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Jiggs McGee · 08-23-2022, 12:49 PM

AUGUST 23, 1943

MINUTEMEN EXTEND LEAD ATOP FED

The Boston Minutemen's lead atop the Federal Association increased to 5.5 games on second place Washington thanks in part to a memorable game yesterday in Detroit. Boston, which went 5-3 last week and are 25-14 since the All-Star break, picked up a week's worth of offense with a 21-0 victory over the Detroit Dynamos Sunday in what may be the most lob-sided game in modern FABL history. It was nearly memorable for a pitching performance as well, with deadline pick-up Paul Richardson coming within one pitch of throwing a no-hitter. His big day was broken up by an infield single off the bat of the Dynamos Bert Wilson with 2 out and 2 strikes in the bottom of the ninth. It put a damper on what was otherwise a very good week for the 7th place Dynamos -who won 8 straight prior to the blowout loss.

Boston extended it's lead to 5.5 games on the second place Washington Eagles, who are just 19-20 since the all-star break. Washington is on a hot streak in comparison to the free-falling Chicago Chiefs, who have won just 14 of 38 contests since the mid-July showcase. The Chiefs are now 7.5 games back and heading in the wrong direction:

Code:

  CHIEFS WINNING PCT. BY MONTH
April - .888
May - .562
June - .538
July - .433
August - .428

The Philadelphia Keystones had been the hottest team of late but after taking 3 of 4 from both St Louis and Chicago, the Keystones went into Detroit and promptly dropped 4 straight games before splitting a doubleheader with the last place Gothams yesterday.

Cincinnati continues to lead the way in the Continental Association after claiming victory in 3 games of their big 4 game showdown with the then-second place Cougars in Chicago. The Cougars had an awful week at home, falling twice to Toronto and once to Philadelphia and are now third. It was a case of bad breaks for Chicago and a lack of timely hitting as three of their 5 losses last week were in extra-innings and two others by a single run. That was also the story in Cincinnati, where the Cannons - aside from their strong showing in the Windy City- dropped a pair of games to both New York and Montreal. Three of the Cannons 5 losses were by just a single run. With a 9-3 record on their current road trip, including taking 3 of 4 in Chicago, the Toronto Wolves are very much still in the Continental pennant picture. The Wolves leapfrogged Chicago last week to take over second place - 4.5 games back of Cincinnati.

8/16/43 9-0 Win
In what has become a rare Monday game on the schedule the Minutemen called upon Ed Wood to take the mound against the Pioneers for the third game of their series in St. Louis. Wood, like he has been many times before this season, was masterful. Ed picked up his 18th win of the season by pitching a complete game, five hit shutout. Pete Day and Chick Donnelly, some of the usual suspects, were the offensive catalysts for the Minutemen. Bill Van Ness also added a solo home run in the fourth off of St. Louis starter Jasper Moore.

8/17/43: 12-4 Loss
Having already secured a series split, Boston was looking to take three out of four from the Pioneers and tasked 14 game winner Duke Hendricks with the assignment. As solid as Hendricks has been throughout the season this was not his game. Duke couldn’t even get out of the first inning and was pulled after five hits and eight earned runs. Although the Minutemen hammered out 12 team hits of their own, they could not muster enough offense to close the first inning hole they dug for themselves. Danny Hern picked up his 10th win of the year for the Pioneers and they celebrated hits from pretty much every player in their lineup.

Ol’ Doc should be happy with a series split against a hot St. Louis club but that last game left a really bad taste in his mouth. Hopefully, it is just a small bump in the road and the boys take time to reflect and re-energize themselves on the long train ride to New York.

As the train pulls into New York’s Central Station Ol’ Doc is reminiscing on all of the times this particular trip would have been a nightmare for one of those hapless Boston squads of the 20’s and 30’s. To be more specific actually, from 1918-1940 the club would finish no higher than third position and that happened all of four times. During that same time period the Gothams would win five pennants and one world title. New York had an especially good run from 30-35 where they would feast on some pretty bad Boston clubs. Of course, you probably do not need Ol’ Doc to sing the Gothams praises because when they are winning they like to remind the whole world of the fact. When they aren’t though this city can forget they even have a team….or three. Safe to say that Ol’ Doc hates this whole damn city and will confine himself to the hotel bar for the duration of this four game trip.

8/18/43: 2-1 Win
The first game of this series featured a very unlikely pitching duel between Paul Richardson for Boston and Les Harris of New York. Although the Minutemen outhit the Gothams 10-4 in this game it was New York that took a 1-0 lead into the eight inning. It was at that point where Harris maybe hit his limit as he walked back to back hitters with one out and then fell behind in the count to Chick Donnelly. Chick, who had four hits in the game, would tie the game up with a single to right chasing Harris from the contest. Sam Hodge would come into the game for the Gothams and promptly give up an RBI single to Art Spencer adding a second earned run to Harris on the afternoon. That would be all the scoring in this one as Johnny Harry would pitch a scoreless ninth inning picking up save number 15 on the season.

8/19/43: 5-3 Loss
In a recent publication Ol’ Doc elaborated on the up and down efforts of SP Joe Sargent. Coming off of a dazzling performance last Sunday against St. Louis, Joe was probably in line for a clunker against the Gothams. He definitely delivered in that regard. Sargent could not get out of the sixth inning and his final line was five earned on eight hits with six walks. With a line like that it was shocking that the final score was only 5-3. Fred Pecora and Leon Drake accounted for all of the Gotham RBI’s in the win.

8/20/43: 9-2 Win
Game three was Boston’s chance to lay the hammer on a New York starter and that starter was Roy Helland. Roy held his own for the first three innings but the Minutemen busted things open with a five run fourth thanks in part to Bill Moore’s two run triple. Moore would also add a home run in the seventh and Chick Donnelly would add three hits as well. Boston starter Walt Wells would pick up win number nine on the year going eight strong giving up a single earned run. The win would give the Minutemen a guaranteed series split with the opportunity to take three of four with a win tomorrow.

8/21/43: 6-5 (11) Win
Both Ed Wood (Bos) and Rusty Petrick (NY) did not have their best stuff early in this one. Boston would be the first team to score with a two run second thanks in part to a Harry Barrell triple. New York would answer right back in the bottom of the frame with a solo shot from 2B Archie McCarty who picked a fine time to hit only his second home run of the year. Things would get worse for Boston as the Gothams scored two more runs in the bottom of the third to take a 3-2 lead. The score would hold until the sixth where a couple of walks and a two run single from Chick Donnelly would allow Boston to retake the lead 4-3. Boston would call upon Johnny Harry to finish off the Gothams but back to back doubles by Leonardo Magana and Walt Messer would tie the game sending it into extra innings. As the game moved to the 11th Sam Hodge was now on the mound for the Gthams when their defense fell apart allowing the Minutemen to plate two unearned runs. Walt Messer would hit a homer in the bottom of the 11th but that was as close as the Gothams would get as Boston would escape with a hard fought albeit lucky victory.

Ol’ Doc considers four days of awful hotel food and cheap water cut whiskey a small price to pay for a 3-1 series victory. Ol’ Doc looks forward to seeing his old buddy Freddie Farhat in Detroit as he is very generous with his whiskey……. and it is never cut.

8/22/43: Game 1: 4-3 (11) Loss; Game 2: 21-0 Win
Only in baseball can you trade your best hitter and then rattle off seven straight wins not long after. This is the exact scenario the Minutemen found themselves in as they would continue their month long road trip to Detroit. Ol’ Doc believes the Minutemen were silently hoping for some easy wins over both New York and Detroit who are both sitting in the cellar of the FA standings. Even though Boston was able to take 3 of four from New York the wins were anything but easy. Now the Minutemen had to take on the hottest team in baseball. The lesson here is, nothing is easy or a given in the FABL.

Boston would send Duke Hendricks to the mound who was well rested after his drubbing in New York. Detroit would counter with Fred Radcliffe who was looking to push the Dynamo win streak to eight games. Offensively Boston did the job with four doubles among their 12 hits on the afternoon, yet they still found themselves in a 3-3 tie after nine innings. Fred Radcliffe, who showed remarkable stamina, harkening back to an earlier era where such things were commonplace, had to pitch around a leadoff double by Pete Day in the top of the 11th. Radcliffe would intentionally walk the red hot Chick Donnelly and then get a foul pop out by Jack Flint and a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Harry Barrell to end the threat. A two out single from Woody Quartey in the bottom half of the inning off of Clarence Linden would seal the victory for the Dynamos.

Lost in the sauce of the game two thumping that would make the Boston Americans football team proud was the one hitter pitched by Paul Richardson. Richardson was a single out from a no-hitter when CF Bert Wilson had the audacity to break things up. It was probably the only thing that Detroit got right on this day. Detroit pitching would give up 21 runs on 17 hits with 6 errors defensively. Ol’ Doc took pity on his old pal Freddie Farhat who was particularly indulged by the end of the contest with some encouraging words along the lines of “these things happen every once in a while” Freddie’s semi sarcastic reply was “I’m not sure this has ever happened”. Thinking back Ol’ Doc thinks Freddie may have a point. Believe it or not the Minutemen once again managed to NOT hit a home run even though they seemed to be able to do everything else offensively.
One particular statistic of note was the nine RBI’s by Chick Donnelly which tied the FABL single game record. Donnelly becomes just the fourth player ever to have a 9-rbi game in FABL joining a pair of Detroiters in Ed Watley (1896) and Cy Lynch (1924) along with former Brooklyn Kings third baseman John Langille, who turned the trick in 1934.

In other news the second place Eagles posted a 2-7 week to allow the Minutemen to stretch their FA division lead to 5.5 games. With a day off on Monday the Minutemen will continue their three game series against Detroit. Then it will be two more off days for travel and rest before they finish the road trip in Philadelphia with a four game set.

1944 DRAFT PREVIEW

PART III: HIGH SCHOOL PITCHERS

A year ago when we looked at the top prospects for the 1944 draft a pair of high school arms, along with college pitcher Carl Fritz stood out. One of those high schoolers was Lee Ahlstrom, a player OSA thought could one day be a top of the rotation arm. Ahlstrom had solid season but OSA's opinion has dropped on him. The other one was Jack Entringer, a Michigan native who had a solid season but certainly not as good as his sophomore campaign. Entringer still projects to be one of the better high school arms available but he has fallen behind three others who emerged following terrific junior seasons.

Here is a look at those three and the rest of our top ten High School pitchers available for the 1944 draft.

1: ROY SCHAUB - RHP - St Joseph's HS, Philadelphia: 13-0, 0.41, 242 K, 17 BB - It is hard to envision a scenario where Schaub does not go #1 overall. A three year starter at his Philadelphia High School, Schaub was the Adwell Award winner this past spring after posting a season for the ages. His 0.12 FIP was the second lowest ever recorded, only surpassed by Hiram Steinberg's amazing 0.00 FIP in 1940. Schaub did set a post-feeder era record with 242 strikeouts and for pitcher WAR with an 11.2. Only Steinberg's 10.1 in 1940 reached double-digits prior to Schaub. OSA calls him a "future #1 starter".

2: RICK DIXON - RHP- Honey Brook (PA)HS: 11-0, 1.40, 157 K, 35 BB -[ Dixon has been very impressive in two seasons of high school ball. OSA says an great change-up and excellent forkball highlight his four-pitch repertoire and sees him as having #2 starter potential.

3: BERT ROGERS -LHP- Wenona (IL) HS: 11-1, 1.04, 160 K, 25 BB - The Chicago born lefthander is a real worm killer with plenty of movement on his pitches. Perhaps not a #1 starter, but OSA sees Rogers ending up "near the top of any major league rotation."

4: JACK ENTRINGER - RHP - Bay City (MI) HS: 7-2, 2.11, 106 K, 35 BB - Certainly a step back from his outstanding 9-0, 0.78 sophomore campaign, one in which Entringer was ranked #2 among high school arms in our report last August. He dipped a little as a junior but OSA still projects the 17 year old as a "solid mid-rotation starter with three solid pitches."

5: ANDY MacFARLAND -RHP - Spring City (PA) HS: 7-3, 2.06, 117 K, 26 BB -Quite a crop of pitchers coming out of the Philadelphia area with McFarland certainly being a step down from Schaub and Dixon but still a possible first round candidate. He has great size at 6'5" and one would expect McFarland will add some speed to his fastball, which tops out at 88 mph presently. OSA feels he is a 5th starter.

6: LEE AHLSTROM - RHP - Harmony (MN) HS: 11-2, 1.92, 169 K, 46 BB - A year ago OSA was calling Ahlstrom a future number one starter and comparing him with fellow Minnesota high school graduates Donnie and Johnnie Jones. He was the top prospect when we looked at the list a year ago but now, despite a decent season, OSA feels that while Ahlstrom has the tools to start, "more than five innings may empty his tank if he's being read well." His work ethic has been questioned and perhaps that is a factor in OSA's downgrading of Ahlstrom, but we feel he will still likely draw first round interest.

7: GEORGE HENDERSON - LHP- Roosevelt HS, Oakland, CA: 9-3, 1.38, 174 K, 24 BB- The tree starter at Roosevelt High in Oakland had a big season as a junior to catch the attention of scouts. He has an excellent circle change as the best of his 4 pitches and peaked at 92 mph last season. OSA feels he should fit into the back end of a FABL rotation once he matures.

8: VIRGIL HARRIS - RHP - Christopher (IL) HS: 4-0, 0.97, 87 K, 10 BB - Born in Boston but grew up in the midwest, Harris made his high school debut this past season as a junior. Did not pitch a lot but OSA sees him finding a spot in the back-end of a big league rotation one day.

9: RON BERRY - LHP - Elm Springs (AK) HS: 9-0, 0.94, 176 K, 23 BB -After seeing limited starts as a sophomore, Berry had a breakout season his junior year and earned a spot on the High School All-American team. Undersized at 5'7", 135 lbs, the 17 year old does not throw hard and OSA feels there are concerns about whether his lack of control will be a problem. He certainly had no issues as a high school player but OSA does not see his skills translating to big league ball.

10: AL ROBISON- RHP - North Smithfield (RI) HS: 7-1, 1.59, 111 K, 30 BB. There could be as many as three Rhode Island high school players drafted in the January with Robison and the two Warwick High School players in infielder Leo Warren and outfielder Paul Caissie. As for Robison, OSA does not expect a lot from him but says he is one of a number of pitchers in this draft class who might vie for a depth starting spot.

HONOURABLE MENTION
George Brown RHP, Kenmore HS, Akron, Oh, 5-4, 1.88, 106 K, 26 BB
George Polk LHP Sanbornton (NH) HS, 6-1, 1.44, 100 K, 13 BB
Lonnie Sis RHP Winnebago (MN) HS, 4-0, 1.28, 69 K, 16 BB
Bill Slappy RHP Villisca (IA) HS, 5-0, 1.85, 87 K, 28 BB
Walt Staton RHP Emmitsburg (MD) HS, 6-0, 1.25, 76 K, 13 BB
Pryor Stone RHP Boys Latin HS, Baltimore, MD :8-2, 2.47, 128 K, 48 BB

Next up in our Draft Preview, TWIFB will post a mock first round.

Will the real Red Johnson please stand up? -Gothams fans are wondering when they’ll see the feared slugger of years past. Sure it’s only been 18 games, but Johnson has continued the dismal performance he showed in Detroit this season. If anything he’s slumped further in the power department. So far Red is at .246/.346/.362 for the Gothams. Fans aaa few whispering that maybe they’ve received damaged goods. Surely the Messer/Johnson combo should be more dynamic.
I’d advise caution. Red is having a down year. No doubt affected by playing for two poor teams and the shocking mid season trade. I believe that 1944 will show us the true Red Johnson.
*** BOWMAN CAN'T CATCH A BREAK ***

Ed Bowman throws 10.2 innings of shutout ball but can't get the win in eventual 1-0 victory for the team. Last two starts 0 ER in 19.2 innings. A year ago Ed was getting decent run support, 3.8 runs per game as an average over his 34 starts. This year? Just 2.2 and third lowest in FABL as only the Stars Billy Riley and Chuck Wirtz of Toronto have received less support. That certainly explains his 10-12 record on the season compared to 23-8 a year ago. Not much change in his ERA - in fact it is slightly better than last season at 2.33

I'm hearing news around the Gothams offices that the team may promote AAA 3B Eddie Ziehl when rosters expand in September. The son of Gothams legend and manager Ed Ziehl, is now 25 and doesn't appear that he will ever truly be a major league regular. The younger Ziehl is hitting .227 at AAA Toledo in only 12 games. With the possibility that Eddie may join the military after the season, the team appears ready, in this lost season, to reward the Ziehl's for their lifelong dedication to the team.

When asked about the possibility of being joined in New York by his son, the elder Ziehl commented, "I really have nothing to add to that speculation. Sure it would be a thrill to see him out there in a Gothams uniform. If it happens, I'd like him to wear #5."

Now wouldn't that be a bit of nostalgia for the Gothams faithful, to see Ziehl - 5 out on the field again.

TALES FROM THE WOLVES DEN

The Toronto Wolves 9-4 record thus far on the 23 game road trip is about where they hoped to be in this critical juncture of the season. Three wins in extras this week were a big help towards the goal. Those three wins brought the Wolves season record to 7-2 in extended games for the season. Their record in one-run games is now 23-11 with the second FABL best road record of 38-25, trailing only Cincinnati who are 39-24. Both these are a reversal of 1942 where road or close game wins were hard to come by for Toronto. Toronto remains within shouting distance of the Cannons, hope to remain no worse than 4 1/2 games back finishing the last 10 games of the road trip.

The New York Gothams are just 13-24 since the all-star break- worst in either association. Red Johnson (.246,2,7) has not been anywhere near as dominant as had been hoped hitting behind Walt Messer in the Gothams lineup.
Al Tucker of St Louis hit .310 last week holding on to the Fed batting lead while Joe Watson of the Chiefs has a horrible week dropping to fifth in the batting race. The Pioneers went 4-4 and remain 4 games above .500 but they need a winning streak if they are going to make a pennant push.

BOSTON AMERICANS TO FACE ALL-STARS

There will be football this week as the AFA champion Boston Americans are set to face a team of college all-stars in a game slated for Evanston, Illinois. The college stars will be led by 3-sport athlete Pat Chappell of St Magnus. The senior is the quarterback of the Vikings grid squad and was an All-Great Lakes Alliance performer as a basketballer after helping the St Magnus hardwood five to the national title game last spring. Chappell also plays in the outfield for the Vikings baseball team.
*** PRO GRID CLUBS TO CARRY 28 ***

Having reviewed the manpower situation last week, the American Football Association has increased the player limit from 25 to 28. The circuit also was motivated by worries over what the new draft of fathers might do to team personnel. The standard of 25 was set at last April's meeting. Some of the owners had recently sought to have the limit boosted to 33 or 35, but others held it would put an unnecessary burden on transportation facilities.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 8/22/1943

Allied fliers continue nightly bombing runs with Milan and Berlin key targets to start the week while Turin bore the brunt of the attacks to end it.
It is believed last week's meeting between FDR and Churchill in Quebec was to formalize plans for an invasion of France across the English Channel. Those suspicions are confirmed when the Allies warn the French to prepare for invasion in a broadcast later in the week.
A surprise move in the Solomons deals a serious blow to Japan's grip. American soldiers and marines captured Bella Lavella Island in the northwest and places the Yanks within 70 miles from Japanese strongholds on the northernmost island.
It was followed quickly by a massive air raid that wrecked a Japanese fleet of 170 planes and cancelled enemy plans for a counter-offensive in New Guinea.
Allied forces also have retaken Kiska Island, as the Japanese fled without a fight just as a large American armada approached the Aleutians.
President Roosevelt has authorized the immediate drafting for military duty for any strikers in war industry, as well has the imposition of harsh penalties against unions and employers failing to comply with War Labor Board orders.

08-23-2022, 12:49 PM	#502
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	August 23, 1943 AUGUST 23, 1943 MINUTEMEN EXTEND LEAD ATOP FED The Boston Minutemen's lead atop the Federal Association increased to 5.5 games on second place Washington thanks in part to a memorable game yesterday in Detroit. Boston, which went 5-3 last week and are 25-14 since the All-Star break, picked up a week's worth of offense with a 21-0 victory over the Detroit Dynamos Sunday in what may be the most lob-sided game in modern FABL history. It was nearly memorable for a pitching performance as well, with deadline pick-up Paul Richardson coming within one pitch of throwing a no-hitter. His big day was broken up by an infield single off the bat of the Dynamos Bert Wilson with 2 out and 2 strikes in the bottom of the ninth. It put a damper on what was otherwise a very good week for the 7th place Dynamos -who won 8 straight prior to the blowout loss. Boston extended it's lead to 5.5 games on the second place Washington Eagles, who are just 19-20 since the all-star break. Washington is on a hot streak in comparison to the free-falling Chicago Chiefs, who have won just 14 of 38 contests since the mid-July showcase. The Chiefs are now 7.5 games back and heading in the wrong direction: Code: CHIEFS WINNING PCT. BY MONTH April - .888 May - .562 June - .538 July - .433 August - .428 The Philadelphia Keystones had been the hottest team of late but after taking 3 of 4 from both St Louis and Chicago, the Keystones went into Detroit and promptly dropped 4 straight games before splitting a doubleheader with the last place Gothams yesterday. Cincinnati continues to lead the way in the Continental Association after claiming victory in 3 games of their big 4 game showdown with the then-second place Cougars in Chicago. The Cougars had an awful week at home, falling twice to Toronto and once to Philadelphia and are now third. It was a case of bad breaks for Chicago and a lack of timely hitting as three of their 5 losses last week were in extra-innings and two others by a single run. That was also the story in Cincinnati, where the Cannons - aside from their strong showing in the Windy City- dropped a pair of games to both New York and Montreal. Three of the Cannons 5 losses were by just a single run. With a 9-3 record on their current road trip, including taking 3 of 4 in Chicago, the Toronto Wolves are very much still in the Continental pennant picture. The Wolves leapfrogged Chicago last week to take over second place - 4.5 games back of Cincinnati. 8/16/43 9-0 Win In what has become a rare Monday game on the schedule the Minutemen called upon Ed Wood to take the mound against the Pioneers for the third game of their series in St. Louis. Wood, like he has been many times before this season, was masterful. Ed picked up his 18th win of the season by pitching a complete game, five hit shutout. Pete Day and Chick Donnelly, some of the usual suspects, were the offensive catalysts for the Minutemen. Bill Van Ness also added a solo home run in the fourth off of St. Louis starter Jasper Moore. 8/17/43: 12-4 Loss Having already secured a series split, Boston was looking to take three out of four from the Pioneers and tasked 14 game winner Duke Hendricks with the assignment. As solid as Hendricks has been throughout the season this was not his game. Duke couldn’t even get out of the first inning and was pulled after five hits and eight earned runs. Although the Minutemen hammered out 12 team hits of their own, they could not muster enough offense to close the first inning hole they dug for themselves. Danny Hern picked up his 10th win of the year for the Pioneers and they celebrated hits from pretty much every player in their lineup. Ol’ Doc should be happy with a series split against a hot St. Louis club but that last game left a really bad taste in his mouth. Hopefully, it is just a small bump in the road and the boys take time to reflect and re-energize themselves on the long train ride to New York. As the train pulls into New York’s Central Station Ol’ Doc is reminiscing on all of the times this particular trip would have been a nightmare for one of those hapless Boston squads of the 20’s and 30’s. To be more specific actually, from 1918-1940 the club would finish no higher than third position and that happened all of four times. During that same time period the Gothams would win five pennants and one world title. New York had an especially good run from 30-35 where they would feast on some pretty bad Boston clubs. Of course, you probably do not need Ol’ Doc to sing the Gothams praises because when they are winning they like to remind the whole world of the fact. When they aren’t though this city can forget they even have a team….or three. Safe to say that Ol’ Doc hates this whole damn city and will confine himself to the hotel bar for the duration of this four game trip. 8/18/43: 2-1 Win The first game of this series featured a very unlikely pitching duel between Paul Richardson for Boston and Les Harris of New York. Although the Minutemen outhit the Gothams 10-4 in this game it was New York that took a 1-0 lead into the eight inning. It was at that point where Harris maybe hit his limit as he walked back to back hitters with one out and then fell behind in the count to Chick Donnelly. Chick, who had four hits in the game, would tie the game up with a single to right chasing Harris from the contest. Sam Hodge would come into the game for the Gothams and promptly give up an RBI single to Art Spencer adding a second earned run to Harris on the afternoon. That would be all the scoring in this one as Johnny Harry would pitch a scoreless ninth inning picking up save number 15 on the season. 8/19/43: 5-3 Loss In a recent publication Ol’ Doc elaborated on the up and down efforts of SP Joe Sargent. Coming off of a dazzling performance last Sunday against St. Louis, Joe was probably in line for a clunker against the Gothams. He definitely delivered in that regard. Sargent could not get out of the sixth inning and his final line was five earned on eight hits with six walks. With a line like that it was shocking that the final score was only 5-3. Fred Pecora and Leon Drake accounted for all of the Gotham RBI’s in the win. 8/20/43: 9-2 Win Game three was Boston’s chance to lay the hammer on a New York starter and that starter was Roy Helland. Roy held his own for the first three innings but the Minutemen busted things open with a five run fourth thanks in part to Bill Moore’s two run triple. Moore would also add a home run in the seventh and Chick Donnelly would add three hits as well. Boston starter Walt Wells would pick up win number nine on the year going eight strong giving up a single earned run. The win would give the Minutemen a guaranteed series split with the opportunity to take three of four with a win tomorrow. 8/21/43: 6-5 (11) Win Both Ed Wood (Bos) and Rusty Petrick (NY) did not have their best stuff early in this one. Boston would be the first team to score with a two run second thanks in part to a Harry Barrell triple. New York would answer right back in the bottom of the frame with a solo shot from 2B Archie McCarty who picked a fine time to hit only his second home run of the year. Things would get worse for Boston as the Gothams scored two more runs in the bottom of the third to take a 3-2 lead. The score would hold until the sixth where a couple of walks and a two run single from Chick Donnelly would allow Boston to retake the lead 4-3. Boston would call upon Johnny Harry to finish off the Gothams but back to back doubles by Leonardo Magana and Walt Messer would tie the game sending it into extra innings. As the game moved to the 11th Sam Hodge was now on the mound for the Gthams when their defense fell apart allowing the Minutemen to plate two unearned runs. Walt Messer would hit a homer in the bottom of the 11th but that was as close as the Gothams would get as Boston would escape with a hard fought albeit lucky victory. Ol’ Doc considers four days of awful hotel food and cheap water cut whiskey a small price to pay for a 3-1 series victory. Ol’ Doc looks forward to seeing his old buddy Freddie Farhat in Detroit as he is very generous with his whiskey……. and it is never cut. 8/22/43: Game 1: 4-3 (11) Loss; Game 2: 21-0 Win Only in baseball can you trade your best hitter and then rattle off seven straight wins not long after. This is the exact scenario the Minutemen found themselves in as they would continue their month long road trip to Detroit. Ol’ Doc believes the Minutemen were silently hoping for some easy wins over both New York and Detroit who are both sitting in the cellar of the FA standings. Even though Boston was able to take 3 of four from New York the wins were anything but easy. Now the Minutemen had to take on the hottest team in baseball. The lesson here is, nothing is easy or a given in the FABL. Boston would send Duke Hendricks to the mound who was well rested after his drubbing in New York. Detroit would counter with Fred Radcliffe who was looking to push the Dynamo win streak to eight games. Offensively Boston did the job with four doubles among their 12 hits on the afternoon, yet they still found themselves in a 3-3 tie after nine innings. Fred Radcliffe, who showed remarkable stamina, harkening back to an earlier era where such things were commonplace, had to pitch around a leadoff double by Pete Day in the top of the 11th. Radcliffe would intentionally walk the red hot Chick Donnelly and then get a foul pop out by Jack Flint and a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Harry Barrell to end the threat. A two out single from Woody Quartey in the bottom half of the inning off of Clarence Linden would seal the victory for the Dynamos. Lost in the sauce of the game two thumping that would make the Boston Americans football team proud was the one hitter pitched by Paul Richardson. Richardson was a single out from a no-hitter when CF Bert Wilson had the audacity to break things up. It was probably the only thing that Detroit got right on this day. Detroit pitching would give up 21 runs on 17 hits with 6 errors defensively. Ol’ Doc took pity on his old pal Freddie Farhat who was particularly indulged by the end of the contest with some encouraging words along the lines of “these things happen every once in a while” Freddie’s semi sarcastic reply was “I’m not sure this has ever happened”. Thinking back Ol’ Doc thinks Freddie may have a point. Believe it or not the Minutemen once again managed to NOT hit a home run even though they seemed to be able to do everything else offensively. One particular statistic of note was the nine RBI’s by Chick Donnelly which tied the FABL single game record. Donnelly becomes just the fourth player ever to have a 9-rbi game in FABL joining a pair of Detroiters in Ed Watley (1896) and Cy Lynch (1924) along with former Brooklyn Kings third baseman John Langille, who turned the trick in 1934. In other news the second place Eagles posted a 2-7 week to allow the Minutemen to stretch their FA division lead to 5.5 games. With a day off on Monday the Minutemen will continue their three game series against Detroit. Then it will be two more off days for travel and rest before they finish the road trip in Philadelphia with a four game set. 1944 DRAFT PREVIEW PART III: HIGH SCHOOL PITCHERS A year ago when we looked at the top prospects for the 1944 draft a pair of high school arms, along with college pitcher Carl Fritz stood out. One of those high schoolers was Lee Ahlstrom, a player OSA thought could one day be a top of the rotation arm. Ahlstrom had solid season but OSA's opinion has dropped on him. The other one was Jack Entringer, a Michigan native who had a solid season but certainly not as good as his sophomore campaign. Entringer still projects to be one of the better high school arms available but he has fallen behind three others who emerged following terrific junior seasons. Here is a look at those three and the rest of our top ten High School pitchers available for the 1944 draft. 1: ROY SCHAUB - RHP - St Joseph's HS, Philadelphia: 13-0, 0.41, 242 K, 17 BB - It is hard to envision a scenario where Schaub does not go #1 overall. A three year starter at his Philadelphia High School, Schaub was the Adwell Award winner this past spring after posting a season for the ages. His 0.12 FIP was the second lowest ever recorded, only surpassed by Hiram Steinberg's amazing 0.00 FIP in 1940. Schaub did set a post-feeder era record with 242 strikeouts and for pitcher WAR with an 11.2. Only Steinberg's 10.1 in 1940 reached double-digits prior to Schaub. OSA calls him a "future #1 starter". 2: RICK DIXON - RHP- Honey Brook (PA)HS: 11-0, 1.40, 157 K, 35 BB -[ Dixon has been very impressive in two seasons of high school ball. OSA says an great change-up and excellent forkball highlight his four-pitch repertoire and sees him as having #2 starter potential. 3: BERT ROGERS -LHP- Wenona (IL) HS: 11-1, 1.04, 160 K, 25 BB - The Chicago born lefthander is a real worm killer with plenty of movement on his pitches. Perhaps not a #1 starter, but OSA sees Rogers ending up "near the top of any major league rotation." 4: JACK ENTRINGER - RHP - Bay City (MI) HS: 7-2, 2.11, 106 K, 35 BB - Certainly a step back from his outstanding 9-0, 0.78 sophomore campaign, one in which Entringer was ranked #2 among high school arms in our report last August. He dipped a little as a junior but OSA still projects the 17 year old as a "solid mid-rotation starter with three solid pitches." 5: ANDY MacFARLAND -RHP - Spring City (PA) HS: 7-3, 2.06, 117 K, 26 BB -Quite a crop of pitchers coming out of the Philadelphia area with McFarland certainly being a step down from Schaub and Dixon but still a possible first round candidate. He has great size at 6'5" and one would expect McFarland will add some speed to his fastball, which tops out at 88 mph presently. OSA feels he is a 5th starter. 6: LEE AHLSTROM - RHP - Harmony (MN) HS: 11-2, 1.92, 169 K, 46 BB - A year ago OSA was calling Ahlstrom a future number one starter and comparing him with fellow Minnesota high school graduates Donnie and Johnnie Jones. He was the top prospect when we looked at the list a year ago but now, despite a decent season, OSA feels that while Ahlstrom has the tools to start, "more than five innings may empty his tank if he's being read well." His work ethic has been questioned and perhaps that is a factor in OSA's downgrading of Ahlstrom, but we feel he will still likely draw first round interest. 7: GEORGE HENDERSON - LHP- Roosevelt HS, Oakland, CA: 9-3, 1.38, 174 K, 24 BB- The tree starter at Roosevelt High in Oakland had a big season as a junior to catch the attention of scouts. He has an excellent circle change as the best of his 4 pitches and peaked at 92 mph last season. OSA feels he should fit into the back end of a FABL rotation once he matures. 8: VIRGIL HARRIS - RHP - Christopher (IL) HS: 4-0, 0.97, 87 K, 10 BB - Born in Boston but grew up in the midwest, Harris made his high school debut this past season as a junior. Did not pitch a lot but OSA sees him finding a spot in the back-end of a big league rotation one day. 9: RON BERRY - LHP - Elm Springs (AK) HS: 9-0, 0.94, 176 K, 23 BB -After seeing limited starts as a sophomore, Berry had a breakout season his junior year and earned a spot on the High School All-American team. Undersized at 5'7", 135 lbs, the 17 year old does not throw hard and OSA feels there are concerns about whether his lack of control will be a problem. He certainly had no issues as a high school player but OSA does not see his skills translating to big league ball. 10: AL ROBISON- RHP - North Smithfield (RI) HS: 7-1, 1.59, 111 K, 30 BB. There could be as many as three Rhode Island high school players drafted in the January with Robison and the two Warwick High School players in infielder Leo Warren and outfielder Paul Caissie. As for Robison, OSA does not expect a lot from him but says he is one of a number of pitchers in this draft class who might vie for a depth starting spot. HONOURABLE MENTION George Brown RHP, Kenmore HS, Akron, Oh, 5-4, 1.88, 106 K, 26 BB George Polk LHP Sanbornton (NH) HS, 6-1, 1.44, 100 K, 13 BB Lonnie Sis RHP Winnebago (MN) HS, 4-0, 1.28, 69 K, 16 BB Bill Slappy RHP Villisca (IA) HS, 5-0, 1.85, 87 K, 28 BB Walt Staton RHP Emmitsburg (MD) HS, 6-0, 1.25, 76 K, 13 BB Pryor Stone RHP Boys Latin HS, Baltimore, MD :8-2, 2.47, 128 K, 48 BB Next up in our Draft Preview, TWIFB will post a mock first round. Will the real Red Johnson please stand up? -Gothams fans are wondering when they’ll see the feared slugger of years past. Sure it’s only been 18 games, but Johnson has continued the dismal performance he showed in Detroit this season. If anything he’s slumped further in the power department. So far Red is at .246/.346/.362 for the Gothams. Fans aaa few whispering that maybe they’ve received damaged goods. Surely the Messer/Johnson combo should be more dynamic. I’d advise caution. Red is having a down year. No doubt affected by playing for two poor teams and the shocking mid season trade. I believe that 1944 will show us the true Red Johnson. * BOWMAN CAN'T CATCH A BREAK * Ed Bowman throws 10.2 innings of shutout ball but can't get the win in eventual 1-0 victory for the team. Last two starts 0 ER in 19.2 innings. A year ago Ed was getting decent run support, 3.8 runs per game as an average over his 34 starts. This year? Just 2.2 and third lowest in FABL as only the Stars Billy Riley and Chuck Wirtz of Toronto have received less support. That certainly explains his 10-12 record on the season compared to 23-8 a year ago. Not much change in his ERA - in fact it is slightly better than last season at 2.33 I'm hearing news around the Gothams offices that the team may promote AAA 3B Eddie Ziehl when rosters expand in September. The son of Gothams legend and manager Ed Ziehl, is now 25 and doesn't appear that he will ever truly be a major league regular. The younger Ziehl is hitting .227 at AAA Toledo in only 12 games. With the possibility that Eddie may join the military after the season, the team appears ready, in this lost season, to reward the Ziehl's for their lifelong dedication to the team. When asked about the possibility of being joined in New York by his son, the elder Ziehl commented, "I really have nothing to add to that speculation. Sure it would be a thrill to see him out there in a Gothams uniform. If it happens, I'd like him to wear #5." Now wouldn't that be a bit of nostalgia for the Gothams faithful, to see Ziehl - 5 out on the field again. TALES FROM THE WOLVES DEN The Toronto Wolves 9-4 record thus far on the 23 game road trip is about where they hoped to be in this critical juncture of the season. Three wins in extras this week were a big help towards the goal. Those three wins brought the Wolves season record to 7-2 in extended games for the season. Their record in one-run games is now 23-11 with the second FABL best road record of 38-25, trailing only Cincinnati who are 39-24. Both these are a reversal of 1942 where road or close game wins were hard to come by for Toronto. Toronto remains within shouting distance of the Cannons, hope to remain no worse than 4 1/2 games back finishing the last 10 games of the road trip. The New York Gothams are just 13-24 since the all-star break- worst in either association. Red Johnson (.246,2,7) has not been anywhere near as dominant as had been hoped hitting behind Walt Messer in the Gothams lineup. Al Tucker of St Louis hit .310 last week holding on to the Fed batting lead while Joe Watson of the Chiefs has a horrible week dropping to fifth in the batting race. The Pioneers went 4-4 and remain 4 games above .500 but they need a winning streak if they are going to make a pennant push. BOSTON AMERICANS TO FACE ALL-STARS There will be football this week as the AFA champion Boston Americans are set to face a team of college all-stars in a game slated for Evanston, Illinois. The college stars will be led by 3-sport athlete Pat Chappell of St Magnus. The senior is the quarterback of the Vikings grid squad and was an All-Great Lakes Alliance performer as a basketballer after helping the St Magnus hardwood five to the national title game last spring. Chappell also plays in the outfield for the Vikings baseball team. * PRO GRID CLUBS TO CARRY 28 * Having reviewed the manpower situation last week, the American Football Association has increased the player limit from 25 to 28. The circuit also was motivated by worries over what the new draft of fathers might do to team personnel. The standard of 25 was set at last April's meeting. Some of the owners had recently sought to have the limit boosted to 33 or 35, but others held it would put an unnecessary burden on transportation facilities. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 8/22/1943 Allied fliers continue nightly bombing runs with Milan and Berlin key targets to start the week while Turin bore the brunt of the attacks to end it. It is believed last week's meeting between FDR and Churchill in Quebec was to formalize plans for an invasion of France across the English Channel. Those suspicions are confirmed when the Allies warn the French to prepare for invasion in a broadcast later in the week. A surprise move in the Solomons deals a serious blow to Japan's grip. American soldiers and marines captured Bella Lavella Island in the northwest and places the Yanks within 70 miles from Japanese strongholds on the northernmost island. It was followed quickly by a massive air raid that wrecked a Japanese fleet of 170 planes and cancelled enemy plans for a counter-offensive in New Guinea. Allied forces also have retaken Kiska Island, as the Japanese fled without a fight just as a large American armada approached the Aleutians. President Roosevelt has authorized the immediate drafting for military duty for any strikers in war industry, as well has the imposition of harsh penalties against unions and employers failing to comply with War Labor Board orders. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 08-23-2022 at 02:56 PM.