SoM NNL replay: drama ends the first series

Game 3 CHI@KC: Giants bring brooms, fail in the last innings

Unfazed by the injuries that wrecked their pitching staff in the morning, the Giants bring the brooms to game 2 of the first doubleheader of the season.

The Giants big inning is the sixth: with his second extra base hit of the game after a solo homer to start the fourth, Turkey Stearnes hits a double, advances to third on a bunt single from the speedy Wright and scores on a fielder's choice groundball from McNair. McNair gets Matlock into another first-and-third situation by legging it from first to third on a lazy line drive floater from Serrell to centerfield, and scores on yet another fielder's choice grounder, this time from Ray Dandridge.
Overall, the top of the Giants order has a field day, led by Stearnes' fouf-for-four with a double and a homer. However, the bottom half of the order contributes nothing at all, in contrast to the home team's who break out big towards the end of the game.
The bottom of the seventh could have become the Monarchs big inning: Santop reaches on a single. Then Malarcher lays down an unexpected bunt, Perkins tries to get the lead runner but fails to make the throw in time for the slow Giants catcher and Matlock advances both runners with another sacrifice bunt. However, Johnson just manages a shallow flyball to right, and Benjamin strikes out to end the inning with two runners stranded on base.
However, the Monarchs don't give up and turn the eighth into a big breakout inning, sending twelve(!) Batters to the plate and scoring six to put the first game into the win column of the new season. To begin the inning, Rube Foster looks visibly exhausted, walking one and giving up four consecutive singles to the bottom of the Monarchs' order. Eventually, the Giants turn to their ace, but again some fatigue is definitely showing as Smokey Joe Williams allows the first batter he faces to reach on an error, and then concedes two more hits and a walk to take the loss in a game the Giants already seemed to have safely in hand.

7/2/16 Chicago American Giants at Kansas City Monarchs

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	W: L Matlock L: S Williams SV: H Salmon
Chicago American Giants	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	5	9	1
Kansas City Monarchs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	x	6	11	1

Chicago American Giants Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO T Stearnes  4 2 4 1 0 0 W Wright  4 1 1 0 0 0 H McNair  4 2 2 2 0 1 B Serrell  4 0 1 1 0 0 R Dandridge  4 0 1 1 0 0 B Perkins  4 0 0 0 0 1 B Petway  4 0 0 0 0 0 J Mendez  4 0 0 0 0 0 R Foster  3 0 0 0 0 0 S Williams  0 0 0 0 0 0 C White  1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 36 5 9 5 0 2 E- S Williams (1) 2B- T Stearnes (1) 3B- H McNair (1) HR- T Stearnes (1) Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR R Foster  7.1 9 5 3 5 3 0 S Williams  0.2 2 1 0 1 0 0 Kansas City Monarchs Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO O Johnson  3 0 1 1 1 1 J Benjamin  5 0 1 0 0 1 A Oms  5 0 1 1 0 0 J Wilson  1 1 1 0 4 0 D Moore  4 1 1 0 1 0 R Cannady  4 1 2 1 0 0 L Santop  4 1 2 0 0 1 D Malarcher  3 1 1 2 0 0 L Matlock  2 0 1 0 0 0 F Redus  1 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 32 6 11 5 6 3 E- D Malarcher (1) Sac- O Johnson (1), D Malarcher (1), L Matlock (1) SB- J Wilson (1) PK- J Wilson (1) Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR L Matlock  8.0 9 5 5 0 2 1 H Salmon  1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0

SoM NNL replay: a tale of errors and injuries

Game 2 CHI@KC

For the first few innings there is a classic pitchers duel, with just a few hits, baserunners and steals scattered evenly.
Batting in the fifth, Chicago starting pitcher Redding doesn't look good running out a flyball. He struggles through the bottom of the fifth, but aggravates the injury and has to leave the game at the end of the fifth. Dihigo takes over on the mound.
On the first pitch from Dihigo, Frog Redus sends a mile high popup into the no man's territory between third base and left field. Hurley McNair badly misplays the ball for a three base error, and Jud Wilson uses the opportunity to bring in the first run of the series for the home team. However, Mc Nair would redeem himself later in the bottom of the ninth when he robbed Frog Redus of a walk off homerun by leaping up and nearly throwing his glove into the ball's path.
In the eighth inning, the Chicago injury woes continue, as Dihigo goes down [the second 6-12 roll in the game, what the...??]. However, behind Andy Cooper as third pitcher of the day, the Giants continue to battle. 
The Monarchs bring in Johnson as pinch hitter for their starter Big Bill Foster, but the gamble doesn't pay off: Johnson does reach on another Giants error, but is taken out in an inning ending double play. In response, against Salmon as new Monarchs pitcher, Wild Bill Wright reaches on one of two Monarchs errors and goes on to score on an RBI single from Chaney White who came in as pinch hitter for Dihigo, sending the game to extra innings.
In the top of the tenth, Cooper allows two hits, a walk and what becomes the game ending run because the Monarchs offense goes down 1-2-3 in the last of the tenth.
Both Dihigo and Redding are expected to miss about a week, so the pitching situation for the Giants is getting really tricky.

Box score

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E	W: A Cooper L: H Salmon
Chicago American Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	6	2
Kansas City Monarchs	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	2

Chicago American Giants Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO T Stearnes  5 0 1 1 0 1 W Wright  5 1 2 0 0 0 H McNair  4 0 0 0 0 0 M Dihigo  3 0 0 0 0 1 B Serrel  4 0 0 0 0 2 R Dandridge  4 1 1 0 0 0 B Petway  4 0 1 0 0 0 J Mendez  3 0 0 0 1 0 D Redding  2 0 0 0 0 1 B Perkins  2 0 0 0 0 0 C White  1 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 37 2 6 2 1 5 E- H McNair (1), R Dandridge (1) SB- W Wright (1), C White (1) CS- B Petway (1) Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR D Redding  5.0 3 0 0 2 2 0 M Dihigo  3.0 1 1 0 0 0 0 A Cooper (W)  2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Kansas City Monarchs Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO J Benjamin  4 0 0 0 0 0 A Oms  3 0 1 0 1 0 F Redus  3 1 0 0 1 0 J Wilson  4 0 1 1 0 0 D Moore  4 0 1 0 0 0 R Cannady  4 0 1 0 0 0 L Santop  4 0 1 0 0 0 D Malarcher  4 0 0 0 0 1 B Foster  2 0 0 0 0 1 O Johnson  1 0 0 0 0 0 D Lundy  1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 34 1 5 1 2 2 E- D Moore (1), R Cannady (1) SB- D Moore (1), R Cannady (1) CS- A Oms (1) Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR B Foster  8.0 3 0 0 0 4 0 H Salmon (L)  2.0 3 2 1 1 1 0

SoM Negro League draft results: ECL

Following up from the NNL rosters coming out of the draft, here are the three teams for my replay Eastern Colored League.

Several teams here did not get the double duty pitcher/fielders that some NNL teams got, so they either have to go with just one substitute fielder (and one catcher), or have a replacement infielder and outfielder but a total of five pitchers only. In addition, some of the teams ended up with five pitchers with relatively low season IP totals, so they may need to look for help via trades or the "free agents" left over from the draft.

I need to figure out whether I want to add a simple economic model (maybe the fans / attendance rules from Bloodbowl) to give teams a chance to pay for free agents...

By the way, the "Pos" column indicates starting rotation for pitchers, starting (and next to that, alternative) fielding positions for batters.

5. Hilldale Daisies

Six man pitching staff, but the best guy only has 12 starts for a 154 game season so may turn out to be more like a reliever:

Pitcher	Pos		Spl	Games
Slim Jones	1			2
Ray Brown	2			5
Leon Day	3			3
Eggie Hensley	4			4
Sam Streeter	5			3
Rube Currie	6			3

The price for the additional pitcher is that the lineup only has a single substitute outfielder and noone to fill gaps in the infield:

Position Player	Pos
Charles Blackwell	9	78
Pete Hill	8	79-3
Cristobal Torriente	7	89
Willie Wells	6
Superman Pennington	3	9-48
Biz Mackey	2	---456
Candy Jim Taylor	5	4
Bingo DeMoss	4
Larry Brown	2
Jelly Gardner	9	8

6. New York Lincoln Giants

One of the teams that ended up with only five pitchers, one of which only gets a bit nmore than 2-3 starts when you scale down the 154 game seasons tats from the Strat-o-Matic card to our 33 game seasons.

Pitcher	Pos			Games
Max Manning	1			5
John Donaldson	2			3
Bill Byrd	3			4
William Bell	4			4
Bill Holland	5			4

In exchange they do get bench players for catcher, infield and outfield and, if I remember, a pretty hard hitting batting lineup.
If they ever get in trouble with pitching, e.g. due to injuries, they could try to move one of their catchers. For the time being I think it's nice to have one strong hitter (Palm) for situations when the team needs to score, and a 1-level defender (Duncan) for close games. But if push comes to chove, they could move one of the two and use Beckwith as an emergency stopgap.

Position Player	Pos
Oscar Charleston	8	3
John Beckwith	5	3-6-2
Tubby Scales	4	5-6
Mule Suttles	3	7
Rap Dixon	9	8-9
Sam Bankhead	6	78-4
Spoony Palm	2
Red Parnell	7	89
Frank Duncan	2
John Donaldson	8
Newt Joseph	5	4-9

7. Homestead Grays

Another team with only five pitchers who are all around 15-22 games in a 154 game season:

Pitcher	Pos		Spl	G
Hilton Smith	1			4
Frank Wickware	2			3
Chet Brewer	3			4
Tom Williams	4			4
Phil Cockrell	5			3

And again they have at least one substitute for infield, outfield and catcher. In fact, they may have enough flexibility for 3rd base and short stop that they could try to move Radcliff for another pitcher if the need arises.

Position Player	Pos
Pop Loyd	6	-4-3
Chino Smith	9	-4
Frank Carr	3	-9-58
Josh Gibson	2	-389
Bernardo Baro	8	79-3
Vic Harris	7	89
Bill Monroe	5	46
Frank Warfield	4	56-8
T. J. Young	2
Neil Robinson	8	7--56
Alec Radcliff	5	-6

SOM Diary: NNL replay season opener

Season Opener CHI@KC: Satchel struggles, loses to Smokin' hot Smokey Joe Williams

Satchel Paige gets the honors of throwing the first real pitch of the NNL replay season in the season opener, with the Chicago American Giants visiting the Monarchs of Kansas City.

He also allows the first hits of the season right in the first half inning, and gives up the first run of the season to Wild Bill Wright who reached first on a single, advanced on a steal and scored on the RBI single from Hurley McNair.

In the top of the second, Smokey Joe Williams helps his own cause by batting home Ray Dandridge with a two out single. In the third, Dihigo continues the scoring off Satchel with a two out solo homer, but Satchel is getting through the season opening adrenalin rush and records all three outs of the inning by way of the K.

 

He does not allow any further runs and scatters only three more hits and a walk, but the damage is done. Despite allowing two base runners in the bottom of the last, Smokey Joe Williams gets a complete game, shut out win to start the season off nicely for the Chicago crew.

 

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	W: S Williams L: S Paige
Chicago American Giants	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	1
Kansas City Monarchs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0

Chicago American Giants Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO T Stearnes  4 0 0 0 0 1 W Wright  4 1 1 0 0 1 H McNair  3 0 2 1 1 1 M Dihigo  4 1 1 1 0 1 B Serrel  4 0 1 0 0 2 R Dandridge  4 1 2 0 0 0 B Petway  3 0 0 0 0 0 J Mendez  3 0 0 0 0 0 S Williams  3 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 32 3 8 3 1 6 E- J Mendez (1) HR- M Dihigo (1) Sac- B Petway (1) SB- W Wright (1), B Serrel (1) CS- H McNair (1), B Petway (1) Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR S Williams  9.0 7 0 0 1 7 0 Kansas City Monarchs Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO J Benjamin  4 0 1 0 0 3 A Oms  3 0 0 0 1 0 F Redus  4 0 1 0 0 0 J Wilson  4 0 1 0 0 0 D Moore  4 0 0 0 0 0 R Cannady  4 0 1 0 0 2 L Santop  4 0 2 0 0 0 D Malarcher  3 0 1 0 0 1 S Paige  1 0 0 0 0 0 O Johnson  1 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 32 0 7 0 1 7 2B- J Wilson (1) Sac- D Malarcher (1), S Paige (1) SB- J Benjamin (1)   Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR S Paige  8.0 8 3 3 1 5 1 H Salmon  1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0

SoM Negro League draft results: NNL

Regarding leagues, I decided to go with two three team leagues. I'll call them National Negro League (NNL) and Eastern Colored League (ECL) in reference to the three years 1927-29 where these two leagues' champions played a world series in real life.

I will use the six team, 33 games per team format with 9 intra-league and 5 inter-league games per opponent as described in option 2. of my earlier league format musings.

The selection of teams does not completely match real life, but does contain a few historical affiliations:

• The NNL has the Chicago American Giants, the Kansas City Monarchs and the St. Louis Stars
• The ECL has the Lincoln Giants (playing in the "Catholic Protectory" ballpark in the Bronx), the Hilldale Daisies and the Homestead Grays (starting in Pittsburgh, maybe adding some home games in Washington)

Here are the NNL teams (with starting lineups and fielding position assignments) that came out of the draft:

1. St. Louis Stars

I mostly drafted this team to have a strong batting lineup, so the starting rotation is probably not the most spectacular in the league.

Dave Brown

Bullet Joe Rogan

Ted Trent

Webster McDonald

Dizzy Dismukes

Double Duty Radcliffe

Headed by Cool Papa Bell, the defense gets some flexibility from the aptly named dual purpose pitcher/catcher Double Duty Radcliffe.

Cool Papa Bell	8
Bullet Joe Rogan	9
Willard Brown	7
Buck Leonard	3
Home Run Johnson	6
Quincy Trouppe	2
Judy Johnson	5
Newt Allen	6
Double Duty Radcliffe	2
Spot Poles	OF
Dewey Greacy	IF

2. Chicago American Giants

Two dual purpose pitchers-fielders (Dihigo and Mendez) give the lineup a lot of flexibility, but will also require some shuffling around in the defensive team when they pitch.

Smokey Joe Williams

Dick Redding

Rube Foster

Andy Cooper

Jose Mendez

Martin Dihigo

Although Dihigo was the club's pre-seeded player, I'm happy I also managed to land Rube Foster in his familiar environment without tweaking the draft too much.

The defensive team ended up with some imbalances: strong outfielders also batting nicely in front of the batting order, but weak defense in left field and 3rd, and weak offense on SS and 3rd. 
On the other hand, I have two premier defensive second basemen (both of which cannot play other positions). So I definitely drafted suboptimally here, and may have some incentive for trades (once I figure out whether and how to organize trades).

Turkey Stearnes	8
Wild Bill Wright	9
Hurley McNair	7
Martin Dihigo (6 when Mendez pitches)	3
Bonnie Serrell	4
Sammy T. Hughes	4
Ray Dandridge	5
Bruce Petway (3 when Dihigo or Mendez pitch)	2
Jose Mendez	6
Bill Perkins (2 when Mendez/Dihigo pitch)	2
Chaney White	OF
Jimmie Lyons (vs RHP in pitchers parks)	OF

3. Kansas City Monarchs

Very strong pitching staff, headed by Satchel Paige and including three lefties as 2-4 starters:

Satchel Paige

Big Bill Foster

Leroy Matlock

Nip Winters

Willie Powell

Harry Salmon

Defense has some imbalances, too: The only substitute catcher is a starting outfielder, and the batting lineup has two positions (left field and short stop) covered by two players, one of which is a better batter and the other a better defender. I think I'll play these as a kind of platoon, but not depending on handedness of the opposing pitcher, but rather depending on ballpark: I'll start the defenders in the large pitchers parks, and the batters in more hitter friendly ballparks (and maybe switch in Lundy when the Monarchs are ahead).

Jerry Benjamin	8
Alejandro Oms	9
Frog Redus (better def)	7
Osca Heavy Johnson (bat)	7
Jud Wilson	3
Dobie Moore (better bat)	6
Dick Lundy (better def.)	6
Rev Cannady	4
Louis Santop	2
Dave Malarcher	5

4. Undrafted (can be used as free agents for injury replacements etc. as the need arises)

OF	Jimmie Crutchfield
7-8	Fats Jenkins
5	Ghost Marcelle
4-6	Dick Seay
3	Buck O'Neil
3	Ben Taylor
RHP	Bill Drake
LHP	Verdell Mathis
RHP	Roosevelt Davis