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Tiger Fan · 03-22-2024, 01:16 PM

JULY 17, 1950
BIG TIMBER! JOHNSON GRAND SLAM LEADS FED TO VICTORY

Walk Off Homer in Ninth Accounts For All Scoring in 4-0 Fed Win

Despite smacking 19 homers in the first half of the season, this has been considered a down year for veteran New York Gothams first basemen Red Johnson. The 4-time Whitney Award winner is batting just .247 -by far the lowest batting average of his career and his slugging percentage is also far from its normal lofty perch but the man known as "Big Timber" made his presence felt with one swing of the bat in Tuesday's All-Star Game.

Johnson, called on to pinch-hit with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth of what had been up to that point a scoreless game, delivered in a big way. The 32-year-old belted a 1-1 offering from the Chicago Cougars Donnie Jones more than 400 feet into the stands in right center, giving the Federal Association a dramatic 4-0 walk off grand slam victory and evening the series between the two loops at 9 wins each.

Johnson was the walk-off hero, but it was his Gothams teammate Ed Bowman, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the game after Bowman hurled 5 scoreless innings before turning the ball over to the Federal Association bullpen. Washington's Buckeye Smith, who pitched a scoreless top of the ninth, was credited with the victory while Jones was saddled with the loss.

Offense was at a premium as the two clubs combined for only 13 hits and Gothams infielder Tom Jeffries was the only participant on either side to have more than one base hit.

Starting pitchers Ed Bowman of the Federal Association and Deuce Barrell, representing the Continental stars, kept the bats quiet and the game scoreless in the early going although Barrell ran into a heap of trouble in the fourth inning when he loaded the bases on singles off the bats of Roger Cleaves -Deuce's half brother- and Hank Koblenz before he walked Tom Jeffries to load the bases with nobody out.

The call went to the bullpen for Barrell's Cincinnati teammate Mickey Mills and the lefthander playing in his first all-star escaped the jam unscathed primarily due to a rifle peg from Sailors outfielder Billy Forbes to nail Cleaves at the plate after Tim Hopkins failed sacrifice fly attempt. Mills walked Edwin Hackberry to reload the bases before ending the inning with a Ben McCarty fielders choice, keeping the contest scoreless.

The Continental stars, who had won each of the last four all-star games, best chance to score came in the sixth inning after Jim Whiteley of the Philadelphia Keystones had relieved Bowman. One out singles from Leo Mitchell and Ralph Johnson put a CA runner in scoring position for just the second time in the game but Forbes flew out to rightfield, and the Whiteley fanned Cleveland's Larry McClure to end the threat. The Continental Association would not see another one of their runners reach second base the rest of the way.

The Fed was not having much look of its own although they did see Edwin Hackberry, who singled and walked twice in the game, steal second with one out in the 7th inning but Pete Papenfus of the Chicago Cougars retired George Cleaves and Irv Clifford without incident to keep the game scoreless. Papenfus' Chicago teammate Donnie Jones, who took over in the 8th, was not nearly as fortunate.

Jones had no issues in the 8th, retiring the Fed side in order but with a 1-2 count in the ninth, lead-off man Tom Jeffries slapped a perfectly placed single just beyond the reach of a diving Jim Urquhart. Tim Hopkins sacrificed Jeffries to second and Hackberry followed by working Jones for a free pass bringing Gothams slugger Walt Messer to the plate. Jones uncorked a wild pitch to move both runners up 90 feet, but trouble was averted, at least for the moment when Messer's ground ball was fielded cleanly by CA first baseman Bill Barnett, who threw home to nail Jeffries and keep the game scoreless. George Cleaves, another of the New York big bats, drew a walk from Jones to load the bases with one out. Up to the plate stepped Johnson as a pinch-hitter and on a 1-1 count Red brought the capacity crowd of 50,000 at Gothams Stadium, that had been quietly waiting all game for something to cheer about, to their feet with a line drive homerun into the seats in right-center, ending the contest with a grand slam and snapping a 4-game Continental Association winning streak.

TALES FROM THE LAIR

Wells Debuts, Meetings of the Brass Continue in Toronto --The Wolves came out of the midseason break on fire which was quickly extinguished as the team wins once before falling three straight times after FABL resumed play post All-Star game.

The biggest news was the callup of John Wells after Harry Finney was injured before the 3 days off when the league stars gathered in New York City. Like the team, Wells came out hot in first game at the highest level. He went 2 for 3 including a triple with 2 RBI in a 10-1 lopsided victory over the Stars. As the team cooled so did Wells, in back-to-back losses to New York then another to the Cougars, he went 0 for 9 along with making two errors in the field.

When ask about Wells, Manager Fred Barrell said "Give the kid a chance. He is just 19. This is the biggest step he has ever made in his baseball life. The jump from AAA to the FABL is magnitudes higher than moving up level to level through the minor leagues. You can see the talent he has; he also has a motor than will not stop, constantly asking questions working on his hitting, fielding with our coaches. I think he may have been pressing this weekend. I know (Fred) McCormick told him to just let the game come to him, easier said than done. Both his errors came when he tried to rush a throw, (coach) McGowan has been refining his footwork. I know you want to know if he is going to stay when Harry comes off the DL. The answer to that question is that it is really up to John. He has a week to show whether or not he is ready, getting sent back to Buffalo to work on things is not the worse outcome for either him or the team. My prediction is that he will be around the FABL for a long time, it makes no sense to force it this season."

Staff meetings continue and some results can already be seen as the Wolves are moving people through the system at a much quicker pace than in previous years. Whether this will continue in the future is a question, it was expected this year as the new minor league philosophy was implemented. Scouts continue to follow closely Buffalo, Chattanooga, Davenport, Vancouver, Tuscaloosa meeting with team managers daily to share thoughts and opinions on players. It is a good time to be young in the Toronto organization. We are told that many more players who have knocked around the minors for years will see that their time may be coming to end before the conclusion of this season.

Bernie Millard's chats with fans entering the park has yielded one common stance from the fans. In Millard's words "The fans are willing to support a team in transition for a couple years as the young players grow into their new roles as long as the team doesn't "half ass" the transition. If you are going to cut, cut deep, then get on with it,"

Brett was able to confirm that Tom Frederick is on the trading block, and he has also been told that Hal Wood would also be available at the right price. According to one source everyone is available unless your name is Fred McCormick. Talks are said to be in their early stages with some teams looking to push for a pennant in the CA.

Red Johnson, who also homered in the 1940 contest, becomes just the fifth player to hit more than 1 career All-Star Game round-tripper. Bobby Barrell leads the way with 3 homers while Mike T. Taylor, Hank Barnett and Sal Pestilli have each hit 2.
Bobby Barrell, still grumpy from his All-Star snub, had a productive weekend with a homer on Saturday and both games of the Sunday doubleheader for the Keystones. All told, he was 7-for-12 in those three games to raise his season average to .286 and his 16 homers give him 621 for his illustrious career.
The slump Chicago Chiefs first baseman Tim Hopkins is in carried over the to the all-star game. He was 1 for 22 (.045) on the week in actual competition while going 0-for-3 and leaving 5 runners on base Tuesday evening at Gothams Stadium.
Tough loss for the Cincinnati Cannons as shortstop Jim Hensley will miss six weeks with a hip injury. A whiz with the glove, the two-time All-Star was struggling at the plate this season with a .214 batting average.
Rookie righthander Roy Schaub struggled in his first few starts after his promotion to Detroit in June, but he has thrown back-to-back shutouts to run his record to 4-2 with a 4.01 era.
23-1 and 19-8 victories for the Pittsburgh Miners the same week as a 3-2 loss will skew their expected W-L record. Also in the 23-1 victory, Billy Ligons threw 8.2 innings and was removed for Art Brandon who threw one pitch to end the game. General confusion in the stadium.

UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS

Tonight- Bigsby Garden, New York: Middleweight Jim Ward (24-3) faces Tommy Campbell (23-4-2)
Jul 18- Youngstown, OH: former middleweight champion Adrian Petrie (19-3-2) returns to the ring after a six month absence to face Bobby "The Texas Tornado" Price (24-6)
Jul 25- Bigsby Garden, New York: Memphis Millard Shelton (28-5) faces Rip Rogers (23-3) in a middleweight bout.
Jul 22- Richmond, VA: John Jones (17-0-1), 21-year-old Philadelphia born heavyweight meets Barry Scott (20-6).
Jul 30- Bigsby Garden, New York: English welterweight Danny Julian (28-1-1) makes his second North American appearances as he faces George "Mr. Sandman" Gibbs (27-5).

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 7/16/1950

The battle in Korea continues to heat up as Northern Communist troops battled to within 20 miles of Taejon, South Korea's temporary capital.
Two American news correspondents were killed on the front line of the Korean War.
For the first time in 19 months the military draft is active, sweeping into operation to produce a list of 20,000 recruits for the Army at the "earliest possible date."
It is expected that Soviet "volunteers" will enter the fray joining North Korean forces in the near future. There is also growing sentiment that Chinese Red Army troops may also join, swelling the conflict into a major-scale war even though the theater remains localized in the area of Korea.
Late in the week Gen. MacArthur released US casualty reports from Korea, saying they are far less than the greatly exaggerated press reports state. MacArthur says 42 are dead, 190 wounded and 256 missing.
Gen. J. Lawton Collins, just back from meetings in Japan on the Korea situation, says that American troops in Korea "are doing damned well and everything will turn out all right."
The United Nations Secretary General appealed to 52 UN members for ground forces and other assistance for the UN Korean war effort. He stated the unified command under the United States is in urgent need of additional effective assistance.
Senator McCarthy says he has signed statements which he claims will prove his charges that the State Department loyalty files were stripped in 1946 by a special staff that worked on the project for months.
Republican Senator Taft opposed any idea of giving President Truman blank cheque or standby authority to impose economic controls. The head of the Republican Policy Committee believes Congress ought to approve any measures that are necessary in light of the situation that exists at the time.

03-22-2024, 01:16 PM	#909
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,758	July 17, 1950 JULY 17, 1950 BIG TIMBER! JOHNSON GRAND SLAM LEADS FED TO VICTORY Walk Off Homer in Ninth Accounts For All Scoring in 4-0 Fed Win Despite smacking 19 homers in the first half of the season, this has been considered a down year for veteran New York Gothams first basemen Red Johnson. The 4-time Whitney Award winner is batting just .247 -by far the lowest batting average of his career and his slugging percentage is also far from its normal lofty perch but the man known as "Big Timber" made his presence felt with one swing of the bat in Tuesday's All-Star Game. Johnson, called on to pinch-hit with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth of what had been up to that point a scoreless game, delivered in a big way. The 32-year-old belted a 1-1 offering from the Chicago Cougars Donnie Jones more than 400 feet into the stands in right center, giving the Federal Association a dramatic 4-0 walk off grand slam victory and evening the series between the two loops at 9 wins each. Johnson was the walk-off hero, but it was his Gothams teammate Ed Bowman, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the game after Bowman hurled 5 scoreless innings before turning the ball over to the Federal Association bullpen. Washington's Buckeye Smith, who pitched a scoreless top of the ninth, was credited with the victory while Jones was saddled with the loss. Offense was at a premium as the two clubs combined for only 13 hits and Gothams infielder Tom Jeffries was the only participant on either side to have more than one base hit. Starting pitchers Ed Bowman of the Federal Association and Deuce Barrell, representing the Continental stars, kept the bats quiet and the game scoreless in the early going although Barrell ran into a heap of trouble in the fourth inning when he loaded the bases on singles off the bats of Roger Cleaves -Deuce's half brother- and Hank Koblenz before he walked Tom Jeffries to load the bases with nobody out. The call went to the bullpen for Barrell's Cincinnati teammate Mickey Mills and the lefthander playing in his first all-star escaped the jam unscathed primarily due to a rifle peg from Sailors outfielder Billy Forbes to nail Cleaves at the plate after Tim Hopkins failed sacrifice fly attempt. Mills walked Edwin Hackberry to reload the bases before ending the inning with a Ben McCarty fielders choice, keeping the contest scoreless. The Continental stars, who had won each of the last four all-star games, best chance to score came in the sixth inning after Jim Whiteley of the Philadelphia Keystones had relieved Bowman. One out singles from Leo Mitchell and Ralph Johnson put a CA runner in scoring position for just the second time in the game but Forbes flew out to rightfield, and the Whiteley fanned Cleveland's Larry McClure to end the threat. The Continental Association would not see another one of their runners reach second base the rest of the way. The Fed was not having much look of its own although they did see Edwin Hackberry, who singled and walked twice in the game, steal second with one out in the 7th inning but Pete Papenfus of the Chicago Cougars retired George Cleaves and Irv Clifford without incident to keep the game scoreless. Papenfus' Chicago teammate Donnie Jones, who took over in the 8th, was not nearly as fortunate. Jones had no issues in the 8th, retiring the Fed side in order but with a 1-2 count in the ninth, lead-off man Tom Jeffries slapped a perfectly placed single just beyond the reach of a diving Jim Urquhart. Tim Hopkins sacrificed Jeffries to second and Hackberry followed by working Jones for a free pass bringing Gothams slugger Walt Messer to the plate. Jones uncorked a wild pitch to move both runners up 90 feet, but trouble was averted, at least for the moment when Messer's ground ball was fielded cleanly by CA first baseman Bill Barnett, who threw home to nail Jeffries and keep the game scoreless. George Cleaves, another of the New York big bats, drew a walk from Jones to load the bases with one out. Up to the plate stepped Johnson as a pinch-hitter and on a 1-1 count Red brought the capacity crowd of 50,000 at Gothams Stadium, that had been quietly waiting all game for something to cheer about, to their feet with a line drive homerun into the seats in right-center, ending the contest with a grand slam and snapping a 4-game Continental Association winning streak. TALES FROM THE LAIR Wells Debuts, Meetings of the Brass Continue in Toronto --The Wolves came out of the midseason break on fire which was quickly extinguished as the team wins once before falling three straight times after FABL resumed play post All-Star game. The biggest news was the callup of John Wells after Harry Finney was injured before the 3 days off when the league stars gathered in New York City. Like the team, Wells came out hot in first game at the highest level. He went 2 for 3 including a triple with 2 RBI in a 10-1 lopsided victory over the Stars. As the team cooled so did Wells, in back-to-back losses to New York then another to the Cougars, he went 0 for 9 along with making two errors in the field. When ask about Wells, Manager Fred Barrell said "Give the kid a chance. He is just 19. This is the biggest step he has ever made in his baseball life. The jump from AAA to the FABL is magnitudes higher than moving up level to level through the minor leagues. You can see the talent he has; he also has a motor than will not stop, constantly asking questions working on his hitting, fielding with our coaches. I think he may have been pressing this weekend. I know (Fred) McCormick told him to just let the game come to him, easier said than done. Both his errors came when he tried to rush a throw, (coach) McGowan has been refining his footwork. I know you want to know if he is going to stay when Harry comes off the DL. The answer to that question is that it is really up to John. He has a week to show whether or not he is ready, getting sent back to Buffalo to work on things is not the worse outcome for either him or the team. My prediction is that he will be around the FABL for a long time, it makes no sense to force it this season." Staff meetings continue and some results can already be seen as the Wolves are moving people through the system at a much quicker pace than in previous years. Whether this will continue in the future is a question, it was expected this year as the new minor league philosophy was implemented. Scouts continue to follow closely Buffalo, Chattanooga, Davenport, Vancouver, Tuscaloosa meeting with team managers daily to share thoughts and opinions on players. It is a good time to be young in the Toronto organization. We are told that many more players who have knocked around the minors for years will see that their time may be coming to end before the conclusion of this season. Bernie Millard's chats with fans entering the park has yielded one common stance from the fans. In Millard's words "The fans are willing to support a team in transition for a couple years as the young players grow into their new roles as long as the team doesn't "half ass" the transition. If you are going to cut, cut deep, then get on with it," Brett was able to confirm that Tom Frederick is on the trading block, and he has also been told that Hal Wood would also be available at the right price. According to one source everyone is available unless your name is Fred McCormick. Talks are said to be in their early stages with some teams looking to push for a pennant in the CA. Red Johnson, who also homered in the 1940 contest, becomes just the fifth player to hit more than 1 career All-Star Game round-tripper. Bobby Barrell leads the way with 3 homers while Mike T. Taylor, Hank Barnett and Sal Pestilli have each hit 2. Bobby Barrell, still grumpy from his All-Star snub, had a productive weekend with a homer on Saturday and both games of the Sunday doubleheader for the Keystones. All told, he was 7-for-12 in those three games to raise his season average to .286 and his 16 homers give him 621 for his illustrious career. The slump Chicago Chiefs first baseman Tim Hopkins is in carried over the to the all-star game. He was 1 for 22 (.045) on the week in actual competition while going 0-for-3 and leaving 5 runners on base Tuesday evening at Gothams Stadium. Tough loss for the Cincinnati Cannons as shortstop Jim Hensley will miss six weeks with a hip injury. A whiz with the glove, the two-time All-Star was struggling at the plate this season with a .214 batting average. Rookie righthander Roy Schaub struggled in his first few starts after his promotion to Detroit in June, but he has thrown back-to-back shutouts to run his record to 4-2 with a 4.01 era. 23-1 and 19-8 victories for the Pittsburgh Miners the same week as a 3-2 loss will skew their expected W-L record. Also in the 23-1 victory, Billy Ligons threw 8.2 innings and was removed for Art Brandon who threw one pitch to end the game. General confusion in the stadium. UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS Tonight- Bigsby Garden, New York: Middleweight Jim Ward (24-3) faces Tommy Campbell (23-4-2) Jul 18- Youngstown, OH: former middleweight champion Adrian Petrie (19-3-2) returns to the ring after a six month absence to face Bobby "The Texas Tornado" Price (24-6) Jul 25- Bigsby Garden, New York: Memphis Millard Shelton (28-5) faces Rip Rogers (23-3) in a middleweight bout. Jul 22- Richmond, VA: John Jones (17-0-1), 21-year-old Philadelphia born heavyweight meets Barry Scott (20-6). Jul 30- Bigsby Garden, New York: English welterweight Danny Julian (28-1-1) makes his second North American appearances as he faces George "Mr. Sandman" Gibbs (27-5). The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 7/16/1950 The battle in Korea continues to heat up as Northern Communist troops battled to within 20 miles of Taejon, South Korea's temporary capital. Two American news correspondents were killed on the front line of the Korean War. For the first time in 19 months the military draft is active, sweeping into operation to produce a list of 20,000 recruits for the Army at the "earliest possible date." It is expected that Soviet "volunteers" will enter the fray joining North Korean forces in the near future. There is also growing sentiment that Chinese Red Army troops may also join, swelling the conflict into a major-scale war even though the theater remains localized in the area of Korea. Late in the week Gen. MacArthur released US casualty reports from Korea, saying they are far less than the greatly exaggerated press reports state. MacArthur says 42 are dead, 190 wounded and 256 missing. Gen. J. Lawton Collins, just back from meetings in Japan on the Korea situation, says that American troops in Korea "are doing damned well and everything will turn out all right." The United Nations Secretary General appealed to 52 UN members for ground forces and other assistance for the UN Korean war effort. He stated the unified command under the United States is in urgent need of additional effective assistance. Senator McCarthy says he has signed statements which he claims will prove his charges that the State Department loyalty files were stripped in 1946 by a special staff that worked on the project for months. Republican Senator Taft opposed any idea of giving President Truman blank cheque or standby authority to impose economic controls. The head of the Republican Policy Committee believes Congress ought to approve any measures that are necessary in light of the situation that exists at the time. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles