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

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

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)

Yeah Jackson Mississippi. Couldn't help myself, I nicknamed them the Browns.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by 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.

It's tough when they get long in the tooth and can't be as good as they once were ain't it? How old is Kenley Jansen? That has to be a first. Having a beat up, has-been SP come in to get the save for you. Ouch!

Bautista played 22 seasons in my league, despite being 24 in the inaugural draft, so he wound up playing until he was 45. His last productive season was probably his age 40 season. He was amazing offensively, but he was just about as terrible on defense as he was great on offense, so he wound up getting 71.0% in his 15th year of eligibility on the HoF ballot. He hit .259/.360/.427/.787, which was good for a 123 OPS+ and a 124 wRC+ with 1605 R, 2779 H, 443 HR, 1600 RBI, 1696 BB, against just 1589 K, 1 MVP, 1 GG (at 3B, he was a turrible RF, but a plus third baseman for his career - spent the bulk of his career in RF though, and it really hurt his teams), 10 ASG, 6 SS, and 1 WS.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Yeah Jackson Mississippi. Couldn't help myself, I nicknamed them the Browns.

Wouldn't that be the Brownes? Heyo!

[actionjackson]

Top ten AL MVP for 1956:

1. Don Gullett, 26, WS1, LHSP
2. Wally Joyner, 25, BOS, 1B
3. Wally Hood Sr., 22, CLE, DH/1B
4. Geronimo Berroa, 31, WS1, LF
5. Wes Ferrell, 21, CLE, RHSP
6. Al Oliver, 22, BAL, LF/RF/1B/DH
7. Red Ehret, 23, BOS, RHSP
8. Ken Williams, 23, KC1, 3B/RF/DH/LF
9. Andy Pettitte, 26, NYY, LHSP
10. John Clarkson, 28, DET, RHSP

Top five AL CYA for 1956:

1. Don Gullett, 26, WS1, LHSP
2. Wes Ferrell, 21, CLE, RHSP
3. Red Ehret, 23, BOS, RHSP
4. Andy Pettitte, 26, NYY, LHSP
5. John Clarkson, 28, DET, RHSP

Top three AL Mariano Rivera Award for 1956:

1. Bill Hepler, 33, BAL, LHRP
2. Brandon Cumpton, 34, BOS, RHRP
3. Robb Nen, 30, DET, RHRP

Top three AL Jackie Robinson Award for 1956:

1. Craig Swan, 22, DET, RHSP/RP
2. Bill L Hall, 25, BAL, C/DH
3. Julio Valera,21, CWS, RHRP/SP

Home advantage schmome advantage. The Washington Senators (92-70) finished 2nd in the AL, so the Tigers (93-69) had home advantage for the ALCS. They outscored the Tigers 20-6 in a four game sweep. Don Gullett went 24-7 on the year with a 2.59 ERA, and then went 3-0 in the postseason with a 0.77 ERA. He only had one start in this series though, so the LCS MVP went to C Alan Ashby who went 8 for 16 with 3 2B, 0 HR, and 2 RBI in the series. He put up a .500/.579/.688 slash line for the series to claim the honours.

In the World Series, they were up against a powerful Cardinals (95-67) team that once again had the home field advantage, and once again they came through with the sweep, to make it a perfect 8-0 for the playoffs. This time they outscored the Cardinals 20-7, making it a 40-13 run differential for their eight game romp through the playoffs. Don Gullett went 2-0, with a 1.17 ERA to claim World Series MVP honours and top off an incredible campaign. Who says Washington is only: "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League." Not in 1956. What a season!

[actionjackson]

Top ten NL MVP for 1956:

1. Walter Johnson, 22, CHC, RHSP
2. Cesar Cedeno, 24, CIN, CF
3. Ned Williamson, 27, PHI, 3B
4. Sam Thompson, 32, STL, RF
5. John Kane, 25, STL, 2B/CF/3B
6. Bill Foster, 24, ML1, LHSP
7. Tom Haller, 24, CHC, C
8. Otto Velez, 26, CIN, LF
9. Tony Gonzalez, 26, PHI, RF/CF/LF
10. Jim King, 26, PIT, LF/CF

Top five NL CYA for 1956:

1. Walter Johnson, 22, CHC, RHSP
2. Bill Foster, 24, ML1, LHSP
3. Gene Conley, 27, STL, RHSP
4. Gerrit Cole, 22, BRO, RHSP
5. Babe Adams, 38, ML1, RHSP/RP

Top three NL Mariano Rivera Award for 1956:

1. Eddie Hogan, 24, CHC, RHRP
2. Greg Swindell, 20, PIT, LHRP/SP
3. Sid Fernandez, 19, NY1, LHRP

Top three NL Jackie Robinson Award for 1956:

1. Red Howell, 20, CIN, C
2. Mike Cubbage, 23, CHC, 2B
3. Tom Sullivan, 24, CIN, RHSP

The only worthwhile postseason series in 1956 was the NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals (95-67), and the Cincinnati Redlegs (90-72). It went the distance, and despite the fact that the Redlegs outscored the Cardinals 31-28, the Cardinals were able to come away with the narrow series victory. The series MVP went to RF Sam Thompson who had an outstanding series (and season, as he finished 4th in MVP voting) during which he went 12 for 30 with a .400/.441/.733/1.175 slash line, 5 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 2 BB, and 3 K.

The series hero for the Cardinals though was light hitting 2B Carlos Febles. He had 1 HR in each of the regular seasons of 1955 and 1956. The Cardinals made the playoffs both years, winning it all in 1955. Febles managed to hit 3 HR in 42 PA in those two different postseasons, having only hit 2 in 431 regular season PA over the two seasons. He had a massive pinch hit HR in Game 7 of the 1956 NLCS against the Redlegs though. A walkoff shot to lead off the ninth and send the Cardinals back to the World Series. They had trailed the Redlegs 2-0 heading for the bottom of the sixth of Game 7. Ralph Gagliano had RBI singles to score Sam Thompson in both the sixth and the eighth to send it to the ninth in a 2-2 tie. Febles took an 0-1 pitch from closer Jason Christiansen and launched it 401 feet out to LF sending the crowd at Sportsman's Park IV into a frenzy. Side note: I love it when unexpected heroes rise up in the postseason and do things they don't normally do. Marty Barrett for the Red Sox in 1986, Brian Doyle for the Yankees in 1978, and (I'm sure) countless others. Glad to see it happening in OOTP-land as well.

[actionjackson]

1st round of 1956 Amateur Draft:

1. Giants: Tris Speaker OF
2. Indians: Jamie Moyer LHP
3. Pirates: Tony Perez 3B
4. White Sox: Paul Molitor IF
5. Yankees: Mike Cuellar LHP
6. Dodgers: Dennys Reyes LHP
7. Athletics: Tony Womack 2B/SS
8. Braves: Wally Post OF
9. Orioles: Bernie Allen 2B
10. Cardinals: Charlie J Ferguson RHP
11. Athletics: Jim Corsi RHP
12. Cardinals: Heinie Peitz C/1B
13. White Sox: John Romano C
14. Giants: Junior Thompson RHP
15. Cubs: Jerry Turner LF
16. Red Sox: Fernando Rodney RHP

The Tigers did not have a pick in the first round this time around. The players that they took in the draft are as follows: Steve Decker C, Darin Mastroianni OF, Bruce Walton RHP, Mike Couchee RHP, Joe Mellana 3B

[actionjackson]

The 1957 HoF class:

Gene Tenace C
James Burke RHSP
Jose Canseco RF

Tenace is the best catcher I've seen yet, and that's saying something because Johnny Bench has already come through this league. I posted Tenace's numbers above in the thread, and he just edges out Bench for me. Burke is in my all-time rotation so far with Pedro J Martinez, Steve Carlton, Bret Saberhagen, and Dazzy Vance, so those two were no doubters.

Canseco is more of a floor HoFer to me. There are ceiling HoFers and floor HoFers, and in between the two there are the average HoFers. He's definitely towards the bottom of the Hall, but a HoFer is still a HoFer. He put up a .267/.347/.471/.818 slash line, good for an OPS+ of 129 and a wRC+ of 128, with 1433 R, 2455 H, 491 HR, 1556 RBI, 1073 BB, 2156 K, 267 SB, 1 MVP, 3 GG, 9 ASG, 5 SS, 2 WS, and 1 LCS MVP. He was (very surprisingly given his infamous RL follies) a slightly above average defender, both in RF and in LF. He also stole 267 bases, so he knew a little something about baserunning.

This brings my HoF to 65 total players. There have been 56 draft classes of 82 players each, so that's 4,592 players plus the 720 (I added 16 Spritze guys to bring it up to 45 rounds for the Inaugural Draft), which is 5,312 players that have been drafted into this league. 65 players out of 5,312 means that 1.22% of all drafted players have made it to the HoF. The RL percentage is about 1.3% of players that have ever played in the show are HoFers, so that's pretty good. Not every drafted player plays in the show though. 3,994 players out of the 5,312 have suited up in the big leagues, which means that of players that have actually made it, 1.63% have gone on to become HoFers. Not bad all around.

[actionjackson]

In other news, my league is sooo close to having a "million dollar man". 32 year old RHSP Bob Shawkey just parlayed a 24-5, 2.87 ERA, 3.56 FIP season into a 6 year contract with the Yankees worth a reported total of $981,240. Lifetime, he's a 113-117, 4.15 ERA, 4.19 FIP pitcher so (surprise, surprise) the Bronx Bombers may have overspent for a mediocre, older pitcher coming off a career year. We'll see what happens between 1957 and 1962. Probably will have to wait until next offseason to break the million dollar barrier.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

...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.

...And in 1957, both of them went back to the All-Star game. Stanley for the Tigers, and Quintana for the Cardinals. Stanley was hitting .253/.379/.397 with 9 HR and a 123 wRC+ as a catcher for the Tigers, while Quintana was 11-3, 2.74 ERA, with a 1.09 WHIP for the Cardinals. That's a nice trade when you compare it with all the duds that happen in OOTP-land.

[Tiger Fan]

With all of the interesting things being documented here you guys have me convinced to give this a try. I am a long time historical player but have never tried random debut before today.

Going to follow much of what is suggested here and will use 1984 as my base for stats. I am starting my league in 1901 with 12 teams based in old PCL cities. I have divided it into a North and South League and found a 160 game schedule that includes some interleague play. I started by using a historical import of 1901 with the settings changed to reflect 1984 baseball. I deleted 4 teams to get me down to 12 and renamed the rest. I am starting with an inagural draft - serpentine format. Only editing I did before I started was to adjust stadium capacity to reasonable numbers for the mid-1980s.

Looking at my initial player base (selected post 1900 players only) and there is quite a collection. Among the top players I will start with are 20 year old Rogers Hornsby, 32 year old Rod Carew, 25 year old Al Kaline, 30 year old Honus Wagner, 28 year old Happy Felsch, 24 year old Virgil Trucks, 17 year old Harmon Killebrew and 18 year old Bob Feller. We also have a 34 year old Jackie Robinson and a 39 year old Ted Williams, who unfortunately will have a very short career in this universe.

THE DRAFT
The Vancouver Mounties selected Hornsby first overall while San Diego followed by taking another youngster in 21 year old pitcher Smokey Joe Wood. The Hollywood Stars made 30 year old Honus Wagner the oldest player to go in the opening round with the third pick. Here is the complete first round:

INITIAL DRAFT ROUND 1
Round 1, Pick 1 - Vancouver Mounties: SS Rogers Hornsby, age 20 
Round 1, Pick 2 - San Diego Padres: SP Smoky Joe Wood, age 21 
Round 1, Pick 3 - Hollywood Stars: SS Honus Wagner, age 30 
Round 1, Pick 4 - San Francisco Seals: SP Bob Feller, age 18 
Round 1, Pick 5 - Salt Lake City Bees: C Del Crandall, age 29 
Round 1, Pick 6 - Seattle Rainiers: CF Happy Felsch, age 28 
Round 1, Pick 7 - Oakland Oaks: SP Adam Wainwright, age 27 
Round 1, Pick 8 - Los Angeles Angels: SP Jon Lester, age 24 
Round 1, Pick 9 - Fresno Raisin Eaters: SP Kevin Brown, age 29 
Round 1, Pick 10 - Vernon Tigers: SP Virgil Trucks, age 24 
Round 1, Pick 11 - Portland Beavers: SP Hod Eller, age 24 
Round 1, Pick 12 - Sacramento Senators: SP Lefty Gomez, age 26

1901 ALL-STAR BREAK
At the break Honus Wagner leads the league with a .376 batting average with Jack Fournier of the San Francisco Seals in second at .356. Fournier's Seals teammate Rick Monday has 27 homers, three more than Nate Colbert of Seattle and Hollywood's Frank Howard. Speedster Omar Moreno of Salt Lake already has 54 stolen bases at the break while the top pitchers are Lefty Gomez (13-2, 2.41) of Sacramento and Portland's Chris Sale (13-4, 2.69).

Vernon has a 1.5 game lead on Sacramento in the North Division as the Tigers have been led by Zane Smith (11-4, 2.94), who took over as the ace of the staff after Virgil Trucks went down early with an injury. Oakland is 3 games up on Salt Lake at the break thanks to the leadership of Konetchy (.355,17,56), Eric Soderholm (.280,21,83) and pitcher Bucky Walters (11-6, 3.37).

FINAL STANDINGS
Oakland wrapped up the South Division title with a little over a week to play but the North Division went right down to the wire. At 85-76, Vernon was a game up on 84-77 Vancouver as the two clubs prepared for the season's final day. The Tigers, who were middle of the pack in offense and pitching stats but boasted the best defense in the league, were in Sacramento to play the fifth place Senators in the final game. Virgil Trucks (3-4, 6.85), who missed most of the season with arm troubles would get the start for the Tigers while his opponent would be Senators ace Lefty Grove (17-7, 3.04). Meanwhile, in Vancouver the Mounties were hoping Curt Simmons (16-10, 2.95) could prolong their season with a win over Seattle - and some help from Sacramento.

It would not be for Vancouver as the Mounties fell 7-4 at home while the Tigers blanked Sacramento 2-0 in a great pitching duel. Trucks would toss 7 innings of 3-hit ball before giving way to the Vernon pen which completed the shutout thanks in part to Steve Farr's 34th save of the season. Lefty Gomez took the loss despite a complete game 4-hitter with the damage coming in the 6th inning on a 2-run double off the bat of Bobby Murcer of the Tigers.

WORLD SERIES
I would consider Oakland (93-69) and heavy favourite to win the first Pacific World Series as they led the league in most offensive categories and had the best bullpen in the game led by 39 year old closer Stu Miller. Oakland won 7 of the 12 regular season meetings between the two clubs.

Game One was a 14 inning marathon that saw the hometown Tigers win 2-1 despite being outhit 13-6 in the contest. Joe Lefebvre singled in back-up infielder Mark Grace with the winning run. Oakland would rebound and win game two on the road by a 7-3 score and carry that momentum home in a 6-1 game three victory. After the Tigers evened the series at two with an 8-1 win in Game four the Oaks Adam Wainwright and Stu Miller combined on a 3-hitter in game five as they won 2-1.

Vernon would not roll over as the Tigers got homeruns from Gregg Jefferies and Bobby Murcer in a wild 14-10 win in Game Six setting up a winner take all seventh game.

Game Seven saw Eric Solderholm hit two homeruns for the second straight day to lead the Oaks to a 4-0 win and the first series title. Jumbo Elliott pitched 7 innings of 6-hit ball while Stu Miller and Kyle Farnsworth shut the door with 1-2-3 innings in the 8th and 9th to preserve the win for Oakland.

RESULT
I think I am hooked. I still love doing true historical replays but this random debut idea certainly creates a lot of interesting storylines to follow. I am firmly in the camp of those preferring to act as commissioner and sim out their league rather taking over the day to day task of running a team and random debut really is a nice change of pace.

A big thanks to actionjackson, David Watts (and others) for keeping this thread going and catching my attention. Gave me a whole new way to play OOTP.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

With all of the interesting things being documented here you guys have me convinced to give this a try. I am a long time historical player but have never tried random debut before today.

Going to follow much of what is suggested here and will use 1984 as my base for stats. I am starting my league in 1901 with 12 teams based in old PCL cities. I have divided it into a North and South League and found a 160 game schedule that includes some interleague play. I started by using a historical import of 1901 with the settings changed to reflect 1984 baseball. I deleted 4 teams to get me down to 12 and renamed the rest. I am starting with an inagural draft - serpentine format. Only editing I did before I started was to adjust stadium capacity to reasonable numbers for the mid-1980s.

Looking at my initial player base (selected post 1900 players only) and there is quite a collection. Among the top players I will start with are 20 year old Rogers Hornsby, 32 year old Rod Carew, 25 year old Al Kaline, 30 year old Honus Wagner, 28 year old Happy Felsch, 24 year old Virgil Trucks, 17 year old Harmon Killebrew and 18 year old Bob Feller. We also have a 34 year old Jackie Robinson and a 39 year old Ted Williams, who unfortunately will have a very short career in this universe.

THE DRAFT
The Vancouver Mounties selected Hornsby first overall while San Diego followed by taking another youngster in 21 year old pitcher Smokey Joe Wood. The Hollywood Stars made 30 year old Honus Wagner the oldest player to go in the opening round with the third pick. Here is the complete first round:

INITIAL DRAFT ROUND 1
Round 1, Pick 1 - Vancouver Mounties: SS Rogers Hornsby, age 20 
Round 1, Pick 2 - San Diego Padres: SP Smoky Joe Wood, age 21 
Round 1, Pick 3 - Hollywood Stars: SS Honus Wagner, age 30 
Round 1, Pick 4 - San Francisco Seals: SP Bob Feller, age 18 
Round 1, Pick 5 - Salt Lake City Bees: C Del Crandall, age 29 
Round 1, Pick 6 - Seattle Rainiers: CF Happy Felsch, age 28 
Round 1, Pick 7 - Oakland Oaks: SP Adam Wainwright, age 27 
Round 1, Pick 8 - Los Angeles Angels: SP Jon Lester, age 24 
Round 1, Pick 9 - Fresno Raisin Eaters: SP Kevin Brown, age 29 
Round 1, Pick 10 - Vernon Tigers: SP Virgil Trucks, age 24 
Round 1, Pick 11 - Portland Beavers: SP Hod Eller, age 24 
Round 1, Pick 12 - Sacramento Senators: SP Lefty Gomez, age 26

1901 ALL-STAR BREAK
At the break Honus Wagner leads the league with a .376 batting average with Jack Fournier of the San Francisco Seals in second at .356. Fournier's Seals teammate Rick Monday has 27 homers, three more than Nate Colbert of Seattle and Hollywood's Frank Howard. Speedster Omar Moreno of Salt Lake already has 54 stolen bases at the break while the top pitchers are Lefty Gomez (13-2, 2.41) of Sacramento and Portland's Chris Sale (13-4, 2.69).

Vernon has a 1.5 game lead on Sacramento in the North Division as the Tigers have been led by Zane Smith (11-4, 2.94), who took over as the ace of the staff after Virgil Trucks went down early with an injury. Oakland is 3 games up on Salt Lake at the break thanks to the leadership of Konetchy (.355,17,56), Eric Soderholm (.280,21,83) and pitcher Bucky Walters (11-6, 3.37).

FINAL STANDINGS
Oakland wrapped up the South Division title with a little over a week to play but the North Division went right down to the wire. At 85-76, Vernon was a game up on 84-77 Vancouver as the two clubs prepared for the season's final day. The Tigers, who were middle of the pack in offense and pitching stats but boasted the best defense in the league, were in Sacramento to play the fifth place Senators in the final game. Virgil Trucks (3-4, 6.85), who missed most of the season with arm troubles would get the start for the Tigers while his opponent would be Senators ace Lefty Grove (17-7, 3.04). Meanwhile, in Vancouver the Mounties were hoping Curt Simmons (16-10, 2.95) could prolong their season with a win over Seattle - and some help from Sacramento.

It would not be for Vancouver as the Mounties fell 7-4 at home while the Tigers blanked Sacramento 2-0 in a great pitching duel. Trucks would toss 7 innings of 3-hit ball before giving way to the Vernon pen which completed the shutout thanks in part to Steve Farr's 34th save of the season. Lefty Gomez took the loss despite a complete game 4-hitter with the damage coming in the 6th inning on a 2-run double off the bat of Bobby Murcer of the Tigers.

WORLD SERIES
I would consider Oakland (93-69) and heavy favourite to win the first Pacific World Series as they led the league in most offensive categories and had the best bullpen in the game led by 39 year old closer Stu Miller. Oakland won 7 of the 12 regular season meetings between the two clubs.

Game One was a 14 inning marathon that saw the hometown Tigers win 2-1 despite being outhit 13-6 in the contest. Joe Lefebvre singled in back-up infielder Mark Grace with the winning run. Oakland would rebound and win game two on the road by a 7-3 score and carry that momentum home in a 6-1 game three victory. After the Tigers evened the series at two with an 8-1 win in Game four the Oaks Adam Wainwright and Stu Miller combined on a 3-hitter in game five as they won 2-1.

Vernon would not roll over as the Tigers got homeruns from Gregg Jefferies and Bobby Murcer in a wild 14-10 win in Game Six setting up a winner take all seventh game.

Game Seven saw Eric Solderholm hit two homeruns for the second straight day to lead the Oaks to a 4-0 win and the first series title. Jumbo Elliott pitched 7 innings of 6-hit ball while Stu Miller and Kyle Farnsworth shut the door with 1-2-3 innings in the 8th and 9th to preserve the win for Oakland.

RESULT
I think I am hooked. I still love doing true historical replays but this random debut idea certainly creates a lot of interesting storylines to follow. I am firmly in the camp of those preferring to act as commissioner and sim out their league rather taking over the day to day task of running a team and random debut really is a nice change of pace.

A big thanks to actionjackson, David Watts (and others) for keeping this thread going and catching my attention. Gave me a whole new way to play OOTP.

Glad you're giving it a shot. It's a fun way to play. Keep workin' at it. It gets even better. Eventually you can build a HoF and watch as players come in through the ammy draft. Sometimes they exceed expectations and sometimes they fall well short despite having recalc on. I do have development on as well though, so that might be able to explain some of the anomalies.

[actionjackson]

Haven't played the playoffs yet, but here are the standings page, the batting stats (sorted by BatR), and pitching stats (sorted by pitcher WAR) from the just completed 1957 season.

[David Watts]

1958 is turning out to be a strange season. Pedro Martinez got hurt in his very first start and is out 3 months. Kershaw is hurt, not as severe, but hurt. Felix was thriving in his new bullpen roll before he got hurt. Ernie Banks is hurt and out for a month or so.

So far, Jackson is proving me right. They are in first place in the I-20 division. Going to have to stay sharp though as both Texarkana and Fort Worth are nipping at their heels. Boog Powell is still producing, just not at his 1957 pace that led to a triple crown. Vada Pinson who finished the 57 season on fire, continues to rake in 58. He is hitting for both power and average. Hitting 4th in the order right behind Pinson is Tony Perez. Perez had a couple of mediocre seasons to start his career but has exploded onto the scene in 58. Both Pinson and Perez look like they will be in the MVP discussion, barring a huge slump or an injury.

Texarkana is being led by Duke Snider. Snider is on pace to have 30 home runs by or before July 1st. A three bomb game with 7 RBI helped this pace along. Snider has a 22 year old Jose Conseco hitting behind him in the order. Conseco so far has been really up and down, but when he's on, look out.

Meanwhile in the I-10 division, Mobile is threatening to run away with things. Van Mungo once again is having a strong season on the hill. Mungo is on his best strikeout pace yet and very well could reach 300. The lineup features Lou Gehrig and Paul Konerko. Goofy thing is, both Konerko and Gehrig has spent time in the leadoff roll for the Hustlers.

Justin Verlander is also coming into his own for the Birmingham slammers. He's now the Slammers ace seems hell bent on proving he's worthy.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

1958 is turning out to be a strange season. Pedro Martinez got hurt in his very first start and is out 3 months. Kershaw is hurt, not as severe, but hurt. Felix was thriving in his new bullpen roll before he got hurt. Ernie Banks is hurt and out for a month or so.

So far, Jackson is proving me right. They are in first place in the I-20 division. Going to have to stay sharp though as both Texarkana and Fort Worth are nipping at their heels. Boog Powell is still producing, just not at his 1957 pace that led to a triple crown. Vada Pinson who finished the 57 season on fire, continues to rake in 58. He is hitting for both power and average. Hitting 4th in the order right behind Pinson is Tony Perez. Perez had a couple of mediocre seasons to start his career but has exploded onto the scene in 58. Both Pinson and Perez look like they will be in the MVP discussion, barring a huge slump or an injury.

Texarkana is being led by Duke Snider. Snider is on pace to have 30 home runs by or before July 1st. A three bomb game with 7 RBI helped this pace along. Snider has a 22 year old Jose Conseco hitting behind him in the order. Conseco so far has been really up and down, but when he's on, look out.

Meanwhile in the I-10 division, Mobile is threatening to run away with things. Van Mungo once again is having a strong season on the hill. Mungo is on his best strikeout pace yet and very well could reach 300. The lineup features Lou Gehrig and Paul Konerko. Goofy thing is, both Konerko and Gehrig has spent time in the leadoff roll for the Hustlers.

Justin Verlander is also coming into his own for the Birmingham slammers. He's now the Slammers ace seems hell bent on proving he's worthy.

Pedro's the best pitcher I've seen so far. Kershaw came in in the Inaugural Draft at age 26, and won three consecutive Cy Young Awards before sputtering to the finish line. Once he wasn't winning Cy Youngs anymore, it was pretty quick. He was still starting at age 29 and 30, but by age 31, he was a reliever. He never pitched after his age 33 season (1908), but hung around for four more years in the free agent pile. Sad to see such a great pitcher not live up to it, but that's what the player development system is for I guess. Have yet to see King Felix and Mr. Cub yet.

Still waiting on Boog Powell too. Vada Pinson unfortunately came into my league at 32 in the Inaugural Draft, so my league only saw the downside of his career. Tony Perez just finished up his first year, and could be in the discussion for ROY, but I think there probably were others that were better.

The Duke sounds like he's having a whale of a season for you. Still waiting for him too. Canseco just finished up a lower tier HoF career in my league. Have yet to see Van Mungo or The Iron Horse. Konerko's in his fifth year, and won the 1954 ROY, having only had 120 AB in 1953 (threshold is 130 and he also played 38 days and the threshold for that is 45, so it was close), and is quite a decent player (two-time All-Star plus ROY), so we'll see what happens. Awaiting Justin Verlander's arrival as well. I think I'm probably through just over a quarter of the players in the db so far, so still lots of folks can show up.

[David Watts]

Duke Snider sets a new home run mark in 1958, hitting 51. Amazing thing is, he got hurt again and missed close to a month. Ended up playing 128 games. The Jackson Browns hit 216 home runs, becoming the first to reach 200 for a season. The Browns bashers were Pinson (44), Powell (40), Perez (37), Northrup (28) and Puig (23). Puig was injured coming into the season and only played in 84 game, so his 23 is pretty darn impressive.

Tony Perez won the batting title hitting .328, just beating out Hank Aaron .327. Aaron had another really nice season but another injury caused him to miss 2 weeks near the end of August.

Mobile ran away with the I-10 division, winning 102 games, finishing 16 games ahead of the Beaumont Crush. Beaumont (86-68) stayed in contention for the wildcard right up till the last week of the season before losing out to Texarkana (91-63).

Jackson won the I-20 division going 95-59.

The playoffs are set. Texarkana vs Jackson in the first round with Mobile receiving the bye.

Van Mungo(Mobile) is my pick for the Cy Young. He went 24-8, 2.01, 0.97 with 372 K's. 14.5 WAR. Justin Verlander finished the season 19-12, 2.05 with 297 K's.

Jose Buatista had a dreadful season, but did manage to be the first player to 300 home runs. His 14 bombs puts him at 309 for his career.

MVP will in my opinion will be between Duke Snider and Vada Pinson. Snider hit .317, 51 HR, .410 OBP, 118 RBI and 8.6 WAR. Pinson hit .300, 44 HR, 14 Triples, 130 RBI, 8.4 WAR. But, don't count out Tony Perez. .328, 37 HR, 127 RBI 7.5 WAR.

[David Watts]

Just got the draft pool email and it says some cat named Joe DiMaggio is coming. In the words of Mr. Dick Enberg, Oh My!

[David Watts]

And as often occurs with OOTP random debut, a very nice surprise appears in the draft. As I said earlier, Joe DiMaggio debuts, but the first overall pick ends up being Harry Heilmann. Corpus Christi selects Heilmann and Alexandria gets DiMaggio. Another nice surprise was Travis Fryman to the Birmingham Slammers.

And in honor of Dick Enberg and Central Michigan University, Bob Owchinko was the first pick of the second round.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Duke Snider sets a new home run mark in 1958, hitting 51. Amazing thing is, he got hurt again and missed close to a month. Ended up playing 128 games. The Jackson Browns hit 216 home runs, becoming the first to reach 200 for a season. The Browns bashers were Pinson (44), Powell (40), Perez (37), Northrup (28) and Puig (23). Puig was injured coming into the season and only played in 84 game, so his 23 is pretty darn impressive.

Tony Perez won the batting title hitting .328, just beating out Hank Aaron .327. Aaron had another really nice season but another injury caused him to miss 2 weeks near the end of August.

Mobile ran away with the I-10 division, winning 102 games, finishing 16 games ahead of the Beaumont Crush. Beaumont (86-68) stayed in contention for the wildcard right up till the last week of the season before losing out to Texarkana (91-63).

Jackson won the I-20 division going 95-59.

The playoffs are set. Texarkana vs Jackson in the first round with Mobile receiving the bye.

Van Mungo(Mobile) is my pick for the Cy Young. He went 24-8, 2.01, 0.97 with 372 K's. 14.5 WAR. Justin Verlander finished the season 19-12, 2.05 with 297 K's.

Jose Buatista had a dreadful season, but did manage to be the first player to 300 home runs. His 14 bombs puts him at 309 for his career.

MVP will in my opinion will be between Duke Snider and Vada Pinson. Snider hit .317, 51 HR, .410 OBP, 118 RBI and 8.6 WAR. Pinson hit .300, 44 HR, 14 Triples, 130 RBI, 8.4 WAR. But, don't count out Tony Perez. .328, 37 HR, 127 RBI 7.5 WAR.

That's some year for The Duke! On pace for 60-65 HR if he hadn't been injured.

I've had six teams in my 57 season history reach the 200 HR mark. The 1920 Yankees hit 224 (led by Cal Ripken [44], Greg Goossen [36], Alfonso Soriano [29], Ron Kittle [29], and Leon Durham [23]), the 1931 Senators hit 219 (led by Rocky Colavito [48], David Ortiz [39], Gil Hodges [39], Mike Ivie [28], and Ken Harrelson [22]), the 1943 Pirates hit 216 (led by Harmon Killebrew [49], Devin Mesoraco [37], Carmen Fanzone [26], Carlos Guillen [26], Bobby Thomson [22], and Pancho Herrera [21]), the 1947 Tigers hit 206 (led by Frank Howard [50], Chuck Essegian [43], Ken Phelps [40], and Jocko Halligan [23]), the 1950 Tigers hit 206 (led by Frank Howard [37], Harmon Killebrew [30], Prince Fielder [29], Brook Jacoby [22], and Kevin Kiermaier [21]), and the 1951 Tigers hit 200 (led by Frank Howard [42], Harmon Killebrew [34], and Brook Jacoby [25]). There have been 912 team seasons in my league's history, and only six times has a team gone over 200 HR. Tough to do no doubt. So far just 0.658% of all teams have managed to do it.

I have yet to see Jim Northrup in my league. Puig came in and was lost to a CEI at age 25, even though I do my best to get rid of those.

Geez, this Van Mungo cat sounds reeeally good. Still waitin' on him. Too bad about Bautista. He's lasted a long time for you (and he went a long way for me too), but it looks like it's time for him to pass the baton to the younger players in the league.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

And as often occurs with OOTP random debut, a very nice surprise appears in the draft. As I said earlier, Joe DiMaggio debuts, but the first overall pick ends up being Harry Heilmann. Corpus Christi selects Heilmann and Alexandria gets DiMaggio. Another nice surprise was Travis Fryman to the Birmingham Slammers.

And in honor of Dick Enberg and Central Michigan University, Bob Owchinko was the first pick of the second round.

Joe D and Harry Heilmann in the same draft? Mon dieu! Have yet to see either one, or Travis Fryman. Did have Fryman in an OOTP14 RD I was doing, but I have yet to see him in this one. Bob Owchinko went 29-17, with one save, and a 3.88 ERA in my league (108 ERA+) from 1904 through 1916. He was a starter for his first three full seasons, and then moved to the 'pen in 1907. He had probably his best start on July 12th, 1906 against the Reds (Owchinko was with the Cubs) when he went the distance giving up 2 hits, walking one and striking out two in a complete game shutout. What's notable about it? I don't know, how about 82 pitches in total? Mamma mia!

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

That's some year for The Duke! On pace for 60-65 HR if he hadn't been injured.

I've had six teams in my 57 season history reach the 200 HR mark. The 1920 Yankees hit 224 (led by Cal Ripken [44], Greg Goossen [36], Alfonso Soriano [29], Ron Kittle [29], and Leon Durham [23]), the 1931 Senators hit 219 (led by Rocky Colavito [48], David Ortiz [39], Gil Hodges [39], Mike Ivie [28], and Ken Harrelson [22]), the 1943 Pirates hit 216 (led by Harmon Killebrew [49], Devin Mesoraco [37], Carmen Fanzone [26], Carlos Guillen [26], Bobby Thomson [22], and Pancho Herrera [21]), the 1947 Tigers hit 206 (led by Frank Howard [50], Chuck Essegian [43], Ken Phelps [40], and Jocko Halligan [23]), the 1950 Tigers hit 206 (led by Frank Howard [37], Harmon Killebrew [30], Prince Fielder [29], Brook Jacoby [22], and Kevin Kiermaier [21]), and the 1951 Tigers hit 200 (led by Frank Howard [42], Harmon Killebrew [34], and Brook Jacoby [25]). There have been 912 team seasons in my league's history, and only six times has a team gone over 200 HR. Tough to do no doubt. So far just 0.658% of all teams have managed to do it.

I have yet to see Jim Northrup in my league. Puig came in and was lost to a CEI at age 25, even though I do my best to get rid of those.

Geez, this Van Mungo cat sounds reeeally good. Still waitin' on him. Too bad about Bautista. He's lasted a long time for you (and he went a long way for me too), but it looks like it's time for him to pass the baton to the younger players in the league.

One of those names really jumped out at me, Carmen Fanzone. Fanzone just had a 28 home run season for the Texarkana Grasshoppers in 1958. He hit .271. Also had 35 doubles and drove in 88. Kind of a never was in real life, yet he had a least one good season in both our games. Will have to see what happens to him in 59