THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL
JUNE 19, 1938
PERFECT
That word sums up the past seven days for the Detroit Dynamos as their incredible resurgence continues with a 6-0 week that extended their lead on second place Chicago to six games atop the Federal Association standings. "Perfect" could just as easily be used to describe the job the Detroit front office and legendary manager George Theobald have done with the club that had gone 161-301 (.348) over the previous three seasons. This year the Dynamos have been very good and very consistent. Doesn't matter where they are playing, whether the opposing pitcher is a righty or lefthanded or what month it is, Detroit has been extremely successful regardless of the circumstances:
After over a decade in the front office, as a minority owner and special advisor to Dynamos owner Eddie Thompson, George Theobald returned to the manager's seat this season following Max Morris' decision that he preferred the political arena to a sporting one. Theobald made an immediate impact on the Dynamos bench and now, just 2 years after Ossie Julious had passed him, the man they call 'Toothpick' is once again the winningest manager in FABL history. Theobald reclaimed the lead from the now retired Julious on Saturday as the Dynamos rallied to beat Pittsburgh 9-8 in extra innings giving the 75 year old Theobald his 2,277th career victory as a manager - one more than the total Julious accumulated in his 32 seasos.
While you certainly cannot discount the presence of Theobald as a steadying force in the clubhouse the real credit for Detroit's success must go to it's front office team led by General Manager D.D. Martin. A rival general manager remarked recently that it "looks like every trade (Detroit) made has turned into gold." Retooling the offense with infielders Ed Stewart (.277,16,48) and Frank LeMieux (.316,1,35) and coaxing what is looking like a career best season out of 30 year old Frank Crawford (10-2, 3.30) while also recognizing the potential 23 year old Charlie Wheeler (7-1, 2.45) had despite witnessing him in some rough outings as a rookie with the New York Gothams last season are all key winter moves that have reshaped and suddenly made relevant a team that just 3 years ago lost 111 ballgames.
The building blocks for Thompson's team were laid a couple seasons ago with the drafting first overall of Sal Pestilli (.292,16,44) as well as Red Johnson (.294,6,22) at number two the previous year. Those might seem like no-brainer draft choices but remember the Dynamos rebuild started well before this season as they also added Elmer Nolde (.301,6,28) from Brooklyn as well as Leon Drake (.307,6,31) and Roger Perry (6-3, 4.44) from Cleveland over the past couple of years. The Foresters, by the way, are another team the Detroit GM worked his magic on as he built them from an 8th place team in 1931 to a World Champion 3 years later. Can he repeat that outcome in the exact same time frame with another team on the shores of Lake Erie? Only time will tell but Martin, Theobald and the Dynamos appear to be heading in that direction.
It was a tough week for the Continental Association leading Brooklyn Kings. Not so much on the scoreboard where the Kings went 4-2 including taking 3 of 4 from the struggling Cleveland Foresters but rather in the injury department. The big blow was the loss of 32 year old outfielder Frank Lightbody (.299,1,29) when he blew out his knee in a play at the plate against the Chicago Cougars on Saturday. Lightbody is expected to miss the rest of the season but the only consolation for Brooklyn is if there was one position they could withstand an injury it was in the outfield. Alf Pestilli (.264,5,17) and Joe Perret (.243,1,10) will platoon at that spot at least for now. Perret, after a great season last year and a strong showing in the World Championship Series victory over Pittsburgh, had been expected to be the everyday first baseman following Dan Barrell's retirement. However, he has struggled at the plate and lost that job to veteran Doug Lightbody (.303,0,14) who is transitioning nicely from the outfield to first.
The other injury loss for the Kings came in the minors as second baseman Jim Lightbody, cousin of Frank and Doug, also suffered a leg injury last week and may miss the rest of the season. The 21 year infielder who the Kings consider their top prospect, had recently been promoted from AA where he was hitting .327 with 3 homers in 31 games. Coincidentally, Jim's injury occurred on the same day as Frank's, and was in the same inning (4th) and also while running the bases.
NO-HITTER FOR SAILORS STAFF
No-hitter have been exceptionally rare the past decade in FABL with only 5 of them thrown since 1927. The Philadelphia Sailors had two of those five with both coming courtesy of Doc Newell including a perfect game against Brooklyn in 1935. The Sailors picked up another no-hitter last week but this one was the very rare combined no-hitter. How rare? We will never know because OOTP does not track combined no-hitters but I can't recall seeing one since FABL began it's human GM era with the 1926 season.
It wasn't Doc Newell this time but rather William Jones making a triumphant return from an elbow injury that sidelined him for 6 weeks. Newell went 7 and two-thirds while allowing just 1 walk before having to leave the game with the Sailors up 6-0 and his arm feeling a little stiff. 30 year old George Leonard, he of a 14-12 career record, retired the final four batters to help make history.
DRAFT RECAP
HOW DID THE ALL-AMERICANS FARE IN THE DRAFT
While underclassmen dominated both the High School and College All-American team (only 14 of the 36 between the two teams were draft eligible) a good number of All-Americans did hear their name called early in the draft. Here is a look at where each All-American was selected:
Code:
HIGH SCHOOL SCHOOL PICK DRAFTING TEAM
C Rick York Terre Haute(IN) 34 Baltimore Cannons
2B Howard Rivers Brandeis - NYC 2* Baltimore Cannons
SS Verlin Alexander Lexington (MO) 86 Toronto Wolves
OF Bill Barrett Vineland (NJ) 4* New York Stars
OF Don Long Anderson (SC) 62 Philadelphia Sailors
P Donnie Jones Minneapolis (MN) 6* Toronto Wolves
P Slick Wesolowski Affton HS St Louis 78 Philadelphia Sailors
P Pat Weakley Lexington (MA) 8* Montreal Saints
COLLEGE ALL AMERICANS
FIRST TEAM SCHOOL PICK DRAFTING TEAM
3B Ernie Hanks College of Waco 16* Brooklyn Kings
OF Al Cox Rutherford College 15* Pittsburgh Miners
P Jim Douglass Eastern State 36 New York Stars
SECOND TEAM SCHOOL PICK DRAFTING TEAM
C Joe Robins Central Kentucky 19* Brooklyn Kings
OF Les Rich Charleston State 23* Boston Minutemen
OF Don Hersey Bluegrass State 65 New York Gothams
* indicates part of lottery phase for first two rounds
DRAFT NOTES
While the drafted players will not officially be able to negotiate contracts until next week here are some early notes on the draft courtesy of a pair of local papers in FABL cities:
BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE
The Brooklyn Kings are said to be very happy the way the draft panned out for their club. Two organizational positions of need were third base and catcher and both were filled by lottery signings as former College of Waco 3B Ernie Hanks and Central Kentucky University catcher Joe Robins joined the club. Each was an All-American this past season with Hanks making the first team and Robins getting the nod on the second squad. While Brooklyn went into the lottery phase with it's hopes pinned on landing high school backstop Solly Skidmore, who went to the Chicago Cougars, they are more than happy with Robins as their consolation prize. Through a trade with Detroit the Kings had 3 lottery selections with the group rounded out by another college player in Coastal California outfielder Lou Clark. A good contact guy and solid defender but there is concern whether Clark will have the power to play a corner outfield position.
In the third round the Kings were delighted to get 19 year old outfielder Bobby Boone out of high school in Boston. Scouting Director John Spears had Boone ranked as the 9th best position player in the draft (including the lottery guys) and while the club has an abundance of outfield talent it was felt Boone was just too good a prospect to bypass.
The outfield parade continued as Brooklyn also drafted the step-son of manager Powell Slocum. James Slocum, a high school outfielder from Brooklyn's Xaverian High, was acquired with the third pick of the fourth round after the Kings made a move to add the selection. Brooklyn had to send one of their best pitching prospects in 22 year old Jimmy Gibbs to Toronto for the pick. Slocum is the adopted son of the Kings Hall of Fame skipper and the nephew of the Barrell brothers. Brooklyn also grabbed another link to the newly created Hall of Fame with their own fourth rounder which they used on pitcher Lyn Trease from high school in San Francisco. Trease's dad was a Hall of Famer and his grandfather a long-time catcher and manager.
DETROIT WORLD
Unlike the last few seasons when the Detroit Dynamos added some execpetional prospects in the draft like Sal Pestilli, Red Johnson and Pete Casstevens, the 1938 edition of the draft was a bitter disappointment. Detroit had it's hopes set on landing either Bill Barrett, the high school player of the year, or second base prospect Howard Rivers in the lottery portion of the draft but things did not work out well for the Dynamos this time around as they were forced to settle for Red Evans and Jim Brown as their two lottery pickups. Without a third round pick the Dynamos were also unable to land the young catching prospect they desperately need after the dealing of Casstevens to the New York Gothams. York, who's father Dick was a legendary Dynamos catcher and now manages the club's Class A affiliate in Terre Haute, ended up going to the Baltimore Cannons with the second pick of the third round. Detroit did select a catcher in the fourth round with the drafting of Mike Logan, a hometown boy from Detroit's Catholic Central High School.
As for the two lottery selections Evans is a college first baseman who hit .290 with 9 homers at Mississippi Tech but will almost certainly never challenge Red Johnson for the first base spot in Detroit while Brown is also a college player. The 21 year old shortstop hit .279 over 3 seasons with Northern Mississippi University. Brown hails from Kansas City while Evans is an Arkansas native.
QUICK HITS
- Who has scored the most runs in the FABL this season so far? The Detroit Dynamos, no. The Brooklyn Kings, no. How about the Chicago Chiefs, wrong again. The answer is the Washington Eagles with 336 runs scored are #1. So why are the Eagles stuck tied for 6th place in the Fed with a 25-36 record? The FABL’s worst statistical pitching staff would be the answer. None are worst than former top of the rotation arms Bill Anderson (3-6) and Eddie Quinn (1-8) who are a combined 4-15 with a 6.40 ERA. Word has it that Manager Mel Hancock and Pitching Coach Charlie Hartstein are on thin ice.
- Malcontent 2B Henry Clayton is probably on his way out of Pittsburgh. He's still just 26 and has been in the FABL since '33 and has put up 6.5 WAR in 400+ games. He's slick with the glove and can hit lefties pretty well but the Miners brass feels they have too many solid looking middle infield prospects and Clayton has voiced displeasure that he's a backup infielder in St. Paul.
- 39 year old Charlie Barry (.258,2,30) may be in his last season with Cleveland. He has been quickly falling down the 3B rankings and currents sits at 14th in the league. The problem for the Foresters is Barry's backup, 23 year old Hank Stratton (.094,0,0) needs to figure out how to hit the ball quickly or else he'll be sent down in favor of 27 year old Don Hallam killing it in AAA. Hallam, who's big league resume strictly consists of 9 games for the 1934 Montreal Saints, is certainly looking like he deserves a shot in Cleveland. He is batting .310 with a Union League leading 12 homers and 46 rbi's in 43 games for Cincinnati.
- While many of the Foresters are struggling right now you certainly can't say the same for Dean Astle. The 28 year old 3-time all-star has tossed three straight complete game victories including a 2-0 shutout of Brooklyn early last week. The streak gets Astle (7-6, 2.92) back over .500. He is 87-59 over his 6 seasons with the Foresters and has never had a losing record.
- The Dynamos slogged through the prior 2 weeks going 7-7 but roared back to life with a 6-0 home stand this week. Three 1-run wins propelled the Dynamos this week. It was a bounce back week for SP Ron Coles who had been put in the bullpen for a week after he gave up 11 walks in a game. Coles only gave up 2 hits but walked 6 in his last outing but managed things well enough to only yield 2 runs in 7.1 innings of work. Also bouncing back was SP Roger Perry who struggled in his last 2 games giving up 14 runs in 8.2 IP. Perry was effective against the Miners in going 7.2 innings with 4 hits and 2 runs to pick up the win.
- The Montreal Saints are said to be considering moving George Thomas (5-7, 4.35). The 28 year old was very good over a three year stretch from 1934-36 but struggled through a 12-18 campaign a year ago and while he has been improved this season he does not quite seem to be back to that form he showed in earlier years. However, the main reason Montreal might consider dealing Thomas, who has been with the organization since being drafted 7th overall in 1928, is because the organization has a budding numbers problem on the mound with some very good young talent on the way up. Heading the list is 19 year old Wally Doyle (9-2,2.31 at AA) who looks ready for the next level after yet another complete game win. That's 5 in a row with great K to BB numbers for the 8th pick of the 1936 draft. Likewise Jimmy Mayse, who was taken in the first round a year later the Doyle out of East Missouri Seminary, has been equally as impressive at AA. The 21 year old has similar CG numbers and a 1.84 ERA over 49 IP (walk numbers still concerning), Then there is Jackie Norfolk, who most have likely not heard of and with good reason. Norfolk was a 23rd round pick in 1932 and after moving up from A is having a career year. There are some quality young bats at AA Nashville as well. 1935 first round pick Biff Henson is slashing a .325/.391/.450 over 120 ABs after doing as well at each prior level and holding down a 6.9 ZR at SS. No wonder the Chieftans are running away with the Dixie League this season. The Saints are going to move each of them soon one would expect. The question is do they to to AAA Minneapolis or perhaps should they be getting their passports in order for a trip north of the border?
- Cause for more optimism in Toronto beyond the Wolves strong start to the season as highly touted pitching prospect George Garrison made the jump to AAA Buffalo with two impressive starts. However, rookie Jim Morrison continues to struggle in Toronto. Management is now debating options.
- Every time St Louis Pioneers fans look at the CA batting race they have to feel a bit of sadness seeing long-time Pioneer Fred McCormick (.391,6,37) right there at the top but they immediately feel much better just by glancing at the St Louis rotation and the addition of rookie Buddy Long (10-3, 3.90). The 23 year old lefthander came over from Toronto in a package of players for McCormick and has been nothing short of outstanding. Long has had a number of great outings this season but perhaps none better than the 1-0 5-hit shutout victory he spun last week in a win over Philadelphia. Long seems to be a lock to make the all-star team although it might be hard pressed for him to earn the start in that contest for the Feds with Pittsburgh's Lefty Allen (10-6, 3.31), Frank Crawford (10-2, 3.30) of Detroit and of course Chiefs ace Rabbit Day (10-3, 3.14) also in the mix.
- Dave Haight wins FA Player of the Week, hitting .545 over the past 7 days for the Gothams. If it seems Haight came out of nowhere, it's because he made the jump to the majors after only 47 games of AA in 1937. Haight was originally a 13th round selection by the Chicago Cougars and was traded to the Gothams this past offseason as part of the Johnny McDowell deal. Haight is known for his speed and ability to make contact. He's hitting .323/.367/.510 for the season.
- New York also lays claim to the CA player of the week as Stars outfielder Hank Jones claims the honours. The 30 year old wins it for the second time this season but just the third time in his 8 year career. On the season Jones is batting .345 with 3 homers and 42 rbi's.
- Despite his 20 game hitting streak coming to an end this week Jack Cleaves (.364,2,30) is certainly having no issues adjusting to Federal Association pitching. After 11 seasons with the CA's Philadelphia Sailors, the 31 year old infielder was moved to Pittsburgh where he was reunited with his younger brother George, the Miners catcher. Not only has the elder brother adjusted to a new league but he has also spent a fair bit of time learning a new position as the Miners use Cleaves at third base after he played almost exclusively as a second baseman prior to this year.
- The Boston Minutemen will be without the services of pitcher Jim Taylor (2-6, 5.60) for a few days. He has left the club to attend to a personal matter but no other details have been made available. The 28 year old Canadian is 29-32 over his 3 plus seasons with the club.
- The injuries in Brooklyn mean there are some openings at AAA and one of the players to fill them will be much maligned OF Dan Rogers. Little has been said of late of the former first round pick who plunged in the OSA rankings shortly after being drafted in 1934 but he is back up into the mid 200s after dropping from 51 to barely cracking the top 500. Now 22, Rogers was hitting .324 with 4 homers at AA Knoxville and earned his first crack at AAA pitching.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 06/18/1938
- A merciless official campaign against Jews, reinforced by mob action, was extended to all of Germany by secret police orders. Foreign consulates overwhelmed by men and women trying despairingly to get permission to go to other countries.
- British Prime Minister Chamberlain told the House of Commons that Britain plans no retaliatory action following bombings on British shipping in the Mediterranean but is trying to work out a safety zone to end the attacks.
- A French merchant ship was the latest to be destroyed by insurgent air raids near Valencia. Meanwhile thousand of refugees, made homeless by the bombings have taken shelter in Valencia's bull ring and theatres
- Japanese military authorities believe as many as 150,000 Chinese civilians have drowned by flood waters of the Yellow River and 3,000 Japanese troops are confirmed dead after dikes of the river had been broken badly.
- In a rush to adjourn, US lawmakers scrap plans to enact legislation to aid the struggling railroad industry for this session of Congress.