Time Warp Baseball

[Matt from TN]

Originally Posted by Matt from TN

Hall of Fame

Due to a clerical error, Juicy Shiflet was removed from the list of HOF inductees for this year. Depending on how you count it, he either fell 1 or 2 votes shy of election. Sorry Juicy, maybe next year!

[metsgeek]

Originally Posted by Matt from TN

I take an omnipotent approach and spare no feelings!

I've knocked people before, but so you know, this was aimed at the history of the Dead, err Red Sox. They've taken the all-offense approach before. And when they've stunk (which is about 75% of their history), they've always seemed to have lousy pitching staffs with a lot of 1 and 1.5-star SP's similar to yours this yr.

I figured as much, but we had a pretty sucky staff (ratings-wise) in '48 too, and we won 99 games. I do think you underestimate how many games we can win with the offense. I'll bet we finish 3rd or 4th, unless something huge happens (good or bad).

[pat]

5. Orioles (82-72, 4th) - This team is clearly improving, but there is still a ways to go before reaching the level of New York and KC. If Detroit continues to trade players or their remaining vets play uninspired, the O's could easily move up to 3rd in the standings.

Here's hoping for another run by the O's.

[jdw]

> I figured as much, but we had a pretty sucky
> staff (ratings-wise) in '48 too, and we won 99
> games. I do think you underestimate how
> many games we can win with the offense. I'll
> bet we finish 3rd or 4th, unless something
> huge happens (good or bad).

The 1949 AL Champs were pretty decently rated among their four key pitchers:

9/7/6 over 10/7/5 Finley
8/7/6 over 8/7/6 Faulkner
6/6/6 over 7/6/5 Nagel
6/8/7 over 7/8/8 Hyberg

Finley and Faulkner probably had the best ratings for a 1-2 combo in the AL that year, not just in ratings but performance. They were 5th and 7th in the AL in ERA, which was impressive give (i) they were in a hitters park, and (ii) they were backed with a bad defense:

3-4-5-4 1B-2B-SS-3B Range
2-5-6 LF-CF-RF

Nagel was a good rated back-of-the-rotation guy in those days. We seem to forget that was a different era in TWB and the consolidation of current talent into the hands of few teams hadn't happened yet. You simply didn't have teams back then that had mind numbing 1-2-3 combos like Gwalt-Bowen-Grady, or a foursome like the 1952-53 Tigers. Nagel's performance was also okay - a shade below league average in ERA, which again is pretty good given the park and defense.

And of course Hyberg was a greatly rated closer in that era, and had an terrific season setting a new save record.

That's the tough part when looking at this team - there aren't a Finley or Faulk, nor a Helbig. And the depth of talent of teams at the top is radically different between then and now.

I do think the Sox have the talent to be in that middle-pack with the Tigers and O's and Indians. It's easy to see them above the Sens and White Sox. But it's hard to see them up with the A's and Yanks. And when you're in that middle pack, finishing 3rd really isn't a positive unless you're a young and rising team.


John

[metsgeek]

Originally Posted by jdw

I do think the Sox have the talent to be in that middle-pack with the Tigers and O's and Indians. It's easy to see them above the Sens and White Sox. But it's hard to see them up with the A's and Yanks. And when you're in that middle pack, finishing 3rd really isn't a positive unless you're a young and rising team.

Sometimes I completely appreciate John's statistical analysis....and sometimes I think he does it just because loves to prove people wrong.

Am I alone in this observation?

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by metsgeek

Sometimes I completely appreciate John's statistical analysis....and sometimes I think he does it just because loves to prove people wrong.

Am I alone in this observation?

no he loves to prove me wrong too

and JT

and Enk (but that's easy )

and probably others

[jdw]

> Sometimes I completely appreciate John's
> statistical analysis....and sometimes I think he
> does it just because loves to
> prove people wrong.

I just think you were disrespecting the good staff you put together in 1949.


> Am I alone in this observation?

Far from alone.


John

[scprideandms]

Come on lets show out support of the Allen's, somebody pick up Bourbon from the FA list, he's 41 but still a 2.5 star with 7/4/8 ratings and a 9 in endurance, he could eat up some innnings for contenders with injuries and heck he needs 10 wins to get to 400!!!!!

And it would be greast to see him pitch with Bourbon, Jr who is having ANOTHER outstanding year and is becoming, if not already, the best active pitcher in TWB!!!!!

[tward13]

Bourbon's almost 57 and has been pitching coach for the Giants for almost a decade.

[Matt from TN]

Originally Posted by tward13

Bourbon's almost 57 and has been pitching coach for the Giants for almost a decade.

He could be Minnie Minoso & pitch a few games

[Matt from TN]

WEB PAGES UPDATED... INCLUDING PLAYER PAGES


April 1957

Several teams have opened the season with great records, although none of them are really a surprise. In the AL, the Athletics are 17-7. Their pitching staff is fantastic with Martin Gwaltney (4-2, 1.94) and Jackie Bowen (5-1, 2.31) leading the way. Grady Ingram has a respectable 3.29 ERA and 4th starter Tad Zonkas is 3-1 with a 1.84 ERA that is 2nd in the league. The Yankees and Orioles are tied for 2nd with a 14-9 record. Most people doubt Baltimore can keep this up though. Their offense has the 3rd best batting average (.284) in the majors but has scored just the 9th most runs. Meanwhile, their pitching staff is average at best despite a 3.99 team ERA that ranks 5th in the majors.

In the NL, Brooklyn is out to prove their doubter wrong. They finished April red hot and are 18-5. The Cubs apparently aren't as old as everyone thinks, going 17-6 this month with a pitching staff that leads the majors in ERA (2.68), opponents average (.221) and runs allowed.

In The News

Apr 18: About 150 black fans rejected seats in the segregated section of Durham Athletic Park in the Carolina League after being denied seats in the non-segregated section.

Apr 18: New York Parks Commissioner Robert Moses proposed a new 78-acre tract in Flushing Meadows as a site for a new NL stadium. The plan, submitted to Mayor Robert Wagner, includes a 50,000-seat stadium with a plastic dome, to be built by the Parks Department.

Apr 24: The NY Board of Estimates failed to act on the Moses plan as outlined by Mayor Wagner.

Apr 26: White Sox GM Jonathan Kuehn resigned after a heated argument with other members of the front office. Apparently, the upper levels of the team, including ownership, was unhappy with the way the team's rebuilding process had gone. To Kuehn's credit, the team's AA and A teams were first in their respective standings while the AAA Syracuse team was at .500. Replacing Kuehn was assistant GM Enos Fletcher.


American League-Pitcher of the Month:
Bourbon Allen Jr. (NYA)!
He had a record of 5-1 in 6 games started, with an ERA of 1.78 and 1 shutouts.

American League-Batter of the Month:
Wilford Woodworth (NYA)!
He batted .345 in 87 AB, with 9 homers and 18 RBI.

National League-Pitcher of the Month:
David Ours (BKN)!
He had a record of 2-0 in 3 games started, with an ERA of 1.13.

National League-Batter of the Month:
Mark Silcox (BKN)!
He batted .374 in 99 AB, with 9 homers and 25 RBI.

American League Standings 
  
Kansas City      17  7 .708 -
Baltimore        14  9 .609 2.5
New York (A)     14  9 .609 2.5
Detroit          13 11 .542 4.0
Cleveland        12 11 .522 4.5
Boston           10 14 .417 7.0
Chicago (A)       9 15 .375 8.0
Washington        5 18 .217 11.5
 
National League Standings 
 
Brooklyn         18  5 .783 -
Chicago (N)      17  6 .739 1.0
Cincinnati       13 10 .565 5.0
Pittsburgh       13 10 .565 5.0
New York (N)     11 12 .478 7.0
Milwaukee         7 16 .304 11.0
Philadelphia      7 17 .292 11.5
St. Louis         7 17 .292 11.5

AL AVG
.389 Mike Kreitenberg, BOS
.382 Kenneth Whitt, BAL
.380 Hans Habermehl, KCA

NL AVG
.489 Herm Vardaman, PIT
.392 Rex Seelinger, NYG
.378 Delmar Yordy, CIN
.378 George Petty, NYG

AL HOMERUNS
9 Wilford Woodworth, NYA
8 Arnie Stewart, NYA
7 Charlton Brown, KCA
7 Matt Perly, DET

NL HOMERUNS
12 Abe Arsenault, MLN
9 Mark Silcox, BKN
7 Rudel Dietrich, MLN
7 Bobby Grissom, CIN
7 Ted McMurray, CIN

AL RBI
21 Chip Sinton, KCA
20 Arnie Stewart, NYA
20 Irving Korr, BOS
20 Roger McNicholas, KCA
20 Matt Perly, DET

NL RBI
25 Mark Silcox, BKN
22 Matt Praks, PIT
20 Abraham Noel, BKN
20 Ben Giordano, PIT
20 Chris Kobeck, BKN

AL STEALS
14 Leo Emig, WSH
10 Lucien Arbour, BOS
7 Mike Kreitenberg, BOS

NL STEALS
6 Howie Broader, STL
6 James Klock, PHI
6 Cognac Allen, MLN

AL ERA
1.78 Bourbon Allen Jr., NYA
1.84 Tad Zonkas, KCA
1.94 Martin Gwaltney, KCA

NL ERA
1.13 David Ours, BKN
1.67 Hal Muldrow, PHI
1.85 Denny Evers, CHN

AL WINS
5 Jackie Bowen, KCA
5 Bourbon Allen Jr, NYA
5 Roy Wolfe, DET
5 Eric Williams, NYA

NL WINS
5 Jack Schoonover, PIT
5 Randy Liebermann, CHN
5 Joe Helton, BKN

AL STRIKEOUTS
51 Lex Tjeenk-Willink, CLE
44 Lukas Dietrich, WSH
36 John Nolting, DET
36 Roy Wolfe, DET

NL STRIKEOUTS
55 Joe Helton, BKN
42 Randy Liebermann, CHN
35 Charley Harrington, STL

AL SAVES
8 John Patterson, DET
4 Four Players Tied

NL SAVES
7 Gene Lopez, CHN
4 Four Players Tied

[canadiancreed]

Vandarnan was robbed. a almost 500 average and no BotM? Sad.

And can someone please tell my team they're allowed to play to their talents one of these days?

[Ankhiel]

Silcox surely deserve his BOTM...

Ours on another hand....

[jdw]

> Vandarnan was robbed. a almost 500
> average and no BotM? Sad.

.489/.548/.633/1.181 with 2 HR, 17 R, 11 RBI & 13 BB
.378/.448/.676/1.124 with 6 HR, 16 R, 19 RBI & 11 BB
.374/.400/.717/1.117 with 9 HR, 23 R, 25 RBI & 4 BB

One can see why Silcox won.

Vardy had an amazing month.

Lost in it, as always...


> And can someone please tell my team
> they're allowed to play to their talents
> one of these days?

One of the Reds players (actually more than one, but singling this one out) has a great month, your their Front Office is still crapping on them.


"Can I get traded to the A's like Grady?
Or maybe to the Yanks to take Turk's
spot now that he took a hit? Some
GM out there might actually show
me some respect for a change."
-Delmar Yordy




John

[bigjas]

Originally Posted by Matt from TN

Apr 26: White Sox GM Jonathan Kuehn resigned after a heated argument with other members of the front office. Apparently, the upper levels of the team, including ownership, was unhappy with the way the team's rebuilding process had gone. To Kuehn's credit, the team's AA and A teams were first in their respective standings while the AAA Syracuse team was at .500. Replacing Kuehn was assistant GM Jamie Kubic.

Ha, the White Sox are as screwed up as the Cincinnati Reds in the real world.

Except we're stuck with Dan O'Brien.

[Matt from TN]

Originally Posted by Matt from TN

Replacing Kuehn was assistant GM Enos Fletcher.

FYI: I made a mistake. The new GM is Enos Fletcher. Kubic is the team's AA mgr.

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by jdw

> Vandarnan was robbed. a almost 500
> average and no BotM? Sad.

.489/.548/.633/1.181 with 2 HR, 17 R, 11 RBI & 13 BB
.378/.448/.676/1.124 with 6 HR, 16 R, 19 RBI & 11 BB
.374/.400/.717/1.117 with 9 HR, 23 R, 25 RBI & 4 BB

One can see why Silcox won.

Vardy had an amazing month.

Lost in it, as always...


> And can someone please tell my team
> they're allowed to play to their talents
> one of these days?

One of the Reds players (actually more than one, but singling this one out) has a great month, your their Front Office is still crapping on them.


"Can I get traded to the A's like Grady?
Or maybe to the Yanks to take Turk's
spot now that he took a hit? Some
GM out there might actually show
me some respect for a change."
-Delmar Yordy




John

You've gotta win to get respect Gramps

and like the Reds in the standings, there's some good performances going on in Red Nation. Grissom, Yordy, Makris, Weeks, and Davis are all hitting well and i'm sure i've missed one or two.

Now all we need are mroe wins

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by canadiancreed

all we need are more wins

This seems to be my problem too.

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by fhomess

This seems to be my problem too.

at least someone can relate :d

[Matt from TN]

WEB PAGES UPDATED... INCLUDING PLAYER PAGES


May 1957

The Yankees went on a 10-game winning streak early in the month to close in on the A's, but from May 17-19, Kansas City did the unthinkable by sweeping the Yankees in New York. That seemed to send the Yanks on a downward spiral, and they went on to lose 7 of their next 12 games after the sweep, finishing May 8 games behind KC. A's first baseman Charlton Brown hit 9 homeruns in his final 13 games of the month and now leads the majors with 21 on the season.

The Chicago White Sox went 16-13 on the season, posting their first winning month in several seasons. They even went 4-1 versus the A's and Yankees. No one is quite sure what their secret was this month, but 3B Robby Rael hit .311 with 8 HR and 24 RBI in May, and several other batters hit over .300 on the month as well. Ernest Cohen, viewed by many in Chicago as a tease because he seems to flash such talent at times but never maintains it, went 4-2 with a 2.67 ERA to lead the rotation.

As the Yanks were nearing the end of their 10-game winning streak, the Pittsburgh Pirates were beginning an even longer streak. On May 10th, the Pirates defeated the Giants 6-3 and they did not lose another game until May 27th against the Cardinals. All in all, Pittsburgh won 15 straight games and went 22-5 on the month. They swept 6 series in May, including one against the Reds and Dodgers, and they finished the month by winning the first two games of a series againt the Braves, with the final game to be played on June 1st. First baseman Ben Giordano hit .447 in May to move into first in the NL with a .385 average, just ahead of teammate Herm Vardaman's .378 mark. Amazingly, four NL teams have a winning percentage over .600.

In The News

May 10: Mayor George Christopher of San Francisco conferred with Horace Stoneham on a possible shift of the Giants franchise to the West Coast.

May 13: Boston baseball writers reaffirmed their decision to bar women from the press box and refused to allow Doris O'Donnell, a Cleveland feature writer traveling with the Indians, to sit in the Fenway Park press area.

May 15: The Yankees won their 10th game in a row 5-2 over Washington. With no game the next day, a group of Yankees celebrated the birthdays of Will Miller Jr., John Young and Daniel Earley, all of whom were born on May 5th. An ensuing fight at Manhattan's Copacabana Club led to $5,500 in fines. Jesse Baker allegedly started the fight by hitting a patron, although Baker denied it. The Yanks fine Baker, Miller, Young, Carpenter Erickson, Wilford Woodworth and Jerome Fellows $1,000 each and Earley $500.

May 23: Yankee OF Jesse Baker was arraigned for his part in the Copacabana incident. He was eventually cleared and threatened to sue the alleged victim, Edward Jones, who suffered a concussion and a broken jaw.

May 28: The National League approved the proposed moves of the Dodgers and the Giants to the West Coast, provided both clubs make their request before October 1st and move at the same time.

May 29: NY Mayor Robert Wagner said he plans to confer with the Giants and Dodgers about the proposed move, but that the city will not be "blackjacked" into anything.

May 29: Four Pacific Coast League teams announced they may seek as much as $6.7 million in indemnities if both the Los Angeles Angels and the San Francisco Seals withdraw from the league.

May 30: Walter O'Malley rejected a Queens group's offer to buy the Dodgers.

May 31: The Ohio legislature passed a bill to aid the Cincinnati Redlegs in building a new stadium.


American League-Pitcher of the Month:
Jackie Bowen (KCA)!
He had a record of 6-1 in 7 games started, with an ERA of 1.86 and 1 shutouts.

American League-Batter of the Month:
Charlton Brown (KCA)!
He batted .323 in 96 AB, with 14 homers and 24 RBI.

National League-Pitcher of the Month:
Garland Sisk (PIT)!
He had a record of 4-0 in 4 games started, with an ERA of 1.84.

National League-Batter of the Month:
Bobby Johnson (CHN)!
He batted .368 in 106 AB, with 8 homers and 19 RBI.

American League Standings 
  
Kansas City      38 12 .760 -
New York (A)     31 21 .596 8.0
Detroit          27 24 .529 11.5
Chicago (A)      25 28 .472 14.5
Cleveland        24 27 .471 14.5
Baltimore        23 28 .451 15.5
Boston           22 28 .440 16.0
Washington       14 36 .280 24.0
 
National League Standings 
 
Pittsburgh       35 15 .700 -
Chicago (N)      34 17 .667 1.5
Cincinnati       31 19 .620 4.0
Brooklyn         32 20 .615 4.0
Philadelphia     19 32 .373 16.5
New York (N)     18 31 .367 16.5
Milwaukee        17 34 .333 18.5
St. Louis        16 34 .320 19.0

AL AVG
.438 Mike Kreitenberg, BOS
.365 Kenneth Whitt, BAL
.346 Morris Lutske, BOS

NL AVG
.385 Ben Giordano, PIT
.378 Herm Vardaman, PIT
.355 Rex Seelinger, NYG

AL HOMERUNS
21 Charlton Brown, KCA
16 Arnie Stewart, NYA
13 Wilford Woodworth, NYA
13 Ken Chaucer, NYA

NL HOMERUNS
18 Abe Arsenault, MLN
14 William Perry, PIT
14 Ted McMurray, CIN

AL RBI
42 Charlton Brown, KCA
40 John Degal, BOS
40 Irving Korr, BOS

NL RBI
48 Matt Praks, PIT
42 Ike Walker, PIT
40 Mark Silcox, BKN
40 Abe Arsenault, MLN

AL STEALS
30 Leo Emig, WSH
15 Mike Kreitenberg, BOS
14 Lucien Arbour, BOS

NL STEALS
17 Cognac Allen, MLN
13 Ben Cook, CIN
11 Francis Gilmartin, PHI
11 Walt Ormond, STL
11 Asa Booker, PHI

AL ERA
2.06 Jackie Bowen, KCA
2.29 Bourbon Allen Jr., NYA
2.50 Cirilo Gonzalez, BOS

NL ERA
2.28 Randy Liebermann, CHN
2.56 Adam Sardina, CHN
2.80 Hal Muldrow, PHI

AL WINS
11 Jackie Bowen, KCA
11 Bourbon Allen Jr, NYA
10 Martin Gwaltney, KCA

NL WINS
10 Jack Schoonover, PIT
9 Randy Liebermann, CHN
9 Tom Dufresne, BKN

AL STRIKEOUTS
116 Lukas Dietrich, WSH
98 Lex Tjeenk-Willink, CLE
86 Martin Gwaltney, KCA
86 Carpenter Erickson, NYA

NL STRIKEOUTS
104 Joe Helton, BKN
95 Randy Liebermann, CHN
69 Charley Harrington, STL

AL SAVES
15 John Patterson, DET
13 Cal Granger, KCA
9 Emilio Lobos, BOS
9 Morgan Cuellar, CLE

NL SAVES
12 Barry Sammons, BKN
10 Gene Lopez, CHN
10 Chris Delp, CIN