SEPTEMBER 6, 1948
PIONEERS & SAILORS AIMING FOR A WCS REMATCH
There are few things harder in baseball than repeating as pennant winners but both the St. Louis Pioneers and Philadelphia Sailors look well positioned to have a shot at meeting in the WCS for the second year in a row. The Cincinnati Cannons and Philadelphia Keystones met in 1944 and 1945 and the New York Gothams had a rematch with the Cleveland Foresters a decade earlier but before that you have to go all the way back to 1913-14 when the Washington Eagles and old Baltimore Clippers played in back to back series.
As the season begins its final four weeks there are an awful lot of hurdles standing in the way of a St. Louis-Philadelphia rematch. The Pioneers hold down top spot in the Federal Association but the Washington Eagles are hot on their heels at just 2 games off the pace and you can never count out the powerful New York Gothams despite a 14-18 record since late July. The Philadelphia Keystones, fresh off taking two of three to slow the Eagles over the weekend, are also very much in the mix at 3.5 games off the pace.
The New York Stars continue to lead the Sailors in the Continental race but with 5 losses in their last 8 outings the New Yorkers lead is down to a single game over Philadelphia. The Chicago Cougars, despite losing 4 of their last 7, are still within shouting distance at 4 games off the pace.
The FABL draft lottery will be held in early January and will determine selection order for rounds one and two of the league's annual selection of rookie talent. The two pennant winners will automatically pick 15th and 16th while the other 14 teams will enter a draw to decide the order. The two non-pennant winners with the biggest improvement over their 1947 record will each earn 3 balls in the draft drum, while the next two teams will be given two chances leaving the three teams with least improvement (or biggest decline) to have just one chance at the top selection.
The loops alternate choices and for the 1949 draft the odd number selections, including first overall will go to the Continental Association. The Washington Eagles won the lottery last year and selected Christian Trophy winning shortstop Tom Miller out of Coastal State with the first selection. The 22-year-old made his big league debut last week when he was called up from Class A, the level he has played at since signing a contract with the Eagles last month. OSA lists Miller number two overall behind another shortstop -1945 second overall selection Ralph Hanson of the New York Stars.
When the season started, it looked like Red Bond was going to set the single season home run record for the Cougars. On June 3rd he already had 14 home runs and was well on his way to the third 30-homer season in team history. Now he may not even lead the team. After a two-homer performance where he produced more runs (6) then the Saints scored (4), Sal Pestilli now had 27 home runs, four short of Tom Taylor's 31-homer season in 1934, and one more then Bond, who has hit just one homers in his last fourteen games.
After a dreadful start to his Cougar career, Sal Pestilli has bounced back in a huge way, and is on pace for his fourth career 30-home run season. He's done a lot more then just homer, as he has 19 doubles and triples, contributing to a league high 65 extra base hits. Combined with excellent defense (15.1, 1.031), a great eye (52 BB, 30 K), and excellent stolen base numbers (18-for-25), and the 7-Time All-Star is once again playing like the five tool player, and if the Cougars want to erase their four game deficit they'll need him to stay hot. Pestilli hit .278/.344/.639 (158 OPS+) in August and is off to a 7-for-21 start to September.
- There is some optimism in Pittsburgh where the Miners are closing in on 7th place Chicago. On July 1 the Miners lost 20-0 to Washington at home and it put their record at 21-53. Since then, they've gone 34-25. The Chiefs, meanwhile are 19-30 since the all-star break...a record only better than 17-33 Brooklyn in all of FABL.
- That early July stretch affected the fortunes of more than the just the Miners. Since a July 2 loss to Pittsburgh, the Boston Minutemen have struggled, going just 24-38 after starting the season with a 42-29 record.
- Big day coming up as the Gothams are at the Pioneers today for a Labor Day doubleheader to kick off the week. This should be interesting. The teams will meet again in New York the last week of the month. The Pioneeers hit the road after the doubleheader for games in Chicago and Detroit…then get a 13-game homestand, before going to New York and Chicago to end the year.
- St Louis manager Hugh Luckey thinks the schedule really favors his club in terms of off-days. "We can set up the rotation how we need. For a team that relies on it (the 3-H club of Hern, Hackney and Hiram Steinberg in particular), maybe more than any other, that’s huge."
- 14-9 with a 2.43 era. I wonder if Bob Arman would have helped Cincinnati at all this year?
- And how about Deuce Barrell- first 20-game winner of the season despite being on the struggling Cannons and with a 1.84 era. If that number holds up it looks like Deuce will have the lowest qualifying era the CA has seen since 1918 with the one exception of a 1.76 also posted by Deuce back in 1942.
- With 6 homers in his last 10 games and 42 on the season, the Stars Bill Barrett looks to be just two round-trippers shy of tying the Continental Association single season record. The mark of 44 belongs to Tom Taylor from his 1928 rookie season with the Sailors. FABL has seen 9 50-homer seasons and a total of 14 where a player hit at least 45 but each of those were accomplished by Federal Association players. Max Morris' best CA season was 41 for the 1933 Foresters.
World welterweight champ Mac Erickson successfully defended his title with a 3rd round knockout of challenger John Gregory at Chicago's Lakeside Auditorium Saturday evening. TWIFB boxing writer Johnny Bologna also is reported to have a rough outing in Chicago, succumbing to numerous combinations of beer and whiskey. As a result, Bologna's fight recap will appear in next week's edition.
UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS- Sept 10- Bigsby Garden, New York: HW Mark Fountain (23-5-1) vs Tommy Cline (13-1)
- Sept 18- St Louis: former WW champ Mark Westlake (24-3-1) vs Ira Mitchell (20-2)
- Sept 24- National Auditorium, Washington DC: WW Rudy Perry (26-4-1) vs Billy Boyd (26-9-2)
- Oct 1- Montreal, Quebec: World Middleweight champion Edouard Desmarais (42-1) defends his title against Canadian Adrian Petrie (17-1-1)
- Oct 22- London, Eng: World Heavyweight champion Hector Sawyer (58-3-1) defends his title against Grant Knowles (31-4-1)
HIGH EXPECTATIONS ONCE MORE IN TYRONE, BUT FOR MORE THAN JUST FOOTBALL
Tyrone, Pennsylvania is best known as the home to the campus of St Blane University, winners of the last two AIAA collegiate football championships and looking for a record third straight grid crown. Despite some arguement out of Detroit City College or Travis College, both of whom like the Fighting Saints were unbeaten a year ago, St Blane has aspirations of becoming the first school to win three straight football titles but the athmosphere around campus is electric with the possibility of even greater things to come this year.
There is a growing feeling that the 1948-49 edition of the St Blane Fighting Saints will be the best basketball team the school has ever fielded and there is even talk that the Fighting Saints baseball team stands a decent chance of qualifying for the Collegiate World Championship Series, an event it has not participated in since 1934.
The gridion action kicks things off as the Fighting Saints, who last tasted defeat on January 1, 1946 in the Sunshine Classic against Miami State, look to extend their unbeaten streak to 20 games when they open the season in less than 3 weeks by hosting Whitney College. Christian Trophy winning quarterback Ricky McCallister may be lost to graduation and is now attempting to replace Gus Brown as the starter for the Chicago Wildcats, but the Fighting Saints always have plenty of talent ready to step up and this season is no exception. Dane Sutherland, McCallister's understudy each of the past two years is now a senior and many suggest he will be a first round AFA pick in the spring, so the passing game should be in good shape. It is on the ground where the Fighting Saints really established their dominance and that should very much be the case once more with All-American lineman Finn O'Boyle leading a deep line that is expected to clear the way for this season's Saints Christian Trophy candidate: a halfback from Connecticut by the name of Joe Fulgham.
As talented a halfback as the senior is, he may be an even better baseball player causing some around these parts to say Fulgham is St Blane's best two sport athlete since pitcher/back Gus Goulding. Fulgham is expected to hear his named called by a FABL club in January and that won't be the first time it happened. The 20 year old centerfielder was a 9th round selection of the Washington Eagles out of high school in 1946 but elected to play two-sports at St Blane instead. He hit .288 with 9 homers for the Fighting Saints a year ago and has a bright baseball future, good enough to crack the top ten among collegiate players eligible for the draft according to TWIFB's recent draft preview.
Fulgham will have plenty of pressure on him as the key to the success of both the Fighting Saints grid and diamond squads but that likely pales in comparison to the lofty expectations for the St Blane cagers. Those hopes were sky high a year ago when the Fighting Saints were among the pre-season favourites to contend for a national title - something the school has never dreamed of in the past. They had a talented threesome led by senior center Josh Samuels but the dreams came crashing down in their preseason tournament when Samuels blew out his knee and was lost for the season. He was granted a medical redshirt and returns for a 5th season with odds high that he is a first round choice by a Federal Basketball League club next summer. His focus is instead on the much nearer future as many feel that Samuels, along with fellow seniors Cy Worley and Jim Canaday, are poised to take the Saints basketball team into the same rare air the football club has settled in of late. No school has ever held titles in multiple sports at the same time and only five schools have ever won titles in each of the three major team sports. St Blane is best known as a football school but athletes like Joe Fulgham and Josh Samuels may just prove there is much more to the school than just grid titles.
DOMINANT DEBUT FOR CHAPPELL AND COWBOYS
The two-time defending Continental Football Conference champion Kansas City Cowboys picked up exactly where they left off last season with a 48-14 rout over the Los Angeles Lobos in their season opener. After a brief pre-game ceremony to recognize their title game win over the New York Gothams last December, the Cowboys went straight to work as Pat Chappell found Tommy Cohan for a 41-yard touchdown score before the game was 4 minutes old. Los Angeles did manage to tie the contest at 7 early in the second quarter but from then on it was all Kansas City as the Cowboys offense was simply too much for the Lobos, who fall to 1-1 with the loss.
Cowboys quarterback Pat Chappell threw for 232 yards and 5 touchdowns as he continues to make a case that he is not just the best quarterback in the Continental Conference, but perhaps also the best in all of professional football. Chappell's favourite target, end Bill Tammaro, had 7 catches for 79 yards but the Cowboys are far from just a one dimensional team as burly back Mason Matthews ran for 94 yards in the win.
Elsewhere the New Orleans Crescents may have found themselves a local hero to rally behind as ex-Bayou State quarterback Vince Gallegos had a very successful pro debut. The youngster threw for 268 yards and ran for a touchdown to lead the Crescents to a 28-14 doubling of two-time defending Eastern Division champion New York.
Buffalo evened its record at 1-1 in typical Bulls style -with a comeback victory. In their brief history the Bulls have become known for some terrific finishes and this season started off no differently as the Bulls rallied with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns from Walter Hansen to nip the visitng Chicago Comets 21-17. Dave Karaszewski ran for 100 yards and caught an 80 yard scoring pass from Mark Monday to help secure the win. Finally in San Francisco, the Wings had a dominant victory for the second week in a row as they routed Brooklyn 45-9 a week after blasting Buffalo.
LYNCH RE-UPS WITH MONTREAL
The Montreal Valiants have had a change of heart and resigned their veteran captain Doug Lynch after initially refusing to extend his contract. The 35-year-old, who had 14 goals and 39 points in 54 games last season, was cut loose in a purge of the team that included the release of goaltender Millard Touhey, defenseman Leo Bernard and forward Max Ducharme. Lynch, who has been the club's captain since 1940, was the only player to return to Montreal as Ducharme signed with the Chicago Packers while Bernard was contracted by the Toledo Tigers of the Hockey Association of America.
Touhey's fate is once more up in the air as the 32-year-old goaltender was signed by the Syracuse Lancers of the HAA but was surprisingly let go from his contract a week later amidst speculation he failed his physical. The 32-year-old has displayed periods of greatness in his 5 seasons with Montreal but has also come under fire for his conditioning and focus at times.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 9/05/1948
- Russian and Western military governors of Germany met in a so far unsuccessful attempt to deal with East-West problems on both the blockade of Berlin and deciding on a currency solution. But at weeks end came reports that the Russians were making arrangements to end the 72-day-old blockade.
- Men born in 1923 began registering for the peace-time draft this past week.
- A trucking strike in New York City has halted the movement of all general cargo in and out of the city. Ports on the Pacific coast were idle this week as well after longshoremen quit work and prepared with allied unions for a strike.
- Ships rescued 30,000 fleeing a tiny island in the Philippines after Hibokhibok Volcano erupted for the first time since 1871.