A multi-sport Historical Dynasty with a twist
 

I have done several multiple sports dynasty reports in the past and recently started another one, but this time with a bit of a twist. It will be slightly different in that the universe will revolve around an OOTP online league I am in. Normally, in my solo dynasty threads I would sim very quickly through the years which was great for building a history but I often missed out on a lot of the little things that occurred in my universe so tying my dynasty report into an active online historical league forces me to slow things down and progress at the pace of the online league. In addition, it is sort of a first step towards what for me would be the perfect online universe I would love to participate in: one which, ideally historical based, that has not only an OOTP league but also a football, hockey and basketball league that all are online leagues running in the same time period with for the most part consistent GMs in each loop.

I have been around since OOTP2 but rarely played online leagues, always preferring to do solo replays and almost always documenting them in a dynasty report. That changed several months back when I discovered the Figment Baseball League (which I am also doing a dynasty about and several other GMs and the commissioner do ones as well). I realized just how much fun playing OOTP in an online environment can be and my second league (the AA Replay) reaffirmed that notion.

The AA Replay was created by board member Cooleyvol and with just 8 GM controlled teams is a nice small league with an outstanding group of involved owners, each of whom I believe really appreciates the history of baseball. We are just finishing our second season, 1937, right now but this is not a standard historical league. The 16 MLB teams are there of course, but they are all AI controlled as our 8 managers instead run clubs in the American Association. The premise is the AA has become a major league of it's own and many of the rules for player acquisition in this league are quite unique. There is no amateur draft to speak of. Instead the AA teams get the real players who played with their organization that season and we are allowed to draft or protect up to 6 other players who either spent time in the American Association before moving on to the majors or were born within the American Association league footprint. There is also no color barrier in the AA so players like Satchell Paige and Cool Papa Bell make up some of the 6 protected slots. It makes team management quite interesting as you are forced to make some tough decisions on who to protect each year.

Anyway, what I have been doing is running congruent solo sims of the other major sports of the era and documenting them on our league Slack channel to go along with this league. I started this at the beginning of the 1937 season and decided I will now cross-post it here in a dynasty as well as the history only stays visible on Slack for a short period of time.

SPORTS AND SIMULATIONS INVOLVED

Baseball is of course the focal point with our OOTP league. The league has no minors and major league players are assigned to their real team (except those who pass through the American Association such as Ted Williams who will join Minneapolis for the 1938 campaign.) I will cover the happenings of the American Association in it's struggles to be considered a peer of MLB, but for now at least the American and National League's will dominating my baseball writing.

I am using FHM6 to sim out the NHL history. I have the draft disabled so players get assigned to the team they debuted with in real life and I have enabled the FHM development engine as opposed to using the recalculate ratings options. I enjoy using it as it makes the sim less predictable.

For football I am using DDSPF20 and DDSCF20. The games have some limitations for historical play but I think I found a balance I can be happy with. No two-way players of course as the game won't allow it, but I have a custom 82 team college universe made up along with a 12 team NFL. My first season of the NFL was actually a 10 team league but I am forced to restart it as a new 12 team league because of a bug in the pro game that won't allow me to expand to the 12 team 1950 format. While the college game will have mainly fictional players I am rating all players who were NFL players or draft picks in real life and adding them into the game as high school seniors, meaning they will begin as collegiate stars and then become eligible for the NFL draft. Doing this means that there could be quite a discrepancy between stars in my league and real life stars because they all will develop differently through 4 years of college. (That and my individual ratings may not be very accurate for many of them).

For basketball I am using Fast Break College Basketball and will add the Pro version of the game to the universe when the NBA begins in a few seasons. The college game is primarily fictional players and in a league I started in 1901 but I have been adding 30-100 real players as high school recruits each year starting in the late 1920s. I have also been adding some real life coaches (John Wooden is a former player in my sim and just took his first job as an assistant coach) but like the football portion of this sim there may be some real differences in who my star players turn out to be as compared to real life.

I am also doing some minor golf, boxing and auto racing in this universe. The golf is done with an old freeware game called Quick Play Golf. I manually rated most of the participants but many of the all-time greats were already rated by the creator of the game. I also have about 25 courses for it that I will use to sim the tournaments. I am only going to play the four majors in golf.

For Boxing I am use OOTP developments old Title Bout Game (TBCB) and just running it as single fights at the moment, simming out the heavyweight title bouts. I had an old DOS based Indy 500 game called Thomas Mink Indy 500 racing and it has every field rated from the first Indy500 up until about the year 2000 so I am replaying the Indy 500 each year as well.

Really the only major North American sport of the era I am missing is horse racing but I just can't find a good quick game to simulate the triple crown events.

So those are the sports involved. My next couple of posts will be some backstory on the events I have already simmed out through 1937 to get us caught up to where we are now in our online league.

We presently sit in October of 1937 and both the World Series and American Association Series are wrapping up. Before I get to recapping them and carrying on with 'live' updates here is a look at what has transpired so far in the sim portion of each of my sports:

BOXING

Because I did not start simming other sports in 1936 we missed Louis-Schmeling 1 in which Joe Louis suffered his first professional defeat but things are tracking well towards a rematch next summer. After beating Louis, Schmeling's camp had figured the next step was a fight with World Heavyweight Champion James J Braddock and Schmeling's group had the full support of Madison Square Garden looking to stage the bout. That didn't happen as Louis' handlers secured a fight for their man against Braddock instead. There were multiple injunctions sought (even in this era boxing had more than it's share of litigation) but in the end Braddock would make his first title defense against Joe Louis at Chicago's Comiskey Park in June.

Braddock was called The "Cinderella Man" for his improbable rise culminated in a huge upset win over Max Baer for the title two years prior after originally being picked as an easy tune-up fight for the then champ. Braddock won, and a movie was made about his life starring Russell Crowe, but would not make a title defense until he faced Louis two years later.

In my sim universe Louis dominated the fight, knocking Braddock down three times but the champ gamely got up on each occasion and survived to the final bell, although he did lose badly on points. Here is my article on the Slack channel describing this fight:

With Schmeling's camp still demanding a shot at the title but being denied, the German set his sights on a bout with British champion Tommy Farr only to be outmanoeuvred by Louis' handlers once again as Farr was given a large sum of money to face Louis. That fight occurred in late August 1937


While a Louis-Schmeling rematch remains a little ways away the German did line up a fight at Madison Square Garden. He will face Minnesota native Harry Thomas in December and that will be the next fight I sim in this replay.

1937 in Golf
 

1937 IN GOLF

The 1937 golf season is now complete and the plan remains to sim each of the 4 majors again next year. All that remains for 1937 is to decide on who should be named the golfer of the year.

Here is a recap of each event over the 1937 season starting with The Masters, which was just 4th year of the event:

SARAZEN WINS MASTERS

Gene Sarazen won his second Masters Title in three years after holding off Byron Nelson to claim the 1937 Green Jacket. The 35 year old, who also won at Augusta in 1935, finished a very consistent week of golf with an even par 72 in wet conditions on Sunday. His rounds of 69-69-70-72 allowed Sarazen to beat runner-up Nelson by 3 strokes after Nelson finished with a 73 on Sunday. Veteran Al Espinosa, who in real life finished 27th in the 1937 Masters, was tied with Nelson for second place money.
Here is the final leaderboard.
The second major of the year was the PGA Championship which, after narrowing the field down, became a match play event.

1937 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP - SNEAD WINS FIRST MAJOR

Sam Snead outlasted Al Espinosa to win the 1937 PGA Championship. Snead would take the match-play final 3 and 2 over the California native, playing in his home state at the Los Angeles Gold Club. At the midway point of the 36 hole final, Snead had a 2 hole lead and Espinosa would not manage to get any closer as Snead played a steady, conservative final round and sealed his victory when Espinsoa double-bogeyed the 13th hole, putting Snead 3 up at the time.

It marks the second time in his career that Espinosa reached the finals of the PGA Championship but was forced to settle for second place. For the 25 year old Snead, the victory is the first major title of his career and comes 5 years before his first of 7 real-life Major Championships. Snead would win 3 PGA Championships (1942,1949,1951) in real life as well as 3 Masters titles and 1 British Open.

The next golf major on the schedule is the US Open, which will take place at Oakland Hills Country Club, near Detroit, from June 10-12. In real-life Ralph Guldahl held off Sam Snead, making his US Open debut, by two strokes to win the event.

Next up would be the US Open

MCSPADDEN WINS US OPEN

Harold 'Jug' McSpaden overcame a rough opening round by following it up with 3 solid days of golf to earn the title in the 41st US Open golf championship. McSpadden shot 4 over par 76 on day one at Medinah Country Club, but followed that up with rounds of 66,70 and finally 67 on Sunday to claim the title by 3 strokes, despite being 6 off the pace entering the day.

There was a 4-way tie for second, 3 shots back of McSpaden, involving Denny Shute, Al Espinosa, Tommy Armour and Masters champ Gene Sarazen. McSpaden finished tied for 19th in The Masters and failed to make the match-play phase of the PGA Championship. Leonard Dodson, who held a 3 stroke lead after 54 holes, collapsed on Sunday shooting a 78 to finish in 7th place.

Dodson's day started fine with 5 pars and a birdie through the first six holes as he continued to hold a 3 stroke lead on Shute. However, everything changed over the next 3 holes as Dodson, shot a 7 on the par 5 7th home and, after parring the par 3 8th, he followed that up with another 7...this time on a par four. That dropped Dodson out of the lead as McSpaden and Armour, both playing in the second last group, suddenly found themselves as co-leaders after each played the front nine in 3 under.

Armour would birdie 10 to go one up on both McSpaden and Shute and he and McSpaden matched shot for shot through 14. Shute meanwhile, bogeyed 12 to drop 2 stokes back of Armour. Much like Dodson, the pressure of the lead apparently proved too much for the 3-time major champion Armour as the 41 year old native of Edinburgh, Scotland fell back into a tie with McSpaden by bogeying 15 and then took a double-bogey in 16 to drop two strokes back. McSpaden showed a composure well beyond his 29 years and put the match away with a birdie on 17 to give him his final 3 stroke margin of victory on Shute, Armour, Espinosa and Gene Sarazen.

For Espinosa it was his third straight major in which he finished in second place after losing in the finals of the match-play PGA Tournament last month to Sam Snead. Espinosa finished well, playing the final 15 holes in 3 under but a slow start with bogeys on two and three sealed his fate. Sarazen, who won The Masters earlier this year, was 3 over par after Friday's round and was never really in contention to win the tournament but earned a share of the second place money with a 69 Saturday and a round of 66 on Sunday.

McSpaden, a 29 year old Kansas native who works as a club pro in the Boston area, earned his first major title and just his 6th tour win, following up his victory in the Massachusetts Open earlier in the year. He was 18th in last year's US Open, his best finish in 4 previous attempts.

The final major of the year, the British Open, will be held next month.
Before the British Open we had the 6th edition of the Ryder Cup. The American team of Walter Hagen(non-playing captain), Ed Dudley, Ralph Guldahl, Tony Manero, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, Johnny Revolta, Gene Sarazen, Denny Shute, Horton Smith and Sam Snead defeats Team Great Britain by a 7-5 score.


Because it was held immediately following the Ryder Cup there were a large contingent of Americans playing in the 1937 British Open. Here is how it played out in the sim:

SAM KING WINS BRITISH OPEN

With a six stroke lead heading into the final round, Kent native Sam King played a cautious and error-free final 18 to win the 72nd British Open by 4 strokes over Henry Cotton. King shot even par, getting birdies on the second and 12th holes, both par fours, but bogeyed a pair on the back nine. That performance was more than good enough to hold of fellow Englishman Henry Cotton and claim the Claret Jug.

Cotton tried to mount a charge with a couple of birdies on the back nine but he finished with a two under par 70 which left him four strokes back. No one else finished less than 10 shots off the pace on a day that saw very few red numbers being put up.

US Open champ Jug McSpaden was tied for 3rd, but was 10 strokes back of King while Byron Nelson, who finished second in this years Masters and top ten in both the PGA Championship and US Open, had another solid outing as he tied for 7th place.

Other notables include PGA Champ Sam Snead finishing in a tie for 16th, Masters Champion Gene Sarazen finishing in a tie for 33rd at 11 over par, Ben Hogan at 15 over and Bobby Jones coming in at 16 over par.


MASTERS
Winner - Gene Sarazen
Runner-up Byron Nelson & Al Espinosa

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Winner - Sam Snead
Runner-up Al Espinosa

US OPEN
Winner - Jug McSpadden
Runner-up Denny Shute, Al Espinosa, Gene Sarazen and Tommy Armour

BRITISH OPEN
Winner - Sam King
Runner-up Henry Cotton

RYDER CUP
US team of Walter Hagen(non-playing captain), Ed Dudley, Ralpg Guldahl, Tony Manero, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, Johnny Revolta, Gene Sarazen, Denny Shute, Horton Smith and Sam Snead defeats Team Great Britain by a 7-5 score.

1937 GOLFER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

With 4 different winners in the major tournaments it was tough coming up with the golfer of the year for 1937. Here are the candidates:

BYRON NELSON: started the year off nicely with a second place finish in Augusta and finished well with a tie for 5th in the British Open. However, in between Nelson got knocked out in the quarterfinals by eventual champ Sam Snead in the PGA Championship match play event and tied for 8th at the US Open. Nelson lost his Ryder Cup solo match to Dai Rees, but did win in the doubles event.

GENE SARAZEN: Won at Augusta but then missed the cut to qualify for the match play portion of the PGA Championship. He did finish in a 4-way tie for second at the US Open. Sarazen ended the year struggling in Europe, being on the losing end of both his Ryder Cup matches and finishing 33rd in the British Open.

AL ESPINOSA: No wins for the California native but he had a strong year, finishing second in all 3 US major events. Espinosa finished in a tie for second with Byron Nelson at the Masters, reached the finals of the PGA Championship before falling to Sam Snead and then finishing in a 4-way tie for second at the US Open. Espinosa was not named to the Ryder Cup team but did participate in the British Open, where he finished 14th.


Pictured Below is the 1937 US Ryder Cup team.
(Back Row) Byron Nelson, Denny Shute, Henry Picard, Horton Smith and Tony Manero.
(Front Row) Fred Corcoran, Team Mgr. Sam Snead, Ralph Guldahl, Capt. Ed Dudley and Johnny Revolta

The old dos based game I am using makes it very easy to run a quick replay of the Indy 500 so I added the event into the mix. I also dug up an old Nascar version of the game and may add stock car racing to the list of sports but likely not for at least another decade

1937 INDIANAPOLIS 500
WILBUR SHAW CAPTURES CHECKERED FLAG AT INDY
May 31, 1937

Indiana native Wilbur Shaw ran a near flawless race to claim the victory in the 25th running of the Indianapolis 500. Shaw, who also won the event in real life, started second on the grid but took over the lead from pole sitter Bill Cummings on lap six and never relinquished it as he finished two laps ahead of his nearest competitor. For the 35 year old Shaw, who grew up in Shelbyville, it was his first victory in 9 Indy 500 events. His previous best was second place finishes in both 1933 and 1935.

The race had very little drama as there was just one lead change, when Shaw passed Bill Cummings on the backstretch of the 6th lap and was never challenged. Despite being lapped by Shaw on lap 95 and again on lap 109, Cummings would hold on to second place for much of the race until he was passed with less than 30 laps remaining by Louis Meyer. Meyer would finish second and Cummings would have to settle for third place.

Cummings, an Indianapolis native, was the winner of the 1933 Indy 500 and would finish 3rd in real life in 1937. The 1938 event, his 9th Indy, would be his last as the then 34 year old would die in a highway accident in the winter of 1939. New York native Louis Mayer, who finished second in this replay, was 4th in real-life. He had won the 1936 event as well as 1928 and 1933 to become the first 3 time winner of the Indy 500.
Below: Wilbur Shaw takes the checkered flag in the 1937 Indy 500.

1937 IN HOCKEY

I pre-simmed from 1917 until the end of the 1936-37 season in FHM6 to have the NHL 'catch up" to where we are in the baseball universe. I mentioned it earlier but the only changes I made from default settings were I disabled the draft so players would be assigned to their original franchises and I used the FHM development engine as opposed to recalculate ratings each season.

I really hate there is no-html output or even option to print to a text file with FHM6. Makes it very hard to do any dynasty writing and even more difficult for an online league but here are the final 1936-37 NHL standings. We have not yet reached the Original Six era as we have 8 teams:
The Toronto Maple Leafs are the class of the NHL, defending Cup champions and winners of 3 in the last 4 years and five Cups in the last 7. Only the two New York teams, the Americans in 1931-32 and the Rangers in 1934-35, interupted the Toronto run.

The Leafs domination early in the decade was led by The Kid Line, of Joe Primeau between Charlie Conacher and Busher Jackson. Primeau, now 30 and skills eroding, has found himself in Providence of the AHL this season but Conacher (19-31-50) and Jackson (28-37-65) are still going strong and they have a rookie star by the name of Syl Apps as their new center. Despite just turning 22 during the season, the freshman pivot led the NHL in scoring (26-50-76) as the Leafs easily cruised through the regular season.

In Montreal, the Canadiens continue to rely on the old guard as Aurel Joliat (17-27-44) and Howie Morenz (7-32-39) remain productive but are rapidly aging. At this state at least, it appears there are no young stars emerging in Montreal to grab the torch from the fading hands of Joliat and Morenz. Morenz is the NHL's all-time goal leader with 276, 7 more than Joliar. The pair also rank 2nd and 3rd in career points behind Ranger great Frank Boucher.

Despite the best efforts of 25 year old Sweeney Schriner (28-30-58), who tied with Toronto's Jackson for the goal scoring lead, the New York Americans fell just of second place in the Canadian Division. The Montreal Maroons have veteran defenseman Babe Siebert (12-19-31) and King Clancy (8-20-28) along with 27 year old center Paul Haynes (22-30-52) but finished a distant last in their division. There is hope for the future in a 24 year old winger by the name of Toe Blake, who tallied 26 points as a rookie a year ago but was hobbled by injuries this season. The only question is will the Maroons survive long enough for Blake to peak as attendance is incresingly becoming a concern in trying to compete with the Canadiens for fans in Montreal.

The American Division race went down to the wire with Detroit needing wins over Toronto and the Maroons on the final weekend to nose ahead of the New York Rangers for first place. 31 year old John Sorrell (24-29-53) and some stingy goaltending from Turk Broda (2.49 GAA) led the Wings while the Rangers had a strong goaltender of their own in 36 year old Lorne Chabot (2.36) and a balanced attack led by the aging Frank Boucher (9-31-40) and 21 year old defenseman Babe Pratt (13-18-31). Boucher, now 35, is the all-time scoring leader and also owns 6 Hart Trophy's to go along with 5 Stanley Cup rings, although the first four came in Ottawa.

Third place Chicago was led by 25 year old Lynn Patrick (18-26-44) in the offensive end and truculent rearguard Eddie Shore (10-18-28) in their own zone. Boston made the playoffs each of the last two seasons but had a brutal collapse this year. There is hope for the future with young stars Bobby Bauer (6-5-11 in 21 games),Woody Dumart (8-6-14 in 34 games) and highly touted 19 year old center Milt Schmidt (2-1-3 in 12 games) starting to establish themselves.

The playoffs begin with a best of 3 affair between the 2nd and 3rd place clubs as the two division winners get a bye.

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1936-37 NHL PLAYOFFS

The NHL had some weird playoff setups in the early days including this one. The second and third place teams play a best-of-3 cross-over series with the two second place teams facing off and the two third place teams doing the same. The winners of those two series meet in one semi-final which is also a best-of-3. Meanwhile the two first place clubs -Toronto and Detroit get a bye in the opening round but then face off in a best of three in the semi-finals, thereby eliminating any chance of the division winners playing for the Cup. Nearly as bad as the 1950s when they had the first place team play the third place team and second vs 4th in semi-finals.

OPENING ROUND

Both opening round series went the distance. Despite being on the road and outshot Montreal won opener against the Rangers by a 3-1 score but dropped Game Two at home 2-1 thanks to an overtime goal by Babe Pratt. Back at Madison Square Garden for Game Three it was the visitors who once more prevailed. Third period goals from Hooley Smith and Howie Morenz lifted the Habs to a 3-1 victory in the deciding game.

Despite having 12 points less than the New York Americans during the regular season, the Chicago Black Hawks took two of three to win their playoff series. The Hawks dropped the opener 4-2 on home ice as Normie Himes, despite scoring just 4 goals in 37 regular season games, bulged the twine twice on the powerplay to lift the Americans to victory. Chicago was on it's last legs in Game Two, trailing 2-1 until Ken Doraty tied the game with 2:26 remaining in the third period to force overtime. Ten minutes into the extra frame Lynn Patrick would be the hero for Chicago as the Hawks won 3-2 to send the series back to the Windy City. Americans goaltender Alfie Moore was terrific in Game Three, making 39 saves but Chicago's Mike Karakas was just as good and the Black Hawks took the series with a 2-1 victory on goals from Eddie Shore and Jack Riley.

Next up will be the semi-finals.


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NHL SEMI-FINALS

The Montreal Canadiens made short work of the Chicago Black Hawks in their best of three semi-final series. After a scoreless first period in the series opener, the crowd at the Montreal Forum erupted when the Habs tallied 3 times in the middle stanza with legendary Hab Howie Morenz assisting on two of the 3. That was more than enough offense for Montreal goaltender Bill Beveridge, who drank in the adulation of the crowd following a 27-save shutout performance to earn first star honours.

Game Two in Chicago was closer but the result was still a Montreal victory. The Black Hawks did lead 2-1 after 40 minutes but Howie Morenz set up Gaston Leroux early in the third period to tie the contest and then Morenz got the winner with just over 6 minutes remaining in regulation to send Montreal to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Detroit had the benefit of home ice as their semi-final with Toronto opened at The Olympia but it was all Leafs. Behind a 4-assist performance from Busher Jackson and 3 helpers from Red Horner the Leafs took Game One by a 5-2 count. 25 year old defenseman Roger Jenkins scored twice for Toronto, equaling his output in 30 regular season games.

The big line of Syl Apps, Charlie Conacher and Busher Jackson led the way as Toronto completed the sweep with a 4-1 victory on home ice. Each of three had a goal and 2 assists to pace the Toronto attack. Meanwhile journeyman goaltender Moe Roberts, who at 31 enjoyed the best season of his career and played in more than 24 games for the first time, was dominant in the Toronto net and easily outduelled young Detroit netminder Turk Broda.

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1936-37 STANLEY CUP FINALS

The all-Canadian final got underway in Toronto with the Leafs looking for their fourth Cup in five years and 8th overall. In Game One the Leafs completely outclassed Montreal, outshooting the Habs 50-16 and winning 4-0. It would have been much worse if not for the stellar effort by Bill Beveridge in the Montreal net. The Leafs big line did not get any goals, although Syl Apps and Busher Jackson each assisted on Yip Foster's series opening goal. Instead it was third line center Art Chapman who led the way for Toronto with a pair of goals, both assisted by his linemate Syd Howe.

Game Two was a much better effort from Montreal but the result was the same - a Leaf victory. This one was 3-1 as Syl Apps and Busher Jackson each scored for the winners. Toronto again badly outshot Montreal, this time by a 45-19 margin.

The series shifted to Montreal for Game Three and a last chance for the Canadiens, who had not won a Cup since 1928. It took Toronto just 15 seconds to take the lead as Syl Apps scored just after the opening face-off. Less than 3 minutes later Cliff Barton made in 2-0 Toronto and the Leafs would win 4-1 to claim their second consecutive Stanley Cup title. Apps would score twice for Toronto, giving him a playoff leading 5 goals while Busher Jackson would add two assists to raise his league leading point total to 11. Jackson would win the playoff MVP award.

The regular season MVP, the Hart Trophy, went to Syl Apps and in recognition of just how dominant Toronto was this season, all 6 members of the league's first all-star team and 2 of the second team were from Toronto.


FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS
G- Moe Roberts Toronto
D- Flash Hollett Toronto
D- Red Horner Toronto
C- Syl Apps Toronto
RW- Charlie Conacher Toronto
LW- Syd Howe Toronto

SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS
G- Mike Karakas Chicago
D- Babe Pratt NY Rangers
D- Yip Foster Toronto
C- Neil Colville NY Rangers
RW- Eddie Wiseman Detroit
LW- Busher Jackson Toronto

SUMMER OF 1937

BRUINS DUMP SELKE
Not a lot of off-season movement but the Boston Bruins did make a coaching change, parting ways with head coach Frank Selke. The 43 year old had been the Bruins bench boss since 1933-34, compiling a 59-121-12 record over that time. Boston did reach the Stanley Cup Finals in an unexpected run 3 years ago, beating St Louis and Detroit before falling in 5 games to the Rangers in the final after just sneaking into the final playoff spot. Selke had previously coached the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Quakers.

The new man behind the Boston bench will be Dave Gill, a 51 year old Ottawa native, who coached the Senators for the 1932-33 season, but went just 4-35-9 and has not coached in the NHL since then. The Bruins also announced the signing of amateur defenseman Jack Crawford. The 20 year old highly touted rearguard spent last season with the amateur Kirkland Lake Blue Devils.

WINGS ADD STREWART
The reigning American Division champion Detroit Red Wings made a move to bolster their offensive production recently by acquiring veteran center Nels Stewart from the Montreal Maroons. Detroit will also get 27 year old minor league defenseman Bert Connelly in the deal with young winger Pete Kelly going the other way. The 23 year old Kelly is the key piece for the Maroons. He had 14 goals and 26 points as Detroit rookie two seasons ago but slumped to just 12 points in his sophomore year.

The veteran Stewart is a 3-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL's leading scorer and his 241 career goals rank third all-time behind Montreal Canadiens legends Howie Morenz and Aurel Joliat. The 35 year old is coming off the worst season of his career as he tallied just 5 goals and 19 points in 47 games for the Maroons last season.

CAREER LEADERS
The 1937-38 NHL season will get underway shortly. Before it begins here is a look at the career leaders:

College Basketball
 

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

There will be no NBA for close to a decade but college basketball is going strong. I started the current sim I am using quite some time with a 1901 league start date. Through the years I have edited the structure quite bit with the goal of mirroring real conference alignments as teams came into Division 1. It is not 100% accurate as the FBCB sim won't let you delete a school so the early schools that were in D1 but later dropped out are not included. My first conference in 1901 was the Ivy Group with most of the other 80 odd-teams in the initial season being independents. Now, entering 1937-38 I have over a dozen conferences and roughly 150 schools in this universe. Most players are fictional but there is a sprinkling of real players in the universe with many more to come as we approach the start of the NBA.

One limitation of the game is I need an NCAA tournament every year so in my league it began in 1901, but I am able to make the field a little smaller with just 32 teams qualifying each season.

Our 1936-37 champion was Ohio State, which finished 27-7 on the year, and beat South Carolina in their tournament opener followed by Purdue, #1 ranked Washington and finally Cal in the title game. It was the second title for Ohio State, with the first one coming in 1906. Here are the results of each National Title Game since 1901:
We are now about to begin the 1937-38 College basketball season. The AA Replay online league members have been a good source of feedback for this universe and one of the players I added into both the college football and basketball portion is Jackie Robinson. I knew Robinson had played football and ran track at UCLA but I was unaware he played on the basketball team so Robinson will join the game as a freshman QB and SG for UCLA. There are a couple of other players ahead of him on their football depth chart and he will begin his hoops career as a sub but the hope is he develops and will start in two years and play the 1939 and 1940 seasons like in real life after attending junior college.

You likely notice the Western Conference (forerunner of the Big Ten) doiminates the polls and the recent National Title picture. I ran into an issue of the Western Conference teams being too dominant because most of the real players I added were born in the NY-PA-OH-IN-IL area and as a result the Big 10 schools had a big leg up in recruiting them. Going forward to correct this inbalance, when I add in real players I will randomize their home states to keep the league a little better balanced. However, for the next couple of seasons the Western Coference teams will still be dominant.

You might also notice in looking at the title game scores there is a vast range in points scored. A nice thing with the sim I am using is you can customize game play settings quite a bit so I kept the scoring very low but have been slowly tweaking it up. I might have it a little too high right now but I will go with these settings for the next decade or two.

1937 in College Football
 

I did weekly updates throughout our baseball sim of the 1937 college football season so I have posted them all together here just to catch up but going forward there will be individual weekly updates. I plan to go in to just a little more depth with the dynasty thread then I did with the weekly slack posts which I pasted below.

The 1937 College Football Season

INTRODUCTION
I did my best to get the league settings, player ratings and alignments close to the era but there are a lot of limitations using a game designed for modern play. But I believe it is still going to be an entertaining sim to follow along.

This league does not mirror the real conference alignments of the era as I do not believe it is easy to change teams and conference setups from year to year so I set up a league that will remain static throughout. I am using an 82 team file I created that is designed after the early 1970's football landscape. I have team prestige fairly high and balanced among teams to ensure a wide range of schools are in play for the top recruits each year, as I have the recruiting classes set to bring real life NFL stars of the future into the college game. This is the late thirties and the players entering as high school seniors this year are the ones who will play in the NFL in the early 1940s so there is not a lot of well known guys yet. Probably the best known recruit available this season is RB Bill Dudley. Dudley is a Pro Football Hall of Famer who played a little over a decade for the Steelers, Lions and Redskins after a college career at Virginia. This is still the era of the two-way player, which I can not recrate with DDSCF so there will be a lot of fictional players in the college game and some may have to fill out NFL rosters as well.

Speaking of NFL, it will also start soon as I am going to use a 1937 roster file created by our Commish Mark Cooley and then add my college graduating class in as rookies each year.

Heading into 1937 I would consider Notre Dame, Illinois, Virginia, Penn State and Oklahoma to be the preseason favourites. Notre Dame is loaded with future NFL draft picks including senior QB Andy Puplis

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW

There are a number of key matchups right off the bat as the college football season begins tomorrow but none are bigger than #9 Tennessee facing 14th ranked Arkansas. It is one of two opening day games involving two teams ranked in the top twenty with the other one seeing #4 Nebraska playing host to 15th ranked UCLA.

Other top twenty teams in action this week are:
#3 Ohio State hosts Iowa State
#6 Alabama is at Duke
#7 USC is home to face Georgia Tech
#17 Washington State plays host to Kansas
#18 Oregon State entertains Texas Western (UTEP)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK ONE RECAP

The game of the week certainly lived up to it's billing as #9 Tennessee won a tight defensive struggle with 14th ranked Arkansas, clinging to a 10-3 victory. Vols QB George Cafego was the hero of the game for the winners, passing for 120 yards and rushing for 27, including a 10 yard scamper early in the fourth quarter for the game's only major. Arkansas made a late charge to try and score the equalizer, getting a first and 10 on the Tennessee 11 yard line with 48 seconds remaining but Razorbacks Quarterback Dwight Sloan was tackled for losses on two successive plays and the clock ran out before he could get another attempt at the endzone.

The other game involving two top-twenty teams turned into a rout as #4 Nebraska destroyed UCLA 68-29, rushing for 330 yards on the day. The Cornhuskers had two backs go over the 100 yard rushing mark and score 3 touchdowns each led by Ace English's 178 yards.

Other scores
Alabama 34 Duke 31
Ohio State 28 Iowa State 0
North Carolina 20 Kansas State 13
Oregon State 40 Texas Western 14
Texas A&M 35 Wake Forest 21
USC 35 Georgia Tech 10
Washington State 55 Kansas 9

RECRUITING NEWS
RB Bill Dudley, a future NFL Hall of Famer, heads the 1938 freshman class. Dudley is already being courted by a number of top teams including Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Ohio State and Auburn. The top rated QB is Jimmy Nelson, who would be a future All-American at Alabama in real life, but seems to be leaning towards Auburn or Georgia Tech in the early recruiting stage in this universe.
Key match-ups next week include
#2 Oklahoma at Utah State
#3 Nebraska at #24 Texas A&M
#4 Georgia at Baylor
#5 Michigan at Northwestern
#6 USC at #16 Oregon State
#7 Ohio State at Iowa
#8 Alabama at #13 Penn State
#11 Illinois at #12 Michigan State
#19 Indiana at #10 Minnesota

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK TWO
OHIO STATE HAMMERS IOWA TO MOVE TO TOP OF POLLS

The Ohio State Buckeyes are now ranked #1 in the nation after beating Iowa 41-7 in the Western Conference opener for both teams. The outcome was never in doubt as Buckeyes QB Len Janiak threw for 161 yards including two first half touchdown passes. The Buckeyes blew thru the Hawkeye State as they derailed Iowa State 28-0 in their season opener.

USC moved up to #2 in the polls after the Trojans dumped Oregon State 31-9 as signal called Granny Lansdell threw 1 touchdown pass and ran for another. Despite beating Utah State 57-13, Oklahoma dropped from #2 to 4 in the polls behind #3 Notre Dame, which does not open it's season until next week.

The Sooners Big 8 rival Nebraska took the biggest fall, dropping out of the top 10 after they were upset 38-15 by Texas A&M at College Station. Alabama also tumbled out of the rankings following a 24-14 loss to independent Penn State in a dominant game from Nittany Lions QB Wendell Wear, who threw for 185 yards.

The top rushing performance on the day came from Henry Clarke of West Virginia. The sophomore back gained 159 yards on the ground and scored a pair of touchdowns in the Mountaineers 39-10 thrashing of Rutgers.

OTHER SCORES OF GAMES INVOLVIING KEY GAMES
Georgia 34 Baylor 7
Illinois 31 Michigan State 10
Indiana 20 Minnesota 17
Michigan 26 Northwestern 0
North Carolina State 26 Syracuse 14
Washington State 33 Cal 7
Dropping out: Nebraska, Alabama

WEEK THREE KEY GAMES
#10 Illinois at #2 USC
Northwestern at #3 Notre Dame
#4 Oklahaoma at #14 Oregon
Texas Western at #5 Georgia
UCLA at #6 Michigan
#7 Tennessee at Wake Forest
Arizona at #8 Washington State
#9 Minnesota at Colorado
#15 Virginia at #24 Nebraska
#16 North Carolina at #13 North Carolina State

RECRUITING
We get our first early commitment among the top 50 players as defensive back Billy Sewell has given a verbal confirmation to Tennessee. The 4-star, #39 overall recruit selected the Vols over Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland. In real life Sewell was a 6th round pick of the Eagles out of Washington State in 1942 but never played in the NFL

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK THREE
ILLINOIS KNOCKS OFF USC

A pair of second half field goals allowed the University of Illinois gridiron stars to knock off USC in college football action. Illini senior QB Jack Berner led his squad on a pair of long drives in the second half that both resulted in points allowing Illinois to snap a 13-13 halftime tie and claim a 19-13 victory over the previously #2 ranked Trojans. The victory moves Illinois from 10th to 3rd in the polls and gives the Western Conference 3 of the top four ranked schools and four of six.

The lone exception in the top four is Georgia, which moved up to #2 following a 61-0 thrashing of Texas Western. Things will get much tougher for the 2-0 Bulldogs beginning next week when they visit 3-0 North Carolina State before starting SEC play.

Michigan won a big game this week, topping UCLA 39-24 at the Big House in Ann Arbor. Halfback Tommy Harmon was all over the place, gaining 141 yards on the ground and scoring 3 touchdowns. Michigan QB Forest Evashevski also had a strong game, passing for 223 yards.

After giving everyone else a two-week head start, Notre Dame got it's season underway with a 38-6 dismantling of rival Northwestern. The Irish had two backs go over 100 yards rushing including Milt Piepul, who led the way with 117.

Down south Tennessee topped Wake Forest 31-20 on a wet, slippery field in a torrential downpour. The victory allows the Vols to improve to 2-0 on the season.

OTHER SCORES OF NOTE
Auburn 13 California 10
Alabama 34 Kentucky 0
North Carolina State 14 North Carolina 13
Virginia 26 Nebraska 3
Texas 30 Miami 3
Texas A&M 13 LSU 3
Stanford 35 Duke 7
Wisconsin 28 Syracuse 3
Arkansas 21 Oklahoma State 14
Oklahoma 27 Oregon 24
Washington State 36 Arizona 26
West Virginia 23 Army 3
Dropping out: USC, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota

KEY GAMES NEXT WEEK
#1 Ohio State at North Carolina
#2 Georgia at #10 North Carolina State
#3 Illinois at Washington
LSU at #4 Wisconsin
Texas Tech at #5 Texas
#6 Michigan at Dartmouth
#7 Notre Dame at Purdue
#8 Washington State at Utah
Duke at #9 Virginia
#15 Florida at Mississippi State
#16 USC at Michigan State
#21 Auburn at #14 Tennessee

RECRUITING
#62 Ray Graves is the highest ranked recruit to commit this week. The 4* center has decided to attend Rice University next season. In real life the Tennessee native stayed in his home state and played for the Vols. He would play 3 seasons in the NFL and then go on to coach college ball at Florida, where he was instrumental in recruiting Steve Spurrier. Spurrier would praise Graves as a role model and a mentor for his own coaching carer.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 4
NOTRE DAME SURVIVES SCARE FROM PURDUE

Notre Dame overcame a 10-0 half-time deficit to rally at home past Purdue in college football action. The victory improved the Irish to 2-0 on the young season and the difference was a 9 yard run from quarterback Milt Piepul with just 16 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The Piepul touchdown put the Irish up 11-10 just 3 minutes after Irish lineman Ed Lnghi tackled Purdue back Mike Bylene in the Boilermakers end zone for a safety that cut the Purdue lead to 10-5.

In other action George Cafego threw for 131 yards to help Tennessee(3-0) past Auburn(2-1) 24-13. Other results involving SEC schools saw Florida (2-0) beat Mississippi State (2-2) 19-7, Georgia (3-0) downed North Carolina State 25-19 behind a 193 yard passing day from Bulldogs QB Bill Hartman. Alabama improved to 3-1 with a 33-21 win over winless Vanderbilt.

The big game in the ACC so Virginia improve to 4-0 on the season with a win over conference rival Duke (1-3) 34-6.

In the Southwest Conference Texas (3-0) dumped Texas Tech 33-6, Texas A&M improved to 4-0 with a 29-20 win over Army while Arkansas(3-1) beat Brown 20-6.

Number 1 ranked Ohio State fell with a 21-14 loss at North Carolina while Michigan improved to 3-0 with a 61-0 pasting of Dartmouth. In other games involving Western Conference teams Illinois(2-1) fell to 3-1 Washington 45-30 while Wisconsin improved to 3-0 with a 25-22 win in overtime over LSU.

(Note there was no overtime in real life but the game won't let me turn it off.)

PAC 8 winners included Oregon State(3-1) over BYU (1-2) 38-7, Oregon (3-1) by a 20-17 count over 1-3 UCLA, Washington State (4-0) with a 55-13 victory over Utah while Stanford (2-1) and USC both lost. The Indians fell 20-17 to 4-0 West Virginia while the Trojans are 2-2 after losing 41-16 to 2-1 Michigan State.
Dropping out: Ohio State 2-1, Illinois 2-1 and North Carolina State 2-1


RECRUITING
Several recruits committed this week highlighted by 5* QB Bud Schwenk who will attend Maryland next season while TE Harry Burrus has committed to Miami. Schwenk, ranked 35th overall went to Washington University in St Louis in real life before spending four seasons in the NFL with the Cardinals, Browns, Colts and Yankees.
Burrus was the 78th ranked recruit who in real life played his college ball at Hardin-Simmons before 3 seasons in the NFL with the NY Yankees, Chicago Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 5
WOLVERINES REMAIN #1, IRISH SUFFER DEFEAT

The Michigan Wolverines have had a pretty easy start to the season but they have been perfect so far as they held on to the number one ranking with a 38-3 thumping of Navy. The Wolverines are 4-0 with three road wins at Northwestern, Dartmouth and Navy plus a victory over UCLA in Ann Arbor.

Against the Midshipmen, Michigan ran the ball at will with 5 rushing touchdowns and 312 yards on the ground including a game high 99 from freshman back Tom Harmon. Fellow freshman, QB Forest Evashevski also ran for a touchdown while passing for 91 yards.

Georgia climbed from 4th to second in the AP poll with a 42-32 victory over SEC rival Alabama. Senior QB Bill Hartman threw a pair of second half touchdown passes to help the Bulldogs remain unbeaten.

Tennessee also remained perfect with a 39-13 win at home over Texas Tech. Len Coffman had 7 tackles and a pair of sacks for the winners while George Cafego threw for 137 yards and ran for 39 more in the victory.

Three first quarter touchdowns, all on runs by three different backs allowed Michigan State to build an insurmountable lead against Notre Dame and withstand a second half Irish rally to claim a 24-17 victory, knocking the 2-1 Irish out of the top ten.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF THE MAJOR GAMES
Georgia(4-0) 42 Alabama (3-2) 32
TCU (3-0) 28 Arkansas (3-2) 25
Ole Miss (3-1) 28 Auburn (2-2) 21
Washington State (5-0) 26 BYU (1-3) 21
North Carolina St (4-1) 24 Duke (1-4) 13
Florida (3-0) 38 Florida State (1-4) 13
Indiana (3-1) 49 Syracuse (2-3) 6
Michigan (4-0) 38 Navy (3-1) 3
Northwestern (2-3) 30 Wisconsin (3-1) 14
Michigan St (3-1) 24 Notre Dame (2-1) 17
Oregon (4-1) 66 Washington (3-2) 20
Oregon State (4-1) 45 Arizona State (2-2) 7
Illinois (3-1) 28 Penn State (2-2) 17
Tennessee (4-0) 39 Texas Tech (2-2) 13
Stanford (3-1) 19 USC (2-3) 10
Texas (4-0) 19 Utah State (0-5) 11
Virginia (5-0) 24 Vanderbilt (0-4) 9
West Virginia (5-0) 52 Yale (1-1) 6

RECRUITING:
The top recruit to commit this week was 36th ranked Frank Maznicki. The running back had several offers but choose Mississippi State over Tennessee, Auburn and Michigan State. In real life, Maznicki, a Rhode Island native, attended Boston College before playing 5 NFL seasons at halfback for the Chicago Bears and Boston Yanks. He was originally an 8th round pick in the 1942 NFL draft and also handled kicking duties as a pro.

Meanwhile quarterback Junie Hovious Jr, who was also a kicking specialist and played his college ball at Ole Miss, has committed to Vanderbilt in my sim. Hovious had a brief NFL career with the New York Giants but is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK SIX
NOTRE DAME UPSET AGAIN

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team fell to 2-2 on the season after a tough overtime loss to the Pitt Panthers. The loss in Pittsburgh comes a week after Notre Dame was upset at home by Michigan State. After falling behind early the Irish had to rally to force overtime with 10 fourth quarter points including a game tying 27 yard field goal by Dutch Barber as time expired. Pitt, led by a fine day from senior quarterback Frank Patrick, would score two overtime touchdowns with the Irish unable to match the second one and ended up losing 33-27. In real life Pittsburgh won the 1937 National Championship.

Michigan remained unbeaten and number one in the nation after winning 34-7 in Lansing over rival Michigan State. Tom Harman ran for 90 yards and a touchdown to lead the Wolverines to their second Western Conference win and 5-0 overall.

George Cafego's 7 yard pass to Phil Radwanski with 6 minutes to play lifted unbeaten Tennessee to a 10-6 victory over Florida. The Vols leapfrogged Georgia and moved up to second in the rankings despite the fact the Bulldogs also won, 29-14 over Mississippi.

Washington State and Virginia are both 6-0 and #3 and #4 in the AP poll after each won on Saturday. The Cougars beat Oregon 33-22 despite a 222 yard passing day from Beavers quarterback Chet Halinski. Meanwhile, UVA staged an improbable comeback to beat West Virginia 24-23 in a battle of two teams that both entered the game with 5-0 records. The Mountaineers led 20-3 at the end of three quarters, but freshman quarterback Art Jones led three 4th quarter touchdown drives including one with just under 4 minutes remaining that ended with a 43 yard touchdown pass from Jones to Bob Murphy to put the Cavs ahead for the first time in the game.

Another big game this week saw SWC power Texas improve to 5-0 with a 17-13 victory over Oklahoma. The loss dropped the 3-1 Sooners out of the top ten. Losses also knocked Oregon, West Virginia and Texas A&M, which fell 14-3 to Texas Tech, out of the poll as well.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF THE MAJOR GAMES
Pittsburgh (4-2) 33 Notre Dame (2-2) 27 overtime
Michigan (5-0) 34 Michigan State (3-2) 7
Illinois (4-1) 23 Ohio State (2-3) 13
Indiana (4-1) 33 Wisconsin (3-2) 7
Tennessee (5-0) 10 Florida (3-1) 6
Georgia (5-0) 29 Ole Miss (3-2) 14
LSU (3-2) 33 Auburn (2-3) 6
North Carolina (4-1) 27 Kentucky (1-4) 16
North Carolina State (5-1) 31 Wake Forest (2-3) 7
Virginia (6-0) 24 West Virginia (5-1) 23
Arkansas (4-2) 21 Baylor (1-3) 17
Texas Tech (3-2) 14 Texas A&M (4-1) 3
Texas (5-0) 17 Oklahoma (3-1) 13
Nebraska (2-3) 52 Missouri (3-2) 13
Washington State (6-0) 33 Oregon (4-2) 22
UCLA (3-3) 34 Oregon State (4-2) 17
Stanford (4-1) 24 Washington (3-3) 10
Navy (4-1) 34 Syracuse (2-4) 32 overtime
Penn State (3-2) 31 Army (2-3) 20
RECRUITING
Not a lot of big name recruits committed this week. In fact the highest rated commit was 4-star running back Mickey Sanzotta's decision to become a Miami Hurricane. Sanzotta is ranked the 60th best recruit in his class. In real life the Geneva, Ohio native attended Case Western Reserve before playing two seasons with the Detroit Lions.

Most of the top 50 recruits remain uncommitted. The top rated running back, future Hall of Famer Bill Dudley, is still wavering between 5 schools: Auburn, Iowa, Tennessee, Ohio State and Wisconsin. The Buckeyes, Badgers and Tigers are all in the running for the top wideout, Bob Merker. Notre Dame and Michigan State are also possible destinations for Merker.

As for the top QB's available here are where they are leaning:
Frankie Albert - Notre Dame, Michigan and Georgia
Jimmy Nelson - Aubun, Florida, Georgia Tech
Billy deCorrevont- Florida
Bud Schwenk - COMMITTED TO MARYLAND
Murray Evans - Duke, Ohio State and Syracuse

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK SEVEN
SEC LEADERS BOTH WIN

Tennessee and Georgia remain tied atop the SEC standings and ranked second and fourth respectively after both picked up conference wins on Saturday. The two schools are both 3-0 in conference and 6-0 overall. George Cafego threw 3 touchdown passes as the Vols beat Alabama 38-21 while the Bulldogs got a pair of touchdown runs from Len Eshmont in a 30-12 victory over Vanderbilt.

Tom Harmon ran for 54 yards and a touchdown to help Michigan remain unbeaten and ranked first in the nation with a 25-17 victory over Illinois, spoiling a career day for Illini freshman QB Bill Glenn. Glenn completed 17 of 25 pass attempts for 248 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Virginia is also unbeaten at 7-0, following a 52-19 dismantling of ACC rival Clemson. Alex Stapleton (a fictional player) ran for 199 yards and 4 touchdowns in the win.

Washington State and Texas both fell from the unbeaten ranks as the Cougars were hammered 51-9 by Oregon State while the Longhorns lost 35-13 to Arkansas. Senior RB Jack Robbins led the Razorbacks with 3 touchdowns and 181 yards rushing.

After back to back losses Notre Dame came up with a statement win by destroying Missouri 50-0. Milt Piepul ran for 106 yards and 3 touchdowns while fellow Irish back Mario Tonelli had two touchdowns and carried the ball for 108 yards in the win.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF THE MAJOR GAMES
Michigan (6-0) 25 Illinois (4-2) 17
Ohio State (3-3) 16 Indiana (4-2) 0
Minnesota (4-2) 24 Iowa (1-5) 17
Wisconsin (4-2) 22 Michigan State (3-3) 13
Notre Dame (3-2) 50 Missouri (3-3) 0
Tennessee (6-0) 38 Alabama (3-3) 21
Georgia (6-0) 30 Vanderbilt (1-5) 12
Florida (4-1) 44 Ole Miss (3-3) 3
North Carolina State (6-1) 36 Mississippi State (2-5) 20
Virginia (7-0) 52 Clemson (1-5) 19
Wake Forest (3-3) 35 North Carolina (4-2) 25
Pennsylvania (2-2) 21 West Virginia (5-2) 13
Penn State (4-2) 17 Syracuse (2-5) 14
Arkansas (5-2) 35 Texas (5-1) 13
Texas Tech (4-2) 9 Arizona (2-4) 6
TCU (4-1) 23 Texas A&M (4-2) 10
Nebraska (3-3) 34 Kansas (4-2) 3
Oklahoma (4-1) 34 Colorado (2-5) 10
Oregon State (5-2) 51 Washington State (6-1) 9
Stanford (5-1) 10 Oregon (4-3) 9
RECRUITING
Running Back Tom Colella, #10 overall and #3 among backs, committed to Ohio State this week. In real life the HB-P played college ball at Canisius before spending nearly a decade in the NFL with Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo. The Western New York native was inducted in to the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

Defensive back Bob Dethman, the #13 recruit, committed to UCLA and RB Steve Juzwik, the #16 ranked recruit, will join Arkansas next year. In real life Dethman played QB as well as DB at Oregon State and led the Beavers to a win over Duke in the 1942 Rose Bowl - a game that was moved to Durham, North Carolina after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He did not play in the NFL. Juzwik was a Chicago native who went to Notre Dame in real life and played for Washington in the NFL as well as Buffalo and the Chicago Rockets in the AAFC.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK EIGHT
GEORGIA TECH SHOCKS TENNESSEE

The Tennessee Volunteers lost their first game of the season to a Georgia Tech squad that won for the first time this year. The 27-3 loss to the 1-6 Yellow Jackets knocked the 6-1 Vols from 2nd to 7th in the AP poll. The loss also leaves college football with just 3 unbeaten teams.

7-0 Michigan remains number one in the rankings for the fifth straight week after the Wolverines dumped Western Conference rival Minnesota 23-3. Virginia moved from 3 to 2 in the polls after the Cavaliers spanked 1-7 Maryland 47-7 to run their record to 8-0 while Georgia improved to 4-0 in SEC play and 7-0 overall with a 34-7 victory over Kentucky. The Bulldogs move up to third in the rankings.


HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF THE MAJOR GAMES
Georgia (7-0) 34 Kentucky (2-5) 7
Alabama (4-3) 56 Arizona (3-4) 10
Virginia (8-0) 47 Maryland (1-7) 7
Georgia Tech (1-6) 27 Tennessee (6-1) 3
North Carolina (5-2) 20 Florida (4-2) 14
North Carolina State (7-1) 25 South Carolina (4-3) 7
Michigan (7-0) 23 Minnesota (4-3) 3
Illinois (5-2) 48 Purdue (2-5) 16
Indiania (5-2) 41 Northwestern (2-5) 6
Michigan State (4-3) 45 Iowa (1-6) 10
Oklahoma (5-1) 21 Kansas State (4-4) 3
Nebraska (4-3) 62 Oklahoma State (0-7) 3
Texas (6-1) 31 Rice (4-2) 7
Notre Dame (4-2) 41 TCU (4-2) 10
Stanford (6-1) 39 Oregon State (5-3) 17
Oregon (5-3) 35 USC (3-5) 10
Washington State (7-1) 31 UCLA (4-4) 0
Penn State (5-2) 38 West Virginia (5-3) 0
Navy (5-2) 27 Duke (2-6) 10
RECRUITING
Running back Johnny Butler was the biggest recruit to commit this week. Rated 15th overall, Butler choose Oklahoma over USC. In real life the Tennessee native went to the University of Tennessee and was elected into the Tennessee sports Hall of Fame in 1997. After his college career he played 3 seasons in the NFL with Pittsburgh, Brooklyn and Philadelphia.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK NINE
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE!

Entering play Saturday there were three unbeaten teams in Michigan, Georgia and Virginia but when the day came to an end there were none as all three suffered losses. Top ranked Michigan slipped to #2 in the polls after falling 13-9 at home to Western Conference rival Indiana. Junior QB Frank Filchock led the Hoosiers attack, passing for 149 yards and running for Indiana's only touchdown. The loss might also cost the Wolverines a Rose Bowl bid as at 4-1 in conference play, they find themselves in a 4 way tie for the Western Conference lead with Indiana, Illinois and Ohio State.

North Carolina State takes over the number one ranking after the 8-1 Wolfpack knocked off previously unbeaten Virginia 28-21 at home. Slick Webb threw a pair of touchdown passes including the game winner, a 6 yarder to Herman Langley, to give North Carolina State the win and a clear path to claiming the ACC title.

A week after being upset by Georgia Tech the Tennessee Volunteers won a huge showdown with another Georgia school, beating the Bulldogs 38-17 in SEC play. Both schools are now 7-1 but the Vols are the only unbeaten team remaining in conference play and find themselves ranked #3 after dropping to 7th from second in the polls after the Yellow Jackets loss. Sophomore QB George Cafego had far and away his worst game of the season last week but redeemed himself this time by completing 11 of 16 passes for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns in the victory. Cafego also ran for 33 yards in the contest but the big story on the ground for Tennessee was freshman Bob Foxx, who gained 81 yards and scored three touchdowns.


HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF THE MAJOR GAMES
North Carolina State (8-1) 28 Virginia (8-1) 21
Clemson (3-5) 40 North Carolina (5-3) 17
Tennessee (7-1) 38 Georgia (7-1) 17
Florida (5-2) 41 Auburn (3-5) 13
Alabama (5-3) 65 Mississippi State (2-7) 0
Indiana (6-2) 13 Michigan (7-1) 9
Illinois (6-2) 45 Northwestern (2-6) 7
Ohio State (5-3) 24 Minnesota (4-4) 14
Michigan State (5-3) 41 Purdue (2-6) 7
Notre Dame (5-2) 34 Navy (5-3) 13
Oklahoma (6-1) 37 Iowa State (3-5) 12
Kansas (6-2) 16 Oklahoma State (0-8) 13
Nebraska (5-3) 44 Colorado (3-6) 3
Texas (7-1) 27 SMU (1-6) 7
Texas A&M (5-3) 35 Arkansas (5-3) 28
Texas Tech (6-2) 34 Rice (4-3) 10
Penn State (6-2) 35 Maryland (1-8) 14
Stanford (7-1) UCLA (4-5) 0
Oregon (6-3) 28 Cal (3-6) 23
Washington State (8-1) 8 USC (3-6) 7
Oregon State (6-3) 35 Washington (3-6) 28

RECRUITING
DUDLEY GOING TO TEXAS
The most highly touted running back in this year's recruiting class has committed to the University of Texas. Bill Dudley chose the Longhorns over Tennessee, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin. In real life "Bullet Bill" played college ball for Virginia before going on to a Hall of Fame NFL career with Pittsburgh, Detroit and Washington. He led the NFL in rushing yardage twice and was the league MVP in 1946, leading in both rushing yards and interceptions as a two-way player that season. In college he was an All-American and won the Maxwell Award in 1941.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK TEN
WOLVERINES BACK ON TOP

Despite both of them winning on Saturday the new AP poll has Michigan leapfrogging North Carolina State to regain the number one ranking in college football. The Wolverines improved to 8-1 on the season with a 38-13 victory over Iowa while the Wolfpack are now 9-1 following their 40-14 win over Auburn. Tennessee had the week off and dropped from 3rd to 6th in the poll.

The biggest gainer was Indiana as the Hoosiers moved into the top ten and knocked Illinois out with a 12-7 win over the Illini. Indiana seems well positioned to win at least a share of the Western title as they are tied with Ohio State and Michigan atop the conference at 5-1. Indiana's two remaining conference games are with 1-8 Iowa and 2-7 Purdue while Ohio State and Michigan will as usual finish the season against each other.

Notre Dame is also creeping up the rankings. The Irish are now 6-2 and have won 4 straight after back to back upset losses at the hands of Michigan State and Pittsburgh. Notre Dame's latest game was a 62-0 pounding of Rutgers. In that game junior running back Mario Tonelli ran for 163 yards and 3 touchdowns for the winners.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF THE MAJOR GAMES
Florida (6-2) 24 Georgia (7-2) 21
Alabama (6-3) 32 LSU (3-5) 24
Mississippi (5-4) 38 Penn State (6-3) 24
Michigan (8-1) 38 Iowa (1-8) 13
Indiana (7-2) 12 Illinois (6-3) 7
Ohio State (6-3) 24 Michigan State (5-4) 9
Wisconsin (6-3) 32 Purdue (2-7) 0
North Carolina State (9-1) 40 Auburn (3-6) 14
Virginia (9-1) 42 North Carolina (5-4) 23
Notre Dame (6-2) 62 Rutgers (1-8) 0
Oklahoma (7-1) 30 Missouri (4-5) 13
Nebraska (6-3) 35 Iowa State (3-6) 7
Kansas (7-2) 31 Colorado (3-7) 17
Arkansas (6-3) 30 Rice (4-4) 10
Texas (8-1) 56 Baylor (3-5) 10
Texas A&M (6-3) 35 SMU (1-7) 20
Stanford (8-1) 24 Washington State (8-2) 21
Oregon State (7-3) 41 Cal (3-7) 17
Oregon (7-3) 41 Colorado State (5-4) 10
West Virginia (7-3) 24 Miami (1-7) 13
RECRUITING
ALBERT COMMITS TO MINNESOTA
One of the nations top prep quarterbacks has decided he will play for Minnesota next season. Frankie Albert was the #11 rated recruit overall and chose the Gophers over Duke and Ohio State. In real life Albert was an All-American at Stanford before playing 7 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and one final season in the CFL with Calgary. He also coached the 49ers for three seasons in the mid-1950s.

Meanwhile, 5 star defensive back Curt Mecham has spurned offers from Oklahoma, Auburn and Illinois after committing to Mississippi State. In real life Mecham was an all-PCC selection at Oregon before playing 1 season in the NFL with Brooklyn.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 11
NO CHANGES ATOP THE POLL

With the college football season winding down it was status quo atop the AP Top Ten poll with only 7th ranked Indiana falling to hold it's spot in the top ten. The Hoosiers were upset at Iowa by the 2-8 Hawkeyes 44-27 with the loss putting an end to Indiana's Rose Bowl hopes. The Hoosiers are 5-2 in Western Conference play and with both #1 overall Michigan and Ohio State winning on the weekend to improve to 6-1 in conference it means the winner of next weekend's showdown in Michigan will go to the Rose Bowl. Their opening has already been determined as Stanford capped a perfect 7-0 Pacific Coast Conference run with a 31-24 victory over California on the weekend. The Indians are 9-1 overall and currently ranked fifth in the polls. A win over Boston College in their regular season finale plus a Rose Bowl win over Michigan (assuming the Wolverines beat Ohio State) could give Stanford a national title.

Should the Wolverines stumble the National Title might go to North Carolina State. The Wolfpack completed their regular season with a 21-18 win at Clemson and now the ACC champs are waiting to determine who their opponent will be on New Year's Day.

9-1 Texas and 8-1 Tennessee may each also have National Title hopes. The Longhorns need to get past Texas A&M next week to claim the Southwest Conference title. Texas Tech is 5-1 in conference play, same as the Longhorns, but Texas won the head to head match-up. Meanwhile the Vols still have a pair of conference games left but they should be easy wins against 3-7 Kentucky and 4-5 Vanderbilt.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF MAJOR GAMES
North Carolina State (10-1) 21 Clemson (4-6) 18
Virginia (10-1) 39 Wake Forest (5-5) 10
North Carolina (6-4) 23 Duke (3-8) 14
Virginia Tech (6-4) 28 Alabama (6-4) 14
Tennessee (8-1) 41 Ole Miss (5-5) 10
Georgia (8-2) 38 Auburn (3-7) 7
Florida (7-2) 30 Kentucky (3-7) 3
Notre Dame (7-2) 35 Miami (1-8) 0
Michigan (9-1) 20 Purdue (2-8) 6
Michigan State (6-4) 27 Minnesota (5-5) 7
Iowa (2-8) 44 Indiana (7-3) 27
Illinois (7-3) 27 Wisconsin (6-4) 10
Ohio State (7-3) 48 Northwestern (2-8) 0
Oklahoma (8-1) 31 Kansas (7-3) 13
Texas (9-1) 35 TCU (5-4) 14
Texas Tech (8-2) 34 Baylor (3-6) 13
Arkansas (7-3) 21 SMU (1-8) 6
Texas A&M (7-3) 35 Rice (4-5) 9
Stanford (9-1) 31 Cal (3-8) 24
Oregon (8-3) 30 Oregon State (7-4) 17
Washington State (9-2) 48 Washington (3-8) 24
Penn State (7-3) 35 Boston College (4-5) 3
RECRUITING
The top ranked recruit to commit this week was receiver Ben Hightower, ranked #8 overall in his class. Hightower will attend Texas A&M and was considering each of the Southwest Conference schools as well as LSU before making his choice.

In real life he was an All-American at Sam Houston State as well as a conference champion hurdler. He would go on to play two seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Rams and Detroit Lions.

NCAA FOOTBALL WEEK 12
MICHIGAN HEADING TO ROSE BOWL

The number one ranked Michigan Wolverines secured a berth in the Rose Bowl against 5th ranked Stanford following a 27-10 victory at home over Ohio State. The win, led by a pair of touchdown passes from Forest Evashevski, gave the Wolverines the Western Conference title and set them up to win a National Championship if they can beat Stanford in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

Tennessee clinched the Southeastern Conference title and moved up to #3 in the polls after a close call in Kentucky. The Volunteers had to hold off a late charge from the Wildcats but escaped with a 22-17 victory. Freshman Kentucky QB Charlie Ishmael had a great game, throwing for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns but fell just short in his bid to knock off Tennessee. Earlier in the day Florida lost to LSU 26-13 which meant the Tennessee victory clinched the conference title.

Texas A&M played spoiler in the Southwest Conference as the Aggies upset Texas 27-14 to deny the Longhorns the conference title. It instead went to Texas Tech after the Raiders beat Arkansas 23-20.

Nebraska won the Big 8 title after beating Oklahoma 20-9 in their traditional year end showdown. The Cornhuskers won all 7 conference games after starting the season 1-3. Another team that had a slow start - Notre Dame - is also finishing strong. The Irish snuck back into the top ten after doubling Army 20-10. Early season losses to Michigan State and at Pittsburgh derailed Notre Dame but a win next week over USC could allow the Irish to earn a New Year's Bowl invite.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF MAJOR GAMES
Texas Tech (9-2) 23 Arkansas (7-4) 20
Notre Dame (8-2) 20 Army (5-5) 10
North Carolina (7-4) 23 Boston College (4-6) 6
Tennessee (9-1) 22 Kentucky (3-8) 17
LSU (5-5) 26 Florida (7-3) 13
Michigan (10-1) 27 Ohio State (7-4) 10
Michigan State (7-4) 27 Northwestern (2-9) 26
Illinois (8-3) 38 Iowa (2-9) 6
Purdue (3-8) 27 Indiana (7-4) 20
Nebraska (8-3) 20 Oklahoma (8-2) 9
Kansas (8-3) 26 Missouri (4-7) 23
Texas A&M (8-3) 27 Texas (9-2) 14
Penn State (8-3) 24 Pitt (5-6) 3
RECRUITING
A number of highly touted recruits signed this week led by running back Edgar Jones. The top ten prospect was pursued by just about every school in the south but ended up committing to Alabama. Nicknamed "Special Delivery" the real-life Jones grew up in Scranton and played his college ball for Pitt. He played for seasons in the AAFC with the Cleveland Browns and won 4 league titles before finishing his pro football career with the CFL's Hamilton Tiger Cats. He also coached briefly at Pitt and with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers.

Arkansas landed the top linebacker available as the signed Vince Banonis while Syracuse found itself a quarterback with the decision of Jimmy Nelson to join the Orangemen over Florida, Wisconsin and LSU. In real life Banonis was an All-American at Detroit Mercy and then played a decade in the NFL with the Chicago Cardinals and Detroit Lions. He won 3 NFL championships and was twice named to the All-NFL team. He also was inducted in to the College Football Hall of Fame. Nelson, in real life went to Alabama where he was a 2 time All-American. He was drafted to the NFL but did not play although he did spend a season in the All-American Football Conference.

NCAA FOOTBALL WEEK 13
IRISH BEAT USC

Notre Dame won for the 7th consecutive week, salvaging a season that had a disappointing 2-2 start with a likely invitation to a New Years Day Bowl Game. USC was the Irish's latest victim as the Trojans completed a poor season with a 27-7 loss in South Bend. Senior end Nate Mallon was the hero for the Irish, making 5 catches including a pair of first half touchdown grabs. With both Andy Puplis and back-up Steve Sitko sidelined with injuries, Notre Dame was forced to rely on freshman QB Joe Terrell in the game. The victory moved Notre Dame to 7th in the AP rankings.

Tennessee moved up to #2 as the Vols finished their season with an impressive 59-23 win at home over Vanderbilt. Stanford joined Tennessee in the pack of 10-1 teams and the Indians moved up a spot to fourth in the polls following a 38-7 win on the road at Boston College.

Plenty of excitement in the Army-Navy game as the Midshipman rallied with two late touchdowns to pull out a 28-27 victory. Senior QB Bert Neukam connected with wideout George Rupp for the winning score on a 7 yard pass with just over a minute remaining in the game.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF MAJOR GAMES
Notre Dame (9-2) 27 USC (4-7) 7
Stanford (10-1) 38 Boston College (4-7) 7
Tennessee (10-1) 59 Vanderbilt (5-6) 23
Alabama (7-4) 14 Auburn (3-8) 0
Georgia (9-2) 59 Georgia Tech (2-9) 7
Florida (8-3) 23 Miami (2-9) 0
Oklahoma (9-2) 38 Oklahoma State (1-10) 17
Navy (7-4) 28 Army (5-6) 27
There is no major recruiting news as no top recruits committed this week.

Next up will be the Bowl Game Announcements. We do know the Rose Bowl matchup will feature #1 Michigan (10-1) vs #4 Stanford (10-1) with the National Title on the line although Tennessee and North Carolina State may have an outside shot at finishing number one should the Wolverines lose to Stanford.

Baseball recap
 

For the NFL I am going to wait and pick things up with the 1937 playoffs shortly. I had been simming the season week by week along with the college football campaign but because of the previously mentioned bug that prevents me from switching to a 12 team 1950 style NFL format with only 4 playoff teams I am going to restart the league in that format a decade early and document it as I go. The 10 team format I was using I hated because it had 8 of the 10 teams making the playoffs and, while I guess I could have lived with that for a few seasons, the fact that it sounds like the game developer is unable to fix the bug until the next incarnation of the game comes out a year from now I figured it was best to scrap the season and start over.

The new pro football recap will come up shortly when I get everything caught up with where we are in the sim, which I will be able to do right after I post the baseball happenings since last year.

1936 BASEBALL RECAP

I will touch on the American Association in this replay but the major focus will be on the American and National League's. Before I bring us up to date here is a look at what happened in the first sim season we did: 1936

The New York Yankees dominated the American League, winning 106 games and finishing 13 games ahead of second place Cleveland. The Red Sox and Tigers both finished with very strong 91-63 records, but in this season that was only good enough to end up 15 games out of first. From there it was a long drop to the 5th place Chicago White Sox, who went just 66-88 and were 40 games out. Washington (65-89), St Louis (59-95) and an embarassingly bad season from the Philadelphia Athletics (45-109, 61 games back) round out the junior circuit.

33 year old Lou Gehrig (.367,36,135) was the MVP but it was close to time to turn the torch over to Joe DiMaggio as the 21 year old rookie hit .341 with 33 homers and a league best 152 rbi's and was an obvious choice as top newcomer. The Yankees also had the Cy Young Award winner with 27 year old Lefty Gomez posting an incredible 30-6 season with a 2.22 era.

About the only thing a Yankee didn't win was the batting title as the top hitter in the American League was Washington outfielder John Stone (.378,16,107) with Gehrig coming in second and New York catcher Bill Dickey (.353,27,127) fourth behind Cleveland's Hal Trosky (.362,39,152). Trosky tied DiMaggio for the RBI lead and his 39 round-trippers were 3 more than Gehrig and Boston's Jimmie Foxx (.323,36,140) to lead the league.

The National League gave us a much tighter battle as the 91-61 New York Giants held off the Chicago Cubs to win the pennant by two games. Pittsburgh and defending champion St Louis tied for third at 86-68, 5 games off the pace. From there, like the American League, it was a fair drop to the second division clubs with Cincinnati finishing 20 games back, Boston 22 while Brooklyn and the Phillies tied for last at 62-92, 29 games behind the Giants.

St Louis first baseman Johnny Mize (.388,28,107) had as good a rookie season than DiMaggio as he flirted with .400 for much of the year while teammate Joe Medwick (.373,25,135) also enjoyed an outstanding season. The MVP award instead went to the Giants 27 year old outfielder Mel Ott (.331,41,122), who led the league in homers and was second to Medwick in rbi's. New York ace Hal Schumacher (24-10, 2.96) was named the top pitcher.

Heading into the 1936 World Series the Yankees seemed overwhelming favourites but it would the Giants who emerged victorious, winning in 6 games behind an incredible effort from Mel Ott.

In the newly minted American Association's debut year as a major league the dominant club came out of Milwaukee as the Brewers rode the bats of Chuck Klein (.372,34,142), Chet Laabs (.297,28,120), Martin Dihigo (.343,26,107) and rookie of the year Rudy York (.328,32,107) to the first league pennant.

Minneapolis was second, ten games back as the Millers fought off Louisville and Toledo for the opportunity to face Milwaukee in the inaugural American Series. Unlike Milwaukee, Minneapolis relied on it's pitching led by the legendary Carl Hubbell (28-13, 3.19)- who bolted from the New York Giants to the new league at age 32 - and 24 year old Denny Galehouse (23-17, 4.23).

The Brewers would be missing an injured York for the Series but still had plenty of offense. The Millers countered with Hubbell and Galehouse, who combined to start all 7 American Series games because Minneapolis management had zero confidence in the rest of their staff. The gamble paid off as Hubbell and Galehouse's arms survived and the Millers upset Milwaukee in 7 games to win the first Championship in the new loop.

Boxscores of each of the 1936 postseason games can be found here

1937 BASEBALL RECAP

The New York Yankees easily repeated as American League champions, finishing 9 games up on the Indians, who once again had to settle for second place. With the pitching of Lefty Gomez (24-6, 2.60), Red Ruffing (22-10, 2.52) and Johnny Broaca (21-8, 2.93) and a batting order like this the rest of the American League was no match for New York.
The St Louis Cardinals were equally dominant in the National League as the Chicago Cubs fought bravely most of the year to keep pace before fading in August. St Louis finished with 101 wins and a 14 game cushion on both the Giants and Cubs. Cincinnati (85-69), Pittsburgh (79-75), Boston (66-88), Brooklyn (60-94) and Philadelphia (51-103) rounded out the standings.

Mel Ott (.374,46,120), the 1936 World Series hero, had a big season for the Giants and at mid-year seemed on a pace to perhaps hit 60 round-trippers. Ott did lead the league in homers and batting average after the Cubs Stan Hack (.353,5,78) slumped late in the year. The St Louis Cardinals offense was led by it's 4M lineup of Martin, Moore, Mize and Medwick at the top of the order. Johnny Mize (.346,32,112) and Joe Medwick (.329,26,137) carried the big bats but if truth be told it was pitching, not offense, that carried the Cardinals. Paul Dean (25-8,2.37), who in real life ran into arm troubles, stayed healthy here and combined with brother Dizzy (23-10,2.13) to form a deadly pair of righthanders at the top of the Cardinals rotation.

The American Association saw an incredible rise from the Kansas City Blues- going from last place a year ago to 92 wins and a league regular season title. The big story was pitcher Ted Kleinhans, who somehow at the age of 38 caught lighting in a bottle, or rather his left arm, as he went 30-9 with a league best 2.73 era after winning just 3 major league games in his life heading into the season. The Blues also got a big year from former MLB veterans Dale Alexander (.306,21,102), Billy Herman (.346,6,81) and Ival Goodman (.290,8,82) and finished 3 games ahead of Toledo to win the pennant.

The Mud Hens, who came up agonizingly short of second place a year ago, had a huge final month of the season and clinched the second playoff spot with a win over hapless St Paul on the final day of the season while the defending champion Minneapolis Millers were getting swept by Milwaukee. In an illustration of how difficult it will be to retain enough players to build a dynasty in the American Association, the league has had 4 different playoff teams in it's two seasons.

1937 POST-SEASON

CARDINALS DRAW FIRST BLOOD IN SERIES

It was a pitcher's duel, and then it wasn't. Dizzy Dean and Lefty Gomez battled back and forth for 10 innings with their St Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees knotted in a 1-1 tie. In the top of the 11th the wheels fell off for Gomez and the Yankees as the Cardinals plated 6 runs and drew first blood in the Series on the road with a 7-1 victory.

The 11th started well enough for Gomez as he fanned Dean to start the inning but then Terry Moore drilled the first pitch he saw in the frame for a triple. It would also be the last pitch Gomez would throw as Pat Malone came on from the Yankee bullpen and promptly allowed Pepper Martin to hit a single scoring Moore with the go-ahead run. From there the Cards circled the bases like clowns climbing into a car. Johnny Mize singled. Joe Medwick reached on a rare error by Joe DiMaggio that plated Martin with the second run. Spud Davis singled in another run. Charlie Gelbert doubled in 2 more and another scored when Leo Durocher reached on a second Yankee error before Malone struck out Art Garibaldi and Dizzy Dean (the second time Dean K'd in the inning) to mercifully bring the inning to a close for Yankee fans.

Now with a 6-run lead Dizzy Dean stayed in to complete the game and, despite allowing a lead-off single to Frankie Crosetti, Dean had little trouble getting the final 3 outs.

St Louis had struck first with a run in the fourth inning after Spud Davis hit a 1-out double and scored on a single off the bat of Durocher. The only run Dean allowed from New York came in the 6th inning when Ben Chapman hit a 1-out double, stole third and came home to score when Cardinals catcher Spud Davis threw the ball wildly into left field. It would remain 1-1 until the St Louis explosion in the 11th.

Game Two goes today in New York with another Dean on the hill for the Cards. Paul won a league high 25 games and had a 2.37 era. Red Ruffing (22-10, 2.52) counters for New York.

CLASSIC START TO AMERICAN SERIES

An impartial baseball fan could not ask for anything more from the first two games of the American Series. A Toledo or Kansas City supporter on the other hand might have been far too nervous to enjoy the terrific showings we saw from the two clubs as the series opened in Kansas City. In the end each side came away with a victory which has to give a slight edge to the Mud Hens who now head home for 3 games.

With Ted Kleinhans (30-9, 2.73) and Gene Schott (27-11, 3.70) facing each other in the opener runs were expected to be at a premium and neither pitcher disappointed. Schott would end with upper hand as he tossed a 3-hitter and won the game 2-1 over Kleinhans, who also went the distance and allowed just five hits. The Blues struck first when Dale Alexander doubled to lead-off the second inning and then advanced to third on a ground-out off the bat of Jim Oglesby. Chris Hartje hit a slow roller to second that allowed Alexander to cross the plate with the first run.

It remained 1-0 entering the sixth inning as up to that point Kleinhans had allowed just 2 hits but he made the mistake of being too fine with Lonny Frey and ended up walking the Mud Hens lead-off man. Turkey Stearnes followed with a single and both would come home to score as Phil Wientraub legged out a triple on a ball hit to deep centerfield. Weintraub would attempt to score on a Roy Cullenbine sacrifice but Blues centerfielder Alexander made a perfect throw to nail Wientraub at the plate.

That was enough to make a winner of Schott, who had little trouble until the bottom of the ninth when the Blues put the first two men on base courtesy of walks. Schott then bore down, got Alexander on a lineout to centerfield, fanned Oglesby and the got a game ending flyball from Chris Hartje and the Mud Hens were up 1-0 in the series.

Al Hollingsworth(19-17, 3.56) was the hero of game two, tossing a 4-hitter as the Blues evened the series with a 3-2 victory. Toledo starter Lefty Smoll (8-7, 4.16) was nearly as good, allowing just 4 hits as well but one of those was a fifth inning solo homer by Ival Goodman that came just an inning after the Mud Hens had clawed back from an early 2-0 deficit to tie the game.

The series is now a best of five with the Mud Hens holding home field advantage.

There were a lot of very long posts in there but going forward it will be fair bit shorter as we are now basically caught up - the American Series and World Series just completed in our sim so I will document them shortly - and then I will be updating things at a much slower pace as we prepare for the baseball off-season while also keeping an eye on the football playoffs and bowl games, the hockey and college basketball seasons and a boxing match or two before spring training rolls around again.

SEPTEMBER 29, 1937
CARDINALS TAKE COMMANDING LEAD
WORLD SERIES

The St Louis Cardinals have proven they can win either a pitchers duel or a slugfest as the Redbirds moved to within one victory of a World Series sweep over the mighty New York Yankees. After a 6-run outburst in the 11th inning turned a nail biting Series opener into a 7-1 rout for the Cardinals, pitching took center stage in Game Two at Yankee Stadium.

Paul Dean and Red Ruffing hooked up in a duel that was scoreless until the 7th inning but Dean, the young Cardinal hurler who won 25 games during the season was forced out of the contest in the 6th with an injury. Enter Boots Poffenberger, a fresh-faced 21 year old rookie who went 4-4 out of the pen for the Cards this season and was forced to make his Series debut under very trying conditions. Dean, who had allowed just 2 New York hits entering the frame, surrendered a lead-off single to Ruffing and with one out Red Rolfe reached on an error by St Louis second sacker Dutch Meyer. With two men on and just one out Dean had to contend with the heart of the Yankee order and he got the job done against Joe DiMaggio, coaxing a lazy fly ball from the sensational that rightfielder Pepper Martin easily put away for the second out. On that pitch something happened to Dean and it forced him to exit the game with runners on first and second and the legendary Lou Gehrig at the plate. Enter Poffensberger and one would not fault the youngster if his knees were knocking as he strode to the mound. The count went full on Gehrig before the veteran earned a free pass loading the bases. The next pitch was easily the biggest of the young Poffensberger's career, an offering that Bill Dickey pounced on but got just underneath of and it was merely an inning ending flyball to centerfield and just like that the Cardinals were out of the jam. If St Louis does indeed to go on to win the series, and that seems inevitable at this point, one can point to that pitch as perhaps the key moment of the series.

The scoreless tie was snapped in the seventh when Joe Medwick, St Louis' 25 year old power hitting outfielder, deposited a Ruffing offering in the left field stands to allow the Cardinals to draw first blood. It was the first-extra base hit allowed in the game by Ruffing, and the veteran Yankee hurler would allow another run in the top of the ninth inning when Pepper Martin led off with a double and would score an insurance run on a Spud Davis single.

Now staked to a 2-0 lead, Poffensberger had a little room for error and it would turn out he needed it as the Yankees got back to back one out singles from Dickey and Tony Lazzeri, followed by a 2-out base hit from Frankie Crosetti that scored Dickey and moved the tying run in Lazzeri to third base. For some unknown reason the Yankees left Red Ruffing in to hit for himself -the Yankee pitcher did bat .258 with 2 homers this season- and Poffensberger got another flyout to end the game and give St Louis a 2-1 victory.

Game Three was a slugfest but the Cardinals came out on top with a 10-7 victory behind a 4-hit, 4 rbi performance from Spud Davis and 3 more hits, including his second homer of the series from Medwick. The Series can be summed up by comparing the two club's big stars - Medwick had 4 hits, 4 rbi's and 2 homers in the three games while the Yankees Lou Gehrig managed just 2 singles and was batting .167.

The Cardinals can wrap up the series and win their 3rd World Championship of the decade with a victory at home tomorrow.

GAME TWO BOXSCORE
GAME THREE BOXSCORE

KLEINHANS LEAVES MUD HENS FEELING BLUE
AMERICAN SERIES

Ted Kleinhans lost back to back starts just twice this season including dropping the opener of the American Series but the veteran who went 30-9 this year made darn sure he would not lose three in a row for the first time this year. Kleinhans did not allow a hit until the fifth inning and ended up surrendering only 2 singles in 7 innings of work before turning the ball over to reliever Marv Breuer to preserve the 3-0 victory. The win gives the Kansas City Blues a 2 games to one lead over the Toledo Mud Hens in the American Series. Mud Hens starter Paul Derringer was nearly as good, allowing just 5 Kansas City hits but the Blues scratched out 3 runs for the victory. Billy Herman drove in the game winning run with an rbi single in the third inning while Ival Goodman tripled in a run in the fifth and for good measure added an rbi single in the 7th inning.

Like Kleinhans the previous day, the Blues went to Game Two starter Al Hollingsworth on 3 days rest and the lefthander got the job done, pitching his side to a 7-3 victory and a commanding 3 games to one lead over the Mud Hens. It wasn't pretty as Hollingsworth did allow 6 hits and a run over 6 innings before allowing the Blues bullpen
to close out the victory with Breuer notching his second save in as many days. The Blues broke what was a tight game wide-open in the top of the 7th inning with the big blast being a pinch-hit bases loaded double from Buzz Boyle that keyed a 5-run outburst and put the Blues up 7-1 at that point.

NHL 1937-38 PREVIEW

The Toronto Maple Leafs, winners of the last two Stanley Cups and six of the last eight, are once again the favourites entering the 1937-38 season. Toronto, which took all six places on the first all-star team a year ago and 2 more Leafs made the second team, returns much the same cast that dominated the Canadian Division, compiling a 37-8-3 record. The Leafs 77 points were 19 more than the next highest team in either division.

22 year old center Syl Apps, who led the league in scoring with 76 points and was named both the NHL's Most Valuable Player and top rookie a year ago, leads a Toronto offense that also includes Charlie Conacher, Busher Jackson and Syd Howe. The Leafs blueline is anchored by Red Horner and Flash Hollett with veteran Moe Roberts once again between the pipes. The only newcomer expected to crack the Toronto lineup is right winger Mud Bruneteau, a 22 year old who spent most of last season with Syracuse of the American Hockey League but did score 3 goals in 4 games with the big club.

The Montreal Canadiens, who lost to the Leafs in the finals last season, Montreal Maroons and New York Americans round out the Canadian Division. The Detroit Red Wings, led by young goaltender Turk Broda, are the defending champions in the American Division after narrowly edging out the New York Rangers for top spot. Chicago, led by rugged defensman Eddie Shore, and Boston, which will rely heavily on goaltender Tiny Thompson, round out the American Division.

SEPTEMBER 30, 1937
CARDINALS SWEEP YANKEES TO WIN WORLD SERIES

The World Series stage often allows bit players in the regular season a chance to take a starring role and Game Four of the 1937 Series did just that for Don Padgett. The 25 year old made just one appearance in the Series but it came at the most opportune time as Padgett delivered a walk-off rbi single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the St Louis Cardinals a 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees and a sweep of the World Series.

The hit came after St Louis had blown a 5-0 lead, allowing New York to tie the contest with 5 of their own in the seventh inning including a 2-run homer from Joe DiMaggio. That outburst came as quite a surprise to the 26,718 celebrating fans at Sportsman's Park who came anticipating a second World Series title in 4 years for their Cardinals. It also came as a huge surprise to St Louis starter Dizzy Dean, who entered the 7th inning in complete control and working on a 1-hitter just 4 days after Dean held the Yankees to a single run in a complete game 11 inning victory to open the Series.

In the end the Yankees rally mattered not, as the Cardinals did what they did all series: found a way to win the game. Joe Medwick, the 25 year old outfielder, was named the Most Valuable Player of the series after batting .333 with 3 homers in the 4 games but it could have just as easily gone to a number of other Cardinals including catcher Spud Davis, who hit .444 with 6 rbi's or Johnny Mize, who batted .438 in the series. Had he not had the 7th inning hiccup, Dizzy Dean might have earned the award himself for his two series victories.

For the Yankees it was a second straight year of disappointment at the fact that their big bats, Gehrig and DiMaggio, struggled while the National League representatives top stars came up very big.

GAME 4 Boxscore

CARDS DECK YANKEES: ANOTHER SERIES DISAPPOINTMENT

Even in this era I can just imagine the New York media is going nuts over the Yankees inability to perform in a World Series. The scribes must be having a field day with plenty to write about after being swept by the Cardinals:
- Yankees have lost two straight World Series despite having the most potent offense in the game during the regular season.

-Yankees haven't won a World Series since 1932 and the glory days with Ruth and 3 straight pennants (plus two Series wins) from 1926-28 seem to be a lifetime ago.

- Lou Gehrig, despite his gaudy regular season numbers, is likely taking a beating in the press. He went just 2-for-16 (.125) in this series and while hit did hit .292 last year against the Giants he has not homered in either of the past two series after his dominating performances in both 1932 (.529,3,8) and 1928 (.545,4,9). Despite 81 homers and 260 rbi's in the past two regular seasons there is talk he can't get the job done when it counts and Babe Ruth was clearly the key to their dominance in the 1920s.

- And as bad as Gehrig is getting it, DiMaggio is likely being treated even worse. Yes, the kid is just 22 years old but before Game Four against the Cardinals DiMaggio was slashing .167/.211/.222 in 9 career World Series games. He redeemed himself somewhat with a pair of hits, including a two run homer in game four.

- Prior to the Series I looked at the incredible numbers from the Yankees lineup. Here is what their batting order did in this Series which might say a lot more about the Cardinals pitching then the New York offense but I expect the Gotham scribes won't see it that way:
-You can talk about the Cardinals pitching all you want, and it was outstanding, especially Dizzy Dean going 2-0 in two complete game victories totalling 20 innings of work with a 1.35 era, 10 k's and 1 walk, but the Cardinals bats came up with timely hits that the Yankees failed to deliver.

- The Cardinals version of Gehrig and DiMaggio were dominant when compared to the pinstriped pair. Joe Medwick had 3 homers and drove in 5 runs to capture the World Series MVP award while Johnny Mize hit .458 in the Series.

League commissioner Cooleyvol called when he said the Cardinals pitching was too much for New York. Turns out the St Louis bats were also too much for the Yankees.

A SERIES FOR THE AGES AS AMERICAN SERIES GOES TO A 7TH GAME

Can we ask for a more dramatic series than what we have seen so far from Kansas City and Toledo?

Game One a terrific pitching duel between Gene Schott and Ted Kleinhans that is decided on a Phil Weintraub triple scoring the only two runs for the Hens in a 2-1 victory. Drama right to the end as the Blues put the first two men on base in the bottom of the ninth only to see Schott shut the door. Schott and Kleinhans each go the distance allowing only 8 hits combined.

Toledo youngster Lefty Smoll pitches an amazing Game Two, allowing just 4 hits but loses 3-2 as Kansas City's Al Hollingsworth is equally as good. Perhaps playoff jitters are the difference in this one as Smoll has a rough first inning, walking two and allowing a pair of hits including a 2-run single from Chris Hartje. Toledo scratches back to tie the game but Ival Goodman's 5th inning homer proves the difference and allows the Blues to even the series.

Game Three sees Kleinhans snap a personal two game losing streak, tossing 7 shutout innings of 2 hit ball with reliever Marv Breuer getting the final six outs in a 3-0 Blues victory on the road. Goodman is once again the offensive star with 2 hits and 2 rbi's.

With the final score being 7-3 Game Four does not sound like much of a contest but the Blues only led 2-1 until plating 5 in the seventh inning to break the game open and allow them to take what seemed like a commanding 3 games to one series lead. Buzz Boyle had the big blast for the Blues, belting a bases-loaded two-bagger to bring 3 runs across the plate in the big inning.

Could the situation have looked more dire for the Mud Hens then entering the bottom of the 8th in Game Five? Trailing 3 games to one in the Series and 6-2 in the game, Toledo erupts for 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to draw within a run, only to see the Blues push an insurance run across in the top of the ninth to go back up by two. I am sure some fans headed for the exits at that point but by the time they got to their cars in the parking lot and turned on the radio they had heard Lonnie Frey gave the Mud Hens a glimmer of hope with a solo home run to cut the Kansas City lead to 7-6. Then Willie Wells hit the first pitch he saw from Kansas City reliever Marv Breuer for a sharp single. At this point, those that had left likely now got out of their cars and were rushing back into the stadium as a roar erupted when Benny McCoy singled to move the tying run to within 90 feet of home plate. Runners on the corner and Roy Cullenbine steps up to the plate for Toledo. Cullenbine was 0-4 lifetime in the regular season against Breuer. The 23 year old rookie hit 25 homers this season and as he took a mighty swing but caught nothing but air on Breuer's first offering it was clear Cullenbine was looking to win the game, not simply tie it. After two balls, he got the pitch he wanted and ripped it. By the time the ball landed in the left field stands 417 feet away from where Wells was stomping on home plate, Cullenbine was in a jubilant sprint around the bases and the Mud Hens were still alive, trailing 3 games to two.

We go back to Kansas City for Game Six and the Mud Hens look to be on a mission, scoring 4 runs in the top of the first inning thanks to a Benny McCoy grand slam off a suddenly ordinary looking Kleinhans. But wait, the Blues are not giving up as they light up Paul Derringer for 3 runs of their own in the home half and it is 4-3 after one inning. So much for another Kleinhans-Derringer pitching duel like we saw in Game Three.

Both pitchers settle down and the score stays 4-3 as the innings creep by. The Blues have two on and two out in the bottom of the third but Derringer induces a ground out to end the inning. A lead-off error opens the door a crack for Toledo in the fifth, and the Mud Hens get runners on the corners with two out but this time it is Kleinhans who gets the timely ground out and the score stays 4-3 Toledo. In the home half of the sixth Crhis Hartje hits a two-out triple but the Blues can't get him home.
Toledo has another chance in the top of the 8th inning when Frank Reiber rips a two-out double but he too is stranded.

The Mud Hens, trying to get an insurance run, have Lonnie Frey hit a lead-off single in the top of the ninth and he is expertly sacrificed to second by Turkey Stearnes with Wientraub and Cullenbine coming to the plate. It poses no worries for Kleinhans who, after a ground out and a fly out later, bounds his way from the mound back to the dugout to urge his side on in their final chance to tie the game.

So it's the bottom of the ninth in Game Six, not quite do or die for Kansas City but clearly a huge moment in the Series with the Blues trailing 4-3 in the game but still leading the series 3 games to two. Hartje leads off with a single and moves to second on a wild pitch from Derringer. Albert Marchand pops out but with one away Mickey Haslin rips a double to score Hartje and we have a tie game. Derringer gets the next two batters and we head to extra innings as the Mud Hens deal with a wave of emotions after having victory and the opportunity to play again tomorrow snatched away, at least temporarily.

Toledo gets a man on in the top of the tenth against Breuer, who has relieved Kleinhans, but a double play ends any threat. The Blues get a single from Billy Herman in the bottom half and he moves to second with two out but Jim Oglesby can't do the job against Derringer and we head to the 11th.

A 1-2-3 inning for Breuer in the top of the 11th. Derringer heads out to the bump for the Mud Hens to start the 11th but appears to be tiring a bit after Hartje and Marchand hit back to back singles to start the inning. A fly out to deep center allows Hartje to advance to third putting runners on the corners. Rollie Hemsley comes on to pinch-hit and hits a chopper to Toledo second baseman Lonnie Frey, who has no choice but to go home with it as Hartje broke for the plate on contact. The play at the plate and Hartje is......out. The game remains tied, Jesse Hill grounds out and we go to the 12th.

Breuer was lifted for a pinch-hitter so Al Piechota takes over on the mound for Kansas City. He quickly gets the first two outs before Roy Cullenbine singles for the first extra-inning hit of the game for the Hens. Willie Wells singles and Cullenbine moves to third and then Piechota allows his third straight hit, a single to Benny McCoy and the Mud Hens have a 5-4 lead.

Amazingly Derringer remained in the game for the twelfth inning and he made quick work of the Blues, setting them down in order to preserve the complete game victory and force a 7th game.

How can Game Seven live up to it's expectations after what we have witnessed in the first six contests? We will have to check back tomorrow to find out. Talk about parity in this league. 4 different teams in the post-season and back to back game sevens.

OCTOBER 2, 1937
WORST TO FIRST! BLUES WIN TITLE WITH GAME SEVEN COMEBACK!

The Kansas City Blues capped an incredible run from last place to the top of the American Association by winning the seventh game of a dramatic American Series in equally dramatic fashion, providing a fitting conclusion to an amazing series. The first six games of the series had so many momentum swings, so much drama and improbable finishes full of dramatic comebacks that one would almost expect to see a blow out in Game Seven but the 6-4 Blues victory was anything but as it included enough drama to easily live up to the hype created by the incredible first six games.

In the early going it appeared the rout was on as the Toledo Mud Hens, having just come back from a 3-games to one deficit with an emotional 12 inning victory yesterday, jumped all over Kansas City starter Al Hollingsworth early, plating 2 runs in the first inning and 2 more in the second to take an early 4-0 lead. Hollingsworth can take the blame for causing his own trouble early as the winning pitcher in both games two and four walked 4 Toledo batters in the opening two frames. However, he would settle down from that point on, walk just one more and hold the Toledo bats in check the rest of the way while pitching out of a couple of late inning jams to not allow the Mud Hens a fifth run.

With the early deficit the Blues had their work cut out for them, facing Mud Hens ace Gene Schott. Kansas City chipped away at the lead, cutting the margin to 4-1 when Ival Goodman, who has had a number of big hits in the series, doubled and scored on a Billy Herman base hit. Herman would lead off the bottom of the 6th with a triple and score on a Dale Alexander single and now the Toledo lead was down to 4-2.
The Mud Hens had an opportunity to increase their lead in the 7th with runners on the corners and 1 out but failed to do so and had a similar situation in the top of the eighth inning but also came up empty. Perhaps that is what turned the tide back in the Blues favour as Goodman and Herman started the bottom of the 8th with back to back doubles and a Dale Alexander single later the score was tied at 4. The Blues were just getting started in the inning however, as an Albert Marchand 2-run single gave Kansas City the lead 6-4 and the Blues were suddenly just 3 outs away from a championship.

Of course with the way this series had gone there was no way Toledo would go quietly. Hollingsworth needed 3 outs to win the series and he got them, but not before the Mud Hens put runners on second and third with 2 out. It was all down to Benny McCoy against Hollingswoth. The tying run on second base and the 21 year old McCoy, who hit .310 with 20 homers during the season, having the game in his hands. It was not to be for Mud Hens fans as McCoy bounced out to first base and the game - and a series that will be remembered for years- was finally over.
The Mud Hens sat stunned in their dugout, having run the gamut of emotions from a thrilling game one victory, to two heartbreaking losses, to a pair of comeback wins including one when they blew the lead in the 9th inning only to win it in the 12th, to finally allowing Kansas City to get up off the mat and rebound from a 4-0 deficit, which stopped the Blues from nearly blowing a series they led 3 games to one. Both teams should be incredibly proud of their efforts and for the Blues to come from a team that won just 63 games ago to American Association champions is a monumental accomplishment.

GAME SEVEN BOXSCORE CAN BE FOUND HERE

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOWL LINE-UP SET

All that is standing between the Michigan Wolverines and a National Title is a New Year's Day matchup with Stanford. The Rose Bowl will be the marquee game of the 4 New Year's Day matchups, which all were officially finalized today.

The Wolverines, who went 10-1 this season to win the Western Conference title and end the season ranked #1 in the Associated Press season ending poll will meet the Pacific Coast Champion Indians from Stanford, who also finished the season with a 10-1 record. The strength of the Michigan offense is a freshman running back by the name of Tom Harmon, who gained a team high 877 yards on the ground this season but fellow freshman, quarterback Forest Evashevski has also played a key role. Evashevski's 14 passing touchdowns were tops in his conference and his 1,362 passing yards ranked second. Stanford relied much more on their defense this season but they also have a very good freshman back in Norm Standlee, who rushed for 883 yards and 5 touchdowns this season.

While the winner of that game will likely claim the National Title, a Michigan loss might open the door for number two ranked Tennessee. The SEC champs will meet Big Eight conference winner Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and the Vols will be looking for a huge game from sophomore signal caller George Cafego, who led the club to a 10-1 record this season.

The other two New Year's Day Bowl games will see Atlantic Coast Conference champion North Carolina State face 6th ranked Georgia in the Sugar Bowl while Southwest Conference champ Texas Tech meets Florida in the Cotton Bowl.

Despite a terrific finish to the season, 7th ranked Notre Dame will have to settle for a lesser bowl game but the Irish will still face a tough opponent in 10-1 Virginia, who's only loss this season came to North Carolina State.

Here is the complete slate of bowl games:

COLLEGE BOWL GAMES
ROSE BOWL - #4 Stanford (10-1) vs #1 Michigan (10-1)
ORANGE BOWL- #2 Tennessee (10-1) vs #11 Nebraska (8-3)
SUGAR BOWL- #3 North Carolina State (10-1) vs #6 Georgia (9-2)
COTTON BOWL- #10 Texas Tech (9-2) vs #17 Florida (8-3)

SUN BOWL - #7 Notre Dame (9-2) vs #5 Virginia (10-1)
GATOR BOWL- #9 Washington State (9-2) vs #8 Texas (9-2)
PEACH BOWL- #13 Illinois (8-3) vs Wake Forest (6-5)
TANGERINE BOWL- #14 Oregon (8-3) vs #12 Oklahoma (9-2)
BLUEBONNET BOWL- #16 Texas A&M (8-3) vs #15 Penn State (8-3)

COLLEGE BASKETBALL PRIMER

As college basketball is starting to get going here is just a few notes on how I set up my league. I started in 1901 with about 80 schools and have expanded each year as new schools debut in division 1. One nice thing about the FBCB game is it is nearly as easy to customize as OOTP so I have been following real world movement of teams within conferences and updating the structure each off-season. Presently there are 13 conferences plus 52 independent teams for a total of 153 schools.

New for the 1937-38 season are the Yankee League which drew independents Connecticut and Rhode Island as well as two new schools to Division one in Maine and New Hampshire.

With that many schools most of the players and coaches are fictional but I have been adding in 30-100 real players of the era each season and also coaches. For example John Wooden - a former player- is in the game as a young assistant coach at this point.

TOP SCHOOLS

The biggest factor in how well a team recruits is it's prestige rating and I have allowed those to develop randomly over time -with the one exception that I just recently greatly lowered the prestige level of all Western Conference (Big 10) teams because they had become too strong for reasons mentioned earlier (most edited recruits I created were in Big 10 territory so they had a leg up in landing them.)

The top 10 prestige teams (now that I lowered all Western Conference schools) are:

USC - The Trojans have won two NCAA titles (1928 & 1934) and have not missed the tournament since 1920.

Alabama Poly (later will be called Auburn) - An original member of the Southern Conference, the Tigers splintered off with a number of schools prior to the 1932-33 season and formed the SEC. They won the 1919 title and are a fixture in the tournament of late but seldom seem to advance past the Sweet 16.

Columbia- The group of Ivy teams were the top schools when the sim began in 1901 but the Lions were a poorer team initially. They began to enjoy success in the teens, reaching the final four in 1916 and the title game the following season. They won a National Championship in 1922 and have lost in 4 title games since then including an incredible (and heartbreaking for Columbia fans) three straight losses in the title game from 1927-1929. Columbia has won 12 Ivy Group conference titles, surpassed only by Dartmouth's 18.

Mississippi State- Like Alabama Poly they joined the SEC in 1932 and reached the Final Four a year ago. The Maroons, as they are known as at this time, usually make the 32 team tournament field but generally get eliminated early. The Maroons have won two of the 5 SEC conference titles and led the Southern Conference three times before they switched.

Washington - The 1932 NCAA champions started very slow, not making the tournament for the first time until 1910 but have played in it every year since 1920. They were initially a lower prestige school but are now one of the powerhouses of the Pacific Coast Conference along with USC and Cal. The Huskies won the initial PCC title when the conference was formed in 1915-16 but did not win again until 1933-34, although they have won the conference 3 of the past 4 seasons.

Yale- The Bulldogs, along with Harvard, were the two highest prestige teams when the game started in 1901 and were charter members of basketball's first conference: the Ivy Group in 1901. Harvard has had a terrible 37 years and is now a bottom feeder while Yale has retained it's status but has never won a National Title. They did reach the championship game twice - in 1905 and again in 1931 but more often then not they have been knocked out in the first round of the tournament.

California - The Bears reached the National Title game three times between 1924 and 1930 but lost on each occasion. They finally won their first title in 1933 and were back in the title game last year but lost for the fourth time. Starting in 1917 the Bears had a string of 13 conference titles in 15 seasons but have not won the PCC since 1931.

North Carolina- The Tar Heels have been in the Southern Conference since the league began, watching it rise to 20 schools before dropping back to it's current total of 13 after Auburn, Alabama and others left to form their own conference. North Carolina always seems to be a good team, but never a great one, making the Final Four just once: in 1932.

Dartmouth- The Indians won three National Titles between 1902-14 and added one more in 1926. They also had back to back final four appearances a couple of seasons ago but then missed the tournament the following year. Dartmouth has won more conference titles - 18 - then any other school.

New York University - A long time independent power, the Violets partnered with other New York area schools CCNY, Fordham, Manhattan, Long Island University, St Francis and St John's to form the Metro NY Conference in 1933. Their best years came in the first decade of the sport, when NYU won 3 National Titles between 1904-1909. They are seeing a bit of a resurgence of late, winning the last 3 Metro NY conference titles.

November 1937
 

NFL WEEK 12
LIONS WIN TO SECURE PLAYOFF SPOT

There was just one playoff spot up for grabs entering the final week of the NFL season and the Detroit Lions made sure it belonged to them. Needing a victory to clinch second place in the West Division, the Lions beat the Los Angeles Rams 23-3 to secure the spot. Had Detroit lost the right to travel to Baltimore next week to face the first place Colts would have gone to San Francisco after the 49ers took care of the Chicago Bears 28-17 behind a 129 yard rushing effort from Ernie Caddel. The first place Colts finished the season on a winning note with a 7-0 victory at home over Green Bay, which knocked the Packers out of playoff contention. Baltimore quarterback Ace Parker threw a first quarter touchdown pass for the game's only score.

In other action the East Division leading Philadelphia Eagles beat Washington 23-0, Pittsburgh won a defensive battle over the Chicago Cardinals 6-3 while Cleveland and the New York Giants battled to a 17-17 tie.
In individual awards the league rushing title will be shared by Philadelphia Swede Johnston and Cardinals back Kink Richards after both finished with 1,063 yards this season, San Francisco's Mike Sebastian was the only other back to top the 1,000 yard mark as he ended up with 1,034. Philadelphia's Max Fiske was the top rated passer, with Sammy Baugh of Washington and Baltimore's Ace Parker rounding out the top 3.

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Chicago Cardinals at Philadelphia
Detroit at Baltimore

NHL 1937-38
OPENING MONTH OF SEASON IS IN THE BOOKS

It comes as no surprise that the defending Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs are the class of the NHL as the first month of the season comes to a close. Young Syl Apps, who won the scoring title a year ago as a rookie, has been on fire to start the season netting an incredible 13 goals and 17 points in just 10 contests with the Leafs winning 9 of them.

Toronto's lone loss came on the road in Detroit last week, when Turk Broda made 45 saves in a 4-1 Detroit victory. The Wings are just 4-5 on the season despite some exceptional goaltending from Broda and a rejuvenated Nels Stewart. The 34 year old Stewart is among the NHL's all-time scorers but struggled a year ago, netting just 5 goals and was traded to Detroit by the Montreal Maroons over the summer. In just 9 games with Detroit, Stewart has already surpassed his goal total for all of last season with 7 goals, second only to Toronto's Apps.

This outstanding TF! Thanks for another great dynasty.

November 1937
 

NFL PLAYOFFS GET UNDERWAY

No surprises in the opening round of the NFL playoff as the two first place clubs advanced to the 1937 NFL Championship Game. The Baltimore Colts, who had the league's best regular season record at 10-1-1, took care of business against the Detroit Lions, winning by a score of 30-20. Quarterback Ace Parker led the Colts attack with a pair of touchdown tosses and 126 yards passing on the day while running back Paul Miller gained 94 yards on the ground and scored once.

In the East Division game the Philadelphia Eagles downed the Chicago Cardinals 16-6 thanks to a punishing defense that helped the Eagles dominate in total yardage and time of possession. Despite that advantage the outcome was very much in doubt until Eagles QB Max Fiske connected with Alan Leavitt on a 5-yard touchdown pass with just under 5 minutes remaining in regulation to allow Philadelphia to increase upon it's 9-6 lead at the time. NFL rushing co-champ Swede Johnston carried the ball for a game high 84 yards in the victory.

NCAA BASKETBALL November 30, 1937
WESTERN CONFERENCE STILL DOMINATES NCAA

As the opening month of the college basketball season concludes the schools of the Western Conference continue to lead the way with Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio State and Purdue all unbeaten while 1 loss Illinois and Michigan also joining them in the top ten.
(A reminder, I had been editing my real recruits to their real hometowns as well but since most where born in NY, Pa and the rest of the real life Big Ten territory that conference dominated recruiting for the past dozen years. I have since changed that to leave recruits hometown as random to try and balance out the league a little more but it will take a few seasons.)

COLUMBIA WINS PRESEASON NIT
The Columbia Lions won the preseason NIT tournament with wins over Marshall and Saint Louis. The Billikens reached the finals after defeating Georgia in the other semi.

In other preseason tournaments Northwestern topped SMU to win the All-Star Classic. Cal was the surprise winner of the Heart of Texas tournament after favoured Michigan was upset by Mississippi in the semi-finals. The Bears beat the Rebels by 7 points in the title game.

Ohio State won the King of the Bluegrass tournament with a 63-56 win over Alabama Poly(later Auburn) in the finals. Indiana topped Dartmouth in the finals of the Madison Square Garden Tip-off Tournament. Illinois beat Iowa State in the Naismith Memorial event while Wisconsin topped Yale in the Tournament of Champions.

1937 NFL CHAMPIONSHIP
COLTS WIN NFL TITLE

The Baltimore Colts scored 11 unanswered points in the second half to rally past the Philadelphia Eagles and win the NFL Championship with a 20-10 victory. The hero of the game was Baltimore defensive back Shipwreck Kelly who, with his side trailing 10-9 at the time, returned a fourth quarter punt 73 yards for what would prove to be the game winning touchdown. The Colts would be successful on a two-point conversion attempt and later add a field goal to complete the scoring.

Philadelphia took a 10-9 lead into the locker room at halftime after Max Fiske and Alan Leavett teamed up on an 8 yard touchdown pass late in the half. Fiske had an outstanding game in defeat, completing 23 of 26 pass attempts for 173 yards. The Eagles Swede Johnston also had a strong game, rushing for 82 yards but Baltimore's Paul Miller was just as good, gaining 98 and scoring the game's first touchdown.

NHL UPDATE Dec 6, 1937

The Toronto Maple Leafs won just once this week but that is only because they played just a single game. The Leafs continue to be the class of the NHL and extended their lead on the Montreal Canadiens atop the Canadian Division to 10 points with a 4-3 victory over the Habs at home on Saturday. Montreal did manage to keep scoring leader Syl Apps off the scoresheet but Syd Howe and Pep Kelly picked up the slack, with each notching a goal and an assist to spoil a 3 point effort from Montreal rearguard Stewart Evans.

Chicago continues to lead the American Division after the Black Hawks split their two games this week. Chicago beat the second place New York Rangers 3-1 on Thursday despite a 44 save performance from Lorne Chabot in the New York cage but followed that up with a 2-1 loss to the Canadiens at the Chicago Stadium on Sunday. The Rangers moved back to within 2 points of first place Sunday with a 2-1 road victory over Boston with Mac Colville netting the winner in the third period on a setup from his brother Neil.

The top individual performance of the week came from Boston winger Gordie Drillon. The 24 year old, who joined the Bruins a year ago after brief stints in Toronto and Chicago, had a hat trick in the Bruins 4-1 win over Montreal. Before being held scoreless against the Rangers Sunday, Drillon had 5 goals and 2 assists in his previous three games and is now tied for second in league scoring.

BASEBALL OFF-SEASON NOTES
WORLD SERIES HERO DEAN CAPTURES CY YOUNG

We knew a Dean would win the Cy Young Award for the 1937 National League season but the only question was which one. The answer is Dizzy, who finished ahead of his younger brother Paul to capture top pitcher honors. The elder Dean, who won 2 games over the New York Yankees to lead his St Louis Cardinals to a World Series title, was 23-10 with an NL best 2.13 ERA.

The NL MVP for the second straight season was Mel Ott of the Giants. Ott led the majors in batting average (.374) and homers (46) while also driving in 120 runs. The American League award winners were both from the New York Yankees with Lefty Gomez (24-6, 2.60) winning his second straight Cy Young while second year pro Joe DiMaggio (.359,39,126) finished ahead of teammate Lou Gehrig for the MVP.

KLEINHANS DOMINATES AA AWARDS

It comes as no surprise that Kansas City pitcher Ted Kleinhans captured both the Most Valuable Player and Top Pitcher Awards in the second season of the American Association as a major league. The 38 year old career journeyman led an improbable run from the Blues, going 30-8 with a 2.73 era in his first year with the club to help Kansas City go from last place the previous season to American Series champions.

ATHLETICS HAVE A BUSY MONTH

With most of baseball quiet and waiting for the March amateur draft (MLB) or the new player selection process (AA), the American League's Philadelphia Athletics made a pair of trades. First the A's sent 32 year old outfielder Bob L Johnson (.276,16,91) to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for 24 year old reliever George Jeffcoat, who pitched just 1 inning for the Reds this season. The A's then packaged Jeffcoat and 23 year old minor league outfielder Bill Nicholson and sent them to Washington in exchange for 32 year old outfielder John Stone (.292,7,82) and 21 year old minor league outfielder Babe Barna.

The A's used to be a powerhouse, winning 3 straight pennants from 1929-31 and finishing in the first division for 9 straight seasons ending in 1934 when they slipped to fifth. Since then the A's had two last place finishes including a dismal 45-109 campaign 2 years ago when they finished 61 games behind the first place Yankees. Last year they were only slightly better improving to 66-88 so you can understand the desire to shake things up.

However, this deal seems more bad then good for the white elephants. Essentially they gave up Bob L Johnson and Bill Nicholson to acquire John Stone and Babe Barna.

Stone had a career year two seasons ago when he flirted with .400 for much of the year before settling for a .378 batting average but he was merely ordinary a year ago slashing .292/.379/.427. Perhaps he has some more magic in his bat but the guess is the season two years ago was the pinnacle of his career and last season's numbers are more likely the norm going forward. Bob Johnson is one year older then Stone but had a very similar slash line a year ago going .276/.362/.443 so that part of the deal is a wash.

However, Nicholson seems to have much more upside than Barna ever will. Nicholson has not shown much yet, hitting just .200 in a 39 game trial with the A's over two seasons but appears to have much more potential than Barna, a 21 year old who hit .240 in 28 games for the Senators last season. Washington also gets Jeffcoat, a 24 year old who might become a servicable reliever.

DECEMBER 13, 1937 - MAX SCHMELING vs HARRY THOMAS

SCHMELING WINS FIGHT AT MSG

Unable to secure a fight with World Champion Joe Louis, heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling decided to fight one more time at Madison Square Garden before travelling back across the atlantic to his native Germany. Schmeling barely broke a sweat in the bout, knocking out his opponent, Minnesota native Harry Thomas, in the second round of their match.

Schmeling came out like a man on a mission and he hit Thomas hard and often, focusing on the body in the opening seconds before landing a huge right that folded Thomas like an accordian just 55 seconds into the fight. Thomas would regain his feet and beat the count but that was about all he would beat on this night. The Minnesotan did somehow manage to survive the opening round despite taking a savage beating.

Schmeling again charged forward as the second round began and continued to reign blows to Thomas' midsection. It was a wild overhand right to the head that sent Thomas to the canvas for the second time. Thomas, gamely struggled to his feet and referee Arthur Donovan allowed the fight to continue, but it was just under 30 seconds later that Thomas was knocked down again. This time it was a hard cross from Schmeling that finished the job. The official time of the knockout was 2:21 of the second round.

In real life Thomas would also have a fight with Joe Louis, that one will come up in the spring in my sim assuming Louis beats Nathan Mann in his February title defense. Later Thomas would claim he was paid to throw the fight he lost to Schmeling.

“I knew it was wrong to take part in a fixed fight, but it was the only way I could make any real money. I came up the hard way. I never had a dollar I could call my own until the Schmeling bout. In fact, I was in debt. I’m thru with boxing, and it will ease my conscience to have these facts disclosed."

The referee of the bout - Arthur Donovan, and others - say Thomas made up the story and there was no fix. Donovan added if Thomas “went into the tank, he certainly did it the hard way,” needing 11 stitches.

As fo Schmeling, he now returns to Europe but would be back in the US next summer for a highly anticipated rematch with Joe Louis - scheduled for June 22 at Yankee Stadium.

NHL UPDATE DECEMBER 20, 1937
RANGERS WIN THREE STRAIGHT

The New York Rangers are currently the hottest team in a tight battle for American Division supremacy. The Broadway Blueshirts have won 3 in a row and moved into a tie for top spot in the division with Chicago. The story in New York has been offense, as only the Toronto Maple Leafs have scored more goals than the Rangers so far this season. Leading the way is left winger Herb Cain, who has 19 points including 9 goals so far this season, which equals his goal output for all of last season. Cain seems to have found a home on the top line with the Coville brothers, Neil and Mac. Veteran goaltender Lorne Chabot, who allowed just 4 goals in the 3 wins, is also been a key piece for the Rangers.

The league is extremely balanced this season, aside from the Toronto Maple Leafs, as just 4 points seperate the other 7 teams. Toronto is running away with things once again, but the Leafs did suffer their second loss of the season last week when the Montreal Canadiens beat them 5-3 behind a 2 goal effort from 36 year old Aurel Joliat.


There was one trade this week as the Boston Bruins added 22 year old defenseman Muzz Patrick in a trade with the Montreal Maroons. An unusual move for the Maroons, who are coached by Muzz's father Lester Patrick, himself a former defenseman in the now defunct PCHA. Muzz was in his first season with the Maroons after spending last season in the American Hockey League. He had 3 assists in 10 games prior to the deal. Older brother Lynn Patrick is a center with the Chicago Black Hawks. Boston also received minor league defenseman Vic Ayres with depth forwards Earl Robinson and Pete Palangio going the other way.

The Bruins, under new coach Dave Gill who took over in the off-season, are a much improved team from the squad that finished dead last in the league a season ago with just 22 points. 19 year old center Milt Schmidt, who had 2 goals in 12 games with the Bruins a year ago, is starting to live up to his promise. Schmidt had his first career two point night in a 4-3 win over the Maroons last week.

NFL AWARDS
CARDINALS BACK RICHARDS NAMED NFL MVP

The NFL MVP award was a toss up between two running backs that battled for the league lead in rushing yardage all season before eventually tying for that honor. When it came time to choose one as the Most Valuable Player of the 1937 season the voters went with Chicago Cardinals halfback Kink Richards. The 28 year old rushed for 1,063 yards and 6 touchdowns on the season while also making 20 catches for 144 yards. He narrowly outpointed Philadelphia's Swede Johnston, who also ran for 1,063 yards, to claim the award.

In real life Richards played 7 years for the New York Giants, primarily as a full back, won a pair of NFL titles and was an All-Pro selection once. Johnston played 9 seasons but with a number of teams, most notably Green Bay where he won two NFL titles.

December 31, 1937

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOWL GAMES

Here are the results of the five early Bowl Games. The 4 New Year's Day games including the highly anticipated Rose Bowl showdown between #1 Michigan and 4th ranked Stanford will be in the next update.

VIRGINIA TOPS IRISH IN SUN BOWL

A standout defensive performance allowed the University of Virginia to knock off Notre Dame 10-6 in the Sun Bowl, ending the Irish's 7 game winning streak. The Virginia defense, led by 9 tackles and a sack from linebacker Willie Hale, held Notre Dame to just 155 yards of total offense on the day. Notre Dame's defense was nearly as good but they could not prevent the Cavaliers from scoring the game's only touchdown early in the third quarter to go up 7-6 at the time. A late field goal by Doug Richardson would seal the victory for Virginia, which finished the season with an 11-1 record. Their lone loss came to ACC foe North Carolina State early in the year.

In Notre Dame's defense, injuries forced the Irish to play with very few of their offensive starters at skill positions. They were down to their third string players at both quarterback and halfback with Andy Puplis, Steve Stiko, Milt Piepul and Mario Tonelli all sidelined for the contest along with their starting right guard Tom Gray. The absence of running backs Piepul and Tonelli especially hurt as the duo had combined for 1,700 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns on the season.

One of the favourites entering the season, Notre Dame struggled early. They had an easy time beating Northwestern 38-6 in their opener, but barely survived a 3-8 Purdue team in week two and then lost in back to back weeks to 7-4 Michigan State and a 5-6 Pitt Panthers team before finally righting the ship and winning their next 7 games to return to the top ten and secure a Sun Bowl bid.

PENN STATE WINS BLUEBONNET BOWL

The Penn State Nittany Lions capped off a 9-3 season with a 34-17 victory over Texas A&M in the Bluebonnet Bowl. The 8-4 Aggies kept the game tight for thirty minutes, heading to the locker room at the break tied 10-10 but the second half was all Penn State and in particular all Wendell Wear as the senior quarterback tossed a pair of 3rd quarter touchdown passes to break the game open. Lions senior running back Boyd Burmbaugh also had a big outing, capturing player of the game honors after rushing for 128 yards on 22 carries including one touchdown run.

OREGON ROUTS SOONERS IN TANGERINE BOWL

Chet Haliski threw for 285 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead the Oregon Ducks to a 45-14 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Tangerine Bowl. The Pacific Coast Conference co-runners up took complete control of the game right from the opening kick-off and easily cruised to their 9th victory of the season. It marked a disappointing end to the year for Oklahoma, who actually beat Oregon in an early season match-up between the two schools. The Sooners also finished the year at 9-3 but failed to win the Big 8 title due to a late season loss to Nebraska.

ILLINOIS SCORES A PEACH BOWL VICTORY

A pair of late touchdowns lifted Illinois to a 30-20 victory over Wake Forest in the Peach Bowl. The Demon Deacons took a 23-20 lead with 8 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when running back Alex McClellan scored the second of his two touchdowns on the day but senior quarterback Jack Berner led Illinois right back down the field and completed a 76 yard drive with an 8 yard touchdown pass to Wayne Hinman putting Illini back in the lead. Illinois would add another late score to increase their lead. Illinois finished the season with a 9-3 record while Wake Forest, a surprising choice for the game, ended up at 6-6.

TEXAS ROUTS WASHINGTON STATE IN GATOR BOWL

A tight battle was expected between the 8th and 9th ranked teams in the Gator Bowl but the Texas Longhorns quickly turned it into a rout, taming the Washington State Cougars 34-6. The Longhorns built a 24-3 halftime lead thanks in part to a pair of touchdown runs by senior running back Red Wolfe and had the luxury of playing mostly backups in the fourth quarter.

COULD WE EVER SEE AN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION-MLB CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES?

It is no secret that the American Association longs to be considered an equal with the established Major Leagues and their goal is a true World Championship Series between the American Series winner and the winner of the annual World Series between the American and National League pennant holders. MLB commissioner Judge Landis is vehemently opposed to such a series and has gone on record numerous times saying he feels that playing the American Association winner holds no value to the champion of his league. There were rumours last season the Minneapolis Millers - winners of the American Series - had made a public challenge to play the World Series winning New York Giants in a spring series. It did not occur, but despite Landis' initial objections he finally relented and permitted several MLB teams to take part in spring friendlies with AA clubs, and the young circuit fared pretty well in those contests, going 13-19 overall. Of course, spring games are not a fair barometer of where the new loop stands quality wise in comparison to the established leagues.

Landis won't let it happen but that doesn't mean fans throughout the American Association and Kansas City in particular can not dream of an opportunity to see their side compete with the St Louis Cardinals. It isn't the fans who are the only ones dreaming. Billy Herman, the Blues very popular second sacker and a former Chicago Cub who spent 5 seasons in the National League before moving to the Blues two years ago, feels his club would not embarrass themselves if such a showdown ever came to pass.

"I reckon the Cardinals might be a little too much for us," pondered the 28 year old Indiana native, "but I would not count us out. The team we had and the year we had, you just never now. And I would think Kleiny and Al (Blues pitchers Ted Kleinhans and Al Hollingsworth) might give those Dean boys a battle. It sure would be fun to try, and the fans here and likely in St Louis as well would pack the parks for an all west series like that."

If Billy Herman, who does know the Cardinals as well as pretty much anyone in Kansas City, thinks the Blues might have had a chance last fall against the World Series champs perhaps it is worth a look to compare the two sides and just see how realistic that "chance" as Herman puts it might be.

Let's start with pitching. The Blues could very easily get by with 2 starters even in a 7 game series and if they did it is had to find a better pair then the American Association MVP Ted Kleinhans (30-9, 256 ERA+) and Al Hollingsworth (19-17, 125 ERA+). Things get pretty dicey if the Blues need to go to a third starter or rely on their bullpen for much. The Cardinals had the top two pitchers in the National League in brothers Dizzy (23-10, 203 ERA+) and Paul Dean (25-8, 183 ERA+). St Louis also had plenty of depth with 17 game winner Bill Hallahan, Jim Winford and Roy Parmalee. The Cardinals get the edge here.

Now let's compare lineups. Here is the starting lineup for each club:
Assuming everyone was healthy the Blues actually match-up pretty nicely with the Cardinals. Spud Davis had an outstanding World Series but his numbers are not that much different from Blues catcher Chris Hartje. Johnny Mize is certainly the best hitter among the infielders but overall the Kansas City bats compare very favourably with Billy Herman being a huge win for KC at second base and Haslin and Marchand a very good option on the left side of the infield. The Cardinals also get the edge in the outfield primarily because of the power that Medwick and Moore bring to the position but if Cool Papa Bell played the entire season for the Blues instead of less then a 100 games due to injury the gap would be closer.

Wait a minute, you might say. You would then proceed to explain we are taking the stats from both leagues at face value and everyone knows the National League is much better from top to bottom than the American Association. Not so fast. Let's compare the AA stats to the major league numbers of the 3 Blues position players who had extensive playing time in MLB and the AA.

Ival Goodman is 28 years old and before joining the Blues in 1937 he played 2 seasons in the National League with Cincinnati and Philadelphia. He hit .290 with 8 homers and had a 3.1 WAR this past season in Kansas City. Those numbers are actually lower than his 2 year average in the National League where in pretty much the same number of games he averaged .306 with 13 homers and a 3.2 WAR.

First baseman Dale Alexander is 34 and had a larger body of work in Major League Baseball with Detroit and Boston before moving to the Blues prior to the 1936 season. The 34 year old hit 21 homers this season but had 25 and 20 in his first two years in Detroit. His .326 career batting average in Kansas City is .005 lower than what he averaged in 662 MLB games.

Finally let's look at Herman himself. In his two seasons with Kansas City he is slashing .337/.394/.451 compared to .311/.358/.406 as a Chicago Cub. However, he is in his prime years with the Blues (ages 26 and 27) and his final season in Chicago .341/.380/.476 is nearly identical to his current year in Kansas City when he slashed .346/.407/.466

It is only a 3 player sample but by that logic it seems that stats compiled in the American Association compare very favourably to those accumulated in the more established leagues. Yes, the AA lacks the superstars of the MLB like Gehrig, Ott and DiMaggio but the American Association does possess talent the MLB clubs have long since ignored with several Negro League greats including the Blues own Cool Papa Bell adding credibility to their rosters.

Of course, the inclusion of those players may well be the primary reason such a challenge Series won't happened. Landis would never say that was a factor, preferring to stick to the public story that there is nothing in it for what he calls the 'clearly superior' major league teams to play a meaningless series with what he still considers to be a AAA loop. Off the record I am sure Cardinals ownership would say there is plenty in it for the Redbirds to have played a series against the Blues. It is hard not to imagine both Sportsman's Park and Kansas City's Muehlenbach Field jammed packed with paying customers eager to fill the coffers of both leagues. For that to happen one American Association executive said it will require MLB's love of the color green to overwhelm it's disdain for certain other colors.

American Association commissioner George Trautman has gone on record stating the Blues are willing to do whatever it takes to make this type of series happen one day and cited last spring's exhibition series as an important first step. Landis agreed to such a series last year under the condition that the MLB teams hosted all of the games. There is no word on if a series will be repeated this spring but a fall championship series seems to remain completely out of the question as far as Major League Baseball is concerned.

In conclusion, Herman might not be over-reaching in stating his team could have a shot in a hypothetical series but he is absolutely right on the interest such a series would generate in both Kansas City and St Louis. It would certainly be a boon to baseball in the state of Missouri and would have been an ideal matchup to kick off what could be a huge financial windfall to both leagues.

Reprinted from the December 14, 1937 edition of the Kansas City Evening Star.