit into left by Happ, we had to pull him for Tom Seats, who was ready to put in a few innings if he needed to. He got the three outs quickly to bring us back up to hit, and a solo homer for Harry Walker put us back on top 4-3 heading into the sixth. We added on another pair in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Seats got us into the stretch still ahead by the three-run margin. Vern Stephens hit a two-run blast in the bottom of the inning, which was followed by a solo bomb for Robinson, and this game was officially ours for the taking. Jarisich came in with a six-run advantage in the eighth, and he quietly got his six outs to finish off the 9-3 victory. Muncrief finished with six hits, a walk, two strikeouts and three more earned runs, keeping his ERA at 8.10, failing to get through the fifth inning ... but we outhit Boston 11-8 with four homers as a team, including two for Jackie Robinson who finished with four hits, three runs and four RBIs to lead the team. Seats got the win, improving to 1-1 with a 4.34 ERA through 18.2 innings over three starts and two relief appearances. *Muncrief has refused to be demoted, and has been put on waivers.* We’re officially down to 27 men on our roster, and we’ll likely cut one more player from the bullpen and one more from the outfield before spring training is done, in order to have our roster “opening day compliant.” Thirteen spring games remain, with opening day set for April 14 (our first game coming on the 15th). __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-30-2025, 03:44 PM	#14
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	March 28, 1947: Diomedes Olivo got the start for us against Cleveland, and with this being his fourth start of the spring, and he being our rotation leader, I am looking to see how deep he can go -- I expect an ace starter to be able to complete games, and today was his chance. The game became an instant blowout in our favor, however, before he ever threw a pitch -- Robinson singled, Walker got him to second with another single, Vern Stephens walked the bases loaded with one out, and Wally Judnich hit a grand slam homer to put us up by four just minutes into the game! Wally Moses would add an RBI triple and he scored himself off a passed ball as we whipped the Guardians 6-0 heading into the bottom of the first. Olivo struggled in the bottom of the second, letting them on the board with a run-scoring wild pitch, but we still led 6-2 heading into the top of the third. He loaded the bases in the bottom of the third but got out of the jam with nobody scoring. And his day continued to drag on as in the fourth inning they got another run in, thanks to an RBI double by Dale Mitchell, and Olivo’s pitch count continued to rise. A strong play at the plate kept a fourth run from scoring and we got into the fifth still ahead 6-3, but Diomedes’ control was off and it was difficult to pinpoint a specific issue. Even then, he got us through six innings with the lead still safe, at which point Ned Garver took over. And though Garver retired the side on eight pitches in the seventh, he had a terrible run in the eighth ... two walks and a three-run homer by Ken Keltner that tied the score and blew everything from our solid start away. He got us into the ninth tied 6-6, Stan Zoldak taking over in the bottom of the inning to send this one into extras. He pitched the rest of the way, and Cleveland wound up walking it off with a homer out of right by Al Cihocki in the bottom of the 11th, as they beat us 7-6. Olivo actually had a decent night, with six innings of eight hit four walk four strikeout baseball, allowing three runs. But those walks were critical, if he had avoided those free passes he could have kept this game from going to the pen until much later. Zoldak (3-1, 2.05 ERA) took the loss, but pitched 2.1 innings with two hits a strikeout and the one run. We outhit them 12-11, led by Judnich who had two hits and four RBIs. March 29, 1947: In the top of the first against Detroit, Vern Stephens hit an RBI double to again give us an early lead. But yesterday when that happened we then went ten innings without scoring again. Tonight Larry Walker made sure that didn’t happen again, hitting a solo homer to lead off in the top of the third, extending our lead to 2-0. Dutch Leonard was great in the first four frames, but in the bottom of the fifth he showed cracks, and Detroit capitalized with an RBI double by Eddie Mayo to cut our lead to 2-1. Moments later they tied it on a single by Lennie Pearson and we had ourselves a ballgame. We retook the lead in the top of the sixth with a bases-loaded walk by Jackie Robinson, but they led off with a homer by Jimmy Outlaw in the bottom of the inning to tie us again at 3-3, taking the lead in the bottom of the seventh on two outs when Outlaw hit an RBI double to pile on. Al Jurisich took over in the bottom of the eighth, still trailing by a run, and his first batter faced hit a homer out of right to signal us that this just wasn’t our game. They would hit another homer off us moments later, a two-run shot to pretty much the same damned spot, and though we got a run back in the ninth we lost a rough one 7-4. Leonard (1-1, 3.52 ERA) had a good night with seven innings and just six hits, but he walked three against just two strikeouts, and four runs scored on him. We again outhit our opponent, this time 10-9, led by Robinson’s two hits, a walk, two runs and an RBI, but our bats were inconsistent when it counted, and we’re struggling to find ways to score the runners we get on base. Bob Muncrief has passed through waivers and still refuses to go to the minor leagues. We’ve agreed to send him to the Cubs alogn with $5,000, about a third of his salary, rather than pay to cut him outright. If he can find a spot on their 25-man roster, more power to him. But my bet is he’ll soon wind up a free agent regardless. March 30, 1947: Philadelphia took the lead in the top of the second against us today with a solo homer by Buddy Rosar, and Fred Sanford got into trouble in the third, loading the bases without an out -- Al Smith walked in a run to extend their lead, but amazingly we escaped further damage on a brilliant 4-6-3 doubleplay, so we still had a chance to calm the waters. But our bats weren’t making good contact, and Sanford’s in the middle of our rotation for a reason. He got us through six innings but we were down 3-0 when Stan Ferens took over in the top of the seventh, and even with Ferens pitching perfectly for three innings, we never even made a squeak offensively. The Athletics won easily 3-0, outhitting us 9-6. Sanford only allowed eight hits in his six innings, striking out three with two walks and three earned runs. But that was enough. Ferens pitched three innings with a hit, two walks and a strikeout, and our offense (as it was) was led by Arky Vaughn, who hit twice to nowhere. March 31, 1947: Jackie Robinson helped end our offensive drought with an RBI triple in the top of the first against the White Sox, and we scored runs in the second and third as well before Tom Seats got shellacked in the bottom of the inning to give up four runs and the lead. It’s the time of spring where we need to see if he can dig out of things, so Seats stayed out there ... particularly since three of the runs had come off one hit by Minnie Minoso, so it was going to also be key to see if our bats could find ways to get hits late in a game to keep us competitive -- so far, most recent games have suggested they cannot. Ned Garver got the ball with no outs in the sixth, score still 4-3 in Chicago’s favor with a runner on base, and he pitched well to keep them from scoring ... but with two outs in the seventh and a runner on, Ken Silvestri hit a two-run bomb out of right to put a nail in. We went into the eighth inning trailing by three runs, and our late-game offense is non-existant of late. Ferens gave up a run in the eighth and we lost this one 7-3, our bats showing no bite once the lead was gone. Seats (1-2, 4.56 ERA) had five innings with 10 hits, a walk, a strikeout and four runs (three earned), and we were outhit 15-12. Robinson looked good with three hits and a pair of RBIs, but no one else shined at all. April 1, 1947: Jack Kramer started for us today against the Senators, and he dug us a hole early, Washington scoring two each in the second and third to take control. He got his five innings, but had to pitch around loaded bags in the fifth (nobody scored) which shortened his day significantly. Garver took over in the top of the sixth, still trailing 4-0, and nothing beyond that mattered. Our offense remained nonexistant, and we got shut out in this one 5-0 ... I’m no longer seeing any of the good signs we’d been noting early in the spring, as this team seems to be fully on autopilot. Am I looking at leading a 60-win team at best this year, even with our added talent from free agency? I certainly hope not. This has to be a slump ... and all slumps come to an end eventually. Jack Kramer finished with nine hits, a walk, three strikeouts and four earned runs in his five innings, and the Senators outhit us 11-8 ... Even Jackie Robinson was unable to spark anything, going 0-5 while leaving four runners on base. April 2, 1947: We’re seeing that, as expected the Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox and Guardians look to have the best all-around teams at this early point in the year. We only won 60 games last year and should have no expectations of significant improvement, but we did bring in strong bats in free agency, so I’m confident this slump will ebb eventually. Goal one is to get a win today against the Yankees. Diomedes Olivo pitched his fifth start of the spring, and he pitched confidently, shutting the Yankees’ batters down one by one and giving us time for ours to find their footing. Harry Walker hit a solo homer for us in the bottom of the third to give us a 1-0 lead, but a Snuffy Stirnweiss triple and a Phil Rizzuto homer back to back got New York into the lead 2-1 in the top of the fourth, and Olivo did not react well ... Joe Dimaggio hit a triple into left and quite quickly the Yankees loaded the bases, but Olivo was able to hold them off and get out of the inning still with the one run deficit. We tied things up in the bottom of the fifth with a triple of our own by Wally Moses, but the Yankees struck again in the sixth, scoring two off a single by Nick Etten to go up 4-2. Sam Zoldak took over in the top of the seventh, and we got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Harry Walker hit an RBI single into right to score Johnny Berardino. In the bottom of the eighth we tied it with an RBI single by Joe Schultz, and finally I got to see this team show life late in a hard-fought game! Zoldak got us through the ninth safely, and in the bottom of the inning we walked it off on two outs with a line drive single by Vern Stephens, Harry Walker scoring the winning run as we took this one 5-4! Zoldak (4-1, 1.80 ERA) got the win, pitching three innings with two hits and two walks, and we outhit them 10-9, led by Walker who had two hits, a walk, two runs and two RBIs. Olivo has a 1-0 record and a 3.41 ERA through 29 innings over five spring starts, and though he hasn’t always looked like a guy who can put up complete games and help us dominate pitching duels, he’s done what a rookie can to show he’s got the skills to compete at this level. He’ll get one more start to show his stuff before opening day, but his spot at the top of our rotation is secure. With seven games left of the spring season, we’re close to having our final roster lined up, but there are still plenty of innings left before the final cut has to be made. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 10-30-2025 at 03:45 PM.

10-31-2025, 03:04 PM	#15
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	April 4, 1947: We took the lead in the top of the fourth against Boston when Arky Vaughn hit a sac-fly to drive home Jackie Robinson, putting us up 1-0. And Dutch Leonard, having his best game of the spring, kept us in it from there, dominating batter after batter as he held the one-run lead into the sixth -- when he blew a pick-off play at first, an E1 error that allowed Johnny Peacock to tie the game on two outs: Tie Game. In the top of the eighth we got the lead back when Bob Dillinger hit an RBI single, driving in Wally Moses from third, and Dillinger later scored off a bases loaded walk by Vaughn, putting us up 3-1 heading into the bottom of the inning. Leonard got us thorugh the eighth with the lead intact, and with his arm still fresh we let him complete the game as we held tough to win 3-1. Leonard, in nine innings, allowed just nine hits and a run with two strikeouts and no walks, and we won while being outhit 9-6! Vaughn batted in two runs without a hit, and Dillinger led the team with two hits, a run and an RBI. April 5, 1947: Against Cleveland, we again took the lead first, this time in the bottom of the second off an RBI single by Ellis Clary. We added a pair in the fourth, thanks to RBI doubles by Clary and Tommy Glaviano, and Ned Garver took the ball in the top of the eighth leading 3-0! Garver blew the shutout, as Lou Boudreau hit an RBI double to drive home Cleveland’s first run, but he got out of the inning with a hold. Les Moss hit an RBI double in the ninth to add a run back, and Al Jurisich took over in the bottom of the inning, pitching around a walked batter to get us the outs we needed to win 4-1. Sanford improved to 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA, allowing just three hits with three walks and four strikeouts in his seven innings, and we outhit the Guardians 8-5, led by Clary, who hit twice with a run scored and two batted in. April 6, 1947: We played the Tigers today, with Spring Training nearly at an end, Tom Seats getting his last start to impress us before we set the opening day rosters. We traded a run apeice in the top of the first and the bottom of the second, Wally Judnich scoring the tying run for us, and Seats got us into the seventh still tied ... but with one out, he gave up a solo homer to Hoot Evers and the Tigers retook the lead. Stan Ferens took over from there, and he gave up a run in the top of the ninth to Jimmy Bloodworth -- another solo bomb -- but we tied the game with a two-run blast by Les Moss and this one went into extras tied 3-3. Ferens got us through the 10th safely, Sam Zoldak taking the ball in the top of the 11th. Cleveland retook the lead in the top of the 12th off an absolutely piss-poor defensive play (Johnny Outlaw getting them the lead) and a second run scored off a wild pitch ... and that was all she wrote, our guys losing 5-3 after 12 innings. Zoldak (4-2, 2.33 ERA) took the loss, pitching two innings with four hits and two runs, and Detroit outhit us 14-7 ... we had no business keeping it a ballgame as long as it was. Phil Cavarretta led the way with two hits and a run scored. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

11-01-2025, 03:41 PM	#16
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	April 7, 1947: Four spring games remain, and today we faced the bottom-dwelling Philly Athletics, with Jack Kramer looking at his final start of the spring. Aside from trading runs in the second (Wally Judnich hit a solo homer for us, Buddy Rosar hit an RBI single for them) the game was tight early on. In the bottom of the eighth, still knotted 1-1, Sam Zoldak took over on the mound, and we took the lead in the top of the ninth when he hit an RBI single to give himself the lead! Three quick outs in the bottom of the inning and he sealed the 2-1 win for us. Zoldak improved to 5-2 with a two inning one hit effort, improving his ERA to 2.17, while Kramer had his best start of the spring, pitching seven innings with four hits a walk and a run, throwing 95 pitches as he improved his ERA to 4.32. We outhit Philly 10-5, led by Judnich and Zoldak, whose homer and RBI single won us the game. April 8, 1947: Ned Garver got the start for us in today’s game against the White Sox, giving him a shot at proving whether he or Stan Ferens have what it takes to be long-reliever / spot starters this year (Ferens will start tomorrow’s game). The White Sox scored in the top of the first, a solo homer by Eddie Joost doing the trick, but we tied it in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double by Garver, who seemed to be trying singlehandedly to will us back into this one. He got us through the sixth safely, and in the bottom of the inning Ellis Clary got us the lead with a two-run single, Les Moss later scoring off a sac-fly by Garver to give us a 4-1 lead as Al Jurisich came out to relieve the exhausted starter. Jurisich pitched the remainder of the way and we were able to hold on to win 5-2. Garver (2-2, 5.67 ERA) took the win after a solid six inning effort, allowing five hits, five walks and a run with just one strikeout through 102 pitches, a good audition indeed for that final bullpen spot. We outhit Chicago 9-7, led by Clary, who hit three times with a run and two RBIs. April 9, 1947: Stan Ferens got the start today against Washington, and he found himself locked into a pitching duel with Senators starter Claude Passeau, the two pitchers combining for just three hits through five scoreless innings. Ferens kept it scoreless through the sixth while pitching around runners on the corners, and after the stretch we brought out Sam Zoldak, the score still knotted up with nobody on the board. I was impressed with our defense -- they’d outhit us by a significant margin, but we were still in there fighting like hell. In the end we came up short -- Zoldak gave up a hit to Ed Stephens on two outs, George Myatt coming around from second to score the game’s only run in our 1-0 loss. But we fought hard as hell, and I liked seeing it. Zoldak took the loss, but he pitched 2.2 innings with four hits, a walk, a strikeout and the one earned run, following Ferens, who had 6.1 innings with four hits, two walks and four K’s while letting nobody in. We were outhit 8-3, so being in such a tight battle of wills was a sign of our improvement. Arky Vaughn led the offense with a hit and two walks, but just couldn’t get around. April 10, 1947: It’s the final game of the spring training stretch, and we’ve decided not to use Olivo or any of our other starters ... since our final cut is going to have to come from the pitching side, I’m going to give our bullpen one more chance to show who deserves to make that final difficult cut. Al Jurisich will get the start today against the Yankees, but our plan was to hopefully get two or three good innings from him and then let Ferens and Garver split the remainder. Alas, Jurisich gave up four runs to the Yankees in the bottom of the first without even getting an out (Henrich single, Lindell single, Dimaggio single, Berra GRAND SLAM) ... and Garver had to come out to salvage things way earlier than planned. He got us into the top of the second down 5-0, and pitched through the fourth without giving up more runs. Zoldak relieved him in the botom of the fifth, and instead of using Ferens, who was more worn down from yesterday than he was willing to admit, I brought out Tom Seats to pitch the remainder of the game, taking the ball in the bottom of the sixth and pitching until we finished the 7-1 loss. We finished the spring dead even, 15 wins, 15 losses, the loss going to Jurisich (2-2, 6.63 ERA) as we got outhit 11-5. Opening day isn’t for four days, and we don’t play again until the 15th. Detroit finished 18-12 in spring games, tied with the Yankees, while Cleveland finished 17-13 and Washington was 16-14. We beat out Boston, Chicago and Philly, and while competing for a penant is so wildly beyond what our team has accomplished in recent history (not counting the 1944 season during which most of the league’s best were still fighting across the European and Japanese theaters) it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that we could be competitive enough to finish in the top half of the table ... which aside from ’44, hasn’t happened since ’42 (and before that, ’29). Not counting ’44, we haven’t beaten out the league since the late 1880s, so our main focus this year will be on building a foundation for future success. And not finishing last. I’ll be damned if we can’t at least beat out the Athletics! April 12, 1947: After much debate among my coaching staff, I’ve decided to demote 25-year-old Al Jarisich to AAA, though as he’s out of options he’ll have to pass through waivers before we can officially send him to Toledo to play with the Mud Hens. With one additional player needing to be moved down, we’ve chosen to demote 26-year-old Paul Lehner (left field) as well ... Lehner only managed to bat .187 in his limited spring appearances, and that’s not good enough to be a legitimate option off the bench. As such, here is our opening day roster: *Lineup* C - Joe Schultz 1B - Wally Judnich 2B - Jackie Robinson 3B - Vern Stephens SS - Arky Vaughn LF - Phil Cavarretta CF - Harry Walker RF - Wally Moses *Bench* C - Les Moss 1B - Joe Grace 2B - Johnny Berardino 3B - Bob Dillinger SS - Ellis Clary LF - Dick Whitman CF - Tommy Glaviano CF - Jerry Witte RF - Al Zarilla Zarilla, Whitman, Witte and Moss will be our primary pinch-hitters, with Dillinger, Glaviano, Zarilla and Whitman being our primary pinch-runners. *Starters* 1 - Diomedes Olivo 2 - Dutch Leonard 3 - Fred Sanford 4 - Tom Seats *Bullpen* L - Sam Zoldak (Stopper, Middle Relief) L - Stan Ferens (Middle Relief, High Leverage) R - Ned Garver (Long Relief, Setup) R - Jack Kramer (Doubleheader SP, Long Relief) I like the idea of a four-man rotation in this era ... there are a lot of double plays in this era of baseball, but that’s where a solidly qualified fifth man out of the pen can be a regular spot starter. I’ll be expecting my starters to anchor games, and since the closer doesn’t exist yet, Zoldak will be our primary “stoppper” and will likely still get the lion’s share of three-inning saves when they are a necessary evil. Ferens and Garver will get plenty of innings in games where the starters fail to deliver, but this is a time in baseball where even having four guys in the pen is something of a luxury. But with Olivo, Leonard and Sanford our obvious top three, beyond that Seats and Kramer are decent but inconsistent ... so I want to make sure we have the bullpen arms to help keep rough starts from becoming automatic losses. April 14, 1947: Our top pick in last year’s draft, center fielder Richie Ashburn, was named the 16th best prospect in baseball and has been tearing it up for the Springfield Browns in the AA Illinois-Indiana-Iowa league, hitting .426/.507/.656 through 14 games and 61 at-bats, including six doubles and four triples. I have decided to promote him to AAA Toledo in the American Association ... I don’t expect he’ll make it up to the bigs this year, but if he rakes like that against AAA pitching, we may end up needing to find a spot for him sooner than later. The Associated Press and the Sporting News have predicted that we will finish 78-76, tied with Boston for fourth in the AL. They’re anticipating another Subway Series, with New York (92-62) facing off against Brooklyn (90-64), with the NL race finishing tighter (St. Louis expected to win 86) though in our league Cleveland (84-70) and Detroit (83-71) are predicted to be both fighting hard for a shot. The Phillies have been picked to finish last in either league with 64 wins, while the Washington Senators were surprisingly picked to finish with 65 wins, tied for last with the White Sox (the Athletics are expected to win 73, which would be surprising based on how their players looked all spring. But you never know ... when was the last time these guys ever picked the leagues correctly before any of our 154 games were played? Opening day’s tomorrow ... bring on the Tigers! Our upcoming schedule for the first three full weeks: 4/15-17: vs. Detroit 4/18-20: at Chicago (Sunday DH) 4/22-23: at Cleveland 4/24-25: at Detroit 4/26-27: vs. Chicago (Sunday DH) 4/29-30: vs. New York 5/1-3: vs. Washington 5/4: vs. Boston (DH) __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

11-01-2025, 09:14 PM	#17
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	April 15, 1947: It’s opening day, and this afternoon Diomedes Olivo took the field against Detroit’s Hal Newhouser, the team’s 25-year-old five star ace, who was 29-9 in 1944 and 25-9 in 1945 before having a “down” year last season going 13-11 with a 3.17 ERA. We surprised a lot of folks by actually getting 26,000 fans to come see us open the season, and the enthusiasm didn’t last long as the Tigers got a three-run homer off the bat of Hoot Evers in the top of the first to take a quick 3-0 lead. Eddie Lake hit an RBI single to add another on in the second, but Wally Moses did get an RBI single that, coupled with an E9 throwing error, got us on the board trailing 4-1 after two. In the bottom of the third Jackie Robinson got the fans on their feet with an RBI double, scoring Dillinger and Stephens to get us back within a run, though he got caught stealing moments later, so he didn’t get a chance to score a run himself. Olivo stayed locked in, and in the bottom of the fifth we tied the score with an RBI single from Stephens, took the lead off a bases loaded walk by Cavarretta, and added on with a sac-fly by Joe Schultz to put us ahead 6-4 heading into the top of the sixth inning! Olivo himself would score in the bottom of the sixth, off a flyball double from Harry Walker, and though they got a run back off a sac-fly in the seventh, Fevers took the ball with two outs and a man on and got us safely into the stretch leading 7-5. Sam Zoldak took over in the ninth with the lead still at two runs, and it didn’t go well ... Barney McCoskey hit an RBI double with no outs to cut our lead to one, and with two outs Hank Greenberg hit a line drive single that drove in the tying run. Zoldak got the strikeout to get us into the bottom of the frame, and this one wound up going into extra innings. Ned Garver took over in the 10th, and he pitched a beauty -- three excellent innings, capped off when Harry Walker hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 12th to walk it off as we won this one 8-7! Garver got the win, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out one batter, making up for Zoldak’s blown save ... he allowed two hits, a walk and two runs in his inning, an inauspicious start to the season that, hopefully, he’ll make up for in the coming games. Our bats won the game for us, outhitting Detroit 14-10, unfazed by the rough start. Robinson debuted with a 3-6 performance, scoring one run and driving in another two, while Vern Stephens added two hits, two runs and an RBI. April 16, 1947: Dutch Leonard pitched against Fred Hutchison in game two, Hutchison having won 26 games in 1941 playing in the minor leagues before getting drafted ... he returned from service last year and was 15-14 with a 3.65 ERA and 156 strikeouts, his major league career finally ready to get started after being derailed for so long. We took the lead in the bottom of the first, thanks to an RBI single by Arky Vaughn which scored Jackie Robinson his second major league run, but in the top of the fourth the Tigers came roaring back with an RBI double for Evers and a sac-fly by Eddie Mayo which shot them into the lead 2-1. Hank Greenberg added on with an RBI single in the top of the eighth, and Ned Garver pitched a solid inning in the ninth to give us a chance though this time our bats did not have a comeback ready. We lost this one 3-1, sending us into tomorrow’s rubber match looking to find a way to pick up a series win. Leonard took the loss, pitching eight innings with eight hits, two walks, three strikeouts and three earned runs, and we were out hit 9-5. Vaughn led the offense with a hit, a walk and an RBI, but there really wasn’t anything to cheer about for us offensively after that first inning. Richie Ashburn’s doing well at AAA through his first three starts, getting five hits in his first 15 at-bats, with two doubles and two RBIs, giving him a .333 average and a .467 slugging percentage. He’s young and raw, and needs to stay at that level for the time being ... but I like what I’m hearing from over in Toledo. April 17, 1947: Fred Sanford matched up against Preacher Roe in game three -- Roe, at 31, is a veteran with the Tigers staff, but he has only recently arrived there after a trade last year from Pittsburgh ... he won 14 games in 1945 for the Pirates, and then went 15-17 combined last year with an ERA around 3.00 ... he’s a control pitcher who does well when his curve and screwball are curving and screwing properly. We again took the lead in the bottom of the first with a sac-fly by Vern Stephens, and in the bottom of the third we added on with an RBI single, also from Stephens, to go up 2-0. But Detroit kept it interesting with a Hoot Evers groundout that scored Eddie Lake in the top of the fourth, and though we got that run back in the bottom half of the inning, Cavarretta scoring on a fielder’s choice, we weren’t feeling like we had the game fully under control. But Sanford pitched incredibly well, and in the bottom of the eighth he bought himself some insurance by hitting an RBI double to make it a three-run lead. He insisted on staying out in the ninth, but his first batter faced, Roy Cullenbine, hit one out of center and cut the lead to two so we went to Stan Ferens, who blew what was left of our lead ... a Greenberg single and a two-run homer ... INSIDE THE PARK! ... tied the score at 4-4, still no outs. The collapse became complete when, on one out, Paul Richards hit a two-run homer out of left to steal the lead. In the bottom of the inning Harry Walker got a double on one out and then successfully stole his way to third, but Stephens and Robinson struck out and we lost this one 6-4. What a brutal way to lose a series. Sanford was visibly frustrated with me after the game ... he’d gone eight innings with five hits, four walks, four strikeouts and the two runs. In retrospect I should have let him pitch, but hindsight’s always 20/20. I had no way to expect Ferens would throw 23 pitches and allow four hits and four runs without a walk or a strikeout. We actually outhit Detroit 10-9, led by Stephens with two hits and two RBIs. But he and Robinson couldn’t bring Walker home from third, and that’s all that mattered in the end. Our focus is now on Chicago, where we’re headed to face the 1-1 White Sox for a four game series over three days. April 18, 1947: Tom Seats got his first start of the year, facing Chicago’s Ray “Pop” Prim. Both are control-oriented pitchers, but Prim is 40 and still going strong, having gone 12-6 last year combined for the Cubs and Sox. It’s definitely going to be an interesting matchup. We rang up Prim for three runs in the top of the first, thanks to an RBI double from Stephens, and RBI single from Cavarretta and Schultz. But the White Sox came back in the fourth with a homer by Chet Laabs and a sac-fly by Bob Kennedy, and just like that this was a tight ballgame. Cavarretta hit another RBI single to give Seats some breathing room, and he made it through seven before Ned Garver took over in the bottom of the eighth still leading by a pair. Sam Zoldak took over in the bottom of the ninth, still leading by two but with one out and Reinaldo Drake on third ... Ralph Hodgin hit a sac-fly to score Drake, bringing up pinch hitter Whitey Platt, who popped out harmlessly to right field as we won 4-3! Tom Seats got the win, lasting seven innings with six hits, a walk, two strikeouts and two runs (only one of which was earned) while Garver held the lead for 1.1 innings with a hit, a walk and a run. Zoldak got the high-leverage save on just four pitches, and we out hit Chicago 11-7. Vern Stephens led our offense with two hits, a walk, two runs and an RBI, while Cavarretta added two hits and two RBIs. April 19, 1947: This afternoon Diomedes Olivo (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 6.2 IP, 4 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) pitched against Chicago’s Martin Crue, who is making his first start of the year. Crue is a rookie at 27, but he had great stuff stuff playing for the New York Cubans in the Negro Leagues where he was 11-10 with a 3.14 ERA and 4.3 wins above replacement. The White Sox purchased his contract in January and he’s earning just $5,000 this season ... could it be a total steal? We wound up blowing him up n the top of the second, taking the lead off a Wally Moses two-run double and adding an RBI single by Bob Dillinger, and in the top of the third Les Moss batted in two more with a line drive double to give us a 5-0 lead ... Crue had thrown 58 pitches and dug himself a huge hole. Olivo, meanwhile, was pitching the game of his LIFE, dominating the White Sox in a shutout heading into the ninth inning, having allowed just one hit! In the bottom of the ninth, Bob Kennedy grounded out to first, Whitey Platt struck out swinging, and Dave Philley struck out looking as we held tough to the 5-0 win! Olivo earned his first complete game win, with just one hit, two walks and six strikeouts, improving his ERA to 2.30. We outhit them 11-1, led by Wally Moses with two hits, a run and two RBIs, while Arky Vaughn added a hit, two walks and two runs scored. Tomorrow we’ll face our first doubleheader of the year, with Dutch Leonard set to pitch in game one and Jack Kramer looking to make his debut in the second game. April 20, 1947: Dutch Leonard (0-1, 3.38 ERA, 8.0 IP, 3 K’s, 1.25 WHIP) started against Johnny Rigney (0-1, 3.38 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 K’s, 1.25 WHIP) in pretty much an even matchup on paper for our first game of the day. A Harry Walker triple and a Cavarretta single got us our first run of the game in the top of the first inning, but the White Sox scored three in the bottom of the second, the runs coming off two singles and a groundout. Cavarretta hit an RBI single in the top of the third, and we tied it moments later off a Vern Stephens sac fly, and this one was definitely entertaining for fans of scoring. Dutch Leonard got himself the lead back with a single that scored Vaughn in the top of the fourth, giving us a 4-3 advantage mid-inning, and a Wally Judnich two-run homer in the fifth helped us start to pull away. But the White Sox kept it close with a two-run homer of their own by Tommy Butts, leaving it to Leonard to keep fighting in a tight contest. He had ice in his veins, completing the game as we held on to win 6-5! Leonard improved to 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA, allowing eight hits, two walks and five runs (two earned) with one strikeout, throwing 132 pitches in the process. We outhit the White Sox 11-8, led by Wally Judnich with two hits, a run and two RBIs. In the late-afternoon game, Jack Kramer made his debut against the White Sox’s Ed Lopat, who was also making his debut -- Lopat, at 28, is in his third season as a big leaguer, and is coming off a 10-11 season and a 3.42 ERA last year with the Sox, having thrown 163 innings with 2.6 wins above replacement. It was a pitching duel early, but Kramer hit a snag in the bottom of the fourth and Chicago picked up three quick runs off a single by Thurman Tucker and a two-run triple by Tommy Butts. But that woke our offense up, and in the top of the fifth we came out SLUGGING ... Wally Moses got us on the board with an RBI double, and then Harry Walker hit a three-run homer to bat us into the lead 4-3! Arky Vaughn hit an RBI single in the seventh to add on, and Kramer stayed out and finished what he started as we held tough and won 5-3, completing the four-game sweep! He only allowed five hits, a walk and three runs (two earned), striking out three while throwing just 93 pitches, a remarkably efficient performance considering he could have collapsed after the three-run fourth. Instead, our bats rallied and we outhit them 12-5, led by Walker’s three-run homer and by leadoff man Bob Dillinger, who finished with two hits and a run, giving him a .346 average now through his first 26 at-bats. It’s too early to get high on our own press, but a 5-2 start and a half game lead in the American League over Washington is a hell of a lot better a start than anyone expected of us. Next we’ll face Cleveland (3-2, 1 GB) for a pair on their field, before making the short trip to Detroit (3-4, 2 GB) to complete this road trip with another pair. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

Yesterday, 04:53 PM	#18
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	April 22, 1947: In minor league news, we’ve purchased the contract of negro league pitcher Amos Watson from the Indianapolis Clowns, and have put the 20-year-old on our AAA team in Toledo. Watson has an exquisite changeup and splitter combo, and though he doesn’t yet have firm control of them, he’s got great movement and I see him as a solid backup option for our bullpen which has been less than excellent early on. Today we faced Cleveland on the road, Tom Seats (1-0, 1.29 ERA, 7.0 IP, 2 K, 1.00 WHIP) facing off against Jim Bennett (0-0, 8.10 ERA, 6.2 IP, 3 K, 2.10 WHIP) who got rocked in his season debut in what became a 6-9 loss for the Guardians. His second start didn’t go much better, as we shot out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single for Cavarretta and a two-run homer for Wally Judnich, already the second of his season! But the Guardians got back into it in the bottom of the second, Babe Young hitting an RBI single to get them on the board ... though it was short-lived, as we answered in the third with a two-run single by Arky Vaughn to extend our lead back to four, up 5-1. We should have been able to start putting them away from there, but they got the two runs back with a double by Ken Keltner in the bottom of the inning, and Seats’ tendency to allow flyballs got him in trouble again when Sherm Lollar hit an RBI single to cut our lead to one ... and Wally Moses was hurt, wrenching his back on the play badly enough that we had to pull him for Al Zarilla. Thankfully our bats didn’t quit. Judnich hit an RBI triple that drove in a pair in the top of the fifth, and he scored when their pitcher had a balk called on him, helping us get our lead back to four runs. Lou Boudreau hit a solo bomb out of center for the Guardians in the bottom of the fifth, but we held the 8-5 lead into the stretch, bringing out Sam Zoldak to help us hold it. We bought ourselves plenty of insurance in the top of the ninth -- Harry Walker hit an RBI double to score Robinson, Robinson scored off a single by Phil Cavarretta, and Cavarretta scored when Wally Judnich hit a single into right to make it a six run lead. Ned Garver took over in the bottom of the inning, shutting them down nicely as we won 11-5. Seats got the win, improving to 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA despite allowing 10 hits and five runs with no walks and four K’s. Zoldak improved his ERA to 4.91 with a solid two inning hold, allowing just one hit. As a team we outhit them 15-12 in the slugfest, led by Judnich who went 4-5 with three runs and five RBIs, falling just a double short of hitting for the cycle. April 23, 1947: Diomedes Olivo (1-0, 2.30 ERA, 15.2 IP, 10 K, 0.83 WHIP) went up against Steve Gromek (0-1, 13.50 ERA, 2.0 IP, 0 K, 3.00 WHIP) in game two, facing another pitcher for the Guardians who had a less than stellar debut, pitching two innings of what became a 9-6 loss to the White Sox. It was a mismatch we hoped to exploit, but the game turned into a duel, one Cleveland got the first lead in -- Babe Young hit a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to give them a 2-0 lead. That was the only offense in a game Olivo pitched the entirety of, but it was plenty as we lost 2-0. We out hit them 9-7, led by Walker and Cavarretta, who combined for five hits to nowhere. Olivo allowed just seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts, his two earned runs giving him a 2.38 ERA as he fell to 1-1. We’ll leave Cleveland for Detroit with a split series. April 24, 1947: Dutch Leonard (1-1, 2.65 ERA, 17.0 IP, 4 K 1.18 WHIP) pitched against Tommy Bridges (0-1, 17.18 ERA, 3.2 IP, 1 K, 3.00 WHIP) in game one in Detroit, Bridges having lost his first game of the year in a 10-6 beatdown against ... Cleveland, another team whose starters have taken serious beatings early on. Detroit took the lead from us early, with a Billy Johnson homer in the second, but Jackie Robinson got it back for us in the fifth when he hit a two-run single into deep right that scored Judnich and Vaughn to put us ahead 2-1. The margins stayed razor thin until the top of the ninth when Cavarretta and Vern Stephens each hit RBI singles back to back to extend our lead, and Leonard pitched the whole game as we beat them 4-1. He finished with just four hits, walking three and striking out three with the one earned run, improving to 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA. We outhit the Tigers 10-4, led by Robinson (two hits, a run and two RBIs) and Harry Walker (three hits and a run). April 25, 1947: Fred Sanford (0-0, 2.25 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 K, 1.12 WHIP) pitched against Hal Newhouser (0-1, 5.14 ERA, 14.0 IP, 11 K, 2.07 WHIP) in game two against the Tigers, our final road game of this long stretch before getting to return to our field for a while. And Detroit seemed to be able to score consistently and at will early on. Roy Cullenbine hit a homer in the second and Eddie Mayo hit an RBI single in the third to give them a 2-0 lead, and after we tied it in the top of the third, socing off a wild pitch and an RBI single by Cavarretta, they got one back in the bottom of the inning and added on a pair in the fifth. Jackie Robinson hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh to keep us within two of the Tigers, and Sanford got us into the eighth without any additional scoring. Sam Zoldak came out of the pen in the eighth and he got us safely through the inning, and Vern Stephens hit a solo bomb in the ninth to get us back within one. But that was all we had in us, losing this one 5-4. Sanford (0-1, 4.20 ERA) took the loss, while Zoldak had a hit against him but improved his ERA to 3.86 through his first four appearances. We again outhit Detroit, this time 11-10, led by Bob Dillinger with three hits and two runs. But we weren’t able to get ahead when it counted. The loss drops us to second place, half a game behind ... Philadelphia? That’s right, the Athletics have gotten off to a hot 7-3 start as well, while the Yankees (5-7) currently sit in last place, three games back. Small sample sizes, of course, and unlikely to bear much resemblance to what we see come August and September. But that’s why you play all 154 games! This weekend we’re back in St. Louis for three games in two days against the White Sox (5-6), followed by a pair against New York, three against Washington (5-6) and a Sunday Doubleheader against Boston (5-6). We’re then here the entire next week, with a Tuesday game against Boston, two against Philly, and three against Cleveland (4-5). It should be a nice 16-game stretch in a two week period to show if we’ve got the legs to truly be good this year. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

Yesterday, 06:01 PM	#19
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,595	April 26, 1947: Today’s game was posponed due to weather, and will be played on July 2nd, during our home series with the White Sox that coincides with the July 4th doubleheader. That’s going to be interesting, with doubleheaders against them July 2 and July 4, with an off day in between. The July 2nd doubleheader will cap an eight-game-in-six-days stretch, and from July 4th through the 6th we’ll have five games in three days. That’s going to be an interesting lead-up to the All Star break! April 27, 1947: Doubleheader Day! Tom Seats (2-0, 4.15 ERA, 13.0 IP, 6 K, 1.31 WHIP) started game one, facing Lino Donoso (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 15.0 IP, 8 K, 1.67 WHIP), and we broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run Robinson homer, scoring again off a Joe Schultz RBI single, a wild pitch, a Wally Moses RBI double and a Tom Seats RBI single, going into the top of the sixth with a stunning, out of nowhere 6-0 lead! Arky Vaughn scored off another wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh, but infield miscues cost Seats the shutout as an E6 error, an E4 error and a bases loaded walk finally got Chicago on the board. Stan Ferens took the ball at that moment, bases still loaded, and Don Kolloway hit into a 5-2-3 double play that let our fans breath more easily. Ferens got out of the inning with no damage at all, and he pitched a clean inning in the ninth to keep it that way as we won 7-1! Seats improved to 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA, allowing nine hits two walks and two strikeouts with one (unearned) run. But Ferens was impressive too, getting six outs and stranding three, with no hits and a strikeout as he got his ERA down to 8.31 after his rough first appearance. We outhit Chicago 13-9, led by Robinson, who hit three times with a run and two batted in, improving his average to .365 through his first 52 at-bats. Jack Kramer (1-0, 2.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 3 K, 0.67 WHIP) pitched in the second game to buy Olivo an extra day of rest, facing Gordon Maltzberger (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7.1 IP, 1 K, 0.95 WHIP). Vern Stephens grounded into a U5-3 double play but allowed Robinson to score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the first, but Chicago answered with an RBI single by George McQuinn to tie it in the top of the second. Phil Cavarretta batted home Robinson in the bottom of the third to make it a 2-1 lead again, but Reinaldo Drake hit a two-run single in the top of the sixth to flip it again Chiago’s way. Sam Zoldak came out to pitch in the top of the seventh, pitching around a single to avoid any damage, and in the bottom of the inning we struck again as Vern Stephens hit a three-run fireball out of right to put us up by a pair! Zoldak pitched the rest of the way and we were unwavering as we shut them down 5-3. Kramer was solid with eight hits, three walks and four strikeouts in his six innings, allowing three runs. But Zoldak earned his first win in style, pitching three innings with four hits on 39 pitches, no runs scoring as he got his ERA down to 2.35 thorugh 7.2 innings over five appearances. They outhit us 12-11, but Robinson had two hits and two runs, and Stephens’ second homer of the season netted us the runs we needed to break them in the end. April 28, 1947: Jackie Robinson was named AL Player of the Week, having gone 11-26 this week for a .423 average ... including a homer, seven RBIs and five runs scored. The talented rookie has batted .375 so far through 13 games, with five doubles and a homer and seven RBIs, already giving him a full win above replacement level. Those numbers are absolutely insane, and if he were to keep them up all year, he’d be hard-pressed not to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP. April 29, 1947: Unaccustomed to six days’ rest, Diomedes Olivo (1-1, 2.28 ERA, 23.2 IP, 13 K, 0.97 WHIP) was ready and raring to go against Yankees starter Spud Chandler (1-2, 3.38 ERA, 24.0 IP, 10 K, 1.50 WHIP) in our first of two against New York. He pitched brilliantly, and in the bottom of the fifth we took the lead off a Wally Moses RBI double, adding on when Olivo hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Moses. But Johnny Lindell hit a solo bomb in the sixth to get New York right back into this game, so it came down to Olivo locking in and just throwing fire. He held the entire team’s ground as we won this one 2-1 despite the Yankees outhitting us 4-3 in the duel! Olivo improved to 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA, allowing four hits, three walks and an earned run with two strikeouts, while Wally Moses led the offense with a hit, a run and an RBI. April 30, 1947: Dutch Leonard (2-1, 2.00 ERA, 26.0 IP, 7 K, 1.04 WHIP) has been red hot early, so he went into this one against Red Munger (1-0, 3.57 ERA, 22.2 IP, 8 K, 1.24 WHIP) with great confidence, but New York snapped him out of that quickly when Joe Dimaggio hit an RBI double to get them on the board in the top of the first. We got it back in the bottom of the second, Wally Moses hitting an RBI single that scored Judnich, but New York hit back in the fifth with a two-run double by Johnny Lindell to flip it again in their direction. Leonard got us through the ninth without anyone else scoring, but it did nothing to spur our bats on as we lost this one 3-1. He fell to 2-2 with a 2.31 ERA, despite pitching the entire game with six hits, four strikeouts and the three earned runs. Another pitching duel, this one finished with both teams hitting just six times, Wally Moses leading our offense with a hit, a walk and an RBI. We finish the month of April with a 10-5 record, leading the AL by one game over the Athletics, who sit at 9-6, a game and a half upon the Guardians (7-7), Yankees (8-8) and Tigers (8-8). Washington comes into town to play three games against us with their 7-8 record, followed by three against Boston (7-9), with the White Sox (5-10) sitting on the bottom of the heap for now. Fans are already circling their calendars for the two games against Philly on our schedule on the 7th and 8th of May, but for now we need to just focus on winning these games we’re now more or less expected to win. Is it too early to think we’ve got a really competitive team? Possibly not ... right now our batters are ranked 1st in the AL in batting average (.289), slugging (.403) and extra base hits (42), and are second in OBP+ (.756), wOBA (.343) and total hits (153). On the pitching end, we lead the league in ERA (2.71), starters’ ERA (2.60), runs allowed (48), hits allowed (113), opponents’ average (.228), BAPIP (.235), walks (34) and defensive efficiency (.754). We’re 6-2 on the road and are 4-1 in one-run games, with the best run differential (+19) in either league. But it is incredibly early in the season, barely 10 percent of the games having played out. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)