AUGUST 28, 1950
SAINTS STUMBLE BUT RETAIN TWO GAME LEAD
The Montreal Saints had a losing week that included be swept in a 2-game series in Cincinnati, but when the dust settled the Montreal club finished the week the way it started - with a 2 game lead on the second place Cannons as the race for the Continental flag prepares for the final month of the campaign.
Tuesday's lid lifter to the week was over nearly before it began as the Queen City hosts welcomed Saints hurler Wally Doyle with 6 runs in the bottom of the first. It was not vintage Deuce Barrell for the Cannons, but Barrell pitched well enough, with a late assist from Les Bradshaw, to lead the Cannons to a 6-5 victory. A day later it was another big inning -this time a 5-run outburst in the bottom of the 8th- that proved the difference in 7-5 Cincinnati win that left the two clubs tied for top spot.
That would prove to be the high water mark of the week for the Cannons who then proceeded to drop 4 of their next 5 games at home to Brooklyn and New York. Meanwhile, the Saints proved to be only moderately more successful in stops in Toronto and Cleveland, taking two of three from the last place Wolves before splitting a Sunday twin bill in Northern Ohio. The result restored Montreal's two game lead on the second place Cannons with the New York Stars also remaining unchanged from a week ago at 2.5 games off the pace. Chicago and Brooklyn each made up some ground with winning streaks to close out the week leaving the Cougars six back, a half game ahead of the fifth place Kings.
The Federal Association leading New York Gothams continue to widen the gap on the pack and the only question remains is will the finish the season with the biggest gap on a second place team in the Federal Association this century? The Gothams, at 79-45, currently hold a 13.5 game lead on second place Washington. The last team to win by a wider margin was the 1896 Gothams, who ended up 17 games ahead of second place Detroit that season. Since the turn of the century the standard is 12 games set by the 1912 Boston Minutemen.
END OF SEASON DOUBLE-DIGIT LEADS IN FEDERAL ASSOCIATION HISTORY
1947 St Louis 10 games
1928 Chicago 10 games
1920 St Louis 11.5 games
1916 Detroit 10 games
1912 Boston 12 games
1900 Pittsburgh 11 games
1899 Pittsburgh 12 games
1896 New York 17 games
1895 New York 24 games
TALES FROM THE LAIR
Wolves Have First Winning Week Since April - The Toronto Wolves go 4-3 for the week. This was the first time time the team has more wins than losses in a calendar week since the week of April 24-30 when they went 5-1. They have weeks of .500 since but none in which there were more victories than losses.
The week started with a 3 game sweep of the Kings, who are the only team Toronto has a winning record against. Fred Barrell's boys are 10-9 in games with Brooklyn in 1950. They ran their winning streak to four with a 6-2 score over the Saints on Thursday before dropping the last three games of the week, two to Montreal then one to Chicago.
The Wolves could have easily ran the streak to five, but a pitching meltdown by Zane Kelley and Harry Phillips turned a 6-3 lead after six into an 11-8 loss to Montreal on Friday before 15,871 fans. Phillips only retired one while giving up 4 runs, the big blow being a 3 run shot by Saints 3B Luke Weaver. On Saturday George Garrison again surrendered a big inning, 5 runs in the 8th, as Montreal won 9-1. Garrison's run of one bad inning per start has the on-field staff in panic mode. He seems to be cruising along when all of a sudden, the roof caves in on Garrison without warning, often turning a win into another loss. In the field the team seems to be improving by the day although Fred McCormick has had a rash of miscues of late - something that has many calling for a late inning defensive replacement at 1B. McCormick has never been a vacuum cleaner at first though his errors this season seem to come at critical junctures in games.
The Mail & Empire has learned from contacts that with roster expansion the team may be only adding a couple arms from Buffalo. Both Carter's, Jim and George, are said to be heading to Toronto in an attempt to strengthen the dismal pitching staff. With the recent changes to the lineup the front office, along with manager Barrell, feel the time will be better used for the current Wolves to get more accustomed to playing with each other. As a result, callups would get very little, if any, playing time. The team has sent Hank Giordano to Buffalo for conditioning after being out for 4 months with a torn groin. He could be with the Wolves in a few weeks to give Barrell a preview of the 1951 team. In an associated move Curt Brooks was DFA. Brooks is not seen as part of the future outfield.
Brett spoke earlier of the a winning record facing the Kings this season. The other end of the scale is against the rest of the team in the Continental. Here is the Wolves 1950 record:
Cleveland Foresters: 8-9
New York Stars: 8-10
Philadelphia Sailors: 7-10
Cincinnati Cannons: 6-7
Montreal Saints: 4-16
Chicago Cougars: 2-17
Chicago, Montreal have feasted on the Wolves this season.
- Bobby Barrell's homerun Saturday against St Louis was his 20th of the season and the 625th of his career. It will be interesting to see if the Georgia Jolter, who turned 40 last month, decides to return for another season with the Keystones. Barrell is slashing .263/.359/.429, numbers far below what he has accomplished throughout most of his career but still better than half of the outfielders in the big leagues.
- Banished to the bullpen the past couple of seasons, the Saturday win over St Louis was also a milestone day for another Keystones player. George M. Brooks earned his 150th career FABL pitching victory. All of the 37 year old's FABL wins came in a Keystones uniform and it moves him past Ed Baker into sole possession of third all-time on the Keystones leaderboard. Only turn of the century star John Burrell (168) and current Keystones starter Jim Whitely (159) have more wins for the franchise.
- Long out of the Federal Association pennant race (assuming they were ever actually in it) the Detroit Dynamos are now using three rookies in their everyday lineup and expect to do so for the remainder of the season. 21-year-old third baseman Jim Gaiter had a solid pro debut last week, going 6-for-16 (.375), and joins outfielders Joe Fulgham and Bill Morrison -both college players selected in the 1949 draft- in the starting lineup. There is a fourth rookie playing regularly as well. That would be 24-year-old righthander Roy Schaub, who is 6-6 with a 3.97 era.
BEES SIGN 1949 TOP PICK BANKS TO CONTRACT
The Boston Bees have signed their first round selection from a year ago, inking right winger Vince Banks to a 3-year deal worth a reported $2,000 per season. The 20-year-old was selected 6th overall by the Bees in the 1949 draft, out of the London Lions junior club.
A Sudbury, Ont., native, Banks had a season he would rather forget a year ago. Multiple injuries limited the youngster to just 29 games for the Lions, who finished fifth in the six team West Division and missed the playoffs. When he was healthy Banks, who was an assistant captain in London, produced. He averaged nearly a point game with 27 points including 9 goals in 29 games. He is expected to spend the upcoming season in the minors with the Bees HAA farm club the Springfield Hornets.
Banks becomes the fourth first rounder from his draft to sign a pro deal, following Griffin Dufresne and Bill LaChance, who both signed with the Shamrocks although LaChance is now with the Chicago Packers organization, and Ken Jamieson who agreed to a deal with the Toronto Dukes last month. The two other first rounders, Montreal goaltender Nathan Bannister and Detroit defenseman Emmett Hargreaves are likely going to return to the CAHA for their final season of junior hockey.
UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS- Aug 30 - San Francisco, CA: MW Davis Owens (22-1) vs Brooks O'Connor (31-10-2)
- Aug 31- Bigsby Garden, New York: Former World Welterweight champ Mac Erickson (22-2) vs Alonso Salazar (13-8-3)
- Aug 31- Galveston, TX: middleweight Nick Harris (29-7-1) vs Andrew Hammon (23-4-2)
- Sep 1- Flatbush Garden, Brooklyn: Middleweight Bill Boggs (20-3-1) vs Mark McCoy (20-1)
- Sep 2 - Bigsby Garden, New York: welterweight contenders Ira Mitchell (25-5) vs Danny Julian (29-1-1)
- Sep 2 - Denny Arena, Boston: British heavyweight Ben Budgeford (22-2) vs Gil Hilliard (30-11-2)
- Sep 5- Keystone Arena, Philadelphia: veteran welterweights Scott Sorensen (27-13-3) and Rudy Perry (28-6-1) meet.
- Sep 8 - Thompson Palladium, Detroit: a pair of rising Motor City heavyweights clash with Joey Tierney (19-0) facing Bill Sloan (19-2)
- Sep 12- Buffalo, NY: Canadian middleweight Kevin Rawlings (25-5) faces veteran Philadelphia fighter John Baker (26-7-1)
- Sep 14- Bigsby Garden, New York: heavyweight Lewis Jones (22-3-1) vs Larry Higgins (27-8-4)
- Sep 22 - Cincinnati, OH.: former welterweight champion Mark Westlake (28-6-1) faces contender Danny Rutledge (20-1-1)
- Sep 22 - Pittsburgh, PA: Italian middlweight Hugo Canio (17-1-2) vs Bobby Hinkle (30-9)
- Sep 29, 1950- Bigsby Garden, New York - World Middleweight title John Edmonds (32-3) faces formerly retired former champ Frank 'The Tank' Melanson (33-3-2)
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 8/27/1950
- Allied forces claimed a 3-day death toll of more than 11,000 Red Koreans as the Communist forces make a desperate attempt to smash the United Nations battle line and end the war before the end of the month. As the week continued, more and more reports surfaced of Allied forces holding strong and actually driving the North Koreans back in some areas.
- Two captured North Korean officers have admitted to their country having a tight link with Chinese Communists.
- Russian made fighters planes have been attacking British and South Korean ships in Korea.
- India's Prime Minister Nehru is considering an invitation from Chinese Communists to visit their capital, but he has yet to accept, trying to determine whether such a trip would better serve the cause of world peace, or would he accomplish more toward that goal if he was to lead his country's delegation in next month's United Nations Assembly.
- Republican pressure is building in Congress pushing for a statement from President Truman of overall objectives in the Korean fighting and the cold war against Communism elsewhere.
- The Senate Armed Services Committee is moving rapidly toward approval of standby universal military training legislation.
- Token strikes of railroad conductors and trainmen are underway, cutting further into the Nation's economy, and giving a small taste of what may come if no agreement to avert a full-fledged strike is reached. The President said the walkout call came within an hour after assurances were given from unions and operators that the rail carriers would continue to run.
- Sunday, at Truman's instruction the Army seized control of the railroads and were immediately promised "full co-operation" by both railroad and union officials.