Historic From 1946 to ........

[statman]

1974

Phillies cruise past the Cubs to win the NL East by 6. Dodgers dominate the West win by 16 games. In the AL the Red Sox win 114 games win the AL East by 26 games. The AL West is much more interesting as the A's and Twins tie for the division title. The A's win the 1 game playoff to advance to the League Championship Series.

The A's Vida Blue beats Boston twice to win the series in 5. Sandy Koufax throws a 3 hit, 11 strikeout performance in game 5 for a 1-0 win and the Dodgers advance to the World Series vs the A's.

The Dodgers win back to back World Series and their 8th overall. Dodgers 1B Steve Garvey is the Series MVP.

AL MVP and CY Young Award
Minnesota's Bert Blyleven duplicates last years magic and wins both Awards again. 22-6 ERA 2.21
AL ROY Detroit's Ron Leflore .345/9/45 and 68 SB's

NL MVP and Cy Young
Koufax duplicates 1972's performance and wins both Awards. At age 38 he records his lowest ERA at 1.48 a 17-7 record and 267 strikeouts.
NL ROY Montreal Expos Warren Cromartie.311/6/64

One no-hitter in 1974, Reds 23 year old lefty Don Gullett no-hits the Padres.

Juan Marichal and Jim Kaat both get career win #250

The Chicago Cubs LF Billy Williams gets hit #3,000 on Sept. 25th. Sweet swinging Billy has played 17 seasons with the Cubs.

Willie Mays, Frank Robinson and Roberto Clemente announce their retirement from baseball. (Mays will have a tribute thread following this season.

No Hall of Fame Inductees in 1974

[statman]

Hank Aaron retired in 1972 and Willie Mays in 1974, two of the games greatest stars. This is a thread dedicated to their achievements.

Home Runs
Mays #2 All Time 651 Aaron #4 with 609

Hits
Aaron #3 - 3,576 Mays #5 - 3,460

Games
Mays #1 - 3,166 Aaron #4 - 3,028

At Bats
Mays #1 - 11,684 Aaron #2 - 11,671

Total Bases
Mays #1 - 6,139 Aaron #2 - 6,069

Mays
17 Time All Star
2 MVP's
Rookie of the Year
9 Gold Gloves
11 Grand Slams
17 Walk off Home Runs
Highest Salary 1973 - $272,744

Aaron
14 Time All Star
1 MVP
1 World Series MVP
3 Gold Gloves
7 Grand Slams
17 Walk off Home Runs
Highest Salary 1967 - $228,246

[statman]

1975

The Dodgers are the only repeat division winner as they win the NL West by 6 over SF. St. Louis wins a league high 105 games and cruise to a NL East title. The Twins and A's battle it out in the West again, this time Minnesota comes out on top by 2 games. The Orioles take the East by 11 over the Red Sox.

Both the Cardinals and Twins sweep in the League Championship Series. The Twins capture their 2nd World Series win in 4 seasons winning it in 5 games. Rod Carew is the Series MVP hitting .450 in the 5 games.

AL MVP and Cy Young Awards
Bert Blyleven continues his American League dominance as he wins his 3rd straight MVP and Cy Young Awards, the first time in history both Awards have been won in 3 straight seasons. 24-4 record, 2.51 ERA. At only 24 years old he already has the 3 Awards and 133 Major League wins, outstanding.

AL ROY Tigers OF Jason Thompson hits .318 and a AL league high in HR's 39 and RBI's 24.

NL MVP and CY young Award
Not to be outdone Sandy Koufax age 39 wins both Awards for the 4th time, the only pitcher to do so. 18-10, ERA 2.11 and he becomes the 1st pitcher ever to record over 5,000 strikeouts in a career, currently 5,192.

NL ROY Cardinals Ken Oberkfell hits .322 with 4 HR's, 47 RBI's

Nolan Ryan sets the single game strikeout record as he fans 19 Reds on May 11, 1975.

2 No no's in 1975
A's Steve Renko throws one against Baltimore
Cardinals Eric Rasmussen no-hits the Astros

Brewers OF Sixto Lexcano hits in 32 straight games

Angels Dave LaRoche and Orioles Daniel Yaccarino becomes baseballs first closer to get 40 saves in a season. A's Rollie Fingers also bested the previous record by getting 35.

3 of the greats of the game are elected to the Hall
Dodgers Pitcher Don Drysdale had 202 wins, 1 MVP and 2 Cy Young Awards and a 6 time All Star. An elbow injury cut his career short retiring at the age of 34.
Mr. Cub Ernie Banks 445 HR's in his 18 years with the Cubs. ROY, 2 MVP Awards, 6 Gold Gloves and a 10 time All Star
Mickey Mantle becomes the first player unanimously selected to the Hall of Fame getting 100% of all votes. His tribute thread 5 post previous shows why he might be the best of All Time.

[Sowega]

Originally Posted by statman

1975

The Dodgers are the only repeat division winner as they win the NL West by 6 over SF. St. Louis wins a league high 105 games and cruise to a NL East title. The Twins and A's battle it out in the West again, this time Minnesota comes out on top by 2 games. The Orioles take the East by 11 over the Red Sox.

Both the Cardinals and Twins sweep in the League Championship Series. The Twins capture their 2nd World Series win in 4 seasons winning it in 5 games. Rod Carew is the Series MVP hitting .450 in the 5 games.

AL MVP and Cy Young Awards
Bert Blyleven continues his American League dominance as he wins his 3rd straight MVP and Cy Young Awards, the first time in history both Awards have been won in 3 straight seasons. 24-4 record, 2.51 ERA. At only 24 years old he already has the 3 Awards and 133 Major League wins, outstanding.

AL ROY Tigers OF Jason Thompson hits .318 and a AL league high in HR's 39 and RBI's 24.

NL MVP and CY young Award
Not to be outdone Sandy Koufax age 39 wins both Awards for the 4th time, the only pitcher to do so. 18-10, ERA 2.11 and he becomes the 1st pitcher ever to record over 5,000 strikeouts in a career, currently 5,192.

NL ROY Cardinals Ken Oberkfell hits .322 with 4 HR's, 47 RBI's

Nolan Ryan sets the single game strikeout record as he fans 19 Reds on May 11, 1975.

2 No no's in 1975
A's Steve Renko throws one against Baltimore
Cardinals Eric Rasmussen no-hits the Astros

Brewers OF Sixto Lexcano hits in 32 straight games

Angels Dave LaRoche and Orioles Daniel Yaccarino becomes baseballs first closer to get 40 saves in a season. A's Rollie Fingers also bested the previous record by getting 35.

3 of the greats of the game are elected to the Hall
Dodgers Pitcher Don Drysdale had 202 wins, 1 MVP and 2 Cy Young Awards and a 6 time All Star. An elbow injury cut his career short retiring at the age of 34.
Mr. Cub Ernie Banks 445 HR's in his 18 years with the Cubs. ROY, 2 MVP Awards, 6 Gold Gloves and a 10 time All Star
Mickey Mantle becomes the first player unanimously selected to the Hall of Fame getting 100% of all votes. His tribute thread 5 post previous shows why he might be the best of All Time.

Great thread! Are you using recalc or Development? And saw where trades allowed, what about free agency now that you entered that era? Are you using historical transactions or lineup, or leave it up to AI GMs?


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[Sowega]

Never mind, saw the answer above...will be interested to see change in teams as free agency heats up.

Did Nolan Ryan stay with Mets, and is he winning more games if he’s not stuck on Angels?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[statman]

Originally Posted by Sowega

Never mind, saw the answer above...will be interested to see change in teams as free agency heats up.

Did Nolan Ryan stay with Mets, and is he winning more games if he’s not stuck on Angels?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Ryan career will be interesting. Very little trading going on, at least with big names. Killebrew was traded a few times, but not too many others. If you haven't checked Sandy Koufax, his career has been the most interesting to me. Since he retired early in real life, he has now played until age 39 and might end up being the best of all time.

Thanks for the feedback I had a busy week so didn't sim much, but will get it going again this week.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by statman

...Sandy Koufax, his career has been the most interesting to me. Since he retired early in real life, he has now played until age 39 and might end up being the best of all time.

I, too, have found that Sandy's career is often long and exceptional when I play with RAH off... I hope when he retires in your sim you will post his detailed stats

[statman]

1976

After a little vacation and some time off the sim continues....

The division races were not that exciting as the Cardinals and Giants both win their divisions by more than 10 games as did the A's in the AL West. The Orioles got past Boston by 3 games to win the East.

Both the Orioles and the Cardinals sweep to set up the 1976 World Series. The Orioles win it in 5 as they win their first World Series since 1962, 3B Enos Cabell was the Series MVP.

AL MVP Boston's Jim Rice .353/29/10 in his 2nd Major League season.
AL Cy Young Vida Blue wins his 3rd Cy Young last won in 1970 and 71. 22-8 with a 2.44 ERA
AL ROY Angels CF Kenny Landreaux .296/9/75

NL MVP SF pitcher Ron Guidry 18-10 ERA 2.02 with 220 K's. Guidry was traded a couple times while in the minor leagues. In 1974 he was traded by the Yankees to the Pirates and then traded to the Giants prior to the 1975 season. He made 24 relief appearances for the Giants in 1975.
NL Cy Young winner is pretty amazing as 40 year old Sandy Koufax goes 15-9 with a 1.90 ERA. His 234 strikeouts raise his career ML record to 5,426. He also won his 350th ML game of his legendary career.
NL ROY Montreal's Ellis Valentine .305/16/54

Two pretty good ones throw no-hitters in 1976. Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan. Carlton also won his 200th ML game and maybe had one of the best seasons not winning a Cy Young 25-6 ERA 2.23.

Rollie Fingers shatters the single season save record with 46.
Nolan Ryan in his 12th season with the Mets has the best hits per 9 innings in a season as he allows just 144 hits in 273 innings.

Sandy Koufax also breaks what seemed to be an almost unbreakable record as he beats Walter Johnson 50 year old record by throwing his 112th shutout.

Sandy Koufax signs a 3 year $1.3 million extension with the Dodgers. How much that man would be making in 2018!!!

Frank Robinson retires with 522 career Home Runs

No Hall of Fame inductees in 1976.


On November 12th the league expands once again with an expansion draft. The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners join the American League.

Notable Expansion Picks by Toronto
3B Phil Garner
OF Billy Conigliaro
SS Buddy Harrelson
2B Bobby Valentine
OF Lou Brock
CL Rollie Fingers

Notable Expansion Picks by Seattle
OF Lee Lacy
C Rick Dempsey
1B Bill Buckner

[statman]

As we head into 1977 and the league expands to 26 teams I thought I would update you on how the 1969 expansion teams have done through their first 8 seasons. The Royals, Padres, Pilots and Expos as you might guess have not done all that well.


The Kansas City Royals have not had a winning season, their best season came just last year in 1976 as they went 79-83, their worst was in 1974 when they lost 108 games.

The Seattle Pilots team lost 122 games in their only season, they became the Brewers in their 2nd year and didn't do much better, no winning seasons their best year in 1972 winning 72 games.

The San Diego Padres have lost over 100 games every season except in 1975 when they managed 73 wins.

But the worst of the expansion group with only a .329 winning pct. in 8 seasons is the Expos. They lost at least 117 games in 3 different seasons, but last season they went 71-91.

For the fans in Seattle and Toronto prepare yourself for a long time of losing!

[Izabela]

How's Mike Schmidt doing? He was my favorite player when growing up.

[statman]

Originally Posted by Izabela

How's Mike Schmidt doing? He was my favorite player when growing up.

Schmidt just finished his 6th season with the Phillies, he was the 1971 Rookie of the Year (see 1971 season thread). 5 All-Star selections and 1 Gold Glove, finished 3rd in MVP voting in 1974.

Career high of 41 HR's in 1973, in 1974 he had a league high 120 RBI's and his best average at .287.

His career numbers so far after 6 seasons, .263 average, 181 HR's and 580 RBI's.

Prior to the 1977 season he signed a 7 year $4,724,000 contract, so he signed through the 1983 season.

The Phillies have won just 1 division title (1974) in Schmidt's era, lost to the Dodgers in the NL playoffs.

[statman]

1977

The Indians grab their first division title since divisional play began and will play Oakland in the AL series. In the NL the Cardinals and Dodgers advance, this will be 6th straight season one of those 2 teams will represent in the World Series.

Oakland advances beating the Indians 4 games to1 and it takes the Dodgers 7 to eliminate the Cardinals.

It's a rematch of the 1974 series in which the Dodgers won in 5. It's not only a rematch it's a repeat as LA wins in 5 games once again. The Dodgers Warren Cromartie is the Series MVP collecting 10 hits.

The two expansion teams both lose over 100 games in their 1st season. Toronto 105 and Seattle 109 losses.

AL MVP is Boston's Cecil Cooper hitting .351/37/114
AL Cy Young Indians Jon Matlack 21-5 ERA 2.42
AL ROY is Milwaukee's 21 year old 2B Paul Molitor .334/13/71

NL MVP and Cy Young Award
Winning his 6th MVP Award and 9th Cy Young Award 41 year old Dodger left-hander Sandy Koufax. 18-8 ERA 1.97 with 241 K's
NL ROY Cubs CF Thomas Smith .337/8/69

Nolan Ryan sets the single game strikeout record with 19

2 relatively unknown throw the no-hitters in 1977
The Yankees Mike Paxton and James Horsch of Milwaukee

The Giants Bob Knepper entered the 1977 with just 9 appearance and no wins. He goes 25-6 with a 2.08 ERA. He finished 3rd in both the CY Young and MVP Awards.

37 year old Willie Stargell playing in his 1st season with the Brewers after 14 seasons in Pittsburgh, hits his 400th career HR.

Tom Seaver gets strikeout #2,500 and Gaylord Perry win #250

Texas Bump Wills steals 53 bases, but breaks the record for being thrown out stealing 45 times.

Sandy Koufax becomes the All-Time Leader in post season victories with 9.

4 Selections to the Hall of Fame
Hank Aaron 21 seasons with the Braves. 1 of 4 players to play in over 3,000 games. 3rd in hits 3,576, 2nd in total bases 6,069, 4th in HR's 609, 1 MVP, 1 WS MVP, 3 Gold Gloves, 14 time All-Star.

Jim Bunning 16 seasons with the Yankees and Reds. 205 victories, 7 time All-Star, 2 Cy Young Awards, 3 time World Champion

Harvey Kuenn ,319 lifetime hitter and 7 time All-Star

Ken Boyer 18 seasons with St. Louis, 1 MVP and 7 time All Star