Lineup Crisis
What can the 1949 Pirates do when Ralph Kiner is out?
Lineup Crisis
Ralph Kiner missed the Pittsburgh Pirates’ June 17, 1949 ballgame. He was in the hospital.
This is one of those little historical tidbits that you really only come across when you play full season replays with real life transactions.
It also created a bit of a dilemma.
The problem that I had was that Johnny Hopp, the only other active Pirate player with a rating at left field, was penciled in as the starting first baseman.
We were going to play Hopp no matter what. He’s been one of the best Pirates players in this replay, after all:
What I wanted to do here was stick Dino Restelli in the lineup. Restelli had just been acquired by the Pirates, and I wanted to see what he could do to help the team’s offense.
As you can see, Restelli wasn’t exactly a slouch at the plate in 1949. The problem, though, is that Dino didn’t have a rating at left field.
But the other problem with Dino is that there simply was no place to put him. I had Wally Westlake playing center field:
I’m not about to take Westlake out of the lineup when he’s hitting .312 with a good slugging percentage.
I also had Dixie Walker playing right field:
Like Westlake, Walker has been hitting very well. There’s no way I’m going to take these guys out of the lineup just to give a 24 year old kid a chance - not when they’re hitting like this.
Anyway, it was a bit of a dillema. It’s also a problem that you don’t get with games that simply give outfield players an “outfielder” rating. Diamond Mind wouldn’t have punished me severely for playing Restelli in left field, but there would have been a bit of a handicap, and I wasn’t ready to let that happen.
In the end, I had youngster Ed Stevens start at first base:
That allowed me to play Hopp in left field, which is exactly what he did in real life.
This is what my lineup looked like:
What do you think? How would you have handled this situation? Have you had something similar come up in one of your replays?
I think you probably handled it well.
But, you also could consider whether the opposing pitcher throws right or left.
If it's a leftie, perhaps the best lineup might have Hopp at first, Restelli in left, Westlake in center and Walker in right. Hopp has a first base rating and, as I recall, was a decent hitter. You probably wouldn't lose a lot if he batted against a leftie pitcher. Restelli is a right handed batter and, as I recall, DMB doesn't penalize a center fielder moving to a corner outfield position, especially one with a VG rating. Westlake, a right handed batter could play center. Dixie Walker was apparently a defensive liability wherever he played at this point in his career, but he was a very good hitter. I wouldn't expect him to do too badly against a right handed pitcher.
With a right hander pitching, you could use Stevens, a left handed batter, at first, Hopp another left handed batter in left, Westlake in center and Walker in right. With this lineup you'd have 3 left handed batters and no one playing out of position in the field.