Number 8

The Fun Stuff...EI vs Real Life!

Now that the season is over, we can have some fun comparing how the players did in EI vs how they really did in 1948. This will be straightforward and simple. We'll only deal with the Division One Leaders who were the top ten in batting and pitching. For batters, we'll compare batting average, and power numbers. For pitchers, we'll compare ERA, along with hits allowed, strikeouts and walks. Real-life numbers will be in parenthesis...

First, the batters - average, 2B-3B-HR:

T.Williams    .387 (.369)     58-2-28 (44-3-25)
Ashburn      .362 (.333)    16-5-7 (17-4-2)
J.Dimaggio   .337 (.320)     26-9-35 (26-11-39)
McCoskey     .335 (.326)     28-4-2 (21-5-0)
Doby          .331 (.301)      34-8-20 (23-9-14)
Appling      .323 (.314)     14-2-0 (16-2-0)
J.Robinson   .323 (.296)     44-10-12 (38-8-12)
Boudreau     .322 (.355)    34-7-11 (34-6-18)
Hodges        .317 (.249)      17-6-8 (18-5-11)
Reese         .314 (.274)      39-7-14 (31-4-9)

Pitchers - ERA, HA-K-BB:

Dobson           2.64 (3.56)     223-98-67 (237-116-92)
Scarborough    2.67 (2.82)    170-56-60 (166-76-72)
Bickford       3.03 (3.27)    135-64-46 (125-60-63)
Barney         3.24 (3.10)     243-114-93 (193-138-122)
Parnell        3.44 (3.14)    213-71-74 (205-77-90)
Chesnes        3.68 (3.57)    202-73-81 (180-69-90)
Rowe           3.95 (4.07)      182-41-44 (167-46-31)
S.Jones        3.99 (3.36)    204-93-81 (204-82-90)
Brazle         4.09 (3.81)     199-48-50 (171-55-50)
Shea           4.18 (3.40)     169-73-91 (117-71-87)

Sorry if everything looks out of allignment- cheap typewriter...As far as batting goes, McCoskey and Appling came within 9 points of what they really did. Everyone else emptied a can of whupass on their batting average, especially Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges and Pee Wee Reese (Go Dodgers!). Ashburn and Dimaggio came pretty close on their power numbers. Jackie too. Boudreau hit far fewer homers than he really did, while Ashburn hit a bunch more. Reese's power numbers in EI made him a terror at the plate- more like Johnny Bench than Pee Wee.

Pitching? Well, I gave up long ago on getting the ERAs on the dot, but it's still fun to get a little close. There's too many variables involved, including the kind of defense ya got playing behind you. Anyway, Bob Chesnes came eleven points within his real life ERA. Rex Barney was fourteen off and Ray Scarborough was fifteen off. Not too bad. Dobson loves EI, while Sheldon Jones, Al Brazle and Spec Shea have their doubts. On hits allowed, strikeouts and walks, Mel Parnell and Jones came pretty close. Except for walks, Vern Bickford came close as well.

Interesting stuff, no? The thing I like most about EI is how everyone pretty much plays as expected. The low average guys do their thing, and the power guys do theirs. Same with the pitchers. Just take away some of those walks, will you? They drive me nuts!!