1945 Fantasy Astrology Recap
View the 1945 FABL Lineups Here!
In 1945, with the United States – and indeed, the world – in the thick of World War II, many of the MLB’s best star players were away fighting overseas. I thought that this might be an opportunity to showcase more Negro League players in the Fantasy Astrology ranks, but that proved not to be the case for two reasons. One is that, despite segregation in sports, many of the top Negro League stars went away to war as well. And the other is that, even the lowliest of white replacement players who subbed in for the Stan Musials and Ted Williamses of the world had the benefit of a 145-game schedule to pad their fantasy point totals.
What ended up happening is that Pisces was able to break Scorpio’s four-season stranglehold on the league, thanks to the redistribution of available talent. Pitching was the name of the game for the usually pitching-poor Fish, with Hank Wyse (2,451 / 64.5) of the Cubs and Preacher Roe (2,104 / 63.8) of the Pirates serving as co-aces. (Wyse actually finished second among Negative Polarity pitchers to real-life MVP Hal Newhouser (3,636 / 90.9), a Taurus who led the Tigers to the World Series championship.) Speaking of aces, their top relief pitcher was Giants closer Ace Adams (1,262 / 19.4), which WASN’T even a nickname, if you can believe it. The offense was fairly lackluster, outside of center fielder Andy Pafko (1,839 / 12.8) and Hall of Famer Mel Ott (1,745 / 12.9), in his last year of relevance, but all nine starters reached at least 1,000 fantasy points.
This consistency means that no Negro Leaguers had enough full-season points to affect the final tally, but that’s likely because we just don’t have access to their actual full season’s worth of stats. Candidates for inclusion on a points-per-game level are left fielder Bill Hoskins (789 / 16.1) and starting pitcher Andy Porter (894 / 68.8), both of the Baltimore Elite Giants. Also Kansas City Monarchs starter Hilton Smith (646 / 58.7) was one of the players featured in the Negro Leagues storyline mode of MLB 23 The Show.
In contrast to Pisces’s team-centric approach, the leader in the Positive Polarity got there through star power. Aries had three of the four major PP award winners, with slugging Boston Braves outfielder Tommy Holmes (2,974 / 19.3) leading the pack. The rotation had three of the top five Positive pitching point scorers, including number one Roger Wolff (2,729 / 82.7), his Senators teammate Dutch Leonard (2,238 / 72.2), and Claude Passeau (2,164 / 63.6) of the Cubs. The Rams also sported the top relief pitcher in the league: Phillies closer Andy Karl (1,708 / 25.5).
No playoff team enjoyed a stronger contribution from Negro League players than Libra, who featured Kansas City Monarchs ace Booker McDaniel (1,596 / 57.0) in their rotation. The Negro Leagues leading fantasy point scorer slots in fourth, just behind white ace Harry Brecheen (1,659 / 69.1), at least in terms of points-per-game. Dixie Walker (2,299 / 14.9) leads the sign in points, somewhat ironically, given that he objected to playing on the same team as Jackie Robinson when he made his debut. Speaking of Robinson (623 / 18.3), the then-Kansas City Monarchs shortstop finished second in Negro Leagues Rookie of the Year voting to Leo pitcher Garnett Blair (634 / 105.7), who starred for the Homestead Grays. Another standout 1945 rookie: Gemini Don Newcombe (519 / 74.1), who pitched for the Newark Eagles.
Even without Ted Williams, Virgo scored the second playoff spot in the Negative Polarity, thanks to St. Louis Browns pitcher Nels Potter (2,402 / 75.1) and Brookly Dodgers outfielder Goody Rosen (2,140 / 14.8), who finished second in NP MVP voting behind Snuffy Stirnweiss (2,340 / 15.4) – proving that even in a down year, you can’t keep Scorpio down. Speaking of Scorpio, they also had the top-scoring batter in the Negro Leagues, Elite Giants catcher Roy Campanella (1,065 / 19.0), who would obviously have a very successful post-integration career. One last fact about the Stingers: they were the sign of the Pole’s top rookie, Cardinals starter Ken Burkhart (1,911 / 45.5). His Positive counterpart was Sagittarian Dave Ferriss (2,182 / 62.3), who pitched for the Red Sox.
Sagittarius actually partially proves my initial hypothesis about the wartime years: the Archers had only three white pitchers with as many as four games started in 1945. That means that without Negro League standouts Roy Welmaker (1,321 / 94.4) and Johnny Wright (564 / 80.6), SAG couldn’t even field a full rotation. Sagittarius also gets a boost behind the plate, with perhaps the most famous Negro League power hitter of all time, Josh Gibson (860 / 18.7). The situation was even more dire for Aquarius, who had only seven white batters. Luckily, Negro League stars like Robinson, center fielder Henry Kimbro (711 / 13.4), third baseman Herb Souell (686 / 15.2), and first baseman Doc Dennis (451 / 9.2) were available to fill in the gaps.