Tiger Century: Turning the 1901 Tigers into an eventual Dynasty!

[discodave1977]

how did you change the salary and contract demands?

[Chipper_Jones]

how did you change the salary and contract demands?

Commish mode, league setup. There are dropdown options for "salary demands" and "league revenue." And they can be adjusted mid-season without killing your game

[Chipper_Jones]

Arbitration News
Al Shaw will play next year earning $400,000 since we won arbitration.
Harry Arndt wanted $750,000, but we won arbitration at $450,000.
John Sullivan, a backup catcher, will play for $350,000 next year.
Emil Frisk will play for $350,000 next season.
Pop Dillon didn't play last year, and we won arbitration to give him a $350,000 deal next year.
Doc Gessler wanted $1.25 million, but we won arbitration at $900,000.
Ed Siever wants $1.2 million. We won arbitration at $850,000 and will keep him another year.
George Suggs gets $350,000 for another year in the minors.

Contract Negotiations
Joe Yeager has agreed to a 7 year deal worth $1,250,000 per season.
Jimmy Barrett wants $1.1 million a year, but as a backup to Ty Cobb, I don't feel he's worth it. Cut him.
Ducky Holmes, at 37, wanted to stay with us, but he's unlikely to play, so we released him. Maybe someone else'll start him.
Joe McGinnity wants $3.85 million for four years, and that's a no brainer. At 35, he's still a superstar. We signed on the line.

Free Agent Signings
Cy Seymour (37, RF) hit .306 last year for Pittsburgh, with eight doubles four triples. We signed him at $1.1 million for the next two years!

1905 Rookie Draft
Round 1 (Pick 16): Pete Henning (18, SP, 74/83)
Round 2 (Pick 32): Ross Reynolds (18, RP, 68/79)
Round 3 (Pick 48): Marc Hall (SP, 18, 70/79)
Round 4 (Pick 64): Lou Lowdermilk (19, RP, 65/81)
Round 5 (Pick 80): Clarence Kraft (18, 1B, 46/82)
Round 6 (Pick 96): Red Fisher (18, LF, 49/81)

Major Moves
We traded Doc Nance (LF) and Claude Rossman (1B) to get Pete Alexander, the #1 pick in this year's draft off of Brooklyn's Superbas! Alexander's a superior pitcher with astounding endurance, a brutal fastball and defense and health that should make him a crucial part of our lineup for years to come. He's also known to be a solid hitter, which should help us a lot down the stretch.

1905 Awards
Charlie Jackson won the AL Best Pitcher Award with his 32-4 record! He was also the AL's most valuable player!
Jimmy Sheckard was awarded the AL's Gold Glove for left fielders!

April 1, 1906
Here's our opening day lineup:

Batting
1 - Doc Gessler (RF, 86) 25, 4th Season
2 - Ty Cobb (CF, 86/95) 19, 2nd Season
3 - Chris Lindsey (1B, 80) 27, 2nd Season
4 - Jimmy Sheckard (LF, 88) 27, 11th Season
5 - Joe Yeager (3B, 83) 30, 10th Season
6 - Al Shaw (C, 81) 31, 6th Season
7 - Dick Padden (SS, 71/74) 35, 12th Season
8 - Otto Knabe (2B, 63/81) 21, 2nd Season

B1 - John Sullivan (C, 70) 33, 6th Season
B2 - Charley O'Leary (SS, 71/86) 23, Rookie
B3 - Joe Kelley (LF, 81) 34, 17th Season
B4 - Lew Post (RF, 74/77) 30, 5th Season
B5 - Emil Frisk (RF, 79) 31, 6th Season
B6 - Cy Seymour (RF, 80) 33, 12th Season

AAA - Fred Payne (C, 74/76) 25, Rookie
AAA - Pop Dillon (1B, 64/67) 32, 8th Season

AA - Steve Packer (C, 68/71) 25, Rookie
AA - Davey Crockett (1B, 67/68) 30, 3rd Season
AA - Tim Cochran (CF, 62/68) 25, Rookie
AA - Boss Schmidt (C, 72/78) 25, Rookie
AA - Clay Perry (3B, 63/83) 24, Rookie

A - Joe White (1B, 67/71) 23, Rookie
A - Garrett Weeks (RF, 67/70) 21, Rookie

R - Paul Sweatman (1B, 59/81) 24, Rookie
R - Jack Cameron (LF, 61/83) 21, Rookie
R - Justin Dedrick (SS, 58/79) 19, Rookie
R - Clarence Kraft (1B, 46/81) 18, Rookie
R - Red Fisher (LF, 49/83) 18, Rookie

DL - Harry Arndt (81) 27, 5th Season [29 Days - Severed Knee Ligament]

Pitching
1 - Joe McGinnity (94) 35, 9th Season
2 - Pete Alexander (89/93) 19, Rookie
3 - Charlie Jackson (78/81) 29, 3rd Season
4 - Ed Siever (87) 28, 6th Season
5 - Ed Karger (83) 22, 4th Season

Closer - Frosty Thomas (68/74) 24, 4th Season
Setup - Gene Ford (68/74) 24, 2nd Season
Short - Charlie Pickett (67/74) 23, Rookie
Short - Jack Quinn (79/90) 22, 5th Season
Middle - Cy Ferry (72/74) 27, 3rd Season
Long - George Suggs (75/81) 23, 5th Season

AAA - Charlie Jaeger (65/68) 30, 3rd Season

AA - John Terry (68/70) 26, 4th Season
AA - Arch McCarthy (68/80) 25, 2nd Season

A - Frank Browning (65/74) 23, Rookie

R - Roy Beecher (64/83) 21, Rookie
R - Pete Henning (74/83) 18, Rookie
R - Marc Hall (70/79) 18, Rookie
R - Ross Reynolds (68/79) 18, Rookie
R - Sam Lanford (64/72) 20, Rookie
R - Lou Lowdermilk (65/81) 19, Rookie

[Chipper_Jones]

May 1, 1906
After a month, our 18-10 record puts us in a tie for first with Boston's Pilgrims! Washingon (17-11) is in third and New York's Highlanders are in fourth (16-12) so it's a tight early race. Ty Cobb's having a stupendous start, hitting ..341 with four doubles two triples and two homers, slugging .500 thus far. He's got two steals but has been caught six times, which has kept his OBP down at .389. Crazy enough, though, he's not our best hitter! Chris Lindsay is hitting .359 with six doubles and four homers (.547 slugging) and Jimmy Sheckard's off to a .404 start with eight homers, eight doubles and six stolen bases, good for a .504 OBA and .750 slugging average! Charlie Jackson's in the three spot in the pitching rotation, and is off to a 5-2 start (2.68 ERA) in seven starts, bringing his career total to 37-6! And though no other pitchers can match his decision totals, all five of our starters are below 4.00 in ERAs, and our team ERA is 3.07, so we're getting a balanced series of performances going deep into our bullpen.

June 1, 1906
After two months, we're on our usual roll, leading the American League by five games, 38-19, ahead of Washington (33-24) and Boston (32-25). Chris Lindsay now leads all batters with a .340 average, 10 homers and 42 runs (with 54 batted in) while Ty Cobb's .313 with seven homers and eight stolen bases ... and our leadoff man, Gessler, is hitting .316, with a .409 OBA, 11 homers and 64 runs! Joe McGinnity's 8-3 with a 3.14 ERA, Ed Karger's now 6-0 with a 3.32 ERA, Charlie Jackson's 9-5 with a 3.10 ERA and Ed Siever's off to a 5-3 start with a 3.43 ERA.

July 1, 1906
We're midway through the season, the All Star game's been played, and we're 55-28, six games up on Washington (49-34) and seven up on Boston (48-35). Chris Lindsay is hitting .342 with 13 homers and 70 RBIs, Jimmy Sheckard's got a .352 average and 18 homers (plus 87 runs and 83 RBIs) and Doc Gessler's .306 with 12 homers, 20 stolen bases and 85 runs. Charlie Jackson (13-6, 2.93 ERA) continues to lead all starters, while Joe McGinnity's 11-4 with a 3.01 ERA and Ed Karger's 9-2 with a 3.99 ERA. Ed Siever (4th in the rotation) is 8-4 with a 3.23 ERA, while Pete Alexander (5th Starter/Mopup) has pulled out a 3-2 record with a 3.59 ERA in seven appearances, though he hasn't started since April 27.

August 1, 1906
Well, with a month and a half to play, we lead the AL with a 74-38 record, eight games up on Washington (66-46) as we hit the homestretch of the long season. Jimmy Sheckard leads all batters with a .341 average, 23 homers and 112 RBIs, while the team as a whole is hitting .275. Our team is pitching with a 3.24 ERA, and our five starters are sharing the love well. Pete Alexander in the fifth spot got four starts this month, going 3-1, which brings his record to 6-3 with a 3.40 ERA. Charlie Jackman leads with a 17-7 record with a 2.93 ERA, Ed Karger's 14-3 with a 3.63 ERA, and Joe McGinnity's 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA. Gene Ford, our setup man, has a 9-5 record plus five saves with a 2.48 ERA, but Frosty Thomas has been disappointing at closer, with a 2-7 record, 5.97 ERA and 10 saves. He's only 24, but he's 8-20 in four years closing for us, and this year's .299 OBA is his worst of his career. We may need to start shopping him around for a pitcher with better movement.

[runthemover]

very fun read. looks like you simulate by the month? do you do any pbp games? keep up the diary!

[Chipper_Jones]

No, no play by play games. I've tried it out in some test games, and I can't get the feel for the pitch by pitch mode. I prefer to move faster anyway. I sim day by day, making changes when needed, but I do writeups monthly. Makes it easy to follow, I'd think, since you don't have to read about 154 games a year