1954 Milwaukee Braves - 89-65 (8 GB)

1954 Milwaukee Braves - 89-65 (8 GB)

2 years removed from a 7th place finish in their final season in Boston the Braves were in the midst of an incredible run in Milwaukee, where they would never finish below .500 in 13 seasons.  As late as June 1st the team held a share of the lead in the NL then fell on hard times falling behind the Giants by double digits.  An incredible early August run saw them get to within 3 1/2 games by the middle of the month.  As late as September 13th they were 4 1/2 back, but the Giants put things away and the Braves had to settle for being also rans as they would do for four straight seasons before finally winning it all in 1957.

STRENGTHS:  Youth.  The average age of the Braves was 26.3 years.  Futher HOF'ers Hank Aaron (20) and Eddie Mathews (22) had their best years ahead of them.  Mathews was compiling numbers like no NL third baseman had ever compiled before him (.290-40-103).  Catcher Del Crandall (.242-21-64) would have been an All-Star if that Campanella guy wasn't playing lights out in Brooklyn

  

WEAKNESSES:  Youth.  The exuberance of youth also contributed to their prolonged losing streaks mid season.  Surprisingly they finished 6th in the league in runs and fifth in homers.

PITCHING:  Pencil Warren Spahn (21-21, 3.14) in for another one of his 20 win seasons.  Lew Burdette (15-14, 2.76) and Gene Conley (14-9, 2.96) were an awesome 2-3 combo.  The team struggled to find a viable 4th starter.  Chet Nichols (9-11, 4.41) was not the answer, but Jim Wilson (8-2, 3.52) showed promise.

BULLPEN:  Dave Jolly (11-6, 2.43, 10 sv) was rock solid finishing out games when the starers faltered.  Ernie Johnson (5-2, 2.84, 2 sv) did a great job in a setup role.  The rest of the pen was pure hit or miss.

BENCH:  Average at best.  George Metkovich (.276-1-15) is the best of the bunch.  Not much pop here at all.  An over the hill Bobby Thomson (.232-2-15) was 30 going on 45.  Spahn might get pressed into pinch hitting duties when he's not on the hill due to his .208-1-10 line.  Spahn hit at least 1 home run in 17 straight season with the Braves from 1948-1964

To finish off their team set I had to add 3 new cards

1956 Cincinnati Reds - 91-63 (2 GB)

Riding the enthusiasm of a 20 year old rookie who was way beyond his years in both talent and maturity the Reds battled for the pennant all the way down to the final weekend of the season.  Taking 8 of their final 9 still left the Reds 2 games short of the Boys of Summer and 1 behind the surging Braves.  The Reds were consistent all season and never fell further than 5.5 games behind in the standings.  As late as July 2nd they had a half game lead.

STRENGTHS:  A high octane offense led by the aforementioned 20 year old future HOF'er, Frank Robinson, who hit 38 roundtrippers (a rookie record) knocked in 83 runs and hit a robust .290.  Frank Robby wasn't the only producer on offense.  This team led the league in both runs and homers, having eclipsed the 200 plateau for the latter.  Of the starters, only their keystone combo (Roy McMillan & Johnny Temple) failed to reach double digits in round trippers.  Both were supreme glovemen who hit over .260, so no one was complaining about them.  Besides Robby, Wally Post (36) and Ted Kluszewski (35) also eclipsed the 30 homer mark.  Catcher Ed Bailey (28) would have joined them if he played in more than the 118 games he played in.

  

WEAKNESSES:  Starting pitching

PITCHING:  By far their biggest weakness.  Two starter (Klippstein and Fowler) had ERA's above 4.00 and Brooks Lawrence (19-10, 3.99) was close to joining them.  Joe Nuxhall (13-11, 3.72) wasn't all that much better.

BULLPEN:  Hersh Freeman (14-5, 3.40, 18 sv) was the beneficiary of many a late inning comeback by this team's great offense.  Hal Jeffcoat (8-2, 3.84, 2 sv) was both set up man and spot starter.  Tom Acker (4-3, 2.37) and Don Gross (3-0, 1.95) were underutilized.  Maybe they could have made up the 2 game differential if they were given a shot to pitch more.  Veterans Joe Black (3-2, 4.52) and Larry Jansen (2-3, 5.19) are at the end of the line and light years away from their glory days in the Big Apple.

BENCH:  When you have a backup catcher / pinch hitter extroidanaire like Smoky Burgess (.275-12-39) you have yourself a clutch lefty bat late in games.  George Crowe hit 10 homers in just 144 AB's.  Bob Thurman hit 8 in 139 AB's.

I was forced to redo the full card set, because the original set was created in a horizontal format, which does not display well on the game screen.  I added a total of cards, including the coveted Frank Robinson "pre-rookie" card.

1972 Houston Astros - 84-69 (10.5 GB)

1972 Houston Astros - 84-69 (10.5 GB)

The offseason saw the Astros engage in a blockbuster trade with a divisional foe, the Cincinnati Reds.  Houston sent Joe Morgan, Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, Cesar Geronimo and Denis Menke to the Queen City for Lee May, Tommy Helms and Jimmy Stewart.  That trade helped the Astros into contention, while locking down the pennant for the Reds.  As late as June 24th the Astros were in 1st place in the NL West with a 38-25 record.  From that point on the Reds heated up and the 'Stros played .500 ball.  That decline cost manager Harry "the Hat" Walker his job in September.  Houston brought in recently fired Leo Durocher (by the Cubs) and hoped to catch lightning in a bottle.  Leo the Lip had the same success his predecessor had since late June, as the team went 16-15 and finished a distant 10.5 games out. 

STRENGTHS:  Shockingly the Astros led the NL in runs, came in 3rd in homers and 2nd in OBP, while playing half their games in the pitcher friendly Astrodome.  Four players hit 20 or more homers:  Lee May (29), Jimmy Wynn (24), Cesar Cedeno (22) and Doug Rader (22).  Bob Watson (16) was 4 away from making it a 5th.  21 year old Cesar Cedeno blossomed into a superstar hitting .320-22-82, while swiping 55 bases and playing a gold glove centerfield.  Durocher might have jinxed him by calling him "the next Willie Mays".

  

WEAKNESSES:  Too many strikeouts by their power hitters plus an uncharacteristic off year by their starters.

PITCHING:  The Astros finished 10th in ERA, which would be fine if they played in Wrigley.  Since they played half their games in the Astrodome this did not bode well for them.  Don Wilson (15-10, 2.68) and Larry Dierker (15-8, 3.40) make a good 1-2 combo.  The rest of the rotation was batter friendly.

BULLPEN:  The pen was solid.  Fred Gladding (5-6, 2.77. 14 sv) is more or less the closer.  Gladding, who threw 48 innings in 42 appearances was used more like a modern day closer than a typical 1970's reliever.  George Culver (6-2, 3.05, 2 sv) is the setup guy.  The pen did not have a lefty, which will make for trouble late in games vs a big lefty hitter.

BENCH:  Jesus Alou (.312) is the late inning pinch hitter.  Norm Miller (.243) and Jimmy Stewart (.219) were supposed to compliment Alou from the left side of the plate, but neither panned out.  Backup catcher Larry Howard struggled to hit .220

I added 13 new cards to round out the team set.  Special credit goes to Jeff for supplying me with most of the photos.  This was the first season the Astros went "orange" as their primary color.