Here Comes The Paragon Baseball League!

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Gold Glove

Platinum Stick

Veeck Medal - Manager

NE: Joe McCarthy (Carolina)
SW: Casey Stengel (Kansas City)

While on the topic of skippers, Connie Mack was fired by the Colonials, with Felipe Alou later announced as his replacement.

Chadwick Medal - Best Reliever

That's three now for Tommy.

Adams Medal - Pitcher of the Year

Both repeating here, making it two for Big Six, six for The Claw.

Rickey Medal - Most Valuable Player

That's three straight for Rajah, the first for Joe.

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Preseason predictions and top players on OD 1969.

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While NeL counterpart Buck Leonard has been getting most of the attention in the first couple weeks, Oscar is off and running early in '69 as well.

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King Felix with a regal performance against the mighty Triplets lineup to give the PBL its first no-no of 1969.

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In the interests of further speeding this up to its endpoint and the fun analytical part I'm cutting these updates back to every second month.

Perennial cellar-dwellers Washington are struggling as per usual, but the surprise is Virginia - even worse than the Grays at 16-36 and already 17 GB the Trips. The other races are tighter.

He's tailed off a little in the past fortnight, but LA's Harmon Killebrew is currently on track to be the first player with a 50-HR season. He has hit 18 in just 172 AB. Carolina's Juan Marichal has won his first 9 decisions.

Monthly Award Winners

April

Northeast League

• Batter – Frank Robinson (New Jersey): 365 / 7 HR / 21 RBI
• Pitcher – Mel Harder (New York): 4-0 / 0.86 / 20 K / 41.2 IP

Southwest League

• Batter – Billy Hamilton (Atlanta): 425 / 0 HR / 10 RBI
• Pitcher – Dick Redding (Seattle): 5-0 / 2.20 / 23 K / 41 IP

May

Northeast League

• Batter – Frank Robinson (New Jersey): 411 / 6 HR / 24 RBI
• Pitcher – Juan Marichal (Carolina): 5-0 / 2.25 / 33 K / 52 IP

Southwest League

• Batter – Ken Griffey jr (Los Angeles): 376 / 8 HR / 22 RBI
• Pitcher – Claude Osteen (Kansas City): 5-1 / 1.41 / 28 K / 51 IP

Weekly Award Winners

April

• 14th: Tris Speaker (Indianapolis) / Barry Bonds (Las Vegas)
• 21st: Buck Leonard (Virginia) / Ted Simmons (Las Vegas)
• 28th: Charlie Gehringer (Indianapolis) / Joe Morgan (New Orleans)

May

• 5th: Ronald Acuna (Boston) / Harmon Killebrew (Los Angeles)
• 12th: Frank Robinson (New Jersey) / Harmon Killebrew (Los Angeles)
• 19th: Darrell Evans (Connecticut) / Sandy Koufax (Seattle)
• 26th: Nap Lajoie (Indianapolis) / Todd Helton (Florida)

Top 20s by WAR

Standings and Leaders

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Plenty of offence being generated by the PBL's big bats this season and records look set to tumble, as happens here with Atlanta's Harry Heilmann knocking in 9 runs against Seattle. Teammate Joey Votto also has a big night with a record-equalling 4 doubles.

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First-timers

Wes Ferrell, Wilbur Wood, Adrian Beltre, Goose Goslin, Fergie Jenkins, Claude Osteen, Ernie Banks, Alex Rodriguez,

Every-timers

Clayton Kershaw.

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Harmon Killebrew wins, beating Johnny Mize in the final.

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Carolina's Joe Cronin leads the Northeast to a 5-2 win.

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Blowouts loom on the NE side of the league, with New Jersey and Carolina having already broken from the pack a bit, while the SW side is a tad closer to this point.


Monthly Award Winners

June

Northeast League

• Batter – Ted Williams (Connecticut): 342 / 8 HR / 25 RBI
• Pitcher – Nap Rucker (Carolina): 4-0 / 1.48 / 29 K / 42.2 IP

Southwest League

• Batter – Willie McCovey (Kansas City): 326 / 5 HR / 22 RBI
• Pitcher – Roger Clemens (Los Angeles): 5-0 / 1.89 / 29 K / 38 IP

July

Northeast League

• Batter – Willard Brown (Washington): 356 / 5 HR / 25 RBI
• Pitcher – Nap Rucker (Carolina): 6-0 / 2.65 / 18 K / 51 IP

Southwest League

• Batter – Lou Gehrig (Kansas City): 337 / 7 HR / 18 RBI
• Pitcher – Bobby Mathews (Las Vegas): 6-1 / 2.06 / 24 K / 43.2 IP

Weekly Award Winners

June

• 2nd: Larry Walker (Carolina) / Claude Osteen (Kansas City)
• 9th: Buck Leonard (Virginia) / Joe DiMaggio (New Orleans)
• 16th: Willard Brown (Washington) / Joe Mauer (Atlanta)
• 23rd: Frank Robinson (New Jersey) / Harry Heilmann (Atlanta)
• 30th: Willie Mays (Virginia) / Bobby Abreu (New Orleans)

July

• 7th: Adrian Beltre (Indianapolis) / Cody Bellinger (Kansas City)
• 14th: Oscar Charleston (New York) / Roger Connor (Portland)
• 21st: George Sisler (New Jersey) / Lou Whitaker (Kansas City)
• 28th: Nap Lajoie (Indianapolis) / Lou Gehrig (Kansas City)

Top 20s by WAR

Standings and Leaders

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While not exactly neck-and-neck, all four races have tightened up and are still well and truly up for grabs as we enter the stretch run.

Harmon Killebrew has slowed just a bit in his chase for the season HR record, but still has some chance of setting a new mark. He needs 11 to tie and 12 to own it by himself, with 33 to play. Frank Robinson, 3 behind Killer with 34, is also an outside shot.


Monthly Award Winners

Northeast League

• Batter – Mookie Betts (Indianapolis): 362 / 5 HR / 21 RBI
• Pitcher – Christy Mathewson (Virginia): 6-1 / 1.99 / 20 K / 54.1 IP

Southwest League

• Batter – Scott Rolen (Atlanta): 379 / 8 HR / 20 RBI
• Pitcher – Addie Joss (Atlanta): 6-0 / 1.80 / 22 K / 50 IP

Weekly Award Winners

• 4th: Turkey Stearnes (Boston) / Mike Trout (Seattle)
• 11th: Buck Leonard (Virginia) / Robin Yount (Atlanta)
• 18th: Mookie Betts (Indianapolis) / Scott Rolen (Atlanta)
• 25th: Edgar Martinez (Indianapolis) / Harry Heilmann (Atlanta)

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Controversy at Pike Street Grounds today as Rainiers skipper Miller Huggins pulls out pitcher Tim Keefe after 8 no-hit innings against KC. Closer Kid Nichols preserves the no-no for a 4-1 win, but all the post-match talk is centered around whether or not Keefe should have been left in to finish the job himself.

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Seattle now on the wrong end of the scoreline as Nando throws one, tying the Portland record with 16 K in the process.

Somewhat remarkably, of the 19 official PBL no-nos to this point, Seattle has been involved with seven: two for and five against. That doesn't include the one from the previous post, which for some reason the game doesn't recognise as one.

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The Triplets are looking dominant again, with another 100+-win season and East Division title under their belts, and one of their main guys looks primed for a big post-season once more.

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While three of the divisions are fairly clear-cut and settled early, we do get high drama in the West, with Seattle and Las Vegas entering the final day tied at 86-82 then both losing nail-biters to force a tiebreaker, which ends up being anticlimactic in the extreme:

Which leaves the final standings as follows:

Harmon Killebrew falls short in his quest to set a new seasonal HR mark, ending the season with 43, while Frank Robinson hits 41 and leads the league with 132 RBI.

Batting titles to Nap Lajoie (his 2nd) and Billy Hamilton, who makes it four straight.

Christy Mathewson and Nap Rucker once again tie for the most wins, this time with 21, while Sam McDowell sets a new highwater mark for strikeouts with 332. Rube Waddell's 45 saves lead the league.


Final Top 20s and Leaders

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NE League

Carolina Triplets (104-64) v New Jersey Stallions (95-73)

Best of seven, Triplets with home-field advantage.

Game 1



Game 2



Game 3



Game 4



Game 5



Game 6



Game 7




Carolina wins series 4 games to 3

SERIES MVP: Dick Lundy (CARO)

SW League

Kansas City Blues (98-70) v Las Vegas Lizards (87-82)

Best of seven, Blues with home-field advantage.

Game 1



Game 2



Game 3



Game 4



Game 5




Las Vegas wins series 4 games to 1

SERIES MVP: Willie Keeler (LASV)