St. Louis Post - Terriers in Town

[Nykav]

I will write a story later on

[knucklehead7]

A logo?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7/f9977a5a.bmp

[Nykav]

Super Mike !! Thanks, I'll take it

[Nykav]

Terriers bought by Dutch Magnate
St. Louis Post

Just hours after it became public that the St. Louis Terriers have entered the recenlty constructed Federal League, it also became clear who would be the owner. A Dutch magnate in all kind of obscure businesses like waffles, flowers, natural gas and other products and services. His name is Alex Versteeg and we will try to provide you with a complete profile as soon as we have more news.

Players, managers and other staff of the team is said to be hired the coming weeks, so we will update you on every move this new team will make.

[bulldog55]

Earth gas?

[Nykav]

Earth gas?

Natural Gas

[bulldog55]

You crazy Dutch.

[Nykav]

Terriers lure Stanky away from Cards
St. Louis Post

"It's war" shouted Cardinals owner August A. Busch Jr. to one of the reporters nearby. Busch, who seemed really upset, reacted on the rumour that the Terriers, the new team in town, lured away their manager. "We are so dissapointed in Eddie, we gave him a house, a family and love and we even paid him for that. And what is our reward???" raged Busch while some of the reporters ran away afraid of being hurt by the magnate.

Versteeg didn't seem to mind: "Busch needs to grow up and admit that the old league is dead. We will have all star players in our new league. Mr Stanky realised that and approached us, also because he is still owed money"

Eddie Stanky didn't want to comment on the situation.

In other news, Alex Versteeg also picked his GM. Axel Nykav will handle this very important position. His first task will be to conctruct a nice team in the initial draft and complete the signing of the staff.

[knucklehead7]

St. Louis reveals park:

Name: TBA
Capacity: 35,000

Left Field Line: 338
Left Field: 357
Left Center: 375
Center Field: 396
Right Center: 380
Right Field: 361
Right Field Line: 340

Fence Height - 8 ft, 10 ft in center

Ballpark Factors:

2b: 104
3b: 105
rhb avg: 96
rhp hr: 95
lhp avg: 94
lhb HR: 93

Weather:

April : 67 (11 rainfall)
May: 76 (11)
June: 85 (9)
July: 89 (9)
August: 87 (8)
September: 80 (8)
October: 68 (8)


Picture:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7/c0bd8248.jpg

Story to follow.

[Nykav]

Terriers complete roster !
St. Louis Post

St. Louis Terriers GM Axel Nykav revealed the 1955 team to the public today. All players come from the rival MLB league, which is almost dead now. His first picks in the initial draft were of course starting pitchers. Most people are not really satisfied on the different choices. One person especially not happy was someone of who we didn't expect that: manager Stanky. "When I was hired they promised me a team of stars, what do I get? An average team"

Nykav and team owner Versteeg weren't available for comment, but we must admit that the team looks not very special:

SP Chris van Cuyk (24-9, 2.93)
SP Ralph Branca (16-15, 3.51)
SP Harvey Haddix (12-15, 4.39)
SP Paul Minner (19-14, 4.35)
SP Mickey McDermott (12-19, 4.72)

MR Billy Hoeft (132.2 IP, 6.24 ERA)
MR Sam Jones (Rookie)
MR Don Mossi (44.1 IP, 3.86 ERA)
CL Carl Erskine (14.1 IP, 2.51 ERA)

Batting order:

C Stan Lopata (.263, 19 HR, 75 RBI)
SS Ray Boone (.311, 14 HR, 81 RBI)
CF Pat Seerey (.295, 22 HR, 106 RBI)
LF Bobby Thomson (.260, 14 HR, 67 RBI)
3B Eddie Yost (.290, 10 HR, 52 RBI)
RF Dick Kokos (.260, 21 HR, 88 RBI)
1B Steve Bilko (Rookie, .287, 24 HR, 100 RBI in AAA)
2B Buddy Blattner (.289, 18 HR, 78 RBI)

[Nykav]

Terries open season in good fashion
St. Louis Post

The Terriers won their 6 first games before being swept by San Francisco. Both Chicago and New Orleans suffered the same fate, inclined by the mostly lucky Terriers. Stanky: "Lucky??? We just played very good baseball and that paid off"

Stanky was so pleased with his team, that he completely revised his lineup after the first 9 games. Stanky: "I felt the team can be even better when I shuffle things around a bit. It's not easy to stay competitive with the team I got from the kid (Nykav)."

Eddie Yost is basically the only hot player with a .414 average so far. Seerey and Kokos showed power, but their production declined the recent games. Van Cuyk won both his starts but didn't really impress, Branca is 1-0 with a miniscule 1.84 ERA.

[Nykav]

Terriers still in first place
St. Louis Post

Despite a rather bad week for the team, with 4 losses and only three wins, St. Louis is still in first place with a 2-game lead over all other teams. Stanky: "We made some changes and we saw the first effects of that. Next week we'll make some adjustments too. Granny Hamner will get an extended look and Buddy Blattner some rest at 2B"

The team is also concerned about the performances of Steve Biko (1-20) and Bobby Thomson (1-14). Both players are added to the warning list. Dale Long and George Shuba will see increased playing time.

Over at the farm we looked at the top 5 prospects:

1. Nino Escalera - OF (AAA - .362, 2 HR, 9 RBI)
2. Pete Whisenant - OF (AAA - .309, 1 HR, 8 RBI)
3. George Susce - SP (Season ending injury)
4. Norm Zauchin - 1B (AAA - .339, 0 HR, 5 RBI)
5. Vic Janowics - C (AAA - .184, 0 HR, 4 RBI)

Team stats:

Avoiding Runs: 5th
Scoring Runs: 5th
Errors: 8th

[Nykav]

3-3 week for Terriers
St. Louis Post

Manager Stanky had mixed feelings when he looked back on last week: "We had some nice games, but still lost three. New Orleans is coming closer and too many people are still not doing to well"

Stanky realises of course that it's still the beginning of a new season and even the start of a new club: "Axel (Nykav) and me still have much work to do in order to create a good lineup. Some of the names are carved in, some others need to establish themselves"

So far 3B Eddie Yost (.292, 16 Runs) and Dick Kokos (.311, 4 HR, 17 RBI) have the best numbers, but original backups Hamner and MacDougald are knocking on the door. Hamner already took the place of Blattner, MacDougald is aiming for a platoon SS role.

Top 5 Prospects:

1. OF Nino Escalera (AAA - .377, 4 HR, 20 RBI)
2. OF Pete Whisenant (AAA - .286, 2 HR, 12 RBI)
3. 1B Norm Zauchin (AAA - .313, 0 HR, 5 RBI)
4. C Vic Janowics (AAA - .176, 0 HR, 5 RBI)
5. SS Gair Ellie (AAA, .409, 1 HR, 9 RBI)

State of the team:

Avoiding Runs: 3rd (4.82 per game)
Scoring Runs: 6th (4.73 per game)
Errors: 8th (1.41 per game)

[Nykav]

St. Louis not alone anymore
St. Louis Post

Five wins and two losses, not too shabby many would say. But it wasn't enough for the Terriers to keep first place. They swept San Francisco and shared a 4-game series against Philadelphia.

"It's a pity but the season is still long" commented Terriers owner Alex Versteeg while cleaning his hands. "I don't like that Delchamp one bit, but he sure knows how to construct a team"

Manager Stanky was excited: "Eveything is going so well. We finally connect batting wise and our starters seem to settle down. Defense will be our next priority"

Second Baseman Buddy Blattner was less positive: "I could care less about the results. I want to play. I showed again this week that I can hit. Last year I wacked 18 homers and now an inferior player took my spot. Unbelievable"

Top Prospects:

1. OF Nino Escalera (AAA - .421, 5 HR, 26 RBI)
2. OF Pete Whisenant (AAA - .358, 5 HR, 28 RBI)
3. 1B Norm Zauchin (AAA - .355, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
4. C Vic Janowics (AAA - .200, 2 HR, 11 RBI)
5. SS Gair Ellie (AAA - .362, 1 HR, 13 RBI)

State of the team:

Avoiding Runs: 4th (4.59 per game)
Scoring Runs: T-4th (5.03 per game)
Errors: 8th (1.28 per game)

[Nykav]

Terriers drop to third place!
St. Louis Post

When owner Alex Versteeg came back from a business trip to Europe, he found his team in 3rd place, 7 games behind league leaders New Orleans. Versteeg: "I'm not sure what happened, but expect Stanky and Nykav to have a meeting in their agenda tomorrow"

What happened is that the Terriers won only 3 games of their last 10 and only 1 of their last 5. Stanky: "I'm not sure what's the problem, but the "hot players list" is empty"

One of the main dissapointments so far is ace Chris von Cuyk with a 4.30 ERA and a 4-5 record. McDermott's 5.68 ERA will see him moved to the bullpen soon, at least that's our expectation. The batting isn't good too, with exceptions in Yost, Lopata and Hamner. Nykav: "We have see some games now and it's time to take action. Some guys were given confidence, because you can't base decisions on two weeks of games. Expect some changes"

State of the team:

Avoiding Runs: 4.90 per game (4th)
Scoring Runs: 5.20 per game (3rd)
Errors: 1.03 per game (8th)

What we can conclude from this figures is that we are truly an average team, but that our pitching detoriated the recent weeks.

[Nykav]

Terriers still struggling
St. Louis Post

A 4-3 week brought some relief, but the Terriers are still only third, 7 games behind New Orleans. The team looks decent, but some positions look shaky while others are well stocked. One of the main decisions GM Nykav took is to move to a 4-man rotation, something which costed McDermott his spot in the staff, he was moved to the bullpen.

In the lineup Gil McDougald got a chance, but a 4-18 performance last week, will most likely bring Boone back. Another experiment, George Shuba against lefties, also didn't really work out, but we guess he will get some chances to stay.

Meanwhile the first trade talks are surrounding the team, Ace Van Cuyk is mostly mentioned. Nykav: "It's unlikely we move Van Cuyk because we think he's crucial for our success, but an offer including more than one nice prospects might change things"

State of the team:

ERA: 4.23 (3rd Place)
Runs Scored: 4.99 (3rd)
Errors: 1.01 (8th)

Top Prospects:

OF Nino Escalera (AAA - .365, 16 HR, 55 RBI)
OF Pete Whisenant (AAA - .340, 11 HR, 54 RBI)
1B Norm Zauchin (AAA - .340, 7 HR, 20 RBI)
C Vic Janowics (AAA - .227, 4 HR, 26 RBI)
SS Gair Ellie (AAA - .331, 10 HR, 31 RBI)