CFL Franchise Focus: Turn of the Century Hall-of-Famers

1896 Baltimore Orioles in their parlor loungewear.

This introduction to the 19th-century Hall-of-Fame team serves as both a salute and a farewell: brought in to the Classic Franchise League to provide some stiff competition for the classic franchises, they have proved to be OVERLY strong and, after some soul-searching, I have decided to remove the club from the league! After 60 games (15 games each against the 1954 Indians, the 1950 Yanks, the 1962 Dodgers, and the 1957 Braves), they are to be "retired" with a .750 winning percentage.  Before dismissing them, let's take a look at their performance:

Some notes about the batters:

- Ed Delahanty, he of the mysterious death in 1903, has been the overall hitting star. With so many great players, I didn't use a set lineup except for those players who pretty consistently delivered. He leads the club in double, homers and RBIs. Though an outfielder mainly, I mostly had him playing first base (for which he was an adequate "3"), providing some relief from an otherwise crowded outfield.

Big bad Eddie D. channeling Tony Kubek

- George Davis was my other mainstay. He played shortstop in his career, by and large, but split his time in this league between short and third.

George Davis and his awesome mustache

- Sam Thompson and Hugh Duffy got more time than deserved while Billy Hamilton's time was unfairly curtailed. To be fair, Hamilton's defensive rating (a '3' at all three OF positions) made me a bit nervous, particularly when installed in center.

- Cap Anson would have been a typical choice at firstbase except . . .  except I couldn't let go of my impression of him as being a prime instigator and enforcer of the so-called "color line" that prevented black players from playing alongside whites. So, I sat him. There. How do you like it, Cap? 

Pitcher observations:

- A 2.69 team ERA is awfully impressive against any competition and, of course, even more so given top-notch offenses these pitchers faced. In fact, their pitching dominance is what convinced me to pull the plug on this team just before they were about to face the 1962 Mets.

- Mickey Welch lost his last start after winning 7 straight. 

- Tim Keefe not only went 12-0 but fell one inning short of 12 straight complete games. Which shouldn't surprise anyone - in 1883 he started and completed 68 games while compiling 619 innings pitched. In one summer. I know the game was different then . . .  but c'mon! It must have been the 'stache:

Tim Keefe (left): inspiration for James Finlayson (right)?

So say "Hello!" and "So long!" to these 19th-century heroes (and Cap Anson). They were a fun team to manage and a victim of their own success. Had they won 2 of every 3 (as opposed to 3 of every 4) I quite likely would have kept them in the league.

CFL Franchise Focus: 1954 Cleveland Indians

A great team (their 111-43 regular season record was the best AL record for about 50 years), the 1954 Cleveland Indians are currently the hottest team in the Classic Franchise League. The Indians, as a franchise, did NOT follow the American League plan of the 50s, which is to say that they DID take advantage of the then newly-available talent in the black and Latino populations. By signing and fostering players like Larry Doby, Bobby Avila, Al Smith, and Mike Garcia, the Indians (well, they still have some work to do with respect to multi-culturalism, don't they?) assembled a team that, year-in and year-out, competed with the vaunted, and slow to integrate, Yankees. In 1954, Cleveland bested the Yanks by 8 games, easily outpacing the best record of the Stengel-era New Yorkers (their 103 wins that year was Casey's high-water mark). It is interesting to note that the only two non-Yankee pennant winners from 1949 though 1964 were both managed by Al Lopez, himself the son of Spanish immigrants. Lopez guided these Indians and the 1959 Chicago White Sox, Chcago being the other AL franchise that integrated aggressively.

So, what, exactly, do I mean by "hot?" They have just taken four of five from the 1962 Dodgers after taking five of seven from the very powerful 1957 Milwaukee Braves. In a league known for its parity (excluding the Hall-of-Fame 19th-century team and the hapless 1962 Mets), an 9-3 run is quite notable. Indeed, with a bit of luck, they could be on a very impressive 12-game winning streak; take a look at the three losses:

- a 5-4 loss to the Braves as Milwaukee exploded for a 4-run, 9th-inning outburst against the normally reliable Don Mossi,

- a 1-0 loss to Warren Spahn and the Braves,

- a 2-1 loss in ten innings to Don Drysdale and the Dodgers.

Some highlights from this run which has improved their record form 46-44 to 55-47:

- Bob Feller, by 1954 a shell of his former self and a spot starter, has revived and gone 7 innings on three occasions, never giving up more than 1 run. He lost to Spahn in the game mentioned above, striking out 8 in his 7 innings. Feller's contributions are the icing on an awesome cake - the 1954 Indians feature one of the great pitching staffs of all time, with top-notch starters Bob Lemon, Mike Garcia, and Early Wynn.

- Lemon has pitched well and contributed with the bat, going 2-3 with a walk, a double, and 4 RBIs in one game while adding a 2-4 plate performance in another.

(Bob Lemon photo courtesy of http://bleacherreport.com/)

- In one game, Garcia retired the first 22 Dodgers in a row, taking a perfect game into the 8th inning. Then he allowed his first baserunner, hit, and run in one blow - a homer by Ron Fairly to spoil the historic outing - but settled for a glorious 2-hitter against LA.

- Art Houtteman, the number 4 starter on this team, ran his record to 8-2 in a recent stint against Johnny Podres and the Dodgers.


(courtesy http://www.thisgreatgame.com/)

- What about the batters, you say? Al Rosen has been a beast throughout the streak, collecting 14 hits in the seven games against the Braves. In the finale, he went 5-5 with a walk while hitting for the cycle and driving in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning.


(Al Rosen showing how a 50s manly man can handle six bats.
Photo courtesy of http://www.dailyspeculations.com/)

- Second-line players like Sam Dente, Wally Westlake, and Bill Glynn have made critical contributions. Each has hit a go-ahead homerun during this streak. Of this group, only Westlake could be considered a power threat - his 11 homers in 240 at bats in 1954 were on par with his career numbers.

- These Indians know the value of a walk: two 8 walk-games and two 9-walk games led to three blowouts and a curious 5-4 loss. In that game, Braves pitcher Bob Buhl managed to give up 8 hits and 8 walks while still managing to limit the Indians to just 4 runs scored. Perhaps his 10 strikeouts had something to do with that.

As in real-life, the replay Indians have combined strong starting pitching, effective relief, and an "Earl Weaver" offense (one that features lots of walks and power up and down the lineup) to create a top-notch team. Even the weak hitters contribute: Check out the card for George Strickland, a .213 hitter who manged to wrack up 55 walks in about 360 at bats.

It's been great fun seeing 50s stars like Lemon, Rosen, and Doby (failed to mention his team-leading 20 HRs, 50 RBIs, and 56 runs scored, though he's been relatively quiet during this stretch) perform so admirably and a real treat to see timely support from the bench players. One of the pleasures of handling a Strat-o-matic team over the course of so many games (now over 100!) is the intimate knowledge one gets for virtually all players on the roster.