The 1950.....Something...

[gehrig38]

Here's the plan.

A league, aligned as the game was in 1950, with financials, and playoffs setup as it was, No DH, with expansion happening as it really happened. Tweaks to drafts, no reserve clause, current free agency rules.

MLB players from the entire history available in an inaugural draft, 5 minor league teams for each club. Only professional players make it to the big leagues.

I will 'report' on the league for a period, not sure yet, as it happens, month to month, All Star games, playoffs.

At some point in the future I'll take an expansion club and run it. If this isn't fun or doesn't 'play well' I'll bang it, but it's a format I can swallow using 'real' players in and not being concerned with unrealistic stats and what not.

[gehrig38]

Ugh, and I already have a crash, and apparently an unsaved draft, soooooo...
I'll be doing to draft again, and posting the first 10 rounds.

[gehrig38]

Awesome consistent AI, as the draft looks to be an exact replica, here are the 1st 10 rounds (JR Richard at #1, can't argue that one!). Pete Rose Sr a 2nd rounder. Jacoby Ellsbury a 1st? J.D. Drew and Bagwell in the 2nd. Biggio and McCutheon in the 2nd. Fisk and Piazza in the 3rd. Pedro, Mussina, Schilling in the 4th. Yount a 5th rounder. Lance Parrish a 6th rounder. The Phils get a 2nd chance at Scott Rolen, and take him. Kinsler in oround 3 as well.

[gehrig38]

A list of the top 50 prospects going into the 1950 season.
Is it me or is Philly stacked? 4 of the pitchers, 3 of the hitters. Might be that there's a lot fewer teams than I am used to.
That might be it as I see the Senators with 9 hitters, including 3 of the top 10.

[gehrig38]

Na, I was close, Washington is insanely stacked, Philly is 3rd. Haven't looked at the rosters yet but the Giants and Tigers had better be STACKED in the big leagues with young talent.

[gehrig38]

The White Sox paced the A.L. with an 18-6 record, Washington was 15-9, with Cleveland and the Yanks at the bottom.

In the N.L It was the Cardinals at 16-8, Braves at 14-10 with Brooklyn and Cincy at 9-15 pulling the back end.

Below are the offensive and pitching leaders out of camp.

[gehrig38]

Some interesting names...

[gehrig38]

And the pitchers....

[gehrig38]

Chicago White Sox-Jacoby Ellsbury tore ankle ligaments on 3/14 and is expected to miss 4-5 weeks, putting him back somewhere in mid to late April.

St. Louis Browns-30 year old slugger Reggie Smith tore his labrum in late March and the injury is serious enough that he's expected to miss the entire 1950 season.

New York Giants- 25 year old reliever Don Aase had surgery on 4/3 to remove bone chips in his elbow and is expected to be out 4-5 months.

Cincinnati dealt 34 year old SP Nelson Figueroa and 24 year old prospect Morgan Ensberg to the White Sox for 25 year old CF Rube Oldring. 4/12


Cleveland Indians-30 year old SP Curt Schilling(I backed myself off 10 years (game had me at 40!) SP will miss another 5 days rehabbing

[gehrig38]

The top 10 going into 1950

[gehrig38]

If you have a recommendation please let me know, otherwise my plan will be to cover month by month and then every 2 weeks in August, and every week as we enter September, then day by day through the playoffs.

[gehrig38]

The AL, interesting to see an 8 team/league format
Looks like a fun 5-6 team race which I hope it is, and with 4 man rotations the pitching will be interesting. Clear power favorites in Reese and Cravath.

[tacklesspoem8]

This is an interesting setup are you using the rosters that make players available at younger ages or are you using the ones that go by their professional debut.

[gehrig38]

Players come and go as the game chooses.

[gehrig38]

In the NL it's looking like a 3-4 team race, though injuries and trades will alter that of course. Much lower HR output, as was the case in spring training. Not seeing any Closers on the list of top pitchers in either leagues and I am guessing that's due to the amount of starts for starters. I have set RP usage to normal, from very rare, and starters stamina from very high to normal.

[threesportgeek]

Any notables that are down in the farm system?

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by gehrig38

The AL, interesting to see an 8 team/league format
Looks like a fun 5-6 team race which I hope it is, and with 4 man rotations the pitching will be interesting. Clear power favorites in Reese and Cravath.

Sometimes snake drafts lead to this scenario where all the teams are kinda even and nobody stands out. I found that to be especially true if I micromange the draft (i.e. either draft for every one or pick their first few players). Of course, that fixes itself eventually. Can't say I've done a draft with random debut though, interesting to see the results.

Wonder if Grover will live up to his Top 10 billing; seems a little lofty unless it's a top 10 list of how much guys fidget between pitches. Also feel free to lead the Indians to some glory.

[gehrig38]

At the end of April with only 14 or so games played we start to see the 1st year play out. Tommie Agee, J.D. Drew and Bob Horner with a good two week run. Rich Reese helps the 1st place Yanks going an amazing 31-62 with 5 HR's, 22 RBI's in 14 games.
WEEK 1 AL POTW Bobby Brown (NYY) 9-21 1 HR 7 RBI's
WEEK 1 NL POTW Brian McCann (PIT) 11-21 5 RBI's

INJURY NEWS
Boston Braves-OF Chief Wilson out 4-5 months with a damaged shoulder 4/24
Chicago White Sox-CF Jacoby Ellsbury out 2-3 weeks with a strained oblique 4/24
Chicago Cubs-OF Guy Zinn will miss 4-5 weeks with a strained oblique 4/28

BIG GAMES
Brooklyn Dodgers-Pudge Fisk went 5-5 with an RBI 4/24
Boston's Bill Steen tossed the leagues 1st No Hitter, beating Brooklyn 6-0 4/25 (in that game he also set a league record with 3 doubles!)
St. Louis Cardinals-Michael Tucker went 5-5 with 3 RBI's in a 9-4 win over Pittsburgh 4/28

WEEK 2 AL POTW-Rich Reese (NYY) went 20-31 with 3 HR's and 15 RBI's, and scored 11 runs
WEEK 2 NL POTW-Jimmy Walsh (CIN) hit .458 with 4 HR's and 13 RBI's while scoring 8 runs

April Power Rankings
1) Brooklyn
2) New York Yankees
3) Chicago Cubs

Bottom 3
14) Pittsburgh
15) Washington
16) Philadelphia Phillies

[gehrig38]

May Happenings:
INJURY NEWS
Philadelphia Athletics-1B Bob Boyd will miss the next 6 weeks with a quad strain 5/2
Boston Red Sox-21 year old RP John Skopec will miss the rest of the 1950 season with a torn flexor tendon. Skopec was 1-1 3.18 in 7 relief appearances before bring hurt.

TRADE NEWS
Detroit has traded 31 year old SP Brooks Lawrence to the St. Louis Cardinals for 29 year old 2B Tony Womack and 22 year old IF prospect Wes Helms. Lawrence has gone 5-1 3.17 in 7 starts since the deal, Womack .253-2-10. 5/3

The Chicago White Sox sent 28 year old OF Marquis Grissom and 19 year old OF Fred Walton to the Boston Braves for 27 year old SP Reggie Cleveland. Grisson has gone 2-10 since the deal, Celveland has gone 3-2 5.40 in 6 starts since the trade.

WEEK 3 AL POTW-Jimmy Bannon (BOS) Red Sox OF went 13-30 with a HR and 6 RBI's
WEEK 3 NL POTW-Bob Horner (BOS) Braves 3B went 12-29 3 HR's and 6 RBI's


BIG GAMES
5/12 Red Sox OF Jimmy Bannon went 5-5 with 2 RBI's ina 9-3 win over Washington.

INJURY NEWS
Brooklyn Dodgers-21 year old reliever Doc Parker will miss 3 months with a sore elbow.
Philadelphia A's-Bill Monbouquette, a 21 year old SP for Philly, will miss 4-5 months after surgery to remove bone chips. He was 3-2 2.81 in 7 starts.

WEEK 4 AL POTW-Al E Smith (CWS) Smith went 14-28 with 3 HR's and 9 RBI's
WEEK 4 NL POTW-Cliff Johnson (CHC) Johnson hit .458 with 2 HR's and 7 RBI's


BIG GAMES
Yankees SS Bob Fisher went 5-5 with 2 RBI's ina 12-1 win over St Louis. 5/16

INJURY NEWS
Athletics reliever Tom House (26) will miss the rest of the year with a torn back muscle. He was 0-0 in 8 games with a 6.17 ERA.

WEEK 5 AL POTW-Hank Aaron (CLE) went 13-27 4 HR's 10 RBI's
WEEK 5 NL POTW-JD Drew (BRO) hit .458 with 2 HR's and 4 RBI's

TRADE NEWS
5/23 St Louis Browns have dealt 26 year old minor league pitcher Charlie McDaniel to the Reds for 28 year old SS Melvin Mora and 19 year old pitching prospect Jose Chavez. Mora was hitting .389 in 39 AB's and is 5-19 with an RBI since the deal.

5/23 The Browns made another deal today, shipping 25 year old RP Ryan Bowen to Cleveland for 17 year old IF prospect Brian Marshall. Bowen was 1-1 1.50 in 7 games, 2 starts, prior to the trade, and is 0-1 18.00 in 1 start since.

5/23 in their third trade of the day the Browns dealt 27 year old RP Dave Hamilton (0-1 6.00 in 8 games) to the Brooklyn Dodgers for 20 year old minor leaguer SP Luis Gonzalez.

INJURY NEWS
Philadelphia Phillies-23 year old P Highball Wilson (1-2 5.03 in 9 games, 5 starts) will have elbow surgery and be lost for the next 11 months 5/23

Brooklyn Dodgers-J.D. Drew will miss the next month with an elbow sprain. He was hitting .357-12-31 at the time of his injury 5/25

BIG GAMES
Philly Athletic OF Warren Cromartie went 5-6 with 2 RBI's in a 14-0 win over the Yankees

WEEK 6 AL POTW-Walt Bond (DET) went 9-18 with 3 HR's and 14 RBI's
WEEK 6 NL POTW-Sam Thompson (CHC) went 12-32 4 HR's and 8 RBI's

MLB's Largest Contracts
1) Bernie Williams (CHC) 81,000
2) George W Harper (NYY) 80,000
3) J.R. Richard (DET) 70,000
4) Von Hayes (CWS) 66,000
5) Van Mungo (PHI) 65,000

BIG GAMES
Philly OF Joe Haque became the 1st player to have 6 hits in a single game when he went 6-6 with 2 HR's and 7 RBI's in a 14-1 win over Brooklyn.

MAY AL POTM-Jimmy Bannon (BOS) Red Sox OF hit .384 with 5 HR's and 25 RBI's while scoring 25 times
MAY NL POTM-Sam Thompson (CHC) He hit .358-8-30 while scoring 21 times
MAY AL PITCHER-Roscoe Miller (NYY) Miller went 6-0 1.19 and is now 9-1 2.00 on the year
MAY NL PITCHER-Recently traded Brooks Lawrence took home the honor going 5-1 3.17 in 7 games since being dealt from Detroit.
MAY AL ROOKIE-Jimmy Bannon (BOS)
MAY NL ROOKIE-Joe Hague (PHI) He hit .336-10-27 with a .434 OBP.

TRADE NEWS
The Browns are at it again. Dealing 29 year old P Rick Lysander to Detroit for 20 year old pitching prospect Jose Molina. Lysander is 0-1 6.60 in 10 games for the Browns.

[gehrig38]

Both Detroit and Cincy blow open the races with strong months and the trailing clubs all lose big ground.

WEEK 7 AL POTW-Happy Felsch (WAS) went 14-29 2 HR's 11 RBI's
WEEK 7 NL POTW-Bill Hinchman (CHC) went 12-26 3 HR's and 11 RBI's

TRADE NEWS
6/8 Cleveland traded 28 year old OF Len G Gabrielson to the White Sox for 30 year old 3B Frank Malzone and 24 year old IF Tommy Jones. Gabrielson was hitting .179-5-10 in 106 AB's for Cleveland and is hitting .292-1-11 in 72 AB's since the deal. Malzone was hitting .239-4-14 in 29 games for the Sox and has hit .269-4-13 in 14 games since the deal. Jones is a 5 star blue chipper finding his way around A ball.
6/11 The Phillies sent 22 year old SS prospect Ricardo Hernandez to the Red Sox for 27 yaer old SP Fritz Coumbe. Coumber was 3-7 5.82 in 14 starts with Philly and is 0-1 2.82 in 4 starts since the deal.

BIG GAMES
6/11 Dick McAuliffe (BOS) went 5-5 with an RBI in the Braves 15-8 win over Chicago. He's hitting .234-8-28 in 59 games.

WEEK 8 AL POTW-Al E Smith (CWS) went 13-29 2 HR's and 6 RBI's
WEEK 8 NL POTW-Lance Parrish (STL) Cardinal Catcher hit .375 with 4 HR's and 12 RBI's.

Hits Leaders at Catcher in MLB
Brian McCann (PIT) 63
Doggie Miller (PHI) 63
Carlton Fisk (BRO) 61
Sammy White (CIN) 58
Bengie Molina (BOS) 53

TRADE NEWS
6/12 The Red Sox shipped 29 year old Bengie Molina to the Cubs for 24 year old OF prospect Juan Gutierrez, 20 year old P Brian Coleman, 24 year old OF Eric Tanner and 21 year old C Jack Frederick. Gutierrez and Coleman are top shelf 5 star prospects the Red Sox demanded in the deal. This appears to be a play to help the Cubs catch Cincy, while a complete 'rebuild' move by Boston.

INJURY NEWS
St Louis Cardinals-IF Andy Stankiewicz will miss the next 4 months with a broken elbow. He was hitting .257-1-21 in 52 games.
Detroit Tigers-3B Gil Hatfield will miss the next month after straining an oblique. The 37 year old is hitting .343-4-35 in 54 games.
Philadelphia Phillies- Lost 20 year old SP Bert Inks for the year with a torn labrum. Inks was 4-9 4.49 in 15 starts.

WEEK 9 AL POTW-Ian Kinsler (STL) Browns 2B went 16-29 with 3 HR's and 14 RBI's.
WEEK 9 NL POTW-Jim Russel (BRO) Hit .500 with 3 HR's 8 RBI's

TRADE NEWS
6/20 Cleveland sent 28 year old RP Geraldo Guzman and 21 year old relief prospect Darren Sherman to Cincinnati for 26 year old IF Ron Oester. Oester was hitting .308-0-9 in 52 AB's for Cleveland.

WEEK 10 AL POTW-Eric Soderholm (A's) went 10-25 with 4 HR's and 10 RBI's and is hitting .311-14-44 in 71 games
WEEK 10 NL POTW-Jeff Bagwell (STL) Cards 1B hit .480 with 4 HR's and 7 RBI's

INJURY NEWS
Boston Braves-Mike Piazza will miss the next 5 weeks with a quad injury. He is hitting .288-13-35 on the year
New York Giants-Pat Combs will miss the rest of the season with a torn back muscle. Combs was 0-3 4.38 in 4 games since being called up.

BIG GAMES
Pedro Martinez (PIT) shut out the Cardinals on 2 hits, striking out 7 in a 6-0 win. He's 9-5 3.86 on the year.

TRADE NEWS
The Phillies traded 28 year old OF Mitch Webster to the Dodgers for 32 year old 3B Kevin Seitzer.

JUNE AL POTM-Ian Kinsler (STLB) Kinsler went .403-11-44 with 27 runs in July
JUNE NL POTM-Jimmy Walsh (CIN) Walsh hit .368-11-30 with 26 runs
JUNE AL PITCHER-Lee Meadows (STLB) 6-1 2.79 ERA
JUNE NL PITCHER-John Patterson (CIN) 6-0 1.78 ERA
JUNE AL ROOKIE-Count Campau (NYY) .336-4-16
JUNE NL ROOKIE-Brian McCann (PIT) .314-11-26