Roger's 1916 APBA Replay

The 1915 season ended when the Boston Red Sox defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in five games to win the 1915 World Series. Between then and the start of the 1916 season, there was the usual amount of player churn: drops, acquisitions, and trades, but there were several significant occurrences worth mentioning in more detail: In the fall of 1915, the Federal League announced it was folding. It had done well in 1914, but in 1915, attendance and revenues were down. The owners didn't see a recovery, so they decided to cut their losses, and the league was disbanded. The creation of the Federal League provided a salary boon for players, but with the end of the league, it effectively created a large free agent pool for which MLB teams could pick and choose.   On February 9, 1916, the NL owners voted down a proposal to increase the roster sizes from 21 to 22. This proposal was championed by New York, Chicago, and Boston. A counterproposal to limit the roster size to 20 was submitt...

When doing preparation for a replay, I like to read up on what I can find specific to that season. Many seasons, but not all, have a book that goes into great details the highlights and lowlights of the season in question. This isn't necessary by any means, but the writers of these books have done their research, and this pays off by providing insight not only into the season but also into the times in which the season is set. 1916 is no exception. The Major League Pennant Races of 1916 by father and son Paul and John Zinn covers both leagues in good detail, including pre- and post-season details. For my $.02, it is a bit of a dry read, much like a textbook, but it includes all f the details I want before I begin my replay.   I came across a second book this past week, so I haven't finished reading it yet: Major League Baseball Players of 1916 by Paul Batesel. It turns out this book really isn’t about 1916 itself, but it does include several paragraphs for most of the players...

I completed my 1938 BBW Replay in December and have spent the winter months getting my 1916 BBW Replay ready to start. Retirement may have issues, but being able to spend my time playing APBA is not one of them. I had previously purchased the 1916 disk and card set last summer in anticipation of kicking this off. The disk has 400 players included on it, which means I had to add 127 additional players to complete the set. That is a lot of players. Why so many? There are several reasons:   There is always some level of churn every season with players getting their proverbial "cup of coffee" with the big club, and this season is no different. Many (most) of these players spent the majority of their summer on a minor league team somewhere, but for a few weeks, they got to ride the trains and stay in nicer hotels while at the top of the baseball food chain. There were various minor leagues, and they had agreements as to what level the leagues we...

 I will be posting the results of my 1916 APBA replay in this blog. This page is just a placeholder for the moment. I am just starting all the replay pre-work before gameplay can begin, and I expect this will take several months to complete, so the season will likely kick off in the March or April timeframe.