For those of you embarking this trolley along the route, the premise of the exercise can be found HERE.
OVERVIEW
No franchise moves or changes to the league structure for the 1912 season.
OFFSEASON / PRESEASON
Three new modded NeLers enter the league in 1912, bringing the active total to 52:
- P Ad Langford (30); Black Sox
- OF Cristobal Torriente (18); ABCs SABR BIO
- P Jose Acosta (21); Monarchs
Notable 1912 rookies include Dutch Leonard (Red Sox); Swede Risberg, Reb Russell, and Lefty Williams (White Sox); Cy Williams (Cubs); Edd Roush (Reds); Braggo Roth (Buckeyes); Jesse Barnes (Giants); Wally Schang and Joe Bush (Athletics); Milt Stock and Eppa Rixey (Phillies); and Sam Rice (Senators).
The Browns get a nice one when they take Dazzy Vance first overall in this year’s Draft. Dave Bancroft (4th to the ABCs), and Herb Pennock (6th to the Black Sox) are also fine pickups.
My Dodgers have a bunch of guys walk, and trade a few more away for pitcher Earl Yingling. We also acquire Ollie O’Mara, modded pitcher Charles Dougherty, and Cliff Curtis over the break.
Interesting offseason moves include George Mullin (Black Sox); Carlos Moran and Mike Mowrey (White Sox); Lefty Leifield (Reds); Walter Ball and Heinie Wagner (Grays); Frank LaPorte and Nap Lajoie (Monarchs); Mike Mitchell and Grant Johnson (Yankees); Red Ames (Phillies); Dode Paskert (Cardinals).
OPENING DAY PREVIEW
The top-ranked position player is Red Sox outfielder Tris Speaker.
The top-ranked pitcher is Joe Wood, also of the Red Sox.
The top-rated prospect is age-21 P Dazzy Vance of the Browns ahead of Indy OF Cristobal Torriente.
The top-ranked farm system belongs to the Reds.
BNN sees the races looking like this:
- AL East: 118-44 Red Sox 14 clear of the Athletics, with the 62-100 Black Sox in the cellar.
- AL Central: 85-77 Buckeyes 10 clear of the White Sox and Monarchs, with the 61-101 Browns in the cellar.
- NL East: 99-63 Giants 6 clear of the Dodgers, with the 73-89 Grays in the cellar.
- NL Central: 105-57 Pirates and Cubs 14 clear of the Cardinals, with the 46-116 Reds in the cellar.
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
04/11: Pittsburgh’s Babe Adams no-hits the Braves, and he repeats the feat against the Giants in August.
04/16: The Athletics win their first eight games of the season and go 17-3 for their first 20.
05/01: Fred Merkle of the Giants hits for the cycle and against Indy.
05/11: Pirates outfielder Owen Wilson puts three into the bleachers and drives in 5 behind Wilbur Cooper’s shutout performance against Indy.
05/22: Charles Bender gets his 200th MLB Win in this timeline, with both George Mullin and Doc White also hitting the same milestone on the same day toward the end of the season.
06/26: We get two cycles in the one game—with both Cincy’s George Perring and Gavvy Cravath of the Phils achieving the feat in a contest the Reds win 14-5—then Gavvy backs up with a 2-homer / 6-ribbie game the next day that also includes a walkoff slam.
07/24: Elbow trouble ends the season of Phillies pitcher Larry Cheney.
07/31: Some Deadline action as the White Sox send Eddie Cicotte to the A’s, and Baltimore send Jack Pfiester and Bunny Hearn to the Red Sox for (white) Rube Foster.
08/28: Mike Donlin’s 205th career home run moves him to the top of the all-time list for now.
09/12: Honus Wagner reaches the 3000-Hit milestone.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
Just the AL East to keep us intrigued over the final weeks, with the other three no-contests.
AL
The Red Sox grind their way to the top of the East in late July but the Athletics don’t back down and things remain tight heading in to the final weeks. The A’s surge again and try to make a run for it, only for the Sox to reel them in over the final week with 7 straight wins to sit just one back with three to play. Philly holds on, however, to take the division by 3 games.
The Buckeyes go a combined 39-14 in June and July to blow the Central division race wide open, eventually taking it by a whopping 28 games.
NL
The Giants are never troubled once they pass us in midseason and ultimately take back the NL East division crown by a handy margin.
Strong all year, the Cubs make sure of it in the Central with a 12-game win streak over late August and early September.
Despite a second-half fadeout after starting the season strongly, we have plenty to feel good about from the campaign, Zack Wheat’s starmaking turn most of all. Red Smith, Jake Daubert, and Casey Stengel also get a strong year under their belt, but we’ll be needing more from our pitching staff moving forward.
A few individual achievements of note:
- Fred Merkle’s tilt at Jake Stahl’s single-season HR record of a year ago suffers a setback with him just one shy, when he sustains a quad tear that sidelines him for three weeks. Fred Luderus of the Phillies is equal with him on 37 at the time he is hurt and ultimately makes the record his own, finishing the season with 43—three clear of Merkle’s 40
- Ty Cobb falters late to not only miss out on hitting .400 but also loses the AL hitting title to arch-rival Joe Jackson, with Sam Crawford repeating in the NL with a .376 mark
- Jake Stahl also loses his one-year hold on the RBI record after Larry Doyle and Frank Schulte both pip him by one with 167
- Harry Gaspar sets a new (post-1900) single-season mark with 12 Saves.
NeLER NOTES
Jules Thomas proves he’s human with a slightly quieter campaign this time around and he is just outside the position player group consisting of Pete Hill, John Henry Lloyd, and Hurley McNair who end the 1912 season with in excess of 5 WAR.
While Joe Williams leads a group who had quality seasons, there are also some rough campaigns among the pitching ranks, with Walter Ball (8-28), Rube Foster (8-24), Johnny Taylor (12-23) and our old mate Jose Munoz (9-21; 109-215 lifetime) each losing 20+.
We lose four players to retirement this time around – Pop Andrews, William Tenny, Regino Garcia and Ashes Jackson – the career stats of whom are each included below.
FINAL MLB STANDINGS
AL STAT LEADERS
NL STAT LEADERS
* Please note there are some discrepancies regarding players’ correct teams in these stat leaders screenshots from the early years due to them having been taken retrospectively.
PLAYOFFS
LCS
For all their recent divisional dominance, the Jints are yet to advance past this stage, losing three straight years to their opponents again here this year. Will the fourth time be the charm? Over in the AL, Cleveland is looking to atone for last year’s loss and the A’s are looking to become the first club with five titles to its name.
The ALCS opener is one of those games they’ll be talking about for years to come as the two clubs stand toe-to-toe and wail on each other before Cleveland emerges with a 9-6 road win. They give us another beauty the next day with the Buckeyes once again prevailing 5-3 in 13. As the series moves to Cleveland, the home side gets a messy 13-9 win as the pitchers’ struggles continue and finish off the Athletics tout suite with a 4-2 victory, booking the club’s first AL pennant and WS appearance in this timeline.
Always trying to one-up the “junior” circuit, G1 of the NLCS somehow manages to outshine the AL classic as we get numerous lead changes and four hours of baseball at its finest, with Johnny Evers, Heinie Zimmerman and Pete Hill each having 5-hit games and the host Cubs finally getting home 11-10 in 14. The Cubs labour to another win in G2 and go 3-0 ahead with a 9-7 win at the Polo Grounds. They look all set for the sweep before a bullpen implosion lets the Giants get on the board but finish them off with another unconvincing 10-8 win in an engrossing if highly incompetent series that extends the New Yorkers’ frustrations for another year at least.
WORLD SERIES
The series begins in Chicago with the Cubs’ bullpen again problematic, almost blowing a big lead before the hosts sneak home 7-6 and they double their lead the next day with a 7-5 victory.
It’s the same old song for Cleveland fans as their boys fall further behind with the Cubs posting a 6-spot in the top 11th to prevail 9-3 and then the sweep is completed with the disappointing Buckeyes simply not showing up here and taking a 5-2 loss.
Heinie Zimmerman takes home the MVP.
1912 RECAP
A number of second-time winners, with Tris Speaker’s AL MVP and both Walter Johnson’s and Babe Adams’ CYA wins adding to earlier triumphs. Heinie Zimmerman wins his maiden MVP in the NL.
After Ray Caldwell’s AL RoY win last year, Ray Schalk of the White Sox and the Phillies’ Ray Morgan keep the trend going, with Detroit’s Hooks Dauss and Pittsburgh’s Cack Henley taking home the reliever gongs.
Jack Powell and Hughie Jennings lead this year’s retirees, although I doubt any among them will get a spot in Cooperstown.
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 job Glenn!
Thanks Andy, it should really start heating up from this point as the NeL “Golden Age” begins.