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The Offseason as we head into 1942.
The off-season was fairly quiet for the Dynamo’s but the call ups of players were starting to take effect. Before we start to list who was going to war, there was strangely no trade activity that came from the Dynamo’s. The club had been so active in previous seasons but didn't make a deal through the end of the year. The club did DFA SS Floyd Briscoe who wasn’t very good even when he was healthy. Briscoe was reclaimed by his former club the NY Stars (CA).
War time call ups
2B Johnnie Sundberg, RF Bob Miller, SP Paul Grell, RP Frank Gordon, SP Ed Whetzel, SS Ernie Brown, C Lou Bennett RP Jack Snyder. So far no huge names but still 2 young SP’s, our saves leader from 41, promising young RF Miller and stabilizing 2B Johnnie Sundberg. Other teams lost far bigger pieces, but still these guys made up a young core we were hoping to add too, not take away.
We also DFA SS John Wood who was just terrible at bat and in the field in 41. He was claimed off waivers by Washington. We signed a slew of minor league free agents, but nobody that amounted to much.
The first part of the 1942 draft was held in early January. It was fairly uneventful as we drafted a high school 2B by the name of Bob Schmelz and then C Crab Crowley who has a great first name but hasn’t done much else. Schmelz was drafted 11th overall and we probably should have fired our scouting director over that one.
As we moved into spring training prior to the 1942 season, we still didn’t make any serious additions to the club. We DFA LF Roy Moore who was grabbed by PIttsburgh. C Mike Burkholder was also claimed by Pittsburgh. 1B Gene Mathews and 2B Dale Robbins were also DFA and picked up by CA’s Philadelphia Sailors and NY Stars respectively.
Despite the losses we still felt that with our pitching staff hopefully coming back strong from injury (Crawford and Gonzales in particular) and the Red Johnson and Sal Pestilli show that we would still be a serious contender. Most felt that way but were not picking us to win it all. The national scouting service of the FABL predicted Detroit to finish 7th……WHAT? Are they out of their mind…7th? Well as you will see maybe Dan Barrell and the OSA scouting service knew something that we didn’t.
1942 Regular Season
Despite the reports from the OSA predictions, the mood in Detroit was still extremely high. The club had a good core group of players. But things got messed up in a hurry.
In May, SP Frank Crawford who had won the Allen Award in 1939 went on the shelf for 2+ months with a badly sprained left ankle. Crawford finished the year with a highly disappointing 3-10 record with a 4.04 ERA. SP Sergio Gonzales, who had his 41 season end early due to injury with bone chips in his right elbow, was also not the same. Gonzales went down in mid-July with another elbow injury that would finish his season. When he was pitching the former All-Star didn’t look anything like his old self as he went 2-9 with an ERA over 7. Clearly he never fully recovered from his injury the previous season. SP Charlie Wheeler who had gone 54-38 with the Dynamo’s over the previous 4 seasons also did not look like himself. Wheeler scuffled to a 10-12 with a 4.70 ERA. While injuries played a huge role in the pitching performances, there were simply too many sudden changes and that cost pitching coach John Jack Johncox his job.
The only real bright spot on the pitching staff aside from the steady veteran performances of Jack Shaffner and Mike Murphy was the emergence of P Cy Sullivan. Sullivan finally lived up to some of his promise as a prospect and pitched to a 3.07 ERA in over 200 innings going 10-11. Hopefully he could continue that effort into the 1943 season.
On the offensive side of the club, it was truly a mixed bag. The Dynamo’s were once again led by CF Sal Pestilli and 1B Red Johnson, but neither had a truly great season. Johnson who had won the previous 2 Whitney Awards finished with a 283/399/866 27-92 line and Pestilli finished with a 273/306/729 18-94 season. Little did we know but it was the last game that Sal (for now) would play for the Dynamo’s as he was called to war with the US Air Force. Johnson would return for the 1943 season.
The ageless wonder 3B Frank Vance (39) was having another pretty solid season, but broke a kneecap sliding into 2nd base on a double on July 3rd and was done for the year. Vance’s leadership and bat 285/354/7426-31 in 71 games was sorely missed the remainder of the season.
At the July 31st trade deadline the previous season, the Dynamo’s surprised everyone in baseball by making a move for a former player drafted by GM DD Martin. SS George Dawson who had seen a great career was struggling with the now porous Cleveland Foresters. The Dynamo’s traded minor league 2B Jackie Potts and a 6th round draft pick for the former 1st round SS. The trade proved to be a good one for the Dynamo’s as Dawson became the everyday SS supplanting the struggling Gil London. During the 1942 season Dawson regained his All-Star form hitting 305/346/731 3-30 and playing very good defense as he returned to his previous form.
Unfortunately for the Dynamo’s the club had little else to talk about and they slumped to a 62-92 record, finishing 7th in the Federal Association 29 games out. The drop was shocking to see as in the previous 4 seasons the Dynamo’s averaged 91 wins a season.
Was it all just a fluke with injuries, or was it something far more serious in Detroit?
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