JUNE 14, 1943
CANNONS GO 'ALL IN' WITH MAJOR DEAL
The Cincinnati Cannons and New York Gothams teamed up on a major trade that Cannons fans hope will help end a 30 year pennant-less stretch for the franchise. The eight player deal saw the Cannons add third baseman Billy Dalton and a minor league prospect from the struggling defending world champions in exchange for third baseman Frank Covarrubias, outfielder Nat Drake and four highly touted prospects in catcher Rick York, shortstop Win Hamby, infielder Jack Wilson and recently drafted high school pitcher Hal Friedlander.
The key for the Cannons is Dalton, who was a key piece of New York's title team last year and is a two-time all-star. The 29 year old was hitting a career best .324 at the time of the deal. Cincinnati has long been searching for a solution to their woes at third base as neither Covarrubias nor Denny Andrews showed the aptitude necessary for the role. Dalton is considered to be among the best third baseman in the game but the cost was very high.
The Gothams, hit hard by enlistments this past winter, have struggled and seemed unlikely to be serious contenders especially with their doubleplay duo of Mule Monier and Roosevelt Brewer in the service. They had no intention of shopping Dalton but felt the offer from Cincinnati was too strong to ignore.
It starts with Rick York, the 23 year old son of Detroit manager Dick York, who is considered one of the best young catching prospects in the sport. York spent most of last year in AAA learning third base as the Cannons had Adam Mullins ahead of him behind the plate, but did get into 17 games with the Cannons, batting .277. Unfortunately New York fans will have to wait for him as York joined the Navy this past off-season. Also heading to New York eventually is 20 year old Win Hamby, a 1941 second round pick who was Cincinnati's #2 ranked prospect. Hamby is in the Army now so, like York, it may be a couple of seasons before the Gothams see his skills. That won't be the case for Jack Wilson -20 year old Cincinnati selected in the second round of the 1942 draft. Wilson came out of North Carolina Tech last year and started this season in A ball, where he was hitting .308 through 38 games. The final prospect on the move is Hal Friedlander, who was the Cannons first round pick out of a New York high school in January. Friedlander will be eligible to sign with the Gothams on June 22nd once the entire draft is finalized.
Nat Drake and Frank Covarrubias give the Gothams two players who potentially could help them right away. Covarrubias is a solid defensive third baseman with a career .280 batting average but the Cannons had been disappointed with the 31 year old's offensive production last year and again so far this season. Drake is a 26 year old outfielder who was a 1935 second round pick and spent a lot of time on the top 100 prospect list the past few seasons. He missed the start of this season with an injury but has looked very good in limited action since his return.
In addition to Dalton, the Cannons also receive Class C catcher Lou Davis, a 1940 12th round pick, from the Gothams.
CHIEFS EXTEND FED LEAD
A much shorter week for everyone this time around after the previous string that saw FABL teams playing 9 games in 7 days. This time many teams only had 4 contests and each club had at least a day or two off. The Chicago Chiefs had just one series - a five-game set in New York- and made the most of it in taking 4 of 5 from the struggling Gothams. The Chiefs lead atop the Fed is now 2.5 games on second place Washington and 3 up on Boston after the Minutemen took 3 of 5 from the Eagles last week.
In the Continental Association the hottest team is the Toronto Wolves, winners of 11 of their last 13 games including 3 of 5 against the Philadelphia Sailors this week. The Wolves are just a game and a half back of first place Cincinnati after the Cannons could only manage a split of their 4 games with lowly Cleveland over the weekend.
Toronto remains within shouting distance of the Cannons but now the Wolves have to decide whether or not to counter the big move made in Cincinnati or continue to 'dance with the ones that brung 'em.' The big concern in Ontario is the outfield as Reginald Westfall's nagging injury is showing no signs of improving, Ed Marshall is out for two days and Larry Vestal is batting just .217. Vestal is getting on base, so that and his defense is keeping him in the starting line-up, at least so far. If Toronto is going to make a move to upgrade their team you have to think it starts with the addition of an outfielder.
CANNONS SET SIGHTS ON PENNANT
Cincinnati Cannons owner John E. Tice swung and missed twice in recent days but he made certain it would not happen a third time. Tice and his Cincinnati Cannons front-office made an offer that the New York Gothams could not refuse in order to add what they feel is the key piece to perhaps bring the city it's first major league championship since the Monarchs won the Border Association crown in 1888. Billy Dalton will come in town the proud owner of a World Championship ring he earned last October with the Gothams, and will carry on his shoulders the high expectations of playing October baseball once again this fall after the Cannons backed up the Wells Fargo truck and sent a lot of golden prospects to Manhattan.
The deal was a big one, with an initial offer impressive enough that the Gothams dropped everything and immediately accepted without even pausing to shop Dalton around the league. In that respect, Tice and his staff accomplished what they wanted to do - they identified a key need and wanted a deal done right away.
"Getting this done," was important to the Cannons owner said a source close to the team, adding the owner felt like he needed a win. Tice was down in the dumps after his overtures to the AFA to bring a football team to Cincinnati were all but ignored by grid czar Jack Kristich. Add in the growing frustration Tice had about his club's failure to get a deal done with Brooklyn for Al Wheeler and/or Harry Barrell, combined with the rough week the Cannons just completed (3-6) and Tice instructed his club to spare no expense if they felt Dalton was the missing piece.
Rumour has it the deal that landed Dalton was very similar to a package that had been on the table for some time to try and pry Harry Barrell away from Brooklyn. The Cannons would not comment on that but club Assistant General Manager Red Franklin did say they had been "combing the league for an elite third baseman for a couple of weeks now." Franklin mentioned he felt it was important to act now while the Gothams were on a downswing as the deal might not be there in a couple of weeks should New York turn things around.
To man, the Cannons front office agreed a completed deal for Dalton was far better than waiting for the possibility they could land Barrell from Brooklyn. There would certainly have needed to be some musical chairs in the Cannons infield were they to bring Harry to town to play behind his nephew Deuce Barrell, while on the other hand Dalton -a natural third baseman- was a perfect fit to plug the hole at the hot corner.
So the trigger was pulled as the deal came together quickly in a matter of less than an hour. Early reaction around the league was that New York had received quite a haul for Dalton, and of that there is no doubt. However, the Cannons felt all of the pieces they moved were expendable and they added an all-star caliber infielder without sacrificing anything they felt was essential to their success.
Rick York, Win Hamby and Jack Wilson are all top 100 prospects but the Cannons had 30 year old Adam Mullins blocking York and 26 year old Jim Hensley in front of Hamby -not to mention the fact that both youngsters are in the service for the duration. Wilson is a nice prospect too but Dalton blocks him at third base and Charlie Rivera is one of the best defensive second basemen in the league and a nice fill-in until all-star Charley McCullough returns from the Navy. Now a lot can change over the course of 2-3 seasons but like York and Hamby, there doesn't appear to be a spot for Wilson to play. The just-draft pitcher, an 18 year old Brooklynite by the name of Hal Friedlander was a player the Cannons were very high on but they selected two other highly touted pitchers this draft, along with a catcher in Ed Haynes Jr. they hope might be the prospect to replace York in the system. Nat Drake is a sold outfielder but just did not have a place to play in Cincinnati and Covarrubias had worn out his welcome with the Cannons, who really expected better offensive production from him. This is not to say the 5 prospects are not quality talent - they most certainly are- but the Cannons felt they were well positioned to sacrifice each of them in order to land Dalton. And they were happy they did so without having to consider moving prize outfield prospect Dick Blaszak, who is a Marine for the duration of the war.
Was it worth it? Well, that remains to be seen. The Cannons are banking on their pitching staff continuing to shine and Dalton to provide at least as good defense as Covarrubias did at third while being a large upgrade in the batting order. Cannons sources say the club is not done dealing and they will not hesitate to pull the trigger on a veteran power bat for the outfield or perhaps another middle of the rotation arm. Whether another deal happens or not, it is clear now that this season will only be measured as a success in Cincinnati if the Cannons are up against the best of the Federal Association come October. Anything less, it it will feel like strike three for owner John E. Tice.
- A tough break for Pittsburgh as the Miners will be without outfielder Pinky Pierce (.312,7,32) for a month and a half. The 30 year old was enjoying another outstanding season in follow up to his break-out showing last year when he finally got a chance to be an everyday player.
- That is actually a tough break for Toronto, the Chiefs and likely some other contenders since Pierce might well have been a hot commodity at the trade deadline should the Miners continue to struggle.
- Still very little news out of Brooklyn. A few weeks ago the Kings announced they were entertaining offers on Al Wheeler, Harry Barrell and a trio of pitchers but, while there has been plenty of interest from other teams, nothing close to a deal seems to be in place at this time.
- The Gothams are on a 4-19 run since their 5 game win streak in mid-May. And they got hit with terrible news this week when pitcher Monk Adams suffered a devastating shoulder injury that sounds like a career ender. The 24 year old, a top 100 prospect, was 2-5 with a 3.86 era this season in his FABL debut. He had pitched 5 innings of no-hit ball in the game that ultimately proved to be the last of his career. After Adams got replaced the Gothams fell apart and lost 6-3.
- While the Chiefs were on this last road trip, Joe Ward became the 20th manager in history to win 1,000 games. The Chiefs will have an on-field ceremony honoring Ward before Tuesday's game with St. Louis.
- Sam Sheppard's 10 game personal winning streak for the Pioneers was snapped with a 4-1 loss to Detroit on Saturday. Sheppard is 10-2 on the season and likely in contention to be the Fed starter in next month's all-star game.
- Nice debut for Ed Fisler. The 21 year old was acquired by the Cougars from the Chiefs a week ago in the deal that sent Freddie Jones back to the Federal Association. Fisler, a 1939 10th round pick, tossed a 6-hit complete game shutout for Mobile in his AA debut, which also marked his first game in the Cougars organization.
- A big week for no-hitters as Dixie Murtaugh tossed one for the Worcester Warriors in a 4-0 shutout of Harrisburg in AA play. Murtaugh is Boston Minutemen property, taken by then in the 12th round of the 1937 draft. A couple of days later news from Japan - yes, they are still playing baseball too- of a perfect game. It was thrown by Kanichi Yokota of the Tokio Cannons.
- All of the American servicemen stationed in Australia have been introducing the game of baseball to those 'Down Under.' As this image from an Australian newspaper indicates, the Aussies might still have some learning to do.
DEMANDS ROME STATE-ANNAPOLIS MARITIME GRID TILT FOR PHILLY
The annual Rome State-Annapolis Maritime college football game, transferred to Annapolis last fall because of the war, will return to Sailors Memorial Stadium in Philadelphia this year if John B. Kelly, national director of physical fitness, has his way.
Kelly, a former Olympic oarsman, disclosed he had suggested to officials of both the military and naval Academies that the game be played in Philadelphia this year- possibly on a Sunday- with the receipts to go to war charities. Asserting that the officials he has consulted favour the plan, as do some sports-minded Congressmen, Kelly declared he will go "to the White House, if necessary," in his effort to return the game to Philadelphia.
*** MISSISSIPPI SCHOOLS ARE OUT ****
The Deep South Conference will be smaller this season, it if plays at all. Northern Mississippi and Mississippi A&M each informed conference members last week that they will be unable to field teams in 1943 and they are quite likely not the last Deep South team to drop football for the duration. Cumberland, Opelika State, Bluegrass State and Western Florida are said to be leaning towards not playing next season either.
*** COLLEGE ALL-STAR GAME GIVEN GO AHEAD ****
The Boston Americans will meet a team of college all-stars this August. There had been concerns the annual matchup between the pro champ and the top collegiate grid stars would be cancelled due to the war but the go-ahead was given this week. Instead of playing it in Chicago, the game will shift to suburban Evanston and be contested on the night of August 25. The Americans beat the Chicago Wildcats 24-21 last December to win the AFA championship for the second time in 4 years.
*** TIME OUT TABOO FOR AIR CADETS ***
At the Georgia Pre-Flight School they've put in a few new football rules that the boys seem to like. Instead of four quarters, regimental games are played in two halves and play is resumed after the intermission at the spot and the down when the first half ended. Entire games are played without time out and they say that those games without any delay are really something to watch.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 6/13/1943
- Allied bombers continued raids on Sicily and Pantelleria on a non-stop basis in preparation to take over the Italian islands. By the end of the week the Allies had taken over Pantelleria, the first stepping stone for an invasion route into Europe. Next up is a decisive clash with the Italian Navy.
- Prime Minister Churchill told the House of Commons the "light of victory" is glowing in one of the most supremely confident speeches of his career. Churchill says the Allies are determined to bomb the Axis to destruction and are preparing to launch "amphibious operations of particular complexity and hazard on a large scale."
- President Roosevelt wanted the initiation of poison gas warfare by the Axis countries would bring quick retaliation from the Allies.
- Conflicting reports from the Pacific as both Tokio Radio and Washington claim victory following a Japanese raid on the American-held Russell Islands in the Solomons.
- Australia is declared safe as Japanese forces have been held off in the Southwest Pacific and there are hints to Allies were ready to develop an offensive to roll back the enemy.