Out of the Shadows: The Eclipse League

[luckymann]

Talk about saving your best for last, Jose Acosta twirls a no-no for the ABCs in their penultimate game of a disappointing season. The nearly 40000 in attendance at Comiskey sure got their money's worth.

The EL goes OK with no-nos - in just its 13th season, this is the 19th that has been thrown, including Darrell Jackson's perfecto in '75. Santiago Guzman and Bill Lindsay have each done it twice.

[luckymann]

I was utterly convinced we were set for some late drama, but it doesn't pan out that way - although the WC National, as usual, goes close. The Motown Stars finally lock down their maiden playoff appearance by clinching in the second-last game and in the end get home by the bare minimum. Give it to the Buckeyes, who got that close despite losing both Fred Long and Al Smith.

The other three races fizzle out early, with the Crawfords clinching with a 22-0 whipping, with them the zero in that scoreline and Birmingham the 22!

Another extremely even EL season. Aside from the 105-loss Giants, no other club goes near to losing 100 and none win that number either, with Homestead's 96 the most of any.

A 5th batting title to Rod Carew in the FC, while Detroit's Cristobal Torriente wins his first. Barry Bonds gets to 44 HR with five games to spare, then goes homerless for the remainder and will have to be satisfied with a share of the record for now. He repeats his 40-40 feat with 51 SB, although this is well behind league leader Alfredo Griffin's 76. Albert Pujols leads both leagues with 122 RBI.

A bunch of (five) guys win 20 games on the button, with Nate Moreland's 2.75 the low ERA. Gene Collins is the King of K with 298 and Ramon Ramirez leads the EL with 41 saves.

Both Shohei Ohtani and Yovani Gallardo register their 200th career win.

Final Top 20s

Hitters - Overall

Hitters - NeLers

Pitchers - Overall

Pitchers - NeLers

Final Leaders

[luckymann]

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

PITCHER OF THE YEAR

RELIEVER OF THE YEAR

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Fleet Conference

Pittsburgh Crawfords (93-69) v Kansas City Monarchs (92-70)

Best of seven, Crawfords with home-field advantage.


It just goes to show how much truth there is in the old adage You gotta lose one to win one, as the Mons' draw on the experience of last year's disappointment to put away the Crawfords in six ferociously-played games.

The bats rule for the most part, with the winning score in four of the games being in double-digits.

KC talisman Fernando Tatis jr hits 409 / 2 HR / 8 RBI to take MVP honours.





Weldy Conference

Homestead Grays (96-66) v Detroit Motown Stars (89-73)

Best of seven, Grays with home-field advantage.

Despite their abundance of talent, a straight-up lack of poise and polish does the MoStars in here as the Grays see them off in six.

Game 5 is an instant classic (see below), as Homestead wins late three of the four times.

It does cost the Grays, though, with OF Richard Hidalgo gone for the season after suffering an oblique strain.
Al Bumbry is named MVP.

[luckymann]

Homestead Grays v Kansas City Monarchs

Best of seven, Grays with home-field advantage.


No doubt the Grays have a clear talent edge here, with names such as Cabrera, Eric Davis, Danny Tartabull, Bob Watson and Carlos Zambrano on their books.

But this Monarchs group seems to have gelled really well and look to be hitting top gear just when you need to. They also have the added incentive of not having won a title yet.

Still, I just think Homestead will have too much firepower here and win it fairly comfortably in five.







That's pretty much how it plays out as the Mons try their hardest but the Grays are just too strong and take just five games to win their second EL title in three years.

It really should have been a sweep, as KC scores 8 in the top 9th to win the opener 8-2.

Homestead rookie shortstop Adam Jones is named series MVP.


Game 1





Game 2





Game 3





Game 4





Game 5

[luckymann]

Managerial Culls

Brooklyn Royal Giants
OUT: Alan Senese (Manager)
IN: Leonys Martin

Newark Dodgers
OUT: John Glenn (Manager)
IN: Sam Gilbert

Indianapolis ABCs
OUT: Donovan Stahl (Manager)
IN: John Payne

St. Louis Giants
OUT: Kevin Allen (Manager)
IN: Justin Jellison


Roster News

Key Extensions: 1B Jose Abreu (American Giants) 2/1260; 2B Keston Hiura (Black Barons) 4/2434; P Frank Wickware (Crawfords) 3/1816; OF Carl Everett (American Giants) 5/3968; P Joe Williams (Motown Stars) 5/3496.

Opt-Outs: P Juan Marichal (Buckeyes); OF Irvin Brooks (ABCs); SS Mookie Betts (Motown Stars); 1B Erubiel Durazo (Motown Stars); 2B Danny Tartabull (Grays); C Carlos Delgado (Athletics); 3B Jose Ramirez (Black Barons); OF Oddibe McDowell (Red Sox); P Jose Rijo (Red Sox); 3B Willie Greene (Crawfords); SS Elvis Andrus (Dodgers); 1B Adrian Gonzalez (Black Yankees).

The Red Sox void the contract of OF Gerry Davis.

A huge swap sees the American Giants flip OF Leon Durham to the Crawfords for P Agustin Acosta and OF Willie McGee.


Prospect Pipeline

[luckymann]

Pops Stargell is going to be a fascinating study in voter trends - absolutely dominant in his first four seasons (without winning any major awards), barely replacement value for the rest and a fairly early retirement. Only he and Patricio Scantlebury even have a look-in for the HoF and I doubt either make it.

[luckymann]

GRANT MEDAL (MOST VALUABLE PLAYER)

STOVEY MEDAL (PITCHER OF THE YEAR)

WHITE PLATE (RELIEVER OF THE YEAR)




FOWLER MEDAL (ROOKIE OF THE YEAR)




GARRETT BUTTON (MANAGER OF THE YEAR)

FC: Aaron Baker, Crawfords
WC: Hisanori Takahashi, Grays


KINDLING AWARD (SILVER SLUGGER)
FC / WC




SLICK AWARD (GOLD GLOVE)
FC / WC

ShoTime's trophy cabinet overfloweth:

[luckymann]

Plenty more quality entering the EL ranks via both the Free-Agent market and Rookie Draft.

The Category A NeLers this time around are draftees Carlos Moran and Sam "Toothpick" Jones, along with FA Wild Bill Wright, whom Homestead has already snapped up.

From the MLB ranks, we get Pedro Martinez as one of the higher-profile draftees, along with David Price, Tony Gwynn, Gleyber Torres, and FAs Bob Gibson, Ronald Acuna, Kenley Jansen and Luis Aparicio.


The Giants have first dibs this time around and use it on Petey, with the East opting for OF Ellis Burks. Ed Rile down at #17 is a nice pickup for the MoStars.

Rounds 1 & 2 in toto:

Off into the new decade we go!

[luckymann]

Arguably my favourite of all NeLers, Charlie Smith, looks set to be a one-club player after re-upping with the Athletics thru 1985 on $1.24m per.

Love seeing this on so many levels - not least of all to get some indication of what a "normal" career arc would have looked like for Postalita, who tragically IRL had anything but.

Charlie's OotS Feature can be revisited HERE. I have since amended his name to Charlie not for PC purposes, but rather to align with how the official sources list him.

[luckymann]

The thirteenth Eclipse League season is about to get underway and boy oh boy does this league keep going from strength to strength.

Here are the nett WAR moves over the break:

And what a frantic offseason it has been with a bunch of big names back into general circulation and looking for a home. Here's where the most noteworthy among them landed, and how.

MAJOR FA SIGNINGS






MAJOR TRADES

The FCA looks the tightest-run contest according to BNN, with Leon Durham set for another big year.

Barry slips to 4th among position players.

The PP is stacked right now.

Club finances and current injuries:

Memphis in the red comes as little surprise - they don't seem to be interested in messing about and have pushed all their chips to the centre of the table.

Welcome to the Eighties!

[luckymann]

Atlantic City Bacharach Giants

Brooklyn Royal Giants

Newark Dodgers

New York Black Yankees

Pittsburgh Crawfords

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Birmingham Black Barons

Cuban Stars West

Kansas City Monarchs

Memphis Red Sox

St. Louis Giants

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Baltimore Elite Giants

Hilldale Athletic Club

Homestead Grays

New York Lincoln Giants

Philadelphia Liberty Stars

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Chicago American Giants

Cleveland Buckeyes

Cuban Stars East

Detroit Motown Stars

Indianapolis ABCs

[luckymann]

The 1980 Eclipse League season is officially underway. To get to the games, some walked, some ran, one industrious type even even rode a bike.

[luckymann]

Cool Papa Bell's OOTP life is a source of constant frustration for me. In every save, he seems to always have a ceaseless downward pressure placed upon his ratings. I have recalibrated him twice already in this universe and his OVR has again lost roughly a third, falling from 75 to 50 in just two seasons. This is all to do with the initial imprint a player is given upon import, of this I am convinced, and in a dev only save like this recalc plays no part.

All of which means his performance here brings me greater joy than it usually might.

[luckymann]

The great man isn't getting any younger, so let's hope this is his one injury for the year.

[luckymann]

Eclipse League

Upward and downward surprises aplenty in the early part of the 1980 EL season. Whereas some of the favoured sides such as the Crawfords - who start the season red-hot with an 11-game win string - and Dodgers, Grays and Motown Stars are all travelling well, others are anything but. Both the Mons and Red Sox, expected to vie for the FC National title, instead find themselves battling for last place. Lord knows where KC would be if not for Fernando Tatis jr, and they'll need to get things headed in the right direction pronto if they want to figure at the pointy end of things. Same goes for the ABCs, who look shaky yet again.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Fernando Tatis jr (Monarchs) 398 / 7 HR / 21 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Gene Collins (West) 4-1 / 1.99 / 59 K / 49.2 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Ronald Acuna (Dodgers) 287 / 2 HR / 11 RBI.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: John Beckwith (Buckeyes) 341 / 5 HR / 20 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Carlos Zambrano (Grays) 4-0 / 2.56 / 42 K / 45.2 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Kelvim Escobar (Liberty Stars) 4-0 / 2.56 / 42 K / 45.2 IP.

Points of Interest

• The BYs sign on über-Closer Octavio Dotel for one year at in excess of $1m.
• Having only just received him from the East for OF George Wright and P Harry Rhodes, Newark sends OF Aaron Hicks to Hilldale for 2B Shawon Dunstan.
• The East stays busy, acquiring 1B George Sweatt from Baltimore for 2B Jason McDonald and OF Ken Landreaux.
• Orville Singer is inexplicably released by the Giants and returned to the East, who they nabbed him from in the Rule 5 Draft.

Transit League

Nice to see Dayton in the midst of it - they haven't seen playoff action since the TL's first season back in 1971. The Eagles are also looking strong.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Steve Henderson (Stars) 394 / 7 HR / 18 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Jae-Kuk Ryu (Eagles) 4-0 / 2.25 / 30 K / 32 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Rick Peters (Grays) 403 / 1 HR / 12 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Armando Galarraga (Black Sox) 4-1 / 1.40 / 27 K / 38.2 IP.

[luckymann]

Given Hulon Stamps is another one of those "ghost" players, about whom little is known other than their NeL stats, this will be another OotS feature that focuses more on how the game can sometimes treat players upon import, particularly when that import is done manually.

First, the facts. We know from Seamheads that Hulon - born just before the turn of the 19th century into the 20th in rural Tennessee - played briefly in the mid-1920s NNL, almost exclusively for the Red Sox. We can deduce from those stats, his 71 career ERA+ above all, that his was not an overly memorable career. He appears only cursorily in Jim Riley's book and in none other among my numerous sources. He is not included in EC's MLEs.

And yet, in the face of all this, he has come into the EL as a herculean hurler.

For once, I cannot blame an fictitious HS or COL stat line created by the game to flesh out his history for the Draft - which I remain convinced is the number one reason for whatever hinky rookie years you see in OOTP - nor erroneous historical stats.

Well...

If I am being pedantic, the ERA+ for these NeL guys doesn't come in correctly, it is simply set to 100 for every season. This has the ripple effect of giving them inflated pWAR totals - SH has Hulon's career total at -2.1; OOTP has it at 4.5, with rWAR at a more accurate -4.6 - and that might explain how this extreme talent upgrade can happen.

I don't particularly mind it for the odd player like Hulon, as I feel it adds some colour to the game. But I am sure those who are super fastidious about historical accuracy would not share my view.

Whatever the case, Hulon's EL avatar has certainly made the most of its good fortune. Entering the league in 1975 as a Free-Agent, he was snapped up on a big 5-year deal by the ABCs, and proceeded to carve the league up. In his four completed seasons to date he is yet to tally less than 5 WAR, going 73-52 over that period.

In the most recent offseason, ahead of his walk year, Indy traded him to Detroit and he's so far won all 3 of his decisions for the MoStars. On a club that is on the up, he may well have some jewellery to show off at the end of the season.

As always, we'll keep regular tabs on him from this point forward.