This has to qualify for a 'believe it or don't': My 95 Wade Boggs (a lefty hitter) who in 302 previous ABs on the season, had a grand total of 1 HR. But in today's PM2 game he hit not only hit THREE HRS, all of them were hit off LEFTIES in Hilltop Park where the HR rating for RF is -3.

Believe it or don't!

Range Rovers Edition

I was looking at the career fielding stats of the 3 single-season progs I'm in, and noticed the following career leaders in plus plays:

Prog #1 (1980-2002): SS Ozzie Smith, 120 plus plays (31 minus)

Prog #2 (1961-1980): 3B Brooks Robinson, 201 plus plays (11 minus)

I thought those were impressive, until I came to:

Prog #3 (1901-1923): CF Max Carey, 303 plus plays (3 minus)

Consider also that

1) Carey's plus plays came in CF, harder to come by than in the corner OF positions
2) Carey has 47 additional plus plays (and 1 minus) in RF/LF, which bumps his totals to 350 plus plays (4 minus)
3) Carey has 5 (nearly full) seasons left, 3 of which are with A+ range

Believe It or Don't!

Is it true that plus plays are harder to come by in CF?  Why would that be the case?  I would have thought just the opposite, and a cursory check of the a few leagues I'm active in right now suggest that CFs get many more POs, and slightly more plus plays, than RFs or LFs.

As I understand it, it's harder in the sense that you need a higher real life range before you can even start accumulating plus plays in CF.  See this discussion from 2 years ago, wherein I posted about a B- range outfielder of mine racking up a large number of plus plays in RF:

www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx

Posted by crazystengel on 9/11/2013 1:36:00 PM (view original):
Youmans can't lose!  In the pm game he took the mound in the 6th in long relief, with his team trailing 6-0.  He closed out the game, and got the win -- his 21st straight -- thanks to a 7-run explosion in the bottom of the 9th! 



Believe It or Don't!

Youmans finished the season 26-1, and on a 25-game win streak:



The rest of the team went 61-74 -- we snuck into the playoffs as the wild card at 87-75.

Believe It or Don't!

Playoff update on my two recent 26-1 pitchers:

1. Gooden just pitched a shutout in the PM2 game to win us the World Series in 0soup4u's Best 90M Team Ever league.  Overall in the post-season he went 5-1 with a 3.21 ERA.

2. Youmans?  Look away; it's hideous.  0-1 in two starts with a 7.20 ERA, and the Cinderella team was transformed into a pumpkin in 4 short games.

Believe It or Don't!

Another Installment of "Are Forum Jinxes Real?"

Well, are they?  Take a knee, boys, and listen to this tale of woe.  In my 2002 prog, I noticed another owner's Trot Nixon doing extremely well -- after 47 games Nixon was hitting .322/.394/.723 with 19 HR and 49 RBI.  I mentioned in the league's message forum that Nixon, who in real life hit.256/.338/./470 with 24 HR, was on pace for 65 HR and 169 RBI.  

Trot's owner did not appreciate me calling attention to his hot player. I thought he was being superstitious and silly; I was wrong, so very wrong.  For as soon as the ink on my forum post dried, poor Trot fell off the edge of the world. In his next 38 games he had 0 HR and a paltry 13 RBI!

Believe It or Don't!

In an OL I'm in, I drafted a backup outfielder by the name of Tony Campana (2012) a speedy guy with good SB potential for my team at Dodger Stadium for less than $1.0 mil.  Well in only 110 PAs (halfway through the season), Mr. Compana has not only hit at a respectable level, but he's also stolen 30 bases and has only been caught once!!! Not bad for less than $1.0 mil!!!

 Believe It or Don't!!!

Geez, some things never change. Youmans is still being used...I think it's been 3 yrs since I checked in here. Was surprised to see unused teams in my draft center. Oh boy, I can build more mediocre teams...Cards llit up Burnett in game 1...Our Randy Karracker on ESPN 101 called it, said we'd light him up for 7 in 5IP or less!

Can I use the LR strategy? Does Rube Waddell still chase trains and fire engines? Did they really freeze Teddy Ballgame's noggin? Is JosecanUC still around? Blue911? Did he OD on crack with Marion Barry? Where's JohnGPF? Does SFord still outpitch just about anyone here?

Doctor!  Great to see you back!  I still want to come out to SL for a Blues-Sharks game, but this season the only times we're in town I can't make it.  Next season, I hope!

Believe it or don't? I've got one...

I once had Blackjack McDowell start a TOC Game 7 final, he took a no-hitter into the 10th, got a no decision, we won in 11....Believe it or don't....

I have 1918 Jake Northrop in an Open League that's 146 games in.  In 46.2 innings he's allowed 1 earned run for an ERA of 0.19.  He won't set the Performance History record, because another 18 Northrop once allowed 1 earned run in 61 innings for a 0.15 ERA (mine won't pass 61 innings -- no need to overuse him since I've got a playoff spot almost clinched).  

Still.  Can my Northrop at least get an asterisk mention?  You see, the record-setting Northrop had Safeco as his home park -- while mine was in Coors!

Believe It or Don't!

The OL mentioned in the previous post just wrapped up its regular season.  One team was spectacularly represented on the RBI leader board:

Runs Batted In
Name	Team	RBI
1977 Ted Simmons	Monkeys dressed like	159
1990 Eddie Murray	Monkeys dressed like	158
1986 Tim Raines	Monkeys dressed like	156
2006 Carlos Guillen	Monkeys dressed like	153
1895 George Davis	Monkeys dressed like	149
1961 George Altman	White & Pfiester	146
1961 Roger Maris	Big Apple Bombers	141
2006 Ryan Howard	Oldie Roidies III	139
1927 Cy Williams	Pray for Rain	137
1972 Billy Williams	BIRDZRED	132

Tragically, Monkeys dressed like cowboys riding dogs, despite complementing its prodigious sluggers with the classic three-headed OL rotation of Joss/Summers/Morgan, won only 86 games and failed to make the playoffs.

Believe It or Don't!

My team in that league clinched a wild card with 5 games left, so I let my crappy, very tired rookie pitcher start every game in the final series in order to rest my staff.  I expected him to get injured every game, but he hung in there and took his beatings like Randall "Tex" Cobb in his prime:

Game 1: 38%, 9 innings, 32 runs (28 earned), 225 pitches
Game 2: 34%, 9 innings, 32 runs (all earned), 219 pitches
Game 3: 29%, 9 innings, 29 runs (all earned), 227 pitches
Game 4: 24%, 6.2 innings, 40 runs (all earned), 255 pitches

Note that in the final game he did not leave due to injury, but because he hit the 255 pitch max.

Believe It or Don't!

Best start to a season for a pitcher?  Here's a decent candidate: 1981 Steve McCatty from a single-season prog (No Whining Progressive, owner is mountainjack):