[woodfeld]

Michigan League Standings  
North  
Team                              W  L  PCT   GB 
Sault Ste. Marie White Lakers    41 37 .526    - 
Mackinac Trolleys                40 39 .506  1.5 
Iron Mountain Miners             37 41 .474  4.0 
Traverse City Cherries           29 50 .367 12.5 
 
South  
Team                              W  L  PCT   GB  
Kalamazoo Bells                  48 30 .615    - 
Ann Arbor Democrats              43 34 .558  4.5 
Lansing Capitals                 38 38 .500  9.0 
Grand Rapids Blue Lakers         36 43 .456 12.5 
 
Ohio League Standings  
East  
Team                              W  L  PCT   GB 
Canton Terriers                  46 33 .582    - 
Zanesville Engineers             36 42 .462  9.5 
Akron Red Irons                  31 48 .392 15.0 
Youngstown Black Irons           28 50 .359 17.5 
 
West  
Team                              W  L  PCT   GB 
Dayton Pilots                    55 23 .705    - 
Chillicothe Indians              44 35 .557 11.5 
Columbus Archers                 36 40 .474 18.0 
Toledo Admirals                  36 41 .468 18.5

July 1, 1942
As we reach the halfway point of the 1942 season in the MOBL, we’ve got some tight races for the Michigan League divisional crowns. In the Ohio League, it looks more and more like we’ll have repeat division champs. The month of June also brought a flurry of interesting trades. The first, as mentioned earlier, was the surprising trade of CF Sawyl Mitchum from Kalamazoo to Sault Ste. Marie (the White Lakers now have both of the Bells’ CF’ers from last year) for former Lakers’ closer LHP Robin Diggins. I’m not sure why the Bells decided to make this trade as they didn’t have a very capable CF ready to step in and take Mitchum’s place. That’s not even mentioning the fact that the bullpen has performed decently well this year and didn’t need him all that much. Diggins has not performed all that well for the Bells (1-2, 6.14 ERA in 13 games), while Mitchum has helped lead the White Lakers into first place (.308, .363 OBP, 13 SB in 26 games). Kalamazoo fans have to be asking if there is a 30-day trial period with trades. They luckily picked up super prospect CF Jesus Rosalda off waivers though; otherwise they could have been in big trouble as Ann Arbor is right on their heels. The Blue Lakers and Trolleys traded superstars as well. Since the Trolleys had a fine young prospect in CF Ulises Bamboa (.259, 3 HR, 13 RBI), they shipped CF Jon Koepke to the Blue Lakers for SS Phil High (.256, 14 HR, 43 RBI). Although SS Troy Rub (.333, 4 HR, 12 RBI) had played well, High is in another category when it comes to SS. The Blue Lakers will certainly miss High, but adding an excellent right handed bat like Koepke (.277, 17 HR, 47 RBI) was well needed. They also needed a more capable CF defensively than now-RF Edgardo Grateda.


The Dayton Pilots look like an unstoppable force right now after going 21-6 in June and being named the OL Team of the Month for the second month in a row. As one would expect, the pitching is the reason the Pilots are dominating the Ohio League this year. #5 starter Melvin Feeley (4-3, 5.80 ERA) has been pretty terrible as well so it just goes to show how well the top 4 in the rotation are performing. LHP Gurkan Tiffany was simply incredible in June, going 5-0 with a 0.96 ERA and striking out 37 batters in 37.1 innings pitched. “Last year, he was incredible (19-3, 1.92 ERA, 0.93 WHIP) and should have won the MOP, but this year he’s picked it up to another level (9-1, 1.55 ERA, 0.91 WHIP),” manager Joseph Parker said. Meanwhile, LHP Sergio Rodriguez (13-2, 2.20 ERA), RHP Anker Woodruff (12-3, 3.13 ERA) and RHP Kristopher MacKail (7-4, 3.60 ERA) have been the thorn in every OL batters’ side this season. 1B Dookie Trout continues to put up consistently strong numbers (.293, 17 HR, 57 RBI) and is leading a pretty potent offense. “After taking a lot of heat from you guys for his play in last year’s playoffs, he’s really bounced back and shown that was just a fluke,” Parker said. As good as Dayton has played, they have to be aware of how well the Chillicothe Indians are playing and keep the pedal to the metal.


As is accustomed in the Michigan League, the Kalamazoo Bells win the Michigan League Team of the Month by going 18-9 in the month. The Bells are now being lead by their incredible offense after being lead by their stellar (still is) pitching staff for the past two seasons. The offense leads almost every offensive category in the ML and C Benjamin Landers is a big reason why. Leading the entire MOBL with a .369 batting average (closest competitor is batting .333), Landers has been dominant in a pitching dominant league. “He’s been the MOB so far this year in the ML. I know he may not have the HR and RBI (7 HR, 30 RBI) numbers, but he’s been such a great leader and is a big reason why our pitching staff is as good as it is,” Bells GM Manuel Ramirez said. Speaking of Ramirez, he’s been known to make some questionable trades, but the trading of a fan favorite like Mitchum was widely criticized in Kalamazoo. “It was so tough trading Sawyl away, but I really felt our bullpen needed a lift and we think Robin will give us that lift,” he said recently. Pulling Rosalda off waivers could make some fans forgive Ramirez if he’s as good as scouts are claiming. 3B Stan McQuistan (.319, 13 HR, 60 RBI) continues to develop into the most feared hitter in the ML, but still needs to learn to take more pitches (.348 OBP).


Michigan League Batter of the Month - RF Vernon 'Clueless' Wareham, Sault Ste. Marie White Lakers - .344, .442 OBP, 5 HR, 16 RBI, 15 Runs, 6 Doubles (4th BOM of his career)

Michigan League Pitcher of the Month - RHP Rickey 'Moby Dick' Benson, Kalamazoo Bells - 6-0, 1.65 ERA, 51 K's, 0.98 WHIP, 43.2 IP (5th POM of his career)

Ohio League Batter of the Month - SS Tony 'Ducky' Tiner, Toledo Admirals - .391, .573 OBP, 4 HR, 15 RBI, 22 Runs, 8 Doubles (3rd BOM of his career)

Ohio League Pitcher of the Month - LHP Gurkan Tiffany, Dayton Pilots - 5-0, 0.96 ERA, 37 K's, 0.80 WHIP, 37.1 IP