For those of you embarking this trolley along the route, the premise of the exercise can be found HERE.
OVERVIEW
I neglected to mention that I have glossed right over some of the early iterations certain clubs went through. So, in this timeline, the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves and Cubs are referred to as such from the get-go.
I mentioned Cleveland starts off as the “Blues” before changing to the “Buckeyes” and then, some ways off, finally becomes the “Guardians”. This isn’t a political or ethical choice by yours truly, rather a situation caused by the MLB licensing deal OOTP has, which doesn’t allow the game to use the “Indians” moniker and forces one to continually change it each and every season. Life’s too short for that in my book.
No franchise moves or changes to the league structure for the 1902 season.
OFFSEASON / PRESEASON
Just the one MLE-modified NeLer joins us in 1902, namely legendary pitcher (and, later, godfather of the Negro Leagues) Andrew “Rube” Foster. SABR BIO
Rube is taken 10th overall by the Tigers in the inaugural Rookie Draft.
MLBers of note hopping aboard include Addie Joss (Blues), Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers (Cubs), Ed Walsh (White Sox) and Carl Lundgren (Senators).
My Brooklyn club signs Sol White thru 1904.
Other interesting moves include Clark Griffith to the Red Sox, Jack Harper to the White Sox, Ed Delahanty to the Yankees, Jessie Burkett to the Pirates, Hughie Jennings to the Browns, Nixey Callahan and George Davis to the Cardinals and Grant “Home Run” Johnson to the Senators.
OPENING DAY PREVIEW
The top-ranked position player is Yankees OF Ed Delahanty.
The top-ranked pitcher is Rube Waddell of the Pirates.
The top-rated prospect is age-20 P Ed Walsh of the White Sox.
BNN picks the 104-50 Red Sox and 103-51 Pirates to do it easily and setup a WS rematch.
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
04/15: Cleveland’s Bill Bradley becomes the first player in this timeline to hit 3 HR in a single game, achieving the feat while also driving in 7 runs against the Browns.
04/22: The Athletics drop their first game since Opening Day, bookending a 12-game win streak.
06/24: Roy Patterson of the White Sox doesn’t give up an earned run over 17 innings and finally gets the decision in a 5-4 win over the Red Sox.
07/06: After winning his first 18 decisions of the year, A’s pitcher “Strawberry” Bill Bernhard finally registers a loss.
07/09: The NL defeats the AL 8-3 in the All-Star Game, with NeLer Regino Garcia of the Cubs named MVP.
08/02: Roy Paterson of the White Sox no-hits the Tigers in a 1-0 win.
08/28: Roy does it again to the same opposition a few weeks later.
08/29: The Yankees score 10 in the top 9th to nick one from the Athletics 17-15.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
It stays close all the way but the Yankees eventually assert their superiority and go on to win their maiden AL pennant by a game from a persistent Cleveland unit.
The Pirates are in control pretty much throughout and put the race beyond doubt with a long win streak right at the end of August before clinching in early September with a 2-1 win against us in Brooklyn.
The dominant individual performances continue as Cleveland’s Bill Bradley misses the hitting Triple Crown by 7 average points and teammate Addie Joss also finishes on the podium across the three pitching TC stat cats.
Even missing the final few weeks with injury, Piano Legs Hickman only comes up short of the TC by 16 RBI.
Not much to report from the NeL ranks again, although Harry Buckner compiles a total of 7 WAR: 4.1 with his hitting and 2.9 pitching.
FINAL MLB STANDINGS
AL STAT LEADERS
NL STAT LEADERS
PLAYOFFS
The second World Series begins with an epic see-sawing game the Pirates eventually win 10-9 despite 5 miscues in the field and ends at the same ground a week later with Pittsburgh the new Champions, having prevailed in six games.
Tommy Leach is named the series’ Most Valuable Player.
1902 RECAP
MVPs to Bill Bradley (unanimous, and rightly so for his 10+ WAR campaign that saw him slash 380/449/705 with 28 triples, 31 homers and 161 ribbies) in the AL and Honus Wagner in the NL.
CYAs to Iron Joe McGinnity in the AL and Rube Waddell (unanimous) it in the NL.
The first RoYs go to Cleveland’s Addie Joss in the AL and Joe Tinker of the Cubs in the NL.
Reliever awards go to Cleveland’s Charlie Shields and Win Mercer of the Phillies.
Among the NeL fraternity, Rube Foster wins the AL Soft Glove @ P, Grant Johnson the same at SS, Harry Buckner the AL Hot Stick @ P and Regino Garcia the same @ C across in the NL.
NeL-obsessed member from Sydney, Australia who spends an inordinate amount of my free time running simulations of various natures on Out of the Park Baseball.
Great recap!
Thanks Andy, these early years will hopefully set the table for when the real action starts a bit further down the track.