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Happy Place
Another prime example of why I love this save so much - two NeL greats facing a bunch of legendary names - Alomar, Carew, Cool Papa Bell, Dihigo, Wesley - in what proves a tight tussle indeed.
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Philly Power Surge
Big homer games from a couple unlikely sources as the LibStars give the Athletics a good old-fashioned shellacking.
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June 1979 Recap
Eclipse League Other than the Grays making a little move, little is changed entering July with plenty of chances around the league. Monthly Award Winners
Points of Interest
Top 20s - overall Top 20s - NeLers The Wolves have made a decisive move, the White Sox also once again look strong. Three games separate top from bottom in the CAC American. Monthly Award Winners
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EL Top 100 Prospects
A-Rod leads the pack in the midseason prospects list ahead of Luis Marquez.
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Transit League All-Stars, 1979
It's back-to-back HR Derby wins for Atlanta's Bobby Marshall, while Mike Cameron of Pittsburgh is named MVP in a losing cause as the Francis Conference emerges victorious by 10 to 6. |
1979 EL All-Star / Prospects Squads and Games
The stars of today:
And tomorrow: HR Derby winner John Beckwith (Buckeyes) def Earl Gurley (Crawfords) ASG result Fleet 6, Weldy 5 ASG MVP Fernando Tatis jr (Monarchs) Prospects Game result Weldy 3, Fleet 1 Prospects Game MVP Alex Rodriguez (Hornets) |
Out of the Shadows: Frank Wickware
Born a year later and raised in the same Kansas town, it seems fitting that Frank Wickware would often be referred to as the "Black Walter Johnson" throughout his career, even if the comparison is perhaps a little generous on the basis of ability. That said, when the two faced each other in an exhibition game, Wickware won 1-0 and they reportedly split two other such matches during the same period.
Frank made a huge splash upon diving into the NeL waters, going 8-0 for the then Leland Giants of Chicago in his rookie 1910 season. Other than his 10-3 stint for Cuban club Fe, however, this was to prove his only dominant campaign and SH has his career mark at 76-61 with a basically league average ERA of 2.90. Frank's best game came on August 26, 1914. Pitching for Chicago (now the American Giants) against the Indianapolis ABCs, he walked the leadoff batter, who was caught stealing, then retired 26 in a row. Frank's popularity meant he was constantly in demand, while his fondness for the bottle meant he oftentimes wore his welcome out quickly and was forced to move on. As a result, he played for no fewer than 15 clubs over his 12-year career (with stops at Chicago in 9 of them), which ended in 1921. He was reportedly with Dave Brown the night in 1925 he shot and killed a man in a bar fight, and lived out his post-baseball days in Schenectady, NY, where he died in 1967. The EL version of Frank Ellis "The Red Ant" Wickware has also come in with guns blazing. Drafted 6th overall by the Crawfords (one of the few clubs he didn't play for IRL) in 1975, he was put straight to work and has so far gone 47-53 with a 105 ERA+. He finished runner-up in the FC Fowler Medal (RoY) for 1976 and named as an All-Star this year. He has at least 3 pWAR in each of his three completed seasons to this point and looks headed to keep that streak alive in 1979, which is in fact shaping up as his best one yet as Pittsburgh makes a concerted run toward the post-season. We wish him, and them, all the best in this endeavour and will check back in as his career progresses. |
XI Madness
We are getting down to the pointy end of what is proving another incredibly tight EL season, making wins and losses even more important than usual and games like this one for the Buckeyes potential catalysts for movements in the right or wrong direction. Poor old Ric Hidalgo - 3 homers in a losing cause would be particularly hard to take.
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July 1979 Recap
Eclipse League An ongoing 7-game win streak for the Athletic Club has reined in the Grays and means all four races sit within three games as we enter August. That said, each is close to being a race in two. Monthly Award Winners
Points of Interest
https://i.imgur.com/CDOlt6a.png https://i.imgur.com/i7BhNej.png https://i.imgur.com/A4E5oTC.png https://i.imgur.com/HPbtoZS.png https://i.imgur.com/PmC7IVG.png https://i.imgur.com/iQrHav2.png Transit League The two National Conferences look done, while there's life aplenty in the two Americans. Columbus OF Dwayne Murphy currently sits on 39 homers and looks set to make a run at Frank Blattner's TL record of 51. Promotion is perhaps his biggest hurdle in this endeavour. Monthly Award Winners
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Stat Check: WPA
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August 1979 Recap
Eclipse League Other than having chewed up some more games, August brings us no closer to - and perhaps leaves us even further from - a resolution, with all four conference races set to go down to the wire. That said, there has been no shortage of jockeying for position these past 31 days. A stunning collapse by the Black Yankees looks to put them out of contention in the FCA, but they recover late and the Crawfords fail to take full advantage, leaving the two of them - and arguably the Dodgers, just 6 GB - to fight it out. A 12-14 sectional puts paid to the last vestiges of hope this year for the plucky BGs. The MeSox and Mons have been inseparable, changing places throughout the past few months, and I expect nothing different for the remainder. The A's have shown their usual spunk and refused to let Homestead run away with the WCA. As a result, they are set for a grandstand finish, with their series in mid-September looming large on the horizon. A stirring 20-6 month has not just revived Detroit's season but actually put them in the box seat in the WCN entering September. Mookie Betts is finally having the sort of season MoStars fans have been waiting for and Joe Williams' addition to the squad has started paying dividends as well. Each wins the monthly award for their efforts. Monthly Award Winners
Points of Interest
Top 20s - overall Detroit is home, Louisville looks close enough to, the others are wide open. By dint of a sensational August, Atlanta's Bobby Marshall has closed the gap on Dwayne Murphy and both can now make one final tilt at the all-time seasonal HR record - Murphy needs 5 in 12 games, Marshall 10. Monthly Award Winners
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Two Sides to Every Story
With both teams engaged in ultra-tight pennant races, the importance of a game like this can feel like it greatly exceeds the simple won-lost binary.
For Memphis, to implode like this undermines your late-inning confidence to close out games; for Homestead such an amazing comeback makes you think you can win from any position. Neither posits are essentially true, of course, but the closer you get to the end of the season, the more blurred the line between perception and reality becomes. |
Notes from the Transit Lounge: end of 1979 regular season
It almost seems traditional by now for their to be intrigue at the death in both levels of the EL and the TL boys don't let us down this time around.
With the other three conferences each safely stashed away, all eyes turn to the FC American. Needing a win to clinch cleanly, Akron instead loses a heartbreaker 4-3 in 12 to House of David and watches Washington blank Baltimore 9-0 on an Albie Lopez 3-hitter to force a tiebreaker. The very next day, the Grays make amends with a 4-run 7th securing them a 6-4 win and a spot in the playoffs. That leaves the final standings looking like this: And leaders / Top 20s: https://i.imgur.com/BLdBFkk.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/LoicIan.png https://i.imgur.com/OLZyoMn.png https://i.imgur.com/eEMDgdO.png Dwayne Murphy makes it to 50 with a few games to spare but just can't get that one he needs to tie Frank Blattner. Bobby Marshall, who hit 48 last season, belts 49 in this one. Nyjer Morgan sets a new TL mark with 92 steals. A first playoff run for the Blue Birds - the rest have been here more than once previously, with the Wolves of course winning it all thrice. |
Stat Check: $
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Notes from the Transit Lounge - 1979 Conference Championship Series
A straightforward sweep win for the heavily favoured Wolves, while Louisville keeps its hot run going by knocking out Columbus in 4.
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Stat Check: pWAR
https://i.imgur.com/ugG7M4T.png
ShoTime also has a little over 35 career bWAR at the time of posting. |
Notes from the Transit Lounge: Louis, Louis
The Louisville White Sox go a crazy 17-2 over the end of the regular season and the playoffs to nail down their first TL Championship.
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Torrid Torriente on Song
Talk about a timely return. A day after being activated from a short IL stint and with his team hitting the wall in a furious WC National dogfight with Cleveland, young gun Cristobal Torriente runs amok in a DH between the two clubs, belting 4 homers and driving in 10 as the MoStars take both games and get their noses back in front for now.
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EL September 1979 Awards
Full recap at the end of the regular season with a bunch of stuff going on including a run at the single-season HR mark and one club clinching despite a 22-0 loss!
In the meantime, here are the EL's award-winners for September.
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Out of the Shadows: Branch Russell
Virginia-born Branch Russell played almost his entire career for the St. Louis Stars throughout the 1920s and into the early 1930s, including the NNL Championship years of 1928, 1930 and 1931. Highly-regarded both on and off the diamond, he served a stint as the Stars' Captain and also briefly as the club's Manager in 1926.
A right-fielder with an arm few dared challenge, Branch was more a contact- than power-hitter, with SH allotting him a career slash line of 307/391/461. That said, he did mash 57 career taters and ended up with a 115 OPS+, so he must have had some pop as well. EC gives him 11 career WAR in his MLEs. Prior to his pro ball career, which didn't start until he was 26, Branch served for 8 years in the 25th Infantry. Post his retirement, he worked for the St. Louis Parks and Rec department. He died in St. Louis in 1959, aged 63. Branch's EL incarnation was drafted 9th overall in 1977 by Birmingham, where he remains at the time of posting. He got as high as #9 on the Prospects list and spent only the briefest time at the Black Barons' TL club Jacksonville before getting the call-up. In the near two seasons since, Branch has shown plenty of promise, this current season in particular in which he has slashed 293/365/427 and gone yard 5 times, driving in 53 and accumulating nearly 3 bWAR. No doubt the BBs will be looking for further improvement from him as they try to make their way to the playoffs over oncoming years. Hopefully he'll get plenty more time to keep evolving that sweet 'tache as well. As with the final OotS feature each season, here is how those who have been featured previously and remain active are faring. Three of them have called time on the game this year: Patricio Scantlebury, Donald "Soup" Reeves and Oscar Estrada. |
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