September 27, 1954
KC GM IS A TRADER- OR A TRAITOR IN KANSAS CITY PAPERS
A major development has caused quite a turn for me in the
American Circuits online league. I had mentioned to DD Martin, who is also in Figment Baseball with me, that the Chicago Traders might be coming up. He was tops on the waiting list and was to be offered the team. He mentioned to me he was looking forward to it but wished he was getting an expansion team instead. So, I offered to switch and as a result I am no longer preparing to stock my Kansas City Bulls club in the expansion draft but instead focusing on creating a protected list for my Chicago Traders.
I really liked the idea of building with an expansion team but what first caught my interest about the American Circuits was it's rich history, and there are few teams in baseball with a richer history than the Chicago Traders. Only the mighty New York Knickerbockers have been more successful than the Traders and both clubs were charter members of the league dating back to 1876. Originally known as the Haymakers, the Chicago franchise won the first ever National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs pennant and have added 14 more titles since then, including 4 World Series titles and 5 pennants in the past 8 years.
However, even though they are less than a year removed from their most recent championship, I will have my work cut out for me in the Windy City. A retooling of sorts was started by my predecessor last winter when 7 time Royal Ricketts Award winner Joe Shannon was dealt to Houston in a blockbuster deal. Shannon, now 34, is still going strong as he has posted a 25-10 record for the Drillers with a week remaining in the 1954 campaign. It is the 11th consecutive year that Shannon has won at least 20 games. While we lost our ace in the deal, the Traders did get a solid young lefthander in 23 year old Thornton Shadwell in return as well as a couple of other players and Houston's first and second round draft picks which should aid in the retooling.
Shadwell is 14-14 for us so far this year, a season which has been a disappointing season for the Traders. At 74-82 as of this writing, it will be the first season the club has finished below .500 since 1946 and just the second time since 1929 the Traders will have lost more games than they won.
Our biggest star is also nearing the end of the line. Melbourne Trench who is the American Circuits career homerun leader with 393 is now 38 years old and this season he will post the lowest batting average of his incredible career that dates back to 1935. Trench is hitting .256 this year and is surely a first ballot Hall of Famer one day. He owns 5 World Series rings and is an 8 time all-star. As long as he does not retire over the winter, Trench will be back and looking to hit his milestone 400th homer in a Chicago Trader uniform.
I do have a lot of decisions to make on my protected list and to start looking forward to the draft, where I will own 4 of the first 35 or so picks including a pair likely in the middle of the first round.
So this dynasty focus will shift slightly in that it will now revolve around continuing the great tradition of winning that Chicago fans have come to expect from the Traders. Who knows, maybe DD Martin will stop in to keep us informed on how things are unfolding in Kansas City. Either way, we will see plenty of the Bulls as they will be joining my Traders in the NL West Division next season.