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Old 05-10-2018, 05:25 PM   #81
JaBurns
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Ben Chapman was the Phillies manager who gave Robinson all the trouble IRL. How did he do in your league?
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Old 05-10-2018, 05:38 PM   #82
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In regards to what you said about Preacher - I assume Stan the Man was the cornerstone of those 6 in 7 champion Cardinals in your sim. I always found it interesting that IRL Musial went to the WS his first four full seasons, and then never went back.Tough league.
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Old 05-10-2018, 10:24 PM   #83
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Ben Chapman was the Phillies manager who gave Robinson all the trouble IRL. How did he do in your league?
There is an interesting article on Chapman here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertain...i-42-i/274995/

BEN CHAPMAN

Chapman broke in with the Yankees in 1928 and spent a decade in New York before ending his career with the Boston Braves. This version of the Yankees was not the same as the real-life powerhouse. Ruth was there but there was no Gehrig and no DiMaggio in pinstripes so Chapman played on some mediocre teams.

He was a 3-time all-star and claimed a couple of gold gloves for his work in the outfield. He also led the American League in stolen bases in 1932 and 1933. After a poor 1939 campaign and an even worse start to 1940 the Yankees released him and he was signed by the Braves. Things went no better in Boston and at the age of 32 his major league career was over. Chapman did kick around the minors for a few more years before retiring in 1948. I have no way of tracking it but he played in 11 different minor leagues in his career and I am thinking that might be a record.

His MLB totals were a .301 career average with 2,072 hits in 1,868 games. He put together some pretty good seasons in his early twenties but had a huge drop-off once he reached age 30. There was no managerial career for Chapman in this sim. Real-life numbers compare favourably to his sim career, 1,717 games with 1,958 hits and a .302 average. He was a 4-time all-star in real-life.
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Old 05-10-2018, 11:56 PM   #84
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In regards to what you said about Preacher - I assume Stan the Man was the cornerstone of those 6 in 7 champion Cardinals in your sim. I always found it interesting that IRL Musial went to the WS his first four full seasons, and then never went back.Tough league.
Surprisingly, Musial was not a part of the Cardinals dominance.


STAN MUSIAL

A sure-fire future Hall of Famer, Musial had an amazing career in this sim but he never won a World Series. He never became a St Louis Cardinal as he signed with an independant team in late 1937 and before the 1938 campaign began his contract was purchased by the Washington Senators.

After a couple seasons in the minors as a pitcher, he made his major league debut in the outfield at the age of 19 in 1940. Musial would remain with the Senators organization and join it for the move to Minnesota before retiring at the end of the 1963 season at the age of 42.

Only Ty Cobb with 4,450 had more hits than Musial's 4,172. Musial also hit 502 homeruns in his career making himself, Ted Williams and Mel Ott the only players with at least 3000 hits and 500 homeruns. He is second all-time in rbi's behind Williams, and ranks fifth in homers and runs scored. Musial is also the all-time leader in games played with 3,425 - three more than Williams and 7 more than Cobb. No one else has as many as 3,200 career games and only 7 players topped the 3,000 game plateau. Finally, Musial is also the all-time leader in doubles with 775, more than 100 more than Cobb, who ranks second in the category.

Musial led the American League in batting three times, including 1945 when he hit .400 for the only time in his career. He was named American League rookie of the year in 1940 when he hit .285 with 14 homers and 89 rbi's in 142 games for the Senators at the age of 19. He was also a 4-time American League MVP, won 4 gold gloves and made 16 all-star teams.

Like in real-life, Musial began his career as a pitcher and went 19-5 as a rookie pro with the Charlotte Hornets. He also hit .300 that season and after batting .325 with two teams in the Florida State League the following season he was converted to an outfielder.

Musial started his major league career going 0-for-5 with 3 strikeouts before he got his first hit, a double off of Hugh Casey in an early season 5-2 loss to the Yankees in 1940. Among his Washington teammates that day was Lou Gehrig, who was nearing the end of his stellar career with the Senators.

Musial took the torch from Gehrig as the face of the team but while Gehrig had helped Washington to it's first two World Series titles, Musial lacked the supporting cast and regularly found his team in the middle of the pack in an American League of the 1940's that saw Boston, New York and Cleveland as the cream of the crop.

In 1949 that changed as the Tribe, Yankees and Red Sox each had off-years and finished under .500 paving the way for Musial (.344,27,114) to have an MVP season and lead the Senators to their first pennant in a decade. They came up against the Philadelphia Phillies, who had replaced the Cardinals of the class of the National League and were at the beginning of a streak that saw them win 4 straight World Championships.

Musial was the Washington offense that year, especially after 42 year old shortstop Luke Appling, who was hitting .338, broke his kneecap in late June to end his season. The best of the supporting cast were 1B Ken Keltner (.266,18,68) and 2B Bob Elliott (.265,11,70). Pitching was the team's strength led by a rotation of Larry Jansen (21-10, 3.02), Walt Masterson (20-10, 2.97), Early Wynn (15-14, 3.46) and Ray Scarborough (18-6, 3.12). The Phillies with 107 victories, finished with 12 more than the Senators that season and were heavy favourites to win the World Series a year after they were knocked off by Cleveland.

Game One was a 12 inning marathon that saw Phillies 25 game winner Warren Spahn go the distance and beat Washington 2-1. Musial had the only exta base hit for the Senators in the game, a 6th inning triple, and scored Washington's run.

Musial carried Washington to a Game Two victory by going 3-for-4 with a homerun, 2 rbi's and 2 runs scored in a 5-4 Senators win on the road. Larry Jansen allowed just 8 hits and 3 earned runs in a complete game win over Robin Roberts of Philadelphia.

The series was even heading to Washington and fans were treated to another extra inning classic. Jackie Robinson was the hero for Philadelphia, delivering a game-winning rbi single to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead. It was a crushing loss for the Senators, who tied the game in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a lead-off triple from Musial, who was 2-for-4 with a pair of walks in the contest.

Musial was 1-for-3 in Game Four but the Senators won 4-2 thanks to a 2-hit complete game from Early Wynn. The only blemishes on Wynn's record that day were solo homeruns from Elbie Fletcher and Gus Zerniel.

Tied at 2 games apiece with both losses in extra innings the Senators had to feel good going into game 5 at home but then they ran into Warren Spahn again. The Game One winner pitched a 6-hitter and held Musial hitless in a 4-1 Philadelphia victory. Elbie Fletcher's bases-loaded triple in the top of the 8th inning off of Washington starter Ray Scarborough proved the difference. Philadelphia would wrap up the series at home two days later with a 6-2 victory as Zernial homered twice and Richie Ashburn also went deep for the winners. Musial was 1-for-4 in the game with his third triple of the series and a run scored but it was not enough. That would be the only post-season experience of Musial's career.

Despite no more trips to the World Series Musial had plenty of highlights. He joined Ty Cobb as the only members of the 4000 hit club with a single off of the Yankees Whitey Ford on August 22, 1961 and on September 14th the following year he got his 500th career homerun off of Baltimore's Jack Fisher in a loss to the Orioles. It would be his final homerun of the 1962 season and he would hit just 2 more the following year as his storied career came to an end.

He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible in 1969. It will be quite a ballot as former Phillies ace Warren Spahn will also be eligible for the first time, as will catcher Yogi Berra. Spahn won 316 games, 4 World Series titles and 3 Cy Young's in his career.

Below are Musial's career stats as well as a quick look at who made up the Cardinals dominant teams of the 1940s.
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Old 05-11-2018, 10:21 AM   #85
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Wow, thanks Tiger Fan. I think I've learned my lesson never to assume any players are with any particular team in this league haha. Those pitching rotations were so dangerous for St. Louis - that decade of dominance makes a lot of sense looking at those numbers.
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Old 05-11-2018, 11:03 AM   #86
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Wow, thanks Tiger Fan. I think I've learned my lesson never to assume any players are with any particular team in this league haha. Those pitching rotations were so dangerous for St. Louis - that decade of dominance makes a lot of sense looking at those numbers.
It is weird they way it works sometimes. I have no draft so players are supposed to go to the team they began their careers with. It means many players go to the real organization they started with and others for obvious reasons don't - Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig are good examples as they began their career with unaffiliated minor league teams - but everything I read about Musial is he debuted as a minor leaguer after signing with the Cardinals so I also was expecting him to be part of that dynasty.

That is one of the fun things I am finding with this replay. Unlike others where I watched each season play out fairly closely I quick simmed to 1965 paying really no attention at all to the league so I am discovering a lot of great stories I had no idea about.

The Cardinals dynasty was one of many this universe had. Including:

1901-13 Athletics - 12 pennants and 7 World Series titles

1901-07 Phillies - 7 pennants and 4 WS titles

1915-20 White Sox - 6 straight pennants and 5 WS

1923-31 NL - Cardinals and Phillies dominated with Phillies winning 5 pennants and 5 WS while Cardinals had 4 pennants and 2 WS

1934-37 Red Sox - 4 straight WS titles

The 1941-47 Cardinals which have already been discussed

1948-52 Phillies with 5 straight pennants and 4 WS titles

1955-65 Yankees with 7 pennants in 11 years but just 2 WS wins.
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Old 05-11-2018, 11:10 AM   #87
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Back to looking at my Hall of Fame ballot.

These 5 pitchers have been on the ballot for decades. They always get the 5% needed to remain eligible but none have received much support in years. The question is do I vote for any of them or leave them to the veteran's committee?
Code:

NAME		YRS	    W-L	     ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Pete Alexander  1910-27    256-209   1 CyYoung, 3 WS
Rube Marquard   1906-23    267-234   1 CyYoung, 0 WS
Eddie Plank	1901-15    237-122   1 CyYoung, 7 WS
George Uhle	1919-34    256-174   1 CyYoung, 1 WS
Doc White	1901-14    240-161   2 CyYoung, 4 WS
Cy Young	1890-1905  341-269   0 CyYoung, 0 WS
For comparison let's look at some of the pitchers that are already in the hall. I am going to leave out Christy Mathewson, Eppa Rixey, Walter Johnson and Rube Waddell from this list because they are a class above everyone else and I will leave out Babe Ruth because his hitting and pitching together got him in the Hall. That leaves us with 9 other pitchers who are in the Hall of Fame right now:

Code:

NAME		YRS	    W-L	     ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Red Ruffing	1923-46   288-222    2 CyYoung, 0 WS
Lefty Williams  1913-32   288-206    3 CyYoung, 0 WS
Chief Bender	1903-21   279-158    3 CyYoung, 7 WS, 2 MVP
Lefty Grove	1920-41   279-230    3 CyYoung, 0 WS, 1 MVP
Paul Derringer  1927-45   262-208    2 CyYoung, 0 WS, 1 MVP
Dutch E Leonard 1930-53   236-183    2 CyYoung, 5 WS
Hal Newhouser   1940-55   213-145    3 CyYoung, 0 WS
Carl Hubbell    1928-43   206-151    2 CyYoung, 3 WS
Fred Hutchinson 1938-55   193-118    1 CyYoung, 6 WS, 1 MVP
Looking at nothing but the very basic comparison above I think all six of them deserve serious consideration. Let's start with Cy Young.

CY YOUNG

At first glance, his wins total alone should be enough to get him into the Hall but you have to consider that 271 of his 341 career victories came prior to 1901 and he was starting 47-50 games a year at that time. He was never the best pitcher in his league so the award should not even be called the Cy Young Award in this universe. John Clarkson (1882-1897) had 378 wins and Gus Weyhing (1887-1900) had 327 and neither of them are in the Hall so I am going to leave Young for the veteran's committee to decide.

DOC WHITE and EDDIE PLANK

White and Plank had almost identical careers. Both were on dominant Philadelphia teams in the first decade of the 1900's and both ended their careers elsewhere.

White led the Phillies to 7 straight National League titles and 4 World Series wins starting in 1901. His World Series record of 3-10 was disappointing but he had to face the Athletics in pretty much every one of those starts. He suffered an injury that cost him half of the 1908 season and tailed off after that but from 1901-07 White was 178-76 with 2 Cy Young Awards.

Like White, Plank debuted in 1901 only he was with the Athletics. Like the Phillies, the A's won 7 straight American League pennants beginning in 1901 but after finishing third in 1908 they outdid the Phillies by winning pennants in the next 5 years. In 13 years the A's won 12 pennants and 7 World Series titles with Plank playing a huge role in each of them. He was dealt to Cincinnati in 1914 and finished his career the following year. Among his accomplishments are a 31 win season - one shy of the post 1901 record - in 1909, and 7 World Series rings. Surprisingly he won just 1 Cy Young award during his career although his 1903 season of 28-8, 1.28 could have been a second one had teammate Rube Waddell not gone 28-4, 1.34.

RUBE MARQUARD

The Red Sox all-time victory leader (262 of his 267 career wins came with the franchise) won his only award in 1914 when he earned the Cy Young and helped the Red Sox to their only post-season appearance of his era. He started 3 games of the 1914 series but got shelled and had a career post-season era of 12.00. Marquard did have 5 twenty-win seasons in a 6 year span and might have had 6 straight had he not been limited to just 11 starts in 1913 due to an injury. He has very good numbers and was among the best pitchers in the league each year but he never really was the best pitcher in his league so with the number of candidates like him on the ballot I think he falls just short for me.

GEORGE UHLE

Uhle went to 6 World Series (5 with Cleveland and 1 with Pittsburgh at the tail end of his career). He only won 1 of them (1922) and his World Series record is less than stellar (2-3 with a 5.64 era in 13 appearances). He pitched for the Indians from 1919 to 1934 before spending the final couple of months of his career with Pittsburgh. Uhle did reel off seven twenty-win seasons in his career including a 27-8 campaign in 1923 but won just 1 Cy Young Award.

Like Marquard, I believe Uhle had a very good major league career but I won't have enough votes this year to justify spending 1 on him.

PETE ALEXANDER

The final pitcher on this list is the much-travelled Alexander. He pitched for 4 teams beginning with the Phillies from 1910-18 and then had stops with the White Sox (1919-22), Athletics (1923-24) and Pirates (1925-27). He had six twenty-win seasons including 1921 when he won his only Cy Young award after going 24-10 for the White Sox. He pitched in 3 World Series, going 3-2 with a 1.09 era and was on the winning side for all 3 - 1 with the Phillies and two with the White Sox.


So out of those six, I would like to put 3 on my ballot - but it depends on how many spots I will have available. In order, I am ranking the three as Plank, White and Alexander.
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Old 05-11-2018, 11:10 AM   #88
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So here are the names on my ballot so far but some of the pitchers at the bottom may drop off:

Right now this is my ballot:

Pee Wee Reese
Jackie Robinson
Enos Slaughter
Bob Feller
Eddie Plank
Doc White
Pete Alexander

There are still a lot of older era hitters to look at as well though.




Here are the other 3 pitchers discussed above:
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Last edited by Tiger Fan; 05-11-2018 at 11:13 AM.
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Old 05-11-2018, 12:42 PM   #89
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It is weird they way it works sometimes. I have no draft so players are supposed to go to the team they began their careers with. It means many players go to the real organization they started with and others for obvious reasons don't - Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig are good examples as they began their career with unaffiliated minor league teams - but everything I read about Musial is he debuted as a minor leaguer after signing with the Cardinals so I also was expecting him to be part of that dynasty.
According to Baseball Ref, Musial started with the Williamson Colts on 1938, and they were unaffiliated. However, the next season, he was on the team again, they were now the Williamson Red Birds and they were now affiliated with StL. It seems like it's an oversight..but I can't imagine Baseball Ref has an oversight on a Top 10 player that we just casually ran into, haha.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=musial001sta
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Old 05-11-2018, 04:27 PM   #90
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Here are 10 hitters that have been on the ballot for a number of years.
Cap Anson
Sam Crawford
Hank Greenberg
Tommy Henrich
Billy Herman
Tony Lazzeri
Heinie Manush
Ducky Medwick
Sam Rice
Mickey Vernon

They are the final players for me to consider including on my ballot.

CAP ANSON

Anson played exclusively pre-1901 and most of his career was before I started the sim in 1894. His career lasted 28 years and saw him play in 2,639 career games. He had 3,564 hits which places him 6th all-time behind Cobb, Musial, Ted Williams, Tris Speaker, and Eddie Collins. Anson has been on the Hall of Fame since 1932 but has never received more than 14% of the vote.

VERDICT
- Because he played almost his entire career before I started the sim I am hesitant to vote for him. However, his hit total makes him impossible for me to not vote for.

SAM CRAWFORD

Crawford spent 18 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and amassed 2,778 career hits. He led the National League in runs once and in triples a single time but never won a batting title. He did win a Gold Glove in 1906 for his play in the outfield. He had a 33 game hitting streak in 1901, a mark that stood until Joe Sewell broke it in 1922 with a 34 gamer. (The longest streak is 39 set by Charlie Hollocher in 1928). His only post-season action came in 1900.

Crawford was a solid player in this sim, batting .313 for his career which spanned 2,403 games. He had 2,778 hits. In real life he hit .309, with 2,961 hits in 2,517 career games. He is a hall of famer in real life but will not make the cut in this sim.

VERDICT - Like Anson, Crawford has been on the ballot every year the Hall has been active but he never received more than 20% of the votes. He will not get my vote this year.


HANK GREENBERG

Being a Detroit fan, Hank Greenberg was always one of the players I watched closely in my historical sims. In real life he lost over 4 seasons to military service in WWII and with 3-year recalculate on that hurt him in this sim. He had some dominant years in the late-1930's with his 1937 season (.331 with a league leading 37 homers and 145 rbi's) but his numbers dropped off a cliff beginning in with a 1941 season cut short by a sprained ankle. Greenberg never played a post-season game at any level in his career.

Greenberg was a 3-time all-star who played 1,751 major league games. He had 1,633 hits including 287 homeruns. In real life he played 350 less games but had 331 homers and 1,628 career hits.

VERDICT - Did not do enough to make the Hall of Fame. He was on 26% of the ballots his first couple of years of eligibility but has hung around just barely over 5% the last couple of years.


TOMMY HENRICH

The Ohio native enjoyed a 19 year major league career with the Cleveland Indians. He was a World Series MVP and earned two World Series rings with the Tribe. Henrich also won a rookie of the year award, a gold glove and was a 7 time all-star outfielder.

His best offensive season was 1940 when he led the American League in both homers and rbi's. It was the only time in his career that would happen. In 2,112 career games he had 2,045 hits including 274 homeruns. He was a lifetime .297 hitter.

The real life Henrich played 11 seasons, all with the Yankees, and missed 3 because of military service. He played in 1,284 games, hit .282 with 1,297 career hits and 183 homeruns.

During Henrich's time in Cleveland the Indians went to 7 World Series, winning it in 1940 and 1948. In the '48 series which went 7 games, Henrich drove in two runs in each of the last two games to help Cleveland pull out 1 run victories over the Phillies. In the series, Henrich hit .320 with 2 homers and 5 rbi's to win the Series MVP award.

VERDICT - A very good player but he falls short of the Hall in my opinion. He was named on 35% of the ballots in 1960 when he was first eligible but support has steadily declined for Henrich.

BILLY HERMAN

Herman played on 5 World Series winning teams with the Boston Red Sox before ending his career with brief stops in Pittsburgh and Chicago with the Cubs. He won a gold glove at second base in 1937 and made 4 all-star appearances in his major league career which began in 1928 at the age of 18. He became the Red Sox every day second baseman in 1932 and held that position, except when injured, for over a decade.

Herman batted .328 in 32 World Series games as Boston won all 5 series he participated in. He never had much pop in his bat, just 35 career homers, but Herman won a batting title in 1934 and was a lifetime .310 hitter with 2,311 base hits in 2,155 games. His number 64 is one of 7 jerseys retired by the Red Sox.

Real life numbers for Herman were 1,922 games with 2,345 hits and a .304 lifetime average. A hall of famer in real life, Herman was also a 10 time all-star selection.

VERDICT - Much like Henrich, I think Herman was a very good player and a key contributor to multiple pennant winning teams but he is just shy of Hall of Fame calibre.


Anson should stay on my ballot as my 8th choice.

5 more hitters to look at.
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Old 05-12-2018, 06:49 AM   #91
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Here are the final players for me to consider including on my ballot.

TONY LAZZERI

Except for 4 games in his final season, Lazzeri spent his entire 19 year major league career with the Chicago Cubs. He was a two-time all-star and played in 4 World Series with the Cubs, winning it all in 1922 as an 18 year old rookie.

A decent hitter, he batted over .300 nine times in his career, but never finished higher than 7th in the league. His career batting average was .297. Lazzeri had 2,619 career hits and 268 homeruns in 2,363 games played. In real life he was a Hall of Famer and 5 times World Series champion with the Yankees, playing 1,740 games with 1,840 hits, 178 HRs and a career .292 average.

VERDICT
-In the sim he received 57% of the vote in 1946, his first year of eligibility but has steadily declined and was on just 17.9% of the ballots last year. A good career but not good enough to get a vote from me.


HEINIE MANUSH

Like Lazzeri, Manush debuted as an 18 year old and spent his entire career, save for a few games at the end, with one organization. Originally singed by the Portland Beavers in 1920, his contract was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds prior to the start of the season and he spent all but 1 game on the Reds reserve roster. Manush became a regular the following year and remained a Red until 1938 when he played his final 3 major league games in a Detroit Tigers uniform.

A lifetime .340 hitter with 2,899 career hits, Manush led the National League in batting just once. That happened in his MVP season of 1924 (.386,15,88) which was the same year he won the second of his two Gold Glove awards. That MVP award ended a 5 year streak by Rogers Hornsby although Hornsby would win again in 1925. Manush was on some poor Reds teams - they finished as high as third only once in his career - he never played in a World Series.

Tied for 14th in career batting average, Manush is also 13th in career doubles, 30th all-time in hits and 55th in career games played. Manush came very close to election, getting 63% of the vote in 1944 - his first year of eligibility- and 71% each of the next two years. Support then dropped down to 46% and has been sliding. He was on just 8.6% of the ballots last year.

Real life numbers for Manush are a .330 career average with 2,524 hits in 2,008 games. A Hall of Famer, he won 1 batting title in real life just as he did in the sim.


VERDICT - Manush gets my vote. Nearly 2,900 hits and a batting average of .340 cement his candidancy for me. Aside from Ted Williams, who is not eligible yet, every player on the career batting average leaderboard ahead of him except George Sisler and Riggs Stephenson are in the Hall of Fame and Manush belongs there too.


DUCKY MEDWICK

A 6 time all-star, Medwick played 17 seasons primarily with Detroit but also spent time with the Phillies and Braves. He made his major league debut with the Tigers as an 18 year old in 1930. His only World Series experience came the following season when Medwick was 1-for-3 as a pinch-hitter in the Tigers 5 game loss to the Phillies.

A lifetime .327 hitter, Medwick won two American League batting titles and led his league in doubles 4 times and triples once in his career. He finished with 2,128 hits in 1,949 career games.

His sim career did not quite match real-life where the Hall of Famer won a triple crown, an MVP award and was a 10 time all-star. His batting average for his real-life career was .324 with 2,471 hits. He holds the record for doubles in a season with 64 in 1936.

VERDICT - Very good career but needed about 500 more hits or some great post-season exploits to be considered for my ballot. Other voters must have thought the same as his high for votes was 33% in his first year of eligibility, 1952.

SAM RICE

It took Rice a few years to get established but when he was moved from pitcher to a full time outfielder in 1916 his career really took off. Rice did not become an everyday player in the major leagues until he was 27 years old but he made up for it by not retiring until he was 44. In between, he managed to play 2,362 career major league games and get 2,965 hits, which ties him with Johnny Mize for 26th on the all-time hit list.

Rice debuted with the Red Sox in 1912 as a second baseman at the age of 22. He played just 14 games that season but hit .391. He spent 1913 on the reserve roster of 5 different teams as the Red Sox, Yankees, Senators and Phillies all signed and later released him. The last club to sign him was the Cubs but they dealt Rice to the Giants in October of 1913. Converted to pitcher, Rice pitched just 1 inning for the Giants before he was dispatched to Brooklyn. He went 13-7 on the mound and batted .273 to help the Robins win the National League pennant that year. Brooklyn beat Boston in the 1914 World Series but Rice did not play in any games.

Rice did get back to the World Series with Brooklyn the following year and was 1-1 in two World Series starts but his club lost to Chicago. By May of 1916 Brooklyn, which used him exclusively as a pitcher, lost confidence in his right arm and released him.

The Cincinnati Reds immediately signed him and although he pitched 1 game for the Reds, Cincinnati wanted him for his bat. He hit .307 in 74 games with Cincinnati as an outfielder and then led the National League in hits with 185 the following year. He got back to the World Series with the Reds in 1917 but lost once again to the White Sox.

Rice would go on to win 3 Gold Gloves as an outfielder and, while he never led his league in batting average, he did have 3 straight 200+ hit seasons from 1923-25. At that point he was with the St Louis Browns as Cincinnati dealt him in 1920. He would play five seasons for the Browns before being shipped to Brooklyn where he played his final 8 major league seasons.

A natural hitter, Rice's .333 career batitng average ranks 29th all-time. His career pitching record was 28-21. In real-life Rice was 6-6 on the mound for his major league career, which consisted of 2,404 games and 2,987 career hits to go with a .322 lifetime batting average.

VERDICT - Very similar situation as Manush in that he came close to be elected a couple of times but has seen support waver over the years. If I have room I will be putting both Manush and Rice on my ballot.

MICKEY VERNON

Vernon spent 20 years with the Browns-Orioles organization and amassed 2,890 career hits in 2,797 games. The first baseman broke in as a 21 year old in 1939 and would lead the league in hits once and doubles twice in his career but never topped the American League in any of the triple crown categories. The other knock on Vernon is a lack of awards as he made just 1 all-star appearance in his career and never played a post-season game.

The real-life Vernon was a 7-time all-star who won a pair of batting titles while getting 2,495 hits in 2,409 career games. He was a lifetime .286 hitter.

VERDICT - Vernon has been on the ballot for two years, earning 13.6% his first time and just 6.7% last year. He might drop off the ballot for good this year and falls short of getting my vote.
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Old 05-12-2018, 07:01 AM   #92
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It took a lot of thought but I am leaning towards submitting this as my Hall of Fame ballot
Code:
 Pee Wee Reese
 Jackie Robinson
 Enos Slaughter
 Bob Feller
 Eddie Plank
 Doc White
 Pete Alexander
 Cap Anson
 Heinie Manush
 Sam Rice
I normally do not get anywhere near a full ballot of 10 names but in this case I probably could have added a few more (thinking Don Newcombe, Harry Brecheen and Joe Gordon) if I was allowed.

Normally I follow along as I sim each year so I have a good idea of who belongs and who doesn't. Just blindly simming to 1965 made it more of a challenge to do something like cast a Hall of Fame ballot but I am having great fun discovering all of the little, and some big, stories in my league history. Keeping the almanac for this league was a big bonus. The sim took much longer because of generating the almanac but I have looked at boxscores from a lot of World Series games I would otherwise have had no access to.

Anyway, my ballot will be submitted sometime soon. If you are following along and want to make a case for anyone I did not vote for, please do.
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Old 05-13-2018, 12:49 AM   #93
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January 5, 1966

NO ONE ELECTED TO HALL OF FAME
There will be no additions to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown this year as no one received the required 75% of the vote to be elected. Pitcher Bob Feller came closest as the former Cleveland Indians great was named on 74.1% of ballots to narrowly miss induction.

Here are the results:
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Old 05-13-2018, 01:40 AM   #94
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March 1, 1966 Off-Season Notes

VETERAN'S COMMITTEE

There are a bunch of Negro League stars and some minor leaguers from the early days of the sim that belong in my Hall of Fame, as well as some major leaguers who missed the cut. In order to recognize these overlooked players I will manually elect some players thru my veteran's committee. I figure I will begin it sometime in the next couple of seasons in my game.

If there is any interest I might even leave it up to anyone following along to vote from a list of 3-5 candidates I will put forward each year. I figure the maximum allowed in will be 2 a season.

This is by no means a detailed list but here are some players I think are worthy of consideration:

PRE-1901 MAJOR LEAGUERS
Pitchers John Clarkson (378 career wins) and Gus Weyhing (327 wins) need to be considered as does Cy Young (341 wins) who pitched both pre and post 1901.

NEGRO LEAGUERS
Buck Leonard is a 7-time Negro League MVP and seems like a sure bet for the veteran's committee to add at some point. He is the single season and career leader in many categories with an amazing triple crown season of 1938 (.493,58,169) in 118 games for the Homestead Grays. He was signed by the New York Yankees in 1947 but never made it to the majors.

Josh Gibson is another obvious candidate. He spent his entire career in the Negro Leagues and is the all-time homerun king with 515. Pitcher Lawrence Terrell (270-145) is another story worth exploring.

Oscar Charleston had 3,457 career hits in a career that began in Indianapolis of the independent American Association in 1915 and culminated 25 years later in the Negro National League.

A long-time rival of Charleston in the American Association was Al Bridwell who had over 3000 hits and 775 stolen bases in a long career with Columbus as well as a few seasons with Newark of the International League.



OFF-SEASON NOTES

It was a very quiet winter for Major League Baseball with only 4 minor trades being made. The deals are as follows:

Cubs send 25 year old OF Roger Repoz and 23 year old 2B-OF Joe Rowe to Washington in exchange for 32 year old 2B Jerry Lumpe

Repoz hit .200 in 60 games as a rookie with the Cubs while Rowe played in 21 games for the Cubs this past season and hit .333. Repoz will likely get a starting job on a very weak Washington team. Lumpe had been the Senators starting 2B ever since he was selected from the Yankees in the expansion draft of 1961. He hit .246 with 3 homers and 41 rbi's last season. Lumpe is expected to replace 23 year old Ken Hubbs at second for the Cubs after Hubbs batted just .230 a year ago.

Braves send 30 year old pitcher Don Nottebart to Baltimore for 4 minor leaguers.
Nottebart was 12-12 for the Braves last year and is 39-52 in his major league career. He will likely be shifted to the pen with the Orioles due to their deep rotation. Going from Baltimore to Atlanta are 23 year old catcher Paul Casanova, 24 year old 1B-OF Larry Stahl, 24 year old pitcher Lloyd Fourroux and 23 year old OF Bob Raudman. Stahl, who played 40 games for the Orioles (.252,4,12) last season is the only one expected to start the season in the major leagues.

The Angels dealt 32 year old 3B Humberto Guerrero and 23 year old minor league catcher Randy Hundley to the White Sox for 27 year old OF Arthur Blunt.
It is the third year in a row Blunt was moved over the winter as he started his career in Pittsburgh before going to Detroit for the 1964 season and the White Sox last year. He hit just .231 in 110 games for Chicago. Guerrero split last season between Washington and California, batting .267 in 96 games. Before joining the Senators in the expansion draft he played 4 seasons in Chicago with the Cubs.

Finally, the Kansas City Athletics sent 36 year old infielder Hector Lopez to the Mets for 31 year old righthander Joe Bierly.
Lopez is a 2-time all-star who began his career with Brooklyn in 1954. Last season, his first in Kansas City, he hit .273 with 9 homers in 114 games. Bierly is 82-92 in a 9 year career with the Orioles and Mets. He was 13-11 with a 3.49 era last season.


BRAVES RELOCATE TO ATLANTA

The biggest off-season news was the move of the Milwaukee franchise to Atlanta. This will be the first season without professional baseball in Milwaukee since 1899 when the American Association formed. The Milwaukee Brewers remained active in that loop until the Boston Braves relocated to Milwaukee in 1953. Atlanta had made a big to get the Kansas City Athletics but when it fell through the city turned it's attention to the Braves and built a $18 million stadium for the club. Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium seats over 50,000 fans. The Braves finished 9th in the National League last season, 45 games back of the Cincinnati Reds.

BAD NEWS FOR BALTIMORE, MAYS SIDELINED UNTIL AUGUST

The Baltimore Orioles learned that all-star outfielder Willie Mays will be sidelined longer than expected. The 34 year old 3-time MVP is not expected to be back in the line-up until at least June. Mays tore up his knee in a game last July and has not played since. It was the first injury of any duration in his career. Mays has played 2,399 career games and is a lifetime .309 hitter. He has 2,837 hits and 472 homeruns.
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Old 05-13-2018, 01:47 PM   #95
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MARCH 14, 1966
REDS DEAL CARDENAS TO CARDINALS

When the Reds acquired third baseman Ken McMullan from the Dodgers immediately following their World Series victory, Leo Cardenas could see the writing on the wall. The 27 year old, who has been with the Reds since 1961 when he was named National League rookie of the year, lost his starting shortstop job when McMullan was acquired, a deal that prompted the Reds to move Cesar Tovar from third to shortstop.

Cincinnati finally found a home for Cardenas when he was dealt to St Louis just a few days in to spring training. In return, the Reds pick up veteran first baseman Jim Gentile from the Cardinals. The 31 year old Gentile has played 1,171 career games and is a lifetime .261 hitter with 150 homeruns. Last season, he was used primarily as a pinch-hitter but batted just .217 with 6 homers in 106 at bats for St Louis.


APRIL 1, 1966
MORE BAD NEWS FOR O's, CLOSER MILLER INJURED

The news goes from bad to worse this spring for the Baltimore Orioles. After learning all-star outfielder Willie Mays will miss at least half of the season with complications from his knee injury suffered last July, the Orioles now get word relief ace Stu Miller will miss at least half of the season.

The 38 year old Miller, who was 6-9 with 22 saves and a 1.80 era last season, injured his shoulder in spring action and was placed on the 60 day DL. Miller, who also pitched for St Louis and Washington in his 13 year career, has made 518 career appearances with all but 16 of them in relief. His 99 career saves ranks 10th all-time. Current Reds reliever Hoyt Wilhelm is the all-time leader with 175.

24 year old rookie Darold Knowles will likely take over as the Orioles closer but Don Nottebart, who was acquired from the Braves in the offseason may also get a shot. The Orioles have the best rotation in the American League with Dean Chance, Milt Pappas, Jack Fisher, Dave McNally and Steve Barber. They also have 20 year old prospect Jim Palmer in AAA.

The Boston Red Sox also lost their closer to an arm injury. Ted Abernathy is expected to be sidelined for 4 months with elbow troubles. The 33 year old was 8-5 with 18 saves a year ago.

Finally, the Detroit Tigerslost a key pitcher as 30 year old Goerge Burnett suffered a torn rotator cuff in spring action. The injury is expected to sideline Burnett until August. He made 34 starts for Detroit last year, posting an 8-18 record with a 5.17 era.

SUNDAY APRIL 10, 1966
DODGERS ARE EXPECTED TO BE CLASS OF THE LEAGUE

The preseason predictions call for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees to meet in the 1966 World Series. The Dodgers are pegged to win 104 games and nose out defending World Champion Cincinnati for the National League crown. The Yankees are picked to repeat as American League champs but will be challenged by Boston and Minnesota.

It is the Dodgers pitching staff that makes them a clear favourite. With a rotation that features Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Sutton, Tommy John and Pete Richert they should not need a lot of offense to win games. The LA offense does not compare to Cincinnati's powerhouse lineup but the Dodgers do have Maury Wills, Wes Parker, Roberto Clemente and Frank Howard to lead the way. Parker was the only Dodgers position player ranked as one of the top twenty in the game but Koufax (#1), Drysdale (#10) and Sutton (#15) give Los Angeles 3 of the twenty best pitchers in the sport.

Here are the projected standings as well as the top 10 batters and pitchers in the game:
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Old 05-13-2018, 02:32 PM   #96
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APRIL 11, 1966

On the eve of opening day let's take a look at the future stars of the game. Below are the top 50 major league prospects as ranked by the Baseball News Netowrk and also the top minor league systems.

Looking ahead will we see a Mets-Athletics World Series in the future? Those two organizations have the top minor league prospects. The Mets pitching looks to be stacked with Tom Seaver poised to make his major league debut tomorrow. New York has 4 pitchers in the top 22 prospects in the game including 22nd ranked Nolan Ryan, a 19 year old flame thrower who fanned 119 in 90 innings in the Class AA Eastern League last season. The Mets also have 23 year old Jerry Koosman in AAA and 21 year old Tug McGraw, who spent half of last season in New York.

The A's have the top rated hitting prospect in the form of 19 year old Reggie Jackson who will at least start the season in the major leagues after signing with the club out of high school last fall. 21 year old pitcher Jim Nash, who was 4-3 in 13 games with the A's last year, also headed north with the big league club. 20 year old Rick Monday, 22 year old Sal Bando and 19 year old Rollie Fingers will each begin the year in the minors.

Here is the ranking of minor league systems as well as the top 50 prospects.
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Old 05-14-2018, 02:43 PM   #97
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Just out of curiosity, do the preseason predictions take into consideration injuries? If not, I could see the O's having a lot harder time this season without Miller and Mays for a significant portion of the season. With the great rotation though, who knows.
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Old 05-14-2018, 06:49 PM   #98
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snider&Hodges View Post
Just out of curiosity, do the preseason predictions take into consideration injuries? If not, I could see the O's having a lot harder time this season without Miller and Mays for a significant portion of the season. With the great rotation though, who knows.
I am not sure but I would tend to think it does not. Without Mays the Orioles offense, aside from Boog Powell is very weak and, as good as their rotation is, you have to think the loss of their closer will hurt. Maybe they get lucky and hang around until July when those two come back but looking at their team they might be 15 games out by then.
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Old 05-15-2018, 07:53 PM   #99
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Opening day 1966

APRIL 12, 1966
SEAVER WINS MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT

The 1966 Major League Baseball season got underway today with games in Cincinnati and Washington. The Indians and Senators had a terrific pitchers duel in the nation's capital while in Cincinnati the World Series champs were upstaged by a highly touted rookie hurler.

Tom Seaver, a 21 year old rookie, went the distance in his first professional game and led the New York Mets past Cincinnati 4-2 using both his arm and his bat. Seaver pitched all 9 innings striking out 5 Reds while walking 4. Seaver did give up 9 Cincinnati hits but was aided by a pair of doubleplays. With the game tied 2-2 in the seventh inning and 2 out, Seaver hit a double down the line off of Reds ace Jim Maloney to plate two runs and provide the margin of victory.

Donn Clendenon, who had just 5 triples all of last season, hit a pair of 3-baggers in the game including one in the first inning to help the Mets stake Seaver to a 2-0 lead before he threw his first major league pitch.

The Reds, who received their World Series rings prior to the game, seemed flat, especially pitcher Jim Maloney. Maloney was 22-4 with a 1.95 era a year ago, but he allowed 2 walks, a wild pitch and a triple in a first inning that could have been worse had the Mets Ron Swoboda not been caught stealing. Maloney did settle down after that but gave up back-to-back pinch-hit singles to Bill Bruton and Villard Wright in the bottom of the 6th and then allowed Seaver's two-out double. Maloney did fan 8 Mets in his 6 and 2/3 innings of work.

CLEVELAND 1 WASHINGTON 0
Sam McDowell and Gary Peters each put on a pitching clinic in the Indians 1-0 victory over Washington. Both pitchers went the distance and both allowed just 4 hits while each fanned 8 and walked 2. The only difference between them was that Cleveland squeaked out a run in the 8th inning.

Bob Allison earned a lead-off walk from Peters and moved to second on a Larry Brown sacrifice. The next batter, Indians second baseman Daniel Wooldridge delivered a single to right and Allison beat the throw to the plate from Senators outfielder Gary Geiger for the game's only run.

Wooldridge, who's minor league career began in 1957 and has been in the Indians organization since 1962, has played parts of 3 seasons with the Indians prior to this year, batting .271 in 262 career games. In real life his career consisted of just 32 games for Salem of the Appalachian League in 1957. I found an interesting article on what I believe is the same man and he had quite the life. Apparently the St Louis Cardinals wanted to sign him right out of high school but his foster mother refused to sign the papers to allow him to play. He would later become a college basketball and football official and even refereed in the 1976 Olympic games.

Here is the link to the article:
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Old 05-15-2018, 08:26 PM   #100
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All-Star Break 1966

I simmed through to the 1966 all-star break. I am going to take a quick look at each of the teams and some minor league standouts and then watch the all-star game.

From there I will likely sim a week or two at a time until September and then if there are some interesting races I will slow the sim down.

Before I get to a write-up on the first half of the season, figured I would post the standings and league leaders
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