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THE 1876 AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE PREVIEW

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (May 2, 1876) – It’s time to begin the sixth season of the A.P.B.L., with professional baseball action taking place across the Northeast this afternoon. American begins the season looking for their fourth Founders’ Cup triumph in five years, while Alleghany will once again try to win the Colonial Conference and clear the final hurdle for the first time. Ten other teams will also try to break American’s grip on the cup, with Excelsior the likeliest to succeed as they try to build on last season’s superb finish.

A summary of the offseason for each team:

ALLEGHANY – The entire group of batsmen is back, but they suffered a big loss when 7x All-Star Elmer Seabold departed for Excelsior. They think that one of two Greenhorn pitchers – William Haney or James Lockhart – can do an admirable job of filling the void, and if either does than the team should be almost as good as it was last year.

AMERICAN – Because the bats of the champions apparently weren’t strong enough, they brought back 7/8 regular batsmen and upgraded LF by signing indy ball player George Kassabian, a slightly worse defender but a much better hitter than Sidney Crowder. American will again be the favorites to take home the Founders’ Cup.

EXCELSIOR – An interesting winter. After coming up a game short in their charge to catch American last year, they decided to upgrade their pitching instead of their offense, letting Nicholas Banfield leave for Kings Co. while signing Elmer Seabold. The problem: they let star 2B Clyde Hudspeth leave, and his replacement, Bert Wagner, is a downgrade. Excelsior may come up just short once again.

FLOUR CITY – After finishing 2nd for the fourth time in five years, the team replaced disappointing RF Alfred Suber with Bill Lewis from Excelsior – a marginal upgrade – without making any other changes to the lineup. Greenhorn John Riley may take Daniel Gibson’s place in the pitching rotation but that would be an even move. The Writers Pool doesn’t like Flour City’s chances this year.

GOTHAM – The team will have its third CF in three years, this one being ex-Excelsior CF Alfred Calvert, an upgrade over Gerbrand Boonstra. The rest of their batsmen have returned, but the team lost Peadar Daly after one season and has replaced him from within with James Smith (2.5*) at a downgrade. They are expected to lose 4-5 more games than last year.

KINGS COUNTY – One should see another improvement of 5-7 wins from them. They took Nicholas Banfield from Excelsior to be their new #1 after his breakthrough season, purchased excellent 3B Alfred Williams from the N.B.B.O., and made the promising George Miller their new RF. A contender? No, but it looks like this team finally has a fair amount of talent at the top of its roster.

KNICKERBOCKER – After the worst season in team history, they instantly reversed their infield defensive woes by signing Anthony Mascherino. They’ve also made Arthur Groff their new 3B, a defensive upgrade over the aging Werner Verstegen. Add in 5* relief specialist Robert Goodman and this team should be much better than it was last year. A .500 or better season seems likely.

MASSACHUSETTS BAY – Another year and another raid of crosstown rivals Shamrock, with the team signing Arthur Fisher to be their new 2B and 6x All-Star Tom Ricks to be their new #2 Pitcher. They signed .400 hitter Gerhardt Berg from the NBBO, and will move Albert Stoffers to 3B so Berg can play 1B. Excellent young hitter Harold Durand has also been transferred in from the NBBO.

NIAGARA – They should be notably better. They have replaced the ageing & now retired Ernest Lewis with Clyde Hudspeth, the best defensive 2B in the league last year. The improved middle infield defense should do wonders for P’s Tomoharu Mukai & Jack Smith. They’ve also added a good-looking bat in indy ball Greenhorn Sweeney Martin, and Charles Barrett looked great in preseason training.

ORANGE – This will be a tough season. They lost Anthony Mascherino and replaced him at SS from within with John Harmon, a downgrade from 5.0* to 2.5*. They also lost 9x All-Star Taliesin Buckley and have replaced him with a Greenhorn, George Hopp. One silver lining: former Shamrock Earl Crosby should be a nice upgrade at LF.

SHAMROCK – Both Tom Ricks & John Henry have been replaced, with highly-rated Greenhorns Rudolph Aldridge & Donal Hagan the new pitching duo. They responded to Earl Crosby’s departure by signing Mario Fusilli and moving Frank Bulger to LF, while Rhys Falconer was promoted to SS after Arthur Fisher joined Niagara. The loss of Fisher will hurt, and Shamrock will be worse off

ST. JOHN’S – The team has perhaps fixed the infield issues from last year. They signed the #1 indy ball batsman available: 2B Cletus Cannon. That will let them move Gerald Hathaway to SS, where he will compete with veteran ex-K.C. player Harold Price. The main issue: Mario Fusilli was replaced with 40 y/o Hawk Peterson at 1B. Still, the Writers Pool thinks they’re the Colonial favorites.

NATIONAL BASE BALL ORGANIZATION PROJECTED FINISH

COLONIAL CONFERENCE

• Favorites: St. John's at 52-38 (+110 RD)
• Alleghany 2 GB
• Mass. Bay 7 GB
• Niagara 9 GB
• Shamrock 11 GB
• Flour City 12 GB

METROPOLITAN CONFERENCE

• Favorites: American at 54-36 (+80 RD)
• Excelsior 1 GB
• Knickerbocker 9 GB
• Gotham 10 GB
• Kings Co. & Orange 16 GB

APBL AWARD FAVORITES

Batsman of the Year: James Burke (CF, American) – projected .366/.410/.466, 1 HR, 95 RBI, 81 SB
Pitcher of the Year: Jim Creighton (P, Excelsior) – projected 24-17, 2.82 ERA, 170 K over 380.0 IP
Most Valuable Player: John Meier (LF, Alleghany) – projected .344/.364/.451, 2 HR, 89 RBI, 48 SB
Greenhorn of the Year: Harold Durand (LF, Mass. Bay) – projected .314/.343/.398, 1 HR, 80 RBI, 9 SB

APBL TEAM OF THE YEAR FAVORITES

P: Jim Creighton (EXC), C: Everett Schreiber (ORA), 1B: Cormack Alexander (KNI), 2B: Anthony Mascherino (KNI), 3B: Alfred Stoffers (MB), SS: Gerald Strong (ALL), LF: Konrad Jensen (StJ), CF: James Burke (AME), RF: Franklin Petty (AME)

KEY SIGNINGS & PLAYER CHANGES

P: Rudolph Aldridge (24 y/o Greenhorn; 4.0/4.0*) to Shamrock on Nov. 1
P: Nicholas Banfield (20-18, 3.49 ERA, 22 K, 3.1 WAR) from Excelsior to Kings Co. on Dec. 23
P: Peadar Daly (22-20, 3.93 ERA, 21 K, 4.4 WAR) from Gotham to Excelsior on Nov. 10
P: Peter Dittmer (21 y/o Greenhorn; 2.0/4.0*) from Maryland (NBBO) to Mass. Bay for $2,000 on Feb. 18
P: Robert Goodman (22 y/o Greenhorn; 5.0/5.0* as RP only) to Knick on Oct. 31
P: Donal Hagan (31 y/o Greenhorn; 3.5/3.5*) to Shamrock on Jan. 23
P: William Haney (25 y/o Greenhorn; 2.5/3.0*) from Keystone (PCBL) to Alleghany for $1,500 on Dec. 19
P: Walter Hoffman (26 y/o Greenhorn; 3.0/3.0*) to St. John’s on Nov. 19
P: James Lockhart (29 y/o Greenhorn; 3.0/3.0*) to Alleghany on Nov. 24
P: Tom Ricks (20-22, 2.80 ERA, 17 K, 4.0 WAR) from Shamrock to Mass. Bay on Dec. 27
P: John Riley (27 y/o Greenhorn; 2.5/2.5*) to Flour City on Dec. 6
P: Elmer Seabold (25-16, 3.23 ERA, 86 K, 5.7 WAR) from Alleghany to Excelsior on Nov. 9

1B: Gerhardt Berg (33 y/o; 3.5*) from Quaker St. (NBBO) to Mass. Bay on Nov. 9
1B: Sweeney Martin (29 y/o Greenhorn; 3.0/3.0*) to Niagara on Dec. 2
1B: Hawk Peterson (40 y/o; 2.5*) from Mass. Bay to St. John’s on Dec. 28
2B: Cletus Cannon (26 y/o Greenhorn; 3.5/3.5*) to St. John’s on Nov. 18
2B: Arthur Fisher (.300, 65 RBI, 24 SB, 2.1 WAR) from Shamrock to Mass. Bay on Dec. 19
2B: Clyde Hudspeth (.304, 53 RBI, +21.7 ZR, 3.7 WAR) from Knick to Niagara on Dec. 24
2B: Anthony Mascherino (.357, 60 RBI, +14.2 ZR, 4.5 WAR) from Orange to Knick on Jan. 2
3B: Alfred Williams (28 y/o Greenhorn; 3.5/3.5*) from Portland (NBBO) to Kings Co. for $2,000 on Dec. 16
SS: Harold Price (.265, 66 RBI, 15 SB, 1.0 WAR) from Kings Co. to St. John’s on Feb. 17

LF: Earl Crosby (.285, 47 RBI, 55 SB, 2.6 WAR) from Shamrock to Orange on Jan. 31
LF: Harold Durand (24 y/o Greenhorn; 3.5/3.5*) from Olympic (NBBO) to Mass. Bay for $2,000 on Dec. 8
LF: Mario Fusilli (.301, 91 RBI, 7 SB, 1.2 WAR) from St. John’s to Shamrock on Nov. 27
LF: George Kassabian (27 y/o Greenhorn; 3.0/3.5*) to American on Oct. 31
CF: George Hopp (22 y/o Greenhorn; 2.5/2.5*) to Orange on Dec. 9
CF: Christopher Morton (29 y/o Greenhorn; 3.0/3.0*) to Excelsior on Nov. 23
CF: Alfred Calvert (.308, 56 RBI, 22 SB, 1.6 WAR) from Excelsior to Gotham on Jan. 10
RF: Taliesin Buckley (.342, 72 RBI, 23 SB, 2.5 WAR) from Orange to Excelsior on Dec. 10
RF: Bill Lewis (.262, 64 RBI, 17 SB, 0.5 WAR) from Excelsior to Flour City on Dec. 1