[Tiger Fan]

1940 THE GREAT BEGINNING
The new Major League Baseball Alliance took its first steps on April 16,1940. That was the first day games were played in the new 4 league Alliance and symbolically 4 games were played - one in each league.

The National League started in Philadelphia where Phillies catcher Rollie Hemsley had 3 hits and a pair of rbi's as the hometown Phillies doubled Brooklyn 4-2. An hour after the Phillies game started, the American and Mountain Leagues joined the act. In Chicago, ex-Pacific Leaguer Kyle Werdman and longtime White Sox catcher Billy Sullivan each drove in 3 runs to lead the Chisox past the Boston Red Sox 14-5. Further south in New Orleans,
first baseman Mike Stentz had a 5 hit afternoon to help the visiting Dallas Texans beat the New Orleans Pelicans 9-3 in the Mountain League opener. Around the time the other games were ending the first pitcher was thrown in Los Angeles. The Pacific League opener would be a battle between the LA Angels and their cross-town rivals from Hollywood. 25 year old Don Barrett snapped a 3-3 tie with a 2 run shot in the bottom of the 8th to give the Angels the victory. Remember that name, as Barrett appears destined for superstardom. With those four
games a new era in professional baseball was underway.

Shortly into the new season not all the clubs were feeling comfortable about this new arangement. Small Western centers like Kansas City, Vancouver and Albuquerque were beginning to wonder if they could prosper in such a setup. Without the fan base, they would lack the revenue to lure high-price free agents and they were even more concerned that their were now 16 more teams that could outbid them for their own star players. Only time will tell, but with the revenue differences it was clear that for at least the Western clubs, there could be a real division between the haves and have-nots.

By midseason, it was obvious there was going to be some excitement down the stretch. Several players were on pace to hit 50+ homers, we were seeing some great pitching performances and most importantly, there were 3 great pennant races. Only Mountain League leader Phoenix appeared to be running away from the pack.

July 11th in Phoenix brought us the first all-star game between the two organizations. On paper the major league stars appeared to have the better squad but the Western Alliance squad had some clout. Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean was given the task of holding the Alliance hitters in check to start the game and he did so marvelously. Dean fanned 4 and allowed just 1 baserunner. Opposing Dean was ex-Yankee Ira Hutchinson.

Hutchinson, as you may recall, was the American League Cy Young winner in 1938 and 1939, going a combined 52-17 before signing with Denver as a free agent prior to the 1940 campaign. Hutchinson had no trouble the first two innings but surrendered the game's first run on an Andy Webbe RBI single. Webbe was traded to Cincinnati in spring training in yet another foolish move by the hapless New Orleans Pelicans. There will be more on Webbe later in this game and down the road as he makes a run at Babe Ruth's single season home run record.

Roman Goodwyn, who bolted the PCL for Cincinnati in the offseason, took over for Dean in the 4th and was promptly shelled for 3 runs. San Diego's young outfielder Ted Williams drove in one of the Alliance runs. In the 5th the Major Leaguers cut the defeciet to 3-2 thanks to a Joe Dimaggio single but Don Barrett restored the 2 run Alliance lead with an rbi in the home half of the inning. In the 8th, the Major Leaguers scored 3 times with the big blow, a 2-run homer, coming of the bat of Andy Webbe. Webbe, of course, was named the game's MVP.


Even with all the changes in baseball some things remained the same. Take the New York Yankees for example. A surge in August gave the Bombers a comfortable lead and they would coast to their 11th pennant in 14 years. The Yankees lineup still included 37 year old Lou Gehrig (.200,25,79) along with homegrown youngsters Joe Gordon (.269,38,98), Joe Dimaggio (.308,32,94) and Charlie Keller (.344,25,78), who missed the American League batting crown by less than .001. Free agent pickup Michael Opie (.282,31,83) , who never got a far shake with Albuquerque, prospered in the power-laden lineup. A back injury cost Lefty Gomez (6-4) a chance at his seventh straight 20-win season but Don Brennan (25-7,2.23) more than picked up the slack. Brennan, who has been in the Yankee system since 1933 but was bothered by injuries most of his career, who his first Cy
Young Award and asserted himself as the Yankee ace. Spud Chandler (17-14) and Vito Tamulis (15-16) also earned a spot in the rotation but it was former Indian Dick Coffman (11-4) who became the number 2 starter after Gomez went down.

Don Hurst of Boston hit .345 to win the American League batting crown. First overall pick Tiny Bonham went 18-11 to win the rookie of the year award and lead the White Sox to a third place finish behind Washington. Jeff Heath of Cleveland (.298,48,126) was named the AL's top batter after leading the league in both rbi's and homers.


In the National League Pittsburgh held off Cincinnati and New York for its third straight pennant. A pitching staff of Bill Swift (22-13, 3.79), Cy Blanton (22-13. 3.34) and Jim Tobin (21-14, 4.05) was the key to the Bucs success. An outfield led by batting champ Joe Medwick (.345,24,91) and Johnny Rizzo (.273,29,101) didn't hurt matters either. However, the Cincinnati Reds seemed to be by far the better club. Newcomers Roman Goodwyn
(21-10, 3.61) and Schoolboy Rowe (22-14, 3.70) propped up a weak pitching staff but in the end the Reds were still one starter away from winning it all. The offense was certainly abundant with the great Jimmie Foxx (.306,52,130) and future great Andy Webbe (.297,60,156) providing a bang on imitation of the real life M&M boys.

Webbe would fall 4 homers shy of tying Babe Ruth's record set in 1924. Webbe's story deserves to be told and will be in the next segment.

Phoenix clubbed its way through the Mountain League by blasting a record 385 homers. Roadrunner Stadium was a haven for the longball but having 3 50-homer players in any lineup borders on ludicrous. Never will you find more dangerous 3-4-5 hitters than Roadrunner outfielders Vince Sutera (.349,60,134), Mitchell Senft (.291,57,120) and Joe Selleck (.351,51,103). Add in another pair of S's in pitchers Josh Setwright (29-9) and
Jamie Shellington (24-9) and the Roadrunners were simply superb. Sutera, the Mountain League MVP, would break Dennis Roberts' 1935 record for homers in a season. The Dallas slugger had 57 that year. Sutera would also win the Triple Crown.


The best race of the season occurred in the Pacific Coast League where 4 teams were still in the running with a week to play. San Diego and Vancouver were eliminated as the final weekend began but Hollywood and Oakland would need a extra-game to pick a winner. The Oaks won the coin toss and would host the Stars in the playoff.

It was a whale of a game and Oakland had a 2-1 lead heading into the top of the ninth. However, with 2 on and 2 out, pinch hitter Kirk Shunk provided the Stars with a Hollywood ending, driving in both runners with a double. The Stars would hang on in the bottom of the ninth and escape with a 3-2 win and their 3rd PCL pennant.

Don Barrett (.380,57.160) of Los Angeles would win the Triple Crown and be named the PCL's top hitter. Barret would set a new PCL record for homers and rbi's in a season. Second year San Diego outfielder Ted Williams (.370, 27,97) would finish second in the batting race. LA's Jerome Sigurdson (27-10, 2.63) was named the league's top hurler.

Next up the Andy Webbe story and the 1940 postseason.