The Detroit World
Monday April 13th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat
Pre-Season Predictions
First off we will go over the Federal Association, and yes we are picking our Dynamo's to finish DEAD LAST, but they should show a little bit of improvement. The FA is going to be very competitive this season but I really like the top 3 teams below.
Federal Association -
1.) New York Gothams - Still have the best pitching staff in the FA and winners of last years World Series. Unless they see a major injury to SP Rabbit Day, Jim Lonardo, Harlan Bates or Curly Jones, we see the Gotham's again holding on for the 6th time in 11 seasons. The national publication has the Gotham's falling to 70 wins and 7th place but reports are that the writer was drunk when he was penning that fine prediction.
2.) St Louis Pioneers - Last year they came up just short. This year it looks like it might be another runner up spot for the Pioneers. They have brought young SP Dixie Lee to support Allen Award winner Sam Sheppard. To have a serious shot Sheppard will have to come very close to repeating his 28-7 record from a year ago and they will need Lee to have a very strong rookie season.
3.) Chicago Chiefs - This could be the sleeper team of the year, but they are making bold moves to maybe surprise everyone. On the eve of the season opener the Chiefs made a deal to acquire highly thought of C Tom Bird to Chicago along with fine hitter Frankie Cohen. The Chiefs also brought up their top pitching prospect SP Al Miller in another bold move to try and bring the FA title back home to Chicago.
4.) Pittsburgh Miners - SP Walter Murphy and Bill Ketterman anchor the starting rotation but the Miners are in search of those #3 and #4 starters. One of those spots should be occupied by top prospect Lefty Allen who should be up sooner rather than later. Miners have a very good starting C in George Cleaves but I think they need to make a significant move before veteran 1B Lou Kelly (34) begins to fade. They have a very young OF that they will be relying on.
5.) Boston Minutemen - Another team that just feels like it is a player or two away. They could use another high end SP to join Charlie Stedman and Dick Higgins in the rotation and they would have been a team that really could have benefitted from C Tom Bird. They seem to be missing that one big thumper bat in the middle of their order.
6.) Washington Eagles - The national publication has the Eagles finishing 2nd, but we think that is a year or two too early. The young Eagles have a lot of talent that could be in the majors this season. They are a team to watch, but I don't see them finishing in the upper division at this time.
7.) Philadelphia Keystones - Hard to imagine a team with 1B Rankin Kellogg and RF Bobby Barrell finishing this low, but without some upgrades in their pitching staff, it looks like the Keys could be entering the area where Detroit was in 1934.
8.) Detroit Dynamo's - We will have a full detail report on the Dynamo's but needless to say they are everyone's pick to finish last. Improvement yes, but still last.
Continental Association
Some are writing off the the Cleveland Forester's because they believe age is catching up and because of the lack luster spring training they had. The CA still appears to be a 2-horse race and the real question is, can Brooklyn shake the ghost of the Ferdinand Hawkins curse?
1.) Cleveland Foresters - The end of the line is coming for 1B Max Morris but he should have enough left in the tank to get past the 700 home run mark (he stands at 691) and will the Clevelander's to another title. But with the early spring injury to C TR Goins, everyone is reminded of the growing concern of age creeping in.
2.) Brooklyn Kings - Hawkins Curse Rule! The Kings have to believe in themselves as they have by far the best pitching in the CA. Yes they have all the Barrell's and Lightbody's one would want, but until they can extinguish the ghost of Hawkins I can't pick them.
3.) Montreal Saints - I think this team is on the verge of truly making this a 3-team race but the trade of SP Bill Anderson might be something they regret this year. They need to find someone to fill that void and in the Bird trade they acquired a young SP in Bill Ross. 1B Vic Crawford is my pick to finally break through and win the CA's Whitney Award.
4.) Chicago Cougars - Best minor league in the FABL from top to bottom. Yes Baltimore has the edge in top pitching prospects, but no one is even close to the amount of young talent the Cougars have. What they need now is to hope that the top end talent in 1B Leo Mitchell, CF Roy Moore and the guy looking for a position Ray Ford take hold. They also need a bounce back player of the year P Tom Wilcox to show his former greatness before injury derailed his last 2 seasons.
5.) Toronto Wolves - Bit of a surprise here but we like the Wolves and for them to finally show their true potential. They have a nice rotation of Otis Cook, Chuck Cole and Jake Smith. They need Art Blake to find his control to really emerge as a force in rotation. The offense is young, but has some really nice pieces in it.
6.) Philadelphia Sailors - The national publication has them finishing 2nd but we see the CA 3-6 spots really up for grabs. SP Williams Jones is always hanging around the conversation as the top pitcher in the CA. The offense has let them down the last few years and if they don't improve there then it will not be a championship season in Phily.
7.) New York Stars - They traded John Lawson and the combo on 1B Dave Trowbridge and 2B Pete Layton are getting old. They have some nice pitchers in Lou Martino with Les Zoller and Harry Carter but the latter two struggled some last year.
8.) Baltimore Cannons - This will be the last year that the Cannons should be picked to finish last. They have a prospect rotation of riches that should start to come of age in time for next year with Rufus Barrell II, Rusty Petrick, John Edwards and Gus Goulding. Those 4 kids are all in the top 18 in all the FABL prospects lists. They need to concentrate on finding some offense to go with those arms but they should start to become a force as early as next season.
World Series for the 3rd straight year, New York and Cleveland and I'll go with the Forester's one last time (My personal bias coming in here) to take it home.