May 14th
The season is beginning to hit its stride, very rapidly approaching the quarter-pole. Clearly, the time from now through the all-star break is vital in defining how things fall out.
#Awards
Albert Pujols of the Kansas City Monarchs hit .650 for the week, winning the NL Player of the Week Award while Babe Ruth took home the AL Player of the Week, hitting .522 with 5 homeruns.
Pujols beat out the House of David‘s Ernie Banks, who had 7 homeruns and drove in 14, and Scott Rolen of the Philadelphia Stars who posted a 1.997 OPS, hitting .474 with 6 dingers and 8 RBIs.
#Team Performance
The New York Black Yankees (Bill James Division) and the Kansas City Monarchs (Marvin Miller Division) continue to be the only teams above .600, while Birmingham (in the basement of the Marvin Miller Division) and defending champs Baltimore are both at 13-26, tied for the worst record in the league, and a 1-9 record in their last 10 games has seen the Memphis Red Sox (in the Bill James Division along with Baltimore) plummet to a .378 percentage.
The other 2 divisions are much tighter, with the San Francisco Seals leading the Chicago American Giants by .5 games in the Cum Posey Division and Brooklyn and Homestead in a dead heat for first in the Effa Manley Division, where the Ottawa Mounties, in last place, is only 3 games back.
#Player Performance
Batters
Usual stuff here–top 2 in most categories, league leaders in bold. Ruth’s performance is expected, but Detroit‘s young star, Ty Cobb, is far exceeding expectations at this point.
Lance Berkman (CLE). 326/393/803. 17 HR.
Ty Cobb (DET). 400/463/846. 22 2B; 2.8 WAR.
Tony Gwynn (HOU). 402/441/621. 53 H.
Rickey Henderson (SFS). 294/386/515. 31 SB.
Pete Hill (HOU). 273/356/531. 7 3B.
Joe Jackson (CAG). 386/427/636. 54 H; 21 2B.
Reggie Jackson (SFS). 308/386/664. 38 RBI; 34 R.
Babe Ruth (NYY). 326/440/770. 17 HR; 42 RBI; 37 R; 28 BB; 2.7 WAR.
Larry Walker (OTT). 357/431/754. 38 RBI.
Bobby Wallace (BAL). 233/385/341. 30 BB.
Pitchers
Starters
Just look at that Toad go! Ramsey has been magnificent for the Houston Colt 45’s, although he’s struggled a little in his most recent starts. There are a few more pitchers with 6 wins, I’ve only included the two sitting at 6-1, plus Ramsey.
Johnny Cueto (IND). 6-1, 2.85. 0.91 WHIP.
Doc Gooden (LAA). 4-2, 1.72. 2.80 FIP; 1.8 WAR.
Ron Guidry (NYY). 5-1, 3.79. 66 K.
Walter Johnson (POR). 4-3, 2.82. 60.2 IP; 1.8 WAR.
Frank Knauss (BRK). 6-1, 2.19.
Toad Ramsey (HOU). 6-2, 1.63. 60.2 IP; 74 K; 0.77 WHIP; 2.31 FIP; 2.9 WAR.
Relievers
12 IP Minimum.
None of the closers have really been dominant–Gagne had been, but his ERA has risen over the past few weeks.
Rod Beck (SFS). 1-2, 5.84. 12 Sv.
Jack Billingham (IND). 0-1, 2.25. 2 H; 0.62 WHIP.
Rheal Cormier (NYY). 0-0, 3.29. 6 H.
Eric Gagne (BRK). 0-0, 2.51. 12 Sv.
Bob Howry (PHI). 2-1, 3.29. 8 Sv; 0.51 WHIP.
Kenshin Kawakami (MCG). 2-0, 1.02.
Tim Lincecum (HOM). 0-0, 9.00. 1 H; 1.19 FIP.
Ross Reynolds (LAA). 1-0, 0.75. 1 Sv; 1 H.
Ron Robinson (SFS). 1-0, 1.38. 1 Sv; 3 H; 1.96 FIP.
2 Way Players
Not a ton of change here. Most of these guys are clearly contributing significantly more one side or the other, with only Luis Padrón of the Indianapolis ABC‘s and Philadelphia’s Joe Rogan really manifesting as 2-way contributors (indeed, those are the only players with positive WARs each way). Chicago’s Cristóbal Torriente saw his first time on the mound in a blowout, but has a ways to go before being listed here.
| Player | Pitching | Batting | pWAR | bWAR | WAR |
| Luis Padrón (IND) | 5-1, 4.04 (42 IP, 6 GS) | 365/441/596 (59 PA) | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Joe Rogan (PHI) | 3-3, 4.50 (46 IP, 7 GS) | 288/328/504 (134 PA) | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| J.M. Ward (PHI) | 0-1, 3.43 (42 IP, 7 GS) | 207/233/379 (30 PA) | 0.7 | -0.2 | 0.5 |
| Jim Whitney (BBB) | 1-0, 2.19 (37 IP, 16 G) | 100/143/150 (21 PA) | 0.8 | -0.4 | 0.4 |
| Eustaquio Pedroso (MCG) | 0-0, 4.24 (23 IP, 13 G) | 222/344/222 (32 PA) | 0.1 | -0.1 | 0.0 |
#Injury Report
Chicago’s Akinori Otsuka is out for about 2 weeks, weakening the American Giants’ bullpen significantly.
Detroit lost both Hal Newhouser and Johnny Marcum from their rotation this week.
Memphis may get some help on the mound this week, as both Shane Bieber and Skel Roach may return from injury.
Jimmy Bloodworth is out for over a month for San Francisco, which is not all bad news for the Sea Lions as it opens more playing time for the irrepressible Dick Lundy.