My 1952 Season Replay
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I have reached the end of April of my 1952 Replay on GO. Great fun so far. Only 98 games down (with another 1,100+ to go!) Am doing my best to recreate each game’s real-life starting lineup, using the 400 players APBA has issued in the replay. Trades will occur just as/when they did in '52.
Once I have completed May, I plan to update this thread after each month… and will also compile the Starting Pitcher ERA’s and WHIPS, broken down by A, B, C and D grades.
The American League is already shaping up as a six-team race, as the Red Sox and Browns are off to horrible starts. While the Boston hitting has been decent, the pitching has been horrendous with a team ERA of 6.14. St. Louis has lost some tough games to fall to 1-13. The Browns’ team ERA is 4.92, while their hitters are batting only .201.
American League Standings:
Tigers 8-3 (-)
Yankees 8-3 (-)
Nationals 7-3 (.5)
Athletics 6-4 (1.5)
Indians 8-6 (1.5)
White Sox 8-6 (1.5)
Red Sox 2-10 (6.5)
Browns 1-13 (8.5)AL Batting Average: .245 (Real life .253)
AL OPS: .690 (Real life .695)
AL Pitching ERA: 3.84 (Real life 3.67)
AL WHIP: 1.33 (Real life 1.37)
AL Fielding %: .976 (Real life .977)AL Individual Batting Leaders:
Batting Average: Avila (CLV) .429; Throneberry (BOSA) .405
OPS: Rosen (CLV) 1.260; Vernon (WSH) 1.230
Home Runs: Doby (CLV) & Rosen (CLV) each with 4
RBI: Doby (CLV) 13; Yost (WSH) 12
Stolen Bases: Rivera (STLA) 4AL Individual Pitching Leaders:
Pitching W-L: Gray (DET), Lemon (CLV), Reynolds (NYY) each 3-0
ERA: Reynolds (NYY) 0.36; Porterfield (WSH) 0.69
WHIP: Wynn (CLV) 0.60; Reynolds (NYY) 0.71
K’s: Reynolds (NYY) 19; Pierce (CHIA) 15
Saves: Kuzava (NYY) & White (DET) each with 3
In the National League, a great start to the season so far… although the early league ERA of 4.14 seems out of whack on the high side (the final real-life for the 1952 NL was 3.73). The Cubs’ pitching, led by Bob Rush, has an NL-best team ERA of 3.34. The Reds’ staff is the worst at 5.43. Offensively, the Braves are batting a woeful .197 after 14 games.
National League Standings:
Giants 8-3 (-)
Cardinals 8-5 (1)
Phillies 6-5 (2)
Cubs 7-6 (2)
Dodgers 5-5 (2.5)
Pirates 7-8 (3)
Reds 5-8 (4)
Braves 4-10 (5.5)NL Batting Average: .253 (Real life .253)
NL OPS: .687 (Real life .697)
NL Pitching ERA: 4.14 (Real life 3.73)
NL WHIP: 1.32 (Real life 1.34)
NL Fielding %: .974 (Real life .976)NL Individual Batting Leaders:
Batting Average: Musial (STLN) .460; Burgess (PGH) .412
OPS: Musial (STLN) 1.230; Mueller (NYG) 1.088
Home Runs: Garagiola (PGH) 4; Four hitters tied with 3
RBI: Kluszewski (CIN) 13; Sauer (CHIC) & Westrum (NYG) each with 12
Stolen Bases: Jethroe (BOSN) 5; Reese (BRK) & Ryan (PHLN) each with 4NL Individual Pitching Leaders:
Pitching W-L: Miller (STLN) & Rush (CHIC) each at 3-0
ERA: Rush (CHIC) 0.35; Hearn (NYG) 1.13
WHIP: Spahn (BOSN) 0.69; Rush (CHIC) 0.73
K’s: Spahn (BOSN) 25; Friend (PGH) 20
Saves: Four pitchers tied with 2 -
Just rolled a no-hitter in my 1952 Replay!
The Reds’ Ken Raffensberger (A-Z) shut out the Braves 1-0 on Friday, May 2nd. He struck out three, walked two and hit a batter, en route to a tidy 101-pitch masterpiece.
Cincinnati scored the game’s lone run in the bottom of the 7th, when John Wyrostek led off the inning with a triple, then scored on Ted Kluszewski’s RBI single.
Raffensberger improves his record to 3-and-1, while lowering his ERA to 1.93.
The Reds improve to 6-and-9, while the last-place Braves drop to 5-and-11. -
I love the weird stuff you can stumble across playing this game. Am currently on May 3rd of my 1952 Replay. Cleveland @ Washington.
Was surprised to find that, in real life that day, the Indians sent TWO of their starting-rotation pitchers to the plate… as pinch-hitters. 😲
Bob Lemon batted for Sam Jones in the top of the 8th (Lemon flied out to left), and Early Wynn pinch-hit for John Berardino in the 9th (Wynn singled and was lifted for a pinch-runner).
Cleveland lost the game 7-6.
For what it’s worth, Lemon batted .226 in ‘52, while Wynn batted .222.
But can’t say I’ve ever heard of that happening before, or since. -
Could use some guidance from any of the replay experts here…
I’m on May 8th of my 1952 replay and was surprised to find that Detroit and Washington played to an 11-inning tie that day. Yet when I look at the final AL standings, the Tigers were 50-104 while the Nationals were 78-76. So both still had their full 154 wins & losses during the season.
Do I still replay the May 8th game, knowing that will give each team 155 decisions when my replay ends?
And, out of curiosity, why would they never have simply completed that game later in the season? The Tigers visited Washington again in early June, mid-July and late August that summer. So they had lots of opportunities. Was it a rule back then that tie games were never resumed?
Thanks in advance for any insight.https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1195205080.shtml
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So, I just rolled the game using real-life lineups from May 8, 1952. Am glad I did. Washington’s Don Johnson (D) no-hit Detroit 5-0! He walked two, but both runners were erased on double plays. So he faced the minimum 27 batters. I use pitcher upgrades, so Johnson was an ‘A’ by the 8th inning.
He improves to 2-0 in my ‘52 replay, with an ERA of 2.21. Funny how things work out sometimes.
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