The Big Bang: A Larger Baseball Universe Starting From Nothing in 1857 - Page 19

tm1681 · 10-28-2024, 10:39 AM

NEWARK’S JONES NETS 1ST CYCLE IN TWO YEARS
35-YEAR-OLD HAVING WORST YEAR OF CAREER, BUT TURNED BACK THE CLOCK ON FRIDAY

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (July 31, 1868) – Port Jersey easily dispatched visiting Newark in a battle of the NBBO’s two New Jersey clubs, but it was a member of the visiting Newark squad who was the talk of the afternoon:

35-year-old Newark OF Alistair Jones, who is in the midst of a career-worst season with the bat, did not have much of an effect on the outcome of the game, but he did complete the first Cycle in the NBBO since June 9th of 1866, when Johnnie Sands pulled off the feat for Utica.

Jones’ day with the bat in Jersey City:

• T1: Ground Out to 1B off T. Rice
• T4: Leadoff Triple to LCF off T. Rice (R)
• T6: Single to LF off T. Rice (R)
• T7: 3-RUN HOME RUN to LF off T. Rice (R)
• T9: Double to LF off F. Boudet
• TOTAL: 4/5, CYCLE (12th in NBBO history), 3 R, 3 RBI, 10 TB

As has happened frequently over the twelve Cycles completed in NBBO history, Jones’ Cycle-completing hit came in the 9th inning as all eyes were on him in anticipation of a historical feat.

Jones has been a dependable player for much of his nine years in the NBBO. He has a career average of .317, an OPS of .837, 268 steals (29.8 SB/yr), and 1.9 WAR per 70 games played. However, this year his average & OPS have fallen to .267 & .773 respectively, with just a dozen stolen bases through 63 games. It has not been Jones’ season, but today he scored a blow against Father Time and put in a memorable performance for a struggling Newark outfit.

tm1681 · 10-28-2024, 10:40 AM

NATIONAL BASE BALL ORGANIZATION JULY RECAP

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (Aug. 1, 1868) The end of July means there is a little over one week left in the 1868 NBBO season. Here is how the month of July unfolded for the competition:

REGIONAL LEADERS (63 of 70 games played)

• BROOKLYN: Kings County at 43-20 (Excelsior 3 GB)
• NEW YORK CITY: Orange at 44-19 (Knickerbocker & Metropolitan 7 GB)
• UPSTATE NY: Niagara at 38-25 (F.C. 1 GB, UTI 2 GB, BING 3 GB, VIC 5 GB)
• COASTAL: American at 44-19 (Shamrock 4 GB, Mass. Bay 6 GB)
• INLAND: Alleghany & Susquehanna tied at 44-19 (no other team in contention)
• NEW ENGLAND: St. John’s at 45-18 (clinched pennant)

While all six regions had 0-2 games of separation between the leaders and second place at the end of June, two of the regions have since seen teams take control. In the New York City race Orange BBC, who last took the pennant in 1862, have a seven-game lead on Knickerbocker & Metropolitan and need just a win or losses by the two other teams to clinch. Elsewhere, St. John’s grew their lead over Sons of the Ocean from two games to ten during July, clinching their eleventh New England title in twelve NBBO seasons.

The remaining regional races are open. Kings County and American look likely to make the Tucker-Wheaton Cup – American for the first time – while Alleghany & Susquehanna are in a brawl for the Inland pennant and Upstate NY is crazy.

BATTERS OF THE MONTH (June)

• NYL: Garfield Koonce (1B, K.C.) – .429 AVG, 1.043 OPS, 31 R, 42 H, 7 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 24 RBI, 2 BB, 0 SB, 1.3 WPA, 1.3 WAR
• NEL: Konrad Jensen (OF, STJ) – .429 AVG, 1.230 OPS, 44 R, 39 H, 6 2B, 8 3B, 1 HR, 24 RBI, 20 BB, 24 SB, 1.4 WPA, 1.9 WAR

Kings County newcomer Koonce, already an All-Star selection, had a month that more than justified the front office’s decision to let Cormack Alexander leave for Quaker State and install him at first base. This is his first BotM honor.

Jensen takes his seventh BotM honor – his first this season – with an extraordinary 4.5 weeks that saw him set a record for runs scored in a single month while stealing two dozen bases over just 23 games.

PITCHERS OF THE MONTH (June)

• NYL: Raynard Cordell (ORA) – 9-3, 2.26 ERA, 123.2 IP, 10 CG, 1 SHO, 10 BB, 15 K, 0.99 WHIP, 2.2 WAR, 5.1 rWAR
• NEL: William Tighe (STJ) – 10-0, 2.53 ERA, 114.0 IP, 9 CG, 1 SHO, 7 BB, 11 K, 1.12 WHIP, 2.3 WAR, 3.0 rWAR

Cordell wins his second PotM in a row with another outstanding month for the likely New York City champions. His record this season – 25-8, 2.40 ERA, 4.7 WAR, 10.5 rWAR – may see him knock Jim Creighton out of the Team of the Year if Orange takes NYC and Excelsior finishes 2nd in Brooklyn.

Elmer Seabold of Susquehanna was excellent again in July – 9-3, 2.80, 37 K, 2.2 WAR – but he was not going to beat a 10-0 month by the #1 for the NBBO’s best team. Tighe was mediocre in May & June (9-7, 4.51 ERA) but was brilliant in July as his St. John’s team went 19-3 to leave the rest of New England behind.

NEWCOMERS OF THE MONTH (June)

• NYL: Garfield Koonce (1B, K.C.) – New York League Batsman of the Month
• NEL: Tom Hauser (P, AME) – 9-3, 2.88 ERA, 117.1 IP, 8 CG, 0 SHO, 10 BB, 9 K, 1.33 WHIP, 1.9 WAR, 1.8 rWAR

William Johannessen had an ever so slight dip in form in July (6-4, 2.65, 2.0 WAR), and that opened the door for Koonce to take the NotM honor since he was already the NYL’s best batsman for the month.

Hauser went 9-3 with a sub-3.00 ERA for the second month in a row, and that means he sweeps the NEL NotM honors for 1868, making him certain to win Newcomer of the Year.

STATISTICAL LEADERS (1868 Season)

• Average: .409 by Mario Fusilli (1B, SYR)
• OPS: 1.078 by Konrad Jensen (OF, STJ)
• Runs: 98 by Konrad Jensen (OF, STJ)
• Home Runs: 12 by William Busby (1B, AME)
• RBI: 81 by Alfred Suber (OF, L.E.)
• Stolen Bases: 62 by Taliesin Buckley (CF, NIA) & Konrad Jensen (OF, STJ)
• Batter WPA: 5.6 by Royal Altman (OF, ALL)
• Batter WAR: 5.3 by Franklin Petty (CF, L.E.)
• ERA: 2.24 by Jonathan Scott (ALL) over 209.0 IP
• Wins: 28 by Elmer Seabold (SUS)
• Complete Games: 31 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Strikeouts: 181 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• WHIP: 1.06 by Raynard Cordell (ORA) over 311.0 IP
• Pitcher WAR: 10.6 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Pitcher rWAR: 11.1 by Jim Creighton (EXC)

tm1681 · 11-07-2024, 03:45 PM

NEL WINS ALL-STAR GAME IN PITTSBURGH
DOMINANCE DURING MIDDLE INNINGS SEALS THE VICTORY; GRAFF TAKES HOME MVP HONOR

PITTSBURGH (Aug. 3, 1868) – A 6-0 run during the middle innings saw the Northeastern League repeat as victors at the Tenth All-Star Game in Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon:

The ASG started out as an even contest, level 1-1 after three innings thanks to dueling tallies in the 2nd inning – a double by Brynjar Rasmussen (OF, CON) and a single by Arran Duffy (2B, ALL) providing the scoring.

It was the middle innings where the NEL took control of the game. In the bottom of the 4th run-scoring hits by Anthony Mascherino (SS, SHA), Nelson Townsend (OF, STJ), and Falco van der Vaart (C, MB) gave the NEL 4-1 lead. In the bottom of the 5th Wilbur Graff (1B, L.E.) scored on a passed ball to make the score 5-1. Then, in the bottom of the 6th Thomas Maloney (OF, M.B.) singled in Peter Boyce (2B, AME) to put the NEL ahead 6-1.

The New York League mounted a four-run rally in the top of the 7th – the key hit a 2-run triple by Harold Price (SS, F.C.) – to slash to deficit to a single run, but the NEL answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning on singles by Graff, James Badner (2B, G.M.), & Thomas Paddock (P, PIO) to put the game away.

All-Star Game X Most Valuable Player honors went to Lake Erie 1B Wilbur Graff. His line for the afternoon:

• 3/3, 2B, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI

Graff had key extra-base hits in the 5th & 7th innings and he also scored runs in both, making him the main factor in the NEL’s second consecutive All-Star Game victory.

17,639 witnessed the game in Pittsburgh’s Recreation Park, the largest crowd ever for a base ball game.

tm1681 · 11-07-2024, 03:47 PM

BADDLEY BRUISES G.M. IN FIFTEEN-RUN STJ WIN
1ST-YEAR STARTER HAS 5 HITS & 6 RBI, HELPS TURN PAIR OF DOUBLE PLAYS ON DEFENSE

BURLINGTON, VER. (Aug. 8, 1868) – Normally, when St. John’s puts the sword to a New England opponent the key player is one of their plethora of All-Stars. Today that was not the case, as a first-year starter took center stage in the team’s mauling of Green Mountain in the season’s penultimate game:

While the legendary St. John’s outfield trio did play very well in the fifteen-run win – Konrad Jensen was 2/5 (2 R, 2 BB), William Johnson was 4/4 (4 R), & Nelson Townsend was also 2/5 (2 R, 1 BB) – the Player of the Game honor on this day went to SS John Baddley.

The #7 man in the St. John’s lineup did the following:

• T1: 2-run Double to RCF off S. Cato
• T3: 1-run Double to CF off S. Cato
• T4: 1-run Sac Fly to RF off S. Cato
• T5: 1-run Single past SS off W. Unger
• T7: 1-run Single past SS off W. Unger (R)
• T8: Single past SS off W. Unger (R)
• TOTAL: 5/5, 3 2B, 2 R, 6 RBI, 2 DEF DP, 96 GMSC

Baddley, a 25-year-old who is in his fifth year as a member of the St. John’s Baseball Club, has been a quality player in his first season as a regular starter for the senior team. He has a .317 average, .816 OPS, 35 extra-base hits, 55 RBI, and 2.0 WAR after having started his 60th game of the season on Saturday. Also, he is ending his maiden season as a regular player on quite a hot streak, batting 15/33 (.484) over his last seven games with a 1.195 OPS and thirteen RBI.

Baddley has added an element of quality that has been missing from the middle of the St. John’s infield in recent years and, after all, what could St. John’s possibly need more than even more high-level talent?

tm1681 · 11-07-2024, 03:48 PM

ST. JOHN’S BREAKS OWN RECORDS, SETS NEW ONES
STJ SCORES RECORD AMOUNT OF RUNS 2ND YEAR IN A ROW; HAS PAIR OF BATSMEN WITH 1.000 OPS

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Aug. 10, 1868) – Throughout the twelve-season history of the NBBO, one thing above all others has been certain: St. John’s BC will have a terrifying offense. They are patient at the plate, experts at safely getting on base, and once on their legendary baserunning aggression drives opponents mad. St. John’s is the only team ever to score 675 runs in a season (closest: KNI w/ 672 in 1867), the only team ever to draw 200 Bases on Balls in a season (closest: ATL w/ 169 in 1860), and the only team ever to reach 200 Stolen Bases in a season (closest: SYR w/ 172 in 1864).

Every year the St. John’s attack achieves things that none of the other 47 teams in the NBBO can even dream of, and this year was no different as the team broke its own record for runs in a season that it set just last year, and they made other offensive history as well.

In 1867 St. John’s became the first team in NBBO history to score 675+ runs in a season, finishing with 676 over their seventy games (9.65 R/G). Apparently not content with that level of offensive production, St. John’s has finished the 1868 season eight runs better than last year’s addition, totaling 684 runs over 70 games (9.77 R/G). Their .325 team average was fourth-best in NEL history. Their .369 on-base tied the 1860 Mass. Bay team for best in NEL history and 2nd-best in NBBO history. Their .444 slugging percentage set a new NBBO record, and their .813 OPS did the same. Their 205 doubles also made St. John’s the first team to hit 200+ doubles in a season.

The only area major area in which St. John’s did not display their usual historical level of output was on the basepaths, where they stole “only” 190 bases, which still led the NBBO and was 21 more than any other NEL team.

As the St. John’s team broke new ground in offensive excellence, so did some of their players in 1868.

Not surprisingly, it was Konrad Jensen who did the most to bring historical achievement to the St. John’s lineup. The one-time prodigy and now eight-time All-Star was the only player in the NEL to bat over .400 – he hit .403 – and he set new NBBO records for Runs (112) & OPS (1.088) in a season. He was also the first corner outfielder to cross the 5.0 WAR barrier in a single season (5.1 WAR in 70 games).

With the extraordinary trio of Jensen, William Johnson, & Nelson Townsend forming the foundation of the St. John’s lineup, whoever batted behind them would drive in plenty of runs. Still, the man they brought in to replace the departed Collin Henderson (Gotham) was a major surprise, as newcomer Tarmo Kuopio hit .366 while tying the single-season RBI record with 90 in his first NBBO campaign.

Jensen and Johnson became the first set of teammates to finish a season with an OPS over 1.000 – Jensen with his record-setting 1.088 and leadoff man Johnson with a career-high 1.018, 9th-best in NBBO history. They also finished the season with on-base marks #3 and #4 in NBBO history, with .480 & .479 respectively.

St. John’s also became the first team to have three members of the lineup finish the season batting over .360, with Jensen batting .403, Johnson batting .397, & Kuopio batting .366. The team very nearly made an incredible piece of history as going into the final game both Jensen & Johnson were batting over .400, but a 0-6 day by Johnson at Green Mountain brought his average back down from .405.

So, another season and another bunch of history made by the mighty men of St. John’s. The team has been doing it for so long that one could not be blamed for taking their record-breaking production for granted at this point, as there is simply no other team in the NBBO capable of doing what they do on a base ball diamond.

tm1681 · 11-07-2024, 03:49 PM

CREIGHTON LEADS NYL IN WINS, WAR, OBP, & OPS
SUPERSTAR IS 1ST PLAYER TO LEAD IN MULTIPLE PITCHING & BATTING CATEGORIES IN SAME SEASON

BROOKLYN (Aug. 10, 1868) – Every year base ball fans think that Excelsior’s mighty Jim Creighton could not possibly get any better, and yet every year he manages to do just that. This season Creighton has taken his considerable talents and turned them into a level of production that even he probably thought was not reachable: Creighton has become the first player in NBBO history to lead his league in multiple major pitching AND batting categories in the same season.

Creighton, Excelsior’s #1 and the most talented pitcher in the NBBO, had the following pitching line for 1868:

• 29-11, 2.70 ERA, 362.2 IP, 35 CG, 0 SHO, 35 BB, 197 K, 5.6 K/BB, 4.9 K/9, 1.11 WHIP, 11.8 WAR, 12.9 rWAR

With the ball, Creighton tied Grover Wright’s NYL record for Wins in a season while setting numerous new NBBO high marks for pitching excellence, most notably in become the first pitcher with 150+ strikeouts in a season and nearly the first with 200.

With the bat Creighton was dynamite for the second season in a row:

• 60 G, .378/.463/.514, .977 OPS (174 OPS+), 71 R, 84 H, 22 2B, 4 3B, 0 HR, 44 RBI, 5 SB, 3.3 WPA, 2.3 WAR

Crieghton led the NYL in On-base & OPS for the second consecutive season, after leading the league in both as well as Batting Average in 1867 (.416).

What makes 1868 uniquely historic for Creighton as that he was pipped to both the NYL lead in Wins and WAR last season. He was 27-15 while Peadar Daly (KNI) was 28-11, and James Goodman (MIN) bested his WAR of 8.4 with a mark of 8.6. With Creighton the unquestionable NYL leader in Wins, Strikeouts, WAR, and a slew of other pitching categories as well as leading the league in On-base & OPS, he has become the first player in NBBO history to lead his league in multiple pitching and batting categories in the same season.

Creighton’s WAR from pitching and batting total up to an inconceivable 14.1, which has shattered the mark for Combined WAR he set last season with 11.1.

The 1868 season has been Jim Creighton’s finest, and to think that he only turned 27 in the middle of April! He is truly the most unique man who has ever set foot on a base ball field, and one shudders to imagine what he could achieve over the next decade.

tm1681 · 11-07-2024, 03:53 PM

THE 1868 CUP FIELD IS SET
ONLY ST. JOHN’S RETURNS FROM 1867; KINGS COUNTY IS BACK; TWO ARE IN FOR THE FIRST TIME

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (Aug. 10, 1866) – There were nearly extra games needed, but in the end all regions were decided in 70 games and the Tucker-Wheaton Cup field has been set for 1868.

There is almost total turnover from last year’s TWC field – only St. John’s, and of course it is St. John’s, returns from last year’s group of six. One familiar team is back, two teams have made the postseason for the first time in more than five years, and two teams are playing extracurricular base ball for the first time.

BROOKLYN – Kings County took the Brooklyn pennant for the first time in four years, and no doubt they feel like they are back where they belong. It was a slow march to the Brooklyn title for K.C., as they had a two-game lead over Excelsior at the midway mark, a three-game a few days into July, and a four-game lead by the beginning of August before clinching.

KEY PLAYER: James Peters (P) – 28-9, 2.52 ERA, 321.2 IP, 3 SHO, 54 BB, 36 K, 1.13 WHIP, 4.1 WAR, 10.8 rWAR

NEW YORK CITY – Orange BBC took control of the NYC Championship in July. A 17-6 month saw their two-game lead over defending NBBO champions Knickerbocker swell to seven, and from there they were able to ease on in for their first NYC pennant since 1862 by those same seven games.

KEY PLAYER: Raynard Cordell (P) – 27-8, 2.35 ERA, 337.0 IP, 1 SHO, 40 BB, 35 K, 1.08 WHIP, 5.2 WAR, 11.8 rWAR

UPSTATE N.Y. – Upstate NY was a mess at the start of July, with the top seven teams just seven games apart. Surprising Binghamton led by one game but Niagara moved to the top of the standings with a week left in the month, and from there they held off Flour City & Utica to take the pennant by two games. This is Niagara’s first postseason trip in six years.

KEY PLAYER: Taliesin Buckley (CF) – .348 AVG, .830 OPS, 81 R, 116 H, 31 XBH, 73 RBI, 65 SB, 4.8 WPA, 3.4 WAR

COASTAL – Tied for 1st place with 3x defending Coastal champs Shamrock on July 1st, American went 16-7 over the next month to take control of the Coastal Championship and end up winning it by four games. This is American’s first pennant, one earned after seven other top-four finishes. They are one of two first-timers in this year’s TWC.

KEY PLAYER: William Busby (1B) – .366 AVG, 1.019 OPS, 92 R, 105 H, 35 XBH, 13 HR, 77 RBI, 4.4 WPA, 3.7 WAR

INLAND – Alleghany & Susquehanna took part in an epic battle for Inland. They were a game apart after Week Seven, two games apart on July 1st, one game apart on July 15th, and even one week later. Over the last fourteen games Susquehanna was 9-5 while Alleghany was 8-6, and that meant Susquehanna raised the Inland pennant for the first time.

KEY PLAYER: Elmer Seabold (P) – 29-11, 2.41 ERA, 340.0 IP, 24 CG, 51 BB, 134 K, 1.24 WHIP, 8.1 WAR, 7.1 rWAR

NEW ENGLAND – St. John’s was two games in front of Sons of the Ocean on July 1st. A 20-3 July turned that into a ten-game lead and the team’s eleventh New England title over the NBBO’s twelve seasons, as their mighty offense led the Northeastern League in seemingly every notable category and set more records.

KEY PLAYER: Konrad Jensen (OF) – .403 AVG, 1.088 OPS, 112 R, 123 H, 45 XBH, 81 RBI, 64 SB, 5.7 WPA, 5.1 WAR

THE 1868 TUCKER-WHEATON CUP

FORMAT: Each team plays all others twice, once home and once away, for a total of ten games. The team with the best record wins the cup. A one-game playoff will be held at The Elysian Fields in Manhattan if there is a tie for 1st place. Head-to-Head record and Run Differential will be used as tiebreakers to determine other positions in the case of identical record.

TEAMS: The six entrants to the Tucker-Wheaton Cup, sorted by record & run differential.

• St. John’s (N. England) – 50-20 (+197 RD)
• Orange BBC (NYC) – 49-21 (+162 RD)
• Kings County (Brooklyn) – 49-21 (+121 RD)
• American (Coastal) – 48-22 (+139 RD)
• Susquehanna (Inland) – 48-22 (+84 RD)
• Niagara (Upstate NY) – 43-27 (+107 RD)

SCHEDULE: The tournament is twelve days in length, teams receiving Monday & Tuesday off as they do during the season.

• Aug. 12: Orange at Niagara, St. John’s at American, Kings Co. at Susquehanna
• Aug. 13: Niagara at Susquehanna, St. John’s at Kings Co., American at Orange
• Aug. 14: Niagara at American, St. John’s at Susquehanna, Kings Co. at Orange
• Aug. 15: Niagara at Orange, American at St. John’s, Susquehanna at Kings Co.
• Aug. 16: Niagara at Kings Co., St. John’s at Orange, Susquehanna at American
• Aug. 17: DAY OFF
• Aug. 18: DAY OFF
• Aug. 19: Niagara at St. John’s, Susquehanna at Orange, Kings Co. at American
• Aug. 20: Susquehanna at Niagara, Kings Co. at St. John’s, Orange at American
• Aug. 21: St. John’s at Niagara, Orange at Susquehanna, American at Kings Co.
• Aug. 22: American at Niagara, Susquehanna at St. John’s, Orange at Kings Co.
• Aug. 23: Kings Co. at Niagara, Orange at St. John’s, American at Susquehanna

The Writers Pool has been asked their collective opinion of what they expect from this year’s cup competition, and they have the teams in the following order:

• #1: St. John’s (54-16, 27-8 2nd half, 7-3 last 10, WWWW last 4, 4 cup wins, new NBBO record with 9.8 R/G)
• #2: Kings Co. (49-21, 23-12 2nd half, 8-2 last 10, 2 cup wins, 26-9 Away record best in NBBO)
• #3: American (48-22, 26-9 2nd half, 6-4 last 10, WWW last 3, 1st postseason, 22-13 Away record led NEL)
• #4: Orange (49-21, 25-10 2nd half, 8-2 last 10, 1 cup win, 30-5 Home record best in NBBO)
• #5: Niagara (43-27, 23-12 2nd half, 7-3 last 10, 12.9 Batting WAR & 186 SB led NYL)
• #6: Susquehanna (48-22, 23-12 2nd half, 7-3 last 10, 1st postseason, 13-4 in 1-Run G, Pyth. W-L was 41-29)

tm1681 · 11-08-2024, 12:05 PM

TWC XII: THE RETURN OF THE HOUSE OF ORANGE

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (Aug. 12-23, 1868) – The 1866 & 1867 editions of the Tucker-Wheaton Cup saw the same six teams contend for the NBBO championship – the group of six clearly a step above the rest that base ball had to offer. The 1868 edition of the cup would see a welcome change, with five of the six previous regional champions dethroned and two postseason debutantes qualifying for the competition.

The only returnee from last season was, of course, St. John’s, who made the cup with an NBBO-best 50-20 record and +197 Run Differential while breaking their own high-water mark for runs scored in a season. Along with them came five fresh entrants – a mix of former powers, long-delayed returnees, and first-time competitors.

The biggest name among the five new teams in this year’s cup was Kings County. The 2x cup winners (1860-61) were back in the postseason after watching Excelsior take the Brooklyn pennant in each of the previous three seasons. They were sporting the NYL’s best team batting average, reliable players at many positions, and a 28-9 #1 pitcher in James Peters.

Orange BBC was vying for the cup for the first time since 1862, with the ’59 cup winners overcoming Knickerbocker in the NYC Championship thanks to the NYL’s best pitching and defense. They were only 8th in runs and 13th in average in the NYL, but #1 Raynard Cordell was 27-8 with a league-best 2.35 ERA and they had two other All-Stars in 3B Will Chaffin and C Everett Schreiber.

Niagara was playing extra ball for the first time in five years. They used a hot second half and excellent offense (8.2 R/G) to come out on top of a tightly-packed Upstate New York Championship. They were led by star CF Taliesin Buckley, but Niagara had six other players with past or current All-Star Games on their resumés and they could boast of having the fastest team in the NYL.

American took down 7x Coastal champions Shamrock to make the cup playoff for the first time. They had record-setting power hitter William Busby, 8x All-Star Willie Davis, Peter Boyce, Werner Verstegen, and a bonafide #1 in newcomer Tom Hauser. This was an extremely dangerous team – one that had the best offense in the NBBO outside of St. John’s.

Susquehanna was also in the playoffs for the first time thanks to fantastic success in one-run games (13-4) and incredible pitching from young star Elmer Seabold. They lacked the star power of the other teams in the TWC field, but the fact that they beat out 7x pennant winners Alleghany to make the cup meant Susquehanna could not be taken lightly.

The favorites to take the cup were St. John’s, thanks to their status as the only 50-win team, their NBBO-best Run Differential, and their 27-8 record over the second half of the season. However, American almost matched St. John’s win for win over the final seven weeks, Kings County was 26-9 away from home, Orange was 30-5 in their home park, Niagara was already battle-hardened thanks to the Upstate NY pennant chase, and Susquehanna mastered close contests.

Would the perennial favorites win the Tucker-Wheaton Cup for the 5th time? Or was it going to be a wide-open cup competition in 1868?

tm1681 · 11-08-2024, 12:06 PM

GAMEDAY ONE (Wed. August 12th)

ORA 11-2 NIA – 1B Hawk Peterson (ORA): 2/5, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI
K.C. 7-6 SUS (10 Inn.) – C Harold Constance (SUS): 3/5, 2B, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI
STJ 14-11 AME – OF Konrad Jensen (STJ): 2/6, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 SB

What looks like a massive rout on paper really came down a single inning in Buffalo. Ahead 2-0 going into the top of the 7th, Orange proceeded to score nine runs on four hits and five Niagara errors to take total control. Raynard Cordell held Niagara to two hits, while 3x All-Star Peterson was the offensive star for Orange.

The contest in Wilkes-Barre needed an extra inning to find a winner, and Kings Co. earned it when pinch hitter Vic Whitley singled in fellow substitute Merton Lanier with one out in the top of the 10th. It was a fortuitous result for K.C., who only had seven hits but had batsmen reach a further five times thanks to Bases on Balls by Susquehanna star Elmer Seabold.

The two best offenses in the NBBO put on a show in Glenwood Field. The visitors were up 8-1 after three innings and 13-3 after the top of the 7th, but a six-run barrage by American in B7 made it a much closer contest. St. John’s added an insurance run and were able to hold on from there, with the first four in their lineup batting 10/23 with 10 runs & 8 RBI.

GAMEDAY TWO (Thu. August 13th)

STJ 6-10 K.C. – CF Alexander Leininger (K.C.): 3/5, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI
AME 3-14 ORA – CF Demy Poortman (ORA): 3/5, 3B, 3 R, 3 RBI
NIA 7-5 SUS – 1B Walter Driscoll (NIA): 2/3, 2B, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB

The game in Brooklyn was effectively over by the end of the 3rd inning, as Kings Co. had a 7-2 lead. They scored three more runs before St. John’s was able to even think about a comeback, and then was far too late. Five K.C. batsmen had multiple hits, with Leininger the key player.

American put up another putrid defensive display, committing a cup record fourteen errors as Orange used those miscues to score thirteen runs over the first six innings in an easy victory. Orange batsmen #3-8 all had multiple hits, and Poortman was the best of the bunch.

Niagara took a tight contest thanks to run-scoring singles in the top of the 7th by P Clyde Branagan and SS Ernest Lewis. Branagan did plenty to help his own cause, batting 2/5 with a run in addition to his RBI while pitching the full game. Taliesin Buckley was 3/6, but Driscoll reached base four times and hit a double to earn PotG honors.

GAMEDAY THREE (Fri. August 14th)

K.C. 4-1 ORA – P James Peters (K.C.): CG, 6 HA, 1 R/1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
NIA 9-11 AME – OF Gerald McCarthy (AME): 2/4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
STJ 8-5 SUS – OF Nelson Townsend (STJ) – 2/3, 3B, R, 3 RBI, BB, 2 SB

Kings Co. scored all four of their runs in the second inning, the key hit being a 1-run triple by OF James Hoyt, in their victory at Orange. The visitors put in a brilliant defensive performance, committing just one error while turning a pair of double plays and getting an outfield assist from Alex Leininger. Peters allowed six hits and had an easy time in Manhattan.

American took their first win of the cup by dominating the middle innings against Niagara. Seven runs in the 4th and three more in the 5th put the hosts ahead 11-5, which was enough of a cushion that they were to withstand a late Niagara rally. Both American corner OF’s were 2/4 with a double, two runs, and two RBI, with McCarthy chosen PotG over Frazer Daly.

Like American, St. John’s won their game at Susquehanna in the middle innings. Behind 5-2 entering the 5th, St. John’s scored twice in T5 and three more times in T6 to take a 7-5 lead before adding an insurance run in the 9th. The St. John’s outfield trio combined to hit 8/12, with Townsend the best of the three.

Kings Co. was the only undefeated team left after Gameday Three, with Susquehanna the only winless team.

GAMEDAY FOUR (Sat. August 15th)

AME 12-6 STJ – OF Frazer Daly (AME): 3/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
SUS 4-6 K.C. – 1B Garfield Koonce (K.C.): 2/4, 2B, 2 R, RBI
NIA 4-9 ORA – 3B Will Chaffin (ORA): 2/4, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, SB

American did a great job to take advantage of St. John’s mistakes, scoring twelve runs on just nine hits thanks to ten fielding errors by the hosts. Daly had multiple hits for the second day in a row and took PotG as a result, while Willie Davis was 2/5 with two runs and an RBI and Gerald McCarthy hit a bases-loaded double in the 8th.

Elmer Seabold sent down six K.C. batters on strikes, but the hosts were able to do enough on offense to move to 4-0 for the competition. Koonce, James Hoyt, & Carlton McShane had multiple hits while Charles Matthews pitched efficiently to give Susquehanna another close loss.

Orange won it early against Niagara, scoring all nine of their runs over the first five innings. OF Elwood Taggart was 3/4, but Chaffin was Orange’s best player as he did a little bit of everything. Old hand Harold Perry allowed one Earned Run while pitching the entire game for Orange.

As with Gameday Three, Kings Co. remained the only undefeated team while Susquehanna remained the only winless team.

GAMEDAY FIVE (Sun. August 16th)

NIA 25-4 K.C. – 3B Zorba Koustoubos (NIA): 4/6, 2 2B, 3 R, 6 RBI
STJ 12-7 ORA – 2B Thomas DiMola (STJ): 2/3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB
SUS 13-5 AME – 3B Logan Hickey (SUS): 3/5, 3 R, RBI

The excellent play by K.C. came to a screeching halt on Sunday afternoon in one of the stranger games in TWC history. No fewer than 37 Niagara batsmen reached base, with eight of nine batsmen recording multiple hits. The only Niagara player with one hit, Walt Driscoll, drew three Bases on Balls. It was an inexplicable afternoon in Washington Park.

St. John’s took control with a six-run 6th inning in the Upper Manhattan Grounds, with the rally propelled by a pair of two-run singles by DiMola and Konrad Jensen. DiMola’s surprise performance earned him the PotG honor, but Jensen, Tarmo Kuopio, and Dag Nielsen also had multiple hits.

Susquehanna finally broke through in Philadelphia to get in the win column, although it took a big effort late. Behind 5-2 entering the 8th, Susquehanna scored eight runs in the top of the 8th and three more in the 9th to turn a likely loss into a desperately needed victory.

The standings after Gameday Five of the Tucker-Wheaton Cup were as follows:

Code:

TEAM			W	L	 R	RA	 RD
KINGS COUNTY	        4	1	31	42	-11
ORANGE			3	2	42	27	+15
ST. JOHN’S		3	2	46	45	 +1
NIAGARA			2	3	47	40	 +7
AMERICAN		2	3	44	56	-12
SUSQUEHANNA		1	4	33	33	  0

Thanks to their bizarre outing on Gameday Five, Kings Co. was alone atop the competition with a -11 Run Differential, easily the worst RD for a cup leader at the midway point. Still, K.C. played very well during their four wins and that loss to Niagara looked like an aberration. At the very least, it was an abomination.

King’s Co.’s loss meant that the four teams behind them in the standings were still very much in contention. Orange had looked dominant in their three wins, with their two losses coming to K.C. and St. John’s. St. John’s had alternated wins and losses, but had battered opposing pitching in their victories. Niagara looked like a team a step below after Gameday Four, but their 25-4 win at K.C. was the kind of result that could give them a major boost for the second half of the competition. American had been very inconsistent, but their talent meant they remained a threat.

The only one of the six teams that really looked lost was Susquehanna, who struggled late in each of their first four games before they finally snapped out of their stupor in the 13-5 win at American. The result was much-needed, but they were still three games off the pace.

tm1681 · 11-08-2024, 12:08 PM

GAMEDAY SIX (Wed. August 19th)

SUS 1-2 ORA – P Raynard Cordell (ORA): CG, 4 HA, 1 R/0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
K.C. 12-13 AME – OF Frazer Daly (AME): 4/6, 2 2B, R, 5 RBI, GW HIT
NIA 10-13 STJ – OF Nelson Townsend (STJ): 2/5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB

Orange moved to 4-2 with a walkoff victory over Susquehanna. With the score 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Demy Poortman came to bat after Everett Schrieber’s double and doubled him home to end the game, giving Cordell a much-deserved win. Elmer Seabold was excellent in defeat, allowing six hits over 8.1 innings while striking out four Orange batsmen.

American won via their own walkoff, although theirs was much more dramatic. Behind 12-9 entering the bottom of the 9th, American scored four times to deal K.C. a crushing loss. Daly’s two-run single won the contest and earned him his second PotG nod in three games, but William Busby was 3/6 with three runs & RBI and Peter Boyce was 3/6 with four runs.

St. John’s made fairly light work of Niagara – their 13-5 lead after seven innings allowing them to absorb a number of late runs to move to 4-2. As usual the Jensen/Johnson/Townsend trio was great, but the bottom third of their lineup – SS John Baddley, 2B Thomas DiMola, & P Will Tighe – each had two hits while Tighe drove in two runs.

The results of Gameday six meant there were three teams tied for first place at 4-2.

GAMEDAY SEVEN (Thu. August 20th)

K.C. 6-7 STJ (10 Inn.) – C Dag Nielsen (STJ): 2/5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI
SUS 13-1 NIA – C Harold Constance (SUS): 4/5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2/3 RTO
ORA 8-6 AME – 1B Hawk Peterson (ORA): 3/5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI

Kings County took another tough-to-swallow loss in Providence. Ahead 6-5 in the 9th, Charlie Matthews allowed a game-tying home run to Nielsen, his first homer in more than two years. In the 10th, Nelson Townsend came to bat with two out and singled in William Johnson to win the game for St. John’s, a massive reversal of fortune for both teams.

Susquehanna crushed Niagara – all the runs scored in the first six innings. The hosts totaled just four base hits while committing a dozen errors on defense, their twelve-run loss made all that much worse by the fact that it was Frank Nicholas pitching for Susquehanna and not Elmer Seabold.

A close game in Philadelphia – 2-1 to Orange after the 3rd, 6-5 after the 5th, and 7-6 after the 7th before the visitors added an insurance run in the 9th to safeguard the result. Harold Perry went the distance to go to 3-0 in the TWC, and while Peterson took PotG OF Henry Hodgson was 4/5 with a pair of RBI.

The results of Gameday Seven left Orange & St. John’s tied for first place at 5-2.

GAMEDAY EIGHT (Fri. August 21)

STJ 10-7 NIA – 1B Tarmo Kuopio (STJ): 3/5, 2B, R, 4 RBI
AME 5-8 K.C. – 1B Garfield Koonce (K.C.): 2/4, 2 2B, R, RBI
ORA 10-4 SUS – 2B Ilari Marino (ORA) – 2/5, 2 R, 3 RBI

St. John’s entered the 8th having just allowed five runs to turn a 7-2 lead into a 7-7 tie. However, they kept calm and scored three times in the 8th to take the lead back and win the game. Kuopio was PotG, but Konrad Jensen was 4/5 with three runs and two steals while Nelson Townsend was 2/5 with two runs scored.

Kings Co. stopped their losing streak with a big effort in the middle innings. Six runs over the 4th-6th turned a 4-2 deficit into an 8-4 lead, and from there all American could muster for a comeback was a single run. The hosts had fifteen hits, led by Leen van Rooij’s three, and Koonce’s pair of doubles earned him PotG.

Susquehanna scored the first four runs of the game against Orange and they remained ahead 4-0 after the 4th. Orange then scored ten times over the next three innings to turn the contest on its head and move to 6-2. Five Orange batsmen had multiple hits including P Raynard Cordell, but Marino earned PotG thanks to his three RBI.

The results of Gameday Eight knocked three teams out of contention. Only Kings County, Orange, & St. John’s were left:

Code:

TEAM			W	L	 R	RA	 RD
ORANGE			6	2	62	38	+24
ST. JOHN’S		6	2	76	68	 +8
KINGS COUNTY	        5	3	57	67	-10

Orange would be playing at K.C. on Gameday Nine, while St. John’s would be at home against Susquehanna.

GAMEDAY NINE (Sat. August 22nd)

AME 5-14 NIA – OF William Maier (NIA) – 4/5, 3 R, 3 RBI
ORA 3-1 K.C. – P Harold Perry (ORA) – CG, 4 HA, 1 R/0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
SUS 5-15 STJ – OF Konrad Jensen (STJ) – 2/4, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, SB, OF AST

Niagara took care of business in the game between two eliminated teams, scoring nine runs over the first two innings as they routed American. Six Niagara players had multiple hits. P Clyde Branagan was 3/5 and 3B Zorba Koustoubos was 3/5 with three runs & two RBI, but Maier’s 4/5 day was good enough for PotG.

The Orange offense struggled in Brooklyn, connecting on just five hits, but that did not matter as the 35-year-old Perry put in a brilliant pitching performance to go to 4-0 in the TWC with a 1.50 ERA. The decisive run occurred in T3 when 2B Ilari Marino scored on an error. Orange added another run in the 7th on a Squeeze Play.

St. John’s needed a win to keep pace with Orange, and fifteen runs over the first five innings against Susquehanna guaranteed that they did just that. Jensen, who did everything, was PotG, but every St. John's batsman bar the pitcher had multiple hits. 1B Tarmo Kuopio had three RBI, and 2B Thomas DiMola added four.

There were now two teams left in contention for the cup – Orange & St. John’s:

Code:

TEAM			W	L	 R	RA	 RD
ORANGE			7	2	65	39	+26
ST. JOHN’S		7	2	91	73	+18

Orange would be playing at St. John’s on Gameday Ten, with the victor lifting the cup.

GAMEDAY TEN (Sun. August 23rd)

K.C. 10-15 NIA – 1B Walter Driscoll (NIA): 4/6, 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI, SB
AME 8-7 SUS – CF Willie Davis (AME): 3/5, 3 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI
ORA 9-6 STJ – 3B Will Chaffin (ORA): 3/4, 3 R, RBI, SB

Kings Co. & Niagara battered each other for nine innings in Buffalo, with the hosts getting the better of their metropolitan visitors. Driscoll & Ernest Lewis had four hits for Niagara, Zorba Koustoubos added three, and Lewis drove in three runs as Niagara ended the cup competition in fine fashion.

American ended the cup with a win thanks to a ninth-inning rally. Behind 6-5, Willie Davis doubled in William Busby, Raymond Brinkman sacrificed in Davis, and Thomas Onstad singled in Frazer Daly to give American the three runs they needed to take the lead and win the game. The loss ended an incredibly frustrating competition for Susquehanna.

Orange BBC ended the competition with a memorable victory at St. John’s to take the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. It was close for much of the contest, but with the score 6-4 Orange came to bat in the top of the 8th and scored three runs – one via Will Chaffin single and two via Ilari Marino double – to put the dagger in St. John’s and see to it that the cup would reside in Manhattan for the third time in four years.

It was a very deserved win for Orange. While they only had the #4 offense in the competition, Orange easily had the best pitching & defense and their Run Differential was far superior to that of any other team.

This was Orange’s first cup triumph since 1859, and this would certainly be seen as the more satisfying of the two given how and where they clinched the cup.

tm1681 · 11-08-2024, 12:09 PM

FINAL STANDINGS

MVP: OF Konrad Jensen (STJ) – .400 (18/45), 1.053 OPS, 2 2B, 2 3B, 15 R, 13 RBI, 6 BB/0 K, 10 SB/1 CS
2x PotG, 175 WRC+, 193 OPS+, 2 OF AST, 1.1 WPA, 0.8 WAR in 10 Games

The favorites, St. John’s, were right there until the very end, but the best defense in the NBBO won out in a memorable encounter in Providence on the final day of the competition. The only team that finished as expected by the Writers Pool was last-place Susquehanna.

It wasn’t the historic performance of the 1865 Knickerbocker team, but champions Orange allowed the second-fewest runs of any team in the Round Robin era of the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. Their pitching & defense was simply superior, and it meant that having a comparatively mediocre offense was no issue. Hawk Peterson (.378, 11 RBI) was their best batter, but the pitching duo of Raynard Cordell (4-2, 3.22, 50.1 IP) and Harold Perry (4-0, 1.50, 36.0 IP) carried the team.

As expected, St. John’s had the best offense in the competition and their stars were fantastic. Jensen had an OPS over 1.000 with 15 R, 13 RBI, & 10 SB. Kuopio had 18 RBI. Townsend had 11 R, 10 RBI, & 7 SB. Johnson scored a dozen runs. However, what did them in was secondary pitching, William Tighe was 5-1 with a 3.88 ERA, but other St. John’s pitchers were 2-2 with a higher ERA while walking thirteen batters in 43.2 innings compared to eight in 46.1 for Tighe.

Kings County started 4-0 but the 25-4 home loss to Niagara on Gameday Five undid their entire campaign, as the two-time champs ended up 5-5. The K.C. offense was not bad and their regular pitchers both had ERA’s under 3.00, but in four of the team’s five losses they committed 10+ fielding errors, profligacy that doomed K.C as the cup went on.

Do not be fooled by Niagara’s +3 Run Differential – without their Gameday Five result that RD turns into a -18. They were mostly outstanding in their four wins, but very poor in their losses. Walter Driscoll (1.002 OPS, 17 R, 10 BB, 7 SB) and Zorba Koustoubos (.422, .969 OPS, 13 RBI) were excellent, but Hamish Barclay (9/50) was a major letdown.

American became one of the few teams to allow 10+ runs per game during the Round Robin era. That they still won four games speaks to their offensive talent. William Busby (.422, .979 OPS, 9 RBI) was brilliant and a number of their batsman did well, but #1 Tom Hauser’s 8.26 ERA over 40.1 innings sums up the team’s pitching efforts during the competition.

Susquehanna easily had the most frustrating cup competition out of the six teams. Susquehanna’s eight losses in the cup were by 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 6, 10, and 1 run. That is only two blowouts out of the eight, and with some more luck or better late-inning play they could have finished in the top three. Elmer Seabold had an ERA of 3.44 and struck out 22 yet was 0-6.

Konrad Jensen did not play for the cup champions, but he was clearly the best player in the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. He had the highest OPS & WAR of any batsman, and Jensen was the only player who finished with 10+ runs, RBI, and stolen bases. His performance on Gameday Nine was a perfect summary of Jensen’s cup run: he hit for extra bases, scored runs, drove in runs, stole bases, drew bases on balls, and threw out baserunners from the outfield. He was simply fantastic.

Some wanted to give the MVP to Harold Perry, as the Orange pitcher was 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA over four Complete Games (0.7 WAR, 1.6 rWAR) during the cup. However, fellow Orange pitcher Raynard Cordell also won four games (4-2) and Perry pitched in just four games while Cordell took part in six.

Had American BC pitching not been a disaster then William Busby might have received MVP attention. The first baseman hit .422, tied with Koustoubos for best in the competition, with fourteen runs scored, ten runs batted in, a .979 OPS, and a cup-leading WPA of 1.4 in just ten games. As it was, forgotten excellence for a team whose offense could not keep up due to catastrophic pitching.

tm1681 · 11-09-2024, 04:53 PM

1868 NATIONAL BASE BALL ORGANIZATION REVIEW

WRITERS POOL OBSERVATIONS

This was a strange season. Offense was down slightly in both leagues, but at the same time individual records for Slugging, OPS, Runs, Doubles, Triples, Home Runs, Extra-Base Hits, and RBI were tied or broken. Record amounts of players drove in 75+ runs, the most players hit 5+ Home Runs in five years, and a number of team offensive records were broken as well.

There were a number of regions in which there was a clear break in quality between the top half of the standings and the bottom half. In Brooklyn, 3rd-place Continental was six games back of Kings County while 4th-place Empire was 15 GB. In New York City, 4th-place Metropolitan was eight GB while 5th-place Harlem was 17 GB. In Coastal, 3rd-place Mass. Bay was seven GB and 4th-place Quaker St. was 14 GB. Of course, Inland was a two-team race and New England was a one-team race. Only in Upstate NY, where the top six teams finished within seven games of each other, was the competition wide open.

Orange is a team that clearly rises to the occasion. They have only made the playoffs three times over a dozen years but have taken home the cup twice. The first time (1859) they took out Kings County & Shamrock in the last two rounds of the playoffs to win the title, and this year they took the cup with wins at K.C. & St. John’s over the last two days of the TWC.

St. John’s finished runner-up in the Tucker Wheaton Cup, but their NBBO-best 50-20 record brought their cumulative record over twelve seasons of NBBO play to 572-268, a .681 winning percentage. That means that St. Johns’ AVERAGE finish to a season has been 48-22, by far the best of any of the organization’s 48 teams.

Alleghany had a very unique season. They finished second in the Inland Championship even though their Run Differential was more than 100 runs better than winners Susquehanna (+188 to +84). That was an NBBO first.

Jim Creighton is now at the peak of his powers. He broke a number of pitching records in 1868, and yet he remained one of the most dangerous batsmen in the New York League. He’s still only 27 so he could conceivably perform like this for another decade.

Konrad Jensen may finally be able to stake a claim as the best batsman in the sport. Counting his accolades from this year, Jensen is now a 2x BotY, 2x MVP, 2x Golden Glove winner, 8x All-Star, and 8x Team of the Year member. He has hit .400, and he has the single-season records for OPS, Runs, Bases on Balls, and Stolen Bases after having a historically-great 1868.

As it turned out, Kings Co. was right to let Cormack Alexander leave for Quaker St., fresh off a BotY award, and then give first base to the unproven Garfield Koonce. Koonce hit .372 with a .930 OPS (157 OPS+), 56 RBI, and 2.9 WAR in his first season as a member of the K.C. senior team, while Alexander set career lows for average (.357), OPS (.873, 139 OPS+), and RBI (47) during his first season in Philadelphia.

This year’s most underappreciated player: Excelsior 3B Gil Cappelletti (.358, 44 XBH, 78 RBI, 2.7 WAR). The newcomer led NYL third basemen in numerous offensive categories but lost out on a Team of the Year nod because Will Chaffin had a fine season for the champions. Then he was overlooked for Newcomer awards because of great hitting by Koonce and great pitching by Will Johannessen. He’s only 24, so more seasons like this one should see Cappelletti receive his due credit.

Sons of the Ocean may need to see St. John’s move to the Coastal or leave the NBBO altogether in order to take the throne in New England. Their N.E. finishes since shocking everyone by taking the pennant in 1865: 2nd, 2nd, & 2nd. They have been 2nd or 3rd in New England no less than TEN TIMES while being within ten games of St. John’s eight out of the ten.

What has happened to Mutual? The one-time NYC champs (1860) spent the first nine years of the competition mostly in the top half of the standings, but their records over the past three seasons have been 20-50 (8th), 28-42 (7th), & 21-49 (8th). This happened AFTER they signed one of the game’s premier talents: Anderson MacGyver from St. John's. Is there any hope going forward?

Sportsman’s had a bizarre season in one area: baserunning. They were the worst baserunning team in the NBBO by all metrics, and they easily broke an NBBO record by stealing only 20 bases all season, with only three players on the entire team pilfering bases in 1868. Nearly six dozen individual players stole more bases than the entire Sportsman’s team did.

Flour City has been the runner-up in Upstate NY each of the past two seasons thanks to excellent play in July. The team has no shortage of talent and is anchored by the excellent CF Obelix Tsiaris. The main question is: will they be able to put together a consistent season in 1869 and return to cup play for the first time in five years?

tm1681 · 11-09-2024, 04:56 PM

1868 NBBO STANDINGS

TUCKER-WHEATON CUP

Most Valuable Player: Konrad Jensen (29 y/o OF, St. John’s)

GAMEDAY 1: ORA 11-2 NIA, K.C. 7-6 SUS (10), STJ 14-11 AME
GAMEDAY 2: STJ 6-10 K.C., AME 3-14 ORA, NIA 7-5 SUS
GAMEDAY 3: K.C 4-1 ORA, NIA 9-11 AME, STJ 8-5 SUS
GAMEDAY 4: AME 12-6 STJ, SUS 4-6 K.C., NIA 4-9 ORA
GAMEDAY 5: NIA 25-4 K.C., STJ 12-7 ORA, SUS 13-5 AME

GAMEDAY 6: SUS 1-2 ORA, K.C. 12-13 AME, NIA 10-13 STJ
GAMEDAY 7: K.C. 6-7 STJ (10), SUS 13-1 NIA, ORA 8-6 AME
GAMEDAY 8: STJ 10-7 NIA, AME 5-8 K.C., ORA 10-4 SUS (AME, NIA, & SUS eliminated)
GAMEDAY 9: AME 5-14 NIA, ORA 3-1 K.C., SUS 5-15 STJ (K.C. eliminated)
GAMEDAY 10: K.C. 10-15 NIA, AME 8-7 SUS, ORA 9-6 STJ (STJ eliminated, ORA champs)

ORANGE: P Harold Perry - 4-0, 1.50 ERA, 36.0 IP, 4 CG, 2 BB/7 K, 1.03 WHIP, 0.7 WAR, 1.6 rWAR
ST. JOHN’S: OF Konrad Jensen - .400 (18/45), 1.053 OPS, 15 R, 5 XBH, 1 HR, 13 RBI, 6 BB, 10 SB, 1.1 WPA, 0.8 WAR
KINGS CO: OF Carlton McShane - .326 (14/43), .827 OPS, 6 R, 4 XBH, 9 RBI, 3 BB, 2 SB, 0.7 WPA, 0.3 WAR
NIAGARA: 1B Walter Driscoll - .372 (16/43), 1.002 OPS, 17 R, 4 XBH, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 10 BB, 7 SB, 0.8 WPA, 0.8 WAR
AMERICAN: 1B William Busby - .422 (19/45), .979 OPS, 14 R, 3 XBH, 10 RBI, 6 BB, 0 SB, 1.4 WPA, 0.5 WAR
SUSQUEHANNA: OF Johnathan German - .357 (15/42), .833 OPS, 8 R, 5 XBH, 6 RBI, 0 BB, 5 SB, 0.4 WPA, 0.3 WAR

tm1681 · 11-09-2024, 05:08 PM

NEW YORK LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS

BATSMAN OF THE YEAR: Mario Fusilli – 30 y/o 1B, Syracuse BBC (1st BotY award)

• .413/.443/.515, .958 OPS, 65 R, 126 H, 23 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 64 RBI, 21 BB, 2 SB, 157 TB, 6.1 WPA, 3.0 WAR
• Led NYL in Average & WPA; 2nd in Hits & OBP; 3rd in Sugging & OPS
• Henry Nabors (SS, VIC) 2nd – .399/.407/.567, 74 R, 129 H, 29 2B, 11 3B, 1 HR, 69 RBI, 8 SB, 183 TB, 4.4 WPA, 4.3 WAR
• Taliesin Buckley (CF, NIA) 3rd – .348/.365/.465, 81 R, 116 H, 23 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 73 RBI, 65 SB, 155 TB, 4.8 WPA, 3.4 WAR

BotY was a wide-open field, as different players led the NYL in AVG, OBP, SLG, R, H, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, & WAR. In the end the voters defaulted to the batting champion: a player who hit over .400 and led the league in WPA. If Nabors had climbed over .400 – his AVG was .395 to .399 over the last three games – he more than likely would have won.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Jim Creighton – 27 y/o P/1B, Excelsior BBC (4th MVP award & 3rd consecutive)

• 29-11, 2.70 ERA, 362.2 IP, 35 CG, 0 SHO, 35 BB, 197 K, 4.9 K/9, 5.6 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 11.8 WAR, 12.9 rWAR
• .378/.463/.514, .977 OPS, 71 R, 84 H, 22 2B, 4 3B, 0 HR, 44 RBI, 35 BB, 5 SB, 114 TB, 3.3 WPA, 2.3 WAR
• Edward Huntley (SS, KNI) 2nd – .339/.407/.477, 85 R, 101 H, 27 2B, 7 3B, 49 RBI, 37 BB, 44 SB, +19.6 ZR, 4.1 WPA, 4.8 WAR
• Taliesin Buckley (CF, NIA) 3rd – Batsman of the Year 3rd Place

It HAD to be Creighton, who won his 3rd straight MVP. He set or tied five pitching records while leading the NBBO in Wins in 1868, and to top it off he led the NYL in two major batting categories for the second season running. It completely overshadowed Huntley coming close to crossing the 5.0 WAR line for the second season in a row.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Garfield Koonce – 23 y/o 1B, Kings County BBC

• .372/.416/.514, .930 OPS, 81 R, 107 H, 28 2B, 5 3B, 1 HR, 56 RBI, 15 BB, 0 SB, 148 TB, 2.6 WPA, 2.9 WAR
• Led Brooklyn champs K.C. in H, AVG, OBP, SLG & OPS; hit .429 (1.043 OPS) in July w/ 31 R & 24 RBI
• Will Johannessen (P, VIC) 2nd – 22-14, 2.68 ERA, 295.2 IP, 25 CG, 2 SHO, 29 K, 1.9 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 5.9 WAR, 7.9 rWAR
• Gil Cappelletti (3B, EXC) 3rd – .358/.380/.520, 69 R, 115 H, 37 2B, 6 3B, 1 HR, 78 RBI, 13 BB, 167 TB, 3.8 WPA, 2.6 WAR

Johannessen won the first two monthly newcomer awards, but Koonce’s play during the month of July helped Kings County clinch the Brooklyn Championship. Cappelletti was great but overshadowed in his own region. Oddity: this was the second straight season that the #2 finisher for NYL NotY was a pitcher with a 22-14 record and 2.68 ERA.

GOLDEN GLOVES

P: Alistair Alanson (N.C., 1st) – 2.82 RNG, +5.7 ZR, 1.116 EFF
C: Roel Woudenberg (CON, 2nd) – 47.8 RTO%, 3.10 C-ERA, +9.2 ZR, 0.943 EFF
1B: Garfield Koonce (K.C., 1st) – 11.18 RNG, +6.7 ZR, 1.090 EFF
2B: William Strausbaugh (EMP, 2nd) – 6.16 RNG, +12.6 ZR, 1.113 EFF
3B: Weldon Pike (VIC, 1st) – 3.18 RNG, +7.9 ZR, 1.087 EFF
SS: Edward Huntley (KNI, 9th) – 5.64 RNG, +19.6 ZR, 1.120 EFF
OF: Henry Hodgson (ORA, 1st) – 2.68 RNG, +7.4 ZR, 1.082 EFF
CF: Hiram Majors (GOT, 3rd) – 3.77 RNG, +9.9 ZR, 1.069 EFF
OF: David Copeland (VIC, 2nd) – 3.28 RNG, +9.6 ZR, 1.081 EFF

TEAM OF THE YEAR

P: Jim Creighton (EXC, 5th) - 29-11, 2.70 ERA, 362.2 IP, 35 CG, 0 SHO, 35 BB, 197 K, 4.9 K/9, 5.6 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 11.8 WAR, 12.9 rWAR
C: Everett Schreiber (ORA, 1st) - .300/.358/.417, 56 R, 69 H, 24 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 47 RBI, 15 BB, 1 SB, 96 TB, 2.3 WPA, 1.8 WAR
1B: Mario Fusilli (SYR, 1st) - .413/.443/.515, 65 R, 126 H, 23 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 64 RBI, 21 BB, 2 SB, 157 TB, 6.1 WPA, 3.0 WAR
2B: Leslie Arnett (GOT, 4th) - .365/.387/.479, 73 R, 111 H, 19 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 80 RBI, 14 BB, 19 SB, 146 TB, 4.1 WPA, 2.7 WAR
3B: Will Chaffin (ORA, 1st) - .327/.341/.452, 66 R, 105 H, 24 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 56 TBI, 10 BB, 21 SB, 145 TB, 3.4 WPA, 2.2 WAR
SS: Henry Nabors (VIC, 1st) - .399/.407/.567, 74 R, 129 H, 29 2B, 11 3B, 1 HR, 69 RBI, 7 BB, 8 SB, 183 TB, +11.6 ZR, 4.4 WPA, 4.3 WAR
OF: Bryn Rasmussen (CON, 1st) - .356/.381/.446, 51 R, 99 H, 16 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 58 RBI, 12 BB, 5 SB, 124 TB, 4.9 WPA, 2.0 WAR
CF: Taliesin Buckley (NIA, 4th) - .348/.365/.465, 81 R, 116 H, 23 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 73 RBI, 10 BB, 65 SB, 155 TB, 4.8 WPA, 3.4 WAR
OF: Francis Smith (MET, 2nd) - .297/.318/.500, 68 R, 95 H, 31 2B, 17 3B, 0 HR, 66 RBI, 11 BB, 10 SB, 160 TB, 2.8 WPA, 1.8 WAR

NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS

BATSMAN OF THE YEAR: Konrad Jensen – 29 y/o OF, St. John’s BC (2nd BotY award)

• .403/.475/.613, 1.088 OPS, 112 R, 123 H, 28 2B, 15 3B, 2 HR, 81 RBI, 43 BB, 64 SB, 187 TB, 5.7 WPA, 5.1 WAR
• Set new NBBO records for Runs & OPS; Only NEL player to hit over .400; Top five in 13 offensive categories
• Franklin Petty (CF, L.E.) 2nd – Northeastern League MVP
• William Busby (1B, AME) 3rd – .366/.430/.589, 92 R, 105 H, 19 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 77 RBI, 33 BB, 169 TB, 4.4 WPA, 3.7 WAR

Petty was right up there with Jensen, but Jensen batting just over .400 and breaking two major offensive records earned him his 2nd BotY. It meant Petty would have to “settle” for MVP. Busby’s historic home run exploits meant he was guaranteed a spot in the top three.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Franklin Petty – 26 y/o CF, Lake Erie BC (1st MVP award)

• .394/.440/.622, 1.062 OPS, 86 R, 124 H, 37 2B, 16 3B, 1 HR, 79 RBI, 25 BB, 30 SB, 196 TB, 3.9 WPA, 5.4 WAR
• 1st CF with 5.0 WAR in a season; broke NBBO Slugging record; tied NBBO Doubles record
• Royal Altman (OF, ALL) 2nd – .354/.392/.513, 80 R, 112 H, 29 2B, 9 3B, 1 HR, 72 RBI, 26 SB, 162 TB, 6.0 WPA, 3.2 WAR
• William Johnson (CF, STJ) 3rd – .397/.479/.540, 97 R, 120 H, 27 2B, 8 3B, 50 RBI, 47 BB, 42 SB, 163 TB, 4.7 WPA, 4.0 WAR

Petty was nicked to BotY by Jensen, so he took the MVP trophy. His numbers were almost as good as Jensen’s, with his advantage in WAR coming down to the fact that he’s a CF. Altman came back down from the highs that saw him win BotY & MVP last year, but he was still outstanding. Johnson took 3rd again as the leadoff man for the mighty STJ offense.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Tom Hauser – 26 y/o P, American BC

• 27-13, 3.31 ERA, 329.1 IP, 24 CG, 1 SHO, 30 BB, 24 K, 0.8 BB/9, 0.7 K/9, 1.31 WHIP, 5.3 WAR, 5.4 rWAR
• #1 for 1st-time pennant winners American; 2nd in NEL in Wins, 7th in Pitching WAR
• Tarmo Kuopio (1B, STJ) 2nd – .366/.391/.469, 70 R, 117 H, 23 2B, 5 3B, 90 RBI, 11 BB, 9 SB, 150 TB, 3.4 WPA, 2.4 WAR
• Alfred Suber (OF, L.E.) 3rd – .339/.353/.484, 75 R, 107 H, 15 2B, 11 3B, 3 HR, 86 RBI, 28 SB, 153 TB, 3.5 WPA, 2.2 WAR

Kuopio tied the single-season RBI record and drove in 18 more runs in the TWC, but Hauser won all three monthly Newcomer awards and his pitching put American over the top as they made the postseason for the first time ever. Suber was not highly regarded when he signed for L.E. in 1864, but his debut season for their senior team was brilliant.

GOLDEN GLOVES

P: Robert Dozier (TU, 2nd) – 2.25 RNG, +5.1 ZR, 1.191 EFF
C: Ben Stiltner (ALL, 1st) – 33.3 RTO%, 2.70 C-ERA, +9.5 ZR, 0.965 EFF
1B: Cormack Alexander (Q.S., 1st) – 11.18 RNG, +4.7 ZR, 1.039 EFF
2B: William Gillette (SHA, 3rd) – 6.20 RNG, +12.4 ZR, 1.113 EFF
3B: Euan Wilson (PORT, 1st) – 3.41 RNG, +7.5 ZR, 1.072 EFF
SS: Anthony Mascherino (SHA, 11th) – 5.43 RNG, +18.0 ZR, 1.170 EFF
OF: Royal Altman (ALL, 2nd) – 2.32 RNG, +7.1 ZR, 1.094 EFF
CF: Walter Williams (SHA, 4th) – 3.28 RNG, +8.8 ZR, 1.109 EFF
OF: John Gaynor (OCE, 1st) – 2.52 RNG, +8.4 ZR, 1.098 EFF

TEAM OF THE YEAR

P: Elmer Seabold (SUS, 1st) - 29-11, 2.41 ERA, 340.0 IP, 24 CG, 0 SHO, 51 BB, 134 K, 3.5 K/9, 2.6 K/BB, 1.24 WHIP, 8.1 WAR, 7.1 rWAR
C: Joe Feuerstein (PORT, 4th) - .309/.336/.409, 37 R, 67 H, 18 2B, 5 3B, 0 HR, 46 RBI, 13 BB, 1 SB, 95 TB, 1.5 WPA, 1.4 WAR
1B: William Busby (AME, 2nd) - .366/.430/.589, 1.019 OPS, 92 R, 105 H, 19 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 77 RBI, 33 BB, 0 SB, 169 TB, 4.4 WPA, 3.7 WAR
2B: Arran Duffy (ALL, 1st) - .315/.343/.452, 71 R, 88 H, 29 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 66 RBI, 14 BB, 6 SB, 126 TB, 2.1 WPA, 1.8 WAR
3B: Werner Verstegen (AME, 1st) - .381/.401/.524, 91 R, 128 H, 31 2B, 7 3B, 1 HR, 47 RBI, 10 BB, 24 SB, 176 TB, 4.2 WPA, 3.3 WAR
SS: Anthony Mascherino (SHA, 9th) - .321/.361/.458, 68 R, 96 H, 19 2B, 11 3B, 0 HR, 70 RBI, 18 BB, 24 SB, 137 TB, +18.0 ZR, 2.6 WPA, 3.7 WAR
OF: Konrad Jensen (STJ, 8th) - .403/.475/.613, 1.088 OPS, 112 R, 123 H, 28 2B, 15 3B, 2 HR, 81 RBI, 43 BB, 64 SB, 187 TB, 5.7 WPA, 5.1 WAR
CF: Franklin Petty (L.E., 1st) - .394/.440/.622, 1.062 OPS, 86 R, 124 H, 37 2B, 16 3B, 1 HR, 79 RBI, 25 BB, 30 SB, 196 TB, 3.9 WPA, 5.4 WAR
OF: James Burke (SHA, 1st) - .383/.412/.562, 75 R, 120 H, 19 2B, 17 3B, 1 HR, 65 RBI, 14 BB, 53 SB, 176 TB, 4.5 WPA, 3.7 WAR

tm1681 · 11-09-2024, 05:08 PM

MISCELLANEOUS

NEW YORK LEAGUE LEADERS

• Average: .413 by Mario Fusilli (SYR)
• On-Base: .463 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Slugging: .567 by Henry Nabors (VIC)
• OPS: .977 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Hits: 129 by Henry Nabors (VIC)
• Extra-Base Hits: 48 by Francis Smith (MET)
• Doubles: 37 by Galimberto Cappelletti (EXC)
• Triples: 17 by Francis Smith (MET)
• Home Runs: 6 by Weldon Pike (VIC)
• Runs Batted In: 80 by Leslie Arnett (GOT) & Ernest Lewis (NIA)
• Runs: 95 by Manuel Romeiras (HAR)
• Stolen Bases: 65 by Taliesin Buckley (NIA)
• Total Bases: 183 by Henry Nabors (VIC)
• Bases on Balls: 37 by Edward Huntley (KNI)
• Win Prob. Added: 6.1 by Mario Fusilli (SYR)
• Batter WAR: 4.8 by Edward Huntley (KNI)

• Wins: 29 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Losses: 29 by Charles Lee (EAG)
• ERA: 2.35 by Raynard Cordell (ORA) over 337.0 IP
• Innings: 362.2 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Complete Games: 35 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Shutouts: 3 by James Peters (K.C.)
• Walk Rate: 0.3 BB/9 by three different pitchers
• Strikeouts: 197 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• Strikeout Rate: 4.9 K/9 by Jim Creighton (EXC) over 362.2 IP
• K/BB Ratio: 5.6/1 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• WHIP: 1.08 by Raynard Cordell (ORA) over 337.0 IP
• Pitcher WAR: 11.8 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
• RA/9 WAR: 12.9 by Jim Creighton (EXC)

NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE LEADERS

• Average: .403 by Konrad Jensen (STJ)
• On-Base: .479 by William Johnson (STJ)
• Slugging: .622 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• OPS: 1.088 by Konrad Jensen (STJ)
• Hits: 128 by Werner Verstegen (AME)
• Extra-Base Hits: 54 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• Doubles: 37 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• Triples: 17 by James Burke (SHA)
• Home Runs: 13 by William Busby (AME)
• Runs Batted In: 90 by Tarmo Kuopio (STJ)
• Runs: 112 by Konrad Jensen (STJ)
• Stolen Bases: 64 by Konrad Jensen (STJ)
• Total Bases: 196 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)
• Bases on Balls: 47 by William Johnson (STJ) & Theodore Kohlberg (SUS)
• Win Prob. Added: 6.0 by Royal Altman (ALL)
• Batter WAR: 5.4 by Franklin Petty (L.E.)

• Wins: 29 by Elmer Seabold (SUS)
• Losses: 26 by Woody McAllister (OLY)
• ERA: 2.25 by Jonathan Scott (ALL) over 232.0 IP
• Innings: 348.1 by Thomas Ricks (SHA)
• Complete Games: 27 by Thomas Ricks (SHA) & Walter Schulman (PORT)
• Shutouts: 2 by five different pitchers
• Walk Rate: 0.4 BB/9 by Sammie Cato (G.M.) over 332.0 IP
• Strikeouts: 134 by Elmer Seabold (SUS)
• Strikeout Rate: 3.5 K/9 by Elmer Seabold (SUS) over 340.0 IP
• K/BB Ratio: 2.6/1 by Elmer Seabold (SUS)
• WHIP: 1.14 by Thomas Ricks (SHA) over 348.1 IP
• Pitcher WAR: 8.1 by Elmer Seabold (SUS)
• RA/9 WAR: 8.8 by Thomas Ricks (SHA)

SEASON RECORDS

• St. John’s set new records for Runs (684, 9.8 R/G), Slugging (.444), OPS (.813), & Doubles (205).
• Shamrock set a new record for Triples with 62.
• Thanks largely to Jim Creighton, Excelsior became the first team to strike out 200 batters in a season with 218.
• Sportsman’s set a record for fewest Stolen Bases with 20. 70 individual players stole more bases than Sportsman’s.
• Konrad Jensen (STJ) set new records for OPS (1.088) & Runs (122).
• Franklin Petty (L.E.) set new records for Slugging % (.622) & Extra-Base Hits (54).
• William Busby (AME) set a new record for Home Runs with 13.
• Gil Cappelletti (EXC) & Franklin Petty (L.E.) tied the record for Doubles with 37.
• James Burke (SHA) & Francis Smith (MET) ties the record for Triples with 17.
• Tarmo Kuopio (STJ) tied the record for Runs Batted In with 90.
• Jim Creighton (EXC) set records for IP (362.2), K's (197), K/9 (4.9), Pitching WAR (11.8), & Combined WAR (14.1)
• Jim Creighton (EXC) also tied the record for Complete Games with 35.
• Charles Lee (EAG) tied the record for Losses with 29 & set a new record for Games Started with 45.
• John Brown (UTI) set a new record for Games Pitched with 54.

ACHIEVEMENTS & NOTABLE EVENTS

• May 22: Cormack Alexander (Q.S.) sees his record 42-game Hitting Streak come to an end.
• May 28: Dennis Hunt (EMP) sets a new record with 11 RBI over two games.
• July 15: Jim Creighton (EXC) becomes the first pitcher to strike out 150 batters in one season.
• July 20: Ed Huntley (KNI), Sam Kessler (ALL), & Anthony Mascherino (SHA) selected to their 10th All-Star Game.
• July 23: William Busby (AME) becomes the first player to hit 10+ Home Runs in a season.
• July 23: William Busby (AME) becomes the first player to hit two Home Runs in a single inning.
• July 24: Carl Bancroft (GOT) becomes the new career Wins leader with 216, passing John McGowan.
• July 25: Alistair Jones (NEW) hits for the NBBO’s first Cycle in more than two years.
• Aug. 3: A record 17,639 fans attend the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh’s Recreation Park.

• Two players hit over .400: Mario Fusilli (SYR) & Konrad Jensen (STJ), with Henry Nabors (VIC) batting .399.
• Konrad Jensen (STJ; 5.1) & Franklin Petty (L.E.; 5.4) became the first OF’s with 5.0 WAR in a season.
• Four players recorded six-hit games in 1868.
• Four players hit 5+ Home Runs, the most in a season since 1863.
• A record eight players finished the season with 75+ Runs Batted In.
• A record six pitchers finished the season with 25+ Wins.
• Six players have taken part in all 840 games scheduled since the foundation of the NBBO:
• William Casilli (four teams)
• Albert Gore (GRA, SotO, MET)
• James Heilman (four teams)
• Edward Huntley (ORA, KNI)
• William Johnson (STJ)
• Thomas Maloney (SHA, REA, M.B.)
• Huntley, Johnson, & Maloney are the three who have started all 840 games.

tm1681 · 11-19-2024, 06:14 PM

NBBO TO ALLOW SELECT PLAYERS TO BE PAID
UNABLE TO STOP FLOW OF CASH, NBBO WINTER MEETINGS START WITH RADICAL CHANGE

NEW YORK CITY (Nov. 10-13, 1868) – Ever since the audit of the National Base Ball Organization’s member clubs started after the Winter Meetings of 1866 and wrapped up in early March of 1867, the issue of payments to players has constantly been at the forefront in the minds of members of both NBBO Headquarters and the NBBO Executive Committee.

While the 1866-67 audit did succeed in keeping rampant use of illicit payments to players in check, payments to players in relation to ability instead of in relation to need were still continuing. This was a simple matter of economics – even charging just a dime per ticket left nearly every one of the NBBO’s 48 clubs with plenty of extra cash lying around after the end of each season, and it all had to go somewhere.

So, after two years of treading water on the amateurism front, the NBBOEC opened the 1868 Winter Meetings at the St. Nicholas Hotel with a radical proposal: since nearly every team is still paying numerous players for more than just living expenses and meal per diems, why not simply allow them to pay select players what the club feels they are worth?

The idea was met with a mix of enthusiasm and relief from most of the clubs, although staunch believers in amateurism like Cantabrigians, Eagle, & Eckford responded to the question with dismay. On one side was men who felt that base ball had become popular enough that it was a legitimate way to earn a living, and on the other side was men who felt that base ball should remain a pastoral game played for the sake of leisure and entertainment.

The proposal itself described who exactly would be eligible to paid to play base ball and have it all above board:

• Members of the current season’s six regional champions
• All-Stars from the previous five seasons
• Major Award winners from the previous five seasons
• Golden Glove winners from the previous five seasons
• Team of the Year nominees from the previous five seasons

Given that only one out of every eight teams won their region each year, there are only two sets of award winners in the 48-team organization, and some players would overlap eligibility categories, the NBBOEC figured that it would lead to an amount of players eligible to become professional that worked out to 3-4 per 18-man senior squadron.

This proposal would turn the NBBO’s teams into organizations somewhere between amateur and professional, a sort of “semi-professional” set of clubs that would use amateur players as their base while filling out their rosters with paid stars. Would it lead to clashes and resentment between the per diem players and the big money players? It certainly could, but such splits between groups of players were already in place on many of the NBBO’s teams. Now it was simply being made official.

The proposal was passed on day two of the Winter Meetings, as many of the clubs voted yes with the rationale that formalizing player payments was not going to change how much cash was being spent and who it was going to. The one big remaining issue was payments to stars from independent clubs to get them to come into the NBBO ranks, but that was not something the clubs were able to work out. After all, how could the organization define which independent ball players were skilled enough to receive extra cash to play in the NBBO? Logistically, it seemed impossible on the face of it.

And with that, an extremely contentious issue that the NBBO had been dealing with shortly after its inception was finally conquered. However, if teams were finally able to treat some players as professionals, how long would it be before a group of teams argued that the sport was big enough that all players should be eligible to become professional?

tm1681 · 11-19-2024, 06:14 PM

MACGYVER MOVES BACK TO PROVIDENCE
LEGENDARY 2B RETURNS TO ST. JOHN’S AFTER FOUR YEARS WITH MUTUAL

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (December 9, 1868) – After falling short of lifting the Tucker Wheaton Cup for the fifth time thanks to a stunning loss at home on the final day of the competition, St. John’s executives vowed to make some tweaks to the squad. Their first move was a surprise, letting 2x All-Star P William Tighe go to Mutual in the New York League.

Tighe had put together a fantastic 89-36 record over his four seasons in Providence, but his cumulative ERA for 1867-68 hovered around 4.00, up from 2.54 in 1866, and his pitching let through all nine runs to the visitors in that fateful game in August which saw Orange lift the cup on St. Johns’ home field. St. John’s has replaced him with 4.5* independent ball P Lou Sturgeon, and it is believed that they will pair him with veteran Charles Snodgrass next season.

As it has turned out, Tighe moving to Mutual might as well have been an elongated trade of players, as on Wednesday the club announced that it has brought back Anderson MacGyver after he had spent the past four seasons with Mutual as a lone superstar on a floundering team.

MacGyver was a 3x All-Star, 3x champion, 3x Team of the Year member, and 1x Batsman of the Year winner with St. John’s before departing after the 1864 season. Although he won another BotY and appeared in three more All-Star Games as a member of Mutual, MacGyver remains best-known for his work in St. John’s and on Wednesday the New York City native decided to leave his personal hometown to move back to his base ball hometown.

Although the season does not start for another five months, St. John’s bringing MacGyver back means they already have top-five batsmen at five different positions: Tarmo Kuopio at 1B, MacGyver at 2B, and the nationally-famous trio of Konrad Jensen, William Johnson, & Nelson Townsend in the outfield.

It looks as if St. John’s wants to win the cup by scoring even more runs than they did last year – the second consecutive season in which they broke the NBBO record for runs per game. One simply has to pity the rest of their New England competition, which must now look like a small rut in the road on the way back to the cup finals for St. John’s.

tm1681 · 11-20-2024, 12:32 PM

PITCHING EXCELLENCE WILL BE RECOGNIZED IN 1869
FIRST “PITCHER OF THE YEAR” AWARDS WILL BE HANDED OUT AFTER THE UPCOMING SEASON

NEW YORK CITY (Mar. 15-19, 1869) – The annual Spring Meeting was a relatively boring one for the NBBO Executive Committee. There were no notable rule changes being pushed, the autumn announcement allowing payments to select players meant there was peace on the illicit cash front, and the NBBOEC was left satisfied after an 1868 season that saw five new entrants to the Tucker Wheaton Cup when the 1866 & 1867 cup fields were identical. Still, there was one area in which the NBBOEC thought it was time to make a change: increased recognition of pitching and its impact on the game.

At the dawn of organized base ball, pitching was little more than the way to initiate the action on the field. Even though Scranton’s John Anderson ended the inaugural NBBO season with its first, and to date the only, 30-win season, he saw only 25 batsmen strike out against him over 309 innings. His success was just as much due to the defense behind him as it was his own efforts to confuse the opposition with the limited arsenal he had available as an underhand-only pitcher.

Pitchers in the NBBO are still limited to delivering the ball via an underhand motion, but in the years since that 1857 season the competition has seen pitchers arrive and show off the ability to affect the outcome of games with their ability to manipulate the ball or deliver it with surprising speed.

Of course, the first man to show that pitching can be about far more than just lobbing the ball in and hoping for weak contact was Jim Creighton. Since his teenage debut in 1860 Creighton has become the first pitcher in the NBBO to strike out 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 & 175 batters in a season thanks to his ability to pitch the ball at inconceivable speed. Excelsior BBC has made the Tucker Wheaton Cup finals four times over the past six years while finishing second in Brooklyn the other two seasons, and much of that success has been due to the work of Creighton, now a 4x NYL Most Valuable Player winner.

Another pitcher who has become a master of the art of combative pitching is James Goodman, who was an enigmatic teenager experimenting with the ball as much as he was pitching for Minuteman during the NBBO’s first season but after 7-8 years of development figured out how to use his vast array of grips and speed changes to bend batsmen to his will. Goodman has been stuck on mostly mediocre Minuteman teams over the course of his career, but in 1865 took a team with only four batsmen who had a WAR over 1.0 and dragged it, kicking & screaming, into the postseason. Goodman’s Pitching WAR over the past four seasons: 8.2, 8.1, 8.6, & 8.6. His highest ERA during that span? 2.66 – better than Creighton (2.85).

A third significantly dominant pitcher has emerged over the past three years: Susquehanna’s Elmer Seabold. As a 22-year-old in 1866 the prodigious Seabold was 21-11, sported the NEL’s best ERA at 2.32, and struck out 127 batsmen over roughly 300 innings. After a dip in form in 1867, Seabold was 29-11 last year with 134 K’s and 8.5 WAR for a Susquehanna team that miraculously beat out Alleghany for the Inland Championship thanks in no small part to his efforts.

With those three, and the frequent tweaks to pitching rules & regulations during the 1860s, in mind, the NBBOEC has decided that it is time to start giving the best pitchers in the sport their due with something more than a spot in the Team of the Year and a chance at the MVP award.

Starting with the 1869 season, the NBBO will hand out the “Pitcher of the Year” award to the best of the bunch in each league. Whether that means the most talented pitcher, the one with the best statistical output, or simply the one with the most wins – the standard for a Team of the Year nod – will be up to the voters. The favorites for the first “PotY” awards will obviously be Creighton & Seabold, but there is always the chance for a major surprise.

Since pitchers will now have their own major individual award to look forward to, the NBBOEC has also decided to give instruction to the Writers Pool that redefines the Most Valuable Player award. There has been no set MVP criteria, so in past seasons it has gone to the player with the highest Batting WAR, the most Win Shares, a unique season on a winning team, the Batsman of the Year runner-up, or to a player who clearly had the largest positive impact on his team.

Now, the writers have been told the MVP should go to a player on one of the three regional champions in each league. That means there will still be three finalists in the NYL and three more in the NEL, but those six finalists will come from the six teams that make it to the Tucker Wheaton Cup. That will narrow the MVP pool significantly, but in past seasons MVP’s have often come from regional champions. The most notable exception has been Willie Davis winning the NEL MVP while playing for a Susquehanna team that finished sixth in Inland, but it should not surprise that the best teams would also have the best, most valuable players.

Now that the pitchers of the NBBO are getting their recognition as more than just men who lob the ball in to start a play, it will be interesting to see if there is increased competition among the sport’s premiere pitchers for top billing.

tm1681 · 11-20-2024, 12:32 PM

IT’S TIME FOR “THE BABE” IN NEW YORK CITY
23-YEAR-OLD JOHNSON EXPECTED TO STAR FOR GOTHAM AFTER FIVE YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT

NEW YORK CITY (Mar. 22, 1869) – It was another frustrating season for Gotham BBC in 1868. After retooling their roster and adding St. John’s 1B Collin Henderson they were hoping to be neck-and-neck with Knickerbocker for the New York City championship, but instead Orange took the crown while Gotham finished in the top half of the standings without a pennant to show for it for the seventh time in nine years (NYC champs in 1861 & ’64).

The Gotham front office thinks their squad from last season can challenge for the New York City pennant this year, so the only expected regular added from another team was 1x Utica All-Star OF Charles Haynes. However, there is another player penciled into be a regular this year that many base ball observers are looking forward to seeing: new 1B Babe Johnson.

Johnson was brought into the Gotham setup as an 18-year-old just after the conclusion of the conclusion of the 1863 season, and he was already good enough with the bat that he was a frequent Pinch Hitter in 1864. He garnered roughly 75 more batting opportunities in the NBBO in 1865, and the plan was for Johnson to become the team’s regular 2B before the best 2B in the sport, Leslie Arnett, joined from Merrimack Mills ahead of the 1866 season. The presence of Arnett, now a 7x All-Star over eight NBBO seasons, meant Johnson had to learn a different position. With excellent hands and decent range but a weak arm, long-time Gotham manager John Pyle decided that 1B would be the position for Babe going forward, and after two years of work he has been deemed ready to become a regular batsman for Gotham.

Babe Johnson’s five years of development time with Gotham at their first-class facilities, and his skills have gone from incredibly promising to genuinely elite. Writers Pool members who have seen him have charted his development since 1863:

• BATTING CONTACT: 6/10 to 10+/10
• GAP POWER: 4/10 to 7/10 (POT 9.5/10)
• RAW POWER: 3/10 to 6.5/10 (POT 7.5/10)
• BATTING EYE: 3/10 to 8/10 (POT 10/10)
• SPEED: 6.5/10 to 7.5/10
• RANGE: IF 6/10, OF 5.5/10
• HANDS: IF 9/10, OF 8/10
• ARM: IF 4/10, OF 3/10
• DEFENSE: 1B 5.5/10 (POT 6/10), 2B 7/10, OF 4.5/10 (POT 6/10)

Babe’s increased selectiveness with the bat has made him a potential .375 hitter in the eyes of the Writers Pool, and they also think that if Johnson takes his place in the Gotham lineup without much of an adjustment period then a 1.000 OPS in his first season as a regular is not out of the realm of possibility.

While second base remains Johnson’s best position his fielding tools should make him a high-quality first baseman even though he is a bit short for the position at 5’7”, as Johnson’s soft hands should make him dependable at either spot in the left side of the infield.

Gotham should be highly competitive in the New York City Championship once again. They have top-five batsmen at three positions, none related below average, and their #1 is 7x 20-game winner Carl Bancroft. If Johnson can have a similar debut season a regular to that of Garfield Koonce with Kings County last year, then Gotham may be carried back to the Tucker Wheaton Cup on the shoulders of “The Babe”.

tm1681 · 11-24-2024, 03:06 PM

PLAY BALL! THE 1869 NBBO PREVIEW

NORTHEAST USA (May 5, 1869) – Season number thirteen for the National Base Ball Organization beings today, when Newark plays at American at Glenwood Field in Philadelphia just after noon. Those two will be followed shortly by Hilltop at Orange, Sons of the Ocean at Green Mountain, Eagle at Niagara, and Utica at Binghamton.

Orange BBC are the ones defending the cup this year but they are expected to return to their 1867 form, with Gotham & Knickerbocker the favorites in New York City. A new champion looks very likely.

The two most talented teams going into 1869, and thus the two favorites to hoist the cup, are Alleghany & St. John’s. Alleghany made tweaks after losing Inland last year, and they now have an irresistible lineup with outstanding defense in the middle of the infield. St. John’s responded to losing the cup on the final day by bringing back an old favorite, and they look like – on paper – they will be the first team to score 700+ runs in a season.

The Northeastern League is expected to be where the offense is – not a surprise given that many of the NBBO’s most talented batsmen reside there while the New York League has more of the pitching talent. Aside from Edward Huntley (KNI) the NEL has a monopoly on the most talented batsmen in the sport, and it should lead to some wild afternoons.

Pitchers finally have their own award to look forward to, with the “Pitcher of the Year” being handed out to the best #1 in each league for the first time in 1869.

A record amount of newcomer batsmen are expected to start for NBBO teams in 1869, but it is P Ross Gill for Quaker State who is considered likely to make the biggest impact of any new player in the competition.

With traditional powerhouses expected back on top of the standings in 1869, the only thing for the neutral fan to do is to wait for the games to play out and hope that the unexpected happens once again this season. Anything can happen and a team could pull another Susquehanna, and it is time to play ball!

Only one of six regional favorites, St. John’s, made the cup last year. The other five favorites have all been to the postseason multiple times, with Knickerbocker & Shamrock having won the cup twice each.

WRITERS POOL 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:

•The most talented batsmen in both leagues at each position (*represents newcomer):

NYL – C: Everett Schreiber (25 y/o, ORA), 1B: Mario Fusilli (31 y/o, SYR), 2B: Leslie Arnett (31 y/o, GOT), 3B: Isaac Kelly (23 y/o, ECK), SS: Edward Huntley (33 y/o, KNI), OF: Clive Strachan (26 y/o, GOT), CF: Taliesin Buckley (32 y/o, NIA), OF: Francis Smith (24 y/o, MET)

NEL – C: C: James Simon* (25 y/o, SHA), 1B: William Busby (26 y/o, AME), 2B: Anderson MacGyver (35 y/o, STJ), 3B: Samuel Kessler (33 y/o, ALL), SS: Anthony Mascherino (30 y/o, SHA), OF: James Burke (28 y/o, SHA), CF: Franklin Petty (27 y/o, L.E.), OF: Konrad Jensen (29 y/o, STJ)

• The ten most talented pitchers in the NBBO (*represents newcomer):

Jim Creighton (28 y/o, EXC), Tom Ricks (30 y/o, SHA), James Goodman (31 y/o, F.C.), Ross Gill* (28 y/o, Q.S.), Raynard Cordell (29 y/o, ORA), Fred Richards (33 y/o, S.o.t.O.), Earl Quinn (28 y/o, CON), Elmer Seabold (25 y/o, SUS), William Tighe (31 y/o, MUT), Tom Hauser (27 y/o, AME)

• The ten best newcomers in the NBBO:

Ross Gill (28 y/o P, Q.S.), James Simon (25 y/o C, SHA), William Chapman (29 y/o SS, M.B.), Fox Ellis (24 y/o SS, UTI), Arthur Fisher (22 y/o SS, N.C.), Lou Sturgeon (28 y/o P, STJ), Isaac Sterling (24 y/o P, REA), Callum Stone (29 y/o P, PIO), Henry Williams (25 y/o P, M.B.), Edward Johnson (27 y/o CF, K.C.)

• The ten best reserve squad prospects in the NBBO:

Frank Bulger (22 y/o 2B, SHA), Troy Oberst (22 y/o OF, MET), William Hatch (21 y/o P, GRA), George Cerven (23 y/o P, GOT), Daniel Zook (23 y/o 1B, KNI), George Burroughs (20 y/o P, P.J.), Howard Burns (19 y/o P, STJ), Lorik van Unen (23 y/o SS, KNI), Hal Brinks (23 y/o C, S.o.t.O.), Roy Reed (24 y/o 1B, NEW)

• Once again, upper-level offensive talent is concentrated in the Northeastern League. In the poll of the Writers Pool, nine of the top ten batsmen and sixteen of the top twenty play for NEL teams, the highest concentration of premier talent in one league seen to date. Conversely, the WP has declared that the NYL has thirteen of the NBBO’s top twenty pitchers.

• As the number of strikeouts has crept up year after year, and especially after Jim Creighton fanned nearly 200 batsmen last season, teams around the league are instructing their players to dial back their swings a bit. Expect fewer strikeouts this year, but at the same there will very likely be fewer extra-base hits.

• Excelsior has been named the Brooklyn favorites almost solely due to the presence of Jim Creighton. They have notable weaknesses at C, 2B, one OF spot, and an overall lack of batsman depth. They are beatable.

Overall, Brooklyn is should be competitive. Defending champs Kings County are expected to fall to 4th because, aside from 1B Koonce & P Peters, their lineup looks good but not great. Atlantic has improved their lineup at a number of positions. Continental brings back the same brilliant pitching duo of Quinn & Wright. Eckford will be led by 23-year-old Isaac Kelly, one of the best young players in the sport.

• New York City looks like a two-team race – the old guard of Gotham & Knickerbocker the clear favorites. Surely the Knick team will not have another nine-game losing streak this season, and Gotham is adding the most talked about new regular in the NBBO to their lineup. Orange brings back all eight regular batsmen and their #1 pitcher from last year, but the Writers Pool thinks their performance in 1868 was a one-year surprise.

• The two big Upstate clubs, Flour City & Niagara, should be the two best in the region – a surprising rarity. Bringing in James Goodman from Minutemen has made F.C. the favorites, while champs Niagara return almost the same lineup while also adding an excellent newcomer at C in Joseph Hines.

• Shamrock should be back on top in Coastal, as the recruitment of C James Simon and the promotion of James Johnson from the reserve unit, which allowed William McCrory to move to the outfield, now means that the team has top-five players at five positions.

American returns all of their stars, but unlike Shamrock they have weaknesses at C, SS, & LF. Massachusetts Bay has added the best new SS in the NBBO and decent CF Leininger from Kings Co. Quaker St. is projected 37-33, but new P Ross Gill could immediately be among of the five best #1’s and all of their best players are back.

• Alleghany has added 1B Collin Henderson & C Dag Nielsen, with seven All-Star Games between them, to an already potent lineup. Combine that with the exodus from Susquehanna following their stunning pennant last year and the Writers Pool thinks Alleghany has a slim chance to become the first team ever to win 60+ games in a season. Pioneer & Sportman’s have decent lineups, but not anything close to Alleghany’s in quality.

• St. John’s responded to last year’s cup disappointment by bringing back MacGyver, giving them clearly the most talented team in the NBBO – the odds-on favorite to take their twelfth New England pennant in thirteen years. Oceanic has a nice lineup, but they are not going to keep up with the perennial kings of New England.

11-08-2024, 12:06 PM	#369
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,330	GAMEDAY ONE (Wed. August 12th) ORA 11-2 NIA – 1B Hawk Peterson (ORA): 2/5, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI K.C. 7-6 SUS (10 Inn.) – C Harold Constance (SUS): 3/5, 2B, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI STJ 14-11 AME – OF Konrad Jensen (STJ): 2/6, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 SB What looks like a massive rout on paper really came down a single inning in Buffalo. Ahead 2-0 going into the top of the 7th, Orange proceeded to score nine runs on four hits and five Niagara errors to take total control. Raynard Cordell held Niagara to two hits, while 3x All-Star Peterson was the offensive star for Orange. The contest in Wilkes-Barre needed an extra inning to find a winner, and Kings Co. earned it when pinch hitter Vic Whitley singled in fellow substitute Merton Lanier with one out in the top of the 10th. It was a fortuitous result for K.C., who only had seven hits but had batsmen reach a further five times thanks to Bases on Balls by Susquehanna star Elmer Seabold. The two best offenses in the NBBO put on a show in Glenwood Field. The visitors were up 8-1 after three innings and 13-3 after the top of the 7th, but a six-run barrage by American in B7 made it a much closer contest. St. John’s added an insurance run and were able to hold on from there, with the first four in their lineup batting 10/23 with 10 runs & 8 RBI. GAMEDAY TWO (Thu. August 13th) STJ 6-10 K.C. – CF Alexander Leininger (K.C.): 3/5, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI AME 3-14 ORA – CF Demy Poortman (ORA): 3/5, 3B, 3 R, 3 RBI NIA 7-5 SUS – 1B Walter Driscoll (NIA): 2/3, 2B, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB The game in Brooklyn was effectively over by the end of the 3rd inning, as Kings Co. had a 7-2 lead. They scored three more runs before St. John’s was able to even think about a comeback, and then was far too late. Five K.C. batsmen had multiple hits, with Leininger the key player. American put up another putrid defensive display, committing a cup record fourteen errors as Orange used those miscues to score thirteen runs over the first six innings in an easy victory. Orange batsmen #3-8 all had multiple hits, and Poortman was the best of the bunch. Niagara took a tight contest thanks to run-scoring singles in the top of the 7th by P Clyde Branagan and SS Ernest Lewis. Branagan did plenty to help his own cause, batting 2/5 with a run in addition to his RBI while pitching the full game. Taliesin Buckley was 3/6, but Driscoll reached base four times and hit a double to earn PotG honors. GAMEDAY THREE (Fri. August 14th) K.C. 4-1 ORA – P James Peters (K.C.): CG, 6 HA, 1 R/1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K NIA 9-11 AME – OF Gerald McCarthy (AME): 2/4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI STJ 8-5 SUS – OF Nelson Townsend (STJ) – 2/3, 3B, R, 3 RBI, BB, 2 SB Kings Co. scored all four of their runs in the second inning, the key hit being a 1-run triple by OF James Hoyt, in their victory at Orange. The visitors put in a brilliant defensive performance, committing just one error while turning a pair of double plays and getting an outfield assist from Alex Leininger. Peters allowed six hits and had an easy time in Manhattan. American took their first win of the cup by dominating the middle innings against Niagara. Seven runs in the 4th and three more in the 5th put the hosts ahead 11-5, which was enough of a cushion that they were to withstand a late Niagara rally. Both American corner OF’s were 2/4 with a double, two runs, and two RBI, with McCarthy chosen PotG over Frazer Daly. Like American, St. John’s won their game at Susquehanna in the middle innings. Behind 5-2 entering the 5th, St. John’s scored twice in T5 and three more times in T6 to take a 7-5 lead before adding an insurance run in the 9th. The St. John’s outfield trio combined to hit 8/12, with Townsend the best of the three. Kings Co. was the only undefeated team left after Gameday Three, with Susquehanna the only winless team. GAMEDAY FOUR (Sat. August 15th) AME 12-6 STJ – OF Frazer Daly (AME): 3/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB SUS 4-6 K.C. – 1B Garfield Koonce (K.C.): 2/4, 2B, 2 R, RBI NIA 4-9 ORA – 3B Will Chaffin (ORA): 2/4, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, SB American did a great job to take advantage of St. John’s mistakes, scoring twelve runs on just nine hits thanks to ten fielding errors by the hosts. Daly had multiple hits for the second day in a row and took PotG as a result, while Willie Davis was 2/5 with two runs and an RBI and Gerald McCarthy hit a bases-loaded double in the 8th. Elmer Seabold sent down six K.C. batters on strikes, but the hosts were able to do enough on offense to move to 4-0 for the competition. Koonce, James Hoyt, & Carlton McShane had multiple hits while Charles Matthews pitched efficiently to give Susquehanna another close loss. Orange won it early against Niagara, scoring all nine of their runs over the first five innings. OF Elwood Taggart was 3/4, but Chaffin was Orange’s best player as he did a little bit of everything. Old hand Harold Perry allowed one Earned Run while pitching the entire game for Orange. As with Gameday Three, Kings Co. remained the only undefeated team while Susquehanna remained the only winless team. GAMEDAY FIVE (Sun. August 16th) NIA 25-4 K.C. – 3B Zorba Koustoubos (NIA): 4/6, 2 2B, 3 R, 6 RBI STJ 12-7 ORA – 2B Thomas DiMola (STJ): 2/3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB SUS 13-5 AME – 3B Logan Hickey (SUS): 3/5, 3 R, RBI The excellent play by K.C. came to a screeching halt on Sunday afternoon in one of the stranger games in TWC history. No fewer than 37 Niagara batsmen reached base, with eight of nine batsmen recording multiple hits. The only Niagara player with one hit, Walt Driscoll, drew three Bases on Balls. It was an inexplicable afternoon in Washington Park. St. John’s took control with a six-run 6th inning in the Upper Manhattan Grounds, with the rally propelled by a pair of two-run singles by DiMola and Konrad Jensen. DiMola’s surprise performance earned him the PotG honor, but Jensen, Tarmo Kuopio, and Dag Nielsen also had multiple hits. Susquehanna finally broke through in Philadelphia to get in the win column, although it took a big effort late. Behind 5-2 entering the 8th, Susquehanna scored eight runs in the top of the 8th and three more in the 9th to turn a likely loss into a desperately needed victory. The standings after Gameday Five of the Tucker-Wheaton Cup were as follows: Code: TEAM W L R RA RD KINGS COUNTY 4 1 31 42 -11 ORANGE 3 2 42 27 +15 ST. JOHN’S 3 2 46 45 +1 NIAGARA 2 3 47 40 +7 AMERICAN 2 3 44 56 -12 SUSQUEHANNA 1 4 33 33 0 Thanks to their bizarre outing on Gameday Five, Kings Co. was alone atop the competition with a -11 Run Differential, easily the worst RD for a cup leader at the midway point. Still, K.C. played very well during their four wins and that loss to Niagara looked like an aberration. At the very least, it was an abomination. King’s Co.’s loss meant that the four teams behind them in the standings were still very much in contention. Orange had looked dominant in their three wins, with their two losses coming to K.C. and St. John’s. St. John’s had alternated wins and losses, but had battered opposing pitching in their victories. Niagara looked like a team a step below after Gameday Four, but their 25-4 win at K.C. was the kind of result that could give them a major boost for the second half of the competition. American had been very inconsistent, but their talent meant they remained a threat. The only one of the six teams that really looked lost was Susquehanna, who struggled late in each of their first four games before they finally snapped out of their stupor in the 13-5 win at American. The result was much-needed, but they were still three games off the pace. __________________ Logo & uniform work here Thread about my fictional universe that begins in 1857 here Last edited by tm1681; 11-08-2024 at 12:23 PM.

11-08-2024, 12:08 PM	#370
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,330	GAMEDAY SIX (Wed. August 19th) SUS 1-2 ORA – P Raynard Cordell (ORA): CG, 4 HA, 1 R/0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K K.C. 12-13 AME – OF Frazer Daly (AME): 4/6, 2 2B, R, 5 RBI, GW HIT NIA 10-13 STJ – OF Nelson Townsend (STJ): 2/5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB Orange moved to 4-2 with a walkoff victory over Susquehanna. With the score 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Demy Poortman came to bat after Everett Schrieber’s double and doubled him home to end the game, giving Cordell a much-deserved win. Elmer Seabold was excellent in defeat, allowing six hits over 8.1 innings while striking out four Orange batsmen. American won via their own walkoff, although theirs was much more dramatic. Behind 12-9 entering the bottom of the 9th, American scored four times to deal K.C. a crushing loss. Daly’s two-run single won the contest and earned him his second PotG nod in three games, but William Busby was 3/6 with three runs & RBI and Peter Boyce was 3/6 with four runs. St. John’s made fairly light work of Niagara – their 13-5 lead after seven innings allowing them to absorb a number of late runs to move to 4-2. As usual the Jensen/Johnson/Townsend trio was great, but the bottom third of their lineup – SS John Baddley, 2B Thomas DiMola, & P Will Tighe – each had two hits while Tighe drove in two runs. The results of Gameday six meant there were three teams tied for first place at 4-2. GAMEDAY SEVEN (Thu. August 20th) K.C. 6-7 STJ (10 Inn.) – C Dag Nielsen (STJ): 2/5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI SUS 13-1 NIA – C Harold Constance (SUS): 4/5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2/3 RTO ORA 8-6 AME – 1B Hawk Peterson (ORA): 3/5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI Kings County took another tough-to-swallow loss in Providence. Ahead 6-5 in the 9th, Charlie Matthews allowed a game-tying home run to Nielsen, his first homer in more than two years. In the 10th, Nelson Townsend came to bat with two out and singled in William Johnson to win the game for St. John’s, a massive reversal of fortune for both teams. Susquehanna crushed Niagara – all the runs scored in the first six innings. The hosts totaled just four base hits while committing a dozen errors on defense, their twelve-run loss made all that much worse by the fact that it was Frank Nicholas pitching for Susquehanna and not Elmer Seabold. A close game in Philadelphia – 2-1 to Orange after the 3rd, 6-5 after the 5th, and 7-6 after the 7th before the visitors added an insurance run in the 9th to safeguard the result. Harold Perry went the distance to go to 3-0 in the TWC, and while Peterson took PotG OF Henry Hodgson was 4/5 with a pair of RBI. The results of Gameday Seven left Orange & St. John’s tied for first place at 5-2. GAMEDAY EIGHT (Fri. August 21) STJ 10-7 NIA – 1B Tarmo Kuopio (STJ): 3/5, 2B, R, 4 RBI AME 5-8 K.C. – 1B Garfield Koonce (K.C.): 2/4, 2 2B, R, RBI ORA 10-4 SUS – 2B Ilari Marino (ORA) – 2/5, 2 R, 3 RBI St. John’s entered the 8th having just allowed five runs to turn a 7-2 lead into a 7-7 tie. However, they kept calm and scored three times in the 8th to take the lead back and win the game. Kuopio was PotG, but Konrad Jensen was 4/5 with three runs and two steals while Nelson Townsend was 2/5 with two runs scored. Kings Co. stopped their losing streak with a big effort in the middle innings. Six runs over the 4th-6th turned a 4-2 deficit into an 8-4 lead, and from there all American could muster for a comeback was a single run. The hosts had fifteen hits, led by Leen van Rooij’s three, and Koonce’s pair of doubles earned him PotG. Susquehanna scored the first four runs of the game against Orange and they remained ahead 4-0 after the 4th. Orange then scored ten times over the next three innings to turn the contest on its head and move to 6-2. Five Orange batsmen had multiple hits including P Raynard Cordell, but Marino earned PotG thanks to his three RBI. The results of Gameday Eight knocked three teams out of contention. Only Kings County, Orange, & St. John’s were left: Code: TEAM W L R RA RD ORANGE 6 2 62 38 +24 ST. JOHN’S 6 2 76 68 +8 KINGS COUNTY 5 3 57 67 -10 Orange would be playing at K.C. on Gameday Nine, while St. John’s would be at home against Susquehanna. GAMEDAY NINE (Sat. August 22nd) AME 5-14 NIA – OF William Maier (NIA) – 4/5, 3 R, 3 RBI ORA 3-1 K.C. – P Harold Perry (ORA) – CG, 4 HA, 1 R/0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K SUS 5-15 STJ – OF Konrad Jensen (STJ) – 2/4, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, SB, OF AST Niagara took care of business in the game between two eliminated teams, scoring nine runs over the first two innings as they routed American. Six Niagara players had multiple hits. P Clyde Branagan was 3/5 and 3B Zorba Koustoubos was 3/5 with three runs & two RBI, but Maier’s 4/5 day was good enough for PotG. The Orange offense struggled in Brooklyn, connecting on just five hits, but that did not matter as the 35-year-old Perry put in a brilliant pitching performance to go to 4-0 in the TWC with a 1.50 ERA. The decisive run occurred in T3 when 2B Ilari Marino scored on an error. Orange added another run in the 7th on a Squeeze Play. St. John’s needed a win to keep pace with Orange, and fifteen runs over the first five innings against Susquehanna guaranteed that they did just that. Jensen, who did everything, was PotG, but every St. John's batsman bar the pitcher had multiple hits. 1B Tarmo Kuopio had three RBI, and 2B Thomas DiMola added four. There were now two teams left in contention for the cup – Orange & St. John’s: Code: TEAM W L R RA RD ORANGE 7 2 65 39 +26 ST. JOHN’S 7 2 91 73 +18 Orange would be playing at St. John’s on Gameday Ten, with the victor lifting the cup. GAMEDAY TEN (Sun. August 23rd) K.C. 10-15 NIA – 1B Walter Driscoll (NIA): 4/6, 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI, SB AME 8-7 SUS – CF Willie Davis (AME): 3/5, 3 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI ORA 9-6 STJ – 3B Will Chaffin (ORA): 3/4, 3 R, RBI, SB Kings Co. & Niagara battered each other for nine innings in Buffalo, with the hosts getting the better of their metropolitan visitors. Driscoll & Ernest Lewis had four hits for Niagara, Zorba Koustoubos added three, and Lewis drove in three runs as Niagara ended the cup competition in fine fashion. American ended the cup with a win thanks to a ninth-inning rally. Behind 6-5, Willie Davis doubled in William Busby, Raymond Brinkman sacrificed in Davis, and Thomas Onstad singled in Frazer Daly to give American the three runs they needed to take the lead and win the game. The loss ended an incredibly frustrating competition for Susquehanna. Orange BBC ended the competition with a memorable victory at St. John’s to take the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. It was close for much of the contest, but with the score 6-4 Orange came to bat in the top of the 8th and scored three runs – one via Will Chaffin single and two via Ilari Marino double – to put the dagger in St. John’s and see to it that the cup would reside in Manhattan for the third time in four years. It was a very deserved win for Orange. While they only had the #4 offense in the competition, Orange easily had the best pitching & defense and their Run Differential was far superior to that of any other team. This was Orange’s first cup triumph since 1859, and this would certainly be seen as the more satisfying of the two given how and where they clinched the cup. __________________ Logo & uniform work here Thread about my fictional universe that begins in 1857 here Last edited by tm1681; 11-08-2024 at 12:30 PM.

11-08-2024, 12:09 PM	#371
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,330	FINAL STANDINGS MVP: OF Konrad Jensen (STJ) – .400 (18/45), 1.053 OPS, 2 2B, 2 3B, 15 R, 13 RBI, 6 BB/0 K, 10 SB/1 CS 2x PotG, 175 WRC+, 193 OPS+, 2 OF AST, 1.1 WPA, 0.8 WAR in 10 Games The favorites, St. John’s, were right there until the very end, but the best defense in the NBBO won out in a memorable encounter in Providence on the final day of the competition. The only team that finished as expected by the Writers Pool was last-place Susquehanna. It wasn’t the historic performance of the 1865 Knickerbocker team, but champions Orange allowed the second-fewest runs of any team in the Round Robin era of the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. Their pitching & defense was simply superior, and it meant that having a comparatively mediocre offense was no issue. Hawk Peterson (.378, 11 RBI) was their best batter, but the pitching duo of Raynard Cordell (4-2, 3.22, 50.1 IP) and Harold Perry (4-0, 1.50, 36.0 IP) carried the team. As expected, St. John’s had the best offense in the competition and their stars were fantastic. Jensen had an OPS over 1.000 with 15 R, 13 RBI, & 10 SB. Kuopio had 18 RBI. Townsend had 11 R, 10 RBI, & 7 SB. Johnson scored a dozen runs. However, what did them in was secondary pitching, William Tighe was 5-1 with a 3.88 ERA, but other St. John’s pitchers were 2-2 with a higher ERA while walking thirteen batters in 43.2 innings compared to eight in 46.1 for Tighe. Kings County started 4-0 but the 25-4 home loss to Niagara on Gameday Five undid their entire campaign, as the two-time champs ended up 5-5. The K.C. offense was not bad and their regular pitchers both had ERA’s under 3.00, but in four of the team’s five losses they committed 10+ fielding errors, profligacy that doomed K.C as the cup went on. Do not be fooled by Niagara’s +3 Run Differential – without their Gameday Five result that RD turns into a -18. They were mostly outstanding in their four wins, but very poor in their losses. Walter Driscoll (1.002 OPS, 17 R, 10 BB, 7 SB) and Zorba Koustoubos (.422, .969 OPS, 13 RBI) were excellent, but Hamish Barclay (9/50) was a major letdown. American became one of the few teams to allow 10+ runs per game during the Round Robin era. That they still won four games speaks to their offensive talent. William Busby (.422, .979 OPS, 9 RBI) was brilliant and a number of their batsman did well, but #1 Tom Hauser’s 8.26 ERA over 40.1 innings sums up the team’s pitching efforts during the competition. Susquehanna easily had the most frustrating cup competition out of the six teams. Susquehanna’s eight losses in the cup were by 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 6, 10, and 1 run. That is only two blowouts out of the eight, and with some more luck or better late-inning play they could have finished in the top three. Elmer Seabold had an ERA of 3.44 and struck out 22 yet was 0-6. Konrad Jensen did not play for the cup champions, but he was clearly the best player in the Tucker-Wheaton Cup. He had the highest OPS & WAR of any batsman, and Jensen was the only player who finished with 10+ runs, RBI, and stolen bases. His performance on Gameday Nine was a perfect summary of Jensen’s cup run: he hit for extra bases, scored runs, drove in runs, stole bases, drew bases on balls, and threw out baserunners from the outfield. He was simply fantastic. Some wanted to give the MVP to Harold Perry, as the Orange pitcher was 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA over four Complete Games (0.7 WAR, 1.6 rWAR) during the cup. However, fellow Orange pitcher Raynard Cordell also won four games (4-2) and Perry pitched in just four games while Cordell took part in six. Had American BC pitching not been a disaster then William Busby might have received MVP attention. The first baseman hit .422, tied with Koustoubos for best in the competition, with fourteen runs scored, ten runs batted in, a .979 OPS, and a cup-leading WPA of 1.4 in just ten games. As it was, forgotten excellence for a team whose offense could not keep up due to catastrophic pitching. __________________ Logo & uniform work here Thread about my fictional universe that begins in 1857 here Last edited by tm1681; 11-08-2024 at 12:36 PM.

11-09-2024, 04:56 PM	#373
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,330	1868 NBBO STANDINGS TUCKER-WHEATON CUP Most Valuable Player: Konrad Jensen (29 y/o OF, St. John’s) GAMEDAY 1: ORA 11-2 NIA, K.C. 7-6 SUS (10), STJ 14-11 AME GAMEDAY 2: STJ 6-10 K.C., AME 3-14 ORA, NIA 7-5 SUS GAMEDAY 3: K.C 4-1 ORA, NIA 9-11 AME, STJ 8-5 SUS GAMEDAY 4: AME 12-6 STJ, SUS 4-6 K.C., NIA 4-9 ORA GAMEDAY 5: NIA 25-4 K.C., STJ 12-7 ORA, SUS 13-5 AME GAMEDAY 6: SUS 1-2 ORA, K.C. 12-13 AME, NIA 10-13 STJ GAMEDAY 7: K.C. 6-7 STJ (10), SUS 13-1 NIA, ORA 8-6 AME GAMEDAY 8: STJ 10-7 NIA, AME 5-8 K.C., ORA 10-4 SUS (AME, NIA, & SUS eliminated) GAMEDAY 9: AME 5-14 NIA, ORA 3-1 K.C., SUS 5-15 STJ (K.C. eliminated) GAMEDAY 10: K.C. 10-15 NIA, AME 8-7 SUS, ORA 9-6 STJ (STJ eliminated, ORA champs) ORANGE: P Harold Perry - 4-0, 1.50 ERA, 36.0 IP, 4 CG, 2 BB/7 K, 1.03 WHIP, 0.7 WAR, 1.6 rWAR ST. JOHN’S: OF Konrad Jensen - .400 (18/45), 1.053 OPS, 15 R, 5 XBH, 1 HR, 13 RBI, 6 BB, 10 SB, 1.1 WPA, 0.8 WAR KINGS CO: OF Carlton McShane - .326 (14/43), .827 OPS, 6 R, 4 XBH, 9 RBI, 3 BB, 2 SB, 0.7 WPA, 0.3 WAR NIAGARA: 1B Walter Driscoll - .372 (16/43), 1.002 OPS, 17 R, 4 XBH, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 10 BB, 7 SB, 0.8 WPA, 0.8 WAR AMERICAN: 1B William Busby - .422 (19/45), .979 OPS, 14 R, 3 XBH, 10 RBI, 6 BB, 0 SB, 1.4 WPA, 0.5 WAR SUSQUEHANNA: OF Johnathan German - .357 (15/42), .833 OPS, 8 R, 5 XBH, 6 RBI, 0 BB, 5 SB, 0.4 WPA, 0.3 WAR __________________ Logo & uniform work here Thread about my fictional universe that begins in 1857 here

11-09-2024, 05:08 PM	#374
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,330	NEW YORK LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS BATSMAN OF THE YEAR: Mario Fusilli – 30 y/o 1B, Syracuse BBC (1st BotY award) • .413/.443/.515, .958 OPS, 65 R, 126 H, 23 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 64 RBI, 21 BB, 2 SB, 157 TB, 6.1 WPA, 3.0 WAR • Led NYL in Average & WPA; 2nd in Hits & OBP; 3rd in Sugging & OPS • Henry Nabors (SS, VIC) 2nd – .399/.407/.567, 74 R, 129 H, 29 2B, 11 3B, 1 HR, 69 RBI, 8 SB, 183 TB, 4.4 WPA, 4.3 WAR • Taliesin Buckley (CF, NIA) 3rd – .348/.365/.465, 81 R, 116 H, 23 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 73 RBI, 65 SB, 155 TB, 4.8 WPA, 3.4 WAR BotY was a wide-open field, as different players led the NYL in AVG, OBP, SLG, R, H, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, & WAR. In the end the voters defaulted to the batting champion: a player who hit over .400 and led the league in WPA. If Nabors had climbed over .400 – his AVG was .395 to .399 over the last three games – he more than likely would have won. MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Jim Creighton – 27 y/o P/1B, Excelsior BBC (4th MVP award & 3rd consecutive) • 29-11, 2.70 ERA, 362.2 IP, 35 CG, 0 SHO, 35 BB, 197 K, 4.9 K/9, 5.6 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 11.8 WAR, 12.9 rWAR • .378/.463/.514, .977 OPS, 71 R, 84 H, 22 2B, 4 3B, 0 HR, 44 RBI, 35 BB, 5 SB, 114 TB, 3.3 WPA, 2.3 WAR • Edward Huntley (SS, KNI) 2nd – .339/.407/.477, 85 R, 101 H, 27 2B, 7 3B, 49 RBI, 37 BB, 44 SB, +19.6 ZR, 4.1 WPA, 4.8 WAR • Taliesin Buckley (CF, NIA) 3rd – Batsman of the Year 3rd Place It HAD to be Creighton, who won his 3rd straight MVP. He set or tied five pitching records while leading the NBBO in Wins in 1868, and to top it off he led the NYL in two major batting categories for the second season running. It completely overshadowed Huntley coming close to crossing the 5.0 WAR line for the second season in a row. NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Garfield Koonce – 23 y/o 1B, Kings County BBC • .372/.416/.514, .930 OPS, 81 R, 107 H, 28 2B, 5 3B, 1 HR, 56 RBI, 15 BB, 0 SB, 148 TB, 2.6 WPA, 2.9 WAR • Led Brooklyn champs K.C. in H, AVG, OBP, SLG & OPS; hit .429 (1.043 OPS) in July w/ 31 R & 24 RBI • Will Johannessen (P, VIC) 2nd – 22-14, 2.68 ERA, 295.2 IP, 25 CG, 2 SHO, 29 K, 1.9 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 5.9 WAR, 7.9 rWAR • Gil Cappelletti (3B, EXC) 3rd – .358/.380/.520, 69 R, 115 H, 37 2B, 6 3B, 1 HR, 78 RBI, 13 BB, 167 TB, 3.8 WPA, 2.6 WAR Johannessen won the first two monthly newcomer awards, but Koonce’s play during the month of July helped Kings County clinch the Brooklyn Championship. Cappelletti was great but overshadowed in his own region. Oddity: this was the second straight season that the #2 finisher for NYL NotY was a pitcher with a 22-14 record and 2.68 ERA. GOLDEN GLOVES P: Alistair Alanson (N.C., 1st) – 2.82 RNG, +5.7 ZR, 1.116 EFF C: Roel Woudenberg (CON, 2nd) – 47.8 RTO%, 3.10 C-ERA, +9.2 ZR, 0.943 EFF 1B: Garfield Koonce (K.C., 1st) – 11.18 RNG, +6.7 ZR, 1.090 EFF 2B: William Strausbaugh (EMP, 2nd) – 6.16 RNG, +12.6 ZR, 1.113 EFF 3B: Weldon Pike (VIC, 1st) – 3.18 RNG, +7.9 ZR, 1.087 EFF SS: Edward Huntley (KNI, 9th) – 5.64 RNG, +19.6 ZR, 1.120 EFF OF: Henry Hodgson (ORA, 1st) – 2.68 RNG, +7.4 ZR, 1.082 EFF CF: Hiram Majors (GOT, 3rd) – 3.77 RNG, +9.9 ZR, 1.069 EFF OF: David Copeland (VIC, 2nd) – 3.28 RNG, +9.6 ZR, 1.081 EFF TEAM OF THE YEAR P: Jim Creighton (EXC, 5th) - 29-11, 2.70 ERA, 362.2 IP, 35 CG, 0 SHO, 35 BB, 197 K, 4.9 K/9, 5.6 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 11.8 WAR, 12.9 rWAR C: Everett Schreiber (ORA, 1st) - .300/.358/.417, 56 R, 69 H, 24 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 47 RBI, 15 BB, 1 SB, 96 TB, 2.3 WPA, 1.8 WAR 1B: Mario Fusilli (SYR, 1st) - .413/.443/.515, 65 R, 126 H, 23 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 64 RBI, 21 BB, 2 SB, 157 TB, 6.1 WPA, 3.0 WAR 2B: Leslie Arnett (GOT, 4th) - .365/.387/.479, 73 R, 111 H, 19 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 80 RBI, 14 BB, 19 SB, 146 TB, 4.1 WPA, 2.7 WAR 3B: Will Chaffin (ORA, 1st) - .327/.341/.452, 66 R, 105 H, 24 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 56 TBI, 10 BB, 21 SB, 145 TB, 3.4 WPA, 2.2 WAR SS: Henry Nabors (VIC, 1st) - .399/.407/.567, 74 R, 129 H, 29 2B, 11 3B, 1 HR, 69 RBI, 7 BB, 8 SB, 183 TB, +11.6 ZR, 4.4 WPA, 4.3 WAR OF: Bryn Rasmussen (CON, 1st) - .356/.381/.446, 51 R, 99 H, 16 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 58 RBI, 12 BB, 5 SB, 124 TB, 4.9 WPA, 2.0 WAR CF: Taliesin Buckley (NIA, 4th) - .348/.365/.465, 81 R, 116 H, 23 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 73 RBI, 10 BB, 65 SB, 155 TB, 4.8 WPA, 3.4 WAR OF: Francis Smith (MET, 2nd) - .297/.318/.500, 68 R, 95 H, 31 2B, 17 3B, 0 HR, 66 RBI, 11 BB, 10 SB, 160 TB, 2.8 WPA, 1.8 WAR NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS BATSMAN OF THE YEAR: Konrad Jensen – 29 y/o OF, St. John’s BC (2nd BotY award) • .403/.475/.613, 1.088 OPS, 112 R, 123 H, 28 2B, 15 3B, 2 HR, 81 RBI, 43 BB, 64 SB, 187 TB, 5.7 WPA, 5.1 WAR • Set new NBBO records for Runs & OPS; Only NEL player to hit over .400; Top five in 13 offensive categories • Franklin Petty (CF, L.E.) 2nd – Northeastern League MVP • William Busby (1B, AME) 3rd – .366/.430/.589, 92 R, 105 H, 19 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 77 RBI, 33 BB, 169 TB, 4.4 WPA, 3.7 WAR Petty was right up there with Jensen, but Jensen batting just over .400 and breaking two major offensive records earned him his 2nd BotY. It meant Petty would have to “settle” for MVP. Busby’s historic home run exploits meant he was guaranteed a spot in the top three. MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Franklin Petty – 26 y/o CF, Lake Erie BC (1st MVP award) • .394/.440/.622, 1.062 OPS, 86 R, 124 H, 37 2B, 16 3B, 1 HR, 79 RBI, 25 BB, 30 SB, 196 TB, 3.9 WPA, 5.4 WAR • 1st CF with 5.0 WAR in a season; broke NBBO Slugging record; tied NBBO Doubles record • Royal Altman (OF, ALL) 2nd – .354/.392/.513, 80 R, 112 H, 29 2B, 9 3B, 1 HR, 72 RBI, 26 SB, 162 TB, 6.0 WPA, 3.2 WAR • William Johnson (CF, STJ) 3rd – .397/.479/.540, 97 R, 120 H, 27 2B, 8 3B, 50 RBI, 47 BB, 42 SB, 163 TB, 4.7 WPA, 4.0 WAR Petty was nicked to BotY by Jensen, so he took the MVP trophy. His numbers were almost as good as Jensen’s, with his advantage in WAR coming down to the fact that he’s a CF. Altman came back down from the highs that saw him win BotY & MVP last year, but he was still outstanding. Johnson took 3rd again as the leadoff man for the mighty STJ offense. NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Tom Hauser – 26 y/o P, American BC • 27-13, 3.31 ERA, 329.1 IP, 24 CG, 1 SHO, 30 BB, 24 K, 0.8 BB/9, 0.7 K/9, 1.31 WHIP, 5.3 WAR, 5.4 rWAR • #1 for 1st-time pennant winners American; 2nd in NEL in Wins, 7th in Pitching WAR • Tarmo Kuopio (1B, STJ) 2nd – .366/.391/.469, 70 R, 117 H, 23 2B, 5 3B, 90 RBI, 11 BB, 9 SB, 150 TB, 3.4 WPA, 2.4 WAR • Alfred Suber (OF, L.E.) 3rd – .339/.353/.484, 75 R, 107 H, 15 2B, 11 3B, 3 HR, 86 RBI, 28 SB, 153 TB, 3.5 WPA, 2.2 WAR Kuopio tied the single-season RBI record and drove in 18 more runs in the TWC, but Hauser won all three monthly Newcomer awards and his pitching put American over the top as they made the postseason for the first time ever. Suber was not highly regarded when he signed for L.E. in 1864, but his debut season for their senior team was brilliant. GOLDEN GLOVES P: Robert Dozier (TU, 2nd) – 2.25 RNG, +5.1 ZR, 1.191 EFF C: Ben Stiltner (ALL, 1st) – 33.3 RTO%, 2.70 C-ERA, +9.5 ZR, 0.965 EFF 1B: Cormack Alexander (Q.S., 1st) – 11.18 RNG, +4.7 ZR, 1.039 EFF 2B: William Gillette (SHA, 3rd) – 6.20 RNG, +12.4 ZR, 1.113 EFF 3B: Euan Wilson (PORT, 1st) – 3.41 RNG, +7.5 ZR, 1.072 EFF SS: Anthony Mascherino (SHA, 11th) – 5.43 RNG, +18.0 ZR, 1.170 EFF OF: Royal Altman (ALL, 2nd) – 2.32 RNG, +7.1 ZR, 1.094 EFF CF: Walter Williams (SHA, 4th) – 3.28 RNG, +8.8 ZR, 1.109 EFF OF: John Gaynor (OCE, 1st) – 2.52 RNG, +8.4 ZR, 1.098 EFF TEAM OF THE YEAR P: Elmer Seabold (SUS, 1st) - 29-11, 2.41 ERA, 340.0 IP, 24 CG, 0 SHO, 51 BB, 134 K, 3.5 K/9, 2.6 K/BB, 1.24 WHIP, 8.1 WAR, 7.1 rWAR C: Joe Feuerstein (PORT, 4th) - .309/.336/.409, 37 R, 67 H, 18 2B, 5 3B, 0 HR, 46 RBI, 13 BB, 1 SB, 95 TB, 1.5 WPA, 1.4 WAR 1B: William Busby (AME, 2nd) - .366/.430/.589, 1.019 OPS, 92 R, 105 H, 19 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 77 RBI, 33 BB, 0 SB, 169 TB, 4.4 WPA, 3.7 WAR 2B: Arran Duffy (ALL, 1st) - .315/.343/.452, 71 R, 88 H, 29 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 66 RBI, 14 BB, 6 SB, 126 TB, 2.1 WPA, 1.8 WAR 3B: Werner Verstegen (AME, 1st) - .381/.401/.524, 91 R, 128 H, 31 2B, 7 3B, 1 HR, 47 RBI, 10 BB, 24 SB, 176 TB, 4.2 WPA, 3.3 WAR SS: Anthony Mascherino (SHA, 9th) - .321/.361/.458, 68 R, 96 H, 19 2B, 11 3B, 0 HR, 70 RBI, 18 BB, 24 SB, 137 TB, +18.0 ZR, 2.6 WPA, 3.7 WAR OF: Konrad Jensen (STJ, 8th) - .403/.475/.613, 1.088 OPS, 112 R, 123 H, 28 2B, 15 3B, 2 HR, 81 RBI, 43 BB, 64 SB, 187 TB, 5.7 WPA, 5.1 WAR CF: Franklin Petty (L.E., 1st) - .394/.440/.622, 1.062 OPS, 86 R, 124 H, 37 2B, 16 3B, 1 HR, 79 RBI, 25 BB, 30 SB, 196 TB, 3.9 WPA, 5.4 WAR OF: James Burke (SHA, 1st) - .383/.412/.562, 75 R, 120 H, 19 2B, 17 3B, 1 HR, 65 RBI, 14 BB, 53 SB, 176 TB, 4.5 WPA, 3.7 WAR __________________ Logo & uniform work here Thread about my fictional universe that begins in 1857 here

11-09-2024, 05:08 PM	#375
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,330	MISCELLANEOUS NEW YORK LEAGUE LEADERS • Average: .413 by Mario Fusilli (SYR) • On-Base: .463 by Jim Creighton (EXC) • Slugging: .567 by Henry Nabors (VIC) • OPS: .977 by Jim Creighton (EXC) • Hits: 129 by Henry Nabors (VIC) • Extra-Base Hits: 48 by Francis Smith (MET) • Doubles: 37 by Galimberto Cappelletti (EXC) • Triples: 17 by Francis Smith (MET) • Home Runs: 6 by Weldon Pike (VIC) • Runs Batted In: 80 by Leslie Arnett (GOT) & Ernest Lewis (NIA) • Runs: 95 by Manuel Romeiras (HAR) • Stolen Bases: 65 by Taliesin Buckley (NIA) • Total Bases: 183 by Henry Nabors (VIC) • Bases on Balls: 37 by Edward Huntley (KNI) • Win Prob. Added: 6.1 by Mario Fusilli (SYR) • Batter WAR: 4.8 by Edward Huntley (KNI) • Wins: 29 by Jim Creighton (EXC) • Losses: 29 by Charles Lee (EAG) • ERA: 2.35 by Raynard Cordell (ORA) over 337.0 IP • Innings: 362.2 by Jim Creighton (EXC) • Complete Games: 35 by Jim Creighton (EXC) • Shutouts: 3 by James Peters (K.C.) • Walk Rate: 0.3 BB/9 by three different pitchers • Strikeouts: 197 by Jim Creighton (EXC) • Strikeout Rate: 4.9 K/9 by Jim Creighton (EXC) over 362.2 IP • K/BB Ratio: 5.6/1 by Jim Creighton (EXC) • WHIP: 1.08 by Raynard Cordell (ORA) over 337.0 IP • Pitcher WAR: 11.8 by Jim Creighton (EXC) • RA/9 WAR: 12.9 by Jim Creighton (EXC) NORTHEASTERN LEAGUE LEADERS • Average: .403 by Konrad Jensen (STJ) • On-Base: .479 by William Johnson (STJ) • Slugging: .622 by Franklin Petty (L.E.) • OPS: 1.088 by Konrad Jensen (STJ) • Hits: 128 by Werner Verstegen (AME) • Extra-Base Hits: 54 by Franklin Petty (L.E.) • Doubles: 37 by Franklin Petty (L.E.) • Triples: 17 by James Burke (SHA) • Home Runs: 13 by William Busby (AME) • Runs Batted In: 90 by Tarmo Kuopio (STJ) • Runs: 112 by Konrad Jensen (STJ) • Stolen Bases: 64 by Konrad Jensen (STJ) • Total Bases: 196 by Franklin Petty (L.E.) • Bases on Balls: 47 by William Johnson (STJ) & Theodore Kohlberg (SUS) • Win Prob. Added: 6.0 by Royal Altman (ALL) • Batter WAR: 5.4 by Franklin Petty (L.E.) • Wins: 29 by Elmer Seabold (SUS) • Losses: 26 by Woody McAllister (OLY) • ERA: 2.25 by Jonathan Scott (ALL) over 232.0 IP • Innings: 348.1 by Thomas Ricks (SHA) • Complete Games: 27 by Thomas Ricks (SHA) & Walter Schulman (PORT) • Shutouts: 2 by five different pitchers • Walk Rate: 0.4 BB/9 by Sammie Cato (G.M.) over 332.0 IP • Strikeouts: 134 by Elmer Seabold (SUS) • Strikeout Rate: 3.5 K/9 by Elmer Seabold (SUS) over 340.0 IP • K/BB Ratio: 2.6/1 by Elmer Seabold (SUS) • WHIP: 1.14 by Thomas Ricks (SHA) over 348.1 IP • Pitcher WAR: 8.1 by Elmer Seabold (SUS) • RA/9 WAR: 8.8 by Thomas Ricks (SHA) SEASON RECORDS • St. John’s set new records for Runs (684, 9.8 R/G), Slugging (.444), OPS (.813), & Doubles (205). • Shamrock set a new record for Triples with 62. • Thanks largely to Jim Creighton, Excelsior became the first team to strike out 200 batters in a season with 218. • Sportsman’s set a record for fewest Stolen Bases with 20. 70 individual players stole more bases than Sportsman’s. • Konrad Jensen (STJ) set new records for OPS (1.088) & Runs (122). • Franklin Petty (L.E.) set new records for Slugging % (.622) & Extra-Base Hits (54). • William Busby (AME) set a new record for Home Runs with 13. • Gil Cappelletti (EXC) & Franklin Petty (L.E.) tied the record for Doubles with 37. • James Burke (SHA) & Francis Smith (MET) ties the record for Triples with 17. • Tarmo Kuopio (STJ) tied the record for Runs Batted In with 90. • Jim Creighton (EXC) set records for IP (362.2), K's (197), K/9 (4.9), Pitching WAR (11.8), & Combined WAR (14.1) • Jim Creighton (EXC) also tied the record for Complete Games with 35. • Charles Lee (EAG) tied the record for Losses with 29 & set a new record for Games Started with 45. • John Brown (UTI) set a new record for Games Pitched with 54. ACHIEVEMENTS & NOTABLE EVENTS • May 22: Cormack Alexander (Q.S.) sees his record 42-game Hitting Streak come to an end. • May 28: Dennis Hunt (EMP) sets a new record with 11 RBI over two games. • July 15: Jim Creighton (EXC) becomes the first pitcher to strike out 150 batters in one season. • July 20: Ed Huntley (KNI), Sam Kessler (ALL), & Anthony Mascherino (SHA) selected to their 10th All-Star Game. • July 23: William Busby (AME) becomes the first player to hit 10+ Home Runs in a season. • July 23: William Busby (AME) becomes the first player to hit two Home Runs in a single inning. • July 24: Carl Bancroft (GOT) becomes the new career Wins leader with 216, passing John McGowan. • July 25: Alistair Jones (NEW) hits for the NBBO’s first Cycle in more than two years. • Aug. 3: A record 17,639 fans attend the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh’s Recreation Park. • Two players hit over .400: Mario Fusilli (SYR) & Konrad Jensen (STJ), with Henry Nabors (VIC) batting .399. • Konrad Jensen (STJ; 5.1) & Franklin Petty (L.E.; 5.4) became the first OF’s with 5.0 WAR in a season. • Four players recorded six-hit games in 1868. • Four players hit 5+ Home Runs, the most in a season since 1863. • A record eight players finished the season with 75+ Runs Batted In. • A record six pitchers finished the season with 25+ Wins. • Six players have taken part in all 840 games scheduled since the foundation of the NBBO: • William Casilli (four teams) • Albert Gore (GRA, SotO, MET) • James Heilman (four teams) • Edward Huntley (ORA, KNI) • William Johnson (STJ) • Thomas Maloney (SHA, REA, M.B.) • Huntley, Johnson, & Maloney are the three who have started all 840 games. __________________ Logo & uniform work here Thread about my fictional universe that begins in 1857 here Last edited by tm1681; 11-10-2024 at 10:31 PM.

11-24-2024, 03:06 PM	#380
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,330	PLAY BALL! THE 1869 NBBO PREVIEW NORTHEAST USA (May 5, 1869) – Season number thirteen for the National Base Ball Organization beings today, when Newark plays at American at Glenwood Field in Philadelphia just after noon. Those two will be followed shortly by Hilltop at Orange, Sons of the Ocean at Green Mountain, Eagle at Niagara, and Utica at Binghamton. Orange BBC are the ones defending the cup this year but they are expected to return to their 1867 form, with Gotham & Knickerbocker the favorites in New York City. A new champion looks very likely. The two most talented teams going into 1869, and thus the two favorites to hoist the cup, are Alleghany & St. John’s. Alleghany made tweaks after losing Inland last year, and they now have an irresistible lineup with outstanding defense in the middle of the infield. St. John’s responded to losing the cup on the final day by bringing back an old favorite, and they look like – on paper – they will be the first team to score 700+ runs in a season. The Northeastern League is expected to be where the offense is – not a surprise given that many of the NBBO’s most talented batsmen reside there while the New York League has more of the pitching talent. Aside from Edward Huntley (KNI) the NEL has a monopoly on the most talented batsmen in the sport, and it should lead to some wild afternoons. Pitchers finally have their own award to look forward to, with the “Pitcher of the Year” being handed out to the best #1 in each league for the first time in 1869. A record amount of newcomer batsmen are expected to start for NBBO teams in 1869, but it is P Ross Gill for Quaker State who is considered likely to make the biggest impact of any new player in the competition. With traditional powerhouses expected back on top of the standings in 1869, the only thing for the neutral fan to do is to wait for the games to play out and hope that the unexpected happens once again this season. Anything can happen and a team could pull another Susquehanna, and it is time to play ball! Only one of six regional favorites, St. John’s, made the cup last year. The other five favorites have all been to the postseason multiple times, with Knickerbocker & Shamrock having won the cup twice each. WRITERS POOL 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: •The most talented batsmen in both leagues at each position (represents newcomer): NYL – C: Everett Schreiber (25 y/o, ORA), 1B: Mario Fusilli (31 y/o, SYR), 2B: Leslie Arnett (31 y/o, GOT), 3B: Isaac Kelly (23 y/o, ECK), SS: Edward Huntley (33 y/o, KNI), OF: Clive Strachan (26 y/o, GOT), CF: Taliesin Buckley (32 y/o, NIA), OF: Francis Smith (24 y/o, MET) NEL – C: C: James Simon (25 y/o, SHA), 1B: William Busby (26 y/o, AME), 2B: Anderson MacGyver (35 y/o, STJ), 3B: Samuel Kessler (33 y/o, ALL), SS: Anthony Mascherino (30 y/o, SHA), OF: James Burke (28 y/o, SHA), CF: Franklin Petty (27 y/o, L.E.), OF: Konrad Jensen (29 y/o, STJ) • The ten most talented pitchers in the NBBO (represents newcomer): Jim Creighton (28 y/o, EXC), Tom Ricks (30 y/o, SHA), James Goodman (31 y/o, F.C.), Ross Gill (28 y/o, Q.S.), Raynard Cordell (29 y/o, ORA), Fred Richards (33 y/o, S.o.t.O.), Earl Quinn (28 y/o, CON), Elmer Seabold (25 y/o, SUS), William Tighe (31 y/o, MUT), Tom Hauser (27 y/o, AME) • The ten best newcomers in the NBBO: Ross Gill (28 y/o P, Q.S.), James Simon (25 y/o C, SHA), William Chapman (29 y/o SS, M.B.), Fox Ellis (24 y/o SS, UTI), Arthur Fisher (22 y/o SS, N.C.), Lou Sturgeon (28 y/o P, STJ), Isaac Sterling (24 y/o P, REA), Callum Stone (29 y/o P, PIO), Henry Williams (25 y/o P, M.B.), Edward Johnson (27 y/o CF, K.C.) • The ten best reserve squad prospects in the NBBO: Frank Bulger (22 y/o 2B, SHA), Troy Oberst (22 y/o OF, MET), William Hatch (21 y/o P, GRA), George Cerven (23 y/o P, GOT), Daniel Zook (23 y/o 1B, KNI), George Burroughs (20 y/o P, P.J.), Howard Burns (19 y/o P, STJ), Lorik van Unen (23 y/o SS, KNI), Hal Brinks (23 y/o C, S.o.t.O.), Roy Reed (24 y/o 1B, NEW) • Once again, upper-level offensive talent is concentrated in the Northeastern League. In the poll of the Writers Pool, nine of the top ten batsmen and sixteen of the top twenty play for NEL teams, the highest concentration of premier talent in one league seen to date. Conversely, the WP has declared that the NYL has thirteen of the NBBO’s top twenty pitchers. • As the number of strikeouts has crept up year after year, and especially after Jim Creighton fanned nearly 200 batsmen last season, teams around the league are instructing their players to dial back their swings a bit. Expect fewer strikeouts this year, but at the same there will very likely be fewer extra-base hits. • Excelsior has been named the Brooklyn favorites almost solely due to the presence of Jim Creighton. They have notable weaknesses at C, 2B, one OF spot, and an overall lack of batsman depth. They are beatable. Overall, Brooklyn is should be competitive. Defending champs Kings County are expected to fall to 4th because, aside from 1B Koonce & P Peters, their lineup looks good but not great. Atlantic has improved their lineup at a number of positions. Continental brings back the same brilliant pitching duo of Quinn & Wright. Eckford will be led by 23-year-old Isaac Kelly, one of the best young players in the sport. • New York City looks like a two-team race – the old guard of Gotham & Knickerbocker the clear favorites. Surely the Knick team will not have another nine-game losing streak this season, and Gotham is adding the most talked about new regular in the NBBO to their lineup. Orange brings back all eight regular batsmen and their #1 pitcher from last year, but the Writers Pool thinks their performance in 1868 was a one-year surprise. • The two big Upstate clubs, Flour City & Niagara, should be the two best in the region – a surprising rarity. Bringing in James Goodman from Minutemen has made F.C. the favorites, while champs Niagara return almost the same lineup while also adding an excellent newcomer at C in Joseph Hines. • Shamrock should be back on top in Coastal, as the recruitment of C James Simon and the promotion of James Johnson from the reserve unit, which allowed William McCrory to move to the outfield, now means that the team has top-five players at five positions. American returns all of their stars, but unlike Shamrock they have weaknesses at C, SS, & LF. Massachusetts Bay has added the best new SS in the NBBO and decent CF Leininger from Kings Co. Quaker St. is projected 37-33, but new P Ross Gill could immediately be among of the five best #1’s and all of their best players are back. • Alleghany has added 1B Collin Henderson & C Dag Nielsen, with seven All-Star Games between them, to an already potent lineup. Combine that with the exodus from Susquehanna following their stunning pennant last year and the Writers Pool thinks Alleghany has a slim chance to become the first team ever to win 60+ games in a season. Pioneer & Sportman’s have decent lineups, but not anything close to Alleghany’s in quality. • St. John’s responded to last year’s cup disappointment by bringing back MacGyver, giving them clearly the most talented team in the NBBO – the odds-on favorite to take their twelfth New England pennant in thirteen years. Oceanic has a nice lineup, but they are not going to keep up with the perennial kings of New England. __________________ Logo & uniform work here Thread about my fictional universe that begins in 1857 here