MONDAY AUGUST 18, 1941
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
LEAD STORY JINX STRIKES AGAIN
A few times this season I have started my recap with a story on a red-hot team or player only to see them falter in the week(s) immediately after the write-up. Well you can add the Philadelphia Athletics to the list as just after I wrote of their dominance over the New York Yankees this season, the A's go and get swept 3 straight in New York and fall 3 more games off the pace - now sitting 10.5 back of the league leading Yankees.
New York opened the 3-game set with a 5-4 victory on Friday thanks to a walk-off rbi double from John Hanson (.317,22,82) that plated George Foskey(.287,20,75) with the winning run. The next two games were all New York as the Yankees torched the A's pitching staff winning 7-2 Saturday and 16-3 on Sunday.
GIANTS MAKING A RUN AT NATIONAL LEAGUE LEAD
The New York Giants have won 13 of their last 18 games and are making a charge at the National League pennant. In the past week the Giants have gained 3 games on the slumping Pirates and Phillies, who share the lead at 63-51, 1.5 games ahead of the 3rd place Giants.
Contending for the pennant is old hat for the Giants, who won the pennant three straight seasons before finishing second to the Phillies last year. For most of the season it looked like the Giants had little chance of winning their 4th pennant in 5 seasons, especially in late June when they trailed the Pirates by 8.5 games. However, their recent run of success, coming at a time when the rest of the contenders in the division barely played .500 ball has allowed New York to climb back into the race.
The Giants are a veteran team with plenty of post-season experience and have enough pitching depth to withstand longterm injuries to Arturo Serna and Jim Boelke. The big three in their rotation continue to be 30 year old Aurelio Ventura (13-8, 2.71), 28 year old John Petersen (12-6, 3.83) and 36 year old John White (12-7, 3.37). Losing the 35 year old Serna for the season was a big blow especially after he got off to a 6-1 start with a 1.99 era but the Giants have withstood decidedly subpar seasons from their bottom two starters in 37 year old Ben Hull (6-14, 469) and 30 year old Elige Medina (4-14, 4.16). Prize prospect Jim Sanicki (1-0, 0.00 out of the pen) may yet join the rotation but the 24 year old is just returning to action after missing 4 months with a back injury.
The Giants offense has revolved around a trio of 27 year olds in shortstop John Wagoner (.299,9,53), third baseman Dennis Hobbs (.275,5,47) and first baseman Len Butler (.241,14,76). Thirty-five year old outfielder Celerino Ochoa (.289,3,52) also provides veteran leadership.
New York is not the only team to be hit with injuries to key players. The Phillies have been without outfielder Bug Harrison (.249,7,57) for a month with a foot injury and Pittsburgh had to withstand a career ending injury to pitcher Kitty Martin. The Cardinals are the latest team to lose a key component as second baseman Otto Valdez (.317,3,56) went down with an ankle sprain this past week that is expected to sideline him for a month.
With seven teams within 8 games of first place the final month and a half of the National League schedule should by a wild ride, especially if none of the teams are able to mount any sort of sustained winning streak...which has been the case all season.
Code:
MAJOR LEAGUE STANDINGS
AMERICAN W L GB NATIONAL W L GB
NY Yankees 76 39 - Pittsburgh 63 51 -
Boston 69 48 8.0 Philadelphia 63 51 -
Philadelphia 66 50 10.5 NY Giants 61 52 1.5
Cleveland 64 51 12.0 St Louis 63 55 2.0
Chicago 54 61 22.0 Boston 60 56 4.0
St Louis 52 64 24.5 Cincinnati 56 57 6.5
Washington 46 71 31.0 Brooklyn 54 58 8.0
Detroit 35 78 40.0 Chicago 38 78 26.0
BATTING LEADERS
AMERICAN AVG NATIONAL AVG
Frank Thomas BOS .368 Emiliano Ramon StL .322
Elgie Vargas NYY .359 Otto Valdez StL .317
Joe Camberos CLE .327 Oreste Gallagos PHI .313
John Hanson NYY .317 Bill Schmidt BKN .313
Vince Craft PHA .315 John Wagoner NYG .299
HOME RUNS
AMERICAN HR NATIONAL HR
Frank Thomas BOS 42 Marty Wolf BKN 18
Elgie Vargas NYY 31 Carlos Torres CIN 14
Charlie Mongan CLE 26 Len Butler NYG 14
John Hanson NYY 22 Yuniesky Gomez PIT 13
George Foskey NYY 20 Linus Hoffman BKN 11
RBI'S
AMERICAN RBI NATIONAL RBI
Frank Thomas BOS 126 George Osgood CIN 81
Elgie Vargas NYY 112 Len Butler NYG 76
Johnny Pate BOS 84 Marty Wolf BKN 72
John Hanson NYY 82 Alexi Gamboa CIN 70
George Foskey NYY 75 Jack Hansen PIT 67
PITCHING LEADERS
AMERICAN WINS NATIONAL WINS
Jay Moore NYY 16-7 Chris Golden StL 15-5
Jim Thayer PHA 16-8 William Mongillo PHI 15-8
Jocko DiBlasi SLB 16-9 Danny Gentry BKN 14-8
Wiki Estrella BOS 15-6 Aurelio Ventura NYG 13-8
Bill Coon PHA 15-8 Barney DuPont PIT 13-9
Jack Dickinson CLE 14-8
Elias Edmondson NYY 14-9
AMERICAN ERA NATIONAL ERA
Bobby Hopps CHA 1.85 William Mongillo PHI 2.20
Buck Parham PHA 2.42 Chris Golden StL 2.48
George Odom PHA 2.73 Aurelio Ventura NYG 2.71
Bill Coon PHA 2.79 Otto Stahl BKN 2.81
Jack Dickinson CLE 2.84 Jack Chandler PHI 2.82
STRIKEOUT'S
AMERICAN Ks NATIONAL Ks
Peleg Dooley CHA 126 Jim Turner CIN 112
Jim Thayer PHA 117 Elbert Eaton PHI 107
Buck Parham PHA 105 Barney Dupont PIT 104
Elias Edmondson NYY 100 Aurelio Ventura NYG 98
Jack Dickinson CLE 97 Kick McAvoy StL 93
VARGAS NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
New York Yankees outfielder Elgie Vargas has spent most of his career in the shadow of Boston Red Sox star Frank Thomas. Both made their major league debut in 1932 at the age of 21. Since then Thomas has 6 MVP awards while Vargas has just 1. Thomas has won the triple crown 3 times and has 6 batting titles while Vargas has never won a title. Thomas has been named American League player of the week 38 times including three this year. Vargas has won the award 20 times including this past week when he claimed it for the third time this season.
Vargas will almost certainly not catch Thomas for the homerun or rbi lead this season but if he continues to hit like he did last week he may finally win his first batting title. Vargas went 12-for-28 (.429) last week with 3 homers and 9 rbi's in 7 games. On the season Vargas is batting .359 with 31 homers and 112 rbi's. Thomas continues to lead the major leagues in all three of those categories, hitting .368 with 42 homers and 126 rbi's.
The National League player of the week was Chicago Cubs outfielder James McBeth. McBeth went 14 for 29 last week with a homer and 4 rbi's in 7 games to raise his season totals to .281,9,48. After just an awful start to the season the Cubs have gone 18-20 since the all-star break and are playing the role of spoiler in the National League as they have won some key games against contending clubs such as last week when they swept both St Louis and Pittsburgh on the road in 2-game series.
The 29 year old McBeth is one of the few veterans who survived the housecleaning done in early June when the club was 14-52. A native of Snyder, Texas, McBeth began is career in the Detroit Tigers organization when he was drafted in the third round in 1931 from the academy league Oregon Timbers. While in rookie ball he was dealt to the Yankees in part of a package that saw Detroit add recently retired pitcher Kitty Martin. Caught in the numbers game in New York, he was a backup outfielder-first baseman but did play on two pennant winning teams with the Yankees before being dealt to the Cubs midway through last season in exchange for third baseman Bill Farley.
This is his 7th major league season but McBeth has only been an everyday player for one season prior to this year. In 575 career big league games McBeth is a .287 hitter with 56 homers and 311 rbi's. He is also hitting .303 in 35 World Series plate appearances.
Code:
AMERICAN LEAGUE POWER RACE
LAST WEEK SEASON
TM NAME HR RBI AVG HR RBI AVG[/b]
BOS Frank Thomas 2 6 .310 42 126 .368
NYY Elgie Vargas 3 9 .429 31 112 .359
CLE Charlie Mongan 4 5 .296 26 58 .266
DRAFT SIGNING UPDATE
Here is an update on the first round picks from last month's draft. We have reached the signing deadline and it appears just 2 first round picks failed to agree to contracts with the team that drafted them: 15th pick Adam Young, a pitcher from Arizona State, did not sign with the Giants while the Phillies pick at #17, Oklahoma's Fred Butler, also refused to sign.
1- Detroit: Alexi Ruiz 3B. 18 year old signed this weekend with the Tigers and has been assigned to the Kity League's Owensboro Farmers.
2- Cubs: Charlie Bertrand LF. The 18 year old signed quickly and is batting .294 in 27 games with Bowling Green of the Kity League. He also played 9 games (.200) for Class B St. Cloud and 9 games (.167) with AA Syracuse but is back in the rookie league now.
3- White Sox: Sam Herrera P: 19 year old just signed with White Sox and will begin his pro career with the Fulton Railroaders of the Kity League, but likely not until next season as he is still recovering from knee surgery due to an injury suffered late in the Academy League season.
4- Cubs: Deacon Schober RF: 22 year old signed and went straight to the major leagues. He is batting .243 (17-70) in 31 games with a homerun and 12 rbi's.
5- Washington: Pat Green 3B: 18 year old signed a week ago and is playing for the Madisonville Miners of the Kity League. He went 5-for-12 (.417) in his first 3 games.
6- Browns: Silver Cook 2B: The 18 year old just signed last month and made his pro debut in the rookie Kity League with Springfield. In 11 games he is batting .329 with a homerun and 4 rbi's
7- Pittsburgh: Chick Pate 2B: 19 year old signed last month and is playing for the rookie league Cairo Goldbugs. In 21 games in the Kity loop, Pate is batting .218.
8- Cincinnati: Rube Correnti SS: 18 year old signed last month and is with the Kity League's Central City Reds, where he is batting just .123 in 17 games.
9- Braves: Michael Ryan P: 18 year old signed on the weekend and will make pro debut today in the Kity League for the Hopkinsville Blue Hens.
10-White Sox: Jim Barlett P: 18 year old signed last month and is in Fulton of the Kity League. He is 1-1 with a 1.84 era in 2 starts for the Railroaders.
11-Brooklyn: Roscoe Merkel 2B: 18 year old signed shortly after the draft and was assigned to the Lexington Hustlers of the Kity League. In 32 games Merkel is batting .250
12- Cleveland: Angelo Arias P: Signed with Indians and assigned to Class A Oklahoma City. Pitched a complete game victory in his debut, allowing 3 earned runs while striking out 5 and walking none. So far this season he is 5-4 with a 3.93 era in 9 starts for Oklahoma City. 22 year is a former Texas Longhorn and was named the NCAA West pitcher of the year and MVP recently.
13- Athletics: Sam Carter 3B: 22 year old former University of California star signed last week and skipped the minors by going right to Philadelphia. In 4 games with the A's he is 0-for-7 and has struck out 4 times.
14- Cardinals: Bill Bell OF: 18 year old signed last week and has played 3 games for the Clarksville Crows of the Kity League. He is 2-for-12 (.167) with a pair of rbi's in those games.
15- Giants: Adam Young P: 22 year old from Arizona State did not sign and will likely sit out the season before re-entering the draft next year.
16-Yankees: Jake Fagen P: 23 year old NCAA East MVP from Columbia signed last week with the Yankees organization and was assigned to Class A Dallas of the Texas League. Pitched a complete game victory in his pro debut, allowing just 1 earned run in a 4-1 victory over Beaumount.
17- Phillies: Fred Butler P: 22 year old remains unsigned and will likely sit out the season although there is some talk he may be eligible for a fifth year at the University of Oklahoma before re-entering the draft next year.
18- Red Sox: Tommy Rogers 3B: 19 year old signed last month and is struggling with the Jackson Generals of the Kity League, batting just .162 in 11 games.
MATHIAS SIGNS WITH CUBS
One of the biggest coups of the draft was the Chicago Cubs decision to draft and subsequently be able to sign 4th round pick Guy Mathias. The 23 year old starred at Maryland but had said he did not want to play pro ball. Last year the Reds took a chance and drafted him in the 5th round and he refused to sign. This year the Cubs took him in the fourth round and he would only agree to sign if he received a $23,000 bonus which was almost equal to what the Cubs gave their second overall pick Charlie Bertrand and nearly double what they gave #4 overall Deacon Schober.
In the end the deal got done and Mathias put off medical school to join the Cubs organization. In 3 games with Class A Fort Worth of the Texas League he was hitting .417 (5-for-12)
COLLEGE BASEBALL
DOMINO CHOOSES UCLA OVER BROOKLYN DODGERS
While none of the academy league players drafted in the first two rounds failed to sign a pro contract there were some very talented players taken a little later in the draft that made good on their promises to play college ball instead of turning pro.
The most notable was former Staten Island Ports pitcher Joseph Domino, who turned down a reportedly quite lucrative signing bonus from the Brooklyn Dodgers to attend UCLA instead. Domino, a 19 year old righthander from Kulpsville, Pennsylvania won every award possible in the Metro New York Division this past season as he was named pitcher of the year, league MVP and playoff MVP as he led the Ports to the Northeast Academy League title after going 22-5 with a 2.32 era in 32 starts.
Other college commitments announced this week include Fred Rude signing with the NCAA champion Columbia Lions. Rude, a third round pick of the Pirates, was 6-1 with a 2.53 era for the Michigan Lakers before suffering a torn rotator cuff that ended his season in March. Rude, has outstanding potential but has been very injury prone missing substantial time in 1939 with back troubles and 1940 with a hamstring injury. He only made 71 starts over 4 seasons with the Central Academy League Lakers, posting a 33-22 career mark with a 2.53 era. Columbia hopes he can stay healthy and if so should be a solid replacement to Jake Fagen, who graduated after going 65-28 over 4 seasons at Columbia and 7-0 in the postseason as he led the Lions to back-to-back College World Series titles.
Sam Rogers, who went 22-7 with the Dakota Loggers this season before being drafted in the 5th round by Cleveland, has decided to attend Texas Tech rather than turn pro. The 20 year old was named MVP and top pitcher in the Western Academy League's Pacific Division.
Another 5th round pick, 19 year old first baseman Bill West, opted for North Carolina State instead of the New York Giants organization. West played all 20 games for the Key West Conchs of the Florida Academy League this season, batting .310 with 14 homers and 84 rbi's. He will be joined at North Carolina State by another Florida Academy pitcher as 18 year old Ren Fisher, who went 16-11 for Daytona Beach this season, turned down the St Louis Cardinals, who selected him in the 7th round.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
ROUGH START FOR FISCHER IN PRESEASON OPENER
First overall draft pick Jason Fischer found out quickly there is a big difference between the NFL and college ball. The former Penn State star quarterback made his pro debut in the Detroit Lions preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles and threw a pair of interceptions in a 37-10 loss.
Thomas Muller, who started 11 games for Detroit last season, opened the game as Detroit's signal caller and promptly led his team to a scoring drive on their opening possession. Muller played the opening quarter, completing 4 of 6 passes for 46 yards and a touchdown, before giving way to the rookie Fischer.
Fischer's first two possessions ended in interceptions that led to touchdown drives for the Eagles. The rookie did settle later in the game and ended up completing 15 of 24 passes for 185 yards but the two interceptions cost the Lions the ballgame.
The good news for Detroit was that 5th year running back Bernard Whitaker had a huge game, carrying the ball 25 times for 121 yards. The 121 yards is more than he amassed in 4 seasons with the Lions as their 3rd string running back.
The victorious Eagles got a strong game from veteran back-up quarterback Paul Knight. The 2 time Heisman Trophy winner from Stanford, who has never established himself as an NFL starter, threw for 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns after taking over for starter Angel Bates in the second half.
In other action defending NFL Champion Green Bay beat Pittsburgh 26-19 on the strength of a pair of rushing touchdowns from 7th year backup running back Joseph Campbell.
The Baltimore Colts overcame a slow start and a 26-17 halftime deficit to rally at home and beat the Chicago Bears 27-26. Colts starting quarterback Charles Myers completed just 2 of 7 pass attempts in the game.
Running backs David Campos and David Henson each scored a touchdown to pace the Cleveland Browns to a 17-14 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
Thomas Paz and receiver Timothy Taylor connected on three second half touchdown passes to rally the visiting New York Giants to a 31-20 victory over the Cardinals in St Louis. Paz, a former Alabama star, has been the Giants backup QB behind Donald Owens the last two seasons while Taylor is a second year pro from Oklahoma who had 3 catches in 3 appearances for the Giants last year as a rookie.
Finally, in the nations capital San Francisco rallied with 17 unaswered second half points to beat the Washington Redskins 27-17. Washington quarterbacks Michael Huff and Chris Johnson combined to throw 3 interceptions in the loss.
NCAA FOOTBALL
The college football season kicks off this weekend with a full slate of games including preseason #1 ranked Tennessee at home to face North Carolina State. The Volunteers are expected to walk all over a Wolfpack squad that was 1-10 a year ago after going 0-11 in 1939. North Carolina State has never had a winning season in the 30 year history over the sport. Tennessee, on the other hand, is a two-time National Champion and coming off a 10-2 season in which they were ranked 7th in the AP poll and 12th in the final coaches poll.
Other games involving top 10 ranked teams are:
#2 Notre Dame at West Virginia
#4 Auburn entertains Navy
#5 Ohio State travels to Iowa State
#7 Texas hosts Richmond
#9 Stanford visits Cincinnati
#10 LSU is home to Southern Mississippi