This Week In Stratball - 6/19/17

Satchel Paige, ready to fire!

THIS WEEK IN STRATBALL

JUNE 19, 2017

CRAWFORDS CRASH 1934 NATIONAL LEAGUE

Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Oscar Charleston are leading a parade of Pittsburgh Crawfords stars into battle against the 1934 National League. They are replacing the Pittsburgh Pirates and retroactively integrating the league thirteen years ahead of schedule.

The Crawfords' Strat cards come courtesy of Paul Dylan, long-time Strat player and curator of the awesome One For Five website, from which one can download the cards. This is a single team from the barnstorming winter of 1933 & 1934 and, as such, has the feel of a real team - some great players, for sure, but others of just modest talent. Managing the team will have its challenges as one will need to balance the front-line talent with a shallow bench.

Paige got the team off to a fast start, out-pitching Dizzy Dean and the Gas House Gang on Opening Day. He struck out 9 en route to a 3-hit shutout and received some surprising support from Judy Johnson who crushed a grand-slam homer in the 6-0 win.

After 9 games, however, the Craw-dads are scuffling with a 5-4 record. They run hot and cold, capable of scalding opposing pitchers for 28 hits and 16 runs one day and being shackled to just 1 run the next. Satch is 3-0 with 3 complete games - he's had just one earned run scored off of him! But the pitching seems pretty thin after him. And, outside of Gibson and Charleston, there's little homerun muscle - though that seems true for most 1934 NL teams.

Next up is Brooklyn, then across the river to the New York Giants of Mel Ott and Carl Hubbell fame.

TOP TEAMS OF THE 90S LEAGUE GETS UNDERWAY

Grab 5 teams from the 90s, one from the late 80s, 2 from the early aughts, and 4 fictionalized teams and what would you call it? Well, I settled on "Top Teams of the 90s" and, frankly, the playing of the league is much more interesting than the naming of the league.

The league is divided into two divisions: an Early 90s and a Late 90s division:

EARLY:

1988 NEW YORK METS
1990 OAKLAND A's
1993 TORONTO BLUE JAYS
1996 ATLANTA BRAVES

LATE:

1998 NEW YORK YANKEES
1998 HOUSTON ASTROS
2001 SEATTLE MARINERS
2002 ANAHEIM ANGELS

Each division is rounded out with "semi-stars" of Strat's 42 Old-Timer Teams. For those in the know, the names will delight - Lew Riggs, Alpha Brazle, Curly Ogden, etc. They are organized by decade and were allowed to draft one era-specific star (say, Tris Speaker for the 1920 American League team), one modern hitter (Larry Walker, par example), and one modern pitcher (Pedro Martinez is represented by both his 1999 and 200 cards). More on these teams at a later time.

Randy Johnson doesn't like you.

One notable feat has already occurred in this young league: Randy Johnson, pitching for the 1998 Houston Astros, tossed a no-hitter in the team's 9th game. It was, perhaps, the worst no-hitter ever thrown: he walked 13, including four in the first to give up a run, and needed 9th-inning heroics from Craig Biggio who singled home Brad Ausmus for the walk-off: Astros won 2-1.

Randy's pitching line: 9 IP, 1 ER, 0 Hits, 13 walks, 7 strikeouts and the win. I'm guessing a pitch count of at least 160.