Out of the Shadows: The Eclipse League

[luckymann]

Wednesday 10th September, 1969 – Memphis Red Sox (66-68) @ Indianapolis ABCs (62-72)
7.05pm ET, Riverside Park, Indianapolis IN

Luis Mendoza




Steel Arm Tyler




Not long to go until the pointy end of the 1969 EL season, but sadly neither of tonight's opponents will be featuring in it. Both the MeSox and ABCs have taken the slow and steady approach to building their respective franchises and, while no fruit has been produced as yet, neither have they been dreadful and tonight's game will be interesting if for no other reason than to see if either or both of them are on the right track. Plus, Steel Arm Tyler is on the mound for the MeSox, not so long after my feature on him. So it's nice to get a chance to see him in the flesh.

Here's how they'll be lining up:




Each side - in Billy Sample for Memphis and Rod Carew for Indy - has a budding superstar as well as some fine prospects, and match up fairly closely aligned right down to tonight's pitchers, both of whom have tried hard all year and have 10 wins to their credit. Should be a good one, even if there's nothing really on the line.

Play Ball!


The home side gets busy early, scoring a run on 2 hits and a Carew groundout, and despite two errors by the Red Sox, that run holds until the 4th, when it all goes rather pear-shaped for Tyler as Indy slaps him about all over the joint and end up adding a 6-spot.

Memphis responds in the next when Ozzie Virgil jr takes Mendoza deep with a man on to make it 7-2, and Tyler gets lifted for a PH. Santo Alcala comes on in his place.



Not much else I can tell you, really, as the game fizzles out completely. Mendoza finishes what he started, with only that longball blotting his copybook as he allows just 4 hits while fanning 3 to give Indy the series sweep. And with so little happening aside from that 6-run 4th, we didn't even really get much insight into the two teams on display.

Oh, well, you can't win them all.

[luckymann]

The East has bragging rights between the two Cuban Stars clubs for the next year after they sweep the West in this year's series. This has the added benefit of pushing them to the top of the WC National for the time being. The news isn't so good for the West, who now find themselves tied with the Giants and in a dogfight down the stretch.

[luckymann]

He's renowned for his wildness and does give up 5 walks here, but Rafa's sophomore season has been a good one and this gem comes just at the right time for the Buckeyes, who are just struggling a bit to keep pace with the AGs and East in the WC National.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

It almost feels like everything is on pause at the moment, with two sides on the cusp of clinching without having done so and two races still as hot as ever, with the Cuban Stars West suffering a huge collapse including losing 12 on the trot to now trail the Giants in the FC National and their East counterparts just falling out of touch a bit in the WC National. What's more, there are a bunch of players attacking last season's mark of 36 HR by Chito Martinez . Pops Stargell has tied it but hasn't been able to produce number 37, and one of the others might still come right over the top.

A full recap at the end of the regular season in a couple weeks' time.

The following players were the award-winners for September:

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Aaron Judge (Giants) 385 / 6 HR / 21 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Juan Marichal (Monarchs) 3-0 / 1.79 / 39 K / 55.1 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Mariano Rivera (Bacharach Giants) 1-0 / 1.54 / 8 SV / 10 K / 11.2 IP.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: George Bell (Elite Giants) 389 / 10 HR / 28 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Jim Proctor (Elite Giants) 5-1 / 1.39 / 25 K / 51.2 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Dave Brown (Athletics) 4-3 / 1.44 / 29 K / 62.2 IP.

And here's how those two races that are still alive look as the finish post approaches:

[luckymann]

I'll be breaking down his remarkable rookie season when it's done but, with a victory over the Black Yankees, Ohtani-san sets a new single-season wins record for the EL.

[luckymann]

No final day drama as both the Giants and American Giants clinch their hard-won Association titles with a few games to spare. The Monarchs become the first EL team to lose 100 games in a season and just how competitive 1969 was is shown by the fact that Hilldale's 96 wins was the most of any club.




In two incredibly tight batting crown races, both George Scott of the Giants (327) and Bernie Williams of the Lincoln Giants (334) win by just a point. Rich Coggins finishes top 3 in each TC category with 312 / 35 / 112.

A late flurry of longballs sees Hilldale's Ruben Mateo set a new season high with 38 and he does likewise with 134 RBI. Spot Poles leads the league with 40 successful swipes, yet another record.

Shohei Ohtani's win total stays at 27, one ahead of Atlantic City's Ruben Quevedo, and he also posts the best ERA of the year with 1.96, another record. He only misses out on the TC by 15 strikeouts behind fellow rookie Yovani Gallardo's 303, as Quevedo sets a new high across in the FC with 309. Chicago's Hisanori Takahashi eclipses Shingo Takatsu's previous mark with 44 saves.

Now for the final Top 20s:

Overall - Hitters




Overall - Pitchers




NeL - Hitters




NeL - Pitchers




News and final leaders.

[luckymann]

Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (95-67) v St. Louis Giants (89-73)

Best of seven, Bacharach Giants with home-field advantage.

Game 1





Game 2





Game 3





Game 4





Game 5





Atlantic City wins series 4-1

MVP: George Scott (St. Louis) - 11-for-22 / 4 HR / 6 RBI

[luckymann]

Hilldale Athletics (96-66) v Chicago American Giants (92-70)

Best of seven, Athletics with home-field advantage.


Game 1





Game 2





Game 3





Game 4





Game 5





Hilldale wins series 4-1

MVP: Oddibe McDowell (Hilldale) - 11-for-20 / 3 HR / 5 RBI

[luckymann]

Hilldale Athletics (96-66) v Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (95-67)

Best of seven, Athletics with home-field advantage.

Well I think this is a fair result as clearly the two best teams get to duke it out for the main prize after each pretty well cruise through the first round.

This lines up as an incredibly even series. Both sides' pitching has been superb but will really have the mettle tested by all of these big bats walking out with intent in their eyes. I've espoused my thoughts on the A's from the off and see no reason to abandon them now, but they'll need to be at the top of their game to get past a really fine opponent.

Athletics in six.






Game 1





Game 2





Game 3





Game 4





Game 5






Hilldale wins series 4-1

MVP: Eric Chavez (Hilldale)

It may have been a case of "getting here is good enough" for the BGs because they certainly played nowhere near their best over these five games. But this is one heck of a good unit the A's have and I doubt this is the last we'll see of them in action at this time of the year over the next few seasons.

[luckymann]

OK, so I stand corrected - apparently you CAN win pitching awards if you're a position player, though perhaps not during the season...

WALKER MEDAL (MOST VALUABLE PLAYER)

FC: Adolfo Phillips, Bacharach Giants [1]
WC: Shohei Ohtani, Buckeyes [1] (unanimous)


PITCHER OF THE YEAR

FC: Ruben Quevedo, Bacharach Giants [1]
WC: Shohei Ohtani, Buckeyes [1] (unanimous)


RELIEVER OF THE YEAR

FC: Sixto Sanchez, West [1]
WC: Hector Rondon, East [1]


ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

FC: Ralph Bryant, Bacharach Giants (unanimous)
WC: Shohei Ohtani, Buckeyes (unanimous)


KINDLING AWARD (SILVER SLUGGER)

Fleet Conference

P: Martin Dihigo, Crawfords
C: Ozzie Virgil jr, Red Sox
1B: George Scott, Giants
2B: Luis Arraez, Royal Giants
3B: Wilson Contreras, Black Barons
SS: Alex Gonzalez, Royal Giants
LF: Cliff Floyd, Eagles
CF: Adolfo Phillips, Bacharach Giants
RF: Rich Coggins, Crawfords

Weldy Conference

P: Shohei Ohtani, Buckeyes
C: Bob Watson, Liberty Stars
1B: Andre Thornton, Motown Stars
2B: Chino Smith, Athletics
3B: Eric Chavez, Athletics
SS: Ozzie Smith, Grays
LF: Willie Stargell, Athletics
CF: Ruppert Jones, East
RF: Rod Allen, East


SLICK AWARD (GOLD GLOVE)

Fleet Conference

P: Frank Barnes, Eagles
C: Pearl Webster, Black Yankees
1B: George Scott, Giants
2B: Chin-Lung Hu, Giants
3B: Hiram Bocachica, Giants
SS: Todd Cruz, West
LF: Bobby Brown, Royal Giants
CF: Sam Jethroe, Black Yankees
RF: Chuck Carr, Eagles

Weldy Conference

P: Johnny Markham, American Giants
C: Larry Brown, Buckeyes
1B: Coco Laboy, Elite Giants
2B: Chino Smith, Athletics
3B: Ed Charles, Elite Giants
SS: Jake Stephens, Athletics
LF: Tony Scott, ABCs
CF: Albert Almora, Elite Giants
RF: Richard Hidalgo, ABCs

[luckymann]

Well, this was something special and it deservedly earned him a rare trifecta - Rookie / Pitcher / Player of the Year and all unanimous.

Here's a breakdown of Shohei Ohtani's miraculous 1969 Eclipse League season.




I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us in 1970...

[luckymann]

A fairly low-key Draft this time around, which is good because - to facilitate the introduction of the AAA Transit League for the 1972 season - I have decided to up the intake for the two Drafts following this one. The 1970/71 Draft will consist of 400 players and the 1971/72 of 300. That should give clubs plenty to fill two rosters apiece.

So here are the Top 3 picks for each franchise:

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

No Janus Report this year, I'll save it for the big influx of rookies next season.

A bit of action over the offseason, here are the main deals and trades:

• Athletics sign OF Oddibe McDowell to an 8-year / $1980k extension
• Black Yankees sign 3B Hank Thomson to an 8-year / $1596k extension
• American Giants sign 1B Jose Abreu to a 5-year / $1128k extension
• Bacharach Giants sign OF Adolfo Phillips to a 5-year / $958k extension
• West sign 1B David Ortiz to a 5-year / $952k extension
• Athletics sign 3B Eric Chavez to a 5-year / $868k extension
• Giants sign OF Michael Taylor to a 5-year / $932k extension
• American Giants sign OF Karim Garcia to a 5-year / $832k extension
• American Giants sign 3B Benny Ayala to a 5-year / $808k extension
• Crawfords sign C Humberto Cota to a 5-year / $752k extension
• East sign OF German Rivera to a 4-year / $742k extension
• Motown Stars sign 1B Andre Thornton to a 5-year / $712k extension
• Giants sign P Jae-weong Seo to a 5-year / $503k extension
• American Giants sign P Joe Henderson to a 4-year / $674k extension

The Giants lose reliever Shingo Takatsu to biceps tendinitis for the first three months of the season, an inauspicious start for them.

Here are the predictions for the upcoming season:

I'm thinking along the following lines:

• FLEET AMERICAN: New York Black Yankees
• FLEET NATIONAL: Memphis Red Sox
• WELDY AMERICAN: Hilldale Athletics
• WELDY NATIONAL: Chicago American Giants (with a watch on the ABCs)

Here are the 10 Top-Rated EL Prospects as at OD 1970:

1. Jose Ramirez (Monarchs)
2. Ozzie Albies (ABCs)
3. Damion Easley (Crawfords)
4. Sandy Alomar jr (Motown Stars)
5. Jorge Polanco (Lincoln Giants)
6. Carlos Guillen (Red Sox)
7. Chet Brewer (East)
8. Luis Padron (Motown Stars)
9. Jim Missouri (ABCs)
10. Darltie Cooper (Crawfords)

Top 20 players list:

[luckymann]

... and what a fine way to start the 1970 Eclipse League season, as Luis Garcia goes 6-for-6 but can't stop his West side losing a 10-9 walkoff to the Giants. Aaron Judge homers twice and knocks in 5 for the winners.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

Just an error and a Jose Vidro RBI double stand between Hilton Smith and a perfecto here, but all the same an excellent performance that hopefully bodes well for both player and club in 1970.

[luckymann]

Very economical our Joel, with three tidy solo shots here as the Crawfs cruise to a 5-0 win over the West.