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THE 1871 BASEBALL PREVIEW

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (May 2, 1870) – The fifteenth season of organized baseball, and the first of the professional version of the sport, begins this afternoon with St. John’s playing at Niagara in Buffalo, New York.

The sport has officially entered a brave new world now that the American Professional Baseball League is ready for its inaugural season. There are now two competitions to preview, and both offer plenty of uncertainty.

Defending cup champions St. John’s are projected to lead the Colonial Conference with Knickerbocker atop the Metropolitan in the first season of APBL play, but overall the twelve teams are expected to be very competitive, with 11/12 projected to finish somewhere between 41-49 & 52-38. Now that the premier teams in the sport have gathered under one umbrella they have entered into a yearly competition where they won’t be looked upon to dominate their opposition.

In the NBBO, it should come as little surprise that the “Odd Team Out” at the APBL’s announcement of its initial roster of twelve last year, Quaker State, is the unanimous favorite to lift the Tucker-Wheaton Cup, with an offense projected to become the second ever to score ten runs per game. If is in the cards for another team to stop Quaker St. this season it will likely be last year’s darlings Atlantic, who are projected to be the best team in the New York League.

Thanks to the defections to the APBL, this year’s TWC is projected to have five new entrants, with only Atlantic returning from last year’s stunning cup run that made them the favorites of every neutral fan in the Northeast.

Of the twelve new entrants to the NBBO, Columbia is expected to be the best of the bunch. New York Athletic Club may have the most talent, but they also play in the toughest region. Marathon has a similar issue in Brooklyn, and the big-city trio of Maryland, National, & Tiger is expected to finish in the bottom half of the always difficult Coastal Championship.

It is now time to begin the most mysterious and uncertain season of baseball since the inaugural year of the NBBO in 1857. The projections have been made, but given the changes to the ecosystem of the sport anything is possible in 1871.

AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE PROJECTED STANDINGS

COLONIAL CONFERENCE

		 W	 L	 PCT	GB	 R	 RA	  RD
St. John’s	51	39	.567	--	656	600	 +56
Mass. Bay	48	42	.533	 3	619	570	 +49
Flour City	46	44	.511	 5	567	588	 -21
Alleghany	43	47	.478	 8	612	619	  +7	
Niagara		42	48	.467	 9	555	621	 -66		
Shamrock	41	49	.456	10	548	559	 -11

METROPOLITAN CONFERENCE

		 W	 L	 PCT	GB	 R	 RA	   RD
Knick		52	38	.578	--	607	541	  +66
Orange		52	38	.578	--	620	562	  +58
Gotham		48	42	.533	 4	598	576	  +22
Excelsior	43	47	.478	 9	588	599	  -11
American	42	48	.467	10	638	669	  -31
Kings Co.	35	55	.389	17	528	632	 -104

There is no clear favorite to take the Founders’ Cup, as every team bar Kings Co. is expected to be fiercely competitive.

APBL AWARD FAVORITES

Batsman of the Year: Nelson Townsend (30 y/o OF, St. John’s)
Pitcher of the Year: Jim Creighton (30 y/o P/1B, Excelsior)
Most Valuable Player: James Burke (30 y/o CF, Shamrock)
Greenhorn of the Year: Albert Stoffers (28 y/o 1B, Mass. Bay)

APBEL TEAM OF THE YEAR FAVORITES

P: Jim Creighton (EXC), C: Everett Schreiber (ORA), 1B: William Busby (AME), 2B: Babe Johnson (GOT), 3B: Samuel Kessler (ALL), SS: Edward Huntley (KNI), OF: Konrad Jensen (StJ), CF: James Burke (SHA), OF: Nelson Townsend (StJ)

TOP TEN APBL PROSPECTS

#1: Howard Burns (21 y/o P, StJ), #2: Jack Doherty (23 y/o P, KC), #3: Ernest Dugas (23 y/o CF, FC), #4: Leonard Noble (23 y/o OF, KNI), #5: William Theriault (24 y/o 1B, GOT), #6: Brett Landreth (21 y/o P, KNI), #7: Harold Long (21 y/o P, EXC), #8: Arthur Bliss (22 y/o SS, NIA), #9: Robert Golden (22 y/o OF, ALL), #10: Jonathan Weeks (23 y/o P, SHA)

NATIONAL BASE BALL ORGANIZATION PROJECTED FINISH

Brooklyn Championship
• Favorites: Atlantic (47-23, +135 RD)
• Continental 8 GB, Eckford 10 GB, Marathon 12 GB

New York City Championship
• Favorites: Metropolitan (44-26, +105 RD)
• Harlem 3 GB, Union 5 GB, Mutual 10 GB

Upstate New York Championship
• Favorites: Syracuse (42-28, +100 RD)
• Columbia 3 GB, Minuteman 3 GB, Utica 7 GB

Coastal Championship
• Favorites: Quaker State (56-14, +315 RD)
• Trenton Utd. 13 GB, Newark 16 GB, Port Jersey 21 GB

Inland Championship
• Favorites: Sportsman’s (41-29, +55 RD)
• Susquehanna 1 GB, Scranton 4 GB, Lancastra 6 GB

New England Championship
• Favorites: Portland (44-26, +105 RD)
• S.o.t.O. 1 GB, Oceanic 7 GB, Granite 8 GB

Tucker-Wheaton Cup favorites: Quaker State BC

If Quaker St. makes good on the Writers Pool’s predictions they’ll end up with 55+ wins while scoring nearly 10.5 runs per game, which would easily set a new record. The only hope to stop them in the end may be last year’s surprise cup entrants Atlantic, who return the most talented squad in the New York League.

NBBO AWARD FAVORITES

• NYL Batsman of the Year: Walter Dudley (30 y/o 1B, Atlantic)
• NEL Batsman of the Year: Cormack Alexander (31 y/o 1B, Quaker St.)
• NYL Pitcher of the Year: Earl Quinn (30 y/o, Continental)
• NEL Pitcher of the Year: Ross Gill (30 y/o, Quaker St.)
• NYL Most Valuable Player: Troy Oberst (24 y/o OF, Metropolitan)
• NEL Most Valuable Player: William Dickerson (24 y/o 3B, Quaker St.)
• NYL Greenhorn of the Year: Oscar Dickey (26 y/o C, Mutual)
• NEL Greenhorn of the Year: William Lathan (25 y/o P, Newark)

NBBO TEAM OF THE YEAR FAVORITES

NEW YORK LEAGUE – P: Earl Quinn (CON), C: Raynard Steinbach (BING), 1B: Walter Dudley (ATL), 2B: Arthur Fisher (NC), 3B: Isaac Kelly (ECK), SS: Henry Nabors (VIC), OF: Troy Oberst (MET), CF: Manuel Romeiras (HAR), OF: William Valentine (NYAC)

NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE – P: Ross Gill (QS), C: Harvey O’Donnell (CAN), 1B: Cormack Alexander (QS), 2B: Adam Allen (QUI), 3B: William Dickerson (QS), SS: Jonathan Richards (OCE), OF: Ralph Fowler (NEW), CF: Herb Verrett (MLD), OF: James Heilman (PORT)