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| Legends of Cooperstown News |
| Spring Tradition World Series preview issue May, 2002 |
| It's an all 'Show-me' state World Series in the WLOC |
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| Congratulations to John Wolfmeyer and John Bonno (oh yeah, you too Seannie Bhoy) on winning their league championships and advancing to the World Series of the WLOC. Congratulations as well to the rest of the playoff teams, in the AL, Nick Flory-Rochester, Tim Daniels-Boston, Greg Domsten-Chicago; in the NL, Phil Trygar Kansas City, Tim Cook-Louisville, Larry Denicola-Scranton. All 16 teams did a fine job in the league's first season and remained in contention for the post-season right up until the very end. Once the World Series is concluded, we'll move on to vote on league award winners and on whether we should possibly expand next fall as well. Start boning up on 1954...I know a few of you are doing that already! Anyone wishing to get on the waiting list for either the WLCO or the SLOC, e-mail me at [email protected] or Josh Raup at [email protected]. If you'd like a copy of the Japanese League All-Stars or the Negro League All-Stars so you can evaluate them yourself, e-mail me and I'll send you a copy. Keep up the great work and keep having fun! Phil |
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| The American League representative, Missouri, takes on National League pennant winner St. Louis in the first ever Winter Legends of Cooperstown World Series. The classic 9 game series will be a net play event between Riverbats owner John Wolfmeyer and St. Louis interim manager Sean MacLeod. Missouri advanced to the World Series with a nail biting 7 game series victory over Nick Flory's Rochester Live Oaks. The Perfectos closed out a brilliant second half of the season by eliminating Phil Trygar's Kansas City Monarchs in 6 games. The first ever WLOC World Series is shaping up to be a classic, with both teams' rosters dotted with all time greats, such as Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Jackie Robinson, John Clarkson and Steve Carlton of Missouri, facing off against Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, Ernie Banks, Mickey Cocharane, Johnny Mize and Catfish Hunter of St. Louis. |
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| Using much the same formula as Missouri, the St. Louis Perfectos combined the right mix of speed power and defense in winning the National League pennant. Drafted originally by Jim Taglia, the team got out of the gate slowly at 6 wins and 15 losses, but did not post another losing month for the rest of the season. The team was just beginning to click when Jim had to give up the team due to personal reasons. By this time, the team had turned the corner at 25-24 and were poised to make their run. John Bonno took over and the team continued to improve and he guided them from the middle of the pack into playoff contention. John had to pass on the reigns to Sean MacLeod when his wife became seriously ill in her fight with cancer. We wish them both well and his chair remains open to take over the team again when he can. Sean, who also has a franchise in the Summer LOC, guided the team the last 40 games of the season to 2nd place, past a very tough Kentucky team in 7 games in round one of the NL playoffs, and then a 6 game face to face series win over regular season winner Kansas City. |
| Missouri's Ty Cobb and St. Louis' Nap Lajoie compare lumber before they square off in the first ever Winter Legends of Cooperstown World Series |
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| The newest creation for use with the HOF 2000 set is a Latino all-time great team, including Pitcher-Jose Mendez, Luis Tiant Sr., Luis Tiant Jr., Fernando Valenzuela, Mike Garcia, Mike Cuellar, Dolf Luque, Dennis Martinez, Julio Molina, Lazaro Salazar; Catcher-Miguel Gonzalez, Al Lopez; First Base-Perucho Cepeda, Keith Hernandez, Hector Espino; Second Base-Roberto Avila, Antonio Pacheco; Third Base- Omar Linares; Shortstop-Rodolfo Puente, Dave Concepcion; Outfield-Pablo Mesa, Alejandro Ohms, Tony Oliva, Minnie Minoso. If you would like a copy of the roster files containing the Latino players or the Japanese Players and Negro League players already created for use with the Legends of Cooperstown leagues, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] You can read a short bio on the Latino players and also read a short history of the Japanese League, along with photos and bios on the Japanese created players as well. Your comments and suggestions are welcome and any names, facts, etc. that you'd like to contribute are most welcome with these projects. They're meant to extend the value of the game of Baseball and Strat-O-Matic, through not just Major League History, but also the histories and backgrounds of the all-time players from other countries, who in a lot of cases did not have the opportunity to show their talents in the Major Leagues. |
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| In 1954, Willie Mays deservedly won the NL MVP with a .345 average, 41 HR and 110 RBI. Runner-up was Ted Kluszewski, who in any other year, his .326 average, 49 HR and 141 RBI would have made him a runaway winner. The duo of Bobby and Barry Bonds not only hold the record for father-son combined home runs, but also for most RBI and most stolen bases. There is only one active player who holds the highest career batting average at his postion...Mike Piazza, who currently has a .325 career average at catcher. The rest of the list 1B Dan Brouthers .342, 2B Rogers Hornsby .358, 3B Wade Boggs .328, SS Honus Wagner .327, OF Ty Cobb .366 Amazingly, Ty Cobb's lowest full season batting average was .316, his 2nd season in the major leagues, although he did hit just .241 in 41 games his rookie season. The major leaguer with the most hits in the 1990's was not Gwynn, Boggs or Bonds. It was Mark Grace, who totalled 1,753 hits from 1990 to 1999. The only 2 brothers to win the Cy Young award are Jim Perry with the Twins in 1970 and Gaylord Perry with the Indians in 1972. |
| Both teams in the WLOC World Series feature similar styles, but no team in the league epitomized team play more than the Missouri Riverbats. When John Wolfmeyer built his team on the smallball style he admired of the 1980's St. Louis Cardinals and Whitey Herzog, he knew he was taking a chance. With power hitters in abundance available in the draft, building a team around speed, defense and pitching was not something he expected would be successful. Last in the WLOC in home runs later, his team is in the Spring Tradition as the AL's representative. A league leading .284 team batting average, 147 stolen bases and a WLOC low of 86 errors, tied only with Kansas City, have shown that pure power does not always win out in the end. Having the American League's ERA leader also helps, as Jim Merritt posted 14 wins to go along with a 2.48 earned run average. Five Riverbats were among the American League's top 12 in batting average, Ty Cobb 3rd at .345, Jackie Robinson 5th at .335, Honus Wagner 8th at .315 and Sam Thompson .304 was 12th. Thompson led the team in RBI with 84, far behind AL leader Eddie Mathews of Chicago's 132,yet the team still finished 2nd in the league in runs scored with 759. John Clarkson led the team in wins with 17, but it was Jim Merritt, along with leading the league in ERA, also posted back to back shutout victories in the American League Championship series vs Rochester. Mike McCormick chipped in with 14 wins as well, while the bullpen duo of Orlando Pena (17) and Tony Pierce (20) combined for 37 saves. |
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| National League MVP candidate Ernie Banks |
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| Honus Wagner had what may be considered an off year for Missouri, but he still batted .315 with 33 stolen bases |
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| 'Big Klu' Ted Kluszewski...and Mark McGwire has big forearms??? Andro wasn't invented in the fifties |
| Pablo Mesa, Oscar Charleston and Alejandro Ohms |
| American League representative Missouri features finesse over power |
| St. Louis rides up and down rollercoaster season to NL title |
| Did you know? |
| Latino All-Time Greats Team is now available |