Roger's 1930 APBA Replay

Week 2 is in the books and the replay continues to be quite exciting. You never know when it is going to happen, but while some games are low-scoring some just seem to otherwise explode with offense. There are late-inning heroics, complete meltdowns, and of all things, a perfect game by Vic Sorrell. The Tigers and the Nationals are the surprises in the AL. Neither New York or Philadelphia can keep a streak going, but both teams figure to be in it until the end. Babe Ruth has five homeruns and eighteen RBI's through eight games, and Heinie Manush is still hitting over .500 (.528) for the Browns. The Cardinals offense has been the big story in the NL so far with 97 runs scored in 12 games. There are six Cardinals in the top seven for runs scored in the league. Despite that, it is the Brooklyn Robins who reside in first place with the best record in baseball based on a stellar 1.63 ERA. Riggs Stephenson of the Cubs is leading with a .450 BA, and Chick Hafey leads in doubles (6),

Monday, April 21, 1930   Chicago (AL) (H) 4 St. Louis (AL) 3  A two-run double in the seventh by Browns starter  General Crowder  appeared to give the visitors enough for the victory, but the opposing starter,  Ted Lyons , hit a two-run homerun in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game up. The White Sox then pulled it out in the ninth following a  Carl Reynolds  double and an  Art Shires  single.  Detroit (H) 5 Cleveland 1  An error following a single allowed the Tigers to take a 2-1 lead after five and then  Roy Johnson  drove in two with a triple in the sixth to put the game away.  Earl Whitehill  went all the way for the victory.  Washington 4 Philadelphia (AL) (H) 2  Goose Goslin  stroked the first Nationals homerun of the season to give the visitors an early 2-1 lead, but  Al Simmons  tied it back up with a homerun of his own.  Joe Judge  then gave the Nationals the lead when he homered in the top of the ninth, and then Washington starter  Bump

One week is done, and I am pretty happy with the process and the results so far. It is still a pretty small sample size to start drawing any real conclusions from, but like I said, I think it is a good start. As far as game results so far, well, it's just like any week in baseball in any era. 1930 was an explosive season for offense, and I have had several offensive explosions so far, but plenty of good pitching. The eight shut-outs so far may be a little out of whack, but not every game ended up as a high-run slugfest. There were plenty of low-scoring games and plenty of good pitching performances in 1930, but I do expect this to level out over the course of the season. The batting average for each league is right around .280, which is actually a little low. Individually, after one week several teams are hitting over .350, while some are stuck under .250. This too will level out as the year progresses. For example, I don't expect Rick Ferrell to hit .857 (7 for 9)

Monday, April 14, 1930 (Opening Day) Washington 5 Boston (AL)(H) 0 Firpo Marberry scattered five hits in a complete game shut-out and drove in two runs himself to help his cause. The Nationals now find themselves in first place with the best record in baseball. Tuesday, April 15, 1930 Three shut-outs in one day? It must be the weather. Detroit (H) 2 St. Louis (AL) 1 George Uhle pitched a masterpiece for the Tigers, only to lose his shut-out in the top of the ninth. Not to be deterred, Marty McManus drove home Charlie Gehringer with the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth. Philadelphia (AL) (H) 6 New York (AL) 0 Lefty Grove pitched a complete game shutout, scattering three Yankee hits. Jimmy Foxx hit the first replay homerun and drove in three runs to support Grove. Boston (AL) 3 Washington (H) 2 Frank Mulroney Lloyd Brown pitched a masterful game for the Nationals, only allowing two unearned runs heading into the ninth, but a B