Out of the Shadows: The Eclipse League

[luckymann]

Category A NeLers for 1983 are Roosevelt Davis, Barney Brown, Harry Salmon and Bonnie Serrell.

We get the great Jackie Robinson coming in as a FA, while notable MLB players include draftees Adrian Beltre, Mo Vaughn, Rafael Devers, Aroldis Chapman and Roy White along with FA Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Garcia.


The Black Yankees have the first overall pick and start the long road back to their former glory by using it on Juan Gonzalez, with Mo Vaughn going next to the Monarchs.


Here are Rounds 1 and 2 in their entirety:

[luckymann]

Just three on the ballot this year, with none getting more than about 12% and Ozzie Smith dropping off.

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Eclipse League

Poor, albeit not irreparable, starts from the Crawfords, Bacharach Giants, West and Elite Giants, while Hilldale has flown out of the gates.

Homestead's title defence gets off to a rocky start as they lose veteran superstar Shohei Ohtani for five months to a fractured elbow and the CSW will be without outfielder Dusty Baker for up to 3 months after he suffers a medial strain.

Another big name with some recuperating time scheduled is Monte Irvin of the BGs, who will miss up to 3 months with a thumb injury.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Dave Parker (Giants) 384 / 9 HR / 29 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Al McBean (Black Yankees) 4-0 / 3.26 / 32 K / 38.2 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Jackie Robinson (Crawfords) 358 / 0 HR / 12 RBI.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Kal Daniels (Lincoln Giants) 286 / 12 HR / 26 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Gene Collins (Motown Stars) 4-0 / 2.03 / 48 K / 48.2 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Jim Ray Hart (Liberty Stars) 287 / 4 HR / 13 RBI.

Points of Interest

• The Cuban Stars West sign veteran 1B Frank Thomas on a one-year deal.
• Hilldale's Satchel Paige enters May with a 5-0 / 3.67 record.
• A nice start to Jackie Robinson's EL journey with that rookie award.
• Key Extensions: 1B Bobby Abreu (Dodgers, 1/750).

Transit League

Other than the slow starts by Dayton and Detroit, it is very even across the board after the first month.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Calvin Pickering (White Sox) 400 / 7 HR / 14 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Mike Harkey (Black Crackers) 4-0 / 2.86 / 25 K / 34.2 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Leo Posada (Black Senators) 400 / 6 HR / 23 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Moses Yellow Horse (Tigers) 4-0 / 1.02 / 22 K / 35.1 IP.

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[luckymann]

I have most likely already mentioned that I conceived the idea of these spotlight features as much for my own erudition and enjoyment as anybody else's.

It's easy enough to be familiar with the big names of the NeL - the Satchels, Oscars, Joshes and the like - but you need to be fairly committed to discover some of the more mid-level players and journeymen, about whom very little has usually been written and equally scant amounts known. But to overlook these guys is to rob oneself of some fascinating characters with commensurate storylines both on and off the field, as often as not tragic in tenor.

Guys like the first OotS subject for 1984, Pythias Russ.

Born in Cynthiana KY in 1904, where he would die of TB so tragically young just 26 years later, Pythias* was reportedly a multi-sport college star in his youth before joining Candy Jim Taylor's Memphis Red Sox in 1925.

Poached by Rube Foster for his Chicago American Giants, after a subpar 1926 Pythias broke out big time. 1927 saw him hit 320 in 100 games and then his 346 AVG won the NNL batting title (by 33 points, according to BBRef) the following year. He followed that up with 369 in 1929, which sadly would prove his final year in the game.

Gary Ashwill of Seamheads is quoted as saying that - taking park factors into consideration - Pythias, albeit over a much shorter timeframe, put together numbers akin to those of Willie Wells. Gary's site attributes him a 327/361/467 career slash line with 17 HR, a career OPS+ of 136 and 14.3 WAR in total.

Pythias entered the EL with a bang, taken 1st overall in the 1978 Draft by the Cuban Stars East, where he would spend the first 5 years of his EL career, including a fine 4.1 WAR 1981 season that also saw him garner his only All-Star appearance to this point.

After rejecting a QO from the East, Pythias became a free-agent in the most recent offseason and signed a 5-year, $4.28m deal with the ABCs. Sadly, a rib injury early in the season means he hasn't seen much action for his new club but he is expected back within a fortnight or so.

To date, his 267/315/361 EL slash line doesn't quite match up with the exemplary one he posted IRL but he's still young and without the cruelties of the real world at play is hopefully in line for a long and fruitful career trajectory in this timeline.


*For those of you who know your Greek mythology, the name Pythias might be familiar. It is certainly one of my favourite stories from that genre.

According to which, Pythias is accused of and charged with plotting against Dionysius I and sentenced to death. Pythias asks to be allowed to go home and settle his affairs, a request Dionysius agrees to on the condition that Pythias' best friend Damon be held hostage and executed in his stead should Pythias not return. When Pythias does indeed return to meet his fate, Dionysius is amazed by the love and trust in their friendship and ends up freeing both of them.

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Eclipse League

Memphis and Hilldale have consolidated their leads, with the Athletics in particular looking strong.

The Buckeyes ride a 9-game win streak to the top of the WCN.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Leon Durham (Crawfords) 316 / 10 HR / 32 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Ken Hill (Monarchs) 4-1 / 2.44 / 18 K / 51.2 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Jackie Robinson (Crawfords) 280 / 3 HR / 12 RBI.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Luis Gonzalez (East) 333 / 7 HR / 23 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Vida Blue (Athletics) 5-1 / 2.03 / 45 K / 48.2 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Oscar Charleston (Hilldale) 360 / 2 HR / 18 RBI.

Points of Interest

• The Cuban Stars West send OF Ron LeFlore and 2B Recurvon Teran to the Black Barons for P Javier Vazquez and $344k
• Key Extensions: P William Nash (Crawfords, 3/2550); P Sam Odom (Dodgers, 2/2200)

Transit League

The Black Crackers look the team to beat in early going, with the Black Sox and Tigers also off to good starts.

We've seen a bunch of cycles to begin the 1985 TL season, with Leron Lee (Browns v Red Caps), Glenallen Hill (Hornets v Habaneros) and Ricky Gutierrez (White Sox v Marcos) each managing one.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Ted Kimbro (Browns) 345 / 7 HR / 28 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Shane Youman (Marcos) 4-0 / 5 SV / 0.93 / 11 K / 19.1 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Curtis Granderson (Wolves) 377 / 7 HR / 24 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Angel Guzman (Black Senators) 4-2 / 1.88 / 37 K / 43 IP.

[luckymann]

Cesar is the all-time leader as well.

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Eclipse League

Little change for the month with only the WCN a close-looking race this season.

The MoStars have made a move, while the Dodgers and Monarchs are headed in the wrong direction with long losing streaks.

The BYs are looking strong but the loss of Hurley McNair for 7 weeks to a rib injury will test their mettle.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Sixto Lezcano (Black Barons) 382 / 10 HR / 20 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Jose Acosta (Red Sox) 4-1 / 1.18 / 25 K / 38 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Jackie Robinson (Crawfords) 330 / 2 HR / 16 RBI.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Cristobal Torriente (Motown Giants) 406 / 8 HR / 20 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Gene Collins (Motown Stars) 6-0 / 1.55 / 44 K / 46.1 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Robert Evans (Motown Stars) 4-1 / 3.43 / 33 K / 42 IP.

Points of Interest

• Chet Brewer reaches 200 career Wins
• West veteran pitcher Gentry Jessup will find it tough at age-37 to come back from a UCL tear that will keep him out of the game for at least a year. The club, in the middle of a horror year, also release legendary pitcher Juan Marichal and I suspect this will be his final EL season.
• The East picks up pitcher Terris McDuffie from the Liberty Stars off the Waiver Wire.
• Key Injuries: 2B Roberto Alomar (Crawfords) hamstring, 7 weeks.
• Eric Davis becomes just the 5th EL player to reach 400 career HR, behind David Ortiz (477), Hank Thompson (441), Jose Abreu (422, retired) and Eric Chavez (416).
• Gene Collins is 14-1 / 1.64 on the season so far.
• Some trades:

Top 20s - overall




Top 20s - NeLers




Transit League

Atlanta still going along nicely, the other three well in the balance. The Habaneros are making an unusually sustained run this year.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Carlos Bernier (Blue Birds) 359 / 6 HR / 20 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: David Price (Stars) 5-1 / 3.48 / 42 K / 41.1 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Leo Posada (Black Senators) 428 / 6 HR / 26 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Jose Cano (Black Senators) 4-1 / 1.47 / 29 K / 43 IP.

[luckymann]

The midseason update sees Juan Gonzalez of the BYs as the top-rated prospect ahead of Newark's Ray Lankford.

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[luckymann]

With only so many of these OotS profiles to go around and the purpose of them being to bring lesser-known NeLers to your attention, the subject of this one is a borderline candidate at best given that anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the Negro Leagues would likely be familiar with him. Still, I'm trying to cover players after they've spent a decent amount of time in the EL and all of the other candidates I have earmarked are all fairly early on in their career, and so he gets a guernsey.

Bill Pierce ("Bonehead" or "Big Bill") - not to be confused with Bill "Zack" Pettus or Bill "Cy" Perkins, fellow members of the C / 1B fraternity - was a fine player whose NeL career spanned some 17 seasons in the early part of last century.

It was, like many of his NeL colleagues, a peripatetic journey that saw him play at no fewer than 12 clubs in the US and Cuba, including time spent in some of the most legendary indy leagues such as the Florida Hotel League.

Over that time, he slashed 309/368/444 according to Seamheads, with a fine career OPS+ of 132. He continued to be productive as a player throughout, leading the NNL with 9 homers for the Detroit Stars in 1924, his age-34 season, earning - if Jim Riley is to be believed - the occasional moniker of "Home Run" Pierce in this later period.

After his retirement, Bill officiated as an umpire in the East-West League's single season of existence in 1932.

Bill features as a candidate in my Luckymann's Lab NeL project (see link in my signature), with Eric Chalek apportioning him a healthy 37.3 MLE WAR for his career.

As his long EL career winds down (he entered the league in the 1969 Rookie Draft, taken 32nd overall by the Black Yankees), he has almost exactly replicated that figure with 36.3 WAR over his 14+ EL seasons, although he has proved more of a power- than contact-hitter over that time with a slash line of 251/304/373, 113 HR and 623 RBI.

Now in his age-35 season and at the Cuban Stars West - he has also spent time with the Elite Giants, American Giants, Red Sox, Buckeyes and Bacharach Giants - Bill has been a member of two Championship clubs (actually in his first two EL seasons, both with the BYs), made four ASG appearances and won 8 Slick Awards (the league's equivalent of the Silver Slugger), all in all a fine career that probably still has a couple seasons left to run.

We'll check back in on how that plays out from time to time, as always.

[luckymann]

A fine performance down in the TL sees Alfonso Pulido of Columbus no-hit Louisville.

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Eclipse League

As we hit midsummer, the Red Sox just seem to have stabilised but still have plenty of work to do with Birmingham breathing down their necks, while the Monarchs look to have left their run too late especially with the loss of Fernando Tatis jr for 7 weeks to a rib injury. The MoStars have made a strong move, going 16-8 in July to put them at 34-16 since June 1 and they now hold a slight lead in the WC National over the Buckeyes. The BYs and Athletics both still look in control.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Frank Robinson (Giants) 341 / 6 HR / 23 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Barney Morris (Red Sox) 4-0 / 1.57 / 32 K / 40 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Sammy Sosa (Dodgers) 317 / 4 HR / 10 RBI.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Kal Daniels (Lincoln Giants) 359 / 9 HR / 25 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Satchel Paige (Athletics) 6-0 / 2.28 / 32 K / 51.1 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Robert Evans (Motown Stars) 4-0 / 3.28 / 31 K / 46.2 IP.

Points of Interest

• No return this year for Shohei Ohtani as he suffers a setback in his recovery from an elbow fracture and at 40 it will be very interesting to see if he can make it back at all and, if so, in what capacity.
• Webster McDonald notches career Win number 200.
• Here are the trades of note before the Deadline:

Transit League

Still tight across the board with the biggest development the utter collapse of the Black Crackers, 5-21 in July and 16-38 since end-May to now sit in mid-standings but still within reach if they can turn things around.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Jake Wood (Choo-Choos) 302 / 7 HR / 22 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Finis Branahan (Browns) 2-1 / 1.98 / 9 SV / 18 K / 13.2 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Herman Andrews (Black Sox) 354 / 7 HR / 28 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Joe Black (Black Sox) 1-0 / 0.52 / 7 SV / 7 K / 17.1 IP.

[luckymann]

We're going to start seeing a bit of a transition phase in the EL over the next few years as a bunch of the original "68ers" start retiring and the next wave of big names come into the league, as is the case over the next few rookie inductions. BTW, the EL is only slated to run thru 2012, giving it 45 seasons' play.

Some of these guys won't be up for HoF consideration and might slip through the cracks as they take their leave of the game so I am going to try and take any opportunity I can to highlight them before they toddle off.

is a good example of the type of player I'm talking about. While Pop has had a decent EL career - he'll almost certainly finish with at least 2000 hits and should surpass 50 career WAR - he hasn't perhaps been the impact player he was IRL. Just 3 ASG appearances and yet to feature on a Championship club are further indictments he'll struggle to make Walker House or even get close. Hard to be 100% certain with scant data to see how the voting trends are going to play out, but I don't see him as a candidate unless he has a really strong final surge.

A few more games like this one against the BGs won't do his cause any harm at all.

[luckymann]

Eclipse League

Well, well, well... Things have certainly livened up a bit as we enter September and the final few weeks of the regular season.

The Black Yankees (13-13) and Athletics (11-15) give up some of ground in August and now all four races are in play to varying degrees but certainly none are locked down by any stretch of the imagination.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Frank Robinson (Giants) 383 / 7 HR / 28 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Cholly Naranjo (Bacharach Giants) 4-1 / 2.58 / 25 K / 38.1 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Carlos Carrasco (Giants) 3-1 / 3.32 / 35 K / 40.2 IP.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: John Mayberry (American Giants) 330 / 12 HR / 27 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Joe Williams (Motown Stars) 5-1 / 1.53 / 27 K / 47 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Robert Evans (Motown Stars) 4-1 / 3.19 / 30 K / 48 IP.

Points of Interest

• The Grays re-up with Closer John Brown on a 3/3700 extension, as do the Motown Stars with club favourite Louis Santop via a 4/5920 deal and the Mons with Tim Anderson with a 2/3400 agreement.
• Key injuries: P Luis Severino (Dodgers) labrum, season; P Bob Gibson (ABCs) forearm, 8 weeks.
• Cliff Floyd reaches the 400 career HR milestone.
• Despite conceding a run, Motown Stars gun Gene Collins compiles 6 no-hit innings against the CSE but then has to leave the game injured.

Top 20s - overall

Transit League

All set for a massive finish in the TL.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Terry Pendleton (Eagles) 406 / 4 HR / 23 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: DJ Mitchell (Keystones) 4-0 / 2.75 / 33 K / 39.1 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Vic Harris (Grays) 337 / 8 HR / 21 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Jelly Jackson (Hornets) 4-1 / 2.66 / 35 K / 50.2 IP.