International League/Random Debut League - Page 9

David Watts · 11-24-2025, 10:37 AM

Corpus Christi are the champions of the 1977 season. The Hooks beat Peoria 4 games to 1 in the LCS.

In a year I truly expected to see someone hit 50 or even 60 home runs, the league leader ended up being Mark McGwire with 43. Rookie sensation Trevor Story finished in 2nd with 42.

David Ortiz will get his 3000th hit and his 500th home run. He signed a new deal with the Lansing Lugnuts and is back for 1978. Glad to see he's still starting. Always hate it when guys come back to serve only as a pinch hitter. Ortiz is now 44 years old.

Hilton Smith is back again for 78 as well. Smith is now 41 years old. Hilton picked up his 250th victory in the last game of the 1977 season. He should be ranked 2nd in career wins by the end of the season.

Gary Carter was the only player inducted into the Hall of Fame during the offseason. Guessing the game's voters take into account the position a player plays when casting their votes, as Carter's numbers are impressive amongst catchers, but rather pedestrian otherwise. There is his defense as well.

Barry Bonds went number 1 in the draft, as expected. The Arkansas Travelers were the lucky recipients. He is already hitting 3rd for the Travelers. Cool thing is he's hitting right in front another youngster Eric Davis. The Travelers will be a fun team to watch.

Couple weeks into the 78 season and Nap Lajoie is hitting .above .400 again.

Tris Speaker is off to a hot start as well. Speaker is going to be the fastest ever to 3000 hits if he continues at his current pace. He has suffered injuries over the last 2 seasons though.

Cecil Fielder is off to a torrid pace in regards to home runs to start the 78 season. He's already has 10 on the year putting him on pace for 95. He's had 2 multiple home runs games over the start of the season,

The preseason predictions have Greg Maddux winning 26 games in 78. Would love to see it, as it's been a long time since anyone's won 25+ games in this league.

David Watts · 11-25-2025, 10:59 AM

Cecil Fielder continues his hot start to the 1978 season with 2 more 2 home run games to close out the month of April with 15 home runs. Fielder nailed down player of the month honors as well. Fielder is also leading the league with 33 RBI.

Right before leaving for work this morning I just happened to pick a Great Lakes Loons game to watch. Glad I did, as Mark McGwire belted 3 home runs in the contest driving in 6 runs. The Loons have surprised everyone by finishing the first month the season in first place.

David Watts · 11-26-2025, 09:12 AM

As a Tiger fan I was excited to see Riley Greene enter my league several years ago. Wow! What a disappointment Greene turned out to be, in fact, he was pretty much awful. By 29 he ended up retiring when he became a free agent and not a single team showed any interest. Retired with a grand total of 47 home runs.

Cecil Fielder is up to 20 home runs on the season.

The batting race is a strange one so far in 78. The 3 leaders are Mariano Duncan, Pee Wee Reese and Marcel Ozuna. Something tells me by June we should see 3 new faces at the top of that list.

Bob Gibson is now 2 wins away from reaching 200 wins.

David Watts · 11-26-2025, 09:39 AM

Greg Maddux is 6-5 on the season so far with an ERA of 1.97. It just jumped to 1.97 from about 1.75 after his last start. His team the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are in 2nd place in the Northern Division, but it sure seems like their bats go to sleep when Maddux takes the mound.

Catfish Hunter is a rookie in 1978. Will be interested to see how Hunter performs in this league. I've never had him do well in a random debut league, so I'm hoping this might be the one where he shines.

David Watts · 11-28-2025, 04:42 PM

Harry Davis with his 4th 30-30 season in a row.

David Watts · 11-28-2025, 04:56 PM

Hilton Smith is having another incredible season for the Memphis Redbirds at 41 years of age. Pretty Amazing. Wonder if he has enough left in the tank to reach 300 wins? Name: league_attempt_#3_1978-09-18_14-51-49.jpg
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Name: league_attempt_#3_1978-09-18_14-51-49.jpg
Views: 30
Size: 285.0 KB

David Watts · 12-01-2025, 09:38 AM

Ugh, Hilton Smith is now up to 284 career wins. He was having a really nice season in 1979 for the first place Memphis Redbirds. Then during his last start to end the month of August he fractured his elbow. I assume this will be the end for Smith. Not sure one can come back from that type of injury at the age of 42.

Meanwhile, the leagues oldest player David Ortiz is once again having a really nice season and climbing his way up the career leaderboard in hits, RBI and home runs. Ortiz has 20+ home runs for the 79 season and is approaching 100 RBI. His team the Lansing Lugnuts are pretty darn awful though.

Bob Gibson, Jacob deGrom and Greg Maddux are in a heated race for the leagues best pitcher award. deGrom picked up his 20th victory in his last start in August. Meanwhile, Maddux and Gibson both have 19 wins,

The home run race is a 3 man race between Charlie Keller, Cecil Fielder and Mark McGwire.

Nap Lajoie is once again leading the league in hitting.

David Watts · 12-02-2025, 09:31 AM

Septembers continue to be unkind to Tris Speaker. This year it's a torn labrum that ends his season early. Hoping he's back to start the 1980 season, but only time will tell. Tris had another strong season at the plate for Peoria Chiefs, hitting .350+. Speaker's career average remains right around .350 as well. If he's able to come back for a full season next year, I expect him to join the 3000 hit club at some point during the season.

Around 12 games remain in the season and Cecil Fielder has a chance to reach 50 home runs. He currently sits at 47.

Memphis has already clinched the Southern Division title and should win 100+ games in 79, The Tulsa Drillers have an slim chance of nabbing the 2nd wild card, but they need the Great Lakes Loons to go into a tail spin to do so.

The Northern Division is still up for grabs. Cedar Rapids is in 1st place a game and a half ahead of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The Loons are in 3rd place.

David Watts · 12-02-2025, 09:44 AM

Stunned to say the least to see the Great Lakes Loons rise from the ashes of expansion land so quickly. The Loons entered the league in 1975 and have had little to no success in their first 4 years in the league. They got off to a hot start in 1978, but by the end of the year, they were back towards the bottom of their division. Meanwhile, their expansion counterparts the New Orleans Baby Cakes have went from some early success to the bottoms.

The Loons have definitely been building towards success in the draft and through trades. Their first big acquisition was getting Mark McGwire in a trade. Their second was acquiring Roberto Clemente. The draft has been the Loons friend to the tune of Jackson Merrill, Carl Hubbell and Frank Home Run Baker. Merrill and Baker are having breakout seasons in 79, The Loons sport Clemente, Merrill, Baker and McGwire at the top of their lineup. Hard to beat that.

David Watts · Yesterday, 09:19 AM

The 1979 regular season comes down to two game 163's. One to determine the who wins the 2nd wild card and the other decides the winner of the Northern Division.

Cedar Rapids and Wisconsin finished the season 102-60. Wisconsin had the lead going into the final Sunday of the season, but saw Ed Lynch and the bullpen flounder away game 162. To make it worse, Lynch left the game with a day to day injury as well. Cedar Rapids meanwhile beat the Great Lakes Loons on Sunday and in doing so forced the need for both game 163's, as the Tulsa Drillers took advantage of the Loons loss to even the 2nd wild card race. Tulsa's manager won despite resting Nap Lajoie and Roger Freed in key games down the stretch. Oh how I hate that the game requires the use of high fatigue.

Cecil Fielder currently has 51 home runs on the season with game 163 left to play. Fielders 51 home runs is the 5th time in the leagues 34 years of existence that a player hit 50 or more home runs. Hank Aaron did it twice in his age shortened career and John Beckwith did it once. Aaron's 58 home runs in either 1950 or 1951 still stands as the most ever by an International League player.

The pitching matchup for the Wisconsin/Cedar Rapids game 163 is a great one. Jacob deGrom is on the mound for Cedar Rapids up against Paul Petit for Wisconsin. deGrom will be going for his 21st win, while Petit goes for either 17 or 18.

Greg Maddux finished the season with 24 wins. Guessing he wins the Cy Young, but it's by far not a sure thing. deGrom will get lots of votes and may even take home the award. Bob Gibson will get some consideration as well, but I don't see him winning it.

David Watts · Today, 09:20 AM

Wow! David Ortiz is now 45 years old. Right before the start of the post season a news story pops up saying Ortiz will be staying put in Memphis. The story reports that he signed a 2 year deal. I don't think I've ever seen anyone play past the age of 45, other than maybe Hoyt Wilhelm. Thing is, Ortiz is still producing for the Lansing Lugnuts. He had 30+ home runs and 80+ RBI this season. He's now drove in 1900 runs during his career.

Wisconsin beat Cedar Rapids in game 163. Turns out it was simply for home field advantage, as the 2 teams end up facing each other in the wild card series. .

Tulsa beat the Great Lakes Loons in their game 163. The Drillers are now set to face the Memphis Redbirds in a best of seven. Can't wait to see if the Loons bounce back in 1980 after such a heart breaking ending to the 79 season.

11-24-2025, 10:37 AM	#161
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Corpus Christi are the champions of the 1977 season. The Hooks beat Peoria 4 games to 1 in the LCS. In a year I truly expected to see someone hit 50 or even 60 home runs, the league leader ended up being Mark McGwire with 43. Rookie sensation Trevor Story finished in 2nd with 42. David Ortiz will get his 3000th hit and his 500th home run. He signed a new deal with the Lansing Lugnuts and is back for 1978. Glad to see he's still starting. Always hate it when guys come back to serve only as a pinch hitter. Ortiz is now 44 years old. Hilton Smith is back again for 78 as well. Smith is now 41 years old. Hilton picked up his 250th victory in the last game of the 1977 season. He should be ranked 2nd in career wins by the end of the season. Gary Carter was the only player inducted into the Hall of Fame during the offseason. Guessing the game's voters take into account the position a player plays when casting their votes, as Carter's numbers are impressive amongst catchers, but rather pedestrian otherwise. There is his defense as well. Barry Bonds went number 1 in the draft, as expected. The Arkansas Travelers were the lucky recipients. He is already hitting 3rd for the Travelers. Cool thing is he's hitting right in front another youngster Eric Davis. The Travelers will be a fun team to watch. Couple weeks into the 78 season and Nap Lajoie is hitting .above .400 again. Tris Speaker is off to a hot start as well. Speaker is going to be the fastest ever to 3000 hits if he continues at his current pace. He has suffered injuries over the last 2 seasons though. Cecil Fielder is off to a torrid pace in regards to home runs to start the 78 season. He's already has 10 on the year putting him on pace for 95. He's had 2 multiple home runs games over the start of the season, The preseason predictions have Greg Maddux winning 26 games in 78. Would love to see it, as it's been a long time since anyone's won 25+ games in this league. Last edited by David Watts; 11-24-2025 at 10:39 AM.

11-25-2025, 10:59 AM	#162
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Cecil Fielder continues his hot start to the 1978 season with 2 more 2 home run games to close out the month of April with 15 home runs. Fielder nailed down player of the month honors as well. Fielder is also leading the league with 33 RBI. Right before leaving for work this morning I just happened to pick a Great Lakes Loons game to watch. Glad I did, as Mark McGwire belted 3 home runs in the contest driving in 6 runs. The Loons have surprised everyone by finishing the first month the season in first place.

11-26-2025, 09:12 AM	#163
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	As a Tiger fan I was excited to see Riley Greene enter my league several years ago. Wow! What a disappointment Greene turned out to be, in fact, he was pretty much awful. By 29 he ended up retiring when he became a free agent and not a single team showed any interest. Retired with a grand total of 47 home runs. Cecil Fielder is up to 20 home runs on the season. The batting race is a strange one so far in 78. The 3 leaders are Mariano Duncan, Pee Wee Reese and Marcel Ozuna. Something tells me by June we should see 3 new faces at the top of that list. Bob Gibson is now 2 wins away from reaching 200 wins.

11-26-2025, 09:39 AM	#164
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Greg Maddux is 6-5 on the season so far with an ERA of 1.97. It just jumped to 1.97 from about 1.75 after his last start. His team the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are in 2nd place in the Northern Division, but it sure seems like their bats go to sleep when Maddux takes the mound. Catfish Hunter is a rookie in 1978. Will be interested to see how Hunter performs in this league. I've never had him do well in a random debut league, so I'm hoping this might be the one where he shines.

11-28-2025, 04:42 PM	#165
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Harry Davis with his 4th 30-30 season in a row.

11-28-2025, 04:56 PM	#166
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Hilton Smith is having another incredible season for the Memphis Redbirds at 41 years of age. Pretty Amazing. Wonder if he has enough left in the tank to reach 300 wins?

12-01-2025, 09:38 AM	#167
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Ugh, Hilton Smith is now up to 284 career wins. He was having a really nice season in 1979 for the first place Memphis Redbirds. Then during his last start to end the month of August he fractured his elbow. I assume this will be the end for Smith. Not sure one can come back from that type of injury at the age of 42. Meanwhile, the leagues oldest player David Ortiz is once again having a really nice season and climbing his way up the career leaderboard in hits, RBI and home runs. Ortiz has 20+ home runs for the 79 season and is approaching 100 RBI. His team the Lansing Lugnuts are pretty darn awful though. Bob Gibson, Jacob deGrom and Greg Maddux are in a heated race for the leagues best pitcher award. deGrom picked up his 20th victory in his last start in August. Meanwhile, Maddux and Gibson both have 19 wins, The home run race is a 3 man race between Charlie Keller, Cecil Fielder and Mark McGwire. Nap Lajoie is once again leading the league in hitting.

12-02-2025, 09:31 AM	#168
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Septembers continue to be unkind to Tris Speaker. This year it's a torn labrum that ends his season early. Hoping he's back to start the 1980 season, but only time will tell. Tris had another strong season at the plate for Peoria Chiefs, hitting .350+. Speaker's career average remains right around .350 as well. If he's able to come back for a full season next year, I expect him to join the 3000 hit club at some point during the season. Around 12 games remain in the season and Cecil Fielder has a chance to reach 50 home runs. He currently sits at 47. Memphis has already clinched the Southern Division title and should win 100+ games in 79, The Tulsa Drillers have an slim chance of nabbing the 2nd wild card, but they need the Great Lakes Loons to go into a tail spin to do so. The Northern Division is still up for grabs. Cedar Rapids is in 1st place a game and a half ahead of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The Loons are in 3rd place.

12-02-2025, 09:44 AM	#169
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Stunned to say the least to see the Great Lakes Loons rise from the ashes of expansion land so quickly. The Loons entered the league in 1975 and have had little to no success in their first 4 years in the league. They got off to a hot start in 1978, but by the end of the year, they were back towards the bottom of their division. Meanwhile, their expansion counterparts the New Orleans Baby Cakes have went from some early success to the bottoms. The Loons have definitely been building towards success in the draft and through trades. Their first big acquisition was getting Mark McGwire in a trade. Their second was acquiring Roberto Clemente. The draft has been the Loons friend to the tune of Jackson Merrill, Carl Hubbell and Frank Home Run Baker. Merrill and Baker are having breakout seasons in 79, The Loons sport Clemente, Merrill, Baker and McGwire at the top of their lineup. Hard to beat that.

Yesterday, 09:19 AM	#170
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	The 1979 regular season comes down to two game 163's. One to determine the who wins the 2nd wild card and the other decides the winner of the Northern Division. Cedar Rapids and Wisconsin finished the season 102-60. Wisconsin had the lead going into the final Sunday of the season, but saw Ed Lynch and the bullpen flounder away game 162. To make it worse, Lynch left the game with a day to day injury as well. Cedar Rapids meanwhile beat the Great Lakes Loons on Sunday and in doing so forced the need for both game 163's, as the Tulsa Drillers took advantage of the Loons loss to even the 2nd wild card race. Tulsa's manager won despite resting Nap Lajoie and Roger Freed in key games down the stretch. Oh how I hate that the game requires the use of high fatigue. Cecil Fielder currently has 51 home runs on the season with game 163 left to play. Fielders 51 home runs is the 5th time in the leagues 34 years of existence that a player hit 50 or more home runs. Hank Aaron did it twice in his age shortened career and John Beckwith did it once. Aaron's 58 home runs in either 1950 or 1951 still stands as the most ever by an International League player. The pitching matchup for the Wisconsin/Cedar Rapids game 163 is a great one. Jacob deGrom is on the mound for Cedar Rapids up against Paul Petit for Wisconsin. deGrom will be going for his 21st win, while Petit goes for either 17 or 18. Greg Maddux finished the season with 24 wins. Guessing he wins the Cy Young, but it's by far not a sure thing. deGrom will get lots of votes and may even take home the award. Bob Gibson will get some consideration as well, but I don't see him winning it.

Today, 09:20 AM	#171
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,897 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Wow! David Ortiz is now 45 years old. Right before the start of the post season a news story pops up saying Ortiz will be staying put in Memphis. The story reports that he signed a 2 year deal. I don't think I've ever seen anyone play past the age of 45, other than maybe Hoyt Wilhelm. Thing is, Ortiz is still producing for the Lansing Lugnuts. He had 30+ home runs and 80+ RBI this season. He's now drove in 1900 runs during his career. Wisconsin beat Cedar Rapids in game 163. Turns out it was simply for home field advantage, as the 2 teams end up facing each other in the wild card series. . Tulsa beat the Great Lakes Loons in their game 163. The Drillers are now set to face the Memphis Redbirds in a best of seven. Can't wait to see if the Loons bounce back in 1980 after such a heart breaking ending to the 79 season.