71 Draft League Done!

Last Thursday I rolled the final out in my Hot Air Baseball League, an eight team, 154 game draft league begun last February. Four games were on the slate,
and I played them outside on a beautiful fall day. Prescott reliever Frank Linzy had entered the game to preserve a 7-5 ninth inning lead over the Red Rock
Red Rox, and with two out and Larry Bowa on third, Linzy got Bob Watson to lift a lazy fly ball to Ollie Brown in right to end the game, and complete the season.
The win soured a four hit effort by Red Rox catcher Larry Howard, who bashed three singles before driving one in the gap for a double. I recorded the time
and date (2:42 pm, 9-28-23 for those of you scoring at home), took a picture, and celebrated with a cold frosty one. There was no pennant race in this project.
The Bisbee Brewskies took the flag by fifteen games over the Prescott Pints as they enjoyed the benefits of a lineup that included Roberto Clemente, Dick
Allen, Ralph Garr and Lee May, along with 21 game winner Phil Niekro and closer extroadinaire Tug McGraw. For a short while, the Bisbee bullpen also
included Hoyt Wilhelm, making him the only player from the Retro 5Y League to play this season until Willie Mays joined the party late in the season. Here are
the final standings, along with the top ten batters and pitchers with their actual 1971 stats in parenthesis.

******Final Standings******

Bisbee      98 56 .636 -
Prescott    83 71 .539 15
Black Rock 81 73 .526 17
Red Rock    80 74 .519 18
Deming      76 78 .494 22
Gila Bend   76 78 .494 22
Searchlight 66 88 .429 32
Lubbock     56 98 .364 42

               D-T-HR (Actual BA,D-T-HR)
.375 J.Torre 39-7-22 (.363, 34-8-24)
.370 Clemente 27-7-16 (.341, 29-8-13)
.347 Garr     20-3-11 (.343, 24-6-9)
.317 Hunt     25-2-8 (.279, 20-3-5)
.313 Brock    30-7-6 (.313, 37-7-7)
.312 M.Alou   26-2-7 (.315, 28-6-7)
.310 Beckert 20-2-2 (.342, 18-5-2)
.309 Rose     28-2-7 (.304, 27-4-13)
.306 Wills    20-6-6 (.281, 14-3-3)
.303 C.Jones 19-6-13 (.319, 24-6-14)

               HA-K-BB    (Actual ERA, HA-K-BB)
1.96 P.Niekro 205-157-58 (2.98, 248-173-70)
2.04 Dierker 139-87-25 (2.72, 150-91-33)
2.08 K.Forsch 151-123-46 (2.54, 162-131-53)
2.34 Ellis    185-142-43 (3.05, 207-137-63)
2.64 Nolan    235-148-53 (3.16, 208-146-59)
2.65 Kirby    216-195-82 (2.83, 213-231-103)
2.77 Gullett 198-109-53 (2.64, 196-107-64)
2.77 Lersch   228-95-29 (3.79, 203-113-50)
2.88 Stoneman 281-258-125(3.14, 243-251-146)
2.93 Carlton 243-152-71 (3.56, 275-172-98)

Despite the absense of a pennant race, the season kept my interest as I rolled along, watching the ups and downs of the teams and the players. Early on,
Ken Holtzman won start after start, and I was sure he would win twenty at the pace he was going. After the midway point in the season, he had trouble winning
anything, and fell short with a record of 16-7 as he reached his allotted innings pitched. Willie McCovey banged out 28 home runs, becoming my major outlier
having belted only 18 that season. His 1-2-6 home run rating was the same as Lubbock's Bob Robertson, but McCovey got the rolls, while Robertson hit 22 in
469 at bats (he hit 26 in '71). Phil Niekro pitched like Christy Mathewson, finishing 21-6, 1.96, while distant cousin Steve Carlton hated the Hot Air League,
winding up with a record of 10-18, when he was 20-9 in '71. Bobby Bonds and Lee May hit for the cycle this year, and we had one triple play, which
occurred towards the end of the year, and of all things, it was a game ending triple play. How about that?

What am I going to do next? Not sure. Still chatting things up with the Veet about a KOH tourney that could take more than a year to complete, and at the same
time I'm thinking about another eight team, 154 game league, only this time with stock teams. Whatever it is, I will be doing exactly what I get the most kick out of,
and that is keeping score of a ball game!