MLB Replay....A new History

[George_Bell]

1943 Regular Season

Man, Jimmie Foxx must be a horrible teammate. He can’t seem to keep a job, despite putting up great numbers whenever he gets a chance. Brooklyn started Foxx in the minors this season, with the Minneapolis Millers of the AAA American Association. After 2 months of dominating, they have shown no interest in calling him up.

Foxx

Foxx is hitting .349, with 17 home runs through 45 games. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are starting Frankie Pytlak, a 34 year old journeyman, whose hitting .286, with 12 RBI’s in 37 games. There’s no doubt in my mind that Foxx is the better player, significantly.

BNN Stats: Active Career Batting Leaders: So, who is the active leader in the Major League Baseball in career games started?

Lou Gehrig, BRO, 2758
Travis Jackson, PHI, 2523
Riggs Stephenson, CHA, 2336
Goose Goslin, CLE, 2294
Bill Dickey, DET, 2045


Are the St. Louis Browns cursed. Well, probably not, I mean, they have played in 7 straight World Series, but all the injuries they have been suffering sure are alarming. On August 15^th, Joe DiMaggio suffered bone edema in his wrist, and will be sidelined for 2 months, just long enough to miss the World Series, if in fact, the Browns can make it. I’m just assuming they will, because hell hasn’t frozen over yet!

After spending 96 games in AA, the Dodgers finally called up Jimmie Foxx. He crushed AAA pitchers hopes and dreams. I still don’t understand the demotion.

With about a week left, the Browns have blown a 5 game September 1^st lead and now find themselves in 3^rd place, 1.5 games out. They are ofcourse without Joe DiMaggio, but also lost SS Arky Vaughn. The Tigers currently hold first place, 1 game ahead of the Senators.

The Browns lost both games of a double header in what I think is the final nail in their coffin. The Senators also lose 4 straight the during this final week, and almost by default, the Tigers have clinched the AL pennant.

What a run by the St. Louis Browns. They are the only team to ever make 7 straight World Series. They are the only team to ever win 4 straight World Series. They are also the only team to ever lose 3 straight World Series. They aren’t done either. The key Browns talent is close to old yet. They’ll be back.

[George_Bell]

Bill Dickey is probably one of the most underrated players in all of baseball He’s probably gonna make the half century team in a couple years, and I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned him before. This will be his 2^nd trip to the fall classic, and he’ll need to have a big series for the Tigers to have a chance against the fantastic pitching of the champs.

[Mike45]

seems like '43 was a really down year for offense(or great year for pitching), although some of that might be accounted for by the key injuries, all of which seem to be to hitters

[George_Bell]

1943 World Series

Quickly, i forgot to report this in the season thread. As the regular season came to an end, Josh Gibson hit’s his 500^th home run, and Satchel Paige wins his 350^th game!! That's worth mentioning!

Ok, now, the World Series.

As I expected, Hal Newhouser allows four hits in 8-2 opening game Reds win. I don’t think the Tigers can put up enough offense this series.

Jiro Noguchi allows six hits in a 6-0 complete game shutout win in game 2, and the Reds are half way to a three-peat.

Dave Barnhill pitches the third straight complete game, and the Reds win easily 8-3.

The Tigers stay alive in game five. They score twice in the bottom of the ninth to force another game.

Noguchi again shuts down the Tigers, and the Reds win game five, 10-2, and the series in five games.

The Reds threw a complete game every game of the series. They allowed only 10 runs in 45 innings, an ERA of 2.00. Bill Dickey, who I said the Tigers needed to carry them, went just 2/16.

[George_Bell]

[Carlton]

Originally Posted by George_Bell

That's a really interesting story. I'm curious as to how that Veeck plan would have played out.

As for the Blue Jays, i did read up on that, it's pretty stupid and confusing. Though as long as OOTP says they are the Blue Jays, I will keep calling them the Blue Jays..haha

Yep...ONE year

The owner Nugent was kicked out of the league shortly after for gambling!

And since you are in the area where I blew up my last Dynasty, could you let me know what happened to Red Durrent? He is probably a bum in your replay but with mine I had randomness at 80 so he somehow became a HR hitting legend with a gold glove in LF, top 5 in SBs and robbed a couple of triple crowns from Stan Musial.

And who is YOUR Red Durrent, you talk about the guys on top, which are usually no surprise, but what guy has caught your eye where you say "Who was this guy?"

and I recall the Satchel Paige vs Dave Barnhill World Series in my universe...Barnhill ALMOST beat Paige as my hero by striking out 348 in his rookie year with the Yankees and having a Spud Chandler type Winning %, then stumbling for some reason, getting released, latching on to the Cardinals as a MR, then getting a SP nod his last two years due to injuries and winning his 300th game and 10 World Series win in his last year. One of those
"Hey, what happened to Player A?" deals, then you shake your head, say damn you OOTP development...then he comes back in a weird fashion and you shortlist him and root for that old man to get over that line

[George_Bell]

Originally Posted by Mike45

seems like '43 was a really down year for offense(or great year for pitching), although some of that might be accounted for by the key injuries, all of which seem to be to hitters

The level of pitching in the league has really improved since the early 30's. We got Satchel Paige and Bob Feller in Pittsburgh, the Cincinnati three. McDaniels in Washington dominates, and ofcourse Robert Griffith.

This might also have to do with the lack of power around. Gehrig, Suttles and Ruth are either gone or done. Only 3 players in baseball have a power rating 15 or over. Ted Williams and Stan Musial are still developing. The only real scary power hitter rght now is Josh Gibson. He's alone in that category.

[George_Bell]

Originally Posted by Carlton

And since you are in the area where I blew up my last Dynasty, could you let me know what happened to Red Durrent? He is probably a bum in your replay but with mine I had randomness at 80 so he somehow became a HR hitting legend with a gold glove in LF, top 5 in SBs and robbed a couple of triple crowns from Stan Musial.

I could not find a man named Red Durrent. I do have the delete players who never make the majors option checked, so that might be the reason he's not showing up. How did he do for you?

Originally Posted by Carlton

And who is YOUR Red Durrent, you talk about the guys on top, which are usually no surprise, but what guy has caught your eye where you say "Who was this guy?"

There are a few people i never heard of who did great things. #1 is Mule Suttles, who i never knew existed, but he came in with amazing ratings, and had the career he was supposed to have.

Jeff Heath is a guy i never heard of, who is playing right now, and has won 2 MVP's, but he had a decent MLB career.

Jiro Noguchi is a japanese player who has shocked me. I noticed him in the draft as he had no fg face file, so i had to find him one. I thought to myself I'm wasting my time, as this guy as horrible ratings, and will probably never make the majors. Boy, was I wrong. He was been wonderful every single year, and been a key part of the Reds current run. Honestly, if i was running the Reds, he never gets a shot, his ratings are that bad!

The most interesting guy has easily been Jimmie Foxx. Amazing ratings originally, and to see those ratings fall off like a waterfall, only to see him finally get a chance after years in the minors was cool. Then, the ratings started going back up. He had some solid season, got dumped by a few teams, and then exploded with the Dodgers to have some of the best seasons by a catcher ever!!! Then this year happened, which makes no sense to me whatsover. I am rooting for him big time. I really want him to finish great.

I've had more guys who were great in real life surprise in the wrong way though. Carl Hubbell for one, is 40 years old, and has pitched in 98 games. He's been terrible. Both Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson look like disappointments at this point, and Shoeless Joe Jackson, after winning 3 or 4 MVP's, become a minor leaguer over night. It's like he forgot how to player. A sure fire HOFer, to after thought as quick as possible!

[George_Bell]

[George_Bell]

1943-44 Offseason News and Notes

Duke Snider is the first player take, by the St. Louis Cardinals. They have a history of developing very good outfielders. I really like the Blue Jays drafting of Nellie Fox at #10. Could be a steal.

And Jimmie Foxx gets dumped again!

Foxx goes to the Chicago Cubs, after a pretty good month and a half with Brooklyn last season. After his call up, he hit 11 home runs in 46 games. I should also mention his defense was great. The Cubs have themselves a pretty good catcher. Heinz Becker is a nice pick up for the Dodgers. He can be a borderline all-star.

I knew Lefty O'Doul was good, really good, but looking at his career for that right up, I absolutely didn't give him enough credit, and neither did the game!

In an amazing coincidence, both Paul Daffy Dean, and his brother Jay Dizzy Dean are both forced to retire from baseball, because of injuries. If that’s not all, the announcements came just 2 weeks apart!

Paul, who has been a decent reliever for the White Sox over the last few years, tore his rotator cuff, in May, and just suffered a setback. Dizzy, tore his UCL in spring training, say out the whole 1943 season, and decided he would not be able to come back.


The Dean boys are going home.

[Carlton]

double post, sorry

[Carlton]

Sorry it's

Red Durrett Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com

Red Durrett

See, so forgettable in real life his name is hard to forget
He was probably the BEST player ever in my league...he was multiple Gold Glover, two time TRIPLE CROWN winner, was top 10 in Sbs and OF assists almost every year and for some reason no matter where he was, he made the World Series setting records in most cumulative stats there.

He was Hank Aaron, Tris Speaker and Ted Williams rolled into one for me, great OBP, consistent 40 HR, 40 2bs, 10 triples, 30 Sb guy who lead in OF assists and was the best range wise LFer

As for Noguchi, he also had 2 brothers in Japanese baseball that I believe import in Spritze's DB as well. he did ok, but not great...I think I used discretion and put he and his brothers all on the Giants, although his brothers were minor leaguers.
I had Victor Starfin do well, but it was Masaichi Kaneda "The Emperor" who was the main Japanese guy for me, he made 8 All Star games, but was stuck with the 2nd division Chicago White Sox for most of his career so his wins suffered.

I did have a 2b Japanese guy and a Cuban 3b that were the #1 and #2 hitters on the Pirates that I cannot recall, but they were a fearsome trio with Arky Vaughn and the Pirates were 2nd or 3rd for 6 years, then traded for Red Durett from the rebuilding multiple World Series winning cardinals and Harry Beechen from the Reds and then drafted Ralph Kiner and just rolled into 3 pennants in 6 years.

[George_Bell]

So i did find Red Durrett.

He went undrafted in the 1937 MLB draft, and didn't end up signing with anyone until 1941, when the Cardinals gave him a minor league deal.

He's put up decent numbers with the Montreal Royals these last few years. In 288 games, his splits are .276/.386/.439.

Pure singles hitter. Only 44 extra base hits so far. He's still playing though, and only 23, so who knows what will happen.

[George_Bell]

1944 MLB Preview

Top Player

Top Pitcher

[George_Bell]

1944 Regular Season

I may have overstated the Jackie Robinson is a bust statement. He took 4 years to get to the majors, and hit .181 during his first stint. Well, he was just getting comfortable. At 25 years old, he’s gotten off to a very nice start in the 1944 season. Hitting .335, leading Cleveland to a pennant challenge.

Robinson

In this reality, unlike real life, the St. Louis Cardinals have decided that Stan Musial isn’t the perfect fit.

Musial is dealt to the Boston Red Sox. Musial hasn’t developed Ted Williams, or Joe DiMaggio type ratings, but he’s still one of baseball’s top 20 players and there’s room to get better. The main piece going back to the Cardinals is young 2B Eddie Yost. Looking at him, he ain’t gonna make it. He just doesn’t have the bat to be a big leaguer. Gotta give a big edge here to Boston.

Lou Gehrig, and Mule Suttles, the two most feared hitters in baseball history, are still sitting on there teams respective benches, pretty much doing nothing. Mule Suttles has not appeared in a game since 1941, and Gehrig is 3/26 this year. He’s hit 8 home runs since 1940. This may be a case where I edit each player to retire after the season. There’s really no point to sticking around at this point.

Ok, so why couldn’t I see this story in 1954, when DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe. That would be awesome. In real life however, DiMaggio divorced his first wife in 1944. Obviously, there are issues in game as well…lol

The St. Louis Browns are sitting out another postseason, mostly because they blew it. They lost 13 of their last 16 games, while pennant winners, the Washington Senators went played .500 baseball, asking to be caught. It’s probably DiMaggio’s wife’s fault. To much of a distraction. Could the Browns ship them out of town…..

[George_Bell]

[George_Bell]

1944 World Series

Washington doesn’t have much of an offense. They are ranked 6^th in the AL. It's better then the Reds, but it won't matter. They are gonna have a hard time hitting off the stellar pitching of the Reds. I expect the Reds to dominate this series in a similar fashion to last years fall classic.

Dave Barnhill goes the distance in a 4-2 Reds win to open the series. Hal Newhouser needed almost every one of the 8 runs the Reds spotted him. He ends up allowing 6 Senators runs, but that still was enough for the 8-6 win.

Washington has a pretty good pitcher themselves, and Booker McDaniels delivered. He allows 4 hits over 9 innings, as the Sens win 4-1, and climb back into the series.

Washington gets to Dave Barnhill early, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. The Reds scratched back, and took a 6-5 lead they would not relinquish thanks to a 3 run seventh inning.

Hal Newhouser allowed 4 hits over 8 innings, and the Reds offense did just enough to win game five, 3-2.

The Cincinnati Reds have won their 4^th consecutive World Series!

[George_Bell]

[Mike45]

wow....Cincinnati in the world series with a HR leader board of 22 and then 6. Small ball to the extreme.

Really has become a pitcher's league. Both WS teams only have 1 player over 80RBI, but both had 4 pitchers make the AS Game.

PS Charlie Gilbert looks like he might have a part time gig as a serial killer

[ghostrobot]

Is that two teams in a row now winning 4 consecutive World Series titles?

I could go back and look I guess...