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1977 EL Free-Agent Class / Rookie Draft
The Class of '77 will inarguably be remembered as one of the highest-grade inductions in Eclipse League history, with some huge names from both the MLB and NeL ranks joining the league. The Cat A NeLers are early Cuban pioneer Alfredo Cabrera and Barney "Big Ad" Morris, with hybrid Monte Irvin a posted FA, while the top MLB names hopping aboard includes Albert Pujols, Willie Randolph and big Cecil Fielder. Oh, and Brad K, if you're out there, your buddy Bartolo Colòn has arrived as well.
The Cuban Stars East have this year's first pick, which they deploy somewhat unexpectedly - high-quality as he is - on pitcher Al Downing. Which opens the door for the BYs to pick up Prince Albert. Pujols and Bonds in the one lineup... ouch. Here are the first two rounds in toto. |
1978 Janus Report: FC American
Atlantic City Bacharach Giants Brooklyn Royal Giants Newark Dodgers New York Black Yankees Pittsburgh Crawfords |
1978 Janus Report: FC National
Birmingham Black Barons Cuban Stars West Kansas City Monarchs Memphis Red Sox St. Louis Giants |
1978 Janus Report: WC American
Baltimore Elite Giants Hilldale Athletic Club Homestead Grays New York Lincoln Giants Philadelphia Liberty Stars |
1978 Janus Report: WC National
Chicago American Giants Cleveland Buckeyes Cuban Stars East Detroit Motown Stars Indianapolis ABCs |
EL 1978 Opening Day
Offseason WAR gains and losses reveal little this time around:
We have our first million-dollar player with Rod Carew's deal at Memphis. Here are the other major signings and trades.
The experts are tipping a strong return to form for the BYs and MeSox, with all of the drama set to be in the WC this year. Here are the top-ranked players as they currently stand: Newbies dominate the PP: And last of all, here's how the clubs look financially on OD: Another beauty in the works from the look of it, will get the Janus Report done and we'll be on our way! |
Stat Check: $
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Motown Uptown
No secret I am firmly of the opinion this is Detroit's year in the EL and they have opened the season in scintillating form, winning 10 of 12 so far. Just so many good players at their disposal - Mookie, Santop, Rickey, Timmy Anderson, Hank Thompson and when Joe Williams - albeit a young version thereof - is your SP4 then you know you've got a decent rotation.
Then there's this guy, who has come out firing in his second season and puts himself on the map with this outrageous game. |
April 1978 Recap
Eclipse League Of the favoured clubs, the major news is how poorly the Liberty Stars and West have begun, both at 9-18. Not season-scuppering just yet but they'll both need to get their acts together pronto. Monthly Award Winners
Points of Interest
Transit League Little to report so far. Monthly Award Winners
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Out of the Shadows: Jelly Gardner
Time for the first of our player features for the new season, this time highlighting Floyd "Jelly" Gardner.
Born in Russellville AR at the twilight of the 19th century, there are almost as many (and perhaps even more) references to Jelly Gardner's fiery disposition, tempestuous nature and pugilistic abilities as there are about his baseball skills. Which is OK, I prefer that to nothing at all or nearabouts, as is often the case. After a few seasons playing among the Western Independent clubs, Jelly appears on the NeL radar in 1920 as part of the American Giants under Rube Foster. As Jim Riley points out, his personal performance over his first six seasons was inverse to that of the team: he was poor the first three but the club won the Pennant each year, then he was fantastic between 1923 and 1925 and yet the club won nothing. Finally, in 1926, with Dave Malarcher at the helm, it all came together as Gardner led the team with a .376 average and hit .300 in the playoffs as the AGs won it all, defeating the Eastern Colored League champion Bacharach Giants in the World Series. Sticking with Riley for a bit, as he offers up a very detail entry for Jelly, Jim praises his speed ("blazing"), defence ("outstanding [...] with good arm and great range"), bunting proficiency and patience at the plate. Seamheads logs his career line at 280 / 373 / 328 with 146 steals, while EC allots him a healthy 28 bWAR. Moving across to his EL avatar now, Jelly was taken 4th overall by the Bacharach Giants - first stop for so many good players in this league - in the 1976 Draft and reached as high as #4 on the PP. He split time between the bigs and littles in '77, impressing at both, and is now firmly a fixture at the parent club. He looks to have a long and fruitful career ahead of him, and as always we'll be following along with interest. |
See You on the Flipside
A couple of the EL's bigger-name pitchers have had entirely diametric starts to the 1978 season.
Birmingham's Dave Barnhill wins his first seven decisions before finally taking a loss. Meanwhile, 1973 Stovey Medallist Gene Collins of the Cuban Stars West starts the season 0-7 before finally nailing down a W. What odds they meet at 7-7?? |
Struggle Street
Continued underperformance by the BYs in the early part of this season, barely above 500 and a few games back of the Dodgers in a tightly-packed FC American.
Not difficult to see why. On offence, their big names are doing OK and Coleman is giving them plenty of spark at the top of the lineup, but then the rest are adding little if anything - guys like Gilliam and Henderson need to get it going and fast. The pitching isn't so easy a fix, and may well be their downfall again this year if they don't address the problem soon. Still, with the quality on their books, sometimes all it takes is a game like this one to get them headed in the right direction. We'll see. |
May 1978 Recap
Eclipse League The Grays make an early surge and you just feel if they can continue to press their advantage they may indeed shake off the Athletics, who look their only true challenger at the moment. The other three races remain tight. Monthly Award Winners
Points of Interest
Transit League Still super close across the board, with the long-downtrodden House of David finally putting together a decent campaign in the FRC National and currently tied for the lead with the Bears. Monthly Award Winners
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Homestead Fast
As I mentioned, the Grays are looking strong entering the midseason section and these are the sorts of wins that really keep the wind in a club's sails.
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Carewsing
Meanwhile, Rod Carew becomes the EL's founding member of the 2000-hit Club. He's a fair way ahead of his nearest rival, but should have company before too long.
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Stat Check: W
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Out of the Shadows: Mitchell Murray
When it comes to the subject of today's OotS feature, I'm afraid legendary US Poet Laureate Meghan Trainor was wrong.
When it comes to my love of Mitchell Murray, it's all about that face. It's a face that makes me think he and I, had our paths ever crossed, would have become buds and got up to adventurous things. Adventurous enough perhaps to warrant a biopic about the strange brotherhood-like bond between the middle-aged pasty redheaded white dude from Australia and the former NeL catcher. Were he still alive, I see Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire) starring, but as he isn't then Don Cheadle in the Mitch role and Jason Clarke as yours truly. I expect multiple Oscar wins and Bobblehead Dolls. Anyhoo... clearly it is time for my meds and perhaps to revisit the recommended dosage. Point being, Mitchel Murray is right up there with my favourite of all NeLers. Not because of any oversized talent or career achievements on his part, although he was a fair player and enjoyed his share of success on the field. But rather, because of that face. The man it belonged to was born 1896 (his January 28 birthday is just two days after my own, clearly one of the many building blocks of our broman... OK, OK, sorry) in Wyoming OH and spent 13 season all told in the NeL in a career mainly spanning the 1920s and that is most closely associated with the St. Louis Stars. Seamheads gives him a 295/365/417 career slash with a 104 OPS+ and shows the mid-20s as his peak. EC's MLE allocates him slightly over 20 career WAR, 4 of which came in 1924 alone. Jim Riley gives him a decent blurb that mentions his game smarts and defensive prowess while playing down his hitting. I'm thinking a slight downgrade on Russell Martin, who has a similarly lovable mug, although Don Slaught features high on his Similarity Scores and might therefore be a more realistic comparison on stats alone. Mitchell died at just 44 years of age, the circumstances of which I am yet to unearth. Roll credits and polish those statuettes. In the EL, Mitchell was taken 35th overall by the ABCs in the 1970 Draft and spent four seasons at Indy in a backup role before being traded in his walk year to the Black Yankees. Single season stints at each of the Cuban Stars clubs followed that, and then he joined the Giants as a FA at the start of the current season, his age-31. Fair to say he has so far exceeded expectations at St. Louis, slashing a mighty 350/412/517 with 3 HR and 25 RBI as I post this. He was signed on a one-year deal, but hopefully this gets him another bite at the cherry for '79. Whatever the case, we're with you Mitch my man and will be looking on eagerly. PS Thanks to my (real) friend LSt for his efforts in doing the impossible and replicating MM's visage in his FaceGen, efforts not reflected anywhere near adequately due to my using a Mac. |
Stat Check: SV
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Mount Everett
Ferocious is the only way I can describe how the 1978 Eclipse League is playing out. So many teams in the hunt, so many quality players in the league performing up to expectations.
And, on occasions like this nifty 128 GSc performance by Carl Everett, exceeding them. You also might have noticed how ShoTime is back to his best, dominating with both bat and ball. As at the time of this post, he leads the WC in both home runs with 20 and strikeouts with 131. |
June 1978 Recap
Eclipse League What a difference a month makes! The BYs (16-10) and Monarchs (20-6) make huge moves, while both the Grays and MoStars are challenged, look about to falter, then right themselves and kick away again. The latter of these clubs is currently riding a 9-game win streak, all but negating the strong effort by the ABCs to make up ground with a 10-game streak of their own. With the four teams on top now looking so strong, we may well see them kick away if the other clubs aren't careful. It's like a '72 redo this year, with both Martin Dihigo and Shohei Ohtani on a two-way rampage - can they repeat the feat? Detroit's Ervin Santana has already racked up an amazing 16 wins against just two losses and we're not even at the midpoint yet. Is CC's 28 win record under threat? Monthly Award Winners
Points of Interest
Top 20s - overall Top 20s - NeLers Super tight still, with that CAC American race set to be an absolute doozy.
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EL Top 100 Prospects
Brooklyn's Kevin Mitchell takes the top spot and, given his club's performance to this point, shouldn't be too far away from his EL debut, one would think. Two-way NeLer Darius Bea - whom the game erroneously imports as "Bill" with some hinky stats; interestingly, Jim Riley also refers to him by that name in his book - is ranked second.
Not quite sure how the East can manage to have had one of the worst records in the league these past few years yet also have the worst farm system. That takes a special kind of skill. |
Leader of the Pack
His career is winding down and his production tapering off, but Jose Abreu of the AGs becomes the EL's first 300-HR player.
Plenty hot on his tail, most of whom will end up way beyond his final tally. I'll move the milestone up to 400 now. With LTMs locked at only a relatively moderate HR clip, I'm expecting this list to top out at around the 650-700 mark, but we'll see. |
Transit League All-Stars, 1978
Atlanta's Bobby Marshall wins the Derby over Choo-Choo Coleman, while Indy's Jesus Guzman is named MVP as the FC wins the ASG 7-5. |
1978 EL All-Star / Prospects Squads and Games
The stars of today:
And tomorrow: HR Derby winner Eric Davis (Grays) def Shohei Ohtani (Buckeyes) ASG result Fleet 5, Weldy 3 ASG MVP Barry Bonds (Black Yankees) Prospects Game result Fleet 4, Weldy 2 (10 innings) Prospects Game MVP Dee Brown (Black Crackers) |
Stat Check: 3B
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Bully Boy Jenkins
It almost seems unfair, picking on an East club that looks headed for the worst season in EL history. All the same, I'm sure Fergie and his ABCs will take it in what is turning out to be a disappointing campaign for them as well. It is the league's first no-no since '75.
FYI, the run scored when Art Pennington walked, advanced to second on an out and then came in on an error. |
A Marathon, Not a Sprint
From memory, this is the longest game in EL history (devs, would love to have these sorts of items kept somewhere and readily accessible in future versions), both in terms of time (7+ hours) and innings (24). Note also the superb performance in relief by Sam Cooper, who hurls 7+ no-hit innings.
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Stat Check: SHO
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July 1978 Recap
Eclipse League While the Grays and Monarchs consolidate their leads, neither can consider themselves home free just yet. All the same, you'd rather be them than either the BYs or MoStars, each of whom struggles in July and now finds itself in a tight stretch run tussle. Monthly Award Winners
Points of Interest
https://i.imgur.com/fsf5WJx.png https://i.imgur.com/6WV6pRO.png https://i.imgur.com/Nahh91X.png https://i.imgur.com/AveeYjQ.png https://i.imgur.com/4QuponL.png https://i.imgur.com/j3riFVj.png https://i.imgur.com/pgHpe0z.png https://i.imgur.com/QhKO47F.png https://i.imgur.com/UUetMfT.png Transit League Akron looking good, the other three still in contention. Monthly Award Winners
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Out of the Shadows: Art Pennington
Memphis-born Art "Superman" Pennington ended up spending more time in organised baseball post-"integration" than he did in the NeL, but for whatever reason(s) just never made the final jump to the bigs. There are plenty others with a similar story.
His NeL career began in 1941 aged just 18 at the club he is most closely associated with, the American Giants. He struggled for the most part in those early years, hitting sub-250 in '41, '42 and '43. Finally, everything came together for him in '44 and '45, the latter of which was a true breakout year as he slashed 331/432/460 with a 166 OPS+. Money led to his switch to the Mexican League, where he spent the next three seasons playing for a host of teams before returning with his new wife to the US. He reportedly played for the AGs in the early part of the 1949 season, although sadly this is almost the Dark Ages of NeL stats and Seamheads shows no entries for him after 1945. Midway through that year, the AGs sold him to Portland of the AAA PCL, the closest Art would ever get to the Show, and then - after two more seasons back in Chicago - starred for Keokuk in the Three-I League. A mooted deal with the Browns for the 1953 campaign never went anywhere and he instead spent the remainder of his career playing in a number of Latin American countries. He died aged 93 in 2017. In the EL, Art was taken 116th overall in the 1970 Draft by the Cuban Stars West organisation, then traded to their East brethren just a year later, who traded him again the following year to Memphis. After four years with the Red Sox, including being a member of their 1974 Championship team and winning a Slick Award the following year, Art became a Free-Agent and signed a juicy 6-year deal prior to the 1976 season that saw him return to the East, his current club at the time of writing. While not essentially a TTO player, Art's hitting profile is certainly skewed to power rather than contact. His career line over his eight seasons to date is 230/313/356, while he has reached double-digits in HR the past five seasons including the one currently in progress, with 22 in 1975 being his peak. His bWAR sits a shade above 10 all told midway thru his age-26 season. |
Catch You Later, Postalita
Bad news for the Athletics, who wouldn't have given up on their season just yet, as they lose their talisman for the remainder with a torn meniscus.
The uniqueness and brevity of Charlie's IRL career (which I covered in an early OotS feature) made him a challenge for curative purposes, so I am really happy with how his EL career has turned out. And, despite this setback and the fact that he no longer rakes like he did in his prime, I'm hoping he still has a fair few years left in the league and can get up to 2000 hits. |
Notes from the Transit Lounge: Cummings On Strong
The perennial poorly-performed (lifetime .478 winning record) House of David Habañeros are having a rare winning season down in the TL this year but will still in all likelihood come up a wee bit short of that elusive maiden playoff appearance.
They won't, as this game tells us, be going down without a fight, with Midre Cummings having a game to remember. |
August 1978 Recap
Eclipse League They've taken their good, sweet time, but the Monarchs are finally headed for their first post-season tilt. The other three groups are, to varying degrees, still up for grabs. Monthly Award Winners
Points of Interest
Top 20s - overall Similar to the big league, Akron is the only TL club home safe just for the moment. Monthly Award Winners
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Out of the Shadows: Terris McDuffie
Nicknames, especially those of prominent sportspeople, can't help but colour our impression of them. Here in Australia, we pride ourselves on well-thought-out sobriquets over vanilla and obvious ones. Take John Eales, the former captain of our country's Rugby Union team. John was known to be a clean-cut type of guy - well-spoken, well-read, well-behaved, well-liked. What you guys would no doubt call an "All-American Boy" were he one of your own. In Australia, he got the nickname "Nobody". Because, as the old proverb goes, Nobody's perfect.
Terris McDuffie, a pitcher from the NeL in the years leading up to WW2, was known both as "Elmer the Great" and "Terrible Terris". The truth, as is so often the case, lay somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. He was neither a great pitcher nor a terrible person, but rather a decent pitcher and terrible showoff. On the mound, he is credited by Seamheads with a career 45-35 mark and crisp 121 ERA+ over his 11 NeL seasons (he also spent a couple years in Mexico and played plenty of Winter ball around the traps), and EC's MLEs allot him a little over 28 WAR all told. He was originally an outfielder but converted early on after realising he had a better chance making it as a pitcher. None of the reports on Terris leave out his off-field reputation, which was - to put it kindly - colourful. Among the anecdotes cited in various of my sources are his affair with Effa Manley, the fact that he liked to showboat when pitching and wore a jacket embroidered with "The Great McDuffie" on back as if he were a boxer rather than a ballplayer, and his perhaps apocryphal run-in with Dolph Luque (his manager at the time) that resulted in "The Pride of Havana" pulling a gun on him to force him to pitch in that day's game, with McDuffie then going out and hurling a two-hitter. All of which led to him becoming one of Black baseball's most popular and well-paid players of his time. Despite a highly-publicised tryout with the Dodgers in 1945, Terris never made it higher than playing for Dallas of the Texas League at the twilight of his career in the mid-50s. he died aged 59 in 1968. Here in the EL, Terris is already making a bit of a name for himself as he is putting together a fine rookie campaign for the Dodgers, who drafted him last year 21st overall. At the time of writing, with the season nearly done, he is sitting at 11-9 with an ERA+ of 117, good enough for close to 2 pWAR. He does have LF / RF ratings, but to this point is being used solely as a pitcher. We'll see if that changes down the track. |
Why the Buckeyes Pay Big Beck the Big Bucks
Well, once again the WC National is providing a thrill-a-minute ride down the stretch, with the lead changing hands almost constantly between the MoStars, AGs and Buckeyes.
Each club is stacked with stars, one of whom shines oh so brightly for Cleveland here against the disappointing ABCs. |
Notes from the Transit Lounge: end of 1978 regular season
We almost get some late drama after it all looks done and dusted, as the Browns fall in a late hole needing just one win to clinch the CAC American. In the end, they never get that win and are forced to sneak in via the back door that is opened by the Eagles' final-day 3-0 loss to Columbus.
Final standings therefore look like this: With the final leaders and Top 20s: https://i.imgur.com/YtQcIJo.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/EegcJHL.png https://i.imgur.com/IEAQPJT.png https://i.imgur.com/dCoByZ5.png Atlanta's Bobby Marshall goes close to Frank Blattner's single-season mark of 51 HR but just comes up short, leaving the only record broken this year being the .857 (18-3) winning percentage posted by Bennie Wilson. Maiden playoff appearances for the Browns and Bears, but they both find themselves heavy underdogs against the reigning champions and the all-conquering Grays. |
Notes from the Transit Lounge - 1978 Conference Championship Series
Massive scares for the favoured sides, both of which have to come back by winning the final two games to set up what should be an absolutely cracking TL decider. The Browns can consider themselves especially unlucky, pushing Atlanta to 11 innings in their Game 5, while the other game is a one-run affair as well.
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El Clásico, 1978
Purely for pride this year, with both Cuban franchises in the middle of seasons to forget. The East finally gets a win after losing 10 straight and go on to take their first Clásico series since 1974.
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Notes from the Transit Lounge: Double-Dip with Crackers
In a mesmerising Transit League World Series that goes the full seven games, the Black Crackers successfully defend their title against a valiant Akron outfit who come oh so close but just can't get it done.
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EL September 1978 Awards
Only a handful of games left with no real drama presenting itself, so I'll just present the league's award-winners for September and cover the rest in the end-of-season recap.
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Out of the Shadows: Bienvenido Jimenez
The quintessential glove-heavy middle infielder from the Deadball Era, Cuban-born Bienvenido Jimenez was known, according to Jim Riley, as the "King of Cuban Second Basemen", second only to the great Bingo DeMoss at this position. The stats certainly back this POV, with Seamheads listing him with a 256 / 347 / 338 slash during his long career in both the Negro and Cuban Leagues of that period. All the same, he is regarded across the board as a key contributor, with Seamheads allocating him 18 WAR and Eric Chalek 26.
One of BJ's listed nicknames is "Hooks", referring to his bow legs, but as the raw stats show and Jim Riley confirms, he was nevertheless a fast and canny baserunner who usually hit in the leadoff position. Another - the one I have chosen for him in the EL - is Pata Joroba. I don't speak Spanish and so may be way off the mark here, but from what I can gather the loose translation refers to him being a nuisance on the basepaths. Bienvenido's EL career is panning out as you'd expect. A fringe-player for most organisations, he has been flipped and flopped a number of times since entering the league in 1973, finally ending up at the sort of small-market club he's perhaps best-suited to, the AC Bacharach Giants, where he has been since 1976. His EL avatar is true-to-type, very much glove over bat. He has a career slash of 226 / 298 / 300 with just 11 HR in more than 2000 PA and has nearly 7 bWAR to his credit so far. Defensively, he is a whiz, winning his first Slick Award last year and amassing a healthy 57 ZR. Given his total this year exceeds last by some margin, one would expect he'll pick up some more silverware come Awards time later this year. This will be the final OotS feature for 1978, and as always here are the career stats of all the active players featured so far. One nice bit of news is that Corey Aldridge, featured HERE last year, has at long last been given his chance in the bigs after years toiling away in the TL. |
1978 EL Regular Season Summary
Despite what looks like a tight finish in the WC National, it all ends up drama-free with the four spots clinched with some time to spare. With this league usually being so even, to have a 100-game winner and two 100-game losers in the one season is very much out of the ordinary.
A first-ever batting title to the mighty Jose Agustin Rodriguez in the FC, while Tony Gonzalez sets a new seasonal BA mark with .3605. Barry Bonds becomes the EL's first 40/40 player and sets a new OBP record with .4451. His 40 HR are the most, just pipping ShoTime, who remarkably is also the King of K in the WC, although his 261 are well behind overall leader Gene Collins' 314. Willson Contreras' 129 RBI lead all comers, as do Bip Roberts' 71 SB. Mike Easler's 55 doubles are also a new all-time high. Back across in the pitching, the low ERA is Willie Gisentaner's 2.59, while Edsall Walker just can't reach CC's record and finishes with a league-high 26 wins. Maceo Broadnax and Ollie West tie for the EL lead in saves with 35. Tim Anderson becomes just the second player to reach the 2000-hit mark. Final Top 20s Hitters - Overall Hitters - NeLers Pitchers - Overall Pitchers - NeLers Final Leaders |
1978 Transit League Major Awards
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER PITCHER OF THE YEAR RELIEVER OF THE YEAR https://i.imgur.com/nMQY6p3.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/OuYsjhY.png |
1978 EL Conference Championship Series
Fleet Conference Kansas City Monarchs (102-60) v New York Black Yankees (88-74) Best of seven, Monarchs with home-field advantage.
https://i.imgur.com/f8FQklW.png Weldy Conference Homestead Grays (96-66) v Cleveland Buckeyes (96-66) Best of seven, Grays with home-field advantage.
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1978 Eclipse League World Series
Cleveland Buckeyes v New York Black Yankees Best of seven, Buckeyes with home-field advantage.
Game 1 https://i.imgur.com/aPPhEz6.png https://i.imgur.com/5GGxtfI.png Game 2 https://i.imgur.com/gsWAfdt.png https://i.imgur.com/rn8UZ8q.png Game 3 https://i.imgur.com/rjP5tBP.png https://i.imgur.com/kWvnDV8.png Game 4 https://i.imgur.com/jSr7gC3.png https://i.imgur.com/Tx0qvr5.png https://i.imgur.com/4XJRVHL.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/9hgVrf9.png https://i.imgur.com/VQNhHZ5.png |
1978 Housekeeping
Managerial Culls Cuban Stars East OUT: Zach Celli (GM) IN:Clay Workman Cuban Stars West OUT: Jerry Collins (Manager) IN:Dan Morrison Philadelphia Liberty Stars OUT: Jose Otega (Manager) IN:Andy Mykel Baltimore Elite Giants OUT: Fernando Reyes (Manager) IN:Calvin Jones Memphis Red Sox OUT: Mark Ballard (Manager) IN:Lennie Pearson Roster News Key Extensions: OF Reggie Smith (Bacharach Giants) 3/1738; OF Leon Durham (American Giants) 4/2046; P Felix Hernandez (Bacharach Giants) 4/2678; C Chili Davis (American Giants) 3/2840; 2B Ketel Marte (Buckeyes) 6/6360. The Dodgers void the final year of P Connie Rector's contract. OF Ken Singleton declines his opt-out from the American Giants. OF Barry Bonds opts out of his contract with the Black Yankees. 2B Roberto Alomar opts out of his contract with the Royal Giants. P Octavio Dotel declines his contract option with the Grays. C Bob Watson declines his contract option with the Black Yankees. Prospect Pipeline https://i.imgur.com/4pe5wgL.png |
1978 Retirees
Ozzie Smith is the biggest name to hang up the cleats, although his EL avatar never much resembles nor reaches the heights of its IRL counterpart. Tanaka-san began well but faded quickly and wasn't much of a force after the early flourish. No future HoFers among this lot, I'm afraid.
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1978 Awards
GRANT MEDAL (MOST VALUABLE PLAYER) STOVEY MEDAL (PITCHER OF THE YEAR) WHITE PLATE (RELIEVER OF THE YEAR) https://i.imgur.com/pPHCAoW.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/mV9BAXD.png FOWLER MEDAL (ROOKIE OF THE YEAR) https://i.imgur.com/OMmGK29.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/HEaWPe3.png GARRETT BUTTON (MANAGER OF THE YEAR) FC: Alberto Chavira, Monarchs WC: Minoru Imamura, Buckeyes KINDLING AWARD (SILVER SLUGGER) FC / WC https://i.imgur.com/54IkS9X.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/iO4WV5f.png SLICK AWARD (GOLD GLOVE) FC / WC https://i.imgur.com/JvVKOLM.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/EpvLzbH.png |
1978 EL Free-Agent Class / Rookie Draft
Not quite the depth or breadth of a year ago, but all the same the EL will be welcoming some fantastic talent again this season via both the Free-Agent market and Rookie Draft.
The Category A NeLers are Ben "Old Reliable" Taylor, Gervasio Gonzalez and the mighty two-way star Bullet Rogan as the FA. A-Rod leads an MLB class that also includes Chris Chambliss, Ruben Sierra and Matt Kemp. Another #1 pick for the poor old Cuban Stars East, and this time around they use it on gun NeL shortstop Pythias Russ. The first two rounds eventually went as follows: See you on Opening Day, 1979! |
Stat Check: various
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