Home | Webstore
Latest News: OOTP 25 Available - FHM 10 Available - OOTP Go! Available

Out of the Park Baseball 25 Buy Now!

  

Go Back   OOTP Developments Forums > Out of the Park Baseball 25 > OOTP Dynasty Reports

OOTP Dynasty Reports Tell us about the OOTP dynasties you have built!

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 10-02-2019, 09:21 PM   #101
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
1927 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
KINGS IN A HOLE AFTER DROPPING PAIR AT HOME
The Brooklyn Kings old nemisis, 1-run games, came back to haunt them as the World Championship Series got underway. Brooklyn, which struggled in 1-run contests during the season going 16-21, dropped both games one and two of the series to the Philadelphia Keystones by that margin. They are certainly not out of it but what makes comeback chances even tougher for Brooklyn is both of those games were played at Kings County Park and now they must travel to Philadelphia needing to win two of three on Broad Street in order to prolong the series.

The series opener saw the potent Philadelphia offense get right to work, scoring twice in the top of the first inning although they were aided by a wild pitch from Brooklyn starter Cal Williams (21-10). Brooklyn battled back with single runs in the 4th,5th and 6th frames to go up 3-2 but Philadelphia retook the lead for good with 3 runs in the 7th inning, keyed by a 2-run double off the bat of Keystones shortstop Cliff Herman (.309,7,115). The Kings cut the gap to one in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a 1-out solo homerun from catcher Mickey Dowell (.306,8,87) and had the tying run on base following a 2-out single off the bat of rookie second sacker Willie Jackson (.271,8,47) but the game ended 2 pitches later when Rip Agee hit into a fielders choice to make the final 5-4 Keystones.

While most expected the series to be a slugfest between the top offensive clubs in each league, it was pitching that stole the show in Game Two. Brooklyn's talented 25 year old lefthander Leon Campbell (17-13) went the distance allowing just 4 Philadelphia hits but Philadelphia's Rube Frazier (14-17) was nearly as effective, surrendering only 7 hits to the Kings and pitching his way out of several jams. Scoreless thru five, it was Brooklyn's Campbell that blinked first, walking Lee Smith (.326,11,97) with one out and then, after getting Carl Ames (.338,12,97) to fly out, Campbell made a mistake on his first delivery to Federal Association triple crown winner Rankin Kellogg (.364,32,133). The 24 year old outfielder belted the ball 422 feet for a homerun that some in attendence felt went much further than that.

It put Philadelphia up 2-0 and even though Campbell aided his own cause by driving in Lou Garman (.320,7,67) with a run in the bottom of the 6th to make the score 2-1, it was clear on this day that Rube Frazier had the Kings number. The 2-1 victory meant Philadelphia was heading home with a 2-0 series lead. This was a game the Kings should have won, and normally would win but they failed to take advantage of 3 Philadelphia errors and several good scoring opportunities- none better than having the bases loaded with 1 out in the third inning while the game was still scoreless. Unfortunately they came away empty just as they did two innings later with runners on first and second and two out. In both cases Bud Rogers (.335,8,84) failed to deliver.

Despite outhitting the Keystones 18-13 in the two games and committing just 1 error to Philadelphia's 6, the Brooklyn Kings now find their backs against the wall. It is not a position they are unused to this season, having come back and received plenty of good luck in terms of the right teams winning to allow them to claim the Continental Association pennant. Now, it remains to be seen if that luck is still there or if it has run out on Brooklyn.




WHERE IS DOUG LIGHTBODY?

One big question on the minds of Brooklyn fans is what is going on with Doug Lightbody. The 23 year old Continental Association batting champ seemed almost invisible during the opening two games of the series. Lightbody had an average first game, going 1-for-4 in the series opener. He reached on an error in the first inning but failed to advance. In the third inning he followed up John Wilder's 2-out double with a single but didn't get the rbi as Wilder was erased at the plate for the third out. He delivered a sacrifice bunt to advance Wilder to second base in the fifth inning but Wilder would be stranded there as Mickey Dowell and Lou Garman each popped out. Lightbody grounded out to lead off the 7th inning and did the same for the final out of the 8th, stranding Wilder at third base.

He was hitless and looked tired in Game Two, grounding out to end the first inning, reaching on a error to lead the bases with one out in the third but Brooklyn failed to score a run as Bud Rogers hit into a force out at home and Mickey Dowell popped up to end the inning in what could have, and likely should have been the inning to turn around the game for the Kings. Bases loaded with 1 out only to come away empty.

Lightbody drew a walk to in the bottom of the fifth to put runners on first and second with 2 out but Bud Rogers flew out to end that rally as well. In his final at bat, Lightbody grounded out weakly to the pitcher in the 8th inning.

Lightbody is 1-for-7 in the series, the same as Philadelphia star Rankin Kellogg. The difference is, of course, Kellogg's hit was a big two-run homer to lift the Keystones to victory in Game Two. Neither young superstar looked dominant in their first World Championship Series appearances, but Kellogg came through when needed. Had Brooklyn won either of the two games we would not be making as big a deal about Lightbody, and it is a lot of pressure to put on a 23 year old with only a year and a half of professional experience under his belt, but if the Kings are to come back in the series it will be up to Lightbody to lead the way.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2019, 02:23 PM   #102
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
1927 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (GAMES 3 & 4)

KINGS STILL ALIVE, BUT JUST BARELY
There is no margin for error anymore. Backs are against the wall. It's do or die. You can use whatever cliche you want but the bottom line is the Brooklyn Kings need to win 3 straight games from the Philadelphia Keystones if they are to claim their first World Championship in franchise history. Brooklyn put themselves in this predicament because of a failure to get timely hits as they dropped the first three games of the series. The Kings did give their fans a sliver hope with a convincing 7-0 victory in Game Four but to expect to do it 3 more teams is something that tests the faith of even the most devout Brooklyn fan. Well, perhaps it's two sliver's of hope for their fans as the Kings did get their convincing Game Four win against Keystones ace Bill Ross but now they need to win 3 more times.

So why is Brooklyn down in the series despite outhitting Philadelphia 38-29, drawing more walks (17 compared to 8 for the Keystones) and committing just 3 errors compated to 11 by the Keystones? Two words. Clutch hitting, or more precisely a lack of it from Brooklyn. In the first 3 games of the Series the Kings left 23 men on base compared to 13 by Philadelphia.

In game one alone the Kings stranded 12 runners and lost 5-4. After Philadelphia scored twice in the top of the first inning of the series opener the Kings had runners on first and second in the bottom of the inning but instead of responding they came away empty after both Bud Rogers and Mickey Dowell popped out. In the third inning they had John Wilder thrown out at the plate after Doug Lightbody got his only hit of the series so far. They scored 1 run in the fourth inning but left runners on first and second and worst of all they had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 7th and came away empty as Willie Jackson lined out to the third baseman before pinch-hitter Clarence Hall flew out. They were trailing 5-3 at the time and a base hit from either Jackson or Hall would have tied the game. Game Two was more of the same as they lost 2-1 despite having several opportunities to score more than a single run.

The Kings have done a pretty good job containing Philadelphia's young superstar Rankin Kellogg. The 24 year old is just 2-for-14 in the Series but the problem for Brooklyn is that both of those hits were homeruns that won the game for his club. Kellogg did it with a 2-run shot in the sixth inning of the Game Two 2-1 victory and did it again in Game Three, hitting a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th to snap a 2-2 tie and ulimately lead Philadelphia to a 4-2 victory. Kings starter Mose Smith, a pitcher of the year candidate, was very good in the loss but the Keystones Ed Cheetham, who had a 5.50 era during the season, was at least Smith's equal on this day. Mickey Dowell had a big game for the Kings with 3 hits and scored both Brooklyn runs, but the problem was the big bats of Doug Lightbody and Bud Rogers were a combined 0-for-7 in front of Dowell.

No one in the Continental Association would doubt Lightbody's incredible skill at the plate. In just 217 career big league games, the 23 year old has 308 hits and is a .374 career hitter. By comparison, Lightbody's former manager Powell Slocum - the greatest hitter in FABL history - had 337 hits in his first two major league seasons but played 35 more games than Lightbody. We do have to keep in mind Lightbody is a college graduate while Slocum was coming straight out of high school but the point is Lightbody is an amazing talent and this was supposed to be his coming out party on baseball's biggest stage. However, he has clearly laid an egg. He has 1 hit in the series and is batting .071.

Thanks to a big 7-0 win in Game Four most of the other Kings hitters have pretty good numbers for the series especially fellow outfielders Ab Thomas and Bud Rogers, who each had 3 hits in Game Four and are batting .400 and .357 respectively for the series. Catcher Mickey Dowell has been on fire as well, going 4-for-4 in the win and is 8 for 16 in the series but Rogers, and to a lesser extent Dowell, failed to deliver the clutch hit in the first 3 games that might have turned the tide of the series.

With no room for error Kings manager Wally Grant has opened himself to second-guessing by making the controversial decision to move Lightbody out of the number 3 slot in the batting order for Game Five. He will switch places with the red-hot Mickey Dowell, who had been batting 5th. Grant also toyed with the idea of replacing shortstop Lloyd Carter, who is just 2-for-12 in the series, with Rip Agee but decided to stick with Carter because of his past success against Philadelphia starting pitcher Rube Frazier, a former Baltimore Cannon.

So it all comes down to tomorrow. Back to the cliches as we will find out if the Kings 'live to fight another day.'
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-04-2019, 06:45 PM   #103
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
1927 FABL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (GAME FIVE)

LIGHTS OUT! KINGS SHUT OUT AS KEYSTONES WIN SERIES

The Brooklyn Kings season came to an end as they were shut out 6-0 yesterday to drop the best of seven FABL World Championship Series in five games to the Philadelphia Keystones. The Kings have reached the championship series 3 teams since the FABL Series was first played in 1893 but are now 0-for-3. Brooklyn had plenty of problems in the series but none were more evident then the struggles of their young superstar outfielder Doug Lightbody.

The deciding game was never close as Brooklyn, after failing to cash in with runners on 1st and third with one out in the opening inning, watched the Keystones plate a pair in the home half of the first and never look back. It was another nightmare game in what was a series full of bad dreams for Lightbody. The Continental Association batting champ and MVP candidate went 0-for-3 including a weak inning-ending ground out to snuff out any sort of quick start for the Kings in the top of the first. On the series, Lightbody hit just .059 (1-for-17) and looked completely out of sorts. Lightbody will shoulder most of the blame but in truth, although he is the most obvious candidate for it, he is far from alone. Bud Rogers, another former CA batting champ, hit .278 in the series, but aside from Game Four when he had 3 hits, he struggled as badly as Lightbody did in the clutch.

There were some bright spots, most notably catcher Mickey Dowell (10-for-20), young centerfielder Ab Thomas (9-for-24) and recently acquired third baseman John Wilder (8-for-22) and the pitching, which had hurt the Kings at times during the season, performed quite well as the most explosive offense in baseball.

The question is where do the Kings go from here. Overall, they are still a very young club and the expectation is they should get some more opportunities to play deep into October over the next half dozen or so years but right now they will be forced to deal with plenty of questions about Lightbody and, to a lesser extent, Bud Rogers. Lightbody was the golden boy, a country kid who came straight from the college ranks at Ole Miss, to take the city - and the league- by storm last season before suffering that devastating season-ending arm injury last July. He picked up right where he left off in the spring and flirted with a .400 batting average for much of this season. He epitomized hope for the long suffering Brooklyn fans and instantly became the face of the franchise, a Golden Boy who could do no wrong. However, the Philadelphia Keystones exposed some tarnish on that gold. Now, the question is whether or not that tarnish was just the case of a young player, who had never played as many as 80 games in a season before, getting worn down or did Philadelphia prove that he is not quite the player the faithful from Flatbush Avenue felt he was.

Next April will be very interesting in Brooklyn, but before that they have an entire off-season to deal with and who knows what that might bring. The Kings have never been afraid to pull the trigger on a deal so don't be surprised if they make some noise over the winter.
Attached Images
Image 
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-08-2019, 01:50 PM   #104
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
Why I like stats-only online leagues far more than ratings visible -part 27 (or thereabouts)

NOVEMBER 1927
As fun as the pennant race was (until the World Championship Series debacle) my favourite part of the Figment Online League is the off-season, specificaly the draft. I have said it before in this thread but it certainly is worth repeating. A stats-only league draft is just so much more fun than one in a league where you know the ratings. After the FABL I got the online league bug and joined a second OOTP league- called Modern Oldies which is historical and based in the 1930s. It has the same commissioner as the FABL and many of the same owners. Now, it's a fun league and I am enjoying it but the draft in it (or any other league with ratings visible) is just not comparable for me.

In the Modern Oldies draft my first round pick meant something and to a degree I got a decent player in the second and third rounds but beyond that, it really made very little difference who I drafted because we had a pretty good idea of everyone's potentials (scouts are on so not 100% accurate). However, in FABL every single one of my draft picks has the possibility of panning out because we only have their college/high school stats and a scouting report to go by. I suppose if you want it to be it's a lot more work then a draft with all the potentials laid out for you, but that also means you can get some pretty good players in later rounds and there is no guarantee your first rounder won't be a bust.

We are only heading into our third draft since human GMs took over in the league so still very early to judge prospects but here are some examples of the unpredictability of the draft.

I got Doug Lightbody, who just won the Continental Association MVP in his second season, with the 6th overall pick. Now it will probably go down as a very deep draft because 3 of the players picked ahead of him are already established big leaguers and I would say at least 2 are stars of almost the same magnitude as Lightbody. However, the first overall pick - unlike the other hitters in the top 6, was a high schooler by the name of Al Wheeler. He had some incredible power according to my scout and to be honest I had him #1 on my draft board - ahead of Lightbody. However, Wheeler has yet to play a big league game. He is 3 years younger than the others and has 35 homeruns in 200 minor league games so the potential is still there but right now he does not match up with the other picks. This is no knock on Detroit, as I had him #1 as well, but it shows the difference between high school and college guys plus the unpredictability of stats only.

In that same draft Toronto traded up to select pitcher Eddie Quinn second overall. Quinn has been a bust so far, getting only a brief look as high as AA and appearing overmatched in A ball. However, he was drafted out of high school and still may pan out but it is looking less and less likely that will happen. I have made it a point to try and avoid high school players, especially pitchers, as much as possible because of the unpredictability.

There were some nice steals in the draft - for all teams, but I will only talk about a few of my own. In the second round I had two picks thanks to trading down with Toronto and I took a college pitcher by the name of Bill Dengler, who made the Kings in mid-season and looks like he will become a solid part of my rotation at some point. However, I also got Dave Bristol, a high school 3B my scout was really high on. He hit .152 at Class A Omaha and further reinforces my plan to avoid high school players as much as possible in the future.

In the third I got Lynn Randall - a college outfielder who I converted to 1B. He tore up AAA this season, hitting .364 with 18 homers in 84 games and had a brief call-up to Brooklyn. I see him as my 1B of the near future.

Ray Hays is an example of a high school prospect that might pan out. Now 20 years old, I drafted the 2B in the 9th round and he his .349 while providing decent defense at Class B Tampa. He has great work ethic and my scout loves him. College player Bernie Carter was a 14th rounder who showed a bit of pop in his bat at AAA this season and catcher Dick Fleetwood was a 15th and final round pick who seems to have a pretty bright future. I did not have as much success with later round pitchers but 7th round pick Lyman Weigel had a decent year split between AA and AAA and could eventually help in my bullpen.

The point is that late round picks suddenly matter in a stats-only league, while they are basically meaningless in a ratings visible league. I greatly prefer the unpredictability and challenge (plus a lot of guess-work and a little luck) of stats only. It is in my mind the only way to play an online league. The downside is it requires a little more time and effort so you probably can't be in a half dozen leagues and do yourself justice in stats-only, but then again why would you want to be in a half dozen leagues unless you had the time to devote to each one.

The other downside is it sucks when a high draft pick doesn't pan out, but that's just like real life. My top pick this past draft looks like a bust. College pitcher Del Lyons was supposed to be a starter but my scout felt he lacked the stamina so he was exiled to the pen where he had a rough year in the minors. Now he was on some bad teams but he pitched poorly and to top it all off his attitude sucks. He thinks he should be playing in the majors when he can't yet handle AA hitters.

I was going to go in to a little more detail on how I prepare for the draft but I think this post went on long enough, so that will be in a future update.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-08-2019, 02:10 PM   #105
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
Kings take a pair of post-season awards.

LIGHTBODY WINS WHITNEY AWARD

A small consolation prize after his World Championship Series struggles as Doug Lightbody was recognized as the Continental Association's top player. The 23 year old outfielder led the majors with a .384 batting average while also topping the CA in on-base percentage and slugging percentage. In 138 games he hit had 198 hits including 19 doubles, 20 triples and 15 homeruns to go along with 98 rbi's and 113 runs scored. Lightbody got 14 of the 16 first place votes.

Cleveland's star shortstop Joe Standish was second with Philadelphia Sailors outfielder David Merchant, a two-time Whitney Award winner, coming in third. Standish and Merchant each received 1 first place vote. Brooklyn was also well represented on the ballot with 22 year old outfielder Ab Thomas finishing 5th in voting, 28 year old first baseman Lou Garman coming in 7th, 28 year old outfielder Bud Rogers finished 8th and 26 year old catcher Mickey Dowell ended up 11th in the voting. Also of note, veteran John Diblee of the Chicago Cougars, who won the first CA Whitney Award in 1911, capped off a great season at age 39 by finishing 4th in the voting.

The Kings made it a sweep of the awards as veteran Mose Smith was named the best pitcher. The 34 year old Kings ace finished the year with a 19-14 mark, logged 36 starts totalling 302 innings. He recieved 14 first place votes with runner up Bob Lawrence of Cleveland getting the other 2. Brooklyn's young lefthander Leon Campbell finished third while 20-game winner Cal Williams was 5th in the voting.

They were the first individual awards won a Brooklyn player. The pitching award, called the Allen Award, is named after the league's career wins leader Allan Allen. Double Al pitched for 3 teams from 1890-1909 and was 514-338 for his career. His son, Al Jr., made his big league debut this season for Montreal. The Whitney Award, for the league MVP, is named in honor of league founder William Whitney. You can read about the complete history of the Figment League here
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2019, 03:46 PM   #106
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
The draft is underway. The Kings picked 15th in the 16 team league and, while a little worried they took a pair of high schoolers in the first two rounds, we love the projections for our first two picks. To get both we feel is a huge coup as I was debating between 3 guys for my first pick as we got close to it. I got 2 of them and as we near my third round pick, the #3 guy on my list is still available. Fingers crossed.

Here is a recap of round 1 and 2



1927 FABL DRAFT
KINGS DRAFT UPDATE

The Brooklyn Kings were thrown for a loop when they guy they had their eyes on for 3 years was selected 4th overall by the Pittsburgh Miners. All the intel Brooklyn had was Frank Lightbody, the younger brother of Continental Association MVP Doug Lightbody, was projected to be a late second round or early third round pick. The Kings had already privately let the Lightbody clan know that the Mississippi A&M outfielder would be their guy in round one. Brooklyn even had sent Frank a Knoxville Knights jersey and cap as that was where the 21 year old was expected to begin his minor league career.

However, the Kings did not pick until 15th but with a deep outfield class they felt pretty good about getting their man. That is until Pittsburgh surprised us by grabbing Lightbody with the 4th pick, citing his solid numbers in college plus the obvious family pedigree. So the younger Lightbody was now a Miner and the Kings were left scrambling for a plan B. Enter a Milwaukee High Schooler by the name of Rabbit Mudd.

You might be remiss to call Mudd a plan B. OSI, the league's central scouting bureau, felt Mudd was a top 10 talent after the young shortstop hit .401 for the Maroons last season. He possibly projects as more of a second baseman than a shortstop at the big league level but it is his bat that has Rube Carter and the rest of the Kings scouting staff drooling. Mudd, who hit .350 for his 3 year high school career, projects to have the potential to hit close to that in the majors. He doesn't have a lot of power yet but scouts are confident that will come as he bulks up. The 18 year old is likely several seasons away from plying his trade at Kings County Ballpark but Brooklyn feels he can be star.


SECOND ROUND
The Kings have traditionally favoured college players over high school kids, especially under Tiger's Fan regime which is now in it's third draft. However, the Kings brain trust felt with their shortage of young pitching prospects that the opportunity to add Art Blake was too tempting to pass up. Blake was third in pitcher WaR in the Eastern High School ranks and among the ERA leaders as he compiled a 5-2, 1.82 season as an 18 year old for Asheville High School. His best pitch is his sinker but he has a solid arsenal of 4 decent pitches. He is an extreme groundball specialist who allowed just 1 homerun in his high school career and had a career WHIP of under 1.00 while averaging almost 10.0 K/9. All the numbers are through the roof including an ERA+ over 301 last season and 274 for his career. He is a high school arm though, and many things can happen along the way but right now the Kings feel he has the potential to be the ace of the staff in a few years.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2019, 12:48 PM   #107
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
KINGS ADD TWO MORE IN DRAFT

Brooklyn Kings head scout Rube Carter is extremely happy with the way the draft has gone for his club through their first four picks. On draft day every team is full of optimism and happy with their draft picks but the Kings are even more so, despite failing to get their number one objective in Doug Lightbody's younger brother Frank. Frank, from Mississippi A&M, was off the board well before the Kings first selection came at pick 15.

Brooklyn went for positions of need in rounds one and two, getting Milwaukee High School shortstop Rabbit Mudd in round 1 and Asheville High School pitcher Art Blake in the second round at picks 15 and 31 overall. Mudd was ranked in the top 10 players to watch by BNN and Blake was the second highest ranked pitcher on the Kings board. Brooklyn is very thin in young middle infield and pitching prospects but these two go a long ways towards addressing that issue.

With the 46th pick the Kings added power-hitting first baseman Nick Bennett from Ellery College in Rhode Island. In 50 games this past season for the Bruins, the 21 year old hit .308 with 12 homeruns. He projects to have plus talent at the plate and plenty of power. Bennett was rated 13th overall and the number 1 first baseman on Rube Carter's draft board.

The Kings next pick was the 4th one in the fourth round (52 overall) and came courtesy of a mid-season deal with Pittsburgh. Brooklyn got another player listed on the BNN top 10 to watch list by going back to Mississippi A&M and taking outfielder Loren Morgan. Morgan hit .327 with 16 homers in 50 games for the Generals and is another in the long list of outfielders to come out of the Jackson, Mississippi institution that includes current Kings Doug Lightbody and Clarence Hall and former King Jim Renfroe.

"I think it makes up for not getting Lightbody's brother," said Kings aging owner Malcolm Presley. "From what I am told this kid outplayed Lightbody and should have been the guy we were after instead."

In truth Morgan and the younger Lightbody put up very similar numbers with Lightbody having a slightly higher batting average and on-base percentage while Morgan had the better slugging numbers.

Those 4 picks were felt to be a real coup for the Kings as they were the four guys being debated about as candidates to be taken in the first round when Brooklyn's pick came up at #15 overall. To get all 4 of them is beyind the Kings wildest expectations for the draft. The FABL draft continues through the weekend.
Code:

BROOKLYN PICKS SO FAR
RD  PICK POS   NAME            AGE    SCHOOL
 1   15   SS  Rabbit Mudd	18    Milwauke High School
 2   15   P   Art Blake		18    Asheville High School
 3   15   1B  Nick Bennett	21    Ellery College Bruins
 4    4   OF  Loren Morgan	21    Mississippi A&M Generals
Attached Images
Image 
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2019, 04:08 PM   #108
mjj55409
All Star Starter
 
mjj55409's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,166
For the most part, Montreal hasn't missed out on any players that we really wanted. Except for one. I wished I had pushed Loren Morgan a little higher in my list.
__________________
FABL -- Chicago Chiefs
mjj55409 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2019, 02:03 PM   #109
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
1928

SPRING TRAINING 1928
UNFINISHED BUSINESS FOR KINGS

The Brooklyn Kings are defending Continental Association champions after winning a tightly contested pennant race last season. However, after flaming out in the World Championship Series it is clear the Kings will not be satisfied with anything less then a Series win this season. It will be much easier said then done for Brooklyn. Not only has the franchise never won a World Championship Series, they are 0-for-3, but even getting there will be a chore against a very competitve group of teams in the Continental Association.

The biggest positive for Brooklyn heading in to the 1928 campaign is they are finally fully healthy - at least to open camp. After a number of serious injuries to pitchers last season the Kings replaced their trainer and are hopeful the off-season regimen we lead to a much healthier staff then the one that played most of last season with Del Plummer and Topsy Moran.

Both Plummer and Moran are ready to go as camp begins but it appears that one of them will be moved to the bullpen along with 23 year old Bill Dengler, who made his Kings debut midway through last season, and closer Al Colby. More consistency will be the goal from the pen in general and the 34 year old Colby in particular, who had 10 saves in his first season in Brooklyn after a decade in the Federal Association with St Louis. Colby looked at exceptional at some points of the season but very ordinary at others.

He will be 35 before opening day but reigning Allen Award winner Mose Smith appears revitalized in Brooklyn. In a year and a half in a Kings uniform Smith is 29-20 and coming off a year when he led the Continental Association in innings pitched. 31 year old Cal Williams hopes to duplicate is 21 win season of a year ago and joins a pair of 26 year olds in Harvey Rodgers (13-6) and lefty Leon Campbell (17-13) in the rotation. Either the 32 year old Plummer, who was limited to just 1 appearance last year after an arm injury, or Moran, 27, who made just 6 appearances because of injury problems of his own, will be the fifth starter.

If injuries do strike the staff there are some arms in the minors including highly touted 23 year old righthander Lyman Weigel, who went 15-10 at two levels last season. Weigel doesn't seem to get a lot of respect in the league-wide prospect rankings but he is highly thought of by the Kings brass.

If the pitching staff can stay healthy it should be a big season for the Kings. Their offensive production has never been an issue and the young core of talent is for the most part just reaching it's prime. Any talk of Brooklyn's offense begins with Doug Lightbody. Just 24 years old, the sky appears to be the limit for the young outfielder who led the majors in batting with a .384 average and won his first of what could be many Whitney Awards. Add in 23 year old centerfielder Ab Thomas, who hitt .333 and stole 34 bases last season, along with the old man of the outfield in 29 year old Bud Rogers, who hit .335 and is just two years removed from a Continental Association batting title, and you have arguably the best outfield in the league. That is not even mentioning 28 year old Clarence Hall, who hit .395 in 245 plate appearances as the fourth outfielder or 30 year old Lou Cox, who lost his starting job to Thomas after leading the CA in stolen bases 3 of his 6 years in the league and posting a career .323 batting average.

Catching is solid with Mickey Dowell, a 27 year old Texan who hit .306 with 8 homers and 87 rbi's - and those numbers were down from what he accomplished the previous season. The Kings also have a very deep collection of catching prospects in the minors with none better than recent draft pick Mike Taylor out of Whitney College. Taylor is considered the best catching prospect in the game.

The infield will have some competition this year. 25 year old John Wilder, who hit .336 with 6 homers in 55 games after being acquired from Pittsburgh, will be the third baseman as veteran Glenn Mowles has been farmed out to Houston. 28 year old Lou Garman, who hit .320 with 7 homers, is expected to start at first base but he may be pressed for playing time from rookie Lynn Randall, should the 23 year old head north with the big club. The Kings are leaning towards giving Randall a full-season of AAA as they used the rule V draft to add 31 year old Ed Farella. Farella has never played a major league game but caught the Kings attention because of the 35 homers and .320 batting average he posted at AAA Indianapolis a year ago.

The middle infield will be some combination of Willie Jackson, Rip Agee, Lloyd Carter and Arnold Bower. Carter is now 31 years old and coming off the worst offensive season of his career when he hit .270. However, his defense at shortstop is outstanding so he is favoured to hold off the rookie Bower for at least one more year. Jackson hit .271 as a 25 year old rookie a year ago but the 26 year old Agee, while batting just .252, did provide a little better defense at second base and can also fill in nicely at shortstop.

The Kings feel they should be playing well into October again this season but the competition to get out of the Continental Association will be tough. Cleveland looks improved, Toronto is a strong club and both the Philadelphia Sailors and New York Stars are always tough. Chicago has made a number of changes as well and perhaps Montreal or Baltimore could do what the Foresters did a year ago in defying the odds to make a strong run at the pennant.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-21-2019, 03:11 PM   #110
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
Spring Training Update

KINGS CUT ROSTER DOWN IN PREPARATION FOR OPENING DAY

With a week remaining in spring training the Brooklyn Kings opening day roster is all but set. The Kings have cut down to the 15 position players they will take north when they depart their spring complex in Tampa at the end of the week. All that remains to do is reassign 1 pitcher to Houston following moves made today.

There will not be a lot of new faces in Brooklyn as the Kings prepare to defend their Continental Association title but highly touted rookie Lynn Randall has been told he will be on the team. The 23 year 1B-OF was a third round pick out of Bayou State in 1925 - the same draft that yielded Doug Lightbody and pitcher Bill Dengler. Randall had a brief 4 game appearance with the Kings last season but spent the bulk of the year at AAA Houston where he hit .364 with 18 homers in 84 games. Despite the gaudy numbers he has been all but ignored by BNN - having never cracked a top 100 prospects list. Randall will replace veteran Stan Bass as the backup first baseman and should see plenty of pinch-hitting opportunities.

The other newcomer will be veteran middle infielder Eddie Andrews, who was acquired from Pittsburgh during spring training. Andrews is a 34 year old former Whitney Award winner. His best years are clearly behind him but he did hit .291 with a Federal Association leading 45 doubles a year ago. He will be a backup behind 26 year old Willie Jackson, who hit .271 as a rookie last season.

With Randall and Andrews making the team it meant highly touted SS prospect Arnold Bower would have to start the season in Houston. Bower had challenged veteran Lloyd Carter for a starting role but the veteran had a strong spring to hold on to his job. Kings management felt Bower would be better served playing every day in Houston instead of sparingly in Brooklyn. The Kings also decided to part ways with Ed Farella. The 31 year old career minor leaguer was picked up from Baltimore in the Rule V draft but he failed to impress enough in camp to warrant a major league job so he was returned to the Cannons. Farella hit 35 homers in AAA a year ago but managed just 2 singles in 9 spring at bats with the Kings.

"We would have liked to keep Eddie," said Kings manager Wally Grant. "He's paid his dues and certainly deserves a shot in the big leagues, but we decided to go with Randall instead and just don't have a roster spot for him."

Perhaps the most surprising in a pretty predictable spring camp was Brooklyn's decision to send Bill Dengler down to Houston. Dengler went 3-6 with a solid 3.32 era since being called up in mid-season last year. However, with both Topsy Moran and Del Plummer healthy there was no room for Dengler in the Brooklyn rotation. Much like with Bower at shortstop, the Kings felt the 23 year old Dengler would be much better off being the number one starter in Houston instead of a mop-up guy in Brooklyn. Grant explained that Dengler would be the first call-up if one of the starters get hurt or struggle.

Brooklyn still has 9 pitchers in camp and will need to send one more down to Houston. With veterans Mose Smith, Del Plummer, Cal Williams along with younger stars Topsy Moran, Harvey Rodgers and Leon Campbell battling it out for 5 spots in the rotation and Al Colby seemingly set as the closer it will come down to veteran righthander Leon Thompson or rookie lefthander Jack Gunderson for the final bullpen spot. Being lefthanded gives Gunderson the edge and he has looked good in camp, but the 25 year old really struggled in Houston a year ago and the Kings are not sold on him. Thompson isn't fancy, but he is a consistent average big league reliever. A decision on the final roster spot is not expected until the Kings finish out their spring games this week.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-22-2019, 11:48 AM   #111
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
PITCHING CONCERNS AND INJURIES - AN OPENING DAY TRADITION IN BROOKLYN
For most of spring training it looked like the Brooklyn Kings were going have something they haven't seen for nearly two years - an empty disabled list. The pitching staff has been the main culprit as a number of arms, most notably veteran Del Plummer and Topsy Moran, have missed substantial time over the past couple of seasons. Not this spring as for a change everyone was healthy. At least until the final game of the pre-season when Al Colby, who had 10 saves and solidified the closer role since being picked up from St Louis a year ago, blew out his arm throwing a pitch in a meaningless game against the Chicago Cougars. The result is a torn tendon in his elbow that ends the season for the 34 year old righthander and sends the Kings scurrying to once again solve their bullpen, which has been the franchises achillies heel the past two seasons.

For now it looks like Cal Williams, who won 21 games a year ago as a starter, will be forced into the closer role with veteran Leon Thompson and rookie lefthander Jack Gunderson, who had been vying for the last roster spot, both coming north to round out the bullpen.

While the Kings pitching staff was healthy, it was certainly not effective this spring as they limped through to an 11-13 record, a far cry behind the front-running New York Stars and Philadelphia Sailors -each of whom went 16-8. Gunderson impressed out of the pen, but the 26 year old is an untested rookie with just 22 innings of FABL service under his belt. Topsy Moran and Harvey Rodgers each had a very strong spring but after those two there are plenty of reasons for concern about the rotation as well.

Let's start with Del Plummer. The 32 year old missed over a year with an arm injury and did not look sharp in spring training, posting a 5.54 era in 13 innings of work. He appears to be healthy but the big question is did the injury take something off his game. Is age catching up with 35 year old Mose Smith. Yes he won the Allan Award a year ago but Smith went 0-3 with a 4.95 era in spring and got beat up pretty good in 3 of his 5 starts. And what about lefthander Leon Campbell? The 26 year old was 17-13 a year ago but finished spring action with a 7.07 era and was shelled in each of his final two outings.

It really isn't Brooklyn Kings baseball without big question marks about the pitching staff and it appears even a Continental Association pennant is not enough to stop fans from worrying about the Kings pitching. Perhaps all the worry is for naught. We will find out tomorrow when the games start for real as the Kings welcome their rivals the New York Stars into Kings County ballpark for a 4 game set.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-24-2019, 01:10 PM   #112
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
APRIL 16, 1928
SLOW START FOR KINGS

In his preseason predictions, legendary baseball man Rufus Barrell pointed out the Kings lack of pitching may prevent them from challenging for a second straight Continental Association crown. Barrell's words look prophetic if the first series of the season is any indicition as the Kings dropped 3 of 4 at home to their hated rivals from New York. The fact that the Kings rebounded with an 8-5 win over hapless Baltimore on Sunday did little to quell the growing uneasiness that permeated Kings County Ballpark during the series with the Stars.

The series started off well enough when the Kings, perhaps motivated by BNN's prediction of a 6th place finish for the squad, rapped out 17 hits including 3 each from Doug Lightbody and Ab Thomas as Opening Day turned in to a party with a 13-4 drubbing of the Stars. That was where the celebrations ended as the Kings would score just 9 times in the next 3 days and fell to the villains from New York each time. First it was Topsy Moran, who got tagged for 3 runs early and ended up allowing 5 earned runs on 10 hits in Thursday's 5-2 loss. Friday was a game Brooklyn should have won had the bullpen not let it get away. Many were left questioning manager Wally Grant's decision to take the ball from starter Harvey Rodgers after Rodgers walked the lead-off man with the Kings up 4-2 in the 7th inning. Leon Thompson blew the save and allowed the Stars to take the lead but Brooklyn rallied to tie only to see newly anointed closer Cal Williams give the game back to New York in the 9th inning. On Saturday the would be managers in the stands had another field day but this time they were speculating Grant left his starter in too long as Del Plummer, who missed nearly all of last season with arm troubles, started with 5 scoreless innings but tired late and New York got to him for 4 runs and a 4-2 victory. All that proved is Grant, who took over from the wildly popular Powell Slocum when the team was struggling last year, will be second guessed every step of the way.

The offense got going again with an 8-5 win over Baltimore yesterday but it meant much less to the Kings fans than the previous series for two reasons. One- the Cannons are 0-5 although 3 of those losses were by 1 run, but more importantly 2- it wasn't a win over New York. Games against the Stars just mean so much more to fans in Brooklyn especially considering the mighty Stars are favoured to resume their dynasty with another pennant. New York had won 3 straight Continental Association titles bookended by a pair of Brooklyn championships.

The Kings plan no roster shakeups yet despite the slow start. It is after all just 5 of 154 games but this opening week did nothing to dispel the fears that Brooklyn's pitching just can't cut the mustard. Critics say Mose Smith, fresh off an Allan Award, is suddenly too old at age 35. Smith had a rough spring and gave up 4 runs to New York in the opener but he did get the win. Leon Campbell also had a poor spring but, like Smith, he also got a victory. The starters are less of a concern than what to do with the bullpen. The Brooklyn pen has been a graveyard where careers go to die for years but the loss of Al Colby, who did a decent job a year ago, for the season has left the pen in turmoil once again. The hope is Cal Williams, who won 21 games as a starter last season but is the odd-man out with Moran and Plummer healthy this year, can step up and do the job but the reality is he is 0-for-1 so far and Brooklyn has had a notoriously bad time finding a closer (see Dick Dover, Bob Brown, Karl Mallek and Buck Blood).

It doesn't get any easier this week as after entertaining Baltimore for 3 more games the Kings play 5 of their next 6 against the New York Stars, with only a 1 day visit from suddenly relevant Montreal to interrupt that stretch.

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENTS- Doug Lightbody is off to his usual quick start, going 7 for 17 to start the season. Catcher Mickey Dowell and 2B Willie Jackson are tied for the FABL RBI lead with 8 each while OF Bud Rogers is hitting .474 to start the season....AAA catcher Mike Taylor continues his unbelievable rise. The 21 year old was an 8th round draft pick but earned a spot in AAA to start the season and leads the Century League with 6 homers and 13 rbi's in 10 games while batting .400. If he keeps it up it's just a matter of time before he finds his way to Brooklyn.....Art Carlson may be a candidate for the Kings bullpen as he has thrown 15 1/3 shutout innings to start the season at Houston. Harry Schab, the former Toronto Wolve, is also off to a good start and may be a candidate for promotion should bullpen changes be warranted in Brooklyn....Further down the chain the Kings are very happy with the start of 3 recent draft picks at Class B Tampa. 1926 fourth rounder Frank Parsons and a pair of 1927 picks in high schooler Art Blake and collegian Dave Rankin had looked good. The biggest surprise is 20 year old 3B Dave Bristol may finally be showing the skills that had the Kings select him in the second round of the 1925 draft. Bristol is hitting .486 in the early going for Tampa.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-25-2019, 06:48 PM   #113
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
APRIL 23, 1928

"We are okay as long as we don't play the Stars," Brooklyn Kings owner Malcolm Presley lamented Saturday following yet another loss to their borough rivals from New York. The Brooklyn Kings suffered through another mediocre week going 4-3 with all 3 defeats coming at the hands of the New York Stars. Two weeks into the season the defending Continental Association champions sit mid-table with a 6-6 record but all 6 defeats have come to the Stars.

Brooklyn began the week with 3 more victories over the struggling Baltimore Cannons, a team which has yet to win a game and has suffered 10 straight defeats. The Kings ended the week with an impressive 7-3 victory over Montreal as Topsy Moran improved to 2-1 on the season with a strong outing. However, it is the 3 games in between that will eat at the Kings and their fan base as, a week after the Stars took 3 of 4 at Kings County Ballpark to start the season, the New Yorkers swept a 3 game set at Riverside Stadium.

The problems began Thursday as Del Plummer dropped his second straight start to the Kings. Plummer pitched well enough for the win but made a mistake in the bottom of the seventh inning to Stars rookie centerfielder Mike Mason, which the 23 year old jumped on and belted into the right field stands for a 3-run homer that proved the difference in a 4-3 New York win. The Kings out hit the Stars 10-6 in the game and each side drew 4 walks but it was Brooklyn's inability to cash in with the key hit - something Kings fans recall happened all too often in the World Championship Series last fall as well - that doomed the club to defeat.

On Friday New York jumped on Mose Smith early and cruised to a 6-2 victory. The 35 year old Smith, who was the league's top pitcher a year ago, continues to struggle in the early going. He has pitched 3 complete games and is 2-1 but Smith has been victimized for 38 hits in his 26 innings of work after allowing less than a hit per inning a year ago.

In the series finale Saturday, Leon Campbell gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the first inning and, although he went the distance, took the loss 7-5 ruining a 3-hit game from outfielder Doug Lightbody. Campbell, who was so good his first 3 seasons as a King, has looked rusty since spring training began. He has allowed 3 homeruns in 2 starts after allowing just 11 in 31 starts a year ago.



It is perhaps too early to panic but the Kings are already 4 games off the pace set by the Cleveland Foresters and there are indications that the pitching woes, thought in early spring to be a thing of the past with everyone healthy, may be back and more serious than ever. The Kings have likely had more than their share of the New York Stars but the Stars are back to haunt Brooklyn pitching again this week as 3 of the Kings next 6 games are against New York with the other 3 in Baltimore where you have to think sooner or later the Cannons are going to break out of their slump.



MINOR LEAGUE NOTES - Mike Taylor continues to tear it up at AAA Houston. The 21 year old catcher, an 8th round pick in the most recent draft but now ranked the #5 prospect in the game, hit 2 more homers last week and is now batting .417 with 8 homers and 24 rbi's. Taylor leads the Century League by a wide margin in both homers and rbi's and is fourth in batting average. Another strong week and I will likely call him up to Brooklyn even though my catcher Mickey Dowell is hitting .350 with 10 rbi's through 12 games.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-28-2019, 01:26 PM   #114
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
April 30, 1928

Monday April 30, 1928
KINGS FINALLY SOLVE STARS

After dropping 6 of 7 games to the rival New York Stars earlier this month, the Brooklyn Kings got a measure of revenge this week as they went 3-0 against New York and 5-1 overall in their best week so far in this young season. That improves Brooklyn's record on the year to 11-7, but the Kings remain in 4th place in the Continental Association 4.5 games back of the Cleveland Foresters.



The week started with back to back home wins over the Stars with Brooklyn winning by scores of 8-4 and 5-4. Harvey Rodgers improved to 2-0 on the season with a complete game in the opener as catcher Mickey Dowell (.373,0,16) went 2-for-2 with 3 walks to help pace the offense. On Wednesday, Brooklyn gave up a 4-1 lead as starter Del Plummer (0-2, 4.15) allowed the Stars to plate 1 in the 8th and a pair in the 9th to send the games into extras, but Dowell was the hero with a run scoring triple in the bottom of the 10th to make a winner out of Cal Williams, who pitched a scoreless top half of the inning to earn his first win out of the pen.

The Kings then moved on to Baltimore for 3 games against the struggling Cannons. Baltimore got it's first and so far only win of the season with a 6-1 victory over Mose Smith (2-2, 4.50) in the series opener but Leon Campbell (2-1, 3.46) responded for the Kings the next day with his best outing of the season, a 4-hit shutout in a 6-0 victory keyed by 2 hits and 3 rbi's for 1B Lou Garman (.308,0,12) and a pair of hits and 2 rbi's from second sacker Willie Jackson (.276,2,16). OF Bud Rogers (.421,2,8) continued his hot start to the year in the series finale, getting 3 hits as Brooklyn blasted Baltimore 10-4 with Topsy Moran improving to 3-1 with a complete game victory.

The week ended with a 10-6 win over the Stars at home as Brooklyn pounded out 17 hits including 3 each from Bud Rogers and Doug Lightbody (.357,0,8) as well as a pair of homers from Willie Jackson. Harvey Rodgers was overly effective on the mound but did enough to run his record to 3-0.

The Kings head north of the border for a stretch that begins an 18 game road trip. Stops next week are in Montreal against the surprising Saints for 3 before finishing the week with a 4 game set at Toronto.

ROSTER UPDATE
I have kept the same roster since opening day and while I am very close to calling up Mike Taylor from AAA Houston and giving Lynn Randall some starts at first base I won't make any changes this sim after the strong week we had. Offense is coming around and while our pitching, particularly veterans Mose Smith and Del Plummer, has struggled we did get some solid outings from Campbell and Moran plus Williams had a good inning out of the pen - something we have sorely lacked over the years.

As for Mike Taylor, he had what by his recent standards is an off week at AAA Houston. Taylor went 10-for-25 (.400) with a double and 2 triples but no homers. On the season he is hitting .412 with 8 homers and 25 rbi's after 22 games. Randall, who had a huge half year in Houston last season and made the team as a backup this year, hit his first career big league homerun last week. He has started just 1 game at first base in place of Lou Garman (.308,0,12) and is 3-for-8 (.375) with a pair of rbi's on the season. I do want to see what he can do as an everyday player but will wait one more week, although Garman hit just .227 last week but had some clutch hits as he drove in 5 runs.

A couple of other names to be aware of done in Houston are pitchers Joe Blansit and Art Carlson. Carlson, a 27 year old lefthander has had a cup of coffee or two in Brooklyn before, but is looking very good to start the season at 2-0 with a 2.28 era and a 160 ERA+ in 4 starts for the Bulls. Blansit is just 22 but has been in the system it seems like forever - he was a minor league signing in 1925 after being released by the New York Stars twice. This is his first taste of AAA and he is off to a 3-1 start with a 2.48 era and 147 ERA+ so he has gone from being what I consider a spare part to a key prospect for us after two very weak seasons in A and AA.
Attached Images
Image 
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2019, 01:33 PM   #115
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
May 7, 1928
SOLID START TO KINGS ROAD TRIP

The Brooklyn Kings got off to a strong start on their first extended road swing of the season. Brooklyn began it's 18 game tour of 5 Continental Association cities by taking 4 of 6 games in Canada. The week began with 3 straight wins over the previously very hot Montreal Saints but ended on a down note as they won just 1 of 3 in Toronto. Brooklyn can salvage a split of the Toronto series as it wraps up today before the Kings move on to Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland.

The starting pitching was very good against Montreal as the Kings outscored the Saints 16-3. Del Plummer started it off by getting his first win of the season, beating his former team 8-1 while allowing just 5 hits with the only run being unearned. The next day the other veteran of the staff, Mose Smith, tossed a 7-hit shutout in his best outing of the season. If Smith and Plummer can get untracked it will be a huge bonus for the Kings. The Montreal series ended with a 5-2 win behind another complete game, this one a 6-hit performance by Topsy Moran who improved to 4-1 on the season.

Kings skipper Wally Grant has shown he has a very slow hook for his starting pitchers and that has proved wise on some occasions but not in the opener of the 4 game set with Toronto. Leon Campbell was cruising along as the Kings led the Wolves 4-1 heading into the bottom of the 8th when the young lefthander seemed to tire quickly. He walked the first 3 batters he faced to load the bases before striking out Aaron Edwards. Grant, perhaps encouraged by the strikeout, left Campbell in but he would not be able to do the job. 4 hits, including a pair of the extra base variety and a walk later Campbell's day came to a close with the Kings suddenly trailing 7-4. Leon Thompson came out of the pen to get the Kings out of further trouble but the damage was done and while Brooklyn scored once in the top of the ninth that was as close as they could get.

I don't know if I can fault Grant for his reluctance to go to the pen as it has been very inconsistent to say the least over the past couple of seasons.

Brooklyn sent a message to Toronto the next day, scoring 5 times in the first inning en route to a 14-0 pounding of the Wolves with catcher Mickey Dowell (.402,0,24), who is having a great start to the season, leading the way with 3 hits and 5 rbi's. Harvey Rodgers got the win against his former team to improve to 4-0 on the season. The week ended with a 5-4 loss Sunday as Del Plummer (1-3) did not have his best stuff.

KINGS NOTES - Despite our minor league system being ranked 14th out of the 16 teams in the FABL, we have some players off to pretty good starts this season and a number of them earned some hardware. Let's start with the Baby Kings in Tampa where 22 year old 1B Eddie Kellow (.434,10,30) was named the Southeastern League's player of the month for April and the player of the week for the first week of May - which was the second time he has won that award this season.

At Class A Omaha 21 year old second baseman Elmer Root (.363,2,19) has a 20 game hitting streak on the go. Root's teammate, 24 year old righthander Pete Libby (5-1, 2.79) was named the pitcher of the month in the Heartland League while 21 year old outfielder Roy Meagher (.375,2,28) earned top hitter accolades for April.

I have talked quite a bit about recently drafted catcher Mike Taylor. The 21 year old 8th round selection out of Whitney College was named the player of the month for April in the AAA Century League after hitting .406 with 8 homers and 25 rbi's. He will be in Brooklyn soon but with Mickey Dowell playing so well I have no where to put Taylor in the lineup right now.

I am going to give another top prospect some playing time next week. With first baseman Lou Garman (.287,0,17) slumping a bit the past couple of weeks I have instructed Wally Grant to insert Lynn Randall in the starting lineup at first base. Randall is batting .300 with a homer and 2 rbi's primarily as a pinch-hitter. That will be the only roster move at the big league level for this week.
Attached Images
Image 
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2019, 01:27 PM   #116
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
May 14, 1928

Not a great week for the Kings as our 18 game road trip continued. We went 3-3 on the week and are 7-5 so far on the trip with Philadelphia and Cleveland being our final destinations before we return home to Kings County Ballpark. On the season we are 18-12 and tied for second in the Continental Association with the New York Stars, 3.5 games back of front running Cleveland, which makes our upcoming 3 game series with the Foresters so important. Cleveland has dropped 3 of their last five including the opener of their 3 game set with the Stars yesterday.

The Kings week started with a 6-3 victory over Toronto on Monday as we salvaged a split of the 4 games with the Wolves. Mose Smith had a strong game to improve his record to 4-2 on the season while Ab Thomas (.383,0,12) , Doug Lightbody (.359,0,17) and Lloyd Carter (.304,1,20) each had 2 hit games and yound second baseman Willie Jackson hit his third homer of the season. From there we went to Chicago but looked worn out from the long train ride as we were hammered in the first 3 games before winning the final game of the series 6-3. Our pitching was especially bad in Chicago as Topsy Moran (4-2, 3.83), Harvey Rodgers (4-1, 4.50) and Leon Campbell (2-3, 6.39) each had bad starts. For Campbell that start, in which he was tagged for 10 runs and 15 hits in 4 and a third innings, will be his last for a while. He has been moved to the bullpen in favour of Cal Williams, who won 21 games a year ago.

We did finish the week with a pair of wins. Mose Smith had his third consecutive strong start as we beat the Cougars 6-3 in 11 innings. Thomas and Lightbody each had 4 hits in the game but the hero was 3B John Wilder (.276,2,20) who hit a 2-run double in the 11th inning to break the tie. Then it was an all-nighter on the train back east to Philadelphia, where Del Plummer - who was sent ahead a day early, looked very sharp in throwing complete game 5 hitter as the Kings won 2-1. Lynn Randall (.188,1,3), the rookie first baseman who struggled much of the week delivered a key rbi single that proved the difference in the game. Randall was close to going back to the bench but that hit will give him one more week in the starting lineup.

The Kings made one change on their 23 man active roster as they exchanged veteran third baseman with Houston. 35 year old Glenn Mowles, a veteran of 867 career games in a Kings uniform was recalled from Houston after hitting .314 with 2 homers to start the season at AAA. 32 year old Fred Welsch, who was hitting just .167 after a poor season last year, was demoted. Welsch, who was acquired from Montreal in the deal that brought Del Plummer to Brooklyn 2 seasons ago, has played 545 games in FABL and is a .281 career hitter.


KINGS NOTES - Brooklyn picked up veteran pitcher Bert Richards off the waiver wire and assigned the 30 year old former New York Star to AAA Houston. Richards has looked very good at AAA Los Angeles for the past 4 seasons but struggled in a brief tryout with the Stars this season with the Kings hitting him pretty good in 3 appearances. Kings scout Rube Carter likes Richards minor league numbers and with a couple of open spots on the 40-man roster the club felt it was worth taking a shot on the veteran as he can be a depth piece.

The final open spot on the 40-man is being reserved for AAA catcher Mike Taylor. While the 21 year old has not homered yet in May after getting 8 dingers in April, he is still batting .394 on the season including going 8-for-23 (.348) last week which based on his earlier numbers constitutes a slump for him. Taylor, who turns 22 next week, is expected to be called up at some point this season but playing time will be an issue with Kings starting catcher Mickey Dowell (.394,0,27) enjoying another fantastic start to his season.

The Kings organization made a couple of other roster moves including releasing veteran 1B Stan Bass. The 32 year old had played 338 FABL games and was a .317 hitter but he struggled in a backup role in Brooklyn last season and was not impressive at AAA Houston so he was granted his release to make room for other first basemen to move up the chain including promoting 22 year old Gus Powell from AA Knoxville, where he was batting .303 with 7 homers, to Houston and 22 year old Eddie Kellow, who was player of the month in the Southeastern League where he was batting .409 and leading the SEL in homers (11) and rbi's (38), from Tampa to Class A Omaha.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2019, 02:09 PM   #117
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
MAY 21, 1928
KINGS SWEEP CLEVELAND TO END ROAD TRIP

The week started poorly for the Brooklyn Kings as they dropped 3 games in Philadelphia but they more than made up for it with a 3-game sweep of Cleveland to finish their 18 game road trip and then put a cherry on top with a 5-4 victory over the New York Stars in a return to Kings County Park yesterday. The win over New York was especially sweet as it snapped a 6 game winning streak for the Stars, who had taken over top spot in the Continental Association from the Foresters.

Brooklyn went 10-8 on it's road swing, which was bookended by a pair of home victories over the New York Stars. The Kings are now 1.5 games out of first place.



The Philadelphia series to open the week started with a crushing 6-5 loss in 11 innings. Brooklyn rallied with a pair of runs in the 7th to tie the game and took the lead in the top of the 11th on a pinch-hit homerun from Lou Garman but Jack Gunderson couldn't hold the lead and Philadelphia won 6-5. Topsy Moran got beat up the next night losing 7-0 in his second straight bad outing and while Mose Smith pitched well in the series finale, he received little support from the offense in a 3-1 defeat.

The bats got going in Cleveland the next day as Cal Williams, making his first start since being moved from the pen to the rotation, got much more run support than he needed in a 9-1 victory. Friday's game saw the Kings go to extra innings for the second time this week but this one had a much better outcome for Brooklyn. Trailing 4-1 in the ninth the Kings rallied to tie the game and then won it in the 12th when Ab Thomas drove in what would prove to be the game winner. Gunderson made up for earlier in the week by getting his first career FABL win with 2 scoreless innings. Saturday was a laugher as Brooklyn won 14-4 behind 5 hits and 5 rbi's from 2B Willie Jackson and a solid effort from Harvey Rodgers on the mound.

Sunday's game with New York was a wild one in front of 15,008 fans at Kings County Park. Brooklyn looked to have given the game away when New York scored 3 times in the top of the ninth to go up 4-2 but the Kings rallied with 3 of their own in the bottom half including Doug Lightbody's game winning single to plate the winner.

ROSTER MOVES - I am going to move Lynn Randall back to a reserve role after 2 weeks of starting at first base. The 23 year old rookie had a decent week to raise his average to .230 but Lou Garman (.287,1,20) clearly belongs in the starting lineup.

The Eddie Andrews experiment is over. The 34 year old middle infielder, who was acquired from Pittsburgh for a late round pick this spring, is now 0-for-12 on the season so he is going to Houston where he will play his first minor league game since 1916, a span during which he played 1179 career FABL games. Rookie shortstop Arnold Bower gets the promotion and will make his major league debut. I would have pulled the trigger earlier as Bower is considered the future at shortstop in Brooklyn, but the 24 year old New York native struggled early in the season with the Bulls so I wanted him to be successful there before I promoted him. He hit .381 with 5 rbi's last week to raise his season average to .262 so Bower gets the call.

I don't know how much longer I can wait before promoting Mike Taylor to the 40-man and active rosters. Taylor had 2 more homers last week and hit .440 to win Century League player of the week. The now 22 year old catcher (his birthday was last week and he celebrated with a 2-for-4 game with an rbi in a 3-0 win) is leading the Century League in batting average (.401) and homers (10) while second in rbi's (34). I just don't have a spot to play him as Mickey Dowell (.344,1,33) is not giving up the catcher duties so if he comes up it will be almost exclusively to pinch-hit. I have considered offering him up for trade but my scout believes he has the potential to be a superstar in the league. So as a solution I have made the difficult decision to try Taylor at first base. I hate to take him out of a key skill position like catcher but if he can learn first base in Houston I can bring him up and get him some at bats.

That decision also allows me to redistribute my glut of catching prospects. Tom Aiello, the 21 year old who was hitting .317 in AA Knoxville, will come up to Houston and be the starter which allows 24 year old Bill Smith (.270,3,17), who was splitting the time with Aiello, to play everyday in Knoxville. I did move Dick Fleetwood, a 23 year old who was ripping the ball in Omaha (.353,1,19) to come up to Knoxville and spell Smith a bit. That move frees up playing time for 22 year old Brooklyn native Bill Caines in Omaha. Caines hit .331 with 8 homers in 73 games at Class B Tampa in his first pro season a year ago, but I had no where to put him until now. 20 year old Jim Schaffer, who is batting .365, will remain the starting catcher in Tampa but I will need to sign a minor league free agent to be his backup.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2019, 02:56 PM   #118
BadluckinOOTP
All Star Starter
 
BadluckinOOTP's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: OKC
Posts: 1,534
To add to your bounty of catching prospects, your former farmhand, Jim Pool is considered a top 100 prospect by BNN and has shown some solid ability as he's already made it AAA St. Paul in the Miners system.
__________________
BadluckinOOTP is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2019, 03:50 PM   #119
mjj55409
All Star Starter
 
mjj55409's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,166
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Fan View Post
So as a solution I have made the difficult decision to try Taylor at first base. I hate to take him out of a key skill position like catcher but if he can learn first base in Houston I can bring him up and get him some at bats.
Good call. I'd almost rather have a hitter of Taylor's talents not be a catcher. There is perhaps a higher likelihood of a longer career elsewhere on the diamond.
__________________
FABL -- Chicago Chiefs
mjj55409 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2019, 04:12 PM   #120
Tiger Fan
Hall Of Famer
 
Tiger Fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,518
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjj55409 View Post
Good call. I'd almost rather have a hitter of Taylor's talents not be a catcher. There is perhaps a higher likelihood of a longer career elsewhere on the diamond.
The only downside there is now I don’t know what to do with Lynn Randall. He was originally an OF that I moved to first to get him a shot at majors as I am pretty set in the OF. But I suppose that is a great problem to have...seemingly too many good prospects.
Tiger Fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:50 AM.

 

Major League and Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com and MiLB.com.

Officially Licensed Product – MLB Players, Inc.

Out of the Park Baseball is a registered trademark of Out of the Park Developments GmbH & Co. KG

Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc.

Apple, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

COPYRIGHT © 2023 OUT OF THE PARK DEVELOPMENTS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

 

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.10
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright © 2020 Out of the Park Developments