[tm1681]

1863: THE HALFWAY POINT
FIVE OF SIX REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERS HAVE NEVER PLAYED IN THE POST-SEASON

NORTHEASTERN U.S.A. (June 22, 1863) – The 1863 National Base Ball Organization season reached its halfway point yesterday afternoon, with Susquehanna’s 8-6 home win against The Sportsman’s Club wrapping up the first seven weeks of play.

At the 35-game mark, there are plenty of surprises to be found across the N.B.B.O. Five of the six regional championships are currently led by teams that have never won theirs before, the batting leaders in each league are first-year regulars, one of the biggest clubs in the Northeastern League is having a terrible season, and one pitcher is on pace to have a historic E.R.A.

General observations from the first half of the season, via the Writers Pool:

• As the regional championships currently stand, five of the six are led by teams that have never finished in first place before. In New York City, the one championship that is currently led by a post-season veteran, the team in second place, Harlem, is one that has never finished atop the standings.

• The BROOKLYN CHAMPIONSHIP leader, and once again the team with the best record at the midway point, is Excelsior B.B.C. at 25-10 (K.C. & CON 5 G.B.). Similar to last season, their Run Differential is not great (+34) but Continental is hitting much better (.311; .280 in ’62) and they are being led by the now seemingly unbeatable Jim Creighton, who is 15-2 with a 2.49 E.R.A. and 42 Strikeouts. Creighton is on pace to become the second pitcher in N.B.B.O. history with 30 Wins in a season, and he is also on a pace to best his own Strikeout record for the third year in a row.

• Gotham B.B.C. leads the NEW YORK CITY CHAMPIONSHIP at 23-12, but surprising Harlem is only one game back and Orange is three behind. Gotham’s M.V.P. so far this season has been Hamish Barclay (2B), who is hitting .409 with 32 Runs and 32 R.B.I. Harlem has been buoyed by Allegheny B.C. import Milton Eckhart (.394 AVG, 31 R, 24 R.B.I.) and veteran pitcher Clydesdale Jackson (12-4, 1.96 E.R.A, 15 K). Shortstop Jackson Butler is hitting .366.

• In the UPSTATE CHAMPIONSHIP, Niagara B.B.C. is finally at the top of the pack halfway through the season. It appears that the reconfiguration of the Greater New York Sporting Grounds has achieved its intended effect, as the E.R.A. of pitchers Grover Wright & Bernard Schmidt are 3.09 & 2.71 respectively, down from 4.05 & 3.96 last season. Their attack has fallen to ninth in the N.Y.L. in Runs Scored with a current pace to plate roughly 130 fewer runs than last year, but the new field layout has led to the team being #1 in the N.Y.L. in Runs Allowed. Still, Niagara is in no way in the clear for there are five teams – Binghamton, Flour City, Syracuse, Victory, & Utica – within two games.

• Port Jersey currently leads the COASTAL CHAMPIONSHIP with the N.E.L’s best record: 24-11. Their key player has been N.B.B.O. newcomer Edward Donovan, who is currently hitting .420 with 44 Runs, 2.13 W.P.A, and 2.1 W.A.R. Every member of the lineup except Seth Guzik (CF) is hitting over .300, and their offense is currently in the top three in the N.E.L. The two Boston teams, Massachusetts Bay & Shamrock, are within five games.

• Merrimack Mills, who like Port Jersey started the season 15-5, tops the INLAND CHAMPIONSHIP standings with a 22-13 mark. The team was able to weather a shoulder injury to #1 pitcher Frank Huth, who returned last week after a three-week absence. That was possible because they currently lead the N.E.L. in Runs (297), Average (.332), On-Base (.362), O.P.S. (.800), and Batting W.A.R. (6.8). Sportsman’s & Susquehanna are one game behind, and Scranton is two.

• Green Mountain leads the NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIP by one game over St. John’s thanks to a 23-12 record. They are the first team other than St. John’s to lead the N.E.C. outright halfway through the season. Their star player, of course, has been Anthony Mascherino, who is hitting .372 with 38 Runs, 27 R.B.I, 18 Stolen Bases, and a whopping 3.2 W.A.R. His +18.5 Zone Rating at shortstop is almost twice that of any other player at any position.

• Pioneer B.C, one of the three teams who were 15-5 after twenty games, have gone 3-12 since and are currently 18-17, good for a four-game deficit from the top of the Inland Championship and fifth place in the standings.

• The Batting Average leaders in each league are in their first season as regular batsmen. Irish outfielder Scanlon Miller of Mutual earned the team’s right fielder spot in his third season as an N.B.B.O. player, while 24-year-old William Pfeffer of Portland became their left fielder in his sixth season as a member of the club.

• Allegheny B.B.C, four-time winners of the Inland Championship, started the season with a 5-15 record over the first four weeks. They are 8-7 since, but with a 13-22 record after half the season it looks very likely that it is already too late for the Pittsburgh club to stage a comeback and take Inland from one of the six teams ahead of them who are within four games of each other for first place.

• Harlem star Clydesdale Jackson is 12-4 with a 1.96 E.R.A. after 18 starts and 156 innings of pitching so far in 1863. He is already the first N.B.B.O. with an E.R.A. under 2.00 after his first 150 innings in a season, and if he continues his level of performance he will become the first full-time pitcher to finish the season with an E.R.A. under 2.00. The pitcher who has come the closest is Syracuse’s William Huitema, who had a 2.25 E.R.A. over 312 innings in 1861.

• American’s Dennis Pruitt has 41 R.B.I. – a pace for 82 over the full season. That would break the existing record of 77, which was set by Massachusetts Bay’s Arthur Holton in 1860.

• Runs are holding steady at 6.9 per game in both leagues, but again the Northeastern League is providing the most action of the two. Teams in the N.E.L. have hit nearly twice as many Home Runs (143 vs. 74) and they have stolen roughly 165 more bases (1,147 vs. 982) at a higher rate. They also have slightly more Extra-base Hits than their N.Y.L. counterparts.

Those are just some of the observations from the first half of the N.B.B.O. season. No doubt the second half will provide plenty of excitement.