Joy In Beertown--Braves Hold Off Dodgers, Take '56 Flag

The Braves held off the never-say-die Dodgers and took the 1956 NL pennant in my replay, clinching on the third-to-last day of the season on their way to 96 wins and a final 4 game margin. The Beertown club boasted batting champ Hank Aaron (.337) and HR leader Joe Adcock (43) as well as a formidable starting duo of Spahn (22-11) and Burdette (18-8). As they await the Yankees and the World Series, here are the final numbers:

MIL  96-58  ---  
BRK  92-62  4  (most Sept. wins 17-9)
CIN  88-66  8  (best Sept. record 16-8, best 1-run record 31-16, best X-inn record 11-3)
STL  84-70  12
PHI  72-82  24
CHI  66-88  30
NY  65-89  31
PIT  53-101  43  (worst Sept. record 5-19, worst 1-run record 16-28, worst X-inn record 4-9) 

PITCHING
MIL 2.75  (most SHO 25, most CG 64, least K's 651, least runs against 473, least HRvs. 117)
BRK  3.27  
CIN  3.70  (most saves 49, least CG 24)
PIT  3.78 (least saves 11, most HRvs. 150)
PHI  3.78
STL  3.82  
CHI  4.15  (most K's 848, most runs against 727, least shutouts 9)
NY  4.29  

BATTING
STL  .261  (most runs 731, most doubles 258, tied most triples 55, tie least times shutout 11)
CIN  .256  (most HR 181, least triples 35)
BRK  .255 
MIL  .250  (least steals 10, tie least times shutout 11)
CHI  .241  (tie most triples 55, least GIDP 94, least doubles 172)
PHI  .239  (most GIDP 135, least caught stealing 25, tie least HR 98)
PIT  .236  (least runs 480, most caught stealing 37, tie least HR 98, most times shutout 25)
NY  .230  (most steals 83)

FIELDING (average is IP divided by errors)
BRK  16.61  (least errors 83)
CIN  14.95
PHI  13.37 (most DP's 150)
STL  12.98
MIL  12.92
NY  12.71
CHI  10.68  (tie most errors 129, tie least DP's 114)
PIT  10.52  (tie most errors 129, tie least DP's 114)

ERA (154 IP min.) : Burdette-mil 1.94, Newcombe-brk 2.02, Spahn-mil 2.10, Conley-mil 2.51, Rush-chi 2.64, Simmons-phi 2.64, Dickson-stl 2.66, Friend-pit 2.67, Craig-brk 2.76, Crone-mil 2.87

WINS: Newcombe-brk 22-7, Spahn-mil 22-11, Burdette-mil 18-8, Craig-brk 18-10

LOSSES: Kline-pit 7-21, Munger-pit 7-17

CG: Newcombe-brk 23, Spahn-mil 20, Dickson-stl 19, Burdette-mil 17

K's: Jones-chi 191, Spahn-mil 176, Haddix-phi 164, Antonelli-ny 159, Friend-pit 159

IP: Newcombe-brk 294.1, Spahn-mil 291.1, Dickson-stl 270.1, Friend-pit 269.1, Rush-chi 262.2

SHO: Newcombe-brk 9, Spahn-mil 7, Antonelli-ny 5, Conley-mil 5, Craig-brk 5

SAVES: Freeman-cin 41, Grissom-ny 29, Bessent-brk 28, Lown-chi 21, R.Miller-phi 20

BAvg (416 ab min.)  Aaron-mil .337, Boyer-stl .314, Bailey-cin .310, Fondy-chi .300, Kluszewski-cin .291, Dark-stl .290, Banks-chi 286, Musial-stl .285, Snider-brk .285, Ashburn-phi .283, Jackson-brk .283

HR:  Adcock-mil 43, Robinson-cin 39, Snider-brk 37, Bailey-cin 35, Mays-ny 32, Mathews-mil 31

RBI: Snider-brk 120, Musial-stl 108, Mathews-mil 107, Hodges-brk 103

RUNS: Robinson-cin 112, Snider-brk 107, Musial-stl 105, Aaron-mil 104, Boyer-stl 102

2B: Robinson-cin 43, Aaron-mil 40, Jablonski-cin 40

3B: Bruton-mil 23, Musial-stl 14, Aaron-mil 13

HITS: Aaron-mil 207, Boyer-stl 198

STEALS: Mays-ny 49, Gilliam-brk 36, White-ny 20

GIDP: Musial-stl 21, Ennis-phi 20, Jablonski-cin 20

ERR: Groat-pit 43, Baker-chi 33

League stats vs (actual):

AB--41,669 (41,849)
H--10,256 (10,716)
AVG--.246 (.256)
R--5,032 (5,275)
2B--1,731 (1,659)
3B--381 (372)
HR--1,070 (1,219)
SB--353 (371)
CS--256 (242)
GIDP--906 (954)

ERA--3.69 (3.77)
IP--11,012 (11,063.1)
K--5,941 (5,694)
SHO--123 (67)
SAVES--219 (200 or 196 depending on source)
CG--322 (360)
ERR--858 (1,082)
DP--1,048 (1,191)

Some thoughts: Errors usually come out right for me, but this replay they were short, and I am pretty certain I know why. I halved the frequency of results 23 and 41 with the bases empty, which are errors. I did it because the errors are so random. and result in shortstops on Fielding Three teams getting a lot of extra errors, along with some others. It skews individual fielding, but results in better total error numbers when left alone. I can't imagine how many errors Groat might have had if I had not done what I did. The flip side is, less errors, less scoring, to some degree, and scoring was low.

April was a shutout-fest, with 21 shutouts in 50 games. The pace slowed after that, but I was never going to duplicate the 67 actual shutouts. I can't explain April except for the small use of lesser starters, but it was just plain cold dice, I think, for the most part. 

Now then, home runs. They have been down in my last two replays, after being over-abundant every replay before that. This coincides with my 14 year absence from the hobby, so maybe the cards have been changed? My Orsino Board does knock down about 45-55 HR over a season like this one, but it also added 9 inside the park Hr's. So, 6 less homers per team is negligible. It doesn't explain the gap I had in this, or my last replay. I will be lessening the effect of the Orsino Board HR reduction for my next project (1964 MLB), but I am not eliminating it altogether because it creates platoon effects that I like. 

Doubles always seem to be high. They were here, too. However, this is the first replay I have ever played where the IP were LOW. I have always wondered why they are always high. Maybe because I play a lot of '60's seasons with a lot of low scoring marathon extra inning games? There were very few of those this time. Anyway, it was nice to buck the trend.

There was one cycle (Pete Whisenant of the Cubs in April), one no-hitter (Newcombe late in the season against NY), one 4 HR game (Bailey of the Reds in August), 4 triple plays (2 by the Phillies) and the longest game of the year was at St. Louis when the Cards topped the Reds in 18 innings in July. The most K's in a game was 12, accomplished twice by Sad Sam Jones of the Cubs, both times in August. I started on June 29th, 2017 and finished December 20th, 2017, so a little less than 6 months. This does not count the World Series, which is kind of unofficial, since I am just pulling the Yankees out of their pack without having played the AL. This was my first '50's replay and I have enjoyed it.

A so-long song for my pet, Eddie Mathews. The song is from 1956!