JULY 18, 1938
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
While there is little suspense in the American League where the two-time defending champion New York Yankees continue to enjoy a double-digit lead on Boston there is plenty of excitement in the National League. Each of the previous two seasons it has been the Cardinals, Cubs and Giants battling it out and this year is no exception. The Giants got hot early in the season and built a lead before the Cubs caught fire with an amazing 22 game winning streak in June. Now, the St Louis Cardinals are on a roll, winning six straight games and 10 of their last twelve to take a half game lead on Chicago for first place. The Cardinals went into Philadelphia for a 3-game series and just destroyed Phillie pitching in erupting for 39 runs over the weekend. Johnny Mize (.358,27,74) and Joe Medwick (.347,20,67) continue to lead the best offense in the senior circuit but the pitching staff, led by Paul (12-3, 2.23) and Dizzy Dean (11-5, 2.37) has been equally as dominant.
The Cubs are keeping pace, winning each of their last 4 games and, like St Louis, 10 of their last 12 contests to stay within a half game of the front-running Cardinals. The Cubs lack the dominant star on offense like Mize or Medwick but they have been getting balanced production throughout the lineup and their pitching certainly rivals the Cardinals, led by Tex Carleton (13-4, 2.98), Larry French (12-6, 2.52) and Bill Lee (12-5, 3.76). New second baseman Jimmy Brown, acquired a week and a half ago from Cincinnati, has also fit in nicely, batting .462 with 7 rbi's in his 9 games for Chicago.
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MLB STANDINGS
AMERICAN LEAGUE W L GB NATIONAL LEAGUE W L GB
New York 62 23 - St Louis 53 29 -
Boston 49 35 12.5 Chicago 54 31 0.5
Cleveland 43 41 18.5 New York 49 34 4.5
Chicago 38 46 23.5 Pittsburgh 40 46 15.0
Detroit 38 46 23.5 Boston 38 48 17.0
St Louis 37 46 24.0 Brooklyn 36 49 18.5
Philadelphia 36 47 25.0 Cincinnati 36 49 18.5
Washington 33 52 29.0 Philadelphia 32 52 22.0
HITTING LEADERS
AVERGAE AVERAGE
Weatherly CLE .370 Phelps BKN .394
Rolfe NYY .370 Mize STL .358
Stone PHA .357 Medwick STL .347
Travis WSH .352 Vaughan PIT .346
Dickey NYY .351 Wright PHI .334
HOME RUNS HOME RUNS
Trosky CLE 27 Mize STL 27
Gordon SLA 20 Ott NYG 21
Foxx BOS 19 Medwick STL 20
Greenberg DET 18 Johnson CIN 20
DiMaggio NYY 17 Berger BSN 13
DiMaggio PHI 13
RBIs RBIs
Gordon SLA 77 Mize STL 74
DiMaggio NYY 72 Ott NYG 70
Gehrig NYY 71 Medwick STL 67
Cronin BOS 69 P Waner PIT 61
Greenberg DET 68 Suhr PIT 58
Foxx BOS 68 Leslie BKN 53
PITCHING LEADERS
WINS WINS
Ruffing NYY 15-2 Carleton STL 13-4
Grove BOS 13-2 P Dean STL 12-3
Gomez NYY 13-4 Lee CHN 12-5
McFayden NYY 12-3 French CHN 12-6
Broaca NYY 12-4 D Dean STL 11-5
Mills CHA 12-6 Tobin BSN 11-7
Castleman NYG 11-8
STRIKE OUTS STRIKE OUTS
Feller CLE 111 D Dean STL 95
Gomez NYY 99 Carleton CHN 93
Mills CHA 97 P Dean STL 90
Allen CLE 86 Mungo BKN 89
Grove BOS 81 Blanton PIT 78
Rowe DET 81 Melton BKN 75
ERA ERA
Broaca NYY 2.29 P Dean STL 2.23
Gomez NYY 2.36 D Dean STL 2.37
Grove BOS 2.70 French CHN 2.52
Ruffing NYY 2.84 Mungo BKN 2.58
Mills CHA 2.93 Henshaw NYG 2.61
McFayden NYY 3.01 Castleman NYG 2.67
Smith PHA 3.32 Tobin BSN 2.71
MAJOR LEAGUE NOTES: For the third time this season Boston Red Sox shortstop Joe Cronin was named the American League player of the week. The 31 year old, who recently collected his 1000th career rbi, is batting .346 with 8 homers and 69 rbi's on the season. Last week he went 10-for-23 with 11 rbi's to help the Red Sox win 4 of 6 games.
Cincinnati's Bob Johnson claimed National League honours. The 32 year old outfielder, who moved to the Reds in a winter deal with the Athletics, had been struggling at the plate with a .226 batting average at the start of the week but he hit .400 (12-for-30) with 4 homers last week.
Speaking of the Reds and trades, Cincinnati made a move this week by sending veteran pitcher Si Johnson to the Boston Bees in exchange for 22 year old 3B Bob Kahle. Johnson was 6-10 with a 3.94 era in 19 starts for the Reds. The 31 year old has a career record of 80-129, which had been spent entirely in Cincinnati. Kahle was batting .246 in 21 games for the Bees. He spent each of the past two seasons with Indianapolis of the American Association.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
BLUES PITCHING CONTINUES TO DOMINATE
Despite losing reigning pitcher of the year Ted Kleinhans to a season ending injury last month, the Kansas City Blues have showed little sign of slowing down. The Blues have won 6 straight and 8 of their last nine games to close to within a game of first place Toledo atop the American Association.
The Blues outscored their opponents 44-22 over the last nine games and received some very strong pitching including a pair of starts from long time reliever Charley Moncrief, who is the latest replacement for the injured Kleinhans. Moncrief is 4-0 on the season including 2 wins as a starter. His first start of the year was not the greatest: 4 earned runs in 5 and a third innings in a win over Indianapolis, but he was terrific the second time out, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits over 6 2/3 in a 2-1 win over Columbus. If Moncrief can keep it up the Blues will be in great shape as their other three starters: Al Hollingsworth (14-2, 3.39) Tiny Bonham (10-8, 3.29) and Fred Gay (13-6, 3.39), have all been outstanding.
The front-running Mud Hens limped through a 3-3 week, their worst showing in any week since going 4-4 in the opening week of the season. Toledo dropped 2 of 3 to Minneapolis before recovering to take two of three from Louisville over the weekend.
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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION STANDINS
W L GB
Toledo 57 28 -
Kansas City 56 29 1.0
Minneapolis 44 42 13.5
Columbus 41 45 16.5
Milwaukee 38 46 18.5
St Paul 36 48 20.5
Louisville 35 51 22.5
Indianapolis 34 52 23.5
LEADERS AVG
Chuck Klein MIN .390
Joe Vosmik LOU .352
Len Schulte LOU .350
Martin Dihigo MIL .349
Roy Hughes MIL .344
Lonny Frey TOL .340
Billy Herman KC .332
Benny McCoy TOL .330
HOME RUNS
Ted Williams MIN 17
Buzz Arlett MIN 16
Rudy York MIL 16
Chet Laabs TOL 15
Benny McCoy TOL 15
Bill Norman StP 14
RBI's
Martin Dihigo MIL 68
Roy Cullenbine TOL 66
Benny McCoy TOL 65
Chet Laabs TOL 64
Rudy York MIL 61
Buck Leonard LOU 60
Phil Weintraub TOL 59
Ted Williams MIN 59
PITCHING
WINS
Denny Galehouse MIN 15-7
Al Hollingsworth KC 14-2
Paul Derringer TOL 13-4
Fred Gay KC 13-6
Carl Hubbell MIN 13-12
Gene Schott TOL 12-4
Max Macon COL 11-11
Tiny Bonham KC 10-8
Dizzy Trout IND 10-9
STRIKEOUTS
Max Macon COL 110
Dizzy Trout IND 107
Wayne LeMaster LOU 103
Johnny Rigney StP 101
Carl Hubbell MIN 93
Denny Galehouse MIN 88
Lefty Smoll TOL 85
Ted Kleinhans KC 80
ERA
Lloyd Johnson IND 3.19
Gene Schott TOL 3.23
Tiny Bonham KC 3.29
Ted Kleinhans KC 3.36
Al Hollingsworth KC 3.39
Fred Gay KC 3.39
Dizzy Trout IND 3.51
Denny Galehouse MIN 3.69
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION NOTES: Louisville outfielder Joe Vosmik had a big week, going 15-for-28 to capture the American Association player of the week award. The 28 year old, who joined the Colonels 3 years ago after several seasons with the Cleveland Indians, is now second in league batting with a .352 average. He has 5 homers and 50 rbi's.
Minneapolis outfielder Chuck Klein established a new American Association hitting streak record as he has hit safely in 25 consecutive games. The 33 year old outfielder, who joined the Millers after two seasons in Milwaukee, is leading the Association with a .390 batting average. The previous mark of 24 (just in the AA major league years from 1936-to-presnt) was set by Dick Siebert of Indianapolis and equalled by Klein last season when he was with the Brewers. Klein's current streak remains active.
Indianapolis Indians young first baseman Gene Hasson hit for the cycle last week in a 7-4 win over Milwaukee. The 21 year old doubled in the first, homered in the third, added an rbi single in the 5th and a 2-run triple in the seventh before flying out in the 8th. Hasson, who saw limited action with the Philadelphia Athletics last season, is batting .275 with 7 homers and 47 rbi's for the Indians this season.
JULY 18, 1938 - NHL NEWS
LIONEL CONACHER RETIRES
Veteran defenseman Lionel Conacher has told the Detroit Red Wings his NHL career is over at the age of 37. Nicknamed "The Big Train", Conacher broke in as a defenseman with the old Pittsburgh Pirates franchise and won a Stanley Cup with them in 1927. After that team folded he spent a year with the Philadelphia Quakers before joining Detroit in 1930.
His brothers Charlie and Roy remain active. Charlie is a 28 year old all-star winger while 21 year old Roy is preparing for his rookie season with the Boston Bruins.
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LIONEL CONACHER CAREER STATS
REGULAR SEASON PLAYOFFS
YEAR TEAM GP G A PTS PIM GP G A PTS PIM
25-26 PIT 36 8 20 28 157 Did not play
26-27 PIT 38 10 32 42 123 6 0 7 7 24 Norris, Cup Champ, 1stTeamAS
27-28 PIT 41 13 20 33 158 4 0 1 1 7
28-29 PIT 44 5 20 25 181 Did not play MVP
29-30 PIT 36 15 19 34 77 2 0 2 2 2
30-31 PHI 44 10 23 33 102 Did not play 1st AS
31-32 DET 37 8 19 27 73 2 0 0 0 5 2nd AS
32-33 DET 48 2 27 29 176 6 1 0 1 27 1st AS
33-34 DET 48 12 21 33 87 7 0 4 4 12 2nd AS
34-35 DET 41 3 9 12 77 7 0 4 4 15
35-36 DET 47 6 11 17 132 Did not play
36-37 DET 37 2 5 7 87 1 0 0 0 4
37-38 DET 44 10 10 20 76 Did not play
=== === == === ==== == = == == ==
TOTALS 541 104 236 340 1506 35 1 18 19 96
REAL LIFE 498 78 108 186 883 35 2 2 4 40
The real life Lionel Conacher was a multi-sport star, winning a Grey Cup with the Toronto Argonauts in 1931, a baseball International League title with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1926 as well as two Stanley Cups and a Memorial Cup in hockey. He also boxed and played lacrosse. Conacher and Carl Voss are the only players to have their names etched on both the Stanley Cup and the Grey Cup. Following his sports career, Conacher served as a politician in the Canadian House of Commons. Canada's Athlete of the Year award given out annually by the Canadian Press is named after Conacher.
NFL PRESEASON WEEK TWO
Rookie defensive end Buster Kinard continues to make his presence felt in the National Football League. Baltimore's second round draft pick had a sack and a fumble recovery in the preseason opener and he followed that up with 2 more sacks and a forced fumble to help lead the Colts to a 21-6 victory over the Cleveland Browns in the final pre-season tune-up for each club.
The Philadelphia Eagles finished the preseason with a 2-0 record as Swede Johnston had his second straight 100 yard rushing day, he gained 101 on 22 carries, to help the Eagles past the Los Angeles Rams 16-10. Backup quarterback Pete Tyler threw for 118 yards in the first half to help the Chicago Cardinals past Washington 30-6. Rookie linebacker Mike Sullivan had 15 tackles and a sack as San Francisco thumped the New York Giants 33-9.
The other two games both ended in ties with Pittsburgh and Detroit squaring up at 17-17 while the Bears got a late field goal to pull even with Cleveland 10-10. The regular season begins next week.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW
The 1938 college football season kicks off next weekend with a partial slate of games highlighted by number one ranked Nebraska playing host to Oregon. The Cornhuskers were 9-3 last year in a season that culminated in an Orange Bowl victory over Tennessee. Nebraska's strength should be it's line on both sides of the ball led by senior center Charley Brock. The starting QB will be a sophomore Harry Hopp, who saw very limited action a year ago while senior running back Bill Callahan, who gained 688 yards on the ground as a back a year ago, will be heavily relied on to lead the offense this season.
Oregon, which enters the season ranked 15th in the nation, was also 9-3 last season and won the Tangerine Bowl over Oklahoma. The Ducks are a talented offensive squad led by sophomore QB Chet Haliski, who passed for over 2100 yards as a freshman and senior end John Yerby, who led the team with 40 catches last season.
Other games of note include #2 Notre Dame visiting Auburn, 4th ranked Michigan starting it's season off with a conference game at Northwestern while fellow Western Conference foe Ohio State entertains Iowa. Number 6 Alabama meets 20th ranked Texas while 7th ranked Georgia is home to Purdue.
Here are the AP top 20 preseason rankings.
A note about my college alignment. I am using a modified league file I created with 82 schools. The conference setup is based on the early 1970s. DDSCF does allow customization but I did not want to mess with changing conference structure each season to mirror real life so it will remain with this setup throughout the league history.
My conferences and schools are:
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia and Wake Forest
BIG 8 CONFERENCE
Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
WESTERN or BIG TEN CONFERENCE
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin.
IVY LEAGUE
Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale
PACIFIC COAST CONFERENCE or PAC EIGHT
Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State
SEC
Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt
SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE
Arkansas, Baylor, Rice, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech
BORDER CONFERENCE also referred to as the WAC
Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, Texas Western (UTEP), Utah and Wyoming.
INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
Army, Boston College, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, Navy, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Carolina, Syracuse, Utah State, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW: PLAYERS TO WATCH
To help prepare for the 1938 season here is a list of the top players at some of the key positions. We start with the top quarterbacks in college football.
1- Frank Filchock SR: Indiana
2- Sid Luckman SR: Columbia All Ivy League 1937
3- Hal Van Every JR: Minnesota
4- Charlie O'Rourke SO: Boston College
5- George Cafego JR: Tennessee 1937 All American
6- Banks McFadden JR: Clemson
7- Billy Peterson SR: Baylor
8- Frankie ALbert FR: Minnesota
9- Chuck DeShane JR: Alabama
10- Steve Stiko JR: Notre Dame
The top ten running backs to watch in 1938 are:
1- Jack Banta SO: USC
2- Bill Dudley FR : Texas
3- Norm Standlee SO : Stanford
4- Charley Holm SR : Alabama
5- Noah Mullins FR: Kansas State
6- Bill Callihan SR: Nebraska
7- Tom Colella FR: Ohio State
8- Mario Tonelli SR : Notre Dame
9- Tony Canadeo SO: UCLA
10- John Kimbrough SO: Tecas A&M
The top ten ends are:
1- Joe Aguirre SO: UCLA - 1937 All-American
2- Ken Kavanaugh JR: LSU
3- John Yerby SR: Oregon
4- Doyle Nave JR: USC
5- Al Krueger SO: USC
6- Bob Merker FR: Michigan State
7- Hampton Pool JR: Stanford
8- Joe Wendlick SR: Oregon State - all PCC in 1937
9- Ed Frutig SO: Michigan
10- Mac Speedie FR: Colorado
The top defensive players for 1937
1- Ray Bray SR DE: North Carolina
2- Larry Craig SR CB: South Carolina
3- John Brennan SR DE: Michigan
4- Bulldog Turner JR LB: Arizona - 1937 All Border Conference
5- Ed Benoir SR DT: Notre Dame
6- Dave Anderson SR SS: Cal - All PCC
7- Paul Graham SR LB: Indiana
8- Carl Kaplanoff SR DE: Ohio State
9- Bob Smith JR CB: Oregon
10- Vic Sears SO DT: Oregon State