MARCH 13, 1944
DRAFT HIT MAJOR LEAGUE CLUBS START TRAINING GRINDS NEXT WEEK
FABL goes into spring training mode for its third wartime year next week with high hopes of survival despite expected and accepted drains on its manpower pool by draft boards and defense plants. While once again plenty of familiar faces have left for the war effort over the winter, there will still be enough ball players around to fill the nearly 400 big league jobs. However, 118 players who appeared in at least one game in the bigs last year are now in the armed forces and 202 others who played two seasons ago have also traded their bats for rifles. That means over the past two seasons the sport has lost the equivalent of over 13 full teams of FABL experienced players. Add in the minor leaguers are there are well over 1,200 professional baseball players serving their country.
Yet the game will continue. It will do so despite the fact the reigning Continental Association Whitney Award winner is now in the Navy. It will do so despite the fact that 14 players selected to play in last July's all-star game are now wearing a uniform of a different type. A new crop of big names will once again absent from each of the 16 training camps that open next week, but that is nothing new. Baseball is getting used to having holes to fill everywhere on the diamond, and fans are getting used to unfamiliar new names replacing their favourites. But the game will go on, teams will find enough players to put on a show. It won't be as good as perhaps in past years, but it will still be entertainment, and will still be big league baseball.
- Despite the fact there were very few college players selected in January's start to the FABL draft it appears there is no shortage of ball players in the college ranks. Not if St Blane is any indication. The Pennsylvania school, which has produced such FABL talents as Gus Goulding and Jim Lonardo, counted 105 candidates for the 1944 Fighting Saints ball team when their first practice was called yesterday. Drawing interested candidates is rarely a problem at St Blane, even with the war. Their grid team also approached 100 players for it's opening spring practice.
- Apparently baseball is still running in Japan as well, although word is the top league in that country will cut it's slate to 35 games this season.
- All this talk about a rival league to challenge the American Football Association seems at this point to be just that - talk. More details were supposed to be provided a week ago but now the initial confab for the league has been bumped until early April. The proposed league is not going to begin operations this season, but does plan on having a coast to coast presence and is expected to have its teams travel by air. Air travel certainly opens the door to California clubs, and maybe even a team from the northwest. At this stage the AFA has not indicated a desire to have its teams travel by plane.
- Great Lakes Naval and the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks will take a prominent place in the Great Lakes Alliance college grid schedule next season. The Bluejackets will play five GLA foes next season with Seahawks confirmed for two and likely to add two more to their slate next fall. The GLA is all in on football once again next season. So much so the section is considering allowing unlimited spring practice for their grid teams.
SECTION CHAMPS DECLARED AS COLLEGE HOOPS SEASON COMES TO AN END
AIAA YEAR END TOURNAMENT FIELD REVEALED TOMORROW
For the first time since 1914-15 the Rainier College Majestics were crowned kings of the West Coast Athletic Association. The Majestics closed out the section slate with 4 straight wins to finish 14-2 in WCAA play, good enough for a 2 game game bulge on second place CC Los Angeles -which led the conference a year ago. The Majestics are 26-3 on the season and one of the favourites to win the AIAA annual spring championship tournament, an event they also won last season for the second time in 4 years. The field for the AIAA tournament will be unveiled tomorrow.
Here are the champions for each of the 1st Division conferences.
ACADEMIA ALLIANCE : Sadler Bluecoats -first win since 1937-38
CALIFORNIA LEAGUE: Quaker College Bulldogs -3rd title in last 4 years
CENTRAL ATHLETIC ALLIANCE: Cleveland Tigers - first ever title
DEEP SOUTH: Alabama Baptist Panthers - 2nd straight and third in past 4 years
EASTERN EIGHT: Boston State Pirates - First win since 1933-34
GREAT LAKES ALLIANCE: Westen Iowa Canaries - first ever conference title
KEYSTONE ALLIANCE: Harrisburg State Hornets - first win since 1927-28
MIDWESTERN ASSOCIATION: Perry State College Commodores - First win since 1938-39
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE: Liberty College Bells - second win in last 3 years
PLAINS ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: Oklahoma City State Wranglers - First win since back to back titles in 1936 and 1937
ROCKY MTN ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: Boulder State Grizzlies - second win in last 3 years
SOUTH ATLANTIC CONFERENCE: North Carolina Tech Techsters - first win since 1934-35
SOUTHERN BORDER ASSOCIATION: Valley State Gunslingers - second consecutive title
SOUTHWESTERN ALLIANCE: Texas Gulf Coast Hurricanes - 4th straight title
WEST COAST ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: Rainier College Majestics - first conference title
Each of the schools list above receive automatic bids to the National Tournament. The remaining 17 spots in the 32-team field will be filled by at large berths.
Here are the final standings for the 1943-44 AIAA season
Code:
AIAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
1. Rainier College (72) 26-3 1800 1 West Coast Athletic Association
2. Western Iowa 24-6 1728 2 Great Lakes Alliance
3. North Carolina Tech 25-4 1633 3 South Atlantic Conference
4. CC Los Angeles 23-6 1605 4 West Coast Athletic Association
5. Detroit City College 21-8 1494 7 Great Lakes Alliance
6. Liberty College 24-5 1415 8 Northeast Conference
7. Coastal California 21-8 1387 6 West Coast Athletic Association
8. Chesapeake State 22-7 1250 5 South Atlantic Conference
9. Minnesota Tech 24-6 1161 11 Great Lakes Alliance
10. Annapolis Maritime 25-5 1152 14 Independent
11. Ohio Poly 23-6 1090 15 Independent
12. Indiana A&M 21-8 1077 13 Great Lakes Alliance
13. Brooklyn State 20-9 891 9 Northeast Conference
14. Whitney College 19-10 848 16 Great Lakes Alliance
15. Frankford State 22-7 846 10 Northeast Conference
16. Perry State College 23-6 765 12 Midwestern Association
17. Brookland 24-5 654 17 Independent
18. Bronx Tech 23-6 577 18 Independent
19. Sadler 23-8 487 21 Academia Alliance
20. Alabama Baptist 21-8 355 23 Deep South Conference
21. Texas Gulf Coast 23-7 352 19 Southwestern Alliance
22. Carolina Poly 21-9 271 20 South Atlantic Conference
23. Garden State 19-10 263 NR Northeast Conference
24. Troy State (NY) 22-7 209 22 Independent
25. Dickson 24-8 55 24 Academia Alliance
Others Receiving Votes:
St. Ignatius 15-14 29 Great Lakes Alliance
Lambert College 17-12 6 Midwestern Association
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 3/12/1944
- Faced with heavy pressure from US attacks, Japan is scrambling to reinforce her supply lines.
- US submarines report the sinking of 16 more Japanese vessels this week running the total to 477 Japanese merchant ships and 150 war ships sank or heavily damaged by the Navy.
- Finland and Russia are set to begin peace talks this week.
- Red Army forces continue their advance, closing in on Rumania.
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- British and American fliers attacked targets on the continent, shooting down 176 German planes and heavily bombing Berlin as well as coastal targets in France.
- The United States has asked neutral Eire to deport German and Japanese diplomats on the grounds that their presence in Eire constitutes a menace to American troops.
- One more reason why baseball elected not to train in the Deep South. Thousands of spring vacationers were marooned in Florida when their transportation home was diverted for military troop movement.
