Hardball Retrospective – 1906 Season Replay
July 9, 2015 by Derek Bain · Leave a Comment
In “Hardball Retrospective: Evaluating Scouting and Development Outcomes for the Modern-Era Franchises”, I placed every ballplayer in the modern era (from 1901-present) on their original team. Therefore, Freddy Parent is listed on the Cardinals roster for the duration of his career while the Superbas claim Jimmy Sheckard and the Beaneaters declare Vic Willis. I calculated revised standings for every season based entirely on the performance of each team’s “original” players. I discuss every team’s “original” players and seasons at length along with organizational performance with respect to the Amateur Draft (or First-Year Player Draft), amateur free agent signings and other methods of player acquisition. Season standings, WAR and Win Shares totals for the “original” teams are compared against the “actual” team results to assess each franchise’s scouting, development and general management skills.
Using a modified version of the Lahman Database (with the ballplayers linked to their original franchises), I imported the players into Digital Diamond Baseball and conducted a full-season replay with the as-played 1906 schedule.
Several housekeeping items:
- American League schedule was omitted from the 1906 season replay due to a lack of ballplayers on each team. (Apologies to Addie Joss and George Stone).
- Players on defunct teams such as Honus Wagner and Rube Waddell (Louisville Colonels), George Davis and Bobby Wallace (Cleveland Spiders) and are excluded because their original team’s league ceased to exist by 1901.
- I attempted to emulate player usage in the DDBB replay to real-life usage whenever possible.
This series of articles will reveal the results for each season replay and compare the outcomes to the OPW%, OWAR and OWS standings from Hardball Retrospective. “Hardball Retrospective”is available in digital format on Amazon , Barnes and Noble , GooglePlay , iTunes and KoboBooks . The paperback edition is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble and CreateSpace. Additional information and a discussion forum are offered at TuataraSoftware.com .
Don Daglow (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony LaRussa Baseball) contributed the foreword for Hardball Retrospective. The foreword and preview of my book are accessible here .
Terminology
OWAR– Wins Above Replacement for players on “original” teams
OWS– Win Shares for players on “original” teams
OPW%– Pythagorean Won-Loss record for the “original” teams
1906 National League – Replay Results
Philadelphia left the competition in the dust as Chicago finished a distant second, 14.5 games behind. Nap Lajoie claimed his third batting title with a .359 average and paced the Senior Circuit with 216 safeties, 43 two-base hits and 51 stolen bases. Elmer Flick contributed a League-best 15 triples and Sherry Magee rapped 42 doubles. The Phillies rotation dominated the opposition with Doc White (17-4, 2.17), Tully Sparks (23-11, 2.24) and Bill Duggleby (25-6, 2.39) landing the top three slots on the ERA charts. Teammates Frank Chance (.327) and Frank Isbell (.312) finished second and third, respectively, in the NL batting race. Chance recorded a season-best .402 OBP. Cubs’ right-hander Bob “Dusty” Rhoads (28-8, 2.53) led the League in victories.
Cincinnati compiled 80 wins against 75 losses as Miller Huggins sparked the offense with 106 runs scored. New York slumped from 92 victories in 1905 to a 75-78 record despite a stellar season from Dummy Taylor (23-13, 2.77). “Wee” Willie Keeler topped the circuit with 115 aces while batting .310 with 209 base hits and 42 steals. Harry Davis slammed a League-leading 14 round-trippers and registered 116 ribbies. Cy Seymour jacked 12 four-baggers and Danny Murphy plated 98 baserunners. “Happy” Jack Chesbro (22-19, 2.98) was a lone bright spot in an otherwise mediocre effort from the Pirates.
St. Louis’ right-hander Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown (16-13, 2.47) placed fourth in the ERA leader boards. Charlie “Eagle Eye” Hemphill legged out 16 three-base hits to lead the League. Brooklyn outfielder Harry “Judge” Lumley (.308/8/105) placed runner-up in RBI and stolen bases (46). Harry Howell accrued 22 victories and fashioned a 2.68 ERA for the Superbas. Boston secured last place with a 58-94 record. Irv Young hurled 555.1 innings for the Beaneaters, yielding 23 wins against 39 losses.
1906 National League – Hardball Retro Replay – Final Standings
Replay Results vs. Hardball Retrospective Findings
The Giants (91-63) captured the franchise’s fourth consecutive pennant with a three-game cushion over the Cardinals. Chicago topped the National League in OWS (362) while New York registered the highest OWAR (65.9).
On Deck
1907 Season Replay
References and Resources
Baseball America – Executive Database
James, Bill, with Jim Henzler. Win Shares. Morton Grove, Ill.: STATS, 2002. Print.
