Tiger Fan's online league dynasty - Page 11

Tiger Fan · 12-21-2020, 10:55 PM

THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST YEAR PLAYER DRAFT NOW THAT FEEDERS ARE GONE

PART ONE

I originally created this thread in part to share the knowledge I gained from my first foray into online league play and specifically a stats-only environment. I feel I have become very comfortable with the draft process with feeder leagues but now our league just made a switch to eliminate feeder leagues and go to game generated draft pools. As a result I am back to a new challenge, which is good as challenges are fun. I am hoping I can share some of the knowledge I gain and some of the mistakes I make in this new drafting reality. Still stats-only, but instead of feeder league stats it will be game generated ones.

We are stats-only so I had some trepidation about losing feeder league sim stats and going to just game created ones with the draft class especially since I felt I had a pretty good handle on how to draft players based on the feeder stats. Now the question is how would the stats correspond to performance without actual games? Are hot and cold streaks no longer a factor like they were with feeders and a short schedule? Should I rely more on scouting reports without the benefit of many advanced stats, fielding stats and draftee player game logs that feeders provide? Do I trust my scout more as I had really got to the point of almost ignoring the scout and I think I drafted very successfully relying almost exclusively on how I assessed the stats of a player to make my draft list instead of what my scouting director suggested.

Now it is a whole new ballgame and I would not say it is better or worse - there are pros and cons each way - but it is a very different adventure to try and assess the draft class without the benefit of real game stats and boxscores.

Over the next little bit I will share some posts with my observations and welcome comments from others who might have played stats only without feeder leagues. I don't mind giving some of my 'research' away to others in FABL who read this as (1) I think our league really has a spirit of sharing and it helps each team be more competitive plus (2) I have no idea if what I am thinking I am seeing is anywhere near accurate, so plagiarize my work at your own risk.

CONTRADTICTION BETWEEN SCOUTS AND STATS

My initial thoughts immediately focus on what I see as great contradiction in many cases between the written scouting reports and the game generated stats. I often had those same variances when we played with feeders but the difference is I learned to trust the feeder stats more than the scouting reports and now I am not sure if I can do the same with no feeders.

What do I mean by contradiction? Let me take one college pitcher in the current draft pool as a player to break down as an example. His name is Phil Gregg and he is a junior at Redwood University, which is listed as having a Great competition level.

In looking at his stats, Gregg looks like one of the top college pitchers. His WHIP is the lowest of any college player in his draft class. His 12-2 record leads the class in wins. He has the fourth lowest BB/9, the 6th best K/9 and his FIP is the second lowest in his class. Oh, and his 4.0 WAR tops all college pitchers. So with numbers like that you have to think Phil Gregg is going to be one of the premier college arms available.

I count a huge number of college pitchers - at least a dozen - that my scout feels are very solid bets to be at least a #4 starter in the future with several being considered future #1 or 2 type guys. However, Gregg is not one of them. He falls just outside the group of a dozen according to my long-time scouting director John Spears. Spears has scouted Gregg numerous times and presently is listed as having a high accuracy level on him.

The OSA scouting service paints a slightly more optimistic picture of Gregg but it is important to note OSA is only showing an average accuracy in scouting him.

OSA feels he can be a middle of the rotation guy. There are 15 pitchers in the preliminary OSA mock draft but Gregg is not one of them so they don't feel he is good enough to be drafted in the first five rounds despite his high end numbers at a top level university. Numbers which if taken alone without the written reports indicate that Gregg is very close to, if not the best college arm in the draft.

Now having scouts be very different in their assessment to what I saw in the stats with feeder leagues was nothing new. In fact over the past few seasons I have found I have much better success when I drafted based on the stats than on what the scouting director or OSA written reports say.

The challenge now is for me to try and decide if that is still the case. Are the game created stats for a draft class without feeders more of an indication of a player's potential or are the scouting reports key? Gregg is just one example and there are others, many with the opposite issue - bad stats in comparison to the rest of the class but very good written reports.

I am not saying this system is better or worse then feeders, just different and it will take some adjusting. I am thinking it might even be more fun in the long run but it will take some getting used to figure out if there is a pattern. I actually hope there isn't a pattern and it remains a mystery, just as the draft is for the most part in real life. Really livens the draft excitement up that way and continues to make late round picks very valuable as you never know just what you might unearth.

ayaghmour2 · 12-22-2020, 04:01 PM

I feel the same way. I was just getting adjusted to drafting in the feeders (and I feel I did pretty well) and then the switch to no feeders changes everything. It's really fun going through this pool, but it's definitely going to be harder to evaluate talent.

Anecdotally, the auto generated players statistics are much more representative of the actual players skill (when the stats are assigned) because they simulate the whole season at once instead of game by game. This gets rid of the volatility of the individual feeder games which sometimes really skew a player. We won't have any Cy Sullivan's who have to play shortstop when he's not starting who had an awful senior season because of the rotating group of pitchers manning short. Now, since the pool is released like 6 months before the draft, the guys could develop/decline just like the feeder league guys so it's still important to scout a lot.

It is also so much harder to tell if a guy is good, because you have to hope your scout catches all his talents. Obviously the more you scout the better, but sometimes the reports don't cover everything. You have to hope you get some sort of their defensive ability because we don't get to see defensive stats. Sometimes you'll get super detailed and helpful reports, but here is my Herm Haines report:

"Herm Haines is 18-year-old and from Oak Park, Illinois. Haines potential is limited with a poor glove and bat."

Wow Marv, thanks for the helpful report...

I'm taking reports like this as this guy is terrible, but it would be nice to know a little about the guy. Is he a contact hitter? Does he have a good eye? I mean he hit .409/.505/.570 (not great, but it looks good) with a homer and 23 RBI's, but we have to interpret what it means on our own. It makes it much harder to sort through players since we have less information to work on, but I think drafting will be more streamlined. I never used the mock draft with the feeders and very rarely would I use my scouts list, but I know I'm going to have to rely on those more as we don't get to see the entire college/HS universe, just the good players. I miss the storylines from the feeder leagues, but I think we won't have to worry about Rusty Petrick or Art White type prospects.

Tiger Fan · 12-22-2020, 07:10 PM

So an update on my draft post above. A couple of GM's suggested to me something that makes perfect sense and I really should have thought of myself. They were both under the impression that the college/HS stats generated with non-feeder players represent the actual ratings and the scouting reports represent the potential ratings.

I was thinking that the stats would be created like the scouting reports based on potential but of course their theory makes far more sense and easily explains why Phil Gregg can be so good among college pitchers when we look at stats but not seen as a top prospect. The scouts just don't feel his ceiling is as high as perhaps others who slightly under performed him. So now the challenge is do I believe my scouts or do I draft based on what a player has shown me as his current ability level. But then isn't that the dilema every organization contends with at each draft.

BROOKLYN KINGS UPDATE JULY 23, 1934

Well, we gained a game on the Cleveland Foresters this week thanks to a 5-2 week which started with us salvaging a game from our 4 series in Cleveland. Ken Carpenter got the call - he was the veteran pitcher I picked up from Baltimore earlier in the season and he was masterful, spinning a 3-hit shutout of the mighty Cleveland roster (although Max Morris and TR Goins were both resting on this day). We did not get much offense either but Art Summers (.295,4,56), who has been struggling of late, delivered an rbi single in the 7th and that was all Carpenter needed for a 1-0 victory.

We then moved on to Philadelphia where we split four games losing the opener, which was the big league debut for 24 year old Art Blake, and on get away day when Mike Murphy (9-6, 3.52) had a rough start to the contest and ended up on the shortend of a 6-2 score. In between Tom Barrell (14-2, 3.31) and newcomer Joe Shaffner (1-0, 1.00), fresh off the train from St Louis, picked up victories. I made the decision to give the rookie Blake a start after news broke out of Chicago about the devastating season ending and potentially career-damaging injury suffered by former King Tommy Wilcox. Wilcox threw a lot of pitches on short rest and blew out his elbow so I was gun shy about sending Barrell or Shaffner out on Tuesday as each had pitched the previous Friday and 2 other times last week including their all-star appearances.

We finished the week off with 3-1 and 3-0 victories over Toronto on Saturday and Sunday. Carpenter ran his record as a King to 9-1 with another complete game on Saturday while Barrell got his 15th win with a 4-hit shutout Sunday. It was nice to see rookie third sacker John Langille get hits in both games. Langille improved his league leading average to .372, which puts him .001 ahead of fellow King Doug Lightbody, but more importantly it shows he appears fully recovered from the hamstring issues that sidelined him since just before the all-star break.

ANOTHER VETERAN ARM ADDED

Blake will likely not get another start as I pulled off another trade this sim by acquiring veteran righthander Max Wilder from the Boston Minutemen. Wilder will join our rotation that should be miles better than it was when we opened the season. He was 7-9 with a 4.56 era on the year, which he split between the Chicago Cougars and Boston. The 36 year old is much travelled, Brooklyn becomes his 6th FABL team, but he is a great presence both on the mound where he is 153-127 overall and in the clubhouse where he adds a leadership presence and World Championship experience having been to the Series twice with the Chicago Cougars.

The cost was highly touted corner infielder Ken Mayhugh and a second round pick as well as a serviceable reliever in Jim Chandler. The second round pick is fairly easy to part with as I acquired one from St Louis just the week prior so that becomes a wash. Chandler is character guy we claimed on waivers from the New York Stars in May. He was 1-3 with a 3.69 era for the Kings. I would have liked to keep him in my pen but I already have a pair of all-stars there in Del Lyons (3-0, 1.21) and veteran Hal Galvan (10-4, 2.84) so I can manage quite well without him.

On one hand I feel I gave up a lot of youth to get these two veteran pitchers but the loss of my top pitching prospect (19th overall in the league) and my number two position player (57th overall) is mitigated somewhat because my minor league system is so deep right now. Moving those two still leaves me with 5 players, including 4 pitchers in the top 72 prospects in the league and I also have a 23 year old rookie in John Langille leading the league in hitting so Mayhugh's path to the big leagues as a third baseman was blocked anyway.

In Shaffner and Wilder I get a pair of proven veteran arms that will hopefully get us closer to a pennant, both this year and over the next couple of seasons. Wilder will turn 37 next year so his shelf life is limited but he had arguably the best year of his career last season so perhaps he has a couple of more years left in the tank. Shaffner is still just 30 years old so he could fill a spot in the middle of my rotation for another half dozen years if all goes well.

But right now the focus is on catching Cleveland for top spot.

Tiger Fan · 12-24-2020, 03:27 PM

JULY 30, 1934

A bad week for the Kings as we go 2-5 but at least Cleveland only posted a 4-4 mark this week so we are now 6.5 games behind the Continental Association front-runners. We went 19-8 in June and briefly spent some time in first place but a dreadful July (13-14) has set us back especially since the all-star break as we are 7-10. Cleveland meanwhile, is 11-7 since the break including taking 3 of 4 from us.

We still lead the CA in runs scored, by 8 over second place Cleveland while the Foresters with just 405 runs against are tops in that category. My Kings are second but have allowed 30 more runs than Cleveland has surrendered. Hopefully the recent additions to our rotation can help us close that gap.

Last week was a disappointment starting with dropping both ends of a twin bill in Toronto to the lowly Wolves. We then went to Chicago and split a 4-game set with the Cougars but, with a few breaks it could have been quite different. We lost 3 games last week - one in Toronto and 2 in Chicago- in extra innings. It's not like we aren't getting clutch hitting as we battled back in both Chicago losses to force the free baseball, including overcoming a 5-0 deficit entering the 8th inning of game we ultimately lost 6-5 in 11 innings.

Hopefully it is just a bump in the road that we are over and things will even back out but we have 2 months to go and trail the Foresters by 6.5 games, so time is becoming a factor. They look too strong to have a prolonged slump so we will need to play our best baseball. We have the benefit of 7 games remaining head to head with them but that might actually be a curse as we are 6-9 against them this season, the worst we have fared vs any opponent.

I am starting to think this might end up being like the 1926 season in which we battled to keep pace with a New York Stars team that was enroute to it's third straight World Championship. We briefly overtook the Stars for top spot that summer, and added some veteran arms down the stretch just as we have this year but ultimately fell a couple of games short. However, the following season with one of those veteran arms, a pitcher named Mose Smith, playing a huge role we got our pennant. I am not throwing in the towel in 1934 by any stretch of the imagination but I think even with the recent trading of prospects we are extremely well positioned for the future as well as the present.

One other thing I did the past couple of weeks is sign some veteran minor league players with good character as there was some unrest in the clubhouses of our 3 lowest minor league affiliates. I also released a few malcontents who did not have any great long term place in the organization and either lacked the work ethic or had a surplus of negative opinions in the room. The chemistry is a bit better but still not great in Class C Marshalltown or Class A Omaha since both teams are really struggling in the standings. Class B Tampa is now content after the moves as the Cigar Kings are a .500 ball club that just needed some leadership.

Our top two minor league clubs are both brimming with talent and holding down top spot in their respective leagues. The AAA Rochester Rooks, like the big boys in Brooklyn, are embroiled in a pennant race with the Foresters organization and presently lead second place Cincinnati by 3 games. A good dozen or perhaps even more players on that Rochester team are major league ready and would likely be playing in the big leagues were they with an organization with less depth. If they can hang on it will be the first title of any kind for Rochester ever, dating back to 1897 when the Rooks first joined the AA Eastern Association. The Kings have been affiliated with them since 1929.

AA Knoxville has an 8 game cushion on second place Mobile in the Dixie League as the Knights are chasing their 4th pennant in the past 6 years. It is a testament to the organization depth but also the job 33 year old former Kings pitcher Harvey Rodgers is doing in his first full season as a skipper.

Tiger Fan · 12-29-2020, 11:51 AM

August 13, 1934

Oh, the ups and downs of a pennant race, or at least one in which I hope I can keep close enough to call it a race in September. We lost 6 of 9 to finish up July/start August and found ourselves 7.5 games back of first place Cleveland but we had a nice 4 game winning streak over Montreal and Baltimore to end this sim and we are back to 5.5 games back of the Foresters, who dropped 3 of their last four. So we are back to about where we were just after the all-star break but we are running out of time to make up the remaining ground.

Realistically, Cleveland is too strong for us to make up 5.5 games over the next 7 weeks but we have to continue to hang on to our slim hope of catching them. If we can get hot, maybe we can do it but the room for any sort of a slump is gone.

The Foresters are 71-38 and playing at a .651 clip. If Cleveland was to just play .500 the rest of the way they would still end up with 94 wins. In order to tie them we would have to go 29-17, play at a .630 pace. We presently are 65-43 for a .602 winning percentage. Unfortunately I expect the Foresters to do much better than .500 the rest of the way. If they play .600 ball the will win a total of 98 games. To tie them we would need to win 33 of our final 46 or .717 ball. Like I said, realistically the race is over but this is baseball and strange things occasionally do happen. Lets hope this is one of those times.

Overall I can't complain much about our team. We finished two games under .500 a year ago and won 80 games the previous season so we should end up much better than that. It does make me even more angry at our terrible starts the past two seasons as this club has proved in the second half each of those years and the full season this year that we should be at least within shouting distance of the leader.

The offense has been outstanding, best in the CA and even better than the powerful offensive force the Foresters have created. Doug Lightbody (.373,4,58) has made an incredible comeback from two very bad seasons to regain the form that made him CA MVP in 1927 and he stands a good chance to win his second CA batting crown although rookie John Langille (.365,5,70) is right on his heels. Harry Barrell (.337,2,62) is making a very good case to be considered the best shortstop in either league - and he is still just 20 years old. Jake Shadoan (.316,11,52) has been bounced around from position to position over the last couple of years but I think he has settled in at second base, and through it all his offensive production never suffered. Fred Barrell (.314,4,64) is an outstanding catcher and 20 year old rookie Bill May (.238,1,15) is finding his hitting stroke after struggling in an early season callup. May could evolve into the best defensive centerfielder in the league and he is already secured a spot in the top 2 or 3 in the CA. 27 year old Art Summers (.286,7,68) had a great start to the season but endured a rough July. His left field position might be the only one I need to look at upgrading over the winter. Finally we have late bloomer Dan Barrell (.312,6,49) doing a decent job at first base. Lightbody may eventually shift there and take Dan's spot but the 29 year old eldest ballplaying Barrell has done well again this season.

Pitching was an issue until I made 3 trades. I had a large number of prospects, especially pitchers but when we lost Johnny Jacob for the season I knew we were in trouble. I had a decent core in Tom Barrell (17-2, 3.04), who has been outstanding and has to be a favourite for the Allen Award this season and a dependable middle of the rotation guy in Mike Murphy (12-6, 3.34), who was acquired along with Tom and catcher Fred in the Tommy Wilcox deal with Chicago a couple seasons back.

Beyond that I was in trouble as prospects like Chuck Murphy and Art Blake did not appear ready so we dealt some of our youth away to add veteran Ken Carpenter (14-5, 3.79) from Baltimore. Carpenter has gone 11-3 for us since the deal and the 36 year old has been everything I hoped for when we acquired him. Joe Shaffner(14-8, 3.14) was added from St Louis about a month ago and has done well, going 2-1 for us. Shaffner is just 30 years old and although the cost was steep, which included our top pitching prospect, the expectation is he will be a key piece of our rotation for the next half dozen years. We made a deal just before the deadline to acquire Max Wilder(8-9, 4.53) from Boston but he hurt his shoulder in his first start, just 4 days before his 37th birthday and is out for a few more days.

The good news with the Wilder injury is we have hit a stretch with some off days so I could drop to a four man rotation without worries of disrupting the routine of any of my pitchers and Wilder should be back next week.

Injuries, especially to pitchers, have always plagued our organization. I mentioned Johnny Jacob and that is the one that hurts the most. He has had a bunch of them the last couple of years and the latest is the worst, blowing out his elbow which will cost him about 11 months and the worry is he will never live up to the potential that prompted him to be considered a top ten prospect in the entire league. The elbow injury is the same one that hit Bill Dengler twice and ultimately ended his career. Dengler was a second round pick in 1925 who did not have quite the potential of Jacob, but was projected to be a number two starter for us. He showed flashes when he was healthy but the second elbow injury ended his career and I worry Jacob, even if he can return somewhere close to the form he flashed in going 20-17, 3.95 for us over a little over about a season and a half of big league action, is just 1 pitch away from the end of his career.

The other pitcher injury that concerns me is to one of our two first round picks from last December. We selected highly touted Swoyersville HS righthander Earle Robinson 5th overall and he was instantly ranked #37 on the league top prospect list. He started the season 2-1 with a 2.43 era and a 215 ERA+ at Class C Marshalltown before hurting his back and missing over 3 months. He returned last week pitched 2 innings of scoreless ball and left the game after aggravating the back injury once again. He should just miss a week but I am tempted to shut him down for the rest of the season although I worry that might adversly effect his development. The only good thing is it is not his right arm but I can't imagine chronic back troubles to be much less worse than shoulder or elbow woes.

Speaking of the minors the Foresters are all over us there as well. Cincinnati, Cleveland's AAA team has won 5 straight and pulled into a first place tie with my Rochester Rooks. We had a 4 game series last week but split it with us taking the first two before the Steamers took the final pair of games. I have pulled some pretty good talent out of Rochester in Bill May and pitchers Chuck Murphy and Al Blake so I tried to execute a waiver claim to add a veteran outfield bat in former Montreal Saint Joe Fix, but I was unsuccessful as the Sailors grabbed him, so the Rooks are on their own right now and I may need to take some more players from them for Brooklyn when the rosters expand.

Tiger Fan · 01-01-2021, 05:59 AM

AUGUST 27, 1934
PENNANT RACE HEATS UP

What a difference a little less than 3 weeks can make. As you can see from the image below on August 6th the Kings hit their lowpoint and had slipped to 8 games back of the front running Foresters. Just 19 days later and the gap is a much more manageable 3 games.

So what happened? Cleveland did not do too badly over the past 19 days but at 9-9 it has to be considered a slump by their standards. And as for our beloved Kings....well, we got hot, going 13-3 in that span. I said in the previous post we would need to play something like .733 ball the rest of the way if Cleveland performed as expected. Well, 13-3 is an .813 pace.

Can we keep that up? Highly unlikely but now we are within range that perhaps we do not need to. The key is this week's three game set between the two of us at my Kings County Stadium. We can not afford to be swept or all our efforts over the past 3 weeks would be for naught. We could survive by only taking 1 of three games but it would be very demoralizing to come out of that midweek set 4 games back. Idealy we take two of three and shave the deficit down to 2 games. (Well, ideally we sweep the series and come out of tied for first but that might be a little too much to hope for).

Each club will be missing a key piece for the series. Cleveland, which has won 7 of their last 10 ballgames, just as we have, seems back on track after a 2-7 stretch from August 6-16. However, the Foresters have learned that Dean Astle (14-5, 3.06) their outstanding 24 year old sophomore lefty, tweaked his elbow on the weekend and will miss the next 4 days - the fourth day being the final day of our 3 game showdown. Astle, arguably the best of a very good Cleveland pitching staff this season, has been strong against the Kings this year posting a 2-1 record with a 2.27 era in 4 starts against us. His only loss to Brooklyn was a complete game 4 hitter in our series right after the all-star break that he lost by a 1-0 score.

It remains to be seen if the Foresters bring a player up from Cincinnati or elect to start Roger Perry (16-6, 3.10) against us on short rest Thursday. The way it stands now we are scheduled to face their 4th and 5th starters Tuesday and Wednesday in Ben Turner (8-4, 4.39) and Walter Murphy (14-6, 3.39)

The key piece we will be without is our outstanding rookie third baseman John Langille (.373,6,74) who has missed the past week with a rib strain and is not expected back until a few days after the Cleveland series. In Langille's absence veteran outfielder Doug Lightbody (.378,5,66) has got hot - he went 9 for 16 last week - and taken over the Continental Association batting lead from his rookie teammate but I expect the two will wage a friendly war down the stretch for the title.

August has been quite a ride for us as the Kings opened the month by dropping 4 of our first 6 games, including 3 1-run defeats, but recovered nicely with our 13-3 tear. During that time we outscored our opponents 95-57 or by an average of roughly 6-3. In only two of our wins and two of the 3 losses did we fail to score at least 5 runs.

Our pitching has been very good the past month. Max Wilder made just one start before his injury but other than that we have gone with just 4 starters in August. As you can see below Mike Murphy has been amazing lately. Tom Barrell has been pretty good in his five August starts and Joe Shaffner has been adequate since coming over from St Louis. Ken Carpenter, on the other hand, appears to have struggled but those August numbers are skewed by one very bad outing in an 11-3 loss to the New York Stars early in the month. Below are our August numbers from our starters,as well as the overall records and a look at Mike Murphy's game by game performance recently.

We have the best offense in the CA this season but they have really turned it up in August. As you can see the injury to John Langille is really going to mean he will be missed. Buck Sargent might be a slight upgrade at the moment in the field, but Langille's bat can not be replaced.

The bats have been hot all season, and even hotter the past month. The challenge will be to keep it going for one more week as winning this series with the Foresters is as close to 'must' as any late August series can ever be. We do have 4 more games with them and they will be played 2 weeks later but that time we will be on the shores of Lake Erie. It would be nice to go into that series at least tied with the Foresters.

Funny how mindsets change so quickly in the pennant race. Two weeks ago the thought of being within a game or two of Cleveland at the end of August seemed to be just a pipe dream. Now the Kings have the opportunity. Let's just hope one more week of their hot play is not too much to ask.

Tiger Fan · 01-04-2021, 08:13 PM

SEPTEMBER 3, 1934

KINGS TAKE OVER TOP SPOT!

Well that was quite a pleasant surprise. My Brooklyn Kings have been red-hot of late and continued to roll with a perfect 7-0 sim this week that included a 3 game sweep of the Cleveland Foresters. Brooklyn has won 20 of it's last 23 games are have gone from 8 games behind Cleveland less than a month ago to 3 games ahead after the Foresters dropped 12 of their last 19.

Everything has gone just about perfect for Brooklyn but the race is far from over as we still have to head to Cleveland for four games a little over a week from now and 20 of our final 27 games are away from home while Cleveland has 22 of their final 27 in Forester Stadium. And I am sure their slump will not last much longer as they are simply too good of a ballclub.

For us, I can only hope we continue to hit like we have been. Our team batting average is .309, far and away the best in the Continental Association and .010 better than any team in the traditionally much more offensive minded Federal Association. If the season ended today our team batting average would be the second highest in CA history, post 1901 - surpassed only by the amazing .321 of the 1930 Chicago Cougars.

The top individual team leaderboard for the CA features the Kings very prominently.

We had a huge week at the plate, outscoring our opponents 68-15 in our seven games including 29-7 over the three games against Cleveland. Kings County Ballpark was rocking that series despite attendance barely topping the 8,000 mark each game in the 32,000 seat stadium. The Kings are the best kept secret in the five boroughs. And the best thing about how we are playing right now is it is not one or two guys carrying the team. Everyone on the roster is contributing right now:

Last Monday August 27 the Kings started the week with an 11-4 blasting of Toronto, to take 2 of three from the Wolves. Veteran outfielder Doug Lightbody, with 3 hits, and catcher Fred Barrell, who homered, scored twice and drove in 3 led the way.

Next up was the 3 game set with Cleveland and the opener was a tight pitching duel between our Ken Carpenter and Ben Turner of the Trees until rookie centerfielder Bill May came up huge, busting the game open with a 3-run homer in the sixth to key a 6-3 Kings victory. Young shortstop Harry Barrell and third baseman Buck Sargent - filling in for league batting leader and star rookie John Langille - each had 3 hits. The next day Tom Barrell did not have his best stuff, lasting just until part way through the fifth inning, but he did enough to get his 20th win of the season and let the offense take over in a 10-3 victory. This time it was Dan Barrell who led the way with 4 hits, 2 rbi's and 3 runs scored while reserve Elmer Nolde enjoyed a 3-hit day while giving Lightbody a day off. All the hitters got in on the act the next day to make a winner out of Mike Murphy in a 13-2 pounding of Cleveland. May, Harry Barrell and Jake Shadoan paced the club with 3 hits but all 9 starters including the pitcher Murphy had at least one hit in the game.

The bats kept pumping as we headed to Montreal for a short two game series with May, who had 4 hits, 2 rbi's and 2 runs along with left fielder Art Summers (3 hits, 2 runs) carrying the mail in an 8-0 victory over the Saints. Ken Carpenter tossed 7 innings of one hit ball to run his record as a King to 15-4 before giving way to the pen. The hit parade continued Saturday in a 16-3 pounding of the Saints with Harry Barrell going 5-for-6 and a pair of reserve outfielders in Ab Thomas and Jim Gentry delivering when called upon with 3 hits each. Tom Barrell, who ran his record to 21-3, helped his own cause with 2 hits including a 2-run triple.

We finished the week off with the opener of 3 games in Baltimore and Mike Murphy was in fine form, tossing 8 innings of 4-hit ball for his 18th win of the season before turning things over to Hal Galvin to complete the shutout in a 4-0 win. Jake Shadoan had 4 hits, Harry Barrell and Summers each from in a pair and Bill May went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored.

A GREAT STORY EITHER WAY

Anyone who follows this or any of my other dynasty threads knows I like a great story just as much as seeing my Kings win the pennant. Obviously I want us to complete this season with a pennant - which would be our fourth but first since 1926- but it is great seeing the two sad-sack franchises of FABL battling it out for the chance to hopefully end a championship drought. Cleveland, like my Kings, is 0-for-3 in World Championship Series play and we are the only two of the 16 FABL teams to have never won it all. If we don't win this pennant I will be cheering for Cleveland to end it's World Championship drought in October.

For us it would have probably been a more compelling story had we done this a year ago. It was our 50th anniversary season as a franchise and a World Championship title would have capped it perfectly. Still, there are some great story lines if we can win it this season:.

-The four Barrell brothers uniting in Brooklyn and leading the team that their father might well have carried to multiple titles had his career not been shot down before it really began because of a tragic injury.

- Doug Lightbody's comeback: Once thought to be on his way to becoming one of the greatest hitters in baseball, Lightbody went straight to the big leagues from Mississippi A&M without a day in the minors and was among the league batting leaders as a rookie in 1926 before a season ending injury cost him a shot at the MVP and the Kings a chance at a pennant. He got his MVP and his batting title the following season and the Kings got their pennant but Lightbody went a dismal 1-for-17 as Brooklyn lost the World Championship Series to the Philadelphia Keystones. Over the next five years Lightbody was an outstanding hitter, when he was healthy. However, the injuries mounted and he endured two subpar seasons in 1932 and 1933 to the point where he was in danger of losing his starting job in spring training this season. Now 30 years old he has rebounded with a season comparable to his early days, contending for the league batting title while hitting .375 at this writing. Lightbody has 1407 hits in 1021 career games and has missed well over 200 games due to injury. More than the injuries and what might have been had he been healthy all of these years what haunts Lightbody is that .059 postseason batting average. One of the things I am looking forward to most if we can pull this out is for Lightbody to get another chance in October.

-Vindication of the trades that sent Tommy Wilcox and Milt Fritz away. After a pair of well documented dismal first half's the past couple of years the Kings rebuilt their team by trading their best pitcher away at the mid-point each season. The decision to move Wilcox looked good for half a season when he struggled but terrible a year ago when Wilcox was the best pitcher in the CA and led the Cougars to the pennant. Meanwhile Tom Barrell, Fred Barrell and Mike Murphy - the key pieces acquired in return- all struggled to varying degrees last year. This season has been a different story. Wilcox was still great until his season ending arm injury but Tom (21-3, 3.08) and Murphy (18-6, 2.97) have been outstanding and Fred (.292,8,69) has done a solid job behind the plate. The Fritz deal also looked bad last September but he struggled in Montreal this season and was dealt to the New York Gothams shortly before the deadline. Meanwhile the two key pieces the Kings got in return were John Langille (.373,6,74), who is contending for the CA batting title as a rookie and 20 year old Bill May (.279,2,30), who struggled in his debut earlier in the season but was rookie of the month in August and one of the best defensive centerfielders in either league.

- Ending the curse. Real or not, the curse of Ferdinand Hawkins has appeared to have haunted the franchise for far too long. Only a World Championship can end the talk as Hawkins himself, who is in failing health and has refused to speak of the matter even when learning he was named to the Kings 50th Anniversary All-Time Team a year ago. A World Championship Series victory for the Kings would put an end once and for all to talk of a curse.

CLEVELAND
There are equally compelling storylines on the Cleveland side of the ledger as well. Let's start with the same FABL series drought that has haunted Brooklyn since 1892. Next we have Max Morris. The greatest power hitter the game has ever known has played in 4 World Championship Series including one with Cleveland in 1917 but the only one he won was over the Foresters with St Louis in 1920, the season he was traded away by Cleveland. He also made the Series with the New York Gothams, for whom he played briefly before his return to the shores of Lake Erie. How fitting would it be for Morris to lead Cleveland to it's first World Championship in the autumn of his career, and even more so if he did it with a win over the Gothams or St Louis as his former club's are the top two teams in the Fed at the moment.

It should be a wild finish for both the Kings and Foresters. Let's hope it culminates in one of them finally getting their elusive World Championship ring.

Tiger Fan · 01-07-2021, 12:45 AM

SEPTEMBER 17, 1934
RACE TIGHTENS WITH TWO WEEKS REMAINING

The roller coaster ride that is the 1934 pennant races continues as the only two teams in the Figment Leagues never to win a World Championship continue there battle to get a fourth kick at the can. Brooklyn and Cleveland have each won 3 Continental Association pennants in their history but both are 0-3 vs their Federal Association foes in the World Championship Series. We are down to two weeks- well 15 days to be precise as the schedule this season ends on a Monday and here are the standings.

It really has been a full gamut of emotions for both teams starting with Cleveland taking 3 of 4 games from the Kings immediately following the all-star break. The Foresters were hot for much of July, going 21-4 for in one stretch and building an 8 game lead on my Kings. But then it was Brooklyn's turn to get hot and from August 7th to September we won 21 of 24 games during a stretch that included a 3 game sweep of the Foresters at Kings County Stadium that moved us from 8 games back to 3 games ahead of Cleveland.

Since then Brooklyn has gone 5-7 including a split of a 4 game set in Cleveland while the Foresters, perhaps also feeling the pennant race pressure, went 7-6 during that stretch so here we sit with a margin of 1 and half games and 2 weeks remaining.

We are done with each other head to head as my Kings did what they needed to do, leave Lake Erie with a split of their 4 game set a week ago. Once again it was Tom Barrell, who is now 24-3 on the season, who carried the pitching staff. Barrell set the tone for the series with a 2-0 complete game 5-hit shutout in the opener. It was an essential win as my pitching staff was in a bit of a shambles lately. Barrell and Mike Murphy (19-7) pitched the front and back end of the series and each got a win but I had trouble in between after 36 year old Ken Carpenter went down the week prior to the meeting with Cleveland. The lefthander, who is 15-5 since coming over from Baltimore and 18-7 overall, strained his hamstring in game the week before. He gamely made one more start that week but was clearly laboring so I had no choice but to shut him down the past two weeks. Meanwhile, I presently have little confidence in our two other mid-season pickups as veteran Joe Shaffner, who I gave up my top pitching prospect to St Louis to acquire, has been inconsistent to say the least and 37 year old Max Wilder has been awful in his two starts.

Wilder was so bad that I elected to start Del Lyons, who has been great out of the pen but always struggled when starting, in one of the Cleveland games over him. Lyons lasted just 4 innings and allowed all 8 runs in an 8-3 loss in game three of the series. Shaffner pitched game two and went the distance but we fell 7-6 although none of the runs were earned as the normally dependable Harry Barrell cost us with 2 errors that led to a pair of big Cleveland innings.

Tom Barrell, pitching on just 3 days rest, got us back on track Friday with a complete game 6-2 win in Chicago. I had no choice but to go back to Shaffner for the Saturday game and suffered a 5-4 loss, dropping his record to 4-5 since being acquired. Chicago scored twice in the bottom of the 8th and two more in the ninth to walk it off and my manager should have gone to the pen but he did not have Lyons available so I may have shot myself in the foot with the decision to start him a couple days earlier in Cleveland and to schedule Lyons as the Sunday starter. The bats came up big for Lyons Sunday (yesterday), scoring 5 in the first and we coasted to a 15-1 victory giving Lyons his first win as a starter in quite some time and allowing us to stay 1.5 games ahead of the Foresters, who are having some struggles of their own but a certainly not conceeding the race.

So that brings us to today - Monday September 17th. We have 14 games remaining and Cleveland has 13 to play. While Cleveland is home for 10 of their remaining 13 contests we are on the road for 9 before finishing off with the last 5 at home. First up we have the finale of our 4 game series with Chicago today before heading to Toronto for 4 games with the 7th place Wolves. The road portion ends with 2 in Montreal and 2 in New York before we come home to finish up with a pair against the Saints and the final 3 vs the Stars. Cleveland's schedule is very similar but they do get 1 game with last place Baltimore and they play 4 against 5th place Philadelphia instead of facing 6th place Montreal as we do.

I did get the good news that Ken Carpenter will be back and ready to pitch on Friday. I have a rested and ready to go Tom Barrell and Mike Murphy to pitch Monday and Tuesday with plans to drop to a 4-man rotation, perhaps even 3 in the final week if needed. I have no choice but to start Barrell again on Thursday in Toronto on 2 days rest as there is no way I can trust any 2 of my other pitchers to start Wednesday and Thursday. Now we do have an off day Saturday so Murphy can go Sunday in Montreal on normal rest with Carpenter, hopefully healthy ready to come back next Tuesday on 3 days rest after Barrell does the same Monday. The worries of course are Barrell can handle the short rest pitching Monday and Thursday and will Carpenter be rusty after his time on the DL. I really wish I would have had Carpenter ready one day earlier so Barrell got the extra day of rest but hey - it's the 1930s pitchers need to on occasion be ready to go on very short rest when a pennant is on the line.

Code:


          UPCOMING STARTERS
MONDAY SEPT 17    at Chicago	Tom Barrell
TUESD  SEP  18    at Toronto    Mike Murphy
WEDNES SEP  19    at Toronto	 ????
THURS  SEP  20    at Toronto    Tom Barrell
FRID   SEP  21    at Toronto	Ken Carpenter
SATUR  SEP  22        off day
SUN    SEP  23    at Montreal   Mike Murphy
MON    SEP  24    at Montreal   Tom Barrell
TUE    SEP  25    at New York   Ken Carpenter
WED    SEP  26    at New York     ????
THUR   SEP  27    vs Montreal   Mike Murphy
FRID   SEP  28    vs Montreal   Tom Barrell
SAT    SEP  29    vs New York   Ken Carpenter
SUN    SEP  30    vs New York     ???
MON    OCT   1    vs New York     ???

So thanks to the off-day on the 22nd we are pretty well set up to run with just Barrell, Murphy and Carpenter but I have two big holes to fill on the two Wednesdays and I am not feeling that comfortable with either Shaffner or Max Wilder despite the fact I acquired both of them for the purpose of filling out the bottom of my rotation.

Wilder was picked up right at the July 31 deadline. He got the start August 1st against Baltimore - one of the many teams he has pitched for in a 13 year career that has seen him post a 154-128 career mark including 8-10 in 3 stops this season. We won that August 1st game 10-9 but Wilder was not good, allowing 8 runs (7 earned) on 13 hits in 5 and two thirds and left with us losing 8-3 but the offense picked him up. He was not pulled for performance, although it is easy to argue he should have been. Instead, he came out of the game because of an injury to his shoulder that forced him to miss over two weeks. I did not give him another start until September 4th, also against Baltimore and we lost that game 6-2 as he lasted 7 innings and allowed all of the Cannons runs on 9 hits. Maybe it is just rust coming back from the injury but I felt I could not take the chance and I banished him to the pen with his only other appearance being 2 scoreless innings in a mop up role for Del Lyons in our 8-3 loss a week and a half ago.

Shaffner, a 30 year old who had pitched 5 seasons for St Louis, was 12-7, 3.17 for the Pioneers when I acquired him in mid-July. He is 4-5, 3.77 in a Kings uniform and won 4 of his first 5 decisions with us, and the only loss was a 2-0 defeat against Montreal. More recently he has been bad, allowing 6,6,7 and 5 runs over his last 4 starts and losing each of them. In his defense one was the game Harry Barrell booted two balls leading to all Cleveland's runs being unearned and his most recent one was a 5-4 defeat that we could just as easily have won had manager Wally Grant gone to the pen.

So my choices are do I start one of those two -likely Shaffner on Wednesday or do I take a chance on rookie lefthander Art White. The 23 year old was my 1932 third round pick out of George Fox University and is ranked #42 among prospects in the league. My scout John Spears feels the groundball pitcher with pinpoint control is set to fit comfortably into the middle of a big league rotation. His numbers this season in AAA were not overly impressive, going 7-9 with a 4.24 era in 25 starts while on a pitch count for the Union League leading Rochester Rooks. I had him up in Brooklyn in May when my very good young pitcher Johnny Jacob went down and White pitched well in a no-decision against Cleveland before getting shelled for 9 runs, although only 2 earned, in 3 innings of an error filled 9-2 loss to Philadelphia. I sent him back to Rochester after that game. His only other appearance with Brooklyn came after being recalled just to give me some pitching depth in the stretch run, tossing a pair of scoreless innings, but allowing 3 hits, in that same 8-3 loss to Cleveland that Wilder finished up.

So, after pausing for several minutes to re-read the above three paragraphs I have made a decision. Well, I actually have made 3 of them today, switching back and forth on my export as to who will start the Wednesday game in Toronto. White was going to be my guy as I had a gut feeling but the more I think of it the more I feel the game could get away from him very quickly. Shaffner was an all-star this year and has pitched in plenty of big games but he is on a personal 4 game losing streak. Wilder is a seasoned veteran but he is also struggling this season, getting progressively worse with each of the three teams he has pitched for.

In the end I let the Wolves decide. They are 44-50 (.468) against righthanders but just 15-34 (.306) vs leftys so that rules Wilder out. I am going to trust the vet over the rookie and give the ball to Shaffner instead of White. Let's hope I did not overthink things as we need a big sim. I am going to guess the Foresters go 5-2 in their 7 games this week so we really need to win 5 of our 6 to keep the 2 game margin heading into the final 8 days. I need two big starts from Tom Barrell and Murphy and really need the win against Toronto on Wednesday with Shaffner. Best case scenario is Shaffner looks very good and I feel comfortable slotting him in again next Monday so I can push Barrell, Carpenter and Murphy each back a day. Worst case? Well, let's not think about that right now.

Gotta love a pennant race!

mjj55409 · 01-07-2021, 09:42 AM

Two thoughts: you gave up on Wilder too early, and Carpenter's hamstring doesn't appear to affect his throwing. I think you need to get Carpenter back into the rotation (before rust settles in).

Tiger Fan · 01-07-2021, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjj55409

Two thoughts: you gave up on Wilder too early, and Carpenter's hamstring doesn't appear to affect his throwing. I think you need to get Carpenter back into the rotation (before rust settles in).

As it turns out on Wilder I think you might be right but part of it was my extreme trust in Tom Barrell and Murphy, and wanting to get down to a 4-man.

As for Carpenter, he is now listed as unknown for his length of injury and still listed as minimal so he will go in the rotation this week as rust is a concern and I need him for the Series, should I get there. The worry is the last start he made, which was the same week as the day-to-day injury so I couldn't bench him, was among his worst of the season and certainly worst of the past month or so. I am not sure how much of an impact the hamstring had on it but I felt I couldn't afford to take the chance as Cleveland keeps on winning. But I also feel I am playing with fire sending Tom Barrell out there every third day so, with a very slight buffer this week, I will give Carpenter a shot - unless manager Wally Grant overrides me as my rotation is set for 4-man but also always start highest rested.

Tiger Fan · 01-07-2021, 07:03 PM

A NAILBITTER! CONTINENTAL RACE GOING DOWN TO WIRE

I mentioned in the last update I needed a big week as I expected Cleveland to go something like 5-2. Well the Foresters did even better posting a 6-1 record but they still lost a little ground to us as my Brooklyn Kings won all 6 of our games last week and hold a 2 game lead with 8 games remaining for us and 6 for Cleveland. So here is how things look with 8 days left in the season with both clubs bidding to win their third CA pennant and with it another chance at a first World Championship Series victory for either of us.

The week started with Tom Barrell getting yet another victory, the 8th straight start he has won to improve to 25-3 on the season. It was another short rest start for Barrell, who was pitching on a Monday despite throwing 9 innings on the Friday. He was not at his best, in fact it was his worst game score since the beginning of August but he did enough to get us the W. We scored 5 in the top of the first to make his day easier and finished with 7 runs on 14 hits in a 7-5 win. Barrell allowed all 5 runs against on 8 hits before turning the ball over to Hal Galvan to pitch a perfect 9th inning for his CA leading 16th save of the season. However Cleveland rallied with 3 in the bottom of the ninth to beat Baltimore 6-5 and remain 1 and half back.

Tuesday Mike Murphy won his 20th game with Galvan getting the save in a 6-2 victory to open a 4-game series in Toronto. Jake Shadoan and Dan Barrell each had 3 hits to lead the offense but again Cleveland answered convincingly with a 15-1 win over the New York Stars.

As you may recall Wednesday was my worry day with the decision finally made to start Joe Shaffner and the lefthander snapped his personal 4 game losing streak by going the distance in an 8-4 win to improve to 5-5 since being acquired from St Louis. The offense again made it easy as we scored 4 in the third inning and 4 more in the fourth to open an 8-0 lead. Shadoan had a second straight 3 hit game while Dan Barrell had a pair of doubles and drove in 4 runs. But again Cleveland kept pace with a win, and like Monday it required a rally as the Foresters trailed 6-0 after six innings before winning it 7-6 in 10. I should note I nearly cost us the game as somehow I inserted pitcher Mike Murphy into the lineup at shortstop. Fortunately Murphy got only one chance - he made an error - and it did not affect the result. How it happened I have no idea? I rarely use 7 day lineups but wanted to get the pitching rotation as I desired so I must have done something by mistake and replaced Harry Barrell with Murphy.

Thinking I was getting Ken Carpenter back tomorrow I again sent Tom Barrell to the hill after just two rest days on Thursday. Barrell was up to the task, going the distance allowing 3 runs on 8 hits and smacking a 2-run double himself to key the 5-3 win over the Wolves. Meanwhile on the other side of the border the Foresters again rallied for a 7-6 victory in Cleveland after trailing 6-0 after 2 and a half innings.

On Friday morning we got word Carpenter's hamstring was still not sufficiently healed so on little notice veteran Max Wilder was trotted out to the mound to try and complete the 4-game sweep of Toronto. We fell behind 2-1 but Wilder was very solid, allowing the 2 runs but on just 3 hits over 7 innings. Rookie third baseman John Langille was the hero at the plate, belting two doubles and driving in 3 runs in our 4-2 victory including a 2-run 2-bagger in the 7th which proved the margin of victory. There was no suspense in Cleveland but also no loss for the Foresters who won again, beating New York 5-0 thanks to Dean Astle's complete game victory.

Saturday was an off-day that we spent on the train travelling from Toronto to Montreal and eagerly waiting for the conductor to deliver us updates from the Cleveland game. And wouldn't you know it - the Foresters won for the 9th straight game as they beat the Sailors in Philadelphia 8-3 to creep to within 1 game of us.

Sunday Mike Murphy was back on the hill and we staked him to a 3-run lead before he threw his first pitch. The result was a complete game 7-hitter for Murphy, who improved to 21-7 as we beat the Saints 9-1. Catcher Fred Barrell, who had been in a bit of a slump this week, broke out of it with a pair of hits including his 7th homerun of the season. As we celebrated the win in the clubhouse we got word from Toronto that the Wolves had prevailed over Cleveland 4-3 extending our lead to two games.

As much as we can complain about the rash of road games for us in the final month the schedule makers did us a favour sending the Foresters from Cleveland on Thursday to Philadelphia for one game with the Sailors Friday before having to immediately head north and open a 2-game series in Toronto on Sunday.

So here we are. Up 2 games with 8 days remaining. I can't let off the gas but after the Murphy at shortstop fiasco I will not use 7-day lineups this week. I have left it up to Wally Grant to make the call but we are set for a 4-man rotation with Tom Barrell going tomorrow in the final game of the Canadian swing. With 3 days off for a change Barrell should be well rested. Mike Murphy, Ken Carpenter (hopefully healed) and Joe Shaffner round out the rotation and Grant has been instructed to start the highest rested.

I have to once again assume Cleveland will win 4 of their 5 games this week and get to the final day of the season with 96 wins. We have 7 this week before the Monday finale and going 5-2 would clinch it for us and make the final game meaningless. However, until that happens we have to play like every game is the difference between the pennant or a lost season and the way Cleveland has being going of late they could well go 6-0 and really put the pressure on us.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow's sim brings us. Hopefully word of the Kings first pennant since 1926.

Tiger Fan · 01-08-2021, 08:50 AM

OH NO! AN EPIC COLLAPSE LOOMS

The Brooklyn Kings are still alive but after dropping four of their last five games they are clearly on life support. Cleveland on the other hand won 5 straight and 14 of it's last 15 to take a 1 game lead atop the Continental Association as the season heads into it's final day. Brooklyn still has a chance and Tom Barrell will look for his club record 29th win tomorrow against the New York Stars - a team that always gives Brooklyn troubles. Even if Barrell gets the win and finishes what surely will be an Allen Award winning 29-3 season - posting the second highest winning percentage by a pitcher in FABL history - it still might not be enough. The collapse of the last few days have left my Kings needing help just to force a 1-game playoff with the Foresters. Cleveland will face Philadelphia and if they win for the 6th time in a row the Kings season will be over. I will have more on the week that wasn't over the next day or two. The final sim goes Monday morning.

Jiggs McGee · 01-08-2021, 09:02 AM

KINGS ON VERGE OF CRUSHING DEFEAT

BY JIGGS MCGEE

Fans of the Brooklyn Kings, for years a team synonyms with failure, appear to have been the victim of another cruel joke played on them by fate as the team's record for futility is poised to extend yet another year to number 42 consecutive seasons without a FABL championship. This one being the most painful of all as perhaps the greatest of Kings teams, which established a new high water mark for the club with a franchise record 96 wins, only to realize that it will likely still not be good enough to erase the Curse of Ferdinand. This year is especially cruel to long suffering fans of the franchise as after two seasons of dreadful starts to the season the Kings tantalizing the Brooklyn faithful by leading the, at least up until the final weekend, equally unsuccessful Cleveland Foresters by 2 and a half games with just 6 to play before utterly collapsing just feet before the finish line as they dropped 4 of their final five games including 3 losses to the proverbial thorn in their side over the decades that has been the New York Stars.

To build the excitement and hope as the Kings did with a brilliant run, coming back from 8 games down in early August to take the lead and with it rekindling the hopes of a long suffering Brooklyn fans only to crush those dreams with an agonizing finish is a fate that perhaps breaks the back of even the most ardent of Kings supporters. "This finally was the year the curse would end" cried Kings fans to anyone who would listen....until in the end it wasn't.

Yes, the eternal optimist that is the long suffering Kings fan will tell you there still is chance and indeed there is as the Kings have one contest remaining against the Stars and will undoubtedly send Tom Barrell to the mound in an effort to cap his season for the ages with what would be a club record 29th victory but the Kings no longer control their own destiny and it appears that the 1934 version of the Foresters are indeed a team of destiny.

While Brooklyn was stumbling home like so many of the borough's faithful did so upon the news of prohibition being lifted last December, the Cleveland Foresters were winning ballgames in both a number and a fashion unseen by this reporter in years. You cannot blame the Brooklynite if today they clearly feel the prohibition on Kings World Championships appears never to be lifted.

Forget the fact that while Brooklyn was dropping 3 of five the Foresters won their final 5 games, and 14 of it's final 15, and 17 of the final twenty but let's instead exam how they won so many of those contests. Twice this week the Foresters entered the bottom of the ninth trailing only to comeback and win. In all, 7 of the Foresters 14 wins in the last 15 games were won by a single run. On September 16th they overcame a 3-0 deficit after 5 and a half innings to beat Baltimore 4-3. The next day they would enter the bottom of the ninth trailing 5-3 only to emerge with a 6-5 victory. Two nights later the dreaded Stars would blow a 6-1 lead after 7 innings, as Cleveland scored 3 in the bottom of the ninth to force extras before winning 7-6 in 10 frames. The next day the Stars would again blow a big lead as Cleveland came back from a 6-0 deficit to again win 7-6. Last Wednesday the Chicago Cougars had the Foresters on the ropes, leading 2-1 late in a must win game for the Cleveland nine, but Cleveland squirmed off the ropes with a run in the bottom of the 8th and then won it 3-2 with another tally in the bottom of the ninth. Friday night in Philadelphia while Tom Barrell was winning his 28th game and doing everything he could to salvage the Kings season, the Philadelphia Sailors were 6 outs away from dealing Cleveland a potentially fatal blow. The Sailors led 5-3 but then Dan Fowler homered for the 22nd time this season in the 8th and Leon Drake drove in the tying and winning runs with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth to send the Cleveland faithful into a frenzy with yet another walk-off victory.

One could easily argue the writing has been on the wall for a couple of weeks and Cleveland was fated to win after witnessing all of these amazing comebacks. So perhaps this time it was not a Kings collapse that cost them another shot at that elusive first championship. One can also argue this post-mortem is premature as the Kings still have a chance to force a playoff tiebreaker with a win today over New York and a Cleveland loss to Philadelphia but it appears destiny is not a Brooklyn fan.

Should the seemingly inevitable happen and the Kings fall just short there will be many positives to take from this oh so special but in the end also oh so typical season for the Brooklyn Kings. Let's start with Tom Barrell and his 28-3 record in a season in which he fulfilled all of the promise his father Rufus seemed ready to bring to Brooklyn only to have fate tragically intervene yet again against the Kings with a terrible end to his career before even the first chapter in Rufus Barrell's Brooklyn story could begin. Imagine how different the past decades of futility might have been had Rufus Barrell not been hit in the head by that batted ball in a meaningless exhibition game that cost him his career and nearly his life so many years ago. Tom appears to be picking up the torch and nearly carried the Kings to the playoffs with his season for the ages. if Barrell wins today against New York it will allow him to set the franchise record for victories by a pitcher - a mark he currently shares with Frank Ford and Ferdinand Hawkins. What a pair of names to be associated with. One perhaps barely remembered because of it's tragic ending and one that will never be forgotten by Kings fans because of the tragedy many feel he brought on the club.

Every Kings fan is familiar with the curse put on the Kings by Hawkins as he vowed the team would never win a championship after they unceremoniously cut him in 1892, just a season removed from his second 28 win campaign for Brooklyn. Ford, on the other hand, is a name few Kings remember. He pitched just 4 seasons in Brooklyn but his age 27 year in 1891 saw him win 28 games in the same year Hawkins did it his final time. That off-season Ford suffered a serious accident and while he did survive his baseball career was over and he never pitched again. For long suffering Brooklyn fans one can only hope that Tom Barrell will be remembered in a much different light when his hopefully long and productive Brooklyn career comes to an end. For now though I am quite sure Barrell is focused only on the present and seeing if he has one more win left this season in his golden right arm and if so, perhaps fate can intervene on behalf of the Kings for once.

Tiger Fan · 01-08-2021, 07:52 PM

Tuesday October 2, 1934
THE MOST WINS IN TEAM HISTORY IS NOT ENOUGH

The Brooklyn Kings won a club record 97 games this season but the Cleveland Foresters did one better, winning a club record of their own 98 games to take the Continental Association pennant. For Brooklyn what really was an amazing season despite the final outcome, one that should be celebrated and will be at some point but for now the final week left such a bitter aftertaste for fans as the Kings led by 2.5 games on September 25th only to lose 4 of their last 6 and finish one game short. Looking at the final week it is easy to forget how this Brooklyn team battled from 8 games out in early August to actually get to the point where the final game of the season could matter.

Brooklyn entered yesterday's finale reeling, have dropped 4 of 5 but they still had a chance and Tom Barrell on the mound. Barrell, who had arguably the greatest season ever for a pitcher in the post-deadball era, did his part by winning his 12th consecutive start to improve to 29-3 on the year but the Kings needed help from Philadelphia that nearly arrived, but not quite. Like so often down the stretch the Cleveland Foresters won the game thanks to a walk-off hit, this one a run scoring pinch-hit single in the bottom of the ninth inning from journeyman outfielder Jack Corneilison that gave Cleveland a 4-3 victoy and avoided the need for a tiebreaker game as the Foresters finished 1 game up on the second place Kings.

If there is a team that deserves another shot at a World Championship Series title more than Brooklyn it is the Foresters and their fans. Kings supporters know full well what it is like to never win a Series - as the two teams are the only clubs never to do so - but the Forester fans have it even worse when you consider their owner is actively trying to steal the team away to another city in pursuit of the almighty dollar after Cleveland city council refused to cave in to his outragous stadium demands. So this might well be the end of baseball on the shores of Lake Erie although one of the many romoured alternate locations for the Foresters is another Lake Erie city in Buffalo. But there is more. Brooklyn fans may have the curse of Ferdinand Hawkins to live with but Cleveland fans, with a move impending, may be the only fan base to lose Max Morris twice. The Ohio legend was a rising star in his home state who had both pitched (21-17 that year) and hit (.318 with a league best 13 homers) the Foresters to a pennant in 1917. They lost the Series that year to the Chicago Chiefs but with a rising group of stars it was expected there would be many more opportunities. It turned out there was only one more and it came after a falling out with management that had caused Morris demand a trade. He was moved to St Louis and led the Pioneers to a World Championship in his first season in the Gateway City, beating none other than Cleveland in the 1920 Series. While Morris would not yet win another championship he would go on to become the greatest slugger the game has ever known while the Foresters sank into mediocrity. There was the occasional pennant race as Cleveland finished just a game out in 1921, 4 back in 1923 and despite finishing fourth they were just 2 games off the pace when Brooklyn won the 1927 CA pennant in one of the most dramatic races in history, but for the most part it was a dark time in the land of the Foresters. After two years with the New York Gothams Morris returned to Cleveland in the middle of the 1932 season and perhaps he will finally lead the Foresters to that elusive first World Championship a decade and a half later than when he was projected to carry Cleveland over the finish line. It is interesting that their opponent will be Morris' most recent former team in the Gothams and he does have a previous history of sticking it to an ex-employer in the Series. But in the end it may well be the fans of Cleveland who even if they win the Series could still lose as it stands there is a good chance the Foresters will call a new city their home next April if cantankerous owner Elmer Marshall gets his way.

But back to Brooklyn. The Kings wasted an outstanding season from so many of their star players, a rare season from 30 year old outfielder Doug Lightbody in that he stayed healthy and also hit .371 to win his second CA batting title after two years of mediocre play. Has Lightbody rediscovered his hitting touch and mended his battered body or was this just a last ditched effort to return to the postseason and erase the ghosts created by an .059 batting average in the Kings 1927 Series loss to the Philadelphia Keystones?

And what about rookie third baseman John Langille (.359,10,100). Lightbody experienced similar success early in his career and now knows how rare it is to be both healthy and at the top of his game. Is Langille for real and can he repeat the numbers he put up this year?

Questions also surround first baseman Dan Barrell (.329,11,97), who will be 31 next season and seemingly came out of nowhere in 1932 to emerge as a hitting sensation after being lost in the rule five draft that spring to the New York Stars only to have the Stars decide he was not good enough to make their team and returned to Brooklyn. How much longer with Dan Barrell continue to enjoy the major league success that he seemed so unlikely to ever achieve.

Dan's brothers Harry and Fred seem much more secure to duplicate or even improve on their 1934 numbers. Fred (.280,9,81) is a natural leader and a perfect field general while young Harry (.344,3,81), already a two-time all-star selection at the tender age of twenty and blessed with the acrobatic skills of a Ringling Brothers trapeze artist in the middle of the infield. Surely there will be many more similar seasons from those two. Likewise former first round pick Jake Shadoan (.340,14,81) seems to be reaching his peak at age 26 and 20 year old Bill May (.264,4,39) shows signs he is the centerfield equivilant of Harry Barrell.

The pitching also appears to be solid for next season with 26 year old Mike Murphy winning a career high 21 games and Ken Carpenter, who went 16-6 for the Kings after a trade with Baltimore, looks like he should have at least one more year left in his now 36 year old arm. Joe Shaffner will be 31 and the ex-St Louis Pioneer should fill out the bottom of the rotation nicely although he may be pressured by prospect Art White and the hard luck Johnny Jacob, a 25 year old who was once considered one of the best young pitchers in the game but that was two serious injuries ago so anything Jacob might provide down the road will be considered a huge bonus.

Which brings us to the player who did more for Brooklyn than anyone else this season: Pitcher Tom Barrell. The 26 year old was an amazing 29-3 this season and almost singlehandedly willed the club into the World Championship Series. His victory total is the most by any pitcher since the tail end of the deadball era in 1916. In fact, since 1918 only 3 pitchers have won 25 or more games in a season.
They are:

Code:

1924 Carl Mellen Pittsubgh   26-7
1926 Don Cannady Toronto     25-9
1929 Roy Calfee  Detroit     26-8
1934 Tom Barrell Brooklyn    29-3

Did the Kings squander the greatest display of pitching in the modern era?

Down the stretch every time I put Tom out there on short rest I cringed he might get hurt but in hindsight if I had gone with him just one more time in that final week we might be in a playoff tiebreaker and 2 more times in the final 2 weeks we could have clinched. There were certainly opportunities to give him starts on shorter rest and he seemed to thrive on it with back to back complete game wins by 2-1 and 2-0 scores on September 7th and 10th as a great example. I had him going on short rest on September 14th, 17th and 20th and again he won all 3 - he did not lose a start after August 17 and got the win in every one of them, 12 straight. His only sub 50 game score during that stretch was a 49 on Sept 17th in a 7-5 win over Chicago in which he "only" lasted 8 innings. He bounced back with a strong complete game in a 5-3 win over Toronto on the 20th but, up 2 games I decided to ease him back and give him an extra day off for the last two starts.

It might have been the mistake that cost us the pennant. He went the distance in winning on the 24th and the 28th and again in the season finale but I kick myself for not pushing him into one more start. What would have happened had I pitched him on the 23rd, 26th and 29th for example and likely could have gone back to him on the playoff game October 2nd if there was one. Would it have won us a pennant? Or could it have damaged his arm? I erred on the side of caution but perhaps I was overly cautious.

Only time will tell. Was Barrell's season a once in a lifetime occurance for Kings fans to witness or is it just the beginning of a solid six to ten year run where he anchors the rotation and finally leads us to a title? Only time will tell.

Below are the results of Barrell's pitching performance over the second half of the season.

Tiger Fan · 01-08-2021, 09:52 PM

OFF-SEASON NOTES

KINGS RETAIN ALL STAFF IN ORGANIZATION

Following a pretty successful season, at least in the upper levels of the organization, the Brooklyn Kings have announced all staff members who finished 1934 with the club will remain under contract for the 1935 season. That includes big league manager Walt Bailey who will see his pay nearly triple to $7,245 per annum following an outstanding second full season at the helm of the club. Bailey, who has been in the organization since 1927 and led AA Knoxville to a pair of Dixie League titles, assumed the major league job midway through the 1932 season. Under his leadership the Kings are 240-191 (.557). Brooklyn bench coach and for Kings legend Danny Goff also returns. Goff had followed Bailey up the system and also led Knoxville to a Dixie League title. Batting guru Powell Slocum returns for his third season as hitting coach while Billy Libby is back and looking to build on an oustanding inaugural season as the Kings pitching coach.

Franz Gruber, who led Rochester to the Union League title this season returns to run the AAA club. Former Kings pitcher Harvey Rodgers will embark on his second full season at the helm of AA Knoxville with a league pennant under his belt following an 89-51 season while Sam Stringfellow, who was hired late in the year to take over at Class A Omaha will return for his first full season with the Cowboys. Former King infielder Glenn Mowles at Class A Tampa and long-time former Boulder State instructor Alex De Jesus returns for a 6th season with the Class C Marshalltown Maples.

KINGS REQUEST TO RELOCATE THEIR CLASS A AFFILIATE

Citing travel concerns for their scouts and the overwhelming challenge of competing with deep pocket independent teams at such a low level the Kings have petioned the new FABL commissioner for permission to relocate their Class A affilate. Geographically the Middle Atlantic League would make the best sense but that would depend on an existing big league club being willing to pull up states and move it's affilate so failing that the Kings are considering a return to the Heartland League. Omaha was a member of the Heartland League from 1904-1928 and associated with Brooklyn for much of that time but the formation of the new Western Baseball League in 1929 prompted a switch to that loop for georgraphic reasons. The Western League is unique in that 5 of it's 8 clubs are independently owned and all five have stadiums with a much higher capacity than the 6,500 seats at the Omaha Ballpark. As a result the rosters of those 5 teams are dotted with former AAA regulars and several players who have spent some time in the major leagues.

"Denver regularly draws 13,000 fans a game. They are doubling what our Brooklyn Kings bring in," lamented long-time Omaha hitting coach Freeman Wiley. "They are practically a major league organization and we are sending raw kids out to face guys like Jackie Marshall- who has over 100 Figment wins. Makes it tough for the kids to compete and stay positive."

BROOKLYN MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM DROPS

The Brooklyn Kings had one of the best minor league systems according to the Baseball News Network at the beginning of the season. However, just six months later the Kings group of prospects now ranks 14th out of the 16 FABL teams. That number is very deceiving as during that time John Langille and Bill May both came off the list as they became regulars in Brooklyn. Langille finished second in the Continental Association in batting average and May looks like an above average major league centerfielder. Meanwhile the Kings also traded their top pitching prospect Dixie Lee, who is ranked the 16th best prospect in the league and young third baseman Ken Mayhugh (#49) to St Louis and Boston respectively in deals to acquire veteran pitching help.

Despite the trade of Lee the Kings remain very deep in pitching prospects with three qualifying for top fifty prospect status and 4 more landing in the organizations top ten prospects.

A pair of first round picks from last year in BOB CUMMINGS (#37 overall) and EARLE ROBINSON (#38) lead the way. Cummings was taken 7th overall out of College of San Diego and the 22 year old progressed through three levels in his rookie pro season with his final stop seeing him go 8-5, 4.27 in 15 starts for the Class AA Dixie League champion Knoxville Knights. He is projected to get an opportunity at the AAA level next season.

Robinson was selected two slots ahead of Cummings after a solid career at Swoyersville High School. Some nagging back woes slowed his development this season, limiting him to just 11 starts between Class C and B. When he was healthy Robinson looked very strong but clearly needs more seasoning so for his 19 year old season he will begin the year back in Class B Tampa.

The third pitcher in that group is ART WHITE (46th overall). The 23 year old lefthander spent some time in Brooklyn this season, going 0-1 with a 3.86 era in 3 appearances. A third round pick in 1932 out of George Fox University, White was 7-9 for AAA Rochester as the Rooks won the Union League title. He will be given a shot to make the big club next spring but is likely going to start the year back in Rochester.

Rounding out the Kings top ten prospects are:

RAY LEE -(129th overall) - 22 year 1927 second round pick out of Boston High School went 7-2, 4.11 at AA Knoxville this season.

PEPPER TUTTLE- (138th overall)- 19 year was taken in the fourth round last winter out of High School in Hartford. His record was poor, going 4-10, 5.26 at Class C Marshalltown but it was a weak club and he did post an ERA+ of 100.

BILL WHITE - (139th overall)- undrafted out of high school, the Kings signed the Brooklyn native as a minor league free agent in 1929. The shortstop worked his way up the Brooklyn system and is a highly sought after prospect in trade talks thanks to his outstanding defensive skills and a .299 average last season in Rochester. His path to Brooklyn, at least as a shortstop, is blocked by Harry Barrell.

CHUCK JOHNSON- (170th overall) A 1932 7th round pick out of Boston High School (the same school Ray Lee went to), Johnson projects as an above average contact hitter but the key for the 20 year old first baseman is to develop the power that one would expect should come from his 6'4", 200 pound frame. Johnson hit .297 for Class C Marshalltown this season.

MULE EARL - (179th overall) Taken in the 6th round of the 1931 draft out of Houston High School the 21 year old spent a third season at the Class C level, posting a 7-6, 4.37 era season. He is considered a spot starter in the big leagues but may eventually find a role in the Kings bullpen.

LEE SHAPIRO - (183rd overall) A New York native, the third baseman was selected out of high school in the 16th round of the 1932 draft but his stock has risen dramatically within the organization. He hit .333 with 5 homers in half a season at Marshalltown before promotion to Class B Tampa but the 20 year old saw very limited action with the Cigar Kings.

HOMER WAGNER - (203rd overall) A 7th round pick out of high school last winter, the Denver native looked very good in half a season at Marshalltown before earning a promotion to Class B Tampa. The Kings were pretty high on the 19 year old shortly after his promotion but his career has been sidetracked severely due to a major arm injury that will sideline him for at least a year.

I will give honourable mention to RUFUS DANIELS (307th overall). The Kings drafted the son of Barrell family friend Possum Daniels out of Atlanta High School in the 8th round of the 1931 draft. Daniels has tremendous work ethic, outstanding speed and plays above average defense in centerfield but the concern is about his bat. He hit just .179 in 3 seasons of high school ball but showed tremendous defensive promise. The Kings selected him as a project and he has put in a lot of extra work with several Kings coaches including legendary hitter Powell Slocum who was quoted as calling Daniels "a sponge for how much information he absorbs about the game." He is still a long-term project but at just 21 worked his way up to AA this season and hit .329 in 21 games at that level. His ceiling is likely that of a utility player but with his persistence who knows. He just might become a big league regular someday.

We pick late in the draft at #14 but I feel it is a fairly deep class at the top so I believe the Kings will get a quality prospect in round one and perhaps even in round two. I have already made a shortlist of the top 160 draft candidates (the first 10 rounds are human picks before the AI takes over) and will begin work on finalizing my board very soon as the draft will occur shortly after the World Championship Series.

ayaghmour2 · 01-08-2021, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

Was Barrell's season a once in a lifetime occurance for Kings fans to witness or is it just the beginning of a solid six to ten year run where he anchors the rotation and finally leads us to a title? Only time will tell.

I'm leaning towards the latter. There's a lot to be excited about if your a King fan! Always a shame just one team in each league makes the playoffs, but it can make the season so much more exciting.

Tiger Fan · 01-09-2021, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

I'm leaning towards the latter. There's a lot to be excited about if your a King fan! Always a shame just one team in each league makes the playoffs, but it can make the season so much more exciting.

I hope so. Interesting note is my decision to pull back on Barrell’s frequency of starts was heavily influenced by the recent devastating arm injury suffered by Tommy Wilcox. Had Wilcox not been hurt and it so fresh in my mind I am certain I would have kept sending Barrell out there with just 2 days off between starts. So there is another link between the 2 great pitchers.

DD Martin · 01-09-2021, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

I hope so. Interesting note is my decision to pull back on Barrell’s frequency of starts was heavily influenced by the recent devastating arm injury suffered by Tommy Wilcox. Had Wilcox not been hurt and it so fresh in my mind I am certain I would have kept sending Barrell out there with just 2 days off between starts. So there is another link between the 2 great pitchers.

I think that injury played on all our minds. I limited my pitchers 125 pitch counts and stuck with the 5-man strict rotation until changing the rotation to 4-man with the last Brooklyn series in September.

For the World Series the pitch counts are removed and it’s a 3-man rotation

Tiger Fan · 01-18-2021, 11:36 AM

OCTOBER 29, 1934
BARRELL WINS ALLEN AWARD

As early as August it was clear that Brooklyn ace Tom Barrell was going to win the Allen Award as the Continental Association's top pitcher and we received official confirmation this week when the results of voting for the award were released. The 26 year old righthander was a unanimous choice, being named at the top of each of the 16 ballots. Barrell finished the season with a 29-3 record, a 2.96 era and a FABL best 189 strikeouts. Barrell's 29 wins were the most in a season since 1916 when Charlie Sis won 35 and George Johnson 31.

Barrell's win marks the third time a Kings hurler has claimed the Allen Award in it's nine year history. He was preceded by Mose Smith (23-7, 2.42) in Brooklyn's pennant winning 1927 season and Milt Fritz (23-15, 3.08), who claimed the award in 1931.

A college legend at Georgia Baptist where he remains the All-Time AIAA career wins leader with 34 and was a two-time second team All-American selection, Barrell was selected first overall by the Chicago Cougars in the 1929 FABL draft. He would make just 3 appearances in a Chicago uniform before being dealt to Brooklyn in a blockbuster deal that saw Tommy Wilcox, who won the CA Allen Award last season, go to the Cougars. Barrell now sports a lifetime FABL record of 52-22 with a 3.21 career era.

Mike Murphy, who the Kings also acquired from Chicago in the deal that brought Barrell to Brooklyn, was third in the voting behind Cleveland's Dean Astle. The 27 year old lefthander won a career best 21 games and finished second in the Continental Association with a 2.84 era. Veteran Ken Carpenter (19-8, 3.64), who was acquired by the Kings in a May trade with Baltimore, finished fifth in the balloting.

With Bobby Barrell of the Philadelphia Keystones claiming the Federal Association's Whitney Award as that loop's most valuable player that had been hope for a third Barrell award winner this season but 20 year old shortstop Harry Barrell came up just short in the CA Whitney voting. Harry received 6 first place votes and 137 points overall but it was not enough to prevent Cleveland's T.R. Goins from becoming just the second player to win an Award in both the Federal and Continental Associations. Goins, who previously won the 1926 Whitney Award in the Fed with Washington, received 7 first place votes and topped the results with 163 points to join current Foresters teammate Max Morris as the only players to win an award in each league. Morris came in fifth in this year's vote. Kings rookie third baseman John Langille finished 4th in the balloting while 1927 winner Doug Lightbody was 9th and Jake Shadoan 11th.

KINGS ACQUIRE PERROT

While the plan is to pretty much stick with the roster I have now for next season, the Kings did make a deal to add outfield depth acquiring Joe Perrot from the Federal Association champion New York Gothams. The 32 year old hit .322 with 14 homers this season for the Gothams but found he no longer fit into their plans and was dispatched to Brooklyn in exchange for a fifth round draft pick.

"We are thrilled to add a veteran presence like Perrot," especially without costing us anything off of our roster or minor league system," explained Kings assistant General Manager Jim Golden, who then proceeded to gush about Perrot's ability with the stick. "He is a career .334 hitter who really is not showing any signs of slowing down and has never hit under .307 in a season. Getting an all-star like Joe is a huge addition for us." Perret was named to the Federal Association all-star team in July but did not appear in the game.

One knock on Perret has always been his defense in left field but the Kings have already lived with subpar defense in that position from Art Summers (.282,8,84). It is expected Perret (.322,14,88) and Summers will battle it out for the starting job along with Jim Gentry (.308,2,46) and Jose Serna (.295,0,22), both of whom are much better defensive options and each lost the opportunity to start in centerfield with the emergence of rookie Bill May.

Tiger Fan · 01-21-2021, 07:03 PM

KINGS ANNOUCE EARLY DRAFT PICKS
The Brooklyn Kings have made 4 picks so far in the amateur player draft. Here is a look at the future Kings.

ROUND ONE PICK 14
DAN ROGERS- RIGHT FIELD: CANTON SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL, Canton, Ohio.

Power. That is why the Kings selected Rogers with their first round pick. The organization has never had a true power bat and the scouting staff believes Rogers might just fill that need someday soon. The 18 year old hit .512 with 9 homers and 11 doubles in 20 games as a senior. He was ranked 9th in the final OSA Mock Draft and Kings Scouting Director John Spears listed Rogers 14th on his draft board. It was no secret the Kings number one target was Bob Donoghue, a power hitting outfielder from Iowa A&M but Rogers makes a nice consolation prize after the Boston Minutemen selected Donoghue 3 picks ahead of the Kings turn.

ROUND TWO PICK 29
TIP HARRISON - SHORTSTOP: BLUEGRASS STATE, born in Houston, Texas

The Kings had no plans to take a shortstop this high but when Harrison was still available and the Kings unable to secure a deal to move up and grab bench coach and former Brooklyn ace Danny Goff's son Jack, Brooklyn jumped at the opportunity to take the 23 year old Harrison. Scouts rave about his defense and speed and Spears feels Harrison can become an above-average big league shortstop but it likely won't be in Brooklyn with 20 year old all-star Harry Barrell slotted to man that position for the next decade or more. Harrison can also play second or third so he may be shifted to another position but he might also be trade bait for a possible deadline move this season. Harrison bounced up and down the mock draft list before settling in at #24 in a class rich with shortstops. John Spears had him ranked 9th on the Brooklyn draft list.

ROUND THREE PICK 37
JACK WOOD- LEFT HANDED PITCHER: HENRY HUDSON UNIVERSITY, born in New York City

The local product was a consolation prize for the Kings, who had their eyes set on Boulder College righthander Charlie Philip only to see him go 1 pick ahead of the Kings to Toronto. Brooklyn dealt away a pair of prospects including highly touted shortstop Bill White to the Chicago Chiefs in order to secure this pick so the inability to draft Philip is seen as a setback. As for Wood, he was 10-5 with a 2.90 era for the Explorers this season and is a legacy player from the feeder league era, posting a 2-3 record the previous season. Wood was 52nd on the OSA Mock Draft list, 45th on the Kings big board and 14th among pitchers but Spears feels confident Wood's 4 pitch arsenal will play nicely at the bottom of a big league rotation.

ROUND THREE PICK 46
BOB MULLINS - CENTER FIELD: TILDEN HIGH SCHOOL, Brooklyn, New York

The Kings stay in their own backyard with the addition of Mullins. They love his makeup and the fact that nothing seems to phase the 19 year old. He has a big frame at 6'1" and had 23 extra base hits in 26 high school games with the feeling being he could be a plus power guy once he fills out. Mullins has the flexibility to play all three outfield positions or first base. He was 18th on the OSA mock draft but just 93rd on John Spears' draft board in a deep crop of centerfielders. I personally had him 4th among centerfielders so we will see how my pick pans out as Spears will give me all the credit (or blame) for this one.

12-21-2020, 10:55 PM	#201
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	Previewing the 1934 Draft THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST YEAR PLAYER DRAFT NOW THAT FEEDERS ARE GONE PART ONE I originally created this thread in part to share the knowledge I gained from my first foray into online league play and specifically a stats-only environment. I feel I have become very comfortable with the draft process with feeder leagues but now our league just made a switch to eliminate feeder leagues and go to game generated draft pools. As a result I am back to a new challenge, which is good as challenges are fun. I am hoping I can share some of the knowledge I gain and some of the mistakes I make in this new drafting reality. Still stats-only, but instead of feeder league stats it will be game generated ones. We are stats-only so I had some trepidation about losing feeder league sim stats and going to just game created ones with the draft class especially since I felt I had a pretty good handle on how to draft players based on the feeder stats. Now the question is how would the stats correspond to performance without actual games? Are hot and cold streaks no longer a factor like they were with feeders and a short schedule? Should I rely more on scouting reports without the benefit of many advanced stats, fielding stats and draftee player game logs that feeders provide? Do I trust my scout more as I had really got to the point of almost ignoring the scout and I think I drafted very successfully relying almost exclusively on how I assessed the stats of a player to make my draft list instead of what my scouting director suggested. Now it is a whole new ballgame and I would not say it is better or worse - there are pros and cons each way - but it is a very different adventure to try and assess the draft class without the benefit of real game stats and boxscores. Over the next little bit I will share some posts with my observations and welcome comments from others who might have played stats only without feeder leagues. I don't mind giving some of my 'research' away to others in FABL who read this as (1) I think our league really has a spirit of sharing and it helps each team be more competitive plus (2) I have no idea if what I am thinking I am seeing is anywhere near accurate, so plagiarize my work at your own risk. CONTRADTICTION BETWEEN SCOUTS AND STATS My initial thoughts immediately focus on what I see as great contradiction in many cases between the written scouting reports and the game generated stats. I often had those same variances when we played with feeders but the difference is I learned to trust the feeder stats more than the scouting reports and now I am not sure if I can do the same with no feeders. What do I mean by contradiction? Let me take one college pitcher in the current draft pool as a player to break down as an example. His name is Phil Gregg and he is a junior at Redwood University, which is listed as having a Great competition level. In looking at his stats, Gregg looks like one of the top college pitchers. His WHIP is the lowest of any college player in his draft class. His 12-2 record leads the class in wins. He has the fourth lowest BB/9, the 6th best K/9 and his FIP is the second lowest in his class. Oh, and his 4.0 WAR tops all college pitchers. So with numbers like that you have to think Phil Gregg is going to be one of the premier college arms available. I count a huge number of college pitchers - at least a dozen - that my scout feels are very solid bets to be at least a #4 starter in the future with several being considered future #1 or 2 type guys. However, Gregg is not one of them. He falls just outside the group of a dozen according to my long-time scouting director John Spears. Spears has scouted Gregg numerous times and presently is listed as having a high accuracy level on him. The OSA scouting service paints a slightly more optimistic picture of Gregg but it is important to note OSA is only showing an average accuracy in scouting him. OSA feels he can be a middle of the rotation guy. There are 15 pitchers in the preliminary OSA mock draft but Gregg is not one of them so they don't feel he is good enough to be drafted in the first five rounds despite his high end numbers at a top level university. Numbers which if taken alone without the written reports indicate that Gregg is very close to, if not the best college arm in the draft. Now having scouts be very different in their assessment to what I saw in the stats with feeder leagues was nothing new. In fact over the past few seasons I have found I have much better success when I drafted based on the stats than on what the scouting director or OSA written reports say. The challenge now is for me to try and decide if that is still the case. Are the game created stats for a draft class without feeders more of an indication of a player's potential or are the scouting reports key? Gregg is just one example and there are others, many with the opposite issue - bad stats in comparison to the rest of the class but very good written reports. I am not saying this system is better or worse then feeders, just different and it will take some adjusting. I am thinking it might even be more fun in the long run but it will take some getting used to figure out if there is a pattern. I actually hope there isn't a pattern and it remains a mystery, just as the draft is for the most part in real life. Really livens the draft excitement up that way and continues to make late round picks very valuable as you never know just what you might unearth. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

12-22-2020, 07:10 PM	#203
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	July 23, 1934 So an update on my draft post above. A couple of GM's suggested to me something that makes perfect sense and I really should have thought of myself. They were both under the impression that the college/HS stats generated with non-feeder players represent the actual ratings and the scouting reports represent the potential ratings. I was thinking that the stats would be created like the scouting reports based on potential but of course their theory makes far more sense and easily explains why Phil Gregg can be so good among college pitchers when we look at stats but not seen as a top prospect. The scouts just don't feel his ceiling is as high as perhaps others who slightly under performed him. So now the challenge is do I believe my scouts or do I draft based on what a player has shown me as his current ability level. But then isn't that the dilema every organization contends with at each draft. BROOKLYN KINGS UPDATE JULY 23, 1934 Well, we gained a game on the Cleveland Foresters this week thanks to a 5-2 week which started with us salvaging a game from our 4 series in Cleveland. Ken Carpenter got the call - he was the veteran pitcher I picked up from Baltimore earlier in the season and he was masterful, spinning a 3-hit shutout of the mighty Cleveland roster (although Max Morris and TR Goins were both resting on this day). We did not get much offense either but Art Summers (.295,4,56), who has been struggling of late, delivered an rbi single in the 7th and that was all Carpenter needed for a 1-0 victory. We then moved on to Philadelphia where we split four games losing the opener, which was the big league debut for 24 year old Art Blake, and on get away day when Mike Murphy (9-6, 3.52) had a rough start to the contest and ended up on the shortend of a 6-2 score. In between Tom Barrell (14-2, 3.31) and newcomer Joe Shaffner (1-0, 1.00), fresh off the train from St Louis, picked up victories. I made the decision to give the rookie Blake a start after news broke out of Chicago about the devastating season ending and potentially career-damaging injury suffered by former King Tommy Wilcox. Wilcox threw a lot of pitches on short rest and blew out his elbow so I was gun shy about sending Barrell or Shaffner out on Tuesday as each had pitched the previous Friday and 2 other times last week including their all-star appearances. We finished the week off with 3-1 and 3-0 victories over Toronto on Saturday and Sunday. Carpenter ran his record as a King to 9-1 with another complete game on Saturday while Barrell got his 15th win with a 4-hit shutout Sunday. It was nice to see rookie third sacker John Langille get hits in both games. Langille improved his league leading average to .372, which puts him .001 ahead of fellow King Doug Lightbody, but more importantly it shows he appears fully recovered from the hamstring issues that sidelined him since just before the all-star break. ANOTHER VETERAN ARM ADDED Blake will likely not get another start as I pulled off another trade this sim by acquiring veteran righthander Max Wilder from the Boston Minutemen. Wilder will join our rotation that should be miles better than it was when we opened the season. He was 7-9 with a 4.56 era on the year, which he split between the Chicago Cougars and Boston. The 36 year old is much travelled, Brooklyn becomes his 6th FABL team, but he is a great presence both on the mound where he is 153-127 overall and in the clubhouse where he adds a leadership presence and World Championship experience having been to the Series twice with the Chicago Cougars. The cost was highly touted corner infielder Ken Mayhugh and a second round pick as well as a serviceable reliever in Jim Chandler. The second round pick is fairly easy to part with as I acquired one from St Louis just the week prior so that becomes a wash. Chandler is character guy we claimed on waivers from the New York Stars in May. He was 1-3 with a 3.69 era for the Kings. I would have liked to keep him in my pen but I already have a pair of all-stars there in Del Lyons (3-0, 1.21) and veteran Hal Galvan (10-4, 2.84) so I can manage quite well without him. On one hand I feel I gave up a lot of youth to get these two veteran pitchers but the loss of my top pitching prospect (19th overall in the league) and my number two position player (57th overall) is mitigated somewhat because my minor league system is so deep right now. Moving those two still leaves me with 5 players, including 4 pitchers in the top 72 prospects in the league and I also have a 23 year old rookie in John Langille leading the league in hitting so Mayhugh's path to the big leagues as a third baseman was blocked anyway. In Shaffner and Wilder I get a pair of proven veteran arms that will hopefully get us closer to a pennant, both this year and over the next couple of seasons. Wilder will turn 37 next year so his shelf life is limited but he had arguably the best year of his career last season so perhaps he has a couple of more years left in the tank. Shaffner is still just 30 years old so he could fill a spot in the middle of my rotation for another half dozen years if all goes well. But right now the focus is on catching Cleveland for top spot. Attached Images __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

12-24-2020, 03:27 PM	#204
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	JULY 30, 1934 A bad week for the Kings as we go 2-5 but at least Cleveland only posted a 4-4 mark this week so we are now 6.5 games behind the Continental Association front-runners. We went 19-8 in June and briefly spent some time in first place but a dreadful July (13-14) has set us back especially since the all-star break as we are 7-10. Cleveland meanwhile, is 11-7 since the break including taking 3 of 4 from us. We still lead the CA in runs scored, by 8 over second place Cleveland while the Foresters with just 405 runs against are tops in that category. My Kings are second but have allowed 30 more runs than Cleveland has surrendered. Hopefully the recent additions to our rotation can help us close that gap. Last week was a disappointment starting with dropping both ends of a twin bill in Toronto to the lowly Wolves. We then went to Chicago and split a 4-game set with the Cougars but, with a few breaks it could have been quite different. We lost 3 games last week - one in Toronto and 2 in Chicago- in extra innings. It's not like we aren't getting clutch hitting as we battled back in both Chicago losses to force the free baseball, including overcoming a 5-0 deficit entering the 8th inning of game we ultimately lost 6-5 in 11 innings. Hopefully it is just a bump in the road that we are over and things will even back out but we have 2 months to go and trail the Foresters by 6.5 games, so time is becoming a factor. They look too strong to have a prolonged slump so we will need to play our best baseball. We have the benefit of 7 games remaining head to head with them but that might actually be a curse as we are 6-9 against them this season, the worst we have fared vs any opponent. I am starting to think this might end up being like the 1926 season in which we battled to keep pace with a New York Stars team that was enroute to it's third straight World Championship. We briefly overtook the Stars for top spot that summer, and added some veteran arms down the stretch just as we have this year but ultimately fell a couple of games short. However, the following season with one of those veteran arms, a pitcher named Mose Smith, playing a huge role we got our pennant. I am not throwing in the towel in 1934 by any stretch of the imagination but I think even with the recent trading of prospects we are extremely well positioned for the future as well as the present. One other thing I did the past couple of weeks is sign some veteran minor league players with good character as there was some unrest in the clubhouses of our 3 lowest minor league affiliates. I also released a few malcontents who did not have any great long term place in the organization and either lacked the work ethic or had a surplus of negative opinions in the room. The chemistry is a bit better but still not great in Class C Marshalltown or Class A Omaha since both teams are really struggling in the standings. Class B Tampa is now content after the moves as the Cigar Kings are a .500 ball club that just needed some leadership. Our top two minor league clubs are both brimming with talent and holding down top spot in their respective leagues. The AAA Rochester Rooks, like the big boys in Brooklyn, are embroiled in a pennant race with the Foresters organization and presently lead second place Cincinnati by 3 games. A good dozen or perhaps even more players on that Rochester team are major league ready and would likely be playing in the big leagues were they with an organization with less depth. If they can hang on it will be the first title of any kind for Rochester ever, dating back to 1897 when the Rooks first joined the AA Eastern Association. The Kings have been affiliated with them since 1929. AA Knoxville has an 8 game cushion on second place Mobile in the Dixie League as the Knights are chasing their 4th pennant in the past 6 years. It is a testament to the organization depth but also the job 33 year old former Kings pitcher Harvey Rodgers is doing in his first full season as a skipper. Attached Images __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

12-29-2020, 11:51 AM	#205
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	August 13, 1934 Oh, the ups and downs of a pennant race, or at least one in which I hope I can keep close enough to call it a race in September. We lost 6 of 9 to finish up July/start August and found ourselves 7.5 games back of first place Cleveland but we had a nice 4 game winning streak over Montreal and Baltimore to end this sim and we are back to 5.5 games back of the Foresters, who dropped 3 of their last four. So we are back to about where we were just after the all-star break but we are running out of time to make up the remaining ground. Realistically, Cleveland is too strong for us to make up 5.5 games over the next 7 weeks but we have to continue to hang on to our slim hope of catching them. If we can get hot, maybe we can do it but the room for any sort of a slump is gone. The Foresters are 71-38 and playing at a .651 clip. If Cleveland was to just play .500 the rest of the way they would still end up with 94 wins. In order to tie them we would have to go 29-17, play at a .630 pace. We presently are 65-43 for a .602 winning percentage. Unfortunately I expect the Foresters to do much better than .500 the rest of the way. If they play .600 ball the will win a total of 98 games. To tie them we would need to win 33 of our final 46 or .717 ball. Like I said, realistically the race is over but this is baseball and strange things occasionally do happen. Lets hope this is one of those times. Overall I can't complain much about our team. We finished two games under .500 a year ago and won 80 games the previous season so we should end up much better than that. It does make me even more angry at our terrible starts the past two seasons as this club has proved in the second half each of those years and the full season this year that we should be at least within shouting distance of the leader. The offense has been outstanding, best in the CA and even better than the powerful offensive force the Foresters have created. Doug Lightbody (.373,4,58) has made an incredible comeback from two very bad seasons to regain the form that made him CA MVP in 1927 and he stands a good chance to win his second CA batting crown although rookie John Langille (.365,5,70) is right on his heels. Harry Barrell (.337,2,62) is making a very good case to be considered the best shortstop in either league - and he is still just 20 years old. Jake Shadoan (.316,11,52) has been bounced around from position to position over the last couple of years but I think he has settled in at second base, and through it all his offensive production never suffered. Fred Barrell (.314,4,64) is an outstanding catcher and 20 year old rookie Bill May (.238,1,15) is finding his hitting stroke after struggling in an early season callup. May could evolve into the best defensive centerfielder in the league and he is already secured a spot in the top 2 or 3 in the CA. 27 year old Art Summers (.286,7,68) had a great start to the season but endured a rough July. His left field position might be the only one I need to look at upgrading over the winter. Finally we have late bloomer Dan Barrell (.312,6,49) doing a decent job at first base. Lightbody may eventually shift there and take Dan's spot but the 29 year old eldest ballplaying Barrell has done well again this season. Pitching was an issue until I made 3 trades. I had a large number of prospects, especially pitchers but when we lost Johnny Jacob for the season I knew we were in trouble. I had a decent core in Tom Barrell (17-2, 3.04), who has been outstanding and has to be a favourite for the Allen Award this season and a dependable middle of the rotation guy in Mike Murphy (12-6, 3.34), who was acquired along with Tom and catcher Fred in the Tommy Wilcox deal with Chicago a couple seasons back. Beyond that I was in trouble as prospects like Chuck Murphy and Art Blake did not appear ready so we dealt some of our youth away to add veteran Ken Carpenter (14-5, 3.79) from Baltimore. Carpenter has gone 11-3 for us since the deal and the 36 year old has been everything I hoped for when we acquired him. Joe Shaffner(14-8, 3.14) was added from St Louis about a month ago and has done well, going 2-1 for us. Shaffner is just 30 years old and although the cost was steep, which included our top pitching prospect, the expectation is he will be a key piece of our rotation for the next half dozen years. We made a deal just before the deadline to acquire Max Wilder(8-9, 4.53) from Boston but he hurt his shoulder in his first start, just 4 days before his 37th birthday and is out for a few more days. The good news with the Wilder injury is we have hit a stretch with some off days so I could drop to a four man rotation without worries of disrupting the routine of any of my pitchers and Wilder should be back next week. Injuries, especially to pitchers, have always plagued our organization. I mentioned Johnny Jacob and that is the one that hurts the most. He has had a bunch of them the last couple of years and the latest is the worst, blowing out his elbow which will cost him about 11 months and the worry is he will never live up to the potential that prompted him to be considered a top ten prospect in the entire league. The elbow injury is the same one that hit Bill Dengler twice and ultimately ended his career. Dengler was a second round pick in 1925 who did not have quite the potential of Jacob, but was projected to be a number two starter for us. He showed flashes when he was healthy but the second elbow injury ended his career and I worry Jacob, even if he can return somewhere close to the form he flashed in going 20-17, 3.95 for us over a little over about a season and a half of big league action, is just 1 pitch away from the end of his career. The other pitcher injury that concerns me is to one of our two first round picks from last December. We selected highly touted Swoyersville HS righthander Earle Robinson 5th overall and he was instantly ranked #37 on the league top prospect list. He started the season 2-1 with a 2.43 era and a 215 ERA+ at Class C Marshalltown before hurting his back and missing over 3 months. He returned last week pitched 2 innings of scoreless ball and left the game after aggravating the back injury once again. He should just miss a week but I am tempted to shut him down for the rest of the season although I worry that might adversly effect his development. The only good thing is it is not his right arm but I can't imagine chronic back troubles to be much less worse than shoulder or elbow woes. Speaking of the minors the Foresters are all over us there as well. Cincinnati, Cleveland's AAA team has won 5 straight and pulled into a first place tie with my Rochester Rooks. We had a 4 game series last week but split it with us taking the first two before the Steamers took the final pair of games. I have pulled some pretty good talent out of Rochester in Bill May and pitchers Chuck Murphy and Al Blake so I tried to execute a waiver claim to add a veteran outfield bat in former Montreal Saint Joe Fix, but I was unsuccessful as the Sailors grabbed him, so the Rooks are on their own right now and I may need to take some more players from them for Brooklyn when the rosters expand. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-01-2021, 05:59 AM	#206
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	August 27, 1934 AUGUST 27, 1934 PENNANT RACE HEATS UP What a difference a little less than 3 weeks can make. As you can see from the image below on August 6th the Kings hit their lowpoint and had slipped to 8 games back of the front running Foresters. Just 19 days later and the gap is a much more manageable 3 games. So what happened? Cleveland did not do too badly over the past 19 days but at 9-9 it has to be considered a slump by their standards. And as for our beloved Kings....well, we got hot, going 13-3 in that span. I said in the previous post we would need to play something like .733 ball the rest of the way if Cleveland performed as expected. Well, 13-3 is an .813 pace. Can we keep that up? Highly unlikely but now we are within range that perhaps we do not need to. The key is this week's three game set between the two of us at my Kings County Stadium. We can not afford to be swept or all our efforts over the past 3 weeks would be for naught. We could survive by only taking 1 of three games but it would be very demoralizing to come out of that midweek set 4 games back. Idealy we take two of three and shave the deficit down to 2 games. (Well, ideally we sweep the series and come out of tied for first but that might be a little too much to hope for). Each club will be missing a key piece for the series. Cleveland, which has won 7 of their last 10 ballgames, just as we have, seems back on track after a 2-7 stretch from August 6-16. However, the Foresters have learned that Dean Astle (14-5, 3.06) their outstanding 24 year old sophomore lefty, tweaked his elbow on the weekend and will miss the next 4 days - the fourth day being the final day of our 3 game showdown. Astle, arguably the best of a very good Cleveland pitching staff this season, has been strong against the Kings this year posting a 2-1 record with a 2.27 era in 4 starts against us. His only loss to Brooklyn was a complete game 4 hitter in our series right after the all-star break that he lost by a 1-0 score. It remains to be seen if the Foresters bring a player up from Cincinnati or elect to start Roger Perry (16-6, 3.10) against us on short rest Thursday. The way it stands now we are scheduled to face their 4th and 5th starters Tuesday and Wednesday in Ben Turner (8-4, 4.39) and Walter Murphy (14-6, 3.39) The key piece we will be without is our outstanding rookie third baseman John Langille (.373,6,74) who has missed the past week with a rib strain and is not expected back until a few days after the Cleveland series. In Langille's absence veteran outfielder Doug Lightbody (.378,5,66) has got hot - he went 9 for 16 last week - and taken over the Continental Association batting lead from his rookie teammate but I expect the two will wage a friendly war down the stretch for the title. August has been quite a ride for us as the Kings opened the month by dropping 4 of our first 6 games, including 3 1-run defeats, but recovered nicely with our 13-3 tear. During that time we outscored our opponents 95-57 or by an average of roughly 6-3. In only two of our wins and two of the 3 losses did we fail to score at least 5 runs. Our pitching has been very good the past month. Max Wilder made just one start before his injury but other than that we have gone with just 4 starters in August. As you can see below Mike Murphy has been amazing lately. Tom Barrell has been pretty good in his five August starts and Joe Shaffner has been adequate since coming over from St Louis. Ken Carpenter, on the other hand, appears to have struggled but those August numbers are skewed by one very bad outing in an 11-3 loss to the New York Stars early in the month. Below are our August numbers from our starters,as well as the overall records and a look at Mike Murphy's game by game performance recently. We have the best offense in the CA this season but they have really turned it up in August. As you can see the injury to John Langille is really going to mean he will be missed. Buck Sargent might be a slight upgrade at the moment in the field, but Langille's bat can not be replaced. The bats have been hot all season, and even hotter the past month. The challenge will be to keep it going for one more week as winning this series with the Foresters is as close to 'must' as any late August series can ever be. We do have 4 more games with them and they will be played 2 weeks later but that time we will be on the shores of Lake Erie. It would be nice to go into that series at least tied with the Foresters. Funny how mindsets change so quickly in the pennant race. Two weeks ago the thought of being within a game or two of Cleveland at the end of August seemed to be just a pipe dream. Now the Kings have the opportunity. Let's just hope one more week of their hot play is not too much to ask. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

12-22-2020, 04:01 PM	#202
ayaghmour2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 3,010	I feel the same way. I was just getting adjusted to drafting in the feeders (and I feel I did pretty well) and then the switch to no feeders changes everything. It's really fun going through this pool, but it's definitely going to be harder to evaluate talent. Anecdotally, the auto generated players statistics are much more representative of the actual players skill (when the stats are assigned) because they simulate the whole season at once instead of game by game. This gets rid of the volatility of the individual feeder games which sometimes really skew a player. We won't have any Cy Sullivan's who have to play shortstop when he's not starting who had an awful senior season because of the rotating group of pitchers manning short. Now, since the pool is released like 6 months before the draft, the guys could develop/decline just like the feeder league guys so it's still important to scout a lot. It is also so much harder to tell if a guy is good, because you have to hope your scout catches all his talents. Obviously the more you scout the better, but sometimes the reports don't cover everything. You have to hope you get some sort of their defensive ability because we don't get to see defensive stats. Sometimes you'll get super detailed and helpful reports, but here is my Herm Haines report: "Herm Haines is 18-year-old and from Oak Park, Illinois. Haines potential is limited with a poor glove and bat." Wow Marv, thanks for the helpful report... I'm taking reports like this as this guy is terrible, but it would be nice to know a little about the guy. Is he a contact hitter? Does he have a good eye? I mean he hit .409/.505/.570 (not great, but it looks good) with a homer and 23 RBI's, but we have to interpret what it means on our own. It makes it much harder to sort through players since we have less information to work on, but I think drafting will be more streamlined. I never used the mock draft with the feeders and very rarely would I use my scouts list, but I know I'm going to have to rely on those more as we don't get to see the entire college/HS universe, just the good players. I miss the storylines from the feeder leagues, but I think we won't have to worry about Rusty Petrick or Art White type prospects.

01-04-2021, 08:13 PM	#207
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	September 4, 1934 - An Incredible Turnaround. SEPTEMBER 3, 1934 KINGS TAKE OVER TOP SPOT! Well that was quite a pleasant surprise. My Brooklyn Kings have been red-hot of late and continued to roll with a perfect 7-0 sim this week that included a 3 game sweep of the Cleveland Foresters. Brooklyn has won 20 of it's last 23 games are have gone from 8 games behind Cleveland less than a month ago to 3 games ahead after the Foresters dropped 12 of their last 19. Everything has gone just about perfect for Brooklyn but the race is far from over as we still have to head to Cleveland for four games a little over a week from now and 20 of our final 27 games are away from home while Cleveland has 22 of their final 27 in Forester Stadium. And I am sure their slump will not last much longer as they are simply too good of a ballclub. For us, I can only hope we continue to hit like we have been. Our team batting average is .309, far and away the best in the Continental Association and .010 better than any team in the traditionally much more offensive minded Federal Association. If the season ended today our team batting average would be the second highest in CA history, post 1901 - surpassed only by the amazing .321 of the 1930 Chicago Cougars. The top individual team leaderboard for the CA features the Kings very prominently. We had a huge week at the plate, outscoring our opponents 68-15 in our seven games including 29-7 over the three games against Cleveland. Kings County Ballpark was rocking that series despite attendance barely topping the 8,000 mark each game in the 32,000 seat stadium. The Kings are the best kept secret in the five boroughs. And the best thing about how we are playing right now is it is not one or two guys carrying the team. Everyone on the roster is contributing right now: Last Monday August 27 the Kings started the week with an 11-4 blasting of Toronto, to take 2 of three from the Wolves. Veteran outfielder Doug Lightbody, with 3 hits, and catcher Fred Barrell, who homered, scored twice and drove in 3 led the way. Next up was the 3 game set with Cleveland and the opener was a tight pitching duel between our Ken Carpenter and Ben Turner of the Trees until rookie centerfielder Bill May came up huge, busting the game open with a 3-run homer in the sixth to key a 6-3 Kings victory. Young shortstop Harry Barrell and third baseman Buck Sargent - filling in for league batting leader and star rookie John Langille - each had 3 hits. The next day Tom Barrell did not have his best stuff, lasting just until part way through the fifth inning, but he did enough to get his 20th win of the season and let the offense take over in a 10-3 victory. This time it was Dan Barrell who led the way with 4 hits, 2 rbi's and 3 runs scored while reserve Elmer Nolde enjoyed a 3-hit day while giving Lightbody a day off. All the hitters got in on the act the next day to make a winner out of Mike Murphy in a 13-2 pounding of Cleveland. May, Harry Barrell and Jake Shadoan paced the club with 3 hits but all 9 starters including the pitcher Murphy had at least one hit in the game. The bats kept pumping as we headed to Montreal for a short two game series with May, who had 4 hits, 2 rbi's and 2 runs along with left fielder Art Summers (3 hits, 2 runs) carrying the mail in an 8-0 victory over the Saints. Ken Carpenter tossed 7 innings of one hit ball to run his record as a King to 15-4 before giving way to the pen. The hit parade continued Saturday in a 16-3 pounding of the Saints with Harry Barrell going 5-for-6 and a pair of reserve outfielders in Ab Thomas and Jim Gentry delivering when called upon with 3 hits each. Tom Barrell, who ran his record to 21-3, helped his own cause with 2 hits including a 2-run triple. We finished the week off with the opener of 3 games in Baltimore and Mike Murphy was in fine form, tossing 8 innings of 4-hit ball for his 18th win of the season before turning things over to Hal Galvin to complete the shutout in a 4-0 win. Jake Shadoan had 4 hits, Harry Barrell and Summers each from in a pair and Bill May went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored. A GREAT STORY EITHER WAY Anyone who follows this or any of my other dynasty threads knows I like a great story just as much as seeing my Kings win the pennant. Obviously I want us to complete this season with a pennant - which would be our fourth but first since 1926- but it is great seeing the two sad-sack franchises of FABL battling it out for the chance to hopefully end a championship drought. Cleveland, like my Kings, is 0-for-3 in World Championship Series play and we are the only two of the 16 FABL teams to have never won it all. If we don't win this pennant I will be cheering for Cleveland to end it's World Championship drought in October. For us it would have probably been a more compelling story had we done this a year ago. It was our 50th anniversary season as a franchise and a World Championship title would have capped it perfectly. Still, there are some great story lines if we can win it this season:. -The four Barrell brothers uniting in Brooklyn and leading the team that their father might well have carried to multiple titles had his career not been shot down before it really began because of a tragic injury. - Doug Lightbody's comeback: Once thought to be on his way to becoming one of the greatest hitters in baseball, Lightbody went straight to the big leagues from Mississippi A&M without a day in the minors and was among the league batting leaders as a rookie in 1926 before a season ending injury cost him a shot at the MVP and the Kings a chance at a pennant. He got his MVP and his batting title the following season and the Kings got their pennant but Lightbody went a dismal 1-for-17 as Brooklyn lost the World Championship Series to the Philadelphia Keystones. Over the next five years Lightbody was an outstanding hitter, when he was healthy. However, the injuries mounted and he endured two subpar seasons in 1932 and 1933 to the point where he was in danger of losing his starting job in spring training this season. Now 30 years old he has rebounded with a season comparable to his early days, contending for the league batting title while hitting .375 at this writing. Lightbody has 1407 hits in 1021 career games and has missed well over 200 games due to injury. More than the injuries and what might have been had he been healthy all of these years what haunts Lightbody is that .059 postseason batting average. One of the things I am looking forward to most if we can pull this out is for Lightbody to get another chance in October. -Vindication of the trades that sent Tommy Wilcox and Milt Fritz away. After a pair of well documented dismal first half's the past couple of years the Kings rebuilt their team by trading their best pitcher away at the mid-point each season. The decision to move Wilcox looked good for half a season when he struggled but terrible a year ago when Wilcox was the best pitcher in the CA and led the Cougars to the pennant. Meanwhile Tom Barrell, Fred Barrell and Mike Murphy - the key pieces acquired in return- all struggled to varying degrees last year. This season has been a different story. Wilcox was still great until his season ending arm injury but Tom (21-3, 3.08) and Murphy (18-6, 2.97) have been outstanding and Fred (.292,8,69) has done a solid job behind the plate. The Fritz deal also looked bad last September but he struggled in Montreal this season and was dealt to the New York Gothams shortly before the deadline. Meanwhile the two key pieces the Kings got in return were John Langille (.373,6,74), who is contending for the CA batting title as a rookie and 20 year old Bill May (.279,2,30), who struggled in his debut earlier in the season but was rookie of the month in August and one of the best defensive centerfielders in either league. - Ending the curse. Real or not, the curse of Ferdinand Hawkins has appeared to have haunted the franchise for far too long. Only a World Championship can end the talk as Hawkins himself, who is in failing health and has refused to speak of the matter even when learning he was named to the Kings 50th Anniversary All-Time Team a year ago. A World Championship Series victory for the Kings would put an end once and for all to talk of a curse. CLEVELAND There are equally compelling storylines on the Cleveland side of the ledger as well. Let's start with the same FABL series drought that has haunted Brooklyn since 1892. Next we have Max Morris. The greatest power hitter the game has ever known has played in 4 World Championship Series including one with Cleveland in 1917 but the only one he won was over the Foresters with St Louis in 1920, the season he was traded away by Cleveland. He also made the Series with the New York Gothams, for whom he played briefly before his return to the shores of Lake Erie. How fitting would it be for Morris to lead Cleveland to it's first World Championship in the autumn of his career, and even more so if he did it with a win over the Gothams or St Louis as his former club's are the top two teams in the Fed at the moment. It should be a wild finish for both the Kings and Foresters. Let's hope it culminates in one of them finally getting their elusive World Championship ring. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-07-2021, 12:45 AM	#208
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	September 17, 1934 The race tightens SEPTEMBER 17, 1934 RACE TIGHTENS WITH TWO WEEKS REMAINING The roller coaster ride that is the 1934 pennant races continues as the only two teams in the Figment Leagues never to win a World Championship continue there battle to get a fourth kick at the can. Brooklyn and Cleveland have each won 3 Continental Association pennants in their history but both are 0-3 vs their Federal Association foes in the World Championship Series. We are down to two weeks- well 15 days to be precise as the schedule this season ends on a Monday and here are the standings. It really has been a full gamut of emotions for both teams starting with Cleveland taking 3 of 4 games from the Kings immediately following the all-star break. The Foresters were hot for much of July, going 21-4 for in one stretch and building an 8 game lead on my Kings. But then it was Brooklyn's turn to get hot and from August 7th to September we won 21 of 24 games during a stretch that included a 3 game sweep of the Foresters at Kings County Stadium that moved us from 8 games back to 3 games ahead of Cleveland. Since then Brooklyn has gone 5-7 including a split of a 4 game set in Cleveland while the Foresters, perhaps also feeling the pennant race pressure, went 7-6 during that stretch so here we sit with a margin of 1 and half games and 2 weeks remaining. We are done with each other head to head as my Kings did what they needed to do, leave Lake Erie with a split of their 4 game set a week ago. Once again it was Tom Barrell, who is now 24-3 on the season, who carried the pitching staff. Barrell set the tone for the series with a 2-0 complete game 5-hit shutout in the opener. It was an essential win as my pitching staff was in a bit of a shambles lately. Barrell and Mike Murphy (19-7) pitched the front and back end of the series and each got a win but I had trouble in between after 36 year old Ken Carpenter went down the week prior to the meeting with Cleveland. The lefthander, who is 15-5 since coming over from Baltimore and 18-7 overall, strained his hamstring in game the week before. He gamely made one more start that week but was clearly laboring so I had no choice but to shut him down the past two weeks. Meanwhile, I presently have little confidence in our two other mid-season pickups as veteran Joe Shaffner, who I gave up my top pitching prospect to St Louis to acquire, has been inconsistent to say the least and 37 year old Max Wilder has been awful in his two starts. Wilder was so bad that I elected to start Del Lyons, who has been great out of the pen but always struggled when starting, in one of the Cleveland games over him. Lyons lasted just 4 innings and allowed all 8 runs in an 8-3 loss in game three of the series. Shaffner pitched game two and went the distance but we fell 7-6 although none of the runs were earned as the normally dependable Harry Barrell cost us with 2 errors that led to a pair of big Cleveland innings. Tom Barrell, pitching on just 3 days rest, got us back on track Friday with a complete game 6-2 win in Chicago. I had no choice but to go back to Shaffner for the Saturday game and suffered a 5-4 loss, dropping his record to 4-5 since being acquired. Chicago scored twice in the bottom of the 8th and two more in the ninth to walk it off and my manager should have gone to the pen but he did not have Lyons available so I may have shot myself in the foot with the decision to start him a couple days earlier in Cleveland and to schedule Lyons as the Sunday starter. The bats came up big for Lyons Sunday (yesterday), scoring 5 in the first and we coasted to a 15-1 victory giving Lyons his first win as a starter in quite some time and allowing us to stay 1.5 games ahead of the Foresters, who are having some struggles of their own but a certainly not conceeding the race. So that brings us to today - Monday September 17th. We have 14 games remaining and Cleveland has 13 to play. While Cleveland is home for 10 of their remaining 13 contests we are on the road for 9 before finishing off with the last 5 at home. First up we have the finale of our 4 game series with Chicago today before heading to Toronto for 4 games with the 7th place Wolves. The road portion ends with 2 in Montreal and 2 in New York before we come home to finish up with a pair against the Saints and the final 3 vs the Stars. Cleveland's schedule is very similar but they do get 1 game with last place Baltimore and they play 4 against 5th place Philadelphia instead of facing 6th place Montreal as we do. I did get the good news that Ken Carpenter will be back and ready to pitch on Friday. I have a rested and ready to go Tom Barrell and Mike Murphy to pitch Monday and Tuesday with plans to drop to a 4-man rotation, perhaps even 3 in the final week if needed. I have no choice but to start Barrell again on Thursday in Toronto on 2 days rest as there is no way I can trust any 2 of my other pitchers to start Wednesday and Thursday. Now we do have an off day Saturday so Murphy can go Sunday in Montreal on normal rest with Carpenter, hopefully healthy ready to come back next Tuesday on 3 days rest after Barrell does the same Monday. The worries of course are Barrell can handle the short rest pitching Monday and Thursday and will Carpenter be rusty after his time on the DL. I really wish I would have had Carpenter ready one day earlier so Barrell got the extra day of rest but hey - it's the 1930s pitchers need to on occasion be ready to go on very short rest when a pennant is on the line. Code: UPCOMING STARTERS MONDAY SEPT 17 at Chicago Tom Barrell TUESD SEP 18 at Toronto Mike Murphy WEDNES SEP 19 at Toronto ???? THURS SEP 20 at Toronto Tom Barrell FRID SEP 21 at Toronto Ken Carpenter SATUR SEP 22 off day SUN SEP 23 at Montreal Mike Murphy MON SEP 24 at Montreal Tom Barrell TUE SEP 25 at New York Ken Carpenter WED SEP 26 at New York ???? THUR SEP 27 vs Montreal Mike Murphy FRID SEP 28 vs Montreal Tom Barrell SAT SEP 29 vs New York Ken Carpenter SUN SEP 30 vs New York ??? MON OCT 1 vs New York ??? So thanks to the off-day on the 22nd we are pretty well set up to run with just Barrell, Murphy and Carpenter but I have two big holes to fill on the two Wednesdays and I am not feeling that comfortable with either Shaffner or Max Wilder despite the fact I acquired both of them for the purpose of filling out the bottom of my rotation. Wilder was picked up right at the July 31 deadline. He got the start August 1st against Baltimore - one of the many teams he has pitched for in a 13 year career that has seen him post a 154-128 career mark including 8-10 in 3 stops this season. We won that August 1st game 10-9 but Wilder was not good, allowing 8 runs (7 earned) on 13 hits in 5 and two thirds and left with us losing 8-3 but the offense picked him up. He was not pulled for performance, although it is easy to argue he should have been. Instead, he came out of the game because of an injury to his shoulder that forced him to miss over two weeks. I did not give him another start until September 4th, also against Baltimore and we lost that game 6-2 as he lasted 7 innings and allowed all of the Cannons runs on 9 hits. Maybe it is just rust coming back from the injury but I felt I could not take the chance and I banished him to the pen with his only other appearance being 2 scoreless innings in a mop up role for Del Lyons in our 8-3 loss a week and a half ago. Shaffner, a 30 year old who had pitched 5 seasons for St Louis, was 12-7, 3.17 for the Pioneers when I acquired him in mid-July. He is 4-5, 3.77 in a Kings uniform and won 4 of his first 5 decisions with us, and the only loss was a 2-0 defeat against Montreal. More recently he has been bad, allowing 6,6,7 and 5 runs over his last 4 starts and losing each of them. In his defense one was the game Harry Barrell booted two balls leading to all Cleveland's runs being unearned and his most recent one was a 5-4 defeat that we could just as easily have won had manager Wally Grant gone to the pen. So my choices are do I start one of those two -likely Shaffner on Wednesday or do I take a chance on rookie lefthander Art White. The 23 year old was my 1932 third round pick out of George Fox University and is ranked #42 among prospects in the league. My scout John Spears feels the groundball pitcher with pinpoint control is set to fit comfortably into the middle of a big league rotation. His numbers this season in AAA were not overly impressive, going 7-9 with a 4.24 era in 25 starts while on a pitch count for the Union League leading Rochester Rooks. I had him up in Brooklyn in May when my very good young pitcher Johnny Jacob went down and White pitched well in a no-decision against Cleveland before getting shelled for 9 runs, although only 2 earned, in 3 innings of an error filled 9-2 loss to Philadelphia. I sent him back to Rochester after that game. His only other appearance with Brooklyn came after being recalled just to give me some pitching depth in the stretch run, tossing a pair of scoreless innings, but allowing 3 hits, in that same 8-3 loss to Cleveland that Wilder finished up. So, after pausing for several minutes to re-read the above three paragraphs I have made a decision. Well, I actually have made 3 of them today, switching back and forth on my export as to who will start the Wednesday game in Toronto. White was going to be my guy as I had a gut feeling but the more I think of it the more I feel the game could get away from him very quickly. Shaffner was an all-star this year and has pitched in plenty of big games but he is on a personal 4 game losing streak. Wilder is a seasoned veteran but he is also struggling this season, getting progressively worse with each of the three teams he has pitched for. In the end I let the Wolves decide. They are 44-50 (.468) against righthanders but just 15-34 (.306) vs leftys so that rules Wilder out. I am going to trust the vet over the rookie and give the ball to Shaffner instead of White. Let's hope I did not overthink things as we need a big sim. I am going to guess the Foresters go 5-2 in their 7 games this week so we really need to win 5 of our 6 to keep the 2 game margin heading into the final 8 days. I need two big starts from Tom Barrell and Murphy and really need the win against Toronto on Wednesday with Shaffner. Best case scenario is Shaffner looks very good and I feel comfortable slotting him in again next Monday so I can push Barrell, Carpenter and Murphy each back a day. Worst case? Well, let's not think about that right now. Gotta love a pennant race! __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-07-2021, 09:42 AM	#209
mjj55409 All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,166	Two thoughts: you gave up on Wilder too early, and Carpenter's hamstring doesn't appear to affect his throwing. I think you need to get Carpenter back into the rotation (before rust settles in). __________________ FABL -- Chicago Chiefs

01-07-2021, 07:03 PM	#211
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	September 24, 1934 A NAILBITTER! CONTINENTAL RACE GOING DOWN TO WIRE I mentioned in the last update I needed a big week as I expected Cleveland to go something like 5-2. Well the Foresters did even better posting a 6-1 record but they still lost a little ground to us as my Brooklyn Kings won all 6 of our games last week and hold a 2 game lead with 8 games remaining for us and 6 for Cleveland. So here is how things look with 8 days left in the season with both clubs bidding to win their third CA pennant and with it another chance at a first World Championship Series victory for either of us. The week started with Tom Barrell getting yet another victory, the 8th straight start he has won to improve to 25-3 on the season. It was another short rest start for Barrell, who was pitching on a Monday despite throwing 9 innings on the Friday. He was not at his best, in fact it was his worst game score since the beginning of August but he did enough to get us the W. We scored 5 in the top of the first to make his day easier and finished with 7 runs on 14 hits in a 7-5 win. Barrell allowed all 5 runs against on 8 hits before turning the ball over to Hal Galvan to pitch a perfect 9th inning for his CA leading 16th save of the season. However Cleveland rallied with 3 in the bottom of the ninth to beat Baltimore 6-5 and remain 1 and half back. Tuesday Mike Murphy won his 20th game with Galvan getting the save in a 6-2 victory to open a 4-game series in Toronto. Jake Shadoan and Dan Barrell each had 3 hits to lead the offense but again Cleveland answered convincingly with a 15-1 win over the New York Stars. As you may recall Wednesday was my worry day with the decision finally made to start Joe Shaffner and the lefthander snapped his personal 4 game losing streak by going the distance in an 8-4 win to improve to 5-5 since being acquired from St Louis. The offense again made it easy as we scored 4 in the third inning and 4 more in the fourth to open an 8-0 lead. Shadoan had a second straight 3 hit game while Dan Barrell had a pair of doubles and drove in 4 runs. But again Cleveland kept pace with a win, and like Monday it required a rally as the Foresters trailed 6-0 after six innings before winning it 7-6 in 10. I should note I nearly cost us the game as somehow I inserted pitcher Mike Murphy into the lineup at shortstop. Fortunately Murphy got only one chance - he made an error - and it did not affect the result. How it happened I have no idea? I rarely use 7 day lineups but wanted to get the pitching rotation as I desired so I must have done something by mistake and replaced Harry Barrell with Murphy. Thinking I was getting Ken Carpenter back tomorrow I again sent Tom Barrell to the hill after just two rest days on Thursday. Barrell was up to the task, going the distance allowing 3 runs on 8 hits and smacking a 2-run double himself to key the 5-3 win over the Wolves. Meanwhile on the other side of the border the Foresters again rallied for a 7-6 victory in Cleveland after trailing 6-0 after 2 and a half innings. On Friday morning we got word Carpenter's hamstring was still not sufficiently healed so on little notice veteran Max Wilder was trotted out to the mound to try and complete the 4-game sweep of Toronto. We fell behind 2-1 but Wilder was very solid, allowing the 2 runs but on just 3 hits over 7 innings. Rookie third baseman John Langille was the hero at the plate, belting two doubles and driving in 3 runs in our 4-2 victory including a 2-run 2-bagger in the 7th which proved the margin of victory. There was no suspense in Cleveland but also no loss for the Foresters who won again, beating New York 5-0 thanks to Dean Astle's complete game victory. Saturday was an off-day that we spent on the train travelling from Toronto to Montreal and eagerly waiting for the conductor to deliver us updates from the Cleveland game. And wouldn't you know it - the Foresters won for the 9th straight game as they beat the Sailors in Philadelphia 8-3 to creep to within 1 game of us. Sunday Mike Murphy was back on the hill and we staked him to a 3-run lead before he threw his first pitch. The result was a complete game 7-hitter for Murphy, who improved to 21-7 as we beat the Saints 9-1. Catcher Fred Barrell, who had been in a bit of a slump this week, broke out of it with a pair of hits including his 7th homerun of the season. As we celebrated the win in the clubhouse we got word from Toronto that the Wolves had prevailed over Cleveland 4-3 extending our lead to two games. As much as we can complain about the rash of road games for us in the final month the schedule makers did us a favour sending the Foresters from Cleveland on Thursday to Philadelphia for one game with the Sailors Friday before having to immediately head north and open a 2-game series in Toronto on Sunday. So here we are. Up 2 games with 8 days remaining. I can't let off the gas but after the Murphy at shortstop fiasco I will not use 7-day lineups this week. I have left it up to Wally Grant to make the call but we are set for a 4-man rotation with Tom Barrell going tomorrow in the final game of the Canadian swing. With 3 days off for a change Barrell should be well rested. Mike Murphy, Ken Carpenter (hopefully healed) and Joe Shaffner round out the rotation and Grant has been instructed to start the highest rested. I have to once again assume Cleveland will win 4 of their 5 games this week and get to the final day of the season with 96 wins. We have 7 this week before the Monday finale and going 5-2 would clinch it for us and make the final game meaningless. However, until that happens we have to play like every game is the difference between the pennant or a lost season and the way Cleveland has being going of late they could well go 6-0 and really put the pressure on us. I can't wait to see what tomorrow's sim brings us. Hopefully word of the Kings first pennant since 1926. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-08-2021, 08:50 AM	#212
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	October 1, 1934 OH NO! AN EPIC COLLAPSE LOOMS The Brooklyn Kings are still alive but after dropping four of their last five games they are clearly on life support. Cleveland on the other hand won 5 straight and 14 of it's last 15 to take a 1 game lead atop the Continental Association as the season heads into it's final day. Brooklyn still has a chance and Tom Barrell will look for his club record 29th win tomorrow against the New York Stars - a team that always gives Brooklyn troubles. Even if Barrell gets the win and finishes what surely will be an Allen Award winning 29-3 season - posting the second highest winning percentage by a pitcher in FABL history - it still might not be enough. The collapse of the last few days have left my Kings needing help just to force a 1-game playoff with the Foresters. Cleveland will face Philadelphia and if they win for the 6th time in a row the Kings season will be over. I will have more on the week that wasn't over the next day or two. The final sim goes Monday morning. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-08-2021, 09:02 AM	#213
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	The Brooklyn Tragedy Continues KINGS ON VERGE OF CRUSHING DEFEAT BY JIGGS MCGEE Fans of the Brooklyn Kings, for years a team synonyms with failure, appear to have been the victim of another cruel joke played on them by fate as the team's record for futility is poised to extend yet another year to number 42 consecutive seasons without a FABL championship. This one being the most painful of all as perhaps the greatest of Kings teams, which established a new high water mark for the club with a franchise record 96 wins, only to realize that it will likely still not be good enough to erase the Curse of Ferdinand. This year is especially cruel to long suffering fans of the franchise as after two seasons of dreadful starts to the season the Kings tantalizing the Brooklyn faithful by leading the, at least up until the final weekend, equally unsuccessful Cleveland Foresters by 2 and a half games with just 6 to play before utterly collapsing just feet before the finish line as they dropped 4 of their final five games including 3 losses to the proverbial thorn in their side over the decades that has been the New York Stars. To build the excitement and hope as the Kings did with a brilliant run, coming back from 8 games down in early August to take the lead and with it rekindling the hopes of a long suffering Brooklyn fans only to crush those dreams with an agonizing finish is a fate that perhaps breaks the back of even the most ardent of Kings supporters. "This finally was the year the curse would end" cried Kings fans to anyone who would listen....until in the end it wasn't. Yes, the eternal optimist that is the long suffering Kings fan will tell you there still is chance and indeed there is as the Kings have one contest remaining against the Stars and will undoubtedly send Tom Barrell to the mound in an effort to cap his season for the ages with what would be a club record 29th victory but the Kings no longer control their own destiny and it appears that the 1934 version of the Foresters are indeed a team of destiny. While Brooklyn was stumbling home like so many of the borough's faithful did so upon the news of prohibition being lifted last December, the Cleveland Foresters were winning ballgames in both a number and a fashion unseen by this reporter in years. You cannot blame the Brooklynite if today they clearly feel the prohibition on Kings World Championships appears never to be lifted. Forget the fact that while Brooklyn was dropping 3 of five the Foresters won their final 5 games, and 14 of it's final 15, and 17 of the final twenty but let's instead exam how they won so many of those contests. Twice this week the Foresters entered the bottom of the ninth trailing only to comeback and win. In all, 7 of the Foresters 14 wins in the last 15 games were won by a single run. On September 16th they overcame a 3-0 deficit after 5 and a half innings to beat Baltimore 4-3. The next day they would enter the bottom of the ninth trailing 5-3 only to emerge with a 6-5 victory. Two nights later the dreaded Stars would blow a 6-1 lead after 7 innings, as Cleveland scored 3 in the bottom of the ninth to force extras before winning 7-6 in 10 frames. The next day the Stars would again blow a big lead as Cleveland came back from a 6-0 deficit to again win 7-6. Last Wednesday the Chicago Cougars had the Foresters on the ropes, leading 2-1 late in a must win game for the Cleveland nine, but Cleveland squirmed off the ropes with a run in the bottom of the 8th and then won it 3-2 with another tally in the bottom of the ninth. Friday night in Philadelphia while Tom Barrell was winning his 28th game and doing everything he could to salvage the Kings season, the Philadelphia Sailors were 6 outs away from dealing Cleveland a potentially fatal blow. The Sailors led 5-3 but then Dan Fowler homered for the 22nd time this season in the 8th and Leon Drake drove in the tying and winning runs with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth to send the Cleveland faithful into a frenzy with yet another walk-off victory. One could easily argue the writing has been on the wall for a couple of weeks and Cleveland was fated to win after witnessing all of these amazing comebacks. So perhaps this time it was not a Kings collapse that cost them another shot at that elusive first championship. One can also argue this post-mortem is premature as the Kings still have a chance to force a playoff tiebreaker with a win today over New York and a Cleveland loss to Philadelphia but it appears destiny is not a Brooklyn fan. Should the seemingly inevitable happen and the Kings fall just short there will be many positives to take from this oh so special but in the end also oh so typical season for the Brooklyn Kings. Let's start with Tom Barrell and his 28-3 record in a season in which he fulfilled all of the promise his father Rufus seemed ready to bring to Brooklyn only to have fate tragically intervene yet again against the Kings with a terrible end to his career before even the first chapter in Rufus Barrell's Brooklyn story could begin. Imagine how different the past decades of futility might have been had Rufus Barrell not been hit in the head by that batted ball in a meaningless exhibition game that cost him his career and nearly his life so many years ago. Tom appears to be picking up the torch and nearly carried the Kings to the playoffs with his season for the ages. if Barrell wins today against New York it will allow him to set the franchise record for victories by a pitcher - a mark he currently shares with Frank Ford and Ferdinand Hawkins. What a pair of names to be associated with. One perhaps barely remembered because of it's tragic ending and one that will never be forgotten by Kings fans because of the tragedy many feel he brought on the club. Every Kings fan is familiar with the curse put on the Kings by Hawkins as he vowed the team would never win a championship after they unceremoniously cut him in 1892, just a season removed from his second 28 win campaign for Brooklyn. Ford, on the other hand, is a name few Kings remember. He pitched just 4 seasons in Brooklyn but his age 27 year in 1891 saw him win 28 games in the same year Hawkins did it his final time. That off-season Ford suffered a serious accident and while he did survive his baseball career was over and he never pitched again. For long suffering Brooklyn fans one can only hope that Tom Barrell will be remembered in a much different light when his hopefully long and productive Brooklyn career comes to an end. For now though I am quite sure Barrell is focused only on the present and seeing if he has one more win left this season in his golden right arm and if so, perhaps fate can intervene on behalf of the Kings for once. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports

01-08-2021, 07:52 PM	#214
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	Tuesday October 2, 1934 Tuesday October 2, 1934 THE MOST WINS IN TEAM HISTORY IS NOT ENOUGH The Brooklyn Kings won a club record 97 games this season but the Cleveland Foresters did one better, winning a club record of their own 98 games to take the Continental Association pennant. For Brooklyn what really was an amazing season despite the final outcome, one that should be celebrated and will be at some point but for now the final week left such a bitter aftertaste for fans as the Kings led by 2.5 games on September 25th only to lose 4 of their last 6 and finish one game short. Looking at the final week it is easy to forget how this Brooklyn team battled from 8 games out in early August to actually get to the point where the final game of the season could matter. Brooklyn entered yesterday's finale reeling, have dropped 4 of 5 but they still had a chance and Tom Barrell on the mound. Barrell, who had arguably the greatest season ever for a pitcher in the post-deadball era, did his part by winning his 12th consecutive start to improve to 29-3 on the year but the Kings needed help from Philadelphia that nearly arrived, but not quite. Like so often down the stretch the Cleveland Foresters won the game thanks to a walk-off hit, this one a run scoring pinch-hit single in the bottom of the ninth inning from journeyman outfielder Jack Corneilison that gave Cleveland a 4-3 victoy and avoided the need for a tiebreaker game as the Foresters finished 1 game up on the second place Kings. If there is a team that deserves another shot at a World Championship Series title more than Brooklyn it is the Foresters and their fans. Kings supporters know full well what it is like to never win a Series - as the two teams are the only clubs never to do so - but the Forester fans have it even worse when you consider their owner is actively trying to steal the team away to another city in pursuit of the almighty dollar after Cleveland city council refused to cave in to his outragous stadium demands. So this might well be the end of baseball on the shores of Lake Erie although one of the many romoured alternate locations for the Foresters is another Lake Erie city in Buffalo. But there is more. Brooklyn fans may have the curse of Ferdinand Hawkins to live with but Cleveland fans, with a move impending, may be the only fan base to lose Max Morris twice. The Ohio legend was a rising star in his home state who had both pitched (21-17 that year) and hit (.318 with a league best 13 homers) the Foresters to a pennant in 1917. They lost the Series that year to the Chicago Chiefs but with a rising group of stars it was expected there would be many more opportunities. It turned out there was only one more and it came after a falling out with management that had caused Morris demand a trade. He was moved to St Louis and led the Pioneers to a World Championship in his first season in the Gateway City, beating none other than Cleveland in the 1920 Series. While Morris would not yet win another championship he would go on to become the greatest slugger the game has ever known while the Foresters sank into mediocrity. There was the occasional pennant race as Cleveland finished just a game out in 1921, 4 back in 1923 and despite finishing fourth they were just 2 games off the pace when Brooklyn won the 1927 CA pennant in one of the most dramatic races in history, but for the most part it was a dark time in the land of the Foresters. After two years with the New York Gothams Morris returned to Cleveland in the middle of the 1932 season and perhaps he will finally lead the Foresters to that elusive first World Championship a decade and a half later than when he was projected to carry Cleveland over the finish line. It is interesting that their opponent will be Morris' most recent former team in the Gothams and he does have a previous history of sticking it to an ex-employer in the Series. But in the end it may well be the fans of Cleveland who even if they win the Series could still lose as it stands there is a good chance the Foresters will call a new city their home next April if cantankerous owner Elmer Marshall gets his way. But back to Brooklyn. The Kings wasted an outstanding season from so many of their star players, a rare season from 30 year old outfielder Doug Lightbody in that he stayed healthy and also hit .371 to win his second CA batting title after two years of mediocre play. Has Lightbody rediscovered his hitting touch and mended his battered body or was this just a last ditched effort to return to the postseason and erase the ghosts created by an .059 batting average in the Kings 1927 Series loss to the Philadelphia Keystones? And what about rookie third baseman John Langille (.359,10,100). Lightbody experienced similar success early in his career and now knows how rare it is to be both healthy and at the top of his game. Is Langille for real and can he repeat the numbers he put up this year? Questions also surround first baseman Dan Barrell (.329,11,97), who will be 31 next season and seemingly came out of nowhere in 1932 to emerge as a hitting sensation after being lost in the rule five draft that spring to the New York Stars only to have the Stars decide he was not good enough to make their team and returned to Brooklyn. How much longer with Dan Barrell continue to enjoy the major league success that he seemed so unlikely to ever achieve. Dan's brothers Harry and Fred seem much more secure to duplicate or even improve on their 1934 numbers. Fred (.280,9,81) is a natural leader and a perfect field general while young Harry (.344,3,81), already a two-time all-star selection at the tender age of twenty and blessed with the acrobatic skills of a Ringling Brothers trapeze artist in the middle of the infield. Surely there will be many more similar seasons from those two. Likewise former first round pick Jake Shadoan (.340,14,81) seems to be reaching his peak at age 26 and 20 year old Bill May (.264,4,39) shows signs he is the centerfield equivilant of Harry Barrell. The pitching also appears to be solid for next season with 26 year old Mike Murphy winning a career high 21 games and Ken Carpenter, who went 16-6 for the Kings after a trade with Baltimore, looks like he should have at least one more year left in his now 36 year old arm. Joe Shaffner will be 31 and the ex-St Louis Pioneer should fill out the bottom of the rotation nicely although he may be pressured by prospect Art White and the hard luck Johnny Jacob, a 25 year old who was once considered one of the best young pitchers in the game but that was two serious injuries ago so anything Jacob might provide down the road will be considered a huge bonus. Which brings us to the player who did more for Brooklyn than anyone else this season: Pitcher Tom Barrell. The 26 year old was an amazing 29-3 this season and almost singlehandedly willed the club into the World Championship Series. His victory total is the most by any pitcher since the tail end of the deadball era in 1916. In fact, since 1918 only 3 pitchers have won 25 or more games in a season. They are: Code: 1924 Carl Mellen Pittsubgh 26-7 1926 Don Cannady Toronto 25-9 1929 Roy Calfee Detroit 26-8 1934 Tom Barrell Brooklyn 29-3 Did the Kings squander the greatest display of pitching in the modern era? Down the stretch every time I put Tom out there on short rest I cringed he might get hurt but in hindsight if I had gone with him just one more time in that final week we might be in a playoff tiebreaker and 2 more times in the final 2 weeks we could have clinched. There were certainly opportunities to give him starts on shorter rest and he seemed to thrive on it with back to back complete game wins by 2-1 and 2-0 scores on September 7th and 10th as a great example. I had him going on short rest on September 14th, 17th and 20th and again he won all 3 - he did not lose a start after August 17 and got the win in every one of them, 12 straight. His only sub 50 game score during that stretch was a 49 on Sept 17th in a 7-5 win over Chicago in which he "only" lasted 8 innings. He bounced back with a strong complete game in a 5-3 win over Toronto on the 20th but, up 2 games I decided to ease him back and give him an extra day off for the last two starts. It might have been the mistake that cost us the pennant. He went the distance in winning on the 24th and the 28th and again in the season finale but I kick myself for not pushing him into one more start. What would have happened had I pitched him on the 23rd, 26th and 29th for example and likely could have gone back to him on the playoff game October 2nd if there was one. Would it have won us a pennant? Or could it have damaged his arm? I erred on the side of caution but perhaps I was overly cautious. Only time will tell. Was Barrell's season a once in a lifetime occurance for Kings fans to witness or is it just the beginning of a solid six to ten year run where he anchors the rotation and finally leads us to a title? Only time will tell. Below are the results of Barrell's pitching performance over the second half of the season. Attached Images __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-08-2021, 09:52 PM	#215
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	Off-Season 1934 OFF-SEASON NOTES KINGS RETAIN ALL STAFF IN ORGANIZATION Following a pretty successful season, at least in the upper levels of the organization, the Brooklyn Kings have announced all staff members who finished 1934 with the club will remain under contract for the 1935 season. That includes big league manager Walt Bailey who will see his pay nearly triple to $7,245 per annum following an outstanding second full season at the helm of the club. Bailey, who has been in the organization since 1927 and led AA Knoxville to a pair of Dixie League titles, assumed the major league job midway through the 1932 season. Under his leadership the Kings are 240-191 (.557). Brooklyn bench coach and for Kings legend Danny Goff also returns. Goff had followed Bailey up the system and also led Knoxville to a Dixie League title. Batting guru Powell Slocum returns for his third season as hitting coach while Billy Libby is back and looking to build on an oustanding inaugural season as the Kings pitching coach. Franz Gruber, who led Rochester to the Union League title this season returns to run the AAA club. Former Kings pitcher Harvey Rodgers will embark on his second full season at the helm of AA Knoxville with a league pennant under his belt following an 89-51 season while Sam Stringfellow, who was hired late in the year to take over at Class A Omaha will return for his first full season with the Cowboys. Former King infielder Glenn Mowles at Class A Tampa and long-time former Boulder State instructor Alex De Jesus returns for a 6th season with the Class C Marshalltown Maples. KINGS REQUEST TO RELOCATE THEIR CLASS A AFFILIATE Citing travel concerns for their scouts and the overwhelming challenge of competing with deep pocket independent teams at such a low level the Kings have petioned the new FABL commissioner for permission to relocate their Class A affilate. Geographically the Middle Atlantic League would make the best sense but that would depend on an existing big league club being willing to pull up states and move it's affilate so failing that the Kings are considering a return to the Heartland League. Omaha was a member of the Heartland League from 1904-1928 and associated with Brooklyn for much of that time but the formation of the new Western Baseball League in 1929 prompted a switch to that loop for georgraphic reasons. The Western League is unique in that 5 of it's 8 clubs are independently owned and all five have stadiums with a much higher capacity than the 6,500 seats at the Omaha Ballpark. As a result the rosters of those 5 teams are dotted with former AAA regulars and several players who have spent some time in the major leagues. "Denver regularly draws 13,000 fans a game. They are doubling what our Brooklyn Kings bring in," lamented long-time Omaha hitting coach Freeman Wiley. "They are practically a major league organization and we are sending raw kids out to face guys like Jackie Marshall- who has over 100 Figment wins. Makes it tough for the kids to compete and stay positive." BROOKLYN MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM DROPS The Brooklyn Kings had one of the best minor league systems according to the Baseball News Network at the beginning of the season. However, just six months later the Kings group of prospects now ranks 14th out of the 16 FABL teams. That number is very deceiving as during that time John Langille and Bill May both came off the list as they became regulars in Brooklyn. Langille finished second in the Continental Association in batting average and May looks like an above average major league centerfielder. Meanwhile the Kings also traded their top pitching prospect Dixie Lee, who is ranked the 16th best prospect in the league and young third baseman Ken Mayhugh (#49) to St Louis and Boston respectively in deals to acquire veteran pitching help. Despite the trade of Lee the Kings remain very deep in pitching prospects with three qualifying for top fifty prospect status and 4 more landing in the organizations top ten prospects. A pair of first round picks from last year in BOB CUMMINGS (#37 overall) and EARLE ROBINSON (#38) lead the way. Cummings was taken 7th overall out of College of San Diego and the 22 year old progressed through three levels in his rookie pro season with his final stop seeing him go 8-5, 4.27 in 15 starts for the Class AA Dixie League champion Knoxville Knights. He is projected to get an opportunity at the AAA level next season. Robinson was selected two slots ahead of Cummings after a solid career at Swoyersville High School. Some nagging back woes slowed his development this season, limiting him to just 11 starts between Class C and B. When he was healthy Robinson looked very strong but clearly needs more seasoning so for his 19 year old season he will begin the year back in Class B Tampa. The third pitcher in that group is ART WHITE (46th overall). The 23 year old lefthander spent some time in Brooklyn this season, going 0-1 with a 3.86 era in 3 appearances. A third round pick in 1932 out of George Fox University, White was 7-9 for AAA Rochester as the Rooks won the Union League title. He will be given a shot to make the big club next spring but is likely going to start the year back in Rochester. Rounding out the Kings top ten prospects are: RAY LEE -(129th overall) - 22 year 1927 second round pick out of Boston High School went 7-2, 4.11 at AA Knoxville this season. PEPPER TUTTLE- (138th overall)- 19 year was taken in the fourth round last winter out of High School in Hartford. His record was poor, going 4-10, 5.26 at Class C Marshalltown but it was a weak club and he did post an ERA+ of 100. BILL WHITE - (139th overall)- undrafted out of high school, the Kings signed the Brooklyn native as a minor league free agent in 1929. The shortstop worked his way up the Brooklyn system and is a highly sought after prospect in trade talks thanks to his outstanding defensive skills and a .299 average last season in Rochester. His path to Brooklyn, at least as a shortstop, is blocked by Harry Barrell. CHUCK JOHNSON- (170th overall) A 1932 7th round pick out of Boston High School (the same school Ray Lee went to), Johnson projects as an above average contact hitter but the key for the 20 year old first baseman is to develop the power that one would expect should come from his 6'4", 200 pound frame. Johnson hit .297 for Class C Marshalltown this season. MULE EARL - (179th overall) Taken in the 6th round of the 1931 draft out of Houston High School the 21 year old spent a third season at the Class C level, posting a 7-6, 4.37 era season. He is considered a spot starter in the big leagues but may eventually find a role in the Kings bullpen. LEE SHAPIRO - (183rd overall) A New York native, the third baseman was selected out of high school in the 16th round of the 1932 draft but his stock has risen dramatically within the organization. He hit .333 with 5 homers in half a season at Marshalltown before promotion to Class B Tampa but the 20 year old saw very limited action with the Cigar Kings. HOMER WAGNER - (203rd overall) A 7th round pick out of high school last winter, the Denver native looked very good in half a season at Marshalltown before earning a promotion to Class B Tampa. The Kings were pretty high on the 19 year old shortly after his promotion but his career has been sidetracked severely due to a major arm injury that will sideline him for at least a year. I will give honourable mention to RUFUS DANIELS (307th overall). The Kings drafted the son of Barrell family friend Possum Daniels out of Atlanta High School in the 8th round of the 1931 draft. Daniels has tremendous work ethic, outstanding speed and plays above average defense in centerfield but the concern is about his bat. He hit just .179 in 3 seasons of high school ball but showed tremendous defensive promise. The Kings selected him as a project and he has put in a lot of extra work with several Kings coaches including legendary hitter Powell Slocum who was quoted as calling Daniels "a sponge for how much information he absorbs about the game." He is still a long-term project but at just 21 worked his way up to AA this season and hit .329 in 21 games at that level. His ceiling is likely that of a utility player but with his persistence who knows. He just might become a big league regular someday. We pick late in the draft at #14 but I feel it is a fairly deep class at the top so I believe the Kings will get a quality prospect in round one and perhaps even in round two. I have already made a shortlist of the top 160 draft candidates (the first 10 rounds are human picks before the AI takes over) and will begin work on finalizing my board very soon as the draft will occur shortly after the World Championship Series. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-18-2021, 11:36 AM	#219
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	Barrell Named CA Allen Award Winner OCTOBER 29, 1934 BARRELL WINS ALLEN AWARD As early as August it was clear that Brooklyn ace Tom Barrell was going to win the Allen Award as the Continental Association's top pitcher and we received official confirmation this week when the results of voting for the award were released. The 26 year old righthander was a unanimous choice, being named at the top of each of the 16 ballots. Barrell finished the season with a 29-3 record, a 2.96 era and a FABL best 189 strikeouts. Barrell's 29 wins were the most in a season since 1916 when Charlie Sis won 35 and George Johnson 31. Barrell's win marks the third time a Kings hurler has claimed the Allen Award in it's nine year history. He was preceded by Mose Smith (23-7, 2.42) in Brooklyn's pennant winning 1927 season and Milt Fritz (23-15, 3.08), who claimed the award in 1931. A college legend at Georgia Baptist where he remains the All-Time AIAA career wins leader with 34 and was a two-time second team All-American selection, Barrell was selected first overall by the Chicago Cougars in the 1929 FABL draft. He would make just 3 appearances in a Chicago uniform before being dealt to Brooklyn in a blockbuster deal that saw Tommy Wilcox, who won the CA Allen Award last season, go to the Cougars. Barrell now sports a lifetime FABL record of 52-22 with a 3.21 career era. Mike Murphy, who the Kings also acquired from Chicago in the deal that brought Barrell to Brooklyn, was third in the voting behind Cleveland's Dean Astle. The 27 year old lefthander won a career best 21 games and finished second in the Continental Association with a 2.84 era. Veteran Ken Carpenter (19-8, 3.64), who was acquired by the Kings in a May trade with Baltimore, finished fifth in the balloting. With Bobby Barrell of the Philadelphia Keystones claiming the Federal Association's Whitney Award as that loop's most valuable player that had been hope for a third Barrell award winner this season but 20 year old shortstop Harry Barrell came up just short in the CA Whitney voting. Harry received 6 first place votes and 137 points overall but it was not enough to prevent Cleveland's T.R. Goins from becoming just the second player to win an Award in both the Federal and Continental Associations. Goins, who previously won the 1926 Whitney Award in the Fed with Washington, received 7 first place votes and topped the results with 163 points to join current Foresters teammate Max Morris as the only players to win an award in each league. Morris came in fifth in this year's vote. Kings rookie third baseman John Langille finished 4th in the balloting while 1927 winner Doug Lightbody was 9th and Jake Shadoan 11th. KINGS ACQUIRE PERROT While the plan is to pretty much stick with the roster I have now for next season, the Kings did make a deal to add outfield depth acquiring Joe Perrot from the Federal Association champion New York Gothams. The 32 year old hit .322 with 14 homers this season for the Gothams but found he no longer fit into their plans and was dispatched to Brooklyn in exchange for a fifth round draft pick. "We are thrilled to add a veteran presence like Perrot," especially without costing us anything off of our roster or minor league system," explained Kings assistant General Manager Jim Golden, who then proceeded to gush about Perrot's ability with the stick. "He is a career .334 hitter who really is not showing any signs of slowing down and has never hit under .307 in a season. Getting an all-star like Joe is a huge addition for us." Perret was named to the Federal Association all-star team in July but did not appear in the game. One knock on Perret has always been his defense in left field but the Kings have already lived with subpar defense in that position from Art Summers (.282,8,84). It is expected Perret (.322,14,88) and Summers will battle it out for the starting job along with Jim Gentry (.308,2,46) and Jose Serna (.295,0,22), both of whom are much better defensive options and each lost the opportunity to start in centerfield with the emergence of rookie Bill May. Attached Images __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-21-2021, 07:03 PM	#220
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	December 1934 - The Draft KINGS ANNOUCE EARLY DRAFT PICKS The Brooklyn Kings have made 4 picks so far in the amateur player draft. Here is a look at the future Kings. ROUND ONE PICK 14 DAN ROGERS- RIGHT FIELD: CANTON SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL, Canton, Ohio. Power. That is why the Kings selected Rogers with their first round pick. The organization has never had a true power bat and the scouting staff believes Rogers might just fill that need someday soon. The 18 year old hit .512 with 9 homers and 11 doubles in 20 games as a senior. He was ranked 9th in the final OSA Mock Draft and Kings Scouting Director John Spears listed Rogers 14th on his draft board. It was no secret the Kings number one target was Bob Donoghue, a power hitting outfielder from Iowa A&M but Rogers makes a nice consolation prize after the Boston Minutemen selected Donoghue 3 picks ahead of the Kings turn. ROUND TWO PICK 29 TIP HARRISON - SHORTSTOP: BLUEGRASS STATE, born in Houston, Texas The Kings had no plans to take a shortstop this high but when Harrison was still available and the Kings unable to secure a deal to move up and grab bench coach and former Brooklyn ace Danny Goff's son Jack, Brooklyn jumped at the opportunity to take the 23 year old Harrison. Scouts rave about his defense and speed and Spears feels Harrison can become an above-average big league shortstop but it likely won't be in Brooklyn with 20 year old all-star Harry Barrell slotted to man that position for the next decade or more. Harrison can also play second or third so he may be shifted to another position but he might also be trade bait for a possible deadline move this season. Harrison bounced up and down the mock draft list before settling in at #24 in a class rich with shortstops. John Spears had him ranked 9th on the Brooklyn draft list. ROUND THREE PICK 37 JACK WOOD- LEFT HANDED PITCHER: HENRY HUDSON UNIVERSITY, born in New York City The local product was a consolation prize for the Kings, who had their eyes set on Boulder College righthander Charlie Philip only to see him go 1 pick ahead of the Kings to Toronto. Brooklyn dealt away a pair of prospects including highly touted shortstop Bill White to the Chicago Chiefs in order to secure this pick so the inability to draft Philip is seen as a setback. As for Wood, he was 10-5 with a 2.90 era for the Explorers this season and is a legacy player from the feeder league era, posting a 2-3 record the previous season. Wood was 52nd on the OSA Mock Draft list, 45th on the Kings big board and 14th among pitchers but Spears feels confident Wood's 4 pitch arsenal will play nicely at the bottom of a big league rotation. ROUND THREE PICK 46 BOB MULLINS - CENTER FIELD: TILDEN HIGH SCHOOL, Brooklyn, New York The Kings stay in their own backyard with the addition of Mullins. They love his makeup and the fact that nothing seems to phase the 19 year old. He has a big frame at 6'1" and had 23 extra base hits in 26 high school games with the feeling being he could be a plus power guy once he fills out. Mullins has the flexibility to play all three outfield positions or first base. He was 18th on the OSA mock draft but just 93rd on John Spears' draft board in a deep crop of centerfielders. I personally had him 4th among centerfielders so we will see how my pick pans out as Spears will give me all the credit (or blame) for this one. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles