Bits & Pieces

1981 Tigers Season Replay

The Detroit Tigers took 3 of 4 from the New York Yankees, like they did in real-life that series.

The first two games both went into extras with Jack Morris (Grade B-Y) and Milt Wilcox (Grade B-Z) each going 10 innings, while the Yankees also had a pair of 10-inning pitchers in Ron Guidry (Grade B-XZ) and Rudy May (Grade D-Z). The Tigers would prevail in both, winning 2-1 due to a Alan Trammell sac fly in the 12th of Game 1 & by the same score, 2-1, in Game 2 with a RBI single by Steve Kemp.

Morris only allowed 3 hits, 0 ER & 1 run, with 7 strikeouts and 3 walks, while Wilcox allowed only 2 hits & 1 ER, to go along with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Kevin Saucier logged 3 more saves to bring his season total to 18.


The Yankees won the 3rd game, but should have won the 4th game possibly, stranding 14 men on base, while the Tigers only needed 7 hits all game to pull off the 3-1 victory -- Thanks to RBI doubles by Al Cowens and Steve Kemp.

1916 Tigers Fall Short (Once Again to the Athletics)

The Detroit Tigers who were favored to win the A.L. West before the season, barely did, over the Chicago White Sox, while suffering two untimely injuries in Ty Cobb and Jack Barry. The Tigers would once again fall short to the eventual 1916 Back-to-Back World Champion Philadelphia Athletics, who defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in another all-Philly fall classic. The poor Phillies have now lost three consecutive World Series.

The Tigers didn't waste no time by making changes. Former owner Rocky McQueary sold the Tigers to Jacob Piasecki. I am not going to lie, I was pretty thrilled with this move, McQuery hounded and hounded me to trade Ty Cobb, but I stuck to my guns.

Cobb would reward me with his 5th career batting title (.353).

Last season was the first season that I stepped down from managing the Tigers, while transitioning to full-time General Manager. I signed the great John McGraw to take over the managing duties, who led the Tigers (83-57) to division title, winning by a game.

We made the most trades in one off-season that we can remember, it may be a new rebuilt lineup, but we still have the best rotation in baseball in Walter Johnson, Hugh Bedient, Claude Hendrix & Guy Morton.

• Traded RP-Babe Adams, RP-Dustin Mails & P-Alex Main to reacquire pitcher Carl Mays.

• Traded RF-Sherry Magee to the St.Louis Browns in exchange for RP-Bullet Joe Bush, catching prospect C-John W Peters, RP-Harry Harper & OF-Beals Becker.

• Traded C-Les Nunamaker straight-up to the St.Louis Cardinals in exchange for closer Eddie Cicotte; Cicotte pitched for my Tigers from 1905-to-midway 1910 & has developed into a closer.

• Traded 1B-Fred Merkle and C-Otto Miller to the New York Giants in exchange for 2B-Heinie Groh and catching prospect Muddy Ruel.

• Traded 2B-Jack Barry and 3B-Hans Lobert to the New York Yankees in exchange for 1B-Ossie Vitt, 3B-Tillie Shafer & 2B-Manuel Cueto.

• Traded LF-Greasy Neale, 1B/RF-High Pockets Kelly, LHP-Harry Harper & $3,000 to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for LF-Ken Williams (pictured above).

• Traded RP-Leon Cadore to the St.Louis Cardinals in exchange for C-Pinch Thomas and RP-Elmer Brown.

Leveling the Field: 1916 Tigers with High Expectations

Ty Cobb decked out in the 1916 Detroit Tigers home uniform.

It's been a little while since we have talked about the Detroit Tigers in my "Leveling the Field" project for Out of the Park Baseball 19.

The 1916 Detroit Tigers are coming off a 78-62 season in 1915, as the Detroit Tigers won the A.L. West, but would lose to the A.L. East & eventual World Champion Philadelphia Athletics, 4-1 in the 1915 American League Championship Series.

The Tigers made a few changes over the off-season...

• Traded pitcher Hippo Vaughn to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for RP-Harry Albes.

• Drafted (Dec 15th) & Signed LF-Greasy Neale, who will be on the 1916 opening day roster for the Tigers.

• Traded long-time starting pitcher Jack Quinn and prospect RP-Stan Baumgartner to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for starting pitcher Claude Hendrix. Quinn ranks 3rd in Wins (113), 4th in ERA (2.68) & 2nd in WAR (23.7) among all-time Tigers pitchers.

• Signed RP-Burt Keeley to a 1-year deal worth $1,900.
• Signed 3B-Jimmy Austin to a 1-year deal worth $1,800.

• Traded SS-Tom Downey to the Boston Braves in exchange for 3B-Walter Barbare.

• Traded OF-Jim Thorpe to the New York Giants for RP-Slow Joe Doyle.

• Traded (recently acquired) 3B-Walter Barbare to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for RP-Babe Adams and prospect RP-Oscar Harstad.

• Traded OF-Ted Cather to the Pittsburgh Pirates in for RP-Alex Main and RP-King Lear.

1916 OPENING DAY ROSTER 

What is Too Much?

People constantly look at everything as too much. 

Bryce Harper for example, when you look at 13 years separately, it comes off as too long. If you look at the overall total of the price tag, it appears to be too much... but when you look at the second-half of that contract, by then 2nd-tier stars will be making $25 million a year. That deal actually was great for both. People penalize players for jumping teams all the time, but then the same people penalize players for wanting to stay in one place, which was his #1 objective in the contract negotiations. I do wonder about his durability, but if they get even 10 years of that 13 from him, that would be great. It has already energized the city, it appears to be a marriage made in heaven (Harper-Philly) while it will only attract more starts to Philly, who now has the money to start acting like the big market team that it is.

As recent as the holidays, I would never have declared myself a fan of Harper... but since the contract, I have been in his corner for many reasons.

I get sick of the old-school baseball fans knocking a contract, just because they don't understand something simple like inflation. Yes, I do understand that baseball players make more money than pretty much any average human does on any given year, but that has always been the case dating back to even Ty Cobb. I know that we will have a billion-dollar baseball contract inside these next 10 years, that's a given!

So I can't even tell you how elated I was to watch this morning's highlights of Bryce's epic return to D.C. -- facing off against his ex-teammates. I was so glad to watch go 3-for-5 with HR, 2B & 3 RBI in that game...

The HR blast, the bat flip, which I don't have any problems with after those pathetic, thankless, DC fans booed in the manner that they did... Do they forget that he was a major (if not THE major) reason that they were winners in the first place? Boo your owner, who was afraid to commit to Harper. Harper wanted his new contract to keep him in one place for the remainder of his career, Washington had every opportunity to do this, much like Philadelphia, the L.A. Dodgers and whoever else did. He could have grabbed the $45 million-a-year contract the Dodgers offered, but he didn't.

This is the same pathetic fan base that should have embraced winning when they had the chance, I do think they will be winners with new stars on the rise in Juan Soto and Victor Robles...
But keep in mind that this is a fan base that knows nothing but losing for Washington Baseball history, as well as nothing but losing for its badly-offensively named football franchise and its silly-nicknamed basketball franchise. They are losers, and the fan base only echoed these notions by their actions.

Plus the Nats voicing on twitter, only opened up a nice response by Phillies above.

The Angels made sure that Mike Trout didn't go anywhere (go to Philly or the Yankees), by extending his contract. So there won't be no Andrew McCutchen-Trout-Harper 2020 Phillies outfield as some was projecting, due to Trout being a lifelong Phillies fan prior to becoming a big leaguer. He's the biggest star in the game, while there is only a small handful of players all-time that have had maybe a greater start to their career. Unlike Angels' previous contract disasters this one should be a win-win.

The Atlanta Braves won big time by extending Ronald Acuna, Jr. This deal was truly amazing for Acuna and the Braves, this was a no-brainer for both... while keeping a bona fide superstar for years to come right in one place. Plus the Braves' farm system echoes that of the early 90's... this team could be championship contender for years to come. The prospects that they STILL have coming up are so talented, it makes sense to tie down the future MVP.

Now the Braves landed a steal of a deal in extending Ozzie Albies on top of that, with many from the players union and many former big leaguers scratching their heads on why Albies settled for such a small amount (7 years, $35 million). Maybe Albies knows as much as I do that the Braves may be the next dynasty in the making. The team has its best farm system in 20-25 years, and will make a lot of noise, much like those 90's Braves with prospects such as Mike Soroka, Kyle Wright, Ian Anderson, Cristian Apache, and Austin Riley to go along with young studs Acuna, Albies, Dansby Swanson & veteran leaders such as Freddie Freeman, Brian McCann, Josh Donaldson & Julio Teheran.

Extensions might start becoming the new norm, while the crusty people will lose their heads when that first superstar gets a billion-dollar contract inside this next decade.

Big Landings for 1997

It's the 1997 off-season, and it started off with a bang when Ken Griffey, Jr signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates, on a 7-year deal worth $52.4 million. Griffey looks to help the Pirates rebound, who lost Barry Bonds to free agency last season when he opted out of his contract and landed with the division rival Montreal Expos.

The Pirates fell to 4th place with a 74-88 record last season, after two division titles in 1990 & 1991 and five consecutive 90+ win seasons from 1990-1994.

Other signings & trades...

• Ellis Burks resigns with the Chicago White Sox for 4 years, $27.6 million ($6.9 per year).
• Todd Hundley resigned with the New York Mets for 5 years, $29.14 million ($5.828 per year).
• Jeff Bagwell signs with the California Angels for 4 years, $28 million ($7.0 per year).

• Andres Galarraga leaves the Montreal Expos, where he spent 11 of his last 12 seasons, signing a 3-year deal worth $18.7 million.

• Tony Gwynn signs with the Baltimore Orioles for $14.1 million over 3 seasons. "Mr. Padre" joins his 4th team in this alternate reality, after reaching two World Series over three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, and one lone season in Detroit (1993).

• Charlie Leibrandt, age 40, signs 2-year deal with Yankees for $7.92 million ($3.96 per year).
• Jeff Fassero, the reigning N.L. Cy Young & N.L. MVP winner, signs 5-year deal worth $39.5 million ($7.9 million per year).

• Larry Walker returns to Canada, as Oakland trades him in a blockbuster deal for second baseman Roberto Alomar and SP Derek Lowe; Toronto recently acquired Lowe from Seattle in a deal barely two weeks prior.

• The computer lost its damn mind when it had Baltimore trade Cal Ripken, Jr to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for prospects LF Roberto Mendez and RP Jay Tessmer.

• The Detroit Tigers traded LF Gregg Jefferies to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for catcher Paul Lo Duca & RP-Bobby Ayala.

• The Boston Red Sox signed OF-Gary Sheffield to a 7-year deal worth $57.1 million.
• The Montreal Expos signed 3B-Robin Ventura to a 4-year, $29.9 million.

• The Baltimore Orioles traded OF-Dante Bichette to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for 1B-George Arias, 2B-Mark Bellhorn & minor league catcher Kirk Pierce.

• Baltimore acquired 2B Bret Boone via Rule Draft 5 from the Atlanta Braves (my Braves kind of goofed that one up).

• The Atlanta Braves signed CF-Steve Finley to a 4-year deal worth $20.8 million ($5.2 million per year). The Braves traded OF-Brian McRae the next day to the New York Yankees in exchange for OF-Ruben Rivera and minor league pitcher Matt Kinney.

Strike Ends, 1981 Tigers Start 2nd Half Hosting Jays

For my 1981 Tigers Season Replay, the 1981 Baseball Strike has just ended, while the Tigers begin the second-half of the 1981 MLB Season, hosting the Toronto Blue Jays for a three-game series.

The Tigers won the first-half A.L. East Division title with a 37-20 record.

I had to debate a little over which starting pitcher to start the 2nd half with, Sparky Anderson (in real life) went with Milt Wilcox, then Dan Schatzeder & Jack Morris for remainder of Toronto series. I don't have Schatzeder for my 1981 APBA set (I have the bare minimum APBA set). I did decide to go with Wilcox as well, then Petry & Rozema to finish the series, so it would set up Morris, Wilcox & Petry to kick off the next series against the New York Yankees. 

Wilcox is located in the 2nd slot of my regular season rotation. I thought about being greedy in getting Petry (Grade B-Y) more shots at wins, since he already has 11 wins in just 57 Tiger games.

Game 1 (Game #58)

The Detroit Tigers just couldn't get anything going on 5 hits against Jim Clancy (Grade D), while squandering two men on base in both the bottom-half of the 1st & 2nd innings. Clancy got comfortable, while striking out 7 of the last 11 batters he faced, to finish with a 9 strikeouts and a shutout.

Kirk Gibson, in particularly, struggled against Clancy by striking out three times, in four hitless at-bats.

John Mayberry's three-run home run during the top of the 5th, cemented the Jays' 5-0 victory.

Game 2 (Game #59)

The Tigers' lineup made up with the Tigers' faithful, by jumping out to a 1st inning, 3-0 lead, with Alan Trammell and Steve Kemp drawing walks, while Kirk Gibson added a RBI single & Lance Parrish added a two-run single.

Trammell and Kemp would both draw back-to-back walks again during the bottom of the 3rd, as they would score on a RBI single by Gibson, and Parrish's grounding into a double play. Gibson would end the day on 3-for-4 hitting, 2B, 2 RBI & a run. Kemp walked three times, while scoring on all three times he was on base.

Short day for the Jays' newly-acquired Juan Berenguer - 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 K & 6 BB.

Dan Petry won again! Petry now owns a 12-2 record with a 2.48 ERA through 16 starts this season. Petry allowed 5 hits, 3 walks & one earned run, while striking out 3 Jays in 7 innings of work.

Tigers beat Jays, 6-2

Game 3 (Game #60)

The Tigers scored 3 runs in the first 4 frames to make Tigers starting pitcher Dave Rozema (Grade D-Z) comfortable on the mound. Rozema's only run allowed came at the top of the ninth, with a solo home run to John Mayberry.

The Tigers' Lynn Jones (2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI) & Richie Hebner (2-for-3, RBI) were the Tigers' leaders at the plate that day.

Kevin Saucier would collect his 15th save to secure the Tigers' 3-1 victory.

Hefty Raises

The following players for my No Expansion - Out of the Park 19 project (featuring the Atlanta Braves) all got hefty raises with one-year deals through arbitration (November 1996)...

• CL - Mark Wohlers (1996 N.L. Fireman of the Year) - $1,725,500
• 3B- Chipper Jones - $4,000,000
• RP- Roberto Hernandez - $1,625,000
• 1B - Jason Giambi - $1,600,000
• SP - Alan Benes - $1,174,250
• OF- Johnny Damon (1996 N.L. Gold Glove) - $273,000
• OF - Ryan Klesko (1996 N.L. Home Run & RBI Leader) - $2,150,000
• C- Javy Lopez - $3,000,000

The Braves also didn't tender contracts to minor league OF-Bill Ashley & 2B-Mark Lemke.

We were also able to extend Chipper Jones to a 7-year deal worth $44.8 million.

The Braves signed 2B-Bret Boone ($500,000) and IF-Tony Graffanino ($350,000) to minor-league deals, which they both are most likely to make their salaries, since there is really no depth at second base at the moment.

Atlanta Finally Wins One!

For those that have been following this blog, you would know that I play simulations and roll dice through APBA Baseball's Basic Game (using Advanced Fielding), APBA's Baseball for Windows, while also doing simulations with Out of the Park 19.

The Out of the Park helps me gets simulations done in a quicker manner than say someone doing a APBA Season replay, while it keeps the general manager in me sharp for APBA projects.

For those that are not familiar with the 1993 No Expansion project (that I have been doing through both Out of the Park 18 & 19). I created an alternate reality in which no further expansion in 1993 & 1998 occur -- Meaning no Marlins, no Rockies, no Rays & no D-Backs. This of course would lead to an alternate route that would lead to numerous different decisions by the 26 existing franchises.

I decided to run the Atlanta Braves, because they are my National League team, and was in love with those 90's Braves, with Greg Maddux, John Smoltz & Tom Glavine all ranking as all-time favorites with me -- between just those 3 players, I probably have a 1,000 total baseball cards of them.

I also got a little redemption back for the 1993 Atlanta Braves by winning the 2016 Greater Michigan APBA Baseball Tournament II, while they went 11-2 during the entire championship run.

I started with the 1992 off-season, as a start point, while clicking off the automatic expansion, keeping commissioner decisions in my hands.

Season-to-Season Recap

Atlanta would reach the 1992 World Series in a rematch against the Minnesota Twins, but we would once again fall short to the Twinkies, this time in disastrous fashion (in which I can't find the old post for some reason)... but had a 2-1 series lead, with a 6-run lead I want to say in the 9th, when everything went to hell, and the Minnesota Twins scored 7 runs to come back and win, tying the series, in which the Braves never recovered from that inning, losing the next two games & series.

The Braves would almost slide and miss the playoffs in 1993, but hold on for the division title over the Houston Astros. They would end up getting swept by Andres Galarraga & the eventual World Champion Montreal Expos in the National League Championship Series; Montreal would go on to defeat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 in the 1993 World Series.

The Braves would win the N.L. West for a 4th consecutive season during 1994. Yes, there was a full season, plus playoffs in this alternate 1994. The Braves (103-59) won the division pretty easy, this time over the Los Angeles Dodgers by 16 games.

They would be outplayed once again by the Montreal Expos, 4-1. The Expos (103-59) won the hard-fought N.L. East by only 5 games over Barry Bonds & the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bonds signed a 6-year deal worth $24 million prior to the 1994 season, with a possible player opt out after the 1995 season.

The Montreal Expos repeated as World Champions in all-Canada 1994 World Series, taking the Blue Jays, 4-1. The Blue Jays reached their first World Series by defeating the defending American League Champion Oakland Athletics, who had better luck continuing their postseason success further than their real-life MLB counterparts -- partly due to continuing strong pitching staffs with pitchers such as Kevin Brown, Bob Tewksbury, Mark Langston & Terry Mulhollnad, while Jose Canseco & Mark McGwire actually stayed healthy.

The 1995 Atlanta Braves found themselves strapped for cash, while committed to plenty of contracts. The Braves would make no major trades come the trade deadline, while the Los Angeles Dodgers who were chasing Atlanta all year, would land starting pitcher Chuck Finley from California. The Dodgers would eventually catch the Braves, and end their playoff streak by winning the N.L. West.

The Dodgers rode a three-man playoff rotation of Tom Candiotti, Finley & a young Pedro Martinez, while they would go on to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 in the NLCS, while winning the 1995 World Series over the Chicago White Sox, 4-2.

Plenty of changes happened for the Braves to setup their 1996 World Championship run, prior to the season. The Kansas City Royals countered one of my offers, by acquiring outfielder David Justice in exchange for outfielders Johnny Damon and Brian McRae. Another deal is that I traded Fred McGriff away to the World Champion Dodgers to make room for up-and-coming Jason Giambi on the roster. McGriff's haul wasn't much (due to the fact that I was trying to shed payroll), which involved a handful of small pieces, one of those pieces was Mark Mimbs, who served as a good left-handed specialist for me during my 1996 run.

During the 1996 season, we acquired Doug Drabek from the Pirates straight-up for Steve Avery, making our rotation Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Drabek & Alan Benes. Our bullpen was also another great strength with Mike Timlin, Scott Radinsky, Dan Plesac, Roberto Hernandez & Mark Wohlers. The Braves (106-56) would go on to win the N.L. West, winning the division over the Dodgers by 10 games.

The Braves would come head-to-head with the Montreal Expos once again in the National League Championship Series for the 4th time in 5 years. The Expos, this time were led by Barry Bonds, who opted out of his contract with the Pirates, and then signed a 6-year deal worth $40.2 million with Montreal. Braves would go on to win their first postseason series against Montreal since 1992, winning the series, 4-1.

The Toronto Blue Jays won the American League Championship Series, 4-3 over the Texas Rangers.

1996 World Series 

Game 1 

It was all hitting by both teams, a combined 28 hits, while the Blue Jays would take the Atlanta Braves in Game 1. Jeff Kent and Derek Bell would each collect 4 hits for the Jays, while Kent homered, doubled, hit 2 singles & knocked in 4 ribbies.

Kent batted .308 with 33 HR & 123 RBI during 1996, he already has 123 career homers & 502 RBI over the first 5 years of his career; Kent has reached the century mark 3 times in the RBI category.

Greg Maddux allowed some crooked numbers: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 4 ER & 3 K (80 pitches)

Blue Jays win 8-6.

Game 2

Jeff Blauser was the overall hero for the Braves, his 2-run homer during the bottom of the 6th, put the game further out of reach, making it 7-0, in which the score would stick.

John Smoltz would only go 4 innings (2 H, 0 ER, BB & 5 K), as Doug Drabek would pitch 2 innings of relief to earn the win.

Game 3

Tom Glavine would go 6 strong innings, allowing 6 hits and just 2 runs & a walk, while striking out 6 Jays on 90 pitches.

For the Braves' hitters it was a group effort, while Deion Sander's 2-run home run in the 8th, gave Atlanta more breathing room, on their way to a 7-2 victory.

Game 4

The Braves scrapped together a 4-0 lead by the top of the 5th, on fielder's choices and sac flies, but the Jays would not give up. Mickey Tettleton would hit a 3-run home run off Greg Maddux during the bottom of the 7th, to cut the Braves lead to a run, making it 5-4.

Deion Sanders would once again add insurance with a solo home run in the 8th, to give Braves a 6-4 lead -- that run would be crucial with Mark Wohlers giving up a run to earn his 3rd save of the postseason.

The Braves definitely wanted to walk away with a win in Game 4 (which they did) and not end up giving the Blue Jays new life this series.

A 3-1 series lead now gives the Braves quite the advantage moving forward.

Game 5

Chipper Jones (Atlanta) would hit a solo HR in the first, while Jeff Kent (Toronto) would even up the game with an RBI double to make it a 1-1 ballgame.

John Smoltz was not exactly sharp allowing 4 walks & 3 hits through 5 innings, but only allowed a run.

The Braves would rely on clutch relief from Doug Drabek, Dan Plesac, Roberto Hernandez & Alan Benes & clutch pinch-hitting, which came from Aaron Guiel, who pinch-hit for Mark Lemke, and hit a sac fly to right, to drive in (Brian McRae) the go-ahead run, to make it 2-1.

Benes would get the 1.2 inning save, usual closer Mark Wohlers didn't have much in the tank, while the Braves' bullpen was worked more than usual in this series. Benes, was used much in the way of real-life's 2017 Houston Astros did with Lance McCullers Jr.

The Braves win their first World Series in the city of Atlanta.

Now we'll have to see what the Braves do for an encore, it won't come easy.