JUNE 14, 1948
MINUTEMEN PUSHING FORWARD IN FED
An 8-2 run at home that included series wins over New York, Detroit and Chicago has the Boston Minutemen closing in on top spot in the Federal Association. It makes for a nice turnaround as the club had struggled at Minutemen Stadium in the early going and even with the fine showing the past 10 days, Boston is still below .500 at home, sporting a 16-18 record. Where the Minutemen have had success in the opening two months of the season is on the road and their 13-8 away from home mark is the best in the loop. The Boston road record will face a stiff test this week as, with the AIAA College World Championship Series taking over the city, the Minutemen are off to Detroit and New York for the start of a 16-game trip that will not see them return to Boston until July 2.
The Gothams, who cooled off a little with a 3-3 week, still hold down top spot in the Federal Association, a game up on the Philadelphia Keystones and two and a half ahead of the Minutemen. All but Pittsburgh are within 4.5 games of first place. New York also leads the way in the Continental Association as the Stars are a game and a half ahead of Montreal after a stretch in which the Big Apple ballclub won 8 of 9 games before a rough weekend in Philadelphia that saw them drop two of three to the Sailors.
HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICAN TEAM UNVEILED
Just seven seniors comprise the 18 slots on the annual High School All-American team, but they include a member of baseball's first family. That would be Charlie Barrell, son of the late actor and former football star Joe Barrell whose half-brothers are Cincinnati Cannons ace Deuce Barrell and rising young catcher Roger Cleaves of the Philadelphia Keystones. Charlie, who was a 3-sport star at Capital Academy in Washington DC, has already committed to playing baseball -as well as football and basketball for Noble Jones College next season. Barrell is one of three players who were named to the All-American team for the third time. The others are Buddy Miller and Roy Snedden.
Miller, a centerfielder from Lakeland, Fl., was selected fifth overall by the Keystones in January and will have to decide between turning pro and accepting a scholarship to Miami State. Snedden has an offer from Charleston Tech but the third baseman was drafted 9th overall by the Pittsburgh Miners. The other drafted All-Americans include infielders Curt Brooks, taken with the final pick of the first round by the Philadelphia Sailors, and Stump Patterson who was chosen second overall by the Cleveland Foresters. The other two are both pitchers in Jimmy Isgro, chosen 12th overall by Brooklyn, and Pug White, who was a fifth round selection of the Montreal Saints.
Here are the 1948 High School All-Americans:
ADWELL AWARD NOMINEES
The Red Adwell Award has been presented annually since 1934 to the number high school baseball player in the nation. Pitcher Les Ledbetter, now in the Toronto Wolves system, won the award each of the past two years. This year's nominees include second baseman Charlie Barrell and fellow three-time high school All-American selection Buddy Miller as well as Monterey (CA) High School pitcher Pug White and a pair of juniors in Brooklyn high school outfielder Rick Masters and infielder John Wells, who plays his high school ball in Philadelphia.
Previous winners of the Adwell Award include many current FABL stars such as Walt Messer, Deuce Barrell, Pete Casstevens, Bill Barrett and Hiram Steinberg.
COLLEGE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SET TO BEGIN
Christian Trophy Finalists Announced
The annual collegiate World Championship Series, which traces its roots back to 1910 when Maryland State became the inaugural champion in the old feeder league era, begins its 39th edition in Boston today. At the pre-tournament banquet yesterday the five finalists for the Frank Christian Trophy, presented annually to the top collegiate baseball player, were announced.
They include Coastal State shortstop Tom Miller, who not only won the award last season as a sophomore but was also the first overall selection in the January phase of the FABL draft. Taken by the Washington Eagles, Miller is expected to sign shortly after the college playoff is completed. His Coastal State Eagles are in the field of 16 as are the school's of each of the other four nominees. They include Bluegrass State junior third baseman Hank Estill, Redwood University junior outfielder Red Hinton, Grange College sophomore outfielder Bill Morrison and Lane State sophomore shortstop Tom Perkins.
- Positive news from Pittsburgh. Not only did the Miners take 3 of 4 from St Louis over the weekend but 23-year-old infielder Reid McLaughlin is really having a breakout season. .355/.399/.525, 27 XBH, and doing decent in the field since sliding over to 2nd, when Irv Clifford was called up.
- Another young Miners prospect, center fielder Ernie Campbell, had a strong big league debut last week, hitting .360 with a 5 extra base hits and 5 rbi's in his first 7 FABL games. The 22-year-old 1947 second rounder was part of the package the Gothams dealt to Pittsburgh for George Cleaves and Lefty Allen.
- In Cincinnati the Cannons continue to complain about a struggling offense but one has to wonder how much longer manager Ad Doria will continue to bat Jim Hensley 9th. Jim Anderson is the only starting pitcher with a decent batting average and it feels like they are just giving away a few extra outs letting the pitcher hit 8th.
- Another issue is that Doria's hands are tied carrying 11 pitchers. Moving out guys like Biff Turner, Jake Smith and Art Edwards, none of whom have pitched even 10 innings yet, might allow them to have 2 or 3 more bats available for pinch-hitting or platoon duties.
- Another minor league no-hitter. This one from Lefty Jones of the Middle Atlantic League's (Class A) Hartford Colonials. The 24-year-old Pioneers prospect walked 4 during his historic game, a 12-0 drubbing of the Wilmington Pipers.
SAWYER WALKS OVER CASE IN TRANSATLANTIC TUNE-UP
Gothams Stadium, New York, N.Y. – Hector Sawyer, a veteran of over 60 bouts, has had an easy time of it before. But the ease Sawyer dispatched with a victory on this night in a sold-out Gothams Stadium is probably on the short list of Sawyer’s most lopsided fights in his storied career. If you sold tickets to a Sawyer sparring session, the fans would be about as entertained.
Sawyer took on Steve Case, who had a single impressive victory on his resume entering the fight. Case defeated upstart Harvey Winter, who was on his way to title dreams of his own. Winter might have overlooked Case and the only hope of this being much of a match was the possibility that Sawyer might do the same.
From the opening bell, The Cajun Crusher took no prisoners and gave no quarter. Sawyer went on the offensive, taking away space and cornering the challenger, content to work inside. Case could not offer much offense of his own and he was back on his heels time and time again.
Early in the second round, Sawyer landed what seemed to be a harmless jab, but it was well-placed. The right hand opened a cut above Case’s left eyebrow. The gash hampered Case’s ability to see some of Sawyer’s shots coming, giving Sawyer a decided advantage that he did not even seem to need.
Sawyer clearly took the third round off, which allowed Case to recover enough to last into the middle rounds of this fight. The cut reopened in the fourth round after Sawyer targeted Case’s left side of his face. Early in the round, Sawyer connected on a straight right that sent Case reeling. With about a minute left in the fourth, a right to the head by Sawyer and a quick jab, following by a cross in the waning seconds of the round, caused referee Dick Rasmussen to bring in the ringside physician to take a look at Case’s left eye.
The fight continued, but it was semantic at that point. Anything Case landed did not seem to do anything to deter Sawyer. In the seventh round, Sawyer’s corner was urging for the champion to get in his final blows. The swelling around Case’s eye was getting worse and just 16 seconds into the round, Sawyer unleashed an uppercut that caught Case on his chin and down he went. Rasmussen almost counted Case out, getting to an eight-count before Case convinced the referee to continue.
Sawyer, as all champions do, sensed blood in the water. Up until that point, he was content to fire his jab at will and leave the real haymakers in reserve. Once Case rose back to his feet, Sawyer went to the hook with big results and topped it off with a pair of uppercuts. The first uppercut snapped Case’s head back. The second uppercut landed on Case’s jaw and caused Case’s knees to wobble. Sawyer was not letting up and Rasmussen stepped in between the fighters, calling a stop to the bout.
The only surprise of the night is that two of the three judges gave rounds to Case. My card gave Sawyer an advantage in each stanza. Case connected in over half of his punches, but he spent a lot more time with his gloves protecting himself and flashing them offensively at the champion. Case offered about 28 punches a round on average, while Sawyer connected on over 31 punches, which was only about a third of the punches he threw. Case took a lot of punishment in what amounted to 20 minutes of fight time.
Sawyer boards his voyage across the Atlantic on a European tour with 10 successful title defenses and nothing more to prove stateside. His record advanced to a gaudy 58-3-1 with 52 of his wins coming by knockout. Case may have been mistaken for a tomato can on this night, but he still has a respectable 19-2-2 record coming out of this bout and this was not just another opponent. He lost to the greatest fighter alive today.
BOLOGNA'S BIG BOPPERS
Round 1: Sawyer 1-0 (1:05 hook/ribs)
Round 2: Sawyer 4-0 (0:45 jab/left eyebrow/cut, 1:22 combo, 2:27 cross, 2:41 right)
Round 3: None
Round 4: Sawyer 3-0 (0:23 right, 1:38 combo, 2:05 right/head)
Round 5: Sawyer 3-0 (0:11 cross, 1:36 left, 2:35 left hook/body)
Round 6: None
Round 7: Sawyer 4-0 (0:16 uppercut/chin/knockdown (8-count), 0:49 hook, 1:03 hook, 1:25 right/body)
TOTAL: Sawyer 15, Case 0
SCORECARD FROM SAWYER-CASE BOUT
UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS- Jun 18- Los Angeles, CA: HW Dan Miller (36-9-1) vs Allen Bailey (36-6-2)
- Jun 21- Detroit, MI: MW contender John Edmonds (24-3) vs Willie Binion (19-6-1)
- Jun 24- Houston, TX: rising MW Tommy Campbell (20-0-1) vs Joe Moore (19-4)
- Jun 27 -Atlanta, GA: WW Dale Roy (29-6) vs Harry Larkin (16-1)
- Jun 28- Detroit, MI: WW Carl Taylor (22-6-2) vs Brian Pierce (9-0)
- Jun 30- Baltimore, MD MW contenders Nick Harris (23-4-1) vs Brooks O'Connor (27-4-2)
- Jul 10 - Sailors Memorial: World MW champ Frank Melanson (33-1-2) defends his title against Edouard Desmarais (40-1)
CUSTER COLLEGE LEAVES WEST COAST LOOP
Citing an inability to compete with the top schools in the section, Custer College has decided to drop out of the West Coast Athletic Association for basketball and is considering doing the same for football. The South Dakota school shocked collegiate basketball by winning the AIAA tournament in the spring of 1934 but has not qualified for the tournament since and finished with a school worst 8-21 record last season including just 4-10 in section play. The Calvary played a limited conference football season a year ago, going 1-2 against WCAA opponents and was 6-4 overall. They have just 3 section games on their fall grid slate this year as well.
For the time being at least, Custer College will compete as an independent in basketball. The school also has a new head basketball coach with Delmar Babb, who spent the previous 13 seasons as the head man at Narragansett, replacing Herb Binder. Recruiting has traditionally been a struggle for the school but they did a land a top 100 recruit for the upcoming basketball seasons in Tom Freeman, a 6'4" power forward from Denver, Co.
The West Coast Athletic Association, home to college cage powers Coastal California, CC Los Angeles, Redwood University, Rainier College and Lane State as well as Northern California, Spokane State, Portland Tech and Idaho A&M will continue on with 9 member teams.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 6/13/1948
- In the face of Russian opposition, the Western powers announced a five-point proposal for creating a separate federal government in Western Germany.
- The French cabinet approved the six-power agreement joining the Unites States, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in endorsing the Western Germany plan.
- Arabs and Jews announced unconditional acceptance of a four-week truce in the Palestine war. Neutral observers warn that even with a truce there might be many isolated instances of small-scale guerrilla warfare.
- President Truman dispelled any lingering doubts about the political aspects of his Western tour when at an address in Spokane, he called flatly for the overthrow of the Republican-controlled Congress.
- Republican presidential hopeful Harold E. Stassen pleaded with Congress "not to tarnish the national honour of our country" but cutting European recovery funds, saying a cut would be a "breach of commitment" to the 16 European nations co-operating in the Economic Recovery Program.
- Soft coal operators are considering making an offer for a new contract to John L. Lewis and his United Mine Workers in an effort to head off a potential July shutdown.
- The Air Force announced its XS-1 experimental rocket plane has flown "much" faster than the speed of sound "many times in flight testing."