THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL
May 24, 1937
WHAT A DEBUT!
Billy Hunter was deemed not quite ready for the major leagues when the Chicago Cougars dispatched him back to AAA after spring training but the 22 year old shortstop was called up last weekend and certainly showed the Cougars and their Continental Association foes he was more than ready. The 1932 first round pick went 0-for-3 in his debut, an 8-1 loss to Cleveland on Monday, but he got over the rookie jitters very quickly as he had 2 hits including his first career homerun in a 3-2 win over Brooklyn and, as reports out of Chicago had suggested was possible, his first career homerun came off 3-time Allan Award winner Tom Barrell. When the dust had settled on the week, Hunter had hit a total of 4 homers, drove in 10 runs and was batting .333. There is no data available but it is widely speculated that the 4 homer total is the most ever hit by a player in the first week of his big league career.
As for the Cougars they are suddenly relevant with a terrific May following a dreadful 2-13 start to the season. Chicago has won 12 of it's last 16 games and did so by taking taking 5 of 8 games from Cleveland and Brooklyn - the top two teams in the Continental.
The Pittsburgh Miners proved they can withstand the injury to all-star catcher George Cleaves as the Miners avenged a sweep in Chicago earlier in the month by returning the favour and taking both ends of their short two game series at Fitzpatrick Park this past week. The series opener was a 3-1 Miners win as Charlie Stedman (5-2, 2.94) outdueled Chiefs ace Rabbit Day (4-2, 3.20) with Ed Stewart's (.319,4,33) two run homer in the 8th inning proving the difference. Stewart was responsible for bringing home the winning run the next day as well as he drew a bases-loaded walk from Chiefs hurler Ron Coles in the bottom of the 10th to give Pittsburgh a 6-5 victory and pulling the Miners into a first place tie with Chicago.
PESTILLI STARS
Sal Pestilli had another big week for the Detroit Dynamos, delivering 11 hits including another home run to raise his season numbers to .333,6,24 but we are not referring to Sal this time. Instead it was his older brother Alf who gets some credit this week. Alf made his FABL debut in the Brooklyn outfield a couple of weeks ago and after a slow couple of games to begin his career is batting .273 and hit his first two big league homeruns last week. However, with Brooklyn shortstop Harry Barrell coming off the injured list this week it likely means Alf Pestilli will be sent back down to AAA Rochester.
Staying with the Rhode Island family, there will be two more Pestilli's on the way soon with the draft just a month away. As was speculated in this column last week, Joe Pestilli - a second baseman - will be in the draft pool along with high school outfielder Tony. Joe did not attend Narragansett College like his brothers Sal and Alf, instead he hit .292 as a junior at New York Maritime. Tony, an 18 year old outfielder hit .456 over 4 seasons as a starter at Westerly High School. Both are listed as first round candidates in the initial OSA Mock Draft.
KELLOGG GETS 2500TH CAREER HIT
Rankin Kellogg became the 20th player in FABL history to reach the 2,500 hit plateau with a pair of hits in a Philadelphia Keystone win over St Louis on Saturday. Kellogg's milestone marker was a big hit, an rbi single off Pioneers starter David Abalo in the bottom of the 8th inning that helped key a 5-run inning and lead the hometown Keystones to a 5-4 come from behind win over the Pioneers. Perhaps more important to the Keystones was Kellogg finally ended his season long homerless drought the next afternoon with an 8th inning blast off of Detroit reliever Jim Spencer. It was the 444th homer of Kellogg's career but his first in 32 games this season as he battles through the worst power outage of his 13 year career. Only Detroit player-manager Max Morris, with 707, has hit more homers in his career than Kellogg.
Saturday was special for another Keystone as rookie Jim Whiteley picked up his first major league win. The 21 year old, who was selected 16th overall by the Keystones out of Mobile High School in 1933, had lost his first four major league decisions before notching the win over the Pioneers.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
With little to look forward to with the big club right now the New York World Telegram provides an update on some of the minor league prospects in the New York Gothams system. Other than two young outfielders getting their first full seasons and performing well - Howard Brown, Jr(.346-1-15) and Charlie DeMars (.292-5-20), the World-Telegraph rightly points out things have been fairly dismal at the Bigsby Oval, with pitchers Ernie Wise and Mule Earl already sent back to AAA Toledo for more seasoning. But what of the youngsters further down the line?
A couple of promising pitchers have recently received promotions. Bunny Edwards, the #7 pick in the 1936 draft was 3-1 2.63 at B level when moved to A level. Edwards was 1-1 2.65 in his first week at Albany. Charlie Wheeler, a former 1st round pick obtained for Hardin Bates, has been bumped to AAA Toledo after going 1-2 1.91 at Jersey City. The Gothams top pick in their busy 1936 draft, Walt Messer (.245-11-20) has shown power in the rookie league but needs to work on making contact before moving up. 23 year old 3B Billy Dalton (not Bill) is crushing the ball at AA (.330-11-23) and appears ready for the next level. Expect a move in the near future. Second round pick Ed Stoddard was moved back to the Rookie league after struggling at B level. There he joins 1st rounder Fred Vargas who had gotten off to a slow start.
1B Chuck Johnson has turned some heads. Originally drafted in the 7th round by Brooklyn, Johnson was acquired in the Curly Jones deal. He had hit well at every level and is currently at (.328-2-16) with an .864 OPS at AA Jersey City. The main concern with Johnson is that he has not shown any power to go with his annual high average. The hope is that the 22 year old, 6-4 200 lb first sacker will grow into more of a slugger.
The St Louis Globe reports of more success from Gail Gifford as the 25 year old Pioneers center fielder continues to enjoy a breakout season. Yesterday Gifford had four hits including two doubles, a triple, and a homer to raise his batting average to .403. The fourth year outfielder is on pace for a cool 13.8 WAR season. Meanwhile, Pioneers catcher Jack Flint has a 17 game hitting streak going, during which the 28 year old is hitting an even .500. The streak even survived the dreaded pinch hit appearance in his last game going 1-for-1. It is not the only active streak right now as Chicago Chiefs outfielder Jim Hampton has a 20 gamer on the go while third baseman John Lawson of the Chicago Cougars singled in the bottom of the ninth against Baltimore yesterday to extend his streak to 23 games.
The offense in Brooklyn is still not where it should be but the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports the Kings are very happy with their pitching, especially Joe Shaffner. The 33 year old improved to 5-0 on the season with a 3-2 win over Toronto last week. Shaffner was 24-13 for the Kings in 1935 and finished second to teammate Tom Barrell in Allen Award voting that year but struggled much of last season and saw his victory total cut in half from the previous year.
The Pittsburgh Press reports the Miners brought a familiar face back as the club inked former catcher Jim Pool to a minor league contract after he was released by the Philadelphia Sailors. The 32 year old spent 9 seasons in Pittsburgh but was lost to the Sailors on waivers after running out of minor league options. Pool may end up at AAA St Paul where the Disciples are struggling with the bats, especially veteran catcher Tex Miller, who is batting just .136. The club as a whole is hitting just .182 but despite that they are a game over .500 and just two games out of the lead in a tight Century League race. Back to the news about the big league club, Pittsburgh expects Mahlon Strong to return to the lineup sometime this week. The often injured 28 year old 3-time all-star, who was acquired from the Gothams over the winter, homered twice and was batting .636 in the 5 games he played in the Pittsburgh outfield before his injury. Seems many in Pittsburgh doubt he will stay healthy the entire season and there are reports of local numbers runners willing to take wagers on just how long Strong will stay healthy. 20 games seems to be the consensus for over/under bets.
Big things were expected from the Washington Eagles this season but the club is off to a disappointing start which began right from opening day when second baseman Andy Carter suffered an injury that likely will prevent him from playing at all this season. The 31 year old second baseman was coming off a career best season in which he hit .359. The Eagles suffered another blow this week with news that centerfielder Wally Flowers (.300,3,16) is likely also done for the year. Injuries are nothing new for Flowers, who has missed substantial time each of the past two seasons as well. There was some good news last week as struggling pitcher Bill Anderson (4-2, 7.60) had his best outing of the season in a complete game 7-2 win over Detroit. The other bright spot remains third baseman Mel Carroll (.432,4,24), who continues to lead the Fed in hitting. The Eagles have to hope some one can step up and replace Flowers just as the duo of Johnnie Sundberg (.287,1,17) and Jack Ray (.344,1,10) have filled in admirably for Carter. Perhaps top prospect Don Miller will get a chance in Washington but the 22 year old has been less than impressive in AAA, batting just .189 in 30 games for Kansas City. Another option might by 1935 second round pick Jim Hanshaw, who his doing well in AA Atlanta in just his second pro season.
ALL-STAR GAME LOCATIONS UNVEILED
FABL announced the All-Star Game host cities for the next decade and a half in a press release today. The Toronto Wolves will host this year's game- the fifth such contest- which will be held at Dominion Stadium on July 7th and will be the first all-star game played in Canada.
Here is the list of host teams for future all-star games:
Code:
1937: Toronto Wolves
1938: New York Gothams
1939: Cleveland Foresters
1940: Detroit Dynamos
1941: Brooklyn Kings
1942: Pittsburgh Miners
1943: Montreal Saints
1944: Washington Eagles
1945: Chicago Cougars
1946: Boston Minutemen
1947: Philadelphia Sailors
1948: Chicago Chiefs
1949: Baltimore Cannons
PAST ALL STAR GAME RESULTS
YEAR LOCATION RESULT WINNING PITCHER MVP
1933 Whitney Park Federal 8 Continental 5 Ben Curtin STL Pete Asher Pit
1934 Riverside Stadium Federal 11 Continental 7 Chick Stout Pit Tom Taylor Cougars
1935 Broad Street Park Federal 5 Continental 2 Art Myers Keystones Freddie Jones StL
1936 Pioneer Field Continental 6 Federal 4 Tom Barrell BKN Dick Walker Sailors
DRAFT WATCH
The draft class was officially revealed today so expect plenty of coverage over the next couple of weeks in preparation for the June 22nd draft. The AIAA College All-American teams will be revealed tomorrow along with the Frank Christian Trophy winner and the High School accolades will be handed out the following week.
Spud Bent of Maryland State leaves an impressive legacy. The 20 year old New York City native is pegged as a potential first round pick after a record-setting four years with the Bengals. Bent finished his AIAA career with 275 hits, which is the third most all-time trailing only Walt Mullen's 281 (1930-33 Sadler College) and Doc Leach 's 277 (1930-33 Ellery). Bent is the now the new all-time career AIAA rbi leader with 189, one more than Bill Moore had at Lubbock State during his exceptional college career and 2 above Vic Crawford's total with Commonwealth Catholic. Finally, Bent is also the all-time SB king, smashing the old mark of 113 with 151 for his career. Bent played 213 career games for Maryland State which ties him with Terry Miller (1920-25) for second, trailing only Frank Beard's (1919-23) 250 games. Both Miller and Beard played for multiple colleges in the early years of the feeder leagues.