Completed 1875 season.
Still trying to get organized.

Wrote a rough draft for 1872 recap. Used gpt and it basically wrote the same thing. I'm no writer so i'm trying to take some notes, write some ideas and give it to gpt along with some stats.
Anyway this is what we came up with.

National Association
1872 season recap

"First Place forfeit"
The 1872 National Association baseball season welcomed four new teams to the league, which replaced the defunct Fort Wayne, Rockford, and Chicago franchises.
The Chicago franchise had been lost to the great Chicago fire of 1871, while the other two franchises failed to cover league fees and player salaries.
Baltimore, Middletown, and two teams in Brooklyn took the field for the first time. Despite this, several teams would not finish and fold during the year. Most surprising was the Washington Olympics calling it quits after 9 games and in first place, finishing the year with the best winning percentage in the league but being disqualified from the World Championship Series due to failure to follow their schedule.

The league was accused of being hypocritical as it turned a blind eye to top teams like the Boston Red Stockings, who played exhibition teams against local players from nearby towns. Despite this, the league stuck with the league standings by winning percentage. At the end of the year, the Red Stockings took the runner-up playoff spot with a .604 percentage over the Baltimore Canaries' .517, even though they played ten fewer games. The league ruled that no regular season games could be scheduled after the scheduled season end date and ruled in favor of Harry Wright's Red Stockings.

The Red Stockings were led by Al Spalding, George Wright and Ross Basrnes.
Despite the talent on Boston's roster the Phildelphia Athletics out did them.
Philadelphia had one of the best young hitters in the game in Cap Anson.
Anson was snatched up in the offseason by the Athletics after Rockford folded during the 1871 season.
Philadelphia also had good seasons from Ned Cuthbert, Dickie Flowers and Dick McBride.
Despite the talent on Boston's roster, the Philadelphia Athletics outdid them, led by one of the best young hitters in the game in Cap Anson, who was snatched up in the offseason by the Athletics after Rockford folded during the 1871 season. Philadelphia also had good seasons from Ned Cuthbert, Dickie Flowers, and Dick McBride.

The league batting stats showed the Baltimore Canaries, the Boston Red Stockings, and the Philadelphia Athletics to be the top three teams in the league.
In the post-season the Philadelphia Athletics defeat the Boston Red Stockings, 4-1, in the World Championship Series.

Where are Middletown (New York State?) and Rockford anyway?

Don't you all love the towns that qualified for major leagues back then?

Middletown CT
Rockford IL

Any club could compete for the NA championship provided it: (1) was a member of the NA; and (2) paid a small fee (I think it was $10 or $15) to enter into the competition for the "whip pennant." Of course, the entry fee was peanuts in comparison to the expenses for things like travel, road accommodations, park rental, advertising, and player salaries. I suppose small-town clubs like Rockford and Middletown looked at the entry fee and thought "we can afford that" without thinking about all those other expenses that they would have to incur in order to compete with big-city clubs like Boston. That's why those small-city clubs like Fort Wayne and Elizabeth NJ usually lasted for only a handful of games before calling it quits.

I’m sure there was also the gamble that a Middletown, CT could live off of one big payday when they journeyed into New York City and played the Mutual or what have you. It’s more about the fly by night nature of the league itself that there was so much folding, and eventually all of that was why the original NL was formed out of the ashes of the NA (clubs in bigger cities didn’t want to deal with the here today gone tomorrow teams) (although ironically one of the first major moves the NL had to do was to kick out the Philadelphia and New York teams when they decided not to fulfill their schedule at the end of the 1876 season).

Looking at another fly by night team in the Keokuk Westerns,
i noticed that Mike Golden's record with the team was the exact same record of 1-12 that he had in the real league.
He even had a better era at 2.58.
But what can a pitcher do when he bats .216 and has the 2nd best batting average on a team that bats .175.

Not sure if this will work.
The link is to my dropbox with my 1871-1885 almanacs.
Thinking about maybe a solo league website.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xrols...fhr09d2182onyu

Some stats for the 1873 season.
Currently in mid July 1876.

Here is Steve Bellan's career batting stats.

Looks like things are going well for you. No duct tape needed!

Honestly the simming is going really well.
I have a notebook with all the transactions i use.
Lot easier than having a spreadsheet opened on the screen.
Its finding an easy way to post results and finding a consistent way to do it.
Of course the American Association years can slow me down a bit but thats ok i'd rather not rush it.
Even if i do want to get to ootp24.

Darn that restrictive hybrid setup for 19th century league leagues.
Wish they would just put the real expansion history in there and let us worry about the players.
Even with the fictional setup, players are not on the correct teams anyway.
This year they've made it practically impossible to do it with correct rosters.
Otherwise i would be playing ootp24.

Future on the Horizon
By the 1870s, Harry Wright had been recognized as the best manager in the game. Wright was able to help Boston acquire some of the best talent in the game. Yet for a team that had Al Spalding, Ross Barnes, Jim O'Rourke, Deacon White and Harry's younger brother George a championship trophy eluded Harry and the Red Stockings.
The 1873 Red Stockings were not the best team Harry had managed but they were still expected to finish first. In terms of individual statistics and leaders, the Boston Red Stockings had the highest runs-per-game average, at 10.9. Their batting was led by a strong team effort, with many players contributing to their success. The team finished with a batting average of .333, an on-base percentage of .351, and a slugging percentage of .433. The team had several notable players in 1873, including Ross Barnes, who played second base and had a batting average of .388, and George Wright, who played shortstop and had a batting average of .349. Harry Wright played center field and had a batting average of .299. Other notable players on the Red Stockings roster in 1873 included Deacon White, who batted .348 and Jim O'Rourke, who batted .336 and broke the record for consecutive game hitting streak with 46.Al Spalding once again led the Red Stockings and the league in wins with 41. His record would give him his 3rd straight Cy Young Award. In fact, the award for the best pitcher was originally known as the Al Spalding pitching Award. However the final official name for awards was used in these chronicles. This is why Spalding won the 1873 Cy Young award even though it would not be named that for many years after Spalding's death.

The Baltimore Canaries had a strong season in 1873, finishing with a record of 38-19 and a .667 winning percentage, which was good enough for second place. The team scored 567 runs and allowed 451. Lip Pike was the team's best hitter, posting a .368 batting average. During the summer Pike also managed to beat "Chance" a horse in 100 yd dash. Other Canaries contributors were Tom J. Carey who hit .319, Davy Force hit .346, Everett Mills hit .364 and Scott Hastings hit .379 The team's pitching was led by Asa Brainard, who went 11-2 with a 2.54 ERA in 157.1 innings pitched. Candy Cummings went 10-6 with a 2.95 ERA in 124.2 innings pitched, while George Bradley went 8-8 with a 2.87 ERA in 139 innings pitched.

On the weak side of the league, the Baltimore Marylands had a difficult season, with a high runs-per-game average of 9.2. However, they did manage to record 2 complete games and 1 shutout. The team finished with an ERA of 4.76 and a WHIP of 1.75. Elizabeth Resolutes finished the season with a record of 6-17 and a .261 winning percentage, which placed them 9th in the league. The team scored 138 runs and allowed 192 runs. Neither team were able to overcome the lack of success on the field and called it quits before the season ended.

The National Association of 1873 had an exciting season, but questions still remained on the future of the league. The commissioner Henry Chadwick was well respected as an expert on the game. However, he was not a strong leader and would often allow players to leave and join teams at their leisure. This did nothing for fans of bad teams.

But changes were already on the horizon. A future of baseball with or without the National Association was beginning to form in the mind of William Hulbert. In the shadows of 1873 Hulbert had watched the game and began to plan the future. Hulbert had backed the the 1871 Chicago team that had been lost due to the great Chicago fire. Hulbert was eager to bring baseball back to Chicago but was displeased with the league’s lack of effort to field good teams in the west. Most west teams were hardly better than minor league teams for the powerhouse teams of the East. Hulbert wanted a restart in Chicago.
Hulbert also wanted a better organized league and control placed in the owner’s hands.

1874 news

more 1874 news

1874 season recap

The Wright Decision

The Boston Red Stockings dominated the National Association Baseball league in 1874, finishing the season with a remarkable record of 55 wins and 16 losses, winning the pennant by 7 games. The team led the league in runs scored (656) and allowed (426). Player-manager Harry Wright, who played center field and batted .256 with 3 home runs and 50 RBIs, was the leader of the team. The lineup included standout players such as Ross Barnes, with an average of .377 and 69 RBIs, George Wright with an average of .330 and 69 RBIs, and Deacon White, batting .325 with 73 RBIs. The team's pitching was anchored by ace Al Spalding, who also played first base and batted .346, finishing the season with a record of 46-12 and a 1.75 ERA.
The Philadelphia White Stockings finished in second place with a record of 36 wins and 22 losses, followed by the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago White Stockings. The Philadelphia White Stockings had the best pitching in the league, allowing an average of 5.5 runs per game, with a team ERA of 2.24. The team scored 392 runs and allowed 317 runs during the 1874 season. Bill Craver was the standout player for the team that year, playing in 58 games and batting .281 with 9 doubles, 6 triples, and 31 RBIs. Dave Eggler was another strong contributor for the team, batting .317 with 8 doubles, 9 triples, and 50 RBIs in 58 games.
In the 1874 season, the league played a total of 464 games, with a total of 3,262 runs scored and 320 home runs hit. The league batting average was .273, and the league ERA was 3.07.
At the start of the World Championship Series, Harry Wright made a controversial decision to sit the best pitcher in the game and take the mound himself. The decision appeared to backfire as the Red Stockings lost 7-6. In game 2, Wright started again and was able to pull out a win. Fans were beginning to worry if Al Spalding had suffered a major injury, as injuries were not reported to the league at the time. Boston fans were relieved when Spalding took the mound for games 3 and 4. Wanting to give his workhorse some more rest to save him for a game 7, Harry took the mound again in game 6. The Red Stockings won game 6 by a score of 5-2 to claim their 2nd championship.
Harry Wright proved that his decision to start himself 3 time s in the series was right decision by going 2-1 with an ERA of 2.00 and batting .381, earning him the MVP for the series. Ross Barnes and Deacon White also contributed significantly to Boston's 2nd World Championship, batting .379 and .333, respectively.
The League seemed to have found a more stable foundation, as only the Baltimore Canaries folded up shop. However, the League needed to keep the same teams for a few years and build up a stable fan base to ensure profitable expansion in the future. Unfortunately, as the offseason came, six new teams formed and paid the team entry fee of $100, much to the disgust of William Hulbert.

1875 season recap

SLOW CHANGE COMING

The 1875 National Association Baseball League expanded by six teams in 1875.
The expansion was not well planned. It was more of a result of inexperienced team owners. Most of the NA clubs were run by owners who had little experience in running a team. Many of them had backgrounds in a family owned business or as a saloon owner.
The majority of the owners did not see the problem of supporting 3 teams in Philadelphia and putting a team in Keokuk.
Few people had even heard of Keokuk.
But one man had heard of Keokuk.
Hulbert was astonished that the League had even taken the matter under consideration.
He argued fruitlessly that a town of 12,700 could not support a Major League team.
His argument fell on deaf ears.
By mid June, Hulbert's predictions came true and the Keokuk Westerns became a footnote in the history of baseball.

Early season predictions that the established teams would feast on the expansion teams soon came true. The Red Stockings dominated the competition once again with their best record ever at 62-20. Along with Boston at the top were the Philadelphia White Stockings, Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis and Hartford ballclubs. Hulbert was furious watching the top clubs snatch up the best talent and dominate the expansion clubs.
The Boston Red Stockings season was one for the record books, finishing with a dominant 62-20 record and a .756 winning percentage. They were followed in the standings by the Philadelphia White Stockings, who finished 12 games back with a 44-26 record.
The St. Louis Brown Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics rounded out the top four, with records of 42-28 and 44-33, respectively.
Looking at the league batting stats, Boston was once again the cream of the crop, scoring an average of 8.5 runs per game and hitting .310 as a team. They were followed by the Hartford Dark Blues, who averaged 6.7 runs per game and hit .265. The Philadelphia Athletics, Philadelphia White Stockings, and St. Louis Brown Stockings rounded out the top five in team batting average.
Overall, it was a season dominated by the Boston Red Stockings, who showed themselves to be a force to be reckoned with in the world of professional baseball.
In the postseason, the World Championship Series was contested between the Boston Red Stockings and the Philadelphia White Stockings, with Boston ultimately coming out on top by a score of 4-2. The series was hard-fought and closely contested, with both teams putting up a strong fight.
In terms of individual performances, there were a number of standout players throughout the league. The Boston Red Stockings boasted the highest run total in the league, with an impressive 701 runs over the course of the season. Meanwhile, the Hartford Dark Blues had the highest number of stolen bases, with 86 in total.
The league's batting statistics were also impressive, with the Boston Red Stockings finishing the season with a team batting average of .310, an on-base percentage of .323, and a slugging percentage of .401. These impressive numbers helped them secure their spot as the top team in the league.
Overall, the 1875 baseball season was an exciting and memorable one, with plenty of great performances and exciting moments throughout including a record breaking 48 game hit streak for Cal McVey of the Red Stockings. Still the clouds of a uncertain future remained.
What was certain was that the League could not survive another year of rapid expansion.
Like it or not a train of change was coming.