A Different World

 

Some computer art work that I put together, featuring the Chicago Legends: Thurman Munson, Nap Lajoie and Mike Mussina. The project is one of my Out of the Park projects.

The Heritage League is a Out of the Park Baseball simulation that I am doing with players from all different eras coming and going through a normal MLB-style timeline. I started in 1901 with 16 teams just like the real thing, but I decided to go with alternate names than actual Major League names (for the most part, I did keep the Philadelphia Athletics moniker).

Yes, I am still doing my Los Angeles Browns Butterfly Effect project as well, we are literally on D-Day on that project, a few years into World War II. 

This other project, which I labeled Heritage League was just a project that I started, while I would roll out new uniforms for the teams every few years. I had a lot of fun doing the uniforms for these teams, just like I had fun doing the artwork above, I think I will try to do more pieces like this for other teams.

Lots of parity in this league, the 14 of the 18 teams have won a World Title, with the New York Gothams (Giants) winning the most titles with 4. I expanded up to 18 teams following the demise of the Federal League, with Buffalo and Kansas City acquiring teams. 

Here is the list...

1) New York Gothams - 4

    Detroit Wolverines - 4

2) Philadelphia Quakers/Veterans - 3

    St. Louis Saints - 3

3) Brooklyn Royals - 2

    Philadelphia Athletics - 2

8 other teams with 1 title.

Only the Boston Colonials, Cleveland Spiders, Kansas City Packers & Washington Maroons have not won a title. The Packers and Buffalo Bisons have only been around since 1916, and Buffalo already has a title.

Mike Mussina retired as the all-time Wins leader (336), SHO (67) & Pitching WAR (115.6) among other records, his Wins and WAR is about to be eclipsed by Cy Young, who has 333 wins, and is about to turn 40. Mussina was a 1st ballot Hall of Famer. 

The current Hall of Fame through March 1926...

(Alphabetical Order, team cap)

SP - Noodles Hahn (Class of 1921), Boston Colonials 79.7%

SP - Walter Johnson (Class of 1920), Cincinnati Buckeyes 99.3%

SP - Jerry Koosman (Class of 1926), St. Louis Saints 92.5%

SP - Dolf Luque (Class of 1921), Detroit Wolverines 89.9%

SP - Pedro J. Martinez (Class of 1918), Pittsburgh Barons 94.2%

SP - Mike Mussina (Class of 1926), New York Gothams 99.6%

SP - Max Scherzer (Class of 1925), Washington Maroons 97.2%

SS - Corey Seager (Class of 1924), Detroit Wolverines 77.1%

SP - George Winter (Class of 1925), Boston Pilgrims/Blackhawks 76.4%

Rogers Hornsby has already wrapped up 1,326 hits, 41.2 WAR & 3 MVP Awards by age 23 for the Gothams. The all-time Hits leader is Pittsburgh's Ed Delahanty (3,793) who had a career 72.0 WAR & 5 batting titles -- batting .333 with 1,505 RBI & .839 OPS. Nap Lajoie just retired after an entire career with the Chicago Legends. Lajoie batted .349, with a .397 OBP & .844 OPS, plus 3,240 hits. Lajoie has the most MVP Awards (5) eclipsing Mickey Mantle's 4, while his 6 batting titles broke Delahanty's record of 5. 

The Chicago Legends' Austin McHenry currently has the most career home runs with 147, with Kansas City's Reggie Jackson likely to pass him soon with 145. McHenry and Reggie also are tied with the single-season HR mark of 29. 

Nolan Ryan currently holds the All-Time Strikeout record at 3,021 strikeouts. Ryan has struggled the last few years, and is starting to bounce around a bit, while having inflated ERA's and no power to his arm remaining. His K/9 the last few years have been awful (2.0/9 IP). He bounced back with the Baltimore Browns in 1926 with 20 wins, while his 3.41 ERA and 3.2 K/9 have been an improvement, but led the league in walks for the 9th time. Ryan is closing in on 300 wins (289) while he has a career 3.18 ERA, while pitching his first 14 years in Detroit.

The Chicago Legends' Hippo Vaughn is likely done, torn shoulder labrum at age 39. Vaughn has won 315 games with 2,600+ strikeouts and 110.3 WAR. Vaughn also has a 2.78 career ERA, 126 ERA+ and two Cy Young Awards, plus 1 ring.

The St. Louis Saints' Andres Galarraga has a current streak of 10 straight years with 200+ hits, while winning 2 N.L. Batting Titles, with a career .333 batting average. He won the 1918 World Series MVP, but has yet to win a regular season MVP Award. During 1922, Galarraga set the single-season hits mark at 263 hits, while batting .391 with 19 HR. He has won the RBI title the past 3 seasons (124, 150 & 141 RBI) as well. At age 34, he has 2,742 hits, and will likely be a lock for the Hall of Fame down the road. 

I just finished the 1926 season with the Detroit Wolverines finally getting back to the World Series (after a 13-year absence) since their 8-straight World Series appearances ( 3 wins) between 1906-1913, sweeping the defending World Champion Boston Blackhawks for their record-tying 4th title. There was no home-cooking for Detroit, in fact after their 8th straight A.L. Pennant, I intervened and traded the Seager brothers away. The Seager boys were the backbone of they Detroit dynasty, and until recently I thought Detroit was cursed because of trading them away. 

That is the Heritage Baseball League through 1926, more to come.