Out of the Shadows: The Eclipse League

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The stars of today:




And of tomorrow:




HR Derby winner

John Mayberry (Royal Giants) def John Beckwith (ABCs)

ASG result

Fleet 1, Weldy 0

ASG MVP

Carlos Delgado (American Giants)


Prospects Game result

Fleet 3, Weldy 2 (11 innings)

Prospects Game MVP

Cecil Espy (Blue Birds)

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The mighty Oscar Charleston leads the way at the midpoint of the season, with Carlos Carrasco at #2.

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A switch-hitting catcher from Dublin GA, Quincy Trouppe ("QT" as I call him) is perhaps not exactly in need of being brought to anyone's attention, given he did eventually get a cup of coffee in the bigs. But, as was the case for many NeLers, this came far too late in his career for him to leave any meaningful mark on the history of that league and so he may well be unknown to some of you.

In fact, it was in Mexico where he played the majority of his professional career, heading there in 1940 after playing in various Negro Leagues for a number of clubs from 1930, most notably the Monarchs, American Giants and ABCs. He stayed south of the border until the end of WW2, mainly playing for Rojos and doing quite well indeed with a career slash line in Mexico of 313/428/519.

By the time he resumed playing in the US, he was 32 and his best baseball proved to be behind him. His three seasons with the Buckeyes were in a player-manager role and he was only used sparingly on-field before moving on for a second stint with the AGs for what would be his final NeL season in 1948.

At this point according to Jim Riley he allegedly returned to Mexico and played for Guadalajara, although neither SH or BBRef show any stats between '48 and his unexpected MLB debut with Cleveland in 1952.

His MLB career consisted of one solitary hit and a walk in 11 PA. Little surprise that the autobiography he wrote a few years later was called 20 Years Too Soon.

He spent a few years as a Scout for the Cardinals organisation and died aged 80 in 1993.


In the EL, QT was drafted 4th overall in 1974 by Hilldale, where he would spend his first eight seasons in the league. Entering his walk year in 1983, the Athletics traded him in the offseason to the Crawfords, where he is currently playing. He remains unsigned for next season but at just age-26 wherever he ends up next year his outstanding performance in recent campaigns should make him highly sought after indeed.

1982 was by far and away his best year, one that saw him amass more than 8 WAR points and hit 241 with 15 HR and 55 RBI, both career highs. He looks set to repeat or even eclipse that WAR total this year with an FC-leading 5 WAR to his credit with us not yet halfway through the season. His career WAR total currently sits at 31.0 and he also has 30 ZR so far, replicating in this timeline his dual proficiency with bat and glove IRL.

As always, we'll check in on his progress regularly over the remainder of his EL career.

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Eclipse League

While three of the four division races already look decided, what's going on in the WC National this season should provide enough stretch run drama all by itself with just 4 1/2 games separating first from last. Can the beleaguered Cuban Stars East miraculously break their long drought and earn their first playoff appearance since 1970? The next 60 or so games will decide that.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Keston Hiura (Black Barons) 319 / 7 HR / 25 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Nate Moreland (Red Sox) 4-1 / 2.52 / 39 K / 50 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Jose Fernandez (West) 3-1 / 2.72 / 37 K / 39.2 IP.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Cristobal Torriente (Motown Stars) 369 / 5 HR / 17 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Bill Byrd (Elite Giants) 3-0 / 1.03 / 23 K / 43.2 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Edgar Chatman (Liberty Stars) 2-0 / 1.08 / 5 SV / 19 K / 16.2 IP.

Points of Interest

• Rookie Jose Fernandez is currently in pole position across the three Triple Crown categories, while fellow first-year player Ichiro Suzuki leads the FC batting title.
• Gene Collins notches career Win number 200. Not bad for a guy that played just two seasons IRL!
• The Liberty Stars lose pitcher Johnny Taylor for the year to elbow problems.
• CC Sabathia drops 13 of his first 14 decisions this season and currently sits at an ugly 3-15.
• Martin Dihigo reaches 250 career Wins, the 5th EL player to do so.
• There were a couple big trades made in an otherwise fairly quiet Deadline:

Transit League

The Bears have scooted away in the FRC National, but the three other divs are still very much open for discussion.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Arismendy Alcantara (Keystones) 400 / 8 HR / 30 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Diego Segui (Browns) 4-0 / 3.58 / 16 K / 27.2 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Scott Bullett (Cubans) 326 / 5 HR / 16 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Charlie Beverly (Bears) 4-1 / 2.68 / 30 K / 40.1 IP.

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Rod is also the all-time leader.

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Eclipse League

Only the WC National still alive and boy is it set for a big finish with just a half-dozen games separating top from tail.

Monthly Award Winners

FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Roberto Alomar (Crawfords) 407 / 4 HR / 17 RBI.
FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Juan Marichal (Black Barons) 4-1 / 2.62 / 37 K / 48 IP.
FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Jose Fernandez (West) 3-1 / 2.33 / 48 K / 58 IP.
WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Mike Young (Elite Giants) 350 / 6 HR / 24 RBI.
WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Barney Morris (Buckeyes) 4-0 / 1.88 / 34 K / 43 IP.
WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Carlos Rodon (Lincoln Giants) 2-0 / 1.54 / 6 SV / 12 K / 11.2 IP.

Points of Interest

• Recent OotS subject Quincy Trouppe earns a lovely payday as the Crawfords extend him on a 5/880 deal that will keep him at the club thru 1988.
• Key injuries: P Bill Barnes (Crawfords) shoulder, season; P Luis Severino (Dodgers) elbow, season; P Joe Strong (Buckeyes) labrum, 12 months; P John D’Acquisto (Lincoln Giants) shoulder, season; P Dizzy Dismukes (Red Sox) ankle, 5 weeks.

Top 20s - overall

Transit League

The Bears are home; the Browns nearly so. The other two are going down to the wire.

Columbus SS Cesar Tovar hits in 33 straight games, just three short of Bob Oliver’s all-time league record of 36.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Ollie Brown (Browns) 396 / 11 HR / 33 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Bun Hayes (Browns) 6-0 / 2.05 / 45 K / 52.2 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Ernest Burke (Grays) 353 / 8 HR / 24 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Robert Pipkins (Clowns) 4-0 / 1.17 / 3 SV / 11 K / 15.1 IP.

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No late surprises as all four races peter out to their logical conclusions, guaranteeing us of a first-time Champion.

No records, although Fred Bell's 58 HR are the second-most ever behind Bobby Marshall's 64 of a couple seasons ago.

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The Cubans knock out the Bears in an epic 5-gamer to set up a decider with the Browns, who eliminate the Red Caps in four.

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Our final OotS feature for the 1983 EL season shines the torch on another guy of whom little is known, or at least reported.

Nary a word about Lewis Hampton in my various research hidey-holes other than a somewhat perfunctory entry in Jim Riley's tome, from which the only worthwhile tidbit is that Lewis fancied himself in the Zack Greinke mode with regard to his hitting prowess. Rightly so, if the stats are any indication, with his career slash over 508 AB a nifty 303/347/518.

That career, sadly, was a relatively brief one that began in 1921 with the Columbus Buckeyes and ended just six years later. SH has his pitching line over that span at 54-43 / 3.95, which equates to an ERA+ of 110 and he led the NNL in ERA for 1922.

So he could obviously play.

Not even Seamheads can shed light on why he took his leave from the game so prematurely. The only bio info they have for him is that he was born "place unknown" in 1901 and both batted and pitched right-handed, along with some physical details (5'10" / 180). Further investigation is similarly fruitless.

The search will continue.

In the EL, Lewis has to a degree traded quality for quantity. Not that he's been poor by any stretch, with his career mark a solid 128-121 and his career ERA a crisp 3.38 (matching his IRL ERA+ of 110), good for more than 30 WAR.

He was taken 338th overall by Cleveland all the way back in the inaugural Draft and over the course of his 16 EL seasons has played for seven clubs all told including his current one Birmingham, winning a championship ring as part of the 1981 MoStars after being traded midseason.

Perhaps the highlight for him in this timeline was the 1-hitter he pitched in 1973 for the American Giants against the Elite Giants and he's also pitched three 2-hitters.

At age 37, "Pep" is in the twilight of his EL stay but I'll keep you posted how what's left of his career pans out.

As always in the final one of these for the year, here's the career updates for all previous subjects still active in the EL. Back next year with more of these lost diamonds.

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The long-suffering NY Cubans get their time to shine, easily accounting for the Browns to take out their maiden TL Championship. Glenn Burke is named MVP.

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All fairly clear-cut from the look of it this season and I'll have all of the news from the stretch run at the end of proceedings.

Here are the EL's September award winners.

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Vladimir Guerrero (West) 309 / 9 HR / 25 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Ubaldo Jimenez (West) 4-1 / 1.24 / 25 K / 36.1 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Willie Bobo (Black Barons) 325 / 6 HR / 22 RBI.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: John Beckwith (Buckeyes) 330 / 9 HR / 24 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Barney Morris (Buckeyes) 4-1 / 1.27 / 35 K / 49.2 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Carlos Rodon (Lincoln Giants) 3-1 / 1.29 / 4 SV / 28 K / 21 IP.

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I nearly spoke too soon with the gallant East pushing Cleveland all the way before just withering on their run at the very end and the Crawfs almost making a meal of things in the FC American before locking the division down with a few games to spare.

Batting titles to Dave Parker and Cristobal Torriente. The battle for MVP honours this year between Cristo and John Beckwith, who paces the league with 42 home runs, should be a beauty. Leon Durham's 130 RBI are the most this season, as are Jose Reyes' 48 SB.

Barney Morris (23) and Carlos Zambrano (21) are the only 20-game winners for 1983, while Big Z also posts the league's low ERA with 2.44. Pedro Martinez is the King of K with 285, while Jack Miles and Manuel Godinez tie for the most Saves with 38.

No new season records are set this time around.

Eric Chavez is the latest EL player to reach the 400-HR plateau for his career.

The Elite Giants lose Bill Byrd for the remainder in mid-September to shoulder inflammation.

200 career Wins for Louis Dula of the BYs.

The Crawfords will have to navigate the postseason without Juan Pizarro after he stretches an elbow ligament and is done for the year.

On the same day they clinch the FC National, the Cuban Stars West also find out they’ll have to travel the rest of the journey without gun rookie Jose Fernandez, lost for the remainder to a hamstring strain.

Pittsburgh’s Roberto Alomar hits for the cycle against the Red Sox.

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Fleet Conference

Cuban Stars West (98-64) v Pittsburgh Crawfords (93-69)

Best of seven, West with home-field advantage.


A rematch of last year's highly-competitive FCCS. Once again the West has home-field advantage and what looks a slight edge but that did them no good last year and they'll be out for revenge here. The weight of the Fernandez loss cannot be overstated and does leave the West vulnerable at the lower end of their rotation, but is offset by the Pizarro absence for their opponents.

A late burst of runs gives the visiting Crawfords an 8-2 win in a Game 1 that is closer than the scoreline implies and the reverse is true the next day as they go two up with a 6-4 win made to look closer by a 3-spot the West post in the 8th.

The West finally get in the Win column with a gripping 9-8 victory in Pittsburgh but put in a shocker as the Crawfs tighten the screws with a 12-4 cakewalk with Jim Wynn belting a pair of dingers and then make a fairly ungraceful exit as the hosts knock them off 4-2 to take their place in another WS and keep their title defence alive.

The MVP goes to Crawfords SS Jonathan Villar.


Weldy Conference

Homestead Grays (103-59) v Cleveland Buckeyes (87-75)

Best of seven, Grays with home-field advantage.

The Grays were utterly dominant his year and look like a team with destiny on their side. Only thing is, destiny has been proven poor in the clutch and so they'll have to do the heavy lifting themselves against a scrappy bunch led by the imposing form of John Beckwith.

Homestead survives a scare in the opener but dig deep to get home 4-2 and are oh so lucky again the next day, as a walkoff 2-run double by Chili Davis earns them a 2-1 win.

Game 3 is another beauty as the Buckeyes fight back from 7-2 down to get it back to a 7-7 tie before the Grays' class gets them home 10-7 and Game 4 is almost a mirror image as Homestead gives up a 4-2 lead but recovers to complete the sweep with a 5-4 decision.

Chili Davis wins the MVP.

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Homestead Grays v Pittsburgh Crawfords

Best of seven, Grays with home-field advantage.


Yet another rematch as the protagonists from last year's decider go around again.

The Grays didn't seem to get out of first gear in the CS which is an awesome thought if it is true.

Whatever the case, you'd have to think the Crawfords will need to have almost everything go their way here if they are going to repeat last year's dose of disappointment.

All the same, this Crawfords unit is highly talented and the flipside of what I've said is that if the Grays fail to find those higher gears then they are almost sure to pay for it.

I expect this to be ferociously fought out but I do think the Grays will atone in six.





Carlos Zambrano gives the Grays the ideal start, not giving up a hit thru 6 and only 2 all up over 7+, outduelling Nip Winters in a 3-1 final and it looks like ShoTime is set to follow suit the next day as he, too, pitches 6 frames of no-hit ball. But he tires and the Crawfords pounce, putting 5 on the board late to square the series with a 5-1 decision.

Homestead gets things back on track in Pittsburgh for Game 3 behind Martin Dihigo, with Mack Jones and Shohei starring with the bat in a comfortable 9-3 victory and win easily again the next day on the back of a nifty outing from Jose Santiago and a 14-hit barrage including homers to Ohtani, Chili Davis and Mack Jones. It does, however, come at a big cost with ShoTime injured and ruled out for the remainder.

That ends up being nothing more than a nuisance as Homestead easily dispatches their opponents with a clinical 6-2 win with Zambrano excellent again. Title number four for the Grays (and five for Shohei), breaking the tie with Cleveland for the most of any EL club.

Chili Davis rounds off an unbelievable playoff run with another MVP award.

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Managerial Culls

Kerwin Moore (Black Yankees), Aaron Baker (Crawfords - WTF?) and Alberto Chavira (Monarchs) all feel the cold steel on their neck.

I also see Luke Easter was cut as Hitting Coach at the ABCs and Ryan Reed was not extended as Manager of the AGs when his contract expired.

Pops Stargell takes the reins at Pittsburgh.


Roster News

Key Extensions: OF Frank Robinson (Giants) 8/13950; OF Luis Gonzalez (East) 6/6808; 3B Bert Campaneris (Royal Giants) 5/3232; P Taijuan Walker (West) 4/8160.

Opt-Outs: P Barney Morris (Buckeyes); P Jair Jurrjens (Black Barons); C Jose Agustin Rodriguez (Red Sox); P Jose Fernandez and OF Rickey Henderson (West).

Voided Contracts: C Bob Watson (ABCs); 3B Hank Thompson (Motown Stars); 2B Ketel Marte and P Joe Strong (Buckeyes); P CC Sabathia (Black Yankees).


Prospect Pipeline

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Once again a relatively low-key exiting bunch with only the top three really looking like they'll get HoF consideration down the line.

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