A blended history of baseball

[NYY #23]

Team: Hartford Predators
League: Eastern
Division: Northeast
All-time Record: 2613-2409
All-time Winning Percentage: .520
All-time Rank:4
Playoff Appearances: 7
World Series Championships: 2
1901 Record: 96-66

Hartford advanced to the World Series last season, but lost 4 games to 1 in their attempt to win back to back championships. In their history the Predators have had just 6 losing seasons.

While Hartford has four position players who were starters last season and are free agents, their offense was one of the worst in the league, and Hartford is built on the strength of their pitching. Elmer Woods (15-11, 3.19), Tony Sanchez (19-7, 2.88), Ron Jones (15-12, 3.49), and Ignacio Estrada (13-10, 3.78) will all return to a pitching staff that allowed the fewest runs in the league.

[NYY #23]

Team: Buffalo Blizzard
League: Eastern
Division: Northeast
All-time Record: 2616-2406
All-time Winning Percentage: .521
All-time Rank:3
Playoff Appearances: 9
World Series Championships: 3
1901 Record: 84-78

From 1879-1889 Buffalo was the most dominant team in the league, going to the playoffs 9 years and winning 3 World Series. It was the strength of those 11 years which helped them rank so high in career winning percentage, but after a disappointing last place finish in 1900, the Blizzard appear to be working their way back.

Buffalo has one of the worst bullpens in the league, despite having one of the best closers in Stephen Gunter, who at 25 made big gains this season. Gunter went 2-5 with 2 saves and a 4.03 ERA in 1900, but improved to 1-7 with 43 saves and a 3.38 ERA. Improving their bullpen would help narrow the gap with Hartford in a big way.

[NYY #23]

Team: Salt Lake City Bees
League: Western
Division: Southwest
All-time Record: 2630-2393
All-time Winning Percentage: .524
All-time Rank:2
Playoff Appearances: 10
World Series Championships: 2
1901 Record: 104-58

Salt Lake is the defending World Series Champion and won their second straight Western Division title, knocking off the only team above them in the rankings in a thrilling 4-3 League Championship, winning Game 7 in the 11th inning on a Joe Lord walk off home run.

Lord plays all infield positions, and is capable of playing each of the corner outfield spots, and hit .281 with 13 home runs and 117 RBI last year. Following the season Salt Lake traded their ace Damien Soler (19-11, 3.45 ERA) to Louisville for 1B Lorenzo Chavez and RF Kenny Steele.

[NYY #23]

Team: Las Vegas Aces
League: Western
Division: Western
All-time Record: 2684-2339
All-time Winning Percentage: .534
All-time Rank:1
Playoff Appearances: 10
World Series Championships: 2
1901 Record: 99-63

From 1883-1888 Las Vegas won the Western Divison each season, and captured their 10th division last season.

With their entire team set to return, the Aces appear ready to attempt another run of dominance, but need to upgrade a shaky bullpen, which posted a 4.30 ERA.

[NYY #23]

I've already spent time giving a quick recap of the teams, but I wanted to let the games resume playing to start moving things along, and over the next few months will continue to look at the history of the first 30 years as we begin to move forward and I work out the format going forward.
------------------------
It's early in the season, but the Salt Lake City Bees and Albuquerque Crusaders are locked in a tight battle in the Southwest Division, with both teams tied atop the division, and opening up a 5 1/2 game lead over the next closest team.


Salt Lake City's Joe Lord won the Batter of the Month award for the Western League, hitting .402 with a .474 on-base percentage and driving in 17 runs.

Another player we've talked about before, Sean Haddington of the Nashville Sounds, was named the Batter of the Month in the Eastern League after hitting .347 with 6 home runs, scoring 14 runs, and driving in 18.

There has never been a pitcher in the league who has won 300 games, but 39 year old Lucio Gonzalez hopes to change that fact soon.



Gonzalez has one Pitcher of the Year award under his belt in 1897 when he went 21-10 with a 2.65 ERA, and entered the season with 277 career wins, most in the history of the league. With a 4-1 start to the season to go along with a 1.34 ERA, Gonzalez was named Pitcher of the Month in the Eastern League, and continues to get closer and closer to his goal of 300 wins.

Career Win Leaders
1. Lucio Gonzalez #-281
2. Jeff Williams - 277
3. William Bascombe - 259
4. Dan Barber - 243
5. Will Dumont - 234
6. Desmond Dunn - 230
7. Mike Bradley - 221
8. Jake Brown - 220
9. Matt Nielson - 214
10. Juan Pena - 214
11. Victor Cruz - 212
12. Ramon Chavez - 207
13. David Martinez - 207
14. Ric Boyd - 204
15. Raul Ramos #- 199

Just one player, Roger Shelton has reached 3000 career hits. Shelton retired back in 1893 after a 20 year career, and I'll be talking more about him shortly. Bob Walker is the closest active player to 3000 hits, but at 38 years old he is coming off a year when he collected just 16 hits. Alejandro Lara of the Newark Bears may have a better chance if he can remain healthy. When healthy he is a career .292 hitter, but the 37 year old has been hit hard with a variety of injuries the past few seasons.

Career Hit Leaders
1. Roger Shelton - 3072
2. Pedro Garcia - 2976
3. Juan Ramos - 2784
4. Steve Sanders - 2759
5. Bob Walker #-2718
6. Orlando Alvarez - 2598
7. Felix Martinez - 2570
8. Benny Stewart - 2552
9. Alejandro Lara #-2455
10. Alfonso Fuentes - 2431
11. Frank Stirzacre #-2425
12. Glenn Hutchinson #-2397
13. Johnny Downey - 2393
14. Mark Doolittle -2383
15. Buddy Spencer #-2377

There is something about a new league where it can just be information overload. Not only is it getting used to current players, I'm trying to get caught up on history and trying to fine tune the messages that I receive, but I'll leave you with one final story (taking the easy way out with a screen shot):

[Lee]

Lets go Bees!!!

Joe Lord looks poised to have an amazing season.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Lee

Lets go Bees!!!

Joe Lord looks poised to have an amazing season.

Salt Lake really does have a good team, and Lord is one of those 5 tool players that is starting to really develop. He's really cut down on his strikeouts, and has stolen 30+ bases with a high of 54. If the first couple of months are any indication, it looks like he is settling in at third base. With 28 year old Dave Russell (.356 AVG in April, .345 AVG last year) Salt Lake definitely has a good core and are going to score a lot of runs.

[NYY #23]

The Las Vegas Aces have opened up a large 7 game lead in the Western Division, with the Newark Bears opening up a 4 game lead in the Northeast, the Louisville Spiders a 3 game lead in the Southeast, and the Salt Lake City Bees leading the Southwest by 2 games.



Long Beach fans were worried when one of the best young pitchers in the league, John 'Black Magic' Flanagan went down with an elbow injury last year that caused him to miss 8 months. The 25 year old appears to have not missed a beat, going 7-3 with a 2.44 ERA since returning. 'Black Magic' was 5-1 in May to win the Western League Pitcher of the Month Award. The Belchertown, Massachusetts native said the 'Black Magic' nickname was given to him by his high school coach after Flanagan would repeatedly walk the bases loaded with no outs, and then strike out the side.



The Hartford Predators announced that they have agreed to a 5 year extension with 26 year old shortstop Eric Wilson. Wilson has continued to show steady improvement at the plate, hitting .317/.438/.441 this season with 28 RBI and 21 runs scored. Wilson has become the leader for the Predators, and is happy that the contract negotiations are passed him and he can turn his focus back to catching the Bears.



Lucio Gonzalez continues to march towards 300 career wins, picking up another 4 wins in May to move him to 285 career wins.

When Ben Jones of the Jaguars hit safely in 20 games in a row he wasn't shy after the game stating that his goal was to break the longest hitting streak of all-time, Orlando Alvarez's 30 game hitting streak in 1882. Jones shouldn't have let the Missions' pitchers overhear his bravado though, as they held him hitless in 3 at-bats in San Antonio's 5-1 victory.



Raul Ramos of the Wizards picked up career win number 200, becoming just the 15th pitcher to reach that feat. The 36 year old improved to 7-1 this season.



There is a lot of pressure on rookies to perform regardless of the hype, but for 22 year old Carlos Medina of the Albuquerque Crusaders he was voted the top prospect in baseball, and scouts have been comparing his swing to the best home run hitter the game has seen, Erik Snow, who is the only player to ever hit 500 home runs in their career. Medina has taken it all in stride so far, and has brushed off his early season struggles to hit .271 with 4 home runs in May. He has a long way to go to reach some of the all-time home run leaders.

Career Home Run Leaders
1. Erik Snow - 506
2. Don Smith - 477
3. Glenn MacKinney - 415
4. Benny Stewart - 414
5. Roger Shelton - 408
6. Eduardo Pena - 405
7. Pedro Garcia - 392
8. Rafael Perez - 367
9. Rob Lockman - 366
10. Rafael Hernandez - 362
11. Mark Foreman - 336
12. Maurice Berry - 323
13. Brian Stone #-319
14. Carlos Sanchez - 318
15. Chris Park - 313

At this point we've yet to have a player with 500 career stolen bases, but 33 year old Pedro Benitez appears to have a good shot. Benitez is already the career stolen base leader and has never had a season with less than 14 stolen bases.

Career Stolen Base Leaders
1. Pedro Benitez #-439
2. Alejandro Lara #-412
3. Junior Wolfe - 406
4. Pedro Garcia - 375
5. Bob Walker #-375
6. Glenn Hutchinson #-371
7. Mark Doolittle - 356
8. Pedro Garcia - 355
9. Dave Russell #-350
10. Xavier Garcia - 338
11. Salvador Gonzales - 306
12. Phil Hawk - 306
13. Benny Stewart - 301
14. Rich Thomas - 300
15. Shane Day - 295

[NYY #23]

The first amateur draft has come and gone with actual players, and the first year was pretty underwhelming. Among the notable players selected -

• SP Jim Devlin, who went first overall to the Columbus Condors and won 72 games between 1875-1877
• SP Bill Duggleby, the second overall pick by the Portland Sea Dogs. Duggleby pitched from 1898 to 1907 and won 93 games in his career
• The third overall pick by the Austin Rattlers, SP Art Schallock, who pitched primarily in relief for the Yankees in the 1950s
• Mike Flanagan, who won 167 games between 1975-1992, primarily for the Orioles. Flanagan was picked 13th overall by the Buffalo Blizzard
• SP Lino Donoso was selected fifth by the Albuquerque Crusaders, and was elected to the Mexican League Hall of Fame in 1988, and played for the Pittsburgh Pirates for two seasons in the 50's.
• CF Jack Smith was selected by the Sacramento Sting with the 20th pick. Smith had 228 career steals from 1915-1929
• 3B Katsunori Tomari was selected with the 29th pick overall by the Raleigh Aeros. I point him out to show the Japanese players who are eligible for the draft. I know very little about Tomari, but apparently after his playing days he became an umpire.



In the Western League both Salt Lake and Las Vegas are in good shape, but the Eastern League currently features two close races.



Brian Stone of the Louisville Spiders put his name in the record books hitting 3 home runs in a game against the Raleigh Aeros, helping his team to a 9-8 win. It was the 46th time a player has hit 3 or more home runs in a game, with Ben Jones the only player to ever hit 4 home runs in a game.



John 'Black Magic' Flanagan was at it again, picking up Pitcher of the Month honors for the second straight month, this time going 6-0 with a 2.55 ERA to improve his record for the year to 13-3.



26 year old Evan Wallace is set to become a free agent after the season, and is heating up at the right time. Wallace is hitting .364 for the season and already has 10 home runs, just 4 shy of his personal high. Wallace took home Batter of the Month honors after hitting .404 with 4 home runs, 16 RBI and 16 runs scored for Nashville.



Pablo Martinez of the Newark Bears connected with career home run number 300 in a 5-4 win against the Buffalo Blizzard. Martinez is the 18th player to do so.

Continuing to look at the career leaders, this month we'll take a look at saves, and also strikeouts as well.

Career Saves Leaders
1. Matt Briggs - 594
2. Steffen Ramos - 574
3. Raul Agguire - 472
4. Carlos Martinez - 462
5. Jaime Guerrero - 460
6. Fernando Torres #- 421
7. Darryl Drake - 390
8. Andrew Gilmore #-390
9. Mark Henderson - 390
10. Curtis Knapp - 375
11. Chet White - 374
12. Francisco Sanchez - 372
13. Vicente Mendoza - 356
14. Juan Luis Mena - 337
15. Jeffrey Thomas #-337

Career Strikeout Leaders
1. William Bascombe - 4289
2. Lucio Gonzalez #-3330
3. Desmond Dunn - 3221
4. Matt Nielson - 3162
5. Mike Bradley - 3024
6. Jake Brown - 2895
7. Miguel Ortega #-2879
8. Jeff Williams - 2874
9. Raul Ramos #-2843
10. Will Dumont - 2790
11. Ron Jones #-2656
12. Tom Watkins - 2635
13. Dan Barber - 2567
14. Diego Guzman - 2490
15. David Martinez - 2482

[NYY #23]

Standings
The Aeros went 16-8 for the month and have opened up a two game lead over the Louisville Spiders. Raleigh is hoping to return to the playoffs for the first time since 1899, when they won the World Series.



League Leaders
Hits: Chris Martin, LV - 137
HRs: Luca Gavallo, AUS - 28
RBI: Jon Stadler, BUF - 79
Runs: Joe Lord, SLC - 77
SB: Paul Cox, BUF - 25
W: John Flanagan, LB - 15
SV: Nakamaro Matsuda, CHA - 32
K's: Ron Jones, HRT - 159

Milestone Watch
I'm not going to track EVERY milestone again, but each month we'll look at the major ones. I'm not going to care who gets 1000 runs for example, but if someone is approaching 1500 we'll follow them. (Hopefully this will continue to evolve into a format that works going forward)

300 Wins


Lucio Gonzalez (39) - Louisville Spiders, needs 11 wins - Gonzalez continues to pitch well, going 2-2 with a 2.45 ERA. I think Gonzalez will get there, but will likely get there in 1903

3000 Strikeouts


Miguel Ortega (35) - Buffalo Blizzard, needs 83 - Ortega is signed through 1904, and unless something drastic happens should become the 6th member of the 3000 strikeout club



Raul Ramos (36) - Newark Bears, needs 121 - Ramos is in the first of a three year contract with the Bears, and should also have little difficulty reaching 3000. Ramos is 12-7 with a 3.41 ERA and 140 strikeouts this season

Lucio Gonzalez - while already a member of the 3000 strikeout club, Gonzalez needs 145 strikeouts to reach 3500. Gonzalez is second on the all-time strikeout list, and will probably never reach the top spot

Milestones Reached
• Adam Pope of the Salt Lake City Bees picked up hit number 2000
• Dan Miller of the Albuquerque Crusaders collected hit number 2000
• Tristan Meyer of the Las Vegas Aces saved game number 300

Other News and Notes
Buddy 'Flat Tire' Cunningham has never been one of the stars in the league, and Oklahoma City is the fifth team that he has played for during his short career. Despite appearing in only 12 games this year, Cunningham entered the record books in his 12th game by collecting six hits in a game against the Austin Rattlers. Cunningham was just the 26th player to get six hits in a game, going 6-6, just one of 17 players to go a perfect 6-6. Only one player, Darrell Allen of Albuquerque has had 7 hits in a game.



The next news I'm excited about, as the first "real" player made headlines this month, with top draft pick Jim Devlin going 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA to win both the Pitcher of the Month and Rookie of the Month Awards for Columbus.

Continuing to look at the career leaders, this month we'll take a look at runs and RBI.

Career Runs Leaders
1. Pedro Garcia - 1915
2. Benny Stewart - 1741
3. Erik Snow - 1584
4. Roger Shelton - 1484
5. Orlando Alvarez - 1479
6. Felix Martinez - 1393
7. Johnny Downey - 1381
8. Bob Walker #-1376
9. Buddy Spencer #-1367
10. Tony Nunez - 1356
11. Frank Stirzacre #-1350
12. Don Smith - 1348
13. Juan Ramos - 1336
14. Abhimand Surendra - 1327
15. Rafael Hernandez - 1319

Career RBI Leaders
1. Pedro Garcia - 1747
2. Roger Shelton - 1629
3. Erik Snow - 1591
4. Benny Stewart - 1591
5. Don Smith - 1486
6. Eduardo Pena - 1414
7. Frank Lyons - 1410
8. Mark Foreman - 1407
9. Rafael Perez - 1404
10. Rafael Hernandez - 1383
11. Buddy Spencer #-1366
12. Rob Lockman - 1364
13. Alfonso Fuentes - 1347
14. Chris Park - 1332
15. Juan Ramos - 1315

[NYY #23]

Standings
Each of the division leaders hold a respectable lead heading in to the final month of the season.



League Leaders
Hits: Drew Grant, SAC - 164
HRs: Luca Gavallo, AUS - 34
RBI: Lawrence Nolan, SAC - 98
Runs: Joe Lord, SLC - 98
SB: Paul Cox, BUF - 31
W: John Flanagan, LB - 18
SV: Nakamaro Matsuda, CHA - 42
K's: Ron Jones, HRT - 203

Milestone Watch
300 Wins


Lucio Gonzalez (39) - Louisville Spiders, needs 9 wins - Gonzalez picked up 2 wins this month, and will need 1903 to get to 300. As a free agent after the season it will be interesting to see if Gonzalez resigns with Louisville or moves on to a new team.

3000 Strikeouts
Miguel Ortega (35) - Buffalo Blizzard, needs 71 - Ortega picked up 12 strikeouts this month in 3 starts

Raul Ramos (36) - Newark Bears, needs 82 - with 39 strikeouts in 44 innings Ramos will likely leapfrog over Ortega if he keeps up this pace

Lucio Gonzalez - Gonzalez picked up 21 strikeouts this month, and now needs 121 to reach 3500 strikeouts

Milestones Reached
• Pete Henderson of the Louisville Spiders went 2-3 to pick up hit #2000 in a 3-2 loss to Columbus
• 40 year old Frank "Hotrod" Stirzacre of the Long Beach Sharks reached the 2500 hit plateau

Other News and Notes


Jim Devlin is now 2-2, winning both the Pitcher of the Month and Rookie of the Month Awards in his second full month after going 5-0 with a 1.08 ERA for Columbus. I really didn't expect this much from him after checking out his real life stats (72-76, 1.90 ERA) in three years, but he has been very impressive so far.

Richard Bray of Charlotte hit for the cycle in a 12-2 win over the Orlando Wizards. He was the 46th player to hit for the cycle.



Ernesto Salazar of the San Antonio Missions captured the Hitter of the Month award in the Western League after hitting .376 with 9 home runs, 27 RBI, and 22 runs scored.

Nashville first baseman Sean Haddington will miss the rest of the season after injuring himself running the bases. Haddington was hitting .274 with 24 home runs, 77 RBI, and 58 runs scored.

Continuing to look at the career leaders, this month we'll take a look at runs and RBI.

Career WAR Leaders (Batters)
1. Pedro Garcia - 90.21
2. Benny Stewart - 84.05
3. Joe Eveleigh - 83.53
4. Carlos Sanchez - 74.13
5. Roger Shelton - 71.55
6. Nelson Hernandez #-71.01
7. Buddy Spencer #-66.62
8. Chris Park - 66.48
9. Orlando Alvarez - 63.25
10. Johnny Downey - 59.63
11. Kirk Dalton - 58.62
12. Felix Martinez - 58.50
13. Juan Ramos - 57.37
14. Pedro Benitez #-56.29
15. Carlos Angel #-56.11

Career WAR Leaders (Pitchers)
1. Lucio Gonzalez #-116.99
2. Jeff Williams - 114.35
3. Ric Boyd - 104.13
4. Jake Brown - 98.08
5. Dan Barber - 91.06
6. Desmond Dunn - 91.05
7. Mike Bradley - 87.52
8. Matt Nielson - 84.13
9. William Bascombe - 82.04
10. Eichi Osawa - 81.97
11. Kosho Matsui - 79.96
12. Ryu Oka #-78.80
13. Raul Ramos #-78.12
14. Diego Guzman - 76.44
15. Tom Watkins - 73.58

[NYY #23]

Standings
Things are all wrapped up all West with the Salt Lake City Bees will take on the Las Vegas Aces in a rematch of last year's League Championship Series. Things are getting interesting in the Eastern League though, especially in the Northeast Division where it's all tied up between the Newark Bears and the Buffalo Blizzard.



League Leaders
Hits: Dave Russell, SLC - 202
HRs: Luca Gavallo, AUS - 42
RBI: Karapagam Riju, LV - 119
Runs: Joe Lord, SLC - 116
SB: Joe Lord, SLC - 40
W: John Flanagan, LB - 22
SV: Nakamaro Matsuda, CHA - 50
K's: Jesus Guzman, ORL - 247

Milestone Watch
300 Wins



Lucio Gonzalez (39) - Louisville Spiders, needs 7 wins - Gonzalez picked up 2 wins again this month.

3000 Strikeouts
Miguel Ortega (35) - Buffalo Blizzard, needs 22 - last month I though Ortega would fall behind Ramos, but he picked up an additional 49 strikeouts in 39 innings to move closer to 3000

Raul Ramos (36) - Newark Bears, needs 50 - locked in a tight playoff race, Ramos struggled in September going 2-3 with a 4.75 ERA with 32 strikeouts

Lucio Gonzalez - Gonzalez picked up 21 strikeouts again this month, and now needs 100 to reach 3500 strikeouts

Milestones Reached
• Michael Thompson of the Hartford Predators joined the 2000 hit club at the age of 33
• Teammate Matt Baker picked up save number 300

Other News and Notes



Once again Jim Devlin made some news this month, setting the record by striking out 17 batters in a game against Orlando. While William Bascombe twice struck out 16 batters in a game in the 1880's, nobody before Devlin has struck out 17 in a game. The rookie went 5-0 with a 0.70 ERA for the month, improving to 16-2 with a 1.35 ERA for the year and won his third straight Pitcher of the Month and Rookie of the Month Awards.

Another 'real life' player made some news this month as Jack Smith of Sacramento won the Rookie of the Month award. That accomplishment had less to do with impressive accomplishments than it did with the lack of other candidates as Smith hit .245 with 5 home runs.

[NYY #23]

Eastern League Championship Series
The Buffalo Blizzard finished the regular season with a 3-2 month of October to advance to the playoffs and take on the Raleigh Aeros for the Eastern League Championship Series.

Game 1: Raleigh 9 - 6
Game 2: Buffalo 5 - 4 (11 innings)
Game 3: Buffalo 4 - 2
Game 4: Buffalo 5 - 4
Game 5: Raleigh 9 - 4
Game 6: Raleigh 5 - 0
Game 7: Buffalo 2 - 1

Buffalo moves on to the World Series after hanging on for a 4-3 series win. Don Gross went 2-1 in the series for Buffalo. Stephen Gunter saved 3 of the 4 Blizzard wins with a 1.80 ERA.

Western League Championship Series
Salt Lake City and Las Vegas face off again in the League Championship rematch from last year, where Salt Lake defeated Vegas.

Game 1: Salt Lake 7-2
Game 2: Las Vegas 2-1
Game 3: Las Vegas 4-0
Game 4: Salt Lake 5-2
Game 5: Salt Lake 2-1
Game 6: Salt Lake 5-2

Salt Lake advances to the World Series with a 4-2 series win. Closer Jeffrey Thomas saved 3 games and didn't give up a run in the series. Sam Anderson homered and drove in 5 runs in the series.

World Series

Game 1: Buffalo 3-2
Game 2: Buffalo 14-7
Game 3: Buffalo 8-7
Game 4: Buffalo 4-1

It wasn't much of a series, as the Buffalo Blizzard swept Salt Lake to win their fourth World Series and first since 1889. In the Bees' 14-7 loss, Joe Lord hit for the cycle going 4-5 with 5 RBI and scoring 2 runs. Lord hit .342 in the postseason with 2 home runs, which actually lowered his career postseason batting average to .343 (46-134).

Awards
EL Most Valuable Hitter -

Nelson 'Vulture' Hernandez - .290/.448/.510, 30 HR, 104 RBI, 71.1 VORP, 7.8 WAR

With his fifth Most Valuable Hitter Award, the 'Vulture' ties Benny Stewart for the most MVH awards in history. Hernandez has won the award in 1895, 1896, 1899, 1901, and now 1902. An 8 time All-Star and 3 time Gold Glove winner, Hernandez has a .300 career batting average, 277 career home runs, and 1167 RBI.

EL Most Valuable Pitcher & EL Rookie of the Year -

Jim Devlin - 17-2, 1.38 ERA, 188.2 IP, 210 K, 78.3 VORP, 9.8 WAR

Devlin was absolutely dominant since entering the league in this year's amateur draft. Despite pitching only half the year his 17 wins were only second in the league to three 18 game winners.

WL Most Valuable Hitter -

Ernesto Salazar - .330/.424/.511, 24 HR, 115 RBI, 75.7 VORP, 7.0 WAR

Timing is everything sometimes, and Salazar took advantage of his impending free agency by putting together a career year and winning the Most Valuable Hitter Award forcing San Antonio to up their offer to retain his services.

WL Most Valuable Pitcher -

John 'Black Magic' Flanagan - 22-11, 3.31 ERA, 244.2 IP, 220 K, 46.6 VORP, 5.9 WAR

Flanagan did his best to put to rest any concerns about how he would recover from injury, not only returning to his pre-injury form, but pitching better post-injury.

WL Rookie of the Year-

RF - Carlos Medina - .253/.308/.430, 15 HR, 72 RBI, 17.8 VORP, 1.7 WAR

Not to take anything away from Medina, but it was a weak crop of rookie seasons in the Western League. Only five Rookie of the Year winners in history posted a lower VORP than Medina.

[NYY #23]

At the end of the year I wanted to highlight the records that were broken the previous year, but before I do that I wanted to highlight the current records. After this year the plan is to just talk about the records broken in the end of year wrap-up.

Season Records
AVG - Chris Martin .370 (1901)
OBP - Hector Guevera .511 (1871)
SLG - Mason Hanson .628 (1879)
OPS - Joe Eveleigh 1.049 (1874)
VORP - Albert Jewell 107.9 (1881)
G - Jose Souza 163 (1902)
AB - Ron Stewart 696 (1901)
R - Benny Stewart 156 (1878)
H - Chris Martin 249 (1901)
TB - Albert Jewell 400 (1881)
1B - Chris Martin 205 (1901)
2B - Fred Gordon 70 (1900)
3B - David Horton 20 (1896)
HR -Don Smith 47 (1885)
RBI - Edward Graham 171 (1881)
SB - Pedro Benitez 63 (1892)
CS - Pedro Benitez 24 (1891)
BB - Joe Eveleigh 169 (1890)
K - Don Smith 207 (1892)
WAR - Benny Stewart 10.7 (1878)

ERA - Jim Devlin 1.38 (1902)
W - Terry Bowman 29 (1884)
L - John Young 23 (1872)
Win % - Jim Devlin .895 (1902)
SV - Curtis Knapp 58 (1882)
G - Ben Brown78 (1886)
GS - Matt Nielson 38 (1897)
CG - Jeff Martin 19 (1873)
SHO -Dave Blair 7 (1895)
IP - Kosho Matsui 313.0 (1885)
HA - Quentin Cameron 334 (1878)
HRA - Victor Silva 45 (1899)
K - William Bascombe 294 (1882)
BB - Mark Corrigan 181 (1897)
BB/9 - Travis Jackson 0.91 (1885)
H/9 - Jim Devlin 5.10 (1902)
K/9 - Keith Williams 10.84 (1893)
VORP - Kosho Matsui 105.2 (1886)
WHIP - Jim Devlin 0.73 (1902)
Opp AVG - Jim Devlin .161 (1902)
Opp OBP - Jim Devlin .205 (1902)
Opp SLG - Jim Devlin .211 (1902)
Opp OPS - Jim Devlin .415 (1902)
WAR - Ric Boyd 11.3 (1888)

Career Records
AVG - Chris Martin .335
OBP - Joe Eveleigh .459
SLG - Albert Jewell .514
OPS - Jose Hernandez .920
VORP - Pedro Garcia 902.1
G - Pedro Garcia 2953
AB - Pedro Garcia 10736
R - Pedro Garcia 1915
H - Roger Shelton 3072
TB - Roger Shelton 5009
1B - Steve Sanders 2083
2B - Bob Walker 724
3B - Bob Walker 143
HR -Erik Snow 506
RBI - Pedro Garcia 1747
SB - Pedro Benitez 449
CS - Pedro Benitez 170
BB - Frank Stirzacre 2016
K - Erik Snow 2435
WAR - Pedro Garcia 90.2

ERA - Steffen Ramos 2.10
W - Lucio Gonzalez 294
L - Lucio Gonzalez 228
Win % - Ric Boyd .708
SV - Matt Briggs 594
G - Matt Briggs 1134
GS - Lucio Gonzalez 656
CG - Jeff Williams 157
SHO -Jeff Williams 31
IP - Lucio Gonzalez 4745.2
HA - Lucio Gonzalez 4699
HRA - William Bascombe 491
K - William Bascombe 4289
BB - Zong-ming Men 2015
BB/9 - Travis Jackson 1.39
H/9 - Edward Dickey 6.53
K/9 - Matt Briggs 10.53
VORP - Jeff Williams 1126.4
WHIP - Jim Williams 1.08
Opp AVG - Matt Briggs .203
Opp OBP - Travis Jackson .276
Opp SLG - Edward Dickey .280
Opp OPS - Matt Briggs .578
WAR - Lucio Gonzalez 117.5

[NYY #23]

Here was what I originally posted as part of my 'Milestones' thread:
I originally turned off automatic induction into the Hall of Fame, and was planning on manually inducting players who reached a milestone number, but that seemed too simplistic. I've always wanted to simulate a Hall of Fame vote, and tried it with an imperfect system once, which worked, but still had some problems. With the addition of WAR I started to modify my old system and get it working, but I stumbled upon this thread:
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...me-voting.html

So thanks to hfield007 for coming up with the system, so I decided to do some testing with it, then created a spreadsheet and tried it out on some leagues, some players, and was very pleased with the results. I modified the optional requirements slightly by inserting in two categories (strikeouts and stolen bases) where I'm tracking milestones. I figure there is no point in tracking the milestones if they don't mean anything.

Win's - 300 (3 pts)
K's - 3000 (2 pts)
Saves - 300 (2 pts)
Hits - 3000 (3 pts)
Home Runs - 500 (3 pts)
Runs - 1500 ( 1 pt)
RBI -1500 (1 pt)
SB - 500 (1 pt)
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I'm basically going to keep the rules the same for the calculations. I am going to make some slight changes to how to calculate the votes based on how many initial points the player gets. I basically don't want the low end guys to stick on the ballot when they don't have a shot anyway. Also, if anybody doesn't put up a career WAR of 30 (20 for relievers) or reach one of the milestones they are out. The hard part of having 30 years of history is that you've got 30 years of retired players to go through, so it's hard to go in and view the WAR and the WAR per season. Based on the filters that I used that narrows down the list to 433 total players, and 66 have been weeded out so far, with about 1/4 of the list done. So the first Hall of Fame ballot is coming soon - I just don't know how soon yet.

[NYY #23]

Miguel Ortega of the Buffalo Blizzard made history tonight, recording the 3000th strikeout of his career, despite struggling in a 7-5 loss to Nashville, giving up 7 runs in 6 2/3 innings while striking out 7.

Ortega is the sixth player to reach 3000 career strikeouts.

A look at all of the milestones reached so far:

Milestones reached
300 Wins
Actual Members (24) MBL(0)

500 Saves
Actual Members (2) MBL (2)
Matt Briggs
Steffen Ramos

500 Home Runs
Actual Members (25) MBL (1)
Erik Snow

500 Stolen Bases
Actual Members (37) MBL (0)

1500 RBI
Actual Members (51) MBL (4)
Pedro Garcia
Roger Shelton
Erik Snow
Benny Stewart

1500 Runs
Actual Members (70) MBL (3)
Pedro Garcia
Benny Stewart
Erik Snow

3000 Hits
Actual Members (28) MBL (1)
Roger Shelton

3000 Strikeouts
Actual Members (16) MBL (6)
William Bascombe
Lucio Gonzalez
Desmond Dunn
Matt Nielson
Mike Bradley
Miguel Ortega

[NYY #23]

Before we get in to the current season, there were a couple of free agents of note that signed during the offseason. First up is 40 year old Lucio Gonzalez on his quest to 300 wins, who signed a one year deal with the Nashville Sounds.

After spending six seasons in San Antonio, the Most Valuable Hitter in the Western League, Ernesto Salazar, jumped teams, and leagues, and signed a six year contract with the Hartford Predators.

Standings
The Providence Power finished the month on a 6 game winning streak, with the Hartford Predators winning the last 4 games of the month to put four teams within 2 1/2 games atop the EL Northeast.



League Leaders
Hits: Etienne Albarello, SJ - 36
HRs: Jim Mitchell, HAR - 7
RBI: Joe Lord, SLC - 26
Runs: Michael Thompson, HRT - 21
SB: Gunner Bowman, PRV - 9
W: Jim Devlin, COL - 4
SV: Tom Kent, BUF - 10
K's: Esteban Morales, RAL - 46

Milestone Watch
300 Wins
Lucio Gonzalez (40) - Nashville Sounds, needs 3 wins - a new team for Gonzalez with similar results, as Gonzalez didn't show any signs of aging, going 3-2 for Nashville.

3000 Strikeouts
Raul Ramos (37) - Newark Bears, needs 9 - barring something totally unexpected, Ramos should easily become the 7th member of the 3000 strikeout club, likely during the month of May

Ron Jones (36) - Hartford Predators, needs 174 - with 6 straight seasons of 200+ strikeouts, 'Bolts' has a great chance of reaching 3000 career strikeouts.

Lucio Gonzalez - Gonzalez needs 80 strikeouts to reach 3500 for his career

Milestones Reached
• Miguel Ortega of the Buffalo Blizzard reached 3000 strikeouts

Other News and Notes


Miguel Ortega of the Buffalo Blizzard is in the news again, pitching a 1 hit 1-0 shutout against the Raleigh Aeros.



Ron 'Bolts' Jones of the Hartford Predators had a big month, picking up career win number 200 with a 6-0 win over the Orlando Wizards and winning the Pitcher of the Month award in the Eastern League after going 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 42 innings.

Joe Lord of the Salt Lake City Bees won the Hitter of the Month in the Western Division after hitting .369 with 3 homers, 26 RBI, and 12 runs scored.

Career Win Leaders
1. Lucio Gonzalez #-297
2. Jeff Williams - 277
3. William Bascombe - 259
4. Dan Barber - 243
5. Will Dumont - 234
6. Desmond Dunn - 230
7. Mike Bradley - 221
8. Jake Brown - 220
9. Matt Nielson - 214
10. Juan Pena - 214
11. Raul Ramos #- 214
12. Victor Cruz - 212
13. Ramon Chavez - 207
14. David Martinez - 207
15. Ric Boyd - 204
16. Ron Jones #-203
17. Bart Johnston - 196
18. Anastasio Hernandez - 194
19. Dorian Etheridge #-193
20. Floyd Kline #-191

Career Hit Leaders
1. Roger Shelton - 3072
2. Pedro Garcia - 2976
3. Juan Ramos - 2784
4. Steve Sanders - 2759
5. Bob Walker -2723
6. Orlando Alvarez - 2598
7. Felix Martinez - 2570
8. Benny Stewart - 2552
9. Frank Stirzacre #-2542
10. Buddy Spencer #-2497
11. Alejandro Lara #-2494
12. Alfonso Fuentes - 2431
13. Glenn Hutchinson #-2403
14. Johnny Downey - 2393
15. Mark Doolittle -2383
16. Tony Nunez - 2359
17. Kirk Dalton - 2325
18. Frank Lyons - 2322
19. Curt Ford - 2317
20. Tim Hall - 2303

[NYY #23]

Raul 'Charisma' Ramos of the Newark Bears became the 7th player to reach 3000 career strikeouts with an 8 inning win against Columbus in which he struck out 9 batters. At 37 years old Ramos is third among active players, with a chance to pass Mike Bradley and his 3024 strikeouts shortly.

----------------------------------------------------------
Milestones reached
300 Wins
Actual Members (24) MBL(0)

500 Saves
Actual Members (2) MBL (2)
Matt Briggs
Steffen Ramos

500 Home Runs
Actual Members (25) MBL (1)
Erik Snow

500 Stolen Bases
Actual Members (37) MBL (0)

1500 RBI
Actual Members (51) MBL (4)
Pedro Garcia
Roger Shelton
Erik Snow
Benny Stewart

1500 Runs
Actual Members (70) MBL (3)
Pedro Garcia
Benny Stewart
Erik Snow

3000 Hits
Actual Members (28) MBL (1)
Roger Shelton

3000 Strikeouts
Actual Members (16) MBL (7)
William Bascombe
Lucio Gonzalez
Desmond Dunn
Matt Nielson
Mike Bradley
Miguel Ortega
Raul Ramos

[NYY #23]

Standings
Out in the West both the Salt Lake City Bees and the Las Vegas Aces have taken an early lead in their divisions and both are comfortably ahead. All five teams in the Northeast Division are above .500, and all five teams would be leading the Southeast, where Raleigh maintains a 3 1/2 game lead.



League Leaders
Hits: Mark Manley, CHA - 70
HRs: Alfonso Ramirez, LV - 15
RBI: Alfonso Ramirez, LV - 55
Runs: Pancho Antonio, LV - 43
SB: Paul Cox, BUF - 16
W: Jim Devlin, COL - 11
SV: Tom Kent, BUF - 20
K's: Jim Devlin, COL - 114

Milestone Watch
300 Wins
Lucio Gonzalez (40) - Nashville Sounds, needs 1 win - with 2 mores wins for Gonzalez he moves within one win of the 300 game milestone

3000 Strikeouts
Ron Jones (36) - Hartford Predators, needs 130

Lucio Gonzalez - Gonzalez needs 48 strikeouts to reach 3500 for his career

1500 Runs


Buddy Spencer (37) - Louisville Spiders, needs 92 runs - a new name on the list, Spencer has scored 12 runs a month in both April and May after a disappointing season last year in which he only scored 66 runs, but as you'll see below Spencer has had a long successful career and still has some left in the tank.

Milestones Reached
• Raul Ramos of the Newark Bears reached 3000 strikeouts
• Buddy Spencer picked up the 2500th hit of his career
• Alejandro Lara of the Oklahoma City Tornadoes also picked up career hit number 2500
• Nelson Hernandez of the Newark Bears picked up hit number 2000

Other News and Notes


Jim Devlin continues to dominate the league since he has joined, going 7-0 with a microscopic 0.29 ERA in May to win the Pitcher of the Month award in the Eastern League. The Columbus hurler is now 11-1 for the season, and has improved to 28-3 for his career.



Sherwood Chute took home the Pitcher of the Month honors in the Western League after going 5-1 with a 2.79 ERA in 48 innings with the Long Beach Sharks.



Nelson 'Vulture' Hernandez of the Newark Bears won the Batter of the Month after hitting .280 with 8 home runs, 16 RBI, and 21 runs scored.

Alfonso Ramirez of the Las Vegas Aces was named the Batter of the Month in the Western League after hitting .350 with 8 home runs, 34 RBI, and 18 runs scored.

Career Home Run Leaders
1. Erik Snow - 506
2. Don Smith - 477
3. Glenn MacKinney - 415
4. Benny Stewart - 414
5. Roger Shelton - 408
6. Eduardo Pena - 405
7. Pedro Garcia - 392
8. Rafael Perez - 367
9. Rob Lockman - 366
10. Rafael Hernandez - 362
11. Mark Foreman - 336
12. Brian Stone #-329
13. Pablo Martinez #-324
14. Maurice Berry - 323
15. Christian Neely #-322
16. Carlos Sanchez - 318
17. Chris Park - 313
18. Glenn Fraser - 310
19. Mason Hanson - 290
20. Antonio Cano - 282

Career Stolen Base Leaders
1. Pedro Benitez #-453
2. Alejandro Lara #-414
3. Junior Wolfe - 406
4. Dave Russell #-379
5. Pedro Garcia - 375
6. Bob Walker -375
7. Glenn Hutchinson #-371
8. Mark Doolittle - 356
9. Pedro Garcia - 355
10. Xavier Garcia - 338
11. Salvador Gonzales - 306
12. Phil Hawk - 306
13. Benny Stewart - 301
14. Rich Thomas - 300
15. Shane Day - 295
16. Roberto Maldonado #-293
17. Rufo Rivera - 292
18. Tony Nunez - 280
19. Gustave Pacho - 273
20. Carlos Angel #-272

[NYY #23]

At 40 years old Lucio Gonzalez continues to prove that he still has plenty of gas left in his tank, holding the Orlando Wizards to just 5 hits as Nashville won the game 6-2, and Gonzalez won for the 300th time of his career.

No other pitcher before him has every won 300 games in their career, and nobody in the league appears to be close to reaching the milestone soon. Gonzalez is now 300-233 for his career with a 3.62 ERA.

With the first 300 game winner, we've now seen someone reaching all major milestones except 500 career stolen bases.

Milestones reached
300 Wins
Actual Members (24) MBL(1)
Lucio Gonzalez

500 Saves
Actual Members (2) MBL (2)
Matt Briggs
Steffen Ramos

500 Home Runs
Actual Members (25) MBL (1)
Erik Snow

500 Stolen Bases
Actual Members (37) MBL (0)

1500 RBI
Actual Members (51) MBL (4)
Pedro Garcia
Roger Shelton
Erik Snow
Benny Stewart

1500 Runs
Actual Members (70) MBL (3)
Pedro Garcia
Benny Stewart
Erik Snow

3000 Hits
Actual Members (28) MBL (1)
Roger Shelton

3000 Strikeouts
Actual Members (16) MBL (7)
William Bascombe
Lucio Gonzalez
Desmond Dunn
Matt Nielson
Mike Bradley
Miguel Ortega
Raul Ramos