1949 Fantasy Astrology Recap
View the 1949 FABL Lineups Here!
We’ve reached a milestone as we enter the 1940’s: 1949 was the last year, reverse-chronologically speaking, before my database will include Negro League teams. T I realize there is a discrepancy in the historical record here: the Negro American League was still in operation until 1951, but Baseball Reference does not have any stats after 1948. At least there’s a silver lining for this last year of predominantly white baseball: the top four scoring signs in 1949 all made the Fantasy Astrology postseason!
There was absolutely no touching Scorpio in ’49, who tallied a whopping 30,060 fantasy points. To put that number in context, the next time a sign would reach the 30,000-point plateau was the 1961 Leo Lions. As was the case through most of the early 50’s, the offense carried the Stingers, even though Stan Musial (3,053 / 19.4) fell short of the Negative League MVP award. Despite a 3,000-point season from Stan the Man, the excellence of Virgo left fielder Ted Williams (3,456 / 22.3) was unparalleled. Interestingly enough, Williams’s real life Red Sox teammate Vern Stephens (2,812 / 18.1) would hit cleanup for Scorpio behind Musial while playing shortstop, pushing Pirates left fielder Ralph Kiner (2,966 / 19.5) down to the fifth spot.
While not widely recognized at the time, relief pitching was also a strength of Scorpio’s in 1949. Pisces Jim Konstanty gets a lot of the credit for revolutionizing the closer’s role, with his MVP season in 1950, but the ’49 World Series champion Yankees had their own ninth inning specialist in Joe Page (2,127 / 35.5), who had an AL-leading 27 saves. In a fun twist, Page’s Scorpio sign-mate Ted Wilks (1,308 / 22.2) was the top fireman in the National League, leading the NL with nine (9) saves for the Cardinals. The Stingers also technically had a reliever at the top of their rotation: Cleveland rookie Mike Garcia (1,792 / 43.7) started 20 of his 41 appearances, meaning he falls short of the 50% games started threshold by mere percentage points.
Nowhere are the lines between starter and reliever blurrier than with Leo in 1949. Their ace pitcher, Ellis Kinder (2,224 / 51.7) of the Red Sox, also led his real-life team in save opportunities. To make matters more complicated, their top three primary relievers (less than 50% of their games started) all had at least 10 starts on the year – including top Positive “reliever” Gerry Staley (1,570 / 34.9) and Pirates “ace” Murry Dickson (1,482 / 33.7). In fact, Leo didn’t even have three dedicated relievers (less than five games started) who had positive fantasy point totals on the year. There’s no confusion about their offensive leader, as shortstop Pee Wee Reese (2,374 / 15.3) bat leadoff for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
No sign was more pitching rich in 1949 than Taurus, leaders of the Earth Division, despite the offensive heroics of Ted Williams. They say pitching wins championships, and if that’s the case, than the Bulls would be well positioned with Virgil Trucks (2,584 / 63.0), Warren Spahn (2,533 / 66.7), and Hal Newhouser (2,187 / 57.6) at the top of their rotation. On the other side of the coin, that adage would not bode well for Air Division-leading Aquarius, whose power all came on the offensive side. Real-life NL MVP Jackie Robinson (2,926 / 18.8) leads a lineup that also includes Vic Wertz (2,321 / 15.0) and Dom DiMaggio (2,069 / 14.3), brother of Joe.
At first glance, the 1949 Gemini Twins might look like a pretty strong team. Not only do they have the best pitcher in the Positive League, Mel Parnell (2,631 / 67.5), and Rookie of the Year winner Don Newcombe (2,192 / 57.7), but they had a strong offensive top-end in Del Ennis (2,315 / 15.0) and Eddie Joost (2,315 / 15.0). However, Gemini also had four offensive regulars with fewer than 350 points, and a bullpen whose top scorer was one point away from 420, causing Gemini to finish dead last in the league in total fantasy points.
Next week, we’ll get our first look into Fantasy Astrology Negro Leagues, with the 1948 season!