HOB3 begins

[Tavarin]

I feel sorry for those Braves, but GO WHITE SOX!!

[blubbla]

Simply amazing...

[Tiger Fan]

EDDIE MURRAY
Murray did lead the National League in RBI's in 1986 but was not much more than a journeyman player in the HOB3. He tore up the International League at Rochester in 1977 and 1978 but could not replace Frank Tepedino at first base for the Orioles. 1977 through 1979 just happened to be the 3 best years of Tepedino's career so Murray saw little action when he was with Baltimore. In 1980 the O's decided to give him a chance as the everyday DH but 20 games into the season he was hit by a pitch and fractured his cheekbone. Murray returned in August but finished the year in Rochester.
The following year, looking for a chance to play everyday, Murray bolted for Texas as a free agent. Murray had a solid season with the Rangers, batting .251 with 22 homers and 107 rbi's. Apparently that wasn't good enough for Texas executives, as the Rangers went out and signed Dan Driessen prior to the 1982 season. Murray was used as the DH but was struggling so it was little surprise when he was moved at the trade deadline. Pittsburgh was the destination in exchange for pitcher Larry Demery, a marginal reliever who did little throughout his career. It was a move from first place, as the Rangers won the West Division, to last where the Pirates ended up in the NL East. Murray immediately was an upgrade on Greg Goossen at first for the Bucs but he lasted just 21 games before a torn thigh muscle cost him 5 weeks. Between the two clubs Murray hit .290 with 16 homers and 83 rbi's in 127 games.

The Pirates had a resurgence in 1983, finishing second in the NL East and Eddie Murray was a major reason why. Murray made the first allstar team of his career, batting what would be a career best .318 with 33 homers and 123 rbi's. Murray was named player of the game in the 1983 allstar game, thanks mainly to a 3 run homer he hit in a 7-1 NL victory.

Lured by a 6 million dollar contract, Murray bolted to the Big Apple in 1984 signing with the New York Mets. He would win his only World Series ring in 84 and would remain with the Mets through the 1988 season. It was the best stretch of his career and would include a 41 homer, 144 rbi season in 1986 which earned him his second allstar appearance.

Prior to the 1989 season the Mets were looking to fill a hole in the outfield created when Darryl Strawberry left for the Dodgers as a free agent. The Dodgers had an extra outfielder in George Bell and a hole at first thanks to the departure of free agent Nick Esasky so Bell and Eddie Murray were swapped. Murray hit a career low .252 but did have 23 homers for the Dodgers. LA fans would not let him forget the allstar season ex-Dodger Nick Esasky was having with the Cubs. In April of the following season the Dodgers dealt for Kevin Maas. Maas had 32 homers that year but batted just .188, still he was a crowd favourite unlike Murray who was sent to AAA Albuquerque.

Murray hit 26 homers and batted .332 in his 92 games in AAA - his first trip to the minors in a decade. The Dodgers did not notice or if they did, they did not seem to care. However, Minnesota did notice and the Twins gave up Frank Dipino to rescue Murray from the desert in late July of 1990. Murray would play just 61 major league games that season, all but 4 for Minnesota, batting .235 with 9 homers. In 1991 he hit 21 homers but batted just .246 for the Twins. At age 35, Murray's career was clearly on the downslope.

A week into the 1992 season the Twins released Murray after he refused a demotion to the minors. Cincinnati picked him up a week later for the major league minimum. Serving mainly as a pinch-hitter, Murray hit just .220 with 9 homers for the Reds. Murray retired following the 1992 season.

His HOB3 numbers pale in comparison to his real life accomplishments. Murray played 1818 games in the HOB3 and had the same number of hits - 1818. He hit 306 career homers. In real life Murray had 504 homers and 3255 hits in 3026 games.


SAM HORN
Sam Horn will be remembered forever in the HOB3 based strictly on his incredible rookie season. The year was 1987 and Horn and fellow rookie Mark McGwire staged the greatest power display ever seen in the HOB. In 1923 Babe Ruth hit a record 65 homers. Since then no one had ever topped 60. Willie McCovey came close, hitting 59 in 1966 and Claudell Washington had hit 58 in 1986. Horn and McGwire made a mockery of the record book, both surpassing the 70 homer mark. Horn would finish the year with 76 and Big Mac had 73. Horn, would also drive in 174 runs that season, just 4 shy of Jimmie Foxx's 1930 record. He was a unanimous choice as both rookie-of-the-year and American League MVP. In the postseason, Horn added 4 more homers but his Red Sox would lose the World Series in 7 games to Philadelphia.
Horn would spend most of that rookie year as DH for the Red Sox but with an overcrowded outfield eventually moved to third base when Wade Boggs departed as a free agent. He was a liability in the infield but hit 45,37 and 36 homers over the next 3 seasons. From there his production began to wane and he was never the same player. He spent 3 seasons in Atlanta and finished his career as a spare part with Cleveland and later Texas. At age 34, the Rangers released him when he refused a demotion to the minors.
Horn would finish with 294 career homers in 1424 games but more than a quarter of the bombs came in his rookie season.

[Tiger Fan]

Anyone know how to get rid of the doublespacing? I am using (pre) and (font size="2") like I always did before and I never had double spacing then.

HOB3 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS

1901 Pittsburgh, beat Boston (A) 2 to 0

1902 Pittsburgh, beat Chicago (A) 2 to 1

1903 Chicago (A), beat Pittsburgh 5 to 4

1904 Detroit, beat New York(N) 4 to 1

1905 Pittsburgh, beat Detroit 4 to 1

1906 Washington, beat St Louis(N) 4 to 1

1907 Pittsburgh, beat New York 4 to 2

1908 Pittsburgh, beat New York 4 to 1

1909 New York(N), beat Washington 4 to 1

1910 Boston (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 3

1911 New York(N), beat Boston (A) 4 to 1

1912 Chicago (A), beat Pittsburgh 4 to 3

1913 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 1

1914 Chicago (A), beat Boston (N) 4 to 1

1915 Chicago (A), beat New York(N) 4 to 1

1916 Chicago (A), beat Brooklyn 4 to 2

1917 Philadelphia (N), beat Chicago (A) 4 to 0

1918 Chicago (N), beat New York 4 to 1

1919 Philadelphia (N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 3

1920 Boston (A), beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 3

1921 New York, beat Boston (N) 4 to 1

1922 St Louis(N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 1

1923 Detroit, beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 1

1924 New York, beat Boston (N) 4 to 3

1925 New York(N), beat New York 4 to 1

1926 Pittsburgh, beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 3

1927 Philadelphia (A), beat New York(N) 4 to 1

1928 New York(N), beat New York 4 to 2

1929 New York(N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 0

1930 Detroit, beat Boston (N) 4 to 0

1931 Philadelphia (N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 3

1932 Philadelphia (N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 2

1933 Philadelphia (N), beat St.Louis(A) 4 to 2

1934 Philadelphia (N), beat Detroit 4 to 0

1935 Philadelphia (N), beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 3

1936 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 0

1937 Philadelphia (A), beat Chicago (N) 4 to 0

1938 Philadelphia (A), beat Chicago (N) 4 to 0

1939 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 1

1940 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 3

1941 New York, beat St Louis(N) 4 to 0

1942 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 3

1943 Philadelphia (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 1

1944 Philadelphia (A), beat Brooklyn 4 to 3

1945 Brooklyn, beat Philadelphia (A) 4 to 2

1946 Detroit, beat Pittsburgh 4 to 0

1947 Brooklyn, beat Detroit 4 to 2

1948 Boston (A), beat Boston (N) 4 to 1

1949 Detroit, beat Brooklyn 4 to 3

1950 Cleveland, beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 2

1951 St.Louis(A), beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 0

1952 Brooklyn, beat Boston (A) 4 to 1

1953 New York(N), beat New York 4 to 3

1954 New York, beat Philadelphia (N) 4 to 1

1955 Philadelphia (N), beat New York 4 to 1

1956 Baltimore, beat Brooklyn 4 to 0

1957 Philadelphia (N), beat Kansas City 4 to 1

1958 New York, beat Pittsburgh 4 to 3

1959 Kansas City, beat San Francisco 4 to 3

1960 Kansas City, beat Los Angeles 4 to 1

1961 San Francisco (N), beat Kansas City 4 to 2

1962 Kansas City, beat San Francisco 4 to 2

1963 San Francisco, beat Kansas City 4 to 2

1964 San Francisco, beat Baltimore 4 to 1

1965 Cleveland, beat San Francisco 4 to 1

1966 Los Angeles, beat Detroit 4 to 2

1967 Chicago (A), beat Houston 4 to 2

1968 Oakland, beat Cincinnati 4 to 2

1969 Oakland, beat Cincinnati 4 to 1

1970 Boston (A), beat St Louis(N) 4 to 3

1971 New York(N), beat Oakland 4 to 2

1972 Cincinnati, beat Minnesota 4 to 2

1973 Kansas City, beat New York(N) 4 to 3

1974 New York(N), beat Oakland 4 to 3

1975 Boston (A), beat Atlanta 4 to 3

1976 Cincinnati, beat Kansas City 4 to 3

1977 Oakland, beat Houston 4 to 1

1978 Oakland, beat Cincinnati 4 to 3

1979 Oakland, beat New York(N) 4 to 2

1980 Boston (A), beat New York(N) 4 to 1

1981 New York, beat Cincinnati 4 to 3

1982 New York(N), beat Texas 4 to 2

1983 California, beat Atlanta 4 to 2

1984 New York(N), beat Oakland 4 to 1

1985 Kansas City, beat Atlanta 4 to 2

1986 Cincinnati, beat Texas 4 to 1

1987 Philadelphia (N), beat Boston (A) 4 to 3

1988 Cincinnati, beat Boston (A) 4 to 0

1989 Cincinnati, beat California 4 to 2

1990 Cincinnati, beat Baltimore 4 to 2

1991 Baltimore, beat Los Angeles 4 to 0

1992 Baltimore, beat Pittsburgh 4 to 0

1993 California, beat Atlanta 4 to 3

1994 Minnesota, beat Los Angeles 4 to 2

1995 Atlanta, beat Toronto 4 to 1

1996 Chicago (A), beat Atlanta 4 to 3

1997 Los Angeles, beat Toronto 4 to 2

1998 Oakland, beat Atlanta 4 to 3

1999 Houston, beat Kansas City 4 to 3

2000 Oakland, beat Colordao 4 to 1

2001 Houston, beat Boston (A) 4 to 3

2002 New York, beat Atlanta 4 to 3

 



WORLD SERIES TITLES BY TEAM

PHIL/KC/OAKLAND A's    20 - 1913,27,36,37,38,39,40,42,43,44,59,60,62,68,69,77,  78,79,98,2000

Philadelphia Phillies  10 - 1917,19,31,32,33,34,35,55,57,87

NY/SF Giants            9 - 1909,11,25,28,29,53,61,63,64

New York Yankees        7 - 1921,24,41,54,58,81,2002

Chicago White Sox       7 - 1903,12,14,15,16,67,96

Pittsburgh Pirates      6 - 1901,02,05,07,08,26

Boston Red Sox          6 - 1910,20,48,70,75,80

Cincinnati Reds         6 - 1972,76,86,88,89,90

Detroit Tigers          5 - 1904,23,30,46,49

Bkn/Los Angeles Dodgers 5 - 1945,47,52,66,97

StL/Baltimore Orioles   4 - 1951,56,91,92

New York Mets           4 - 1971,74.82,84

Cleveland Indians       2 - 1950,65

Houston Astros          2 - 1999,2001

Washington/Minnesota    2 - 1906,94

Kansas City Royals      2 - 1973,85

California Angels       2 - 1983,93

Chicago Cubs            1 - 1918

St Louis Cardinals      1 - 1922

Bos/Mil/Atlanta Braves  1 - 1995

Wash/Texas Rangers      0

Seattle Mariners        0

Toronto Blue Jays       0

Montreal Expos          0

Florida Marlins         0

Sea/Milwaukee Brewers   0

San Diego Padres        0

Colorado Rockies        0

Arizona Diamondbacks    0

Tampa Bay Devil Rays    0
		

[NYJuggalo45]

Tiger, again great reading. Wondering if you can speak a little about my 2 favorite players growing up and how their careers turned out. Mookie Wilson and Cal Ripken. Also, maybe just a quick something about Darryl Strawberry, was his career any better in the HOB than in real life?

[spleen1015]

It pleases me to see another team other than the Yankees as the most dominate World Series winning team.

[Bobbuttons]

Since many are asking about their favorite players, how about mine? How did Andy Van Slyke play in your HOB replays? He quickly became my baseball idol after the Pirates aquired him in the late '80's.

[WillTheThrill]

I dont mean to be a bother, but I'd also like to see how one of my favorite players fared, Will Clark. I never really saw him play much, but I was actually named after him.

[Tiger Fan]

I will get to Will Clark the next chance I get but here are the others:

MOOKIE WILSON
Mookie played for 4 teams in his 14 year HOB3 career but was a backup most of the time. He began 1981 with AAA Tidewater but after hitting .372 in April he was called up by the parent Mets. His first major league at bat was a homerun off of the Dodgers Bob Welch in May of 1981. He would spend the rest of the season as a pinch-hitter and 4th outfielder for the Mets, hitting .375 in 96 at bats.
He spent most of 1982 in AAA but did get a September callup and, despite not getting a postseason at bat, was on the Mets World Championship team that season. In 1983 the Mets added Darryl Strawberry to a solid outfield that already included Bobby Bonds, John Milner and Bruce Boisclair so Mookie's playing time was limited. In May of 1983 he broke his foot and his season was done after just 55 at bats.
Seeing no chance for playing time with the Mets, Wilson signed as a free agent with St Louis prior to the 1984 season. He was an everyday player for the first time in his career and responded by hitting .304. In 1985 he platooned with David Green in left field for the Redbirds. By 1986, Green had replaced him in the starting lineup and Wilson split the season between St Louis and AAA Memphis.
His contract up, Wilson once again went searching for a place he could play regularly. He did not get much in the way of contract offers and ended up signing a deal with Toronto that would see he spend most of the next two seasons in AAA Syracuse. However, in 1989 the Jays gave him a chance to play everyday and Wilson enjoyed a solid season, hitting .306.
However, the starting gig was shortlived. The emergence of rookie John Olerud moved Cecil Fielder to DH which meant Steve Kemp would have to go back to left field if the Jays wanted his power in the lineup. They did and Mookie was the odd man out. He did not get to play regularly for the Jays again until 1992 and he quickly made up for lost time, batting a career best .326.
Once again Mookie did not get the respect many felt he was deserving of, as Toronto refused to offer him a contract extension. Wilson went back to New York signing with the Yankees this time. He hit .315 as an everyday player in 1993 but saw limited action the following season. In 1995 he finished his career at age 39, playing out the entire year for the Yankees AAA farm team in Columbus.

The final tally on Wilson's career - 1086 games played, .317 career average with 42 homers and 58 stolen bases. In real life Mookie played 1403 games, hit .274 with 67 homers and 327 stolen bases.


CAL RIPKEN
Never injured in his career, Ripken played 2624 games (although not consecutively) for Baltimore, Seattle, the Cubs and Los Angeles. He made just 3 allstar teams in his career and played just 3 postseason games - late in his career for the 1998 Dodgers. Like Mookie Wilson, Ripken's first major league hit was a homer (off of JR Richard) but it did not come in his first at bat. He was named American League rookie of the year in 1982, batting .293 with 28 HR and 114 rbi. Ripken also won an AL MVP award in 1984. He left the Orioles for Seattle as a free agent in 1988 and was traded twice in the final stages of his career.

Career numbers 2624 games, .279 avg, 2691 Hits, 419 HR
Real life 3001 games, .276 avg, 3184 hits, 431 HR


ANDY VAN SLYKE
Hit .295 as a rookie with the last place Cardinals in 1983 but it would turn out to be the only solid season of his career. Midway thru the 1984 season he was dealt to Houston where he was given the unenviable task of replacing Reggie Jackson. That experiment lasted just over a season and by the end of the 85 campaign he was in AAA and Harold Baines was the new right fielder for the Astros. Van Slyke would spend most of the next 3 years as the Astros 4th outfielder but he did not show much power and his average sank lower and lower each year.
The Astros let him go following the 1988 season and he signed with Cleveland. Van Slyke would spend most of the next 5 seasons in AAA before being released by the Tribe when he refused to report to the minors to start the 1994 season. Seattle picked him up in May and it would prove to be Van Slyke's final kick at the can. He played everyday for the Mariners but hit just .250 with 11 homers. The Mariners choose not to resign him and he finally agreed to a deal with the Cubs. He spent all of the 1995 season at AAA Iowa and retired following that season.

CAREER NUMBERS 1130 games, 767 hits, 73 HR, .262 avg.
REAL LIFE NUMBERS 1658 games, 1562 hits, 164 HR, .274 avg.


DARRYL STRAWBERRY
Strawberry could have be one of the greats in real life and in the HOB3. His problem in the HOB3 was injury rather than addiction.
In 1983 he took the National League by storm, hitting .268 with 31 HR (5th highest in League) and was named NL Rookie of the Year. He also won the first of 3 gold gloves that year. In 1984 he made his first allstar team, and hit 3 postseason homers to help the Mets win the World Series. In his third season he led the NL in homers and RBI's but narrowly lost the MVP award to teammate John Milner. 1986-88 featured 3 more allstar appearances and an MVP award. Strawberry was 26 years old and he already had 220 homers. I took a look at the top 10 homerun hitters of alltime and none could match that feat. I checked a few other possibilities but as far as I can tell no player in the HOB3 had more homers by his 26th birthday then Darryl Strawberry.

Strawberry filed for free agency following the 1988 season and eventually signed a 7 year deal worth 10.3 million per season with the Dodgers. Strawberry struggled early with LA, batting just .240 with 4 homers in April. He hit a pair of homers the first week of May and seemed to be adjusting to the Dodgers when disaster struck. While diving to snare a sinking liner Strawberry tore his rib cage muscles up and was done for 10 weeks. When he returned the power stroke was gone. In the final 9 years of his career he would hit just 36 more homers and played less than 400 more major league games. He would bounce around to Texas, Colorado and Florida after his contract with the Dodgers expired. 1996 would be the only season of note as Strawberry hit 14 homers for Colorado.

His final numbers 1520 games, 1272 hits, 262 homers, .281 avg
REAL LIFE 1583 games, 1401 hits, 335 homers, .259 avg

[NYJuggalo45]

eerie how similar Strawberry's HOB story was to real life, even down to his career falling apart in LA.

Mookie had a Rodney Dangerfield career...no respect. Guy's a career .320 hitter and can't get AB's anywhere.

Cal wasn't the HOB player he was in real life, not even a H.O.F.. Still a solid player though.

Great writeups, thank you

[rogmax11]

Been meaning to ask this before: do you manually name the minor league teams for historical accuracy? I cant imagine the game features this nod to realism. If you do (input team names yourself), what source do you utilize? One of these days Im gonna create myself in slightly enhanced mode and get drafted by the Dodgers, thereby living out the life I should have had. To do so will require the minor league affiliations from looong ago. Thanks,TF, you write like a pro. It is some of my favorite reading.

R

[Tiger Fan]

Originally posted by rogmax11
Been meaning to ask this before: do you manually name the minor league teams for historical accuracy? I cant imagine the game features this nod to realism. If you do (input team names yourself), what source do you utilize?

This site will give you the history of minor league teams and their major league affiliates

http://www.geocities.com/big_bunko/total.htm

[strong]

I was wondering what everyone does with players from multiple teams? When I traded them to the team they belonged to, the computer put them into AAA. I have been stuck with 24 man rosters for the last 5 days of schedule. Any thoughts?

[Tiger Fan]

WILL CLARK
Will Clark had a career very similiar to his real life performance. He started his career in 1986 and just like in real life played the last of his 1900+ games in the year 2000.

He hit .293 with 11 homers as a rookie but by his third season Clark had lost his starting first base job to Kent Hrbek and finished up the 88 campaign in AAA. He signed with Detroit as a free agent prior to the 1989 season and he enjoyed the best year of his career with the Tigers in 1990. Clark won his only MVP award, leading the AL in homers with 41 while batting .324. It would be the first of 4 straight allstar appearances. He would hit 160 homers over that 4 year stretch that started with the Tigers and concluded with 2 years in Wrigley Field. Clark had signed an 8 year deal worth over 11 million per season with the Cubs before the 1992 season.

He enjoyed 6 solid seasons in Chicago but his skills began eroding and in 1998 he batted just .233. He was reduced to a part time player the following season and was released by the Cubs late in the year. Clark would end his career in 2000 with brief stops in Anaheim and with the Dodgers that season.

CAREER NUMBERS

HOB3 1911 Games, .284 avg, 354 HR, 1235 rbi
Reallife 1976 games, .303 avg, 284 HR, 1205 rbi

[WillTheThrill]

Well, I would have rather see him be better than real life. But hey, at least he didn't suck, like he seems to do in my leagues.

[Tiger Fan]

A couple of pages back in this thread I talked about the greatest dynasty in the HOB3 - The 1936-43 Philadelphia Athletics. The second greatest dynasty also occurred in the city of Philadelphia and also primarily during the 1930's. The Phillies matched their in-town rivals by winning 5 straight World Championships but unfortunately for Phillie fans, they failed to enjoy the same success the A's did in future decades.

Here is a look at the first half of the decade that belonged to the city of Philadelphia.

1931 The Phils tye a franchise record with 97 victories and finish 3 games ahead of the Cardinals to claim the franchise's 5th pennant. The Phillies had just one bonafide superstar on their roster. That was 27 year old Chuck Klein (.337,17,121), who was the only regular in the outfield. Klein played right field while center and left were a revolving door that had 4 players sharing the two positions.
Don Hurst (.343,13,93) manned first base, Fresco Thompson (.314,1,52) was at second, the shortstop was Heinie Sand (.337,12,63), Willie Kamm (.254,3,37) patrolled third while Earl Smith (.349,2,64) and Spud Davis (.315,4,48) platooned behind the plate.
The pitching staff, aside from Charlie Root (18-15,3.84) and Red Ruffing (11-3, 3.53) was nothing to write home about, but then again this was 1931 and offense was king.

For the second time the World Series would be an all Philadelphia affair. In 1919, the Phillies prevailed over the A's in 7 hard fought games. The A's were heavy favourites heading into this series.

Game 1 saw Lefty Grove toss a 3-hit shutout as his A's beat Charlie Root and the Phillies 3-0. The Phillies beat up AL Rusie Award winner Jumbo Elliott in Game 2. Fresco Thompson's 2 run double in the top of the 9th was the difference as the Phils won 9-7 to even the series.

The Phillies would win game 3 by a 6-4 count but Lefty Grove tossed a 1-hit shutout in Game 4 to even the series with a 5-0 Athletics victory. Jimmie Foxx homered twice for the A's in the game.

The Phillies beat Jumbo Elliott again in Game 5, winning 4-1, but the A's rallied with a run in the 8th and the 9th to win game 6 3-2.

Lefty Grove was looking for his third straight shutout in game 7 but that thought ended in the 3rd when Chuck Klein hit a 2-run triple to put the Phillies ahead. It was all the offense Charlie Root would need - he tossed a 4-hit shutout and the Phillies won game 7 5-0.

1932 The Phillies and the A's again squared off in the 1932 series. The big difference this time was that Lefty Grove had bolted the A's and signed with the Phillies. Grove went 18-8 but Charlie Root (23-10) was named the NL's top pitcher.

The Phillies won the first 3 games of the series before the A's won a pair to get back into. Game 6 of the 1932 World Series is remembered as one of the greatest series games ever. It lasted 15 innings before new shortstop Topper Rigney of the Phils crossed the plate with the series winning run in a 5-4 Phillies win.

1933 Virtually the same roster was again intact for the Phillies who faced the Browns in 1933 World Series. St Louis hammered Charlie Root and the Phils 8-1 in the opener but after that it was all Philadelphia.

1934 Again no major changes as the Phillies win their 4th straight pennant and sweep Detroit for World Series title number 4. Fresco Thompson has a great series, batting .500 with 6 rbi's in the 4 games.

1935 The streak almost comes to an end as the Phillies must win 7 of their last 10 to pull into a tie with the Giants on the final day of the season. Lefty Grove tosses a complete game 4-hitter while Chuck Klein, Don Hurst and Travis Jackson homer as the Phillies beat the Giants 4-3 for the NL Pennant.

The World Series pits the Phillies against the Athletics. The National Leaguers win the opener 3-0 behind a Charlie Root 2-hitter. Game 2 is 5-1 Phillies as Lefty Grove allows just 5 hits. Chuck Klein has 3 hits as the Phillies take game 3 in 10 innings by a 6-5 score. However, the A's wake up and win 3 straight to even the series including a tense 1-0 pitching duel between Lefty's Willis and Grove in game 5.

The 7th game is a dandy with the Phillies prevailing 3-2. The A's strand the tying run on third in the bottom of the ninth. The A's would get their revenge as they would go on to win 5 straight World Series of their own starting in 1936. The Phillies would not see the postseason again until 1950

[Tiger Fan]

THE GREAT CHASE THAT SLOWED TO CRAWL
When Babe Ruth retired with 641 career homers it was, or so I figured, just a matter of time until someone surpassed that mark. Many great players took their shot with many of them seeming well ahead of the pace until injury or age foiled them.

Jimmie Foxx succumbed to age and ended his chase at 559
Hank Greenberg and Ralph Kiner came along and reached 546 and 582 respectively.
Joltin' Joe stalled at 510. Frank Robinson and Rocky Colavtio each gave it a run but both ended at 581. Mantle and Mays were in the running. It was just a matter of time for one of them....but Mickey retired with 555 at age 37 and Willie lost his power at age 40 and ended up with 608.

Then Willie McCovey entered the fray. McCovey ended the 1975 season with his 13th straight allstar selection. He had spent a decade in San Francisco before signing with the Tigers in 1971. On July 12th, 1975 he became just the third player to reach the 600 mark when he took California's Tom Bradley deep. McCovey would hit 31 homers that season and finish the year with 613 - just 28 shy of Ruth.

In 1976 McCovey, now 38, would hit 16 more homers but his skills were rapidly declining. He would need 12 more to tie the Babe. The Tigers, apparently oblivious to the gate attraction McCovey would provide, made him available in the 1977 expansion draft. You can't really blame Detroit, as they felt Jason Thompson was ready and if not Rod Carew could move to first base, and they felt they were a pennant contender. McCovey was snatched up by Seattle and he was prepared to complete the run to catch Ruth.

He hit 3 homers in April, added 5 more in May and a pair in June. Now, he was just 2 shy of Ruth. A knee injured limited him to 13 games in July and McCovey went homerless. August he would get 90 at bats but manageed just one homer. He was now one away.

The knee injury had zapped what was left of his power. McCovey would play 26 games in September and not hit a single homer. There were 4 games left and it was clear these would be the final 4 games of McCovey's career.
On October 1st, he went 1-for-2 in Cleveland but it was just a single. He had 3 games left as the Mariners ended their season with a series in Chicago. He went 2-for-2 with a walk off of Francisco Barrios in the opener but still no homer. An 0-for-3 night against Milt Wilcox followed and there was just one chance left. McCovey looked awful, fanning 3 times as Pete Vuckovich had his number.

The season would end with McCovey hitting .247 with 11 homers and 58 rbi's but he would fall one homer shy of Ruth's mark. However, he had just 1 homer in his last 203 at bats.

Here are the all-time homerun leaders following the 2002 campaign. I imagine Barry Bonds will catch Ruth when and if I sim the 2003 season. Barry is 38 but he is coming off a 60 homer season in 2002.

CAREER HOMERUNS
1 B. Ruth 641
2 W. Mccovey 640
3 B. Bonds* 619
4 W. Mays 608
5 R. Kiner 582
6 F. Robinson 581
6 R. Colavito 581
8 K. Mitchell 575
9 B. Bonds 572
10 M. Mcgwire 563
11 J. Foxx 559
12 D. Justice* 556
13 M. Mantle 555
14 H. Greenberg 546
15 L. Walker* 545
16 J. Milner 539
17 N. Esasky 512
18 J. Dimaggio 510
19 R. Jackson 507
20 T. Conigliaro 505
21 A. Shamsky 502
21 J. Hart 502
23 D. Allen 499
24 M. Ott 489
25 J. Gonzalez* 482


Edit- For those wondering about Hank Aaron. He suffered a career ending injury in his mid-twenties.

[Carlton]

WOW, Hammerin' Hank no where on the board, sad to see a favorite of mine get a CEL so early in his career.

My Favorite player, however was Toby Harrah as a kid, mind telling me how he did TF?

[Tiger Fan]

Toby Harrah recap will come late tonight or tomorrow.

I wanted to give an update on the HOB3. I have now simmed through 2014 using fictional rookies. There are a number of exciting developments but by far the most interesting is what has happened to the league.

In 2015 I made a 16 game schedule with no playoffs as labor strife had caused a work stoppage that wiped out almost the entire season and for the first time in HOB3 history the World Series was not played.

Come the beginning of 2016 the owners refused to budge from their hard line stance to lower payrolls and the players refused to give an inch. As a result the players union decided to form its own league. Team names and league allignment to follow.

[Tiger Fan]

Rather than end the HOB3 and start a new fictional league I decided to use the HOB3 as the basis for my fictional league.

As mentioned above a labor dispute caused the players to form their own league:

Here are the teams
UNITED LEAGUE
Baltimore
Boston
Chicago
Cleveland
Detroit
Hollywood Stars (formerly Anaheim)
Minnesota
New York
Oakland
Seattle

CONTINENTAL LEAGUE
Atlanta
Brooklyn (formerly NY Mets)
Chicago
Cincinnati
Dallas (formerly Arizona)
Los Angeles
Philadelphia
San Francisco
St Louis
Washington (formerly Montreal)


All players that were on one of the above mentioned teams remain with the same club. All from disbanded teams were released to the free agent pool. Since the players league is not associated with the now-defunct Major League baseball I need logos and nicknames for each of the surviving teams. Any suggestions please post them.

My plan is to sim 10 more seasons to ensure all real players have retired and then take over one of the weaker clubs as manager.