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Jiggs McGee · 03-21-2023, 12:42 PM

May 20, 1946

SLUMPING PIONEERS LOSE LOCAL STAR

It has been an awful start for the St Louis Pioneers and the news just got much worse with word that their young pitching star Hal Hackney will be sidelined for two months with an arm injury. The Pioneers were tabbed by OSA to finish second in what was expected to be a tight Federal Association race this season but they have stumbled badly out of the gate, starting the season with a Fed worst 10-24 record and are already 13 games out of first place just over a month into the campaign. The 24 year old Hackney, a local St Louis kid and dubbed the number one prospect in the game before he made his big league debut last season, had been one of the few bright spots in a dismal opening month for manager Hugh Luckey's club.

Hackney boasts a 1.80 era, among the best in baseball, but only a 4-4 record as the Pioneers offense has sputtered this season. He opened the season with 3 straight complete game victories and an era of 0.33 to garner high prase through the baseball community for the young righthander that the Pioneers selected out of a St Louis area high school in the third round of the 1940 draft.

He split 1941 between Class C and B, going 18-10 and drawing praise from OSA but his trip to the majors was interrupted when he enlisted in the Navy just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was discharged from service last August and immediately made his big league debut for the Pioneers, pitching very well but absorbing a 4-2 loss to Boston. In all he would make 11 starts and finish with a 5-4 record, setting the stage for his terrific start this season.

For the 10-24 Pioneers this marks the third straight year in which the club has began the season with a very slow start. A year ago the Pioneers began the campaign with a 15-29 record before rebounding to finish the year 2 games over .500 and in 1944 they were 14-30 at the end of May and never did recover- finishing in the Federal Association cellar.

NEW MANAGEMENT BUT SAME OLD CANNONS

Some have predicted that age and a change in the General Manager's chair would spell doom for the Cincinnati Cannons but as the season completes its first month it has been business as usual at Tice Memorial Stadium. The Cannons, who have won each of the last 3 Continental Association pennants and are looking to claim a CA record fourth straight flag, are once more sitting in a very familiar spot - at the top of the Continental table. The 20-14 Cannons have plenty of company with the Toronto Wolves just a game and a half back and two other teams -New York and Philadelphia- only 2 games off the pace, but so far it looks like business as usual for the veteran squad.

Cincinnati's General Manager left for Detroit over the winter and his replacement, at least so far, has pretty much opted to maintain the status quo on what was a veteran ballclub with plenty of big game experience. On the field the potent lineup continues to do its thing with Chuck Adams (.315,6,29), Al Wheeler (.284,5,17) and Denny Andrews (.276,4,19) leading the most explosive power collection this side of Gothams Stadium. The return of all-star catcher Adam Mullins (.306,1,11) has certainly helped and aside from lead-off man Charley McCullough (.198,0,3), who has struggled at the plate in his return from four years in the Navy, the Cincinnati bats are firing.

If there is any cause for concern in the Queen City it might be on the mound, although certainly not with the start that Deuce Barrell (5-0, 2.56) has shown. Barrell looks like he is on a mission after being denied a third Allen Award last season with a narrow second place finish behind Toronto's George Garrison. The rest of the rotation has been effective -aside from rookie Bob Arman's early struggles- but Cincinnati manager Ad Doria will need more from them once the Chicago Cougars, and the rest of the Continental Association contenders, hit their stride. That might just be the test of the new head man in Cincinnati. The Cannons have pulled off a number of deadline deals -nearly all of which seemed to pay off- to secure each of the last three pennants. Will the new GM pull the right strings and be able to make the same type of impact transaction this deadline if a move is needed?

KNIGHTS WORKING OVERTIME

The Los Angeles Knights may be leading the Great Western League but their players are certainly putting in the overtime necessary in order to achieve that success. The Knights have won 7 of their last 8 games to extend their lead on second place San Francisco to 3 games but they did so by playing 4 straight extra innings contests to finish off the week.

It started on Thursday afternoon against Portland when Los Angeles rallied twice to beat the visiting Green Sox. The Knights tied the contest at 2 in the bottom of the 8th inning on a Jim Hatfield rbi single and then, after Portland plated a run the top of the 12th, pinch-hitter Carl Neff delivered a walk-off double to lift the Knights to a 4-3 victory. Next up was a 3-game series with Seattle that saw each of the contests go into extras including a 16-inning marathon won 7-5 by Los Angeles in the series opener. Seattle prevailed the next day 6-5 in 10 innings after the Knights had tied the game with a pair of runs in the 9th inning and yesterday it was the reverse: Seattle scored 3 times in the bottom of the ninth to force extras only to see the Knights win 6-5 thanks to an 11th inning rbi single by ex-Brooklyn King Ben Brazel. In all the Knights have played 7 extra inning games already this season.

KNIGHTS TALES -I'm sure Thomas X. Bigsby is sitting in his office in one of those new buildings that have been going up downtown, chomping on his cigar and smiling. The world of the GWL and especially his Los Angeles Knights couldn't be brighter. Attendance is good and the team is profitable. Stars, new and old, fill the roster. His challenge to the eastern monolith that is FABL has been a rousing success, so far. Sitting in first place, 3 up on San Francisco, things are looking good.

The offense is led by long time LA player Bill Michael. Even with the influx of FABL castoffs the 34 year old Michael is hitting better than ever. A .312 average and league leading 33 RBI to go along with leadership responsibilities. And the pitching! A league leading staff ERA of 2.44 led by the trio of Red Nokes, King Price, and Bob Cummings. The Knights lead the league in runs scored and fewest runs allowed.

It's early, but yes, I have to think Mr. Bigsby is enjoying his cigar

A missed opportunity for Boston yesterday as the Minutemen suffered two 1-run losses to the New York Gothams in their Sunday doubleheader. The Minutemen still own a two and a half game lead on second place Philadelphia in the Federal Association standings and have a run differential of +67 which is tops in the FABL by a significant margin.
Ed Bowman threw a 1-hit shutout in beating Boston 1-0 in the nightcap of that Gothams-Minutemen twin bill yesterday. It was the second one-hitter of the 26 year old Bowman's career. The first came against St Louis in 1943. The Gothams enjoyed a winning week and the doubleheader sweep moved them to within 3.5 games of Boston in the Fed race.
After starting the season 12-3, the Cougars have dropped 13 of 18 to fall to 5th place. Chicago still has a +34 run differential, and finally won their 7th one run game, a 6-5 extra inning victory over the Foresters to finish off a rough 2-5 week.
With a 7-hit shutout of the Sailors, Billy Riley has now thrown three walk-less shutouts in his five starts.
The Dynamos are shopping Leon Drake after the 37 year old asked for a trade. Drake is hitting .319 in limited action this season.
Brooklyn shows signs of life with its first 500 (4-4) week. SP Leo Hayden who got off to a right start is now 4-2 with a 2.62 ERA. He looks like a keeper. Some others might be on their way down shortly.
While offense is down in FABL this season that does not appear to be the case in AAA -at least not based on early indications. The Century League batting averages are at .282 and era is up to 4.34 a month into the season, compared to .259 and 3.58 for last season. The shift to offense is much less dramatic in the Union League where batting averages are up .006 to .270 while teams are now owning a 4.17 era, up a fifth of a run from last years full season totals. The situation is drastically reversed in the Lone Star Association where that newly designated AAA loop is a pitchers paradise in the early going. ERA's are 3.04 compared to 4.29 when it was an independent league a year ago while batting average have fallen 40 points from last season to .248.
As for FABL, both the Federal and Continental Associations have seen a slight drop in era and batting averages in the early going this season compared to a year ago. The Fed era is 3.30, compared to 3.45 last season while the Continental Association clubs have a 3.53 era, down from last seasons 3.66. Batting averages are down to .256 in the CA from .263 a year ago while the Fed is hanging close to last season's .260 mark with teams hitting at a .257 clip.
The Japanese League gets its regular season underway tomorrow. The loop last played in 1944 and the Kobe Bulls have won 3 straight league titles. Kobe led the way in preseason games with a 12-5 record, nosing out the expansion Tokyo Rakisuta Rams for bragging rights. 8 teams will each play 114 games this summer.

A PAIR OF FABL TIES AMONG TOP HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR CAGE STARS

Next year's crop of high school senior basketball stars includes a number of ties to big league baseball including a pair of players considered to be among the top ten high school cage stars in the nation. A towering 6'11" center out of Alexandria High School in Louisiana by the name of Les Lightbody is ranked the third best high school recruit. The name will be very familiar to baseball fans as he is a cousin of the Lightbody clan from Jena, La. that includes brothers Doug and Frank Lightbody as well as cousin Jim Lightbody. Doug and Frank are both retired after long FABL careers while Jim is with the Brooklyn Kings. There is another Brooklyn tie as well as Whitney Slocum, nephew of Hall of Famer and former Brooklyn manager Powell Slocum is entering his senior season at Ragland High School in Alabama. The younger Slocum is ranked the 67th best incoming high school senior basketball player by the college recruiting service.

The other top ten recruit is a star forward from St Patrick's Prep in Boston by the name of Don Higgins. The 17 year old guard is orginally from California but moved east several years ago to live with the family of his older brother Dick 'Pistol' Higgins, former Boston Minutemen pitcher. Dick was recently claimed on waivers by the Chicago Chiefs from the Minutemen but his brother will remain in Boston with Dick's wife and kids for Don's senior season. Don, known as 'Pop Gun' is also a baseball pitcher on the Shamrocks high school club but his strengths clearly lie on the court and he is being hotly pursued by Carolina Poly, CCLA and Liberty College although his brother is reportedly trying to steer young Don to Dickson College, which was Dick's alma mater.

One more name of note is Bud Stofer. A guard out of Atlantic City that Brunswick and Liberty College are both chasing, Stofer is the younger brother of Washington Eagles first baseman Sig Stofer and considered to be the #30th best high school senior recruit.

Here are the players considered to be the top thirty High School basketballers in the nation.

DUNN MAY BE ABOUT DONE

Former welterweight contender Wayne Dunn appears to have reached the end of the line, at least as far as his days of being included in talk of the top contenders. The 30 year old Hartford native looked very slow in suffering a split decision loss to Edwin Simpson, a non-descript fighter out of Buffalo last week. The result was quite surprising as Dunn had looked very good in knocking out a solid pugilist by the name of Mitchell McFadden in December, but Simpson -despite an 18-6-1 record- was not a fighter that was thought to be anywhere near the same calibre of Dunn.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 5/19/1946

The Mine Workers Union remains steadfast in plans to resume its strike next week. Now it is the railways that pose the next big problem as a pending strike is set to shut down most rail travel. The day before the planned strke, President Truman ordered the seizure of the Nation's railroads in a bid to keep the Trainmen and Engineers union workers on the job. On Sunday, the union agreed to delay the strike action for 5 days.
The US Secretary of Agriculture says that at least one-fourth of this year's estimated 1 billion-bushel wheat crop will be earmarked for famine relief. He also cautions a resumption of the coal strike would likely cause most of the Nation's food industries to be "close to a standstill within a few days."
President Truman made a plea to Russia to join the fight on world famine but reports indicate that Prime Minister Stalin has turned down the appeal for Soviet participation.
27 were killed after an airliner bound from Newark to Atlanta lost power and crashed near Richmond, Va.

03-21-2023, 12:42 PM	#663
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	May 20, 1946 May 20, 1946 SLUMPING PIONEERS LOSE LOCAL STAR It has been an awful start for the St Louis Pioneers and the news just got much worse with word that their young pitching star Hal Hackney will be sidelined for two months with an arm injury. The Pioneers were tabbed by OSA to finish second in what was expected to be a tight Federal Association race this season but they have stumbled badly out of the gate, starting the season with a Fed worst 10-24 record and are already 13 games out of first place just over a month into the campaign. The 24 year old Hackney, a local St Louis kid and dubbed the number one prospect in the game before he made his big league debut last season, had been one of the few bright spots in a dismal opening month for manager Hugh Luckey's club. Hackney boasts a 1.80 era, among the best in baseball, but only a 4-4 record as the Pioneers offense has sputtered this season. He opened the season with 3 straight complete game victories and an era of 0.33 to garner high prase through the baseball community for the young righthander that the Pioneers selected out of a St Louis area high school in the third round of the 1940 draft. He split 1941 between Class C and B, going 18-10 and drawing praise from OSA but his trip to the majors was interrupted when he enlisted in the Navy just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was discharged from service last August and immediately made his big league debut for the Pioneers, pitching very well but absorbing a 4-2 loss to Boston. In all he would make 11 starts and finish with a 5-4 record, setting the stage for his terrific start this season. For the 10-24 Pioneers this marks the third straight year in which the club has began the season with a very slow start. A year ago the Pioneers began the campaign with a 15-29 record before rebounding to finish the year 2 games over .500 and in 1944 they were 14-30 at the end of May and never did recover- finishing in the Federal Association cellar. NEW MANAGEMENT BUT SAME OLD CANNONS Some have predicted that age and a change in the General Manager's chair would spell doom for the Cincinnati Cannons but as the season completes its first month it has been business as usual at Tice Memorial Stadium. The Cannons, who have won each of the last 3 Continental Association pennants and are looking to claim a CA record fourth straight flag, are once more sitting in a very familiar spot - at the top of the Continental table. The 20-14 Cannons have plenty of company with the Toronto Wolves just a game and a half back and two other teams -New York and Philadelphia- only 2 games off the pace, but so far it looks like business as usual for the veteran squad. Cincinnati's General Manager left for Detroit over the winter and his replacement, at least so far, has pretty much opted to maintain the status quo on what was a veteran ballclub with plenty of big game experience. On the field the potent lineup continues to do its thing with Chuck Adams (.315,6,29), Al Wheeler (.284,5,17) and Denny Andrews (.276,4,19) leading the most explosive power collection this side of Gothams Stadium. The return of all-star catcher Adam Mullins (.306,1,11) has certainly helped and aside from lead-off man Charley McCullough (.198,0,3), who has struggled at the plate in his return from four years in the Navy, the Cincinnati bats are firing. If there is any cause for concern in the Queen City it might be on the mound, although certainly not with the start that Deuce Barrell (5-0, 2.56) has shown. Barrell looks like he is on a mission after being denied a third Allen Award last season with a narrow second place finish behind Toronto's George Garrison. The rest of the rotation has been effective -aside from rookie Bob Arman's early struggles- but Cincinnati manager Ad Doria will need more from them once the Chicago Cougars, and the rest of the Continental Association contenders, hit their stride. That might just be the test of the new head man in Cincinnati. The Cannons have pulled off a number of deadline deals -nearly all of which seemed to pay off- to secure each of the last three pennants. Will the new GM pull the right strings and be able to make the same type of impact transaction this deadline if a move is needed? KNIGHTS WORKING OVERTIME The Los Angeles Knights may be leading the Great Western League but their players are certainly putting in the overtime necessary in order to achieve that success. The Knights have won 7 of their last 8 games to extend their lead on second place San Francisco to 3 games but they did so by playing 4 straight extra innings contests to finish off the week. It started on Thursday afternoon against Portland when Los Angeles rallied twice to beat the visiting Green Sox. The Knights tied the contest at 2 in the bottom of the 8th inning on a Jim Hatfield rbi single and then, after Portland plated a run the top of the 12th, pinch-hitter Carl Neff delivered a walk-off double to lift the Knights to a 4-3 victory. Next up was a 3-game series with Seattle that saw each of the contests go into extras including a 16-inning marathon won 7-5 by Los Angeles in the series opener. Seattle prevailed the next day 6-5 in 10 innings after the Knights had tied the game with a pair of runs in the 9th inning and yesterday it was the reverse: Seattle scored 3 times in the bottom of the ninth to force extras only to see the Knights win 6-5 thanks to an 11th inning rbi single by ex-Brooklyn King Ben Brazel. In all the Knights have played 7 extra inning games already this season. KNIGHTS TALES -I'm sure Thomas X. Bigsby is sitting in his office in one of those new buildings that have been going up downtown, chomping on his cigar and smiling. The world of the GWL and especially his Los Angeles Knights couldn't be brighter. Attendance is good and the team is profitable. Stars, new and old, fill the roster. His challenge to the eastern monolith that is FABL has been a rousing success, so far. Sitting in first place, 3 up on San Francisco, things are looking good. The offense is led by long time LA player Bill Michael. Even with the influx of FABL castoffs the 34 year old Michael is hitting better than ever. A .312 average and league leading 33 RBI to go along with leadership responsibilities. And the pitching! A league leading staff ERA of 2.44 led by the trio of Red Nokes, King Price, and Bob Cummings. The Knights lead the league in runs scored and fewest runs allowed. It's early, but yes, I have to think Mr. Bigsby is enjoying his cigar A missed opportunity for Boston yesterday as the Minutemen suffered two 1-run losses to the New York Gothams in their Sunday doubleheader. The Minutemen still own a two and a half game lead on second place Philadelphia in the Federal Association standings and have a run differential of +67 which is tops in the FABL by a significant margin. Ed Bowman threw a 1-hit shutout in beating Boston 1-0 in the nightcap of that Gothams-Minutemen twin bill yesterday. It was the second one-hitter of the 26 year old Bowman's career. The first came against St Louis in 1943. The Gothams enjoyed a winning week and the doubleheader sweep moved them to within 3.5 games of Boston in the Fed race. After starting the season 12-3, the Cougars have dropped 13 of 18 to fall to 5th place. Chicago still has a +34 run differential, and finally won their 7th one run game, a 6-5 extra inning victory over the Foresters to finish off a rough 2-5 week. With a 7-hit shutout of the Sailors, Billy Riley has now thrown three walk-less shutouts in his five starts. The Dynamos are shopping Leon Drake after the 37 year old asked for a trade. Drake is hitting .319 in limited action this season. Brooklyn shows signs of life with its first 500 (4-4) week. SP Leo Hayden who got off to a right start is now 4-2 with a 2.62 ERA. He looks like a keeper. Some others might be on their way down shortly. While offense is down in FABL this season that does not appear to be the case in AAA -at least not based on early indications. The Century League batting averages are at .282 and era is up to 4.34 a month into the season, compared to .259 and 3.58 for last season. The shift to offense is much less dramatic in the Union League where batting averages are up .006 to .270 while teams are now owning a 4.17 era, up a fifth of a run from last years full season totals. The situation is drastically reversed in the Lone Star Association where that newly designated AAA loop is a pitchers paradise in the early going. ERA's are 3.04 compared to 4.29 when it was an independent league a year ago while batting average have fallen 40 points from last season to .248. As for FABL, both the Federal and Continental Associations have seen a slight drop in era and batting averages in the early going this season compared to a year ago. The Fed era is 3.30, compared to 3.45 last season while the Continental Association clubs have a 3.53 era, down from last seasons 3.66. Batting averages are down to .256 in the CA from .263 a year ago while the Fed is hanging close to last season's .260 mark with teams hitting at a .257 clip. The Japanese League gets its regular season underway tomorrow. The loop last played in 1944 and the Kobe Bulls have won 3 straight league titles. Kobe led the way in preseason games with a 12-5 record, nosing out the expansion Tokyo Rakisuta Rams for bragging rights. 8 teams will each play 114 games this summer. A PAIR OF FABL TIES AMONG TOP HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR CAGE STARS Next year's crop of high school senior basketball stars includes a number of ties to big league baseball including a pair of players considered to be among the top ten high school cage stars in the nation. A towering 6'11" center out of Alexandria High School in Louisiana by the name of Les Lightbody is ranked the third best high school recruit. The name will be very familiar to baseball fans as he is a cousin of the Lightbody clan from Jena, La. that includes brothers Doug and Frank Lightbody as well as cousin Jim Lightbody. Doug and Frank are both retired after long FABL careers while Jim is with the Brooklyn Kings. There is another Brooklyn tie as well as Whitney Slocum, nephew of Hall of Famer and former Brooklyn manager Powell Slocum is entering his senior season at Ragland High School in Alabama. The younger Slocum is ranked the 67th best incoming high school senior basketball player by the college recruiting service. The other top ten recruit is a star forward from St Patrick's Prep in Boston by the name of Don Higgins. The 17 year old guard is orginally from California but moved east several years ago to live with the family of his older brother Dick 'Pistol' Higgins, former Boston Minutemen pitcher. Dick was recently claimed on waivers by the Chicago Chiefs from the Minutemen but his brother will remain in Boston with Dick's wife and kids for Don's senior season. Don, known as 'Pop Gun' is also a baseball pitcher on the Shamrocks high school club but his strengths clearly lie on the court and he is being hotly pursued by Carolina Poly, CCLA and Liberty College although his brother is reportedly trying to steer young Don to Dickson College, which was Dick's alma mater. One more name of note is Bud Stofer. A guard out of Atlantic City that Brunswick and Liberty College are both chasing, Stofer is the younger brother of Washington Eagles first baseman Sig Stofer and considered to be the #30th best high school senior recruit. Here are the players considered to be the top thirty High School basketballers in the nation. DUNN MAY BE ABOUT DONE Former welterweight contender Wayne Dunn appears to have reached the end of the line, at least as far as his days of being included in talk of the top contenders. The 30 year old Hartford native looked very slow in suffering a split decision loss to Edwin Simpson, a non-descript fighter out of Buffalo last week. The result was quite surprising as Dunn had looked very good in knocking out a solid pugilist by the name of Mitchell McFadden in December, but Simpson -despite an 18-6-1 record- was not a fighter that was thought to be anywhere near the same calibre of Dunn. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 5/19/1946 The Mine Workers Union remains steadfast in plans to resume its strike next week. Now it is the railways that pose the next big problem as a pending strike is set to shut down most rail travel. The day before the planned strke, President Truman ordered the seizure of the Nation's railroads in a bid to keep the Trainmen and Engineers union workers on the job. On Sunday, the union agreed to delay the strike action for 5 days. The US Secretary of Agriculture says that at least one-fourth of this year's estimated 1 billion-bushel wheat crop will be earmarked for famine relief. He also cautions a resumption of the coal strike would likely cause most of the Nation's food industries to be "close to a standstill within a few days." President Truman made a plea to Russia to join the fight on world famine but reports indicate that Prime Minister Stalin has turned down the appeal for Soviet participation. 27 were killed after an airliner bound from Newark to Atlanta lost power and crashed near Richmond, Va. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 03-21-2023 at 12:44 PM.