NOVEMBER 1, 1943
MINERS NAB LEITZKE TO FILL BENCH BOSS ROLE
The Pittsburgh Miners have signed veteran skipper Hank Leitzke to fill their vacant managerial post. The 66 year old long-time manager has plenty of big league experience, serving in the past as the manager of the Cleveland Foresters, Chicago Cougars and most recently the Toronto Wolves. He takes over for Dan Andrew, who announced his retirement last month.
Leitzke had a brief playing career as a pitcher and did win 29 games for the Cougars in 1898. However, Leitzke is far better known for his post-playing career, which began in 1914 when he was named manager of the Kansas City Packers of the Century League. He would spent 14 season in Kansas City, winning a pennant in 1925, and is 4th all-time in career Century League wins by a manager. He them moved to Cincinnati and won back to back titles guiding the Union League Steamers before he was promoted to the parent Cleveland Foresters in 1930.
Leitzke's stay in Cleveland lasted 3 and a half seasons before he was fired just 19 games into the 1933 campaign. He would spend half a year managing the Chicago Cougars in 1934 after Dick Pozza was fired and then caught on with the Toronto Wolves in 1935. He would lead the Wolves to a World Championship Series title in 1940 but was fired that off-season following some confrontations with players and upper management. Leitzke has been out of the game since 1940 but now gets another chance with the Miners, who are coming off their worst season in a decade. Leitzke is 678-719 all-time as a big league manager. It should be noted that the final game Leitzke managed, was against the Miners as Toronto beat Pittsburgh in 5 games in the 1940 series.
WOLVES PROMOTE CALL FROM BUFFALO TO REPLACE REED
The Toronto Wolves have decided to promote from within as they elected to name Bob Call their new manager as a replacement for Charlie Reed, who announced his retirement at the end of the season. Call, 51, will be making his big league debut as Toronto's skipper next April. He got his start in the old feeder system with Denver High School before joining the Wolves organization in 1935. He has managed at 3 levels for the Wolves including the past three seasons at AAA Buffalo, guiding the Nickels to a 73-67 record and a third place finish in the Union League last season.
Reports out of Toronto suggests the Wolves had considered bringing Hank Leitzke, who managed the club to it's 1940 WCS title, back in the fold and also considered handing the reigns to Wolves bench coach Dick Dennis before deciding Call was the right man for the job. Dennis has been the Toronto bench coach since 1937, working under Leitzke and Charlie Reed, and is expected to continue in the same role with Call.
- FABL GM's are left waiting for the inevitable. The draft has now expanded to include pre-Pearl Harbor fathers so it is just a matter of time before FABL players start getting the call to report for military training. So far so good as, aside from Cougars minor leaguer Ray Powell, no pro ballplayers have been added to the Army since the WCS ended. But you just have a feeling that is about to change, and quite likely it will be a drastic change.
- A minor trade was made last week as the New York Gothams added second baseman Eddie Curtis from the Cougars organization in exchange for a 7th round draft pick. The move is clearly an effort to add depth to a depleted middle infield in New York, after the Gothams lost both second baseman Roosevelt Brewer and shortstop Mule Monier to the war effort a year ago. The 25 year old Curtis was a 1936 7th round pick who has spent most of his career in the minors, but he did play 21 games over the past two seasons with Chicago, batting .244 during that stretch.
- At first glance one would think the Cannons organization did a favor for former Scouting Director Rufus Barrell in claiming 30 year old outfielder Rufus Daniels off waivers from Brooklyn. Daniels is the son of long-time OSA bird-dog Possum Daniels and was named after the patriarch of the Barrell family. However, that is not so according to Cincinnati Assistant General Manager Red Franklin, who praised young Rufus' work ethic and knowledge of the game, calling him "a perfect example for our young prospects to follow." Young Rufus has been a career minor leaguer but did play 24 games for Brooklyn last season, batting .222. He will likely be assigned to AA Erie by the Cannons but word is the Cannons are grooming Daniels for a future role as a coach or perhaps following in his fathers footsteps into the scouting business.
WILDCATS WIN WESTERN SHOWDOWN
In the game that might well determine who prevails in the AFA Western Division the Chicago Wildcats held off the Detroit Maroons 14-10. The Chicago win, keyed by a 192 yard passing day from Gus Brown and Marsh Schroeder's 59 yards rushing and an additional 87 yards on 9 catches, improves the Wildcats Western Division leading record to 4-2 on the season. Detroit slips to 3-3-1 and the Maroons hopes of ending Chicago's 2-year run atop the division are in jeopardy.
Pittsburgh, which is the only team besides Chicago or Detroit to win the Western Division since the two-division format began in 1933, is also in the mix. The Paladins head into the Windy City for a key matchup with the front-running Wildcats next Sunday on a 3-game winning streak. Pittsburgh beat Brooklyn 24-10 yesterday to even it's record at 3-3. The Paladins do look to be a much different team from the one that was blasted 46-0 at home by Chicago in their season opener.
Del Thomas threw a pair of touchdown passes including the game winner - a 13 yard strike to Craig Martins in the final minute- to lift Boston to a 14-7 win over the combined Philadelphia-St Louis entry. The win improves the defending AFA champs record to 5-1, best in either division. In Sunday's other contest Jerry McElheny ran for a pair of touchdowns to pace the New York Stars to a 24-0 win over Cleveland at the Bigsby Oval.
Code:
AFA STANDINGS
EASTERN W L T PCT
Boston 5 1 0 .833
Phil-StL 2 2 0 .500
New York 2 3 0 .400
Brooklyn 1 3 0 .250
WESTERN W L T PCT
Chicago 4 2 0 .667
Detroit 3 3 1 .500
Pittsburgh 3 3 0 .500
Cleveland 1 4 1 .200
AFA SCHEDULE AND RESULTS
Sunday October 31
Pittsburgh 24 Brooklyn 10
New York 24 Cleveland 0
Chicago 14 Detroit 10
Boston 14Phil-StL 7
Sunday November 7
Phil-StL at New York
Cleveland at Boston
Pittsburgh at Chicago
Brooklyn at Detroit
Code:
AFA LEADERS
SCORING PTS
Vaught, Det 65
Littlejohn, Bos 37
McElheny, NY 36
PASSING COMP-ATT YDS TD INT
G Brown, Chi 74-138 1012 14 14
D Thomas, Bos 96-187 1011 11 11
Orlosky, Det 48-123 677 5 13
Sevier, Cle 48-112 619 2 24
RUSHING YDS TD
Orlosky, Det 583 2
D Davis, PhS 434 2
Schroeder, Chi 350 0
McElheny, NY 339 6
Milatz, NY 306 0
RECEIVING CAT TD
Vaught, Det 36 6
Martins, Bos 27 3
Sutcliffe, Cle 21 0
Schroeder, Chi 21 2
Littlejohn, Bos 20 6
INERCEPTIONS #
Coleman, Det 6
Vaught, Det 6
D Thomas, Bos 6
G Brown, Chi 6
There are now only 9 schools remaining with a perfect record. Among the unbeaten, untied teams are four independent schools in Wisconsin Catholic, Penn Catholic, Pittsburgh State and San Francisco Tech. All are 6-0 as are Northern California and Alexandria. The Generals, who went just 2-6-1 a year ago, stayed perfect with 30-7 win Saturday over Eastern State, which dropped the now 4-1 Monitors from the ranks of the unbeaten.
We also have Provo Tech (4-0), Minnesota Tech (5-0) and George Fox University (7-0) still in contention for an unbeaten and untied season. The Reds, who lead the Academia Alliance a year after going 4-4 and finishing in the middle of the section, are a perfect example of a team who's roster has been bolstered with the addition of Naval student-sailors. The Reds nipped conference rival Grafton 17-14 on Saturday.
standings
WEEKEND RESULTS
Wisconsin Catholic 37 Mile High State 7
Minnesota Tech 19 St. Magnus 6
St. Blane 23 Annapolis Maritime 3
Noble Jones College 21 Alabama A&T 21
Pierpont 41 Rome State 7
Northern California 21 Coastal California 0
Coast Guard 28 Ellery 7
Brunswick 19 Henry Hudson 6
George Fox 17 Grafton 14
Georgia Baptist 41 Carolina Poly 17
Detroit City College 7 Lincoln 0
Pittsburgh State 21 Edgerton-Phillips 3
Whitney College 17 Wisconsin State 13
Red River State 19 College of Waco 16
San Francisco Tech 38 Golden Gate University 12
San Diego Navy 24 CC Los Angeles 0
Daniel Boone College 31 College of Omaha 0
North Carolina Tech 40 Charleston Tech 0
Oklahoma City State 30 Iowa A&M 20
Baton Rouge State 10 Georgia Pre-Flight 9
Bliss College 20 Great Lakes Navy 16
St. Patrick's 10 Empire State 6
Central Ohio 23 Indiana A&M 7
Fort Riley 10 Iowa Pre-Flight 3
Lawrence State 7 Eastern Kansas 3
Amarillo Methodist 14 Bayou State 3
March Field 19 Golden Gate University Pre-Flight 14
Maryland State 31 Greenville Field 10
Huntington State 28 Liberty College 7
Columbia Military Academy 24 Charleston Coast Guard 0
Payne State 6 Killeen State 3
Texas Gulf Coast 14 Travis College 9
Darnell State 21 Arkansas A&T 3
Penn Catholic 10 Sadler 7
Alexandria 30 Eastern State 7
Coastal State 41 Cowpens State 15
PRESEASON TOP TWENTY FIVE UNVEILED
The preseason rankings have been released in advance of the opening of the 1943-44 college basketball season. Rainier College is the defending National Champion but according to the newspaper pollsters it is the Majestics West Coast Athletic Association rivals from Coastal California that are the top team in the nation.
The Dolphins finished last season with a 25-6 record and tied Rainier College for top spot in the WCAA with a 12-4 conference mark. They were the top seed in the West for last season's championship tournament and beat Valley State in the opening round but fell to Whitney College by a single point in the regional semi-finals. They are led by coach Dick Gist, who is in his second season with the Los Angeles school after previously being the head man at Noble Jones College and Brunswick.
Despite the loss of third team All-American Richard McEachern to graduation and freshman Kenny Sherman, who was tabbed to replace McEachern but has departed the school to join the Marines, Coastal California still possesses a very deep roster. Their guard tandem of junior Morgan Melcher and senior Daniel Hendon may be the best backcourt duo in the country and while the Dolphins have never won the National Tournament, they have also never missed the post-season field of 32 and have reached the National Semi-Finals 13 times including 3 years ago when they reached the title game only to come up short against Brooklyn State.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 10/31/1943
- Tens of thousands of Nazis fled for their lives as powerful Russian armies crumbled the whole Axis southern Ukrainian front, smashing forward at a pace that gave promise of rolling the enemy back to Rumania and Poland by the end of the year.
- Source in Rome say that German forces in that city are trying to pressure the Vatican to help arrange a negotiated peace that would circumvent the Allied demand for unconditional surrender and spare Axis leaders from punishment for war crimes.
- The Pope also announced he intends to stay in Rome, a statement believed to inform the world that if he does leave his Papal seat it will only because he is forced to do so.
- Rommel has been given supreme command over Axis forces in Italy and the Balkans following a clash that resulted in the recall of Marsal Kesselring, former German commander in southern Italy.
- Emperor Hirohito of Japan, in one of his rare declarations on the progress of the war, calls the present situation 'truly grave,' and called upon the Japanese legislators to fulfill their duties by passing 14 sweeping bills mobilizing Japan for total war.