THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL
May 10, 1937
PIONEERS TRYING TO KEEP PACE WITH CHICAGO
With 7 wins in their last 9 games the St Louis Pioneers have rebounded from a slow start and are the second hottest team in the Federal Association. The Pioneers opened the season in fine style, sweeping three games at home from the defending World Champion Chicago Chiefs but then went on the road and dropped 5 of 7 games including a pair to both Detroit and the New York Gothams, who were the bottom two teams in the Fed a year ago. However, when the calendar turned to May so did the Pioneers fortunes and they took off. The problem for the Pioneers is as they took off, so did the Chiefs.
That opening series sweep at the hands of the Pioneers served as a wake-up call to the champs and Chicago has gone 15-2 since, including a 9 game winning streak that was halted yesterday when Rabbit Day (3-1) suffered a rare loss in a 4-0 Philadelphia Keystones victory at Whitney Park. The winning streak has allowed Chicago to open a 3 game lead atop the Federal Association as it included an impressive 3 game sweep of the Pittsburgh Miners, a club many believe will be the Chiefs top competition this year. The way things are going right now in Chicago, particularly with their pitching staff, is giving every indication they will run away with a pennant that many felt will go right down to the wire.
The 3 game set in Chicago has to leave the Miners shaking their hands and wondering what else they can do, considering how the series went. Pittsburgh had the lead in each of the three games before Chicago made a comeback on each occasion. The series opener saw the Miners take a 2-0 lead into bottom of the 8th only to see the Chiefs plate four with the big blow being a 2-run single off of the bat of Pete Layton, who was so good down the stretch. The result was a 4-2 Chiefs win. A day later Chicago saved the heroics for the 9th inning as second baseman Mose Christopher, making his first start of the season giving Layton a day off, hit a 3-run walk-off homer to give the Chiefs a 4-1 win. The series finale also saw Pittsburgh score first but the Miners managed just one run off of Jack Beach, who improved to 4-0 after his side scored 3 times in the bottom of the 7th and added further insurance with an 8th inning run to take a second straight 4-1 victory.
The big question in the Continental Association is what has happened to the vaunted Brooklyn offense. The Kings offense dominated the CA a year ago but has been merely average this time around. It is a pair of Barrell brothers who are struggling the most in Brooklyn as catcher Fred had an awful spring and it carried over to the regular season with him hitting just .161 so far. Shortstop Harry, a 4-time all-star, was batting just .179 and having some problems in the field as well with 8 errors - tied for second most in the league. To add to his woes, Harry Barrell has been placed on the injured list after hurting his elbow when Philadelphia Sailors catcher Alex Diaz took him out with a rolling slide breaking up a doubleplay in a game between the two sides last week. Fortunately for Brooklyn fans, the pitching has more than picked up the slack and the Kings are second in the loop, 2 games back of 14-6 Cleveland.
Offense, at least batting average is down substantially in the CA in the early going. Last season the CA average was .290 and it is .270 so far this year. ERA is also way down - to the tune of 3/4 of a run from 4.55 a year ago to 3.78 this time around. Interestingly the Fed has an increase in both those categories, just a slight one but still an increase so I am not sure what to make of the CA numbers. Perhaps just an anomaly that will balance out over the course of the season.
PESTILLI FAMILY CELEBRATES
It was quite a week for the Pestilli clan. First overall draft pick Sal earns Federal Association player of the week honours with a huge performance. Sal went 16-for-30 with 2 homers and 10 rbi's in leading his Detroit Dynamos to a winning week - their second in the 3 week old season for last year's cellar dwellers- and helped the Dynamos get to .500 on the season. Thru 20 games as a professional Sal is batting .341 with 4 homers and 16 rbi's. Pestilli is currently on pace to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases--and finish with a WAR > 11.0.
Meanwhile Sal's older brother Alf was named player of the week in the Union League. The 25 year old Alf, who is in Brooklyn's system after originally being selected in the 4th round of the 1934 draft, hit .375 with 3 homers and 9 rbi's last week for the Rochester Rooks. He had a slow opening week but has raised his season average to .283 with 5 round-trippers and word is the Kings are considering calling him up to Brooklyn while Harry Barrell is sidelined.
18 year old Tony Pestilli is a senior at Westerly High School in Rhode Island and is a likely mid-round selection in the upcoming June draft. Meanwhile we also learned courtesy of the
Ballad of the Barrell's
story there are 2 other boys as well in addition to the 3 mentioned above. Paul, who we can assume never made it to pro ball as he is older than Sal and also Joe, who perhaps will be a freshman at Narragansett - the college in Rhode Island that Alf and Sal both played for - when the draft classes are revealed in a couple of sims
GOINS NAMED CA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Cleveland Foresters catcher T.R. Goins was named the top performer in the Continental Association this week after picking up 10 hits, including 3 homers and 9 rbi's in 7 games. The 10 hits lift the 36 year old 2 time Whitney Award winner's career total to 2,455. On the season Goins is hitting .315 with 4 homers and 20 rbi's as the Foresters seem to be the one team in the Continental Association that is not suffering from a reduction in offense so far this season.