Baseball History

[WFIL73]

I've been playing 19th century for a long long time, and this is the first time I'm posting results. I know everyone does it "their way", but I play with everything manual as "my way":
Team Expansion/Contraction done manually.
I play the NA, NL, AA, UA & PL
Player Transactions - I know I can do "real" stuff now, but I spent hours creating my monster and, unlike Dr. Frankenstein, I refuse to just leave that labor of love.
Lineups are at managers discretion with the 9-10 players on active roster that day.
Pitchers start the number of games as IRL.
Injuries are off, as players are shuttled between the active/reserve roster as needed and could be seen as "injuries". .
I use Baseball Reference as my info guide.
I hope you follow along and I hope it's enjoyable.

[WFIL73]

So 1871 started up and of course Harry Wright's team finished 1st. It's Harry freakin Wright. His old Cincinnati players went about their business as they have for the past several years. Cleveland hung with them most of the season based mainly on Ezra Sutton and John Bass beating the heck out of the ball. Fort Wayne folding up at the end of August didn't really matter much. Chicago, the city, burning to the ground in late Sep. means the team literally has no home. They have announced the suspension of operations. We hope to see them in the future.

[WFIL73]

1872 in the books.
Boston - looked just as good as last year. Never really had much of a challenge.
Troy - Despite being really good, led by Jimmy Wood, no one really showed up and the team folded in July.
Baltimore - Started out quick, albeit beating lesser teams. It was a team of good players, but switching out Bobby Matthews and Cherokee Fischer on the mound may not have been the best move.
Philadelphia - Came on late. A decent team, but could not find consistency till August.
New York - Rookie, Candy Cummings, had a great season and the team actually challenged Boston for much of the season. By mid-September the team ran out of steam.
Washington Nationals - Team never really found its footing and folded up in late June
Middletown - A very young club team that tried to make the jump to the big time. Did ok, but folded up operations in early August.
Brooklyn Eckfords - One of the oldest club teams started out horribly. In August they had a massive makeover, but too little too late.
Brooklyn Atlantics - Not a good team, but pulled out surprise wins late in the season against the likes of Baltimore, New York and Boston.
Cleveland - Trying to replicate 1871 success was a failure, with basically the same roster. The team folded up in late August.
Washington Olympics - Already on shaky financial ground the team didn't even last to the end of May and had to fold.
With so many teams ceasing operations mid-season, and Boston dominating, some are questioning the validity of this league.

[WFIL73]

Same as it ever was...
Boston lost Cal McVey but gained Deacon White and were never challenged. Again.
Baltimore Canaries were a good team, had a great season but Candy Cummings is no Al Spalding.
Philadelphia Athletics lost most of the 72 team to the new Philly team and had a very up and down season. Being 1 of only 3 teams finishing .500 was a good season.
New York just could not get going. The team lost Cummings in the offseason and Bobby Mathews, while good, just isn't as good.
Philadelphia White Stockings were a new team and much was expected with most of the better Athletics jumping to the team. Alas, it was not to be.
Brooklyn had a much better 2nd season, but of course need much improvement. What Bob Ferguson needs is a more consistent pitcher.
Elizabeth was a new team that just was not good and folded up in early August.
Washington was another new team that lasted the whole season but sure did seen like cannon fodder for the rest of the league.
Baltimore Marylands were a team of nobodies that won the first game of the season but only played five more games and were gone in early July
.

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by WFIL73

Player Transactions - I know I can do "real" stuff now, but I spent hours creating my monster and, unlike Dr. Frankenstein, I refuse to just leave that labor of love.

Just to let you know if you select "use real transaction" in the advance option before you hit "start" the transaction database is available for the 19th century... but if you don't do it before the finalization of your league the option is unavailable until 1901. Of course I'm too late to tell it

For the starting pitchers they are available for every game at Retrosheet... even for the UA and the PL. Sadly not the line-up at the best of my knowledge.

Good luck!

[WFIL73]

Originally Posted by AESP_pres

Just to let you know if you select "use real transaction" in the advance option before you hit "start" the transaction database is available for the 19th century... but if you don't do it before the finalization of your league the option is unavailable until 1901. Of course I'm too late to tell it

For the starting pitchers they are available for every game at Retrosheet... even for the UA and the PL. Sadly not the line-up at the best of my knowledge.

Good luck!

Yeah, I haven't tried to play with the real transactions, I would love to see how it goes. But the feeling of letting go of the wheel absolutely terrifies me. If I explained how I mapped every season out and documented it all you would think I'm crazy. I'm just surprised I'm brave enough to post it all after playing 19th century since probably version 11, 12, 13? So long ago I can't even remember.

[WFIL73]

I've been playing the NA for over a decade and never had one of these. Good for McBride. If only they could keep the same players for multiple seasons.

[WFIL73]

Boston has the best at nearly every position, and the best manager. They are an unstoppable force.
Philadelphia Athletics had their best year yet. They are a good team and don't exactly roll over for Boston.
Philadelphia White Stockings tried a higher paid approach and fell short. Cummings was good, but their offense was inconsistant.
New York had a good season, offense was solid and Bobby Mathews was pretty good . Just not as good as Cummings or Spalding.
Welcome back Chicago. The White Stockings started up again and though finished under .500 had a pretty good season and will be looking to improve.
Brooklyn once again had issues and just never seem like a viable team. One plus for them was Tommy Bond looks to be a good pitcher.
Hartford was a new team and had new team issues with pitching. Going forward they aren't sure where they are headed, but the team is pretty solid.
Baltimore had a season where one wondered if they were actually playing baseball. After two failing seasons of spending big and falling short, investers changed direction and payroll. The team of castoffs and never will be's performed just like that. The team is folding up after such a season.

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by WFIL73

I've been playing the NA for over a decade and never had one of these. Good for McBride. If only they could keep the same players for multiple seasons.

He got a perfect game in 1872 in my simulation... like you I was surprised since in all my years of playing it was the first time I saw a no-hitter in the 19th century. Even less a perfect one considering the usual amount of errors for the National Association.

[WFIL73]

Boston won again. Break them up! Just wait...
Athletics were 2nd best team in the league's history, but never came close to Boston.
Hartford had a huge bounce back from 74. Bond and Cummings were good.
Philadelphia White Stockings were ok, but again, just a .500 team and never could beat the top three teams.
New York was always no better or worse than .500 and had some good players, but Bobby Mathews is just an average pitcher
St. Louis Red Stockings had a lackluster team and folded in early July.
St. Louis Brown Stockings in their 1st season finished under .500 but played pretty well at teams beating the top teams now and then.
Chicago White Stockings fell a little in their 2nd season under new team President William Hulbert.
Keokuk folded at the end of May
New Haven was a bad team that was made up of inferior players and their record showed it.
Brooklyn had another bad season. A steady rotation of weak players made for a long season.
Washington folded in early July
The Centennials folded in mid-May cause Philly couldn't support 3 teams. Oh, and never winning didn't help.
Hulbert screamed about the inconsistent schedule, the rowdiness of the players, and lack of league cohesion. Mainly he complained about Boston winning all the time is seeking a stop to it. He is creating a new league, a National League, with more structure and more solid financial backing. With all that in place maybe a more stable league will flourish, and Boston may lose. (Never mind the fact Hulbert has already made deals with most of Boston's stars to come to Chicago and play for him)

[WFIL73]

Ross Barnes and Al Spalding are really really good.

[WFIL73]

New League, New Me.
Ok, no new me, but the new league, started by William Hulbert had a productive inagural season. One hiccup was in mid-September when both the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Mutuals refused, on cost reasons, refused to travel west. Not putting up with such nonsense, Hulbert expelled both teams. Both had been National Association stalwarts and were keys to Hulbert's plan, but he showed that no one team is more important than the league.
Chicago - Having all the stars from Boston doesn't hurt. Guys like Barnes and Spalding have no idea what it's like to be in 2nd place. Ever.
Athletics - Despite being expelled from the league, Philly had a great late surge led by pitcher Lon Knight.
Hartford - Led by Tommy Bond and a lineup of veterans the team just didn't have enough to compete with Chicago.
Louisville - Welcome Louisville! New team looked pretty good. Jim Devlin is looking like a pitcher who could last awhile.
Boston - Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Having a few pieces from the old team, losing Spalding and other stars led to the first sub .500 season for Harry Wright.
St. Louis - Could have been better and pretty much ended up the same way they did in 1875
Cincinnati - Welcome Reds! Not a very good team after releasing Cherokee Fisher. His release the result of gambling allegations.
New York - Mutuals did not play well and that led to lack of support. Lack of support led to lack of money. Lack of money led to lack of travel. Lack of travel led to lack of a team. Fare thee well New York.

[Garlon]

How are you handling the schedules for these seasons?

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by Garlon

How are you handling the schedules for these seasons?

I don't know for him but in my case, since I start from 1871 too, I used old one I found in the forum many years ago and do the needed corrections manually... Sometimes the game mixed teams in the schedule (I know for sure that it happened in 1874 with the Philadelphia teams).

Edit: I used different one from each league and not a big ML one for both...

[WFIL73]

Originally Posted by Garlon

How are you handling the schedules for these seasons?

A billion years ago a 19th century as-played schedule file was created. I have forgotten who created it. Every season of every league was there. I've been using it forever. There were a few tweeks that needed correcting, but I haven't had to touch that file since 2007. I'm not even kidding. Since I am a dinosaur, I do have to load the schedule manually every season, but there's no "creation" on my part as long as my league is set up correctly for the schedule file.

[WFIL73]

Boston - What a bounce back season! Tommy Bond was finally made "the man" and he won the pitching triple crown. Makes you wonder what Bob Ferguson was thinking at Hartford switching between Bond a Candy Cummings.
Chicago - They started out really slow. Had a good offense, but Spalding no longer pitches and George Bradley ain't no Al Spalding.
St. Louis - Played well against Chicago and Boston, but not anyone else. They had a nice ending stretch, but that was after everything was all settled.
Louisville - Started out really hot, but by July had started to fade and never made it back. (In all the times I've played this season Louisville usually does this. It's kind of creepy knowing what is going to happen after the season)
Hartford - Losing Bond killed this team. The offense was good, but just not good enough.
Cincinnati - Beset by financial woes all season, the team actually disbanded at the end of May. Candy Cummings and new financial backing formed a new team, but not a good one. After the season Hulbert kicked the team out of the league for non-payment of bills. But then they were admitted back in because...
After the season, 4 Louisville players were implicated, and two confessed, to throwing games for gamblers during the season. George Hall was a great batter and Jim Devlin wasn't a bad pitcher, yet both, along with Al Nichols and Bill Craver were banished from the league per the orders of Hulbert and the other owners.
Then there were suggestions the St. Louis team was guilty of the same. Though nothing was found, that team and Louisville folded up shop. Hartford, who actually played in Brooklyn this season, was already walking away. So Hulbert now has a league of Chicago, Boston, and a broke Cincinnati team. The league is on very thin ice at the moment.

[WFIL73]

Here are the 4 banned Louisville players. Nichols was really nothing and was looking for big payouts. Craver was probably more noted for managing teams that ended up folding. Hall was a good batter. Devlin was ok as a pitcher, but we'll never know how good.

[WFIL73]

Hulbert was able to cobble together a league of teams for this season. Indy and Milwaukee were brought in from the League Alliance, and Providence was added late for another 6 team league.
Cincinnati - What a turnaround! The Reds grabbed a number of high profile players including Deacon White and Cal McVey, and a rookie King Kelly. But it was Deacon's brother, Will White, who was the real star of the team. Two separate 10 game winning streaks didn't hurt.
Boston - It was there for Harry Wright, if only they could have beaten Cincinnati. That was the one drawback and it cost them. Bond had a great season and Jim O'Rourke lead them at the plate.
Chicago - Except for Cap Anson the team was gutted and started over. Not a bad finish considering.
Providence - They were under .500 till mid-July when John Ward showed up. He made an immediate difference on the mound and the team had a much better second half.
Milwaukee - Not much went right. The team was made up of spare parts of other teams and played ok for a not good team.
Indianapolis - All you need to know was this team lost 23 games in a row from early July to late August. When you only play 60 total and you lose a third of them in a row, that's rough.
Indy could not account for some missing money and the players were not fully paid. This pretty much shut down the team. Milwaukee was also not allowed back.

[WFIL73]

Had the 1st NL no hitter. Coincidence, it was George Bradley, who IRL had the first NL no-hitter.

[WFIL73]

So due to not closing the program and an unexpected computer update, the no-hitter by George Bradley no longer exists. But this does:
Providence - John Ward won 47 games and they ended up running away with the Pennant. It's good solid team. Stealing Jim O'Rourke and George Wright didn't hurt.
Chicago - After gutting the team and rebuilding, ownership put Cap Anson in charge, and they flirted with 1st place for about a month. Falling short is not a bad thing, this team is poised to go places.
Boston - Close again, but not there. This team is made of replacements for the stars they had just 2 years ago. Bond had another good year, but kind of slid toward the end of the season.
Cincinnati - Basically the same 78 pennant team, but just couldn't reproduce the same result. With such success the past two years I said the stars want to see such action rewarded with cash. We will see how that goes.
Buffalo - Welcome Buffalo. Finished .500 with a roster that's ok. Pud Galvin finished with a .500 record more so to a lackluster offense than his pitching.
Troy - Welcome Troy. A roster of not so good players played like it.
Syracuse - Welcome Syracuse. Team seemed to play ok, but just could never stick a win. Team didn't draw as well as they had hoped and folded up in early September.
Cleveland - Welcome Cleveland. Not good. How not good? So not good that the team that didn't even finish the season placed ahead of them. Jim McCormick looks like a promising pitcher.
(Except for Cincy edging out Boston in 78, this sim is playing out much like real life)