Introducing the Footnote League

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by ALB123

It looks like the American League could be shaping up for a battle as the regular season winds down. Obviously, Washington is already knocking on Detroit's back door, but all it takes is a 8-2 run over the next 10 games from Chicago, Philly or Baltimore and they'll be right there scratching that door as well.

Danny O'Connell sure is hot for my Orioles... How's his Slugging Percentage? Is he just knocking singles around or is he creating runs for Baltimore?

The A's are particularly intriguing - lost basically their whole rotation and were horrible early but just keep creeping further into the mix. It would not shock me at all to see them swoop in and take the thing.

Danny's a bit of a slap-hitter this year with just 13 doubles, but his gap has some upside so this may change in the near future. They have him batting 3. Your old mate Marquis Grissom is in the same team!

[luckymann]

Here you go my friend.

[luckymann]

Cribbed from THIS article on SABR Bio by Phil Williams.

Oklahoma-born Ray Starr joined the World Champion St Louis Cardinals in 1932 along with future HOFer Dizzy Dean and 100-game winner Tex Carleton but unlike those two, is unknown to all but the most knowledgeable baseball fans. If not for WW2, he may have escaped even their attention.

The Cards felt so confident in this influx of young pitching they traded 17 game winner Burleigh Grimes to the Cubs after the 1931 season in anticipation of their arrival. They were mostly right in this assessment: Dean went 18-15 / 3.30 and gave them 286 innings. Carleton, working equally in relief as starting, went 10-13 / 4.08 over 196 IP. Starr, however, spent most of the year at Rochester of the International League before being called up in September. He ended up pitching in only 3 games in his rookie season, going 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA over just 20 innings. In his only start he pitched a two-hit shutout to outduel Dazzy Vance. Then, somewhat out of the blue, he was traded to the Giants at the end of the season. He fared little better there, appearing in just six games for NY (going 0-1 / 5.40) before being sold to the Boston Braves, for whom he pitched only a handful of innings before being sold once more, this time to MiLB Minneapolis. He would spend the next 7 seasons at various minor league and even some semi-pro clubs.

That would undoubtedly have been the entirety of Ray Starr’s major league story had it not been for the advent of WW2. Suddenly players were needed at big league clubs and so Ray got an unlikely second chance thanks to the Reds, for whom he made his first appearance in early September 1941, losing the second game of a doubleheader 1-0. He would pitch shutouts in his last two starts that season, having been used mainly in relief to that point.

Ray was a revelation in 1942, easily the hottest pitcher in the NL during the first half of the season as he went 12-3 before cooling off a bit to finish 15-13 / 2.67 and ended up 27th in the MVP voting that year as well as being an All-Star Reserve. He was good again in 1943, his age-37 season, going 11-10 / 3.64 in 217+ innings.

Bone chips in his elbow led to him missing the start of the 1944 season, and without making an appearance for them that year, the Reds traded him to Pittsburgh. He never really saw much action with the Bucs, pitching less than 100 innings for them in ’44 and the early part of ’45 before being traded, yet again, to the Cubs (making the Phillies the only NL club of that era he didn’t play for). He pitched just 13.1 innings for the Baby Bears and was released to Oakland of the PCL later that year. At the age of 40, he instead decided to retire.

Ray Starr died of an apparent heart attack in 1963, at the age of 56.

Ray “Iron Man” Starr was drafted by the Boston Beaneaters in the 10th round (154th overall) of the Footnote League Inaugural Draft in 1901. Playing mainly for their PSL team the Harrisburg Senators that year, he went 11-9 / 2.41 / 84 K with a FIP of 2.20 and 2.2 WAR before missing the tailend of the season with a torn labrum. He had three games with 10+ strikeouts and won the Platinum Stick Award at pitcher in the PSLN.

Just prior to the beginning of the current 1902 season he was traded to Baltimore for reliever Paul Menhart. He split time between the O’s and Newark of the PSLA this year, going 0-1 / 2.78 in 22 IP for Baltimore and 11-10 / 5.04 / 71 K for the Bears, before a recurrence of his arm issues just last week put him on ice again. He is expected to return by Opening Day next year. Here’s hoping he can stay healthy and get his time to fully shine.

BASEBALL REFERENCE PAGE

[luckymann]

LATE COLLAPSE BY DETROIT PUTS WASHINGTON IN THE BOX SEAT IN THE AL AS WE ENTER THE FINAL MONTH – WHITE SOX BURN BRIGHT THEN FIZZLE OUT – DESPITE A TOUCH OF THE WOBBLES, ORPHANS LOOK ALL BUT HOME IN THE NL

Notable Performances

• 1st: Bucs SS JT Riddle has 5 hits including 2 triples, drives in 2 runs and scores 4 in a 17-6 whack job on the Superbas. Meanwhile the Senators score 7 in the 9th to steal one from their AL pennant rival Tigers 10-8.
• 8th: Americans CF Homer Smoot justifies the big money he’s being paid with a 5-hit / triple / 2 RBI game in a 13-12 squeaker over the Browns.
• 10th: The White Sox manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when they give up 9 in the 9th against the Americans to lose 9-4 and miss a great chance to pick up a crucial game on the Tigers and Senators, both of whom also lose.
• 15th: O’s LF Xavier Nady becomes just the second player in FL history to get 6 hits in a game, doubling twice and knocking in 4 in a 16-6 romp over the Browns. The Tigers survive a real scare later that day when they give up 9 in the 9th to scrape past Boston 19-17 in a 53-hit doozy, with both Eddie Kasko and Buck Rodgers having five-fers.
• 18th: Phillies 2B Akinori Iwamura goes ballistic in a 19-5 smashing of the Pirates, with 5 hits – 4 of them triples – and 3 RBI. Teammate Buddy Phillips also has 5 hits in the game.
• 25th: First baseman Pete Runnels goes 5-for-5 with a FL record-tying 5 runs scored as the Phillies embarrass the Reds 18-6.
• 26th: Washington completes a crucial 4-game sweep of rivals Detroit by coming back late to pinch one 5-4. Across in the NL, New York’s Derek Jeter breaks all kinds of FL records as he goes 7-for-8 with 6 ribbies in a crazy 10-inning 17-14 win over Cincy.
• 28th: The Tigers seem to be imploding just at the wrong time. Today they gave up 24 runs on 33 hits in a huge shellacking at the hands of the Americans, with Homer Smoot, Joe Randa and Eric Young – each with 5 hits – doing most of the damage.

Feats and Streaks

• 8th: Chicago’s Wilbur Wood becomes the season’s first 20-game winner when he leads the Orphans past New York 4-3.
• 14th: New York 1B Dalton Jones’s consecutive hit streak reaches 25 games. He would push that mark out to 31 before going hitless late in the month in a 7-2 loss to the Reds.

Monthly Awards
American League

• Batter: Hector Lopez CWS (.454 / 2 HR / 19 RBI / 27 R)
• Pitcher: Pete Schourek WAS (7-0, 3.23 / 27 K / 64 IP)
• Rookie: Hector Lopez CWS

National League

• Batter: Leon Durham BSN (.467 / 1 HR / 28 RBI / 28 R)
• Pitcher: Danny Duffy CHC (5-0, 3.95 / 19 K / 57 IP)
• Rookie: Leon Durham BSN

Leaders
American League

• BA: Danny O’Connell BAL .417
• HR: Steve Cox CWS 6
• RBI: Steve Cox CWS 98
• BWAR: Solly Hemus CWS 5.8
• SB: Willie Wilson CLE 78

• W: Pete Schourek WAS 18
• ERA: Steve Cooke PHA 2.74
• K: Andy Messersmith CWS 126
• SV: Joe Hoerner BAL 5
• PWAR: Andy Messersmith CWS 4.5

National League

• BA: Pete Runnels PHI .412
• HR: 2 tied on 8
• RBI: Todd Dunwoody CHC 102
• BWAR: Todd Dunwoody CHC 5.9
• SB: Otis Clymer NYG 58

• W: Wilbur Wood CHC 21
• ERA: Wilbur Wood CHC 2.98
• K: Chappie McFarland BSN 112
• SV: Hank Johnson BSN 8
• PWAR: Chappie McFarland BSN 5.4

Transactions

• 1st: At the 24th hour, the Phillies (SP Tommy Hanson), Orioles (2B Bump Wills), White Sox (2B Hector Lopez), and Superbas (OF Delino DeShields) lock down early round Draft picks just before the Trade Deadline.
• 18th: SS Arnold Hauser is released by the Cincinnati Reds.

Injuries

• 1st: In what could have huge repercussions on the tight AL pennant race, the Tigers lose in-form CF Milt Cuyler for 5 weeks after he suffers a sprained ankle.
• 3rd: 1901 NL Cy Young Award winner Jamie Jones of the Cards is taken out for the season by a torn labrum.
• 9th: A torn back muscle brings Browns CF Jose Macias’ season to an end.
• 14th: The Reds will be without CF Chuck Diering for 3 months courtesy of a torn meniscus. They would also lose SS Dale Sveum for the season a fortnight later in what has been a horror season for them, injury-wise.
• 18th: Baltimore SP Jeremy Bonderman ruptures his Achilles tendon and will be forced to sit out the remainder of the season.

Life in a Minor Key (news from the lower levels)

• 1st: Harrisport’s Erskine Mayer two-hits the Bees while fanning 17 in a 9-0 whitewash.
• 3rd: Hazleton shortstop Bobby Valentine has a game to remember with 6 hits and 2 ribbies to help his team get past the Spudders 11-7.
• 13th: CF Jeff Abbott’s career-best 6-6 / 2 2B / HR / 3 RBI game leads Shreveport to an entertaining 16-13 triumph over Fort Worth.
• 14th: Reading’s charge continues as their 10th straight win gets them within 3 games of the slumping Hazleburg Senators.
• 17th: A big day for player and team as 2B Alexi Amarista has 5 hits including a double and a dinger and drives in 5 as his Fort Worth Panthers smash the Wilmington Pirates 20-7.
• 20th: The Waterloo Hawks clinch the PSLA pennant in a canter when the only team still in the race, the Chattanooga Lookouts, is eliminated with a loss. The PSLN race, on the other hand, is incredibly tight with Reading just 2 games back of Harrisburg and coming fast.
• 22nd: A day to remember for Jersey City’s Todd Benzinger as he hits for the cycle against Reading, driving in 5 runs in the process.
• 25th: Reading’s Danny Murtaugh has his hit streak snapped at 33 games in a 7-3 win over Jersey City.

Standings

[luckymann]

Here are the Footnote League season-to-date leaders in Adjusted Weighted Runs created thru August, 1902.

[ALB123]

Nice to see my boy, Danny O'Connell still smacking it around. Very nice wRC+ as well. The next time you highlight the leaders in a statistic, like you did with wRC+ just now, do you think you could add another column with either the team name or organization name?

Mmmm... I'd love to see Steve Cox end up on the O's.

Baltimore SP Jeremy Bonderman ruptures his Achilles tendon. I can't believe this. How were his stats? I do know one thing for sure. There is never a good time to lose a starting pitcher.

EDIT: I meant to say that I've come to accept the fact that my O's are done. Stick a fork in them...but, it's still fun to play the spoiler of other teams left in the hunt.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by ALB123

Nice to see my boy, Danny O'Connell still smacking it around. Very nice wRC+ as well. The next time you highlight the leaders in a statistic, like you did with wRC+ just now, do you think you could add another column with either the team name or organization name?

Mmmm... I'd love to see Steve Cox end up on the O's.

Baltimore SP Jeremy Bonderman ruptures his Achilles tendon. I can't believe this. How were his stats? I do know one thing for sure. There is never a good time to lose a starting pitcher.

EDIT: I meant to say that I've come to accept the fact that my O's are done. Stick a fork in them...but, it's still fun to play the spoiler of other teams left in the hunt.

Your wish is my command. WRC+ with team (a few more games have been simmed in the interim, thus the change).

And Mr Bonderman's profile page.

Your guys were never really in the hunt this year, but nor did they stink it up until running out of puff down the stretch.

One bizarre thing just happened. Two weeks out from the end of the regular season and the game just creates a handful of new players out of the blue. There were a couple of good ones too that had to be culled - Mordecai Brown and Chief Bender among them - but I simply cannot understand why this would happen? Any idea?

[luckymann]

REGULAR SEASON FIZZLES OUT – SENATORS HOLD OFF TIGERS, WHITE SOX AND AMERICANS IN AL – ORPHANS DO IT EASY IN NL

Notable Performances

• 3rd: The fading Tigers come back from 4-0, scoring 5 over the last three innings to sneak past the A’s for a crucial win. Elsewhere, Pittsburgh 3B Abraham Nunez goes 7-for-7 with a trip and 6 ribsters in a 22-9 dismantling of the Beaneaters. Teammate Sam Fuld also has 5 hits.
• 6th: The AL-leading Senators waste a great opportunity to maintain their advantage in the standings when, after rallying with 4 runs in the top of the 9th to take an 8-6 lead, they concede 3 to the White Sox in the bottom half to go down in a 9-8 heartbreaker.
• 8th: A 10-spot in the 5th helps the Orphans cruise past the Beaneaters 12-6.
• 10th: The Senators blow their fourth straight lead, this time giving up 8 in the 9th to eventually lose 15-14 to the Americans in 10.
• 11th: It’ll look comfortable in the line score, but the Cards made heavy work of their 18-12 defeat of the Beaneaters, conceding 8 in the 8th before rallying with 9 of their own in the 9th for the win.
• 12th: A huge game for Senators SP Pete Schourek sees him not only get his 10th win of the season for Washington since being acquired from the Browns, but also go 5-for-6 with two triples and two RBI.
• 14th: It looks like it will all be for naught, but the White Sox rip the hearts out of Tigers fans with a 10-run 8th getting them a 13-8 win.
• 19th: The Orphans clinch the NL pennant going away, booking their first playoff appearance. A 4-1 win the next day behind a Billy Hoeft two-hitter books Washington their place in the World Series against them.
• 26th: In a nice tune-up for the upcoming World Series, the Senators crush the A’s 21-6, with SS Alex Gonzalez’s 6 RBI leading the way.

Feats and Streaks

• 20th: Pirates RF Buddy Lewis sees his 30-game hit streak end in a 3-0 loss to the Orphans.
• 30th: Al Shaw of the Giants stretches his hit streak to 30 games, a string he’ll carry into next season. Meanwhile, in his final game of the campaign, Pete Runnells from the Phillies breaks Wally Backman’s season record when he cracks his 241st hit of the year.

Monthly Awards
American League

• Batter: Joe Randa BOS (.452 / 1 HR / 30 RBI / 23 R)
• Pitcher: Steve Cooke PHA (6-0, 3.00 ERA / 18 K / 54 IP)
• Rookie: Joe Randa BOS

National League

• Batter: Al Shaw NYG (.468 / 1 HR / 24 RBI / 28 R)
• Pitcher: Tommy Hanson PHI (5-2, 2.09 ERA / 32 K / 56 IP / OBA .196)
• Rookie: Al Shaw NYG

Transactions

• 26th: Some big-money signings as the White Sox sign OF George Stone to a $1600 one-year deal, while Detroit inks SP Weldon Henley for $1500 and the Giants lock down highly-regarded OF John Titus for $1820.
• 30th: The Americans add a key building block for 1903 when they sign gun reliever Ambrose Puttmann with a contract worth $1140 for the year.

Injuries

• 10th: Not that it will have any effect on the broader scheme of things, the A’s lose star CF Glenn Wilson for what’s left of the season to a strained groin muscle.
• 15th: In what could well prove the final nail in the coffin for their 1902 FL campaign, Detroit loses gun 1B Patsy Tebeau for the season after he suffers an intercostal strain.

Life in a Minor Key (news from the lower levels)

• 6th: The Harrisburg Senators finally see off a dogged Reading outfit to clinch the PSLN with a 5-4 win over Hazleton. They will take on the 104 game-winning Waterloo Hawks in the PSL Series.
• 8th: In the final game of the season, Hazleton CF Josh Anderson’s 7-for-7 with two doubles and two driven in can’t stop his side losing 13-12 to Harrisburg.
• 16th: The Waterloo Hawks stroll to their first PSL championship with a 4-1 win in their series against Harrisburg. Waterloo 1B Deron Johnson is named MVP.
• 30th: Deron Johnson backs up his WS MVP by winning the PSLA MVP as well, while Warren Cromartie of Harrisburg was a unanimous winner in the PSLN.

[luckymann]

Both ordinary and expanded.

[ALB123]

That is very strange. I've just spent 15 minutes trying to come up with some kind of educated guess, but I can't think why OOTP would create players out of the blue. It can't be a situation where a team didn't have enough players to field a team. You would have noticed an organization with only 7 defensive players, obviously. Oh yeah, I just remembered that you do have minor league teams too, so it can't be due to a shortage of any kind. Honestly, I really can't think of a reason that would have happened to your league. You might want to ask in the OOTP 21 General Discussion forum. One of the OOTP Veterans must know the answer...and if not, there's a good chance a developer will pop in with an explanation.

Two Rookies win Batter's of the Month (AL & NL)? Wow. Might have to keep an eye on them next season. Both league Champions seemed to have a pressure free end of the season. Hopefully, next year will supply us with a little more drama down the stretch.

How do you have Trade Frequency set in your league? I'm just curious if you like seeing more or less trading over the course of a season. The AI will offer me a 2-star 30-year-old for a 3-star 20-year-old and a 3.5-star 24-year-old - or even more ridiculous - whereas, I often see some very fair, interesting trades when it's AI & AI trading in my league. I know that's not unique to my league.

[luckymann]

I don't mind that it happened except for the fact that it made no sense and caught me unawares, which almost led to ineligible players sneaking in and then having to be removed from a team, which I don't like doing. I'm amazed how quickly they were snapped up seeing as teams took so long to sign their Draftees, or didn't sign them at all. But I'm happy to see them in the game.

Trading for now is set to HARD / HEAVILY FAVOUR PROSPECTS, but that may change in the future. I don't want trading to go wild, but I'd perhaps like a few more than is happening now. But I'll wait until 1910 to make any changes.

[luckymann]

AL batting leaders for 1902.

[luckymann]

NL batting leaders for 1902.

[luckymann]

AL pitching leaders for 1902.

[luckymann]

NL pitching leaders for 1902.

[luckymann]

AL / NL fielding leaders for 1902.

[luckymann]

Footnote League streaks for 1902.

[luckymann]

Well the two sides engaged in this year’s World Series ended up having a fairly cushy ride down the stretch, with the Senators placed under more duress in the AL than the Orphans were in the NL, where they pretty much controlled things from early in the season.

There’s no doubt the Orphans go into the Series as fairly strong favourites. Their rotation was outstanding this year, with two 20-game winners in Wilbur Wood and Bill Parsons ably backed by Danny Duffy and Ray Phelps, leading the NL in ERA with 3.97.

The performance of the Sens’ starters, however, could perhaps be viewed in even higher regard given they basically lost their entire rotation to injury over the course of the year, finishing with a more than respectable ERA of 4.31, with 23-game winner Pete Schourek and the redoubtable Billy Hoeft doing most of the heavy lifting. The return of club captain Lou Brissie late in the season after 3 months’ absence with forearm inflammation is a real fillip for the group and improves their chances of overcoming Chicago no end. And while the role of relievers in this era is only minor, the Senators’ bullpen outstripped that of Chicago by some margin during the regular season, with their league-leading 3.71 ERA almost two full runs lower.

That being said, they’ll need to be good against Chicago’s big bats. CF Todd Dunwoody was to the 1902 season what Wally Backman was in 1901, catcher Frank Snyder is a gun and RF Jay Johnstone is the sort of impact player that can dominate these short series. They have amazing depth, with Joe Connolly, Pepe Mangual and George Cutshaw all real threats off the bench.

I mentioned Backman and you’d take his “sophomore slump" anytime, especially considering the stratospheric heights of his rookie season. He hit .368, scored more than 100 runs and drove in 71 from the 2 slot, a return that would seem phenomenal if not for the comparison to the year before. Garret Anderson made the most of being an everyday player, hitting .359 with 5 dingers and 116 ribbies, and offers Backman vital protection at 3 in the lineup. But if there is one thing that cruels Washington’s chances it is that from there - apart from CF Rudy Law and perhaps SS Orlando Arcia - the dropoff is pretty steep, meaning that if one or both of the two big guys don’t show up then they are unlikely to post enough runs to win 4 games.

All in all it should prove a fascinating series. My prediction is Chicago in 5, but I would not be at all surprised to see Washington make a real fist of it.

[luckymann]

Washington Senators

[luckymann]

Chicago Orphans