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DD Martin · 03-05-2021, 07:45 PM

The Detroit World
Monday September 2nd, 1935
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

FABL Manager Hot Seat

It is once again time to look at and get an early start on the Manager Hot Seat List. This is where we take an unbiased look at the performance of the most talked about 16 jobs in pro sports, FABL Managers.

While most manager's that are in their 3rd season in control of a team and go from 90 wins in year 1 to 90+ (and it will be 100+) losses by year 3 would be in dire jeopardy of being fired. But that is not and will not be the case of Dynamo Manager Tom Bray. When DD Martin came to town he talked to his manager, let him know what he was going to do and why and told Bray not to worry. Bray has a contract through the 1937 season and Martin has indicated that Bray will be the team's manager when that season starts. So no job security issues here, but let's take a look at where there might be some issues.

The Hot Seat

Who's seat is the hottest in baseball right now? Well one has to figure that name would have been Toronto's Bob Warren who amassed a record of 396-608 mark through early July. Warren has been mentioned as one of the worst managers in the history of the game with that run. Well Bob Warren was relieved of his duties while the team was 39-41. While his replacement former Cleveland Forester and Chicago Cougar skipper Hank Leitzke has only gone 18-31 since taking over. Still many feel and I known in speaking to DD Martin that he thinks Leitzke is a great fit for Toronto and hopes that Hank finally gets a fair shake to manage an FABL club.

Pittsburgh's Mike Radigan was likely on this list as well, but in the off-season he was basically fired as the Manager and retained on the staff as new Skipper Dan Andrew's bench coach. His contract is ended at the conclusion of the season and the guess is he will not be back in Pittsburgh next season.

Honestly unless there is something completely unforeseen happening at the end of the season there might not be much change in team managers. But there are two cases that appear to be highly questionable (and we will look at a 3rd if they don't win) and therefore they make The Hot Seat!

We turn our attention to the Boston Minutemen who are managed by Phil Catalfamo (56). His reputation around the league is fair and he did manage the team to a 82 wins in the 1934 season which is the Minutemen's best season since they won 84 in 1916. Unfortunately for Catalfamo, who is in his 4th season at the helm, the team has not built on the improvement of last year and is disappointingly on 64-65. Not a horrible mark, but team officials were hoping that the corner had been turned and right now that question is still looking very unsure. What is in the manager's favor is that he signed a 5-year extension last season at about $4800 per year. That extension was probably largely given on the success of the 34 season and while he has 4 more years after this one the question is how patient is Boston management and team owner Jesse Barton. Barton's rep is that he is "unmerciful and controlling". Will Catalfamo fall victim to his displeasure of another season without an FA title? Hot Seat Rating - 4 (Flames can be seen on the outer edges of the seat).

Next in line is a particularly perplexing case as it involves the manager that is closing in on the record for most wins in career. Of course we are speaking of Baltimore Cannons Skipper Ossie "Oysters" Julious (62). While Julious is sitting on 2211 wins as of this writing and he is only 27 wins from breaking the record of Dynamo part-owner and respected former manager George Theobald. Julious' tenure in Baltimore been "shaky" at best. Julious while considered a grouchy sort, he is still considered a "good" manager. After years in Toronto he left after the 1928 season and was quickly grabbed up by the Cannons to become their manager for the 1929 season. The first 3 seasons while not producing at pennant, did produce winning clubs finishing 2nd twice and 3rd once and winning no fewer than 83 games in a season. Since the 1931 season the times have changed in Baltimore and the team dropped to 71 wins in 32, to 65 the next season and just 54 last year. This years team record stands at 55-74, so there has been improvement, but is it enough? Will Julious be given another year so that he can break Theobald's all time record for manager wins, or will he become a victim of the poor team record the last 4 years running. My guess is that he will be allowed to come back, break the record but after that all bets are off. Hot Seat Rating 3.5 and would be higher if not for the all-time win record were not in the background.

Now we go to Chicago, and the home of the Chiefs. Many would not figure a manager who was 97-94 in just over 1 and a half seasons would necessarily be on the hot seat. But James Gentry and his GM have already had a past relationship that saw the GM fire Gentry after only 58 games in Montreal in 1934. The Chicago GM is new though in the Windy City and may feel Gentry was given a bad deal the prior year. For a guy who is 124-125 in little over 2 seasons and has a great reputation, his name sure comes up a lot. My guess is that he will be allowed to stick around as the Chiefs are 63-66 currently unless the wheels come completely off in the last month of the season. But expectations are running high in Chicago and the desire to once again ascend to the FA throne are very much in play as the Chiefs have only won the FA pennant once (1928) in the last 18 seasons. Hot Seat Rating 3 but next year could be a raging fire if the Chiefs do not move into the upper division of the FA.

Finally, by most accounts Brooklyn manager Walt Bailey is an excellent manager who is very easy going and friendly with his players. He is in his 4th season in Brooklyn and has a mark of 318-241 .567 in those seasons. His Brooklyn team is in the thick of another exciting race with the Cleveland Foresters for the CA title. Things should be fine, right? In examining the Kings as of this Labor Day maybe not all is as rosy as one might think. GM TigerGM pulled off one of, if not the biggest trade in FABL history when he acquired from Detroit, OF Al Wheeler, 1B/3B Frank Vance and former Allen Award winning SP Jack Beach. Everyone in the FABL said that the pre-season favorite had just locked up the teams first World Series win ever in May. And the Kings are an excellent team and Wheeler and Vance have preformed very well. So why aren't the Kings running away with things in the CA? The King's offense is on pace to score 915 runs this season. They are on pace to win 94 games. So the big block buster deal will net them 15 more runs and potentially they will lose 4 more games? If the King's don't win the CA this season, the year has to be considered a major disappointment and while he has been given all the tools by the GM, the fact will be that Bailey didn't deliver with a dream team lineup. If they win then he's safe and all bets are off, but if they don't pull it out. You might very well see Walt Bailey working in the King's owner Dan Prescott's bottling plant. Hot Seat Rating if they win the CA 1. Hot Seat Rating if they do not win the CA 4.5

And that is the 1935 Manager Hot Seat Review.

03-05-2021, 07:45 PM	#18
DD Martin All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 1,030	The Detroit World Monday September 2nd, 1935 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat FABL Manager Hot Seat It is once again time to look at and get an early start on the Manager Hot Seat List. This is where we take an unbiased look at the performance of the most talked about 16 jobs in pro sports, FABL Managers. While most manager's that are in their 3rd season in control of a team and go from 90 wins in year 1 to 90+ (and it will be 100+) losses by year 3 would be in dire jeopardy of being fired. But that is not and will not be the case of Dynamo Manager Tom Bray. When DD Martin came to town he talked to his manager, let him know what he was going to do and why and told Bray not to worry. Bray has a contract through the 1937 season and Martin has indicated that Bray will be the team's manager when that season starts. So no job security issues here, but let's take a look at where there might be some issues. The Hot Seat Who's seat is the hottest in baseball right now? Well one has to figure that name would have been Toronto's Bob Warren who amassed a record of 396-608 mark through early July. Warren has been mentioned as one of the worst managers in the history of the game with that run. Well Bob Warren was relieved of his duties while the team was 39-41. While his replacement former Cleveland Forester and Chicago Cougar skipper Hank Leitzke has only gone 18-31 since taking over. Still many feel and I known in speaking to DD Martin that he thinks Leitzke is a great fit for Toronto and hopes that Hank finally gets a fair shake to manage an FABL club. Pittsburgh's Mike Radigan was likely on this list as well, but in the off-season he was basically fired as the Manager and retained on the staff as new Skipper Dan Andrew's bench coach. His contract is ended at the conclusion of the season and the guess is he will not be back in Pittsburgh next season. Honestly unless there is something completely unforeseen happening at the end of the season there might not be much change in team managers. But there are two cases that appear to be highly questionable (and we will look at a 3rd if they don't win) and therefore they make The Hot Seat! We turn our attention to the Boston Minutemen who are managed by Phil Catalfamo (56). His reputation around the league is fair and he did manage the team to a 82 wins in the 1934 season which is the Minutemen's best season since they won 84 in 1916. Unfortunately for Catalfamo, who is in his 4th season at the helm, the team has not built on the improvement of last year and is disappointingly on 64-65. Not a horrible mark, but team officials were hoping that the corner had been turned and right now that question is still looking very unsure. What is in the manager's favor is that he signed a 5-year extension last season at about $4800 per year. That extension was probably largely given on the success of the 34 season and while he has 4 more years after this one the question is how patient is Boston management and team owner Jesse Barton. Barton's rep is that he is "unmerciful and controlling". Will Catalfamo fall victim to his displeasure of another season without an FA title? Hot Seat Rating - 4 (Flames can be seen on the outer edges of the seat). Next in line is a particularly perplexing case as it involves the manager that is closing in on the record for most wins in career. Of course we are speaking of Baltimore Cannons Skipper Ossie "Oysters" Julious (62). While Julious is sitting on 2211 wins as of this writing and he is only 27 wins from breaking the record of Dynamo part-owner and respected former manager George Theobald. Julious' tenure in Baltimore been "shaky" at best. Julious while considered a grouchy sort, he is still considered a "good" manager. After years in Toronto he left after the 1928 season and was quickly grabbed up by the Cannons to become their manager for the 1929 season. The first 3 seasons while not producing at pennant, did produce winning clubs finishing 2nd twice and 3rd once and winning no fewer than 83 games in a season. Since the 1931 season the times have changed in Baltimore and the team dropped to 71 wins in 32, to 65 the next season and just 54 last year. This years team record stands at 55-74, so there has been improvement, but is it enough? Will Julious be given another year so that he can break Theobald's all time record for manager wins, or will he become a victim of the poor team record the last 4 years running. My guess is that he will be allowed to come back, break the record but after that all bets are off. Hot Seat Rating 3.5 and would be higher if not for the all-time win record were not in the background. Now we go to Chicago, and the home of the Chiefs. Many would not figure a manager who was 97-94 in just over 1 and a half seasons would necessarily be on the hot seat. But James Gentry and his GM have already had a past relationship that saw the GM fire Gentry after only 58 games in Montreal in 1934. The Chicago GM is new though in the Windy City and may feel Gentry was given a bad deal the prior year. For a guy who is 124-125 in little over 2 seasons and has a great reputation, his name sure comes up a lot. My guess is that he will be allowed to stick around as the Chiefs are 63-66 currently unless the wheels come completely off in the last month of the season. But expectations are running high in Chicago and the desire to once again ascend to the FA throne are very much in play as the Chiefs have only won the FA pennant once (1928) in the last 18 seasons. Hot Seat Rating 3 but next year could be a raging fire if the Chiefs do not move into the upper division of the FA. Finally, by most accounts Brooklyn manager Walt Bailey is an excellent manager who is very easy going and friendly with his players. He is in his 4th season in Brooklyn and has a mark of 318-241 .567 in those seasons. His Brooklyn team is in the thick of another exciting race with the Cleveland Foresters for the CA title. Things should be fine, right? In examining the Kings as of this Labor Day maybe not all is as rosy as one might think. GM TigerGM pulled off one of, if not the biggest trade in FABL history when he acquired from Detroit, OF Al Wheeler, 1B/3B Frank Vance and former Allen Award winning SP Jack Beach. Everyone in the FABL said that the pre-season favorite had just locked up the teams first World Series win ever in May. And the Kings are an excellent team and Wheeler and Vance have preformed very well. So why aren't the Kings running away with things in the CA? The King's offense is on pace to score 915 runs this season. They are on pace to win 94 games. So the big block buster deal will net them 15 more runs and potentially they will lose 4 more games? If the King's don't win the CA this season, the year has to be considered a major disappointment and while he has been given all the tools by the GM, the fact will be that Bailey didn't deliver with a dream team lineup. If they win then he's safe and all bets are off, but if they don't pull it out. You might very well see Walt Bailey working in the King's owner Dan Prescott's bottling plant. Hot Seat Rating if they win the CA 1. Hot Seat Rating if they do not win the CA 4.5 And that is the 1935 Manager Hot Seat Review.