Replay Redux

I recently completed a replay arc consisting of the following seven seasons: 1901, 1911, 1920, 1930, 1941, 1949, and 1957. This arc allowed me to play a group of seasons with a kinda-sorta ten-year gap between each season. This, in turn, allowed me to traverse the first half of the 20th century and to experience the evolution of baseball over this time period. These seasons all pre-date the expansion era but do include both pre- and post-integration seasons.

 

Background: Each of these seasons was replayed using APBA Baseball for Windows (BBW). Each replay was preceded by 3-4 months of prep work, with 6-7 months required to complete the gameplay. Micro-Managers were not used as all games were played manually. I used the APBA Transactions Manager (ATMgr) to automatically load my lineups before each game, which helped to streamline my gameplay. The time allotted to complete the replay is a comfortable pace for me that allowed me to keep playing but also allowed me to take a day off to keep myself fresh and not get burnt out on this. I was able to use revised sets if available and was very pleased with their tweaks and updates over the previous/original sets.

 

I have included comments for each of the seven replays completed, but first some additional comments on the number of errors and the number of no-hitters that have occurred.

 

Errors

 

The following chart shows the actual season errors and double plays as well as the replay errors and double plays. The replay double plays always come in below the actual number of double plays, but you can make the case that it is at least close. The replay errors always come in well below the actual errors, significantly so. This has further downstream effects on at-bats and runs/unearned runs, and so on from there. The 1901 cards come with two error numbers per player, but I added a third error number to 50% of the plate appearances, but the final difference was still negligible.

 

Having said that, after seven seasons of gameplay it has always "felt" like I was making plenty of errors during the games. It just wasn't until the end of the season that I could look back and see exactly how far off my error totals were. I am further assuming that with a normal error number distribution and a normal fielding rating distribution, I really should plan to see a similar number of error resultants per season, affected only by the number of games played … it's just math.

 

Actual
Season	Games	Errors	DP	E/G	DP/G
1901	2220	5327	1530	2.40	0.69
1911	2474	4542	1650	1.84	0.67
1920	2468	3494	1967	1.42	0.80
1930	2468	3035	2482	1.23	1.01
1941	2488	2778	2394	1.12	0.96
1949	2480	2295	2700	0.93	1.09
1957	2470	2119	2512	0.86	1.02
1960	2472	2169	2404	0.88	0.97
1967	3240	2733	2850	0.84	0.88
1970	3888	3327	3695	0.86	0.95
1980	4210	3609	4114	0.86	0.98
1990	4210	3180	3792	0.76	0.90
2000	4858	3447	4711	0.71	0.97
2010	4860	3030	4395	0.62	0.90
2020	1796	1048	1432	0.58	0.80
2023	4860	2517	3970	0.52	0.82
Replay
Season	Games	Errors	DP	E/G	DP/G
1901	2204	2840	1454	1.29	0.66
1911	2474	2560	1447	1.03	0.58
1920	2468	1973	1648	0.80	0.67
1930	2468	1845	2010	0.75	0.81
1941	2496	1678	2114	0.67	0.85
1949	2478	1915	2428	0.77	0.98
1957	2470	1683	2108	0.68	0.85
1967	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

 

No-Hitters

 

I occasionally see posts from APBA players stating they had thrown their first no-hitter in some substantial number of years of playing … that has not been the case for me. Even with zero no-hitters in my 1949 replay, there have been a total of 25 no-hitters in this replay arc, including four perfect games.

 

April 26, 1901 - Ned Garvin (WAS) over DET

May 11, 1901 - Christy Mathewson (NYG) over BKN - Perfect Game

June 22, 1901 - Jesse Tannehill (PIT) over BSN - Perfect Game

October 1, 1901 - Deacon Phillippe (PIT) over BSN

July 30, 1911 - Lew Richie (CHC) over PHP

August 21, 1911 - Slim Sallee (STC) over (BKN)

May 5, 1920 - Babe Adams (PIT) over CHC - Perfect Game

May 30, 1920 - Babe Adams (PIT) over CIN

June 30, 1920 - Rollie Naylor (PHA) over NYY

August 1, 1920 - Dolf Luque (CIN) over NYG

August 21, 1920 - Eddie Cicotte (CHW) over WAS

April 22, 1930 - Vic Sorrell (DET) over STB

May 20, 1930 - Dolf Luque (BKN) over PHP

Nay 22, 1930 - Rip Collins (STB) over CLE

July 31, 1930 - Ted Lyons (CHW) over STC

June 25, 1941 - Elmer Riddle (CIN) over PHP - Perfect Game

August 1, 1941 - Thornton Lee (CHW) over WAS

August 17, 1941 - Bucky Walters (CIN) over CHC

1949 - N/A

April 28, 1957 - Lindy McDaniel (STC) over CHC

May 22, 1957 - Jim Wilson (CHW) over NYY

June 13, 1957 - Art Ditmar (NYY) over CHW

June 19, 1957 - Moe Drabowsky (CHC) over PHP

July 28, 1957 - Jack Sanford (PHP) over CHC

July 31, 1957 - Jim Bunning (DET) over BSR

September 24, 1957 - Bennie Daniels (PIT) over BKN

1967 - NA

 

I suppose this isn’t an inordinate number of no-hitters considering the number of games played, but they are always a pleasant and surprising result. The fact that I am using actual as-played lineups makes the lineups a little less strong than they might otherwise be, plus the winning pitchers tend to have a better grade, so I suppose none of this is out of line.

 

Replay Seasons

 

For each of these replay seasons listed below, there is a link included to the replay blog, a list of dates from where gameplay began and the World Series ended, and a final standings compilation including the actual season results and the replay season results. A brief season summary will also be included, but if you should want more detail, the blog posts at the link provided will have that.

 

1901

Roger's 1901 APBA Replay

November, 2019 - June, 2020

 

As a reminder, this was the first year of existence for the American League. Previously they existed as the Western League, a minor league as prescribed by the National Agreement that dictated actions of the Major and Minor leagues and their teams. After the 1900 season the Western League decided they didn’t want to be a Minor League anymore and declared it was now the American League (AL), a Major League in direct competition with the National League (NL), and further, they began to poach players away from the NL teams.

 

As one could imagine, this didn’t make the NL very happy, and the squabbling and lawsuits went on for years. The two leagues didn’t play a real World Series until 1903 (although that didn’t stop me).

 

There has not been a 1901 revised set released, so this was played using the original season disk. All players were carded with two error numbers instead of the usual one, but I added a third error number to half the players to help account for the number of errors that occurred during the season (it didn't help much). 80+ additional players were hand-created to fill the rosters as well.

 

At the halfway point of the 1901 AL season Chicago was mired in second place behind Boston, but that wouldn’t last long as the White Sox went 53-19 (.736) in the second half of the season and ran away with the AL pennant.

 

Most interesting was that Washington only used five pitchers all season, with a total of only eighteen relief appearances among them. However, almost every pitcher played multiple games on the field as needed, and there were multiple games with multiple pitchers manning positions on the field.

 

Pittsburgh was clearly the best team in the NL - second in hitting, second in pitching, second in defense, a settled big three at the top of the pitching rotation, and one of the all-time greats (Honus Wagner) in the middle of the lineup. The Pirates did just enough at the end of the season to stay ahead of a hard-charging Brooklyn team before finally claiming the pennant on the next-to-last day of the season.

 

Most of the country felt that Chicago was the favorite to win the World Series, but it was Pittsburgh who stepped up with good pitching and clutch hitting to grab the 1901 World Series victory in six games.

 

1911

Roger's 1911 APBA Replay

August, 2021 - April, 2022

 

1911 is not advertised as a revised set, but it does state that all 535 players are carded. The cards do include all the Master Game ratings/symbols, plus I am positive this set had been run through the new algorithms for pitcher's grades, etc. Example: Buck O'Brien of the Red Sox made five starts, 47.2 innings, with an ERA of 0.38, and got a grade of A&B(XW)  … that is definitely not an old-school pitching grade.

 

Defensive grades definitely took a hit in this set:

 

Three C8's, twenty-three C7's, and all the catcher arms are between +3 and -3 only.

 

One 1B5 (Ed Konetchy), five 1B4's, 22 1B3's

 

One 2B9 (Eddie Collins), three 2B8's, ten 2B7's

 

Two 3B5's (Larry Gardner, Terry Turner), twelve 3B4's

 

Zero SS9's, seven SS8's

 

One OF3 (Owen "Chief" Wilson w/39 Arm), 47 OF2's

 

This resulted in a larger number of errors occurring through the course of the season, but still nowhere close to the actual total.

 

The big news In baseball heading into 1911 was the decision to use a new cork-center baseball. It is one thing, in theory, to tweak a baseball to attempt to meet a stated goal, but these decisions can often result in unexpected consequences. But without history to impact their thinking on the matter, the decision was made to try and introduce a little more offense into the game. The results were as follows:

 

Season	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Runs
1910 AL	.243	.308	.321	.621	4573
1911 AL	.273	.338	.358	.696	5655
1911 AL Replay	.275	.338	.361	.699	5772
1910 NL	.256	.328	.338	.666	5004
1911 NL	.260	.335	.356	.691	5506
1911 NL Replay	.260	.333	.359	.692	5673

 

There was definitely a boost to the offense, especially in the AL, but not really much of an explosion. That would come in another ten years. The replay results came out quite close to the actual results, as they are supposed to. The real beneficiary turned out to be a young outfielder in Cleveland named Shoeless Joe Jackson. Jackson hit over .500 for most of the replay, only falling short over the final month of the season, finishing at .473. Besides leading the league in average, Jackson also led in runs scored (147), was third in RBI’s (131), led in hits (275), led in doubles (69), led in homeruns (12), and finished tied for third in triples (21). That adds up to 102 total extra-base hits and 422 total bases, both amazing numbers.

 

The Philadelphia A's were challenged by Chicago and Cleveland early, but by the end of Week Five they were in first place all by themselves and there they stayed for the remainder of the season. Boston was able to stay within single digits through the mid-point of the season, but even as Boston continued to play well it was the Athletics that eventually expanded their lead to a staggering 23.0 games by season's end.

 

In the NL, the Pirates had an amazing season. They finished with 20 more wins in the replay than they had in 1911 and won the NL Pennant. They took sole possession of first place by the end of Week 4 and they never relinquished it. To describe them, the word “tenacious” is the best descriptor I could come up with. The second-place Giants led the NL in team hitting, pitching, and fielding, with the Pirates finishing in second place in all of those categories, but the difference between the two was negligible. The big difference was that Pittsburgh went 16-6 versus New York over the course of the season, winning the key games when they had to, and then withstanding a late-season Giants’ rush to claim the pennant.

 

Most prognosticators picked the A's to defeat the Pirates, but no one picked them to do so by throwing four shutout victories in five games, finishing the series with a team ERA of 0.60. Pittsburgh collected only twelve hits in the series and hit a poorly .083 (12-for-144) as a team. The A's pitching simply overpowered the hapless Pittsburghers and gave Connie Mack and his A's their second consecutive World Series title. If you had told a Pittsburgh fan that their pitchers would finish with a 1.47 ERA and would only allow nine runs in the five games you would likely have a happy fan with visions of pennants waving in their eyes. Alas, it was not to be as Philadelphia didn't do much, but they did enough to capture the wins when they had the opportunity.

 

1920

Roger's 1920 APBA Replay

February, 2023 - September, 2023

 

The 1920 season was a season of baseball in transition. The pitching dominated game of the first two decades of the 20th century that required slap hitting and speed on the bases was giving way to the coming offensive explosion symbolized by the arrival of sluggers like Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, George Sisler, and others yet to come. Stars such as Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson, and Tris Speaker were still stars, but aging stars by this time, and even they were forced to adapt to some degree as well.

 

The spitball and its variations were outlawed before the 1920 season started, with exceptions granted for a set of pitchers who were grandfathered in and allowed to keep using their bread-and-butter pitch. This not only gave the batter some advantage but put pitchers at a further disadvantage by removing a weapon from their arsenal. Some pitchers were able to adapt, some were not, and the game moved on.

 

The other thing to remember is that World War I ended in 1919. During the war, seasons had been shortened, players had been drafted, and the overall impact on the country, in general, meant that now, since the war was over and the boys were coming home, society as a whole had changed. A similar thing happened with regard to World War Two - the boys coming home from the war found the country a different place than when they left. Throw in the Black Sox scandal, and all this means that baseball was moving away from its old way of doing business and was moving ahead with the times, just as they have continued to do so to this day.

 

The 1920 White Sox were a very good team and worthy of repeating as AL champions, but mostly they were tenacious. They were stuck in second place for most of the season, perched right on New York's tail, but never faltered in their pennant quest. Twice during the season, they caught and passed New York, even if only for a few days, only to see the Yankees regain the top spot, but with a month to go in the season they seized the top spot a third time, and this time they were able to hold off furious rally attempts from both New York and Cleveland to claim the AL title for the second consecutive year. However, on the Monday before the final weekend of the regular season, eight White Sox players were suspended and eventually banned from baseball due to gambling allegations following indictments in a court in Chicago.

 

Cincinnati had won the World Series in 1919 and was looking to repeat in 1920, and while they got off to a good start, unfortunately, they were caught behind a buzzsaw named the New York Giants. The Reds never gave up, hung around in second place, and waited and hoped for the Giants to finally cool off, which they finally did over the last month of the season. Once Cincinnati did move into first place they sometimes found just as hard to stay there as it was to get there. The Reds finally clinched the NL Pennant on the next-to-last day of the season and they did it in a most unconventional way - they won all three games of a tripleheader over Pittsburgh.

 

Besides just pennant races, a lot had happened over this previous year. While Cincinnati had won the 1919 World Series, in just the past week they had learned that Chicago may have thrown the World Series to the benefit of gamblers. The Reds were convinced they were good enough to have won it, to begin with, but now, doubt had been cast on the population at large, and the Reds knew they needed to get this win now to if nothing else, restore their own reputation.

 

After a rambunctious and topsy-turvy regular season, it was time for the 1920 BBW Replay World Series. Last year's combatants, the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds would reprise their roles as their respective league champions. A letter signed by both league presidents stated the order and dates of games would be the same as last season, so Cincinnati would be the home team for games one through three, followed by a travel day, and then Chicago would host the final four (as needed).

 

However, the suddenly under-powered White Sox did the impossible - they swept the World Series in four games, with three of the games requiring extra innings. Quite an ending to a topsy-turvy season.

 

1930

https://rogers1930apbareplay.blogspot.com/

April, 2018 - September, 2018

 

Philadelphia got off to a bit of a sluggish start, partially because they had a lot of games early with Washington and the Nationals got off to a really fast start (Washington finished 13-9 versus the A's), but once the A's kicked it into gear there was nothing that could stop them. The A's featured a great defense, a powerful offense, and Lefty Grove anchoring another wise OK pitching staff. This is a case where a great defense improved the pitching staff, and when in doubt, the A's offense stepped in to lead the way.

 

At the completion of Week 19 St. Louis was 76-49 and in third place in the NL, but they then proceeded to end the season on a 25-4 run to easily clinch the NL pennant. Several key things happened - first of all, the Cardinals got healthy. Chick Hafey missed five weeks over the season on two different injury stints, and he returned to play about this time. Frankie Frisch had a two-week absence and he returned at this same time as well. As the Cardinals were getting healthy their primary opponents suffered key injuries, all of which helped to open the door for the Cardinals.

 

The Cardinals ended the regular season on a hot streak and they kept that hot streak going by taking games one, two, and three of the World Series. The A's came back to win the next two, but then St. Louis pulled out win #4 in a Game Six thirteen-inning nail-biter.

 

1941

https://rogers1941apbareplay.blogspot.com/

June, 2022 - December, 2022

In 1941 the Yankees got off to a slow start and around mid-May decided to bench their newly minted double play combo - shortstop Phil Rizzuto and second baseman Jerry Priddy. Around this same time, several other things happened - Joe DiMaggio started his hitting streak, the Yankees set a consecutive game streak record for homeruns, and the offense overall kicked it into overdrive. With their offense now fully engaged, their solid pitching rotation was able to flourish, the result being that New York was able to easily run away with the 1941 AL pennant.

 

There was no such drama in the replay. The Yankees got off to a hot start, took the early lead, held off minor challenges from Cleveland and Chicago, and ran away with the AL pennant by 15.0 games over second-place Boston. Joe DiMaggio (.362, 43 2B, 27 HR, 101 RBI's), as was fully expected, never came close to a 56-game hitting streak (nineteen was his replay max) but his presence in the middle of the Yankees lineup was a constant presence and came through with many key hits when needed.

 

In 1941 the Cardinals put up a valiant fight for the NL pennant but were ultimately doomed by several late-season injuries that opened the door for Brooklyn to capture the crown. The Dodgers got off to a hot start in the replay but St. Louis stayed right on their tail, and then when the Dodgers suddenly cooled off the Cardinals stayed hot and moved into first place where they stayed for the last two-thirds of the season. St. Louis led the NL in hitting and fielding and was second in pitching - this was a very good team.

 

Both teams won their league pennant relatively easily, but the last month of the season was rough for both teams. Center fielder Joe DiMaggio missed two weeks at the beginning of the month but has played regularly since. Left fielder Charlie Keller missed most of the last two weeks of the month, only having returned for the final few games of the season. Third baseman Red Rolfe experienced colitis and missed much of the month of September as well, but was able to return to the lineup before season end. All three have been deemed healthy and were in the regular lineup for New York.

 

St. Louis had a major injury to deal with in that first baseman Johnny Mize tore ligaments in his arm late in the season and would miss the World Series. Johnny Hopp moved in from the outfield to cover first in his absence and rookie sensation Stan Musial took Mize's place on the roster and was stationed in left field. Center fielder Terry Moore missed a couple of weeks in September but was back on the field late in the month. Right fielder Enos Slaughter missed almost a full month due to a broken clavicle and was limited to pinch-hitting duties the final few weeks of the season, but Moore and Slaughter were both deemed healthy and were in the regular lineup for St. Louis.

 

St. Louis won the World Series in five games, with Game #5 being a 1-0 victory, the only run scoring in the bottom of the ninth when first baseman Johnny Hopp singled home third baseman Jimmy Brown with the game-winner.

 

1949

https://rogers1949apbareplay.blogspot.com/

November, 2018 - April, 2019

 

Boston (AL) and St. Louis (NL) both dominated their leagues this year as Brooklyn and New York (AL) both seemed content to just ride out the season as neither put on a big late-season push. The World Series games were televised, although it is not certain exactly how many people in either of these markets actually have access to a television. It was expected that bars and department stores that have them will both draw a pretty good crowd.

 

If this had of actually happened it might be talked about as the greatest World Series. World Series MVP Ted Williams (.433, 10 runs scored, 12 RBI's, six homeruns) hit homeruns in the bottom of the ninth and the bottom of the eleventh to extend the Game Seven that eventually led to a Red Sox World Series win is the kind of thing that books would be written about, documentaries would be produced over and really would be the one thing that Williams needed that would move up his standing in the discussion of the greatest of all time.

 

The advantage St. Louis had over Boston was in the depth of their bullpen, but the Cardinals’ relievers blew two save opportunities, had two losses, and finished with a 5.04 ERA. Of course, Stan Musial hitting .185 for the series didn’t help either. The thing that would be remembered in St. Louis would have been the Cardinals hitting six triples in Game Four but still managing to lose a game that would have otherwise given them a 3-1 advantage in the series. Wow! What a series!

 

1957

https://rogers1957apbareplay.blogspot.com/

06/2020 - 01/2021

 

Chicago (AL) spent a few days during Week Two in second place, but by the end of Week 5, they were playing .800 ball. At the end of Week 11, their winning percentage was .667, but they only had a 3.5 games lead over Detroit. Then they got hot again, occasionally touching .700, but generally maintaining a winning percentage of around .680. The Yankees did manage to draw within 3.0 games a few times later, but they couldn't maintain, and the White Sox quickly built their lead back up.

 

Milwaukee got off to a slow start. Lew Burdette struggled, their bullpen was a mess, second base was a hole, first baseman Joe Adcock broke his ankle and missed most of the season, and then center fielder Bill Bruton ripped up his knee and missed the second half of the season. Hank Aaron had 30 homeruns by the middle of June and pretty much carried the team from the start, but then things began to fall into place. Red Schoendienst was acquired to settle the infield, Burdette turned his season around, Don McMahon was called up and settled the bullpen down, Eddie Mathews got hot, Wes Covington was recalled from the minors and then he got hot, and Bob Hazle was called up and he had a half-season for the ages. The Braves didn’t move into first place until mid-August, but once they did, they ran away with the NL pennant, finishing the season with a 10.0 game lead over the second-place Cardinals.

 

In the World Series, the Braves quickly won the first three games, but then the White Sox won Game Four, and then they won Game Five too, and then they won Game Six as well to tie the series at 3-3. A two-run homerun in the first game Milwaukee the quick lead in Game Seven, but just as they had done all season Chicago crawled back into it, soon tied it up, and then took a lead 3-2 lead in the fifth. Billy Pierce ended up going all the way to get the Game Seven win over Warren Spahn in another memorable World Series.

 

1967

https://rogers1967apbareplay.blogspot.com/

???, 2023 - ???, 2024

 

I am going to replay 1967 next. I am still doing prep work at this time and have not yet started gameplay yet. I am considering using APBAGO for this replay … stay tuned.

 

Conclusion

 

I do not believe there are any "bad" baseball seasons. You may have your personal preferences (as I did) for older seasons, or perhaps there is a particular season you have an interest in because of youthful memories, or perhaps there is a player or pennant race that interests you. Every season has its own set of heroes, one-year wonders, injuries, and unfortunate failures. Get started, play a season, decide how you want to tweak it for next time, and then start a new one.