The Liberty League, Est. 1876

[Questdog]

Thursday, September 7, 1876 vs. Pittsburgh Alleghenies (35-30 3rd place in the Liberty League)

Bones Lane is 3-3 with a 1.57 ERA against Troy.

Bones Lane, Pitts. (33 L 23-21 2.77) vs. Abe Everette, Troy (27 L 18-12 1.80)

Won - 3 to 2

SS Bill Rush hit a 1-out 2-run double in the bottom of the 9th to win the game.

Other Games:
Chicago (13) at Philadelphia (4) - Will Taylor (24-23) over Pop Yurkovich (23-23). CF John Froom had 3 hits with a double, scored 3 runs and knocked in 2. C Jake Houghton had 3 hits, scored twice and knocked in 3.

Boston (1) at New York (10) - Charlie Moss (29-34) over Charlie Morlock (18-28). Charlie Moss held Boston to 7 hits and had 2 himself, scoring a run and knocking in 3.

Washington (3) at St. Louis (10) - Socks Hawkins (8-7) over Cal Wright (22-21). Hawkins held Washington to 6 hits. CF Washington Mach had 3 hits with a double, scored a run and had an RBI. 2B Bub Crawford had 3 hits with a double and scored twice.

Down in the International Association, Syracuse beat the hapless London Tecumseh and Egyptian Hooker and the Guelph Maple Leafs beat Columbus to give Syracuse a 2 game lead with 5 to play.

[Questdog]

Saturday, September 9, 1876 at Philadelphia Centennials (33-33 4th place in the Liberty League)

Pop Yurkovich is 0-5 with a 3.00 ERA against Troy.

Abe Everette, Troy (27 L 19-12 1.74) vs. Pop Yurkovich, Phil. (24 R 23-23 3.12)

Lost- 4 to 3

Crazy Kelley broke his thumb in the game and his season is done.

I had 3 hits, but nobody would knock me in. We had plenty of opportunities to score more runs but could never get the clutch hit. I also made 3 errors.....

Other Games:
Washington (9) at Pittsburgh (7) - Cal Wright (23-21) over Bones Lane (23-23). Wright had 3 hits, scored twice and knocked in 2. LF Calvin Biron went 3 for 4 with an RBI. SS John Sullivan had a double and a triple, scored twice and knocked in 3.

St. Louis (8) at Boston (7) in 10 innings - Socks Hawkins (9-7) over Charlie Morlock (18-29). Socks Hawkins had 2 doubles and 2 RBIs and scored a run. 2B Bub Crawford had 3 hits with a double, an RBI and scored twice, including the winning run in the 10th.

New York (12) at Chicago (5) - Charlie Moss (30-34) over Will Taylor (24-24). Moss had 2 hits with a double and an RBI. 1B Doc Burgess had 4 hits with a double, scored twice and had 2 RBIs.

Down in the International Association, Syracuse lost at Providence, 11 to 10 in 11 innings, but Columbus was beaten by lowly London. Rufus Lee won his 3rd game of the year against 30 defeats! Syracuse is still 2 games up with 4 to play over Columbus and now Providence.

[Westheim]

Congratulations to the Haymakers. History has been made!

As far as Egyptian Hooker is concerned, a big league career does not seem very likely...

[Questdog]

Thursday, September 14, 1876 vs. Chicago White Stockings (29-38 7th place in the Liberty League)

Will Taylor is 2-6 with a 2.15 ERA against Troy.

Will Taylor, Chi. (29 L 24-24 2.91) vs. Abe Everette, Troy (27 L 19-13 1.70)

Won - 12 to 1

18 hits for us and 14 Chicago errors. Abe Everette only allowed 6 hits to Chicago and had 3 himself and scored twice.
Bobby Hubbard came up with a sore hamstring and we will keep him out of the last 2 games as a precaution. We'll call up Lev Box to play center in the final two games, Syracuse be damned. No one else can play there.

Other Games:
Boston (8) at Pittsburgh (3) - Charlie Morlock (19-29) over Bones Lane (23-24). Morlock held Pittsburgh to 7 hits. SS Paul Fenner had 3 hits and an RBI.

Philadelphia (7) at Washington (8) - Cal Wright (24-21) over Pop Yurkovich (24-24). SS John Sullivan had 2 hits with a triple and scored a run.

New York (6) at St. Louis (7) in 12 innings - Roger Lake (8-8) in relief of Socks Hawkins over Bill McClean (1-3) in relief of Charlie Moss. RF Guy Monaghan hit a triple and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 12th. He also hit a double and had 3 hits, scored 3 times and had an RBI. Editor's note: This loss sealed New York's fate.

Down in the International Association, Syracuse lost at Manchester, 6 to 2, and Providence beat Columbus to move to a game behind the Stars with 3 to go.

[Questdog]

Saturday, September 15, 1876 vs. Washington Olympics (38-30 2nd place in the Liberty League)

Our final home game and some of our fans regaled us with a song they had written in honor of our Championship. They called it "Make Hay While the Sun is Shining." It really choked me up. I had a horrible season personally, to be honest, dropping 100 points off my batting average from last year, but I am very proud of the job I did putting this team together. And I'm proud of the way they pulled through when the injuries decimated our outfield and took John Bendickson's golden arm away from us.

Cal Wright is 4-2 with a 1.13 ERA against Troy.

Cal Wright, Wash. (32 R 24-21 3.09) vs. Abe Everette, Troy (27 L 20-13 1.67)

Won - 6 to 5

Down 5 to 3 in the bottom of the 7th, C Jumbo Tilford came through with a 2-out hit to drive in a pair and put us in the lead for good. He had two hits with a double and scored a run. Everette held Washington to 7 hits.

Other Games:
Boston (10) at Philadelphia (7) - Charlie Morlock (20-29) over Pop Yurkovich (24-25). Morlock had 2 hits with a double and a walk, scored twice and knocked in a run. RF Dan Sloan had 3 hits with a double, but did not score or drive in a run.

Pittsburgh (0) at New York (7) - Charlie Moss (31-34) over Bones Lane (23-25). Moss held Pittsburgh to 6 hits in tossing his first shutout of the year.

St. Louis (15) at Chicago (3) - Socks Hawkins (10-7) over Will Taylor (24-26). Chicago has been out-scored 39 to 9 in the last 3 games. CF Dwight Crawford had 4 hits, scored 3 times and had 2 RBIs. 2b Bub Crawford had 3 hits, an RBI and scored 4 times. RF Guy Monaghan had a double and a triple, scored a run and knocked in 6, to set a new League mark for RBIs in a game.

Down in the International Association, Syracuse lost to Lynn, 14 to 8, and Providence beat London. The two teams are now tied for first with 2 games to go.

[Questdog]

Tuesday, September 19, 1876 at Boston Red Caps (27-42 8th place in the Liberty League)

1B Sol Popko has a remote chance at the Batting Title. He is currently second in the race at .336. Washington C Al Cannon leads at .350. 4 or 5 hits and an O'fer by Cannon would do the trick.

Popko will bat lead-off today and I'll take clean-up duties to give him a chance at more hits.
Dave Turkaly says he can play, so we sent Lev Box back to Syracuse to try to help them salvage their pennant hopes.

Charlie Morlock is 4-2 with a 1.15 ERA against Troy. Sol Popko has only hit .259 against him on the year.

Abe Everette, Troy (27 L 21-13 1.64) vs. Charlie Morlock, Bos. (27 R 20-29 2.6)

Lost - 6 to 3

Sol Popko had 2 hits. He finishes at .338. He needs Cannon to go 0 for 9 to win the batting title.....

RF Dan Sloan hit a 2-run homer for Boston. Abe Everette has had a fine season, but has shown an alarming tendency to give up some very long belts.

Other Games:
St. Louis (6) at Pittsburgh (3) - Socks Hawkins (11-7) over Bones Lane (23-26). CF Dwight Crawford had 2 hits with a triple and 2 RBIs. 3B Kid Angell had 3 hits and an RBI.

Chicago (8) at Washington (2) - Will Taylor (25-26) over Cal Wright (24-23). LF Ike Noel, SS Dan Mitchell and 3B Jim Pierce each had 3 hits. C Al Cannon went 1 for 4 and wins the Batting Title.

New York (3) at Philadelphia (8) - Pop Yurkovich (25-25) over Charlie Moss (31-35). 1B Joe Smith had 4 hits and scored 3 runs.

Down in the International Association, Syracuse lost to Rochester, 2 to 1, and Providence beat Egyptian Hooker and the Guelph Maple Leafs. Providence is now up 1 game with 1 to go. Providence has now won 7 in a row, while Syracuse has dropped 4 straight.

Update:
Friday, September 22, 1876

Providence lost to Manchester, 19 to 11, but Syracuse also lost to Egyptian Hooker and those derned Guelph Maple Leafs, so Providence is the Champion of the International Association.

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

[Questdog]

[Mike45]

congrats on a great beginning/first season

[Questdog]

Fall 1876

Editor's Note: Sometimes I enjoy waxing poetic and inventing fictional tales and sometimes I just want to play ball. Right now, I just want to play ball, so forgive me for re-using the inventions of the first go 'round in the Liberty League.

The 1876 season was quite a shock to Nathan Wood and Mike Potts, the respective owners of the Metropolitans and the White Stockings. Neither had spared much expense in populating their squads with former stars of the National Association.

The Mets had signed not only the best pitcher in the Association, Charlie Moss, for their team, but had also signed the second best, Bill McClean, just as insurance. Their double play combo of Bill Thompson at second and Manager Joe O'Neill at short was supposed to be the best to be found on any baseball diamond in the country. Catcher Willie English, Left fielder Silver Borresen and Right fielder Willie Voght were also big stars in the National Association. Ol' Joe Guidry, one of the best catchers ever seen, was also signed as a backup and mentor to the younger players.

Meanwhile, Chicago signed the best pitcher that New York did not, Will Taylor, and put together what they though was the best outfield money could buy in Ike Noel, John Froom and Buck Redfearn. Thirdbaseman Jack Pierce was also a big star and shortstop Dan Mitchell was an up-and-coming youngster that everyone thought was destined for sure stardom.

But somehow the pieces did not fit together as well as either team thought they would and both teams ended up near the bottom of the Liberty League standings when all was said and done. But rather than regrouping and trying to make their teams better for next season, the two owners thought they had an easier way of making their teams be the best in the League. Their plan was to withdraw from the Liberty League and start their own league, making sure to only let in teams that they knew they could beat. But since they not only wanted to dominate the standings of their new league, but also wanted to dominate the profits of the league, they could not find any other teams willing to submit themselves to the harsh conditions Wood and Potts were demanding of potential league members and their plan soon came to nothing.

President Heath declared all of the players of New York and Chicago free agents and rebuffed the attempts of the two wayward owners to re-enter the Liberty League.

So, the Liberty League made plans to play the 1877 season as a 6 team circuit.

In Boston, owner Joe Waters had spent less money on players than anyone and had expected this to mean more profits for his bottom line, but found that few Bostonians were willing to pay to see an inferior outfit. The Red Caps wound up drawing the smallest crowds of any Liberty League team and ended up losing money on the season. Waters decided to bail and sold his team to Ike Lee, 54, who had been a catcher in the 1840's and 50's on various amateur teams.

In Pittsburgh, owner Green Cisek decided that the monetary losses were too much to bear and sold the Alleghenys to Fred Trago, 52, born and raised in Shively, Kentucky.

At the Annual Meeting on December 1, the owners voted to play a 60 game schedule for 1877. They also held the first B League draft of players:

Editor's Note: Don't ask me why Billy Jenkins lasted until the final round. I thought about taking him with the first pick, but decided I did not need a pitcher as much as I needed a hitter. When no one else picked him and my turn came around again, I decided I would not pick a pitcher until another club picked one. With my final pick, there was only one non-pitcher left. Jim Postema was the first pitcher taken and he was drafted by St. Louis in the 4th round. Also, don't ask me why Washington, with League MVP Al Cannon at catcher, drafted a 33-year-old backstop with the second pick of the draft. 37-year-old Sam Rose looks like a heck of a player and might be the MVP of the International Association in 1877, but he is also a wasted pick by Boston.

[Trebro]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Editor's Note: Also, don't ask me why Washington, with League MVP Al Cannon at catcher, drafted a 33-year-old backstop with the second pick of the draft. 37-year-old Sam Rose looks like a heck of a player and might be the MVP of the International Association in 1877, but he is also a wasted pick by Boston.

This is exactly why I'd love to see more time on the AI and less on the graphics. There should be some kind of internal logic that if a team has an all-star Catcher, they don't draft a catcher, just because he's BPA. That should be doable.

Your re-start seems to have you on better footing this time, by the way.

Also, how are you creating those reports? Dumping to Excel, then saving a screen shot?

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by panelpatter

This is exactly why I'd love to see more time on the AI and less on the graphics. There should be some kind of internal logic that if a team has an all-star Catcher, they don't draft a catcher, just because he's BPA. That should be doable.

Your re-start seems to have you on better footing this time, by the way.

Also, how are you creating those reports? Dumping to Excel, then saving a screen shot?

1) To be fair to OOTP, the free agent draft is fairly new and not used by many people. To give the AI a different routine for picking than the Amateur draft would be probably a lot of work for a small payoff. In the Amateur draft, it makes sense to pick the BPA regardless of team need.

2) Thanks...maybe....not sure what you mean. If you mean the Haymakers are better, that is because I put a lot more effort into drafting this go 'round. I wanted to crush the competition the first year and my goal was to win 50 games to make the Haymakers a team to remember for the ages. However, losing my #1 pitcher and all of my outfielders for big chunks of the season prevented that.

3) I use LibreOffice Calc, which is a free spreadsheet program similar to Excel, and GIMP, a free image manipulation program. The info doesn't come from .csv dumps. though. I open reports in a browser and copy and paste and then re-tabulate stats and reformat. A few items in the standings report are entered by hand. Then I do a screen grab and paste into GIMP over the background.

[Trebro]

Originally Posted by Questdog

2) Thanks...maybe....not sure what you mean. If you mean the Haymakers are better, that is because I put a lot more effort into drafting this go 'round. I wanted to crush the competition the first year and my goal was to win 50 games to make the Haymakers a team to remember for the ages. However, losing my #1 pitcher and all of my outfielders for big chunks of the season prevented that.

3) I use LibreOffice Calc, which is a free spreadsheet program similar to Excel, and GIMP, a free image manipulation program. The info doesn't come from .csv dumps. though. I open reports in a browser and copy and paste and then re-tabulate stats and reformat. A few items in the standings report are entered by hand. Then I do a screen grab and paste into GIMP over the background.

Yeah, I meant that your team's talent was a lot better this version. Even with not getting to 50 wins, you were pretty impressive.

Thanks for the info on how you did that. The next Dynasty up after my Pirate one finishes (I find it a lot easier to pre-write material, then post as I can) is entirely screen-grabbed from OOTP itself, so it's the picture version of the league leaders. I'm unlikely to change that now after starting it (I don't want to re-start again), but I think when I get around to doing my re-imagining of baseball history, I might try it your way.

It's really hard trying to figure out just what you want to share when it comes to a dynasty, because the more you stop to write, the less time you're playing.

[Questdog]

Winter 1876-77

Since the Liberty League is down to 6 teams for 1877, the International League is also reducing to 6 teams. The operators of the Syracuse and Providence teams have decided they want to be independent clubs this coming year. The Troy Haymakers, who used Syracuse as their International Association affiliate this past season will switch to Rochester for 1877. Last year the Rochester Maroons were the affiliate of the now-defunct New York Metropolitans. The Philadelphia Centennials, who used Providence as their affiliate will switch to the Guelph Maple Leafs, the Chicago White Stockings affiliate last year.

The teams and their managers for 1877:

The International Association
Columbus Buckeyes (St.L.) - John Lieberman (41) 2nd year, 5th last season
Guelph Maple Leafs (Phil.) - Jim Padgett (44) 1st year
London Tecumseh (Wash.) - Eddie Therrien (46) Managed Syracuse to a 2nd place finish last season
Lynn Live Oaks (Bos.) - Topsy Brasile (49) 1st year
Manchester Reds (Pitts.) - Jocko Nobles (48) 2nd year, 3rd last season
Rochester Maroons (Troy) - Steve Harrison (43) 2nd year, 4th last season

Two New B Leagues will join Organized Baseball this coming season. Both the New England League and the New York State Championship Association will be 6 team leagues and will play 60 games to determine their champions.

New England League
Fall River Cascade - John Kelly (40) Managed the Guelph Maple Leafs last season to a 7th place finish in the I.A.
Hartford Dark Blues - John Banks (44) 1st year
Lowell Ladies Men - George Jarrell (42) 1st year
Rhode Islands - Milt Griffin (45) 1st year; team plays in Providence
Springfield Ponies - John Burton (38) 1st year
Worcester Ruby Legs - Frank Mowers (44) 1st year

New York State Championship Association
Auburn Auburnians - John Newby (39) Managed the London Tecumseh last season to an 8th place finish in the I.A.
Binghamton Crickets - Danny Rinehart (40) 1st year; was an outfielder for the Guelph Maple Leafs last season in the I.A.
Buffalo Bisons - Packy Lunning (40) 1st year
Poughkeepsie Colts - Sam Miles (51) 1st year
Syracuse Stars - Jerry Notte (38) 1st year
Utica Pentups - Dave Chase (41) 1st year

In the Liberty League, new Boston owner Ike Lee fired manager James Arnold and gave the duties to outfielder Pete Green (28). New Pittsburgh owner Fred Trago retained Ed Lanham (42) as manager. Lanham had guided the club for the final 14 games of 1876 after Ed Parton gave up the job.

[Questdog]

Spring 1877

Following are the Opening Day rosters for the 6 Liberty League teams and their International Association affiliates.

Here's where some of the biggest plums from the New York and Chicago teams ended up:

Bill McClean, p, New York (31) unsigned as of Opening Day
Charlie Moss, p, New York (36) signed by Philadelphia
Will Taylor, p, Chicago signed (30) by Philadelphia
Willie English, c, New York (34) signed by Pittsburgh
Jake Houghton, c, Chicago (26) signed by Pittsburgh
Bill Thompson, 2b, New York (26) signed by Boston
Dan Mitchell, ss, Chicago signed (26) by Philadelphia
Joe O'Neill, ss, New York (29) signed by Washington
Jim Hodzic, 3b, New York (26) signed by Philadelphia
Jack Pierce, 3b, Chicago (29) signed by St. Louis
Silver Borresen, of, New York (23) signed by Pittsburgh
John Froom, of, Chicago (28) signed by Philadelphia
Ike Noel, of, Chicago (33) signed by Boston

You might notice that none of them signed a contract with the Troy Haymakers. That is for two reasons: 1) Our owner Jersey Thompson, did not want to spend a lot of money on player contracts. Since Troy is the smallest city with a team in the Liberty League, he thinks we will eventually find it harder to make money here, even though we led the League in attendance last season. and 2) I really like the guys I have. If we can keep them healthy for the season, we shouldn't need any help. Of course, if I had known that I would be desperate for a catcher before Opening Day, I would have at least tried to sign Jake Houghton or Willie English. But by the time I needed a catcher they had both already signed with Pittsburgh.

[Questdog]

[Questdog]