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 1910 season.
OFFSEASON / PRESEASON
We have another seven modded NeLers entering the league, bringing the active total to 44:
OF Hurley McNair (21); Black Sox SABR BIO
C Louis Santop (21); Grays SABR BIO
2B Bingo DeMoss (20); Grays SABR BIO
P Sam Crawford (20); ABCs
P Frank Wickware (22); ABCs SABR BIO
1B Bill Pierce (20); Monarchs
P Pastor Pareda (27); Monarchs
Notable 1910 rookies include Buck Weaver (White Sox); Ray Chapman and Steve O’Neill (Buckeyes); Bobby Veach and Ossie Vitt (Tigers); Roger Peckinpaugh (Yankees); Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies); and Wally Gerber and Del Pratt (Browns).
Pitcher Hank Robinson is taken first overall in this year’s Draft by the Monarchs.
My Dodgers get a couple important historical rookies in Casey Stengel and Jeff Pfeffer, and we trade for pitchers Rube Dessau and Cy Barger.
Notable offseason moves include Tim Jordan (Black Sox); Addie Joss (Red Sox); Mike Donlin and Cy Morgan (Braves); Tom Hughes (White Sox); Lew Richie (Cubs); Rube Waddell (Reds); Rube (the NeL version) Foster (Tigers); Danny Hoffman (ABCs); Bill Hinchman, Ed Phelps, and Claude Rossman (Monarchs); Rube Kroh, Jack Powell, and Grant Johnson (Yankees); Nap Lajoie (Giants); Bugs Raymond (Pirates); Heinie Berger (Browns); and Mordecai Brown and Ira Thomas (Cardinals).
OPENING DAY PREVIEW
The top-ranked position player is Tigers outfielder Ty Cobb.
The top-ranked pitcher is Washington’s Walter Johnson.
The top-rated prospect is age-19 1B Bill Pierce of the Monarchs.
The top-ranked farm system belongs to we Dodgers.
BNN sees the races looking like this:
- AL East: 121-41 Red Sox 13 clear of the Athletics, with the 56-106 Black Sox in the cellar.
- AL Central: 90-72 White Sox 15 clear of the Buckeyes, with the 52-110 Tigers in the cellar.
- NL East: 100-62 Giants 8 clear of the Braves, with the 49-113 Phillies in the cellar.
- NL Central: 102-60 Cubs 9 clear of the Pirates, with the 67-95 ABCs in the cellar.
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
04/18: Bill Pettus picks up where his outstanding rookie season left off, clipping the Browns for the cycle.
04/22: 3 homers and 5 RBI from Nixie Callahan aren’t enough to get his Monarchs home in a 7-6 loss to the Browns.
05/06: Cleveland’s Ted Easterly collects the cycle against the Browns.
05/10: Clearly enjoying the change of scenery in his first season at the Polo Grounds, Nap Lajoie has started the campaign in scintillating fashion and, after hitting safely in 26 straight, his slash line reads an almost obscene 500 / 562 / 734.
05/16: Turkey Mike Donlin of the Braves clips Cincy for the cycle while driving in 7.
05/19: Red Sox rookie Duffy Lewis has 15 home runs and 51 RBI to his name through 40 games, putting him on pace for 61 and 207!
06/02: Solly Hofman has 6 hits in the Cubs’ 24-3 annihilation of Indy.
06/30: Bris Lord of the White Sox is another to hit for the cycle, doing so against the Black Sox.
07/28: George Gibson goes 6-for-6 in the Cubs’ 12-4 win at the Phils.
07/30: The Phillies send George Moriarty to the Pirates for Bill McKechnie and Carl Johnson.
08/04: After hitting safely in 31 straight games, Ty Cobb’s AVG sits at an almost incomprehensible .454.
08/06: Christy Mathewson earns his 200th career Win.
08/11: Cubs pitcher Hippo Vaughn will miss the best part of a full year after suffering a torn labrum.
08/23: First club to disembark the MLB trolley this season is the 47-79 Reds.
09/13: In a fitting exclamation point on one of the best pitching seasons I have ever seen, Walter Johnson no-hits the Monarchs in a 15-0 whitewash – he also goes 3-for-4 at the plate with a triple, a homer, and 4 RBI – to put him at 32-4 / 1.84 on the season.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
Four very clear-cut races this time around with the only point worth noting being the somewhat irregular situation in place for a good portion of the season before a late surge by the White Sox and a late collapse from the Black Sox, whereby all AL East teams are above .500 and all AL Central teams below.
Another interesting point, despite easily being the winningest club this season, the Red Sox – because of a very competitive Senators unit that ends up winning 104 – are the last of the four to clinch, and by some margin.
For the first time, one of the 1906 expansion clubs has a winning record with the Grays finishing 84-78. The Black Sox are the only one of the four to finish in the cellar.
Some outstanding individual performances, most notedly:
- Ty Cobb hits .436 and sets new season highs in Hits (262), SLG (.724), OPS (1.223) and TB (435) while racking up almost 14 WAR
- Nap Lajoie wins the NL batting title by hitting .420
- Walter Johnson wins the AL pitching Triple Crown, going 35-5 with an ERA of 1.79 and fanning 288, setting new season records in a bunch of categories including his 15+ WAR
While my Dodgers barely finish above .500 and are miles off the pace, we feel we have the core of a nice group starting to take shape—Jimmy Sheckard and John Hummer continue to excel and should still have a few good years left in them; Nap Rucker, Jake Daubert, Zack Wheat, and Hy Myers are already up at the parent club; and we hold high hopes for Casey Stengel and George Cutshaw, along with pitchers Pat Ragan, Jeff Pfeffer, Sherry Smith, and Frank Allen—all still to make their entrance.
NeLER NOTES
Jules Thomas confirms himself as one of the league’s brightest stars, slashing 388 / 418 / 627 with 29 dingers and 125 ribbies, good for more than 10 WAR. Pete Hill, Spot Poles, Bill Pettus, Louis Santop and Todd Allen all post seasons of 5 WAR or higher.
Jose Mendez and Joe Williams are again the pick of the pitchers, with Joe winning 28 games this year.
Jose Munoz goes 16-23 to sit at 90-178 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
Boston wins the battle of the Sox, beating Chicago in five to earn another shot at the title against the club that vanquished them last year, with the Cubs getting past the Giants in five as well.
In a mirror-image of a year ago, the Sox win the opener in a blowout, 14-4 and follow it up with another big win the next day to head to Fenway with their tails well and truly up.
Addie Joss keeps the momentum rolling along as the Sox extend their lead with a 5-2 win in Game 3 and, in one of the most lopsided series so far in this timeline, apply the coup de grace with an 8-3 win to complete the easy sweep and earn their third title.
Tris Speaker is named MVP.
1910 RECAP
Ty Cobb earns his third MVP, Nap Lajoie his fourth, while Walter Johnson and poor old Hippo Vaughn each takes home a first CYA.
Red Sox outfielder Duffy Lewis takes the AL RoY and NeLer Louis Santop the NL award, both unanimously.
Another NeLer, Johnny Taylor, is named best AL reliver, with Cy Barger breaking our major award duck with the NL nod.
Some fascinating HoF debates among our departing crew for 1910. Did Addie Joss, Willie Keeler, Rube Waddell and Vic Willis do enough to earn a plaque? We shall see.
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.