NEGRO LEAGUE FRANCHISE ALLSTARS This is my newest version of the Negro Leagues as of 7/13/02! The Negro Teams of the first half of the twentieth century played in several different leagues and often barnstormed as independent units. The players moved from team to team much as modern players do, and for the same reason: money. The difference is that instead of too much money the Negro League players made too little. Occasionally, they would play in the Mexican or Cuban Leagues and the like, and often the Latin American players would play in the Negro Leagues as well. My Negro Franchise Allstars League never really existed as such because all twenty of these teams did not exist at or play in the same league at the same time. However, these are the teams that were most important in Negro League history. Some are combinations of several teams that played in the same city and others are the same franchise that merely changed their name. Newark Eagles (Brooklyn Eagles, Newark Dodgers) New York Cubans (Cuban Stars East) Atlantic City Bacharach Giants New York Lincoln Giants (New York Black Yankees) Brooklyn Royal Giants Homestead Grays Pittsburgh Crawfords Philadelphia Stars (Philadelphia Giants) Baltimore Elite Giants (Baltimore Black Sox) Hilldale Daisies (Philadelphia Hilldales) Chicago American Giants Chicago Leland Giants (Chicago Giants, Union Giants) Cuban Stars (Cuban Stars West, Cuban Giants) Detroit Stars (Detroit Wolves) Cleveland Buckeyes (Cleveland Bears) Kansas City Monarchs (All Nations Club) Birmingham Black Barons St. Louis Stars (St. Louis Giants) Indianapolis ABCs (Indianapolis Clowns) Memphis Red Sox Players were placed, where possible, on the team for which they most often played or with which they were most identified. Players that played mostly in the Major Leagues were not included. I chose to use lifetime statistics rather than a selected year because even with players for which all stats are available, I feel that single season best performances do not give as fair and realistic results as lifetime stats. Actually, in the case of the Negro Leagues, even my players'lifetime statistics are sometimes very subjective but I believe that I have gotten a relatively realistic balance. I think I got the ratings adjusted so that the players will do accurately against major leaguers from the same time period (assuming you play them against lifetime stats). However, just as in real life, the exceptional players will have great stats in the Negro Leagues because of the lack of depth on the teams. Buck Leonard said that the Negro Leagues as a whole were probably about at triple A level because they consisted of players of hall of fame, major league, triple A, double A and single A ball all playing in the same leagues mixed into all the teams. Therefore you can have great pitching matchups when two of the hall of famers are pitching but still have guys who hit in the high 300's for the year. I used a half dozen reference sources but the main source was The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues by James A. Riley. There are many stats for different seasons for these players, which I used as a starting point. Other Books used as sources: Only the Ball was White Buck Leonard Autobiography Nice Guys Finish First (Monte Irvin) Josh and Satch The Story of Negro League Baseball The Pittsburgh Crawfords The Power and the Darkness Using Baseball Wizard I either created new players from scratch or cloned existing players and adjusted them to create my rosters. Then I played ten different seasons with these players and averaged the results, and using wizard, created each player from scratch using these averages. Knowing that the style and statistics of the game were different in the dead ball era, the twenties and thirties and then the fourties on up helped to judge how to create a player. John Henry Lloyd, for example, played primarily in the dead ball era. We have many stats recorded for him, including averages against white major leaguers. Some stats have to be taken with a grain of salt, for we know that many games were played against non-major league caliber opponents or against less rested pitching staffs (Negro League teams had smaller rosters). Opinions of his peers and opponents in all leagues, such as Honus Wagner, have to be taken into consideration in the final creation. What we get is an defensively excellent, left-handed hitting shortstop who runs the bases well and has good extra base power, but who does not hit a lot of homers. We know what other positions he plays, that he performs well at the hit and run, hits for an extremely high average without striking out a lot. Josh Gibson, who played in the live ball era, will be more similar to Jimmy Foxx or Babe Ruth. If you use lifetime stats, then extrapolate to get some of the unknowns, it is possible to get a fairly accurate player. If you have Wizard, you may change any player you want. Obviously, none of this stuff is written in stone. The League is almost ready to play. Lineups, pitching rotations and a schedule are set up. Use whatever non-DH, older era manager you have available and hopefully you'll use real grass playing fields. All organizations on the disk except the historic teams are associated with minor league or extras league. Also, I have included franchise allstars of the four actual Negro Leagues that existed during the first half of the twentieth century. Ernie says all the names as I was in contact with Miller associates while making these disks. These leagues are in backup form and each is on a different disk so they just Need to be restored using league manager. On the following page is a list Of the appropriate managers and ballpark names. I used a 160 game season with The Franchise allstars and a 150 game schedule with the other four leagues. I used a 154 game schedule for the eight team league, which I believe is made up entirely of men who could have played in the majors. NEGRO LEAGUE FRANCHISE ALLSTARS TEAM MANAGER STADIUM NAME NEWARK WILLIE WELLS RUPERT STADIUM LINCOLN GIANTS POP LLOYD CATHOLIC OVAL NY CUBANS JOSE FERNANDEZ DYCKMAN OVAL BACHARACH DICK LUNDY BACHARACH PARK BROOKLYN DICK REDDING DEXTER PARK HOMESTEAD VIC HARRIS GRIFFITH STADIUM BALTIMORE JUD WILSON ORIOLES FIELD HILLDALE FRANK WARFIELD HILLDALE PARK PHILADELPHIA SOL WHITE PENMAR PARK PITTSBURGH BILL PERKINS GUS GREENLEE FIELD AMERICAN GIANTS RUBE FOSTER COMISKEY PARK CLEVELAND BUSTER BOONE LEAGUE PARK CUBANS STARS PELAYO CHACON CROSLEY FIELD LELAND GIANTS FRANK DUNCAN SOUTHSIDE PARK DETROIT GEORGE BROWN MACK PARK KANSAS CITY BUCK O'NIELL MUNICIPAL STADIUM ST LOUIS QUINCY TROUPPE STARS PARK MEMPHIS JABO ANDREWS MARTIN PARK INDIANAPOLIS BINGO DEMOSS ABCS FIELD BIRMINGHAM WIN WELCH RICKWOOD FIELD EASTERN COLORED LEAGUE 23-28 ATLANTIC CITY DICK LUNDY LINCOLN GIANTS POP LLOYD CUBAN STARS JOSE FERNANDEZ BLACK SOX PETE HILL BUGLE FIELD ROYAL GIANTS DICK REDDING HARRISBURG BEN TAYLOR HILLDALE FRANK WARFIELD NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE 20-31 AMERICAN GIANTS RUBE FOSTER ST. LOUIS STARS QUINCY TROUPPE BLACK BARONS WIN WELCH DETROIT STARS GEORGE BROWN CUBAN STARS PELAYO CHACON MEMPHIS RED SOX JABO ANDREWS KANSAS CITY JOSE MENDEZ INDIANAPOLIS CONNIE DAY NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE 33-48 HOMESTEAD VIC HARRIS PITTSBURGH OSCAR CHARLESTON NEWARK EAGLES WILLIE WELLS NEW YORK CUBANS JOSE FERNANDEZ PHILADELPHIA JELLY TAYLOR ELITE GIANTS GEORGE SCALES BLACK YANKEES FATS JENKINS YANKEE STADIUM NEGRO AMERICAN LEAGUE 37-50 AMERICAN GIANTS DAVID MALARCHER KANSAS CITY BUCK O'NEILL INDIANAPOLIS BEN TAYLOR CLEVELAND BUSTER BOONE MEMPHIS RED SOX JABO ANDREWS BLACK BARONS PIPER DAVIS Ted Kerchner@aol.com