Jim’s Corner
February 26, 2003
The unlimited ERA for TML
2002 will be 4.58. Anyone at 4.58 and over is
limited to 40 starts and 90 appearances.
Trading reopened with a bang but has now slowed down. (Rocky must be taking a breath for a couple hundred replays before starting another round).
The season will open on April 1st. I am working on the DM date/TML Date translation to get the information to Scott for posting on the web page.
I also wish to thank everyone for making the rookie draft such an enjoyable experience. It went very quickly and was only hampered by my having to reconnect to the room several times. Thanks to Rich Goldberg, Pat Barry, Scott Lagace, Dennis Gaige, Larry Alber, Mike Mayko and Jim Schembari for their help and support live!
The playoffs are winding down. I, frankly, have been the doorstop here as I have been requested (as detailed in the constitution) to play the finale between Millennium and Gotham City. That will be done tomorrow. The winner then moves onto host (if it is Millennium) or visit (if it is Gotham City) Mudville for the TML 2001 championship.
To get to where we are:
Mudville beat Tarpin Ridge
Troy beat Zaca's
Millennium beat Fallsburg
Gotham City Beat New York.
Details in the next issue.
1952 ALL STARS/Post Season
Awards
TML 1952 All
Star team:
First Team All TML Second Team All TML
1B Earl Torgeson (BU) Gil Hodges (TG)
2B Jackie Robinson (NY) Billy Goodman (BC)
SS Alvin Dark (DY) Solly Hemus (BU)
3B Al Rosen (DM) Gil McDougald (MG)
OF Larry Doby (DM) Dave Philley (BC)
OF Enos Slaughter (RV) Vic Wertz (BC)
OF Mickey Mantle (DY) Stan Musial (CS)
C Yogi Berra (RR) Roy Campanella (BU)
SP Robin Roberts (BC) Eddie Lopat (DM), Carl Erskine (MG), Russ Meyer (DM), Connie Marrero (DY)
RP Satchel Paige (RV) Joe Black (DY), Al Benton (CS)
Of the First Team All Stars, 2 were making their 3rd appearance on the starting 9 (Yogi Berra and Jackie Robinson). Robinson was the only repeater from 1951. This is also Larry Doby and Al Rosen's 2nd starting nod. All the other starters are first timers. Berra, Rosen and Doby were unanimous selections.
Larry Doby won his first Player of the Year in a runaway. Robin Roberts was the unanimous selection as Pitcher of the Year.
TML 1952 Gold
Gloves
1B Eddie Robinson (BU)
2B Nellie Fox (DY)
SS Phil Rizzuto (DM)
3B Al Rosen (DM)
OF Minnie Minoso (BU)
OF Dave Philley (BC)
OF Harry Simpson (TG)
C Yogi Berra (RR)
P Robin Roberts (BC)
Congratulations to George Mowry's McGraw Misfits for winning his first championship. The Misfits outlasted Rich Goldberg's Commack Pink Flamingos in 7 games to win the championship.
Commack took the news so badly that they uprooted and are heading to Auburn, Alabama!
The regular season is just about complete and the World Series participants have already been determined. Scott Lagace's Mudville Bandits will open defense of their 1967 Championship against Bryan Sakolsky's Fort Lauderdale Cubs. The Cubs in the World Series!!!!
This will be the first trip for the franchise into the World Series in this era. The franchise has won 3 championships in the current era (Gotham City) but has not been there in the retros.
For Mudville, the pressure is on to continue the 60's championship pattern. Buffalo won in 1961 and 1962, North Country in 1963 and 1964, New York in 1965 and 1966 and the Bandits last year.
Whoever wins will be a most deserving champion!!!
Ironically, both franchises are still alive for the 2001 championship.
All Star and Post Season balloting will commence shortly.
1929 got off to a rip roaring start and has not slowed down.
At the end of the first period, Richmond and Wild sat on top of the Northern Division with Auburn just a game back. McGraw got off to a quick 2 game lead over Disney World in the East.
Jim Bottomley of New York carried off the player of the period honors for the 1st stanza by hitting .442, slugging .872 (1.367 OPS) on 38 hits, 29 runs scored, 25 RBIs and 36 RCs on 9 homers. Teammate Mel Ott hit 10 round trippers and knocked in 26 (1.312 OPS) while hitting .400 to share runner up honors with Albany's Tony Lazzeri (.475, .825, 1.385 OPS). When the 10th man on the list is hitting .390, you know that there has been a lot of offense.
There was pitching though and the pitchers were led by Red Lucas of Disney World. Lucas won 4 of 5 decisions to the tune of a 2.80 ERA. Also sparkling was Carl Hubbell of Auburn (3-1, 1.04 with 2 shutouts.)
1939 also started on February 1st and the Beach City Dukes raced to the top of the Northern Division opening up a game and a half lead over the Rainier Rowdies. There was a logjam in Cohoes as New York and Disney World are separated by that same game and a half atop the Eastern Division.
Buddy Lewis of Wild took batting honors this time creating 44 runs in the 20 games. Johnny Mize of Rainier and Hal Trosky of Albany were runners up as both bangers eclipsed the 1.200 OPS mark this period. Mize's secondary average of .707 is Bondish. Mel Ott of McGraw has drawn 40 walks in 15 games. That is another number to watch.
Carl Hubbell of Richmond was the pitcher this time going 3-1 to a 1.00 ERA and a .136 OPBA. Runners up were Mace Brown of Disney and Red Ruffing of New York who both went through the period 3-0.
I have produced both the 1953 and 1969 Rookie lists in an Excel format. I am going to forward it to Scott for posting but will also send it along to any manager who would like the original. 1953 would be the next season up when 1929 and 1939 wrap up, but I would like to hold both drafts the same day. 1969 will not be played until October or November. Any thoughts?
The career database project has been completed and ported to Microsoft Access. We have 40 years of numbers in the books and will soon add the 41st when 1968 completes. My intention is to import the 1968 numbers and then produce career data. If anyone is interested in receiving breakdowns by teams, managers, lifetime leaders, etc. please let me know and I will provide them to you. This will be by request only for now.
I received 17 responses to Doug's 25/35-man roster proposal. Frankly, I was disappointed that not everyone voted.
The proposal failed by an 11-6 vote so we will continue to have 35 man rosters active in the TML.
I thank Doug for the proposal and his continued interest.
I have also decided to pull back my rookie proposal until I can get a better handle on Franchise players. I will have specific data to enable the retro managers to check well in advance of the next drafts.
The standard TML series naming convention is HHRRYY (Home team initial, Road team initial, TML Year) when reporting a series. Also please note that AT is the Abrams Tankers and DM is Andrew's Team. Don names his teams for his grandchildren but we maintain the team initials as DM.
Also remember that both the 1929 and 1939 schedules do not have a built in rest day after game 4. After game 4 please go to options and clear fatigue for both teams. I have noticed that the game 5 starters seem to be getting hit rather hard and it might be because rest is not being cleared.
That's it for now.
Any problems send me an eMail.
I hope you are all looking forward to real baseball as much as me. I hate Winter!
Jim Pertierra
2/26/03