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 1916 season.
OFFSEASON / PRESEASON
Six modded NeLers join the league in 1916, giving us 55 active:
- 1B George Carr (21); Monarchs SABR BIO
- P Bill Drake (20); ABCs
- C Heavy Johnston (20); Monarchs SABR BIO
- 3B Dave Malarcher (21); Black Sox SABR BIO
- SS Dobie Moore (20); Grays SABR BIO
- P Tom Williams (19); Grays SABR BIO
Notable 1916 rookies include Waite Hoyt (Yankees); Bill Terry (Giants); Whitey Witt (Athletics); Urban Shocker (Browns); and Bucky Harris (Senators).
The Browns take pitcher Jesse Petty first overall in this year’s Rookie Draft.
My Dodgers sign pitcher Rube Marquard thru 1924 and Pop Lloyd thru 1921, as well as trade for pitcher Phil Douglas and utility Jimmy Johnston.
The biggest offseason news sees Homestead trade Smoky Joe Williams to the Yankees.
Orchestrated moves: Tris Speaker to the Buckeyes.
Game-generated moves: include Willie Mitchell (Black Sox); Owen Wilson (Red Sox); Bob Bescher, Dode Paskert (Braves); Dick Hoblitzel, Alex McCarthy (White Sox); Jack Coombs (Reds); Jimmy Lavender (Tigers); Bob Harmon, Red Oldham (Grays); Bill Hinchman (ABCs); Steve Yerkes (Monarchs); Joe Williams, Pete Hill, Fred Toney (Yankees); Fritz Maisel, Al Demaree, Del Gainer (Giants); Tom Hughes (Phillies); Mike Mowrey (Pirates); Jack Barry, Patsy Gharrity (Browns).
The HoF adds Willie Keeler to its list of members on his second ballot.
OPENING DAY PREVIEW
The top-ranked position player is Athletics 2B Eddie Collins.
The top-ranked pitcher is Washington’s Walter Johnson.
The top-rated prospect is age-20 C Heavy Johnson of the Monarchs.
The top-ranked farm system belongs to the Pirates.
BNN sees the races looking like this:
- AL East: 109-53 Yankees 19 clear of the Athletics, with the 59-103 Black Sox in the cellar
- AL Central: 99-63 White Sox 11 clear of the Tigers, with the 62-100 Browns in the cellar
- NL East: 115-47 Dodgers 11 clear of the Phillies, with the 63-99 Grays in the cellar
- NL Central: 90-72 Pirates 11 clear of the Cubs, with the 69-93 Cardinals in the cellar
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
04/07: The Browns lose promising rookie Urban Shocker for the year to an RC tear.
04/24: Yankees pitcher Fred Toney no-hits the Browns—the league’s first no-no since 1912.
04/28: Phillies superstar Gavvy Cravath is knocked out for the season after rupturing his medial ligament.
04/30: Hal Chase has 5 hits including the cycle and 5 RBI in the Yanks’ 13-4 victory over the Browns, with Whitey Witt of the A’s, Turner Barber of the Cubs, rookie sensation Rajah Hornsby, and Detroit’s Bobby Veach also achieving the feat during this period.
06/09: My Dodgers trade Tom Johnson, Lew McCarty, and Bernardo Baro to KC for catcher Bill Pierce.
06/18: Monarchs pitcher Tom Johnson not only goes the distance for the win but belts a pair of homers including a grand salami to help his own cause in a 10-4 win at the Browns.
07/08: We get our second no-hitter of the season, courtesy of Cardinal Lee “Specs” Meadows.
08/09: Heavy Johnson belts 3 HR for the Monarchs against the Buckeyes, and he puts together a 6-hit game against the Browns the following week.
08/12: Cubs superstar Cy Williams collects the cycle against the Braves.
08/21: Horrid luck for the Tigers as they continue their search for a maiden title in this timeline, with superstar Ty Cobb ruled out for the remainder due to an elbow injury.
09/14: Cleveland’s Joe Jackson goes 6-for-6 and scores 4 runs against the Browns.
09/15: Another no-hitter, this time by Hooks Dauss for the Tigers against the Monarchs.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
AL
Despite the loss of Cobb, the Tigers are the club with the cushiest ride to the playoffs and first to clinch.
The enthralling season-long battle between the Yankees and Red Sox heats up as the New Yorkers put together a run of 9 wins in late August to give them a slight edge heading into the stretch drive. The Sox rally past them again in early September and, when the Yanks cannot respond, have themselves another title tilt.
NL
My Dodgers are never really challenged once we assume top spot in early August, although we don’t run away with the division either and a slow fade over the later stages means we don’t clinch until the final series of the regular season.
After being headed in midseason, the ABCs right their ship with a 17-11 August and, in a weak division this year, ultimately prevail by 8 with 89 wins.
George Sisler truly is gorgeous as he hits .400 on the dot, smacks 35 home runs and drives in a whopping 161 runs to take out the AL hitting Triple Crown.
NeLER NOTES
Another solid campaign in general from our NeL crew and the quality of incoming players only gets stronger from here.
Cristobal Torriente once again leads the hitters with 8 WAR, while veteran Charles Earle ties his career high in this stat cat.
The pitchers fare somewhat better on the whole than in recent years, with Dick Redding and Joe Williams the standouts. Nice to see John Donaldson bounce back a little, although he still manages to lose 20.
Bullet Rogan almost matches his 1915 heroics down at AAA again this year, posting a combined 18.2 WAR with 19 Wins and 31 HR.
All of our modded NeL fraternity will return for 1917.
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
Babe Ruth – who must be in the running for this year’s CYA after going 24-8 / 2.63 – continues his good form with a strong 7-1 win at Fenway in Game 1 but Harry Coveleski returns fir the next day as the Tigers win 2-1 to head home tied. They edge ahead with a 3-0 win on the back of a 3-hit gem by Hooks Dauss and extend their lead with another clinical 4-1 win behind Jimmy Lavender. They look the real deal, even with no Cobb, locking down the club’s first AL pennant in five with a 2-1 win in 11.
Our series with the ABCs starts with two at Ebbets and we start confidently with a 10-1 win behind Jeff Pfeffer, then back that up with a 5-3 win in G2. Indy gets on the board with a 5-2 win at home behind George Dumont and then we leave Caddy in a few batters too long the next day as they run over the top of us to walk it off 5-4. They keep the home trend going with a 5-1 win as our bats go ominously quiet but thankfully they come alive back in Brooky as we send the series to a big Game 7 decider with an 8-3 win. It’s not pretty but we advance for our second WS with a wild 11-8 win, with Jimmie Lyons named MVP.
WORLD SERIES
If their pitching is anywhere near as good as it was in the ALCS and our hitting as inconsistent as it was in the NLCS then this will be a short and ugly series for us.
In fact, it turns out quite the opposite.
We just get past them 2-1 in the opener as Jeff Pfeffer gives us another solid outing and Casey Stengel walks it off with a solo shot, then win again by the same scoreline the next day behind Leon Cadore.
As the series shifts to Detroit, our fine pitching continues as Rube Marquard delivers us a 3-1 win and Pat Ragan delivers us our maiden Championship with a 6-3 win the next day!
The Old Perfesser Casey Stengel is named MVP.
1916 RECAP
Ferdie Schupp pips Babe Ruth for the AL CYA, with Pete Alexander making it three straight over in the NL. Our talisman Zack Wheat earns his first MVP, with George Sisler rightfully a unanimous choice in the AL.
The modded brigade continue their RoY stranglehold, with Heavy and Dobie unanimous winners.
Jose Acosta wins his first relief award, as does Dodger Frank Allen.
A couple of absolute locks and almost certain first-ballot inductees in Nap Lajoie and Christy Mathewson, but I doubt any of their fellow 1916 retirees will be so accorded.
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.