MOB HISTORIANS MAKE DISCOVERY ON THE MISSING 1981 SEASON
BIG DISCOVERY MADE WHILE SEACHING THROUGH THE CHICAGO MOB ARCHIVES.
(Or what I discovered while cleaning out the garage)
It has been a source of frustration for this statistical purist. I have kept statistics for my team every year since rejoining GUSSOMO in 1980. I usually used accounting ledgers or three ring binders. I kept them in a drawer in my roll top desk but when I would move I tended to leave them in the boxes I packed them in. This stopped being an issue when strat went to computers. Several years ago I downloaded a statistical encyclopedia from a league I used to be in. It was impressive and decided that I could do the same. I was able to find all of my stat ledgers except for the 1981 season. Some of the ledgers were in sad shape but all were readable and, believe it or not, I did a complete audit of every season, to be sure I didn't miss anything. I discovered a few errors, usually simple math errors that took away or added extra stats to somebody (Steve Lake had been cheated out of a HR, which I corrected, for example). It took several years, working off and on as real life kept interfering with this fantasy world I maintain. I am proud of the final product and vow to keep at it as long as GUSSOMO lives.
Still, the missing 1981 season eats away at me. At one point I thought it was only a miscalculation on my part. Did I really rejoin in 1980 or was it 1981. I clearly remember that it was the year I took my motorcycle trip to New Orleans. Upon my return my mom (yes, I lived at home at the time) said I got a phone call from Jeff Fleischman. I called back and accepted his invite to rejoin the league. That was definitely 1980. Research using Baseball Reference dot com also confirmed this.
I got excited just this year when Jeff said that he would bring some old stats he had when we met in NYC for the SOM 50th anniversary, but was disappointed that he did not have 1981.
Before we moved to Algonquin, I almost threw away my strat cards. Cripes, there are so many of them and they are heavy. I had them in big plastic containers that were stained and broken. At the last moment, I decided to keep them and they have been stacked in my garage. A couple of months ago I was "urged" to buy a new cabinet to keep the cards in. I cleaned the area where the cards are stored and started going through them before putting them in their new home. I was not sorting them out. Holy cow, that would be a task worthy of Hercules. I was trying to keep them by year, at least. As I was nearing the end, I noticed a rubber banded group of cards that had a distinctly worn group in the middle. The year on this group was 1980. I removed the rubber band (it fell apart, actually) and found that this much more worn group of cards had many familiar names like Yastrzemski and Templeton and Jackson and Dotson. This was my 1981 GUSSOMO team!! 35 players were there. I somehow kept my composure and finished putting the cards in the new cabinet. I went into the house, turned on my computer (this MacBook) and created a 1981 file in my season records. I recorded their names and have left a space for stats. I then rubber banded the team together and reverently placed them in a prominent spot in the cabinet.
Sure, this isn't the same as discovering the missing statistics. For me it bridges the gap between 1980 and 1982. I have included this team in my player's encyclopedias, with the comment 1981 stats missing. I do not expect to ever find the missing stats, however, I never expected to find the strat cards either. Below is the Chicago Mob 1981 roster, based on the 1980 season. Thank you very much for reading!
Still, the missing 1981 season eats away at me. At one point I thought it was only a miscalculation on my part. Did I really rejoin in 1980 or was it 1981. I clearly remember that it was the year I took my motorcycle trip to New Orleans. Upon my return my mom (yes, I lived at home at the time) said I got a phone call from Jeff Fleischman. I called back and accepted his invite to rejoin the league. That was definitely 1980. Research using Baseball Reference dot com also confirmed this.
I got excited just this year when Jeff said that he would bring some old stats he had when we met in NYC for the SOM 50th anniversary, but was disappointed that he did not have 1981.
Before we moved to Algonquin, I almost threw away my strat cards. Cripes, there are so many of them and they are heavy. I had them in big plastic containers that were stained and broken. At the last moment, I decided to keep them and they have been stacked in my garage. A couple of months ago I was "urged" to buy a new cabinet to keep the cards in. I cleaned the area where the cards are stored and started going through them before putting them in their new home. I was not sorting them out. Holy cow, that would be a task worthy of Hercules. I was trying to keep them by year, at least. As I was nearing the end, I noticed a rubber banded group of cards that had a distinctly worn group in the middle. The year on this group was 1980. I removed the rubber band (it fell apart, actually) and found that this much more worn group of cards had many familiar names like Yastrzemski and Templeton and Jackson and Dotson. This was my 1981 GUSSOMO team!! 35 players were there. I somehow kept my composure and finished putting the cards in the new cabinet. I went into the house, turned on my computer (this MacBook) and created a 1981 file in my season records. I recorded their names and have left a space for stats. I then rubber banded the team together and reverently placed them in a prominent spot in the cabinet.
Sure, this isn't the same as discovering the missing statistics. For me it bridges the gap between 1980 and 1982. I have included this team in my player's encyclopedias, with the comment 1981 stats missing. I do not expect to ever find the missing stats, however, I never expected to find the strat cards either. Below is the Chicago Mob 1981 roster, based on the 1980 season. Thank you very much for reading!
* Indicates only year was with the 1981 team
*Rick Bosetti Jeff Burroughs *Rodney Craig Rich Dauer Barry Evans *Barry Foote George Foster *Garth Iorg Reggie Jackson Mike Jorgensen
Junior Kennedy Bill Madlock Bake McBride *Sam Mejias *Mario Mendoza *Bobby Molinaro Rick Monday Joe Rudi Ted Simmons Garry Templeton
John Wathan Carl Yastrzemski Doyle Alexander Joaquin Andujar John Candelaria Victor Cruz Richard Dotson Roger Erickson Rich Gale
Dave Goltz Gary Lavelle Dan Quisenberry Bob Shirley Dan Spillnar *Tim Stoddard