Monday, October 31, 2072
IPA BEST SKIPPER TROPHIES TO STONER'S CHAPEL AND HARTSDALE'S MARKIS
Billy Chapel of the Stoner Silver Sox and Mark Markis of the Hartsdale Hellcats have a lot in common... number one, they are both in their 11th year as skippers... both got the job in 2062... and number two, the Islandian Pro Alliance scribes have chosen them the managers of the year... Chapel is the Ruthlandian Union Manager of the Year and Markis is the Tycobbian Union Manager of the Year.
Ruthlandian Union
Acclaim has been a long time coming for Billy Chapel... at age 80 he is one of the elder statesmen of IPA baseball... Chapel starred for the old Stoner Stars of the teens and 20s, winning 260 games and losing 212 games for a poor franchise with a decent 3.40 ERA... this year Chapel piloted the Stoner Silver Sox to the Ruthlandian Union West Division crown with a 95-59 mark, winning it by 13 games... the previous season the Sox were only 72-82, winding up in 6th place and 14 games out of first... Chapel never got to the playoffs as a player and this year was his first time ever in the postseason and he almost won it, but lost out to the Turon Typhoons in 4 games in the Pro Cup Series.
Chapel won out over two other worthy peers, Malcolm Tansbury, skipper of the Eastshore Cotton Kings, and Matvey Kazak, manager of the Valka Blackhawks... both of them were rookies this season... this was their first season as managers... Tansbury was the second-highest votegetter in the RU Manager of the Year poll... he guided Eastshore to an 89-65 mark, good for second place in the RU East race, just 2 games behind pennant-winning Wynnamac (91-63)... it was a terrific turnaround year for the Cotton Kings... in 2071 they were 71-83 and ended up 6th, trailing by 14 games in the chase for the pennant.
Matvay Kazak wound up in the third spot in the Ruthlandian Union best skipper poll... he took the Blackhawks to the playoffs in his first season in charge of the club... Valka improved from 2nd place and 92-62 in '71 to 96-58 and first place this year... the Blackhawks came in 8 games off the pace last year and won by 4 games this year.
Tycobbian Union
The 2072 Tycobbian Union Manager of the Year Award went to Mark Markis of Hartsdale... his Hellcats really turned it around this season, going from 7th place to first place in the TU North... Markis boosted the club's record from 72-82 up to 94-60... in '71 Hartsdale was 25 games back in the pennant race... the Hellcats came out the winner in '72 by 9 games... Markis has a unique background... high school and college ball were his only experience and he was just a mediocre or so-so outfielder at best... he never made it to the Islandian Pro Alliance, but Markis is an analytical genius... the GM at that time, Jud Turchin, hired him to help him evaluate ballplayers... Markis so impressed Turchin over the years that he was given the reins to the ball club when Turchin retired as GM and skipper in '62.
La Claire's Alain Cheval finished second in the TU top skipper balloting... his Lynx came in second in the TU West last year with a solid 89-65 mark, winding up 7 games behind to Rolling Hills, but this year they upped it to 92-62 and took the flag by one game over Bayview... Cheval is in his 11th year as manager.
Markis and Cheval got most of the votes in the TU Manager of the Year voting... a distant third was Turon's manager, Nate Scottsdale... the Typhoons won their third straight Tycobbian South division title with a 91-63 record, winning by 6 games... Manager of the Year voters like to see great improvement from one year to the next... Scottsdale was hurt by the fact that Turon won 104 games in '71... but that's just the way it is is... for him to win the best skipper honor this year, he needed at least 100 wins... but I'm sure Scottsdale is not unhappy... his Turon Typhoons are the 2072 Pro Cup Champion... that's not so bad as a consolation prize, is it?