1963 MLB Replay.
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I am one week into my 1963 MLB Replay. I’m using custom teams to follow in-season transactions. I got the opening day rosters and transaction information from the ATMgrforBBW group (https://groups.io/g/ATMgrforBBW). Using solitaire mode to manage both squads. Here are the standings after one week of games:
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A few outstanding performances from the first week, with comparisons to their real life first week:
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Week 2 is in the books, and here are the AL Standings:
Tigers and Twins are performing beyond their expectations in the early-going.
In the National League, the Giants and Cardinals are setting the pace. The Giants were undefeated after their first 10 games, but dropped a pair to the Cubs to close out the week:
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There are 3 pitchers in the National League who are 3-0. To this point, Warren Spahn has the best ERA of those.
The only 3-0 pitcher in the American League is Jim Kaat:
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Frank Howard has moved to the top of the NL Home Run board:
Jerry Lumpe leads the American League in total based through 2 weeks with 34:
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Agreed. I didn’t really have a full-season replay on my radar, but my family got me a Fire tablet for Christmas and so that gave me an excuse to start a new replay. The 10-inch screen shows the entire GO window which is a nice improvement over my previous 7-inch tablet.
I’m hoping to see some good pennant races. The Yanks won the AL by 10 games but if you look at expected wins/losses the Twins and White Sox are only a few games behind them in expected wins.
The NL has 5 teams between 89 and 94 expected wins!
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Week 3 is in the books, and things are crowded atop the NL Standings:
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The Tigers continue to lead the way in the American League:
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A couple of notable games from this week:
Friday, April 26th. Jim Maloney of the Cincinatti Reds throws a no-hitter against the Houston Colt 45s in a 7-0 victory. Maloney struck out 14 batters and walked 4.
Saturday, April 27th. In an 11-1 Yankees victory over the Cleveland Indians, Mantle, Pepitone and Howard hit consecutive homers in the 7th inning off of Dick Donovan. Mantle would hit 2 homers in the game, and drive in 6 runs.
Sunday, April 28th. Cleveland defeats New York as Whitey Ford gives up just one hit over 8 innings and takes the loss. Mudcat Grant throws a 3-hit shutout. A solo homer by Joe Adcock in the 4th inning is the only hit of the game for Cleveland, but they prevail by a score of 1-0.
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After 3 weeks of play, Johnny Podres of the Los Angeles Dodgers has moved to the head of the class of National League hurlers with a 5-0 record:
There are 11 pitchers in the American league with 3 victories. Perhaps the most unlikely of those pitchers is Terry Fox of the Detroit Tigers, who has earned 3 victories in just 7 innings of relief work in 4 games:
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The total base leaders through 3 weeks are Willie Mays in the National League and Pete Ward in the American League.
Mays has moved into a tie for the home run lead, and is just one off Frank Howard’s pace for the RBI lead as well.
Ward is in sole possession of the home run lead in the American league.
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Monday, April 29th. Trailing by a score of 5-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies, the San Francisco Giants mount a rally, loading the bases with nobody out in the 6th inning against Cal McLish when…
McLish would be ejected from the game in the bottom of the inning when he questioned a strike call against him while batting against John Pregenzer. Ray Culp would pitch the final 3 innings of the 12-2 victory for the Phillies.
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Tuesday, April 30, 1963. Baltimore at Minnesota. Camilo Pascual is finally lifted from the game with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning for a pinch hitter with the game tied at 1. Jimmy Hall ends the game with a solo home run off of Stu Miller.
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Wednesday, May 1, 1963. The New York Yankees were involved in another unusual game on Wednesday, May 1st when Ralph Terry squared off against Bo Belinsky and the Los Angeles Angels. Terry entered the game with a record of 3-1 and an ERA of 2.52. Belinsky had a record of 0-2 and a hefty era of 11.74. Given those numbers, the game started as expected. In the first inning, the Yankees scored 5 runs off Belinsky, including a Grand Slam by Roger Maris. But Belinsky righted the ship and kept the Yankees off the board while the Angels chipped away at the deficit with single runs in the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th innings. In the bottom of the 7th inning, Leon Wagner launched a 3-run homer off Hal Reniff to turn the 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 lead. Belinsky went the distance and earned the improbable victory.
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Thursday, May 2 Highlights
Don Drysdale flirts with a no-hitter and a pair or walk-off victories.
The Phillies hosted the Dodgers and Don Drysdale didn’t give up a hit until Johnny Callison singled with one out in the 8th inning. Drysdale would complete the shutout as the Dodgers won by a score of 5-0. Don Demeter would get the only other hit for the Phillies.
In Pittsburgh, Juan Marichal cruised through 7 shutout innings, but surrendered a 3-run double to Smoky Burgess in the 8th inning as the Pirates tied the game at 3. Bob Bailey won the game for the Pirates with a homer off Jack Sanford with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning. Harvey Haddix got the win with 4 innings of relief work.
In Chicago, the Cardinals prevailed over the Cubs when Stan Musial homered off Jim Brewer to tie the game at 4 in the 10th inning. Julian Javier ended the game 2 batters later with a solo homer of his own.
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Looks like a fun season… thanks for sharing! I’ve definitely found when I do replays the bad teams tend to be REALLY bad, and you seem to have that going on here so far as well.
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Highlights from Friday, May 3, 1963.
Bob Allison leads the Twins to a 6-4 victory over the Yankees. Allison drove in 3 runs on a triple in the third inning then smacked a pair of solo homers in the sixth and eighth innings. The 8th inning homer off Jim Bouton broke a 4-4 tie.
The Mets prevailed over the Giants in 10 innings. The winning run scored when Ed Kranepool bounced a routine grounder that Joey Amalfitano booted, allowing Ron Hunt to score from third. Final score 3-2.
In Pittsburgh it was Harvey Haddix to the rescue once again, as he hurled 5 innings in relief of Al McBean. Haddix came to the plate in the 5th inning with the Pirates trailing the Dodgers by a score of 4-2 but threatening with runners on first and second and nobody out. It was at this point that things got weird. The first pitch to Haddix was called a ball by home plate umpire Al Forman. Johnny Roseboro objected and was ejected from the game. Enter backup catcher Doug Camilli. Pitch number 2 of the at-bat was around the corner of the plate, and Camilli questioned Forman’s call of ball two, and he too was sent to the showers. Enter Don Zimmer, a utility player who has played all over the diamond in his career, but never behind the plate. The first pitch with Zimmer behind the plate was lined into the gap by Haddix for a double, and a tie game. The Pirates would go on to win by a score of 7-6 with Zimmer catching the final 4 innings of the game.
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The Yankees and Twins played another exciting game on Saturday, May 4th. The Twins held a 2-0 lead through 7 innings as Jim Kaat was dialed in once again. Roger Maris broke up the shutout with a solo homer in the top of the 8th inning (his 4th of the season). The Twins called on Bill Dailey to close out the game, but a two-run home run by Tom Tresh (his first of the season) in the top of the 9th gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead which the Twins could not overcome. At 13-8, the Twins are 1/2 game behind the first-place Tigers. They Yankees are 4 games back at 8-10.
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A total of 14 games played on Sunday, May 5, 1963.
In the first game of a doubleheader in Cincinnati, Jim O’Toole and Ray Sadecki were sharp to open the game, each throwing 3 scoreless innings. O’Toole reached base against Sadecki in the 3rd inning and tried to surprise the Cardinals with a steal of second base. O’Toole disagreed with second base umpire Frank Walsh’s call of “out” and was ejected from the game. Jim Owens was pressed into duty and was charged with the loss after allowing the Cardinals to score the game’s first run in the top of the 5th inning. The Cardinals would go on to win the game by a score of 4-1. The Reds took game 2 by a score of 4-3 when Vida Pinson doubled home Pete Rose in the bottom of the 10th inning off Bobby Shantz.
The Orioles and Tigers played only one game in Detroit, but scored enough runs for a doubleheader. The Orioles prevailed by a score of 11-10 behind 2 homers and 6 runs batted in by Boog Powell. Bill Bruton went 4 for 5 with 4 RBI in the loss for Detroit.
Eddie Bressoud of the Red Sox had a career day against the Kansas City A’s on Sunday, going 3 for 5 with 2 home runs and driving in 5 runs. Bressoud also scored the go-ahead run for the Red Sox in the top of the 10th inning on Frank Malzone’s single as the Sox prevailed over the A’s by a score of 10-9.
Bo Belinsky went the distance for the Angels and blanked the Cleveland Indians in a 5-0 victory.
The Twins and Yankees played yet another exciting game as pinch-hitter Johnny Goryl hit a two-run home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the game at 4, but the Yankees prevailed when Roger Maris homered in the top of the 10th for a 5-4 New York win.
Tony Cloninger blanked the Chicago Cubs as the Braves prevailed by a score of 4-0.
The Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Colt 45s prevailing by a score of 4-1 and 4-0. In the second game, Johnny Klippstein went the distance for the shutout.