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1869 NATIONAL BASE BALL ORGANIZATION REVIEW

WRITERS POOL OBSERVATIONS

Pity poor Flour City – one of the best teams in NBBO history and their offense withered at the final step. The team’s scoring falling by a third didn’t bother James Goodman, who earned all five of their wins at the cup, but F.C.’s secondary pitchers were unable to cope with the team’s sudden lack of offense.

Alleghany were most-deserving champions. They were 39-11 after June 1st, and when the star combo of Royal Altman & Samuel Kessler virtually disappeared at the cup teammates raised their level of performance to make up for it. On top of that, John Henry was an incredible story, going from 3-2 substitute pitcher to 30-game winner in one year.

There are multiple also-rans poised for great things. Continental won their last nine to finish just a game behind Kings Co. with a +126 RD. Oceanic went 32-18 after June 1st to finish four games behind St. John’s, and Mass. Bay was even better: 36-14. Sportsman’s had a fine season – a 43-27 record – but it was simply impossible for them to keep up with Alleghany.

Willie Davis (American) had his best season since 1861, yet the 2x Batsman of the Year & 2x MVP was completely overlooked. He had a .397 average, .963 OPS, a +13.3 Zone Rating at CF, and an NEL-leading 4.6 WAR. However, due to Franklin Petty’s batting at CF and the MVP award’s emphasis on first-place teams, all Davis received was a Golden Glove.

Coastal is now a two-town region: Boston & Philadelphia. For the second season in a row the four teams representing the two cities – American, Mass. Bay, Quaker St., & Shamrock – were the top four finishers in the Coastal Championship. The other teams in the region haven’t been completely left behind, but it’s now clear those four teams are better than the rest.

Mutual is a strange club to figure out. After seasons of 20-50, 28-42, & 21-49 with superstar 2B Anderson MacGyver anchoring them he went back to St. John’s and their record shot up to 35-35 this year. They got All-Star pitching from William Tighe, Golden Glove fielding from Uwe Schneider, and SS Charles Hodges finished 4th in NotY voting.

Konrad Jensen is now the first player to hit .400+ with an OPS of 1.000+ in consecutive seasons. If Jensen isn’t the best batsman in the sport, then at least he is the most technical one. He has led the NEL in On-base seven times, Bases on Balls six times, and Stolen Bases six times. Even though Jensen has only one Batting Championship, his career average is .373 with an OPS of .954 (175 OPS+) and he has only just turned 30, so expect another five years of this kind of performance.

Lost in the hoopla of James Goodman’s historic season and the annual excitement over Jim Creighton: Carl Bancroft (Gotham) earned 20+ wins for the 8th time, going 24-13 and bringing his career record to 246-183. Bancroft is 48-25 since joining Gotham, and at the age of 34 he continues to be an extremely dependable & durable #1 pitcher.

This year’s most disappointing team: Granite. During the month of May they were a stunning 15-5 and looked like they might give St. John’s trouble in New England. After that they were 14-36 for a final record of 29-41 and a last-place finish. John Carlton’s WPA of 3.8 and WAR of 1.5 in May decreased for the rest of the season, a perfect summary of the Granite team.

Lorenzo Bradford (Flour City) might be the most surprising Batting Champion ever. The NYL average leader hit .398 for Flour City over 56 games this season. The three seasons before that? .266, .252, and .307 during his three seasons playing for Empire in the Brooklyn Championship. His previous career high? .340 in 1861. Nobody saw his season coming.

With the career of Joe Feuerstein winding down, Everett Schreiber (Orange) has become the most valuable catcher in base ball. He hit .367 for Orange this season while barely losing out to cannon-armed Roel Woudenberg for a Golden Glove at C (+11.4 ZR), and it added up a WAR of 3.6 on the season, the best mark ever for an NBBO backstop. Plus, he’s only 26.

Over two seasons, Tarmo Kuopio has been the perfect replacement for Collin Henderson at St. John’s as both their 1B and the man to drive in the three members of the outfield Hydra when they’re on base. His averages? .366 & .345. His RBI totals? A record-tying 90 and then 89, with both figures leading the NBBO. Kuopio’s been an ideal fit in the St. John’s lineup.

Babe Johnson wasn’t the .375 hitter that some thought he could be in his first season as a regular for Gotham, but he was still very good. Johnson hit .324 with an .838 OPS, expert baserunning (32 SB), fine fielding at 1B, and it totaled up to 2.5 WAR and an All-Star Game appearance.

Expect Jim Creighton to rebound next year. 23-16 was his worst record since 1864, and his 2.95 ERA was his highest since then as well. His .281 average & .791 OPS were his lowest as a P/1B, but nothing he’s done suggests a falloff in ability.