Certain players have stayed with me for different reasons as I have wended my way to my current level of familiarity with the Negro Leagues and their history.
Dizzy Dismukes, as I think I have previously mentioned, was the one who started it all for me (thanks Lans!).
A deeper dive into the brief but brilliant career of my favourite NeLer of all Charlie Smith made me want to spread my ken outside of the Satchels, Oscars and Joshes to the lesser-known guys.
And the subject of this feature was the first to make me suspect that players are "imprinted" upon import to at least make them vaguely resemble their historical selves under any in-game circumstances.
Born 1903 in Albany GA,
Pete Washington's defensive prowess seems to have taken some of the attention away from his hitting, with Jim Riley going so far to effectively label him glove-heavy.
While he did struggle to hit consistently for average, especially toward the end of his career, Pete nevertheless managed to slash 269/340/406 over his 13 NeL seasons, hardly Rob Deer or Dave Kingman territory.
While doing so, he managed 10 homers in each of the 1927 and 1929 seasons in the early part of his long tenure with the Baltimore Black Sox, and Seamheads credits him with a total of 50. In his MLE for Pete, Eric allots him a total of 142 in just over 6000 AB but only has him pegged for a total of 5.4 WAR.
And this is the profile he invariably regresses to in OOTP from any curated state, usually within a matter of seasons - low AVG, high SLG. Which would be OK if it wasn't so pronounced.
BBRef has Luis Olmo and current Phillies 3B Alec Bohm at the top of his similarity scores but, as
this great SABR Bio by Bill Johnson points out, it also has him on par with Jackie Jensen, which tells you all you need to know about how solid his defence was.
It is his high defensive ratings, along with the increased amount of lightning in his bat that should keep his EL avatar at least on the fringes of the top flight for a decent period to come.
After being taken 11th overall in the 1978 Draft by the ABCs, Pete was traded to the Lincoln Giants in 1981 and remained there until the most recent offseason when he signed a minors deal with Hilldale. I'm surprised the LGs let him walk as he is the type of mid-range cheapish player they usually rely on and, with Oscar Charleston and Tony Gwynn spearheading the Athletics' OF, Pete is being used there in a backup / defensive sub role.
His EL slash line currently sits at 243/307/386 but expect that to skew toward the power end for the rest of his career. He has 72 HR to his name, with 24 in 1983 his season high, along with just over 300 ribbies - good for a running total of nearly 10 WAR, much of which can be attributed to his career total of just on 60 ZR.
This is the final OotS feature for 1985 and, as always, here are the updated career lines for all I have covered so far that remain active. Back with more next season!