Absolute Blockbuster of a Trade in my 42 year old Historical Random Debut

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

I have roughly 6 games left to play in the 1956 season. Texarkana and Beaumont are looking like the division champs, with Fort Worth, barring a collapse in line for the wildcard. This will be Fort Worth's (originally Pensacola) first trip to the post season. Going to be interesting to see if Joe Charboneau takes home league MVP honors. He is currently the league leader in home runs (42) and second to Brian Jordan(another candidate) in RBI. Both Charboneau (Shreveport) and Jordon(Biloxi) play for losing teams though, so I won't be surprised if Duke Snider(Texarkana) takes the honors. Fred Snodgrass and Hank Aaron are battling for the batting title. Cy Young honors will I'm guessing go to either Pedro Martinez(Beaumont), Clayton Kershaw(Fort Worth) or Van Mungo(Mobile).

You allow the AI to pick your awards IIRC right?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

You allow the AI to pick your awards IIRC right?

Yes, all awards done by OOTP. I also make it so only position players can win the MVP award. Only starters can win the CY Young. As of right now, I don't have a reliever of the year award.

[David Watts]

Finished up 56. Postseason ended up being rather dull. Fort Worth beat Beaumont 3 games to 1. Then their bats went to sleep. Texarkana swept Fort Worth in the World Series.

Duke Snider did take home MVP honors as predicted. Van Mungo(Mobile) beat out Clayton Kershaw and Pedro Martinez for the Cy Young. Mungo won 21 games and finished the season with a 1.93 ERA.

Most notable new addition to the league in the draft--Ernie Banks. Graig Nettles arrived as well. I know from random debuts past that he usually excels.

Jose Bautista plays on. At 43 he signed a one year deal with Alexandria. Believe it or not, Lucas Duda signed with the Aces as well, so once again the leagues 2 home run leaders are in the same lineup. Not sure if Duda will start though.

Also as expected Joe Charboneau has fell victim to the recalc demon. He did set the new Southern League single season home run record with 43 and has 70+ over his first 2 seasons, but only OOTP knows if he will hit any future bombs. He's no longer in Shreveport's starting lineup for the 57 season. Will have to check when I get home whether he's on the 25 man roster or the reserve roster.

Clayton Kershaw needs 15 or 16 wins in 57 to reach the 200 victory mark. Felix Hernandez is around 7 or 8 wins behind Kershaw's pace.

Notable retirements. Fergie Jenkins called it quits. Jenkins was part of the inaugural draft. He had flashes of his real life greatness, but never really got things 100% together. He finished with 85 wins and 86 losses. Carl Yastrzemski also hung up his cleats. Like Jenkins, Yas never really shined. A victim of importing at a older age.

[David Watts]

I love using the high injury setting, but I do at times wonder if it too severely punishes players that are already dealing with the recalc blues. Sometimes, I wonder if recalc isn't enough on it's own and maybe normal or even low is the way to go when it comes to injuries. The main issue I see occurring If a lower injury setting is used, is guys that have moved past recalc may be at an extreme advantage. For example, guys like Kershaw, Kluber, Puig etc. Of course, the other obvious option is to simply do like you and use 3 year recalc, but I really enjoy 1 year.

[actionjackson]

Offense is starting to take over in this league now, and this upcoming draft is not going to do much to change that. Tris Speaker, Paul Molitor, and Tony Perez...C'mon down! Other players on the way in...The Ancient Mariner Jamie Moyer, and Fernando Rodney. Will post 1st round of draft when it is done.

Also, the Tigers made a non-boring trade sending LHSP Jose Quintana to the Cardinals for C Mike Stanley. Not really normal AI behaviour. Usually junk for junk, but this is two pretty good 26 year old ballplayers.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Offense is starting to take over in this league now, and this upcoming draft is not going to do much to change that. Tris Speaker, Paul Molitor, and Tony Perez...C'mon down!

Tony Perez is off to a rather slow start in mine. Second season, only 4 bombs, .257, 29 RBI. Meanwhile Boog Powell is a monster. As of July 25th 1957, he is on pace for a triple crown. .346, 35 home runs and 102 RBI. He's going to have to hold off a very hot Hank Aaron though. Aaron has 33 home runs and a .334 average. This is Powell's 3rd big league season. He hit 40 bombs as a rookie and 39 his second year.

Clayton Kershaw is 15-6 on the season. He just notched career win number 199. Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez has a 1.45 ERA after 21 starts. He's 10-6 with 134 strikeouts. 270 ERA+. And Van Mungo looks like he wants another Cy Young. He is 14-2 2.87, with a league leading 192 strikeouts.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Tony Perez is off to a rather slow start in mine. Second season, only 4 bombs, .257, 29 RBI. Meanwhile Boog Powell is a monster. As of July 25th 1957, he is on pace for a triple crown. .346, 35 home runs and 102 RBI. He's going to have to hold off a very hot Hank Aaron though. Aaron has 33 home runs and a .334 average. This is Powell's 3rd big league season. He hit 40 bombs as a rookie and 39 his second year.

Clayton Kershaw is 15-6 on the season. He just notched career win number 199. Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez has a 1.45 ERA after 21 starts. He's 10-6 with 134 strikeouts. 270 ERA+. And Van Mungo looks like he wants another Cy Young. He is 14-2 2.87, with a league leading 192 strikeouts.

Go Hank go! Stay healthy sir.

[David Watts]

Clayton Kershaw becomes the first pitcher to 200 wins. Kershaw imported at age 25. He was limited to only 18 starts at age 26 due to injury, so his 200 wins in 11 seasons is even more impressive.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Clayton Kershaw becomes the first pitcher to 200 wins. Kershaw imported at age 25. He was limited to only 18 starts at age 26 due to injury, so his 200 wins in 11 seasons is even more impressive.

Not usually a big pitcher wins guy, but 200 wins in 11 seasons is incredible in the era we're talking about (that is if you're using five man rotations).

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Clayton Kershaw becomes the first pitcher to 200 wins. Kershaw imported at age 25. He was limited to only 18 starts at age 26 due to injury, so his 200 wins in 11 seasons is even more impressive.

After 56 seasons, I still have only seen one 300 game winner. Steve Carlton won 331 with the Pirates, Red Sox, Dodgers, Phillies, Indians and Braves. 200 wins is tough enough, as only 36 pitchers have ever reached that mark in my dynasty.

[actionjackson]

So far, my all-time five man rotation probably looks like this:

Pedro J Martinez (253-169, 47 SV, 3.07 ERA, 130 ERA+, 3962.2 IP, 3471 K, 3 CYA, 2 MVP, 1 ROY, 13 ASG, 1 MRA [Reliever], 3 WS)

Steve Carlton (331-240, 3 SV, 3.34 ERA, 120 ERA+, 5313.2 IP, 4012 K, 3 CYA, 1 GG, 10 ASG, 3 WS)

Bret Saberhagen (278-201, 3.19 ERA, 125 ERA+, 4324.2 IP, 2807 K, 853 BB, 1 CYA, 1 GG, 11 ASG, 1 SS, 1 LCS MVP)

Dazzy Vance (244-194, 1 SV, 3.15 ERA, 126 ERA+, 4068.1 IP, 3792 K, 3 CYA, 1 MVP, 1 GG, 10 ASG, 1 WS)

James Burke (204-178, 39 SV, 3.34 ERA, 119 ERA+, 3596.0 IP, 3285 K, 726 BB, 3 CYA, 10 ASG, 1 WS)

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Not usually a big pitcher wins guy, but 200 wins in 11 seasons is incredible in the era we're talking about (that is if you're using five man rotations).

Yes, 5 man rotations. Lots of complete games though. Right now I have 4 man bullpens.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

After 56 seasons, I still have only seen one 300 game winner. Steve Carlton won 331 with the Pirates, Red Sox, Dodgers, Phillies, Indians and Braves. 200 wins is tough enough, as only 36 pitchers have ever reached that mark in my dynasty.

Carlton was part of my inaugural draft. Came in at age 35. He had a really nice first season, going 23-10, 3.04 196 K's. That won him a Cy Young. Retired at age 42, 87-78, 3.56

[actionjackson]

My best position players at each position:

C: Gene Tenace (.265/.397/.467/.864, 149 OPS+, 154 wRC+, 1379 R, 2132 H, 402 HR, 1296 RBI, 1653 BB, 1792 K, 2 MVP, 13 ASG, 10 SS)

1B: Bill D White (possibly soon to be Mark McGwire) (.299/.363/.472/.835, 139 OPS+, 143 wRC+, 1364 R, 2780 H, 316 HR, 1425 RBI, 944 BB, 1373 K, 203 SB, 1 MVP, 3 GG, 10 ASG, 5 SS, 2 WS, 2 LCS MVP)

2B: Harmon Killebrew (played more games at 2B than anywhere else) (.273/.374/.489/.863, 146 OPS+, 147 wRC+, 1813 R, 3140 H, 648 HR, 1983 RBI, 1855 BB, 2336 K, 1 GG, 13 ASG, 14 SS, 2 WS, 2 LCS MVP)

3B: Mike Schmidt (.272/.370/.498/.867, 143 OPS+, 143 wRC+, 1828 R, 2957 H, 609 HR, 1851 RBI, 1620 BB, 2354 K, 187 SB, 4 MVP, 9 GG, 14 ASG, 11 SS, 1 WS, 2 LCS MVP, 1 WS MVP)

SS: Cal Ripken (.278/.339/.461/.800, 124 OPS+, 122 wRC+, 1504 R, 3117 H, 536 2B, 468 HR, 1769 RBI, 1041 BB, 1251 K, 3 MVP, 8 GG, 10 ASG, 10 SS, 5 WS, 2 LCS MVP, 1 WS MVP)

LF: Carl Yastrzemski (still active) (.298/.380/.482/.861, 144 OPS+, 145 wRC+, 1667 R, 3310 H, 618 2B, 427 HR, 1803 RBI, 1486 BB, 1137 K, 117 SB, 2 MVP, 1 GG, 12 ASG, 9 SS)

CF: Mickey Mantle (.316/.424/.552/.976, 175 OPS+, 173 wRC+, 2198 R, 3627 H, 501 2B, 677 HR, 2274 RBI, 2218 BB, 2514 K, 150 SB, 9 MVP, 5 GG, 20 ASG, 15 SS, 4 WS, 2 LCS MVP)

RF: Shoeless Joe Jackson (still active) (.356/.425/.562/.987, 179 OPS+, 176 wRC+, 2005 R, 3914 H, 768 2B, 174 3B, 385 HR, 1862 RBI, 1299 BB, 829 K, 415 SB, 3 MVP, 1 ROY, 1 GG, 18 ASG, 13 SS, 1 LCS MVP)

Johnny Bench is very close to Gene Tenace at catcher, but Tenace was slightly better. Lou Whitaker was behind Killebrew at second base, but ahead of Roberto Alomar. Frank Robinson (who was an absolute stud) has been overtaken by Shoeless Joe Jackson in RF. Reggie Smith is narrowly behind Mickey Mantle in CF, which is remarkable. Miguel Cabrera wound up being a 3B, and is behind Schmidt, Nettles, and Baker.

[David Watts]

One week left in the 1957 season and Hank Aaron and Boog Powell are tied with 47 home runs. Powell has driven in 147 runs, breaking the old mark of 134 set by Greg Walker. Aaron (.334) is now battling Vada Pinson (333) for the batting title.

Amazing race in the I-10 Division. On September 1st, the Mobile Hustlers were in 1st place 9 1/2 games ahead of the second place Baton Rouge Artillery. Mobile went into the dumpster, at one point losing 10 straight games. Meanwhile Baton Rouge got hot. Monday September 23, Mobile is 88-60 and Baton Rouge is 87-61. Fort Worth is sitting on top of the I-20 division with a 91-57 record, so barring a collapse they should earn the first round bye.

[David Watts]

Oh man, Boog Powell just went 9-12 over his last 4 games to win the batting title. Boog hit .333, his teammate Vada Pinson hit .331 and Hank Aaron hit .330. Aaron and Powell both finished with 48 bombs. Vada Pinson finished the season with 42 home runs. 16 of those bombs came in the month of September.

Mobile hung on to win the I-10, earning home field advantage in the first round against Baton Rouge. Fort Worth (95-59) won the I-20, earned the 1st round bye.

[David Watts]

Mobile beat Baton Rouge in 5, but lost to Fort Worth in 7 in the World Series. This is Fort Worth's first title. Clayton Kershaw won 3 games in the series and took home MVP honors.

Not a real memorable rookie draft. Shreveport earned the first pick with their suckatude and only manages Stan Hack for doing so.

Fort Worth and Mobile are to repeat if the preseason predictions are correct, but I have a strong feeling Jackson may finally get over the hump. They have been miserable for a long time, but the high draft picks are starting to pay off. Last season, their offense was unbelievable, it was their pitching that kept them down.

[David Watts]

The start of the 58 season brought a little sadness my way. Felix Hernandez, now 37 years old, is no longer a starting pitcher. He has been moved to the bullpen. In fact, prior to work, I played his teams 1st game of the 58 season. Verlander picked up the win and Felix came in to relieve Kenley Janson and earn the save. Will be interesting to see how long Felix plays now that he is on the decline. Of course, if a pitcher or 2 goes down with an injury for Birmingham, Felix could find himself back in the rotation.

Meanwhile, Jose Bautista rolls on. He is now 44 years old. 5 or 6 home runs shy of 300. He hit 22 at age 43. The most amazing thing about Bautista however, is the walks. Dude has 11 seasons played. 9 of those seasons he dr 100+ walks. His career OBP is .400+ He's been a nomad as well his entire career, playing for a handful of teams.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Oh man, Boog Powell just went 9-12 over his last 4 games to win the batting title. Boog hit .333, his teammate Vada Pinson hit .331 and Hank Aaron hit .330. Aaron and Powell both finished with 48 bombs. Vada Pinson finished the season with 42 home runs. 16 of those bombs came in the month of September.

Mobile hung on to win the I-10, earning home field advantage in the first round against Baton Rouge. Fort Worth (95-59) won the I-20, earned the 1st round bye.

That's quite the finishing flourish to outright steal a batting title from the other two. 40 HR is an extreme rarity in my league. The last two seasons have seen Wally Hood Sr. hit exactly 40 both years...and that's it. I like it though as it keeps the HR from being cheapened like it was in the steroid era.

Mark McGwire just retired from my league with 585 career HR, and a .263/.370/.485/.854 slash line, good for a 141 OPS+ and a 142 wRC+. He's the only Hall-worthy player in his retirement class. Ryan J Braun is close, but falls just short for my taste. McGwire also had 1488 R, 2496 H, 1650 RBI, 1609 BB, 2154 K, 1 MVP, 5 GG, 9 ASG, 7 SS, 1 WS, and 1 LCS MVP. In my now 56 year league history only 9 players have had 50+ HR seasons (Mantle and McGwire twice including the only ever 60+ HR season by Mantle [63 in 1933], Reggie Smith, Mike Schmidt, Dave Kingman, Rocky Colavito, and Frank Howard - all HoFers or destined to be except Kingman). McGwire did it twice at age 23 and age 24 when he hit 51 and 53 HR. Interestingly enough in his age 32 through 35 seasons (4 consecutive seasons when he hit 245 of his RL HR in a "late career revival"), he "only" managed 137 HR, with seasons of 33, 35, 35, and 34 HR, and he only missed 20 games in those four seasons combined. He did manage a 42 HR season at age 38 in my game though.

There have been 84 40 HR seasons, so like I said, HR don't come cheap. They're earned. McGwire had the three that I mentioned. Mantle towers over all the rest in the single season HR record with 63. He also had 6 40+ HR seasons in total. Nobody else has hit more than 53 in a single season.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Mobile beat Baton Rouge in 5, but lost to Fort Worth in 7 in the World Series. This is Fort Worth's first title. Clayton Kershaw won 3 games in the series and took home MVP honors.

Not a real memorable rookie draft. Shreveport earned the first pick with their suckatude and only manages Stan Hack for doing so.

Fort Worth and Mobile are to repeat if the preseason predictions are correct, but I have a strong feeling Jackson may finally get over the hump. They have been miserable for a long time, but the high draft picks are starting to pay off. Last season, their offense was unbelievable, it was their pitching that kept them down.

Don't be too quick to write off Stan Hack completely. Some people view him as a lower tier HoFer (not me, but some do). He is in the Hall of Merit, which is Baseball Think Factory's contribution to the never ending HoF discussion. Go Jackson Go! (Is that Jackson, Mississippi? - ignorant Canadian geographically challenged person here)