Jim’s Corner
October 15, 2003
Both
of these highly charged seasons (our 47th and 48th) will
kick off on December 1st.
Each period for both leagues will have the same deadline dates so that
things will be pretty standard.
I
am happy to welcome Greg Stillwagon on board for both seasons. Greg is taking over Vince Onstott’s Abrams
teams in both years. Vince ran into a
time crunch and gracefully resigned. He
was an excellent manager and is always welcome back around here.
Greg
has renamed the teams the Motor City G-Men and will use the team abbreviate
MC.
Greg
is 51 years old and has been playing tabletop/computer since 1966 with
extensive experience in SOM and Diamond Mind.
His email address is stillwagon@m33access.com.
Mailing
information is 2402 Retelle Lane, West Branch, Michigan 48661.
We
welcome him aboard and hope that his stay is a pleasurable one.
1953 is rushing to a finish on the 20th. Very few series remain outstanding.
Bill Jelk’s Wild Weasels will be hosting games 1,2, 6,7 against the New York Woodchoppers in the 1953 World Series to find out the successor to McGraw. For Wild, the Division win is the 3rd in franchise history (Nite Mahan’s Okie Hogs in 1979 and Bruce Clark’s Dancing Homers in 1991) and a World Series win will be a franchise first. For New York it is the franchise’s 12th division and they will be seeking a 5th TML title.
Both managers Jelks and Pertierra own the last 2 retro titles as Willie won in 1929 and Jim in 1939. They will break the tie in 1953.
Stanley Frank Musial of Auburn was player of the series in Period 4. Musial created 39 runs with a 1.262 OPS to pace all the batters. Runner up was Eddie Mathews of Beach City. Mathews ripped out 14 homers with a 1.279 OPS while creating 37 runs.
Robin Roberts of Beach City earned pitcher honors for the period by going 5-0 with a 2.53 ERA. He outdistanced his teammate, the Xavier Hernandez clone Jim Wilson piled up 7 more wins.
Period 5 honors went to Carl Furillo. Furillo hit .409 while creating 38 runs with a 1.208 OPS. Runner up was Ted Kluszewski also of New York who hit .407 with 36 RBIs and 34 RCS (1.141 OPS). They led New York to a TML best 21-7 record in period 5.
Early Wynn of McGraw was Pitcher of the period notching a 6-0 record with a 2.38 ERA to outdistance “X-Man” Jim Wilson (8 wins), and New York’s lefty duo of Curt Simmons and Harvey Haddix who combined for an 11-1 record.
More next edition on the end of the year.
Fort Lauderdale has flown from the starter’s gate in the Northern Division, but like Affirmed and Alydar, the shadow of the Wild Weasels is reflected in mid-flanks a mere 2 strides behind.
Both teams showed an early talent for beating up the Eastern Division while the rest of the teams played them even. McGraw, Albany and North Adams are 3 games apart in the early going while the rest of the division is under .500. Mudville and New York, which own the last 4 TML championships in the 60’s, are neck and neck but the neck appears to be in the noose.
Wild struck for 18 wins in the first period to match Albany for the best record. Player of Period 1 was Rusty Staub of Fort Lauderdale. Staub created 32 runs on a 1.095 OPS to win the award over Reggie Smith of Albany and Ron Fairly of McGraw. Pitching honors went to 1968’s pitcher of the year, Bob Gibson of New York. Gibbie was 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA. Larry Dierker of Troy won 5 times with a 1.72 ERA to win runners up honors.
Fort Lauderdale made its big move in the second period winning 21 times to gain 4 games on the Weasels and post their 2 game lead. North Adams and McGraw both won 16 times to take advantage of Albany’s sub par period. The East is bunched, but the cream is clearly rising to the top. Disney World took first claims on the Bert Blyleven/Bobby Grich sweepstakes as the Yankees have won the fewest games in the TML.
The batters were paced in period 2 by Danny Way’s slugging shortstop, Rico Petrocelli. Rico hit 11 homers (as did Wild’s Boog Powell) and drove in 30 (as did Wild’s Boog Powell) and hit .414 to a 1.243 OPS while created 42 runs. Norm Miller of Rainier was runner up hitting .373 and creating 30 runs.
Co-Winners of Pitcher of the Period were Mel Stottlemyre of Fort Lauderdale and Phil Niekro of Albany. Niekro was a perfect 6-0 with a 1.47 ERA while Mel Sr. was 5-0 with a leading 1.21 ERA in leading the Cubs into first place.
Pity poor Mickey Lolich of Disney. 3.12 ERA and a 2-12 record.
Period 3 will start the intradivisional wars!
The playoffs are all set and the databases will soon be sent out to begin the festivities. Kentucky, New York, Mudville and Gotham City captured the Division titles in 2002. For Kentucky it was their 14th in 24 years (but first since 1998), New York’s 12th, Gotham City ‘s 9th and Mudville’s 8th. This is Mudville’s 3rd in a row. New York has won 5 of 6. For New York it will be its 6th straight playoff appearance and Gotham City’s 5th. Both still a long way from Kentucky’s 10 in a row from 1989-1998.
Wild cards this year are Commack, Tarpin Ridge, Rainier and 2001 Champion Millennium.
First round matchups will be Kentucky hosting Millennium, New York hosting Rainier, Mudville hosting Tarpin Ridge and Gotham City hosting Commack.
Kentucky won 36 times in 42 tries during the final period to knock everyone out. In that streak was a mind-boggling 32 game winning streak stretching from August 8th to September 13th. Truly a mark for the ages!!!
Mudville won 32 teams to post the second best record during the final period.
Player honors for the final period went to Jason Giambi of Millennium. Giambi posted a 1.144 OPS with 11 homers for the Falcons. Larry Walker of Kentucky was runner up hitting .364 (1.074 OPS). Troy Glaus of Wild and Alex Rodriguez of Mudville each went over the wall 16 times during the period.
Just like he started the year, Randy Johnson of New York ended the year with the year with the pitching honors. The Big Unit won 7 of 8 decisions with a 1.33 ERA striking out 83 in 60 innings. Runners up this time were Bartolo Colon of Kentucky (6-0) and Elmer Dessens of Millennium (8-2). Trevor Hoffman of Mudville and John Smoltz of New York were both perfect in 12 save opportunities each.
Hard to believe but no TML records fell in 2002. A complete rundown of the TML record book will follow in our next edition. Look for the announcement of the “dreaded” post-season award ballot soon in an email.
During the course of another conversation for another time, Dave Pittner reminded me that next year would mark the beginning of our 25th current season. It is hard to believe that January will mark the 25th anniversary of Mike Landin, Larry Alber and myself starting to put the TML ball in motion. We certainly have come a long way in those 25 years. There is not enough room on the web site to recount the memories that I have about the people of the TML.
Without Mike and Larry there would not have been a TML. Yes I know that when the great split happened in 1996 there was a lot of acrimony but I am not convinced that it would not have happened anyway under different conditions. The best part of it though is that we are all still friends (I don’t talk with Mike daily anymore, but then again, the closest I come to talking daily with a TMLer is my 5 day a week conversation with Rich Goldberg, but Mike and I are doing fine together.). The other positive is that Diamond Mind now has two strong 24 team leagues in their catalog as opposed to one super structure.
For years we always talked about the differences between the American and the National so, like I said, I think that the breakup was inevitable. If there is anything I miss it is the Summer Stretch and the annual yearbook. I have been writing the Jim’s Corners sporadically for the past 8 years (and once went 1 year without writing one) unless Kevin Powers prodded me (and I miss Kevin!!!!) but we are not a paper society anymore. The newsletter that Larry and I put out 7 years ago telling everyone that we were going totally on line (love it or leave it) has caused our communications to be instant. Sometimes that is not fast enough.
The other thing that I miss terribly is the annual get togethers. Face it, our lives have changed and to have 24 guys still show this as a priority is a wonder in itself. Dave said, and I totally agree, that we should do something next year.
I am certainly open to ideas, but why don’t we plan on one huge kickoff weekend in April or May? There have been several suggestions as to where and I am open to any ideas. The one that gets repeated the most is to reconvene at the official eating place of the TML National, The Moonlight Diner in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
What do you think? I have talked with Mike Landin about the idea and he is all for it.
There were 20 original managers in the TML National. Currently Dave Pittner, Rocky Hall, Art Albanese, Jim Schembari, Doug Zuchowski, Mike Mayko, Larry Alber, Mike Landin, Rich Goldberg and myself are still here (against all odds) 24 years later. That is certainly cause for celebration both of our past and of our future. 2004 will see us start our 25th current season and our 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th retro seasons.
Let’s party!
Your thoughts are welcomed and encouraged.
Saturday, January 24,
2004. Noon Eastern!
Although I write this every Jim’s Corner, they still come in all different forms. Here is the official form:
The standard TML series naming convention is HHRRYY (Home team initial, Road
team initial, TML Year) when reporting a series. (NYTG69)
Til next time!
Jim Pertierra
10/15/03