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CHARLES WHITEHEAD IS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
ORANGE’S HERALDED GREENHORN 2B HAD FIRST HOT WEEK OF HIS CAREER

MANHATTAN (July 8, 1872) – Orange 2B Charles Whitehead was regarded as the most talented potential Greenhorn available to teams in the APBL & NBBO during the winter of 1871-72, due to a combination of fine bat skills and slick fielding ability.

Over the first two months of Whitehead’s APBL career he had shown himself to be a league-average batsman, hitting around .300 for Orange with an OPS in the .680 range. Over the past week Whitehead’s batsmanship finally broke through, and as a result he’s been named the APBL Player of the Week:

• July 2 (KNI 3-4 ORA): 0/5, 1 K
• July 3 (KNI 4-2 ORA): 3/4 (all 1B), 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 DEF DP
• July 4 (KNI 10-4 ORA): 3/4 (all 1B), 1 R, 1 RBI, CS
• July 5 (ORA 5-6 KC): 3/5, 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI
• July 6 (ORA 10-2 KC): 3/5, 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI, CS
• July 7 (ORA 15-5 KC): 4/5, 2B, 1 R, 3 RBI, HBP
• TOTAL: .571 (16/28), 1.300 OPS, 5 R, 4 2B, 7 RBI, 20 TB, 1.00 WPA, 0.6 WAR

After going hitless during a one-run win against Knickerbocker on Tuesday, Whitehead finished the week with five consecutive three-hit games, batting 16/23 (.696) over the five-game span. That outburst raised Whitehead’s average from .294 (.664 OPS) to .332 (.752 OPS), and it showed the rest of the league what he’s truly capable of.

Whitehead’s team, Orange, remains stuck just below .500 and is now ten games behind Metropolitan leaders Gotham. As of right now it looks like a return trip to the Founders’ Cup is highly unlikely.