NDF 2003-04 Winter Fun - 1915 Award Winners - Federal League

[sweaver]

For the season referenced in the subject line of this thread, who would be your pick for Best Positional Player (Include defense and position played in your determination), Best Pitcher, Best First Year Player and any other topics of discussion from this season.

[Elmo]

Hitter is still Kauff. Evans, Ed Konetchy and Dutch Zwilling were pretty good. Babe Borton had 83 RBIs and 97 runs...just sub .800 OPS...which was pretty good for the time. Max Flack a level below. I think you have to put Hal Chase in here this year and note that Lee Magee had a pretty good year after being lured over. Guys like Jack Tobin and ward Miller further down and Art Wilson was terrific but in only 269 ABs .881 OPS with good numbers across the board.

I'd probably go Eddie Plank (21-11-2.08 excellent control), although George McConnell also pitched well 25-10 2.20 150K's). Dave Davenport. was 22-18 with a 2.20 and 229K's.

Of some of the notable defectors (other than Plank), Seaton, Ford and Hendrix weren't so good. Reulbach and Mordecai Brown were pretty good.

[WiredTiger]

Best Batter: Benny Kauff
Kauff was the cream of the short lived Federal league. He led the league in BA, OBP, SLG% and SB.

BEst Pitcher: Dave Davenport
Pitched 392 innings on his way to a 22-18 record on the pennant winning Terriers. He had ten shutouts in 46 starts.

[sweaver]

These Win Shares just handed to me:
Players; Benny Kauff (Brooklyn) 34, Dutch Zwilling (Chicago) 30, Ed Konetchy (Pittsburgh) 27, Max Flack (Chicago) 26, Bill Rariden (Newark) 25, Claude Cooper (Brooklyn), Hal Chase and Baldy Louden (Buffalo) and Jack Tobin (St. Louis) 23 each.

Pitchers; Dave Davenport (St.Louis) 34, Doc Crandall and Eddie Plank (St. Louis) 29, George McConnell (Chicago) and Nick Cullop (Kansas City) 25, Frank Allen (Pittsburgh) 24.

WARP3: Kauff 8.9, Zwilling 5.4, Konetchy 6.0, Flack 4.6, Rariden 6.9, Cooper 5.1, Chase 0.9, Louden 4.3, Tobin 3.6. Davenport 6.4, Crandall 6.2, Plank 7.0, McConnell 6.2, Cullop 5.7, Allen 4.4.

The Feds were really a pretty good AAA league, not a true major league. There aren't really any examples of major league stars in mid-career switching over to the Feds. Some were on the tail end (like Plank) or got a start (like Flack) but it wasn't like the Cobbs and Speakers and Collinses played in the FL.

Best player: Benny Kauff. He was a decent major leaguer until he went down in the gambling scandals of the 1910s-1920s.

Best pitcher; Eddie Plank. The old pro showed 'em how it was done.