Here Comes The Paragon Baseball League!

[luckymann]

The hurlers have come out throwing rocks in the first week of the 1965 PBL season, with a bunch of shutouts and low-scoring affairs. This is obviously the pick of them so far as Moose continues his sharp upswing in the wake of his Pitcher of the Year award in '64, and it puts his Fury at 6-0

[luckymann]

Reggie Smith has finally nailed down the starting role at CF for the Trips after being used rather sparingly to this point, and if this game is any indication he intends to make the most of his opportunities.

[luckymann]

The Rainiers will be keen to prove their 1964 performance was no fluke with another solid showing this year, and performances like this one from Big Daddy will do their chances no harm whatsoever. Considering their two top run producers in Trout and Wynn are both having terrible starts to the season, they'd be pretty happy to be 13-10 at this point.

[luckymann]

Apart from Kansas City, who have jumped out to a fast start in the South, it has been a very even first month of the 1965 PBL season. Once again the pitchers have been dominant early, but I expect the bats to warm up before too long.


Monthly Award Winners

Northwest League

• Batter – Willie Keeler (Las Vegas): 446 / 2 HR / 11 RBI
• Pitcher – Doc White (Boston): 4-0 / 2.05 / 24 K / 44 IP

Southeast League

• Batter – Carl Yastrzemski (Washington): 368 / 6 HR / 19 RBI
• Pitcher – Johan Santana (Washington): 5-1 / 1.88 / 40 K / 48 IP

Weekly Award Winners

• 12th: Willie Keeler (Las Vegas) / Roberto Clemente (Virginia)
• 19th: Aaron Judge (New York) / Willie Davis (Florida)
• 26th: Robinson Cano (New Jersey) / Carl Yastrzemski (Washington)

Milestones

• 100 HR: Scott Rolen, Corey Seager, Freddie Freeman

Other Observations and Points of Interest

• Roger Bresnahan smacks just his 4th career HR, as does two-way player Bob Caruthers.
• Max Scherzer nails down just his 2nd PBL win, Nolan Ryan his 3rd.

Top 20s

[luckymann]

Mad Dog carried all before him last season, and this masterpiece shows he is ready for another big year.

[luckymann]

The PBL gets its 2nd no-no this season and 9th all told as Big Z hits the snooze button on the Beacons.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

Ron Santo has been a bit of an unsung hero for the Pirates, with 77 HR and almost 7 career WAR to his name. So far, the 1965 season isn't panning out how I'm sure the club would have wanted, but maybe this excellent performance from Ron and pitcher Jon Lester gives them some momentum.

[luckymann]

A slowish start to the season for Cannonball, but this sees him back to his devastating best.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

A nice way to finish off the month for the mighty Satchel.

[luckymann]

Things remain incredibly tight across the board heading into June, with the Blues' 4-game margin in the South still the widest margin of the four divisions.

In what has become a definite pattern for the PBL, the bats are slowly starting to heat up after the pitchers hold sway in the early going.


Monthly Award Winners

Northwest League

• Batter – Jesse Burkett (Las Vegas): 357 / 2 HR / 11 RBI
• Pitcher – Greg Maddux (Boston): 6-1 / 1.32 / 31 K / 61.1 IP

Southeast League

• Batter – John Olerud (Carolina): 379 / 6 HR / 24 RBI
• Pitcher – Pete Alexander (Kansas City): 4-0 / 2.07 / 36 K / 61 IP

Weekly Award Winners

• 3rd: Bill Dickey (Las Vegas) / Lou Gehrig (Kansas City)
• 10th: Jacob deGrom (New York) / Johnny Damon (Virginia)
• 17th: Cole Hamels (Portland) / Mel Ott (Carolina)
• 24th: Rafael Palmeiro (Boston) / Buck Leonard (Virginia)
• 31st: Oscar Charleston (New York) / Albert Pujols (Florida)

Milestones

• 100 SV: Pink Hawley
• 100 HR: Frank Thomas, Robinson Cano

Other Observations and Points of Interest

• Jerry Koosman picks up just his 3rd PBL win and first since 1961.
• Mookie Betts, who belted 31 HR last season, needs 113 AB for his first in this one. Cristobal Torriente, who has 20+ in each of his four seasons to date, needs 144.
• Zack Wheat hits just his 5th career HR, Willie Stargell his 3rd.
• KC's Pete Alexander and Carolina's George Uhle both remain unbeaten at 9-0.
• LA continues to struggle, losing 10 straight at one point, and have the league's worst record at 19-35, 9 games out of first in the West.

Top 20s

[luckymann]

I must say I can't remember in my entire OOTP experience seeing a more dominant pitching performance by two opposing pitchers than Pud Galvin's and Al Spalding's in this game.

26.2 IP, 14 H, 0 BB, 10 K, a no-decision for both and in the end the game is won and lost on an unearned run.

Truly remarkable.

[luckymann]

A couple of superb H2H pitching exhibitions from four of the absolute best.

[luckymann]

After spending most of his PBL career in the pen, Bartolo Colon has finally made it back into the Gothams rotation and is so far making the most of it.





NB He followed this up with another 3-hit shutout v LA in his next start.

[luckymann]

First-timers

Kid Nichols, Rick Reuschel, Frank Tanana, Jim Palmer, Yadier Molina, Bill Terry, Rogers Hornsby, John Beckwith, Joe Kelley, Willie Keeler, Jon Lester, Nolan Ryan, John Montgomery Ward, Harry Heilmann, John Olerud, Joe Morgan, George Davis.


Every-timers

Clayton Kershaw, Arky Vaughan, Ted Williams, George Cuppy, Willie McCovey.

[luckymann]

Won by Reggie Jackson (Connecticut)

[luckymann]

The Southeast claim the ASG this year by 5 to 2, with Indy's Tris Speaker named MVP.

[luckymann]

One of those strange months you get from time to time with little happening and few performances of note other than those I've posted about already. No doubt the offensive numbers are down so far this season, let's see what the second half brings.

All four races still nice and tight.


Monthly Award Winners

Northwest League

• Batter – Ted Williams (Connecticut): 290 / 7 HR / 20 RBI
• Pitcher – Sam McDowell (New Jersey): 4-0 / 1.29 / 49 K / 42 IP

Southeast League

• Batter – Joe Morgan (New Orleans): 326 / 6 HR / 14 RBI
• Pitcher – Addie Joss (Atlanta): 5-1 / 2.05 / 17 K / 48.1 IP

Weekly Award Winners

• 7th: Willie Keeler (Las Vegas) / Joe Morgan (New Orleans)
• 14th: Mickey Mantle (Portland) / Willie Mays (Virginia)
• 21st: George Sisler (New Jersey) / Toby Harrah (New Orleans)
• 28th: George Sisler (New Jersey) / Nap Lajoie (Indianapolis)

Milestones

• 100 HR: Cristobal Torriente

Other Observations and Points of Interest

• Nolan Ryan into the rotation at Virginia, Bob Shawkey at Indy.
• Sweet Lou Whitaker and Tim Raines hit just their 5th HR, Harmon Killebrew his 4th.
• After looking a lot better in the early part of the season, Washington has fallen apart and reassumed its traditional position at the foot of the East Division standings.

Top 20 Hitters by WAR




Top 20 Pitchers by WAR

[luckymann]

Well the new month has certainly seen the long-awaited power surge, and Johnny Bench joins in on the fun.