OCTOBER 30, 1944
FABL PUTS CAP ON DRAFTEE SIGNING BONUSES
Faced with what some club magnates are calling a growing financial crisis in the sport, FABL made a drastic decision to freeze signing bonuses paid out to rookie draft picks for at least the 1945 season. In the past clubs were free to negotiate a deal with their draft choices which resulted in bonuses in excess of $20,000 paid out to many of the top draft picks. Just last July the Pittsburgh Miners shelled out $30,000 to convince 5th overall draft pick Jim Flowers to sign with the organization while the Detroit Dynamos paid in excess of $87,000 to their four first round selections.
That will be a thing of the past, at least for this year as with several teams -including Detroit prominently featured in that group- crying financial ruin FABL President Sam Belton issued a decree this week putting an end to those large bonus deals. Players also had the luxury in the past of turning down the deal and attending college instead, with them once again becoming draft eligible following their college junior or senior seasons.
Instead under the new system players will receive a strict 'slot bonus' based upon their draft position and if they refuse to sign will not be eligible for future drafts, meaning that all players will be forced to sign or risk no future in the sport. Obviously this edict has not gone over well with many young players.
Few are willing to speak publicly about it but privately players are speaking of the 'red influence' on the game and how this reeks of communism. One that did go public with his thoughts is Otis Porter of Grange College. The 20 year old well spoken college junior is nicknamed "Professor" by college teammates and is clearly upset about the rule.
"I feel the game is heading in the wrong direction as to how it treats the young players," articulated Porter. "Not that long ago there was a system where a set number of players could choose their own destination. That was taken away but at least talented high schoolers could be fairly compensated for agreeing to forfeit their college eligibility to take a chance at playing pro ball. That is gone now as well. It does not impact myself as much as the high school boys since I have my education at Grange College to fall back on should the game not work out for me. Others won't be so lucky.
"Football does it right. They won't touch high school kids. Not until they get their college education. Baseball has tempted many a teen with a few dollars and a big league dream. Now the dollars are going, leaving just the dream which unfortunately for so many fails to materialize and then they are doomed to a few years in the minor leagues before they are tossed aside and left to scratch and claw in order to make a living the rest of their lives without the benefit of a college education."
Porter stopped short of saying there should be discussions among the draftees of an open revolt, but did feel it sets a terrible precedent for baseball and worries what might be next. "Unfortunately there is little that can be done. Baseball is now holding a gun to a kid's head saying either sign now and forget about college or give up on your dream of a pro career. Not many college juniors, let alone 18 year old high school boys are equipped to stand up to FABL, so we likely are left to only hope the big leaguers will see the faults in this plan and step up to the plate to protect the next generation of players."
***MAGNATES SAY CHANGE NECESSARY ***
Most club owners refused to comment on the new draft protocol but Powell Thompson was an exception. The Detroit Dynamos magnate explained that the change, while not something the owners took lightly, was "necessary" for the survival of the league.
"Attendance is down sharply as Americans focus on what hopefully is the home stretch of the war," explained Thompson. "We barely have the money to pay our existing players anymore, and when you add in just how much our league has generated for the various Relief Funds something had to break. We want to continue to do our part for our boys overseas so it was either stop the contributions of essential supplies and things like sporting equipment for our fighting men or find another area we can make adjustments to help balance the books."
Thompson refused to comment on rumours that he, like each of the other 15 FABL owners, have each taken out hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal salary and bonuses from their club's during the past four years - suddenly 'realizing' he was late for an engagement immediately upon receipt of that particular line of questioning. Whether the change is a one or two year stopgap measure to keep FABL clubs afloat during the final years of the war, or a permanent change remains to be seen. FABL President Sam Belton is adament this is a one year change only and is necessary because of the financial impact the war has had on the sport. However, for Otis Porter and the rest of the upcoming 1945 draft class it will have a lifetime impact.
WILL THE EAGLES EVER SOAR AGAIN...OR WILL THEY FLY AWAY ENTIRELY
It may be hard to believe but 1945 will mark the twentieth anniversary since a 24 year old catcher by the name of T.R. Goins and a Hall of Fame hurler on his last legs named Big George Johnson led the Washington Eagles to the Federal Association pennant. It was a special time for baseball in nation's capital and the last of 3 pennants -and the 1923 World Championship- in a span of four years. The Eagles opened the 1910's with a similar run, claiming 3 Fed flags and a WCS win between 1910-14 but it was the 1922-25 timeframe that is remembered as the glory days of District baseball.
Goins was a rookie, a first overall draft pick, for the second title and Johnson joined at the tail end of his career from Boston for the 1925 win as well. Then there was Harry Horn -a two time 20 game winner in his mid-twenties who never duplicated that early success. Mel Wenz won 20 games as a 31 year old in '25 and then blew out his arm the following spring and never made it back to the big leagues. Only Dick Dennis, like Horn in his mid-twenties for the pennant wins, would have future success with the Eagles among the talented core of moundsmen these pennant winner possessed.
Goins, of course, became a legend, a sure-bet for the Hall of Fame one day, but there were others who rose to the occasion during the championship run. Most never amounted to much after 1925 though. First baseman George Clark hit .338 for the '24 club and .366 a year later but never approached such lofty heights again. Second sacker Jim Carreon had a career year in '23 as a 26 year old but quickly went downhill from there. None are perhaps more indicitive of what went wrong in Washington that Glenn Morrison.
Morrison joined the Eagles as a 22 year old in 1922 and by 1924 was an everyday player and one of the best hitters in the league. He hit .340 that season and .352 for the pennant winning '25 club. 1926 was even better for Morrision, wheo he batted a career best .360 and led the Fed with 36 stolen bases. He was nearly as good in '27 despite missing 5 weeks with hamstring troubles. The hamstring would flare up again the following season and despite hitting .326 in 58 games the Eagles inexplicably released him in August of that year. Portland of the Great Western League swooped in quickly and signed him before a FABL rival even had time to talk to Morrision and he spent the next decade with the Green Sox instead of the Eagles.
That was one of the many bad personnel decisions that seemed to doom the franchise to mediocrity over the ensuing two decades. There were plenty of bad draft picks, bad trades and just plain bad baseball the past twenty years. Fans nearly abandoned the team in the early 1930s when they gifted Cleveland a World Championship by dealing a 32 year old Goins -who even then was still the best catcher in baseball- for Karl Johnson, Ben Richardson and a first round draft pick that turned out to be Tommy Trott. Who knows what old Elmer Marshall had on Eagles owner William Stockdale but it must have been something big when just a couple years after the Goins trade the Foresters conned the Eagles out of Mel Carrol -less than a year removed from his historic .409 season- in a multi-player deal that saw the Stockdale side add Mel Hancok Jr and Sergio Gonzales. A very short time later Hancock and Moxie Pidgeon would go to New York and a year after that came a WCS for the Stars. So at least you can say the Eagles could help develop championship teams...just too bad it was for other organizations.
There have been a number of very good, and some great ballplayers in Washington but the club itself has been awful. Yes, bad luck has played a role but bad decisions seem to be a hallmark of a franchise that has gone through two owners, at least half a dozen General Managers and once went a year and a half without a manager. George Mark retired at the end of the 1930 season and did not get replaced until May of 1932 when Jim Cathey took the job.
With the growing demand for big league ball on the west coast, or in Houston, Milwaukee and a few other locations it seems the writing is on the wall. Sure we have a still fairly new ballpark in the half dozen year old Columbia Stadium but it may become the sole domain of the grid Wasps. Let's face it. If the Eagles do not get stable leadership and give the fans a reason to support this team it seems just a matter of time before we, like Baltimore before us, lose our ballclub. And if it does go, you can bet it will be an awful long time before FABL gives the Mid-Atlantic another shot.
CAN CANNONS MAKE IT THREE IN A ROW?
Despite it being less than three weeks since they won their second straight World Championship Series, the feeling in the Cincinnati Cannons front office is there is still much work to be done. Cannons brass won't come out and say it publicly but it is clear they have their sights set on duplicating the 1924-26 New York Stars, who are the only team in FABL history to win three straight World Championship Series.
There is a lot of competition of course, but the Cannons have a veteran team with everyone coming back except for the retired Rabbit Day. Everyone coming back is of course assuming that Selective Service will not take a big bite out of the core of this club. One thing in their favour in that regard is age. Most of Cincinnati's core group is over 30 and thus less likely to get the draft call. If the core does survive and Deuce Barrell can be anything like the pitcher he was before the devastating elbow injury of last March and it will be hard to bet against the Cannons.
***MOST UNDERRATED PLAYER IN THE GAME ****
If there is a player who garners less respect for what he contributes to his ballclub than Cannons shortstop Jim Hensley I ask you to point him out to me. Hensley has led the Continental Association in something called WAR - no, not what Hitler is waging in Europe but rather one of those crazy newfangled stats devised by Percy Sutherland's professorish nephew. Hensley is one of the best defenisve shortstops in the game and has been for the past 5 seasons. He is not a great hitter but certainly more than average for a player at his position. Despite this defensive dominance he failed to make the all-star team this year. At least he did get a few low top-ten votes in the Whitney balloting but Hensley, along with first baseman Chuck Adams - who was snubbed by the Whitney voters and finished 4th despite leading the loop in homers and rbi's- both have an axe to grind for motivation next year.
***AVIATORS GRID SQUAD FLYING HIGH ***
Great to see Central Ohio continuing to roll in AIAA grid action. At 5-0 this has been an incredible turn around even if the Aviators don't win another game when you consider they were a 2-win squad a year ago. Beating Minnesota Tech puts them in a nice position to earn their first East-West Classic appearance in over two decades but that berth will likely come down to their annual Thanksgiving week showdown with Detroit City College.
The pro Tigers might have lost three straight but it was not for lack of effort. They had a strong game in Chicago against the defending champs yesterday but came up on the short-end of a 14-9 count. One play really doomed the Tigers as after Chicago drove 80 yards for a score to go up 7-3, Tigers quarterback Mark Clauss was intercepted two plays later and the Wildcats went down and scored again. The Cincinnati offense needs some help but their defense has been very good this season for an expansion team.
- The Philadelphia Keystones continue their search for a manager following John Heydon's retirement for personal reasons immediately after the World Championship Series. Philadelphia is the only big league club presently without a skipper.
- Sounds like the Toronto Wolves are close to an agreement with Larry Vestal that will keep the recently retired outfielder in the organization. Vestal is expected to take a job as hitting coach at AA Chattanooga
- Eddie Wilson, probably the least famous of the players selected at the top half of the first round in that famous 1925 draft, is back in the professional game. Wilson, who had recently been coaching high school ball in his native Pennsylvania, has signed on as the hitting coach of the Burlington Bears: Cincinnati's class C affiliate. The 40 year old was selected 5th overall in '25 by the Pittsburgh Miners rigth in between Bill Ashbaugh and Doug Lightbody. He played just 32 big league games but did enjoy a decade of success in the independent Lone Star Association.
- Philadelphia Sailors prospect Ike Kyzar has been drafted into the Army. The 23 year old outfielder was a 1942 second round pick out of Chicago Poly and spent last season in Class B, hitting .251 for the Miami Sailors. He is not ranked among OSA's top 500 prospects.
PALADINS CHANGE-UP CATCHES DETROIT OFF GUARD
When Pittsburgh and Detroit met earlier in the season the Paladins were shutout primarily because of their inability to get the running game going against the Maroons defense. The solution on Sunday called for a little chicanery and the Paladins earned a convincing 26-7 victory as a result. The Pittsburgh plan centered around Billy Bockhorst but involved using his legs rather than his arm. Bockhorst had been coming into his own as a second year quarterback but on this day the Christian Trophy winning back was used primarily as a rusher against Detroit while Syl Tyma handled the majority of the passing chores. The result was a 116 yard rushing day for Bockhorst, that included a 77 yard touchdown scamper, while Tyma and regular ball carrier Dan McLeland added another 82 yards on the ground. Bockhorst did see some aerial action as he completed 3 passes for 41 yards including a touchdown score while Tyma also counted two touchdowns among his 20 throwing attempts. The victory moves the Pittsburgh eleven to 3-2, and just a half game back of the Western Division leading Maroons, who are 4-2 on the year but play exclusively on the road the rest of the way. Chicago is also 3-2 after the defending champs held off a game Cincinnati Tigers squad 14-9. Gus Brown threw for 152 yards for the winners.
Elsewhere, Boston used a dual passing attack as Del Thomas and Tom Griggs combined for 386 yards passing and 4 touchdowns to lead the Americans to a 33-13 win at Minutemen Stadium over the visiting combined Cleveland-St Louis ballclub. John Faulkner ran for 139 yards to lead Brooklyn to it's first win of the season as the Football Kings knocked off Washington 14-10 while in New York the visiting Philadelphia Frigates won the battle for top spot in the Eastern Division, downing the Stars 27-10 before over 52,000 fans at the Bigsby Oval.
Looking ahead to next Sunday the big game will be the always entertaining Detroit-Chicago tilt. The two rivals met in the Motor City earlier this season with the Maroons coasting to a 31-0 victory.
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AMERICAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION STANDINGS
EAST DIVISION W L T PCT
Philadelphia 3 0 1 1.000
New York 3 1 0 .750
Boston 2 2 0 .500
Washington 1 3 1 .250
Brooklyn 1 4 0 .200
WEST DIVISION W L T PCT
Detroit 4 2 0 .667
Pittsburgh 3 2 0 .600
Cincinnati 3 2 0 .600
Chicago 2 3 0 .400
Clev/StLouis 1 4 0 .200
SUNDAY'S RESULT
Philadelphia 27 New York 10
Boston 33 Clev/StL 13
Chicago 14 Cincinnati 9
Brooklyn 14 Washington 10
Pittsburgh 26 Detroit 7
UPCOMING GAMES
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 5
Pittsburgh at Clev/StLouis
Cincinnati at Boston
Philadelphia at Brooklyn
Detroit at Chicago
Washington at New York
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AFA LEADERS
SCORING PTS
Vaught, Det 61
Littlejohn, Bos 40
LaPage, Phi 36
McElheny, NY 30
Owen, Det 24
Milatz, NY 24
PASSING COMP-ATT YDS TD INT
Coleman, Det 47-111 682 7 14
Bockhorst, Pit 32-89 596 2 7
D Thomas, Bos 54-98 591 3 7
Griggs, Bos 34-54 463 8 3
G Brown, Chi 36-80 450 4 12
RUSHING YDS TD
Faulkner, Bkn 397 1
McElheny, NY 387 5
Scharfenberg, Det 319 2
Schepis, ClSL 317 1
Bockhorst, Pit 299 1
RECEIVING CAT TD
Vaught, Det 38 7
Douglas, Was 23 3
Littlejohn, Bos 22 6
Martins, Bos 21 2
Hooper, Bkn 19 2
M McLean, Cin 19 1
INERCEPTIONS #
Sutcliffe, ClSL 6
Benjamin, Phi 4
Renton, Det 4
Norden, ClSL 4
ANNAPOLIS MARITIME FALLS TO PIERPONT
Dreams of a perfect season are over for Annapolis Maritime after the Navigators were upset 16-14 by Pierpont with a late field goal proving the different. The loss likely ends the Naval Academy's hopes for a National Championship as their record drops to 4-1 and there are still six teams with a perfect record on the season. Those six include Central Ohio, which ran it's record to 5-0 with a 41-3 drubbling of Great Lakes Alliance rival Minnesota Tech. Rome State is also 5-0 after smashing Carolina Poly 50-7 as is fellow independent St Blane although the Fighting Saints barely escaped with a 31-29 win over Lincoln. Noble Jones College, which won the National Title two years ago, is also very much in the mix after the Colonels downed Bayou State 21-7 in Deep South Conference play. Rounding out the unbeaten, untied teams are Eastern Oklahoma, which narrowly topped Payne State 27-24 Saturday and Rainer College, which downed Northern California 23-14.
Here is a look at the results and remaining games for the 7 teams who have yet to lose or tie. There is always a chance Annapolis Maritime or a team like Alabama Baptist (4-0-1) could sneak in and claim the national title but it will take losses from most, if not all, of these seven schools listed below.
WEEKEND RESULTS
Rome State 50 Carolina Poly 7
St. Blane 31 Lincoln 29
Central Ohio 41 Minnesota Tech 3
Pierpont 16 Annapolis Maritime 14
Commonwealth Catholic 28 St. Pancras 17
Frankford State 21 Conwell College 17
Henry Hudson 13 Empire State 9
Ellery 17 Grafton 10
Detroit City College 16 Whitney College 0
Wisconsin State 24 Great Lakes Navy 21
Indiana A&M 60 Western Iowa 0
Noble Jones College 21 Bayou State 7
Western Florida 24 Maryland State 20
Alabama Baptist 17 Central Kentucky 9
Georgia Baptist 37 Georgia Pre-Flight 0
Travis College 14 Red River State 3
Baton Rouge State 31 Texas Gulf Coast 7
Rainier College 23 Northern California 14
Huntington State 14 Liberty College 9
Coastal California 28 Golden Gate University 0
Cumberland 16 Coastal State 7
St. Ignatius 42 Dearborn State 14
Cowpens State 17 Miami State 16
Charleston Coast Guard 10 Columbia Military Academy 7
Canyon A&M 21 College of Waco 10
CC Los Angeles 20 Alameda Coast Guard 10
South Plains Field 23 Amarillo Field 20
Mississippi A&M 19 Arkansas A&T 14
Mile High State 36 Cache Valley 3
Lambert College 31 Crete (NE) 17
Iowa A&M 41 Eastern Kansas 3
Lubbock Field 24 Fort Bliss 0
Daniel Boone College 41 College of Omaha 23
Elmhurst College 20 Bigsby College 10
Charleston Tech 20 Richmond State 9
Oklahoma City State 31 Amarillo Methodist 3
Eastern Oklahoma 27 Payne State 24
Pittsburgh State 31 Chatham Field 13
Randolph Field 44 Morris Field 7
Darnell State 47 Travis-Fort Worth 0
Provo Tech 28 Kit Carson University 16
Eastern State 34 Alexandria 7
George Fox 24 Irondequoit 0
Lincoln Field 31 Fort Warren 23
Coast Guard 17 St. Patrick's 7
Edmonton Field 24 Snake River State 3
Iowa Pre-Flight 44 Wisconsin Catholic 7
March Field 23 Golden Gate University Pre-Flight 0
Second Air Force 30 Norman Naval Air Station 14
ST BLANE TOPS TWIFB GRID POLL
The official final National Rankings for college football are done by a poll of various reporters and newspaper outlets and is only released at seasons end. However, as part of our increasing coverage of sports beyond baseball, TWIFB will provide weekly college football rankings each season with the first poll being released in late October each year. Here is the first TWIFB top ten rankings for 1944.
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TWIFB COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP TEN RANKINGS
# SCHOOL REC
1 St Blane (5-0)
2 Rome State (5-0)
3 Noble Jones (5-0)
4 Central Ohio (6-0)
5 Annapolis Maritime (4-1)
6 Alabama Baptist (4-0-1)
7 Iowa A&M (5-0)
8 Eastern Oklahoma (5-0)
9 Rainier College (6-0)
10 Charleston Tech (5-1)
ST PATRICK'S WINS PRESEASON AIAA TOURNEY
The St Patrick's Shamrocks first games as an independent after decades in the now disbanded Northeast Conference went just fine, thank you. The Shamrocks won the AIAA Preseason Showcase in Chicago with wins over a pair of top flight cage teams. Not a bad start for a team that missed the national tournament just 7 months ago. The Preseason showcase was a tournament of upsets as the two co-favourites in the 4-team field both lost in the opening round.
In their opener the Shamrocks knocked off Western Iowa 37-34. The Shamrocks were led by 11 points from Jeremiah Fink and 10 from David Shane as they pulled off what can be considered an upset as the Canaries reached the quarterfinals of last spring's AIAA championship event. The other semi-final game was an even bigger upset as Golden Gate downed two-time defending AIAA National Champion Rainier College 49-40. Dan Brito, a junior guard, was the leader for the Grizzlies with a 13 point effort to top all scorers. Brito had a big game in the finals as well but his 16 points were not enough to stop St Patrick's as the Shamrocks pulled out a 58-53 victory with junior forward Tony Davis pacing the New England school with 13 points while Fink, a sophomore forward, chipped in with 10. Rainier College got back on track in the consolation game as they downed the Canaries 63-58.
CAROLINA POLY BEST AT BIGSBY GARDENS EVENT
The other opening weekend tournament saw Carolina Poly come away with the title from the Tournament of Champions event at New York City's Bigsby Gardens. The Cardinals beat St Blane 47-32 in their opener Saturday before topping Garden State 69-56 in yesterday's championship game. Garden State had earlier beaten Detroit City College 66-48.
BIG GAMBLING MENACE TO COLLEGIATE SPORT, DICK KEEGAN FEARS
Dick Keegan, the long-time basketball coach at Detroit City College, sees gamblers as the termites who are about to fell the castle of intercollegiate athletics, but denied today that he had said games were thrown at the Bigsby Garden.
"I said there had been two known cases of college boys throwing basketball games in Eastern tournaments," Keegan explained when asked if he had received a telegram from Garden officials asking for names of the offending players. "I am not striking at the Bigsby Garden event organizers or any other promoter," the loquacious coach maintained. "The point I'm making is that these big time betting boys are going to get to basketball and football players and ruin so-called amateur collegiate sports.
"Nothing the Bigsby Garden or any other promoter at any facility can do will stop the gamblers. Only the college presidents can stop it by appointing an absolute czar such as baseball has with Sam Belton or pro football with Jack Krisitch. But gambling is rampant in the Garden and every other auditorium where big games are held," Keegan added. "It they aren't there, why did a spectator run out and embrace a Rainier College player on the floor of the Bigsby Garden last spring with the assertion that a goal the boy had scored saved the man $15,000?"
Keegan declared that gamblers had laid 8-point odds on Rainier College against Annapolis Maritime and the last minute field goal had reduced the margin to 7 points. "That's why the man was jubilant" Keegan related.
The amount of money bet on collegiate football and basketball would 'stagger the imagination' if the total were known, Keegan asserted. "If big betting isn't stamped out, there's going to be an awful stink one of these fine days," he added. "Eventually the shady dealers will bribe a college boy and it will make the rankest kind of scandal."
BOXING RESULTS
Canton, Ohio born middleweight Owen Shepherd continued the promising start to his career with his 6th straight victory, a 4th round knock out of Ken Alexander on Thursday night. The 23 year ol Shepherd lost two of his first four fights as a 19 year old but has looked very good since then.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 10/29/1944
- After two years under Japanese control American troops led by General MacArthur turned back over to the Filipinos the island capital of Leyte. At least 48 Japanese warships were sunk or heavily damaged as a large air-sea battle continues for control of Philippines waters.
- British troops stormed the German anchor bastion of Hertogrnbosch, key to the main escape route for 60,000 enemy troops in southwest Holland.
- One of the greatest armored forces ever assembled on the Russian front swept across East Prussia in a rapidly mounting drive aimed at the great German port of Konigsberg.
- Republican Senator Joseph Hall of Minnesota says on the basis of President Roosevelt's stand on foreign policy "I shall vote for and support Mr. Roosevelt" in the November 7th election.
- The annoucement coincided with Governor Thomas Dewy arriving in Minneapolis to continue his campaigning. President Roosevelt is also headed to the midwest with a stop in Chicago. In his Minnesota speech Dewey said he was done with discussing foreign relations in this campaign, stating that postwar interenational collaboration is above partisan political considerations.
- On Saturday as the Presidential campagin approached it's final week, President Roosevelt delivered one of the most specatucular appearances of his political career, addressing a crowd of of well over 50,000 at Cougars Stadium in Chicago heaped scorn upon his Republican opponents for attempting to embrace New Deal policies and made a strong bid for business support by advocating reduced taxes to help private enterprise provide 60 million postwar jobs.
- Aboard his campaign train making stops in Ohio and New York, Governor Dewey told a crowd in Utica that "your new President will never use his office to sperate the country," adding nor would he "use the office to claim personal or political credit for the magnificant achievements of the military leaders and the sacrifices of the American people and their sons."
- National bettors are currently picking Roosevelt at 18-5 odds to win the Presidential election.