British and Irish Baseball - Making Another Attempt

[HumanRainDelay]

Originally Posted by as5680

Some of the uniforms in all my leagues for this universe are awful by design - to add realism, especially in the 19th century setting. So many football/soccer teams in Victorian England played in terrible or (to modern eyes) downright bizarre outfits!

Interesting. Then more applause for you for including even the unappealing elements to provide greater historical context.

[as5680]

After being unhappy with how OOTP was handling postponed games in my initial sim, the 1865 season has now been re-run (with new rosters). The initial posts have been replaced by the new ones.

Remarkably, the season almost had exactly the same outcome in the championship race, but this time the Old Westminsters edged out The Regent's Park by one game, rather than the other way around. At least the theory about fashion and performance being unrelated holds up.

Tough for the Regents having won the initial sim, but then when I first attempted this version of this universe in OOTP XX it was the Old Westminsters who won the initial title, so I suppose it balances out. I don't think there were any problems this time though, so should be able to move on to the 1866 season very soon!

[as5680]

1866 SEASON

There are no changes to report this year, the Metropolitan League remains the only league playing in England and will be contested by the same six teams as in 1865.

SEASON PREVIEW

Reigning Metropolitan League champions the Old Westminsters are backed to make a good attempt at retaining their title, but many feel that they may just fall short this year with Angel Islington being widely viewed as the favourites. Angel faded away last year after a promising start and ended with a losing record, but a major change this year sees Howard Savage promoted to be their first choice pitcher to replace Henry Jenkins, who has decided to leave baseball behind at the age of 39. Savage is likely to be one of the toughest pitchers to face this year, alongside James Smith of the Westminsters, while Angel look to have much the stronger batting line-up.

Intriguingly, the Westminsters begin the defence of their title with a home game against Angel, giving us an early chance to compare the two teams. The Regent's Park, who were within one game of taking the inaugural crown a year ago, look to be the best of the other teams but few give them much hope of finishing higher this time. The other three teams seem set to struggle, with Kensington the most common pick to finish last, chiefly because their pitching looks to be the weakest of all six teams.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: MARCH/APRIL 1866

We’ve reached the end of April with the Metropolitan League’s second season at the one-fifth mark, every team having played six games with the exception of Clapham and Kensington, whose opening day meeting was postponed and will be caught up in June. It could be said that the season so far is shaping up much as expected, with reigning champions the Old Westminsters and highly favoured Angel Islington sharing first place in the standings.

Angel made the faster start, beating the Westminsters in the opening game and going to win the first three. With both teams losing to Clapham in successive weeks, they entered their second meeting of the season on the last Saturday in April with Angel a game ahead, but the Westminsters took their revenge to move level on four wins and two defeats.

Last year’s runners-up The Regent’s Park have made an inconsistent start, winning and losing alternate games for an even record, a distinction which they share with the City of London Club as those teams sit level in third place. Clapham’s wins over the two leading contenders have been in large due to excellent pitching, but their hitting has too often been poor and they have a losing record so far, sitting ahead only of Kensington. Having lost their first four games, Kensington at last enjoyed a win as they overcame Clapham to end the month of April.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: MAY 1866

Angel and the Old Westminsters are separated by only a fraction at the top of the Metropolitan League standings, but their advantage over the rest of the league has been reduced after both were beaten in their final games in May. Angel moved fractionally ahead when the Westminsters’ game against The Regent’s Park was postponed earlier in the month, with both teams undefeated in the month until the last weekend.

Angel were beaten by the Regents, who are now just a game behind the Westminsters in third place, while Clapham’s win over the Westminsters leaves them a further game back. Kensington had lost six of their first seven games before winning their last two, results which move them out of last place ahead of the City of London Club. The City Club had begun the month with an even record, but lost all four of their games including a heavy 12-1 loss to Angel.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: JUNE 1866

There is no change at the top of the Metropolitan League standings this month as both Angel Islington and the Old Westminsters enjoyed mixed fortunes in June. The scheduled meeting between the two at the beginning of the month was postponed and will be caught up later in the year, while in their remaining four games each team had two wins and two defeats.

Clapham have been looking like they might make the championship race a three-way fight, but a narrow defeat to the Westminsters to end the month was a real setback to them. Angel still lead the Westminsters by a fraction, with Clapham a further game back. The hopes of The Regent’s Park seem to be over for this year, as they lost four games out of five to slide back into fifth place in the standings.

The Regents were overtaken by a revived Kensington team, who begin the month by losing twice in a day to Clapham but then won their remaining four games, including back-to-back victories over the two main championship contenders. Kensington’s improvement leaves the City of London Club struggling in last place, with a lack of runs the main cause of their woes. The City Club scored just four runs in their five games in June, a fact which really means they must be considered to have done well to win two of those five games and lose just three.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: JULY 1866

Reigning champions the Old Westminsters are looking a strong bet to defend the Metropolitan League championship after moving clear at the top of the standings in July. The Westminsters began the month with victory over Angel to move into first place, and in all won four of five games, the only defeat coming when they shared two in a day against The Regent’s Park.

It was a poor month for Angel, who were beaten in three of their four games. The last of those defeats, 4-1 against Clapham, saw them overtaken for second place by their opponents. The Regent’s Park shouldn’t be ruled out of the race just yet either, as last year’s runners-up won four of their five games in July to move back up to a winning record for the year.

Kensington’s recent revival came to a sudden end as they lost all four of their games, but they remain a game ahead of the City of London Club at the bottom of the standings. The City Club didn’t fare much better themselves in July, winning only once.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: AUGUST 1866

The Old Westminsters have strengthened their grip on the Metropolitan League championship trophy after winning four of their five games in August. Most crucial were wins over chasers Clapham and Angel, with two wins in a single day against the latter. Angel won their other three games in the month but the damage was done by those two defeats against the Westminsters, and they now sit three games behind. Clapham are also three back after a mixed month.

The Regent’s Park are a further game behind in fourth place, after a narrow 1-0 defeat to the Westminsters in a game which could have kept them very much in the running. It’s a close battle between Kensington and the City of London Club to avoid last place, with Kensington still one game ahead after both teams could manage only a single victory from four games in August.

History was made to end the month as for the first time, a pitcher made his way through an entire game without giving up a single hit to his opponents. The man to do it was Frederick Maiden of Clapham, in his team’s 1-0 victory over the City of London Club. He even had to pitch ten innings to get there, as it took Clapham that long to find the single run to win the game. So dominant was Maiden that the only City Club man to reach base was lead-off hitter Albert Barnett in the first inning, owing to an error by Clapham second baseman Cuthbert Ellwood, with Maiden then proceeding to dismiss the next thirty batters he faced.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: SEPTEMBER 1866

The Old Westminsters are nearly there in their quest to successfully defend the Metropolitan League championship, although the weather has made the situation less clear than it might have been. The Westminsters actually endured a patchy month, winning two and losing two, with one of the defeats being a potentially damaging loss to rivals Angel, but with Angel having earlier been beaten by Clapham the lead still remains at two games, with only three left to play.

Back-to-back losses this month seem to have ruled Clapham out of the running, while The Regent’s Park are officially out of the race having won only once in September. Actually, they played just three games as two in succession fell victim to poor weather and fields which are struggling to cope with recent rain.

That rain means that with two scheduled rounds of games remaining, only Kensington are on target to complete their games on time, while the Regents will have to play two after the intended end of the campaign. Kensington might still have a fight on their hands to avoid finishing last having been beaten by the City of London Club this month, but they have a cushion over City at the bottom of the standings.

What we do know as we head into October is that if the Old Westminsters beat the City of London Club in their next game, and Angel are defeated by Clapham in theirs, then the Westminsters will be champions for the second time in as many attempts.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: OCTOBER 1866

The Old Westminsters have completed a successful defence of the Metropolitan League championship, winning more comfortably than last year as they secured the crown with two games to spare. Victory over the City of London Club to open October was enough as Angel suffered defeat against Clapham on the same day. That rendered the Westminsters’ defeat at Clapham the following week irrelevant, although it did help Clapham to ensure that they would finish alone in second place. The Westminsters’ success has been founded on consistency on both sides of the game. Angel scored more runs and Clapham allowed fewer, but each of those teams were lacking in the other department.

Ending the season with four successive wins left Clapham two games back in second, while Angel missed out on a share of that position when they lost their final game against the City Club. Having started the month at an even thirteen wins and thirteen losses, The Regent’s Park were beaten in each of their last four games to end a disappointing year well adrift in fourth place, in fact just a single game ahead of Kensington. Wins in their final two games, the latter against the City Club, ensure that Kensington could not be caught by City, who finish two games adrift in last place. With every game now played, all that remains now for 1866 is for this year’s award winners to be determined at the league’s annual meeting.

[as5680]

SEASON ROUND-UP: 1866

Despite winning a second successive championship, the only major award which went to the Old Westminsters this year was the Best Manager prize, won for the second time by Nicholas Close. Westminsters’ Richard Tubman finished second in the voting for Best Pitcher, but it was no surprise that he missed out to Frederick Maiden of Clapham. Aside from his wonderful no-hit performance against the City of London Club in August, Maiden gave up fewer runs on average than any other starter, had more strikeouts than anyone else and shared with Tubman the largest number of wins. t was a very close vote for the Best Player award, but in the end Aaron Baxter of Kensington took the prize, having led the league in batting average at .368.

LEADERS:
Batting Average: Aaron Baxter (KEN) - .368
Home Runs: Tom Potter (OW) - 2
Runs Batted In: Edgar Leadbetter (ANG) - 17
Stolen Bases: Edwin Sutcliffe (RP)/Howard Taylor (ANG) - 10
Earned Run Average: Frederick Maiden (CLA) - 1.22
Pitching Wins: Frederick Maiden (CLA)/Richard Tubman (OW) - 15
Strikeouts: Frederick Maiden (CLA) – 192

Some news coming out of the annual meeting is that there will be a new competition in baseball next year, a representative tournament where players from the Metropolitan League will represent their home counties. Although five of the league’s six clubs call the county of Middlesex home (Clapham, based in Surrey, being the exception) many of the players also hail from the counties of Essex and Kent. After a light hearted discussion between players at the meeting, it has been decided to hold a tournament in early March, before the start of the Metropolitan League season, to determine which county’s players are the best. Two semi final games will be played with the winners meeting in a final a week later. Each county has formed an association to select its players, with the selections due to be made a week before the semi-finals.

Changes are also coming to the Metropolitan League itself. With two successful seasons of baseball now having been played, a number of other clubs are pressuring the league to be allowed to join. The League has decided that although the 1867 season will be played in the same format with six clubs, two more teams will be admitted to membership in time for the 1868 season.

A decision will be made during the summer, with interested clubs invited to submit applications at any time. Favoured to gain a place in the league are the Meridian Baseball Club, based in Greenwich Park and considered to be the leading team among those not in the Metropolitan League. The second place in the league is wide open though, with a number of works and military teams rumoured to apply. Also in contention could be a new club recently formed out to the north-east of the city at Hackney, by former committee members of the City of London Club who were angered at the club’s disappointing performance since the league was formed.

[as5680]

1867 SEASON


NEW TOURNAMENT: COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
The big change this year in English baseball is the start of the new County Championship, where the best players from the four counties surrounding London - Essex, Kent, Middlesex and Surrey - will take part in a short tournament to see which is the strongest this year. The games will take place on the first two Saturdays in March, weather permitting, allowing a short break before the new season in the Metropolitan League gets underway on 23 March.

The match-ups for the semi-finals have been decided by a random draw, with the first county to be drawn out playing at home against the second, and the third to be drawn out playing at home against the fourth. That resulted in Kent being scheduled to play at home against Middlesex, while Surrey will host Essex. The two winners will meet in the final, with home advantage to be determined by the toss of a coin.

Some consider Middlesex to be the favourites to take the title on the grounds that they have the most players from which to choose, while Surrey have the fewest and are seen as the outsiders. However, all four teams have strong players at their disposal and in one-off games, anything could happen.

LOGOS AND UNIFORMS:
Top Row (L-R): Essex, Kent
Bottom Row (L-R): Middlesex, Surrey

[dward1]

love it! I love expansion, creative tournaments and the creation of a separate vibe. sort of county cricket, sort of baseball, sort of NFL football with the one pitcher. excellent stuff

[as5680]

TOURNAMENT REVIEW: 1867 COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Against the expectations of many people, Surrey are the first county champions after a tournament which saw some new faces come to the fore. The men in question were pitchers William Rood and Albert Miller, both of whom have joined the City of London Club this year as they attempt to improve on their fortunes after a last placed finish in 1866.

Rood was named to the Surrey team for the championship and Miller chosen for Kent, and both starred in the semi-finals as their teams won through to the final. Rood achieved a five-hit shutout for Surrey in their semi-final against Essex, just as well for his team as they were only able to find four hits themselves, but crucially turned one of them into a run in the fourth inning to take the game 1-0. Miller gave up a run in the first inning playing for Kent against Middlesex, but allowed no more scoring after that and saw his team tie the game in the fourth, before scoring three in the eighth to earn a 4-1 victory.




The final was hosted by Surrey, after Kent called the coin toss incorrectly, and it appeared for a long time as though Rood was going to produce another complete game shutout performance. Surrey had scored twice in the fifth inning and took that 2-0 advantage into the ninth, with Rood having allowed just four hits all day. The first two men to bat were duly retired, but Rood faltered at the last, allowing three successive hits which tied the game at 2-2, not helped by some poor fielding.

Surrey recovered their composure in extra-innings however, where it was Kent who made a crucial error in the eleventh. Second baseman Josiah Summers of The Regent's Park made a fielding error which allowing the lead-off hitter John Rogers to reach first base. Then, with one out and three runners on base another member of the Regents, Samuel Waddilow, found the winning hit to give Surrey a 3-2 success.

For that hit, and strong performances in both games, Waddilow was named as the tournament's best player, while unsurprisingly William Rood was named as Best Pitcher, before we have even seen him appear in the Metropolitan League. His efforts here have certainly given an indication of a better year to come for the City of London Club, however.

[as5680]

Originally Posted by dward1

love it! I love expansion, creative tournaments and the creation of a separate vibe. sort of county cricket, sort of baseball, sort of NFL football with the one pitcher. excellent stuff

Thanks - the intention is for small leagues to spring up around the country, growing and eventually the top teams in them merging to create a national league with regional competitions below it, using promotion and relegation.

[as5680]

SEASON PREVIEW: METROPOLITAN LEAGUE

The big question this year is whether anyone can stop the Old Westminsters from winning a third successive championship, and many believe that Angel Islington could be the team to do it. Certainly they will be very strong, especially their batting which looks the best in the league. Clapham's pitching will make them contenders again after finishing as runners-up last year, meaning that the Westminsters could have a tough task to win another title.

Poor pitching is likely to prevent The Regent's Park from challenging this year, while the City of London Club will undoubtedly be stronger with County Championship winner William Rood pitching for them. That leaves Kensington looking certain to finish last this year, as they look to be the weakest team on both sides of the game.

PRE-SEASON PREDICTIONS:
Angel Islington 22-8
Clapham Common 18-12
Old Westminsters 15-15
The Regent's Park 14-16
City of London Club 13-17
Kensington Victoria 9-21

[Hageneezz]

G o C l a p h a m C o m m o n!

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: MARCH/APRIL 1867

The Old Westminsters’ challenge for a third successive Metropolitan League championship has got off to a bad start, with the reigning champions suffering defeats in three of their first four games this year. Indeed, they were fortunate not to have been beaten in all four as only a late turnaround against the City of London Club earned a victory, but there have been signs of improvement in the last two weeks. Successive wins over Clapham, who have started very poorly, and also The Regent’s Park, who have started well, moved the Westminsters up to an even three wins and three defeats.

Before that defeat to the Westminsters, the Regents had been sharing first place with Angel Islington, both teams winning four of their first five. By ending the month with victory over Clapham however, Angel now have the lead on their own. Many people’s favourites for the championship this year, Angel won their first four games and only a 2-1 defeat in twelve innings against the City of London Club prevents them from having a perfect record at this stage.

Angel then lead by a game from the Regents, while the Westminsters are a further game behind. They share third place with the City of London Club, who started slowly but have now won their last two. The real surprise of this year is the poor form of Clapham, with last year’s runners-up losing five of their six games to sit in last place at the end of April. Pitcher Frederick Maiden, so impressive last year, has been struggling and Clapham have allowed more runs than any other team, leaving them a game behind Kensington at the bottom of the standings.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: MAY 1867

We reach the end of May with The Regent’s Park and Angel Islington tied at the top of the Metropolitan League standings on seven wins and two defeats each, although champions the Old Westminsters are finding their form and are not too far behind. The Regent’s had taken the outright lead with a win over Angel, and indeed they won all three games they played in May, but the postponement of their visit to Kensington on the last weekend of the month allowed Angel to catch up when a late turnaround took them past the City of London Club 3-2.

The Westminsters started the month by falling to defeat against Angel, a result which left them looking quite a distance behind already, but they responded by winning the next three games and now sit on six wins and four defeats. The Westminsters play the Regents and Angel in their next two games, giving them further chance to gain ground. Kensington are in fourth place having played only twice this month due to postponements, while the City of London Club’s encouraging start is fading as they were beaten in all three of their games. Also without a win in May were Clapham, who have now lost eight of their nine games this year.

A remarkable story this month was the two lengthy games which we saw in successive weekends, taking twenty-one innings each to find a winner. First it was The Regent’s Park and Clapham who did battle, the game lengthened even more by a delay for rain before the Regents took it 4-3 as darkness began to fall. With people thinking it would be many years before such a long game took place again, the very next week the Old Westminsters tied their game with Kensington at 3-3 in the ninth and the teams battled on for twelve more innings before the game again finished 4-3, in the Westminsters’ favour.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: JUNE 1867

We are set for an exciting three-way battle for the Metropolitan League championship this year after The Regent’s Park, Angel Islington and the Old Westminsters moved well clear of the other three teams in the standings. It is the Regents who lead the way despite opening the month with a narrow 1-0 defeat to the Westminsters, as they were able to win their remaining four games in June, including victory over Angel. With that defeat and a shock loss to Clapham, it would have been a poor month for Angel had they not edged past the Westminsters in extra innings.

Angel now sit a game behind the Regents, with the Westminsters a further game back. The reigning champions could have been closer had their game with Kensington not been postponed, but equally might have been further behind but for a thirteen-inning win over Clapham to end the month. The other three teams are struggling, with Kensington and the City of London Club winning just once each. Indeed, having started with victory over Kensington, the City Club then proceeded to lose four in succession and have now been beaten in seven of their last eight after a promising start. Clapham improved slightly this month, winning twice and pushing the Old Westminsters close, but they remain a game behind in last place.