Jim’s Corner

January 12, 2004

 

TML1930

Off we go!

 

There will be a lot of hitting in 1930!  Through the second period the League as a whole is hitting .308 with Albany topping the scale hitting an incredible .351 as a team.

 

Player of Period 1 and Period 2 was the same – one Henry Louis Gehrig of Albany.  Gehrig hit .556 in the first 20 games of the season (you know he wasn’t sitting any).  He had 45 hits, drove in 39 and hit 10 bombs.  Gehrig not only hit .556 but his on base was .633 and he slugged 1.062 to notch an incredible 1.694 and create 51 runs in 20 games.  I have never seen numbers like these.  Gehrig’s long range bombing far overshadowed North Adams’ Lefty O’Doul’s .494 average and Al Simmons’ 21 XBH performances in the first period.

 

Pitcher of the period was Ted Lyons of New York.  Lyons went 4-1 to lead all hurlers.  Wild Bill Hallahan of Albany actually put up an ERA of under 2.00 (1.82) and he stood out.  Then again, he didn’t have to face the Albany batters.

 

Albany and The Dawgs grabbed the early period one lead but both teams were pressed in period 2.  Defending champion Wild Weasels won 16 of 20 games in the second period to move to within a game of Don Maxwell’s Dawgs and New York won 12 times to inch to 2 games of Albany in the East.

 

Gehrig slowed down to only hit .440 (.533 slugging .726 OB. 32 RC) in the second set of 20 games.  Joe Cronin of Auburn hit .456 (1.189 OPS) to nail down the runner up slot.  The Dawg’s Gabby Hartnett went deep 9 times and Wild’s Babe Herman drove in 39 runs to also pace the hitters.

 

Wild’s 16-win month was paced by Pitcher of the Period Pat Malone’s 5 wins.  Teammate Bill Walker went 4-0 to earn the runner up spot over Sloppy Thurston of Albany. (What a great name!)

 

As period 3 will be the last interdivisional series (3 home and 3 road) expect things to start really getting tight in period 4.

 

Gehrig is hitting .497 after the first 40 games with a 1.472 OPS.

 

 

TML1940

Period 1 was a tight one in the Northern Division as St. Louis, Richmond and Wild all got off to a 14-6 start with Megan’s Team sitting a game back at 13-7.  North Adams out together the best first period win total as the Bevers went out 15-5 to hold a one game lead over Albany.  They were the only 12 teams over .500 as the North feasted on the East with 80 wins in 140 games.

 

Buddy Lewis of Wild earned player honors by posting a .425 average (1.189 OPS, 29 RC) to nose out Johnny Mize of Rainier (1.223 OPS, 26 RC).  Offense was very strong but did pale in comparison to 1930.  2 separate eras.

 

Pitchers of the Series were teammates Dutch Leonard and Spud Chandler of North Adams.  Leonard went 6-1 (2.73) and Chandler went 5-0 (2.45) to pace all pitchers.

 

Spacing became more apparent in period 2 as Wild won 14 times to move to a one game lead over St. Louis.  Every team in the Northern played .500 or better ball with North Houma going 10-10 for the 7th best record in the North matching Wabash and New York’s 10-10 records, which were the best in the East.

 

Player of the Period went to last year’s rookie of the year, Ted Williams of New York.  Williams hit .435 (1.214 OPS) to nose out Johnny Mize of Rainier (.384, 6 homers 27 RBI) and Jimmie Foxx of Richmond (.388, 9 homers, 27 RBI) for the offensive honors.

 

Johnny Gorsica of Wild won 6 times to pace the pitchers this time through.  Gorsica won 6 times with a sterling 2.14 ERA in his 8 starts.  Freddie Fitzsimmons of Disney was runner up with 4 of Disney’s 7 wins and a 1.60 ERA in the period.  Dutch Leonard (Pitcher of Period 1) went 0-4 this time.

 

Both of last year’s World Series foes (New York and Beach City) sit 8 games out after 40 played with New York playing .375 ball and having the top 2 hitters in the league (DiMaggio and Williams).  The pitching must be frightful.

 

TML1969

The World Series is all set as Fort Lauderdale makes its 2nd consecutive trip to the big dance to face North Adams for the title.  Arrangements are being made to see if the series can be played face to face.

 

TML1969 Award balloting

The ballots are in and the TML1969 awards are awarded to:

 

TML 1969 All Star team:

First Team All TML       Second Team All TML

1B Willie McCovey (MV)                Lee May(FC)

2B Rod Carew (NA)       Joe Morgan (MG)

SS Rico Petrocelli  (DW)      Leo Cardenas (WW)

3B Ron Santo (NY)        Sal Bando (WW)

OF Reggie Jackson (AT)                Frank Howard (WW)

OF Willie Stargell (NA)       Pete Rose  (NA)

OF Cleon Jones (FC)        Lou Brock (HM)

C    Johnny Bench (BC)                Joe Torre (MG)

SP Bob Gibson (NY)                Phil Niekro(AV), Jim Rooker(BC), Mickey Lolich(DY), Don Sutton(NA), Larry Dierker (TG), Juan Marichal (SV)

RP Hoyt Wilhelm (FC)        Dick Hall (NY), Ken Tatum (WW)

 

Joe Torre makes his 7th straight team, Pete Rose is on his 5th straight.  Repeater starters from 1968 are McCovey, Santo and Gibson.

1969 Player/Pitcher of the Year

In the closest balloting ever for a Player of the Year (one ballot was never received) Reggie Jackson of Abrams won the honors by 2 points over Willie Stargell of North Adams.  Both received 4 first place votes as Jackson totaled 130 points to Stargell’s 128.  Pete Rose of North Adams finished 3rd with 108 points.  The remainder of the top 10 were Frank Howard (97), Lee May (64), Rico Petrocelli (58), Cleon Jones (54), Willie McCovey (48), Boog Powell (42), Rusty Staub (37).  To illustrate the closeness of the balloting, 8 players (including 3 from North Adams) received 1st place ballots.

 

Bob Gibson of New York repeated as pitcher of the year as he received 14 of 15 first place ballots.  Phil Niekro of Albany finished a distant second with Jim Rooker of Beach City holding down the 3rd  spot.

 

 

TML 1969 Gold Gloves

 

This is the 4th year for the Gold Glove awards.  The following were winners with the number of Gold Gloves in parenthesis:

1B Wes Parker (NY) (4) 

2B Joe Morgan (MG) (1)

SS Ed Brinkman (FC) (1)

3B Cletus Boyer  (CS) (2)

OF Billy Williams (CS) (2)

OF Paul Blair (RR) (1)

OF Bobby Bonds (BC) (1)

C   Randy Hundley (SV) (1)

P    Bob Gibson (NY) (1)

 

TML Record Book

 

Here are the Career Records through 46 years.  Active Leader in brackets if different)

 

Games – Rickey Henderson                                              3087

At Bats - Rickey Henderson                                            11153

Runs - Rickey Henderson                                                              2216

Hits - Tony Gwynn                                                     3513 (Rickey Henderson 2986)

Runs Batted In - Barry Bonds                                            1950

Doubles - Tony Gwynn                                                       607 (Barry Bonds 527)

Triples - Lance Johnson                                                     118 (Steve Finley 90)

Home Runs - Barry Bonds                                                   666

Total Bases - Barry Bonds                                                          5306

Walks - Rickey Henderson                                                              2115

Strikeouts - Fred McGriff                                                    1899

Stolen Bases - Rickey Henderson                                            1412

Batting Average - Tony Gwynn                                            .349 (Vladimir Guerrero .330)

Slugging Pct. - Lou Gehrig                                             .635  (Vladimir Guerrero .613)

On Base Pct. - Lou Gehrig                                                               .460  (Frank Thomas .427)

 

ERA - Sandy Koufax                                                     2.20  (Pedro Martinez 2.54)

Wins -  Roger Clemens                                                    342                                         

Losses - Bob Welch                                                       189  (Tom Glavine 168)

Winning Pct. - Sandy Koufax                                         .776  (Pedro Martinez  .767)

Saves - Trevor Hoffman                                                    345

Games - John Franco                                                       854 

Starts - Roger Clemens                                                    569

Complete Games - Greg Maddux                                           241

Shutouts - Greg Maddux                                                      63

Innings Pitched - Roger Clemens                                     4274'

Hits Allowed - Roger Clemens                                     3647

Strikeouts - Randy Johnson                                    4020

 

TML2002

It has boiled down to 3, as Gotham City will travel to New York to face the Woodchoppers.  Winner takes on Kentucky for the championship.

 

TML2003 Rookie Draft

 

Saturday, January 24, 2004.  Noon Eastern!

 

A reminder….

The deadline for cuts has been established at January 22nd, midnight.  No further cuts will be accepted until after the conclusion of the draft

 

Here are the guidelines regarding draft picks after the 5th round:

At the end of the 5th round, any team that is under 35 players will be allowed to pick until they reach 35 players.  No cuts will be allowed at the draft.  Anyone not drafted will disappear from the pool and will have to meet the rookie requirements.

 

Silver Anniversary

Pittsburgh – May 28-30, 2004.

 

Thus far I have commitments from:

Pat Barry, Larry Alber, Mike Ameen, George Mowry, Matt Pertierra, Willie Jelks, Rocky Hall, Dave Pittner, Tom Ross, Richard Ross and myself.  Please let me know as soon as possible as we want to start firming up rooms.

 

 

TML2003 Rookie Draft

Saturday, January 24, 2004.  Noon Eastern!

Please let me know as soon as possible if you are going to be coming.  If you are not, please give me your Instant Messenger handle for the draft.

 

Reminders

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)

 

12 days until the draft!

 

Jim Pertierra 1/12/2004