Skip to main content

Week 3 Summary


Week 3 is in the books and the season have just gotten cranked up. This week saw a full schedule of games for both leagues so while there are still six total teams that haven’t reached the ten-game played mark yet, suffice it say that league play is full speed ahead at this point.

Jimmy Collins, Player-Manager 1901 Boston Americans
There have been quite a few roster adjustments already and most teams have commenced with making lineups manipulations as well to try and improve performance. Most of the roster adjustments are around the fact that some teams are still scrambling to assemble a roster following the raids on National League players from American League teams this past winter. All teams are carrying a very thin bench as well, so any injury, even for a few days, is problematic as well.

Chicago (AL) and Pittsburgh has set the standard so far and both have early leads in each of their leagues. Both teams feature solid pitching and good hitting and both teams have had schedules that featured games against lesser opponents, all keys to getting off to a fast start. It is still early though and I still expect plenty of jockeying for position in the standings as the season progresses.

I am going to hold off for another week before listing leaders, but I am keeping an eye on my stats already. I really pushed stolen base attempts this past week and made up some of the delta from the previous week, but will need to continue to push on that. Likewise for sacrifice hits - I pushed it, but I think the difference is sacrifice attempts often don’t end up as sacrifice hits - they can end up a strike or a ball, foul tips, fielder's choices, or even the occasional pop-up/double play … it seems like ~50% of my sacrifice attempts end up as something other than a sacrifice. I need to ensure I am getting a sacrifice hit in every game.


My total hits and league batting averages are up, but my runs scored are down. My sacrifice flies are through the roof though - teams always seem to be able to get runners to third, but not always able to otherwise score them. Even though I bumped up the error numbers from 2 to 2.5 per card my number of errors up, but still way behind. Therefore league ERA's are still a little on the high side yet.

It's still early and I am sure the numbers will come around as games progress (I keep telling myself). With the poorer defenses I am seeing resultants I don’t think I have ever seen before. I also acknowledge that perhaps the scouting in those days wasn't as thorough as it is now, so I often take chances on the base paths that I might never otherwise do, especially in circumstances where one run can really make the difference.


Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston  MA



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 24 Summary

John McGraw Week 24 is in the books and the AL has completed play, with the Chicago White Stockings as the AL Champs. The NL is not far behind, but they won’t finish up until next Sunday as they have 22 games remaining to complete. Pittsburgh's magic number is down to four and they have five games left to play - three with Boston to start the week, and two with Chicago to end the week. Brooklyn only has two games remaining, both with New York, so they are going to need some outside help to close that three-game gap with the Pirates. Hugh Duffy Once the NL is finished I will provide a more in-depth team-by-team summary and an extended final stats leaders summary as well, so this will be another abbreviated post. The end is very close so it is just about time wrap this project up. Amos Rusie
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 25 Summary

Week 25 is in the books and the 1901 regular season is now completed. Congratulations to the Chicago White Stockings and Pittsburgh Pirates for their respective league championships. While Chicago's championship was not really in doubt, the NL came across a peculiar circumstance. With two days remaining in the regular season, Pittsburgh had a 2.5 game lead over Brooklyn and both teams had two remaining games on the schedule, meaning that if Brooklyn won their two and Pittsburgh lost their two that Pittsburgh would still have a .5 game lead. There were rumblings out of Brooklyn about a protest since both teams finished with less than 140 games played it might be necessary to arrange the missing games to be played so a true championship could be crowned. Brooklyn won their two games, but so did Pittsburgh, so the commissioner's office (i.e., me) summarily declared Pittsburgh the NL champion. 1901 Al Champion Chicago White Stockings Despite the two leagues still being vi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pre-season

When the 1900 season ended there was relative peace in the world of baseball.  After a shaky decade financially things had started the rebound a little as the National League had shed four of their weaker franchises following the 1899 season (Cleveland, Louisville, Washington, and Baltimore). Brooklyn won their second consecutive pennant, and as the NL moved into its 25th year of existence it looked like things might have finally stabilized for baseball's only major league. 1900 National League Champion Brooklyn Superbas But Ban Johnson and the Western Association, the strongest of the minor league's organizations, had other plans. The Western Association had long established themselves with strong leadership and good players, but they felt confined by the National Agreement that laid out the basic rules and structure of professional baseball, including rules on not poaching players from other teams and establishing territorial rights. Johnson and Charles Comisk...
Post a Comment
Read more