FOOL: UBA (A Fast-Sim Dynasty Using GMExcel)

[JetsIn06]

Apologies to Dark Cloud for totally ripping off his dynasty, but also many, many thanks. For the past few days I've basically taken his idea (both the fast-sim aspect and the GM Firing tool) and used it on my long-time solo league concept.

Many of you know FOOL and all of it's variations, the FOFC-OOTP League that runs seasons each week with the season being run in one shot. No tinkering with lineups once the games begin, no mid-season trading, etc.

It's really the only way I can play multi-player OOTP, and now, it's honestly become the only way I can play solo. The last few days are the most fun I've ever had playing this game.

So, I decided to turn back the clock and restart my UBA career.

Welcome to 1912.

[JetsIn06]

For a bit of background, I have started and stopped a few UBA dynasties before. This baseball universe is something that just kind of popped in my head and I haven't really created or played any other concepts since.

If interested, you can find the old ones to really get an in-depth look at the creation of the league, but here's the "long-story-short" version.

In the early 1900's, the American and National Leagues were becoming viable businesses. Fans were pouring into ballparks from Chicago to New York. In 1903, the champions of each league met in the first Worlds Series.

However, the players weren't happy. The reserve clause essentially kept players bound to one team until they were unwanted.

In 1910, three men decided they would do something about it. Harry Sinclair, Phil Ball, and George Ward met at the Hotel Imperial in New York City to draw up plans for a new major league. The Columbia League. They envisioned a league that would compete against the AL and NL Champions to discover a true World Champion. They would also allow players to freely sign with any team that offered them a contract after a few seasons in the league.

The league began play in 1912 (and changed it's name to the Federal League in 1913), but folded after the 1915 season.

Around the same time, another league was created. The United States League. However, it folded before their first season was complete.

Now, it's time to turn back the clock to 1912 and change the course of history.

In this universe, the Columbia League and United League joined forces. While they remained separate in a legal sense, the two groups needed each other to survive. At the end of each season, the champion of the United League would face off against the champion of the Columbia League in a nine-game playoff known as "The Presidents Cup Series."

Each league is setup in an eight-team, one-division format. There are no other playoff rounds other than the Championship Series.

[JetsIn06]

Now. I'll quickly go through the settings I'll be using in the game. This is where my league differs from Dark Cloud's.

First off, the league will basically follow the same path Major League Baseball did. Dead-ball era, higher-mound era, etc. You won't see many home runs until we're a decade or so into this.

Secondly, financial settings will also follow real life. However, the fact the we now have free agency will inflate the numbers a good amount in the early era.

Thirdly, we will not have a salary cap and each team has been assigned a market size according to population data from the 1910 census. Every ten years, I will go in and adjust these to correspond to historical data. So, be prepared for no parity and the dominance of a select few. I enjoy playing this way because running one of the small-market teams is extremely challenging.

Another note on financials: Players will be eligible for arbitration after 4 years and free agency after 8.

Almost done.

Fourthly, ratings are on a 1-5 scale making it harder to figure out who's better than who.

I'll be using GMExcel, DC's nifty tool to figure out when I need to switch teams and who I can switch to. This makes things HARD. In my last run through this universe, I made it through 40 years. I was fired 11 times, made the playoffs just three times, and never won the series.

I will most likely add a rule that will make me create a new character once I get fired four or five times. I'll likely just have to see what happens with that.

Finally, the most important rules. I can make NO ROSTER MOVES/LINEUP CHANGES once I sim opening day until the off-season begins. I also have turned trading off and will not turn it back on. I don't think the AI can trade in this game so I won't be either. The AI teams WILL be allowed to make roster moves throughout the year.

No injuries, suspensions, etc. No coaches, or scouts either.

Two minor league levels. You'll hear more about them because there is a bit of back story there that I'll likely touch on.

That's all I can think of. Any questions, feel free to ask!

[Young Drachma]

Rock on, man. Rock on.

[JetsIn06]

Here's the first GM/Manager I will be controlling. Say hello to Huey Linus, a New York City native that wasn't quite ready to take on the big budget Gothams or Tip-Tops.

Huey will start out as the manager of the Newark Peppers.



The Peppers actually play in the town of Harrison, right across the Passaic River from Newark.

Their home park is Harrison Park (328', 422', 314'), but is also known as "Peppers Park" or "Peps Park" to local residents. Railroad yards and the Otis Elevator Company factory are visible just beyond the outfield wall.

[Young Drachma]

Also, GMEXcel has a market calculator in it that you could set to determine market sizes for 1910. It doesn't do media money for those eras, but it does do market sizes okay, though it usually results in some big ones for the large cities for back then, it still works pretty all right.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Also, GMEXcel has a market calculator in it that you could set to determine market sizes for 1910. It doesn't do media money for those eras, but it does do market sizes okay, though it usually results in some big ones for the large cities for back then, it still works pretty all right.

Yes, I actually use that in conjunction to get a good feel for what the number should be.

[JetsIn06]

Newark Peppers Outlook

We have a decent squad here. We have two players, 3B Brian Allsup (25) and CF Skyler Barrette (27) who are the beginnings of our young core.

We have a few excellent position players that are in their 30's or older. Our best player is probably LF John Roberto, a 33-year-old.

We've got a fairly weak rotation, but our #1 is definitely a keeper. He's just 24-years-old and is clearly our best pitcher.

We really have no idea what we've got until we see what they can do in the games.

[JetsIn06]

1912 Newark Peppers

Well, what do ya know? We actually had a very successful season, going 85-69 and finishing in 3rd place.

With no playoffs, 3rd place actually gives me 50 bonus points in GMExcel.

Liam Thern, our stud pitcher whose name I failed to mention in my last post, went 22-10 with a 2.49 ERA. We'll take that! Other starters were decent enough and our two-man bullpen was solid.

On offense, we had a platoon situation at catcher and right-field. At catcher, our left-handed hitter, Brent Elkins, didn't fair well at all against RHP, getting on at just a .298 clip. Robbie Metcalf, our RHB, was pretty good against lefties (.251/.330/.346). I may try using him full-time next season.

In general, our offense was outstanding. We had five guys hit over .315 and our young guys did great.

[Young Drachma]

I like your updates. They make me feel okay about mine, because I always feel like people want a ton of information, but they really don't... and I've never been able to get that through my head.

Not bad season there, especially with that Thern guy. He seems to be the real deal.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

I like your updates. They make me feel okay about mine, because I always feel like people want a ton of information, but they really don't... and I've never been able to get that through my head.

Not bad season there, especially with that Thern guy. He seems to be the real deal.

Yea, I know exactly what you mean. However, in your dynasty, I love when you take a break for a little and kind of thrown in what's going on around the league with the team moves and such.

[Young Drachma]

Do you find it's harder to break through in a non-playoff league? I've never been able to put my finger on that, but...I notice when I have a good team, it minimizes the flukes that kick us out of the playoffs. In fast-sim, that's really frustrating especially.

[JetsIn06]

1912 Final Standings



The first annual Presidents Cup Series is dominated by Philadelphia, who sweep the Tip-Tops with no problem.

--

1st Annual Presidents Cup Series: Philadelphia Keystones def. Brooklyn Tip-Tops, 5-0

[JetsIn06]

WTF is going on with this /code/ wrap? It's aligned in notepad...never had an issue before with things like this.

[Young Drachma]

Eww. Yeah. I dunno, looks like too much tabbing or something.

I just take league homepage, click on the open in external browser button and then just highlight the standings online and paste them into Notepad. Make sure word wrap is on and then just tab to make sure the few standings that aren't lined up do. I usually will put the [code] tag right around them in Notepad, so when I paste it in I can just drop it in without adding new code.

[JetsIn06]

Oh well. This takes a bit more work but it looks pretty.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Do you find it's harder to break through in a non-playoff league? I've never been able to put my finger on that, but...I notice when I have a good team, it minimizes the flukes that kick us out of the playoffs. In fast-sim, that's really frustrating especially.

To answer your question...the one thing that I love about no-playoff leagues is that the best team, without a doubt, makes it to the final series. Yes, the regular season has the occasional fluke but if you make it 162 games (154 in my case) and finish in 1st, there is no doubt in my mind that they are the best team.

In my last solo game, I expanded as time went on and added playoffs and I hated seeing (or seeing it happen to me) a team with 80 wins beat a team with 100 wins.

The solution for me is to use 9-game series, which I know you do as well. All of my rounds are nine games. I feel that if a team can win a nine-game series, they deserve it. I hate and will never, ever use five-game series in my leagues.

[JetsIn06]

1912-1913 Offseason

With no trading and arbitration and free agency on hold for a few seasons, there isn't much to do in the off-season other than set rotations and lineups.

Robbie Metcalf is now our full-time catcher. We'll see how he does this year in that role.

Other than that, we're keeping everything else the same.

[JetsIn06]

Hmm.. My minor leaguers hit 46 homers. Something is screwy. Putting this on hold for a bit as I figure this out.

[JetsIn06]

Okay...this game is so fucking weird sometimes, but I fixed it. All minor league stats erased (Just two seasons).

[JetsIn06]

1913 Final Standings



We consider this to be a 2nd place finish and pick up 100 playoff points in GMExcel. What a race though, with three teams finishing just one game back.

Brooklyn is the early team to beat in this league and with their budget I don't see that changing any time soon.

Liam Thern posted an identical 22-10 record this year and an even better ERA (2.27). More importantly, he TRIPLED his strikeout total, going from 55 in 1912 to 166 this season. All of our other starters improved as well.

Third-baseman Brian Allsup is proving his worth. While his extra-base hits went down, he walked a bit more but basically was consistent with what we expect from him.

--

2nd Annual Presidents Cup Series: Detroit Wolverines def. Brooklyn Tip-Tops, 5-3

[JetsIn06]

1913-1914 Offseason

Well, Robbie Metcalf was not cut out to be a full-time catcher. His .194/.254/.259 line most likely cost us our shot at a championship.

I have a stud prospect in the minors, 23-year-old Matt Stephani, who can probably come fill in at catcher, but I'd like to see a year of his AAA stats before I make the call.

For now, I'll go back to the platoon. Everything else stays the same.

[JetsIn06]

1914 Final Standings



We started off extremely strong in 1914.

After going 10-5 in April, 15-12 in May, and 16-10 in June, we shit the bed in July going 11-18. In August we posted another losing record of 12-13.

We finish in 4th place and currently have 201 Owner Confidence Points. That's a good amount but if we keep missing the series or finish below 3rd place those points will dwindle fast.

Liam Thern once again did not dissapoint. He went 21-7 with a 2.54 ERA and 160 K's.

After saying he's our best player, I haven't mentioned LF John Roberto yet. He's getting up there in age now, turning 36 this past season. Here's his career stats so far.

1912: .322/.370/.395
1913: .287/.364/.341
1914: .260/.331/.298

Uh, yea. That slugging is pretty poor, but the guy gets on base.

Another guy I've failed to mention is 1B Andy Bethea. He's a home run hitter, and led the league in 1913 with 11 dingers.

He's also slowing down due to age. At 34, he's still a capable player but his defense is terrible and his offensive production is slowing down. This season, he hit .277/.352/.395 after hitting /331/.381/.460 just two seasons ago.

Back to the mound for a second. Adam Hansen, our #3 starter this season, really turned it on. The 30-year-old went 17-11 with a 2.70 ERA and 117 K's.

Tyler Kelley, our #2, is now known as the unluckiest pitcher in the league. His 3.99 ERA isn't bad, but his 11-26 record certainly is.

--

3rd Annual Presidents Cup Series: Detroit Wolverines def. Chicago Whales, 5-4

[JetsIn06]

1914-1915 Offseason

We finally have some decisions to make. The "Super 2's" (In this case, Super 3's) are eligible for arbitration. We have three of these guys and $123,100 left for contracts.

After some adjustments, we finalize our offers and get screwed. I better enjoy these guys while I can keep them. This is definitely our last year before we have to make some extremely tough choices.

Our roster stays intact, but we're releasing catcher Brent Elkins. He got the majority of at-bats last year and hit .211/.292/.246.

Matt Stephani, welcome to the majors. He was selected 3rd overall in the 1912 Amateur Draft and hit .281/.369/.404 in AAA this year.

[JetsIn06]

1915 Final Standings



Well, this wasn't our year. Our offense went down the toilet.

While Adam Hansen had a terrific year on the mound once again (15-13, 2.64) and Liam Thern was his usual self (15-14, 2.80), we didn't have one single player hit over .300.

The closest? Rookie catcher Matt Stephani, and while his success makes me giddy, the fact that the rest of our team can't match a rookie is pathetic.

Okay, I shouldn't be upset at Skyler Barrette. Our speedy CF (52, 98, 122, and 77 steals so far) hit .288/.363/.381 but again, it's hard to get excited when he's gone down every year since the league began. At just 30-years-old, I expected consistency out of these guys. I wanted to build around them. But now I'm not so sure.

18 of our 19 players are up for arbitration. Yuck.

--

4th Annual Presidents Cup Series: New York Gothams def. Kansas City Packers, 5-3

[JetsIn06]

1915-1916 Offeason

Of course, one of the side-effects of starting with no service time is that everyone becomes eligible at the same time. I just had 18 of 19 players hit arbitration and now I'm way over budget. Andy Bethea, nice knowin' ya. He was solid for a time but has really fallen off lately. Plus, we have no money. John Roberto is also a casualty.

So I have a hole at first base and left field now. Luckily, I have Kyle Bates waiting in AAA. The LF hit .277/.394/.346 this year in Edison (Edison Ponies, Atlantic League Affiliate) and will likely start against right-handers. Previous right-field platooner Kurt Pickett will platoon in left-field against lefties.

Another callup is Mike Stewart. We had him playing 2B in Edison, but he's actually a natural first baseman, so he'll fill in for Bethea.

[JetsIn06]

1916 Final Standings



An average season from an average team. This is about what I expected from us. It's certainly better than last place.

Liam Thern posted his best ERA yet (1.88) and pitched over 300 innings, while Adam Hansen continues to get better. He also posted a career-best 2.19 ERA and walked a career-low 84 batters.

Matt Stephani came down to Earth a bit (.258/.348/.342) but still posted a good year for a 2nd-year guy.

At the hot corner, Brian Allsup continues to play consistently (.276/.345/.358) but his extra-base hits are declining at a steady pace.

One rookie who did not live up to my expectations is first-baseman Mike Stewart. After moving to 1B to land the starting job, he went from .289/.380/.423 in Edison to .216/.288/.306 in Newark. We'll give him some time to develop but to be honest, I'm disappointed.

--

5th Annual Presidents Cup Series: New York Gothams def. Buffalo Blues 5-2

[JetsIn06]

1916-1917 Offseason

Another round of arbitration...

This time around, I decide that our bullpen is most likely an easy thing to replace and I can save a ton of money by letting my two guys go. They were fantastic for us, but we need to make sure we can re-sign our young guys later.

We also let our backup catcher go and will need to find a cheap new one.

In the end, we fill in all of our open spots in-house. We have some young talent on the rise that should really help us out.

As shortstop, we have Jayden Burns, a Philadelphia native who can pretty much play any spot in the infield. With Jordan Parisi hitting 35 this year, Burns will get a good amount of playing time as a backup to prepare him for a potential starting role in 1918.

[JetsIn06]

1917 Final Standings



The season has ended, and I have been terminated. My Owner Confidence score of -26 means I'm out of a job.

Things were really looking up. Matt Stephani posted a .324/.376/.426 season, and Kyle Bates, our 24-year-old left fielder, improved his average just under 50 points in his second season.

Liam Thern was still improving, going 22-11 with a 1.84 ERA and throwing 313 innings.

Oh well. Time to find a job.

--

6th Annual Presidents Cup Series: Cleveland Green Sox def. Buffalo Blues, 5-4

[JetsIn06]

Looking for a Fresh Start

GMExcel is telling me that no one will hire me. Not even a team with 53 wins. Am I really that bad?

Okay, so what I'll do in these situations is I'll sim three years ahead. Then, I'll input another team's data into the utility and see if their GM would have been fired by that time.

[JetsIn06]

And OOTP crashed. Please, please don't be corrupt...

[JetsIn06]

Looks like we're okay. It crashed right after saving.

[JetsIn06]

1918 Final Standings



Of course, Newark finished tied in 2nd place the year after we leave.

It was a David vs. Goliath series, sort of. Reading has a great team, but they made with the 3rd lowest payroll in the league. Buffalo, on the other hand, has the highest payroll.

Reading really does have a great team, though. They have three different players that lead the league in average (CF Tim Hollins,.338), on-base percentage (RF Erik Murphy, .428), and slugging (LF Gary Browning, .468). Wow, what an outfield! Also keep in mind that Hollins finished 2nd in OBP and SLG, as well.

They also have starting pitcher Dusty Rome, a 32-year-old who went 23-11 with a 1.63 ERA, best in the league.

Unfortunately, after beating Detroit in a one-game playoff, they lost in the 9th game of the series to Buffalo.

--

7th Annual Presidents Cup Series: Buffalo Blues def. Reading Reds, 5-4

[JetsIn06]

1919 Final Standings



Another season in the history books. Detroit becomes the first team to reach the 100-Win milestone.

The United League is GOOD. Three teams finish over 90 wins, when we usually are lucky to see just one team over that mark. You have to feel for Washington and Reading.

Speaking of Reading, Tim Hollins is legit. He's just 25-years old and already has a career line of .324/.420/.476. This guy should actually get better. He has three years of arbitration left, and after that he'll likely hit the free agent market.

Brooklyn and Buffalo muscled their way to the top of the Columbia League again, using their deep pockets to keep their talent level high.

Brooklyn's right-fielder Dan Schatz is their key player, but at 37 you have to wonder how long he can hang on. He won his team's Triple Crown, finishing with the highest average (.341), most homers (11), and most RBI's (82) between him and his teammates.

On the mound, Frank McCarthy, a 25-year-old from Texas, accomplished the same feat, finishing with the most wins (23), lowest ERA (2.14), and most strikeouts (112).

Pittsburgh is now in the Hall of Shame, becoming the 5th team to finish with 100 losses or more. Don't worry though, Washington. Your 1915 finish of 49-105 is still the worst.

--

8th Annual Presidents Cup Series: Brooklyn Tip-Tops def. Detroit Wolverines, 5-3

[JetsIn06]

1920 Final Standings



Wow, how free agency changes things. Buffalo goes from the highest payroll to 12th highest. Brooklyn really went out of it's way to bring in top-tier guys. This is a team that won the series last year, and look at who they added:

RF Nick Hartley (.343/.417/.445)
3B Brian Allsup (.278/.321/.335)
SP Corey Van Riper (17-13, 3.28, 88 K)

However, they couldn't get it done. St. Louis, whose only off-season addition was Chris Vollmer (17-16, 2.97), a pitcher from the Philadelphia club, finished with 84 wins and a shot at the Presidents Cup.

On offense, St. Louis was led offensively by rookie first baseman Ben Stover, a 23-year old West Virginia native who was taken 1st overall in the 1918 Amateur Draft. His .321/.376/.469 line was what the team needed to go from an average of 62 wins over the last three years to 1st place. On the mound, another rookie, Justin Garred (12-10, 2.29), kept opposing offenses in check.

In the United League, another rookie led his team to a 1st place finish. The Chicago Orphans had just two winning seasons in their eight year history, but the addition of SP Dusty Rome (19-13, 3.13) from Reading and the talents of rookie 3B Jamal Wolfe (.328/.383/.463) propelled them to the top.

--

9th Annual Presidents Cup Series: Chicago Orphans def. St. Louis Terriers, 5-0

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

Looking for a Fresh Start

GMExcel is telling me that no one will hire me. Not even a team with 53 wins. Am I really that bad?

Okay, so what I'll do in these situations is I'll sim three years ahead. Then, I'll input another team's data into the utility and see if their GM would have been fired by that time.

I love when this happens, when I'm just completely stuck and have no other team to take over. I like your idea to solve it, though, because I wasn't sure what to do.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

I love when this happens, when I'm just completely stuck and have no other team to take over. I like your idea to solve it, though, because I wasn't sure what to do.

Yea, it's frustrating but I like it.

I did make one change to the GMExcel, and I'd like to know your thoughts. In Column B, I changed the (D#+75) to (D#+55). I was finding that it's sometimes TOO hard to find a new job.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

Yea, it's frustrating but I like it.

I did make one change to the GMExcel, and I'd like to know your thoughts. In Column B, I changed the (D#+75) to (D#+55). I was finding that it's sometimes TOO hard to find a new job.

That's a good change, actually.

[JetsIn06]

Job Hunting

It's the first day of the 1920-1921 offseason. My career started off great, with three straight winning records. But then things started to take a turn for the worse, and my last three seasons I finished in 8th, 4th, and 7th.

So, my resume isn't exceptional. Here are the teams that I have a shot with:

Boston Americans (1918: 68-86; 1919: 65-89; 1920: 63-91)

Boston looks like a great place to go. They're two best players are 24 and 27-year-old starting pitchers. On offense, they're best player is just 22. They have the 3rd ranked minor league system as well.

Pittsburgh Rebels (1918: 65-89; 1919: 53-101; 1920: 64-90)

Led by a 24-year-old starter. I dig that. They've also got a speedy 20-year-old center fielder.

[JetsIn06]

Boston Announces Signing of Huey Linus as their New GM/Manager



Newly appointed Boston Americans GM/Manager Huey Linus put in an all-nighter yesterday, saying that he's got a lot of work to do and needs to get settled quickly.

"I've done my homework. I've scouted this outfit. I want to be here," he said in an interview. "These jobs aren't easy to get. You've got to hit the ground running."

[Young Drachma]

Looks like you'd have a slightly longer hook in Pittsburgh, but if Boston has talent to work with, maybe that's a better landing spot.

[Young Drachma]

Aah, nice.

[JetsIn06]

1921 Boston Americans

Let's get this party started.

We've got one guy on offense that I'm sold on. Other than that, we have a couple who are young and could turn out decent, but we have a lot of work to do.

Our main man is Adam Fink, a 22-year-old left fielder. Here are his career stats so far:

1918: .270/.330/.365
1919: .251/.333/.389
1920: .281/.353/.421

Developing power and a good eye...I like that. Keep hitting .270 or .280 and you'll be around for a long time if you can get on base other ways and hit with some pop.

So yea, offense needs some work but we have someone to build around. Our pitching is our true strength.

First up, we have Paul Johnson. He's a 27-year-old flame thrower who strikes out a ton of guys and has terrific control. Then we have control master Ben Jenkins. Doesn't strike out a lot of batters, but has great control and keeps the ball in the park. At 24-years-old, he'll only get better. Having two aces on the staff is huge.

Our #3 isn't half-bad either. Joel Osterberger, 25, isn't spectacular but he can certainly get the job done.

The bullpen isn't too hot.

We have a lot of work to do, but we have some key pieces to build around and also have a little bit if money to work with.

[JetsIn06]

1920-1921 Offseason

Our current budget stands at $269,000. We currently have $208,000 on the books, but our cash reserves allow us to spend a total of $114,253 on free agents.

So, to put it simply, we can go after one of the top free agents and use up pretty much all of our money, or try to fill in multiple holes cheaply.

One thing that complicates things: We have NO POSITION PLAYERS in the minors.

There is a short-stop (a huge need) in free agency, Tyler Thomas (.314/.339/.461 last season). However, going after him would force us to give up a draft pick that we desperately need.

I decide against it. There is another guy, Mark Luciani, that isn't much different, only costs $13-15,000, and doesn't require compensation. We go after him hard.

Before Luciani makes a decision, we make a big signing, bringing in Alan Holmes, a starting pitcher who played with the Chicago Orphans last season. He's 28-years-old and over nine seasons in the UBA he has a career ERA of 2.64. We were in a bidding war with St. Louis but our offer of $42,000/y over 4 years convinced him.

A few days later, Luciani signed with us.

There isn't much else left on the market, so we consider our offseason complete and we'll see how this team fares.

[JetsIn06]

1921 Final Standings



I guess I'm done here. I managed to give my team the worst record in UBA history.

Ben Jenkins, our young pitcher, went 10-29 with a 4.90 ERA. Not exactly what we expected of him. Our prize free agent signing, Alan Holmes, went 7-23 with a 4.67 ERA. We gave up 940 runs, 741 of them earned.

Our offense really wasn't bad. Mark Luciani hit .266/.337/.446, and Adam Fink hit .331/.411/.519. To be completely honest, the only position I would look at to replace is CF, where we had a platoon who could only get on base at a .275/.285 clip. We did only score 621 runs though.

--

10th Annual Presidents Cup Series: Detroit Wolverines def. Brookyn Tip-Tops, 5-4

[JetsIn06]

So again, no one wants me so we'll sim three years into the future. Yearly updates coming shortly.

[JetsIn06]

1922 Final Standings



1922 will be known as "The Year the Home Run was Born" in UBA History. While the most was only 22, 38 of the 100 best home runs seasons by an individual in UBA history occurred this year.

Skyler Barrette, our old friend from my original Newark team, became the first player to score 1000 Runs this season. After spending his first eight years with Newark, he moved on to Philadelphia for two years and played with the Whales in 1922. He has 1832 hits, 61 home runs, and 1035 runs scored. His lifetime batting line is .288/.370/.391.

--

11th Annual Presidents Cup Series: Chicago Orphans def. Brooklyn Tip-Tops, 5-2

[JetsIn06]

1923 Final Standings



Washington, a team with a bleak history of losing and Chicago, a recent perennial powerhouse, finished the season with the same record and played a 155th game to determine the pennant winner.

Washington won the game 3-0, sending them to the Presidents Cup Series for the first time in league history. But boy, do they have a tough task ahead of them.

The St. Louis Terriers are now proud owner of the best single-season win record with 109. Consider this; six of their eight starting position players are finished with a .314 average or better. The other two? .290 and .292. Catcher Jimmy Reinhardt (.352/.397/.461) is the rock of their offense.

This team can hit with authority. But how about their pitching? Well, how about three twenty-plus game winners, and a #2 starter, Chris Vollmer, who finished with a 27-8 record and 2.80 ERA

--

12th Annual Presidents Cup Series: Washington Grays def. St. Louis Terriers, 5-2

[JetsIn06]

1924 Final Standings

In my final year of vacation, the story lines are almost identical to last year. The only difference is that Washington finished one game behind Chicago this time around.

St. Louis continued their dominance of the Columbia League, excelling on both offense and on the mound.

Shortstop Mike Stevenson, just 23, is the key to the Terriers success. Coming into the league as a 19-year-old, he's hit over .300 each year after his rookie season and is starting to develop some power. This year, he put up a .325/.416/.552 line.

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13th Annual Presidents Cup Series: Chicago Orphans def. St. Louis Terriers, 5-4

[JetsIn06]

October 12, 1924

New York Reaches Agreement with Huey Linus as Newly Seated Manager



When New York made wholesale changes in the front office after last season, fans were left wondering in which direction their favorite club would head. The hiring of Huey Linus simply led to more questions.

"I'm the new kid on the block. I know that I've got a lot to prove to you," conceded Linus. "When you take over a ballclub, you don't have an offseason. There are signings, meetings, arbitration, drafting the right young players. It's a year-round job. There's a lot of positives here. We're going to try to build on those and field the best team we can."