1932 SEASON RECAP
1932 was really two different seasons for the Brooklyn Kings but in the end the result was yet another season without a pennant. Brooklyn last won one in 1927 and has yet to win a World Championship Series in the 40 year history of the Federally Aligned Baseball Leagues. When it was all said and done the Kings finished with a respectable 80-74 record, good for a third place tie with Cleveland, 19 games back of the front-running New York Stars. It was two wins worse then the Kings posted last year but there is great optimism going forward because of the way this season finished.
The 1932 season was essentially over by mid-May when the Kings had a dreadful 13-20 start to the year and were already 11.5 games out of first place. That start cost long-time manager Wally Grant his job. Grant had been with the Kings since midway through the 1927 season when he helped the club to a pennant. His replacement was Walt Bailey, who unlike the cantankerous Grant, was a player friendly manager who had coached most of the players on the team as he, like them, worked his way up through the Brooklyn system and won a pair of Dixie League pennants at Knoxville. The change in on-field leadership did little to turn around the Kings fortunes as by July 25 the Kings were 42-57 and sitting in 7th place in the Continental Association.
Everything changed on that day. Chicago was hotly pursuing New York for the Continental lead and the Kings needed to shake things up so Brooklyn parted with former first overall draft pick Tommy Wilcox, who won 22 games the year before and was 9-9 for Brooklyn at the time of the deal, as well as possibly the team's best player in catcher Mike Taylor - sending the two of them to the Cougars in exchange for two of the famous Barrell brothers - pitcher Tom and catcher Fred, as well as minor league pitchers George DeForest and Mike Murphy. Murphy, interestingly enough was a Brooklyn State product that the Kings briefly debated taking first overall the year they drafted Wilcox. Murphy would go second to Chicago in that draft and now the pair were traded for each other.
That immediately set the Kings on fire and the club won 11 of it's next 12 games. Brooklyn would go 39-17 the rest of the way. Here are the standings from July 26 until the end of the season.
Code:
CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION STANDINGS
AFTER JUL 25 AS OF JULY 25 +-
Brooklyn 39 17 .697 42 57 .424 +.273
New York 37 17 .685 62 36 .633 +.052
Chicago 39 19 .672 58 38 .604 +.068
Cleveland 29 26 .527 51 48 .515 +.012
Baltimore 22 34 .393 49 49 .500 -.107
Philadelphia 21 35 .375 55 43 .561 -.186
Montreal 20 36 .357 44 54 .424 -.067
Toronto 18 38 .321 31 67 .316 +.005
So after the trade the Kings were as good as the top two teams in the Continental - in fact slightly better. Unfortunately the terrible start to the season doomed us to another year without post-season play.
However there is a lot to be excited about for next year. Let's start with the pitching. My most pleasant surprise is not Barrell or Murphy (but more on them soon). Instead it is seeing Johnny Jacob appear to finally live up to the promise that had him ranked as one of the best pitching prospects in the game. He struggled early and missed a few weeks with a hamstring injury but was just 5-7 with a 5.64 era in mid August of his rookie season. Then something clicked and he finished the year 6-0 with an era under 3.00. My Head Scout John Spears is certain Jacob will be an ace in his career. If that time is now I will have 3 of them in the always dependable Milt Fritz, a 22 year old who already owns one Allen Award and was 16-12, 3.56 for us this year and the victim of some pretty poor run support early in the season, as well as the 24 year old Tom Barrell, who went 8-3 for us and 10-3 overall with a 2.58 era. My hope in making the deal was Barrell could come close to replicating what I felt Tommy Wilcox could give us and so far he has done that and more. Add in Jacob, who is just 23 years old and went 11-7, 4.07 in his first big league season and I am thrilled about our rotation going forward.
Then there is the 24 year old Murphy, who's big league career prior to the trade consisted of 8 innings of relief for Chicago last year. I put Murphy in the rotation and he responded by going 7-2, 2.53 for us and if he continues to pitch like that will obviously have a home in the rotation.
I also got a huge surprise this year with the emergence of Dan Barrell. The oldest baseball player among the brothers, 28 year old Dan was nearly lost - strike that - he was lost as the New York Stars claimed him in the Rule 5 draft. Because of a roster crunch they could not keep him and he was returned to us at the conclusion of spring training. I moved Barrell to first base a few years back because his outfield defense was just awful. He is not much better at first base but my thinking was he would just provide minor league depth as he has hit very well in A and AA but always struggled at the AAA level (.236 average in 136 games of AAA as opposed to .324 in AA and .343 in A). He was an afterthought, a famous name that showed good character so he could be a leader in my minors. Then he hit .467 in 4 games to start the year in AA and .350 in 5 more at AAA Rochester while my big league team was playing terrible. I decided to promote him and give him some pinch-hit at bats as I had a solid hitter in converted second baseman Jake Shadoan manning first. Barrell did not play much until mid-May when he got a start against Philadelphia. He went 4-for-5 with a couple of doubles in the win and that started a 13 game hitting streak. I put him at first, the only position I can even remotely trust him at, and with Rabbit Mudd enjoying a great year at second I decided Jake Shadoan could try and learn third base in the big leagues. That experiment had mixed results but Barrell just kept hitting and was batting .300 when the deal to acquire his brothers was made. He caught fire from there, hitting .371 in August and .402 in September to finish the year 6th in the CA with a .340 average.
We also have another Barrell brother, 19 year old shortstop Harry, who was acquired from Cleveland after being selected first overall last December. Harry will be my everyday shortstop but likely not until 1934. He probably needs another full year in the minors but did hit .304 with 20 rbi's in 28 games at AA Knoxville to end the season. His defense looks to be every bit as good as Layton's and he projects to be a world class hitter. Ideally my infield in 2 seasons is Dan Barrell at 1B, Rabbit Mudd at 2B, Harry at SS and Jake Shadoan at third base.
We have some question marks for next season. The bullpen is still a big concern but I have some pitching prospects that are hopefully ready to fill those holes. In the infield the big question is can Shadoan play third base? If not, in order to keep Dan Barrell in the lineup I have to put Shadoan at second and shift Rabbit Mudd (.296 and excellent D at 2B but a natural SS) to short. However, that means I need to take Walt Layton off the field. Layton may not be much of a hitter but he is a wizard with the glove at shortstop. There is also a big question in the outfield. Is Doug Lightbody starting to wear down because of injuries or was this just a bad season because he missed time early? The 28 year old hit just .299 (the worst season of his career) and missed half the year with elbow troubles?
Next up is to watch the New York Stars and Philadelphia Keystones square off in the World Championship Series while I prepare for the draft. I do not own a first round pick or a third, as both were dealt to Cleveland to get Harry Barrell, but I have already identified a few players I really like that hopefully at least one of which will be around when I pick midway through round two.