The Toledo Mud Hens are the 1971 International League Champions. The Mud Hens defeated the St. Paul Saints in 6 games to win their 3rd title in the teams 26 year history.
Tris Speaker was named the leagues MVP once again in a race that wasn't even close. Speaker hit .397 on the season and post a 14+ WAR, which was pretty much double that of any other offensive player in the league. Speaker is going to need a bigger house soon to store all his MVP trophies.
Juan Munoz took home Cy Young Honors. Now the question in regards to Munoz is, how close can he get to 300 wins during the 1972 season. He's currently sitting at 275.
Following a season in which he missed time due to injury, Hilton Smith starts the 72 season with roughly 170 wins.
Mark McGwire is finally starting for Corpus Christi in 1972. Guessing he will be a contender for Rookie of the Year honors before it's all said and done. It's kind of interesting that as McGwire begins his career with the Corpus Christi Hooks, his real life home run rival, Sammy Sosa is closing his out on the very same roster. Sosa is no longer a starter though, so the end is surely near.
Greg Maddux's first full season in the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers rotation was somewhat of a roller coaster ride. He did show lots of promise though, so it will be interesting to see how much he improves in 1972.
Rick Reuschel is back at 40 years old after missing the majority of 1971 due to injury. Reuschel did come back late in September last year and ended up getting a post season start for Peoria. Hoping he can get the wins he needs to reach 250 career wins.
Really starting to get ticked at the Hall of Fame voters. Another year passes and Al Oliver fails to get the need votes for induction. Not sure what Oliver did or which voters he ticked off, but I will be one ticked off commissioner if he doesn't make it. The leagues first player to reach 3000 hits should be sure thing for the Hall.
Rumblings in Iowa. Cedar Rapids continues their quest to never pick lower than third in the amateur draft. The Kernels have been dreadful since entering the league in 1964(I'm pretty sure it was 64
) Now, the owners of the team are talking like they may want to move the team to Davenport Iowa. Springfield Missouri has also been mentioned as a landing spot. I of course, as commissioner get final say, so at this time, they better just field a team and win some games. Who knows, maybe I push them to sell the team to the ownership group in Omaha that continue to beg for a franchise.