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 1909 season, or actually until 1920, when four more teams are slated to join the league and some further realignments made.
OFFSEASON / PRESEASON
We have a whopping 10 modded NeLers entering the league this year:
- 1B Bill Pettus (24); Black Sox
- P Charles Dougherty (29); Black Sox
- OF Spottswood Poles (21); Grays SABR BIO
- SS Ashes Jackson (25); Grays
- 1B Ben Taylor (20); ABCs SABR BIO
- C Doc Wiley (22); ABCs SABR BIO
- SS Pelayo Chacon (20); Monarchs
- P Bill Lindsay (27); Monarchs
- 1B William Tenny (25); Browns
- P Arthur Gilliard (21); Reds
William Tenny and Arthur Gilliard enter the league via the Rookie Draft, taken 25th and 27th respectively.
We currently have 37 active modded NeLers.
Notable 1909 rookies include Ray Collins (Red Sox); Red Faber (White Sox); Stan Coveleski (Buckeyes); George Burns and Jeff Tesreau (Giants); Max Carey (Pirates); and Baby Doll Jacobson (Browns).
Pitcher Fred Anderson is taken first overall in this year’s Draft by the ABCs.
Hy Myers is the pick of the Dodgers’ historical rookies for 1909, and we take Tommy Griffith in R1 of the Draft. We add pitchers Rube Vickers and Doc Scanlan via trades and sign another, Irvin “Kaiser” Wilhelm, as a FA.
Notable offseason moves include Vic Willis (Braves); Harry Davis and Al Bridwell (Cubs); Freddy Parent (Reds); Gavvy Cravath (Buckeyes); Howie Camnitz (Tigers); George Stovall and Walter Ball (ABCs); Orvie Overall (Yankees); Pete Hill (Giants); and Buck Herzog (Cardinals).
OPENING DAY PREVIEW
The top-ranked position player is Pirates SS Honus Wagner.
The top-ranked pitcher is Charles Bender of the Athletics.
The top-rated prospect is age-19 3B Joe Jackson of the Buckeyes.
The top-ranked farm system belongs to the Buckeyes.
BNN sees the races looking like this:
- AL East: 116-46 Athletics 13 clear of the Red Sox, with the 75-87 Black Sox in the cellar.
- AL Central: 94-68 White Sox 17 clear of the Browns, with the 55-107 Buckeyes in the cellar.
- NL East: 92-70 Braves 11 clear of the Giants, with the 70-92 Grays in the cellar.
- NL Central: 110-52 Pirates 12 clear of the Cubs, with the 56-106 ABCs in the cellar.
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
04/18: A pair of crazy games on the same day, with Detroit scoring 8 in the 20th to finally break a deadlock with the Monarchs, winning it 14-6, while the Athletics monster the Yankees 22-1.
05/30: Tom Hughes of the Cubs 1-hits the Cards in an 8-0 cakewalk.
06/02: Red Ames hurls a 1-hitter for the Jints against the Phillies.
06/12: ABCs rookie Frank Ludes, who never made it above AA IRL, has a career day at the plate going 5-for-6 with 2 RBI against Cincy.
06/16: The Tigers and Monarchs somehow contrive to outdo their earlier marathon, needing 26 innings to be separated in this game, with Detroit again emerging victorious.
07/01: The Red Sox win 10 straight.
07/02: Larry Doyle has a 3-HR game for the Giants against the Braves, and he hits for the cycle against Indy early the following month.
07/26: Cy Seymour has his consecutive games hitting streak ended at 37—just one short of Turkey Mike Donlin’s MLB record.
07/30: The first-placed Cubs acquire Jack Pfiester from Detroit.
08/14: Boston’s Tris Speaker (v the Sens), and Mike Donlin of the Yankees (v Cleveland) also hit for the cycle.
09/09: Charles Bender twirls the season’s first no-hitter, for the A’s against the Browns, then Smoky Joe Wood follows suit less than a week later for the Red Sox against the Senators.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
A much more even-looking playoff bunch this time around, with each of the four a legitimate chance for the title.
AL
The Athletics lead from the front throughout without every fully being able to shake the Red Sox, who are still within reach entering September and ride a 28-7 run from August 22 thru the end of September to join them at 110-49 with the final 3-game series to go.
The BoSox have a 1-game edge entering the final day but can’t close it out, losing 5-2 at home to Washington as the A’s force a ‘breaker with a clutch 9-5 win at home against the Yanks.
112 Wins each and someone’s going home empty-handed—Philly, as it turns out after a truly epic tussle worthy of the occasion, which the Sox take 4-3 after trailing entering the 8th.
No such dramas in the AL Central this season, as the Buckeyes finish second yet again—albeit by a whopping margin to the White Sox, who’ll be making their first playoff appearance in this timeline.
NL
The Giants take the NL East lead around the midpoint of the season and are never troubled from there.
The Cubs also do it easily, setting up the tantalising prospect of an all-ChiTown World Series a la 1906 IRL. As an added omen for this eventuality, they clinch on the same day as the White Sox.
New single-season marks set: Nap Lajoie 74 2B; Charles Earle 187 K; Roy Castleton 10 SV; Mordecai Brown 0.91 WHIP.
Great to see what some of these “Deadball Era” guys can do through this period with a bit of juice in the ball, with Tris Speaker (31) and Ty Cobb (28) leading the way in HR this season.
My Dodgers aren’t even remotely a factor again this season, not once being above .500 all year, although we do hold out some chance of finishing with a winning record before a disappointing 4-8 end to the season puts paid to that.
Pop Lloyd hits safely in 32 straight.
Despite all those whiffs, Charles Earle still manages a fine season and is second only to Pete Hill in WAR among the position players this year. He, Jules Thomas and Bill Pettus all reach or exceed the 20 HR mark.
Jose Mendez has a monster 12 rWAR year to lead the pitchers by some margin in that stat cat, while Johnny Taylor and Joe Williams have the most Wins with 19.
Jose Munoz goes 14-23 to sit at 74-155 lifetime.
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
Bullpen problems cruel the Giants as the Cubs advance in five but the White Sox leave ‘em hanging, knocked out by the BoSox in five as well.
That’s the third pennant each for the two victors, with Boston having won it all in 1901 and 1903 and Chicago the 1905 Champions.
The Sox blow them out 11-0 the opening game with Tris Speaker driving in 5 and Smoky Joe Wood hurling a 5-hitter, but the Cubs return serve the next day with a cruisy 9-1 behind Long Tom Hughes.
Two wins in Chicago including an absolute classic 10-8 Game 4 win in 11 give Boston the upper hand and it takes a walkoff 3-run homer from Hack Engle in Game 5 to avoid it ending there and then, sending the series back to Boston.
That seems to rattle the Sox, who drop Game 6 to necessitate a decider and the Royal Rooters go home disappointed as the Cubs pull it out of the fire with another win by 5 to 2.
Wildfire Schulte wins the series MVP award.
1909 RECAP
Tris Speaker and Red Murray win their first MVPs, with Joe Wood also notching a maiden CYA in the Al. Mordecai Brown wins his third NL CYA, unanimously.
Three from three for the BoSox as Harry Hooper takes the AL RoY, with Pittsburgh’s Dots Miller winning in the NL.
Boston misses the major award sweep, however, as Baltimore’s Tom Tuckey wins the relief award along with Cincy’s Roy Castleton.
A few big names among the retirees, including George Davis, Jimmy Williams, Al Orth and Jack Chesbro. Of them, George is the main HoF hope, one would think.
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.
Mordecai Brown – 3 Cy Young Awards – one of my favorites! He epitomizes the phrase “if life gives you lemons, make lemonade”!