United League Baseball

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	Washington Monuments Jay Kaplan		St. Louis Maroons Tim Smith		Brooklyn Superbas Glen Reed
Washington is looking forward to another very competitive season – perhaps the last for Washington. Two factors are working against the outlook for Washington. First is the infusion of new talent in the league that is helping to make teams with high draft picks increasingly competitive. And there is the high salary cost of maintaining the Washington dynasty. The team is going broke and will soon have to deal with a bloated payroll by allowing some very talented players to enter the free agent market. Regardless, 1957 looks like another optimistic season for the Monuments as the championship team of 1956 remains intact. The biggest question is if Warren Hacker and Dave Koslo can repeat their outstanding pitching performances of 1956. Stu Miller and Larry Jansen should continue to dominate hitters and there is hope that Don Larsen may finally start to improve after a disappointing season. Mays, Snider and Adcock will anchor the lineup.		The Maroons were bridesmaids for the fourth time in six seasons, winning 90 games for the second time in club history despite perhaps the biggest rash of injuries to plague any club in league history. St. Louis had the second best pitching staff in the league, despite injuries to almost all of their opening day rotation. Bob "Smiley" Keegan was out for the year after July, Cy candidate "Sad Sam" Zoldak missed seven weeks, and ace Billy Pierce missed three key starts in early September, as the Monuments pulled away. The tandem of Pierce (23-11, 3.00, 371 K) and Zoldak (18-5, 2.58) remains one of the league's best. But Sad Sam will turn 37 in December, and Keegan is 36, raising serious concerns about the future. Offensively, Stan "The Man" Musial had another MVP-esque season (.349-35-106), narrowly missing his first batting title and posting a career high 1.036 OPS. Vern "Junior" Stephens regain his power numbers (.257-23-91) after an off year in '55, Dick Kokos (.249-28-89, .366 OBP) continues to develop as an all-around player, and Del Crandall emerged as one of the league's best hitting catchers (.305-16-70). Other contributors were 2B Hector Lopez (.281-17-65) and rookies Luis Aparicio (43 SB, 67 runs), and Bill White (.271-13-52).		I think it was '80s R&B crew El DeBarge who provided our less-than Superb(a) theme song for 1956--"back to life; back to reality." Reality in this league revolves around one central tenet--Washington is the nation's undisputed baseball capitol. Anyway, while it lasted, ruling the roost was fun; unfortunately, 1956 turned out to be anything but. A poor start, the loss of Cy Gorman, and abysmal performances against the league's bottom-half muted the Screaming Bats' 1956 pennant drive. What's worse, we lost the wrestling match between the league's strict adherence to historical attendance figures and our decidedly ahistoric payroll. As a result, 1956 is the year that will live in fiscal infamy. So what's that mean for '57? A return to fiscal conservatism, and a re-emphasis wherever possible on pitching and defense. To wit, staking Yogi Berra to the area around the dish, moving our namesake player, Frank Thomas, from third to first and bringing back Doc Brown to man the hot corner all mark marginal defensive upgrades. Here's to hoping these changes help an improving young pitching staff reclaim some of the ERA ground lost in '56.

	New York Gothams Jackie Robinson		Chicago Colts Lance Mueller		Louisville Colonels Mark Allen
New York entered 1956 with low expectations, with turmoil in the front office and coming off a club-worst 73-81 season. But player-manager Jackie Robinson rallied the troops, as a much-improved offense helped vault the team three spots forward to a surprising fourth place finish. The Gothams were the most improved in run differential (a 92-run bump from from -71 to +21), and were second to Detroit as the most improved offense, scoring 66 more runs than last year, thanks to a resurgent Larry Doby and an emergent Hobie Landrith. After a year platooning, Doby was again an everyday player and nearly doubled his RBI total to 77, while Landrith, 26, hit a fine .284-14-66 in 138 games. The club's pitching improved as well. Ace Bubba Church (16-11, 3.39) sliced his ERA by nearly 1.5 points to lead the staff in wins, innings pitched, and ERA, and the bullpen featured four pitchers with ERAs of 4.01 or better.		In what has become a tiresome trend, the Colts once again contended early and folded late in 1956. The much vaunted trio of Ford, Roberts, and Drysdale turned in good but less-than-spectacular years, with the Chairman of the Board having a highly disappointing 8 game swing in the Win/Lose column (24-3 in ’55, 16-11 in ’56). On the bright side, “Mr. Colt”, Ernie Banks, fulfilled Commissioner Tim Smith’s prediction of a “breakout year”, hitting .332 with 37 dingers and 111 RBIs…a near MVP season for the 25 year old. The Colts are looking to rebound and contend again in 1957. Much of the pressure falls, once again, on the pitching staff, as the offense in mostly unchanged and looks to continue its habit of mashing taters on a regular basis. The Colts are also looking forward to seeing more fans than ever before come through the turnstiles at Wrigley, as the long awaited Ted Wilks el-train stop finally opens in April.		The Colonels had arguably their second best year ever finishing only two games under .500, four games worse than last year. Led by the twin arms of Cy Young winner Johnny Antonelli (24-10, 2.42) and Herm Wehmeier (15-12, 2.86) the Colonels might just be a pitcher or two away from contending. They have a good core of young future stars in Bailey, Post, Aaron, Kaline and Skowron. A vet or two may be needed and Jackie Jensen (.248-8-34 in 112 games) needs to rebound from his off year that got him demoted to AAA. The Colonels also need to address the crowded outfield as, with Valo, they have five players capable of starting there. They also need their young strong bullpen to pitch like they did (Tom Acker, Tex Clevenger and Russ Kemmerer all with era's under 4.00).

	Los Angeles Outlaws Chris McCreight		San Francisco Spiders John Nellis		Detroit Sound Sean Holloway
Los Angeles sustained its 1955 success, falling just one game shy of their remarkable .500 inaugural campaign. The Outlaws allowed 77 fewer runs, thanks largely to starter Ray Herbert (16-14, 3.37) and closer Ray Narleski (7-2, 2.54, 33 SV), each of whom sliced his ERA by nearly two points. Curt Simmons (18-17, 4.40), acquired by trade from Brooklyn, led the club in wins, innings pitched, and strikeouts. For the second year in a row, the Outlaws boasted one of the league's top three offenses, scoring 781 runs (5.1 per game). The man of the year was first baseman Dale Long (.347-13-127), who was first in RBIs, second in hits, and third in batting, and took home his second Gold Glove in a row. Outfielder Frank Robinson (.258-23-95) took home Rookie of the Year honors with one of the best (if not the best) first years in league history, but other than him. Roy Campanella, last year's MVP, contributed 89 RBI and a career high 114 runs. Willie "Puddin Head" Jones followed up a monster first season at the Coliseum with a solid .306 average and 88 RBIs. Other than Robinson, no new additions made a significant impact. For all the explosive batting talent, GM Chris McCreight remains deeply disturbed by the utter lack of young pitching prospects, a situation he hopes to address in the offseason.		Season of Surprises It was a season of positive improvement, giving the Spider faithful hope for the future. The addition of young talent and a couple of old vets, helped the Spiders move up in the standings. Being a second year expansion club, and finishing ahead of two well established ball clubs showed things are looking up. At the beginning of the season, the Spider front office was criticized for spending too much on SPs Warren Spahn and Don Newcombe. It was thought their best seasons were behind them. When the season concluded these pitchers proved they still had a few surprises in them. Spahn had a great season finishing 12-7. Unfortunately his season was cut short due to injury. Who knows what his record would have been if that had not happened. The rookies acquired in the draft were asked to start right away and showed positive results. With a few more seasons under their belts they should really start to contribute to this club, and make it a force to be reckoned with. The club is still building and needs a lot of work, especially in the pitching department. With the pick of rookie SP Juan Pizarro in this years draft the club is showing its dedication to doing just that. The fans of the Spiders were treated to a few surprises last year and are looking forward to more progress in the coming season.		Although a giant sucking sound was still heard from the Sound in Detroit, the team managed to improve upon its dismal 1955 performance, climbing over Boston before the end of the season to not finish in the basement again. New GM Sean Holloway aggressively attacked payroll and high-priced, under-achieving players by slicing and dicing $10 million off payroll. As expected, this led to DET fielding a veritable plethora of newbies and rookies, and the ride throughout the year was definitely marked by rough spots. And, although the roster is young and inexperienced, Holloway is upbeat about the future. The DET offense, anchored by Ralph “The God of Hellfire” Kiner, was given a huge shot in the arm by 1B/RF Joe Cunningham, OF Jim King, and the reborn C Toby Atwell, and the team is looking to upgrade several more key positions in the upcoming Rookie Draft. What DET lacks in offense, though, the team makes up for in young pitching depth/prospects. A solid core has been put together by Holloway, anchored by Podres, Ramos, and Pascual starting and Ceccarelli, Meyer, Trowbridge and Jones in the pen. Two off-season deals have added to this core by bringing leftie reliever Luis Arroyo and SP prospect Tom Brewer into the fold, and with prospects such as SP Joey Jay and CL Lindy McDaniel in the minors AND the expected addition of Sandy Koufax, DET is hoping its future years will be brighter still. There is the ongoing name/moniker/team logo fiasco, but rumor has it that GM Holloway will take some action regarding that this summer after his first-year business school courses are completed.

	Boston Beacons Charlie Qualls	Payroll Expansion Hits Bottom Line
Sour grapes don't necessarily make bitter whine. Believe it or not, optimism is alive and well in Beacontown. And though no one did anything worth mentioning last season, some fresh faces should help get things on track. The focus was on defense last year, and that's going out the window. Which means Jim "I am not an outfielder" Gilliam will reclaim his rightful place as second sacker and leadoff hitter. Throw a refurbished Gil Coan into the number two spot, and the M & M boys RBI totals should see a spike in '57. Pat Mullin's Gold Glove doesn't carry much weight, and will be replaced by Hank Bauer's Lucite Louisville Slugger. We look forward to Sturdy Curt Simmons keeping us in more games. And hopefully a year in the minors better prepared the young guns for the rigors of facing UL hitters.		NEW YORK (Oct. 1) -- The United League ran into large deficits this season as clubs eagerly increased their payrolls in a tumultuous off season. Overall, payrolls increased by 19.1% over 1955, while revenues remained flat at $535 million. The biggest free-spenders were cash-rich Washington and Chicago, each of whom increased their payrolls by over $20 million. Washington shelled out big bucks to keep Larry Jansen, Duke Snider, and Gil McDougald -- an investment that helped win their fourth pennant, but produced a league-worst $18 million deficit. Chicago's payroll ballooned with the acquisition of Robin Roberts ($10.6M) and Vic Raschi ($3.2M), and the renewal of center fielder Bobby Thomson ($8.2M). Attendance tailed off 5.5% from last season's record of 17.7 million. The biggest drops came in the expansion cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, where the novelty of major league has faded. Those two clubs alone accounted for almost all of the 900,000 fan decrease, though Brooklyn and Chicago also had smaller gates. The biggest attendance gainer was New York, who finished a surprising fourth with Jackie Robinson as player-manager. The Gothams' attendance was 20% higher than that of last year. Eight of the league's 10 clubs made losses in 1956. The only profitable clubs were Boston and Detroit, last year's biggest loss-makers. Detroit had the most impressive turnaround. New GM Sean Holloway traded starters Robin Roberts and Bob Rush, slicing the payroll $10M to a league-low $42.5, but still improved by five games in the standings. Granted, the Sound still lost 94 games, but in one season Holloway has put the club's financial house in order. Boston shed almost its entire starting rotation, slicing its payroll nearly $10M to $46.6, but also plummeted 16 games to their worst finish in club history (53-101). Most clubs lost in the $7-12 million range, dipping into cash reserves that had built up over previous seasons. The league's overall cash reserves were sliced in half, from an average of $18.7 million per team to just $9.6 million. Two clubs, Brooklyn and Los Angeles, are now in debt. Brooklyn raised its payroll $15 million in an effort to defend its 1955 pennant. But the club drew 300,000 fewer fans and revenues dropped $2.4 million. Los Angeles took a huge revenue hit, as attendance at the dilapidated Coliseum shrunk by 22%. The Outlaws, who will open a new ballpark in 1958, lost $13.5 million, second only to Washington.

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TOTAL ATTENDANCE

TOTAL REVENUE

PLAYER EXPENSES

NET PROFIT

CASH

1956 (k)		Change
Brooklyn	2,340	(308)
Washington	2,229	91
St. Louis	2,077	38
Chicago	1,975	(119)
New York	1,963	334
Los Angeles	1,601	(445)
Louisville	1,352	(52)
Boston	1,141	14
San Francisco	1,046	(483)
Detroit	906	(49)
Total	16,689	(978)
Average	1,669	(5.5%)

1956 ($M)		Change
Washington	62.09	3.35
Chicago	60.92	2.84
Brooklyn	59.74	(2.35)
St. Louis	58.55	3.37
New York	54.92	(2.93)
Louisville	49.78	(0.16)
San Francisco	48.43	(1.57)
Boston	48.37	1.42
Los Angeles	46.95	(9.23)
Detroit	45.21	0.23
Total	534.96	(5.03)
Average	53.50	(0.9%)

1956 ($M)		Change
Washington	80.27	21.65
Brooklyn	71.24	14.99
Chicago	71.17	21.52
St. Louis	68.08	10.87
New York	62.72	16.00
Los Angeles	60.44	7.93
San Francisco	57.70	23.28
Louisville	56.55	6.59
Boston	46.59	(9.78)
Detroit	42.54	(9.95)
Total	617.30	103.10
Average	61.73	19.1%

1956 ($M)		Change
Detroit	2.67	10.18
Boston	1.78	11.20
Louisville	(6.77)	(6.75)
New York	(7.80)	(18.93)
San Francisco	(9.27)	(24.85)
St. Louis	(9.53)	(7.50)
Chicago	(10.25)	(18.68)
Brooklyn	(11.50)	(17.34)
Los Angeles	(13.49)	(17.16)
Washington	(18.18)	(18.30)
Total	(82.34)	(108.13)
Average	(8.23)	(419%)

1956 ($M)		Change
Chicago	38.74	(10.25)
Washington	27.05	(18.18)
New York	19.41	(10.65)
Detroit	9.82	2.67
San Francisco	3.70	(11.88)
St. Louis	3.09	(12.03)
Boston	0.70	1.78
Louisville	0.24	(4.27)
Brooklyn	(1.32)	(11.94)
Los Angeles	(5.00)	(8.67)
Total	96.43	(90.07)
Average	9.64	(48.3%)

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MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

CY YOUNG AWARD

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

GOLD GLOVE AWARD

UNITED LEAGUE ALL-STARS

Ralph Kiner, DET
.346, 37 HR, 114 RBI

Johnny Antonelli, LOU
24-10, 2.42 ERA, 372 K

Frank Robinson, LA
.258, 23 HR, 95 RBI

C	Ed Bailey, LOU (2)
1B	Dale Long, LA (2)
2B	Nellie Fox, LOU (3)