baseball sim auctions

Our next auction will highlight some of the best seasons from three iconic Hall Of Famers – Juan Marichal, Willie Mays & Joe Morgan.

In my opinion, the position that requires the most specialized skill of any sport is that of the pitcher, it is also the position that allows the athlete to develop his own unique style, not just with the pitches that he throws, but also in the form of his wind up & delivery.

In a sense the pitcher becomes an artist on the mound, the paint brush is his wind up & delivery, the colors he disperses on the canvas are the pitches he throws. One of my favorite “artists” was Juan Marichal and his magnificent high leg kick, although he pitched before my initiation as a baseball fan, I’ve seen enough video of his games to appreciate his virtuosity, together with Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson, they are my favorite pitchers in terms of beauty of form and artistry on the mound- 1965 was one of Marichal’s best seasons and a worthy selection for this auction.

I’ll highlight Willie Mays in a future auction, it suffices to say that what we have in this auction is one of the finest seasons from one of the best players of all time.

The first card set I received when I purchased my first APBA board game was the 1976 set, eventhough I was a Mets fan I remember often playing with the 1976 Reds and torturing my friend with the exploits of Joe Morgan. Those of you who never played the APBA board game might not relate to the following comment, but for those that did play with the cards and dice you know that Morgan’s four 14* on the 1976 card were stolen base kryptonite for opponents and with his .444 OBP, it felt like he was on first base all the time…and then, just like that, on second base with another base stolen!

Joe Morgan passed away on 10-11-2020, followed closely by the passing of Tom Seaver and Lou Brock, that made three great players from the era I started watching baseball that are no longer with us…definitely makes you pause and take note of your own mortality.

Our auction started with my adversary snagging the two best relievers, Rawley Eastwick & Frank Linzy at $16 each. I really wanted at least one of those relievers, but my opponent’s aggressive opening play forced me to shift my focus to starting pitching.

Of course I wanted Marichal, but my rival GM was on a pitching mission and would not be denied, he landed Marichal for $39, he followed that with Bob Shaw at $32. I liked the Marichal price, but Shaw, although he did have a good year, appeared to be slightly overpriced by a few dollars.

With four pitchers already on my rival’s squad I needed to act quickly to minimize the gap in his early advantage. I was able to land Fred Norman, Pat Zachry, Don Gullet & Bobby Bolin – together they were able to deliver 789 quality innings for a combined $55.

Next we turned our attention to hitting. In any two man auction that has two or more super talents, in this case Morgan & Mays, its always a thought to try to acquire both players, but of course, in an auction, the determining factor is the price, if you’re aggressive and will not be deterred in your quest for the two superstars, will the prices at some point become prohibitive? will the prices impact your ability to properly craft the remainder of your team? will it hurt your flexibility when bidding for other players? or do you think the advantages of having the two best hitters will eclipse any negative considerations?

We’ll my friends, those calculations and decisions, which all have to be made quickly, are what makes auctions challenging and thrilling!

My strategy entailed acquiring Morgan or Mays, I thought the pursuit of both would be fruitless so I was willing to slightly overpay to secure one of them. I nominated Morgan and was able to land him at $36. Mays was nominated shortly thereafter and went to my opponent for $40. So the events played out as I had expected, we both secured the hitting foundations to our teams with the best two hitters.

We now moved on to the tougher task of supporting these two great hitters with complementary players. I was able to acquire Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey and Pete Rose at favorable prices. I followed that up with the purchase of Jim Ray Hart, I already had Rose to play 3B, so my plan was for Hart to play the outfield, my rival GM was low on money when Hart was nominated, so I was able to bring Hart on board for a profitable price of $10. This also removed the other full time 3B from the pool and forced my opponent to buy several bench players in an effort to cobble together enough at bats at the 3B position.

In a two man auction that only utilizes the rosters of two historical teams, you will typically have two primary players at each position, if your opponent gets one player, you need to get the other, if you don’t, you run the risk of not having enough ABs at a position, the consequence is that the Micro Manager will overuse players with low ABs and use them in a fatigued state, as a result they will drastically under perform and hurt your team.

I needed a second big bat to pair with Morgan and was fortunate to land Willie McCovey in the later part of the auction for $28. I added Cesar Geronimo at a favorable price of $5 and my offense was set at that point.

Even though Johnny Bench did not have a great offensive year in 1976, his acquisition was integral to my strategy due to his ability to throw out base runners. With Joe Morgan under contract, I needed to prevent my opponent from having the best defensive catcher so I could optimize Morgan’s larceny on the base paths, that, coupled with my selection of a Micromanager with aggressive base running tendencies allowed Morgan to steal 99 bases, compared to the 60 hes stole in real life!

My opponent complemented Willie Mays nicely with George Foster, Dave Conception and Tony Perez (great purchase at only $9).

On the pitching side, my rival GM was not able to support Marichal & Shaw with effective complementary pieces, Gary Nolan, Warren Spahn & Gaylord Perry provided quantity innings, but not quality innings.

The lackluster performance at the back end of the rotation and the deficit in at bats at the Catcher and 3B positions proved to be the difference between our teams. Below are the statistics for this simulation:

George Foster and Pat Zachry had the best single game hitting and pitching performances, view the complete box scores HERE.

MVP – Joe Morgan takes home the MVP – Willie Mays had a phenomenal season, but Morgan was the key cog in a dominant San Francisco Reds offense. Joe led the league in Runs Scored, OBP and Stolen Bases (with an astonishing 90% success rate) – he also chipped in with 25 Home Runs and delivered stellar defense.

CY YOUNG – In a simulation in which he was competing against Hall Of Famer Juan Marichal, Zachry comes out on top. Pat turned in a phenomenal season, going 23-4 and leading the league with a 2.49 ERA – to be fair, Marichal was going up against a stronger offense, but nevertheless, Pat Zachry is deserving of the accolade.