The Liberty League, Est. 1876

[Questdog]

[Westheim]

(sings blatantly terrible) "The Hay-ma-kers made hay a-gaaaain, hay-hay-haaaay ..."

Smart boy, apparently, this Ricker guy. He knows how to steer the team in the right direction.

[Questdog]

Editor's Note: While I work on posting the stats for the rest of 1877, we could use a little input for the Hurler Trophy Award in the Liberty League. There seems to be no clear cut Winner. Abe Everette was the most effective pitcher, but pitched less than half-time. Bendickson is the second most effective, and pitched enough to compare favorably to the rest of the League, but when you compare him to Everette, Abe clearly was superior.....

I was hoping Socks Hawkins would have a great stretch run and claim the trophy, but he did not.

Charlie Moss was 25-21 when not facing Troy, but I can't give the trophy to a losing pitcher.....can I?

[Trebro]

Remember that just as the All-Star game is all about "How did you start?" the post-season awards tend to be "How did you finish?" Given he came in and sparked the team to its title, I think you can make a credible argument for Honest Abe.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by panelpatter

Remember that just as the All-Star game is all about "How did you start?" the post-season awards tend to be "How did you finish?" Given he came in and sparked the team to its title, I think you can make a credible argument for Honest Abe.

Abe Everette did most of his pitching in the first half when Bendickson was sent to Rochester because we thought that his shoulder was still bothering him.

Bendickson came back at about the halfway point and went 18-8 in the second half.

When Bendy came back we were in a tie for first with St. Louis.

So by your logic, Bendickson should get the trophy, correct?

Although, on the other hand, Abe Everette is the one who got us into that tie for first. When Abe took over from Bendickson we were 3-5 and already 4 games behind St. Louis.

[Mike45]

Abe hands down imo. Best win % by a large margin. Best ERA and WHIP too. So he won a few less games, that's only cause the manager is super loyal. If he started 9 more games (ie Bendickson total) he would have more wins.

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by Mike45

Abe hands down imo. Best win % by a large margin. Best ERA and WHIP too. So he won a few less games, that's only cause the manager is super loyal. If he started 9 more games (ie Bendickson total) he would have more wins.

Plus Abe lost a win when I put Billy Jenkins in to get some work with a 5 run lead in the 8th and Jenkins got blown up.

But giving the trophy to Abe would be like giving the Cy Young in 2014 to a pitcher that made 15 starts......

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

[Mike45]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Plus Abe lost a win when I put Billy Jenkins in to get some work with a 5 run lead in the 8th and Jenkins got blown up.

But giving the trophy to Abe would be like giving the Cy Young in 2014 to a pitcher that made 15 starts......

Hey if you're the best...you're the best. Period. He didn't start as many games as the others, but still had the best stats. Pro-rate them out to 30-35 starts, this is a non-discussion

[Trebro]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Abe Everette did most of his pitching in the first half when Bendickson was sent to Rochester because we thought that his shoulder was still bothering him.

Bendickson came back at about the halfway point and went 18-8 in the second half.

When Bendy came back we were in a tie for first with St. Louis.

So by your logic, Bendickson should get the trophy, correct?

Although, on the other hand, Abe Everette is the one who got us into that tie for first. When Abe took over from Bendickson we were 3-5 and already 4 games behind St. Louis.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. For some reason I had it happening closer to the end of the season in my mind.

Another theory--the losing pitcher gets it because your two great pitchers split the vote? Might make for a fun story to roll with.

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

Editor's Note: We split the award, sort of, giving Everette the Hurler Trophy and naming Bendickson to the All-Star Team. I usually do that when there is doubt about who should get the hardware. Truth be known, I think Charlie Morlock is the best pitcher in baseball. Our guys just look so much better because they have an awesome defense behind them. Thanks for the input!

P.S. See if you can guess who the first pick of the B Leagues Draft will be.

[goroyals]

Warner of Worchester...if he fits into your depth chart. I think we are all hoping for some Kielbasa at the Troy Grounds in '78, though.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by goroyals

Warner of Worchester...if he fits into your depth chart. I think we are all hoping for some Kielbasa at the Troy Grounds in '78, though.

Unfortunately, Warner is only rated for center and not very well there. Actually, he is pretty horrible there: (1-10 scale) range:6 error:7 arm:7 Overall:4 He made 56 errors and had a .975 eff. rating and -2.0 ZR

The Polish Sausage is unfortunately a first baseman and that is not a need for Troy. Plus, he'll be 29 before the start of next season. If he is available in the 4th round, we'll take him for sure. But anyone who will be 27 by next December will only be able to be kept in A Ball 1 season.

Which reminds me: Anyone have an idea about how I can release these 27 year olds from A ball without them getting upset and not wanting to re-sign? I want to be able to keep some of them, but they won't negotiate with me 'cause they are ticked I released them. Don't they understand it was for their own good ?.....

P.S. Doing it in Commissioner Mode makes no difference, because that is how I already do it.

[Westheim]

I will only say this:

Ugh. Borresen. Ugh.

[Questdog]

Fall-Winter 1877

Henry Wilson, the owner of the Washington Olympics, regarded himself as an English gentleman. To him, this meant being upright and above board in all matters, personal or commercial. He was born in England, though not of aristocratic blood, and emigrated to the United States with his parents at an early age. He was industrious and ambitious, two qualities that true English gentlemen would frown upon. The traits had led him to his fortune, though, and he was not acquainted with any actual English gentlemen who could educate him in regards to these faults, so he was inclined to be prideful of them.

In early October, his team was completing its miserable season in Boston and since he had business in the city, he decided to witness the final contest in person. There he met, for the first time, the new owner of the Boston Red Caps, Ike Lee. During the course of their conversation, Lee remarked about several fees that Liberty League founder and president Ben Heath had levied on him during the acquisition of his team from former owner Joe Waters. Wilson, was surprised at the information, since none of the fees had been discussed at the annual meeting last year or were in writing in the League Constitution.

On his way back to Washington, Wilson decided to stop off in Philadelphia at the League offices and ask for a report of League income for the past season. Since the annual meeting was only two months away, much of the information was at hand and the accountants were able to provide Wilson with a detailed, though untidy summation. Nowhere were these fees mentioned. In fact, the total of the fees that Lee had said he paid were much greater than the total income the League was reporting.

Wilson then did another thing no true English gentleman would ever even think of doing: He hired a secret investigator to get at the bottom of the murkiness. What his investigator finally reported to him several weeks later was downright shocking. The investigator postulated that not only had Ben Heath unilaterally levied the fees against Lee, but that he then used those fees to purchase the Pittsburgh ball club from Green Cisek and gave it to his friend Fred Trago. Apparently, Trago had not had to invest a nickel to acquire his holdings.

The investigator also found that a team in Brooklyn had been willing and able to take over the spot vacated when the New York Metropolitans had withdrawn from the League, but the deal had fallen through when Heath was demanding the Brooklyn club also put up the capital to finance an 8th team to balance the schedule. The 8th club would have been awarded to another friend of Heath's as a free gift, a la the Alleghenys to Trago.

Armed with this information, Wilson spent November building a coalition to oust Heath as president of the League. Ike Lee of Boston, once informed of the fleecing Heath had subjected him to, was a more than willing ally. Aaron Sherwood of St. Louis was also easily convinced of the rightness of the cause. But to vote Heath out of office would require 4 votes and certainly neither Heath nor Trago would vote Wilson's way, so that left Troy owner Jersey Thompson as the pivotal ballot. Unfortunately, Thompson and Wilson had never gotten along. Where Wilson fancied himself a knight among the heathens, Thompson relished his heatheness. He was not as shady a character as some of the rumors about him would lead you to believe, but he enjoyed being cast in the light of a rogue, willing to skirt the edges of the law and propriety, even if he actually never skirted anything.

Thompson was angry and agreed that Heath needed to be removed and not just from the presidency, but from the League. However, he was unwilling to vote for Wilson and his "stuck-up" ways. In order to accomplish the "greater good", Wilson agreed to support Jersey Thompson for the office of president.

Thompson relished unleashing the surprise at the December 3 meeting. However, he was denied this pleasure due to Henry Wilson's forthrightness. Ben Heath got wind of Wilson's investigator and confronted the Washington owner. Wilson admitted everything and even told Heath what had been discovered. Fearing that Jersey Thompson was contemplating criminal legal action (an idea Henry Wilson would not even contemplate), Heath did not show at the meeting and was voted out of office in abstentia. His franchise and also the Pittsburgh club of Trago were voted forfeit.

So the League was down to 4 teams and their founder was history after two seasons. The four owners voted to postpone the B League Draft until at least two more teams could be recruited. Before Christmas, two owners had been enlisted: George "Chicken" Higgins, 60, would field a team in Brooklyn and Joseph "Kid" Fields, 58, would field a team in Cincinnati. The owners then scheduled the B League Draft for January 9 at the new league offices in Troy.

However, before the date arrived, another bombshell hit the league. Four players of the St. Louis Brown Stockings were implicated in a conspiracy to purposefully lose games in an illegal gambling scheme. Three of the players confessed to throwing non-league games, but claimed that they had not been a part of any fixed League contests. It was thought rather damning evidence, however, that the club had lost the last 6 Saturday games of the season, while winning 3 of 4 weekday games. It was hypothesized that the financial backer of the scheme could only be present to wager on the Saturday games. All four players were banned for life by Jersey Thompson and upheld in a unanimous vote by the league owners. The players were P Socks Hawkins, 1B Doc Burgess, 1B John Hiscock and OF Dwight Crawford.

St. Louis owner Aaron Sherwood was devastated by the revelations and withdrew his team from the Liberty League. Now, half the teams from 1877 were gone! A frantic search was made and an owner was found willing to join the ranks in Providence, Rhode Island. Deke Hogan, 56, veteran backer of several teams in Providence agreed to field a club in the Liberty League for 1878.

With six teams finally in the fray, the B League Draft was held on January 23. Here are the first round results and all the picks of the Troy Haymakers:

Editor's Note: For those of you unversed in Eastern European languages, "Shadow Kielbasa" is Polish for "Hidden Sausage."

In the 2nd round, Washington drafted promising young 2b Dan Armstrong of Poughkeepsie. He finished 4th in the Batting Title race and led the NYSCA in doubles. He was also awarded the Bronze Glove at second base. It was discovered later that he had died in an accident the day before the draft. He was 25.

Both the New England League and the New York State Championship Association gave up the ghost over the winter. We will have no named B Leagues in 1878.

The International Association lost a few teams and added a few, so that they will return as a 6 team league:

Buffalo Bisons (Prov.)
London Tecumseh (Wash.)
Manchester Reds (Cin.)
Rochester Flour Citys (Troy)
Syracuse Stars (Bkln.)
Utica Utes (Bos.)

Columbus, Guelph and Lynn are gone from 1877. Buffalo, Syracuse and Utica are new for 1878.