After having a lot of fun in my first live draft league (a 2010 replay), I thought I'd try one myself, this time a historical season:
1934 was a memorable year: Babe Ruth's last season with the Yankees; a heavy-hitting Tiger team in the AL led by Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehrigner and player-manager Mickey Cochrane; a great pennant race in the NL as the Gashouse Gang in St. Louis overtook Bill Terry's Giants down the stretch; and finally a classic 7-game World Series that ended with a Dizzy Dean shutout and a near riot in Detroit when Joe Medwick and Marv Owen mixed it up after a hard slide at third base.
This will be a 12-team league (there were 16 MLB teams in 1934, so this will allow us to fill our rosters comfortably without resorting to AAA). The league will be divided into NL and AL, with interleague play.
When owners sign up, they will choose a city/stadium from 1934, and that will decide which league they will be placed in (as commish, I'll pick my city/stadium last). Cities/stadiums will be exclusive.
We will use a snake-style draft (1-12, 12-1, etc.) and will draft 2 players a day. The draft order will be random.
OTHER DETAILS
No salary cap (but no one should exceed 100M)
NO: DH, WW, AAA
Trades okay
Injuries on
NL Leaders of 1934:
WINS: Dizzy Dean, 30
ERA: Carl Hubbell, 2.30
WHIP: Hubbell, 1.03
SHO: Dean, 7
K's: Dean 195
IP: Van Lingle Mungo, 315.1
AVG: Paul Waner, .362
HR: Ripper Collins; Met Ott, 35
2B: Kiki Cuyler, 42
3B: Joe Medwick, 18
RBI: Ott, 135
RUNS: Waner, 122
SLG: Collins, .615
SB: Pepper Martin, 23
AL Leaders of 1934
WINS: Lefty Gomez, 26
ERA: Gomez, 2.33
WHIP: Gomez, 1.13
SHO: Gomez; Mel Harder, 6
K's: Gomez, 158
IP: Gomez, 281.2
AVG: Lou Gehrig, .363
HR: Gehrig, 49
2B: Hank Greenberg, 63
3B: Ben Chapman, 13
RBI: Gehrig, 165
RUNS: Charlie Gehringer, 134
SLG: Gehrig, .706
SB: Billy Weber, 40
Below is a photo of a famous incident from the 1934 World Series:
After driving in a run with a single to right in the fourth inning of game four, Spud Davis was replaced by Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean as a pinch runner at first base. Pepper Martin then stepped in and hit a ground ball to Gehringer at second. Gehringer turned and threw to Rogell who forced out Dean at second, and then fired the ball squarely into Dean’s forehead on the relay throw to first. The ball ricocheted off Dean’s head and landed over a hundred feet away in the outfield. Dean, always known for his quick wit and humorous nature, remarked after a visit to the hospital, “The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing.” Rogell would say of the play later, “If I’d have known his head was there, I would have thrown the ball harder.”
1/29/2011 4:39 AM (edited)