A Fictional History of Baseball - 1871 - Present (OOTP 17)

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1875 National Association Championship Recap

Game 1 - Elkins Grounds Out With Man on 3rd To End Game as Athletes Take Game 1 5-4

Player of the Game: Chicago P Pete Wright - 9 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 ER, BB, 2 K, 131 pitches

Game 2 - Erwin Goes Distance, Allows 0 ER as Chicago Takes 2-0 Series Lead

Player of the Game: Chicago P John Erwin - 9 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 0 ER, 134 pitches

Game 3 - Athletes Go Up 3-0 Behind Second Complete Game From Pete Wright

Player of the Game: Chicago P Pete Wright - 9 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 K, 137 pitches

Game 4 - Evans Shuts Down Chicago Comeback in 9th to Keep Philly Alive in Series

Player of the Game: Philadelphia P Pete Evans - 9 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 139 pitches
* Philadelphia 1B Martin January bruised his hand getting hit by a pitch and missed the remainder of the series

Game 5 - Chicago Takes Home First Title After Winkle's 2-RBI Single in 7th Puts Athletes Up For Good

Player of the Game: Chicago P Mike Coulson - 9 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, BB, 3 K, 139 pitches

Series MVP: Chicago P Pete Wright - 2-0, 18 IP, 4 ER, 4 K, 2.00 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

1875 National Association Champions - Chicago Athletes

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1875 Awards

Manager of the Year

Mike Wall, Philadelphia Keystones
Stats: 41-29, 1st place, Lost Championship vs. Chicago

MVP

Cal McVey, C, Philadelphia Quakers
Stats: 100-for-268 (.373), 11 2B, 14 3B, HR, 57 RBI, 61 R, .378 OBP

Pitcher of the Year

Pete Evans, P, Philadelphia Quakers
Stats: 68 starts, 22-16, 324.1 IP, 308 H, 17 BB, 41 K (new NA record), 2.11 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 5.2 WAR

Reliever of the Year

Mark Neyman, P, Chicago Athletes
Stats: 42 appearances, 36 starts, 9-11, 1 save, 16 K, 2.98 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 1.6 WAR

Rookie of the Year

Charley 'Baby' Jones, CF, New York Nationals
Stats: 50-for-210 (.238), HR, 25 RBI, .239 OBP

Gold Glove and Silver Sluggers

GOLD GLOVE AWARDS

POS       NAME                          TEAM
P         Cy Bentley (2)                New York 
C         Scott Hastings                Philadelphia (K)
1B        Martin January                Philadelphia (K)
2B        Highball Ellis (2)            Chicago
3B        Bob Cole                      Brooklyn
SS        Andy Abbott (2)               New York
LF        Michael King (4)              Brooklyn
CF        Pete Brooks                   Chicago
RF        John Elkins (2)               Philadelphia (K)

SILVER SLUGGER AWARDS

POS       NAME                          TEAM
P         Pete Evans                    Philadelphia (K)
C         Cal McVey (3)                 Philadelphia (Q)
1B        Wes 'Icicle' Fisler (2)       Brooklyn
2B        Ed 'Candyman' Lester (2)      Brooklyn
3B        'Long' Levi Meyerle (4)       Philadelphia (Q)
SS        Ross Barnes                   Chicago
LF        Henry 'Puke' Page (3)         New York
CF        Pete Brooks (2)               Chicago
RF        John Elkins (2)               Philadelphia (K)

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1875 Offseason Recap - July to December

Trades/Signings
- Brooklyn traded P Marc Bice and SS U Booth to the Keystones for CF Dave Eggler and $80 in cash. Eggler is a Gold Glove winner and a Silver Slugger winner.

- Boston traded P Nick Womack to the Quakers for C Packy Dillon, C George Seward, SS Molly Moore, and 3B George Trenwith. In 5 years with Boston, Womack has made 95 appearances, going 11-13 with 14 saves, a 2.93 ERA, 15 K, and 17 BB.

Firings/Hirings
- New York fired John Stevenson after 4 years as manager. Stevenson started as a bench coach for the Nationals and was promoted after the 1871 season. However, he couldn't get the Nationals to be competitive in 3 of his 4 seasons, finishing with a total W-L record of 106-150 (.414) and never making the NA Championship. In 1873 the Nationals finished 2.5 games out of first place, Stevenson's best performance. Beyond that, they never finished less than 12 games out. New York hired 51 year old Al Graves as his replacement.

Retirements
- Mike Barnett, LF, Troy - 84-for-318 (.264), 2B, 9 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SB, 1872 NA Champion

- Phil Herbert, 1B, Ft. Wayne / Brooklyn - 167-for-582 (.287), 21 2B, 3B, HR, 82 RBI, 8 BB, 2.1 WAR

- Rocky 'Gigolo' Hamby, RP, Ft. Wayne / Brooklyn - 70 appearances, 10-8, 4 saves, 3.22 ERA, 11 K, 7 BB, 1.26 WHIP

- Jason Clayborn, 3B, Cleveland / Philadelphia (K) - 35-for-116 (.302), 2 2B, 16 RBI, BB, 1873 NA Champion

- Al Reach, 1B, Troy / Philadelphia (K) - 7-for-32 (.226), 2B, 3 RBI, BB, 1872 & 1873 NA Champion

- Pat Borgman, 1B, Boston - 136-for-492 (.276), 29 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 75 RBI, 9 BB, SB, 2.6 WAR, 1872 Gold Glove at 1B, 1871 NA Champion

- Angel Samaripa, 2B, Troy / Boston / Washington (S) / Chicago - 160-for-513 (.312), 34 2B, HR, 80 RBI, 9 BB, 5.3 WAR, 1872 Gold Glove at 2B, 1871 Silver Slugger at SS, 1872 & 1875 NA Champion

- Dad Dayton, 2B, Washington (G) / Washington (S) / Chicago - 245-for-839 (.292), 38 2B, 10 3B, 4 HR, 141 RBI, 9 BB, 3.0 WAR, 1874 Gold Glove at 1B, 1875 NA Champion

- Bub Morawski, 2B, Washington (G) / Washington (S) / Chicago - 5 games, 0-for-2 (.000), 1875 NA Champion

- Tyler Thompson, LF, Boston - 29-for-95 (.305), 4 2B, 14 RBI, 4 BB, 1871 NA Champion

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Robins and Quakers Fold, League in Dire Straits

Baseball fans across America are nervous today as it was announced that the Brooklyn Robins and Philadelphia Quakers would fold today due to financial trouble.

This leaves the league with just four teams heading into the 1876 season, and could spell the end of professional baseball in America for the time being.

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National League Founded, Poaches 4 Remaining Teams from National Association

Huge news out of New York today as a new professional baseball league was founded - the National League of Professional Baseball Players, or simply the National League.

With the National Association on its deathbed, owners took it upon themselves to consolidate power and create a new league with a stronger structure than ever before.

With the announcement of the new league, came an announcement that four teams would begin play in time for the 1876 season: the Hartford Whales, Louisville Stallions, Cincinnati Redbirds and St. Louis Brewers.

In addition, the four remaining teams in the National Association chose to join the NL today, creating an 8 team league and spelling the end for the first professional baseball league in America.

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1876 Logo/Uniform Preview

Boston Beans


Chicago Athletes


Cincinnati Redbirds


Hartford Whales


Louisville Stallions


New York Nationals


Philadelphia Keystones


St. Louis Brewers

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1876 Free Agent Draft Highlights

With the new league starting and two teams folding - Brooklyn and the Philadelphia Quakers, the NL decided to hold a draft for the free agents to decide who got key players such as Cal McVey and Levi Meyerle. The brand new teams such as Hartford, Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis were allowed to use the first 8 picks in an effort to promote parity. Here are the highlights:

RND PK  TEAM                NAME             POS
1   1   Hartford            Cap Anson        C
1   2   Cincinnati          Cal McVey        C
1   3   Louisville          Levi Meyerle     3B
1   4   St. Louis           Hugh Campbell    P
1   5   St. Louis           Jim H. O'Rourke  C
1   6   Louisville          Dave Eggler      CF
1   7   Cincinnati          Dick Higham      C
1   8   Hartford            Jim Baron        P

2   1   Hartford            Ed Lester        2B
2   2   New York            Bob Wright       P
2   3   Chicago             Washington Lewis P
2   4   Boston              Felix Holder     P
2   5   St. Louis           John Clapp       C
2   6   Louisville          Joe Grey         CF
2   7   Cincinnati          Wes Fisler       2B
2   8   Philadelphia        Bob Cole         3B

3   1   Philadelphia        Nick Womack      P
3   2   Cincinnati          John Roe         1B
3   3   Louisville          George Bechtel   LF
3   4   St. Louis           Sam Beyers       RF
3   5   Boston              Pete Inzerillo   2B
3   6   Chicago             Lefty Terpko     SS
3   7   New York            Tom Shaw         RF
3   8   Hartford            Sandy Carter     LF

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Reigning Rookie of the Year Will Miss 1876 Season


Charley Jones

Reigning Rookie of the Year, CF Charley 'Baby' Jones of the New York Nationals, will miss the 1876 season after suffering a concussion in spring training. The #1 pick of the 1874 draft won Rookie of the Year last year but suffered a torn ACL to end his season. This concussion is now the second serious injury in the 25 year old's short career.