Now that it is July in my 1966 NL replay, things are heating up! The race is tightening up and there has been some shifting in the standings. Baseball pundits are not as bullish on the Dodgers and the Giants. Now however, stock is high in Philly and Cincy.
And Atlanta! I already wrote about the slugfest on July 2 in which Atlanta defeated the Giants 18-12. When I got set to play the Braves-Giants game on July 3, I noticed on Baseball Reference that was the day that Atlanta pitcher Tony Cloninger hit two grandslams in real life. My replay wasn’t quite as exciting though Cloninger did hit a 33-6 double and won his 12th game to sneak into third place in NL wins. Not bad for a CYW pitcher.
With that win, the 49-32 Braves have more wins than first place Dodgers (48-29).
So now it is officially July 4th in my replay. That means it is less than a week (APBA-time) till the All-Star Game between the National League and the American League in St. Louis! That’s a total of 38 games but maybe I can knock them out quick with the added incentive of the Classic coming up.
With that in mind, I thought I’d have some fun and let you vote on which NL players will start in the All-Star Game. I’ll use the actual AL roster and lineup and maybe play against someone.
Keep an eye out for upcoming online ballots! The nominations have been made by each team and there will be some interesting decisions to be made. For now, here are the current hitting leaders and pitching leaders as of July 3rd, 1966.
