1901-2021 Alternate History Replay

[reflections]

Originally Posted by Highlander

Cy Young- Breaking my rules here a little. Cy only pitched 3 years in the Replay League, as he retired in 1903 at age 36. In real life, he pitched until 1911. He still did plenty to make the HOF in the Replay League, but his win total was "only" 343 compared to his real life 511. In his final season, he won 20 games with a 3.10 ERA, so he still seemed to have plenty in the tank. Not sure what caused his decision to retire.

Interesting. A bit of a early retirement. Love the "only" 343 wins lol

[Highlander]

Pete Alexander- Pete was drafted in the 1st round of the 1909 draft by the Philadelphia A's. He pitched 1 inning in 1910 with the A's and then came up as a regular pitcher in 1911. In 1912, he put up a 25-13 record with a 2.77 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 178 Ks in 337.1 IP. He only won 20+ games one other season in his career. He had a few strong ERA years, with a 2.23 in 1917 (when he also won 26 games) and a 2.21 in 1918. By 1921, he was in the bullpen, however, and he remained there until he retired at age 39 in 1926. He stayed with the A's until 1922 when they just released him. He was signed by the Boston Braves, where he played for two years until being traded to Cleveland for his final two seasons.

His overall numbers were-

183-174, 24 Saves, 3053 IP, 2.92 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 1278 K, 57.9 WAR

He also led the league in shutouts twice with 6 each time. he had 28 in his career.

Pete won 2 World Series championships and was named to 3 All-Star teams, but he just didn't do enough to make the HOF in the Replay League. His highest percentage of votes was 39.6% in his first year of eligibility in 1932.

[Highlander]

Originally Posted by reflections

Interesting. A bit of a early retirement. Love the "only" 343 wins lol

I know...but for him, the "only" fits!

[Highlander]

Eddie Collins- Eddie was the #1 pick of the Washington Senators in 1905 and the #2 pick overall. His debut was in 1906 at age 19 and he played with Washington until he retired at age 42 in 1929.

Here's the numbers-

Games Played- 3044 (21st)
At Bats- 10115 (61st)
Hits- 3163 (32nd)
Batting Average- .313 (51st)
OPS- .810
Runs- 1591 (54th)
Doubles- 399
Triples- 209 (10th)
Home Runs- 49
RBI- 1117
Stolen Bases- 727 (T-11th)
WAR- 106.2 (22nd)

Collins had most of his good years before age 30, with a stretch of 3 from age 22-24 that were some of his best and he led the league in hitting in all three. In 1911, his age 24 year, he had probably his best. He hit .371/.461/.482, 23 doubles, 19 triples, 1 HR, 120 R, 68 RBI, 62 SB, 8.5 WAR. He led the league in batting one more time, but not until 1916, when he hit .354. The next two years, he struggled to hit .270, but then bounced back with 6 more .300+ years including a .353 in 1937 when he was 37 years old. Eddie's game was mostly speed and getting on base, as he led the league in steals 5 times and OBP 5 times.

Eddie won 1 World Series with the Senators. He was a 13 time Silver Slugger, 15 time All-Star, and a 6 time MVP. He was elected to the HOF in 1935 with 98.8% of the vote.

[Highlander]

Willie Keeler- Wee Willie played 11 years in the Replay League after 7 years playing before the Replay started. His first wo years, he looked close to the vintage Keeler, with batting averages of .322 and .332 in 1901 and 1902. After that, his career slowly fell off and in his last 4 years he played very sparingly. However, he still accumulated the following numbers because of his incredible early years-

7762 AB, 2614 H, .337 BA (6th), 1441 R, 239 doubles, 146 triples (54th), 25 HR, 843 RBI, 508 SB (49th), 45 WAR

I should have mentioned that he played his entire career with the Brooklyn Superbas....so, while he was active, he was the third OF to go along with Cobb and Speaker. Pretty amazing!

Willie won one Gold Glove Award during his time in the league and was named to one All-Star team. Despite these relatively meager accomplishments in the Replay League, he was still inducted to the HOF in 1921, his 5th year of eligibility, with 78.1% of the vote. I definitely think that .337 BA was what pushed him over the top.

[Highlander]

George Sisler- Gorgeous George was a first round pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1914. He spent the majority of his career with them, debuting in 1915. He stayed in Boston until 1928. The following year, he was traded to the Philadelphia A's, where he stayed for his last 4 years. His last two years he barely played. In fact he only had one AB in his last season in 1932 as a 39 year old, but he got a hit....so he batted 1.000 in his final season!

George's career numbers look like this (doing this format for now...I may change a few times as we go along!)-

9010 AB, 2885 H (59th), .320 BA (23rd), 1261 R, 457 doubles, 173 triples (26th), 61 HR, 1077 RBI, 372 SB, 51.6 WAR

Sisler led the league in AB 8 times and had over 600 AB ten times, so he was pretty reliable. He led the league in hits five times, getting over 200 each time. His best year looks like 1919, when he was 26 years old. He hit .364/.404/.534, 39 doubles, 16 triples, 8 HR, 96 R, 83 RBI, 36 SB, 7.8 WAR. He was a great contact hitter, only striking out 351 times in his 18 seasons.

George was a Rookie of the Year winner, won one Gold Glove, 5 Silver Sluggers, was named to 7 All-Star teams and won the MVP once. He was elected to the HOF in 1941 with 78.9% of the vote. It was his 4th year of eligibility.

[Highlander]

Lou Gehrig- The Iron Horse was the first overall pick in the 1920 draft and was chose by the Washington Senators. He got off to a much faster start in his Replay League career than he did in real life, as his Replay debut was at age 17 in 1921. His real life debut was in 1923, but he didn't play much until 2 years later as a 21 year old. In the Replay League, he stayed in Washington until 1941. Before the 1942 season, he was traded to the Phillies, where he played sparingly for his last two years....retiring at age 39 in 1943.

Gehrig's career numbers are-

11089 AB (22nd), 3493 H (13th), .315 BA (38th), .936 OPS (9th), 2029 R (7th), 630 doubles (16th), 219 triples (7th), 382 HR (T-74th), 1953 RBI (11th), 213 SB, 112.9 WAR (17th)

Gehrig's power didn't quite develop like it did in real life. Maybe being away from the Babe took some away! He was pretty amazing, though, at hitting triples....especially early in his career. In his very first year, at age 17, he hit 25 triples...and only 15 doubles with 2 HR. He led the league that year and did it again the next two years with totals of 17 and 19. Then he dropped to 9 triples, but came back the next year with 19 again to lead the league. He reached double digits a number of other times, but never approached 20 or led the league again. His best year looks to be 1930, when he hit .380/.485/.649, 129 R, 34 doubles, 14 triples, 29 HR, 116 RBI, 17 SB, 8.5 WAR. He led the league in BA, R, OBP, OPS and WAR that season.

Lou's best HR year was in 1937 as a 33 year old. He hit 36 HR to lead the league for the only time in his career. It was also the only time he hit over 30 HR. After that season, there was a pretty good drop in Gehrig's production, but he could still really get on base.

Lou won 1 World Series championship. He was a 9-time Silver Slugger, 13-time All-Star, 4-time MVP and was elected to the HOF in 1949 with 98.5% of the vote.

[Highlander]

Rogers Hornsby- Rajah was the top over all pick in the 1914 draft. He was taken by the Cincinnati Reds and played with them his whole career from his debut in 1915 to his retirement at age 40 in 1936.

The numbers for Hornsby look like this-

11673 AB (11th), 3770 H (4th), .323 BA (21st), .879 OPS (37th), 1845 R (18th), 694 doubles (8th), 196 triples (14th), 243 HR, 1755 RBI (30th), 155 SB, 135.6 WAR (6th)

As with most of these early greats, Rogers clearly didn't disappoint. He led the league in batting 5 times, with 3 of those years in the .370's. Despite his .400 seasons in real life, his best season in the Replay league was .376. He had a great streak of 3 years from 1919-1921 where he led the league in batting all 3 years as well as runs, OPS and WAR. The best of the bunch was 1921, when he was 25 years old. He hit .372/.433/.612, 126 R, 44 doubles, 21 triples, 19 HR, 126 RBI, 12 SB, 10.4 WAR.

Hornsby hit well over .300 every year until 1931 when his average dropped to .293. It continued to drop from there on out, but he still had some pretty productive seasons. Nothing like earlier in his career, however.

Hornsby's list of achievements is pretty impressive- 2 World Series wins, 1 Playoff MVP award, Rookie of the Year, 4-time Gold Glove winner, 16-time Silver Slugger, 17-time All-Star, 6-time MVP. Not surprisingly, he was elected to the HOF in his first year, 1942. Surprisingly, however, he received 100% of the vote....not that it wasn't deserving, but he's the first one we've seen with that honor out of a number of truly great players.

[Highlander]

Roger Bresnahan- The Duke of Tralee (have to look up that nickname....what does that mean??) had a cup of coffee before the Replay League, but for all intents and purposes, his whole career occurred after 1900. He was with the Yankees for his whole career and he retired in 1915 at age 35.

Roger's numbers were-

6758 AB, 1818 H, .269 BA, .726 OPS, 931 R, 327 doubles, 94 triples, 24 HR, 798 RBI, 240 SB, 81.4 WAR (44th)

Bresnahan's WAR total is 2nd all-time for catchers, so despite numbers that don't look that impressive, he really had a solid career. His best year was in 1911 as a 31 year old. He hit .342/.446/.497, 84 R, 34 doubles, 12 triples, 4 HR, 83 RBI, 17 SB, 7.6 WAR. He only led the league in a category twice in his career....he had 82 walks in 1904 and a .424 OBP in 1910. He had some strange patterns in his career. From 1901-1909, he only hit .300 one time and actually had seasons where he hit .226 and .219. After the .219 season, he had 3 straight seasons where he hit over .300 and had OBPs over over .420.

Roger won two championships with the Yankees. He won the Gold Glove 3 times, the Silver Slugger 4 times, and was a 10-time All-Star. It took 7 years on the ballot, but in 1927, he was elected to the HOF with 86% of the vote. Maybe his WAR total kept looking more and more impressive as time went on?

[Highlander]

So I looked up the nickname. Roger's parents immigrated from Tralee, Ireland to the US. When Roger was little, he used to say that he, too, was from Tralee....so they started calling him the name.

[Highlander]

Fred Clarke- Cap played a little over half his career in the Replay League, but had 7 strong years prior. He spent his whole Replay career with the Pirates and retired in 1912 at age 39.

Fred's overall numbers were-

9007 AB, 2804 H (75th), .311 BA (57th), 1481 R (88th), 381 doubles, 264 triples (2nd), 60 HR, 1182 RBI, 489 SB (57th), 71.6 WAR (79th)

Clarke's overall numbers don't reach Cobb/Ruth/Hornsby numbers, but he hits the top 100 in a number of categories. Triples were his thing and he led the league 4 times with totals of 26, 22, 21, 21. He's another guy who it's hard to decide on a "best year". He was very consistent and even when he seemed to be in a decline from his age 34-37 years, he came back at age 38 to hit .315 with a .405 OBP and 13 triples. Then, in his final year he showed he still "had it" by hitting .302 with a .436 OBP...albeit in only 106 AB.

Fred won 5 championships with the Pirates. He was a 3-time Gold Glove winner, 4-time Silver Slugger and 10-time All-Star. He was elected to the HOF in his first year, but with only 85.4% of the vote. Definitely worthy of the honor, however.

[Highlander]

Jimmy Collins- Jimmy played about half his career in the Replay League. He was with the Red Sox until he retired in 1909 at age 39.

Jimmy's stats were-

6859 AB, 1955 H, .285 BA, .728 OPS, 979 R, 323 doubles, 108 triples, 70 HR, 970 RBI, 174 SB, 42.6 WAR

Jimmy was very good in his first two Replay League seasons. In 1902, he hit .306/.353/.456, 74 R, 17 doubles, 16 triples, 10 HR, 91 RBI, 8 SB, 7.1 WAR. He led the league in triples and HR. After those two seasons, his production dropped way off, with just a .282 OBP in 1903. He had a couple more decent years before he retired, but nothing great.

He won 3 Silver Sluggers, was named to 6 All-Star teams (not sure how!) and won an MVP award. He spent 8 years on the HOF voting list, but the best he managed was 22.9% in his 2nd year of eligibility.

[Highlander]

Ed Delahanty- Big Ed got 9 of his 16 years in the Replay League. He spent his whole career with the Phillies and played until age 41 in 1909.

Delahanty's numbers were as follows-

10364 AB (42nd), 3373 H (18th), .325 BA (18th), .854 OPS (92nd), 1906 R (19th), 677 doubles (11th), 205 triples (T-11th), 114 HR, 1814 RBI (22nd), 477 SB (66th), 82.5 WAR (43rd)

A lot of the production from Delahanty was in his Pre-Replay years, but he did put up a few good seasons. His best season, surprisingly, was in 1906 at age 38! He hit .337/.410/.488, 47 doubles, 6 triples, 6 HR, 86 R, 91 RBI, 6 SB, 7.8 WAR. He led the league that year in BA, SLG, OPS, doubles and RBI. He had 4 other years where he hit over .300, but his only other time he led the league in anything was in 1903 when he led in doubles with 42.

Despite never winning a World Series, Ed did win a Playoff MVP award. He also won two Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and had three All-Star selections. In 1915, his first year of eligibility, Delahanty was elected into the HOF with 99.2% of the vote. His pre-Replay days really drove his HOF numbers, but he was a very good player and his total numbers definitely warrant his election.

[Highlander]

Hughie Jennings- Hughie only played 7 seasons in the Replay league out of 13 total years in baseball. He spent 1901-02 with the Phillies and was then traded to the Cubs for 2B Larry Schlafly. He spent his last 5 years in Chicago, retiring at age 38 in 1907.

Hughie's overall numbers were-

6948 AB, 2098 H, .302 BA, .764 OPS, 348 doubles, 101 triples, 22 HR, 1080 RBI, 480 SB (T-63rd), 45.8 WAR

Hughie really only played 4 full seasons in his Replay career. He missed 4 months or so in 1902 with a broken hand and was a bench player in his last few seasons. He had one solid year in 1904, when he hit .307/.359/.382, 62 R, 40 doubles, 0 triples, 0 HR, 63 RBI, 15 SB, 4.0 WAR. His 40 doubles led the league.

Hughie did win a World Series championship and was named to 2 All-Star teams. However, despite actually having better numbers that in his real life career in a number of categories, he did not get voted into the HOF. He remained on the ballot for 10 years and came "Oh, so close", getting over 65% three times, with a high of 71.5% in 1919. In real life, Jennings had a 5 year stretch where he was excellent, but didn't do anything remarkable the rest of his career. He really doesn't seem to warrant being in the HOF, so I am just fine with him being out here.

[Highlander]

Jesse Burkett- Crab just made the cut, playing 6 seasons in the Replay League out of his 17 year career. He played with the Cardinals for his first two seasons and then was traded to the Washington Senators for CF Bill O'Hara. The Senators released him in 1907 at age 38, so he decided to retire.

Jesse put up these numbers in his overall career-

8333 AB, 2797 H (80th), .336 BA (T-7th), .850 OPS, 1611 R (48th), 300 doubles, 176 triples (21st), 75 HR, 1008 RBI, 355 SB, 58.2 WAR

Jesse got most of his value from hitting singles and having a high BA....but he did those things very well. In his Replay career, he was winding down his overall career....but he did hit over .300 twice in his 6 years. His best season was a pretty vintage Burkett year. In 1901, Jesse hit .346/.433/.485, 85 R, 11 doubles, 16 triples, 10 HR, 81 RBI, 13 SB, 5.1 WAR. He led the league in hits (182), BA, OPS and HR....it was the only time in his career he led the league in HR or OPS.

Jesse's only Replay accomplishment was winning a Silver Slugger Award. However, in 1912, his first year of eligibility, he was voted into the HOF with 87.1% of the vote. His huge seasons before the Replay League began certainly made him worthy.

[Highlander]

Frank Chance- The Peerless Leader spent his whole career with the Cubs and played all but 3 of his 16 years in the Replay League. He retired at age 36 in 1913.

His numbers were-

5977 AB, 1657 H, .277 BA, 895 R, 276 doubles, 89 triples, 19 HR, 734 RBI, 443 SB (85th), 65.6 WAR

Frank had a very consistent career, with most of his BA being in the .275-.285 range with 60-70 RBI, 40ish SB, 70ish runs, etc. Nice numbers, but nothing that outstanding. In 1903, he rose above those numbers in his BA, hitting .323, which helped him lead the league in OBP at .435. That was the only time he led the league in any category.

Frank won one championship and came up big as the Playoff MVP. He won 8 Silver Sluggers, so his numbers were certainly pretty good for his era! He was also named to 11 All-Star teams. He spent 10 years on the HOF ballot, but only reached a high of 49.5 % in 1927 and was not elected. He was a very good player in his era, but his overall numbers just don't make him a HOFer.

[Highlander]

Jack Chesbro- Happy Jack played two years before the Replay League, and did pretty well. However, the Pirates didn't think he was ready to do much in 1901 and he only pitched 21 innings (no injuries that I see). The his Replay career started in earnest in 1902 and continued until age 39 in 1914. He was traded in the middle of the 1908 season to the Detroit Tigers for CF Jimmy Barrett. He finished his career as a Tiger.

Jack's career numbers look like this-

173-129, 27 Saves, 27 Shut Outs (T-84th) 2649.2 IP, 2.57 ERA (27th), 1.19 WHIP (T-68th), 1046 K, 3.6 K/9, 41.2 WAR

Chesbro definitely had some great years, but didn't quite reach what he did in his real life career. His best seasons were 1902 and 1903. In 02, he went 26-6 with a 2.10 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 111 Ks in 282.1 IP and 5.5 WAR. In 03, he went 21-12 with a 2.18 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 154 Ks in 321.2 IP and 7.3 WAR. He had similar seasons the rest of his time in Pittsburgh, but the year he was traded, it looked like he was starting to regress. Once he got to Detroit, he proved that was not the case. The Tigers started to convert Jack into a bullpen guy, but his first two seasons there he still got a good number of starts. In 1909, he went 12-8 with a 1.59 ERA and in 1910, he went 11-3 with 1 save (he only had 13 starts) with a 1.51 ERA. After that, he was exclusively a bullpen guy. However, he topped off his career in his final season by leading the league in appearances (51) and saves (10) with a 2.45 ERA in 77 IP! Not surprisingly, he won the Reliever of the Year Award that year.


Chesbro won 5 championships in his career and was named to 3 All-Star teams. It took 9 years, but Happy Jack was very happy in 1928, as he was finally inducted into the HOF with 84.5% of the vote. He had a pretty interesting career and even though some of his numbers may not warrant induction, that 2.57 ERA is tough to keep out...along with how he reinvented himself as a great reliever in an era where bullpens weren't used that much!

[Highlander]

Johnny Evers- The second part of the famous double play trio was drafted 2nd overall by the Cubs in 1901. He played his entire career in Chicago until his retirement at age 35 in 1917.

Crab's numbers look like this-

7852 AB, 2084 H, .265 BA, .688 OPS, 1078 R, 264 doubles, 89 triples, 14 HR, 759 RBI, 395 SB, 88.1 WAR (33rd)

While Johnny's overall numbers aren't that impressive, the fact he is 33rd all-time in WAR shows he was a very good player. He had a stretch of 5 years from 1908-1912 where he hit over .300 twice and had OBP of no less than .395, including a league leading .414 in 1909 and a career high .448 in 1912. Before and after those years, he did not have great numbers. In that 5 year stretch, he actually led the league in WAR 3 times, with a high of 10.3. 1912 was his age 30 season and his career really dropped off after that. He hit .326 with that .448 OBP in 1912 and 3 years later he was hitting .228.

Evers won 2 World Series with the Cubs. He was a 3-time Gold Glove winner, 6-time Silver Slugger and 6-time All-Star. He won one MVP award as well. Despite a pretty impressive list of accomplishments, the numbers just weren't there, however. He did last 10 years on the HOF ballot, but only reached 32% in his 2nd year.

[Highlander]

Joe McGinnity- Possibly the original Iron Man? Joe played 6 of his 8 years in the Replay League. He was traded by the Yankees to Cleveland midway through the 1904 season, where he stayed until he retired at age 35 in 1906.

Joe's numbers were-

110-72, 3 Saves, 1587.2 IP, 3.02 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 444 K, 2.5 K/9, 21 WAR

Other than Joe's pre-Replay years, he was nowhere near the pitcher he was in real life. His numbers were never that bad...his worst ERA of any season was 3.40. He just didn't get much opportunity to pitch. In 1901 and 1902, he had 36 and 34 starts, but after that he never had more than 16 and spent a lot of time coming out of the bullpen. He had no injuries in his whole career, so the Iron Man label still fit....it's a bit of a mystery why he didn't get to play more since he was always effective when he was out there.

Needless to say, Joe didn't win any awards in his career, never mind getting consideration for the HOF.

[Highlander]

Ed Plank- Gettysburg Eddie made his debut with the A's in 1901 and stayed with them his whole career until his retirement in 1911 at age 35. He had a much shorter career than in real life, as he went until 1917. He had no big injuries, so his reasons for retiring are not exactly clear. His final year was his worst, but not so bad that he couldn't potentially bounce back.

Plank's career numbers were-

218-152 (T-68th in wins), 1 Save, 3458.1 IP (97th), 2.46 ERA (20th), 1.11 WHIP (T-11th), 1696 Ks, 4.4 K/9, 72.9 WAR (T-51st)

Despite a relatively short career of just 11 seasons, Plank made the most of them. He won 20+ games 8 times and led the league 4 times. He led the league in Ks 3 times and WAR 4 times. There are a few possibilities for his best season.....In 1904, he went 24-12 with a 2.05 ERA, .96 WHIP, 214 Ks and 8.8 WAR in 346 IP. In 1906, he went 24-13 with a 1.77 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 194 Ks and 8.6 WAR in 355.2 IP. He also had a league leading 10 shut outs that year. That is tied for the most ever in a season in the Replay League.

Eddie never won a championship, but was an 8-time All Star and 2-time Cy Young Award winner. Even though he had just an 11 year career, it was enough to have him be inducted to the HOF in his first year with 89.3% of the vote.