1946 St. Louis Cardinals

[Wrathchild]

Now now now, no sour grapes!

BTW, when are you going to switch your reports over to Wolverine? You know, each one you post here is one more you have to copy!

[Orcin]

ORIGINAL: Wrathchild

Now now now, no sour grapes!

But that was my best relief pitcher!!! [;)] [:D]



There is no forum for the reports at Wolverine yet. As soon as they create one, I'm there.

And I have a surprise. [8D]

[Orcin]

The Cardinals clinch their third pennant in four years!








We will face Detroit in the 1949 World Series. Detroit features a strong starting rotation and we have the best pitching staff in baseball. It should be quite a battle.

[Orcin]

1949 World Series Summary
St. Louis (97-57) vs. Detroit (87-67)

Game 1 @STL: DET 6 STL 4
The Cardinals score 3 in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead, but Dick Kryhoski triples off Preacher Roe with the bases loaded in the eighth to win it.

Game 2 @STL: STL 3 DET 1
Brecheen pitches 7 strong innings and the bullpen closes it out to even up the Series.

Game 3 @DET: STL 2 DET 1
JIm Hearn pitches 10 shutout innings. The Cards score 2 in the top of the 11th. Ted Wilks is injured in the 11th, but Preacher Roe gets out of a jam to save it.

Game 4 @DET: DET 9 STL 7
The Tigers jump on Pollet for four in the first and never relinquish the lead even though the Cards battled back.

Game 5 @DET: STL 8 DET 2
Andy Seminick hits a three-run homer to give the Cardinals all the runs Larry Jansen needed.

Game 6 @STL: STL 3 DET 0
Harry Brecheen goes all the way for the shutout. Ted Kluszewski drives in all three runs with a bases loaded double in the third inning.

St. Louis wins 4 games to 2



Harry Brecheen is named the Most Valuable Player of the 1949 World Series.

The Cardinals did not take home any of the postseason awards this year, but they did get the most important trophy of all. Several Cardinals now have three World Series rings. Stan Musial won his second batting title (.344) and Harry Brecheen led the N.L. with a 2.55 ERA.

Ralph Kiner was the N.L. MVP, hitting .321 with 49 HR and 132 RBI. Ted Williams won his fourth consecutive MVP award in the A.L.! Don Newcombe was N.L. best pitcher and Bob Lemon of Cleveland was the best pitcher in the A.L.

[Orcin]

This league was started with three objectives:

1) Have some fun!

2) Take up the challenge offered by Shaun in the v1.84 release notes: "Updated Computer GM AI in real player associations. I doubt any of you guys will be able to beat it now. Good luck!"

3) Experience the players and history of the St. Louis Cardinals and their competition in the era immediately following World War II. This era is the start of the "Golden Age" of baseball and it is my favorite decade or two of baseball history. I wanted to build a championship team constructed around my favorite player, Stan Musial.

Let's stop for a minute and judge the results:

1) I assure you that #1 was accomplished. I had more fun with this league than any game I've played since Tony LaRussa Baseball II. I literally woke up thinking about my next roster move, which is a sure sign of immersion. Or obsession...

2) I offer my three world championships in four seasons as evidence that #2 was achieved, especially considering that the real Cardinals only won once in the same four-year period. Frankly, it was still easy to exploit the AI for talent, even with self-imposed budget restraints and turning down a lot of "Joe Dimaggio trades". I don't mean to be overly critical though. I did see improvement in Shaun's updated draft AI and trades for Hall of Fame players were harder to make for the most part. The game is headed in the right direction as far as difficulty and realism for historical replay associations.

3) This third objective is still gnawing at me. I have been a Cardinal fan all my life and I am pretty familiar with Cardinal players throughout history. I regret that my current roster doesn't look much like the Cardinals anymore. It is more like an All-Star sundae with some Cardinals sprinkled on top. I got so wrapped up in objective #2 (i.e. building a dynasty to "beat" the game) that I lost sight of playing the 1946 Cardinals. I don't want a micro-managed exact replica of the Cardinals, but I crave a Cardinals sundae with a few extra toppings for that special flavor.

All the past tense that I am throwing around has probably given you a clue that I am suspending my progress with this league. I might return to it if my new adventure fails to hold my interest, but I suspect that I am finished with it. However, I am not anywhere near finished with PureSim or with writing "dynasty reports". I have a new project in mind. I will again be the GM of the 1946 Cardinals, but with a few player acquisition rules (shackles) to keep me from going overboard this time and a creative twist that puts the cherry on top of the sundae without destroying the game balance.

I will describe the league's premise, in the painful level of detail that you have come to expect from me, in the first post of my new dynasty report on the Wolverine forums. I hope you will follow me over there. I also hope you will be motivated to keep playing yourself, whether it be via PureSim 2 or v1.86 freeware. I read your reports too, every word, and I don't want to be the only weirdo writing this stuff!

I am organizing the league now so I'll be posting my first few reports as soon as the "PureSim Dynasty Reports" forum is available. Please stay tuned.

Regards,
Orcin

[Wrathchild]

Thanks for writing about this replay. I really enjoyed reading it and I can't wait to see what kind of rules you're going to put on yourself next. I'm not sure whether I'm going to write my next update or night, as I'm still not sure what the rest of this week holds. I do know, however, that I won't go any further in my season until I get the update up, so I guess I'll be doing some writing if I get too much withdrawal.

[DonBraswell]

As always I enjoyed every single word of your reports. I followed your Cardinals right from the begining. I will also read all of your new reports.
Thanks,
Don

[Orcin]

Thanks, guys! I appreciate the support and encouragement. See you on the other side.

[Orcin]

The new league can be found here.