ATB Value Update

ATB Value

Average wOBA by postion

.341 - 1B

.330 - DH

.319 - 3B

.314 - CF

.312 - 2B

.308 - RF

.307 - LF

.299 - C

.284 - SS

Catcher
0.408 - White,Deacon, DCC
0.406 - Posada,Jorge, D29
0.386 - Kelly,King, EYO
0.385 - Dickey,Bill, DB
0.369 - Piazza,Mike, LS

First Base
0.415 - Pujols,Albert, LS
0.403 - Connor,Roger, GCG
0.389 - Gehrig,Lou, HT
0.384 - Brouthers,Dan, NOT
0.359 - Sisler,George, SWR

Second Base
0.420 - Childs,Cupid, GCG
0.398 - Robinson,Jackie, D29
0.373 - Stanky,Eddie, BS
0.364 - Barnes,Ross, NOT
0.336 - Hornsby,Rogers, LS

Third Base
0.389 - Schmidt,Mike, NOT
0.383 - McGraw,John, GCG
0.364 - Jones,Chipper, HH
0.363 - Mathews,Eddie, HT
0.350 - Brett,George, NPB

Shortstop
0.410 - Wagner,Honus, OFB
0.376 - Jennings,Hughie, EYO
0.372 - Wright,George, NOT
0.356 - Trammell,Alan, TWP
0.354 - Jeter,Derek, DB

Left Field
0.448 - Bonds,Barry, BS
0.401 - Goslin,Goose, SWR
0.359 - Yastrzemski,Carl, JMF
0.349 - Stone,George, SS
0.348 - Hall,George, JMF

Center Field
0.411 - Mantle,Mickey, JMF
0.405 - Combs,Earle, NOT
0.364 - Duffy,Hugh, RKA
0.361 - Snider,Duke, SWR
0.352 - Charleston,Oscar, SS

Right Field
0.468 - Ruth,Babe, DCC
0.397 - Klein,Chuck, SS
0.356 - Musial,Stan, HH
0.333 - Guerrero,Vladimir, D29
0.314 - Walker,Larry, WPM

Designated Hitter
0.395 - Giambi,Jason, BS
0.349 - Jackson,Reggie, NPB
0.340 - Williams,Ted, RKA
0.334 - Murcer,Bobby, GCG
0.333 - Aaron,Hank, OFB

Sim 3D Complete

Amazingly, each of the Gossamers 1st three draft picks are now injured.

A Polite Game of Baseball

Baseball in the 1890s would never be mistaken for an afternoon at the ladies’ bridge club. But for one game the players and even the umpire tried…

“You can try to refine and civilize baseball all you want,” remarks Jim O’Rourke, co-manager of the Ee Ya Orators, “and you can make a parlor game out of it by giving the umpires power of life and death, but you can’t kill off the players’ tongues unless you stun ‘em with an ax. Baseball can be made a gentle, manly game, all right, but you can’t get the Caspar Milquetoast stuff into it, no matter how much the writers and the magnates may talk about its progress toward perfection. Nothing doing, The public can’t hear the line of talk that still goes on due to the enormous foul area at Robison Park, and its just as well the public is out of rubbering range.

“Whatever the case, Robison Park was a dandy. The ballpark was generations ahead of its time in some ways. Some years past Brad P. had purchased the club from German entrepreneur Chris Von der ahe, who had constructed a state-of-the-art facility, including an adjoining amusement park, beer garden, a race track in the enormous confines of the outfield, a water flume ride, and an artificial lake, which was used for ice skating in winter. Be that as it may, several prior contests between the Orators and New Orleans Thrill were well contested, but good hard play was interpreted by the local media as akin to rowdyism. There was a particular outcry by a comment made by Orator catcher King Kelly:

“People go to see games because they love excitement and love to be worked up. That is one reason why I believe in "kicking" now and then on the diamond. Look at the Bertrand Island Carnies. It has been the most successful in this country. Why? One good reason because they are "chronic kickers," and people flock to see them to witness the sport. The people who go to ball games want good playing, with just enough kicking to make things interesting thrown in.” 

There had been a lot of talk and newspaper criticism in New Orleans concerning the previous games between the two clubs, with the roughhouse work and bad language and we wanted to show press and public that we could be good, decent people after all. The long and short of it was that some of the boys on the Orators and the Thrill got together and decided that they wanted to pull off a polite and courteous game, just to see how the thing would work.
 
 “We agreed to try out the polished conversation and the gold rule stuff for this one occasion. It would be some conversation, too, believe me, if we could get Arbiter Tim Hurst into the parlor process, for Tim was rarely known to use the proper display of the King’s English. And so a most peculiar affair was played on May 10th, 1897.

“The first half inning went by something lovely. Even when Tim called a strike on Cal McVey that was a foot over his head, there was no outbreak. Says Cal, very gently: ‘Wasn’t that ball a trifle high, Mr. Umpire!’ And says Tim, all courtesy: ‘I fear I may have erred in judgment, Mr. McVey. Kindly overlook it if you will.’ But then again, although Cal is a big strapping gent, he is a teetotaler by all accounts, with a mild mien. And later on in the affair, when Jennings went down to second in a cloud of dust, and Tim said ‘Out!’, Hughie jumped up, red in the face yelled: ‘What the ---,’ and caught himself in time. ‘Pardon me,’ says Hughie, ‘but I honestly thought that Mr. Barnes failed to touch me.’ And says Ross Barnes, equally polite: ‘I am under the impression I did touch Mr. Jennings,’ just as nice as you could read in a book of etiquette. But it was in the bottom of the ninth that the blow-off came.  “And in the very next inning the blow-off came. Barnes grounded a single between third and short.  Brouthers clouted a double down the left field line, but as Barnes was making a bee-line for the tying run, Jennings “slipped”, and seemingly tripped up Barnes, who had to hold at third. The usually unflappable George Wright, then coaching third, gave Hughie a kick in the backside, whereby Hurst stated: “get your f#%$ing a#$ off the field.” And then all hell broke loose.

“You krauthead,’ shrieked Wright, ‘what am I out for?’ ‘You red-headed stiff’, roared Barnes at Jennings. ‘I oughter knock your block off, an’ for 2 cents I’d do it.’ And this bum umpire is a porch-climbing robber.

“’You’re a piece of stinking cheese’, snarled Jennings, ‘ “’For Moses’ sake remember,’ I interposed, ‘that this is supposed to be a polite and courteous game just to show how well we can behave---‘ And then Thrill skipper Roger Craig kicked me in the arse with his spikes.

“’I can lick every man ay yez!’ howled Tim Hurst, ‘and I’ll do it, too, if ye’re not back in yer places inside av half a minute.”

Postscript - This is an extremely loose adaption of a story published by the Milwaukee Journal of August 20 1912, its intent being to bring to life the simulated game played on May 10th between these two ALL TIME BASEBALL clubs.

Paul J. Nebenfuhr
a.k.a. Paulie Allnuts

Sim 3C Complete

Website in process of being updated.  Should be 30 more minutes, I have to hit the hay.

Server Issues Preventing Sim 3C from Being Posted

Working on the problem with tech support.  Will let you know as soon as I know.

Checking In on the New Guys

With 24 teams, the 79 resims, and a focus on defense we saw a record number of new players drafted this season.  By my count, prior opening day 86 new players were added to our league database.  It’s not even mid-May in sim time, but I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how some of these players have performed.

Batters
Only three new position players have accumulated over 125 at bats and one is clearly off to the best start.  Jacoby Ellsbury, a somewhat surprising 6th round pick by the Leesburg Snow, is batting a robust .301 / .347 / .485 with 5 home runs and 20 RBI.  Jay H couldn’t have asked for more out if Vg/1 defensive rating center fielder.

The Snow also gambled on a new Miguel Cabrera year – 2011 – and that choice hasn’t worked out as well.  The 16th rounder is struggling with a .655 OPS out of the DH spot, but does have 18 RBI to his credit. 

The third batter, Matt Kemp, is just plain bad, batting .230 / .262 / 259 for dogphin29.  The center fielder has struggled each week and is in serious jeopardy of riding the bench, a bad sign for a 9th round selection.

Nine others have played enough to warrant mentioning.  Jimmy Ryan 1888 (Piñata Beaters) is off to a stellar start, batting .348 / .423 / .522 in a platoon. The Banana Bears Ryan Braun (2011) is showing some pop, but his .313 OBP is preventing him from starting every day. 

The rest of the field leaves a lot to be desired
.601 OPS – 2011 Jose Bautista (“Mechanics”)
.574 OPS – 2011 Mike Napoli (Slammers)
.568 OPS – 1932 Dale Alexander (Carnies)
.534 OPS – 2007 Placido Polanco (Fish Biscuits)
.512 OPS – 1956 Yogi Berra (Daffiness Boys)
.504 OPS – Troy Tulowitzki (“Mechanics”)
.443 OPS – 2000 Gary Sheffield (Brews)

Pitchers
13 new pitchers were thrust into full time starting roles and three of them have excelled, surpassing even their owner’s wildest expectations.  The best of them, at least a month and a half into the season, has been the Carnies Jerry Reuss, circa 1980.  A mid 19th round choice, Reuss is 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA in 44 IP.  His whip is easily the best among these new pitchers at 0.92. 

The Fishbiscuits Lefty Stewart has won four of six starts thanks to a 2.45 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, though of concern is his 0.9 K/BB ratio which is an obvious recipe for mediocrity or worse.  Justin Verlander was a hot topic on draft day, and with a 4th round selection by the Brighton Shadows, plenty has been riding on his right arm.  In 54 innings he’s given up 47 hits and 18 walks, good enough for a 1.21 WHIP and 2.18 ERA.  He’s 3-2 in seven starts

2011 Cole Hamels (Thrill), 2009 Ted Lilly (Thrill), and 2011 Josh Beckett (Orators) have held their own with RCERA’s in the low to mid 4.00s while the rest of the full time starters have struggled:
4.60 – Jeff Fassero (Fanclub)
5.07 – Jeff D’Amico (Fanclub)
5.07 – Eddie Plank (Thrill)
5.37 – Randy Johnson (dogphin29)
7.22 – Tom Seaver (Slammers)
7.83 – Kid Nichols (Brews)

Among relievers and spot starters, the Carnies Arnie Stone (1924) and Slammers Randy Tomlin (1990) have met with success, each with RCERA’s below 3.50 and WHIP’s in the 1.20’s.  2011 Josh Johnson (Black Sox) somehow has a 2.35 ERA despite 19 walks and 13 K’s in 30 innings and the Fanclub need to cut Tim Keefe (1880) outright.  In 33 innings Keefe has a 2.05 WHIP thanks to 47 hits and 20 walks. 

Finally, the draft board was in a tizzy when 2011 Sergio Romo was selected by Gold Country. 
As you may recall, Romo was not listed on the pitcher eligibility file (Comish error!) and the selection was met with a heaping of groans and jealousy.  Results are mixed – saving 6 of 7 Romo has proven he can pitch, but overall his ERA is 5.40 and WHIP 1.50.  He’s pitched fewer then 10 innings so the jury is still out on Romo.

Standings Charts - Week 2

Pitching Line of the Week

Antonio Bastardo:
0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 8 Pitches, 6 Strikes, Blown Save
(Box) 

Now that is not easy.

The Thrill's #2 lefty setup man is admittedly off to a rough start (2.2 IP, 4 BB, 6.75 ERA) but this is to much.  Bastardo entered a tie game in the 6th against the Orators and struck out the one batter he faced.  Problem was, Jimmy Williams and Fred Snodgrass were at the corners and attempted a double steal. It worked, Snodgrass took 2nd while Williams jetted home underneath the tag.

The run tied the game 5 a piece and the Orators went on to win thanks to a Jim O'Rourke 2-out single in the 9th.

(Bastardo opened the 7th by striking out Keith Hernandez to record his second K).

Hat Tip to Sean S for pointing out this lovely nuance.

Great Feats Updated

New this installment

• Willie Stargell sets an ATB high in RBI this season
• Our second 3-HR game
• Find out the Game Score for Danny Haren's no hitter
• Mike Scott strikes out a whole bunch
• Shoeless Joe's hit streak ends at 18, but Ross Barnes is on his tail.

Sim 3B Complete