Scott Fennessy’s 1906 American League replay review

My Final Standings

Indians 100-40 .714
A’s 83-57 .593
White Sox 83-57 .593
Browns 82-58 .586
Yankees 79-61 .564
Senators 52-88 .371
Tigers 44-96 .314
Red Sox 37-103 .264

Amercian League Most Valuable Player

George Stone
St. Louis Browns
.339 AVG 4 HR 78 RBI 50 SB

American League Pitcher of the Year
Al Orth
New York Yankees
27-10 2.12 ERA .79 WHIP 8 SH

Cleveland Indians

Players who overperformed:

Bill Bradley .305 4 HR 59 RBI 21 SB vs. Actual .275 2 HR 25 RBI 13 SB
Bill Bernhard 20-8 1.68 ERA vs. Actual 16-15 2.54 ERA
Otto Hess 23-9 1.58 ERA vs. Actual 20-17 1.83 ERA

Players who underperformed:

Napoleon Lajoie .308 96 RBI 24 SB vs. Actual .355 91 RBI 20 SB
Terrence Turner .262 69 RBI 26 SB vs. Actual .291 2 HR 62 RBI 27 SB
William Congalton .256 42 RBI 25 SB vs. Actual .320 3 HR 12 SB
George Stovall .237 46 RBI 17 SB vs. Actual .273 37 RBI 15 SB

When I was playing the season, I honestly felt like when I sat down and looked at the numbers that EVERY player overperformed. The Indians always seemed to get the “lucky roll” in a clutch situation, and it always seemed like the worse a player’s card was the more likely it was that he would be the one that would come through, or the C pitcher would pitch like an A. If they were in danger of losing the game/lead that the other team would hit the 12-25, or have the runner thrown out on the basepaths.

Now that the review is done, I will say that for the most part their underperformers were simply compensated for the overperformers. That and in all honesty the part about the bad cards getting the good results in key situation was in fact true.

Cleveland was just a very solid team, and with all the talk about the White Sox and the little engine that could, and did derail the Cubs express in the real world, but they were simply better set up by APBA than the other teams.

The biggest difference was the formula that they used on the road to their AL championship the year before. Beat the second place team when you face them heads up and beat up on the bottom of the standings. Every time the White Sox or A’s would close within about 4-5 games they would play Cleveland and the Indians would win the series almost every single time. In fact, they moved into first place on April 18th, and never looked back. They clinched on September 23rd.

Putting into perspective that Napoleon Lajoie hit 50 points below his actual average, and still hit .300 was a testament to how good they performed overall. William “Bunk” Congalton had to go on a monster tear in September to get to his final average, which was 60 points below his actual average, so even when you have two important players who massively underperformed, they still were very productive. Elmer Flick hit .298 and stole 40 bases to help set the table for the heart of the lineup.

Bill Bradley has been one of the most fragile players in my replays over the previous seven replays he has appeared in. He is now officially the most frequent visitor to the DL. He also set the standard that will probably never be beaten. On three consecutive times the very first game he returned from the DL he immediately went back on the DL with yet another injury. In fact, he missed so many games he did not even reach the actual number of games he played in the real world. Considering how much better his numbers were he would have probably won the MVP had he played a full season.

And yet Cleveland never had to worry, because by shifting Stovall to third base it allowed manager Napoleon Lajoie to let Claude Rossman to come to the rescue at first base. Rossman hit .304 in what was basically a platoon job, and once September came along and Stovall was done for the season, he stayed in at first base for the final weeks of the season and that was when the Indians really pulled away from the pack.

Rossman wasn’t the only productive member off the bench. Jay Clarke was hitting .303 after taking over for Harry Bemis in August, and had a very strong card, but played just 18 games before suffering a season ending injury and will not be available for the World Series. Harry Bay outperformed his card by hitting .302 over 39 games in the leadoff spot, and Joe Birmingham played the final week of the season and provided some punch, hitting .333 over 9 games.

And of course, the Indians rotation was every bit as strong as the White Sox, and A’s, and actually better than the real world second place Yankees. Addie Joss (26-4 2.10 ERA 7 shutouts), Robert Rhoads (23-9 1.68 ERA .87 WHIP 4 shutouts), Bill Bernhard (20-8 2.58 ERA) and Otto Hess (23-9 1.58 ERA .77 WHIP 8 shutouts) may have been more important to the team than Joss. It was Hess who put the final stamp of domination over the White Sox. On October 5 in the final matchup between the two teams in Chicago Hess threw the only no hitter of the season. It is only the second no hitter in October in replay history, and only the 5th after September 1st.

Philadelphia A’s

overperformers
John Knight .243 2 HR vs. Actual .194 3 HR

Underperformers
Jasper Davis .269 9 HR 98 RBI 33 SB vs. Actual .292 12 HR 96 RBI

The A’s played significantly better than I expected them to. They boasted a very good pitching staff, and their best lineup was actually very good, but also pretty limited in games played, but always seemed to get help from the very weak bench.

The lineup was anchored by Jasper Davis, who despite some struggles in the final month was dangerous enough to cause trouble. Tully Hartsel (.266 40 SB) was the only other regular that played the entire season.

Ralph “Socks” Seybold (.287 2 HR 76 RBI) Danny Murphy (.266 2 HR 36 SB) and Ossee Schreckengost (.261) were sorely missed in the second half.

The bench was not exactly strong, although Reuben Oldring hit .266 despite going on the DL multiple times. Dave Shean hit .284 in a limited role, and although he struggled rookie infielder Eddie Collins (.233) made his debut in the final week of the year.

As mentioned above, the A’s leaned heavily on their pitching staff, and for the most part, even the lower graded pitchers came through. The staff was anchored by Rube Waddell (20-11 2.18 ERA .91 WHIP). Backed up by Eddie Plank (14-11 2.02 ERA .83 WHIP) Chief Bender (19-8 2.41 ERA .99 WHIP) may have been the best pitcher for them.

Jim Dygert (15-10 2.13 ERA) was a decent #4 starter. John Coombs (7-5 3.48 ERA) and Andy Coakley (5-5 3.93 ERA) chipped in late in the season.

Chicago White Sox

Overperformers
Nick Altrock 19-12 1.70 ERA vs. Actual 20-13 2.06 ERA

Underperformers
It would be safe to say almost everyone on the roster underperformed. This is NOT an exaggeration, but an actual statistical fact. I won’t list them all, but it takes a very special kind of player to significantly underperform a real world batting average of .183 over 116 games, but somehow Lee Tannehill did it. He hit .134 in 98 games. After reviewing his career, it’s safe to say if his brother Jesse wasn’t a hall of fame caliber pitcher he would have never seen a day on a MLB roster.

This is probably one of the most difficult teams for APBA to have to create. You have an incredibly weak hitting team, but they managed to win the AL championship and then a world championship too. They couldn’t make the pitching all A’s, and you couldn’t overpower the hitting to compensate either.

So, you end up with a team that despite me using almost every opposing pitcher in the card set to their max number of starts they STILL managed to significantly underperform their real world team batting average of .230 with a pitiful .211 performance. In fact, it was a running joke for me that when the sox were in first for a couple of days that the only thing lower than their team ERA was the team batting average.

Because I don’t want to focus only on the negative, George Davis (.244 70 RBI 43 SB) was probably the best of the regulars. Manager Fielder Jones (.219 6 HR 64 RBI 24 SB) was able to triple his actual home run total.

The bench was very small, but was far more productive than the starters. George Rhoe (.268) played 56 games, and in limited action Frank Roth hit .256.

While the pitching underperformed as a whole, it was safe to say it was mostly because the hitting was so incredibly weak. It’s hard to win when you have to throw a shutout every time out. But because their real world pitching was so strong it was easy to miss the mark for most of them.

Big Ed Walsh (19-12 1.96 ERA .83 WHIP) and Nick Altrock (19-12 1.70 ERA .81 WHIP) were co-aces of the staff. Doc White (13-10 2.63 ERA) was the biggest victim of the hitting issues. He massively missed his real numbers, but on at least 7 starts he allowed 2 or less runs and LOST. On an additional 3 times they were shut out. Frank Owen (18-16 2.75 ERA) and Roy Patterson (8-4 2.25 ERA) were solid, but also rather unlucky at times.

St. Louis Browns

Overperformers
Harry Howell 20-13 1.96 ERA vs. Actual 15-14 2.11 ERA

Underperformers
Bobby Wallace .218 2 HR 23 SB vs. Actual .258 2 HR 24 SB
Tom Jones .209 69 RBI 34 SB vs. Actual .252 30 RBI 27 SB
Roy Hartzell .152 31 RBI 21 SB vs. Actual .213 24 RBI 21 SB

Much like the White Sox, I could have put a lot more names on the underperformers, but there were some good moments. I almost could have put George Stone (.339 4 HR 78 RBI 50 SB) on the list, but despite hitting almost 50 points below his real world batting average of .358 he still managed to lead the league in batting, and was in the top ten in most categories, and won the MVP for the American League.

For the most part Branch Rickey matched his real world numbers, except in home runs. There he actually did much better, bashing 8 for the season, including becoming the first member of the dead ball era to hit three in one game. Sadly, this will be his only good season as a player, but without his transition to the front office we would not have the minor leagues as we know them today.

St. Louis had a much stronger pitching staff then I expected. In addition to Howell’s fine season Barney Pelty (19-10 2.12 ERA .89 WHIP) and Fred Glade 16-15 2.69 ERA) were solid. John Powell (15-10 3.04 ERA) didn’t pitch poorly, but certainly didn’t pitch to the level of an A starter. Albert Jacobson (7-5 2.65 ERA) was outstanding as a C starter in the final month of the season.

New York Yankees

Overperformers
James McGuire .333 vs. Actual .299
Frank Delahanty .310 2 HR 37 RBI vs. Actual .238 2 HR 41 RBI
Jimmy Williams .283 7 HR 113 RBI vs. Actual .277 3 HR 77 RBI

Underperformers
Hal Chase .309 54 RBI 34 SB vs. Actual .323 76 RBI 28 SB
Frank LaPorte .239 3 HR 69 RBI vs. Actual .264 2 HR 54 RBI
Norman Elberfeld .245 AVG 2 HR 44 RBI 35 SB vs. Actual .306 2 HR 31 RBI 19 SB

The Yankees didn’t exactly play poorly, they just didn’t play greatly. They did particularly poor against Cleveland, and somehow managed to lose the season series to the lowly Red Sox.

Despite not reaching his actual batting average, Hal Chase had a good season. After struggling early Willie Keeler (.308 AVG 37 SB) teamed up with him to form a decent tandem to set the table. Jimmy Williams certainly took advantage of that. The only player remaining on the team when Baltimore moved to New York and became the Yankees had his finest season, and led the AL in RBI.

Al Orth (27-10 2.12 ERA .79 WHIP) was easily the ace of the staff. But the pitching’s struggles were probably a bigger reason for the serious drop off from their real world second place finish to fourth in my replay.

William Hogg (12-13 3.22 ERA) John Chesbro 22-13 3.07 ERA) were the other main starters, with a parade of pitchers who pitched in the fourth spot, but none of them pitched effectively.

Washington Senators

Overperformers
John Anderson .292 5 HR 38 RBI 38 SB vs. Actual .271 3 HR 70 RBI 39 SB

Underperformers
Lafayette Cross .208 46 RBI 20 SB vs. Actual .263 1 HR 46 RBI 19 SB
Charlie Hickman .225 8 HR 60 RBI vs. Actual .284 9 HR 57 RBI
Charles Jones .216 3 HR 53 RBI 36 SB vs. Actual .241 3 HR 42 RBI 34 SB

Another year, another finish in the cell…. No, wait a minute, they actually finished in 6th place. That’s big news in the nation’s capital. Unfortunately, they’re still the Senators, so they still have lots of problems overall.

Other than John Anderson, none of the starters did anything. Had Charlie Hickman and Lafayette Cross hit to their actual numbers they may have had a 70 win season.

Washington’s bench produced a couple of decent seasons though. Howard Wakefield hit .277 while playing half a season, and in addition to his .250 batting average David Altizer provided some unexpected drama.

After the other two shortstops used all their games I was saying to myself “how did they end up with not enough games to cover?” about 8 games after playing over actual games with Otto Williams I finally put an all points bulletin to my fellow ILLOWA managers and John Brandeberry reminded me to check baseball reference.

So I check the site, and there WAS a third shortstop, Dave Altizer. I checked the envelope, but he wasn’t in it. So, before panicking and calling APBA for a replacement card I checked all the other envelopes and sure enough he was stuck to the back of a player on the Browns, and I brought him home to the Senators, who were grateful for his services.

This was probably my first replay where the Senators had a decent pitching staff. But because the offense didn’t reach their potential, the pitchers couldn’t reach theirs. Casey Patten (15-16 2.21 ERA) is a pitcher that toiled away yet again, providing a much underrated season for his team. He is usually very dependable, but almost nobody has ever heard of him.

Fred Falkenberg (11-24), Charles Smith (10-12) suffered the fate of all pitchers in DC, and had no support for their efforts. Frank Kitson (3-10) was probably the worst of the starters that made double digit starts this season, but he certainly got it done at the plate. Frank hit .382 with 1 homer and stole two bases. He had a 1.009 OPS to boot.

Detroit Tigers

Overperformers
Charles Schmidt .235 17 RBI vs. Actual .218 10 RBI

Underperformers
Bill Coughlin .195 53 RBI 28 SB vs. Actual .235 2 HR 60 RBI 31 SB
Christian Lindsay .165 1 HR 31 RBI 17 SB vs. Actual .224 0 HR 33 RBI 18 SB
Charlie O’Leary .164 3 HR 35 RBI 31 SB vs. Actual .238 2 HR 42 RBI 31 SB

It was another tough year offensively for the Tigers. Most of the lineup struggled in addition to the bigger underperformers above. A note regarding Christian Lindsay hitting 1 homer vs. zero homers is he hit the jackpot with a second column 4.

Despite this, the beginnings of the future are here. Ty Cobb (.304 1 HR 30 RBI 44 SB) played 98 games. When he was in the lineup with Sam Crawford (.288 1 HR 72 RBI 27 SB) and Matt McIntyre (.256 32 SB) they were able to combine what they produced with some decent pitching from the top of the rotation and avoided the cellar. Fred Payne hit .260 in half a season.

The pitching seemed to be all or nothing for this team. Ed Siever (9-16 2.80 ERA) and Francis “Red” Donahue (8-19 2.12 ERA) deserved much better records then they did. George Mullin led the staff with 14 wins. Once you got past them though it was easy pickings for the other team.

Boston Red Sox

Overperformers
Bill Dinneen 11-13 2.76 ERA vs. Actual 8-19 2.92 ERA

Underperformers
John Hoey .203 18 SB vs. Actual .244 10 SB
Myron Grimshaw .197 40 RBI vs. Actual .290 48 RBI
Freddy Parent .189 36 RBI vs. Actual .235 1 HR 49 RBI 16 SB
John Freeman .217 43 RBI vs. Actual .250 1 HR 30 RBI

There was a price Boston paid for robbing the Braves of their starting lineup when the team was formed in 1901, and the bill finally came due in 1906. I could not believe how quickly age caught up with this team.

In addition to the above, most reserves hit well below expected, and the pitching was nothing to write home about. Three of the biggest names in Red Sox history still had moments of glory. Playing just 34 games, Jimmy Collins hit .301, which was 25 points higher than his actual .275. Cy Young (7-26 3.91 ERA) suffered from lack of support, and being a C in a dead ball season. However, the amazing thing about his season is that he had his best season ever for control. In 262.2 innings, Young walked just 18 batters while striking out 114.

And the one shining star in this dismal Boston season was Chick Stahl. Chick hit .282 with 4 homers, 47 RBI and stole 10 bases. Sadly, this will be his final season in MLB. I won’t go into details of the tragic end of his life in the preseason of 1907, but other than Collins, was possibly Boston’s greatest dead ball hitter.