The Big Bang: A Larger Baseball Universe Starting From Nothing in 1857

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1869 TUCKER WHEATON CUP STANDINGS

TEAM			W	L	 R	RA	 RD
ALLEGHANY		7	3	78	66	+12
KNICKERBOCKER*	        6	4	80	58	+22
ST. JOHN’S		6	4	84	68	+16
FLOUR CITY**	        5	5	60	64	 -4
SHAMROCK		5	5	70	80	 -5
KINGS COUNTY	        1	9	70     111	-41
*: KNI 1-1 v STJ, higher RD
**: F.C. 1-1 v SHA, higher RD

MVP: SS Edward Huntley (KNI) – .500 (23/46), 1.249 OPS, 7 2B, 2 3B, 12 R, 9 RBI, 2 BB/1 K, 6 SB/2 CS
2x PotG, 219 WRC+, 249 OPS+, 1.6 WPA, 0.8 WAR over 10 Games

Gameday Ten started with the possibility of a four-team tie and a multiple-game playoff to decide the NBBO champion, but Alleghany won in Boston, St. John’s fell in Manhattan, and the 8x Inland champions won the cup outright.

This was perhaps the strangest cup-winner of the Round Robin era. The team’s pitching & defense were fine – John Henry was 5-1 and came through in important situations – but some of their star players did not perform. Royal Altman’s .380 average & .921 OPS turned into .271 & .732 during the cup, while Samuel Kessler hit just .188 (9/48), a number nearly 180 points lower than his average during the season. To pick up the slack, Gerald Strong hit 60 points higher than he did during the season – .353 v .293 – and Collin Henderson hit at a level just below his .400+ average on the season. This was the first time a Round Robin cup winner saw their two most talented players’ performance fall far short of their established norms.

Knickerbocker looked like the most dominant team in the cup at times, but their failure to win it comes down to the fact that each of their last three losses was by a single run. To make matters worse, the losing runs allowed in those three games came in their opponents’ final time at bat. If their late-inning pitching & defense had been just slightly better Knickerbocker would have been 9-1, and they would have walked away as memorable cup champions.

Once again, St. John’s had the best offense in the competition. The surprise: 3B Leopold Pfeiffer had the team’s highest average (.400) & OPS (.892), while the team’s usual fleet of stars did their best work on the basepaths instead. The difference between St. John’s being in 3rd place at 6-4 and winning the cup at 8-2: late-inning defensive blunders, which directly led to losses at Shamrock on Gameday Three and Knickerbocker on Gameday Ten.

Flour City, the 2nd team in NBBO history to win 55+ games in a season, did not play at the same level during the cup. The reason: offense. F.C. scored 8.9 runs per game during the season, and that figure fell to a competition-low 6.0 during the cup. The team had five batsmen hit .340+ during the season, but just one – Obelix Tsiaris at .457 – did so during the TWC. The historically-great James Goodman was 5-2, but F.C.’s other pitchers could not make up for their sudden lack of scoring.

Shamrock was alone atop the competition at 5-2 after Gameday Seven, and then they fell apart. Three multiple-run losses over the final three games saw Shamrock plummet from first to fifth, as their offense sputtered and their NBBO-best pitching duo of The Two Toms – Ricks & Smith – saw their form go sideways. Still, James Burke – .455, 1.093 OPS, 16 R, 9 RBI, 12 SB, 0.9 WPA, 0.8 WAR – was fantastic and Anthony Mascherino finished with thirteen RBI.

The less said about Kings County, the better. They fought hard to win by a run against eventual champs Alleghany on Gameday Three, but other than that it was nine losses for K.C. and most of them were lopsided. Garfield Koonce (.391, 1.004 OPS) & Edward Johnson (.341, 8 RBI) hit very well, but there was no way their offense could overcome pitching & defense that allowed just over eleven runs per game during the competition.

There were plenty of shouts for the champions’ #1 pitcher, John Henry, to take home the MVP honors after he went 5-1 with a 3.12 ERA over the course of the competition. However, Henry walked more batters than he struck out (52.0 IP, 8 BB, 5 K), and his success was much due to excellent Alleghany defense as it was his pitching.

To put it simply, the work of Edward Huntley could not be ignored and thus the MVP had to go to a player on a runner-up once again. During his previous cup appearance in 1867 Huntley put up a slash line of .444/.490/.756, and improbably he did better than that here, totaling 1.6 WPA and 0.8 WAR over just two weeks’ worth of games.

With the 1869 TWC factored in, here is the career postseason stat line for Huntley:

• 63 G: .413/.451/.601, 1.052 OPS (203 OPS+), 83 R, 116 H, 27 2B, 13 3B, 0 HR, 70 RBI, 17 BB, 8 K, 37 SB, 5.3 WPA, 3.9 WAR
• PER 70: .413/.451/.601, 1.052 OPS, 92 R, 129 H, 30 2B, 14 3B, 0 HR, 78 RBI, 19 BB, 9 K, 41 SB, 5.9 WPA, 4.3 WAR
• PER 162: .413/.451/.601, 1.052 OPS, 213 R, 298 H, 69 2B, 33 3B, 0 HR, 180 RBI, 44 BB, 21 K, 95 SB, 13.6 WPA, 10.0 WAR

Huntley, now the 3x Tucker-Wheaton Cup MVP (1859, 67, 69) has managed to hit even better in late August than he has during the standard season, and that is as a player who has led the New York League in WAR eleven times over thirteen seasons. Huntley’s work in the Tucker-Wheaton Cup playoffs over his career has no peer among NBBO batsmen, active or retired.

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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.

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1869 NBBO STANDINGS





TUCKER-WHEATON CUP

Most Valuable Player: Edward Huntley (33 y/o SS, Knickerbocker)

GAMEDAY ONE: Competition begins with a 7-5 Alleghany win at Knickerbocker.
GAMEDAY TWO: Alleghany scores nine times over first three innings in a 10-2 win at Flour City.
GAMEDAY THREE: James Hoyt bats 2/2 with three sacrifices in Kings Co.’s 10-9 win.
GAMEDAY FOUR: St. John’s steals ten bases in a 10-8 win at Flour City.
GAMEDAY FIVE: Edward Huntley bats 5/5 with 2 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, & 2 SB in Knickerbocker’s 10-9 win.
GAMEDAY SIX: James Goodman bats 2/4 with 2 RBI while earning the Win in Flour City’s 7-6 victory.
GAMEDAY SEVEN: Thomas Smith pitches a shutout in Shamrock’s 5-0 win over Flour City.
GAMEDAY EIGHT: St. John’s responds to seven Knickerbocker runs in the 8th with a 9-8 walkoff win.
GAMEDAY NINE: The top four teams end the day still in contention to win the cup or force a playoff.
GAMEDAY TEN: Alleghany wins at Shamrock while Knickerbocker beats St. John’s; Alleghany wins the TWC.

ALLEGHANY: John Henry (P) 5-1, 3.12 ERA, 52.0 IP, 5 CG, 8 BB, 5 K, 1.29 WHIP, 0.8 WAR, 1.6 rWAR
KNICKERBOCKER: Edward Huntley .500 (23/46), 1.249 OPS, 12 R, 9 XBH, 9 RBI, 2 BB, 6 SB, 1.6 WPA, 0.8 WAR
ST. JOHN’S: Anderson MacGyver (2B) .357 (15/42), .833 OPS, 8 R, 2 XBH, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 6 RBI, 0.8 WPA, 0.5 WAR
FLOUR CITY: Obelix Tsiaris (CF) .457 (21/46), 1.035 OPS, 10 R, 4 XBH, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 6 SB, 1.1 WPA, 0.6 WAR
SHAMROCK: James Burke (OF) .455 (20/44), 1.093 OPS, 16 R, 5 XBH, 9 RBI, 3 BB, 12 SB, 0.9 WPA, 0.8 WAR
KINGS COUNTY: Edward Johnson (CF) .341 (15/44), .883 OPS, 7 R, 5 XBH, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 0 SB, 1.1 WPA, 0.4 WAR

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NEW YORK LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS

BATSMAN OF THE YEAR: Garfield Koonce – 24 y/o 1B, Kings County (1st BotY award)

• .386/.412/.561, .973 OPS, 93 R, 124 H, 40 2B, 5 3B, 2 HR, 84 RBI, 1 SB, 10 BB, 180 TB, 5.0 WPA, 3.4 WPA
• Led NYL in OPS, H, XBH, 2B, & RBI; 2nd in AVG & SLG, 3rd in OBP & Runs
• Edward Huntley (SS, KNI) 2nd – New York League Most Valuable Player
• Mario Fusilli (1B, SYR) 3rd – .385, .931 OPS, 78 R, 117 H, 29 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 60 RBI, 9 SB, 23 BB, 3.0 WPA, 3.1 WAR

The stars of the NYL aren’t as heavy-hitting as those in the NEL but Koonce was still the clear choice for BotY, as he topped the league in RBI and a number of major offensive categories while belting out an absurd forty doubles. NYL Batting Champion Lorenzo Bradford (.398) didn’t make the list because, as Flour City’s catcher, he only played in 56/70 games.

PITCHER OF THE YEAR: James Goodman – 30 y/o, Flour City (1st PotY award)

• 30-6, 2.00 ERA, 342.2 IP, 31 CG, 2 SHO, 26 BB, 132 K, 1.05 WHIP, 3.5 K/9, 5.1 K/BB, 10.7 WAR, 14.4 rWAR
• Tied the NBBO Wins record; set new records for ERA & rWAR; led NYL in five other major categories
• Jim Creighton (EXC) 2nd – 23-16, 2.95 ERA, 335.2 IP, 25 CG, 1 SHO, 136 K, 1.29 WHIP, 3.6 K/9, 9.1 WAR, 4.5 rWAR
• Peadar Daly (KNI) 3rd – 28-10, 3.57 ERA, 350.1 IP, 29 CG, 0 SHO, 51 K, 1.27 WHIP, 1.6 K/BB, 6.4 WAR, 7.5 rWAR

The presumption when it was announced there would be Pitcher of the Year awards handed out for the first time this year was that Creighton would breeze to the inaugural NYL PotY. Instead, he was outdone by a season for the ages from James Goodman, who not only set or tied a number of NBBO records but also matched Creighton strikeout for strikeout.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Edward Huntley – 33 y/o SS, Knickerbocker (4th MVP award)

• .352/.406/.497, .903 OPS, 90 R, 107 H, 23 2B, 9 3B, 1 HR, 73 RBI, 32 SB, 30 BB, 151 TB, +17.5 ZR, 4.0 WPA, 4.5 WAR
• Led NYL in Batter WAR for 11th time; Hit .500 (23/46) in cup play with 1.249 OPS, 12 R, 9 RBI
• James Goodman (P, F.C.) 2nd – New York League Pitcher of the Year
• Garfield Koonce (1B, K.C.) 3rd – New York League Batsman of the Year

Huntley was yet again the best non-pitcher in the NYL in terms of combined batting & fielding value, and he was absolutely absurd in the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. Many argued for Goodman but it was felt that, after three straight years of MVP going to Creighton, the award should go back to Huntley, who led the NYL in Batter WAR for the 5th straight season.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Ralph Knight – 23 y/o 2B, Flour City

• .345/.353/.449, .802 OPS, 64 R, 102 H, 16 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 70 RBI, 9 SB, 2 BB, +10.1 ZR, 3.2 WPA, 2.2 WAR
• Made All-Star Game in 1st NBBO season; Was regular 2B for NBBO’s best team
• Joseph Hines (C, NIA) 2nd – .337, .774 OPS, 53 R, 93 H, 10 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 73 RBI, 0 SB, 10 BB, 3.5 WPA, 1.5 WAR
• Edward Johnson (CF, K.C.) 3rd – .339, .811 OPS, 70 R, 107 H, 25 2B, 6 3B, 0 HR, 66 RBI, 4 SB, 4 BB, 2.2 WPA, 1.9 WAR

Knight beat out fellow All-Star Hines for NotY because of superior offense and the fact that he was a regular for the NBBO #1. He cooled off a bit over the 2nd half, but Knight was still a large factor in the success of a Flour City team that went 55-15. Johnson had a fine debut season and a quality TWC, but was dinged for his CF defense and lack of ASG appearance.

GOLDEN GLOVES

P: Grover Wright (CON, 2nd) – 15 PO, 30 AST, 1 DP, 5 E, 1.74 RNG, +5.4 ZR, 1.096 EFF
C: Roel Woudenberg (CON, 3rd) – 44.7 RTO%, 3.25 C-ERA, +6.4 ZR, 1.021 EFF
1B: Hawk Peterson (ORA, 3rd) – 751 PO, 72 AST, 29 DP, 22 E, 11.99 RNG, +8.3 ZR, 1.076 EFF
2B: Leslie Arnett (GOT, 4th) – 196 PO, 223 AST, 23 DP, 31 E, 6.24 RNG, +12.8 ZR, 1.108 EFF
3B: Roscoe Brown (MIN, 2nd) – 59 PO, 189 AST, 2 DP, 35 E, 3.87, +10.4 ZR, 1.105 EFF
SS: Marcel Bresciani (ATL, 1st) – 143 PO, 235 AST, 10 DP, 67 E, 5.40, +18.5 ZR, 1.140 EFF
OF: Larry Milton (MUT, 1st) – 146 PO, 3 AST, 38 E, 2.22 RNG, +5.4 ZR, 1.080 EFF, +0.2 ARM
CF: Seth Guzik (MIN, 1st) – 266 PO, 8 AST, 49 E, 4.03 RNG, +10.1 ZR, 1.055 EFF, +1.6 ARM
OF: Uwe Schneider (MUT, 1st) – 186 PO, 8 AST, 30 E, 2.85 RNG, +9.6 ZR, 1.117 EFF, +1.6 ARM

TEAM OF THE YEAR

P: James Goodman (F.C., 1st) - 30-6, 2.00 ERA, 342.2 IP, 31 CG, 2 SHO, 26 BB, 132 K, 1.05 WHIP, 3.5 K/9, 5.1 K/BB, 10.7 WAR, 14.4 rWAR
C: Everett Schreiber (ORA, 2nd) - .367 AVG, .872 OPS, 60 R, 108 H, 20 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 67 RBI, 0 SB, 22 BB, 136 TB, 4.0 WPA, 3.6 WAR
1B: Garfield Koonce (K.C., 1st) - .386 AVG, .973 OPS, 93 R, 124 H, 40 2B, 5 3B, 2 HR, 84 RBI, 1 B, 10 BB, 180 TB, 5.0 WPA, 3.4 WAR
2B: Leslie Arnett (GOT, 5th) - .334 AVG, .776 OPS, 65 R, 99 H, 12 2B, 5 3B, 0 HR, 60 RBI, 19 SB, 17 BB, +12.8 ZR, 3.2 WPA, 2.6 WAR
3B: Isaac Kelly (ECK, 1st) - .378 AVG, .884 OPS, 49 R, 119 H, 22 2B, 6 3B, 0 HR, 70 RBI, 2 SB, 9 BB, 153 TB, 5.8 WPA, 2.9 WAR
SS: Edward Huntley (KNI, 9th) - .352 AVG, .903 OPS, 90 R, 107 H, 23 2B, 9 3B, 1 HR, 73 RBI, 32 SB, 30 BB, +17.5 ZR, 4.0 WPA, 4.5 WAR
OF: Carlton McShane (K.C., 1st) - .350 AVG, .924 OPS, 70 R, 109 H, 26 2B, 12 3B, 3 HR, 78 RBI, 2 B, 12 BB, 168 TB, 3.7 WPA, 2.7 WAR
CF: Obelix Tsiaris (F.C., 2nd) - .362 AVG, .861 OPS, 100 R, 117 H, 23 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 69 RBI, 31 SB, 13 BB, 152 TB, 3.7 WPA, 3.1 WAR
OF: Reginald Roper (F.C., 1st) - .381 AVG, .563 SLG, .969 OPS, 93 R, 123 H, 24 2B, 16 3B, 1 HR, 40 RBI, 10 SB, 182 TB, 2.6 WPA, 3.2 WAR

NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS

BATSMAN OF THE YEAR: Franklin Petty – 26 y/o CF, Lake Erie (1st BotY Award)

• .394/.428/.591, 1.019 OPS, 80 R, 126 H, 29 2B, 14 3B, 2 HR, 83 RBI, 22 SB, 19 BB, 189 TB, 4.4 WPA, 3.7 WAR
• Led NEL in SLG, OPS, XBH, 3B, & TB; Top-five in AVG, Hits, 2B, RBI, & WAR
• William Busby (1B, AME) 2nd – .382, 1.010 OPS, 67 R, 110 H, 17 2B, 3 3B, 10 HR, 82 RBI, 1 SB, 34 BB, 2.5 WPA, 3.6 WAR
• Collin Henderson (1B, ALL) 3rd – Northeastern League Most Valuable Player

Petty went from MVP to BotY after his second straight season of A) batting over .390, B) an OPS over 1.000, and C) leading the NBBO in Total Bases. Busby’s incredible power exploits put him in second place over Henderson, as the voters felt the NBBO Batting Champion was a better fit as the NEL MVP.

PITCHER OF THE YEAR: John Henry – 31 y/o, Alleghany (1st PotY award)

• 30-10, 3.35 ERA, 333.2 IP, 27 CG, 1 SHO, 29 BB, 44 K, 1.32 WHIP, 1.2 K/9, 1.5 K/BB, 5.4 WAR, 6.2 rWAR
• Became 3rd P with 30 Wins in a season; 24-4, 2.99 ERA after June 1st; 5-1 in Tucker-Wheaton Cup
• Tom Ricks (SHA) 2nd – 26-13, 2.48 ERA, 337.1 IP, 27 CG, 2 SHO, 32 K, 1.11 WHIP, 1.0 K/BB, 5.5 WAR, 10.6 rWAR
• Ross Gill (Q.S.) 3rd – Northeastern League Newcomer of the Year

Ricks was excellent, but it was obvious that the award was Henry’s as soon as he became the third pitcher with 30 Wins in a season the day after Goodman reached the feat. Henry also pitched very well in the cup, while Ricks was 1-3 with an ERA well over 5.00. Gill had a tremendous debut season for Quaker St., living up to all reports made about his talent.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Collin Henderson – 36 y/o 1B, Alleghany (1st MVP award)

• .407/.437/.533, .969 OPS, 93 R, 143 H, 25 2B, 5 3B, 3 HR, 66 RBI, 7 SB, 16 BB, 187 TB, 4.4 WPA, 3.6 WAR
• Had career highs in AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, R, H, & WAR at age 36; Broke NBBO record for Hits in a season
• Konrad Jensen (OF, STJ) 2nd – .405, 1.001 OPS, 98 R, 120 H, 17 2B, 8 3B, 1 HR, 75 RBI, 59 SB, 43 BB, 5.0 WPA, 4.0 WAR
• James Burke (OF, SHA) 3rd – .360, .909 OPS, 86 R, 111 H, 23 2B, 12 3B, 0 HR, 55 RBI, 51 SB, 19 BB, 2.4 WPA, 3.1 WAR

Henderson, a #4 hitter previously, took on a new role as the #2 batsman for his 1st year with Alleghany and flourished, having what was easily the best season of his career. Jensen did the usual Jensen things, but didn’t quite perform at the level he did in ’68. Burke, as in his first two seasons with Shamrock, was a tremendous corner outfielder.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Ross Gill – 28 y/o P, Quaker State

• 24-12, 3.55 ERA, 327.1 IP, 20 CG, 0 SHO, 14 BB, 25 K, 1.35 WHIP, 0.4 BB/9, 1.8 K/BB, 6.8 WAR, 5.2 rWAR
• Made All-Star Game & led NEL in Pitching WAR in debut season in NBBO; 12-3 after July 1st
• Adam Allen (QUI) 2nd – .352, .853 OPS, 59 R, 105 H, 16 2B, 12 3B, 0 HR, 53 RBI, 13 SB, 5 BB, 3.2 WPA, 2.6 WAR
• Washington Kihlstedt (SPO) 3rd – 24-14, 3.62 ERA, 340.1 IP, 27 CG, 1 SHO, 47 K, 1.33 WHIP, 1.2 K/BB, 6.0 WAR, 9.2 rWAR

Kihlstedt looked like a shoo-in for NotY at the end of June, but 6-9 mark with an ERA well over 4.00 over the final five weeks handed the award to Gill, who was dominant over the same span. The control Gill showed over his pitching arsenal was second to none, hence his late-season surge. Allen had a great debut season and made the NEL Team of the Year as a result.

GOLDEN GLOVES

P: Washington Kihlstedt (SPO, 1st) – 21 PO, 45 AST, 3 DP, 13 E, 1.75 RNG, +8.4 ZR, 1.115 EFF
C: Otto Hoffman (SPO, 1st) – 43.4 RTO%, 3.38 C-ERA, +11.4 ZR, 1.021 EFF
1B: Joe Blake (PIO, 1st) – 687 PO, 48 AST, 22 DP, 15 E, 12.18 RNG, +5.6 ZR, 1.094 EFF
2B: William Gillette (SHA, 4th) – 203 PO, 251 AST, 27 DP, 31 E, 6.84 RNG, +18.1 ZR, 1.156 EFF
3B: Samuel Kessler (ALL, 2nd) – 69 PO, 149 AST, 4 DP, 36 E, 3.15 RNG, +6.6 ZR, 1.073 EFF
SS: Gerald Strong (ALL, 1st) – 144 PO, 239 AST, 18 DP, 67 E, 5.92 RNG, +23.8 ZR, 1.185 EFF
OF: Ralph Fowler (NEW, 1st) – 152 PO, 3 AST, 16 E, 2.33 RNG, +4.4 ZR, 1.081 EFF, +2.6 ARM
CF: Willie Davis (AME, 4th) – 267 PO, 2 AST, 72 E, 3.95 RNG, +13.3 ZR, 1.084 EFF, +2.9 ARM
OF: Carthage Ryan (CAN, 1st) – 240 PO, 2 AST, 44 E, 2.99 RNG, +9.8 ZR, 1.081 EFF, +0.8 ARM

TEAM OF THE YEAR

P: John Henry (ALL, 1st) - 30-10, 3.35 ERA, 333.2 IP, 27 CG, 1 SHO, 29 BB, 44 K, 1.32 WHIP, 1.2 K/9, 1.5 K/BB, 5.4 WAR, 6.2 rWAR
C: Falco v.d. Vaart (M.B., 1st) - .348 AVG, .771 OPS, 51 R, 101 H, 12 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 71 RBI, 1 SB, 3 BB, 120 TB, 2.3 WPA, 1.9 WAR
1B: William Busby (AME, 3rd) - .382 AVG, 1.010 OPS, 67 R, 110 H, 17 2B, 3 3B, 10 HR, 82 RBI, 1 SB, 34 BB, 163 TB, 2.5 WPA, 3.6 WAR
2B: Adam Allen (QUI, 1st) - .352 AVG, .853 OPS, 59 R, 105 H, 16 2B, 12 3B, 0 HR, 53 RBI, 13 SB, 5 BB, 145 TB, 3.2 WPA, 2.6 WAR
3B: Samuel Kessler (ALL, 10th) - .365 AVG, .948 OPS, 85 R, 112 H, 31 2B, 7 3B, 0 HR, 84 RBI, 23 SB, 39 BB, 157 TB, 4.82 WPA, 4.2 WAR
SS: Anthony Mascherino (SHA, 10th) - .328 AVG, .792 OPS, 71 R, 99 H, 23 2B, 3 B, 2 HR, 78 RBI, 27 SB, 10 BB, +13.6 ZR, 3.1 WPA, 3.1 WAR
OF: Konrad Jensen (STJ, 9th) - .405 AVG, .474 OBP, 1.001 OPS, 98 R, 120 H, 17 2B, 8 3B, 1 HR, 75 RBI, 59 SB, 43 BB, 5.0 WPA, 4.0 WAR
CF: Franklin Petty (L.E., 2nd) - .394 AVG, .591 SLG, 1.019 OPS, 80 R, 126 H, 29 2B, 14 3B, 2 HR, 83 RBI, 19 SB, 189 TB, 4.4 WPA, 3.7 WAR
OF: Nelson Townsend (STJ, 5th) - .353 AVG, .936 OPS, 99 R, 113 H, 25 2B, 10 3B, 3 HR, 65 RBI, 47 SB, 34 BB, 167 TB, 4.9 WPA, 3.5 WAR

[tm1681]

MISCELLANEOUS

NEW YORK LEAGUE LEADERS

• Average: .398 by Lorenzo Bradford (F.C.)
• On-Base: .431 by Lorenzo Bradford (F.C.)
• Slugging: .563 by Reginald Roper (F.C.)
• OPS: .973 by Garfield Koonce (K.C.)
• Hits: 124 by Garfield Koonce (K.C.)
• Extra-Base Hits: 47 by Garfield Koonce (K.C.)
• Doubles: 40 by Garfield Koonce (K.C.)
• Triples: 16 by Reginald Roper (K.C.)
• Home Runs: 3 by four different players
• Runs Batted In: 84 by Garfield Koonce (K.C.)
• Runs: 100 by Obelix Tsiaris (F.C.)
• Stolen Bases: 62 by Taliesin Buckley (NIA)
• Total Bases: 182 by Reginald Roper (F.C.)
• Bases on Balls: 47 by Theodore Kohlberg (K.C.)
• Win Prob. Added: 5.8 by Isaac Kelly (ECK)
• Batter WAR: 4.5 by Edward Huntley (KNI)

• Wins: 30 by James Goodman (F.C.)
• Losses: 33 by Ralph Canfield (EAG)
• ERA: 2.00 by James Goodman (F.C.) over 342.2 IP
• Innings: 350.1 by Peadar Daly (KNI)
• Complete Games: 31 by James Goodman (F.C.)
• Shutouts: 2 by four different pitchers
• Walk Rate: 0.5 BB/9 by William Johannessen (VIC) over 337.0 IP
• Strikeouts: 136 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Strikeout Rate: 3.6 K/9 by Jim Creighton (EXC) over 335.2 IP
• K/BB Ratio: 5.1/1 by James Goodman (F.C.)
• WHIP: 1.05 by James Goodman (F.C.) over 342.2 IP
• Pitching WAR: 10.7 by James Goodman (F.C.)
• Pitching rWAR: 14.4 by James Goodman (F.C.)

NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE LEADERS

• Average: .407 by Collin Henderson (ALL)
• On-Base: .474 by Konrad Jensen (STJ)
• Slugging: .591 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• OPS: 1.019 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• Hits: 143 by Collin Henderson (ALL)
• Extra-Base Hits: 45 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• Doubles: 31 by Samuel Kessler (ALL)
• Triples: 14 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• Home Runs: 10 by William Busby (AME)
• Runs Batted In: 89 by Tarmo Kuopio (STJ)
• Runs: 115 by William Johnson (STJ)
• Stolen Bases: 59 by Konrad Jensen (STJ)
• Total Bases: 189 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• Bases on Balls: 60 by William Johnson (STJ)
• Win Prob. Added: 5.1 by Royal Altman (ALL)
• Batter WAR: 4.6 by Willie Davis (AME)

• Wins: 30 by John Henry (ALL)
• Losses: 26 by Artemis O’Grady (NEW)
• ERA: 2.46 by Thomas Smith (SHA) over 248.1 IP
• Innings: 348.2 by Fred Richards (S.o.t.O.)
• Complete Games: 27 by four different pitchers
• Shutouts: 2 by three different pitchers
• Walk Rate: 0.4 BB/9 by Richard Gill (Q.S.) over 327.1 IP
• Strikeouts: 73 by Elmer Seabold (SUS)
• Strikeout Rate: 2.2 K/9 by Elmer Seabold (SUS) over 297.0 IP
• K/BB Ratio: 1.8/1 by Richard Gill (Q.S.)
• WHIP: 1.07 by Thomas Smith (SHA) over 248.1 IP
• Pitching WAR: 6.8 by Richard Gill (Q.S.)
• Pitching rWAR: 10.6 by Tom Ricks (SHA)

SEASON RECORDS

• St. John’s set a new record for Runs with 701 (10.0 R/G), becoming the first team to score 700+ runs in a season.
• William Johnson (STJ) set new records for Runs (115) & Bases on Balls (60).
• Collin Henderson (ALL) set a new record for Hits with 143.
• Garfield Koonce (K.C.) set a new record for Doubles with 40, becoming the first player to hit 40+ in a season.
• James Goodman (F.C.) & John Henry (ALL) tied the record for Wins with 30.
• Ralph Canfield (EAG) set new records for Losses (33), Games Started (45), & Hits Allowed (466).
• James Goodman (F.C.) set records for ERA (2.00) & Pitching rWAR (14.4).
• Martin Stillwell (BED) set a new record for Games Pitched with 55.

ACHIEVEMENTS & NOTABLE EVENTS

• May 5: George Brown (P.J.) & Fox Ellis (UTI) become the first players with five Hits in their NBBO debut.
• May 22: George Scott (M.M.) leads off five different innings with base hits at Sportsman’s.
• May 22: Henry Nabors’ (VIC) Hitting Streak ends at 40 games, two short of the record.
• June 1: William Busby (AME) finishes May with a record six Home Runs in one month.
• June 3: Green Mountain sets a new record with 18 runs in an inning (8th) at Quinnipiac.
• July 7: Franklin Petty’s (L.E.) Hitting Streak ends at 41 games, one short of the record.
• Aug. 7: James Goodman (F.C.) becomes the second pitcher with 30 Wins in a season.
• Aug. 8: John Henry (ALL) becomes the third pitcher with 30 Wins in a season.
• Aug. 14: St. John’s steals ten bases against Flour City on Gameday Four of the Tucker-Wheaton Cup.
• Aug. 22: Alleghany BC wins the Tucker-Wheaton Cup for the first time.

• Two players hit over .400: Collin Henderson (ALL) & Konrad Jensen (STJ), with Lorenzo Bradford (F.C.) batting .398.
• Four players recorded six-hit games in 1869.
• Only one player hit 5+ Home Runs, the fewest in a season since 1865.
• A record nine players finished the season with 75+ Runs Batted In.
• Two pitchers finished with 30 Wins, the first to do so since John Anderson (SCR) in 1857.
• Five pitchers finished the season with 25+ Wins.

[tm1681]

GROUP OF CLUBS: IT’S TIME TO PAY ALL PLAYERS
AUTUMN MEETINGS ROCKED BY LARGEST CLUBS SAYING TIME HAS COME FOR FULL PROFESSIONALISM

NEW YORK CITY (Nov. 11-14, 1869) – One year after the National Base Ball Organization decreed that clubs could finally start paying select players “above the table”, the Autumn Meetings began at the St. Nicholas Hotel under the assumption that club & league executives would spend the next four days discussing ways to improve the new payment system. Then, it happened…

After spending the opening day allowing discussion of the payment system to settle in, a group consisting of the five largest & most successful clubs in the sport shattered the relative calm with a demand: the time has come for clubs that can afford to do so to pay every player in their senior roster.

The clubs involved:

• Alleghany: 8x Inland champions (1857, 59, 61, 62, 65-67, 69), 1x TWC champions (1869)
• Kings County: 8x Brooklyn champions (1858-62, 64, 68, 69), 2x TWC champions (1860, 61)
• Knickerbocker: 5x New York City champions (1858, 65-67, 69), 2x TWC champions (1865, 67)
• Shamrock: 8x Coastal champions (1857, 59, 60, 62, 65-67, 69), 2x TWC champions (1862, 66)
• St. John’s: 12x New England champions (1857-64, 66-69), 4x TWC champions (1857, 58, 63, 64)

Apparently, K.C., Knickerbocker, Shamrock, & St. John’s felt emboldened after Alleghany finally joined the “Champions Club” with their recent triumph in the TWC, and they asked the Pittsburgh outfit to join them in going to the Autumn Meetings to demand a drastic change to the sport of base ball.

The five clubs making the demands all had the same things in common:

• They were the most successful clubs in the sport on the field.
• They had first-class facilities, both in terms of playing venues and practice venues.
• They had large stadiums ranging in capacity from 6,000+ (STJ) to over 17,000 (ALL).
• They were very profitable. Ex: Kings Co. made over $8,000 in profit on $15,000+ in revenue in 1869.

Depending on the views of who one was talking to, this five-sided group was referred to either as the “Pentagon” or the “Pentagram”, with the latter obviously used to conjure up the imagery associated with such a symbol.

Those who were not immediately rankled by the demands of the “Pentagon” were clubs that, themselves, were in good financial standing. Clubs like Atlantic, Continental, Flour City, Gotham, Mass. Bay, Niagara, Orange, & Quaker St. were ones that typically turned a healthy profit each reason regardless of standing in their regional championship. If needed, they could afford to pay their eighteen senior players a minimum-level salary, at the very least, while raising ticket prices slightly to accommodate the change.

It was the smaller clubs who saw the five as the “Pentagram”. A club like Eagle, whose venue only held just under 1,100 people in Elmira, New York broke even in 1869 even though they only paid two players via the new payment system, not the norm of five, and, even then, those men were given less than 100 extra dollars. Other clubs like Lake Erie, Reading, & Sons of the Ocean relied on rich patrons and their donations for financial success and the ability to recruit quality players. Asking those people to fund a professional squad was simply a non-starter, as the general public still saw base ball as a game to play and enjoy – not something that could be a man’s chosen profession.

The argument of the five clubs broke down like this:

• Selecting who is and is not allowed to be directly paid is unfair to quality players that might be overlooked.
• Clubs that bring in enough money should be allowed to pay as many players as much as they want.
• Clubs that choose to do so should be allowed to guarantee a minimum salary to every player on their senior roster.
• Clubs should be allowed to give senior players monetary bonuses based on their performance during the season.
• Profitable clubs should simply be allowed to spend their money how they see fit.

While those arguments seemed logical on paper, enacting them would quickly produce a two-tiered NBBO, one which would occasionally see big clubs stocked with full-time, catered-to professional players take on small clubs full of amateurs still getting by on housing allowances for meager spaces and meal per diems.

The demands made for an incredibly tense four days at the Autumn Meetings. Any further discussion on the professionalism issue was tabled in an attempt to keep the peace, but one would have to imagine that it would be brought back in force at the Spring “Rules & Regulations” meetings of the Executive Committee.

The sport was about to have a very interesting winter.

[tm1681]

ORANGE RECRUITS PETTY & MASCHERINO
1868 CHAMPS BRING IN TWO OF THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE SPORT IN A MATTER OF WEEKS

MANHATTAN (Dec. 15, 1869) – Orange BBC, who went 37-33 in 1867 before stunning the base ball world by going 49-21 and winning the Tucker-Wheaton Cup last year, fell back down to 37-33 in 1869. Their front office has decided to make sure 1870 doesn’t end with their third 37-33 mark in four seasons, and how!

On the face of it the winter of 1869-70 doesn’t seem like it has been a big one for Orange, as they have brought in only two batsmen on senior-level squad designations. However, those two batsmen are Franklin Petty & Anthony Mascherino.

Petty arrived first. The 1868 NEL Most Valuable Player & 1869 NEL Batsman of the Year joined on November 24th after seven spectacular seasons with Lake Erie. The 5x All-Star became a regular in their lineup at the age of 20, and within a year was one of the best outfielders in the Northeastern League. He continued improving until his 1868 season, in which he hit .394, set a new record with a .622 Slugging %, and set a record for outfielders with 5.4 WAR in just seventy games. Petty’s batsmanship was almost as good last season, but baserunning issues hurt his value relative to ’68.

Mascherino signed on yesterday, after Shamrock decided to retool their squad due to the disastrous end to their cup campaign. Mascherino needs little in the way of introduction, but as a reminder he’s the holder of the single season Batter WAR record – 5.8, set in 1861 – he is one of three players to have made every All-Star Game, and he has won nearly every Golden Glove offered to shortstops in the Northeastern League.

Petty’s career statistical output & achievements:

1868 NEL Most Valuable Player
1869 NEL Batsman of the Year
5x NEL All-Star (1864, 66-69)
3x NEL Team of the Year at CF (1866, 68, 69)
1x NEL Golden Glove at CF (1867)

Mascherino's career statistical output & achievements:

1866 Tucker-Wheaton Cup winner w/ Shamrock
1860 & 63 NEL Most Valuable Player
11x NEL All-Star (1859-69)
11x NEL Golden Glove at SS (1857-66, 68)
10x NEL Team of the Year at SS (1859-63, 65-69)
Youngest All-Star in NBBO history (20 y/o in 1859)
NBBO career leader in Batter WAR
NBBO career leader in Zone Rating

Adding Petty & Mascherino to a lineup featuring star catcher Everett Schreiber now means that Orange will go into the 1870 season with three of the top ten batsmen in the entire NBBO. In addition, they will have 1x All-Star Will Chaffin at third base, 3x All-Star & Golden Glove winner Hawk Petersen at first base, and 1868 All-Star Raynard Cordell as their #1 pitcher. Weak spots remain at second base and left field , but Orange still has nearly five months to fix those issues.

With the recruitment of two players, Orange BBC has made quite the statement of intent regarding the 1870 season. While the two other major clubs in New York City – Gotham & Knickerbocker – have made some impressive additions, nobody they have added compares to either player Orange has managed to snag within the past month.

Next year’s New York City Championship figures to quite the race.

[tm1681]

THE “PENTAGON”: THERE WILL BE PRO BALL IN ‘71
GROUP OF FIVE CLUBS WHO PUSHED PROFESSIONALISM LAST AUTUMN PROPOSE PRO LEAGUE

NEW YORK CITY (Mar. 14-18, 1870) – As always, the middle of March is filled with five days of meetings among the players, coaches, managers, & front office men who make up the NBBO’s Executive Committee – meetings in which the rules and regulations of the NBBO are discussed. Hence, they’re always called the “Spring Rules & Regulations Meetings”. However, the “Regulations” part of those meetings would be slammed straight onto the table from the start of day one by the same group of clubs that demanded the chance to turn the game professional at the Autumn Meetings.

At the start of the Spring R&R Meetings, the representatives of the “Pentagon” of clubs who pushed for professionalism last November – Alleghany, Kings County, Knickerbocker, Shamrock, & St. John’s – came armed with a new proposal, one that was altogether different than their previous one.

The proposal went like this:

• Since NBBO executives argued at the Autumn Meetings that allowing some clubs to turn fully professional would create a “two-tiered” competition, instead those clubs who wish to turn professional should be allowed to form a new competition comprised only of those professional clubs and their teams. This would ensure fair competition for the semi-pro teams and fair competition for the professional teams.

• Any professional league will begin during the first week of May in 1871. This will be done in order to give clubs that sign up adequate time to prepare for the move up from semi-pro ball, as well as to allow the NBBO enough time to find replacements for any clubs that turn pro.

The five clubs were adamant that this was the only way forward for the game of baseball, and given that the books showed how profitable clubs like Kings County were it was quite difficult to push back against them. Not only that, but these were the most successful & respected clubs in the sport. Knickerbocker president Doc Adams literally wrote the original version of the rules each of the 48 teams in the NBBO was playing its games by - they're called the "Knickerbocker Rules" - and if a man so revered by his peers thought some clubs should be allowed to turn professional then who was going to look at him and say “no”?

With that, professional baseball became an inevitability, and it was up to the NBBO and its officials to decide how to respond. The response was quick: the “Pentagon” and any other clubs wishing to turn professional would need to inform NBBO headquarters by midseason so potential replacements could apply, and the two entities would work together to set up the sport’s first fully-professional competition.

The five clubs of the Pentagon informed the NBBOEC that they were hoping to begin play next year with a league consisting of ten to twelve clubs in total, a schedule that was ninety games in length, ticket prices of 25¢ - up from 10¢ - and roster rules similar to those of the current NBBO.

From there, it was now going to be a matter of deciding who else would get to turn professional, convincing fans that base ball could be a professional sport, proving that the hike in ticket price would be worth it, and filling in any finer details as needed.

Professional baseball was on its way, and in one year’s time a new chapter, perhaps even a whole new book, would begin for the sport.

[tm1681]

WHAT’S IN A NAME? E.C. GETS TO THE BOTTOM OF IT
NAME OF THE “NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR" AWARD CHANGED DURING SPRING R&R MEETINGS

NEW YORK CITY (Mar. 14-18, 1870) – As previously reported, the main focus of the NBBO’s Spring Rules & Regulations Meetings ended up being the issue of professionalism in the sport, with plans for a new league to begin play next year unveiled by the NBBO’s largest clubs. That wasn’t the original issue the Executive Committee had planned on taking up.

For the past dozen years, the best first-year player in each league had been given the honor known as the Newcomer of the Year award. However, various people around the NBBO as well as some in the E.C. thought that the term “Newcomer” just didn’t quite feel right. So, the E.C. took up the issue of what, then, a first-year senior-level player should be referred to as.

Various terms were thrown around:

• Recruit? That made the clubs sound like they ran military divisions.
• Freshman? That made the clubs sound like they ran university teams.
• Fledgling? Believe it or not, the players weren’t fuzzy young birds learning to fly.
• Beginner? That made it sound like those players were literally learning how to play the sport.
• Trainee? Same problem as “Beginner”.
• Novice? Same problem as “Beginner” & “Trainee”.
• Debutant? Baseball was not, in any way, to be confused with haughty & imperious High Society.
• Apprentice? That gained some support, but these men weren’t in actual apprenticeships.
• Rookie? 1st recorded use occurred in an 1892 book by Rudyard Kipling, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

So, if none of the above terms could accurately apply to first-year players, what could? That was when Charles Prince, the president of Portland BC, based in its namesake city on the Atlantic Coast of Maine, suggested the term “Greenhorn”, which had been used to describe inexperienced sailors since the late 1600s.

With that, the E.C. had an instant winner. Since many of the NBBO’s clubs were based on or near the Atlantic Coast, using an old naval term that applied to new sailors seemed a perfect fit. After all, a baseball team seemed like a ship, with its results going up and down on waves of form over the course of a season. Prince also suggested renaming the managers to “Captains”, but that was met with more skepticism. This was still baseball, not maritime industry.

And thus, the Newcomer of the Year award became the “Greenhorn of the Year” award for the 1870 season, with its first two recipients set to be announced at the end of September – much easier work than trying to figure out how to turn baseball into a professional sport.

[tm1681]

NEED A PLAYER? LOOK OUTSIDE OF THE NBBO!
PLENTY OF PLAYERS ENTERING THE COMPETITION THIS SEASON HAVE THE TALENT TO SUCCEED

NORTHEASTERN U.S.A. (Mar. 21, 1870) – During the winter offseason the National Base Ball Organization goes through each year, the 48 member organizations see players come and players go, a natural part of the yearly baseball landscape as some players look to move to a bigger club, some players look for the chance to play regularly, and some players simply need to find a new place to play after being told they are spare parts by their former club of membership.

However, some of the best new players teams bring in each year are ones who weren’t even in the NBBO the previous season. These could be players who were previously part of NBBO clubs and took a year off, area amateurs well-known to club scouts who have decided it’s time to play at a higher level, or truly unknown “Scouting Discoveries” dug up by only the best talent evaluators in the sport.

The upcoming 1870 season appears to be offering up an unusually high amount of quality players that have been imported from the independent amateur ranks – enough talent to fill out a high-ranking lineup and pitching duo.

Below are ten players – two pitchers and one for every other position – who have been rated highly and are already expected to be regulars for their clubs this season.

CATCHER: Raynard Steinbach, Binghamton – 26 y/o from Germany; known to NBBO since last year
• CON: 7.5/10, GAP: 5/10, POW: 5/10, EYE: 4.5/10, SPD: 4/10, C DEF: 8.5/10, OVR: 3.0*

1ST BASE: Jackson Wright, Gotham – 27 y/o from Springett’s Manor, PA; known to NBBO since last year
• CON: 9/10, GAP: 7.5/10, POW: 6.5/10, EYE: 5/10, SPD: 5.5/10, 1B DEF: 7/10, OVR: 3.5*

2ND BASE: Huibrecht van der Laan, Eckford – 30 y/o from the Netherlands; known to NBBO since last year
• CON: 8/10, GAP: 9/10, POW: 5/10, EYE: 4.5/10, SPD: 8/10, 2B DEF: 9/10, OVR: 4.0*

3RD BASE: Dallas Campanelli, Portland – 22 y/o from Sharon, MA; Scouting Discovery by club
• CON: 8/10, GAP: 6.5/10, POW: 5.5/10, EYE: 4.5/10, SPD: 4.5/10, 3B DEF: 8/10, OVR: 3.0*

SHORTSTOP: Burton Ellerby, Gotham – 24 y/o from Parsippany, NJ; known to NBBO since last year
• CON: 9/10, GAP: 6/10, POW: 5.5/10, EYE: 4.5/10, SPD: 3.5/10, SS DEF: 10/10, OVR: 4.0*

LEFT FIELD: Fred Bartholomew, Flour City – 24 y/o from Norwalk, CT; known to NBBO since last year
• CON: 10/10, GAP: 6.5/10, POW: 5.5/10, EYE: 5/10, SPD: 8.5/10, LF DEF: 9/10, OVR: 4.5*

CENTER FIELD: Louis Dyke, Knickerbocker – 24 y/o from New York, NY; Scouting Discovery by club
• CON: 9/10, GAP: 7.5/10, POW: 5.5/10, EYE: 5/10, SPD: 8.5/10, CF DEF: 9.5/10, OVR: 4.0*

RIGHT FIELD: Charles Foster, Kings County – 27 y/o from Drexel Hill, PA; known to NBBO since last year
• CON: 8.5/10, GAP: 7.5/10, POW: 6/10, EYE: 5.5/10, SPD: 10/10, RF DEF: 8/10, OVR: 4.0*

PITCHER: Ernest Duncan, Shamrock – 26 y/o from Moon Township, PA; known to NBBO since last year
• VELO: Avg, STU: 4/10, MVMT: 8.5/10, CTRL: 10+/10, STA: 10+/10, P DEF: 6/10, OVR: 4.5*

PITCHER: Albert Dyer, Nassau County – 27 y/o from Greenbelt, MD; Scouting Discovery by club
• VELO: Above avg, STU: 3.5/10, MVMT: 9/10, CTRL: 10+/10, STA: 10+/10, P DEF: 5/10, OVR: 4.5*

None of the above ten players have any NBBO experience but, simply based on talent, if a team had those men in their senior squad then they would look a good bet to make the Tucker-Wheaton Cup, presuming those players adapt quickly enough to the increased rigor of formally organized baseball.

If nothing else, those ten players are a group who should definitely be monitored closely during the upcoming season, especially Ellerby & Dyke, whose defense should make them quality contributors for their teams immediately.

There are more greenhorns than just the above who may be big-name contributors to their teams this year. In particular, pitching seems to have produced a bumper crop as Grover Beveridge (M.B.), Clarence Dowd (HAR), John Faulkner (T.U.), William Weeks (SPO), & Edward Koch (UNI) have almost as much talent as the two pitchers listed above.

The newly renamed “Greenhorn of the Year” race for each league should be quite an exciting affair in 1870.

[OmahaBaseball]

Wow - outstanding work on this! Love the format and approach to capturing this time period.

[tm1681]

Originally Posted by OmahaBaseball

Wow - outstanding work on this! Love the format and approach to capturing this time period.

Hey thanks a bunch!

It's hard to believe that I started doing the first version of this in 2020-21 just to kill time after my daughter was born with complications to both mother and child (both are fine now) and I had to kind of be "On-Call Dad" 24/7, and it just ended up becoming something I like doing now whenever I have some down time.

[tm1681]

Since I've been getting a bit more views and some feedback on this, I'll talk about the team names and where I got them from.

Some are real, and some are made up - a healthy mix of both. I got a bunch of the real team names from this link at Major League Baseball's Memory Lab website, but sadly I think they've taken down the entire Memory Lab project after 10-15 years. I also did some reading at https://protoball.org/, which exclusively talks about baseball before 1870.

I'll just go over the clubs in alphabetical order:

Alleghany - was a real club
American - can't remember if made up or real club
Atlantic - real, and a modern edition of the team plays Vintage Baseball
Bedford - was a real club
Binghamton - made up
Cantabrigians - made up, inspired by the Cambridge Cantabs minor league team
Continental - was a real club and they played at Wheat Hill, the venue I have them playing at in my game
Eagle - was a real club, but not based in Elmira, NY
Eckford of Greenpoint - was a real club, modern version plays in a Vintage Baseball League
Empire - real club
Excelsior - real, and the real-life club of Jim Creighton during the very brief career he had before his death at age 21
Flour City - was a real club
Gotham(s) - real club, played at both Red House and the St. George Cricket Grounds so I combined them in-game; later iteration was the original name of the NY/SF Giants
Granite - real club
Green Mountain - made up
Harlem - real club
Hilltop of Yonkers - made up
Kings County - made up
Knickerbocker - very real, there are also pages dedicated to them at the Baseball HoF website and the BB Reference Bullpen site.
Lake Erie - made up
Massachusetts Bay - made up
Merrimack Mills - made up
Metropolitan - real, but was actually an early American Association team in the 1880s; name was inspiration for the New York Mets
Minuteman - made up
Mutual - real, and took part in the inaugural season of the National League; modern version plays in a Vintage Baseball league
Nassau County - fiction-ish; there were numerous "Nassau B.B.C." teams in the 1850s
Newark - real club
Niagara - made up, but there were a number of teams from Chicago to New York named "Niagara" in the 1850s
Oceanic - real, but based somewhere in CT other than Hartford
Olympic - this version made up, but there were about a dozen different "Olympic Base Ball Club" teams across the USA back then
Orange - made up; figured it would be nice to have a New York team with Dutch heritage
Pioneer - loads of 1850s clubs named Pioneer; figured one in Mass. would fit
Port Jersey - made up
Portland - real club
Quaker State - made up
Quinnipiac - real, but spelled in the 1800s fashion
Reading Athletic - plenty of teams in Reading then; this one inspired by the fact that Reading had one of the 1st athletic clubs in PA open up in the 1850s
Scranton - made up, but an 1860's team called "Club of Scranton" did exist
Shamrock - made up, but turns out there was a real Shamrock club
Sons of the Ocean - believe it or not, REAL
Sportsman's - Honestly can't remember since that one page I used has been taken down
St. John's - made up
Susquehanna - real club
Syracuse - not a surprise, but real and they did actually play at the Salina Street Grounds
Trenton United - I want to say that club showed up on the MLB page that no longer exists, but I honestly can't remember
Union of Morrisania - real; another article here
Utica - first made up, but no surprise that such a team really existed
Victory - scores of clubs named Victory at the time

So, there ya go. I posted logos way back on Page 1. I didn't base very many of those on their real-life counterparts, except maybe a few of the New York & Brooklyn teams because those would have been the teams well-known enough to get pictures taken of them where you could see the stylized letter that represented the team, and some sources have descriptions of the color schemes of the more famous teams from back then.

[tm1681]

PLAY BALL! THE 1870 NBBO PREVIEW

NORTHEAST USA (May 5, 1869) – The fourteenth season of play in the National Base Ball Organization begins play this afternoon, and it is almost certain that it will be the final season before the sport is split into dueling professional & semi-professional competitions.

This is the last season before a dramatic change to the sport, but expect plenty of exciting baseball in 1870.

WRITERS POOL PREDICTIONS & GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

When asked for other observations about the upcoming season, here were the main talking points offered up by the 48-member N.B.B.O. Writers Pool:

Brooklyn Championship
• Favorite: Kings County (48-22, 620-630 R, 425-435 RA)
• Excelsior 5 GB, Continental 8 GB, Atlantic 11 GB, Bedford 16 GB, Nassau Co. 17 GB, Empire 22 GB, Eckford 23 GB

New York City Championship
• Favorite: Orange (51-19, 590-600 R, 385-395 RA)
• Gotham 5 GB, Knickerbocker 7 GB, Harlem & Union 21 GB, Metropolitan 23 GB, Hilltop & Mutual 24 GB

Upstate New York Championship
• Favorite: Niagara (47-23, 510-520 R, 345-355 RA)
• Flour City 5 GB, Minuteman & Syracuse 7 GB, Victory 14 GB, Utica 18 GB, Eagle 21 GB, Binghamton 22 GB

Coastal Championship
• Favorite: Shamrock (50-20, 505-515 R, 355-365 RA)
• Mass. Bay & Quaker St. 10 GB, American 13 GB, Newark & Trenton Utd. 16 GB, Olympic & Port Jersey 27 GB

Inland Championship
• Favorite: Alleghany (51-19, 595-605 R, 430-440 RA)
• Susquehanna 5 GB, Merrimack & Pioneer 15 GB, Scranton 19 GB, Reading 23 GB, Lake Erie & Sportsman’s 24 GB

New England Championship
• Favorite: St. John’s (47-23, 620-630 R, 425-435 RA)
• Portland 5 GB, S.o.t.O. 8 GB, Quinnipiac 14 GB, Oceanic 15 GB, Cantabrigians & Granite 16 GB, Green Mtn. 21 GB

Tucker-Wheaton Cup favorite: Orange BBC

Four of the six regional favorites are the usual suspects, while the other two – Orange & Niagara – won their regions in 1868 before falling off the pace last season.

Award Favorites:

• NYL Batsman of the Year: Garfield Koonce (1B, K.C.)
• NEL Batsman of the Year: Konrad Jensen (OF, STJ)
• NYL Pitcher of the Year: Jim Creighton (EXC)
• NEL Pitcher of the Year: Tom Ricks (SHA)
• NYL Most Valuable Player: Anthony Mascherino (SS, ORA)
• NEL Most Valuable Player: Royal Altman (OF, ALL)
• NYL Greenhorn of the Year: Fred Bartholomew (OF, F.C.)
• NEL Greenhorn of the Year: William Weeks (P, SPO)

The most talented batsmen in both leagues at each position:

• NYL – C: Everett Schreiber (26 y/o, ORA), 1B: Garfield Koonce (25 y/o, K.C.), 2B: Babe Johnson (24 y/o, GOT), 3B: Isaac Kelly (24 y/o, ECK), SS: Edward Huntley (34 y/o, KNI), OF: Clive Strachan (27 y/o, GOT), CF: Franklin Petty (27 y/o, ORA), OF: Reginald Roper (24 y/o, F.C.)

• NEL – C: Falco v.d. Vaart (25 y/o, M.B.), 1B: William Busby (27 y/o, AME), 2B: Leslie Arnett (31 y/o, M.B.), 3B: Samuel Kessler (33 y/o, ALL), SS: Gerald Strong (24 y/o, ALL), OF: Konrad Jensen (30 y/o, STJ), CF: James Burke (29 y/o, SHA), OF: Nelson Townsend (29 y/o, STJ)

The ten most talented pitchers in the NBBO:

• Jim Creighton (29 y/o, EXC), James Goodman (31 y/o, F.C.), Tom Ricks (31 y/o, SHA), Peadar Daly (34 y/o, KNI), Ross Gill (29 y/o, Q.S.), Earl Quinn (29 y/o, CON), William Weeks* (26 y/o, SPO), Ernest Duncan* (26 y/o, SHA), Monroe Munson (27 y/o, NIA), Grover Wright (36 y/o, CON)

The ten most talented greenhorns in the NBBO:

• William Weeks, Ernest Duncan, Fred Bartholomew, Burton Ellerby (24 y/o SS, GOT), Albert Dyer (27 y/o P, N.C.), John Faulkner (27 y/o P, T.U.), Edward Koch (23 y/o P, UNI), Louis Dyke (25 y/o CF, KNI), William Schumacher (23 y/o SS, SHA), Troy Oberst (23 y/o OF, MET)

The ten most talented reserve squad prospects in the NBBO:

• George Burroughs (21 y/o P, P.J.), Howard Burns (20 y/o P, STJ), Ernest Dugas (22 y/o CF, F.C.), Bret Landreth (20 y/o P, KNI), Richard Suddreth (22 y/o P, SPO), Louis Noble (22 y/o OF, KNI), Henry Tallman (22 y/o P, SHA), Charles Washer (22 y/o OF, M.B.), Jonathan Weeks (22 y/o P, SHA), Alwin Rijneveld (22 y/o 3B, ORA)

Pittsburgh’s Alleghany BC enters the season as the newest club to try to defend their hold on the Tucker-Wheaton Cup, and young SS Gerald Strong appears ready to emerge as the team’s newest star after stellar work in last year’s TWC.

Shamrock responded to last year’s TWC disappointment by letting Anthony Mascherino (ORA), Thomas Smith (STJ), & Walter Williams (ATL) leave. They are pinning their hopes on James Burke sliding over seamlessly to CF and having two highly-regarded greenhorns – P Ernest Duncan & SS William Schumacher – perform to a very high standard.

Orange BBC was the talk of the winter, with the club looking poised to return to their 1868 form as they recruited NEL Batsman of the Year Franklin Petty, 11x Golden Glove winner Mascherino, 3x All-Star INF Albert Brock, and 3x All-Star P William Titus to join a team that already had three other All-Stars on it.

Minuteman looks determined to break their string of poor finishes after bringing in multiple-time All-Stars Walter Driscoll (3x), James Hoyt (4x), & Jerald Peterson (6x) over the winter. Expect them to give Flour City & Niagara a tough challenge in Upstate New York.

Excelsior has brought in 5x All-Star Obelix Tsiaris from Flour City and recruited some talented greenhorns to give Jim Creighton support. If Creighton returns to form this year, Excelsior could easily be back on top.

Flour City is expected to fall back to Earth this year. The team failed to bring in suitable replacements for Tsiaris or 2x All-Star SS Harold Price, who left for Susquehanna, and that should cost them. At the very least, losing those two players' defense means James Goodman won't be the historic version of himself that he was last year.

Quaker St. is projected 2nd in Coastal, which would be their best finish in eight years. They added All-Star Luc Billon to a potent lineup along with two very promising Greenhorns - P Henry Giblin & C Matthew Williams - and 3B William Dickerson has become one of the best corner infielders in the sport.

Portland has been projected to finish just a handful of games behind St. John's, but many fans will be skeptical. Their two best players are 3x All-Star 1B Enda Reed and 40-year-old OF James Heilman, but the team will have expert guidance. 8x All-Star for Portland Joe Feuerstein is their new Bench Coach, career .340 hitter for Shamrock Daragh Adams is their new Hitting Coach, and 2x cup winner with St. John's Simpson Cron is their new Manager.

This past winter saw what is possibly the finest crop of greenhorns to date enter the NBBO’s ranks. There are multiple new pitchers talented enough to contend for the second batch of PotY awards, and a number of the new batsmen look good enough to be All-Stars right away.

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MCLEAN PITCHES TWO-HIT SHUTOUT IN NBBO DEBUT
CANTABRIGIANS GREENHORN STARTS CAREER WITH A DREAM PERFORMANCE IN MAINE

PORTLAND, MAINE (May 4, 1870) – Cantabrigians BC have historically been the punching bag of New England, finishing last in seven of the NBBO’s first thirteen seasons. However, they had their best-ever finish at 4th place last year, and started this year with a rousing win in Maine against favored Portland:

The visitors saw All-Star C Harvey O’Donnell hit 4/5 with a double, but their best performance by far was that of Everton McLean, who was playing in his first game in the NBBO:

• CG SHUTOUT, 2 HA, 1 BB, 1 K – 1/4, 1 R, 1 RBI

What McLean did at Portland was the best debut by a Greenhorn pitcher in recent memory, and he was a credible batsman on top of it. It was part of a magnificent defensive performance by Cantabrigians, as on top of the two hits they allowed their defense committed just one fielding error.

Portland’s pair of hits were a single by Dallas Campanelli in the bottom of the 1st and another single by Lars Kelson in the bottom of the 5th. Aside from that, one Portland batsman reached via error and one more reached via Base on Balls.

It was an outstanding start to 1870 for a Cantabrigians team that has never finished above .500, and a disappointing loss for a Portland team expected to finish 2nd in the New England Championship.

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HENDERSON LEADS ALLEGHANY IN WILD HOME WIN
ALLEGHANY SCORES FOUR IN 9TH TO BEAT PIONEER; TEAMS COMBINE FOR 31 RUNS

PITTSBURGH (May 6, 1870) – It took a big rally in the bottom of the 9th inning, but defending NBBO champions Alleghany stayed undefeated with their victory over Pioneer at Recreation Park on Friday afternoon:

The contest featured numerous rallies by both teams, most notably Pioneer’s eight runs in the 4th inning on a combination of singles and fielding errors. The visitors also scored five times in the 8th on another large combo of singles & errors. Pioneer’s key player was OF Reardon Armstrong, who finished 3/6 with two doubles, three runs, & a pair of RBI’s.

Alleghany scored four runs each in the 3rd & 4th, and with another four-run outburst in the bottom of the 9th they won the game. The winning hit came from substitute infielder Walter Anderson, who doubled in Samuel Kessler & Joe Thatcher with nobody yet retired.

Alleghany were the recipients of several outstanding performances on the afternoon:

• Royal Altman (LF): 3/5, 2 2B, 4 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB
• Collin Henderson (1B): 5/6, 3B, 3 R
• Samuel Kessler (3B): 4/6, 2 2B, 3 R, 4 RBI
• Joe Thatcher (CF): 3/5, 2 R, 2 RBI

Henderson’s 5/6 led Alleghany at the plate, and it left him a red-hot 11/15 (.733) after three games. The defending NEL Most Valuable Player appears to be starting 1870 as well as he ended 1869, and his team is doing the same.

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VICKERS THE HERO IN BIG WIN AT KINGS COUNTY
CONTINENTAL OUTFIELDER COLLECTS 5 HITS & 4 RBI; TEAMMATE BARLUND GOES 4/6

BROOKLYN (May 7, 1870) – Continental, winners of their last nine games in 1869 to nearly force a playoff, pulled up to an even 2-2 during Week One with a big win at defending Brooklyn champions Kings County on Saturday afternoon:

Continental exited winners thanks to a pair of big innings: a five-run 2nd and a six-run 6th. Defensive struggles meant Grover Wright allowed nine runs over seven innings of pitching with just two Earned Runs to his name, but substitute pitcher Philip Renshaw was a steady hand over the final two innings to preserve the win.

Continental received two outstanding performances from their batsmen. First was #2 hitter Lage Barlund (CF):

• 4/6 (all Singles), 3 R, 3 RBI, SB

Playing in his 4th NBBO game, Barlund looked comfortable with both bat and glove.

Continental’s Player of the Game was LF William Vickers:

• 5/6, 3 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI, 8 TB

A Vickers double in the top of the 6th, one of his three during the course of the game, was the key to Continental’s six-run rally that put them over the top. Vickers was also playing in just his 4th NBBO game, and from the looks of it Continental has themselves a fine pair of Greenhorn outfielders to rely on this season.

1869 All-Star 3B Andrew Brannon was 2/5 with a pair of Runs & RBI each, while new 2B Jacob Johnson was 2/5 with two Runs & three RBI.

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SEABOLD GOES DISTANCE, SMACKS 5 HITS IN WIN
SUSQUEHANNA PITCHER DOES EVERYTHING IN TEAM’S TWELVE-RUN WIN ON WEDNESDAY

WILKES-BARRE, PENN. (May 11, 1870) – Susquehanna figured it would take a fine effort to beat Alleghany in the first of their five-game series on Wednesday afternoon, but they were not at all expecting what unfolded at River View Field:

Four Susquehanna players had multiple hits in the stunning 14-2 victory, but the man who led them was their own pitcher: career .270 hitter (.587 OPS) Elmer Seabold.

Seabold had no less than five hits on the afternoon and pitched the whole game, with his final line as follows:

• CG, 7 HA, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP
• 5/5, 1 2B, 3 R, 1 RBI, 6 TB

Seabold by himself nearly had as many hits as the entire Alleghany team, such was his dominance on the afternoon. He was helped plenty by a Susquehanna defense that committed only two fielding errors, and by the end of the 5th inning it was quite clear that the hosts were in complete control of the game.

Elmer Seabold saw a massive drop in production in 1869 – 17-22, 4.27 ERA, 73 K’s – from his All-Star & Team of the Year form in 1868 – 29-11, 2.41 ERA, 134 K’s. Perhaps this is a sign that he is back to the form of two years ago for 5-1 Susquehanna. If this is indeed the case then expect Susquehanna to be competitive in Inland once again.

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ROPER FANTASTIC IN DOMINANT FLOUR CITY WIN
ALL-STAR OUTFIELDER FINISHES WITH 5 H, 4 R, & 4 RBI IN TEN-RUN VICTORY AT BINGHAMTON

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (May 12, 1870) – Flour City went back above .500 after seven games thanks to a double-digit win at Binghamton on Thursday afternoon:

There was one clear Player of the Game for Flour City: 2x All-Star outfielder Reginald Roper…

• T1: 2-run Single to RCF off H. Todd
• T3: Leadoff Single past 2B off H. Todd (CS)
• T5: Single to CF off H. Todd (R)
• T6: 2-run Double past 1B off H. Todd (R)
• T8: Reached via Base on Balls by M. Hales (SB, R)
• T9: Single past 2B off C. Hanford (R)
• TOTAL: 5/5, 2 2B, 4 R, 4 RBI, 1 SB, 7 TB, 101 GMSC

The performance left Roper’s average at an even .500 through seven games, with the batsman already looking likely to make his third All-Star team in as many seasons in the NBBO. He has been a wonderful player for Flour City since joining them in February of 1868.

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BANCROFT FIRST TO 250 WINS
5X ALL-STAR REACHES MAJOR PITCHING MILESTONE ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

NEW YORK CITY (May 18, 1870) – Gotham BBC defeated Orange 11-5 at the St. George Cricket Grounds on Wednesday afternoon, and after the end of the game there were congratulations awaiting Gotham pitcher Carl Bancroft at Red House. The reason: Bancroft became the first pitcher ever to reach 250 career Wins.

Bancroft, who has played for Utica (1857-62), Empire (1863-66), Syracuse (1867), and now Gotham (1868-present) has been an extremely consistent pitcher, one known to reliably deliver positive results as long as he has a good defense behind him:

Bancroft’s career Won-Loss figures, ERA & WAR included:

• 1857 (UTI): 17-14, 3.41 ERA, 3.3 WAR
• 1858 (UTI): 13-19, 4.24 ERA, 1.7 WAR
• 1859 (UTI): 21-10, 3.14 ERA, 5.5 WAR
• 1860 (UTI): 20-11, 2.54 ERA, 6.1 WAR
• 1861 (UTI): 22-12, 2.78 ERA, 6.1 WAR
• 1862 (UTI): 20-13, 3.06 ERA, 5.1 WAR
• 1863 (EMP): 14-19, 3.88 ERA, 5.3 WAR
• 1864 (EMP): 17-16, 3.43 ERA, 4.0 WAR
• 1865 (EMP): 21-11, 3.29 ERA, 4.4 WAR
• 1866 (EMP): 12-20, 4.52 ERA, 3.8 WAR
• 1867 (SYR): 21-13, 3.15 ERA, 6.1 WAR
• 1868 (GOT): 24-12, 4.21 ERA, 5.0 WAR
• 1869 (GOT): 24-13, 3.55 ERA, 5.3 WAR
• 1870 (GOT): 5-3, 4.01 ERA, 1.2 WAR
• TOTAL: 251-186, 3.48 ERA, 62.9 WAR

Although he has never led the New York League in Wins, Bancroft has crossed the 20-win mark eight times and early returns from the 1870 season suggest he is on his way to season number nine with 20+ Wins to his name.

Bancroft has never been the flashiest pitcher in the NYL. Aside from leading the league in Pitching WAR in 1860 he has never led the league in any major pitching category. Instead, Bancroft has been incredibly dependable, starting 35+ games for his team every year of the NBBO’s existence, including an NYL-high 43 starts in 1867, his lone season with Syracuse.

At age 35 Bancroft probably has 2-3 years left of regularly pitching at a high level, so if luck can stay on his side then Bancroft may well become the first pitcher to cross the 300-Win barrier.