OCTOBER 11, 1951
FLURRY OF TRADES ANNOUNCED DAY AFTER WCS ENDS
In a parade that would rival that seen on the streets of Philadelphia today with fans celebrating that Sailors World Championship Series victory secured just two days ago, 17 players changed hands in a flurry of activity from four trades, including one involving three teams, announced in a matter of just a few hours.
The biggest news, the one that left all of baseball reeling, was the widely panned decision by the New York Gothams to officially send Red Johnson to the Chicago Cougars. There had been speculation all week that Johnson was leaving the Big Apple for the Cougars as part of a rebuilding plan that would tear a New York team that missed the pennant by just 4 games a year after reaching the World Championship Series. The full rebuild is off, according to sources in New York, but the Johnson deal did proceed and was panned by some critics as the worst deal ever made in FABL.
The particulars of the much anticipated deal was revealed, and most were underwhelmed, to say the least, with the Gothams haul. The trade saw three prospects, none among the top fifty on the OSA list and none of the Cougars top four young talents, heading to New York in the form outfielder Frank Reece, second baseman Biff Tiner and pitcher Jimmy Isgro. Give the Cougars management credit as they somehow managed to add a 34-year-old 4-time Whitney Award winning slugger who belted 35 homers last season and let the Federal Association in OPS without disrupting their core group or top prospects at all.
Leland Kuenster of the Chicago Herald-Examiner, a regular on the Chicago Chiefs beat, quickly wrote "this likely becomes the worst deal ever" and few disagreed with him. Even Gothams management, which seemed to immediately regret the move, admitted "calls to the Gothams office are not positive."
OSA THOUGHTS ON PLAYERS INVOLVED IN DEAL
Cougars management sources, being diplomatic one would think, claimed that observers were underestimating " Reece in particular and Tiner has a solid bat. Reece can fill CF for the Gothams to push Moody to right field."
The Cougars spokesman added that there was no way either of the Cougars top two prospects in pitcher Bob Allen and outfielder Jerry Smith could ever be part of a deal for Johnson, and noted neither came up in talks. "I just can't see anyone giving up 1, let alone 2, top 20 prospects for a 34-year-old first baseman. Especially a centerfielder and future ace that are going to play regularly next year," the Cougars insider added.
He cited a widely panned move from several years ago that saw Red Bond leave Montreal for the Cougars noting " There (were) similar issues with the Red Bond trade but Joe Austin turned into a stud. There's no reason to think that none of the three guys we sent can do what he has."
The argument is the fact that Red Johnson is not simply any 34-year-old first baseman and while first baseman may be easy to find, 4-time Whitney Award winning first baseman who led their league in OPS the previous season are most certainly not.
Bob Murphy of the Detroit Times, while admitting that fans in Detroit are filled with glee at the news of one of their key rivals dealing a superstar away says that "the Gothams move would seem to be ill-advised at any time, certainly making contending for a pennant next season a more difficult task than it was 24 hours earlier, but it is compounded by the fact they did not get a player who has the potential to be a superstar in return. Perhaps one of the three newcomers acquired by New York surprise everyone and do suddenly take that step to stardom, but the odds are greatly against it, and if the old saying that the team that lands the best player wins the deal than the Gothams appear to have near zero chance of ever winning, or even breaking anywhere close to even on this deal."
*** Very Busy Day for Kansas City Kings***
While the Red Johnson deal dominated the conversation, the Kansas City Kings were also very busy yesterday as they pulled the trigger on four deals. First the transplanted Brooklyn franchise completed some outstanding paperwork from July when the trade deadline deal that would have sent 26-year-old reliever Jackson Scott to Washington for minor league third baseman Earl Avery failed to reach the league office in time. That same deal was agreed to by the two clubs and submitted yesterday.
Next the Kings made a somewhat surprising move of dealing another pitcher away. This time it was the much travelled Roy Schaub, a 25-year-old who was the first overall selection in the 1944 draft but has now been traded four times in an eventful career that included a no hitter at the minor league level and an all-star appearance this season after going 12-10 with a 3.78 era for the Kings following an early season deal with Detroit that sent Pat Petty to the Dynamos. Schaub, expendable because of all the young arms the Kings added in their summer deal with the Dynamos, has plenty of talent but has struggled with his control. He is now a Pittsburgh Miner after the Kings dealt him to the Steel City for minor league catcher Bob Burge. Initial reaction may have been mild shock around the league but catching talent is at a premium and the 24-year-old Burge, a 1948 second rounder, is highly thought of by OSA and looked very good both at AAA and in a brief trial with Pittsburgh this past season.
Those two moves were only the appetizer for the Kings entree, a meal that on any day that did not see Red Johnson traded would have filled the plates of baseball reporters but instead is pushed to the back of the table. It was a three-way deal with the St Louis Pioneers and New York Stars that saw 16-game winner Joe Potts join the Pioneers talented rotation, slugging first baseman Bill Barnett head west to Kansas City and a number of prospects join the rebuilding Stars.
Broken down into two parts it begins with Potts, 27 and a CA all-star this past season, joining the Pioneers rotation but at quite a hefty cost of young talent as St Louis parts with prospects King Brucker, Les Sasson, Red Hilton, Ed Wingerter and Ed Owens. Brucker, a 20-year-old centerfielder a 1949 first rounder, might be the best of the bunch but the Pioneers felt they had enough depth to more than offset the departure of each of their prospects. Potts (16-11, 3.34) will join what could be the best rotation top-to-bottom in the Fed next season with Hal Hackney (18-11, 2.76), Danny Hern (17-12, 4.34), Hiram Steinberg (13-12, 3.77) and Tom Buchanan (12-7, 3.59).
Brucker and minor league pitcher Ed Wingerter did not spend any time as Kansas City Kings as both were immediately packaged along with Kansas City prospects Enos Bell and John Smith to the Stars for slugging first baseman Bill Barnett. The 29-year-old is a 2-time all-star who led the Continental Association in homeruns each of the past two seasons. He is not quite Red Johnson but certainly give the Kings a premier veteran first baseman. The Stars had four prospects, three ranked within the top 100 by OSA and the fourth just outside of it as they continue a rebuild that seems to have shifted into high gear. Some might argue with Brucker leading the charge, the Stars may have received a much better return for Barnett than the Gothams received for Red Johnson.
FALCONS HIRE LEWIS AS NEW HEAD COACH
Irvin Lewis has some big shoes to fill after the long-time Federal Basketball League coach was tabbed to be the new bench boss of the Toronto Falcons. Lewis, 50, will replace Gene Smith who recently retired after leading the Falcons to the FBL championship game each of the past two seasons. Under Smith's guidance the Falcons were 83-51 over the past two seasons but dropped game seven of the league finals to Washington in both of those years.
Lewis will take the reins in Toronto, after spending five seasons at the helm of the now-defunct Hartford Patriots. A Orwell, OH., native who played his college ball at West Goshen State, Lewis is 8th all-time in pro basketball victories as a coach with a record of 138-166. His best season in Hartford was 1946-47 when he guided the Patriots to their only playoff berth.
The Week That Was
Current events from October 11, 1951
- Income taxes will rise about 11.75%, and the price of beer, liquor and cigarettes as well as gasoline will also rise after a compromise bill to increase taxes on individuals, corporations and sales tax was approved by a Senate-House conference committee.
- United Nations forces mopped up the last Communist diehards on "Heartbreak Ridge", seized two nearby hills and sent another strong tank force rampaging into Red territory in Korea.
- Some Republican leaders were shoving hard to get the Ike bandwagon rolling- back toward Western Europe- but others are just as determined to support a drive to get Gen. Eisenhower to run for president on the GOP ticket next year. Eisenhower is in Washington meeting to discuss the state of Western Europe.