OCTOBER 30, 1938
KEYSTONES LEGEND KELLOGG FORCED TO RETIRE
SAID TO BE FIGHTING "BATTLE OF (HIS) LIFE"
Ranking Kellogg, the star first sacker of the Philadelphia Keystones stunned the baseball world by announcing he would retire from the game "immediately" due to a medical condition.
Kellogg has long been considered one of the game's best hitters and arguably the best first baseman to ever play. A former #1 overall pick in 1922, Kellogg burst onto the scene in 1925 when, at age 22, he hit .328 with 35 home runs and 133 RBIs. That began a streak that saw him hit at .326 and as high as .390 (in 1933) for 11 straight seasons before his average dropped to .311 in 1936. All along he demonstrated power that rivaled that of the legendary Max Morris, topping 30 circuit clouts every season but one (1926, when he had "only" 29) between his debut season of 1925 and 1936. His 1936 season will not live as his swansong - he hit .311 with 36 homers and 137 RBIs.
A suprisingly quick degradation in his play began to show itself late in '36 and manifested fully during the '37 campaign. Kellogg finished with rather pedestrian (by his standards) totals of just 19 home runs and 80 RBIs with a mere .252 average. The 1938 season was also a disappointment as he hit .255 with 13 home runs and 83 RBIs, totals far shy of his heyday.
The 35-year-old Kellogg declined to discuss his diagnosis, saying only that he had, at the request of his wife, visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "I am now leaving the baseball field to fight the battle of my life," he said in a brief statement at the train station in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.
FABL HANDS OUT HARDWARE
In what was expected to be very tight races for at least three of the four categories FABL has named it's award winners for 1938. Surprisingly the races were not quite as tight as forecast.
The Federal Association named Sal Pestilli as it's Whitney Award winner. It will likely be the first of many for the 23 year old Detroit Dynamos outfielder, who hit .307 while leading FABL in homers (46) and rbi's (132). The ballot was dominated by Dynamos and Chicago with a trio of Chiefs finishing second thru fourth in Tom Bird, Hank Barnett and Pete Layton while Detroit's Leon Drake and Red Johnson placed 5th and 6th respectively. There was much speculation on whether Pestilli or Bird would take the award but with 10 of a possible 16 first place votes it ended up being a fairly clear decision in Pestilli's favour.
Pestilli becomes the second player to win both a Frank Christian Trophy as the AIAA's most valuable player and a Whitney, joining Freddie Jones who was recently traded from St Louis to the Chicago Cougars. Pestilli, who won a pair of Christian Trophy's becomes the fourth Detroit player to win a Whitney. Pitcher Jim Golden won 2 of them with the Dynamos back before the Allen Award was created for hurlers. Other Detroit winners included Cliff Everett in 1918 and Al Wheeler in 1932 and 1934.
It took switching Associations but Fred McCormick finally won his first Whitney Award after the Toronto Wolves first baseman was named the top player in the Continental Association. McCormick, who finished second twice and third once in the balloting while he was playing for the St Louis Pioneers, was the key piece in a Toronto resurgence that saw the Wolves nearly steal the Continental pennant. The 29 year old led the CA in batting with a .367 average and was named to the All-Star team for the fifth time in his career. Mel Carrol, who won the Federal Association Whitney a year ago when he hit .409 for Washington, was a surprising second in the voting despite playing just half a season with Cleveland after being traded from the Eagles in mid-July. Carrol received 4 first place votes, 5 less than McCormick. Brooklyn's Frank Vance, another player who had several strong seasons in the Federal Association before switching leagues, finished third and received the final two first place votes.
While McCormick claimed the Whitney, his Toronto teammate Joe Hancock, who led the CA in wins, came up short in voting for the Allan Award. Dick Lyons of the Chicago Cougars became the oldest player to win an Allan Award and oldest first time winner of any FABL award when the 38 year old topped the vote among Continental pitchers. Lyons had a terrific season, leading all of FABL with a 2.59 era while posting a 20-6 record. The lefthander received 9 of the 16 first place votes with Hancock (22-8, 3.02) earning 5. The two remaining first place votes went to Cleveland's Dean Astle, who has now finished in the top 3 of voting three different times but the 29 year old has yet to win an Allan.
Jim Lonardo made history in winning his record 4th Whitney Award. The 34 year old Chicago Chiefs righthander broke a 3-way tie with teammate Rabbit Day, who finished second this time around, and Brooklyn's Tom Barrell as each had 3 Allan Award wins. Lonardo, who came over to the Chiefs in an off-season trade with the New York Gothams, was 25-7 with a 2.68 era this season. He garnered 8 first place votes while Day and last year's winner Lefty Allen of Pittsburgh each received 4 votes. Lonardo's win marked the second time in three seasons a Chief pitcher who had recently been acquired from the Gothams was the winner, joining Day who earned the nod in 1936.
RECORD BREAKING ATTENDANCE FOR FABL
For the fourth year in a row the 16 FABL clubs established a new highwater mark for league attendance with a total of well over 16 million fans entering the ballparks this season. The final tally for regular season contests was 16,704,147 which is nearly 800,000 more than the previous record established last season. Topping the league in attendance was the revitalized Detroit Dynamos squad which drew a FABL record 1,854,614 paying customers. Nine of the 16 teams drew at least a million fans, which is the first time more than half the league has topped that mark so as a league, FABL has never been more healthy.
While Detroit's resurgence is great for the league to see it is not unexpected as the Dynamos drew very well early in the decade when they fielding strong clubs. What is a pleasant surprise is the emergence of Toronto with the Wolves nearly doubling their attendance from last season and setting a new franchise record with 860,776 fans this year. However, despite the many positives that can be thrown about when discussing attendance there are some clubs that cause the league worry. Boston is one, as league executives privately wonder why the Minutemen, with such a rich history, cannot draw better in what is the 9th most populous city in America. A much bigger concern is the lack of interest being seen by fans in Baltimore and Washington, which rank 7th and 11th respectively in population according to the most recent census. Both clubs have not done their fan base any favours with their subpar play of late but perhaps the quick turnaround by the Wolves, both on the field and at the ticket window, gives hope to both Washington and Baltimore. The Eagles, while they did have a modest increase over 1937, were the only FABL club to draw less than half a million fans this season. Fan apathy has long been the story in the nation's capital as the club has never topped even the 600,000 mark in attendance. Here are last season's attendance numbers.
The hope is a new stadium will help drum up interest in baseball in the nation's capital. Although with neighboring Baltimore also among the bottom teams each season perhaps the sport needs to focus strictly on the north or even adding a second team to a western city like St Louis. Perhaps we will find out soon about the DC area's long-term viability as the Eagles new park, Columbia Field, is one of three set to debut in April. The others are Gothams Stadium and Cougars Park in Chicago.
The 1930s has seen some ups and downs in league-wide attendance as the effects of the depression were felt with a down period from 1932-35 but the league has been growth every year since then and overall the league has been very profitable. Despite contending with the depression four clubs - the Cougars, Gothams, Chiefs and Stars- have averaged over 1 million fans a year during the past decade. At the other end of the spectrum you have Toronto and Washington but as previously mentioned the Toronto ballclub appears to be on track again after a number of seasons when it looked like the franchise might have to be moved. Here are the average attendance figures for each of the clubs over the 1930s.
While there had been rumours the Montreal Saints were on the verge of moving (they proved false as the club confirmed it will remain in the Canadian city) the two charts above seem to indicate the club's that perhaps should be moved are Washington and/or Baltimore. With Cincinnati, which was the proposed destination for the Saints and previously the Foresters before ballpark renovations were done in Cleveland, once again falling short of drawing a big league club back to the Queen City for the first time since 1891, one has to wonder if either Washington or Baltimore might uproot and head to Ohio someday. The new ballpark keeps the Eagles in Washington but Baltimore has no such replacement in place for Banner Field. Could the historic Cannons/Clippers franchise be on the move at some point?
DYNAMOS ADD VETERAN CATCHER
The Detroit Dynamos had been looking for a veteran catcher since well before last season's trade deadline and one of the players on their short list was John Wicklund of the Boston Minutemen. It took a while by the Dynamos finally landed their man as they acquired the 29 year old in exchange for a promising minor league pitcher and a pair of draft picks. The 29 year old Wicklund had worn out his welcome in New England - partly due to the development of youngster Bill Van Ness but also in part because of Wicklund's propensity to strikeout: he led the Fed in K's this season with 120 after fanning 127 times a year ago. With the increase in strikeouts, Wicklund has also suffered a drastic decrease in his batting average the past two seasons.
Originally a 15th round pick by the New York Gothams out of high school, Wicklund made his big league debut in the Big Apple late in the 1933 season as a 23 year old. He would have an outstanding first two full seasons in New York, hitting .324 over that period and being named to the Federal Association all-star team twice. He was a member of a pair of Gothams pennant winners and helped them win the 1935 World Championship Series. When the Gotham purge began midway through the 1936 season Wicklund was one of the first to go, joining the Minutemen for whom he hit .338 in the second half of the 1936 campaign. His numbers the last two years dropped off substantially to the point where he hit just .215 this past season. Detroit hopes he can regain his touch at the plate with little pressure on him to produce in what is a loaded Dynamos offense.
In return Boston adds a fourth and sixth round choices for the 1939 draft along with highly touted 21 year old righthander Ray Dalpman. The 21 year old went 12-5 with a 2.45 era over 3 levels and reached AA late in the season. Originally a 7th round draft pick out a high school in Indiana, Dalpman has an above average curve ball and plenty of poise on the mound. He is projected to fit comfortably in the middle of a big league rotation but will likely need another season in the minors before he makes his Boston debut. Detroit has plenty of pitching prospect depth so the Dynamos felt it made sense to part with Dalpman, who is ranked 80th on the OSA prospect list. Dalpman should fit in nicely with a pair of 22 year old righthanders who are close to being ready for the big leagues in Boston prospects Duke Hendricks and John Dobrzynski. Add in 22 year old's Mike Lee and John Edwards who are already in Boston and the Minutemen have quite a collection of young arms.
QUICK HITS
- GM SHUFFLE: plenty of off-season movement in the front office as a number of General Managers changed seats. The ex-Cleveland boss went to New York to fill the Stars vacant position while Washington's former GM moved on to Montreal after the Saints parted ways with their head man. That means the league has a pair of newcomers, both of whom come across from the Japanese League with one taking the reigns in Washington and the other heading to Cleveland to run the Foresters.
- Word is the Boston Minutemen may get a new stadium to replace Cunningham Field. The plan hinges on New England being successful in it's bid to land the 1944 Olympic Games but if they do so a new stadium to house track and field events will be required and preliminary plans have it being structured so the Minutemen could take over the park after the Games are completed. Built in 1902 Cunningham Field was the first stadium to use concrete and steel in its construction. It was a marvel of the FABL at the turn of the century but now stands as the oldest building in the league although Brooklyn's Kings County Park was actually erected in 1883 but underwent extensive renovations in 1912.
- The New York Gothams and Chicago Cougars got together to swap a pair of minor league pitchers. New York receives 25 year old Sam Hodge, who was 5-5, 3.98 at AAA Milwaukee last season after starting the year in AA. In return Chicago picks up 19 year old Willie Gonzalez Jr, who was selected in the third round of the 1937 draft. Gonzalez, who's dad pitched in the Cougars organization for a number of years including parts of two seasons with the big league club, made just one start last season before suffering a serious arm injury. It's a risk for Chicago in hopes he will recover but the Cougars are facing a roster crunch and expected there was a good chance they would lose Hodge for nothing in the Rule 5 draft.
- The news of Rankin Kellogg's retirement certainly sent a shock wave through the league. It was clear over the past couple of seasons his game was deteriorating and this news certainly help explains why it occurred. Kellogg exits with 475 homeruns and 1,841 runs batted in, more than anyone in each of those two categories except of course Max Morris, and he is 14th all-time in hits with 2,770. The numbers will certainly get him in the Hall of Fame, perhaps as soon as this winter. Even with the diminishing production of late, his presence will be greatly missed in Philadelphia but that is not important now. The main focus of everyone in the Keystones organization and FABL as a whole is on Kellogg' health. He would not elaborate on the details but from the tone of his retirement press conference it certainly appears to very, very serious.
The Week That Was
Current events from week of 10/30/1938
- With no warning German Police rounded up an estimated 35,000 Polish Jews throughout Germany for expulsion to Poland.
- Japanese authorities detained a US cargo ship leaving China with millions of dollars in silver which Chinese patriots had contributed to the government for war purposes and were being shipped to America. The ship was only allowed to continue on it's voyage after the silver was turned over to Japan.
- In response the US has strongly demanded Japan stop "unwarranted interference" with American rights in China including trade.
- Japan warned Paris to stop supply of arms to China or it would be "compelled to take measures" against France.
- As Japanese forces advanced, Chinese troops set fire to their provisional capital of Hankow, destroying the city as they fled.
- Proclaiming November 11th Armistice Day, President Roosevelt said that "peace can be obtained only by non-aggression." 1938 marks the 20th anniversary of the Armistice and Roosevelt called on all nations for the world to "respect the rights of others."
- Hitler is reported to have offered France a gentleman's agreement not to resort to war for a period of either 10 or 25 years.
- Some US Senators fear Britain's considerations of closing Palestine to Jewish immigrants due to fear of more terror attacks might place the United States in a 'delicate and dangerous situation." FDR stated the US was interested in maintaining Palestine as a Jewish homeland but was powerless to prevent any modifications in the mandate under which Great Britain controls it.
- In another sign the US is gearing up for the potential of armed conflict a dozen big utility companies, joining hands with the Federal Government in it's national defense program, announced a plan to spend $2 billion in the next two years to expand the output of electrical power, doubling what was originally forecasted. The move is designed to strengthen power facilities of the nation's strategic war material manufacturing centers.