In 1986, I began a replay of the 1919 American League season using the APBA Master Game. I got about a month in before I graduated college, and then the start of a career, and a marriage, and life in general conspired to push it to the (far) back burner. And there it sat - even though I played other games, and completed other replay projects, I didn't touch this one again. Part of this was probably that I wasn't playing APBA any longer and that season was not available for the other sims I was playing at the time - a situation which has now changed for the better - but part of it was also that this became sort of a white whale / holy grail project. At some point, I had gotten it into my head that this was going to be something that I saved for retirement, when I had to time to completely immerse myself into it, and get through the 560 games (or 1120 if I also did the NL) in a reasonable time frame.
Well, retirement has arrived, so it's time to start keeping promises like that one to myself. Designer Clay Dreslough has delivered a 1919 card set for Season Ticket Baseball just in the nick of time, and I will commence a full-season 1919 replay of both leagues in early 2024 using STB (with stat compilation via the Digital Diamond Baseball board game companion), and document that project on this blog.
So, you might ask, why would 1919 become anyone's Holy Grail replay? Well, I answered that question in a piece that was published in the February 1987 issue of The APBA Journal, so I might as well just turn to a much younger me . . .
So what attracted me to the 1919 Junior Circuit? First, it was a chance to watch my favorite old-timer, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson in action. But then I check through the Baseball Encyclopedia to see what stars each of the APBA seasons had to offer. I found 1919 unmatched, given my interest in baseball history. And from a purely historical standpoint, 1919 was a pivotal season in the history of the game. The deadball era was about to come to a close as a 24-year old skinny-legged pitcher, playing his first season as a regular outfielder, responded by breaking the Major League homerun record that had stood for 35 campaigns and swatting more than four teams did that year. As we know, baseball was entering the "Era of the Babe as a Hitter" and the game changed forever.
Step back with me, onto the grass at Fenway Park, or Navin Field, or the Polo Grounds. There are no uniform numbers, so you'll have to rely on photographs you've seen to identify the players. Well, that's not really true. Could any true baseball fan fail to recognize the grace of Happy Felsch loping underneath a long fly ball, or the raw speed and energy of Ty Cobb rounding third with teeth and spikes flashing? Quick, turn around, or you'll miss George Sisler and Stuffy McInnis standing at the bag at first, discussing the finer points of defensive play. Suddenly, action on the field stops - you glance towards home plate and see the reason - the Babe has stepped into the cage; swing after swing produce tape measure shots and even those that catch nothing but air draw "oohs" from the assembled stars. Everett Scott goes into the hole at short, picks a low shot out the dirt, flips to Eddie Collins at second for the force, who guns it to Harry Heilmann at first over the takeout slide by Frank Baker - Double Play!
The "Golden Outfield" is all here, but sadly for us Red Sox fans only Harry Hooper still wears the uniform of the beloved Old Towne Team. Tris Speaker has left for Cleveland, and Duffy Lewis (my heart cries in anguish) now wears the jersey of the hated New York Yankees. On the mound, Walter Johnson jokes with Joe Wood, his former archrival on the hill. Wood's now playing the outfield for the Indians due to arm problems. Eddie Cicotte works on his knuckler, and Muddy Ruel is diving all over the place trying to catch it. Now Carl Mays tosses BP to Ray Chapman -neither one realizes the horrible fate that will forever intertwine their names just a year later.
I believe imagination is one of the key ingredients in any replay. The whole purpose of the replay is to venture backwards in time and the ability to visualize the action makes that journey all the more realistic. In order to keep such a long project going, you have to be able to turn the dry numbers into mental pictures because these pictures are what will remain with you long afterwards and not the results rolled in various situations.
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