Time Warp Baseball

[lgkeeper]

Did Blake Crocitto go to war?

[mauboy]

We'll see what Ervin can do with the struggling Phillies. Hopefully he can help turn things around. With two top 3 hitters in the NL, I wonder why they're struggling to win(pitching, obviously).

[Ankhiel]

Originally Posted by metsgeek

You must have read it wrong. He didn't leave. He's only promoting War Bonds.....kinda like a modern athlete promoting a product on TV (except much more altruistic)

ooooooooooh, see, i'm canadian, so that stuff means nothing to me

[Matt from TN]

Originally Posted by DamnYankees

I noticed that many people on the Braves, including my Uncle Joe, are out with 152 weeks of recovery time. This is almost three years. I thought almost all players came back in 1946. These people wll have to wait for 1947? Just wondering they whats and whys behind this.

Unfortunately, ootp6 does not count down the injury days for players I manually "injure" (ootp5 did do this for me however). So the DL time you see includes this current season. Players with 152 weeks will not return until the 1947 season. The vast majority of players will be back in 1946, but some remained in the military for one more year. Here are the stats given to me by LGO that I am using:

1944 - 25% of major leaguers joined the military, which I calculated as 6.25 players per team. Of those, 13% were gone only for 1944, 78% for 1944-45 and 9% for 1944-46. So, any player with 152 weeks is one of those 9%. 6.25 players per team = 100 players, so 9% of that is 9 players. So of the multitude of players we sent off to WWII, only 9 will still be in the service during 1946. I'm sorry Ox was one of them, but hopefully as a 25-year-old on his return, he will be primed for his career to takeoff.

One other note, I will definitely look over the younger players at war before they return to catch up any development they missed out on. However, talent drops are beyond my control for 2 reasons - 1) they are somewhat predetermined by ootp6, so those drops would've happened regardless and 2) we'll just have to assume something about time at war affected those players performance, whether it be minor injuries like knees from paratrooping, etc or psychological, or even some basic deterioration from lack of playing time for several years (especially borderline major leaguers).

Originally Posted by lgkeeper

Did Blake Crocitto go to war?

Yeppers.

[Matt from TN]

WEB PAGES UPDATED... INCLUDING PLAYER PAGES


May 1944

The war has certainly turned major league baseball on its head in so many ways, but perhaps nowhere is it more noticeable right now than in the AL standings where after the dominant Senators come three teams that have really struggled in recent years - Boston, Philadelphia and Detroit. We knew the Red Sox had improved, but it is still strange to see them just 1.5 games out of first. The A's have not had a winning season since 1936, and they seem to be inspired under manager Sal Rossi, who is no longer playing and has even more time to devote to his managing duties. Detroit has had 12 consecutive losing seasons, but new manager Arden Killbreath has them playing hard. The Tigers have the 2nd best team average in the majors (.288) and have scored the 4th most runs. The biggest change for them is having a respectable pitching staff, ranked 8th in ERA, despite losing ace Bob Guilderson (4-2, 1.99 ERA) for all of May. He is now back atop their rotation as they hope to improve in the standings. The Browns suffered a huge setback in their pennant hopes when they lost 40-year-old pitcher Mitch Haynam for the season with a torn elbow ligament.

Most of the NL headlines early this month were dominated by Dodgers slugger Oscar Vancini, who clubbed his record 500th homerun this month. It came in a 5-1 defeat of the Cubs on May 6th at home in Ebbets Field against Alex Winterhalter. View the BOX SCORE here. The Dodgers slipped from first place on the final day of May, and they sit a half-game behind the Giants. The Phillies sizzled at the end of the month and have moved up to 3rd place, 7 games off the pace.

In The News

May 4: The Browns announced that they are dropping their segregation policy restricting African Americans to the bleachers. Henceforth, "Negroes" may purchase a ticket for any seat.

May 9, 1944 - Soviet troops recapture Sevastopol.

May 11, 1944 - Allies attack the Gustav Line south of Rome.

May 12, 1944 - Germans surrender in the Crimea.

May 15, 1944 - Germans withdraw to the Adolf Hitler Line.

May 23: Wartime restrictions have been eased, and Ebbets Field was the scene of the first night game in metro New York since 1941. Brooklyn's Remmy Paul pitched an excellent game, but the visiting Cubs led 1-0 behind the arm of equally brilliant Alex Winterhalter going into the bottom of the 9th. Down to their final out, Dodgers pinch hitter Richard Gambling doubled, followed by a single from Jeff Tiptmann, scoring Gambling and tying the game at 1-1. Tiptmann advanced to 2nd on a single by Moe Sieferman, but Oscar Vancini lined out to end the inning. In the bottom of the 11th, pinch hitter Dick Cook won the game on a 2-out walk-off homerun.

May 25, 1944 - Germans retreat from Anzio.


American League-Pitcher of the Month:
Herb Lineberry (CHA)!
He had a record of 5-2 in 7 games started, with an ERA of 1.73 and 1 shutout.

American League-Batter of the Month:
Leonard "Sunny" Davie (CHA)!
He batted .366 in 101 AB, with 3 homers and 19 RBI.

National League-Pitcher of the Month:
Frank Smith (BKN)!
He had a record of 5-1 in 7 games started, with an ERA of 1.31 and 2 shutouts.

National League-Batter of the Month:
Maurice Misisca (PHI)!
He batted .453 in 106 AB, with 9 homers and 29 RBI.

American League Standings 
  
Washington       31 19 .620 -
Boston (A)       29 20 .592 1.5
Philadelphia (A) 26 23 .531 4.5
Detroit          25 23 .521 5.0
St. Louis (A)    24 24 .500 6.0 
Chicago (A)      21 28 .429 9.5 
Cleveland        20 29 .408 10.5
New York (A)     19 29 .396 11.0
 
National League Standings 
 
New York (N)     33 17 .660 -
Brooklyn         32 17 .653 0.5 
Philadelphia (N) 25 23 .521 7.0
St. Louis (N)    24 25 .490 8.5
Cincinnati       23 26 .469 9.5 
Boston (N)       21 27 .438 11.0  
Pittsburgh       20 28 .417 12.0 
Chicago (N)      17 32 .347 15.5

AL AVG
.374 Tim Frevele, SLA
.362 Tony Monachino, SLA
.349 Steven Bussell, SLA

NL AVG
.412 Maurice Misisca, PHI
.396 Pat Vega, BSN
.383 James Lewis, PHI

AL HOMERUNS
8 Lee Friedman, PHA
7 Howard Sheridan, BOS
6 Hale Pisell, NYA

NL HOMERUNS
12 Maurice Misisca, PHI
6 Artie Albrecht, CIN
6 Dewey Mickelsen, CHN

AL RBI
37 George Roth, WSH
34 Leonard Davie, CHA
32 Carmack Alford, SLA

NL RBI
41 Artie Albrecht, CIN
40 Maurice Misisca, PHI
39 Bonnard Shadle, BSN

AL STEALS
17 Hershel Cooley, PHA
15 Leroy Davis, DET
13 Pokey Dorsey, BOS

NL STEALS
23 Jonny Perly, BKN
19 Fuzz Allen, BSN
14 Bud Breckenridge, PIT

AL ERA
1.99 Bob Guilderson, DET
2.14 Bob Bussmann, CHA
2.21 Bill Finley, WSH

NL ERA
1.20 Remmy Paul, BKN
1.73 Frank Smith, BKN
2.45 Max Baxter, BKN

AL WINS
10 Sloppy Mosich, BOS
10 Jethro Lee, WSH
8 Mark Ponfick, SLA

NL WINS
10 Frank Smith, BKN
9 Randall Bray, NYG
8 Guy Muir, NYG

AL STRIKEOUTS
66 Jethro Lee, WSH
63 Micky Guyton, WSH
60 Cotton Simson, SLA

NL STRIKEOUTS
73 Vic Gorin, STL
61 Frank Smith, BKN
58 David Wickersham, CHN

[metsgeek]

Originally Posted by Ankhiel

ooooooooooh, see, i'm canadian, so that stuff means nothing to me

Yeah, we figured that out a long time ago

[tward13]

Is it just me or is the link not bringing us to updated pages?

[Matt from TN]

Originally Posted by tward13

Is it just me or is the link not bringing us to updated pages?

Works for me. Try refreshing the screen.

EDIT: Refresh the league pages, that is.

[ifspuds]

I wonder if Lloyd Johnson can stick around long enough to get 2500 hits. He's 36 now, and started the season with 2251. Two seasons like his last two would put him right there. C'mon G-Pop! Hang in there!

He's had an interesting career. Solid player at and behind the plate, but never a big star. Three All-Star appearances, a Gold Glove (at first, ironically), 263 HRs, several seasons where he walked more than he struck out and one big season in 1936 when he put it all together. It's a shame he broke his ankle in 1939. He was never the same player after that.

[tward13]

Originally Posted by Matt from TN

Works for me. Try refreshing the screen.

EDIT: Refresh the league pages, that is.

If I go directly to the website it's OK, but the link here keeps showing me 4/1/1944 even if I refresh.

[scprideandms]

Not a good A ball start for Cognac .182 BA/249 OBP 10 SB 6 CS

Tequila another solid if unspectacular yr .304 BA

Bourbon, Jr also good start in A ball 5-3 3.16 ERA

[spiffamous]

I guess between a lack of talent and the loss of players to the War, the Pittsburgh club has decided to throw Delmar Yordy (my Grandpa) to the wolves in the big leagues. As an 18 year old, he only has 1 year of pro ball, in Single A, under his belt. However, he does seem to be, at least, avoiding drowning against big league pitching as the fourth outfielder for the team, batting .259 so far.

Matt

[DamnYankees]

Originally Posted by Matt from TN

I'm sorry Ox was one of them, but hopefully as a 25-year-old on his return, he will be primed for his career to takeoff.

Ok, no problem. I was just curious. I'll just take that to mean he retired a Lieutenant Colonel or something. Decorated war hero.

A few observations on the first 2 months:

Red Sox, start Morris Lutske! He's killing the ball, hitting .444. Give him a chance! And 20 year old Ben Lutske, 1 year removed from A-ball, is starting for the cubs, and being productive. Looks like we might have a career on the way.

[jdw]

Matt wrote:

> Most of the NL headlines early this month were
> dominated by Dodgers slugger Oscar Vancini, who
> clubbed his record 500th homerun this month. It came in
> a 5-1 defeat of the Cubs on May 6th at home in Ebbets
> Field against Alex Winterhalter. View the BOX SCORE here.

Cool~!

Oscar seems to be fading fast, but it is nice to see him get to this mark before he retires.

Lamberty has a shot at 400, but the softer balls and age seem to be slowing down his chances. He is having a very good year so far, though. Lutzke is too old to get to 400, though he's off to a great start this season as well. No one else on the career Top 25 has a shot at even 400.

Schnozz Ditty was the one player who had a clear chance at 400 HR, and possibly of blossoming into a 40-50 HR hitter. He's now in his 3rd year of service and stuck at 192 HR. He'll be 33 when he gets out, and given the HR decline that tends to hit in that age range, he's SOL at getting to 400, and would quickly need some big seasons to get to even 300.

I don't know what anyone else thinks... are we going to see someone top Oscar's record before 1960? It's not a very hard record to top - Oscar didn't play his first game until the age of 24, and didn't hit 30+ HR until the age of 27. He "only" had 105 HR through the age of 28 (21 HR/YR), then 355 HR from the age of 29-36 (44 HR/YR). Ditty was actually ahead of Oscar's pace when he went to war - 192 vs. 144 through the age of 29. Only part of that was due to being in the majors at the age of 17 - Ditty hit only 31 HR from that age of 17-23, then 161 from 24-29 ahead of Oscar's 144. Mets - you probably lost the all-time HR King due to the war.


> National League-Pitcher of the Month:
> Frank Smith (BKN)!
> He had a record of 5-1 in 7 games started,
> with an ERA of 1.31 and 2 shutouts.

The sun comes up, the sky is blue, and Smith wins a POM and has 10 wins a third of the way into the year.


John

[Matt from TN]

You may want to go back & re-read the May 1944 post because I forgot the "In the News" section. It's there now.

[Matt from TN]

June 1944

The Red Sox overtook the Senators this month despite a mediocre 14-12 record. Washington started the month well, but went on to win just 5 of their final 21 games, including a stretch where they lost 9 of 10 games. Washington's pitching remains a strength with a 3.65 team ERA, but their .255 team batting average is 3rd worst in the majors. Meanwhile, Boston's offense leads the majors with a .284 average and in runs scored. Their pitching continues to improve, posting a 3.85 ERA. Then on the last day of the month, the Sox made a bold move by acquiring 40-year-old pitcher Mark Ponfick from the Browns for two prospects. Ponfick has had a solid season (11-5, 3.44) and he is just 6 wins from reaching 300.

Speaking of wins, Washington's Jethro Lee reached win number 389 in his first start of the month, a 6-3 defeat of the Tigers on June 4th. That put him one short of tying Bourbon Allen's all-time mark of 390. Lee lost his next two starts, defeated 6-5 by the Tigers on June 9th and 3-1 by the White Sox on June 13th. On June 17th, he got a no-decision even though the Senators wound up beating the A's 7-6. On June 21st, Lee lost 8-3 to the Red Sox. Then, in his last start of the month on June 26th, Lee and the Senators defeated the White Sox 6-2. Lee allowed just 2 runs off 4 hits and tied Allen for #1 all-time in wins. In trying to pass 390, Lee's next start is on July 1st at the Browns where he will match up against Neil Trusheim (5-3, 5.78).

On June 18th, the Red Sox opened a 3-game series with 2nd place Washington. Less than 800 fans were in attendance to witness this exciting game. Washington scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to take a 5-2 lead, but Boston tied the game with 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th. Washington then scored a run in the 10th, and in the bottom of that inning, Boston loaded the bases with no outs against Washington pitcher Cecil Frye. Boston catcher Chuck Rauch grounded into a 1-2-3 double play. Then Ben Hargey walked to load the bases yet again and Lyle Marine singled to left. Howard Sheridan easily scored from 3rd on the single, and Pokey Dorsey scored the winning run from 2nd base, sliding just under the tag of Senators backstop Robert Reed.

The Giants went 15-10 and extended their lead over the Dodgers to 4 games. New York is currently on a 7-game winning streak, and their pitching staff ranks 2nd in the majors with a 3.29 ERA. Brooklyn's pitching staff is 1st in the majors, but their team ERA is a heart-stopping 2.42, a full 0.87 lower than 2nd place New York. However, Brooklyn's offense ranks 11th in the majors in runs scored.

In The News

June 5 - Allies enter Rome.

June 6 - All major-league games were canceled as the country's focus was turned toward Europe while allied forces invaded occupied France (aka D-Day).

June 9 - Soviet offensive against the Finnish front begins.

June 13 - First German V-1 rocket attack on Britain.

June 22 - Operation Bagration begins (the Soviet summer offensive).

June 27 - U.S. troops liberate Cherbourg.


American League-Pitcher of the Month:
Bob Bussmann (CHA)!
He had a record of 5-0 in 7 games started, with an ERA of 2.01 and 2 shutouts.

American League-Batter of the Month:
Allen March (NYA)!
He batted .364 in 99 AB, with 9 homers and 26 RBI.

National League-Pitcher of the Month:
John "Bucky" Smith (CHN)!
He had a record of 4-2 in 7 games started, with an ERA of 1.49 and 3 shutouts.

National League-Batter of the Month:
Edgar Mackin (CHN)!
He batted .356 in 104 AB, with 6 homers and 27 RBI.

American League Standings 
  
Boston (A)       43 32 .573 -
Washington       41 35 .539 2.5
Detroit          38 37 .507 5.0
Philadelphia (A) 38 37 .507 5.0
St. Louis (A)    38 37 .507 5.0 
New York (A)     36 37 .493 6.0
Chicago (A)      35 41 .461 8.5 
Cleveland        32 45 .416 12.0
 
National League Standings 
 
New York (N)     48 27 .640 -
Brooklyn         45 32 .584 4.0 
St. Louis (N)    39 37 .513 9.5
Cincinnati       36 40 .474 12.5 
Boston (N)       35 40 .467 13.0  
Philadelphia (N) 35 40 .467 13.0
Pittsburgh       32 42 .432 15.5 
Chicago (N)      32 44 .421 16.5

AL AVG
.363 Fred Storey, CLE
.355 Hershel Cooley, PHA
.346 Steven Bussell, SLA

NL AVG
.378 Pat Vega, BSN
.364 James Lewis, PHI
.364 Gene Bucknam, STL

AL HOMERUNS
13 Allen March, NYA
12 Jessie Holt, BOS
10 Daniel Lutzke, CLE

NL HOMERUNS
13 Maurice Misisca, PHI
11 Dewey Mickelsen, CHN
10 Oscar Vancini, BKN

AL RBI
54 Carmack Alford, SLA
53 Allen March, NYA
53 Al Arsenault, BOS

NL RBI
57 Foster Hempkins, CIN
56 Bonnard Shadle, BSN
53 Maurice Misisca, PHI

AL STEALS
25 Hershel Cooley, PHA
25 Leroy Davis, DET
23 Joe Campbell, CLE

NL STEALS
33 Jonny Perly, BKN
25 Fuzz Allen, BSN
20 Bud Breckenridge, PIT

AL ERA
2.09 Bob Bussmann, CHA
2.43 Bill Finley, WSH
2.52 Vance Marx, BOS

NL ERA
1.79 Remmy Paul, BKN
2.14 Frank Smith, BKN
2.34 Max Baxter, BKN

AL WINS
12 Jethro Lee, WSH
11 Mark Ponfick, SLA
11 James Basford, BOS

NL WINS
13 Randall Bray, NYG
12 Abe Dickens, STL
11 Frank Smith, BKN

AL STRIKEOUTS
105 Jethro Lee, WSH
93 Vance Marx, BOS
92 Cotton Simson, SLA

NL STRIKEOUTS
114 Vic Gorin, STL
97 Frank Smith, BKN
82 Abe Dickens, STL

[Matt from TN]

TWB is officially 1 year old tomorrow (wow!) so I thought I would post an interesting stat. One way I determine if a dynasty thread is successful is to click on the # of posts, which will display who has posted & how many times. Even if a thread is just starting and has a much lower post total than this one, I check to see what % of the posts belong to the creator. If a huge % belong to the creator, either he is updating a heckuva lot, or few people are replying. This stat has amazed me for a very long time, and I have waited until now to share it.

Just prior to this post, this thread had 2056 posts. I, as the creator of the thread, have posted 843 times. Not only is that less than half, but it is just 41%! Wow!

scprideandms, following the thread since the days of Whiskey Allen, our first ancestor, is second with 224 posts or 10.9%. Metsgeek, our 2nd poster to begin following the thread religiously, and the one with by far the most ancestors, has 116 posts for 5.6%. Statman, aka jdw, has 179 posts or 8.7%, despite his first post coming many seasons after mets or scpride. If you combine Ankhiel's two handles, he comes in 5th with 95, followed by Carlton, tward13, lgkeeper and a host of other posters.

Thanks once again for your support. The fact that 59% of the posts in this thread have been made by people other than me is astounding. That kind of 'community' is what makes this league so much fun!

[Vris]

Congratulations Matt! You've done a fantastic job and it's because of your hardwork and dedication to this project is why so many people (including myself) always look for the Time Warp thread at the very top of the heap. If anyone deserves the recognition, you do.

[mauboy]

The Phillies fell fast. And hard! Wow. Ervin is less than 150 hits away from 2500. Hopefully he has a few more years left in him for his gaurantee in the HOF.

[rogmax11]

Happy Birthday from all the Smiths!