Baseball Premier League

[NYY #23]

One final look at the teams that make up the Premier League for 1901. Up next will be League A, League B, and League C, which will consist of 24 teams each.

1. Albany Woodcutters
2. Albuquerque Locos
3. Brooklyn Dodgers
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Dallas Tycoons
6. Florida Rockets
7. Grand Island Prairie Dogs
8. Hartford Owls
9. Las Vegas Aces
10. Macon Peaches
11. Manchester Mills
12. Michigan Wolverines
13. Nashua Huskies
14. Nashville Vols
15. Portland Moose
16. Providence Whalers
17. Sacramento Grizzlies
18. San Antonio Bullets
19. Scranton Electrics
20. Texas Longhorns
21. Virginia Mariners
22. Wisconsin Badgers

[NYY #23]

1. Arizona Wrens
2. Atlantic City Aces
3. Baltimore Atlantics
4. Boston Pilgrims
5. Buffalo Blizzard
6. Charlotte Champions
7. Chicago Lincolns
8. Columbus Explorers
9. Detroit Tigers
10. Houston Oilers
11. Indianapolis Ravens
12. Knoxville Smokies
13. Massachusetts Generals
14. New Orleans Crescents
15. Pennsylvania Patriots
16. Pittsfield Mohawks
17. Reading Railers
18. Rochester Red Wings
19. Salt Lake City Bees
20. Springfield Rifles
21. St Louis Cardinals
22. St Louis Terriers
23. Texas Rangers
24. Toledo Mud Hens

[NYY #23]

1. Austin Senators
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Carolina Knights
4. Charleston Palmettos
5. Cincinnati Reds
6. Cleveland Lakers
7. Erie Otters
8. Kansas City Comets
9. Louisville Kings
10. Maryland Athletics
11. Minnesota Muskies
12. Minot Mallards
13. New Haven Knights
14. New York Titans
15. New York Yankees
16. Newark Trotters
17. North Carolina Tarheels
18. Oklahoma Outlaws
19. Philadelphia Phillies
20. Pittsburgh Pirates
21. Seattle Aviators
22. Washington Maroons
23. Wilmington Blue Rocks
24. Worcester Hearts

[NYY #23]

1. Ahwatukee Desert Dogs
2. Arkansas Razorbacks
3. Birmingham Rebels
4. Boise Spuds
5. California Suns
6. Chattanooga Choo Choos
7. Durham Eagles
8. Fort Worth Black Cats
9. Fresno Raisin Eaters
10. Iowa Hawkeyes
11. Los Angeles Clippers
12. Memphis Chicks
13. Miami Hurricanes
14. Milwaukee Bisons
15. Nebraska Huskers
16. Oregon Ducks
17. Orlando Wizards
18. Phoenix Bobcats
19. Port City Roosters
20. Raleigh Tigers
21. Rapid City Raiders
22. San Diego Sailors
23. Sioux City Ghosts
24. Stockton Ports

There were a couple of teams that missed the cut including the Philadelphia Athletics, Oakland Oaks, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, along with team from Atlanta, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, and the other Los Angeles.

Smaller teams had a way of being surprisingly dominant, but at some point at least some of the teams will enter the picture.

[NYY #23]

Thirty years in the making the Premier Baseball League finally kicked things off in April, with the best teams around the country fighting it out for the Premier League Cup, given to the team with the best record after the regular season. This year the inaugural winner of the Premier League Cup went to the Los Vegas Aces, who led the Premier League from Opening Day until the end of the regular season, never falling out of first place and finishing with a 112-56 record.



Harvey Cushman led the team, and the league with 34 wins and finished with a remarkable 34-3 record and 2.37 ERA. Cushman started the season as the team's number 3 starter behind Gus Thompson and Elliot D'Antonio. With Thompson (26-16, 1.99), D'Antonio (22-20, 3.07) and Cushman it's not hard to see why the Aces finished allowing the fewest number of runs in the league. With their lineup scoring more runs than any other team in the league the Aces finished five games ahead of the second place Grizzlies.



It certainly was surprising that the top four teams in the league came from the Pacific Coast League or the Great Plains League, who were viewed as weaker leagues prior to the year beginning.

The top four teams will be playing for a postseason prize, the Spalding Cup. The Las Vegas Aces will be taking on the 4th place Albuquerque Locos in the semi-finals in a best of seven series, while the second place Sacramento Grizzlies will be taking on the third place Grand Island Prairie Dogs, with the winner of each series facing off in a best of seven series.

Subjected to Relegation

At the bottom end of the standings the Providence Whalers, Nashville Vols, and Michigan Wolverines will be the first teams subject to potential relegation. The last place Wolverines will be facing off against League A winner the Salt Lake City Bees, with the Nashville Vols taking on the 95-43 Arizona Wrens, and finally the Providence Whalers will be taking on the Reading Railers. The winner of each series will play in Premier League in 1902, with the losers playing in League A.



27 year old Ed Poole of the Nashville Vols will go down in history as the first player to pitch a no-hitter in the Premier League. Poole achieved the feat on April 8th in a 4-0 win over the Wisconsin Badgers walking 3 batters and striking out 2.

[NYY #23]

[NYY #23]

[StLee]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

One final look at the teams that make up the Premier League for 1901. Up next will be League A, League B, and League C, which will consist of 24 teams each.

1. Albany Woodcutters
2. Albuquerque Locos
3. Brooklyn Dodgers
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Dallas Tycoons
6. Florida Rockets
7. Grand Island Prairie Dogs
8. Hartford Owls
9. Las Vegas Aces
10. Macon Peaches
11. Manchester Mills
12. Michigan Wolverines
13. Nashua Huskies
14. Nashville Vols
15. Portland Moose
16. Providence Whalers
17. Sacramento Grizzlies
18. San Antonio Bullets
19. Scranton Electrics
20. Texas Longhorns
21. Virginia Mariners
22. Wisconsin Badgers

Wow! Massive league! That makes me want to expand my league more in the near future

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by StLee

Wow! Massive league! That makes me want to expand my league more in the near future

I did do a lot of testing to make sure it wasn't going to cause too many problems, but I like some of the potential of a team working their way up from the bottom. I didn't even mention it yet, but I have a couple of small independent leagues in the background where I placed the teams that didn't make the cut. So I'm probably the wrong one to ask, but I definitely think that you should expand your league more!

[NYY #23]

Albuquerque Locos (98-70) vs. Las Vegas Aces (112-56)

During the regular season the Locos beat the Aces 5 out of 8 games, but the Aces didn’t have much trouble finishing off the Locos with a 4 games to 0 sweep. While Gus Thompson didn't have his greatest starts during the series, he still picked up the win in games 1 and 4. It was the Las Vegas' bats that really deserved the credit for the series win though, averaging over 10 runs per game in the series. Catcher Dan Potts and 2B Cory Porter each drove in 6 runs in the series and the Aces will advance to the Spalding Cup finals.

[NYY #23]

Grand Island Prairie Dogs (100-68) vs. Sacramento Grizzlies (107-61)

While Sacramento beat Grand Island 4 games to 2 in the series, every game but game 6 was decided by less than two runs. The series began with a 3-2 win by Sacramento where Jim Buchanan picked up the complete game win while holding the Prairie Dogs to just 6 hits. Sacramento would continue to get good pitching in game two, when Tully Sparks picked up the win with 7 shutout innings of 4 hit ball.

In front of the home crowd 27 game winner Ed Killian would pitch a complete game shutout in game 3 to give the Prairie Dogs their first victory of the series. The Prairie Dogs followed that up with a come from behind win in game 4 where they scored four runs in the final three innings of the game, including a walk off single by Bobby Wheelock.

After pulling even with Sacramento the Prairie Dogs would lose a heartbreaking Game give 4-3, and suffered a 13-4 blowout that eliminated them from Spalding Cup contention. The Grizzlies will move on to take on the Las Vegas Aces.

[NYY #23]

Salt Lake City Bees vs. Michigan Wolverines

The Salt Lake City Bees won League A with 98 wins this year, and their pitching was a strong factor in their success. The Bees brought aboard 24 year old James Drohan (25-10, 1.58) to pair with 23 year old Rip Ragan (29-5, 1.69), and 21 year old Adie Joss (25-11, 2.31). While their pitching dominated League A it would be their first test against Premier League hitting.

It wasn't the Bees pitching that saved them, but their hitting which saw them come from being after trailing 4-3 heading into the ninth when Kevin Ratter doubled, followed by back to back singles by Harry Wolverton and Lefty Marr that saw the Bees sneak by with a 5-4 victory as Adie Joss picked up the win.

Game 2 was a wild one in Michigan, with the Bees leading 9-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth. The Bees fourth starter Irv Young was on the mound, but the Wolverines sent nine men to the plate in the bottom of the eighth to cut their deficit to 9-7. The bottom of the ninth saw Al Shaw triple with the bases loaded to give the Wolverines the walk off 10-9 win to tie the series.

Game 3 was a heavily anticipated pitching matchup with 40 year old 400 game winner Al Atkinson on the mound for the Wolverines, facing off against 24 year old James Drohan. It would be Dronan and youth that would prevail with a 10-4 win.

The Bees sent Rip Ragan to the mound to try and close out the series in game 4 and Ragan delivered 8 innings of 2 run ball. He was outpitched by Buck O'Brien (4-1, 3.29) who was making his playoff debut as a 19 year old and allowed just 1 run in the complete game victory to send the series to game 5.

The Bees sent Adie Joss to the mound for game 5, and Joss pitched an impressive game with a complete game 3 hitter, allowing just 1 run. The Bees would score early with a 5 run second inning and cruise to a 9-1 win to win the hard fought series and will be promoted to the Premier League in 1902.
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A look at Adie Joss and the Bees' uniform and logo:

[NYY #23]

Arizona Wrens vs. Nashville Vols

The Arizona Wrens finished second in League A, and like Salt Lake City the Wrens feature a strong rotation. Led by John Baker (21-12, 2.08) the Wrens also feature a pair of well-known pitchers, Jack Chesbro (21-8, 2.16) and Jesse Tannehill (23-11, 3.25).

Nashville got off to an early series lead with a 4-3 win in Game 1 when Vince Snyder outpitched Jesse Tannehill. Snyder allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits, with Frank Cross and Mike Lynch each driving in runs for the Vols.

Arizona pounded out 11 runs on 18 hits to tie up the series with an 11-4 win over the Vols. Ed Walker picked up the complete game win for Arizona with a complete game, allowing just one earned run, and also delivered a big grand slam to lead Arizona with 6 RBI.

Arizona continued piling on the runs and hits in Game 3 when they beat the Vols 13-5. John Baker picked up the win for Arizona with Charlie Hickman driving in 3 runs on a pair of hits.

With Jesse Tannehill on the mound the Wrens closed out the series with a7-5 win in Game 4. Four players picked up 2 hits apiece for the Wrens, who are the second team to advance to the Premier League.

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Game 4 winner Jesse Tannehill:

[NYY #23]

Reading Railers vs. Providence Whalers

The third and final promotion/relegation series featured the third place Reading Railers against the Providence Whalers. With an 80-58 record the Railers finished a distant third in League A, edging out the Boston Pilgrims to earn a shot at promotion. With the 11th ranked offense in the league the Railers counted on their defense and pitching to lead them.

With Joe Kostal on the mound for the Whalers the Reading offense was silent, managing just 1 run on 8 hits in the 2-1 loss as Providence took the 1-0 series lead.

Game 2 featured the Whalers knocking out Reading starter Arthur Galbreath in the sixth inning after scoring 9 runs on 10 hits. Dusty Miller drove in 4 runs for the Whalers who took a 2-0 series lead.

Shane Vaughn delivered the go ahead triple to complete the Railers 7-6 come from behind win over the Whalers. Zach McAndrews (16-15, 1.70) picked up the complete game win for Reading.

Game 4 was a hard fought game where the Railers took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, only to see Providence come back and score 5 unanswered runs to send the game into extra innings. The game remained tied until the 13th when Providence pitcher Carl Garrison walked four straight batters, followed by an RBI single by Ronnie Nolan and two RBI double by Shane Vaughn that gave the Railers a 10-6 win in 13 innings to even up the series.

All eyes were on the winner take all Game 5 of the Reading-Providence series where the winner would get the opportunity to compete in the Premier League next season. NABA president and former Providence Whaler Al Spalding was in attendance for the series finale, but after two scoreless innings the Whalers scored 3 in the third and 1 in the fourth to break the game open. With Joe Kostal on the mound for the Whalers he earned his second win of the series with a complete game 5 hit shutout. The Whalers would add six more runs to complete the 10-0 shutout and will be the only Premier League team winning their promotion/relegation series and returning to the league next season.

[NYY #23]

Sacramento Grizzlies (107-61) vs. Las Vegas Aces (112-56)

Game 1

After five innings the Grizzlies trailed 2-1, but they came from behind to score 6 runs and win the game 7-3. The big blow was a bases clearing double by George Treadway which put the game out of reach in the eighth inning. Jim Buchanan picked up the win for the Grizzlies, with Gus Thompson taking the loss for the Aces.

Game 2

24 game winner Tully Sparks won both of his previous playoff starts, but today Sparks didn't have his best stuff and allowed 8 runs in 6 innings. The Aces would score early and often with Cory Porter having the big night going 3-4 with 4 RBI in the Aces 8-3 win. Elliot D'Antonio picked up the complete game win for the Aces.

Game 3

Aces' starter Harvey Cushman was 34-3 in the regular season with a 2.37 ERA, but his only playoff start before today resulted in a no decision after giving up 10 runs (6 earned) in 5 innings. Cushman was much better today going the distance with giving up 3 runs in the Aces 7-3 win. John Gilroy and Jake Stenzel each drove in two runs for the Aces as Las Vegas goes up 2 games to 1.

Game 4

The Grizzlies evened up the series at 2 games apiece as James Buchanan picked up his 3rd win of the postseason as the Grizzlies beat the Aces 6-3. Chris Gatlin and Ted Scheffler each picked up 3 hits for the Grizzlies.

Game 5

Elliot D'Antonio continued his hot pitching for the Aces with a complete game win, allowing just 2 runs as the Aces pulled ahead in the series 3 games to 2 with a 5-2 win. Tim Paul was the offensive star of the game with a pair of hits, and a bases loaded triple.

Game 6

The Grizzlies faced a must win game 6 and for 7 innings they were leading 5-3. The bottom of the eighth the Grizzlies committed two errors, which led to three runs to pull the Aces even with the Grizzlies. The game would head to extra innings, when sloppy defense would again cost the Grizzlies. Jake Stenzel would reach on an error, and the Aces would claim the inaugural Spalding Cup on a walk off single by Tom Power.

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[NYY #23]

As I look at the League A standings I realized that the last place Pittsfield Mohawks at 49-89 are cut off, and that it probably would be better to cut down to 22 teams in each league.

At the top of the division both Salt Lake City and Arizona will be moving up, replaced by the Michigan Wolverines and Nashville Vols.



One player of note in League A is Honus Wagner of the Springfield Rifles. I've been keeping an eye on him and the Rifles, and would love to see him make it to the big show. Wagner has played nine seasons for Springfield, and is a career .339 hitter.

[NYY #23]

The last place Cincinnati Reds finished at 59-79, and are not shown in the standings.

Three teams were playing for promotion in League B, and all three teams will be moving up to League A next year. The Minot Mallards defeated the Pittsfield Mohawks 3 games to 0, while the Boston Red Sox defeated the Knoxville Smokies 3 games to 1, and the Seattle Aviators defeated the Buffalo Blizzard 3 games to 2.

[NYY #23]

Out of the three League C teams playing for promotion two will be making the jump to League B next season. The Boise Spuds were victorious over the Cincinnati Red 3-0, with the San Diego Sailors beating the Maryland Athletics 3-1. The Ahwatukee Desert Dogs were swept by the Austin Senators, and will be returning to League C next year.

[NYY #23]

34 year old Ed Delahanty won his first Batter of the Year Award this season with the Albuquerque Locos. The veteran is a career .330 hitter with 61 home runs and 959 RBI in his 16th season in professional baseball, and 15th season with Albuquerque.



2nd place:


3rd place:

[NYY #23]

After spending just 5 seasons in professional baseball Jim Buchanan of the Sacramento Grizzlies already is filling up his trophy case after being named the first Pitcher of the Year in the Premier League. Previously Buchanan won the Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year in 1896 and Pitcher of the Year in the Pacific Coast League in 1898 and 1900.



2nd Place - Jesse Tannehill:


3rd Place - Addie Joss: