Trapped in the Basement: The Philadelphia Phillies (1942 - )

[CDuffy26]

I'll claim one of the cities. Don't care which, but either LA, San Fran, or N'awlins.

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Is it cool if you get San Francisco? If not, let me know.

[Coach Owens]

What exactly are we supposed to do in our "short writeups"?

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Just prepare a brief statement covering the proposed teams’ stadium, financial backing, fanbase, and any other miscellaneous information that you deem important

[Coach Owens]

But what do you mean by that?

[CDuffy26]

Nah, San Frans fine. When do you need it in by?

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Whenever you get around to it. I can always postpone the meeting

[Coach Owens]

Yep so PMed you. Hope it's right!

[CDuffy26]

I'll get it into you by Thursday. Is that good?

[PotatoOfCouch13]

As of right now, the following teams are available:

Los Angeles
Baltimore
Milwaukee
New Orleans
Minneapolis
1 "secret city"

Only 6 spots remain, who will lay claim to them?

[PotatoOfCouch13]

FIRST TRIMESTER RECAP

STANDINGS (after games on May 30, 1944)

NATIONAL LEAGUE		
Philadelphia	33-20	-
Brooklyn	31-21	1.5
St. Louis	30-22	2.5
Chicago		26-25	6
New York	24-28	8.5
Pittsburgh	24-28	8.5
Cincinnati	20-31	12
Boston		20-33	13
			
AMERICAN LEAGUE		
Boston		34-18	-
Cleveland	32-19	1.5
New York	30-21	3.5
Chicago		26-27	8.5
Washington	23-28	10.5
Detroit		23-29	11
St. Louis	20-32	14
Philadelphia	19-33	15
			
BATTLE FOR THE LIBERTY BELL TROPHY
Phillies	33-20	-
Athletics	19-33	13.5

SEASON STATS
Red denotes League Leader

BATTING

1944 Batting             Team    G   AVG    AB    H  2B  3B  HR   BB    K   SB  CS    R  RBI   SLG   OBP
Gerheauser, Al            PHI    1  .500     2    1   0   0   0    1    0    0   0    0    0  .500  .667
Murtaugh, Danny           PHI   34  .390    82   32   7   1   0    8    4    3   0   14    7  .500  .444
Blatnik, Johnny           PHI   21  .320    25    8   3   0   1    2    3    0   1    4    7  .560  .370
Rizzuto, Phil             PHI   49  .310   203   63  12   3   0   21   25    4   2   32   20  .399  .381
Marnie, Harry             PHI   28  .282    39   11   2   0   0    1    3    0   0    6    3  .333  .300
Goulish, Nick             PHI   53  .281   196   55  13   3   4   25   26    2   0   31   33  .439  .365
Stephens, Vern            PHI   53  .275   193   53  14   3   7   28   24    0   0   28   38  .487  .375
Hodges, Gil               PHI   52  .275   200   55   8   3   8   25   21    0   1   30   32  .465  .356
Klein, Chuck              PHI   27  .268    56   15   1   0   1    3    4    0   1    5   11  .339  .317
Seminick, Andy            PHI   52  .258   178   46   9   2   2   20   20    0   1   27   20  .365  .343
Hamrick, Ray              PHI   40  .258    97   25   5   1   0    6    9    3   0   10    9  .330  .308
Northey, Ron              PHI   50  .249   181   45   8   2   5   21   20    1   0   23   18  .398  .330
Doby, Larry               PHI   53  .244   201   49  10   4   6   19   29    1   2   22   29  .423  .309
Ripple, Charlie           PHI   13  .229    35    8   1   0   0    2   11    0   0    2    4  .257  .270
Murphy, Ed                PHI   21  .217    23    5   2   0   0    3    4    0   0    2    1  .304  .308
Ruffing, Red              PHI   12  .206    34    7   1   0   0    4    5    0   0    4    2  .235  .289
Lambert, Gene             PHI    7  .188    16    3   2   0   0    1    3    0   0    2    1  .313  .235
Kraus, Jack               PHI   11  .167    24    4   0   0   0    0    7    0   0    1    1  .167  .167
Hughes, Tommy             PHI   11  .160    25    4   0   0   0    1    6    0   0    1    1  .160  .192
Mauney, Dick              PHI    5  .143    14    2   0   0   0    0    3    0   0    1    0  .143  .143
Livingston, Mickey        PHI    7  .000    14    0   0   0   0    2    4    0   0    2    0  .000  .125
Casey, Hugh               PHI   16  .000     2    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Hanyzewski, Ed            PHI   12  .000     1    0   0   0   0    0    1    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Page, Joe                 PHI    6  .000     1    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Russo, Marius             PHI    1  .000     2    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000

PITCHING

1944 Pitching            Team     IP   ERA    G  GS   W   L  SV    K   BB   R/9
Casey, Hugh               PHI   23.0  0.78   16   0   3   0   1    4    8  9.00
Pearson, Ike              PHI    9.2  0.93    9   0   2   0   5    3    4  9.31
Gerheauser, Al            PHI    9.0  1.00    1   1   1   0   0    4    2 11.00
Ripple, Charlie           PHI   95.2  3.10   13  13   7   3   0   60   37 12.79
Ruffing, Red              PHI   96.2  3.26   12  12   5   5   0   52   27 10.52
Hughes, Tommy             PHI   81.0  3.44   11  11   5   5   0   33   27 12.00
Hanyzewski, Ed            PHI   22.1  3.63   12   0   2   2   1    9    9 12.90
Mauney, Dick              PHI   36.1  3.72    5   5   3   1   0   11   11 11.64
Lambert, Gene             PHI   49.1  4.01    7   6   3   2   0   46   21 12.41
Kraus, Jack               PHI   78.1  4.37   11  11   4   5   0   38   31 13.10
Kush, Emil                PHI   10.0  6.30    8   0   0   0   0    4    2 14.40
Russo, Marius             PHI    7.0  6.43    1   1   0   1   0    5    3 18.00
Page, Joe                 PHI    8.0  6.75    6   0   0   0   0    4   10 21.38
Masterson, Paul           PHI    3.2  7.36    2   0   0   0   1    1    2 17.18

LEAGUE LEADERS

MAY 30 LEAGUE LEADERS

NATIONAL LEAGUE LEADERS		
AVG - Enos Slaughter (STL)	.371
HR - Roy Campanella (BRO)	14
RBI - Roy Campanella (BRO)	47
SB - Sam Jethroe (BSN)		9
				
W - Harry Gumbert (STL)		8
ERA - Ed Bahr (PIT)		1.81
K - Charlie Ripple (PHI)	60
SV - Jim Hughes (BRO)		12
				
AMERICAN LEAGUE LEADERS		
AVG - Ted Williams (BOS)	.374
HR - Charlie Keller (NYY)	17
RBI - Charlie Keller (NYY)	52
SB - Thurman Tucker (CHW)	14
				
W - Yank Terry (BOS)		8
    Jim Bagby (CLE)		
ERA - Roger Wolff (PHA)		1.75
K - Bobo Newsom (WSH)		62
SV - Luis Aloma (CHW)		8

***

5 cities remain in the expansion shuffle:

Baltimore
Milwaukee
New Orleans
Minneapolis
1 "secret city"

[Coach Owens]

Grrr. Hurry up other people! I want the Expansion post to happen!

[PotatoOfCouch13]

5 cities still remain:

Baltimore
Milwaukee
New Orleans
Minneapolis
1 city of your choosing

It'll be fun...

***

MAY 30

Nick stopped by the office to present his report on the head of the draft class. It was obvious to me who the #1 pick should be: SP Robin Roberts. The kid was 7-2 during his senior season. I don’t know how the heck he could get 2 losses with the numbers he put up: 1.03 ERA, 97 K, .177 BAA. These stats are just ridiculous! If Cincinnati and St. Louis are dumb enough to pass on him, I’ll going to set a land-speed record getting to the podium to announce our pick.

Here is the best of the draft class of 1944:

SP Robin Roberts
CF Duke Snider
1B Roy Sievers
SP Carl Erskine
SP Lew Burdette
SP Ralph Branca
SP Don Newcombe
SP Chris Pfeffer
SP Nicholas Hides
SP Johnny Gray

***

I was busy at night as well. I had another proposal to present before the Philadelphia City Council, this one was sure to pass, because I told no one about it. After what happened last time, I was afraid that the plan might fall through.

As it turns out, Major League Baseball had been dragging its feet as far as buying the plot of land that housed the Baker Bowl was concerned. With the right offer, I would try and buy that plot, as well as one on the Schuylkill River, next to the Fairmount Park System.

It wasn’t going to be easy. There were quite a few board members that were against my buying of parkland. Their concerns were eased somewhat, however, when I told about the plan to rebuild the Baker Bowl into a recreation center, including a 1:2 scale replica of Shibe Park, and later, a replica of the Phillies’ new ballpark.

It was a close vote, but I think the $1 million offer that I presented to them was too much for them to turn down. (Thank you Nick for selling our brokerage firm!)

The Philadelphia Phillies now own the Baker Bowl and the plot of land south of the East Park Reservoir, east of the Schuylkill River, and west of N 33rd Street.

Big things are set to happen in Philadelphia...

[petrel]

It's kind of fun to watch draft picks end up with the same teams for which they played in real life. It's even better when its a player of the caliber of Robin Roberts.

--Pet

[PotatoOfCouch13]

EDIT: SPOILER ALERT!

Well, to be honest, I had to play around with the settings to get Roberts. Let's just say I suffered a brief bout with "multiple personalities"...

***

By the way, the same 5 cities remain:

Baltimore
Milwaukee
New Orleans
Minneapolis
1 city of your choosing

If they're unclaimed by Sunday at 11:59PM, then I'll just do it myself, and YOU'LL FEEL BAD FOR MISSING OUT ON THE FUN!!!